C.J. Miller

I'm guest blogging today on Riding With the Top Down about The Call and the holiday season. Stop by and tell us your favorite holiday traditions!

I submitted my revised manuscript to Harlequin and now I wait to hear back if my revisions hit the mark. *fingers crossed* I will keep posting each step along the way to my book release so other soon-to-be published writers will know what to expect. I also received my first check as an author, so I am now a professional writer. I'm hard at work on my next novel, a story about one of the secondary characters in my first novel.

I've posted about this previously, but I submitted Double Witness (the book Harlequin bought) to the MUSETRACKS Agent Shop last year. My book received a partial request from an agent which didn't result in landing said agent, but it was a great experience. If you're looking for an agent/ fun pitching practice, check it out here ! And, to note, if you pitch and aren't picked, consider submitting via the slush pile. What isn't right for one agent doesn't mean not right for another agent / editor. Let me know how it goes!

I'm hard at work on revisions for Double Witness. Harlequin offered me a contract on the book, but revisions are part of the process! I'm glad for the suggestions (admittedly, it would be awesome to have a perfect book out of the gate, but I'm not perfect and neither is my writing). As part of the revisions, I have to read the entire book in one day. It's the only way all the pieces of the story stay in my head in a way that I can be analytical and see inconsistencies. If I write something else / sleep / have long breaks between sections, I forget some of the details of the story and I can't be sure it reads smoothly start to finish. I managed to carve out time yesterday to do an all-in-one sitting read through. Overall, I'm happy with the revisions I've completed. Writers - how do you handle revisions? What techniques have you found work best?

So You Think You Can Write starts next week! SYTYCW is Harlequin's online conference and a great place to get information about becoming a writer for Harlequin.

1. I've had to embrace social media. I've had a facebook account for years, but now I need to use it. And post tweets. And learn what a tweet IS. 2. I've been asked two main questions about my book: what's it about? (this is where my elevator pitch prep comes in) and are there love scenes? This second question is strange to me. It's a romance. There are love scenes. I get the sense they are really asking, "is the book erotic?" (it is not) and I think for non-readers of romance those two things might be synonymous: love scene & explicit descriptions (keeping this PG). 3. I am very aware of the schedule. I've written every day for years and have written hundreds of pages, millions of words. But now, I know what I am writing is for a purpose: to be published for HRS by a certain time. I haven't figured out if I have the time to write a random story on a whim, just for fun. I have a feeling I will have to make time since that's part of the ...