Thank You, Vicki!

Just a quick Thank you to Vicki Lewis Thompson for stopping in today and sharing her love of cowboys with her readers.

Tomorrow I'll announce the winner of Cowboy Up! from our Win It Before You Can Buy It Give away!

Happy Reading!

Angela

Cowboy Up! with Vicki Lewis Thompson

The very talented Vicki Lewis Thompson is joining us.

A romance writing career has brought Vicki Lewis Thompson many wonderful things –New York Times bestseller status, an appearance on LIVE with Regis and Kelly, the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award from Romance Writers of America, thousands of readers, many dear friends, and the cutest little yellow convertible in the world. Her career has also given her work

she loves.

Although she’s written more than 100 books, she continues to be fascinated by the many ways that a man and woman fall in love. The age-old story remains a challenging puzzle to be solved anew with each book. That makes her a very lucky person, indeed.

When you've finished chatting with us here, please make sure to check out her website at VickiLewisThompson She has an AWESOME contest going on and you can sign up for her newsletter - offering up another opportunity for FREE great reads!

Today, Vicki has a topic near and dear to a girl’s heart – COWBOYS! So cowgirl up and get ready for some ‘sizzle in the saddle’ with her Sons of Chance series.

Thank you for joining us today, Vicki!

Happy first Tuesday of June, everyone! And thanks to Angela for inviting me here today to talk about my favorite subject, snug jeans . . . um, I mean cowboys. Well, and snug jeans,

which is part of the whole cowboy allure, don’t you think? I live in Arizona, where the cowboys run wild and free, because we still have a reason for them out here. It’s called dude ranches.

Also in Arizona we have a fair number of men who haven’t made a career of cowboying but still love climbing on the back of a horse and cantering down a dry desert wash on the weekends. In my mind, these guys count as cowboys, too.

I live near one of these dry washes, and it truly brightens my day to hear the sound of hoofs on sand and then glimpse a Stetson-wearing cowboy riding a fine-looking horse. The cowboy doesn’t bounce on that tooled leather saddle, either. I know because I watch to see if his buns come off the leather. Research, you know. Somebody has to do it.

All that heavy research goes into my Sons of Chance series from Harlequin Blaze, which continues with another three books this summer.

The June book,

SHOULD’VE BEEN A COWBOY

is out now, but I’m giving away the July book, COWBOY UP, to

one lucky commenter today! These books are worth it just for the covers alone. Yummy. Although the books are part of a larger series, each one stands alone, so you don’t need to read last summer’s group to understand this batch.

Sons of Chance celebrates my fantasy image of a cowboy – the scuffed boots, the worn jeans that mold to his thighs, the yoked shirt that emphasizes his broad shoulders, the hat that shades his eyes and gives him an air of mystery . . . whew. I need a moment.

Yes, cowboys have considerable physical appeal, but that’s not the main reason I love writing about them. For me, cowboys represent an ideal similar to the knights of old. Part of it might be the horse.

There’s something about a man on a horse that stirs the blood and inspires admiration.

But cowboys also have a code of honor, a sense of chivalry that marks them as modern-day knights in shining armor. Like knights, they protect the weak, show respect for women, and stand up for what they believe. What could be sexier than that? A modern cowboy might have a smart phone tucked into his jeans, but his values are centuries old.

And that, in my opinion, is what’s so great about cowboys.

What’s your favorite thing about cowboys?

To Enter or Not to Enter

Recently I’ve been getting a lot of emails from authors and editors I know. All of them contain information about anthologies. I’ve known several of these talented writers have been published in anthologies and trust their judgement. Until recently, I’d not given much thought to entering into the opportunity to be selected as a contributor.

According to http://www.merriam-webster.com/, ANTHOLOGY means… ‘a collection of selected literary pieces or passages or works of art or music’.

Well, I’ve never considered myself ‘literary’. I weave plain, simple words together in hopes of forming a story someone wants to read and can enjoy or relate to in some way. The anthologies I’ve been directed to recently seem to fit more my style.

So why get published in a collection, in the company of other authors? Why not just put together a collection of my own works? Though I’ve won awards for several of my short stories, I don’t believe there are publishers out there waiting with anticipation to print the ‘Great Works of Angela Drake”. So are anthologies a way to market those stories? Or would I be better off marketing them individually to print aka paying markets?

One thing I have learned over the years is if you don’t know something, find someone you know who’s been there, done that. So I contacted long-time acquaintance and multi-talented author, Laurie Wagner-Buyer. I thought she would be the perfect person to give me the ins and outs of anthologies, benefits or pros and cons of submitting and being included in an anthology. She’s been in several.

Here’s what Laurie had to say…

“I believe any kind of exposure, any opportunity to get your work and your name out into the world is a plus. Of course there is a selection process involved, sometimes a rigorous choosing war as the editors try to decide which authors fit the style and theme of the anthology the best. An author should never be discouraged if their work isn't chosen because most often the editors have a very keen sense of the type of writing (including voice, topic, and length) they are looking for.

However, does being part of an anthology really do much for a writing career? I'm not sure there is an answer to that because each situation is different. I know that it really helped me flesh out my resume in the beginning, before I had any books published. If you want to submit work to an anthology you should follow the same basic rules that you would submitting your writing anywhere else. Choose only your best work. Make sure it has been professionally edited (not only by you but by someone else who has strong credentials). Make certain you follow the submission guidelines for formatting, etc... Once your work is submitted and chosen to be included do not ask for the chance to change your work in any big way. Most editors will send you a galley or proof copy of your work to make certain that you agree with any final editing that has occurred. In most cases, as well, those editors know what they are doing so a writer shouldn't be resistant to making changes which will enhance their work or take it to a higher level. I've never had an editor lead me wrong.

I have never been paid for work of mine that has appeared in anthologies, but I have received complimentary copies (usually one or two). Then I try to support the publisher and the other writers by purchasing a number of the anthologies at an author's discount to sell at my performances and events. What benefits you also benefits everyone else involved.”

I want to thank Laurie for giving us the voice of experience. Please take time to stop by her website… Laurie Wagner-Buyer

Choosing A Pseudonym

Deciding what name to publish under is something a writer takes very seriously. There are two things to keep in mind. 1)Where alphabetically it will sit on the store shelf 2)Something that will stick with the reader.

For me, the first name was easy. I’ve always wanted to use some form of Angelica, but it sounded too prissy for my tastes. Anyone who knows me understands ‘prissy’ isn’t even on the list of characteristics to describe me. So I shortened it to Angela.

For the last name, I turned to one of my favorite writer resources – The Character Naming Sourcebook - Writers Digest Books . I needed something that paired well with ‘Angela’. Drake means Dragon in English. My husband (never mind he is of German heritage) collects dragon figurines and is my MSP – Most Supportive Person. Drake seemed a perfect fit.

But wait. Is another author already using the name? I pulled up GOOGLE to find out. At the time, the only Angela Drake I could find was the victim of a cold case murder. No author’s in sight.

And so I began building my platform as Angela Drake.

Oh oh.. this past week it was brought to my attention there IS another author out there. As it turns out, there is a U.K. romance author. She has titles from 1997-2007 listed on Amazon.com through a publisher called severnhouse. A cruise through their site didn’t bring her up as one of their authors. I did find an article about her posted on a blog back in May of 2009 - historicalromanceuk. Nowhere did I find a personal blog or website for the U.K. Angela Drake.

So my decision is to continue building my platform as Angela Drake. There isn’t a US Angela Drake and for whatever reason, Angela Drake UK isn’t an active author. Is there room for two of us? I'm not sure. I understand she came to this party first and I’m willing to make a subtle change if it becomes an issue.

Until then, I thank you for following this Angela Drake :-)

Monday Musings

Happy Monday everyone!

It's going to be a busy week around the house but I hope to still be in frequently to throw some new things your way.

Contest entries are coming slow. There are days I think I should have named the blog Writing Through Life.. or not. It seems like since I cleared everything out of the living room and ripped up the carpet in here in prep for the remodel, I've lost the urge to work on fiction. I'm doing plenty of non-fiction but the desire to work on contest entries just isn't there. I HAVE to find it - and FAST!

My husband will be home on Wednesday night and then the huge remodel of the living room begins, disrupting my 'routine' yet again.

But there is good news on the horizon. I've finally made the jump and am having Hughes Net installed on May 2nd. Anything has to be faster than this dial-up. Every day is a struggle to get everything done in a timely manner. If it will help me cut my non-fiction aka freelance writing time by one third, I might have time to do ALL the writing I want to do.

I guess today's post is a good example of how the writers life really works. Life gets in our way, we have days where writing just isn't what we want to do. Although we are lucky enough to have a job that allows us to do what we love, it is a job and a business.

So I guess I need to quit taking sick days and get back to business.

Happy Writing & Reading

Angela

Awesome Read Recommendation

A while back, Western author Jodi Thomas was kind enough to stop by for a chat about her contemporary Harmony series.

Last week I received a note from Jodi telling me Love Western Romances is featuring her as Spotlight Author of the Month, due in part to her most recent release, Texas Blue

If you've not picked up a copy of this book, I highly

recommend it. A comfortable read with characters you'll fall in love with... just like we do all of her characters.

I hope you'll go by the Love Western Romances blog and check out some great writing tips!

Happy Reading!

Angela

Back in the swing!

I made it!

And I’m healthy again. Kind of hard to believe considering we’re moving into allergy season. I can always tell because our local weatherman always reports the pollen/ mold index as directed by the Green County Health Dept. I’m waiting for the mold spores index to go up, signaling it’s time to go hunting mushrooms 

In the mean time, I’m keeping busy writing a little of everything. For those of you who don’t know, when I’m not writing fiction and entering short story competitions I am a freelance journalist for the Texas Music community. We’re at the heighth of awards season with the Texas Music Association so I’ve been busy doing interviews and writing about the roots of Texas Music.

For the fiction venue, I have contest entries do for the Arkansas Writers Conference due to be postmarked by April 30th. There are 10 categories out of the 20+ available to me I’d like to enter. A couple are for Haiku poetry, which I haven’t written since middle school. But one of those categories is sponsored by a dear lady by the name of Peggy Vining . Peggy is the Arkansas Poet Laureate and one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet in the writing community. I first met Peggy fifteen years ago at the Ozark Creative Writers Conference in Eureka Springs Arkansas. She is a true southern gentle lady on the outside but full of spunk for all of her petite size. I’m not concerned with whether I place in her category or not but it would be nice. I just want to play in Peggy’s world for a little while.

Today I’m researching for an essay on The War Years from 1941-1945. I’d hoped this would be a short story category and was already playing with a paranormal idea when I reread and was reminded it was for an essay. I’ll do the research and see what jumps out at me.

I haven’t forgotten about Death By Design. The novel work comes in the evening. I’ll fix me a Cowgirl Quencher and curl up with the critique comments my sister sent back.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting Conference news so stay tuned!

I’m also going to be guest blogging at Chris Redding's blog tomorrow. I’ll be speaking on Pitching at a Conference. Come by and say hello!

Happy Writing!

Angela