Reviews

The good news first, THRILLED TO DEATH got a really nice review from Publisher's Weekly:

"…This hard-to-put down cozy will please committed fans and attract new ones."

I have mixed feelings about reviews. The nice ones make me feel good for a couple minutes, and the bad ones stick in my memory forever. But in the end, they really are one person's opinion. We know that reviews can have a marginal affect on book sales.

The true power behind book sales is word of mouth. People love the book so much, that just like that old shampoo commercial, they tell two friends, who tell two friends…you get the idea. We know that readers will purchase a book on a personal recommendation over reviews.

A perfect illustration of that are literary novels. They often get exquisite reviews and low sales.

So back to my point about reviews: I was just discussing with a small bookstore owner. She told me that the advantage of good reviews in the big outlets like Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus and Library Journal is that they can influence book buyers for bigger chains, and the small independent bookstores, to order the books.

But what about bad reviews? Kirkus did a hilarious slice and dice on my first book DATING CAN BE MURDER. It comes with the territory, especially when you add humor and sex to a book that can invoke an adolescent reaction in some people. I usually just suck it up and move on. Not everyone is going to love or appreciate my books. I can live with that.

But what about when a review crosses the line and becomes personal as happened to Tess Gerritsen? You can read about it at her blog here. To quote part of what the reviewer said,

"…the only author I have read in 40 years who makes me want to slap her."

That crosses the line. Any newspaper or media that printed that should be ashamed of themselves and are ethically-challenged. That was a personal attack on Ms. Gerritsen, a writer whom I happen to admire for many reasons. The irony in this is that the reviewer called Ms. Gerritsen's novel "abusive garbage" and yet the reviewer is being abusive in this review. This just makes my blood boil, and it makes me cringe for Tess. I've never met her in person, but the world of publishing isn't that big and I've heard nothing but positive things about her.

She also writes excellent books.

So in the normal course of things, reviews can be a mixed bag. But reviews that go after the writer personally are clearly out of line and in my opinion, should never be tolerated.

Voice of a New Book

I haven't found my Blogging Rhythm yet…but I'm working on it. I'll get to the point of blogging consistently!

A little over a week ago, I sent my completed manuscript into my editor. I'm always really relieved and happy when I do that.

For about an hour.

Then I worry if my editor will like the book, or if my career will suddenly vanish. I worry about what revisions will be needed. And I know I have about 9 months to write my next contracted book, so I start pressuring myself to move onto writing the next book. So I sat down with my yellow tablet to do a little brainstorming.

But my brain goes all stubborn and resistant. It's still wrapped around Wes and Holly from the book I just finished and refuses to budge. That puts a knot in my stomach because I want to get started. But that's simply not how my process works. I know better than to force this, so after a couple frustrated attempts to work on plotting a new book, I faced reality.

I need time to say goodbye to Wes and Holly.

I gave it a few days, and slowly, Wes and Holly started wandering off the stage in my head. What's really interesting about that is that with the old characters fading away, new characters begin taking shape. It's really kind of amazing how it happens. The new characters are rough, they only talk in whispers that I can't quite hear yet, and they appear very transparent so that their images are hard to pin down. But they are there, and they are starting to tell me their story. Which eases the knot of worry in my stomach—the fear that I'm out of stories, ideas, characters…

That's just my process. I can't force the story, I have to give the characters time to come to me. They'll tell me their story at their own pace. Experience tells me that they will dole out pieces of their plot, in random and confusing order that will frustrate and annoy me. But if I just wait, relax, trust the process, they will eventually give me all the pieces to weave a book.

So I will wait. Starting next week, I'll be back to showing up at my computer regularly and hoping the new characters are ready to talk. And if they are stubbornly silent, I suppose I can fill the time by blogging!

Romance in the Mainstream...

Erotic romances are the Next Big Thing. But the mainstream media has just figured this out. Publishers, authors and readers have known for a while. USA Today reports that:

Plain old courtship just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. At least not with readers of romance novels.

More women want more fiction about what's going on between the sheets, book publishers say.

None of this really fazes me one way or another. I like books with hot sex and without hot sex. It all depends on the book and how the author tells the story. For instance, in a recent batch of published books I judged for a contest, for the first time ever, I gave out two perfect scores. One was a sweet story with no sex, but so poignant and tender that I had a hard time putting the book down when I was finished. The second book was a blazing hot with lots of sex that revealed the characters in such a way that they took up permanent residence in my heart. I loved both those books for different reasons.

So what does interest me about this article? It's about women, and their power to influence entertainment markets. The mainstream media is taking notice. And I find that very cool!

What about you?

The Winners!

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest for a free copy of THRILLED TO DEATH! And now...The two winners are...

PHYLLIS LAMKEN

MELISSA LAWSON

Congratulations to Melissa and Phyllis. I will get your books into the mail to you this week!

Only In Spotsylvania...

I swear I can't make this stuff up. From CNN.com

SPOTSYLVANIA, Virginia (AP) -- A Virginia sheriff said Friday he will no longer allow detectives to receive sexual services while investigating suspected prostitution.

Spotsylvania County Sheriff Howard Smith made the announcement after his officers spent $1,200 at massage parlors last month and sparked a public outcry.

Smith defended the practice as necessary to obtain a conviction but told his department he was suspending it...

So, officers in this town pay for sex, receive sex, and after a few sessions to be absolutely sure they are paying for sex, bust them.

Anyone else see a problem with this?

I first heard this while watching CNN and eating lunch. I was thinking about my book when this piece caught my attention. The sheriff defended this practice by saying (I'm paraphrasing from memory) that he doesn't use married officers...

Oh, well does that makes it less offensive, immoral or, uh, illegal?

And (paraphrasing again) that it's the exact same thing as buying dope to bust the drug dealers. NO IT'S NOT. I mean, Hello! When they buy the drugs, the officers are required to turn the drugs in as evidence, not use them for their own pleasure.

Wonder if this Sheriff will be reelected?

Murder Gets More Respect than Sex

It's true...

If you write romance, you're a target for jokes.

If you write mystery, you're a serious writer.

Don't believe me (of course you do) go read Nancy Martins blog . She does an excellent job of explaining her experience.

Wednesday Musings

Wow, I'm getting a great response to the contest! If you are a first time visitor to the blog, the contest information is below this post. Hurry and get your entry in. Thank you all for stopping by my new blog!

So while I'm finishing up my manuscript, I'm starting to think about my next book. To do that, I tend to absorb everything around me, including TV commercials. It's totally the opposite of what I do while I'm deep in the middle of writing a book, which is shut out the world.

Anyway, one of the things I'm noticing in commercials is the big "push" for Dr. Phil's prime time special with Paula Abdul. I think it's tonight. What caught my attention is "Paula breaks down in tears with Dr. Phil." That's the hook--watch a famous person cry in misery.

That doesn't really hook me. Am I missing something here?

Hmm, maybe I need to get deep into another book so I can tune this stuff out.

I hope everyone had a terrific Valentine's Day yesterday!

CONTEST!

In honor of my new blog, I'm going to give away two copies of THRILLED TO DEATH. Please email me at Jenapodaca@aol.com with "Attic Contest" in the subject line, and your name, email and mailing address in the body of the email. I'm going to hold the contest open through Friday, February 17th 2006. I'll announce the winner on Monday February 20th right here!

Good luck!

The Soul Factor

I've been reading over my manuscript, getting ready to do last minute rewrites and editing. I'm starting to see more emotion coming out in my work.

More soul.

I was thinking about this while at the gym last night. I wrote up my story idea, sent it to my editor and she bought it. I wrote the first three chapters and they looked fine. They followed the story idea, they moved the plot along, the developed the character but...

No soul.

All the technical points were there, but the story was still flat. Soul is a quality that's hard to describe. I think it's the core emotion in a book that makes the reader care about the character and brings them off the page and into the reader's heart. It's being ruthless enough to force your character to admit their mistakes, to face their deepest needs, and to rise up to meet their darkest fears. And at the same time, it's showing their other side, the humor, compassion and ability to love another flawed human being. It's giving your character the tools to leap off the page and grow. But finding those tools is hard work.

So I ripped apart the entire book. I redid the characters back stories. I made them MORE human with flaws and mistakes and I was ruthless (I think) in exposing both their strengths and weakness.

And as I'm reading over this book, I can see the improvement.

Of course, I still worry the book isn't good enough…but that's never going to change!

Learning Curve

I'm learning to code in links and my bookcover onto my sidebar! It took me two days (okay SLOW learning curve) but I did it!

I want to thank Natalie for helping me get this blog "live" on my server.

I decided to launch into blogging now because I just finished a draft of my book, and I'm leaving it alone for a few days before I go back to tweak and polish for my editor. Leaving the book alone is really hard for me to do, which means I start looking for other ways to entertain myself, like creating a blog :-)

Just a quick plug, the fifth Samantha Shaw Mystery, THILLED TO DEATH should be on the bookshelves now. Romantic Tims said,

"(...) A solid mystery, sizzling sexual tension and abundant, well-utilized comic relief make the latest in Apodaca's Samantha Shaw series a winning effort."

I have to tell you I'm still not used to reading about myself as "Apodaca." Even after a few years it still feels weird.

Also Wendy Crutcher did a drive by review on her blog here where she talks about Samantha Shaw vs. Stephanie Plum.

Test Post

Since Natalie Collins made me do this, here I am. Although she wanted me to name my blog HotCopsinJen's Attic...

Well I've never actually been up in my attic, but I'm pretty sure I'd know if there were hot cops in there! And if there were, that would be enough to get me up there.

Natalie and I then shortened the title to Jens Attic, which means you all get an up close and personal view of what goes on in my attic, or uh, head :-)