I got the call this week that Hearts of Darkness is a finalist in the prestigious 2010 Daphne du Maurier Awards! The Daphne is sponsored by the Kiss of Death RWA chapter and honors excellence in mystery and suspense. Winners are announced at the KOD Death by Chocolate soiree at the RWA National Conference in July. Due to flooding in Nashville, the National Conference has moved to Disneyworld! One more reason I’d love to go. The paranormal division reached maximum entries, 50, and the top 5 were selected as finalists. The final judges in the paranormal division are Heather Osborn, editor at TOR, and Paige Wheeler, agent at Folio Lit.

Congrats to all the finalists, but especially my Greater Seattle RWA chapter mate Ann Charles, whose entry Nearly Departed in Deadwood is a finalist in the mainstream mystery suspense category.

The 2010 Marlene Award winners were announced yesterday at the Washington Romance Writers retreat (the other Washington), and I’m happy to announce that Hearts of Darkness placed first in the paranormal category. My prize is a critique of my entry by 2009 RITA award winning author Gwyn Cready. So excited!

In other news, my baby is 3 weeks 2 days old today and getting bigger every second. She finally fits into all of her newborn clothes! The weather in Seattle is gorgeous and we have been getting out on lots of sunny walks.

I read Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs during late night feedings on kindle for the iPhone last week. It’s another solid installment of the Mercy Thompson series. My only complaint: the love scene at the end is a little over the top for Urban Fantasy. It wasn’t needed to move the plot forward. Otherwise, good read!

I am delighted to announce that Hearts of Darkenss has won First Place in the 2010 Great Expectations Contest! The final judge of the Specialized Category, editor Talia Platz of NAL, has requested the partial. Congratulations to my fellow finalists. This was a very well organized contest with good feedback. Thank you North Texas RWA for sponsoring it. Keep your eyes peeled for the contest winner announcement in the RWR–I intend to frame my copy.

In other news, my DABWAHA bracket is failing miserably. My friend Seattle Heather won round one and a lovely collection of historical romance novels. My mother (a doctor) has predicted that I will go into labor on the full moon, plus or minus two days, which is next monday. I think this is appropriate, as the hero of my novel is a werewolf. I expect a hairy, howling child. She will be cute.

I received the good news today that HEARTS OF DARKNESS is a finalist in the Paranormal Category of the 2010 Marlene Awards. The top three scoring entries were selected for the final round and will be forwarded to editor Katherine Pelz at Berkley for the final ranking. The First Place winner receives a critique of her entry by author Gwyn Cready. Ms. Cready won the 2009 RITA for Best Paranormal Romance for her Jane Austin-time travel romance, Seducing Mr. Darcy. The Marlene Award is  sponsored by the Washington Romance Writers (the other Washington).

It would be easy to become a contest whore–addicted to the rush of positive feedback. This is the third contest for Hearts of Darkness, and the third success. I wish there were contests that judged the whole book, not just the first 20-50 pages. If you know of one, please pass along the info!

You might assume the pin-up girl above is holding a love letter, but in our little world she’s showing off her winning manuscript.

In other news, Mr. Wonderful and I bought our first house and are madly packing for the movers to arrive tomorrow. I’d promise to blog more after the move, but that is a pie crust promise. There are 34 days left to prepare for our little bundle of joy. I’m working on making time to write book 2, which so far I like even better than HoD.

Off to pack…or take a “break” to read Nalini Singh’s ARCHANGEL’S KISS. I need lots of breaks.

More good news on this rainy Sunday morning: my manuscript Hearts of Darkness is a finalist in the North Texas RWA’s 2010 Great Expectations writing contest, Specialized Category (fantasy, futuristic, paranormal & time travel). I have two days to revise and resubmit my query letter and entry for the final round of judging. The Specialized Category judge is Talia Platz, an editorial assistant at New American Library (Penguin). Winners will be announced at the North Texas Two Step conference, March 19-21.

This business has cyclical ups and downs, validations and rejections, so we learn to celebrate every success. Skål!

Seattle is a hotbed of writers and readers, which means book signings and craft workshops galore. I’ve got my eye on the Valentine’s Day Victorian Tea–tea and romance novels? How can you go wrong? Also, Patricia Briggs will be signing the latest Mercy Thompson book in March. If I haven’t gone into labor, I’ll be there with bells on.

PNWA Craft Workshop: Story, Structure, Subplot, Scene, Style: Keys to Rewriting Your Novel by Robert J. Ray
Thursday, February 11, 7 pm
The key to rewriting your novel is a workable plan: Story first, then Structure, Subplots,  (Key) Scenes, and Style. The toughest rewriting task is fixing your subplots. Before you can fix a subplot, you must peel it away from the novel, using tools like Character Arc, Character Grid, Scene List, Scene List, Scene Profile, Scene Template, and Core Story. Learn how to use these tools and make your rewrite hum in a hands-on workshop (with writing in the room) led by Robert J. Ray, using techniques from his latest book, The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel.
Participants should bring a prose sample, two pages, double-spaced.
Chinook Middle School. Non-PNWA members are allowed to attend two meetings. Please see the PNWA website for more information.

Saint Valentine’s Day Victorian Tea book signing
Saturday, February 13, 2-4pm
Join local authors who delight in creating romantic stories set in the Victorian era at the Bellevue Library. Music, refreshments and a book signing will follow the program. Sponsored by Bellevue Friends of the Library. Books will be available for sale at this event. Organized by the King County Library System.

author of Prima Donna	author of All He Desires	author of Promise Me

With the arrival of a new year–and especially a new decade–the webs abound with advice on making this year count. “This will be the year I lose X pounds.” (Not me, I’ve never weighed so much in my life!) “This will be the year I organize my life.” (Haha. Ha. Ha.) “This will be the year I get my dream job.”

Now that last one is a common resolution that I can call my own. This year I hope to get two dream jobs: published author and mommy. Let’s focus on the former, as I assume you understand the steps to achieve the latter. One Scottish Playboy’s Secret Love-Child coming right up! The best advice I’ve heard from published authors is the key to making a career out of writing is to treat it as a job. No writing only when the Muse inspires you. No letting writing time take a back seat to the demands of real life. No excuses, period.

“I assumed the burden of the profession, which is to write even when you don’t want to, don’t much like what you are writing, and aren’t writing particularly well.” – Agatha Christie

New York Times best-selling author Bob Mayer (coauthor of Agnes and the Hitman with Jenny Crusie) lives outside of Seattle and is a member of both my writing organizations, so I’ve had the pleasure of hearing him speak numerous times. A former Green Beret, Mayer tackles the career of writing with a single-minded determination that is a little scary to behold. Identify target…hunt target…neutralize  target…BAM! But really, it’s the same straight-talking, good advice that Cherry Adair, Susan Mallery and Donald Maass have shared: if you want to be a career novelist, you must set strategic goals and break each goal down into achievable steps that you have control over. You don’t have control over the whims of the market. (Or as Mayer says, “The Publishing gods are fickle.”) But you do have control over honing your craft and writing the best damn book you are capable of writing.

“The world is moving faster, change occurs constantly, competition is fiercer, and the one constant that stands in your way to achieving what you want out of life, both personal and professional, is fear.” – Bob Mayer

In the last Greater Seattle RWA chapter newsletter, Mayer outlined the hierarchy of strategic goal setting.

• Overall writing goal: I will be a NY Times best-selling romance author in 5 years
• Book goal: I will write and polish till it shines the second novel in my Hearts of Darkness series by October 1 (Cherry Adair’s Finish the Damn Book Challenge deadline).
  
• Business goal: I will research agents seeking paranormal romance and submit queries for Hearts of Darkness. This year I will attend two writing conferences and network will other writers (RWA National or PNWA, and Emerald City). I will also network by volunteering for Nationals/PNWA and Emerald City (I’m the hospitality chair this year for EC).
• Shorter range/daily tactical goals: I will write 8,000 words a week, every week, for the next three months. (I’ll reevaluate this goal in April for writing the second draft.)

What are your resolutions for the new year? What strategic goals do you set for yourself to accomplish your dreams?

The following books are highly recommended for the career novelist:

• THE NOVEL WRITER’S TOOLKIT by Bob Mayer
• WHO DARES WINS by Bob Mayer
• THE CAREER NOVELIST by Donald Maass
• WRITING THE BREAK OUT NOVEL by Donald Maass

My guest today is aspiring author Candi Wall. She is a co-contributor at MuseTracks Blog and a contestant in the latest Dorchester contest for aspiring authors: The Next Best Celler. Contestants publish a story in increments of 500 words between June 1 and November 1, 2009. Readers vote on their favorites, and the twenty most popular stories move on to the next round. Dorchester editors pick their favorite ten out of the semi-finalists, and a winner is chosen from those ten based on fan base and editorial input. The finalist wins a coveted $2000 publishing contract from Dorchester.

Ciara: What’s your story about?

Candi: My story STAY is a contemporary romance set in Maine.

My hero, Bracken Elliot is the Captain of the local Fire & Rescue team. He’s a bit cynical and lives with a deep seeded guilt over the deaths of his youngest son and wife in a tragic accident. Overcautious tends to be an understatement with Brack, and when his deaf sixteen year old son is kicked out of school, he’s got his hands full.

Candi: I first heard about the contest on the RWC loop. At first, I didn’t think about it too much. Just seemed like a strange way to write. When I read a few blog posts and visited the site, I was intrigued by the novelty of the idea. I registered, posted my first chapter – and I was hooked..

Ciara: What makes text novels different from regular novels?

Candi: I think what really sparked the text novel popularity is the emotion that’s contained in some of these novels. Short chapters might be daunting for those of us used to reading a huge portion at a time, being sucked into another world and reading for hours, but the intensity inherent in some of these small chapters is amazing. I truly believe that the power of the words in that small increment is what makes the readers come back for more.

Ciara: How do I read your story on my iPhone?

Candi: Textnovel is accessible through the browser of most cellphones. Just open your browser and go to textnovel.com to read through stories. Normal connection and data charges from your carrier apply.

Ciara: If you were stranded on a desert island, what five books would you bring?

Candi: This is an easy hard! Would I get a day at the bookstore before being stranded?

Ciara: Do you think you are the next Charles Dickens or the next Louisa May Alcott?

Candi: Absolutely not! I don’t even pretend to want to stand in the shoes of greatness. I want to write and be read. I want to know that somewhere, somehow, my words affected someone and made them smile, laugh, cry, or think.

Heather Massey of The Galaxy Express has an excellent guest blog up at Dear Author today about Steampunk Romance. I encourage y’all to check it out, especially for the great book recommendations in this emerging genre. I have two thoughts to add to her comments:

Victorian Setting or Victorian Trappings?

Ms. Massey writes that the major appeal of the genre is in its historical settings of the Victorian and Edwardian Ages; stylistic elements such as Victorian clothing, brass goggles and airships; and the flexibility of world building (we mustn’t forget that Steampunk is anachronistic in essence). I don’t think of Steampunk as being anchored specifically in the years 1850-1920, but in rather the culture and customs of the Victorian Age. (Brings to mind Alba’s comment in The Time Traveler’s Wife that her father might be chronologically dead, but he isn’t continuously dead.) The most famous Steampunk book of all, Neil Stevenson’s The Diamond Age, is set in the far future. Only the top level of society is Neo-Victorian. The world is powered by nanotechnology. Some Steampunk is set on different planets or fantasy worlds unlike our own. I think Joss Wheden’s Firefly has steampunk elements. It’s the wild west set in outer space. I agree with Ms. Massey that historical romance fans will enjoy Steampunk for the Victorian Romanticism, but I think Steampunk is just as comfortable in future settings as it is in the past.

What about the punk in Steampunk?

My second thought was first brought up by author Meljean Brook. Ms. Brook commented back in February:

“As long as the ‘punk’ part isn’t obscured by all that steam — I have to admit, that’s my biggest concern. The fantasy, the history, the technology — I love it. I could do the pretty, fun stories all day. Questioning the status quo in a genre dependent on its conventions (conventions I enjoy) is a more interesting challenge.”

In our discussions of the marriage of Steampunk and Romance, we seem to have left out the subversive nature of punk. Steampunk in part grew from the Goth and Cyberpunk movements. It’s a counterculture. His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phil Pullman (The Golden Compass, et al) is a great example of subversive steampunk. Lyra helps the angels overthrow heaven itself. Adam and Eve–in disregarding god’s edict and eating the apple of knowledge–are held up as heroic, not sinful. Three cheers for rebellion! The Diamond Age holds up subversive as the personality trait to aspire to.

Rules, of course, were made to be broken. One of the reasons I’m attracted to the genre is that it is so flexible (as Ms. Massey pointed out). I’m very excited to read steampunk ROMANCE, and I expect, and dearly hope, that the plots will be not quite so bogged down in scientific technology as some of the current straight steampunk is. Not that I dislike science; I simply have a short attention span. A little less talk and a lot more action, if you please.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

If you’ve read your most recent issue of Romantic Times Magazine, you may have noticed the article about an upcoming Steampunk YA novel that looks absolutely smashing. Publishers Weekly writes about the book:

“In Westerfeld’s re-imagining, the combatants are the Clankers, whose weaponry consists of heavily fortified machinery, and the Darwinists, whose airships are made up of bioengineered animals. The Leviathan is the most colossal of these: a giant whale kept afloat by microscopic hydrogen breathers.”

I want!

Fall is in the air, which means warm fluffy sweaters to chase away the cold, hot spiced cider, halloween costumes, and excellent weather for writing. I have until midnight on October 1st to finish my manuscript to qualify for the Cherry Adair Finish the Damn Book! Challenge, so I appreciate the rain to keep me inside and writing, writing, writing. October 9-11 is the Emerald City Writers Conference, where I have appointments to pitch said manuscript.

Just in time for ECWC, my new website is up and running. Please update your links to www.ciarastewart.com, as the old blog at ciaralira.wordpress.com is no longer. All the old posts have been imported to the new blog, minus quite a few pictures. You can still see the old posts in all their glory at the old blog, but all new posts will be right here.