Sunday, August 28, 2011

Breakage

Nope, I didn't break anything (this time).  What I am doing is backing away from my YA Zombie Apocalypse book to work on the ?3rd? rewrite of my Paranormal Romance novel.  Taking a different stance with the book, though the same characters are in there with the same traits I've learned to love over the past 19 months.  I'm terrified to look back at the beginning attempts, knowing how much suckage must be on the pages.  This was the only book I queried out to agents, and out of the minimal group, I got zero request for more.

Here's to hoping this breakage will detach me from the zombies, so when I do go back I'll be fresh and ready to fight...er edit.  I also hope I can turn some tricks (giggidy) and all the posts, articles, books I've read since starting writing will pay off.

Writers on Writing

http://www.imranwrites.com/ Imran takes us through several things on his blog, from the recent 'Are Beta/Critiques Worth Having?' and then to the editing process he is going through.  You can jump to his post http://www.imranwrites.com/2011/07/24/so-what-is-here/ for a list of useful writing tips he has posted.

http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/forty-five-more-flaws-that-expose-your-lack-of-storytelling-experience-part-1  Yes the site lists editing and prices, however I first reached this blog via a tweet on the post linked.  Click on the blog though, http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog and you won't be upset with the info there.

http://romanceuniversity.org/ I know, not everyone is into the whole romance thing.  However, good articles are there, and a bonus, they show upcoming posts titles.

http://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/ Listing this one a few times.  They do an agent spotlight, and then the helpful posts link on the right, from queries, agents do's and don'ts, and writing tips.

http://marewolf.blogspot.com/   Yeah, great mix of humor as she writes about writing while she's writing.

Agents 2.0

http://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/  spotlights agents (YA, MG, PB)

http://www.1000literaryagents.com/  another list of agents to view.  Basic membership is free.

http://www.authoradvance.com/ a nice large catch all site - lists agents, articles, a blog...free to register.

http://aaronline.org/Find  Association of Authors' Representatives.  A listing of 466 agents

Critique

Critique Partners
http://notaneditor.blogspot.com/p/looking-for-critique-partner.html

Query Critique

http://queryshark.blogspot.com/

http://misssnark.blogspot.com/ (not active since 2007, however still listed are the critiques and a must read)


Six Sentence Sunday 5


Welcome first time and repeat readers!  My fifth #sixsunday contribution is below, with the stories previous first, second, third and fourth stored safely. 

“Crystal,” I announced to the car.
“You’re talking to yourself again, kid.”
I pet the dog at my feet, “I want to call her Crystal.  Ok girl, you are Crystal.”  Cindy did not ask why since she heard my story already.  Crystal was my sister.

I love the comments and look forward to your thoughts.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

What would you do?

On Twitter today, a message catches my eye.  It was an agent saying they witnessed a 5 year old girl steal a candy bar.  What would you do?  Many responses mention saying something to the child or the mother there, possibly even paying for the bar after the girl left.  My response...

Go home, figure out some paranormal romance aspect to bring the mother of the child and the store owner together and write it out

I know that is not the girl scout answer I would give ten to thirteen years ago.  I believe my writing evolution is corrupting me to think of the world as a story.  I take what I see, twist it around as needed for a plot that will fit my desire.  And yes, I'm totally creating a new document file and putting the ideas that came to mind after thinking about that plot.  Story Idea #15.

Am I the only one?

Six Sentence Sunday 4




Welcome back to my WIP I’m now editing: A Girl, Her Dog, and the Zombies. You can find my #sixsunday samples here for the first, second, third posts and below is the fourth...


As the crackers fell to the ground, the dog sprung into action and ate every crumb.
Tears welled in my eyes, “She’s eating it.” I kept the bat on my shoulder and used my left hand to drop the rest of the crackers. As the dog ate, I walked around her. There was some dirt and mud, but no wounds. “Damn girl, where are all your brothers and sisters?”


Ok everyone, comment away!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

What?

Character Accents
http://www.soyouwanna.com/soyouwanna-speak-irish-accent-1632.html  It is as it says, trying to help one speak with an Irish accent.


Dialogue
http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com/2009/04/she-said-he-said.html A blog of example - written in dialogue format to prove its point.


The Ten Commandments of Dialogue - Part One & Ten Commandments of Dialogue - Part Two Marewolf's blog on conversations.


Secret Squirrel Writers Club

General Writer Hangouts
http://www.writerspace.com/ I will admit, this site is on my to-do list for more time.  It has chatrooms, blogs, contests, reviews, newsletters, and authors with spotlights.

http://querytracker.net/index.php Yes it is a query site, but there are forums (groups) with good info

http://writeoncon.com/ a Forum writer's conference focused on picture book, middle grade and YA writers.

https://plus.google.com/  lots of writers are popping up on Goggle+ each day

http://www.rwa.org/  for you romantics out there Romance Writers of America

http://www.sfwa.org/ Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America

http://www.mysterywriters.org/  Mystery Writers of America - Wonder how many answers you would get at a meeting when asking who done it.

http://www.horror.org/  Horror Writers Association

http://absolutewrite.com/ seems like a good site, haven't spent much time here yet, but I will.

Helpful Literary Agent Websites

http://www.lizadawsonassociates.com/faqs.html The FAQ has some great info about queries & other general questions

http://www.knightagency.net/ Two places I enjoy on their website – the Manuscript Submissions page and at the very bottom, you will find several links for approaching an agent, what to look for, writing a query, FAQ, etc.  They also have a newsletter and while that is filled with their authors’ interview, new books, they also have an agent roundtable, and the watercooler that is good to keep an eye on.

Agents & Agency Blog sites

http://knightagency.blogspot.com/  some good posts, some contests and links to three of their agent’s blogs.

http://nepheletempest.wordpress.com/ Home to Nephele Tempest from The Knight Agency

http://luciennediverauthor.wordpress.com/  Home to Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/ Bookends, LLC Literary Agency - good posts & helpful info

Query Helpers

http://querytracker.net/index.php Let’s see, a free site where I can log in, keep track of all my queries, find up to date information, and be able to see what other people find about the individual?  Sign me up!  Oh wait, already there ;)

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/ Bookends, LLC blog and each Wednesday they take at random a query - project is called Workshop Wednesday.

Stuck?

Reference
http://dictionary.reference.com/ Goes without saying since I’m not the best spellerer out there :D (yeah, that one was on purpose).

http://thesaurus.com/ Same site as the one above, just a direct link to the thesaurus part.  Don’t bother to look up undead – no results found.

http://fantasyparanormalthesaurus.blogspot.com/ An un-shameful plug for the other blog site I started with Jynnipher thanks to the above thesaurus not having undead.  It will be a constant work in progress so send any comments to have words added.

http://random-name-generator.info/ No clue who made this site, but I like it.  There are several other sites similar out there but this one just stuck with me.  I like the lists of male & female first names.  It is helpful when you realize you want a name with a particular first letter.

http://www.darkerotica.net/EroticThesaurus.html You know it - Erotic Thesaurus, though it has words that will not make you blush unless you are already in that mindset.

http://www.literotica.com/s/erotic-synonyms For when the clinical term just won’t do.

http://www.sex-lexis.com/ Do not let the name fool you, this is a ‘Dictionary of Sexual Terms and Expressions’.  Have fun my romance peeps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_superhuman_features_and_abilities_in_fiction Yes, it is wiki and I do have this list saved.  Not a bad list of powers that can be used for paranormal, sci fi and fantasy types.

Make Yourself Known

Sharing your information

https://docs.google.com  Sure most people won’t think about this, but if you have a group of trusted peeps you want to offer them your book to read, but do not want to send an actual file, you can use the lovely Google docs to share.

http://twitter.com/ Lots of people on here, and many that send out multiple helpful links.  Take with a grain of salt and refer HERE to my twitter post.

http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/ Yes it has not been updated in a while, yet it has great hints and tips for code.  It saved my arse when I could not remember.

http://www.sixsunday.com/  Check out the FAX and About section before or after you click on the list of participants.  An idea by a writer with three other participants went into for a quick sample of their work.  Each Sunday head here after 9am and you will find a list of participants and links to their six (I’ll be listed under Laura the Jane if I have a post that week).

Word Count

http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-word-counts-and-novel-length.html Awesome with a side of awesomesauce.  Colleen Lindsay's blog and a general info listing different genre's and 'usual' word count. I refer to this site often, though the numbers don't change.

Here & not Gone, Back Again for now

Whoopsie, my blood pressure was too high and they cancelled my surgery.  Oops?  lol.  Best part was when the hospital's auto bp machine wigged out...got red marks on my right arm which are not going away after 13 hours.  The track marks on both arms combined with my overweight body must make me look like a broke ass junky who spent her money on mac & cheese instead of her 8ball.

Once my bp is stabilized (yeah meds), then we'll go attempt 2 on the surgery.  Until that time, it shall be #amwriting time.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Here and Gone Again, the tale of Laura the Jane

Hello all!  Just a quick post since I'll be AFK starting Friday.  Having carpal tunnel surgery on both arms and I will be back as soon as I can.  I am still signed up for #6sunday snippet (woohoo blogger time schedule option) and will be working/thinking how to post my writer's links.  Will be trying to utilize the new 'Links of Interest' section on the left and think how to incorporate my writer's links with it.  I'm also going to be thinking about my YA book and the other story-lines rolling in my head


Monday, August 15, 2011

Holy crap, I'm in love

Yes hubby, I luuuvvvve you.  But this post is referring to a chick.  I don't remember what I was Googleing today, but all I can recall is coming across this one link, and it had me cracking up.  Marewolf is blogging about writing as she's writing.  A must read, not only for the humor but the helpful hints.

The Ten Commandments of Beginnings PART ONE!

Ten Commandments of Beginnings, Part Deux

The First Plot Point aka the Doorway of DOOM!

Inciting What? such classy stuff there

Before continuing, she detours us to She Said, He Said at Kiersten Writes

The Ten Commandments of Dialogue - Part One 

Ten Commandments of Dialogue - Part Two

So, you've written the beginning of a novel - good for you!  Now what?

Tips for Sludging through the Middle

Quick and Dirty tip on Characters

Grrr...arg... editing

Ten Commandments of Creating Effective Scenes Part One & Ten Commandments of Creating Effective Scenes...part two!  the names says it all

What I'm Doing Right Now all about the plotting

What Kind of Writer Are You, Anyways? Marewolf goes into writing styles

Transitions (not to be confused with transvestites...) getting the story to move along

Writers Block:  Or How I learned to Stop Whining and Embrace the Pain there was no way I could avoid the post titles - awesome stuff

Delayed Gratification and Making It Work For You good stuff about keeping the reader's hooked to the end - mostly about romance but it will get the point across to any genre

Raising the Stakes (not the pointy kind...) the 'why do our characters do what they do'

Ten Commandments of Creating Characters Who Don't Totally Suck (my fav is #4 with the puppy comment)

The Downward Spiral and the Second Plot Point

And in the End... we are almost there!!!

The 8 Stages of Drafting total lmao stages of when the first draft is done.

Revisiting.  Rewriting.  Revision part the one.  THE BIG STUFF!!! 

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Six Sentence Sunday 8 14

Welcome back to my Six Sunday post, all due to http://www.sixsunday.com/ twitter #sixsunday.  This is my third post and the first two you can find scrolling on my home page.  The first 6 talked a little about the world and how our heroine has to avoid zombies, unless she has the ketchup and mustard bottles ready for them.  The second 6 has some tension as Cindy and our heroine came across a dog.  The following 6 continues right where last week's left off...


“I’ve never seen a dog.”
“Me either,” I said.
“Well shit.  Is that what you saw moving?”
“Not sure, maybe.”
I grabbed the bat and Cindy began to cry, “Don’t you kill that poor thing!”



The working title for my YA WIP is A Girl, Her Dog, and the Zombies.  I hope you enjoyed this six.  Come back next week because I will have another offering for the #sixsunday crowd and perhaps I'll reveal what happens with the dog and our heroine (if you can't gather from the working title).

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Six Sentence Sunday 8 7

Welcome back to my second http://www.sixsunday.com/ twitter #sixsunday post.  Last week's six can be found here.  This is from my current YA work in progress.


Cindy eventually cursed me for seeing nothing as she started to move the car slowly.  I was half out of my seat looking through the back window when she screamed.  I turned back to see a dog sitting on the side of the road.


We were speechless, and the poor thing was so skinny.  The dog was white with a cow type of black spots though there was some brown down her legs.  She was tall and looked like a hound, just not the typical basset.

Thank you everyone for stopping by.  I plan to post again next week and perhaps I will offer up the tentative title.  I love your feedback and comments, the good and bad, just don’t be snarky ;).