Freestyle Friday

Anything goes on Fridays. I was going to do a Friday Five. Then I thought about doing favorite things that start with F. And then I was visiting my friend Catie's blog and saw her meme. Looked fun, so I decided to try it (the result is the picture above) and do it for my Friday blog.

This meme is for creating your band's album cover. Here's how it works.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

You take the picture and add the band name and album title to it. Voila! Instant cover. Hee hee. 8^)

Thursday Thoughts

Today I'm thinking about the writer's retreat I went on last weekend and want to go back! Waaa! Eleven ladies converged on the peaceful town of Pacific City to pound laptop keys and brainstorm new stories. The coast was fantastic and the house we rented was gorgeous! Great weather, lots of sand and pounding surf, and excellent company to share it all with.

I ate too much, drank too much, and probably even laughed too much. That's the thing about getting a bunch of writing friends together for a weekend of fun and hard work. Yes, the two really can go together if the right people are involved. There would be long periods of silence that morphed into brief spells of happy chatter. And the level of productivity was amazing. I swear the pages from all of us piled up in a virtual stack equal to a manuscript.

Giggles and jammies aside, I think when you get writers together there's a creative energy that envelopes the group. A lot like a conference on a smaller and more intimate scale. There's nothing like being in the company of others who "get" you.

I encourage writers to join together in a retreat situation whenever possible. It's rejuvenating, and educational when you can hunker down and talk industry and craft. We may be doing one this summer as well, but we're not sure yet. If so, it would either be a mountain retreat, or the hot springs. Hmmm… Decisions, decisions. 8^)

What's Up Wednesday

What's up today? Major excitement! My friend Elisabeth Naughton just signed a contract for a 3-book deal with Dorchester! Her uber agent Laura Bradford called her on Monday with the news and she told the rest of us (our Salem, Oregon, RWA chapter) about it today. Woo-hoo! Go, Eli, go! I don't have all the details, but if you check out her blog, I'm sure she'll be posting them soon. Eli writes romantic suspense, but I believe this trilogy is paranormal, which makes it all the more fabulous! Good things really do come to those with the patience to wait. 8^)

Marketing Monday

I got another request for a partial last week. Yay! Jabberwocky, from my A list. Woot! But I also got a rejection from another agent. Wah! The ups and downs of the submission roller coaster continue.

Along the lines of marketing, I entered the PNWA writing contest for both published and unpublished authors. If I final, my pages will get in front of the editor or agent final judge in the sf/f category. It's been ages since I've entered a contest. Keep your fingers crossed for me. 8^)

I love this book trailer for my friend Mario Acevedo's Felix Gomez vampire detective series. Check it out!

Thursday Thoughts

I want to talk about the power of words. Just to think there are only 26 letters in the English alphabet boggles the mind. Those little letters string together to form words that communicate everything from children's picture books to corporate business contracts. Good grief, think about the bible! The Constitution of the United States of America! Archie comics!

I'm humbled to think my tools as a writer are the same ones used to create Pulitzer prize winners and block buster movie scripts. Little ole me! I feel very fortunate to be able to share in the use of this power that's strong enough to stop wars, seal marriages, and bond a child with a new family. That's used to record history and report today's news. And to write books.

A pithy blog, but there you have it. I woke up this morning with this on my mind, which came in the aftermath of a very visual dream that had no words in it at all. The mind works in strange ways. Or maybe my mind does. Anyway, it seems an appropriate subject for a writers' blog.

Anyone have something to add about this wonder of words we all share?

What's Up Wednesday

I'm writing this late on Tuesday night because I have an early morning meeting tomorrow. But I have something on my mind and like fog, I know it will vanish if I wait too long to write it down.

What's up with voice? Writers talk about it all the time. Or argue about it. I've even given a couple of workshops on voice at writers' conferences. It's one of those intangible, uncontrollable things, but something that's developed over time. Kind of like growing up. It's also very individual to the writer, like a fingerprint. Each writer has his or her own unique voice that seasons and is enriched over time.

My voice is as unique as the next writer, and I can't say my writing is like so-and-so or such-and-such. I write urban fantasy, but I don't have the snarkitude you'd expect in an edgy, urban tale. My characters are strong, but not flippant. My heroine is feisty, but sensible. Her story is atypical of what you might find today in the fantasy section of the book store. If I had to name an author who's writing is similar to mine, I'd say I'm a cross between Clive Barker and Vicki Pettersson. Now there's a match, huh? 8^) They're two of my favorite authors, too.

I just thought I'd bring this up because it concerns me. I'm not consciously trying to be different, I just am. I can't help how or what I write. It could hurt me, or help me. I'm eager to know what agent out there is willing to take on a new kind of story written by a storyteller unlike anything on the shelves.

Dare to be different. Some of us don't have a choice.

Marketing Monday

The day job has consumed last week and this week, so my blogging frequency has been seriously compromised. Aargh! I'm squeaking in a few words tonight just to be able to say I kept up on Monday.

It's marketing day! All engines continue full steam ahead. No response yet to the requested partials, but it's only been a couple of weeks, three weeks since the querying process began. I'm not anxious. Just reporting the facts.

I am disturbed, however, by a partial request from a successful agent I used to think highly of. His blog is awesome! He always has great information to share about the industry. Unfortunately, tucked inside the envelope with his request letter was a "brochure" that told of a service guaranteeing he'd respond to my partial within ten business days. But it would cost me. Sixty bucks, to be exact. I'd have to pay for expedience. Hmm. Well, I don't think so, thank you all the same. There's nothing illegal about this service, but it makes me uncomfortable and I'm not willing to pay for it on principal. I won't mention the name of this agency on my blog because I don't say negative things about anyone here, but if you'd like to know who this agent is, you can email me privately.

On a more promising note, the esteemed agent from Jabberwocky, Steve Mancino, liked my query and wants to see more. Woot! I sent him my first three chapters and a synopsis late last week. Fingers crossed!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Teaser Tuesday.

Monday Marketing

I'm such a bad blogger. I was supposed to do a Freestyle Friday blog, had my topic all picked out and half written, but got so busy I didn't have a chance to finish writing it. So I'm saving it for next Friday. As I wallow in a sea of ad deadlines, my time is no more free than it was last week, so I'm going to be lazy and repost an entry from my RWA chapter blog because it's about marketing.

Some agents have been slow to respond, but I got a request for a partial from one of my A list agents, Lucienne Diver. I imagine there may be a few agents who won't respond at all, and that has become a new trend for rejecting authors these days. No news is bad news. I really don't like that approach, but what can I do about it? Maybe the agents who reject by way of no response will get black listed by enough good authors that they'll eventually change their ways. We can only hope.

So today I'm posting about how you can choose what agent to submit to. There are a lot of agents out there, some legit, some not so much, and some that are just a waste of paper and postage. How do we separate the wheat from the chaff?

It's a combination of things, but with such easy access to resources on the Internet, I'd like to start there. Most of you know about these already, but for those who don't, here's an important list:

Agent Query – Fabulous tool for a quick search of agents in your genre with links to their websites and their pages at Publisher's Marketplace.

Publisher's Marketplace – A great way to keep up on all the industry news, who is selling what to whom, and even a few publishing deals are posted. Be aware that not all deals appear here, but it's still a great way to keep up with what's happening in the market and what's selling today as opposed to what sold a couple of years ago that only now appear on book store shelves. I find the $20/month subscription well worth it.

QueryTracker.net – Excellent tool for not only researching agents, but for keeping track of your submissions. And there's a nice archive of articles about agents, writing and publishing. It can even generate reports based on an agent's response rate, or genres represented, etc. Good stuff.

Absolute Write – Very helpful discussions go on in the forums at AW's Water Cooler. You can learn a lot about various agents first hand here, but like most gossip, you have to take it with a grain of salt. It's up to you to verify if stories are true or not.

Agent blogs – The best ones are Bookends, Nathan Bransford, and Kristin Nelson, though there are dozens of others as well. What's really helpful is that these agents post links to other agent blogs so you don't have to make endless searches.

Agent websites – These are invaluable resources for checking out the agents you think may be a good fit for your project. Here's where you can find the submission guidelines and lists of their clients, whose websites you might also want to check out. It can be a good gauge as to how their agent helped shape their careers.

Preditors and Editors – This is where you go to see if an agent is legit or not, or if any major complaints have been filed against them. Again, like with the Absolute Write Water Cooler, a lot of this information is based on word of mouth. Most is true, but I imagine some of it is bogus. A few writers make whine out of their sour grapes.

Now, away from the Internet resources, there's no replacement for networking. That means writer friends and conferences, where you meet and greet, and soak up lots of industry information. I'm not a conference whore, but I'd like to be. 8^) Maybe if I win the lottery. But seriously, nothing beats face to face meetings with agents, or even just listening to them speak on a panel. You can get a taste of their personalities and working style. Just because an agent makes great deals and accepts the genre you write doesn't necessarily make them a good match for you. I've scratched a few agents off my list after a glimpse of their personality or attitude. There are even a couple of agent blogs out there that made me change my mind about an agent or two, and not in a good way.

So what methods do you use for researching agents? Did you start your agent list before or after you finished your book?

Thursday Thoughts

Well, a video is supposed to appear here of the Gratitude Campaign, but apparently Blogger's not working for me today. Maybe it will show later? If not, you can go here to view the video. It's very touching.

What's Up Wednesday?

Phew! What a day. A whirlwind kind of day. First off, I must tell you all to visit your dentist regularly. Yeah, okay, call me mom. Whatever. But seriously, I had a major scare at the dentist this morning and if I can prevent someone from having to go through the same thing, I will.

I had a root canal done about twenty years ago, back when molar crowns were made of metal. Those metal crowns block x-ray views of what's going on underneath. My fabulous dentist detected a shadow beside that crown on the x-ray and determined it was a cavity. Problem was, he couldn't see how bad it was from the picture. The tooth was dead due to the canal, but infection can result from a deep enough cavity even in a dead tooth. If it went too deep, he'd have to send me to an endocrinologist to fix the damn thing for a few thousand dollars. I could kiss my savings goodbye.

I wasn't about to spend that kind of money on one tooth, a dead tooth at that, and I told him so. I said he'd have to pull it. Him, being the magnificent dentist that he is, told me he would remove the crown and drill through the tooth to see how deep the cavity was. If it wasn't too deep, he could fill it and put on a new crown. If it was too deep for him to fix, he'd pull it, though not without major reservations because the tooth below it would then be in danger of having major problems without its upstairs buddy.

The brilliant Dr. Andy did a fabulous job of fixing my tooth so I didn't have to have it pulled or spend my savings on a root canal redo by the I-have-a-house-in-
Aspen-and-the-Camen-Islands endocrinologist. Yay! My tooth – number 2 on the upper right – has been saved!

So take care of your teeth, y'all. They're the only ones you've got. Lose 'em and you'll end up looking like Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies.

For those of you living in Bend who want to know the name of my excellent dentist, he is Dr. Andy Engel and his office is on Yates off of Colorado on the west side.

Next time you smile, or chew, or talk, think about your teeth. Make an appointment to see your dentist today!

Marketing Monday

The Waiting Game

Like my cats are here, I'm now in wait mode. They're waiting for birds, but I'm waiting for birds of a totally different feather. I've sent off my partials and my queries, so now I wait to hear back. I've heard from a few so far who just don't know a good thing when they see it. Ha! Just kidding. I totally get why one agent might love something while another is turned off by the whole concept. I did get a form "no" from an agent I really hoped would ask for a partial. Sigh. That's just how it goes. Onward and upward…

So while I'm waiting, I keep networking and staying informed of the market. I recently joined Absolute Write, and the forums there are a great way to stay in the industry loop. I also subscribe to Publisher's Marketplace, which is an excellent marketing tool.

With PM, for just $20 a month, I'm able to read all the daily deals to find out who's selling what to who. I even learned of a new agent who represents the fantasy genre that I'd never heard of at Agent Query or QueryTracker.net, so I made a note to add her to my query list if I need to. Another thing that's great about PM is that reading all the deals tells me what's selling "now." Looking on bookstore shelves only tells me what sold one to two years ago. Staying as up-to-date as possible on market news is vital for a writer of genre fiction who's looking to get published.

If I had the time, I'd subscribe to Publisher's Weekly, too. But I wouldn't be able to keep up with it. Plus, I'm only focused on one genre. There are other resources out there that can give me the same if not similar information.

Do you have a favorite marketing tool? Please share if you do.

Freestyle Friday

Location, Location, Location

Though I traveled to Denver, Colorado, to see my kids and my new grandson, I also spent some time reacquainting myself with the place. Why? Because that's where most of KNIGHT'S CURSE is set.

I haven't been away from the city all that long, just about three and a half years. I return anually for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference, though I hardly venture outside the hotel within the four days I'm there. So this recent trip was really my first time in a while to actually be out and about the Mile High city. I drove all over.

Not much has changed. The weather is as unpredictable as ever, and it happened to be unseasonably warm the first two days of my visit. I mention the weather in the book since environment is always important in a story.

The one thing I will have to go back and change is the traffic. Man, has it gotten bad. Or maybe it always was bad. Where I live in Bend, traffic is rarely an issue unless it's right after a concert or a parade, and even that's tolerable. The speed limit on most Denver highways is 65 to 75 miles per hour. Egad! I felt like I was on a speedway, and the way cars zoomed past each other and tailgated, you'd have thought a real race was going on. Only it was just a regular day among the urban sprawlers of Denver. However, it was striking enough that I'll need to mention something about it in my book.

The smog wasn't bad because of the cold. It can get pretty nasty in warm weather. Because the story is set in the fall, when it's cold enough to snow, Chalice won't have to worry about her super senses getting clogged by noxious air. That's good. But it is dry. Very dry. My lips started to peel after the first day, and the inside of my nose got so dry it bled a little. So those are details I should add.

I don't intend to get caught up in the minutia of seemingly minor details, but I believe there's a place for authenticity in a good story. For readers to fully immerse themselves in a tale, a peppering of fine details is essential. I've read some books that could have taken place in almost any city or small town or rural farming community except for the mention of a landmark or two. But that's telling, not showing. And it's just not the same.

The beginning of my book is set in the Middle East. Do I need to go there to capture the nuance of place in order to properly set the scene? If it lasted more than a chapter I probably would. But I garnered just enough info from books and the Internet to set a fairly realistic scene at my fictitious monastery in my fictitious village in Lebanon.

If you're a writer, how much research do you do for your setting? Do you visit the place? Or is it a location you're familiar with because you used to live there? Do you find the Internet useful for researching your setting? Or do you do interviews with people who can provide a first-hand account?