MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE, 1/14/13

IT'S A GOOD THING LIFE IS NOT AS SERIOUS AS IT SEEMS TO THE WAITER.

SNARKY RESPONSE: Now you're just trying to be cute, Fortune Cookie Guru. And as they tell most writers, if you think you're funny, you probably aren't. Don't quit your day job. No! Wait! This is your day job, isn't it? Doh!

It's a good thing that life is not as serious as it seems to the waiter.

Well, I don't know about that waiter, but things here at Golinowski's Gambol are about to get REAL SERIOUS. How serious, you might ask? We're talkin' real BITCHOK* here.

My local chapter of the Romance Writers of America, Virginia Romance Writers, has challenged us all to a FastDraft challenge. Author Candace Havens came to our chapter a few months ago and shared her technique to pound out a full manuscript in two weeks. The way to do it is to write 20 pages a day. You'll end up with a 70,000 word manuscript which is publishable length. Now, it'll be a rough draft, but this is about production, not quality.

About 25 of us have pledged ourselves to the effort. I'm on a "crew" with many of the other authors over at Words, Women, Wisdom. We'll be keeping each other honest and accountable, checking in every day when we reach our allotted pages.

I'll share updates along the way - written AFTER I've completed my day's pages, so stay tuned!

NEWS FLASH!

I'm thrilled to announce that Collector's Item, my paranormal romance, will be released by The Wild Rose Press on May 17, 2013.

Here's the "back cover blurb" for your personal edification:

Alpha were-jaguar, Katarina "KT" Marant is trained to protect the pride so when her aunt disappears, KT naturally takes up the hunt. Her suspicion settles on the Collectors, humans who view shapeshifters as the ultimate big game.

Peyton Massey can't believe he's got to blow his cover to rescue a shapeshifter "princess." Even harder to believe is that she wants to stage her own kidnapping in order to catch the leader of the Collectors and find her aunt.

Everything goes sideways when KT is kidnapped for real and by someone she never suspected. Will Peyton find her before time runs out? Or will she become a true Collector's Item?

On May 17th, you'll be able to find out!

* Butt In Chair, Hands On Keys

MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE, 1/7/13

You're a practical person with your feet on the ground.




SNARKY RESPONSE: Talk about damning with faint praise. I'm a fantasy writer, dang it. We're supposed to walk around with our heads in the clouds. And as for "practical," well, that's just mean.

You're a practical person with your feet on the ground.

Actually, as a writer, you absolutely MUST be practical. Only the lucky few get rich doing this, so it's a matter of juggling priorities and desires. Scheduling writing time in the midst of family, work, and friends. Learning your craft with books, classes, or workshops. Tracking your hours, receipts, characters, and plots. Organization is as much a key to one's success as that fickle creature, your muse.

In my constant search for a better mousetrap, I've acquired Scrivener and am trying to work on my current WIP, Aces Down. It's loaded with ideas and ways to organize your first draft and works for a variety of project types, from novels to screenplays to non-fiction.

I imagine that many of my forthcoming blog posts will be about my efforts at flattening my learning curve. Consider yourself warned.

In the meantime, why not share with me and "the rest of the class" your favorite writing program or method for organizing your writing. As I said, I'm always on the hunt for the better mousetrap.

MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE, 9/1/12

Infinite patience produces immediate results.

SNARKY RESPONSE: Talk about an oxymoron! Infinite patience produces immediate results? Patience infers passage of time. And Immediate, well, now, I'm hearing that old joke about someone shouting at their microwave – Hurry!

Infinite patience produces immediate results.

Attempting a career of any kind requires a huge helping of patience. No one becomes successful alone. It takes time to build a groundswell of any size. Not to mention the patience it takes to produce a finished product like, say, a book.

To my knowledge, no successful writer has ever written a publishable book in one sitting. Certainly, there have been instances where a completed manuscript is highly satisfactory, but it is far from polished. After the story has been set down, there is editing for grammar and plot, fine-tuning of continuity and dialogue, filling in setting and character, to name a few. These steps are crucial and must not be skimped on if you hope to produce a polished work. Of course, if you're not interested in craft and just want to see you name in print in a self-published book, you might skip those steps, but skip them at your own peril.

Like words spoken in haste, a reader's experience with your book is something you can't erase.

Make sure that you've gone over every chapter/paragraph/word to make sure it was necessary, succinct, and factually/grammatically correct. Readers have enough books stacked up on their TBR pile that if they become disillusioned with your book for any reason, they can just shunt you aside for someone who did the work. Don't be That Writer.

All that work and patience may not result in immediate results, but it will guarantee consistent results—positive reviews and most importantly, Sales!

My enovella, The Festival of The Flowers: The Courtesan and The Scholar, took several years to finish and polish to the point where I could actually submit it to publishers. It found a home at The Wild Rose Press. And I'd like to think that all my work and then the work I did with my TWRP editor comes through to the reader.

Now, my second enovella, Collector's Item, is in the final stages of edits with my editor at The Wild Rose Press and once more I am glad that I have taken the time and practiced the patience required to produce what I hope will be a quality result.

As they say, anything worth being done is worth being done well! Or at least to the best of your ability. Short cuts only cut you short. Be patient with yourself, your writing, and your career and you will see positive results. I'm certain of it.

Following Through Can Win The Prize!

Any writer who has attended a writing conference has heard about pitch sessions and most have participated. In most cases, writers who have targeted the correct editor or agent for their type of writing will receive a request for submissions: a query letter, a synopsis, a chapter or two and sometimes a full manuscript.

Do Not Drop The Ball On This Opportunity!

This request is golden for writers aspiring to publication because it moves you out of the "unrequested" slush pile, into the "requested" pile, and that much farther up the line to being considered for publication. Of course, there are no guarantees regarding acceptance, but anything that ups your odds is a good thing.

As a result of this process, I'm thrilled to announce that my novella, Collector's Item, has found a home with The Wild Rose Press. Wow, that sounds so cut and dried. I'm actually loop-de-looping the moon and making noises that no woman of my age should make in public.

This all came about thanks to the Virginia Romance Writers For the Love of Writing Conference last May. There, I had the opportunity to pitch my novella to several agents and editors. I sent out my submission documents as requested and The Wild Rose Press requested the full manuscript.

I had been fortunate to make my first novella sale to them with The Festival of The Flowers: The Courtesan and The Scholar. Would lightning strike twice?

With a pounding heart, I sent Collector's Item to the Senior Editor of the Black Rose Line - their paranormal line. And after some discussion about and revision of my manuscript, they offered, and I accepted, a contract to have Collector's Item published as an enovella.

Major celebrations continue to be held, believe me! I've resigned myself to sounding like a teenager who just sighted the latest heart-throb. It would be embarrassing if I wasn't just so darned excited!

Now the hard work of polishing my novella for publication begins. Working with The Wild Rose Press on final edits, marketing information to be created, a cover to be designed, and a publication date to be set. But it's the kind of hard work we writers dream of while we craft our current Works In Progress.

May you have the same good fortune, if you haven't already. Just remember, Follow Through!