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Stuff about you.
The Hen Lit Writers Blog Debut!
June 2005
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Friday, June 03, 2005
Before I even knew there was such a thing as hen lit or even chick lit, I wrote a book. I finished it in five months - a record for me, I must add. I was aiming for the romance market. It was about a romance novelist from New York who finds love in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. Well, Avon rejected it. Too much like they already had, they said. Besides, romance wasn't the main point - the main character finding more meaning to life and finding herself was. Someone suggested that it leaned more towards women's fiction and not romance, even though the girl did get the boy in the end. The reasoning was that it focused more on the main character's feelings and actions and not the classic love story that the romance market was looking for. I sent a chapter or two to one of my online friends and she said that it sounded a lot like chick lit, only the protag was too old. After she said that, I put "chick lit" in google to see just what this "new" genre was all about. I checked out every link, read all the excerpts on Amazon and basically... I fell in love. And then... I discovered my calling. A new genre. Actually, they were calling it a sub-genre. Hen lit. Now I could write what I wanted! I could have my protags over the chick lit age and New York was buying! That's when I started on another book I call "Over the Hill." Now, "Over the Hill" is a fun little book that I enjoyed writing immensely. When it was oh about 50,000 words into the novel, on a whim I decided to query an agent and was I delighted when she requested the partial. Now, I'm nowhere near THERE, but it's a start. Only, I had one teensy-weensy problem. I told her it was 70,000 words because no one would accept it that short and I figured I had plenty of time to finish it. Well, that plenty of time was two weeks later and I was in a dilemma - write 20,000 words before she requested the full (you notice I said WHEN!). Today, it's 80,000 and still counting. Actually, I'm having trouble saying goodby to the characters. So I guess I can sequel them? Anyway, that's where I'm at right now. I'm also the compiler/editor/contributing author of "Romancing the Soul - True Stories of Soul Mates from Around the World and Beyond" and a syndicated relationship columnist. If you would like to visit my website, you can go to www.dorothythompson.net. My projects right now are a how to book for first time authors called "1001 Secrets First Time Authors Need to Know!" which will be published next year by Zumaya Publications and the sequel (or prequel?) to "Over the Hill."
posted by thewriterslife @ Friday, June 03, 2005 3 Comments:
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