Enjoy a little love, laughter and spice in this new anthology that includes my short story A Love to Die For, starring bad girl LaShaun Rousselle. If you want a taste of LaShaun and the Louisiana Creole/Cajun country setting featured in Live, Love, Laugh read A Darker Shade of Midnight. Then go buy your copy of Live, Love, Laugh.
Rejection- that word makes authors wince with pain. Oh yes, I've felt that sting once too often. Of course the much repeated advice is to keep writing and not give up. Let's be real for a minute- getting those "Not for us" or "I'm just not excited about this project" rejections (or worse) can really mess with your mind. Yeah, yeah, sometimes it sounds glib hearing, "Hang in there" from a writer who has sold or is a bestselling author telling the "How I made it" story. When you've just added another "No" to your growing pile of rejections letters you might roll your eyes. The kicker is quitters never get published. Submitting doesn't mean you have a guarantee that one day you will sell. Yet giving up is definitely a guarantee you won't sell. Writing takes guts- the kind of nerves of steel a professional fighter has. You have to do in knowing you're gonna get punched- that comes with the territory. But you have to keep moving and keep swinging.
Now here's some advice- if you can't take it give up. There is no shame in saying getting rejections is not for you. Life is too short to make yourself miserable. Some people decide to just write for themselves, or the church newsletter. I say good for you. This tough biz is not for everybody.
BUT if you want to get an agent or sell it to a publisher learn how to heal after getting those stings and blows. You don't have to grit your teeth and pretend it doesn't hurt. What have must do to keep going is figure out how to keep going. Now get back in the ring, slugger.
Here is one of those "How I made it" stories that reinforces the power of sticking with your dream and not giving in. This writer used the time while she was waiting to write a series that sold.
Why not to let rejection stop you.
Blogging In Black is a group blog with thought-provoking posts. My entry on Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau and research by writers is featured as well. Check it!
Romance novels and shopping- this woman's idea of utopia! Seriously, this is a challenging landscape for authors these days. Amazingly my friends and family don't seem to understand that the bad economy affects writing books. Still puzzles me why they don't get that. So anyway, us non-household word authors are facing a huge barrier trying to sell our work. Because of that the quest to find new ways to keep doing what we love and getting our books on stores shelves is THE hot topic among us authors. Enter Home Shopping Network.
That's right, folks. One of the big three shopping channels will start selling romance novels soon. As an author I can't wait to see how this goes over. And no, Nora Roberts isn't the author they're starting with this time. Gregory L. Norris, who writes romance as Jo Atkinson, will be part of HSN's Escape with Romance on September 14th 8-9 am and again at 4-5 pm (EST). The second segment will air September 15th from 3-4 am. Could this be a trend? Stay tuned.
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