June 28, 2007

Are Writers Conferences Cost Effective?

Attending a conference is expensive.  There’s just no way around it.  So as a writer--published or prepublished--one has to evaluate whether it’s really worth it.  For me, it depended on the conference and what my goals were.

When I was prepublished, my goal was to get published.   I wanted to do everything I could to increase my chances.  Problem was, I didn’t have an unlimited budget.  So, these were some of the things I did:

1.    Joined a writer’s organization
2.    Attended chapter meetings
3.    Read How-To books
4.    Listened to cassettes
5.    Entered contests
6.    Joined a critique group
7.    Attended conferences
8.    SAT MYSELF IN A CHAIR AND WROTE A *COMPLETE* NOVEL!!!

I was particular, however, about what groups I joined, what books I read, what contests I entered and what conferences I attended.  For me, all of the above bullets had to further my goal.  For example, since I was writing a romance, I didn’t join a mystery-writer’s league.  (Though I would have if it had been the only thing available to me.)  I didn’t read just any ol’ book on how to write fiction, but concentrated on the ones recommended by successful writers and industry professionals.

I didn’t enter every contest that came along, but only the ones that offered critiques or that were judged by agents/editors.  I volunteered to be the tape librarian for our local writing chapter so that I had access to every cassette in our organization’s archives and could listen to a new one each day.   If I got myself into a critique group that wasn’t beneficial, I politely, but firmly, withdrew my membership.

And I attended two conferences a year.  That’s all I could afford.  So, I looked for the conferences that (in this order):

1.    Had agents & editors in the genre I was writing for and
2.    Offered workshops by reputable teachers whom I could learn from

One conference was a big conference on a national level where I was a little-bitty fish in a mighty big pond.  The other was a local conference that was small and intimate and gave me an opportunity to rub shoulders with the movers and shakers in the industry on a much more personal level.

So, if you are trying to decide whether or not to attend a conference, ask yourself these questions:

1.    Will there be editors/agents in my genre that I can meet with?
2.    Are the workshops offered being given by people in the industry I respect?  Are they going to help  me improve my craft?
3.    Will there be other writers--published and prepublished--that I will have an opportunity to network  with?
4.    How much will it cost me?

If I answered “yes” to question one, it was an automatic green light for me.  If there was more than one conference in which I had an EQUAL opportunity to meet with the editors/agents that most interested me, I moved to question two.  And finally, to questions three and four.  Then I made my decision based on  the one that met the highest number of  my criteria.

There were times that a conference met the top 3 criteria with flying colors, but was way out of my budget.  In that case, I had to move--albeit reluctantly--to my next choice.   But if my second choice only met one criteria (and it wasn’t the first one), I took a long hard look at the first one.  Sometimes, I became very creative.  Garage sales, consignment shops, babysitting, giving up Starbucks <gasp!>, putting the conference fees on my birthday, Christmas & Mother’s Day lists.

Now that I’m published, my goals have changed somewhat, but I still make a point of attending at least two conferences a year.  This year I am going to:

1.    Romance Writers of America (RWA) National Conference
2.    American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) National Conference

What about you?  Are you attending any conferences this year?  What are your favorites?

posted by Deeanne on 06/28/2007 - 6 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

June 25, 2007

Romance vs. Historical

A while back one of you asked me what the difference is between historical romance and straight historicals.  The answer revolves around what we call "plot lines."  Most novels have more than one storyline going on in them.  Let's say that a novel set in 1870 has the following storylines (or plot lines):

• A big conflict between a single mother and her daughter. 
• A murder of a close friend needs to be solved/resovled
• A romance blooms between the single mom and the sheriff on the case

The question then becomes, would this be a:

• Historical
• Suspense
• Romance
• Romantic Suspense

How we classify this book depends on what the MAIN plot line is about.  Is the biggest focus on the relationship between the mother & daughter or the romance between the mother & the sheriff?  Or is the biggest focus on Whodunit, and the relationships are more subplots?

Therefore, we assign letters of the alphabet to our plot lines, with "A" being the MAIN storyline.  Remember, we are assuming all of these novels were set in 1870:

If the A-Plot Line is:

• Big conflict between single mother & daughter = HISTORICAL
• Romance between single mom & sheriff = ROMANCE

If this is the A-Plot Line:

• Murder of a close friend needs to be solved

It gets a bit murky.  If the setting were contemporary, it would be a Suspense.  But there's no such thing as an Historical Suspense category.  So, it the publisher could package it as either a Suspense or an Historical.

And finally, if the book is set in the present and the solution of the murder SHARES the A-Plot Line with the romance between the mom and the sheriff, then that would be a ROMANTIC SUSPENSE.  (In other words, the romance gets just as much page-time as the whodunit part of the story.)

Have I thoroughly confused you now?  Let me use one of my books as an example.  In A BRIDE MOST BEGRUDGING, these are the plot lines:

A Plot Line= Romance between Drew & Constance

B Plot Line = This is SHARED between:

• Constance needs to learn her worth is not established by how successfully she can complete tasks assigned to her
• Drew needs to risk opening his heart

Since the romance is the bigger focus, BRIDE is an Historical Romance.  Does that help?

posted by Deeanne on 06/25/2007 - 2 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

June 21, 2007

Moonlighting Photographer

We had an electrician out to the house last month and while he was there, he told me he makes a hobby of photographing pets.  He showed me some of the photos he'd taken of his clients' pets and asked if he could take one of my puppy-dogs.

Since there are two of them, I ended up being in the picture, too (in order to corral them).  Anyhoo, he fixed our electrical issues, took the pics and left.  Then, a few days ago, my doorbell rang.  It was the electrician.  He handed me an envelope with two 8x10s of me and my doggies.  No charge.  No nothing.  It is a hobby and he absorbs all the costs.

It was a particular treat for me because I'm the photographer (and scrapbooker) in our house, which means there aren't hardly any pictures of me.  And you know what's really neat?  I happen to be working on a "PUPPY DOG" scrapbook.  It is an entire scrapbook chronically the birth of Tootsie's (the red & white's) litter of pups (of which Cowboy--the black-and-white--was one).  As you can see, Cowboy outgrew his mama.

posted by Deeanne on 06/21/2007 - 4 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

June 18, 2007

What Does Essie Look Like?

Essie was a figment of my imagination.  Then, when Bethany House did the cover for COURTING TROUBLE, I had an opportunity to interview the cover model.  When she sent me her photo, I thought, "Ohmygosh!  That's Essie!"

So, while writing DEEP IN THE HEART OF TROUBLE, I've posted Jennifer's picture up and scribbled a note in the margin reminding me that Essie has blue eyes and dimples.

I know Hamilton's photo (below) is hard to see, but for him I used a photo from a living museum where people reenact times of old.  This was a "merchant" in an "old time" General Store.

For Adam, I used a head shot of a model I found on the internet.  They won't let you print out or save the photo without a password, so you will have to go to Ford Models, then click on IMAGE, then on MEN, then go to the "B" section and look for Mr. Berthil.  That's who I modeled Adam after.

Ewing was a figment of my imagination, so no picture for him.

posted by Deeanne on 06/18/2007 - 5 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

June 14, 2007

What Does Rachel Look Like?

In a continuation of our discussion from Monday and in the Chat Room, these are the pictures I posted on my wall when I was writing THE MEASURE OF A LADY.  At the time, these were all professional models for an agency here in Houston.

This is who I modeled Rachel after.  A brief opening description of her is on page 15, toward the middle.  The paragraph that starts with "So now you know."  After that, more specific descriptions are sprinkled in throughout the novel:

This is who I modeled Johnnie after.  The thing I liked most about him is the blue eyes and dark hair.  I know I mention it iin the novel, but can't remember where.  A general description of him is on p.23, second-to-last paragraph:

This is who I modeled Lissa after.  Since she was a "secondary" character, her descriptions were not as frequent or as thorough as the protagonists.  Her opening description is on p. 33, toward the middle.  The paragraph that starts with "The face beneath the bonnet ...":

I'm finding out from Monday's discussion that my pictures don't match the ones in your head--which isn't all that surprising, I guess, considering there are lots of different ways to visualize high cheekbones and soft lips or square, angular jaws or straight white teeth framed by dimples!  These pictures are mostly just "go-bys" to keep me consistent when I describe the characters.  But, you are allowed to picture them any way you'd like!

posted by Deeanne on 06/14/2007 - 8 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

June 12, 2007

Interview at History Hoydens

The History Hoyden blog is a secular blog targeted at historical writers and readers.  There is an interview of me over there today.  If you wanna stop by, click here.

posted by Deeanne on 06/12/2007 - 3 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

June 11, 2007

What Does Constance Look Like?

In our new Chat Room, we are having a rousing discussion about what movie actors should play the starring roles for my characters if any of my books were to be made into movies.  (To find this discussion, click on the CHAT ROOM icon in upper right-hand corner, then click on MEASURE OF A LADY, then click on CHARACTERS FOR MOAL MOVIE.)

At the moment, there are no plans for such an event, but in the course of our conversation, I told the girls that I base my characters on actual pictures.  Sometimes they are photos from magazines.  Sometimes they are models.  And on a rare occassion, they are figments of my imagination.

We decided it would be fun for you to have a peek at those photos.  So, I will spend the next couple of weeks, posting the character photos I used.   Constance  (from A BRIDE MOST BEGRUDGING) started out as a figment of my imagination.  Then, while I was at the pharmacy one day, I was flipping through a magazine and found an ad for a doll collection.  This particular month's feature was a doll named "Molly" and she was [gasp] Constance as a child.

So, I tore out the page and kept it.  It was then that I discovered how helpful it was to see the exact color of her eyes and the shape of her lips and the color of her cheeks, etc.  From then on, I tried to have a physcial image of my protagonists.  So ... that first picture is (obviously) the one I used.  (For fun, look at the brief description of Constance's face on the last paragraph of page 48 of BRIDE.  I wrote it while looking at the above picture.)

The picture I used for Drew was from a cover of a Loveswept book by Jan Hudson called One Tough Texan.  I dunno about you, but to me, this guy had all the makings of a hunky hero.  So, I shaved off his moustache and took off his eye patch (in my imagination) and Drew was "born."  (And, yeah, girls, he does look alot like Tom Selleck!)

This last picture is Josh.  I found him in a magazine ad and thought to myself, "This guy looks like a fun-loving, rapscallion.  He'd make the perfect Josh."

So ... were they anything like you pictured them?

posted by Deeanne on 06/11/2007 - 10 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

June 07, 2007

True Love ... Postpones

A recent article in Slate Magazine looked at Mark Regnerus' book, Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers.  Regnerus discusses how religion contributes to the formation of teenagers' sexual values and actions; what difference, if any, religion makes in adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviors; if abstinence pledges are effective, etc.

According to the article, Regnerus did extensive surveys on the kids in the 90s who took the "True Love Waits" pledge of abstinence.  Here are his findings:

"Teenagers who signed the abstinence pledge belong to a subgroup of highly motivated virgins. But even they succumb. Follow-up surveys show that at best, pledges delayed premarital sex by 18 months—a success by statistical standards but a disaster for Southern Baptist pastors."

How did this happen?

"Evangelical teens today are much less sheltered than their parents were; they watch the same TV and listen to the same music as everyone else, which causes a 'cultural collision,' according to Regnerus. 'Be in the world, but not of it,' is the standard Christian formula for how to engage with mainstream culture. But in a world hypersaturated with information, this is difficult for tech-savvy teenagers to pull off. There are no specific instructions in the Bible on how to avoid a Beyoncé video or Scarlett Johansson's lips calling to you from YouTube, not to mention the ubiquitous porn sites. For evangelicals, sex is a 'symbolic boundary' marking a good Christian from a bad one, but in reality, the kids are always 'sneaking across enemy lines,' Regnerus argues."

I haven't read the book, but the article scared me to death.  That said, I can't say I'm all that surprised by Regnerus' findings.  It has been tough for every generation since the advent of sin to remain pure before marriage.  But as we get closer and closer in the Kingdom calendar to Christ's return, remaining faithful in all areas of our life seems to become more and more difficult.

 A bit of good news:

"Among the mass of typically promiscuous teenagers in the book, one group stands out: the 16 percent of American teens who describe religion as "extremely important" in their lives. When these guys pledge, they mean it."

I thought it was interesting that the article pointed out how many of the girls are at cross-purposes with themselves, though.  They insist on remaining pure, yet wear immodest or provocative clothing.  Intellectually, they understand the concept in their minds, yet they aren't able to apply the "Be as wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove" Scripture.

"When evangelical parents say they talk to their kids about sex, they mean the morals, not the mechanics. In a quiz on pregnancy and health risks associated with sex, evangelicals scored very low. Evangelical teens don't accept themselves as people who will have sex until they've already had it. As a result, abstinence pledgers are considerably less likely than nonpledgers to use birth control."

Armed with this new knowledge, what can we as parents do?  Help our kids find accountability groups.  Be frank, open and honest.  And pray, pray, pray.

If you're a parent, aunt or uncle: What strategies have you tried with your teens to help them traverse successfully through this mine field?

If you're a teen:  What do you suggest we as parents need to do differently to support you in your quest to remain pure?

posted by Deeanne on 06/07/2007 - 18 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

June 04, 2007

Cool!

Look what I saw in the grocery store last week?  COURTING TROUBLE was picked as the "What to Read" selection in Woman's World Magazine last week!  How fun is that?!

P.S.  Be sure to join us in our new Chat Room (click on upper-right icon).  There have been lots of suggestions about what should happen to Essie in the sequel to Courting Trouble.  Come by and give your two cents worth!

posted by Deeanne on 06/04/2007 - 13 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

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