Michelle McLean's Blog, page 21

And the winner....

of an e-copy of Christine Fonseca's LACRIMOSA and DIES IRAE is......

Donna K. Weaver!!!!
Congrats Donna! Shoot me an email (on the sidebar) and let me know which format you'd like and I'll get them sent over!

A Giveaway in Celebration of LACRIMOSA by Christine Fonseca

Well, I know we hosted Christine over at OA last week, but I just couldn't let the release of her awesome book LACRIMOSA go by without a little celebration of my own. So - who would like a free copy of LACRIMOSA and it's prequel novella DIES IRAE? :D I know you all do :D

Just leave a comment for a chance to win an e-copy of both these amazing books. :)

Congratulations Christine!!!

Friday Funnies

When the Waiting Game Pays Off :D

Soooo, yeah, I was trying to vent a little of the waiting game angst yesterday :) But today I am THRILLED to finally announce the hardest secret I've ever had to keep :D

From PM:



Michelle McLean's TREASURED LIES, in which a woman reluctantly agrees to become engaged to make her aunt and her fiance's grandmother happy but finding a lost treasure could gain her freedom; in searching for that, she may lose her heart, to Erin Molta at Entangled Scandalous, for publication in November 2012 (World).

The Waiting Game - Not as Fun as it Sounds ;)

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This business hasn't taught me patience...it's just taught me how much I hate waiting :D

Well, that's not totally true. I AM a little better at waiting, mostly because I know to expect it now. But for me, the waiting is the worst part of this business. And here's a little secret, (for me at least) it gets worse on every step.

See, there's the waiting to get crits back from betas. Not fun. Will they like it? Will they shred my poor baby? But, this step of the process doesn't usually take that long, so over all, it's not so bad.

Then there is the waiting on queries. This is really not fun. Definitely the most hated part of the querying process for me. Don't get me wrong, rejects suck. But waiting for that response....miserable. Especially since there is a good chance that a lot of those queries will never be answered as more and more agents are going the "no response = a no" route.

Then, there is waiting on submissions. These are better and worse. Better in that at least you know to expect a longer turn around time, so maybe the waiting won't get to you so badly at first. Worse because the stakes have just been raised. An acceptance here can mean signing with an agent. Which makes waiting for the end result even more difficult.

THEN, if you've made it past all that, you get to wait on publisher submissions. These are killer. Yes, you know the wait is going to be a bit longer, so again you might not worry too much at first. But then as the weeks, and months, tick by, it starts to get to you. The silent inbox. Your poor refresh button will need to be repaired at least twice. Because now the stakes are HUGE. And the waiting, therefore, is that much worse :)

AND THEN, if you've reached that glorious of all occasions, A BOOK DEAL, you might think you are home free. THE WAITING IS OVER!!!

Nope. You get to wait some more :D

See, rarely will you get to shout your awesome news from the rooftops right away. You'll have to wait to announce. Maybe days. More likely weeks. Or even months. You might be waiting on contracts or maybe your publisher wants to announce in conjunction with something else they've gone on, or maybe you want to wait until the PM announcement comes out or maybe negotiations on your contract are going back and forth. This waiting might seem like it's not so bad. After all, you've done it! You have a book deal! But sometimes the best things are the hardest secrets to keep :)

And so, my fine writer friends, we wait. On crits, on queries, on subs, on contracts, on announcements - we wait.

How do you handle the waiting? Has it taught you patience? Or...just that you don't like to wait? :D


Me..."patience is a virtue" has become my new mantra. It's not working well LOL

Friday Funnies

First off, a HUGE thank you to the completely awesome Lisa Amowitz for redesigning my blog and creating the incredibly beautiful new banner. I'm also using the banner on my redesign-in-process website if you want to check that out (and am thinking of wallpapering my house with it because it's just that gorgeous) :D

And now....le funnies :D

Redesigning the Blog and Website

Bear with me while I get the new background finalized. If you stop in more than once tonight you'll probably see a different design every time you come through :D The amazing Lisa Amowitz created a GORGEOUS new header for me and I am redesigning around it. Hopefully I'll have everything finalized by tomorrow! :)

The Writing Blues

I've often been asked, "How do you keep from getting down/depressed/discouraged?" This business can be rough. There is a lot of rejection involved. A lot of being told that what you've done isn't good enough. And you know, that can be very hard to deal with.

How do I keep from getting sucked into the negativity? That's easy.

I don't. :)

For me, it's just an inevitable fact that at some point, it's going to get to me. I'm going to want to quit. So I do. I don't usually walk away from it entirely. I'll continue to blog, network, critique, brainstorm, take notes, fiddle with mss. But if I need to step away from one or all of those activities...I do.

For days, weeks, months...once it was even years. I step back until the clamoring dies down and I can focus on why I am really doing this.

I do it because I love to write. Because I have a million stories in me that need to get out. Because I FEEL better when I write them down. Because I love to have people read them and tell me how much they love them.

I don't think there is a magical formula for getting rid of the writing blues. I don't think there is a way to escape them. Someday, they will just hit you. I find it easier to let them. Let it come. But...I try very hard not to wallow in whatever it is that has gotten me down. I don't dwell on it. I might not feel like playing the game...but I don't take my ball and go home :)

I focus on other things. I'll read a lot. Watch movies. Listen to music. Live life. Experience new things. Basically, recharge the batteries that fuel my creativity. To the point that they are so full I no longer care about whatever got me down in the first place.

I just want to write again.

The important thing is that I come back. I start over. I keep going.

Do you get hit with the writing blues? How do you handle it?

Friday Funnies - Seussalicious

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Epic Rap Battles - Dr. Seuss vs Shakespeare (warning: says the "a" word)

March Mystery Agent at Operation Awesome!

Another Operation Awesome Mystery Agent contest is in just a few days! (We are still awaiting the results from Feb's contest. No worries; we'll post them as soon as we get them!)

For now, here are the genres our March Mystery Agent is looking for:

YA contemporary/realistic fictionYA sci-fi or light fantasy (nothing "epic")
Adult literary fictionMagical realism (YA or adult)
Dark mystery (psychological or ghostly--nothing with an "amateur sleuth" or cozy mystery)
Literary horror (YA or adult)

And these are projects the Mystery Agent isn't looking for:

Paranormal romance
Picture books/children's books
Genre romance
Nonfiction

Anything not specified in the Not Looking For is fine, though. And remember: the prize is a full manuscript request, so yeah, I'd enter this baby if I were you. Make sure you come back on Thursday, March 1st for the contest!