Goals, People--Writing Goals, Not Soccer Ones
Well since the wistful tone of my last post made everyone think I was feeling sad about my career, I figured I'd better get back to my usual thing. Which is...what? Hell if I know.
Anyway, I just got word that a workshop I agreed to participlate in at the RWA National conference was approved, and that means I'm officially going to the conference in July. Conference always sends me into a goal-setting frenzy, making lists of the bazillion things I'm going to accomplish before I go so that I can justify spending too much on the trip and feel like I'm accomplishing something in my career.
So what are your writing goals for the year? Or if you're going to RWA National in Dallas, what are you going to accomplish before you get there? I am going to finish the (ahem...cough, cough) 5 proposals my editor has been waiting all too patiently for, finish the book I have due March 1st, and finish two single title proposals I've started recently and want to have done before July.
Now you see why I have to laugh in the face of my own goals (imagine maniacal laughter here).
posted by Jamie Sobrato @ 6:04 PM
15 Comments:
I have a question for the ladies here. I have a friend who wants to read some romances basically to research the genre. He's a writing teacher (college) so he might be trying to help some students, I'm not sure. I'm sending him a copy of one of Jamie's books, but I'd also like to know who to recommend. He'd like to read basically what sells, chick-lit and stuff like that. Who should I recommend?
Nora Roberts is the ubiquitous name in the romance genre when it comes to "what sells." She is the reigning queen.
My personal favorites are Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Laura Kinsale, and Meg Cabot, to name a few.
Chick lit is kind of a "dead" genre now. Well, not really, but the publishers now shy away from calling any book that because the market got over-saturated with such books. There are still books that fit the genre "women's fiction with 20 and 30-something protagonists" though, but I wouldn't call them romances, so if you're talking strictly about the romance genre, the above names are a great start.
For chick lit, I love Jennifer Weiner. Some of Meg Cabot's books are more chick lit than romance. She kind of straddles the line.
Thanks Jamie! That's a huge help.
Okay, my goals.... I want to kick the ball right into that net thing. What? Not soccer? Jamie this is so confusing!
I realized after I posted this entry that I probably should have said "football" instead of soccer in honor of that big game today, but since I didn't even realize the game was going to be happening this weekend until someone mentioned it to me in passing the other day, I figured this title better represented my contented cluelessness on the sujbect.
7 proposals?? Well, that makes my goals seem not quite so tough. LOL Before conference I'd like to finish my wip and have another proposal ready, so that I'll have three completes and a fourth proposal ready to go should my current submission end up crushed into the dirt in tiny pieces. *sob*
I'd also like to get a lot of reading done. What's your workshop about?
The Name of the Workshop is "Standing Out from the Slush Pile" and it's a panel I'm doing with Tawny Weber, Joanne Rock, and Brenda Chin. I think all three of the authors participating were former Golden Heart winners who went on to sell to Blaze (and I know at least two of us were judged by Brenda in the GH :-)).
Oh, I'm so going to that! :-)
Thanks Melissa. It's my first workshop, so no throwing tomatoes.
I was told while doing my student teaching internship way back when that I have a monotone voice, and I do. My supervising instructor said I needed to act more like a cheerleader in front of the class. It was all I could do not to kick him in the balls. I am sooooooooo the opposite of a cheerleader, it's not even funny. I was the insecure sullen girl wearing black in high school, sitting in the bleachers making fun of the cheerleaders. Bethany was sitting beside me, on those rare occasions when she actually went to school.
So, just to warn you, I won't be sounding all perky or anything. But I'll try to speak clearly into the microphone. :-)
Darn, I'm going to be sorry to miss that!
And what do you mean rare occaisions? hmph. And here I was being all sporting and athletic in the post above.
I thought you wore black because it was stylish. Hey remember those velvet leggings we used to wear?
How could I forget the velvet leggings? I would like to forget that I wore leggings, period, but the velvet ones cannot be forgotten. I guess everyone is going to be wearing leggings again soon though, if the tight-legged jeans no one looks good in are any indication of trends to come...well at least the tight jeans would look good with the tall moccasin boots I recently bought, but I'm afraid if I paired the two I'd be delving way too far into my fashion past.
Yeah, I wore black mostly because I thought it was stylish. I would like to reimagine myself as darker teenager than I actually was, but I have to admit I was mostly just a wannabe fashionista.
And yes, you, Bethany, were not at school very often. Must have been at home writing 600-page vampire novels and stuff.
My 2007 Goals: Finish 2 novels... write 15 short- to medium-length stories... ask out 5 ppl who are actually REAL PEOPLE instead of living vicariously through romance heroes... though I'll continue to read the genre. :-)
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Hey Jamie -- How did you do on that terrifying list of goals?
Good luck with your workshop, and have fun at National! I look forward to your posts. :) I have added your blog to the blogroll for Blogging National.
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