Hi Everyone, I'm thrilled to announce that blog commenter Jane has won Tracey Devlyn's debut novel. Jane, I need to get your contact information to forward to Tracey and we'll send you the book! Way to go and congratulations.
Meanwhile, back at the Revision Ranch life is moving very slowly. The characters are talking, but the process is going slower than a gnat treading through molasses. This is the issue: I have learned a lot since I completed the novel last year and I want to reflect that in my writing. A year ago, I'd have sent it with minor changes. Now? Not so much. I've cut 3000 words but added 11,000 words to bring my word count over the 50,000 needed for Mills & Boon. But that is well within the criteria for the other request I have for the same full novel. So that's good news. I'm over the hump, so to speak... but I have 3-4 more chapters to plow through.
And all this revising makes Christine a very dull blogger. I haven't time for anything but revisions and looking after my family! The house is taking a dive, big dive down into the dumps, but who cares? I'm writing and fulfilling requests.
I must be getting close to the end of this first huge pass through of revisions, because I woke up this morning with ideas for my next NEW book HOT NIGHTS WITH HER UNDERCOVER BOSS. I've been reading and analyzing many category books in the DESIRE, RIVA, SPECIAL EDITION and PRESENTS lines. All of this has made me realize that SIMPLE IS KEY. My plot for HOT NIGHTS was too complicated. Made for an interesting story but made for a harder romance to write. Frankly, when one only has 50,000 words or less to build a story, there is NOT room for complicated plots.
And I am good with that knowledge. There are people who see writing category books as easy. Trust me when I say that writing these books is NOT easy. And some people want to use publishing category books as a way to get into publishing the books they really want to write. I think that's fine, but move over because I WANT TO WRITE THESE BOOKS. I loved reading them when I was a teenager and young mom. I love reading them now. I have other books in me, but they are dark and mean and evil and filled with monsters and shadows and demons. Will I write them? Maybe, but the whole reason I read Harlequin and other contemporary romances is because I wanted to escape the real monsters in my life.
I hardly want to look at those monsters again. Would you? Ultimately, I write these books to escape and hopefully one day people will read them and have a wonderful time tuning out their own monsters.
That being said. A random happening made me remember an event in my life that I believe could lead to a big book one day. So I'll write down my thoughts about it and go from there. Meanwhile, I am very content and happy to write my darling category romances with alpha heroes, strong heroines, great romps, and lovely happy endings. These are the stories of my heart.
Are you writing the stories of your heart? What kind of stories do you like to read.
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