Happy 4th and Other Things

Hope everyone had a happy fourth of July! I had a nice day off and am rearing to go back to work tomorrow. I know, I know, most people are like - what? She wants to go to work?

But I truly love my new job and the people and the product and well, everything. There's also that small issue of doing my first training class on the 19th of this month and so far, I've actually seen the software for 3 days. But it's all good and I can't wait to get going.

First trip up is Indianapolis - about three weeks short for the Formula 1 hoopla (bummer), but Schumey won and that's all that matters. Go Ferrari!

I was mulling over the multiple lines/publisher issue the other day with one of my cp's and wanted to see what others had to say. It's a generally accepted fact that it is prudent in the writing industry to write more than one genre and/or for more than one publisher. And believe me, I'd love to comply. You'll find it tough to dig up anyone more well versed on diversification and cash flow than a former CFO. The problem is - what to write.

I don't really have any one other thing calling me. I sort of wanted to do chick lit mystery - and even have a finished rough draft that I really love, but with chick lit in the toilet, do I really want to go that direction until the dust settles? And it's not like romantic comedy was the easiest break in to begin with - do I really want to go and press the envelope on another genre with the door shut solid? So then I think, what about romantic suspense - again, the jaws of life couldn't pry open that door either.

And I'm sooooooo not one for chasing the market. Don't get me wrong - there's a YA that's been lurking in the back of my mind, but can I really do a whole book for children when I don't have them and am not even around them very often (and rarely by choice). Erotica is hot right now (literally) but I cringe just thinking about it. Every single person involved with making Rumble perfect had the same thing to say: "more sex." I lengthed (so to speak) my sex scenes in that book for literally even step of the process - cp's, agent, editor - nope, hot and steamy is definitely not my strong suit. It got that way eventually, but with a major amount of effort and a lot of people begging for more. :)

Paranormal is really cool - I like paranormal. Not the other world building sort of paranormal, and I'm not really a vampire or werewolf kind of girl - but I LOVE a good ghost story. Give me a good B horror movie and a tub of popcorn and heaven is near.

I love to read category - it's relaxing and comfortable and completely takes the stress out of the reading experience as I know exactly what I'm getting depending on the line I pick up. But I'm afraid I don't really have a category voice. My conflict is too big, my plots too intricate, and there's always the problem of dead people turning up. So far, no one's been able to talk to them, but if I decide to run that whole paranormal angle, I guess anything's possible.

So what about you? Do you have a secondary writing genre? And if so, how did you decide? Or was it just a matter of knowing that's what you had to do like the first genre was?