I’m a Finalist in the Short Story Competition!

Thanks, Mina B! Here is her notification:

 

“Loved this. What the heck were those things? Well done! FYI: You’re one of the top 5 I picked in the group I’m judging & have been shortlisted to move on to stage two. There will be a semi-final (stage three) and a final (stage four). Congrats.”

YAY!! If any of my campaigner friends want to vote for me, I’ll love you forever!

 

If anyone missed my story, you can read it here.

 

A Short Story for the First Campaign Challenge

This is actually Thursday’s post, but I’m publishing it now so that other campaigners have a chance to vote on it! So here is the challenge:

“Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “Shadows crept across the wall”. These five words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:

• end the story with the words: “everything faded.” (also included in the word count)

• include the word “orange” in the story

• write in the same genre you normally write

• make your story 200 words exactly!”

Here is my entry! Please note it is EXACTLY 200 words, starts with the phrase ”Shadows crept across the wall,” and ends with the phrase “everything faded.”

PS- My sister said I should warn you that this is scary…

“Hair” by Amy Marie

Shadows crept across the wall as David’s hands soaked the flimsy fabric of the hospital gown with sweat. Something was wrong. The dark hair on his legs had always been thick; he was Italian, it was to be expected. But suddenly, his hair had started to grow, the strands twining around each other until they were long enough to comb.

The doctor stepped through the door. “How are we today, David?” He glanced up from the open chart in his hands. The doctor wasn’t quite quick enough to hide the disgust that momentarily contorted his face.

“What’s wrong with me? Is it my hormones?”

“I’m afraid we’ve seen a few cases of this.” He snapped on a pair of plastic gloves. “Brace yourself.” Wrapping a fistful of hair around his hand, he yanked. Pain burned through David as something tore free from his body.

“It’s not hormones,” the doctor said grimly, the hair still wound tightly around his fingers. At the end of each strand hung one long, glistening white worm, their teeth-filled mouths open as they shrieked in protest. David didn’t feel his head bounce on the cold tile floor, as his vision tattered to grey and everything faded.

 

UPDATE: WOW! I’m a finalist in the short story competition! Check out my post here!

One of the Best Writing Books I’ve ever Read

I just finished The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner and I have to say, it is one of the best writing books I’ve ever read. Description from Library Journal:

“Lerner’s credentials include editorial stints at Houghton-Mifflin, Ballantine, Simon & Schuster, and Doubleday. Working now as a literary agent, she shares an insider’s perspective on the publication side of writing. Definitely not a “how-to” book or a style manual, this chatty, informal volume is anecdotal and encouraging to the novice or amateur writer. The first part describes various types of writers Lerner has worked with over the years and how a writer’s personality influences both the writing and the ability to get published. Stronger and more helpful, the next section covers the process of manuscript submission and offers concrete advice about literary agents, query letters, multiple submissions, working with editors and publicists, and dealing with rejection and writer’s block. Because of her unique approach, this book will find its audience among writers groups and workshops.”

The first section describes various ways writers can sabotage themselves, and ways to become conscious of the some of the bad decisions we might make and how to work around them. The second half shines a light on the actual business of publishing. It was fascinating, funny, and heartbreaking at times. I checked it out from the library but will definitely be buying a copy. The one most important piece of advice I took away from this book? Writers who never give up are the ones who get published. Thank you, Ms. Lerner, for strengthening my resolve to never give up. I have to admit, a few weeks ago it was wavering, but not anymore!

Three More Blog Awards!

Wow! I never fail to get a little thrill when someone writes those words: “I’ve nominated you for a blog award!” When I first started writing this blog, I wasn’t sure what kind of reception I would get. I only knew that I had acquired a bunch of knowledge over the last 4 or 5 years that I had been writing and that I wanted to share it with other writers, the ones like me, slogging away every day, reaching for a dream that at times seems unreachable. I hoped that in some small way, what I might have to say would be encouraging or helpful. Every time one my readers nominates me for an award, or leaves a thoughtful comment, or “likes” one of my posts, I feel grateful that you have enjoyed something I’ve written. Thank you, all my readers.

 

And now, on to the awards! Thank you very much, Jenny, for the 7×7 Award and the Liebster Blog Award! And congratulations for receiving them yourself! Please check out Jenny’s blog. It’s full of interesting posts and observations! And thank you, Peggy, for the Sunshine Award! Your kind words made my day and you definitely deserved to receive the award as well. Thank you! And everyone, please check out her blog.

 

As I’ve already received the 7×7 award, please check out my acceptance post here.

 

The rules:

 

The Sunshine Award

• Thank the person who gave you the award.
• Write a post about it.
• Answer some questions below.
• Pass it along to ten people and let them know they received the award.

 

The Liebster Award (the rules as stated on Jenny’s page)

The guidelines for the Liebster Blog Award are:

• Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
• Reveal your top 5 picks for the award and let them know by leaving them a comment on their blog.
• Post the award on your blog.
• Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogsphere – other bloggers.
• Most of all – have fun and spread the karma.

On to the questions for the Sunshine Award

1. Favorite color:  I love all colors except black and brown.
2. Favorite animal:  Dogs. They love you unconditionally and keep your feet warm on cold winter nights
3. Favorite number:  1,739,563 (I’m just kidding! I don’t have a favorite number)
4. Favorite non-alcoholic drink:  Water. It’s pretty much all I drink.
5. Twitter or Facebook:  Facebook. I’m not entirely sure I have Twitter figured out. It makes me uncomfortable.
6. Passion:Reading, reading, reading. Writing, writing, writing. And my family.
7. Getting or giving presents:  Giving. I used to be so excited to give people presents that I’d always blurt out what they were before they opened them. Come to think of it, I still occasionally do that…
8. Favorite pattern:  Polka dots! They’re so exuberant!
9. Favorite day of the week:  Friday. You have the entire weekend spread in front of you, just waiting to be enjoyed.
10. Favorite flower: Old-fashioned roses, but only on the bush, never cut.

 

On to the recipients of the awards! I’m going to list five blogs, total. I’m sorry I can’t do more, but my son is getting his very last molar in and woke up crying an incredible eight (EIGHT!) times last night. Please excuse any typos for the same reason! It was all I could do to keep from falling asleep on my desk as I wrote this today. If I list you, pick whichever of the three awards you would rather have, and pass it on!

1. Novelisthq- A blog that focus specifically on writing for the sci-fi Genre. Definitely worth a look.

2. Misprinted Pages: Musings on Books and Writing- Stephanie has great book reviews on her site! If you’re looking for a good book, check out her blog!

3. Lake Superior Spirit: Blogging from the Upper Peninsula North Woods- A great blog from a fellow North Woods woman! Her thoughtful posts on writing and life are very refreshing!

4. Her-Story-Calls: Quill Bending Writers Blabbing About All Things Historical, Future, and Modern- A great writing blog written by multiple authors. I always find something interesting to read here!

5. Lynda R. Young, Author W.I.P. It: a Writer’s Journey- A great blog that has helpful tips for both fiction writing and writing for your blog! Definitely worth a visit!

Critique Contest Winner Announced! And a Call for Beta Readers

And the critique contest winner is…

Stephanie with her sci-fi/fantasy novel! Yay, Stephanie! I’ll be contacting you later today via email to discuss the details with you! For everyone else who entered, if you sent me an attachment with the first chapter of your novel, it will be deleted unread. If you weren’t chosen, don’t worry. I’ll definitely be running this contest again sometime in the future. I love editing and giving critiques. I’d take on more critique partners if I didn’t have to get my own work done first!

I would like to say that if anyone is interested, I could use a couple of beta readers. If you don’t know, a beta reader is someone who reads a novel and then offers opinions on plot, characterization, etc. It isn’t an edit, or fixing typos, or anything like that. I’m specifically looking for someone who reads a lot of YA, as that’s mainly what I write. Let me know if you’re interested! Email me at theliterarymom @ gmail.com (remove the spaces around the @ symbol) and put “beta reader” in the subject line. I’m especially be interested in who your favorite YA authors are and what type of YA you most like to read! Let me know!

Saturday Poll: What do you Most Want to Get Out of a Critique of Your Manuscript?

Understanding an Agent’s Response to your Query Letter and Replying Appropriately

Just a quick reminder before we get to today’s post; remember, today is the deadline to enter the free critique contest. If you want to enter and possibly win a free critique of your first chapter, please send your name and the name of your manuscript to theliterarymom @ gmail.com (be sure to remove the space around the @ symbol.)  Make sure you send it before 11:59 PM Central Standard Time tonight (Friday). I will be drawing a name on Saturday and announcing the winner on Monday!

 

There are several different responses you can get when you send out a query letter to an agent. They are:

• A form rejection- This is the least helpful response. It means absolutely nothing, other than the agent felt like they couldn’t take your project on at this time. They have lots of different reasons for this, such as; not wanting to take on a client that will compete with one of their own, not representing the genre that you write, not connecting with your writing, not liking the premise, worrying that they can’t sell it, etc. It doesn’t necessarily mean your writing is bad or that there is a problem with your novel. It just means that particular agent doesn’t wish to represent it.
• A personalized rejection- These are sometimes only a line or two, but can contain nuggets of helpful information. For example, if they mention there was too much action or they had trouble identifying with the characters that should help you with any revisions you might make. Pay attention to what they say, because often, they’re right.
• A partial request- This is usually the first three chapters or the first fifty pages. It means they liked what they saw and are hoping you can sustain the same level of writing throughout the next fifty pages. If they like your partial, they will request a full. If not you will receive one of the two forms of rejection described above.
• A full request- This can mean one of two things, one- The agent is in the habit of requesting fulls and does it for every query that even remotely sparks her interest. Two- They really, really liked your query and sample chapter. A good way to check this is to use QueryTracker. If you go to the agent’s page and click on the reports and statistics button, you’ll see a drop down menu. Click “queries” and then “generate report.” For example, one of the agents that currently has my full has request 138 partials, but only 49 fulls, so that’s a good sign. However one of the other agents has requested 3 partials and 32 fulls, so that makes me think that I don’t have as much of a shot with her. Of course, it’s all speculation until you actually hear back from them, but the statistics do help.

 

So you’ve had a full or partial request, now what? You send it to them, of course, in exactly the manner they ask for it. If they ask for it as an attachment you do it. If they ask for it snail mailed you do it. Follow their instructions exactly. For an email, make sure you put “Requested Materials: NAME OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT” in the subject line. Some agents also suggest you put your name in the subject line as well. If they asked for an attachment, save the file as “Manuscript_NAME OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT.” Don’t just save it as requested materials. That’s an easy way to cause confusion. Make sure you include a copy of their request and a copy of your original query letter in your submissions package to remind them of your story. Then, write a letter that looks like this:

 

February 17^th, 2012

Dear so-and-so,

I was delighted to receive your request for a partial/full copy of my manuscript, NAME OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT. I have attached my manuscript in MS Word format as you asked. You will find a copy of my original query pasted below. Thank you for taking the time to consider my work. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Your name

Your mailing address

Your phone number

Your email address

Your website

 

Then, you wait! Good luck!

Querying a Literary Agent

Just a quick reminder before we get to today’s post; remember, tomorrow is the deadline to enter the free critique contest. If you want to enter and possibly win a free critique of your first chapter, please send your name and the name of your manuscript to theliterarymom @ gmail.com (be sure to remove the space around the @ symbol.)  Make sure you send it before 11:59 PM Central Standard Time tomorrow night (Friday). I will be drawing a name on Saturday and announcing the winner on Monday!

On to today’s post. I was reading over my series on querying an agent and realized I forgot to cover two very important things; one- How to actually query the agent and two- What the various responses might be and how to handle them. We’ll cover the first today and the second topic tomorrow.

So, you’ve got your polished, sharp query letter in hand, along with your revised and polished manuscript, and succinct synopsis. Now what? Compile your list of agents, and get started!

You can query either by snail mail or email, but make sure you check each agent’s specific preference. Many will only accept email query letters and a handful will only accept snail mail. Make sure you follow their guidelines to a T. You don’t want to get automatically deleted just because you made an avoidable mistake.

A snail mail query is a standard business letter. If you don’t remember how to do one of those, get a good writing reference and look it up. An email query is just as formal. I know a lot of people think email is more casual, but in this case it isn’t. Make sure you date it and include a polite greeting. Also include as part of your signature your name, phone number, mailing address, email address, and website if applicable. In the subject line put “Query: NAME OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT.” Yes, I’m telling you to write the name of your manuscript in all caps. I’ve heard agents say they prefer it because italics often get reverted back to plain script in the process of emailing.

Send out your query in batches to your chosen agents. I try to send ten at a time, with the ten being a mix of dream agents, and those that I feel are more attainable. Always check out the agents on Preditors & Editors and make sure they’re legit before you mail your query. Be aware that some agencies have a policy where querying one of their agents is like querying all of their agents. If that’s the case, and you get a rejection, you are not supposed to query any of the other agents in that agency. This is another reason you need to check the guidelines. Also, some agencies want to be informed if your submission is a multiple submission. Make sure you tell them if it is. If they don’t specifically request it, leave it out. The minute you get a rejection, OR a request, send out another. Yes, that’s right; even if it’s a request, send out another. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Then, after it’s sent write down the agent’s name, the agency, and the date you sent it. Then, congratulate yourself. You’ve just accomplished one more step towards becoming a published author!

Writing: Waiting is the Hardest Part

I don’t know about you, but I find the waiting to be the hardest part of trying to become an author. Waiting while my readers critique my stories and get back to me, waiting until my book is good enough to send out to agents, waiting to hear back from agents about my query letter, waiting to hear back on requested manuscripts (yes, still waiting), and waiting to hear about various contest results. (No, I didn’t win SYTYCW. Still hoping I might get a revise and resubmit, or a call telling me they might like to buy it.)

I’m probably as patient as the next person; not expecting instant gratification, but not quite able to control my worrying either. But let me tell you, “writing” waiting is hard, especially waiting to hear back from the agents who have my manuscripts. I’m tied to my computer, checking my email at least once an hour all day. When I wake up, the first thing I do is turn it on, all the while trying to ignore the nervous pitching in my stomach.

I don’t know why I’m so very anxious about it. Yes, it’s something I’ve wanted for such a long time, but you know what? I wanted to have a baby more, and I honestly think that those nine months of waiting for him were easier than waiting to hear back from the agents. I don’t know if it was because I knew approximately when he was coming, or if it was because I was a little afraid as well as excited, but that period of waiting was not as bad as this one.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you deal with it? (Yes, I am already working on my next story. No, it doesn’t seem to be helping.) Does anyone have any tips or tricks that might help me out?

Another Full Manuscript Request!! And Writing: Not the Absence of Fear

I’m super happy to announce that I received ANOTHER full manuscript request over the weekend. I sent it off yesterday, so please wish me luck!

Today is also a big day, not only because it’s Valentine’s Day but also because today is the day that the winner of the Harlequin So You Think You Can Write ontest will be notified. I’m not afraid to admit that I feel a few butterflies flapping against my ribs, but I don’t really have high hopes. I actually have my fingers crossed for my CP, Aimee, who I think might have a shot. Thinking about the contest, and also about sending my manuscript off with a hope and a prayer, has made me think about how writing and fear go hand in hand. I’ve decided to re-post my article about the necessity of courage in the field of writing. Enjoy!

 

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
Mark Twain

I am not afraid to admit that I’m scared of a lot of things, one of which is failure. I am afraid to fail. Sometimes, I am even afraid to try new things, for fear of looking stupid. After I posted yesterday, committing to do NaNoWriMo, I was instantly assaulted with fear. What if I don’t finish, and I look stupid in front of everyone?

For me, there have been quite a few things to be scared of in regards to writing fiction. When I first started writing, I was scared that what I wrote would be crap. When I started submitting to agents, I was scared I would get rejected. When I entered the New Voices contest, I was scared that someone would trash my work. Now I’m scared that I’ll fail at NaNoWriMo.

Here’s the thing: I’ve done all these things, despite being scared, and you know what? In a lot of cases, the worst thing that could happen, did. I did get rejected by agents. Someone DID give me a scathing review in New Voices, and when I started writing, my writing WAS crappy. But I did it. Sometimes I got hurt, but I also learned something every single time. My writing is better, and I’m a stronger person. Those are some pretty good reasons to be courageous.

At the end of the day, if you give into your fear, you’re still a failure, even if you are the only one who knows it. And on top of that, you’ll probably have regrets that you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life. You might as well do what you’re afraid of. When you’re one hundred years old, you’re not going to look back and say, “Gee, I wish I hadn’t entered that contest and gotten bad-mouthed.” But you are likely to look back and say, “Gosh, I wish I hadn’t been afraid to be a writer.”