Showing posts with label More Writing Stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label More Writing Stuff. Show all posts
10/5/10
Meet Emily Rodmell
My Steeple Hill editor is over on Seekerville today as a guest blogger. Skip on over there to hear about what it's like being an editor, what catches her eye, and some tips for writers, both published and unpublished. Double Take also gets a mention or two, so that's always cool. :-) Check it out here.
9/9/10
Not Your Typical Car-acter
Hop on over to the MBT Ponderers blog to read my post about characters...and see a picture of my old purple car. :-)
5/17/10
First Lines 3
As you know, I tried my hand at writing bad poetry...again. I didn't even get a mention this time. I'm not sure if I'm offended or relieved. The winner was just lovely, along with many other entries. Check them out on Chip's blog if you haven't already!
There's another "worst of" contest that I have not entered, but it looks like a lot of fun. It's called the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, and I believe it was begun the year I was born. Please tell me that's not a sign...Anyway, for the contest, you submit a horrible first line for a novel. (Your own, of course. You don't want to get an author angry at you. Trust me.) Here are a few of the winners from over the past 20 years or so. Are you ready for this?
1. The bone-chilling scream split the warm summer night in two, the first half being before the scream when it was fairly balmy and calm and pleasant for those who hadn't heard the scream at all, but not calm or balmy or even very nice for those who did hear the scream, discounting the little period of time during the actual scream itself when your ears might have been hearing it but your brain wasn't reacting yet to let you know.
--Patricia E. Presutti
2. "Ace, watch your head!" hissed Wanda urgently, yet somehow provocatively, through red, full, sensuous lips, but he couldn't you know, since nobody can actually watch more than part of his nose or a little cheek or lips if he really tries, but he appreciated her warning.
--Janice Estey
3. The moment he laid eyes on the lifeless body of the nude socialite sprawled across the bathroom floor, Detective Leary knew she had committed suicide by grasping the cap on the tamper-proof bottle, pushing down and twisting while she kept her thumb firmly pressed against the spot the arrow pointed to, until she hit the exact spot where the tab clicks into place, allowing her to remove the cap and swallow the entire contents of the bottle, thus ending her life. --Artie Kalemeris
4. A small assortment of astonishingly loud brass instruments raced each other lustily to the respective ends of their distinct musical choices as the gates flew open to release a torrent of tawny fur comprised of angry yapping bullets that nipped at Desdemona's ankles, causing her to reflect once again (as blood filled her sneakers and she fought her way through the panicking crowd) that the annual Running of the Pomeranians in Liechtenstein was a stupid idea.
--Sera Kirk
5. On reflection, Angela perceived that her relationship with Tom had always been rocky, not quite a roller-coaster ride but more like when the toilet-paper roll gets a little squashed so it hangs crooked and every time you pull some off you can hear the rest going bumpity-bumpity in its holder until you go nuts and push it back into shape, a degree of annoyance that Angela had now almost attained.
--Rephah Berg
6. Gerald began--but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them "permanently" meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash--to pee.
--Jim Gleeson
7. The corpse exuded the irresistible aroma of a piquant, ancho chili glaze enticingly enhanced with a hint of fresh cilantro as it lay before him, coyly garnished by a garland of variegated radicchio and caramelized onions, and impishly drizzled with glistening rivulets of vintage balsamic vinegar and roasted garlic oil; yes, as he surveyed the body of the slain food critic slumped on the floor of the cozy, but nearly empty, bistro, a quick inventory of his senses told corpulent Inspector Moreau that this was, in all likelihood, an inside job.
--Bob Perry
8. Dolores breezed along the surface of her life like a flat stone forever skipping across smooth water, rippling reality sporadically but oblivious to it consistently, until she finally lost momentum, sank, due to an overdose of fluoride as a child which caused her to lie forever on the floor of her life as useless as an appendix and as lonely as a five-hundred-pound barbell in a steroid-free fitness center.
--Linda Vernon
Okay, I have to say this next one I cringe to paste onto my blog. I actually deleted it. Then put it back on, because it was so horribly bad that I guess it deserves it's place here. Right? Brace yourself. I apologize in advance...
9. Professor Frobisher couldn't believe he had missed seeing it for so long--it was, after all, right there under his nose--but in all his years of research into the intricate and mysterious ways of the universe, he had never noticed that the freckles on his upper lip, just below and to the left of the nostril, partially hidden until now by a hairy mole he had just removed a week before, exactly matched the pattern of the stars in the Pleides, down to the angry red zit that had just popped up where he and his colleagues had only today discovered an exploding nova.
--Ray C. Gainey
(Still cringing...) I know, I know. Painful, eh? But you know you want to try it. :-) So stay tuned--I just may host my own bad first lines contest soon!
There's another "worst of" contest that I have not entered, but it looks like a lot of fun. It's called the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, and I believe it was begun the year I was born. Please tell me that's not a sign...Anyway, for the contest, you submit a horrible first line for a novel. (Your own, of course. You don't want to get an author angry at you. Trust me.) Here are a few of the winners from over the past 20 years or so. Are you ready for this?
1. The bone-chilling scream split the warm summer night in two, the first half being before the scream when it was fairly balmy and calm and pleasant for those who hadn't heard the scream at all, but not calm or balmy or even very nice for those who did hear the scream, discounting the little period of time during the actual scream itself when your ears might have been hearing it but your brain wasn't reacting yet to let you know.
--Patricia E. Presutti
2. "Ace, watch your head!" hissed Wanda urgently, yet somehow provocatively, through red, full, sensuous lips, but he couldn't you know, since nobody can actually watch more than part of his nose or a little cheek or lips if he really tries, but he appreciated her warning.
--Janice Estey
3. The moment he laid eyes on the lifeless body of the nude socialite sprawled across the bathroom floor, Detective Leary knew she had committed suicide by grasping the cap on the tamper-proof bottle, pushing down and twisting while she kept her thumb firmly pressed against the spot the arrow pointed to, until she hit the exact spot where the tab clicks into place, allowing her to remove the cap and swallow the entire contents of the bottle, thus ending her life. --Artie Kalemeris
4. A small assortment of astonishingly loud brass instruments raced each other lustily to the respective ends of their distinct musical choices as the gates flew open to release a torrent of tawny fur comprised of angry yapping bullets that nipped at Desdemona's ankles, causing her to reflect once again (as blood filled her sneakers and she fought her way through the panicking crowd) that the annual Running of the Pomeranians in Liechtenstein was a stupid idea.
--Sera Kirk
5. On reflection, Angela perceived that her relationship with Tom had always been rocky, not quite a roller-coaster ride but more like when the toilet-paper roll gets a little squashed so it hangs crooked and every time you pull some off you can hear the rest going bumpity-bumpity in its holder until you go nuts and push it back into shape, a degree of annoyance that Angela had now almost attained.
--Rephah Berg
6. Gerald began--but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them "permanently" meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash--to pee.
--Jim Gleeson
7. The corpse exuded the irresistible aroma of a piquant, ancho chili glaze enticingly enhanced with a hint of fresh cilantro as it lay before him, coyly garnished by a garland of variegated radicchio and caramelized onions, and impishly drizzled with glistening rivulets of vintage balsamic vinegar and roasted garlic oil; yes, as he surveyed the body of the slain food critic slumped on the floor of the cozy, but nearly empty, bistro, a quick inventory of his senses told corpulent Inspector Moreau that this was, in all likelihood, an inside job.
--Bob Perry
8. Dolores breezed along the surface of her life like a flat stone forever skipping across smooth water, rippling reality sporadically but oblivious to it consistently, until she finally lost momentum, sank, due to an overdose of fluoride as a child which caused her to lie forever on the floor of her life as useless as an appendix and as lonely as a five-hundred-pound barbell in a steroid-free fitness center.
--Linda Vernon
Okay, I have to say this next one I cringe to paste onto my blog. I actually deleted it. Then put it back on, because it was so horribly bad that I guess it deserves it's place here. Right? Brace yourself. I apologize in advance...
9. Professor Frobisher couldn't believe he had missed seeing it for so long--it was, after all, right there under his nose--but in all his years of research into the intricate and mysterious ways of the universe, he had never noticed that the freckles on his upper lip, just below and to the left of the nostril, partially hidden until now by a hairy mole he had just removed a week before, exactly matched the pattern of the stars in the Pleides, down to the angry red zit that had just popped up where he and his colleagues had only today discovered an exploding nova.
--Ray C. Gainey
(Still cringing...) I know, I know. Painful, eh? But you know you want to try it. :-) So stay tuned--I just may host my own bad first lines contest soon!
5/13/10
First Lines 2
Still talking about first lines, here. I looked through my bookshelf and picked out a dozen first lines. You like?
1. The first time it happened, I had pins sticking in my back.
~ from Leaper by Geoffrey Wood
2. It was raining the night he found me.
~from Demon: A Memoir by Tosca Lee
3. The blow came like the torrent below, hard and swift and unexpected.
~ from Freefall by Kristen Heitzmann
4. PJ Sugar had been born to sneak up on people.
~ from Double Trouble by Susan May Warren
5. The past couldn't have picked a worse time to find her.
~ from Flee the Night by Susan May Warren
6. Ten years ago I was a dead man.
~ from Scared by Tom Davis
7. Whistling a tune from Fiddler on the Roof, I used my tweezers to work a piece of Gloria Cunningham's skull out of the sky blue wall.
~ from Hazardous Duty by Christy Barritt
8. My thighs were at it again.
~ from Dreaming in Black and White by Laura Jensen Walker
9. Five months ago I raised Gary and Mary Andrews from the dead.
~ from Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson
10. On Monday, I uncovered a drug ring in South Minneapolis.
~ from Symphony of Secrets by Sharon Hinck
11. Bad hair ruined my life.
~ from She's All That by Kristin Billerbeck
12. Kate O'Malley had been in the dungeon since dawn.
~ from The Negotiator by Dee Henderson
What are some favorites from your shelf?
1. The first time it happened, I had pins sticking in my back.
~ from Leaper by Geoffrey Wood
2. It was raining the night he found me.
~from Demon: A Memoir by Tosca Lee
3. The blow came like the torrent below, hard and swift and unexpected.
~ from Freefall by Kristen Heitzmann
4. PJ Sugar had been born to sneak up on people.
~ from Double Trouble by Susan May Warren
5. The past couldn't have picked a worse time to find her.
~ from Flee the Night by Susan May Warren
6. Ten years ago I was a dead man.
~ from Scared by Tom Davis
7. Whistling a tune from Fiddler on the Roof, I used my tweezers to work a piece of Gloria Cunningham's skull out of the sky blue wall.
~ from Hazardous Duty by Christy Barritt
8. My thighs were at it again.
~ from Dreaming in Black and White by Laura Jensen Walker
9. Five months ago I raised Gary and Mary Andrews from the dead.
~ from Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson
10. On Monday, I uncovered a drug ring in South Minneapolis.
~ from Symphony of Secrets by Sharon Hinck
11. Bad hair ruined my life.
~ from She's All That by Kristin Billerbeck
12. Kate O'Malley had been in the dungeon since dawn.
~ from The Negotiator by Dee Henderson
What are some favorites from your shelf?
5/10/10
First Lines
The first lines of a story are often the hardest to write. Many times the first paragraph in a published novel are last words the author writes. They come back to it. Tweak it. Move sentences around. Cut paragraphs. Spend way too much time on it, trying to find the magic formula to draw the reader in.
It can be a tricky balance--you need to be interesting enough to keep them reading, but you also need to make sure they get enough information up front that they're not totally lost as to what's happening to who and where and why. It needs to set the tone for the story. Witty? Serious? Thoughtful? Suspenseful? Maybe even the time period and the setting. Or maybe just create enough of a "huh?" moment that they have to keep reading to find out what you meant.
No wonder I like to skip this part.
Here are some "official" greatest first lines, compiled by some literary group.
1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
~ from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, of course.
2. Call me Ishmael.
~ from Moby Dick by Herman Melville
3. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
~ from 1984 by George Orwell
4. It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.
~ from City of Glass by Paul Auster
5. They shoot the white girl first.
~ from Paradise by Toni Morrison
6. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
~ from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
7. Most really pretty girls have pretty ugly feet, and so does Mindy Metalman, Lenore notices, all of a sudden.
~ from The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
8. Granted: I am an inmate of a mental hospital; my keeper is watching me, he never lets me out of his sight; there's a peephole in the door, and my keeper's eye is the shade of brown that can never see through a blue-eyed type like me.
~ from The Tin Drum by G nter Grass
9. Vaughan died yesterday in his last car-crash.
~ from Crash by J.G. Ballard
10. Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women.
~ from Middle Passage by Charles Johnson
Do you agree with this selection? Do they make you want to keep reading? Which one do you like best?
It can be a tricky balance--you need to be interesting enough to keep them reading, but you also need to make sure they get enough information up front that they're not totally lost as to what's happening to who and where and why. It needs to set the tone for the story. Witty? Serious? Thoughtful? Suspenseful? Maybe even the time period and the setting. Or maybe just create enough of a "huh?" moment that they have to keep reading to find out what you meant.
No wonder I like to skip this part.
Here are some "official" greatest first lines, compiled by some literary group.
1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
~ from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, of course.
2. Call me Ishmael.
~ from Moby Dick by Herman Melville
3. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
~ from 1984 by George Orwell
4. It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.
~ from City of Glass by Paul Auster
5. They shoot the white girl first.
~ from Paradise by Toni Morrison
6. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
~ from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
7. Most really pretty girls have pretty ugly feet, and so does Mindy Metalman, Lenore notices, all of a sudden.
~ from The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
8. Granted: I am an inmate of a mental hospital; my keeper is watching me, he never lets me out of his sight; there's a peephole in the door, and my keeper's eye is the shade of brown that can never see through a blue-eyed type like me.
~ from The Tin Drum by G nter Grass
9. Vaughan died yesterday in his last car-crash.
~ from Crash by J.G. Ballard
10. Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women.
~ from Middle Passage by Charles Johnson
Do you agree with this selection? Do they make you want to keep reading? Which one do you like best?
4/19/10
Survey
When I first started pursuing publication, it was in the form of short stories. I knew I wanted to write novels someday, and had started quite a few (mostly melodramatic Western stories of epic proportion), but short stories was the way to go to learn the ropes.
I still like wading through the Writers Market books. Fascinating stuff. All the possibilities, all the magazines just waiting to send me a rejection letter. For the record, I did make it in two magazines, and two more were pretty close. Oh, and I was in two more in addition to those, but they were freebies, so I'm not sure they count. :-)
But over the years, there were fewer and fewer adult magazines asking for fiction, especially romance. It's hard to sell short stories--to magazines or as a collection for a book.
I'm curious why you think that is. Our attention spans are supposedly getting shorter. We're supposed to write tighter--no long descriptions or story build-up. We want snappy dialogue, want to dive right into the action. So why the demise of the short story? Or is everyone reading them online?
So now I decided to take a poll. If you had your preference, would you pick up a really good collection of short stories (in a magazine or book--whatever), or would you choose a novel? And why?
And if you leave a comment to tell me your opinion (here or on facebook), then I'll put your name in a drawing for a rather different prize: a copy of GRIT magazine from years ago, containing my very first published piece. Hey, if you don't want to read about the matchmaker, you can always read about tractors or something. :-)
P.S. Last time I checked, GRIT didn't do short stories anymore, either.
I still like wading through the Writers Market books. Fascinating stuff. All the possibilities, all the magazines just waiting to send me a rejection letter. For the record, I did make it in two magazines, and two more were pretty close. Oh, and I was in two more in addition to those, but they were freebies, so I'm not sure they count. :-)
But over the years, there were fewer and fewer adult magazines asking for fiction, especially romance. It's hard to sell short stories--to magazines or as a collection for a book.
I'm curious why you think that is. Our attention spans are supposedly getting shorter. We're supposed to write tighter--no long descriptions or story build-up. We want snappy dialogue, want to dive right into the action. So why the demise of the short story? Or is everyone reading them online?
So now I decided to take a poll. If you had your preference, would you pick up a really good collection of short stories (in a magazine or book--whatever), or would you choose a novel? And why?
And if you leave a comment to tell me your opinion (here or on facebook), then I'll put your name in a drawing for a rather different prize: a copy of GRIT magazine from years ago, containing my very first published piece. Hey, if you don't want to read about the matchmaker, you can always read about tractors or something. :-)
P.S. Last time I checked, GRIT didn't do short stories anymore, either.
3/16/10
Trash?
Someone left a comment on my soap box blog entry a while back, asking whether I would say whether there are novels that I consider trash.
I hadn't forgotten about it, and I wasn't avoiding the question. I just wanted to think a while before answering. (And, of course, I'm a bad blogger. hehehe) So here are some of my thoughts on that.
As a novelist, I know how much time and blood and sweat and tears and hair-pulling goes into writing a book. To actually finish a book is an accomplishment, no matter how badly written. So I'm not sure I would use the word "trash" to describe another book. Many books published by secular publishing houses still have many great qualities. Justice. Hope. Beautiful stories of life and love and values and patriotism and a bunch of other wonderful things.
Insert a BIG "however" here. There are many novels filled with things that should not be read. Some that leave you with a feeling of darkness or hopelessness, that put foul language into your head, that give a scewed view of love, etc. Words have power. Stories can have an influence on the way you look at things. So I do think you should be very careful what you read, because some novels are full of trash...
Whether or not that makes them trash is up to you. Just don't dump every novel into the same garbage heap, please. :-)
I hadn't forgotten about it, and I wasn't avoiding the question. I just wanted to think a while before answering. (And, of course, I'm a bad blogger. hehehe) So here are some of my thoughts on that.
As a novelist, I know how much time and blood and sweat and tears and hair-pulling goes into writing a book. To actually finish a book is an accomplishment, no matter how badly written. So I'm not sure I would use the word "trash" to describe another book. Many books published by secular publishing houses still have many great qualities. Justice. Hope. Beautiful stories of life and love and values and patriotism and a bunch of other wonderful things.
Insert a BIG "however" here. There are many novels filled with things that should not be read. Some that leave you with a feeling of darkness or hopelessness, that put foul language into your head, that give a scewed view of love, etc. Words have power. Stories can have an influence on the way you look at things. So I do think you should be very careful what you read, because some novels are full of trash...
Whether or not that makes them trash is up to you. Just don't dump every novel into the same garbage heap, please. :-)
3/1/10
March Madness
Some writing friends have decided to do a March version of NaNoWriMo. (Which is the National Novel Writing Month, in November, just in case you didn't know. There. Don't you feel educated?) So this month we are picking our own word count goal and are going to try to do it all in one month. A few are finishing up manuscripts. Some are going to try to write from beginning to end.
This can be partially blamed on the NaNoWriMo thing, and the fact that many of us are too busy in November to concentrate on cranking out 50k words. But mostly we can blame Susan May Warren. The Writing Maniac. Seriously. She sat us down at dinner during a My Book Therapy Retreat and proceeded to tell us how to write a 60k (the equivalent of a Steeple Hill) book not in a month, but in 10 days. Write and edit, no less. Ready for submission. And it wasn't just a theory. She actually did it at least once. Think about that. That's Double Take and a few thousand extra words. In ten days. I won't tell you how long it took me to write it...
Anyway, so that's one reason we're doing this. We're going to try out her 10 day model...and stretch it into 30 days because we're wussies who like to get on Facebook every once in a while. :-) But I am taking steps to get ready for this. I'm blogging ahead of time so that I have something to post, since I am still trying to be a better blogger. (Hey! I saw you snicker. Take it back!)
So, my own version of March Madness is...well, I have two different goals. Some of you may be aware I sent in another submission to my editor a while back. Well, it got lost in the mail, so I still haven't heard back. I've decided that was a good thing, because I got a horrible cold which crashed my brain for about a week. Plus I attended a writing retreat. So if the novel had been accepted and I was on a tight deadline for revisions, well, that would have been a bad thing. So that's my way at looking at the bright side of things. If you have a dissenting opinion, keep it to yourself. :-)
Anyway, back to the goals. If my editor accepts the story, my goal will be 30k words on Brogan's story, plus whatever revisions I have to do on the submitted manuscript. If I don't hear back in March, or if they aren't interested in publishing it, then my goal on Brogan's story is 50k words. Which should be ALMOST enough to type The End.
Don't hold your breath.
But don't be offended if I don't call or email you, either. :-)
This can be partially blamed on the NaNoWriMo thing, and the fact that many of us are too busy in November to concentrate on cranking out 50k words. But mostly we can blame Susan May Warren. The Writing Maniac. Seriously. She sat us down at dinner during a My Book Therapy Retreat and proceeded to tell us how to write a 60k (the equivalent of a Steeple Hill) book not in a month, but in 10 days. Write and edit, no less. Ready for submission. And it wasn't just a theory. She actually did it at least once. Think about that. That's Double Take and a few thousand extra words. In ten days. I won't tell you how long it took me to write it...
Anyway, so that's one reason we're doing this. We're going to try out her 10 day model...and stretch it into 30 days because we're wussies who like to get on Facebook every once in a while. :-) But I am taking steps to get ready for this. I'm blogging ahead of time so that I have something to post, since I am still trying to be a better blogger. (Hey! I saw you snicker. Take it back!)
So, my own version of March Madness is...well, I have two different goals. Some of you may be aware I sent in another submission to my editor a while back. Well, it got lost in the mail, so I still haven't heard back. I've decided that was a good thing, because I got a horrible cold which crashed my brain for about a week. Plus I attended a writing retreat. So if the novel had been accepted and I was on a tight deadline for revisions, well, that would have been a bad thing. So that's my way at looking at the bright side of things. If you have a dissenting opinion, keep it to yourself. :-)
Anyway, back to the goals. If my editor accepts the story, my goal will be 30k words on Brogan's story, plus whatever revisions I have to do on the submitted manuscript. If I don't hear back in March, or if they aren't interested in publishing it, then my goal on Brogan's story is 50k words. Which should be ALMOST enough to type The End.
Don't hold your breath.
But don't be offended if I don't call or email you, either. :-)
1/4/10
My World
I just had a moment that showed me once again how pathetic, how out of touch, a writer can be. I'm sitting here, reworking a scene. Hear the mailman pull up and stop at our mailbox. And wonder if the package my hero is waiting for has just arrived...
12/9/09
A Merry Little Christmas Gift
Well, I got an early Christmas present yesterday. My editor sent me an email with an attached list of nominees for the annual RT Book Reviews Reviewers' Choice Awards. And Double Take just happens to be on it...twice. :-) Double Take was nominated for best Love Inspired Suspense and also best First Series Romance. The winners will be announced in the June edition of RT Book Reviews magazine, as well as at their Booklovers Convention in April.
Just thought I'd share. Aren't you glad I got nominated so I'd actually post a new blog entry???? Ha. I'm going to blame my current bad-blogger streak on the busiest time of the year...but ya'll know better, don't you?
Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas season!
Just thought I'd share. Aren't you glad I got nominated so I'd actually post a new blog entry???? Ha. I'm going to blame my current bad-blogger streak on the busiest time of the year...but ya'll know better, don't you?
Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas season!
10/5/09
Blog Tour Begins
My first interview was posted today. Check it out at http://romancewritersonthejourney.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/debut-author-jenness-walker-returns/ and leave a comment to win something!
9/29/09
And The Winner Is...
Okay, folks, I'm ready to do my second giveaway! And the lucky person to receive a book this time is:
Texaswriter! Congrats!
I'm going to have more giveaways soon, so stay tuned!
Texaswriter! Congrats!
I'm going to have more giveaways soon, so stay tuned!
8/31/09
And The Winner Is...
Okay, tonight I'm drawing one name from my list of newletter subscribers. Next time I'll do two. But for now, the lucky person to get a sneak-peak at Double Take is...
(drumroll)
(can you feel the tension?)
(are you getting excited yet?)
(does it feel like you're watching one of those elimination reality shows?)
(could it be YOUR email address I pick out of the proverbial hat?)
(does anyone else hate the word proverbial?)
(no, I do not have adhd.)
(what was I talking about?)
Thanks for reading my blog. Have a great week!
Okay, just kidding. The winner is: jmp4l4cios!!!! Congrats. You just won a free book! I'll be emailing you for your mailing address.
Everyone else, I have another drawing coming up soon, so stay tuned and get your friends to subscribe. :-)
(drumroll)
(can you feel the tension?)
(are you getting excited yet?)
(does it feel like you're watching one of those elimination reality shows?)
(could it be YOUR email address I pick out of the proverbial hat?)
(does anyone else hate the word proverbial?)
(no, I do not have adhd.)
(what was I talking about?)
Thanks for reading my blog. Have a great week!
Okay, just kidding. The winner is: jmp4l4cios!!!! Congrats. You just won a free book! I'll be emailing you for your mailing address.
Everyone else, I have another drawing coming up soon, so stay tuned and get your friends to subscribe. :-)
8/30/09
The Critic's Take
This just in...The dreaded yet much-anticipated day has come. My husband finished reading my book. :-) He's been reading it on the sly when I'm not at home, and Saturday he finished. I didn't believe him. I quizzed him on a scene I knew I hadn't talked about before. He got it right, and gave me more details. Still didn't believe him, but it's true.
Jason read Double Take. All the way through.
He doesn't read romance. He doesn't read fiction, period. If he's going to take the time to read a book, it's going to be something he learns from - about leadership, computers, marketing, and God. But he promised that when one of my stories made it to actual book format, he'd read it.
Well, Double Take has a couple computers in it. I'm trying to do some marketing to sell the book. And it's got God. So... ;-) It must have had enough of something in it, anyway, because he finished it.
His comments: "I got a little frustrated at you because I couldn't find a good spot to put it down. Things kept happening." "There were times when I forgot I was reading something written by my wife." And, from his Twitter account, "I am impressed!!"
I still don't think he's going to make a habit of reading romantic suspense. In fact, he took it to work one day to read on his break, but ended up hiding it. lol. So his masculinity is still secure. But my most feared critic did read my book and he didn't hate it. He still loves me. And I didn't even know he was reading it. Gotta love the guy. :-)
Jason read Double Take. All the way through.
He doesn't read romance. He doesn't read fiction, period. If he's going to take the time to read a book, it's going to be something he learns from - about leadership, computers, marketing, and God. But he promised that when one of my stories made it to actual book format, he'd read it.
Well, Double Take has a couple computers in it. I'm trying to do some marketing to sell the book. And it's got God. So... ;-) It must have had enough of something in it, anyway, because he finished it.
His comments: "I got a little frustrated at you because I couldn't find a good spot to put it down. Things kept happening." "There were times when I forgot I was reading something written by my wife." And, from his Twitter account, "I am impressed!!"
I still don't think he's going to make a habit of reading romantic suspense. In fact, he took it to work one day to read on his break, but ended up hiding it. lol. So his masculinity is still secure. But my most feared critic did read my book and he didn't hate it. He still loves me. And I didn't even know he was reading it. Gotta love the guy. :-)
8/21/09
My New Best Friend
Come to find out, I've been wrong about when the Steeple Hill book club members receive their books. Instead of getting Double Take one month ahead of my book hitting the shelves, it appears they get it a full TWO months in advance. So Wednesday I was surprised to find an email waiting for me from a reader. (Sign up for my newsletter if you want to know what she said. And if you want to know how to win a free book. Yes. It's called bribery.) It was a nice note and such a great encouragement. Someone other than my mom likes my book! :-)
Then I met my new best friend. lol. Her online name is Jessicue, and she read Double Take last night in one sitting, then reviewed it on a forum on my publisher's website. Here's what she said:
This is a new and first time author for me. I started reading it right after the Steeple Hill Chat Thursday night. My first thoughts were wow a book based on another book. The main Character Cole sees the book he is reading playout right in front of his eyes. WOW! The heroine in this book looks just like the girl on the cover of the book Cole is reading.Rather trippy I would say. The screenplay that was acted out in this book was unbelievably suspenseful. I loved the fact that I couldn't find the Villan. I give this book a 10!!!! Kenzie lived a complete nightmare in this book....
I can very easily say I can see this book turning into a movie. Yes that is right I said I could see this LIS book turning into a movie. This was an awesome read! If I didn't subscribe to LIS monthly* Jenness Walker would have just moved to my must buy author list.
Jessiecue
Thanks so much, Jessiecue. You made my week.
Now...I guess I should work on writing something other than a blog for people to read, eh? :-)
*This is the Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense book club, which automatically sends you all of the monthly releases from that line.
Then I met my new best friend. lol. Her online name is Jessicue, and she read Double Take last night in one sitting, then reviewed it on a forum on my publisher's website. Here's what she said:
This is a new and first time author for me. I started reading it right after the Steeple Hill Chat Thursday night. My first thoughts were wow a book based on another book. The main Character Cole sees the book he is reading playout right in front of his eyes. WOW! The heroine in this book looks just like the girl on the cover of the book Cole is reading.Rather trippy I would say. The screenplay that was acted out in this book was unbelievably suspenseful. I loved the fact that I couldn't find the Villan. I give this book a 10!!!! Kenzie lived a complete nightmare in this book....
I can very easily say I can see this book turning into a movie. Yes that is right I said I could see this LIS book turning into a movie. This was an awesome read! If I didn't subscribe to LIS monthly* Jenness Walker would have just moved to my must buy author list.
Jessiecue
Thanks so much, Jessiecue. You made my week.
Now...I guess I should work on writing something other than a blog for people to read, eh? :-)
*This is the Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense book club, which automatically sends you all of the monthly releases from that line.
8/15/09
How Did You Meet?
In case anyone is wondering, I'm pretty much a seat-of-the-pants writer. Which means I don't have the story all outlined beforehand, don't do major character sketches and plot points and timelines and whatever else. Instead, I have a situation or a character or a dream that intrigues me, and I just write. Sometimes that results in a little backtracking or touching up during another draft as I get to know my characters better, but that's what works for me.
So...here I am, writing along and someone asks one of my ladies a question. How did she meet the guy who's (sort of) in her life? And I stopped, because I'm not sure how they met. So I googled how people met their future husbands, read a few interesting tales, and now I want to hear yours. So...if you're married or dating, tell me how you met. Help get my creative wheels turning. If you don't have a significant other, or you think your story is too boring--make up a scenario. You never know, I just might use it. :-)
Besides, it'll be fun. :-)
So...here I am, writing along and someone asks one of my ladies a question. How did she meet the guy who's (sort of) in her life? And I stopped, because I'm not sure how they met. So I googled how people met their future husbands, read a few interesting tales, and now I want to hear yours. So...if you're married or dating, tell me how you met. Help get my creative wheels turning. If you don't have a significant other, or you think your story is too boring--make up a scenario. You never know, I just might use it. :-)
Besides, it'll be fun. :-)
8/9/09
Newsletter
Hey, y'all. I'm working on my very first newsletter, and am hoping to send it out by the 15th. If you haven't signed up for it yet, go to http://jennesswalker.com/ and find the place to subscribe in the sidebar. I'm going to be running a contest pretty soon, so don't miss it! :-)
7/30/09
THE BOOK!!!
I got a little something in the mail today: A nice box full of books. That's something that'll always make me happy, but these books happen to have my name on them. Yup. My author copies of Double Take arrived today. I brought the box inside and looked at it, set it down, looked at it some more. But my husband was in a meeting, so he couldn't come home to open them with me. So I checked my email. Gathered some things for errands. Then picked up the box, too, along with the camera. I was good--I waited until Jason could be there before I opened it; I was bad--I crashed his meeting to do it. :-)
His mom and dad were there, and his mom brought out her massive video camera to record the event. Then we went over to my parents' house and did the whole blinded-by-camera-flashes thing over again.
So I did get to open it with my husband. Even though he doesn't even read fiction, he's been amazingly supportive through all my writing stuff--sending me to conferences, allowing me to work only a few days a week even though we could use the money, and promising to actually read my stuff once it comes out in its final version in an actual book. So...he pulled one out a brand new copy of Double Take, looked at it and said, "Oh no. Now I have to read it..."
Okay, he didn't actually say the Oh, no part. But THAT'S when we'll really need the camera--when my husband picks up this romantic suspense novel and reads it from beginning to end. :-)
So...I have my books. Forty-eight copies, to be exact. A little over half of these will go to a list of friends and family members who have been very supportive with my writing--a list that was so hard to narrow down. The other books will go toward promotional giveaways online in October.
Thanks for sharing in the excitement! :-)
His mom and dad were there, and his mom brought out her massive video camera to record the event. Then we went over to my parents' house and did the whole blinded-by-camera-flashes thing over again.
So I did get to open it with my husband. Even though he doesn't even read fiction, he's been amazingly supportive through all my writing stuff--sending me to conferences, allowing me to work only a few days a week even though we could use the money, and promising to actually read my stuff once it comes out in its final version in an actual book. So...he pulled one out a brand new copy of Double Take, looked at it and said, "Oh no. Now I have to read it..."
Okay, he didn't actually say the Oh, no part. But THAT'S when we'll really need the camera--when my husband picks up this romantic suspense novel and reads it from beginning to end. :-)So...I have my books. Forty-eight copies, to be exact. A little over half of these will go to a list of friends and family members who have been very supportive with my writing--a list that was so hard to narrow down. The other books will go toward promotional giveaways online in October.
Thanks for sharing in the excitement! :-)
7/24/09
Guest Blog Entry
A friend of mine had me fill in for a day on her blog while she was out of town. (Which is ironic, considering I hardly write in my own whether I'm in town or not, eh?) I resurrected a post about my experience with pitching to editors and agents. Check it out here: http://on-the-write-track.blogspot.com/2009/07/pitching-lessons.html
Speaking of pitching...I just bought my ticket to the ACFW conference in September. Yay! :-) (I'm cheering for the conference in general, not the pitching.) It's being held in Denver this year, so I'll get to hang out with my uncle some as well. Debbie Macomber will be the keynote speaker, and agent Donald Maass is going to be doing an early bird session. It'll be a great conference. You should go! Check it out at www.acfw.com/conference.
Speaking of pitching...I just bought my ticket to the ACFW conference in September. Yay! :-) (I'm cheering for the conference in general, not the pitching.) It's being held in Denver this year, so I'll get to hang out with my uncle some as well. Debbie Macomber will be the keynote speaker, and agent Donald Maass is going to be doing an early bird session. It'll be a great conference. You should go! Check it out at www.acfw.com/conference.
4/28/09
New Website
The new JennessWalker.com is officially up! Not necessarily finished, but good enough to go live. I'm so excited! My husband is amazing, in my humble opinion. :-) So go check it out!
But first, a disclaimer. NO, I am not vain. I just couldn't think up more content at this point, so I posted pictures instead. lol. When I get more info on my book, and as I sell more, we can replace my face with lovely book covers. Ah...heaven. :-)
So go look it over and sign my guestbook. Then email Jason to have him build you a website, too. Everybody's doing it. :-)
www.jennesswalker.com
But first, a disclaimer. NO, I am not vain. I just couldn't think up more content at this point, so I posted pictures instead. lol. When I get more info on my book, and as I sell more, we can replace my face with lovely book covers. Ah...heaven. :-)
So go look it over and sign my guestbook. Then email Jason to have him build you a website, too. Everybody's doing it. :-)
www.jennesswalker.com
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