Guest Blogger - Delilah Marvelle

When I was in high school, I had a dream. I was going to be the next Stephen King. Heh. Yeah. Stay with me. Please. I knew my ideas were fabulous and I knew all it would take is for an editor to look at it and they would offer me up the moon and the stars and best of all, a contract. I had my girlfriends read everything I wrote. And they kept telling me, “This is fabulous! It's SO funny! Hilarious!” Seeing it really wasn't supposed to BE funny, I immediately changed course realizing I actually had a better handle on being funny than scary. I also figured adding a romance into it would even make it better since that is what I loved to read.

I then entered college as an English major. I was going to be teacher and write during the summers. Even then I was a smart girl who knew I wasn't going to make jack and that I needed a job to support the “creative” one. Throughout all of college I wrote historical romances. One right after another. And kept submitting. And submitting. And submitting. And kept getting rejected and rejected and rejected. In the meantime, I got married. I had two kids. I joined RWA. I got critique partners. I did honed and honed and honed the crap out of my writing. And kept writing and getting rejected. I eventually racked up over 200 rejections and had written over 40 books in those 11 years of trying to get published.

When I finally sold my first historical romance, MISTRESS OF PLEASURE, and my second book, LORD OF PLEASURE, I was beside myself. It didn't feel real. To FINALLY arrive at a destination I had been traveling toward for 11 long years seemed like a mirage. Which fortunately, I quickly snapped out of. Because after all, most of my friends are all published and unpublished writers and the stories they all have told me throughout the years made me realize I had to fight with fists up for myself every step of the way. I knew publishers did little to no promotion for their authors, so I spearheaded my own promo, ready to be more than just an author. And even though I was budgeting very well and spending countless hours networking and promoting on websites and blogs, doing tons for free, I still ended up spending $7,000 on my first book. Which was way more than my advance. But hey, every business starts in the red. Right?

Then the reviews started coming in about my series set in 1830 London England about a school that educates men on the topic of love and seduction. People loved it! Wow. It got nominated for awards. Wow. Readers are e-mailing me raving. Wow. Readers from France, Austria, Poland, South Africa and from all over the U.S and the world.. Wow. It just kept getting better and better. I was beginning to feel as if every penny I spent was all worth it (even though my family and I weren't going on any vacations and were eating out of cans). Because all that mattered was that my publisher loved me and my readers loved my series.

Come contract time, I'm ready for whatever they wanna throw at me. Or so I thought. Mistress of Pleasure, though completely sold out and unavailable anywhere (unless it's a used copy, some going for a ridiculous amount of $40.00), hadn't done as well as my publisher had hoped. So without waiting for the second book to come out to see if the series was even worth saving, I get a rejection from my own editor citing lack of sales.

I have to say this rejection felt more personal than any of the other two hundred and some rejections I'd received. Because it was no longer “Your book isn't good enough” it became “Your sales aren't good enough.” Since when is an author supposed to be a market guru AND a fabulous writer? Eck.

I love this series. The men in it make me laugh and it broke my heart to think that my readers will never get a chance to read about Lord Brayton, my glorious male virgin. The only alpha virgin I've ever written about. Then I realized something, why I am letting a publisher decide what is worth holding on to? Shouldn't that be a reader's job?

Ah. Herein lies the purpose of my post. I am challenging everyone, be they readers or writers to help me do something that's never been done before. Save a series from a death sentence given by a publisher. Can it be done? Who knows. But I eat challenges for breakfast and I hope you do to. Please join me in saving my series. Come August 4th, tell everyone you know (yes, even you're 72 year old grandfather) to buy the book, Lord of Pleasure. In doing so, you'll have a chance to win one of three $50 Visa Gift Cards. How? Check out my website for details at www.DelilahMarvelle.com

That said, thank you for all the support and love everyone has already shown me by allowing me to blog about this. Feel free to post and repost this to everyone under the moon and the stars. To all you readers out there, thank you for supporting us writers. To all you writers out there, don't ever give up on your writing. The moment you do, you give up on yourself. Which is why I'm not giving up on my series.

Cheers and much love,
Delilah Marvelle

Writer's Block

One of the lists I belong to has been having a discussion of late about writer's block and ways to deal with it. I can't say that it's a problem I've ever had to deal with, though at times I've been stuck on a particular story, I've always had something else to jump to.

I find it interesting all the different ways people have of dealing with it. Many of them use music - picking songs that inspire, excite, or calm them. Many others put music on that reflects what they are currently reading - exciting music for action scenes, love ballads for bedroom scenes, and so on.

Others go for walks, or go shopping, or to a coffee shop...a change of scenery can jumpstart their brains so they can get back to work.

For some, like me, changing projects seems to help. If you're stuck on one, go to another and work on that until you can return with a new perspective on the first.

Basically, each individual finds what works for him or her and uses that to inspire their writing.

so what do you use when you're blocked? How do you deal with "stuckitis?"

Author Talk

I'm at work - and listening to the author of the book "Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen" - Susan Gilmore - great book about a southern girl growing up in the 60's. Yes, a coming of age book - but so very much worth the read.

More later - I want to hear her talk. :)

Sunday Rain

It's June and that usually means hot, humid days, but not today. It is overcast, cool with a gentle rain falling. As I sit here in the living room, in front of my open window (the porch outside allows me to do this in the rain), a light breeze blows the sheers. It smells cool and clean. This is a day to be enjoyed, even if from the inside.

With the coolness comes new ideas - brought in by the freshness. I type away, noting down stray thoughts, hoping they come together into some sort of cohesive solid. Something with form that I can fill out and add to.

In the meantime, I have web pages to work on, books to read, stories to write - and nice cool temperatures to do so.

May you have a good day full of ideas.

Father's Day

My dad was many things in his life: a soldier, a cook, a cop, a lineman, a farmer, a janitor, a lay minister, a guide, and much more. But to me he was always a teacher. One thing he taught me about was books. Dad was a voracious reader who read everything from Shakespeare to Zane Grey. He loved westerns and mysteries, history and biographies, poetry and drama, and silly little "bathroom" joke books.

He taught me to enjoy words. Anytime we were waiting in a parking lot, he would point out a word on a sign and challenge my brother and me to find as many words in that one word as we could. He made learning how to spell fun. I remember the games of Scrabble we used to play, though we stopped when I went to college. He said I knew too much for him. Hah.

It is because of him and his love of the written word that I am able to follow my dream of being a writer. Thank you, Dad.

Another thing Dad taught me was the gift of time. To all the fathers (and anyone who is in that role), give your children your time. Spend time with them. Teach them what you can. The lessons you give them will last a lifetime and beyond.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

I want a book

I was at work this afternoon and had to paste a smile on my face and be the perfect salesperson to a mother I wanted to say not so nice words to. She was in with a young boy and a teen girl. The kids immediately went to their various areas and started searching for books while the mom sat in one of our comfy chairs to wait. Shortly, the boy came out with two used books, about $5.00 in total. The girl picked out one for about the same amount. The mother put the boy's books up on the counter. The girl looked at her, asked if she could have the book. Her mother said "Not today." The look on the girl's face was one of complete and utter disappointment.

In listening to the conversation, the mother wasn't denying because of content or any other reason, just a 'not today.'

Now granted, I don't know if anything else went on in the family that day. There may have been other reasons why she didn't want the girl to have a book this day. Maybe she'd spent money on the girl earlier, or anything. But the hurt on the teen's face when her brother walked out with his books and she couldn't was very telling. There are few enough teens willing to pick up a book to read and I am a firm believer in encouraging reading whenever possible. I hope that girl does get a chance to come in and get her book.

In the meantime, I love being surrounded by books. And I'm finding all sorts of new authors to read. I can think of no better way to pass a quiet day than with a book in hand.

New Book Catalogs

I went into work today (I work very part time at a small, independent book store) to find my boss digging through a huge box of catalogs. She was just back from BEA (Book Expo of America) and had brought back a lot of "stuff". Since business was slow, we sat there and started looking through all the publisher catalogs. We were looking specifically for materials for the store to purchase for sales, but we couldn't avoid having some fun for ourselves.

There were a lot of books that we would have loved to get, but knew they would never sell in the store for one reason or another. In most cases, it was price. We know how much people are willing to spend in our area. Note to publishers: $28.00 hardback novels aren't it.

In some cases, it was geography/sociology. As a former librarian, I do not and cannot condone censorship. But by the same token, as a salesperson in a small book store in a small town in a very conservative area, my boss and I are keenly aware of what will not sell. Erotica is not it.

But for the rest, we had a good time, pointing out good buys to each other, marking them for possible inclusion on the list, showing each other what we'd personally like, but wouldn't buy (the cookbook showing decadent chocolate desserts looked wonderful, but at almost $50.00? No.) Favorite authors and best sellers were debated. Children's books looked over and carefully considered.

In the hour we spent, we got through most, but not all, of the catalogs and I can't wait for the orders to go in, and the books to arrive because looking through the actual books is a whole lot more fun than just reading about it in a catalog.

And one of these days, my books will be in those catalogs for someone to consider. Someday soon, I hope! :)