Dear Author...PLEASE DON'T.......

I don't have a guest today.....I have about a thousand!  Taking a cue from a fun post an author friend shared on a facebook group I belong to, I'm sharing a hilarious Amazon customer discussion she found called Author, Please Don't..., wherein the Amazon reader addresses the authors with their pet peeves related to what they've been reading recently. (some posts have been changed to protect the guilty)! I picked out my favorites, but seriously, they were so funny.  See how many you might be guilty of, then run, don't walk, to your latest WIP, and make those changes as quick as you can.  based on the tone of some of these responses, these readers are NOT messing around.  Then leave a comment and let me know which ones bug you too!

AUTHOR, PLEASE DON'T..........

• let your hero have a disgusting habit, like smoking cigars (even if he's rich) or chewing and spitting tobacco (even if he's a cowboy)
• put today's name brands on items. I may want to reread your book 15 years from now!
• forget about your secondary characters, even if you have limited space. Try to have them all as real as possible; it takes away from the overall effect if they're all cardboard cutouts
• make your villains one-dimensional, everyone has a reason to do villainous things why not the ones in books?
• name your heroes Hunter, Connor, or [insert over-used name here] no matter how much you like the name... if you must use an over-used name go with classics like John, Sam or Robert... you guys are killing the 'exotic' names by making them common!
• base your characters (especially in a series) off of yourself, your current husband/lover or a close friend/family member... we can tell and it burns us... we hates it... >_< ...especially when you get divorced and turn the hero you make us love in books 1-4 into a prick we are supposed to hate in books 5-7.
• write without a dictionary, thesaurus, and an atlas at your side.
• make the villians easily identifiable by their greasy hair and bad fashion sense.
• please don´t make your heroine with red hair!!!!!
• have your heroine behave like an idiot and write it so that the hero finds this stupidity cute, winning, charming or adorable. There's a difference between making an error and lacking any common sense.
• have your hero behave like a sociopath - if the hero is, in fact, a sociopath, then the heroine should kill him and get on with her life
• use the words bro, sis or buckaroo. No one speaks like that.
• recycle the same storyline over and over, changing only the names of the characters and location.
• forget to proofread carefully. 
• forget that not all heroines have to be petite and blonde with huge breasts. 
• assume that your readers have read all the books in your series and know the backstory. A little information for those of us who haven't read the entire series would be greatly appreciated.
• Please DON'T use foreign words or phrases UNLESS you know what you're talking about. A little research would be appreciated.
• have several characters with the same first initial in their name: Cindy and Cissy or Tom and Todd. For goodness sakes, you've got the whole alphabet to choose from.
• use a name for the heroine which could be mistaken for a male: Morgan, Joey or Danny (believe me, I've seen each of these!!).
• and don't forget to let me know how much time is passing. Was it a day, a week, an hour? Help me keep up, I can't read your mind.
• Have your main characters make love every night for months without referring to that monthly challenge
• Have many bouts of love-making without at least ONCE (for crying out loud) reaching for a wash rag or the proverbial handkerchief. (It adds to the storyline rather than detracts from it.)
• Please don't forget to put a little variety in your love-making,  Heroes don't "hold still" and then relax at the critical moment.)
• Please do keep track of your time as we are
• give your hero a moustache - or your heroine, for that matter.
• discuss the amount of body hair your heroine has
• try to convince me that rape/sexual abuse is sexy, and equals a lasting, once-in-a-lifetime love
• have a fight in the bedroom while their naked in bed and then he leaves out jumps in the car WITHOUT ANY CLOTHES ON?
• make me read the roller coaster ride of a plot you've put the hero through and then on the last page of the last sentence a shot rings out and then I have to wait for the sequel except it won't come out until two years from now
• if you're going to do erotic, keep the animals out the bed and if he/she is a shape shifter, it's not cute to change in the middle of a love scene, it's just bestiality.
• flesh out your secondary characters.
• quit giving me detail descriptions of how to get somewhere on a freeway across town including the turn right and left thing.
• give me three sentence love scenes. GAWD I HATE THAT! Especially in erotica.
• don't jump POV's to the hero's baby momma's cousin (Valencia Williams did that in Hottest Summer Ever)
• Switch tenses throughout your whole story
• talk slang outside of the dialogue in the narration part
• have any more baby momma drama books. (at least rework it as a surprise to us or something, but vindictive women getting revenge on baby daddy's is not romantic anymore.)
• Make every hero a man whore. Sometimes less experienced guys are hot too.
• Sermonize in your fiction. I don't care if its vegetarianism, your favorite brand of shoes, or social responsibility. Having your character lecture your readers is annoying!
• Don't forget to include a plot. The days when I Read romance novels for sex are pretty much over. A storyline would be nice.
• Characters should have some sexual quirks. Not every character is going to like it the same way.
• Forget your characters have jobs, lives, and other responsibilities. Sure the sex is great, the hero hot, but don't have your character give up everything for their hot significant other.
• (this is probably a personal peeve, but I'm including it). Have too much girl talk. I don't have a clutch of gossiping girlfriends who dish men, and reading about it is boring. I can't enjoy the heroine if she's acting like a gossiping cat.
• If you're going to use magick have the character be concerned about consequences. Sure its easy to brainwash the neighbor so he doesn't see you're vampire masquerade ball, but what are the ethical ramifications of using powers without consequence?
• If you're writing a twenty-five year old college student, don't make her act like a 60 year old matron whose never seen a guy naked. 
• have your heroine's innocence unrealistic; IMO having her experience her first kiss at age 25 is odd.
• fall into the habit of the 'alpha male.' A guy doesn't have to be an arrogant bastard to get a girl.
• have all your men be whores and your women be virgins. If nothing else, it's statistically improbable. (In fact, for each book like this you've written, try writing another with an experienced female and virgin male.)
• make the reader wait until half the book is over before the hero and heroine even meet
• make the hero an arrogant jerk (a man can be strong without being mentally abusive or controlling)
• make the hero drink the heroine's breastmilk
• write big sections of history that read like a textbook in a historical romance (I want romance, not a history lesson)
• write a historical romance and not give the year
• set a book in modern times where the hero is old enough to be the heroine's grandfather, and then treat the age difference like it's not an issue
• have the heroine lose her virginity, then go on to have sex 8 times the same night in 6 different positions (can you say ouch??)
• make kids perfect angels. Yes, children can bring some of the greatest joy in life, but the also need their diapers changed, get colic, have tantrums, and, unless you're one of the lucky few, don't sleep through the night from day one.
• make kids total brats, and their parents too wimpy to discipline them
• disregard development charts. Two-day old babies do not laugh, babble, or try to crawl.
• have all women sail through pregnancy. Some of us actually do get stretch marks and morning sickness
• make the hero and heroine wimps who won't stand up to their parents
• spend all the time writing sex and no relationship. One or two well-written love scenes is usually sufficient.
• trick readers by mislabelling your work. If it's erotica, then say so!
• have the entire book hinge on some stupid misunderstanding that could be cleared up with two sentences. Please, let's have some books with real relationship issues!
• have the hero and heroine bicker like children for most of the book
• have the hero think about nothing else but getting laid (healthy sexual appetite, fine, but viewing every woman as a sex object, no).
• have the hero and heroine having sex two seconds after they meet.
• have the hero sleep with prostitutes. If it would be considered repulsive for a man in modern times to pick up a hooker, why is it okay in a historical novel?
• make the hero a man-whore. Why won't someone write a book where both the hero and heroine are virgins? Believe me, in today's times with girls reading Cosmo at age 14, they could figure it out and have fun doing it!
• give one of the main characters a disability, then have them magically recover by the end of the book. People who have difficulties with sight, hearing or walking deserve love too! Characters do not have to be physically perfect.
• make the hero and heroine unlikeable!
• neglect to develop a secondary romance, if you put one in. Otherwise it shouldn't be there at all.
• use the "love at first sight" theme. It looks lazy. Anyone can say that a couple is in love--show us how they got there.
• forget to develop your characters along with your plot. Lovable, well-rounded characters are what make a story stay with a reader long after the book is finished.

Wasn't this the most entertaining?  Now, add some more of your own...let me know what makes you stop and scratch your head or just want to pull your hair out! 

My Personal Path To Publication - Chynna Laird

I came to know today's guest in a wonderful way.  I was asked to be a guest judge on a facebook group for a short story contest and had the pleasure of reading Chynna's entry.  She did not win, but I assure, if I had been the only judge, she would have.  Her touching and poignant story had my vote.  Now, I am delighted she is now a member of the Astraea Press family and her next novel, as she has several already published, will be coming out soon, under the name Blackbird Flies.  Like many of the authors sharing on this blog special series, the writers bug bit Chynna early and hard.  And that is no generalization...read further and you'll see what I mean.  Don't forget to ask her about her short story.  It's worth a read.  I loved it!  Now, check out Chynna's journey to publication.

1. How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing as long as I can remember. I’ve always kept a diary/journal and loved writing short stories in school. I think it was in Grade Four when a publisher came to our class to talk about the world of writing and publishing books. She took us through the whole process. At the end of the chat, we got to ‘publish’ our own books: We wrote a story, did illustrations, designed and created our covers then ‘published’ them in the school library for other students to take out. My book was called, ‘The Adventures of Super Bug’. Okay, so the ‘book’ was on printer paper, the ‘illustrations’ were stick guy-like and the ‘cover’ was laminated cardstock but to me it was the best thing EVER!

The ironic thing was that I’d forgotten to bring my book home with me at the end of the year. Ten years later, my younger sister came home from school one day and asked me to read the book she took out from her school library. Guess what it was? Yup. Super Bug! I took that as a sign that writing and authoring is what I was meant to do.

2. Are you published and if so, how long have you been a published author? If not, what’s your plan?

 I am a published author, actually (yes I did publish again after Super Bug! HA!). I have two memoirs, a children’s picture boo, a Young Adult novel, and an adult suspense/thriller coming out next spring. I’m certainly very Blessed.

3. Which route did you choose for becoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the “indie” route, going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?

My children’s picture book was originally self-published and is now in the loving hands of the traditional publisher who handled my memoir, Not Just Spirited: A Mom’s Sensational Journey With SPD and the traditional route with all of my other books. But in all cases, I’ve gone directly to publishers myself.

4. Why did you choose that particular route?

I self-published my children’s picture book because it was a really hard one to sell having such a specific niche. But I wanted to have total control over how it turned out. It’s a story close to my heart and, really, a gift I created for my daughter, Jaimie so I had to make sure it was exactly what she needed.

 So far, I’ve had great success with selling my own stuff so I keep right on doing it. But, eventually, I think it would be wonderful to have an agent so I can leave all of the pavement pounding to him or her. =)

5. How long did it take you to write your first novel?

My first published novel, Blackbird Flies, only took me a few weeks to write but months of editing. That’s how I work.  I get an idea, envision the entire book in my head, write madly for a few weeks then edit until it all makes sense.

6. How long did it take you to publish it?

Ahhhh! That’s an entirely different story. LOL! I wrote this book a couple of years ago but only just recently found a home for it. That’s just how it works. I shelved it and worked on other projects. Then when I came across a place handling YA that might be interested, I’d dust it off and pitch it. When it was rejected, I’d put it back on the shelf, working on another project I’d have going, until I found another place to try. After years of doing this, I finally found the right home for it (Thank you to Stephanie with Astraea Press for giving my book a chance! xo).

7. How many times did it get rejected before it got published?

Oh my goodness! Eighteen that I kept track of and that doesn’t include the ones I did through online submission forms.

8. Tell us about worst rejection letter.

For this manuscript, I never had any really bad rejections. Just editors telling me the story was great but that it didn’t fit in with their line up. The worst rejection letter I’ve ever received on any of my book projects was for White Elephants where a publisher actually told me I should be ashamed of myself even approaching publishers with such disgusting subject matter (White Elephants is my memoir about being raised by a mom with untreated bipolar disorder and alcoholism. The ‘disgusting subject matter’ the guy referred to were issues we should all be talking about like child abuse, eating disorders, rape, and others.) That hurt so much it took me months before I tried again to send it out. But that’s just what you have to do—dust yourself off and keep trying.

9. What was the best news you ever got in your writing life and how did it make you feel?

Wow! I’ve had so many wonderful things happen I’m not sure I can choose just one. I’d say it would be the feeling of hearing, “IT’S UP FOR SALE!” after my first book, “Not Just Spirited: A Mom’s Sensational Journey With SPD” was released. Nothing beats the feeling of that first book out there then holding it in your hands.

10. What’s the worst piece of advice you ever got?

 The back story to this is a long one but the gist of it is that I’d worked my butt off on a book that was supposed to go out earlier this year. When I got the galley copy of it, it was awful. I mean God awful!! I wouldn’t have stood behind that book nor wanted my name on the cover it was so bad. The publisher took my project and turned it into what they felt was more suitable not what I’d originally intended. So I told them so, stopped publication of it and demanded my rights back. But instead of admitting what they’d done, the editor told me she thought I was an awful writer and should never have been published in the first place. She told me to give up writing. Needless to say that knocked the wind out of my writing sails for months. I wouldn’t even go near my keyboard. But then, one day, I got a lovely email from a fan of Not Just Spirited who told me she loved my book, how it helped her and to keep writing. In fact, she told me she’d be watching for more of my work!

 Shortly after that, I sold three more of my manuscripts. I guess that editor was wrong, hey?

11. Now, tell us the best!

One of my writing mentors once said, “Don’t get hung up on rejections. Wear them like badges of honor that give you the strength to go on. What doesn’t work with one editor/publisher will be the next one you try’s pearl.”

Never give up. That’s what I keep telling myself. Just like the Little Engine that Could. LOL!

12. What’s the one thing you would want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path to publication?

Gosh. I’d have to say don’t let others define who you are or what sort of writer you want to be. Figure out what your special talent or niche is then be the best you can be at that. Don’t worry about what others are doing/aren’t doing. Focus on what you’re doing and you’ll do awesome.

13. Where can we read your blog? Buy your books? Connect with you on facebook? On Twitter? Your website?

Okay let’s see.

My main blog, ‘The Gift’ is where I spend most of my blogging time: www.the-gift-blog.com

My second blog, ‘White Elephants’ is a place where I discuss all those issues that one editor found ‘disgusting’. I guess you could say I realized after that guy said that, we really need more places for people to discuss those issues where they feel safe and accepted. That address is: www.seethewhiteelephants.com

You can find me on Facebook as Chynna Laird. I also have an author page here: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Chynna-Laird-Author/203311629699211

You can find me on Twitter as @lilywolf.

My personal Website is at www.lilywolfwords.ca. I’m in the process of revamping it so if folks can’t get on right away, keep on trying. =)

Book Blurb – Blackbird Flies

Fifteen year-old Payton MacGregor is a musical prodigy. To him, though, his music is merely a way for him to escape from the chaos that surrounds him. All of his life, he’s had to care for his mother, who copes with her bipolar disorder with booze instead of turning to her own musical talents. He refuses to become a statistic. Then he’s thrown a curve ball.

His mother suddenly dies, leaving him to be cared for by his aging grandparents.  As much as they love him, they decide to send him halfway across Canada to live with his father, Liam—the man Payton always believed abandoned him and his mother. Payton isn’t making the relocation easy on anyone until he finds out he's going to attend the prestigious School of the Arts for musically gifted youth. Any second thoughts he has about his new life are erased when he meets Lily Joplin. Their connection is instantaneous.

Lily is a talented singer, but her struggles with drugs and bipolar disorder hit too close to home for Payton’s comfort. And when her issues become all-consuming for Payton, he wonders if his music will be enough to carry him through.

This book sounds wonderful and I can't wait till it comes out!  And hearing about all those blogs and ways to reach Chynna exhausts me.  Wanna know a secret?  Just to make you even more impressed, I can share one more little fun fact....Chynna is not only a talented and amazingly prolific author....she is also a mother of four!  Making time to write with my two makes me nuts sometimes....Chynna, you are my hero.  She'd love to hear from you at one of the bazillion ways she's got to contact her.  Let her know if you're a fan.  She already knows I am!

A Warning About Aspen Mountain Press

I am linking this from a fellow author at Aspen Mountain Press.  One of my books, The Detention Demon, is in the same predicament.  We are not bitter, unkind authors.  We have been wronged.  Please read the following statement I am linking from here:  http://www.wellstonpublishing.com/

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING WITH THE ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS  LABEL FROM ANY BOOK SELLER WEB SITE The Book listed below is being held hostage by  Sandra Hicks the owner of Aspen Mountain Press She sells Sand Hill Estates The Murders on Amazon.com and  Fictionwise.com but she has not paid the author a single dime in over a year! She has never paid the cover artist for her work. She has never paid the Editor for her work. She has paid the author little to NO royalties and nothing since  January of 2010. She holds the contract rights on three sequels to this book but  none of them have been touched in preparation for Publishing. Why?  Because all of her editors or cover artists have quit.  She didn't pay them. All of her very talented office staff quit. She didn't pay them. No other publisher will accept these books until SANDRA HICKS  signs release of rights back to the Author.  She received Emails, Certified letters, and phone calls. She refuses to respond to any. She refuses to publish the books and she refuses to return them but Charles Wells is not alone. There are over 40 other writers in the same/similar situation.  Some of them have books out of contract date that are still being sold by Aspen Mountain and still putting money in her pocket. Instead of doing the legal and moral thing by closing up shop and returning contract rights to these authors, SANDRA HICKS has cut them off. She does not communicate by email, phone, or certified mail with any of them. If another publisher were to start selling ANY of these books,  she will most likely sue them using STOLEN money to hire the  lawyers and try to get MORE money. The law protects her, not  the writers. She is using the law to hide behind and steal from writers plus her actions are depriving the general reading public of some very popular books out there today. We here at Wellston Publishing ask the public to  STOP BUYING ANY BOOKS from Aspen Mountain Press. BOYCOTT ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS
	DO NOT BUY ANYTHING WITH THE ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS LABEL  ON ANY BOOK SELLER WEB SITES

My Personal Path To Publication - Stephen King

My guest today is author Stephen King.  Probably you are thinking not THE Stephen King, and you would be right.  But he is pretty much just as cool.  In fact, his name is sort of why we met.  Clearly, if you know me by now, you know I had a bordering-on the-criminal kind of obsession with THE Stephen King, so when I found Stephen on a facebook group, I HAD TO friend him.  Then when I found his blog and starting reading it and some of his writing, I began to realize, the fates were not accidental in his name.  Not to mention, he does have the coolest named blog out there.  Now, mind you, don't think with a moniker such as his he isn't already facing a pretty serious amount of pressure, but I believe he is quite talented, and you will too.  Now, we just need to convince the publishing world.  Stephen is still poised to receive that magic call.  While he waits, let's check out his journey so far.

1.   How long have you been writing?

Depending on what you're asking: long time, or not long at all.  With a real name of Stephen King, it was my greatest desire to stay away from writing fiction.  For the past several years as a Dean, though, I've written tons of stuff, including multi-thousand-page accreditation applications and both policy and disciplinary correspondence of all sorts.  Is that writing?  Of course it is.  It's not creative, certainly, but years of technical and official writing have taught me a great deal about word flow and grammatical structure. 

I've only been writing creatively for several months.  I tried a NaNoWriMo back in 2007.  I began by buying all sorts of fancy pens and notebooks as well as a few books on writing, and then I went to work with a novel idea.  I failed.  I got halfway in and realized I was writing another version of Ender's Game.  Now, I like Ender's Game, but the world only needs one instance of it.  Instead of fixing it I quit, and I stayed in a "quit" status till February of this year when I decided it was time to dust off the writing hat again.  Since then I've completed a novel and a novella, and I've also completed early drafts of another one of each. 
 

2.   Are you published and if so, how long have you been a published author?  If not, what’s your plan?

Nope, not yet.  It's funny that you ask about my "plan" as though I had one.  Originally, I'd planned to write a book, send it to an agent who would, of course, fall all over himself to sign me up as a client, and he would hand the manuscript off to a publisher who would read it overnight, send me a contract and a six figure check, and toss it onto bookstore shelves post-haste.  Yes, I know that doesn't happen to most authors, but I'm better than most, right? 

That's what I thought, anyway.  The current plan, if I withhold my giggles long enough to call it that, is two-pronged.  First, with the novel, I'm continuing the joyful activity of sending out queries, as many as possible as fast as possible, to garner as many rejections as possible before the James River Writer's Conference in early October.  Hey, if I get a yes that's great, but by now I know better than to plan on it.  At JRWC I managed to get my name in the hat early enough that I'll be meeting with an agent, and a great one at that, in one of her One-on-One slots.  That should be a defining moment.  If she says "meh" I'll give up entirely, at least for the time being, on traditional publishing.

The second prong of my plan uses the novellas and, if the agent in October says "meh", the novel to become self-published.  I'm lucky, in that my past experience has taught me how to run a business (which being an indie is an example of) and how to market.  Books are different from colleges in the marketing, of course, but there is plenty of information out there to help. 

 3.   Which route did you choose for becoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the “indie” route, going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?

I started out with the notion that traditional publishing is the only legitimate way to get a book out to the public, because that's the route with access to the bestseller lists, the bookstore shelves, etc.  It was also the route I knew of; to me, self-published works seemed to only be done by people who didn't qualify for publication the "real" way.  Shows how little I knew of the indie world, doesn't it?  I'm still trying to find an agent, because if nothing else the agent helps build an author's career and gives contractual advice, and once I become rich and famous it's the agent who will negotiate my speaking engagements.  Meanwhile, I still want at least one book to be traditionally published because I want to be a member of SFWA and they don't currently accept self-pubbed authors.  With my luck, of course, by the time I become traditionally published they'll change that rule.  

 4.   How long did it take you to write your first novel?

See, that's why I started a blog about the process early on (http://theOtherStephenKingOnWriting.blogspot.com).  It wasn't that I figured my exploration of the writing craft would make for particularly gripping reading; it doesn't.  I did, however, hope and pray that someday somebody would be interested enough to ask me something relevant like you just did.  Now I can just go to my blog and figure it out.  The first blog post was on 2/28/2011, and it reports that I'd started "a couple of weeks ago" and was up to 32K words.  Then there's the post on 3/20/2011, titled "Finis," in which I describe the indescribable (yeah, it's kinda silly) feeling I got when I tackily wrote "The End" at the end of my 68K-word novel.  Incidentally, as nice as it felt to type them, those words are gone, now, bled to death by an unamused editor's pen.  

Then again, the answer to your question is a bit more complex than my previous paragraph suggests.  I finished my first draft in about five weeks.  That's a rockin' speed, by the way; it's by no means record-setting but it's not bad either.  Then I started the second half of the novel, appropriately named Book Two (now RotG: Ascension), and by the end of May had 87K words written in it and "The End" typed on its last page.  I set that aside and started the process of revising Book One (now RotG: Cataclysm) to be something somewhat decent.  I even coined the term "decrappifying" to most accurately describe what I was doing to it.  By late June I was done to the point where I was comfortable letting a pro look at it, and so I sent it off to Debra Ginsberg, my editor.  She returned it to me with some great comments by the end of July, and I got busy reworking it.

August 21, then, I sent out my first query.  That's six months and one week, ish, between first using the New command to create the Word document and reaching the point where I considered it a complete work. 

5.   How long did it take you to publish it?

Still working on that.  Traditional publishing, the route I've chosen with the novel, is rumored to take anywhere from several months out to "Oh, God, I'm gonna need Geritol by then."  The novella is really quick to self-publish, or will be once I'm satisfied that it's ready.  Then again, there is a lot of really bad self-published stuff out there, largely due to the speed at which you can push it out.  I'm taking my time to do it right.  Target date is October 1, 2011.  

6.   How many times did it get rejected before it got published?

Still counting.  12 rejections so far.  That's nothing compared to a great many others, as I constantly mope about on my own blog.  Many people get 60 or even over 100 rejections before they get a yes.  

7.   Describe your worst rejection letter.

I haven't gotten one that was negative, really, if that's what you mean by "worst."  I did get one that acknowledged being a form letter yet contained a grammar error, which seemed pretty silly to me.  

8.   Describe the best news you ever got in your writing life and how it felt.

My wife liked the draft.  If I never, ever get published, that's still enough of an achievement to make me smile.  

9.   What’s the worst piece of advice you ever got?

Well, when I was a young boy, pulling the trigger on a BB gun with it pointed at another kid (the neighborhood bully, of course) was a pretty rotten piece of advice, but we all lived through it, and I'm betting you're not asking about that anyway.  I haven't really gotten any bad advice that I know of that related to writing.  Some of my beta readers suggested some things that I didn't agree with (one guy, for example, told me to remove the Atlantis chapter from my book) but I just thanked them for their input in those cases and moved on.  

10.   Now, tell us the best.

From Strunk & White, transmitted to me first by Stephen King (the other one) in his marvelous book On Writing: "Omit needless words."  

11.   What’s the one thing you would want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path to publication?

Don't quit.  Don't quit revising.  Don't quit learning the craft; writing isn't something you can learn to do by watching others do it.  Once you have something, don't quit pushing it.  The first few rejections make you feel like a complete failure, trust me.  Move past them.  Don't ever quit.  Oh, and don't quit your day job.  

Stephen doesn't have a book cover, but he did provide the following blurb for his Work In Progress:

Book cover: under development

Book:  Undercover Truths, by Evan Koenig (pen name)

Release date: 10/1/2011

For details, see www.EvanKoenig.com

Blurb:

A science fiction novella set in a world where sovereign nations no longer exist, and where all nuclear power generation has been centralized into the Colony of America, Undercover Truths tells the fast-paced story of Stacy, the young reactor director, battling off an attack by environmentalists with the help of the colony's Governor and his strange assistant.  Station and surrounding population safe again, Stacy turns her attention to determining who is behind the attack, and the answer surprises both her and her Governor. 

I'm excited to see the finished product and can't wait for October 1st!  Thanks for sharing with us, Stephen...we'll see you around your blog!

Here's how to connect with Stephen:

Evan Koenig

Author Return of the Gods: Cataclysm, and Undercover Truths

Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Evan-Koenig/162069773856209

For news, bio, and release data, or to purchase books: http://www.EvanKoenig.com

E-mail contact: evan@evankoenig.com

Blog: http://theOtherStephenKingonWriting.blogspot.com

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/skingcharter

My Personal Path To Publication - Jean Joachim

My guest today, romance writer Jean Joachim, didn't start out as a fiction writer...in fact, she had seven published non-fiction books to her credit long before she entertained the thought of entering the fiction arena about two years ago.  Lucky for us, she made the change.  A fellow author with me at Astraea Press, she has been delighting reviewers and readers alike with her special brand of heart-tugging romance that has been called vivid, real and enchanting.  She has two romance novels available now, Sunny Days, Moonlit, Nights, and Now and Forever, A Love Story, and her next offering with Astraea Press, April's Kiss in the Moonlight, will be available in October.  Please now enjoy the roundabout journey Jean has made into romance publishing.

1.     How long have you been writing?

I have been writing for about 20 years, professionally. But I started with non-fiction, writing articles about parenting that were published in parenting newspapers. I’ve only been writing romantic fiction for about 18 months.

As a child I wrote stories and plays and acted them out with my family and friends as long as I can remember.

2.     Are you published and if so, how long have you been a published author?  If not, what’s your plan?

Yes, I’m fortunate to say, I am published. I’ve been a published author since my first non-fiction book came out in 2003. It’s called “Beyond the Bake Sale, the Ultimate School Fund-Raising Book” and is still available today. I had six more non-fiction books published after that.

My first work of fiction, released by a publisher, came out in February, 2011. The title is “Sunny Days, Moonlit Nights,” published by Astraea Press.

3.     Which route did you choose for becoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the “indie” route, going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?

Actually, I’ve done all three. Two of my non-fiction books were through an agent. I self-published my first work of fiction in 2010. For my next book I approached an indie publisher, Astraea Press, and got a contract. Then I had a different book picked up by another indie, Secret Cravings Publishing. Is this confusing? Sometimes it is for me, too.

4.     How long did it take you to write your first novel?

It seems like so long ago, it’s hard to remember, perhaps about two months. I hadn’t yet learned to adapt my non-fiction writing skills to fiction and wrote the first book as almost a stream of consciousness. Then I had the gigantic job of going back and putting things in some kind of logical order. That seemed to take as long as the writing! Needless to say, I don’t do that anymore.

5.     How long did it take you to publish it?

Since the first book was self-published, it came out about two months after it was finished as it took me quite a while to find the perfect picture for the cover.

The first book through a publisher didn’t take nearly so long. I submitted a manuscript Astraea liked but needed some changes to meet their guidelines. I felt the changes wouldn’t work with that story so I submitted a different story that met their guidelines and had a contract right away. That was in January and the book was published on February 8.

6.     How many times did it get rejected before it got published?

“Sunny Days” was never rejected. However, “Now and Forever, a Love Story” the book I self-published was rejected by 15 agents and two or three publishers before I gave up on that route. Fortunately, Secret Cravings asked me if they could re-publish it. With their fine editing, the book came out as a re-release last month and is a far superior book now.

7.     Describe your worst rejection letter.

I suppose the worst rejection I got was one that came six months after I submitted; simply for the fact it was so delayed. Most agents and publishers have some stock reply they send you to save face. I guess the answer is that no one said anything terrible, but rejection is rejection. Even a nice let-down is still “no”.

8.     Describe the best news you ever got in your writing life and how it felt.

I have been very lucky to have had much good news in my writing life. After the first article I wrote was rejected, I’ve sold everything else I’ve ever written. Highlights would include: having an “auction” with five publishers bidding for my fund-raising book, the almost immediate acceptance of “Sunny Days”, the almost immediate acceptance of “Now and Forever 2, the Book of Danny” – anything but a cookie-cutter romance -- by Secret Cravings Publishing and their wish to re-publish the first book in the Now and Forever series.

9.     What’s the worst piece of advice you ever got?

“Don’t be a writer, it’s too hard.” This came from my father.

10.   Now, tell us the best.

“Write, write, and write some more. You’re a terrific writer.” From my best friend, Diana Finegold, a gifted writer herself.

11.  What’s the one thing you would want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path to publication?

My motto, which has stood me in good stead for everything in my life, “Never give up.” If you want something pull out all the stops, work harder than you ever thought you could, learn everything you can and keep working toward your goal.

After my rejections, I decided I needed to become a good fiction writer and I started to work. I wrote seven days a week often seven or more hours a day. My family supported me by taking care of themselves, freeing me to write. I read everything I could get my hands on about writing and in my genre, contemporary romance. After eight months of total dedication, I received the contracts I wanted and my career was launched. However, I am still striving to become the best fiction writer I can. LOL! 

12.     Where can we read your blog? Connect with you on facebook? On Twitter? Your website?

http://www.nowandforeverbooks.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/JeanJoachim

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1197435371

Blurb for “Sunny Days, Moonlit Nights”

Do you have someone in your past you would like to reconnect with?  Caroline Davis White wasn't looking for Mickey, now Mike Foster, her childhood crush, she was fleeing her philandering husband, seeking peace and quiet, time to reflect on changing her life. But there was Mike, saving her from a mishap...again, bigger than life and even more handsome. 

A well-known artist, Sunny thought she could escape, disappear back to the cabin where she spent her summers as a child. But she was wrong. Her husband refused to let her go. There hadn't been a divorce in Brad White's family...ever! And he wasn't about to start breaking the tradition now.  Could Caroline shake him loose and what about Mike? Where did he fit into her life?

For her fan's pleasure, Jean has made the prequel, “Moonlight and Roses” available as a FREE novella on Smashwords! Watch for the release of the sequel, “April’s Kiss in the Moonlight” also from Astraea Press in October.

And don't forget to tell Jean how much you enjoyed reading about her journey...as with all the authors in this series, she loves to connect with new fans and friends!

My Personal Path To Publication - Sang Kromah

My guest today is Sang Kromah, the author of the soon-to-be released Concealed series, through The Little Things Publishing, LLC.  I met Sang when I guested on her blog to promote my book, Spellbound.  As I always do when meeting new authors, I data-mined her.  Her profile photos are beautiful, so I was not surprised to learn that she freelances as a model and was most recently featured in Essence Magazine's 40th Anniversary issue.  She had something else calling to her, however, and had since she was a child.  She was a writer.  She had a familiar sounding experience with breaking into the industry, up to a point.  What is important to note about her journey to publication is that she "found" her publisher through Twitter!  She was on the social media platform one night and discovered an open call for submissions from a new House.  She sent in what would be the first book in the Concealed series and was shortly thereafter contact by the CEO himself!  The lesson here is there are MANY ways to make social media work for you.  Don't discount any of them. I'm sure the CEO of TLT Publishing is quite pleased she didn't.  Read further to see the rest of Sang's journey to publication.



 1.    How long have you been writing?      
 I have been writing since I was in the first grade, but I have been making up stories since my little brother was worn. Therefore, I’d have to say, this all began when I was three years old!


2.    Are you published and if so, how long have you been a published author?  If not, what’s your plan
 I will be a published author on October 10^th, 2011, which is when my debut YA fiction novel, Concealed comes out.


3.    Which route did you choose for becoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the “indie” route, going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?
I started out trying the traditional route by trying to get an agent, and I became antsy, because it seemed to be taking too long. So one night at about 2 am, I was on Twitter and there was a young publishing company asking for submissions. I sent in my manuscript and by the next day, the CEO had emailed me. And the rest is pretty much history. :-)


4.    Why did you choose that particular route?
 Like I said, I was growing so impatient, and I’m just so patient about my story and couldn’t wait for the rest of the world to fall in love with it as well.


5.    How long did it take you to write your first novel?
It took about three months to write my first novel, because I was in grad school at the time, so my thesis and my manuscript were both competing for my attention. But the background story and the world I created in the novel is based on a story I created for my little brother as a kid.


6.    How long did it take you to publish it?
Let’s see…I completed the novel May of 2010 and I acquired a publisher the last week of August 2010, and Concealed will be published on October 10^th 2011.


7.    How many times did it get rejected before it got published?
I was rejected by thirteen literary agents and one publisher.


8.    Tell us about worst rejection letter.
I was told that there was no market for the subject matter of my book and that if I ever have any other ideas to resubmit.


9.    What was the best news you ever got in your writing life and how did it make you feel?
The best news that I ever received in my writing life was when I was told that Concealed is the best book they’ve read since Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker


10. What’s the worst piece of advice you ever got?
The worst piece of advice I’ve ever gotten was from a literary agent that told me to write about something else.


11. Now, tell us the best!
My parents have always told me to take every rejection as a new challenge and that’s what I’ve done every day of my life.


12. What’s the one thing you would want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path to publication?
Don’t let anyone ever tell you you’re not good enough. All it takes is one yes to prove the naysayers wrong.


13. Where can we read your blog?  Buy your books?  Connect with you on facebook?  On Twitter?  Your website?
Sang’s Blog- http://sangkromah.com/author-blog
TLT Bookstore- http://bookstore.tltpublishing.com/products-page/fantasy/concealed-concealed-series/       Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/SangWrites
Sang’s Website- http://sangkromah.com
Sang’s Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sang-Kromah/148725321832405
Concealed on Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10815209-concealed

Concealed Blurb

When sixteen year-old Bijou Fitzroy and her nomadic grandmother leave New York City to live in a home in the sleepy town of Sykesville, Maryland, Bijou thinks she will finally be able to live a normal life and be like everyone else. This move will be permanent, and Bijou cannot be anymore thrilled. After years of being shut away by her grandmother, Bijou will finally be able to interact with peers, make friends, go to school, and live like a normal teenager.

Moving around and being homeschooled definitely made it difficult to make friends, but there are other reasons for Bijou’s solitude. With eyes that constantly change from gray to green to a honey-coated shade of brown and an ability to feel exactly what other people are feeling, the concept of obtaining closeness is more of a fable than a reality. Although her eyes are beautiful, their constant shift in color instills a sense of fear within other people and causes them to look away. Bijou’s premonitions, blackouts, and semi-prophetic dreams of a faceless boy don’t help her social musings either. Regardless, she decides to attend the local high school.

Bijou is immediately introduced to Sebastian Sinjin, a quirky and unusually beautiful boy who doesn’t seem to belong in a high school in small town Maryland. Sebastian is also special. Instead of looking away from Bijou, he makes direct eye contact with her. And when he shakes Bijou’s hand something dark and familiar begins to awaken within her as an electric shock surges through her body. Bijou soon finds herself deeply attracted to Sebastian, who remains aloof and often acts like Bijou doesn’t exist.

Despite the pains of having her first real crush, Bijou makes friends quickly and excels in all of her classes…well, all except for Mythology with Mr. Jennings. Mr. Jennings’ class starts off great with endless discussions of djinn and how they conceal themselves from the human eye, but things soon take a turn for the worse when the stories of the mythical creatures begin to take shape in Bijou’s life.

Wow!  I know I can't wait for 10-10-11, when Concealed, the first book in the Concealed series will be available.  I'm hooked!  Make sure you make direct contact with Sang as well....she runs an incredibly active blog.  If you are an author, she loves to assist new writers in getting their names out there, let her know you would like to do a blog post and she will schedule you and help you get yourself known.  If you aren't, check it out anyway, you might find yourself introduced to a brand new author you might not have met otherwise...like me!  And don't forget to comment here and let her know how much you enjoyed hearing about her journey!