Sharp Words

I want to write a round-up report to tell about how awesome everyone I met at conference is, and to post pics, and all that. But, unfortunately, I am still on the road with SmartAss.  Which is not to say there is anything unfortunate about being on the road with him. You know it must be true love when the road trips rock. Anyway, next week I’ll be home and stationary and back at my regular sized keyboard (the laptop kb bugs). I’ll make with the conference pics, and some pics of the beautiful, beautiful Pacific Northwest (including Powell’s City of Books in Portland, OR — squee!)

…saying, “There was an earthquake? Huh. Didn’t notice it. I was writing.”

I’m already in California. Which makes my announcement that I will soon be headed to the RWA conference in San Francisco a little less dramatic. It certainly deprives me of a great blog post title, because I refuse–refuse!–to reference “I left my heart in San Francisco.” On the other hand, three cheers for commuter flights! So, anyway, Yippee! I’m going to a conference. Yay! I may even see La Nora in person!

hearts & butterflies,

b

P.S.  I’ll be posting the final installment of “Terra Obscura” on Tuesday. (Sorry about the lack of post this week, I miscalculated and started the run a week early.)

I have always considered my ability to read while sitting in a moving vehicle to be one of the greater blessings in my life. Certainly, it has saved my sanity on many long car trip. Now, I’m facing a trip of about 14 hours each way. Looking on the bright side, I can say the trip may give me a chance to finally achieve my lifelong dream of seeing the World’s (3rd) Largest Fire Hydrant in person. Also, it should yield some great reading and writing time. The only problem is: What should I read?

I already have Anne Aguirre’s Wanderlust and Shiloh Walker’s Through the Veil on my list, but that still leaves me 3-4 books short. Please, please, please comment with your recomendations for sci-fi, fantasy, romance or urban fantasy–my sanity is on the line here.

I’m around, but busy, tired and uninspired–uninspired, at least when it comes to email and blogging. The writing, though, is going pretty well. And my math class is starting to make sense. Which is good, because the final is only 3 weeks away! If I pass, you’d better believe I’ll be blogging about it.

The best birthday presents are things you never expected. For example, this very strange birthday link from the lovely and talented Kate R. (a.k.a. Summer Devon)
There are also a couple of fortuitous events that just happened to happen on my birthday. The first was the Best.Sale.Ever! It’s like this: The Macy’s in Pasadena is housed in a historic building (which, in LA, means it’s like 60 years old. Los Angeles Architecture years are like dog years.). So, because they want to bring the building back to its former glory, the very astute execs at Macy’s decided to clear the entire store to the bare walls, and embark on a six-month renovation plan. What did this mean for me? It meant at least 80% off shoes!

In a way, I feel my shopping life has peaked. Never again will I encounter so magnificent a sale. Never again will I buy a pair of adorably impractical $125 patent-leather peep-toe platform stilettos for the low, low price of $10.78. I wish I could post pics, but my desktop computer is still out of commission.

The other nice thing that happened today was this shout-out for Ember from Jenny Rappaport, an agent with L. Perkins Agency, on the company blog, LIT SOUP. Thanks, Jenny!

I’m talking about the authors of the Novel Synopsis Project which I found through a link on Lynn Viehl’s Paperback Writer blog. The Novel Synopsis Project links to 25 author blogs on synopsis writing–with actual synopses from books I’ve enjoyed and admired as the examples.

As it happens, my current source of stress–other than STAT 50–is the synopsis I’m working on for Vapor Trail, my full-length first-person sci-fi romance. One thing this synopsis has in common with STAT 50? It is kicking my ass.

In fact, it may be kicking my ass a little more than statistics. Statistics has formulas I can memorize which, if implemented correctly, make all the numbers come out just right. The synopsis isn’t nearly so easy.

Fortunately, reviewing the diverse synopses listed on the Novel Synopsis Project has convinced me that while there’s no formula–magic or mathematic–to writing a great synopsis, a few words of advice with real-life examples can be pretty damn helpful.

Thanks to all the generous authors who participated in this informative and enormously helpful excercise. You’re angels, each and every one.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve a synopsis to finish…

For the moment, I’m back among the living. But I’m still going to keep this brief. Here goes: What the hell is up with authorial branding?

Kate’s post about authorial taglines got me thinking about all the advice authors get to “build a brand”. And, certainly, plenty of authors do just that, creating different pseudonyms for different genres, sub-genres or heat-levels. I guess if you write both erotic and non-erotic romance, a different “brand name” is a good way to let your readers know what to expect from your story.

But what do you do when you don’t even know what to expect from your stories?
I write what interests me, and I have the attention span of a gnat. Maybe I’ve already messed this one up. Ember and Like a Thief aren’t very alike–not genre, not heat-level, not POV or tone. People who wanted something like Ember were probably disappointed by Like a Thief.

And when I look at the WsIP on my hard drive, with the exception of Nieves, which is the sequel to Ember, and Split which features characters from Like a Thief, everything else is very dissimilar. 3 sci-fi in 3 completely different futures (okay, two and a half) and 2 fantasy stories in two completely different worlds. 4 first person narrations. 1 3rd person. 1 scorching erotic, 2 regular romances and 2 that have “romantic elements”. Two of those WsIP don’t even have bad-girl heroines! What the fuck am I thinking?

Anyway, here’s my question: How important is authorial branding. How important is it to get the type of story you expect from an author you know?

When I said Hammet & Chandler titles, I meant the actual titles, not the plots or characters. You don’t have to have read the books to get the answer. Good luck.

And if no one sends the right answer by the end of the contest, I’ll do trivia or something. I am determined to give away that $25.

Happy Thanksgiving! Spend time with your family. Eat a big meal. Watch way too much football. And curl up with a good book.