My brother finished my book trailer tonight. I think it’s awesome! Check it out and let me know what you think.

If you’re a Christian, then today was a special holiday. Easter. So, I’d like to take this time and space to wish everyone a Happy Easter. And for those who do not celebrate Easter, I’d like to wish you Happy Spring!

The weather in North Carolina was beautiful this weekend so my youngest daughter (the twenty-year-old) and I spent a girls’ weekend at the beach with some friends. Daddies, husbands, and boyfriends were not allowed.

I took my lap top and a book but I didn’t get any writing done, and I barely cracked the spine on the book. But I had a wonderful time. We ate more than we should have, and I got way too much sun. I even learned something about myself as we were coming home.

I can let go and let my daughter drive on Interstate 40 without back-seat driving. But I have to put the seat back and close my eyes to do it.

Now, if only I can master letting go of some of my other control issues so I can relax and get some writing done this spring!

Self Promotion—Not My Strong Suit.

Writing is a difficult job, perhaps because I don’t yet see it as a job. It’s something I’ve done in my spare time for thirteen years, but I don’t get a paycheck or performance evaluations, so it’s hard for me to judge the value of my work. I also find it uncomfortable talking about my writing. It took years to admit I wanted to be a writer and even longer to admit I wanted to write novels. And now that my first book is about to be published, I should be promoting it, but I’m not sure how to go about it.

By day, I’m a radiographer and a mammographer. I went to school to do what I do. I received training. I took registry exams and passed so, I feel qualified to do what I do. And at work, there are expectations. If I don’t meet them, I’m told what the problem is and what I have to do to fix it. I don’t get that with my writing. I’m more or less on my own. For now.

Since my first book doesn’t come out until May 28, there are no reviews. Yet. No royalty checks. Nothing to tell me if I did a good job or not. Only my editor and critique partners have told me I have a good story. And while I trust their judgment, I’m dying for some encouragement at this point in my career. So where do I get it?

As a previously unpublished writer, I found invaluable support and help by joining the RWA (Romance Writers of American) and my local chapter. I also found three fabulous critique partners through my local chapter. Critique partners gave me viable suggestions and encouraging feedback. I lost one critique partner when she moved away and the other critique partner became a multi-published novelist who still gives me moral support when needed.

I also attempted to enter a couple of contests early on, but I quickly learned that contests aren’t for me.

For some reason, my scores ranged from very good to horrible. Inevitably I’d end up with some bitter judge who obviously felt like a failure herself as a writer, and she’d work out her demons on my entry. With such contradicting scores and vast discrepancies in judging, I had no idea if I was on the right track or not. And with the judges’ inconsistencies and scores, I couldn’t figure out how to glean the useful bits of information from the criticism that cut me to the quick. So, I relied on my critique partners for my self-confidence and my own tenacity to move forward with my writing.

I continued going to chapter meetings and continued learning my craft while writing and submitting to agents and editors. And then one magical day, thirteen years after I started pursuing my dream, I got the call. Or the email as it happens. But now comes the hard part. Self-promotions. And I’m clueless.

Or maybe not. I obviously don’t have a problem talking. So social networking works for me. I signed up on Facebook and My Space. Though to be honest, since they changed the format on My Space, I never get on any more. I don’t understand it. I’m not real pleased with the way they keep changing Facebook either, but I at least I still understand it.

And I must admit, I feel a bit schizophrenic on Facebook. I have a Facebook page with my real name, a page with my pen name, and I have a Fan page. I didn’t plan on having a Lilly Gayle Page and a Fan page on Facebook. It just sort of happened. While trying to set up the Fan page, I set up a Lilly Gayle page and ended up with “friends.” So, I kept the regular Facebook page. It’s seems more interactive than the Fan page.

I also have a blog—-www.lillygayleromance.blogpot.com. And I’m a contributing author on http://www.twrpblackrose.blogspot.com, a blog for authors who write paranormal romances for The Wild Rose Press.

Then there’s the webpage my wonderful brother created for me. http://www.lillygayle.com. Personally, I think he did a fabulous job.

I think all these are good promotional tools. I also think book trailers are a good idea, and while I don’t have one yet, dear, sweet bro is working on my trailer as I type. After all, the clock is ticking.

Book signings are another good promotional idea I plan to pursue. As soon as I figure out how it’s done.

I’m good at talking. I can handle that part. And I did order bookmarks the other day. They look nice. But it’s the business/financial part that scares the crap out of me. I don’t know the first thing about setting up a signing or even how to approach a book store about doing one. Quite frankly, I still feel like a kid playing dress up in her mommy’s high heels. But maybe one day, I’ll sell enough books to actually feel like a real author.

Now, that would be nice.

When I was younger, I had my whole life planned out. I was going to go to college, then x-ray school, graduate, and get a job as a travel technologist. I was going to maybe do some writing and see the country. I wasn’t going to get married until I was thirty, and I certainly wasn’t going to have children before age thirty-two. And at age thirty-five, I was going to have my tubes tied.

But the only thing I got right in my planning was having my tubes tied at thirty-five.

Sometimes in life we get what we need and not what we want.

I never planned on getting married at age twenty, but then, I never planned on meeting Johnny my freshman year of college. And I didn’t meet him at school. I met him at a bar in Clarksville, Virginia,

a lakeside town less than twenty miles from where I grew up in Grassy Creek, North Carolina. Clarksville is also the hometown of Dr. Megan Harper,the heroine in my vampire romance, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, which will be released from The Wild Rose Press in May of this year.

My husband is from South Boston, Virginia, which is about twenty or so miles on the other side of Clarksville. The night we met, he followed my sisters and me home from the bar so he could see where I lived. (I’d kill my daughters if they did anything so stupid!) But Johnny followed us home and came inside to meet my mother who is also from South Boston. I knew from the moment I met Johnny that he was someone special. And that night, he asked me out for the following night.

Since it was dark when he followed me home, he asked if I could meet him in Clarksville the next night because he was afraid he couldn’t find my house again, which was way out in the boondocks. My dad agreed to take me to a convenience store in Clarksville and let him pick me up there. But when the time came and went and he didn’t show up, I was devastated. I just knew I’d been stood up by some low-life I’d met in a bar.

How could I have been so stupid? How could I let those silver blue eyes fool me?

I couldn’t look at my dad. But then, this beat up old truck pulled into the convenience store parking lot and out jumped Johnny, full of apologies. His car had broken down on the side of the road—this was before cell phones—and he had to hitchhike the rest of the way to Clarksville. I was so relieved!

He and my dad shook hands and my dad agreed to take a look at his car. So, we piled into my dad’s car and drove back up the road to where Johnny’s car had broken down.

My dad knows a lot about cars and was able to repair the busted radiator hose but the radiator needed water. Luckily, there was a creek down an embankment and a plastic milk jug in the ditch. So, I volunteered to climb down to the creek and fill the jug with water…

And I fell in…

And got wet and muddy.

But the car got fixed and I went on my first date with Johnny. And he took me to meet his folks so he could borrow his dad’s car to take me home after the date. So, I met his parents with a wet left shoe and muddy pants. But one month later, Johnny and I were going steady. And nine months later we were engaged. And nine months after that, we were married. And this June, we will celebrate our thirtieth wedding anniversary.

Thirty years has gone by fast. Like any couple, we’ve had our ups and downs, but I’ve learned a lot about love and romance. You have to do things as a family, but a couple needs date night. A couple also needs space. I have my computer and writing. My husband has his garage. But doing things together is what keeps us together. And we enjoy spending time at the beach. We fish, or ride bikes or just sit and watch the waves. As we’ve gotten older, we’ve found common interests but we don’t try to change the interests we don’t share.

Life is about compromise. And sharing. In equal measure.

I still like to plan but I’ve learned that plans are not only NOT written in stone, they are very likely written in the sand at high tide.

Everything changes….

If you can read this thank a teacher. If you can read it in English, thank a soldier.

We’ve seen this bumper stickers, but how many of us actually think about its meaning?

According to the US Department of labor, 50% of unemployed Americans are functionally illiterate. And according to the National Right to Read Foundation, 42 million adults can’t read at all while 50 million can’t read above a fourth grade reading level. Even more troubling is the fact that 20% of high school seniors will graduate functionally illiterate.

Staggering.

So, who’s to blame for the rise in illiteracy in a country filled with so many opportunities for success? Parents? Teachers? The government?

Perhaps, we can blame standardized testing.

I graduated in 1978, but I remember essay questions and writing research papers. I remember actually learning in school because teachers were allowed to educate and not just teach end of grade tests. But mostly, I remember three very special teachers who taught me to love reading and writing.

My eighth grade teacher, Miss Patricia Black, taught language arts. Once, she asked us to use our spelling words in a fictional story. The story was supposed to be about three pages long. Mine filled a spiral notebook. And my love for writing was born.

Long after the writing assignment was over, I continued to write. I filled page after page in spiral notebooks that year and later burned them in the fireplace so my sisters wouldn’t find them, read them and make fun of me. I remember my dad’s irritation when he found charred spiral rings in the ashes every time he cleaned out the fireplace.

Then in high school, Mrs. Joy B. Averette taught me the importance of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. I loved the creativity of writing, but I didn’t like proof-reading or using a dictionary. But Mrs. Averette gave two grades in class. One for creativity and one for mechanics. I usually got an “A” for creativity but a “C” for mechanics.

Mrs. Averette stayed on my case constantly, lecturing me about my sloppy writing habits and my failure to use available resources, like a dictionary. Eventually, her lectures paid off, but it took years–and the computer–for me to develop the anal habits I have today.

Then there was Mrs. Marguerite Stem. Her husband was author and poet, Thad Stem.

Besides teaching the classics, Mrs. Stem took a creative approach to literature. For Christmas, she put us in groups and as a group, had us re-write the birth story in modern slang. For another assignment, she allowed us to choose books from popular fiction so we could later discuss the categories of books and how they differed from literary writing. I chose a historical romance and my love of reading was born.

The most important thing I learned from Miss Black, Mrs. Averette, and Mrs. Stem was this: If you can read and read well, you can learn anything.

So, I thank three very special teachers that I can read. And I thank the American soldier for my ability to read it in English.

Governments might declare war, but it is the soldier who carries out the order, putting his or her life on the line to protect this great nation–a nation that has been at war for one reason or another since before it was a country.

The first documented war in 1675 was between the British colonists and the Wampanoags, the Nimpucks, and the Narragansett Indians. It lasted about a year. Then thirteen years later, our ancestors were fighting again, this time, with the French.

Even before America was America, this country has gone to war, on average, approximately every 11.26 years–sometimes fighting more than one war at a time. Between 1759 and 1761 The French and Indian War overlapped the Cherokee War. And in 1813-1814, the War of 1812 (1812-1815) overlapped the Creek War.

Sadly, the longest expanse of peacetime in this country since the first English settlement in Jamestown in 1607, was the 33 years between the Civil War and The Spanish American War. (1865-1898)The longest period of peace before then was a period between 1713 and 1744, the time between Queen Anne’s War with France and King George’s War.

Since 1898, the longest period of peace America has known was the 22 years between the “War to End all Wars” and WWII.

But it is still the American soldier who protects us from enemies, both foreign and domestic.

I know I’ve mentioned my anal retentive qualities before. There are times when I know I’m OCD. I’m practical and punctual. And on the surface, I’m organized and detail oriented. I make lists all the time. Lists I usually misplace or lose. And if you look beneath the surface, you’ll see I’m not the left brained thinker I appear to be.

My cabinets and closets are cluttered. My office is a mess, though I try to organize. Then I find myself unable to throw anything away for fear I might need it later. I’m not a hoarder, but I have stacks of research folders in stacking trays, and I’m not even sure what the folders contain because I have no system for identifying the information. I just write on the folders with a Sharpie and chunk it in the tray.

I also have stacks of note cards stuffed in drawers and ideas scribbled on Post-it-Notes. If an idea comes to me, I write it down so I won’t forget it, but I don’t stop what I’m doing or take the time to organize the information.

I’m impetuous and imaginative, which is a good thing for a writer, but it leaves my office a mess. And sometimes, it’s weeks before I get around to cleaning up the clutter left behind from a week of inspired writing—or a week of goofing off on the computer while ideas percolate in my brain. But I guess that’s the right side of my brain at work, the part responsible for creativity and imagination. It’s also the part of the brain that apparently hinders me from being overly organized and allows me to make excuses and blame neuropsychology for the mess in my office.

That creative side of me has always been disorganized, but I’m trying to improve. Before I joined my local chapter of RWA, I wrote by the seat of my pants and spent more time revising than I did writing. Now, I plot out my stories first before sitting down at the computer. I even purchased a writing program, called Write It Now that allows me to write an outline, character descriptions, an overview of each chapter before I begin writing. That way, I can see potential flaws in logic and areas of weak motivation and conflict before I get to the notorious sagging middle.

I’m hoping the new software will help as I write the sequel to OUT OF THE DARKNESS. So far, it’s shown me my original idea for the sequel isn’t going to work. Last week, I trashed the six chapters I’d written and am pretty much starting over. I have a great blurb written and I’m working on the outline before putting fingers to keyboard.

Trashing six chapters was tough, but getting to the middle of a book and realizing you have no where to go is even tougher. Had I still been writing by the seat of my pants, I would have struggled through until the end, making changes as I went and forcing things to fit, and then revising when I reached the end. And the revisions would have been extensive.

So my best advice on organization is to organize first before starting to write. As for office clutter, maybe it’s just a sign of a right-brain dominant person with a highly evolved imagination hard at work on something creative.

And what about self-promotion? Well, I suck at it. Until OUT OF THE DARKNESS
is released May 28, 2010 and I figure something else out, this is it. Blogging. And my shameless promotion of my webpage, which I will beg you to check out now.
http://www.lillygayle.com

New Year’s Eve is a special night for many of us, but this year, New Year’s Eve will be unusually special. This year, there will be a full moon. The second one this month, which makes it a blue moon.

And according to the statistics I’ve found, a blue moon on New Year’s eve only occurs once every nineteen years. There’s also going to be a partial lunar eclipse on New Year’s eve. Those of us who live in North And partial lunar eclipse occurs just once every fifteen to twenty years.

So, wow! How special is this New Year’s Eve going to be? What’s even more spectacular is that these two events are occurring on a New Year’s Eve that will be bringing to a close, the end of a decade. So, we have a Blue Moon and a partial lunar eclipse on the very night we end a decade. Is this an omen of evil? Or a sign of good things to come?

Or, do we make our own luck?

I’m a glass-half-full kind of gal. I say, we look at this as an awesome sign of good things to come in 2010. Let’s make 2010 count for something amazing, people.

Peace on Earth, Health, Happiness, and a very Happy New Year!

Lilly

I got a great early Christmas present today from my editor Lill. She sent me an email today, outlining a new release date for OUT OF THE DARKNESS! The new release date is two months sooner. I’m so excited. Instead of a July release date, OUT OF THE DARKNESS is now being released on May 28, 2010. Before the start of summer. And I can’t wait.

Here’s the info:
Digital Release Date: 2010-05-28
(Please note that this means generally by noon on release day, not at midnight.)Digital Price: 6.25

TENTATIVE Print Release Date: 2010-05-28
Print Price: 13.99

Print ISBN: 1-60154-730-7

Print ISBN 13: 9781601547309

Title: Out of the Darkness
Series Name:
Theme:
Imprint: Black
Length: Rose
Rating: Hot GLV? no
Keywo rds:
Page Count: 278
Author: Lilly Gayle,
Editor: Lil Farrell,

Blurb: Her research could cure his dark hunger if a covert government agent doesn’t get to her first.Vincent Maxwell is a vampire with a conscience searching for a cure to his dark hunger. But when a scientist looking to create vampire soldiers captures and kills a fellow vampire, Vincent seeks out Dr. Megan Harper. While researching xeroderm pigmentosum, a light sensitivity disorder, Dr.Harper discovered a link to vampirism and she could hold a key to a cure and the answers to Gerard’s death. But getting close to the beautiful scientist could endanger both their lives.When researcher Dr. Megan Harper meets Vincent Maxwell, she believes he suffers from xeroderma pigmentosum, the genetic disease that killed her sister. Sensing a deep loneliness within the handsome man, Megan offers friendship and access to her research files hoping he will offer her a position in his company. But they soon become more than friends and Megan learns the horrifying truth. She’s entered the dark and unseen world of vampires and Vincent is her only hope of survival.

I guess now I have to step up my game and finish the sequel. OMG, it’s going to be a busy new year!

Finding balance in my life has always been difficult, especially since there are some areas in which I’m extremely anal and other areas in which I’m not so attentive to detail. Over the years, I’ve learned to let go of some of my weird quirks, like insisting my towels and washcloths match before stacking them in the linen closet.

Of course, my youngest daughter doesn’t believe I’m cured of this anal retentive disorder. She says I cheated because I bought all white towels for her bathroom and all blue ones for mine. But the blue towels are not the same shade of blue, and it hardly bothers me at all.

So, why do things like mismatched towels, dirty floors, clutter, and unwashed dishes bother me, and yet, if you look under my bed or sofa, you’ll find mutant killer dust bunnies that have been there for who know how long? And let’s not discuss my closets and cabinets!

Closets, cabinets, and dust bunnies not withstanding, I don’t claim to be a great housekeeper. I sometimes leave the supper dishes over night, hoping someone else will do them. But it bothers me. And if they’re still unwashed the next morning or when I get home from work, I wash them. But I hate external clutter and mess. It’s just the internal stuff that doesn’t seem to bother me. It’s like, if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.

Freud would have a field day with that one, wouldn’t he!

So, how do I find time to work ten hours a day, four days a week at my regular job as a mammographer, try to keep a house clean, spend time with my family, and write?
It’s hard, but it’s gotten easier now that my girls are grown. When they were little, I felt as if I were depriving them of “mommy time” whenever I was at the computer.

But life has always been a balancing act for me because I’ve always worked full time and never had the luxury of being a stay at home mom. And once I decided I wanted to write, that was just one more thing dividing my time. Luckily, my husband has always been supportive and understanding. He bought my first computer.

I started out writing children’s stories in 1995. In 1997, I wrote my first full length manuscript, a medical thriller with romantic elements. It read like a radiology text book with sex in the middle. It was so horrible I destroyed every copy and not one single version exists today.

I’ve since completed several manuscripts. Some show great promise. Others do not. OUT OF THE DARKNESS is my first and thus far, only published novel. It will be released on June 18 from The Wild Rose Press.

During the week, I get up at five o’clock. I shower and dress by six so I can spend about thirty minutes on the computer before leaving for work at six thirty…that is if Facebook doesn’t suck me in and my husband doesn’t decide he wants to talk that morning.

My husband is a route salesman with unpredictable hours so if I get home before him, I spend another thirty minutes to an hour on the computer before he gets home. My oldest daughter is married and living in Germany. My youngest daughter is in the x-ray program at the local college so she still lives at home. But she divides her time between work, school, and her boyfriend.

She and the boyfriend eat at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays so that’s family night. But Monday and Wednesday are my days. I write and do laundry after work. And I’m off on Friday so that’s house cleaning and writing day. Saturday and Sunday are up for grabs, but I try to spend a few hours each day at the computer, and if we go to the beach, I always take my laptop!

Now, with Christmas fast approaching, I’m having a hard time writing. Well, maybe it’s not so much the holidays but these long winter nights. I hate the shorter, colder days, and I look forward to December 21. After the winter solstice, I know the days will get longer and then, spring will soon be here.

I do love the warmer weather! But I’m getting ahead of myself. I must get through the holidays, and this year, my oldest daughter and her husband will not be coming home for Christmas so I have to mail all their packages to Germany.

They were home last year, and we took a lovely family photo.

I still have so much to do and so little time, but my tree is up, most all of the presents are bought and wrapped, and I’m getting in the holiday spirit! Now, if I can only keep my but in the chair and write!

I suppose, getting published has made it easier for me to write. I guess it’s like being in school and having a home work assignment. I seem to work more consistently with a deadline! If I know what I have to do and when it’s due, I push myself and get it done.

So, why can’t I just pretend I have a deadline and finish the sequel to OUT OF THE DARKNESS?

Good question. And I have a lot of excuses!

One excuse is my former agent. She suggested I rewrite two historical novels and make them inspirational. I did. Then she suggested I write an Amish story. I don’t do Amish. Now, I’m rewriting the historicals back into traditional romances.

Lesson learned: Write what you read and remain true to your voice.

I guess I should have known from having published with TWRP. My fabulous editor, Lill, never tried to change my voice or OUT OF THE DARKNESS. She just helped make it a better story.

That’s what an agent is supposed to do. If he/she truly loves your work, he/she will try to sell it as is with minor tweaks where needed. If an agent doesn’t love your story, then you need to find an agent who does.

And if you find a good critique partner, keep them. I have one, though I think I neglect her. But, with Amy Corwin’s help, I think I’ve figured out why I haven’t been able to finish INTO THE LIGHT, the sequel to OUT OF THE DARKNESS.

Not that I’ve shared my revelations with Amy, but I think I know why I have too much backstory dumping in the first three chapters.

I’m writing a new story, but I’m trying to pick up where OUT OF THE DARKNESS ended. For INTO THE LIGHT to make sense, there’s a certain amount of information the reader needs almost from the beginning. Instant backstory dump!

But as Amy pointed out, INTO THE LIGHT must stand alone. So, how do I balance a new story with information from a previous book?

Other writers have done it successfully. I know the secret is to feed the information in gradually and not force the information into the first chapter. But do I really want my sequel to be a continuation of the same story? Or do I want something fresh. A new twist in the old story? Can I have a fresh story if my characters have too much history? Do Tina and Gerard know too much about one another? Or are they just getting acquainted?

I know I want a new romance. Not a continuation of OUT OF THE DARKNESS. And since I want to start fresh and not pick up where I left off, then something has to change.

So, how am I going to do that? Do I change my characters? My plot? Or just the starting point of my story?

Hmmm. Stay tuned.

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the things we’re thankful for. As always, I am thankful for a forgiving God, good friends and my wonderful, supportive family. I’m also thankful to be cancer free. December will be my second anniversary as a breast cancer survivor. Yay me! I’m also very thankful that after 13 years of writing, I will finally see my name in print on something other than the editorial page of my hometown newspaper.

OUT OF THE DARKNESS is still slated for a June 18, 2010 release date.

I’m also thankful for the men and women serving in our armed forces who sacrifice so much for our freedom.

My son-in-law is in the army and he recently completed a brief tour in Romania. Before his tour, I never knew much about the country other than the things I learned about it while researching vampires. But I’ve since learned the Romanian Parliament building in Bucharest is the second largest building in the world.

The country has also made strides toward economic and political reform since the fall of the iron curtain.
It’s located North of the Balkan Peninsula on the Black Sea, so there are beaches in Romania, and I’m a big fan of beaches.

And after seeing some of my son-in-law’s pictures, it’s hard to remember that this is the country where the darkest of vampire legends was born. Like most European countries, modern architecture coexists beside historical structures from bygone eras.

There are bustling cities and lush green fields. But it’s the pictures of these lonely pastures that inspired my imagination. I picture the pastures at night under a full moon. A woman traveling alone experiences car trouble. She can’t get a cell phone signal. And a tall, dark-haired handsome stranger stops to offer his assistance. She’s immediately drawn to him. His dark, hypnotic eyes. His alluring, old-world charm. He exudes sex appeal like an expensive fragrance. He’s incredibly sexy and impossible to resist. Is it just a coincident that his family hails from Wallachia?