Guest Blogger Abby Gaines, Welcome to Seekerville!

Abby Gaines

Ruthy note: I can't even remember how I first discovered Abby, but she's a great gal, and a wonderful author, one of those Meg Cabot types who cross-genres (yes, thereby breaking tons of man-made rules, good for her!!!) with flair and alacrity. Some Supers contain adult content

When Ruth asked me to post about how to write for Superromance, I was a tad daunted. Quite a large tad, if such a thing is possible. Because although nine of the 19 books I’ve published with Harlequin have been Superromances, I still feel like I’m learning the ropes!

Superromance is hard to define, as the series encompasses a range of story types. But you’ll see more single parent stories here than you do in other lines (with the possible exception of Love Inspired). You’ll also find some suspense, lots of small towns, a few big city stories, and tones that run from light and humorous to intense.

If you know my books, you’ll know I sit at the light and humorous end of the scale, and I like to give traditional romance hooks a Superromance book. My November release, The Wedding Plan, is – you guessed it – a marriage of convenience story (my favorite hook!). 

For other kinds of Superromances you could try authors like Karina Bliss (humorous and intensely emotion – a wonderful writer), Ellen Hartman (intriguing heroes and unpredictable storylines), or Sarah Mayberry (strongly written stories that feel like real life).

Superromance recently increased its word count to 85,000, which can be quite a challenge if you’re used to writing shorter. The good news is, Supers are strong on subplots, so this is your chance to bring out those wonderful secondary characters...so long as the subplot either complicates or reflects or contrasts with the main plot, of course. I write a secondary romance in most of my books, often featuring an older couple. Other subplots can include suspense, family complications, small-town characters, and, of course, those kids that regularly pop up in Supers.

So, how do you know if your book is a Superromance? This sounds odd, but if you think you’re writing a series romance, and you can’t think where it fits, consider targeting Supers. That’s basically how I ended up there. I’d been trying my hand at shorter, sweet romances for a while. Then I wrote a book that came out longer, and featured a secondary romance subplot. I had no idea where it might fit...then a contest judge suggested Superromance. Next minute...I was a Super author! (well, like everything else in publishing, it wasn’t quite that fast...)

If you have any questions about Superromance, I’d be delighted to answer them. I also have a Love Inspired Historical out this month, The Governess and Mr Granville – think The Sound of Music meets the Regency! So I can talk about writing Regency inspirational historicals, too...

One commenter will win a copy The Governess and Mr Granville.

Thanks for having me here today!

Guys, Abby lives across the GREAT POND so here time frame is a tad different from yours and mine! Come on inside, grab coffee and try some of this new apple Danish that Mandy made over the weekend. Her hubby was at the Bills game in Buffalo, so I got my girl back for a Sunday afternoon of BAKING!!!!  :)

SUH-WEEEET!  And you guys get to try it!  :)

Writing Conferences Across America

RWA 2011 Book Signing

By Debby Giusti

Romance Writers of America will host their 2012 National Writers Conference next week in Anaheim, California. Some of you will be there, attending workshops, networking with industry professionals and soaking up as much information as possible about writing, marketing and the future of publishing.  The conference offers opportunities to pitch your stories to editors and agents, take part in the “Readers for Life” charity book signing for literacy and reconnect with writing friends from around the world.  Onsite registration will be available. Learn more here. Next year’s conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, July 17-21, 2013.

FYI: The literacy book signing format has changed this year.  Authors are not sitting alphabetically. I’ll be at Table 407. Please stop by and say hello!

Fast forward to September 20th and the American Fiction Writers Conference, held this year in Dallas.  Hopefully many of you are making plans to attend what is considered the “premier conference” in the country focused on Christian fiction. Each day begins with prayer and follows with a wide range of workshops and special education sessions geared to various levels from the beginning writer to the multi-published bestseller.  Agents and editors mix and mingle with writers who often pitch their stories over lunch or during assigned appointment sessions. The welcoming, informal environment fosters friendships and a relaxing exchange of information.

ACFW 2011

Not able to attend either of the national conferences?  Perhaps a regional venue might be a better fit.  A number of RWA chapters throughout the country hold their own conferences.  A complete list of RWA chapters can be found on the national website. Click on the chapter names to learn about educational opportunities and conferences available near you.

Walt and his beautiful wife, Mo, at M&M

I clicked on my home chapter, Georgia Romance Writers, and found information on our upcoming Moonlight and Magnolias Conference, to be held in Atlanta, Oct 5-7. I’m the Georgia Featured Author so I may be biased, but this year’s M&M promises to be extra special. Five editors and four agents will be taking pitches and eagerly looking for new writers. An excellent lineup of professionals will offer more than thirty, in-depth workshops and programs that promise to, as this year’s theme suggests, “Light a Fire Under Your Fiction.” Winners of the Maggie Award of Excellence will be announced at a gala banquet Saturday, followed with dancing until midnight.  Held in a lovely Hilton, called the “Castle on the Hill,” the nightly room rate of $79 keeps costs at a minimum.  

Looking for some fun in the sun along with your conference? Seeker Cara Lynn James recommends her Gulf Coast Chapter’s Silken Sands Conference. “The conference is held every two years in the spring at the Hampton Inn right on Pensacola Beach. The weather has almost always been beautiful! Our pitching sessions are usually done on the back patio overlooking the beach and Gulf of Mexico. We all spend a lot of time outside enjoying northwest Florida at the best time of the year.” The next conference will be held in 2014. Watch for details on the Gulf Coast’swebsite. 

Be sure to also check out Cara’s August release, Path Toward Love.

L to R: Julie, Audra, Janet, Cara and Debby

If you’re not into the beach scene, head north to Wisconsin.  Author Lyn Cote enjoys her WisRWA Chapter’s Write Touch Conference. “We have a yearly Friday evening to Sunday A.M. conference in June with agents and editor appointments and national best-selling romance authors as keynote speakers.” Next year’s event will be May 31-June 2. Lyn has two current releases, La Belle Christiane and Winter’s Secret.

Seeker Glynna Kaye enjoys attending Desert Dreams, hosted by the Desert
Rose RWA Chapter.  “You can't beat the Sonoran Desert in the Spring!  Palm trees, flowers, pleasantly warm days and cool nights.  Chaparral Suites Resort in Scottsdale is an all
suites, two pools, buffet-style hotel with breakfast provided. Free transportation provided

to/from Sky Harbor International Airport. Nearby shopping and restaurants.  The event is held every other year which allows the hosts to invest time and money in a really classy,
well-organized conference. Limited to about 300 attendees, it feels very personal with

opportunities to chat one-on-one other writers and guest speakers/workshop instructors as

well as name editors and agents.  (This is the conference where I first met MY
agent, Natasha Kern.)” Join Glynna at the next conference in April 2014. Be sure to read Glynna's latest release, High Country Hearts.

 

Pepper and Carol

Grammar guru Darlene Buchholz has presented workshops at numerous conferences and offers the following information about the New Jersey Romance Writers’ Put Your Heart in a Book Conference. “Held every year in October, the conference is close to the Newark airport. Because New Jersey is close to New York, many editors and agents from big publishing houses attend this conference. For 2012, there are 8 agents and at least 9 editors, 6 of whom are from Harlequin. Workshops are plentiful and varied. Some are offered by well-known authors but many workshops are offered by genre authors perhaps less known but with sterling advice. Winners of the Put Your Heart in a Book writing contest are announced toward the end of the conference. Final judges are well-known editors/agents. Costs of the conference are moderate.” 

Another of Darlene’s favorites is the New Hampshire Romance Writers’ Fall Fling, scheduled for September 2013. “The conference is held in historical Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and easily accessible from the Manchester NH airport or from Boston if you must fly in to a big airport. The setting provides delightful sightseeing which is mere footsteps from the hotel. Several agents and editors who are actively seeing new writers attend. This is a small conference so there are fewer workshops. The way the workshops are staggered, you seldom have to decide between two great ones you want to attend. Presenters sit at the designated lunch tables with the workshop attendees, giving you a wonderful opportunity to network with new friends and with a presenter you particularly enjoyed.” 

What about regional Christian writing conferences?

Seeker Myra Johnson highly recommends Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. An annual event for the last 43 years, Mt. Hermon is held over the Palm Sunday weekend, and the conference center is nestled in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains of California. “I’ve been to Mount Hermon three times. It's a great experience, so much more relaxed than ACFW or RWA, but equally inspiring, motivational, and educational. The faculty and classes are always outstanding, worship is a big part of the daily schedule, the food is great, and the setting, amidst all those giant redwoods, is unbelievable!” Don’t miss Myra’s latest release, A Horseman’s Gift.

An east coast mountain venue is Blue Ridge Christian Writers Conference. Held in Ashville, North Carolina, each May, the conference has a 25-year history of success and teaches all forms of writing, from magazine and devotionals to full-length Christian fiction.

The same North Carolina venue will host the Blue Ridge Autumn in the Mountains Christian Novelist Retreat, October 14- 17.

Carol Award winning author Carrie Turansky has two favorite conferences. “The Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers' Conference will be held this year from August 1-4 in Langhorne, PA. This is for both fiction and non-fiction and is the sister conference to the Colorado Christian Writers' Conference held in May. Marlene Bagnull oversees both conferences. There is a spiritual atmosphere and lots of great workshops, continuing sessions, and clinics.”  Read Carrie’s latest Love Inspired romance, A Man to Trust.

How about combining a conference with a cruise? AMERICAN CHRISTIAN WRITERS CARIBBEAN CRUISE, November 25-Dec 2. 

Having fun at ACFW!

Kiddie Lit and YA? Write2Ignite, a two-day Christian conference for writers of children’s literature and young adult will be held March 15-16, 2013, at North Greenville University, in Tigerville, South Carolina. 

For more Christian conference info, check out the following blogs:

 http://fliterary.blogspot.com and http://keikihendrix.com/2012-christian-writers-conferences/

Seeker Fun at Breakfast

Interested in the mystery/suspense genre?

SleuthFest is sponsored by the Florida Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. 

Bouchercon moves around the country and will be in Cleveland, Ohio, this year, October 4-7.

MaliceDomestic attracts mystery writers and fans and is held each May in Arlington, Virginia.

KillerNashville is promoted as a thriller, mystery and suspense writers and literature lovers’ conference held in—you guessed it—Nashville.  

Janet, Helen, Debby and Cara

Author Lynette Eason calls The Writers Police Academy, in Jamestown, North Carolina, a must for mystery and suspense writers. “It’s is a fabulous resource for writers who are interested in writing true-to-life crime fiction. I attended the first year and learned too much to even describe." Lynette’s latest release is The Black Sheep's Redemption from LIS.

A list of additional mystery and suspense conferences can be found at: http://inreferencetomurder.com/html/conferences.html

RomCon, an event for fans and writers of romance and women’s fiction, is held each spring in Denver, CO.

DragonCon attracts sci-fi and fantasy fans and authors to Atlanta each Labor Day.  Bring your costumes to wear in the parade. 

RT Booklovers Convention, sponsored yearly by RT Book Reviews, will be May 1-5, 2013, in Kansas City. The event attracts both readers and writers. 

As you can see, writers’ conferences abound.  Tell us about the conferences in your local area or any writing event that you’ve found worthwhile.  We’ll pool our resources for the betterment of all.

Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing for one of my books, your choice.

Happy writing,

Debby Giusti

www.DebbyGiusti.com

www.craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com

Watch for THE COLONEL’S DAUGHTER, the third book in my Military Investigations series, in bookstores this August.

THE COLONEL’S DAUGHTER

By Debby Giusti

UNDER SIEGE

A ruthless killer is targeting the families of soldiers in a U.S. Army

colonel’s brigade. Special agent Jamison Steele, of the Criminal

Investigation Division, vows to stop him—because this time,

Jamison’s heart is involved. The colonel’s daughter, the woman who loved and left Jamison without a word, came face-to-face with the murderer. Protecting Michele Logan means constant surveillance. And solving the mystery of the serial killer’s motive requires asking Michele the questions she least wants to answer. Questions that may lead them both into a deadly trap.

Switch-hitting Genres!

Abby Gaines

Hi and thanks for having me visit here at Seekerville!

I’m very excited at the release of my first book for Love Inspired Historical, THE EARL’S MISTAKEN BRIDE, which is the first book in a series called The Parson’s Daughters. You’ve heard of those Pride and Prejudice spin-offs with titles like “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” right? Well, The Parson’s Daughters series is more “Pride and Prejudice and Christians.” Which is nothing like zombies...well, not last time I looked around my church on a Sunday morning!

Of course, this isn’t actually a P&P spin-off – the similarity is that I have five sisters in the Regency period whose father – a parson, as the series name suggests! – is facing the loss of his livelihood but has faith in God to provide for all his needs. Although he’s never been desperate for any of his daughters to marry, he’s aware God’s provision might include the odd husband. (Hopefully, not too odd! In fact, since I get to write them, they definitely won’t be odd. They’ll be smart, humorous with varying degrees of good looks and Christian faith. The Christian faith can be improved upon, the looks probably not...)

Abby's book is IN STORES NOW...

So, why did I make the switch to inspirational and historical? Inspirational was my first genre when I started writing romance, but I couldn’t seem to make it work. I moved on to sweet, secular romances, but have always had inspy in mind as a possible direction. As you may know, I ended up writing for Harlequin’s NASCAR series, which was a lot of fun, partly because of the opportunity to tap into a specific world – NASCAR – with its customs and traditions. When the NASCAR series finished, I really missed writing that kind of world-based story. I started toying with the idea of an inspirational Regency series (Regency being another world with a set of customs and traditions that lend themselves to great stories). Partly because Tina James had taken over as senior editor at Love Inspired Historical – I worked with Tina before, on the NASCAR books, and loved it!

So, in November last year I went on a brainstorming weekend with my critique partners and best buds Karina Bliss and Sandra Hyatt. I took along a series idea called “The Parson’s Daughters” and a few story hooks, and asked them to help me flesh it out. Which they did, wonderfully. Some of you will have heard that Sandra Hyatt died suddenly in August this year (actually when we were attending a writing conference together), so to have my first LIH book come out a year after we did that brainstorm together is very poignant for me. I miss Sandra every day.

Okay...am  I talking too much? THE EARL’S MISTAKEN BRIDE is inspired by the Bible story of Rachel and Leah – you know, Jacob falls for gorgeous Rachel, works for 7 years to marry her, then his father-in-law swaps the girls on the wedding night and Jacob’s stuck with not-pretty Leah. Here’s the blurb for my book – spot the similarity!

“The wrong sister! As soon as Marcus Brookstone lifts his bride's veil, he sees he's been tricked. He made a bargain with God—to marry a good, Christian girl if his mother recovered from illness. But Marcus intended to marry pretty Amanda, not stubborn Constance. His next plan, to ignore his new wife, fails as well when Constance makes it clear that she wants a true union.

Constance Somerton doesn't dare reveal that she's been enamored of Marcus for years. The man believes love is for weaklings. Someone needs to teach him about marriage's blessings. Someone who sees beyond his arrogance to the tender heart beneath. Someone exactly like Constance….”

I had so much fun writing this book! I actually just turned the second book in the series THE GOVERNESS AND MR GRANVILLE (think, the Regency meets The Sound of Music!) into my editor last week, so this series is very much on my mind at the moment.

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and blessed New Year to you and your families.

Ruthy here! Besides loving Abby Gaines to death because she's a powerhouse author despite her small size, I love that she has never been 'boxed' and we know that means a lot to you guys in Seekerville! Not everyone is meant to be branded... Right?  So if you're done browsing the village and having coffee with Ruthy, Missy and the gang at the Yankee Belle Cafe, come on in and chat about Abby's book, books, or the 'genre' switch. We'd love to hear what you have to say and we've got two copies of The Earl's Mistaken Bride to give away, either e-format or hard copy, your pick. And Abby, waving a Merry Christmas to you on the other side of the planet! You rock!

Birth Order and Character by popular Superromance Author, Abby Gaines

Ruthy here: A brief intro...

Well. Brief by Ruthy standards!!!

I first came across Abby when she was coordinating a contest I entered. Now, mind you, I'd entered twice, and was pretty sure of myself (like you're surpised, right???) and when I got the results back, I think I kind of sat down in my chair, stared at the numbers and the comments, and then hired a crane to lift my lower lip back in the vicinity of my jaw.

Abby's first contact with me was when I blew judge #1 in (the only time I have ever done that, EVER...) for her unprofessionalism. And the second manuscript was wonderfully judged, that judge was spot on, tight and knew her stuff, but the first one...

Oh mylanta. I e-mailed Abby only because I'd just finished coordinating the Barclay Sterling and had been a category coordinator for the Genesis for two years. I figured I'd want to know if something was that wrong, that far gone because a contest's reputation is staked on those awesome judges that give of their time and talents.

That was our first encounter. Oddly enough, she still likes me. We haven't quite figured that out yet, but I'm content. I like being liked! Abby's bright, refreshing and humorous writing has been well received both in Superromance and the Nascar line. Read what she's got to say about birth order and characterization and leave your e-mail in your comment for a chance at an Abby Gaines romance.

I promise, you won't be sorry!




I’ve always been fascinated by the science of birth order, by how a person’s position in their family – oldest, middle child, youngest, or only child – affects their personality, decision-making, education, career and even their marriage.

Some years ago I read The New Birth Order Book, by Kevin Leman (available in CBA bookstores). Dr. Leman is a youngest child, so the tone of his book is a little too me-me-me for my oldest child sensibilities. I’m not dissing the good doctor here, I’m just saying that birth order also affects how one writes and reads! My own preference is for a crisper, more authoritative style, but that’s because oldest children are usually as bossy as youngest children are self-indulgent.

I found I shook up my writing when I considered other birth orders for my characters, both heroes and heroines. Think now about your current wip, and ask yourself where your hero or heroine fits in the family. There’s a good chance you’ve defaulted to the oldest or only child and that’s not surprising – romance novel heroes are usually successful, commanding, often bossy, and those are often traits of the oldest or only child. My early novels, and in fact most of the romance novels I can think of, have featured heroes who were oldest or only children, or psychological oldest children (meaning, for example, there was a big age gap between them and the next kid up the line).

The same goes for heroines. We like our heroines to be responsible and independent, again biggies for the oldest child. I’m not saying others in the family don’t have these qualities, by the way, it’s just that they often present themselves most strongly in the oldest.

But I’ve found that using the other kids in the family adds variety to my work. I’ve recently completed two trilogies – Those Merritt Girls is a Harlequin Superromance trilogy about three sisters, and for Harlequin NASCAR I’ve written three books about the Matheson brothers.

It was a lot of fun creating a realistic family dynamic for those series, based on the mindsets of different birth orders. The characters’ goals and conflicts rose naturally out of their birth orders, and that made it easier to develop each story.

You’ll notice I haven’t said anything about middle children yet – and that’s not surprising because those middles are so often overlooked! But middle children are perhaps the most complex, certainly the most mysterious, in the family – lots of conflict for the eager writer to mine.

So, next time you’re trying to come up with a fresh character, put some thought into which birth order you’ll use. There are other books as well as Dr. Leman’s and it’s well worth reading up on the subject.

If you have questions or comments about birth order, please fire away. One commenter will win their choice of either Her Surprise Hero (Superromance, Jan 2010, third in the Those Merritt Girls series), or The Comeback (Harlequin NASCAR, Feb 2010, the third Matheson brothers book). In case you’re wondering, Her Surprise Hero is the oldest daughter’s story, and The Comeback is the middle son’s story.

Ruthy again... Coffee's on and IT'S FRIDAY!!!! Reason enough to grab a mug and pop in, tell Abby all about your H/H and how they match up in birth order. It's amazing how life's patterns affect us in so many ways!