THE MAGIC OF WRITING

Please help me welcome multi-published erotic romance author Juniper Bell to the blog.

Thanks for having me on the Shy Writers blog today, Rebecca. I definitely meet the definition, even though some might say a truly shy person would not have become an erotica writer.

Definitely, the people who knew me as a kid would be surprised at my new career. I was the girl who got glasses at the age of nine and hid behind them all through school. In the carpool, I’d sit in the back seat and read, even though my parents scolded me for my rudeness. When I went to my friends’ houses, I’d make a beeline for their bookshelves. I loved libraries.

As a matter of fact, my entire sex ed instruction came from the library. I don’t know what happened to health class. I don’t remember it. But I do remember searching out every bit of information I could find in certain forbidden books at the library. (My parents were apparently too shy to discuss such things.)

People saw me as a bookworm, as the supersmart girl with glasses. They would have been surprised by how many of those books were romances. Not all—but enough so that when I decided to write, that’s where I gravitated.

In my opinion, the hardest part of being shy is the self-consciousness. I hated being the focus of attention. I was always terrified of saying the wrong thing, of making a fool of myself. As long as I stayed in the background, I felt safe from scorn.

But all that changed when I picked up a pen. Writing was addictive. I’m sure all you other writers know the feeling I’m talking about. The power and freedom that comes when you’re the ruler of the world you’re creating. When no one is there to judge or criticize. When you can be bold, be wild, be whatever you want.

Here’s the trick that has enabled me to put out into the world the most private, most intimate of stories. The idea is this: I don’t write the book, the book writes me. The story uses me, my abilities, my experiences, my imagination, in order to find its way to readers. I give it everything I have—but it doesn’t belong to me. It’s not me. It’s a collaboration between me, the reader, and some mysterious magic I don’t understand or control.

Thinking of writing this way has relieved me of that burden of self-consciousness. It makes it easier to do the promotional and marketing aspects of writing. Easier to handle reviews and rejections. It’s not about me. It’s about the story, and the mystery of creation. If someone doesn’t like what I write, I’m sad, but I don’t take it personally.

Some actors say they’re shy. They like acting because it provides a safe zone in which they become someone else. That’s what writing is to me. A safe zone in which I don’t have to watch my behavior. I can become anything and anyone I want while I’m writing. It’s intoxicating. It’s liberating. It’s essential to my sanity.

So for all you shy writers out there, I say, if I can do it, you can. Just remember, the magic of writing is bigger than all of us.

Juniper Bell lives with her sweetie in a cabin in Alaska with no running water and a spectacular view of glaciers. She wound up in the frozen north after leaving her career as a stressed-out Los Angeles TV writer. Luckily, her love for writing survived the move. She soon discovered a surefire way of heating up those long winter nights. Her first erotic romance, “The Extremist,” was published in August of 2009, and since then she’s published three more books, “Doll” and “Training the Receptionist” with Samhain Publishing and “My Three Lords” with Ellora’s Cave. Visit her website, her blog , friend her on FaceBook or follow her on Twitter.

After the CALL--You Mean I Actually Have to TALK to People?

Please welcome back YA author B.A. Binns to the blog.

I expected writing to be hard, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Endless hours spent bent over a keyboard (or paper and pen, I’m still old school for my first drafts), then more lonely hours re-writing and editing. Actually, I found writing my novel the perfect job for an introvert. Especially a raving introvert. I scored in the top 3% for introversion on the Myers-Briggs test, and I’m darn proud of that too. I did join RWA and my local chapter. I even attend meetings, judge contests and get and give critiques. But it’s all strategy. In the beginning I sat in the back and observed. This little introvert was there doing business research, learning my craft not trying to be a social butterfly. (As if I ever could. It didn’t happen when I was young and slim, it’s certainly not going to happen now.)

After attending RWA Nationals earlier this year I patted myself on the back for reaching out to strangers and networking. Little did I know that was only the beginning. And, in case you’re wondering, it doesn’t get easier with practice, at least not for me.

This little introvert found an agent without really querying when Andrea Somberg from the Harvey Klinger agency loved PULL. After judging my manuscript in the 2009 Golden Rose contest, I signed with her in January and she sold PULL to WestSide books in March. WestSide loved the book so much they were willing to cut corners and rush it into production as part of their fall, 2010 lineup. At that point I thought my work was done.

I put together a list of things to do next:

Sign contract
Revise manuscript (a little)
Cash my check
Review and OK the edits
Collect royalties

I quickly discovered I was hopelessly naïve. While writing PULL I had been my own boss and sole employee, meaning my deserted island was populated by me, myself and I. I reveled in the solitude. The problem is that the act of writing is only part of the author’s job description. If you want what you have written to be read, then writing is more than just a job, it’s a business enterprise. That meant that a lot of steps were missing from my list. And that this shy writer needed to step so far outside her comfort zone she might never find her way back again.

I’d been warned about the thing called promotion. I belong to RWA, my local chapter, and several special interest chapters. I read blogs and studied both craft and the business end of writing. I swear I paid attention, I knew I had to do something to get myself and my book known. But somehow my brain refused to think about what promotion really meant to me. That I would be required to get our from behind my computer, put down my writing pad, and meet people. Total strangers. A lot of them.

My business enterprise needed new positions. I found myself assuming the mantle of director of marketing and director of PR (no, those aren’t the same thing), and added more items to my list:

Set up website and keep it current
Tweet
Blog
Make Facebook friends
Plan a publicity campaign
Press the flesh

Oh, and never forget the need to return to the keyboard and put out the next book. For the past few months these activities have filled my life and crowded out the all important next book.

When people tell you about promotion, don’t take it lightly. Yes, the publisher takes on part of the burden, but a lot still falls on me. People want to know about the author of the books they read, to feel a connection. Name recognition counts in politics and sales. I know I buy more from authors I feel I know. I even considered hiring a publicist. Unfortunately I’m only small potatoes. After our initial discussions she never got back to me with a proposal, so once again it’s me, myself and I.

I’ve turned myself and my car into walking and rolling advertisements. I have engaged in some interesting tweet-fests, tweeteractions, tweet-ins or whatever they should be called, and accumulated over a hundred followers on twitter (I know, I need to have thousands, but it’s a start). Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with old friends and meet new authors, although I’m not sure how I’m doing in terms of attracting possible readers. And I have now shaken so many hands and complimented so many children that I could run for political office. Practice doesn’t make perfect, by the way, it barely makes being out in public tolerable. But even though I can’t yet be called a social butterfly, I do understand why getting out there and meeting people is necessary. And VistaPrint has become my new best friend, although it’s amazing how much “free stuff” ends up costing me.

And I will admit that it’s nice to hear someone say they remember me, even if I have no idea where I saw him or her before. And I received a personal email from a high school youth--my intended audience--who read an ARC, scored my book 9.5 on a scale of 10 AND enthusiastically commented about the story and the characters. He even recommended PULL to his English teacher. Maybe I’m not the raving introvert I thought I was, because I want to go out and give him a giant hug.

I’ll be having small parties with my writing groups to celebrate the release of PULL, all people I’m already friends with and comfortable being around. My local library has sponsored me to speak in November. I’ll be talking the people about the business of writing and call that a party to, bring refreshments and books to sign. Instead I’m planning an online party for my release day, October 27. I’m also planning an on-line party on October 27. Join in via twitter at #BABinns to chat about the book, or about being a shy writer, ask questions about promotion or anything else you desire. There will be door prizes, including gift cards and autographed copies of PULL.

And, somehow, I WILL get back to the solitary joy of writing.

And this time I really mean it.

BIO: B. A. Binns is the pseudonym of Barbara Binns, a Chicago Area author who finds writing an exercise in self discipline, and the perfect follow-up to her life as an adoptive parent and cancer survivor. She is a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America), the Chicago Writers Association, SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association). She writes to attract and inspire both male and female readers with stories of “real boys growing into real men…and the people who love them.”

PULL, her debut YA novel, tells the story of a young man’s journey from guilt and the fear that biology forces him to repeat his father’s violence, to the realization that his future is in his own hands. Published by WestSide Books, PULL is available October 27, 2010 at your favorite bookstore or online bookseller.

For more information please visit http://www.babinns.com/, or email author1@babinns.com

GOING BEYOND THE COMFORT ZONE

Please help me welcome multi-published romantic suspense and mystery author Chelle Cordero to the blog.

Here's Chelle: I am really a very private person. I normally choose not to discuss many of the ups and downs of life outside of my immediate circle of friends (and even then there is a lot I won’t share). Yet I allow my characters to feel the full range of emotions. Sometimes I have to lend a character some of my emotions… and I kind of feel exposed.

The stories I write have characters who have experienced tragic losses, trauma, crushed dreams, betrayal, abandonment and fear. Deanna is kidnapped, Tom mourns a lost love, Caitlyn lost both parents at a young age, Jake is desperate when a maniac threatens to kill the woman he loves, Layne hides from an abusive husband, Lon is accused of a heinous crime – and each character cries, feels fear, anger, despair and all of those “rip your heart out feelings”.

Although I may add a random memory to one of my character’s lives I often share very little with them, but oh how I share when it comes to tears. In one scene I wrote my character went to speak to his dead fiancé about falling in love again and he cried, and I cried alongside him (sigh, that was hard for me to admit). In another book where one of my characters sacrificed her life for the man she loved and then was accused by the same man for betraying him, she felt despair – and I forced myself to remember all of the frustrations I ever felt for having my well intentioned actions misunderstood. I was the one who lost sleep after researching serial killers and horror for a murder mystery.

I love it when I hear a reader say how they “laughed and cried” or sat “on the edge of their seat” – yet I feel exposed knowing how many of the private motions revealed in my books are actually MY private emotions. When I write I must force myself to go beyond my comfort zone and share these feelings.

Funny thing is, no one is making me share these things – but writing is a need that is tantamount to breathing, and breathing is actually quite comfortable.

Chelle Cordero is a multi-published romantic-suspense and mystery author with Vanilla Heart Publishing and short stories in five different anthologies through VHP and Mandimam Press. She also freelances as a journalist for several local and national newspapers and magazines. Chelle also pens the weekly Amazon Kindle blog ‘Living, Breathing, Writing” available by subscription. Ms. Cordero lives in New York’s lower Hudson Valley and serves her community by volunteering as an EMT with her local ambulance corps. Chelle’s web-site can be found at http://chellecordero.com/

Overcoming Shyness

Please help me welcome romance writer Claranne Perkins to the blog.

I’ve always considered myself a shy person which is surprising because the careers I’ve had as a teacher, a reporter and a fundraiser, aren’t exactly designed for people who suffer from shyness.

As a child, I much preferred doing things alone like reading. When forced to go out and play with the other kids, I would enjoy the games of baseball, hide and seek and Simon Sez, but after about an hour of playing with others, I was more than ready to crawl back into my shell and enjoy a good book.


The only problem was I was naturally curious about other people and was usually the first on the block to meet the new kid and introduce her/him around to the others. In seventh grade, I started writing The Craig and Danny Mysteries to entertain myself with my weekly spelling word list combined with my love of The Perry Mason television show.


I was entertaining myself, but by the second installment, the teacher had me read the story in front of the class. With sweaty palms, a couple of deep breaths and an excruciatingly slow walk to the front of the classroom, I read my story aloud because the teacher had ordered me to. When I finished, I made a beeline for my seat. But the room erupted in applause and I remember thinking, “This writing thing might be a good idea. It was something I could do alone, let others read and be adored.”


As a sophomore in high school, I was still pretty shy, but nosy, and when it came time to do the five-page report on my future career, I was still thinking about being a novelist. Only problem was when I did the research, I found one sheet on “novelist” that more or less said “there are few successful writers and don’t expect to eat much. See Journalism.” That was enough to send me to the school newspaper where I got to interview people and write articles. I did enjoy interviewing others and I was writing alone so again life looked pretty good for a sixteen year-old.

To my sixteen year-old mind I decided to give up the idea of being a novelist until I retired. Then, if I failed, at least I’d have a pension coming in and some way to support myself. I won a scholarship to college that I wouldn’t have to pay back IF I taught for three years, so I went to college, majored in English-Journalism and in four years found myself teaching English to high school sophomore and seniors. I managed to perform in the classroom, but at the end of the day I was more than ready to curl up with a book or my favorite television show alone.
 Somewhere in my late twenties, I took the Myers-Briggs test and learned that my introvert score was only one point higher than my extrovert. By then I had been a successful teacher (high school English) and, in later years, would have successful careers as a reporter and a fundraiser, none of which would be easy for anyone painfully shy.


How did I ever survive, let alone manage to raise millions of dollars? I overcame and adapted and believe me--if I can, you can, too. What I came to understand after taking the Myers-Briggs was that I wasn’t as shy as I thought. I just preferred being alone. Too much social activity sapped my energy and I needed the alone time to recharge.

Extroverts crave social activity, being around a lot of people energize them. Since I secretly admired people who were comfortable in any social situation, I studied them and tried to copy what ever they did.

These are some of the things that helped me. Maybe they’ll help you:

 Introduce yourself to others and ask them a question about themselves. Everyone’s favorite topic is themselves. I found once I introduced myself and asked a question, all I had to do was listen and ask a few follow-up questions. Often, I would start with another person in the room who was alone or looked as shell shocked as I was feeling. Once we both relaxed, I felt free to introduce myself to another person. By the third person, I was pretty comfortable.


Practice. I was always willing to practice conversations. Sometimes I practiced in my bathroom mirror. Sometimes I practiced with a trusted friend. But I did practice so I would know ahead of time how I would react in different situations.


Read books, articles, blogs. One of the first books I read on “shyness” was Barbara Walters' book, How to Talk to Anyone about Anything. I also read about different celebrities who were supposedly “shy” but had great careers like Walters and Johnny Carson.


Set a goal. Decide to introduce yourself to five people and have a five-minute conversation with each. That’s a 25-30 minute social event that you can feel free to leave after your 30 minutes. Next time, increase your goal.


Have some stock questions. Writers like to talk about their books/stories. How they developed their writing careers. Their favorite writers and books. Just ask.

Visit Claranne on her group blog, Blame It On The Muse, Linked In, and Facebook.

Six Levels of Introversion

I'm delighted to welcome Harlequin American author Barbara White Daille to the blog!

Here's Barbara: I’d like to thank Rebecca for inviting me to stop by today!

Chances are, there are a lot of us introverted folks here. It’s not an easy thing to admit, is it?

Rebecca had asked me to touch on how it is for me, as a shy person, to interact with an editor. Fortunately, my editor is fabulous, and we have no trouble communicating, whether we’re talking on the phone, via e-mail, or face-to-face.

I should be so lucky in all areas of my life.

In my writer and non-writer roles, there are times when I need to attend business meetings, workshops, and conferences. There’s no getting around it—all those events can be nerve-wracking, especially for a diehard introvert!

Do you agree?

Just in case you’re not sure, here’s a brief quiz to determine your level of Introvert-ness.

(Extroverts need not apply—but please feel free to leave comments that may help the rest of us. )

IT'S QUIZ TIME!

Six Levels of Introversion

Choose which statement below best describes you:

6. I’d prefer to sit in a packed meeting hall than to give a speech to everyone there.

5. I’d rather spend time in a crowded bar than sit in a packed meeting hall.

4. I’d choose eating lunch with a group of people I don’t know well over spending time in a crowded bar.

3. I’d rather go to tea with a perfect stranger than eat lunch with a group of people I don’t know well.

2. I’d buy a bottle of water and a bag of pretzels from the vending machine rather than go to tea with a perfect stranger.

1. I wish I lived on a deserted island so I could avoid having to make conversation with anyone!

Okay, confession time. Where do you fall on this list?

Originally from the East Coast, award-winning author Barbara White Daille now lives with her husband in the warm, sunny Southwest, where they love the dry heat and have taken up square dancing. From the time she was a toddler, Barbara found herself fascinated by those things her mom called "books." Once she learned the words between the covers held the magic of storytelling, she wanted to see her words in print so she could weave that spell for others.Barbara hopes you will enjoy reading her stories and will find your own storytelling magic in them!

Readers can find Barbara at the following locations:http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com
http://www.facebook.com/barbarawhitedaille
https://twitter.com/BarbaraWDaille

Her October, 2010 book, FAMILY MATTERS, is currently available from bookstores and through eHarlequin.com: http://bit.ly/FAMILYMATTERS

Barbara works a day job but will be back here later today and over the weekend. She’s eager to read your responses to the quiz. Also, shy or not, she loves to chat with readers online, so please feel free to leave comments or questions.

TAKING HISTORY TO HEART

Please help me welcome multi-published and award-winning romance author Beth Trissel to the blog.

Years ago, I was riveted on the travels of Lewis and Clark in the Ken Burns documentary: Lewis and Clark, the Journey of the Corps of Discovery.

Brief description: ‘Sent by President Jefferson to find the fabled Northwest Passage, Lewis and Clark led the most courageous and important expedition in American history. It was the United States' first exploration of the West and one of the nation's most enduring adventures. Journey with them across a breath-taking landscape for an experience that explores the history--and the promise--of America.’

Fascinating. I was so invested in these men, particularly Lewis and Clark, and of course, their Godsend guide and interpreter Sacajawea. After the expedition concluded and Lewis and Clark parted, Lewis struggled to find his way. Seems he suffered from black depressions and was bi-polar, had been dependent on the support of his good friend William Clark for stability. Then it happened. Lewis was dead. I didn’t realize he shot himself in 1809—or was possibly murdered—and I lost it, sat in front of the TV sobbing, much to the disgust of my then teenage daughter Alison.

A friend of hers walked in the room, took one look at me and asked, “Sad movie?”

Alison rolled her eyes. “It’s a documentary!”

But it happened, and still felt very raw to me.

Similarly, back when I was doing research for Red Bird’s Song and read A Sorrow In My Heart, the Life of Tecumseh, about the great Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, I was devastated to read he was killed in battle in 1813 at age 45. Tecumseh was so awesome and vital to his people. I rushed out into the garden, wiping at tears, and railing against the injustice of life while aimlessly weeding. I should have seen that one coming, but there are tons of notes at the end of the book and I thought he had pages left to live.

So, what do these and my numerous other grapplings with history have to do with Red Bird’s Song? Simple, it’s historical, a poignant romance, and written more deeply from my heart then any of my other books. Many of the events depicted in the story and the inspiration behind it are true. Red Red Bird’s Song is based on events that happened to my early American Scots-Irish ancestors in the Virginia colonial frontier and further west. And it’s the first novel I ever wrote and rewrote and learned how to write in the process. The novel began as carefully researched historical fiction with a strong romantic element but evolved into a historical romance, still painstakingly researched and pulsing with emotion. The romance between Wicomechee and Charity throbs with tension & tenderness, passion & angst.

*A bonus for readers, at the end of the book is the account of this Shawnee warrior I discovered in distant branches of the family tree. Yes, Wicomechee really lived and he comes vividly to life along with the others characters in this adventurous romance with a strong The Last of the Mohicans flavor.

The romance between Charity and Wicomechee is also inspired by an account I read of a Scots-Irish captive who fell in love with and wed the son of a chief and was later forced back to her white family. Her warrior husband did the unthinkable and left his people to go and live in the English world, but before he could reach his true love, her brothers intercepted and killed him. Heartbroken, she grieved herself to death shortly after giving birth to their daughter, who survived and has descendents to this day, I might add. So affected was I by this heartrending account that it also played out as a profound influence in my historical fantasy Daughter of the Wind.

Obviously when writing a romance, the death of the hero and or heroine does not qualify as a HEA ending, unless you’re Nicolas Sparks. (And don’t tell me he’s not writing romance). More research, dreams, and visions helped me contrive a far more satisfying ending for Red Bird’s Song. Also for Daughter of the Wind, I assure you. After two novels, I hope I’ve worked through the affect that tragic account had on me.

Who cares that it happened over 200 hundred years ago? IT WAS REAL. I suspect I’m what some might refer to as sensitive and deeply attuned to those who have gone before us. My parting advice is to draw from the events and people who touch your heart, either from the present or the past, and interweave this poignant wealth into your writing.

Red Bird’s Song is out in print and digital download at the Wild Rose Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and will travel on to other booksellers.

For more on my work please visit my website at www.bethtrissel.com
My blog is the happening place at: https://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/

By the way, I’m giving away a digital download to some lucky visitor who leaves a comment!

Beth Trissel is a historical & light paranormal romance author with the Wild Rose Press, avid gardener, passionate about the past. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of VA, Daughter of the Stars, with her husband and the wolf pack, as they affectionately call their dogs. *Also love cats. The valley and mountains are her inspiration. Contact: bctrissel@yahoo.com

A Shy Exhibitionist

Please help me welcome dark fantasy erotica author Tyree Kimber to the blog.


The late Johnny Carson was a notoriously shy public figure. In a profile I once watched on television, an acquaintance of his (whose name now escapes me,) said that Johnny Carson was comfortable in front of twenty million people, but never in front of twenty people. While I know I'll never have the kind of fame or audience that Mr. Carson had, I totally understand what they were saying.

I am a performer. I always have been. I'm what you might call a shy exhibitionist. Growing up an only child who was something of an outsider, my imagination ran at full tilt to keep me company and keep me entertained. In high school, having no interest in sports but hungry for the kind of busy life my peers enjoyed I turned to acting, art, music, and whatever else I could find that would give me the attention I craved and in return could bring happiness and excitement to others around me. But I was still shy: I could perform Shakespeare in front of people I barely knew in a heartbeat, but walking up to them and starting a normal conversation with them was ground for an anxiety attack.

As I got older my desire to entertain crystallized around writing and storytelling. It's amazing how different we are in the world that we, as writers, build in our minds. Shyness is never an issue for us there. We have nothing to fear from anyone there because we know exactly what they will say; we know their every secret. In the world around us we never know how anyone will react and it's that uncertainty that can be brutal. When you're onstage the audience will either applaud or they won't. Either way you'll know exactly where you stand. But regular interactions are so much more challenging. There's no script and our audience is so much harder to read.

I'm proud of what I write, but when I first began to experiment with dark fantasy erotica I found my shy tendencies really kicking in. Right or wrong, there's a stigma attached to the erotic genre: it's not socially acceptable. I've never been hesitant to say that I'm a writer, but suddenly the follow-up question of "what do you write?" had a whole new dimension to it! After all, there's no tactful way to say you write tales of angelic orgies and women who couple with demons, is there?

We're never shy in the fictional world in our minds. But self-confidence can still be our enemy there. In my case I'd grown to think of it too much as my private world rather than something I was eventually going to share with the rest of the world and have to answer questions about. If there's advice I can give to a shy writer, it's this: never lose sight of the fact that you're creating for that world you're so wary of. And when you describe it to the friend, family member, or co-worker who asks you are opening an exciting show for a new audience. Take all that fear of the many possible reactions away and you're back to where you are with any audience: either they'll applaud or they won't. Maybe what you write about isn't socially acceptable to some. But if they see your confidence and your pride in what you're creating, maybe they'll start to wonder if perhaps it should be.

BIO: A lifelong resident of the Midwest, Tyree Kimber hung up his electric guitar and poet shirt to become a novelist; although the guitar and poofy shirt still call to him from time to time. His short stories have been released through Dark Roast Press along with the novel Apocalypse Woman, a dark erotic fantasy tale. With Phil Jones and Dave McNeal he is the author Systematic, a post-modern noir comic book series available at IndyPlanet.com

http://darkroastpress.com/forbidden1.php - Forbidden Views, Volume 1 http://darkroastpress.com/baristachoice.php - Barista's Choice (Free e-book sampler)http://darkroastpress.com/apocalypsewoman.php - Apocalypse Woman http://indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3943 - Systematic (Issue #1)