So here we are again – goal time!  Let’s check to see what I achieved in 2011, shall we?

• I’ll write and submit two books aimed at Desire by the end of the year – check!
• I’ll finish rom com short story/novella by June – nup
• I’ll finish first draft of erotic space opera and pitch it at RWA’s August conference
• I will post to my blog at least every two weeks
• I’ll design and print postcards for my new book coming out in March/April –
• I’ll work on new promo products for ARRC in March, RWAC in August –
• I’ll revamp my website –
• read up/find out more about effective marketing strategies – half a
• I’ll make a dent in all those unread how-to books on my shelves! –
• I’ll read at least two new-to-me authors –
• I’ll read at least one unread how-to – I started five… so ?
• I will judge at least one RWAust contest – (way too busy!)
• I will read for RWAmerica’s RITA contest –
• I’ll be more proactive with offering to read my critique group’s work – half a
• I’ll refine and finish my “Pain Free Plotting” workshop in preparation for speaking engagements – big !
• I’ll approach local schools. libraries and community centres to offer writing/educational workshops – another big

So, about half, I’d say.  Interesting to note that most of my self-promotional efforts that required a small time frame were the ones that got done.  (hmm… fickle Gemini brain).

And now on to this year’s goals.  To recap, in 2009 I wrote a post about what makes a goal a goal, specifically a SMART goal.  Make it Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound.

Writing/Sales/Business

• Finish my next Desire by February
• Finish my rom com short story/novella by February
• Finish first draft of erotic space opera and pitch it at RWA’s August conference
• Polish my partial rom sus and submit it
• finalise my web design pricing schedule
• draft up a business plan

Promotion

• Organise my writing group’s blog and post every nine weeks
• Finalise a Desire group blog and draft up a posting schedule
• Design and print promo material for my October/November release
• Work on  new promo products for RWAC in August
• Revamp my website
• Write three newsletters

Craft Education (developing/strengthening skills)

• research marketing strategies
• finish more of those unread how-to books on my shelves!
• research indie publishing opportunities

Health/Relaxation/Inner Self

• Read at least two new-to-me authors
• Go to the gym at least 5 times a week
• Check out the local health spas in my area (a girl can dream!)

Outreach (helping others)

• Write at least two articles for my website
• Critique writing group’s short stories
• Read for RWAmerica’s RITA contest

Looks like 2012 will be big for focusing on honing and developing my business skills.  Oh, and if you want help on goal setting and time management, my lovely friend Kitty Bucholtz has a cool online workshop happening in January/February.  I’m seriously tempted to sign up!

So what are your goals for the upcoming year?  Anything you didn’t achieve in 2011 that you are DEFINITELY going to aim for in ’12?  Post a comment, let me know your plans and you could win a cool notepad so you can write down all those goals!

Some wonderful things have been happening here in my world.  First, I was asked to join the exciting new Desire six-book continuity series, The Highest Bidder.  Set in the world of the rich and famous, with  a venerable auction house as the backdrop, the series includes scandals, movie stars and lots of secrets.  I’m currently knee-deep in my story, aiming to have it to my editor by end of January (yeah, over Christmas and New Year!)  Mine will be book 4, due out in October 2012 and I’m thrilled to be working with Desire doyens Barbara Dunlop, Charlene Sands and Maureen Child, newcomer Cat Schield and my favorite gorgeous Kiwi, Yvonne Lindsay

Another fabulous happening for me, this time closer to home.  The Australian Romance Readers Association have asked *me* to be their awards dinner guest speaker!  So very thrilled and humbled and I will definitely try to entertain you all (warning: there will be photos!).  It’s a night where we celebrate the ARRA members’ favourite romance books of 2011 and I’d love to see you all there on the night – 11 February 2012 at Cello’s Restaurant, The Castlereagh Hotel, Sydney.  For more info and bookings, go here. (If you’re an ARRA member, don’t forget to vote for your favourite!)

As part of 2012′s National Year of Reading, I’ll be speaking at Burwood Library (18 February) and Strathfield Library (2 June), talking about writing popular fiction, writing romance, my journey to publication, and giving away an assortment of goodies.  More details on my website when I have them.

A casual remark on Facebook had me charging down memory lane with one of my favorite topics – 80s bands.

Ahhh, yes. Synthesizers, girly hair, denim, drum machines… shoulder pads!  And one of the first Aussie boy bands ever, Indecent Obsession.  Who, I hear you say?  Signed up in 1987, their first single, Say Goodbye was a massive hit.  It also heralded the move from the full-on Brit retro music we know and love (Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran) to more pop-y, choreographed dance beats:

Here’s another one – Kiss Me (yeah, I really, really WANTED TO, David Dixon – I had a serious crush on you!!) complete with wind machines, girls dressed in denim and bras, a sexy singer peeling his jacket half-off his shoulders and the obligatory dancing-in-the-rain:

And where are these young spunks now?  Wikipedia tells me that after David left the band he did a bit of stage, acted in Home & Away, and is now a helicopter pilot, married with kids.  Drummer Daryl Sims played with a bunch of alternative Sydney bands and .. wow! penned Bardot’s debut single Poison.  Guitarist Andrew Coyne did something obscure in a play, Richard Hennassey (who replaced David Dixon) appeared on the first series of “Come Dine With Me Australia” and keyboardist Michael Szumowski has worked as a producer for heaps of Aussie bands, including Guy Sabastian and Disco Montego (go, you!)

Not a bad bunch of achievements, I’d say.

So, leading up to our 20th anniversary RWA conference, discussion on our loops turn to all the wonderful craft and how-to books available for writers.

When I first started writing, I craved genre-specific how-to books.  Sure, there were heaps of ‘creative writing’ books out there, but none that suited my particular needs.  For example, I really hate “let’s do a writing exercise!” books, and ones that reference literary fiction or authors I have no interest in reading.  I wanted practical stuff!  ”If only there was a book on effective editing/writing love scenes/conflict/how to structure a story, etc.” was my familiar lament.   I went through a bunch (mainly from the library) that, although okay, didn’t give me any greater insight.

Then I picked up The Secrets of Successful Romance Writing by Emma Darcy and The Art of Romance Writing by Valerie Parv.  FINALLY!  Information specific to my genre! Sure, at the time I was writing sweeping historical sagas not category romance, but still, much of the information contained in those two small volumes hit home.   And slowly, more and more authors began to publish craft books.  And then I discovered Writers Digest.

It was a bit of an obsession, this burning desire to acquire how-tos, and for a few years I was blissfully caught up in the excitement of buying a book and absorbing every detail.  Then came my first sale, and looking at my shelves, I realized I’d moved on from the basics – writing a gripping first chapter, effective dialogue, what is tension/pace  - and needed something different to satisfy my thirst for information, like procrastination, juggling life and writing, better ways of plotting.

So below are a list of recommended books I’ve actually READ

Craft Books

• Writing Romance – Vanessa Grant (Self-Counsel Press) – a good overall book to start, which gives some great advice as well as practical ways to structure a synopsis
• Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies – Leslie Wainger  (Hungry Minds Inc US) written by an Executive Editor of Harlequin Books, this book is an easy-to-follow guide to writing, pitching and selling your romance novel
• Story – Robert McKee (Methuen Publishing) I started reading this book after I was fortunate enough to attend McKee’s Story seminar.  Sure, it’s aimed at screenwriting, but the wealth of information this legendary guy brings is totally worth it, from structure, writing compelling scenes, dialogue and turning points
• Writing the Breakout Novel – Donald Maass (Writers Digest)  Love The Donald (one of New York’s leading agents) and love this book.  It gives you practical ways of improving your story, from layering in tension, to increasing the stakes for your characters.  Use in conjunction with his workbook.
• The Writer’s Journey – Chris Vogler (Michael Wiese Productions) Vogler contends that “all stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and movies” and his book details and expands on those elements.  A great book for both plotters (as a plotting tool) and pantsers (as an editing tool)
• Writing the Fiction Synopsis – Pam McCutcheon (Gryphon Books for Writers) – if you’ve ever wrestled with a synopsis (okay, all of you??) this book breaks it down into easily understood pieces
• Book In A Month: The Fool-Proof System for Writing a Novel in 30 Days  – Victoria Lynn Schmidt (Writers Digest) – love the layout of this book: spiral bound with easily flippable pages.  It’s also a great way to plan out your first draft.

Editing

• The Writer’s Handbook for Editing and Revision – Rick Wilber (NTC)
• Self-Editing for Fiction Writers – Renni Browne and Dave King (HarperCollins)

Two fabulous editing books that give you practical examples on how to strengthen your writing.

Characterisation

• Goal, Motivation, Conflict – Debra Dixon (Gryphon Books for Writers) – one of my writing staples.  If your characters don’t have GMC then your story will suck and you’ll lose reader interest.  Trust me.
• The Sociopath Next Door – Martha Stout (Three Rivers Press) – fascinating study into sociopathic personality types
• The Complete Writers Guide to Heroes and Heroines: 16 Master Archetypes – Tami Cowden, Carol LeFever, Sue Viders – brilliant for creating believable characters.

Motivation

• The Productive Writer: Tips and Tools to Help You Writer More, Stress Less and Create Success – Sage Cohan (Writers Digest)
• Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within -  by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett (Mariner Books)
• The Procrastinator’s Handbook: Mastering the Art of Doing it Now – Rita Emmett (Walker & Company)

And of course, I have stacks of books on my TBR pile that look awesome but I’ve yet to delve into:

• The Artful Edit: On The Practice of Editing Yourself  – Susan Bell (WW Norton)
• Lights, Camera, Fiction!  A Movie Lover’s Guide to Writing Fiction – Alfie Thompson (Running Press)
• Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need – Blake Snyder (Michael Wiese Productions)
• What Would Your Character Do? – Personality Quizzes for Analyzing your Characters – Eric Maisel (Writers Digest)
• The Hero Within: Six Archetypes we Live By – Carol Pearson (HarperOne)

Do you have any favorite writing books?  I’d love to hear about them because you can never have too many books

So the hot news sweeping through the author community is that Random House are bringing back their Loveswept romances.  For those unfamiliar with these category books, they were published by Bantam in the 80s and 90s and launched the careers of such luminaries as Suzanne Brockmann, Kay Hooper, Iris Johansen and Tess Gerritsen.  Jenny Crusie also wrote two before the line became defunct.

So they will be in e-format only, and reprints of favorites to start.  Then eventually, new titles will be published.  This is great for readers who love category books (More diversity!  More books to read!  More authors to discover!) and fabulous news for category authors too (More places to sell their work!  More readers!  More diversity!).  The Publishers Weekly announcement is here, and the new website for Random House Loveswept here.

As well as doing a bit of website design on the side, I spend a lot of time visiting blogs and checking out sites, waxing lyrical over the fabulous ones and bitching and moaning about the not-so-professional ones.  If you have a site or are thinking of getting one, here are my experiences and thoughts, as well as some painfully awful don’ts that will hopefully help you in avoiding the (sadly common) pitfalls of web design. (BTW these pointers also apply to group or professional association sites and blogs too – check out the Australian Romance Readers site for a clean, professional look).

DO

• visit sites you like and find out who designed them, then get quotes.  There are many, many designers out there and the prices can vary dramatically.
• be aware it can take a little skill to build a website from scratch if you chose not to pay a designer.  You will need a design program (I use the full version of Webpage Maker),  knowledge of color and layout, and basic html.  And not everyone has the ability to design a nice-looking site, in which case, there are templates.
• make a list of all the pages you want to include on your site.  For authors, you should at the very minimum have a bio page, a books page, links,  an email address (or how to contact you) and a home button.  Other options that will draw in your readers are a ‘behind the book’, excerpts, a contest and any articles you’ve written.  A blog, Twitter account and Facebook are all totally optional, depending on how much time and effort you want to spend.
• have an idea of what your product is.  Do you write sweet rural romance?  Hot sexy paranormals?  Your writing, personal style and tone of your books  should reflect in your website -  from the colors and pictures to the layout and font.  For example, CC Coburn (Harlequin American) wanted a site that reflected the kind of books she writes, something airy, down-home and American.  Kerri Lane  (children’s author) wanted something fun and open for her blog.  Marianna Jameson writes bio-thrillers, hence the ominous dark cloud.  And Cathryn Hein (Allen & Unwin) writes Aussie rural romance so her up-coming site will reflect earthy tones.  If you hate pink, roses and anything to do with hearts, then don’t include them on your site!
• keep uniformity in the pages.  Your banner and links should be the same throughout -  don’t have a multitude of changing images just because you love 20 different photos of couples in a clinch.   The exception is Anna Campbell‘s website, but you’ll notice only the photos are different and the banner itself remains exactly the same on every page.

Now, some unpublished writers may not want to go the website route just yet, which is where a blog comes in handy.  I use WordPress.com which is free and has a stack of different standard templates and designs, which I then design different banners to personalize each blog.  A few I’ve done are Diamonds Down Under, Outback Billionaires and Babies, Kaz Delaney, Shannon Curtis and of course, mine.

And now we come to the most important bit – marks of an amateur site (aka stuff that makes me want to rip my hair out in frustration):

• a multitude of different fonts and sizes.  I love fonts but they have their place.  For ease of reading, the body of your website should be a standard Arial 10 point, not that fancy Bickley Script – because the fonts on my computer may not necessarily be on Jane’s computer in Texas.  So Jane’s computer will substitute it for a default (and often clunky!) font.
• basic comical flash objects such as dancing pigs, popup email envelopes and fluttering butterflies.  This kind of stuff went out in the early 90s and doesn’t have a place on a professional site
• a bunch of frames and boxes and /or pictures that are just dumped on a page.  This just looks too busy and amateurish
• misaligned pictures, fonts – again, smacks of ‘I don’t care about my website’.  So why should a reader?
• ads.  OMG, please, pay the small amount and invest in your own domain name and webmaking software!  Ads from third parties make everything look cheap and nasty.  Why should you, as an author, provide free advertising for someone else?
• a dark background with white text / multicolored headings in fancy fonts.  You don’t want to give your readers eye strain.
• links to pages or sites that don’t work
• overloading your home page with text, pictures, award logos and other stuff.  The purpose of this page is to provide a little info about you, a news update, and advert of your wares, and encouragement to browsers to keep looking.  Being bombarded with a bunch of “5 hearts at Romance Review Site!” logos isn’t relevant here – save it for your Awards or Book page.
• text that runs off the page so that you miss half of what’s being said.
• and one of my pet peeves – a site that’s so wide you have to scroll with the bottom navigation bar to get to the other side.  Bad, bad, bad.  If it involves more than a few clicks, you will lose readers.

Odds on, if you’ve published a book (be it traditionally, e or self-),  someone will read it.  Hopefully, many someones.  And hopefully, those many someones will like it – even love it.

But there’s also a chance a reader will not feel the same way about your creation that you do.  And that is equally fine.  Every reader is entitled to their own opinion as much as I am entitled to write whatever I want.  I’m not so precious and sensitive about my work that I expect total and utter worship for the way I arrange words on the page .

And as an author, you are also in control of how you chose to react to those negative reviews.  It never ceases to amaze me how some, faced with this choice, will pick the ‘OMG, no!  CAR CRASH!!!!’ option over a dignified silence.  Witness the recent Twitter flurry of BigAl’s review of “The Greek Seaman” and the author’s resulting comebacks (sorry, but how is telling everyone to publicly “f*&^ off” anything but bad for an author?).

Yes, thanks to the internet, reviews and critiques can be instantly published, searched and commented on in a matter of days.  And just like there’s two sides to every story, there are two sides to every review.  Some are insightful, constructive and well-written.  Some are variations of ‘not to my taste’.  Some have nothing whatsoever to do with your story (like giving it a 1 star Amazon review and commenting “the postage was too high”.  Or hating the title).  And some are vitriolic rants specifically designed to insult and/or push the reviewer’s agenda.

So what to do with a negative review?

It may be cathartic to compose a strongly worded email, post or comment, publicly refuting and defending your work if you feel the reviewer has missed the point/got it wrong/didn’t seem to even read the book.  But unless you’re Carla Cassidy, this can easily backfire, and you’ll be forever known in Google searches as ‘what not to do as an author’.

My advice?  For those reviewers who are genuinely interested in and reviewing your genre, a polite thank you for reading your work  and a “I hope my next release is more to your taste” would be okay.  For those reviewers whose sole purpose is to provide outdated stereotypical ‘stupid dumb romance genre’ comments to make them feel intellectually superior, then take the high road and just ignore them.  Tempting as it is to come out with guns blazing, it’s important to realize that they are not your target market and nothing you say will ever make an impact on their prejudices.

Then go and re-read those little shining comments from your satisfied readers.  I guarantee those are the ones that matter

So very, very thrilled (not to mention stunned!) that The Billionaire Baby Bombshell took out Favourite Short Category Romance for 2010 at the Australian Romance Reader Awards on Saturday night   I managed to forget my camera (typical) but many others took heaps of shots that I hope to post soon.

The winners on the night were:

FAVOURITE PARANORMAL ROMANCE

• Bonds of Justice – Nalini Singh

FAVOURITE SCI-FI, FANTASY OR FUTURISTIC ROMANCE

• Archangel’s Kiss – Nalini Singh

FAVOURITE SHORT CATEGORY ROMANCE

• The Billionaire Baby Bombshell – Paula Roe

FAVOURITE HISTORICAL ROMANCE

• My Reckless Surrender – Anna Campbell

FAVOURITE CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

• Home is Where the Bark Is – Kandy Shepherd

FAVOURITE EROTIC ROMANCE

• Raising the Stakes – Jess Dee

FAVOURITE ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

• Border Watch – Helene Young

FAVOURITE CONTINUING ROMANCE SERIES

• Psy/Changeling series – Nalini Singh

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN ROMANCE AUTHOR OF 2010

• Anna Campbell

Thanks, ARRA readers, for making my day