Who Knew?

I love it when I’m right. You really never know what you might enjoy doing until you try. Never mind that I’ve been wrong a few times getting to this place. I thought I’d never be much of a creative writer, and I thought I’d never really get into doing anything contemporary, but I’ve obviously had fun writing novels, and now I really am having a ball on my new project, which is contemporary. I’ve been writing like a madwoman all week (which is why I haven’t had much to say here). Now, I just have to hope it gets the agent’s seal of approval.

Which brings me to another topic. I started writing seriously a few years ago with the goal of getting published, but I didn’t have anyone telling me what was getting published, so ultimately, I wrote for myself. I loved that. I have to say, it takes a little of the fun out of it when you get all worried about whether or not there’s a market for what you’re writing. Once you get published, there’s a reality there that you just weren’t thinking a lot about before. At least, I wasn’t. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on this one. INTO HIS ARMS just about wrote itself. Granted, I had to research it, and I always outline to some extent before I start, but it was a story just pounding on the inside of my skull. I’m feeling that way about my WIP, so I’m hoping that it all works out the same way. I’m hoping that if it speaks this strongly to me, it will do the same for someone else.

The whole “what’s selling” thing is a mystery to me. I read the message boards over at AAR (All About Romance) and RT (Romantic Times) and I see that people still love historicals. I see comments about my last three books and how refreshing it is to see something other than Regency England. Nonetheless, the scuttlebutt in the industry is that historicals are flat and no one’s buying Americans. Why isn’t there a bigger blip on the buying radar? A friend got a letter from a woman who said she loved her book and couldn’t wait for the next one to hit the used bookstores so she could buy it. Boy, I understand the desire, and even need, to economize, but I wonder how much this affects sales, and ultimately, whether or not editors buy certain kinds of books. By purchasing all of her books at a used bookstore, is it possible that she’s making it less likely that this new, favorite author will be able to sell another project? On the other hand, used sales may be such a small percentage that it really doesn’t matter.

In the meantime, I’m trying not to sweat bullets over NOBODY’S SAINT. This was another new lesson for me as a newly-pubbed author. You have so little control over sales. You do what you can and what’s within your budget to publicize your baby, and then hope everything works out. The reviews have been really good on this one, a notch above the first two. I have more and more fans and reviewers asking what’s next. Good question. Believe me, I’m working on this! It’s frustrating, though, feeling like you’re building momentum off a short bridge. I’m just putting the pedal to the metal and hoping to goodness that the other half of the bridge is on the other side, like a car stunt in a movie. Yee-haah!