Alchemists of Archangel is available today at a Digital Retailer near you.
Buy Links:
If you are available I’m hosting a Release Party on Facebook at 7pm CST. Here is the link where you can join.
I’m also planning my own tour. If you are interested in hosting me I have a form here.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1PA581ehVBeMMFTkioKY7YB1hazypEOa8BtTauwYwb0E/edit
My general viewpoint on conferences is that they should be viewed as a working vacation. Part of this is because of what I write and what my expectations are.
The big conferences for Romance writers are RT (Romantic Times) and RWA National (Romance Writers of America). They serve different purposes.
RT is geared mostly towards readers, although they do have some writing classes. I’ve attended this conference as an aspiring author, published author and a reader. I’ve always viewed this particular conference as a working vacation. It was a chance to visit my author friends, Lyn Armstrong and Debbie Cairo. It was a chance to see a new city, visit friends and attend parties. I always attend writing classes there and go to publisher spotlights. I actually met both my publishers (Liquid Silver Books and Resplendence) at RT.
RWA is geared mostly to the business side of things. I’ve yet to attend this particular conference, even though I’m a member. I have attended regional RWA conferences including Midwest Fiction Writers and WisRWA. I found both beneficial to my writing career. Classes tend to revolve around business, craft, and publishing in general.
Some other conferences I’ve attended are Lori Foster’s RAGT (Reader and Author Get Together). This is also a reader geared Con, unlike RT it is much smaller and there are about ten readers for every published author. Lori keeps the author roster small so readers can interact. Maddy Barone introduced me to this Con and we’ve traveled the last two years together.
I’ve attended two local Sci-Fi con’s since I write Paranormal Romance. CoreCon and ValleyCon. I highly recommend if you write in a genre that falls into the genre of SFFP (Science-Fiction, Fantasy, and Paranormal) that you consider attending a local or regional Con. It is a great way to meet readers and I find the communities, in general, to be very supportive of creatives.
There are also many Romance Reader Cons popping up. I ran across this website that might be helpful for those of you writing in the Romance Genre.
http://www.romancerefined.com/list-of-romance-conventions-and-conferences.html
I usually attend RT when I can and if I can rope someone into going with me. RWA is still on my bucket list. I’ve attended Lori Foster’s RAGT the last two years. This year, due to my job loss, I’ve cut back on my conferences. I will likely only attend the local sci-fi cons and my annual writing retreat at the end of September.
Overall I love conferences and attend as many as my budget will allow. If nothing else I get a few classes in, meet a few new authors and network. That’s a win in my book.
So I’ve prepped a bit for Camp NaNo and getting The Alchemists of Archangel completed.
Some authors Love Scrivener and there are some wonderful features, that can be very helpful when developing characters, plot lines, timelines for series, etc. I actually debated purchasing it, but have opted to use Google Keep in conjunction with Google Docs and Word.
I find myself looking back at tools I’ve used in the past. Here are some tools I use during my rough draft phase:
And I haven’t even started on the Reference Books I use regularly…
So I’ve finally started submitting The Courtesan of Constantinople to Publishers. I’d spent six months looking for an Agent and didn’t get feedback – positive or negative steering me in a direction that required changes to the manuscript.
I got a lot of letters saying, “I like this and that, but don’t feel I’m right for this project.” So started to wonder if I missed the boat on Steampunk. Hard to say. I did a couple Twitter parties and nothing there either.
While I submitted to Agents 5-10 at a time. I was doing large batch by January. 🙂 For Publishers, I only do about 3 at a time. I don’t expect to hear back from any of them until May. Because they are larger houses I may not hear back at all. I think I’ve been spoiled by the almost instant responses of small presses 🙂
In the meantime, I’ll work on Alchemists of Archangel and maybe Ryder Hard if I get blocked, just to keep moving. Also, I have this book about writing I want to do, so plenty to keep me busy while I hurry up and wait.
In the fall I take an annual writing retreat and I find that it replenishes my soul. This past weekend I treated myself to a Solo Retreat. I didn’t travel to an exotic location or rent a rustic cabin, or even leave my house.
DH was gone most of the day on Saturday with a flight student, so I had the house to myself. I set some goals for myself, to do classwork and write. I was taking two classes simultaneously – The Artist’s Way at Writer Zen Garden and Writing and Resistance: Overcoming Our Blocks to Success by MM Pollard at RWA Online.
My Retreat went like this:
I accomplished my goal and was able to enjoy my One Day Solo Retreat.
Can you do this? Sure you can. It might be easier for me because I live on a farm and don’t have a day job, but this is doable for anyone.
Some recommendations. Pick some goals. Are you burned out? Maybe you need to build more Meditation and Yoga into your retreat than I did. How about a luxurious bubble-bath or painting your toes, etc.
I often listen to Pandora on the farm. I choose stations based on mood. I recommend outdoor time if weather permits. I avoided the snowy sub-zero temps…hence some meditation planned into my day.
Regarding Food – If you love to cook, incorporate this into your retreat. Plan a favorite meal to prepare. If you live in a large city consider delivery so you can enjoy the experience and maybe treat yourself. I like to cook, but I wanted to keep the time to myself so I picked up some fancier microwavable meals. I picked up beverages I like, chocolates, and some snacks I love.
If you have other passions like painting, drawing, knitting, scrapbooking, or other creative pursuits into your retreat…especially if you have more than one day. This is a chance to fill your creative well. Who knows, maybe while you are coloring in a color book…that writer’s block will finally release.
I would caution against spending the day binging TV shows or even reading for pleasure. Not because these things are bad, but because they distract you from yourself. If you want to watch that movie you’ve never seen, or read a book, do it in the evening or maybe only for a couple of hours.
Ultimately a Solo retreat is what you make it.
Happy Retreating!
I thought I’d share a few of my top Ten favorite Romance Novelists. There is a pattern here. Most of them write historical and are either on my auto-buy list or I re-read them over and over. They are however in no particular order.
Johanna Lindsey – I have a few Johanna Lindsey books I read over and over. “Defy Not the Heart”, “say you Love Me” and “Love me Forever” I had to purchase Nook versions because I’d worn out the covers so bad.
Catherine Coulter – I cut my teeth on Ms. Coulter’s Regencies. I’m not as much of a fan of her FBI series, because hey I like Historicals. A few of my favorites are “Sherbrooke Bride” and “Midsummer Magic”.
Hannah Howell – I binged and have purchased the Entire Murray Clan Series, but my truly favorite Hannah Howell book remain’s “Kentucky Bride”.
Cathy Maxwell – Cathy Maxwell makes me cry in the very best way. She has some stories where such sacrifices are made you can feel it. Hence the crying. I don’t have a particular favorite and have read them over and over, all I can say is keep them coming Ms. Maxwell, keep them coming.
Tessa Dare – The first book I picked up by Tessa Dare was “When a Scot Ties a Knot”. Loved it, and was then forced to play catch up when it was the 3rd book in her “Castles Ever After Series” which lead me back to her “Spinster Cove Series”. Ms. Dare has the right amount of heat in her stories that make me search out Mr. Holland. So he’s a fan as well. 🙂
Maddy Barone – Maddy Barone writes a post-apocalyptic werewolf series, “After the Crash” which I adore. A few of my Read over and overs are “Wolf Tracker”, “Wolf’s Oath” and “Wolf’s Vengence”. Thank god I have digital copies of these.
Kristen Callihan – I remember I was traveling for work and I was looking for something to read in my hotel room and purchased “Firelight” for 99cents. Then began my binging of her “Darkest London” series.
Bec McMaster – I was waiting for the next Kristen Callihan book to come out when I noticed on my Nook, people who bought “Firelight” bought “Kiss of Steel”, so I did and then proceeded to binge read her “Steampunk London” series.
Deborah Blake – I love the “People who bought” feature on my Nook. While waiting for the 
next Kristen Callihan book or maybe it was the next Bec McMaster Book, I found Deborah Blake’s “Baba Yaga” series. And subsequently fell in love with her “Broken Riders”
Beverly Jenkins – I picked up Beverly Jenkins up at the Library on Audio Book and listened to “Indigo” on my daily commute. Now I read her books as they come out. 🙂 It’s funny but I really dug the historical knowledge she put in her books, and found myself telling people, “Did you know the underground railroad did this and this.” Thank you, Ms. Beverly, for reminding me why I fell in love with the Historical Romance Genre.
Happy Valentine’sDay! I hope you have a wonderful and teriffic day and curl up with a good romance. I know I will.
There comes a time when you have to quit editing and declare a project done. Move on to the next one. I’ve reached that point with Courtesan.
I’ve done all I can with the novel.
I’ve layered and cut producing a novel of 54,333 words.
Does it mean there aren’t corrections to make? Of Course not but I need another set of eyes at this point. I’ve asked for some BETA help, to get that big picture feel, but I can’t continue edits without wrecking voice.
The good news. This is ready to get looked at by an agent or editor. In my opinion, any changes that need to be made will be to satisfy the readership, not me. And that’s okay, I’m used to working with editors to make appropriate changes. That’s part of meeting reader expectation.
Now its time to move on to Book 2: The Alchemists of Archangel.
Hopefully, The Courtesan of Constantinople doesn’t sit too long on my virtual shelf, trying to find a home.~Tina
I’m not talking about dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s here, or finding spelling mistakes, although those are important.
I’m talking about looking at your work as a whole and saying to yourself – is this working or why isn’t this working.
I’ve finished up my 2nd round of layering and usually when I do the layering I find other issues. And I’ve found some frivolous plot lines that need to be dealt with. I can still use them, but they don’t make sense so I need to dig deeper.
I need to make these plot points stronger to thread through this series on a bigger level. I have a lot of side notes like “Needs to be more significant” or “what are you trying to say”
This is an interesting process – I have to be objective looking at these items and I’ve been fortunate that I’m usually willing to change plot lines if necessary and I think this is necessary.
I’m off to it. ~Tina
Welcome to the new year! I, like many people, have set resolutions for the new year. In coming up with this year’s goals, I found a theme – Exploration.
Since I lost my day job, I’ve decided to explore my creative side. There will be some definate focus on writing, but I want to try new things like:
These are just a few things I want to Explore, and I feel they will help me grow as a writer as well as a person.
And of course I have writer and personal goals as well, but I’m still fine tuning those.
I’ve returned from a holiday in early December and now Christmas is fast approaching. I’ve gotten most of my shopping done, and need to mail presents.
My goals for the month of December were small. I knew with NANOWRIMO behind me and Thanksgiving being the sign that Christmas was fast approaching, I would feel the rush of the season.
So I put my submissions to agents on hold until the new year. When I do my goal setting for next year, I’ll review whether I still want an agent or if I want to navigate on my own. I’ve been slowly writing during the season to maintain momentum. But if all I do is my Morning Pages, so be it.
I also set a goal to read during the season. I’m a fairly avid reader anyway, but I wanted to look at the season as well…holidays. I’d lost my job and I didn’t want to stress about writing when I might be blocked because of stresses I hadn’t anticipated.
My goal – to keep the season simple and enjoyable.
Tina
The Clog Blog 