Thanksgiving Leftovers

Fio's books arrived yesterday morning, the ones she'd bought from her publisher at her author's discount price. Two boxes were perched like orphans on top of the garbage bin next to the street, and Fio threw them into the trunk as she and Husband left to drive off to her brother's for the family Thanksgiving feast. The first thing she did when they arrived in Austin was to open both boxes to see if the rain had damaged any of the books, which it hadn't.  Then she autographed a book as a gift to her brother and his wife.

Later that evening, when Fio and Husband were home, Husband claimed a book for himself, asked Fio to autograph it, and started reading--and kept on reading, which was a joy to Fiorella.

Two books down, twenty-eight to go.

SHE DID IT!

Fio will be sleeping late today.  She sent her finished manuscript to her editor at 2:15 a.m.  It was hell, but she did it.  A day off, and then she'll go back to her novella and hammer that out.

Welcome to the World, Little Lamb

Methinks your Fiorella has come smack-dab up against the reality of a writing career, that it is a business, 180 degrees away from Fio's world of daydreams.

She went through all the steps--entering contests, winning contests, getting a great agent who got her a big publisher, working with a great editor.  But her book, for whatever reason, has not been embraced by the waiting world, as she had assumed it would be.  And now that the second book in the contract is at the publishers, her agent wants her to write a new book in a different setting.

Which leaves Fio is in a quandary about what to write that will be well-received by her agent, a publisher, and readers, yet contain the messages she wants to get out.   And--oh--be a story Fio wants to tell.

Promotion

Fiorella is overwhelmed again.  It isn't just the house or the yard or the writing.  It's the literary promotion.  Everywhere Fiorella looks, people are advocating self-promotion, which Fio does NOT want to do.  One reason she held out for an agent and a publisher was so that she would write, write, write her stories, and OTHER people could sell, sell, sell them.  Besides, she was blessed with many talents and skills, but NOT electronics!

Yes, your Fio has a blog, email, and Facebook, but that's it--no Pinterest, no Instagram, no Twitter, no WODDL, no Buffer, no Street Team, no give-aways,  Definitely a dinosaur.

Angst and Elation

Fiorella is ON A ROLL!  She's been laboring her way through the second book in her contract, determined to have it ready to send off to her publisher by March 1, but a tiny flare of panic flickered in her cerebral cortex (or wherever panic dwells).  What if she couldn't finish WHERE THE HEART LEADS, if she hit an impasse, if the book was too awful for her to acknowledge?

But you know Fio--she plugged on.  And for the past couple of days, her mental spark plugs seemed to be trying to ignite.  Yesterday, they did, like crazy. Fiorella's frenzied fingers flew across the laptop, and she liked what she saw.

WHERE THE HEART LEADS is a winner.

Burning the Midnight Oil

The post Fiorella wrote totally disappeared.  Her baby car is in the shop.  The plumber was here for two hours ferreting out a 400 gallon per hour leak.  Husband and Fio are working on an LLC form for the family enterprise.  Her self-esteem hit rock bottom when she spent an hour filling out a form for her publisher.  Every time she's turned around, there has been something or someone demanding her immediate attention.  And she's also trying to work on WHERE THE HEART LEADS.

Oh well, there's always tonight, after everyone else has gone to bed.

Revival

How well did Fiorella cover herself Thursday through Saturday? She doesn't like to let anyone know when she's distressed so she hopes nothing leaked through except her Shylock poem, which had been written earlier and shelved--its publishing date date crept up on her unaware (or maybe her subconscious took over).  Anyway, Fiorella went into a frenzy of physical activity for the aforementioned days, then collapsed on the couch Saturday afternoon.  Yeah, after two nights of sleeplessness, she bombed out.

The great thing was that when she awoke, she realized that during her walking coma, she'd packed away the rest of the Christmas decorations, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, and thus allowed her brain to function again.  Onward and upward, Fiorella!

Birthday, Welcome, Gifts

Yesterday was Sonya's second birthday and she celebrated by controlling herself while workmen were banging around on the roof, restraining herself while a doe and two fawns cavorted in the yard, and eating her fill of leftover pancakes and bacon.
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Fio received a nice welcoming note from the president of Hatchette Group, the parent company for Grand Central, which is her publisher.  Of course, she panics whenever she sees there's something from her agent or her publisher in her in box.  Are they going to dump her?  Is the magic carpet ride over?  Your Fio is not one to take things for granted--or, as her students used to write, "for granite."
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This is weird, but this year Fiorella has started buying Christmas gifts early, like normal people do, instead of at the last minute.  Could it be that Fio has finally turned into . . . an adult?  Nah.
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Show Me the Money

Fiorella is tired of hearing that writing is fun but doesn't pay.  Au contraire, Fio knows people who make a lot of money at it.  The secret is that they write catchy stories and have figured out how to market themselves--the commodity won't sell unless it's interesting all the way through, and nobody will know about it unless someone spreads the word.

At least that's how it is in romance writing.

Thee first step to fame and fortune process is writing better, better, best.  Classes abound, but some are more helpful than others.  Fio recommends April Kihlstrom's Book-in-a-Week, which is not only on-line, but on Kindle and Nook.  You are not limited to one hard-scrabble week, and there's no pressure-drive for you to actually write a complete novel in one week.  Not only is Kihlstrom supportive, but she has a track record of thirty-some romances put out by top-flight publishers.  But if you're not the joiner type, you can do a pretty good job all by your lonesome by studying the techniques used by your favorite authors.  (Spoiler alert: you will never read a novel the same was again.  Is a writing career worth it to you?)

Fiorella can't give you much advice about the marketing side of the equation.  That's why she accepted the offer from Grand Central rather than publish independently.   But one thing she knows for sure--your best advertising is word of mouth, and the best way to get the good word out there is to write a crackerjack story.

It's a closed circle, but there very well may be a pot of gold somewhere along the way.

Drum Roll, Please!

FIORELLA HAS A PUBLISHER!

KINKAID HOUSE (nee PRINCESS OF BOSQUE BEND aka HONEYSUCKLE DREAMS) WILL BE PUT OUT THIS SPRING BY A TOP-TIER PUBLISHER, GRAND CENTRAL (HACHETTE GROUP)!

Into the Maelstrom

Remember how Fio had a bad reaction to the pain medications she was given for her most recent surgery?  That it was like she had entered another world, a place in which there were no rules, a place she couldn't figure out how to deal with?  Well, she feels exactly the same way as she stands on the brink of the publishing world.  In fact, she feels like she's looking down into the pit of Tolkien's orc factory.

One reason Fio decided to concentrate on writing was that the career path seemed so clear and regulated.  First she would sit on the couch and write a book, then she would win contests, then she would get an agent, then the agent would find her a publisher, then the publisher would pay Fiorella a boatload of money and publish the book.  But, apparently there's a lot more involved--marketing, monetizing, and mayhem, none of which Fio is adept at.

Pray for Fio.

Disaster in Georgia

Somewhere back when, Fiorella sent her vampire romance off to an adventuresome new publisher in Georgia and got THE CALL. An editor was assigned to her and Fio worked on revisions all summer, buoyed up by the promise she would be a published author by the new year. But such was not to be. Just before Christmas, Fio got THE LETTER, that the publisher had decided to drop her.

Fio was devastated--and also embarrassed. After all, she'd alerted everyone she know that her vampire was about to take wing. But Fio, being Fio, she didn't let things rest there. She tracked down her editor with the help of her cousin, who lives in Georgia and got a kick out of the detective work, and learned the editor also had been fired, along with most of the rest of the employees. The publisher was going under.

"Be glad you got away while you could," Fio's former editor said. "Your story is good. Someone else will pick it up."

No one else did, but if Fio gets Princess of Bosque Bend on the supermarket racks, you can bet she'll be updating the vampire story for publication. Her time will come.