Anna Alexander

Posted By Anna on March 26, 2011

I went for these.

Didn’t we just have Halloween? Where has this year gone? I can’t believe it’s been six months since I last posted. It has been so long, I forgot the password to log in to the site.  What have I been doing with my time? Well, since the last time I posted a blog, I started a new job and with it came a load of  responsibilities and long hours. The people are great and it pays the bills, but I’m not meant to be an accountant. It’s not my passion. I am a writer. I’m a writer. I’M A WRITER!

Unfortunately, I have not felt like a writer for the past few months. My rough draft isn’t finished and I haven’t been submitting my superheroes to anyone. How can I sell a book if I don’t send it out? I know this, I just haven’t found the time or the energy to make it happen. 

So now it’s the end of March. Spring. A time for new beginnings. A time to get my ass in gear. Oh, so much easier said than done. All this week I have felt off. Nothing seemed to sparkle, I couldn’t muster any real joy for anything. Housework seems never ending and creativity is down the toilet. The world was dark and gloomy. Of course with it being Seattle, everything is dark and gloomy. But   had errands to run, errands I actually looked forward to doing, yet it still took too much effort to climb out of bed and look presentable. I sloshed out to my car and began to take care of the to-do list, including a stop at the shoe store to replace my broken brown pumps.

Now you should know that I love shoes. Loooove shoes. Maybe because they fit no matter what size you are and there is a shoe for every mood imaginable. You want to know how someone feels? Look at their shoes. The last time I really splurged on shoes was three years ago. My divorce was final, I just moved into my own place, and I decided to truly pursue my writing dreams. I bought eight pairs of shoes in one week because there wasn’t anyone to tell me no. It was an exciting time. I was shedding the shell of the person I never wanted to become and there was this new world ahead of me where anything was possible, and it all began by purchasing a pair of shoes just for the hell of it.

A lot has happened since I bought those shoes, some of which I don’t have anymore. They fell apart or just weren’t practical anymore. My life has had some crazy ups and downs and have taken turns I never expected. I’ve purchased other shoes since then, but there had to be a purpose, a specific need or else I did without. (My family may disagree about that, but it’s true.)

And that was the plan for today: get a practical pair of shoes that would pair well with slacks or a skirt. I found what I needed right away. Brown suede with a two-and-a-half inch heel. They were comfortable and half-off. Perfect. But oh, on the next shelf were a pair of open toe chocolate satin pumps- sleek and sexy. I hadn’t bought sexy shoes in, well, three years. It’s hard to feel sexy when you’re covered from neck to toes in wool, flannel and/or denim all winter long. In the next aisle over there were these cute little ballet flats with the tennis shoe soles in a floral print, and next to those  a pair of amazing red suede heels. Ooo, and the maroon patent leather loafer with the gold buckle. What would it hurt to try them on?

It seared like a sunburn to take them off. I didn’t want to move.

With each pair I slipped on it was a reawakening, a jolt to my tired soul. The ‘me’ I lost under endless debts and credits and program conversions broke through the mud to blossom. Could I splurge on another pair? The accountant side of me busted out the calculator to tabulate 40% off $49.99 plus 9.5% sales tax. I could live off oatmeal for a week. If only that one had a blue sticker. I couldn’t. I shouldn’t. Which do I leave behind?

An hour later I walked to the register with four boxes stacked to my chin. Hysterical laughter bubbled in my throat and I called myself crazy with every step, but it didn’t matter. What did I care that I didn’t have a specific reason to wear them. Perhaps now I will think of a place to wear them, a place where I would do something, or meet someone, and  my life would change forever. Oh, the possibilities.

Possibility. That’s a very powerful word.

The effects of my purchase were immediate. When I left the store the clouds glowed a little brighter and the rain didn’t feel so wet. On the drive home I thought of a new opening paragraph to my query letter that is so fantastic I could kick my own ass for not thinking of it sooner. I want to write.

Some would say ” but it’s just a shoe,” a piece of apparel meant to protect your feet from the elements, and they would be right. But shoes have the power to be so much more. Don’t just stop to consider the comfort or the price. Think of where that shoe can take you, what you could see, or do, or become.

Think of the possibilities.

 

And came home with these too.

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Tags: Shoes

Posted By Anna on September 30, 2010

One short day in the Emerald City…

Well, its more like three, long, arduous days actually. It is that time of year. The Emerald City Writers Conference is here again, and as I look back at the past year, I can’t believe how much I have grown as a writer. A published writer, not so much. But as far as craft is considered, I have gone from simple to sophisticated and complex. At least, I think so.

My goals are pretty much the same as they were last year, only this time I can sense that the stakes are higher. I’m pitching my superheroes. This is the book that I can feel down to my marrow could be big. I just need to find someone who is as passionate about it as I am. No easy feat. My query is set and I am determined to project as much positivity as possible, even when the nerves pull at my insides.

Also different is that this year I am on the conference committee. I know, thou shall not committee, but having this position has given me the opportunity to network that I didn’t have before. At this stage in my career, I find that it has been more than worth it. Just like many writers, I am incredibly shy. I  can hear the gasps, Anna? Shy? No, that can’t be, but seriously, I am. However, since I will be one of the first faces conference attendees will see when they check-in, I will be the most gracious hostess.  Hiding in the background will not be an option. If you see me hiding, poke me with a pencil. This business is all about the connections and I can not pass the opportunity by.

So, okay y’all, my bags are ready, my pages for the Margie Lawson workshop are printed, and I am packing breath mints. Will I sell a book this weekend? No, that’s not the point. What I will do is take another, all important step to publication.

See you there.

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Tags: Conference, romance novels, Writing

Posted By Anna on September 23, 2010

Once a week I have an hour to kill between picking up my children. As I searched for something to do during that hour, I stumbled upon the latest version of Let’s Make a Deal with Wayne Brady on the television.  The last time I saw this show I was wearing neon and glued to my Walkman. X-plus years later, the concept remains the same. For those of you not familiar, Let’s Make a Deal is a game show were people dress up in goofy outfits in order to be selected to play one of several games. During the game, the player will be offered prizes that are hidden behind curtains number one, two, or three, or be tempted to exchange unknown prize for something else. Prizes can include appliances, cars, cash, or the dread  zonk, which is the booby prize.

When I was a kid, the person in the crazy get-up always went for the deal. Behind the curtain could be riches beyond their wildest dreams: trips, cars, or the luxury living room they always wished for. But that was not the case anymore. More often than not, when the contestant was offered the choice between a cash or the mystery prize, the person went for the cold hard cash.

As one of the newly downsized, I identified all to much with taking what you have and running, and cheered loudly “Keep the money!” Who cares if the key to a new Toyota was potentially waiting under the silver box? If Wayne Brady gave me $700 cash in hand, I would take it too. The risks are too scary, the potential for failure too great. Only one man gave up his cash for what was behind curtain number three and do you know what happened? He was zonked!!

Now it is possible that these lack of gamblers were contained to one episode, but I really can’t spend all my time watching continuously for research purposes. I already spend too much time with the History Channel, TruTV, Discovery, and Dr. Oz. Seriously, if I follow everything he says, I should live to be 100.

Taking the leap was once the American way, but no more. It’s really sad actually. The world is in such a flux, how can anything feel like a sure thing anymore. DO you really expect me to take the chance of being told “thanks for playing,” while being handed an inflatable palm tree? Zonks are everywhere, just waiting to blow a raspberry all over your enthusiasm.

Aack, I’m depressing myself now.

No more. I can’t be afraid to see what is behind the curtain. Throw it open and show me my prize. I’ll throw on my stripped stockings and fairy wings and take the chance. How will I start? I will submit a query to two agents tonight. It’s a small step, but it’s a start, because I’m ready to make a deal.

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Tags: ramblings

Posted By Anna on September 12, 2010

Last Saturday I typed “The End” for the last time (hopefully) on my superhero story. Now the real work begins. It’s time to start collating my list of agents to target, write the synopsis, and work on the all important query letter. The Emerald City Writers Conference is in a few short weeks, and that will be the launching point of my expedition to publication.

OnRomantically Speaking with Danielle Monsch we talk about the trials and tribulations all unpublished authors go through and what my strategies are to overcome those.  

 Now back to work.

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Posted By Anna on August 23, 2010

The Joust

The chicklets and I headed to the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire this past weekend in Buckley. It was the second year at this new location and the organizers really did a fantastic job of correcting a few of the issues from last year, mainly the trough of mud you used to have to muddle through along the food court. Now if they could just clarify the whole corn maze information, then it would be perfect. All though my girls thought being stopped by security was incredible exciting.

The jugglers were funny, the jewelry plentiful, and the joust lively and dangerous. A heart stopping moment occurred during the spear competition when a horse caught his foreleg on a hale bale, falling to the ground and tumbling the Lady Maria off the saddle and under its hooves. She was shaken, but okay, and jumped right back into the saddle to finish the show. 

The chicklets and I left with plastic swords, bottles of root beer and lots of stories that they will recreate for the amusement of anyone who is willing to watch. Besides the Highland Games, the Ren Faire is one of the favorite things I look forward to each summer and I can’t wait for next year.

What I like to see, a man in a fantastic hat reading

The Lady Maria of Portugal

 

 

 

 

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Tags: Adventures

Posted By Anna on August 5, 2010

I survived my first nationals experience at the RWA conference in Orlando last week. It’s been five days since I’ve returned and I’ve just climbed out of the mountain of chaos that exploded at work while I was gone. And of course it was all my fault because I dared to leave without my co-work absorbing all of my skills before I left which caused her to unknowingly create havoc. I wish I was joking about that, but alas, I’m not.

So on to much more pleasant things. Nationals was crazy. Everyone who asked me about how my week was going, received the same response. “I don’t know. I’ll have to tell you next week when I’ve processed everything.” And it was true. It has taken me several re-tellings of my adventures to grasp the reality of what occurred.

The first event was the literacy signing. Five hundred authors all lined up to sign and sell their books. I don’t know if you can picture just how sprawling an event like that is, but try not to, it will short circuit your brain. Especially when you wonder how you will, or will not, fit in there when your book finally sells. A daunting thought.

There were so many people milling about that it became impossible to sort them all out. Many of them, and I do mean many, you don’t know. There are a few that you do, names you recognize from group loops or from the books you pass by in the bookstore. Life becomes surreal when two tables down at cocktail hour is Nora Roberts, then later Deborah Cooke passes you in the hallway and stops to chat because she recognized you from ECWC last year. Yeah, that was my favorite author moment.

I did arrive in Orlando with a few goals. 1. Meet at least 15 new people. More than accomplished. 2. Pitch to at least two agents. Done with requests for partials. 3. Attend workshops and learn more about my craft. Done. I also had a bonus benefit by learning more about some of my chapter-mates, and I realized that I had more in common with some of them than I thought. So on that level alone, nationals was a great success.

As I sat at the Rita awards ceremony, several thoughts zipped through my numbed brain. If nationals had been my first conference experience, I would have hyperventilated and felt like such a fraud. As it was I was still overwhelmed. You’ve heard me say that in the publishing business I am an embryo. Surrounded by 2500 people will drive that thought into your brain. But I’ve learned so much over the year that I only felt like hiding in a closet once or twice. Instead of sitting at that table thinking it will never be me on that stage, I could actually envision being the one receiving the Rita for my superhero book. Funny how my Rita acceptance speech sounds a lot like my Oscar speech.

So now it’s head down and polish up my submission to the requesting agents. I will not be among the 90% you never follow through. How I can I succeed if I don’t even try?

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Tags: Conference, RWA

Posted By Anna on July 12, 2010

I managed to break away from endless days of edits, workshops and contest judging to finally do a bit of reading. Of course the book in question was one I couldn’t wait, yet dreaded reading. It was with great trepidation that I picked up JR Ward’s latest Lover Mine, from The Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

Those who know me are well aware that I have a love/hate relationship with the Brothers. I love their world. I love their banter. I love the supporting characters.  However something seems to go awry when one of them takes center stage. By the end of the book I’m left with a “uh, you weren’t as cool as I thought,” feeling. Yeah, even don’t get me started on Phury.

Which was why I was almost afraid to read John Matthew’s story. He has been the one character that has always drawn me back to the series, sometimes against my will. What would I do if he fell into the pit of “I’m not worthy,” like the others did and couldn’t crawl out? Well, he does, but not to the point of the other brothers.

Lover Mine follows Lover Avenged where the evil and vile Lash has kidnapped Xhex in retaliation for her killing his symphath lover. His need for revenge turns into a twisted obsession when he recognizes Xhex as an adversary worthy of all his attentions.  John Matthew has given up hope that Xhex will ever be found again and takes his rage out on every lesser his comes across. After Xhex manages to free herself, she and John wade through a quagmire of uncertainty, despair, fear, love, revenge and self- loathing as they race to put an end to the harbinger of their torment.

You can breathe a sigh of relief that John stays true to his honorable and devoted nature. He is truly a male of worth and even when his self confidence goes into the crapper, he still manages to find a reason to keep going.  

Now Xhex on the other hand was interesting. She was still a badass warrior as always, but Ward kind of girlie’d her up a bit, which struck me as odd. If this was the first I had read about her, I wouldn’t have noticed it, but to me, Xhex always seemed like the anti-girl, a guy with female parts.  It wasn’t a bad thing to soften her, but it wasn’t necessarily good either, just another “huh” moment. Yes, she went through a traumatic experience which could change her character, but Xhex’s whole life was traumatic, why girl up now? Also her symphath nature seemed to be on the fritz, and she didn’t notice many of John’s emotions. He’s mute, he communicates mostly by facial expressions, I could have picked up on his thoughts no problem.  But given what has happened to my favorite characters in the past, I am grateful that these are the only anomalies.

At the end of the book I was left with two big questions. All throughout the series it has been hinted that John is some sort of reincarnation of Darius, and while there were flashback scenes, that storyline was never resolved. Was there a reason for this? Also, there is a secondary storyline at a bed and breakfast in South Caroline that has nothing, and I mean nothing, zip, zero, nothing to do with the rest of the book. Feel free to skip those chapters, you will not miss anything. I believe this is a set up for a future story, but trust me, skip ‘em.

Okay BDB fans, who’s next? Blay, Quinn, Payne? Would all three form a ménage? (I think that would be an interesting trio) Will Layla finally get her true love?

 I actually find myself eagerly looking forward to the next installment.

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Tags: romance novels

Posted By Anna on June 18, 2010

I’m here. Really. I’m alive and gasping for air as I briefly lift my head from my works in progress. Yes, I said works. What have I been doing these last few weeks? Writing, writing and more writing. Or I should say rewriting, rewriting and more rewriting. Mixed in with that is my usual June madness of end of school activities, birthdays, dance recitals, and online workshops. Yes, caffeine has been my friend.

As I was busy finishing my superhero novel, I received a request for my Scottish ghost story. Since the editor had critiqued the portion she read, I thought one last read through, using her suggestions, would be a good idea before I sent it off. Now, the last time I looked at this ms was back in November when I first started submitting it. At the time, I thought it was perfect to send out.

Good lord, what had I put on paper?

Needless to say, a complete reworking of the first few pages ensued, followed by more tweaking of the rest of the book. I can’t believe how I forget the endings on some of my words. Why would I do that? Well, I know why. Because I read the story like it’s a movie in my head. I don’t see word endings, or even prepositions when I read, hence why I sometimes leave them out of my writing. Not a good excuse, but that is the reason. And yes, I do struggle with missed words a lot.

What I’ve also discovered is that I write in what I call Willy Wonka speak. If you are into Sci-Fi that would be Yoda-talk, meaning I write backwards.

 For example: Concern etched his feature as he looked down at her.

I could have also written this as: He looked down at her with concerned etched on his features.

Why do I do that? Well, one, I don’t want to start every sentence with ‘he’, and two, that is how I talk. Its natural for me to think in this pattern. I don’t find one way more ‘right’ than the other, because in my head I see him looking at her in concern. The only words on the page could be ‘concern’, ‘look’, ‘down’ and ‘he’, and I would still picture the same image.

But, there are some people out there where order is a huge issue, so I am diligently cleaning up my manuscript before doing the exact same thing with my superheroes. This is just another part of writing. Learning, applying, learning, applying.

Just like I do with the rest of life’s lessons.

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Tags: Writing

Posted By Anna on May 23, 2010

Between my day job, workshops and writing, I feel like I never stop. And that’s not about to end any time soon.

I’ve just completed a platform building workshop offered by Ann Charles and Jacquie Rodgers over at 1st Turning Point. I should now be an expert at marketing myself and my books. Keep in mind should be are the operative words. Actually, I learned a lot, so much that my mind is still wrapping around the information.

In June I will be participating in another workshop on website design. Yea! I hope to expand this site into something a little more exciting.

On the writing front, I pitched my superheroes to an editor on the spur of the moment. The object was to receive feedback on the pitch in preparation for Nationals. Low and behold, she requested the full! Another yea! Followed quickly by a, ooo- must get book finished.

For the next few weeks my nose will be permanently pointed at a monitor as I polish up my wip. This is a good thing. A test. Do I have the metal to pull off a pressing deadline? Oh yeah.

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Tags: Workshops, Writing

Posted By Anna on May 15, 2010

I stayed up until 2 a.m. last night finishing Kresley Cole’s latest, Pleasure of a Dark Prince, part of the Immortals After Dark Series.

I love this series. The heroines are strong, independent, with just the right amount of snark, and the heroes are completely drool worthy. On this, I was not disappointed.

The story follows Lykae prince, Garreth MacRieve as he chases after the mate that fate has chosen for him, the Valkyrie Lucia.  Unfortunately for Garreth, Lucia’s powers as the most powerful archer-ever, are tied to her remaining chaste, and every five hundred years she is charged with returning Satan back to his prison, otherwise the world with fall under an evil that will destroy everything.

POADP begins at about the same time as A Hunger Like No Other, and covers the time period of all the other books. Do you need to read all of them to follow the story line? No, but I recommend it anyway just for enjoyment reasons. The two that tie directly into this one are AHLNO and Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night.

The only complaint I would have is the middle section. I understand that this is where Garreth and Lucia finally spend some real quality, get-to-know-each-other time together, but it goes on for a long time. The beginning clips along, the end motors as well, but the middle meanders as slowly as the Amazon River they’re sailing down. Page-wise it’s not really a huge chunk of the manuscript, it just feels like it.

The sexy parts are smokin’ hot, the violence only slightly gratuitous, and there’s danger around every bend. Lucia may be limited in her options, but she is never weak. I love it when it’s outside sources that keep the couple apart and not petty misunderstandings. They want to be together, and we want that for them too.

Lachlain from AHLNO and Conrad Wroth from Dark Needs at Night’s Edge were tied from my favorite Immortal hero, but that title now belongs to Garreth. He is a fantastic mix of honor, savagry, passion and confused male that had me reading almost the entire novel in one straight shot. Good thing it was a Friday night and was totally worth the late hours.

Category: Just Read Novels | No Comments »
Tags: romance novels