What's the Deal With Word Counts?

As I shop my time travel romance around to publishers, I have to wonder why they can't all get togther and come up with a uniform word count for romance novels.

Case in point: When I completed the first draft of my time travel, I found it was too short to submit to the first publisher I wanted to target. So, during revision I added words and whole scenes, even chapters to get up to the minimum word count accepted.

I queried first, then got a request for a partial, but the partial was rejected. So, on to the second publisher on my list.

But this publisher didn't go by estimated word count based on number of pages. They wanted an exact computer word count. And, I came up short again. Now, I had to add more words, scenes and chapters to make the minimum number of words.

I submited the partial, got the request for the full. But, the manuscript was rejected.

Now, I'm moving on to the next publisher on my list and finding that the novel is too long.

Meaning, if I want to query them, I have to do some serious cutting. And I mean serious cutting.

Well, what's a writer to do? It would just make things a whole lot easier for us, if the publishers could get together.

Don't you all agree?

Goals Revisited

I've just gone over my goal sheets and realized I've really slacked off over the summer. Part of it is the extra work coming in from my home business. I can't keep the clients waiting, but I also realized that I have to keep my own writing at the forefront, even if I can't accomplish as much as I want.

So, I've revised my goal sheets and here's what I hope to accomplish this month.

1) I've just joined the Historical Hearts Writers Challenge and have posted my goal of writing at least 15 new pages on my Civil War romance, Katie Rose. I'm at about the halfway point of the first draft.

2) I want to enter the first chapter of Katie in an upcoming contest.

3) I want to edit at least the first half of my time travel romance that has just been rejected. I want to give it at least one going over before approaching another publisher, but I do already have one in mind.

4) I'm signed up for an online workshop on writing romance for teenagers that starts on the 6th. I plan to keep up with the work and participate as much as I can.

So, I think I can keep up with these goals. I'll let you know how I do at the end of the month.

Acck! My Family Is Driving Me Crazy

Just had to stop work and post this blog.

I'm currently writing one novel, have revisions to do on the newly rejected one, and belong to a critique group, so have critiques to do as well.

I also type for other writers, and currently have two large jobs I'm working on simultaneously, plus have another client I have to make print-outs for.

Although I love working at home--it gives me more time to devote to my writing--here's my complaint.

Because I'm home, I'm expected to take care of all household things. This includes cleaning, laundry, dishes--no we don't have a dishwasher--keep the cupboard and fridge stocked and provide meals at dinner time, as well as paying bills, doing the banking and--it seems--everything else for everybody.

Currently, I have a husband and three adult sons living at home. The youngest is starting college in September, but will be staying home and commuting. The other two are in their early twenties. They both have jobs, but can't afford to move out just yet.

Because I'm home during the day and they're not, I wake up to notes like--Mom, Can you call my doctor so he can call in my prescription refill? I then get a frantic call from my husband--My filling fell out, find the dentist's phone number.

My youngest son, who was supposed to RSVP about a college orientation on Wednesday, told me to call the number again because he forgot to give them the date on which day he was going. When I told him to just call again, I got--My ride's picking me up. I got to go.

I can't count how many times I have to stop what I'm doing to help these men I live with.

Makes me wonder what they'd do without me.

Rejected Again

Just got the manuscript of my time travel romance, Erin's Rebel, back in the mail. The worst part, after a five month wait, was getting the standard rejection letter. "This project is not right for us at this time." Oh, well.

After giving myself time to get over the disappointment, my plan is to go over the manuscript again, make a few changes, send a few chapters to my critique group, then find another publisher and try again.

After looking over my submission sheet, I realized this manuscript has been making the rounds for the past four years. After the last rejection, I did an extensive revision, then started sending chapters to my new critique group. I stopped sending those chapters when I got a request for the full. But I'll resume where I left off, while I research other publishers where my book can find a home.

It helps having a critique group who thinks your story is great. And it also helps that I just got a request from another publisher for a short story I recently revised. Having more than one project out there, makes it so much easier when rejection rears its ugly head.

No matter what you do, never give up.

What To Blog About

So, while trying to make regular contributions for this blog, I've run into the problem of what to blog about when you feel there's nothing to blog about.

Freelance writing entails a whole lot of waiting around. I have to wait to hear back from editors on a book I submitted. I have to wait for my critique partners to go over my short story, so I can revise and submit the query for that.

I'm trying to move forward on my historical romance, but I'm in the middle and sometimes I just don't feel like writing that next scene. It just seems so overwhelming when you've still got nearly 200 pages left to write.

So, I guess this will be my complaint blog. Maybe what I need right now is permission to give myself a break.

Re-thinking Contests

Although I've given up on contests for my time travel Civil War romance, Erin's Rebel, I'm thinking of entering my new Civil War romance, Katie Rose, into a few contests.

I'm still writing the first draft, but since getting a request for the full of Erin's Rebel, I'd withdrawn that story from my critique group chapter submissions and substituted the opening chapters of Katie Rose.

Since those opening chapters are now all polished up, I thought a contest or two for first chapter or first 25 or 30 pages would work well. I even have a synopsis already written for this story if one is required.

Maybe this book, a straight historical, will do better than the time travel. Although I won a few contests with it, I found that as time went on, I was almost winning, almost a finalist. But I can't put 'almost' on my website or use that as publicity, so once the full manuscript was requested by a publisher, I stopped entering it in contests.

With this new story, I may fare better because it is a straight historical. The problem with the time travel was, if I entered it in the historical category, I always got one judge who had an issue with the modern day opening and the time travel element. If I entered it as a paranormal, I'd get at least one judge who hated the Civil War period for a romance setting.

So, as a straight historical, I might not run into these issues. Of course, I can always get a judge who just hates my story. But, I think I'll give it a try for at least one contest and see how it does.

Writing As Therapy

My husband and I recently had a medical scare concerning the health of our 22 year-old son. While waiting to hear back from the doctor, the last thing I felt like doing was working on my book.

I decided to type the last few pages I'd written the day before into my file. That got me back into the story and I sat down and wrote three new pages, my daily quota.

Afterward, I felt much better and optimistic, like a weight had lifted off me.

Turns out, the medical scare wasn't as bad as we'd thought. Although he does have a health problem, it isn't all that bad.

Relieved, I again didn't feel like writing. So, what did I do?

I wrote anyway and felt wonderful afterward. Seems writing is the best therapy in the world.

Getting Back Into Katie Rose

I finally wrote 2 new pages for my Civil War romance Katie Rose.

I didn't stop because I was stuck in the middle, it was because I just had too many others constraints on my time to work on it, although I have been revising earlier chapters for my critique group.

But these were the first brand new pages I'd written for this book in about a month's time. The main reason it took so long was because I was away from the story for awhile and had forgotten where I'd left off. I needed to go back over the earlier chapters to get my enthusiasm for the characters back.

I started by revising chapter 6, the last chapter my critique partners had gone over. Then I revised chapters 7 & 8 to get them ready for critiquing. I won't subject my critique partners to first draft material.

I then went through the remaining chapters, two per day, revising as I went. Yesterday, I finally made it to the last chapter I'd been writing. After revising those last pages, I wrote two brand new ones.

Now, I'm ready to forge ahead. It feels really good.

Expanding My Writing Horizons

While I'm still actively working on my newest Civil War romance, Katie Rose, I've decided to try revising a short story I wrote about four years ago and stuck in a drawer.

This was a vampire tale set during the Civil War that I originally wrote for Dreams of Decadence magazine. The magazine accepts all types of vampire fiction. The only thing they ask for is originality. What could be more original than a vampire in a Civil War camp?

So, I wrote the story, polished it up, sent it to them and got it back unread. Seemed the magazine was overstocked and they weren't reading any more material. Since I'd geared the story for that particular magazine, I wasn't sure what to do with it. I decided to try a few more magazines, but none of them were interested in vampire fiction. So, into the drawer it went.

I actually forgot about it, until I recently took an online workshop with Dawn Thompson, one of my favorite romance authors. The workshop was on writing paranormal romance. I took the course because I was polishing up my time travel romance and wanted to see if Dawn thought it was on track. I had just recently read her latest, which was a time travel and it was great.

The beginning of the workshop focused on paranormal creatures, though. And there weren't any of those in my time travel. I love to participate in homework assignments, but what could I send for that portion of the workshop?

I immediately remembered my vampire story and fished it out. It needed a lot of revision. After all, it had been four years since I'd written it. I revised a couple of scenes and sent them in as homework. Dawn loved my characters and encouraged me to submit the story somewhere.

I wasn't sure where to send it, though. Maybe when I finished Katie Rose, I could expand it into a novel.

In the meantime, I put it back in the drawer.

But I've been investigating the Wild Rose Press. They accept short stories and have a line called Black Rose for vampire romances. So, now I'm revising the short story and maybe I'll submit it to them. Who knows, it's worth a shot.

Better than having my story languish in my drawer.

Easing My Way Back In

I finally got caught up with my outside work and had time to work on my own book. I started by revising the last chapter my critique group went over, then self-revised the next two chapters and got them ready for my critique group to read.

I'm going to try to spend at least an hour each day on my book to get me back into the story, so I can start to move forward on it again.

I've been away from the story so long, I forget what happens in the succeeding first draft chapters. My plan for this month is to reaquaint myself with my story and characters and write as many new pages as I can.

Getting Back Into the Swing

The big holiday is over, I'm nearly caught up with my manuscript typing obligations--just some proofreading to do--and I plan to dive back into my writing.

It won't be easy getting back into the swing of things. Habit has a lot to do with my writing and blogging schedule. I first have to evaluate what I did accomplish with my writing last month and what I still have left to do.

I want to start by revising the latest chapter my critique group went over. We're taking this month off from critiquing, so this will give me more time to work on my own manuscript.

Progress report upcoming.

Getting Sidetracked

I've been neglecting my blogging as well as my writing lately.

It started with my youngest son's high school graduation. I had a lot of extra meetings, chauffeuring and party preparations to attend to.

After that, work piled up for my day job. I type manuscripts, as well as other documents and correspondence for other writers from my home computer. Work comes in in spurts and it really spurted this month. But I need the money, since I haven't yet heard from the publisher about my time travel romance, and income from the manuscript typing funds my writing expenses, so that work has to come first.

I also belong to a critique group and every two weeks, I have at least four or more chapters to critique.

I have managed to squeeze in a little work on my own books in between other obligations, but I know I'm falling short of my June goals.

Oh well, I'll look forward to catching up in July. I'm starting to miss the characters in my Civil War romance, as well as the new ones I'm creating for my futuristic romance.

June Goals

I'm a little late posting my June goals. Sometimes life just gets in the way.

Anyway, here they are:

1) Continue draft of my Civil War romance, Katie Rose. I hope to write at least another 60 pages this month, which will take me up to 260 completed pages.

2) Complete outline for my first futurisic romance.

There you have it. These are both big projects, so I'm hoping I can complete them by the close of June. I'll let you know how I did.

May Goals - Revisited

Well, it's the end of May.

How did I do on those May goals?

1) Continue first draft of Katie Rose. I'd hoped to complete at least the first 200 pages.

I just made it. I'm exactly at page 200 in the first draft. I got a little sidetracked on this because I've been revising the early chapters for my critique group, so I've been going back and forth. But I'm where I wanted to be.

2) Start basic synopsis outline for my first sci-fi romance, Moons of Cynara.

I actually did start this, but again, got sidetracked. But my goal was to start, so I did accomplish that.

Guess I did all right.

I'll be back later with my goals for the month of June.

The Trials of Historical Research

While I love reading about history and always find interesting tidbits that help to make my historical characters more real, I also find that looking for a particular historical fact that's important to my story can be frustrating.

In my Civil War time travel romance, Erin's Rebel, the hero is seriously injured while in the trenches surrounding Petersburg, Virginia. The trench collapses on him and he breaks his leg. He's taken to the home of a Petersburg citizen where his friend, a Confederate surgeon, has set up a hospital.

My dilemma was, what did they do for broken bones at the time of the Civil War?

I looked in my Civil War medicine books and searched a few websites, but could find nothing about the care of broken bones. But I did find tons of info on amputations.

Should I just put my hero in a splint, or did they have casts back then?

I did a search on Plaster of Paris and found it was in existence since 1852, nine years before the Civil War. They also had an earlier type of plaster cast that they used during the Crimean War.

If they had casts in that war, why not the Civil War?

Since my character was being treated by his friend, I decided to give him a cast. It made moving around a lot easier for him as he recovered.

But later, I wondered about shortages during the war. Could his friend have gotten the materials to make the Plaster of Paris mix?

Oh well, the manuscript's already at the publishing house, so I won't make any changes for now, but this points out the problems of historical research.

Sometimes, you just can't find out what you need to know. But what if you guess wrong and somebody calls you out on it?

Trying to Slow Myself Down

I've gotten into the habit of taking on too many projects at once. While I wait to hear back from the publisher on my first romance novel, I'm writing the first draft of the second one, while having my critique partners go over the early chapters. I'm also critiquing their chapters.

I'm trying to keep up with two blogs, this and my group blog, Slip Into Something Victorian. I want to post something new every few days on my blog and at do at least two per month for the group.

I've also started outlining my first futuristic romance. And, since I type manuscripts for other writers, I've got two clients whose projects I'm working on.

All work and no play. You know the drill.

My main diversion is baseball. I love to read, but that ties in with my work, so it's not really a pure leisure activity for me.

Watching baseball is one activity that totally takes my mind off writing. I can get caught up in the game and forget everything else.

Since I work from my home, there's no such thing as leaving work at the office.

So, now it's the weekend . . . bring on a baseball game.

Last Parent-Teacher Conference

Thursday night I attended my last ever parent-teacher conference. It feels like a right of passage.

I have three boys, young men now, and my youngest is a high school senior. When the boys were young they took up a lot of my time, but lately I've been able to devote more and more of my day to my own projects.

No more school volunteer work, scouts, little league baseball or other activities such as field trips, family vacations, children's birthday parties and other varied activities.

Will I miss any of this? Hell, no!

I've done my time to help my children become the young men they are.

Now it's time for me.

Memory Problems

In my former life, BK (before kids), I used to be a bookkeeper. I was very detail oriented, was skilled at crunching numbers and could even balance my checkbook to the penny.

After the boys came along, I became a stay-at-home mom. After the two oldest started school, I became the family record keeper, keeping track of school projects, and other important school functions, doctor and dentist appointments, little league and cub scout activities. I always knew what was coming up, how long I had to get ready for it and I never forgot a birthday or anniversary.

Now, my sons are grown. The youngest is now a senior in high school and I've immersed myself in my writing projects. I'm at the point where I can remember every detail of my plots and characters, but often don't know what day of the week it is.

My husband says I'm living in my own little world. I guess I am. I love my stories and characters. With no young children to care for anymore, it's my time to do what I want. And I've never been happier.

So what if I can't get that darned checkbook to balance?

I'm living my dream.

May Goals

My May writing goals are for two big projects.

1) Continue the first draft of Katie Rose.
I hope to write at least 60 more pages. This means I should have at least 200 pages done by the end of the month.

2) Start basic synopsis outline for my first sci-fi romance. I'm calling this first book Moons of Cynara.
After getting the character and setting sketches completed, plus a plot synopsis, I hope to start on my detailed outline by the end of the month.

That's it for this month.

How'd I Do On Those April Goals?

It's the end of April. Time to reasess my April goals.

Well, I only had two for this month. Let's see how I did.

1) Complete world-building for my futurisitc romance series.
Well, I fell down a bit on this one. I did read the book on world religions, but haven't yet completed the Native American book. But I did take a workshop on building the beginning of a novel, and wrote a blurb for the first book, that you can check out on the Current Projects page of my website, www.susanmacatee.com. I also developed the two main characters, as well as two supporting characters who will be the main characters in the second book, and I wrote the opening of the first book as an exercise for the workshop.

2) Start the first draft of my Civil War romance Katie Rose. I wanted to get at least 60 pages written.
I'm happy to say, I've surpassed this goal. I have the first 154 pages written and with the help of my critique group, have polished up the first two chapters.

All in all it wasn't such a disappointing month.