West Houston RWA

Speaker TJ Bennett presents: “When Your Princess Isn’t Perfect: Understanding the Dark Side of Your Romantic Heroine.” Using her professional training in the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), TJ will share techniques for finding and using the dark side of character that is the primary source of internal conflict between the hero and heroine. Even writers who are acquainted with personality type will learn a different way of examining character and conflict, and will discover techniques for quickly defining what they might have instinctively struggled with for years. This is a follow-on to TJ’s popular presentation last year, “Finding the Dark Side of Your Knight in Shining Armor,” which examined the romantic fiction hero.

If you’ve ever heard the expressions ENTJ, ISTP, ESFJ, etc., you’ll learn how each of these archetypal characters handles stress—and how the same stressors can provoke wildly different reactions in different types. If you have no idea what these letters mean, come and learn more. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of your heroine’s “shadow” function, or her emotional responses to the darkest moments of life, and will take away a handout that describes the heroine conflict types most frequently represented in romance—and ways to resolve storylines that stay true to your character’s type.

BIO: While employed with the Department of Defense and later as president of her own Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) consulting and training business, TJ Bennett used the MBTI instrument to help Fortune 500 CEOs and government executives develop successful work teams. Called an “author to watch” by Romantic Times Magazine, TJ is a former Romance Writers of America Golden Heart finalist. Her debut novel, The Legacy, a historical romance set in Early Reformation Germany, explored the destructive nature of secrets. Reviewers called the novel an “emotional rollercoaster,” “an overpowering, extraordinary tale,” and a “fast-paced tale that grabs your heart from the beginning and keeps it to the very end.” All About Romance awarded The Legacy “Buried Treasure 2008” status and named it a Desert Isle Keeper, saying it “…features the best relationship between hero and heroine [the reviewer has] read in a long time…”. TJ’s follow-on novel, The Promise, was a May 2009 release and earned a TOP PICK award from Night Owl Romance and 4 stars from Romantic Times Book Club.

TJ’s work reflects her “Dark and Daring Romance” brand. She knows a lot about the black moments of life and uses that knowledge to enhance her writing. She believes that nothing is ever lost, and no painful experience is in vain: it’s all research. Visit her at www.tjbennett.com

Happy July. We have some sizzling hot news this month. Congrats go first to Jo Anne Banker, who is happy to announce that her new work in progress, LOST AND FOUND, finaled in the series contemporary category of the Tampa Area Romance Author’s 2010 TARA contest. This is the first time Jo Anne!s entered this manuscript in any contest, making the news even sweeter. Wanda Ottewell of Superromance is the final editor judge.

Kerrelyn Sparks continues to have a super hot year. She is thrilled that the sixth book from the Love at Stake series, SECRET LIFE OF A VAMPIRE, has won the Award of Excellence contest, paranormal category, sponsored by the Colorado Romance Writers.  The same book has finaled in the PRISM contest. Her September release, EAT PREY LOVE, will be a featured alternate in the Rhapsody/Doubleday Book Club. For more information, please visit www.kerrelynsparks.com.

After a disagreement between editors at her publishing house, Michele Dunaway’s Complete Idiot’s Guide will not be released. Thus, Michele is trying the Kindle route and the renamed book, INSIDE THE WORLD OF VAMPIRES, is available
for download at Amazon.com and through Smashwords.com. While she waits for the pennies to trickle in, she!s delighted to announce that she sold her eighth educational article to VisualThesaurus.com. The day job continues to be a delight.

Don’t Bury Your Query!
A crash course for fiction writers in creating a letter that will get your manuscript read, including:

• -How a well-crafted query can save you stress and money.
• -The things you must understand before starting your query.
• -How to make an editor/agent want to like your blurb.
• -How not to sound like the other 200 lunatics and/or writers who sent in queries that day.
• -What you need to include in your blurb to be considered.
• -How to relay the tone of your story within the blurb.
• -When to choose to leave information out of your query.
• -What requests and rejections mean and do not mean.

Bio: Rhonda Morrow found out she was good at persuasive writing way back in high school when she won awards from the local TV station for her editorials.

After graduating with a degree in Journalism (emphasis in advertising), she worked for a major non-profit organization, writing press releases, speeches, volunteer recruitment letters, and various other materials aimed at gaining participation and donations.

She then moved to Viacom for six years, writing and delivering marketing presentations, and creating promotions, as well as sales and retention trainings for Showtime and The Movie Channel. But when her daughter came along, she opened her own learning center, for which she developed an advertising campaign, wrote press releases, and handled all sales activity.

When her mother (and educator/business partner) died, Rhonda closed her business and, after a year of intense grieving, found herself writing a novel. Although that novel remains on her hard drive, she now has four novellas published and a fifth under contract.

However, her big claim to fame among the writers who know her is the high rate of requests she garners from editors and agents with the query letters she writes for herself and others. ”While most of the people I know are natural fiction writers trying to write marketing materials–like queries,” she says. “I’m a natural marketing writer who’s trying to write fiction.”

At the suggestion of local writers, Rhonda has just launched her own query and synopsis service at www.thequeryfairy.com.

Early Morning

RWA FAQ: AGENTS
EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW (EXCEPT THEIR SHOE SIZE)

Hiring a literary agent is one of the most important decisions an author makes in her career. With the rapidly evolving changes in publishing, it’s more important than ever to have a good working knowledge of what to expect before you begin the Great Agent Hunt. Join award-winning author Kimberly Frost and debut author Vicky Dreiling at the early morning workshop on July 10, 2010 to learn the basics and beyond about literary agents.

Kimberly Frost is the award-winning, national best-selling author of the humorous paranormal Southern Witch Series and has recently accepted a new contract to write an as yet untitled dark paranormal series. You can learn more about her books at: http://frostfiction.com

Vicky Dreiling received three offers of representation prior to selling her first historical romance in a three-book deal to Grand Central Publishing. HOW TO MARRY A DUKE will debut on January 1, 2011. Coming soon: http://www.vickydreiling.net