HelenKay Dimon

I pointed out a book sale by Jennifer Estep back in May. Jennifer now has a website. Go visit…just click on that link I put there. It’s not the same ‘ole thing. I played with the buildings at the top for longer than I care to admit. Once I got that one on the right to take off, I had to keep doing it.

Her book Karma Girl comes out in May 2007 from Berkley. No cover yet, but we’ll likely see it soon. She describes the book this way:

It’s about Carmen Cole, a newspaper reporter who exposes the secret identities of comic-book-type superheroes and ubervillains. Romance, action, adventure, sexy superheroes … it’s got something for everyone.

This is her first book. If you stop by here you know how important I think it is to support debut authors (yes, including me – I have no shame). Here are a few statistics from her site:

A FEW STATISTICS
1: Karma Girl will be my first published book. Remember, all it takes is one good idea to get started.
2: My second book is tentatively titled Hot Mama.
6: Books I wrote before Karma Girl.
8: Years I’ve been writing books.
12: Months it took me to write and edit Karma Girl.
100-plus: Rejections I received before placing Karma Girl with an agent.
About 350: Number of pages in Karma Girl.
About 97,000: Number of words in Karma Girl.
1 million and 1: Ideas I have bouncing around in my head for more books.

Eight years of writing before getting her two-book deal. Yeah, that’s how it tends to work. Congrats to her for pushing ahead.

Yesterday I made my usual jump over to Booksquare to see what interesting and intelligent thoughts she had for the day. And, well, calm and happiness ceased. The problem was not with Booksquare. It was with her link to GalleyCat which linked to a particularly short-sighted and annoying review/commentary by Colette Bancroft at MiamiHerald.com called No Party Girls in This Collection.

Bancroft’s article is one of the more condescending out there, which makes her quote regarding the book This Is Not Chick Lit all the more humorous:

None of the anthology’s 18 stories follows a formula; every one is a surprise. They address women’s lives without condescension and with plenty of intelligence, style and wit. This isn’t chick lit, but maybe chick lit should aspire to be this good.

Let me tell you, Bancroft can speak about condescension from a personal perspective seeing as she appears to be an expert on the subject.

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Washington Post Book World printed its annual Fall Preview. This is not to be confused with the annual Summer Preview, annual Spring Preview, annual Holiday Preview, annual Arbor Day Preview or any other annual Preview Book World publishes.

Look at all the romance novels highlighted…oh, wait. Moving on to the General Fiction section, there are some book blurbs that sound interesting. For instance:

-Devotion by Howard Norman. Described as “A new marriage, a cordial in-law – and a startlingly savage murder.” That was enough to get me to search it out.

-The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud – One of those books I’ve seen everywhere. I’m not convinced it’s my thing, but the reviews are good.

-The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford – This one is for my husband. He loves Ford.

-Lisey’s Story by Stephen King – For those who thought he stopped writing…here’s a new one. For those who wish he’d stop writing…well, I can’t help you.

-Piece of Work by Laura Zigman – This looks suspiciously like chick lit. Who let this get on the list?

-The Road by Cormac McCarthy – I kind of love McCarthy. This one deals with surviving a nuclear holocaust. Not the lightest of topics but sounds good.

-The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox – This is listed under the topic of Fiction Around The World. That’s different from Fiction, I guess. The description got me: “The story of a Victorian Londoner who values books, prizes erudition and loves to kill.” Then I checked around on the guy and grew even more intrigued. This is the first book by Cox. He took 30 years to write it and got a terrific deal.

There are more books included in the Fall Preview, including a whole host of mysteries and thrillers (Brad Meltzer, Michael Connelly, Walter Mosley, Kate Atkinson and more). Nonfiction and children’s books are on the list as well. Check it out.

I’ve returned from Roanoke, Virginia and Valley Bookfest. Had a lovely time. Stayed in a beautiful historic hotel. Met some wonderful authors. Heard some very interesting and entertaining presentations. The folks who ran Valley Bookfest did a fantastic job. The media materials – posters, special bookmarks, ads -made me think I should hire the Roanoke Public Library Foundation to do all of my PR from now on.

My fellow fiction authors who spoke were:

*Ellen Byerrum - Ellen is a full-time journalist and author of the Crimes of Fashion mystery series. She’s witty and charming and a great advertisement for her books because you meet her and want to read her work. Her newest, Raiders of the Lost Corset is out. Go buy it.

*Susann Cokal – She’s a professor of creative writing and has two PhDs. And, honestly, she looks like she’s about twenty, so I’m figuring she finished college at age six or something. Publishers Weekly called her newest a “literary bodice ripper” which is not a description you see everyday. Her reviews for Breath and Bones are terrific. Go buy the book.

*Matthew Warner - Matthew writes horror, a genre I admittedly know very little about. His new release sounds more psychological thriller and very interesting. He’s one of those guys you meet and immediately like because he makes you laugh. His newest, Eyes Everywhere, comes out soon, but you can preorder it and make his day now.

And, while you’re buying, don’t forget that Viva Las Bad Boys! still is available for purchase in bulk quantities…

Thank you to Valley Bookfest for the invitation and lovely time.

Today I leave for Roanoke, Virginia to attend Valley Bookfest. The activities start tomorrow. If you’re in the area (or within a 5 hour drive in any direction) and are looking for something to do on Saturday, come on over to the Virginia Room of the Main Library at 11:00 a.m. and hear me speak. Actually, please come so that I am not sitting in a room by myself…

Actually, the line-up of speakers looks great. There’s something for everyone. Speakers are arranged on three tracks: children’s books; adult fiction; and adult nonfiction. At 10:00 a.m. Ellen Byerrum is giving a talk in the Virginia Room. Ellen writes the Crimes of Fashion series.

So, yeah, if you’re coming to see Ellen (and you should), feel free to hang around for another hour and chat with me. Because, really, if I sit in a room talking to myself for too long people will begin to wonder if I’m well. Rather, people will figure out that I’m not. Someone might even call the police and have me taken away. That would be a bad thing.

Be back Sunday!

With the RWA conference behind us for another year, this seemed like a good time to point out this article called, How To Ruin The Writers’ Festival For Everyone . Tell me that’s not the best title of an article ever.

For future reference, there are a few actions/behaviors you can engage in while attending a conference to make sure you get noticed. Because, really, who doesn’t want to act like a complete moron in front of her peers. Some of my favorites are:

*Ask At Least Three Questions: The presenter may warn that there are only a few minutes left before the end of the session, and ask if everyone can limit themselves to one question. Obeying this order is a trap for young players – remember, your question is so insightful and clever that this rule does not apply to you. Everyone will be grateful that you asked three questions because each was so brilliant.

*Prove You Are Smart: A convoluted and obscure reference point is the surest way to do this. Make sure it adds nothing to the debate and merely bogs the session down as the panel attempts to decipher your carefully memorized question.

*Share Your Life Story: People may have paid $20 to see a famous author but that’s only because they don’t realize how much more interesting you are.

*Attack The Panelists: Don’t think that just because someone is smarter, better educated and more talented than you that you can’t attack them on spurious and ill-thought-out grounds. Fire a broadside about a writer being commercial, accuse them of racism (saying that their writing is “colonialist” is even better), or say they stole their novel idea from you – it doesn’t matter, as long as you’re shouting.

Yeah, it was hard to pick out just a few highlights since the entire article cracked me up.

This time I’m talking about me…

My wonderful editor Kate Duffy offered – and I accepted – a new three-book deal. The books will be Brava single titles – ie, not novellas and not anthologies. As soon as I know the release schedule in more than just tentative terms I’ll share.

A big thanks to editor Kate for making the offer and to my agent Ethan for making it happen. Also a heartfelt thanks to Wendy, Kassia, Alison and my hubby for listening to all of my insecure author whining pre book offer and somehow refraining from staging an intervention. Wendy has the almost daily joy of dealing with my writing anxiety and, as always, I am eternally grateful to her.

Off to write, obsess, panic…then obsess some more.

At this year’s RWA Conference in Atlanta I met a bunch of new and new-to-me authors. Most were smart, funny, charming, talented and all that good stuff. Then there was one of the other kind… I’m sure this lady is smart, funny, charming and talented. Unfortunately, she hid those traits behind a perfumed wall of entitlement.

The author – I’ll call her Susie Q since that is not even close to her real name – started in epublishing. She now is with a NYC publisher. If you are stopping by here then you aren’t her, so don’t think I’m talking about you. She isn’t listed on my sidebar and doesn’t visit. Honestly, I’m not sure she even knows there are other authors out there other than her. Yeah, she’s one of those. Knows everything. Acts as if she runs the publishing industry. In general, she takes herself a bit too seriously. She’s lost sight of the fact she’s new and has much to learn – including tact and humility.

I thought about Susie Q yesterday when I received a few emails asking if I knew anything about the rumors of Red Dress Ink (Harlequin’s chick lit line) closing. I don’t actually publish with RDI, so all I’ve heard is the rumors. The rumors: RDI has canceled several books it previously bought and scheduled. These books are written, most have been turned in, and the authors are out of luck as well as being out of work, at least temporarily. Not sure what this means, but it doesn’t sound good. Anyone following along and watching the steady decline of chick lit sales shouldn’t be a surprised. And, anyone following along and watching the turmoil at Harlequin shouldn’t be all that shocked either.

So, Susie Q….See, Susie Q is new but views herself as one of The Chosen. Susie Q seems to believe that she is invincible and that everyone loves her. That now she has arrived, she can’t fail – ummm, wrong.

I don’t understand Susie Q. Every single day that goes by in which my editor doesn’t call to tell me she made an accident by publishing me is a great day. Really. My writer insecurities may be more extreme than the norm, but in a way they’re healthy. I know this could all end. I know being published is a wonderful and precarious thing. I know there will always be someone who sells better, has more readers, gets better book deals and earns more impressive reviews. I know envy/jealousy over the careers of other authors is normal and acceptable so long as the envy/jealousy doesn’t cross over into pathology. I know my publisher could drop me, my imprint could close or my editor could lose interest or change jobs and leave me behind.

In other words, I know it could end tomorrow. Acting as if I’ve conquered the publishing world seems like nothing more than a one-way ticket to being formerly published. Being secure is fine. Healthy even. Being a pompous ass just makes you a…well, pompous ass. If the rumors about RDI are true – and I think they are – as tragic as the line’s difficulties are, they may be a needed reminder that we’re all vulnerable. I just wonder if those who need the warning are capable of heeding it.

On this busy day, I throw this out there to all writers, readers and would-be authors…

A new book, Reading Like A Writer by Francine Prose, suggests that unpublished writers should re-read the classics. And you thought you learned everything you needed to know about these novels in 10th grade…

The Library Journal says:

Prose devotes a chapter each to eight elements of writing: words, sentences, paragraphs, narration, character, dialog, details, and gesture. These chapters are framed by an opening piece that urges close reading as most productive for writers; a chapter devoted to Chekhov, particularly his short stories, as translated by Constance Garnett; and a closing chapter, “Reading for Courage.” Throughout, Prose focuses on what makes great fiction, mixing personal narrative with plentiful quotations from her favored writers, including both the big names generally encountered in such books (Joyce, Woolf, Mansfield, Flannery O’Connor, Melville, Austen, Paul Bowles, and Raymond Carver) and writers like Tatyana Tolstaya, Paula Fox, and Rex Stout. As the title suggests, this book is likely to find its audience with readers who are also writers or who long to be.

Whether or not writing can be taught is a question for some professors. I’m not getting into that debate. Just providing some information to all those out there who wonder where they can get The Secret to becoming a published author. My view: there’s no secret formula, but try the book and see.

Last night I attended a party to celebrate the release of Viva Las Bad Boys!. I’m blogging about the evening’s events over at Access Romance. I’ll post the photos on the photo page soon. Until then, here are a few: