Posts Tagged "Writing Career"

• RWA Nationals: Golden Heart Win!

  Blog

  Today was a fabulous day — at the RITA/Golden Heart Award Ceremony tonight, I won the Golden Heart in the Regency Historical category!

  This came as a huge shock, and my whole body was shaking for at least twenty minutes after the announcement. According to my friend Terry, who was my date to the event, I at least managed to sound coherent, so I consider that to be a great accomplishment. Obviously, I’m tremendously grateful for this honor, and I think it will still take a few days for it to sink in.

  I will blog again in the next couple of days with a recap of Nationals and, better yet, my plans for my next books. But, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have stumbled across this site — publishing is a wild ride, and it’s always easier when you have supportive people cheering you on.

  Picture below, but I need to sleep if I’m going to get up in time to have fun before my flight back to San Francisco!

  

  
  | Accolades | RWA Nationals | Thrilling | Writing Career |
  7 Comments

  Posted 18 July 2009, 10:23 pm

• The Advent of Deadlines

  Blog

  I’ve gone longer than usual without a post, due to a perfect storm of factors — I had a business trip to Ann Arbor, a bunch of friends in town for Memorial Day, a nine-day trip to Iowa to play with my family (and work like a scullery wench to help get ready for my aunt’s wedding), and far too much catching up to do on the day job. Also, after spending many, many hours configuring the Wordpress options for this website, I found that logging into it and updating it was the last thing I wanted to do.

  But, I’m back, and I’m hopeful that I shall update this more regularly going forward. One of the things that I did not expect when I signed with an agent (although any sane woman, particularly one who has read as many publishing blogs as I have for the past year, would have anticipated this) was that I would suddenly have to give my deadlines with my writing as much consideration as my deadlines for work. Oh, I knew what I was getting into, and now that I’m in the position I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else — but if my agent manages to land the coveted multi-book contract, suddenly I have responsibilities and commitments. Given how little I like commitment, it’s a wonder I can even write romance in the first place; but now I have to follow through.

  However, in perhaps the best sign that writing is the best career for me, I find that I actually don’t mind that commitment. In my other, non-writer life, I hate committing — I don’t own a house, I’m always open to picking up and switching continents, and I haven’t lived in the same space for more than eighteen months in the past ten years. But the idea of committing to a long series of books, to delivering on deadline, and to building a base of readers doesn’t fill me with the same queasy “I’m trapped in a prison of my own making” feeling that I get with other aspects of my life — instead, it fills me with a true sense of excitement and an eagerness to just get on with it already.

  We’ll see if I can keep this attitude when the deadlines actually become crushing; the only one I’m working toward right now is getting a last round of edits to my agent, along with blurbs for my next books. I finished the edits tonight (pending a final proofread tomorrow), and so hopefully I’ll get everything to her this weekend. And then it’s fingers crossed that she can sell AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE while I furiously finish Madeleine and Ferguson’s story in anticipation of putting it on the market next.

  Going forward, though, I intend to check in here at least twice a week. If you have suggested blog topics, let me know!

  
  | Dreaded Rewrites | In Search of Publication | Writing Career |
  0 Comments

  Posted 21 June 2009, 12:08 am

• The End of the Agent Hunt

  Blog

  I have fabulous news to report — my search for an agent is over! It all ended much more quickly and dramatically than I expected. Two weeks ago, I was worried that I might never sign (yes, I’m impatient — it often takes years to sign). But then, last Thursday, a totally wonderful agent called me while I was at work to offer representation!

  She was already at the top of my list based on her reputation, and her sheer enthusiasm for my work while she offered representation was enough to put her over the top. Still, I’ve read enough horror stories about failed agent/author relationships to be wary, and so I contacted the other agents who were considering my work to let them know that I had received an offer. By the end of the weekend, two other agents had made offers — and so as of Memorial Day, I was suddenly in the unexpected position of having to come up with interview questions so that I could choose between the three offers!

  I spoke to all of them on Tuesday, and while I felt that all of them could have been good fits for my work (and one in particular was the other top agent on my list, making my choice more difficult), I ultimately decided that the first agent was the best fit for my long-term goals. I mailed the contracts on Friday, and we’re talking again this week to discuss the process for submissions to publishing houses.

  So, it’s been a complete whirlwind, and obviously I’m very excited. However, I realized while I was on the phone with one of them that I’ve successfully scaled the agent mountain and reached the peak — only to discover that there’s another, bigger mountain looming in the form of beginning the search for a publisher. Happily, my agent (I love saying that!) will be my partner on that climb, so I’m not alone — but this is by no means a done deal. I spent the weekend brooding over that sobering fact, but I can’t brood for long; the excitement of continuing to make progress towards my goals will pick me up again.

  This means that, as of tonight, “The Agent Hunt” will be retired as a label — staring this week, “The Publisher Hunt” will begin! Stay tuned…

  
  | The Agent Hunt | Thrilling | Writing Career |
  3 Comments

  Posted 31 May 2009, 10:27 pm

• On Business Cards and Taglines

  Blog

  I want to get some writing-related business cards before the RWA National Conference in Washington this summer, and I’m having trouble deciding what to put on them. My name is a critical component, obviously, as are email and phone. However, I do not think I will put on my home address, both for privacy reasons and because I move often enough that I don’t want to have my card be obsolete in six months.

  The trickiest part is my occupation and the description of my business. I am calling myself a writer because that’s what I am, even if I haven’t made any money for my labors yet. Beyond that, though, I want something on the card that hints at the type of writing I do. I can do this partially through the font, color, etc. — if I choose pink with a flowing script font, it’s clear that I write traditional romances rather than paranormals (although I do want to write paranormals someday). But I also want a tagline to describe what I write in one pithy, memorable sentence.

  I spent a few minutes brainstorming tonight, and clearly I’m going to have to do more — what I came up with is definitely memorable, but not particularly useful (”Love in the Time of Syphilis” and “Sara Ramsey: Ramming It Old-School” were my two favorite inappropriate taglines). So, it’s back to the drawing board — do you have any thoughts?

  
  | Awesomely Ridiculous | Brainstorming | Writing Career |
  2 Comments

  Posted 20 April 2009, 9:44 pm

• Social Networking == Quicksand

  Blog

  With the exciting news that AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE finaled in the RWA Golden Heart contest, I feel like I need to be building out my web presence in anticipation of the day when I sell my novel (or the day when I realize I’m never going to sell my novel and need some e-friends to cry to). In my quest to efficiently tackle the online space, I set up a new Sara Ramsey Facebook account and decided to dedicate more time to blogging here. I’ve been on Facebook for around twenty-four hours, but thanks to some support from my personal friends and the addition of quite a few of my fellow finalists, I’ve built up a not-too-shabby friend list. I’m looking forward to branching out more into the publishing world as I start to build out content, but I feel like this is a good start.

  However, social networking is such a time sink that I wonder if I would be better off spending the time writing. In addition to Facebook and the blog, I also started a Twitter account today (you can follow me @ramseyromance — linked to in the sidebar on this page). I’ve stayed away from Twitter, believing it to be yet another plague in the multitude of procrastination-enabling addictions that litter the web. With my blogs, my website, my email, my Google Reader, and the fact that I work for a tech company and spend ten hours a day online there, I’m already online enough — Twitter seemed like the last straw. But I signed up today because it’s all the rage, and I need to go where the potential readers are. Whether I’ll stick with Twitter remains to be seen (the pressure to come up with something witty in 140 characters is intense, particularly since I’m used to writing 140 lines), but I do feel like there’s some happy medium between the amount of time I spent getting things set up today and the practically nonexistent social networking that I do in my personal life.

  What do you think about Twitter? Is it the Facebook-killer, or a flash in the pan?

  
  | Scenes from the Interweb | Writing Career |
  0 Comments

  Posted 8 April 2009, 9:52 pm