I’m not a Pollyanna. True to an Aquarian born in the year of the Dragon, I’m incredibly impatient, impulsive, emotional, irrational and irritable. And those are my good points. But with that said, I’ve learned to hang tough. I write those words to my friends struggling to sell, struggling to believe, struggling to hang in […]
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I’m not a fan of critique groups. I’ve been in two. One was controlling and the other damaging. Members showed up without material to share. Members showed up not prepared. Members showed up having rewritten each other’s chapters. It was weird. It was ugly. It was like being thirteen and in junior high again. The […]
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I’ve heard successful writers proclaim they don’t get writer’s block because they won’t allow themselves to get writer’s block. Others have said that writer’s block is related to motivation, or lack of. All I know are my own painful experiences of starting a new book and eventually drawing a blank. I’ve learned some techniques to […]
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I’m a wuss. Until recently, I routinely cracked under pressure. Rejections decimated me. Revisions terrified me. Getting a bad review meant a week of sleepless nights (okay, there were some really bad reviews). You’d think I’d be tougher, considering it “only” took me fifteen years to sell my first book, and in that time I […]
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Feeling burned out? Need a break but you’ve got another deadline looming? Plan a writer’s retreat! I’ve just returned from my second writing retreat with Barbara Dunlop and CJ Carmichael and the four days together this March saved my skin-and my book. I didn’t get three new chapters written like I did last year, but […]
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Jane Porter’s 10 Things Not to Do if You’re Trying to Sell to Harlequin in 10 Years or Less! Point #1-4 – Don’t Go For the Hard Sale First My first four books were all hard sells: in the first one, the hero was a baseball player, in the second, the setting was South Africa, […]
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I write contemporary category romances. They’re short. They’re intense. And they’re sexy. But each new book needs new plot and I’m always looking for suggestions as well as inspiration. Some of my best research and freshest ideas have come from: People Magazine (especially the annual issue of “Sexiest Men”) Writing for Harlequin Presents I revel […]
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