The Future of Publishing . . .

Very clever.  Make sure you watch to the end.

Virtual Word Hugs

I love this image.  Have you ever felt totally embraced by words alone?  They say a picture's worth a thousand words--well, this is the effect I'm writing for with my novel Finding Home (of course, not until after I break your heart first).

Update on my word count saga:  I've cut 10,000 words from the first eight chapters.  That's some serious trimming.  I have another 45,000 words to cut before this book is ready for prime-time.  The goal: 90,000 words or less.

Making a Book Cover

This was just way to cool not to share.  Here's hoping for a great book cover of my own someday.

Vanity Dreams

What's a guy supposed to do? I recently discovered that my name in the blogspot world was no longer being used, so I snatched it up and changed my blog URL. Apologies to my three followers--ouch, did I just say that out loud? Perhaps it’s all a pipe dream, but I like to think that I'm making progress towards being published, so vanity dream or not, I'm here to stay. Happy reading.

I'm Addicted to Words

There is no doubt about it, I am addicted to words. I'm not talking about your word of the day type obsession, although that’s pretty cool too.  I'm talking about the act of taking innocuous words and crafting them into meaningful prose, sentences joined into paragraphs that can make you laugh or cry or rip your hair out in frustration. I love to write, and anyone serious about writing must put pen to paper or fingers to keys with regularity. So here I am at one in the morning, probably making no sense at all, but writing none-the-less. That’s what happens when I play basketball at night; it takes me forever to fall asleep, so I write. Although my addiction to words goes much deeper than just writing. Do you know how many times a day I open my e-mail account hoping to see an e-mail from my brother and current editor in chief? I won’t tell you, but it might classify me as obsessive compulsive. I hope to hear those three beautiful words in my head every time I check—you've got mail. Confession--I've never had an AOL email account. I just love the idea. But it’s not just any mail I’m looking for, it’s my brother’s detailed responses to the chapters I send him week after week after week. Occasionally I get an EXCELLENT or VERY GOOD, and I break out into my victory dance. But even when the page is covered in virtual red ink, I’m never discouraged because it fascinates me to read my work through someone else’s eyes, especially one whose eyes have been expertly trained to read, dissect, and triage the literary work of others. It also helps knowing that I have VETO power, although, I have to admit I rarely use it with the Z-man at my side. Yes, I’m addicted, but remember, some addictions can be good, so for all you word freaks out there--this post's for you.

Word Count Warning

A word of advise to would be aspiring authors out there . . . if you're serious about getting published, make sure you pay close attention to word count for the genre you are writing in.  I read way too many blogs telling me to ignore word count and to just write the story, to just let it naturally unfold. Well, that's what I did with my first novel, Finding Home, targeted toward young adults, and the final word count ended up being just over 145,000 words.  If you've got the clout of J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer, then you can maybe get away with this, but as a non-published author, I have since learned that I have almost no chance of getting this published.  The cost of paper is up, and most publishers have a very specific word count ranges they require a novel to be in for a specific genre, to even be considered.

Middle Grade books are typically in the 40,000 - 70,000 word range.
Young Adult books are typically in the 60,000 - 90,000 word range.

You'll find publishers who will go a little higher or lower depending on the book.  If you're on the high end, you're book has to have considerable commercial value to it for a publisher to want to take the risk of the added cost it will take to print.

This means that I am now in the oh so painful process of cutting almost 60,000 words from my first novel.  The process is making me a much better writer, but I would not recommend it to anyone, so if you're starting a new novel or even in the middle of one, make sure you have a publishable word count target in mind and that you are pacing/structuring your story towards that goal.  I did this with my second novel, and it has made the editing process infinitely more enjoyable.

As for Finding Home, I've cut about 5,500 words from the first three chapters. . . only 54,500 more words to go.  Ouch.

LTUE 2010

I have finished day two of the LTUE2010 conference at BYU and have been absolutely thrilled with the quality of the sessions that I have attended. My hands down favorite session was by Dan Wells. Ironically writes horror - one of my least favorite genres - but after hearing him speak I just might have to give his latest novel a try I'm not a serial Killer - which has been a smash hit in Europe (on fifth printing in Germany) and is arriving in the US this spring.

The point is the guy was hilarious, brilliant, and entertaining and has created a seven point system for writing a novel that innately resonates with anyone who has either written, attempted to write, or even cares about how a book is written. More on this subject later.

After the session ended I heard someone talking about how their group had convinced Dan to give this presentation, and my ears perked up. I introduced myself to Donna, the founder of their Inking Cap writing group, and ended up spending the next forty minutes talking with them. I am now going to their next meeting where Kirk Shaw will give tips/pointers on how to pitch your book. Kirk is an editor at Covenant Communications, an independent publishing company. I am pitching my novel for the first time this April, so I can't tell you how excited I am to learn from someone who does this for a living.

Oh, the pain!

I am trying to get the first chapter of my first novel - Finding Home - ready to submit to a first chapter competition and a few months ago I came to the painful realization that I had gone way too deep in describing my heroin's emotions rather than letting the story show her emotions.  I came across some great writing tips and have copied the section related to writing a first chapter below. These tips deeply resonated with me and so I painfully began the process of hacking my first chapter apart.

I faced two problems.  First: the first chapter did not contain a lot of dialogue or action - it was 4500 words filled with feelings, emotions and flash backs that while interesting and meaningful (especially to me as the author), much of it was not critical to the main story line.  Second: my second chapter is where the story explodes with great dialogue, conflict and plot.  So... what did I do?  I swallowed my pride, got my sharpest axe out, and began to iteratively chop away at hours and hours of literary prose.  My goal: to combine the first two chapters (8,451 words) into one super chapter without all the extras.  If you have not written a substantial text before where you believe it's all good and then been asked to cut it in half... I don't think you can begin to understand how hard this is.

I am happy to report that my 8,451 word chapter (combined first/second chapters) is now at a much healthier 4,503 words, and the bulk of cuts came from my original first chapter - almost 4000 words worth (don't worry - it's all stored in a safe place). The initial pain of going through this exercise has been extremely rewarding as I believe I now have a first chapter with legs to stand on.  The pace is much quicker, and rather than being told, the reader gets to experience what it is like to be dropped off at a home they've never seen before and to be stuck with a family that could not be more different than they are and told - "This is your new home."  And yes... I've still got some more hacking to do.

TIPS FOR THE FIRST CHAPTER

1. Make sure the first chapter starts with action.

2. Show, don't tell. This means you don't need a one paragraph description of a bedroom, a character's thoughts on everything, and for goodness sake don't put any backstory in the first chapter.

3. Keep it short. It doesn't have to be James Patterson short, but a ten page first chapter is better than a thirty page first chapter when it comes to grabbing attention.

4. Watch your POV... try to stick in one character's mind for the whole chapter.

5. Cut everything that doesn't move the action forward. EVERYTHING. If it moves the story forward, or gives us a better feel for the characters, put it in a later chapter, but not the first. Leave the reader wanting more, not knowing everything.

6. You probably don't need a prologue. Editors often cut them, and readers often skip them. Try to remove it and see if the story suffers. If you really believe you need one, don't make it longer than a few pages.

7. And this is the most important---trust yourself. You've been writing since you were four. You know how to craft a sentence. Not eveything needs to be rewritten---sometimes it comes out right the first time.

My First Writer's Conference

It's official.  I am signed up to attend my first professional writer's conference - April 23-24, 2010.  As a part of this I will be giving a one on one pitch of my new book Lackawanna Prophecies - CHOSEN, to Nephele Tempest, from the The Knight Agency (this is not an LDS Agency).  I had hoped to pitch to Lauran Rennert with Andrea Brown Literary Agency but her pitch session was sold out by the time I found out about this conference.  I've had her on my agency watch list for over a year now.  At least I will still get to meet her and introduce myself.

I will be attending several lectures, workshops and of course my chance to pitch my book.  It's hard to describe how excited I am for this, but the biggest thing is just an opportunity to network with other authors and publishers.  All attendees can also participate in a First Chapter contest for unpublished works for several genres.  So... it's time to hit the keyboard and to let the creative juices flow - I've got another deadline and a goal.

So I didn't make it

I am dissapointed to report that I didn't complete the 50,000 word novel in one month, but the last week of November was filled with house guests for the holiday and I did almost no writing.  I did make it to 27,000 words though and I am REALLY happy with what I have so far.  My new goal is to finish the first draft of Lackawanna Prophecies - CHOSEN, by Christmas.  This has been a fantastic book to write, and I am excited to see where it will end (although I do have a vauge idea).

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

For me, this book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer, is my best read of 2009.  My sister recommended it and while it started just a tad slow for me, once it got going I didn't want to put it down. The style of the book (written as a series of letters) is VERY clever and it is based on actual events on the island of Guernsey off the UK coast during the German occupation.  A must read for anyone who loves great literature.  On a side note, it was Mary Ann's first and only published novel. She passed away in February of 2008.  I hope that I get to publish many books before my time comes.

Write a 50,000 word novel in one month!

I am officially in. I just learned from a friend of mine that November is National Novel Writing Month. The acronym often used for this is "NaNoWriMo." He told me about this when I informed him that in the last week I had written the first 13,000 words of my new novel. So now I am officially going to try and finish my novel before the end of the month. Just a couple of weeks to go to get to at least 50,000 words (official competition rules). I don't like trying to write to a prescribed number of words, but this book is a children's/young adult book so it should end up being right around there.

I have provided a link to my NaNoWriMo profile below. Wish me luck!

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/608798