Nancy S. Thompson

IWSG: Dealing With Rejection

2012-03-07T03:00:00.007-08:00

It’s the first Wednesday of the month: time to meet with my fellow writers in

Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Witer’s Support Group

I’m beginning to feel like a real, honest-to-God writer these days. And do you know why? The answer is: Rejection. No writer worth her salts could ever call herself so without receiving an array of rejections for her work. And I’ve received quite a few. At first it was just rejections of my query, but then, after receiving a good number of requests, it’s become a rejection of those, too.

The first time I had my full manuscript rejected, it nearly destroyed me. I have to laugh about it now because I took it to the chin, and rather hard, too. I spent that first evening commiserating with my new friend, Silver Patron. Sure, he made me laugh and even forget for a while, but I vowed we wouldn’t see each other again until I somehow managed to snag an agent. That was nearly a year ago, and I’ve kept my promise, though it hasn’t always been easy. But one thing rejection has done for me is make me tough. I barely even feel it now.

This has come in handy in the last few weeks. After waiting over six months, I finally heard back from an agent who politely and respectfully said no to my full. That was followed immediately by another of the same. Well, almost the same. It wasn’t an agent this time, but rather an editor who had read my first fifty pages, and three days later, quite excitedly I might add, requested my full, making sure to inform me how much she and her team were enjoying my story.

I took that request and the excitement that accompanied it with a huge grain of salt. The publisher was brand-spanking new and published mostly romance, but they were looking for thrillers and mine had them all worked up. The great part was that she didn’t make me wait. I heard back in less than two weeks. But you already know how this story ends. She told me I definitely had a talent for writing and that making the final decision about my manuscript was truly a hard one for them, but in the end, it wasn’t a good fit.

She’s promised to go over with me all the deciding factors in a detailed email, but it came down to what I’ve always known would be a difficult sell: My story is just too provocative.

Now, some might think this is a good thing, but, as I’ve written here before, my lead male character, who falls into unbearable depression following the violent death of his wife, does something shamefully contemptible, and, as we all know, in fiction, the truly despicable things are left to the bad guy, not the good. But, at least for me, life is not simple shades of black and white. There are variables of grey to both sides of the coin. True, my character is flawed, but the entire message, the very theme of the story, is forgiveness. So while I am excited to read what the editor thinks will help make my story more marketable, I’m not sure how far I’m willing to go to make it so, even though she said she’s willing to reread it afterwards.

Yes, I am all for compromise, but, as my best friend, writing soul mate, and most awesome critique partner, Lisa L. Regan, has said numerous times, the character cannot fully appreciate or realize just how far he’s fallen—how far removed he is from the man he used to be—until he crosses completely over to the dark side. And he cannot do that without doing that “terrible awful thing” no matter how terrible awful it is. And believe me, it is. It’s terrible awful

But this is a story of hard-fought redemption, and I didn’t start off making him a bad guy. Like I said, he’s flawed, but his flaw is that, in his quest of lawful duty, he doesn’t actually see his flaw. He thinks he’s always right, always on track, always perfect. So to fall so far from grace is unendurable for him. And while he’s desperately fighting the bad guys to save the woman he’s wounded and jeopardized, he’s also battling the internal demons he’s unleashed within himself.

How do I compromise on that?

So anyway, now I know, rejections won’t kill me. They don’t bowl me over anymore. I barely feel them. But it’s not so much that I’m scarred and therefore tougher. It’s more like I believe in my story. I trust its message. It may be too provocative for agents and publishers of commercial fiction at the moment. Hell, it might be too provocative for future audiences, too, but, having gone through a similar experience, writing this story was cathartic and has taught me exactly what I’m trying to express in the story: to forgive.

And I just can’t compromise on that, because the integrity of that message is much more important than the marketability of the story.

Second Campaigner Challenge

2012-03-05T01:41:00.003-08:00

Uh oh, Rachael Harrie’s at it again. She’s just released the rules for her Second Campaigner Challenge, and this one ain’t so easy. Rachael’s rules are in green and my replies are in red. My challenge entry follows right after the five promts.

Do one or more of the following:

Write a pitch/logline for a book based on the prompts (less than 100 words Done!

Write a short story/flash fiction piece of less than 200 words based on the prompts Check!

Write a poem with a twist using the prompts as inspiration (in less than 200 words) Uh, no.

Write a story/poem in five sentences, each sentence based on one of the prompts Forget it.

Write a poem/flash fiction piece (in less than 200 words) about the water pear *without* using the words “pear”, “spoon”, or “droplet”. Not gonna happen.

For added difficulty/challenge:

Complete at least three of the above activities and tie them all together with a common theme (feel free to either state the theme in your post or leave us to guess what it might be) Yeah, that’s not gonna happen either. I struggled with just the two items, and it’s already nearly two in the morning, so…

Write in a genre that is not your own This one I can handle. I tried a little light fantasy, at least I think it’s fantasy. You tell me. I have absolutely no experience reading or writing in the genre.

Ask Challenge entrants to critique your writing. After the Challenge closes, you may wish to re-post your revised piece(s), and I’ll include a Linky List at the bottom of this post for those wishing more feedback on their revisions (note: revised entries will not be judged, so please label clearly your original post and your revisions. Please do not offer critique unless someone asks for it, as per the usual blogging conventions. If you do ask for critique, make sure you ask for it clearly so people know you want it, and please be prepared to receive feedback that may not be 100% glowing. If you are a critiquer, please be tactful and courteous, and remember to provide positives as well as negatives.) Okay, I can handle this part. I think. So go ahead and critique it, if you’d like. I can take it. Just be polite.

Here are Rachael’s Prompts:

Prompt 1:

Two people are sitting together under the remains of a concrete bridge. Their backs are against a rusted bridge support. One person’s leg is cut. The other person has wet hair.

Prompt 2:

Prompt 3:

Prompt 4:

Prompt 5:

________

My flash fiction entry, at 199 words:

TAZI'S WISH

Tazi raced along the promenade, his cloak a crimson flash against the sparkling azure sea. His tiny legs pumped, but the little wizard could draw no closer to the Wishing Orb. It remained at a fixed distance, taunting him.

This was crazy. He was a shaman, like his grandfather. But Tazi had never been taught how to harness his magic. Frustrated, he pulled out his wand, the one his grandfather had just given him, when they hid from the Spectral Guard beneath the ruins of the Empyrean Bridge.

Even as the lifeblood poured from the injured man’s leg, Tazi’s grandfather raised the staff and tapped it against his grandson’s foot. A funnel of water twisted up around Tazi’s body, swirling in a giant teardrop. In a flash, the water exploded, and Tazi began to tumble through empty space, encased only in a gilded cage of whirling stars.

Then, with the wand in hand, Tazi crashed, but in an unfamiliar land littered only with filth and scavenging imps. Except for the Wishing Orb, rolling along the promenade. All he had to do was touch it and wish himself home, if only he could reach it.

Tazi raised his wand. Poof!

My Pitch for Tazi’s Wish, at 42 words:

Stranded in an unfamiliar wasteland, the young wizard, Tazi, must learn to harness the power of his grandfather’s magic wand to capture the Wishing Orb and return home, or risk becoming a lost scavenger imp adrift in a sea of decaying debris.

________

That’s it. If you enjoyed it, please click on over to Rachael's

and “like” my entry. I’m number 5. Thanks!!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

2012-03-02T04:00:00.002-08:00

Oh what a day,

A day it is,

A day of fun,

Of zip & fizz!

Let's celebrate,

The doc was born.

No Mr. Geisel,

Nor Theodor.

It's Dr. Seuss,

To me and you,

To Horton

And to every Who.

He brought his pal,

A giant cat,

A cat who wears

A tall striped hat.

But that's not all we have,

look here.

There's red fish blue fish

Everywhere!

He brought another

In a box.

Oh look, oh look,

A fox in socks!

And who's that with

The fox you say?

He's green and mean,

but what the hay.

He's not so bad

To have in a pinch.

I kind of like

That old mean Grinch.

He brought with him

Green eggs and ham,

And one more chap

Named Sam I am.

The gang's all here,

Let's celebrate,

For Dr. Seuss

Turns one-oh-eight!

I know I'm not much of a poet, but any excuse to

have this much fun is worth the embarrassment.

Thank you, Jennee Thompson, for reminding me how much I love Dr. Seuss!

It's CassaFire Release Day!

2012-02-28T03:00:00.008-08:00

I am seriously worn out from hunting down and applying for college scholarships for my kid, so I’m gonna make it easy on myself and take a cheat day. And it just so happens that everybody’s favorite blogging buddy, Alex J. Cavanaugh, is celebrating the release of his latest book, CassaFire, by hosting the Catch Fire Blog Party.

CassaStar was only the beginning…

The Vindicarn War is a distant memory and Byron’s days of piloting Cosbolt fighters are over. He has kept the promise he made to his fallen mentor and friend - to probe space on an exploration vessel. Shuttle work is dull, but it’s a free and solitary existence. The senior officer is content with his life aboard the Rennather.

The detection of alien ruins sends the exploration ship to the distant planet of Tgren. If their scientists can decipher the language, they can unlock the secrets of this device. Is it a key to the Tgren's civilization or a weapon of unimaginable power? Tensions mount as their new allies are suspicious of the Cassan's technology and strange mental abilities.

To complicate matters, the Tgrens are showing signs of mental powers themselves, the strongest of which belongs to a pilot named Athee, a woman whose skills rival Byron’s unique abilities. Forced to train her mind and further develop her flying aptitude, he finds his patience strained. Add a reluctant friendship with a young scientist, and he feels invaded on every level. All Byron wanted was his privacy…

CassaFire
by Alex J. Cavanaugh
Print ISBN 978-0-9827139-4-5
EBook ISBN 978-0-9827139-6-9
Science Fiction - Space Opera/Adventure

“This sequel to Cavanaugh's first novel, CassaStar, delivers on the promise of its predecessor, combining military action sequences and political intrigue with strong, memorable characters. Reminiscent of the action-driven stories of Robert A. Heinlein's early fiction…” - Library Journal

“This is a book of inner and outer journeys, of inner and outer adventures, mysteries and revelations. It is also a book of friendship, relationship and equality. CassaStar is the cake. CassaFire is the cherry.” - Edi’s Book Lighthouse

“A fun filled space opera of romance and adventure, CassaFire harkens back to its 80s influences like Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 20th Century, and Star Wars. Family friendly and sure to please fans of classic space opera in the Golden Age Style.” - Bryan Thomas Schmidt, author “The Worker Prince”

“…perfect for someone looking for a light space adventure with… great characters and story. Highly Recommended.” - Speculative Book Reviews

“This is the ideal novel for anyone wanting to dip their toes into Sci-Fi. I can’t recommend this one highly enough.” - Fantasy Nibbles

“The author knows how to keep things moving... a real page turner. The best space opera fiction I've read in awhile.”

- Randy Johnson Not The Baseball Pitcher

Find it on Goodreads

Catch the blog tour:
2/22     Ray Gun Revival - Bryan Thomas Schmidt
2/27     Ciara Knight
2/28     Edi’s Book Lighthouse
2/29     Isis Rushdan
3/1       YA Author Elana Johnson
3/2       Michael Offiutt
3/5       Under the Tiki Hut
3/6       Talli Roland
3/7       Tossing it Out
3/8       Daily Write
3/9       Sia McKye’s Thoughts Over Coffee

Congratulations, Alex!

First Campaigner Challenge: THE DECISION

2012-02-21T04:00:00.003-08:00

It’s time for Rachel Harries’s First Campaigner Challenge:

According to Rachel, we are supposed to write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “Shadows crept across the wall”. These five words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:

end the story with the words: "everything faded." (also included in the word count)
include the word "orange" in the story
write in the same genre you normally write
make your story 200 words exactly!

I accomplished all five and in my very first piece of flash fiction ever! I hope you enjoy it:

____________

THE DECISION

Shadows crept across the wall, nature’s chronograph of all the hours they’d spent entwined in the sheets, their eyes locked in a desperate tug-of-war. The shimmering glow of twilight erupted in brilliant hues, saturating every surface in a blaze of blushing coral, flaming orange, and cool lavender. He ran his thumb over the amethyst shadows beneath her eyes, a testament to the endless span of time they’d been stalling, waiting.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

She shook her head and looked away as tears pooled up. She sighed and turned onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. He swiped his fingers across the ribbons of sorrow cascading over her temple.

“This is our chance to all be together again,” he reminded her. “You still want that, don’t you?”

Her chin quivered and she sniffled in a ragged breath, but she nodded, almost imperceptibly.

“Good,” he said. “So do I.”

He reached over to the nightstand, emptied the bottle of pills into his hand, and grabbed the bottle of water. They each swallowed half the pills and laid back, their hands clasped, fingers woven tight.

“See you on the other side,” he said.

Then the sun disappeared and everything faded.

____________

So, how’d I do? If you liked it, click here on Rachel’s link and vote for #96. There are plenty of others who are participating, as well.

Really? You Wanna Know That?

2012-02-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged!

With all that blog partying last week, I was thinking I could get down to business and focus on something writerly-ish, but alas, I have been tagged by four separate people in the last week or so, and I can’t let that go without some sort of response, so this post will be dedicated to answering a few questions from each tagger:

From my very bestest friend in all the world, Lisa Regan, who, I might add, just got married on Valentine’s Day—YAY LISA!!

1. What is the first line of your current WIP?

(From my second novel, Parasite) It took five men in all, each over two hundred pounds and burdened with a bulletproof vest, a gun, a taser, handcuffs, and a nightstick, but they used neither their weapons, nor their restraints, just their bare hands and a thousand pounds of brute force. (Yeah, it needs some work, but it’s the first draft so…)

2. Would you rather have one book published that became a classic or have multiple books that sell well but eventually go out of print?

Definitely multiple books. I want to reach as many people as I can while I walk this earth. What happens after I leave means little.

3. What was the weirdest moment of writing inspiration you’ve ever had?

Well, I just told this story for my Origins post. The fact that I was inspired to write at all was weird enough, but that it came to me through one song on one beautiful sunny day was weirder still. That one moment produced an entire 95,000 word manuscript.

Next, a few questions from the delightful Donna K. Weaver at Weaving a Tale or Two:

4. What was my favorite book in 2011?

In non-fiction, I’d have to say “The Fire in Fiction” by Donald Maass.

In fiction, it’s “Creep” by Jennifer Hillier , hands down, and not because she’s a great friend of mine, but rather because it’s one helluva fantastic read and right up my alley!

5. Who is your favorite author?

That’s easy, Greg Iles. I’ve read each of his contemporary thrillers, all eleven of them, at least three times.

6. Who is your favorite, Bill or Ted, and why?

Another easy one, Ted, because…well, he’s Keanu Reeves…DUH!!!

From new follower, Cortney Pearson:

7. Plotter or pantster?

This one’s not so easy. With my first novel, The Mistaken, it was thoroughly plotted with a very detailed outline that took me over four weeks to complete. But now that I’m working on my next project, Parasite, I’ve been pantsting quite a bit. I do have a lot of notes, but not in outline form, so I’m kind of wingin’ it this time around. Scary!

8. If you could go back and do anything over again, what would it be?

This is a tough question. If it were only about me, I’d say I’d go back to 1984 and keep my daughter, Julia, instead of giving in to my parents demands and giving her up for adoption. Biggest regret of my life. But she’s had a remarkable life, so for her, it was the best decision. Me? Yeah, not so much.

9. What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?

I, along with my husband, used to guide white water rafts down the south fork of the American River just east of Sacramento, CA. Total freakin’ blast, man! And often scary as hell!!

And from another new follower, Leigh Covington:

10. If you could meet the President of the United States, what would you say to him?

Not bad for a democrat.

11. What is your favorite quote?

“Never quit!” by Winston Churchill

Okay, that’s eleven. Now it’s my turn to tag someone. There are many I would like to ask, including a few who don’t normally do this type of thing (Lynda R. Young, Julie Musil, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Matthew MacNish, & Jami Gold ) So here are a few I think would, but haven’t yet:

Jennifer Hillier

Mark Koopmans

LG Smith

Al Penwasser

Mary Pax

Julie Kemp Pick

And because this post is already way too long, instead of thinking up new ones of my own, I’d like each of these fine writers to answer the same questions I just did.

Lastly, I’d like to thank the lovely Natalie Sharpston for bestowing me with the Kreativ Blogger Award. In receiving this award, I’m supposed to list seven things about myself that might be interesting, but I think the eleven items above will suffice, but thank you so very much, Natalie!

Is It Getting Hot In Here? Bloghop

2012-02-14T04:00:00.000-08:00

Today is Hope Roberson’s “Is It Getting Hot In Here?” Bloghop. This is my third party since Friday and I’m getting pooped, but I thought this would be a nice way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, especially since this little bit of romance is about as hot as it’ll get for me today. I don’t read many books with romance, kissing, or even sex scenes, so I picked the very last scene from my own novel, The Mistaken. This is the only kissing scene I have without sex, so I thought it'd be safe. This scene is where the two main characters, Tyler and Hannah, who haven’t seen each other for nearly a year, are finally reunited. It’s a little cheesy, but it works in the grand scheme of things. Sorry it’s a little over the 300 word suggested limit, but you can’t hurry love…

He bent closer and whispered. “Forgive me, Hannah, please. I can’t take back what I’ve done, but I can spend forever making up for it, if you’d just give me the chance.” He paused and kissed me softly. “Tell me you feel me there, Hannah, in your heart. Please tell me you feel the same way,” he begged with his hand still resting gently against my chest.

I nodded as I gazed into his beautiful blue eyes. “Yes, Ty. I’ve felt you there every second of every day, and it...it hurt so bad knowing that I’d never see or talk to you again. I’ve missed you so much. And now that you’re here, I don’t think I could take it if you left me again.”

Ty crushed me in his arms like he couldn’t hold me tight enough, like he was trying to step right into my skin along with me. I buried my face in his shoulder and cried, breathing deeply of the scent I could never seem to get out of my mind, thinking that the moment was better than any I had ever imagined. And I had imagined it at least a thousand times. I felt his shoulders quake as he cried the first happy tears I’d ever seen him shed.

We held each other for a very long time, each afraid of ending the moment. Finally, Ty pulled back and put his hands on my face, holding me still as he leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. His kiss increased in urgency and depth as we each laid claim to the other. The moment so tender and intimate, it embarrassed a couple of hikers as they passed us on the trail.

“Get a room!” one of them snickered as the other giggled.

We looked each other in the eye and held each other’s gaze without a word until Ty smiled and said, “You know, that’s a pretty good idea.”

I laughed. “Yes. It’s a very good idea. Let’s go.” I pulled back and took a step away from Ty then turned back and raised my hand out to him. “Coming?” I asked.

He took my hand in his and kissed it once more. “You couldn’t keep me away!” he answered with a wide grin that reached his eyes, crinkling them at the corners like small suns brightening the world.

He held my hand as we moved slowly down the sun-dappled trail, disappearing together into the lush green forest of pine and fern.

This post is dedicated to my best friend who is finally tying the knot today!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

The Origins Blogfest

2012-02-13T04:00:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m such a party girl, but I couldn’t resist this particular blogfest. Co-hosted by DL Hammons, Creepy Query Girl KatieMills, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Matthew MacNish, the Origins Blogfest is the perfect place to share how my writing dreams began.

Unlike so many of the talented writers I’ve met here in the blogosphere, my writing dream is a fairly new concept. I’ve always loved to write, but I never once thought about making it a career or pursuing publication. For me, it was more about helping my son in school and not appearing the idiot when I emailed friends and family.

I’ve always loved to read, but I’ve never read something and thought, gee, I could do that. Well, maybe after reading Twilight, but that’s another post altogether. Anyway, my journey began rather abruptly.

In March of 2010, I downloaded a new CD onto my iPod. It was 30 Seconds to Mars’ This Is War CD. On it was a song called Hurricane. It was a breathtakingly clear and warm day here in Seattle—in other words, a minor miracle—and I decided to take my little convertible out for a spin around Lake Sammamish, ‘cause, you know, when the sun comes out, the top goes down.

(Mine is dark blue!)

So there I am, driving with the sun in my face and my tunes blaring when this new song starts playing. The tune really struck me, but it was the lyrics that hit me hardest. They said:

Tell me would you kill to save a life

Tell me would you kill to prove you’re right…

Do you really want me dead or alive

To torture for my sins

It made me wonder: What could make a man do something really bad, something completely against his nature, and could he ever find redemption, find his way back to the man he once was? That was a pretty powerful concept for me, and, after having yet another recurring nightmare of something terrible that had once happened to me, I decided I would try to make sense of it all and answer my own question. Hence, THE MISTAKEN was born. Or the idea of it anyway.

The strangest part of writing this novel is that it came to me whole, like all in one moment. I just had to write it all down in an outline first, then type it all up. And as I was doing all this, it was like there was someone or something possessing me, or at the very least, standing over my shoulder, whispering into my ear, telling me exactly what to write.

I simply cannot explain it in any other way. I mean, surely it wasn’t me. I’ve never written much of anything. I have no training, no idea what components go into writing a novel or creating a cohesive plot. Yet there was, a real story, and a compelling one at that. And it was a fast read, too, lots of action, lots of emotion, everything I like in a book.

Now, it was so far from perfect as to be laughable, but, over time, and with the help of many, many talented critique partners, most notably Lisa L. Regan, Tara Rendall, and Jeff O’Handley, The Mistaken took on a polished gleam worthy of querying, and, I hope, even publication. Someday. Fingers crossed.

So now I’ve found a new passion in writing, in creating characters and plot. I’ve learned a great deal in the last 22 months, and I plan on putting that all to good use. Yep, that’s right, I just started writing my second novel, tentatively title Parasite.

Writing has changed my life in so many fantastic and unexpected ways. It’s given me a new purpose, a dream of my very own. And it’s brought people into my life, wonderful, talented, loving people whom I now call my friends. That alone is worth more that gold.

So what’s your story? How did your writing dreams begin?

Oh, and by the way, I just won a SECOND round entry in Cupid's Literary Connection Blind Speed Dating Contest. My entry here went up today and judging will go through Wednesday. Feel free to comment! I'd love to hear what you think. Fingers crossed I make it to round 3!

I'll Tumble 4 Ya Blogfest

2012-02-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

Today, blogging buddies Mary Pax, Nicki Elson, and Suze from Analog Breakfast are hosting the Who Was Your 80’s Crush: I’ll Tumble 4 Ya Blogfest! Since I love me a good blogfest, I wanted to participate, so I signed right up. Thing is, I couldn’t really recall anyone I was seriously crushin’ on in the 80’s.

Having just graduated high school in 1982, I was a young woman, and very much in love with one young(er) man. This man eventually became my husband. Since he was, and still is, exceptionally hot, I really didn’t care too much about any others.

My husband, Eric, as a young man - YUM!

But there was one young actor who was exactly my age and, dare I say, super cute: former teen idol, Johnny Depp. Even better than cute, he was a rebel, a rocker with his own band, and the owner of a nightclub where all the hot, young LA movie stars hung out. Oddly enough, his first major film role was as the boyfriend to Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street. And, stranger still, he was a close friend of gonzo journalist/writer, Hunter S. Thompson, and eventually portrayed him in not one, but two films. How funny is that?!

Early in his career, and, apparently, much to his chagrin, Johnny starred in the Fox police drama, 21 Jump Street. Now, I never even watched that show, but he did manage to turn my head whenever his name appeared in the news, which, back then, was quite often, as he was linked to some highly visible young hotties, namely Twin Peaks actress Sherilyn Fenn, supermodel Kate Moss, and Gen-X rising star Winona Ryder. And Johnny had a wild streak that often got him into trouble with the purveyors of many a five-star hotel where he allegedly wreaked havoc and destruction.

Yes, I love bad boys, and, back then, Johnny Depp was King of the Bad Boys. He calmed way down after the death of his close friend and rising star, River Phoenix, just outside the front door of his West Hollywood nightclub, The Viper Room. Johnny turned quite introspective shortly thereafter. It wasn’t much later when Johnny moved to France to escape the ever-present camera lens of the US paparazzi. There he met Vanessa Paradis, a beautiful French film actress with whom he has two children. Unfortunately, this relationship has recently come to an end.

During his career, Johnny Depp made a habit of taking on strange roles, most notably, with his friend and collaborator, oddball director Tim Burton, but Johnny’s career made a mainstream comeback when he took on the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. Now, all generations of filmgoers know Johnny Depp’s name. He’s even hotter now than he was as a teen idol in the 80’s

Interestingly, a new film is ready to be released based on Fox’s original show, 21 Jump Street, though the movie is more of a tongue-in-cheek homage rather than an adaptation of the former weekly series. But what I found intriguing is this old interview where Johnny Depp was asked if he would ever consider reviving his role 20 to 30 years in the future should anyone ever decide to remake 21 Jump Street into a feature film.

The interviewer says, “Wouldn’t it be cool—remember that old guy Johnny Depp? He’s still around somewhere. Let’s see if we can find him and get him to drop a few pounds and he could play the father of the guy he used to play. Would you do that?” he asks Johnny. And Johnny replies, “Yeah, I would do it. I’d come out of the old folks home to do that. Sure”

Funny, huh? Johnny is still gorgeous and he’s as hot as ever, even more so. And I bet it’s that interviewer who is currently fat and living in some retirement complex in Florida.

‘Cause it sure ain’t Johnny Depp! Wowza!

So, who was YOUR 80's crush? Or, if you were too young or *gasp* not even alive yet, who would you have crushed on back then? Or who are you crushin' on right now? If I was a young girl, I would be crushin' on this young man, Thomas McDonell.

Doesn't he look a lot like Johnny Depp?

Oh yeah, one more thing: I won a first round entry in Cupid's Literary Connection Blind Speed Dating Contest. My entry will go up live starting Monday, February 13th. Please, please, go comment! I'd love to hear what you think. And I'm dying to make to the next round!

Party Time!

2012-02-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

A few quick reminders: On Friday, I’ll be taking part in the Tumble 4 Ya Blogfest hosted by Mary Pax and Suze at Analog Breakfast which should be loads of crushin’ fun!

On Monday, February 13^th , DL Hammons, Creepy Query Girl, KatieMills, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Matthew MacNish will be sponsoring the Origins Blogfest in which participants will post their own origin story, sharing where their writing dreams began.

And, because I do love all good blogfests, I will try to participate in Hope Roberson’s Valentine’s Day “Is It Getting Hot In Here?” Bloghop. In this one we will share one of our favorite kissing scenes from a book we've read, our own WIP, make one up, or write about one of our own memorable kisses. Considering how long I’ve been married, this will likely be as hot as it gets for me on Valentine’s Day!

Also, I’ve signed up for the A to Z Challenge sponsored by several of my favorite blogger friends. I must be crazy for taking up this challenge because anyone who knows me knows I only post once a week at most. But I’ve already made good progress and should hopefully have all 26 posts ready way before April 1^st. If you’re insane and want to make a lot of new friends, go sign up!

Lastly, I received two awards in the last week:

From my very bestest friend in the whole wide world, Lisa Regan, I received the Thumbs Up From Skunk Award since "we all feel like stinky, stinky skunks some days" and there are people who "make us feel (and smell) a lot better."

To pass the award on, I’m supposed to name one thing that I love about myself, then pass on the award to whomever I want. Hmm…okay, here goes: I am fiercely loyal. If I’m on your side, I cannot be shaken off. I will sing your praises, compliment everything about you, offer you love and encouragement, and defend you ‘til death.

So now to pass this thing on… I’d like to share it with: Gary and Penny at Klahanie and Jennifer Hillier at The Serial Killer Files.

And speaking of Gary and Penny at Klahanie, Penny the Jack Russell has bestowed me with the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award. I have received this one before, but here are 7 brief facts about me:

- I’m half Irish, half Italian and so cursed with a wicked temper.

- I have dark red hair and bright green eyes.

- I love to watch TV almost as much as I love to read.

- I’m a sucker for a big dog, of which I have 2.

- I miss my “home” state of California more than I can bear.

- I drive a really cool car!

- I just started writing my second novel, another thriller, tentatively titled Parasite.

Many thanks to Lisa, Gary, and Penny for the accolades! I’ll see you all again on Friday for the Tumble 4 Ya Blogfest! Have a great week!

IWSG: Jealousy Among Writers

2012-01-31T03:00:00.000-08:00

I’m posting a day early for Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group held on the first Wednesday of every month. I don’t personally have anything to complain about, but I have noticed something in the blogosphere lately and I was wondering what you all thought about it.

Last week, agent Rachelle Gardner wrote a post called Watch Out for the Green Eyed Monster where she discusses jealousy among writers. She even expressed how she was envious when an agent friend of hers recently completed a great deal. She was happy for her, of course, but she was also the tiniest bit jealous.

I’ve met a great many writers here on Blogger, Wordpress, and other sources. Most of them are like me. They’ve written or are writing a novel and all that that encompasses, and they’re hoping and dreaming and even struggling to find and land that perfect agent, someone who believes in their writing, their project, and their beloved characters. But there are quite a few who have recently bagged that elusive agent. Even some who have secured a publishing contract or might be on their second or third book.

Often, these writers make their incredible announcements via their blogs or Twitter, sharing their excitement at achieving their dream. Most of their followers comment, expressing their joy and pride. But as time wears on, some writers notice a lag in their comments. Some writers have blogged about how they receive nasty emails from people, often other writers who are consumed with envy.

NatalieWhipple at Between Fact and Fiction has struggled for many, many years, writing something like 9 or 10 novels. A few years ago, Natalie managed to snag former agent-superstar Nathan Bransford only to lose him when he retired from agenting and the publishing business. She landed on her feet though and acquired another agent. After enduring something like 15 months on submission, Natalie and her agent finally gave up that particular book, but Natalie had another which was eventually scooped up by a publisher, and she was even given an option for a second book. She is currently awaiting publication sometime in 2013. Oh happy day, right? Yeah, not so much.

Natalie has posted several times about how people were not always so happy for her success. Apparently, there were quite a few who sent vicious emails, something I cannot understand myself because Natalie is just about the sweetest, kindest, most generous blogger out there, and she has shared every up and down along the way, of which there have been many. I read a comment once that said writers who reach their dream no longer post about their struggles and therefore all the tension is removed from their blog. I guess I can see his point, but this is not the case with Natalie. She still posts about her struggles. So what’s with all the jealousy?

It’s not like the other writers are taking a spot that we could have had for ourselves. Each of our novels are so different, so unique. I understand it’s hard not to want what they have, to achieve the same dream, but to be angry or jealous? That I don’t get. When I read about another writer landing an agent, sure, I say, “Boy, I wish that could be me,” but I also say, “See, there is hope.” Because that is exactly what it gives me: hope, that I might achieve the same thing someday.

Of course, it all does depend on the attitude of the writer. There is one particular writer whom many of us know. We’ve seen her query up on QueryShark, her first page up on Suzie Townsend’s First Page Shooter. She had several offers and had her pick of agents, even got a book deal a few weeks later. That’s every writer’s dream. But this gal also has an abundance of self-worth, perhaps caused by all the attention. But she hasn’t missed the opportunity to belittle other writers and their work on a certain popular blog, offering her opinion at their expense. She still blogs from time to time, but she gets almost no comments any more. She’s lost her following just when she needs it most. I guess I can understand that a little, but still, writing is a relatively small community, and we are all greatly connected, so tearing someone down because of their success is like burning a bridge directly into the community in which you dream to be a part of.

So what do you think? Is it difficult to see your friends and colleagues reach milestones before you do? Or do you think of it as proof that all the hard work is worth it, that you can get there, too? Does it give you hope or dash your dreams?

And Now a Word From Our Sponsors

2012-01-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

Just a brief (for me) post today. I’ll try to post something more profound later this week. I know, I know, I’m not keeping to my newly published blog schedule, but my life is a bit frantic right now. I have one more medical test today then I have to start applying for a multitude of financial aid and scholarships for my son and that takes priority. But I do have a few things I wanted to mention:

First, and most exciting for me…I booked BoucherCon 2012! Yes, I finally scraped the cash together and booked my first writer’s conference for October. Now I have to get the airfare.

Second, I need to spread the love and thanks around to three lovely fellow bloggers:

Ø To Jamie Ayres for sponsoring a wonderful contest to celebrate her 100^th follower. She invited twenty-one followers to submit their queries to be judged by literary agent, Nicole Resciniti, who would then, hopefully, request a partial or full from one lucky entrant. But by some miracle, Ms. Resciniti requested fulls from two talented writers and partials and synopses from the rest of us!

Ø To both Nick Wilford and C. Lee McKenzie for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award. Both have wonderfully written blogs, so if you haven’t gone over for a visit and followed them yet, hop to it! (Since I've done this award twice, I won't repeat myself.)

Lastly, I wanted to let you all know about two blogfests being held in February, because I think these bloghops are the best and easiest way to meet new writer/bloggers and acquire new followers, and heck, bloghops are fun! So here they are:

Ø Nicki Elson has teamed up with Mary Pax and Suze at Analog Breakfast for the Tumble 4 Ya Blogfest being held on Friday, February 10^th to ask one simple question: Who was/is your 80’s celebrity crush? If you're interested, go check out these wonderful bloggers and sign up.

Ø DL Hammons has joined forces with Creepy Query Girl, KatieMills and my two online writer crushes, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Matthew MacNish to sponsor the Origins Blogfest. “On Monday, February 13th, you should post your own origin story. Tell us all where your writing dreams began. It could be anything from how you started making up stories as a child, or writing for the school newspaper, or even what prompted you to start a blog. How about stories about the first time somebody took an interest in your writing, or the teacher/mentor that helped nudge you along and mold your passion, or maybe the singular moment when you first started calling yourself a writer. It all started somewhere and we want you to tell us your own, unique, beginnings.” I think this one will be a blast so head on over to any of these blogs and sign up using the Linky Tool.

Well, that’s it! I hope you all go visit my wonderful blogger friends and participate in the blogfests. After spending the last week battling two snowstorms, one ice storm, and yet another wind storm, I’m off to conquer the world…or my corner of it, anyway. Have a great week!

When a Character Does the Unforgivable

2012-01-17T10:44:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all those who sent prayers and good wishes my way last week. They must have worked; my first biopsy came back benign. I feel very blessed. One more to go then I’ll be free and clear. Right now, I’d like to get onto more serious writerly endeavors. With all the upset and turmoil in my life lately, I fear I’ve let my blogging duties fall by the wayside. This is my lame attempt at making up for that.

I recently received a critique from a fellow writer, someone I admire and respect for his mad writing skillz. He gave me a great deal of feedback, and I’ve been busy making revisions based on his recommendations. I am actually shocked what he was able to pull out of me.

About one third of the way through my manuscript, after my male protagonist does a very, very bad thing, my critique partner commented that it would be very difficult for him to feel sympathy for that character any longer, that although he sees how circumstances pushed him towards his actions, it just might be too much and he might not ever like him again. But was willing to read on and see.

I’m glad he was willing, and I assured him I did my best to change the reader’s mind. In the end, he said that I managed to pull it off after all, that he did come to care for the main character, that he wanted to see him atone for his sins, and he did. Congratulations, he said.

Whew! What a relief! But even after all the praise he gave me throughout, I’m still worried, because what if an agent reads through that part then gives up? What if he or she is not willing, does not believe I can make the character atone and redeem himself? I mean, that’s the whole trick of the book, the reason I wrote in the first place.

Now, my writing is in no way eloquent like my last CP. I don’t lay claim to that particular skill. But what I do think I did, and reasonably well, is take the reader on a crazy wild ride through turmoil and bedlam. I made my champion suffer then turned him into an anti-hero and raked him over the coals for it. Then I forced him to atone for the most unforgivable of sins. The theme of my novel is forgiveness, after all. But the reader will never know that unless he or she has the patience to see it through.

I did all those things you’re supposed to do to your MC: I made him human, imperfect with a huge chip on his shoulder. I gave him loads of room to change, balancing his strength and humility, turned his affliction into integrity, made him strive for the impossible, brought his compelling struggle to satisfaction though not completely resolved. He is dark. He is troubled. And he is seriously flawed. But is he too self-destructive to garner sympathy? Does he step over a line for which there is no absolution?

I wrote this novel from a particularly personal point of view: Mine. I can’t say that others would ever be able to forgive the unforgivable, but I wanted to show it’s possible. I hope I have that chance.

Have you ever read a novel where the main character steps way over the line? Were you patient enough to see it through to the end or were you too disgusted to continue?

The Book and the Sword

2012-01-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

I deeply apologize for not making the blogging rounds this week. After working with a gifted new critique partner (thanks JeffO,) I’m deep in revisions and want to get them done so I can send my manuscript out to my last two beta readers before I start querying again, hopefully in February.

Aside from that, I’ve been having a few minor medical issues that have been consuming my attention. It struck me that when you get news that has the potential of affecting your entire life, you focus on those things that are most important to you. I was shocked at what became my highest priorities.

Of course, not shocking at all is my child as number one. With college looming on the horizon, and the financial and living arrangements not yet worked out, I am obsessing over how I will get those finalized. I’ve taken all the necessary steps, but we are still four months out from making a final decision, even as more acceptances arrive. My son may be mere months away from adulthood and total freedom, but he still needs me and will for a long time. This is not surprising. I’m a mother. It’s my job.

What is surprising is how important publishing my novel has become—all encompassing, in fact. I’ve never had a dream that was specifically for me, to the exclusion of everyone else. Again, I’m a mother, and a wife, and as such, I tend to focus on everyone else before myself. That’s just part of the job. But with my son so close to flying the nest, I’ve had to find things to keep me busy since the economy, and therefore my business, is so slow. Like many others, I turned to writing. Now that my book is ready to go, or nearly so, my drive to find and land an agent is consuming. I believe strongly in my novel, that it has merit and can succeed commercially. I simply won’t rest until I’ve exhausted every avenue available. It’s a dream I cannot give up on.

My last dream is two-fold. I’ve wanted to attend a writer’s conference for a while now, but with my business so slow, my funds are limited and, as many of you know, these conferences can be very expensive. I wanted to attend ThrillerFest in July in New York City, but I don’t have a few extra grand in my pocket. But BoucherCon, a crime writer’s conference, is remarkably more affordable and I’ve just about saved enough pennies for registration and maybe even the airfare. So I’m pretty much golden on this dream. But there is one other that is attached to this like a remora to a shark.

I want to meet my very best friend, writer Lisa Regan, in person, and will finally get to at BoucherCon. Lisa has saved me in so many ways. She knows me better than anyone else on earth, save my husband, but then again, she knows things even he does not. I love this woman like a sister and cannot call my life complete without having met her. I can’t talk much more about her without crying my eyes out, so I’ll stop here.

I know I’ll be fine, so no worries, please. But having my first real glimpse of mortality, at least in a way I cannot control, has focused me, pinpointing on those few things I want to do above all others. There’s nothing like the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head to get you focused on what’s real and what’s not.

So I ask you, if you had a sword over your head, what would you want to accomplish?

IWSG: Confidence Regained!

2012-01-04T03:00:00.000-08:00

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, time for Alex Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writers Support Group. Anyone is allowed to participate. Just click on this link and join the group. And, if you haven’t already, join Alex’s army of followers. Now, on with the show...

_______

There’s a lot to be insecure about when you’re a writer: Does the story work? Is the writing beautiful? Are the characters sympathetic? Is it full of tension and emotion? Will readers enjoy it? On and on it goes, ad nauseum. I agonize over these issues and many others on a daily basis, but over the last twenty-one months, I’ve learned a great deal about the craft. I feel much more confident now than when I first started, that’s for damn sure.

Then came a huge test—in the form of the college essay. First, let me say, no, I’m not applying to college. I’ve already done my time and then some. It’s my seventeen-year-old son who has applied to a buttload of colleges and universities up and down the West Coast, seventeen in all, I believe. The two major California university systems, UC and Cal State, have their own online common applications. The other public schools he’s applied to in Arizona and Washington State, where we currently live, each have their own unique applications, and five of the six remaining private schools he’s applied to all use the Common Application which allows an applicant to submit his information on one website, though each school has its own supplemental requirements.

Each application requires a general essay that should demonstrate—beyond standardized test scores, grades, and GPA—exactly what makes the applicant unique on a personal, not academic, level, what sets him apart from every other applicant, why he would be an asset to that particular school. Well, for the over-achieving brainiac or all-star athlete, this might be an easier task, but for the average kid, yeah, not so much.

Now, my kid does very well in school. As a Running Start student, he’s been taking a full load of college level courses at a local four-year college since the beginning of his junior year in high school, but while his GPA is well above the three and a half mark and he’s been getting straight As for the last three quarters, he’s not a perfect 4.0. Nor does he have the athletic prowess to participate in school sponsored sports, varsity or otherwise. But does this mean there’s nothing special about him, nothing that would make any college accept him into their hallowed halls? Hell, no! But how, exactly, do you make an average kid look anything but?

Well, I read a few books on successful college admission essays (the one above is great, by the way), learned the key to honing in on those qualities that make an individual standout, and, most importantly, how to draw a correlation between those unique qualities and how they exemplify good character, profound skills, influential motivation, and valuable accomplishments. No easy task, let me tell you, but I was able to instruct my overwhelmed son on how to write an essay that showed him in the best light imaginable.

Aside from the one general essay which was sent with each application, most schools required supplemental essays that asked specific questions like: How have your disappointments led to personal growth and success? What are your thoughts and experiences, good or bad, regarding diversity and inclusion? How will you help this university carry out its core mission to promote learning so that its students acquire the knowledge, skills, values, and sensitivities needed for success as persons, professionals, and architects of a more humane and just world?

Yeah, those are some tough questions, baby, and my son had some remarkably expansive, candid, profound, and poignant responses. In fact, one private college remarked that his essay was the deciding factor when they accepted him for admittance. But even still, his essays, however thoughtful, needed a great deal of both inspiration and editing. And I can honestly say that I would never have been able to help him as well as I have had I not spent the last twenty-one months writing a novel, blog posts, and being critiqued while critiquing the works of others. The skills I’ve acquired have taught me the vital importance of being able to communicate effectively through the written word.

I’m incredibly proud of my child. He’s five for five, so far, in acceptances, including two of his top three choices. As for the others, we likely won’t be hearing from them until March. Then April is the big decision month. At this point, I can honestly say that even if my attempt at writing a novel comes to nothing, I still feel like it’s all been worth it, because I’ve helped my kid get accepted to some pretty distinguished schools. It’s my last ditch attempt at sending him on his way, on teaching him to be an independent adult, which is the greatest challenge for any parent. So, even though I know for sure things will change, as of this minute, I’m anything but an insecure writer.

Great Comments Award

2012-01-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year once again, my friends! Since January 4^th is the first Wednesday of the month and therefore saved for Alex Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group, I thought I’d use the beginning of the week to pass along an award Alex gave me his blog last December 5th.

It’s the Great Comments Award, given to those who drop by and comment most frequently. Now it’s my duty to pass along this award to some of my most dedicated follower-commenters.

This was a very difficult list to whittle down as I have a great many loyal commenters, but these are the folks whose names always pop up in my comments. Of course, Alex is included on this list, but I didn’t want to bug him since he’s already received it. So here goes:

1. Lisa Regan

2. Al Penwasser at PenwasserPlace

3. Jeff O’Handley – The Doubting Writer

4. Joylene Nowell Butler – The Cluculz Writer

5. Julie Kemp Pick – The Empty Nest Insider

6. Carrie Butler at So You’re a Writer

7. Jennifer Hillier of the Serial Killer Files

8. LailaKnight from the Untroubled Kingdom of Laila Knight

9. Donna K.Weaver at Weaving a Tale or Two

10. Peggy Eddleman – Will Write for Cookies

11. Lynda R Young at W.I.P. It

12. Eva Gallant at Wrestling with Retirement

I could go on and on and on…

Please check these folks out and join their armies, if you haven’t already, because they make great followers and write awesome posts.

And come on back by on Wednesday for my Insecure Writer’s Support Group post. For once, I won’t bitching! Imagine that!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-29T18:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not one who normally makes resolutions, but I do set goals, and the new year is always a good time to refocus back on those goals. So here is what I hope to accomplish in 2012:

Finish my first novel already! While I thought I was finished, since I haven't yet landed an agent, I figure I need to get a few more CPs and work out the last kinks before I start querying again in January. Which brings me to my second goal…

Land an agent! This is the most important goal for me in 2012, but it’s also the one least under my control. There’s nothing more I can do except write a kickass query (check) and start emailing. Which brings me to my third goal…

Complete the first draft of my second novel. I’m so ready to get right on this one. I have so much of the story worked out in my brain. I’ll need to drum up an outline first then dive right in. This time, I have several awesome CPs lined up from the word go, so hopefully, knowing what I know now, it’ll be a much smoother process the second time around. If all goes well, or even if it doesn’t, I have one more goal…

Attend my first ever writer’s conference. BoucherCon 2012, a convention for crime and thriller writers, is being held in Cleveland, Ohio October 4^th through the 7^th. I can’t tell you how excited I am to attend this, for obvious reasons, of course, but also because I will finally get the chance to meet my BFF, Lisa Regan, in person. And I’ll also get to reunite with another wonderful friend, Jennifer Hillier, author of Creep and the forthcoming Freak, who just days ago, moved away from the Seattle area, where I live, back to her native Toronto, Canada. If I haven’t bagged an agent yet, I hope I get the opportunity to make a few pitches.

So that’s it for me. What about you? Have you made any resolutions or goals for 2012?

Whatever they are, I hope you reach them.

Have a happy and blessed New Year, my friends, and thank you for hanging out with me in 2011!

Season's Greetings

2011-12-22T17:48:00.000-08:00

This is just a short post to wish

all my Blogger friends a merry Christmas

and a blessed holiday!

The Déjà Vu Blogfest

2011-12-16T03:00:00.000-08:00

Today, I am participating in DL Hammon’s Déjà Vu Blogfest cohosted by Creepy Query Girl’s, Katie Mills, The World is my Oyster’s, Lydia Kang, and Nicole Ducleroir of One Significant Moment at aTime. This blogfest gives participants the chance to resubmit their best posts for the benefit of all those who might have missed it the first time around. I look forward to reading as many of the participants’entries as physically possible, and maybe make a few new friends in the process.

The posts I’m most proud of are those I wrote on craft: One on setting and another tension. But the one I’ve chosen to enter for this bloghop has received the most hits and continues to do so every week. I first posted this on July 13, 2011, and while my perspective has changed slightly, I still believe in the message.

Stories Don’t Happen in a Vacuum

I knew I would have to come up with something to post about today, but when I woke up, I still hadn’t thought of anything new, that is until I read today’s post at BookEnds Lit Agency. Today is Workshop Wednesday at BookEnds, the day agent Jessica Faust posts one of the queries she’s received for critiquing, kind of like Janet Reid does at Query Shark.

I love query critiques. I think it is the single most effective way to know what does and doesn’t work in a query. Now, I don’t always agree with Ms. Faust’s opinion. Case in point, a few weeks ago, she critiqued this query and loved it. I thought the query was vague, at best, and had many of the qualities that agents advise writers not to include. But she loved the “southern rhythm” of the voice. Yeah, I didn’t get that at all, and I lived in the south for awhile, but whatever, just like books, it’s subjective and if she liked it then kudos to the author. Well done!

But this week’s critique struck a nerve with me because Ms. Faust alluded to something I hear over and over again when agents are critiquing queries. After reading the first two paragraphs of the query, she more or less said, this is all backstory; the real story starts here. In other words, cut all this crap out and get to the meat of the story. While I agree the query needs a lot of work, I find issue with the fact that the agent automatically thinks the first two-thirds of the query, and therefore the book, is all backstory.

In my opinion, this is the story, at least part of it. It is how the author wrote it to give it structure and body, a reference point from which to contrast the conflict. It bothers me that the agent thinks that everything that came before what she considers the core of the story is somehow irrelevant or that the story goes off track. Yes, the author should have written the query differently to show the progression of the story and the importance of that progression.

She implied subtly that the story might be about something else, or perhaps that was just the agent inferring that idea. But even still, that doesn’t mean all those points the writer thought important enough to include in her query are not crucial to the story. Some of the commenters, in fact, seemed very interested in the writer’s story, calling out the fact that those first two paragraphs were simply acts one and two.

My point is that agents toss aside stories based on assumptions that the reader doesn’t want to know all that happened before, that they simply want to get to the meat of the story. Well, okay, I don’t need to know everything that happened to the nineteen-year-old protagonist during her first seventeen or eighteen years unless it’s relevant to the story, but from age nineteen on, all the things that happen to her forge her into the woman she becomes and adds dimension to her reasoning, to how she handles the conflict. Stories don’t happen in a vacuum. We need to care about the protagonist and her journey and we do this through knowing and understanding their history.

I often wonder why everyone is always in such a hurry to get to the end. It’s all about instant gratification so we can move on to the next thing. Why not savor the time spent with a story and let yourself get immersed in the simmering heat of the layers as they buildup? I’m not saying that everything the query writer put in her query is essential. Personally, it comes off more like historical romance, not historical fiction, and so definitely not my thing, but I get that those details are important to understanding why there even is a conflict.

Could you imagine if Winston Groom had to query Forrest Gump in today’s market? Some agents would likely say to cut all that backstory about Forrest as a small child or in high school, but it is those details in the early chapters that show how Forrest changes later in life, how he manages to deal with all the drama that’s thrown his way. How can we know if we weren’t privy to the backstory?

All this relates to me personally because last week I rewrote my query, for what must be the fifteenth time, based on advice from Stephanie DeVita in her post last week titled Slow Summer, where she says, “In most of the queries that I read, the writer isn’t giving me the most thrilling aspect of their book, the crucial element that should make me desperate to ask for more pages. In other cases, it’s unclear if that pivotal element is even there.”

So I cut all the “backstory” out of my query and just alluded to it, then got right into the major point of the conflict. But now I worry that any agent who requests pages will think the first third of my novel is all backstory when, in fact, it is the story, or part of it anyway. Since the story is all about a man who changes, who becomes a different man due to some pretty terrible things that happen to him, that first third of the book is the setup. It determines what he was like at first and how those events twisted him into a different man, made him act a certain way and do that one awful thing that drives the story. The rest of the book is how he deals with the repercussions of those decisions. Why would any reader care about how he changed and what he did if they didn’t know his “backstory?”

And by the way, I hate that word, backstory. It makes it feel like all those early words are somehow illegitimate, a bastard to be cast aside. Yes, it matters how that information is presented, that we feel it is part of the actual story and not simply dumped there in a lazy attempt to give context, but I like to think of it as the ice cream in my sundae. It’s all those yummy bits on top that make it special, but you can’t just eat the yummy bits. You have to savor it properly with the ice cream set below. Otherwise, it’s not a sundae.

_______

As an aside to this original post, I’d like to say that backstory in a query, while important, should only amount to a few words in a single line, and only if the content is of the utmost importance to the heart of the story.

Notes on Craft: Setting

2011-12-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I was reading Natalie Whipple’s post on World Building where she discusses how to write about setting in a novel. She suggests focusing on the most important details, those that have immediate relevancy, that matter most to the character, what stands out to them, or what might foreshadow later events. I think her approach is right on the money, but I also think she left out an important factor: Emotion.

Setting in a novel is more than just the physical surroundings. It is the social and cultural aspects of the period, the fashions people wear and why they wear them, the ideas the characters draw upon, and the historical and spiritual perspective or lens through which they view the world.

Most importantly, setting not just the place or even the time, it’s how the characters of a novel are affected by it, how they feel about their surroundings. They must have a functioning affiliation with it. The writer should permit the character to both discover those emotions then infuse them into the story. That is what makes the setting important, to have immediate relevancy. It is also what makes the character’s world come alive for the reader.

A writer can spend pages describing what the countryside looks like on a breezy fall afternoon, but unless I know exactly how the character feels about all those details, how those details are affecting them at that moment or relates to their past, it will fall flat. Because while I do want to know where the character lives, I don’t truly care unless I know the character does.

I’m not the greatest writer of setting. In fact, when it comes to description, I’m probably mediocre, at best. The first few drafts of my novel had very little detail in regard to place, and virtually none on time. But as I progressed, I kept adding layers, including details about San Francisco, where the majority of story takes place. Yet I never really describe what The City looks like. What I did do was infuse the protagonist’s feelings about the place in which he lives. From that was borne a symbol that repeatedly popped up when the character was frustrated, melancholy, or facing disaster. That symbol is fog. It is a legendary pillar of San Francisco’s lore. It is also cold and oppressive.

My protagonist is a Brit, a native Londoner whose parents transplanted him and his toddler brother to Melbourne, Australia when he was twelve. As a young adult, he yearns to return to London, but is distracted by a beauty with whom he falls in love while traveling through San Francisco. He also falls for with The City, whose climate reminds him of London, where his fondest childhood memories are grounded.

He revels in his new-found freedom, his emancipation from his family overseas. San Francisco becomes a symbol of his liberty. But that independence is curtailed when his brother follows him to the States. He becomes saddled with the chore of caring for his irresponsible sibling. The fog becomes a symbol of his loss of autonomy. And when his brother’s life is jeopardized by poor choices, forcing the protagonist into a life and death struggle to save him, the fog evolves to symbolize his battle. It’s not until the end of the story that fog burns off, allowing the sun to return to his life.

The setting in my novel evolved into a character, rich with emotion. This is the only way I know how to write setting. The steep streets, the cable cars, the sparkling Bay, the vibrant cultures, none of that means anything until it means something to the characters.

So what does setting mean to you as a writer? How do you infuse the character of a time and place into your stories?

IWSG: What Gives?

2011-12-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, time for Alex Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I’ve been participating in this group since its inception, and have written of my many frustrations and insecurities. After last month’s post, I asked myself, “Do I complain too much?” I thought I probably did and planned on writing about that today, but once again, I found myself discouraged by events, or the lack thereof. So if you’ll be so kind as to indulge me, I’d like to get something off my chest.

As a writer with a novel ready to go, I’ve been busy polishing my query. It’s been a while since I actually queried any agents, but that’s because I still have a few requests pending. But even though I’ve emailed the agents who are currently reading my novel, I haven’t heard back. And that’s discouraging.

I figure it’s because my story is not quite ready yet, not quite there. If it was, wouldn’t they have called me by now? So, since sending out those requests, I’ve further revised my manuscript based on feedback from other agents. I feel pretty confident now, because I’ve been busy reading and studying books on craft. The most recent two, The Fire in Fiction and Writing the Breakout Novel, were written by literary agent Donald Maass. After reading them, I noted all the important factors that make a novel great, and I can honestly say, I’ve included most of those, at least the ones appropriate for my genre. But even though I’ve made some important revisions, those factors were already in there, before my last round of requests. So what’s the problem then?

I have a premise and plot that are plausible with inherent conflict and gut emotional appeal, and with my unusual twist, it’s pretty original. It has high personal stakes that continually escalate, and I believe the reader can sympathize with the strong protagonist, who while is sometimes dark, he also has inner conflict, self-regard, and strong relationships with the other characters. The voice is authoritative, clearly articulating a personal belief system through dialogue that snaps with tension and immediacy, and the setting is linked with emotional details. And most importantly, from the word go, it’s filled with constant tension.

So what gives? I can only surmise it’s the writing, though I’ve been told by my critique partners that it’s pretty darn good. But is that enough? Hmm, I wonder. Maybe it’s just the timing and the fact that adult thrillers aren’t selling like they used to. I keep thinking, if I just had more agents reading it, someone is bound to love it as much as I do, as much as my beloved and talented critique partner, Lisa Regan does.

But to do that, I have to have a kickass query. After Matthew MacNish critiqued my query last week, I worked every day to fine tune those points he and his followers commented on. I feel I clarified those key questions and am now ready to go. Of course, now it the holiday season, so I’d be crazy to start querying before New Year’s. It’s just one more thing to frustrate me. But I suppose, if I’ve learned one thing in the last twenty months, it’s patience.

What about you? What frustrates you about writing, querying, and publishing? And what have you learned from your frustrations?

The Maid's Here & She's Biting Her Nails

2011-12-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

She looks just like me!

So normally you wouldn’t be hearing from me until Monday, but I have a few items I need to take care of, and I won’t be posting again until Wednesday, December 7^th, which, as the first Wednesday of the month, is reserved for Alex Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

____________

So I’ve done something crazy: I gave my new query to Matthew MacNish at the Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment. He posted it yesterday, December 1^st, and critiqued it today. You might be wondering why I would put myself through that. Well, I participated in a query blogfest last July, but the query that blogfest produced garnered not a single request, so obviously I needed to revise it. I came up with a formula for a new one and sent the new query to literary agent Suzie Townsend last month. She offered a critique as a form of celebration for her recent move to Nancy Coffey’s agency. For one hour on November 1^st, she accepted all queries via email with a specific subject line. Then she spent a couple of weeks critiquing those lucky few. I was one of them, and she gave me some great feedback. That revised query is now up for critique on Matthew’s blog. I have further revised my query after reading Matthew's comments and those of his followers. You can find that version here on my blog under the tab marked The Query. And feel free to comment. I can only improve with feedback.

____________

On December 16^th, Nicole Ducleroir , Lydia Kang, D L Hammons, and Katie Mills are hosting the Déjà Vu Blogfest, which gives participants the chance to resubmit their best posts for the benefit of all those who might have missed it the first time around. After all, it’s easy to miss some awesome posts when you’re away or simply unable to keep up. Joining this bloghop will instantly connect you to many others who are interested in your writing. So go to Nicole’s site and sign up using the convenient Mr. Linky’s Magical Widget. 104 bloggers have signed up so far. Don’t miss out on meeting some fantastic new bloggers and the chance to gain a few new followers of your own.

____________

And lastly, Murees Dupe at Daily Drama of an Aspiring Writer has bestowed the Liebster Award on me. And while I have received this award a few times, I never miss the opportunity to spread the word and introduce a few bloggers with less than 200 followers. So go visit these wonderful folks and follow:

1. The hilariously cheeky Al Penwasser

2. My best friend and talented cohort Lisa L. Regan

3. The brilliant and insightful, Lora Rivera

4. The always fun and kind Carrie Butler

5. The brave and compassionate Julius Cicero

____________

That’s it for now. I’ll be back on Wednesday for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

Notes on Craft: Tension

2011-11-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

I love stories, whether they’re told by mouth, expressed through song, or acted out on film. But more than anything, I love books. I suppose the one feature that makes books different from these other genres is the pace at which the story unfolds. I can read a book at whatever pace I choose. Some books are only good enough for short bathroom breaks, while others are so well written I can barely put it down long enough to get my chores done. So what’s the difference between them? What makes a book a page-turner?

There are many elements that make up a good story. While characters may or may not be likeable, they must be vivid and dynamic. Dialogue must snap with electricity and be free of accompanying actions that bog down the pace. Every scene must crackle with both inner and outer conflict conveyed through specific and identifiable turning points. Setting must come alive not through eloquent writing, but through how the characters wrestle with their emotional ties to it. The voice, more than just syntax, should sing clearly in detail and delivery, articulating a belief system and personal perspective while overwhelming the reader with authority and relieving us of skepticism. So how does a writer accomplish each of these? That’s easy. Through tension.

As writers, we understand that a story has ebb and flow, a cycle of ups and downs. But you cannot construct a story that is always on the upswing. A reader cannot appreciate such an upswing unless there is a downswing with which to contrast it to. And in order to keep the reader’s attention through a downswing, you must maintain tension. Literary agent, Donald Maass, calls this micro-tension in his book “The Fire in Fiction.” In it he says:

“Micro-tension is the moment-by-moment tension that keeps the reader in a constant state of suspense over what will happen, not in the story, but in the next few seconds.”

Maass portends that micro-tension is vital in all aspects of a novel, whether it be in dialogue, in action sequences, or in exposition. And more importantly, “micro-tension...comes from emotions, and not just any old emotions, but conflicting emotions.”

Donald Maass of the Maass Agency

Dialogue in a novel should never be truly natural, which is often stilted with interruptions. If dialogue in a novel were written naturally, we would all be bored to death, wondering if the speaker was ever going to get around to his or her point. Maass writes, “In dialogue, it’s not the information itself, but the doubt about the facts and the skepticism of the deliverer.” It is “emotional, not intellectual,” that as readers, “we don’t want to know if the debate will settle the point of contention, but whether the debaters will reconcile.” Also important, dumping information via dialogue only works “if it is infused with tension, and even then, it must be a tug-of-war.”

This element of emotion is equally important in action. Emotion, especially contrasting emotion, is what provides energy for each scene. The same can be said for exposition, where the use of conflicting emotion keeps the reader involved. They want and need to know if the characters will resolve their conflict. This is where we learn of their “contradictions, dilemmas, opposing impulses, and clashing ideas…It puts the character’s heart and mind in peril,” explains Maass.

One area in a novel that frequently looses steam due to a lack of tension is backstory. This is at its worst when backstory is used up front, before the story even has a chance to get started. We lose interest simply because we don’t care about all those bits the author thinks we need to know in order for the story to make sense. James Scott Bell calls this a first page mistake and warns never to front load with backstory, noting it will only serve to stall instead. Maass contends that backstory may be added as long as it is not the point. The point, he says, “is to set up the conflict of emotions and inner tension.” He suggests using the past to create present conflict, that this will “stir curiosity to find out what will happen.”

So while tension is not the only aspect of a successful page-turner, it is of primary importance. After reading “The Fire in Fiction,” I read through my own manuscript. For the most part, I did have tension is every paragraph, but I where it lagged, I pumped it up using the techniques described in Maass’s book. I highly recommend it as a necessary tool on craft for every writer.

Read through your own manuscript. Is tension present in every chapter, paragraph, or sentence?

Giving Thanks!

2011-11-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

I had another post planned for today, but since it’s a short week, I thought I’d take this time to share what I’m most thankful for instead, aside from my family.

First off, thank you to all those who offered me advice on last week’s post. It has helped me a great deal. Even more thanks to Lora Rivera for suggesting The Poisonwood Bible in her comment, and to Julie Musil for her post on the book, Hate List. Both recommendations have helped me decide on how to proceed with my WIP.

Then there’s you, my followers and fellow writer-bloggers. As writers, we know this is a rather lonely avocation, but we feel pulled toward it regardless. Lucky for our generation, we have the Internet and Blogger, or whatever service you use, to connect with folks you’d normally never have the opportunity to connect with. But just because they’re there, doesn’t mean there is automatically a connection. You have to work at it. And it’s not always easy either. So for what it’s worth, I’d like to say how grateful I am that you’ve all allowed me to make that connection with you. I feel blessed to have so many other writers who are willing to share, teach, advise, or just talk with me. What would have been lonely is now anything but. So thank you! I really don’t think I could do this without you.

Within my group of online acquaintances, I’ve made quite a few honest-to-God friends, people who exchange manuscripts with me and others who enjoy exchanging emails. There’s even one writer I get to interact with in person! *GASP* Her name is Jennifer Hillier. I won a signed copy of her book, Creep, last summer and quickly became a fan, but what’s even more remarkable is that we actually became friends.

She lives an hour away, so from time to time, we meet up somewhere in the middle and have lunch and chat about all things writing. Since the Seattle Puget Sound Area is not exactly the friendliest place on earth, I was grateful just to have a new friend, but even more so since she was a fellow writer, and even more because we write in the same genre, so we understand each other in ways others may not. But alas, as is my luck, Jenny is moving back to her home town and country, Toronto, Canada. This saddens me more than I can say, but I’m grateful just to have met her and feel privileged to call her my friend. That won’t change just because she’s moving away.

(God, I wish I had a picture of us together!)

Last, but certainly not least, I am eternally grateful to God for bringing Lisa Regan into my life. Sure, she is a fellow writer, and even writes in the same genre, but what we share is so much more intense and profound than just our writing. We share our lives, the nitty gritty, the happiest of moments, and everything in between. Yes, it began as a critiquing partnership and I can honestly say we have helped each other become better writers, but even though we’ve never actually met in person, Lisa knows me better than just about any human being on the face of the earth, save my husband. Then again, she knows things even he does not. *Shhh* I know I couldn’t have survived the insanity that is my life without her. I love her like an identical twin sister.

So for you, my followers and fellow writers, for Jenny and for Lisa, I am incredibly thankful and I want the world, or anyone who is interested anyway, to know just how much.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, MY FRIENDS!

In Search of a Little Writerly Advice

2011-11-14T03:00:00.000-08:00

So I’m super busy this week and don’t have much time to write or visit until later, but I wanted to ask you all for a little advice. When you’re starting on a new project, a new book, how do you choose the point of view? What’s your process? I know a lot of you write YA and so first person is the preferable choice. I feel the same way and greatly enjoy those adult thrillers written in the first person. That’s why I wrote my first novel in first person. But now that I’m starting out on my second book, the choice isn’t nearly as clear.

My first book was primarily about two people, so I chose to write in their voices. This time around, however, it’s proving a little more difficult. I really want to write about the whole family involved in this story, not just because I need all their POVs to tell the story, but rather because they each play a distinct role in how the story plays out, yet they are each unaware of the other’s role. So they’ll each be holding onto their own pieces of the puzzle and will play each one according to who does what before them.

So my question is this, because this story is such an emotional one, I wanted to tell it in first person, but I worry about having four voices and hopping back and forth between them. Not that I haven’t seen this done, because I have, but I worry that it will be difficult for me as a still-unpublished-author to get this story publish.

Since the story starts out with one of the four main characters—the antagonist— having a mental and emotional breakdown and being hospitalized, I thought of just having the story unfold during therapy, but not just for him—for all of his family, since his problem is related to the family dynamic. This can be supplemented through journaling, as well, and all the details are revealed to the therapist treating her patient and his family as a whole. But once the main conflict is revealed, the action will be in real-time, so to speak. Not in flashbacks, memories, or recollections.

Or I can use the old standby and write in the third person from all four POVs. But then again, I worry about all that head-hopping. And since the conflict originates years in the past, I don’t want to tell the story in a purely linear fashion, but rather slightly out of sequence so the details can build until the story reaches the present day and the reader learns how the sins of the past have affected those living in the present.

So I know most of you don’t write or perhaps even read adult thrillers, but I’d be interested in what you think. How would you tackle it? What is your process for choosing POV and revealing a series of events over a very long period of time while trying to keep everything in the moment? Have you ever had to tackle a story like this?

Fiction vs. Reality

2011-11-07T13:20:00.000-08:00

I’ve been ruminating a lot lately about the market for adult thrillers. This is something my friend, Lisa Regan, and I have talked about many times, as she also writes in the genre along with me. Her book, Finding Claire Fletcher, has been on submission for thirteen months just waiting for a home. And while it is still in the running with three major publishers, in the time she has been on submission, she’s seen few titles close to our genre sell besides cozy murder mysteries, which I just don’t understand. Murder is anything but cozy. It’s difficult to figure out why good thrillers aren’t selling when forensic TV shows are so popular and thrillers are a favorite in the movie theater. So why aren’t adults buying and reading thrillers much any more?

Yeah, we have the same old, same old from the tried and true like Patterson and Cornwell, but publishers aren’t biting from newbies much these days. A couple of editors who turned down Lisa’s book said they couldn’t believe that a young kidnapped girl wouldn’t try to escape her captor. Uh, hello? Ever heard of Elizabeth Smart? Does Jaycee Dugard ring a bell? Their true-life stories were more horrific than anyone could have ever imagined or written, and they didn’t try to escape. That’s real life and it harkens back to that saying that life is stranger than fiction. I’m beginning to think that it’s the selling of reality as entertainment that is desensitizing us to what might otherwise thrill us.

About a decade or so ago, the Writer’s Guild of America went on strike for better residual compensation. That strike lasted a long time and the big TV networks had to come up with an idea to replace the scripted programs affected by the striking writers. This is when we first started seeing a glut of reality TV programming. And I’m not talking about shows like

America

’s Most Wanted or Cops. I mean shows like Survivor, which were good ideas based on the question, “What if…?” They were interesting and marked the first time Americans became fixated with other relatively unknown Americans, people whose lives were transformed overnight. This was the beginning of our obsession with being famous.

Since then, a plethora of reality programs have come onto the market, but these aren’t “What if…?” kind of shows. They are simply tapings of average folks doing their thing, whatever that is. It might be buying unseen junk left abandoned in a public storage unit, or maybe a mother’s consumption with getting her three-year-old daughter every pageant tiara in existence, or watching a Nazi-like dance instructor bully her students into performing better, or perhaps even following the lives of the relatively unknown, but totally spoiled step-children of former star athletes. Whatever it is, these shows are all supposedly unscripted. No writers had any part in the performances of the participants. Yeah seriously, you couldn’t make that stuff up. And frankly, would you really want to? Quality it is not.

This fascination with reality TV has skewed the way we seek entertainment. Gone are the days when we were fascinated by a story where dinosaurs are reanimated from DNA strands extracted from insects entombed in crystallized amber, or where an average married man is drawn into the intrigue of a long lost lover come back to haunt him. It’s all about fame these days, about how a former Playboy bunny married a famous football star and had a baby, or the daughter of a prolific TV producer reflecting on her life as a “poor little rich girl,” or *gasp* an actual novel—yes that means fiction, baby—written by an overly indulged young woman whose drunken and promiscuous antics have proven fodder for public disdain.

Man, do I ever crave a good, action and emotion-packed adult thriller where the protagonist has to overcome unbelievable odds to save his life and win the girl, where the woman FBI agent has to battle the misogynistic status quo just to get her boss to believe she knows what the hell she’s doing and can solve the serial murder case, where a newly-engaged, sex-addicted college professor goes head to head with her former student-lover who’s kidnapped her, or where a grief-stricken man seeks revenge on the woman who killed his pregnant wife only to discover he’s victimized the wrong woman, imperiling not only her life, but his own and his brother’s, as well.

Yes, I want reality, too. I want real life, down and dirty and gritty. But I also want real people. Not homespun wannabe stars. Real, authentic heroes who might be anything but, yet they still soldier on and at least try to save the day.

IWSG: Dreams vs. Expectations

2011-11-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

Today is another entry in

Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group

I’ve been following a common thread lately in some of my favorite blogs. It expands on an ideal most writers postulate: Getting published will make me happy. What’s not to believe about this statement? This is our ultimate goal, is it not? We write. We edit. We query. We submit. We get published…maybe. We know the road is laced with potholes of disappointment, but we believe in ourselves and our stories, so we carry on.

Keep the dream alive! Yeah!!

But what if the dream is not what we expect it to be? I first pondered this a few weeks ago after having lunch with my friend, Jennifer Hillier, author of Creep. Not only do I hold Jenny in high esteem for her talent and skill, she is someone I relate to on a personal level. We’re both women writers who write similar stories in the same genre, and we live near each other, so we chat about writing and blogging and books and all that sort of thing.

At the time of our most recent lunch date, Jenny was in the final throes of her last edit before sending her latest manuscript, Freak, off to her agent and editor. She expressed what a brutally difficult experience it was, nothing like the first time when she wrote Creep. She lamented that it would never be as enjoyable as it was that first time around. She was under contract now and had deadlines and expectations to meet. As I listened to her, I couldn’t help but think of that old adage, “Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it!”

Then on October 17^th, Natalie Whipple wrote a blog post she called Smelling the Roses. Or Whatever wherein she bemoaned how obsessed she had been over the last five years with getting published. More than merely driven, but rather “maybe more like desperate,” she wrote. She said she had put all her “feelings of self-worth into publishing” and she “would never, ever be happy if I didn't sell a book.” Then, almost immediately, Natalie said that selling her book, Transparent, didn’t make her happy after all. It seems that publishing wasn’t all she had expected it to be, that in the end, it’s really all about the writing—the book itself—not the publishing of it.

On Tuesday (November 1^st), Rachelle Gardner wrote a post called Writing Ain’t Easy. In it, she wrote about one of her less-experienced writer friends who wondered if her “lack of confidence would dissipate as she gets more experienced in writing,” to which another, more experienced writer friend replied, “The complete lack of confidence will likely persist and even become worse as you progress.”

So, in other words, unlike most jobs where people become better and more comfortable the longer they perform their tasks, writing will always be difficult. It will always be rife with insecurities and self-doubt. Even my blogger friend Joylene Nowell Butler commented on my Bad News Isn’t Always a Bad Thing post last week, saying, “One day there is that sale, and while you believe wholeheartedly that your life is about to change forever, it's not in the way you think.”

I’m getting the message that having my book published might not live up to my lofty expectations. It might not make me feel any better as a writer. It might not make me feel successful. And, in and of itself, it might not be what makes me happy. Writers who have had the same dreams that I have, and who have achieved them, now tell me it only gets harder, and I might not ever feel what it is I want to feel when I’m done.

But I suppose writing is like anything else. When we reach our goal, we bask in our success for a short time then move on to something else, a new thing that will challenge us, that we can enjoy for the sheer effort. Being totally satisfied means not having the need to accomplish something else. Well, that’s not me. I am many things, but static is not one of them. So maybe I’m a bit jaded now, but at least I know what to expect. Or what not to expect anyway.

A Little Halloween Housekeeping

2011-10-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick mini-post since I will be blogging for Alex Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group on Wednesday. Today I'm doing a little housekeeping.

First off, Laura Barnes over at Laura B Writer has graciously critiqued my blog this morning. She’s a marketing consultant with loads of experience in writing, as well. She was very complimentary and had some great suggestions on how to improve my blog. Some I will definitely do. Others I haven’t a clue on how to fix so I’m not sure what I’ll do. But overall, Laura has been very helpful. She does these critiques for free so contact her if you want any feedback on your blog.

Second, I’ve been very fortunate to receive a couple of blogger awards in the last two weeks.

The first one is the Friendly Blogger Award from Gary & Penny over at Klahanie. Thanks, Gary! This is a new one for me. Go check out Gary’s blog. It’s both beautiful and inspiring.

The second is the Liebster Award from Rebecca Kiel. This is an award given to up-and-coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. While I have received this award before, I still want to thank Rebecca for considering me. I feel quite privileged! Last time I received this award I think I had like 40 followers. Now I have a combined 164 through Blogger and NetworkedBlogs so you can see it really works!

In response to these illustrious honors, I will quickly list a few blogs I believe worthy of your attention:

BarbaraKloss over at Scribbles-n-Jots

Carrie Butler over at So You’re a Writer

Cynthia Chapman Willis over at Laptops & Lattes…An Author’s Journal

Happy Halloween everybody!

Casting Call Character Bloghop

2011-10-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

Cool, a good reason to come up with another blog post this week! I’m lucky if I get in one a week, so this is a nice surprise for me. It seems my good buddy Lisa Regan and fellow writer/bloggers Carrie Butler and Melodie Wright are hosting a Casting Call Bloghop in which we introduce our characters in whichever form we like best.

Since I’m a film buff and have often visualized my novel as a movie, I thought I would use the actors I believe best embody the main characters in my book, THE MISTAKEN, a psychological thriller.

First, the pitch:

Vengeance tastes sweet the day Skylar Karras pledges his wife's killer to sex-traffickers in the Russian Mafia. In exchange for the woman, they’ll let his brother leave the business for good—with his debt wiped clean and his heart still beating. But when Sky mistakenly targets the wrong woman, deal or no deal, he’s forced to protect them all from the very enemy he's unleashed.

Now, the casting:

The male lead, Skylar Karras, is really a composite of two people, a friend of mine and an actor, Andy Whitfield. Sadly, Andy past away on September 11th at the age of 39, a victim of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

For the role of Skylar’s wife, Jillian, I think actress Jessica Alba would be perfect.

For Skylar’s brother, Nick, I like Michael Graziadei. Doesn’t he look a lot like Andy Whitfield?

For Hannah Maguire, the woman Sky has mistakenly targeted, I love Mila Jovovich.

For bad guy and Russian mobster, Alexi Batalov, the suave and debonair Ben Gazzara fits like a glove.

What about you? Do you have anyone particular in mind for your characters?

Bad News Isn't Always a Bad Thing

2011-10-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

Being a writer is a tough gig. There’s very little payback and we generally work alone. Yes, it’s true, this new age of blogging has allowed us to reach out and connect with others, more so than we would have been able to at any other time. But still, we are pretty much alone, stuck in our own heads, making up strange tales set in strange lands with strange people.

We experience minor victories from time to time. We string together coherent sentences, then paragraphs and chapters, plots and subplots, until, finally, we have a book. We are so proud. Not many people even attempt to write a book let alone finish one. Afterwards, we read and revise, edit and add content. We scrub and buff until it shines like an uncut diamond. Then, if we’re lucky, we find amazing critique partners who help us polish our gem until its sparkles like Edward Cullen on a sunny day.

When we’re ready, we go through the whole process again with our query letter. Scribble, scratch, buff and shine. We are not daunted by the research necessary to find the appropriate agents to send our query. We compile our list and format our submissions, cringing with raw nerves when we hit the send button.

Then we wait. And wait some more—more and more and more and more. Every time we get a new email, we wonder if it could be the one. And when it’s not, when it’s nothing more than another rejection, we shrink a little lower in our seats, lose a little more confidence. We may even cry.

But then we get one, maybe even two or three, or—good God almighty—four: a request for pages, a partial or the whole damn thing. A happy dance ensues, perhaps a bit of screaming and raising of one’s arms towards God in heaven.

But not for long. Gotta get those pages out.

Then we wait. And wait some more—more and more and more and more. We thought we were tense before, but now with our baby out in the big, bad world, we’re ready to spin like a top we’re so wound up. Again, every time a new email arrives, we wonder. But it’s been so long, we almost forget. Until we see that agent’s name above the subject line with our book title right below. Our hands shake, our breathing gets shorter and more labored as we open it.

Then the world comes crashing down around our ears. Utter devastation. That first rejection of our full manuscript is unbearably painful, but eventually, after days of tears and heartbreak, we brush ourselves off and move forward.

The next rejection hurts, as well, but there’s nothing really to glean from it because, once again, it’s just a simple no thanks, but good luck to you. Nothing to tell us we’re on the right track or not. So, though our pride is stinging and our confidence is waning, we trudge onward, perhaps making a revision or two, just a tweak here and there to make us feel like we’re improving it somehow. And out go more queries in sporadic bursts.

Then we wait. Again. But this time, we’re a bit numb. Our skin is definitely getting thicker. We’ve learned to put those queries out of mind and get on with life. And so, when another request comes in, we’re excited, but wary, especially since we know this is likely just a favor from our friend’s agent. But it’s a request nonetheless. So out go those pages, one more time. We sigh, thinking of the long wait before us, cringing at that stupid typo in the very first paragraph on the very first page that we didn’t notice until after we’d already sent it.

But then another request comes in. Hope! Pages go out. Another long sigh. Another long wait. And then another request. Even more hope! Sigh. Wait. And wait some more. And more and more and more.

Then something remarkable happens. It’s not a good thing, mind you, but neither is it entirely bad. Yeah, it’s a rejection and so it hurts a little, but the skin is pretty tough now and the pain is just a tingle of disappointment rather than a ripping out of the heart. It was improbable anyway. This was, after all, that favor request. But this time the email is not a one line denial of interest. And while the agent is “just short of enthusiastic enough to take it on and fight for it,” she says “there’s a lot of wonderful stuff in there” and “goodness knows, it was very close.” So even though she suggests a change in the protagonist’s name, it’s cool. It’s an easy fix. And if that’s the worst thing she can think of, there’s reason to feel good. That’s the best rejection letter ever!

My point here is that we get a lot more bad news than good, but bad news is not always a bad thing. Sometimes it lifts our sagging confidence, offers a push back onto the road, granted with a little coarse correction. We know we’re getting closer to our destination. We can feel it. The trick is to not give up, even when the bad news is really bad. You never know when a little ray of sunshine will come along and brighten your otherwise dreary day. And hey, there are still a few requested pages out there. And after that, there are always more agents to query. It’s not the end game yet.

Pay It Forward

2011-10-14T00:04:00.000-07:00

Today, awesomely cool bloggers Alex Cavanaugh and Matthew MacNish are hosting the Pay It Forward Blogfest. The idea is to introduce all of us to everyone else, to meet and follow as many other bloggers as we like. In our posts, participants are to list, describe, and link to three blogs that we enjoy reading and believe others would enjoy, as well.

Hmmm…only three blogs, huh? That might be a bit of a problem, but I’ll try to contain myself.

Lisa L. Regan – Okay, for those of you who already know me, this is a given. After all, she’s my very best friend and confidant, my number one critique partner, and a fellow thriller writer. And while Lisa is a fantastic agented writer with two books currently on submission, she also has a lot to offer other writers. Both her new blog and web page are filled with juicy bits of wisdom as she’s journeyed farther than most of us toward publication. And what’s more, and possibly most important, is the fact that both she and her agent, Jeanie Pantelakis of the Sullivan Maxx Literary Agency, have teamed up to host a variety of book contests with a reading of the winner’s full manuscript as the grand prize! That’s right! No querying needed. Just enter the appropriate genre contest and you have a good chance of having her agent request your full manuscript.

Jennifer Hillier of The Serial Killer Files – I know Jenny is already well-known in the blogosphere, but if you haven’t trolled through her blog archives, you’re really missing something. Not only has Jenny written a novel, she’s successfully landed an agent and sold her first book, Creep, which, I must say, I’ve read twice now and think it’s freakin’ fantastic! I know I’m partial. She’s also a fellow writer of psychological thrillers. Her second novel, Freak, already sold, by the way, is due out sometime next year. On a personal note, I’ve become personal friends with this lovely lady and I can’t say enough good things about her. I owe her BIG TIME! So here’s a tiny little bit of payback, Jenny!

Julie Musil – There’s a reason Julie has so many followers and that reason is wisdom. I swear, every time I tune into her blog, she teaches me something new. Her archives are a virtual treasure trove of valuable literary insight. She shares tip after tip on her blog. I’ve taken to copying each one and compiling into a file I call “Great Writing Advice.” And what’s even better than all that, if that’s not enough already, is that Julie personally replies to every comment I make on her blog. She cares and takes the time to reach out and touch her followers. In a word, Julie is amazing!

See, I knew I couldn’t keep it to just 3. But I’ll make this honorable mention brief…er.

Jami Gold – Now, I don’t know Jami like I know the ladies listed above, but what I do know is that this writer is smart as hell and gifted beyond all get-out. Her posts hit on what every writer wants to know or really, really should know. This gal does her research and delves deep into the issues that concern us writers the most. And damn if she doesn’t manage pull shit out of me in my comments that I swore I would never talk about. Like I said, it’s a gift.

I love each and every blog I follow closely. Why else would I list them on my blog roll? If you’re a Pay It Forward Blogfest blogger who is new to my neck of the woods, scroll through the left sidebar of my blog. They are all worth a look and a follow.

Like me, once you follow them, they follow you right back.

Fantasy Novel Hook For Your Book Contest

2011-10-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Do you write fantasies? Is your novel all polished and ready to go? Are you ready to query for an agent? If so, I have just the thing for you.

My BFF, the lovely and talented writer Lisa Regan, is hosting another Hook For Your Book contest, this time just for fantasy novelists. It will be judged by her literary agent, Jeanie Pantelakis of the Sullivan Maxx Literary Agency.

The contest will run until October 17th. That means you have until midnight Eastern Time on 10/17/11 to enter your pitch on Lisa’s blog.

To Enter:

You must be a follower of Lisa’s blog and provide a link to either a tweet or a blog post spreading the word about this contest.

You must have a completed novel. That means your novel MUST be finished to enter this contest.

Write a 50 word paragraph that is the hook for your book. Basically pitch your book in fifty words.

Post your 50 word pitch in the comments section of Lisa’s Hook For Your Book post with a TITLE and your contact info before the closing date of the contest.

The example Lisa used for the previous mystery/thriller contest was as follows:

Finding Claire Fletcher

Detective Connor Parks, newly divorced, with his career in jeopardy, spends the night with a woman he meets at a bar. The next morning Claire Fletcher is gone; leaving behind a hint of a decade-old mystery. Abducted when she was 15 years old, no one has heard from her…until now. Will he find Claire Fletcher?

Lisa L. Regan
Email: duchessmalfi@hotmail.com

Ms. Pantelakis will choose three finalists. The finalists will send her a synopsis of their book as well as their full manuscript. From those three finalists, she will choose one manuscript and that manuscript will get a full read and a possible contract with Sullivan Maxx.

The best of luck to you all!

IWSG: Making Progress

2011-10-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

I am ashamed. Deeply so. I used to read the blog posts about other writers who just couldn’t seem to push through that wall, who weren’t inspired, who struggled with their plot, who wailed about not being able to create dimensional characters. And you know what? I just didn’t get it. My experience, up ‘til now at least, was so easy breezy. The words never failed to come. The plot was clear as a sunny Seattle day. (Yes, the sun does occasionally shine here and when it does, oh boy!) And my characters were so alive, I cried over their tragedies on a daily basis.

Of course, I didn’t know any better at the time. I didn’t write to be published. I didn’t write for any other reason than I had this story in my head and it needed to be released for my sanity’s sake. And then when I did decide to seek the road to publication, I muddled along and weathered the trials all writers stumble with. But I never fell down without being able to get back up. And I never doubted myself either. I was too naïve. For whatever reason, I felt there was someone or something outside of myself that wanted this done, who put me on this path with the notion that I would succeed. A sort of divine intervention.

I finished my book and wrote my query and I’m doing pretty well, all things considered. So now it’s time to move on from that project. Time to prove it wasn’t just some fluke, that I do have another book in me. As I was finishing up the first, I had a few decent ideas, one of which I picked because it was intriguing and I’d never read a story like it before. But all the while, I was worried because, unlike the first time, those words weren’t coming, the plot was elusive, and the characters foggy.

Here was the doubt all those other writers wrote about, the kind I never had any understanding of. I panicked. I was desperate to prove I was, in fact, a writer with more than one story. And I know the story is there, but I just can’t see the details clearly. When I read that one writer I follow took four or five years to write his novel, I cringed. How can anyone have the tenacity to work on something for that long and not give up, to not lose interest? It seemed unreal. Improbable. The fact that nothing was clicking into place made me question if I could do it again. Did I have that stubbornness to work through the difficulties month after month, possibly year after year?

Well, what I have discovered is that, although the story hasn’t been dropped into my lap whole, as was the case the first time around, I do have small details that take shape a few times each day. I write them down on my virtual “Brainstorming” notepad on my iPhone. I scribble in my notebooks. I keep reading in my genre, reading books on craft. I keep blogging and making connections. And I keep in mind that the process this time is the same, only slower, much, much slower, that this challenge is what will actually make me a writer, what will prove that I do have it in me.

It’s the difficult times that prove our true mettle. If it was always easy, it wouldn’t be much of an accomplishment. Am I insecure now? You bet. Do I doubt if I can really do this again. Every single day. Until the first draft is complete, I will always doubt whether I am a real writer or not. But I don’t think there is a writer out there who hasn’t had the same doubts. It’s a battle scar, proof of a hard-won personal war. I guess I no longer feel like an untested rookie. It might just take me a few years this time instead of a few months, but as long as I continue to make the slightest bit of progress each day or week, I’m good with that. At least, I hope so.

How ‘bout you? You good with that?

We Interrupt This Program...

2011-10-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

Monday is my normal day to post here, but I’m holding out ‘til Wednesday so I can participate in Alex Cavanaugh’s.Insecure Writers Support Group. Today I just wanted to go over a few brief items.

First off, did anyone catch Rachelle Gardner’s post today About Author Platform? If not, I suggest you go check it out. Then take a gander at those benchmark statistics for Facebook and blog followers and visits. Yikes! Really? We should shoot for 500 Facebook fans and 15,000 monthly pageviews to our blogs? Well, that all sounds good, and I’d certainly love to have those stats, but they seem a tad unrealistic for the majority of writers who blog, most of whom are still unpublished. I’m jumping for joy to have 700 pageviews a month. And maybe someday, when I am agented and on the road to being published, I will have an author page on Facebook, but right now I’m keeping my friends limited to around 125 or so. Personally, I can’t manage much more than that and I won’t simply collect friends for the benefit of …well, collecting friends. That seems a bit insincere to me. All right, you can clearly see the insecure writer in me, huh?

Anyway, moving on…Alex Cavanaugh, along with Matthew MacNish at QQQE, have a new blogfest called the Pay It Forward Blogfest scheduled for October 14^th. This blogfest is designed to help introduce us to the many other bloggers out there. Here’s how Alex and Matthew describe it:

“We want this to be an easy post that allows you to meet and follow as many other bloggers as you can. In your post, we would like you to please list, describe, and link to three blogs that you enjoy reading, but that you suspect may fly under the radar of a lot of other bloggers. Or they can be famous blogs, as long as they're awesome.

But don't stop there! Certainly visit and follow all the blogs that are featured in people's posts the day of the blogfest, but those don't have to be the only blogs you visit. You can visit everyone who enters in on the fun, and signs up on the linky list. In the interest of time you don't even have to leave comment. You can just follow, and come back another time.”

So go to either Matthew or Alex’s blogs linked above and sign up on the Linky List to get your blog listed in the blogfest then participate on October 14th. This should be another good one!

Lastly, I would love to thank all of my followers who commented on my post last week about blogging vs. writing vs. life. It seems I really struck a chord common among writers who blog. I know it’s helped me just to know I am not alone and that others feel the exact same way. Well, that’s it for today. I’ll be back on Wednesday with a post for Alex Cavanaugh’s.Insecure Writers Support Group

Blogging vs. Writing vs. Life

2011-09-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

I’ve been noticing a trend of late. Quite a few of my Blogger friends, and others I follow, have cut back in their blogging. Some were prolific bloggers who just couldn’t (or didn’t want to) keep up with posting every day. Others were being forced into the meat grinder of nasty email replies and mean-spirited comments thus diminishing their spirit and prior enthusiasm for blogging. A couple had book deals and deadlines that loomed overhead and so blogging was the furthest thing from their mind. And still others were so absorbed into posting, and more importantly, commenting on their follower’s blogs that it left them little time to write themselves. I fall into this last category.

I’ve said quite a few times that I often find blogging tiresome. It’s hard for me to find a unique topic that hasn’t been covered a thousand times in other writer blogs, and I’m pretty inexperienced so I don’t imagine that I would have enough to say of an educated nature when it came to writing or publishing.

It’s been nearly a year since I started my blog and in that time I’ve usually written about my own experiences and opinions about writing, querying, and trying to get published. I’ve chosen not to write about my personal life or family unless it somehow related directly to my writing or blogging. This makes the material I want to write about limited. I’ve cut down my posting to once a week, but even that seems difficult at times. And all during the week, I worry about what I should post about next. It’s sucking the life and enjoyment I experience when writing.

Right now, I’m in the process of starting my next project, my new novel. When I wrote my first novel, The Mistaken, I had no distractions whatsoever. I wasn’t writing to get published. I didn’t know I even wanted to write an entire novel, let alone try to get published. I just knew I had this story that wanted to get out. So I wrote. Everyday. For three months. First on my outline then the story itself. It was intensely pleasurable. And when I was done, I was excited to take the next step. That’s when I read that writers need to have a platform.

I wasn’t even sure what that meant, but I started my blog as a means of creating a presence, but it immediately started to feel like a popularity contest. I felt like I was back in my all-girls Catholic high school filled with rich kids who drove BMWs and Mercedes while I tooled around in my mother’s thirteen-year-old faux-wood-paneled station wagon.

I kept at it though and I made some great friends and even garnered a few followers of my own. That felt good. But part of having a presence, building a platform, is assembling an army of followers who are both interested in what you have to say and might even buy your book someday if you ever manage to get an agent who can sell it to a publisher.

This army building takes time. A lot of time. And a lot effort. You have to troll through all the blogs and make friends and leave comments. I do this sporadically and when I do, I tend to gain a few followers here and there. I love that, seeing my follower count blip upward. I love reading all the interesting things my friends have to say, and they say it all so much more eloquently than I. But all this worrying and reading and commenting has taken away time from what I really want to do: write another novel.

I want to go back to the days when I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and sit at my computer and type. I want to allow myself time to focus on my idea, to transform my premise into a plot with struggle and conflict. Most all of my Blogger friends have regular day jobs and families to care for. I don’t how they do it, work all day, come home and take care of the family then find time to develop an idea and write about it.

Now, I have my own design company, but because of the economy, work has been limited. Lately, however, I have had a near-constant stream of work to see to, deadlines to meet, clients to make happy. I also have a sixteen-year-old son who is preparing for his last SAT this Saturday, which is also the day when all the college applications open up for Fall admission. Yes, I know this is something that he should be doing on his own, but I will help him in every way possible.

Trying to fit in time to write on my new project has fallen victim to all of this: to querying agents, to keeping up with my friend’s blogs, to helping my son with his college preparation, to work. It’s a difficult distraction and I’m frustrated that I can’t find the time to do it all, especially write my novel.

Though I do understand how important it is to build a platform, I think it’s even more important to focus on the work, the writing. If, by some miracle, I do land an agent, I want to show that I have more than one book in me, that I’m serious about this new career. If that agent happens to get a publisher’s interest, I want to show that I’m worthy of a two-book deal or better. And I don’t want to worry about that second book. I want to know that it’s well developed and coming along before I have to focus back on revising the first book.

Most importantly, though I love my first book and think (and hope) it’s good enough to publish, it seems that most writers don’t publish their first novel. They chalk it up to time well spent learning the craft and gaining experience. So I have to have another in the pipeline. I can’t imagine ever being so in love with any other characters as I am with those in my first novel, but I am hoping to have a similar experience with this second one, so who knows, maybe it will be better and I will fall even more in love with them.

I think most of the writers I’ve come to love have only gotten better as they’ve written more. I certainly know all the rules now, whereas I didn’t the first time around. But I know my limitations, and in order for me to write the best story possible, I need to focus. This might mean I don’t come around as often to comment. It certainly means I might not be posting as often. And I know I won’t likely be recruiting any new followers.

Something’s gotta give. It can’t be my son, and I need the money so it won’t be the occasional work. But what am I gonna do? I gotta write.

So I ask you, how do you mange to write your WIP, work your day job, take care of the family, and still have the time, energy, and commitment to blog?

The Seed of Inspiration

2011-09-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

Last week was rough for me. I didn’t have it in me to post anything here on my blog. Nor did I write anything for my new project. My inspiration had been crushed by a series of unfortunate events. Yesterday, I decided to push through it and write the first page of my new novel even though I didn’t know where the story was going. I did, however, know where it should start. From this first page, I felt my inspiration blossom, and I wrote the entire first chapter, the seed, the inciting event.

I read a terrific blog post last week by paranormal author Jami Gold titled Where Do You Get Your Ideas?. In it she writes, “Story seeds often start small: a single line of dialogue, a single question, a single action. And somehow our brain takes that nugget of information and turns it into a whole story.” This is exactly how my last book started, with a question. I asked myself this question and somehow the answer came through within the text of a 90,000 word novel.

This time, it’s working out to be a bit different. This time, I’ve started with a single event that I know will spiral into chaos, turmoil, and tragedy. Still, I have no idea how I’m going to get there, but at least I’ve started, I’ve pushed through that wall that’s been hanging me up for awhile now.

Last time, after asking myself that question, I wrote a complete outline detailing every thought, every movement and action the major characters would take. That outline gave me immediate structure. With it in front of me, I could just write, kind of like having a GPS on your car’s dash allows you to just drive, without having to stop and ask for directions or pore over a map.

Well, I don’t have the luxury of a GPS this time around, but I think my muse left me a sparse trail of breadcrumbs before he took his leave. I can’t see much of a trail to follow, but at this point, I do see the next crumb. That’s something, at least. And I’ll take it. I’m hoping by the time I’ve found my way to the next crumb and written the second chapter, a new one will have appeared down the path, a new clue that tells me where I should turn.

In the mean time, I’m letting my seed marinate in the fertile soil that is my brain. The seed has finally sprouted. It’s slowly pushing its way through the dense earth toward the surface, towards enlightenment. I feel the heat of it pulling me upward, as well, out from under the crush.

My friend, Lisa Regan, wrote a hilarious post yesterday called Conversation With My Work In Progress where she describes the point-by-point argument she is having with her nearly finished novel and how she desperately needs its cooperation to see it completed. Do yourself a favor and check it out. It’ll brighten your day and put a smile on your face. And if, like me, you’re struggling with an idea or your current WIP, it’ll let you know that you are not alone.

Insecure Writer Loses Her Mojo

2011-09-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

This is a difficult day for me. This post was originally supposed to correlate with Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer's Support Group, to be about the troubles I was having starting my next book, about being motivated to compile an outline, choose a POV, and establish the main characters. This is a new problem for me. My first book came to me virtually whole with all the characters in place and their story clear. All I had to do was listen to the voice whispering over my shoulder and scratch out the outline.

I had a few muses along the way, folks who inspired me to write, who gave me visual stimulation to shape my main characters. I simply kept them in mind as I churned out the words. And it was easy. Too easy. I just wrote everyday for hours on end and after a couple of months, viola, I had an 85,000 word novel. All the while, I read blog posts about writers who were having a hard time writing their stories and I honestly had a difficult time connecting with that.

Not so anymore. I get it. Completely. That’s where I am now. Karma, you might say? Hmm, perhaps.

This is not to say I don’t have a story, because I do. It’s just not clear like it was the first time. The plot is murky, at best, and I have no muse, no one that inspires me to develop my main character, the protagonist. And the saddest part for me is that one of the men I used as a muse for my last book’s main character, Skylar, has just died. He was a real man, young and vital, and now he is gone. I didn’t know this particular muse personally. He was an actor whose character work I found stimulating. His face, or a composite of his and one other’s, played like a movie in my head as I wrote and revised my book.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to put this book behind me as I query for an agent and prepare to move on to my next project, but the death of my old muse feels like a nail in some proverbial coffin, or an omen, perhaps. Today was the day I was going to start brainstorming in earnest, but now, it seems, his death has sapped my energy. In some way, it’s like a death knell for my first novel. How do I get inspired to move on when it feels like an old friend has passed?

No, I’m not the stalker type. This man was a character to me. But I am strongly linked to my book’s characters, so this man’s death feels terribly real to me, like my own protagonist has somehow died even though I wrote a happy ending for him. What makes this harder still is that this man died of cancer, a normally highly curable cancer, one that a special and dear friend has had to battle in recent years. This correlation comes a little too close to home for me and does touch me personally. So now I’m sad and scared. Therefore, no writing for me today, other than this post, that is.

Though I know it won’t alleviate my anxiety, I was hoping that writing this would help purge my melancholy, help me move on, get over the shock that a strong, young man in the pinnacle of health, at the height of his career, can be brought down in a mere eighteen months. It hasn’t. I’m sad that life is so fragile. Funny, I got off writing just this kind of thing in my novel, but in reality, it just sucks. But I’ll move on, because that’s what we humans do, right? We move on.

In the mean time, this very insecure writer has read a helpful post, also by the lovely Alex Cavanaugh, who recently wrote a piece as a guest on Elizabeth Mueller’s blog called Writing the Second Book. Though his article focused more on writing a sequel, he gives some great tips for getting started on a second novel. Just in the nick of time for me it seems! You’re kind of like a guardian angel for me today, Alex. Thanks for that.

So, what about you? Have any of you written a second book? How was it different from your first one? Did you have trouble starting? Any tips? And have any of you ever lost your mojo, or your muse, like I have? How do I find it again?

Last of the Summer Fluff: The 7x7 Link Award

2011-09-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, I almost forgot to post about this. It seems I missed so much while I was away, like Rachael Harrie’s Writers Platform Building Campaign. I did manage to sign up for one of her groups, but since I missed the deadline, it didn’t work out. My loss, for sure.

Something else I forgot about was this little award I received from my BFF, Lisa Regan. She got this little thing called The 7x7 Link Award and passed it along to me. Now, I told myself I wasn’t going to do these things anymore, but since I have one more short trip this week before my summer is officially over, I thought I’d allow myself one last hurrah.

For this award, I’m supposed to categorically list my best blog posts: Most Beautiful, Most Helpful, Most Popular, Most Controversial, Most Surprisingly Successful, Most Underrated, and Most Pride-worthy. I only have about fifty posts to choose from, but I’ll do my best.

So here it goes:

1. Most Popular:

Definitely “Stories Don’t Happen in a Vacuum” which has to do with backstory in a query letter. It struck a chord with a lot of people back when I wrote it, but that post still gets 12 hits a day on average for whatever reason.

2. Most Beautiful:

This is a toss-up between “Finding My Book’s Theme: Forgiveness” which deals with how my book’s theme relates to me personally, or “The Puzzle” which explains why I started to write my book in the first place.

3. Most Controversial:

Grading on content, I think this would have to be “To Prologue or Not” which asks whether I should I include my 250 word intro as a prologue. People have diverse opinions about prologues, as do agents. I’m still up in the air, but have included it with my three recent requests from agents.

4. Most Helpful:

Well, I’m not sure that this post was helpful to anyone else, but my “Gearin’ Up to Get Agent Blogfest Week 1” post garnered me so much helpful information that I rewrote my query into what I believe is my best one yet.

5. Most Surprisingly Successful:

That’s an easy one; it’s “Networking, Blogging and Other Fluff.” While this post was over 1,800 words, it garnered me the most comments, I think because it struck a chord with so many of you writer/bloggers out there who are struggling to make connections with other writer/bloggers and have found camaraderie here within the Blogger ranks.

6. Most Under-Rated:

I guess it would have to be “My Thoughts On Writing vs. Publishing” which explains why, though I love writing for its own sake, I am so driven to find and land an agent and have my book traditionally published.

7. Most Pride-Worthy:

I think I have two that qualify here. The first is “Everyone Needs a Champion” where I speak of those few people who have helped me get through the most difficult periods in my life during this journey toward publication. The other is “How I Was Saved” which is similar and tells how my friend, Lisa, kept me going.

Now for those I’d like to bestow this award upon:

Tara at More Than Fiction (Yes, Tara, both Lisa and I have requested your participation!)

Robin at Robin Weeks because I find her fascinating and brilliant!

Lora at Lora Rivera Inside Writing because she’s talented and always writes about writing.

Joylene at Joylene Nowell Butler, Author because she’s a fellow thriller writer and published, too.

Hektor at Hektor Karl because he’s interesting and loves dogs! You can’t get much better than that. Well, okay, he’s very handsome, too!

People I’d love to see participate but am too much of a weenie to ask:

Alex at Alex J. Cavanaugh because EVERYONE loves Alex and I think he’s totally cool!

Julie at Julie Musil because she is chock full of fantastic writing advice.

Lynda R. Young at W.I.P. It because she’s wise and smart and gives great writing advice.

Now, I’m off to Portland to spend hours and hours at Powell’s City of Books. Have any of you ever been there? It's the largest book store in the world, taking up an entire city block, and is full of new and used books, any title you can imagine. In other words: HEAVEN!

100 Followers! Happy Dance Time!

2011-09-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

I thought I would bury this post on a Sunday since, statistically speaking, not many read over the weekend, but…WAHOO! I just turned over 100 followers! I never thought that would happen in a million years. I must say, I am grateful for each and every one of you, and I promise to keep writing and posting articles on writing and publishing that will hopefully keep your interest. Thanks again to all of you!

Coming Home, Housekeeping and Cheers!

2011-09-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

It’s been over two weeks since I last posted here on my blog. As you know, I’ve been away from home. I took my sixteen-year-old son on his college tour through California. As daunting as the itinerary looked on paper, it proved even more so in reality. Twelve schools in thirteen days, a rehearsal dinner, a wedding, a day-after brunch and a little sightseeing was just a wee bit much for me. By the middle of day nine, I was thoroughly exhausted and sick as a dog. And that was the day of the wedding rehearsal and dinner, one day before the wedding itself. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy myself as much as I wanted or expected. Not one drink passed my lips and my feet only touched the dance floor to take photos of my family members as they frolicked with drunken glee.

But the trip was not wasted. Though I spent the last five days of it coughing and blowing my stuffy nose, I enjoyed my time with my son. We spent many hours on the road together, talking about so many things. We flitted from school to school, discussing the merits or drawbacks of each, what we liked and hated, and whether or not “that feeling” was there the moment we stepped out of the car. Afterwards, we would be tourists and go to the beach, visit the city, tour a ballpark or have a nice meal. He even managed to drag me to a San Francisco Giants baseball game though I was quite ill and wanted nothing more than to lay in bed and sleep. All in all, it was a time of bonding I will cherish forever and never forget. And the trip served its purpose; my son now has a list of his top schools to apply to:

#1 - University of San Francisco

#2 - University of California at Berkeley

#3 - California State University at San Diego

#4 - Santa Clara University

#5 - California State University at San Francisco

My list would have been slightly different in that I loved the University of California at San Diego over Cal State San Diego and I would also change the order of the first four, but overall, we were on the same page about most schools. There are many more to which he will apply, but these are his favorites.

While I was gone, many of you left comments of support, some commiserating with the experience of dropping their child off at college, or just wishing me luck and enjoyment. I even received two awards over at Letters from Valentina Hepburn, but since I’ve already posted about both the Versatile Blogger and Irresistibly Sweet Blog Awards, I will simply thank Valentina and move on.

My plan was to get right back into posting about writing and querying and all that, but since returning only a day and a half ago, I am thoroughly exhausted. I don’t remember the last time I spent two whole weeks away from home, and perhaps it’s just my advanced age or the fact that I’m still pretty sick, but I haven’t the energy to devote to a witty, dynamic post.

But if you would be so kind as to indulge me, I would like to mention one more thing. My friend, Lisa Regan, emailed me two days ago, while I was still in California, reminding me that it was our one year anniversary, that is to say it was one year ago that we met online via Nathan Bransford’s website. I had posted a request for a critique partner in one of Nathan’s forums and Lisa responded. We hit it off immediately and have since become best friends. She has inspired me to be the best writer I can be, while also teaching me more than I thought possible.

I’ve often referred to Lisa as my writing soul mate, but she is much more than that. When I have exciting news to share or need cheering up, she is always the first person I turn to. I could not imagine what my writing experience would have been like over the last year without her.

So cheers, Lisa! Here’s to many more years together!

Going on Hiatus for the Great California College Tour

2011-08-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

First, I’d like to say how thankful I am for all your support during the last week. I’m blown away by the fact that so many of you read my entire last post, as long as it was. I received more comments than ever, so I think I must have struck a chord. Several of my friends here on Blogger ran similar posts about blogging and what it’s meant for them. Some have reassessed the amount of time they devote to blogging so they can get back to the real reason they are even here in the first place: writing their novel.

Yes, blogging takes a great deal of time, not just writing an interesting post, but also devoting time to your loyal followers. After all, we’d be next to nothing without them. I’ve been a tad neglectful of my own for the last week and for that, I apologize. Some of you know why, but most do not, and, frankly, I’m a bit leery of sharing the reason outright for fear I will jinx myself. It’s happened before, God knows. I open my mouth in excitement and the next thing I know, devastating disappointment. So I’ve learned not to get my hopes up and I truly don’t think anything will come of it this time around either, but I can’t help but be hopeful. To that effect, I need a diversion to get my mind off things. Lucky for me, I already have just the thing.

You see, my sixteen-year-old son and I are leaving in two days for what we call The Great California College Tour. In one year, he will be off to college. He hates it here in Western Washington. Can’t say I blame him. It rains a lot here in Seattle. And I mean A LOT! When it’s not raining, it’s usually cloudy and way too cold for our tastes. We are, after all, from sunny, warm California, and my son dearly wants to return there to attend college. So for the last fourteen days of August, we will be touring twelve universities, from San Diego to Santa Rosa. That’s 12 colleges in 14 days, plus a family wedding. YIKES!

Needless to say, I will be very busy and so I’ll likely not have any time to write or post here. I suppose I could use the time to re-energize my blog writing, come up with some new and interesting topics. I’ve been quite distracted lately with blogfests, awards and such, what I lovingly call fluff. I think it’s time I get back to some serious writing.

I’ve also completely finished my last novel. That’s right, I finally no longer feel the need to revise, at least not until I hear back from a few gatekeepers. Fingers crossed they even give me feedback. That’s all I’m really hoping for at this point. But this time away will be a much needed distraction so I can regroup and focus on my next book. I hope to do some character sketches and work on my outline. Unfortunately, I don’t feel the same inspiration this time around like I did with my first novel. Nobody’s whispering in my ear this time, so that means this will be work. That scares me.

I might write a few posts on our college tour progress, maybe post a few pictures of the beautiful campuses we will be visiting, that is if I can figure out how to upload remotely. In the mean time, I will do my best to visit you all from time to time, post a comment or two when I can. But please know that if I do not, it’s only because I am devoting all of my time to helping my son make the most important decision of his young life thus far. I can honestly say I will miss blogging. As much of a chore as I’ve always thought of it, it’s also been the one way in which I reach out and connect with others like myself. That has meant more to me than any of you will ever know. Thanks for that, and I hope you come back and visit with me again after my hiatus. God bless you all!

Networking, Blogging and Other Fluff

2011-08-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

(Disclaimer: I apologize up front for this brutally long post,

but I had a lot to say.)

It’s four in the morning and I can’t sleep. That’s not to say I didn’t get a couple hours of shut eye early on, because I did, but then I got all hot and rolled over and I let my mind sift through a few things from the day before and wham, there was no going back to dream land. It wasn’t entirely unexpected. Yesterday was a big day for me and I was still running on its fumes. More importantly, three different things happened to me yesterday that, at first, seemed totally unrelated, but when I lay in bed, unable to shut my mind off from yesterday’s excitement, I realized that these three events were all, in fact, closely related.

I will take these events out of order. First, I received an email from a friend, someone I met online last year, someone who was like my third or fourth follower back when I was a newb. I ‘ve gotten to know her relatively well through her blog postings and her comments on my posts. She even recently asked me to critique some of her first chapters of her WIP, which I consider to be a real honor because she immensely talented. Anyway, she wrote me and asked if I thought blogging was a waste of time, aside from meeting new people I like. She said she didn’t quite see the purpose of it. Well, even though I was in the middle of an important revision, I felt the need to write her a quick note because I do, indeed, think blogging is worth it.

See, I wrote a book last year and I didn’t know the first thing about writing. So when I was done with my first draft, I jumped online and started researching all those things we writers research when we’ve written a book, like how to format, how to query, building a platform, and finding critique partners. This brought me to Nathan Bransford’s website where I garnered all sorts of delicious facts and tidbits on all things writing. More important, I posted a notice in one of his forums asking for a critique partner. That’s how I found Lisa Regan.

Lisa and I started working closely together, critiquing each other’s manuscripts and a true and wonderful friendship was born. This was also about the time I started my blog. I didn’t know the first thing about blogging and, frankly, I found it a real chore, but I kept on finding something new to post about and every time I did, Lisa was there to cheer me on. Then I managed to sneak a new follower in every once in awhile, which inspired me to keep moving forward. During all this time, I was trolling the blogosphere and meeting new writer friends.

At times, my motive was not entirely pure. I was feeling rather unpopular and felt the need to swell my follower army just to feel halfway good about my progress, but I wasn’t always a good follower myself. So I started focusing on making connections instead of collecting friends. Once I did that, I stopped being consumed with my stats, how many hits I was getting or followers I was adding. I must admit, I’m still a comment whore. I can’t help it. I simply love to receive comments from people, whether they follow me or not, because it feels like I’m truly connecting with someone. And that’s what I love most.

Part of the reason I even wrote a book was because I was lonely and bored. I had moved to a new town, one I didn’t particularly fit in well with, where it was difficult to crack into the established cliques and make friends. So when I made these connections through the blogs, whether it was through mine or someone else’s, it really felt like I had made a friend. And while I usually kept my two social networks separate—Blogger and Facebook—I started pulling a few of my Blogger friends into my Facebook realm, which is much more personal. That meant within Blogger, I had started meeting and connecting with a few folks on a very personal level. I was feeling rather fulfilled.

But more than fulfillment, these connections were actually helping me both be a better writer and advancing my career. While ultimately nothing came of it, Lisa did refer me to her agent so I had a chance at pitching my novel to an honest to God gatekeeper. Alas, that was probably eight months before my manuscript was really ready to be pitched, but good or bad, I learned a lot. And I was eternally grateful to Lisa for believing in me and giving me that chance.

I recently met another wonderful writer, (God, I want to say her name, but that might not be cool with her so…) one who was further on her journey than just about anyone else I’d met so far. She was both agented and under contract with a publisher and her book was just about to hit the shelves. I was thrilled to have met her. She was friendly and knowledgeable, and did I mention friendly? Yeah, I really liked her. Then I won a copy of her book. Now this wasn’t the first time I’d won a copy of someone’s book, but I felt a real connection with her since she, like me and Lisa, wrote adult thrillers. Better yet, she lived only about an hour or so away from me. And better still, she was relatively new to the area and understood my difficulties with making friends in a community where the weather was so bad, folks just can’t stand out on the street and chat much with their neighbors.

After receiving her book, we emailed a few times and decided to meet in person and have lunch. That was a bout the best damn lunch date ever! I loved hearing all about how she wrote and polished her book, how she queried and landed her agent, and all the interesting things that go into obtaining and negotiating a publishing contract. It was like meeting my idol and I wanted to be just like her, in a professional sense that is.

I dream about little else other than landing an agent and someday being published. I’m sure she realized this and graciously referred me to her agent, letting me know she was cool with me dropping her name, if need be. (Boy, did I ever!) That was another toenail in the door, my second. So, even though I was on query hiatus until September, with my friend egging me on, I jumped right on that and queried her agent that very day using what I like to call my new and improved Robin Query, aptly named after Robin Weeks, who critiqued my query during a contest in July.

That was Monday, two days ago. Now, I don’t want to go into all the details, but things are looking up for me, at least today. While I have no illusions, I am hopeful.

My point to all this is that blogging has put me in touch with some wonderful people, people who have helped me polish my novel, who’ve taught me how to writer better, who’ve inspired me to write a better query, and who’ve helped me make connections that ultimately got my book out there under the noses of those who matter. Most importantly, I’ve met people who keep me moving forward, even in the face of repeated devastating rejection. Simply put, I could not do this without my friends and followers here on Blogger. So is it worth it? You bet it is!

I did mention three things, didn’t I? Well, the third was a blog award I received from Nicole Pyles over at The World of My Imagination. Thank you, Nicole! This is further proof that blogging is worth the time and effort. Awards like these introduce bloggers and bring them new followers, always a nice thing!

This is the third award I’ve received recently and I am most honored. I must admit though that I feel like I’ve been neglecting my writerly duties since accepting my first award and participating in blogfests and penty memes and such, which is probably why I’m burying this at the end of a way-too-long blog post, but I do want to thank Nicole and do my duty as a recipient. Having said that, other than supposedly being “versatile,” I’m not quite sure what this award is for, but here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them (check)

2. Share seven things about yourself (ugh!)

3. Pass this award onto other recently discovered blogs. (see below)

Seven things, huh? Okay, here goes:

1. I live in a town I can’t stand filled with rich snobby people, but it’s so beautiful here I just can’t make myself leave…yet!

2. I am an interior designer who has no formal training in creative writing, but I love to do it just the same, and I don’t think I’m half bad. Of, course, I’m probably not half good either.

3. I have two dogs, Jack, a Malamute, and Maleah, a Husky, and they are two of my very best friends who manage to keep me sane with their unconditional love.

4. I miss California, especially San Francisco, since moving here nearly 7 years ago.

5. I’ve never actually met my very best friend in person. She lives nearly 3000 miles away and we “chat” nearly everyday via email, Facebook, or texting.

6. I’ve been with the same man for over 28 years, married over 20 of those, and have been gifted with an intelligent, articulate, ambitious son who brings me joy every day.

7. And in one week, my 16 year-old son and I are leaving for a 2-week long College Road Tour Trip back to California. I’m exhausted already just planning it!

Now for the passing of the torch: I’m going to mention some blogs I haven’t awarded or highlighted before since we all need a little recognition to help swell our armies.

1. McKenzie McCann of The Ubiquitous Perspective because she is a smart, sassy teenager who knows entirely too much.

2. The East Coaster at Published in a Year because she’s ambitious as hell. Have you seen how many WIPs she has? Like five!

3. An Alleged Author because she’s a great supporter and this is one award she hasn’t received yet!

4. Robin Weeks because she rocks! I just love her. She gives great advice, and did I mention she helped me write a kickass query? Yeah, baby!

5. Kimberly Krey at The Write View because I just dig her blog.

Whew, over 1800 words, that’s a record! Thanks for your patience!

The Hook for Your Book Contest

2011-08-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

My BFF, Lisa L. Regan, was approached last week by former journalist and fellow blogger, Melodie Wright over at Forever Rewrighting to give an interview for her How I Snagged My Agent feature. She was quite flattered and readily agreed because she thinks her feature is a great idea. You should check out the last interview with YA author, Becky Wallace. Her blog has a lot of great stuff on it so check it out!

Together with the interview, they are going to be having a Hook for Your Book contest which will be judged by Lisa’s agent, Jeanie Pantelakis of Sullivan Maxx Literary Agency.

So here are the particulars:

To Enter:

You must be a follower of Lisa’s blog and provide a link to either a tweet or a blog post spreading the word about this contest.

You must have a completed novel. Your novel MUST be finished to enter this contest.

Write a 50 word paragraph that is the hook for your book. Basically pitch your book in fifty words.

Post your 50 word pitch in the comments section of Lisa’s blog with a TITLE and your contact info before August 22nd.

If I were going to enter (alas, for obvious reasons, I cannot), mine would look like this:

The Mistaken

Vengeance tastes sweet when Skylar Karras pledges his wife's killer to sex-traffickers in the Russian Mafia. In exchange for the woman, they’ll let his brother leave the business for good. But when Sky mistakenly targets the wrong woman, he’s forced to protect them all from the very enemy he's unleashed.

Nancy S. Thompson

Email: acadia1997@msn.com

Jeanie will choose three finalists. They will be announced on both Lisa’s and Melodies’s blogs on August 29, 2011.

The finalists will send her a synopsis of their book as well as their full manuscript. From those three finalists, Jeanie will choose one manuscript and that manuscript will get a full read and a possible contract with Sullivan Maxx.

Please spread the word. This is a great opportunity for writers looking for an agent. You’ve got till August 22nd. If you have any questions please post them in Lisa’s comments or email her directly at duchessmalfi@hotmail.com.

Oh and Lisa’s interview will be up on Melodie’s blog on August 12, 2011.

And one last thing: If you need cheering up in light of the downgrading of the US government’s AAA credit rating and subsequent slide of the stock market, please venture over to Penwasser Place. He’ll get you rolling on the floor with laughter.

Panty Meme (WTF?)

2011-08-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

One of my dearest and earliest followers, Laila Knight, over at the Untroubled Kingdom of Laila Knight, has thrown me a…uh…challenge, of sorts. Apparently, it’s Meme Week in the blogosphere. Well, not only did I not know this, I didn’t even know what a meme was. I had to ask my sixteen-year-old son. He said it’s something that people do, a behavior, that’s passed from person to person. Yeah, okay, that’s clear as mud, but whatever. I’m an elder idiot, so I’ll just follow the rules and answer the questions, and boy, are they doozies. Here we go:

1. What do you call your panties / underwear / undergarments? Do you have any commonly used nicknames for them?

Do people really have nicknames for their underwear? Well, that’s what I call mine, underwear. And I must say that I’ve always hated that word “panties.” Eeesh. It’s just so creepy. Weird, I know. I couldn’t even use the term in my book. I used undergarments since it was spoken by a man.

2. Have you ever had that supposedly common dream of being in a crowded place in only your underwear?

No, not in my underwear. For whatever reason, I’m almost always buck nekkid. And, you know what? I don’t really seem to give a damn. So what the heck does that say about me?

3. What is the worst thing you can think of to make panties out of?

Red meat. Have you seen any of those Lady Gaga outfits? Yeah, she wears red meat. So gross!

4. If you were a pair of panties, what color would you be, and WHY?

Oh, that’s easy. Black! It’s such a sexy, sultry color and makes me look thinner. And that’s always a very good thing!

5. Have you ever thrown your panties/underwear at a rock star or other celebrity? If so, which one(s)? If not, which one(s) WOULD you throw your panties/underwear at, given the opportunity?

I’ve never understood why women do this. Why would a man you did not know want your underwear? And why would you want a strange man to have your underwear? Again, that’s kind of gross. Besides, at my age, after bearing two children naturally…uh…yeah…nobody would want my underwear. Even I don’t want them. Blech!

6. You’re out of clean panties. What do you do?

Well, I have OCD so I’d never be out of clean underwear, but if I were, I’d be sticking those little pads all over my pants.

7. Are you old enough to remember Underoos? If so, did you have any? Which ones?

I’m old enough to remember just about everything, so yes, but I thought those were mostly for boys. Anyway, my mother never would have bought something like that for me. I was Catholic, for Christ’s sake.

8. If you could have any message printed on your panties, what would it be?

Oh, God, I could be really bad here, but I’ll be tame and say “Just Do It”

9. How many bloggers does it take to put panties on a goat?

(God, who thinks up this stuff?) Well, my answer would be 153. That’s one to write the instructions, one to critique, another to query, and 150 to reject.

So now I guess I it’s my turn to pass along the torch. Normally, the first people I would tag would be Lisa Regan and Bryce Daniels, but they’ve already received the honor from the other person I’d normally tag, Laila Knight, so I’m going out on a limb and selecting a few of my other followers because reading about their personal panty preferences will certainly help me get to know them better.

Al Penwasser at Penwasser’s Place because he’s already the funniest guy I know so I can’t wait to read what his witty responses will be. Plus, he went above and beyond when he posted about receiving the Liebster Blog Award from me. If you want to laugh, go check out Al.

Tara Rendall at More Than Fiction because she and I have become good friends and good friends always embarrass each other.

Alex J. Cavanaugh at Alex J. Cavanaugh because he’s so cool and hip and smart and is always there for me.

L.G. Smith at Bards and Prophets because I want to hear what a real lady has to say.

Donna K. Weaver at Weaving a Tale or Two because, like Alex, she’s always there for me and I really want to get to know her…uh…panties (ugh) a little better.

There is one more I’d love to hear from. She’s my new friend, Jenny Hillier at Jennifer Hillier, The Serial Killer Files. I’m almost afraid to ask because she’s a real life, bonafide published author and has to protect her image. But she’s also witty and funny, so I’d love to see what she comes up with.

So, my friends, here’s your chance to unbunch those panties (ugh again) and have a little fun.

Hey You, Over Here, Look At Me!

2011-08-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

I’ve been crazy busy for the last week and am waaaay behind in my blogging duties, both in reading and in writing, but it hasn’t been from a lack of desire. I’ve actually been quite anxious to make today’s post since I was nominated for The Liebster Blog Award by not one follower, but by three!

The first came in last Friday by the lovely L.G. Smith over at Bards and Prophets, a delightful blog I’ve been following for quite some time now. The second nod came on Saturday from my new friend, Robin Weeks, a talented writer I met during last month’s Gearin’Up To Get an Agent Blogfest. She critiqued my query and I was BLOWN AWAY by her skills! And the last one was from one of my newest followers, Jessie Humphries over at B-Word.

The goal of the award is to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers.

The rules of the award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
5. And most of all - have bloggity-blog fun!

I love the idea of this award because it’s supposed to increase the traffic on your blog and hopefully garner more followers. So here are my nominations for The Liebster Blog Award:

Lisa L. Regan – I have countless reasons to nominate Lisa. She’s my best friend and writing soul mate, the best critique partner anyone could ever want, and she’s written two fantastic books, both out on submission with all the major publishers. This girl is crazy talented. And she is brand-spanking new to Blogger, so she could use your support. Do yourself a favor and check out her blog.

Al Penwasser – I don’t know Al well personally, but his blog is one of the funniest ones out there. I visit Al when I need a good laugh and smack upside the head to make me take life a little less seriously. His insights are both touching and hilarious. So if you ever need cheering up, go see Al.

Laila Knight - Laila, one of my earliest followers, is a precious jewel. She’s a talented writer, she’s funny, quirky and posts everyday. Yes, everyday! I don’t know how she does it, but everyday she offers her unique perspective on new topics, mostly about writing and sometimes about sexy loves scenes. Very steamy. Very hot! That’s my Laila!

Lora Rivera - I haven’t known Lora for very long. She’s another terrific writer I met during my last blogfest. Her blog is filled with all things writing which I love, love, love. Mostly, I admire her talent. She was one of my finalists as a judge in last month’s blogfest. The first 200 words of her novel were incredible and I just wanted to keep reading.

Jeff King - I love Jeff’s blog because I can exactly relate to where he is in his writing career and all the questions and turmoil he experiences as he journeys toward publication. And he is one of those followers who truly follows and comments on my inane posts. He is every blogger’s dream follower, so do your self a favor and follow him.

And for an Honorable Mention: Tara at Much Ado About Writing - I love this girlie. I met her through Rachelle Gardner's blog some months ago and she's become quite a good friend to me. Now, she doesn't post very often, but I love reading when she does post, and I think if she had more followers, she'd feel compelled to grace us with her wisdom. So please, head on over to Tara's and follow, if for no other reason than I'd like for her to write more often.

My First-Ever Book Review: CREEP

2011-07-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

I am going to attempt something I’ve never done before: A book review. Now, I have no skill in this department whatsoever, but what I lack in aptitude, I think I more than make up for with enthusiasm.

As an avid reader, I am constantly on the prowl for the next novel that will truly grab and shake me to my roots, something so good, I simply cannot put it down. I rarely come across books that hit me on a visceral level and stay with me for long periods of time. I think the last time a book affected me this way, I was reading my friend, Lisa Regan’s, book, Finding Claire Fletcher, but until some wise publisher out there picks it up, most of you will never know.

I can, however, share a book with you that everyone has access to because Jennifer Hillier’s debut novel, Creep, is now widely available. I won a copy of this book and Jennifer was kind and gracious enough to send me one personally signed, something I will always treasure. I was very anxious to get started and did a happy dance when it finally arrived. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

In case you haven’t had the pleasure, here is the inside jacket copy:

IF HE CAN'T HAVE HER . . .

Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology. An expert in human behavior. And when she began an affair with sexy, charming graduate student Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, riddled with guilt when they weren't, she knows the three-month fling with her teaching assistant has to end. After all, she's engaged to a kind and loving investment banker who adores her, and she's taking control of her life. But when she attempts to end the affair, Ethan Wolfe won't let her walk away.

. . . NOBODY ELSE CAN.

Ethan has plans for Sheila, plans that involve posting a sex video that would surely get her fired and destroy her prestigious career. Plans to make her pay for rejecting him. And as she attempts to counter his every threatening move without her colleagues or her fiancé discovering her most intimate secrets, a shattering crime rocks Puget Sound State University: a female student, a star athlete, is found stabbed to death. Someone is raising the stakes of violence, sex, and blackmail…and before she knows it, Sheila is caught in a terrifying cat-and-mouse game with the lover she couldn't resist—who is now the monster who won't let her go.

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Well, it is. Very much so. I love a good villain, probably more than the average protagonist. I think they’re juicy and fascination, and Hillier’s Ethan did not disappoint. From an older woman’s perspective, I found it intriguing that the nearly forty-year-old protagonist, Sheila, has a torrid affair with a hot twenty-something collegiate. (Hey, one can dream, right?) And I didn’t find fault that he reacted badly when Sheila dumps him after getting engaged to someone else. But Ethan is a very bad boy and just can’t handle the rejection. So he decides to get even. And things heat way, way up.

I don’t want to give anything away because it’s the not-knowing-what-comes-next that kept me up way past my bedtime and sitting inside on the first beautifully sunny, warm day Seattle has seen is nearly a year. Creep is loaded with sexual tension that grips and holds you in place, yet it is masterfully executed without being crass. It’s both scary and sexy. So unsettling and terrifying. And it’s a thrill ride right up until the very surprising end.

You will definitely not regret picking this book up, except for the fact that once you do, you won’t be able to put it down. So make sure you have a good long day to put everything else aside.

What Do You Know, I'm a Judge!

2011-07-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

I had planned on making a standard post today, but I will have to put it off while I participate in week 4 of Deana Barnhart's Gearin' Up To Get An Agent Blogfest. This week is the First 200 Words Novel Critique and Contest, but instead of being a regular participant, I am a judge! How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

So while I thought to take the week off from reading then commenting on the first 200 words of 40 different participating novelists, now I am reading and judging those critical first words. I don't really feel worthy, but I will give it my best shot. And how exciting to get a first glimpse at some extraordinary novels!

CREEP

2011-07-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

Few people know this, but last Monday, I won a copy of Jennifer Hillier’s just-released debut novel, Creep. I was ecstatic when I found out. I mean, it’s always cool to win a little something, but I’d been hearing about this book all over the place, so I was very excited to be in on the action. All my Blogger friends were reading it and it was getting fabulous reviews. I even read the first chapter while standing in Barnes & Noble last Friday.

Alas, though I wanted to buy it, I couldn’t afford it right then as I was burning a hole in my wallet buying my son books on SAT prep, finding college financing and writing the perfect college essay. I was disappointed because I found that first chapter thrilling. The book was right up my alley, a taut thriller with a sexual edginess that made it hard to put back on the shelf. But I knew I would buy it soon. I just had to be patient.

So, wahoo…YAY ME! I actually WON a copy of Creep!

I waited as patiently as I could and just this morning, it arrived in the mail. Now, I haven’t had the time to get too far yet, only 67 pages, up to chapter 8, but what I’ve read is fantastic! I love that it’s set in Seattle, my backyard. I’m kind of pissed though that I can’t just burn my whole day away reading. The tension is just delicious! But I have the whole weekend even though this is supposed to be the first really sunny, warm weekend so far for Seattle this summer. But this book is calling my name and I simply cannot ignore it.

So, thanks so very much, Jennifer! We have a date this weekend!!

Happy Dance Time!

2011-07-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

Wahoo!

I'm a finalist in

Deana Barnhart’s
Gearin' Up To Get an Agent

Query Critique Contest

I'm very excited, though I realize after reading all the other revised queries that I have very little hope in winning, but like they say: It's great just to be nominated!

I would like this opportunity to thank everyone

who helped whip my query into better shape, most especially

Robin Weeks

You, Ms. Weeks, are a godsend, not to mention a freakin' anomaly.

Who can whip out queries like that, I ask you?

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!