Please Visit Me at PLOTMONKEYS

Since Pocket has decided not to publish any other Marisela books, I will be shutting down the blog for a while. The series is making the rounds, so it’s not dead yet, and I want to thank EVERYONE who supported the series by buying a book. Means so much to me.

In the meantime, please visit my group blog over at PLOTMONKEYS.

Happy Thanksgiving and News…

Hi, everyone. I don’t know if anyone is even checking this blog anymore, but you’ve likely noticed I’ve been silent for a while. I’ll have more news later on why that is, but for today, I wanted to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

I’m thankful for my readers!

Are you kidding me???

Jeffrey? JEFFREY??

Please!

Uli had it in the bag. The judges even said that Jeffrey had TWO dresses that didn’t work at all–Uli’s collection was PERFECTION. Then Laura. Then Jeffrey. Maybe. He tied with Michael.

I can’t believe I was sucked in to this show only to be foiled in the very end.

Bad Bravo. Bad, bad Bravo.

I have to say that Jeffrey was the designer that made me realize that “high fashion” is not something I “get.” Too many of his outfits–particularly his couture gown that won the challenge, perplexed me.

Maybe I’m too old. Or maybe I’m just a real woman who would like to wear pretty clothes, as opposed to a clothes hanger with feet. I could see Uli and Laura’s designs adapting to real women–can’t say the same for Jeffrey. Or Michael, for that matter.

Clearly, I’m not “in the know.” Or else, Michael Kors and Nina Garcia need to get a reality check.

Oh, well. At least Heroes is just starting it’s season. The show rocks people. Save me from reality television and give me cool special effect and twisty-turny storytelling!

Is Idiocy Bigger in Texas, too?

Check this out.

http://jenniferarcher.blogspot.com/

Updates

Just so you all know, I probably won’t be blogging more than once a week for a little while. Have a lot going on. But I thought I’d share this gorgeous cover..

Isn’t it just spectacular? The book is the Italian translation of JUST WATCH ME, one of my first Blazes (the first I sold, the second I published.) Of course, there are very few landscapes like that in Florida, but there is ONE scene that takes place on the Hillsborough River and while I don’t think this looks like the river, it’s not so far from the truth that I’m put off. Besides, it’s GORGEOUS. One of the best foreign covers I’ve gotten. The Italian ones are always stunning!

For a Great Cause

Sorry I haven’t been around much. More on that later. But I am participating in an auction at the following location:

Please stop by and help this very worthy cause.

Acting Like a Professional

In a few months, attorney (and blog reader!) Kelly R and I will be putting together a workshop on acting professionally, specifically geared at writers. I find it fascinating that so many people do not really understand what this means. But then I go out and deal with companies or their representatives…people in the so-called “corporate” world who don’t know what this means, so I guess I can’t blame writers, who live in a relatively skewed world, of not knowing either.

If you read Miss Snark, you know that a writer very recently posted a plea to her own blog that went something like this: she provided a link to the first chapter of her book then made a plea to her blog readers that if they really liked it, they should go over to the blog of the editor she’d just submitted to and tell her to buy it.

Okay.

Yeah, right. An editor is going to buy a book simply because a bunch of strangers told her to? In what universe? Not in the New York universe, that’s for sure.

I’m pretty positive that this author thought she was being proactive, promotionally-savvy and thinking outside the box. I’m usually all for proactive, promotional-savviness and outside the box thinking, but in this case, the author stepped over the line. (She pseudo-apologized, then took her blog down. If she’s smart, she’ll also stake out the post office closest to the publishing house and beg, beg, beg the delivery man to give her her book back before it goes to the mailroom.)

How do you know when you’ve stepped over the line?

Good question. In this case, the author would have been served by vetting her brilliant idea with a few writing friends. Hopefully, a few who were published and knew how the world worked.

Don’t have published writer friends? Why NOT?

I’m not writing this so that everyone will be my friend. I have a lot of friends, mostly all writers. I don’t need more (not that I wouldn’t open up to more…but you see where I’m going.) My point is that there are many organizations out there, in person and online, that can give an aspiring writer access to people who are in the business of publishing world.

I’m not saying that published authors don’t make faux pas–I know they do. It’s just a first line of defense. Had an unpublished friend told me she was going to post on her blog and ask people to spam an editor with unsolicitied comments of praise, I would have told her to cease and desist.

And therein lies another helpful hint–if a published author tells you something…LISTEN.

Doesn’t mean you have to do what they say, but for Pete’s sake, pay attention to the message and consider where it’s coming from. And if you don’t, as an unpublished writer, have a community of experienced unpubs and published writers from which to draw, FIND ONE.

Learn to distinguish between good advice and bad advice. Learn to pick out who acts like they know what they are talking about and who actually does know what they are talking about. Accept that publishing is a business in the coldest, hardest way possible and apply that to your expectations. Read Miss Snark. I know the Crapometer was particularly harsh in spots, but this business isn’t easy and it is fraught with criticism and jealousy and, thankfully, genuine people who want to be helpful.

Does this sound like a rant? It’s not. It’s just Monday.

Never Forget

This morning, I got in my first and hopefully my last cry of the day, when the radio station played “I’m Proud to Be an American” by Lee Greenwood. I don’t care what is happening in my life, when I hear that song, I cry. I feel every word so deeply. I can’t imagine living in any other country in the world, in any other time than now.

We’re all victims and survivors of September 11th. Today is a day for remembrance and celebration, because we are still a free nation. We may be afraid, but we are not paralyzed with fear.

Blessings to all of the brave men and women who fight for our freedom, either on the battlefields or in service to our nation.

Have you read Miss Snark?

A lot people in the industry know about Miss Snark–and some people don’t. If you are among the unenlightened, she is an anonymous literary agent from the 212 (that’s the NYC area code, people) who hosts a blog where she dishes the honest to dog (her phrase) truth about publishing. She’s actually getting quite famous and she is what her name implies–Snarky. She has very little patience for nitwits, will offer newbie writers the clue gun when they are crafting with ignorance and best of all, she has a poodle named KY (which does not stand for what you think it stands for–his name is Killer Yapp.)

This past week, she’s been running the Crapometer, which is a process by which some writers put their work out there for critique by both Miss Snark and her Snarklings (her blog followers). There’s some very interesting stuff on there. Keeping in mind that a good number of the snarklings are full of crap, I can see where an author might want to get some unbiased opinions about their work. Personally, I don’t think I could do it. Not because I don’t have tough skin–trust me, mine is made of naugahyde–but I like to know who is critiquing me. I’d listen to Miss Snark because I know who she is–figuratively speaking–and her intentions and expertise are clear. But some of the stuff coming from the snarklings really makes my jaw drop.

Anyway, it’s interesting reading if you haven’t been over there.

Here’s An Interview…

…with me that’s up at ACCESS ROMANCE. Enjoy!