The Romance Dish: Today's Special - - Lenora Bell

I'm blogging today at The Romance Dish about my Golden Heart journey, and the romance authors who inspire me. What a thrill to tell my story and maybe even inspire others to keep writing and follow their dreams! Also giving away a Bolivian gift basket to a randomly chosen commenter.

The Romance Dish: Today's Special - - Lenora Bell: PJ here.  Remember how I mentioned in a recent RWA blog about how you meet the nicest people in the hotel bar at romance conferences? Tod...

Top 20 Reasons the RWA 2014 National Conference Was Awesome!

I feel like I'm in The Lego Movie because everything is awesome. So here are my Top 20 Reasons the RWA Conference Was Awesome. Because ten just wouldn't be enough.

1. My fellow GH nominees, the Dreamweavers. What an amazing, talented group of writers. And so much fun!

2. THE Eloisa James hugged me after I accepted the Golden Heart^® award for unpubbed historical romance authors. What a thrill!

3. Reconnecting with my pals from Avon FanLit, the amazing Courtney Milan and Tessa Dare. I had that dazed, deer-in-the-headlights expression on my face the whole night. But don't Courtney and Tessa look gorgeous?

 

 

 

4. The excitement in the air was palpable. There were clusters of writers everywhere, talking at warp speed, sharing stories, laughs, and margaritas.

 

5. One of my best friends got married the week before the conference so I was totally able to justify the expense of traveling to the U.S. Thanks guys!

 

 

6. Drinks in the bar with new friends @WriteAsRain_, @southerntart,  @JeanettelGrey, and @LauraTrentham. Although the hangover the next day? Not awesome.

7. The Spotlight on @AvonBooks. One of the editors said that maybe some of us in the room would become their authors. I got chills.

 

8. Squealing over the cover of Elle Daniel's debut novel, HE'S NO PRINCE CHARMING. Elle was the sweetest roommate ever. She gave me a sneak peak at the book and it's exuberant, witty, and utterly charming! Also, she gave me a twitter lesson because I needed some serious help.

 

 

9. Attending inspiring workshops. I especially loved "Suffragettes and Alpha Males: Exploring Feminism in Romance" with Tessa Dare, Zoe Archer, Lorelie Brown, Julie Leto and Carrie Lofty. If you weren't able to attend, you should download the audio from RWA.

10. Hanging on the famous San Antonio Riverwalk.

11. Wearing my lucky Golden Heart shoes that I bought in Bolivia. They totally worked! And they were a great conversation starter in the elevators.

12. PJ from The Romance Dish gave me some of her delicious homemade truffles. Check out her "What Happens in San Antonio" RWA conference recap posts.

13. When I called my husband to tell him I won, he was at a Mötley Crüe concert. He was like, "What? I can't hear you. Vince Neil is singing too loud." 

14. Enjoying some special time with my BFF's before the conference. I miss you Nonfiction Vixens!

15. Receiving my first ever email from someone who wanted to know where she could buy my book. That is the most incredible feeling in the world. Would be even better if I could direct her to a link. Hopefully someday!

16. All the gorgeous, glittery dresses at the @RitaGH awards ceremony. Especially Denny Bryce and Ellen Lindseth!

17.  Eloisa's moving tribute to Bertrice Small, winner of the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award. We hope you make it to New York next year, Bertrice!

18. There was a Goodwill within walking distance of the Marriott. I'm a thrift store junkie. I didn't have much time, but I ran in for a few minutes and scored some black leather cowboy/motorcycle boots.

19. Going home and finding that my twenty-one-year old cat was safe and happy. I cherish every moment I have with her because you never know when they get to be that age.

 

20. I can now say I'm an award winning romance author. Thanks, RWA!

 

Hugs!
Lenora

Confessions of a 2014 RWA Golden Heart Finalist

I am loving the RWA National Conference in San Antonio! My fellow Golden Heart nominees and I have been kicking butt and taking names. We all have multiple requests and several of us have already sold. I'm so proud to part of this group of classy, talented ladies!

I've met so many fabulous authors and I've downloaded tons of books already. Some new favorite historical romance authors include: Jennifer McGowan, Erica Monroe, Elizabeth Michels, and my roomie and new friend Elle Daniels.

Yeah, I'm here to sell my book. But I have to confess that I'm also a giggling, star struck fangirl and I've stuttered and fluttered my way through breathless meetings with Eloisa James, Elizabeth Hoyt, Tessa Dare, Cathy Maxwell, and Sarah MacLean, to name a few.

Here are a few pics. I'll blog more later about what the conference meant to me and my top takeaways.

Hugs!

    Me with romantic suspense author Carey Baldwin.

    Me fan-girling out with NYT bestselling author Tessa Dare. She's so lovely!

    The inimitable Eloisa James. My hands were shaking too badly to focus the camera.

    OMG. Elizabeth Hoyt. Love her!

    Fellow Golden Heart nominees Laura Trentham, Charis Calhoon, and Jillian Lark.

Golden Heart Shoes!

I couldn't resist these red sparkly golden heart shoes. Hopefully they'll bring me luck at the national conference of the Romance Writers of America^®

Highlights so far include bar time with favorite authors Tessa Dare and Carey Baldwin (the men from the fertilizer convention happening at the same hotel kept buying us fishbowl-sized drinks), an inspiring talk by the lovely and gracious romantic grand dame Cathy Maxwell, fantastic pitching advice from Jennifer McGowan, Robin Perini, and Liz Bemis-Hittinger. Thanks ladies!

Having a blast!

Bell de Journey

Where I live.

I'm writing again. Every day. Characters wake me up in the middle of the night to give me advice about what they want to do in the next chapter. When I'm at work, part of my brain is obsessing about carriage upholstery and Regency profanity. This is why I write. To be possessed by my characters. To eat and sleep and dream their lives. Charlene was raised in a bawdy house. That's what she told me last night. I had no idea. Liam learned how to play spanish guitar in Argentina. Strange but apparently true.

I took a long break from the internet because in the past I've spent too much time blog-hopping instead of writing. Also I disappeared because writing had become a chore instead of a passion.

While I was away, so many of the lovely ladies I met through FanLit have hit the big time. Tessa Dare is a superstar now. Of course. Courtney Milan keeps publishing brilliant stories. Both of them push the boundaries of romance. Tessa's writing is so achingly funny and passionate that we absolutely believe a tavern serving girl could marry a duke. And my friend Maire Claremont took us on a dark and drug-fevered journey into redemption. Can't wait for Lady in Red!

I'm living in Bolivia right now. No RWA chapters here. So I'm looking for new critique partners and I'm ready to finish a book and put myself out there again. RWA San Antonio 2014 here I come!

Sassy!

The lovely and talented Delilah Marvelle just won a prize for being sassy at the Romantic Times Faery Costume Ball. Isn't that just so perfect? She is sassy and so are her books. I cannot wait for her Scandal series to come out from HQN in January-March, 2011!

I'll post pictures of sassy Delilah in her gorgeous costume soon. Forgot my upload cord.

Dear Sir or Madam, Will You Read My Book?

When I arrived at the Romantic Times convention this morning the Beatles' Paperback Writer was playing over the speakers in the Hyatt Regency lobby. This song is such a fixture on oldies radio that it's been relegated to the Muzak section of my brain where it sloshes around with Circle Game and The Sound of Silence ensuring that I never really hear the lyrics. But it was such an appropriate song for the occasion. Thank you, Hyatt Regency, for unconsciously serenading the large trampling herd of aspiring paperback writers here to graze on the hope that we will meet the agent of our dreams and be rescued from the slaughterhouse of unpublished obscurity.


Paperback writer

Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?
It took me years to write, will you take a look?
Based on a novel by a man named Lear
And I need a job, so I want to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

It's the dirty story of a dirty man
And his clinging wife doesn't understand.
His son is working for the Daily Mail,
It's a steady job but he wants to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

Paperback writer

It's a thousand pages, give or take a few,
I'll be writing more in a week or two.
I can make it longer if you like the style,
I can change it round and I want to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

If you really like it you can have the rights,
It could make a million for you overnight.
If you must return it, you can send it here
But I need a break and I want to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

Paperback writer

Once Upon a Bed...

I will be eating dinner tonight with my lovely writing friends Delilah and Moira...on a bed. Delilah is taking us to Supperclub where we will recline roman style and feast our eyes on a cabaret show.

The conference is going very well. I placed second in the Hearts Through History contest and I'm thrilled because my friend and critique partner, Courtney Milan, took first. Yay, Courtney! I've received quite a few requests for Filigree and Shadow from agents and editors and that's really the whole point of the conference so Lenora is a happy girl.

Tonight we're off to karaoke at The Mint (one of my old stomping grounds) with a bunch of ladies including the lovely vixens Lacey, Eden, and Shelli. Bliss!

I'll try to remember to bring my camera this time.

Hugs,

Lenora

I Left My Heart In...

Every time I go back to the city by the bay I contract a severe case of nostalgia. The rows of candy-colored Victorians; the salt-tang in the air; the beckoning racks of polyester prom dresses at Thrift Town; the sea bass, mango, and butter appetizer baked in a large mussel shell at Sushi Zone. But this trip I won't have time for thrifting or sea bass and I won't even get to see my friends who still live there. Every second will be spent at the RWA National Conference. Because my life is so insane right now I haven't spent much time preparing for the conference. Maybe that's a good thing. I also haven't had time to feel nervous.

Courtney was blogging about pitching the other day and I realized that I haven't practiced my pitch for Filigree and Shadow and I started to get a bit panicky. I don't have a problem talking to strangers since I'm accustomed to being on stage and I actually like schmoozing. But none of that will help me if I haven't memorized the salient details of a succinct pitch. So that's my goal for today.

I hope your conference preparations are going more smoothly than mine. I can't wait to meet all my internet writing friends in SF! See you in a few days...

Lenora

New Friends

The conference was fabulous. If any of you get a chance to take a workshop from Debra Dixon you should. She is one of the best speakers I've ever seen. She was witty, fiercely intelligent, passionate about writing, and able to give concrete advice in a way that made sense and motivated me to run home and fix the mistakes in my WIP. I can't say enough good things about her.

I got to meet three of the amazingly talented and sweet Manuscript Mavens. Their storyboarding workshop was very helpful and well-presented and they looked fetching in their matching pink and white t-shirts.

I also met Delilah Marvelle whose upcoming School of Gallantry series for Kensington sounds scintillating and delicious. Check her out!

The best part about conferences is meeting so many other writers whose tales of perseverance and triumph inspire you to keep going. It's not going to be easy. But I'll never get published if I don't polish this manuscript and send it out. It's as simple as that.

I registered for the San Francisco National RWA conference today. Are you going?

Inaugural CONTEST! The Measure of Success

Eleven months ago, I packed up my bags, and my fluffy cat, and moved to China. I vowed I would not come back without a book deal. Well, here I am, with no book deal, but lots of cute shoes and silk scarves. Now, while I never underestimate the power of shoes, I am disappointed that I wasn't as productive as I wanted to be. But the good news is that during a little contest called FanLit I met a group of supremely talented and supportive people who share my passion for romance.

Was my journey a success? You can measure success in many ways. There are the small victories. Rejection letters mean you actually sent something out, so that is a kind of success if you have writer's block. There are larger triumphs, like finaling in contests, or being asked to submit a rewrite. I know many talented writers who are celebrating those successes right now. There is the success of seeing your book in print for the first time, the moment you hit a bestseller list, the RITA nomination.

And then there is the thrill every time you write a passage you know is better than anything you've written before. That's the success I'm celebrating right now.

I have a phobia about posting excerpts on my blog. I think it stems from the fear that I will read them next week and feel horribly ashamed. But I want to post a few excerpts now, to show you how far I've come, and what I have to celebrate.

My first attempt at writing romance featured a squeaky-clean missionary's daughter who was dragged into 1890 Shanghai's seamy underworld by a bad-boy opium trader. Unfortunately, the hero and heroine did not meet until page 50, and when they did, much head-hopping, leaden dialogue, and cliche-ridden situations ensued. I vomited out 400 pages, and then realized it was truly awful.

Here, for your amusement, is an excerpt from The Devil of Shanghai--completely unedited, in all its unbridled glory, rendered in purple, because purple it is:

So many layers of cloth between them, yet Mabel felt naked with longing. She had seen the beauty of this man’s naked chest, had lain beneath him in dreams and in reality. He was the inevitability of the pleasure and delight she could no longer deny herself. He was the reason she breathed. She was swept up in the dazzling passion of a boundless love. She could hear the Queen of the Night's aria ringing in her ears as his hands freed her heaving breasts and his lips teased the aching peaks of her nipples. Even if he lost all respect for her, even if he only wanted her as a mistress, regardless of the consequences, she was his. Even though they were members of two different worlds. Wasn’t it ironic that her mother had found solace and love in the arms of a penniless American doctor and now she, a penniless American herself, was finding passion with an Earl?Mmhm. I said "heaving breasts." Good lord.

I know you're saying to yourself, "But what does this have to do with me winning something?" You're right, I've been awfully slow getting to the contest part of the post.

Here are your choices:

1. You can submit an excerpt that make you terribly ashamed, or one that makes you darn right proud. It can be the thrilling tale you wrote about My Little Pony in the fifth grade, or something from your latest WIP. I don't care. Just make me laugh, or sigh with envy, or both.

OR

2. Tell me how you define success at this point in your writing career.
The winner will be randomly selected by a process that involves my cat and slips of paper soaked in a catnip solution, and announced on Friday, July 6th.

The prize is a silk scarf I bought in Suzhou, China from one of the most famous Chinese silk brands, Xiu Niang.



The scarf is HUGE, you could use it as a table cloth, or wear it to RWA National (if it arrives in time). It's high-quality 100% pure silk that shimmers in the moonlight. The photos don't do the vibrant colors justice.

And so begins my first contest. Thank you for reading, thank you for getting me through the dark times, and thank you for helping me celebrate the small successes in life.

p.s. Guest blogger Carrie Ryan is talking about a similar subject today over at the Manuscript Mavens blog.

To National, or Not to National

We've decided to return home a month early, and that means I could attend RWA's national conference if I wanted to. Of course I would only have been back in the states for a week--but since it is the biggest event of a romance writer's year, I'm thinking I should hop back on a plane and go to Dallas. I've only been to one smaller conference, so this would be a new experience for me. And I've only been to Texas once, and pardon me for saying so, it did not leave a good impression.

I was hired by a national speech coaching company to manage their San Francisco office, but they were headquartered out of Houston, so they flew me there for training. The moment I walked into the shiny corporate offices, I knew I was going to stick out like a...well like a San Francisco girl in Texas. Everyone was coiffed and power-suited and chipper, and they could all tell with one quick downward sweep of their blue-frosted lids that I was not a member of their sorority. I will spare you the details of that painful week, but I will let you know that I quit that job a mere two months later, even though they offered me a huge raise, stock options, and money for a new, more corporate appropriate, wardrobe.

But I'm sure this time around Texas would be different. Especially if I had some friends to seek out. So are you going? Is it worth the money? If I buy you a lemon drop will you let me sit at your table?

First Base

Where do I start? The conference was a stomach-churning, nail-biting, delirium-inducing whirlwind of sheer amazingness. I got requests from everyone I pitched to (seven total), which makes me very, very happy. I'm going to take a week to polish the novella until it gleams and then send it off.

Kerensa Brougham, my critique partner and conference roomie, also got requests. We were both so keyed-up, we woke at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday and started pitching to each other before we even brushed our teeth. Nervous energy is such a strange phenomenon. I'm accustomed to being on stage, but nothing could have prepared me for the terror that struck when I realized that in two minutes I would be face to face with a senior editor at Kensington (she was extremely nice by the way). I had my lines carefully rehearsed, but promptly went off script. Luckily, she seemed to like it.

And all that time I spent analyzing what outfit to wear paid off as well. My sweet vintage red shoes with the white piping got lots of compliments, as did my business cards with the plush red wallpaper on the back (thank you, Laura!). I was glad I spent the time to research and create my identity system before the conference.

Julia Quinn taught a very helpful dialogue class. She's funny, honest, and down-to-earth. But my favorite speaker was Stella Cameron. I've never read any of her books, but I'm going to. If she were a guru, I would grasp the hem of her robe and follow her to the ends of the earth. All the speakers shared a common theme: don't let fear hold you back. I needed to hear that.

I've spent too long doubting myself.

First Pitch

I've been writing historical romance for just over a year. But this weekend I'm actually going to try to sell some at a conference organized by the Romance Writers of America's Silicon Valley chapter. I'll get to meet other authors, go to fun workshops with titles like "Say Goodbye to the Slush Pile," and flirt with agents and editors at the Speed Dating event.

I've practised my pitch ad nauseum (even going so far as to set it to a Cole Porteresque tune -- for my own private amusement, of course). I bought a cute black and white vintage sundress, had a fancy website made, and picked up my fabulous red business cards today. Now I just have to glue flocked velvet wallpaper to the backs of them. They'll scream bordello, but that's appropriate. I am writing gothic Victorian-era romance, after all!

I'll check back in a few days and blog about the conference, and my upcoming journey to China!