It's Official . . .

I sold my first book to Wild Rose Press!!!

Here Comes the Bribe will be a Champagne Rose release. No dates yet. There is much to do! Contract. Edits. Art. Promo. But it feels pretty darn great :)

More later . . .

Wednesday Blog

Hi,
If you're looking for me, I'm blogging today at Sparkle This!

Come on over and leave a comment or an opinion of what YOU think makes a book "sparkle".

Happy Writing

Moving on to Fast Draft . . .

. . . and on to Book II. Yiipppeeeee!!!!!

I recently started plotting the second book in my urban fantasy series and I'm having a great time with it. I'm pushing through the working synopsis so I'll be ready to FAST DRAFT on Monday.

For those of you who've never heard of FAST DRAFT, please go to CandyHavens.com. She's a wonderful writing buddy, (author of the Charmed & Dangerous series about a witch who provides Secret Service type protection for the Prime Minister) and she has a free online continuous-running writers workshop.

One of the workshops is to put people together to do Fast Draft, a venue for motivated writers to hack out a first draft of their novel in two weeks. Yes, two weeks! Each writer commits to a certain # of pages(usually 20) per day. They band together in groups to report their daily totals in an accountability to the muse.

Whatever # of pages you choose to commit to, there are writers there to support one another and push each other to meet their page count, answer questions, brainstorm, etc.

The point of FAST DRAFT is to turn off the internal editor. You're not allowed to edit the words on the page until the challenge period is over. This is to help you meet the daily goal and to help you free the creative side. This first draft is just for you. And if you push your page count, even by a couple of pages, and write even after you really would rather stop for the day, you'll find the gold. Something magic happens when we just "let go" of that control and dig deep inside ourselves.

The workshop is also a great way get involved and meet other writers, find out how they get through the tough spots in a novel. Sometimes, the hardest part is putting that first word on the page.

Happy Writing :)

Edgy Fantasy Artist - Timothy Lantz

I found this great fantasy artist who does bookcover art for Juno Books. He's AWESOME. Yes, I realize I sound like a teenager but the guy's work is really incredible. Take a look for yourself.

www.stygiandarkness.com

My Day :)

Wednesday was my night to blog over at Sparkle This! If you're looking for me, please come on over and leave a comment.

Sherry

What Makes a Book Sparkle?

I'm pretty tired tonight. But I haven't blogged in five days and the guilt is beginning to pile up! So, I hope this makes sense. I'm sure I'll take another look in the morning an decide this is drek and delete it. But until the sun comes up, on with the blog.

I've been "blog moonlighting" on Wednesdays at the community blog Sparkle This on the subject of finding an agent. Which is completely relevant since I'm in the midst of finding my very own. And I realized, I've never blogged here about why we felt the need to come together as a group in order to "Find the Sparkle."

You know when you're carelessly ambling around the bookstore in your favorite section, sifting through the books on the shelf? You skim the first paragraphs in quick succession until something jumps out and grabs your attention? Well, the invisible tentacles wrapped around your throat can now be defined as "The Sparkle", the intangible quality a writer embues into their work that gives the story a life of its own.

There are elements we could name like tone, voice, setting, etc., that might effectively convey the generality of "sparkledom". But, quite frankly, if you knew nothing about writing and possessed only a modicum of education, you'd be capable of discerning the indefinable pull of sparkle.

I actually think this is what some Editorial Interns or Editorial Assistants do. They don't know why the submission is good or bad, but they know what they like.

Okay, so now that you know what Sparkle is, how do we find/develop it in our own writing? Where do we begin?

Within the long list of the elements we're required to master in crafting a saleable novel, each of us seem to have been given or developed a writing muscle stronger in one area than another. You grasp onto it and use it to pull yourself along while you muck through the crap-phase--the years of learning all the other elements of story. It's so important during this time to know you're doing something right. You may even leave this initial element behind as you gain other tools of writing or match it with another element or two that develops into a trifecta of sparkling writing. Congratulations. Please don't berate the rest of us who are still working at it. :)

So, whether you have one or three elements (or more), you still have to polish the prose to make it shiny. Here's where the search for the sparkle begins.

Let's start with Dialogue.

I truly respect a literary tone or beautiful prose or emotion which effortlessly sinks inside my soul. I have to work hard for those elements. They require pass after pass of revisions before I feel satisfied I've done my best.

The stories that really "get me" are those with dialogue so razor sharp to the gut it forces me to keep turning the page. Dialogue is where I try to make my work sparkle the brightest. Dialogue in and of itself can encompass every other facet. Dialogue. Emotion. Plot. There's my own trifecta, if you're interested.

Dust off some books from your keeper shelf and turn to a dialogue run.

Is it realistic? Poignant? Relevant? Subtextual? Sometimes the most important dialogue on the page is what the characters DON'T say to each other. A look. A touch. Even an involuntary action can act as dialogue. Especially an involuntary action.

Now, turn to a dialogue run from your wip. Ask yourself the same questions about the dialogue you've written on the page. Now, put yourself inside the scene by drawing emotions from your own experience.

Have you ever said the opposite of what you meant? What emotion motivated the fib? Was it a little one or a big one? Who was protected by it? What was revealed? (I love the contrast in hiding to reveal.) Who was hurt because you didn't trust someone with the truth? Close your eyes and relive this scene. Pay special attention to your body language, heart rate, hand motions, facial expressions. Use all your five senses.

Now go back and rewrite the dialogue/scene from your wip using your new tricks. This time, add the beats of pause and action/reaction your characters experienced. (If you don't know about these, check out Story by Robert McKee.)

Was it better? Did you feel as if you were reliving the scene with the characters? Did it sparkle?

I bet it did. Now, go back through the entire book and revise the places where you missed an opportunity to make it sparkle.

And I would love to see some revised samples!

Until then,
Happy Writing

Here we are before the Gala Event.



This is LA Mitchell (GH Finalist/Romantic Elements) with her hubby and meteorologist for the NWS, Eric. He was such a good sport! And he looks great in a suit. :) Who do we call to get this guy a gig reporting the local weather???




Here we are with our chapter buddies. (L-R) Jenny Gardiner(American Title III Winner!), Andrea Geist, Rosemary Clement-Moore (Prom Dates from Hell), Shannon Canard, Mindy Obenhaus, Sherry Davis, Sandra Ferguson (Harm's Way), Jayliss Karlik.



The ladies of the "Feet" photo. After the Gala in front of the fountain. There were at least twenty tables laden with desserts and at least that many free-standing bars. Nice evening. (Back to front and left to right) Sandra Ferguson, Sherry Davis, Laura Bradford (Bradford Lit.), Andrea Geist, LA Mitchell(GH Finalist), Delores Shaffer, Jayliss Karlik, Teresa Southwick (The Shiek's Contract Bride/Harlequin).




Here's LA grousing about her hair. Hey, we're from Texas. It's what we do.
Great conference. Great friends.