I Got Google Babe
by on February 26th, 2010
filed under On Writing
Adventures in Query Land continue…
It’s a numbers game.
Writers hear that all the time when it comes to querying. Yet I’ve read agent’s blogs and interviews where they talk about being offended when a writer pulls their name off a list & blindly queries them.
I can see their point.
Everyone wants to feel special like they’ve been chosen. I get that. But the fact is, I have met in person only a handful of agents (and even less editors-ya’ll are slippery eels), so if I can’t query you based on a happenstance meeting, how else am I to query you?
I’ll tell you how.
The list of acquiring agents my writer’s group lists (in my case Romance Writers of America). Absolute Write’s Water Cooler. Predators & Editors. AgentQuery.com. I could go on & on….
But. My most important tool in vetting out an agent is Google. Crimenelli but you can find out anything about anyone on Google! There’s no hiding from Google. So let me tell you my wonderful, intelligent, chosen, potential agent… I Googled you (oh yes it’s a verb now!) and I’ve read every blog you’ve guest blogged on, every interview you sat through, every mention of your name, agency name & client names, I follow you on Twitter, Facebook & Myspace. I know what you had for lunch, what your favorite ice cream flavor is (or if you’re lactose intolerant), I even know what color underwear you put on this morning (okay, maybe not that).
In other words, I spent a good deal of time choosing you to query. So when you get my letter or email know that I chose you. I chose you because I thought we would work well together, you would appreciate my work and you could be the one to guide my career to soaring heights of Best Seller-dome.
Feel special.
Stay tuned for more adventures in Query Land.
Queries sent-60
Requests for a partial-2
Requests for a full-1
No’s-19
It’s not what you think honey, honest
by on March 1st, 2009
filed under On Writing
I’ve had to research many details for my writing, but recently I had to investigate a subject that had me squirming in my seat and thanking God that DH doesn’t have a brother.
In my current work in progress my hero will be presented with a long lost daughter. He becomes suspicious and decides to do a paternity test. Turns out the child is not his but his brother’s (dunt, dunt, duh).
Here is where the research comes in. I needed to know how a person goes about obtaining a paternity test and if the results would show if the child was related to him other than being his offspring. So I go to one of the fabulous online writing groups I belong to and post my question. Seems I’m not the only writer needing a paternity test because I get several immediate answers. One author gave me a link to a company that sells in home paternity test kits and guarantees results in 3-5 days.
But I had questions and I wasn’t sure how to phrase them. Part of me wanted to keep the fact that this is reseach for a book to myself, so I email the company:
My child’s father is either man A or his brother man B. Would the test show that my child is related to both men? Or would it just show who is the father and who is not?
Thank you- Beth Yarnall
Here’s their response:
Dear Beth Yarnall,
If the alleged fathers are related, it is always recommended to test BOTH ALLEGED FATHERS and the MOTHER as well so we can exclude one alleged father and include the other. Keep in mind that close relatives share alot of genes in common than two random individuals hence the above mentioned is strongly recommended. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to reply to this email.
Best Regards,
Customer Service
I still felt like I needed a clearer response so asked follow up questions:
By now I’m sure the recipient of my emails is thinking he’s hit the Jerry Springer motherload (pardon the pun). Here’s their response:
I was surprised they used such big words like alleged and biological in their responses. You know they had to be thinking what a dumb bitch I was to not know which brother fathered my child and probably had some serious doubts about my ability to use birth control. Not to mention my questionable moral values that I’d be sleeping with two brothers at the same time. Then again I imagine they’ve heard it all in their line of work.
Thank God DH has 2 sisters!!!
everyday i write the book
by on September 18th, 2008
filed under Undecided
I write stories.
When I do, I often include personal experiences, events and emotions. I have one heroine who is a hairstylist and her best friend is one too. In my work in progress, my herione is a beauty consultant for a major cosmetics company in a department store. My next book will undoubtably be about a suburban house wife who writes stories. You write what you know.
My heroines have friends that are a lot like friends I’ve had. And I often retell stories they’ve told me. That seems okay. But I’ve drawn the line at creating characters from past romances or even my current married one. My heroes are a blend of physical traits I personally like with personalities unique unto themselves.
I never know when a past experiece will creep into my work. Just today, I was writing about my heroine’s lack of self confidence and suddenly she was relaying a story from her childhood. It was silly really, and I had forgotten all about it until she brought it up.
When I was in the fourth grade I had a classmate named Tiffany. She seemed perfect in every way and I was fascinated by her. The way her hair was always perfectly feathered (it was the 70′s after all), she wore clothes I would have killed to wear and just her name alone was enough to make wish I could change mine. She got perfect grades, had boys lining up to talk to her and the teacher often used her work as an example to the rest of us.
My fascination with her reached such a bizzare level that one day I got it into my head that she was too perfect. So perfect that she could not possibly be a human with human needs. So I followed her to the bathroom and took the stall next to hers. I remember the color of the stall walls and how high the were because it was very hard to stand on the seat and look over them, which was exactly what I did. I had to know if she was like me. I had to know if she peed like me, like a human. Well she caught me. I can vividly recall her face as she looked up at me from her seat- shock, horror… you name it it was splashed across her perfect flawless face. Not one of my better moments to be sure.
For my writer friends out there… Does this ever happen to you? Does your personal life creep into your work?
For my non-writer friends… Have you ever read a story that closely matched something or someone from your own life?
It's my process i'll cry if i want to
by on August 4th, 2008
filed under Undecided
I’m back and the house is still standing.
What a great few days I had. The conference was more than I had hoped for. And getting to see and even meet some of my most favorite authors was icing on an already incredible cake.
The best part is that I have discovered why I have been so stuck with writing my current book. It seems that I totally hate the synopsis that I wrote for it. First thing I did this morning was to delete it from my computer. It was very freeing. Now I feel that I can take my story in the direction it should go and not in the direction I had manufactured so that I could enter contests.
I can’t write a synopsis until my book is done. Who knew?
One of the best workshops I took was about the process called It’s My Process I’ll Cry If I Want To. That’s where I realized that I had done it all backwards and it would seem I’m not the only one. Apparently a very huge best selling author does it that way too. Right on! And since it’s my process, I can do it any way that works for me. There is no magic formula, no mysterious code or secret handshake-we each work differently and that’s okay.
I guess I was ment to hear what I needed to hear and take away what I needed to take. I can’t wait until next year!
when bad books are good
by on June 12th, 2008
filed under Undecided
I read a lot of books. I devour at least 3 a week. So I consider myself a good judge of what makes a story good.
Recently I read a book that I had to force myself to finish. Half way through I wanted to throw it on the floor and shout, “You already bleedin told me that about a million and one times.” or “You know what? I don’t freakin care if they ever get together they’re so fickle they can’t decide if it’s day or night.” And the plot twists were so contrived I couldn’t help but wonder how it ever got published.
Writing is hard. For those of us who sweat over our keyboards pounding out what we’re sure is incomprehensible drivel, we understand this. Heck, we live it. So although I spent my hard earned money on 385 pages of shite, I was glad I did. Because if that basura (trash) got published then the crap I write has better than a snowball’s chance in hell of getting published too. Please keep those horrible books coming because it only boosts my confidence all the more!
Have you read a book you had to force yourself to finish? Have you ever read one you refused to finish? Please respect the author’s efforts and don’t reveal names or titles but feel free to blast away at they story.
Uno, dos, tres
by on April 28th, 2008
filed under Undecided
In one of the yahoo blog loops I belong to there has been much discussion about point of view in novels. Much of it has to do with the 1st person point of view (POV). Some have pointed out that those books read like a diary and they find themselves wanting to get into the heads of the other characters in the book. Others say they love the 1st person POV when it’s done right those novels are some of the best around. Some examples are found not only in classic books such as To Kill A Mocking Bird, Jayne Eyre and David Copperfield but also contemporary authors such as Janet Evanovich, Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes write wonderful novels in the 1st person.
I’ll never forget the first time I finished Janet Evanovich’s One For the Money (I’ve read it 2 or 3 times). I had been devouring books one after another and for the most part I really enjoyed them, but I knew as soon as I finished One For the Money that I could write books like that. Don’t get me wrong, I in no way delude myself that I can compare what I write to Janet Evanovich’s work. But it was funny, off beat and told from the heroine’s POV and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the stories in my head sounded and felt an awful lot like that book.
So, I began to write. And it was so exciting and fun and people seemed to like what I wrote-at least the people who wanted to be invited back to my house did.
I have entered my finished novel and the one I’m procrastinatingworking on in several contests and although I need some major work on punctuation and grammar, every single judge wrote that they liked my ‘voice’.
I still love to read books written in 1st and 3rd person but my stories demand to be written in the 1st person. Go figure.
What about you? Do you prefer 1st person, where the story is revealed through the main character or do you prefer to know what the other characters are thinking and feeling as well?
Up, Down, Up, Down
by on March 30th, 2008
filed under Undecided
I’m still doing the happy dance. You know, becoming a finalist in the Winter Rose contest could not have come a moment too soon. (I love to say that so prepare yourself to hear it a lot!) I have been less than enthusiastic about finishing my work in progress (you know, the one that finaled in the Winter Rose contest-nope never gets old) Gift With Purchase. The other day I came across the perfect visual about how I’ve been feeling toward writing lately.
![[novel+chart.jpg]](http://bp3.blogger.com/_j2cb6HW4iSA/RomZ4ecrykI/AAAAAAAAAKM/uit3EgOIonw/s1600/novel%2Bchart.jpg)
That’s me floating around somewhere between ‘This is going to take some work’ and ‘This sucks. And it’s boring’ and knowing with 100% certainty that I am flying head first toward ‘The Dark Night of the Soul’ at a million miles an hour.
Those of you who are way more experienced than I am, have probably traveled this road tons of times and survived, no, thrived and have gotten yourself published. Me, I’m just trying not to smash my head. Oh yeah, and I’m also trying to finish the freakin’ book in the off chance that someone, some where will want to publish it.
Next week I am traveling with my sister to the great state of Alabama. I will be gone for 6 days and I am devoting that week (and every waking moment I’m not at the spa) to making major head way on my book (after all I am a finalist in the Winter Rose contest-still hasn’t gotten old!). Until I leave I will be querying agents again but this time I have something to put on my writing resume-yep you guessed it-I am a finalist in the Winter Rose Contest.
So, tell me ye writers of vast experience… have you hit these highs and lows with every book? And if so, how do you pick yourself up, jam your butt back in the chair and finish the darn thing?
PS-Would you like to read the first chapter that finaled in the Winter Rose contest? (still loving to say that!)
Rejected but not dejected
by on March 7th, 2008
filed under Undecided
Getting your book published is hard.
I’ve heard that a lot since I finished my first novel Hairassment last November and as I’ve been working on finding the perfect agent so I could do just that-get my book published. I sent my first round of queries out in December. The response was less than enthusiastic. So I revamped my query letter and synopsis and sent out a second round in January. Of that second round I got a request for two partials of my manuscript and one full. At my first RWA (Romance Writers of America) chapter meeting I was told that was very good. Everyone seemed really impressed but I remained cautiously optimistic. Success in my opinion, was actually getting a fabulous agent to represent me and then having that fabulous agent sell the bejesus out of my book.
The two partials came back with nos. Then last week the agent that had requested my full also said no.
Until that time I had been taking the rejection pretty well. I had even taped up my rejection letters all around the walls of my desk until they overlapped each other. My DH complimented me on the stoic way I was dealing with all the rejection.
It took me two days to tell him about the rejection of my full manuscript.
Since last week I have been concentrating on other things like my new blog and writing my 2nd novel Gift With Purchase. Yesterday the new RWR (Romance Writers Report) landed in my mailbox. I took a quick moment to scan through it and discovered an article all about rejection-perfect timing for me since I was still trying to deny how much my rejection was bothering me.
That night I sat down to watch American Idol with a stack of things I needed to read during the commercials-hey I’m a woman, we multitask, I could have baked bread and knitted a sweater too. But I digress. The RWR article on rejection was well done and I felt better after I had read it. Then I skipped through a little more and discovered an interview with the very agent (she’s great-I’m sorry we couldn’t work together) who had rejected my full ms.
Whoa! Here’s irony hitting me over the head. Twice.
I read the interview and I understood some of the things I got wrong and some of the things I got right (because that’s important too). I learned. But mostly it cheered me up, it brought back my hope. So this weekend I’ll be gearing up again and putting myself back out there. I really believe in my book and I really believe that the right agent for me and my book is out there just waiting for me to query him/her.
So prepare yourself agents, here I come!
