This article first appeared in the October 2001 issue of Update, newsletter of Washington Romance Writers.

In 1995 my book-doctored historical romance was being actively marketed by my agent, the sequel was completed, and the final book of the trilogy was in the outline stage. I joined RWA and WRW to network the business side of things. I made contacts with other authors, smugly smiling to myself because my writing career was taking off. Life was good.

When I was soundly rejected in every market, my agent announced a new side business of printing books and offered to print my book if I was interested. Having been through the self-publication process with a family history several years earlier, I declined.

My analytical brain took charge. I have two college degrees and the necessary connections through my romance author’s association, so why did I need an agent? From this brilliant insight came the Year of the Editor. Valiantly I marketed my second historical. Whenever a rejection came in, I mailed out a letter to the next publishing house on the list. One year later, I had three unpublished historical manuscripts.

At the next yearly WRW meeting I chanced to hear a passing remark and almost forgot to breathe. The time period I had selected for my historical stories (1900-1920) did not count in the true historical market. I met with polite editors at the conference who hesitantly agreed to look at my work. But, the setting problem worried me.

The next year was the Year of the Rewrite. I moved all three stories to an earlier time(1860 to 1880). This was no small feat due to all the period research involved. My romance author friends supported me through e-mail, and my family assumed I was receiving nourishment from the computer because of my umbilical-like attachment to the thing.

As I was launching my writing career, my daughters were graduating high school, my house and yard work stacked up, my husband’s understanding wore thin, and of course, there was my day job as a scientist. My rational side began to war with my artistic side. I didn’t even know I had this split personality kind of thing until I began attending writer’s meetings. Was I an author? It didn’t feel like it.

Out of the blue I discovered another way to get professional feedback. The next year was the Year of the Contest. I judged contests. I entered contests. Rejection reached a whole new level of pain. My motivations weren’t strong enough. My characters were too melodramatic. But where was this place I was writing about? My peers all wanted to go there.

A future writing travel brochures was not what I had in mind. I needed help like a junkie needed a fix. Wasn’t I an author? Where would an author get help?

Along came the Year of the Critique Group. Actually the Critique Group only lasted six months but I got two strong leads out of the group. First off, our goal was to target a line and write a story that met all of that line’s requirements. It sounded so easy, so rational. Why hadn’t I thought of this before? Secondly, three other romance authors were quite certain that my writing voice was contemporary. I argued that I loved reading historicals. They countered that reading and writing were two very different things. Understanding dawned. I could change. I was an author.

After trying for two months to rewrite one of my historicals as a contemporary, I went on to craft a new category romance. The feedback for the outline and opening chapters of the book from my critique partners was positive. I slogged on through the chill of winter creating my marketing masterpiece.

Rejected again. And with a story that was unique to only one market. How could I have been so shortsighted? Would a real author have made such a mistake?

My brain chugged to a start. The problem must be that I didn’t know enough about what I was doing. Lucky for me, the national meeting of RWA was in DC that year. The Year of Education brought smiles to my credit card company. I bought every book known to man about writing, several on police work, the Merck Manual, reference books on personalities, herbs, and Maryland. I had no idea where I was going, but I wasn’t going to be stupid again.

My next contemporary manuscript was set in my oldest daughter’s college town. I did on-site research at Parent’s Weekend and through the Internet. I knew the names of all the roads, restaurants, hospitals, and hotels. This story was peddled to agents, editors, and went through a contest or two. Rejections abounded but something interesting happened with my contest scores. Instead of getting mediocre marks, I was now getting very high and very low marks. My writing friends said I was an author and not to let the low marks bother me.

Working with a therapeutic riding center gave me my next book idea. This story meant a lot to me and I felt quite strongly about the subject. This spawned the Year of the Query Letter. I set about writing the most interesting, most provocative, most compelling query letter of all time to market my completed horse story. Ten out of eleven publishing houses weren’t interested. But one house, and I reminded myself that it only takes one, said it was a very promising romance and if I’d be willing to change this, this, and this, they would like to see it again.

I was stunned. Voices whispered in my head: I am an author. I might even be published if I get this right.

I reread the personalized response twenty times and wondered if it was appropriate to frame the letter. It wasn’t an offer, but it was validation. And I would apply myself wholeheartedly toward reaching this new goal.
After all, I am an author. Life is good.

This article first appeared in the Winter 2008 Coastal Connection, the newsletter of First Coast Romance Writers.

The start of a new year is often when many writers reflect on their progress. Whether we’re beginning writers or multi-published authors, goal-setting can help motivate us onward. Perhaps one of these six goals will be your new year’s resolution:

I WILL FINISH THE BOOK. There is no shortcut to this basic goal. You must serve time in the chair to up your word count. Granted, writing isn’t just about how many pages you can churn out, but that’s a good place to start. Write the book.

I WILL LEARN HOW TO WRITE BETTER. If completing a book seems impossible, take time to learn more about the craft of writing. Chapter meetings offer excellent nuts and bolts sessions, as do writer conferences and classes. With the touch of a computer key, you can navigate across the web and find online instruction without leaving the comfort of your home. Build your skills.

I WILL ENTER A WRITING CONTEST. Contests can be helpful in identifying rookie errors. If you want to hone your work before you submit to a publisher, a writing contest can provide valuable feedback. Alternately, a critique partner or a published author mentor can also shepherd you toward your goal. No one will laugh at you. Everyone has the same fear of failure and rejection. Learn to deal with these feelings now because they come into play for published and unpublished authors. Get feedback on your work.

I WILL GET AN AGENT OR A BOOK CONTRACT. Put aside those excuses of last year. Target your goal and make a serious run at it. Create a spreadsheet of places and people where you can send your book. Send out a steady stream of queries and track your progress. Get busy right now.

I WILL MARKET MY BOOK. Authors today have to multi-task. They have to write the next book, edit the contracted book, and promote the released book. Send out those press releases. Schedule interviews and appearances. Arrange book signings. Those books won’t sell themselves. Being an introvert is no excuse. Get up and get going.

I WILL GET A BETTER DEAL ON MY NEXT BOOK. No matter where you are on the publication ladder, you want to grow your fan base and parlay that into better contract offers. Maybe you need to switch to a more aggressive agent or a different publishing house. Don’t let friendship or fear of failure hold you back. Take a serious look at your writing career and take the necessary steps to reach your goals. Be objective about business matters.

Think about where you’d like to be by this time next year. Make a plan to get there. Implement the plan. You can do it, one step at a time.

This article first appeared in the March 2007 issue of Update, the newsletter of Washington Romance Writers.

While judging a recent package of contest entries, it hit me. I could place a check by “published judge” on the score sheet. A small thing, really, but with the change of my judging status came a much greater sense of responsibility.

During my long road to publication, I’d been on the other side of dozens of contest score sheets. Remarks from published judges made me sit up and take a bit more notice. After all, the published judges had what it took. They had the elusive “it” factor that I so desperately craved.

Truthfully, I looked everywhere for this prize, but it wasn’t dangling from the apple tree just waiting to be plucked. With the fervor of the newly baptized, I’d assumed I had “it” with my first manuscript, a manuscript that will never again see the light of day. My first critique group saw promise in my work, my second critique group identified the flaws in my writing.

Contest entries washed back up on my expectant shores, loaded with bad tidings. Poorly motivated characters. Insufficient conflict for a story this length. No distinct voice. Thank God for formatting points or I’d have bombed my first contests. But the news wasn’t all bad. The most helpful judges offered encouragement and insight about the writing sisterhood.

In those early days I didn’t realize how connected story elements had to be. But contest by contest, year by year, my writing improved and connected. As my plotting tightened, my characters’ motivations rang truer, and I wrote with passion.

Writing better and smarter won me two publishing contracts in three months, and the unparalleled thrill of a third publishing house writing me to ask for a submission. Granted, I’m a very tiny minnow in the ocean of publishing, but I’m swimming with the big guys.

Which brings me back full circle to those contest entries on my desk. Very few of us are born with “it;” most of us find it along the way. And I certainly had received my share of assistance. How could I make a difference in someone else’s writing? Could I help newbies avoid the mistakes I’d made?

Taking a leaf from the medical profession, I applied the standard of “first do no harm” to my published judgeship. Then I showed through examples some ways in which the entry could be strengthened, being careful not to overwhelm the writer with too much information or negativity. As I wrote, I realized the lessons I’d learned were meaningful because I’d learned them firsthand in the trenches. If this writer improved, it would be because she had gone out and learned how to be better, not because of any profound insight I shared.

Encouragement was needed. “It’s clear that you have a passion for your story,” I wrote on the score sheet. “Your writing shows great promise.” Then I checked off the box for published judge. I’d done my part. The rest was up to the writer.

Spring blew in on a pewter thunder cloud, dosing my weeds with abundant rain, warmth, and sunshine. Now I’ve got grass gone to seed in my Lantana, Virginia creeper choking out my azaleas, rogue sunflowers in my hedges, clover popping up in my border grass, and sticky bushes rioting in my Pampas grass. Trying to keep pace with them is maddening, but the process of weeding reminds me of a parallel between writing and gardening.

We toil in the writing garden. We nurture our muse. We sacrifice by writing at all hours of the day so our writing doesn’t impact other activities. Book promotion adds layer of garden to work. Before we know it, our writing gardens are overrun with weeds. Chaos follows.

By definition, a weed is an unwanted plant, usually one with increased vigor. To transpose that to the writing garden, a weed is any activity, behavior, or event that prevents us from writing. Distractions may come in the form of a writing-related activity. On the flip side, a writing weed could be something as unsuspecting as that mid-day dental appointment or the kid’s sports team advancing to the finals.

Whatever the weed, it chokes our writing progress, causing our fruit to wither, our blossoms to rot. Recognizing these activities, behaviors, and events as troublemakers is a key step to controlling growth your writing garden. Since weeds are somewhat universal, here’s a short list based on the weeds mentioned above:

• Quick-rooting Grass – craft-related perennials. Words like: that, as, -ly words, just, etc. They crop up again and again.

• Blanketing Virginia creeper – nonessential writing-related stuff. It spreads over your desk, your computer, your office. This is a weed of guilt for believing you have to be active in every loop, group, and writing organization.

• Thorny sticky bushes – pesky revisions. A thicket of revisions can lead to self-doubt. Bad reviews fall into this category too.

• Not-so-lucky clover – real life stuff with its own pretty blossoms. Juggling all the challenges of family, career, writing, and hobbies would be easier if there were more hours in the day.

• Plucky Sunflowers – towering promo machine. Though it generates revenue, this time-requiring activity prevents writers from writing.

Extreme weed prevention methods (herbicides, bulldozing) can be just as detrimental to writing as a weed-infested garden. The trick is to find your personal comfort level, your personal balance between writing weeds and enjoying the fruits of your writing garden.

Weeds are common in life and in writing. What we do about them varies from season to season, from day to day. Because when it comes to being a writer, each of us is a master gardener.

This article first appeared in the October 2010 edition of First Draft, the newsletter for the Guppy chapter of Sisters In Crime.

The realm of mysteries has clearly defined categories. There are thrillers, cozies, police procedurals with hard-boiled detectives, paranormals, and more. Authors stretch the mystery genre to make it their own by adding elements such as arts and crafts, animals, ghosts, music, vampires, and busy-bodies, to name a few.

But what happens when an author blends a hearty dose of romance into the mystery world? Does that change the classification of the book for editors and bookstore placement?

Maybe, or maybe not, depending on the amount of romance added. An established genre already exists within the romance world for books which combine elements of suspense and danger with romance – romantic suspense. What’s the difference between a romantic suspense and a mystery with romance? Is there a solid black line separating the two kinds of books?

To answer that question, we must put on our editorial hats and determine the driving force of the book, the romance or the mystery. Full length books invariably contain supportive subplots, such as a secondary mystery or a secondary character romance, which further cloud the “what is it” book genre. Let’s examine the genres of romance and mystery in more depth.

Romantic suspense

Romance readers expect interpersonal conflict in the story. They enjoy traveling along with the hero and heroine (or the main characters if it is a same sex love story) to experience the emotion of falling in love. They worry if the couple will overcome their trials, they rejoice when the couple finally gets it together. The given in romances is the happily ever after resulting from the triumph of love. That’s true no matter which genre of romance you read.

Additionally, romance readers expect certain settings. They read within their comfort level for sensuality, religion, and danger.

In a romantic suspense, the love story between two characters is the over-arching story line. Suspense elements raise the stakes for the main characters, placing obstacles in their paths, oftentimes threatening their lives. Finding love and committing to each another provide the happily ever after and conclude the story momentum for a romantic suspense. The danger element, though integral to the plot and highly entertaining for the reader, will usually conclude first.

For example, in MUDDY WATERS, my October 2010 romantic suspense release, a hometown girl and a bad boy search for a missing inheritance. A villain who’ll stop at nothing is determined to have the hidden fortune. Roxie and Sloan fight their attraction at first. When circumstances push them together, they act on their attraction. Later, their original story goals force them apart, though each realizes they’ve given up more than they’ve gained. Circumstances intervene again, pushing them together, forcing them to reexamine their choices, and they choose love and a happily ever after.

The mystery of the missing inheritance in MUDDY WATERS raises the stakes of the story for the characters. It adds conflict by planting suspicion about the main characters in each other’s minds. The danger presented by the villain adds stress and tension to an already volatile situation. But, the question of “where is the treasure” is less important than will they find true love.

To write a romantic suspense, the majority of the scenes relate to the romance, a lesser amount of the scenes will boost the suspense. A rule of thumb that is often quoted in the romance world for a romantic suspense is that the blend is about 60 percent romance and 40 percent suspense. A story with a higher percentage of suspense will cross genre boundaries into the mystery world.

Mystery with romance

Changing gears, a mystery with a strong romance subplot will devote more scenes to the mystery and less to the developing relationship. Depending on the mystery genre, sex and violence may occur off-screen, so that the author builds up to the moment and then allows the reader to use their imagination to fill in the blanks.

Within a mystery, a protagonist, the story lead, actively seeks an answer to a crime or puzzle. The antagonist, or the villain of the piece, can be a known threat with no proof of wrongdoing or he/she may be an unknown, acting in such a concealed way that the reader tries to determine who-dun-it before the protagonist solves the puzzle. Authors throw in red herrings to misdirect the protagonist and the reader and to heighten the story tension. The driving force in a mystery is finding the answers the protagonist needs.

Adding a romantic relationship to a mystery often raises the stakes for the protagonist. He/she is torn by wanting to protect the other person and fearing that the other person’s motives are suspect. The romance adds emotional depth to the lead character, forcing him/her to act out of his/her comfort zone, and increases the level of story conflict.

In series mystery with a romance subplot, even if the protagonist finds comfort or happiness in a relationship in a story, that partnership is doomed to have severe ups and downs in subsequent books. The romance will continue to serve as a means of conflict because conflict drives a story.

For example, in the first book of my Cleopatra Jones mystery series, IN FOR A PENNY, while Cleo tries to prove her best friend didn’t kill the banker, she explores the attraction of the golf pro. Solving the mystery drives the book, so that when the real killer is exposed, the story momentum ceases. The romance in this story adds conflict by forcing Cleo to juggle her teenaged daughters, ex-husband, mother, and a St. Bernard in order to go on a date. That first book establishes the attraction of Cleo and Rafe, but there is no promise of a happily ever after.

The second book of the series, ON THE NICKEL, a March 2011 release, has Cleo trying to prove her mother didn’t run over the church lady, when her mother’s car is proven to be the murder weapon. Clearing her mother’s name by finding the killer is the main plot of this book, which lands it firmly in the mystery genre. However, Cleo and Rafe continue to date, with the inherent problems of two busy people not having enough time for each other and Cleo’s ex-husband who wants her back. Again, though romance is present in the story, it occurs around the framework of the mystery, and once again, no happily ever after is promised.

Love and murder

To recap, a mystery with a strong romance subplot has the majority of the scenes devoted to figuring out who-dun-it and how they did it; the romance subplot adds tension and conflict to the story but does not promise everlasting love. A romantic suspense is driven by the love story between two individuals; the suspense subplot adds to the conflict and tension of the story by forcing the characters to make choices under pressure.

A happily ever after is implied or stated in a romance novel.

A sense of justice is served, along with a triumphant protagonist, accompanies the ending of a mystery. Both endings are satisfying to readers. To determine if your book is a mystery with romance or a romantic suspense, define the main plot and ensure that the majority of scenes are devoted to that story line.

The balance point for one author

The best thing to do is to write a great book that fits squarely in one genre. However, if you’re like me and your stories come out a blend of romance and mystery elements (or other genres blended with mystery), rest assured that it is still possible to get published, but most likely you will have to work harder to find the right publisher.

When I first began marketing my work, I received mixed criticism, until finally one day an editor asked point-blank if the story was a romance or a mystery. I popped right up with an answer, “It can be whatever you want it to be.” Imagine my surprise when the editor came right back with, “What do you want it to be?”

That was an eye-opener. Editors don’t have time to tell you what your story is. Going back to my story, I made an Excel spreadsheet and noted which scenes supported the mystery plot and which supported the romance plot. The split was about 50-50, but the blend was bad, with the romance scenes frontloaded and the mystery scenes backloaded, which led to an aha moment.

Clearly, I had work to do. I moved scenes around, changed them up, and when I was finished slicing and dicing, I had a romantic suspense which became my first published book, HOUSE OF LIES.

Yes, it’s important to make your characters three-dimensional, but it’s equally important for the author to exert firm control so that each segment builds upon both plots. I guided the story with the same mindset as disciplining a small child. A firm stance and positive reinforcement for getting it right goes a long way toward training yourself how to write marketable books.

Keeping it fresh

Though this advice is for blended genre authors, these tips should come in handy each time you sit down to compose or edit. Every sentence you write should be the very best you can make it. Don’t think to yourself that my writing is better than a crappy published book I read the other day; make sure it’s as good as a great book you recently enjoyed.

Find a way to keep yourself on task as you write or edit so that your finished product is a better fit for an already established genre category. Failure to write to an established bookselling category, unless you are the next J.K. Rowling or Diana Gabaldon (authors who broke the rules and still made it big), will result in a file folder full of rejection letters. Once you break in, you will find that published authors have slightly more leeway to bend the rules.

Conflict is the story engine in fiction. Whether you are writing a mystery series with a romance subplot or a romantic suspense series, each book must delve into a new aspect of interpersonal conflict. Tension can arise from the setting (his house or hers), from their immediate family (nothing like kids and pets to add spice to your characters’ lives), from extended family (a relative in need of food, shelter, or money), from their careers (no time for fun), or even from the couple’s disparate viewpoint on long-term commitment.

The spreadsheet idea works well for authors who are more typically known as “plotters,” because they tend to work well from an outline. Authors who are “pantsers,” as in they write without much pre-writing routine, may respond better to different methods of tracking the story scenes. Pantser friends of mine have used brightly colored sticky notes or note cards to help get them organized after they spit out the first draft.

All over but the shouting

When it comes down to it, I enjoy writing both types of stories. That dichotomy makes me a mystery author and a romance author, but most of all, it makes me a storyteller.