Monthly Archives: January 2017

Jana Blogs

Sunday Small Talk

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I almost didn’t bother with a post today because there really isn’t much to say. I’ve written all of two paragraphs on These Haunted Hills and all the rest of my time has been sucked up by the first week back to school stuff and editing Blood Red Roulette and making a fine mess of it.

Then I thought, you know what, let’s start this year out right by thanking the people who’ve helped me. So thank you to Betty and & for offering up some thoughts on how to even FURTHER revamp the beginning of Blood Red so Arrigo looks less like a selfish idiot because that isn’t what I wanted him to be. When I reconfigured Eleni to make her a more worthwhile villain, it was at Arrigo’s expense and that isn’t working either. So thank you, ladies.

And thanks also to & for weighing in on the rejection of Cassadaga Nights because I had to agree with the editors of the publishing house who said no. I had worried about that and now those worries were confirmed but you know, I think CN can wait until I get my way through BRR.

Sadly I see there is one less publishing house to consider. Wilde City closed its doors. I had noticed it wasn’t open for submission when I shopped around for CN and while I have nothing there personally it’s sad to see SO MANY indie LGBT publishers going under. I’m also worried about Wayward Ink. The owner there had said hopefully by Jan things would be rolling again (health issues are the concern here) but it’s mid Jan with no contact. Oh well. Right now I have enough on my plate without worrying about the SF short I have in consideration there. Once I get BRR and CN reworked, and if there is still no word by then (because seriously I’m thinking it’ll be mid-March by then) THEN I’ll pull that story.

Of course, I guess the argument could be made that we could just self publish all of these things but that really isn’t what I want to be doing right now. Mostly because with the indie publishing houses I at least have some marketing support, editors to help me and cover artists (I mean have you SEEN all my cover art? It’s amazing and I could never get anything that good on my own.) So yeah, it’s sad to see another one go and good luck to my friends who are affected by this. It’s not an auspicious start to the new year (especially following on the heels of the All Romance nightmare).

Jana Blogs

Rainbow Snippets

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I’m continuing with These Haunted Hills even though the work on it has been very slow (as I’ve been working on edits for a vampire thing which I might start sharing again as I really need fresh eyes on it).

Brendan is bisexual which will be known by the second chapter. I’m using Tom Mison (from Sleepy Hollow) as body/face inspiration for Brendan though I’m not sure yet if his hair is shorter or longer.

photo tom_zpsyktii0h8.jpg

This takes place directly after last week’s snippet and I ran over 2 sentences so the thought is completed (as a reminder, Brendan has come to the Hocking Hills and is renting a cabin for a month).

 

He peered out one rain streaked window. All he could see were trees, mostly pines with something that was covered in blooms, dogwood maybe. The green isolation he’d chased after surrounded him. Those second thoughts skyrocketed. Kristen hadn’t wanted him to come. She didn’t trust him alone. Brendan knew his ex had reason to worry. Both of them were mired in grief and three years hadn’t moved them past it.

If you’d like to play along, Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook community where we post up 6 sentences of one of our LGBT stories every Saturday. It’s been fun and you can find it here. Be sure to check out all the offers! It’s been a great supportive group!

Jana Blogs

Sunday Small Talk

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Happy New Year and welcome to the first Sunday Small Talk of 2017. It’s been a couple of weeks but the last two sundays were holidays and let’s be honest, I haven’t been doing much because of those said holidays.

For the last month, I took a small vacation from writing professionally because I use December to write fanfic for friends for the holidays. I suppose some will argue that it’s a waste of my time but I mentioned on Queer SciFi when the question was asked ‘how do you recharge your muse’ the answer is I write fanfic. I DO find it recharging but I get to take a break from some of the harder parts of writing (world building, character creation) and just let the words flow.

So I’m looking at 2017 and trying to be better about my time. I need to get an ecalendar that emails me because I keep missing things I should be doing.

Nine Stars rejected Cassadaga Nights but were thoughtful enough to tell me what they thought did and didn’t work and the didn’t was something I had been worrying about so it’s back with my first readers for opinions on how to change it.

Once I get Blood Red Roulette revamped (and god is this a bear!) I want to a) find first readers for it b) start thinking about the rewrites for Deadwood and dedicating it to my friend, Paulle who died this week. It was the last thing she beta read for me.

Other than that, once I get the start of the semester crap out of my face, it’s time to get back into writing new stuff. I have four current projects: Behind Blue Eyes (SF), the Steampunk holiday story, These Haunted Hills (contemporary or paranormal, still working that out) and the one set at an anime con but I think I’m going to back burner that one for now.

Jana Blogs

Rainbow Snippets

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For the first snippet of the new year I’m doing something I’ve never done: sharing something brand new in its raw form. Literally I have only about six paragraphs of this one but its one of the projects I want to finish this year, something close to contemporary. Okay there are ghost hunters in it but done in a realistic way (okay, one of the leads (not in this snippet) is based very loosely on a friend here who is in fact a ghost hunter). It’s called at the moment These Haunted Hills and is set where I live in Appalachian Ohio, the Hocking Hills (technically I live a bit south west of here but I can be here within the hour). Brendan is a man whose been through a lot and is an author of a popular middle grade/YA series whose come to the hills to investigate ghosts for his next, more adult novel but more important, he’s running from his problems.

This is what I had in mind for the cabin in the snippet. This is from Crooked Creek Cabin rentals which is in the area.

photo hocking cabin_zps1dzi8fdc.jpg

Brendan second guessed his decision the moment he walked through the cabin’s front door even though it was exactly what he wanted: a cabin in the woods. The cold spring deluge that lashed him from car to porch hadn’t helped matters much. To Brendan the shower embodied perfectly the condition of his mind and soul.

Leaving his bag on the doorstep, Brendan took in his home for the next month. It could almost be called cute in a rustic sort of way. The loft bedroom perched above the open concept living area and kitchen.

If you’d like to play along, Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook community where we post up 6 sentences of one of our LGBT stories every Saturday. It’s been fun and you can find it here. Be sure to check out all the offers! It’s been a great supportive group!

Jana Blogs

Rejection

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Just a short post today as I’ve been driving some 250 miles today. I suppose this one is just general writing related more so than being LGBT specific but it’s what’s on my mind after getting a rejection yesterday.

To me it was a good one as they told me what they liked and what they thought didn’t work. I find that very useful. I was surprised a few weeks back when I saw a FB post ranting about how that particular author hated that. Which, yes, that’s perfectly fine as we’re all different but I was curious how an author would come to that choice. I didn’t ask because I didn’t know this particular author well and I don’t like to start up stuff on someone else’s page.

Personally I think any and all input I get can be helpful. I would have liked to be able to make changes and resubmit this to that publishing house but they didn’t say that I could and I’m not published with them so I didn’t really ask (as I have other options). As it is, one of their weaknesses was something I had wondered about myself. So I should have listened to my gut.

I know some authors feel that once they submit something it’s ‘done’ and they’re not changing anything. And there is the point that you could send it to three different places and have them feel three different ways about that same piece so making suggested changes in a rejection might not help you. I often see this in my writers group. Two people love something and a third hates that exact same thing.

You just have to use your best judgment when you get these suggestions. Would making the changes turn your story into something other than what you wanted it to be? I’ve faced that too.

But for me, if I have to be rejected then I definitely want to know WHY. I want to know what didn’t work and what did. I appreciate that they took the time to tell me that rather than send me some form letter (god knows I got tons of those in the 90s back when I had to send postage so they could send me those form letters). I find them helpful.

Helpful but still painful. Ah well, such is a writer’s life.