Ending With A Bang

I’ve thought more and more about the ending of my books. Some are a stepping stone to other stories and some end nicely or so I thought. But here recently, I’ve found myself more and more disappointed with how some stories I have purchased are ending. To be great, a novel needs a great ending and it all makes me a little more critical of my own work.

On Christmas, I received one of the best gifts an author can get when I got $100 Borders card. Now, I could have gone a thousand ways with this but was extremely happy when I decided to get a few books for pleasure reading only. I already had some discounts and freebies coming to me and was glad when I only spent a third of my card. That means I can go back to pick up more when I don’t have the men with me pushing me to hurry.

The other place I’ve been buying a lot of books has been Wal-Mart. And while some of you might not like that scenario because they deeply discount their books, it is a mecca for someone looking at category books. You can pick up almost every historical and Harlequin category romance there the very day it comes out.

So, I’ve been a reading a lot of books this vacation and as of this writing, I have read almost five novels. I have interwoven these readings with my own writing in other genres as well as doing some critiquing. Pretty amazing considering I have two men who are trying to take up 100% of my time. LOL!

So far, I haven’t been impressed with the endings to most of these novels.

Now, I’m not talking about having a happily ever after (HEA) or even a happily for now (HFN) either. Of course in some of the books I’ve read that is a requirement. No, two of these books just ended but implied a HEA and one of the others had an ending I didn’t even understand in the least as it didn't even seem to belong to the book I had in my hands.

In one book, the hero and heroine had separated because the woman had previously been married to a schmuck who told her that she ruined his life over and over. Never mind that he was the one who had asked her to marry him, had a baby with her then refused to touch her after that baby was born. I can understand just how a man can undermine a woman’s self-confidence immensely but not quite to that extent. I guess I have a better survival instinct than this woman. And while she wasn't a too-stupid-to-live heroine, she didn't seem to represent the norm either.

Now, what I thought was dumb was the fact that the hero got mad and ran just because the heroine told him to go. As if that would happen. But the truly amazing part is that he drove from a small town in the east to another small town in Arizona and back in less than two days. The round trip would have taken about forty-eight hours of straight driving to get it done. The way there he had a passenger who could help out but coming home, he was alone. Not a good idea in my book as he had zero rest between drives. Then the man doesn’t even kiss the heroine or anything because all she did was open the door and let him into her house and supposedly her heart. I understand, the ending was symbolic but have the guy kiss the woman at least then it would have been a little more satisfying.

It took me all of two minutes to get my frustrations out when it dawned on me that this book was safe. I’m sure you wonder what I mean by safe. This book didn’t push any of the limits of human endurance, thought process or of a sexual nature. Although there was sex, it was very safe as was the whole book. It probably gave others a warm fuzzy and once I had that in my mind, I could do the ‘ah’ thing and try to make myself not gag.

To me, endings need to be big, that satisfying moment when everything comes together and make sense. If the hero and heroine were destined to be together, we need to glimpse into their forever after even if it is only a sentence that references there will be one. And so far, in all the books I've read, there has only been just one of those moments where I slowly put the book down and grinned from ear to ear, wanting to pick up another book from that particular author.

Again, I’m sure you’re wondering just what the heck I’m doing. One of the things I have put on my goal list for next year is to get published by a NYC publisher. Since the pool is limited, I knew I would have to study these books and study them I have. I’ve picked a few lines of Harlequin which I thought I might submit to as well as some other publishers like Sourcebooks and Dorchester as well as TOR and Bantam in the coming year. Also high on that list is getting an agent as well. I figure if I can accomplish all those things next year, it will be a great year.

But as this year draws to a close, I realize that this year too is ending with a bang. Last year, I was the head of an organization which ate almost all of my time, leaving me little to write. Still, I managed to finish four books, get another group sold and move generally forward in my already decent writing career. I had accomplished as much as I could. My hope is to do even more next year.

Now for the announcement you’ve all been waiting for...the winner of this year’s Christmas giveaway is... Ashley A.! Ashley, email me at lynncrain@cox.net and we’ll discuss the particulars! Congratulations!

Here’s wishing you and yours the most fabulous New Year ever! See you then!

Lynn

The Art of Rejection

This time of year, I start thinking about my goals and wonder just how many I’ve completed over the course of twelve months. Each year as a writer, an author should set some goals for the coming year. They can be as simple as Write a chapter a day or as hard as Finish fifty books this year. And believe me, I’ve been somewhere in between every year for the last seven or eight years.

So as usual, I started to look at my mission statement: To bring readers the best in erotic romantic fiction, to provide readers with a happy ending and to write every day to bring about this goal. Not bad but definitely needs some revamping for this coming year. I plan to post it early next year so all of you can see just how I’ve lined it all up.

Then I went on to what I call my business plan. It’s just ten simple statements of what I plan to do this year. And while I won’t got into complete detail as that is another blog, I can say it started out with the statement of be the best writer you can be and ended with take care of yourself because if there ain’t no you, there ain’t no this. In between those two lines were things about branding, agents and the total number of books I wanted to publish as well as conferences, sales and a host of other things.

In retrospect, it was a big plan, an ambitious plan and I feel good that I accomplished about 50% of it this year. I should have accomplished 100% but that too is speculation for another blog. But in all this planning and thought, there was one thing I kept away from my mind totally. And that was any thoughts about rejection.

Now, rejection is perceived as bad. And in some ways it is and others it isn’t. Rejection isn’t meant to be a smack in the face or a I’m going stop this crazy life kind of thing. No rejection really just means for whatever reason, that work is not liked by that person at that moment. Still, as I get ready to put forth my foot in the ring for an agent and all that encompasses, I thought I should remind myself just what it means to be rejected.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I know what it means to be rejected. I’ve been rejected a lot over the years by people who requested my work, by agents and publishers alike. Overall, I’ve had very few items rejected in the epublishing world in the last four or five years. This is good and this is bad as well. While it does give me a confidence boost, it doesn’t prepare me for when it does happen. I’ve also been rejected by a couple of agents and a NYC publisher in this past year as well all of which left me feeling somewhat out of my element.

So, with all this in mind, I started looking at my email this morning and wondered what the heck I would write about for today’s blog. Yeah, I had a basic idea but it really didn’t get cemented in my mind until I read this on an agents blog. Agent Jenny Bent was interviewing a young author who had racked up 20+ rejections and nine rewrites on a particular piece which sold. You should go read it:

http://jennybent.blogspot.com/2009/12/meet-mandy-author-and-agent-who-never.html

Wow, what a lesson in humility and the art of rejection. But the one thing this girl never did was give up. She never gave up on her story or her dream. Nor did her agent. And suddenly, my insides got all soft and I could feel this author’s joy as she finally achieved her dream. So I’m back to holding my dreams in my hands for all to see. This is a scary thought but as I go into the new year, I know this is what I need to do, what I must do.

And I have to say thank you to Mandy the author, thank you for giving me back a little portion of the dream I must have lost somewhere along the way. I’ve tucked it neatly inside and will cherish it always.

So as Christmas approaches, my wish for every author is that they have a well planned, long career ahead of them complete with successes and rejections, joys and passions for the writing you so love. For my readers, I sincerely hope I have brought you some of the best in erotic romantic fiction this year and to continue to do so throughout the next.

Now for the winner this week of An Elf’s Love, my new Christmas book...Sherry...come on down! Just email me at lynncrain@cox.net and I’ll get you your copy!

This is my last giveaway of the year. If you are interested in my Christmas giveaway, details are on my yahoogroup XtraOrdinary Romance. You can join here:

XtraOrdinaryRomance-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The contest is easy...just join one of my groups or become a follower...and you get an entry to get a gift basket which is full of goodies and chocolate! LOL! Post on XtraOrdinary Romance and you’ll get more entries tossed into the hat. I’ll occassionally ask a question...you answer...another entry. If you bring a friend, you’ll get two entries. The contest starts today and runs through Christmas Eve with the winner being announced on Christmas. Have fun! And don’t forget to invite your buddies!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Lynn