This is going to be a metaphor heavy post so apologies in advance.

What I wanted to talk about was limiting yourself (forgive me if you’ve heard this all before but I think it’s worth repeating).

When I first seriously started writing for publication, there was only one publisher I considered. I wanted that publisher and no one else would do. No one else was going to be good enough. Over the years I got great feedback and encouragement but for various reasons I kept hitting brick walls. It was totally depressing and utterly demoralizing.  People kept telling me to write something else for a change but I didn’t listen. I wanted my special toy dammit! And besides, no one puts Jackie in the corner!

So there I was, steadily losing confidence in my abilities, my writing becoming narrower and narrower because I got more and more frightened that I was doing everything wrong. I was trying to write in a tiny box to please a particular publisher. Writing became something I hated, not something I loved. And yet still I wanted that publisher. I wanted their sweet, delicious oranges not bloody apples!

Luckily, before I totally lost what little confidence I had in my writing, the shouts of my CPs eventually got through my thick skull. WRITE SOMETHING ELSE JACKIE.

So I did – mainly becaue I didn’t have anything else to lose at this point. And the process was fantastic. When I’d finished I knew it wasn’t going to get me oranges but by that stage, I’d decided that I needed to listen to the people that had told me to branch out. I tried the apple tree next door and whaddya know? Those apples are crunchy and delicious and I love them as much – maybe more – than I loved oranges.

The process of writing that book and having it accepted did amazing things for my confidence. I sold another book – the peach tree next to the apple is incredible – and then more. The orange tree – which had dominated my orchard up to this point – began to shrink and I could see that there were so many more trees out there. So many more opportunities.

And that’s really what I’m trying to say. There’s nothing wrong with concentrating on one publisher but keep in mind that only liking oranges limits you, both as an aspiring author and as a published author. The publishing world is changing fast and it’s exciting but I really think it’s just good business sense to include a few apples and peaches in your basket.

Concntrating entirely on only one house also means you’re writing to please just one set of people. But they’re not the only editors out there. Just because you can’t seem to write something that grabs them doesn’t mean that ALL the editors in the entire world will hate what you write.

I’m not saying you should give up oranges entirely. I’m saying that while you’re reaching for that orange tree, keep in mind that there are plenty of other trees in the orchard. Working with one publisher might enable you to get a second. Because selling your book doesn’t mean you stop learning your craft and growing as a writer.  The past six months have been amazing for me in terms of bettering and challenging myself.  Hell, you might even find that you don’t like oranges at all,  that you’re an apple girl all the way.

Okay so I hope you didn’t get lost in all the orange/apple/peach/orchard metaphors. Basically don’t let one publisher become your be all and end all. Keep your options open. Keep writing what you love, not what you think editors want to see. Keep loving what you write and the rest will follow.

As for me, I’ve still got my eye on that orange tree. But it’s not the only tree in my particular orchard.

The quicksand book is done. At least the first draft of it is. And thank God because I thought I’d never claw my way out of it. Why do first drafts suck so badly??? Anyway, my plan now is to let it sit and fester and while it’s brewing away I’ll start another book aimed at someplace else. This is going to be hard. Firstly because I hate beginnings and secondly because this book/novella is not going to be strictly category.

I’ve been writing category style books for a few years now and I actually find the parameters of category comforting. They give you a nice framework within which to work and because I like to twist things, they give you some great conventions to twist. However the end of last year I decided I needed a break from category  and wrote a novella that was category in length and in the focus just on the hero and heroine, but really wasn’t in terms of subject matter or language. Hehe. It ended up being quite dark and gritty and angsty and I just loved writing it.

Now I’m looking at writing another one and I’m kind of scared. Because the first one was different to what I write normally, I’m not sure I’ll be able to replicate it. I just chucked everything I liked into that first story and it just took off but…Well, this time round it’s different. I can’t write that first story again so I’ll have to chose different characters. Different setting. Different conflict. What if I don’t like it as much? What if it doesn’t write as easy as that first one?

I found stepping outside the category boundaries easy the first time round because I’d let them hem me in to the extent that I needed to do something drastic to break out. But my writing is different now to what it was then. I don’t feel as hemmed in as I did before. So this time I’m not so much breaking down walls as opening a door. And for some reason that doesn’t feel quite so easy.

Anyway, I’ve decided that my chessplayer is going to get the angsty, gritty treatment. Yes, I know, I’ve rewritten this ridiculous ms a number of different times but it’s never quite felt to me like a category book. So I’m taking the hero pretty much as is (minus the multimillionaire bit), giving the heroine some decent conflict and turning it into something sexy and dark and intense. At least that’s the idea.

I’m also going to give the heroine a conflict that’s quite personal to me. First time ever actually. I hope I’ll be able to pull it off.

So have you ever broken out and written something different? And when the time came to do it again, could you??

Um, no, that’s not quite right either. So far my idea of different has NOT squared yet. In fact, I have been tarred with the cliche brush. Purely my own fault. Note to self: Do not have the hero make the heroine come to work for him unless it’s part of his character and NOT just because I wanted them in proximity to each other…

Ahem. So anyway, different. I think a really good example of this is Maisey’s latest release. Yes, this is a small plug for my lovely CP (BUYBUYBUYBUY), but it’s also because it’s got a different hero who has a very contentious (for romance readers) conflict.
For a start, in the The Highest Price To Pay the hero is black. The first Presents/Modern black hero. AND, what’s more, he’s black on the cover of the UK edition. Considering they hardly ever feature blonde heroes on the covers, having a very obviously black hero on the cover is a fantastic move. Now, he also has a conflict that is very different too. Different in that it’s a thorny one, I think, for romance readers. I won’t give it away by telling you what it is but it’s one that I think is difficult to pull off and yet, IMHO, Maisey manages it.
The story itself is still very Presents – hero is alpha, the settings are glamorous, the heroine is strong and glam too. All the elements that make Presents what it is are there, but with just that little bit of difference.

Being different in category romance – hell, in all romance! – is really hard to pull off in my opinion. But not impossible. The trick is, I think, to not go overboard. Don’t make your Presents hero a secret alien in disguise. They may never have had an alien/werewolf/vampire hero in Presents but that doesn’t mean they’re going to start doing it now! Be different in ways that are a little bit outside the box but not so much that you crush the box entirely. And it MUST be in character. Otherwise it’s not going to work.

Anyone read a romance lately that you found different? What was it about it that was different?

BTW, I realise I am late with my Ask Dr Jax post so if you have any conflict questions, let me know!

The problem though is, yep, you guessed it, wait times. I have been inching forward, it’s true. And I do feel like I’m making some progress. But it’s by slow increments. And I’m such an imptatient little person that it’s doing my head in. The ed has chapters 2 and 3 and my synopsis but I haven’t received any answer on this yet. It hasn’t been long so I shouldn’t complain. But I’ve finished rewriting my story now and once again I am waiting.

And this time I’m wondering if I should do something different, branch out. Even – shock, horror! – try a different publisher. Thing is, I like writing Modern Heat. Even if I wasn’t writing to the guidelines, my stories would still be very Modern/Modern Heat. Perhaps they’d be longer and the language would be stronger (let’s face it, alphas probably wouldn’t say ‘god’ or ‘hell’ or ‘insert appropriate mild curse here’ ALL the time) but they’d still be essentially character driven because that’s what I like to write.

Still, maybe it’s worth thinking about. Be nice to have more than one submission out there, I have to say. Challenge myself too. Although I do feel I’m being challenged enough in getting MH right!

Anyone else out there targetting different publishers? What do you reckon? Worth a crack?