Tag: Romance

January 21st 2021 at 8pm CST: I’ll Be a Featured Author on Romance Happy Hour

I’m a featured artist on Romance Happy Hour and will be reading an except of my Rom-Com novella, ‘Tomorrow May Be Too Late”, during the January 21st Romance Happy Hour at 8pm CST! There are some amazing cocktails on the website for you to make and bring along to the reading.

Join us here!

My novella will be released in the Askew Ever After Box-Set, January 19th 2021. This will be a limited release, so mark those Calendars, or better yet you can pre-order at your favorite e-book store here! If you already placed an order, thank-you. Preorder is 99 cents, this will go up after release!

Where’s the Book?

4 drafts and the outline of Will You Still Love Me, If I Become Someone Else?

So, after I told everyone that I signed a contract to publish my novel—everyone started asking about how the book was coming along, and when they could buy it?

I’d say, “It’s with the editors … or I’m revising.” Their response was, “But, you signed with RhetAskew Publishing in January 2019, where’s the book?”

Frustrated, I’d reply, “It’s coming along I promise.” I love you guys but a lot goes into getting a book published (more than I realized and I was getting into the trenches).
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I snapped this picture to show a bit of the editing work that goes into the novel after you sign a contract. There are four printed manuscripts in the photo, each representing a major round of editing and/or revisions. Based on editor’s suggestions, beta-reader comments. Since January I have read my manuscript over 7 times (I still get chills when I get to the last few chapters).


So, how’d all this happen, you ask? In January 2018, I started to send queries and hashtag pitches on Twitter—out to agents. Here are the stats: The book was considered a mismatch (I like saying this versus rejected) to 15 agents and 3 publishers. I had two partial request and 4 full manuscript request.


While the manuscript was being considered by the agents and publishers that requested it, I got that email! Late December 2018, RhetAskew sent the best Christmas present, an email offering to publish “Will You Still Love Me, If I Become Someone Else?” I was at work and asked a co-worker to read the email because I couldn’t believe it. Now, a year later, I’m only months away from a long time dream—2020 is going to be fun!

Recently, I signed another contract to have my Romance Comedy Novella included in a Box Set, coming December 2020!

The journey is long and at times arduous, but always keep moving forward. Please stay tuned as the books move closer to production, cover reveal, release dates, book launches, contests and more about the process.

If you want to be in the know, sign up for my newsletter!

Remember the three P’s of writing, Practice, Patience and Persistence! We’ll talk more about these!

Happy writing!
Cheers,

JRA, II

What’s That You Say

Hey there. Thanks for stopping by and spending some time with me. I will try to give a little insight on publishing, balancing work with writing and even some science stuff I do at my day job. I’m not the only one trying to write, publish, market and work full time. Let’s spend some time sharing stories, tips and tricks to make it across that finish line. For all the non-authors, I will break down acronyms writers use like MS or ARC or TBR—that way when you see posts from favorite authors you can follow along.

So, a lot has been happening on the writing front. Punchline: I will publish my novel and a novella early 2020! Read on for details.

1. I sent my proofed Manuscript (MS) back to the publisher a couple days again. This means that my debut psychological thriller, “Will You Still Love Me, If I Become Someone Else?”, is going into production. You’d think it would be an easy street now that the writing, editing, and revising is done, but you’d be wrong. I have learned that marketing and promoting is a huge part of the publishing game. So, I’m learning the end and outs of building a platform and brand. So, please follow me on your favorite social media platform (links in the sidebar or I’m @jomega22 on everything) and sign up for my newsletter (I’m aiming for monthly, but if something exciting happens, like a give away, you may get an extra one). This is a big help to a new author (any author).

2. Since my novel is going into production this means that the Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) are coming soon. My publisher, RhetAskew, gives these out to readers about 90 days before publication to get reviews and blurbs and get the hype machine going. If you are interested in being added to the ARC list, subscribe to the newsletter or send me a DM on a social media platform.

3. So, the rumors are true; I am working on a Novella (a story in between a short story and a novel) to that will be published as a collection in a Romance box set early next year. Yes, you read right, my novel is a psychological thriller and now I’m writing a romance novella—okay let me explain, it’s not as big a leap as you think.

So, in college I was writing short-literary fiction and poetry, dealing with relationships and self reflection. After graduate school, I didn’t write much as I focused on my science career. After 6 years not writing, I got a journal and started writing, and a year later, I had a novel (it would be my second novel 3 years later that is getting published). “Write what you know—” is what they say, and I am a scientist, I mixed my literary-poetical style with a bit of sci-fi and I got ‘Will You Still Love Me, If I Become Someone Else?’

My novel has a lot to do about relationships, but layered into a twisty thriller plot with a dash of sci-fi.

Moving from that to writing a romantic comedy wasn’t difficult. I watch (it’s a little know fact about me) a ton of Rom-Coms, from ‘Christmas in Connecticut’ to ‘Always Be My Maybe’, and the hardest part was doing the actual writing (but isn’t that always the case). Also, I have added romance novels to my To Be Read (TBR) pile. I have already sent a draft of my novella, “Tomorrow May Be Too Late”, out to romance beta readers (people who will read the story to give feedback to help with revisions)–I’ll write a post about this process later. Besides thinking of ways to expand my romance novella, I’ve already starting to work on another Romance novella—maybe Novel (You Can Be My Wind Up—working title).

Okay, that’s all for now. If you have any questions or comments, post them here or on a social media platform. I’ll catch you on the Flip—

Happy Writing!

Cheers,

JRA, II