The Business behind Romance Writing

   The writer-in-residence, Deborah Cooke, a best selling fantasy romance author, invited two panels for the event on the “Business behind Romance Writing”. These two guests sat before a microphone on either side of a long table at the front of the auditorium (I felt like I was at a press conference! It was so exciting!). The lady on the left was Brenda Chin, the senior editor of Harlequin (Blaze). The lady on the right was agent Amy Moore-Benson who sold manuscripts to major publishing companies and had formerly worked for Mira Books for twelve years.

One of the questions Deborah opened the conference up with was whether there were any “trends” in romance novels these days. Brenda replied that the role of the hero since 9/11 had change significantly. The trend was now ordinary men who were heroes, like firefighters and cops. A hero any woman might find in their ordinary lives and have their own (as Brenda put it) “Sexily-ever-after”.

What is it that agents look for in novels? Amy’s answer was that she was looking for “freshness” in the voice of a novel. The confidence in the writing and characterization needs to shine in order for her to take a work on. Another thing I learned from her has helped me a lot in dealing with formal rejection letters: She mentioned that she sometimes receives 20 submissions in 2 minutes! She only asks to see 10% of the query letters she receives. She only takes on 24 clients, never more.

(Intermission: At the moment there is a shortage of books being published for the ‘Love Inspired’ imprint of Harlequin. So for anyone writing in this genre you would do well to submit your work there! It’s not impossible to get contracted without an agent. Brenda mentioned having taken on several first time writers.)

When I mustered enough courage to speak (after which I kept raising my hand hahaha) I brought up my issue with being unable to start another project after spilling and twisting every drop of me into ‘The Runaway Courtesan’ (the historical romance I’m querying for) and thus cannot seem to start a new project. The answer I received somewhat saddened me. Writing is a business, especially romance writing, for in order to establish yourself you need to publish at least one book per year (unless the book is really, really, superbly good, then people will wait a bit longer). The editor mentioned that when there was a hole in the schedule at Harlequin, there was a writer (whose name I didn’t catch) who agreed to write a book to fill in that space. So in the matter of three weeks she completed a novel and it ended up becoming one of her best sellers. To become an established writer, I learned, requires a lot of discipline. Deborah added that we should (I’m paraphrasing here): just WRITE…even though it’s total crap…and leaves us having to revise the story for the next two years. Everyone broke out laughing here.

What turns off publishers? Brenda replied that it was: Not knowing your target audience and a first chapter that does not sing. Amy’s response was: Writing that doesn’t seem natural, which is an issue among many romance writers as they sometimes try so hard to write a romance that their writing ends up with a stilted falseness.

There was the grumbling me from days ago complaining about agents and editors. My impression of them hadn’t been too pretty. But the conference ended on an eye-opening (or rather, a heart-opening) note. Deborah said: “We forget that agents and editors work long drawn hours from morning till night to get a book out without ever seeing the reward. We need to remember that they love books as much as we writers do.”

Agents and editors, I salute you.

I’m going to close this post with a question I’ve been wondering all day. Deborah Foong, a romance writer I sat and talked with for a while, mentioned how romance books were not respected among the critics. Let’s say you (writers or publishers or agents of romance) were being interviewed, how would you defend romance novels?

 

P.S. Don’t forget to check out our blog LET THE WORDS FLOW

Guest Blogger: So You Want To Publish Your Novel?

You have pitched your book to every editor, agent, publishing house, sister’s brother’s uncle’s cousin who is in publishing, and your pet goldfish, but still no bite? Or maybe you’ve had a few nibbles, rewritten your book until you’ve developed arthritis, and bent over backwards to make the publishers happy, but they still can’t sign you because they just can’t figure out how to “market” you?

Well, join the millions of writers out there who have similar stories. The publishing world is broken. We have known this for quite some time, but we still attempt to please those we have always thought of as the all and powerful gods of literature- the big dinosaurs of the publishing world. The truth is, they are not the ones we need to win over anymore. The ones we really need to pitch to are the readers, the consumers, who will actually shell out the cash to purchase our carefully crafted words on paper.

How do you do it? Should you self-publish? Should you give it away free? Should you give up?

Nowadays there are so many avenues to go down, you don’t have to choose just one. We as authors are able to reach billions of people in all different countries, with all different lifestyles, who like all kinds of fiction with the click of a mouse. If you can find the right venue, you can build a fan base without having a published book. Our world now is all about finding the “next new thing”. If you can market yourself to be that “thing” that everyone is looking for, you will be on the right track.

Get a blank notebook and start brainstorming. Ask yourself:

Who reads books like mine?
Where do they frequent?
What will they think makes my book exciting or different?

Once you have an idea of who might like your work and where you can reach them, build yourself a business plan. Yes, you have to think of this as a job. Make goals, dedicate time, and network just like you do for a job. The business plan doesn’t have to be a 30 page report with graphs and boring details. It can simple be:

“I am going to start a fan base by marketing my work through a podcast where I read chapters and they can listen for free. Then I will focus on college campuses and coffee shops because my book is a love story that takes place on a college coffee shop.”

Next, list how you expect to do that, for example:

“I will post a podcasted chapter of my book once a week. Then, I will market it by contacting other romance novel websites to trade links, swap promos with other podcasters and try to get on as many romance talk shows, podcasts, talk radio shows as possible. Then I will put down flyers at my local coffee shop.”

Once your idea is in place, set it in motion. Make sure you have the website complete before you begin pitching it. Contact everyone you know as well as any authors you have networked with to let them know what you are doing and ask them to pass the info on to their friends. It is all about word of mouth. Join all the social networks: Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc… and start making and adding friends.

Once you start getting fans, keep them. Start a mailing list or a group on Facebook that will alert all those interested with every “new thing” you put out there. You have to remind them and have new content on a regular basis. Weekly is best.

After you have built a good fan base, say 1000-4000 fans (this is easier than it sounds), you are ready to publish in print. Perhaps by then you will have caught those “big fish” publishing houses, or perhaps you will be ready to self-publish. One thing is for certain, you will have learned if you truly like the business of writing or if you are happy just writing for yourself.

For those of you still interested, I will give you a quick run down of my writing business plan.

Night’s Knights Simple Business Plan
“Podcast the book, build fan base, publish book, and take over the world.”
A bit ambitious… but if you set your sights high, you never know what you can accomplish.
Good luck and KEEP WRITING!

~Emerian Rich

Published author of Night’s Knights

Post-Querying emotions: Tummy Butterflies Died then came back Alive

Warning: This post is very melodramatic because I am writing in my state of emotional turmoil. So please do excuse me.

I recall bragging for a while that if I should get rejected by an agent I’d accept it with a smile, simply glad that I took this initiative.

I have never been more wrong.

There is so much emotion put into the process of Preparing-To-Query, then sending out the query, that I now know why some writers break down when being rejected.

I went to campus to pick up my History essay and seeing that I did very well on it I was all optimistic. I thought it was my day. So with much confidence I went to the library to start emailing my first batch of query letters. Three hours later I was still before the computer with icy cold fingers. There was a void in my chest when I sent my last letter.

For half an hour afterwards I wandered the streets. How well the weather reflected my mood. A veil of rain was falling from the gloomy blue sky. In my mind I kept thinking to myself that I probably formatted my cover letter wrong (the query letter, sample chapters, and synopsis). But more than this, I was disturbed by the newness of the stage I had stepped into. I’ve been in the writing-and-revising phase for so long that to move on from this comfort zone is unsettling.

When I wrote the Pre-Querying post I was so certain that what I wrote in this instalment would be brimming with triumph.

But no.

Needing to settle my overly sensitive nerves, I stepped into a coffee shop to get a drink. I sat down and stared at my Chai Latte (my new obsession thanks to Rowenna). I wanted to curl into a ball. The reality of publishing had finally struck me. By querying it meant I wanted an agent to expose my manuscript to the world. Expose my heart. How would the world accept it? Would they love it? Would the hate it? Or even worse—would they not even notice it? I was filled with so much self-doubt. I came to the point where I asked myself if publishing was worth all the effort.    

 Something inside me, in a quiet voice, answered: Yes.

After that I put all considerations of putting an end to my aspirations aside. Silly goose, I called myself, you need to grow up, you need to move on, you need to be strong. Embrace the challenge.

Ah. Now that I’ve put my feelings down into words I feel MUCH better. Yes, writing is my therapy. Now I feel light enough to go prancing about once more. 

Nothing will deter me from Let[ting] The Words Flow!

Pre-Querying emotions: Butterflies in my tummy

OH MY GOD!!!!

I know, this is not the most professional way to start a post, but…OH MY GOD!!!

I am so exhilarated right now I think I’m going to cry. Yesterday Sarah Maas emailed me back the critique of my revised synopsis. She managed to compress the two pages into one page, as it should be. Then she also discussed my synopsis over with Alexander Shostak, who gave her input on how to improve the synopsis. Sarah afterwards sent me the revised, sparkling draft. I was, and am again, on the verge of tears when I think of how dedicated they are in helping me. I am so grateful to them and everyone else on Let the Words Flow. Now that I have my query and synopsis complete and polished I am so prepared for this Thursday! Alexandra advised me to send up to 10 queries rather than mass querying 40 letters. “That way” she writes “if by some horrible twist of fate you get more rejections that you do requests….you can re-examine your query/synopsis/first pages…” A very good advice indeed! My next blog entry will be titled “Post-Querying:______” and I’ll fill in the blank with whatever I was feeling.

Another event that topped my day was this: I printed out my manuscript and slipped it into an envelope for my sister to give to my former high school Writer’s Craft teacher. When the story of how my teacher reacted was accounted to me, I was all smiles, and nearly fainted from joy.

The rest of my life outside of writing, however, lacks lustre. I’m struggling with my two university courses that I had to take due to distribution requirements (*cough* sociology and geography *clears throat*). Struggling, as in, not studying, but being busy thinking about how I have so much to do to prepare for the exams. My European History and English Lit are going well though. I’m working on two massive essays right now for these classes. Though it is stressing at times I am still enjoying myself. To study, I go to Woodsworth college, where there is this narrow hall lined with desks where the lighting is dim with Second Cup nearby. I order random drinks (one day it was coffee, then Gingerbread latte, then London Fog, then Café Latte, and tomorrow it’s going to be hot Apples cider) and type away at my essay. Speaking of essays, I remember being scolded once by my history teacher when she was handing my paper back: “June, you were supposed to write an ACADEMIC report, not a NARRATIVE!” So yes, I must be academic, must repress my creativity and my tendency to ramble on with flowery sentences…

OH! One exciting event that will occur outside of my writing life is that I’ll be going to THE SOUND OF MUSIC musical this Friday! I am so hyped up right now.  Then the following Saturday I have no work because I booked the day off to study! I would much rather study than work.

The querying, the essays-going-well, the performance I am to attend—I haven’t been this happy in so long! I hope my happiness is contagious and will leap out of this page and affect you guys too!

NOTICE: To Romance Writers in Toronto

I’m thinking about making a Romance Writers Association (like the RWA in the state) because I don’t know of any here in Toronto. This can be a group for romance writers. We can select a romance novel each month and study how this author got her novel up to the New York Times Bestselling list. We’ll also share our manuscripts and try to prepare it for publication. It’ll be an intimate environment where we can feel comfortable about being young, unpublished, but ambitious writers. It can maybe be a once a week thing where we meet at some…cozy…random coffee shop

A friend and I are also planning to open a literary book/writing club to those outside of the romance genre.

If anyone is interested, just leave a comment down below!

EDIT: Ok, so there IS an RWA chapter here in Toronto. Excuse my ignorance.

Ode to Writing!

 I really have to update more often! University life is overwhelming …But, as Mr. Darcy in the ’95 adaptation says, “I will overcome this!”

1.
I must share with everyone the strangest incident that occurred last week. I was walking through campus, observing the colorful array of soggy leaves strewn across the damp sidewalk, then at the gothic 19^th century architecture of our university (I love how UofT makes me feel like I’m at Hogwarts), but when I looked forward I saw someone I did not know, yet felt I should know. She had been on the phone, but came to a stumbling halt, her eyes fixed on me.

“June?” she asked, her voice hesitant.

I just stared. As the seconds passed by, this is all that went through my head: Oh….my…gosh. Oh my gosh. OH MY GOSH!!!

It turns out that she was Custos Morum on Fictionpress, my reader of two (ish?) years. We both recognized each other thanks to Facebook. But how coincidental IS this?! I knew we went to the same university. But our university is the size of a city. That we should walk into each other is… !!!! (for the lack of a better word). I told my LTWF blogger team about this and they shared stories about how they met up with their readers. Though we differed in how we met our readers, one thing is the same, which is: It is SO GREAT to meet, face to face, someone who appreciates your work.

2.
This Friday I met up with Kerrie. She’s the person I sat randomly next to on my second-ish day at my English Lit lecture. We began to talk about books and discovered that we both preferred the classics to contemporary literature and that we were both interested in the publishing industry and THEN that we were both novel writers! So when we lounged at a coffee shop, both of us sipping on our hot drinks, we talked on and on about writing. It’s always so nice meeting someone with the same aspirations as myself. Now we’re planning on making a literary/writing group with a more intimate environment than the one at school. We’re going for a Bloomsbury kind of group. The thought of recreating such a group is so very, very appealing *dreamy sigh*. We’re going to meet up another week to plan this out. Then we need to start recruiting members.

3.
The query letter is FINISHED (got the thumbs up from both Sarah and Alexandra). The synopsis is 40% complete. Sarah J. Maas returned her review of my synopsis rewrite and gave me her stamp of approval–for the general structure of it, that is. There is still a lot to fix and phrases to amp. But I’m getting there! Eeeeh so excited. As I wrote on my Facebook display name this week (paraphrasing):

I CANNOT wait to start querying. Even if I get rejected, I’ll still be excited, saying something like this: YAY an agent WROTE back to ME!

Is anyone else in their querying stage? How did you feel and deal with rejection? Please help me prepare myself…*nervous laughter* As optimistic as I might sound now, I think it’s because the reality of what I’m about to do, has not yet registered in my mind.

BIG NEWS

Fictionpress authors breaking into the publishing industry
…One book at a time

A few of us former FictionPress authors have launched a blog to reach out to Fictionpress readers, and provide resources and information for FictionPress writers also seeking to move into the World of Publishing (I’m paraphrasing the mission statement for our site here). The contributors are writers who have made (or are making) the leap to professional publication like myself, Mandy Hubbard (published author of Prada & Prejudice), Sarah J. Maas (author of Queen of Glass), Poohba (author of Thorn of the Kingdom), Renee Carter (author of His Eyes), Alexandra Shostak (author of Phantom Beauty), Rachel Simon (an awsome FP-BETA), and Savannah (author of Antebellum). This is a community where we can finally keep track of all the FictionPress writers on their progress to publication! If you want to also become a contributor send in your application to the email provided in the CONTACT PAGE of our blog.

Cheers–

J.

Update! (For the lack of a better title)

I would like to begin this post by congratulating Priscilla Shay for completing Willful Wisdom! After two long years she has finally finished this intriguing story of passion, murder, mystery, and spies! I am so happy for her, especially as she is a fellow Historical Romance writer. Now she will start revising this work so she might publish it one day. To keep track of her progress you should check out her blog here.

As for my progress, S.J.Maas and I have finally reached a consensus that my query letter is ready to send out, but just in case, she recommended that I send a copy to Alexandra, another great query letter writer. Now we’re working on my synopsis–basically I need to sum up my 90,000 word story into two pages. I sent Sarah a draft but she asked for a rewrite. And rightly so! I had no idea what I was writing until I read her critiques. She suggested this:

“….make it more about the plot, and less about the characters. Right now, I have no idea what happens in the story. It might help to make an outline of the plot arc of the story, bulletpointing all the key events, and then go in and write the synopsis again.”

I’ve rewritten the synopsis but plan to hang onto it for a few more days and see if I can make some improvements.

Countdown to Querying: 20 days

As I said before, readers, keep me accountable.

 

EMMA (2009) WATCH IT!!!!!

I CAN’T WAIT TO WATCH THIS!! OMG!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!

Querying countdown

True to my word, I have been working hard on my query letter, hoping to send it out by the deadline I’ve set for myself. November 20. I have a feeling I’m really close to my final draft. S.J.Maas (check out her interview here), an agented writer, has been of massive help to me. I thought the original draft of my query letter was pretty decent. But oh boy was I far from it. Through her help I now have a query letter that is beyond recognition from the original draft. I love it. Each time I receive the critiqued draft from her, I am so excited to work on it, so much so that I neglect my school readings and end up staying up till the early hours of the morning revamping it (this isn’t anything to brag about, I know!–but rest assured, I’m not falling behind at school).

I have about 40 agents I want to query to. I need 50 more–It means 50 more chances of getting a request from an agent to read a partial of my work. I also need to work on a synopsis, which I am dreading. Grrrrrr.

D-Day: 24

EDIT: 30 days… not 24…

Next stage, querying!

Sorry for the lack of updates. And I’d like to apologies again to my favourite bloggers whose posts I’ve neglected for the past several weeks. If I weren’t pressed for time, I would be clicking from one blog to the next, catching up on everything. Now, I shall give you all my reasons as to why I’m so busy:

1) Thinking kept me busy. I could do little else but think of RWA’s Golden Heart contest. But after a day or two of contemplation my resolve vacillated. It’s not only the cost of entering that made me back out ($100U.S.+printing fee for the required 6 partials and 1 manuscript + delivery fee), but because of the lack of time (refer to reason 4 for more detail) AND because I thought to myself: Why don’t I just start querying to agents and see if one of them wants to take me on? I mean, if I thought TRC ready enough to enter a $100 contest, shouldn’t I just try to query instead? It’s probably as difficult to win the contest as it is to find m’self a good agent. So I’ll go in order. Query to agents, get rejected, THEN enter the contest. Or, who knows, I might get lucky. But anyways, in short, I’ve decided to start sending out query letters mid-November. Readers, keep me accountable! This is my deadline. Make me keep it! Mid-November to the beginning of December will be my deadline for querying. Ok? If I pass the deadline then….scold me. Without a deadline I’ll always put it off. I’ll always tell myself that there is time. And end up taking no initiative at all! 

2) I’ve been working on my query letter. I sent my rough draft to Everleigh. She gave me some great pointers.  S.J.Maas also offered to review it, so once I incorporate Everleigh’s edits I’ll send it over to her as well, and hopefully she’ll have time to look through it *crosses finger*. I’ve already asked so much of her and others! Oh yes, and there’s also Mandy Hubbard’s special offer to review everyone’s query letter. Seriously, without the help of these more experienced awsome writers, I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere.

3)  I also need to write out a synopsis for TRC. A few pages long, I’m going to assume. And this is also going to take me some time!

4) University is overwhelming! No wonder people warned me that those who go to University of Toronto have no life! I’m studying day in, day out. I have two midterms this week. An in-class essay. A novel to finish off. A presentation to prepare for. I’m only halfway through the biography of William Tyndale (a great book but so long). I need to finish this off and write a book review for it by late this October. Now, to some in their later university years, must think this is nothing–but for girl who just graduated from her laid back high school!–’tis madness. But I’m loving it! I love what I’m studying.

5) Oh, and of course, I’m looking for agents to query to. I have about 30 listed down. Priscilla recommended Dorchester press to me as they are taking in submissions. Hmmm but let’s say they do contract my work, I hope my book, when published, doesn’t have half-naked people on my covers. I want something sophisticated.

 And I must close this post with this one amusing but, nevertheless, brilliant example of  PUBLICIZING (“Free cookies!” my sister heard inside the subway station. She went over to get a free packet and ended up getting this):

  

 

 

40% of all paperbacks sold in North America are romances. It’s no wonder that Harlequin has enough in their budget to advertise this way.

I’ll try to search out more interesting ways publishing companies advertise their books. And if you guys find any, send me the pics so I can post ‘em up!

RWA’s Golden Heart contest–to enter, or not to enter, that is the question…

I woke up at 5am today, suddenly, deciding that I should enter my work in RWA’s Golden Heart contest. Let’s say I do win, (though there’s a slim chance at that, considering there’ll be over a thousand works to compare my work to!) then it’ll look so amazingling, superbly good on my query letter. The chances of an agent contracting my manuscript would go up by fourty percent, I bet, if I win this contest. BUT…but…but….the fee for non-members is a $100. Is it worth it, do you think? Should I go against the odds and cross my fingers? Or should I just forge my own way, try to publish a work on my university’s magazine, get some credentials that way, and query agents with a humble letter? ARGGG this is so frustrating. I’m a poor student after all who works only once a week! If only I were rich….haha. Anyway, I just wanted to get some opinions on whether or not this would be a good investment. If so, I’ll do it, only, I’ll just have to live on a tight budget for a month. Is it worth is? is the question.
 
On a lighter note, today one of my editors emailed me, writing that while she had been giving piano lessons to one of her students, the mother of this student, while waiting there for her kid, had discovered my manuscript on the kitchen table. She began to read it, became so “engrossed” in it, and asked my editor to ask me whether she could read the whole story! This email was read at 5:30am, so you can imagine why I`m fully awake right now typing this out. I really needed this email. Lately, my confidence in TRC has fallen to a low again–maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t worked on it for a while now. Ah, we are our worst critic.

Odd ways people found there way to my blog

After studying for five hours at the library, catching up on my readings, my brain was exhausted. So when I came home I didn’t want to do anything productive, so I dropped by my Blog’s Stats page and started skimming through the list of search terms people used to find my blog. I never bothered to look at them before. What I ended up finding was….interesting.

I don’t think any of my blog posts were of much help to this person. It must be really disturbing to have your relative flirting with you. But it’s not unheard of. These things happen. Hmmm Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejduce comes to mind. However, in those days, it was allowed for a cousin to marry another cousin.

 

It’s good to know that there are men out there who want to be wise, smart and dashing–though I believe these are characteristics one can’t attain overnight after having read some advices online. 

 

 I have no idea why people who typed in “boobs” in the search engine were linked to my blog. I do recall having mentioned “heaving bossoms” before….but never boobs. I swear!!!!

So, what are the strangest search terms people used to find your blog?

The child in me

I feel a subtle ache in me which I am unwilling to indulge in, unwilling to wallow in, unwilling to feel the full agony of, afraid that it’ll overwhelm me. My parents are far away, across the ocean, in the tiny country of Korea. I often wonder to myself: The next time I see them, how much older will my parents be? How much will my brother have changed? He’ll be all grown up when I see him again. The little boy I remember might be gone. So I wish I could hold them in my embrace and have time stop. To hold onto them against the race of time.

It’s at times like this when I wish we were all living in Neverland.

But life must go on and will go on. Change is inevitable. I must learn to embrace it. But oh, the past is always sweeter, like a dream.

Teaser for “The Runaway Courtesan”

Everyone voted for a romantic scene from TRC so I’ve posted one down below. Those of you who read the original draft two years ago on Fictionpress might find this bit familiar. Much has changed since the first draft but a lot of the romantic scenes I’ve kept. I just added more of said scenes.

——————————————–

Amanda went with Lucas to the carriage awaiting them. He handed her inside the vehicle and, in this process, she watched as he attempted to conceal his wound. He continued to do so even as they were seated, placing his bloody hand beneath his hat. At this sight her heart ached. She watched him in this manner for some time before she brought out his hand, flipped it over, exposing the ghastly cuts to the moonlight.

“What happened to your hand?” she asked.

He cleared his throat and muttered, “Nothing. Just a little accident.” And as if seeing that his explanation had not subdued her suspicion, he added, “I fell on my hand.”

She had witnessed everything. This had happened because of her. Yet here he was telling another story. She slipped out her handkerchief and began to dab it against his wound to clean away the blood. His hand tried to recoil in pain, but she held firmly onto it.

“It hurts,” he said in a harsh whisper.

“Don’t be such a child, my lord. It’s emasculating.”

“You’re rubbing the cloth too hard against the wound—”

“Here, I’ll wrap the handkerchief around it. Hopefully it shall help stop the blood.”

He remained silent, observing her. “I truly am well, Amanda.”

As she was wrapping his hand with the cloth, watching the dark blood seep through the fabric and soil her own fingers, she had to swallow constantly to repress the sob that continued to creep up her constricted throat. She wanted to cry, not over the way the people had treated her, but because it hurt her so much to see how low he had been brought down because of her.

“There, done,” she managed to say.

“Thank you.” He removed his hand from her grasp, crossed his legs and cast his eyes out the carriage window. Watching him restlessly tap his finger against the top of his hat, Amanda felt uneasy. Was he having second thoughts? Did he now regret stepping into the same carriage as her? Did he now feel too ashamed to even look at her? Did he—

“Are you alright?” came his voice, low and hesitant.

“Me?” She let out a short, unsteady laugh. “You should be asking yourself that. I’m not the one with that bloody wound.”

Amanda’s heart leapt as Lucas took one of her hands and threaded his fingers between hers. His thumb caressed the side of her palm, as if to assure her that he was there, that she wasn’t alone in this cold and hostile world.

——————————————–

Now I’m planning to start a new project–when inspiration strikes. Though I think I’ll still be obsessing over TRC until the day it gets published. I always find it odd, really, how devoted I am to this story. For those of you who have been following my work since the first day I began posting them up on Fictionpress will know how often I started then abandoned stories. Many of them never got past three chapters. Anyway, when a new story does come up, I’ll be sure to share it with you guys.

Related Posts:

Chapter one of “The Runaway Courtesan”