Michelle Hauck's Blog, page 144

Lessons Learned the Hard Way: Joyce (Clippership) Alton

All professions have a learning curve and writing is no exception. Yet in writing more than other professions, you're on your own. It's a solitary job after all, which means important aspects of the task sometimes get missed. These posts will be a chance for writers to mentor other writers through their confessions of lessons they learned. Lessons that might have been as painful as a pencil poke in the eye.
I'm excited to kick this series off with the moderator of the Speculative Fiction Forum at AQC our leader, Joyce Alton. You might know her through her mod name of Clippership. Joyce blogs about speculative fiction at Yesternight's Voyage and you can find her on twitter.


Not All Ideas Are Strong Ideas
I’m a cautious person by nature. I’m not reckless, seldom spontaneous, and I like to do my research before sticking my neck out. So I had to sit and stew a bit about the topic of Lessons Learned the Hard Way. I’ve learned plenty over the years in regards to writing craft, dealing with others in the business, and I know I have lots more to learn. The thing is, it’s not as bad when you have that “duh!” moment alone than when someone else points it out or you’ve stuck your foot in your mouth publicly. Most of my learning moments are privately experienced, therefore, not so horrible to fix. One of the hardest realizations I had to come to terms with is that not all stories or ideas are worthy of publication or to put in front of others.
Like many of you, I began writing when I was very young. I was also an avid reader and I loved movies. You know how it goes: you read or see something and your imagination catches on fire. You’re thinking up your own spin on an idea, or meshing several unassociated ideas together. I filled notebooks and 3-ring binders with stories. I also kept several idea journals, an index card file, and a cross-referencing name and place file for every story. I drew some outrageously large maps. And I dreamed – a lot.
Years went by. One day I picked up my master list and read through the almost 200 completed and semi-completed story titles I had amassed. Life is finite. I had other dreams and goals aside from writing. Polishing and publishing that many stories? – um, probably not possible.
The list needed to be trimmed. You’d think that only the completed manuscripts would make the cut. Not so. When deeply analyzing and thinking about each story, I realized painfully, that some of these ideas filled a niche for me personally, but they weren’t for the public eye. I also had to consider the number of likely years a person gets and how long it takes to go through the writing and publishing process. Which ideas did I feel the most passionate about? Which ideas had beta readers loved most? Which ideas had more commercial appeal? The best characters? The most unique worlds?
I cut the list down to thirty-four. That was still being overly optimistic. Letting the other ideas slide into the back of my filing cabinet? – hard. I’d loved those ideas. Time, energy, and imagination went into each of them. Some of them were full drafts, others short summaries. The list is currently down to twenty-nine and I’m sure I still won’t get enough time to do those. I’ve had to prioritize, pulling up one of my strongest ideas to work on first.
I think there comes a time in every writer’s career where they have to face the fact that maybe it’s the story that is the problem. That maybe, it’s not strong enough for publication. Maybe it won’t have wide audience appeal. Maybe there’s not enough to it to make it stand out.
It’s been an eye-opener to research the publishing world. There are thousands of writers out there, each jostling to have their stories noticed. There are millions of rejections. Sometimes it’s because of subjectivity. Sometimes it’s because the story should be shelved. I’m not saying people should give up on their ideas, but there is a disillusionment that comes with being a writer. We grasp our stories with the fierceness of a pit bull and growl if anyone or anything points out the story’s weakness. We don’t want to hear or see that someone else thought of the same thing or something very similar. And certainly, everyone puts their own spin in their own fashion. As much as we hate to admit it, sometimes the difference isn’t that big.
Being a beta reader has helped me learn this as well. I can’t tell you how many stories and characters I’ve seen that sound too much like what someone else is doing, or which don’t stand out from what’s already been done. It’s not that the story’s execution was horrible or the writer has no talent. It’s the idea that is weak or underdeveloped. Sometimes a complete rewrite fixes the problem. Most of the time, it doesn’t. Not if the idea is weak.
I’ve had to face this myself. And since I’m a cautious person, I can promise you that I’m cutting the weaker ideas now before mentioning or showing them to anyone else. There’s nothing quite as humiliating and horrifying as having several people conk you over the head to break the disillusionment.

Getting the Call: Kendra DiAngelo

Deciding to self publish can be a really big deal. More and more often, I'm hearing of authors having great success taking this route, especially in romance and sci-fy/fantasy genres. Kendra DiAngelo is one of those brave people, forging their way with the new technology. Thanks, for sharing your story, Kendra.


I had dreamed of being an author since I was in high school. I knew it was what I wanted to do. I’d been blogging and writing stories for as long as I could remember. English and Literature were my favorite classes in school. I was probably about 19 when I started writing my first real novel. I could picture it on the shelves at Barnes and Noble, see it eventually made into a movie.
I never finished it.
Honestly, that was probably a good thing. My writing has come a long way since then, and I keep doing what I can to make it better. 2008 was the Great Year of Suck for me. My grandfather passed away, I was laid off from my job (that I LOVED) and my mother fell and broke several ribs, all within the span of about 5 months. Not exactly the best time. Now I won’t lie, the first month or so of being unemployed was pretty nice. I’d started working straight out of high school at the local library and didn’t know what it was like to not have to go somewhere every day.
After those first few weeks, however, time started to drag. Just as I was getting desperate for some sort of project, a flash of inspiration hit, and I started visualizing scenes from “Prince of Light.” I started writing everything down as fast as I could. I had all day every day, after all. The story just poured out, one scene after another. When the final sentence was complete, I sat back and felt a great sense of pride. I’d never actually finished writing a book before. I was elated.
So I let one of the teens that I had known at the library read it, just to test the waters. She was an avid fantasy buff and checked books out constantly. Low and behold, she loved it! Next step was letting the teen librarian read it, since she did a regular “Book Talk” at the high school and middle school every month and would know whether or not it would appeal to teens. She loved it, too! Several edits and a couple of other readers later, I thought it was ready to start sending out.
Here’s where I show my lack of experience. I thought I didn’t really want an agent. (Go ahead and laugh. It’s okay.) That’s right, I discovered pretty quickly that the majority of publishers out there won’t even acknowledge you WITHOUT an agent. Go figure. Well, I still thought I knew better and researched every small press and publisher that took unsolicited manuscripts/queries. None of them accepted my work.
Looking back now, I can see that my query letter…well, sucked. Big time. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know how to sell my book. I didn't have a hook or a dynamic description to make an agent want to read my story. I stumbled across the site agentquery.com and consequently found its sister site, agentqueryconnect.com. There I found a plethora of fellow writers, several that just so happened to be in the same boat I was. I started lurking at first. Then I got brave and started interacting. Now I love it and visit there every day, if I can. I posted my query for them to rip to shreds and got excellent feedback, then started querying every agent that represented YA and fantasy that I could find. All of this was over the space of about a year and a half.
Not. One. Single. Request.
Does it end there? Nope! I was discouraged, but I still believed in my story. The more I continued to research self-publishing, the more I realized that it was no long a "dirty word." Big name authors were turning to self-publishing so they could have more control over their work. Unknown authors were being discovered. I finally made the decision that I could be one of them. By now I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I was more prepared than I had ever been before. I got a professional opinion from my cousin-in-law, who is also a young adult author, and finalized the last aspects of the plot/edits. I asked a photographer friend of mine to snap a few photos for a cover (using my brother’s girlfriend as a model) and put those rusty graphic design skills that I’d been hiding to good use. Cover complete, edited to the best of my ability, and blurb as exciting as it could be, I let my work speak for itself, out in the vast interwebs of Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Do I still want to be traditionally published? Oh yeah. I have a stand-alone novel that’s not a part of the “Prince of Light” series, and I would love to see it get represented by an agent. Am I happy that I chose self-publishing for this particular project? I really am. I had the final say in my story. The cover got to be exactly what I envisioned. I’ll get a higher royalty.
Self-publishing means more workon your end, but I believe that the rewards can still be the same as traditionally published. Ultimately, don’t let rejections or bad circumstances get you down. I probably could have worked at that library for the rest of my life, but if I hadn’t been laid off I would never have written “Prince of Light.” There wouldn't have been enough time. So keep your spirits high, fellow writers! Don’t be afraid to explore what fit is right for you, whatever venue that may be, and never give up. J
Links:
Prince of Light on Amazon
Prince of Light on Barnes and Noble
Blog/Web Site:http://kcrivers.com

Kick off of Lessons Learned the Hard Way

The Speculative Fiction group at AQC is having a giant blog hopping, guest posting, crazy month in January. In honor of it, I've decided to kick off a new series of posts about writing lessons learned along the journey. Lessons that are sort of like being poked in the eye by a pencil but in a good way because they help you grow and make your writing better.



I've invited friends to post their favorite lessons on a range of subjects whether it is querying, writing, editing, or promotion. You'll be seeing those in the weeks ahead.

But first, I kicked it off with a post of my own painful journey. It wouldn't be fair to have my friends recount their own mistakes and not admit my own. You can see my version on TJ Loveless' blog. Please come by and leave a comment so I don't feel lonely. Thank you TJ for that great introduction and for opening your blog to me.

New Release: Human No Longer

Please welcome back Kathryn Meyer Griffith with the story of her latest release. Seventeen books and counting. That's amazing, Kathryn. What's more amazing is this one she self-published. There are just so many opportunities to explore in publishing these days.



Human No Longer. It’s my 17th published book – yeah! – and my fourth vampire novel. First, let me tell you where I got the idea for it. About five years ago, I was still trying to please the agent (who I no longer have) who’d sold four of my earlier paperback novels to Zebra in the 1990’s and, because she didn’t seem to like any of my new potential concepts, I asked her what she would like to see. Out of nowhere, she said, “You know your 1991 Zebra vampire novel, Vampire Blood? I liked that one a lot. The characters. Well, how about writing me a sort of sequel with basically the same cast, but with this premise: A woman, a mother, after being turned into a bloodthirsty vampire, must learn to adapt to the human world and still be a good mother. You know, how would she deal with everything when she had children she loved; didn’t want to hurt or leave them…but still had the need to feed on blood? Still had all the urges and desires of a vampire?

Yikes. I hated the idea but, to please her, I went ahead and begrudgingly wrote the book. I tentatively called it The Vampire’s Children or the Vampire Mother or something like that. I finished it. Not too happy with it. I had never liked writing what other people wanted me to write. Stubborn, I guess.
My agent, in the meantime, had begun her own online erotic (which I don’t much care to write) publishing company and when I’d gotten done with the novel she was too busy to even read the finished book. She handed it off to an apprentice intern. An intern? What? Who didn’t like it at all. Duh. So, disgusted, I tucked the file away on my computer and, fed up with the whole agent thing, returned to writing what I wanted to write. An end of days novel called A Time of Demonsand a new vampire novel where the evil vampire wasn’t a mother. In 2010 I went with a new publisher, Kim Richards at Damnation Books/Eternal Press, and she contracted not only those two books but asked me if I’d like to rewrite, update and rerelease all 7 of my older out-of-print Leisure and Zebra paperbacks going back to 1984. Heck yes, I said! So for the next 2 years I was busy doing that. Some of those books were over twenty-five years old and very outdated. Their rewriting, editing and rereleasing took a lot of work and time.
Then, in late 2012, I decided to take a very old book of mine (Predator) which was contracted to Zebra Paperbacks in 1993 but, in the end, never actually released, and just for the heck of it, as my 16thnovel, self-publish it to Amazon Kindle Direct. Just in ebook form. A kind of grand experiment. The first time I’ve ever tried self-publishing. See how it’d sell. Dinosaur Lake. A story about a hungry mutant dinosaur loose in the waters of Crater Lake that goes on a rampage. Hey, I wrote Dinosaur Lake before Jurassic Park, the book, ever came out! Really. I had my cover artist, Dawne Dominique make a cover for it…and it was stunning with a dinosaur roaring on the front. And I did everything else myself. Editing. Proofing. Formatting. With forty years and endless publishers behind me I felt I was capable. And it’d been selling so well I decided to self-publish another one…and I remembered the mother/vampire book. Hmmm. So I revamped (ha, ha, inside joke), polished, and self-published it, as well. I retitled it Human No Longer. Got my fabulous cover artist, Dawne Dominique, to make me a lovely haunting cover with a troubled-looking woman standing outside a spooky house, with two children behind her in its shadows, on the front and voila! All in all, I don’t think the book turned out half bad. In fact, with the changes I made I think it’s not bad at all. Now I just hope my readers will like it.
So that’s the story of Human No Longer. My 17thpublished novel.


Human No Longer Blurb:
Jenny and Jeff Sanders on a summer night become the victims of a bizarre crime, leaving Jeff dead and Jenny in a coma. Their attackers aren’t caught.
She returns to her children and her life. With Jeff’s death his business and their income are also gone. Jenny, a novelist, hasn’t written a book in years, so she must move back to her childhood home in Summer Haven, Florida, where years before she and Jeff destroyed a sadistic family of vampires.
At least her brother, Joey, who owns a local diner, is there to help.
But Jenny has no appetite. She’s edgy. Her eyes hurt. Could be trauma from the attack. Grief. Until one night, after they’ve moved into the rundown family farmhouse, she can’t resist the night woods and going out to drink animals’ blood.
Gradually she accepts the truth. Her attackers were vampires. Now she’s becoming what she once hunted and fears she must either kill herself or run. She can’t abandon her children, but promises never to drink human blood; to find a way to live in the human world. It’s not easy. They renovate the farmhouse, which local gossip says is haunted. At night she hunts, and hides what she’s becoming from everyone. She fights to be a good mother and not let the bloodlust overpower her. Gets a job and attempts to fit in.
People, bodies emptied of blood, begin dying. Like years before. With her blackouts, she fears she may be the killer and confides in Joey. While a Detective, investigating her husband’s and his daughter’s murders, complicates things.
Jenny suspects it’s her attackers doing the slayings. They’ve found her and demand she join them–or her family will die. When she resists, her children are taken; to save them, she becomes part of the vampires’ killing spree. Becoming a monster like them…until she finds a way to outwit and ultimately destroy them.
In the end it takes supernatural intervention, a ghost, and the help of a childhood friend to set her, and the world, free from the vampires once and for all.


About Kathryn Meyer Griffith...Since childhood I’ve always been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. I began writing novels at 21, over forty years ago now, and have had seventeen (ten romantic horror, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance and two murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press and Amazon Kindle Direct.I’ve been married to Russell for almost thirty-five years; have a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois called Columbia, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have three quirky cats, ghost cat Sasha, live cats Cleo and Sasha (Too), and the five of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.
All Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s Books available at Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Kathryn+Meyer+Griffith                                                                                                            

My Websites: http://www.myspace.com/kathrynmeyergriffith(to see all my book trailers with original music by my singer/songwriter brother JS Meyer)http://www.bebo.com/kathrynmeyerG http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1019954486 http://www.authorsden.com/kathrynmeyergriffithhttp://www.goodreads.com/profile/kathrynmeyergriffithhttp://www.jacketflap.com/K.griffithhttp://www.shoutlife.com/kathrynmeyergriffithhttp://romancewriterandreader.ning.com/profile/KathrynMeyerGriffith  http://www.romancebookjunction.ning.com/profile/kathrynmeyergriffith 

Contest Winners

The day is here and the numbers are chosen!



The winner of Grave Intentions by Lori Sjoberg is: Terri Bruce!



And the winner of either A Memory of Light or Eye of the World is: Angie S!


Congrats to the winners and I hope everyone enjoys.

Happy Release Day: Grave Intentions

This morning I woke to a pleasant surprise. My book preorder had arrived for my kindle, waiting to be read. I'm so happy to announce the release day for my friend Lori Sjoberg's, Grave Intentions. I had the privilege of reading a bit of this during an AQC Speculative fiction feedback marathon, and I know I'm in for a treat. Now here's your chance to share the treat from Lori herself:

Thanks so much, Michelle, for helping me celebrate the release of Grave Intentions! (And I'm so looking forward to celebrating the upcoming release of Kindar's Cure as well!) To mark the occasion, I'm giving away a free copy via amazon or B&N (winner's choice). All you have to do is leave a comment below about your favorite read of 2012. Good luck!

Grave Intentions:
He’s handsome, reliable, and punctual—the perfect gentleman when you want him to be. But this dream man is Death’s best agent—and now he’s got more than his soul to lose…
One act of mercy before dying was all it took to turn soldier David Anderson into a reaper—an immortal who guides souls-of-untimely-death into the afterlife. But the closer he gets to atoning for his mortal sin and finally escaping merciless Fate, the more he feels his own humanity slipping away for good. Until he encounters Sarah Griffith. This skeptical scientist can’t be influenced by his powers—even though she has an unsuspected talent for sensing the dead. And her honesty and irreverent sense of humor reignite his reason for living—and a passion he can’t afford to feel. Now Fate has summoned David to make a devastating last harvest. And he’ll break every hellishly-strict netherworld rule to save Sarah…and gamble on a choice even an immortal can’t win.
Excerpt:

Death never took a holiday.
No, Death was the consummate workaholic, more steadfast and diligent than the U.S. Postal Service. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stayed the agents of Death from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

Always the professional, Death never discriminated, taking young and old, weak and strong, healthy and infirm. It couldn’t be bought, or bullied, or reasoned with. Death had a mission and come Hell or high water, it would be accomplished.

For David Anderson, today was an easy day. As one of Death’s more seasoned agents, he’d been given the task of training the newest inductee in the tools of the trade. And with only two terminations on the day’s docket, it wouldn’t take too long to drink the memories away.

He looked down, checking his watch. Shit. Time to move. He gulped the last of his soda then crumpled the can and tossed it in the trashcan near the curb.

“Let’s roll,” he told Adam Javorski, his latest trainee. He gave a slight nod to the left before sliding on a pair of dark tinted sunglasses. “We’re due for our appointment.”

“Appointment?” Adam asked, looking confused. Then the light bulb went off in his head. “Oh. Yeah, right. Appointment.”

David’s gaze slanted over to his apprentice. The kid looked bright enough. Tall and rangy, with sharp brown eyes and distinctive Eastern European features, he had the look of a man always on the watch for trouble. Which made sense. He’d been a cop in his mortal life, fiercely dedicated to protecting and serving. Well, up until his last assignment, which is what led to his current situation.

“So when’s this going down?” Adam asked with a youthful exuberance, and David let out a mental groan.

Newbies. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever been that green. Stopping at the bustling intersection, he closed his eyes and focused inward, tuning out the sounds of early rush hour in downtown Orlando. “Not for another seven or eight minutes,” he said, homing in on the low-grade buzz pulsing through his veins. The vibration was barely distinguishable, but nevertheless, it was there.

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it.” When the light changed, they crossed over to Washington. The last thing David wanted was to be late so he picked up the pace, moving around a homeless man camped out on the sidewalk, a foul odor radiating from the overflowing shopping cart holding all of his worldly possessions.

Adam glanced over at him, a bewildered expression on his face. “You can feel death?”

“Of course.” Then he remembered mortals couldn’t feel death, couldn’t scent mortality like a bloodhound. He cursed under his breath. It had been so damn long since he’d drawn mortal breath he was beginning to forget the little things. Or was it more of a choice? He suspected it was the latter.

“How?” Adam asked, intrigued. “What does it feel like?”

The pair cut through the park, paying no attention to the cluster of small children squealing with glee as they tossed chunks of bread to a trio of greedy mallards. They were close now; David could feel it. The buzzing had intensified, growing stronger and more insistent as it rumbled inexorably toward its macabre crescendo.

Deciding they had enough time for a quick lesson, David came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the park and Adam quickly followed suit. “Close your eyes,” he ordered his trainee.

“Why?”

Patience was never one of David’s strong points. He gritted his teeth and counted to ten. “Just close your eyes, dammit, I’m trying to teach you something.”

Adam shot him a guarded look but complied without further question or comment.

“Now quiet your mind. Ignore everything but the sound of my voice.”

After a few moments, Adam said, “Okay.”

“Do you notice a low hum in the background?”

“I thought you said to ignore everything but the sound of your voice.”

David let out a low growl before clamping down on his temper. “I did,” he said, jaw clenched. “But now I’m telling you to listen for the hum. Can you hear it or feel it?”

Adam stayed silent for what seemed like forever. Then his expression shifted to one of near wonder. “I feel it! It’s kind of like a low electrical current, right?”

For the first time in days, David smiled. The kid might not be a lost cause after all. “Yes. Very good. That’s what you need to focus on. The stronger the sensation, the closer you are to the point of death.”

He paused to scan the area, making sure no one noticed. Of course, he had nothing to worry about. People were such creatures of habit, scurrying about their daily lives, oblivious to the forces working around them. Tourists snapped pictures in front of the fountain while locals hurried along the sidewalk, eager to reach their destinations. A bus eased up to the curb and opened its doors, letting passengers off while others waited to board.

Adam opened his eyes. “How’s this going down?” he asked, his eyes scouring the scenery, searching for any traces of imminent doom.

“I have no idea,” David replied, leaning back against a weathered oak. He watched the bus pull away from the curb, spewing out a cloud of noxious exhaust as it merged into traffic. Out of habit, he checked the time again. Less than a minute.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Adam’s brows crinkled. “I thought you knew what was going to happen.”

David shook his head and felt a trickle of sweat run past his temple. So much for fall in Florida. Late October, and the temperatures were still cranked above ninety. “Nope. The docket only gives a place and approximate time.” He watched while Adam’s face scrunched up in obvious confusion. He vaguely remembered giving his handler the same expression when he was new, so he decided to fill in the blanks. “Look, if you really want to know the exact details ahead of time, you can request it. But from my experience, you’re better off knowing as little as possible.”

As far as he was concerned, the less he knew, the less he had to purge from his mind afterward. Just how many times had he stared into the face of death? To be honest, he’d lost count. Maybe that was for the best, too. In his six decades of harvesting souls, he’d witnessed every act of savagery known to man. First, he’d been shocked. Then revolted. Eventually, he’d gone numb. Now he viewed the world through the jaded eyes of an ambivalent spectator, always watching from a comfortable distance.

The sound of tires screeching jerked him from his thoughts. Like countless times before, familiar events unfolded. Horns blared, tires screeched, and metal crunched against metal in a twisted symphony. Somewhere in the distance, a woman screamed. And then everything grew quiet, leaving only the smell of burnt rubber and the faint whimper of the dying. 
Time to get to work.
Lori's contact info is: www.lorisjoberg.com
www.facebook.com/AuthorLoriSjoberg
@Lori_Sjoberg (Twitter).

Giveaway: A Memory of Light

In honor of the last volume of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, I'm giving away either a free copy of the first book or the last. What better way to celebrate and mark the last day of the year than a contest? One lucky winner can choose to either a new copy of The Eye of the World or A Memory of Light.

"The Wheel of Time turns, and ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legends fade to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the third age by some, an Age yet to come, an age long pass, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning."

Epic fantasy is my favorite genre of fantasy, and I'm hoping to add a few more fans to these fabulous set of fourteen books. It's a series I've been following since 1990 when I unwittingly bought the first edition of what would become my favorite series of all time. Now the last book, A Memory of Light, releases on January 8 and I'm jumping in my winter snow boots with anticipation.

My original, much tattered copy
So it has been epic, not only in genre, but in timeline, over twenty-three years, two authors, and countless days waiting for the next installment. All that is about to end. To enter just fill out the doohickey down below and leave a comment on this post. You can follow me on twitter, facebook, and this blog for additional chances to win. So tell your friends and come back on January 8th for the winner announcement.

"Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared,  screaming defiance with the last breath,  to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the last Day."



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Snow and A Little Catch Up

I promised snow pictures for my friends in those warm climates who never see any of the white stuff. (Grumbles under breath about lucky SOB's in warmer climates. You know who you are!) We got our first snow fall on Boxing Day, not that we celebrate Boxing Day, but it's such a cool name. It was only a small amount of snow for us in Northern Indiana, about three inches. I'm sure we will get plenty more. So if anyone wants more pictures, shout out in the comments. I could mail you a few boxes of it, but they'd be soggy.

Here are some equal time pictures for my two dogs. The brown one is Robin--not named for the superhero, but for the bow and arrow guy. He doesn't like the wind. The black one is Pippin--yes named for LOTR's Pippin. And he is a pretty princess who doesn't like to get his feet wet. He also wouldn't look at me until I took twenty pictures. My fingers were freezing. You might be able to see Pippin is sticking his tongue out at me.



I did get to see the Hobbit movie. I liked it a lot, but I didn't love it. It seemed like they stretched the material a bit. Three hours is pretty long even for LOTR. We went the Saturday after the tragedy in Connecticut so that might have been on my mind also. I will definitely see it again and maybe it will strike me more favorably. 

In other news, I'll be starting the contest to win a copy of a Wheel of Time book this weekend, either the Eye of the World or A Memory of Light. I'll let the winner pick which one they want and whether an ebook or a paper version. Not sure whether the post will go up on Saturday or Sunday because my motivation is as uncertain as the weather. So stay tuned for that.

Oh, and Kindar's Cure is now on Goodreads in anticipation of a March 2013 release. I'll probably do another announcement about that. You can friend me here  or add Kindar to your 'to be read' list here. My editor is healing up after some surgery so there hasn't been much movement by the publisher. I wish her well and healthy and back to work soon. I wouldn't be surprised if the release date gets pushed back a little bit which give me more time to prepare.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Getting the Offer: Stephanie Diaz

I'm really glad to come back from my short blogging break in a big way. I've always wondered what it would be like to be on submission and I'm sure others have too. Here's your chance for an inside look. Thanks so much, Stephanie, for sharing. You bet I've added EXTRACTION to my Goodread's lists.
 

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend an author event in San Diego called “YA in the Sun.” I met some wonderful writers, both published and unpublished. A common question people asked me that day was: What are you? Reader or writer? My response was: I'm an agented writer on submission. I received lots of (sarcastic) replies of: OH MAN, fun times. And: ugh.
I heard stories from people who were on sub for months and months, and were even still on sub. I heard stories of lightning-fast submissions. These were all stories I'd heard before, but let me tell you, it's scarier when you've already been on sub for an excruciatingly long month, and writers are telling you they've been on sub for nine months with zero offers. Or that they had their first offer in a couple days. It leads you to horrible thoughts like these:
IF EDITORS LIKED MY BOOK, THEY WOULD'VE READ IT AND REPLIED IMMEDIATELY.
And
NO ONE IS EVER GOING TO OFFER. I AM NEVER, EVER, EVER GOING TO BE PUBLISHED.
That day at YA in the Sun, I had actually already received the news from my agent that we had interest from two editors. Except, that didn't make me feel much better. It scared the crap out of me. “Interest” does not necessarily lead to an offer. The whole process of editors acquiring a manuscript has multiple steps:
1. They have to like the pitch enough to read the manuscript.
2. They have to fall in love with said manuscript (and believe that people will buy it).
3. Other people in their office have to read it and fall in love with it (and believe that people will buy it).
4. The entire team has to put forth an actual offer.
At any point along the way, that “interest” could turn into absolutely nothing. So, that day at YA in the Sun, I wasn't bouncing on my feet. I was terrified. And I remained terrified for the next two weeks, until on the lovely morning of Tuesday, November 19, I received an email from my agent (because the phones were out of commission in her office) that we had an ACTUAL OFFER from St. Martin's, an imprint of Macmillan. An offer for a three-book deal, which meant I'd be able to write the sequels I'd been dying to write.
I was literally about to walk out the door to drive to school when I received the email. I didn't want to be late for class, so I quickly responded with something like AHHHH and arranged with Alison to call her as soon as I got to campus.
The thirty-minute car ride consisted of me smiling giddily and singing loudly. I got to school, called Alison, and we talked the offer over. When I hung up with her, I called my mom right away. Then I had to attend college classes and pretend like everything was normal. I didn't tell anyone about the offer that day except for my parents because I was afraid of jinxing everything.
The next day, we accepted the offer, and I spilled the news to some of my closer friends and critique partners. I couldn't concentrate on anything else for the next couple days. I basically died of happiness when Publisher's Marketplace announced the deal.
I've wanted to be a published author since I was seven. Not just like, “Oh, hey, it might be cool to get published someday,” but more like, “THIS IS MY GREATEST DREAM.” I sent out my first query letter at thirteen. It took me six whole years and hundreds of query letters before I signed with an agent. Yes, I know nineteen was a pretty young age for that, but six years is still a long time. And it was really more like twelve.
In a little less than two years (assuming all goes well in editorial land *crosses fingers*), my novel EXTRACTION will be on shelves. I'm not sure I've ever been more excited for anything, or more terrified. People will actually be able to READ it and carry it with them in their purses and spill food on it and tell their friends about it. Maybe they won't pick it up. Or maybe they'll read it and hate it.
But you know, even if one person reads it and loves it, that will make me smile. EXTRACTION is a story that fell into my head one night when I wondered what life would be like if the moon were poisonous. I wanted it to be something thought-provoking and possibly heart-wrenching, and I hope I've accomplished that. I hope you'll give it a chance.
Of course, I have to finish making it shiny first. I should really stop writing this guest post, as it is allowing me to procrastinate.
To stay up-to-date on my journey to publication, you can follow me on:
Twitter - @StephanieEDiaz.My website - http://stephaniediazbooks.com.And you can add EXTRACTION on Goodreads  - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16210411-extraction

Blogging Break

In light of the recent tragedy in Newtown, I don't really feel like chatting about movies or holding contests so I will be taking a blog break until later next week. Please enjoy your holidays with family and friends and keep the people of Newtown in your prayers. I am reminded how fortunate I am every time I go to work and see twenty shining first grade faces that are safe and healthy. Don't forget to thank the teachers in your life. They do their jobs out of love. 

Some notes:
The Memory of Light contest will start a week later than planned. 

I have a pitch for Dodge the Sun up at KTCrowley's blog as part of the Baker's Dozen Non-Chosen Entrants. It is number 37. 

If it should happen to snow before Christmas, I plan to share some pictures for friends in warmer climates.