Slush Pile

I recently posted a listing on Duotrope to get short, erotic romance stories to publish here and in my monthly newsletter. This is mostly a cross-promotional venture, hoping to get writers to share their audiences with me and vice-versa. Of course, doing something like that means opening myself up to the slush pile. There's been a lot of talk about slush piles lately on the literature journal blogs. A lot of disappointed editors have been less than thrilled with the quality of submissions.

I have to say, I'm about to join them, but I think I need to complain about myself rather than the writers. First I thought maybe my expectations weren't clear, so I revised my guidelines. Then I thought maybe the people visiting the site don't know what erotic romance was as opposed to straight-up erotica, so I put a link to a great article about the difference in my guidelines. Then I added a whole bunch of personal likes and dislikes. For instance, I mostly don't like first person point of view in erotic romance. Sometimes it can work when the writer is talented and the character is really interesting, but most of the time -- to me -- it reads like a confession, and that just makes it feel more icky to me and less like a fantasy. Of course, other readers and writers have other preferences.

Ultimately, though I did get submissions for the August newsletter, I ended up writing my own story for it. Now that my guidelines are more clear, I'm hoping for more appropriate subs, subs that are both romantic and erotic.

So, if you'd like to read a new G.G. Royale story FREE sign up for my newsletter here before eight a.m. tomorrow morning. If you think you'd like to submit, sign up so you can read my story and see what I'm looking for.

Remember, the collar contest is still going on, and I've just started a Twitter contest too. Those details can be found on the contest page at www.ggroyale.com.

The Week in Review

This week I finished my first draft of Holy Cross Christmas. It releases 14 December -- the day after my birthday -- with Loose Id. I have edits to do on it this week, and then off to my editor. I feel quite -- well, lucky's not the right word because I do work my butt off -- let's say "well rewarded" for my efforts this year. I only hope I can keep the pace up. I'm a chunk of the way into another holiday release, but I might sit on it until next year. We'll see. Beyond that, I'm not entirely sure what I want to work on next. I have plenty of short stories to write, but as far as longer works... I've got some good ideas, some completed outlines. It's just a matter of digging in to a new project, and this time of year is always hard for me to that in. Judging from the crickets chirping in response to The Flapper and the Fellow, I'm fairly certain My Two Doms will win back the readers that The Lovely Kittengirls of Mew Orleans earned, and maybe I've learned that I should write more in that vein, though I do love the historicals.

Maybe I'll just get those short stories knocked out and see what comes next. I hope you'll bear with me until my mind's made up. Ciao for now!

Holy Cross Christmas

This week, I passed the 20 thousand word mark on Holy Cross Christmas. That's always an important milestone for me, since Loose Id doesn't publish anything under 20 K. This story, which releases 14 December from Loose Id, will be a spicy, I/R contemporary. Well, not too contemporary since it takes place five years ago.

Holy Cross is a neighborhood in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Its position on the east side of the Industrial Canal has, more than once, set it up for catastrophe during floods and hurricanes, but it is a rich and vibrant place nonetheless.

I've decided to donate 50 percent of my royalties for this story to the New Orleans's Habitat for Humanity. Holy Cross, as well as several other neighborhoods, are still rebuilding even half a decade after Katrina. Plus, we've been hit with the tragedy of the oil leak here as well. When this releases this holiday season, I hope you'll be a copy to help support rebuilding in New Orleans.

Wasn't I a Slacker this Week?

Well, not really. Truth is, I found out this week that I would actually have two more releases from Loose Id before the end of the year. For sure, it looks as if My Two Doms will release on November 2, and Holy Cross Christmas will release on 14 December. I'm so excited to have had four releases with them this year, the first year I really started submitting seriously. In fact, it will have been a year next month that I first submitted The Lovely Kittengirls of Mew Orleans, the first novella I ever finished!

Independence

Well, my Independence Day will be spent slaving away on the computer. I contracted two novellas just this week, one which needs major revisions and one that needs finishing. It's sort of a "be careful what you wish for" scenario, since I took the summer off from my day job this year to write, and now I have plenty of writing to do.

So what does that leave us for the second half of the year? First, we've got the short Vampire Menage from New Line Press coming out 1 September. If you started following me off of Literotica, this is a little something that will seem more familiar to you.

Around that same time, Lilith's Daughter should be coming out from Carnal Desires. I really can't wait to see that one in print. It was actually the first erotic romance I started, though I didn't finish it until after The Lovely Kittengirls of Mew Orleans.


I'm hoping then we'll get Another Kittengirl: My Two Doms. This is the sequel to The Lovely Kittengirls and features Haley. This is the one currently in revisions and will come out with Loose Id toward the end of this year or maybe early next year.

Finally, for the holiday season I'll have Holy Cross Christmas. This interracial erotic romance is set in the Lower Ninth Ward the first Christmas after Katrina.

Of course, I've got plenty of other work coming along as well. As soon as I finish one thing, something else seems to demand my attention.

And be sure to check out my contests page on my Web site. I've started another contest this week.