My sister is arriving today around noon—soon! She’s coming for a “sisters’ writing retreat”. Her goal for the next week is to write like her hair’s on fire. I’ve been suffering with vertigo for days, and the nausea is getting to me, but I’ll try to hang in there. I do have several projects that need my attention!

In the meantime, I’m sharing an appropriately-themed puzzle for you play-uhs. Have fun! And remember, if you haven’t read Cochise, why the heck haven’t you? Those who have are loving it! 🙂

The habit of writing everyday no matter what started for me around 2009 or 2010. I was invited to join a group. This group is named GIAM, which stands for Goals Inspiration Amity Motivation. Amy Atwell began the group to allow writers to form friendships and share like interests. This was before social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all the others became so popular.

I joined the group in 2009 when Amy created a special loop called Writing GIAM 100×100 on Yahoo. I don’t know how many of us started with the group. I do know there are currently six of us still there writing our little hearts out.

We have become friends. The type of friends that you can rant, vent, cry, and laugh with. It might be virtual, but we’ve grown close. We’re scattered over the United States with one in Canada. But we are next door friends.

These women shared the trial of living with my sister during my husband’s serious illnesses, the heart break of losing him after almost forty-one years. At first the lady that handled our loop, JoAnn Banker, would send out certificates each time one of us crossed that 100 straight days mark. Then at the end of a full year of writing we received a bottle of champagne. I received mine in 2012.

We have all fallen off the loop at one time or another for whatever reason. We didn’t make our 100 words that day. Some of us had surgeries, some had personal things, that toppled us off the bus. That’s what we are. A bus full of friends writing along posting our word counts some every day others every couple of days. We get back on the bus and keep riding.

I was at year five moving towards year six when I had knee surgery. I wrote words the night before the surgery for Monday when I was having it. Then faithfully I wrote every night on my smart phone, I wasn’t smart enough to download MS Office and Dropbox to the phone. I used the memo app to write and I counted each word to make sure I had 100 words. It worked great until Friday night after the surgery on Monday. I was sent to a nursing home for rehab and it was about fifty or sixty miles from where I lived. I was angry, and the anger boiled over when the computer I brought wouldn’t turn on.

So, I blew off five years of not missing a day. Now, I’m back up to year three writing my way towards year four. There are four that are on year one, one that is on year six and myself on year three.

I’ve heard people say they can’t write every day. I work full time, no kiddos except for a four footed one called Precious, but I did it even the nights my husband went to the hospital and yes the night he died. I was already writing that day trying to make NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for 2011. I didn’t make the 50k for NaNo but I did make my 100 words.

I have another friend that’s written over three thousand days without missing a day. She’s not on our loop, but she’s determined too. Her determination paid off with a traditional publishing contract when she pitched her books.

Now, these days have given me several different stories some complete others incomplete. Still I keep typing at least 100 words every day.

Yes, life gets in the way. You dig out your grit and determination and start over. Or you can sit there and say I can’t. My mother always told me, “Can’t never could do anything.” I guess my brain absorbed it and made it my mantra deep inside.

When I was little they called me stubborn, now it’s called being strong because of certain things I’ve done these past few years.

I hope that you find your path and that if you have your path already you will reach out to someone who maybe needs a little help finding theirs.

CK Crouch
https://ckcrouch.com/
Romance Tangled up with Suspense

Thank you, Delilah, for letting me contribute to your blog.

I am Anna, and I am a writer. I write all the time and am published in non-fiction – not in what I want to write. I love to write romance, with a Happy Ever After (HEA), a good handsome hero, a smart heroine, and an entertaining villain who gets his/her comeuppance.

Not having a published romance – not yet I mean – does not stop me because, quite frankly, I am a writer – a romance writer. Whether I am tired or dealing with the kids, or even if I am simply not in the mood to write… I am still writing. A story will come at me no matter what I am doing. I am currently editing two books, with another five calling loudly for my for attention.

I joined Romance Writers of America because I wanted to be a better writer, and I have become one through practice, exercises, seminars, my chapter’s group writing meetings, and courses like those taught by Delilah. I study writing, grammar, plot lines – even the “eight-scene three-act plan”. Amazingly, I am able to take so much of what I have learned trying to improve my romance writing, and apply it to my non-fiction writing, also known as my “day job”.

Increasing my writing skills allow me to proofread proposals, editing them to achieve a sharp, interesting offer – and it is hard to make a database procedure attention-getting. Our job interviews have an “all hope is lost” dark moment section, with a redeemer explaining how we will work together to solve a candidate’s weakness, alluding to, “You should work for us.”

Using what I have learned from writing instructors, we now have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that are clear, very easy to follow, and keep employees interested. Having been forced to use dull SOPs in the past, I take pride that my writing helps others, even though I wish I were writing my romances.

My “day job” allows me to watch and interact with people, observing their actions and interactions. Using what is probably too much of an analytical view, I will look at the people in a room and try to do a quick demographic outline, then compare that to my city’s statistics. I also make notes to include what a location really looks like, and how hard it is to both get there and park. I use these observations to build interesting characters, and the location descriptions to help move the story forward.

Another thing I have developed from learning to write fiction, is the “what ifs” of people and situations. Writing “what ifs” helps us develop questions that shake up the interviewee and get them speaking. Developers and programmers can be very factual, and tend to use “yes and no” answers, when I want to hear about their passions. “What ifs” have become a standard interview tactic that has resulted in our company hiring the best “fit” from the candidate pool. On a side note, I helped write one of our engineer’s engagement speech; it was super romantic and his fiancé loved it, but it was, alas, more non-fiction.

I am fortunate to work with people who will indulge my quick “mind breaks”, where I look at someone and see a romance, or as I love romantic suspense, how they could die. An example of this is if a candidate lies on their resume, falsely claiming to be qualified for a position, and manages to get an interview, know this: At least one person in the interview wants to kill them for wasting our time. They, the “Resume Fluffer”, is going to fictionally be electrocuted when a pick-up truck bumps a power line and the explosion causes a bus to roll over their time-killing body. Since I write romance, the man they’ve been seeing will meet his HEA, and they live off of the insurance the Resume Fluffer forgot to cancel. I love happy endings. 🙂

I need to go back to work and write something new. Please know that no matter how many hours I work per day, even mostly writing non-fiction, I will write at least a little romance. One day, I will say, “Yes, I have three romance books out.” For now, I’ll continue to take courses, like those taught by Delilah Devlin, and use all I have learned – because I am a romance writer.

Permission granted to forward

This message is for any authors or aspiring authors who might be interested in some intensive help developing their next stories.

Don’t let that word “intensive” scare you away; I’ve led newbies, as well as multi-published authors, through our plotting process numerous times. Everyone comes away with new knowledge and insight, or at the very least, some terrific brainstorming support!

While lessons and exercises will be posted throughout the month of June, this is truly a self-paced class. We all have busy lives, and the workshop is designed to accommodate any schedule. Enjoy the pitch below!

ROSE’S ONLINE PLOTTING BOOTCAMP

Dates: June 4 – 29, 2017
Last date to register: June 4, 2017
Cost: $50.00—cheap, considering everything you get!
Your DI (Drill Instructor): Delilah Devlin
Offered through: www.rosescoloredglasses.com

What you can expect:
LOGLINE (Lunges)
PREMISE (Pushups)
CHARACTER (Strengthening exercises)
CONFLICT! CONFLICT! CONFLICT!
Breaking through the STORY STRUCTURE stronghold
Battling the PLOT LINES

We do more in one month than some people do all year! Get tough! Get motivated! Get plotting!

Join your Drill Instructor, Delilah Devlin, to learn a methodical approach to harness your creativity to produce an in-depth plot for your next novel.

Sound scary? It is!!!! Especially when you’re staring at an empty page without a compass and a map to guide you through the novelistic jungle. Your DI will lead you through four weeks of tactics, exercises, and training that will help strengthen your abilities. Delilah will accomplish this with weekly lessons, bi-weekly chats, and daily online communication. Join her for bivouac in June!

Join this elite force now!

For those who don’t know, my sister and I co-founded the website for writers called Rose’s Colored Glassesin 2004. From that site, we run a critique group and provide workshops—some free and some for pay. In June, I will be leading a month-long plotting bootcamp. It’s a great time to join—something you can do for yourself while the kids play outside! Join me if you can! ~DD

How’s our workshop different from every other one out there? I’ll provide feedback and brainstorming every step of the way!

Interested? Follow this link to sign up: https://www.rosescoloredglasses.com/Online%20plotting%20boot%20camp.htm

And feel free to pass this along to anyone else you think might be interested with my thanks!

Delilah Devlin
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author & Freelance Editor
Get in bed with Delilah. Everyone else has!

I try not to re-jigger my plans, except at the end of the month. Otherwise, I spend too much time working on plans rather than working on writing/editing. However lately, I’ve had to revise and revise. New projects added. Some deleted. The death of Kindle Worlds (in July) suddenly gave me “space” I felt the need to fill.

At the end of my revision, my plan didn’t look more “spacious.” I have managed to fill up blocks of my spreadsheet with stupidly ambitious projects.

So, I have a question. Do you plan your work? Do you keep a spreadsheet, a tic list? Do you wing it?

And no, the picture isn’t supposed to mean anything to you, but I had to include some color. Still, doesn’t May look empty? Yeah, I floundered a bit.

Diana Cosby ©2018

When I began writing, I remember sending out my first partial, smiling, telling everyone the manuscript’s title, and that my book was going to sell. Then how, months later, I received a rejection letter. I was devastated. How could a publisher not want the book of my heart? And the rejection letter, Dear Author . . ., it could have been written to anyone!

Over the years I discovered that I had a deft skill for acquiring rejections. I remember one day my oldest son, who has now served a tour in the Marine Corps, carrying in a manila envelope saying, “Hey, Mom, you received another rejection.” 😊 Gotta love kids. After 100 rejections, I quit counting. I decided I knew how to acquire a rejection.

Throughout the years, regardless of the frustrations and doubt, I never gave up. Not only is it important to never give up, but I believe it’s essential for you to RECOGNIZE that with each passing year, you’re growing more knowledgeable in the craft, plus, you’re connecting with fellow authors and industry professionals, which is networking. Once you sell, your experience and contacts will prove invaluable. I never realized until looking back, the benefits of selling later in my writing career.

I feel passionate about this topic, because I wish someone would have sat me down and said, “That you write is well and good, but let’s say you sold, what’s your plan?” Plan? Why to write of course. It’s critical that after we sell that we keep on writing, but it’s also important to build a readership along with a list of reviewers. The hard reality is that unless you sell a book through a high visibility venue, few people will know who you are, much less buy your book. So, if you’re a new writer, don’t worry over about rejections, they’re a part of writer’s life, but plan for the day when you sell. Use your time accrued to your benefit, your success is no accident.

What is your exact goal? Define it. Plan not only make it, but make it a success. So, what can you do? My thoughts:

-If you have a website, great. If not, place it on top of your priority list. Let it reflect the target market you are writing for and will eventually sell to. If you’re going to blog, great, but stagnant blogs turn away readers.

-A Brand. What tag to do you feel is the essence of what you write, regardless of the line, era? My tag is, “Romance Edged With Danger.”

-Business Cards. Keep them professional. I have two different business cards, those I hand out to readers that have my website and e-mail, but not my home address and contact information. The other business card has all of my contact information, which I give to industry professionals.

-Bookmarks. I think bookmarks are one of the single best marketing tools a writer can have. I always say that if someone takes one and really doesn’t want it, odds are they’ll leave my bookmark somewhere – to be found by a reader who’ll scoop it up. Also, I send bookmarks to conferences, booksellers, venues that feature the type of book I write such as medieval gatherings, and anywhere I feel it’s beneficial.

-On-line social media pages.

-Conferences: Keep networking!

-Marketing. I’ll give you two bits of advice, choose what you LOVE DOING, and what’s within your budget.

After 9 1/2 years of writing, I sold. I found that in addition to writing an intense, multi-layer story, came the challenge of fitting in time for promotion. It’s easy to become overwhelmed. This is where preparing early in your career for success comes into play. Your well-planned foundation won’t add time onto your day, but it will give you a significant edge as you work hard to help your career take off.

As I look back, I’m thankful I didn’t sell early on in my career. After 9 1/2 years of writing I thought I was ready for the challenges after I sold; in essence, I was clueless. The years accrued before I sold gave me time to strengthen my writing, meet industry professionals, and to make friends who were a not only a bedrock in the enormous transition of becoming published, but who are truly a blessing in my life. So, next time you receive a rejection letter, set it aside, and focus on building your career. Last, always believe in yourself! I wish each and every one of you every success!

Diana Cosby, International Best-Selling Author
www.dianacosby.com

Author of:
The Oath Trilogy
MacGruder Brother Series
Forbidden Series: Forbidden Legacy/Forbidden Knight/Forbidden Vow–May 15th, 2018/Forbidden Alliance TBA/Forbidden Realm TBA

Contest

Comment for a chance to win this tote and cup!

My blog guest for today was a no-show, so here I am again. 🙂

I’m always trying to dream up the next “thing” I want to write. How about you help me narrow the field of options? You can select up to two options. And if you leave any comments or suggestions, you’ll be entered to win your choice of one of my recent releases! 

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