I personally think the answers to all of those questions if completely subjective. It’s going to be different for every person.

The question I ask myself isn’t so much ‘how much should I do? How much should I not do?’ it’s ‘what is sustainable for me?’ I think it’s important to know yourself. In fact, I think very often when making business decisions the key is knowing yourself. What will make you happy. What will make you comfortable. And what will make you have an extreme meltdown of epic proportions and curl up into a ball of angst, never to unball.

I think periods of stress are normal. Periods of taking on way more than you can handle are…normal. I don’t care if you’re talking writing or a different sort of job, or family life. This past few weeks has been like that for me in terms of family. My mother, who helps me a lot with the kids, was gone for two weeks, at the same time my husband was working extra hours. And then just a couple of days after she got home, we all traveled north to help my brother move into his first place (which is hours and hours from us!! SOB) and in between that I had a few specialty Dr appointments for the kids, planned a going away party for my brother, and dealt with a sick kid.

THANK GOD that’s not my life every day. I could handle it, because it wasn’t forever and I knew that. But the idea of doing that every day for…forever would defeat me pretty quickly!

I think writing is the same. There’s surges of insanity, sure, but I think it’s important that the general pace of it, and what you expect from yourself on a daily basis, isn’t going to fry your brain. And to answer what the right pace is means looking at yourself, not other people.

It’s impossible, I think, to really get an idea of how much someone else is working and how much they have on their plate unless they walk you through their day. Which means it’s really impossible to try and hold yourself to what someone else is doing, or conversely, judge them for what you think they’re not doing.

I know I say this a lot but you have to look at yourself, and not others. It’s fine to get advice from other people, and it’s fine to try and change your process because you like the sound of someone else’s. Fine to increase your productivity or step it back. But it’s not fine when the angst over it becomes self-defeating.

It’s very difficult to write when you’ve had to move your personal homeland security threat level to red and your family is dodging you, trying to escape verbal execution. 

I’m all about competition. I have a competitive nature. But what I try to do is make myself my competition. I make my work, my productivity, or lack of it, my career choices, about me, and not about what someone else is doing. Taking on that mindset has really helped me eliminate a lot of stress. It helps to filter out the voices telling me: YOU SHOULD DO THIS, SHE DOES IT! Or…WHY DID SHE GET THAT AND I DIDN’T!? (notice I said it helps…it doesn’t eliminate. But hey, I’m only human. )

This isn’t a sprint. I would love to write until I die, and may that be many decades from now. That means finding happiness in what I do is REALLY REALLY important. That means enjoying my pace and workload is really, really important.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I encourage you to look at yourself, and how YOU can make things for workable for you. Because your life is your own, not anyone else’s. Shut out the outside influences for a bit (of which there is no shortage!) and ask yourself what YOU want. Your happiness is important. Don’t underestimate the importance of your well-being.

So, there’s the caveat.

I submitted to Harlequin Mills & Boon via the slush pile at the London office. I didn’t have an agent or a single contact in that office, and when I sold, I did so without an agent. That meant reading the contract and making sure everything was all right, was up to me! Fortunately, some fellow Harlequin authors and my friend Lisa Hendrix, gave me some tips on what I might look out for and ask to have changed (I made minimal changes, and they were painless).

I’ve done six contracts with Harlequin now and I feel very comfortable working with them.

Because of the relationship I have with my editor at Harlequin, when I signed with my agent last year, I opted to keep the Harlequin work separate. So it’s interesting because I have an agent that handles things for me, and I’m also still doing some of it for myself. I am both with agent, and without.

So with that in mind, here are some of my thoughts on being agented…and un-agented!

Without an agent…

1. You have to really be your own agent. And by that I mean: ask questions, negotiate, talk about money, ask for stuff. Not everyone is comfortable with that, and I totally get why. It can be UNCOMFORTABLE. But if that’s the road you take, it’s what you have to do.

2. If you’re unpublished, you have to make sure you’re following the guidelines for querying. Make sure you follow up on submissions, etc.

3. Be your own advocate. This sort of is the same as point one, but that’s really what it comes down to. Un-agented, you are your own advocate and you must take it seriously. (This requires taking yourself seriously as a business person…and you should!)

And now…What a good agent can do for you:

1. They know the market. They know who to submit your book to. They are familiar with different editors at different houses, what they like, what they don’t like.

2. They have a clear idea of where your voice will fit, because they have a clear, unbiased view of your voice.

3. They are your contact. Just one. You don’t have to keep in touch with every editor that has your work. And when you have things on multiple submissions? That is SO nice.

4. They are your advocate. They are on your side, not the publisher’s side. Their income is tied closely to yours and it is personally in their best interest for you to do well.

5. They handle the talk of money. (I have a hard time saying…look, I’d like more money. I DO it, because as I said, without an agent in one portion of my career, I need to. But I don’t like it.)

6. This isn’t a clear and concise point as much as me just saying I feel like it’s SO VALUABLE to have a good agent putting your work out there. They have all of the above knowledge, and they use it to your advantage. The amount of work my agent does for me…I don’t know how in the world I would do it with what’s already on my plate.

The key word here is Good Agent. You and your agent should share a vision, your agent should be excited about your work because…well, they have to go out there and sell it!

Having an agent doesn’t take away all of the business side of the job. You still have to pay attention to your contract. You still have to know what you want from the business. You STILL need to be your own advocate. But an agent relieves a lot.

So those are (some of) my observations from both sides. Any questions? Ask in the comments!

This fabulous quote from Megan Crane during her panel at the Romantic Times Con was very impacting for me. It really got me thinking. And reading some paranormal. (Nalini Singh, in fact, who I was lucky enough to meet at RT and who is a very lovely Kiwi!)

So, I’m reading all this paranormal (The Psy-Changeling series, go buy them all. Now. Do it.) and I started thinking about how much Presents IS very like a paranormal. I’ve often described Presents as a Contemporary Historical, and I think in many ways that description holds.

Still, I’ve been struck recently by how many key points Paranormals and Presents often have in common. And taking paranormal themes and applying them to Presents is helping me find my way with conflict. (If you don’t write Presents, this exercise might still be helpful for you…and if you write paranormal, you can do this in reverse!)

Here are some commonalities I’ve been noticing between Paranormal and Presents:

1. Very often one of the characters (usually the heroine) is pulled out of her comfort zone, her world, and taken into the hero’s world.

2. Alpha heroes. Alpha heroes who play by their own rules!

3. Heroes with a lot of power. In Presents it’s the kind of power brought on by money and status, in Paranormals…it can be Telekinesis.

4. “Fated Mates” This is often done in a literal way in paranormal, but in Presents you often have that concept. The woman he can’t get out of his mind, the only man to awaken her desires…

5. Tortured characters with big traumas in their pasts. Again, in paranormal, this torture is often literal. In Presents…it sometimes is. But it’s usually emotional.

I’ve also really been thinking about things the way Megan said…the literal vs the figurative version of a conflict. In a Paranormal, you might have a hero who fears that his power might actually kill the heroine. While in a Presents you might have a hero who fears his power (status?) might destroy the heroine in that it will stifle her. Or in a Paranormal you may have a hero who cannot love because he’s been programmed not to, and the heroine deserves more…while in a Presents you have the hero who can’t love because of pain in his past, and he knows he can’t give the heroine all she deserves. (See where I’m going with this?)

I find it a really fun exercise to analyze the conflict in a book that’s in a different sub-genre and try to see how it might fit in a different sub-genre. It helps you figure out what the CORE of the conflict is, I think, and helps you get a firm handle on the what the internal conflict between the characters really is.

So really, you can use the concept of this no matter WHAT you write.

I’m going to give an example of how you can play with this. If I take Nalini Singh’s Caressed by Ice (which you must read NOW BTW, I read it on Friday. In one day. It was that good.) and translate the heroes conflict (he’s afraid he can’t feel, can’t give the heroine what she needs, and that if he ever did, he might hurt her in a physical way as he can’t control his power) to a Presents I might end up with a hero very like Mak in A Royal World Apart, a man who’s shut off his ability to love because of a loss in his past, who is afraid to release his control and act based on emotion because when he did so in the past, his impulsive actions caused a terrible accident.

In the reverse, if I took my hero Stavros from At His Majesty’s Request and made his conflict literal, what might we get? Well, Stavros is bound by duty. He has to do the right thing for his country, marry the right woman. As it’s mentioned several times in the book, the world rests on his shoulders. If we made his conflict literal, perhaps he has to marry a certain woman, create an alliance or, literally, the world, civilization might crumble around him. Or something. But you get the idea. It’s playing with concepts of conflict and I think what sticks is revealing, and it can help you get a handle on what it all means. And maybe on playing with writing some things you might not have tried!

Because often, something might seem completely different from what you do, but the core remains the same: Character, emotion and conflict.

Thanks for bearing with me. I’ve been playing the conflict reversal game for a couple weeks now and had to share it!

But since I’m not currently angsting away writing a book, and since I’m not the authority on synopses in any way shape or form (fun fact: the synopsis I sent to my editor last night contained the words thrust, parlayed and cutthroat. It is not about pirates) I’ve decided to blog about the last thing I did, which was revisions for Mr. Personality.

I have oft joked that I am The Revision Queen. (I’ll take my tiaras wherever I can get them.) What you can take away from this is that I have done a lot of revisions. Like, lots. Three of them have been rewrites, one of which resulted in me getting hives all over my body. *angst angst angst* (but, Maisey, you ask, were there cookies? YUH HUH.)

It used to be that I would worry about that. How big the revisions would be, and how bad, and maybe I should do this so I don’t get big revisions, or maybe I shouldn’t have my hero do that because my editor might say that he’s mean, or…or…

A little while ago, my thought process changed in regards to revisions. I’m not sure why or what happened. I’ve always known that it’s the revisions that make the book. I’ve always believed that and enjoyed getting feedback (once I’ve picked myself up off the floor) and applying it.

Whenever I would get revisions though, I would feel gobsmacked and like I had failed the book and my editor in some way. I remember my dad saying to me, I think you need to accept that this is a part of the process just like writing a book in the first place.

So, at least a year after he said that to me, it sunk in. Part of that sinking in came during a phone call with my editor when I said (for the hundredth time) “I was afraid I was taking it too far.” And she said: I think we always have this conversation. You say you were afraid of going too far and I tell you that you didn’t go far enough.

From there, I started realizing that a huge reason I pulled myself back while writing was the fear of not ‘doing it right’. So when something felt risky…I adjusted.

It wasn’t like one day I sat down and though…who cares if I get revisions? I think the feeling shift was too subtle. But a couple of books back I remember telling a CP: Well, if I do it wrong I can fix it later. It always comes together in revisions anyway.

And then I realized that I DID feel that way. That the idea of revisions didn’t fill me with dread. That I wasn’t afraid of having done it wrong.

I had a particularly amazing round of revisions on my October UK book, A Game of Vows that only solidified my change in thought on the subject. With my editor’s feedback I found a scene that, in my mind, is the most important scene in the whole book, and it’s one I would have missed without going through the revision process.

And so I thought again: Why do I fear this part of the process? It’s the best part. It’s what makes it sparkle.

Not only that, but what I’ve found is that the scenes that scare me, the ones that challenge me, feel too weird, too outside my comfort zone that, when embraced, are what my editor feel is strongest in the book.

For me, personally, accepting the possibility of ‘failing’, has freed me up to write better books the first time around. And seeing revisions as part of the process, not something I HAVE to do, not something I’d like to avoid, but an integral part that is designed to help me put out the BEST BOOK POSSIBLE, has changed…everything.

It’s my chance to go back and make it BETTER. My chance to make it the best it can be. My chance to add the sparkle.

Also maybe eat cookies.

No?

Well, if you were thinking that…One Night in Paradise is now in shops in the UK and available for your e-reader!

It’s coming next month in Australia and I have no date for you in North American yet, sadly, but you will be kept posted!

In other good news…

Mr. Personality marked the end of my last Harlequin contract, and yesterday I was offered another one! And I have accepted, which means you will be seeing more Presents from me in the near future. And hey, I’m excited about that because I love writing these books SO much.

I started working on an outline for another two book series yesterday (two independent but connected books) and I’m really looking forward to working on it. I have a couple of other projects to get to first, but my mind is already turning over a little scandal in the desert…

Regardless, we only have those 24 hours. And in them…there’s a lot to do. Work, kids, husband, pets, parents, no matter what combination you have of the things listed, that right there represents a massive chunk of time. So where does writing fit in to this?

Luckily, for me, it’s work. Which means it (theoretically) fits in where work fits in. I say theoretically because I don’t work 9-5, far from it, but my writing DOES benefit from getting a high priority as it’s, at this point, necessary to our survival.

But that wasn’t always the case. There was a time when it was a gamble, and it wasn’t contributing much. It was just a pipe dream of mine that I suddenly got the urge to chase with total focus. At the time, I had just given birth to my second child, and my oldest was 20mos old. My husband had two jobs. Sleep and time were tight. Just getting started on my writing journey required me to be creative with my time management. And now, after four years of writing, I’ve become pretty good at finding ways to find the time.

I think it’s important to understand that life is always changing. That means solutions for schedule and time management don’t always stay the same, and don’t always work as well today as they did yesterday. I think it’s important to meet yourself where you’re at TODAY and don’t spend a ton of time beating yourself up over why you aren’t being as ‘productive’ today as you have been. Some days just aren’t as productive. And being able to let that go is important.

Also, some days you don’t wanna, and you hafta. And that’s okay too.

On that note, here’s my epic list of Finding the Time, Getting it Done:

1. Be forgiving of yourself. Don’t wast time beating yourself up, or feeling guilty for what you didn’t do, whether it’s the dishes or another page. I don’t think that helps, and I think it can force you to end the day feeling like you did nothing when…oh my gosh, you did SO much! As my husband and I often say to each other: Is everyone alive? Then your mission is accomplished for the day.

2. Be proud of yourself. This sort of piggybacks on the other one, but please let yourself feel a sense of pride in your accomplishments, in your talent. Feeling positive about yourself and about your work makes it SO much more sustainable. And sustainability IS important.

3. Trick yourself. I make up deadlines. They are earlier than my real deadlines, and they accomplish the ‘under the gun’ feeling that really gets your fingers moving. I’ve been doing that since before I got published, and I’ve found it really useful for me. All the flame and terror of a deadline, but you cut out that bit in the middle where you count ceiling tiles instead of working with urgency.

4. Make the most of the time you have. I would prefer to sit and write for six hours at a time. That basically NEVER happens. So I’ve had to learn to snatch an hour, or twenty minutes, here and there some days to get the words down. Those little snatches of time add up, and they teach flexibility which leads me to…

5. Take control. Some days I write in the morning, some days in the afternoon, often at night. At first I found it really hard to write ANY time but at night, but with practice, it’s become something I can turn on and off a lot easier. Some times are still easier than others, but I feel like this has given me the control of my writing and productivity, and not giving it over to a mystical force that says I must be creative after midnight.

6. Set Goals. When I have a LOT of words to get done in the day, I make a plan of attack in the morning. I want to get this much done by this time, take a break, go back and do this much, take another break, go back, be done by early afternoon.

7. Time challenges. I use these a lot for the ^ above. Like 1k 1hour. One hour, nothing but words. No internet, no getting up. No stopping to edit (that comes later). Butt in chair, words on screen.

8. Think about what you’re going to write before you sit down to write it. This is really helpful to me on totally crazy days. Doing dishes, waiting in the parent line, I can plan what I’m going to do to make my time really count later. I can start mapping a scene out, or really ponder the hero’s conflict so that I’m ready to go when I actually get to the computer.

9. Have fun. I’m serious. Leave room for mistakes, write with abandon, play with possibilities. I think the biggest breakthrough in writing for me was when I stopped trying to write a book that wouldn’t need major revisions. It stopped me from being cautious, it stopped me from second guessing so much. It’s helped me to just let go and immerse myself in the world. If it needs fixing later? Fine. That’s okay. That freedom has made it all less ARGH STRESS and more fun. And you know how time flies when you’re having fun? More words get on the page too.

Have you got any suggestions of your own for making time a slave to YOU? Or do you have questions? Leave it in the comments!

I just got the cover for A Royal World Apart, the first book in my The Call of Duty series, starting release in the UK in July (December US).

Some of you may remember the man I oft referred to as Untouched Hero. He is a man who is, indeed, untouched. In THAT way. And yes, I have to mention it again. Only because I think he might be about my favorite hero ever.

I love a strong man. And to me, Mak’s resistance of anything that might compromise his morals or his focus was extremely sexy. Sexier still was letting Eva push him, challenge him, and ultimately…*sigh*…break him.

Without further ado…a look at Mak and Eva.

When duty wars with desire, which one wins?

With her life mapped out since birth, Princess Evangelina Drakos—known for her dramatic flair—hopes the minor scandal she plans to create will deter potential suitors.

Hired for Eva’s security, unemotional bodyguard Makhail Nabatov never makes a mistake—but the impulsive princess pushes his resolve to the limits. It’s not long, however, before the beautiful and imprisoned Eva entices him to leave his bonds of duty and honour behind.

Whilst their chemistry reaches fever-pitch, Makhail knows he knows he must deny his desire—for Eva is promised to another man…

But…that’s not always feasible. In fact, it’s pretty ill-advised in some respects. I’ve realized some really important things recently and they pertain to the side of this business that is BUSINESS (never forget that’s what writing is when you’re aiming for publication, or when you are published. It is a business and you are a business person.)

In fact, I’ll lead with that:

1. This is a business, and you are a business person. Respect yourself as such. There’s no need to put yourself down, neither is there any reason to let your ego inflate. Think of how you felt at the other jobs you had, or were working to get. I think we’ve all felt a certain measure of confidence in our skills at various jobs (I am a kick butt barista and a fairly competent bridal consultant) so why can’t that translate to the writing world? I would never have said ‘oh, my lattes are only okay. You don’t have to drink it if you don’t want.’ I’m simplifying, I grant you, but remembering that this is business, a job, can be, I think, really helpful.

2. Goals are your friend. Have goals. Have a plan. Have it in advance. You need to know what you want out of this business. If it’s just to sell books to whoever you can, that’s fine. If you have a strategic plan of where you want to be in five years, and who you want to sell to, and what your image should be, and how you should brand, that’s all fine too. But it’s important to know what’s important to you. Because sometime…you will be faced with a decision that might seem great, but it won’t advance your plan, and in that moment, it’s good to know: what’s important to me? (And really, that’s something no one else can answer for you…which leads to…)

3. Everyone has their own plan. Someone else’s plan might be different from yours, but that’s okay. Your plan has to be right for YOU. There’s a lot garbage that flies around about how your plan should be JUST LIKE WHOEVER WHATEVER PERSON THAT BLOGS A LOT OR SPEAKS AT A LOT OF CONFERENCES OR SITS NEXT TO YOU AT A BUS STOP. And you know…that’s silly. You’re you, and what works for you, and what you want, will be different to what other people want, and what works for them. It’s okay for people to have a different strategy/plan/goal than you. It’s okay for yours to be different from theirs. It’s about what you want, and what makes you comfortable. You should never assume that just because someone else doesn’t have the same viewpoint/set of plans/concerns etc, that they haven’t thought things through. It may just apply to them differently.

4. Don’t compare yourself to other people. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. It either breeds a false sense of superiority, or a bad case of inferiority, and neither one are helpful. You have to compare yourself to YOU. How far you’ve come. You have to keep your eyes on your own writing. Let yourself be proud of how you’ve improved, let yourself enjoy what you’ve written. And kick your butt if you’re not living up to YOUR OWN potential. Which leads to…

5. If you can’t control it, don’t worry about it. There are a lot of things in this business that are out of your control. From how long an editor or agent takes to get back to you, to how an editor will feel about a MS, to whether or not people actually buy the book once it’s out. But not amount of angst will change that, and it may very well affect that which you can control: your writing. Save your energy and your focus for that. Write the best book you can, and then when that’s finished, write the next book, and make it the best book you’ve written. Submit. Write more. That’s portion of your success is all in your hands. YOU HAVE THE POWER there. Take it, own it. Do it like Nike.

And that’s my brain vomit about the business of writing.

I’m starting on my next Presents already and it’s inspired somewhat by the show White Collar…at least…my heroine is. My hero is Russian and like something out of an old Gothic novel which…across from my extremely sarcastic, American heroine is…interesting. Chatting with my editor on Monday about all kinds of things and I’ll be running this by her so we shall see!!

I did a post today on Sassy Sisters about Sex and Character, so if you’re interested…pop over there and read! And ask me questions! http://sevensassysisters.com/?p=4075

It was a very interesting conference in that I got to do TWO things I find awesome: I got to interact, not just with my fabulous author friends, but with readers.

I like that we could be sitting in the bar and be approached by a group of Presents fans, and hand books to them and just talk about…well, books and alpha heroes.

(In the picture is Me, Mira Lyn Kelly, Megan Mulry and Aimee Carson)

For me, the highlight was the reader mixer on the last night. It was a very informal little party where we really got the chance to talk to our readers. I mean…Ann Rice was there and people still wanted to talk to me! That was awesome. My favorite moment was when I was pointing out to a woman that I had a couple of sheikh books and someone else turned around and said “YOU WRITE SHEIKHS!?” with a look of complete excitement on her face. And I thought…ah…my people. Sheikh lovers unite!!

I roomed with the amazing Megan Crane/Caitlin Crews, and we had so much fun together. The was much talking, little sleeping, and, one morning we had room service. We were FANCY. (I don’t want to brag, but I had Challah bread french toast filled with nutella. O_O)

I also spent a lot of time with Lynn Raye Harris, Janette Kenny, Kimberly Lang and debut Desire author Andrea Laurence. I think it’s so cool to sit and talk to people who understand what you’re talking about when you say your hero did something without your permission, or that his conflict ended up being completely different than what you thought it was in the beginning.

Those moments of connecting with people who GET you are SO valuable.

And, as always, on the plane ride home I was bombarded with new ideas for my next few Presents. (lucky, lucky editor I have. bwaha)

There’s just something about a conference, even if I don’t go to a bunch of writing workshops, that brings me back home ready to ATTACK a new project. I think it’s that amazing thing of being around so much positive creative energy. Oh, yeah, and that I didn’t have time to so much as touch my keyboard for a week, which, makes workaholic me twitch. O>O

*goes in search of more pizza*