Boots and a badge

Whenever I read a book, I have certain images of what the H/H look like. Doesn’t matter what the descriptions are—I know that’s terrible since the authors do go to great trouble to create that character’s world, but it’s just what I’ve always done. And it does vary slightly with one exception… whenever I read Sheriff or the likes, he’s a cowboy. Always always. Now it doesn’t necessarily crossover for all law enforcement. I’ve read too many procedural books to think of them all boot wearing, hat toting men. But regardless of the city or state, I read sheriff/deputy even chief in a small town my mind jumps to a Stetson and Justin’s wearing man with a shiny silver badge.

Could be, that growing up, the majority of the shows I watched with the “law” were the westerns reruns (back before we had cable—and we were the *last* folks to get it—I spent my under-teen years glued to the black and white UHF channels). The men who protected wore the boots and they had the hats and that seemed like how it should be and it cemented in my head what the law looks like. That coupled with the fact the only time I saw a man in uniform for real, they were Texas State Troopers—never saw one w/o the hat. Not that my parents weren’t law abiding or anything… it’s just that living in central/west Texas & the woods of east Texas it was the State Troopers who patrolled and stopped and even came to the school to do all “the talks”. I don’t know that I saw a city “cop” until I was eleven and we moved to Dallas.

Naturally, when I go to write, all the “law” I want to use are of the same ilk. (Even the city cops, I want to write as such.) I started working on a new book recently and it’s not *so* much a western, but it still has that vibe. Small town with the away from the “city” mentality. A Good ol’ Boy network along with the women who run the men. The new Chief of Police, though he was the coolest guy in school, every guy wanted to be like him, every girl wanted him (except the heroine of course), he couldn’t wait to get away from small town life. When he comes home to take the new job, he’s every bit the boots and badge kind of guy and it’s natural for him to slide right in to take over. (it always circles back…) I also have one working in the back of my head when I finish this one. And you guessed it, the “new” sheriff will be a tried and true cowboy. I can’t wait to get started on it…

Give me a guy with boots and a badge any day…

Read Full Post »

What you may not know to ask about

I was cleaning out my computer files (I hoard even those) and I found an article I wrote last year that may be of some use. I hope some of this may be helpful!

Some people are new to writing. Some people have been writing for years but never come across a need for information in specific areas. Whatever the case, there are a ton of sites with information you may want to keep bookmarked in your computer—but you didn’t know. Until now…

Maybe you’re ready to send out your first book to a publisher, but you’re not sure about the guidelines such as word count or snail-mail vs. e-mail submissions.  How do you find it? If you write romance, RWA’s (Romance Writers of America)  website (http://www.rwa.org/) has a section for publishers with fairly updated information. First, you do have to login to the member’s section. Then, go to: Member Resources, then Publishers and Agents, you can either click on Publishers , it will show what they’ve been doing lately and click their name for info or click on Market Update to go straight to mailing/subbing info. You can see what they’re looking for. I would, however, suggest you Google, Yahoo and/or Bing the editor you want to send it to first just to make sure they’re still there. (You don’t want to be the one subbed book that is sent to a long-gone, but for whatever reason still listed editor—straight from the slush pile to the trash can!) Agent information is also listed in that section under Agent Update.

Another place you can look at editor/agent info is at: Predators and Editors (http://pred-ed.com/). It will tell you if a place is recommended (by what they’ve gleaned from people dealing with them) or if you should run not walk and stay away.  P & E also has a host of other writing related areas. Remember, though, it’s just another kink in the chain of research before you send off your manuscript.

Also, on agents, try one of these places when looking up or looking for someone:

                        http://www.authoradvance.com/agencies

                        http://querytracker.net/literary_agents.php

                        http://www.aaronline.org/

                        http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/search.html

RWA University has a great calendar of events set up with upcoming courses, check out the website to plan which you will attend!

If you want to know how much you may expect to earn by publishing house, Brenda Hyatt has a wonderful website (http://brendahiatt.com/show-me-the-money/) where she compiles a list every year.

eHarlequin’s website (http://www.eharlequin.com/) has everything from their submission guidelines to pod casts by editors and authors to online classes. It has a huge community of authors (pubbed and not-yet-pubbed) to communicate with (and you can buy books too…).

 Writer’s Digest (http://www.writersdigest.com/GeneralMenu/), much like eHarlequin, has everything from courses to books to advice and so much more. Be prepared to spend some time as both places have so much information to wade through. Oh, and, if you ever get stuck and just have no clue where to start writing for the day, WD has a “prompt” section (http://www.writersdigest.com/TipsPrompts/), try it and see where it can take you.

Romantic Times Book Reviews Magazine (http://www.rtbookreviews.com/) has book reviews (as the name states) but it also has an online community as well as help for aspiring authors.

Like to read articles on publishing and the world around it? Try an online magazine: Publishers Weekly (http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/home/index.html)

Have you heard NANO bandied about? Don’t know what it is? It stands for: National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org/); the function is to get 50,000 words done in a month (the month of November). Just another way to keep you actively writing.

If you don’t already have your domain purchased, it’s not a bad idea to go ahead and get it. You can spend as little as $9 a year; and you can make your registration private—I pay the additional $8 a year for private registry because people can click on it and see the info associated with it. You can obtain/register your domain at places like Go Daddy, Domain and Network Solutions—Google them for the sites as well as many others . (As someone who has a “.net” web-addy and added my middle name because my name without it “. com” was/is taken… it’s worth it if you think you’ll ever use it).

Not ready to jump into the domain field, you can dip your toe in for free with blogs. WordPress (http://wordpress.com/) and Blogger (http://www.blogger.com) are two, easy to navigate, routes. You can personalize them as much or as little as you have time or knowledge for. They also have multiple pages to be utilized. And did I mention they’re free?

Did you attend last year’s RWA conference? Or the one before that? No… Did you know you can look up the conference handouts online? On RWA’s site (http://www.rwanational.org/cs/conference_recordings_and_handouts), the 2009 thru 2011 handouts are available online (you don’t even have to be logged in).

Just for fun:

I worry about naming my characters after someone who might take offense—I have never deliberately done this, but there are only so many combos of names right? But how to know for sure… I always Google my character names and see what pops up. If you like to waste more time play, try this website: (http://www.howmanyofme.com/) “How many of me”. It will tell you, as the name implies, how many people have that name. Denise McDonald for instance, there are: 268. My kiddo, whose name I spelled a little different than the norm, one or fewer.

Need a little extra push to get words on the page? Try Write or Die (http://writeordie.drwicked.com/), you can set the terms –word disappearing if not fast enough typing on your part or a simple little nudge to move it along (on the site, look to the right sidebar for the timer).

Remember search engines are your friend. Even if you’re not sure what you’re looking for. Try adding words to your search such as author, writer or writing and you may open up a world of knowledge you didn’t even know you wanted to know.

Read Full Post »

two times the post ~

I have two topics today. I have been thinking on them both and instead of choosing, I am putting both. Comment or commiserate on either or both…

What’s your type? Last week, I asked you about how you start your stories. It varied, but the “what if” game is usually the key to starting. Then the new book gets legs—once you get the idea gelled. For me, I am finding that I have a “type” of character I write. Truth be told (and I have mentioned this before) I always pretty much envision a (better looking) version of myself for all my female leads. Always. A little on a broader scale, though, she is typically between 5’1” and 5’6” and usually about ten ponds above skinny. In every other book I’ve written, I don’t think she’s varied much more than that.

For the hero, he’s typically over 6’ between 210 and 220 and all muscles. In my head anyway. I really do try to vary it on paper but that’s always how I think of my peeps. There are only so many hair and eye color combos so that does make the man stand out or not. And scars. Usually an interestingly placed scar. Other than that, it’s hard to vary and change it up. In my defense, in my mind, as a reader and a writer, once I get into the book, every character has their own “feel” or “vibe” and it almost dictates what they *look* like. And really, this guy’s blonde blue eyes is totally different than the other’s guy’s. This is one instance where I am not so nit-picky specific (and I usually tend to *way* overthink things so…).

Romance is killing my marriage. The other night the dh and I had an argument. I can’t even remember exactly what it was about (something to the effect that he wasn’t living up to my opinion of what he should be), but I got all huffy and uber dramatic then didn’t talk to him for two days (I’m a sulk-fighter, because yeah, giving his the silent treatment is *so* much punishment…).

Anyhoo… later, once I was back to my norm, I looked at him and told him he was screwed when I got in a mood because I read and write to much romance. He can’t possibly live up to it—frankly real life is seldom all that terrifyingly dramatic or heart-pounding fantastic from one family/kid issue to the next. Don’t get me wrong, there are fun and good times and there are times your heart hurts. But even more, there are way less highs and (thankfully) less lows than in a book. And let’s face it, while I’d like to think so, I am not some super smart, uber-chic, wafer-thin model with big breasts and perfect hair and he’s not some former Navy SEAL, Army Ranger self-made millionaire Rancher Fortune 500 CEO. That *is* a lot to live up to. And I told him as much. His reaction was pretty much an “I told you so” grin and playful smack to the arse as he made his way into the other room. Good thing he thinks I’m kinda cute ~

Read Full Post »