Congratulations to all Savvy Authors!

Our first congratulations this week goes out to Savvy Authors member Char Chaffin. Her debut novel, Promises to Keep, is a finalist in NEC’s annual Beanpot Contest for Published Authors, in the Mainstream With Romantic Elements category. Congratulations, Char!

Jenna Rutland signed her first contract with Entangled Publishing. Her contemporary category romance will be published through their Indulgence line with a Spring 2013 release. Congratulations, Jenna!

Recently I finished a different sort of project that I’ve been thinking about writing for years. The sense of accomplishment I felt when I typed THE END was immense. I did it! But there was something keeping me from the usual sense of relief and freedom I get when I hand in a book to my editor.

I thought about it for quite a while before I understood why there were still some bits of me that didn’t feel quite like celebrating.

For one thing, I learned a lot while writing this story and a good part of that was finding out what DIDN’T work rather than what did. I spent a lot of time looking for other ways to get across what I thought I needed to. Sometimes what I thought was important wasn’t. Sometimes I was in the wrong POV, I focused on the wrong plot line, or got the motivation wrong.

The clock is ticking and you can't find that document. Where is it? What did you name it? It's due now and you have to leave the house in five minutes for an appointment. You don't have time for seek and find.

Does this scenario sound familiar? We've all been here, hunting like crazy, scrambling to track down a missing document or file. If we're lucky, we gave it a sensible name and can use the search function on the computer to locate it. If not, we're in for aggravation and headaches.

My writing ideas come from everywhere! They’re all around me, in front of me, and inside my head.

For example, my third Pet Rescue Mystery HOUNDS ABOUND is an April release from Berkley Prime Crime. It features a very special pet sanctuary that takes in hard-to-adopt animals such as seniors and the disabled.

How did I get that idea? I eavesdropped! Before I started plotting HOUNDS ABOUND, I was at a local grocery store when one of the staff, who was giving away tastes of featured foods, was talking to a customer. About what? Dogs and other pets. Since I do a lot of writing about animals, my ears perked up--as they often do when pets are the topic. Too bad mine don’t have as keen hearing as my own Cavalier King Charles Spaniels’ ears do.

Nine times in a four-month span, I’ve had people I’ve scheduled for the three websites I maintain not come through with their blogs. Then, I had to scramble and dip into my reserve of Emergency Blogs File to fill in the blanks.

There’s an SOP for scheduling a blog: 1) Either I invite someone or they ask me. 2) I offer a choice of available dates; they select one, or if they aren’t choosy, I simply pick one for them. 3) Then, I explain the rules: I update the blogs every Friday. The article has to be in that writer’s file by the Wednesday before. All pictures must be jpgs. 4) They agree.

Everything’s copasetic. Right?

As authors, we’re always striving for ways to reach new readers. It’s a great idea to build your existing relationships with bloggers, reviewers and readers, but you also want to push outside the known and try new ideas that have the potential to expand your reach. I’ve included some here that I’ve tried. Some have worked better than others, but all have helped me achieve the goal of reaching new readers. The idea here isn’t to try these all at once, but challenge yourself to experiment with one a week or one a month, or whenever you have a few spare minutes (ha! I know… *winks*). New promotional ideas can help you generate buzz, reach new readers and kick start your sales.

Thank you, Savvy Authors, for having me today! I’m really looking forward to chatting with everyone.

Ever have a great idea, one that thumps you in the heart with excitement? And then in the next breath, you say to yourself, “That won’t work. No one does that in XYZ subgenre.” If so, you might find a bit of inspiration in my words below.

From the first moment I decided to write a historical romance, I knew I wanted to push the bounds of the subgenre, and that knowledge scared the heck out of me. How far could I push the envelope for my writing to read fresh, rather than overboard? Would agents and editors share my desire to meet readers’ expectations and then take them to a dark place they never anticipated? Paranormal and romantic suspense do this all the time, but Regency-set historicals?

I judge a lot of contests. Though not as many in the past (up to seven in one year), I judged one contest this year. I can’t tell you how many times I see the “telling” in stories instead of the more emotional-punch of showing. And you can tell the difference between a new writer and a seasoned writer by how they describe things and really use that “showing” to their advantage.

I’m guilty of it, too. Sometimes I just get lazy as a writer and think, “Oh, I’ll go back and redo that later.” I’ve been trying to train myself to be a better first draft writer so the things I go back and edit are things that just need tweaking. This makes for a long first draft process but in the end, it makes a much cleaner draft to edit before shipping off to critique partners.

I live on the family farm, a riding stable in the Cascade foothills. I organize most of the riding programs, teach horsemanship around my day-job as a substitute teacher, nurse sick horses, hold for the shoer, train whoever needs it – four-legged and two-legged. And write mainstream western romances as Josie Malone for SirenBookStrand. I write young adult realistic fiction under what the kids at the barn call my “real name,” Shannon Kennedy for Black Opal.

Writing what I know means horses show up in most of my books. Because it’s fiction, the horse never dies – unlike real life. According to my veterinarian, Dr. Tim Cavenaugh of All Creatures Great and Small up in Arlington, “We choose to love those who have a shorter life span than we do,” and I’ve lost my share of dearly beloved horses over the past forty years. Last March, my equine companion of almost twenty-four years, Lucky Lady died of cancer and I’m still grieving her.