No Romances

There is something you have to know. I can’t write a romance novel.

I had a story that fit the romance genre, and I wrote a few chapters which I sent to my editor. My chapters had problems so my editor recommended I read Romancing the Beat, Story Structure for Romance Novels by Gwen Hayes. It’s an excellent description on how to write a romance.

But I have to admit, I haven’t read any romances. It’s not a genre I enjoy so not really a good idea that I try to write one, but I had this idea about a young, factory worker who meets a handsome stranger on the bus.  Once a guy sat down beside me on the bus and we ended up dating for a while.

I also worked in a factory in Sydney for 6 months in 1993 while I lived in Australia. When I came back to Canada, I wrote a few pages. I found the story a few months ago while looking through my documents file. It was still in wordperfect, and I thought I’d write a romance using those 2 stories.

​There have been at least 4 different versions of the same first chapters. Each time I made an adjustment, I would send the chapters to my editor and Sarah sent them back with lots of comments. But the chapters didn’t improve. They got worse and worse with each version.. It wasn’t working out. 

So I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t write romance. 

I’m re-working Devouring Time. It’s getting a new title because it seems that title doesn’t convey what the book is about so Howard is working on that.  I have a great cover designer and he’s working on a new cover. The present cover is just a stocked version. Since I’m getting all this done, I decided to read it over again.

Devouring Time has been completely rewritten. I get it back from the editor next week, and then I’ll have to read it over again. I’ll be sure to let you know when I’ll be re-publishing.

I’ve also been working on Locker Rooms. Again Howard said it’s a terrible title so it has a new title now: The Devil, Angels, and Demons, The Devil Wants His Lost Souls Back and Will Fight a Rogue Demon and the Chosen Woman to Get Them.

It’s also getting a real cover from my wonderful Greek designer. I re-read the book and sent it to my editor for another read through. I didn’t change much, but I did delete one scene because I had the main character getting busted for smoking marijuana which doesn’t make sense now because pot is legal in Canada.

I get the book back from Sarah on May 8th. I will then have to read through it and make any corrections. I will let you know when The Devil, Angels, and Demons will be re-released.

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about my telepathic children. The third book in the series has been started and I plan on working on it when the two books mentioned above are published.

I’m looking for reviews for my murder mystery Sister Innocent. I’d be happy to email you a pdf or epub version if you agreed to post a review on Amazon.

I don’t want to bore you with words about the state of affairs in the world right now, but let me just say:  Stay at home and read a book. We will get through this.

​Take care and have fun,
Patty