Christmas in July

A local radio station recently finished a “Christmas in July” weekend, where for 48 wonderful hours they played nothing but—you guessed it—Christmas music. It was done to benefit a local charity, but I enjoyed every second of it. I could almost smell the chestnuts roasting over the open fire and the aroma of pumpkin pie and coffee in the air!

Yes, I am one of “those” people. Ready for Christmas any place, any time. If I owned my own cable channel, I’d play nothing but Christmas-themed movies, 24/7. And since July is the month when I start thinking about important things like…. where am I going to put the Christmas tree this year? and what would great aunt so-and-so like for Christmas? It only seems fitting that we rolled out the announcement for our American Rose Christmas anthology in the month of July. If you haven’t heard about this yet, allow me to share the news.

The Wild Rose Press American Rose line is looking for short stories for a Christmas-themed anthology to be released in print in December, 2009.

Stories should be no longer than 25,000 words and have a theme that focuses on celebrating Christmas and/or the New Year. Stories must be American-set historical and take place before 1920. Submissions must be received by April 1, 2009. For more information contact queryus@thewildrosepress.com

I’m looking forward to seeing what our wonderful authors come up with for their stories! If this is as well received as I think it’s going to be, we could easily be doing anthologies for an American Rose Fourth of July, an American Rose Thanksgiving, an American Rose Valentine’s Day…. Oh the possibilities are endless!

Loving History in some Great Books

Hey Guys, I have recently been on a reading spree. These aren't romances but history books. I picked up a few of these and have enjoyed them so much. The first From Fields of Fire and Glory/Ron Gragg was actually a purchase for my son. (My son has been a Civil War enthusiast since sixth grade. I expect two grandsons named Grant and Lee, possibly a Jackson also :-) He also greatly admires Hannibal, I know skipping back in time a bit, and let's hope he doesn't name his children for great military commanders.) This book is incredible. Its almost like a scrapbook. It has little pockets all through it and in those pockets are replicas of Civil War era letters. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading these letters, gazing at the faces of the authors, and reading the history that led each of these men to fight in this conflict. Another book is Grandma Grace's Southern Favorites/Marty Davidson which is a compilation of 1800's era recipes it has both modern recipe and the recipe as it was originally written. It has recipes like "milkless milk" a concoction made with peanuts after the Civil War and it seems, pickled everything. The History of Underclothes, Willett and Cunnington is something I purchase in the spring--my husband just can't believe this is actually a book, and I wanted it. This chronicles the development of undergarmets from the medieval era through the 1930's. The last was one I just couldn't resist, Spirits of the Civil War, Troy Taylor. Any of these are interesting reading for those who enjoy either ghost/paranormal stories or historical war stories. Just wanted to share a few of these. Eve Mallary

July 29, 2008

Well somewhere on the West Coast thousands of romance writers are descending upon a hotel in San Francisco. Anyone else feeling left out? Instead of talking about the great workshops, support, and all around fun we're missing let's focus on what we're not missing:

No traveling across the country means no lost luggage, poor customer service, delayed or cancelled flights and all the headaches that come from traveling by plane.

You would have drove? I guess you haven't seen gas prices. EEK!

There isn't a hotel around that can hold that many women (yes I know there are some men but the majority are women) and keep them all happy. I'm all for not being a part of that crowd this year.

Let's talk about all those books! Yes getting the free books is great until you have to get them home. If you're traveling by air, its going to cost you a fortune. With airlines charging over $25 for extra luggage and overweight luggage, your free books just became pretty pricey. Shipping them won't cost much less unfortuantely.

Its great to be in all these cities like San Francisco, but honestly, the last two RWA conferences I attended could have been anywhere in the world. I never got to leave the hotel - not for one hour, not at all. Yes some of my friends went a day or two early to sightsee but who has money for another night at the hotel.

Why do all these conferences take place at hotels that cost so much? Yes I know they need to do it right and have it somewhere that can hold us, but I"m all for beer and pop and a $50 a night room.

Your critique partners are gone? Your writing buddies aren't on AIM this week? Good, maybe you can actually do something different like, you know, WRITE!

Not going to conference means you didn't have to make any decisions about which workshops to attend and which ones you could skip. No sitting through a boring one knowing the one you didn't choose was probably amazig.

No coming home after an exhausting week away (which your husband insists was a vacation) and having to do all the household chores that "somehow" never got done last week when you were on "vacation".

But my biggest reason for being glad I didn't go to Nationals this year is that I can save my money to go to next year's.

Anyone else?

Rhonda

More American history questions--Yay!

Just for fun, I'll post some American history questions for you to ponder. I happen to like the stories behind the presidents, so I'll focus mainly on them. Enjoy! -Corinne MacGregor

1)Everyone says George Washington was the first president of America, but who was the REAL first president? (Hint: it was under the Articles of Conferation and there were one year terms.)

2)A state used to be called Franklin. Which one?

3)Which president of the United States was the only one never to marry?

4)Which president was the only one to have two non-consecutive terms?

5)Name the president whose grandson also became a president.

How Well Do You Know Your American History?

Dust off those thinking caps, and see how much you remember from those school days. I have posted five questions about general American history. How do you stack up against some of the other roses in our garden? Although I can't give away any prizes, I will announce the names of the smartest rose(s) on the yahoo loop. Come now, give it a try.

1. What was the single bloodiest day of the Civil War?

2. How many countries did the British fight during the American War of Independence?

3. On what hill did the Battle of Bunker Hill take place?

4. What was the first state to secede from the Union?

5. Did the U.S. ever attack Canada?


You can post your answers right as a comment to the blog.

Don't forget, it is American Rose month. Consider entering our Love, American Style Contest. And the historical chat this month will be on July 17. We will discuss research for the American Rose novel.

Allison

Summertime and the living is easy

Ahh my absolute favorite time of year has finally arrived. I love summer. I love everything about summer; the heat, the pool, the kids out of school, the grilling and deck sitting. I love doing what I'm doing right now, sitting outside with my laptop working away in the fresh air. I love camping with my family, working in my garden (the real one for a change!), hanging laundry, picking cherry tomatoes off the vines and popping them in my mouth. I love the sound of the tree frogs, the birds singing in the morning, the white noise of the fan as it whirls at night bringing in the cooler breezes...ok ok you get the picture.

Fourth of July is around the corner and here at The Wild Rose Press that means that our staff is encouraged, entitled, and pushed out the gate to enjoy some much deserved time off. We traditionally shut down for a week to ten days this time of year to allow our staff to push back from the computer and not feel guilty if they don't edit or answer emails during this time.

I have learned that these little breaks in our routine are essential for rejuvenating and invigorating our staff. I know all of you will join me in wishing them well on their vacation.

But don't worry. I'll be here, holding down the fort or keeping the roses blooming or whatever you want to call it. This is the time of year that RJ and I shoo everyone out the gate and we eat all the chocolate that's in their desks.

Someone once said..."a family only gets so many summers". How true that is. With two young men in my house now (ages 18 and 20) and one who thinks he's all grown up (12), this statement hits home. I hope all of you get out this summer and do some fun family things or if your family is gone, go back and do the things you loved as a kid. Eat some ice cream without worrying about your weight, take a walk, visit the places in your neighborhood that you only see in the summer. Do something that you enjoy.

We'll be here when you get back ready to open the gate back up. See you on the 7th!

Rhonda

Imagine we're all in one building...

If The Wild Rose Press were housed in one building, what would our floor plan look like? How would our offices look?

Let's see...perhaps we’d walk into a garden-like main room, complete with roses and other plants, grow lights and floor-to-ceiling windows. From there, all the lines would branch like vines along separate hallways, coming back together at the other end into a massive meeting room.

Halfway down the American Rose hall is my office. Green walls, landscape pictures, lush plants, a fountain, fluffy rugs, and soft new-age music fill the room. A tiled counter near the shower/bathroom holds a coffee maker and small refrigerator. Plush chairs surrounding a mosaic-topped table await friendly chitchat with authors and editing colleagues.

Near my antique oak desk, shelves and baskets hold mementos, flash drives, and CDs. A Tiffany lamp, family photos, and a 22-inch widescreen high-def LCD computer monitor grace the desk’s surface. Although my office is paperless, the pink sticky-note pad beside Mr. Cupholder gets much use, as does the bulletin board/whiteboard enclosed within a wall cabinet behind my desk. The computer is top of the line and mainframed with TWRP’s production floor, which is even more luxurious than the main floor. My chair, of course, converts into a recliner for that 3:00 powernap.

That’s what my TWRP office would look like. How about yours?

Rose of the Month

Yeeehawww!

June is just around the corner and will be the month for Yellow Rose and Cactus Rose to shine! That means Cowboys, Cowboys and more Cowboys!!

Starting June 1st, we will be opening the corral to show off the wonderful books we have involving both modern day and historical cowboys. The editors will be on the loops and more than happy to answer any questions you may have. A few of our authors have graced us with some time on their own blogs to talk about the editing process and what we look for when evaluating submissions.

Also, June 11th, our cowgirls have roped up BOTH Coffee Time Romance yahoo loops to chat all day about their cowboys, books, and writing life here in the corral.

Join us for a special Wild Rose chat on June 4th and check out our website at The Wild Rose Press for special events, our catalogue for some great Yellow and Cactus Rose stories, and our authors and their sites for some great info and maybe even a contest or two!!

You will never look at men in boots and Stetsons the same way again.....

Crafting Your Masterpiece

As a lifelong bibliophile and fan of the written word in general, I have a confession to make. My first love isn't books. It's music.

I realize that's a startling revelation for an editor, reader and writer to make, but not too long ago, I spent some time considering the correlations between my two loves. There are more than you might think.

Even with music, for me, it's all about the story. Plenty of people might say a great song doesn't have to have a strong lyric, that the melody can be enough. Sometimes that's true. Sometimes a catchy beat will disguise the holes in a song, but the composers of the best songs, in my opinion, understand how to integrate words and rhythm to create a masterpiece.

The same goes for books.

As a writer and editor, I understand well that it can be too easy to get caught up in rules. Another shocking statement, I know, but writing a story requires juggling a lot of pencils. While the importance of a professional presentation and carefully crafted sentences can't be overstated, another problem can be created when an author drums the uniqueness out of their work in pursuit of an ideal that doesn't exist.

The same song sung by two different people will have two different arrangements. It's not enough to have the right plot and characters - your "voice" is crucial. Let that voice shine through. If you need to write a sentence that starts with 'and' (my inner editor is screaming right now) to convey what you need to say, then go for it. For example, not using the same descriptive word five times on one page - or doing just that to make a point - will alter the cadence of your work. Reading your writing aloud can be instrumental in showing you where you need to improve.

Another facet of a "song with mileage" or one that can go the distance, is understanding rhythm. Every sentence is made up of beats, whether its part of a lyric, a poem or a novel. This is where delivery makes content shine. One of my favorite authors for close to twenty years, one that regularly appears on bestseller lists, is a master at this. She might not be the best technician of the English language, but she gets rhythm and pacing. She gets how to shorten sentences to increase urgency and lengthen them to draw out suspense.

And she starts a lot of sentences with 'and'.

Before I get lambasted for throwing editorial caution to the wind, I'm not suggesting you add sentence fragments to your work-in-progress willy nilly. I'm suggesting that rules are made to be broken, the only caveat being it has to work. Knowing if it works only comes with time and practice-and the guidance of a knowledgeable editor like those of us at The Wild Rose Press.

Next time you're sweating over one sentence you just can't get right, consider your scene as a whole and leave it alone for a bit to get some perspective. Just like you might listen to your favorite song over and over to hear one particular section, if you've done a good job at layering your notes and building to a crescendo, that one phrase might not make much of an impact on your masterpiece.

And you might just end up a bestseller like my idol.

Submission Tips...

I'm sure most of you have gotten--or heard--the advice at one time or another that says, "treat your submission as if it were a job interview." This is sound advice, but also advice that many seem to overlook. Remember, your query and proposal are the first impression an editor gets of you.

We've seen the "so make sure your partial is as typo-free as possible" and the "make sure your query letter is professional" advice, and we do everything we can to ensure that first impression is impeccable...

But what about that second impression? I'd like to go over a few things that I think authors sometimes forget--some do's and don't's in submitting and dealing with an editor.

Don't: Pester the editor with multiple emails and questions about when you'll get a contract. I'm not saying you should never send an email (sometimes, I'm sure it's necessary and justified), but if you've heard from the editor that they will contact you regarding your submission on X-date, then don't email them prior to that date asking if they've had a chance to read it. (Sounds like a "duh" piece of advice, but trust me, some people need to hear this! :-) )

Do: Resubmit your manuscript if the editor invites you to do so. We don't invite resubs on every manuscript, so if we do offer to take a second look, we mean it.

Don't: Resubmit an unchanged manuscript. Editors are not stupid. Nor are we naive. Nor do we live in a vacuum where we don't speak to each other. If we have rejected your manuscript, but have given you edit suggestions and an offer to resubmit, do not think that we won't notice if you completely disregard everything we suggest, and just resubmit the original (or one so close to it, it's basically the same). We will notice, and what this says to us is: "Beware before contracting this author, he/she doesn't take instruction very well, and the post-contract edit process will be a nightmare." Trust me, we don't like nightmares anymore than you do.

In addition, don't think if you submit the same manuscript to another editor in the same house, that we won't check. We keep records. We know exactly how many times a manuscript has been submitted, and to whom. And, people, we do speak to each other about it. (Remember, your manuscript is yours. You don't have to take our pre-contract edit suggestions. But if you're not going to, then submit your manuscript to another publisher who might like it the way it is. Submitting the same, unchanged, manuscript fifty times, isn't going to make us like it any better.)

Do: Keep trying. If we ask for edits, and you do them well and then resubmit, but the edited version is still rejected--with another offer to resubmit--do it. Make more edits as suggested, and try again. We won't ask to see the manuscript again if we don't think it has potential. We get far too many submissions to toy with people or to want to see the same manuscript if it doesn't have potential. This may seem daunting or discouraging, but don't look at it that way. "On the right track" is infinitely better than being derailed.

Happy writing...and submitting.

Blessings,
Nicola Martinez, Senior Editor
English Tea Rose
White Rose

Words that Move

I have a list of words I check, whether in my own work or in that I edit. A list of words that do not move the action forward. Stalling words. Filler words. "Fluff" words.

When editing, I tell my authors to watch out for these and eliminate as many as they can. My one caution is that they can stay in dialogue, because that is how folks speak. Often authors find they can remove these words from dialogue as well and it speeds the reader along. I compiled this list from many sources, so I do not claim ownership of this list, nor it is comprehensive of all such "trouble" words that bore readers, but here you go.

Kelly's list of "throw-away" words:
just
very
often
usually
some
although
in order to
though
maybe
a bit
a little
almost
really
actually
a lot

An example of how this improves the narrative? "John wanted some more of her kissing and hugging" vs. "John wanted more of her kissing and hugging." How about, "It was really a very cold day" vs. "It was a cold day" OR even better, get rid of "it was" and find a better verb. "Cold snapped across the pavement."

Do a "Find" and "highlight all" for each of these words. I highlight them gray so they are easy to spot but not obnoxious. Any that come up numbering less than say 15 occurances within 200 pages is not really a problem. However, if you find 300 "some" in that many pages, ya have to take a look at that.

Happy weeding!

Kelly Schaub
Yellow Faery

What I Want In A Romance!

Hi everyone. I just wanted to chime in with what I like in a romance--not just as an editor, mind you, but also as an reader.

I want a plot, characters and emotions that grab my attention and keep it. If you can make me laugh and cry with your work, then I am hooked.

For me paranormals should be riveting, whether it's a werewolf or a vampire. Love those bad boys or girls.

Historicals have to be accurate in facts or I really get turned off. Believe me, I research something that doesn't feel or read right.

Okay, so now you know I'm a precise editor and an avid, pleasure, reading girl and in case you didn't pick up on it, I'm pretty nice most of the time...lol.

Glad to be here in the garden.

Amanda

Come on, you know you want to...

Betcha never thought you'd want to write a sweet romance. Betcha thought you'd never want to write a sweet romance set in a flower shop in a college town in California...

The New Flower Basket sweetheart continuity is open for submissions, and like RWA says, have we got a story for you.

Hie thee to our website, and read the fabulous story, Business is Blooming, by Linda Carroll-Bradd. Join Grace, Steffie and Donica in Sweetheart's version of Wayback.

Set in gorgeous Almendra, CA, where more than flowers are blooming--

Each story should involve a visit to the flower shop, either by an order placed over the phone or in person, or a spontaneous visit to pick up a last-minute bouquet. The Flower Basket supplies arrangements for any occasion—big or small, happy or sad. Each woman brings special talents to the operation of the store.

Story lengths range from a minimum of 7,000 words to full-length novels.

All stories must fit into Sweetheart guidelines. The focus should be squarely placed on the growth of an emotional bond between the hero and heroine. They can touch and kiss, but keep it clean, lol--we're looking for how they feel up in their heads, not...er, you get the picture.

Visit the Flower Basket today. Continuity guidelines, Sweetheart guidelines, and Linda's wonderful story are now up.

Join the Garden...

What's In a Name?

Here's a great self-editing exercise to try some time. Take a yellow highlighter (or use the search and replace feature on your computer) and highlight all uses of your characters’ names for one chapter. When you’ve finished, if that lovely white background looks as though someone has bled highlighter all over it, you’re using your characters’ names too much. (If you don’t have time to do that, you can simply glance at the beginning of every paragraph for a page or two. Do they all start with someone’s name? This is another sign of over-use). It’s a subconscious move on the writer’s part to want to make sure our reader knows who is speaking, who is participating in this story and who is walking across the room. By the time they’ve finished the first page, your reader knows your hero and heroine’s names. Don’t hit her over the head with them. Each and every time you use their names you draw the reader out of your characters’ PV– you remind her that she’s reading. Whenever possible substitute “he” “she” “her” “him” and other adjectives for the names. This will help your reader to stay in your character’s PV and can make or break the difference between a reader simply reading a story – and feeling like they’re a part of one.