Category Archives: Author

Author, Blog, Books, Manuscript, Publishers

Request for Manuscript

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In February a serious effort to submit two of my books was started. The email queries got sent out first and I am now working on the ones that need to be sent out by regular mail.

Well long story short I have just been contacted from a publisher. They want to see the rest of the Jasper. Amazon Parrot book. I know I know it is a long shot. But just hearing the nice things she said about the sections I sent her made me teary eye.

A small portion of me feels validated regardless of where this ends up. I thought darn woman it is silly to tear up over this but now that I have had a chance to think on it, it really isn’t.

There was a small set back. Earlier this year I created a new email just for my writing. The one I would use to send out my query letters, ask for information on guidelines and all that good stuff so it would not get lost in with my other email activities. So all excited from the contact from a publisher I logged into this account. I typed in my user name. Woohoo almost there. Next was to type in the password, the one that I created that I just KNEW I would not forget but I did. Knowing I could get a recovery email from the server I did so only to be told I had to wait 24 hours for security reasons.  My mouth dropped wide enough to catch flies as I stared blankly into space. Time was of the essence but that did not matter I had to wait until March 17th to get this fixed. I finally got the new password and sent the MS to the publisher on Saturday. The anxiety that was felt in having to wait is indescribable.

This is an excerpt of what the publisher said :

“It is lovely written and without a doubt Jasper, Amazon Parrot, will entertain and educate young readers with his adventure in the Rainforest. We would love to review the entire manuscript.”

Gosh I don’t care how many times I read this, giddiness envelopes me. Bottom line where ever this goes, the fact someone thought the above makes me squeal inside and out.

Author, Blog, Book, Characters, children's book, Creative Writing, Electronic submission, Life, Publishers, Publishing House

Traditional Publishing

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The decision had been made for me to try get a publishing house to publish my books. I realized it is a crap shoot with today’s market and houses being more selective in what they decide to pick up.  The official Writer’s Market was purchased and I started tto work on finding those who seem to fit the books.

I have told a few people this but not many. One particular friend of mine does not seem to get it and I wonder how many are like her. When I told her it takes about 30 minutes to get one electronic submission complete she called my bluff. I did not even bother to mention how much time it takes to complete one submission that is submitted by smail.

Did you know that all the editing and revising is a waste of my time? That I should leave that for the publishers? No that is not how it is done- at least to me. If I don’t present the best possible product I can on my first try well that is a sure-fire way to get to the trash can.  Every time she ask me where am I at, the constant reply is editing, revising, submitting and writing. When she ask have I heard from a publisher yet I tell her these things take time.

It finally came to a head when she said have I tried to find publishers in the state, Ah yes I have. When she said well have you goggled it on-line for why she found over 100 publishers. Again ah yes I have.  Finally I had to just lay it out for I was getting just pissed.

In an email I wrote this:

For each publisher that I look at, the following has to be considered:

1-Are they still in business? Just because they are on-line does not mean their doors are open

2-Are they reputable?

3-Do they publish my genre and if so are they accepting submissions?

4-What are the guidelines?

5 This last one is very important. If you see the name Chris, one has to make sure you find out if

Chris is male or female. To put the wrong Mr or Ms is a sure way to get rejected.

All of this takes time and all of it has to be done per company.  I am trying to push two books right now, have two that I am revising and editing while working on three WIP.

This is all time-consuming, frustrating and down right makes one exhausted mentally, emotionally and physically. But realizing I have chosen to try traditional publishing first it has to be accepted this is what has to be done.  I just get really tired of people saying so what are you doing now? Why are you making a mountain out of a mole hole, it is not rocket science. No it is not- its torture that I have willingly inflicted on myself for I believe in my books. After all the work that was consumed in creating them, why not give them a chance?

Anti-hero, Author, Character Development, Characters, Class, Creating Real Life Characters, Creative Writing, Inner Life

Inner Life of A Character

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The Inner Life of Your Character

These are the notes from my Character Development class , week 6

One must try to write the character to where the reader can

-relate to the them

-knows someone like them

Outer life vs Inner life

Outer life- it is more the physical description, the surface details of one’s characters

Inner life-this tells the reader what the character is about

Works of fiction is bringing intimacy to the pages. As writers it is our job to foster that which will help

fast forward our characters.  We are in charge of creating a character it is not for our readers to do that.

Writers tend to stop with the basic character description without giving them life. Is the dialogue

believable? In the speaking one can give more details of our characters. The reader when reading must

feel our characters are real or could be real live people that they can come across in the street.  You need to cover every aspect of their lives, go the extra mile when dissecting them.

Imagine them as being your heroes that you had growing up. What did you look up to them, what was it about them that made you want to be like them? Use this for your villain and hero if you can.

Conversation focus- By observing what they talk about. Can you get a vivid image of what they are saying?

Try listening to people talking as you go about your daily activities. Try to really listen for just a minute

or two.

Allocation of time- How does your character spend their day. What is their norm and routine? How much time is spent doing each activity? What are their habits? Do they have regrets? Do they hold

grudges? What do they do and why? Do they have any dreams and if so of what? What are their goals?

These are just some of the questions we can ask about our characters to make them less superficial.

Every character needs change in the story but it is recommended to make it slow and gradual instead of

all at once.

A way to kick-start the inner life of your characters is ask some of the questions below

-What makes them afraid and why

-What lead up to this?

-What is important to them?

-What secrets/quirks do they have and why

-Three or four words to describe them

-Are they successful in their endeavors and why

-Do they act one way to some and different to others?

-Are they materialistic?

-Show don’t tell their clothing, how they carry themselves, how they speak and what kind of person they are.

These are just some ways to bring the inner life of your character to the fore front.

Use this with each of your major characters. If you use it for the minor characters, you might derail the story.

I have two more sessions left and this class will be done.