Twitter

As I said before I signed up for Twitter, then got away from it, and have come back again.  It seems PARNORMAL ACTIVITY used mostly Facebook and Twitter to promote their movie. http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091005/will-facebook-and-twitter-keep-paranormal-activity-from-turning-into-snakes-on-a-plane/ and it was a wonderful success.  They used Twitter and Facebook to push the movie and the “It scare me half to death” emails helped.  So maybe I too can use Twitter and FAcebook to promote the MEDALLION SERIES.   I found folks that love LORD OF THE RINGS and since my novel is similar to it, I followed those folks, then they follow me.  Sure it’s small, but I figure if these folks like LOTR, then maybe they would be interested in the MEDALLION SERIES. Maybe.  Maybe not.  But it’s a small start.  Don’t despise small beginnings.

Christian writing prompts

I’ve always wanted these, couldn’t find them, so I came up with my own.  Feel free to use them:

1)      Pick a character in the bible and describe his/her day.  What are his/her struggles, joys, frustrations, ect.  Write at least 500 words.  Can you make a story out of this? 

2)      Describe how a Pharisee saw Jesus standing on the steps of the temple.  What did he see and hear?  Use all the senses.

Answering the question, why won’t they publish my book????

I found these articles today about selling the novels and thought I’d share them.

First of all, let’s revisit the facts. Last year, more than 560,000 new books were published in the U.S. alone. About half of these were self-published or “print on demand” titles. In addition, industry experts estimate that there are another four million manuscripts completed that have not yet found a publishing home. That’s a lot of competition.http://michaelhyatt.com/2010/01/so-you-can%e2%80%99t-seem-to-land-an-agent%e2%80%94now-what.html

If you want to publish professionally, you may need to step it up a notch and treat it more professionally. That may mean investing more money and time. You’re not going to get free writing advice. You can attend writers conferences and workshops. You can read books about the craft of writing (not just about how to get published). You can look into the possibility of working with an editor to determine the issues in your writing. (Many freelancers offer a “manuscript evaluation” that’s pretty affordable.)http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/01/wake-up-and-smell-coffee.html

 I have to agree with both articles, if you’re not getting any bites regarding the guery, then go back to the drawing board.  Try to see the query from the agent’s pov. Are you being concise, to the point, showing not telling? Each time I get a rejection, I revamp the query and send it out again.  Hang in there and don’t give up.  Revamp, revamp, revamp and keep sending it out, perfect the craft of writing.  Kitty says Hi!! And feed me!!

More on queries

Ok, so my query bombed.  Maahh-Mahaaaa!!  Thankfully, a writer on Mike’s Writing Workshop Yahoo group tore my query apart and showed me the query was very vague, so no wonder the agent rejected it.  Then when I tried to tell the others the plot, I kept running from one plot branch into another.  The story clearly is character-driven, which means the character keeps changing the plot as she/he makes decisions to reach her goal based on circumstances.  So the plot changes and rolls like a river.  It’s not a staight line, go to point A to B.  No, instead it’s go to point A, B, C, D, E, . . . .Z, AA, BB, ect.  You get the idea.  To try to tell the plot is like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube.  ARG!!!!

Where have you been???

I’ve been writing my novel,  trying to figure out the query business and going nuts over Christmas.  Glad it’s over.    I mean, Christmas.  I’m still looking for an agent to help sell my book.  I’ve learned so very much in the past few weeks, or months, shall I say, about the query process.  First of all:

1)  Read the agent’s blog for the entry, which will be there, “This is how to write a query letter.”  Every agent I have researched has such an entry or they refer to someone else’s blog entry “This is how to write a query letter.”  I’m discovering agents are a lot like HR employers.  They have a list of what they are looking for in an employee and even have on their websites how to write a resume. complete an interview, even on what to wear to the interview.  Follow those rules, get the job (At least that’s how I got my job.)

Coming out of my Cave

I wrote this for Diane’s blog.  She told me I could also post it here.  So here it is:

It was at Karitos 2009 in Chicago, Illinois when I finally emerged from my Anti-technological cave.  Diane Eble, a publishing coach, graciously offered the writers attending Karitos her services in the form of one-on-one consultations regarding the publishing of our manuscripts. In my great newbie-writer ‘wisdom’, I had decided earlier that I wouldn’t need her help.  Publishing was easy. Send a manuscript to the publisher and buda-boom, buda-bing, a book emerges like a chick hatching from an egg.  But because of a gentle nudge from God, not to mention a swift kick in the pants, I decided to forgo my newbie ‘wisdom’ and meet with her.

The stages of grief/death in a character.

I’m reading  a YA fantasy knightish novel in which one of the characters, a thirteen year old girl, sees her party murdered by the enemy.  She comes across the protagonist and his party and cries, collapses, etc as she tells them of the grisly crime.  Then the next morning, she’s better!!! It’s a miracle from Miracle Max!! No more crying, no trauma, no nightmares, nothing. All of this got me to thinking about traumas I’ve endured and how I survived them.   My friend committed suicide years ago and for one year, it haunted me.  I went through the stages of grief.  So why not bring those stages into our female character from the knight story?