Okay so it looks like I fell off the planet. Promise - I'm still here. The last four years have been ... hard. There's no other word for it. Everything is fine. I'm fine, but I've been the caregiver of my mom who has Dementia. Between her needs, work, etc I seem to have lost control of my time. I am still writing and am trying hard to get back to my blog.

In case you weren't aware Phaze and HSWF which where under the Mundania Umbrella have closed. I was smart enough to get my titles back before all this happened. I'm happy to say the three books I sold to HSWF have been picked up by Melange Books and are available through their Satin Books imprint. I have even sold a new title to them called Magical Quest due out in 2022

I have also been lucky enough to find a publisher for my Vespian Way series. I'm now with Blushing Books under the name of Bethany Drake. I have five titles out with them right now and am close to submitting two more. There's Desire's Destiny, Desire's Duty and Desire's Promise. Then there is two in my werewolf series, Tears of the Queen and Legend of the Tears. I have just finished the rough draft of the third book in the series and have plans for a fourth one the moment I submit it.

I'll probably still be sporadic here on the blog. Unless I win the lottery and can hire someone to help me I can't avoid it, but know I'm still here still working hard in the background and am hoping to do better at keeping my blog alive.

Barb:)



Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Writing Down the Bones: The 10 Commandments of Fiction Writing

I found another great handout to share with you. This one came from Writer’s Digest and was written by Raymond Obstfeld. Once again I’ll be putting it in my own words. I will also be breaking it up over five sessions.

1.) Take yourself seriously: What good advice. If you don’t take yourself seriously how can other people? As an author of erotic romance I get more flack about what I write. I’ve have people try to be funny and call it smut. That’s not funny to me. I write romance. I make a difference in people’s lives. My work is important to me, don’t make fun of it. It’s hard work that occupies a lot of my time. It is serious to me and my friends and family need to respect that.


2.) Act like a professional: Always. If you are speaking to an editor you are selling yourself. They won’t read your work until you send it in. Your readers expect to see a professional as well. Again, you’re selling yourself, especially if they’ve never read your work. It doesn’t matter what you write. You are an extension of your books.

2 comments: