CONFERENCE JITTERS

Please help me welcome multi-published paranormal and erotic romance author Suzanne Rock to the blog.

Here's Suzanne: Hi! Thanks so much for having me here today. To start, I'd like to share a little secet with all of you.

I'm shy. Painfully shy.

I think most writers are. It takes a lot for me to come out from behind a computer and talk to people face to face. I'm not quite sure why that is. It isn't like one time I said 'hello' to someone and they bit me. It's just a part of who I am. I'm introverted. Some would say I'm introverted to a fault.

So, you can imagine what was going through my mind when I went to my regional RWA conference this past March. The thought of talking with other writers both excited and terrified me. Last year I went to the same conference and pretty much kept to myself. With my head down and pen in hand, I attended all of the workshops, guest lectures and agent/editor panels, eager for knowledge. I came home with a ton of things I could apply to my own writing. All in all, I considered it a success. But this year, I knew I wanted to do something different. I had done the lecture thing. This year, I wanted to network. That meant had to talk to real living and breathing people.

Yikes.

Workshops are important, but so is networking. Writing is such a solitary endeavor. For hours we sit in front of a computer screen, typing away the book of our heart. We may have the support of our friends and family, but do they really 'get it?' Do they understand the longing, the frustration, the cry of victory when, after months of agony, we finally filled that gaping plot hole?

This year I did something radical: I stepped out of my comfort zone. In the entire 2-day conference, I only attended one workshop. The rest of the time, I spoke with other writers, all at different stages of their writing career. I had cocktails with an unpublished author just starting to submit her fourth manuscript to agents. Then I had dinner with a self-published author, and then dessert with a 20-year veteran. Coffee with a multi-published ebook author, breakfast with a NY times best-selling writer, snacks with someone who just published their first ebook, lunch with an unpublished Harlequin hopeful, and finally, chocolate peanut butter cups with category romance writer who just made her first sale.

Yes, all of these encounters involved food, but that isn't my point, lol.
What this gave me was perspective. While everyone was at different stages of their writing career, we all shared a common bond: we loved to write. There is something about putting a pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) that gives all of us shivers of excitement. We have stories to tell, and emotions to share. We may look different, or act different, but in our hearts, we all share the same dream: to share our stories with the world.

When I went to this conference I was feeling a little down and somewhat inadequate as a writer. I left feeling inspired and energized. I'm so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and approached other writers. I know that my life, and my writing, will be better for it.

So how about you, have you ever had to step out of your comfort zone? What was the result? Tell me about it!

While you think about your answer, check out my newest release from Red Sage, called Dark Deception.

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRw_BspWIXg

About Suzanne: After over a decade in the scientific world, Suzanne needed a creative outlet. She tried scrap booking, cooking, crocheting, painting, and piano, none of which held her interest for very long. Then one of her friends suggested writing. Thrilled with the idea of creating her own worlds, she opened up her laptop and never looked back. When Suzanne’s not writing, she can be found playing with her two daughters, testing her husband’s latest kitchen creations, or curled up with her favorite romance novel in her central Massachusetts home.

Backlist:
Spyder's Web, Loose Id
Up on the Housetop (Book 1 of the Kyron Pack), Loose Id
Cria, Loose Id
Down on the Boardwalk (Book 2 of the Kyron Pack), Loose Id

Dark Deception (Book 1 of the Immortal Realm), Red Sage

You can learn more about Suzanne here:
Website: www.SuzanneRock.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Suzanne_Rock

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/suzanne.rock

Embrace the Shadows Blog: http://embracetheshadows.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2982868.Suzanne_Rock
Youtube Channel (so you can see my other book trailers)

A Shy Extrovert

Please help me welcome debut paranormal romance author Renee Rearden to the blog. Renee's first book, Moonlight Bleu, is available now.

Shy extrovert. Sounds like a contradiction of terms, doesn’t it? I used to think so. Until I stopped and considered my chosen careers: official court reporter by day and paranormal romance author by night.

Though both careers require contact with others, for the most part I am my own boss. And therein lays the rub. I work around people instead of for people. Is there a difference?

Absolutely.

Whether you are a secretary in a business office, a sales clerk in a retail store, a food server or even a local bus or taxi driver, a certain level of interaction with people is required. Mastering the skill of social interaction that allows for successful business relationships is necessary. (We won’t even factor in personal relationships—there’s limited word space here!) And though a large percentage of individuals have a “boss,” most job descriptions include an aspect of working for the public: the consumer, the customer, the right there in-your-face live (and usually quite vocal) person.

“Where is this going?” you ask.

Let me explain.

My job as a court reporter is really a step removed from dealing with the public. I sit in a courtroom, stenographically writing down every word said. I rarely speak in court. (My friends would say I never stop talking—but that’s the extrovert element, and we’re not there yet!) For the most part, at my job I’m a piece of educated furniture. Outside of court proceedings, I mostly deal with people by email and telephone. I also prepare transcripts of court proceedings and timely file them. All of this is done utilizing my professional, written verbiage skills.

I work around people.

Writing my first paranormal romance landed me in my home office. Alone. With the door closed. Not even on the “social skills required” playing field. Wasn’t a problem during the creation stage of the novel. Happily, I lived in my head, transferring characters and story onto paper. With the help of an amazing critique partner, and after rewrites, edits, more rewrites and more edits (and close to 100 rejections), I landed a publisher.

Thought I’d done the hard work getting to that point. WRONG!

Promoting a novel is where the hard work really begins because that requires mad social skills. Talking about yourself and your book must become second nature. For an extrovert, that probably isn’t a daunting challenge. For an introvert—well, let’s just say a root canal would probably be less painful. For a shy extrovert, I’m somewhere in between.

Remember I mentioned my friends say I talk—a lot? I do. Just not about myself. I love talking about my friends and their accomplishments, the newest paranormal television series, and, of course, the latest book I’ve read. Unfortunately, none of that helps me get over my discomfort in talking about myself or my novel.

I love being around people. I’m not so thrilled at being the center of attention. And now that I have to promote my work, being the center of attention is not something I can avoid.

So, how do I deal with being a shy extrovert?

Humor. And lots of it. I’ve learned to break the ice with some snippet of amusing conversation—usually an ungraceful moment of my own. People relate, and then offer up some of their own embarrassing moments. Violà! Instant rapport, and everyone else does most of the talking. And during the ensuing conversation, openings present themselves to talk about my book, characters, or even myself.
Stepping beyond my comfort zone hasn’t been comfortable, but I’ve done it. And I’ll keep doing it because not only do I love to write, the people I’ve met and the stories I’ve heard have been downright interesting. Every time I walk into a light pole while looking the other direction or roll my ankle like a drunk wearing a new pair of heels, I remind myself, “That’s going to make somebody laugh!”

Renee Rearden works full time as an Official Court Reporter, sharpening her skills on the written word. Often described as a free spirit, she lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family. In addition to her day job, being a wife, mother of four daughters, and grandmother to the most amazing little guy on the face of the planet keeps her plenty busy…most of the time.
As a Gemini, her creative side fills the rest of her spare time, keeping her mind immersed in imaginative escapism. Writing paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels offers an outlet for her to share the intriguing stories she creates. Each of them is filled with non-stop action, nail-biting conflict, and scintillating attraction between the people that live in her head.

2007 Golden Rose winner in the paranormal category (MOONLIGHT BLEU)
2007 Stella Cameron Scarlet Boa winner (MOONLIGHT BLEU)

You can learn more about Renee on her website, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

It's Always the Quiet Ones

Please help me welcome erotic romance author Missy Welsh to my blog. Missy's debut, The Summer of Wes, is available now from Loose Id.

There's a story my mom tells of me at age four that pretty much establishes part of my personality: Me and a neighbor girl of the same age came across a mud puddle in the sidewalk. She got right in it, stomping and splashing and making a mess of herself. I went to my mom and asked for permission to do the same. She said no, so I just stood on the sidelines and watched.

Yep, that's me. Even at four years old, I was comfortable on the sidelines. That's me there now, holding up the wall and observing everything.

Another story about me was that around age eight -- the year after my grandfather died -- I used to worry about death to the point of making myself sick. I'm not sure who's idea it was, but my mom would make me sit in a corner alone for one hour each day and get all the worry out. It didn't make one lick of sense to me, so I sat there instead and made up stories. Eventually, I made friends with the tiny spider playing in the cobwebs and told them to him. (Mom cleaning the corner is a tale for another day.)

Seems rather normal to me that I would later apply both aspects of my personality -- the observer and the story-teller -- and become a writer. How I got to writing about gay men falling in love is for my therapist to figure out someday. How to tell family and friends and the occasional stranger that's what I write is an ongoing struggle for this shy writer.

I discovered gay romance or M/M romance about a year ago while poking around the small online publishers. I'd fallen in love with my first gay couple thanks to Suzanne Brockmann's Jules Cassidy and Robin Chadwick characters. I read about them and I wanted more. And yes, more details. (That observer in me is a curious gal.)

I soon found myself enchanted by the storylines that seemed fresh and new for having gay men involved: Cowboys, Marines, hustlers, secret agents, single dads, cops and corporate bad boys. Being gay added another layer of complication to their already complicated lives and I, like millions of other women -- yes, women -- were gobbling these stories up so fast the publishers are having trouble keeping up with the demand for more and better.

So now I was a total fan, but I've always been a writer and I couldn't help giving writing about gay men a try myself. I told absolutely no one. I downplayed my progress and said vague things about plot or character whenever someone asked how the writing was going. I even lied about my "heroine" a few times. I came to realize I was in a closet of sorts about it and didn't like it one bit. "Coming out," though, was unthinkable. Until something happened that basically forced my hand.

A month after my thirty-fourth birthday, I submitted a story to Loose Id...and they wanted to see the full manuscript. I managed to keep a lid on my joy and sent it off, telling myself it might mean nothing. The next month had me going before an editor. My very own editor! And she wanted to get to work ASAP to beef up the external conflict before pitching it to management and maybe making me an offer.

As far as I was concerned, that meant I was in and I couldn’t keep this a secret anymore despite my extreme nervousness over telling someone. There’s only so much Pepto a girl can swallow before enough is enough.

First on the list of people to tell was my mom. She's a terrier with a chew toy when it comes to my writing. Breathe one word about an idea and she wants to know what happened to the other one. The woman has high hopes I'll be on Oprah's booklist someday. When I got the email from Loose Id saying they were passing my story to an editor, I started crying and knew my first phone call would have to be to Mom.

She didn't frickin' answer.

My sister, on the other hand, did pick up when I called her next. I babbled about sending the partial, etc. in and then sending in the full manuscript and then she asked the crucial question: "What's the story about?"

Pretty sure I gave my tongue whiplash as I abruptly stopped talking.

But this is my little sister and she already thinks I'm a little nuts, so... I told her it was an erotic romance -- explained what that meant -- and then confessed that it was about two gay young men, one eighteen and the other twenty-four. After her moment of silence as she absorbed that, my dear sister said, "What do you know about boys that age, let alone gay ones?"

I really do love my little cockroach.

I asked her advice for telling our mother, she laughed at me, and I tried calling Mom again. Probably would've been a good idea to wait until she got home from work, but I wasn't thinking about things like that right then. I was on a roll.

"Oh, really? Well..." she said and then she repeated what I'd said to someone standing in her office with her! I had a mild seizure thinking she was telling her male boss, but it turned out she was telling two of her coworkers and friends. And they were intrigued, laughed, and generally thought I was awfully creative.

Huh.

It was actually much easier to tell the group of strangers that made up my first visit to a local Romance Writers of America chapter. Someone asked, I said, she blinked, and we moved on. The lady who sat on my other side and dressed like she'd ridden a Harley to the library -- she had -- also wrote erotic romance and thought I was a kick and a half.

Palpitations came when I realized two of my college English professors were in the room too...and cue the "would the new people introduce themselves please?" moment where the spotlight clicks on and my head goes empty. I managed to say it all again -- probably looking like a tomato -- and was greeted by a few startled titters and much eye blinking. And we moved on again.

I'd sweat so much I'd had to shower when I got home, but oh, my giddy aunt, I'd confessed my genre to about thirty people at once and lived to tell the tale!

It's getting a little easier every time I say it and I'm fairly well-prepared with statistics and whatnot when people have questions. I've signed two contracts and am working steadily to promote myself and my books, so the process helps remind me of the goal I'm working toward and that it's all worth it to see my words out there for the world to read. There will be moments, I am certain, when the reception won't be so giddy or mild, but I'll plead Scarlet on that one and think about it tomorrow.

Right now, I'm going to go jump in a few mud puddles without permission because, by the time you’re reading this, I'll be able to say I'm published and that's really what matters. And then, ahem, I'll get back to writing.

Missy has been writing since she was twelve and now has a Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University that was a gift she gave herself for making it through a Bachelor of Arts in English at her local university. The stories she writes vary from historical to futuristic, but romance has always been the main theme for her. She grew up watching John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies with her dad and reading her mom's romance novels as soon as she turned her back long enough for Missy to grab one. And let's not forget Captain James T. Kirk, her first bad-boy and the man who taught her how to face danger and walk away grinning. So long as there are men being brave and falling love, Missy will be writing about them. Visit Missy online at http://missywelsh.com/.

Teamwork for Introverts

Please welcome debut author Susanna Fraser to the blog. Her first book is out this week with Carina Press.

Here's Susanna: Since my first book released just this week, I’m nowhere near the “quit day job” point in my writing career. I’ve been out of college for over 15 years now, and in that time I’ve amassed quite the stack of performance evaluations.

They’re positive, for the most part. I’ve been praised as everything from meticulous to tactful to efficient to being good at defusing tense moments with deadpan humor. And a few bosses have valued my self-sufficient, independent work style.

But far more have said, “Susanna needs to work on her teamwork skills.”

Because, you see, I’m a classic introvert. I find it hard to be “on” socially all the time, and I’m not good at delegating or sharing responsibility for a task. To my mind, most meetings are big time-wasters--why spend an hour talking when you could just shoot each other emails that could be read and responded to in 5-10 minutes?

It’s not that I don’t like people. I just find it easier to work on my own. Even when my husband and I are, say, cleaning the house in preparation for a party, I find it easier to split the house into sectors than to clean side-by-side. My ideal job would be one where I sat in an office with my door closed, spitting out completed projects and reports, for which my boss would email her thanks and praise. I’d occasionally come out for lunch or happy hour with my colleagues, because I’m far better at socializing with people than working with them.

So you can see why, even aside from my love of storytelling, I dream of being a full-time author. Writing a book is the ultimate solitary project. (Except for the occasional sets of co-authors, and frankly, they baffle me!) Even if you have critique partners or brainstorming buddies, in the end it’s you and your words, all by yourself, at the moment of creation. I dream of getting up each morning, sending my husband and daughter off to work and school, and then spending the day sequestered in blissful solitude, curled up with my research books and churning out my daily page quota.

But if you want to sell your book, at some point you’re going to have to interact with other humans. You’ll have an editor, and you’ll also have at least some contact with legal/contracts, publicity/marketing, and possibly whoever is responsible for your cover art and back cover copy. And you need to treat these people as part of a team who share your goal of seeing your book find its readership.

You don’t need to give them everything they want--unless you honestly think they’re 100% right--but neither should you dig in your heels and refuse to cooperate. Because you really don’t want the people who can decide they don’t want to buy your next book to think your teamwork skills suck.

It helps that 99% of your interactions with your publishing team are likely to be by email. Remember that you don’t have to reply right away. In fact, if you’re feeling at all stressed, anxious, or angry about what just hit your inbox, then DON’T reply right away. Wait until you’re sure you’re capable of being calm, fair, and rational. Remember that YOU’RE ON A TEAM. Everyone wants your book to succeed. And while you’re the expert of your book, you’re NOT the expert on cover art or marketing strategy, for example. If you don’t like your editor’s suggestions, for example, try to understand what made her raise the issue and come up with a way to address her concerns that’s true to the story.

I want to stress in all this that I really enjoy being part of the Carina team. I had a blast working with my editor and I love how my cover turned out. But in a way I’m glad I got published now and not nine years ago when I first started writing, because all those workplace performance reviews from the past decade have made me much more aware of the challenges being a natural loner presents me when it comes time to be part of a team!

What about you? Is teamwork a challenge for you, too, or does your introversion manifest in a different form? Commenters will be entered in a drawing to win a free download of The Sergeant’s Lady, my debut historical romance release from Carina Press.

Susanna Fraser was born and raised in small-town Alabama, but now makes her home in Seattle with her husband and 6-year-old daughter. She manages research grants by day, writes on evenings, weekends, and lunch hours, and in her occasional spare time goes to baseball game and sings alto in a local choir. Her first book, The Sergeant’s Lady, is an Aug. 23 release from Carina Press. You can learn more about her on her blog.

Skip a Starbucks Day--August 23, 2010

Help bring their daughter home from China

Today, we're doing something special on Once Written, Twice Shy. My friend and fellow writer C.J. Redwine is trying to adopt a little girl from China. She's rounded up a bunch of bloggers to help her raise money for the adoption fees. She's asking everyone to skip their Starbucks (or other treat) just for today and donate that small amount to her fund to bring their daughter home. Everyone who comments and donates from this blog (you must let me know in the comment section that you've donated) will be put into a drawing to win a $10 Starbucks card from me AND put into a drawing to win some fabulous prizes from C.J.'s blog.





Winners drawn on Thursday, August 26.

Here's C.J.'s story:

We had three biological boys in four years and then I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. I had a hysterectomy and while I mourned the fact that I couldn't have any more biological children, I was certain our family wasn't finished. My husband wasn't so sure. :) I'd talked about adopting and I always saw us with a little girl from China. He came up with a ton of reasons why now wasn't the right time to adopt. Then, on Mother's Day of 2005, he leaned over to me in church and said, "We have a daughter in China. We need to start the adoption proceedings to bring her home." I adjusted to this unexpected news (we hadn't discussed adoption for months) in about 15 seconds. :)

The next day, we began researching adoption and we picked out her name: Johanna Faith. Johanna means God's Gracious Gift and Faith is what it is taking to bring her home. We signed up with Chinese Children Adoption International agency based out of Colorado. We completed our stateside paperwork and homestudy within a few months, sent off our dossier to China with the understanding that it would be a 6-8 month wait, and eagerly planned to bring our daughter home. Soon, though, we began to hear rumors that the wait time was extending. Then we heard that the government had cracked down on orphanages who were receiving money from the state but who weren't keeping all of their beds full and the wait slowed to a crawl. Our dreams of having her home for Christmas were dashed. And then our dreams for having her home in time for summer were dashed as well. Before we knew it, another Christmas had passed and we were still waiting. Meanwhile, the Olympics were coming to Beijing, and the word was most adoption processes would stop altogether because China didn't want unfavorable international attention on their orphanages.

As the wait stretched from 8 months to three years, I struggled with depression. I could hardly bear Christmas, because she wasn't yet there. I shut the door of her bedroom and left it closed because I couldn't bear to walk past it in the hall. It hurt to think about having a child out there whom I couldn't protect. Couldn't love. Couldn't save. Three years became four with no real change. Our homestudy expired. Our immigration petition expired. Three times. Our fingerprints expired. Four times. And China raised the orphanage and court fees by thousands while we waited. Suddenly, the cushion of money we'd fundraised at the start of this process was almost gone and China was picking up speed in their child match program.

In September, it will be five years since we officially started our adoption process to bring Johanna home. We expect to receive her picture, information, and permission to travel sometime by the middle of September.

I opened her bedroom door for the first time in 3 1/2 years.

And we need to raise 8k to cover travel and the cash required to pay the orphanage for Johanna's freedom.

From Becky: This is where you, my fabulous, generous readers come in. If you could skip your Starbucks, Egg McMuffin, donut or whatever else you might normally buy for yourself today and donate that amount to C.J's cause, we'd really appreciate it. We suggest a $5 minimum to offset Paypal charges.

Click on the button above to take you to C.J.'s blog page where you can donate
to be in line for the $10 Starbucks card from this blog and

to learn what other fabulous prizes you could win just by opening up your wallet a bit.

THANKS SO MUCH. C.J. and little Johanna Faith thank you, too.

Reacting to negative comments

WHAT DO YOU DO IF....

There's nothing that strikes fear in an author like talking with a group of readers and have one of them say - "Oh, I don't read that junk." Talk about a depression-inducing moment. Here you are, gathering courage to talk about something that is dear to your heart (if it isn't - you shouldn't be doing it) and have an individual cut your feet out from under you.

So what do you do? What can you do?

A few would say, leave the conversation. Some would say - nothing. Change the subject, because everyone is allowed their opinion. Yes, that is correct, but is it the best way to go? I don't think so.

Instead, how about asking questions. Something like - what don't you like about my genre? What do you read? The one thing I've found when I'm talking about books is everyone loves to talk. Just as everyone has an opinion. If you ask the questions, without getting defensive, the person to whom you're talking will be more than happy to give you an opinion. If you are in a group, you will be surprised because others will come to your defense and you won't have to say anything.

Another thing I've learned. I wait until someone asks what I do. It's a great conversation opener and works much better than opening up with I'm an author, or I write romance novels. When someone asks what I do, I smile and say quietly, I write books. It always amazes me how many will ask if I write children's books. Usually the next question is am I published. I am, so I nod. Then the usual question is what do you write. I write romance and that's usually when I get the 'junk' statement. So I immediately ask what kind of books they read. The conversation will usually start following from there. Most authors read a lot of genres, so questions like, who's your favorite author and so on may in fact give you even more to talk about.

What's great is the person you talked to will probably remember you as someone nice, a reader first. At a future time, when your name is mentioned , the individual you spent time with will offer an opinion about what a nice person you are, etc. And there you go. It's called word-of-mouth!

Award winning author, Allison Knight began her writing career like many other authors. She read a book she didn’t like and knew she could do a better job. She grabbed paper and typewriter (computers weren't available back then) and announced she was going to write a book. Her children hooted with laughter. “Yeah, Mom, when cows fly,” her daughter declared. She took classes, joined a critique group, wrote, rewrote and wrote some more. When her first book sold, she came home from her teaching job to find a stuffed toy cow rotating from the ceiling fan in the family room. It seemed - “Cows did fly!” Since that time, Allison has written and published seventeen books with a gothic anthology and another medieval romance to be released in 2010. Allison often speaks at writers conferences and has taught writing classes eager to share her knowledge and her love of romance novels. You can learn more about Allison on her website.

How A Shy Writer Learned To Make The Most Of The Golden Heart Experience

Please help me welcome super-talented and award-winning romance writer Joleen James to the blog. Not only is she one of the nicest people around, she's also a four-time Golden Heart Finalist (including 2010).

Here's Joleen:

The Golden Heart experience can be a wonderful career boost, but to really get the most out of the contest you need to put yourself out there, and for a lot of us, including me, that’s tough. Attending the National conference can be intimidating, even for the multi-published. When you’re a little fish, even making a small splash can be painful.

I’ve been a Golden Heart finalist four times, and it’s taken me that long to figure out that I needed to become my own advocate, toot my own horn, because no one was going to do it for me. The first time I finaled, I pushed myself to send out three proposals to three different agents. To my surprise, two of the agents offered to represent the book. I chose one of the agents, and I let her take over. I did nothing else.

When I finaled the second time, I still had an agent. I went to the National conference. I met with editors, but again, nothing really happened. Around this time the historical market was dying. I had some tough choices to make. My agent was losing interest in me. I began to think about reinventing myself. Out of necessity I began writing contemporary romance, but I wasn’t sure where my voice fit. I’m sure this was tough on my agent. Eventually, we parted ways.

That’s when I got to work and decided I had to stand up for myself and be my own advocate. I am responsible for my career. For years I’d been content to let others dictate my career path. Once I made the decision to put myself out there, things began to change.

When I finaled in the Golden Heart a third time I began to shop for an agent, but because the book had already been rejected by the category line I’d written it for, I didn’t have any luck. Did that stop me? Nope. I won the Golden Heart for this book.

Winning the Golden Heart gave me the confidence I’d been lacking. For the first time, I took charge of my career and took a long, hard look at what I had to offer a publisher. I came up with a big, fat zero. I wasn’t doing anything to promote myself or my work. Why would a New York publisher want to take a chance on me? What did I have to offer them? Around this time I read two great books: Get Known Before The Book Deal, by Cristina Katz, and The Author’s Guide To Building An Online Platform, by Stephanie Chandler. These books opened my eyes and made me realize that I needed to offer potential publishers something more than just my manuscript.

I put up a website —this was hard for me. Again, I hate to toot my own horn, but as an unpublished author with no book covers to take up all the space on the front page of her website, I had to post something personal about myself. I listed my Golden Heart finals. I posted links to my 1st Turning Point articles. I even included the short synopses of my two most recently completed books.

At this same time my critique group submitted a workshop proposal, and it was picked up. Giving a workshop is right up there with getting my teeth drilled. I’ve presented at workshops before, and it always amazes me that the seats are filled. No matter what stage you are in your career, you have experiences to share.

In addition to promoting, I also realized I had to keep writing. I wrote two more books following my Golden Heart win. I entered the Golden Heart again, and I finaled a fourth time. This time I was ready. My website was up. My name was out in cyberspace. I belonged to several loops (although, I’m not as active as I’d like to be--I still have a hard time sharing anything via a loop, even good news—I am working on this).

I queried agents, and this time I found one. I attended the National conference in Orlando. I introduced myself to my fellow finalists, not easy for me, but so rewarding. I met new, wonderful people. I went to an editor appointment, nervous beyond belief, and I actually had the best appointment I’ve ever had. This time if an editor searches for me online, he or she will find something; see that I’m doing my part to promote my work.

Each time you put yourself out there, it gets a little easier. If you don’t take the chance you’ll never know if you missed something great. Take baby steps. Introduce yourself to your fellow chapter members or conference attendees. Smile. Send your work out. Do a guest blog or two. If you don’t have a website, at least begin thinking about the content. You’ll know when you’re ready to take the big leap into personal promotion.

For me, it’s time to learn about Twitter. I need to build a Facebook fan page. I actually want a TweetDeck. I’ve come a long way. If I can put myself out there, you can too!

Joleen Wieser James won the Golden Heart® Award in 2008 for her series contemporary book Under A Harvest Moon. A four-time Golden Heart finalist, she has also finaled/placed in several Romance Writers of America® sponsored contests, including The Maggie Award of Excellence, The Orange Rose, and The Heart of the Rockies. Most recently, she’s taken on columnist duties at 1st Turning Point, an online promotion site for authors. When she’s not busy writing, she enjoys spending time with her family at her lakeside home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.