Omega Publications Part Two

Again this week Gayle Farmer from Omega Publications is my guest blogger.  Here she talks about some of the different types of books Omega has published. Omega has a very diverse background of offerings. 

I hope you've enjoy reading the Q&A format we've presented this in.

M: Tell me about the poetry book you’re working on.

G: Tapestry. I’m very excited about the prospect, really. You don’t see too many books of poetry, so it’s kind of unique. I’ve collected a wonderful group of poets whose work runs the gamut from funny to romantic. It’s uplifting, heartwarming, all the poets are very talented, and we’ve decided to put everything together and create a kind of heirloom piece. Books are wonderful keepsakes and they make the ideal gift for family members.

M: I bet it’s different from working with one author on one story.

G: Well, of course, everyone has an opinion on some level, but with this particular group, as well as the short story writers from Mosaic, they’re professionals who left their egos at the door. What they want is the best possible book they can get and they know we’re determined to give it to them.

Now, when you have a debut book from a debut author, it’s very different.

M: Mama’s and their babies!

G: And then some. The fic editing usually goes pretty quick and they have no ideas about setup for the interior pages, like the non-fics often do, with their photos and graphs and such. It’s usually fine until we get to the cover. Then they can start to unravel.

Whenever possible, I like to speak with my authors, so we usually have at least one phone conversation. I want their idea for a cover. I’m very chatty, so if I have to, I’ll start asking questions and throwing ideas at them, making them give me an answer until finally we begin to hear what they want, what they see. Because it’s much better that we all ‘see’ it early on than to have put hours into a cover only to hear them start to voice concerns then.

Do you love black and white? Does a lot of color suit your theme, do you see a particular image? Finally they get comfortable enough with me that they relax. Next thing you know, they’re telling me exactly what they see. Still a perilous journey ahead, but at least everyone’s heading in the same direction, lol.

Then, just when you think it’s ready to go, done to perfection, they want to add something, or worse, take something out. Every time the pages change, as you know, the spine width changes and there goes the cover! Jeff refers to himself as a ‘natural bald’ and he means it. It can be frustrating but it’s very fulfilling.

M: I know just what you mean! How about non-fiction? Is there a difference there?

G: Oh yes. Well, depending on the subject it can be a lot of fun. We’re in the process of publishing a book by Elizabeth Joyce, a well-known and highly regarded psychic who has worked with various police entities in solving crimes. This particular book, Ascension, deals with New Age philosophy regarding the year 2012. Seems that in December of that year, all the planets are going to line up and usher in some very big changes in this world. Her books had all kinds of graphs and charts and it was a wonderful experience for Jeff, as was the cookbook.

That was interesting, but depending on the subject, it can get pretty dramatic. We published a non-fiction book by Sasha Petrova called A Leaf on the Wind, the true story of a woman who’d been raped and abused by her father from the age of four into her teens. Now, that was hard.

M: I can imagine, especially if it was at all graphic.

G: Well, it was, y’know? Not at all salacious, just clinical, factual, which made it worse, somehow. When it’s fiction, then it’s just that. You just go with the words. When you’re reading things that make you want to scream or cringe and you know it’s someone’s life story, oh dear, it can be very intense.

And by the way, if any of the readers have a specific question, I’ll do the best I can to answer it. It’s always fun getting together, Margaret. Thanks so much.

I want to thank Gayle for taking the time to join me again on my blog. I think she’s given some great insight into the world of self-publishing.

If you have any questions for Gayle you can post them here in the comments field.

If you want to know more about Omega Publications, there is a link on the right that will take you to their website.

Until next time

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mc

Omega Publications

This week’s blog is going to be a bit different. I’ve asked my friend Gayle Farmer to talk about her company, Omega Publications, and the kind of books they publish and what they can bring to an author interested in self-publishing. So, with Gayle we will explore the world of Omega Publications and self-publishing over the next few weeks. If you have any questions for Gayle, just post it in the comments area and Gayle can respond in the next blog.

We decided to set the blog up in a question and answer format. 

M: Hi Gayle welcome to my humble little blog.

G: Hey Margaret, I really appreciate you giving me this opportunity.

M: Knowing that I have some writers in the audience, most of whom want to be published, I thought it would be a good match. So what have you been up to? I hear you’ve been pretty busy.

G: I guess! We took on two ‘firsts’ for us, an illustrated cookbook with photos and a non-fiction book with a variety of graphs and boxes. Prior to this, our experience dealt with novels and text-only kind of things.

Jeff survived, and claims he is the better man for it, but there were times in that learning curve when it got pretty hairy. Imagine trying to put a dark, poor quality, B&W Polaroid photo circa 1960, into a book in 2010. But Jeff did! Perseverance and the grace of God, I say, but wait until you see it. We’re feeling like new parents with a beautiful baby.


M: I love cookbooks. What’s the title?

G: Tastes and Tales of Sicilian Cookery, A Back to Queens Cookbook. I can’t tell you how much fun it was. Our wonderful Author/Chef, Thomas Ciapi, found our site on the web and called me on the phone. We spoke for a while, he explained what he wanted, asking me if I could ‘make it pretty.’ “I want the reader to feel it, smell it, but not just the cooking and the recipes,” he said. “The cookbook is more than that, it is the story of my Nonni, my Grandpa Renda and what he means to me and my family. Can you do that for me?”

Thrilled to my toes, I told him yes and I think we have. Jeff did the cover, warm and inviting, yet ultra simplistic, with Chef’s photo on front. I am familiar with both the neighborhoods and the times and I found a lot of nostalgic tears flowing in this one as I grew up outside Manhattan.

M: I get the feeling this is much more than a job for you, isn’t it, Gayle?

G: Oh yes. Just publishing the books I wrote kept Jeff and me pretty busy for the first several years. We published my first two books in 2004, but at the time, we didn’t feel qualified to take on other books, even through we’d been approached. We were still finding questions we had no answers for! God bless the net. If you can figure out how to phrase it, there’s an answer out there. It’s just, who has time for that kind of research? One by one we were able to overcome the obstacles, and of course, as my books began to sell, people sought us out.

M: So basically, you do it all then, from beginning to end? I’ve seen several of your books on the Amazon site and I have to admit I can’t see a bit of difference between your books and something put out by Penguin or Random House. I have a feeling that’s no accident. I’m holding a copy of Mosaic, leafing through it, and it’s beautiful. Love the front cover, but the back cover is really clever, too.

G: The clock! Lol, that was Jeff’s idea and it came out great. He wants to incorporate a clock and autographs on the back of the new anthology of poems we’re doing. You just might be familiar with that!

M: Yup! I haven’t said much about it here, so go ahead and explain.

G: It’s called TAPESTRY, Poetic Threads of Life. It’s still in the production phase and is kind of a, well … pairing is too strong a word, but, maybe a flip side of Mosaic, which contains short stories. I’m so proud of that one. I think the cover is super and wish there were places like Writer’s Digest where they judge covers like they do novels. I really think it’s a winner. It was the first Fanstory anthology book and I have to say there’s some really good stuff in there, from funny to scary to outrageous and everything in between.

Speaking of covers, I certainly can’t pass over the newest cover on the OP horizon, done by Margaret Clark! That is so exciting, such a plus for OP to have you there in the wings. Gives me a sigh of relief, and I love your ideas for the Paris Metro cover.

M: Thanks Gayle, I appreciate the opportunity. You gave me a clear vision of what the book was about and the author’s ideas, and such. I like what we have so far! 

G: Me too. You captured the whole idea perfectly. But there’s so much to it, isn’t there? Now we have to knock gently on the author’s muse and hope for concurrence! This can be a very emotional time for the author.

M: Well, I have a lot questions I’d like to ask you about Omega. I understand that Omega doesn’t accept every ms offered, which is very different from most POD’s. Tell us about that.

G: We won’t publish junque, regardless how you spell it! Mostly we turn away the far-out stuff. OP will not publish material that will incite violence or hatred based on race, sexual orientation, religion or ethnicity. Added to that, we do not publish porn or anything that glorifies sexual violence. It’s on a case-by-case basis, of course, unless you’re talking Klingon. We especially like Klingons.

M: I have to chuckle at that. Give me an example.

G: Okay, we had a guy who was a Native American and wanted his book published. He had the money and was ready to go. I requested he email me the ms in an attachment. Shortly thereafter, the ms arrived. It was incomprehensible, even with what he considered translations. We’re just not equipped to do that.

Not long after that I got an ms from a guy, also money in hand, who’s rewritten the Bible, New and Old Testaments, mind you, and wants to publish. He warned me that there will be NO EDITING. Solid caps, bold, yet. Well, I passed on that one, too. There have been others, actually, but you get the picture.


M: So how does your submission process start?

G: We deal with electronic ms only. We ask for a short synopsis, the first chapter, total word count, genre and target audience.

I check every ms we receive. If it looks like something we want, I read random passages for continuity, spag, style issues and if it’s something we want, I get back to the author. I have three other editors available to me and depending on what the ms needs, I’ll send the book to the proper editor. Then we talk with the author about the costs, any special editing needs and the price of the package they choose. My edit covers spag… spelling, punctuation and grammar issues as well as POV loss and is included in the price of all the packages. If the ms needs editing beyond what I am able to provide, there is an extra charge.

We spend time on the phone with the author if they’re unsure what to do, but most of our contact is email. We stress how important it is that the ms be as clean and ‘publishable’ as they can make it before we get it, since most authors don’t have the extra money required for an in-depth or line edit, especially if they can do a good bit of it themselves.

M: How is Omega Publications different from other POD’s?

G: Well, first off, we follow industry standards regarding fonts, type/format style, setup, drop caps, offering every feature you see from a traditional publisher. All our covers are original, not made from some standard template. It’s of paramount importance at OP that we meet or exceed industry standards. I’m hoping some day that there will be another level of publisher, who accepts paying clients based upon merit and high standards without the stigma…which is fading fast, by the way, of the old vanity press. POD’s have to have standards, we have to provide the same values of quality, good craftsmanship and expertise the trad houses do if we expect to compete in the marketplace.

Also, we allow the author to pay half his package price when we commence editing and the final payment made just before it goes to print. That gives the author a little time to get the money up, although our prices are low and very competitive. We also allow the author to determine the selling price of her book. Once we hear from Lightning Source what a book will cost to produce, the author pretty much takes over. We highly recommend that ‘your’ book be priced the same as others in your similar genre and size, so if Stephen King is getting $8.99 for his latest endeavor, it just doesn’t make sense for an unknown writer to price his debut novel at $23.95.

M: How about marketing the novel once it’s in print? What do you do?

G: Every book we do has the ‘check inside’ feature on Amazon. We also include an author’s page on our website where the author can link to other sites, sell things, talk about themselves. We belong to Smashwords and a variety of similar sites that promote our works, like Google. The ebook market is huge and we want to ride that wave.

But as all best selling authors will tell you, they’re expected to do the marketing. You have to be crafty; talk with your town librarian, see if they have a ‘local authors’ area where your book might belong, and donate one or two, same with bookstores, especially the smaller local ones. We give a fair return rate, so they are inclined to provide the space as a service to local talent, especially in resort towns. If you’re big on seminars, they encourage you to bring books to display and sell. Any kind of community thing, fairs, swap meets, events like that are a good place to market your book. Check with your local high schools and colleges, see what they might be planning. Also, for those of you who can do public speaking, see if you can’t give a little talk at mid-grade and higher, especially if you write for YA. To kids, anyone who has published a book is pretty cool, at least in my experience.

M: From the things I’ve heard today and the horror stories you read about authors and their POD experience, Omega sounds very different.

G: It’s like night and day. Everyone who knows me knows that I’m all about being the best I can be and that translates directly to my work. After seeing some of the junk other POD’s put out, I wish there was another word for Omega Publications; I like Indy Press.

M: Well, I think we’ve covered quite a bit here. Thanks Gayle for the information on Omega Publications and the great advice on self-publishing. We look forward to next week’s blog.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments just post them in the comments field.

Until next week

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mc

Life is busy, busy, busy!

Lots going on these days.

Next week I will be welcoming a guest blogger to my blog. My friend Gayle Farmer and her husband Jeff are owners of Omega Publications. Gayle will be sharing information about some aspect of self-publishing. I’ll be nattering on about graphic design—a little thing that I have 33 years of experience doing. I hope you’ll check out my blog next week and see what interesting things Gayle has to share.

A humbling offer

Gayle has also asked me to design the cover for a book that her and Jeff will be publishing soon. I am humbled that she has asked me to do this. I love what I do, both with my writing and with graphic design, and hope that Gayle and Jeff will like what they see. Next week I’ll share some thoughts I have about the future of graphic design and book covers as books move to electronic publishing.

Contest

Some might recall my blog from a month ago when I talked about my interview with Linda Fildew at the RWA conference in Orlando. I was a bit disappointed that they were pushing their interviewees to a contest they are starting on their website. Well, I still feel a little disappointment, but I haven’t let that stop me. I went and registered for the contest. I am in the process of writing a summary of the book and doing a quick read through of the first chapter of my book “Is This Love?”. Then I will be entering the contest. I think sometime this weekend I will push the submit button. If you want to check it out, or even enter the contest, go to www.romanceisnotdead.com and check out the contest and my entry, under the name Margaret Clark.

New book

As if I need more to do, I’ve started working on a new book. It’s a contemporary romance/suspense novel. It’s been rattling around in my head and I just need to get it out. So far it’s coming along pretty well. I needed to start a new project. I’ve been living with the old ones too long. They don’t seem to be going anywhere at the moment, so I thought maybe something new would get me going again.

Poetry

I am also working on some poetry that will be published in an anthology. Poetry is a challenge for me. Most of the stuff I'm really proud of have been poems I've written as an emotional reaction to something. When I try to write one because I have to, it never seems to come out like I'd like it to. But I have about 10 poems ready for the anthology and I'm hoping for 12. The publisher, my friend Gayle, has been gracious enough to give me an extension to get my poems completed. 

Controversy

I had thought to talk a little bit about a particular topic that's been in the news this week. But I think that the news media has done a pretty good job of escalating that story to a higher level of importance than it deserves. Let me just say this, what we need right now is tolerance and to ask ourselves, what would Jesus do? Because the person behind the news story, who claims to be a Christian, seriously needs to ask that question himself.

Until next week

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mc

What have you read this summer?

A favorite question this time of year is—what book are you taking to the beach with you? When I was a kid it wasn’t a question of book, it was a question of books. I couldn’t get enough reading in during the summer months. There was a library branch only six blocks from our house and I would walk there at least once a week to pick out books.

Neighbors as lending libraries

Half way down the block from our house lived a retired schoolteacher and her widowed sister who had worked as a telephone operator with my grandmother. Their names were Grace and Bell. Grace was the retired schoolteacher. I always thought there was a bit of irony in the fact the Bell had worked for Bell Telephone as an operator. I digress. During the summer, when my friends were either gone on vacation or otherwise occupied, I’d stop in for a visit at Grace and Bell’s. Grace had a collection of children’s books for the neighborhood children to enjoy. I’ll never forget when a copy of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory appeared on her bookshelf. I immediately wanted to read it. There was one catch to reading one of the Grace’s books, you had to read it out loud to her and Bell. This was never a chore for me, these two women where my adopted grandmothers and I loved them. So sitting and reading a chapter each time I visited, which was usually rewarded with a dish of ice cream, was a double joy for me—reading and spending time with these two smart and endearing women.

While I was in elementary school my favorite authors were E.B. White, Beverly Cleary, P. L. Travers and Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew Mysteries), to name but a few. Oh and I have to mention the Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid Lindgren. I wanted to be Pippi and live in her incredible house.

When I moved from elementary to junior high and high school my taste in books shifted a little, although I was still reading E.B. White (The Once and Future King—absolutely love this book. It lead to my writing my English essay on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table) and another neighbor’s house became my favorite lending library. My life-long BFF, Debbie, and her family lived two doors down from mine. Her mother, Peggy, was another incredibly intelligent and important woman in my life. She was a second mother to me. When she died of cancer in 1987 it was the closest I’d come, at that point, to feeling like I’d lost a parent. Peggy LOVED to read and she read everything. Harlequin romances were her guilty pleasure—she had boxes of them. She also loved Leon Uris, she raved about what an important book Exodus was. I don’t believe there wasn’t a book genre or author she hesitated to take on. But romances where her first love and beyond the Harlequin books, she adored Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt. And so those three authors became my favorites and I would wait for each new book to be published, knowing that Peggy would buy it and once she was finished with it, I would be given the book to read.

Parental influence

My dad was also a big influence on my reading choices. Both of my parents were avid readers, my mom loved Stewart, Holt and Whitney and we shared books all the time. But it was my dad who got me reading Arthur Conan Doyle. One year for Christmas my mom suggested my brother and I buy my dad a compilation of Sherlock Holmes stories for my dad. We bought him this thick tome that contained all of the complete Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories. My dad loved it. He loved to re-read his favorites and would write on inside front cover of the book the dates he had read it. The volume of Sherlock Holmes stories had a long list of dates. It was such a beloved book that over time the binding began to crumble.

Favorite high school teacher

During high school I had the joy of enrolling in my first literature class taught by Miss Carlson. I can’t recall her first name now, but I adored this woman. She had what I thought had to be the best job in the world. She got paid to read books and then to teach about them. She introduced me to Poe, Dickens and Bradbury—now how’s that for a diverse lot? I couldn’t get enough of these authors. To this day Bradbury will force me to think like no other author. And the chills I got from Poe, especially when Miss Carlson played a recording of Vincent Price reading The Cask of Amontillado, were thrilling beyond words.

As you can see, reading has been a life-long love affair for me. The romance genre has become my favorite, but I also love mysteries, literary fiction and even some sci-fi and fantasy. It is my love of reading that has lead to my dream of being an author. I’ve always had stories rattling around in my head. I’d hear a news story and I would soon have made up a whole mystery around what could have possibly happened. Or I’d see someone in an airport or shopping mall and something in their behavior would soon me making some intriguing story about them. I always thought everyone made up stories like that. But talking to my sister one day I discovered that wasn’t the case. She didn’t think like that. I also learned that most writers are constantly writing in their heads, thinking up story lines and asking themselves “What if?” I’ve been doing this all my life and so now I not only enjoy reading, I enjoy writing too.

So, what have I been reading this summer? Linda Howard, Sherry Thomas and a recent discovery and now a favorite romance author, Georgette Heyer. She wrote Regency romances and began her writing career in 1921. She also wrote mysteries, but I haven’t read any of those, yet. If you haven’t read any Heyer you must, especially if you love Jane Austen. Two Heyer favorites are Bath Tangle and the Reluctant Widow—very fun romps.

And this leads me back to my original question—what have you read this summer?

mc

Life getting in the way of life? Maybe

OK, OK, here I am. Sorry for being absent last week. Life has been crazy busy. Last week, Aug 16-22, was county fair week here in Northern Illinois and I spent 4 of the seven days attending the fair for at least 3 to 4 hours each visit. Plus my niece was visiting from California. Then we had one of our children, with spouse and child, staying over the weekend and one child heading back to college—all in all a very crazy week. So finding the time to sit down and write was nearly impossible.

The Impossibility of Writing

Which leads me to a problem that has been plaguing me today. I’m trying to write some poems as I’ve committed to being part of a poetry anthology. Why I was asked is still a bit of a mystery to me. Don’t get me wrong, I have composed several poems I am exceptionally proud of, but I only have 8 poems to offer up for the anthology. But those poems were written as an emotional reaction to something happening in my life. One that I’m particularly proud of was written in response to our daughter Dayna getting married in May. I’ll post it here some time for you all to enjoy.

Anyway, now I’m trying to write poems on purpose and finding it a difficult trail to navigate. I’ve written one poem a dozen times now. I think what I started doing today may be the final, but it’s going to take me days to finish what I think will be a seven stanza poem with an abcb rhyme scheme. Meter I’m not even worrying about. If I can get this one done that will make nine poems and I’d like to have at least a dozen written for the book. But I only have 7 weeks and this one poem has taken me nearly two weeks. Not looking good.

Sitting on the Deck

So in order to get a different perspective on things I sat on the deck on this absolutely beautiful August afternoon. Low humidity and mid 80 temps—heaven. I went out armed with an old notebook, dictionary, thesaurus, and my notes and handouts from the RWA conference in July. Thought I might have time to read through some of my notes—um, yeah, right.

Anyway, I started out just observing the day. I live in the middle of twenty acres, 3 miles from the nearest town of 1,100 and 15 miles from the nearest city of 150,000 and only 4 neighbors bordering our property and those far enough away that I can only really see one of the houses. The view from my deck is currently a field of corn with a woods at the far edge of the cornfield—very relaxing. As I sat there thoughts of my dad, who passed away a year ago, crept into my mind. My dad loved to sit on the front porch on summer afternoons armed with the radio tuned to WGN for the Cub’s game, wood for whittling and a cold beer at hand. Sitting there in my solitude I understood why he loved it so. It refreshes the soul and clears the mind like nothing else I know. And it made me think of him and smile. I miss seeing him sitting on the front porch. I’d stop if he was there and we’d talk and share a beer. My mom is now living in a Alzheimer’s care facility and I drive a different route back and forth to work so I don’t go past the house very often. And I did find a little inspiration for my poem—I decided on the abcb rhyme scheme and actually accomplished writing two stanzas in the new rhyming scheme.

Notes for 2009 RWA Conference

In the back of the notebook I took out on the deck with me I found notes from the 2009 RWA conference in Washington D.C. I started reading through the notes and came across some from a workshop I attended on building layers into your writing. It was a very interesting workshop. The presenter was author Renee Ryan and she explained how she writes. She creates her first draft and then so goes back through her first draft and begins building layers into her ms. There are seven layers she adds into her scenes, but not all scenes will need all seven layers.

The first layer is action. Renee made a point of noting there a no talking heads in her books. Stationary people do not exist in real life and so they shouldn’t exist in your manuscript either.

The second layer is adding in the five senses. The sense of smell can have a very powerful pull on a person’s memories, as do songs. These things can be layered into the scene to add dimension.

Layer three is setting the scene. Putting your characters into a setting adds richness and puts your readers into the time period of your story.

The fourth layer is emotion. This is an important aspect of any fiction, but is especially important to romance. You want your reader to feel what your characters are feeling. When you add emotion you give the reader a richer experience.

Layer five is dialogue. Make sure your dialogue rings true, is true to your character and to your character’s gender. Dialogue that is stilted or rigid or is not something your reader thinks that character would say will throw the reader right out of the story.

The sixth layer is weaving in your backstory. Be careful not to do a backstory dump. Keep the reader on a need to know basis when it comes to backstory by only giving them the essential information for that scene. Do you really need to tell the reader the heroine loved to bake pies with her Aunt Maude? Only if it pertains to the scene.

Layer seven is sexual tension. Adding this in gradually and carefully will make the romance believable. If you skip building sexual tension and it’s just lust that brings your hero and heroine together your reader won’t buy into their being compatible and staying together for that all important HEA (happily ever after).

Now, not all of this layering has to happen in each scene. That’s where the talent and creativity of the writer comes into play. As a matter of fact I believe that adding all of this into each scene will make your writing rather tedious for your reader. Be discerning and look at each scene and see what it needs to have more depth.

If you have any thoughts I’d love to hear from you.

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mc

Adverbs: In or out?

The RWA forums, especially the craft forum, have been busier than they have in the year since I started participating on them. I should probably more correctly say, since I became a lurker, I read but almost never post. Most of the time it’s because I don’t feel I have anything of substance to contribute. But other times I find the conversation so lively and informative that I just enjoy reading.  Every once in a while I’ll jump in on a topic that I feel compelled to participate in.

It was about 6 weeks before the RWA’s Annual Conference that I noticed an increase in posts on the craft forum and it hasn’t slowed down since returning from the conference. The level of help that is offered is outstanding—new authors pose questions while seasoned authors give exceptional advice. I've learned a lot being a lurker.

Adverbs

One recent discussion on the craft forum is one that comes up with some regularity, rules. Now there are some rules that all writers should follow, such as the rules regarding grammar, punctuation and spelling. Some of which I know I will never get right. But the ‘rule’ that was brought up in the forum this week was concerning agents and their dislike/hatred of adverbs. One newbie said she had heard all agents hate adverbs.

First of all, one cannot make a generalized statement about any group of people—ever. Every agent or editor is an individual and will have their own likes, dislikes, expectations and preferences, unknown quantities that one cannot judge or access. Second, thinking that all agents dislike adverbs, can shut down a writer’s willingness to submit. Actually I believe what is really being said here is ‘don’t overuse adverbs’. Chose strong verbs that will make your writing more interesting.

Rules

I hate rules for any type of art form. Rules can stifle creativity. BUT, you need to have a good understanding of them before you can start to break them. Many of the greatest writers and artists were rule breakers. But they first had to work within an established set of rules. Then they started pushing against the sides of the boxes containing those rules. They stretched, pulled and manipulated those rules to create something new and interesting.

Now, there are rules you will have to follow as a writer, the grammar, punctuation and spelling rules I mentioned at the beginning and the rules outlined for contest entries. Follow those to the letter if you want your contest submission in the voting pile instead of the disqualified heap.

So when you hear someone say or you read somewhere that agents and editors don’t like something, question it. Is it really a rule or is it a guideline? What is that guideline telling you? That agents and editors don’t like adverbs? Why don’t they like adverbs?  Think. Question. Push. Stretch. This stuff isn’t written in stone. Challenge yourself. Now, go out and break some rules!

More RWA Conference Reflections

So, the big meeting at the RWA Annual conference with Linda Fildew from Harlequin Mills Boon. I wrote about the meeting with her several weeks ago. She was one of the reasons I ordered business cards. I prepared diligently for my appointment weeks before the conference. I wrote and rewrote my sentence for pitching my book several dozen times. I tried not to obsess over my pitch. When I got to the conference I listened to conversations going on around me at lunchtime or standing in line at a book signing or sitting and waiting for a workshop to begin. I listened to other writers who were preparing to pitch to an agent or an editor. All of them seemed to be saying the same thing. You need to have your pitch down to a sentence and then leave the rest of your time open for questions or conversation. I did this. I sat in on a workshop called The Tiny Art of the Elevator Pitch. The presenter emphasized having your pitch to a sentence and to use words that gave your sentence punch. I submitted my sentence for review, but time ran out before mine came up. But I took the advice to heart and rewrote my sentence one more time. I also made a list of high points I didn’t want to forget to talk about after presenting my pitch sentence.

I arrived for my appointment the requisite 10 minutes early for my 10 minute appointment. Along with the other appointees, I dutifully lined up. Then we walked by rows to the line of tables were the editors and agents were seated. Ms. Fildew was lovely and welcoming. I gave her my card, sat down and she invited me to tell me about the book I’d written. I gave her my pitch sentence. She asked me to elaborate. She told me she thought my story sounded interested. Then she told me about a contest that Harlequin Mills Boon is sponsoring. A writer submits their first chapter. If the judges like the first chapter they will ask for the second and the submission will continue until they may request the whole manuscript. The idea being for the judges/editors to see how you write and hear your voice and decide if what you have will be a fit for Harlequin Mills Boon. She gave me the information for submitting to the contest. I thanked her and left. I went back up to the main conference floor and listened to the excited phone calls other authors were making to family and friends. I knew they had been accepted, while I had been given something just shy of a rejection. I didn’t bother calling my husband, who was off riding roller coaster and other rides I no longer enjoy riding. There wasn’t anything to tell him. At last year’s conference I had an agent appointment. She requested partials of both of my finished books. Which lead to my making a couple of very excited phone calls. But I never heard another thing from her, even after I sent numerous e-mails and left messages. I understood the excitement of the conference attendees who’d had successful editor/agent appointments. I felt that way last year. I only hoped that these authors had better luck than I’d had.

But I’ve decided not to let this disappointment color what I am going to do. I WILL enter the Harlequin Mills Boon contest. I will take what I learned about writing query letters at the conference and begin sending them out. Jayne Ann Krentz said she had decided she would keep trying until she had 1,000 rejections. Luckily for all of us it didn’t take a 1,000 rejects before someone took a chance on her.

One thing is very clear. To be an author means to be tenacious. That if you really want to be a writer and make a living doing it you have learn your craft, work hard and you can never give up, never take no as an acceptable answer and never let anyone get under your skin. Of course knowing or understanding those things is a whole lot different from actually living it. Yes, I will still suffer the self-doubt all writers struggle with. Yes, I will want to throw in the towel when I receive rejection after rejection. Yes, I will probably let someone’s unflattering review get to me. Yes, I will have set backs, big and small. And yes, somehow I will find a way to move passed all that and continue on because I have never wanted anything more in my life. 

Any thoughts? I’d love to hear from you.

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mc

RWA Conference Thoughts

Two days of conference are behind me and my head is spinning with all the information that's been crammed into it.

Several workshops stand out for me and both of them involved one of the most prolific romance writers of our times—Jayne Ann Krentz. She also is one of the few authors I know writing under three different names in three different romance genres, so some of you may know her as Jayne Ann Krentz and some may know her as Amanda Quick and others still may know her at Jayne Castle. I had the honor of moderating the workshop she co-hosted with the two internet experts she has hired to take care of her on-line persona, Sheri Brooks and Cissy Hartley. The information these three imparted to the group will be invaluable as I continue to pursue my writing career in the internet age.

Sheri's company, Purple Papaya LLC, works with authors to supplement the promotional support they receive from their publishers. Her company helps connect authors with their readers through social media, such as facebook and helps them develop brand identity. 

Cissy is the founder of Writerspace which helps authors and publishers of romance, women's fiction and mystery promote their work through their websites. 

Jayne Ann asked Sheri and Cissy to tell how their companies help Jayne Ann promote her brand and build readership. The advice all three of them offered was amazing and I hope to take some of it and put it to use myself. I didn't take copious notes as I was moderating and keeping the workshop on schedule, but one of the things they talked about that really resonated with me was establishing your name from the beginning of your career. They encouraged new authors to decide on their name and then secure that domain name for their use. The cost of securing a domain name can be as low as $10 a month. In the long run the money spent up front can save you money later on. And some headaches as well.

Later on I had the pleasure of sitting in on Jayne Ann's joint workshop with Susan Elizabeth Phillips. It was a joy to listen to these two established romance writers speak. They talked about everything. But one of the things that struck me most was something Susan said and Jayne reiterated. The processes they use for writing are their processes. The process that might work for you and me as writers will be what works for us. Both ladies reinforced over and over again that there is no right or wrong way to write a book. Some authors outline their complete story before they write a word. Some have only part of the story and some just start writing and see what happens with the story as they go. But I LOVED that they didn't stand in front of the room and say this is how you should do it. One of the things that bugs me the most about writing is all of the authors who say this is how my writing process works and you should do it too. 

Now I'm not saying you shouldn't take a course from someone to learn their process, I think you should. But I think you should go into the course with the idea of seeing what YOU can take away from it. Not what the person giving the course tells you to take away from it. Both Susan and Jayne Ann said listen to your gut, it will tell you if a process will work for you or not. 

I believe that as a writer we need to continuously learn about our craft. What I don't believe is that you should have a process that is uncomfortable for you forced on you. But keep an open mind. Listen. Observe. Learn. Assess. Don't just blindly accept that because one successful writer does something you have to emulate them. 

I go back to one of my first posts were I talked about all the advice I was given when my first child was born. I was certain that everyone knew better than I did how to raise my child. My mother told me to listen to the advice and then do what felt right for me. 

I believe this was the best living advice I've ever been given.

In the end what matters when writing a book is knowing your craft really well. And that is something we should all aspire to.

Any thoughts? I'd love to hear from you

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Travel, Goals and Sex Words (that got your attention, didn’t it?)

Travel

I am so distracted by the RWA’s Annual Conference next week that I’m finding it hard to think about anything else.

Today I ran around like a crazy woman picking up the last minute things I thought I needed. Only to get home, take stock of what I already had and realize I probably only needed about half of what I bought. * sigh * I get a little crazed whenever I travel and think I have to buy new everything. But I did need to get sunscreen, travel size contact solution, Tide To Go and socks. The two new outfits were completely unnecessary, but I’ll pack them anyway.

Goals and Expectations

I was reading the newsletter that Holly Lisle sends out. If you’re not familiar with Holly, go to hollylisle.com (I’m adding it to my favorite websites list). Holly writes sci-fi, fantasy and offers tons of free advice for writers, as well as books on writing and classes you can take. I took her ‘How To Think Sideways’ course—highly recommend it if you’re looking for away to kick start your writing and learning how to talk to your muse. It’s fascinating. Oh, and learning about the four thinking barriers—worth the price of the whole course, IMO.

In her newsletter this week she talks about setting goals and having expectations and how to tell the difference. She describes a goal as something you have control of—an action you control the outcome of. An expectation is something that others control. For example—Saying that you are going to complete your novel in a year is a goal. You control if you do indeed complete your novel in one year. No one else does. Saying that you will be on the NYT bestseller’s list is an expectation. You have no control over whether or not you sell your book to a publisher or an agent or how many people will buy that book. Holly goes on to say that in order to avoid disappointment you need to differentiate between an expectation and a goal. If you think that being on the NYT bestseller’s list is a goal, you will end up frustrated and disappointed.

Holly goes on to suggest sitting down and making a list and identifying which are goals and which are expectations and then start working on the goals. Working on the goals may lead to realizing some of your expectations. But, as with everything in life, it isn’t a guarantee. But you will certainly never make it to the NYT bestseller’s list if you NEVER write that book. I believe after I return from Orlando I will be taking her up on her advice.  

Sex Words

If you haven’t yet, or never have, check out Vauxhall Vixens blog. This week Eloisa James was their guest blogger. She wrote about ‘sex words’. It was great and the comments back were equally interesting. In the end I think nearly every person who commented was in agreement that anything ‘throbbing’ or ‘heaving’ was over done and in some case, just plain frightening. You can find Vauxhall Vixens at http://vauxhallvixens.blogspot.com/

Next week's blog

Not sure if I'll be posting next week. I will have a laptop with me, but Friday is a full day of workshops and I don't know if I'll have enough energy, or brains, left to write a post, but you just never know. 

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mc

Getting noticed

In good and bad ways

Not sure where to start here. With the conference looming large I can’t seem to think about anything else.

I got my beautiful purple business cards. I’ve typed up my presentation and I’ve been learning some more about Harlequin Mills & Boon and Ms. Fildew. Unfortunately I’m beginning to think my book(s) might not be the right fit for Harlequin, but another opportunity might present itself so I'm trying not to project my negative thoughts on this. I’ve also gone through the conference workshop list, highlighted the ones I’m interested in attending and am printing out the available handouts that go with those workshops. I also signed up to volunteer and will be moderating one of the workshops. Actually it’s one of the first workshops on Thursday afternoon. And it’s one I was interested in attending so that works out well. I thought volunteering would be a good way to meet some new people and make new contacts. You just never know about these things.

Getting noticed—in a good way…

The other day I was pumping gas and I noticed a young girl in the car at the pump next to mine. She was waiting in the car with her brother and mother while her dad was pumping gas. She noticed my glance and immediately started goofing around in the back seat. I had to admit I was amused and smiled at her antics.

As I thought about her silliness I realized that so much of what I was doing to prepare for the conference was about how to get noticed.

When you’re young you have no preconceived notions about what people think when you do a silly dance or sing a song off key to get someone’s attention. But as adults we realize that most people would think we were insane if we broke out in dance or sang off key to get the attention of a total stranger. But if you think about it on a base level, isn’t that what actors do when practicing their craft; although the dances are more choreographed and the songs on key. Perhaps they have found a way to tap into their childlike qualities in order to be an actor.

I belong to a writing website, which is like having one huge critique group, called fanstory.com. I post my stories and poems there for review. I have had some that I was totally offended by and some that were harsh, but true. As time has gone by I’ve learned from the harsher critiques and I’ve received some amazing reviews. I like the feeling I get when I see a five or six star rating (the highest levels) on something I’ve submitted to fanstory. I really like it when I get 30 or more reviews and they are all five or six stars. When I get a 5 from someone who has been a tough critic up to that point, I’m over the moon. I like the feeling of being someone special for that moment. And I think for that brief time that maybe I can realize my dream of someday being a published author. I’m really not looking for fame and fortune (although the fortune would be nice).

But why is it we crave attention?  Well, I’m not an analyst, but I know why I like attention—it just makes me feel good. Having my work validated by someone, and especially someone I respect, gives me a nice little endorphin rush.

So, even though I bought the purple business cards in an attempt to be remembered, or noticed, I really hope my hard work as an author gets noticed too. Maybe some of my childlike qualities will surface—no, no singing and dancing—and I will remember to have fun with this whole business and not get caught up in the need to be noticed, but can find someone who appreciates what I have to offer.

Being noticed—in a bad way…

A little aside for today—if any of you out there are facebook members, I've a little advice—go into your account and privacy setting and customize them and make it so the e-mail account you have tied to facebook is only visible to you, do the same with any other contact information you have. I have also changed my password on my facebook account and all my e-mail accounts. A friend’s facebook account was hacked into today and someone is phishing to get personal information from her friends. They are claiming they are her and that she is in the UK and in need of cash. But I knew that she wasn’t any place but home. I called her and she is frantic because she can’t get into her e-mail or facebook account. It turns out she some how ended up with spyware on her computer so the hacker could steal her info. Also might be a good time to up-date and run whatever anti-virus software you have.

Above all else practice safe internet surfing. It’s a big scary place out there.

Until next time

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mc


p.s. Out and about reading blogs and came across this one about getting published. It's really good—check it out—http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/How+I+Got+My+Agent+Boyd+Morrison.aspx