2. August 2010 by admin.

Another year is over and the mystery of “How are they gonna pull off moving a huge conference from one part of the country to another in about two months?” has been answered. Michelle Monkou and her fabulous staff at the Romance Writers of America headquarters came through. We will all feel disappointment over not visiting the lovely, yet too wet Nashville area, but Orlando and the Dolphin/Swan Resort complex welcomed us in style.

There were too many events to report at this time, so I’ll give some highlights. The Chapter Leadership all day meeting was an eye-opener to this new vice president (me). I want to publicly thank my wonderful roommate, Florina Craven, President of the Charleston Chapter for surviving my bout with food-poisoning.

The Literary signing was a well-attended madhouse! I was unable to visit all the authors on my list, but was happy a few new authors (my chapter mates) were there; Katherine Ashe, Qwillia Rain, and Kelly Gay to name a few.The workshops I attended were great; I survived my agent appointments; my new friend and virgin conference attendee Carla Smith…oops, I meant to say FIRST TIMER Carla Smith, had a fantastic first-ever agent appointment…the agent requested she send her full manuscript! 

The Golden Hearts were awarded to deserving not-yet-published writers and many new faces won the Ritas. The after-award party in Sabrina Jeffries suite was well attended and we love having her as part of the Heart of Carolina RWA here in the Raleigh area. She comes to most meetings and freely gives of herself whenever a struggling new writer (or one who has been around the stacks) has a problem. She looked fabulous and her party started off with fun and laughter when Nancy Berland and Lori Keizer were caught wearing the same outfit…from necklace to sparkly shoes!

The write up posted today at PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY’S BLOG is wonderful. Please visit 

http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/beyondherbook/?p=1846&cpage=1#

for a full-length shot of these two lovely ladies. My shot was taken over a few heads, but I think I caught the happy hijinks.   

Nancy Berland and my friend, Lori Keizer, laugh about their RITA dresses!

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24. July 2010 by admin.

I am leaving soon to attend my second Romance Writers of America annual conference. Last year, I took the train along with fellow local chapter members. We met in Washington, DC. with over 1,000 other writers; hopefulls, newly published, and NY Times best sellers, to perfect our craft and rub elbows. The experience was awesome and a bit frightening. I wore my ‘First Timers’ ribbon uneasily. At my age? And among all these strangers who probably knew a lot more about the publishing business than me.

This year, we are meeting in Orlando, Florida. We had  planned on Nashville, TN but flooding damaged the convention center, so there you go. I am driving part way to my roomie’s home then heading down, three of us in her minivan. This year I will proudly wear a ‘First Sale’ribbon! I have also signed up for some volunteer duties and will represent my chapter at the Chapter Leadership meeting.

I hope to meet several members of two on-line RWA chapters. Speaking via e-mails and in chat rooms will have more appeal once I can put faces to names. I hope to talk about kilts and Scottish dragons with members of the Celtic Heart Romance Writers. I will share paranormal story plots with members of the Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers.

I have had two e-books books released in the last month. One is a contemporary romance (under the pen name Nancy Lennea) and the other is my debut Scottish historical paranormal. I have a romantic suspense scheduled for release on September 30th. This has been a banner year and I look forward to more exciting news.

My greatest need right now, I feel, is to acquire an agent. I have a three book series I am working on. SPELLBOUND HIGHLANDER is also a Scottish historical with witches, time travels, and handsome Highlanders. Wish me luck! If you see me at nationals, please say “Hi!”

Nancy Lee Badger w/a Nancy Lennea

SECRET LOVE MATCH available now at www.redrosepublishing.com

DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN coming September 30th 2010 from Red Rose Publishing

DRAGON’S CURSE available now from www.whispershome.com and www.amazon.com for Kindle

BOOK BLURB

Sometimes a special gift and an unwanted curse cannot keep destined lovers apart.Brianna Macleod has accompanied a shipload of her guardian’s friends to a remote island off the coast of Scotland. She eludes these Highland hunters to keep her innocence…and her gift of sight. Her attitude against falling for womanly desires changes when she nearly drowns. Saved by the talons of a terrifying winged beast, she awakens—naked—in a cave, beside an unusual man.Cursed by a vengeful witch to transform into a dragon at inopportune times, Draco MacDonald hides on this deserted island to live alone: until he plucks a servant girl from certain death. Fueled by jealousy, and tempered by fear for her safety, he succumbs to an unfamiliar desire to mate. Her kisses propel him to dare to make her his own.Set in 1592 Scotland on the Scottish island of Staffa, the cursed hero battles a ghostly witch, a hunter set on rape, and his own growing desire for a young woman with premonitions of his death. 

EXCERPT 

The urge to hunt finally propelled him from his sanctuary as he pondered why the witch neglected to provide night vision. He flicked his tail at the indignity of hunting at dusk, but such was life. He kept his distance from the hunting party, which was safely ensconced in tents for the night. With his astute sense of smell, their fetid stench filled the air while his nostrils flared in search of Brianna’s fragrance. “To see her once more would go far in giving me the comfort of a good night’s sleep.” His words came out as a growl. Under his scales, muscles quivered.He dipped below the cliff face as he swooped and glided, flapping his thin, leathery wings now and then to keep his bulk above the sea. He had filled his belly with two seals, and then plucked a seabird, that had the misfortune to fly too slowly, from the sky. Both filled his mouth with a taste of the salty waves, so he searched out his favorite fountain. With a few flaps, he lunged at the small cascade tumbling from the top of the rock face. He soared below the cliff’s rock-strewn edge, gulping mouthful upon mouthful of fresh water. After filling his belly to cool his throat, he roared with delight. After returning his kisses, Brianna banished him to the silence of his own imagination. Then, he recalled Jean’s laughter when he kissed her under a tree.Had she compared him to another? Possibly Lorn, I should imagine.Had she played him for a fool? Did she purposely lead him astray to fill Lorn with jealousy?When Draco kissed Brianna, her sweet body leaned into his chest. Her delicate fingertips caressed his hair and shoulders with honest need and unabashed passion. His human body, hidden beneath scales and claws, throbbed with a yearning he never dared to feel again. His time with Jean never progressed beyond light kisses. He would spend the remainder of his years alone. Catching an updraft, he flew up and over the cliff and froze in midair when the object of his thoughts suddenly screamed. Brianna actually screamed at him. Her voice filled the night air with her terror. The vibration made his wings falter, and he tumbled end over end toward the sea.His last conscious thought was guilt at the trembling in her voice and the look of fear plastered on her pale face. 

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16. May 2010 by admin.

I came across this fantastic video on You Tube and want to share it with my writer friends…and anyone who frew up reading “Wuthering Heights and other Bronte sisters’ tomes.  Enjoy!

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18. March 2010 by admin.

Satisfaction doesn’t always come from your job, but it does come from a job well done.–anonymous

I agree whole-heartedly with this sentiment. After three years of struggling–and two years without a paycheck–my bumpy road to publication is smoothing out.

Nancy Lee Badger

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12. March 2010 by admin.

As a new author who struggled for 2 1/2 years before her first contract, I tried something different. After writing four full-length contemporary romances, I then used my knowledge of present day Highland games, witchcraft, and Scottish Highlanders to write a 90,000 word Scottish Historical. A month after I began sending out queries concerning ‘Spellbound Highlander’, I sold my contemporary romance titled SECRET LOVE MATCH, which is scheduled for release on 25 June from Red Rose Publishing as an e-book with a possible release in print, at a future date.

While awaiting word on the longer historical, I thought I’d try my hand at something short. I have done 55,000 words for submissions to Harlequin, but I set my target at something between 25-30k. Difficult! It came out about 34,000 words long so I went through and SLASHED AND BURNED.

Words flew off the cliff faster then my shape-shifter dragon hero. DRAGON’S CURSE sold to Whispers Publishing within two weeks of submitting it to them. I am very excited even though the work to come will test my skills as a new author. The contract is signed and I have filled out numerous bits of paperwork. Everything from pay info to tax forms to cover art. Book blurbs, my hook, and more made me think more about how much I love my story. (Visit www.nancyleebadger.com to read an excerpt)

DRAGON’S CURSE will also come out as an e-book and I expect it to do very well. After all, what’s not to love about a dragon, a witch, a seer, a deserted island, and love? Happy ever endings are a must, but there is also a dark side to my story, which incorporates real historical tidbits concerning feuding clans, murder, and revenge.

I have six completed manuscripts under my belt and have over 32,000 words completed on my next project. I cannot wait to break the news about DRAGON’S CURSE to the writers who join me once a month at my local chapter of Romance Writers of America. (Check out our marvelous authors at www.heartofcarolina.org)

Nancy

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6. March 2010 by admin.

As I promised last time, there are several helpful websites and blogs out there that I really wished I’d known about before I quit my full-time job and became A WRITER. I was lucky to be in a place in my life where the opportunity to move to an area offering a lower priced quality of living presented itself. I also have a marvelous husband who is in my corner and gets up five days a week to trudge off to work. Thanks, Honey!

Back to basics, since I digress. When a new writer wonders about how to word a query letter or what to include in a synopsis, I am smart enough to suggest those who offer better advice. Two sites that come to mind? http://Kristualla.wordpress.com & http://www.lisagardner.com.

Krista has pages and pages of helpful hints and she explains the whys and hows in an upbeat, get-it-done flair. I love Lisa’s Tricks-of-the-Trade section full of helpful points for any aspiring writer. Check both out. Better yet, add them to your favorites! (Like mine)

Or, join another chapter. Romance Writers of America has numerous sanctioned on-line chapters. Do you love a vampire or werewolf saga? Do dragons and faeries make you tingle. How about avenging angels and sexy urban fantasy demons? You might consider joining the FANTASY, FUTURISTIC & PARANORMAL Romance Writers. Check them out at: www.romance-ffp.com.

Do your heroes wear kilts? Are your heroines swept away by regal Irish Dukes? Do Highland castles and Welsh maidens fighting off marauding bans of warriors fill the pages of your manuscripts? Do present day witches fall through time or fall in love with contemporary Scottish farmers? Then you should look into joining THE CELTIC HEARTS ROMANCE WRITERS: www.celtichearts.org.

Maybe you are curious about what agents are looking for. One of the best blogs out there is http://blog.nathanbransford.com.  Agent Nathan Bransford, of the Curtis Brown Agency, has a place where you can sign-up to automatically get his new blog posts in your e-mails. He keeps on top of comings and goings and has written several blogs on e-books versus big NY City publishers. He does the work, and we reap the rewards.

Some people who start out in this gut-wrenching, tear-jerking, how can I get so many rejections in one week business want to know if it’s worth it, money wise. (Of course, YOU don’t care about the money…right?) Well, there is a website for you, too. Check out SHOW ME THE MONEY at http://www.brendahiatt.com. What Brenda has done is compile volunteered info about how much an author received as an advance, and how much a book sold in total. This information is worth its weight in gold, but remember that it might take up to three years for one book to go through enough sales history and return compilations to get an accurate showing, but this really helps. As you will notice, the large NY publishers are the ones offering the big advances for a new author signing with their house. Smaller e-pubs offer no advances, but the writer’s share of each book is greater. This chart, updated every few months, is a start.

Before I send my query letter to a publisher I have not followed closely, I check their credibility on a site which gathers the dirt. Check out: http://pred-ed.com.  Again, take every report listed on Predators & Editors with a grain-of-salt. People who grumble about something make the biggest noises, so posting something derogatory soothes them but hurts the agent or publisher. The best way to gather helpful information is to ask around and find people who work with these people. They will be able to tell you more, and with straight talk.

The point is, this is a business and you must arm yourself with the best information possible in order to come out on top as a successful writer. But, please do not forget the most important aspect of this whole business.

YOU MUST GET YOUR SEAT IN THE CHAIR AND WRITE!

Check back with me for some more good news in my work to be a successful, published, writer. 

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20. February 2010 by admin.

Record keeping sounds too much like work, but is an important step to keep track of your activities, especially when you complete more than one manuscript. Some rejection letters—called form letters—do not even reference the manuscript title. Having records of what you sent which agent or publishing house will keep it all straight. NEVER send more than one manuscript to an agent or publisher at one time. Most agencies and publishing house will only accept one per author at a time. If they decide to offer a contract, having a second manuscript in their slush pile makes extra work for them.  

Feel free to send queries to dozens at once, but I recommend no more than 10 at a time. Why? With the advent of e-mail queries, rejections arrive in days or weeks instead of months (or years!) An agent might take an extra few lines to tell you why they do not think your manuscript is ‘right’ for them. Slow pacing or too many characters are things that can be fixed. THEN you can send the manuscript out again.

ALWAYS keep a copy of the original in case someone shows interest in it. That is what happened to me. From the time I wrote the book, submitted it to several agents and a couple of publishers, then entered it in RWA’s Golden Heart writing contest, almost 10 months had passed. I decided to rewrite the book. Bad idea, now that I look back, since the original still sat with Red Rose Publishing (www.redrosepublishing.com) When the e-mail came last August saying ‘Congratulations, Secret Love Match has sold’, I was flabbergasted. Joy filled me and heartache was avoided when I learned they would allow me to meld the two story lines together. I used the knowledge gleaned from on-line workshops to clean up the grammar, tighten up the dialog, and strengthen my characters. My book is due to be published as an e-book on 25 June 2010. The link is: http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/extra_info_pages.php?pages_id=4.

SECRET LOVE MATCH is my third completed full-length manuscript. Since signing my first ever contract, I have completed two more full-length stories (one contemporary and one Scottish historical) and a 30,000 word Scottish paranormal novella. I expect to have my current wip (work-in-progress) complete by the time my book comes out. The message here is to KEEP WRITING. When one manuscript is complete and you have sent out several query letters, start the next project. The time between submission to sale to publication can be two years or more!

I digress. What I do to keep my manuscripts straight is this: when I start a project, I choose a binder about 1 ½ inches thick. I fill it with my character profiles (hair and eye color, names, ages, quirks, etc.) I type up a ‘Publishers’ page. Every time I submit to an agent or publisher, I include the date, agency name, agent or c/o name, and what I sent, such as ‘query, 2 page synopsis, first three chapters’. I leave a column blank for the date a rejection (or request for full!) arrive.

A rejection from a certain agent or publisher should be viewed as another opportunity. When your next work is complete, send it out to them! Again, Romance Writers of America (www.rwanational.org) is a fantastic resource since they list agents and publishers on their website, complete with requirements, websites, and genres. There are other sources for publisher information…such as how much royalty does so-and-so offer. We will leave that for another day. 

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7. February 2010 by admin.

Writing is a lonely profession. When I started writing, back in October 2007, I was employed fulltime, had watched one son graduate college and the other survive a stint in Iraq. I hadn’t planned to write fulltime. I am a voracious reader. Harlequin paperbacks filled my library.  Mystery series by Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich joined them. But it wasn’t until the week my youngest son came home on leave that the floodgates in my mind opened and a story tumbled out.

My first attempt at writing a ‘real’ book turned out to be a contemporary romance. It took one month to write. Boy was I naive. Like a fish out of water, I bought a book on formatting (Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies by Leslie Wainger) and a book listing agents and publishers. I could have learned so much more by joining ROMANCE WRITERS OF AMERICA (www.RWAnational.org).  I submitted my self-edited, formatted by-the-book manuscript’s query letters to several agents and Harlequin Publishing (www.eharlequin.com). I remember the feeling of shock and awe when Harlequin requested to read my full manuscript. Their letter soothed my reaction to dozens of earlier rejection letters.

Unfortunately, they also rejected my book. I stashed it away. Did I stop writing? No. Did I still see a future in it? Yes! What I did next was join the Romance Writers of America, and write another book. I attended a local chapter’s all-day workshop featuring two well-known authors. Due to my work schedule, I was never able to attend the chapter’s monthly meetings.

Then we sold our home in central New Hampshire (right before the bust) and moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. By November 2008 I had completed three full manuscripts. I now reside only eight miles from my local RWA chapter’s meeting place( www.heartofcarolina.org ). The members have helped fuel my ambition and get me excited to succeed. I also joined an on-line writing group for mystery, suspense, and crime-fighting novelists (www.SistersInCrime.com).

Writing does NOT have to be a lonely profession. There are various groups out there, including dozens available on-line. Having someone to talk to, to listen to, to ask questions of, to respect your opinions, etc. is priceless.  I plan to post more chapters relating to writing on this blog with more writing tips and useful websites. Have a question? I invite you to either make a comment or e-mail me.

Nancy Lee Badger

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30. January 2010 by admin.

Times change and so do I. The theme of my blog is still RESCUING ROMANCE but I am including so much more. While I still wish to celebrate our heroes, I have a need to concentrate on my writing. I look forward to selling more of my stories and am pleased to announce that my first book will be published by Red Rose Publishing on 25 June 2010. (visit my website for an excerpt: www.nancylennea.com )

SECRET LOVE MATCH is a contemporary romance with all the angst and turmoil blooming between a young woman and a much older, world-weary man.  I appreciate my family for their support. I value my comrades-at-arms who make up my local chapter of Romance Writers of America. I look forward to bringing my years of expertise to the group and to be the best Vice President. 

HEROES are the men and women surrounding us who take on the hard, thankless jobs nobody else cares to attempt. I dedicate today’s column to the firefighters, police officers, ambulance attendants, and 9-1-1 dispatchers who patrol the radios, phones, and streets. During the unusual snow and ice storm running through the Raleigh area at this very moment, they have been BUSY!  I thank our military all over the world who protect us and our freedom. I thank teachers who strive to give our youth a step-up in today’s ever-changing economy. My thanks to veterinarians and their techs who keep pets healthy so they can give us love and companionship. Blaze, my 12+ pound cat, sits in my lap as I juggle my laptop writing this article since the weather keeps me inside.

2010 will bring exciting changes to our world and to my life. I plan to sell more stories, write more articles, lose some weight, and appreciate the life I’ve chosen. I am also suspending my BOOK REVIEWS on this site. I have been asked to WRITE REVIEWS for another blogsite (more information to follow). Instead, I shall fill these pages with ???

Still working on that part. Wish me luck!

Nancy Lee Badger 

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