While suffering through scads of interviews during my senior year of college, it never failed to amaze me how many questions I was supposed to answer that had nothing to do with the job. Things like, “If you were a bug, what kind would you be, and how would you react if someone stepped on you?”

Okay, I made that up. But I was asked by a large consulting firm (in 2001, no less) if I had ever worked with a person of a different race and how I handled it. Well, sir, I actually made my way through this respected university being a dimwitted loser with no tolerance for people who aren’t exactly like me. Hello? Is that question even legal? I have no idea what the point of that was supposed to be, and I said as much to the interviewer, because a) I’m a smart-a$$ and b) I didn’t really want the job, anyway.

Other random questions included my biggest failure, most embarrassing moment, favorite color, likely reaction to being stung by a bee or eating roast beef for lunch when I really wanted turkey, etc. I believe this is called a “behavioral interview” or something equally useless. Do you want to marry and/or diagnose me, or do you want to know if I can do the job?

These memories spring to mind because there were multiple times I also had to list three words that would best describe me. And that’s what I ask of you, blog friends, today–what words/phrases would you use to describe me, or what I write? I need to define my niche in the big, bad publishing world, and “sorta kind of a good writer” won’t cut it. (I like “Hot as the heroines she writes about”, but that probably won’t do, either.) So if you’ve met me, what did you think? If you haven’t, what’s your impression? Go ahead, I can take it. As long as you don’t want to know what wallpaper design I prefer in my kitchen and why I made that particular choice.

(For the record, my kitchen is painted a light, neutral color. And I ended up getting a job with a company that asked me real questions about my education and my writing. Imagine that!)

P.S. Check back on Monday for details on an upcoming group contest, where you can win lots of cool stuff and read a piece of my book. Yay!

You know it’s a real job when too much playtime = mile-long list of must-dos, and must do now. I’ve done a poor job of multi-tasking lately (so not like me), and if I want to keep doing this writer thing, I might want to, well, write. And finish edits. Plan promo. Fix up the website. Insert coffee and distraction-extractor here. How do you empty your mind of everything but the task at hand?

*ETA: Edits finished and waiting for final read-through, and it’s only 10pm. Good to know I’m still capable of focusing when I have to.

It’s not even noon, and I’ve read three articles today about digital books being the future of publishing…in business mags and on major websites, written by people other than starving artists reaching for a light at the end of the publishing tunnel. I read a couple yesterday and the day before that, too, and I wasn’t even searching for them. That’s great news for me, because it means expanding my horizons was a wise decision. Of course, before shiny paper covers become obsolete, I hope to hold a few of my own in my hands (and I should, next year…). But I also hope the future hurries up and arrives, so I will earn enough to buy one of the cute little products on the left. And a BMW.

Tracy Wolff will be signing her hot new erotic suspense novel, Full Exposure, at the Lakeline Barnes & Noble this Sunday from 3-5 pm. If you’re in the area, stop by and support your local author.

I’m seriously glad to be taking a break from RWA National this year. The conference sucked up my money and my energy for two years, and while I loved it both times, there’s absolutely nothing the event can do for me this year. Not to mention I’m growing tired of the constant policy controversies. I’m on the fence, anyway–yes, I think there’s a big problem when writers are left out of both contests. But I also don’t believe small press authors should be eligible for the Golden Heart. Wouldn’t that effectively discount the work of those authors, since the GH is specifically for unpublished writers? Because of my contract, I had to pull two manuscripts that I *love* from the GH this year, and that was a bummer…but why would I enter unpubbed contests when I’ve got two books coming out? That doesn’t make a lot of sense–unless they come out and make it a “Get Noticed by NY!” contest, wherein pubbed status wouldn’t matter. But as the contests stand, it’s pubbed (RITA) vs unpubbed (GH)…and in that case, small press books should go to the RITA.

Anyhoo…

I had to make a choice, and I decided to write for an audience instead of a contest. I don’t have a problem with that. I am irked by the “you aren’t a real author unless you make a lot of money” mentality, but still, I’m just starting out, so I don’t even care too much about that. My intention is to write for Samhain, continue banging on HQ’s door and eventually have two publishers. Small and big, e-pub and print…heck, I’ll just be all over the place. What will RWA call me then? A mutt?

Point being, I’m tired of the politics. I’ve been reading. I miss it. It occurred to me recently that if I don’t read, I’ll forget how to write. Growing up, I read two or three books a day, which taught me how to put together a story in the first place. I just finished re-reading Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer (great book, btw) and I’ve got a Blaze, Superromance, and historical single-title on deck. I’m getting story ideas again. Too much focus on the business end of publishing had me burned out for a while. I remember one night several years ago, working on my very first attempt at a book, when I had to force myself to go to bed at 3:30 a.m. I was so into the book, I didn’t want to stop. When was the last time that happened? One of my goals for the year is to remember this is supposed to be fun.