HelenKay Dimon

It’s Martin Luther King Day, it’s Inauguration eve and the Smart Bitches and Dear Author are doing another Save The Contemporary spot. This time the book is INSTANT ATTRACTION by Jill Shalvis.

I am soooo excited for this book. There’s buzz. We love buzz. I also really like Jill. It’s a thrill for me to be in two Brava anthologies with her. She is incredibly talented and very charming. And her blog just cracks me up.

Go buy it!

I sold my first book in May 2005. Since then, I’ve written nine novellas and seven single titles under contract. That does not make me an expert at anything. Trust me. Still, from writing, talking to other authors and lurking on several blogs and watching trainwreck after trainwreck, I’ve learned a few things. Thought I’d go ahead and share some of those. The first is the most obvious and one of the hardest for authors to take:

Author Rule #1: Thou Shalt Not Comment On Bad Reviews

The question is what should you do about negative reviews. Answer: nothing. Not a thing. And while you’re at it, don’t assume the reviewer was jealous, a wannabe writer, hates you, is a big meanie or just skimmed your book. Certainly don’t go around saying those sorts of things on blogs. Realize the problem really could be that the reviewer didn’t like your book or didn’t connect with it. Don’t look for evil motivations.

You’re thinking yeah, but… so let me say this: you will get reviews where the reviewer got information wrong, where the reviewer insists your heroine did or didn’t do something that made her TSTL (too stupid to live) when your heroine really didn’t do/not do that thing, or where the reviewer’s problems with the book seem wholly unrelated to the actual book. You will, so get used to it. Nothing you can do about it. Same rules in the paragraph above apply.

Why? Well, have you honestly ever seen an author correct a mistake in a review or argue with a reviewer and have the author come out looking good? Yeah, never. Can’t think of a single time. Even when I agreed with the author about parts of the review my reaction was of the oh, don’t go there variety. The resulting author pile-on is always an ugly thing. Don’t travel down that road. And while you’re at it, don’t have your readers, friends or husbands write (ie, bombard) the reviewer with complaints. That’s guaranteed to make the situation (and how you look) even worse.

Is that fair? Doesn’t matter if it is or not. You put a book out there and expect people to pay money for it, then you also have to expect that some people aren’t going to like it. Deal with it. And do it quietly. Publicly saying the reviewer “doesn’t get it” makes you look like an asshat. Really, trust me on this. Bragging about copies sold, other people who loved it, how much money you made or hating on the reviewer all make you a double asshat. Just appreciate that someone took the time to read your book and posted your cover and then move on. Keep mouth closed.

I’m over at the Access Romance Blog today talking about Glamour’s Extra-Steamy Man Survey. Yeah, that’s the title. And, yeah, the results are as interesting as they sound.

I think I need to make another writing resolution for 2009. This one would be to limit my blog reading. Sure, there are those I visit every day or most days. I’ll likely continue to read a few and check in with others on a less frequent basis, but I have to cut down. It’s just so easy to get sucked into a blogging trainwreck either by participating or by reading along. Obviously that takes time away from writing, which is a very bad thing. Seems to me it also sucks up a huge amount of energy, which is even worse.

I’m thinking it’s better for me to hang out here…and not cause any trouble.

Got busy writing this morning, so instead of the start of the “Things I’ve Learned” posts, I give you a book I read over the weekend that I really enjoyed, Serendipity by Louise Shaffer. Not a romance.

A child of theatrical royalty, Carrie Manning is having a hard time getting her own act together. Thirty-seven, aimless, and having just buried a famous mother she never understood, she is desperate to uncover her family’s mysterious past in the hopes that it will help her understand herself.

Carrie’s search reveals the fascinating life stories of her estranged grandmother Lu, a glamorous Broadway star whose dreams came with a price; her great grandmother Mifalda, who gave up everything to come to America as a sixteen-year-old Italian bride; and her father, Bobby, the charismatic Broadway genious who wrote some of Lu’s greatest musicals and died tragically young. At the heart of Carrie’s discoveries lies the reason for her mother’s complicated life, and a dark secret that has been buried for thirty years.

Why I liked it…

1. I get a lot of books delivered to the house. I picked this one out of the pile over the others because I loved the cover. Something about it jumped out for me.
2. Great premise – who doesn’t love family drama?
3. The “dark secret” is not some bizarre twist. It’s realistic. It’s something you can see happening even though it makes you cringe and squirm.
4. It’s the story of a woman trying to understand the women in her family and the choices those women have made. Very identifiable stuff.

Every now and then I come across a website that fills me with glee. I found one of those happiness-inducing sites yesterday. It’s called Psssive Agressive Notes (actually, it’s called passiveagressivenotes.com). I am especially fond of the community guidelines.

Yeah, I know this site led to a book and that’s sort of annoying. Ignore that and page through the previous postings. Some of the notes are just fabulous.

I got this book in the mail today:

So…is someone trying to tell me something?

I have not forgotten how to blog. You’re doubtful, I’m sure. It’s just been a bit of a whirlwind over here. I finished a novella through sickness and the holidays then turned it in, which for me always is followed by a period of I’m not sure I got this part or that part right. Don’t get me wrong. I really like the novella. The hero is Ted Greene, a police officer who played a small role in YOUR MOUTH DRIVES ME CRAZY and a bigger one in the upcoming IT’S HOTTER IN HAWAII. He was not the problem. He came out fine. We love him for that. The heroine, Marissa, was the issue. I always struggle when writing the heroines. No idea why the heroes click in my head much easier, but they do. I think I finally “got” her, but I’ll have to doublecheck that in the copyedits stage…or in the revision stage if my editor wants them.

After I finish a book I usually take a few days to read and try not to think about writing. This is commonly referred to as “filling the creative well” and it works for me. This time my usual plan faltered because a full plot came into my head and wouldn’t leave until I sketched it out. Now, to be clear, this never happens to me. I’m not one of those people who says “the book wrote itself” because I can never get the damn things to write themselves. I have do the work. Totally unfair, by the way. Instead of this self-writing thing, I usually start with a first scene idea and spin from there. Not this time. It all played out in my head, and I rushed to get something down on paper before I lost it.

That’s my last two days. Novella – done. New idea – ready to go. Now I can read something.

First, I am sick of nonsense spam. I really don’t understand the point of leaving gibberish comments on blogs without links to anything. What is the point other than to annoy me?

Second, I am blogging at the Brava Authors Blog today about my general 2009 writing/reading resolutions. Stop by and say hello.

I tend to dive into a stack of books as soon as I turn in a book. Now that my novella is safely in the hands of my editor..or at least in her email inbox…it’s time to race through some books. Here’s what my first few look like:

The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O’Neal

It’s the opportunity Elena Alvarez has been waiting for–the challenge of running her own kitchen in a world-class restaurant. Haunted by an accident of which she was the lone survivor, Elena knows better than anyone how to survive the odds. With her faithful dog, Alvin, and her grandmother’s recipes, Elena arrives in Colorado to find a restaurant in as desperate need of a fresh start as she is–and a man whose passionate approach to food and life rivals her own. Owner Julian Liswood is a name many people know but a man few do. He’s come to Aspen with a troubled teenage daughter and a dream of the kind of stability and love only a family can provide. But for Elena, old ghosts don’t die quietly, yet a chance to find happiness at last is worth the risk.

Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz

Ex-cop Luther Malone, lifelong member of the secretive paranormal organization known as the Arcane Society, is waiting to meet Grace Renquist. Hired as an aura-reading consultant in the quest for a murder suspect, she’s got zero field experience. She’s from tiny Eclipse Bay, Oregon. She’s a librarian, for heaven’s sake.

As for Grace, she’s not expecting much either from Malone, who walks with a cane and isn’t so good with a gun. Nice résumé for a bodyguard . . .

But even before they reach their hotel in Maui-where they’ll be posing as honeymooners-Grace and Luther feel the electric charge between them. Problem is, they need to remain vigilant day and night, because it soon becomes clear there’s more going on here. Rogue sensitives-operatives for the underground group Nightshade-are pouring into the luxury resort like there’s a convention. Grace recognizes those dark spikes in their auras. She saw the same pattern in someone else in another life-a life she hasn’t revealed to Luther or anyone else. And she understands how dangerous these people can be . . . especially with those para-hunters at their sides.

While the pair’s employers at Jones & Jones scramble to get them backup, Luther and Grace have to think on their feet. The criminals in their midst aren’t just high-level sensitives: They’ve enhanced their talents with a potent-and unpredictable- drug. And as Grace knows all too well, if you don’t control your powers, your powers will control you. . . .

Super In The City by Daphne Uviller

In this off-the-beaten-sidewalk debut, native New Yorker Daphne Uviller reveals the secrets of a sexy, story-filled Big Apple, where a mystery lurks behind every apartment door—and a savvy but slightly lost young woman unexpectedly finds herself holding the keys.

In a city brimming with opportunities for heroism, twenty-seven-year-old Zephyr Zuckerman has often fantasized about committing acts of bravery that would make front-page news. Now she may get her big break—though it may require plunging a few toilets. When the superintendent of her parents’ Greenwich Village brownstone is led away in handcuffs, unemployed Zephyr takes over his post and unleashes her inner sleuth: discovering titillating secrets about her tenants—from a smoky-voiced Frenchwoman who entertains throngs of unsavory visitors to a moody musician who just has to be hiding something—and realizing that her new reality is far more intriguing than her imagination.

Soon Zephyr has sussed out wrongs that stretch from losers on the Internet to art fraud and an international crime ring. The mob thinks she’s in the FBI, and the FBI thinks she’s in the mob—a predicament she needs to clear up fast. But perhaps not before the cute, surly exterminator helps her solve the mystery of what to do with the rest of her life….

Crash Into Me by Jill Sorenson

Though he’d gone into virtual seclusion, Ben Fortune was still the world’s most famous surfer, known as much for his good looks as for his skill. He’s also a suspect in a series of brutal murders that may have begun with his late wife. Now FBI Special Agent Sonora “Sonny” Vasquez has been sent undercover to the elite beach community of La Jolla to make friends with Fortune. With her fierce beauty and take-no-prisoners attitude, she’s more than equipped for the job, and soon she and Ben have collided in an affair that is both intense and irresistible. But for the first—and worst—time in Sonny’s career, her emotions are threatening to get the better of her. Could this sensual, wounded man, who is genuinely anguished over his troubled daughter, really be a killer? And could falling in love blind Sonny to the greatest danger of all?

What’s on the top of everyone else’s TBR stack?