Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

Okay, so I know I'm supposed to be taking a vacation from the blog to get some writing done. Trust me, I'm making serious progress.

BUT, I have to tell you all that tomorrow I will have special post! I'm not telling you what it is. Or what it's about. Just be sure to check back tomorrow!

Pretty please? With a cherry on top? It will make me smile ;-)

Love you all and miss you lots!

~JD

Whoop! Whoop! Friday Update!!

Whoa people...are you plumb wore out from the fantastic week of Beta Blogging??? I am so, so happy Sarah (it was all her idea, btw) and I decided to do the Beta Week. Hopefully you learned more about me, her, and maybe learned some beta tips. Who knows? But it was great week!!

Now, on to the regular Friday update! Let's get this show movin'

1. First I need to say: Alleged Author...you are brilliant!! Remember last Friday when I mentioned the title to my current WIP can't be used because it's already the name of a YA book? Well, Alleged gave me the suggestion to use the original title and then add a bit. Make sense? Probably not, but this is what the books are going to be call now based on that suggestion:

Book #1: All American Girl - Years Past
Book #2: All American Boy - The Fight
Book #3: All American Dream - The Triumph

I will officially LOVE YOU FOREVER AND EVER Alleged Author!!!!! Thank you!

2. I screwed the pooch peeps. BTTB is being queried. All the queries are out, literally. I can't send anymore. Shame on me.

Remember how we are told to send out five at a time to check responses to see if we need to tweak anything? Sigh. I didn't listen. I was so excited about finally be able to do it, I sent out all the remaining queries I could in these past three weeks. Plus, I needed to get out of this query phrase so I could focus on something else. It's been a serious stress and distraction to my writing.

Then I realized a fatal mistake I might've made. I won't talk about it here, but just know I shot myself in the foot. And I didn't noticed until it was too late. And I can't do anything to change it. I've queried all the RWA approved agents as of yesterday. I'm done and waiting for all the "R's". Yuck. My bad. My really, really, really bad.

Learn a lesson here. Don't do this.

*Sigh* So much for this book.

All right - moving on to something more positive!

3. Sarah still has her 8 partials/full ms's out. She's starting to twitch nervously because some of them are past the deadline when agents normally get back to the writers. I'm thinking that's good news!!! Here's my super smile for her ;-)))))

4. I've still got a partial out to publisher for my short romance. And I actually got a partial request from my batch of queries for BTTB. I sent it out yesterday. Don't get too excited. Remember that fatal mistake I told you about above? Yeah, it really is that bad.

5. After today, the blog will be taking a hiatus, for at least two weeks. SORRY! It's time for me to focus (and finish) AAG and my daughters book. I have promised myself that I will not blog until these two stories are done. Hopefully it won't take more than two weeks, cuz I'll miss you all like crazy!

That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed Beta week! I'll keep all your blogs in my thoughts, forcing myself to not navigate to their pages so I can finish up my wip!

Enjoy your weekend! I'm starting my engine, ready for my muse to take control the next two weeks! Whoo hoo!

~JD

Beta Week: How we changed and why it works

Whew! Did you learn anything this week?

I know! I know! If you don’t have a beta, go get one???? YAY! That’s it!

Today we will wrap the beta relationship. Tell you about our thoughts overall, what we learned from each other, how we have helped each other, what we liked/disliked, etc, etc, etc.

Me first! (psss...remember I'm in black, Sarah's in blue)

First, I LOVE everything about my beta relationship with Sarah. She is the peanut butter to my jelly. The cheese to my macaroni. The icing to my cupcake. The very reason I have hope I might one day get published.

I’ve learned A LOT from her. Grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, just to name a few. I’ve also learned that there are more Heroes than just Alphas. Sarah’s not the Alpha-type and I’m not the Beta-type. We each normally write a hero the other doesn’t really click with. It’s interesting to see that perspective. Especially when our hero sucks the beta in. Her stories have done that to me. And they’re not really my type of heroes. She’s taught me there are still a million things to learn. But we’ll do it. Together.

I like everything about what we do. No matter how harsh or honest—I read, value, and cherish each crit, each email, each boost of confidence, each gripe about our problems. I’m jealous that she writes at warp-speed. I’m jealous that she’ll have the agent and book published first (I have no doubt about this, btw). I’m terrified of losing her. But I’m her cheerleader. And she is mine. Together, we will ride this rollercoaster to the end. ;-)

She’s a sweetheart, isn’t she? Justine was just the right person at the right time for me. And I think we feel the same way about each other, so I won’t go on and on.
OK, maybe just a little.

From the first time she red-inked my work, she rocked my world. As you saw yesterday, in her very first critique, she suggested I cut the first 30 pages of my manuscript. And if she hadn’t given me that feedback, I’d still be spinning my wheels and wondering why no one was requesting a partial. She’s not afraid to suggest the big changes. She did it to me with my second book as well, and I have no doubt she’ll do it again with my current WIP.

She calls me out on stuff I thought I could get away with—she forces me to keep working at it until it makes sense. She gives me tips on style, dialogue, and story arc. She nails me when I, robot that I am, use words like “autodidact” in my manuscript. She makes fun of my characters in ways that help me see how I could make them better (I could tell a story here about inappropriate crying on the part of my armor-wearing hero, but I won’t. And it’s been cut, so no one but Justine will ever know how bad it could have been). Sometimes she tells me that people will hate me if I end my story in a certain way (there’s a good reason my first novel is currently on the shelf awaiting an overhaul). But through it all, she’s also been my cheerleader.

Justine’s become my friend, though we’ve never met. She does so much more for me than you’ve seen here. I don’t know how it is with most beta relationships because this is my first. I’m still really new at this. But I think she’s really special. She has a gift for encouraging and energizing others, and I’ve come to hold her opinions in very high regard. It’s been, and will continue to be, a total privilege to be able to critique her work (I’ve read the first few chapters of AAG, and it’s going to be great!). As I’m sure you all agree, I am completely fortunate to have found her!

Beta week has come to an end! We’ve shared our crits, hung our heads in embarrassment at the originals we posted, and cheered at the wonderful comments everyone gave us!

Thank you all!

Stay tuned for the normal Friday update!!!!!

~JD & Sarah

Beta Week: Sarah's Overall Crit of My Book

Embarrassment shall commence today. It was all worth it ;-)

So, after Sarah got done reading my first book, she gave me some notes at the very end. Frankly, I was afraid to read the last crit because I knew what was coming. Based on some of the feedback she'd given me through the book, I knew I was in trouble. And boy...was I right.

Here's the final word she gave me on my book:

I realize you probably won't understand what she is talking about. Just understand that every time she pointed out a problem, I squirmed, realizing she was right and a lot of work was in my future:



See? Do you see my plot problems?? There were A LOT.

Let's discuss how I changed them (sorry in advance for the long post) The numbers below correlate with each number she wrote in the crit above.

1. The flashbacks - I took them all out. I was able to weave those details into the thoughts and dialogue of the characters. Whoa...what a difference it made!

2. The dreams - Because Sarah liked the writing style of the dreams so much, and because I personally thought they were important to the story, I kept them, but I added more throughout so they had more impact. (The dreams are short...one to two paragraphs each, so it doesn't suck up a lot of space and slow the pace)

3. Jason (the heroine's cheating ex-husband). I didn't get deep enough into his personality or show the reader why he did the things that he did. I changed that - significantly. He became a bigger part of the story.

4. Elliott (the hero) being too pushy. I changed this. A LOT!!! Sarah doesn't like grabby men...lol, so I had to soften him up. Me, I like a good alpha...but Elliot wasn't really an alpha - he was just kind of an ass in some places. Oops! Changed that too!

5. Stephanie (heroine's sister). Her character was fleshed out a bit more and her character role changed into on of a more sympathetic sister.

6. Elliott's POV. Whew...in the first draft there was very little of it. Sarah kept screaming (literally in all caps) for more. I finally succumbed to her bullying and did as needed. It's waaaay better. Now he's not such a jerk! The reader can sympathize with his feelings for a married woman.

7. Let's just say...fixed! Had to add a minor plot details and string it along through some of the book. Actually, wait. It was a big plot detail. And it took some thinking!

8.This was a biggie! This was the comment that required the addition of two characters, a different bad guy, the addition of two subplots. Oh, I could go on. Let's just say this comment required rebuilding the story from the ground up. Literally.

So, I'll break it down for you. When Sarah got the story, it was 82,000 words. After her crits and numerous re-writes.....oh, wait...did I tell you I had to re-write the ending 3 different times? Finally scrapping what I had and starting over from scratch? Yeah.

Sorry. I'll be quick.

Original version: 78,000 words (this was the word count after I dropped all the flashbacks)

Plot changes, POV adding, etc, etc, edited version: 96,000 words. (whoa).

Final, totally edited version: 92,000 words.

It's been a roller coaster, peeps. A wonderful, exciting, ride that has taught me so much. And I can never say enough that I owe this book, and the wonder it is now, all to Sarah.

~JD

Beta Week: Sarah's Crit of Sex Scene. WARNING: SEXUAL CONTENT

*WARNING - BEFORE YOU READ ANY FURTHER, BE WARNED THAT THE MATERIAL THAT FOLLOWS CONTAINS SEXUAL CONTENT*

Hahaha...that's funny. I always wanted to say something like that in my blog ;-) Seriously though, the crit I am posting is of my sex scene in BTTB. If that type of stuff makes you queasy, or if you're under 18, please don't read.

First up I will share the original version that was sent to Sarah. Be warned (again) - it sucked. From head to toe it reeked. I will admit it. It is the worst sex scene on the books. Hands down. Well, actually, it's the second worst. This is the second sex scene in the book, and the first was was worse. But, this one had the most changes made, so I wanted to share it instead.

It would probably be helpful to know that I wrote it (along with the rest of the book) without ever reading a romance. Yikes! Right? Yeah.

Then, I rewrote a majority of the story, without changing this scene because, frankly, I didn't really know what to do with it. I mean, writing this stuff takes some finesse. It's not all about the sex, you know. It's about the changes that happen to the H/H during the act. It's actually something that moves the plot forward. Okay, I'm totally stalling.

Just know that I was never proud of this original version. I had no idea what I was doing. Embarrassment shall commence:

Oh! Before it commences, let me give you a head's up on what happened right before this so you aren't totally confused. The Heroine's soon-to-be-ex-husband was murdered and the Hero was suspect numero uno and returning from hours of interrogation at the police station! Oohhh...

You can enlarge it to full size by clicking on the bottom right hand corner.


Okay, are you laughing? It's okay if you are. It's bad. I know it. Now, lets move on to making it better!! Here is the same file, critiqued by Sarah. Make sure you enlarge it to full size (click on the bottom right hand corner) so you can read all her brilliantness!



Okay! What did you think? Isn't Sarah the awesomest, awesomest?

Did you notice all the red? I'll never forget the first day I opened up a the first crit she did for me and I damn near fell off my chair. All the red...sigh.

Let's set it straight - I have a problem with grammar. (Don't worry, it's getting better because of her). Plus, this story had some serious, SERIOUS issues - hence the need for all the eye-blinding red/blue. Sarah is the reason I decided to do the Grammar Police post. I needed to learn to make myself a better writer. But enough about my problems. Let's see what wonderful things Sarah did for me in this scene:

Sarah gave me some wonderful advice about sex scenes. Here is it:

"Vivid=specific. No generic words. Specific feelings, specific sensations, specific actions. Not a play by play but specific to Jaimie and Elliott. I mean, this was something they'd probably both fantasized about hundreds, if not thousands of times in the last 12 years, right? The one that got away. So what's it like to be in that person's arms? How would it make you feel? Would you shake? Tremble? Be on the verge of tears because you couldn't believe it was happening?.....(she gave LOTS more good examples, btw)

When I say vivid, I mean bringing the reader right there with you-you want your scene to be specific to your couple, who they are, what they've been through, and what this particular moment means to them. Read through your scene and find the parts that could be anyone, all the phrases that don't describe them specifically. Try to rewrite so it's more about their experience alone. I think you can add some specifics about the action, but only if it's in the the service of making the scene resonate with the reader, who's been reading about Jaimie and Elliott for over 150 pages and they want some gratification."

Ahh...do you see why I love her? She wanted, plainly put, my sex scene to "do the rest of the story justice." Easy enough, right? I wish. ;-) After lots of thinking, redoing and rewriting, I ended up with this FINAL scene:

Wait, I should probably tell you that part of the plot changed, which changed this scene. The Hero is no longer being pinned for the ex's murder, only questioned as a formality and then released. The suspense angle has tilted more to keeping Jaimie (and Elliott) safe because there's a mad person on the lose sending weird threats and killing people! So, this scene is in an entirely different place (because the Beta's gag reflex hated the fact the original was in the house the ex-husband died in the same day. She was right about the tackiness of it, though. What was I thinking?!? Also, and you'll noticed the POV has been changed from the Heroine to the Hero. I hope you like the changes:



So, whatdoya think? Better, right? TONS better. And I couldn't have done this without Sarah. Period. I've decided that she is the peanut butter to my jelly!

There are many special parts of my story that I owe to Sarah. The addition of characters, the tweaking of the plot, but we'll get to that another day this week. Remember to stick around for it!

And be sure to come back tomorrow! Sarah will be sharing a critique that I did for her. And it's a good one too!!!

And in case you missed the first post of today, check it out here.

~JD

Beta Week: Introductions!!!

All right peeps! It’s BETA WEEK!!!

It’s time to get better acquainted with me…and my beta!! Well, frankly you know a lot about me, but I thought it would be good to get to know Sarah, show you our process as a whole, how we met, how we work, why our relationship works for us and all that other fun jazz!

Just an FYI on all posts this week: my words will always be in black and Sarah’s will be in dark blue. You need to know who’s talking, right?

There will be TWO posts today, so make sure to check out the second! There’s a lot of ground to cover this week. And maybe, even a thing or two to learn. Stop by everyday and check out what we have done for each other and how we push each other to do our best. ;-)

First let’s discuss how we meet. Surprise, surprise, we met on Bransforums! When a wonderful forum member posted the “Do you need a critique partner” thread, I jumped on it! At the time, I was a member of that ten person online thing, but it wasn’t working and my beta reader in the group had dropped out, so I needed someone. I posted my info, hoping someone would come along and feel sorry for me. LoL.

Enter Sarah, aka Lachrymal on the forums. Sarah—even with as much knowledge as she has to share—does not blog, tweet, or FB. Her job is the reason for this anon persona. Too bad, too. But, the cool thing? You can call her Dr. Sarah! Seriously!

We met, we clicked, we dove right in!

I’m telling you, we were meant to be together. Her first story is based in my home town! Not only that, her MC had a job at the same place I work! AND, one of the MC’s of her second book has an almost IDENTICAL name of a character in my first book (only one letter off!!).

Fate. Nuff’ said.

Take it away Sarah!

Soooo. First, a little background: in November, 2009, I wrote a novel. I had never written fiction. I’ve never kept a journal or written poetry. I’ve never taken a creative writing course. Ever. I am an avid reader, however. And part of me just got irritated when I read the work of a NYT bestselling author and noticed she consistently misused the words “repugnant”, “envisaged”, and “nauseous”. I thought, “I can do better.”

Four weeks later, I had written a 97,000 word book. I thought, “I am amazing. I am so special.” A few family members read it, and they said, “You are amazing. You are, indeed, very special.” So I did a little research into how to get a novel published, wrote a query letter, sent it off to about a dozen agents, and sat and waited for them to reply.

And they did! A dozen form rejections. Huh. I realized this might be harder than I’d anticipated (by the way—is my story sounding familiar to any of you folks? Have any of you ridden this rollercoaster of blissful naivete followed by crushing reality?)

In February, I found the Bransforums (when Nathan posted about the forums, a whole bunch of us joined up that very day). I started reading all the query critiques and kept noticing this one poster, JustineDell, who always had a lot of feedback to offer—and who was unerringly kind and constructive about how she delivered it. I looked at her profile, and behold! She was from Indiana.

I’m from Indiana, though I don’t live there now. My novel was set in Indiana. Justine writes romance. I read romance. And I (er, sort of) write romance. When I saw her post a request for a critique partner, I nervously emailed her. And that’s how we got started! She was the first non-family, non-friend person to read my novel, and as I hope you will see this week, she has made me a better writer in so many ways. She challenges me and makes fun of me (nicely) and constantly impresses me with her ability to be both gentle and blazingly critical—at the same time. Who can pull that off?!? Justine, that’s who!

Oh, and please don’t call me “Dr. Sarah.” Justine’s allowed. But she’s the only one.

*Sigh* No Dr. Sarah? LoL ;-)

All right, there we are. Intros over...embarrassing sharing of work and critiques shall commence right after this post! Come back and join us!! The week's gonna be a good one!

~JD

Rejection Stats!

It's been awhile since I've done this. Well, it's been awhile since I've queried (since February actually...see how long it took me to fix my mess of an ms?) It has been reworked from the ground up and is ready to go out into the world! Yikes. I still don't know if I'm ready for all the rejection that is coming my way. *Sigh*


Anyway, since the brutal rewrite is done and the book has had a spit-shining polish - here are my sad, sad rejection stats:

Book #1
Total queries sent to date: 35
Queries still awaiting a response: 18
Rejections to date: 17
Form rejections: 13
Personalized rejections: 3
No Response Rejection: 1
Requests for pages: 0
Requests for manuscript: 1 (turned into rejection)

For this book, 21 of the queries are "new", meaning they just went out these past couple of weeks. All the queries and rejections before that were from my original crappy query letter and my original crappy ms. ;-)

Book #2Total queries sent to date: 3
Queries still waiting response: 0
Rejections to date: 2
Form rejections: 2
Personalized rejections: 0
No Response Rejection: 0
Requests for pages: 1 (still waiting on this response...tick, tock, tick, tock)
Requests for manuscript: 1 (turned into rejection)

*Just and FYI on Book #2. All of the queries I have sent (which have went to publishers because of the books short length) have been exclusive queries. Grrrr....but, you know - if it's what you gotta do, it's what you gotta do!

How are you guys coming along?

~JD

Learning About Justine: The BFF, the sister, Wendy.

Ah, yes, Justine has a sister. As a matter of fact, I am the youngest of three. I am also the meanest, but I doubt you believe that. Did you know when my siblings and I were younger, my own grandmother would watch my brother and sister, but not me??? Yup! She said "Justine's too mean, but I'll watch Pooh and Jim." Complex anyone? LoL. I'm over it now. And much nicer. Promise ;-)

Anyway, my sister, Wendy, is three years my senior. We pretty much hated each other up until High School. She was into Barbies. I was into ripping their heads off. Not kidding.

Went I became a Freshman, she was a Junior. Everything just kind of fell into place that first year we were in school together. Our friends were weirdly similar and we developed a lot in common. So, she quickly became (and has forever remained) my Best Friend.

Oh, I could go on and on with stories. Trust me, we did a lot of stuff that we could have gotten arrested in trouble for, but the same stuff made up closer. I couldn't imagine living a day without my sister. As a matter of fact, she lives three houses down from me. Yes, we are close.

Without further ado, I would like to introduce to you my big sis, Wendy.

That's me (on the right) and my big sis. In this pic she was senior and I was sophmore. She took photgraphy and I got wrangled into a pic one day while in the halls at school.


This is me, Wendy, and my brother Jim on his graduation day. Wendy (on the right) graduated the year before and I was getting ready to be senior. Whoo hoo!



This picture cracks me up. Wendy (on the right) says I looked ticked and I was probably grounded for something. She's probably right. I got grounded A LOT.



This is me and the big sis at prom. She was a senior and I was a sophmore. Fun night that was.

Ah, so there you have it. Some nice retro pics and the intro of a my BFF. Love you, sis!

~JD

Blog Comments & Responses

So, my blogging buddy Roni @ Fiction Groupie had a post the other day about blog comments and how commenter's prefer to be responded to. It was a good discussion. And it also got me wondering on how I do things here on my blog.

So, in true blog fashion, I thought I would ask you guys what you thought.

When I first started this blog, I commented underneath commenter's comments. Whoa...say that five times real fast!

I wanted to make sure I responded to everyone. That's what a good blog owner does, right? But then I thought, when I visit a blog, I RARELY visit back (and I don't have follow up comments emailed to me because...let's face it, that would be A LOT of emails). So, if the blog owner comments on my comment in the comment section, I don't see it. Ever.

I decided on my blog, even though I was commenting, maybe the original commenter's didn't see my response because they don't visit back. Unless you have the follow-up comments emailed to you. In that case, kudos to you because you get a butt-load of emails ;-). Anyway, I didn't like the thought of people know knowing when I responded to them. I mean, I want to connect with my followers. Don't you?

One day, I got and email reply from someones blog I had posted on. First I was like, that's awesome! Second, I want to do that! So I set up that function in blogger. Basically, every time someone comments on my blog, I get an email. If you have an email account attached to your blogger, I can respond directly to you! How's that for personalization?!??!

I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. The only thing that bums me out about it some you don't have email addresses attached to your blogger account, so I can't respond to you. It makes me sad :-(

So, this is the way I have went on connecting with my followers who comment.

Do you guys prefer a different way on your blogs? What do you think is the best way to interact with your fellow bloggers/commenter's?

~JD

Grammar Police! The Pluperfect Had

Let's talk about had, baby.
Let's talk about you and me.
Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be...let's talk about had!

You'll have that stuck in your head all day now, I promise ;-)

Let's talk about my nemesis: the pluperfect had.

First I need to tell you a story (it's short, I promise). I used to be a member of a ten person online critique group. Now, these girls where smart and all that jazz, but it just didn't work out for me.

Anyhoo, one of members told me the famous story about deleting all those unnecessary words (you've heard it, right? Yeah...I thought so. I'm doing a post on it soon) Specifically she said take out ALL the "had's" in my story. Now me, being a grammar newbie, listened to the one I deemed smarted than me.

Mistake

Let me be clear. You CAN sometimes delete those pesky little had's. HOWEVER, there are times when you actually need that had!! And, I'm still working on this issue myself, so forgive me if my explanation only makes question marks pop up over your head. ;-)

It's the PLUPERFECT HAD!! And you mustn't delete it from your wip. What is the pluperfect had, you say? I'm glad you asked. First, you need to say it. Go on. It's fun to say!!

Pluperfect tense is perfect past tense in English. It refers to something that has happened in that past. Wikipedia defines pluperfect use as, "to refer to an event that has been completed before another past action." Makes sense?

Hmmmm....I don't really know how else to explain it. Let me give you an example where I HAVENT's USED the pluperfect had.

"Andy slept with Jaimie's husband. Jaimie believed Andy was a harmless cuckoo. Jaimie knew Andy was a malevolent homewrecker."

What do you think I'm talking about in that sentence? It's confusing, right? One second I say Jaimie thought Andy was a harmless cuckoo and the next I say Jaimie knew Andy was malevolent home wrecker. Contradictory anyone? Yes...over here please! I'm made my sentence contradictory.

Now, the same sentence with the pluperfect had, which helps the reader understanding when something happened:

"Andy slept with Jaimie's husband. Jaimie had believed Andy was a harmless cuckoo, but now she knew Andy was a malevolent homewrecker."

Now you get it right? Jaimie HAD believed Andy was harmless. Now she KNEW she was homewrecker. In this version, you, the author, made it clear that Jaimie onced believed one thing, but now she believes another. See the difference? Me too! YAY!

Basically the bare bones of the pluperfect had is this:

You use it to clarify one event happened before another when both happened in the past.

Don't even get me started on what you would do if you wrote in present tense. I can't go there. My brain already hurts from trying to explain this. LoL.

Oh, and I'll think I'll have the phrase that require the double "had" for another day. You know the ones, "If Jaimie had had a brain at the time, she wouldn't have been stuck with that loser."

Questions? Put a quarter in the slot and I'll get to them when I can ;-)

Cheers!

~JD

Whoop! Whoop! Friday Update!

Teeheehaahaahaa. I didn''t know Friday had a smell, but I'll remember that for next time! ;-)

Okay peeps - time to round up this week in the life of Justine. Strap in and hold on!

WELCOME NEW FOLLOWERS!!!!!!!! Check the side bar...155...and counting. I'm thinking another contest should be held around the 250 mark. What do you guys think?

1. My beta is still on a roll with her requests. Last week I incorrectly listed a full for the wrong book. The following tally's for her are correct:

Book #1
Partial One: 63 days
Partial Two: 30 days

Book #2
Partial One: 24 days
Full One: 12 days
Full Two: 5 days
Full Three: 4 days

Full Four: 1 day

Just a side note here - my feeling is this book is going to be the one for Sarah. She's had her fair share of rejections with this book query too, though. 13 to be exact. It's not all cookies-n-cream.

If you are new, the days listed above are the days each requests has been with each agent. I've decided to start listing mine in my Rejection Stat postings for three reasons:

1. My Beta doesn't blog, so we need to cheer her on.
2. She's totally smoking me and making me look bad. But her book is REALLY good, so I'll forgive her for this one :o)
3. I'm getting waaaay more rejections than requests. No reason to share that on Fridays, right?

Moving on!

2. AAG, my current wip, hasn't seen near as much progress this week for two reasons. One, I'm doing the final edits on BTTB (the book I'm querying) and that is like pulling teeth. Two, I deleted some stuff I'd written last week (I don't normally do that) and then wrote some more. It's still hovering around 70K.

3. My daughter's requested book has gotten little progress this week. I've been work hard on other things.

4. BTTB: the final edit is sooooo close to being done I can taste it! I know what you are thinking. You queried without a final edit?!? Yes, I did. But let's rewind for a sec...my beta has read this story like, ummm, 20 times. The poor woman has put her own sweat and blood into my rewrites. I may have to put her name on the cover. ;-) We are doing the final tweak (the beta only has 60 more pages or so to read), and I'm certain before (well...IF) I get any requests, it will be totally finished.

FINAL NOTE: I recently discovered my good friend, and poetry author, Dave Malone offers editing services. WOW! If you've got anything you need edited, contact Dave through his website

I don't think there was anything else that absolutely had to be discussed today ;-) Nope. I'm drawing a blank. Have good weekend everyone!

~JD

Google Yourself!

Have you done it?

You know what I'm talking about. Go ahead. I'll wait. Go Google yourself. I know you want to.
.....
.......
..........
.............
Done? Cool.

What did you discover?

Where you easy to find? Your blog? Your web page? The main question is...do you have web presence?

If someone Googled you, would you be easy to find? I mean, as writer, you need to be easy to find. If an agent hears your name in a conversation and wants to learn more about you, they will no doubt Goggle you. What if they don't find anything? Better question...what if they do???

Let's just hope they find the good stuff!

So, my dear fellow bloggers/writers/authors, Goggle yourself! Tell me what page you found yourself on, if your easily located, and what kind of information a searcher may find about you.

I did it. I'm on the first page. First entry, actually...which I thought was pretty awesome. I'm actually listed on the first page several times. And the second, and third, and so one. Granted, my name is not that common, so I guess I'm lucky in that aspect.

I found links to my blog, links to other peoples blog who had mentioned me, and totally random websites I ended up on (and I have no idea how). The coolest thing, I thought, was when Bransforums came up on page four....with my forum stuff. I giggled to myself. ;-)

Here's what the first page of my Google looks like:

So, go do it! And tell me what you found!

~JD

The Importance of a Thesaurus

Thesaurus = life line for writer.

I carry one with me ALL the time.

Why?

Because we are supposed to be creative. We are supposed to come up with new ways to say cliched phrases. We aren't supposed to be repetitive in our MS. We, apparently, are supposed to have cool words that take the reader into the world we've created. Whether it's fantasy, steam punk, horror, or romance, you must find a new way to say old things. It's harder than you think.

Enter the trusty Thesaurus. Unless of course you're a human dictionary, like my beta...or my sister. I'm jealous of both, yes.

Anyhoo - like I said. I carry one with me all the time in my laptop case. Even with the trusty Thesaurus at my side, I make the cardinal mistakes. Especially when I'm on roll. Then my beta has to point out all the "eye pokes" of my repetitiveness. Yikes! I don't want my reader to feel like that!

Enter the Thesaurus.

I'll give you a prime example. In my first book, I overused the word creep, creeping, crept, etc., etc. My beta hated all the poking, so I had to fix it.

Thesaurus.com gives us the following options:

approach unnoticed, crawl on all fours, edge, glide, grovel, gumshoe, inch, insinuate, lurk, pussyfoot, scrabble, scramble, skulk, slink, slither, snake*, sneak, squirm, steal, tiptoe, worm, wriggle, writhe.

I, personally would like to add: inching, slipping, slithering, slinking, crawling, wiggling, oozing, worming, sliding, and creeping. Oops! I slipped! I guess I just like the word creeping. ;-)

Do you see the importance? I'm sure you all do. You're all so smart!!

Don't let this happen to you! It's a ghastly error...and one that's easily fixable. Pick a Thesaurus and carry it around with you (like me), or get a smart phone so the web, and Thesaurus.com, is always at your fingertips (that's not like me...lol)

And I'm sure my beta can attest, even though I have a thesaurus...it doesn't mean I use it all the time. LoL. ;-)

~JD

Grammar Police! Into vs In to

"Into" VS "In to"

WHAT???

You mean to tell me there's a difference between the two?

Ah...yes, there is. Now, before you start panicking, let me be honest. You probably already know the difference. And you probably don't mistake "into" for "in to". But, just in case, I'll give you this grammar lesson:

"Into" is a preposition which is often used to answer the question "where?". For example:

"Where are Jack and Jill?"
"They went up the hill."

Oh, wait...that won't work. LoL. Let's try that again.

"Where are Dick and Jane?"
"They went into the book."

Or something like:

"The dogs ran into the woods before realizing they were chasing a gust of wind." Silly dogs. ;-)

The "where" in the sentence is "into the woods".

Or "Into" is used as an analogy in time or when you speak about math. Like the following:

"It's well into November and the leaves haven't fallen off the trees yet."
"Six goes into twelve twice."

Basically, "into" is used A LOT.

The only time you actually use "in" and "to" apart is when they accidentally find themselves next to each other in the same sentence. They are "neighbors", but don't belong together. They actually belong to the word before or after them instead. Like this:

"The fireman ran in to get the dog out of the burning house."

"In" in this sentences belongs to ran and "to" belongs to get. In these sentences "in to" mean "in order to". Makes sense? Here's another one:

"The bird flew in to grab his jacket."

Now, for these two examples you could easily switch them up and write "into" instead. Like this:

"The fireman ran into the burning house to rescue the dog."
"The bird flew into the cage to grab his jacket."

Just and FYI...I like the "into" sentences better ;-)

And apparently, there are also lose English (60's colloquialism apparently), that allows "into" to mean "deeply interested or involved in". You would use it the following ways:

"My daughter is heavily into her horses."
"The President is looking into the matter."

According to some websites, this is not acceptable English, yet its acceptable in "informal communication".

Hmmm...I'm looking at that and scratching my head. Doesn't really make sense, huh?

IDK...I don't write this stuff, I just try to teach it. Good thing I'm not a teacher!


~JD

Whoop! Whoop! Friday Update!

Why yes, it's Friday lazy kitty! I picked this picture in honor of Little Tart this week. Cat's tend to have an aura of laziness to them even though they look like they are stalking you are the same time. It's kind of creepy.

Anyhoo...it's that time again! The week has flown by. I've got tangles in my hair from the light speed in which I traveled. Here we go!

First up: Partial/Full Count Round Up

My beta has FOUR! (yes, she got another request this past week for a full) partials out.

Book #1
Partial One: 56 days
Partial Two: 23 days
Full: 5 days

Book #2
Partial One: 17 days

AND Book #1 was just named a finalist in a contest. WHOOP! For Sarah! She's leaving me in the dust. Excuse me while I go spit out some dirt. Heehee. In all seriousness, I'm very excited for her. AND VERY, VERY, VERY PROUD OF HER!!!

I have one partial out (makes me look pretty lame compared to the Great and Powerful Beta, doesn't it? lol).
Book #2
Partial One: 17 days

You'll notice mine says "book #2" because it's the second book I've written. Same goes for my beta's #'s. Don't fret about my book #1...I'll discuss it in a flash!

Second up: Querying BTTB.

Yup, that's right. I'm officially querying. I'm trying to control myself and send off a few queries at a time...but we know how that goes, right? *Snickers* So, within a two-week time frame, I sent out three email queries and five snail mail queries. I'll let you know how the querying is coming via my Rejection Stats postings. Keep on the look-out for them!

Third up: My new obsession, my wip, AAG.

Wheeeee!!! Moving right along, right along I say! I never thought I would make so much progress once the rewrite of BTTB was done. I'M SOOOO EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE!!! Can't wait to get done and query this sucker! Whoa...slow down, Justine. One step at time, please.

Psss....it's over 70K now. I think it might end up longer than originally planned. Maybe 90K...hopefully...possibly? I don't want it to be much longer than that but I'm finding out that might be more difficult because of the story itself. Cross your fingers for me.

Fourth Up: My daughter YA book: Lost and Found.

She picked out the name, btw. I like it - it fits. I'm slowly making progress on this too, at the constant reminding from Emily. Heehee. Funny thing, she told me after this one, she's got another she wants me to write. And guess what? Yup, it's about horses too. *Sigh*

CONTEST! Check out Christi Goddards 106th follower contest over at a Torch in The Tempest.

How about ya'll? Did you have a wonderful Memorial day? And a good week, too?

Have a good weekend everyone!!

~JD

Nathan Bransford's Query Template

There it is, peeps. My light bulb that finally went off. Took long enough! I am soooo ashamed of myself. This is why:

I was on Bransforums the other day and someone had a thread about Nathan's query template. Can you believe I'd NEVER used his template? NEVER! NEVER! What the heck was wrong with me?
So, I looked over the post (and the link that went with it)...that's when my dull bulb started shining.

This is Nathan's query template (insert your info accordingly):

[protagonist name] is a [description of protagonist] living in [setting]. But when [complicating incident], [protagonist name] must [protagonist's quest] and [verb] [villain] in order to [protagonist's goal].

So, with a wee bit of tweaking, this is what my current WIP would sound like using this template:

Samantha is a twice divorced washed up novelist living in New York city fighting daily battles with rampant OCD and anger issues. When her grandmother's near death sends her rushing back home, Samantha must overcome the rage that's been ruling her life and put her broken self back together. The last thing she wants is help from the hardhearted man who stole her virginity and pushed her aside like moldy meatloaf twelve years before.

You know, I never thought I could boil a story down to three sentences. I found it physically impossible at first. But LOOK! I did it!

It wasn't so easy with my first book. Here's my go at that one. Now, this one is a romantic suspense with LOTS of different elements, so this was hard.

Jaimie is an attorney who strives for an orderly life with a defunct marriage. When attorney Elliott Moffat strides into down, threatening to throw her balance out of whack, Jaime has to overcome her feelings for him and keep her life in mediocre harmony. Amidst death threats, nightmares, and shootings, that quest is is proving more difficult than ever.

Errr....I don't really like that one. Like I said, that book has so many elements, it was hard.
Here's a go with the second book I wrote:

Savannah Montel wants one thing out of life: her memory back. Famous fashion designer Xavier Cain accepts this challenge, after all, he's part of that past. But when Savannah learns her mother hid the child she and Xavier had together, the dreams of her memory come back to haunt her and tear the two lovers apart.

Hmmm...not sure I like that one either. Oh well, it's a work in progress, I guess. I do like the one for my current WIP, though. It's weird how some books "fit" better in the template than others. Well, that's what I think anyway.

NOW YOU TRY!!!

~JD

Pre-Plotting

Pre-Plotting. Hmmm....okay, you've got me. What the heck is it? Hold for two seconds while I Google it.

1.....2.....3.....4......5....

K! Whew...I'm back. Took longer than I thought, but I think I've got it now. No wonder I didn't know what it was - I don't do it! And here I call myself a writer!
Well, I don't think all writers need to pre-plot. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. First let's discuss what pre-plotting is.

Everyone knows what a "plot" is right? Okay, I thought so. In case you forgot, here's a picture:

It's basically the guts of your story. How, what, why, when, where, who - everything that gets you from point A to point B. Your plot drives the story. Maybe I should just do a post on that? Yeah, I'll write down. Moving on...

So, pre-plotting is when you get a story idea in your head and then in your own special fashion, plot down everything that's going to happen for the rest of the book. You can do it on a spreadsheet, a notebook, or like this:
POST ITS!!!!!!!!!!!
No, that's not a picture of my pre-plotting. I don't do it, remember? But that's pretty cool if you ask me. Time consuming, but cool.

So, like I said...I don't pre-plot. After the initial story pops into my head (characters and all), my brain is a Farris wheel, constantly moving forward with the story as I go. I've got firm scenes swimming around in my brain and some other random stuff, but I DO NOT plot out my stories. Not on paper. Not on post-its. Not on a white board next to my computer. Everything is kept, albeit tightly , in my head. It works for me. Technically, keeping everything in my head is plotting. Right? Kind of. Sort of. Maybe? IDK.

I only write down the following things:
-Character names (first and last)
-Their attributes (hair, skin, eye color)
-Locations (errr....I do a bit of research when necessary)
-Jobs/hobbies/names of pets. You know...that stuff you will forget by the time you get to page 315 in your ms and then you have to find out where you mentioned it last so you can mention it again.

That's it.

Most of this stuff fits on less than two pages in my special yellow notebook.

I know what you're thinking: "Here's Justine, OCD writer and control freak, and she doesn't plot? Or pre-plot? No plotting at all? Crazy...that's just crazy!"

It's okay, I understand. But you have to remember this about me: writing makes me free. Sure, I'm a control freak. I have OCD. I like everything in order. Everything neatly in its place. I like structure. I like to know what is going to happen when, where, how, and why...otherwise I get a little spastic. Trust me, you don't want to vacation with me. It's not really a vacation at all. LoL.

Seriously though, writing is the only thing where I break my control. It's the only thing that lets me be free. Free from restrictions. Free from rules. Free from the constraints that run my life. Just....FREE.

I wouldn't write if I had to plot. That would take out the adventure for me. It would take out the very reason I love to do it so much. I like working through a scene and then BAM! the scene right after comes straight into my head. I work as I go. Some things in the story are set. Like the black moment, and the main conflict, but all the little details that take you from point A to Z are done in the spur of the moment. I couldn't do it any other way.

Now, when you get down to editing and you have to fix all those plot screw-ups from not planning? That's a different story.... ;-)

So how about you?

~JD