Introduce Yourself

[Brandy]

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LeighMichaels wrote:

Introduce yourself to the group! Have you tried writing this genre before? What do you like about it? If you haven't tried writing romance before, let us know why you're interested in the genre? What are some of your favorite romance novels and authors? Do you have a favorite sub-genre?

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Hello Leigh,

My name is Brandy. I'm so glad you are giving us the opportunity to participate in another one of your classes. I have taken the lessons related to this book also. I can't wait to get started. I'm glad they opened the forum early in order for us to introduce ourselves, that way we can get started sooner. Anyway thanks a lot. I read the message about posting our work and whether it would be safe? Did I miss the response? If so, could you please tell me what you told that person. TIA

Brandy

[magicalbookworm]

Welcome to the class!
I too am wondering how safe it will be to post stories and the like on this fourm. Hope to hear an answer soon though!

[lavenderlass]

Hiya, I'm Lynne from Cirencester in the UK just popping in to say hallo and how wonderful it is to be able to chat to you all and learn from all you folk in the states! Technology is wonderful isn't it? Well, when it works anyway.
Anyway, I'm Lynne and right from the age of 7 I knew I wanted to be a nurse, but as well as that I loved writing and reading, I was one of those people who used to enjoy writing essays at school! In time I became a nurse an loved it but then I developed a problem with my feet and hands so retrained in social work & worked in hospitals but then a few years ago after my feet got a bit worse left and worked as a freelance journalist for women's magazines. But all the time I loved reading romance, especially medicals and historicals so decided to write one.
I've been an active member of the uk RNA and made many good friends there, but haven't actually written that much, I've written about 3 partials which have been critted and I've learnt loads from, I'm just over halfway in writing my first full length manuscript and enjoying every minute!
At home I live with two of my children, the youngest is 7 called natasha, and bella, my gorgeous schnauzer dog who is just off to be mated today, so I might have tales of furry romance later!
Lynne.

[peefie23]

Hi, my name is Margay and I have taken this course in its old format (pre-Book Club) and I really liked it, so I decided to try it this way to refresh my skills. I love romance - I read it all the time - and I seem to gravitate toward Regencies when I choose books to read. But I write in many genres. It all depends on the idea that strikes me at the time; sometimes, it's historical, sometimes it's contemporary. I don't always choose the genre - it chooses me. I just write the stuff!

[LeighMichaels]

To all who have expressed concern about posting safely and keeping work private -- I've turned the question over to the BN support staff, who should be able to tell us more.

Best,
Leigh

[mmccubb]

Hello, Leigh and everyone -

My name is Mary, MMCCUBB or Bridget. I have been using Bridget as my pen name.

Leigh - it has been a long time since I've seen you! My husband took advantage of your husband's photography classes at the Iowa City workshop. We used to run into you out and about in town. Hope all is well with you and your husband.

About me, I am a computer professional who loves to write fiction. I have a couple of suspense novels in the hopper and I have begun work on a memoir (I plan to write about my weight loss experience).

I am blessed to have a loving, supportive husband. It is my plan that he will take the photographs for the cover of my novels as well as take the book jackets author photo!

This session sounds very interesting to me as I am looking to give my characters greater depth than I have done previously.

Thanks in advance, Leigh et al for a great group!

[BookClubEditor]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the questions about posting your original work here. If you check out our user guidelines, you'll find this paragraph about copyright:

Copyright and Intellectual Property rights. Participants in the Barnes & Noble Book Clubs retain full ownership of the original material they create and post in these forums. By participating in the Book Clubs, you give Barnes & Noble.com the perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free right and license to use this content in this service or in the marketing of this service. Participants do not have the right to copy or redistribute the content of this service outside of the message boards. More details are available in the Barnes & Noble Book Clubs Terms of Use.

In other words, you own the rights to anything you post here. And simply by posting it, you agree that BN is allowed to make your post visible on these boards.

Hope this clears it up. Feel free to reply to this message or private message me if you have any other questions.

And enjoy writing Romance!

Jessica
(Book Club Editor)

[LeighMichaels]

Welcome, Mary! It's great to hear from you.

My husband's doing very well -- in fact, he's celebrating the release of four books himself, all within a few months this fall. His photographic history of our home town, Ottumwa, Iowa, was released by Arcadia Publishing in October, sold out, was reprinted, sold out, is being reprinted... (It's called simply "Ottumwa" and is in Arcadia's Images of America series.)

Then there's also been "Meet Me at the Fair" which is 100 vintages images of the St Louis World's Fair of 1904 (no, he didn't take them... copyright has long since expired so the images are in the public domain, but they were published as a set of stereoscopic views which have nearly disappeared in the 102 years since the fair)...

And "Come, Let Us Journey", a small book about the installation of a new bishop in the Davenport, Iowa diocese of the Roman Catholic Church...

and -- last but certainly not least -- "Focus on Photos," which is my photographer/teacher husband's book on how to take better pictures with any camera, and which should be released within the next few days.

Whew. Keeping up with him the last few months has made me tired!

His website is www.mlemberger.com, for anyone who wants to go look at his work.

It's great to have you here!

Best,
Leigh

[ElleCarroll]

Hi, everyone. I am a former student of Leigh's at Gotham. She, and my critique partners, both in class and out, have been invaluable in helping me to polish up my submissions package for the first book of a three book paranormal time travel romance series I am currently writing.
Leigh has a great teaching style, tremendous expertise, and a super sense of humor, so, when I was notified of this opportunity to follow her out, it was an offer I just couldn't refuse (I know, really hackneyed cliche, but ohh soo relevant).
I have been writing romance for a long time, because I love living happily ever after (glass half-full, incurable optimist, idealist --- nothing like a "Boomer" huh? --- Pollyanna perspective, you name it, but I think you got the picture). Romances just feel good, and encourage the hopes of readers for their own full glasses some day---I like helping to perpetuate that hope through my writing.
Favorite authors include Du Maurier, Bronte, Le Guinn, Bradley (Marion Zimmer), Roberts, Putney, Donaldson (Covenants), Lael Miller, Bretton, Paisley, Herbert, Heyer, etc., etc., etc.
Flavors: paranormal (time travel), sci-fi, fantasy (classical), gothic, historical, regency, etc., etc., etc.
I am looking forward to learning more about how to write romance, and you!!!

[dixielandgrl]

Hi I am Janice. I have done the course form of this book. I am only beginning to write and find I delete more than I keep. Looking forward to everyone's experiences.

[sweety]

Hi Pam,

Welcome to the class!!. My name is a Sweety.and I have taken this course and I really liked it. so I decided to try it this way to refresh my skills. I love romances and I read it all the time, and I'm writing romance just started I'm getting help from leigh she's really nice. I'm sure you will like it to.


Sweety.

[Christianna]

Hi Leigh, and everyone,

I have taken the BNU class I believe 3 times now, and am still gleaning things from Leigh and others. I am struggling to get my time travel Historical novel ship shape to send off to a publisher, and yes, I am still lacking in a lot of areas in the manu. I need that good ole GMC adding more punch to the book, and am trying to work on it. I've been at it for what, two years now?

I was previously using my real name in the BNU classes but have decided to use my pen name now.

I live in Bellingham, WA, and am working full time, so as Ziki has been a lurker in many BNU classes before, I too may end up being a lurker in these book clubs.

C. L.

[LeighMichaels]

Wow. What an interesting and varied group of people we already have here. Writers and readers ... writers of all genres, not just romance ... people who have come through the BNU classes and ones who are new to the site ... fans of all kinds of books ... people in many different occupations. The wide range of interests will be wonderful in giving feedback, because someone out there will know the answer to nearly every question.

In fact, the one thing it seems we don't yet have is a few men -- are you lurking, guys? Please feel free to join in -- though romance writing is commonly perceived as a feminine field, there are a number of male romance writers. (One of them was president of Romance Writers of America a few years ago.)

To those who have been in my classes before, welcome back! I know I can rely on you to continue to give the warm and supportive feedback that I've treasured in previous classes. To the ones who are new, welcome -- if you feel a bit out of your depth, just stick around a while and you'll soon be comfortable.

I'll be here every day, and I'm excited to see what's on your minds. Jessica and I have some great things planned -- including visits from published authors so you can talk to them about their books. We'll be adding new threads regularly too, and some of those will be in response to what you tell me you want to talk about. So please don't hesitate to let me know.

Happy writing,
Leigh

[Thimbellia]

I have always had a wide interest in the world, seeking creative expressions. I live in Michigan. I took 3 courses last year from BNU: Writing Mystery, Writing Memoir, Writing for Cash. I have a collaborator I am trying to interest in this class, as we live far apart. I am excited to see the topics and hope to learn a lot, posting more this year instead of lurking shyly. I already recognise friends from past classes and hope to make more friends in this format.

[mn_girl_in_hea…]

Hi to everyone. This is a new experience for me. I got influenced by my collaborator, Thimbellia. So, we will see how this goes.

I am interested in most kinds of romance. The erotica is a bit much for my tastes as I am a firm believer in the power of the imagination over graphics. Consequently, I am more into the sweet romances. One of the saddest days I had was picking up a Harlequin Romance and finding out my favorite of favorites had died. This was Betty Neels. Nobody can complain. She had more than thirty good years of pleasing her faithful readers. We should all be so lucky as to be publishing into our nineties. Of course, we'd all be lucky to just live that long.

My favorite genre is historical. My favorite time period--18th and 19th century. My first writing attempt was a Western romance that centered on a Cavalry Officer's daughter captured by Indians. I even went as far as creating an Indian language for my great American novel. Looking back, it was quite the ambitious project for a seventh grader.

Truth be told, I am a bibliophile. It is something Thimbellia and I share. We have more books than anything else. Mine is an eclectic collection from Dante in the original Italian to Star Wars. With this history of reading, I figure it's time to get something under an editor's nose and start my next thirty years in the way I would wish it to go.

Happy writing to us all. We have a favorite leading the way.

[Py]

Hi! I'm Kim in Michigan. I do a lot of writing in my job -- mostly grants, press releases and annual reports. I'm part of a local critique group and have few novels in various stages of "unfinished".

I read a lot of different things -- regencies to romantica, sci fi, mysteries etc. Favorite "romance type" authors and books -- Evenlyn Vaughn (Madonna Key was good, but more Grailkeepers, please), Carla Kelly (anything), Katie McAlister (Aisling Grey series), Mary Jo Putney (The Rake and Reformer and The Spiral Path are particular favorites). I also like Suzanne Brockman's Seal Team books and Heart Throb, Kelly Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series (paranormal w/romance elements) and Jim Butcher's "Harry Dresden" series (a little romance creeps in now and then; I'm a little in love with Harry).

I tried to take this class during the last BNU session, but like many didn't get the books in time. I'm going to try again, with a great deal of trepidation since BNU (however imperfect) is now replaced with the Book Club format that still feels to me like an extended and ill-advised experiment in Chaos Theory (Can we please consider marking or using a different color type for the actual lessons so they can be located readily.)

That said, I am looking forward to giving this class another try -- even if the "critique group" is anyone who happens by.

Kim

[snflwr493]

LeighMichaels wrote:Introduce yourself to the group! Have you tried writing this genre before? What do you like about it? If you haven't tried writing romance before, let us know why you're interested in the genre? What are some of your favorite romance novels and authors? Do you have a favorite sub-genre?

Hi, my name is Carol, and I have taken Leigh's class before on BNU, although I didn't keep up with it for a variety of reasons, mainly being my kids taking up a ton of time. I love to read, have taken some creative writing classes before, and have been told by so many people that I should just write them myself. I love to write, so I thought I would try again. I love the characters, and I love the drama and such of romance stories. I also like that they are real people, that generally you can relate to in some way. I have read many, many authors, and do not really have a favorite. I like funny, contemporary stories, and am currently fascinated with ones taking place in Australia right now. Maybe I want to travel there? LOL! I like shorter stories, that read quickly, and ones continuing ones that link people from book to book. Hopefully we will all learn a lot from this discussion! Like some of you, I am a bit hesitant on the new format, but we will see how it works!

Carol

[Dawnfire]

Hello All! My name is Amanda and I've gone through the course version of the Writing Romance several times. I tend to read several genres of books but have always had a soft spot for Romances. Looking forward to see what comes of this new format.

Have a good night, all!

[Angeltina]

Hi, my name is Christina and I am a stay at home mom with five children. I loved making up stories as a girl and haven't really tried writing again until this past year. I love everything about writing. Even the research proves interesting because you learn new things. I know it may sound corny, but hey, with five kids always asking me questions about all sorts of stuff plus family members, I end up researching and found it could be fun. Creating the characters I would have to say though is my favorite part. I have found over trial and error that paranormal romance intrigues me. I have an almost completed manuscript, only three more chapters to go. I have an extensive collection of different types of romance novels. Harlequin, Silhouette are among the largest part of my collection. The new Nocturne series has definitely caught my attention. There are several author's novels I enjoy more than others. However, I tend to lean more toward the paranormal romance. Recently I have started reading Sherrilyn Kenyon and found her to be among ONE of my favorite authors. I have too many favorites to name, the list could go on Of course my favorite sub-genre is the paranormal romance.
I have been working hard on my manuscript these past few months, a first in a series I am creating and plan on submitting once I am done, hopefully within the next couple months. A something I am aiming for and willing to work as hard as I must to make happen.

Christina

[realta]

Greetings, all.

I've been writing for several years now. I've finished four novels and I'm currently working on #5 and 6. (No luck with publication yet, but I am pretty determined.)

I've enjoyed meeting all of you ... hope to hear more from you on the boards!

Realta
(means "star" in Irish)