Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas

Bet the title got your attention! No, I haven’t lost it yet. I wanted to let you know the holiday story is almost finished and ready to go. I’ve been writing the synopsis, thinking about the query letter, and doing final touch-ups on the story. I can’t wait to see my hero and heroine with a new place to live besides in my laptop in a word document. They’re itching to be set free.

I’ve been looking at ebook publishers. I have one in mind and actually wrote to their guidelines, but I want to make sure to check out other options as well. Funny how publishing guidelines differ between publishers. The formatting is similar, but there can be major differences in some things, so it’s important to pay attention to all guidelines, whether it be formatting or content. One thing you won’t see different is their taboo issues. Absolutely follow those. I don’t know anyone who writes that stuff anyway, and I wouldn’t read it.

There’s still the possibility of publishing to Kindle and Smashwords. In that case, it would be up to me to find a book cover. Book covers are so important. Titles are so important. As a matter of fact, I’m trying to ‘holiday’ up my title. When I decided on the title, it actually wrote the book. Really! I had the title then the book. So, it didn’t start in my mind to be a holiday story, but as soon as I sat down to write it, I knew it was going to be. So, here I am, trying to holiday up a title.

Hopefully, I’ll have great news to spread about this book. One way or another, these sexy characters, and the beautiful city it takes place in will find a published home. Till next time, signing off . . .

Technorati Tags: holiday,jade rose madison,erotic romance,Christmas

Typing The End to a Novel

It felt like a long time coming because I put my holiday story on hold for so long. Now, with time running out for holiday submissions, I had to get it out. But, I finished it in rough draft, and have done a run through of editing. The major revising isn’t started yet, but I took advice a friend gave me on some things her editor looks for. And, I want to submit to her publishing company. 

When I’m near the end I get so excited. My fingers can’t seem to type fast enough, and the thoughts start pouring out to make the last little bit special for my characters and readers. I figure if I get emotional, or my characters get emotional, my readers will get emotional. So, even though I finished, I’m excited to go back and make sure loose ends are tied up. 

I had to create a time line so I could get my dates correct. Something big happens on Christmas Eve so I wanted to be sure to get all the days prior to that in the right order. It’s fun to do and see it all come together. I call editing the pleasure/pain part of writing. Many more ideas come along during the revision process and knowing what to cut and when is sometimes a challenge. We create these words and we don’t always want to cut them. On the other hand, sometimes there are words you can’t wait to cut; they never felt right from the beginning.

Oh, the photo of Coit Tower and the full moon? It's a scene from this book. Beautiful and awesome because I actually saw this scene on a trip to San Francisco. I was there in the beginning of December that year. A sight I will always remember.

Now it’s time to get back to editing.  

Technorati Tags: the ending,jade rose madison,novel,Christmas,San Francisco,Finished,edit,revise,complete

Decisions, Decisions...

NOTE:  This blog has nothing on it at this point to make it adult rated, so even though the title says Erotic Love Stories, it is safe to read anything on this blog right now. When that changes, this blog will be labeled adult only, but for now it is safe to read for anyone.

In December I put a Christmas story on hold because I knew it missed all the deadlines for submissions.  I thought I would go ahead and finish it and set it aside until it was time for this Christmas.  Well, that time is now upon me.  One publisher that I checked with has June 1st as a deadline for Christmas Romances.  Needless to say, I didn't finish it in December when I wanted to.  I got busy on my other current work in progress and kind of forgot about the other one.

I opened it up the other day and started reading it so I could catch up with the story and finish it.  It's almost to the end in first draft.  So, my dilemma now is to either get to it and try to get it written, edited, and revised, or not worry about it right now, and continue with my current one.  The Christmas story would have to be sent to an editor because this publisher wants near perfection, and if I'm finishing it in a hurry, I want to make sure it's near perfect when I submit.  So, therein lies my dilemma.   I have two editor friends, but I don't even know if they have time to fit a new book in.

I have searched other publisher websites and didn't find anything about submitting for the Christmas season.  Maybe they will put out a call for submissions, and I will still have time.   I'm the only one who can make this decision.  It wouldn't be bad to make this decision, but it only piles on top of all the other decisions I have to make at this point in my life.  In the meantime, I'm definitely working on making these decisions and then following through.  I'm not a quitter, so one way or another, one of these stories will be completed shortly.  

Visit my website to see what is going on.