Contest results coming!
Sorry, I've been a bit behind, but will announce winners of the December contest and update the site either later today or first thing tomorrow morning! Thanks for your patience. 🙂
Countdown to the New Year
The day after Christmas, Hubby and I decided we were going to clean our garage. Apparently, everyone has the same idea after Christmas. Not necessarily the garage, but home organization. Lowe's and Home Depot both had sales on storage containers and shelves, and people were loading their carts up. Since this is my first time having the organization urge immediately after the holiday, I was a bit surprised.
Still, we loaded up with shelves and containers and came home to begin the garage project. It's not done, but we've made good progress. And now I have my eye on a inside projects. I even cleaned out my pantry! I won't tell you how many expired things were in there. 😳
Of course all this has me thinking about counting down to the New Year and planning goals for 2010. Some years, I fail; other years, I hit the goals. I'm thinking this is a goal hitting year coming up. 🙂 I have several, and I think they are reasonable. They aren't all related to writing. Some are definitely along the lines of “Get Organized!” Since I have a head start, I think it's possible. (No, I won't do a 180 and suddenly become super-organized. Wish it were so, but I know me.)
What kinds of goals are you setting for the coming year? Did you go buy organization supplies recently too? 😉 And what kind of New Year's celebration are you planning? Low key at home? Party hearty at some swanky joint? I will definitely be at home, and I'll probably be in bed long before midnight. 🙂
Merry Christmas
Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas! Last night, we had our hot cocoa, watched our Christmas programs, and went to bed at a decent hour. This morning, we're looking forward to getting together with family later. Our present to each other was indeed the built-ins in our living room, so nothing to open when we woke up. But we'll have things to open at my parents' house. 🙂
And I believe we're planning to see a movie later today — probably Sherlock Holmes since the whole family seems excited by that one.
Thanks to all my readers who keep buying my books and telling me how much they enjoy my stories! I appreciate you all, believe me. You've made this new author very happy this year. You've kept me on the eHarlequin paperback bestseller list for over 10 days, and the ebook bestseller list for a whopping 18 days. Thank you so much! I look forward to all next year will bring, and I'm excited about the stories that I'll be sharing with you in the upcoming months! 🙂
Because I used to live in Hawaii, I can't help but wish you all a Mele Kalikimaka and lots of aloha today and always. 🙂
One week to go
Yikes! It's only a week until Christmas! Are you ready? I almost am. I actually mailed Christmas cards yesterday, which was a weight off my mind. And, I have to admit, I cut my list down this year. I've had people on there for years to whom I mail cards — and never get one in return. I've decided I just don't have time for that anymore. This year, I kept a couple of those people on the list, but mostly I mailed cards to people who mailed them to me. And people who I know will mail them (or would) when they have time.
As far as gifts, I'm almost done there. Hubby and I may not be shopping for each other, though we won't know that until tomorrow. See, we have this big wall in our great room where we've been wanting built-ins. So we have a contractor coming to give us an estimate. That may be our present to each other — which, I have to say, is fine with me. I'd rather get something I want than turn the man loose with a few ideas and hope for the best. 🙂
If the estimate is too large, then we may be doing some last minute shopping for each other. We tend to buy what we want when we want it, or plan for bigger purchases, so it gets difficult to find things the other person doesn't already have. I really, really hope the built-ins are within the budget. I know we won't have them before Christmas, but knowing they're coming would be awesome.
What do you want for Christmas? Do you like things for the house? Or do you prefer personal items like jewelry and perfume, etc?
The Presents Contest
I have followed the comment trail over at I Heart Presents with sadness and even a bit of disappointment. It's up to the editors to sort out the rules, and I will not comment on that at all. And while I DO understand the disappointment of some of the people who are commenting, I have to say that I don't think personal attacks are ever warranted.
Yes, I was an unknown when I won the first Presents contest. And you can bet I was damn happy. Thrilled to freaking pieces. I didn't expect I had an automatic pass through the publishing doors, however. As it turned out, I did not. I had to work hard, through two sets of revisions in which I wanted to tear my hair out and even cried because I thought I was failing big time and would never get bought, but would quietly fade away when my lovely editor rejected me and stopped answering emails.
Happily, I finally nailed those revisions and my lovely editor bought the book. Four books later, I'm still thrilled and amazed. And I still have revisions and I still work hard and bite my nails and wonder if my editor will reject me. Because it DOES happen, y'all. Being published is not a guarantee of future publication. (So if you tell me that because I'm published, it's easy for me, I can assure you that you are wrong. Whether you believe it or not. And no, I didn't believe it before I was published either.)
I will not speak to rules, because I am not qualified to make that judgment. But I can tell you that the two published winners didn't get an automatic pass into the top two. Their work had to be outstanding, and it had to live up to the Presents promise. I don't believe either one of them deserve to be attacked personally, whether or not you like that they won or think they violated a rule. It's your right to be disappointed, and to express dismay that published authors were allowed to enter. It's even your right to demand to know how the rules were applied and whether or not they were violated. But it's not your right to be mean to these women.
And I will say this until I'm blue in the face: JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T WIN DOES NOT MEAN YOU WON'T SELL TO THE LINE! Ask Tina Duncan, Maisey Yates, and Mira Lyn Kelly! Of the two runners up when I won, one of them went on to sell into TRADE PAPERBACK under another name. I won't out her because she may not want that, but believe me when I tell you the woman is amazingly talented! I am thankful to call her a friend and to run ideas past her even now.
I understand being disappointed to realize you were competing against published authors. But who do you think you're competing against whenever you submit a manuscript? Your work has to be as good as what's published in the line to get bought. You are competing, whether you know it or not. And I really don't know whether there were published authors in the contest I won; being published already does not automatically make you a better writer for a particular line than someone unpublished who is targeting the same line. I've heard, from reliable sources, about single title writers who want to break into Presents and can't. They don't have the voice, and all the publishing credits in the world won't get them bought if they can't write the story.
Okay, so that's my opinion. If you were disappointed by the outcome, good grief I don't blame you at all! But please don't listen to the naysayers who tell you that you might as well give up because you'll never get a fair look and you can't compete with published authors. YOU CAN. You do it every time you submit, so keep writing and keep growing. It took me 15 years to get published. How long will you keep trying before you give up for good?