|
[Books] [Coming Soon] [Contests] [Free Stuff] [Links] [Meet Mary] [Newsletter] [New Releases] [Podcasts] [Home] |
|
[Books] [Coming Soon] [Contests] [Free Stuff] [Links] [Meet Mary] [Newsletter] [New Releases] [Podcasts] [Home] |
Featured Books
AppearancesCheck out my chat loop and publisher loops! Nothing "officially" scheduled. Other InfoBooks available from Changeling Press Books available from Ellora's Cave Books available from Samhain Publishing To subscribe to my monthly newsletter please send an email or visit my newsletter page for alternative methods of joining. To subscribe to my chat loop please send an email or visit the group site.
Reviews"The storyline was pure reading heaven..." - Talia Ricci, Joyfully Reviewed, for Riding Partner "This
novella is an erotic romance and delivers on both counts - it is quite romantic
and is full of some hot bed play." Marina, Cupid's Library Reviews for Revealing
Photos " UNDER HER SKIN is so much more than a wonderful romance, it’s
a lesson in love and acceptance. It is an experience not to be missed."
Recent Posts
Writing Wednesday: Scruff your inner editor Sexy Feet - Some Thoughts on Cover Art Writing Without Distractions Writing Wednesday: Is it really work? Marketing Monday: Code Everything You Send Finding Your Bliss...Bears? Writing Wednesday: Writer's Organizations Make A Difference Monday: Get out of the Box My March 2008 newsletter is out! New Release - Mission: Carnal (Live Action Hero 1)
Have recent posts emailed to you via FeedBlitz. This free service will send blog updates to your mailbox. Try it now!
Archives
September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008
Links
|
 |
Note: My website will be changing. If you are currently linking to any page other than http://www.marywinter.com/ please update those links now to my main domain! Thanks so much! When I lay in bed and try to go to sleep my mind wanders. Thoughts, to-do lists, feelings, rehashing of events, both good and bad, float through my mind. And mentally I reach for the knob like a radio knob and turn it to the left until I hear the little click that the radios give that tells me I've turned them off. The voices start again. "Sleep!" I mentally say. "Off." And turn that knob once more. Eventually the voices quiet and I find my way tumbling into slumber. It's a trick that's grown more important now that I work third shift and I find myself going to sleep around 7 am. The sleep mask can block the ambient light, but it's the radio knob that silences the voices. As writers, we need to do the same thing. We have inner editors and critics who need to be silenced. Another useful technique I've found is "scruffing." It's a way to discipline cats and it is working wonders with my formerly feral kitten. It mimics the way their mother cat would discipline them. Simply pick them up by the scruff of the neck and put them on the floor, then hold them down for a couple of seconds. It's all done gently and doesn't hurt, but I do it when Tenzin scratches and bites me (inappropriate play) and it works wonders. We need to scruff our inner editors and critics. Not to be mean, but to say "hey, this isn't appropriate right now. Keep your claws to yourself." It may take repetition and diligence, but eventually those inner voices will get the hint and be quiet.  
 I'll admit I find a man's feet sexy. I don't know what it is, but when it comes to guys, I have a bit of a foot fetish. I had a chance to finally pick up this book which was on my TBR pile last night, and I have to admit, it's one of the sexiest covers I've seen in a while. (The inside of the book was pretty darn good too!) Now don't get me wrong. I love to look at a naked torso, especially with rippling abs. That little muscle indent over the hips is probably my favorite place on a man's body. Jawlines and shoulders (especially on John Barrowman) also get my blood flowing. But feet... I don't know what it is, but they get me every time. So I found this cover a refreshing change from a shirtless man looking oh-so-tumble-into-bed sexy. And I think it's hot. They're wrapped in bed together, obviously intimate. Who knows what they're doing or where his hands are? It leaves a lot to the imagination and mine is working overtime. I've seen a lot of covers in my time. Some good. Some bad. But this one, just a couple of pairs of feet.... I really like it. What do you think?
On the heels of yesterday's conversation about writing being work, today the writing was effortless. I've settled into a new rhythm where once I get up, take a shower, and check my email, I spend the next four hours or so in the living room with my laptop until I have to sign on for work. Not only does this get me out of my den, something that's really important to me, but also lets me spend time with the kitties (we're still socializing the kitten so my den door is closed while I'm working). Well the other side of this is that since my desktop computer is gathering the email, I don't have any distractions while I'm writing. And today I got all my day's writing done before going back to go on for work. Hooray! I am firmly in the camp of those who love writing without distractions. No emails. No IMs. Just me, my laptop, and my muse. May your muse sing for you today!
A lovely discussion in Second Life with Diana Hunter and several other writers posed the question: is writing really work? While none of us would disagree with it being work. Not only is there the initial creation, something that we have to force ourselves to do a lot of the time, but then once a story is sold there are edits, revisions, promotion, and many other things to do. So yeah, we all agree its work. The question becomes is it "work" in the sense that we trudge off to a day job doing something for a paycheck because we have to. Not because we want to. I'm going to say no. I have a day job. I know what it's like. In fact, since I work third shift, when most of the rest of the world is sleeping, I am doing my day job and getting some writing done. I like my day job. Yes, it can be frustrating at times, but I really feel like I get to help people (I work on a help desk) and it allows me to work from home, which is great during the snowy, icy, icky winter we've been having. So while sometimes I have to force myself to put words to a screen, writing is not the "going to work" experience that I have with my day job. It's my creative outlet. It's my chance to work with a world, work with characters, and maybe, just maybe touch readers in a way my day job doesn't allow. The muse sings to me sometimes. Other times I'm dragging my muse kicking and screaming to the keyboard. But it isn't "work." Not really. :)
So this week "Make a Difference Monday" has become "Marketing Monday." And it might do that from time to time. Today I'm talking promo items. Everything you send out needs to have a way to be tracked. Everything. Now this is a project I'm working on incorporating in my own "Mary Winter" promo, but I'm already doing it on the Jupiter Gardens stuff I'm sending. Trying to find out the effectiveness of your promotional efforts can be like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. You know something worked. You just don't know what. So how can you tell? You need to code everything and then to have a way for readers to send that code back to you. With my Jupiter Gardens business cards it says "email us the code on the back of this card to receive a coupon for a free gift". Then, depending on where I send the item (for example, cards sent out with my group Bookworm Bags, which I strongly recommend for everyone ! (http://www.bookwormbags.com/) get a code BWB-## where the # is a unique number. So for 50 cards sent to a BWB member they're coded BWB-1 to BWB-50. The next member gets BWB-51 to whatever, and so on.) I put a code on the back. Hopefully people will see my card, want free things, and email me the code. Then, I can track and see that I got hits from various venues. Hopefully. For 'net promotions each email could have a code and maybe the codes are emailed back like for a scavenger hunt? Either way, you'll know that a) someone has seen your promotional effort and b) where they saw it. Of course, you still need to get them to act on it. It does take time to write a code on the back of each business cards. I've sent out almost 500 this week alone, but like stuffing bags, or folding brochures, it's a job that can be done while watching television or in those "down moments" when the muse has taken a mini-vacation. And to me, it's time well spent.
So when making reservations for this weekend's trip down to see my land in Missouri, I had the choice of a few different hotels. The one I chose? Why the one with bears as their mascot, of course. Sleepy Bear is so adorable (Travelodge). And besides, we've stayed here before and it's a great place for a pretty good price. But that brings me to today's topic. Finding your bliss. My partner thinks its funny that I had to pack some GI Joes for the trip. The boys wanted to see their future home and besides, after finishing Sawyer and Dean's story, they had to bring their buddy Hugh along. He's a bit bummed that I haven't started his tale yet. So, I thought a bit of outdoors hiking would be just the thing for them. So I stay a hotel with bears as their mascot. I bring my GI joes along. Yeah, I'm giddy like a kid in a candy store, but you know what? I've found my bliss. My boys. My stories. The tales in my head. It's all good. I think we need that. I joke to mom and grandma that it sucks being a grown up. I just want to come home from school, make myself a pb&j sandwich and play video games all day. This whole working, paying bills, being well...gosh darn it, mature...isn't fun all the time. That's where your bliss comes in. If I can laugh about my GI Joes or my bears, then it adds a bit of fun into my life. I remember when we came down to go camping last fall and I found out there'd been bear signs not far from the land. I lay in the tent thinking damn, we're the warmest thing in a few hundred acres and we smell like food. But you know what? We could be attacked by a BEAR! Hooray for bears!!!! (okay so I also worry WAY too much about things). I think everyone needs some bliss in their lives. Find something you love and run with it! Who knows what you might find?
 It seems to be that time again when all the authors loops are abuzz with talk about our professional organization: Romance Writers of America. And I'll admit, I've been very vocal about my opinions of the professionalism of said organization, even though I'm well aware you can't paint everyone there with the same brush. I've found helpful and delightful people there, many of them. And I've found those, who like the former SFWA president I talked to at one convention held the belief that "We don't want those kind of writers in our group." Well, let's just say that kind of cliquish behavior didn't make me happy in high school and now that we're all grown up it just plain pisses me off. But what's a working girl to do? There are wonderful chapters (sadly, my local one isn't) and supportive groups within the organization. And, I'm quite aware that you can't change the system unless you speak up, so opting out of the organization in disgust doesn't change anything, except maybe increases the balance of my checkbook. And there's the rub. Money. I can name off the top of my head, two to three wonderful chapters to which I belonged when I was an RWA member. But, to join these marvelous people, I have to pay national $75 (plus an extra $25 since I wrote them off and didn't renew last July). That's a lot of money. Really, it is. It's two weeks' groceries for us. Or the cost of my diabetic cat's insulin and my hyperthyroid cat's medicine. Or gas money for my mom. Seriously, I don't drop $100 lightly on anything. And as much as I want to work toward changing things, because really, published is published, who the heck cares if it's a book of haiku's, erotic romance, inspirational romance, or a horror novel. It's published. Hooray!!!! And the idea of paying $100 to that organization just frankly makes my stomach go all twisty the way it does when my ulcer is acting up. And yeah, just like at work, I'm sure I'll get in trouble here for opening my big mouth (or my big fingers since I'm typing?). But really, to me, a professional writer's organization has to do just that -- act professional. I know SFWA is having it's issues right now (and truly I've felt SFWA for being a speculative fiction group has been decades behind the times for well...decades). So all the craziness that speeds around the Internet like a ferret on speed (I love that analogy), isn't just for romance authors. Really, it isn't. I promise. But when we have one group of authors calling another names (and yes this does run both ways), when we have a board that doesn't do basic research or seem to understand the situation before it makes policies, and when all of this happens at least once a year, you have to wonder... if you're paying money to a professional organization, shouldn't it at least act, well...professional? I'm torn. I really am. I'm hearing talk of maybe about a new RWA chapter forming. I miss my friends at Passionate Ink and PASIC. I miss, gosh, even with all the craziness, that feeling of connection that hey, we're all romance writers here and yay for us. I just don't want to spend $100 to get bitch slapped again by nationals. No, they didn't mean it at me personally, but their actions hurt just the same. So I guess I'm blogging to put my thoughts down on paper (err, pixel), and to get other people's thoughts.... It's the age old question. Is RWA really worth all the heartache and hassle?
|
