Life goals: writing retreat in a castle

Last year at the RWA national convention in Orlando, I overheard some writers talking -- was it in a speech? Or was I just that creepy lurker in the lobby unintentionally overhearing everyone else’s conversations?! I really don’t recall -- about a retreat they’d been on together. They pooled funds from, like, ten writers and rented a castle in Ireland for three weeks.

A castle.

In Ireland.

For three weeks.

Also? It was haunted.

So whether I heard it legit, spied it, or made it up, none of that really matters because...

A castle.

In Ireland.

For three weeks.

With a ghost.

(And also he was probably a hot, angsty, Victorian ghost. Hush, you, this is my happy place!)

This is now filed in my brain under Life Goals. Who’s in?

Dreaming of Islands for A Reclusive Writer

A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're supposed to be writing...

Oh, wait, that's not how the song goes. But since today's topic is "dream environment for writing," that song is totally my earworm. I give it you, dear readers, because I'm generous like that.

So, you all know writers find all sorts of wonderful, weird, and wholly impractical websites as we're researching our scenes. Some of them we keep pinned in case we ever become as rich as those writer-characters on TV (I'm lookin' at you, Rick Castle).

Behold the glory and wonder that is Private Islands, Inc--Real Estate Listings of Islands for Sale.

My default search is the Islands of Ireland. This week, there's a place called Mermaid Isle. Mermaid Isle. Oh, come on, if that doesn't scream, "Fantasy Writers, come hither," I don't know what does.

See, while most people are looking for sun, warmth, beaches, and cabana boys, I'm after stormy days, surging seas, and total isolation.

I R a Recluse.

With grocery places delivering by drone and empty guest rooms to lay in the booze, the necessities are addressed. As long as the house stays warm and dry, I...I could be there tomorrow. Heck, judging the photos, it even comes with its own pet seal.

Or maybe it's a selkie.   

Where better to write?

Jeffe wants the Mediterranean.

Me? A nice big house on a cliffside, overlooking the sea.

New England is fine for that. Ireland or old England would work pretty darned well.

Mostly I just love the ocean and the roar of the waves, the rhythmic crash of water against rocks.

I feel at peace there. 

Welcome to My Mediterranean Villa

I often joke that in my old age, I shall be writing from the balcony of my Mediterranean Villa. Grace Draven plans to live with me (we figure our husbands will be gone by then - sorry, guys!) and we'll have several very handsome young men with medical training to look after us.

Why the Mediterranean instead of the Caribbean, you may ask? Many of you know that's my favorite place.

No hurricanes. Better medical care. A girl has to plan this stuff.

That's our topic this week: If you could not write in your customary spot, what’s your dream writing environment?

What about you all - dream writing spot? Dream retirement spot?

Best Bet Mini Reviews

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The subject this week is reviews, with a subtitle drawn from some children’s rhyme I never even heard of and which sounded unpleasant and disrespectful  to reviewers.

A review is that reader’s experience with the book. They bought the book (or agreed to accept an ARC) so they're entitled to their opinion.

I wrote my book, I told the story I wanted to tell, obviously I was content with it or I wouldn’t have pushed the ‘publish button’ on the ebook seller sites. I've moved on to my next book.

I appreciate people taking the time and energy to write reviews. I think in many cases the reviews can be helpful to other readers in deciding whether to try a book. They may love or hate some trope the first reviewer loved or hated. They may want to see what the 5 stars or the 1 star is all about. They may want to suss out if there’s a cliffhanger or a trigger. (I never write cliffhangers!!! Hopefully I don’t do triggers either.) Some reviews may be for a product totally unrelated to my book which somehow ended up attached to my book through the mysteries of ebook seller platforms. Some authors have been unfortunate in that a troll or an author who views everyone else as a rival has sent out his/her legions of fans to leave terrible reviews on their books.

I think the vast majority of reviewers - and especially the devoted book bloggers! - try very hard to give their honest opinion and feedback.

I don’t spend much if any time pondering reviews.

I don’t review books either except for one specific exception. Well ok, two.

When I wrote for the old Heroes & Heartbreakers blog, they wanted me to identify a few “Best Bet” scifi romances every month and write mini reviews. That was the ‘price’ of me being on their platform and spreading the scifi romance word. Fair enough, their platform, their rules! I transferred this ‘best bet’ activity to the Love in Panels blog when editor Suzanne Krohn from H&H decided to continue writing a romance-based blog after MacMillan shut down the old H&H.

I only talk about books which I personally enjoyed and can recommend. I review three from each month’s flood of new SFR releases, which I report on a factual basis weekly on my own blog. Here’s a sample report of New Releases New Releases in #SciFi and #Fantasy Romance for Wednesday March 21 .

I try to change the Best Bet titles up monthly, not to focus on just one series or author, and include a couple of well-known SFR authors (because many of the best release new books monthly these days, or so it seems) and hopefully a newcomer or author with fewer titles, whose book took and held my attention. I don’t give stars or any other rating.  I do a blend of plot hilite recaps, using snips of dialog or description I really liked, and remarks about what I enjoyed most. Maybe it was the feisty heroine, the use of an unusual setting, the hero’s determination or an unexpected plot twist that stood out (I don’t do spoilers). On rare occasions if something in the book bugged me enough, I might mention it. One title that I totally enjoyed last year had the hero calling the PhD heroine ‘honey’ and ‘sweetheart’ from the moment they met. Yeah, don’t EVER try condescending endearments with me. So I mentioned that but stressed how much I’d enjoyed the rest of the book.

Some authors who do wonderful worldbuilding, great characters and twisty plots are just too steamy for me, so I might mention that in one of these mini review ‘best bet’ columns. I like a certain amount of hot times in a book but there are readers who go for many more scenes of this type than I do, so I figure my statement won’t hurt the book’s chances.

Obviously in a best bets column I’m not going to discuss books I didn’t like. No one but me (and Amazon) will ever know how many I might have sampled that month to find the ones I do feature.

Another reason I don’t do any other type of review is that I read a book as an author. I can’t help but see pieces of the writer’s craft peeking through. I contemplate what I would have done with plot twists. I nod and say, oh yes, I see your foreshadowing. I see how you’re going to use those seven brothers the hero has to set up the series.

It doesn’t keep me from enjoying a good book! But I’m using a double lens if you will, and I’m not going to write a review.

The only other time I do a review is if there’s something special and I just really really want to talk about it. I’m doing one of those next week on Anne Bishop’s Lake Silence but that’s a rare thing for me, less than once a year.

I did do a revisit to Andre Norton’s Witch World series once for my own blog.

And that’s a wrap on this topic!

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The Ultimate Positive Review

MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS TO VIVIEN JACKSON!!WANTED & WIRED IS A RITA FINALIST!

This book is one of 6-8 finalists out of a field of hundreds of books. The RITA, again, is the highest award honor bestowed upon romance novels by the romance industry. Finalists are the books our peers pick up and say, "OMG, this is amazing!" There are few reviews better than that. So CONGRATS, again, to Vivien. And you, yes, you! Here's where you pick up this book to see what all the fuss is about AND to leave your own impression of the story on whatever venue lights your fire. :D

PS: The actual RITA awards ceremony takes place at the Romance Writers of America National Conference in July. You have until then to read WANTED & WIRED so you can root for it to win along with the rest of us!

The Power of the Review

Reviews are a critical part of a novelist's life.  We get them, we obsess over them, and we need them. 

I mean, I read every one that I see.  Every one.  Even the ones that hurt-- and oh lord, do some of them hurt.  But I see that as a necessary thing.  The hurtful, rip-the-bandaid-off aspect of the bad reviews are part of the process.  It's part of understanding that you're never going to please everyone.

Remember: even the great classics, even your most favorite, beloved books have 1-star reviews on Amazon. 

But I want to talk to the readers out there: remember that reviews are YOUR tool.  If you have a book you love, a writer you adore, then the best thing you can do is get on Amazon, Goodreads and anywhere else you can go and SCREAM IT TO THE HILLTOPS that you love that book.  You will make that writer's day.

So go do that.  It can be for one of mine, if you're so inclined, or someone else.  There are plenty of worthy writers who need a bit of your love.  So go give some, because it doesn't cost you anything.  Love is a self-replenishing commodity, spread it around.

Review for fun! For information! For love.

When Amazon was new and I was unpublished, I used to read a lot of reviews. They were informative and well-thought-out and helped me pick my next readable. I trusted them, and they rarely steered me wrong.

Nowadays, Amazon's algorithms for visibility have made reviews into a commodity, and since I have a couple of books out with my name on the covers, I abstain from reading reviews.

Not reviews of my books because neither my ego nor my self-loathing are developed enough to take that hit directly.

Not reviews of my friends' books because I get all angry and defensive and chupacabra, and it's on someone else's behalf, which makes the fury feel righteous.

Not reviews of books that are doing really well in my genre because all my attempts to replicate the success of those books have ended in manuscripts sacrificed to the dark gods of Why Even.

Not reviews of books that are clearly not selling well because, dude, someone put effort into typing all those words and then made the (foolish?) decision to go ahead and share the resultant opus. With everyone. For money. That's... kind of precious. Definitely brave. I don't want reviews to spoil that for me.

Nope, instead of putting my eyeballs on book reviews, I have a couple of super-kind friends who screen them for me. They cut and paste the reviews of my books that I'm allowed to read, send them to me, and then I print them out and frame them and ... well, they make me happy. Intensely, tearfully, gratefully happy.

Now, this isn't a foolproof system, so if you've reviewed a book of mine favorably and I haven't sent you chocolates or gifs of people hugging, feel free to message me. You really want this gif-storm. If you've reviewed unfavorably, I don't know about it but I will tell you this:

THANK YOU.

Seriously. Regardless of whether you loved my work or hated it or meh'd it, you took the time to read, to leave your thoughts out there for someone else who just wants advice on picking his or her next readable. I've been that person and would be still. You make that person's world better. So, thank you from prepublished-me.