You Gonna Query? I Gotta Query! Did you Query yet? Who did you Query?

  These phrases rattle in my skull sometimes before one of the other voices steps in (I call it the “controller”) and tells it to shut up and sit down.  I am not exactly sure why I go through this process sometimes because I am still on the fence with representation.  Don’t get me wrong, I want my books plastered in the windows at every book store around the world but I am also fearful of letting go and handing over control.  You know the one voice that says “My Precious! They takes it from me!”

   In my constant study of what I call “The Crazy”, the big houses will only speak to and deal with an agent.  And not any agent mined you.  So how do I know the agent I am sending my query to has the ability to send to the big house?  I wish there was an easy answer to this all vital question but there is not.  I guess if it was not a secret each of us would be querying the same people.  I do use one site though with great confidence knowing their information is stellar and reliable (again I own no stock nor am I affiliated with them) – P&E: Literary Agents (Preditors & Editors) pred-ed dot com.

  They list the agents alphabetically with indications on their validity and if they have signed a contract for money.  Google it and you shall find them.  Also another site I have been using for good Agent info is Absolutewrite dot com.  Click to their forums and search for Bewares, Recommendations & Background Check.  This, too, has great listings and valid info. It will help in your search for the Agent right for you.

  Oh and I also use Twitter actually.  NO, I DO NOT SEND A QUERY TO AN AGENT VIA TWITTER!  DON”T DO IT!  EVER!  I love following other authors and often not, their agent follows them.  If this person is in the same genre as I write in their Agent, obviously, represents and carries an understanding of the Fantasy writing world.  I realize I have chosen a tight path and a hard sell so my writing better be good!  One of these days I will create another subsection on this blog and start entering all of my sites I have collected through these many years.  It would be long (that’s what she said).<==Had to be said!

Your Internet Face!

  Having my own website is an absolute must to me and this does not include this blog or wordpress.  When I tag along with a writer, agent or artist I look for their website to give me an idea how they approach their business.  A well designed site shows the care they have put in place for their customers, fans, followers and anyone else fortunate enough to fall on their space.

  This comes at a cost (website fees) and a cost many of us do not have the funds to provide, but if you can provide this yearly cost a great product to use, which does not require you to be tech savvy, is Joomla. No, I do not own stock in this nor do I work there I just found it to be an awesome way to easily manipulate, modify or edit your site with critical information.  Now, today, my current website is not formatted in Joomla but this coming month of November it will be!  You will notice my News/Articles are from August of 2009. UGH! And each page you go to does not indicate in the tab what page you are on, it says content-blah. Another UGH!

  Over these years, I have crafted my site in different fashions and each one took time to update, which in turn, took away from my writing time (this is why my site is so out of date).  I went on a writer’s quest to find the best tool and found Joomla. It has thousands of templates allowing me quick access, quick updates and it is friendly so the windows you use are easy to manipulate.  

  Halleluiah!  

  I will implement this new version (I call it EW3.0) next month and will have the peace of mind my site will be fresh for all new customers or my favorite -- returning customers. I will have calendars, journals, RSfeed info and more! Once in place, I will put out an easy step by step guide for writers, artists and agents on what it took to make it fly.

Remember your site is your face to the world. Make it pretty. :)   

Keeping tabs on Marketing

  Many years ago I learned the only way to keep tabs on my marketing efforts (marketing = money out of my pocket) would be a nice little spreadsheet.  I was putting forth many different marketing adventures like setting up book signings, talking with small book stores on carrying my book, different advertisement options, etc… into a word document but trying to find what I was doing became confusing.  I tried using a calendar (I would enter events in a day on where or what I should be doing) but some events last 5 minutes to perform so this became bloated.  These things will easily go out of control if you have no one watching it (especially if you cannot afford a PR person; I wish but again it is all about the Benjamin’s!) especially if it is costing you out of pocket!

  I call my spreadsheet Marketing Objectives (give it an official business name and you will take it a little more serious) and it is forever green a.k.a growing; not green because of the money.  Here I have tabs such as Stores, Book Communities, Events, Internet Offerings, Query, Social Networking and Things to Purchase. Each one I believe is self explanatory.  ‘Stores’ contains all of the local book stores (NOT Borders or B&N) in which I have approached, should approach and have said no, get off my lawn.  This is an important tab and is towards the front of my tab listings since creating a local buzz about your book is more important than getting one anywhere else.  Why?  Because you can get in your car and be there within an hour if they call and say interested in doing a book signing today?  Okay, so this has not yet happened but I am prepared.

  Another one is ‘Query’.  I keep a running tab on every Agent I query to make sure I do not send to them twice in a year.  I also have a list of those I need to send too.  I keep the date I sent the query and if an answer has been returned.  This also helps with follow ups.  The ‘Social Networking’ tab is crazy because it seems like a new social online gathering is created everyday and so I keep this one simple.  If you see it showing up on every blog, wordpress and websites or even on FaceBook it is a good idea to market there.  Stay within the trend and you will gather more followers.

  I live in this spreadsheet just as much as I live in my book.  I keep a small notepad with me at all times just in case a new idea hits me on how to move me along.  As a writer, I have so many different writing adventures in the air so keeping the marketing aspects in a controlled fashion takes one less worry away.

NaNoNoTimeToSpare

  I have been contemplating joining the force and participate in NaNoWriMo in November but there is no way to fit it in……What is that, a writer cannot fit in writing?? Wrong. Besides being a writer I am also the manager, marketing agent, sales force, advertising agent, meeting facilitator and webmaster of my stuff. I am also a husband, father and oh yeah I have a day job I go to which pays the creditors what they are due (and some). Even though joining this writing hoopla would produce a lot more of Book 3, everything else would slide and in it the momentum lost.

  Sounds like an excuse? It is!

  But if you are interested in what I am talking about, click on the link under ‘The Crazies I follow…’ and select National Novel Writing Month. It is pretty cool but if you want to do this you better get ready for an all out writing bonanza in the month of November. Your fingers will never be the same.   

I Love Rock Star Parking

There is nothing like Rock Star Parking

I love pulling into a massive mall lot where cars are strewn everywhere and as you hunt closer to the front a spot or I should say “the” spot opens just for you. I dunno why but it is a feeling of great accomplishment. Now, all I did was head down the correct lane and show up at the right time and with little effort really. But for this moment, it is my spot! I want to stop everyone as they enter the store and show them MY great spot. Wallow in my success. It is even better if a friend is along so you can show them how things always work out for you. :)

Yeah right!

Isn’t this what it’s all about when it comes to your blog and twitter accounts? Getting the Rock Star Parking where you are in the front and everyone can see you, post you or follow you. I feel like it’s a race to the parking lot and we are all taking different lanes and working to beat each other to the Rock Star Parking twitter space. Yes, I too, am following or driving the same game as I trick out my nifty catch phrases or converse on things others do not, such as Rock Star Parking.

Some days I do feel I get close to the Rock Star Parking when I get a bunch of new followers all at once. It is part of the twitter game just like parking your car at the mall. It is MY spot not yours so excuse my big head as I point out how close I am to the door……just make sure the doors in the front and not the back. DOH!

Have I become the yeller?

Just read my last post and wonder when I became that person who yells at the other person for being a certain way. sigh. could always delete but I am sticking to the rule - once posted it stays. No more yelling and let others be what they want. No matter how wrong they are - BWAHAHAHAHA....... sigh.

Pompous Air Hole or Grateful Monk?

Which one shall it be? What type of writer will you become once the crazy show comes to town and request your participation? I frown upon the first and desire only the second but will my ego drive me to be what I wish not to become???

What the heck am I talking about?

Other writers and their arrogant tone in twitter and blogs! I hold back the vomit sometimes. If you want to follow some wonderful sarcasm on these types of things find these two on Twitter: @EvilWylie and @EmperorFranzen. These 2 accounts deep dive into the arrogant behavior from others, in particular, the writing others. I wait for their Tweets!

Do the others really believe because they are published they deserve to be thought of as intellectuals needing to be bathed in a daily prayer on how great their writing or “work” has become? Or do these others truly believe their intellect is far above us lower folk that we would have a difficult time understanding them?

What created today’s tantrum?

I was reading a blog about how the publishing world has changed drastically because people can do what they want and get a way with it. No one should bind a book without the proper people involved. Again just threw up a bit in my mouth. The proper people?? I did not realize there was such a place in the world of publishing or writing. I thought this is what writing was about; anyone and I mean anyone, may write for others. Even if grammatically they screw up, after some proper training and or schooling, they too may be a genius. Well even after training some may not succeed from a grammar stand point but what they have to say could be worth reading.

Please do not become one of them but instead become a grateful monk who lives in a world of practice and happy to receive whatever hand out they get for their service and time. And give back to the community that is supporting you. Remember, if you bite the hand that feeds you often, it will smack you down.

Okay shaking off the tantrum. Back to being what I am --- Writer.

Keeping the creeps away even though the voices like it!

A MUST HAVE for every writer is some sort of outline. I believe no matter how long the story may be (novel, novelette, short story, comic book, etc…) an outline keeps the creeps away from your well played tale. Now the format or look of said outline is completely up to your own flavor or desire. Here is the crazy behind my method of keeping the creep away.

I begin with a short summary explaining the premise (yes this is seen only by me but it keeps me from falling astray) and from it I create the first bullet or “Points of Light” (PL). A PL is considered “non-moveable” bullet and the information behind it will never be modified, moved or deleted. These PLs allow me to keep the creep away and maintains the story integrity by preventing it from bloating.  I then proceed to allow my mind to create the path the story or characters will follow. These bullets I call “Expendable Light” (EL) and often not, they are moved, deleted, reshaped, restructured and rewritten. This allows my creativity to walk freely between the PLs.

I do not maintain an exact number of PLs as the outline builds BUT once I feel the outline is finished, I cover each bullet and consider its status. This is when I mark it either as a PL or EL. Once it becomes a PL, like I stated prior, it will NEVER change its status. I write from one PL to the other keeping those ELs within thought but allowing a freedom to write.

I will go back and review this outline multiple times a week because as a Fantasy writer those ELs often change page by page. Those silly characters of mine have a mind of their own. They want to do want they want to do until the PL comes along and waves its nasty finger at them, directing the story back to its original path. They hate PLs!

How do I know?

They told me.  (Oh the voices….so many).

To the corner with you bad words.....

No, I am not speaking on those curse words we often use when someone cuts us off in traffic. I am not even talking those words falling close to this line where if you are my children….you understand and live this list. The list I speak on are those words which, when constructed into a sentence, should immediately be removed. The best book I have seen with a starting list for you is Ken Rand’s “The 10% Solution”. It is a link under “Crazy Must Haves”.

When writing, never lean on this list! Write freely and when the editing bug kicks in pull the list out and walk your document in search for these bad children. PULL THEM and restructure the sentence. Believe me you will feel better. Here is my list (again I pulled many of these from Ken Rand’s book so in no way do I take ownership of this idea). Create your list today and live it.

ly <-- any word ending in!

of

that

very

about

by

like

but

self <-- any word ending in!

     

I'm a BookMark Hoarder!

Are Bookmarks like clothes? If you have not used it in a year should you get rid of it? :) I have so many writing bookmarks I could never traverse this vast terrain of garbage to figure out what is helpful and what is wasteful. I wonder how many other crazies have gathered a litany of sites which lead to every type of writing community, marketing bonanza and publishing must haves.....

I may start tagging the names with dates indicating when I bookmarked the site so when they hit a year and I have not clicked on it, off it goes to an archive folder. But how long do I keep it there? I wonder if goodwill takes bookmarks? :)

Yeah it is Friday night and I started to go through my marketing spreadsheet finding several sites listed which drew me to my writing bookmarks. The true sadness behind my madness is before I started to write this I bookmarked three new sites. Bookmarking for me is like befriending everyone on FB or following anyone on Twitter. I CAN'T STOP! I wonder if there is a bookmark support group or a social disorder around us who cannot delete bookmarks never used. You never know when Woot! will have something you may need!

Twitters weekend sales. Must act now.....

  Why the title? :) Because I just popped Twitter open and was instantly barraged with "Read my blog to find the top five no-no's...." and "Click to see what agents don't want to hear" and "Top ten things to do at a book signing". To me each one says (remember use your radio voice) "Friday, Friday, Friday! This Friday, Saturday and Sunday selling bonanza! This weekend only. 20! no 30! no 40% off all items red tagged!"

  Yeah I know I am exaggerating but sometimes the quick twitter tags are more interesting than the post. At least there were a few stating "Hey, I am at my book release party come and stop by if you are here" or "Do not forgot to spread out your character's mischief if writing a series". I prefer it versus the midnight sales pitch. Of course, marketing and catchy lines is what it's all about...right? :) "Getting Close to the Crazy!"

Always improving the flow!

I am always reworking or "rewriting" my stories. I use double quotes around the word rewriting because it is not necessarily rewriting but improving grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and he said, she said structure. Really overall, I am improving the flow so the reader does not get interrupted by the sentence. Yes you can easily be interrupted by the sentence. My biggest pet peeve when reading a book is to be interrupted by the writer because they went, too far, with the he said “followers”. What are the he said “followers”?

            “You’re a bad boy Johnny,” he said with an indignant smile and chagrined chin.

Yes, I have seen this before in a book and it made me gag. I almost put the book down because I already understood the mood of the character and the body language he had on his face. TOO MUCH! I do not always need the scene written after he said something.

 This is also MY biggest worry. Not to feed too much so that the reader is disturbed or even worse, wants to gag! I also do not want the reader to skip lines because they appear to be just "fillers" for the scene. UGH, another bad word but for a different time.

So, if you ever hear me say "I am rewriting chapters" this really means I am working the flow. Hhhmm, maybe I should start saying what I mean. This could help. :)

It's called Focused Writing! Oh look a shinny penny....

I was asked by a friend the other day to explain how I go about writing a novel. How do I stay so focused on each chapter to make sure it fulfills the story? By the time he finished the last sentence my mind had drifted to a penny on the ground as we walked back to the car. I laughed. He asked what was so funny. I answered his question by picking up the penny and saying “shiny!”

I don’t know about the rest of you crazies but this crazy has a hard time staying focused on one chapter at a time. I mean yeah, you have an outline and so the story weaves its way along its string but staying focused on one chapter at a time is impossible. My method so far has been get chapter’s 1 thru 3 completed since this really lays the ground work down for the book than at this point I often drift ahead to a part of the story that is begging to be written. Heck, half the time I have no idea what chapter I am writing all I know is that I am writing. Once I have exhausted this period I scan the outline and inspiration steps in.

I hardly focus! Ok yes I focus on writing and the story but while I am writing a chapter my mind is instantly wandering forward on the new things screaming to get out. Oh and also often floating in reverse to areas wanting and desiring improvement.  :)

So, story focused yes. Chapter focused no. Needing the end to get closer – EVERY DAY! Not to finish it but to get the next novel going.  :)