The reason for my absence...

I haven't been blogging much lately and there is a very good reason for that:

We're moving!

My family and I will be moving in August and while that is a ways away, we still have a ton of preparation. Not to mention purging our household down to a manageable amount of "stuff."

I wanted to say that I love all of my followers (both official and unofficial) and can't thank you enough for the support you are all showing me.

Just a quick update on the status of my book: I am awaiting a response from the query critiquing agent to see if she chooses mine to review. I recently checked her blog to find that she had somehow managed to delete all the emails she had received since April 20th and was unable to recover them, so I resent it about a week ago. Meanwhile, I am expecting a reply to a snail mail query any day now. Other than that, I haven't been doing much. Writing is entirely too life consuming for me to resume my current project. It will have to wait until after the move.

But, thanks to all of you for believing in me. I hope I don't let you down.

Lastly, I would like to turn-on any new writers out there to a new-ish blog I found that always puts a smile on my face. A self-proclaimed "grumpy" agent comments on lines from some of the worst queries he/she has gotten. I wish I knew who this agent was...

http://slushpilehell.tumblr.com/

Enjoy!

Let an expert explain...

Some people look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them that characters direct my writing more than I do at times. It's true though! The characters decide something's going to happen and there's no arguing with them. I can see why some people would find this a hard concept to grasp.

I recently read one of Dean Kootnz's newer novels, Relentless, and his main character (being a writer) explained this vary phenomena. He worded it beautifully. And, maybe you'll still think the concept is crazy after you read this, but at least I'll be in the same crazy category as Dean Koontz.


Relentless pg. 79:

This happens often when writing fiction. Outlines are a waste of time. If you give your characters free will, they will grow in ways you never anticipated, and they will take the story places you could not have predicted, raising themes you might or might not have intended to explore. Characters shape events; events illuminate the characters. The people in a story begin as seeds, become buds, and blossom in ways that surprise the author...

I love when famous authors slip stuff about writing into a book. In this case, it was easy because the main character is a writer, but still. These words might as well have come straight from Dean Koontz's mouth, and it's nice to know it's not just me who feels this way when a character grabs the reins and takes me for a ride.

How I found the time...

Many people have asked me how I was able to write a novel and raise a child at the same time. I figured now would be a good time to explain.

Being a stay at home mom is a full time job, no doubt about it. Writing a complete novel in three months is arguably a full time job as well. How did I do both? My simple answer is that I wrote during nap time.

I had many people tell me that, in order to combat sleep deprivation, I should take a nap when my baby takes a nap. I did at first, but as soon as he was sleeping through the night I stopped. The naps seemed to make me more sluggish and less focused.

When I finally decided I was going to write a book, I made myself a schedule. My husband works five days a week, so I decided I would give myself days off only when he was also off. There were plenty of days when I told my hubby, "Oh, I just want to finish this scene while it's fresh in my mind," though. He is an amazingly supporting and understanding guy.

My son takes a three hour nap in the middle of the day, thanks to our parental diligence. The instant he started crying for attention at nap time (as in he didn't need food, clean diaper, or burping) we ignored him. Sounds harsh, but we only had to endure it for three days and thirty minutes at the most. Then he realized his attempts to gain our attention were futile and stopped.

I do my writing during his nap and for three hours after he goes to bed. That's six hours a day, five days a week. I am blessed to have a wonderfully easy son who sticks to a schedule so well and hardly ever fights me about going to bed when it's time.

I must confess, though, that the housework does often get overlooked. The dishes may pile up from time to time, as well as the laundry, but luckily, our family isn't as bothered by this as much as others may be.

So, that's how I did it. Doesn't seem all that complex. I'd like to encourage anyone who has something they've been wanting to do, but think they just don't have the time, to give it a shot. It helps keep stress down when you do something you enjoy. Even if you only do it an hour a day or week.

Cover Ideas

This may seem preemptive, but anyone who knows me well, probably saw it coming. I am a creative, artistic kind of person, and I've been trying to think up a cover for MIND'S EYE ever since I finished writing it (a year ago). I fiddled around with it yesterday and drew up a rough sketch. This is what I came up with: Cypress trees framing a view of the New Orleans skyline over the gulf. The eye pretty much speaks for itself. In the teardrop bellow the eye is a gun.

I'd like for you to vote on which cover you like more.

I know that for people who have never read the book, this might be a hard decision, but I'm only asking you which cover you find ascetically pleasing. Like I said, it's a little rough around the edges and not at a professional level in any way. In fact, the pictures were taken with my phone because I'm having computer issues that are making picture downloading take like a year. I am just curious to see what people think.

I should also clarify that when I get the book published, the publisher will probably not use this design, but will hire a professional artist to do the cover art. That being said, if I were to try to self-publish the book, then I am one step ahead by having a cover ready. I want to do this the old fashioned way: get my book published by a publishing house, but I'm not going to rule out any options this early in the game.

I know there is a way to set up a poll on this blog, but I haven't figured it out yet, so just leave your vote in the form of a comment below this blog entry. Thanks for your opinion!
We'll call this one: Cover Idea 1

Cover Idea 2

Cover Idea 3

Cover Idea 4


Just a little side note: I have begun writing the sequel to MIND'S EYE and have already written 50 pages in the last week. Does this mean I can finish writing it in 8 weeks? Nope. The reason it is going so smoothly is because the plot-line for this book (still untitled) has been running through my head since I finished MIND'S EYE. I'm sure I'll run into kinks and writers block, not to mention the personal life stuff that has a tendency to interrupt the writing process, but so far, so good!

The waiting game

The game authors play more than any other. It starts with beta readers then agents then editors then publishers, etc. The best way to play the game? Keep yourself occupied.

I've been waiting to see if the agent with the query critique blog will select mine or not. I'm hoping she does, of course, but I'll be forced to move on if she doesn't. In the meantime, I went ahead and edited my book again. It's amazing how much I've learned since the last time I edited. Now that I'm happy with it, I have *pause for dramatic affect* started writing the next installment in the series. Yesterday, I started out strong writing 11 pages in 3 hours. I'm already developing my own voice in my writing and it's exciting to see how far I've come since I started my first book.

So, I'm keeping this blog short so I can get back to the writing. If you have any questions, comments or suggests for blogs, please leave a comment below, on my facebook fan page or facebook group page.

Taking the plunge...

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't said anything about sending out my next query letter. Well, I haven't sent it out yet. Besides having personal events that required my time and attention for a while, I've been researching the next agent on my list. Turns out she has a blog dedicated solely to critiquing query letters.

Here's how it works:
1. You read every single letter she's critiqued and learn as much as you can from them. There are over 150 people who have sent letters in and many of them have been critiqued 3 or 4 times.
2. You read the rules for how to submit your query letter. Very important because if you don't follow the rules, your letter gets deleted without being read.
4. You write your query letter.
5. A week later, you re-read your letter and make any changes you think need to be made.
6. You submit your letter... and wait.
7. She emails you when your letter is critiqued.
8. You read the notes she's made, make any changes that need to be made, and repeat steps 7 and 8 however many times you like.

There has been 1 letter that was perfect from the first draft and she asked for pages. There have been 7 more letter that went through revision a few times, but ended up perfect in the end... and she asked for pages. So, there's a lot of reading and studying on my part and even then, my chances of being asked for pages is like 1 in 19.

But, it is so worth it! I have no idea what I'm doing here. I've never done this before. This agent is basically giving people a chance to try again until they get it right. Of course, she expects the book to be as well written (if not better) than the query letter, so you need to apply what you've learned from her blog to your novel as well. But, I don't know of any other agent that gives you this kind of opportunity.

So, I've decided to send my query letter to her blog instead of straight to her. I wrote it about 10 days ago and have read over it again. Do I think it's good enough not to get a rejection letter? Probably not. But I have read and learned from every single query letter she has critiqued, and I've done the best I can. It won't hurt to try, right?

Wish me luck!

P.S. For any aspiring authors who want to know who this agent is and where to find her blog, please email me at odell.courtney@yahoo.com. For friends and family, sorry. I'd like to keep the humiliation to myself until she finally asks me for pages. I'm sure you understand. The blog redacts all personal information including my name, but you know enough from Dan's teaser to be able to figure out which letter is mine, being chopped to pieces for all to see. I'll be glad to post the finished product once pages have been requested.

Pictures as Promised:

Here are some pictures from my acting experience. Enjoy!

Here I am driving. My "movie son" Trey is in the back seat pretending to sleep. It was important for us to make it clear to Trey that he just needed to pretend to sleep. He thought we really wanted him to sleep and he wasn't okay with that.


Here I am with the camera in my face. Talk about a close-up!


Kal and Tyler carefully operating this big pole (I should really know the name of).


Suzanne: couldn't have done it without her!


Here's a scene at an old abandoned gas station. Kal is walking away from me laughing because of a practical joke Michael had played on me. Kal couldn't keep a straight face and almost blew it... yeah right... I'm the most gullible person on the face of the planet. I totally fell for it!


Michael directing Trey through a very complicated scene. They both did a great job!


My beautiful cousin Teri keeping Trey company while the adults get their act together.


An emotional scene for me, hence the pursed lips and hint of a tear in my eye.