PHS Aspiring Authors December Updates!
It's time to wrap up 2018 and Christy Kate McKenzie is here to fill us in on what's going on in the PHS Aspiring Authors Group and give us some exciting news...
Happy Holidays from The Pink Heart Society Aspiring Authors Team!
Wow! How can it be December already? I swear it was only last week I was writing my New Year’s Resolutions—don’t ask—and here we are closing out another year! Now, don’t get me wrong, I for one will be glad to wave goodbye to 2018. This year has been a difficult one for me personally, but I have to admit, there were some pretty awesome things that happened, as well.
For one, I finally got the chance to see the Pink Heart Society Aspiring Authors Group come to life. I have longed for a community where aspiring romance authors, such as myself, could gather to learn and support each other. I think it’s safe to say, I’m not the only one either.
The PHS Aspiring Authors Group has gone from strength to strength over the past few months and I am incredibly proud of having had a hand in the creation of it. I also can’t wait to see what’s in store for the group in 2019!
Before we get onto December’s updates, I’d like to take a minute to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of the PHS Aspiring Authors Group and Forum—published authors, the Pink Heart Society Team—especially our Aspiring Authors Editorial Assistants, Alexis Jakes and Chris Buono—and, of course, our aspiring authors.
Workshop News
If you didn’t get a chance to take part in our most recent workshop, Patricia Sargeant’s Storyteller’s Toolkit, you can still head over to the Forum and have a read of the excellent information and guidance she shared with our Aspiring Authors on a variety of topics including story concept, story premise, and story conflict.
This year, we started in April and held six workshops—let’s see if we can top that. There are some great workshops planned for 2019—so stay tuned!
Facebook & Twitter
The PHS Aspiring Author Facebook Group is a hive of activity, especially last month with National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo was a brilliant success for our group and for PHS. Even those who didn’t hit the 50,000-word mark or those who of us who didn’t even take part this year (guilty as charged), still benefited greatly from the prompts, posts, and fun that accompanied the month-long PHS NaNoWriMo event.
Now with November gone, are you still looking for ways to add to your word count? Pop over to Twitter on Sundays and look for the hashtags #SundaySprints and #PHSsprints. The PHS crowd meets up on Twitter every Sunday at 0600, 1200, 1800, and 2400 GMT for one-hour sprints. Challenge yourself to write as many words as you can in the hour and meet back up on Twitter to share your word count.
Exciting News in the Publishing World
PHS has the scoop directly from Carina Press about their newest line, Carina Adores!
‘Carina Press, Harlequin’s digital-first imprint for adult romance and mystery, is launching a new trope-driven LGBTQ+ contemporary romance line—Carina Adores. Carina Adores will offer highly romantic happily-ever-after stories of royalty falling in love, secret babies, marriages of convenience, friends-to-lovers, single parents and more, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual spectrum, pansexual, transgender, intersex, aromantic and nonbinary protagonists. This new trope-centric LGBTQ+ romance line will be the first of its kind by a traditional publisher.
Carina Adores is now open to submissions from authors and its first titles will be released in early 2020. Submissions with multicultural characters, LGBTQ+ pairings and groups, and #ownvoices stories are welcomed and encouraged. Submission guidelines are available here.’
The editors for Carina Adores are looking for contemporary romances between 50,000 and 65,000 words of any heat level. Submissions can be for stand-alone books, series, or “same world” projects including multiple authors. The editors both welcome and encourage multicultural characters, #ownvoices, and, in particular, stories written by LGBTQ+ authors.
If you have a book that you think would be a good fit for the Carina Adores line, click the link above for submission information or get in contact with Angela James, Editorial Director at angela.james@HarperCollins.com.
Christy is an aspiring author, fairy tale fanatic, peanut butter connoisseur, and wannabe mermaid. For more information about her and her writing, check out her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
Have you been enjoying our workshops? Share with your friends and followers online and by word of mouth. Keep up with our new hashtags like the ones above and meet other aspiring authors, all in the same boat with you.
