November Contest

They're running a contest for me as my alter ego, David Andrews, at Coffee Time Romance.
Pop in and read the nice things they've said. There's a twenty-five dollar voucher and downloads of my books up for grabs.

After a decade of writing as Amy Gallow, thanks to my first publisher's insistence that only women could sell romance books, Eternal Press will release the first book under my own name, David Andrews http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615722136 and I admit to being excited.
A science fiction/adventure/romance about an immortal dynasty of telepaths and their opposition to tyranny in all its forms, I'm quietly proud of it.

Different ships- different tally bands

An old saying that is part of the culture of the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy, and probably all the national navies that were once part of the British Empire. It acknowledges the cultural differences that can separate two identical ships in the same navy, part history, part personality, part circumstances.
"The First Born" is being published under my own name and that small difference has infected the whole process so far, giving it a different feel to the fourteen previous books under Amy Gallow.
It will be interesting to see how far the difference manifests itself, especially as I have four other books planned as David Andrews.

A Good Companion

I began writing as a relaxation over thirty years ago, an hour's escape each day from the pressures of a 24/7 career and there were times when I owed my sanity to the practice. I kept a journal too, a lightning conductor where I could write the thoughts it was impolitic to say aloud. Reading my early prose is an education in the way I matured, both personally, and as a writer, through the years.
When I sought feedback by entering competitions some twelve years ago, I found myself with a contract to write five books for a new Australian publisher in fifteen months and a new name, Amy Gallow, because every woman knows that men know nothing about romance. (The name came from my wife's middle and maiden names, proving I knew a little, at least). Fourteen published stories later (Whiskey Creek Press will release "Her Brother's Keeper" later this year)I dusted off some of my earlier ideas and received a contract from Eternal Press for "The First-Born", a science fiction fantasy of time travel, love and some speculative musing over the obituary of a WWI veteran.
It is the first in a series and the first under my own name and you can read more about it and me at http://www.davidandrewsauthor.com
Amy will continue to write romance, with at least one WIP approaching completion.

Another good year?

I released three books in 2009: "Snow Drifter"; "A Soldier's Woman"; and "A Fair Trader". I've begun this year with five submissions and they are all ticking down to their response dates. Two represent the next stage in my long term planning as a writer and I am understandably nervous, having gone for a while without a rejection. Both were triggered by the uniformly good reviews for the 2009 books, but I wonder if I've not taken a step too far. Only time will tell.
Where next?
That depends on the two.
Rejection without feedback will send me into analysis of the stories and writing, to see how each can be improved while I continue writing at the level where I am successful. I already have two projects at that level and one of the adult education courses I conduct is due to start mid May.
Acceptance will shift my focus to a new level of story and a set of projects waiting to be started.
Either way, I will continue to learn a craft that fascinates me.
Amy
Romance with a touch of reality...or vice versa?

A Best-Selling Author?

"A Fair Trader" has crept into the bottom of Whiskey Creek's best sellers for January.
Technically, this makes me a best-selling author, but I doubt that the change in circumstances will go to my head.
I won't know the effect this has in terms of royalties until mid-May, nor the cause for its elevation to this status until even later. My publicity contract with Heartfelt Promos is still running and I see its effects by web searches (Google now has twice as many returns for my name, but some of them have been generated by my own and other's efforts. The interview with "Cat" Johnson is a perfect example).

The middle of next month will see the next round of royalties and there will be time for Eternal Press to have returns from their distributors as well as books sold directly. I can then make a judgement of their value to me, as opposed to the revitalized Whiskey Creek Press.

"Her Brother's Keeper" is in the final rewrite stage and I will have to make a decision about where to submit it soon. The romance is good, the lovers engaging, but the intrigue has grown perhaps too complex for Harlequin, reflecting my personal knowledge of the environment.

That aside, it's a good yarn, told with verve and authenticity, and I suspect it will do well with reviewers.

The 1802 historical romance needs only the loose ends tidied before it is ready for the rewriting stage. Its length is a problem, currently ninety thousand plus words, and I will have to think more when it is done.

That leaves the story set in the Australian coastal shipping of 1970 or another venture into the contemporary offshore oil industry as my next story...a decision for the future?

Amy
Romance with a touch of reality...or vice versa?