Saturday, September 20, 2008

A Brand New Me!!!

So if you're reading this I guess you made your way over... welcome to the blog of Rachael Johns, aspiring romance writer of quirky characters and plots.

After discussions with various people of note, I've decided that WHEN (yes, that's right, I'm thinking with the positive part of my brain) I get published, I'd like to write under the pen name of Rachael Johns.

There are a number of reasons why people choose to write under a pen name and I'm not gonna broadcast mine here but will tell you that I've chosen it for a reason. I think I'd find it too confusing to go by anything other than Rachael, so I'm sticking with my first name. I tossed up with a number of options for a second - hubby's middle name, his real surname (long story), my maiden name and my dad's surname (another long story) but in the end, they either didn't sound like a romance writer :) or they didn't look good as a .com and let's face it, in this day and age, you want a sexy looking .com

I went with Johns because John was my grandpa's name - he died just before I started writing category romance and was my all time hero. My granny was one lucky lady. I also dedicated one of my stories to him as he was a magician (in his spare time) and I created a magician hero thanks to his inspiration. So, I think Johns is fitting and http://www.rachaeljohns.com/ wasn't taken and looked good. I've now bought the domain name so am a step further to setting up a website! One day...

So aside from fantasing about getting published enough to decide on a pen name, what have I been up to these last few weeks?

I've just finished the final (hopefully) rewrite of ''For Love Or Ratings'', the full mss requested by Harlequin Superromance. I'm letting it sit for a week and will then give it one more read through and proof before sending it off.

I've giving myself a little break before getting stuck straight back into my current wip, a mss aimed at M&B Modern Heat. I've just subbed the partial of this to M&B but have polishing to do in case they request the full. Fingers crossed.

I've also entered the Romance Writers of Australia High Five contest and the ''Feel The Heat'' contest on the iheartpresents site.

Phew... and have just hit the third trimester of my pregnancy and am feeling all those fatigue hormones taking over my body again. Even typing all this was tiring.

I'm gonna be fixing up the settings on this blog over the next week or so, so please forgive me if you're not on the blogroll yet and know you should be... I promise to get there.

So... leave a comment and let me know you made it over! Welcome!

16 comments:

Kirsty @ Bonjour Quilts said...

Yippee! First comment listed on the new blog.

Well done Rach, you have been a busy girl. All that and growing another human being. Impressive!

Fingers crossed for the Super and all the other irons you have in the fire. Rachael Johns should be on the bookshelves in no time.

Kirst x

Christina Phillips said...

Yay! Nice new shiny blog! Love your new name and your new site. Well done on all the writing you've done lately, you're putting me to shame!!

Suzanne Brandyn Author said...

Well done Rach, your blog reflects what you write... And you have been so busy with comps etc. Well done and good luck.

Suz:)

Diane said...

Woohoo new blog, new name, new bub...How old are you Rach? You're not going through your Saturn return are you?

Good luck with the contest entries and requests!

Cathryn Hein said...

Ooooh, lovely new spotty blog. Very bouncy and very you, Rach.
Wishing you all the best with Superromance, and the Hi 5 and Feel the Heat contests.
I bet you'll knock their socks off!

Leah Ashton said...

Congratulations on your new blog! I really like how you're pen name - and it definitely makes sense to use the name you WILL get published with :)

Leah Ashton said...

Hmm. That should be - I really like your new pen name :) Whoops! Serves me right for commenting at work ;)

Crystal-Rain Love said...

I enjoyed your blog. It's always interesting to hear the stories of how writers choose their pen names. I'm writng under my real name now, just because I want everyone to know it when I'm famous. LOL! (I can dream, can't I?) I'll pick pen names when I publish YA and other genres so there's no confusion.
Congrats on your full ms request from SuperRomance! They're a hard nut to crack! You should be very proud!

Amanda said...

Love it Rach!!

I know all this hard work will pay off for you Lovely!!!

Amanda xx

Anonymous said...

Hey! Cool blog. Even cooler name! LOL
You're in the fav's now so I'll be back.
RC

Sami Lee said...

Hi Rach. Compliments on the new blog and good luck with that full request. For Love or Ratings sounds great.

Sussan Marz said...

Hiya Rach,
Thumbs up on the quirkiness! I'm with you on the pen name (although I started using one for privacy reasons first). As for positive thinking, well, I reckon it's inevitable you'll be published :).

Eleni Konstantine said...

Hey Rach - great pen name - love it and the reason behind choosing it. Good luck with the comps!
E :)

Rachael Johns said...

Oh man... I can't believe how many of you wonderful people have stopped by for what's kinda like a housewarming for my new blog.

Thanks for all your lovely, lovely words... if I wasn't so absolutely buggared, I'd say something much more special to each and every one of you... but thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks.

Please come back and hopefully I'll visit you all lots!

Unknown said...

Oh, Rach.
I'm still pondering on the pen name thing, I like my name but it's taken in the .com so I have been fiddling with different ones and I'm not sure i want to change my last name at all, I'm quite attatched and i feel it's a kick at hubby. So that been said i'm looking at first names- eek!
Any way, I love the name choice and you new blog.
Happy writing
kez

Unknown said...

Rach, help me!
Boo hoo, I can't get to your site anymore. It have invite only setting on this one.
kez
hmm are you trying to tell me something, hehe