Thoughts for a Summer Monday

 

Some of you may already know how I became a published erotic romance author. For those of you who don’t know or remember, it all began at the RWA national conference in Reno, NV in 2005. There I hooked up with former Sacramento chapter member Lynn LaFleur. She insisted—in that very Texas Belle way of hers—that I attend a spotlight on her publisher, Ellora’s Cave.

Of course I attended. One does not ignore an invitation from a Texas woman, belle or not. Some of them are armed and all of them seem more than a little dangerous under all that sweetness.

Inspired after the spotlight, I came home and wrote like crazy in a way I’d never written before: in scenes. Only after I finished did I collate the story—Passion’s Four Towers—and send it into the Ethernet. EC bought it and the rest is history. My twentieth novel—Temptress of Time—is targeted for release this year.

Needless to say I become an advocate for e-publishing.

This year at RWA in Anaheim, CA a young woman saw my badge and said, “This is all your fault!” And thanked me for suggesting she submit to e-publishers.

Keri Gregg… You are most welcome.

Don’t get me wrong. E-Publishers are just as difficult to sell to as traditional print publishers. And despite the number of e-pubs, the competition is still pretty stiff. You still have to write a good story and make sure your manuscript is the cleanest you can make it. If you can’t spell, don’t rely on your spell-check—it won’t correct those pesky little homophones like to, too and two. If you can’t punctuate to save your soul, find a critique partner who can, but only after you’ve made all the corrections you can. Having recently threatened my DH with bodily harm if he didn’t learn how to punctuate, I know the fastest way to lose a partner or an editor is a poorly spelled, horribly punctuated manuscript.

You may be the best storyteller on the planet, but if you can’t make it clear with proper spelling and punctuation, nobody will read it.

Lecture over! Have a super day. It Takes a Thief is available now.

Dee Brice

Erotic Fantasies Where Nothing is Forbidden

In Limbo

Last weekend, DH and I flew to Denver to “boot” #1 Grandson off to boot camp. He’s enlisted in the US Air Force and will report at the end of July. Next week, DH and I will fly to Anaheim for the RWA conference. This week…I’m feeling in limbo.

Want to pack, but can’t because everything will need ironing when I get there if I do. Want to work on a new story, but typing eight chapters of handwritten and almost illegible scribbles seems like too much work. Two new dictation systems are giving me fits, so I’m setting them aside until I no long feel furious about they’re lack of cooperation. It has to be them, not me.

Am waiting for edits on my latest book. Those will probably arrive the day before I leave for conference. And if that isn’t enough, I have a dental appointment at 7:00 am.

Oh well, oh dear. Hope your day is going better than mine is. I’m taking comfort in knowing things will change—one way or another.

Dee Brice

Erotic Fantasies Where Nothing is Forbidden

Corsets of yesteryear: BDSM for every woman.

French, late 17th century

Two weeks ago, my buddy and Sassy 7 gal, Nicole Austin, sent me an invitation to join Pinterest. I accepted, saying to self, another way to promote, and asking self, How Much Time will this one cost me?

But I am here to wave and shout and declare I am a convert!

Why? Cuz wow, I love being able to declare my interests by clicking.

Sounds weird, but I like it! And to my delight, I have folks who follow me!

1864-, American

1880, European. Silk.

Aside from astonishingly lovely pix of MEN (alleluia!) and couples in a clinch, I have a great time with finding vintage or museum quality attire that I crave to put into my historicals.

Looks painful!

1910

Approx. 1775, French.

I have found items at the Metropolitan Museum in New York (one of my favorite museums especially for their medieval armor collection but also these) and at local museums which have been so kind as to post their priceless treasures.

Do join me on Pinterest, or as they say, FOLLOW ME! Here:

http://pinterest.com/frenchcherryred/

Log Lines

With the RWA National conference staring us in the face, I volunteered to act as an editor/agent so chapter members could practice their pitches. Having been the pitcher so many times I’ve lost count, I’m always glad to help others overcome their nervousness. I know I still get butterflies when I lose my mind and pitch to an editor I don’t know. And I’ve yet to brave the mysterious world of agents. I’d likely faint or—like I did when I acted in my very first play—lose my voice on my only line.

Anyway, one thing I stressed to the pitchers was a tight log line (no more than twenty-five words—shorter even better).

Why?

• It tells the pitchee you know your story. In my mind a polished log line equals a polished story. Not that my stories don’t need editing—just saying a good log line may gain you a reading you might not get if you ramble.

• No good log line goes to waste. You can use it in your query letters and on your website and promotion materials. There’s even a blog site dedicated to these polished kernels that, hopefully, will intrigue readers to take a look at your book and buy it.

So while you’re writing, manuscript or query letter or promo stuff, keep working toward that perfected log line. You’ll be glad you made the effort.

Here’s mine for the book with the hot cover:

Sometimes a woman has to take a flying leap of faith—even if it’s into the arms of a man hell-bent on her destruction.

Available now at Ellora's Cave, Amazon and ARe

http://tinyurl.com/7v9lrpu 

Oops. Guess I need to get this jewel posted.

Almost There

Not much to say this beautiful Sunday morning, except I'm doing edits for It Takes a Thief. Should have a release date by next month. Wheee!!!!

I'd upload my cover, but can't seem to do it. Maybe next time.

Happy Sunday,
Dee Brice
Erotic Fantasies Where Nothing is Forbidden

HUMOR

After participating in a humor workshop at Romantic Times last week, I started thinking about why different kinds of humor appeal to different people.

I may have finally figured out why men like the Three Stooges, but generally women do not. Boys are allowed—sometimes even encouraged—to hit. Girls are taught hitting is wrong. Not all boys hit, of course, but a shiner or broken nose probably caused little concern for their parents. After all, boys will be boys.

And don’t we all enjoy seeing those in authority make fools of themselves like the Keystone Cops? But what about the Marx Brothers and their less physical, more sophisticated comedy plots? Do they appeal more equally to men and women or more to one sex than the other?

Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin?

What about today’s kinds of humor? Bill Maher and his ilk? GCB and the B in Apartment whatever? What about homosexual jokes, bathroom humor, or racial comments like the Italian Stallion or the Jewish mother who wants her daughter to marry the doctor?

I guess all of it boils down to whatever floats your boat. For me, not all that’s advertised as humor is funny. How about you? Would love to hear what kinds of humor appeals to you. Drop by, leave a comment.

Dee Brice

Erotic Fantasies Where Nothing is Forbidden

Novel Inspirations Deux

Yet another confession: I tend to write plot-driven rather than character-driven stories. Trying to put more emotion into my characters, I wrote Temptress of Time (which started life as That Other Diane). Well, I lucked out—Ellora’s Cave contracted the book, but required some pretty major revisions.

That worked out great—mainly because Kelli Gwen’s Revisions Rock had me all fired up. Then, in an effort to dig even deeper into my newest characters, I applied Theresa Meyers’ techniques for using backstory effectively.

Chapter One, despite my intentions to avoid an info dump, was just that—too much backstory. Gotta love critique partners for letting you know.

So I took another technique from Theresa and did a little numerology voodoo on my major characters. While I’ve used numerology to pick first names (I practically live in Ellin Dodge’s You Are Your First Name) I hadn’t applied it to a character’s first, middle and last names. Wow! All sorts of possibilities for creating internal and external conflict came forth with layer upon layer of new depths I can add.

Hooked, I did a numerology exercise for a few of my minor characters—first names only because they refuse to tell me any other names they may have. Despite lacking all the analysis, their first names revealed exactly the kinds of people I want them to be!

So I rewrote Chapter One of my Work in Progress—four times so far. Which, of course, meant major revisions to Chapters Two and Three. I have to wonder if Nora Roberts, Allison Brennan and Brenda Novak go through these machinations. I bet their characters flow from mind to page like the truly heroic and villainous people these talented ladies envisioned from line one, page one—even word one!

Now I’m trying to press on to finish the story without polishing the first three chapters as if I’m entering a contest. No insult intended, but finishing the book and making it the best my critique partners and I can make it, is my primary goal. What I’ll learn about my characters will satisfy my pantser soul.

So, as the Devil said to the souls in Hell, “All right, everybody, back on your heads.”

That means, Lady Muse, it’s time for you to get back to work. Lady Muse? Hey, you! Get back here. Right now!

The hot cover is for my upcoming romantic suspense. No release date yet, but I'll keep you posted.

Dee Brice

Erotic Fantasies Where Nothing is Forbidden