Liz Flaherty's Blog, page 189

You Can't Write That!

Ever seen one of those funny facebook posts that warn people not to piss off writers? They go something like this: Never piss off a writer. They might put you in one of their books, then kill you off.

Have I ever done this? No. Why? Because it wouldn't make for a good story. Yes, people piss me off. It happens all the time. But they're not interesting enough to be a character in a story.

I get very close to my characters. Even my villains. Except in the story I'm writing now. I truly hate the v...

The First 250

Over the past year or so I've entered a few online contests and without fail, they want a query, and the first 250. Sometimes you get lucky and they want the first 500 or the first five pages. But most of the time, it's the first 250.

That amounts to about the first half page of your book. Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to catch the judge's eye with those first 250 words.

And you know what it's taught me? That not all my words are necessary. I can leave out a few "thats"--or mo...

Piper Denna is coming!!!

 


Last year’s pitch session was so successful, Piper asked to come back. So, Next Tuesday, pitch here! 45 brave souls stepped up to the mound and pitched (sorry, baseball season looms). A quick list of authors contracted through their pitches:               Laura Lee Nutt, Kyra Jacobs, and Calisa Selfridge all contracted a book with Lyrical Press. Jennifer Lowery, Jessica Day, and Mae Clair have contracted 2 books with...

To market, to market...

I’ve been writing for publication for more years than I like to think about. More than 25, though I really can’t figure out where the time has gone. For everything that’s gotten easier in this business in that time, something else has gotten harder. I think marketing has done both.          When I started, my electric typewriter, a hardbound (and old) volume of The Writer’s Market, and a creative writing class comprised my bag of tricks. I joined R...

Goals: A day late and a dollar short

This week on Word Wranglers we're talking about goals. My biggest goal this year is to be more organized. Not off to a good start folks. I'm a day late posting. Would you believe I forgot to write and set my blog to post. Yeah, that's me. Miss forgetful. I was in bed Thursday night and realized I hadn't set up my blog for Friday. Then as things often go, life got in the way on Friday.

So, I decided, I'd start doing things way ahead of schedule. The things that can be scheduled anyway. So...

A Word or Two on Goals

It's all about goals this week on the Word Wranglers. I've actually been giving this a lot of thought. I've even written a blog to post on my personal blog--but I haven't posted it yet. Because then I'll be committed.

Therein lies my problem or perhaps its my solution. I need accountability. Since December, I've been thinking about some goals I want to accomplish and so far, they've just stayed in my head--where they're safe from failing. If I don't tell anyone what I want to accomplish, I can...

I Believe In Goals

There is a quote in my day planner this month. It reads, "you have to believe in happiness, or happiness never comes...Ah, that's the reason a bird can sing - on his darkest day, he believes in Spring." ~ Douglas Malloch

I love that quote. I just sat and stared at it for a long time when I flipped over the calendar page. What does believing in happiness have to do with goal setting? Because meeting a goal is a happy, I-did-it kind of feeling. I think you can sub that into the quote and get a s...

A Goal? Who, me?

Sunday, the Wranglers had a discussion about what to talk about this week. After a few ideas were tossed around, we decided on goals. Most people talk about resolutions around the first of the year. This isn't about resolutions because I refuse to make them.

But...I do like to set goals.

For some reason, I'm having a hard time setting goals this year. It's already almost the end of January, and I still don't have a clear goal in mind. Last year, it was to query e-pubs, and that led me to landin...

Now what?

          The Wranglers were talking about a topic for this week. Monday’s my day and, in D’Ann’s words that I always love repeating, “I had nuthin’.” Finally D’Ann mentioned goals. And Shawn said, Yeah, goals. We seem, as a group, to be wandering a bit. We know what we want to do—sort of—but are having trouble settling in. The words lost and blind were used. We had a good year in 2012, with I’m not sure how many books out, how many manuscripts finished, how many...

Simple Decadence

 On Liz's blog tour the last couple of weeks, she's been giving away a cup and saucer. And there's something that's just kind of quaint and decadent about a cup and saucer.

After my dad passed away almost four years ago, my mom, two sisters, and I have started a tea tradition. It began because it was too hard to celebrate our birthdays without Dad--especially on my mom.

And even though the pain is no longer raw, we've continued our tea birthdays--mine is two weeks from today--and we've got...