Good Critique Partners

I've spoken before about critique partners, but it's time to do it again. Having good critique partners is very important. It can mean the difference between setting your manuscript on fire or believing in your work enough to find representation. I know, sounds a bit extreme, but go ask someone who has had a bad critique partner. Ask me. I've been down the road to critique partner hell. A dark and scary place. My vertabrae tingle just thinking about it.

How do you find a good CP? The best place to start is by joining a writer's group. There are many national and international ones with local chapters in your area. Go to a meeting and start asking around. Once you put your feelers out get your antenna up.

About three years ago I knew it was time again to look for new CPs. Let's just say the group prior wasn't exactly a good fit. (I'm being nice.) By the advice of a good friend I joined a local chapter of RWA (I was writing women's fiction at the time) and let it be known I was on the hunt for similar experienced writers.

I started getting some emails and calls from other writers also looking for a CP. My stomach performed that little excited flip it does when you think things are going your way. Things weren't going my way. I hung up with one writer thinking she was so bossy and pushy I'd rather read my novels to Jack the Ripper than work with her.

How do you know when you've found the right one? I am a believer your CPs should be roughly at the same place you are in the "know your craft" journey. If they are too far behind you or too far ahead of you the scales won't be balanced. You might be able to help each other out, but overall frustration will fly around like kite caught in a tornado.

This is going to sound very crunchy granola, but you'll feel it when you've found the right CP.

You will have respect for what they've written and they will have the same for you. You will like this person enough to become invested in their success because if you're not invested in their success you might as well take your pencils and go home.

I had received an email from a woman about becoming her CP. Right away I enjoyed the tone of correspondence. She was at the same spot in her journey as I was. I agreed to meet her and another woman. I'll be honest, before I arrived I thought, "Dear Lord, I hope these two aren't nuts." They might've been thinking the same thing about me, but I'll tell you what. I knew in an instant these ladies were put in my path for a reason. By the time our first meeting ended I wanted to hug them I was so overjoyed. I didn't. That would've scared them off.
It's three years later and we're still together. I'm thankful for their support, input, sense of humor, kindness. I could go on and on. They believe in my work, even when it needs improvement, and therefore I believe in myself. I'm one hundred percent invested in their success and they are in mine. They are my beacon of light guiding me home. (Okay, I've gone to the far side of sappy. Sorry.) I stand and applaud Marykate and Shari.

Wherever you are in your writing journey I hope you find the right CPs. If you have more questions post them here and I'll be happy to help you out. In the meantime, Moonlight and Violet by M. Kate Quinn (http://www.mkatequinn.com/) will be released April 22 by The Wild Rose Press. It's a funny, heartfelt story about true love. It would make a great Mother's Day gift. Grab your copy today.

Talk to you later...

Authors' Day

I attended the Township Of Ocean Intermediate School's Authors' Day. The Language Arts teachers chose roughly 60 sixth grade students who show an interest and ability in writing to participate in a fun filled day. The students are broken into small groups and for 40 minutes they visit with an author and learn something new about writing. Then they rotate to the next author and learn some more. Topics discussed ranged from writing about feelings, to point of view, working with settings, illustrating children's books, and writing in the active voice. Once again I am humbled by the students' enthusiasim and curiousity in what I have to say. I mean, who am I, right? I'm nobody famous. Yet they suck up everything I share with them like the little sponges they are. I relish the opportunity to inspire these young writers to continue on their path. To promote a child's learning is to be a part of something bigger than I am. A blessing, indeed. Talk to you later...

Favorite Books

I read a lot. On average I'd say I read a book a week. For some that's nothing, for others that's too much. Doesn't matter which category you fall into as long as you're reading. Right? Right!

I updated my profile on the blog adding titles to "Favorite Books." I had to stop. I would have been there forever. I started thinking...scary, I know...What are my readers reading?

So, I ask you, dear reader. What are your favorite books? Tell me which authors get you to turn pages. Whose name do you look for on the new release list? I'm always on the look out for another great read. We could even have an online discussion about your favorite books.

To help you get started here a few of my favorite authors. (Authors I love and I've read more than one book of.)

Stephen King
Brad Meltzer
Jeffrey Deaver
Tess Gerritson
Lisa Scottoline
Suzanne Collins
Ted Dekker
M. Kate Quinn
Jonathon Maberry
Tami Hoag
Mary Higgins Clark
Daphne DeMaurier

I could keep going. Now it's up to you, dear reader. Who are your favorites?

Liberty State Fiction Writers Conference

This past weekend I attended the 2nd annual LSFW Create Something Magical Conference. What a fantastic experience! They held workshops by best selling authors like Mary Burton, Jonathon Maberry and Virginia Kantra. Plus tons of other workshops about the craft and business of writing. Want to learn about dialogue, point of view, and editing than this is your place. Not to mention the workshops about going pro, and everything you wanted to know about blogging.

If you can muster the courage, which I think everyone should, the conference gives you the opportunity to pitch your manuscript to some of the best editors and agents in the business.

It's a great opportunity to network, see old friends and make a few new ones. Which I was able to do! I can't thank the people at Liberty enough for all their hard work in creating a "magical" conference. See you next year!

Moments like this...

One of the things I love about being a writer is speaking to elementary and middle school students about writing. The Deal School invited me to participate in their Read Across America assembly.

I spent time with 4th through 6th grade students discussing the writing process and why editing is so important. We had a great time. The students wrote their own story, together on the board, and then we performed a group edit. They jumped out of their chairs, shouted out ideas, and reworked the story until we ran out of time and they were forced to leave.

My next group was filled with 7th and 8th grade boys. We discussed writing in the active voice. A much more subdued group and at first I wasn't sure if they were engaged or sleeping behind open eyes! They came to life when they wrote their own stories and read them to the group. Thank God, for that. I was worried it was me!

But the real treat came in the quiet of the night, from an email by the PTO president. Her son, a seventh grader, told her our discussion of active voice was the best assembly ever and when my book came out he definitely wanted to read it. Such humbling words! Thank you, for inviting me to your school and thank you for being excited about writing and reading.

It's moments like that one that reinforce the path I'm taking. I wouldn't change a thing. Well, except...maybe I'd like to have an agent. And a book deal. If the Universe doesn't think that's asking too much.

What moments happen in your life that inspire you to keep going?

Name That Tune

Every morning I wake up with music playing in my head. It never fails. It could be any song, from any time period in any genre. I always know the song, but I don't always like it and I've always wondered why a song I don't like is playing in my head. When I've told other people this or asked if they wake up to their own personal juke box pounding out tunes in their cranium they look at me like, "yeah right, crazy lady. Is it warm on your planet?"

I found out I'm not crazy (be careful some of you!) There's actually a term for what I have and other people hear music in their heads when they wake up too. What a relief. I'm not the only one on this music filled planet.

An article in The Atlantic Magazine quotes Josh Foer, author of Moonwalking With Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything stating "There's an actual scientific term for lyrics getting lodged in your brain. Earworms." Why call it earworms? Because the harder you try to make the lyrics stop the further they burrow. He also quotes a study that showed earworms appear to be more annoying to women than men. Why doesn't this surprise me some how? Women - bugs go figure.

Now that I know I have earworms maybe it will explain why I might not be able to remember what I had for breakfast, but I can name almost any tune in under five seconds. The only thing filling the useless fact file in my brain is song lyrics. Sad, but true.

Tell us. What songs do you hear when the radio isn't playing?

Inspiration for Today (because we all need it. Especially us writers!)

Make the strongest voice in your life your own.

Live without regret.

Believe in yourself.