DeeDee is a good friend of mine and I have had the pleasure of taking her Muse Therapy class. You know my Muse always needs some therapy! And as a bonus D.D. makes me laugh every day!
Thank you so much for joining us today D. D.!!!
As a very special treat for the first five people who comment on this post, D.D. will treat them to a FREE Kindle Copy of BOOTSCOOTIN' BLAHNIKS
Just a little bit about D. D.~
D. D. Scott is a bestselling romantic comedy and cozy mystery author and a Writer’s Go-To-Gal for Muse Therapy, plus the #1 Amazon Bestselling Author of MUSE THERAPY: UNLEASHING YOUR INNER SYBIL and the co-founder of The Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing, your destination site for Everything E-Publishing. You can get all the scoop on her, her books, her Muse Therapy Online Classes and Live Workshops, plus juicy tidbits from her fabulous grog The Naked Hero at http://www.DDScott.com.
Hello, Monika-Land!!!
I’m Bestselling Romantic Comedy and Cozy Mystery Author D. D. Scott, and I’m a huge fan of our Monika’s “sassy observations about life...”
Here’s My Evil Editor Turd Anecdote straight outta my MUSE THERAPY book.
It doesn’t get much sassier than this...and, keep in mind...
no joke...
what actually happened to me at RWA (Romance Writers of America) Nationals in 2009:
I used to stew about many of the anxiety-heavy, neurotic behaviors dogging me on my way to Publishing Oz... but not anymore. Let me give you a personal example of how I put my neurosis in perspective for the first time.
I used to stew about many of the anxiety-heavy, neurotic behaviors dogging me on my way to Publishing Oz... but not anymore. Let me give you a personal example of how I put my neurosis in perspective for the first time.
This Highway to Hell was my defining moment when it scorched and branded my ego in July 2009 at RWA National Conference in Washington D.C.
Like any good neurotic, I’m subject to “impulsive compulsive acts”.
Like any good neurotic, I’m subject to “impulsive compulsive acts”.
For example, I submitted a one-page synopsis of my manuscript - which is now agented and Indie Epubbed but was then agented and still under consideration by several NY publishers - to be cold read by a huge, HUGE editor.
So...I went to D.C., “obsessed” with my lucky break at getting a cold read from this top editor. And I made my DH miserable all week with my “repetition of thoughts” regarding what the esteemed editor would say about my work.
When 3:30 PM the Saturday afternoon of conference finally came around, I sat with my DH in the front row and faced The Devil in Editor Form...ever “vigilant” of my career’s future.
Said editor cold read and critiqued all twenty or so of the submissions, finally getting to mine at the end of the session. Then...she publically annihilated my work (as recorded on the RWA conference cd-rom).
We’re not talking she politely stated my chick-lit tone wasn’t her thing, she used my manuscript to mock the entire genre.
Let me paraphrase her rant, although I could probably quote it as I will NEVER forget the exact words.
She threw her hands up in the air making all kinds of flying monkey poses and went-off:
“A tomato-growin’, bootscootin’ cowboy?! How heroic is that? How about a horse?! That’s what I want my hero riding not a tractor! And dancing?! Who finds dancing heroic?! I don’t know about you, but I’m always wondering about those men on Dancing With The Stars. I doubt they’re really interested in their dance partners. Again, give me a hero, not a tomato-growin’, bootscootin’ cowboy!!! C’mon! Tomatoes?!!!” (Oh, and she laughed her ass off through all of this!!!)
Okay...granted, after said editor’s rampage, I was still breathing so I had lived through the nightmare...barely...thanks to my SweetMan patting my leg. And not patting for comfort, rather caressing for control. He knew I was d*mn well capable of exhibiting a “socio-culturally inappropriate behavior”!
“A tomato-growin’, bootscootin’ cowboy?! How heroic is that? How about a horse?! That’s what I want my hero riding not a tractor! And dancing?! Who finds dancing heroic?! I don’t know about you, but I’m always wondering about those men on Dancing With The Stars. I doubt they’re really interested in their dance partners. Again, give me a hero, not a tomato-growin’, bootscootin’ cowboy!!! C’mon! Tomatoes?!!!” (Oh, and she laughed her ass off through all of this!!!)
Okay...granted, after said editor’s rampage, I was still breathing so I had lived through the nightmare...barely...thanks to my SweetMan patting my leg. And not patting for comfort, rather caressing for control. He knew I was d*mn well capable of exhibiting a “socio-culturally inappropriate behavior”!
You bet your ass I was feeling “anger”, “irritability”, “low sense of self-worth” and an abundance of “unpleasant or disturbing thoughts”!
Hard core neurotic attack!
LOL!!!
Well...now I’m laughing. Trust me, or ask SweetMan, I wasn’t laughing then!
So...I got up and did what any well-practiced neurotic would do with my “grip on reality”. After introducing myself and thanking Evil Editor for annihilating me, as any neurotic suffering from “mental confusion” would do, I ran as fast as my ridiculous spike heels and tortured feet would allow to my hotel room and practiced “schizoid isolation”.
Well...now I’m laughing. Trust me, or ask SweetMan, I wasn’t laughing then!
So...I got up and did what any well-practiced neurotic would do with my “grip on reality”. After introducing myself and thanking Evil Editor for annihilating me, as any neurotic suffering from “mental confusion” would do, I ran as fast as my ridiculous spike heels and tortured feet would allow to my hotel room and practiced “schizoid isolation”.
I was “lethargic”, “sad” and “depressed”...ohhh yeahhh...but still mad as hell!!!
The Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders suggests you treat neurosis with psychotherapy, behavior therapy and drugs. F-that! I used pasta, Tanqueray, tiramisu, and some Zen Buddhist mantra bullshit.
Talk about anxiety issues!!! I was hurting bad...and I mean bad! SweetMan, the Hero that he is, hugged and kissed me, told me he loved me, put on his C-pap mask and took a nap. Smart guy!
You know, it wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate that my chick-lit, sexy, sassy, smart voice wasn’t this editor’s thing. I’m perfectly okay with the fact she thinks multi-headed aliens and Jack the Ripper-style heroes are more “heroic” than a bootscootin’, tomato-growin’ cowboy who’s tractor is sexy, who’s truck is big and bad, and who can sweep any girl off her feet on the dance floor.
The Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders suggests you treat neurosis with psychotherapy, behavior therapy and drugs. F-that! I used pasta, Tanqueray, tiramisu, and some Zen Buddhist mantra bullshit.
Talk about anxiety issues!!! I was hurting bad...and I mean bad! SweetMan, the Hero that he is, hugged and kissed me, told me he loved me, put on his C-pap mask and took a nap. Smart guy!
You know, it wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate that my chick-lit, sexy, sassy, smart voice wasn’t this editor’s thing. I’m perfectly okay with the fact she thinks multi-headed aliens and Jack the Ripper-style heroes are more “heroic” than a bootscootin’, tomato-growin’ cowboy who’s tractor is sexy, who’s truck is big and bad, and who can sweep any girl off her feet on the dance floor.
Really...I am okay with this...after several months later maybe...but yeah, I admit, I really wasn’t that okay then.
What bothered me...and still does...to be honest...was how this editor showed no respect for other readers’ tastes. No respect for the quality of my good neurotic “perfectionist” work. (Note: mine was the only submission she didn’t pick apart for form or clarity...in fact, she requested partials based on synopses she flat-out said were confusing and not done well...characters she didn’t quite get or find realistic...big, Big problems she never once knocked my submission for containing.) She had no consideration for the fact she acknowledged my writing was funny and an easy read. “You are funny...very funny...and you’re writing is good...tight...,” she said.
She simply had a profound hate for my type of hero...enough to not just not request my partial but enough disdain for the genre to make a mockery out of my work to garner a room-full of laughs.
BUT my writing did make an entire room and one incredibly nasty editor laugh! There-in is the key that got me back on my neurotic feet. I am a romantic comedy writer. So making people laugh can’t be half-bad, right?
And how’s this for justice served?
When I got home, my SweetMan happened to be looking up our state fair schedule and what did he discover? Evidently, not everyone thinks like Evil Editor Turd...because there, in all its splendid glory, was a welcome to the 2009 Indiana State Fair poster announcing this year’s theme “The Year of the Tomato”! And there was their poster for the fair, including a bunch of tomatoes, tractors, a cowboy, and a guitar!
What bothered me...and still does...to be honest...was how this editor showed no respect for other readers’ tastes. No respect for the quality of my good neurotic “perfectionist” work. (Note: mine was the only submission she didn’t pick apart for form or clarity...in fact, she requested partials based on synopses she flat-out said were confusing and not done well...characters she didn’t quite get or find realistic...big, Big problems she never once knocked my submission for containing.) She had no consideration for the fact she acknowledged my writing was funny and an easy read. “You are funny...very funny...and you’re writing is good...tight...,” she said.
She simply had a profound hate for my type of hero...enough to not just not request my partial but enough disdain for the genre to make a mockery out of my work to garner a room-full of laughs.
BUT my writing did make an entire room and one incredibly nasty editor laugh! There-in is the key that got me back on my neurotic feet. I am a romantic comedy writer. So making people laugh can’t be half-bad, right?
And how’s this for justice served?
When I got home, my SweetMan happened to be looking up our state fair schedule and what did he discover? Evidently, not everyone thinks like Evil Editor Turd...because there, in all its splendid glory, was a welcome to the 2009 Indiana State Fair poster announcing this year’s theme “The Year of the Tomato”! And there was their poster for the fair, including a bunch of tomatoes, tractors, a cowboy, and a guitar!
Hmmm...guess enough people like my ideas being as an entire state’s fair theme includes those images and “characterizations”!
The darn poster could have been my book cover!!! I actually saved the print, planning to give it to the art department of the publisher I eventually signed with.
And yes...I sent this poster to my agent who was considering forwarding it to said Evil Editor Turd!
P.S. You can also listen to all this on the RWA Conference CD Roms...'cause yes, it was one of the recorded events!!! LOL!!!
****
Fast forward to April 2011, I sold 850 Bootscootin' Books in one month (April 2011)!!!
And yes...I sent this poster to my agent who was considering forwarding it to said Evil Editor Turd!
P.S. You can also listen to all this on the RWA Conference CD Roms...'cause yes, it was one of the recorded events!!! LOL!!!
****
Fast forward to April 2011, I sold 850 Bootscootin' Books in one month (April 2011)!!!
Fast forward again to May 2011, I sold 1138 Bootscootin’ Books in one month (May 2011), putting me in Kindle’s prestigious 1000 Sales-a-Month Club!!!
So hmmm...again...evidently readers and fans really do like bootscootin’, tomato-growin’ cowboys on tractors instead of horses!!!
Okay...there's my little bit of sassy, MUSE THERAPY: UNLEASHING YOUR INNER SYBIL wisdom...for more, I invite all of you to join my Muse Therapy Online Class Community where it’s all about reining in and reigning over your creative divas, despite the Evil Editor Turds of the World:
Thanks bunches for hosting me today, Monika!
I look forward to welcoming y’all to my Bootscootin’ and Cozy Cash Mystery Worlds!!!
D. D. Scott’s bestselling romantic comedies are all about sexy, sassy, smart, career-driven women and the men who complete them. They're a bit chick lit with a gone-country twist...and now a cozy mystery twist too. She’s agented, and her Bootscootin’ Books Series - think Sex and The City meets Urban Cowboy – debuted August 2010, on Amazon’s Kindle and at Smashwords, with BOOTSCOOTIN’ BLAHNIKS, followed by STOMPIN’ ON STETSONS and BUCKLES ME BABY. Now, The Bootscootin’ Characters are gettin’ “cozy”...as in Cozy Mystery cozy, with the release of THUG GUARD, Book One of the her new, Cozy Cash Mysteries, featuring all of your fave Bootscootin’ characters plus tons of quirky, new characters too.
She's a member of RWA and served on RWA’s History Committee for the National RWA Board. She's been a guest blogger on Romance Writers on the Journey, Inside the Writer’s Mind, Daily Dose Fantasy Romance, Romance University, Romance Lives Forever, Pink Fuzzy Slipper Writers, Lesa’s Book Critiques, Savvy Authors and Healthy Writers. She can also be spotted every Wednesday on Mount Olympus fulfilling her duties as The Naked Hero’s Hump-Day Goddess and all-week long on her new grog The WG2E, a writer’s destination site for all-things-Epublishing. She is linked to on Romancing the Blog and also has an active blog of her own http://ddscottauthor.blogspot.com on her website at http://www.DDScott.com . In addition, her first RWR articles were published by RWA in the July 2010 and October 2010 issues.
For updates on her books, her sexy, sassy, smart neurotic writer's life blog, and for a schedule of her appearances and Muse Therapy Sessions, visit her website http://www.DDScott.com .
9 comments:
I'm superfab thrilled to be your guest today, Monika!!!
And no...I do NOT count as one of the first five commenters who get treated to a Free Kindle Copy of BOOTSCOOTIN' BLAHNIKS. LOL!
Although, I do treat myself often...a huge 'ole part of Muse Therapy and defeating Evil Editor Turds the World Over!!! LOL!
Cheers to y'all! I look forward to chatting with u today!!!
D.D., thanks for sharing your Evil Editor Turd event with us. And your success is your rightful revenge. I for one have always thought ONE editor to determine readers' wishes was forever faulty. Plus, I just read a fantastic YA paranormal and I am neither YA nor paranormal (well, . . .). Anyway, I'm loving the WG2E daily updates. Being one who doesn't like to sign my name within the box at the checkout lanes, I'm with you, girl. Indie publishing gives me cover veto, title declaration, fast-as-I-can-gin-them-out publication dates and daily satisfaction as I check for sales--even on those days where there aren't any. Like you, I hope my sales increase over time and THAT's another thing Indie publishing grants us. Time. Thanks again, D.D. And Monika for being such a sassy host!
Denise
U Go Girl, Denise!!!
Keep on LIVIN' THE DREAM...YOUR DREAM.
And never let some Evil Editor Turd stomp you down into the reject dust!!!
Luuuvvv your "fast-as-I-can-gin-them-out" productivity! Cheers to that!!!
Welcome to my blog Denise! I am so happy that you are living the dream! D.D. is such an inspiration and cheer leader. I have learned so much from her too! The Author Community is so supportive -- it would be nice if the publishing community was too! Maybe we can teach them a lesson! ;P
That's it, Monika. "Supportive." Authors as a group are very generous, giving, sharing. It's a shock to encounter the wannabe dream-killers, and they can masquerade as family too! D.D., you are a survivor and a successful 1000-plus-sold Amazon member! Many congrats . . .
Denise
Aw-shucks, Monika and Denise!
Y'all are makin' me big-time blush!!!
And you sooo said it too, Denise...wannabe dream killers do come in the form of family members too!!!
We talk a bunch about this in my Muse Therapy Online Class Community...I like to use the terms I learned from the superfab Julia Cameron of THE ARTIST'S WAY.
She calls 'em "wet blankets" and "crazymakers"...so, in Muse Therapy, we look for all the "fluffy, heated towels" to keep you chuggin' up those mountains, over the tops, then onto the next big butt hill!!!
Cheers!!!
And make sure you Facebook or Twitter direct message me or email me at ddscott(at)ddscott(dot)com, Denise, so I can send you your Free Kindle Gift Copy of BOOTSCOOTIN' BLAHNIKS!
Happy Reading!!!
OOOH, thanks! Looking forward to reading about our hunky, tractor-driving, tomato-growing, bootscooting hero--ha!
Denise
Thanks sooo very much, Monika, for hostin' me here at your fantabulous A Little Bit of Monika!
I had a huge 'ole ball continuing to purge my Evil Editor Turd experience!!!
I can't wait to carry-on our conversations on all my cyber homes!
See y'all soon!!!
Thanks again for visiting us D.D.!!! I am happy to host you any time you want!
The biggest Dream killers are often the people that you would think be your biggest supporters -- or used to be! I have a friend who keeps saying that E-publishing is "Vanity press" and not "real" publishing. Are people buying and reading your books and following you? Then what is the difference? I don't need a NYC publisher telling me that I'm "not her type" when there are readers that really enjoy the tyoe of things I write...I could go on & on!
Post a Comment