Come Play with me and my new twins!

Twin releases that is! I'm blogging on Life, Love and an Insatiable Muse at Coffeetime Romance today. Come play with me and help me celebrate the releases of Wicked Temptation and Secrets, Volume 27.

My favorite thing about our RWNZ conferences!

Katie's "Things A Girl Should Have" post and her photos of her gorgeous dresses got me thinking about evening wear.

Back in my younger days, I had loads of flash evening clothes. I was a SINKie (Single Income, No Kids), I worked in a bank and I was teaching Ceroc dance, so there were plenty of excuses to buy expensive evening dresses: the annual bank balls, the annual Ceroc dance ball, the airforce ball (I was dating an RNZAF pilot), Christmas functions etc. And I thought nothing about spending up large. Ah, those were the days!

After I married my RNZAF pilot, he left the airforce and became self-employed. He's now a computer consultant--you may have come across me referring to him as CDWDMW, Clever Dude Who Designed My Website. We had a few years as DINKies (Double Income, No Kids) where we didn't have to worry about money too much, and then we did the whole mortgage and kids thing. And although I was lucky enough to be able to stay at home to look after my babies, money was tight. Aside from the cost of tickets to those balls, there were taxis and babysitters, and no way could I justify spending heaps of money on a dress I'd only wear maybe once or twice. For many years, as parents with young kids, our idea of a special night has been a DVD, a bottle of wine and a jumbo bar of chocolate--not that there's anything wrong with that....depending on the choice of DVD, of course ;-)

As a contractor, my husband doesn't get invited to work functions. As a full-time writer, neither do I. And although there's been a few memorable Halloween parties where we've gone all out and hired costumes, our days of getting dressed up to the nines have long passed.

Or at least, until I joined RWNZ.

We may be a small organisation, but we love to dress up. We have the Friday night cocktail party and the Saturday night awards dinner. Both of these functions have themes and everyone gets right into the whole chance to dress up to a specific theme.

So since 2004, when I joined up and attended my first RWNZ conference, part of the thrill when conference time looms, is haunting the shops for bargains to wear to the evening functions. I can't always afford to buy a dress to adhere to a theme but there's always the joy of accessorizing!

Here's some of my favorite bargains:

These were for a "pink" conference theme--I can't actually remember exactly what the theme was, just that it revolved around the color pink. No way was I gonna buy a pink dress, but pink accessories were a whole 'nother matter ;-). Match them with a flirty black cocktail dress I already owned and voila, pretty in pink.

I still love these shoes - they're a truly delicious raspberry pink! And the boa's had a few outings since then, too. I mean, who can resist a feather boa?

Just incidentally, the feather boa was the most expensive item of those pictured, coming in at $40. Shoes were on sale at $20, which is hard to believe because they ARE leather. And the bags are actually cosmetic bags which cost me $15 for the two. Result? One very happy husband, LOL.

At the 2006 RWNZ conference Awards Dinner, the theme was "Wild At Heart!" Cue a shopping expedition for animal prints...which again, weren't exactly in fashion at that time.

The top and the bag were bought from an up-market pre-loved clothing boutique. I paired the top with a long black velvet skirt that I already owned, & black heels. The stuffed leopard was bought as a joke accessory and ended up being our table's mascot for the evening.

It was a really memorable night because I knew I'd won The Clendon Award but hadn't been allowed to tell anyone before the announcement at the awards dinner that evening. Boy, did we go wild, LOL.

One year we had a theme of "Blue Moon" and I remember combing the stores wondering what the heck to wear because blue wasn't exactly an "in" color that year. To my amazement, I managed to score a brand new, full-length, sparkly blue cocktail gown with a halter neck, for the princely sum of $35. It's fully lined, really beautifully made and to this day, I have no idea why it was so heavily discounted. I also bought a pair of black stilettos which were on sale for $40.

Being the evil female that I am, I laid the dress and shoes out on the bed and waited for my husband to get home. He blanched when he saw them and I could see him mentally calculating the cost. He knows I'm not one to splash out without checking the bank balance first, but an evening dress AND shoes? Yikes!

"Guess what these cost!" I gloated.

He made a few half-hearted attempts and when I told him the shoes actually cost more than the dress, he didn't know what the hell to think! I put him out of his misery and showed him the price tags and his jaw dropped. Result, one ecstatic and very grateful husband...

...who of course, didn't mind too much when I thought silver accessories might go better with the dress. Hence silver shoes (on sale at a deleted lines outlet store for $20) and a silver handbag from a pre-loved clothing boutique. And I love the bag because of the clever adjustable handle which takes it from handbag to shoulderbag, so it gets used often.

I ended up wearing the black stilettos with the dress, BTW. Still haven't worn the shiny silver ones, but I'm ever hopeful.

So for me, one of the best aspects of writing conferences, is the chance to dress up.

And no matter whether you splash out on a new dress, go budget with a pre-loved outfit, wear an old favorite and vamp it up with new accessories, I reckon it's all worth it in the end because the memories are priceless!

:-)

Maree

Things A Girl Should Have

Today snuck up on me again! I'm waiting on pins and needles to hear back from my agent whether or not she liked my revisions, I just received first edits for my recent sale to EC, and I'm in the final stretch of finishing my current manuscript (like 2K to go!). When I'm feeling stressed or simply a little overwhelmed, I clean. And not simple dusting and vacuuming, but hardcore cleaning. So, since summer is here, my closet got a serious makeover. Some things (like expensive skirts I never should have bought in the first place) are hard to let go of, but there are certain articles of clothing, I'll probably hang onto forever. The 'little black dress' being one of those. I've actually got four, and while they're all slightly similar, they all make me feel different and if one doesn't work, I've got three 'go to' backups. I can dress them up or down for any occasion and I've even got a black dress specifically for funerals.


There are a few other things I like to have in my house at all times:


1. Silky, lacy lingerie
2. Chocolate
3. Tampons
4. Good mascara
5. A new book to read
6. Toilet paper


I could probably go on until I reached 100 but these are the first few things that come to mind. What about everyone else?


P.S. I'd like to add a sexy man with an understanding of carpentry and plumbing but since humans aren't things, I left that out. Still, it's on my list, it's just invisible ;)

Romance, Writing and Food: A Winning Combination!

Hi everyone,

It seems whenever I write there seems to be a scene where the hero and heroine are eating. Or, in one story the heroine owns a pastry shop called Wicked Temptations. (You can purchase that story in Celtic Love Knots Vol. 9 from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid.) The food scene between the hero and heroine was full of sexual tension and so much fun to write.

Anyway, I believe food can and at the right time a sensual experience.
If you don't believe me read Sherrilyn Kenyon's Seize the Night, Tabitha and Valerius' story. Yeah, you know the one...Val eats dinner off of Tabby.

Romance and food go together like, peanut butter and jelly. A food feast or a food fight I say let the fun begin.

When writing about heroes, heroines and food sometimes I'd like to include recipes.
I'm thinking of adding a section on my Yahoo group where readers can access/download a file of recipes in my stories.

Romance, writing and food all blend nicely together for a winning combination every time!

What are your favorite receipe's and why?

Hugs,
Tambra
Cowboy of the Night, a Recommended Read from Coffee Time Romance and
You Need To Read from You Gotta Read Reviews. Order: www.redrosepublishing.com

Text Novel Interactive Poll--you pick my muse!

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For those of you following my serial text novel, Musestruck, here are the five choices for my muse, Dante Erato. You, my dear readers, get to pick the muse before I finish his entrance scene. This poll will be up from Today until 5pm on Sunday. To vote, just put your muse number (1-5)in an email and mail it to me at starmuse23@gmail.com by 5pm EST on Sunday, July 28, 2009.

I'll tally the votes and edit my muse scenes to match which ever luscious guy y'all voted for!

So, without futher adieu, ladies, here they are in all their glory, the candidates for Dante Erato, the muse of love in Musestruck:

If you're reading my novel, and feel like clicking the thumbs up sign to cast a vote for me in Dorcesters "Next Best Celler" contest, I'd truly appreciate it.

The post where Maree spouts a heap of what'll hopefully prove to be nonsense.

I usually have at least some idea of what I'm going to post before I begin to write it. Today, soooo not the case. My excuse is I'm sick...sick of being sick, actually. We're immersed in the winter doldrums here in Auckland. And, yet again, I've been hit with a dose of the flu--no karate class or dance class for me tonight. It'll be Panadol and another early night.

I'm also going through one of those periods where I'm wondering why the hell I bother. With writing, that is. So probably not the greatest of times to be writing a blog post, but I'll give it a go and see what putting fingers to keyboard produces.

Note to readers: what follows could quite possibly be stream of consciousness and utter self-indulgent crap. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I'm sure I'll crawl back out of this hole eventually--I always do. No matter how many times I feel like chucking in the towel (and doubtless doing my family a huge favor by finding a job which could help pay the mortgage), wanting to write, needing to write is too deeply ingrained in me. But that doesn't stop me from periods of introspection which ultimately lead me to wonder why I'm putting myself through this. Like now.

I've been writing for five years. I have 9 completed novel-length manuscripts. Yep, you read it right: N I N E. (I'm a great believer in finish one, immediately start another and if you need a break, go back and rework one of your completed manuscripts before getting stuck into writing another new one.) I've finalled in a number of contests, and placed in enough contests to know my writing doesn't completely suck. I've even won a full manuscript contest. And though I'm not a fan of rejections, I do query. I've had fulls requested, too, and some incredibly positive feedback. I'm not being arrogant when I say I know I've got what it takes to be a successful author. I know this because judges and readers industry professionals have told me so.

But I'm not quite there. I haven't found that one person who loves my novel-length stories enough to want to take a chance on a relative unknown. "In this tough economic climate, it's harder than ever to sell manuscripts and I'm afraid I just didn't love XXX enough to want to represent you/offer you a contract." I understand, really I do. Who wants to be stuck trying to sell something that doesn't completely blow them away? Not me, that's for sure!

So here's my dilemma: I'm afraid.

I'm afraid that if there's something fundamental lacking in my writing--that x-factor that makes agents and editors punch their fists in the air and go "this is it!"--then I might truly be wasting my time. I might spend months and months writing manuscript number 10, only to have it, too, fall by the wayside for reasons I haven't yet been able to fathom.

I could quit writing new stuff, 'cuz gee whiz, there sure is enough of the old stuff to work on! How about I rip each one of those 9 manuscripts apart and start again from scratch? How about I stop being a barnstormer (pantser), go against my nature and become a plotter? How about I draw up detailed character interviews for each character, write detailed chapter-by-chapter summaries and get stuck in? How about I analyze every single page to ensure there's the right balance of action, dialogue and narrative? That might work. It'd certainly be a challenge and I do like a challenge.

But the biggest issue for me is that I can't bring myself to count rewrites as "real writing". It's an interesting process and for the most part it's satisfying. It can even be a helluva lot of fun but it doesn't nurture my soul the way writing new stories does.

I'm afraid to write new stuff in case I make the same old mistake...whatever that mistake might be. I'm afraid if I constantly rework my old stories, they'll lose that "voice" that made them special in the first place.

I'm afraid that after five years of highs and lows and struggling to achieve my dream of being published, and finally realizing that dream when my debut release came out this month, it might be a one-off. Maybe I'll never have anything else published. Maybe that one novella is all I've got.

And right now, I'm really hoping this fear is only a symptom of me feeling like crap because I have the flu. And I'm hoping that tomorrow when I look at this post, I'll be embarassed as hell because I'll be able to truthfully say it really is a bunch of self-indulgent nonsense. I'm hoping that I'll open up my ms file and be enthused about the story as I was when I first got the idea and knew I just had to write it. And I'm hoping that all this fear will be swept aside and replaced by the need to write.

It's happened before. I'm hoping it'll happen again. Fingers crossed.

M

Epublishing and RWA

If you're a member of RWA, a romance writer, or romance reader, you've probably heard about the recent RWA bruhaha. If not, check out ESPAN's blog, starting with Deidre Knight's letter to the president of RWA, and Diane Pershing's response. In addition, Angela James, senior editor of Samhain Publishing also spoke out and today, Raelene Gorlinksy of Ellora's Cave is posting about the advantages of epublishing.

I'd like to make it clear that I love RWA. If I didn't, I wouldn't be an involved member of it or three other local/online chapters. They're a wonderful organization in that they allow unpublished authors to join and for the most part, they've been great about educating members about the industry. Until recently that is. Among many other issues, now so many of our epubbed authors are stuck in no man's land in regards to entering the Rita contest or the Golden Heart. I'm a member of PAN (Published Author Network) yet because I'm published with an epublisher, I can't enter the Rita, but because I'm too published, I can't enter the Golden Heart (which I don't want to, but still, they shouldn't leave writers out in the cold).

There have been heated discussions on both sides with many people threatening to leave RWA or those who have already done so and I don't think that's the answer. Change comes from the inside so join your local chapter, or ESPAN (or both) and make your voice heard. The real problem I have with RWA is its lack of willingness to educate authors on epublishing. I'm epublished and was lucky enough to have someone look at my contracts before making a decision, but not everyone will have that. I also knew what questions to ask thanks to various classes/articles/posts on Romance Divas. It would be nice if RWA provided education on epublishing contracts and what to look for in a reputable company. Instead, they turn a blind eye and in the long run, this is going to hurt the people they claim to want to protect. In fact, I believe it's already hurting authors. Because many authors who have already sold to NY haven't properly negotiated the digital aspect of their contracts, the royalty norm has been set between 6-12% and that's just beyond ridiculous.

Okay, I'm going to stop with that now because that's not the real reason I decided to post on RWA and epublishing today. I wanted to tell y'all why I love being epublished. First I'd like to say that my ultimate goal is to be published in print. There I said it. I posted about a couple weeks ago, but I just signed with an agent so it's obvious that I'm striving to be published mass market. The thing is, I want the best of both worlds. I love writing for Ellora's Cave and if/when I write for NY, I plan to keep writing for EC. They have a market for the short erotic novellas I write, they pay almost 40% royalties, they pay ON TIME (monthly), they negotiate contracts, and everyone I've worked with or dealt with has been super professional.

I took an online class about six months ago and the instructor is a well known author who got her start in epublishing. I noticed that she had an upcoming release from EC so off loop I asked her why she still wrote for them when she was churning out books in NY. Her answer was simple. She didn't want to put all her eggs in one basket, she sold to them without the help of her agent, and most importantly, many of her EC books (novellas) had outsold some of her NY books. Not to mention they pay her monthly as opposed to getting an advance from NY, then waiting a year, sometimes two, to get the rest of her money.

As far as RWA is concerned, there doesn't have to be an Us vs. Them mentality. Members simply want an education on the changing market and as a representative of romance authors, RWA owes its members to give them that education. If you're interested in making a difference or seeing change in RWA, think about joining the yahoo loop, RWA change: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RWAchange/