My Book Cover!

Hello Fellow Writers!

My book cover for Ellora's Cave Punishing the Art Thief has officially arrived. I'm so excited! It makes this whole publishing thing feel very very real. I think it looks pretty hot and I'm very pleased with the wonderful job the designer Reese Dante did.

I went to the Hudson Valley RWA monthly meeting last Saturday at the Palisades Mall. It was a good time as usual. I wish I could go more often but my work schedule (every other weekend) keeps me from going more often than not. I met another woman who writes erotica and she kindly beta-read my Christmas story for me, which I then submitted to my editor at Ellora's Cave. So fingers crossed on that one!

I also got my first round of edits for Punishing the Art Thief. I had to learn how to actually use Microsoft Word's review functions such as "track changes" and "comment" etc in order to complete the edits. My editor gave me a 4 week deadline, but I was so psyched to get started I gave the manuscript back to her in less than a week. What can I say, I'm raring to go!

Now that my Christmas story has been submitted and I finished my first round of edits on Punishing the Art Thief, I am waiting to hear back from another beta reader about my revisions on Hollywood Spank. We're meeting up on Monday night to go over it. Then I'll make some more changes and then resubmit it to my editor.

Wish me luck, and good luck to you too!
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers

RWA Conference 2010!

Hello Fellow Writers!

I'm pretty much in the same boat as when I last blogged, ie waiting to hear back from my beta reader about my latest revise-and-resubmit for Ellora's Cave - Hollywood Spank, writing a kinky Christmas story for EC, waiting (patiently, right?) for my cover art for my contracted book with EC Punishing the Art Thief, and writing my weekly advice column for The Mahopac News. Chastity Belt is on hold until the Christmas story is submitted.

I know, I'm not spending enough time on my writing career ;)

The annual Romance Writers of America Conference is coming up, and I am so sad that I will not be able to attend. I'm hoping to hear all about it from those of you that are attending. If you look at their website and see all the famous names that will be making appearances, holding workshops, and doing Q&As, you will understand why people pay the money they do to be a part of that experience!

Hopefully I'll be able to go next year. And I am going to Ellora's Cave Romanticon 2010 in October, so that will be fun.

Here's what RWA has to say about it:

Every year, writers and industry professionals come from all over the world to attend Romance Writers of America’s Annual Conference. The Annual Conference is a four-day event filled with educational workshops, career enhancement, and community involvement.

At the conference, career-focused romance writers can anticipate:

• Education and information,
• Networking with fellow writers,
• Interaction with editors, agents, publishers, booksellers, and other romance publishing industry professionals.
  

The 2010 RWA Conference has been relocated to the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida, from July 28–31, 2010. Visit the registration page to learn how you can join us at the 30th Annual Conference!

Wondering what to bring with you if you're going? They suggest you leave your manuscripts at home, because if you do snag an invite to submit your manuscript from an agent or editor, they won't be able to physically take it back with them - they want you to mail it to them. If they all took all the manuscripts they requested they would need an extra suitcase to carry them!

This week I plan on finishing my Christmas erotica story. Wish me luck, and good luck to you too!
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers

Writing Out of Order

Hello Fellow Writers!

I have some exciting news - my advice column for The Mahopac News is now available online! I've written about 17 columns so far, and they have my column listed here. I'm happy that now I can point people toward my column online when they ask about seeing a copy of it. They even have PDFs of the paper, so I can go through them and print them out. I should really do that so I have a hard copy portfolio of my work, since I don't have a subscription to the paper.

I find it interesting that I've written (and been paid for!) a column each week for the past 17 weeks, but they've only run like eight of them. Hmm. Well, as long as I'm getting paid I certainly won't complain! My full name isn't even in the byline (for privacy reasons) so it's not like I'm doing it for the fame :)

As for my fiction, I sent "Hollywood Spank" to one of my beta readers to try and figure out what else needs to be fixed before I resubmit it to my editor at Ellora's Cave. In the meantime, "Chastity Belt" is on hold and I am writing a Christmas story. When I first thought the story up I was very excited and gung-ho about it, but now I'm slightly stuck. The answer to how to get unstuck came to me today as I sat here thinking about it: I need to write out of order.

Normally I'm a very chronological type person. I start with chapter one, page one. I finish with "The End". But in this case, I need to stop worrying about how to build up to what I consider The Big Scene, and just write The Big Scene. Once that scene is written, I can fill in the blanks as to just how the Hero and Heroine got themselves into that position. Literally, how they got themselves into that position - it is an erotica story, after all.

I have a feeling that once that scene is done, I'll feel more connected to my story and my characters, and I will find it easy to wrap up the story. Since this is going to be only about 8000 words or so, I have a limited amount of space to write something compelling. I don't want to waste it on build up. Who knows, perhaps what I consider to be the middle of the story will turn out to be the beginning. We'll see.

So that's the goal for today - to write out of order and not care. To write The Big Scene. Wish me luck!
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers

Revise and Resubmit from Ellora's Cave

Hello Fellow Writers!

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. I've been crazy busy. I heard back from my editor, Jilly, at Ellora's Cave regarding "Extremely Personal Assistant", about a movie star who likes to spank his assistant. Jilly sounded like she like it a lot but wanted me to revise it and resubmit it as well as retitle it. What do you think of the new title - "Hollywood Spank"!

I also was happy to meet another erotic romance writer at June's monthly Hudson Valley Romance Writers of America meeting. We're going to be each others' beta readers, so I told her I am going to try and have "Hollywood Spank" revised and sent to her by the end of the week. I've been meeting with one of my writing buddies at Cortlandt Panera every Tuesday night to write, as well as my writing buddies from NaNoWriMo every other weekend Sundays at Fishkill Panera. I'm still writing the advice column for The Mahopac News.

I was also told that since I'm going to Romanticon 2010, Ellora's Cave will try and have my book "Punishing the Art Thief" ready for the book fair. That's pretty exciting, it means my book should be out by October 2010!

I've been working on "Chastity Belt" and it's been going pretty well, but that is getting put on hold right now while I get "Hollywood Spank" in order. Then I have to get to work on a Christmas Quickie for EC, since the publisher put out a call for submissions to all the authors. They want short (7K-15K) kinky Christmas stories. I have an idea brewing about a couple who puts Domestic Discipline into practice to make it through the holidays without divorcing!

I'm going to get to work now. I haven't had much time to write since my mother-in-law was in town and just left today. Wish me luck and good luck to you too!

Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers

Situation vs Plot

Hello Fellow Writers!

Yesterday I spent several enjoyable hours hanging out with my writing buddies at Panera while adding another 2000 words to my WIP "Chastity Belt". My plan right now is to get the book written as quickly as possible so that I can then pull out my figurative red pen and start my favorite process of all: revisions!

One fellow writer, Rebecca, was saying how she is having a hard time coming up with a plot. I told her about how Stephen King is pretty anti-plot - he prefers to focus on characters in a situation, and to let the story move from there.

In his book "On Writing" (which, by the way, I highly recommend to anyone who either loves Stephen King or loves to write), he says:

I won't try to convince you that I've never plotted any more than I'd try to convince you that I've never told a lie, but I do both as infrequently as possible. I distrust plot for two reasons: first, because our lives are largely plotless, even when you add in all our reasonable precautions and careful planning; and second, because I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren't compatible.
A strong enough situation renders the whole question of plot moot. The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a What-if question:
What if vampires invaded a small New England village? (Salem's Lot).
What if a young mother and her son became trapped in their stalled car by a rabid dog? (Cujo).
These were situations which occurred to me - while showering, while driving, while taking my daily walk - and which I eventually turned into books. In no case were they plotted, not even to the extent of a single note jotted on a single piece of scrap paper.

I love the book "On Writing" because I love having the opportunity to get into King's head. Some people say he's 'just' a horror writer, but I say he's a genius!
Today is Memorial Day (thank you to the men and women who have sacrificed to keep our country safe!). My hubby has the day off and the weather is beautiful, so we're going to spend the day on the dock and in the lake. I may bring my laptop down and try to get some writing done, or I may not. We'll see.

Oh, and did I mention that I submitted my second book to Ellora's Cave? Fingers crossed!
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers

You Did It! Now, Do it Again.

Hello Fellow Writers!

I submitted my second erotic romance, tentatively titled "Extremely Personal Assistant", to my editor at Ellora's Cave. I'm terribly nervous about her response. The ironic thing is that if I hadn't sold "Punishing the Art Thief" to EC already, I'd basically be expecting a rejection letter. Instead, I'm feeling like if I don't sell this second book, then perhaps the first one was a fluke.

My husband says I'm being silly, that even if EC doesn't buy my next book doesn't mean they won't want the one after that. And maybe they will want this one! We'll see, I guess. I just have to do my part, which is to keep writing books.

My whole life I've dreamed about writing a novel and then selling it to a publisher. Now that it's happening, I have come to the realization that that dream is not an end goal in itself. I did it once, now I have to do it again! Of course, I love to write, and I would write even if I couldn't sell it. I started writing erotica for my husband's eyes only, after all. But if I'm going to be spending a huge chunk out of every day writing, then it really would be a good idea to make some money at it in the process! I also love the idea of reaching out to an audience of readers.

Speaking of readers, I've been spending so much of my free quiet time writing that I haven't been spending nearly enough time on my first true love, which is reading! That's going to change right now.

I made my book trailer for "Punishing the Art Thief". Here it is:



What do you think?
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers

Book Trailers, Business Cards, and Websites

Hello Fellow Writers!

I am still floating on air, relishing my new title of "Author". I'm pretty sure it's not going to get old anytime soon. Well, it might get old to everyone else... :)

I've been working on creating an author website for my pen name, Shoshanna Evers, and also on creating a book trailer for "Punishing the Art Thief". I got royalty free stock photos and royalty free music, and I'm trying to figure out how to put it all together into 30 seconds of pure enticement to read my book! I found a great article about book trailers on Brenda Coulter's blog, here.

I even got free business cards with my pen name, name of my book, Ellora's Cave website, and my website and email written on them. They look darn good considering they just cost me $5 for shipping!

As for "Extremely Personal Assistant", I'm almost done with that now that my lovely beta reader Maureen has given me her notes, and I'm gearing up to submit it to my editor at EC. Fingers crossed!

All of this boils down to one main thing - it's time for me to write another erotic romance! Today I'm at the Panera in Fishkill with my writing buddies, and I'm going to get started. I've got some new ideas swirling around in my head, and I also have the beginnings of other erotica stories that I started but didn't finish, including "Taste of Candy" and "The Chastity Belt".

Wish me luck, and good luck to you too!
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers