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Do you feel lucky?

March 3, 2013 by in category Archives tagged as , , , ,

Kind of an appropriate topic with our upcoming St. Patrick’s Day. Yes, even I become a little bit Irish on this “holiday.” But, it’s true. My paternal grandmother was half-Italian and half-Irish.
In the last week, I’ve had one novella and three short stories accepted for publication, and I’m feeling quite blessed about it. Why then would I be a little bit pensive? Some nagging thought in the back of my mind – in a voice that sounds very much like a friend of mine – keeps saying, “Oh, you are so lucky. You have it so easy.”
You see, one friend who doesn’t quite understand regularly told me that whenever we talked. And while a part of it might have something to do with luck, a whole lot more deals with hard work and determination.
First, there comes the writing. At meetings, people have repeatedly said to get your BITC – Butt In The Chair. If you don’t write, you won’t have anything to submit.
And that’s part of the next step – you must submit your work if you ever want a chance at being published. I sat on stories for years before I first ventured to sending them out, so I definitely know what I’m talking about.
Determination comes with continuing to submit, even if you’re faced with the evil rejection. It sucks. It hurts. It makes my stomach burn.
Get over it. If you’re feeling “iffy” about the piece, ask someone else to read it, fix it and then send it out again.
One of the stories accepted I waited one year and four months on. Seriously: a year and a half. Periodically, I’d check in with the editor to see its status, and she’d tell me the anthology wasn’t done yet. I moaned about it. I complained. I fretted.
This week I decided enough was enough. After asking a friend her advice, and her rolling her eyes at me because I’d probably whined way too much over the last sixteen months, I wrote directly to the publisher. Last year, they released one of my short stories as a standalone, and I suggested they might want to publish this one individually “until the anthology is done.” About thirty-six hours later, she replied that she loved it, and would send me a contract.
Was the decision to follow-up – again – easy? No way. In fact, it felt a bit pushy, and I don’t do pushy.
Sometimes, though, determination kicks in.
Four acceptances with three publishers in one week are pretty miraculous, and at this moment, I have two more outstanding. Guess what I’m doing tonight? I’m writing – working on the next one.
So tell me: Do you feel lucky?
How can we get you there? 

— Louisa Bacio
http://www.facebook.com/louisabacio
http://www.twitter.com/louisabacio

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OCC RWA March Online Class

February 26, 2013 by in category Archives

OCCRWA Proudly Presents: 

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March 11 – April 7, 2013

Stretching, Mixing and Transforming Sentence Recipes 
to Create a Memorable Story

with MM Pollard




About the Class:

Every novel is a collection of related sentences that tells a story. What you say is important, of course, but how you say it may be the difference between forgettable and truly memorable.

How do you write memorable sentences with the same rules of syntax that other English writers must obey? First, you learn the basics, the ten sentence patterns that English speakers and writers follow to put words together in a way that will make sense to others. Over the course of seven lessons, MM Pollard will give you opportunities to play with the basic patterns so that you feel comfortable in using them. In other words, you’ll have homework.

Second, you stretch, mix, and transform the rules of word order to make your sentences different from others, memorable – in a good way. If poets can do it, why can’t prose writers? MM will show you in the last five lessons how to change the word order of the sentence patterns to create interesting, memorable sentences, and ultimately, a memorable story.

**Your reward for doing your homework on time: MM will edit 1,000 words of your writing.**

About the Instructor:

As an English teacher for fifteen years, and currently, as acquisitions editor for Black Velvet Seductions, MM has accepted the mission to teach others to find and correct ungrammatical grammar, misused usage, problematic punctuation, and poor writing.

Through her fun workshops – yes, English can be fun – MM has helped many writers improve their language and writing skills. She has presented workshops and online classes for many writer’s groups. She is sure she can help you, too, master the fundamentals of English composition.

Enrollment Information

This is a 4-week online course that uses email and Yahoo Groups.  The class is open to anyone wishing to participate.  The cost is $30.00 per person or, if you are a member of OCCRWA, $20.00 per person.

Please follow this link to join the class!

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Listen Up….

February 25, 2013 by in category Archives tagged as , , ,

I’m not a techno maven, so please forgive my self-congratulation and delight at having figured out how to download digital audio titles (and eBooks) to my iPhone…from the Public Library.

Is that great, or what?
I don’t have a tablet at the moment (lost my Kindle & am obsessing about alternatives.  Thinking Galaxy Notebook? Mostly an Apple family, so wanted to try something else). So I am mostly focused on audio right now. Love the idea of downloading from the library for several reasons:
1.     Very inexpensive (free).  You do have to get a library card, though. (also free)
2.     You aren’t stuck with a physical product that sits around, cluttering things up–as if you’re going to listen to it again, which is unlikely.  And if you want to, why just take it out of the library again!
3.    OK, yes, I worked for publishers, who often had an uneasy relationship with libraries due to their free-ness when you’re trying to make a living selling books. But libraries have always been magical and wonderful places for me.  They are an amazing repository for information, help, knowledge and access.  Via their remarkable “free sampling” program, they introduce people to new things–like digital content–that often create new consumers and enrich our lives. So I believe in & support libraries–by using them as well as giving.
4.     OMG when you download digital content, it is never late! It just disappears when your time is up.  No need to keep track or be nearby to hand it in.  Poof.
5.    With a WiFi connection, you can download a book from anywhere, anytime.  Finish something in the middle of the night on a business trip or vacation?  Just browse the shelves and download something new at 1:00am.
Audio is an interesting format, with incredible advantages and some challenges.  It is a genuinely different vehicle for “consuming” content, and it can take a bit of personal exploration and experimentation to find your sweet spot. What are this issues? you may well ask…
A.  Sound.  It’s pretty basic.  You have to have earphones (comfy earphones) if you’re in company (unless it’s a shared experience), and the environment has to be quiet enough so you can hear.  For example, New York is a really loud city.  It’s hard to hear as you walk on the street, ride the subway or sit in a cab.  Not impossible, but I find myself turning the volume up & down a lot.
B.  Someone is reading to you–often a delightful asset, but sometimes a liability.  If good, the voice can significantly enhance the experience.  I’ve been listening to several P.G. Wodehouse Bertie & Jeeves titles & they’re a delight.  All the upper crust characters, ridiculous expressions, outrageous situations come alive with the accents & tones of voice.  
James Joyce’s reader is a Joyce expert, delivering wonderful Irish accents, even singing when the story required. And it’s a comfort to feel the stream of consciousness is flowing by with an approved cadence and pace.  
Life of Pi’s Indian accented reader turns out not to even be Indian, but really enhanced and enriched the story for me.  
But if the reader is bad, it can make the listening experience unbearable.
C.  Also, with audio, they read every word.  I skim when I get bored reading, or if there are long lists, or it feel repetitive. You don’t really have that option with audio.  
You can skip forward, but it’s not the same as glancing down a page to confirm they’re still yammering about battle details or lush descriptions.  
This can be a good thing if the writing is good–forcing you to slow down and savor the words and images. But if you’re listening to some little known Victorian novel, you may discover why it is not well known when you find yourself subjected to what seems like hours of exquisitely described detail of an emotional or physical landscape.
D.  Some people just lose traction listening & feel they have to keep going back to remember who said what to whom & when & thus find audio frustrating, as it doesn’t offer the visual cues of flipping back a page, or looking in the middle of that long paragraph.  
In this case, they need to listen to stuff they don’t care about so much (avoid ‘How To’ or non-fiction or complex fiction). Consider plays, or poetry, where listing & responding is perhaps more important than keeping track of everything.
E.   Why bother? Well, I love storytelling, and audio can slip in through the cracks and deliver a great reading experience when actual reading is impossible.  I can listen and look out the window of the train or plane or bus.  I can listen and knit or sew or mend. I can sit with the gang as they watch TV and listen to my story.  Grocery shop.  Walk the dog.  If I’m alone, I can be read to sleep, with a built in timer that will shut off after 15, 30, 60 minutes. Though if being read to makes you fall asleep, perhaps listen to the radio when you’re driving!
Downloading audio books from your public library:
General info  Overdrive Media Console or  Overdrive for iStuff
Load the app onto your iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc.  
Locate your library (hopefully) on their very long Add A Library list.  
Put in your library card number & password.  Search.  Browse.  Create a Wish List & fill it with titles you’re interested in.  Ask for a eHold on a title that isn’t available right now–you’ll get an email when it becomes available & you can download it.  If you finish before your book is due, return and delete it.
Select and download titles–you’ll get a sense for how long they are by the number of packages of data.
Plug yourself in…and listen up!
Isabel Swift
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Writer’s Block By Bill Zeilinger

February 22, 2013 by in category Archives tagged as , ,


Bill Zeilinger, writing as Will Zeilinger and Victoria Becker, is the author of “The Naked Groom” – a romantic comedy; “Something’s Cooking at Dove Acres” – a YA novel; and “The Final Checkpoint” – a mystery. 
His blog is http://www.booksbywilzeilinger.blogspot.com. 

Bill is also a graphic designer/illustrator. He designed book covers as well. You can see his art work at http://www.thosedesigners.com

 Follow Bill as William Zeilinger on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @BigMrBill

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Make Your Own Luck

February 19, 2013 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , ,

Monica Stoner, Member at Large

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about the ‘luck’ intrinsic for success in the publishing world. And it sounds like a great discussion.  Except, well…hogwash.  Yeah, you heard me right, that’s pretty much a lot of bilge water emptying into the ocean.  Sure there’s luck involved.  Absolutely some writers just happen on to the right publisher, the right agent, at the right time.  But, as Harry Stone (Night Court…remember him?) pointed out, he might have been on the bottom of the list of judges to appoint, but he was on the list.  He had done the work and made the effort to qualify for that list.
By the same token, we can gag at the overwhelming popularity of writers whose books just aren’t that good, at least in our educated minds. We can point fingers at the lack of logic, or the grammar issues, but the fact is they’ve written those books, generally a lot of those books. And those books are what their fans want to be reading. While we’re stressing over the poor writing, they’ve written another book, and again it’s at the top of the Amazon rankings.
Maybe luck does have something minor part to play in readers enjoying their work.  But luck has nothing to do with them producing that work. As much as we want to bow down to our muse, or curse the lack thereof, the relevant issue here is just plain hard work. They possess a work ethic that has them at the keyboard early and late, that doesn’t allow them to check e-mail or cruise Facebook until their pages are done, and their word count is met.  Are they the best writers in the universe? Maybe, maybe not. But if quality of writing is based on the books which are written, and not those being mulled over in the mind of the writer…then yeah they probably are.
Okay, this is a bit of a whine since my work ethic is pretty much down the tubes. But I’m giving up complaining about luck, and even being envious of someone else’s ability to get things done. All of this produces artificial road blocks to accomplishing any sort of goal…and I’m getting a lot better at setting those goals.  Who’s ready to start that journey of a million words with me???

I realize I’m late putting fingers on keyboard and sharing this month’s thoughts. If you have just a minute more I need to share my thoughts on the loss of a wonderful woman who believed in me when I didn’t always believe in myself. Simply said, be at peace Barbara.  You touched so many lives.

Monica writes as Mona Karel

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