Thoughts on a Summer Morning

Some of you may already know how I became a published erotic romance author. For those of you who don’t know or remember, it all began at the RWA national conference in Reno, NV in 2005. There I hooked up with former Sacramento chapter member Lynn LaFleur. She insisted—in that very Texas Belle way of hers—that I attend a spotlight on her publisher, Ellora’s Cave.

Of course I attended. One does not ignore an invitation from a Texas woman, belle or not. Some of them are armed and all of them seem more than a little dangerous under all that sweetness.

Inspired after the spotlight, I came home and wrote like crazy in a way I’d never written before: in scenes. Only after I finished did I collate the story—Passion’s Four Towers—and send it into the Ethernet. EC bought it and the rest is history. My twentieth novel—Temptress of Time—is targeted for release this year.

Needless to say I become an advocate for e-publishing.

 

This year at RWA in Anaheim, CA a young woman saw my badge and said, “This is all your fault!” And thanked me for suggesting she submit to e-publishers.

Keri Gregg… You are most welcome.

Don’t get me wrong. E-Publishers are just as difficult to sell to as traditional print publishers. And despite the number of e-pubs, the competition is still pretty stiff. You still have to write a good story and make sure your manuscript is the cleanest you can make it. If you can’t spell, don’t rely on your spell-check—it won’t correct those pesky little homophones like to, too and two. If you can’t punctuate to save your soul, find a critique partner who can, but only after you’ve made all the corrections you can. Having recently threatened my DH with bodily harm if he didn’t learn how to punctuate, I know the fastest way to lose a partner or an editor is a poorly spelled, horribly punctuated manuscript.

You may be the best storyteller on the planet, but if you can’t make it clear with proper spelling and punctuation, nobody will read it.

Lecture over! Have a super day.

Dee Brice

Erotic Fantasies Where Nothing is Forbidden