J. Scott Savage's Blog

Thanks for all the well wishes. A big part of me wanted to not say anything about signing with an agent until the book actually sells. If it doesn't for whatever reason, (and trust me, getting a great agent does not guarantee a sale) it will be annoying to admit that. But most of you have been with me a long time. I want to be able to share with you all of the ups and downs of this writing life I've chosen. When I do make a sale, you will be the first people I celebrate with. When I don't, I'...

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Most of us have had plenty of experience with what we do when an agent says no. We pout, cry, pound our fists, and after [choose one or more: __eating, __running, __screaming,__ stabbing stuffed animal repeatedly ], we get back to writing. (Side note: If you checked off number four, you are one sick puppy. Get help immediately and/or stop writing/submitting.)

But what do you do when an agent says yes? Or even tougher when more than one agent says yes? Over the last couple of weeks, I've begun ...

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Heading down to Southern Utah and Mesquite, NV for some additional warmth, and lots of fun visiting schools. Drop by the St. George Barnes and Noble at 5:00 this Wednesday the 18th for a book signing if you are in the area.

Speaking of schools, a big shout out to my friends at Valley and Kanab Elementary schools. You guys were great! I had an awesome time making up stories with you and talking about writing and reading. And Canyon books totally rocks!

And speaking of Kanab, I've lived in Utah f...

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Saturday night, I had the chance to a speak to a NaNoWriMo group. (For those in the non-writing crowd, that's National Novel Writing Month.) We talked about a lot of things, but one thing that we discussed has stuck with me since. The question was asked, "What advice can you give us that will help us push through writing 50,000 words in a month?"

Of course there are many answers relating to outlining, plotting, perseverance, etc. But the thing that occurred to me first is belief. As an author...

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I got a call today from a previous co-worker congratulating me on a year of writing full time, or as we in the industry like to call it, living hand-to-mouth. Wow, has it really been twelve months since I put my family's finances in the hands of the American book-buying publics? Apparently so. In honor of that, I thought I would list the top ten things I have learned from a year of writing fulltime.

10) Nothing comes as easy as you think. And if it did you probably wouldn't appreciate it. Many...

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Saturday night, I learned that, Heather Christensen, a woman who had previously been the band director at my children's school passed away when a bus she was riding back from a band competition in, crashed and rolled over. If you live in Utah, you probably read the story or saw it on the news. When the driver passed out, Heather leaped forward and tried to take the wheel. It was while she was trying to save the children on the bus that she was thrown out the window and killed. Over the last ...

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This isn't going to be a hugely long post, but I wanted to say first, that Land Keep copies just arrived at the warehouse! Whoo hoo! Can't wait to see them. I am going to run up to Salt Lake and grab a box before going over to James Dashner's launch of Maze Runner at The King's English tonight. Pics to follow! This means the books should be hitting store in the next week or so. Let me know when you start seeing it.

I also wanted to make a point that came up while I was doing a class recently a...

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First of all, I just want to say my laptop is working again. Huzzah!!! According to HP the power adaptor hasn't shipped yet. But we'll just keep the fact that I got it the end of last week between you and me. Let me also at this point give a big, big, nudge to anyone who doesn't have all of their important files backed up daily. Do it. Do it now! When my laptop bit the dust I was in the middle of revisions on two books. Both of those books were past deadline. There was no way to get the...

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I really haven't disappeared off the face of the Earth. I am just waiting (not so) patiently for the power adaptor HP promised me over a week ago. The one under warranty. The one I paid for. Yeah, well thanks to the wonders of outsourcing, I am kept up to date with e-mails like this.

"Thank you for contacting HP Total Care.
Reviewing the entire interaction I understand that we have created service order for your notebook AC adapter but still you have not receive AC adapter.
Due to lack of AC ada...

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I don't discuss politics on this blog. There are two main reasons for that. One, I tend to be too liberal for my conservative friends and too conservative for my liberal friends, and I'd like to keep all of them as my friends. More importantly though, I'm a fiction author. Presumably you come to this blog expecting me to post something about writing, reading, or other authorly (is that a word?) type stuff. There are plenty of sites either promoting or criticizing whatever your political views...

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