Expand Your Thinking and Imagination by Diana L. Flegal

“There’s nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you’ve been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.” – Dave Barry

For me, that is what a writer does. They show me what is inside the tent and under the surface of the water. Whether it is the characters of Charlotte and Thomas Pitt in Anne Perry's Victorian adventure fiction or Max Lucado speaking to me of living in my sweet spot in his book Cure for the Common Life.

Gifted authors expand our thinking and our imaginations.

Here are some one and two sentence teases as examples in titles I recently read and old favorites that grabbed me or made me LOL:

Christy award winning author Ann Tatlock's most recent release, Sweet Mercy:

"I missed her too, and yet, that life seemed far away and like the torn edges of an early morning dream."

Doug Varrieur's book, Fat to Skinny Fast and Easy opens with his relatable personal story:

"After the tape measure and the calculations were complete, this was the day Mr. Joubert announced to Mom that I was a special needs person. My only question was, "What was I going to get for a prize?" I didn't have to wait long for my reward; it arrived in the form of a pair of HUSKY jeans. Special jeans for special people..."

CS Lakin's prose in her title The Crystal Scepter is another:

"The troll with the hat laughed so hard that Perth felt waves of sour wind blow against his face. ..The other trolls joined in, and soon, in their merriment, they were guffawing and rolling in the dirt like rumphogs."

In Seizing Your Divine Moment: Dare to Live a Life of Adventure by Erwin McManus:

"If everything else remains uncertain, be clear on this point: there is a calling on your life."

Brennan Manning in Ruthless Trust:

"That is the way it is with trust. Over the years, it ripens into confidence."

M. Esther Lovejoy inspires me in her title, The Sweet Side of Suffering:

"It is our needs that draw us to the all-sufficient One and allow us to experience first hand the sweetness of His personal and loving care."

Cake by Joyce Magnin is a new favorite I recommend often:

 "The chickens, especially Dottie, went wild. Even the chickens that normally stayed in the coop most of the time came out for spaghetti and meatballs. They pecked and slurped up the spaghetti strands so fast that Eggberry kicked a meatball, and it rolled toward Slowpoke who just took her time and casually pecked at it."


Thank you for allowing me to share a few of my favorite authors with you here. I pray this summer you find many exciting books to read that will expand your imagination and your thinking.

Have a great day,
Diana

Take a Break by Andy Scheer

Sometimes the best technique when you’re stuck in a writing project is to step away from the keyboard.

I spent much of last month performing a heavy edit on a large nonfiction project destined for self-publishing. The content was deep and theological — often supporting positions I didn’t. Worse, the writer was not a polished communicator.

Most days I found I could track the writing for only a half-hour before I stopped being able to disentangle his prose.

So I applied the strategy I’ve learned with jigsaw puzzles. When I can no longer make sense of a particular part, I get up, stretch, and switch to another side of the table.

Not all of that works with a writing project. If you’re stuck in chapter 7, it’s hard to skip to 17. But it sure helps to get up, stretch, and allow your mind to attend briefly to something else.

One of my techniques involves music. Not only do I play instrumentals to help me concentrate, I play it in a format that forces me to get up often.

While the LP in LP records stands for long-playing, they usually provide no more than 25 minutes on a side. Perfect timing for getting up, walking to the record player, and flipping to side two or putting the album away and deciding which to listen to next.

A minute or two later I’m back at the keyboard — and the solution to the next sentence seems obvious.

Don’t have a turntable? Then keep a cup of your favorite hot beverage next to your screen and force fluids. You’ll have to get up often, and the ideas will also flow.

Timeline for Book Launch Campaigns by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

So much goes into launching a book whether it is your first or one of many. Most likely, you'll know the release date a year in advance. Some smaller publishers may give you six to nine months notice. This will give you plenty of time to save and plan for your book launch as you continue writing the next book and revising macro and copy edits on soon-to-be-released book. 

If you receive an advance, my advice is to keep your day job or let your spouse keep supporting you, and plan to use a good portion of it, perhaps all of it, on your promotion efforts. You can write the next great American or European classic, but if no one knows about it--your book will remain one of the world's best kept secrets. Therefore, the best thing you can do for your writing career is to invest in it--wisely.

Below is a general timeline to help you plan for your upcoming book launch. This is only meant as a guideline, not something set in stone. Feel free to modify it as circumstances vary from author to author, publisher to publisher, and depending on genre and other ideas you may have. 

6-9 Months

~ Create Marketing Plan for your book launch

~ Hopefully, you already have a website/blog, but if not, buy your domain. Set up your site or hire someone to develop it for you. 

~ Set up your social media sites and link them all to your website/blog. If you already have these sites set up, be sure to update them, check their links, upload your book cover as soon as it's available.

~ Create an online Media Kit. This is a place that will have a page for your bio, photo, book covers and purchasing info, sample chapter, video book trailer, a way to contact you, a calendar with your upcoming schedule and events, and blog tour info. Even if you don't have the info for these pages yet, create the pages and set them up so you can add info as it's available.

4-5 Months

~ Schedule book tours. You can either do this yourself or hire a company to do this for you. If you have the funds, I recommend more than one book tour. Determine ahead of time how many books you plan to give away for review and/or as giveways on blogs. Be sure to schedule a combination of reviews, interviews, and guest posts so readers aren't bombarded with the same info if they follow multiple blogs on your tour.

~ Determine if you will host a contest campaign with multiple giveaways beyond mere books. You need to know where you will host it, who will help, goals, and target audience.

~ If you need to provide books and giveaway items, try to purchase a few each week. Don't wait and try to buy everything all at once. Sometimes bulk isn't the best answer--especially if you're on a tight budget. A little at a time is more affordable when you don't have bulk cash. When I buy things this way, it helps my buy out of my paycheck rather than my book money, allowing me to save it for lean months or or big item purchases. 

~ Put out a call for Influencers who will read the book and post reviews on their blogs, Amazon, B&N, and other online locations.

2-3 Months

~ Set up book signings. Check local schedules for events and festivals that might be taking place where you can bring your books. Piggy-back on their promotion of the event and utilize a location where people will already be gathering. For example, since I write Scottish historicals, a great venue for me has been the highland games held throughout the country. 

~ Start posting a few status updates regarding your book launch and what you're working on to start building excitement and anticipation on your social media sites. 

~ Start designing and ordering bookmarks, business cards, postcards, magnets, and the promotion items you plan to purchase.

~ Determine budget and schedule for any paid ads. 

~ Set up Google alerts for you author name and the title of your new book.
~ Once your book is listed on Amazon, set up an author section on Amazon Central. If you need additional information on what this is and how it will benefit you, I wrote a previous post on it here. 

1 Month

~ Fill out questions for blog interviews and return as many as possible. Submit guests posts where possible. 

~ Write press release, including first book launch party dates and times and begin submitting it to local and online media.

~ Post scheduled events on local media calendars, including public community calendars at libraries, chamber of commerce, etc.

~ Send out personal invites to people for book launch party and online blog tours.

2-3 Weeks

~ If you have a regular newsletter, send out a new one or a special announcement regarding your book release and launch party event.

~ Start posting teasers for reviews with links on blog and social media.
~ Continue answering blog interview questions and guest posts. 

~ Send out a reminder to Influencers.

1 Week

~ Post blog tour info with links on blog and social media.

~ Begin book launch contest and/or blog tour.

Book Release Day

~ Reminder announcement on website/blog and every social media channel with a link where to purchase.

~ First blog tour stop with link and keep up each day until blog tour is over.

If you have additional questions post them in the comment section below. If you need assistance with your upcoming book launch, visit us at Upon the Rock Publicist!

Message from the moun tains by Terry Burns

Okay, there was a little more snow in this picture than there is this year but I'm writing from the Christian Writing Conference in Estes Park CO. It is just beautiful here.

I'm seeing a lot of 0ld friends, some clients, and some new writers bringing their projecgts to me holding them out with hope in their eyes, I hope that I am offering encouragement, maybe useful information that will make their baby stronger and more publishable and actually for a few will possibly be able to take them on and achieve publication.

I'm talking to conflicted writers who hear others talk about their "calling" and take pressure from them when I talk about the fact that not all writers have such a call and it is ok. We can write for the Lord as an offering too and if it is well done it is no less acceptable to him. It's just a different way of writing it.

I've talked to writers who are just starting and are deluged with information that they find more confusing than helpful. I've explained that little information in writing books is useful, little information from conferences is useful UNTIL YOU START TRYING TO WRITE. The best way to learn to write is to do it. Until the writer is trying they don't know the questions to ask or the information that they need.

In addition, a writing conference has all levels of writers in attendence, from beginners to well published writers and there is content here for all of them. A new writer has to learn to filter, to see how to discern when they are hearing something they need now and something they will not need for a while and when they do reach the point where they need it they will understand it.

All of this has already gone on and is going on and it is just a couple of hours into the first day. I taught an early bird class and have a couple of others to present, a panel to moderate, and my dance card on one-on-one appointments is nearly full.

It's going to b e a great conference.

It's Not Really Paranoia if ... by Diana Flegal

It's not really paranoia if they really are out to get you!
Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Paranoia is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear.
Have you as a writer ever found yourself in the grip of anxiety or fear?
I encourage you to push through it- because:

Being slightly paranoid is like being slightly pregnant- it tends to get worse
Molly Ivins

What if's plague the inspired creative temperaments.

What if I can not support myself, my family...

What if I do not find a place amongst my peers?

What if I can not follow this first book with one equal to or better than the first?

What if I never get published? (the worst)

Sometimes our fears seem to be realized as everyone in our writers group receives a contract from a traditional publisher except us. Should I look into self-publication?

LORD!! What is it you are doing. You've given me the unction to write- I have something to say, I have dotted all of my i's and crossed all of my t's, yet here I am - sidelined. Unpublished.

Do not faint or lose heart. God would have not brought you this far if he did not have a divine plan. Wilderness experiences are a part in the journey of every key player. We do not like the wilderness, and thankfully it is not where God intends to leave us. But there are things to be learned there.

When you find yourself in a dry barren place, fall to your knees and then reach out to others. Now is the time to take the focus off of yourself and place it onto others in your writing community circle.
Congratulate those receiving contracts, winning contests and receiving accolades.  Brag on those presently in the limelight.  After all, God is due the Glory He deserves. Seek opportunities to befriend the 'newbie'. Introduce them to others with influence. Take some time to scroll down your FB page and pray for those asking for prayer or struggling. There are so many standing in the need of prayer and in need of a genuine word of compassion. Read other author blogs and take the time to comment. Look over your bookcase and note the books you have read that touched your life. Write an Amazon review of those books. It is a great help to authors. Even if you read the book years ago. Write the note.

And pray for your agent (if you have one). Agents face a huge challenge today. Many editors change desks as publishers change priorities in focus and it is a scramble to keep up with the changes and establish relationships in this shifting industry climate.

Galatians 6:10 As we have opportunity, do good to all men/women, especially to those of the household of faith. :-)

Continue to write.

When I take time to invest in others- I receive fresh passion for what it is God has called me to. I believe you will receive fresh ideas and inspiration as well.


Have a great day. Carry on.
Diana











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Don't Rush It by Andy Scheer

With the deadline approaching, I drew a blank. More troubling, I didn't know why.

For the past year as a columnist for the magazine, I've been able to count on a topic occurring in time.

But Monday, three days before the deadline, my mental cupboard was still bare. And other commitments for the next two days would keep me away from the keyboard. So I threw myself on the mercy of the editor and asked for a week's extension.

No problem, she said.

Even with the deadline pressure relieved, nothing came to mind. I told myself I'd write it the next Saturday, and I turned my mind to other projects.

Thursday the topic arrived in my email in-box—twice. Two distinct news items converged to illustrate a development of interest to the column's readers. I knew what I'd write about on Saturday.

But I forgot to tell my subconscious. About 2 a.m. Friday I awoke, my brain racing with ideas for how I'd develop the article. If I wanted to get back to sleep, I had to record those thoughts. I took a sheet from a page-a-day calendar into the bathroom, turned on the light, and filled a page.

Saturday morning the notes on the back of the Dilbert page still made sense, and the column's text fell into place.

Next time the ideas don't come, maybe I'll trust that I simply need to wait.

Days Long Gone by Linda S. Glaz

So, the days are long gone when you sit down, write a novel, send it off, and wait a short time for someone to begin the bid on your novel, after which the publisher throws their entire workforce behind it to get the novel in every store still standing.

Today, you face a long wait just to find the right agent. But that’s another blog.

Once you’ve received a contract from a publisher, your job is only beginning. You, not the publisher in most instances, will have to find a way for your work to be seen, reviewed, considered by buyers.

We hear more and more about a writer’s platform. What does that mean, and what are you doing to develop one before you are contracted?

Ask yourself these questions:

Have you developed an online presence? A website, blog, facebook following, twitter?

Are you taking the opportunity to speak with writers’ groups, become part of critique groups—locally and online? Are you attending conferences where you can network with other writers, editors, agents? Have you looked into doing articles for your local paper. There are numerous opportunities now with internet news, both locally and nationally.

There are many sites online which are looking for reviewers. I know a few publishers who are always on the lookout for proofreaders. This gig is golden as you learn what to look for in another individual’s manuscript.

Do you take advantage of online classes? Organizations? ACFW,  Faithwriters, RWA are all information rich organizations that offer classes as part of their presence. They all have contests, some on a monthly basis that sharpen your skills. And once your presence is established here, you have the potential for dozens more readers as your book is released.

If you writer historical, do you belong to local historical groups? Fantasy fanatic? Are you working with fantasy groups near home?

You can’t pass on any possible opportunities to have your name known so that when your novel is contracted, you will have already established a fan base.

The days of the publisher doing all the work for you might be gone, but you have numerous ways that you can market yourself.

Use social media for more than taking up your valuable time; let it go to work for you.