Love Among the Ruins

I don't know why I'm more embarrassed to share the contemporary romance novel than the historical romance with Utah Valley Writers (UVW). The historical romance has taken a lot of research and is more serious in tone so it seems a more "worthy" genre as though romance is a sappy, easy-to-write genre; it's not. The first chapter I shared with the two Michelles didn't go well. They had some good comments and I fixed their concerns. The main problem was that I was not connected to the characters. I keep changing their names for one thing. Once I settle on a name it's as though they come to life for me and I can visualize them better. Last Thursday I dared to take the first chapter to UVW and it was generally well received. I do need to do some tweaking, but not a lot. So, while I'm reading Michelle Stoddard's manuscript and editing Effie's story, I'll return to LATR as a little break. One of the people at the critique table has several unfinished novels and that seems to be the way it is for others too. Ideas come faster than the writing and we don't want to lose the idea so we begin writing a new book. But, the important thing is that we actually finish a manuscript.

I'm impressed with Shaela Odd who I met through UVW. She has published two books already through Amazon publishing. I'm also impressed how well she is promoting her book. Most writers seem to want to publish with bona fide publishing companies and that really is more prestigious. But I want to be like Shaela and have something published! I honestly can't be bothered going through writing pitch letters, though it is a good exercise. I've only done one for the Pitch Wars contest so I really haven't tried very hard. Part of my reasoning is that Effie's story is a cross between a historical novel and a historical romance and publishing companies are more likely to publish something that fits a particular genre. I've decided to finish the edit and get it looked at through the agent who read my pitch and first chapter. I wasn't chosen by her, but she has a professional writing service in Los Angeles and offered a discounted service. I'd like to get feedback from professionals and then go from there. Then I will get a copy edit done and publish it through Amazon. That's the plan.