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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