Okay, here’s the info about the next Inara chat:

On Thursday, May 11 and Friday, May 12 stop by the Love Romances Cafe and meet the authors of Inara Press. We’ll be hanging out, answering your questions, offering you sneak peeks and more during this two-day event. Each day, we’ll be offering 50 Reader Reward points to a randomly selected winner — but to be in the drawing to win, you have to post a question or comment on the loop. No lurkers are eligible! Reader Reward points are good toward discounts off future purchases of Inara Press titles. Everytime you buy through the Inara Press bookstore, you earn Reader Reward points. Once you’ve earned 100 points, you can cash them in for a free title download. So mark your calendars and meet us there, at the Love Romances Cafe (formerly the Love Romances E-book Club): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveRomancesCafe

To post messages at the Cafe, you must be a member. Registering is quick, easy and free. Just follow the link above and click on “Join This Group!”
 

Nita

Well, I wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Kellie sent home last night.  In fact, I would have been blown away if it had been any of the others.  I liked Kellie, but I just don’t think she has perfected her talent as well as the others.  She may have been voted off, but I seriously doubt that we’ve seen the last of her.

So what about next week?  The competition is really getting tough!  I would like to see Chris, Katharine, and Taylor in the top three.  We shall see.

Nita 

The ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) are ready and being sent to all those review sites.  I’m so excited!  Sort of…  I’m a little nervous, too.  LOL!  I want all the reviewers to love it.  Of course, I know that not all of them will.  Everything in this business is subject to opinion and not everybody likes the same things.  Heck, there are people out there who don’t like chocolate.  Can you imagine? 

Anyway, the ARCs are going out, so it won’t be long before I have reviews to report!  Only 35 days till release!

Nita 

Well, I’ve spent the last few days working on polishing up A Real Husband so that I can get it ready submit to a publisher.  Last night and today I sent off my synopsis and a few chapters for critique by Deborah Hale and Winnie Griggs.

You might recognize those names.  Deb Hale http://www.deborahhale.com/ writes historical romance and otherworld fantasy.   Winnie Griggs http://www.winniegriggs.com/index.html  writes historical romance, too. 

Anyway, I’m anxious to see what these two multi-published ladies have to say about the first few pages and synopsis of A Real Husband.  I’m hoping for a few tips that will make it easier to catch the attention of the editors at Avon Romance.  

Now that I’ve done that, it’s back to working on season two… and waiting….  Waiting for my first review.  It is in the hands of the reviewer as I type this.  *biting nails*  Waiting for the official ARC to be prepared so that I can send it out for other reviews.  And waiting for the release.  I’m counting the days… 38, by the way. 

Have I ever mentioned that I’m not the most patient of individuals? 

Nita

OMG!  I sooooo enjoyed the show tonight!  Chris (my favorite) sang What a Wonderful World.  Taylor sang You Thrill Me.  Paris did These Foolish Things.  Kathryn sang Someone to Watch Over Me.  Elliot sang It Had to Be You.  Ace sang… ummm… what was it he sang?  I was too busy thinking about how cute that guy is.  He should just model for Abercrombie & Fitch and give up singing though.  That falsetto does nothing for me.  And Kelly sang Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered. 

They all did great!  Well, except for Kelly who only did okay. Of course, I love those Golden Oldie Classic songs.  I can’t wait for tomorrow night when Rod Stewart will be singing one.  

So, I wonder who is going home tomorrow? 

Nita 

For those of you who don’t know, I have 2 children… or rather teenagers.  Yesterday, their Easter baskets (yes, they still get baskets) each held a couple dozen plastic eggs.  A dozen of those eggs held their favorite candies.  The other dozen held various denominations of cash money. 

We had fun watching them open all the eggs.  There were shouts of “Yes! A ten!” and “Another five!”  When they were finished, I said, “You know, I think y’all are getting too old for Easter baskets.”  Needless to say, their emphatic denial was laughable. 

My daughter says the money from the Easter Bunny should just about cover everything else she needs for prom.  My son had hardly finished counting before he was asking his dad to take him to the game store today.   

Instead of the usual egg hunting games, the kids had a water balloon fight and played baseball (using tennis balls, LOL) with their friends in the backyard.  My husband and I planted some Sweet Williams in the bed below the lilac bush.  Spring is definitely here!

I hope everyone had a nice Easter and I hope your baskets were full of love!

Nita

I’ve never had what one would consider to be an abundance of patience.  It’s difficult for me to wait for anything.  For that reason, much of this publishing and promotion stuff has been one huge trial.

There have been times I’ve had to wait more than two weeks for a reply to an email. And I’m talking about an email I sent saying something like, “I would like to buy an ad on your site.”  Hah! You would think someone would reply within a couple of days, but that’s not always the case. Several times (and from more than one site) after waiting two weeks for an answer, I’ve had to email another contact at the site to get an answer. 

Silly me.  If I’d had any sense at all I would never have tried to contact them a second time.  I should have known better than to deal with sites that operate so unprofessionally in the first place.  Of course, I won’t make that mistake again.  Any site who takes more than a week to answer my email will get this reply: “Nevermind.  I got tired of waiting and took my business elsewhere.”

In addition to dealing with advertising and promotion, there’s been the waiting for other stuff dealing with publication.  Let me warn you now, if you ever even think to have something published, EVERYTHING MOVES IN SLOW MOTION. 

So be prepared to hurry up and wait.

Nita

Don’t ya just hate it when your best laid plans fall by the wayside?

I worked really hard to finish up season one early.  I was hoping to get some early reviews.  This is my first published work, so people don’t know me.  I’m often a little reluctant to try a new author unless someone I know has recommended them or I’ve read several reviews that say the book is worth the money. 

I believed that if I got several reviews in before my release, I could say, “So-n-so at Review House One said it was really good.”  So I worked during ALL of my spare time, including some of my spring vacation.  My hubby asked if I wanted to go out of town.  I told him, “Oh, I would love to honey, but I really want to get this finished.”

I finished up 27 days ahead of my deadline.  WooHoo.  That’s almost an extra month, right?  I should be able to get plenty of reviews in that extra month, right?

Wrong.  My editor was too busy.  It took her 22 days to call it completed.     For most of the other 11 installments, it took no more than 2 or 3 days, but that last one took forever.  So now, 25 days later, I still don’t have ARCs (advanced reading copies) for the reviewers and it will probably be another week or two for the publisher to convert the files to ARCs.  If I’m lucky, I may get one or two reviews before the release, but it won’t be the half dozen I was hoping for.

Dang it!  Hindsight is always 20/20.  I should have gone out of town with my hubby and enjoyed myself.  Well, I guess I know better now.  There won’t be any more “All work and no play.”  I will meet my deadlines, but if anything gets turned in early, it will be sheer luck. 

In fact, I will be putting season two on hold for a little while I get my novel ready to submit to a publisher.  The season two deadline is not for 3 more months.  Plenty of time. 

Hopefully that means you will see A Real Husband on the bookshelves sometime in the near future.  The senior historical editor at a small but well known e-publisher has already looked at the first few chapters.  She said that she really liked my plot and that I should polish it up and send it to the big guys in New York.  So needless to say, with encouragement like that from a senior editor, I’m very hopeful.  I’m thinking Avon Romance.

Everything happens for a reason.  Maybe the disappointment in the delay on reviews was meant to spur me into getting A Real Husband submitted.  It worked.  ;)

Nita

I finished the outline for season two tonight.    It looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun to write! 

I also picked up some great reference books at the used book store this weekend.  Among them was A Witch’s Guide to Faery Folk by Edain McCoy.  I am really looking forward to delving into that one.  In season two, one of the main characters is a faerie witch.  *hehe* *rubbing hands together* This is gonna be a blast!

Nita

Hey!  Tomorrow I will be chatting again at the Suite Escape Lounge: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/suite_escape/

This time Mary Alice Pritchard, author of Ghostly Mistakes, will join me.  Learn more about Mary Alice at her web site: www.maryalicepritchard.com 

But you must visit her blog!  The posts are usually made by her feline muses.  LOL!  Oh, my goodness.  Mary Alice is such a hoot!  We’ve become pretty close online pals ever since we both got our contracts with Inara. 

We are both planning to attend the RWA conference in Atlanta this July.  I can’t wait to actually meet her.  She’s got a great sense of humor and she is a very talented writer. 

Stop by the chat tomorrow (Thursday, April 6th) and see for yourself!

Nita