It's a GO! Stay Tuned for My New Series

I received an overwhelming response to the tentative feelers I put out for my little project.  So, I am pleased to announce that beginning on the 31st with my own story, and officially starting on the 1st of September, I will be doing my first series of guest posts called My Personal Path to Publication.  Amazing people are coming forward to share their journey with you!  The best part is these posts are going to come from some of whom I consider to be the most exciting new voices today in Young Adult, Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror, Drama, Contemporary Romance, and Memoir.  I have been extraordinarily fortunate to meet and be befriended by these astonishing writer/authors on facebook and I am thrilled they have agreed to be a part of this experiment.  I mean, seriously, just check out the lineup, in no particular order:

• Kathy Bennett
• Jason McIntyre
• Scott Prussing
• Crystal Cattabriga
• Gracen Miller
• Lisa Kessler
• Lindsay Downs
• Deena Remiel
• Ednah Walters
• Kymberlee Burks-Miller
• Joseph Eastwood
• Rue Volley
• Dominique Eastwood
• Kay Springsteen
• Crystal Ward

And that may not even be all!  I am asking more authors every day.  If this works out, I may even get to make this a recurring feature on my blog.  And if there is a special author you would adore hearing from, make sure I know about him or her.  I SURELY don't know everyone and this would be an excellent way for me to become exposed to the cream of the crop!

What you will learn from each post is the author's very personal journey.  You'll understand that it isn't easy and very often it isn't pretty.  As authors we learn to take rejection and flip that negative into a positive and make sure we stay the course.  And we learn to celebrate each victory with like-minded creative souls.  I hope to introduce you to new authors and new books.  And do make contact with these authors.  I have it on personal authority that each and every one wants to be YOUR new friend.  Connect on facebook, and Twitter and Google and however else you want to.  And above all else, try and buy their books.  Because at the end of the day, that's why they, and I, write.  We want to entertain you.  I hope that this project blog series does.  Enjoy meeting my friends.

Query Letters

So now that I have a book being published, I am in the middle of writing the sequel.  I also have another young adult paranormal romance I want to start querying.  My mind went back to some great advice I got at a convention I attended last September.  Now, I know they can be pricey but if you can beg, borrow or steal the money (I begged for mine) you can't believe the information available at one.

I went to the Southern California Writers' Conference in Los Angeles.  It was their 8th one and they've got it down pat!  I got my little schedule and marked all these killer seminars I wanted to attend.  Defining Genre.  First paragraphs and What They Must Do.  The all-time fave, Show, Don't Tell.  What I learned right away was the value to the conference is the Read and Critiques and getting your face in front of an agent or editor.  Sign up for as many of those as you can!  And go to ALL the Read and Critiques you can stomach.  One of mine was a Rogue Read which started at 9pm and lasted till nearly 2am!  But it was incredible.  The people leading them are unmatched in their fields and have the most amazing things to say.  And this is where I learned the best thing I ever learned about a query letter.  And here it is:

There are only 4 things the query letter has to do:

1. Introduce the protagonist and his/her problem.
2. What the protagonist is going to do about the problem.
3. What the conflicts are that are keeping the protagonist from reaching his/her goal.
4. What are the stakes?  What happens if he/she doesn't succeed and why does the reader care?

Isn't that brilliant?  I have seen a million books and posts about the query letter but that one piece of advice slugged me in the solar plexis with its simplicity.  I even format my query letter with the 4 things in a sort of template, like this:

• First paragraph, name of my book, genre, word count.  Launch into #1 and #2
• second paragraph, #3, wrapping up with #4, maybe leave with a question.  (ex: But, can he do it?)
• third paragraph, who I am, some credentials, thank intended reader for time.  Boom.  Goodbye.

Other thing I learned at the convention, agents and editors HATE wordy queries.  If you can be in and out under 250 words, they are LOVING you.

Now, I only offer this as my opinion.  But, it worked for me.  I'm going to try it soon with my second PR, THE GIRL, THE GHOST, AND THE GUYS.  We'll see how it goes again.

Bloggers!

I have learned something recently.  I have learned that bloggers are super friendly.  And that all they want to do is read your book!  I have been tentatively dipping my toe in the blogosphere (did I even spell that correctly?), joining some other blogging groups and trying to make some friends in the blogger world.  I feel a little bit like that little girl approaching the well-established circle of girls on the playground, not knowing if I'll be accepted or not, but taking a deep breath anyway, and tapping the shoulders of one of them and saying, "Hello, can I come in and play with you guys?"

The amazing thing is moments after being invited into the group, in this case the group is called Book Blogs, no less than four new friends sent me messages welcoming me!  And I don't want to sound like PollyAnna, but each new message made me blush with delight!  New friends!  People who want to play!  Girls who read the same things I write!  Yaaayyy!  Feel like I just found a beautiful pair of purple suede wedge pumps as I rush out of the store, stop and look, and THEY ARE IN MY SIZE!!!!!!  Like a dream come true!  (That actually happened to me one time and I still recount the story to my shoe-loving friends to gasps of "No!" and "Tell me you're not lying")

So, my new epiphany for the day is this:  Bloggers Rule.  Plain and simple.  Bloggers are Rock Stars.  Think on that for a while and I'll see you later.