Satisfied Feeling

I know you've been there. You know you have a good idea for a story but there's some indefinable something that you're hung up on. Been scratching my head over my wip, RC ever since taking Delilah Devlin and Elle Jame's Blotting Bootcamp in March. Bad timing. I was about 15k in the story, trying to figure out what to pitch for the Nola Stars conference.

After taking the class I realized I didn't understand the characters well enough to move forward. Since I've been bogged down in crawfish season anyway, I've used my infrequent snatches of time to look at characters, plot ideas, writing new beginnings, a few new scenes, gradually getting closer to what I wanted.

All along, I've thought, if I could just figure out the twist that would make this more than just a contemporary romance mystery. I had an agent and a publisher request it after I pitched it on the spur of the moment, but I knew I needed an extra spark.

Last week I decided to place the story in Louisiana, after all, I know the area and I'd been looking for another region that had alligators and swamps. Then...Sunday morning I dreamed about RCM. A scene popped into my head that has changed the entire complexion of the book. It will be a paranormal. Now, I'm excited about it. Looking forward to moving forward.

My goal had been to do that yesterday but now I have to revamp my Scrivener file to allow for new research, consolidate old files, and do the research on some of the changes. I finished the mechanics in Scrivener of pulling the files together, now I have to read through it all again and figure out what is going to work and what to trash. Tomorrow, it's on to Big Town to use the high speed internet and do my research. Hopefully, by end of week or Monday next, I'll be back on track. Yes!

Nola Conference 2009

Well, the conference is over and Cadence and I had a great time!

Cadence Denton

Cadence got a request for a full! I knew it - she has built such a cool world. I got validation that I should set OTHR aside for now and concentrate on RC. Both the agent and editor I met with seemed excited about receiving a partial on that book.

(It always amazes me that some people just pitch ideas, barely born story blurbs.) So now I must concentrate on applying all of the recently learned plotting techniques to RC and getting it finished. I'm excited about that.

We missed Cora at the conference and wish her dad well.

Especially enjoyed meeting those authors from the new Diamond State Romance chapter. This chapter sounds like an up and coming force in romance. I can't wait to go on one of those writing retreats or the field trip to Memphis.



Shayla Kersten, Delilah Devlin, and Elle James on the right. Delilah and Elle were kind enough to teach a three week plus Plotting bootcamp for those of us who were registered for Nola Stars. What a great workshop!

It was nice to see our young author friend, Jamie Colette who got a request for a full on her ghost story.




Terry Spear on the left taught a workshop on Hooks and seems very knowledgeable about many subjects. I recently heard about her workshop on showing vs telling coming up in May. Then I met her and won a critique by her. Very serendipitous huh. and Ruthanne, a very sweet lady, was part of the organizing committee for the conference.

It was difficult to make more than a couple of the workshops with appointments overlapping them and workshops scheduled opposite each other.

There were some lovely baskets. I think I spent $35 to try to win the spa basket and didn't. Since I don't ever win anything, next year, I'll spend my bucks on a sure thing, our authors' books at the book signing.

Jennifer Blake gave the keynote address at lunchtime and I got tears in my eyes. It was on Inspiration. She went through quite a school of hard knocks but overcame every obstacle with perseverance and creativity. Most inspiring.

Congratulations too all the attendees!

Nola Stars Conference 08

Once again romance writers have proven how gracious they can be, how supportive of their comrades in the trenches, both published and unpublished.

At the Nola Stars Conference in Shreveport this weekend, 100 writing professionals converged to enjoy the company of fellow writers, pitch to agents and editors and learn about the craft and the industry. Missing at these meetings is the stereotypical 'female' competitiveness, back biting, and jealousy. Romance writers continue to gain respect as a community for helping other romance writers achieve their dreams.

Every encounter with another author for me was instructive and encouraging. My online partners and fellow writers who helped me prepare for the meeting - well, I just can't say enough. There's no way I could have even made it to the conference without their help, specifically Leah's. How would I have ever gotten my pitch together?

She reminded me to breathe, to take it slow, and to look at the whole conference as fun. Networking. Educational.

I did breathe, fifteen minutes after my pitch. Honestly, I had practiced so much and was sure I would screw it up, leave out the most pertinent details. But everything I'd heard from other writers and at conference workshops proved true. On the whole these editors and agents are an extension of this great romance writer community.

Margie Lawson was fabulous, when Susan Wiggs' plane was delayed and she was unable to make the conference, Margie stepped in to do the keynote and a full day of her Emotions seminar instead of half.

And I'm still thankful for Christine's challenge which prepared me to answer the question, "Where do you see your career going?"

I was excited to be asked for a partial by both my agent and editor appointments. So now the tough work begins, editing, finishing, getting the work ready to send within a self imposed time frame to take advantage of the momentum gained from the conference.

And to everyone I met at the conference, Beth, Cora, Karen, JoAnn, Keri, and may others, thanks for the great time and good luck. The Nola Stars did a fantastic job with this meeting down to the last sparerib.