C.J. Miller

I am an organic writer. On writing loops, some call it being a "panster." This means while I have a basic outline for my book (in my mind), sketches of my characters (on paper), and some idea about the beginning and end, most of the text between the first chapter and the last are formed as I write. This means I do a lot of revising, rewriting, and layering. I was given the opportunity to submit books to Harlequin Romantic Suspense on proposal. That is, I don't need to submit the full manuscript, synopsis, and query. I provide the first 50 pages and synopsis and HRS may purchase the book based on that. On the plus side, if the book isn't what they are looking for, I haven't spent the time writing 70,000 words. If the editor asks for revisions to the plot, I have a chance to write the story closer to what they'd like the first time and not rewrite it. In the long run, this should save me time. Writing on proposal was a challenge. I wrote the first hundre...

I have an amazing friend who is also a writer. As yet unpublished, I suspect from the quality of her work and the feedback she's received from editors and agents that it's a temporary situation. One of the things that makes her so amazing is that in spite of life's occasional medical problems, day job work concerns, and here-and-there family hiccups, she still writes. And she still writes great books. She writes in the car, she writes in a notebook, she writes, writes, writes. I won't out her identity on this blog. I have a feeling she would be embarrassed by all this praise, but she's absolutely a wonderful person to have in my life. What spurred this post? After all, I've known this person for many years. This week, after several back-and-forths with a publishing company over several months, she was given a rather... unprofessional... response from them. Details not important, her reaction was to say that the back-and-forth made the manuscript better a...

How I format my manuscripts for Harlequin Romantic Suspense in MS Word: 1. Margins: one inch on all four sides 2. Line spacing: double 3. Indentation: Special - first line, each paragraph starts indented 4. Under Paragraph, check the box for "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style." 5. Font: Times New Roman 6. Font size: 12 7. Word count (as of 2/2013): between 70-75,000. This comes out to around 250 typed pages. 8. Header: Last Name / Title on the left, page number on the right. 9. Chapters: type the word chapter and the number centered on the page. No extra carriage return between the last paragraph of the previous chapter and the first paragraph of the current chapter. 10. Scene breaks: use # between scenes. No extra carriage return between the last paragraph of the previous scene and the first paragraph of the current scene. 11. Sentences: one space between sentences How I format my synopsis in Microsoft Word: 1. Margins: one inch on all ...

Since receiving a Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas, which I love and have been enjoying so much more than I thought I would, I am much crankier about e-book prices. I get irritated when I see a paperback version of a book (purchased new) is more expensive than the e-book. I have found I prefer to buy the e-book (thanks to my ever-growing family of readers, shelf space is at a premium around here) and when deciding between two books, I will choose the book I can get for the Kindle less expensively. I cannot be the only reader who feels this way. It makes me worry when I see my e-books listed at the same price or higher than the paperback version. I don't set the prices and I have no say in how my books are priced. But I think competitively pricing Harlequin e-book could help drive sales. FWIW.

- I had never heard of the RITA s or RWA - I didn't read book reviews - I didn't check agent or editor blogs - I didn't have a twitter account - I didn't "friend" authors on Facebook - I didn't use Goodreads - I didn't pay attention to banner ads for books on websites - I didn't write reviews for books online (I am still leery of writing reviews or rating romance novels.) * I was/am a BIG romance reader, sometimes reading a book a day. Since becoming a parent, the number of books I read has decreased. How I found new authors: - Amazon.com's recommendations based on my buying history - my local library's "new books" section and librarian referrals section (a librarian is a writer's best friend!) - word of mouth - cover quotes by an author I love recommending the book... "Oh, so-and-so read this and loved it? Awesome!" - Some amount of random selection based on title and cover art (I rarely read the bac...

I received my box of RITA books last week. To my delight, they are all books in romance subgenres I've read and have enjoyed. I have six books to judge over the next couple of months, which is totally reasonable. I've already started one and it's by an author I've never read. It's a great way to discover new authors. While reading and judging the books is a job I take seriously, I am trying not to overthink the scores. I've read hundreds, of not thousands, of romance novels over my lifetime. I know what I like and while it's subjective to give a score, I can give a fair and honest rating. I can't wait to find out the winners. Maybe it will be one of the books in my stack!

If you've read Hiding His Witness, you know Reilly has two equally amazing brothers. Brady's book will be published in the fall of 2013 (it seems like a long wait, doesn't it?). The 3rd brother, Harris, will have his book published at the end of 2013 or early 2014. The most fun news from my editor was that HRS offered my last contract as a two book contract! I'll start work on that book soon after I get my thoughts organized.