Minxy Birthday Giveaway!

We're celebrating over at the Minxes of Romance this month, because it's our birthday!

We have lots going on and competitions galore - first up this week, you have the chance to win Lorraine Wilson's beautiful Riva Bag. This is the prize winning bag that caused a stir in the Mills & Boon competition, and it could be all yours!!

Come on over, we'd love to see you.

Plot-tastic

In my last post I mentioned my big grand plan, and here it is, slap bang in the middle of my dining room table. It's taken me the best part of today to build it, and just looking at it makes me grin!

I saw the method outlined on the fantabulous Julie Cohen's blog yesterday, and it's turned out to be a really invaluable help. I was getting myself in a right old tangle with everything - muddled up subplots, & characters who were behaving ,well, completely out of character.
Doing it this way has organised the jumbled threads into colour co-ordinated plot lines, and it's helped me to realise that I had some things happening in the wrong places. I swear I had to move those notes around at least five zillion times before I could finally stick them down - and even now they are moveable if necessary.
It's nowhere near as organised as Julie's example, but for a first crack i'm feeling pretty pleased with it and fired up with fresh focus.
Let me at it!

Juggling around my pans a little...

I heard the verdict back from Mills & Boon today on the partial sub (one chapter & synopsis)  I had in with them - it's a no go, unfortunately. At thirty weeks it's been a killer of a wait, but I very much appreciate the fact that they took the time to give me some detailed feedback and ideas of how to improve it. I'm going to take some time to mull it all over. Rejections need a little time to settle in, don't they? This one somehow feels less of a blow than the last, which hopefully means I'm developing that thick skin we're told we need. From here on in, you have my permission to call me rhino-girl.

They also advised me to send any future submissions via slush, so it feels sort of like the end of that particular leg of my writing journey. It started when I entered the 2009 writing comp and was lucky enough to place, and it's been an up and down ride since.
I've learned so much from working with a lovely editor, i've met some terrific friends, and I hope i've grown as a writer.

My grand plan ( you have to have a plan, and it's gotta be grand, right?) is to take some time out from targeting series romance and continue writing the single title i'm working on at the moment.  It's my first attempt and I have no clue what i'm doing, but I'm having a fabulous time doing it.
So, i'm going to rearrange my metaphorical pans around a little on the cooker. I'm pulling my ST pan to the front and turning it up to a vigorous boil, and winding my beloved series romance pan down to a simmer on the back ring. Please don't let any of my gasses blow out!
Why, when I type that, do I feel like the new kid on the playground again? It's like playing dress up, trying on different outfits to see which one is the best fit. Trouble is, I really kinda loved my feather boa and I feel like someone's told me to put it back in the box.
Not that any of it's a game, I realise. It's all bloody hard work, whether series or single title.

These last couple of years have taught me one big, huge, amazing thing though. I truly, truly love writing. It makes me happy, it makes me laugh, it makes me cry, and I want to do it forever.