Pick A Genre...Any Genre... And Brand Yourself.

Monday, January 23, 2012
Happy Monday Readers!

I hope everyone had a great and relaxing weekend! Well now it's Monday. Time to get back to work!

Today's post is going to be about branding yourself as an author. I know. I know. I was just like you. I'd say to myself why should I limit myself? Why should I focus on one area where there are so many other possibilities?

I don't know about you guys, but I like to challenge myself. I like to pick challenging subjects and write about them. Hence the love triangle in He Loves Me... Or book 2 Love Without Words in the pandemic series.(Which by the way, I'm going to attempt to write an entire book without dialogue. Tricky,tricky, I know.)

But I'll tell you this....

Branding yourself is important. It is where you discover yourself as a writer. And I'll tell you something I learned about myself. I'm a romance writer. Whether it's a dark romance--like A Whisper To A Scream--or an fun summer fling romance like--If I Can't Have You. Romance is what I'm good at. That's my brand. And that's what I'm going to focus on in the future. And do you know how many books written it took me to learn that? Let's just say...A LOT.

Everyone is different. Some writers are good at one genre, but not so good at another. And I will say the most important thing we can do is write book after book and learn from ourselves. Deep down inside you know what your strengths and weaknesses are.

A lot of times we have to explore our writing capabilities. Sometimes we have to write several different books before we write "the one", and figure out where we want to be as writers. But what's more important than anything is that we dive in head first and never give up the fight.

I hope you've found something helpful in this post. And now for a lil treat! I've pasted a snippet from If I Can't Have You below. I hope you enjoy it and have a great week!

Cheers! <3

For a moment neither one of us moves. We’re mesmerized, swimming in each other’s gazes. Slowly Drake slides his fingers up my waist, locking my hips against his. Then he sits up, still staring, not breaking his focus.There’s sand all over his arms and the rough texture scratches against my burn skin, making it feel raw. He glides a free hand up my spine and I shiver as my shirt slides up and I feel his moist fingers against my back. He gently pulls the hair tie from my hair and my shoulders are covered in waves of chocolate cherry locks. “I want you,” he whispers. “I want you bad.”

And I want him. Oh how I’ve wanted him. For years and years and years. And this moment seems a little surreal to me. That finally, after all this time I finally get what I’ve wanted. What I’ve coveted. What I’ve adored.

I twist the thick straps of his wife-beater around my forefingers and urge his lips closer to mine with each tug. He’s so close his warm breath trails along my cheek bones and heats my face. His lips are so close and if I I move an inch mine will touch his. “You do something crazy to me, kid.”

And he does something crazy to me too. I’m a nut job in a mental institution. Clearly incapable of functioning normally and Drake is the orderly he comes to me every morning to deliver my pills. Without him I’ll be crazy forever. Only he is capable of getting rid of the insanity because he is the cure to it.

5 comments:

  1. My books all have some element of romance even though it hasn't been at the forefront of any stories, just yet. I do want to try a romance though. :)

  1. It's true. Branding yourself is important. You can write in various genres for kids, but I think it's wise to first have an identifiable persona.

  1. Cecilia said...:

    Great post and a wonderful excerpt, and I love that last sentence.:)I've been hopping around genres trying to get a feel of what is comfortable for me. Romance is way up there on my list. :)

  1. I just like deep topics - and I think everything I've written ends up with a love story in there somewhere . . .

    I have yet to produce any kind of speculative fiction worth publishing, but I'm working on it :D

  1. DMS said...:

    I enjoyed this post and think you are right! We all have our strengths and weaknesses and it is important to realize them. My writing tends to be for middle grade readers- although some is YA.

    What an intriguing snapshot you left us! I am very curious about the book and characters now!

    ~Jess
    http://thesecretdmsfilesoffairdaymorrow.blogspot.com/

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