Listen to Yourself
By Patricia Sargeant

I'm sorry I disappeared the last two weeks. The Final Deadline Lap was rough. But I submitted my manuscript to my editor last Monday, and now I'm trying to get my life back into balance. Ha!

But I digress.

I learned several Very Important Lessons while writing Sweet Deception, my June 2009 contemporary romance. I'd like to get your input on one of them.

When I started writing Sweet Deception, I signed up for a hands-on plotting workshop. The instructor was a former creative writing teacher and a very well-known author who consistently lands on the New York Times Bestsellers list. I was excited to attend the workshop.

One of the first exercises was to write the high concept of our plot on a scrap of paper and pass the paper forward for the instructor to read a loud and provide feedback. The high concept for Sweet Deception is, "When a minister's daughter's secret life as an erotic romance author is revealed, she has to choose between duty and desire." Or something like that.

The instructor ripped the high concept to shreds. Thank goodness we submitted our ideas anonymously.

The workshop shook my confidence. Temporarily. I believe in the story. I like the characters. And I have a lot to say about the story's theme, which is identity. So I stuck with the story. I'm glad I did. I'm proud of my work. As I mentioned before, the reviews are coming in, and I'm pleased with them.

You've probably heard this a million times. Let's make it an uneven one million and one. There are only two people whose opinion of your work really matter: you and your editor. If you have an agent, then there are three people whose opinion matter. But First, Last and Always - at the end of the day - the only person whose opinion of your work truly matters is you.

Here's what I think. If you truly believe in your story, never give up on it no matter what others may say. Keep working on it until it's the best it could possibly be. Then work on it some more. Listen to yourself, and never give up.

That's what I think. What do you think?

Sweet Deception book video

By Patricia Sargeant

I'm very excited to share with you the book video for my June 2009 release, Sweet Deception.

In the interest of full disclosure, Sweet Deception is a contemporary romance. The plot doesn't include a mystery or suspense or thriller. The characters are fighting the enemies within rather than external villains.

Reviews have been good, though. RT Book Review gave it a four out of four-and-a-half stars and wrote, "Sargeant's novel develops into an interesting drama with many twists."

CLG Entertainment gave it four-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote, "I like both my male and female leads to be strong, yet vulnerable, and Sargeant handles this wonderfully in Sweet Deception."

It might help if I told you a bit about the plot. Sweet Deception features a dutiful minister's daughter who leads a secret life as an erotic romance author. When she begins an affair with a best-selling thriller author, she's outed and has to choose between duty and desire.



OK. If the above video doesn't work, then click here to view it. Send me your comments and let me know how you enjoy it.

Happy reading and writing!