I didn’t have a blog idea for today because my daughter Kelly was supposed to write a blog about the whole Wall Street Journal opinion piece calling (practically) for the censorship of a glut of YA books, including several that Kelly read and enjoyed. And she wrote it, but didn’t finish it, and she’s sleeping now (because it’s one in the morning) and while I debated waking her up to meet her deadline (I gave her five days!) I decided to let her sleep. (Who says I’m not a considerate mom?) I’m going to make her finish it and I’ll post it this weekend. But in summary: we both think the WSJ article stinks. You can read up on responses to the piece at Twitter by searching on the #YAsaves hashtag. Or go read my blog about it at Murderati.
So because I don’t have Kelly’s blog (which, what I have read, is very good and decidedly sarcastic), I’m just going to embarrass her for the next 750 words I’ll talk about one of my favorite subjects: Breaking Rules.
I’m working on my presentation to the San Francisco RWA chapter this weekend, revising my BREAKING RULES workshop. I created this workshop in 2007 (I think) to respond to all the so-called “rules” some people toss around as Gospel, as if the “writing rules” were the Ten Commandments. (I’m restructuring my workshop as a tongue-in-check “Ten Writing Commandments You Can’t Break.”)
The reason I created the workshop was because I was tired of well-meaning writers–both published and unpublished–telling people (read: me) what I HAD to do and what I COULDN’T do.
I’There are some publishers and lines who have more stringent “rules” about what can and can’t be in their books. It benefits you to listen. And, if you’re like me, you’ll twist those rules and give them exactly what they want while breaking every single one of them just because they had the audacity to tell you “you can’t do this.” Okay, maybe not. . . . Confession time: When someone tells me something can’t be done, I will usually go out of my way, lose sleep, work all night, and do whatever it takes to accomplish the goal because, well, I don’t like being told “it can’t be done.”
On any writing loop, inevitably, once a week, someone will post a “rule.” It’s not only in romance, but romance writers tend to talk about the “rules” more than thriller and mystery writers. I’ve heard most of these commandments before. You can’t write in any POVs other than the hero and heroine. The hero and heroine have to meet by XX point in the book. Blah blah blah.
Then this week, I heard something I hadn’t before: that one of the Harlequin lines (I can’t remember which) doesn’t like love triangles. This brand new author who is nearly done writing her first book heard this rule and decided she had to go back to the beginning and rewrite it, though she was torn because the love triangle was so integral to the story.
My advice to her (and anyone else considering doing something like this) is STOP! Finish the book. Edit it until it shines. Maybe this book isn’t for that line. Maybe it’s for HQN. Or MIRA. Or another publisher all together. If the story is good and you love it and your characters come alive, why change it?
Maybe a love triangle is a harder sell. But if it’s done well, it could be the top seller for the month. If it’s done well, it could hit lists. It could make your career … or not.
Playing it safe is one strategy, and I’m sure there are many authors out there who have carved out successful careers for themselves by playing it safe with their stories.
For me, I like bold, both when I write and when I’m reading. Shake things up, do something different, give me a great story. Sell me on the love triangle. Tear me up inside because of the emotional power of the situation. Is it hard? Hell yes. But writing safe isn’t easy, either. In fact WRITING isn’t easy, it doesn’t get easier over time or after ten books or twenty books.
Now, it may be that your voice fits a specific line and the editor of that line said no love triangle, we won’t even read it, don’t send it, and then you can decide to write something completely different for the line that they want, or polishing your doesn’t-fit story into a submission to another house. That’s your choice. We all have to make choices in our careers that, at other times in our career we might have chosen different. Don’t let people tell you you’re wrong. You might screw up and make mistakes, or you might be a huge success. Or both. What’s important to remember is that this is YOUR BOOK. Your story. Be bold and daring and sometimes that means breaking a few rules. Those are the books that stand out to readers, and they also stand out to editors and agents. (Most of the time. There are of course some people who want to play it safe. Bear market and all that. So you always have to consider what’s happening, your voice, your career, your goals, and make your own decisions.)
Then yesterday another “rule” popped up. This one I have heard before, but not too often. Don’t have travel scenes.
Well, this is kind of vague. But the person who mentioned it said that her critique partner said absolutely no scenes where the characters are traveling from point A to point B. And I start scratching my head and thinking, damn, another rule I’ve broken in every book I’ve written.
My rule about travel scenes? Don’t be boring. Actually, that’s a good rule for every scene: Don’t write a boring scene. Something needs to happen. People need to react.
What the rule-monger SHOULD have said is, “Travel scenes are hard because they can be boring if you show too much about the traveling that isn’t related to the story. So make sure the scene is tight and essential to the story, that there isn’t another way to show it.”
Again, good basic writing rule: Make sure every scene moves the story forward.
These kind of rules pop up time and time again. Most people mean well. I originally thought they were all rules by unpublished authors, but shockingly, that is not the case. Many come from published authors who found success by adhering to certain rules, and they generously want to share their method with you.
Except. What works for them might not work for you.
The #YAsaves situation illustrates rule breaking in a bigger, more general sense. There are YA authors who are shattering story rules. Creating worlds that had been reserved for the adult fantasy market, but putting in teen protagonists. Creating mysteries with a contemporary framework. Creating stories with characters who have suffered — through rape, drug abuse, cutting, bullying, and a myriad of other problems. I’m 41 and there were no YA books. At 13, I moved from Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie and Judy Blume (who’d I’d already outgrown, along with Trixie Belden) right into Stephen King. Sure, there were a bunch of “classics” I had to read in school, many that I adored, that were written to be accessible to YA readers but weren’t truly “YA” lit. I’m thrilled with the selection out there today. Kelly had even read books–full-length fiction–written entirely in verse. YA has exploded because this new crop of writers is being bold, breaking rules, and giving readers something they want, and–most importantly–doing it well.
So as I said, I’m updating my workshop for my Saturday presentation. I’ll go through some of the “rules” I broke in my earlier books, and why. (For example, a love triangle, killing off a major character, multiple POVs, flashbacks, prologues–yeah, I break a lot of “rules.”) Please share some of your experiences with rules–keeping them, or breaking them. Do you have an example of something new and different and bold that caught your eye because it threw conventions out the window, but did it so well you loved it? Share!
P.S. I’m behind in getting out books and such to blog winners from the last six weeks. Between deadlines and the kids getting out of school, everything got pushed aside. I’m working on getting everything out this weekend. Bear with me! (My mom’s coming over today to help me organize my office and get this stuff done. Thanks mom!)
Last week, I turned in the revisions of IF I SHOULD DIE, minus the ending. The last sixty pages just weren’t working. I’d attempted to write the ending a multitude of times, but as I got into it, something stopped me.
The set-up was contrived. The characters were being stupid. I forgot a character over here. I killed the wrong guy.
Nothing was coming together the way I thought it would.
I suppose I should have realized this book would be the hardest book yet. More than five years ago, my first book was published and I thought that surely, writing would be easier.
After my seventh book nearly killed me, I thought surely, it will get easier.
I remember chatting with my mentor and friend Mariah Stewart, lamenting the fact that (at the time) she had twenty-some books published and it was “so easy” for her. She laughed at me and said, “Honey, it doesn’t get easier.” In fact, she continued, it gets harder, because you’re always striving to write a better book. Writing a book equal to the last is, in fact, slipping, because readers will continue to expect more.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing—but it does add pressure.
The writing itself isn’t the problem. I think I’m a stronger writer—my manuscripts are cleaner, I don’t make some of the amateur mistakes I used to. But it takes me longer to write each book. I can no longer write beginning to end without pause. I see the mistakes right after I make them; I stop, backtrack, rewrite, repeat as necessary. And even then, when I’m done, I rewrite the entire book.
IF I SHOULD DIE is a very linear story. While there were lots of things going on, there was a definitely catalyst, and everything came from that. But as secrets of the small town of Spruce Lake, NY were revealed, I found the story was far more complex than I thought. And because of that, the ending was difficult to write. I had to tie up a lot of loose ends, make sure the climax was both exciting and realistic, and that the motivations of the characters held up to the end. Meaning, their actions and reactions had to be consistent based on who they were. The villain in particular.
Each ending I began (but didn’t finish) was headed toward a conclusion that didn’t make sense—to me OR to my characters. So I’d back-track and rework and start in a different direction. A character would die, then I’d realize they couldn’t die! Or it didn’t make sense, and then they’d be resurrected for the next go-around. A different person would die. Or live. Or be severely injured. Or kidnapped. But none of it was working and I was desperate. I’m just not cut out to play God with my characters. I’m just the voice, telling their story.
I finally gave up control and let my sub-conscious figure it out: I went to bed thinking about the book and where and why I was stuck. And I woke up with the solution.
This kind of problem solving has worked for me in the past, both in my writing career and in my previous career, but I hesitate to rely on it. Maybe I fear that if I count on dream solutions I will become lazy and complacent and not think things through. Whatever the reason, it usually works when I’m completely stuck and see no way out.
What amazed me this time was the solution was there all along, I was just too stubborn to see it. In fact, I’d rejected the solution long ago because I thought getting all the characters in one place was contrived. But on the contrary, it was the only possible outcome for the set-up. It made sense.
At least, I hope it does … I’m waiting to hear back from my editor who hasn’t read the ending yet to let me know if it all works. :/
Here’s the back cover copy from IF I SHOULD DIE, book three of the Lucy Kincaid series, which will be out 11.22.11
A TRIP TO THE DARK SIDE
Aspiring FBI agent Lucy Kincaid and her P.I. boyfriend, Sean Rogan, are headed to the Adirondack Mountains for a pleasant romantic getaway, when they detour to help out troubled friends, owners of a new resort who are battling malicious vandals. After Lucy and Sean pursue an arsonist into an abandoned mine shaft, Lucy stumbles upon an even more heinous crime—and the perfectly posed remains of its victim.
The only thing more disturbing than the woman’s corpse is its sudden disappearance. While the local police remain skeptical, Lucy is dead certain there’s a connection between the sabotage and the murder—one that the less-than-neighborly citizens of Spruce Lake seem to have a stake in keeping hidden. When a cold-blooded sniper targets Sean and Lucy, FBI agent Noah Armstrong enters the fray to ensure more bodies don’t hit the ground. Now three outsiders race to untangle a violent conspiracy before they end up like the rest of Spruce Lake’s secrets: dead and buried.
And I’m thrilled to announce that I have a title for Lucy Kincaid #4, which will be out next May: SILENCED.
My question today: what an assumption you’ve had about your writing, your kids, your life that has changed? For me, I thought writing would get easier the more books I’d written; that is so, so, SO far from the truth. What about you?
Please welcome my friend Misa Ramirez. For a short time, we were in the same critique group here in Sacramento. We have a lot in common! Five kids, lived in Elk Grove (she moved to Texas!), and a love of writing. I was very lucky to read her debut novel, LIVING THE VIDA LOLA, a terrific mystery and fun romantic mystery set in Sacramento. It was also the book she was working on while in our crit group! How fun is that? Please welcome Misa!
I’m a minimal plotter. I get a nugget of an idea and run with it, seeing where it takes me and my story.
This is true whether I’m writing my Lola Cruz Mysteries, my new Magical Dressmaking Mystery series, or my romantic suspenses (A Deadly Curse, available now, or A Deadly Sacrifice, coming in May). My ideas usually stem from something I’ve read, heard about , or have in my memory banks. From there, it develops, often requiring research to flesh it out.
This was especially true when it came to writing A Deadly Curse. It’s based on the legend of la Llorona. As an aside, I’d written this book in its current form, but because of my other mysteries, I thought about restructuring it to be more of a mystery with a little quirk. I discussed it with Alex Sokoloff when we were at a retreat in South Carolina, and boy, oh boy, she did not like the light treatment of the legend of la Llorona! I remember feeling like I’d been scolded for not taking a legend seriously, when in fact I had already taken it very seriously and written about it. But she was right, ad I went back to the original book, tightening it and making it even darker, respecting the legend(s) and all they represent. It was definitely the right decision. Gracias, Alex, for sending me back to my original manuscript!
Back to La Llorona. My husband, Carlos, grew up hearing the story. His parents, tias, and tios, and every other adult around, would tell the kids the story. Their purpose? To frighten them enough so they wouldn’t wander off alone. La Llorona was the Mexican boogyman.
I first learned about the legend of the crying woman after I met Carlos (we’ve now been married 20 years and have five children, so la Llorona has been part of my consciousness for a long time). We’d go camping with his brothers and sisters and their spouses, sit around the campfire, and invariably, the stories would begin. Before long, a low, haunting sound would float through the air. La Llorona. It was as if the ghost was right there, her wails coming from the banks of the river through the trees.
It didn’t take long to figure out that it was my husband making the haunting sounds, but the legend itself was spooky and stayed with me from the first time I heard the story. A woman kills her children by drowning them in the river. After she realizes what she’s done, she drowns herself. Legend has it that the woman has been haunting riverbanks ever since, looking for her children. Kids are warned to stay away from the rivers so la Llorona doesn’t steel them, thinking they are hers.
Creepy.
Yet fascinating.
When I began plotting A Deadly Curse, I needed to learn more about la Llorona. Why did she drown her children? That, I figured, would inspire my plot. Little did I know that the legend of la Llorona was far more complex than I’d ever imagined.
What I learned was that there are actually four different stories behind the legend. My husband’s family knew only one of them. Everyone I’ve talked to since then has only known one, or possibly two different versions. No one has known all four of the stories.
The woman in each story was called something different:
La Ramera (the harlot)
La Bruja (the witch)
La Virgin (the virgin)
La Sirena (the siren)
Needless to say, learning about the four different stories set my plot in a new direction. The knowledge created new opportunities and obstacles for my characters, and I couldn’t have done a better job if I’d painstakingly plotted. Research opens doors for me, taking my stories in fascinating directions I couldn’t have created if I’d tried. The uncertainty and reveals during the process makes writing that much more interesting, albeit nerve-wracking, for me. I always have a roadmap, so I know where I’m going to end up, but f I don’t always know the exact route I’ll take to get there. And if I don’t know exactly where the story is going, I can’t leave an subconscious trail of breadcrumbs for the reader.
In my opinion, a great book is most often the result of clever and tight plotting, combined with discoveries made by the author during his/her writing process.
As readers, do you find some books to have too clear a path to follow and does that spoil the read? Conversely, do you find that some books ramble, going in too many directions, leaving you wondering if there was a roadmap at all?
Misa Ramirez, who also writes under the pseudonym Melissa Bourbon, can be found online at:
She’s the marketing director for Entangled Publishing, teaches creative writing at Southern Methodist University-Cape, and teaches online with Savvy Authors.
I’m neck deep in revisions for KISS ME, KILL ME — due in four days — so my creative energies are focused solely on rewriting the climax scenes. (And no, I’m not talking about sex!)
Last time I was here, I posted a story my daughter wrote for a school project on ENDER’S GAME. It was amazing. Well, I just read her latest school writing project–a 1200 word short story. She wrote a ghost story that is amazing. But what is really hilarious, is that it’s not due for two weeks. What WAS due was a basic outline–character, conflict, theme, etc. She told me she couldn’t fill out her teacher’s “stupid form” (her words, not mine!) until she wrote the story. My, but how that sounds very familiar! So she wrote the story, then filled out the form, and is one happy camper because while all the other students still need to write a story, she’s done.
The reason I did a quick blog then was that I spent that Thursday traveling to the Moonlight and Magnolia’s Conference that the Georgia Romance Writers put on. Wow. I had so much fun, learned a lot, and even wrote a speech that I almost stuck to. (Rocki would be so proud of me!) I posted the speech Sunday over at Murderati because, well, I was on deadline last Sunday, too. :/
Speaking of Rocki (isn’t her new website absolutely AMAZING?!?), I read everyone’s comments. Excerpts, book lists, links to buy. No clutter, easy to navigate. Check. I’m revamping my landing page (well, my more talented web-guy is revamping it.) I am 50/50 about doing a book trailer. I loved them when I started because in 2005 not everyone had book trailers. But now? I’m not sure. What do you think?
I have a half-written blog that will have to wait for next time. It’s called, “Is the Road to Hell Really Paved with Adverbs?” It started as a rant against killing all adverbs. I like adverbs. Adverbs modify verbs. They are a perfectly acceptable–and needed–part of speech. Adverbs are not evil; in fact, I would call them pretty dang good. But like anything good, they’re best used in moderation. That’s your public service announcement for the day.
I’ve been following the Chilean miner story from the beginning primarily because my husband was following it, but also because of the dire situation those trapped miners were in. Let’s here it for the United States and everyone who worked hard, as a team, to bring those men to the surface. You are all heroes, the 33 miners and the people who helped save them. On Facebook, Toni posted a link to this amazing article. I agree with the columnist’s comment: “it is so refreshing to see us at our best again.”
And now, that’s the conclusion of my blog! Because it’s back to work. I searched for some fun questions on the Internet to keep you all chatty so that I can finally have more comments than Lori, but I settled on a good book standard. Comment and I’ll randomly pick someone to win a copy of any book in my backlist
What are you reading right now? An ARC of LOVE YOU MORE by Lisa Gardner (neener, neener! It doesn’t come out until March!)
Do you know what you’ll read next? Um, no. It’s a toss up between PROMISES IN DEATH by JD Robb (I’m several books behind in the series) and Joe Hill’s HORNS. But I could change my mind
What’s the last book you stayed up half the night to read because it was so good? IN HARM’S WAY by Ridley Pearson
The International Thriller Writers (ITW) hosts Thrillerfest in NYC the second week of every July. On Sunday, I returned from the Thrillerfest V, elated and excited and a bit apprehensive.
First, a little about the organization. ITW was originally for published thriller writers of all sub-genres, as well as the lofty goal of being a “readers” group. I think the organization has moved solidly into the thriller writers camp, but with one big exception: the organization makes a concerted effort to reach readers, librarians, booksellers and other industry folks and does an amazing job promoting not only thriller writers, but the thriller genre as a whole.
I’ve always felt welcome in ITW, even though I write what’s marketed as “romantic suspense.” I put that in quotes only because everyone and their brother has a different idea what romantic suspense is and what it isn’t.
(I have my own personal definition of romantic suspense—a hero and heroine working together or parallel to solve a crime or save the world, and they are together—and alive—at the end of the book. Other than that, anything goes—sexy or tame; gritty or light; humorous or serious. I don’t like RS rules because there are so many of us writing RS that I think RS has become it’s own genre, not purely in the suspense camp and not purely in the romance camp. But that’s a subject for another blog . . . )
ITW has developed into a truly amazing entity. They have so many opportunities for authors to promote themselves, both paid and unpaid. They have an monthly e-newsletter that goes to tens of thousands of thriller readers. The board continually develops new and innovative programs to expand the organization but more important, the published authors who make up the bulk of the membership.
ITW’s Mission is “To bestow recognition and promote the thriller genre at an innovative and superior level for and through our Active Members; to provide opportunities for mentoring, education and collegiality among thriller authors and industry professionals; and to grant awards for excellence in the thriller genre.”
You can join ITW as an associate if you are not published by an ITW recognized publisher (though they have a very liberal recognition policy.) Full members can join for free. Free? Yes, I mean it! If you are a published author, you pay no dues. How can this be? Because the anthologies where members write original stories fund the organization.
Currently, there are four or five anthologies on sale now, the two biggest being THRILLER (edited by James Patterson) and THRILLER 2 (edited by Clive Cussler) published by MIRA. A YA Thriller Anthology will be published by Tor in the Fall. I’m the managing editor of THRILLER 3 (edited by Sandra Brown) which boasts a terrific line-up of bestselling and award-winning romantic suspense and thriller authors. Most recently, 100 MUST READ THRILLERS went on-sale. I have an essay on REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier in the non-fiction anthology, the book most often considered the true launch of the romantic suspense genre.
Another amazing program that was announced at the banquet was the USO inviting thriller authors to go to Iraq. Steve Berry and James Rollins are two of them (who I know personally) and I am thrilled with this, not least of which is to help our troops. Like RWA has the Literacy Signing, ITW supports Reading Is Fundamental. Half the profits from the YA thriller anthology (edited by R.L. Stine) is going to RIF.
Because the organization is formed with tiered membership, ITW isn’t bound by many of the restrictions RWA has. But more than that, I find it a place where I fit, even though I have a foot rooted firmly in both the romance and thriller genre.
I’m not writing specifically to plug ITW—though if you want to join, here’s the link!—and the organization isn’t perfect (what organization is?) but they provide access to authors and opportunities that I haven’t found elsewhere. It started in Arizona in the heat of the summer in 2006, shortly after my first book came out, where I was lucky enough to meet some amazing people and forge new personal and professional friendships. Because it’s small—more like a regional RWA conference than a national conference—it feels more intimate and people are generally open and friendly, including some big-name authors like Harlan Coben and Ken Follett and Lisa Gardner (who won the Thriller for Best Hardcover!) and Lee Child and Steve Berry and Lisa Scottoline and Carla Neggers . . . and I could go on.
Thrillerfest offers workshops similar to RWA in that they have both craft and career tracks. But they differ in that two days are focused on “Craftfest” aimed to unpublished and newly published authors; and two days are focused on “Thrillerfest” aimed at both published and unpublished authors, as well as readers and other industry folks. You can buy a package for everything (at a discount) or piecemeal it and attend for just a day or one “fest.” NYC is expensive, and breaking it up makes it doable especially for those who can get to the city for a day trip.
I have a confession: I only attended part of one panel, other than the panels I served on. Why is this so sad? Because there were at least six that I really wanted to listen to. But I was in NY partly on business this time around—my agent hunt (which was successful!)—and because of meetings missed a lot.
I presented my “No Plotters Allowed” workshop at CraftFest. I was surprised anyone at a thriller conference would show up because honestly, I’ve met more thriller writers who plot (though certainly not all—Tess Gerritsen doesn’t plot, Harlan Coben said in a blog interview that he very loosely outlines, and sometimes doesn’t outline at all, and of course there’s me, the insane one, just sitting down and writing with a vague idea and sense of character . . . ) Fortunately, the workshop seemed well-received and I had people coming up to me throughout the week to discuss something I said that resonated with them. Yeah! Not a failure!
I was on a paranormal panel with former MSW contributor Heather Graham (an amazing author and woman, I’ve always enjoyed her books and she’s very fun on panels!) called “Why be Normal when you can be Paranormal?” Jonathon Mayberry, who writes both fiction and non-fiction, made the point that there is so much out there in mythology that we can write paranormal stories from here to eternity and still have relatively original and fresh material, if we know where to look. For example, there are different vampire myths among peoples of different countries and times, and research is just as important when writing paranormal as it is writing a straight thriller.
The next panel I served as Panel Master. Unlike RWA, the “Panel Master” (or moderator) also participates in the panel while leading the panel, creating questions, taking questions, and shaping the discussion. I never thought I’d like to be the moderator (too much pressure!) but I found I truly enjoy it and it’s almost like running a board meeting—I’m fairly competent at keeping people on task and summarizing audience questions so we move quickly. I was the Panel Master of “Is Social Networking a Waste of Time?” I had some absolutely terrific panel members, including publicists and authors who successfully use social networking. The conclusion? SN is here to stay, but find the medium that works best for you, your schedule and your personality. Be smart about it, and don’t let SN drain your creativity. If you are an awful blogger; don’t blog. If you find you fritter away time at twitter, learn to limit yourself. The authors on the panel firmly believed that twitter (and facebook) sells books . . . I am still undecided, but I believe that if you focus on doing what you enjoy, you’ll cultivate your readership, please your fans, and hopefully those fans who enjoy your blogs or twitter posts will be the ones to spread the word about your next book. But drive-by promotion is a big no-no, because readers know. That’s why you need something you can consistently do, on schedule (whether it’s blogging monthly or tweeting twice a day for ten minutes or checking into facebook at breakfast, lunch and dinner.)
There was an industry panel I missed called “Can we innovate more?” where ITW brought in major house publishers and big name authors to discuss what authors can do to help publishers sell books. I can’t wait to get the tape. Another panel that competed against one of mine was “Why do thrillers kick ass?” with Steve Berry, Carla Neggers, Ridley Pearson et. al. There was a panel devoted to innovation with e-books with authors and marketing people who have had successful promotions of e-books. A panel just on forensic thrillers moderated by Dr. D.P. Lyle (I have most, if not all, of his non-fiction books about forensics for writers.)
ITW also has spotlight guests, which are amazing sessions where popular authors are interviews. This year, they included Lisa Scottoline and Harlan Coben. Ken Follett is the new Thriller Master. And then the debut author breakfast, MC’d by Andrew Gross with a motivational speech by Brad Meltzer. I love this breakfast, even though I have to drag myself out of bed early for it on Saturday morning . . .
And then of course, there’s the bar . . . which is worth the price of admission!
Now there are always negatives to any organization or people, but honestly, the positives outweigh the downsides, and if you write thrillers of any sub-genre, I strongly suggest ITW as the group to join.
I wish I could offer more insight from the panels, but since I didn’t attend most I can’t. If you have questions, please ask! (The big talk across the board while chatting was e-books—some authors are selling up to 50% of their books in e-book format, but most hardcover authors are at 20-30% total sales via e-book and mass market authors are much less. It really depends on your format and distribution. The business is certainly in flux, but change isn’t always a bad thing as long as you make decisions out of sound business analysis and not fear.)
I still go to RWA, and I still find immense value in the organization. It’s larger, the networking is amazing, and I get to see all my friends If you write romance, RWA is definitely the place to be. And since I write romantic suspense, I can’t imagine not being part of both organizations. After Orlando, I’ll write about RWA!
. . . Confession time: When someone tells me something can’t be done, I will usually go out of my way, lose sleep, work all night, and do whatever it takes to accomplish the goal because, well, I don’t like being told “it can’t be done.”
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