Wednesday, September 21, 2005
New Cover Art
I got the art for the hot and steamy novel coming out from eXtasy Books in the (not-too-distant, but distant enough) future. I'm quite happy with it. Torin has a certain dangerous look, which he should have, and the wolf is pale coloured, as she should be. Now it's all a matter of waiting for the editing stage and all that fun part. In the meantime, I've two fiction projects I'm working on, one non-fiction book, a grammar course for an online site and several articles for various magazines. I'm on a roll!
Monday, May 23, 2005
Update
It's been way too long since I stopped in here. I finished the rewrite and sent the manuscript back to the agent and as yet have heard nothing back. I thought I'd give her until the end of May before sending a polite email to enquire the status of my ms. and whether she's interested in representing it. In the meantime, I've sent out queries to two other agents and I have the manuscript bundled up to send out to a publisher.
I've also been sending out queries to different magazines and to greeting card companies. I've had a few nibbles, a few outright rejections and a few haven't replied at all. There'll be something concrete in the very near future--I'm quite confident on that.
Oh, I did get a contract from eXtasy Books for an erotic novel I wrote as a side story to a medieval fantasy I've been working on for several years. That was a nice development. It had garnered a very nice rejection from one erotica publisher and was accepted by the next one. I'll be sure to announce it to all and sundry when I know the release date. Quite an eclectic selection of writings: one romantic science fiction novel, a young adult murder mystery/ghost story and an erotic novel. Never let it be said I got myself into a rut. I may opt to publish the YA books under another name to separate them from the erotica. I'd hate younger readers to pick up the wrong books.
I've also been sending out queries to different magazines and to greeting card companies. I've had a few nibbles, a few outright rejections and a few haven't replied at all. There'll be something concrete in the very near future--I'm quite confident on that.
Oh, I did get a contract from eXtasy Books for an erotic novel I wrote as a side story to a medieval fantasy I've been working on for several years. That was a nice development. It had garnered a very nice rejection from one erotica publisher and was accepted by the next one. I'll be sure to announce it to all and sundry when I know the release date. Quite an eclectic selection of writings: one romantic science fiction novel, a young adult murder mystery/ghost story and an erotic novel. Never let it be said I got myself into a rut. I may opt to publish the YA books under another name to separate them from the erotica. I'd hate younger readers to pick up the wrong books.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Cool Deal
The agent who requested the full MS of the first book in the series has emailed me with some suggestions for rewriting and making it better. This is pretty cool, in my opinion, and I'm inclined to go along with the suggestions I agree with. She said she would like to see it again after the rewrite, and so I'll give her the first refusal on it. I'm very psyched that she liked it enough to critique it for me. This is a very positive step.
In the meantime, I am working on the third book. I may have to put it on hiatus to do the rewrite, but I'd rather keep the impetus going, finish book three and do the work on the rewrite as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the first big step.
In the meantime, I am working on the third book. I may have to put it on hiatus to do the rewrite, but I'd rather keep the impetus going, finish book three and do the work on the rewrite as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the first big step.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Rough Draft Done
The rough draft is done a few days earlier, and in around 42,000 words. It's now time to put it aside for a week or so and let it simmer and ferment. I'll tackle it next week or in ten days and start typing it into my computer and do the first rewrite. I know it's in dire need of a rewrite because I wasn't entirely certain where it was going to go when I started, but then it all began to hang together towards the end. I'm so pleased that it did that, but it does mean a dire rewrite of the beginning part. It'll be fine, I'm sure.
Of course, the next question is: Do I start book three in the series?
Of course, the next question is: Do I start book three in the series?
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Tuesday already?
Still on track. Yesterday's count was a little bit down, but I made up for it by hitting just over 2300 for today. The story suddenly came to life and I didn't have to force it at all today. That was wonderful. I suddenly know who and what the Boy on the Bus is and why and how he does the things he does. It's great, because until today, I wasn't 100% sure. I had a good idea, but it all pulled together for me.
I've also been playing with another story line that relates to another novel in progress, and which makes a potential fourth, fifth or sixth book in another series. I wonder if I'll ever write them all down before I die. Gives you something to think about, doesn't it? I better keep my brain and hands in gear.
Doing the hurry up and wait game to hear back from the agent who requested the full ms. of the first book in this Bailey Sullivan series. If it's bounced back to me, then time to send out another shotgun blast of queries. All I can do now is wait and write more books.
I've also been playing with another story line that relates to another novel in progress, and which makes a potential fourth, fifth or sixth book in another series. I wonder if I'll ever write them all down before I die. Gives you something to think about, doesn't it? I better keep my brain and hands in gear.
Doing the hurry up and wait game to hear back from the agent who requested the full ms. of the first book in this Bailey Sullivan series. If it's bounced back to me, then time to send out another shotgun blast of queries. All I can do now is wait and write more books.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Sunday Musings
Sunday morning and I hope God will forgive me for not going to church this week. I'm taking a sanity day. I need a certain amount of alone time and haven't had any for quite some time. My son went to a party last night and everyone else is out of the house for the weekend. It was very nice to have the house to myself. This morning, he's sleeping in and the house is quiet and going off to church and being with a hundred people or so is more than I wish to handle right now. I expect to go out this afternoon to help with a supper and that will take six hours out of my day.
On the up side, I managed 3000 words yesterday, so if I only write 1000 today, I'm still on track to achieve my goal by the end of the month. I'll still shoot for 2000 today, though. It's coming along and I'll be glad to have it done. My arm is getting annoyed at me for all the writing by hand. It's not used to that sort of abuse and I'm either going to cripple myself or my arm will get used to it again. I'm hoping for the latter result.
I've also been looking at markets online for my short stories and have sent out a few electronic submissions. So far, no acceptances, but no rejections just yet, either. Hope springs eternal. A little money coming in is always welcome as I'm sure everyone would agree.
On the up side, I managed 3000 words yesterday, so if I only write 1000 today, I'm still on track to achieve my goal by the end of the month. I'll still shoot for 2000 today, though. It's coming along and I'll be glad to have it done. My arm is getting annoyed at me for all the writing by hand. It's not used to that sort of abuse and I'm either going to cripple myself or my arm will get used to it again. I'm hoping for the latter result.
I've also been looking at markets online for my short stories and have sent out a few electronic submissions. So far, no acceptances, but no rejections just yet, either. Hope springs eternal. A little money coming in is always welcome as I'm sure everyone would agree.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
So Far, So Good
There's something wonderful about having the day to yourself. I've worked the past five or more Saturday mornings and I opted to take today off. This means that I've already reached my 2000 word goal for today with time yet to write more. I am aiming at a total of roughly 50,000 words by the end of the month and I'm up to over 31K right now. I think I need to do 2068 a day to reach the desired target.
The downside of this is that I'm sure parts of it are the worst writing I've ever done, but that's okay. I won't edit or rewrite until I have finished the entire rough draft. My theory is that writing itself is to get the story out of my head and rewriting is to make it as marketable as possible. BUT, if you don't have the roughest rough draft to work with, there will be no rewrite at all. So I slog away to finish the manuscript and then I'll probably put it aside for a few weeks before I attempt to type it in and do the first rewrite and polish.
I find that writing longhand gives me freedom to write wherever I happen to be as long as I have my notebook and pen with me. This frees me from my computer, from relying on electricity (actually back in November we had a big snowstorm and were without power for 36 hours and I wrote by candlelight) and means I have no excuses not to write. I can take my notebook into my home office, close the door, shut out the kids and my granddaughter and work for two hours or so. I discovered I can write 1000 words an hour if I put my mind to it and my characters cooperate with me.
So here I am, with 9 days left to my deadline. Got to keep going!
The downside of this is that I'm sure parts of it are the worst writing I've ever done, but that's okay. I won't edit or rewrite until I have finished the entire rough draft. My theory is that writing itself is to get the story out of my head and rewriting is to make it as marketable as possible. BUT, if you don't have the roughest rough draft to work with, there will be no rewrite at all. So I slog away to finish the manuscript and then I'll probably put it aside for a few weeks before I attempt to type it in and do the first rewrite and polish.
I find that writing longhand gives me freedom to write wherever I happen to be as long as I have my notebook and pen with me. This frees me from my computer, from relying on electricity (actually back in November we had a big snowstorm and were without power for 36 hours and I wrote by candlelight) and means I have no excuses not to write. I can take my notebook into my home office, close the door, shut out the kids and my granddaughter and work for two hours or so. I discovered I can write 1000 words an hour if I put my mind to it and my characters cooperate with me.
So here I am, with 9 days left to my deadline. Got to keep going!
Welcome to my Blog
It's time for me to attempt another blog. I did have one on my webpage but the coding got to be too much of a pain and I don't update as often as I should, so this will suit my needs admirably.
Aspiring Author. Yes. Aren't we all? I'm currently working on a second book in a series which I hope will sell. The manuscript for the first in the series is on its way to an agent who was kind enough to request the entire beast and we'll have to see where it goes from there. Should a rejection letter turn up, then the query letters will recommence in earnest.
I believe I've pretty much exhausted all the venues which will accept email queries or submissions, so the next step will be to fork over postage to mail out hard copies. I'm not keen on that idea because money is always tight and postage, printing, envelopes and so on add up after a while. Still, if I don't make the effort, then I can guarantee that I will never sell any book to a major publisher ever and I'm not quite prepared to give up just yet.
Oh, I admit that I've been lax for the past five years or so. I wasn't driven at that point to seek success, and now I don't know that it's financial success so much that I'm after as the satisfaction of seeing my work out there in the bookstores in general. It's not enough to go into my local library and see my first novel there. It was picked up by a small e-publisher back in 2000 and is now with SynergEbooks and is available in electronic or POD format, but there's that little something that says to me it's not enough. I have a copy in my home. It looks great. It garnered good reviews, but sales are low and I'm not a good promoter. Yet. Something to work on, and again, I'm not quite ready to give up just yet.
So, journey along with me if you wish. I'll be rambling about the process, writing itself, life in general and who knows what else. Pull up a chair, grab a coffee, if you're so inclined, and join me.
Aspiring Author. Yes. Aren't we all? I'm currently working on a second book in a series which I hope will sell. The manuscript for the first in the series is on its way to an agent who was kind enough to request the entire beast and we'll have to see where it goes from there. Should a rejection letter turn up, then the query letters will recommence in earnest.
I believe I've pretty much exhausted all the venues which will accept email queries or submissions, so the next step will be to fork over postage to mail out hard copies. I'm not keen on that idea because money is always tight and postage, printing, envelopes and so on add up after a while. Still, if I don't make the effort, then I can guarantee that I will never sell any book to a major publisher ever and I'm not quite prepared to give up just yet.
Oh, I admit that I've been lax for the past five years or so. I wasn't driven at that point to seek success, and now I don't know that it's financial success so much that I'm after as the satisfaction of seeing my work out there in the bookstores in general. It's not enough to go into my local library and see my first novel there. It was picked up by a small e-publisher back in 2000 and is now with SynergEbooks and is available in electronic or POD format, but there's that little something that says to me it's not enough. I have a copy in my home. It looks great. It garnered good reviews, but sales are low and I'm not a good promoter. Yet. Something to work on, and again, I'm not quite ready to give up just yet.
So, journey along with me if you wish. I'll be rambling about the process, writing itself, life in general and who knows what else. Pull up a chair, grab a coffee, if you're so inclined, and join me.
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