Thursday 26 May 2011

Welcome Wendy S. Marcus


One of the best things about writing romance is  being part of a global community of women, readers and writers, from all round the world.  I’m writing this from (old) York, in the north of England, and am delighted to welcome new author Wendy S. Marcus, from New York, who has been introduced to me by Nas Dean from Fiji ... I love connections like these. 

The romance writing community is an extraordinarily supportive one, and it’s always wonderful to hear about a new author like Wendy.    




Wendy S. Marcus lives in upstate New York with her husband, two of her three children, and a much loved Bichon Frise named Buddy. A nurse by trade, after years of working in the medical profession, Wendy has taken a radical turn to writing hot contemporary romance with strong heroes, feisty heroines, and lots of laughs.  When she's not writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and blogging/e-mailing/tweeting with her online friends.  To learn more about Wendy, visit her website.


Here’s Wendy now, talking about productivity, which in my experience is something all writers fret about constantly, no matter how many books they’ve written.  I know I get to the end of most days and think: ‘I haven’t written enough words/pages/chapters/books today.  I must, must, must work harder tomorrow.’  So how do we measure our progress?  Leave a comment below, and you could be in with a chance to win a copy of Wendy’s book, When One Night Isn’t Enough.

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Hi Jessica!
Thanks so much for hosting me on the sixth stop of my blog tour to promote my debut Harlequin Medical Romance When One Night Isn’t Enough.

While preparing to write this post I just happened to visit in time to read Jessica’s May 3rd post acknowledging the completion of her 58th book. Let me repeat that…HER 58TH BOOK.

So I decided to write about productivity and what we consider productive.

I, for one, think writing 58 books is darn productive. (Quite frankly, with only two completed books to my credit, it makes me feel rather unproductive in comparison.) It begs the question: How do you define productivity?

If you take a look at my life I have three children, a dog and a house. I have a master’s degree in health care administration and started my own consulting business, which was quite successful for over ten years, until I put it on hold to take a try at becoming a romance author. Since receiving ‘The Call’ in 2010 I have two Harlequin Medical Romances coming out and a contract for three more. I am also working on a non-fiction project with three writing friends. I post regularly on three blogs and am participating in a 25 stop blog tour to promote my book which requires 25 additional blog posts over three months. I’ve had a website designed and promo picture taken and have ordered my business cards, pens, and bookmarks. I’ve set up author profiles on at least ten different sites, created an author page on Facebook and joined Twitter.  In addition to all this I chauffer around my youngest, and her friends, and I’m the vice president of a volunteer organization and spend time coordinating dinners, preparing and serving food a local shelter, and stacking cereal boxes for a local food drive.

I seem like a rather productive person.

But that depends on how you define productivity. Because two books are not 58 books. And there are days, way too many of them I’m afraid,  where I feel like I’ve spent the entire day on the internet and have absolutely nothing to show for it. No additional words to my manuscript. No pages edited. And it makes me feel very unproductive.

So how do you define productivity? And do you consider yourself a productive person? One lucky commenter will win a copy of my 2in1 UK release, which includes a complete novel by Janice Lynn. (The winner will be plucked from my trusty margarine tub of names by my beautiful daughter on May 31st.)

Before I go I’d like to mention When One Night Isn’t Enough is currently available at the Mills & Boon website.  And coming to the U.S. and Aus/NZ in July 2011.

To read an excerpt visit my website And while you’re there, check out my Home page to see how you can enter to win an Amazon gift card.

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A 25 stop blog tour in three months????  That sounds incredibly productive to me, Wendy!  Many congratulations on the publication of your first book, and may it just be the start of a hugely successful writing career.    

24 comments:

  1. Hi Jessica!
    Thanks so much for having me! At this point in my career 58 books doesn't seem doable. But I'm a hard worker and will give it my best shot. It's all about having more productive days than unproductive days.

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  2. Hi Wendy,

    What a great topic.

    How do I define productivity?

    Maybe by the absence of stress. I'm always busy, but those busy things I'm doing aren't always the important things. When I'm doing the important things I feel serene. When I stray off into doing unimportant busy stuff I quickly begin to feel stressed. Perhaps that's because some voice of inner wisdom starts screaming the things I am achieving are the wrong things.

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  3. It's terrible how quickly we all get stressed nowadays, isn't it? There's a great line in Desiderata about not comparing yourself to others, "for there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself". I ought to be happy with my 58 books, but instead I think, 'why haven't I written as many as Nora Roberts?'

    We can't compare our productivity as our lives are so different - I'm sure I wouldn't have have written nearly as many as 58 if I'd had children to bring up for instance! - so we can only set ourselves our own targets and be realistic about how/when we can meet them. And remember that we can't write unless we spend a good chunk of time living too!

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  4. Hi Wendy, Hello Jessica,

    Thanks for the mention, Jessica. As a fellow struggler, I'm very happy to introduce Wendy to everybody, when she struck it and got the call from Harlequin!

    I'm an avid romance reader and Wendy's debut release sounds so interesting and the title "When One Night Isn't Enough" is so sexy!

    Wish you, Jessica and you Wendy, many, many years of productivity!

    BTW, Jessica, your Creative Writing post on my blog is still garnering comments! It was an awesome post. Thanks.

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  5. Hi Wendy,

    It's great to meet you. Congratulations on your new book and wishing you many more years of productivity.

    Thanks Jessica for sharing.

    Cheers,
    Kiru

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  6. Hi Regina!
    I like your definition of productivity!

    In my post I realize I never shared my definition. It's a to-do list with things crossed off and achieving my goals for the day. (Yes...I'm a list-maker and I set goals for myself each day.)

    And a huge thank you to my friend Regina who helped me overcome a Spider Solitaire addiction that severely impacted my ability to be productive.

    Thanks for stopping by, Regina!

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  7. Hi Jessica!
    I agree, it's best not to compare myself with others. And typically I don't. But your post about selling your 58th book struck me as such a monumental accomplishment.

    Thank you for sharing your quote. I jotted it down!

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  8. Hi Nas!
    Thank you for introducing me to Jessica! I'm not much of a traveler but it'd be great to meet some of my internet friends in person one day.....especially on a beach in a tropical paradise!!!!

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  9. Hi Kiru!
    Thank you! And thanks for stopping by.

    Good luck with your writing.

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  10. HI Wendy, Hi Jessica! This is such a great topic to discuss, because many times no matter how much I accomplish, I don't feel like its enough. When I start looking around and comparing, that is when I get in trouble. When I was whining because I couldn't seem to write fast enough, a writer friend told me to slow it down and enjoy the journey. I have young kids and a crazy schedule with a full time job. Our situation is always changing, so I've learned to take what the day offers, enjoy, and do my best! Wendy, I love this blog tour you set up - some wonderful posts!!

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  11. Hi Jen!
    You are one of the busiest people I know! I know for a fact you're productive. You have two books currently out, a romance and a children's book. You put out the HVRWA newsletter. You manage our 4BadMommies blog. And you're on your way to finishing the May50K - which I barely started. You make me want to work harder!

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  12. How do I define productivity? I've actually never given it much thought. I do think setting daily word goals and then meeting them helps me stay focused, feel positive about myself, and, hence, keeps me productive. It's really really hard to keep from getting sucked up in all the shoulda-woulda-couldas that make me feel like I'm failing. And those negative thoughts suck the creativity right out of me!

    I'd say the support I get from fellow writers is critical to staying productive.

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  13. I'm a list maker too, Wendy, and like Aimee I set myself daily targets. When I'm writing a romance, I have to write a certain number of pages, but if I'm writing another kind of fiction, like now, I have to write a certain number of words per day. Don't know why I do it differently, but I do. I'm kind to myself on the word goal front at first so that I can make it easily. At the moment I have to write 300 words before I can have a shower in the morning, which gets me going and makes me feel that I'm making some progress early on. Otherwise I spend the whole day faffing and putting off the moment when I sit down at the computer.

    It's really easy to feel negative and think about what you're not doing, instead of thinking about what you ARE doing. We can recognise what other people do, but are less good at acknowledging our own successes, I think. Is it a woman thing, I wonder?

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  14. Hi Amiee!
    I try to stick to daily words goals, too! Usually I make them. On days when the words just aren't flowing I take a break and update my blog or write a guest post or do something else writing related so I can still feel I had a productive day.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  15. Hi Jessica!
    Faffing is a new word for me. I like it!

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  16. Oh, holy guacamole, I definitely think that's true, Jessica! I also think women excel at GUILT. Much more so than men do.

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  17. Hi Wendy and Jessica!

    ARGH!!! Productivity!! My least favourite word at the moment because I'm feeling a bit like the antithesis of productive! Mmm, faffing is probably a good word for it! LOL

    Wendy, Congratulations on the release of your first book! Isn't it a thrill to hold a copy of it in your hand?! It'll be on the shelf Down Under in about 6 weeks and I'm really looking forward to grabbing myself a copy! Do you know what the Aust/NZ cover is going to be yet? I love you UK cover.

    Wow, Jessica! Fifty eight books - now I'd call that super productive! Congratulations!

    :)
    Sharon

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  18. Aimee, you're so right about the guilt. Seems to be programmed into a lot of us. I don't know why it's so hard for us to be proud of our achievements. I got ticked off the other day for saying that I'd been lucky. My (female) friend told me I should have said that I had worked really hard instead. It's true, I know, but deep down, I do feel that luck plays a big part in what I have achieved.

    Sharon, thanks for the congratulations - it's always a relief to get another one under the belt. 58 sounds a lot, but if you think that they've been written over 21 years, it's not so impressive a figure (there I go again!)

    Faffing must be a British word. Now that IS something I can say I'm really, really good at!

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  19. Hi Sharon!
    Thanks for stopping by! It was a thrill to hold my book in my hand. Then I went ahead and read it straight through and found myself critiquing all the things I wish I'd done differently. ARGH!!! I'm waiting for your book, The Man Behind the Badge to be up on Kindle. I don't usually pre-order because then I forget what I ordered and I don't keep my Internet connection on.

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  20. Hi Jessica!
    Thanks so much for having me at your blog! Wow! From looking at your picture, I can't believe you've been writing for 21 years. Did you start in high school! And, in my opinion, no matter how many years you've been writing, 58 books is an impressive number.

    And I know what you mean about being proud of our achievements. We don't want to be too proud for fear we'll come off like we're bragging. And then there's the people who try to knock us down even when we're being humble. I once wrote a post about how lucky I was to have had an editor who liked my voice and was willing to work with me on revisions until my book was ready for publication. And a commenter wrote that if she were lucky enough to find an editor to help her write her book she'd have been published by now, too. Maybe. Maybe not. Bottom line, I know how hard I worked to get published.

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  21. Lovely to see you here, Wendy! I feel like a groupie following you around. :) I'm so excited about your new book and lucky me already won a copy! (From Kaily's blog!!) I can't wait to read it.

    Thanks for having Wendy as your guest, Jessica. It's always fun to visit here.

    Hugs from Down Under...
    Serena

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  22. Hi Wendy! I sometimes feel that "productivity" is both the boon and bane of ever writer (I'll limit my rant to just writing :P )... When I write a certain number of pages per day, I'm over the moon, my life is perfect ;) and next day, I'm still basking in my own achievement.. LOL ..and obviously, the day sneaks before I write much.. (I'm still an aspiring author here.. so, no deadlines or anything, yet)... and I am propelled into a guilty feeling..which makes it all the more harder to get back into the story the next day :p And the cycle repeats... LOL!

    Congrats on the upcoming book and the other contracts too!! As Nas said, even the title is tempting :)

    And Jessica!! 58 books... :swoons: Can you hear the loud "thud" ? Bravo!

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  23. Hi Serena!
    Thanks for stopping by for a visit. I hope you're feeling better! And come to find out, I like groupies!!! Hope to see lots of you! I plan to mail out your book tomorrow!!! I have it all packaged and ready to go. Am just waiting to pick the book winner from Jessica's blog so I can mail them all out together. (My daughter likes to do it and she's not home from school yet.)

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  24. Hi Ju!
    I couldn't agree more! I'm big on basking in the prior day's word count!! But here's a tip, even before I was published, I set deadlines for myself. Usually I used various RWA contests to make sure I had scenes ready.

    Good luck with your writing!

    Thanks for stopping by!

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