“keep those cards and letter’s coming folks” by Jim Hart

I’m a song writer and the other day I received a very nice rejection letter from a record label. And it actually excited me. Admittedly, a recording contract would have been a more preferable scenario, but I did realized two important things:  1) I actually made public something creative in which I spent a great deal of energy and 2) someone on the other end actually acknowledged my efforts – even though the songs that I sent would ‘not be a good fit for us right now’. It’s like that classic break-up line: “it’s not you, it’s me”.  As if somehow that softens the blow.

So was it a waste of time and resources to send out a demo package, only to have it turned down? Not really. Now I know who not to send more demos to (at least for a year or two).  Of greater significance is the fact that I have now taken myself out of the “ someday I’m gonna” column and put myself in the “at least I tried” column.  And maybe the next column for me will be the “next best thing since sliced bread and the Beatles” column.

In fact, I really need to find some other labels to pester (it’s too bad stalking is not recognized as a good career move). So now I’m a bit more energized and my hopes are once again elevated to a completely un-realistic state – because I believe in my craft, and in a world dominated by Justin Beiber and Taylor Swift, this “50-something” guy is ready to take over!

Songs, books – they are much the same (one of them just has a few more words). They both present a good story in an engaging manner. A story that hopefully people will want to immerse themselves in over and over again. A story that may take years to get into the hands of the consumer. Sigh.

So, all you writers of fiction and non-fiction – get busy. Prepare your best proposal and get it out there. Move yourself straight to the “I did it” column and prepare yourself for any outcome.  And start working on your signature for all the book signings coming your way, just in case.

And as the old time radio preachers would say: “keep those cards and letters coming folks!”

Jim Hart

Overcome Your Fear of the Blogosphere by Zoe McCarthy

Is the following how you react when you hear: “You must build a platform to increase the likelihood you will ...”

What’s a platform? How can I, a person resistant to social media, break in and raise my public image? Do I want to stand out? Why can’t I write good novels that publishers propel into the market place without all the fanfare? My name in small print is fine. Who has time to plug into social networks and write blogs, anyway? What do I have to say to people? (Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

 

I think that’s fear speaking of the new and unfamiliar. It was for me. Step through my journey with me and maybe your anxiety will dissipate.

Preliminary work:

1.      I determined to do it.

For me, keeping in contact with God gives me courage and perseverance. God is bigger than unfamiliar words, codes, and confusing how-tos. He’s stronger than obstacles. When He calls me to do something new, He always does his part when I do mine.

2.      I attended social media workshops.

Author Stacy Hawkins Adams explained platforms in our writers’ group. Later, I attended the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers’ Conference and scheduled social media workshops. From author Gina Holmes’s class, I learned writers must start building their platforms well before they’re published. In Edie Melson’s workshop, she stepped us through creating a blog. Creating a blog still seemed scary but not foreign.

3.      I read books and subscribed to social media blogs.

Platform by Michael Hyatt and Selling Your Book Like Wildfire by Rob Eagar chiseled off more of my fear. Through subscribing to blogs, such as Copyblogger, Jeff Goins, Writer, and Author Media, blogging tips and processes became familiar. Familiar calmed me.

4.      I perused others’ blogs.

I noted their similarities and differences, what I liked and what I didn’t.

5.      I determined what type of blog fit me. Hyatt’s Platform listed three basic types of blogs: “web journals,” single-theme sites, and those focusing on a theme with occasional deviations. The latter two appealed to me.

6.      I mind-mapped what I could share and sustain over time. After petitioning God and brainstorming, I realized I needed to choose from my passions: creativity, the Bible, and writing. My mind map showed I had many life experiences using my creativity to engage people. I could help others do the same in their workplace, home, and volunteer activities. Creative in Everything was born.

Taking the plunge:

7.      I chose a service.As a novice, I’ve started with a web-hosted site. I chose WordPress because most of my research materials mentioned it.

8.      I muddled through the setup.Creative in Everything is a work in progress. Thepreciousgem I’ve learned is: Quit freaking out over the many obstacles. Stop, pray, and persevere.God will work ways around hindrances. Now, I view roadblocks as challenges. I’mcurious to see what God’s going to do.

9.      I wrote the best post Icould, took a deep breath, and hit publish. My marketing strategy in a book proposal promised I’d have a blog by 10/1/2012. That deadline prevented me from endlessly pursuing perfection.

10. I emailed a paragraph introducingmy blog to family, friends, Facebook, and Twitter.I includedCreative in Everything’s benefits to readers and my every-Thursday schedule, which I’vehonored. I’ve enjoyed reconnecting with people.

Successes

11. I receive encouraging testimonies. Everytime someone comments or emails me how a post has helped them, I praise God for guiding me on my blogging journey.

What tips could you add to help others overcome blogging fears?

Through Creative in Everything, Zoe M. McCarthyenjoys helping others find imaginative ways to engage people in their daily responsibilities. Zoe’s depended on her creative juices to grab the attention of corporate colleagues,middle school students, Sunday school and Bible Study Fellowship preschoolers, and male prisoners.She’s a retired actuary turned full-time writer. Represented by Hartline Literary Agency, she spins contemporary Christian romances and short stories with splashes of humor. A self-publisher of two books of contemporary Christian short stories, she’salso published stories with Christian Fiction Online Magazine.Zoe and her husband live in mountainous Southwestern Virginia. They’ve raised two sons and enjoy playing with their five grandchildren. Creatively, of course.

Creative in Everything: http://zoemmccarthyblog.wordpress.com

Email: zoehgwp@gmail.com;

Facebook Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/ZoeMMcCarthyAuthor;

Twitter:https://twitter.com/zoemmccarthy

Did You Celebrate 2012 by Diana Flegal

As the New Year gains speed, I am still writing, organizing and reviewing my many lists. I have a to-do list with submissions to submit, manuscripts to complete, and critiques for the first upcoming conference of the year, a list of personal and professional goals for 2013, a list of books I want to read, a list of friends I want to keep in touch with and visit this year and my prayer list. (Seems so many of my friends are experiencing various serious difficulties).

Today I was tempted to go back to bed, wake later and start over. Instead I stopped and spent time reviewing my goals from last year along with notes from the books I used in my devotional reading each day. I celebrated and circled the things accomplished then highlighted the items to transfer onto this years column, thankful to God for helping me get done what I did.Have you taken the time to celebrate your 2012 victories? I encourage you to do so.

Amongst my notes were many quotes and questions that encouraged, stretched and inspired me. I would like to share a few with you.

Embrace failure- Think bigger...Feel the pain of failure and use it to move forward.
Why Things Don't Get Done Danny Iny Firepole marketing

The proof of desire is pursuit. Passion pursues. Passion is tenacious, determined and focused. It is your personal responsibility to pursue. The proud withdraw. The humble reach.
Mike Murdock 7 Overlooked Keys to Goal Setting

In what specific way has God demonstrated His love to you recently? What does the certainty of His love mean to me?
Seeking Christ: A Christian Woman's Guide to Personal Wholeness.  Kay Marshall Strom

The storm was a common example and symbol of chaos and distress....a very useful picture of human life at the mercy of forces beyond our control. The intent here is not just the fact that God has control of nature and the elements but that God has everything in his hands and brings us to our desired haven even by means of the storm. Every storm is God's storm. 
Day 70 He Stills the Storm Your 100 Day Prayer/ John I. Snyder

Basic Principle: Create a container for a task, time and space within which you want to take the steps to effect your change. You decide what you want to accomplish and how much time you will spend on it. You set the timer and you do not get up from your desk until the timer goes off. 
It Takes an Egg Timer: A Guide to Creating Time for Your Life   Joanne Tombrakos

How did it get so late so soon?
Dr. Suess

Work as 'art' and having a product to 'ship'
Seth Grodin

There is time for work and a time for love. There is no other time.
Coco Chanel

Stop trying to control anyone else, the world and your circumstances. The only one you are meant to control is you. You have no idea how effective we can be in others lives if we can practice self control.
Joyce Meyer


Please share a favorite quote or note of encouragement that will bless our readers and help them move into the new year they are facing.

And Happy Happy New Year you all!

Diana






 

The first page by Terry Burns

The purpose of the first page is simple – to get the reader to turn the page and move on down in the book. It has to be about the story, of course, but it is even more about hooking the reader into the book and selling the book.

In my own writing the first page is not the first thing I write but the last thing. I consider my first couple of chapters as temporary, they may or may not go into the book or if they do will probably need to be rewritten after I am really familiar with the story and the characters. Then when I am through and happy with it I go back and say “Okay, now how do I get them off this page?”

Readers don’t really care about the weather or the setting until they have decided they are going to read, then we can set the scene for them. What do I like to see on a first page? An action initiated that is not completed, curiosity aroused and not satisfied, a question posed and not answered, anything that begins on the page but is not completed until the next page.

While an agent or editor may not reject a book on the basis of just a first page, most of them want the page to be compelling. They know a majority of readers standing at a book rack pull a book down and read the back cover copy and the first page. The object is to get them to turn that page and read a little further into the book, because that’s when they will carry it up to the checkout stand. And that’s why first pages are so important.

Getting Away by Terry Burns

We talk about the need to find writing time, carving it out from a crowded schedule. For those of us who are immersed in it 10-12 hours a day six days a week occassionally we need to figure out how to get away for a while. We just did exactly that. We went directly from working a great conference at Estes Park Colorado (Colorado Christian Writers Conference) to drive to Seattle and catch a cruise to Alaska. That put us on the road for nearly a month.

Saundra wanted to see the country, not fly over it, she wanted a road trip. We surely did that, counting the 2000 miles of the cruise we covered nearly 6500 miles on the trip. We watched Old Faithful blow its top and were trapped in the middle of a herd of a couple thousand buffalo at Yellowstone as they surrounded us going to their bedding ground for the night. One passed so close she could reach out and touch him. She got a great picture.

The Grand Teton mountains were amazing.

We really enjoyed the cruise, with ports of call in at Skagway, Ketchican and Juno on Alaska then on to Victoria British Columbia.

We saw whales and Eagles but the cherry on top was the Butchart Gardens in Victoria. Saundra got to spend a half day in a special class with a professional photographer. On the return trip we went down the Pacific Ocean shoreline, saw miles and mile of HUGE redwood trees and spent a day in San Francisco riding cable cars, photographing the Golden Gate Bridge and eating at Fisherman's Wharf.

We had a compromise. I didn't work, but I did have my laptop and downloaded my email each day to keep from getting so many that it shut my server down. OK, maybe I did handle a couple of emergency items, but for the most part I left it to do when I got back.

It was good to relax, to decompress, and even the hassle of having to dig through all that was waiting when I went back to work was definitely worth it. We all need that sometime.

Would You Read On? hosted by Diana Flegal

Today, another brave author has offered up the first page of his/her book.

Please read and comment below. Would you read on or not?


First Page:

One rap, more of a punch than a knock, banged the outside door, then silence. RJ sprang from the bed. His feet hit the floor in time with Beau's warning bark. He had his jeans on and his flannel shirt buttoned when he opened the farmhouse portal. The worn granite step glowed in the halo of the outside lamp, but no one stood in the spotlight.

The blue merle pressed against his master's leg, his deep growl vibrating his entire body.

"What is it, Boy?" he whispered, then cleared his throat.

RJ opened the storm door and stepped out. The stone's chill seeped into the soles of his bare feet. The fog horn moaned in the damp night air. The dog plunged into the darkness. RJ followed, eyes straining into the gauze of fog wrapping around his world. "Who's there?" he called.

The muffled whack of the storm door catching the breeze answered. "Probably a bat," he said. "Come on, Beau." The dog whined and ran back to the steps. RJ pivoted and halted in mid-stride.

An arrow skewered the weathered blue door. Beau ran his nose along the projectile, growling once again. RJ's eyes touched the arrow, his hands clenched at his sides. The barbed tip and polished fiberglass screamed hunter. A professional but not a perfect shot, it sat off-center near the base of the door. A white sheet of paper uncurled from the shaft just behind the razored prongs.

"Back, Beau," he commanded, but the dog's questing nose nudged the paper and it dropped to the step.

RJ jerked his sleeves over his hands and picked up the limp roll. He flicked off the wet piece of tape and unfurled it.

Hey, Home Wrecker

Would You read on?

Last weeks courageous author was Carole Brown. You may learn more about Carole and her writing by visiting her on her blog, Sunnybank Meanderings.