Monday Mentionables: Writer's Digest October Issue

My regular monthly Writer's Digest summary:

My favorite feature this month: a round-up of literary agents who are actively seeking new material (most of them list YA, so even better!)

Also included in this issue are sample query letters that were successful in landing agents. I do find those helpful, but only to a certain extent. A letter that appeals to one agent will cross another's desk and receive a rejection. Some agents like a certain "hook" or a funky voice, while others don't. Beyond that (a couple agents actually admitted this), luck is part of the process as well.

Rachel Kincaid, assistant to agent Ann Collette, shares her thoughts on what gets a query past the first reader to the agent herself: make sure your query covers the basics with NO errors in grammar or spelling; keep your query short and simple - no long, flowery descriptive passages of your plotline; make sure the pace of your book (especially the sample chapters you send!) is crisp and fast-moving.

An interview with Alice Walker and advice on how to revise from a critique round out my top reads in Writer's Digest this month. If you don't subscribe, you should!

Friday Fun Facts: Neat Word Trivia

Next time you're at a cocktail party and need some word trivia:

Almost is the only word in the English language in which all the letters appear in alphabetical order.


Facetiously is the only word in the English language in which all the vowels appear in alphabetical order.

Have a great weekend!

Writers' Wednesday: The Value of a Backlist

My tip for the day: keep writing. I just got my royalty statements for last month/last quarter, and they supported what pro writers say all along: when you release a new book (or have a big promo push on one), inevitably your sales for the others go up. Yes, it has happened for me every time. And this isn't just true for e-books or print releases; I've found the sales cross over. My One Night in Boston ebook sales have been high for a few months now (thanks to Samhain's Amazon Kindle Freebie back in April), but I noticed for the first time that the print sales of that book were also up in the months following, as well as ebooks and print copies of my other titles. Looks like those who buy in both formats will seek out their favorite from you.

Sidenote: this seems to be true even if your reviews aren't what you hoped. As I mentioned a while ago, the Amazon reviews for One Night in Boston hover around a 2.5/5 - certainly not stellar. Despite that, sales weren't incredibly hurt by those reviews. So develop a thick skin and take reader reviews with a grain of salt (or don't read them at all, which is what I've taken to doing, honestly).

So if you're a first-time author and are worried that sales are low, yes, work on promo and establishing a name for yourself especially online - but also keep writing. You'll find your royalty profits grow with every release you have.

Monday Mentionables: An Interview with Fiona Jayde

Welcome and happy Monday! Today I'm hosting Fiona Jayde, whose book Night Haven releases next week. She's stopping by to visit with readers and tell you a little about herself and her writing...so enjoy!

Fiona, can you tell us a little about your background?

I’m actually from Russia, having learned English by watching "Growing Pains" and reading Nora Roberts. I’m lucky in that I was in an age where I could learn English while retaining my love for Russian books (I re-read Three Musketeers in Russian every year).

When did you first start writing? Any particular experience jumpstart your writing career?

I’ve always wrote but never have finished anything I started. A few years ago, I discovered Angela Knight, who literally jumpstarted my writing career. She is such a terrific lady – and is incredibly supportive of newbie authors. I had read a blog she had written which talked about those of us striving for perfection in those first three chapters and never moving past them to finish a story – which was me to the letter. Following her advice I had finished a story, and had been writing ever since!

Tell us about your latest project/publication.

My latest release is called Night Haven, a kickass paranormal romance coming September 21 from Samhain Publishing. Night Haven is a first glimpse into the world of bloodwolves who were created to protect humans from vampire hunger for blood. In Night Haven, the bloodwolf Dina finds herself dangerously attracted to a vampire – and looses her ability to shift as a result.

What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?

I would probably give the same advice that got me over the hump from “wanting to write” to actually “writing”. Stop expecting perfection and write. Keep that butt in the chair and write. Finish something, even if the first draft is complete crap. Its always easier to fix a bad page then a blank page. (I think Nora Roberts said that last part – and its so true!)

What do you find most challenging about writing?

For me, the most challenging aspect is cohesively tying together the plot lines in such a way that builds the story and the characters. I’m fairly dyslexic and I change my mind A LOT – so keeping track of 100 mile per minute ideas can be hard! Luckily I have a number of tools to help me – including a husband with exceptional memory.

Most rewarding?

The most reward aspect is to actually find the “road map” to tie in all the pieces together. I think my Sci Fi novella Cold Victory accomplished that really well – I had a hard time connecting all my ideas together – the biological bond between the Hero and Heroine, the intergalactic war, the politics of ravaged government, the shortage of supplies… And in the end, I wouldn’t have been able to build the story without any of those plot strings.

What is your favorite spot to write?

I usually write somewhere comfy where I can sit cross-legged and slouch and let my fingers fly on the keyboard. I’m finishing up organizing my writing cave actually – complete with a water fountain and miniature Chinese terra-cotta warrior statues. Hopefully they’ll bring me some ideas!

What writing project will you be working on next?

I’m currently working on the next novella in the Bloodwolf series – Night Legacy, which explores deeper the ability of a bloodwolf to shift, and their age-old war with vampires.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Oh man, what DON’T I like to do? I paint (I love Bob Ross videos), I play piano (amateur jazz), I do graphic and web design, and when I get really motivated I go to the local Mixed Martial Arts club to learn from the guys how to really stick it to a punching bag. I also love to read and watch Netflix (currently watching the Tudors), spending time with the hubster and the cats (I have two).

Any favorite movies? Have they inspired your writing in any way?

I LOOOVE Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. The sexual tension between Han and Leia is legendary. I also am a big Buffy The Vampire Slayer fanatic – the episode where she lost her strength actually was the inspiration behind Night Haven!

Thanks so much for being here today, Fiona! Readers, mark your calendars and watch for the release of Night Haven, coming next week!

Remembering September 11th

"The attacks of September 11th were intended to break our spirit. Instead we have emerged stronger and more unified. We feel renewed devotion to the principles of political, economic and religious freedom, the rule of law and respect for human life. We are more determined than ever to live our lives in freedom." ~Rudolph W. Giuliani


Tomorrow it will be 9 years since that terrible day of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In honor of those who lost their lives that day, a moment of silence and respect...

Writers' Wednesday: Revise, Revise and Repeat

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." ~ Ben Franklin

As a new school year begins, I inevitably start my list-of-things-to-mention to my new students about their English essays. I always have a standard list of words to avoid in their writing, which includes "thing" "got" "stuff" and "etc" though I do sometimes add others.

But in prepping for my classes, I do think about my own writing too (one of the definite perks of teaching writing: it makes you self-reflect). And I think of my own words/actions/cliches to avoid. It's funny, but I find myself falling into using the same word/action/phrase/sentence structure often in a work. I'm getting better, but it still happens. In my early writing, it was the word "sigh." All my characters were sighing around: as they spoke, as they fell in love, as they pined over their lost love...well, you get the picture.

In my YA, it seems to be either shrugging or cocking/tilting the head. I don't know why, but as I'm revising, I find that my major characters have this mannerism at one point or another. Odd, right?

Of course, the easiest way to solve this is to use your Find/Replace option in your word processing program. I find it incredibly helpful, and I'm always amazed that even when I think I've found them all and changed enough of them, others pop up that I missed.

Writers, what about you? Do you fall into the trap of using and re-using a certain term or phrase or character trait?

Monday Mentionables

Mentionable #1: Spent the weekend in Washington, D.C. with our Norwegian exchange student (pics to follow!). We were blessed with wonderful weather both days and had a chance to see the major memorials and a couple of the museums. Worth mentioning: the newly established WWII Memorial. It is just gorgeous: a circular memorial with a pool & fountains in the center and quotes engraved around the entire monument.

Mentionable #2: Am currently reading We Need to Talk About Kevin, an award-winning novel about a 15-year old school shooter - told through letters written from his mother to his (estranged) father. Really, it's a study in motherhood, and what happens when a child isn't the burbling, happy, normally-developing child you thought you'd have, and when motherhood isn't the traditionally fulfilling experience you expected. It's very, very good so far. Anyone else read it?

Mentionable #3: It's so hard to find time to write once school starts! I have about 75 pages of my YA to finish revising, and I can see the end in sight, but between grading papers and planning lessons and keeping up with the basics of the household, somehow all my time in every day is just gone! Must figure out a way to work in a little writing before months pass by...

Friday Fun Facts: Lady Jane's Salon!

Have any plans for the long weekend? (That don't involve visits to the East Coast beaches??) We're spending 3 days in Washington D.C. with our exchange student - got a good deal on hotel rooms and figured it was one of those must-do trips for someone visiting from another country. Any suggestions for best things to see and do? We've been once before, but it's been a while...

***

And in totally unrelated news, here's a plug for my fellow writing friend Cat Johnson, who'll be appearing at Lady Jane's Salon in NYC on Monday, September 6th. She'll be reading from her latest release as well as signing and selling books. If you're anywhere nearby, stop by and support her!

Writers' Wednesday: Ruminations on Hosting an Exchange Student

Continued from Monday...reflections on the first week of hosting an exchange student.


First, it's fun. Experiencing a new person from another culture gives you a lot to talk about.


It's also interesting in ways you don't expect. Language barriers (even when your student speaks pretty fluent English) can lead to trouble communicating. Best to speak slowly and using common terms if possible.


It's exhausting. I'm sure this is partly the adrenaline of the whole change/experience of meeting someone new, but for us it's an added exhaustion because we don't have other kids. I'll be honest: having to consider someone else in your house (besides hubby, who can pretty much fend for himself by now) isn't something I'm used to. It's OK, and I'm getting used to it, but it's definitely a psychological change.


It makes you think about things you hadn't thought about before. Your own politics. Your own country and quirks about the culture. How big everything is here. Which qualities and thoughts and values you want to communicate to your student (and which are better left unspoken).


And this is only the beginning. I'm sure there's much more in store (and hey, maybe a story idea or two as well). To sign off, some pictures:

Outside her adopted American high school

Opening a Chinese fortune cookie for the first time!

At a wedding over the weekend

Volunteering at a local pet shelter (each student actually needs 10 hours of community service for the year)

Husking corn for the first time!

Monday Mentionables: Welcoming our Foreign Exchange Student

“To cement a new friendship, especially between foreigners or persons of a different social world, a spark with which both were secretly charged must fly from person to person, and cut across the accidents of place and time.” ~Cornelia Otis Skinner

Just 1 brief thing to mention today, because it's crazy back-to-school day for me today!!:


We welcomed our exchange daughter Hanna from Norway last Friday, and she's settled into our house wonderfully :) I'll have time Wednesday for a full report, so please come on back; until then, a picture from our first day together, at the local exchange program orientation:

Writers' Wednesday: A Word About "BitTorrent" Files

"Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom." ~Thomas Jefferson

Last night I was in a liquor store buying my favorite bottle of local Riesling (side note of trivia: it's made at the oldest winery in the country, which has this title only because it was never shut down during Prohibition because the monks needed wine for services).

I noticed the guy behind the counter (probably in his mid-late 50s) had an eBook reader lying open. I asked him about it - it was a Kindle, and he'd just gotten it for his birthday 2 weeks ago. He didn't ask for it, but he's such a voracious reader that his family chipped in and bought it for him. I asked how he liked it - he loves it! Wonderful. So we're chatting a bit about eBook readers (I haven't yet mentioned I'm an author) and he says with a smile, "Well, you know, you don't really have to pay for an ebook at all. You can download them for free at bittorrent sites."

Red Flag! Red Flag! Alert Alert Alert!

In case you don't know, bittorrent sites are websites where you can download files of information (books, music, movies, etc). Usually they've been uploaded by someone who bought the file legally and is now sharing it with the online community. THESE SITES ARE ILLEGAL IN MANY CASES. They are giving away copyrighted files and depriving authors of their sales and royalties. Sure, millions of people do it, unfortunately. But that doesn't make it right. Every time I find a bittorrent site with my books on it, I try to contact the website owner and tell them to remove the file, which they always do (they have to, legally). But I can't spend all my time policing the web.

So I said to the man, "You know, those sites are illegal. Authors don't get any royalties when their books aren't sold and are just given away online."

He turned a little red and said, "Yes, I know. You're right." I took my wine and left.

So please be aware of these illegal sites, and spread the word about them. Artists work awfully hard to create an original work. They deserve to be rightly and legally financially rewarded for that.

Monday Mentionables: The World According to Marilyn Monroe

Today, for no particular reason, I thought I'd share some famous quotations uttered by Marilyn Monroe. The first has been enjoying populaity on Facebook, but the others are a little lesser-known. Still, pearls of wisdom, I think. Enjoy!


"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."

"If you're gonna be two-faced at least make one of them pretty."

"Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world."

"Ever notice how "What the hell?" is always the right answer?"

"We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets."

"It's not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on."

"Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition."

"I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made."

"Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you."

"I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful."

Friday Fun Facts: A Collection of Ramblings Today...

Random facts on this Friday...

1. I finished and submitted my novella for Samhain's Just Romance Springtime Anthology - it's called "La Forma Perfecta" (Spanish for "The Perfect Shape" which, yes, does have significance within the story).

2. I thought this article about a reclusive 104-year old zillionaire heiress was SO interesting. How many stories are wrapped up there?

3. A recap of one agent discussion at RWA (thanks to my writing friend for sending on the link) revealed a yen for more contemporary romance (yay!), less focus on paranormal, and a desire for authors to have some kind of web presence established.

4. My Samhain royalties for July were not nearly as high as for June, but still a nice amount, which means those ebooks are still selling after my One Night in Boston free Kindle push back in May.

5. Speaking of ebooks, I sold my mother-in-law on the Nook. She reads so many books a year, all hard-cover and at $20+ a pop, that the Nook was a natural solution for her :)

6. My goal for the rest of August is to finish another revision of my YA and start querying agents. Because as soon as school starts up again, I'm on the crazy treadmill of super-long days and paper-grading til all hours of the night.

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Writers' Wednesday: The Agent Search

"The first step in blogging is not writing them but reading them." ~Jeff Jarvis

OK, I'm not really going to talk ALL about the agent search today. If you're currently looking for an agent, though, you should know that the best thing you can do is lots and lots of research. Make sure the agents you're querying for your project actually rep that kind of work; find out who else they rep; do your best to figure out if that person is a good match for you. Do you (and they) like a hands-on relationship with your writing? Or less so?

There are many good agent blogs to read on a regular basis; these folks give you tons of insight to their world, and you really can learn a lot from them. Two I recommend:

Nathan Bransford
Kristin Nelson

And finally, though I don't read her blog on a regular basis, I found this post on Jenny Bent's to be very interesting. It's actually by one of her interns and talks about why so many queries are rejected (it's not why you think!)

And why all this discussion of agents today? Well, I'm in the final revision stages of my YA novel and am taking some time now to put together the list of agents I want to query for it. I'll keep you posted!

Monday Mentionables: Book Signings in Review

Two appearances last week, both different and both a lot of fun.


The first was my 3rd annual appearance at a local book club. They read my book for a select month each summer and then I come in to discuss it. It's mostly retired-age people, and they (and I) always get a kick out of the whole thing. It's really neat to talk about your book - your characters, your plot choices - with readers. I love their questions and their observations too.


The second was a reading/discussion at a local library. While not very well attended (about 6 people), the ones who were there asked good questions and were mostly writers, so they were interested in my process/the publishing industry as well. Even better, the librarian asked if I'd be interested in coming back to run a half-day writing workshop - and how much I charged! I've said it so many times: you never know how networking and making public appearances will affect you later down the road. Do it! Take advantage of people who want to hear about your books and your writing!


A couple of pics:

With the lovely host librarian

Reading from One Night in Napa

Writers' Wednesday: Two Upcoming Appearances

I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!....

Two, actually:

Tonight I'm the guest author at the Glen Haven Book Club, for the 3rd year in a row. I'll be discussing my third One Night book, One Night in Napa, with a group that reads select books each summer and then has a discussion in a historic local schoolhouse. Really looking forward to it!

And tomorrow, I'm doing a public reading/signing at the Phillips Free Library in Homer, NY, at 7 pm. Think I'll be talking more generally about my publishing experience, and showing off my e-reader!

Pictures to follow on Friday...

Monday Mentionables: A Nook, Some Books, and a Teenager Arriving Soon...

"I have never been in any country where they did not do something better than we do it, think some thoughts better than we think, catch some inspiration from heights above our own." ~Maria Mitchell

Well, I've spent the weekend playing around with my Nook, and I pretty much love it! It's very easy to use and easy to read on. The screen is well-lit and I especially like the fact that I can change the font size if I need to. It seems like that's one great feature, especially for anyone who reads large print books or just doesn't want to squint at smaller print. I also like the fact that it marks where's I've left off reading (a virtual bookmark, say). Mostly, though, it's really convenient. I can definitely picture myself downloading books to take places to read, instead of lugging around an armful (or bagful) of books.

*****

Three weeks left of summer vacation - where did it go? And why do I still have so many things on my To-Do list?? 3 of those things are polish my YA/begin submitting to agents; polish my short-sweet work to submit to Samhain's anthology call; and heavily rework Entwined, with the goal of submitting to Samhain. I've started the last one over the weekend and am doing some major work, to both characters and plotline. Right now it seems to be going OK...but boy oh boy is it a lot of work!

*****

The other thing that's happening in about 3 weeks is that the foreign exchange student we are hosting for the year arrives! Yes, that's right: hubby and I will have a teenager in our house for the next 10 months. She's from Norway, and her name is Hanna. I think (I hope) it will be a great experience for all of us, but YES, there are going to be changes around here!

Will keep you posted...

Friday Fun Facts: Talking About the B&N Nook

"The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television." ~Andrew Ross


Reminder that The Long and the Short of It's 3rd Anniversary Party is going on this whole month, and by participating you can win some great prizes, including a Barnes & Noble Nook eReader!

Speaking of the Nook, I just bought one this week. Very excited! I decided, after 3 years of publishing in the eBook industry, I should really have one so that I could bring it to signings and readings and talk about it.

But which to buy? Of course, there, Amazon's Kindle. There's also the SONY eReader. There's the Nook. And some lesser-well-known ones as well (here's one site that compares them nicely). I made my decision based on a few factors, including reviews, price (the Nook comes in either a $149 Wi-Fi version or a $199 3G Wi-Fi version, which is pretty squarely in the competitive $$ market), and ease of buying/sharing/storing books. If you buy a Kindle, you have to purchase your books from Amazon, in their format. With some of other eReaders, Nook included, you're able to read different formats of eBooks and thus purchase/download from various sites. That, for me, was a big seller. Oh, and the Kindle is "Temporarily Unavailable" until September.

So the Nook it was! I was thrilled because I ordered it around 10 pm on Tuesday night, and it arrived (standard shipping) Thursday around noon. I had it charged, registered with B&N and was playing around with it by that evening.

I'll be back next week with a full user-review!

Writers' Wednesday: Guest Blogging at Samhain Publishing

Hi, everyone! I'm blogging over at Samhain today about the joys of summer and my dream that it might go on forever....

Want to know the details? Please come on over and see me, and maybe leave a comment too!

Monday Mentionables: A New Book Trailer

I'm gearing up for a promo push when Summer's Song releases in print November 1st, and part of that included finally making a trailer for it. I've made trailers for every other book I've written, and a few for fellow authors as well. This time around, though, I found myself going the super-simplistic route, with very few pictures and just straight-forward text. I also included a couple of reviews.

While there's no hard evidence that trailers lead to book sales, it cost me little in materials (less than $20 to download royalty-free music) and only about 2-3 hours in labor. I'll post it on a number of free websites and my author loops, as well as on some low-cost advertising sites I pay for. All in all, if it gets my name in front of a few more people, that's enough for me!

Let me know what you think...