LaConnie Taylor-Jones

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TIME TO WRITE?

I absolutely have a special time to write. It’s when the duties of mother, maid, cook, chauffer, doctor, business owner and referrer have ended. It’s when I stumble down the stairs, groping in semi-darkness for my best friend, the coffeepot. It’s when there’s graveyard silence in my house.

The illuminated numbers on the clock indicate one in the morning.

It’s the right time for me to write.

Until next time – stay well and be blessed!

HOW CAN I GET MY BOOK PUBLISHED?

The first tip I’d give an aspiring author is to prepare. Preparation can be accomplished in a variety of ways such as: reading books from authors published in the genre you want to writing in, taking courses or workshops, entering contests, and if possible, speaking with published authors in your targeted genre. Once you have a workable draft of your manuscript, join a critique group and above all, accept constructive feedback. All of these things will help in the end so that you provide a quality product for agents and editors to review.

A couple of books I’d highly encourage aspiring authors to purchase are: Building Better Plots by Robert Kernen and Writing Novels that Sells by Jack Bickham.

See you on the New York Times Bestsellers List!!

Until next time – stay well and be blessed!

. . . the world’s first novel was written by a woman!

In the year 1007, a Japanese noble woman named Murasaki Shikibu wrote the world’s first full novel entitled, The Tale of Genji. This is the story of a prince looking for love and wisdom. In its English translation it covers 54 chapters over 1000 pages of text.

In the spring of 2003, I accepted a dare from my late husband to write a romance novel. I soon discovered the challenge was easier said than done. Before then, I knew the romance industry from a reader’s perspective. If I was to be successful at this venture, I needed to understand the industry from a writer’s perspective and research was the only way to do it. For the next three months, I probed every source I could and the acronym RWA popped up over and over and over.

Curious to know more, I dug a little deeper and discovered that an impressive African-American influence had been woven into the fiber of RWA from the beginning. Since 1981, this association has advanced the professional interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy. However, the existence of an organization with over 10,000 members today would not have been possible without the vision and of its Founder, Vivian Stephens.

As the editor for Harlequin, Dell (Candlelight Romances) and Bantam, Ms. Stephens launched the careers of authors such as Sandra Brown and Jayne Ann Krentz, but didn’t stop there. Recognizing the importance of getting African-American romance published, Ms. Stephens established Women Writers of Color with the goal of assisting African-Americans who wrote commercial fiction with people of color as the major characters and guiding them to ultimate publication.

Multi-published author, Shirley Hailstock walked through the doors opened twenty-years earlier as the first African-American board member for RWA. In 2002 she became the first African-American president of the largest genre writer’s organization in the world.

The year 2010 ushered in another milestone for RWA. My author colleague and friend, Michelle Monkou was elected President. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to attend the convention in Orlando when Michelle assumed the reins. Congratulations, Michelle!

Thank you is such a simplistic phrase, but it’s the only one I can find to express my heartfelt gratitude for the courage, wisdom and leadership these three pioneers have given to the largest consumer market that’s 1.37 billion dollars strong.

Until next time – stay well and be blessed!