Confessions of a Read-a-thon Grinch

Recently, my son’s school held a read-a-thon to raise money for a field trip. Every parent at the school looked forward to the big event. Every parent except me. And worse, I didn’t dare admit the truth. Shhhhh. I loathe read-a-thons.

I really do love reading with my children—at home by the fire in my comfy couch that is. Reading in a small room with thirty-seven others is less fun. It’s noisy. It’s cramped. Wearing pajamas to school adds another angle--humiliation. And then there's the menu--the dreaded green eggs and ham in honor of Dr. Seuss.

But this year was different. Someone gave me a bathrobe last Christmas. Hearing my son, Leif, read The Cremation of Sam McGee made me forget I was sitting on cold bricks. The eggs were colored with chlorophyll instead of food coloring. By lunch time, Leif had read over thirty books. He was so proud I almost forgot about the noise, the crowding, and my hard seat. Almost. But please don’t ask me to do it again next year.

Query Letters Part III

You're ready to find an agent, but...

Did you complete Part I and Part II? No?

Go to jail, do not pass Go, and do not collect 200 dollars.

I'm serious. Don't start hunting for an agent until you've written a killer query.

Oh. You did that already?

Hooray!

Start the search at www.agentquery.com Here you can search by genre, which saves time. Some agents share their likes and dislikes, plus some of the books they represent.

publishersmarketplace.com lists agents that are actively seeking clients. The list changes often, so keep checking back. For a fee, you can subscribe to Publisher's Lunch. PL provides info on all the current deals between agents and publishing houses, including a short description of each book sold, which gives you a sense of an agent's tastes.

Writer's Digest's blog Guide to Literary Agents is another excellent resource. guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/ The archives are chock full of interviews with agents. The blog also announces conferences where agents will attend.

Once you narrow down your list, the Google will lead you to other interviews with your prospective agent, which will help you refine and personalize your query letter.

Always check the credentials of your prospective agent at Preditors and Editors. anotherealm.com/prededitors/

Good luck!

Don't miss this contest!

The 2009 Debutantes, under the auspices of the amazing Saundra Mitchell, hold a monthly contest like no other. Just follow the link below, add a comment, and you're can win a bag of treats. There's goodies beyond your wildest imaginings, so don't miss out.

Query Letters Part II

Ack! It's been over two weeks since I wrote anything on query letters. Blame my To Do list. It's grown (or is that groan) to three pages!

So you've been to Nathan Bransford's blog about query letters (see previous post), and taken a stab at writing one. You've deleted the first ten tries, but number eleven isn't half bad. Or is it?

How can you tell?

If you don't mind making your query letter "public," you can have it critiqued for free at:

http://evileditor.blogspot.com

or at

http://queryshark.blogspot.com

For those who aren't up for a public critique, read through the archives to check out other writer's queries. You can see my attempt for My Invented Life here (You have to scroll to Face Lift 314 about half way down):

http://evileditor.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

It's bad. I know.

Did I mention that I suck at queries?

Meet Heather Duffy Stone

Are you ready to meet another fabulous debut author?

Heather Duffy Stone writes stories and essays that are mostly inspired by high school—either her own or someone else's. She has lived in Vermont, England, Los Angeles, rural New York and Rome, Italy. For now she cooks, sleeps, explores, writes and teaches in Brooklyn, New York.

She wrote THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO TELL YOU, a haunting story about how secrets can consume a friendship:

Fraternal twins Nadio and Noelle share a close connection—and as Noelle's best friend since they were five, Keeley Shipley fits perfectly into their world. But everything changes after Keeley spends the summer before junior year at Oxford. When Keeley returns, Nadio falls in love with her. Noelle, ripped apart by resentment, sees her as an ungrateful rich girl. But Keeley has a painful story that she can't tell yet. As Nadio and Keeley hide their romance, Noelle dives into something of her own—a destructive affair with an older boy.

I caught up with Heather during her busy debut to ask her a few questions.

One of your characters considers getting a tattoo. Do you have a tattoo? Have you ever thought of getting one? Why not?

ooo. Yes. When I finished this book I said I was going to get a tattoo. I don't have one yet, but I'm going to get one. I know exactly what it is. I carry it around in my bag. I won't tell anyone when I'm doing it though. I see it as a tribute to these characters, who mean so much to me.

If you could visit any place and time for a week, where and when would it be?

I'd re-live a certain drive down the coast of California on a spring weekend about six years ago...I'd lie in the grass dreaming about everything to come during the last week of my senior year of boarding school...I'd go back to that week in southern Turkey. Or, I'd go to Woodstock. I always felt like I was born in the wrong decade.

Woodstock had to be amazing...except maybe for the brown acid. Do you ever experience writer's block?

I certainly get stuck on things. But I usually just write my way through it. Or I do a lot of re-reading. The more times I read a scene, the more it becomes clear what needs to go before or after or in the middle of it.

Do you play music when you write? Have a cup of Chai at your elbow? A cat on your lap?

Sometimes. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Elliot Smith while working on my WIP. I like sunlight. A comfy place to sit, and yet a chair that keeps my back straight. Coffee. I like people around me. Open windows are ideal--street sounds, river sounds, small town sounds. It doesn't matter, I just like the sounds of what is going on around me. I like to look up from my screen and see thing going on.

That sounds like a perfect writing arrangement to me. Thanks so much for visiting my blog.

For more fun with Heather, visit her website and buy her book!

http://www.heatherduffystone.com

http://www.amazon.com/This-What-Want-Tell-You/dp/073871450X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231340145&sr=8-1

Author interview with Jenny Moss

Meet debut author, Jenny Moss. A few months ago, I had the opportunity to read her historical novel, Winnie’s War set during the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. The pages turned themselves as I delved into Winnie’s life as it was turned upside down when the Spanish Flu found her hometown in Texas. There are many subplots, and a lot of action, and yet the characters are lovingly drawn, and the story is poignant through and through.

JENNY MOSS is a former NASA engineer. She earned a master's degree in literature and taught writing as an adjunct at University of Houston-Clear Lake. Winnie's War is her first novel. She lives with her two teenagers in Houston, Texas.

She took some time out of her busy life to answer a few questions.

If you could visit any place and time (past/present/future) for a week, where and when would it be?

1920s Paris.

Nice choice! Do you play music when you write? Have a cup of Chai at your elbow? A cat on your lap?

I don't play music when I write. But I do think about my characters when I listen to certain songs.


Do you ever experience writer's block? What do you to knock yourself out of it If not, what's your secret?


Not much until last spring and summer. I'm not sure I have a secret. I just kept writing and tried not to get too frustrated.

Thank you for stopping by, Jenny!

Thank you!



Check out her website and buy her book!

o Author Web site: http://www.jenny-moss.com

o Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Winnies-War-Jenny-Moss/dp/0802798195

Author interview with Stacey Jay

It’s time to meet another amazing 2009 debut novelist, Stacey Jay. Her YA paranormal romance, YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME, is on bookshelves now! Stacey Jay is a workaholic with three pen names, four kids, and a decidedly macabre sense of humor. She loves zombies, creepies, crawlies, blood, guts, gore, and of course, romance.

Megan Berry's social life is so dead. Literally. Fifteen-year-old Megan Berry is a Zombie Settler by birth, which means she's part-time shrink to a bunch of dead people. All Megan wants is to be normal--and go to homecoming. But someone in school is using black magic to turn average, angsty Undead into flesh-eating Zombies, and it's looking like homecoming will turn out to be a very different kind of party--the bloody kind.

Stacey took a little time from the whirlwind of her life to answer a few questions.

I'm a very squeamish person, and tend to avoid horror of any kind. Will I be able to enjoy your book? Even if I faint at the sight of blood? And the thought of vampires makes me put my hands over my throat for protection? And I'm prone to nightmares?

Lol! Well...I think you'll be able to handle it. The horror is campy horror, not pee your pants in fear horror. Think Buffy, not 28 Days Later. But just in case, I'd advise reading during the daylight hours. And with a cat on your lap and maybe a mild sedative at hand :).

If you could visit any place and time (past/present/future) for a week, where and when would it be?

I'd have to go back in time to the Victorian Age in London. That time has always fascinated me and I'd love to wear big dresses for a week (but not any longer, I couldn't deal with a corset long term.)

LOL. I like food too much to ever wear a corset. Do you play music when you write? Have a cup of Chai at your elbow? A cat on your lap?

Nope, no music. If I listen to music, I can't concentrate. But I LOVE a cup of coffee at my elbow and would totally have a cat if I didn't have so many kids. (My hubs is anti cat until we get a few of the people children out of the house.)

Do you ever experience writer's block?

I don't know if I get writer's block so much as writer's burn out. I've taken on a lot these past two years and sometimes my muse gets cranky and wants a break. Sometimes I can give her that break, but sometimes I have to push on through. In the second case, I take a half hour or so and free-write, letting myself work on something fun not related to my current WIP. That usually gets the muse feeling perky again and ready to contribute to the process on the WIP.

You are both wise and funny, Stacey. Thanks for visiting!

Thanks Lauren!! Can't wait to have you back to my blog!

o Author Web site: http://staceyjay.com

o Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-So-Undead-Me/dp/1595142258/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225898596&sr=1-1