K.C. Sprayberry's Blog, page 152

First Impressions

You’ve sent in your masterpiece and are expecting a contract in the return email. Instead, you receive a notice that your book has been declined. You stare at the monitor, wondering how this could happen. Didn’t the fool on the other end of the message read the book you’ve labored over for half your lifetime?
Your first instinct is to write back to this idiot and demand to know if they read the whole book. Did they bother to understand the elegant prose? Did they notice how well you blended several different time periods with multiple characters? Where is their head at?
Instantly, your fingers are flying across the keyboard. You’re composing a tart but eloquent email, in which you demand to know why they rejected your book. Aren’t you good enough for XYZ publisher? Are they so stupid that they think they can actually sell books without yours leading their sales?
Without bothering to proofread, you hit send and sit back, satisfied they’ll soon change their minds and send you a contract.
Reality check. You are not Snoopy typing out a sarcastic letter to a publisher. You are Joe Smith, unknown, unpublished author. And you have just made the worst mistake of your writing career.
First, close your inbox. You won’t get a response for a day or two, if then. You’ll be lucky if that response is restrained to let you know your manuscript was thoroughly vetted and it wasn’t right for what they produce.
Second, strike that publisher off your list of potentials for the next time you submit. You will probably never have a chance with them again.
Now, reread the rejection. Was advice offered? If there’s an invitation to resubmit, ignore it. It’s probably no longer in the offing.
What you should do at this point is take any advice offered and move on to the next publisher. Hold your hat in your hand. Lose the arrogance and remember this…
You only have one chance to make a good first impression.

Everybody Reads YA ~ New Future

Happy “Everybody Reads YA” Sunday! Today I’m sharing an excerpt from my YA romance short story: New Future. Teen romance is fun and scary, especially if you aren’t sure everyone around you won’t disappear.




The craziness that was the lives of my family is still long from over, but I’m trying to forget all that tonight. Today is Saturday. The date is February 14, the most romantic day of the year, and I’m more than ready to celebrate with my bestie and our boyfriends. Specifically, my bestie will show up at my house with my guy, to meet her guy and me for a romantic dinner. Oh, did I mention how her guy just happens to be my twin?
“Hey.” Shane darts in the back door, a dozen grocery bags dangling from one hand. “Smells fabulous. What is it?”
“A surprise.” My hands shake as I slice into the strawberries that I’ve picked out of the basket I got at the fruit market this morning. “If this part works.”

About the Author
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Some of her short stories have appeared in anthologies, others in magazines.





Almost two months have passed since the nightmare of non-custodial abduction that Keri and Shane endured.She still suffers from nightmares and a deep-seated fear of repeating the experience. He can’t help trying to make her life easier, better in the hopes that she’ll relax.
Keri & Shane fought back in Lost & Scared. Can they now look forward to a New Future on the most romantic night of the year?

New Future 

The Glam Life of an Author

I’ve been asked so many times what kind of glamourous life I lead. That question always elicits a laugh. As my Twitter bio says, I’m a wife, Mom, Grandma, dreamer, doer, Veteran, and author of young and new adult, romance, and western novels in addition to being an editor in chief. That’s a snapshot of my very busy life, but it still doesn’t show the whole truth.
My day starts when most people are still fast asleep in their beds. No alarm clocks intrude on my sleep. I shut mine off permanently after my youngest graduated from high school, and that was such a feeling of freedom. I set my own hours, but I’m betting that I am more rigorous in my daily routine than those who go to a nine-to-five job.
While the coffee perks for the first cup of anti-zombie juice, I’m assembly that day’s promotion work. It rarely varies, but there are moments when I feel as if I’m spinning my wheels. Once the coffee is in me, I peek at the mirror.
Yup, those are black circles under my eyes. Probably from lack of sleep, but I have an active brain and it demands attention.
The hair is usually yanked into a convenient ponytail, unless I have an appearance later in the day. No makeup. Another yippee moment. I always hated that gunk on my face. Clothing is casual, the more casual and loose fitting the better. Shoes? Only if it’s cold, and then they’re slippers. This California born and raised girl has toes that hate the confinement of shoes. Love the freedom of walking around barefoot.
So, this not so glamorous author sits in front of a computer screen. Sometimes you’ll see my Facebook page up all day, but I’m not posting. Nope. I’m creating, with short breaks to see what my friends are up to, maybe respond to a post here and there.
Back to the salt mines… uh, the latest book.
Lunch usually passes in a blur, with me munching on sharp cheddar cheese and crackers. Filling if not healthy. The afternoon is another blur, until my stomach hollers that it needs sustenance. But only after another check of social media, where I might discover a friend has invited me to an event.
Uh, sorry, need to cook, clean, and get back to this story that’s kicking me around.
Yes, that’s my usual glamorous day in a nutshell. I rarely go out, don’t see the need to get out of the PJs some days, and overall, have a great life—in my opinion.

Moving Forward

When bad things happen, we all have to move beyond them once they’re over. Sometimes, nightmares plague us for months or even years before we truly recover. All of this depends on the severity of the issue at hand.
Some problems are so bad that the individual might never recover fully. Such is the for children taken from their custodial parent through non-custodial parental kidnapping. Everything they took for granted is ripped away from them. They’re not sure they’ll ever see home again. Even worse, they’re usually subjected to verbal and physical abuse while they’re in the hands of an individual they’re supposed to love.
Keri and Shane in Lost & Scared survived this nightmare. They’re both strong teens, trying to move forward with their lives, but they also still feel the effects of the four months while their father had Keri and three younger siblings captive far from home.

Blurb
Almost two months have passed since the nightmare of non-custodial abduction that Keri and Shane endured. She still suffers from nightmares and a deep-seated fear of repeating the experience. He can’t help trying to make her life easier, better in the hopes that she’ll relax.
Keri & Shane fought back in Lost & Scared. Can they now look forward to a New Future on the most romantic night of the year?



New Future

Chapter Lengths

How long should a chapter be?
This question has been debated long and hard for as long as there have been authors around. In recent years, since the ebook was first released, the debate has become even more heated.
A chapter should be as long or as short as it needs to be is the right answer. But even then, there are exceptions to the rule.
I once had the chance to read a book where the author had a single chapter that was exactly one paragraph long. It was also one page long, and the paragraph was three very short sentences. That was all she needed to make the leap from the previous chapter to the one following the short one.
That single paragraph portrayed more than an extremely long chapter, filled with beautiful but senseless prose would have done.
That being said, we now live in an instant world. Books have been laughed at as boring for a while. Sales are down. Authors are questioning their commitment to the craft. Yet, not many have looked at the reasons sales are down.
Many books are now sold in an electronic version. The customer is reading them on a screen that is at the most six inches by nine inches. This makes those beautiful chapters in your eight and a half by eleven inch page on your computer screen much longer than you thought they would be. Those extensive paragraphs now go for three or four pages without a break. The lack of white space, where the reader can get a break from the monotonous black lettering isn’t there.
What you need to do is examine your work. Decide which paragraphs can be made smaller. Figure out what information is too much, too repetitive of what you’ve already said with different words, or just not necessary. Give the reader white space on each page. Let their eyes rest. Titillate them by making them turn the page to find out what happens next.
Yes, we’re using a form of trickery to keep our readers. Call it salesmanship. You’re selling them on a story, convincing them to part with hard earned cash to buy your book. Make that purchase worth their while. Let them remember you as the author who gave them pleasure when they didn’t think they could afford an entertainment budget.
In other words, stop creating overly long chapters with very little white space. Insert dialogue. Go for the single sentence paragraph. Hit the homerun with a book that keeps someone up way past their bed time, searching for a reason to stop, but unable to find one.

Everybody Reads YA ~ Lost & Scared

Happy “Everybody Reads YA” Sunday! Today I’m sharing an excerpt from my YA psychological thriller: Lost & Scared. Divorce is ugly and mean to kids, especially teens. When the non-custodial parent decides to take the child far from home forever, things take a scary turn.




The window in my bedroom that I share with my two younger brothers overlooks Main Street. I angle my head, so I can attempt to see where my twin is.
“See Keri?” Axe, my best bud, asks.
“Nope. But I do see a bunch of cars leaving.” I face him and grin. “That means she’s on her way back.”
“Great. We can leave now.”
“Looks that way.”
He and I race down the stairs. The normal noise of a large family during winter holiday break greets me, along with what can only be described as evil snickering. We come around the corner, shoving and pushing to see which one of us gets to the bottom first, with me gaining an inch on my bud.

About the Author
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Some of her short stories have appeared in anthologies, others in magazines.



When their younger twin siblings were murdered by their cold-blooded father, Shane and Keri’s own twin connection deepened. Their father shamed Shane and Keri into silence, and then went on to bring four more children into a house shuddering under the weight of his unpredictable temper.


Ten years later, what should have been a regular visitation turns into a horrific nightmare. Trapped in the Superstition Mountains with an addicted and dangerous father, Keri’s faith and determination wavers, but she knows she must save her brothers and sisters and return all of them to the home they love.


She now faces one insurmountable obstacle. He can’t afford to let her go.


Lost & Scared 

Spotlight on The Black Raven, White Dove by Elle Marlow

Welcome a good friend, Elle Marlow. She's here to talk about her latest  book: The Black Raven, White Dove. Ladies, and gentlemen if you love a great story, this one involves a pirate and a woman. I'll let your imaginations run wild that that teaser!








ABOUT THE BOOK
The Black Raven, White Dove is a Christian Inspirational Action Adventure Romance By International Amazon Best-Selling Author Elle Marlow“Welcome aboard the Raven, Miss Paloma.”

The Blurb:
Known as the Ice Pirate, Stefan Ice captains the Raven. A wicked ship filled with treasures and haunting secrets. What’s missing from the Raven’s coffers is revenge, what’s missing from Stefan’s life is love. Bianca is the jewel in her father’s crown. When she is captured and bound on the Raven, she becomes an unwilling pawn in a feud between her father and the dark pirate. With every rock of the ship, Stefan steals her heart and unravels their tangled and tragic past. Bianca will need to rely on her faith and her heart to find God’s purpose for her life. Is with the legendary pirate? 
Author speaks candidly about the book.
The idea for Black Raven, White Dove was introduced to me by Captain Ice. His image came to mind, and even though he showed himself as a pirate, I could only see the goodness within.  A good man living a hard life deserves a love so powerful and pure, that the only woman for him would have to be a lovely girl he met as a child.  Bianca Paloma, aka, White Dove is only fragile on the outside.  Inside, she is a strong, capable woman who finds her greatest strength through her faith.  They make an unlikely pair as they navigate the Atlantic on the ship that is home to a slew of old sea dogs.  This book has some humor, some sadness, but it is really about finding one’s own worthiness and having a little faith that you are where you need to be.  
This is my first Inspy romance.  I fell in love with the genre.  There will be more. Perhaps another pirate tale aboard the Raven?  We’ll see.
Where to find Elle Marlow’s titles:
 Amazon Author Page
Blog 
Twitter 
Facebook 





 

How to be Successful

We all face that big problem these days—big ideas on how to promote but a small or non-existent budget. Just how does one overcome that issue and still manage to get people to know about their book?
There are alternatives to the high priced promotional sites. Instead of putting out $700 or more for a site to email their fans about your book reduced to .99 for a week, and not making back your investment, try a site that will do this for $15 or $20. Or free. You don’t get the same reach, but you do have an opportunity to not only recoup your investment but also to make some money.
What about all the sites that troll Twitter, following authors, and then sending them a direct message to check out their guaranteed way to make money on social media. I’d steer clear of those. Everyone has their own idea on how to make money on social media. Some of those methods work, others are a waste of your time and money.
The best way to succeed is to be out there in front of your friends and followers every day. Promotion isn’t just a way of getting people to know about your books, it’s a way to get them to know you as an author. Once you are known as an author, you will find your fan base.
There is no shortcut, no guaranteed method to make it in this book market. Everyone has to try many methods before settling on the one that works for them. It’s very much trial and error. But it can be done, if you don’t quit.

Identity Issues

We have all struggled with who we are at some point in our lives. Are we the consummate professional at our jobs? Are we a parent struggling to raise children in a modern world? Or are we a person who isn’t sure exactly who they are?
Some people struggle with larger identity issues. They question if they truly are part of their family. This might be because they don’t have the same values. Their family might look very different than they do. Some even believe they were kidnapped at a young age for some nefarious reason.
Brooke faces this issue as she contemplates how different she is, not just in looks but also in values, from her family. She questions this even more when people in her new hometown seem to believe she’s someone else.
Blurb
Brooke English never belongs. She changes schools twice a year, as often as her looks and name change. Her thoughts about belonging to her "family" get even more viral when they stop in Landry, Georgia. Then things start to go wrong. Then Brooke starts to have dreams.
Will she find the answers she wants? Or will her worst fears become reality?




Who Am I? 

Stream of Consciousness

Sounds nice for an author to use this in their novel. You let loose with a long narrative about this, that, and the other thing, introducing the reader to your world. You have to make sure they understand how you built this world, so you take the high road and go for the omnipotent opening, where you, the author, are directing their attention to this “Very Important Book.”
Great way to go. Right?
Wrong…
Stream of consciousness is only good if it’s your characters being portrayed. Lose the omnipotent viewpoint. This is a pretentious way for the author to say, “The reader is too stupid to understand what I’m trying to portray, so I’m going to tell them about it.” That is a very fast way to lose readers.
Again, action speaks louder than words. In this case, the actions of your well-developed characters will give the reader more information about the story than your attempt to lead them to the point where the story actually begins.
This is all part of planning your book. You have to avoid the temptation to lead the reader through the story and allow the action to do that. If you can’t resist the urge to use omnipotent stream of consciousness, keep that in another file so that you can refer to it when you get stuck. Just don’t copy and paste it into your story. Instead, use it as background, a way to spice things up when the story lags.
And the story will lag at points. It has happened to all of us. The way to fix that is to drop back and punt. Figure out a way to spice up the action, draw the reader further into the story by letting the characters take over and present to the world their tale!