Last weekend was Romance Genrecon at the Mid Continent Library in Kansas City, MO. Excellent classes but I mostly focused on the social media aspect of them, to learn more about promoting myself and my ‘brand’. I’ve been disenchanted with my logo of late. It’s too pastel and I am NOT a pastel kind of woman. I like the feather but I’d like something more personal. And with me writing my mystery short stories under a different pen name, I’m not sure how to market myself.
In romance, my current series is contemporary first person, which is WAY out of my normal wheelhouse. Author Michelle Grey (www.authormichellegrey.com) generously offered to read my admittedly tossed together back cover blurb and first two chapters of my Geek Girls Trilogy. I didn’t even HAVE a back cover blurb until she asked for one. So that’s something I need to research on how to do properly. My stories are quirky but not romcom and I wasn’t sure how to ‘pitch’ it in a back cover blurb. (sigh) Michele said she would get the chapters critiqued by next MARA meeting. I told her to red ink it. I’ve got a thick skin and contemporary is not my thing. LOL! I just had to write these three couples’ stories though, so that’s that.
I’m thinking of digging more into what’s comfortable for me and step away from Regency and Victorian. I find the time periods boring now and the market is FLOODED with them. Most medieval or ancient romances deal with Scotland or Rome. I’m going to sit down and brainstorm something in either Ancient Egypt or Greece during the time of my historical husband, Alexander III, or the Great to you plebs. LOL! I’ve got the start of one during Alexander’s time but it’s garbage. It’s bad. It needs a complete rewrite and not much of it was written to begin with.
To change subjects, I started an Instagram and am learning how to use it. I’m not posting reels and videos or anything, but the goal is to post something at least three times a week, no matter how inane until I figure out what I’m doing. What I SHOULD do is get my TBR pile together and take a picture. (twitch) Just to show how behind I am on them. If I’d stop buying or checking out books for research, my TBR pile would be so much smaller. So. Much. Smaller.
Speaking of research, coming up at the end of November 18, 2024 – November 29, 2024 I will be teaching a class on The Tudor Kitchen. If you’re tired of Regency and Victoriana like me and like food? This is the class for you! Check out the link to Outreach International Writers workshops for more information: https://oiwi.org/workshop/the-tudor-kitchen-2-week-intensive-workshop-val-fassnight/
