Proactivity

I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "Good things come to those who wait." It's usually said by parents trying to get a little more time to finish whatever it is they're doing before the kids drive them insane with demands.

In the writing world, this was something I was often told, maybe not in those words, exactly, but something to the same effect. "You gotta wait for the agent/editor/publisher to get to your stuff before you can publish." Very true, particularly if you're waiting for one of the Big New York publishers to get back to you.

However, that doesn't mean you have to stop what you're doing or even stop honing your craft. Yes, you've finished your manuscript; yes, you've submitted it to one or several publishers; yes, they've given you a 16 week response time, but you don't have to stop writing. You don't have to wait by the phone/computer/iphone with baited breath.

Now is a good time to write the next book/novella/series of short stories. Don't wait on the editors. They're busy looking at your manuscript. Now is the time to practice some more. WRITE WRITE WRITE. This is the time to get the new story out there because if they turn down your first story, maybe they'll pick up the next one because it's just a little better, just a little more refined, just as little better planned and sketched out.

In each story I write, I improve my story-writing abilities. I've always been good at "telling" the story to folks, but writing takes a little more discipline and refinement. Talking it out, a story is full of colloquialisms and the words "that", "which", and "because"; telling words. In writing, it's a clunky way of reading and it pulls the reader out of the story. Refining the writing to leave out those words but still get across what I want to; wow, that takes practice!

So be proactive in your writing efforts. Submit to the publishers, query the agents, and then get back to work on the next story, because as Christina Dodd once put up on Facebook: "Professional writers are only amateurs who never gave up." Truer words were never written. :)

Dream Heroes Part 2

I had a dream last night (no, it won't be put into another story) were I was sitting in a restaurant in Pike Place Market, downtown Seattle, being interviewed by a young reporter for the romance writers' convention. He looked like Jerad Leto, with black hair, dreamy blue eyes, and lashes long and dark, like he wore too much eyeliner. He was giving me the eye despite the ring on my left hand and it was pretty obvious he'd gotten most of his interviews by using his good-looks. He was young, probably mid-twenties and I found his seductive come-hither looks amusing.

He was trying to find out more about me and the woman I'd just been visiting; the grand Pooh-bah of the convention (I'm not sure why she was so important, but she was). He was trying to get the inside scoop on her, as if she was the Queen of England or the First Lady of the US, and I'd just come from speaking with her. It was pretty funny, but I'm not a gossip, so he didn't get much from me.

At some point during our "interview", Christina Dodd, one of my favorite romance authors, came over and sat down, listening with half an ear to our conversation. I greeted her and waited for the reporter to ask her name, but he was doing his best to focus on me, trying to draw me out. Apparently, he thought I was "hawt".

Christina finally said, "I think your ride's here," and pointed toward the door. We all turned our heads to look and there he was. He wasn't the tallest guy I'd ever seen, but he stood at about 6 feet, with long dark hair falling over his broad shoulders and a dark goatee on his face. A black Stetson cowboy hat covered the top half of his face and a black leather duster fell to his booted ankles. Water dripped off the brim of the hat and slid down his coat to pool at his feet.

"Yep, thanks, Chris. Nice to meet you," I said to the reporter. I rose, gathered my coat and laptop bag, and headed toward the sexy man in the Stetson. When I reached him, he grinned, tilted his head and gave me a sweet, sweet kiss, before taking my raincoat and helping me into it. Then he ushered me out into the rain.

The man in the Stetson is my husband and he just gets better and better looking the longer I'm with him. He's my favorite "hero". He wakes up next to me every morning and cooks me dinner each night. He also cleaned out the garage this weekend. Love you, Handsome.

(BTW, my dream continued after "I" left and Christina asked if he knew who he'd been talking to. When he said no, she said, "That was Siobhan Muir." At his blank look, she added, "You don't know who Siobhan Muir is? What about Christina Dodd? Kate Pearce? Sabrina Jeffries? Kresley Cole?" He shook his head no and she asked, "Then why are you here doing an article on a romance writer's convention?") Good question. :)

Do you have a favorite type of hero? Is he a strong, aloof cowboy? Is he a military man from the future, like the bad-ass guys from Halo? Is he a doctor, a scientist (mad or otherwise), a fireman, a cop? Is he SWAT or a Navy SEAL? A Marine or a Top Gun? Is he the Bad Boy Biker Dude or the smart, sneaky thief? Is he the "anti-hero" like Vin Diesel in The Chronicles of Riddick? What is your favorite type of hero?