The ECall

My story about The Call

by with No Comment Dave & MelindaProgress

The Call, when it finally came, didn’t happen the way I expected it to. Does anyone’s?

Rather than arriving with the ring of my phone, my call happened on the click of a mouse.

I was sitting at my desk at work Tuesday night, killing time while I waited for our editor to finish with the stories I needed for the page I was laying out. “Killing time” = surfing the Net.

A new email in sat atop my Gmail inbox. The subject line, CATEGORY ROMANCE SUBMISSION — DIVA IN THE DUGOUT, didn’t faze me. Don’t ask me why I didn’t make the connection, but I didn’t. I thought it was confirmation from the Golden Pen category coordinator, since I’d just entered the GP on Monday.

Yeah. Tell me why that makes sense when I entered Bree and Mike’s story, OVEREXPOSED, in the GP’s single title category. Can you say “blonde moment”?

Then I opened the email and read this:

The ECall

And immediately commenced squee-ing. I may or may not have burst the eardrums of my two coworkers who were sharing office space with me at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday. At the very least, I got their attention. Eric asked, “What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Someone wants to buy my book!”

More squealing and hyperventilating (all mine) ensued before I dashed off a quick affirmative response … and received an auto reply thanking me for my submission. Eep.

Some poking around the website offered up a different email address, so I responded to THAT one, too. This time, I got a response from a real person, TMP CEO/Publisher/Owner Kim Jacobs. Kim said that email address didn’t go to the acquisitions editor, but that she’d make sure it got passed along.

You can bet I didn’t get a whole lot done for the next hour or so. Being superstitious, I didn’t want to tell just anyone the news before it was official … only everyone I saw, could text or email. 😉

I sent a text to Anne Marie Becker, who reminded me that being our chapter president was good karma. (We both sold after taking the job.) Then I texted the Boyfriend, mentioned it on a few of the loops I’m a part of and emailed my CP, Jennifer Faye, and a few other folks.

Every time, I said, “It’s not official yet, but …” before filling them in.

But I knew it wouldn’t feel real until I got another response from the acquisitions editor, Shelley Rawe. Until I heard back again, I’d worry that first email was a mistake … or that they changed their minds.

After work, I went home and tried to get some sleep. Every time I woke up, I checked the email on my phone. Nothing when I woke up to pee at 6 a.m. Ditto at 8, when the puppy woke me with his whining/crying because he got crated. At around 9, I saw the response I’d been waiting for.

Since then, we’ve exchanged a flurry of emails (none of which bounced back an auto response). I’ve submitted my other Love & Baseball story, BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER, for their consideration as well.

And I received and signed the contract.

Screen Shot 2013-07-18 at 9.50.25 AM

My first contract. (I had to take a screen grab.)

May it be the first of many …

After receiving a copy of the signed contract, I hit all the social media sites: Facebook, Twitter … even Instagram (though I primarily use that account for my weight-loss blog). I also announced it here, at Chicklets in the Kitchen and my weight-loss blog. I’ve spent the hours since celebrating and basking in the congratulations that have been rolling in.

A part of me wishes I could have been at RWA Nationals. My coworkers have been great, but it’d be so much more fun to celebrate with fellow writers who really understand.

NARWA meets next week. I’ll save my party hat for them.

Wearing my SD Padres Spring Training shirt to celebrate ...

I have big news!

by with 2 Comments Dave & MelindaProgressStories
Wearing my SD Padres Spring Training shirt to celebrate ...
Wearing my SD Padres Spring Training shirt to celebrate …

Finally, I can shout it to the world:

Turquoise Morning Press wants to publish DIVA IN THE DUGOUT!

I’ll sit down to blog about my call story soon, but I wanted to share the news as soon as I received the signed contract. (I’m superstitious that way — didn’t want to say anything until it was official.)

Until I write the next lines, enjoy this picture of me, ecstatic about my big news.

And know that I’m going to treat myself to a big-a$$ drink at Starbucks to celebrate. It’s not every day that I sell my first novel!

Still standing

by with 2 Comments Dave & MelindaProgressStories

Long time no hear from me, eh? I might not be blogging very much these days, but I’m still writing, writing, writing my free time away.

All that hard work is starting to pay off, though. I have a completely revised/hopefully ready for submission version of “Operation Snag Mike Brad” out with two beta readers, now that my CP’s done with it.

I’m also headed to the Desert Dreams conference down in Phoenix tomorrow. It’s my first one, even though I’ve lived in northern Arizona since 1999. I’m looking forward to that experience — even if I haven’t quite finished my packing yet. I’d best get on that. I just wish it didn’t involve searching my car — in the pouring rain — for my sandals. Think I’ll move the car into the garage before I start the search.

Also on this morning’s too-exciting agenda before I head into the office for an 8+-hour day? A haircut, possibly a trip to Target for new sandals, and writing time at Starbucks. Yep. Still busy as all get-out.

I set a new deadline for myself: Finish a new, improved draft on “Diva in the Dugout” in time to submit it to Avon Impulse by May 30. Hey, if they’re looking for stories featuring ballplayers (among other things), I have the perfect story for them.

That vacation week I had to burn in May is starting to look more and more fortuitous. I’ve worked at the Daily Sun so long that I have four weeks of vacation time … and nowhere to go for all but one. So we just put me on the schedule for a random week in May.

Now I know how I’ll be spending that week of vacation!

It’s too quiet around here. What are you up to these days?

I’m a playwright

by with 3 Comments Blind Date BrideProgress

About 12 years — and four computers — ago, I submitted a one-act play to my theater group, to be considered for their one-act festival. Not long after that, I moved to Arizona and started writing a book based on that play.

That book is “Blind Date Bride,” to date my only single-title MS:

1 very shy accountant + 1 outgoing veterinarian + 2 meddling friends = 1 marriage of decided inconvenience

This week, I got word that the group plans to include my play in their one-act festival. (You might have seen my tweet or Facebook post spreading the news.) The news was completely unexpected — and thrilling.

To be honest, I forgot about the play … or at least forgot about submitting it to Civic Players of Logansport. But I’m honored that they kept it in their files all this time and decided to put it onstage.

It was designed to be about 10 minutes in length, with a cast of four and a simple set: just two doors, perpendicular to the stage, separating the heroine/her friend and hero/his friend. The friends were in the “hallway” together, with the leads shut in separate rooms in the church basement, complaining about the mess their friends have gotten them into.

The scene later became the first scene in my MS.

I’m bummed that I won’t be able to see it, since I’m in Arizona and they’re in Indiana. But they’ve promised to send me a DVD of the performance. I can’t wait to see my words brought to life.

Indiana peeps, you can see “Blind Date Bride” as part of “Theatre One: A Collection of One-Acts,” in March. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. March 9 and 10, and 2:30 p.m. March 11, in Logansport.

 

Gearing up for a busy holiday weekend

by with 2 Comments Bethany & CodyDave & MelindaGolden Heart prepKenny & KristiProgress

I’m off from the day job for this long, holiday weekend (thank goodness), but I plan to use my time wisely and get lots of writing-related things accomplished.

On my to-do list (after updating the blog, of course):

  1. Finish my current WIP, tentatively titled “Diva in the Dugout.” It’s the companion to my GH finalist, “Beauty and the Ballplayer” — the one I started in March, after getting the GH call … the one I figured “If that’s the story that’s going to succeed, I’d better write another one in the same series.”
  2. Get back into the swing of writing “Trouble in Paradise?” — the one I put on hold to write Dave & Melinda’s story … and the one I plan to enter in the 2012 GH. I’d like to write at least 5K new words.
  3. Re-edit “My Fair Fiancee” so I can get it out to my volunteer beta reader. (I lost the edits somehow — probably the same way I lost the edits on Meg & Matt’s story — and have to re-enter them. Thank goodness I have a hard copy to work from.) I’m planning to put that one in the GH this year, too (different category).
  4. Judge at least 2 of the 5 Golden Pen entries I received. I don’t want that deadline to creep up on me with 5 left.
  5. Write a synopsis and query for “My Fair Fiancee” so it’s ready to go.

There you have it: My weekend plans. Wonder if I can squeeze it all in before the Boyfriend gets back from his tennis tournament and wants to play? I sure hope so!

If I do, I’ll be able to curl up with Anne Marie Becker’s “Only Fear” when it’s delivered to my Nook on Monday. Right now I’m reading Jaci Burton’s “Changing the Game.”

Much-needed retreat

by with 3 Comments Dave & MelindaProgress

Sometimes you just need to retreat.

No, I’m not talking about the kind of retreat where you curl up in a ball and hide from the world because rejection number three thousand five hundred and ninety-nine has just found its way to your inbox.

I’m talking about the “lock yourself away and write until your fingers fall off” variety.

That’s the kind of retreat I’ve been blessed to undertake for the last several days while on vacation from the day job.

Okay, I still have all ten fingers … nine of my toes, too. The tenth is numb after its run-in with my exercise bike. Being the klutz I am, I kicked the dumb thing while I was walking around.

Having been at my office for 10-plus years, I get a ridiculous amount of vacation to burn off every year (four weeks) — and this summer, I have to take it before our staff goes down in number. (One of my fellow page designers is leaving at the end of the month.)

So I’m off work for two whole weeks and the Boyfriend is out of town. He took his kids to California to see where he grew up.

What’s a pre-published author to do with all that free time? Write, of course.

One day, I poured out 3,500 words of my WIP (the one connected to “Beauty and the Ballplayer.”) Another day saw a word count of 2,ooo. The other two days were 800 and 1,100 — and that’s with breaks for movies. (Being a comedy fan, I went to see “Bad Teacher” one night and “Friends with Benefits” another afternoon.)

Even today, with grocery shopping and softball practice, I’ve written about 700 words — and reached a turning point. In fact, I’m going to get back to it now. See you on the other side … hopefully with a fully finished first draft.

Moving ahead

by with One Comment MusingsProgressquest

Since RWA Nationals ended, much talk has been going on amongst my Starcatcher Sisters about fear … of submission,  rejection, inadequacy — you name it and we’ve probably felt it.

Aislinn, who recently sold not one but two books, wrote an excellent post on writers’ fears just the other day. Her conclusion?

I must sit down, and I must write. I must give myself permission to suck. Because I’ll suck even more if I let the fear stop me from writing this second book.

I am so there … well, on everything except writing my second book. I’m still trying to sell my first. 😉

However, I am of a similar mind: It’s time to move ahead.

Of course I’m still tweaking my GH finalist and sending it out on submission. But if I don’t do anything else — something new — I’m going to go stark-raving mad.

So while I continue to submit “Beauty and the Ballplayer,” I’m also going to start doing other things.

— I’m making some serious progress on the story related to it, Dave and Melinda’s tale.

— And I’m going to figure out which of my other, finished stories I want to enter in this year’s Golden Pen — even though that means tackling another dreaded synopsis. Yikes. (The early bird deadline is Friday.)

— I also have my NARWA meeting coming up this Saturday. We’re doing a “first three pages” workshop, where we read the first three pages of submitted WIPs aloud and give feedback. I need to decide which one of mine I want to have read.

I have to keep moving ahead. Each new manuscript is better than the last, because we’re continually learning and growing — or we should be. So I can’t just sit back and rest on  the laurels of being a Golden Heart finalist.

Who knows? My next submitted MS may well be the one that finally secures me the agent and publication contract I’ve been chasing.

Two rejections in two days

by with 5 Comments Meg & MattQuery Lettersquest

Now I remember why I’m so glad to be off the dating scene. Rejection hurts. A lot.

I’m sure I’m not the only one to equate the search for an agent to the search for Mr. Right — but it’s an apt comparison.

You try to make a good impression on your dream man/agent. If — against all odds — a connection is made, you hope he feels the same spark you do. If not? The big “R.”

Rejection. You might feel worthless. You probably question your appeal … your talents as a writer.

I ought to know, having just received two agent rejections in two days. (Being a Golden Heart ® finalist makes for much speedier replies.)

At least they weren’t all negative: Each one featured good with the bad. They both had an element of “I like you but …”

The bottom line? “Beauty and the Ballplayer” wasn’t quite right for either of them. The hero and heroine didn’t speak to them. (Whether that’s an inherent flaw in the MS is up for debate. I might have some revising to do.)

In the meantime, I’ll continue the search for Dream Agent. Somewhere, out there, is my perfect match … the agent who believes in my work as much as I do.

Distraction 8, Arlene 2

by with 3 Comments Progress

That’s right: Distraction is whupping my rear in a big way these days. If there’s a down side to being a Golden Heart® finalist, that would be it.

Until recently, I had a routine: A little writing/blogging before and/or after work. Now, with all the new and ramped-up tasks on my to-do list, I spend way too  much of my time trying to focus on any one thing.

And the task at hand is rarely writing.

This morning, it was updating my website. I just switched from wordpress.com to wordpress.org so I can make better use of the arlenehittle.com domain name I purchased last year.

While it was relatively easy to make the change, I still have to rebuild a lot of things, like my blogroll. I also must figure out how to get a cool stats tracker in my dashboard and get on the phone with the webhosting folks to figure out how to configure my computer … I kept getting an error message involving a firewall and it was like it was written in Russian. I’m not even sure where to find my firewall.

Yesterday morning, I managed to write a couple hundred words. On Sunday I eked out a full thousand … and then decided to scrap them all and start the scene in a different place.

I’ve heard other writers say that they spend very little of their time actually writing new stories. I now know exactly how they feel.

Well, it’s off to accomplish something before bed.