Mandy Goff's Blog, page 2

Launch Party for Engaging the Earl

Hi everyone!

I'm writing this from the waiting room at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.  Today is my husband's major surgery to have his first rib resected (don't ask, even explaining it makes me cringe) and to replace the main vein in his chest because its been damaged by being pinched and having the blood clots.

So, since I have Wi-Fi and some extra time (and a ridiculous amount of nervous energy), I'm posting about the launch party coming up this Saturday, March 10th, 2012 for my newest Regency Inspirational romance, Engaging the Earl.

Here's the official press release from Fiction Addiction:  LAUNCH PARTY AND BOOK SIGNING

And here are the details below:

What:  Launch Party and Book Signing for Engaging the Earl by Mandy Goff

When:   March 10, 2012 from 5pm-7pm

Where:  Fiction Addiction
             1020 Woodruff Rd.
              Greenville, SC

Contact Info:  If you have any questions, call Fiction Addiction at 864-675-0540 or email at info@fiction-addiction.com.
                      Or feel free to email me at MandyKGoff@gmail.com

Copies of Engaging the Earl will be sold for $5.75.  If you would like an autographed copy but are unable to come to the party, please email me or contact Jill at Fiction Addiction.

I hope all can attend!  Everyone is welcome, and there will be cake and punch provided.
             

Epilogue has been combined

Hi everyone!

Just a note to tell everyone that the epilogue for The Blackmailed Bride can be found via a page link at the top of this blog.  Where there were two parts and two separate pages previously, I combined them for ease of viewing.

An update on everything (writing/personal/etc) will be coming later today.

Thanks again for all the prayers!

And finally...Epilogue, Part II

Below is the link for Part II of the Epilogue for The Blackmailed Bride.

Hope you all enjoy!


Part II of Epilogue for The Blackmailed Bride


And if you missed the first part of the Epilogue, the link for that is below:


Part I for Epilogue of The Blackmailed Bride

Slight Delay

First, I would like to apologize for not having Part II of the Epilogue to The Blackmailed Bride posted already.

As those of you who follow me on twitter or on Facebook might know, since the beginning of the year, my husband has been struggling with having both a blood clot in his arm and one in his shoulder/chest. This, of course, has resulted in several surgeries, an extended stay in ICU, and basically mass chaos at our house while we wait for these clots to dissolve.

We discovered earlier this week that my husband is being sent to the Medical University here in SC (about 3+ hours away from our home), so my life has been in a bit of an uproar, trying to pack enough clothes for an indefinite period of time, making sure to spend plenty of time with my four-year-old daughter who will be staying behind with my sister while we are gone, and basically trying to make sure I have everything done before we leave.

So, I heartily apologize for not having the second part of the epilogue posted yet. That is my priority either as the last thing I do when I go to bed tonight, or the first bit of business in the morning. Fortunately, the hard work is already completed; I just have to do a proof before I post it.

But to all my fans/readers, I apologize for being off my game.

But I would ask that you keep my husband and family in your thoughts and prayers. From what I understand, the surgery he is having done is very risky and rare (only about 15 of them done a year in the whole country). And while I am not a person that usually vents all the "woe-is-me" moments in my life online, I am hoping that you will all join me in believing for the best!

And Part II of the Epilogue to follow...promise =)

((Also, I understand that some members of the LIH bookclub have already received their copies of Engaging the Earl. While I mentioned it in the "Dear Author" letter, I just want to reiterate that I welcome ALL feedback. You can reach me through the various methods on the "Contact Me" page at the top of the screen, or you can send an email to mandy@mandygoff.com.

Epilogue for The Blackmailed Bride (First Installment)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

In honor of this day of love, I've been authorized to post an epilogue to my first Love Inspired Regency, The Blackmailed Bride.

Since I can't be too sweet, however, (it goes against my nature ;o), I'll be posting the epilogue in two installments. (Got to do something to keep the suspense up, after all).

Below is the link to the static page with the first installment. Watch for the second installment coming later today!


Epilogue for The Blackmailed Bride, Part I


Enjoy!

Trailer for Engaging the Earl

Try our slideshow maker at Animoto.

The Synopsis: My Nemesis

I like to think that somewhere, there exists a support group for people like me. People who would rather peel off their fingernails one-by-one than work on writing a synopsis. Or perhaps, I'm just being melodramatic.

I don't know what it is. I appreciate the function the synopsis serves. I admire a finely constructed summary that encapsulates the driving points of a novel. But I absolutely hate having to write one for myself.

Maybe the problem is I'm too much of a "write as you go" sort. I'll have a general outline in mind, but it's not until I put pen to paper that the story really fleshes out in my mind. When "in the zone," I've topped out at 15,000 words in a day. So why is it taking me weeks to come up with a synopsis that doesn't make me want to puke when I read over it?

Anyone with synopsis-writing coping mechanisms? Some jewels of wisdom for the journey? Commiseration, perhaps?

What part of the process do you find most difficult?

Writing Wisdom Wednesday: Mechanics Matter

As writers, we have a lot to think about.

Crafting beautiful imagery.

Creating believable characters.

Spinning dramatic storylines.

Maintaining an authentic voice.

And the list goes on.

One of the most important elements of creating notable fiction (and nonfiction) is utilizing proper mechanics.

Unfortunately, it's also one of the most frequently overlooked pieces of the writing puzzle.

Now, someone out there is laughing at me. (Probably my sister…stop it Meg!) And that's because my turbulent relationship with the comma is fairly well documented. Pull any essay from my Freshman year of college and you'll wonder why I didn't drop out of the English program and become an accounting major instead (I'm even worse at Math, unfortunately).

The day I got back the first essay of my college career, I was confused by the big letter at the top of the page.

D.

Contrary to my first thought, it didn't stand for Delightful.

Then, as though I wasn't devastated enough, my professor informed me that the paper "should have been an A. But your mechanics were awful." I'll admit it…they were atrocious. However, it does take a special kind of skill to make 28 mechanical errors in about 3 pages.

I'd like to say that I learned from my (grammatical) mistakes immediately, but that would be a lie.

I went from acing high-school papers to being thisclose to failing. And I had as many excuses as I had misplaced commas.

I was taught to put a comma wherever you would take a breath if you said the sentence aloud. And I'm an asthmatic. So I take breaths A LOT.

Okay, maybe I can't punctuate to save my life. But the content is sound. And that makes it okay. Content's the point, right?

It's a stylistic decision. "Once you know the rules you can break them." Isn't that what they say? Well, that's just how I roll.

But that was the problem. I didn't know the rules at all. And all the superb content in the world wasn't going to get me an A on a paper as long as I was incapable of mastering the fundamentals of the craft.

The same applies to writing fiction. So, since I love lists almost as much as I love comma splices, I've compiled a couple of grammatical DON'TS.

1) Don't underestimate the value of proper grammar. I've often heard about managers who will discard the application of a highly qualified candidate based on errors in the cover letter. I'm assuming for some, at least, the publishing industry has similar standards. The competition for aspiring writers is stiff. Don't let something as fixable as bad mechanics kill your chances.

2) Don't assume that whatever you have to say is so brilliant that your creativity and artistry will outshine your lack of technical precision. Improper punctuation can render the most powerful and moving prose confusing and nonsensical.

3) Don't trust that Word's Spelling/Grammar check can do the do the job for you. While I'd probably get sued if I said that the Grammar check is designed to exponentially increase the number of errors in your document, I will—from personal experience—suggest that you not hinge your story's grammatical success or failure on the recommendations of a computer.

4) Don't fool yourself into thinking that you don't have to employ proper mechanics because "that's an editor's job." If I hadn't learned how to properly insert a comma, it's unlikely my manuscript would have even been considered for publication. While I've never been an editor, so I can't speak with certainty, but I would imagine that lack of attention to the technical business of writing comes off as laziness or ignorance. Besides, editors are extremely busy people (something I didn't fully appreciate until I saw the publishing process from start to finish). Editors probably don't mind clearing out the occasional slip up or typo, but their time is too limited to worry about teaching writers how to write.

I'm sure there are more points to make about the importance of grammar. But frankly, I've rambled on longer than I intended. In closing, however, I will assure you that it's not impossible to become a Grammar Superstar. Is learning about it fun? No, not really. Can employing it be a pain? Absolutely. Will you find grammatical errors in this post? Perhaps if you look closely.

But if you do, remember, the mistakes are intentional. Again, that's just how I roll.

Checking in on the Go...

We've now got a mobile template for this site!

So now, you can check in and see what's happening from your cell without having to deal with pages being too large to load, font being too small, etc.

Yay for technology.

And tune in tomorrow (from your phone if you like!) for Writing Wisdom Wednesday on Friday (running behind this week...surprise, surprise...)

What's on the playlist Friday

Another song that I enjoy listening to while I work--especially in the sentimental, drippy-emotional scenes!