Marketing Monday

There's some turmoil going on in the publishing industry. Top people at both Random House and Harper Collins are being replaced and that leaves a number of people feeling uneasy. Many of those people happen to be authors.

Book sales go up, book sales go down. Trends change. One genre is hot, another grows cold. It's like riding the waves of a turbulent sea. Publishing is not for the faint of heart, or the weak of stomach.

I'm staying positive in all this. It's my nature to be optimistic, and I can see the bright side of just about anything. I feel that whenever publishing tightens its belt and acquisitions become more discriminating, I expect better books to read. Competition is a good thing. And it keeps authors on their toes.

Good books sell… most of the time. A good book, anyway, has a better chance of getting picked up by a publisher than a bad book ever will. With the exception of celebrity books, but that's another topic for another day. I often hear writers lament over the difficulties presented in this industry, and there's a reason for concern, however I don't condone whining about having worked hard and not seeing results. It just means they have to work harder. It means putting away that manuscript they've been pounding on for the past five years in its twentieth rewrite and starting something new.

Writers read the how-to books, attend the workshops and conferences, enter dozens of contests, write their fingers to the bone, and the results of their labors are tenuous at best. It's something we all need to accept and work with it. If writing a good book were easy, as they say, then everybody would be doing it.

A real writer doesn't choose to write; the writing chooses them. It's a talent and a gift that deserves to be expressed. In spite of the problems publishing is having now, and that its always had, books will still be published. People are still reading. Chances of getting published may be slimmer, but they're not nonexistent. I'm in this for the long haul. How about you?

Freestyle Friday

Thursday Thoughts

Good grief, but my TBR pile is huge. I have two bookshelves, one for books I've already read, and one for the books I haven't started. The shelves are starting to bow in the middle. I think a serious purging is over due.

I don't read as fast as I used to, but I've also become pickier. I often read books recommended by others, just based on their comments, or from reviews I've read. It's about a fifty/fifty chance I'll like them. I'm surprised by how disappointed I am with some of the series I've started to read (and been unable to finish), and I'm talking urban fantasy because that's about all I read anymore. I think the problem might be that the books published now were contracted right around the time the genre really took off. Desperate to get new urban fantasy books on the shelves, there's a chance publishers weren't as discriminating as they should have been.

Now the field is more competitive so I'm hoping there'll be more decent books released in the coming months. I'm not going to disrespect authors of the books I didn't care for by posting titles. Though I'd love to warn readers of time-wasting tomes, it's only my opinion. Since many of these books were recommended by readers, obviously someone enjoyed reading them. I'm just… super picky.

All this being said, I have to exclaim my thrill over finding Liz Williams' Inspector Chen series. I just started reading SNAKE AGENT and it's superb! Tightly written, intelligent, original, intriguing, and unlike some books I've started reading lately, it's not rotting my brain!

So if you like UF and haven't read anything by Liz Williams, I encourage you to do so. She's a fabulous author!

Whimsical Wednesday

My cat is stalking me.

It's what he does. He hangs around my peripheral, slinking around corners, standing sentry by the couch while waiting for me to sit down. He wants his lap fix. And if he doesn't get it quickly, he'll start meowing at me.

I've got three fur babies of the feline type, all of whom have totally unique personalities. Cody the stalker is cuddly, but he's also a biter. Figure that one out.

Teddy is the cat version of Baby Hughy without the diaper, though he's so big he has a hard time cleaning his unmentionable parts and could probably use a diaper sometimes.

Sammy is a child in a cat suit, the baby of the bunch, who loves to express herself with squeaks, meows, yowls, purrs and hisses. She also has more energy than the other two put together.

My fur babies make quite the trio.

Pets make great characters, don't they? I didn't start out with any in KNIGHT'S CURSE, though Aydin's bonded gargoyle might be considered a pet because they've been together for so long. Chalice didn't have an animal companion, and Shui was far from being anywhere near cuddly. Therefore, I gave her one towards the end of the book, but Ruby isn't really an animal. She's an enchanted frog covered in precious stones that's known as an animate. But she's cute and Chalice likes her, in spite of Ruby's connection to magic, which Chalice hates. Ruby helps her overcome her prejudice to the mystical sciences. The two form a precarious bond that will deepen in the next book.

Deleted Scene from KNIGHT'S CURSE

This is a scene about Elmo, Aydin's best friend who is an elf. My agent asked me to remove it from the manuscript because it slowed the pacing. I still like it so I kept it in its own file and I thought now would be a good time to share it with you.


In this scene, Chalice is trying to get to know Elmo better. He's a very minor character, but his backstory is interesting, just not necessary to plot. Elmo's coffee shop used to be a pub, and he he had problems when his fae customers got drunk. That's why he switched to just serving coffee instead.

Waking up to find a half-man, half-goat rummaging in your trash would have the neighborhood police checking family medicine cabinets for drugs. The psychiatric community must have made a killing that year. "I take it you've known Aydin a long time?"

"A hundred and fifty years, give or take."

My expression must have looked surprised because he added, "Elves live a long time. Not nearly as long as Aydin, but at least four times longer than an ordinary human."

"Did the two of you first meet in Denver?"

He nodded. "Soon after gold was found in the South Platte River, the summer of 1858. Colorado wasn't even a U.S. territory yet."

It was no wonder the two of them had become close after so many years of friendship. Unaware how an elf aged, I was curious about the circumstances of their meeting. "Were you an adult, or still a kid when you met Aydin?"

Elmo laughed. "I was about twenty six or twenty seven, which would be like a preschooler in human years. He found me unconscious in a ditch after my parents were taken by the Vyantara."

The poor man. It had to have been devastating to lose parents at such a young age. Though I knew what it was like to be an orphan, I'd never known my parents so I never really knew what I was missing. I feared the answer before I asked the question. "Did you get your parents back?"

His eyes clouded with an unpleasant memory. He stared down at the table. "No."

I didn't ask what had happened to them. Did I really need to know? From his expression I knew the fate of his folks hadn't been good. I thought of the summoning room back at the Fatherhouse, the splashes of red that stained the concrete floor. There was a good chance Elmo's parents had been used in a ritual that required fae blood, something hard to find on the mortal plane.

"What was your family doing on this side of the veil?" I asked.

"I think it had to do with the gold recently discovered in the mountains. It's a precious commodity for the fae. My parents crossed through in the same place the veil is now, right here in this basement."

"So that's why you had a house built here."

"Aydin had it built for me after he found the veil. It took a few years for him to learn what had brought my family here in the first place." He shook his head. "They never should have come."

"But they accepted someone's invitation." That's the only way anything from beyond the veils could cross to this side.

"They were tempted by one of the Vyantara sorcerers who knew the veil was here when this property was still an empty lot. He used it to lure my parents across. He hadn't expected them to bring along a worthless elf child."

Lucky for Elmo. "Weren't you afraid the Vyantara would find you here someday?"

He shrugged and took a quick sip of his coffee. "Not really. The secret died with the sorcerer who first discovered this spot."

And I immediately knew who had been responsible for that sorcerer's death. Aydin protected the people he cared about. He had taken Elmo under his wing and raised him as his own.

"Elmo, why did you stay on this side? You must still have family beyond the green veil. Don't you miss your home?"

Palm down, he waggled his open hand like the wings of an airplane. "You can't miss something you never knew to begin with. Besides, I have plenty of fae friends who visit me all the time. I've held the invitation open to them for decades. And I've crossed over to their side a time or two, but I'm not comfortable there. It's very backward. And there's no coffee."

That made me smile. "I'm amazed Aydin was able to keep you and your shop a secret all these years."

"He's been a good friend." Elmo's eyes glazed over as he stared into the distance, looking wistful. "We've helped each other a lot over the years. We make a good team."

"I bet you do." Elmo's Coffee Shop had been Aydin's port in the storm, and now it was mine. And Quin's. "I'd like to know more about the fae. And about white magic. Would you teach me?"

His grin split his face from ear to ear, his cheeks bulging like two ripe plums when he smiled. It was nice to see him without his usual bitter beer face. He was an attractive old elf. More on the ancient side, but still handsome.

Marketing Monday

What can I say? I'm entering new territory here. Up till recently, I've posted exclusively from the agent search point of view. I have the agent. So now what?

Follow me through the next leg of my journey: quest for publication.

My agent had a few revision suggestions for Knight's Curse, which I happily made, and had a lot of fun doing it. Revision is a process I enjoy. I deleted a scene and bulked up a few others, trimmed some conversations, and introduced a new (albeit very minor) character. I emailed the revised manuscript last Monday, so now I'm waiting to hear that everything's in order and ready to go out on submission.

I won't be able to share submission details here, but I can still report my experience. So stay tuned.

I continue to read other agents' blogs because they can be informative, and I try to stay abreast of industry news. For a terrific view on how consumer buying habits influence book trends, check out Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency's post for May. And I learned something interesting from Jonathan Lyons when he guest blogged over at The League. He offers a great definition of urban fantasy and how it's different from paranormal romance.

I'm working on a new book at the moment, and will post teasers on Tuesdays again, but tomorrow I'll post the scene I had to delete from Knight's Curse due to pacing issues. I hope you'll come back to check it out.

LMAO Rita Finalists

Freestyle Friday - Judging Contests

I consider it a privilege to judge a writing contest. I don't judge very many because it's so time-consuming, but there are a couple I never say no to when asked to help.

Most contest entries consist of the first twenty to twenty-five pages of the manuscript, and a synopsis. I probably spend about 3 to 4 hours on each entry because it takes me that long to write my comments on the manuscript pages and on the score sheet. I sincerely want to help these writers by offering as much feedback as possible, and like a critique, I always deliver my comment constructively and make sure to praise whenever it's warranted.

I absolutely love judging the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Colorado Gold Contest. The deadline for entries was June 1 and I received my judging packet of entries last week. Of course I plowed right in. They're all wonderful! And I don't mean they're all winners, but every one of them is a creative, honest, expressive effort from writers who are serious enough about their work to subject it to the scrutiny of a stranger. And it's awesome! I'm honored to read the words written by these as-yet unpublished writers. It's fun, and it's exciting. And it's humbling!

I'm not finished yet. I like to savor these manuscripts, and I read slowly anyway. I do hope my suggestions and advice are helpful to these writers. I never know because once I send in my judged entries, I don't hear anything back, but if one of the great ones (they're all "good") is a finalist, I'll know. And I'll congratulate them at the awards banquet during the Denver conference in September. I'm really looking forward to attending this year (as I do every year).

If you're unpublished and thinking of entering a contest, the Colorado Gold is the best one I've found because judges are trained, and entrants usually know what they're doing. I've judged some contests where I faulted the sponsoring organization for not providing the education needed for the writers to create their best work. When I used to help judge RWA's Golden Heart, I was surprised by the poor quality of the manuscripts. It was difficult to get through them, but at least I didn't have to provide more than a number score, which was also sad for the entrants. They never get to know what might help their work be better. Maybe that's why the entries were so… not ready. How can a writer learn to do better if they don't know what they're doing wrong?

There are other RWA contests run by individual chapters that do let judges make comments on entries, and those are the ones I'd think writers should be most compelled to enter. But for some reason the more expensive and less helpful Golden Heart is the favorite among unpublished writers. Being a finalist is a big deal. Writers will even include their finalist status in their query letters! I could understand mentioning the Golden Heart if they'd won. But finalist? I don't understand the importance. In fact, I've heard countless agents express the same puzzled fascination with the "finalist" credit added to a writer's query letter. It makes no difference to most agents if a writer's peers like her work. But for what it's worth, I think it matters to a few agents who exclusively represent romance.

Contests are an excellent tool for the unpublished writer if you can find a good contest with good judges. After over ten years of judging the Colorado Gold, I consider myself a good judge. And I love doing it.

Thursday Thoughts

I love this show, "So You Think You Can Dance." I've always loved dance, not that I could do it. I mean, I shook my booty with the best of 'em back in the day, but nothing like these talented, passionate young people. I didn't know the human body even had the ability to do those things!

My point for today's blog is competition, why we compete, and why those competition goals are so important to us. Take these kids on the show. 200 dancers competed for 20 spots. They put their heart on the line. They gave up jobs to be there. They spent their parents' money to be there. They trained through blood, sweat and tears from the time they were iddy biddy (in most cases) just to get a shot to fulfill their dream. Sound familiar?

It's hard to watch sometimes, but as a writer I can't help relating to their disappointment when these talented dancers give it everything they've got and most are told to go home. It's heart- breaking. But you know what? They're also told to come back next year. Top judge Nigel offers encouragement and support. He was a dancer, too, in his younger days, and he understands what these kids are going through.

I have a real penchant for reality competition tv shows, the ones that showcase talent and strive to fulfill at least one participant's dream. My favorites are So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol, Top Chef, America's Next Top Model (yeah, Alice, ANTM fans unite!), and Project Runway. Real people who have real talent, and real aspirations. I cheer with them when they win, I cry when they lose. We're living our dreams together.

What's Up Wednesday

Oh, dear. Has it really been two weeks? Naughty blogger! Bad! Bad!

I have great excuses, though. Like work. And making revisions to Knight's Curse for my agent. I emailed them to her last night and this morning I received a message that she's excited to read the manuscript. I really had a blast doing it, too. I like revising, especially if I know specifically what it is I'm doing and why I'm doing it. When I feel vague about what needs to be done, I flounder. I didn't flounder. I had fun.

I hope you like the flowers. This is my front yard, or I should say it's my husband's front yard in front of our house. I'm not the best gardener. I kind of like to plant stuff, but Jim is territorial when it comes to his yard so I step aside when it comes to his creative gardenly endeavors. He's better at it, anyway.

I'm happy to report that I'm the spotlight author at the Mid Willamette Valley RWA website. I wrote an essay about my writers journey if you'd like to read it. I also did an interview for QueryTracker.net as one of their success stories. I can't say enough great things about QT. It's a phenomenally useful tool.

There's going to be a full moon tonight, and then tomorrow is the last day for Mercury to be in retrograde. I've had kind of an "off" couple of weeks. Experienced stress over communication problems with a client. Had a stomach ailment. Then I tore a muscle in my calf at aerobics class. My husband experienced problems with his employer. So here's to hoping that as of Friday, my world goes back to normal.

What's Up Wednesday

Mercury is in retrograde.

I'm not a big astrology buff, but I've been known to read my horoscope on occasion, and to pay some attention to the monthly perspectives sent to me by a psychic friend. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong. Kind of like everything in life.

Mercury goes retrograde three times a year, and it's happening right now. It started May 26 and will continue through June 19. The planet doesn't actually go into reverse orbit, it just looks like it does from our viewing perspective here on Earth. What it's really doing is moving together with the earth as the two travel around the sun in unison.

Since Mercury rules over the mind's processes, this retrograde phenomenon can have a powerful effect on writers. Communication is strongly influenced by this astrological event. Think "backwards" since that what retrograde is. This is not the time to be signing contracts, starting new books, taking trips to places you've never been to before, getting married, or buying a new car.

Does that mean this retrograde thing is all bad? Of course not! Now's the perfect time to take advantage of a number of tasks during this period. This is when you want to double-check that polished manuscript, make those revisions (ding! that rings my bell), or finish an older project. You'll find that going slowly over the course of the next couple of weeks will spare you many efforts of redoing the same action that wasn't done right the first time.

Marvelous Monday

It used to be Marketing Monday, but today I'm feeling blank on the subject. But in a good way.

After accepting the offer of representation from Elizabeth Winick at McIntosh & Otis, I then had to withdraw the manuscript from consideration by the other agents who had fulls. I'd had 7 full requests that occurred all around the same time. Two had already rejected, one of which on the very morning Elizabeth contacted me. These agents were expecting more romance (not sure why), so they passed.

So I contacted the other four still reading. Two were so sweet! They congratulated me and thanked me for letting them know. And two of them didn't respond at all, but they may have been at BEA last week.

Now I have nothing to market. Not that the agent search wasn't fun at times. It was a time-consuming process with the research and background checks, and postage costs burned a considerable hole in my wallet. Yet there was always that anticipation, sometimes with a promising outcome, and sometimes with a discouraging one. I figure the experience was preparing me for my manuscript's journey into the publishing world. I haven't reached the end of rejections yet.

So now I'm working on a list of revisions my agent suggested to make the book the best it can be. I'm so excited for Chalice! She's going to make her way to bookstore shelves, with more books to follow. This one's just the first in the series. I'm bubbling with plenty of ideas for the next few books, but I won't start on them until Knight's Curse is sold.

Thanks, all of you, for your lovely words of congratulations and good wishes. I loved reading your notes and hope you'll hang with me for the rest of this journey. It's going to be a thrilling ride with plenty of twists and turns along the way.