Summer Journal 2013 - Entry #8

I'd love to say I'm making great progress on my Work in Progress, but that's just not the case these days. And I'm okay with that. Eventually it will get done and in the meantime I have a couple of book releases to look forward to. The Vampire and the Vixen will be officially released by Wild Rose in October (It's already out on Kindle.) and This Feels Like Home (my first full-length available in print in a long time) will be out, I'm guessing, around the first of the year.

This week I did accomplish one important summer writing goal: I followed up with Harlequin on a submission from last year. About a year ago I got a request for the full of "Family Secrets", a story targeted for their American Romance line. I mailed it all off to Canada around this time last year, along with a self-addressed envelope and postage for any return correspondence, but hadn't heard anything at all. Trouble is, other than a general address and name, I didn't have any specific contact information for the requesting editor. So, I tracked down the card from the editor I'd originally met with at Spring Fling in 2012 and generated an e-mail based on her contact information, but for the new editor. We'll see what happens. So far, no response. And who knows, I could be way off base on the e-mail address I sent it to. However, it didn't come back 'undeliverable' or such, so I'm hoping it at least got through. Time will tell. If I don't hear back, since it's been a year already, I'll probably add some plot points to the mss and submit it to my editor at TWRP for consideration. Right now it's at about 59,000 words and would need to be over 65,000 for a print run at Wild Rose.

I also spent some time exploring the Behind the Garden Gate blog at TWRP. I printed out some great information on Ways to Make Your Writing Stronger (a post written by my former editor) and Words Not to Use while writing. I also read-through and printed out a post from another blog on using the Kindle Select Program and how to market your books on the freebie days. I have my free days coming up at the end of August for The Vampire and the Vixen, so the timing was perfect for this information. My Wild Rose author loop is also discussing Kindle Select this weekend, which I'm sure will provide lots more information.

And I actually did do a tiny...and I mean tiny...bit of writing. It was just a few sentences, but it was an important transition between two scenes I'd already written. So I actually feel pretty good about that. At least it's something. Every word counts, right?

Right now we are on vacation again. Yesterday and today we are exploring Dixon, IL...childhood home of President Ronald Reagan. I hope you're enjoying your weekend as well!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com