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?
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
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!
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!
Monday, March 14, 2011
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?
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?
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
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?
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?
Thursday, March 3, 2011
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.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
What Scares You?
My novel, Don't Play With Fire, has a cast of unique characters. One of my favorites is Anna.(Don't tell the others. I don't want anyone getting jealous.) Anna immigrated to New Jersey in 1840 and she has a problem. She needs to steal seven human souls in order to open the gates of hell and she doesn't have enough. To get the ones she does have she placed a curse on the portraits she painted.
Curses are malevolent spells purposely done to inflict harm on another. Pretty scary stuff, right?
Who knows, maybe right now one of you is thinking about someone you'd like to place a curse on. Stop that! That's not nice.
I started thinking: what kind of stuff scares you? Here's a list of things that make my blood turn to ice water:
Curses are malevolent spells purposely done to inflict harm on another. Pretty scary stuff, right?
Who knows, maybe right now one of you is thinking about someone you'd like to place a curse on. Stop that! That's not nice.
I started thinking: what kind of stuff scares you? Here's a list of things that make my blood turn to ice water:
- Curses
- The dark. Anyone or anything can lurk in the dark shadows. Isn't that where serial killers hide? The boogeyman? Your crazy boss?
- Getting lost in the dark. You could've stumbled onto the killers turf by accident!
- Getting lost, alone, in the dark. This one should be at the top of the list.
- Linda Blair in the Exorcist
- Hannibal Lector
- Unexplained happenings in your home. Think lights going on and off. Footsteps.
- Unexplained voices in your home. Think "Get out," said in a low, hissing whisper and there is no one in the house except you!
- The movie The Ring. "Seven days."
- Most Stephen King books which I say with complete love and affection because he is the master story teller and I love the way he can make me scream at the character on the pages, "Don't do it!!!!!"
So, tell us. What scares you? Talk to you later...
Saturday, February 12, 2011
The Road to Publication
It's been awhile since I've posted and I apologize for that. I've had my head buried in my manuscript and I haven't devoted the time to much else. Now I'm back! Glad to have you with me. I hope you stick around and ask a few friends to join us.
The road to publication is filled with pot holes, obstructions, and detour signs. I love writing, but sometimes I wonder why I'm even on the path at all. It's not easy to get someone in the field to believe in your work. Every well known published author has a story about how many rejections they received before they got the big "yes!" It looks like my story won't be any different.
I had queried an agent back in July after attending Thrillerfest, but I never heard back and that means a "no." I was fine with that. The truth was the manuscript needed serious help and I began rewriting it. This past December one of those agents emailed me and asked to see 75 pages. That's a big request and I was thrilled. Maybe me time had come.
She requested I not send my material until after January 20th. Not sure why, but okay I'll play along. I waited and on January 23rd I hit the send button. About two weeks later I get her response. REJECTED!
Do you know what she said? Of course you don't. I'll tell you. My voice wasn't distinct enough or strong enough to impress an editor. OUCH! Clocked right between the eyes. I actually saw stars.
Why do agents who expect professionalism from authors but don't show the same respect in return? Is it necessary to be so mean? Even if I do suck, which I don't, you don't have to tell me quite like that. This isn't American Idol. Nobody's watching!
My favorite part? Where she says: "Sorry not to be so keen. Another agent may well disagree, do keep trying." You know what I can't wait for? The day I'm on a best sellers list, standing before a group of aspiring writers and I tell them the story of the hurtful rejection and how I made it anyway!
I also can't wait to be on that best sellers list and bump into agent "meany." I'll plaster a big smile on my face, introduce myself, (she'll never remember that rejection letter) and walk away knowing she wishes I was her client.
The real test? Believing in yourself! Talk to you later...
The road to publication is filled with pot holes, obstructions, and detour signs. I love writing, but sometimes I wonder why I'm even on the path at all. It's not easy to get someone in the field to believe in your work. Every well known published author has a story about how many rejections they received before they got the big "yes!" It looks like my story won't be any different.
I had queried an agent back in July after attending Thrillerfest, but I never heard back and that means a "no." I was fine with that. The truth was the manuscript needed serious help and I began rewriting it. This past December one of those agents emailed me and asked to see 75 pages. That's a big request and I was thrilled. Maybe me time had come.
She requested I not send my material until after January 20th. Not sure why, but okay I'll play along. I waited and on January 23rd I hit the send button. About two weeks later I get her response. REJECTED!
Do you know what she said? Of course you don't. I'll tell you. My voice wasn't distinct enough or strong enough to impress an editor. OUCH! Clocked right between the eyes. I actually saw stars.
Why do agents who expect professionalism from authors but don't show the same respect in return? Is it necessary to be so mean? Even if I do suck, which I don't, you don't have to tell me quite like that. This isn't American Idol. Nobody's watching!
My favorite part? Where she says: "Sorry not to be so keen. Another agent may well disagree, do keep trying." You know what I can't wait for? The day I'm on a best sellers list, standing before a group of aspiring writers and I tell them the story of the hurtful rejection and how I made it anyway!
I also can't wait to be on that best sellers list and bump into agent "meany." I'll plaster a big smile on my face, introduce myself, (she'll never remember that rejection letter) and walk away knowing she wishes I was her client.
The real test? Believing in yourself! Talk to you later...
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