PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

I was inspired by talks by Kristan Higgins (“What are you prepared to do?”), Cathy Maxwell (“You’ve got talent!”), and especially Sherrilyn Kenyon — whose story I am still chewing over. As she said, I had no idea of her or her life, and how much can I know of anybody else’s, either?

I got good reactions during my pitch-to-agent sessions, and another reminder that I need to Always Be Marketing. That includes using a real photo, not my beloved anime mug, as my avatar. But the camera is traditionally indifferent or hostile to me, really, just no love at all. It’s so bad that sometimes at relatives’ houses I secretly steal their worst pictures of me and trash them (sorry, grandma). Just thinking of getting photos taken makes my smile turn grimacy and my face break out.

BUT marvelous planners that they are, the retreat organizers had invited a photographer who has a magic about her that set me so at ease. After another member raved about her photo session, I went and signed up for the very next session so I couldn’t back out and had no time to worry about it. And we did it — and found 4-5 images that look pretty good! She’s tweaking them, so I won’t get them for a few weeks, but that’s one giant to-do item checked off the list. All because I went to retreat. Thank you Barbara Woodard, photographic designer.

Story-wise, I seem to be building another set-of-three structure, with three pairs of protagonists-antagonists and interlocking stories. Maybe it’s too much Dickens in my diet, but I seem to want to explore many angles of a subject, be it second-chance love, duty vs. family, or whatever. Unfortunately, this is what got last year’s story rejected — too many subplots and not enough focus on the main romantic couple (one editor suggested I cut every subplot out). Am I treading down that same (reject, reject) path again? What could I do differently?

Career-wise, I am very tempted by the idea of e-publishing/self-publishing. Advantages: quicker potential payday; I can “be an author” now; I have more control over my content. Disadvantages: I’d need to spend money on my own editor, cover designer, and text-coder; I’d need to spend time now on marketing; I worry that if the story isn’t “good enough” to find a publisher, what makes me think it’s good enough to publish any other way?

One twist: I could write the interlocking stories as standalone novellas, and sell those as e-versions, and then gauge the interest in my weaving them together into a longer tale. The more successful current e-pub authors have a lot of content to sell, while my books are long and intricate and take a year or more to finish so I have not so much to sell. And if a 30k-word novella and a 120k novel both sell at 99 cents, what is the advantage to making it a novel? The pool of e-authors is relatively small now, but surely will explode; maybe now is the time to take advantage of a smaller market?

Or is this all jumping the gun? Maybe I should just keep writing the novels, and when I have five or six good ones, and when I have exhausted the query-submit-agent-publisher route, then turn to e-pub. But I want to be an author now. But I want to be a good author more. And while I want to make money from my writing, I can wait another few years to do it: If our current economy holds steady, I won’t need to get a more-immediately-lucrative second job until the end of 2012.

All this mental buzz (plus my bad reaction to the tree pollen) has cut into my writing time this week. That won’t get me anywhere. Weekend of writing coming up (with a break for the DC science writers’ workshop). And — great timing — the next weekend is the Washington Romance Writers annual retreat; maybe my fellow scribes have found some answers.

Plus, this one has tracks for readers as well as writers, booksellers, and librarians. For readers, there are lots of chances to see many favorite authors and meet new ones. For me as a writer, this is a great chance to hear what die-hard readers like and dislike and what they’d like to read more of — here’s hoping it’s long historical fiction with romantic elements!

I’ll ride the reader track for a day or two, but I’m also looking forward to two business panels, one of editors and one of agents, on what kinds of stories they’re looking for right now. There are a lot of seminars on how e-books are changing how we sell our stories, too. Plus the Mr. Romance contest!

You can follow the goings-on via Twitter, hashtag #RT11.

Manchester, 1819 — After a broken engagement and rushed marriage, Madeline Wetherby struggles to adapt to her new role as a merchant’s wife and to a new style of town, changing rapidly as machines displace skilled workers. As whispers of rebellion grow, a mill is set on fire, and Manchester starts to roil in the summer heat, she discovers her birth father is one of the weavers her husband is putting out of work—and a radical leader. Now she must decide whether the family she longs for can be made of the man of her heart or the people of her blood.

I see this as the sort of book chatty book clubs would enjoy. It’s not a “straight romance,” but it has more romance than a “straight historical.” It’s a cross-over, mashup, reading delight!

Here’s about half of the floor. Sales totaled more than $60,000, all for charity.

OMG – How can my little stories compete?

Next day starts the marathon of workshops, mixers, luncheon speakers and happy mayhem culminating in an awards ceremony for published and unpublished authors at the top of their game. Don’t know if my feet can hold out for that one (there’s often dancing after–and during); a sorry attempt at wearing fancy shoes has left me with double back-of-the-heel blisters. But there’s nothing wrong with my hands, and I’ll be taking notes and taking names for the next four days.

Even in this information age, people dealing with often-serious neurological problems face the daunting task of finding accurate, credible and understandable information—the essential medical fact. Using case histories as examples, Dr. Bradley, one of the world’s leading neurologists, explains the neurological examinations, tests, clinical features, causes and treatments available for Alzheimer’s disease, migraines, stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s and other frequently diagnosed neurological disorders.

Known by medical students and physicians across the globe as the editor of the leading neurology textbook, NEUROLOGY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Dr. Bradley now provides a definitive resource for patients, caregivers and other health practitioners. TREATING THE BRAIN is for anyone who has ever had a neurological symptom, from a headache to tingling hands, and for anyone with a personal interest in how the brain works in health and disease.

Here’s how to request an advance reader’s copy. Requests are due by July 24; we will mail an advance reading edition by July 29 and seek your reviews by August 21. The book will be released in November. Stay tuned as more books become available later this year.