Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Some fun this week

Today's blog is next in line...scroll down for the blog. Here's soee info for writers. But scroll down for today's blog!

I'm doing a Q&A session on savvyauthors.com on Friday. I'll be answering questions all day on How To Write A Category Romance!

In August I'll be doing Story, Theme and Vehicle...Here's the info.

WritersOnlineClasses.com is proud to present one of its two online classes
in August: Story, Theme and Vehicle with instructor Susan Meier:

Instructor: multi-published author Susan Meier
CLASS: Story, Theme and Vehicle
4-week class $30 August 1-31 COST $30
Registration ends July 31, 2010

CLASS: Story, Theme and Vehicle

Have you ever written a book that was good, but simply didn't seem good
enough? Or one that wasn't cohesive? Or one that should have been wonderful
but seemed to fall flat? In Story, Theme and Vehicle, Susan Meier explains
how knowing your book's story type, story question, and the difference
between its theme and its "vehicle" will keep your book focused. Learn the
five easy steps to a synopsis and the four steps to a one-paragraph pitch.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Susan Meier is the author of over 40 books for Harlequin and
Silhouette and one of Guideposts' Grace Chapel Inn series books, The
Kindness of Strangers. Her books have been finalists for New Jersey's Golden
Leaf, Reviewers Choice Awards, National Reader's Choice Awards and
Cataromance.com and Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer's Choice Awards. HER
BABY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS won the 2009 More Than Magic Contest, Sweet
Contemporary Category. Her Pregnancy Surprise an October 2007 release was
both a Walden Books bestseller and a bookscan bestseller! Her 2010 releases
are MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE, MAID FOR THE SINGLE DAD and COUNTRY TWIN
CHRISTMAS in the Enchanted Christmas anthology for Harlequin Romance with
Barbara Wallace.

Susan loves to teach as much as she loves to write and is a popular speaker
at RWA chapter conferences. Her article "How to Write a Category Romance"
appeared in 2003 Writer's Digest Novel and Short Story Markets. Susan also
gives online workshops for various groups and her articles regularly appear
in RWA chapter newsletters.

For more information or to register, go to
www.WritersOnlineClasses.com OR email info@WritersOnlineClasses.com

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Great Time in Florida Over the Weekend



That's me and my friend, Sharon at a booksigning last weekend. I love to travel, but there are certain places I love visiting more than others. The STAR chapter in Melbourne, Florida is one of them.

We had a great dinner out on Friday night, then a wonderful meeting where I gave the CAN THIS MANUSCRIPT BE SAVED workshop. Everybody at the meeting was intersted and attentive. After the meeting, we walked across the street to the Books A Million where I signed copies of MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE for everyone.

I returned home on Sunday refreshed and ready to write! Good thing since I have a book due next Friday!

MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE is now on the stands! Pick up a copy today!

susan

Monday, July 12, 2010

Great Review of MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE

This is from Elizabeth at Bellaonline. If you like romance novels and you're looking for some ontarget reviews, here is a link to her reviews. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art67659.asp

This time out, I have the latest from Susan Meier, Maid for the
Millionaire (Harlequin Romance, received from author), first in a pair of 'Housekeepers Say I Do!' In the series starter, Liz Harper and her partner Ellie have a cleaning business called Happy Maids. Except that Liz is not very happy when the first job of her day presents her with her remote ex-husband standing nearly naked in the kitchen. Cain Nestor isn't all that happy about the situation either. He knows he screwed up their marriage and being reminded of it now doesn't make him feel any better about the past. Only maybe now he can make up for hurting her the way he did back when they were married. Liz knows better than to get involved with Cain again, no matter what her heart says. Their marriage started off perfectly, and then went straight downhill, and only a masochist would put herself through that again. Plus Liz has kept a secret all these years from Cain, and sharing it with him now can only make things worse. Except their paths keep crossing, and no matter what their best intentions, their emotions are bound to get tangled up again. Liz is a terrific heroine, smart and determined, and her pet project aside from work is fantastic. Cain thinks he can make the past right and move on, until he finds out about Liz's secret, and by then he's fallen in love with her all over again. Which makes him believe they can't have a happy ending. Make sure you have some tissues handy when you sit down with this one, as Ms. Meier is a master at getting her readers' emotions just as tangled up as her characters'. I'm borrowing four of Cupid's five arrows for this one. It's absolutely great!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Authors Helping Writers

I've always been one of those people who believes in paying it forward...and giving back in gratitude for the gifts I've received. In particular, I believe in helping new writers.

If you go to my Coming Attractions page, you'll see that. I'm flying to Melbourne, Florida this weekend to give a workshop for their RWA chapter. (Hi, guys! Waving!) In September I will once again give my CAN THIS MANUSCRIPT BE SAVED workshop for NEORWA. Online workshop slots for 2011 are already filling up.

Flying to RWA chapter meetings and conferences and posting 2 lessons a week (and checking the homework and answering the email questions) takes a huge bite out of my time. I've actually seriously considered quitting twice.

But the urge doesn't last for more than a week. Why? Because I love teaching because it really is a way to touch the future. To help somebody who might otherwise get lost in the shuffle.

I remember how I longed to be a published author. I remember studying, scrimping and saving for conferences, driving places I'd never been, getting lost, longing for a moment of a published author's time in the hope that she could tell me what I'd been missing...

And lots of authors took the time to help me.

It's weird for someone in the public eye to put herself in the vulnerable position of admitting she didn't know very much so she had to study and she studied so hard that she now has ten workshops full of material! But if I don't admit the truth...how will the author who's just holding on by a thread hold on just the one more year or month or week or day that she needs to before her manuscript is noticed?

If writers who are successful, who make a living doing what they love, don't admit it wasn't always easy...How will others see the struggle is worth it?

And if writers who are now bestsellers for their publisher (or category line) don't say...Hey, I had to search out my style and voice so that I could find a place where I would entertain the wonderful readers who like what I write...then how will the writers desperately looking for their place in this business know that there is a place for them?

So I teach. I teach a lot. I don't teach to sell books...though I would hope that those who benefit from my workshops would do me the favor of supporting me the way I'm supporting them! LOL I don't teach for money. Though expenses are paid, I typically don't get a speaker fee from the chapters I visit. And, well, you've seen online workshop fees. My cut of the money is minimal.

But I like it that way. I like knowing that I do this with a pure motive. That I'm not doing this to shake down poor writers who are already struggling. I like knowing that I setting something in motion ...

A wave of writers allowing themselves to be vulnerable and admit they had their hard times...

A wave of writers helping other writers...

A wave of writers building the future.

I want to know that in twenty years or so when I retire to a beach, there'll be an abundance of books by wonderful authors that I can read!

So, if I'm coming to your chapter or your confernce or if I'm the online speaker for the next online workshop you attend, settle in and get ready for a ride. If you listen, really listen objectively, you won't just get a lesson on how to plot or edit or create a character to die for...you'll also see that the journey might be a bit difficult, but it's certainly worth it.

And you can do it.

susan

MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE is out at the local Walmart! THAT'S the thrill you're working for.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

A Rite of Passage

My friend just told me a cute story about her granddaughter cutting her own hair. That reminded me of my daughter, Sarah, cutting her hair two days before her older brother Mikie's first communion.

She was about five and she had the most luxurious thick brown hair. Apparently, she wanted bangs because she cut a swatch out in the front. But, not really understanding hair cutting techniques, she snipped close to the scalp.

The only thing my sister, Laura, the family beautician, could do was give her a "spike" hairdo, which at the time was wildly popular.

So Sunday for Mikie's first communion, we walked into the church with a little girl who could have been a little boy. I tried dressing her in pink, but the hairdo didn't go well with a dress, so we were stuck with a pink "peanut suit" and even in pink she looked like a boy.

The funny part of it was she was proud of herself. She liked her new short hair and believed that her liking the new do made everything she'd done to get it okay. For years we couldn't risk letting her alone with scissors!

My friend's story ended a little differently. Her granddaughter Payton ended up in the very same beautician's chair that her mother Amy had sat in when she cut her own hair. The beautician was the daughter of the beautician who had straightened out the mess Amy had made of her hair.

They laughed remembering Amy's self-inflicted buzz cut. But we were struck by the sense of continuity and tradition in one silly act. All little girls must cut their own hair, but only in a small town can you end up in the same beautician's chair to get it straightened out!


susan

Don't forget MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE should be in stores next week.