Bronwyn Stuart - Romance Author
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Stuff and fluff.

4/22/2010

4 Comments

 
I’m so sorry it’s been so long since my last post… I have to say I actually forgot I had a blog!

First things first. Only one more week to go until the results of the Fire and Ice contest are revealed. I am quite literally sweating blood that I’ll be third and won’t be requested at all but then such is life. Avon is proving to be a very, very difficult publishing house to be noticed by. Which brings me to my second. I’m on the hunt for an agent. I think it’s time I took a big girl step and stopped mucking around with baby ones. I know I’m probably not supposed to declare this fact to the world but I figure it can’t hurt. I would like to say that I’m doing it the right way and only querying one at a time. I know it will take about a hundred years but I want to start my career off the right way and pissing people off by sending off bulk submissions definitely isn’t cool. So I’ll keep you posted on that front. I’ve only ever queried two agents before and both were obviously not keen but I am and that’s all that matters.

Some of you already know about Brenda Novak's diabetes auction but I want to mention this is happening again and very soon. It starts beginning of May and can be a writer’s best friend if you have some cash to splash on a very good cause. I have several family members who are insulin-dependent diabetics, including one very brave little girl who has daily injections so this is a cause close to my own heart. Click on Brenda Novak and I’ll redirect you to her site. Last year I got bumped and outbid in a big way which on one hand is great but on the other really sucked. Anyway I’ll let you check it out for yourself. And make sure you have a look at the contest Brenda is running this year for the first time. Should be great if you can be the one who wins it…

Now to the idiot of the month awards. This one goes to me! I uploaded an Ikea kitchen plan to my USB stick and then popped it in my handbag and walked out of the house without a care in the world. It wasn’t until two days later that I realised my USB was gone. And I mean GONE! I called every shop I walked into, I’ve scoured the car and checked places it could have slipped or fallen but it’s gone.  So anyway I want to say to you… BACK UP EVERY DAY. I did my last one in January so I only lost about 40k but it’s enough to really make me sad. All the effort and time wasted because I was lazy. I’ve tried everything and recovered about 20k but it’s not the point. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Back it up and do it regularly. Now instead of forging forward, I have to back pedal and rewrite some of it before I forget where I was going and how I got there.

So to this end, I’m off to try to get some work done in between cleaning the brothel that my house is slowly becoming and setting up the toy room so my kids can be at the other end of the house while I write (and clean).

Have a great weekend and good luck with the bidding!  

4 Comments
Tamara Gill link
4/22/2010 01:23:19 pm

Hi Bron!
Hugs on the USB. I'd die if I lost mine, I can imagine what you're going through. :(
Good luck with the agent queries. I'd send of maybe to your top 5 agents instead of one at a time. I can't see that as a problem. They only get #$@#% when you send them more than one book submission. So I've been told, anyhow.
And a big GOOD LUCK with the Fire and Ice comp. Can't wait for the news. What ever the result, top 3 is AMAZING. You'll have a killer query letter!
Tam

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Eleni Konstantine link
4/23/2010 01:44:30 am

Well, maybe you went through this Bronwyn as a lesson to others. Glad you could find half of those words. And I agree - back up, back up, back up.

Good luck with the final results and your agent hunting. BTW - it's perfectly acceptable to say that your query is a simultaneous submission (ie you are looking elsewhere too) unless of course their guidelines say no to that.

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Anna Campbell link
4/23/2010 03:48:46 pm

Bronwyn, eek to the USB going missing. Actually these days, I email my ongoing manuscripts to my crit partner so if I have a major meltdown, it's somewhere offsite. Also I think you can query more than one agent at a time in this day and age. Time is money and all! Good luck for Fire and Ice! Would love to have you as a fellow Avon author!

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Bronwyn link
4/23/2010 04:49:34 pm

Thanks Ladies =) I am being very careful about sending out too many subs just in case I think I'm better than I really am... I wouldn't want to go for say the top 10 on my list only to find out I wasn't ready and have to wait to query again. Does that make sense? And I have been researching quite deeply into their credentials (they have to have sold something to Avon). So essentially I don't really have a list. Just some that I get a good feeling, check their sales and then send the query.

Anna, you're so sweet to say that! I would nearly give my right arm (cept I kinda need it) to be an Avon author. Last year in the auction, I think Esi Sogah went over $700 USD for a three chap crit. Way too much for my blood but a great opportunity to be seen. Then I won another auction for Kimberly Killion and that was fantastic! Maybe I can get you this year? He, he, Fire and Ice first =)

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    I'm a published author but I'm still mostly stumbling about in the dark looking for the right paths so this blog is about that, though sometimes something will give the me the shits and I'll have a bit of a rant. I'll try not to be offensive but occasionally my mouth opens without asking my brain's permission so I'll apologise in advance.

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