21 May 2013 33 Comments

My Hell on Earth–Revising and Housework

by Kimberly MacCarron in Kimberly MacCarron, mermaids

For me, revising is like housework. It’s Hell on Earth.

I have five kids. My house is a wreck—all the time. Needless papers make their home on top of cluttered countertops. Soccer shoes and cleats and backpacks litter the floor to the point where people have to step over stuff to get into the house. Dishes pile up in the sink at an alarming rate, and the recycling bin overflows several times a week.

When I stand in the middle of the chaos, I feel…chaotic. Some people, who love to clean and organize, would rub their hands together gleefully. Oh, the corners I can clean! I can’t wait to get started. Not me. I shut down. I look around, not knowing where to begin, so I go find something else to do.

Same goes with revising. I love to create the story. I love bringing my characters to life. I love making them overcome obstacles to achieve their goals. I just can’t seem to do it myself.

This is why…
Read the Rest…

Tags: ,

20 May 2013 14 Comments

Why Am I Doing This?

by Kerri Carpenter in Kerri Carpenter

I can’t say much about what’s going on in my writing life lately, but I can tell you that I’ve been working harder than ever. Getting up almost two hours earlier so I can have writing time before my day job, squeezing in a little writing at lunch and even jotting notes down while I watch TV at night. Writing on public transportation, writing during vacations, writing on weekends. Writing. Writing. Writing….

I’m exhausted. Although, I’m accomplishing A LOT.

But something happened recently that I can’t share (damn, I’m full of secrets today) that made me pause and ask myself: Why am I really doing this?  The Diva Kerr-ina

Tags: , , ,

17 May 2013 24 Comments

Guy Day: Interview with Bassist, Dino Villanueva! (Giveaway too!)

by Carlene Love Flores in Carlene Love Flores, Guy Day, Interview

 

Mermaid CarleneGrowing up on the Las Vegas strip, every weekend I watched my mom dance to her favorite local bands.  Wherever the bass player was stationed on stage was where the ladies crowded around.  Mom says that’s because the bass man is the beat for all the dancers. Dirty and low-down—complimentary words, I assure you, for the incredible sounds that flow from these instruments.

It’s an honor & treat to have a man who masters the art of funk and soul, bassist, Dino Villanueva, in the pond with us today!  He was a real sweetheart to answer my questions for our Guy Day segment.  After all, musicians are often the subjects of our stories.  How many bluesy, guitar-strapped-across-his-back heroes have strutted across the pages?  How many punk rock, attitude-served-up-on-a-prickly-stick heroines have been written to deconstruct the poor boy next door?   Dino Ham n Yam 2013 019

What can I tell you about Dino?

…
Read the Rest…

Tags: , , , , ,

16 May 2013 19 Comments

Money Matters: Experience, Digital First and Indie Writers

by Avery Flynn in Avery Flynn, mermaids, Publishing, Writing

Coin Dropping Into Piggy BankA few weeks ago, the Waterworld Mermaids ran a poll asking authors how much money they made from writing romance novels. What we found is that 42 percent of the respondents had made $1,000 or less in the past 12 months.

However, the response in our comments section was so great that we wanted to ask a few follow up questions suggested by the Waterworld Mermaids’ amazing readers. Here they are.

If the polls – or vote buttons – don’t show up for you on this page (some internet browsers don’t like mermaid polls), click on the link under the poll to take it. Please only take the polls that apply to your romance writing income bracket.

And don’t forget to share these polls with your romance writing friends and tell us your thoughts about the results in the comments below.

http://poll.fm/48b4a

http://poll.fm/48b4h

http://poll.fm/48b4o

http://poll.fm/48b4y

http://poll.fm/48b51

http://poll.fm/48b54

…
Read the Rest…

15 May 2013 9 Comments

Contemporary Romance and Primetime TV (My Excuse to Talk “New Girl”:)

by Denny S. Bryce in Denny S. Bryce, mermaids, Writing

(New Girl - Season 2 Finale – SPOILERS!)

Denny's MermaidsThe TV fangirl in me must speak out! This week two of my favorite shows are having (or had) their season finale, and I am excited, filled with apprehension (somewhat resolved by “New Girl’s” fantastically romantic ending – spoilers – STOP now!). And a bit frightened by what Sondra Rhimes has up her sleeves for this Thursday night’s SCANDAL season finale.

These two shows couldn’t be more opposite in their viewpoint on romance. And what’s über scary for me is that I am A-okay on either side of the romance fence the writers have constructed. I’ve talked about SCANDAL and whether or not a central ‘love’ story could be ‘written’ and allowed in the romance novel cyber book bin when one of the main characters is married and having an affair with the other main character (so, let’s not go there again:). Some of us like edgy, but…?!

New Girl, a sitcom about four…
Read the Rest…

Tags: , , , , , ,

13 May 2013 20 Comments

This Apple Didn’t Fall Far…

by Carlene Love Flores in Carlene Love Flores

MP900383005Sunday was Mother’s Day (Hugs to all the moms!) and I am blessed with one who loves me unconditionally, who kept me safe, and who let sleep fall by the wayside in order to work and support us for too many years.

I wish she didn’t live on the opposite coast, but we’ve found interesting ways to stay in touch, like relaying cyber hugs via this lovely pond.

You may think I’M the music nut of the lagoon but that’s only because you’ve never met my mom.

Vegas. Legs. High Heels. Midnight. Live Music. Warm.  My Mom.

There was scarcely a weekend that she wasn’t out dancing with the girls when I was a kid. Cleopatra’s Barge inside Caesar’s Palace was a Vegas hot spot and Santa Fe was the local band who kept that floating dance floor rocking most nights. I know because I was there. Yep, at the tender age of ten, mom would plant me just across the…
Read the Rest…

Tags: , , , ,

10 May 2013 11 Comments

Fishy-Sisters-of-the-Heart – Happy Anniversary to us!

by Robin Covington in Giveaway, mermaids, Robin Covington

So, this week has been a celebration of the first two years of the Waterworld Robin MermaidMermaids. If you’ve been following along, we all met at the Washington Romance Writers Retreat in 2011.

All newbies.

At varying places in our personal and writing lives.

All different and unique.

But, we came together that weekend and bonded over a love of writing and then. . .over time. . . we grew to love each other.

422075_2768155206794_1345355555_32367836_1771152778_nWebster’s Dictionary defines sisterhood as:

a : the state of being a sister

b : sisterly relationship

 

c : the solidarity of women based on shared conditions, experiences, or concerns Yes. Yes. Yes. We are sisters – we hug and fight, cry and laugh, drink and dance, stress out and celebrate. But, we do it together – with each other and for each other. We do it…
Read the Rest…

Tags: ,

09 May 2013 30 Comments

Mermaid Blogoversary: Getting Our Freak On AKA Paranormal Day

by Avery Flynn in Avery Flynn, Denny S. Bryce, Loni Lynne, Susan Andrews

mermaid logoBy Avery, Denny, Loni and Masha

Hey all! Thanks so much for hanging out with us during our blogoversary blowout week. There are 13 mermaids in the lagoon, so we broke the week’s posts into groups via genre – just like the tables were grouped by genre at the very first Washington Romance Writers retreat we all attended together. Cool, eh?

This year for our blogoversary, we’re telling tales (not pulling mermaid fishy tails) about some of our favorite memories from that first retreat. Be sure to check them all out and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom of each day’s post to win a fantabulous prize pack that includes a $25 Amazon gift card, books, reader goodies, a mermaid nightie, a Waterworld Mermaids water bottle and fun stuff galore!

Avery:

Avery FlynnOne of my favorite memories of meeting a mermaid was meeting Kimberly MacCarron. There I was sitting quietly in…
Read the Rest…

08 May 2013 21 Comments

Mermaid Blogoversary: Contemporary Day!

by Carlene Love Flores in Carlene Love Flores, Conferences, Dana Rodgers, Diana Belchase, Giveaway, mermaids, Robin Covington, Susan Andrews

by Carlene, Dana, Diana, Robin and Susan Mermaid

 

Carlene: Holy abalone fishy sisters and friends!  The Waterworld Mermaids are two years old which means it’s been two years sinceMermaid Carlene what was easily one of the best experiences of our lives—The 2011 Washington Romance Writers Spring Retreat.  Which in turn means it’s been just as long since we made these precious memories at that retreat.  Keep in mind…we were all FIRST-TIMERS!  The Contemporary Genre Mermaids hope you enjoy our trip down memory lane:

Played Romance Jeopardy for the first time…with Roxanne Rustand as my teammate!  I jotted down something beautiful she said at the Unpublished Author Roundtable: “God doesn’t give the desire if he doesn’t give the talent.”

Pitched for the very first time…to Jenny Bent, who was awesome and let me know it was totally okay that my book was driven by the characters rather than the plot.  Seriously important because as a newbie, you’re not sure if these…
Read the Rest…

Tags: , ,

07 May 2013 77 Comments

Mermaid Blogoversary: YA Day!

by Alethea in mermaids

by Alethea, Kimberly, and Pintip Mermaid

Alethea: Happy Tuesday, everyone, and welcome to Day Two of our Waterworld Mermaid Second Blogoversary Week Celebration!  (We should probably have come up with something a lot simpler than that.)

Today we’re kicking things off with our YA Mermaids: Kimberly MacCarron, Pintip Dunn, and MOI.

Interestingly enough, it was Kimberly who planted this whole “group blog” seed in my head during the Sara Megibow talk during that original WRW Retreat back in 2011.

Sara was telling all the authors in the audience that they should have a blog, because if she read as far as page 10 of a manuscript, she’d Google the author. Kim, sitting next to me, mumbled some snide comment under her breath about how she didn’t have time for such nonsense.

Either directly before or directly after that, she’d asked for a show of hands from published authors, and then grilled me about being a member of the fashionable w clubs that were popping up on the internet, like the…
Read the Rest…

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 »
Follow

Get every new post on this blog delivered to your Inbox.

Join other followers: