Romancing my stone cold heart

I am one step closer to fulfilling my dreams of living the glamorous life of Joan Wilder. While I originally mentioned this avenue in jest, in a matter of days I will be walking down the path of complete seriousness, heading over to UCLA to immerse myself in this:


NEW COURSE
It's All about Love: A One-Day Workshop on Writing and Selling Your Romance Novel
713.92 English $95

With 1.4 billion dollars in sales, 26.4 share of the market, and over 6,000 novels published every year, it's clear that the American public wants to read love stories. The other good news is that romances are fun to write. This course begins by identifying current key sub-genres and their particular requirements, including contemporary, paranormal, inspirational, comedic, mystery, erotic, and historical. We then consider what story you want to write and how to structure its plot, scenes, conflict, central characters, and most importantly, a believable romantic relationship. Short in-class writing exercises allow you to work on some of these important aspects, and you finish the day by learning about the marketplace and writing query letters. By the end of the class, you have a clear focus on the type of romance novel you are writing, a working outline, a couple of new scenes, and knowledge on how to move forward in writing and preparing your book for the marketplace.

Who are these individuals that go to this sort of gathering? How will the instructor dissect the craft of romance writing with a straight face? How bad ass would I be if I did this as a career? These burning questions keep me up at night.

Now that TVgasming has lessened on the technical difficulties front, I have less stress and more time and brain power to tackle another project. One that amuses me and makes money is really all I require from said project at this point. (Recapping reality television shows, formulaic smut. Credibility and artistic merit are obviously not variables in my writing choices these days.)

If I do decide to foray into the world of breathless women and swaggering men, you can bet your bottom dollar I will never ever reveal my alias.