Showing posts with label first book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first book. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Favorite AND Most Challenging First in Writing ... by Delsora Lowe


I have a first book ever written (2001), along with many written full manuscripts, still sitting under my bed. But my first book to be published was The Legacy of Parkers Point, released in 2016. My novella, published in an anthology (Welcome to Serenity Harbor), was part of a compilation of novellas by members of the Maine Romance Writers. As one of the project managers on this project, I learned a ton.

The excitement of publishing a first book is beyond description.


When the anthology ran its course in early 2017, and we all received back our rights, I was soon able to experience new excitement. I republished the novella as my first indie-published book. I did the soup to nuts work, same as we did on the anthology: re-editing with a professional editor, working with a cover artist and a formatter, and promoting my “first-born,” as I did the same for two more newly written novellas that would make up the series. The three books, published individually, came out as the Starlight Grille series over the months during the fall of 2017. And then the three were published as a collection with a new short story added in 2018. Scary but exciting, for sure!


The learnings from being one of the project managers on the anthology were expanded as I indie-published The Legacy of Parkers Point and the other two books in 2017. Each book I put out has its own excitement. But that first book—there are no words to describe the feeling.Following is a blog, originally published here on Romancing the Genres (and updated), about my experience as the co-manager of the anthology. The book that kicked off and catapulted me into published-author territory.

Working on an anthology is an entirely different beast. Think Beauty and the Beast. You start out with a quarrelsome, growly, domineering chunk of words that need to be tamed into one cohesive book.

Picture this: Beauty dreaming of finding her hero. Every August the Maine Romance Writers partake in a brainstorming retreat. Okay, so it’s like a huge slumber party. We arrive with sleeping bags and pillows and laptops and snacks (salty and savory) and wine. Did I mention laptops? Yes, we do work. We spend all day either brainstorming our next story in small groups, or sitting on the deck or down by the lake writing on our current work. We break every few hours to exchange writing tips, eat, or take a boat ride around the lake. Oh, and sip wine 😊

Two years ago, we sat on the deck, sated with food and talk and wine (just a little <WINK>,) with the sound of loons on the lake and the full moon arrowing a golden path across the lake and right up on the shoreline in front of us. The setting was one of those perfect end-of-summer evenings.

Our host suggested we might like to try writing an anthology. Within minutes we’d created a town, brainstormed names of the town, set a few guidelines, and we were off and running…

Or so we thought.


The reality is the work we did that night was Beauty’s fantasy. Then the Beast appeared. All the details of actually putting together an anthology. The writing was the easy part—Beauty’s fantasy. Managing a project, was the roaring and untamable Beast.


I am happy to say we did finally tame the beast, and named it Welcome to Serenity Harbor. Beauty and the Beast are now living happily ever after. But as with all good marriages or committed relationships, one must open their eyes, negotiate, persevere over the hurdles, and make a strong commitment to reach that Happily Ever After.

As one of two project managers, working with a group of six committee members and all the authors who were excited about the project, here are the things I learned: (caveat, not all anthologies revolve around a town, like ours did. Some have a theme. Some are made up of a group of authors and there are no rules around story content.)

The following are my suggestions from the experience of working on the anthology, but most of this can also relate to individual works

♥ Map out the project, and plot exactly what the project will look like.

·         Set rules, such as genre of anthology (ours was contemporary), length (we chose short novellas, 15 – 25K words).

·         Write a contract. Include costs, such as professional editor for each work, (authors absorbed that cost), due date of manuscript, anticipated release date, budget (cost of formatter, cover artist, and promotion, for which we shared cost), and production timeline.

·         Determine as a group, parameters around the theme (story bible,) such as name and details of town that all authors will set their story in, name of overall anthology, type of promotion, voting on book cover design, etc.

♥ Research

·         What anthologies are being sold now, how are they set up, etc.

·         Talk to other authors in anthologies to understand their process.

·         Find professionals, editors, formatters, cover artists, etc.

♥ Communicate

·         As a committee, agree on the process.

·         Communicate with all authors each step of the way.

·         Vote on any spending.

♥ Evaluate at the end. Our learnings included:

·         Make sure you factor in realistic expenses, such as copyediting and project manager costs up front.

·         Set deadlines and stick to them.

·         Hire a copy editor, and have one person, not an author related to the anthology, determine if the book fits the criteria and is edited properly

♥ Make it your own

·         One fun thing we did, was to insert the mention of a sheep into each story. Look at the back cover and you will see a rendering of a sheep that says “find me,” designed by one of our authors.

Although, as a group we bumbled our way through the process, for me it was an incredible experience of teamwork and learning about self-publishing. And although the Beast still growls once in a while, the Beast is also loving and tamed. And he and Beauty are living happily ever after.


Although the idea was conceived at our brainstorming retreat, the book is not a product of the Maine Romance Writers, but of a group of writers, some members from out of state, whose bond is through MRW.

Now that it has been several years since we took on this project, I can look back on the process with clarity. This project was indeed hard. One of the hardest things I’ve ever tried, starting from scratch, and learning along the way. Despite the intense undertaking, I learned so much and gained the confidence to go on and publish more books, and for that I am grateful.

 

The Rancher Needs a Wife


https://www.amazon.com/Rancher-Needs-Cowboys-Mineral-Springs-ebook/dp/B07YXB5C4W/




~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.
Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine.


Beauty – Blue Dress: https://cdn.clipart.email/15667992f55f25a3ff416a014ad7a001_beautiful-woman-girl-icons-png-free-png-and-icons-downloads_1840-2400.png


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Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Who wrote this drivel?!?

Many moons ago (ten years) I published my very first book, a novella, with a small press. I was sooooo excited! I’d made it! I can still remember dancing around the kitchen after receiving the acceptance email, laughing-crying, downright giddy. I could write and a person in the industry had just confirmed it! To paraphrase Ms. Fields, a publisher liked me. (My critique partners were encouraging but it’s different when praise comes from a professional editor.)

I dove into the publishing process and learned just how clueless I was. And, like many first time authors, I listened to my editor without question. She knew better, right? (She did know better about many things particularly when it came to my comma placement.)

I got the rights back to that novella late last year intending to give it a quick read-through, change location names so the story will fit in my new series, and hit publish. Wham, bam, well…ah…who wrote this lifeless drivel?!?

Now, I know my writing has changed over the years and my skills have improved (thank gods and goddesses), but my voice has remained consistent. I have journals from twenty years ago with the proof. Somehow during the editing of the novella, I got watered down.

Curious as to how it happened, I searched on my computer for earlier drafts. I discovered exactly where I messed up – and it was me, the newbie author, who did the messing. The editorial feedback had been good – tighten this paragraph, be sure to show and don’t tell, put the GMC on the page – all good stuff. My newbie self just went about fixing it in the wrong way leaving a tightly written, well-illustrated, flat piece of writing.

I’m pleased to say that editing of If I Win (new title to better fit the series) is progressing apace despite the global turmoil, and the new and improved novella will be launched next month.

And from now on I’ll compare the first, rough, messy draft of a story with the final version to ensure I haven’t “fixed” my voice out of the story.
Luanna Stewart has been creating adventures for her imaginary friends since childhood. She spends her days writing spicy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and historical romance. When not torturing her heroes and heroines, she’s in her kitchen baking something delicious. She lives in Nova Scotia with her patient husband and two spoiled cats.


Website ~ Bookbub ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon Author Page


Guess who’s moving in next door?

Nicole Bennett is used to bad luck—it’s kind of a family curse. She’s spent the past year stitching her life back together after losing her dream job. Well, it paid the rent. Now stuck working at her family’s grocery store while wrangling a demoralized dad and a spoiled-brat sister, the last thing she needs is for the man who wrecked her life to move in next door, even if it is for only three weeks. So what if he’s sexier than sin and makes her believe in fairy tale endings?

Ross Calvert’s life in the fast lane crashed when he lost his job and fiancée. All he’s got to show for years of hard work are a sleek sports car and a closet full of designer suits – minus the closet. Determined to salvage his relationship with his best friend, he trades in the corporate life for a brief stint as a caregiver. The decision was simple—until he discovers the tempting vixen he wronged lives next door. Maybe she’s what he needs to reboot his life.

What starts off as a no-strings fling soon veers into making promises that might be impossible to keep.

https://books2read.com/if-I-didnt-care 
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Tuesday, March 17, 2020

The Book Under the Bed ... by Delsora Lowe


I wrote my first novel, in 2000, long before I ever heard of romance writer’s groups. I moved from Maine back to my hometown of Washington, D.C. for a job as the alumni director at the Quaker High School where I graduated (now fifty <gulp> years ago.)


The only fiction I ever wrote was when required in English class, but I always loved writing research papers and human-interest stories for the non-profit magazines where I worked. But this first story gnawed at me until I finally sat down and wrote…and wrote…and wrote. I think it ended up somewhere between one-hundred and one-hundred twenty thousand words.

The setting was northern coastal Maine in the town in which my daughter was married. I changed the name and made it a fictional town, but that town was my inspiration. Side note: oddly that town was also the inspiration for the first novella I published (The Legacy of Parkers Point) sixteen years later as part of a Maine writers anthology. The coincidence was that the anthology author group decided to fashion our fictional town after that same coastal town.


While I was editing my first book, it got wiped off my computer and lost forever (along with all the heartfelt poetry I wrote about living in D.C. and near the Pentagon during 9/11). Luckily, I tend to print things off, so the book and most of the poetry are somewhere in a box. Unluckily, I may never unearth it. Luckily, the book is probably best left buried, although maybe I will rewrite it. The story still swims through my head.


The book was about a seasoned-character who finds a second chance at love. It is her daughter’s wedding week at a seaside Maine resort and she meets a man who works in college admissions. Yes, parts of this are taken from real-life, the daughter and her wedding and the setting. But the rest is fiction. And strangely, again, eleven years after I wrote this book, I ended up working in a college admissions office. But at the time I wrote the book, I worked down the hall from a high school admissions office.


I can’t remember the couple’s entire journey to reach their happily-ever-after, but I do know that the hero’s severe depression plays a huge part in the story, as does the heroine’s hurt from a contentious divorce. Were I to ever rewrite it, I would probably try to make it a bit lighter, even while including those elements. But who knows how it would turn out? As a pantser, my characters tend to tell me their story as I write it.

Still, after twenty years, as we go into 2020, this story still has a grip on me.

Is there anything you’ve done in your life that still grips you into taking action—whether recreating or adding to the experience?
AUTHOR BIO

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine.

THE LEGACY OF PARKERS POINT
Two lives, one legacy—the lure of Parkers Point
One Runs From …
Inheriting his grandfather’s estate on the rocky point in Serenity Harbor, Maine is the perfect escape from the biggest professional disaster of Grayson Mann’s life. Will distance and space help Gray heal old family and professional wounds enough to open his heart to love?
One Runs Toward …
Lauralee Adler struggles to save the family art gallery as she watches her aunt succumb to Alzheimer’s. Returning to the small coastal town is payment for the kindness that saved her life and soul. Now she’s on a quest to find her father. Will this trip home help her learn to trust and finally convince her she can truly belong for the first time in her life?
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Parkers-Point-Serenity-Starlight-ebook/dp/B0743NVCC6/
Books2Read


Clip Art Credits:
Faces: http://www.clipartbest.com/clipart-RcdaMzRai
Seasoned Couple: https://pixabay.com/photos/beach-wedding-happy-couple-sunset-1934732/ School Building: 7fe280c7970b7e5dd68f93b3f51144a3
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Thursday, March 12, 2020

The Heady Experience of The First Book by Lynn Lovegreen

Like your first love, your first book holds a special place in your heart. I feel so fortunate that I’ve had that experience.

Each author’s journey is different. In my case, it took about three years to write my first novel Fools Gold, since I had no idea what I was doing. Luckily, I had brilliant critique partners in my local RWA chapter, AKRWA, which got it into decent shape. I had a relatively easy time finding a publisher—it only took fifty queries and an online contest. And I had a couple great editors (at the former Prism Book Group) who worked with me to make it the best book I could write at that point. After that, it was publication time.  

In December of 2013, a box of books arrived at my door. I let out a little girl squeal, then cried, overwhelmed at the thought of my dream coming true. I set the open box in the living room for a week, gazing at it as often as possible. (Shout out to my loving and patient husband for stepping around it without complaint.)


Later, I got the thrill of sharing Fools Gold with others, seeing it in local bookstores and talking with readers. That was a heady experience, too. And I’ve published a few others now, which is also wonderful. But there’s nothing that compares with holding that first book in my hand. It still makes me sigh.

Wishing the same feeling for all of you, whether it’s a book or something else that’s special to you!

Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for over fifty years. After twenty years in the classroom, she retired to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult historical fiction is set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.
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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Resurrecting Old Haunts

Twenty years ago last Saturday I started writing fiction.

Yes, it may seem odd to know it to the day, but here's why I do. Oh, sometime before that I'd taken the apparently obligatory one-day extension class short story workshop, with appropriately miserable results. I think I'd written three totally useless short stories in my first 35 years totaling less than 5,000 words.

Then in July of 1993 I was on a Quantas jet traveling from Korea, through Singapore (to get an Australian visa), and on to Darwin, Australia. I was about to, as the Aussies say, "Ride a pushie down the Alice." It was the next leg of my mid-life crisis on wheels, to ride my bicycle the 1,500 kilometers across the Outback from Darwin to Alice Springs. While in the air, I started writing a little vignette in my journal. It was about a freshman roommate who killed alarm clocks...literally. I used to lie in my dorm bed and watch yet another poor, hapless clock go flying out to the end of its electrical-cord tether, then smack into a wall and slide down behind my bed with a shiver of tiny fragments.

When he awoke in my story, he wasn't in his dorm bed, but rather sitting across the conference table from St. Peter, who was asking for his help with the broken gates of Heaven. Where that came from I still don't know to this day. While the roommate didn't survive the first draft, St. Peter did and through Australia, Indonesia, India, Israel, and Greece, I wrote of his journey and others. This went on to become my first professional sale, The Cookbook from Hell. It's ultimately about the Devil's mid-life crisis, because she's sick of cleaning up after God for 14 billion years. He may be a creative genius, but his follow-through is lousy and she's always picking up the pieces.

Years later, I wrote the sequel, but I never published it. Why? Well, Cookbook suffered from two things. One, a severe case of first-book-itis and two, the tiny publisher collapsed after book 2 of my 3-book contract... I try not to take it personally.

So, as part of my 20-year celebration as a writer, I redrafted the first book so that I could finally release the second, a dual launch. I was surprised at the emotional baggage, both good and bad that came up. That's part of the writer's journey though, digging down deep, seeing what we find, and doing our best to turn it into entertainment. And I have to admit, I find this world immensely entertaining. While they are not romances, they are definitely stories from my heart.

And that's sort of the whole point, isn't it?

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