New girl at the Water Cooler.

Hello all. I'm Steph. I'm a wife and mom from New York who writes into the wee hours of morning while my family sleeps. I happened to stumble across this forum in my internet travels, and I'm excited to get the opportunity to bounce ideas off of others writers. I'm also fully prepared to absorb as much advice as possible from writers who have been in the game longer than I have. Writing is my passion but, as a writer, I feel like a ship without a compass. I need all the help I can get.

I've been writing for about ten years, mostly YA and romance, but I have yet to take the plunge and put my work out there. I have about seven first-draft manuscripts just hanging around. I'm currently in the process of editing a time travel romance that I'm particularly excited about, with the intentions of seeing this one through and diving into the world of self-publishing. While I, of course, have that dream of making it "big" as an author, I'm drawn to self-publishing because I like the idea of having complete control over my own work. Or maybe it feels like the best way to get my feet wet and see if I have the chops for this.

So, yeah. I'm happy to be here. I look forward to participating in these discussions and am hopeful that this is the support I need to push forward.

Klope3 said:

Hello, from another new AW user. That time travel romance sounds intriguing. You wouldn't happen to be into Doctor Who, would you?

At any rate, you should get your posts up (like I'm doing) and treat us to a few of those first drafts you mentioned. Your writing sounds right up my alley!

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I have seen Doctor Who a few times, but I can't say I've ever followed it. I do know a bunch of people who are die-hard fans so I know I'm probably missing out! And a welcome to you, as well! I've been getting some posts in over the past couple of days. After I hit 50, I'm hoping to head over to the Share Your Work forum to make a post. I look forward to reading your work, too.

Karasue said:

Hi Steph! I'm also new but saw you are editing a time travel romance (which just happens to be my cat nip!) As a fellow romance writer I would love to hear more about it!

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Welcome to you, also! What type of romance do you typically write? I had only ever written contemporary romance until about two years ago, when I decided to dabble in the time travel concept. I've been writing this monster ever since. Right now, I'm in the dreaded cutting phase (at least, I dread it.)

My FMC is the time traveler, who dozes off during an overnight shift at work and wakes up in the mid-19th century on a farm on Long Island, NY (which is where I'm from so I have some familiarly with the history in the area.) The oldest living son is a Civil War vet who had been tasked with taking care of the family after his older brother and father died in the war. He and the FMC eventually become friends and then, naturally, romance ensues even though he had already agreed to an arranged marriage at the request of his manipulative and deceptive mother. My FMC is quite flawed and had a painful childhood so I had a lot of fun with her progression, especially with an 19th-century backdrop. I loved being able to juxtapose a contemporary character who is rough around the edges with a more refined, outwardly restrained MMC.

Anyway, that's it in a nutshell! I was looking for a place to post my blurb so that I could find out if it's catchy enough or if I missed the mark, but it looks like the place to do that is in Share Your Work and I don't yet have 50 posts under my belt. Thank you again for the reply. I look forward to reading about your work, and please keep me in mind if you are ever looking for someone to throw some ideas around with

Quinn_Inuit said:

Dr. Who rules!

Welcome, Steph! I hope you like it here.

Is complete control over your work a good thing? One of my novelettes was recently published only after the editor made me re-write the first 20%. She was absolutely right to do so, and the story is better for it.

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Another Doctor Who fan. I may have to jump on the bandwagon and see what it's all about.

That is a good point about control over my work. I do welcome constructive criticism and, fortunately, have relatively thick skin, so getting those helpful opinions from someone with professional experience would certainly be a good thing. It's something that I will have to keep on thinking about.