Rowena Sudbury writes m/m romance and is published with Dreamspinner Press.

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Select a title below, click the cover for more information.

The King's Tale

"Magic of Lammas"

"Silent Night"

Promises and Lies

"Depth Perception"

"Blue Moon"

The King's Heart

"Red Sunset"

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Find me on the web...

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Sorry, but I've had to change this journal's settings to only allow comments from registered users. I'm getting far too many spam comments, even with the catchpa enabled. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I never planned to go public with this because I thought it would be all over by now, but at each juncture it gets more out of control. So, I've decided to share this crazy story.

In February I had my annual mammogram. A week later they called to tell me I needed to have it redone, and that I had to schedule it for a time when the radiologist was there. Because that would mean taking a day off from work, I opted to do it on the first day of my Spring Break. Also, I had major lung surgery 30 years ago, and I suspected that whatever they were seeing was scar tissue from that surgery as the adhesions have been bothering me more lately. During that second mammogram they also did an ultrasound, and that's when I began to suspect something might really be wrong. They found a mass. Of course it was impossible to tell anything about it from the ultrasound, other than the fact that it didn't look anything like a cyst. They scheduled me for a biopsy the following week.

During the biopsy, usually if the needle is inserted and the mass deflates then it is a cyst, and they take a fluid sample to test. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and in fact I heard the doctor say the word necrotic tissue. This also led me to believe it was left over scar tissue. They took a tissue sample, inserted a marker, and I was done.

Three days later the doctor called to tell me they'd found pre-cancerous cells. I panicked, as you can imagine. The following week I called a surgeon to make an appointment, and through scheduling conflicts and all, the appointment wasn't until the end of April. During that appointment I was informed that it was an intraductal papilloma, and that in 95% of those cases there's no cancer involved. I had to have what sounded like a fairly complicated procedure to remove the tissue, and that was scheduled for mid May.

For that procedure I had to go back to the imaging center, and during a mammogram they inserted a needle in the spot where the marker was left. This was worse than it sounds, being trapped in the mammogram machine for almost 20 minutes! A wire was attached to the marker and pulled through the skin, and I was admonished to move as little as possible on the ride back to the surgery clinic. From that point on it was pretty straight forward. They put me under local anesthesia, and removed the mass. It then had to be sent back to the imaging center to ensure the marker was removed, and I stayed under anesthesia while that happened. I had two days recovery, and on the third day I had the most pain, but I'm pretty much back to normal now.

The pathology reports were ready yesterday, and because we all thought I'd get a clean bill of health, my husband didn't go with me to the appointment. My son took me over, but he wasn't in the room with me when I got the news...I have cancer. It's an encapsulated carcinoma, and apparently it's very rare to have one in the breast. In fact, the surgeon has never seen it before, so he says he needs to meet with his colleagues to discuss it. Even in the lab where they analyzed the results the conferred with one another according to the report. We agreed that we'd either talk with him on the phone, or make another appointment before we decide exactly what to do. There are 2 options, the more radical of which is a full mastectomy.

Just like when I write m/m romance novels, I can't do anything normally. I write a historical romance, and while the history is fairly accurate, the homosexual history is not. Thus, The King's Tale is a hybrid that is either scorned, or loved. My health has always been that way too. When I was in my early twenties, both of my lungs collapsed spontaneously. Fortunately not at the same time, but it was something that was very rare. So now, while the prognosis for this type of cancer I have is good (it says that right on the pathology report, and the doctor said to me, "If you had to get cancer, this is the kind you'd want to get!"), it's still something out of the ordinary. My husband made me cry yesterday when I told him I can't do anything normal, he said "That's why I love you!"

I don't mean to dwell on this, so I won't update about it again until it's hopefully all over. That was the reason why I had kept my silence until now...I was hoping it would be "nothing."

I'm pleased to share this magical review for Red Sunset, courtesy of Top 2 Bottom Reviews.

http://top2bottomreviews.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/red-sunset-by-rowena-sudbury/

Sequel for Blue Moon

Finding love in the wrestling arena is unlikely, and a relationship based on the illusion of control isn't easy. Scott O’Doul and Brad Fraser have managed both: one night under a blue moon's light they found they meant more to each other than either expected. Their comfortable world is shattered when Brad is released, and he must head to Japan if he wants to keep wrestling. The work is exciting but lonely—six weeks seems an eternity. Once Brad and Scott reunite, they vacation at a lakeside cabin and find the miles apart have brought them closer—but they’ll need courage if illusion of control is to become the heart of love.

Buy the book at DSP

It took me 4 years to get to this point, but I finally got here.

As of this past Saturday I'm no longer looking at Good Reads.

Here is one way I'm different than a lot of people: I'm pretty reserved. For example, I've had some heavy duty health concerns weighing on me for over a month. I have a feeling that if I blurted them out there might be a lot of concern and sympathy, and that might even light a fire under my book sales. But, I have no plans to blurt them out. Look at it this way, I haven't even shared the news with most of my own personal friends.

Suffice to say, the process with releasing Red Sunset has been daunting because of these extenuating circumstances. The lackluster response, and very down sales, have just devastated me more than they should have. I realize in this modern, digital age it is my responsibility to market the book, and get the interest going. But in my frozen state it has been difficult for me to do it. Instead, I just sit here and mourn the fact that the book is now my lowest rated book, and people seem to delight in bashing the hell out of it.

Put in perspective, view it this way. My passion is historical romance (flawed of course, because it's medieval and it ignores actual history). My first contemporary romance, Promises and Lies, was not well received at all. My faulty "market research" is to blame for that one. I thought it was the kind of story people wanted, but....apparently it's so "poorly written" that people didn't want it after all. My next contemporary was Blue Moon. I expected...well, I really didn't know what to expect. Part of me thought it would flop like Promises and Lies did, but part of me was hopeful because it was a more solidly written offering (in my own opinion of course). Shock of shocks, when Blue Moon came out there was a raft of fantastic reviews from the review sites. I was blown away, and humbled by the glowing praise. Ecstatic is a word that comes to mind. After the bloom was off the rose, the actual readers piped in with their shouts of "Boring! Nothing Happens!" and I was knocked down a peg or two emotionally.

Now that Red Sunset is out, there's nothing. It doesn't make any bestseller lists, and has no reviews from review sites. There's one great review on GoodReads (and those kind words went a long way last week) and I received at least one nod from a fellow author that was a boost to my sagging spirits. Other GoodReads reviewers are delighting in bashing it in ways that suggest they haven't read Blue Moon first. I guess this is always an inevitability with a sequel, but the two-year-old inside me screams, "It's not fair!"

At this moment in time I'm not writing anything. I'm not working on anything. I have a whole sequel for Red Sunset lined out in notes. I'm afraid to spend six months working on it. I've also begun to revisit my sketchy notes for making Depth Perception into a full fledged story. Oddly enough, it's the cover that the wonderful Anne Cain made for Red Sunset that kick-started that project. And of course, there's always the final book in The King's Tale series to write, that one is also completely outlined.

I say this not to get sympathy, frankly I doubt anyone has continued to read this far, but there are days when I realize I'm not really cut out to be a writer. This past year my day job has taken all my energy to the point where when I get home at the end of the day my brain is mush. In all the little downtime pockets I've given up writing time for wine-tasting trips. My high sensitivity stands between me and my goals. I think about getting out there to promote myself, but then I don't end up doing it.

Yesterday was the 2013 Day of Silence. Harmony Ink Press ran a promotion where they posted little stories to celebrate the day. Fortunately for them, they received so many stories they've had to spread them out over the whole weekend. Here is mine, Brad and Scott from Blue Moon and Red Sunset:

Day of Silence in Denver

In the mean time, the only reviews for Red Sunset are negative ones....judge for yourself with your own copy!

Red Sunset @ Dreamspinner Press....is it really as bad as they say it is? Or is it a loving continuation of the story of Brad and Scott? Only you know for sure ;)

Red Sunset is the sequel for Blue Moon. Here are some facts about both books:

1. Both books are classified as "BDSM/Kink".

2. Neither book portrays a classic BDSM relationship. It is very clearly stated in Blue Moon that Brad likes things a little rough, and Scott is willing to give him what he wants.

3. It is clear they have a relationship with the "illusion of control".

4. Red Sunset has fewer sex scenes than Blue Moon, and I thought the sex was less kinky.

5. Red Sunset has a higher heat level than Blue Moon on ARe.

6. These are both books where nothing happens.

7. Although you can read Red Sunset without reading Blue Moon, I don't recommend it because you will lose aspects of the story.

8. I'm proud of both books, and I put a lot of time, effort, and heart into both of them. I like these men, and I like their story.



I'm only outlining these ideas because if you buy the book expecting a lot of hot and heavy BDSM, you will be disappointed.

"Red Sunset"

Finding love in the wrestling arena is unlikely, and a relationship based on the illusion of control isn't easy. Scott O’Doul and Brad Fraser have managed both: one night under a blue moon's light they found they meant more to each other than either expected. Their comfortable world is shattered when Brad is released, and he must head to Japan if he wants to keep wrestling. The work is exciting but lonely—six weeks seems an eternity. Once Brad and Scott reunite, they vacation at a lakeside cabin and find the miles apart have brought them closer—but they’ll need courage if illusion of control is to become the heart of love.

Buy this book
Dreamspinner Press
Amazon
B&N Nook

Red Sunset Reviews
Top2BottomReviews

Read an excerpt:

( Read more...Collapse )

Here's my little secret:

The King's Tale was published originally in 2009. Back then I was very excited over every review I got. I really wanted Two Lips Reviews to review the book. They never did, but I still went there every day to devour all their other reviews.

Now, nearly four years later, Two Lips has reviewed not only The King's Tale, but The King's Heart as well....AND both received a "recommended read" designation! I'm over the moon!

The King's Tale

The King's Heart



What a good April Fools' Day this has been!

♥

This is the picture I found while searching for a bee in my bonnet. The title of the picture is a man "beeing bribeb"....wacky!

Anyway, the sub title of this entry is Contractions are a Thing...

I'm not sure why people get so up in arms over contractions. It's like they're the new adverbs or something. I've read, in more than one place, people saying they couldn't get into a book because of a lack of contraction usage. Really?

The original place I read it was in a review of Blue Moon. The reviewer didn't like the fact that Scott rarely used contractions.

Oddly enough, along with the fact that Nothing Ever Happens in my books, I really get into character building. I was building Scott's character with his lack of contractions. I don't want to give too much away about Red Sunset, but Scott is beginning to unbend, and now he's starting to use contractions. Maybe after Red Sunset comes out I'll write another post about that.

The latest knock on contractions came in a generic post about medieval romances. The person didn't mention which medieval books they read, but since I've written two myself my hackles went up. I got the impression that the medieval speech was too difficult to read due to the lack of contractions. Great. As if my semi-accurate speech patterns weren't enough, now there are droves of readers who balk at the lack of contractions.

I will not apologize for the lack of contractions in either my medieval or contemporary works. I have my reasons for not using them (character building in the contemporary works, and semi-accurate language in the medieval works). It's just one more thing to add to the list of "why I'll never read your stuff Rowena Sudbury!"

I ask you, if you dare, tell me why this contraction lack is so important?

Taking a break from working on the second round of edits for Red Sunset to post a little entry about the biggest downfall I face as a writer:



I know, it looks like a coiled chain, but it's really a comma. Such a small little thing, but it really is my nemesis.

I read the fantastic book Eats, Shoots, and Leaves a few years ago. If you haven't read it, you should, it's quite amusing and informative. It starts out with a little story about a panda bear. The bear goes into a restaurant and orders a sandwich. When he's done with the sandwich he jumps up and shoots a gun in the air twice, then turns to leave. The startled waiter asks why the panda shot a gun in the middle of the restaurant. The panda tosses him a "poorly punctuated wild animal guide" and quips, "I'm a panda. It's what we do. Look it up." Of course, the entry should read "eats shoots and leaves" ...but it says "eats, shoots, and leaves."

A variation is the ever popular: "Let's eat Grandma!" as opposed to "Lets eat, Grandma!"

I'm not entirely sure why commas are such a problem for me. I have a rudimentary understanding of how to use them, but I always seem to misuse them. I still remember when I was going through edits on Promises and Lies I felt like they put a ton of commas in that I had apparently left out. With Red Sunset, however, I have the problem in reverse.

I guess all it means is that before I write anything else I need to lesson myself, again, on proper comma usage.

Maybe I'll read Eats, Shoots, and Leaves again.

Think about that for a moment.

I'm sure this is akin to opening a can of worms, but here goes anyway. I decided I want to keep track of all the books I read this year mainly because as I age I find my memory fails a little. I set up a separate Good Read account for this purpose. So far, all the books I've read have been for youngsters, but that okay because I like reading these books. I've read the whole Digger series (Ursula Vernon), a Jerry Spinelli (Eggs), and then I discovered Rebecca Stead.

I found the book When You Reach Me at a used book store, bought it for a dollar! It's a magical book! I left it a five-star rating, and even a very short review that said if I could give it more stars I would! After that I decided to read her other two books. Liar and Spy was good, just not as good as When You Reach Me. I left it a 4 star rating. Out of curiosity I scrolled through some of the ratings other users had posted for Liar and Spy. Bingo, I found a two star review that started with "I hate to give a low rating but..."

I've pretty much decided with this account I started to keep track of "books read in 2013" the lowest rating I'll leave is three stars. Honestly, I won't waste my time reading a "two star" book. In other words, if I'm disliking a book *that* much I'll stop reading it, and then not leave a rating at all. It's not because I don't want to hurt the author's feelings, it's because I still firmly believe that books are a personal thing. I don't decide which books to read by looking at what other people think about them. I'm not an authority on books, I just know what I like, and what I like might not be everyone's cup of tea.

What it comes down to this this, why do something you "hate" to do, i.e. leave a low rating. If you hate to do it, don't do it! It's not rocket science! Of course, I know why people do it, but far be it from me to step on anyone's toes.



Ahhhhh........

I purchased several pictures like the one above to put on my Facebook page, but I've discovered some strange things about Facebook. I don't play on Facebook that often. Because of that, I think most people don't see my posts. Additionally, on my "fan" page, people don't tend to see the links I post, or the pictures I post. So in essence, the money I spent on these pictures appears to have been wasted. Pity, I bought these three dreamy medieval knights from Shutterstock, and they weren't cheap. At least I can share them here. Inspiration maybe.

I was recently trying to come up with a blog topic, so I asked my Facebook followers, and this was the question they came up with:

During your creative process, do you like to compose at the computer or do you use pen/pencil on paper?
Do you chart out a timeline of a story or is time and storyline fluid?

The answer is....both!

First things first, all of my current published works have been written on a computer. I learned a long time ago that no matter how much I love pen and paper, it doesn't work for me being a "serious" writer. I love my words too much! I have a novel, and also a novella, written on paper. Every time I needed to change something I couldn't bring myself to throw the old pages away. The result was bulging binders! And also re-thinking every change of words until I gave up! Those works will never see the light of day, they're like patchwork quilts reflecting different phases of my writing career. In other words, parts of them sound terrific (the parts I wrote later in the process) and other parts sound amateurish. I keep them for myself, but even I don't read them anymore ;)



The King's Tale was all written on a computer, and it had no road map! Granted, as I got ideas to expand what was originally a short story, I wrote them with pen into a notebook. As a writer I don't think I could survive without a notebook and a big pouch of pens and pencils.

At first the notes were jumbled, just how I picture a messy writer's desk would be. I don't have my own office, so I tend to keep my writer's space fairly neat (it's in my bedroom). I let that wild messy creativeness fly out in my notebooks.

And then I attempted to make my notes neater with a new notebook, colored pens, highlighters, and little post-it note tabs.



The King's Heart had a road map, carefully laid out in the new, neat journal.

[Pause here for writer's introspection...the second book was not as widely "well received" as the first book. Did the planning botch the creativity? Did it seem too structured or formulaic? Actually...what I really think hurt the second book was the removal of a key scene, one I'd pretty much built the entire book around.]



Blue Moon, and the upcoming sequel Red Sunset were both hybrids. IE: a combination of planning, and letting the stories flow out. Blue Moon also started as a short story, but I was inspired by the characters, and as new ideas for them came along I extended the story to include them all. Much like The King's Tale, I jotted the notes in a notebook (the messy one ;) and then when I had time I wove them all together.

For Red Sunset, I had the kernel of an idea, and expanded the story around that idea. I have an inkling of an idea to write a third sequel (Purple Dawn), but as of right now I haven't even written down the notes.

So, getting back to the original questions...sometimes I sit down and let the story take on a life of its own, and other times I try to plan it out ahead of time. I'm happiest when the story just flows along of its own accord though.

The writing isn't bad but the story is dull and the characters aren't fleshed out. When I read, I want to get wrapped up in the book and feel something but all I felt with this one was boredom. There are no emotional highs or lows and no excitement.

Don't get me wrong, this 2 star Amazon review for Blue Moon doesn't really irk me all that much. It's the person's opinion, nothing more. Granted, I read it and think...no highs? no lows? Whu....? Are you sure you were reading my book? But, whatever, I'm sure the knock was what the entry title suggests...nothing happened.

In my books...nothing happens. They're love stories. My sole purpose in writing them is to study the human condition as it pertains to how love works on the emotions. There's no action. My characters aren't spies, or vampires, or shape-shifters. They don't do anything except exist in their worlds. They are kings, woodsmen....wrestlers! They live mundane little lives, but they burn with passion and have all the emotions that fill people who are in love.

I can't get mad at people who read my books and are disappointed with the fact that nothing happens, and believe me, this is not the first time I've been accused of being "boring." Reading should be an escape after all. For me the escape is diving into someone else's normal world and going through all their ups and downs as they revolve around love. I'm fascinated by that, so I write that. I can see where that doesn't work for other people. It's kind of a shame when they feel the need to give low ratings for my work...as the above reviewer notes, the writing isn't bad. But...it happens, and I've grown accustomed to it.

Twelve days into the new year, and I've still yet to write anything. Still trying to get my mind out of the whirlwind of things that have happened over the last few months, and I'm sure within a week, or two (or several) I'll be back at work on the next boring little book. I can't wait!

I was tagged by anne_barwell. These questions are supposed to pertain to a WIP, but I haven't had a lot of chance to write lately. So, I'll answer the questions about The King's Son because that's what I plan to work on next, and I have already begun on it.

What is the working title of your book?

The King's Son

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I don't want to give too much away about the plot. This is the story of Christopher's son, Anwyll, and a quest for vengeance. I guess all I can say is that the idea for this book came from the first book, The King's Tale.

What genre does your book fall under?

I guess I hesitate to call it "historical" since I think some people think I took too many liberties with actual history. As in, there were no kings in Cornwall at the time of the story, Christopher was given permission to hand-fast with Dafydd, and there was not a "kingdom of Lysnowydh." Instead I'll stick to the Timeless Dreams category. It's set in a relatively accurate historical setting, but I took a lot of liberties.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?

Oh my. I don't think I could come up with actors for Christopher and Dafydd. Their appearances are so set in my head I don't think anyone could really do them justice. For Cian (the new character) I'd probably pick Roy Dupuis just because he's so gorgeous. Also, Roy Dupuis is French Canadian, and Cian is French Irish. And, maybe Trent Ford for Anwyll. Maybe.

What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?

Anwyll sets out on a quest for vengeance, and along the way he discovers things about himself that lead him to fall in love where he didn't expect.

Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?

Not self-published. I'll send it to Dreamspinner since it's a sequel, really third part of a trilogy.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I'm still working on it, so I'm not sure. I plan to take my time with this one. I spent three years working on The King's Tale, and only a year and a half working on The King's Heart. I don't plan to take three years, but if it takes longer than a year and a half that's okay with me!

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre.

I'll admit I don't read a lot of books in this genre, not m/m books anyway. All my inspiration came from m/f historical romance novels. I can't precisely remember one that includes a quest of vengeance, but I'm sure there was somewhere along the way.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

Christopher and Dafydd inspired me to continue their story, encouragement comes from a very dear friend.

What else about your book might interest the reader?

There will be no instances of men sleeping with women in this book! In fact at this point I don't even intend to have any strong female characters in the book at all.

I was supposed to tag 4 people...but couldn't find anyone who hadn't already been tagged by someone else. If you're an author and you'd like to participate but haven't been tagged, please let me know and I'll add you to the post!

So, it's that time of year when people pause to reflect and make resolutions. I usually don't make any resolutions, and I don't plan to make any this year. I did want to take a moment to reflect on my writing career, so here goes.

2012 was a productive year for me. Blue Moon released in January, and I was stunned and humbled at the amount of "rave" reviews the novella received. In June The King's Heart was released, and I'll admit it did not receive the amount of attention I'd anticipated. At the same time my first book The King's Tale was released as a second edition. Toward the end of the year I received a contract to publish Red Sunset, sequel for Blue Moon. In the end, it was a satisfying year for me as a writer.

What follows are some specific thoughts I've had about what's on the horizon for me as a writer.

I would be lying if I said I never had thoughts of giving up. I think everyone does. It's not rejection that makes me want to give up, rejection makes me work harder. Both Promises and Lies and Blue Moon were rejected, Promises and Lies was rejected more than once. Two things make me want to give up, the editing process and feeling under appreciated. Granted, both of these things fall under the "writer's ego" category, but be that as it may I did have thoughts of throwing in the towel this year.

I'll preface this bit by saying that I realize the editing process is designed to make one a better writer. It does make me a better writer, and it does make me examine new work with a keener eye.

When I went through the editing process with The King's Tale it was a breeze! I got on my own "high horse" and said, "I knew I was a good writer!" Things were a little trickier when I went through the process with Promises and Lies, but I will admit I didn't spend as much time crafting that book as I did with The King's Tale. It was after that when the whole editing thing started making me feel like I wanted to give up.

I know editors are just doing their job, and as time went on I realized they were being tough for a reason. I guess the issue is that sometimes a little grease for the wheels goes a long way. Blue Moon was relatively easy to deal with, I believe there was a little honey spread over the negative remarks.

But, it was the edit of The King's Heart, and re-edit of The King's Tale that made me want to give up. Quite honestly, there was very little in the way of positive comments offered during the editing of The King's Heart, and any that were seemed of the back-handed variety. It was an uphill battle for sure. For months after the edits were completed I couldn't bring myself to work on Red Sunset, why bother if the whole thing was going to be hacked apart?

In the end I sucked it up, and pressed on. I fully expect to go through another painful editing process with this novella, but I'll grow some balls and deal with it I reckon. And I've decided that editing will not be the death of me, and I won't give up for that reason.

Feeling under appreciated is a whole other ball of wax. Due to my highly sensitive nature, this is just par for the course. I know that the main reason I feel this way is because I allow myself to feel this way. Believe me, I've had hundreds of inner conversations with myself over it, and I've finally determined to not let it get me down. At least until the next time it does, but as always, I suffer in silence.

Now that I'm at the end of this entry, I'll mention one last thing specifically about The King's Heart.



The King's Heart was meant to be a bridge book between The King's Tale and the followup I'd always intended, The King's Son. I'll admit that the main reason I wrote it was a selfish one: I wanted more of the relationship between Dafydd and Christopher, and The King's Son was meant to focus on Anwyll and the lover I intend to create for him, Cian.

Having said that though, the reason The King's Heart was necessary was to address the change in Dafydd. Or perhaps not a change as much as a reversion as Dafydd ended up more like he was before he met Christopher and was sucked up into his world.

The primary bone of contention with some readers of The King's Tale was the inclusion of the character Marged. Bear in mind, my grand scheme once the story started to unfold was Christopher needed a son if the story were to continue, and being it was medieval times he needed to lie with a woman in order to produce a child. Early on in the book it's suggested that Christopher is bi-sexual. I understand that many people had issues with Christopher having a loving relationship with Marged, and perhaps they felt he was cheating on Dafydd. My only defense for that, feeble as it might sound, is that it was a different time, and I don't think you can assign modern beliefs to medieval characters. Yes, perhaps I should have had Christopher sleep with Marged "off screen"...but I still maintain I was attempting to build his character. For me personally, one of the key scenes is the night Christopher first sleeps with Marged. He leaves her alone in his bed and goes to Dafydd. After Marged's admission that her introduction to love-making (prior to Christopher) was a painful one, Christopher is troubled. When he tells Dafydd that he feels safe inside him, that is a huge admission for a king to make. *That* is the reason why I had him sleep with her "on screen." Perhaps the second time wasn't necessary, but I kept the scenes short and didn't realize how much it would bother some people.

This brings me to the thing that festers in my soul about The King's Heart. Marged is again a character, but her role is simply Anwyll's mother, and Patrick's wife. She has conversations with both Dafydd and Christopher, but of course there's no reason for her to share Christopher's bed again. She doesn't. It broke my heart to see people making those accusations, so I had to don my writer's armor and cease to search those discussions out.

In conclusion...my writer's goals for 2013 are these:

First, don't lose hope during the editing of Red Sunset.

Second, lose myself in writing The King's Son.

If anything else comes my way, I'll embrace it wholeheartedly!

Thanks knowmefirst...thanks for the new user-head!!!

Merry Christmas!

I am in introvert. I am truly much happier keeping to myself, but as a writer I've noticed that sometimes this bites me in the ass. Social media is one example of this.

My main avenue of social media is Facebook. I've found it is easier to "socialize" on that platform with people I know (my personal Facebook page for example). It's kind of a conundrum because introverts don't tend to like face to face interactions, and online all that face to face stress is removed. Even so, I tend to keep to myself.

I suppose there are several reasons for this. First of all, I really don't like to draw attention to myself, even if it's positive. I know that seems strange, but that is a deep-seated truth about me. Second, I feel like I have a limited amount of time for online things because I have a busy and somewhat tiring "real life." (Plus, I'm old, so I get tired more easily). And third, I've always felt socially awkward...I'm the kind of person who will say the wrong thing, and everyone ends up staring at me. To avoid that I keep my mouth shut. But then, that goes back to the first point, if I say something that everyone finds amusing, or deep, then I begin to feel uncomfortable that I'm the center of attention.

Facebook claims that without promoting your posts you will engage 15% of your friends. I find that to be an exaggeration. When I don't promote my posts, I engage far less than 15% of the 609 "likes" I have. The only time I do engage 15% is when I can manage to get people to respond to my posts, and that's not very often.

Lately, in order to mollify myself, I've been thinking of it in these terms. Back in the '80s I had time to read, primarily because there was no ready access to the Internet (the Internet sucks up extra time for me). My favorite author at that time was Roberta Gellis. I devoured all her books, reading them several times just for the sheer joy of her characters, the situations, and the wonderful language of her historical romances. I became obsessed, I wanted to read every single book she had ever written. I managed to find most of them, but there were three I could never find, her first three. I looked at many bookstores (back then, before Amazon, there were lots of bookstores) including a store that specialized in historical romances. Nothing, I could not find the books anywhere. In desperation, I wrote a letter (an actual letter, mailed with an actual stamp) to the publisher. I got a response too! They told me the books were out of print and no longer available. Disheartened, I gave up.

And then one day I was shopping at an outlet mall. There was a bargain bookstore there, and lo and behold they had all three books, and they were new! I was thrilled!!! Of course, I devoured them too, and joy of joy they were all medieval!

So, my point is this. I was a RABID Roberta Gellis fan, but she never knew it. I didn't write online reviews for her books, obviously because there was no "online." I didn't sent her fan mail, and I didn't have access to her at all. To mollify myself, I tell myself that I have fans like that out there in the world. True or not, it makes me feel better.

I can be a very patient person, except when it comes to my books. So, here is a story about waiting, and how it sometimes drives me mad.

Book One: The King's Tale

Admittedly, I did not have any idea what to expect when I sent my first book off to a publisher. I read, and re-read, the website. It said I would expect a confirmation of receipt within 5 days. I can't remember the other time-frames, but all in all I expected I'd be waiting up to six weeks to hear if they wanted it. After I sent it off, I got a response 40 minutes later that they had received it! Back in those days they only wanted the first 25 pages of a manuscript from an unpublished author. Within two days they asked me for the full manuscript. During this time I spent a lot of time standing around waiting, literally. I stood at the front window of my kitchen and looked out at the street. I was nervous as a cat!

All told, it was two weeks and three days of waiting (17 days) and I had a contract! Now, I told myself this was probably not to be expected every single time, but it set a precedent that has since been my downfall.

Book Two: Silent Night

Of course, this isn't a book, it's a short story for the Christmas anthology, but I'll add it anyway. I waited three weeks and four days (25 days).

Book Three: Promises and Lies

This one was problematic. I sent it to the publisher as a short story, after 20 days they sent me a rejection! The reason was it didn't have a happy ending. At that time they were not accepting Bittersweet Dreams, so they simply didn't want a story without a happy ending. I decided to take the time to write it into a novel, since I already had all the ideas. I sent it again, 22 days later I got another rejection. A sane person would have given up, but I admit I'm not sane. I made revisions and sent it again. Six weeks later (42 days) I received a contract.

As a side note, this poor story was rejected and revised so many times. Lots of hiccups with this one, that's why it's my red-headed step-child.

Good readers summarize, so here's where we are so far:

The King's Tale -- 17 days
Silent Night -- 25 days
Promises and Lies -- 42 days

Book Four: Blue Moon

This was another hit and miss manuscript. The first time I sent it I waited four weeks and two days (30 days) for a rejection. I put it away and meant to never look at it again. But I liked the story, so after a year and three months, and lots of revisions, I sent it again. This time I only waited five weeks (35 days) before receiving a contract.

Book Five: The King's Heart

Waiting for word on The King's Tale turned out to be easy, it was a little over 2 weeks all together. Waiting for Promises and Lies was a trial. After four weeks I got to the tipping point where I raged to myself that I was "no good" and "why don't they just reject it already!" Maybe the rejections of both that book and Blue Moon led me to this point, I'm not sure. All I know is that when I sent this fifth book in I nearly gave up hope.

For The King's Heart, I waited six weeks and four days (46 days), the longest wait yet. During the last two weeks of the wait I had totally given up. I was close to just writing them a letter and asking them why it was taking so long to reject it!

Summary time:

The King's Tale -- 17 days
Silent Night -- 25 days
Promises and Lies -- 42 days
Blue Moon -- 30 days
The King's Heart -- 46 days

This brings me to my latest bout with submissions...

Book Six: Red Sunset

By now the guidelines on the publisher's website state: acknowledgement of receipt in five to seven days, final word in six to eight weeks.

I sent Red Sunset in, and by day seven I had no word of receipt. This was a difficult wait, because in all other cases I received word from them either the same day I made the submission, or the next day. Finally on day seven I sent them an email. Right away I received a response that yes, indeed, they did have it and an apology that they had neglected to inform me.

After that I told myself, "You will be waiting a full eight weeks to hear on this one, so go about your life and don't fret." At the five week mark, even though I still forbade myself to fret, I started checking my email more frequently. Six weeks came and went, still no fretting, but still a lot of checking. Maybe now...no. Now? No.

At the seven week mark I was fine one day, and sunk in despair the next. That's it, they're not accepting it. Of course, there were extenuating circumstances this time (a personal, family issue), but I let myself slide over the edge into despair. Four days after the seven week mark I got a contract for the book (53 days).

The King's Tale -- 17 days
Silent Night -- 25 days
Promises and Lies -- 42 days
Blue Moon -- 30 days
The King's Heart -- 46 days
Red Sunset -- 53 days

Thus, the end of the saga, and the good news that in April or May of 2013 Red Sunset will be published, the continuation of the story of Brad and Scott.

For future reference, I do plan a final book in The King's Tale series, and one day I hope to write another book for the Blue Moon series. My next project though is a Christmas story. Too late for this year, but I'll have it ready for next year's anthology (hopefully).

I keep meaning to write "regular" blogs, about topics related to my books, but other things keep getting in the way. So, here's another list of things as opposed to an actual blog.

My books

I fretted a bit when I found out some of my titles have fallen off in sales. That's one of the reasons why I need to write blogs on topics as diverse as BDSM and medieval heartbreak. There is a sleeper in the bunch though, and I hate to jinx it by saying its name, but one of my older titles seems to have picked up a bit. The "red-headed step-child" seems to be smoldering again. Sometimes I wish I just didn't worry about these things.

Vagaries of Facebook Fan Pages

So, apparently Facebook changed the rules? Fan pages only reach 15% of their audiences unless the administrator promotes the posts. I'm not made of money, and relative to what I said above, I'm not raking in the big bucks selling my books, so this brings me to a conundrum. Do I promote all my posts? Do I say, "Who cares how many fans I have?" What to do, what to do. I have promoted a few posts, but they don't net a lot of new fans. Also, within a few days afterwards, I end up losing a few fans. Five dollars for four fans only to lose two fans three days later is not good math in my book. I've asked my "fans" what they would like to see on the page...but since I'm only reaching 15% of them I don't get a lot of response. It's a head-scratcher for sure.

Writing? What's that?

Haven't been able to get to work on anything due to the hectic nature of my "real life"....and then when I see sales reports I think, "Sheesh, maybe I shouldn't even bother." I have a notebook full of ideas, but at this point I haven't started on anything new, and the scary part is I'm not bothered by that fact.