Putting it all together

The continuing education creative writing adjunct instructors at Central Carolina Community College were asked to provide bios and headshots, and images of their book covers for the upcoming Carolina Women’s Show. My mom loves stuff like this, so we’ll most likely swing through. It’s kind of cool to see all of seven of my book covers put together. It reminds me that my TBI is nothing but a blip in my career, a five-year hiatus seasoning my imagination so my forthcoming books will be even more exciting. Onward and upward!

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NaNoWriMo 2013

Here’s to another year of National Novel Writing Month. May I develop a manuscript that sells!

Good luck to all NaNoWriMo’ers! You can find me as BeckyMoore.

Steamy Romance for this Chilly, Rainy Day

Rainy weather got you down? Try a steamy romance from my alter ego, Becky Moore. My newest contemporary romance is now available from Evernight Publishing, Guardian Angel.

Hot shot graphic novelist Sasha Mitchell is learning how to adjust to life as an underground hero with one of the hottest video games on the market. Her newfound wealth is no replacement for her brother’s recent passing, though, and certainly no balm to Doctor David Ellington, who’s adjusting to life without the dominating wealth of his powerful father.

And even though this senator’s son is far more interested in making his mark in the community through the clinic where he volunteers, he still has to overcome decades of enforced emotional barrenness to let Sasha’s powerful character reignite his passion.

It’s available several places, but you could get it directly from the publisher at Evernight Publishing, or through Amazon.com.

And while you’re over at Amazon, check out my contemporary hockey series about the Carolina Oak Leaves. Yowza!

A Playlist to Beat the Band

Last week I dropped by Romancing the Book to share my playlist that I used while writing my latest romance, Icing on the Cake. I thought it was a fun exercise … but when my husband sent me a selection of more “relevant iPod graphics,” I figured it might be fun to list the top ten albums on my iPod. Here they are, in no particular or

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mother’s Milk
2. The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
3. Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand
4. Judas Priest, Screaming for Vengeance
5. Pink Martini, Sympathique
6. Motley Crue, Too Fast For Love
7. War, The Very Best of War
8. The Killers, Hot Fuss
9. The White Stripes, Seven Nation Army
10. Madeleine Peyroux, Careless Love

What’s on your playlist?

Vetting the process

I haven’t really ever been what you call a “joiner.” Never participated in Girl Scouts. Wasn’t in a sorority in college. I’m not in the PTA.

But when I decided a couple of years ago that I wanted to really pursue writing novels as a career, I put my formidable skills in marketing and PR to work, and began the research. I’d like to write children’s literature. I’d like to write adult mainstream fiction, espionage thrillers and mysteries. And I’d like to write romance. All genres that I enjoy reading, and all genres that I hope to call my own. What I found was that the world of romance has highly educated, well-salaried, voracious readers … and that there’s a strong system of support in place for aspiring and successful authors. So I started there.

I joined the Romance Writers of America national writing guild about five years ago, but have always worked full-time … read that as: I never had time to really pursue my craft. At that same time, I joined my local chapter, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers. In December 2009, I sold my first manuscript to a new Canadian electronic publisher, XOXO Publishing. It published on May 2, 2010. My second manuscript sold on February 14 and published on September 11. Yesterday, I was vetted.

I got my RWA PRO pin, which means that RWA has checked out my contracts, checked out my manuscripts, and stands behind me as a viable author. At conferences I can move to the front of the line for appointments with agents; when I send things to publishers or agents I can list that I’m a PRO.

So in this new chapter in my life as Becky Moore, romance author, it’s so rewarding to say that I’m vetted, I’m viable, and I’m coming! Watch out world, here comes Becky Moore!

A New Chapter

Starting a new chapter in life can sometimes be more challenging and scary than writing the first sentence of Chapter One.

I’ve dreamed for years of becoming a successful novelist, with stories in a wide variety of genres like romance, espionage thrillers and children’s literature. Fortune smiled on me in December 2009 when I sold my first romance manuscript to a new Canadian e-publisher, XOXO Publishing. That first contemporary romance went on sale May 1, 2010 (it’s now a bestseller) … my second novel went on sale last weekend through the same publisher. I went to Toronto in June for the Small Press Book Fair and had a great time, but when I returned I was whisked right back into the stressful full-time position I have writing and managing grants and public affairs for an AIDS service organization in North Carolina.

For the last few weeks I’ve wrestled with myself … my own sense of throwing away all of the full and part-time jobs my mom and I had when I was in middle and high school that paid for my college education. In addition to my mom’s full time job, we started cleaning two bank buildings when I was in middle school. When I started driving, my mom kept those two jobs, but picked up a weekend part-time job at a video store and I added a part-time job at a yogurt store to the mix … in addition to being the editor for my school’s yearbook, serving on the student council, and playing varsity soccer. So with today’s economy, a 12 year old child and a husband who views me as an equal partner and lover in our marriage, I really felt like I couldn’t (in good conscience) just quit. To follow my dream. Bah!

But, after a Labor Day hurricane evacuation from the Crystal Coast, quiet time with my family, and a moment to let my mind wander, the sense of peace I’d been waiting for finally passed over me, and I took the first step in ending one chapter of my life this week. After my agency’s fundraiser, Works of Heart, on October 9, I’m officially done. I will work as a freelance writer and editor when possible, but I will have the time to pursue a literary agent, finish the dozen novels I’ve got in multiple stages of completion, help my son with homework in the afternoon, and just breathe.

Here’s a chapter I can’t wait to unfurl. And by the way, if you’re in the market for a writer, editor or photographer, call me. 🙂