Let’s turn it over to Therese and see how she juggles it all.

Congratulations on the debut of The Last Will of Moira Leahy.  How does romantic women’s fiction differ from romance?

Thanks so much!

Women’s fiction is a different genre than romance, though I see them as sister genres—especially when the women’s fiction novel has strong romantic elements. While romance deals with the relationship between a man and woman, with plotting and story arc depending entirely on that relationship, women’s fiction involves itself primarily with a woman’s journey and it’s her journey that dictates the course of the book. Sometimes that journey involves a love interest, hence “romantic” women’s fiction.

My debut, The Last Will of Moira Leahy, is romantic women’s fiction—about a woman recovering from the loss of her twin and re-engaging with life again after purchasing an artifact from her past. Through interwoven narratives, we travel with Maeve Leahy in the present day as she unravels the truth about the artifact—who’s following her and leaving her notes—as layers of her past are peeled away and the course of her future is forever altered. The romantic part? One of the main players in the story is a beautiful half-English antiques dealer named Noel—and, yes, he has something to do with her altered future.

Do you still do freelance work? If so, how do you balance that with fiction writing?

I stopped doing freelance work once the fiction deal came in, because it was a two-book deal. As my first book took several years to write and I had to have book two to Random House by 12/10, I thought I’d better concentrate almost exclusively on that commitment. That said, I do miss working on my nonfiction sometimes. I have a great fiction editor, but I also had terrific nonfiction editors, and I miss interacting with them.

The group blog you co-founded has been named one of Writer’s Digest’s 101 best websites three years running.  How was Writer Unboxed developed?  How do you think Writer Unboxed has helped your career?

Writer Unboxed was born one day when Kathleen Bolton and I decided to blog together.

We’d been writing buddies and even published an article in the Romance Writers Reports in which we analyzed The Lord of the Rings with a fellow writer. (I know: Lord of the Rings in the RWR? But we made it relevant for writers of any genre. We’ve posted the article on WU, so you can read it if you’d like.) We liked analyzing what made writing work well, and I knew from working as a nonfic health writer that empowering information was a potent force in the marketplace; by combining those two things we knew that we could craft a unique blog. Writer Unboxed was born!

WU has definitely helped my career. Funny, because there were soooo many times when I felt the blog—good karma aside—was a time suck. But it was working for me all along in ways I would later come to appreciate. It enabled me to create lasting and meaningful relationships with other writers—published and soon-to-be published. It also allowed me to dive into the minds of experts by conducting interviews with authors whose work I admired and industry pros who knew how to crack into publishing. So I was essentially being educated along the way, which was great, as I was a science major in college.

How do you manage the blog with so many contributing writers?

Kath and I call ourselves the blog mamas. We contribute posts once or twice a week (sometimes more often as required)—usually a weekly regular post and then one of us contributes an interview with an author or industry pro. Our contributors each post monthly. It’s up to Kath and me to make sure their posts come in on time, so we send reminder notes, find pictures to compliment their posts (we love pictures at WU) and sometimes post their content for them. We have a schedule on the blog that Kath and I refer to often, reminding us whose day it is to post, that sort of thing.

Sometimes we lose a contributor, and it’s up to Kath and me to find a replacement. We have a slate of contributors that covers a variety of genres; we like to keep things well balanced. Our current slate is our best to date including Allison Winn Scotch, author of mainstream fiction; Ann Aguirre author of romance and urban fiction; Barbara Samuel / Barbara O’Neal, author of (romantic) women’s fiction; Donald Maass, agent extraordinaire and founder of the Maass Literary Agency; J.C. Hutchins, author of seriously unboxed technothrillers; Juliet Marillier, author of epic (romantic) fantasy novels; Ray Rhamey, independent editor and author; and Sophie Masson, author of YA and fantasy novels. Susan Schwartzman, an independent publicist, blogs with us occasionally, too, and her posts are always enlightening.

We’ll often invite guest bloggers as well, especially if they have something new to add to the conversation. Recently, for example, Richard Mabry, who writes medical suspense novels, guest blogged with us about how to write authentic medical details in a story. Richard was the perfect person to write this post: He’s not only a friend and frequent commenter at WU, he’s also a physician. Add to that bounty, his post was an interactive Q&A with NYT’s bestselling author of medical suspense novels, physician Michael Palmer.

What advice do you have for not-yet-published writers in this economic climate?

Gosh, I’m almost afraid to touch this question, because every situation is different: every book, every plan, every queried agent, every house.

Regardless of the economy, if you’re seeking an agent for your work now—or about to start the hunt—I highly recommend subscribing to Publishers Marketplace (PM) for a month or so; it’s pricey but worth it. There, writers can cross-reference list of agents you might have accrued by looking through the Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents with activities by agents posted *daily* at PM; it’s where you’ll learn what agents are actually SELLING not just what they wish they could sell.

If you have an agent and have yet to sell—and you’ve been trying since the economic downturn—try not to lose heart or faith. I know of many people who have fantastic manuscripts sitting with fantastic agents, and the agents just can’t sell the scripts. The reason, I think, is because publishers are nervous of taking a chance on those authors who don’t already have an established fanbase or whose novel may be out of the realm of ordinary. That doesn’t mean the scripts won’t sell or shouldn’t sell, but it means they’re not going to sell right now. Once the economy has healed—let it be soon, right?—then I think publishers will be less skittish about taking chances on new voices in fiction. Until then, use your time to write write write—especially if you have an agent who’s confident in your voice and abilities.

Please tell us about the new RWA Women’s Fiction chapter and how it came to fruition?

TW: I’d been a part of RWA but felt a little “homeless,” as there wasn’t a way to connect with other women’s fiction writers in the organization. I did look at the Elements chapter and the Chick Lit chapter but I didn’t feel they were hitting quite the right note for me. I wrote a blog post about the issue—a bit of a rant, really, and I’m not usually a ranter. A few people commented that I should start a new chapter, but I received more notes privately and realized there was a large group of writers within RWA clamoring for exactly this sort of group. So I took the steps—contacted National, filled out the paperwork, set up a nonprofit organization, established bylaws, and went in search of my officers and “charter members.” An unbelievable number—92 women—said they were interested in becoming charter members of RWA-WF. Though we’re officially Official with RWA now, we’re still a young chapter. Our website will be up and running by 11/1 at http://www.rwa-wf.com/, and we’ll be opening our doors to non-charter members after that date. Anyone interested in learning more can contact our secretary, Susan Crandall at szcrandall@comcast.net.

***

Thank you to Therese for being here.  Therese will be checking in throughout the day to answer questions.

To our readers:  Were you aware of the differences between romantic women’s fiction and romance?  We’d love to hear from you.

BIO:

Therese Walsh‘s debut novel, The Last Will of Moira Leahy, will be published on October 13th, 2009 by Shaye Areheart books (Random House). She is the co-founder of Writer Unboxed, a blog for writers about the craft and business of genre fiction. Before turning to fiction, she was a researcher and writer for Prevention magazine, and then a freelance writer. She’s had hundreds of articles on nutrition and fitness published in consumer magazines and online. She has a master’s degree in psychology; and she loves music, art, crab legs, Whose Line is it Anyway?, dark chocolate, photography, unique movies and novels, people watching, strong Irish tea, and spending time with her husband, two kids and their bouncy Jack Russell. She’s currently working on her second novel—another story about self-discovery, acceptance and magical journeys—at her home in upstate New York.