The Spirit of Giving

In the Spirit of giving, I'm going to be offering my novel in ebook form for free until Dec. 25th. Go to SMASHWORDS and enter coupon code GJ25D to get 100% off =D

The Mountain of WIPs

     I've been too distracted by the OWS media to write much lately :P 


The last time I cracked open my files to write, though, I flipped through the multitudes of folders that I have delegated for each WIP. It's like a library in there. I have so many WIPs!! So many beginnings, so much potential is lying unfinished and unedited collecting virtual dust. Does everyone do this? Accumulate a plethora of ideas and begin multiple projects, but never get around to doing any more with them? Looking at all these unused files, I think that's what makes me so happy about having at least one finished. Maybe since somehow I pulled that off, I can do it again, and again. I really hope someday my WTF (work that's finished, lol) is bigger than my WIP file. 

I got my first review/interview!!!

      The wonderful Sofia over at Sofia Day's Pen wrote a nice review and asked me for an interview!! This has definitely been a year of a lot of firsts. Thanks to Sofia for hosting me!!

You can check out the review and interview here:

Sofia Day's Pen and Writers Den

Falling for Fall

As I look around me at the leaves changing color, feeling the cool night air, and watching all the birds fly through, I'm starting to think fall is the perfect time for romance... Romance writing that is. I used to struggle, I mean REALLY struggle writing out romance scenes. I've never even considered writing a whole romance book, I can imagine how awkward and corny that would turn out...

Even though nothing I write centers on romance, it keeps popping up. Seems no matter what you write, there's some love in there somewhere. I wonder sometimes if having such a hard time pecking out a mushy line stems from real life experience. My husband and I, we really aren't the most romantic people in the world. We forget our own anniversary and spend Valentines Day at the Bass Pro Shop if that tells you anything.

I finally got some suggestions from a friend on good romance novels, and spent quite a lot of time reading through them, studying how they played with words to keep it interesting and realistic. There are some very talented folks out there with a knack for the L-O-V-E. I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. Now I might be able to finish this next novel without postponing all the love scenes until the rest of the book is finished.

Is there anything in particular that just doesn't come out right for you? How do you attempt to overcome it?

I'M BAAAAAACK!!

Lately, it might seem as if I've fallen off the blogosphere. Well, I have. After writing and marketing, and researching, and blogging, and writing, and formatting, and writing, and correcting... you get the picture... I needed a good long break from everything else to concentrate on writing. I've met my goal now, and I can come back out into the world, catch up with everyone else, and be social again!. WOOOOO!!

WriteOnCon 2011 and upcoming guest

     Have you visited WriteOnCon 2011 yet? If you haven't, go there now! You can't beat a free online yearly writers conference. They have some amazing advice for writers by writers and LIVE CHATS with agents. It's a great opportunity for anyone who has a love for the art. The wonderful folks over at The Practice Room directed me to the site, and I can't thank them enough.

    Speaking of TPR - that's another thing you should try. A group of writers gets together, spends one hour dedicated to writing, and then we meet up in a live chat room to catch up with everyone's progress and report our own. It's a wonderful source for advice, encouragement, and TONS of humor. There is a schedule posted for TPR times here: THE PRACTICE ROOM. I hope to see you there!!

    Aside from all that, I'm about to host my first guest blog!! Who is the guest? None other than the wonderful little "Sasy". My 10 year old daughter is going to write her own blog about her thoughts on childrens literature with homosexual themes. Who better to ask than the children themselves? We got the idea from a blogger buddy who has been blogging recently about that exact subject. Read some of Jon's thoughts on the controversial subject at his blog HERE. Sassy's blog will be posted as soon as she's done reading and is ready for her voice to be heard. Stay Tuned. 

Reviews, Surprises, and YOUR BLOG

      It's been awhile since I opened up my own blog. I've been charting new territory lately, seeking out book reviewers. I don't know for certain, but I've heard selecting literary agents is a difficult task. For me, sending out requests for review is draining too. I'm not making any lists and spamming reviewers. Instead, I'm carefully selecting them. I've read a lot of book reviews, and I'm trying desperately to keep away from those who seem to post all negative reviews, and also those who post all positive reviews. When I get reviews, more than wanting positive feedback, I want truthful feedback. At this point, I still have 0, but I've already got spots with a few who will post when they get to it, and that's a relief.
     It's been a real waiting game. Waiting for approvals, waiting for technical errors to be solved, waiting for reviews, lots and lots of waiting. The upside is that I've actually been doing a lot of writing while waiting. =D

IN OTHER NEWS
    I suppose I was a bit blinded when I walked into this realm of book-writing. I've actually been VERY surprised that I'm dodging the eBook revolution. Thus far, I've sold nearly 10 times more paperback books than I have digital versions. I've also been very fortunate in an area I had only heard bad things about - trying to hand sell books. I even sold a book to a woman in a grocery store yesterday. In fact, ordering them myself and humbly mentioning them here and there has had the best rate of success so far. Has anyone else experienced this?

IN OTHER OTHER NEWS
   While I have been neglecting my poor little blog, I haven't failed to keep up with others. I'm not telling who, but some of you actually have blogs that I'm bordering on addiction with. There were some in particular that hadn't posted recently, and I found myself watching and waiting. Blogs have been some of the best sources of advice, feedback, and encouragement I've ever found. I'm not the kind of person who just "follow"s a blog. When I "follow" them, I FOLLOW them. Even if I don't comment, you can bet I'm reading it. Keep up the great blogging!! It really does make a difference.

My proofing guidelines.

     With all the talk of proofing lately, I thought I might share my own proofreading guidelines. With the exception of #1 below, I go through this with every edit of my own manuscripts, as well as those of friends and other writers who trust me with their work. Here's how it works:

1. Read the entire work and enjoy it. 
Make a note of any major problems but don't focus on editing.

Why? Because events in chapter 1 have consequences in chapter 20. How can I give someone advice on plotlines and structure in the beginning when I don't know what it could mean for the end?

Now that I know the outcome...

2. Read chapter 1 again.
Highlight any SPaG (spelling, punctuation, and grammar). Make a note of any breaks in the flow of reading. Give suggestions on sentence structure if needed.

Now that it's more clear and flowing...

3. Read through the chapter again.
Focus on plot holes and timeline. Highlight strong and weak points of EVaD (essence, voice, and development).

4. Wash, Rinse, Repeat for all chapters. 

5. Pre-review.
After I've brushed up the ms to the best of my ability, I write a pre-review. A Pre review is simply a 'letter' of sorts to the author detailing my own opinions and suggestions for the overall ms,

I look at things like:
-Was a certain excerpt too dragged out?
-Was it too descriptive? Or not enough?
-Was there anything that could have been left out without consequence?
-Was there something that needed more explanation?
-Was there something I wanted to know, but it doesn't tell?
-If I could change anything, what would it be?
-Is there anything that just doesn't fit.
-ALWAYS tell them the parts of their ms that I loved

And then I hit send and start the journey of e-mailing back and forth with the author to clarify things, talk to them about the ms, and get THEIR feedback on what I've suggested. I always reinforce my belief that everything I give them is purely suggestion and they're welcome to throw it all out if they don't feel it is right for their work. The author knows their work better than any other person in the world, only they can decide what is really right for their ms and what isn't.

If you have any suggestions to add to my list, of course I'm always up for improving my proofreading along with my writing.

I want to...

Proofread. I enjoy it and it's a very nice break from all this writing. Got anything that needs a good free proofreading?

Marketing Strategies you haven't already heard.

     The same day I finished my first novel, I began writing out a detailed business plan for marketing. Hours and hours of research led me down the same paths many times over. Most of them were ads that led me to a book about marketing that I could purchase for the small price of **$99.99** or some other insidious amount. The articles and blogs I found all pretty much said the same things, so I decided to dig deep into my brainpit and find something DIFFERENT.

I came up with some ideas and did some homework. Here are a few of the strategies I came up with. (As of yet, I'm not certain of the results...)

1. The first thing I did was buy a magnet. A WHAT? Haha. Yes, a magnet. A car door magnet. Everywhere I look around town, people have these things advertising business. Selling a book is a business, so why not? I found a very affordable plan at www.vistaprint.com. I tested it out, ordered a small one for $8. I'm very pleased with the product, and went on to order larger ones with more info on where to find it.

Also, if you decide to buy one with them, google "Vistaprint discount codes". I found a 25% off code and saved even more before checkout. I haven't received the larger ones yet, but this was what the little one looked like:

Don't go making fun of my grandma-mobile =) Also, I had to put it in a weird place because my car is made of plastic... Anyway, I've had people stop me in Wal~Mart parking lots to ask about it, so it's definitely something I would suggest.

I'm also planning in the future to hit up some local owner/operator truck drivers to see what they might charge me to stick one on a truck that travels nationwide.

2. Consignment sales. I'm not sure if that's what other stores call them, but my local Hastings bookstore offers these sales. You take in however many books you'd like to sell there, fill out a paper, tell them how much profit you want to make, they mark them up 30% and put them on their shelves. It's a pretty sweet deal. They ask you to come in once a month to check sales, restock, and get paid. You can pull them out of the store any time you'd like, so it's a no risk situation for all. I started small with 10 books, and I'm waiting on more this very moment because they sold out. If you have a Hastings Entertainment store around, I wouldn't hesitate to put it to good use. I'm not certain yet if other bookstores offer something similar, but I will be checking around.

3. Facebook Ads- Okay, I'll have to admit this wasn't my idea... Scott Niven offered this advice on his blog over HERE. I set up an ad for $1.50 per day and have gained followers to my Facebook page. I'm not sure how this translates into sales, since I can't see who buys the book, but the more eyes on it the better.

4. The Book Trailer. Again, not sure if it's boosted sales any, but I've had views from 80 different sources, 25 of which were linked at the end of another video on YouTube. This has allowed me to expand my reach to people who would have probably never even heard of it. And of course, it didn't cost a penny =D

Other than the typical sales schemes of a book, these are some great ways to help you promote. If you have any other methods that aren't blogged about on a daily basis, feel free to comment below and share your knowledge.

A little fun

    I found a neat little gadget today that allows you to paste in your work, and it analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them to those of famous writers.
   I plugged in a few chapters and this was my result:

You can try it out for yourself here: I WRITE LIKE...

While I think I'm far from Rudyard Kipling, it was still fun. If you try it out, let me know what the results were =D

On another note... I'm so stoked about getting the first copy of my book in paperback!!

It feels amazing to be able to hold it!! The paperback is available @ Sounding Waters. The only downside is, my husband thinks I'm crazy for wanting to bring it to bed with me. I'm sure you understand...

It's 2:30 am and the garbage can looks nice Oo

     Now with the first book "finished" (meaning other than advert, there's nothing left to do =D), I'm moving more into book 2, The Origin Stone. I feel like I lost my wings. The first novel I finished just kept coming to me in spurts. The words would just appear in my head and I couldn't get them out fast enough. This was the cause of immense amounts of typos in the first draft, but that was easily remedied.
     This time? Not so much. I've pushed out about 9k words so far, but I'm having trouble liking them. The more I look back over what I've written, the more I want to scrap it all and start over. The best descriptive word that comes to mind is, "Bleh". It's maddening when you know exactly what you want to happen, but it doesn't seem to want to happen. I've been arguing with one of my MCs for 45 minutes now because he doesn't want to do what I want him to. Maybe I'll reconsider making my characters so stubborn in the future...
     I know plenty about writer's block, but this is different. Its more like "writer's drunk" in that my metaphorical speech is slurred and things are a wee bit blurry. Have you ever had writer's drunk? Did you pitch out the work and start fresh, or go back and sort it all out?

Sounding Waters, now available on any reading device!!

     I finally got the ebook version completed!
    If you happen to be interested, you can find it here:

SOUNDING WATERS FOR KINDLE ON AMAZON

ALL OTHER READING DEVICES ON SMASHWORDS

Changes in the release

     Well, it looks as though this might all wrap op a month sooner than expected, so I'll be releasing this book sooner than originally planned. I'll update as soon as I know for sure.

Ever have one of those days?

     It seemed like everything that came out of my mouth today got twisted and scrambled up and my tongue absolutely refused to cooperate with my brain. By the end of the day, every word of this video made sense to me:

I heard a literary joke today...

... and I couldn't pass up sharing it:

     A man asks his literary agent, "What type of writing brings in the most money?" 


     The agent answers, "Ransom notes." 

Riding the Fence

      I've read a lot of indie books lately, and noticed that many of them seem to have skipped the use of an editor or proofreader all together. I'm not sure yet how I feel about that.
     On one side, I sort of like getting to look at a pure unfiltered work. Although writing is a different art form, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali didn't have anyone go over their art before "publishing" it.

   
     And neither did Auguste Rodin, or numerous other artists. It's almost like looking straight into a writer and seeing all of their best traits along with their flaws. You get to see the words they overuse, the ones they can never seem to spell right, and the tidbits of passages that make sense to them, but not to any other mortal being. In a sense, I like seeing that I'm not the only one who screws things up.

     On the other hand... I have to consider that I spent hard earned money on this work. I tend to take someone's "art" only as seriously as they do. It tugs at me that someone who puts it out there without even reading over it first - didn't consider the consequences and didn't give enough effort. Can you imagine how many edits the songs on the Billboard charts go through?

    I'm not sure where I stand really, which is odd for me. Some say it's bringing down the quality of the literature industry, while other say it's allowing story-tellers who aren't so much writers to be heard. I can see it both ways. How do you feel about buying unedited work?

This paperback thing is, for lack of a better word... dfiohw uihuabartjkb

        I have the ebook all polished and ready to post, but this paperback formatting is a madhouse!! I kinda (sorta) have a good start, but indeed, there are problems...

1. I can't get the page numbers to stop showing up on Chapter Title pages....

2. I have the same problem with the Author and Title headers

3. I have to have a barcode? This is confusing me, because some sites tell me I can get a free one (as long as you understand how to set one up with incoherent instructions) while others say to go buy one?

4. I've read that I need to apply for an LCCN, but I'm having trouble applying for one since I don't own a publishing house... I've also heard you don't need one... I'm sincerely unsure...

If you have any idea how to address any of these tormenting issues, don't hesitate to respond. Am I in over my head on this one? Anyone up for LOTS of coffee tonight? 

Don't say it if you don't mean it.

     I heard those words many years ago from my mother. I never thought I would hear them in relation to writing, but oddly enough, it's something I think about often now. I learned to appreciate that phrase a lot more while working with my editor. I love how different she and I looked at things. A lot of the revisions she suggested had nothing to do with what I was trying to portray, because she interpreted what I was saying in a completely different manner than I meant it. That caused me to break down my writing and clarify what I meant. While it's good to leave vague suggestions in writing, sometimes things just need to be said exactly how they are meant.

     This phrase is good to keep in mind with relationships as well. I'd venture to say a lot of complications can come from your partner taking something you said the wrong way. Now when I'm writing and speaking, I reflect back to that little phrase a lot. I'm working on trying to make something exactly what it's supposed to be. 

      At the same time, keep in mind that this issue has been used for the basis of romantic comedy for as long as it has existed. Sit down and watch any episode of George Lopez, and you're sure to see him trying to say something nice to his wife while she gets offended because she perceived it quite the opposite of the way he meant.

     Have you ever said or wrote something that came off the wrong way?

A work, invaded.

I was bright and cheery that I have nearly all the technical crap out of the way and my first novel is ready to post up. I was overjoyed that after months of learning and working out all it takes to get a book ready, I could finally get back to writing! I opened another WIP last night, but while I was writing, my mind kept trailing back to how this work wasn't formatted at all. It was full of "tab" indents, the font was wrong, the line spacing was wrong... It's strange how my brain tries so hard to stay locked on one thing and I have to give effort to make it "mind". So as of now, I'm trying hard to focus on JUST writing.

I try to stay away from filling this blog with personal things. After all, this is about the writing aspects of my life and only faintly remarks on the personal. I just couldn't help thinking this fits into both, though. I awoke a few mornings ago to find this:

My son was in his PJ's having a (not so) nutritious picnic with a good book. The fact that both of my children enjoy reading warms my heart to no end. My daughter tells me constantly she can't wait to be older so that when she tries to read my books they will make sense, bless her.

The best part is, no matter what happens with this novel, nothing can deter me from trudging ahead. If I only sell two books, I will still keep writing, keep publishing, and keep going. I have the chance to demonstrate to my children how important it is to hold onto your dreams and not get discouraged. As of now, my son wants to be in the ARMY and my daughter wants to be a teacher. I'm sure those will change many times over the coming years, but I will always be there to encourage them. I don't care what they do, as long as they're happy doing it. I know I sure am.

That being said, I've noticed a lot of the blogs I follow have progress meters that tell current word counts and status of a WIP. I hope one of you would be so kind as to tell me where I can find one of those to put in this blog :)