Let's connect

Hello World (has anyone heard Sal Masakela song for yo gabba gabba?)

One of the places I love to hang out besides your blogs is eHarlequin and we have different forums where we the writers and the authors can connect, ask questions and basically be there for each other.
So in an effort to get to know each other better(think of this as speed dating), leave a comment and tell me about yourselves. The essence of today's exercise for me and any other interested parties is to network with my followers, I'm not just interested in gaining followership, I want to have a meaningful connection with those I already have; I'll go first.

Hi, my name is Joanna
I write Contemporary Romance and I'm toying with chic lit
I took my brave 1st step and submitted to the harlequin med. romance fast track
I have a requested partial with an editor as a result
I have 3 other works in the pipeline for edits and
I have wanderlust.

That wasn't so bad was it?, its your tun now.
In other news, our interrogation room with Author/Editor Clarissa Yip was a huge success. To win a copy of her book the comments section will be left open till Friday when 2 lucky winners will be chosen.
The harlequin fast-track opportunity for "So You Think You Can Write" closes December 15th, you will get feedback by Jan 31st in the latest.

I swear I went in

If I can buy one wardrobe space in this richman's playground I woun't have to pay taxes again. The first commercial fiction I read was set in Monaco - The tax exile

I went back to Monaco last month, only to find out the interesting art only showed up in the summer

A writer's elation

if people like Bono kept quiet about their charitable works they will not be able to get awareness for their cause so am wagging my finger at you Brian Johnson

Okay so I sent off a manuscript to the Harlequin medical Fast track and almost died from high blood pressure while waiting, other people I knew who had submitted got their response in about 2 days imagine my dismay when I had to wait 20 days for mine.
20 days in which I doubted if i sent the manuscript off in the 1st place, I wondered if my bad writing had sent the editor to the hospital and all other stuff.
Now dont get me wrong  Editors have a lot to handle and i'm not complaining about having to wait cos this set of editors were rockstars for giving us this opportunity - the average wait time to hear back from an editor or agent is usually 3 months.

So anyways I got the email from them yesterday, they liked my work especially my Hero they gave me some really helpful feedback and want to see three more chapters. As we speak I am walking on air this is a huge milestone for an aspiring writer and I plan to give it all I've got. I will be bouncing my ideas off of you every once in a while so lets take this journey together (I should shut up now before I start spouting Eminem's lyrics).
Have a lovely day y'all

Ambidextrous Dynamite

yes I made the title ambidextrous dynamite bcos Taio Cruz's dynamite is playing on the tv.

So I have sent off two manuscripts one for fast track I should get "the news" this week and another I should hear back in 3 months - frankly I hope it's sooner and preferably good news on both ends.
But yeah about my ambidexterity I wrote till 4 a.m. one night till my thumb went from hurting to numb then back to hurting, luckily the next day I could use my other hand to do my regular stuff like open cans feed a regressing toddler, anyways this got me to thinking, am I the only writer out there that still uses pen and paper? seriously I have written at least 2 major theses and several papers for school and they always go on paper 1st which is seriously time wasting for me.

On the plus side though I find that transferring from paper to laptop (maybe I should get me an IPad) allows me to edit my work and even expand on or delete ideas I had while trying not to sleep.
Am I just technologically backward? am really interested in finding out

Ideas of where to publish a novella

I wrote my first book the year I turned 13 - in my head. In all of my youthful naivety I presumed transferring it to paper would be extremely easy after all anyone who can daydream for hours on end is practically writing a mental book right? wrong.
My first novella obviously unpublished and almost unsalvageable came up to just 7500 words and this took me months to write, talk about eating humble pie.
to make things worse I got one rejection and went into hiding, its been 3years since I got that polite rejection and I have not sent a query off since then but I am officially back in the game now with words in the 20,000 range.
I'm proud to say 3 manuscripts, 1 query letter and 1.5 synopses are ready, the next stop is finding a publishing house, I understand most agents will not touch anything less than 50,000 words, so I have decided Samhain and Carina Press are it.
wish me luck