tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37300982012-01-01T19:13:03.739-06:00Life, liberty and the pursuit of a writing career.Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.comBlogger161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-90276776626706483562010-01-01T17:15:00.002-06:002011-12-30T17:16:51.672-06:00

Let's try this out and see what happens

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1124222676121818862005-08-16T14:14:00.000-05:002005-08-16T15:04:36.130-05:00

Visit me at Romancing the Blog. You'll find my post on the announced demise of Harlequin Romances. Since I'm into sharing my various theories lately, I'll share one more. Whatever publishers do to attract twenty something readers to romances--something they've seemed obsessed with for the last decade--they will never completely succeed. Why? Because we all read to meet certain basic

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1123681852436882032005-08-15T08:43:00.000-05:002005-08-16T14:13:22.613-05:00

I read Maili Ryan's Romancing the blog contribution yesterday with fascination. And the comments were downright insulting to those of us who don't especially love hawt (guess we can't spell it 'hot' any more) sex scenes in our romances.I've had a theory about romance readers for a long time now. I think the people who are fortunate enough to have very good sex lives themselves aren't

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1123681316311903302005-08-10T08:01:00.000-05:002005-08-10T08:41:56.316-05:00

The RWA conference is over for another year. And after--I'd have to go through lots of stuff to figure out how many RWA conferences I've actually been to--at least 12 of the annual events, I'm amazed to find that, for once, I didn't come home inspired and rarin' to write. Ever since I got home, I've been trying to figure out why it didn't do it's usual magic. I went to some workshops. I saw

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1119146707292188602005-06-18T21:02:00.000-05:002005-07-01T00:07:54.953-05:00

When I was 'attending' the BEA via C-Span, I saw an interview with Laurence Kirshbaum, resigning Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Book Group. One of the major things he seemed concerned about was the future of publishing because..."We have to get new readers."I hate to tell him, but there are plenty of new readers out there. Hasn't he been watching the news? Harry Potter just made history by

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1119146552716825432005-06-18T21:01:00.000-05:002005-06-24T10:01:48.180-05:00

I love CSpan Book TV. I've never had the pleasure of attending the BEA--yet, but I always feel like I have, via CSpan. Last Saturday, I was right on the front row for the most highly touted events. (Not the parties, darn it. But the 'official' events.)I was amazed--but not really since I've had the conversation with so many other authors in the kinds of private, late night sessions we tend to

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1118985126874278492005-06-16T23:52:00.000-05:002005-06-17T00:12:06.880-05:00

My daughter, who is NOT going to be a writer--"Hey, I just had an idea. I thought I might as well write it down."--recently finished revising her first complete manuscript. I helped her research a few agents. She sent out 5 queries. She's had three "Sure, I'd like to see it" responses so far. So tonight she called. She decided to surf and do a little deeper 'investigation' of the agents.

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1118640404753303682005-06-13T00:03:00.000-05:002005-06-13T00:26:44.756-05:00

It's funny how your definition of success (as a writer) changes with the passing of time. When I first began, success was actually finishing my first book. It was a real and very scary challenge. And since I hadn't really told anyone but my husband (and my kids, but they were too young to understand what I was doing), I was the only one I had to answer to. But I would have been devastated if

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1118472492841465142005-06-11T01:41:00.000-05:002005-06-11T01:48:12.846-05:00

My website is OPEN and ready for visitors. It's kind of like my house: if you drop in unexpectedly, you'll find it isn't in perfect shape but...I'm proud. Hope you'll visit. It's almost (but not quite) as exciting as birthing a book. The book's a whole lot more work. But the website is also creative though it uses a different kind of smarts, smarts I wasn't sure I had. It was fun proving

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1118158660123818762005-06-07T10:31:00.000-05:002005-06-07T10:52:27.256-05:00

http://www.booksquare.com/archives/2005/06/06/1384/Since several people have asked if they could quote me about something I posted on a private link, I guess I'll post those comments here. Check the links above if you have no idea what this is about and really want to. Okay, I have to admit, I was rather irritated when someone from RWA 'banned' a member's participation at BEA. I was further

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1117685399471483022005-06-01T22:37:00.000-05:002005-06-01T23:09:59.476-05:00

PASIC, the RWA chapter for published authors, has a contest every year entitled Book of Your Heart. Technically, every book you write should be that or you shouldn't be writing it, but sometimes, it is easy to get caught up in writing what you think will sell rather than the story you really, really want to write. Especially after you've signed a few contracts. Then you have added pressure

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1117564782150383782005-05-31T13:00:00.000-05:002005-05-31T13:39:42.156-05:00

I've just finished taking two online classes. One about blurbing (writing selling blurbs similar to back cover copy for your manuscripts) by Suzanne McMinn, a wonderful instructor and author. (She has a lot of the info at her website so check it out.) The other class, I'm just finishing. It's on how to design my own website using Dreamweaver. (Guess which was the most fun. If your answer

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1117332735969220212005-05-28T20:30:00.000-05:002005-05-28T21:12:15.973-05:00

I'm playing with trying to build my own website. Don't know if I hate this or love it. Somehow it fascinates me--maybe because it's such a challenge. It reminds me in a lot of ways of the process of learning to write a novel. You think you have everything right, then look at it as a whole again and find that all your 'cells'--or in the case of writing, your chapters--no longer 'fit' like you

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-1116475429627277162005-05-18T22:22:00.000-05:002005-05-31T13:44:44.986-05:00

If you're here, I'm guessing you'd like to know a little something about me. I should warn you, I have multiple personalities. I'm several people. But I'll bet you are, too.I was born in Colorado as Vivian. (Why would anyone do that to a poor, helpless, tiny little baby? Don't you wonder sometimes what people were thinking??? when they named their kids?) I had a fairly normal childhood. Well,

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-900673452003-03-03T14:31:00.000-06:002003-03-03T14:31:06.826-06:00

Congratulations, Midwest Romance Writers and Candy Cole. I'm glad to see you're getting your sparkling, brand spankin' new chapter off the ground.

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3730098.post-807773592002-08-27T09:44:00.000-05:002002-08-27T09:44:35.580-05:00

It's a beginning, isn't it?

Alfiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556082619258664614noreply@blogger.com0