Branding myself

So, over at the Embrace the Shadows blog, one of the ladies was talking about websites for authors and using them as marketing. It was an interesting article, and she posed some good questions.

I even learned a little bit about author sites.

I knew they (and blogs) were a good way for someone to get to know the author, and really get a taste for that author's writing. It's why I started a blog in the first place.

What I didn't know is that some editors will Google the author when considering a submission. So, having a site up even when unpublished is a good thing. I find that pretty interesting, and am glad I've been starting to upkeep my site recently.

Now, one of the other things in the post was using your website to brand yourself. A way to explain how one's stories are different from every other paranormal romance author out there. I've spent the last few days pondering that, trying to formulate a way to explain how my stories are different.

The first things that came to me: my vampires still have fangs. I don't write sensitive, mopey, wish-I-were-still-human vampires. They're not ravaging beasts, or anything like that. They are intelligent, in control, good looking predators. I've let them keep that predator aspect, and actually relish it, make my heroine relish it. Vampires, to me, are attractive because they are dangerous, and dark, and just as likely to tear your throat out as show you a good time. The thrill is in that danger.

The second thing that occured to me: they're not French. *laughs* I've just seen a bit of a trend for French vampires, thanks to Lestat and Jean-Claude. It's not exactly a bad thing, and it's great for some people. French just isn't totally my cup of tea, so I made my main man German. I mean, all that's to taste, but it's one of the things that makes him stand out. I haven't read any heroes that were German, but that doesn't mean others aren't out there.

There are other things that make me a little different, but I don't know how to really phrase it. I think I'm a little darker than some authors, but that doesn't mean these are really intense novels I'm writing. My heroine doesn't become some raging slut, sleeping with whatever man comes into the storyline; she is head-over-heels in love with her vampire, and they are together. She's younger than most heroines, yet not a kid, right on that borderline of becoming a full on adult. I address how much of a sociopath she is, and her ability to deal with murder and death and other "bad" things without freaking out.

So, how do I brand myself? I'm going to keep giving that some thought.

Rejected twice in a week

Bloody fucking hell, talk about getting licked. Rejected twice for the same book in one week. OUCH!

I'm already pretty much over it, though the second editor's words stung a little more than the one who couldn't be bothered to tell me why they didn't want my book. I was told my book was a little young adult, and that my heroine was too young.

Keh! If I suddenly made her two years older, would that have changed it? Nineteen is a bloody adult. Especially when you have a character who's a sociopath who's already killed people.

*shrugs*

Whatever. I can't change stupid woman's opinion. I've certainly read dumber books that were put into physical print. I'll just have to keep at it, and eventually find someone who's willing to take a chance.

As my wonderful old man is wont to point out: every author got rejected before they got published.

So, I need to really take his advice. Keep writing because I enjoy it, and it makes me happy. Do not let the opinions of strangers affect me.

I'm taking that to heart enough, I almost want to see how many rejections I can wrack up. Like a badge of honor. It's not my fault people are too short-sighted to enjoy what I've got.

Gut-wrenching nervousness

Bleaurgh. My book was rejected, without a reason why. "I'd love to tell you why, but we're too swamped to do so." Grrr. And a little sadness, of course.

My old man reminds me that rejection is part of the business, that it's going to keep happening, and it just means I have to move on to the next publisher. That's logical, and correct, but it still doesn't make it any easier. It sucks. And it sucks bad. I is hating it.

So I immediately packed up a partial of the manuscript for another publisher that had asked for it. I was so nervous about it, even though they'd asked for the partial based on a really crappy synopsis (I'm horrible at writing synopsis). Stomach trembling, blood running cold, bordering into anxiety type of nervousness. But I hit send anyway, and sent those little bits of data off into the net.

Hoping, and wishing, and wanting to at least be told why it's not good enough if it gets rejected again. That way I can try to fix it before I send to someone else.

Meanwhile, I continue to piece together books 4 and 5 of my series, and transcribe book 3 from paper to Google docs. And pester my old man to be my beta reader and tell me what's wrong with book 2. All the while, I keep trying to pound out short stories, wanting to put some of those on a literary resume, so that I can maybe get someone to take a chance on me.

Current short story: animal right's activists break into a slaughter house/pig farm and find out it's a demon farm trying to corrupt people with evil pig products. *wiggles fingers* Sppppooooooookkkkyyyyy!

Defending the Caveman

My roommate works for an airline, and since they sell tickets to shows here in Vegas, he sometimes gets comps to the shows. We don't go to a lot of them, because they're not to shows we want to see.

Recently he got comped to see Defending the Caveman. We didn't know much about it, other than that it was a comedy show about the battle between the sexes. We went, and figured we couldn't be too bothered by it, since it was free. Free makes things a lot better.

It was kind of entertaining. He did have some funny bits, things that make me laugh, but overall it was just bleh. It was mostly his psychology disertation. Or someone's disertation that he was performing.

I agree with the observations made about men and women. But I've always known there are major differences between men and women, and anyone who denies that isn't paying attention. It just makes me glad that the people I actually love aren't typical people.

The dork table

So, I've changed teams at work. Which means working with different co-workers, sitting in a different area, reporting to a manager with different rules and stuff. The new rules aren't that complicated, or even that weird, so that's not the problem.

The problem is my co-workers. I'm sitting next to some of the dumbest, dorkiest people in the center. Just think about the dork table back in high school, those misfits that were so dorky the nerds didn't want them around. They're not even cool enough to be geeks.

It's frustrating, and annoying, because it means there's no one in my vicinity I want to talk to. They make me feel uncomfortable and disdainful, and I'm a nerd-of-all-trades. I know very well that I have some geeky aspects, that I care about things other people don't. (Example: I'm following a zoologoy blog because he talks about prehistoric mammals. And I find it fascinating.)

But these people...*shudders*...sweet gods, it's frightening. There's the dumpy one who can't speak above a mutter. There's the hyper spastic one with a new grandbaby who wants to make sure everyone knows about the new grandbaby. There's the young geek who's so happy she doesn't realize she's being a geek. There's the guy who's uncomfortable around people, but wants to be social and friendly anyway.

And then me, tucked in the corner, disliking them all. *grumble* Maybe it will mean less distratcions from my writing.

Writing

I've got a little less than two weeks to wait for a response back on my novel manuscript. I hate waiting. I hate pondering rejection. Yes, rejection is part of writing. I know this, logically.

Doesn't mean that I like thinking about it. It's so nerve-wracking.

I've been scanning writing contests in the meantime. Anything I can enter for free, really. Paying to enter a contest just seems lame to me. If I can get a few more writing credits under my belt, I think I can get things published.

Have to start somewhere, especially now that I'm old. 8P