Boo, RWA!

  I know this won’t mean much to you not involved in the romance novel genre, but I have to vent! The company I work for, AuthorSolutions, recently struck a deal with Harlequin for a new imprint, “Harlequin Horizons,” which will allow romance authors to get editing, self-publish, and have a new venue for their books. How exciting!

But, of course, Romance Writers of America, promptly kicked out Harlequin. How unfair to kick out a whole publishing house because of one imprint. I’ve found RWA to be very frustrating and short-sighted–one reason I let my membership lapse. For example, they’ve tried, for years, to squelch erotic romance, but they haven’t been successful. It remains a lucrative and well-loved genre for many publishers, authors, and readers. 

Why does RWA try to marginalize certain members? One of their big agendas is to make the general public “respect” romance novels. It’s complete hooey and a waste of time. Readers either like the genre, or they don’t. No amount of posturing about it being great literature will change anybody’s mind.

Here’s hoping the members of RWA raise a stink about this. It’s time for RWA to get with the times, and be inclusive and forward-looking.

Happy Halloween

NaNoWriMo

   Friend Yvonne and I are joining NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year. You write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November, with NO editing. I’m thinking it will be fun to get some fast and furious writing done. The mind-set is “exuberant imperfection.” Here’s the link:

http://www.nanowrimo.org

There’s also a book about it, No Plot, No Problem, by the founder, Chris Baty.

Anybody else up to the challenge?

Get Your Books Here!

   Looking for a good book to read? May I suggest an online bookstore? My friend, Yvonne Weers, runs a successful online business called “TheBook-let.com.” Just click here:

http://www.thebook-let.com

Yvonne is a Nebraska writer who’s always an inspiration to me. Besides working on a Library Science degree, she’s also a computer wiz and designed TheBook-let.com web site. She regularly scours booksales to find the juiciest items. On the web site, she tells how TheBook-Let.com came to be:

“It all began quite innocently. My husband referred to it as an obsession.  That’s probably not a good thing for a marriage, but it turned out to be a great thing for starting a business.

I went to my first book sale in 1992 and, needless to say, I was hooked!  I quickly followed sales with auctions, and graduated to frequenting local used book stores.

Since then, I have collected thousands of titles and found that I was constantly in need of more shelf space.  That’s when I decided to sell a few gently used books in exchange for new ones, and Voila!  My obsession morphed into an online book business.

TheBook-Let.com was born on December 21, 2008, and I’ve never looked back.  I hope you enjoy my selections as much as I’ve enjoyed hunting them down. Happy Hunting!”
         

Good going, Yvonne! I wish you much continued success.

 

The Importance of Punctuation

   Someone sent me this item today.  Enjoy!   :)

Dear John:

 I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy–will you let me be yours?

Gloria

Dear John:

 I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours,

 Gloria

I Joined Facebook!

 I joined Facebook today! I’d been thinking about it, but kind of resisting. Don’t I spend enough time online already? And should I really be that “transparent”?

But everything I read says we need to “social network.” I was feeling like a Luddite, stodgy and behind the times.

I’ve only fooled around with Facebook for a few minutes today, and I already have four “friends.” One was a writing friend who moved to Kansas, so I’d lost touch with her. What fun to reconnect! So, I think I see how much fun Facebook is going to be.

Are you on Facebook?

Liberals and the Karpman Drama Triangle

  Liberal Democrats are now engaged in a massive power-grab in the United States. To listen to their rhetoric, their motives would seem entirely beneficent–”But I’m only trying to help you!” Why, then, do they get so condescending, enraged, and vituperative when people object to their “help”?

I believe they’re engaged in the Karpman Drama Triangle. This concept was the work of Stephen B. Karpman, and I first read about it  in Melodie Beattie’s book, Codependent No More. On a larger scale, I believe that Liberal Dems regularly scoot around the points of this triangle with alarming speed. I’ll quote some from Beattie here, with my own ideas added:

(1)  RESCUE:  Rescuers first try to “caretake” other people. From the bailouts, to the stimulus overspending, to the Czars, to ACORN, to Obama healthcare proposal, the following acts constitute a rescuing or caretaking move: doing something for someone although that person is capable of and should be doing it for him- or herself; meeting people’s needs without being asked; doing people’s thinking for them; and solving people’s problems for them.

Caretaking looks like a much friendlier act than it is. It requires incompetency on the part of the person being taken care of. They rescue “victims”–people who they believe are not capable of being responsible for themselves.

(2) PERSECUTE:  To complicate matters, the victims, these poor Americans they’ve rescued, are not grateful for their ”help.” Except for those who just want a free hand-out, most of the time, people resent being told or shown they are incompetent. The victims are not appreciative enough. The victims aren’t behaving the way they should–instead, they’re speaking out, saying “No, thank you!” and attending Tea Party rallies. How dare they?!? So the rescuer rips off his halo and pulls out his pitchfork. 

(3) VICTIM:  Then it’s time for the final move–the predictable and unavoidable result of a rescue. The rescuer feels hurt, shame, and self-pity. “Oh, it’s the same old story. All those people against us are racists. They don’t like Obama simply because he’s black. We’re being victimized once again.”

Rescuing is not an altruistic act of love. The Karpman Drama Triangle is a hate triangle, and I believe that’s why you see so much hate from the Left.

In the words of one of the Tea Party protestors, “Please. Don’t rescue us. Just leave us alone!”

Editing: Find a Feeling

  This is really a post about editing AND writing. I’m a great fan of literary agent Donald Maass (Pictured here. Cute, isn’t he?). He’s written several “how-to-write” books that provide specific, real things you can do to improve your writing. In the latest issue of Writer’s Digest, he came through again with his article “Fire Up Your Fiction.” In it, he says:

“Many fiction manuscripts feel lackluster. What is missing when a manuscript hugs the wall and refuses to dance? Originality is not the key. It can’t be–otherwise every new vampire novel would be dead on arrival. The issue, then, is not whether a story has a cool new premise. When a manuscript succeeds, it is invariably fired by inspiration. Passion comes through on the page.” 

Ah, yes.  I think back to my ill-fated attempt to write a vampire novel. Heck, they were selling, weren’t they? But I felt no passion for this subject. I just don’t get what is so sexy about vampires. When I recently re-read the first three chapters I’d written on that manuscript, I found they … well … they sucked.

I remember my excitement when writing it. I didn’t give a hoot about the vampires, but I had a passion for the setting of Whitby, England. This was the quaint little fishing village where Bram Stoker’s vampire departed England for America. I could just picture Stoker sitting on a bench overlooking the water and writing Dracula. So, predicably, the parts of those chapters that came alive were about Whitby.

This leads me to think: in choosing what to write next, what am I passionate about right now? It can’t be ideas that grabbed me five years ago, because feelings change and their time has passed. It can’t be ideas that are guaranteed to sell, like the “amnesia” plot of many romance novels, because they just make me yawn. It can’t be a clone of a best-selling novel, because I’ll read another one tomorrow and lose interest in this one.

The master, Dwight Swain, also wrote about this in his book, Techniques of the Selling Writer. He said, “First, find a feeling.”

Sooooo, what right now makes me feel fury? Futility? Betrayal? Hope? Joy? Arousal? Shame? Grief? Pride? Self-loathing? Security? That’s what I need to be writing about.

Weight Watchers eTools

  I was going to add a second WordPress blog, “Living Weight Watchers,” but the WW eTools site has blogs over there. And that’s not all they have! I’m blown away by the upgrades to Weight Watchers since I last belonged. The eTools site is so awesome.

I’ve already joined two groups, “Arizona Hotties” and “Phoenix.”

I joined a challenge, “The GLOWW Challenge.”

I already had one member, “Pocoloco,” ask me to be her “friend.”

I started a second blog, “Living Weight Watchers,” at the site. 

All this provides motivation to help me stick with the plan.

If you’ve ever belonged to WW, I invite you to join again. It’s fun.

Back to Weight Watchers

  Yesterday, I re-joined Weight Watchers. I’m not where I’d like to be right now on my weight, and WW works! I had success with it before, losing many pounds, but then let it go. Why did I do that? Oh well–this time, I’m determined to make it a part of my life from now on. When I get to goal weight, it will be free!

It was so much fun getting all the new materials (they’re updated once a year). And “etools” online is free, with lots of fun goodies to look at.

I can honestly say that Weight Watchers is the best program I’ve found for a healthy lifestyle. It puts you in control of food, you can eat anything you want, and it’s all based on a balanced diet. 

It feels good to get back to WW.