West Houston RWA

Surviving Industry Changes: When it comes to publishing, the only thing an author can really count on is change. Shayla Black (aka Shelley Bradley) chats about strategies to help you survive and thrive after such set-backs as the loss of an editor, the discovery that your line is folding, or the news that your publisher (or the market in general) is no longer buying what you’re selling. Survival tips from a dozen years in the trenches included, to help you focus on long-term goals, deal with difficult setbacks, and keep going.

Shayla Black (aka Shelley Bradley) is the national bestselling author of 25+ sizzling contemporary, erotic, paranormal, and historical romances for multiple print and electronic publishers. She lives in Texas with her husband, munchkin, and one very spoiled cat. In her “free” time, she enjoys reality TV, reading and listening to an eclectic blend of music.

Shayla has won or placed in over a dozen writing contests, including Passionate Ink’s Passionate Plume, Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, and the National Reader’s Choice Awards. Romantic Times has awarded her Top Picks, a KISS Hero Award and a nomination for Best Erotic Romance.

A writing risk-taker, Shayla enjoys tackling writing challenges with every book.

Q: How long have you been writing?
Since 1981

Q: How long did it take you to publish?
I sold my first manuscript to Silhouette Books.

Q: How many manuscripts do you have hidden away/under the bed/in storage?
None!

Q: Do you have a writing schedule and if so, what is it?
Yes. Start at 10:00 a.m., break for lunch, hit my stride mid-afternoon. I work at night only when on deadline.

Q: Do you have a critique group? If yes, how many are in the group?
Not a critique group, but a wonderful brainstorming group. Four other multi-published authors and I meet once a year where we brainstorm the work-in-progress of each.

Q: If this is not the only critique group you’ve participated in, how many others did you have before finding the one that worked?
I never had another. And I only discovered the joys of brainstorming in the last four books I wrote. I can’t
say enough about the value of meeting with and talking about what I’m writing with knowledgeable friends.

Q: When developing an idea for a new story, which comes first – the plot or the title or the characters?
The plot always. The germ of an idea comes to me and then I “what-if” a lot.

Q: How do you handle new story ideas that pop up when you’re in the middle of a project? (ex: notebook
by the bed/separate word file, etc?)
I jot them down and put them in a file labeled “story ideas.” The truth: I almost never use them. When it’s
time to write another book, I somehow come up with a fresh idea.

Q: Have you ever gotten to the middle of a project and got bored or lost your momentum? If so, how did you handle it?
I don’t usually get bored, but I often get worried in the middle of a book. I think keeping the reader interested in the middle of a story spells success. I have lost momentum, which is another problem. Stuff happens in our lives and I’m no different. I usually get back in the groove when it’s over and sometimes the interruption actually proves helpful.

Q: Finish this sentence: If I could write anything I wanted and knew it would see, it would be…
I am so incredibly blessed to be writing exactly what I want to write. From time to time, I have gotten bored
with the particular genre I was stuck in, but I then moved to a different genre. In looking back over my career, that is obvious. I wrote traditional romance, then Superromances, then single titles, then thrillers, then back to single titles and now inspirational fiction. Which is exactly what I want to write now. I guess I’ve never had a “book of my heart” that I longed to write and didn’t.

Q: What is the best advice you ever received?
Don’t pay attention to what other authors are writing, getting paid or how they manage their careers. Focus
on writing the best book you know how. Told to me by a Harlequin Editor years ago.

Q: What is the worst?
Leave Mira Books and go to a different publisher. Told to me by someone who shall be nameless.

Q: What is your favorite part of the writing process?
That’s easy! Thinking up the story.

Q: What is your least favorite part of the writing process?
Writing the story.

Q: Which came first for you – the editor or the agent?
Editor. After four books at Silhouette, my editor said, “Karen, you need an agent. You could be making more money.”

Q: How many contests did you enter before you sold? How many did you final in?
Nary a one. Ever.

Q: How do you promote your books?
I have an incredible publicist who does that for me. I never particularly liked that part of my career and I could have been more successful if I had. I have now remedied that neglect. Some things we do: Send postcards via US Mail. Send eBlasts when the book is launched. Seek speaking engagements at various events where the audience is women who read/buy books. Approach newspapers with a well-written press release. Volunteer to conduct workshops at other RWA chapters. And finally, schedule book signings.

Q: Free Form: Here’s your chance to tell us anything you’d like— tidbits, advice, funny stories, pet peeves, hopes, dreams, etc.
I didn’t think my grandsons had ever read any of my romance novels. I guess I was wrong, because after signing a nice contract to write inspirational fiction, one of my grandsons (age 16 then) asked, “So, Mimi, after you take out the sex and the cussin’, what’s left?”

Visit Karen’s website for more! www.karenyoung.net

BACHELOR CEO
by Michele Dunaway
Reviewed by Christy Janisse

Chase McDaniel is all set to take over for his grandfather as CEO of his family’s company. He’s been groomed for the job and has dedicated his life to learning the company business from the ground up. However, his grandfather has different ideas. His grandfather – the old coot that his is- decides Chase needs a chance that he never had- a year off with pay to experience life and make a choice for his future.

Shortly after his grandfather’s announcement, Chase finds out the beautiful woman he resuced not once, but twice that very day would be taking his job. Betrayed and still intriuged, Chase battles his desires for the woman with resentment of the forced sabbatical.

Miranda Craig has worked hard to achieve everything her deceased parent would have wanted for her. With a golden opportunity, she moved from Urban Chicago to rural Iowa to take a crack at her shot of breaking the glass ceiling.

Determined to make a success of herself, she is nearly blindsided by Chase McDaniel’s charm, good looks and endearing qualities. She gives into her desires and they share a magical night. She figures she has a year to get over him and get her head on straight before facing him again. However, fate has other plans.

A medical scare for his grandfather brings Chase storming back into town and taking control of the company. He doesn’t seem to care that he steps on Miranda’s toes. Miranda is ready to battle him for the top job, ready to challenge him and the board of directors to prove she is the best for the company. Then reality hits and she is faced with a decision. Should she step aside, seek another executive job in order to let the man she realizes she loves take over his birthright. Or, continue to fight, possibly win, and lose him forever.

To find out how Michele Dunaway handles this situation and fall in love with all the colorful characters she has created, don’t miss Bachelor CEO.

HIS BROTHER’S BRIDE-TO-BE
by Patricia Kay
Reviewed by Pat O’Dea-Rosen

The title tips the reader to the main conflict in this story, but there’s plenty more roiling within. In the novel-writing classes she teaches, Pat Kay urges students to make conflict compelling. With HIS BROTHER’S
BRIDE-TO-BE, she shows how.

When well-off widower Elliott Lawrence introduces his fiancé, Jill Emerson, and her son, Jordan, to his family and friends, he expects them to be as taken with her as he is. Instead, most count the twenty-seven years
separating Elliott’s age from Jill’s and assume she’ll take him for all he’s worth.

Stephen Wells knows different. He fell for J.J. Emerson more than a decade earlier during spring break on Padre Island. Her aunt’s sudden illness, a roommate who never explained why J.J. left the island, and Stephen’s fear that J.J. didn’t return his love kept him from searching for her. But he’s never forgotten her and doesn’t doubt her integrity.

Unfortunately, Stephen’s not in a position to vouch for Jill. On paper, he’s Elliott’s half brother. In fact, Elliott and his late wife took him in as a young boy and raised him. The groom–to-be is more than a sibling. He’s Stephen’s father figure, mentor, and best friend. Seeing Jill awakens Stephen’s dormant feelings for her. For Jill, meeting Stephen triggers both love and terror. The love part’s no surprise; she’s never forgotten Steve, her first love. The terror is due to the fact Jordan is Stephen’s son.

In Pat’s novel-writing classes, she reminds students that readers want and need an emotional connection
with a story’s characters. To that end, she shows us Jill’s sense of honor. Jill was never tempted by wealth, so why did she get engaged to a much older man? Her son desperately wants a daddy and fell in love with Elliott first.

Stephen’s sense of honor matches Jill’s. As they acknowledge long-buried feelings, their concern isn’t for themselves but for those they will hurt and confuse.

In HIS BROTHER’S-BRIDE-TO-BE, the characters struggle for their happy ending. For readers, that struggle is stressful but oh-so-satisfying.

It’s July, which means for many of us our thoughts turn to staying cool, going to RWA in DC and of course writing, writing, writing.

Congrats go to Donna Maloy, whose teen fantasy, LEGEND OF THE FOX, is a finalist in the Royal Ascot contest sponsored by the Beau Monde RWA chapter. The contest category “sweet and mild Regency” included YA submissions.

In addition, Pat O’Dea-Rosen is thrilled to announce that A PLACE AT THE TABLE, a single title entry, made the finals of the Tampa Area Romance Author’s TARA contest. The editor judge is Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks. Congrats Pat!

In more contest news, Linda Warren’s book ALWAYS A MOTHER won first place in the More Than Magic contest in the sensual contemporary category. Also, her book TEXAS HEIR is a finalist in short contemporary in the Bookbuyer’s Best Contest.

Kerrelyn Sparks will be biting her nails twice at Nationals. Once at the RITA ceremony and again at the ceremony for the Booksellers Best Award, where ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A VAMPIRE is a finalist. And more good news–some foreign sales! The Love at Stake series will be published in Russian, Chinese, and French (in addition to previous sales to Germany and Spain).

Cheryl Bolen was shocked that some dear soul paid $106 on Brenda Novak’s Auction for Diabetes for Cheryl to critique her synopsis! Last year Cheryl donated a tote bag filled with her books and some other goodies, and it only fetched $80. Since all her books were in storage this year (due to the reconstruction of her house after Hurricane Ike), she was unable to do a gift “basket.” Happily, Cheryl reports that she is now back in her house — after nine months! Yay!

Last but never least, July sees the release of THE AVALON PATROL: THE ROAD TO AVEA, the first in a trilogy by Amber Quill Press from Lynn Lorenz (Laura Gompertz). It’s a paranormal romance set in a world of majick. Also, Common Powers 3: Edward, Unconditionally was the Top Rated Gay Romance at ARe this month. And Common Powers 1: Soul Bonds and 2: Rush In The Dark, have now both gone to print and are available at Amazon, and the Loose Id website. Congrats Lynn.