Tag Archives: romance

A Wednesday’s What NOT To Do, Courtesy of Chuck (And Wheee! Romance!)

by

ImageApparently, I am not the only writer who employs the “What Not To Do” construct. Apparently, Chuck Sambuchino thought it was a fine idea as well. He used it over at Writer Unboxed (where he’s one of the monthly contributors) to present his article, What NOT To Do When Beginning Your Novel: Advice From Literary Agents.

Okay, fine. I suppose great  minds think alike and all that. And it’s a fine article, too, that also proves that many agents think alike when it comes to novel beginnings. Certain openings come up again and again–and that, my writer friends, is not a good thing. You want an agent to read page one and find something different and engaging. So if your novel opens with an agent’s pet peeve, I’d strongly recommend that you revise.

Of course, there are exceptions. And maybe you’ve written the exceptional trite beginning that works. Submit at your own risk, friends.

Which brings me to my next topic. When I read Lovely Lisa’s post today about romance, it reminded me that I’d come across a romance opportunity that might appeal to my readers/writers who haven’t written novels but who have (or could whip out) a romantic short story.

Crimson Romance (an imprint from F & W Media) is looking for stories in the 5,000 to 10,000 word range on holiday themes and sports themes. I know a couple writers who were published in the romance anthology, Fifty Shades of Santa. But for those of you whose stories weren’t accepted, here’s a great opportunity to try again for publication.

Or maybe you want to try your hand at romance-writing for the very first time. A short story is a good place to start. Just don’t start with one of those bad beginnings that agents don’t like.

I mean, it’s not called Wednesday’s What NOT To Do for nothing.

Flush Fiction For the Reader on the Go

by

So, finally, I can come clean. I’ve been sitting on this news for quite some time, and I refuse to waste another minute– I have a story in the just released Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Presents Flush Fiction!

Whew. That felt good. It’s been so hard, keeping that in! But there’s more. The amazing folks at Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader have agreed to give away a copy of Flush Fiction to one of my lucky commenters! Isn’t that swell?

But of course, you want to know more about this quick fiction on the go! This collection of 88 short-short stories covers just about everything: mystery, horror, sci-fi, humor, romance, and adventure. The editors scoured the country for some of the best fiction writers around and stuffed them all into this one BIG book. Um…the stories, not the writers.

It’s a mystery what I’m doing in this book with such a group of esteemed writers.  But just like that eternal unanswerable question, “Who forgot to flush?” I suppose we’ll never know. We will, however, know who will win the copy of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Presents Flush Fiction in exactly seven days. That’s when I’ll pluck a winner from the mess of names floating around in the comments. (Sorry, folks, you must be in the United States in order to win.)

And you might want to follow Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader on Twitter or Facebook for more info dumps.

(Okay, that went too far, didn’t it? But I seem to be on a roll and can’t stop.)

(Oops.)