A Very Witchy Wedding Edits Are Here!

Thanks to my fabulous copy editor I haz edits to the first Main Street Witches book! *throws confetti* 

That means I may be able to book a blog tour for this baby. Whew! Off to edit now. :)

Link Fiesta

SJ Pajonas on going Amazon exclusive.

Sara Rossett's tips for writers. I'm going to pick up her Efficient Writer book. My writing routine is down, but I've been trying to develop a marketing routine and it's just not happening. Hopefully, this book will help.

Smart Bitches review were-shark erotica and it's hilarious. I have to add this book to my #Sharknado/#SharkWeek book post.

Wonderful Kboards post on what happens when you slow down (and how to insure against down down periods).

Link Fiesta

Hot Topic has a Pride Prejudice and Zombies lingerie collection. I gotta say, that zombie toile is kind of cool (I'd love it as a wallpaper) and I'm kind of digging that last negligee.

Another Emily Henderson home office. I love this. It's so peaceful and calming...and so unlike my own workspace. :)

How to use brand names in your fiction. Great post with very helpful tips.

SciFi author Elliott Kay talks about book numbers.

Kameron Hurley has advice for writers. Chuck Wendig does too. I'm seeing a lot of "advice to new authors" posts suddenly. We had a bunch in 2012 and it kind of went way in 2013-15.  Now they're back. Are we getting a new batch of new authors or just senior authors with more wisdom to impart?

Link Fiesta

Chuck Wendig's advice for the mid-list author.

Selling books in the digital age.

SJ Pajonas built her own treadmill desk! And she made a video about it. I'm impressed.

Russell Blake on writing a page turner.

A lot of the writing oats I put up nowadays address the book glut. Guess what? It's not just books. Television executives also think that there are too many good TV series out there. They call it "content overbuilding."

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Sidney Bristol has a really excellent word count tracking spreadsheet. I should try this out this year.

Great Kboards post on redoing covers (by C Goekel). This is very timely for me because I plan to redo my covers this year as part of the Great 2016 Rebranding. I feel kind of ambivalent about it because I love my haunted house covers (They're purple!). Oh, well, thanks to the magic of self-publishing, if the new covers don't work out I can always go back.

Reducing stress as a writer.

Building your author platform.

Rachel Aaron lists the three things you need for killer dialogue. Want a good laugh? Here's the 15 worst lines of movie dialogue ever.

Link Fiesta

Great Self Publishing Roundtable podcast with Roxie Rivera.

The Shannara Chronicles trailer is out! I am so geeking out over this show. The Shannara Series was one of my favorite fantasy series (second only to The Belgariad). I think the first book I ever wrote was Ander Elessedil fan fiction.

The difference between a masterpiece and a first draft. Great post on the To Kill a Mockingbird sequel. I'm pretty appalled about the To Set a Watchman fiasco. It very much looks like people are taking advantage of an elderly author here.

Taylor, the Kboards Freebooksy rep gives very interesting social media advice in this thread. I did not know that erotica did well on Pinterest. I guess you learn something new every day. Jane Friedman also has a post on using Pinterest to market children's books. Food for thought. I actually get a lot of traffic for Pinterest but it only hits my television and crafts posts. My writing posts don't get that much love. I wonder if I can change that. *ponders*

Link Fiesta

Interview with cover artist Patricia Schmitt (a.k.a. Pickyme) who has designed covers for Sylvia Day and J.R. Ward.

How to keep your sales steady after release from Lindsay Buroker.

Getting the most for your editing dollar.

Set the DVRs. X-files will return on January 24th.

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Catherine Ryan Howard on effective social media promo (with great examples).

This BirchBox for Geeks concept looks pretty cool.

Chuck Wendig on how you're messing up the beginning of your book.

Is this Nessie's head?

10 scientific explanations for paranormal phenomena. Very interesting, I love the ion one.

I'm in the mood for lists today. Here's 10 creepy pasta that will keep you up at night and 10 eerie American legends.

Great Writing Advice from Twitter - Pacing

Link Fiesta.

Steven Brust on publishing and the lies authors tell themselves.

Great John Scalzi post on writing to the market.

Chuck Wendig on writing the second draft. His advice is to write out a new outline. I really like that. I tried it with Return to Banshee Creek and it made a huge difference.

How much does it cost to raise a kid like Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes)?

Link Fiesta

Emily Henderson fixes up a to-die-for home office. I love the gallery wall. She also did this beautiful bedroom for the same client. Those lamps are gorgeous (and almost $400 each, ouch). I love Emily. How can you not love someone who gives you cat-friendly design tips?

A great revisions checklist by Jenny Crusie. I'm printing it out and putting it on my wall.

Rachel Aaron on how to write a great blurb. Argh, blurbing is the worst. The absolute worst.

Lindsay Buroker on publishing and marketing a multi-author bundle.

Status Report and Celebration

This has been a very productive summer. I polished the first book in my paranormal small town series, Return to Banshee Creek, and sent it to my editor. I also finished the prequel novella, Seducing the Rational Skeptic, and the Christmas novella, Snowbound with the Devil Monkey, and sent them to beta readers. My fabulous beta readers sent comments in record time and I was able to revise Devil Monkey by the end of August.

Pretty cool, uh?

But that's not all. 

I managed to write a full outline for book two, Showdown in Banshee Creek. I'm immensely proud of this, because this is the first outline I've managed to complete. My writing style so far has been... no, I  can't even describe as "pantsing." It's more like total cluelessness. Remember, that E. L. Doctorow quote where he says that writing is "like driving a car at night, you never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way"? Picture that with a  broken headlight and a faulty eyeglass prescription.

Which totally explains why Return to Banshee Creek has gone through so many revisions.

This method is fine if your goal is to write one or two books a year, but in today's competitive market, you have to publish frequently in order to gain or maintain your momentum. The consensus seems to be at least four books a year.

Four.

Right now, that looks impossible. I'm not going to be able to write four books a year with my "broken headlight" method.

So I need to write faster. I bought Rachel Aaron's 2K To 10K book (it's awesome, go buy it!) and hope to put some of her advice into action. I don't expect to get to 10K a day. Realistically, I'd be happy if I can get to 10K a week. I also need to write better. I can't afford to revise each book a gazillion times.

So, here's my to-do list for the fall: finish final developmental revisions to Return to Banshee Creek, finish final revisions to Snowbound with the Devil Monkey and get it ready for developmental edits, and finish a first draft of Showdown in Banshee Creek. I hope to get these done by January.

It sounds ambitious (at least to me!) but this summer was super productive, so I have high hopes for the fall. I'm also going to take a long, hard look at my writing process and see if I can make some serious upgrades. The status quo is simply not cutting it.

Wish me luck.

Photo via Morguefile.

Link Fiesta

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese. I die. (H/T to SmexyBooks)

Jennifer Crusie on Character and Context (or to fix Lauren Lance). I love how Jenny is dissecting Green Arrow. I learn something new every week. And I love her post on how to evaluate the first draft. My favorite piece of advice is "trim the chat so it becomes conflict." It makes a huge difference.

Ilona Andrews on false starts. She also has a fabulous post on the editorial process.

Marjorie Liu on creating a new routine.

Link Fiesta

Rachel Aaron on how Project Runway relates to Writing. Just "Get it Done."

The Being Human house tour is fabulosity. "Quick access to the basement" indeed!

Self-pub advice from Courtney Milan. "You cannot recover from writing a terrible book."

The nuts and bolts of rights reversions by Rachelle Gardner.

Great Writing Advice from Twitter

This +1,000,000.

I seriously considered writing to the market, but, ultimately, decided against it. I'm so glad I did. I love my book. I think it's a lot fun. And that's a good thing because, between revisions and editing, I've already had to reread it a gazillion times. If it actually gets published, I'll have to read it another gazillion times.

The editing never ends.

Write what you love.

Hard Core!

I've been editing my WIP (the editing, it's like Dracula, it never dies!). I've also received a lot of comments from beta readers, critique partners and contest judges. The criticisms are not unexpected, I know the book's weak spots. However, some comments have been surprising. Readers love my book, and the parts that they love are the crazier, kookier parts. I did not expect that. I thought judges would hate those parts.

So I've been thinking about those comments a lot. I've also been thinking about authors and creators that embrace their crazy. This includes, J.R. Ward, Kresley Cole, the Sharknado creators. I mean, clawed Valkyries? Flying sharks? Who'd have thunk it? 

So I wonder... can I do it? Can I go the full Sharknado on this book? And if I do it, will it work?

I don't know, but the great thing about this "aspiring author" gig is, I don't have anything to lose. I can always edit stuff out. Yes, that means moar editing. Ugh.

But, I'll give it my best shot. In the immortal words of Buttercup:

Powerpuff Girls image owned by Cartoon Network.

Contest Euphoria!

I won Second Place in the Heartland Romance Authors' Show Me The Spark contest! I'm so excited!!!!

I also got a lot of contest comments and have a lot of editing to do now. But for now, let's party!

Link Fiesta

Aperol cocktail. I don't even know what Aperol is (sounds like a Campari cousin), but this looks delicious. Can't go wrong with Prosecco in a cocktail. Via Anthropololgie.

Chuck Wendig on editing. On the you-learn-something-new-everyday front: "All things in your book should probably have three beats."

A list of books featuring historical heroines who sew. I like this trend. I want to read the Bayeaux Tapestry book. That sounds fascinating. Also, the rentier historical hero seems to be out of fashion.

And here's another trend I wholeheartedly support: recipes as book marketing. That crabmeat pizza looks really tempting. Now this is author branding I can get enthusiastic about.

Moar Editing

My book is finally being read. My beta readers should be sending me comments soon. I'm very excited.

I've also been discussing a couple of proposed changes with my critique partner. My CP suggested a new scene that would ramp up the conflict a lot. It sounds like a great idea and I'm already drafting an outline. I'll write it out when I receive the beta reader comments.

The new scene is not the only change I've got planned. I've been mulling over a new idea for a couple of weeks. It doesn't affect the plot, but it changes the setting. It's a bit quirky, but I think it would give the book a fresh feel. I wasn't sure, though, it may be too quirky. I finally worked up the courage to bring it up with my CP, and guess what? She loved it!

So I'm also outlining my new setting. I'm going to have a lot of work when the comments come back so I'm glad the kids are back in school. More time to write!

Image by Morguefile.

Link Fiesta

Story of a query by Courtney Milan. The scariest part about these posts? Her agent used the query language in the pitch she sent to the publisher. Yikes.

Golden Heart advice from the Wet Noodle Posse.

The Kill List, or words you need to vote off the island. I have to print out this list and go through my MS with a fine-tooth comb, or a fine-tooth Find and Replace function.

Otis Chandler, CEO of Goodreads, talks about book discoverability.