Archive for November, 2009

Guest Author Caridad Pineiro on Keeping the Writing Passion Alive

Nov 18th, 09 / 0 Comments

Caridad PineiroThere isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t write. Or think about writing. Or wish that I had more time to write. But like many romance writers, that last one – more time to write – is a difficult wish since I still have a full time job. It’s not uncommon to have a job and be a writer. In fact, it’s more common than many people would assume.

“Why?” you may wonder.

Well, the reality is that despite all those multi-million and six figure deals that you may read about the in the news, the average writer’s advance just isn’t all that large, particularly in the romance publishing industry. Just google “Brenda Hiatt” and “Show me the money” to see a rundown of what authors for the major romance publishing houses usually earn out with their novels. It will be an eye opener for sure. Especially if the reason you want to write is to get published and make scads of money.

My firm belief is that you should want to write because you can’t imagine doing anything else. Because you love to write. Because it’s your passion and it doesn’t matter how much you are paid because what you want more than anything else is to share your stories with other people.

It’s tough to keep that passion alive at times. You’ve got family obligations and work obligations. You’re trying to squeeze in your writing between the kids’ softball games, making dinner and finishing a job your boss assigned to you. And once the book is finished, there is the grind of getting it sold and after, the work involved in trying to promote the novel so that it sells well enough that the publisher will want to buy more books from you.

A tough job. So how do you keep the passion for writing alive?

I always advise people to try and find a writing group to which to belong. I’m an active (and founding) member of the Liberty States Fiction Writers. Besides the information you can get from groups like this about the craft and business of writing, there is the friendship and understanding of other writers. It helps during the tough times and also, during the good so that you can celebrate together.

I also ask people to remember why they write. To think about the joy it brings them to think of a story and get it down on paper. To imagine not doing that and how they would feel because there is one thing that makes a true writer – they write. All the time. They have to write to nurture something in their souls, whether or not what they write will ultimately bring monetary reward.

Writing brings reward of its own kind. Satisfaction at completing something. Joy at sharing it with others, whether through publication or other writers.

It’s how I keep my eye on the dream – I think about the happiness that I get from writing and somehow, that makes all the hard stuff about writing just disappear.

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Guest Posts, How To

Interview with Author Caridad Pineiro

Nov 18th, 09 / 0 Comments

Sins of the FleshHello and welcome to another author interview. Today I’ll be posting an interview with the author of South Beach Chicas Catch Their Man and Sins of the Flesh amongst other titles. Caridad Pineiro. I hope you enjoy this very down-to-earth and straightforward interview.

Hello and welcome to InkyBlots. Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m Caridad Pineiro and I’m a writer, mom, wife and attorney. My seventeenth novel, SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN is currently available from Simon & Schuster’s Downtown Press.

Your love of writing began in the fifth grade. Would you mind telling us a little about that?

Our teacher, Miss Kreschenko, walked into class and announced that we would have to write a 20 page book that would be placed in a class lending library. The book wouldn’t get a grade, but you had to do it for her to pass you for the year. I went home, grabbed a pen and paper and started writing. A few weeks before it was due, my mom typed my book. It was 120 pages long and was quite a hit in the class lending library.

How did you get into the realm of writing romances?

Well, that book I wrote in the fifth grade was definitely a romance. I guess that what I found myself reading more often than not was romances. Even classics such as Wuthering Heights are basically romances. When I went to work, I ran across the novel SHANNA and read it. I loved it and began to devour every romance I could get my hands on. I realized then that what I was writing was romance and I’ve been writing romance ever since.

Was there a specific point you truly began to think of yourself as a romance writer?

I think that right after reading SHANNA I realized I was a romance writer. Shortly thereafter, I attended a romance writing conference or two and then returned to writing for the purpose of getting published in the romance genre.

What kind of reactions did/do you get when you introduce yourself as a romance writer?

The reaction ranges from disbelief to denigration to pleasant surprise. The latter usually comes from people who are sick of lawyers who write legal thrillers! It can be a difficult thing to say at times because unfortunately the romance genre is looked down upon by some people.

You also write – more specifically – paranormal romance? How did that come about?

I write romantic suspense, paranormals and women’s fiction. I had been writing contemporary romances when a character and story came to me that I couldn’t refuse. The story was dark. The character tormented. I decided she needed a little bit more upheaval in her life and introduced her to a too-sexy man who would turn out to be a vampire. That novel was DARKNESS CALLS which spawned the successful THE CALLING series, now from Silhouette Nocturne. We’ll be doing books 8, 9 and 10 in 2008 and 2009 and although it’s a series, the stories in each book stand alone.

You’re currently on tour for your book “South Beach Chicas Catch Their Man”. Can you tell us a little about the book and what inspired it?

With all the angst and darkness of THE CALLING, I wanted to take a break and write a story about everyday women dealing with everyday life issues. I considered what changes I had undergone in my life and decided to write a book about what happens when friends marry, leaving their single friends to wonder if they will soon lose their friendship. That resulted in SEX AND THE SOUTH BEACH CHICAS (Sep. 2006, Downtown Press).

During the course of that book, I struggled with controlling one of the characters and her mother – Sylvia and Virginia. I knew they deserved their own book and luckily my editors felt the same way. SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN was born. This book considers the challenges modern women face in handling relationships with their friends, mothers, fathers and lovers. It also features a romance about Virginia who is not only Sylvia’s mom, but a sexy and successful fortysomething. I’m really happy that I got to explore older women and their relationships in a positive way.

Are any of the South Beach Chicas friends of yours or you yourself?

I always tell people that I’m Tori. Ever responsible and always the foundation for the people around her. I think all the other women represent a mix of people I’ve met and/or some of my own experiences in life. For example, Juli is a woman who doesn’t see herself as attractive and yet her friends do and help her to see her real self and embrace it. So many women can identify with that and I think that is part of the success of the SOUTH BEACH CHICAS books – that women identify with these strong and successful women.

I find all of the authors I interview have a lot in their lives that seems to make writing a near impossibility sometimes. How did you and how do you have time to write?

I still have a full-time job and family, so I fit in my writing when it won’t interfere with those things. I write on the commute to and from work and on the weekends, I’ll get up really early and put in 3 or 4 hours before the family is up. If I have a deadline, I may write at night, but that’s very tiring after working a full day.

What are you currently working on?

I am working on the proposal for the next CHICAS book, as well as some romantic suspense and paranormal stories. I’m also writing the next three books in THE CALLING.

Are there any authors who inspired/inspire you in your writing?

I love J.D. Robb. I had already created Diana Reyes when I was introduced to Eve Dallas and if these were real life women, I think they would so totally understand one another. I think the Bronte sisters, Emily and Charlotte, inspired me with their romances as did Taylor Caldwell. I read these books and learned from them about romance.

Any non-authors?

Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy and Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files. I just love their talent and creativity. I think these are two of the best shows that have ever been on television.

Do you have a muse? If so, who or what is it?

I can’t say that I have a muse. When I’m stuck, I’ll watch a movie or television. I’m a very visual person and rely on visual cues to help me create.

Do you have any guilty pleasures when it comes to writing?

Taking trips to research locales and legends is my guilty pleasure. It is work to do it, but I so love historical things and travel, that it’s tough for me to consider it work.

What are your dreams for your writing?

I would love to be able to write full time. Maybe one day do 2 or 3 series books a year and a single title or two. That would be the ultimate joy for me.

Do you have any advice for writers trying to break into the women’s fiction market?

Never give up. Publishing is a tough world that is oftentimes filled with rejection. Use the rejections to improve your writing and keep on writing and submitting your work. It’s kind of like the lottery: You’ve got to be in it to win it.

Do you have any advice for writers in general?

Writing is both a craft and a business. You need to learn both in order to be in publishing for the long haul.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you so much for letting me chat with you! I truly appreciate your time and consideration. If anyone wants to know more or write to me, they can visit either Caridad.com or TheCallingVampireNovels.com

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Author Interviews

Writing on Vacation? Not So Much

Nov 16th, 09 / 0 Comments

Of course, I went on vacation for nearly a week, and I didn’t do any writing.

I’m part of NaNoWriMo, I have plenty of projects to work on…

Not one word of creative writing.

Eesh.

I’m going to pretend I planned it as, erm, relaxation time only so I could have extra energy to write.

Yeah… That’s right…

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General

InkyBlots Blog Carnival

Nov 15th, 09 / 0 Comments

Don’t forget to submit your writing-related blog posts to the InkyBlots blog carnival!

I’m looking for all sorts of posts – from ‘how to’ to calls for submissions to agents and publishers… Blog carnivals are a great way to find extra publicity for your work and reach out to places you might not find otherwise.

I’ll even take NaNoWriMo posts, but keep in mind this carnival will be posted on the 30th of November.

Just click here to get started.

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Announcements

Call for Submissions: Sprawl

Nov 14th, 09 / 0 Comments

Found at: Girlie Jones Livejournal

Just a friendly reminder that the deadline for Sprawl closes December 20th 2009. Someone just asked me about multiple submissions and I don’t have a problem with authors submitting more than one work. I’d like to consider as much material appropriate to the theme as possible for what I hope to be a stand out anthology at Aussiecon 4.

Twelfth Planet Press is currently reading for Sprawl, a new anthology that will showcase Australia’s best and most exciting writers to an international audience. Sprawl will be launched at Aussiecon4 in Melbourne 2010.

Australia is a nation for the 21st century. Twenty one million people crowded into seven major cities; a modern technologically advanced society that sits perched on the perimeter of a vast dry interior occupied by an ancient, alien aboriginal culture.

Sprawl is an exciting new original anthology, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and published by Twelfth Planet Press, that will give readers from around the world a unique glimpse into the strange, dark, and often wondrous magics that fill the days and nights of Australia’s dreaming cities and towns, homes and parks, and most of all, it’s endlessly stretching suburbs.

Taking as its point of inspiration the delightful and whimsical creations of Shaun Tan’s art and fiction in Tales from Outer Suburbia, Sprawl is intended to be a book that glimpses into the brightest dreams and darkest fears of modern Australia.

Stories for Sprawl should be original fantasy stories of between 2,500 wds and 7,500 wds, and should be Australian in voice and setting, and fantastical in nature. Sprawl looks to pioneer a new subgenre – the Australian suburban fantasy – and we’d love if you could be a part of it!

How: send your submission in rtf attachment to twelfthplanetpress@gmail.com
Length: stories should be between 2 500 and 7 500 words
Submissions will close December 20, 2009.
Payment: AUS$50 per story

***
I am not responsible for what you do with your work or where you submit it. Do your research before handing over your work to anyone.

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Publication Opportunities

Live Chat with Editors from Major Publishing Houses and an Agent

Nov 13th, 09 / 0 Comments

Awritergoesonajourney is hosting a live chat with high ranking editors next Saturday, 14th of November at 11am (EDST, Sydney time).

You can be a writer of any genre (including non-fiction!).

No sign ups, no registration, no costs!

This special event is brought to you by Awritergoesonajourney, the technological host, and Writing Away Retreats.

Getting there: To get to the chat, go to Awriter site, hover over ‘WriteSpace’ and click on Chat Rooms (it has a space for a password, don’t worry about that.) OR use this link

Using the chatroom: Click here for details on how to use the chat, change the design, or add emoticons or send private messages.

About the Guests

Kevin Doughten

Kevin Doughten is an associate editor at Viking Penguin specializing in nonfiction. He enjoys working with writers of all stripes, including memoirists, essayists, journalists, and has a particular interest in twentieth-century history, the arts and outsider stories.

Timothy O’Connell

Tim O’Connell is an Associate Editor at Vintage and Anchor Books in the Knopf/ Doubleday Publishing Group of Random House. He has acquired and edited a wide range of fiction and nonfiction for the Vintage and Pantheon lists. He looks for investigative nonfiction that will teach him something about a subject he thought he knew a lot about. He likes fiction that strange, singular, borderline sentimental, complicated, straight forward, funny, dark, voice driven, and utterly original.

Michael Signorelli

Michael Signorelli is an editor at HarperCollins Publishers. Michael lives for fearless yet disciplined fiction and believes in a bright future for publishing.

Robert Guinsler

Robert Guinsler has been with Sterling Lord Literistic since 2000. His primary interests include literary and commercial fiction, journalism, narrative nonfiction with an emphasis on pop culture, science and current events, memoirs, and biographies.

Justin Taylor

Justin Taylor is the author of the short story collection Everything Here is the Best
Thing Ever. He is also the editor of The Apocalypse Reader. His website is www.justinDtaylor.net

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Announcements

Guest Amanda Ford – Author of ‘Kiss Me, I’m Single’ – On Her Love of Books

Nov 11th, 09 / 0 Comments
My Love of Books
By Amanda Ford

Since this is a site devoted to the love of books, I thought I’d share a story with you about how I came to love books.

The story starts with my mother on a date with a man, her first date with this man. He took her to a bookstore in Seattle’s edgy Capitol Hill neighborhood. My mother has forgotten the name of that store now. She has not forgotten, however, that as she reached for a book on the shelf, he placed his hand on hers, sending a flood of energy through her muscles and marrow. That was the first time my mother experienced the transformative power of a simple touch. The man bought that book for my mother that afternoon, and six months later he moved into our house and stayed for nearly a decade.

They say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. I guess it depends on the girl. For it is not that stone that makes me swoon. No, if you want to build a home in my heart, if you want to cross the threshold to my unyielding affections, you need only make one modest offering: Buy me a book.

I attribute the fact that I my knees buckle when presented with a paperback to the arrival of that man. His name was Ashoka, and I was four years old when he unlocked my mother’s heart and keyed his way into our home. By her late thirties my mom was both a widow and divorcee.

Her first husband died unexpectedly of a heart attack when they were both twenty-nine. Just out of college and frugal when they married, they gave up the pomp and circumstance of diamonds and opted for matching gold bands that they exchanged along with their vows. A few years after her first husband’s death my mother met her second husband-my father-and although she was truly still a grieving widow, he managed to woo her with a gleaming engagement ring.

Soon after their wedding day, I was born, and even sooner after my birth, my parents divorced. Faced with the prospect of raising a daughter alone, my mom decided to pawn her fancy ring, needing money much more than bling. But it turns out my father’s diamond was actually plastic, a humiliating fact she learned after the jeweler peered down at her ring for four seconds and then looked up, loop still attached to his eye, and blunted her with, “It’s fake.”

That’s probably why she fell for Ashoka. Having learned that marriage vows cannot protect one from catastrophe and that diamonds aren’t always what they seem, my mother needed something she could trust. That something was the exact thing that Ashoka offered; that something was knowledge. Ashoka brought books into our house by the bag load.

Through those pages he introduced my mother to writers, philosophers and dreamers, to activities, skills and techniques that taught her that she was not merely a pawn to Fate’s wild will, but rather an active player, an architect, a conductor with the power to direct her own life as she chose. Ashoka took me to the library to obtain my first library card, an outing that remains one of my most vivid, exhilarating childhood memories. By introducing us to the books he loved, by encouraging us to ignite our own reading romances, Ashoka woke our minds and softened our hearts.

Nine years after moving in, Ashoka was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma and died one year later. His last gift to my mother was a hardback book about papier-mâché filled with vivid color photographs. That was fifteen years ago and to this day my mother still opens that book, using it as inspiration for the craft that has become her passion in the years since Ashoka’s death. Today my mother specializes in papier-mâché bracelets and bowls that sell in art galleries and boutiques around Seattle. She learned the art form from that book, and every time she finishes a new creation we marvel at how his spirit always imprints itself upon each piece.

For me, as I approach thirty, I often long for Ashoka’s advice on how to navigate the stormy waters of adult life. Luckily he was not the type to give a diamond ring and call it good. He was the type to buy books and pile them in stacks upon stacks. At my mother’s house we have room dedicated to his collection. Whenever I need guidance, I pull one from the shelves and let Ashoka speak to me through the words he cherished while alive.

I cannot say whether a diamond ring will ever hug my finger. I can say, however, that any man who arrives barring books will remain with me until I gasp my final breath.

***
Amanda Ford is the author of Kiss Me, I’m Single. You can visit her at her website by clicking here.

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Guest Posts

NaNoWriMo: 5 Tips to Boost Your Word Count FAST!

Nov 10th, 09 / 0 Comments

Yes, I am incredibly behind.

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Fun, How To, NaNoWriMo, Video

Live Chat with Editors from Major Publishing Houses and an Agent

Nov 9th, 09 / 0 Comments

Awritergoesonajourney is hosting a live chat with high ranking editors next Saturday, 14th of November at 11am (EDST, Sydney time).

You can be a writer of any genre (including non-fiction!).

No sign ups, no registration, no costs!

This special event is brought to you by Awritergoesonajourney, the technological host, and Writing Away Retreats.

Getting there: To get to the chat, go to Awriter site, hover over ‘WriteSpace’ and click on Chat Rooms (it has a space for a password, don’t worry about that.) OR use this link

Using the chatroom: Click here for details on how to use the chat, change the design, or add emoticons or send private messages.

About the Guests

Kevin Doughten

Kevin Doughten is an associate editor at Viking Penguin specializing in nonfiction. He enjoys working with writers of all stripes, including memoirists, essayists, journalists, and has a particular interest in twentieth-century history, the arts and outsider stories.

Timothy O’Connell

Tim O’Connell is an Associate Editor at Vintage and Anchor Books in the Knopf/ Doubleday Publishing Group of Random House. He has acquired and edited a wide range of fiction and nonfiction for the Vintage and Pantheon lists. He looks for investigative nonfiction that will teach him something about a subject he thought he knew a lot about. He likes fiction that strange, singular, borderline sentimental, complicated, straight forward, funny, dark, voice driven, and utterly original.

Michael Signorelli

Michael Signorelli is an editor at HarperCollins Publishers. Michael lives for fearless yet disciplined fiction and believes in a bright future for publishing.

Robert Guinsler

Robert Guinsler has been with Sterling Lord Literistic since 2000. His primary interests include literary and commercial fiction, journalism, narrative nonfiction with an emphasis on pop culture, science and current events, memoirs, and biographies.

Justin Taylor

Justin Taylor is the author of the short story collection Everything Here is the Best
Thing Ever. He is also the editor of The Apocalypse Reader. His website is www.justinDtaylor.net

Share
Announcements

InkyBlots Blog Carnival

Nov 8th, 09 / 0 Comments

Don’t forget to submit your writing-related blog posts to the InkyBlots blog carnival!

I’m looking for all sorts of posts – from ‘how to’ to calls for submissions to agents and publishers… Blog carnivals are a great way to find extra publicity for your work and reach out to places you might not find otherwise.

I’ll even take NaNoWriMo posts, but keep in mind this carnival will be posted on the 30th of November.

Just click here to get started.

Share
Announcements