I am so grateful for how my writing career as suddenly taken off again, after about ten years of virtual hibernation. For a while I was thinking of just hanging it all up. No one wanted Rosanne Bittner any more, at least as far as what publishers were telling me. But I kept getting feedback from you, my readers – where is Rosanne Bittner? When will Rosanne Bittner have something new published? Is Rosanne still writing?
Yes, I was still writing, but I was working on things other people told me I should try, as well as writing in a different style, especially when it comes to point of view for my characters. And I was being told I needed a synopsis and first three chapters of a book for submission. I kept thinking – why? I’ve had over 50 books published. Why can’t a publisher take it for granted they will get a good book from me without me having to go into every detail about it? I don’t write that way. I literally DO NOT KNOW what will happen in my stories until I start writing them.
Finally I decided to just write a book – finish it – and THEN submit it, rather than a synopsis and first three chapters. Well, that book sold – PARADISE VALLEY. And you know what? I had no outline for that story and didn’t know a damn thing about what would take place other than how I would open the story. And I also quit worrying about the “proper use” of point of view. I went back to my favorite kind of writing – off the cuff and getting into more than one character’s head – sometimes paragraph to paragraph. And it worked!
The minute I started writing the way I like to write – (and, by the way, I HATE formula writing. I don’t like being told how I have to design my story – so I threw that out the window, too) is when the stories started flowing out of me again – fast and furious. I went on to DESPERATE HEARTS and then – dream of dreams – I was asked to write a sequel to OUTLAW HEARTS. Going back to Jake Harkner after twenty years was easy, because a sequel had been dancing around in my head all those twenty years. I am absolutely, positively, totally in love with Jake, and DO NOT FORSAKE ME came pouring out like water over a damn. My editor already wants a third book, and that, too, is already mostly written in my head.
What this all boils down to is – WRITE WHAT YOU LOVE. WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE. WRITE THE WAY YOU WANT TO WRITE. WRITE WHAT COMES NATURALLY. I call it “breaking all the rules,” and it’s exciting and invigorating. I know you will love these books, coming next summer. I am so excited, and you will see all kinds of promo for these stories about Jake Harkner and his wife Miranda and their family and all the love and chaos and gritty western action that takes place in these stories. At times they won’t be easy reading. I definitely do not write “fluff.” I love realism – real history – real events – real locations – and characters that come alive on the pages and in the hearts of my readers. That’s what you will definitely get with OUTLAW HEARTS and DO NOT FORSAKE ME.
In the meantime, I have a wealth of back issues you can find on Amazon – both in print and as e-books, so if you want to gift a book this year for Christmas, check out Rosanne Bittner. Currently you can get my three “Bride” books – TENNESSEE BRIDE, TEXAS BRIDE and OREGON BRIDE – as an e-book boxed set – all three stories for only $9.99! And if you want a print book autographed for yourself or before you “gift” it, just e-mail me privately at rbamericanhistory@parrett.net for mailing information, and I will pay the postage to send the signed books back to you! MERRY CHRISTMAS, everybody!
Yes, I was still writing, but I was working on things other people told me I should try, as well as writing in a different style, especially when it comes to point of view for my characters. And I was being told I needed a synopsis and first three chapters of a book for submission. I kept thinking – why? I’ve had over 50 books published. Why can’t a publisher take it for granted they will get a good book from me without me having to go into every detail about it? I don’t write that way. I literally DO NOT KNOW what will happen in my stories until I start writing them.
Finally I decided to just write a book – finish it – and THEN submit it, rather than a synopsis and first three chapters. Well, that book sold – PARADISE VALLEY. And you know what? I had no outline for that story and didn’t know a damn thing about what would take place other than how I would open the story. And I also quit worrying about the “proper use” of point of view. I went back to my favorite kind of writing – off the cuff and getting into more than one character’s head – sometimes paragraph to paragraph. And it worked!
The minute I started writing the way I like to write – (and, by the way, I HATE formula writing. I don’t like being told how I have to design my story – so I threw that out the window, too) is when the stories started flowing out of me again – fast and furious. I went on to DESPERATE HEARTS and then – dream of dreams – I was asked to write a sequel to OUTLAW HEARTS. Going back to Jake Harkner after twenty years was easy, because a sequel had been dancing around in my head all those twenty years. I am absolutely, positively, totally in love with Jake, and DO NOT FORSAKE ME came pouring out like water over a damn. My editor already wants a third book, and that, too, is already mostly written in my head.
What this all boils down to is – WRITE WHAT YOU LOVE. WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE. WRITE THE WAY YOU WANT TO WRITE. WRITE WHAT COMES NATURALLY. I call it “breaking all the rules,” and it’s exciting and invigorating. I know you will love these books, coming next summer. I am so excited, and you will see all kinds of promo for these stories about Jake Harkner and his wife Miranda and their family and all the love and chaos and gritty western action that takes place in these stories. At times they won’t be easy reading. I definitely do not write “fluff.” I love realism – real history – real events – real locations – and characters that come alive on the pages and in the hearts of my readers. That’s what you will definitely get with OUTLAW HEARTS and DO NOT FORSAKE ME.
In the meantime, I have a wealth of back issues you can find on Amazon – both in print and as e-books, so if you want to gift a book this year for Christmas, check out Rosanne Bittner. Currently you can get my three “Bride” books – TENNESSEE BRIDE, TEXAS BRIDE and OREGON BRIDE – as an e-book boxed set – all three stories for only $9.99! And if you want a print book autographed for yourself or before you “gift” it, just e-mail me privately at rbamericanhistory@parrett.net for mailing information, and I will pay the postage to send the signed books back to you! MERRY CHRISTMAS, everybody!
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