Two years later, I was giving a speech on "Where do I Get My Ideas" when a Harlequin editor asked me to submit to her a proposal for the book about wolves that was one of the ideas I'd mentioned in the speech. The Silhouette editor to whom I'd submitted all those proposals two years before said, "Send that proposal to me first." I did (a four-page proposal), and she bought it (NEVER TEASE A WOLF). I've been published by Silhouette ever since.
Did you have an agent before you made your first sale? How long have you had your current agent? What advice would you give a new author looking for an agent/editor?
I made my first sales, to historical and contemporary editors at
different houses, without an agent. I've been turned down for
representation by a great many agents for a variety of reasons. I'm on my fifth agent in eighteen years of publishing. I've been with him for about two years. I've left various agents for various reasons over the years, some to do with disagreements on outlook, some to do with my growth or the growth of my career.
My best advice to anyone in dealing with an editor or agent is
"EVERYTHING is negotiable." Don't agree to terms in a publishing or agenting agreement that aren't favorable. If they want you and your book, they will modify terms to suit you.
YOU are in charge of your career. You have to know what you want and tell your agent; an agent has no idea what your dreams and desires are--including how much money you believe you're worth. I've never met an agent who thought I was worth as much as I thought I was worth. It's up to you to get them to ask for what you want. You have to be able to say NO--and take the risk of having to walk away--or you have no negotiating power. Too many romance authors (nearly all of whom are women) are afraid to turn down the first offer, and that first offer is rarely what the publisher is really willing to pay. Agents will not/cannot press for more without the author's willingness to do so.
How long does it take you to research and write a book? Do you write more than one book at a time?
I only write one book at a time. I tried doing two once, a historical and a contemporary, but the contemporary characters started speaking with a western twang.
Each book is different. I'm always doing research, even when I'm not. Does that make sense? A writer is ALWAYS a writer, even when she's not writing. Your eyes and ears are always open for new ideas and new experiences. As for "formal" research, I do as much as the book requires. I cut newspaper and magazine clippings, I read books, I go to movies, I travel, I do interviews, whatever is necessary till the book feels "real." I do enough research to get a feel for the major plot points and conflict, then write. I fill in the holes later and check facts to make sure what I've written works.
How do you meet the demands of dealing with the press and promotion and still make writing a priority? Do you have a writing schedule? What is it? How many hours per day, pages, days per week, etc.? How many books do you write per year?
I believe in author self-promotion, but I hire someone to do the actual postcards, phone cards, posters, web site, etc. It does take time, but it's time well-invested, as far as I'm concerned.
I try to write in the morning, as that's when I'm most creative and productive, but when I'm on a deadline, I can write from early morning till late at night. Usually that means write an hour, off ten minutes, write forty-five minutes, off fifteen minutes, write two hours, off an hour, write ten minutes, off ten minutes, and so forth. I write while it's flowing, get to a place where I don't know what the characters are going to do, leave the computer to think, then come back when I've figured it all out.
I have no idea how much I write over a day, a week, or a month and each book takes as long as it takes. When I first started writing full-time and had to make a living, I wrote five books a year for five years. The most I've written in a single 24-hour period is 90 pages (the end of a 120-page short story). The fastest I've written a 400-page book is 72 hours over 10 days. I had one chapter written when I started. It was a new genre for me, and I'd been thinking about it for a year. I type 120 words a minute. That book is one of my favorites and is now in about a 10th printing. IT ISN'T THE PROCESS, IT'S THE PRODUCT. Get it?
Are your settings based on any real places? How important is the setting to the success of your stories?
I frequently travel to do research for my books, and the firsthand information I pick up is invaluable in creating a realistic setting and giving the sorts of details that make readers believe they're really there. My Bitter Creek series is set in Texas where the King Ranch currently exists. I've also set books in real places in Montana and Wyoming, although I make up mythical towns to put in their stead.
My most historically accurate set of novels is the Sisters of the Lone Star series, FRONTIER WOMAN, COMANCHE WOMAN, and TEXAS WOMAN, which covers the history of the Republic of Texas from 1836-46 and has real historical figures and incidents depicted.
When starting a new book, do you start with character or plot?
Sometimes it's the character, sometimes it's the situation. Since I write continuing series where the main character in one book was a minor character in a previous novel, I often know who the character is going to be. The challenge is coming up with some dynamite situation--terrible trouble--for the character, so readers will stay with him or her throughout the book.
Do you write by the seat of your pants or plot everything out before you begin to write? Do you plot out the conflict and sexual tension before writing the book? How important is plotting to your stories?
You MUST put your characters in terrible trouble and keep them there, so readers won't be able to put down the book. I do write a synopsis before I start, usually twenty pages for a four hundred page book. Once I start writing, I never look at it again. The characters will take me where they need to go. That being said, I don't let them get too far from where I know I want them to end up. If they start off on a tangent, I'll rein them in. I've learned from experience that otherwise I'll end up throwing away a hundred pages that I can't use. That wouldn't matter if I did this for fun. However, I write commercial fiction, and I need to finish at least a book a year to earn my living.
You have become one of the more successful writers and deservedly so. You also seem to have kept things in perspective. What has success meant to you?
The hardest lesson I've had to learn over the past ten years or so is how to balance my professional and personal life. A friend chided me for being so focused on my career, at the expense of everything else. I wonder if I would be where I am today if I hadn't been so focused on my career? There's a reason why women so seldom create great art, music, or literature. It takes a tremendous commitment of time and emotional energy that necessarily takes away from family and a significant other. I learned pretty quickly that there's no such thing as Superwoman. We all have to make choices. I've done the best I can to be a loving, caring mother to my two children and become a New York Times bestselling author. Of course, now that they're grown and I'm on the New York Times list, I'm working on balancing career and (maybe?) a significant other...
I keep a sign by my desk that reads, "Success is a journey, not a destination." I live by it.
Also, you've been in the business a long time. During this time, what is the one thing you are glad you did for your career and the one thing you wish you would not have done?
I'm glad I wrote for two publishing houses at one time. It allowed me the opportunity to write both contemporary and historicals, rather than being limited to one time period. Also, I believe there was a synergy that developed which increased the rate of my readership, most of whom crossed over from one genre to the other.
The biggest mistake I made in my career (maybe?) was leaving Pocket Books, my first publisher, and moving to Dell Publishing--primarily because the editor who bought me at Dell left one month later and I became an orphan. I hung in at Dell, and the publishing industry being the circular being it is, that original editor came back to Dell eight years later. With her help and support I became a New York Times bestselling author!
Whom do you consider your influences or mentors and how have they affected your writing career?
I was a reader first. I learned how to write riveting romantic fiction from reading the best (not always the most successful...) romance authors and from attending (and listening to tapes from) the workshops they gave at various writer's conferences.
I have a continuing friendship with a sales rep from my first publishing house. The rep, who reads--and sells--romance fiction, has given me invaluable advice about how best to do promotion to help my sales. She also gave me the best writing "how-to" advice I ever got. I was complaining about the fact that another author at the same house was getting so much more attention and had so much better sales than I did. My friend looked me in the eye and said, "I care about her characters. I don't care about yours." Fortunately, she said this to me early in my career. I went to work to find out what that sucessful author was doing that I wasn't. I learned to write a better book. This meant learning to "go for the choke," creating characters that lived and breathed and tore your heart out.
You are one of the most business savvy authors about agents, editors,the writing profession in general. How do you feel about e-publishing, are you considering it? What advice would you give an aspiring author who is just starting out in the business?
My publisher is reprinting one of my books in paper as well as making it an e-book, so I'll have an e-book out there. Right now I think most readers (of fiction) enjoy having paper books in their hands. The technology still isn't good enough for us to want e-books. But it will be there. Think of being able to travel and take 10 books with you--on a disc! That would be wonderful.
My advice to an aspiring author is write what you love, the book of your heart, and make it the best book you can.
