‘Scary Kisses’ recommended reading

When something that shouldn't work - does!

There are many do's and don'ts with writing. You find out about them as you go along. But when you look back on some old works you find that those authors were doing the things you're told not to do. How come they could do it and not me? Times change, perspectives change and their successful. I guess that's the only way you could explain it.

There are also occupations that aren't supposed to be used - like actors, sport stars etc. Over time that has been proven to be wrong. Look at the whole Nascar line with Harlequin. Market research showed that the demographic of women following Nascar also enjoyed romance - voila let's combine them both and these stories are extremely successful.

I recently read a book that had the two occupations you shouldn't use. Heroine was an actress, hero was a Major League Baseball player. With the amount of 'trouble' sport stars and actors get into you can understand why they are a bit of a no-go area.

However, this story was wonderfully written. The characters were believable and I totally got that they could have a happily ever after. It was a book written by Jackie Braun and it was called "Amercia's Star-Crossed Sweethearts". I loved it and it showed me that sometimes breaking the rules does work. If the story is fabulous and your voice shines through, an editor or agent will over look the breaking of the rules, because the story speaks to them.

Maybe we should all try and break a rule every now and then. You never know it could be the story that starts your career flying.

Nicki

Winking at 2010

So soon it seems that our Christmas lunch at Lesley’s is happening and then our last WINK meeting for the year is hard on its heels. What a year we’ve had.

Shona on fire with an avalanche of contracts, requests and edits- such an exciting ride to be shared with glee by all of us. Lesley and Nicki flying the flag of achievement for NaNoWriMo . Well done you two. Kym flying her flag of her Dip.ED- no mean feat while working fulltime- and now freed from assignments to write again. Two of us sneaking second and third place in the Little Gems Contest. Lesley with a request. Donna knee deep in another great story after what? two, three short stories published this year? Hot to trot!! Heather too with changes looming, experiences tucked away for the stories yet to be written.

It’s had its moments too, 2010. Work issues, health issues, life in general issues all part of the ride. It’s a cliché I know, to talk of doors closing and others opening, but like so many clichés, grounded on experience.

New pathways seen and opportunities explored promise a 2011 full of fun. Three of us planning to be in New York for the RWA US conference, others eyeing off the RWAussie bash. Deadlines for manuscripts set and goals clarified. Lets celebrate a fabulous year and plan for another!

Happy Christmas everyone and a joyous New year.

Cath

NaNoWRiMo - It's Over

Well it's the 1st of December for me, and 2nd of December for the Aussie WinkGirls. Yes the tyranny of distance plays its hand on many occasions and makes our monthly critique meetings interesting to say the least!

At the beginning of the month, Lesley did a post on NaNo about how she was going to compete and win. And she did! Yay Lesley!!

I started unofficially but by 4th November I had 'officially' joined up and am pleased to say that I too, won. I wrote 51,178 words for the month of November. I am stoked that I managed to achieve this goal. Interestingly enough what got me over the line was switching between two manuscripts for two different category lines.

The thing I found about doing NaNo was that the more I wrote the more the words flowed. It became easier each day to reach the word count goal. In fact I think there was probably about 2 days where I didn't achieve the goal at all. There were also 6 days where I didn't write any words. I reached my goal on the 27th and wrote the next day but gave myself the last two days of November off.

So now that December has hit, it's time to keep writing as both the manuscripts need to be finished and then time to let them sit before I tackle the task of editing them both.

Who out there 'won' NaNo and who tried but, as it does, life got in the way!

Nicki