 Today is the big day! Yippee! It's launch day.
Me and two of my closest writing buddies, friends, and the best darn critique partners a person could ask for, decided to create a group blog together. Fun, right? Totally. It's going to be awesome (once people know we exist that is). So what does our group blog called Ready, Aim, Hook Me have to offer that you just can't get anywhere else? Well, let me tell you. First of all, what about an opportunity to have your writing reviewed, whether for the sake of feedback on your finished manuscript or a full-fledged review on Amazon or Smashwords, by three women at one time? Here's the thing that makes us different--we won't give negative reviews EVER. No one gets hurt that way. Our purpose isn't to tear writers down. So no one has anything to lose. But that doesn't mean we'll put our name on just anything either. You will really have to hook us and draw us in. If you can do that, pull us in from the first page and continue to keep at least two of us intrigued all the way to the end, then we will provide you with a review on your blog, Amazon, or Smashwords site. Wouldn't you love to put on your blog a tag line that says, 2 out of 3 Hook'ers Love my Book! Isn't that awesome? Or better yet, 3 out of 3 Hook'ers Love my Book! (Only the best of the best will get that amazing tag to put on their website. We might be hook'ers but we're not easy). Regardless, everyone will receive some type of feedback on their story, and don't we all crave that? I know I do. I live for it. I can tell you right now, Kacey and D.S. are amazing. They are tough (you can go and read their pages on our group blog to learn more), but they have helped me improve my own writing 100 fold. I kid you not. They're not afraid to tell me that I'm "beating them over the head" with a concept (actual words) or that a chapter I've slaved over just doesn't work. They've got my back and refuse to let me write anything less than what I'm capable of. If you can get us to say we love your book--Self-published, Indy, Traditional, or your completed manuscript--that means something. We don't review just to review (I know many blogs where they will say how wonderful a book is simple to do so--a favor to the author, if you will). That's not us. If we tell you the book is awesome, you can better darn believe it is. We hope to build our name and reputation as reliable, honest reviewers. Besides doing reviews and critiques, we will also give writing tips on how best to hook not only us, but hopefully help you hook an agent and a slew of readers as well. That's our goal. (We'll probably gossip about each other too. Well, that's my plan anyway). We are looking for submissions and followers, as well. I promise you (pinky swear) that it will be fun and insightful over at Ready, Aim, Hook Me. With three crazy, tough ladies, how can it be anything but? Go show us some love. Thanks guys. MU-AH. I appreciate the support.
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 There was a time in which I would have NEVER read a self-published piece of literature. I admit, sad to say, I was a literary snob. I had heard the saying, “The great thing about self-publishing is that anyone can do it. The bad thing about self-publishing is that anyone can do it” and so I became leery of anything self-published for that very reason. At writer’s conventions, authors would set up tables with their self-published works and I would simply walk on by. Rude I know, but I felt justified in my smugness.
Self-published, in my mind, was equal to crap. Before you throw rotten tomatoes or come after me with pitchforks or flaming torches, just realize, I’m not the only one who’s had these thoughts. Many people, those who plan to go the traditional route, tend to roll their eyes at self-publishers. This isn’t something new. This attitude has been around for a long time and it is still a battle that goes on today. The reason: A lot of self-published books look and read very amateurish. That’s the plain, hard truth. Lately, with the explosion of ebooks and the ability to self-publish them at such a quick rate, I’ve actually had the great pleasure of reading several ebooks by Indy authors, and I do say pleasure. I have been pleasantly surprised. The stories were great, and I’m honored that someone would give me the opportunity to read their work. I have yet to read a self-published story I disliked. That’s a good thing The bad thing: most I received for free. A few I paid 99 cents, but only a few. But if I had to pay $2.99 or more for these same books, I probably wouldn’t have. (Now you can throw your tomatoes if you like, but I hope you’ll read on and hear me out). I’m not a gambler and for me, if I’m going to spend $2.99 or more on an ebook, it had better be polished. Since there is no guarantee of that, I’m not willing to take that risk. And seriously, that’s exactly what it is—a risk, a gamble. Will I get a great book? Or will I get a book riddled with missing words, jumbled sentences, and mistakes that should have been picked up in the editing stages? Ebooks are exploding like crazy. Amazon sells for ebooks are higher than paperback and hardback book sells combined. It’s a crazy market. And the opportunity for self-publishing has never been greater than it is right now. The problem, it just makes it even easier to get a whole lot of crap into the market quicker. Now, the self-published books I read aren’t crap by any means. As I said, the stories were great. A few, I even wondered why they didn’t try their hand at the traditional route—they’re that good. I could see them on bookstore shelves. But even saying that, these books were still in need of more revisions and more editing. The sad truth of the matter, I fully expected these books to have issues with misspellings and typo’s. I went into it judgmental and with lowered expectations. And sure enough these books delivered the typos and mistakes just as I figured they would. Some books more than others. I would think, with the prejudice that self-publishing experiences, that someone contemplating that route would do EVERYTHING, going above and beyond what is even necessary, to prove people wrong and produce a perfect, polished piece of work. But they’re not. Why settle for mediocre? Why would you want to put your name on something that was anything less that the absolute best it could be? I guess I don’t get that. I do think self-publishing is a trend that is changing and shaping the publishing world for the better. Traditional publishers need to wake up, fix their broken machine, and realize they need to make some changes or authors will skip right past them—authors are doing that very thing right now. The gatekeepers are losing their control, which in some respects is a good thing. But if you plan on self-publishing or have self-published for that matter, make sure your work is as close to perfect as it possibly can be. Otherwise, you’re just feeding into the prejudice that is holding self-published works back, keeping it from being viewed as a respectable means of getting books into the hands of readers. Which is a shame. I would love to see self-published books start kicking traditional books behinds (oh, there’s a few out there, but not nearly enough). A couple of tips: 1) Don’t rely on yourself to edit your book. You can’t. It’s your baby and you will always think it’s beautiful. If you have the means, pay for a professional editor to do a line edit. They will catch things you will miss. They will provide you with ways and opportunities to improve your work. Why wouldn’t you want that? Now, I understand this can be pricey. I get that. I also understand some writers simply can’t afford it. Then either a) you wait until you can afford it or b) you find some really, really smart writerly friends to proofread your work and then you take their advice. And I’m not just talking one or two people here. I’m talking several. If you’re going to skip out on the professional editor, then you better believe you have your work cut out for you. You find the meanest person in your circle of writer friends, the most blunt, and you give it to that person to edit. Put yourself in the line of fire and take the bullets—this will make you better. I promise. 2) Get a great cover. Don’t judge a book by its cover, well, we do. People will look for any reason to diss your self-published work—don’t let the cover be the thing that keeps them from ever opening your book in the first place. If you can afford a graphic designer, do it. Again, pricey, I know. But it will be well worth it. Do what you can to make your book look as traditional published as possible—I’m sorry, but that is the standard. And DON’T have your name be bigger than the title of your book. You’re not famous. You can’t get away with that, so don’t do it. 3) Don’t forget your interior layout. This is important as well. There are rules for the way the interior of your book should look. Check out books. Look at the way they are set up. Look at the type font, page number placement, headers, etc… Again, it needs to look like the books you see on the shelves. 4) I think the most important thing to remember is not to rush your book. I know we get excited when we’ve worked so hard to complete a novel that we want to share it with everyone. Take your time. Be careful. Do your edits and rewrites. Because here’s the thing, once you put your book out there for the world to see, it’s hard to go back and fix the mistakes. Oh, you can. But people will remember and it’s hard to get them to change their mind once they’ve made their opinion. You only get to make a first impression once, so make it the best it can be. Check out this article. I think she makes some very valid points to consider. The Pit and the Pendulum By Cynthia Robertson of Self Publishing  It’s Monday. I should post a blog. But I’m sick. I have been feverish and miserable for the past 48 hours. I’m actually drifting in and out of consciousness as I write this. Isn’t that called dedication?
Normally, I plan out my blogs. I at least think about what I’m going to write before starting the actual process of writing. But not this time. I’m just writing as I go here. Off the cuff. I mean, I don’t want to waste your time by forcing you to read dribble. So I’m just going to let you know up front that I have no plan. I’m just randomly typing words right now. You can stop reading if you like, but it could be fun to continue reading and see how this blog turns out. I’m actually curious myself. In between lengthy naps and feverish dreams, I had an epiphany. And I know it was an epiphany and not just a drug induced thought, because it actually made sense. (I had a dream yesterday in which a little brown monkey crawled up my bedroom door, perched itself on top, and watched me—this makes no sense. It wasn’t real. See? I can tell the difference between epiphany and just pure crazy). Back to the epiphany: I am going to be a published author. Wah-la! Deep, huh? Totally not crazy. And you want to know why? Because I’m going to do everything within my power to get there. Every day I’m going to work at it. Every single day. Whether it be writing, editing, or reading about improving my writing, I will do something. Today, in between naps, I will send out queries for Desert Rice. I will then edit a page or two of Wanted: Dead or Undead. How did successful people become successful? They worked at it. It didn’t just fall in their laps. If you want something, then you go after it until you get it. I had an agent. I had one. But now she’s jumping out of the literary agency business. It wasn’t impossible to get her, so that leads me to believe that with perseverance, I can find another. I will keep trying. THAT is my goal. I’ve dabbled in the idea of self publishing my work, which still isn’t out of the question, but for now I want to keep plugging away at the traditional route. I don’t feel as though I’ve exhausted all my efforts there. Traditional publishing has always been my dream (yes, I know what an uphill battle it is) but until I feel as though I’ve done everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, I can’t give up. Not yet. Self publishing will always be there. It will always be an option. So each day I will do something that will take me one step closer toward my goal. I will work my tail end off, because anything worth having is worth working for. And I’m ready to work. Okay, I’m feeling sleepy now. But after my nap, I’m going to do something writerly related. What are your writer goals and what are you doing to achieve them?  With the Rapture on everyone's minds (whether you believe in the concept or simply mock those who do, which is wrong by the way), it got me thinking . . . what if tomorrow really didn't come?
Now, for the purpose of this blog, I'm thinking in the terms of writing--such a minor concept in the act of being translated or having been left behind to face God's wrath. (If tomorrow I should be Raptured, I'm quite certain I'll be too busy believing in miracles to think of much else, and if I'm NOT Ratptured, which is more likely, I still think I'll have bigger things to contemplate like which house to loot and how fast I can read the Bible). But anyway, let's think about our writing and nothing else for a moment, shall we. Just for kicks. If we knew tomorrow wouldn't come, what would you write today? Would I write a blog? Probably not. Don't get me wrong, I love blogging. I do. But on my list of things to write, a blog wouldn't be it. Maybe I'd quickly drop a line saying something like, "See ya later, suckers!" but for the most part, I don't think 'd waste my precious time blogging. Would I spend my day editing? You know, I probably wouldn't. I mean, I'd hate to leave a legacy of my crap-writing behind for others to have to decipher and read, but you know what I'd rather do . . . write. I'd sit down at my trusty laptop and just attack the keyboard until the letters rubbed off and my fingers were raw and possibly bleeding. I'd write and write and write, until either the Good Lord or the devil himself came for me. That's what I'd do. I'd free write. I wouldn't care about my passive voice. I wouldn't care about my punctuation and exactly where to place my commas. I wouldn't care if I had talking heads or shifting POV. I wouldn't care if I had plot holes or undefined characters. I wouldn't care if I crossed genres or who my audience was. I wouldn't care if an agent liked my work or if I would someday be published. I wouldn't care if I had a one million word manuscript or only enough to fill a novella. I wouldn't care about tensing or adverbs or be so critical of myself or . . . I wouldn't care about any of that at all. I'd write for the fun of it. I'd write because I LOVE it. I may even toss in several hundred exclamation points just for the heck of it (the poor exclamation point gets dissed too much). I'd just write. I think, for myself, I get so caught up in all the technicalities and the business side of writing, that I sometimes forget why it is I write in the first place. Sometimes I forget that writing is supposed to be for fun, for joy, for entertainment. But if I only had today to write, I'm quite certain I wouldn't forget. I'd remember. That's what I'd do. If I only had today, I'd write and write and write and have a grand time doing it too--a crazy lady without boundaries, slightly schizophrenic and completely euphoric. Since I know that I'll more than likely be here tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that and so on and so forth, I DO have to remember the technicalities and the business side. That's a part of writing--a large part. It can't be ignored. Not if I want to be successful anyway. It's just the way it is. Hopefully, though, I won't let it be the LARGEST part of why I write. Not anymore. I'll do my best to remember. Because someday, tomorrow really won't come. If you only had today to write, how would you spend your time? What would you do differently? What would you write? What writing rules would you toss out the door?  I put together a fun little contest to see how well you knew your cowboy/western slang terms. You may be asking why, why would she do such a weird thing?
My reason, I'm writing a western romance novel (with a scattering of zombie mayhem for fun and added tension) and I wanted to make my novel as genuinely authentic to the times as I could (minus the zombie feature, of course). First, the answers: 1) Adam’s Ale: Water 2) Milestonemonger: Someone who likes to roam 3) Dough Belly: The cook 4) Paintin’ his nose: Getting drunk 5) Get the mitten:To be rejected by a lover 6) Texas Cakewalk: A hanging 7) Windies: Tall Tales 8) Rod: A revolver 9) Fice: A worthless dog or mongrel 10) Amputate your timber: Put down your rifle 11) Doxology Works: A church 12) Belly Wash: Weak Coffee 13) Hay Seed:A derogatory term for a farmer 14) Rot Gut: Bad liquor 15) Sheepherders Delight:Cheap whiskey 16) Texas Butter: Gravy made with flour, hot water, and fried steak grease 17) Fiddle: A horse's head 18) Horn: A glass of liquor 19) Roostered (I use this one in my book): To get drunk 20) Honey-Fogle: To swindle And now for the winner . . . drum roll, please . . . TOMBSTONE What a fittin' name for such a contest. Interesting to say the least. He got the most correct (eight correct). Way to go!! Thanks ya'll for participating. Hope you had fun!  Since very few of you want to try your hand at the cowboy lingo, (even though I see ya lurking in the shadows) I thought why not play another game just for kicks. Unfortunately, there will be no prizes. Bummer, but that's just the way it is. Sorry.
This is purely for entertainment purposes and primarily because I'm doing everything in my power to procrastinate the act of editing my novel. Editing sucks and playing games is much more fun. So here is your first "What if?" challenge question (taken directly from the What if? app on my iPhone, so it's all legit): "If you had to lick one floor of one room in your house, which would it be?" Wow! Yikes, I don't know that I'd like to lick any of the floors in my house. The person who cleans my house (me) doesn't do a great job. She should totally be fired. I will answer first. Not my kids' bathroom. No way. Not even for a million bucks. Not my teenager's room--that's nasty. My kitchen floor could be tasty, but I think my best bet would be the sitting room/front room of my house. I'm looking at it right now and it looks pretty safe to lick. Okay, your turn. Which floor of your room would you lick? Click the play button after a few seconds to get you in the country mood.  I’ve always said (okay, not really but I’m saying it now) that in another time and place, I could have been a cowgirl. I love me some cowboy fodder and every once in awhile I listen to country music. As I sing, I have been known to throw in some southern twang. I can sound genuinely hick.
I love horses. They’re just like big ol’ puppy dogs to me. In another time and place, I’d own several—a Red Dun, a Black Stallion, a Strawberry Roan, and maybe even a Dapple Gray. Oh, and a miniature horse too. Just for fun. I’d slap on my cowgirl hat, strap on my chaps, and mosey on down the trail into the glowing sunset. Can’t you just hear the clippity-clop of the horse hooves on the trail, the jingle-jangle of my spurs, and the wind rustling through the tumbleweeds? Giddy up, Widow Maker, giddy up. Yep, I’d make a mighty fine cowgirl and if you say otherwise, be prepared to meet my Quickdraws. (Just kiddin’. I don’t own no Quickdraws. But I do have a Nerf gun and darts). Writing my zombie western romance novel has been a hoot—writing the twang and slang of the wild, wild west cracks me up. And, in my research, I found some wonderful resources to help me to decipher our normal day verbiage into western idioms. There was a point in which my male MC dresses up kind of fancy and I wanted to say something more than just, “He looked nice in his fancy clothes.” (That’s telling not showing by the way, and I would NEVER do that). I was able to find a website that said fancy clothes were called, “Best Bib and Tucker.” Oh, I snatched that up. That’s a good phrase right there. And, back in those days, a handsome man was called a Thoroughbred. That’s nice. So what the heck, I implemented the two. It worked. Of course, I have to be careful not to add too many western phrases into my novel. It could come off over bearing and creepy. Besides, a few are impossible to understand. Someone would read it and be like, “What the heck?” But a few here and there to provide a more western feel and make it more authentic is mighty fine by me. So I thought it would be fun to give you a few slang terms and see how well you do in defining them. Oh, let’s make it a contest! Yeah, that would be fun! First, we need RULES (I’m making this up as I go here): 1) Follow my blog. Just click on the join this site button. So easy to do. 2) No cheating. No looking it up online. Okay, you can look it up online, but it would be a lot more fun if you didn’t. 3) Leave your guesses in the comment section. 4) The one who gets the most right, wins. (In case of multiple winners, a name will be drawn from a hat—a ten gallon cowboy hat). 5) If you tweet this (and why wouldn’t you?), just tell me you did, I’ll believe you and then TWO of your wrong answers will be made right. Like extra credit. 6) Make sure to include your email so I can get a hold of you. 7) That’s all of the rules I can think of. No point to make this technical. This is just something dumb, yet fun to do. PRIZES: You have to have prizes. Hmm…not sure what kind of prize to offer. It should be something cowboy related, right? If I sent you a bottle of lotion, that would be weird. Shoot. I don’t know. Okay, okay. I think I got it. How about a gift card for you and a friend to go to a movie theater in your area to see “COWBOYS vs. ALIENS.” Not quite zombie, but pretty darn interesting none-the-less OR a Barnes and Noble gift card if you’re just not that into cowboys (Shame on you. Shame. Shame). Here we go (I gotta make this hard): 1) Adam’s Ale 2) Milestonemonger 3) Dough Belly 4) Paintin’ his nose 5) Get the mitten 6) Texas Cakewalk 7) Windies 8) Rod 9) Fice 10) Amputate your timber 11) Doxology Works 12) Belly Wash 13) Hay Seed 14) Rot Gut 15) Sheepherders Delight 16) Texas Butter 17) Fiddle 18) Horn 19) Roostered (I use this one in my book) 20) Honey-Fogle Good Luck ya’ll. I’ll post the answers this Friday, May 20th along with the winnerest winner of this here contest.  When I was a junior in High School, many moons ago, my best friend, Jeanette, and her boyfriend, John, decided that it would be a marvelous idea if I dated John’s best friend Mike. Then we could go on couple dates together—movies, skating, school dances! Yippee! Fun, huh?
In theory, the idea worked. Mike was super cute (hubba, hubaa) and we seemed to have a TON in common (okay, not really. We both played the clarinet in band and that was about it. Uber nerds, I know). So, under pressure, both Mike and I agreed to go steady. From the very beginning, I knew that even though Mike was cute and played a mean clarinet, something wasn’t right. He was nice enough. He opened doors for me and paid for our dates. We talked on the phone at night and laughed and laughed, but whenever we were together, in person, everything became awkward and weird. As a sixteen-year-old girl, I had no idea what was wrong. Everything looked right—he was cute, I was cute (if I do say so myself), we held hands, he went to a dance together—but something just didn’t mesh. The chemistry just wasn’t there. He was more like a brother to me. Our first and only kiss during our weeks of “dating” ended with him leaning in, missing my lips, and kissing my chin. I was standing on the porch step and so I figured that was the reason for the mishap, so I let it slide. No big deal. It happens. But I never pushed for a second kiss and he never offered. Not once. After awhile of going on like this, we broke up with each other. It was a mutual decision. No hurt feelings. I think we were both actually quite relieved. But our friends wouldn’t let it go. “You’re perfect for each other,” they’d say. “Look how cute your dance pictures are! Adorable!” And they nagged and hounded until we agreed to try it one more time. It lasted only two weeks before we called it quits again, much to our friends dismay. Mike and I were always friendly to one another after that, but we no longer dated. It wasn’t until years later, that through the grapevine, I was told Mike was actually gay. No wonder our relationship didn’t work. On the surface, we looked like a happy couple. We looked like a typical girlfriend and boyfriend doing typical girlfriend and boyfriend things—except kissing and making out. But underneath all of that facade, we were both miserable. We were trying to be something we were not. No amount of peer pressure was going to make the relationship work. How does any of this tie into writing, you may ask? Well, it ties in like this: Sometimes a story or storyline just doesn’t work and no matter how hard you try to make it. This is where I am right now in my writing. The first draft of my zombie western romance book is done, and now I’m in the editing stages. Or, I should say, I thought I was in the editing stages. Actually, it’s more like a rewrite-the-whole-darn-thing-from-the-beginning-to-fix-plot-holes-and-amp-up-the-tension. And boy is it tough. It’s overwhelming to say the least. I love the story. I’ve had a blast writing it, but there are problems with it that need corrected. There are story lines that just don’t work. I’ve had this pointed out by my critique group and they are right, darn them. My group gave me excellent ideas on how to ramp up the risk, and how to fix the story to make it more powerful. The ideas are perfect, IF I can implement them correctly. BUT, it’s going to be a ton of work. It won’t be easy at all and I like easy. Editing is one thing, rewriting is another, and it’s going to suck big time. So, my book is floundering, just like a fish on the end of a hook. As I figure it, I have two options: 1) Remove the fish from the hook and slip it back into the water, set it free, and move on. There are other stories in my head begging to be written. I can put the zombie book to bed and start an entirely different story. Sometimes, that’s the best option. 2) OR, I can slip the fish from the hook, gut it, remove its bones, fry it up in a pan and serve it with tatar sauce and lemon juice. It will be delicious. I’m certain of it. But it will also be messy. Have you ever gutted a fish? It’s gross. Depending on the day, I flip-flop between the two options. Sometimes I want to chuck the whole thing, give up, and at other times, I love my characters and their story too much to walk away. I know it can be fixed. I know it. I just want to whine about how tough it’s going to be. So what do you do when part of your story doesn’t work? Do you put on your hardhat and get to work? Or do you whine like me and threaten to kill off all the characters and call the whole thing off? It’s happy dance time.
“Everybody clap your hands” (Mr. C and the Cha-Cha Slide, my kids love this stupid song). Why is she making me clap my hands, you may be asking. Well, I’m gonna tell ya. I finished my first draft of my manuscript WANTED:DEAD OR UNDEAD, my zombie western romance. And the reason we must all clap our hands and perhaps even participate in the Cha-Cha slide, is because this book just about kicked my butt. I kid you not. I started it with the NANOWRIMO last November. It was supposed to be a writing exercise and nothing more, a way for me to try my hand at third person POV and to try writing part of the book from a male perspective. I was so excited for November. Couldn’t wait. I had just finished writing my contemporary YA novel Desert Rice, finished the edits, and I was ready for a break. I wanted to write something fun. What’s more crazy fun than writing a zombie western romance? Nothing. That’s what. I had a couple of ideas. No real plot to follow. I was simply going to see where the crazy story took me and have a good ol’ time. And boy did I! November was AWESOME. I just wrote and wrote, met my daily goals, stayed on task, and I was having a blast with it. So liberating. I wrote my 50K+ book, reaching the goal before November 30th and I even bought me a shirt (It says I’m a winner. It does. And it counts). Then December hit. At first I was determined to keep my pace, stay in my groove, and finish the manuscript by the first of the year (yeah, that’s possible. It’s not a lofty goal at all. Totally doable). Guess what? It turned out to be a pretty lofty goal after all. December is a hard month as it is—holidays, family, snow. But now try adding a critique member (who shall remain nameless but totally knows I’m talking about her) who INSISTS the western zombie romance MUST be made into a trilogy. WHAT???? I’m at 50K and NOW I’m supposed to make this into a trilogy. Don’t people plan ahead for that? This was supposed to be a writing exercise. How did this get so out of control? Okay, at first I balked at the idea. Too hard. Ain’t gonna do it. Nope. You can’t make me. Besides, I was pretty sure I didn’t have enough material to even make it to 70K (normal novel length) for book number one. But as I started writing again, going much more slowly than I first planned on, I started realizing that though I was sitting on a pretty pile of 50K words or so, there was no way I was going to wrap up the book and all the subplots in 20K. It just wasn’t going to happen. Too much going on. I freaked out. Writer’s block set in as I realized, I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO WRITE A SEQUEL. A sequel! What the heck? And then, as if writer’s block didn’t have a pretty good hold on me before, it decide to come in, sit on my head, and take up residence for months. Yes, months. I struggled. I struggled a lot. Little, if anything, was being written. Then when I’d have a spurt of creativity and write a chapter, I’d send it off to be read by my critique member (I’m an insecure writer and I like to make sure things are working as I go, chapter by chapter). It would come back, the subject title of the email saying: “Don’t hate me, but . . . ” That’s never a good sign. Some of the chapters didn’t work. She was right. It needed to be fixed, only I didn’t know how. I’m not a plotter, but boy, I sure wished I was then. I didn’t know what to do. Over and over I’d think about the story—okay, I’m here at point A. I need to get to point B, but how? Everything I could think of sounded stupid, illogical, and contrived. Bluck! I hate those things. But finally, I got it together. Ever so painfully slow, I finished it. And now, I am the mother of a pretty hefty 84K zombie book! That's one big baby. It’s the month of May. The first draft is done. It’s poopy. But it’s done. First drafts don’t have to be good (just read Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. She says first drafts can be crap. I think I love her). Regardless, I do have something to work with. Something that can be polished from its brown lumpy form (poop) into something less brown (I’m hoping for beige). Editing, here I come! *Okay, I just sent the last and final chapter to my critique partner, the same one mentioned above. Fingers crossed she won’t make me rewrite it. She scares me.  When my son was in the 6th grade (almost 3 years ago), his class took a field trip which included a lengthy bus ride to get there. The kids were told they could bring some music to listen to on the way to entertain themselves. Of course, my son wanted to bring his music too—a CD player and ONE shiny, round disk called a CD (not sure what I’m talking about, look up “CD” or “Compact Disk” in the history section of Wikapedia).
At the moment, neither of us thought anything about it. We were a CD listening family. At school though, he was embarrassed and I was embarrassed for him. All the other kids had these fandangled new contraptions called iPOD’s. Some even played music videos and movies. AND these iPODS held in memory a kabillion songs, not just one lousy CD by one lousy band that my son had to listen to over and over. I watched my son carefully slip his portable CD player-like-Walkman into the inside pocket of his coat, trying to hide it so the other kids wouldn’t see how backwards and behind the times he and his family were. (Do you remember the Walkman?) My son looked at me and mouthed the words, “I’m a nerd and it’s all your fault.” Okay, maybe he didn’t say that, but I could feel his pain. Three years later, our family is now the proud owners of four iPODS and two iPHONEs. KA-ZAM! We’re cool now. So what does this, if anything, have to do with writing and publishing? EVERYTHING. The times are a changing. For instance, have any of you walked into your local Barnes and Noble lately? What did you see at the front of the store? For those of you who haven’t been to Barnes and Noble in the past several months, you will be in for a shock. For those of you who have, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Where there once was loads of bookshelves and space for paper books, you will now find those shelves removed and that area replaced with tables, for both adult and for the little kiddies, in which they can touch and feel and sample the new electronic device called NOOK. Gone with the shelves. In with the electronic e-reader. I know people balk at the idea of Kindle and Nook and such devices. Some even suggest these electronic readers will fade out. People like the tactile feel of paper books and they won’t give that up. Paper books will always be around. Oh, really? Where are all the music stores? Where have they gone? The ebook is the biggest thing to hit publishing since the invention of movable type and its impact on the publishing industry has been incredible! With limited shelf space in bookstores, Barnes and Noble pushing the NOOK and Borders scrambling to climb out of bankruptcy after closing nearly half of its stores, publishing houses have to find a new way to compete. AND because publishing houses have to find a new way to compete in the ever shifting world of digital media, everyone is feeling the pinch. For agents to succeed, they need to sell books to publishers. Once the writer receives their advance, the agent will receive their cut, roughly 15%. The problem: publishers aren’t buying up books like they used to. They have to be very selective because the books they buy have to make money, and lots of it. If they can’t guarantee it will pull in big dollars they will pass. They can’t afford to take chances. Then comes the downfall: agents make no money, writers are dropped, agents quit the business. Even if the publishing houses do decide to publish a book, the advances they are handing out are smaller than they ever used to be, and that is, if they are able to afford to pay advances at all. Just this past Tuesday, the agent I had been working with over the last ten months emailed me and said she was quitting the literary business herself. She said “it is almost impossible to sell anything these days—and will get worse as more bookstores close. The industry is in freefall.” Just fantastic, huh? Not very optimistic. Since this email I’ve gone slightly crazy trying to figure out what I should do and where I should go from here. I’ve been researching everything I can get my hands on, trying to figure out what step to take. Either I start over and begin querying agents once again (I just started twitching at the thought) or I look into other options such as publishing my books myself, possibly diving into the ebook phenomenon that is exploding like mad (I just started twitching at that thought too). Self publishing scares the bejebbies out of me. I don’t even know where to begin. I’m not a marketer. I’m not pushy (okay, maybe I’m a little pushy). But once I hit up all my family and friends to buy my book, then what? How does one succeed at self-publishing? And how do you get people to believe you are anything but a “hack writer who couldn’t make it any other way”? How do you get pass the stigma? But going the traditional route is no guarantee either. Okay, you made it. You went through all the painful hoops to prove you’re not a “hack writer.” But did you know books by new authors are only given a 2-3 month shelf life in the bookstores and if they don’t pull in the sales, they are quickly replaced with something else that might? Publishers aren’t paying big bucks to market these books either. It’s in the author’s hands to get the word out (not much different than self-publishing). If an author doesn’t rake in the sells the publishers were hoping they would, the author may never get to publish a second or third book. A new author’s career can tank in a matter of months. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. I WILL figure out what is best for me. I’m researching like a mad woman hyped up on caffeine and zero sleep cruising the internet for answers (sadly, this is very, very true). I love writing. I will not stop writing. I want to be buried with my laptop—just in case heaven (or hell, depending on where I’m headed) doesn’t have one. But someday, I want people to read my stuff. Writers write. Authors publish. I want to publish, gosh dang it friggin’ heck! (I’m from Utah and that’s how we swear around here). All I know is that I’m not giving up until I am published, one way or another. I will not quit. 99% of failure comes from quitting and I’m no quitter. What are you going to do in these ever changing times? Which option are you pursuing (or have pursued)? Help me, I beg of you. If you have answers, please feel free to tell me what they are. Should I keep plugging away the traditional route, or dive in to the self-publishing world? (For a really fun read, check out the YA fiction book called “Rash” by Pete Hautman. Printed in 2006, before the big takeoff of ereaders. This book is set in the future, the year 2076. I read this book with my son, same said son as above, for extra credit for history. It is hilarious. I highly recommend it. Especially the part in which the 16 year old MC discusses the feel of books in his hands—antiques his grandfather owns on a bookshelf. In the future, everyone reads on what is called Wind-O’s). |
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