Kim Harrison's Blog, page 115

Quick question . . .

I want to have a post this morning about the first stop on the blog tour, but I don't have my ducks in a row yet.  In the interim, Jim asked me about e-readers and if I could recommend one over another.  I know there is a fraction of people who feel that e-readers in general are threatening to take away our smelly, stinky, tactile-rich books.  Personally, I don't see that happening.  But if you have an opinion on the pros and cons of individual brands, now is your chance to weigh in and tell us what you think.  I believe Jim is most interested in the feature that enlarges print.

I'll have more on the contest to win Ivy's boots later today . . .

Happy 4th

I had my eyes looked at this morning, which is why I'm so late in posting.  Had a great 4th holiday, with lots of picnic food.  We didn't go anywhere since we had just gotten back from NY, and it never fails to strike me how quiet the streets get when everyone is elsewhere.  Food for thought.

Nothing new to report except I've worn off the N key again.  -laugh-  But tomorrow I should have some info on how to enter the contest to win a pair of those boots that Ivy is sporting on the cover for Blood Work.  I spent a couple of hours this weekend breaking my no-work-on-weekend rule, putting together a couple of new pages at the website that revolve around the upcoming graphic novel release.  There's some new info on "the making off" that you might want to check out, and of course the main page.  I'll have lots of guest posts this week, too, so look for the links there going active.   I'll post them here, too.

Me?  I'm settling in for some rewrite goodness.  I got the page proofs for the Hollows Insider on my desk, so that will keep me busy for a while.  After that is the second editorial rewrite for A PERFECT BLOOD (spring 2012)  And then . . . I get to write again.  I can't wait.  For someone who writes for a living, it seems I do precious little of it sometimes.  :-)

Had my eyes looked at this morning, which is why I'm so l...

Had my eyes looked at this morning, which is why I'm so late in posting.  Had a great 4th holiday, with lots of picnic food.  We didn't go anywhere since we had just gotten back from NY, and it never fails to strike me how quiet the streets get when everyone is elsewhere.  Food for thought.

Nothing new to report except I've worn off the N key again.  -laugh-  But tomorrow I should have some info on how to enter the contest to win a pair of those boots that Ivy is sporting on the cover for Blood Work.  I spent a couple of hours this weekend breaking my no-work-on-weekend rule, putting together a couple of new pages at the website that revolve around the upcoming graphic novel release.  There's some new info on "the making off" that you might want to check out, and of course the main page.  I'll have lots of guest posts this week, too, so look for the links there going active.   I'll post them here, too.

Me?  I'm settling in for some rewrite goodness.  I got the page proofs for the Hollows Insider on my desk, so that will keep me busy for a while.  After that is the second editorial rewrite for A PERFECT BLOOD (spring 2012)  And then . . . I get to write again.  I can't wait.  For someone who writes for a living, it seems I do precious little of it sometimes.  :-)

 

New York

I came.  I saw.  I left tomatoes.

I didn't want to say anything earlier because it was to be a surprise, but I spent the last three weeks crocheting tomatoes (and one tomato hornworm) to try to convey my appreciation to all the people in NY who have been putting the books together over the years.  I actually had to make the pattern from one that makes a squash, but it wasn't hard to adapt, and the green top is actually a starfish curled in on itself and stuck on.  They also make a great stress reliever and are guaranteed not to contain the T4 Angel virus.  I might make a six-pack of tomatoes still on the vine for my mom, (who watched the house, the boy, and the dogs while we were gone) and then I think I'm done with them–for a while.  -laugh-

But New York was fabulous.  I am a small-town girl, so having a room that overlooked Times Square was good in more ways than one.  It was mostly tourists down there, but I could sit and watch it, become more accustomed to the energy before I ventured down into it.  This is my third time to NY.  It gets better every time, and after a few hikes with my editor, I think I might be starting to lose that awful "tourist walk" and move with a smidgen of grace through crowded streets and busy intersections.

The mass author signing was great, and I love the Avon signings where they give away free books for two hours.  All you can carry, and they brought boxes.  Lunches, dinners, parties with people I knew and introductions to people I've worked with and never met: success.  I also got a few ideas for a stronger direction of thought and action for my next 12 months of work.  That right there made it worth it if the rest hadn't evolved the way it did.

But yes, it feels good to be back home watching the neighborhood kids messing around with their bikes and ipods, the collage-bound kids heading off to run with buds a few more times, the neighborhood dogs patrolling with their humans, and the sun slowly arching its way across my garden–life unfolding with the slow, momentum-heavy pace of a spacious wheel.  I can almost hear it.

Getting ready to ship out prizes

M. Gaskins, where are you!! I've been emailing you for your address so I can send you your Hollows Prize for the contest, and you are not there! Please contact me ASAP so I can make my deadline!

RWA

I'll be in NY this week for the Romantic Writer's Association convention, and though most of it is closed to the public unless you are attending the conference, there is a mass author signing that IS open to the public, where you can find more than 400 authors in one room.

The 2011 "Readers for Life" Literacy Autographing will take place on Tuesday, June 28, from 5:30–7:30 p.m. at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square, Broadway Ballroom. This event is open to the public; there is no admittance fee. Proceeds from book sales go to ProLiteracy Worldwide and their local NYC partner, ACE New York.

I hope to see some of you there!  I don't get to NY very often, so this is a treat for me. Because I'll be away from my desk, I will not be posting until Friday.

Have a good week!

An open letter to "I am special" writers.

I wasn't sure what to write this morning since I'm chunking along on the novella and prepping PR for next month's release, BLOOD WORK, and there's nothing to say but that it's work as usual.  But then I got an email from a hopeful writer who wants my special attention because he/she feels that his/her work is not getting attention in NY because of the sensitive subject matter, that he/she has a story to tell, but no one is willing to risk public outcry because of its explosive nature.  That I must have some special knowledge myself, because I touched upon what this particular writer dove right into and explored to its fullest.

I don't answer personal emails, period.  If it can not be said in a public forum, then it should not be asked me "off the record."  But it did strike me how often new writers can fall into a trap where they start blaming the industry for their lack of progress in getting their book published, claiming that NY is too short-sighted or timid to handle the timely topic that the writer has boldly, frankly, and sensitively delved into.

The honest truth is that NY is excited to find books they can sell, and if your book about space aliens struggling to find their sexual identity while masquerading as kids in a cosmopolitan ghetto being invaded by cyber mice intent upon taking over the world isn't selling, don't blame it on NY being afraid to publish a book with cyber mice in it.

The writer who came to me has my total sympathy.  I know the frustration of having something to say and no one listening.  The hard truth is that I don't have anything special to tell him/her about how to become published with his/her manuscript full of cyber mice.  It's not the cyber mice that is getting him/her turned down.  Stop blaming the cyber mice, and take a cold hard look at your manuscript or cover letter the way an editor or agent would.

Do you have a fast, quick opening that grabs the reader and dares them to turn the page?  Your first novel has to start quick, especially if you write genre fiction.

Do you have a unique writing voice that is attractive?  Agents can tell this from your cover letter.  Unique writing voices take time to develop.  5-10 years.  There is no shortcut.

Do you have writing credentials or mention a job that involves writing in your cover letter?  If you don't, it's not necessarily a "thank you, no," but the next cover letter in the pile does, so if you are serious about writing for a living, perhaps you should slow down and get some credentials in the short story market or a job that involves writing every day.  Again, no short cut.

Do you clearly have the basics of grammar down, because that's not the job of your editor.  I didn't, and it took me a long time to find them.

Do you present yourself as a professional in your cover letter, or do you spend 4+ pages telling the story? Cover letters are one page.  Spend one sentence on the plot.  Maybe two.

Does your cover letter bribe, bully, or try to be clever?  That's an immediate "thank you, no", especially if you try to be clever.  Agents hate clever.  Chances are they have seen your clever twice already that morning.  Be professional.  They haven't seen professional since lunch last week.

Your story is unique and special.  So is every story on that overtaxed editor's or agent's desk.  But there is hope.  There are a few things you can do to get your story of cyber mice published.

First, are you prepared to work for ten years with no pay?  Do you have someone who can help support you for those years before you find an editor or agent?   On average, it takes ten years for a person to say "I want to write a book" before they ever see their name in print, and several years after before they can quit their job, if ever, and have their writing sustain them.

If you are, here are my tips for people writing about cyber mice.

1.  Write every day, same time, same place, even if it's only for 20 minutes.  This will train your creativity to turn on at a drop of a hat.  Two weeks of agony, and you will start to notice you will not be staring at a blank page when you sit down, but writing immediately.  I don't know any authors who write only when they feel like it.  They treat it like the job that it is, even if it is a part-time job.  This is hard, but it is worth it.

2.  Once you're producing work regularly, join a writer's critique group, one that meets face to face on a regular basis if you can find them.  To stand before strangers and read your work, then hear what they say they think you can do to make it better is hard.  Be nice in your own critiques.  These are the people who are going to help you become published.  They will help you learn what is good advice, and what is bad.  They will help you develop your thick skin for the caustic readers who don't like your work.  They will keep you motivated, and you will stand next to them when you go to writer conferences where the agents and editors go to find new talent.  You will be glad you have them beside you after several years with them. Friends make it easier.  To seek out strangers and show them your work is hard, but it is worth it.

3.  Once you have 2-3 completed manuscripts, start going to writer conferences where agents and editors go to find new talent.  I suck at cover letters, but I can properly convey my enthusiasm for a project in person.  Dress professionally at conferences.  Your favorite author may show up to a signing in a T-shirt and torn jeans, but I bet he/she didn't when they met their agent or editor for the first time.  Don't get tipsy–be dependable.  Agents/editors hate having to go to their superiors and explain why their client doesn't have the ms ready as promised.  Don't mob the agent or editor you want to talk to.  Please.  Don't.  Spend two minutes and walk away.  Ask if you can send them a synopsis of your work when they get back to the office, and then remind them of meeting you in your cover letter.  (this is a huge in)   Be professional.  Do what Nora, (or Patterson, or King, or whoever) would do.  To see someone who can make your manuscript a book and not blow it is hard, but restrain yourself.  It is worth it.

But don't blame NY for your lack of progress.  This job is the hardest, most frustrating, joyous, bestest job in the world.  And yes, bestest is a word–I just used it.  You have to want it so bad that you run the risk of alienating your family, ruining your health, and possibly missing an entire season of Game of Thrones.  It doesn't happen overnight, and it won't if you don't put the time in.  It's hard, but it's worth it.

There can be only one

Well, not really.  Variety is the spice of life, but in this case, there is only robin baby left, and wow is he hungry, keeping his parents jumping.

As the last chick from a nest of four eggs, this little guy is sitting pretty and eating like mad.  :-)  His eyes haven't been open very long, but he already knew to hunker low when momma robin flew off the nest chirping in alarm.  He's still kind of ugly, too.  He reminds me of a rewrite.  -laugh-  It won't be long before he's up and flying, and then the real danger starts.

 

 

Early Copy Goodness

I am a heavy practitioner of delayed gratification.  Some of it is my nature, some of it forced by the slow reality of the job itself, seeing as writers often work on a project that doesn't find the shelf until the idea that sparked it is years, if not decades, old.  So when a first early, hot-of-the-press copy shows up, it's a very good day–and also why my dogs go bark-crazy when the UPS truck rumbles down my street.  I am always there to greet it.

Monday was such a day, made even more special in that I had both my boys with me when I opened up one of those characteristic manilla folders and pulled out a very early, hot-off-the-press copy of Blood Work.  Dude, my eldest even read it that afternoon, giving me a hard time about Rachel's brown El Camino that looked like a chocolate bar.  (Family joke.)  It was a very good day.

Blood Work won't be out on the shelves until July 12th, which isn't that far away, actually.  I've got two conferences bracketing its release, one in NY, and one in San Diego–two conferences, and one very, very, very cool contest that involves boots.  I can't say much about it yet as details are being hammered out, but you know I'm grinning if I've used very three times in one sentence that already involves boots.  Keep an eye out here, at my FB, and suvudu.com  More is to come!

Final Hollows Insider Picture winners!

We have the final winners of the photo contest today!  Congratulations, Gaskins for her shot of Fountain Square in winter, Wilburn for her devilishly smiling Devin Crossman, and Szpunar for her hometown fresh face of Winnie!  Thank you again, everyone who entered, and especially thank you for your patience on finding out who actually won!  We ran into an issue of having too much of a good thing, and choosing the final winners was difficult.

For a look at all the contestants, you can hop on over to the main website here at Hollows Insider Photo Contest.  This has been an amazing month, and I have to thank all of you again who took the time to find or create the photos for the Hollows world book.  The world book has always been a labor of love for me.  Having something from you, the readers, in there is a great feeling.  Thank you!