Would You Read On? by Diana Flegal

Today is Weds and that means it is the next installment of First Pages and Would You Read on contributed by the Bold and Courageous.

Prologue

TIDEWATER, VIRGINIA 1830

Her astounding beauty and defiant dignity stood out even in this horrible ugly circumstance. She wasn’t like the others in the line. Anyone could plainly see it but more than that he could sense it. All of the women’s heads hung low, shoulders slumped with hopelessness, humiliation and defeat apparent over every inch of them. Some tried to cover their nakedness with their hands to no avail. No one cared about their shame. They were not afforded the privilege of pride or decency for they were not human to most of the spectators. They were mere stock animals on parade for the highest bidder; assembled for inspection to be purchased and used for whatever the buyer desired. Dear Lord, when will this end? How long must my people suffer this shame and bondage? He prayed silently holding his anger in check, pushing his urge to lash out down inside himself. He noticed her head was held high and her stance impudent even in chains. She was lovely standing tall, majestically arrogant in spite of such indecent exposure. No one took pity on these women being sold like prime cattle…no one but him and God. His heart always ached at the sight of their uncovered bodies shiny with oil, pulled with chains and fettered in leg irons linking them all together. Waiting to hear from the Lord, Bo stood in the back as he always did out of sight of the others eager to make their purchases. Some of the men poked and roughly prodded at the female merchandise. The women often cried out in pain while others whimpered from fear and shame. This one particular woman made no sound. Her eyes were cold, filled with malice, her full lips tight. “Open up!” Montgomery Dale yelled at her. He worked for a wealthy farmer outside Richmond and wanted to see her teeth. After all good skin, teeth and pink tongue meant you’d be getting a reasonably healthy slave. She didn’t open her mouth. “You heard me, you stupid wench, open up!” Her jaw visibly tightened. Harvey Price moved over to her and hit so hard she rocked back. “You heard him! Open your mouth!” He took his hand and proceeded to try and pry her mouth open. She still resisted. He hit her again. He swore and tried again to open her jaws when in an instant she bit down on his fingers.

Would you read on?

Last weeks First Page was from the published title, The Curse of Captain LaFoote, submitted to us by author Eddie Jones. This title won the 2011 Silva Award for YA fiction.

Join us next week as we review another First Page and where this weeks entry's author will be revealed.

Have a great 'over the hump' day ya all!

Diana

Best Cellar View by Andy Scheer

Actually basement perspectives, but that doesn't work in a title.

Since joining the team at Hartline, I've been setting up a new office space in what was our son's basement bedroom. He recently graduated from college, got a job, and moved out, so I've claimed that room and begun to establish a workspace I don't have to share. This, in turn, has prompted me to reflect on what environment helps a writer work efficiently.

One size never fits all, and work spaces are no exception. So beyond the essentials: a desk with adequate surface area, a decent-size monitor into which to plug my netbook, a nearby bookshelf, and a filing cabinet and laser printer (paperless never quite works), I've indulged in a few extras based on how I know I work best.

Rather than a modern adjustable swivel chair, I sit in a substantial, scarred oak chair that was my father's. It offers continuity with my heritage. My father, as did two of his brothers, made their living with a pen and typewriter.

Instrumental music helps me focus—or provides a welcome distraction when my mind needs to reflect before I continue typing. So I installed a pair of speakers, drilled a few holes, and strung wires to my sound system in the family room. It's especially good as I listen to one of my hundreds of garage sale instrumental LP records. A born fidgeter, I need to get up every half hour and walk around. The need to go and flip the record provides a perfect excuse.

I keep on a corner of my desk a variety of Altoids, a bag of black licorice, another of pistachios, and some root beer barrels. Not what others would choose, but I know what helps keep my brain in gear.

And for those moments I need to look out the window and reflect, I enjoy a view that rivals what Jerry Jenkins sees from his writing “cave” a couple hours west of Colorado Springs. When I turn from my computer screen and look to my left, I see a snow-capped mountain behind a valley filled with aspens.

I installed the view this weekend. For my birthday, my sister-in-law gave me a giant photo poster designed to convert a galvanized window well to a view of nature's beauty—like the background image in dioramas at natural history museums.

So now when I look up from my work screen, I have the best cellar view possible.

I hope you've also set up your office to maximize the ways you're wired to work.

She Was Frightened and Cold! by Linda S. Glaz

One of my favorite exercises is taking a telling expression and wowing a reader with what can actually be shown. This opening line is one horrendous jumble of telling. It definitely lets the reader know something about the character, but is it enough?

Here goes:
She was frightened and cold!
She shivered in the dark room, spiders from the ceiling dropping closer on their thin threads with each breath she took. Her arms wrapped around her chest as she clung to the last bit of warmth before the night enclosed her in frigid despair. Where had he put her? She sucked back another tentative breath. What was that? She reached over her shoulder and pulled eight crawly legs from her skin. Another shiver, and she gasped aloud as the dirt floor met her face.

Now, without using the word frightened or cold, we’ve shown the reader so much more. Just saying she was frightened and cold didn’t tell us she was imprisoned somewhere. Or that there wasn’t any heat. Or that bugs shared the same space with her. But the second time, we got all that and more without ever using the tag words.

Let’s see what anyone of you can do with an exercise of your own. Surprise us, make us happy, make us afraid. Wow! us.
Okay, so here’s the exercise:
He was ugly as sin. (Oh, how cliché, give us something new and wonderful!)

Hanging Out at Google+ by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

Not literally, but there is a feature on Google+ that is called Hangouts. You don't just hangout and type/chat in a room together, but you hangout in a video/audio chat area. With the camera on your computer or tablet, it links everyone up and you can see each other and chat by audio. It's nice to see faces and hear voices. No more typing and skimming to read text to keep up with the conversation. It's better than Skype.



In September, I'm planning on hosting the Highland Sanctuary Book Launch Contest, which will run for a period of two weeks, but in the meantime, I'll be planning and possibly adding more free gift giveaways. Rather than merely listing the winners on my blog, I thought it might be fun and different to use the Google+ Hangout as a place to draw the winning names live on camera. I'd schedule the event ahead of time and announce it to my Social Media networks so people would know what time to "tune" in. For those who can't attend, I'll still post the winners on my blog the following day.

One neat thing about Google+ Hangouts is that you can also stream it straight to YouTube. Technology is changing the way authors promote books. While there are many unknowns, I think we're living in an exciting time.

What are your thoughts? Does it sound interesting? Is it something you might want to try with your book launch contests?

An honest question by Terry Burns

The question was honest and it was simple: “Having followed your interest and willingness to help new authors, what would be your advice as far as a "first" step in publishing?”

How do I give an honest answer that would probably entail a dozen different writing courses in one email? I came up with the following:

I see how you to have a message or a story to tell but of course what I don't see here is how you have prepared yourself to tell it. Starting to write without the preparation is like opening a restaurant because you cook a great hamburger on the grill. You may have done so, and it is just not mentioned here.

When I started writing I took college courses, online courses, Writer's Digest courses, got into online writing groups and a local writing group and critique group. I started learning my craft, and I got rejected . . . a lot . . . which was also part of my learning experience. I published a lot of small stuff, but it took me six years of hard work after I started trying to get it published to get my first book length work in print. Having a story to tell or a message to present and knowing how to write it in a manner that it will be published are totally different things.

I get several hundred submissions a month and other agents and editors get at least that many, a lot of them many more than that. None of us can handle or publish that number of course. That means having a good book is not good enough. It has to be an exceptional book that stands out from the crowd. It has to be a unique subject written in a unique voice aimed at a market that the person it is being submitted can see and feels they have the right contacts to sell the book into that market. That is the hurdle the author is trying to clear.

As to what the odds are, a book has to be presented to the right person at the right place at exactly the right time and has to be on the subject that person is looking to handle. That means even with a great project that all of those pieces being in place right at any point in time is slim. There may only be one place in the entire industry where a project fits right at any given moment which means a lot of doors will be knocked on where one or more of the pieces are not in place. Patience and persistence may be as important to getting significantly published as talent.

I also encourage new authors to pitch to both agents and editors. A lot of authors publish before they manage to make a connection with an agent. However those publishing submissions need to be to small houses that will work directly with an author. The larger houses require an agent so if an author manages to get rejected at one of those and later gets an agent they will find those bridges have already been burned.

None of us really want to do the business part of this, we want to write, but to get our writing out we have to do the business. We have to be constantly working to improve our craft, and have to be learning how to do a professional job of pitching our work and have a good professional looking proposal to pitch it with.

I hope this helps.

Terry

Would You Read On? by Diana Flegal

At the recently held Montrose Christian Writers conference in Montrose, Pennsylvania I conducted a workshop titled First Pages. Twenty plus courageous writers brought their first pages in both Fiction and Non fiction pieces. Their WIP. Work in Progress.

I read them and then we commented on whether we would have read on. Several passed the test, leaving us wanting to know more. They had 'hooked' us. Others made us groan. It was one of my all time favorite workshops I have participated in and got me thinking. Would you read on after reading these first sentences?

Keep in mind; First pages are usually double spaced but for this blog it has been modified.

Example #1

I’d just ordered a large pizza the evening our apartment building burned down. Monday, it was. The night before Christmas. Pepperoni with extra cheese. Becky Nance, a girl in my ninth-grade health class, says cheese will give you zits but I figure what the heck. It was my birthday, not hers. Besides, it’s not like Becky is gonna ask me to be her escort to our winter dance. Not with my pigeon-toed feet, lanky arms, and bony shoulders.

So I ordered my pizza and went outside to meet the delivery guy.

Mom was on her way to Graceland. She’s a short-haul truck driver. Her dispatcher had phoned that morning to say there was a load of video games that needed to be delivered to a big-box department store in Memphis. She had a ten hour drive ahead of her on an interstate covered in snow. Mom left a note saying she was sorry about missing Christmas and all, but it couldn’t be helped. We needed the money. She promised to swing by the King’s mansion and pick up a snow globe from the gift shop.

I hate Elvis. Mom knows this. But I collect shakers and she knows that, too.

Here’s the thing. If Elvis has left the building, like they say, then why’s he still singing the blues about Christmas? Anyway, I figure Mom had just pulled up to the loading dock of the department store when the fire reached her bedroom. Good thing I’d walked outside to meet the pizza driver. ‘Course if I’d known our apartment was about to get torched I would have grabbed some stuff. Pictures, trophies, Mom’s jewelry box. My seizure medication.

Stay tuned for First Pages each week. If the author wishes to remain anonymous you will be left in suspense but if they are courageous, we will let you know if their book is in print.

Have a great summer day,
Diana

Conference Strategies by Andy Scheer

I've been attending writers conferences since the late 1980s--teaching classes, taking appointments, and advising people how to get the most from attending. But this past weekend I attended a conference as a civilian—and I've pleased to report the advice I've been giving writers still applies.

My event was not a writers conference. But the Evergreen (Colorado) Jazz Festival attracted several hundred people, and from morning until late at night the schedule was packed with top-notch professional musicians performing in five venues. Change the names from “concert” to “workshop” and from “musician” to “writer/editor” and the experience is much the same.

SELECT YOUR EVENT

When I first attended the Evergreen Festival a few years ago, I never suspected it was one of dozens of such events across the country. Much like Christian writers conferences, they vary greatly in duration, facilities, and cost. In assessing writers conferences, I refer to the annual Christian Writers' Market Guide to learn the basics about each before visiting its website for details. For me, the deciding factor was that the Evergreen festival was within driving distance and I could stay with relatives nearby. But others, drawn by the event's location and reputation, drove or flew from across the country.

STUDY WHO IS COMING

From past years, I anticipated which groups would be performing. But as the event approached and I monitored the website, I was surprised to see a few past favorites would be absent. I was disappointed until I discovered a late addition specialized in playing the distinctive style of music I appreciate most (San Francisco/West Coast “revival” jazz). I ended up attending five of their performances. At writers conferences, keynote speakers, workshop teachers, acquisition editors, and literary agents fill the program. Based on what you can discover in advance, which teachers and people taking appointments fit your A-list? Your B-list?

CHOOSE YOUR OPTIONS

From experience and the festival website, I decided which of the five simultaneous concerts to attend at any given hour. A couple groups I followed from venue to venue. Other times I found a good seat near the front and stayed through several groups' performances.

When I was helping plan the “Writing for the Soul” conference for the Christian Writers Guild, I made a point to try to offer at each hour a dazzling array of choices. The only way to decide which to attend is to engage in some serious self-assessment. Which workshop best connects with your current writing and can equip you to move forward? Likewise with appointments. Which editors or agents would most likely mesh with your work and your aspirations? And if all those slots are taken, what are your best alternatives?

PACE YOURSELF

Unlike writers conferences, the jazz festival didn't feature meal breaks, just fifteen minutes between sessions. Somewhere between 11:00 and 2:00, then 4:00 and 7:00, I had to stop, rest, and refresh. If I tried to attend everything, I'd end up unable to appreciate anything. Fortunately, most writers conferences offer CD or MP3 recordings of workshops—and often the entire conference. Being able to take home a recording helps ease the guilt of skipping a class when you desperately need to put your feet up, pray, or process something you just learned.

STAY FLEXIBLE

While I planed my strategy based on past attendance and studying the website and printed program, I also made some last-minute choices. A New Orleans-based quartet didn't click with me this year. But a Kansas City group really spoke to me with their string band music and traditional blues. Another time the choice seats were already full, so I had to accept a less desirable location. I ended up sitting next to someone with whom I shared several common interests.

TALK WITH PEOPLE

No matter how much you know about a topic, there's always someone who knows more. Often they're sitting next to you. Waiting for my new favorite group to perform, I learned the person next to me was the trombone player's girlfriend. As it turns out, I used to live just a couple miles from her. Between numbers, my new friend filled me in about the band, their other performers, and the tunes they were playing. I didn't tell her she was assisting the research for my novel in progress.

Likewise I talked with the musicians. Not when they were rushing between sets, but when it seemed  they had some time to spare. I learned how a piano player I'd met a few years ago was doing after his bout with leukemia—and got his advice about a Kansas City barbecue joint where the band sometimes plays. I learned the trombone player has a Model A Ford similar to my father-in-law's and was able to offer him advice on his car's brakes. Musicians, like writers and editors, have a life outside their work. Building rapport first makes it more natural to ask and receive help in the professional realm.

TAKE IT HOME

Maybe it's the writer in me, but I took notes throughout the jazz festival. The names of every tune each band played, remarks about the composers, plus observations I made about the interactions among the musicians. I also shot lots of photos and even recorded a few low-resolution movie clips. They weren't selling books, but I did bring home six CDs. By time I've finished reviewing and applying everything I've learned, and hope to learn, it should be time for next year's event. I plan to be ready.

Andy's Upcoming Writers Conferences

San Diego Christian Writers Guild, Sept. 23-24
Indianapolis Christian Writers Conference, Nov. 4-5
Heart of America Christian Writers Network Conference, Nov. 10-12
Florida Christian Writers Conference, Mar. 1-4