My Recent Comments

Good luck with the sub, Lauren!

I got my revision letter on Friday.  One step closer to a real book!

Olivia, it's appropriate to submit under your real name--assuming that's the name that would get the check.  I use wording like:  Enclosed is "story title," by pseudonym, a submission to publication name when I submit to erotica anthologies.  I sign the letter real name/pseud.  I use the same real name/pseud format in the manuscript header (the part with your address & email).  Under the manuscript title, however, I put only the pseud.  Blah blah werewolves blah by Victoria Janssen.

Hope this helps!

"Wincing, she wrenched her sight from her reflection, drowning among the modern martini lounge backdrop, knowing she looked like pain, pale and thin, wrapped in a shiny red wrapper."

If I were going to cut this down, I'd do it like this:  "Her reflection looked like pain in a shiny red wrapper." 

My thought process:  "Looked like pain" is a great unexpected phrase, and since you have that, you don't really need "wincing," which adds another clause and slows the sentence down.  The part where she looks away from her reflection might be important, if she has a hard time looking at herself for a psychological reason, but I think it also slows down the sentence--that clause means it takes longer to get to the main clause, which dilutes it.  Once you've established that you have an unhappy person, the description of the martini lounge can follow in another sentence.

Naturally, I think so!

It's a photographic cover.  I like the background color a lot--a rich, dark green.

Alyssa, if it helps, the average chapter length in the book I sold to Spice was about 3000 words when I submitted the proposal.  There were over 20 chapters in the outline, though.

Also, if you're still in draft, I wouldn't obsess over chapter length.  When it comes to revisions, some people tend to add words and some tend to cut words, and sometimes the chapter length varies because of the sort of story it is.  I'd write it first, and adjust for chapter length and pacing later.

I got cover flats for the Duchess book!

I am SO excited.

The RWA Nationa workshop schedule is up:

http://www.rwanationalconference.org/Schedule/Schedule_Workshops.html