Judy Anderson

Virginia C

Kathy Yates

Please send your addy to Joann AT joannross.com

Congrats to our winners and thanks so much to everyone who stopped by today! I hope you’ll come back to RRC and check out some of our other authors!

As someone who has reaped the benefits of the military education system, I can honestly say the GI Bill is one of the best out there. Now that the rules have changed, however, it’s critical that all veterans look into just what that means for them. The below information came from Diana Bakowski, who asked me to help spread the word to our Romance Roll Call Readers.

d. The Post-9/11 GI Bill offers terrific benefits, but they are not automatic. The actions taken today will simplify the process and help the VA expedite benefit payments. I’m contacting you today on behalf of The United States Department of Veterans Affairs to stress the importance of completing all of the necessary steps to ensure the benefits deserved will be paid in a timely fashion! Here’s what needs to be done:

* Check your eligibility online at www.gibill.va.gov
* Submit your application VA Form 22-1990 or 22-1990E.
* After you have enrolled in school, check with your School Certifying Official (SCO) to confirm that your VA enrollment certification has been sent to the VA on your behalf. This form certifies your actual enrollment period and triggers your payment. *Here’s a little hint: the school’s designated SCO will be found in the Financial Aid Department, Admissions and Records Department, or Registrar’s Office.)
* And last but not least, enjoy the education benefits you earned!

If you or a loved one is planning to use the Post-9/11 GI Bill to attend school anytime this year, action must be taken today. Please let me know if you would be interested in working together to ensure your readers are securing the benefits they are eligible for. For more information please visit: http://www.gibill.va.gov or text GIBill to 99702.

And thank you for your service to our country.

If you’ve never had to really consider what you’d take on a desert island with you, you’ve never deployed. Last year while I was in Iraq, there was nothing I loved more than getting care packages full of books (except when they had books, coffee and chocolate in them). I had incredible support from the RWA community and so it’s time to pass along a great message.

Author Laura Griffin was one author who spent the time to trudge to the post office, stand in line and send me all of the above with one added benefit: she sent me ARCs of her two books that came out last year: Untraceable and RITA nominated Whisper of Warning. So without delay, here’s Laura, asking for support on books for soldiers!

What’s better than chocolate? According to a friend of mine who just spent a year deployed overseas, a good book.

As a civilian, I’d never spent much time thinking about the reading material on most military bases. But I guess it isn’t surprising that it’s geared toward men. When my local Romance Writers of America chapter heard that female soldiers were finding the reading selection a little thin, we started sending care packages containing romance novels, chick lit, mysteries, women’s fiction—basically, whatever we thought women overseas might be missing. The effort continues today with a paperback book drive over on Murder She Writes: www.murdershewrites.com

“These packages mean a tiny space in time where a female soldier can feel like the woman she is rather than the weapon wielding warrior she also is,” says Monica, a soldier who helps get care packages to women in uniform. “These packages let the soldier escape from the sand and stress of a deployment and be somewhere else completely.”

The goal today is 100 books, one for every person who leaves a comment here or on Murder She Writes. Many author friends have generously donated books, and I’ve picked up some paperbacks from the bestseller section of my local book store. They’re all going into the box, along with a few other much-requested goodies, such as blank journals and chocolate!

Please leave a comment and help us reach our goal!

And if you have some books on your hands that you’d like to donate directly, you can contact Monica at: mojo09226@yahoo.com for details.

Laura Griffin started her career in journalism before venturing into the world of writing romantic suspense. Her articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, and her fiction work has garnered awards from writing competitions throughout the country. Laura currently lives in Austin, where she is working on her next romantic suspense novel.

When I first started writing, my fabulous mentor Candace Irvin said go to the bookstore and figure out what you’re like. You need to know the market before you can start to see where you fit.

So I went. I read Joann Ross, Cindy Gerard, Suzanne Brockmann, Marliss Melton and others. I read Robyn Carr after Roxanne St Claire said maybe you’re more like her. After all, I’ve got military heroes, I’ve got to be like one of these great ladies, right?

Oh how wrong I was. Here’s the problem and its not one I’m sure I can overcome. I’m not romantic suspense. So my War’s Darkest Series is not like Suzanne Brockmann’s Seal Team series where there’s a cast of eight or so strapping men to pick a story from. None of my characters are Special Operations Forces.

My characters are also not prior military like Robyn Carr’s heros, who have all gotten out and headed up country to Virgin River, hoping to find a new life away from their military experiences. My guys are the Everyman, my women spouses, nurses and warriors themselves. No Special Forces, Navy Seals or Black Ops. Just regular soldiers, fighting the good fight.

So my books don’t fit. They aren’t small town based like Robyn’s and they’re not suspense like Joann, Cindy or Suzanne. In short, there’s nothing out there that I can compare to because everyone has either written prior military characters or Navy Seals.

When I wrote military romance in a query letter, little did I know I was speaking in code for romantic suspense. When agents are reading it, they’re looking for suspense. Fast pacing, action, action, romance, action. And that’s not what I wrote. I wrote a character based, contemporary romance with men and women who are all still in the military. I wrote books that were not suspense except that by putting military in the query, I was telling agents that’s what they were.

I screwed myself, apparently. I feel like when I sent out this last round of queries, I should have put in big bold letters, THIS IS NOT ROMANTIC SUSPENSE. I don’t know that it would have helped. I’m reasonably certain there are other issues in my current WIP but I’m also reasonably certain that the main problem agents are seeing is that they’re reading for romantic suspense and putting the book down when it doesn’t live up their expectations, wrong or not.

So, bluntly, I think I’m screwed. How do you pitch a book that doesn’t fit into a nice neat genre? Especially in this market? You can pitch to your hearts content but if you can’t get past the gatekeepers, you can’t get sold. I’m not complaining about agents, mind you. I’m simply stating that I think I pitched my books wrong to the fabulous agents who asked for the full manuscript and ultimately passed with great comments.

So that’s the end of this, for now. I’m revising once more because I’ve got a song in my head that is making me work on this book, even though I’m pretty sure it’s a dead end. I’ve learned a lot, but the one thing I don’t know how to fix is how to query the next project correctly. Maybe I’ll put in the query: this is not suspense.

Maybe not.

Jessica Scott writes for PBS POV Regarding War and is hard at work on her next novel. She recently returned from Iraq with the First Cavalry Division. You can read about her adventures in publishing and the Army at her blog http://www.jessicascott.net/blog

So I was on my way home from Iraq and I figured I’d go ahead and throw the manuscript into a contest. I mean, the book had gotten me an agent and it was in waaay worse shape then than it is now. What the hell, it couldn’t hurt, right?

Wrong.

Well, I just got those contest entries back today and, well, I got hammered. Badly. Like beaten soundly around the head neck and shoulders with a blunt object beaten. Which, of course, has me wondering what the hell is going on.

So, between the contest comments and the agent comments, I’ve got a problem, right?

You betcha.

Now what?

Well, I could sit in a corner and lick my wounds, whining about how everyone is being mean to me and it’s really a gem if only the right person would pick it up but I won’t. I’m also not inclined to dig into this manuscript right now, either. But I’m going to. I’m letting all these comments swirl around my brain and fester. I’ve got ideas of things I can change. Plot points, characters.

Basically, I’ve got my work cut out for me if I ever want to see this book in print.

I’ll be honest. I’m tired of the damn thing. I’ve been working on it for two years and I can’t tell you how many times I rewrote the thing in Iraq. So, the fatigue is an issue for me. I’m letting it sit for a while so that when I do finally dig back into it, I’ll be able to do so with a fresh perspective.

How do you take comments from contests? Do you send in to contests at all? Why or why not?

Anna!

Please email me at jessica AT jessicascott DOT net and send me your snail mail address. I’ll get Stephanie’s Hard to Hold Trilogy in the mail to you, STAT!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and passed the word about Steph and Romance Roll Call!

Contest: Win Stephanie Tyler’s Hard to Hold Trilogy

Stephanie Tyler is one of the founding members of Romance Roll Call. I emailed her out of the blue in Iraq and said hey, I’ve got this idea and she jumped on board. Look for her to start blogging with us later this month and regularly after that.

So it’s with great pleasure that I’m announcing Romance Roll Call’s first giveaway. We’re spotlighting Stephanie’s new back to back Hard to Hold Trilogy, featuring her sexy Navy SEALS Jake, Nick and Chris.

Lt. Jake Hansen has survived some of the riskiest missions known to man. But now the wounded Navy SEAL faces his toughest job yet: Smuggling Dr. Isabelle Markham out of Africa without triggering an international incident. Not easy to do when the gorgeous hostage happens to be a senator’s daughter —and about as easy to resist as an oasis in the desert…
If it weren’t for Jake, Isabelle would still be halfway across the world, where rebel forces left her for dead. The Special Ops warrior may have saved her life, but she doesn’t need him to protect her now. Tell that to the ruggedly handsome hunk in full battle fatigues who’s just been assigned Isabelle’s personal bodyguard. Close quarters aside, Isabelle won’t let Jake anywhere near her heart — until danger throws them together again…and nothing in the jungles of wildest Africa could prepare them for a passion this wild. This crazy. This hot….

He’s an elite Navy SEAL living a risky double life. She’s the gorgeous reporter hot on his trail.

Nick Devane’s life is one big, classified secret. Until Kaylee Smith busts his covert world wide open, threatening to blow his cover. Digging around where she doesn’t belong could get them both killed…especially when the beautiful journalist uncovers top-secret information that could set off a global disaster if it falls into the wrong hands. Nick can’t let that happen, even if he has to battle deadly mercenaries and an irresistible attraction that is all consuming…
Kaylee didn’t expect her search for her missing ex-husband to lead to this sexy and dangerous SEAL. Now she’s teamed up with Nick on a mission that takes them into deepest Africa–and into the middle of a massive government cover-up. With rogue agents hot on their trail, Kaylee’s going to unearth all Nick’s secrets. Before they both vanish without a trace. Before the passion burning between them sets off an explosion no one may survive…

Chris Waldron, an elite U.S. Navy SEAL, is used to getting out of tight spots. But all his years of training can’t prepare him for the crisis he now faces. When a mission to rescue a kidnapped ambassador and his wife goes tragically awry, an FBI hostage negotiator is killed and Chris finds himself at the center of the ensuing investigation. Leading the charge is the blistering hot special agent and onetime lover who has re-ignited their mutual attraction.
Jamie Michaels is determined to keep things professional with Chris Waldron this time. But seeing him bruised and battered in that hospital bed has rekindled all those feelings she thought she’d left behind during their brief, passionate encounter in Africa. Now Jamie must keep her craving for danger at bay as she spearheads a search for the truth that just may blow Chris’s career to bits—and put them both in the crosshairs of an unseen enemy.

So stop by RRC all this week and tell us what your favorite thing about Navy SEAL books is. Tell us why you want to read Ms Tyler’s series, what you love about them if you’ve read them and why you can’t wait to get your hands on Hold on Tight BEFORE IT’S RELEASED.

Winner to be announced Monday, January 25th!

Non Fiction Spotlight: Martha Raddatz The Long Road Home

One of the reasons I started Romance Roll Call was to also provide a place for writers and readers to find resources. I’ve been asked multiple times where are good places to start and I’ve got my own backlist of great books out there. But for authors who have no personal military experience but who want to write about soldiers, research is required and the sheer amount of books out there in your local book store can be daunting, to say the least.

So today marks the first Non Fiction Spotlight. It will run every third Monday and will feature non fiction books, either on the military itself or on writing. The spotlight will tell a little about the book and let you decide where to start.

One of the most powerful books I’ve read about the Iraq War to date is Martha Raddatz’s The Long Road Home. Not simply because it’s about 1st Cavalry Division troopers and the 1st Cav is where I earned my combat spurs, but because I’m friends with some of the men in that story. My brigade commander was the battalion commander there and I had no idea what he’d gone through when I was tasked to be his aide one week in 2008. But after a bad training run in a MOUT (military operations in urban terrain) site, he asked me if I knew what happened in Sadr City. He told me I needed to talk to CPT Aguero and listen to him.

I found this book within a day of coming back from the field and read it. I didn’t know any of the men at the time of reading it. Aguero is somewhat of a legend but when you get to know him, at the heart of him is a warrior. A man who simply wants to be at war, doing what the army trained him to do.

See CPT Aguero was the platoon leader who was pinned down inside an alley with his platoon in Sadr City. They’d been out on a mission when the Mahdi Militia decided they were ready to fight. They picked the fight on the day of TOA (transfer of authority) before the battalion commander officially owned the battlespace.

There is some focus in this book about Casey Sheehan and his mother, anti war activist Cindy Sheehan’s reaction to his death but this book is not completely about her or her son. Ms Raddatz takes you onto the FOB. You can feel the devastation of the men as they fight to bring their trapped platoon home. And you can feel the horror of the soldiers who have to make some of the hardest decisions in war in order to survive.

If you want to feel the urgency of needing to get into the fight to save your men, if you want to feel the pain of the wives back home, waiting for notification, read this book. Ms Raddatz’s storytelling is profound and this book marks a significant contribution to our war’s history.

You can order The Long Road Home through AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, BORDERS or wherever you find books.

I’m a soldier but I’m also an army wife. Granted, I have a little bit different take on the army than army wives who have never been on active duty but so many of our army wives do have military service in their background. Regardless of our background, we all share a commonality: we love a soldier.

The thing I love about army wives is the way they stick together. During the last decade, army wives have had to find ways to support each other and their soldiers all the while being mommy, daddy and everything in between. There are so many challenges in being Household 6 and one of the toughest parts of that job is loving a soldier who isn’t going always be there. There will be missed birthdays and anniversaries. Sometimes the best gift is a phone call or an email from a far off combat zone, just letting us know our soldier is safe.

So it’s quite an honor for me to be invited over to the Army Wife Network to talk about Romance Roll Call. I’ll be there on January 25 at 2100-2130 streamed live over the internet. I hope you’ll stop by and listen to what should be a great interview. I’m putting out a call for guest bloggers to join us here on Romance Roll Call as well as looking to fill a few regular spots.

So mark your calendars, pass the word and show your support for the hardest job in the army: the army wife!

Monica Schroeder guest blogs today and calls for books for a friend of hers in Iraq:

Dear Readers,

I have served our country in the United States Army for 5 years, I have not yet, had the pleasure of serving in the Middle East. My friends and family have served many times over, and over. My best friend, whom I have been friends with since Basic, is currently serving her country in Iraq. She doesn’t write to me about the RPGs or how dang cold it gets at night…she writes to me about how she misses our book discussions and how she has NOTHING to read over there besides mystery thriller stuff, and there is only some much of that a girl can take.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is where I have been helping and applying my time. I have been raising a collection of signed awesomeness for my BFF as a surprise when she comes home, AND, I have been collecting books that more befit her reading taste to send over to her and some of her female colleagues who are in the same reading predicament. They enjoy romance, paranormal, urban fantasy, young adult fiction, and anything really that lets them escape being stuck in the sand box for 5 whole minutes. That gift alone is priceless.

So, if you, as a fellow romance reader, would like to help you can email me at: mojo09226(AT)yahoo.com and we can discuss a means of getting books from you, donations for me to purchase books for them, or even if you just want to write them a note about you favorite romance book, I am sure they would love that. Its all about doing what you are able.

Thank you so much for your time! Also in honor of my work with deployed soldiers I was given some cash to giveaway an ereader or GC on my blog, check in out and enter to win if you would like, people who have helped with my collection get 20 additional entries.

Monica S.
Help Me Treat a Soldier to the Moment of her Life!!!