Hope you're having a wonderful holiday season and wishing you all the best for the New Year!
I won't be blogging again until the week of January 8th so check back with me then!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Words in Motion Conference
Announcing - WORDS IN MOTION 2008 The International Affaire for Romance Writers & Readers
Theme: Romantic Suspense
January 2nd-6th 2008
Lamplighter Conference Center Main Street Community Forumswww.cobblestone- mainstreet. com Hosted by Cobblestone Press, LLC Free to attend and participate! !!!
Words In Motion (WIM) is an annual online conference developed to offer support, marketing, and networking within the romance and erotic romance industries. Our goal is to provide affordable and convenient opportunities for authors, publishers, and other professional individuals. Authors, Publishers, Agents, and Groups such as RWA chapters, review sites, and writing groups are encouraged to attend and participate in this exciting event. The theme this year is Romantic Suspense and we are currently scheduling special guest speakers, tables for authors, publishers, groups, and agents – agents will be offered private chatroom to set up meeting with authors they meet during the conference. We are also scheduling group chat parties as well.This is going to be the largest online event for the romance industry yet and we hope you will join us to celebrate!
It's absolutely free and the best part? You can show up in your sweats and nobody has to ever know (wink).
Theme: Romantic Suspense
January 2nd-6th 2008
Lamplighter Conference Center Main Street Community Forumswww.cobblestone- mainstreet. com Hosted by Cobblestone Press, LLC Free to attend and participate! !!!
Words In Motion (WIM) is an annual online conference developed to offer support, marketing, and networking within the romance and erotic romance industries. Our goal is to provide affordable and convenient opportunities for authors, publishers, and other professional individuals. Authors, Publishers, Agents, and Groups such as RWA chapters, review sites, and writing groups are encouraged to attend and participate in this exciting event. The theme this year is Romantic Suspense and we are currently scheduling special guest speakers, tables for authors, publishers, groups, and agents – agents will be offered private chatroom to set up meeting with authors they meet during the conference. We are also scheduling group chat parties as well.This is going to be the largest online event for the romance industry yet and we hope you will join us to celebrate!
It's absolutely free and the best part? You can show up in your sweats and nobody has to ever know (wink).
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
To condomize or not to condomize!
A few days after World AIDS Day and at a time when health experts are reporting that there are a whole lot more new HIV infections than previously thought, it's probably a good time to bring up the topic of condoms.
A lot of writers worry about introducing rubbers into their stories but there’s no hard and fast rule.
Some publishing houses take the view that their books are fantasies and who would fantasize about condoms? So they don’t require it. Who wants to think about sexually transmitted infections when they're getting their groove on?
Other houses, concerned about any messages they may be sending about unsafe sex, require writers to, at least, mention that their characters are using condoms. How the writer chooses to introduce the topic is up to them. It could be a one liner where a character mentions using it or discarding it after sex or it could be something lengthier where putting it on becomes part of the sex play.
So whether you choose to condomize or not really depends on the writer and their particular publishing house. I don’t mention condoms in The Gladiator’s Woman, not because they didn’t have condoms in ancient Rome, they did, but because it being a historical I didn’t feel the pressure to do so. People just weren't as worried about those diseases back then and there was a lot more ignorance about signs and symptoms. In a contemporary, I probably would bring up condoms. In another life, I was an HIV educator and I'd feel I owed it to my readers.
What you do depends on you and on whether the publishing house you're targeting would allow it. If you're unsure, look up the guidelines, read other books they've published, or, just ask the editor.
A lot of writers worry about introducing rubbers into their stories but there’s no hard and fast rule.
Some publishing houses take the view that their books are fantasies and who would fantasize about condoms? So they don’t require it. Who wants to think about sexually transmitted infections when they're getting their groove on?
Other houses, concerned about any messages they may be sending about unsafe sex, require writers to, at least, mention that their characters are using condoms. How the writer chooses to introduce the topic is up to them. It could be a one liner where a character mentions using it or discarding it after sex or it could be something lengthier where putting it on becomes part of the sex play.
So whether you choose to condomize or not really depends on the writer and their particular publishing house. I don’t mention condoms in The Gladiator’s Woman, not because they didn’t have condoms in ancient Rome, they did, but because it being a historical I didn’t feel the pressure to do so. People just weren't as worried about those diseases back then and there was a lot more ignorance about signs and symptoms. In a contemporary, I probably would bring up condoms. In another life, I was an HIV educator and I'd feel I owed it to my readers.
What you do depends on you and on whether the publishing house you're targeting would allow it. If you're unsure, look up the guidelines, read other books they've published, or, just ask the editor.
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