G.P. Ching's Blog, page 9

Indelibles Release: To Ride a Puca by Heather McCorkle

It’s the last leg of my tour and I’m dropping by to celebrate the birth of my new book, To Ride A Puca. *waves to G.P. and all her friends* Before we get to the goodies I’m giving away this week, here is a bit about the newborn. It is a young adult historical fantasy about the last of the druids in ancient Ireland. This one was a bit heartbreaking to write and because of that it became very special to me. I hope it will be to you as well.



Invaders are coming to take what isn't theirs, again.




Neala wants to stand and fight for her homeland, but as one of the last druids, she may be standing alone.




Persecuted, hunted down, forced to live in obscurity, the druids have all but given up. Can the determination of a girl who has barely come into her power bring them together? Or, just when she finally finds her place among her kind, will they end up losing a homeland their very magic is tied to?



 Disclaimer: This novel contains some violence and difficult subject matter. It is recommended for mature YA and up.



To Ride A Puca is available in eBook and hardback at B&N, Amazon, The Book Depository and other retail sites.




This week is the biggest prize yet, a signed paperback of Saundra Mitchell’s fabulous YA paranormal historical about a girl who can see the future, The Vespertine and a signed hardback of the companion novel, The Springsweet. Saundra’s writing is breathtakingly beautiful and she is the one who inspired me to write historical in the first place, so it only seemed fitting to give away copies of her book. I was delighted when she graciously agreed to sign both copies! The contest will be open until June 17th, the winner to be announced on the 18th. Stop by my blog to enter.

Is it Time to Break Up With Your Critique Partner?

Critique partners should believe
in each other's work.

I've been really lucky to have great critique partners during my writing career, but many people are not so fortunate. Behind the scenes this week, a few newer writers have discussed with me their experiences with critiquing and I thought the topic would make a good blog post. The stories I'm about to tell you are true although names and minor details have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty.





Rebecca finished her first novel, a humorous suspense with a strong, gritty voice.  She joined a critique group to prepare for submitting her novel to agents.  When her first critique came back, there was more red ink than type. Halfway through edits, Rebecca realized that her new partner was turning her lighthearted, humorous, suspense into a literary novel. She was successful when she scrapped the changes and stuck with her original version.




Jonathon swapped manuscripts with Eric.  Although Eric's manuscript was in poor condition grammatically, Jonathon worked hard to give Eric the most detailed feedback possible, pointing out multiple objective errors and how to correct them. In contrast, when Jonathon's manuscript was returned  there were almost no comments from Eric.  Far from appreciating Jonathon's effort, Eric made it widely known in social circles that his manuscript was "ripped apart" by Jonathon.




Sally was a first time self-pubbed author who couldn't afford an editor. She traded manuscripts with another self-pubbed author, Tim, for proofreading. But Sally was pressed for time, so she skimmed Tim's work rather than giving it the attention she would give her own manuscript. She gave Tim feedback but it was far from thorough. When Tim's feedback came in, there was more than Sally was expecting.  Since she was still pressed for time, she decided to make only some of the suggested changes.  Tim was offended when the book was published containing errors that he clearly pointed out in Sally's manuscript. He was also disappointed when he found multiple errors in his own work that she didn't catch and ended up having to hire an editor anyway.




 As writers, we all want strong critique partners but, unless your critique partner has worked as an editor, they are probably not practiced at coaching the best from your manuscript. AND THAT'S OKAY! Critiquing after all isn't a job and fellow writers are not paid editors. CP's give each other a significant investment of their time knowing it may not pay off in a direct way (Indirectly, I'm convinced critiquing keeps a writer's editing skills sharp and sparks creativity). I truly believe every well intentioned CP has something to offer a manuscript. But sometimes things go wrong and the relationship hurts more than it helps. 





A toxic critiquing relationship drags you down and makes you less likely to confidently pursue improvement of your work. 




Here are some warning signs of when to call it quits.




Your CP consistently corrects something (or multiple somethings) in your manuscripts that isn't wrong despite you pointing out why it's right. You look it up just to make sure, and yes that colon, comma, etc. is in the right place but still he/she keeps "finding" it.
Your CP confuses opinion with fact. He/she just can't believe your character would do that and therefore your story is wrong. Or she heard that publishers were looking for X and your manuscript is Y therefore you have to change it. These sins are so formidable he/she can't finish reading your work although somehow you made it through their 100,000 word masterpiece titled The History of The Snail.
Your CP is never available or takes an excessively long time to get your manuscript back to you, then has few suggestions for improvement.
Your CP says a bunch of complementary things about your manuscript but didn't catch the glaring typo on page 45 and you have reason to suspect didn't read the entire manuscript.  This is what I call the poison pill.  Intentionally NOT pointing out problems or reviewing the manuscript haphazardly and then giving you a false confidence is the worst thing a CP can do to you. Critique partners need to give and take honest criticism freely and peruse each others work carefully. 
Your CP has never said anything complementary about your writing.
Your CP doesn't thank you for your critique and/or doesn't use your objective suggestions.  Here I am talking about someone who makes an objective grammatical error, you point out the error, and they intentionally don't change it.  (And yes, I've heard of an incident of this happening)
Your CP gossips about your critique to others or (God forbid) shows your unfinished work to others.
Your CP tries to make your writing something that it's not.

Want to be a great CP? Do the opposite. Give careful, well-researched feedback, in line with your partner's expectations. Explain why you have the opinion you do when giving subjective advice. Point out both the good and the bad in the manuscript in a way that conveys that you really believe in your partner's ability to make it better. Give and take criticism confidentially with an open mind and in a timely manner.



Readers, I'm curious, how do you get the most out of your critiquing relationships?

Is it Time to Break Up With Your Critique Partner?

Critique partners should believe
in each other's work.

I've been really lucky to have great critique partners during my writing career, but many people are not so fortunate. Behind the scenes this week, a few newer writers have discussed with me their experiences with critiquing and I thought the topic would make a good blog post. The stories I'm about to tell you are true although names and minor details have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty.





Rebecca finished her first novel, a humorous suspense with a strong, gritty voice.  She joined a critique group to prepare for submitting her novel to agents.  When her first critique came back, there was more red ink than type. Halfway through edits, Rebecca realized that her new partner was turning her lighthearted, humorous, suspense into a literary novel. She was successful when she scrapped the changes and stuck with her original version.




Jonathon swapped manuscripts with Eric.  Although Eric's manuscript was in poor condition grammatically, Jonathon worked hard to give Eric the most detailed feedback possible, pointing out multiple objective errors and how to correct them. In contrast, when Jonathon's manuscript was returned  there were almost no comments from Eric.  Far from appreciating Jonathon's effort, Eric made it widely known in social circles that his manuscript was "ripped apart" by Jonathon.




Sally was a first time self-pubbed author who couldn't afford an editor. She traded manuscripts with another self-pubbed author, Tim, for proofreading. But Sally was pressed for time, so she skimmed Tim's work rather than giving it the attention she would give her own manuscript. She gave Tim feedback but it was far from thorough. When Tim's feedback came in, there was more than Sally was expecting.  Since she was still pressed for time, she decided to make only some of the suggested changes.  Tim was offended when the book was published containing errors that he clearly pointed out in Sally's manuscript. He was also disappointed when he found multiple errors in his own work that she didn't catch and ended up having to hire an editor anyway.




 As writers, we all want strong critique partners but, unless your critique partner has worked as an editor, they are probably not practiced at coaching the best from your manuscript. AND THAT'S OKAY! Critiquing after all isn't a job and fellow writers are not paid editors. CP's give each other a significant investment of their time knowing it may not pay off in a direct way (Indirectly, I'm convinced critiquing keeps a writer's editing skills sharp and sparks creativity). I truly believe every well intentioned CP has something to offer a manuscript. But sometimes things go wrong and the relationship hurts more than it helps. 





A toxic critiquing relationship drags you down and makes you less likely to confidently pursue improvement of your work. 




Here are some warning signs of when to call it quits.




Your CP consistently corrects something (or multiple somethings) in your manuscripts that isn't wrong despite you pointing out why it's right. You look it up just to make sure, and yes that colon, comma, etc. is in the right place but still he/she keeps "finding" it.
Your CP confuses opinion with fact. He/she just can't believe your character would do that and therefore your story is wrong. Or she heard that publishers were looking for X and your manuscript is Y therefore you have to change it. These sins are so formidable he/she can't finish reading your work although somehow you made it through their 100,000 word masterpiece titled The History of The Snail.
Your CP is never available or takes an excessively long time to get your manuscript back to you, then has few suggestions for improvement.
Your CP says a bunch of complementary things about your manuscript but didn't catch the glaring typo on page 45 and you have reason to suspect didn't read the entire manuscript.  This is what I call the poison pill.  Intentionally NOT pointing out problems or reviewing the manuscript haphazardly and then giving you a false confidence is the worst thing a CP can do to you. Critique partners need to give and take honest criticism freely and peruse each others work carefully. 
Your CP has never said anything complementary about your writing.
Your CP doesn't thank you for your critique and/or doesn't use your objective suggestions.  Here I am talking about someone who makes an objective grammatical error, you point out the error, and they intentionally don't change it.  (And yes, I've heard of an incident of this happening)
Your CP gossips about your critique to others or (God forbid) shows your unfinished work to others.
Your CP tries to make your writing something that it's not.

Want to be a great CP? Do the opposite. Give careful, well-researched feedback, in line with your partner's expectations. Explain why you have the opinion you do when giving subjective advice. Point out both the good and the bad in the manuscript in a way that conveys that you really believe in your partner's ability to make it better. Give and take criticism confidentially with an open mind and in a timely manner.



Readers, I'm curious, how do you get the most out of your critiquing relationships?

What's in a name?

A rose by any other name
still writes great fiction!

I've been talking to my husband this week about possible pseudonyms.  See I've written an adult paranormal romance and don't want the younger readers of The Soulkeepers (some are as young as eleven) to think this book is for them--although the current chart topping trilogy by EL James makes my book look squeaky clean. But I digress.



Suffice it to say, I've decided to call myself something different on these books, so as not to confuse anyone. But I struggle with pseudonyms for the same reason as tattoos.  How can you commit to something so permanent? With the tattoo, I wonder if I would sour to wings on my back and if then I'd want a fish on my toe instead. Or maybe on my ankle.  I'd want to change and rearrange it constantly, which is why I don't have one.



A name is the same, isn't it?  Do I feel like a Josephine today or a Savannah?  How will I feel tomorrow?  And every name under the sun already belongs to someone out there.  Will I be reduced to some nouveau spelling like SanDeE* from LA Story?



(If you've never seen LA Story watch this clip http://youtu.be/1HRzloVtUPA)



If you have opinions on author names, leave me a comment. I need all the help I can get.

What's in a name?

A rose by any other name
still writes great fiction!

I've been talking to my husband this week about possible pseudonyms.  See I've written an adult paranormal romance and don't want the younger readers of The Soulkeepers (some are as young as eleven) to think this book is for them--although the current chart topping trilogy by EL James makes my book look squeaky clean. But I digress.



Suffice it to say, I've decided to call myself something different on these books, so as not to confuse anyone. But I struggle with pseudonyms for the same reason as tattoos.  How can you commit to something so permanent? With the tattoo, I wonder if I would sour to wings on my back and if then I'd want a fish on my toe instead. Or maybe on my ankle.  I'd want to change and rearrange it constantly, which is why I don't have one.



A name is the same, isn't it?  Do I feel like a Josephine today or a Savannah?  How will I feel tomorrow?  And every name under the sun already belongs to someone out there.  Will I be reduced to some nouveau spelling like SanDeE* from LA Story?



(If you've never seen LA Story watch this clip http://youtu.be/1HRzloVtUPA)



If you have opinions on author names, leave me a comment. I need all the help I can get.

Indelibles Beach Bash!

Summer is just around the corner.  Are you ready for pool side READING! Don't fret. The Indelibles have just what you need.  We are giving away the winner's choice of kindle or nook, along with 16 recently released indelibles books, including Return to Eden!





Dr. Abigail Silva has waited over 10,000 years for redemption and a chance at a real relationship with the angel she loves.  But when you're made from evil itself, it's hard to remember if salvation is worth the wait. With Lucifer's plan coming to fruition, she must decide if God's offer of humanity is all it's cracked up to be, or if a deal with the devil is the more promising solution.








Enter to Win

1. Visit the Indelibles Website between May 21st-May24th at Midnight.

2. Follow the chain of links to each of the blogs on the hop

3. Collect the secret word from each blog (psst-mine is in purple and all caps)

4. Submit the secret sentence for your chance to win




Good luck and happy READING!




Next stop Heather McCorkles blog!

Indelibles Book Alert: Driven

I'm a member of the Indelibles, talented independent authors and publishers who specialize in young adult fiction.  When the Indelibles host a new release, I post it here because I think these books are an amazing value.  Great stories, amazing writing, and affordable prices. I hope you'll consider giving this one a try and tell me what you think!












The last thing on 16-year-old Jess DeLand’s wish list is a boyfriend. She’d have to be crazy to think any guy would look twice at her. Besides, there are more important things to hope for, like a job working on cars and an end to her mom’s drinking. Foster care is a constant threat, and Jess is willing to sacrifice anything to stay out of the system. When luck hands her the chance to work on a race car, she finds herself rushing full throttle into a world of opportunities—including a boy who doesn’t mind the grease under her fingernails. The question is, can a girl who keeps herself locked up tighter than Richard Petty’s racing secrets open up enough to risk friendship and her first romance?

~~~~~~~~~~
“The first romance is captured beautifully—just the right combination of natural and awkward, of eager and scared.”



~ Bob Martin, writing professor, Pacific Northwest College of Art



Buy it on Amazon
Buy it on Barnes and Noble
Buy it on Smashwords


~~~~~~~~~~
In addition to being a YA author, Lisa Nowak is a retired amateur stock car racer, an accomplished cat whisperer, and a professional smartass. She writes coming-of-age books about kids in hard luck situations who learn to appreciate their own value after finding mentors who love them for who they are. She enjoys dark chocolate and stout beer and constantly works toward employing wei wu wei in her life, all the while realizing that the struggle itself is an oxymoron.
Lisa has no spare time, but if she did she’d use it to tend to her expansive perennial garden, watch medical dramas, take long walks after dark, and teach her cats to play poker. For those of you who might be wondering, she is not, and has never been, a diaper-wearing astronaut. She lives in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband, four feline companions, and two giant sequoias.





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The Siren's Call of the Saxophone

This post has nothing to do with books.  It has to do with band. And, well, orchestra I guess.



I have two daughters who have both been musical children. I won't tell you their ages but I am much too young to have had them. Both play piano but we have reached the grade in school when they can choose a band or orchestra instrument. They have this special day at school where they demonstrate all of the instruments and then each kid can choose 3 to try. The music director sends home recommendations for what instrument they recommend for your child next year.



When my oldest daughter reached this age, she wanted to play the saxophone and lo and behold she we recommended for the saxophone. I gleefully trotted down to the music store to rent a saxophone with images of Lisa Simpson dancing through my head. Imagine my surprise when they gave me the list of rental prices for instruments.  $50/month people!  Sax's are expensive.



I noticed that the flute was like $15/month, the violin $20.  I concocted a conspiracy theory that the band director recommended the expensive brass to all the oldest children that came through, hoping to snare unsuspecting parents into paying for the "money pit" instrument. For my oldest, it was too late.  We'd already said yes. I signed on the dotted line and Saxophone she played.



For 6 months.  She lasted 6 months and then she quit. And BTW that was 6 months of hauling that monster on the bus and practice sessions that sounded like geese homicide every night.



Well, that wasn't going to happen to ME again.  I was older and wiser.  I started my younger daughter on violin in third grade.  She excelled.  Played for two years.  I rubbed my hands together thinking she would surely want to continue the violin into fifth grade.  Ha ha ha.  They wouldn't get me again!



Imagine my horror when younger one began making noises about quitting violin and taking...you guessed it...saxophone!  I said NO! Pick something else.  Anything!



My neighbor even helped me out.  She said they had a used oboe we could buy for cheap.  You know what they say about the oboe?  It's the scholarship instrument.  First oboe, then bassoon, then free college baby.  Nobody plays the bassoon.  It was brilliant!  No rental.  No dying goose.  I was so on board.



So youngest has the dreaded demonstration/recommendation night and guess what comes home on her paper.  Saxophone!  And now she's totally excited and completely dead set on Saxophone.



I think I know what's going on here.  Obviously, they have some cute boy demonstrating saxophone. I'll never win.  They've played the hormone card.  It's useless to resist.

The Worm in My Apple

Under the categories of don't let this happen to you and learn from my mistakes I'd like to offer authors out there my recent experience with the iBookstore.  (If you are a reader, this will also serve as an explanation for the craziness that has been Return to Eden's journey to iPad and company.)



I published Return to Eden, book 3 in the Soulkeepers Series, via Smashwords on February 27th and on the other markets (KDP, PUBiT) soon after.  I've always used Smashwords to reach the iBookstore and I've never had any problems. This time however, my file wasn't approved right away.  In fact, some unusual technical problems at Smashwords delayed the processing for several weeks. (Smashwords was upfront and responsive to the problems.)



Meanwhile, desperate for an iBooks version, I spent several days jumping through all of the hoops to upload directly to Apple via iTunes producer.  One of the easier steps to publication was completing the "metadata" portion of the electronic form.

Unfortunately, when I entered my author name, I entered G.P. Ching (my preferred spelling),  not realizing that the first two books at Smashwords had my author name spelled with a space between the G. and the P., G. P. Ching.



It took four weeks for Apple to approve the file but Return to Eden hit iBookstore shelves on April 3rd.

Meanwhile, my file on Smashwords was approved for premium distribution after the longest wait I've ever encountered. On April 3rd, I opted out of iBookstore distribution since I already had a file there.



Here's where it gets interesting. Return to Eden was not linking up with my author name due to the lack of a space between my initials.  I tried to fix the metadata and learned that authors/publishers can not update their own metadata in the iBookstore! (That includes the book description BTW). I sent in a ticket to have the space added for me. I received a response that it would be changed.  It never was. I followed up with more emails that received no response.



A few weeks later, I was elated to see my Return to Eden file had been fixed and finally linked up to my other books. Only something was wrong.  I now had two versions of Return to Eden on the charts.  Upon closer inspection, the linked up file was the original Smashwords file I uploaded on February 27th! And yes - I checked- I was still opted out.



After several more emails to Apple that were ignored, I finally decided to pull the direct to apple version and keep the linked up Smashwords version.  Having two versions of the book on the same chart was confusing for readers and I was afraid if I didn't opt in at Smashwords I might not get paid for the sales on that orphaned file, not to mention I made some changes to the front matter to add my new publishing company's name and wanted that on all versions. I simply had more control to take the direct file down in a timely manner.



What did I lose from this scenario? 78 ratings/reviews on iBookstore, about 40 hours of my time, the higher royalties direct publishing would have paid me, and the newest version of the file still hasn't reached iBookstore.



Learning points:




If you upload directly to Apple make sure you will never have to change your metadata. It still amazes me that the brilliant minds at Apple couldn't have built a user friendly interface to do this or for authors to link books themselves to their author account as Amazon Author Central does.
Allow at least four weeks or more for processing
If you are changing methods of distribution in the middle of a series, compare the metadata as it appears in the Apple store to your new metadata (not as it appears at the distributor). Changes you made at the distributor won't be updated in iBookstore.
Understand that if you have to make changes you will either have to use a new ISBN, or go through a distributor which means you will lose your reviews.


There you have it.  My sad, sad, epic FAIL at the big Apple. Don't let it happen to you.

Sore as A Gorilla

Have you heard of the Gorilla Workout?



It's this app that you can get for your phone that gives you daily exercises to do, slowly building your muscles until you are as fit as a big hairy primate.  Who wouldn't want that?





So, I downloaded it. First you're asked to be honest with the app about your current fitness level.  I'm a writer.  I've got a strong imagination but that is about it. So I started with level 1.





The first several days weren't difficult but then I got to this bad boy:


4 Rounds of:

8 Lunges

25 Squats


It didn't seem that hard really, so afterward I took a bike ride.



Today, I can't walk. Every time I have to lower myself to a chair or *gasp* the toilet, my hamstrings howl like a monkey.



For some reason I think I'll be looking like this guy for a really, really long time.