The Power of Passion - Part I

The following is the first segment of a workshop I conducted at the Romantic Times conference in Chicago in April 2012 … 

  
Passion … the word is used in so many ways by romance writers and the industry as a whole – in our titles, our blurbs, our dialogue, our love scenes, our plots … and it is the basis of our dream to write – a passion for the art of writing, for our particular genre, and for our characters.

The word Passion holds power. And the power of passion can lead to terrible things … or to good things. Passion is the basic driving force in our lives…a passion for mommy and daddy and playfulness when we are little … a passion for certain hobbies and friends and teachers and school and sports as we grow … perhaps a passion for a high school crush in our teen years or for a rock star or movie star … for dancing and dreaming.

Often in our younger years we hold a passion for changing the world and finding ways to make a difference or be important and recognized. Sometimes later on that passion becomes directed at whomever we choose to marry, followed by a passion to become a mother, or instead perhaps a passion for a certain career. Later in life we feel passionate love for our grandchildren. However we turn out, passion in all its various forms usually plays a role in all our decisions. It is something to remember when plotting your stories, because passion is vital to the reason for decisions your characters make.

Though we are romance writers, passion is not all about romance and sex. It covers all aspects of life, and is the food for plot after plot. Passion can be the source of hatred and crime, crimes as devastating as assault and murder, even the murder of a loved one - or maybe for a loved one.

Passion can be the source of greed and again – the crimes that springs from greed – like theft, embezzlement, break-ins, and of course – and again – assault and murder, lies and betrayal.

Passion often leads to jealousy, gossip, and deliberate slander and misunderstandings, to cheating and adultery. Passion can also lead to loyalty and undying love, sometimes for people who don’t love us back. It can give us drive and energy, a purpose to life itself.

Passion has led to phenomenal historical events, like the American civil war, brought on by men and women who were passionate about a cause and their political beliefs. Just think of the kind of passionate devotion to a political cause it would take to fight against and alienate your own brother or father, or your closest friend. Along with that, it is easy to understand then that passion also leads to courageous decisions that can change our lives forever.

The physical passion between Anthony and Cleopatra left behind a story told and re-told for centuries. It was passion that brought about a revolution in this country in which people risked life and limb to be free from tyranny and ended up founding the most successful and richest country in the world.

Man’s passion to constantly go beyond the limits of the known world led to world exploration and eventually to numerous trips to the moon. The passion to help end diseases and find ways to lead longer lives led to the polio vaccine and thousands of other miracles in the world of medicine

The passion to make man’s life better in general led to untold inventions that continue to change the world and our personal lives in phenomenal ways.

There are people with a passion for war, just because they believe the whole world should live as they do, worship as they do, be under their control. And thank god there are people with a passion for peace, people who will go to the extent of risking their lives to help others far less fortunate, to help end wars, to do what they can to make others understand that it’s all right to share and accept our diverse cultures and religions.

Passion can be the source of endless story plots because of all the dramatic results of its power.

Passion can help our careers – the passion we all share for writing can bolster us when our careers begin to sag; it can bring new perspective to our work and our purpose; and it can carry us through dark times and keep us at the computer when writing is sometimes the last thing we want to do.

Watch this blog for Section II of my workshop, The Power of Passion.

What About TODAY?

I was just e-mailing my two sisters about getting together this spring and already everybody is so busy it will be at least the end of June before we can have a “sister” day. It made me realize how, in spite of all the conveniences we have today, people seem to be busier than ever. Back in the “old days,” when men and women both did so many more chores by hand, and when we had to sit down and write letters rather than send quick texts or e-mails, and when we had to travel to visit someone rather than blog or twitter or visit on Facebook – we were so “physically” busy – and yet there was time for friends and family. There were more get-togethers, neighbors visiting neighbors, and families sitting down to a table together for their meals. There was “human contact,” as opposed to sending pictures out on Facebook or on an i-phone.

The internet world has intruded on life, as has the world as a whole, barging its way into our nation, our state, our cities, our small communities, our businesses, our jobs, our schools, our families and our homes. Neighbors don’t even know their neighbors any more, people stand in the aisle at the grocery store not looking or speaking to each other, people become enraged on the highway because they are always in a hurry, family members quickly visit through texting or Facebook, no one rides together in the car any more. Most children old enough to drive have their own cars, dad has his own car, mom has her own car, and everyone is so busy running all over the place that families end up passing each other in the night as they walk down the hallway to use the bathroom. There is no such thing as everyone sitting down to breakfast together because everybody has a different place to go and a different time they have to be there.

It’s the same in the evening – everyone getting home at different times, often each member making their own meal in a microwave or picking up take-out and eating it on a tray in front of the TV, yet another instrument that interrupts normal family life. No one talks any more, and we plan our calendars so far ahead that we are always living for “tomorrow” or “next week” or even “next fall” or “next year.”

What about TODAY? In reality, today is all we have, and even that could be taken from us at any time and at any age. How sad that more people don’t stop to think about that. How many times do people weep over someone’s death because they feel so guilty that they didn’t spend more time with them, or cry over the death of a family member whom they realize they didn’t even truly know because they seldom talked? How many days go by without us truly hearing the birds or smelling the flowers or playing outside with our children or grandchildren or just sitting down together and TALKING? How many times do we ignore the plea of a small child to “play with me” or “take me fishing?” Our answer too often is, “Maybe tomorrow.”

We don’t know if we even have tomorrow. That’s not our decision to make.

Something has been lost in this busy world of ours. I don’t have the answers for how to get it back. Maybe it’s simply taking one day a week in which the family decides there will be no TV, that cell phones and computers will be turned off, and everyone will sit down to a meal and share their thoughts and concerns. It sounds like a good idea, but then again, just try finding a day when everyone is able to get together at the same time. I can hear it now – “I can’t do it Tuesday – maybe Wednesday.” “But I can’t do it Wednesday. Monday would work better for me.” “But Monday is your dad’s golf day. What about Thursday?” “No way! Thursday is football practice.” “Well, Friday is certainly out. That’s mom and dad’s night out.” “The weekend? Impossible! There is yard work and the kids are going to the movies. Sundays are our day to either go to church or lie around all day watching movies and reading the Sunday paper.”

And so it never happens. It can only happen if we really TRY and make a commitment to what is really important in life. Oh, but all those “other” things are so important. And how are we supposed to get through the day without the computer and our cell phones?

There was a time when people DID get by without those things, and they were often happier and healthier and closer than most families are today.

Stop and listen to the birds. Smell the flowers. Think about all your blessings and remember that you are here only at God’s mercy. Enjoy your time on earth, and enjoy your family and the sunshine and the fact that you are breathing at all … and that you can function just fine without the world at your doorstep via the internet. And try figuring out why, in today’s time when everything is so quick and convenient, we still don’t have “time” for what’s most important in our lives.

I wish the whole world would just take a deep breath and relax, that the whole world would pick one day a week when no one can get on the internet or their cell phones, when there is no disturbing news on TV about another horrible shooting spree or a mother suing her own son or someone telling us we can’t pledge to our own flag or worship our own way. I want the world to stay out of my life and the lives of my family, but that can never happen now. There is no going back, so we have to make time ourselves for what is important and do what we can to keep families and neighbors close and learn to enjoy our very short time here on earth. Don’t let it slip past you. Fifty years ago can seem like only a couple of years ago, even a couple of weeks ago. That’s how fast it goes. Grab on and slow it down any way you can.

2012 RT Convention

Thought I should tell everyone through my blog how great the Romantic Times Conference was last weekend in Chicago. I drove there because I live less than two hours from Chicago, arrived just in time to meet the gang from my publishing house, Sourcebooks, my editor Leah, my publicist, Beth, the owner of Sourcebooks, Dominique, and a host of young, forward-thinking, awesome people who have made Sourcebooks one of the most innovative, successful publishers out there today. Some pictures will soon be posted here and on my other sites so you can share the fun of the R.T. Conference with me!

Sourcebooks drove us to their facilities in Naperville in a very fancy limo-bus, and when we arrived we were taken on a tour of “the works.” Wow! We take a lot for granted when we buy a paperback book or order an e-book, not thinking about all the work that goes into getting that book published. We toured the editing department, the layout department, the cover art department, publicity, marketing, sales, packaging, and they even have a complaint department. A terrific amount of hours and thought go into how to present and market each book they publish, and as opposed to most publishers, every single new book coming out receives their full attention, including advance reading copies to all distributors and primary book stores and libraries. There are no favorites here. All authors, from big sellers to smaller sellers, get the same treatment, with the goal being to make ALL their authors best-sellers. I have never worked with a publisher who operated this way, and it’s probably the reason that Sourcebooks is far out-selling all other publishers!

The tour was followed by a wonderful lunch on-site, after which several authors were interviewed individually. Soon those interviews will be available for all you readers to view when you go to Sourcebooks.com. My particular interview will be made available here and other sites of my social networking, so watch for it!

The best news that came out of Romantic Times and my meeting with Sourcebooks was learning that I have SOLD A NEW BOOK! My readers can finally read a new story from Rosanne Bittner. It’s a western romance called PARADISE VALLEY and is set in 1800’s Wyoming and parts of the famed Outlaw Trail. PARADISE VALLEY is my 58th book, and when my deal is settled with Sourcebooks I will post a short synopsis of the story so everybody can see what it will be about. It will be published both in mass paperback and as an e-book next spring (2013)!

Another bit of great news from the conference – I was presented with Romantic Times’ PIONEER AWARD, for longevity and for having 57 books published over the last 30 years and still selling! I felt very honored to receive this award.

I conducted a workshop at R.T. called THE POWER OF PASSION, and it, too, will soon be posted here on my blog for you to read. I attended other workshops and a great party Sourcebooks held at the hotel. R.T. held a HUGE book signing in the grand ballroom that Saturday. I’m sure at least 2,000 readers and booksellers came through! By the time it was over, I could barely talk because I’d been talking all afternoon. I handed out every piece of publicity I’d brought with me and met a host of current readers and prospective new readers. It was one of the best conferences I have attended in years and I will probably go again next year! Not sure what city will host next year’s convention, but if you go to RT Book Reviews, I’m sure they are already posting information on next year’s event.

I am extremely happy to be able to announce a new book! I will very likely hold another contest for PARADISE VALLEY, so keep checking my blog and web site. In the meantime, I am sponsoring another contest for my July book, THUNDER ON THE PLAINS, and the grand prize is a Kindle reader, so watch for details! Thanks to all you readers who helped Sourcebooks realize you want more from Rosanne Bittner!

Goodreads Giveaway - From April 9 - April 16, 2012

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wildest Dreams

by Rosanne Bittner

Giveaway ends April 16, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Romantic Times Conference

Romantic Times conducts a very relaxed, fun-filled conference wherein everybody, published or not, feels welcome and has a great time! It's not an "all business/few frills" kind of conference. It's fun and active and a great way to meet editors and agents and other published and unpublished writers - and most important - YOUR FANS and hundreds of other readers who might not have read your books yet. They sponsor tons of workshops, lots of extra-curricular activities and tours of the area outside the hotel, and you can dress casually except for the awards dinner, where you might want to wear something more elegant. What I like about RT is that they support ALL FORMS of romance and don't turn their noses up at erotica or self-published or any other form of writing some other organizations tend to frown upon as not "real writing" or not "legitimate" publishing. Their founder, Kathryn Falk, has been a huge supporter of romance since she first started publishing a newsletter about romance way back in the early 80's. As romance and publishing has changed, RT has gone right along and continued their strong support of all forms of romance over these many years. And at each of their national conferences they hold a HUGE book signing. They gear themselves to the READERS, and that, my friends, is very important. It's the readers who keep us writing and selling, and RT understands that. 

Their next national conference is coming up April 11th in Chicago and I'm looking forward to being there! When it comes to conferences, study all the different ones out there and make sure you spend your money on ones you feel will not only benefit you, but also ones you will truly enjoy, and especially those that will hook you up with READERS. Another of the best conferences to attend is Mid-Michigan RWA's Retreat from Harsh Reality, held the last weekend of April every year. It's casual, it's fun, it's not expensive, and you will come away from the Retreat revved up to WRITE, WRITE, WRITE! 

The above is a "Comment" I made on Author Diane Burton's blog.

Catching Up!

Well, vacations are nice, but the headache of catching up when you get home can make you wonder if the vacation was worth it. We do love Las Vegas and traveling around in Nevada (after all, the state is full of “Old West” historical places that I love to explore). We returned a week earlier than planned (the last week of February) because my aging mother fell quite ill and I feared for her life. However, she’s much better now but will have to spend the rest of her years in a nursing home. Thus, besides catching up on the things I do for our family business, catching up on visits with grandsons, catching up on the many facets of my writing and the advertising that goes with it, catching up on unpacking and housework – I have also been helping my sisters clean out my mom’s apartment – a very emotional experience, let me tell you!

Now, I am working hard at preparing for a workshop I will be conducting at the Romantic Times Convention April 11th through April 15th in Chicago – lots to do! On top of that I have to prepare for yet another conference just 12 days later – our Mid-Michigan Romance Writers annual RETREAT FROM HARSH REALITY. What fun! Be sure to visit our Mid-Michigan web site to learn more about this wonderful weekend retreat and how you can join us!

In addition to all of that, I have just received the paperwork to finalize my new contract with Amazon.com to publish all my Savage Destiny books in e-book form. Getting those books configured into the necessary font and form for KINDLE e-books will, I can see, not be an easy effort; but I am thrilled that my wonderful SAVAGE DESTINY series, still in demand after 30 years, will now be fully available to new readers through Amazon.com – and eventually it will also be available for Barnes & Noble’s NOOK.

I’ve been writing for nearly 30 years, and it’s wonderful to realize that readers out there still enjoy Rosanne Bittner. I sometimes wonder how and when I penned those millions of words and created 57 novels (equivalent to one book for every year of my life from when I was 10 years old!) – how and when did I do all that research and take hundreds and hundreds of pages of notes and do all those re-writes and attend all those conferences and conduct all those workshops and still find time to be a wife and a mom and work full time and travel the west and do all the daily things working moms do?

Whew! I’ve slowed down the last three or four years, but I guess I have that right. I am still working on new material, and my passion for the Old West and American history has never waned. In fact, the workshop I am holding in Chicago in April at Romantic Times is titled THE POWER OF PASSION. In mid-May you can start reading the context of my workshop when I begin posting it in four parts on this blog, so keep an eye out! It should inspire those of you who are aspiring writers, and those of you who might be experiencing a bit of a sag in their writing careers. It happens to all of us, but you can get through it if you keep in mind how much you love to write and keep the passion for your genre alive in your heart. Come back in May and get inspired!!

Happy spring to all!

Rosanne

Winner of the Leap into Books Giveaway Hop!

Congratulations to Kim Reid for winning a copy of my book, WILDEST DREAMS in the Leap into Books Giveaway Hop - Thank you to everyone who participated!!!

Leap into Books Giveaway Hop

From February 29th through March 5th, I'm participating in the Leap into Books Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Jinky is Reading. I'll be giving away a copy of my book WILDEST DREAMS, which has just been re-published by Sourcebooks Casablanca.

Details:
1 Book to the winner of the Giveaway
Open to US only.
Drawing for the Giveaway will be held on 
March 5, 2012, and the winner will be announced on March 6, 2012.
To be eligible to enter the Giveaway, you must "Follow" this site then enter with this FORM. One entry per person please. Follow me on Twitter, Like me on Facebook or Friend me on Goodreads for an extra chances to win. Leave a comment and your URL and we'll follow you back!

Here's a list of all the stops on the Hop!

Hello To All My Fellow Bloggers!

Keep watch here for news about my Virtual Valentine’s Day Party beginning February 7th and how you can win some prizes! It’s all to celebrate the publication of my novel WILDEST DREAMS, both in print and as an e-book, from Sourcebooks. You can also find the book at Amazon.com. It’s a true “Bittner” western romance, set in the wilds of 1800’s Montana – a great love story filled with real history, lots of action and adventure. This is a love story that spans a generation, one you will not soon forget!

I want to talk a little more about TV and big-screen westerns. In my comments about some of the best western movies I realize I failed to mention DANCES WITH WOLVES. Don’t know how I managed to leave that one out! And then there is THE BIG COUNTRY, a magnificent western. And although I mentioned some of the best TV westerns, I failed to mention a couple of western movies made for TV. Yes, the new AMC series, HELL ON WHEELS, is great; but yesterday I watched (for probably the fourth time) BROKEN TRAIL, a full TV movie with Robert Duvall (who needs to be added to my list of some of the most authentic-looking grizzly old cowboys I’ve ever seen). BROKEN TRAIL is one of the most realistic westerns I have ever watched, actually difficult to watch at times because it makes us face the pitiful, shameful way the Chinese were treated in the Old West, especially young girls kidnapped from China and brought to this country to be sold into slavery as prostitutes. In BROKEN TRAIL Robert Duvall and the men with him end up helping some of these girls, a bit by accident at first, and then because they realize they need to protect them from evil forces who want them back for slavery. This is such an incredibly touching movie that it makes you cry, and the best part about it is how Robert Duvall’s character and his partner depict (perfectly) the role of the true cowboy spirit, and the cowboy way of respecting and protecting women. They come through as true, yet humble, heroes.

Robert Duvall does this yet again in OPEN RANGE, with Kevin Costner. Again, the true cowboy spirit shines through in this story of rugged ranching life, as well as the quintessential good vs. bad plot line that is so important in all good westerns. Both these TV movies are some of the most realistic I’ve ever seen as far as what life was really like for cowboys/ranchers and their women in the Old West. And realism is what I love to write. I try hard to put myself in the shoes of my characters and imagine what it would be like to live with no electricity, no doctors, no conveniences, in a time when women did all the cooking and baking, all the sewing, scrubbing everything by hand, made the butter and the soap and the candles and helped with all the chores. It was a hard life, and I have tremendous respect for America’s pioneers, especially the women. We have no idea how good we have it today.

I know all I seem to talk about is westerns and pioneers and Native Americans, but that’s the genre I love and the only one about which I write. I believe that to do a good job writing a story, you have to totally love the subject matter and then immerse yourself in the story to the point that you believe the characters really did exist. I’ve had many readers who have written me to ask just that – were these people real?

Thanks for your continued support of my writing, and be sure to visiti my comments on other blogs who participated in my blog tour for WILDEST DREAMS!

Men Like This Never Die

I just recently watched (for at least the 10th time) THE SHOOTIST, starring John Wayne. What a perfect way for an iconic star like him to end his career, going down in a shootout and (in the movie) at the turn of the century, a time when the era of the “wild west” was coming to a close and civilization and the telephone and electricity and automobiles began to take over the “Old West.” It was as though John Wayne himself was walking into history in that movie, leaving us a lasting legacy of the western hero. In the movie he is a gunman dying of cancer, and not long after that movie was made, John Wayne really did die of cancer. I’m sure he knew he had it even when he was making the movie. Even more touching and ironic is the fact that the movie also starred James Stewart and Lauren Bacall, two more of the biggest movie stars of all time who were also being ushered out of their prime movie-making careers when they made THE SHOOTIST.

And then there is Ron Howard, the other major star in THE SHOOTIST. He represented the future of movie making, a young man who grew up during the best years of making western movies and then moved on into the future of new genres and into producing and directing his own movies.

THE SHOOTIST represents all that is John Wayne, all that represents the closing era of big westerns, and is a fitting farewell to one of movie-making’s greatest stars. I always cry at the end of that movie, because to me it represented an honorable and touching “good-bye” to a great man and the biggest star of westerns we have ever had – or ever will again. What I like most about the westerns of the 1950’s through the 70’s is the way producers and directors of the time used real western landscapes as a backdrop for those movies – the “real’ west, usually Monument Valley or the Rockies and other beautiful landscapes of America’s West. It’s a land I love with all my heart, and the one thing that modern western movie-makes forget to include. It’s those grand western landscapes that made so many of the old westerns so great and gave movie-goers the “feel” of the West. Anyone today who films a western should remember that the scenery behind the story is vital to making a good western.

I try to get the same thing across in my books, and apparently I do a decent job of it because I get so many comments about how the readers can picture the landscape and feel as though they are right there with the story characters. That’s because I have traveled the West for a good 30 years now and have visited just about every location I have written into my stories. To say it’s a “ big country” is an understatement. I wish everyone who has never been “west” could go and see just how huge it really is out there. It’s so grand that it makes your heart swell with pride in America. To me the Old West represents the spirit of individualism, pride and independence our forefathers instilled in us as Americans. May such things always live on in our hearts and the hearts of our children and grand-children. Being American is uniquely wonderful and a privilege, and we need to preserve the freedom of the individual spirit this country represents.

Someone like John Wayne represented that “big country” and that American pride and individualism. I think he is still out there riding the prairies, plains and through the mountains. Men like that never really die.