Story Sensei

Got this from Cheryl Wyatt: Someone just sent me this link. Thought it'd be helpful to anyone targeting Steeple Hill. http://www.eharlequin.com/store.html?cid=749 Hugs -- Cheryl Wyatt www.cherylwyatt.com 15-author blog! www.seekerville.blogspot.com Ready-Made Family (4.5 stars RT) IN STORES NOW!

An old article of mine is on WannaBePublished.blogspot.com today! The Gallup Poll website is fascinating. Okay, I admit, I’m a geek. However, it’s also useful in gathering information about the book business, which is important for a writer. Click here to read the rest of the article.

To Readers of My Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine: This is Randy Ingermanson, with a special note for you. Tax Day has come and gone, and I hope you've survived. This past year has been brutal for all of us. May the next year be better! To celebrate getting past Tax Day, I'm running one of my famous super-slasher sales on my web site store. Everything is 50% off for the next 96 hours. If you're getting a tax refund this year, you might want to consider taking advantage of my 50%-off sale to invest in your writing career. For less than the cost of a month of cell phone service, you could take action that would improve your writing skills for a lifetime. This 96-hour special runs from midnight on Thursday, April 16, 2009, through midnight on Monday, April 20. (All times are California time.) Sorry, but I can't give extensions on this. When it's over, it's over. I don't run these ultra-discount sales very often. The last was in December. In order to take advanta

Hey guys, My workshop "The Hero and Heroine's Journeys" just got accepted for the American Christian Fiction Writers conference this year! I'll be teaching on--duh--the Hero and Heroine's Journeys. If you've never used the Heroine's Journey, especially, and you have a female main protagonist, this will be a good workshop for you for characterization. The ACFW Conference is in Denver, Colorado this year, from September 17th through the 20th. Information is on the ACFW website . Registration hasn't opened yet, and only ACFW members can attend the conference (but it's only $50 membership fee for the first year to join ACFW, and believe me, it's totally worth it to join! I talk about ACFW here . If you have questions about ACFW, just leave a question in the comments.) They'll announce when registration is open for the conference on the ACFW members email loop. So anyway, I hope you (a) join ACFW and (b) take my workshop in Denver this year!

My friend Danica blogged about some Common Contest Problems , and her post might be a helpful checklist for anyone trying to strengthen those first 50 pages of their manuscript: I'm doing my civic duty and judging some contest entries today. I had really high hopes for this one. In years past, I've read such good entries that I wanted to write the contest people, begging to read the rest of the manuscript. This year, not so much. As I read each entry, I realized that they all had the same problems in common. So I thought, for the writers who read my blog, I'd share the commonalities. Click here to read the rest of the post.

In the ACFW Afictionado ezine, there's a good article/interview with editor Barbara Scott from Abingdon Press: A Few Moments with....Barbara Scott A few friends of mine are being published through Abingdon, and I knew Barbara when she had been editor at Zonderkidz. She's a terrific person and I like her a lot. I'm also really excited about the new Abingdon fiction line--there's a huge variety of stories that are sure to appeal, and Barbara is collecting a lot of fresh writing voices for her stable of authors. Check out the article if you think you might be interested in submitting to Abingdon!

For those of you writing suspense, thriller, and mystery, Pat Bertram had Katherine Ramsland on her blog. Katherine is a respected writer who has published several books on criminals, criminal psychology, and CSI. (I have one of her books around here somewhere...) We have many myths attached to serial killers in our culture, most of them from outdated studies or from fiction and film. While those early studies had their merits, they’re not, and never were, representative of serial killers as a whole. Click here to read the rest of the article

As many of you know, I belong to the American Christian Fiction Writers organization, and a topic came up on the email discussion loop that I wanted to tell you guys about. Sometimes, an ACFW member will email the loop asking for a quick critique, and usually people are more than willing to take a quick look at a piece of writing. One member did that last week. In response, another member raved about his ACFW critique group, and encouraged other members to take advantage of ACFW's free critique group service. What ACFW offers for every member is their free critique group program. A coordinator will assign a member to an online critique group. The groups are usually small, no more than 5 or 6 people, and most of them are smaller than that. The groups are matched according to genre, if you prefer. You can also request a group that can keep up with your writing speed--critiquing one chapter a week or one chapter a month, whichever you can keep up with. If a group doesn

I got this great link from Mary Connealy: Ten Mistakes Writers Don’t See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)

I'm a mentor for the Mount Hermon HeadStart mentoring clinic this year! The HeadStart clinic is a couple days before Mount Hermon Writers Conference, April 1-3, 2009. HeadStart is mostly for beginning writers (intermediate writers can take the regular Mentoring Clinic given during Mount Hermon Writer's Conference). I hope that those of you who can will come and take my mentoring class! Mary DeMuth, who's also a mentor for HeadStart, made this really cute video that gives a little more info about who the HeadStart clinic is for and what you can get out of it.

We're all feeling the financial crunch, but what's an unpublished writer to do when there are so many things you need to buy to develop your craft? I wrote this article, which originally appeared on Suite101. A Writing Career on a Budget Money-Saving Tips for Novelists Here are tips for developing writing skills, improving craft, and taking advantage of resources inexpensively. An unpublished novelist is stuck in a catch-22. He can’t make money until he sells a novel, but he can’t sell a novel until he develops his craft, which usually requires money. Here are some tips for developing your writing craft while limited by a budget. Take Advantage of Free Stuff These days, there are tons of writing articles online that teach the basics of writing. Google is your best friend. There are many websites that have lists of links to free articles. One of my favorites is Resources for Romance Writers . While many of the articles do pertain to romance, much of the informati

I am agented by Books and Such, and they've just started a blog! http://www.booksandsuch.biz/blog/ They'll be posting 5 days a week, and they'll also have a Newsflash feature where they'll be posting every new and juicy tidbit from the world of publishing.

You can download the ebook FREE from Donald Maass's website: The Career Novelist “Packed full of fine analysis, solid advice, and thoughtful reflection on the state of contemporary publishing. It’s further distinguished by more common sense than any book of its type that I have ever read. A treasure.” — Dean Koontz, author of Intensity “...an indispensable volume for all libraries, and for anyone interested in learning about the world of publishing...” — Ed Gorman, Mystery Scene

There will be a great interview with Melissa Endlich (Senior Editor for Steeple Hill) on Seekerville tomorrow. PLUS, Melissa will be popping in to answer any questions people post in the comments, so make sure you head to Seekerville to participate in the conversation!

I blogged at Seekerville yesterday on Blogging for promotion , even if you're not yet published.

What could be better than a book sale? A SALE on BOOKS!! Former editor, agent and a writer of romance herself, Alice Orr is offering her inventory of her 2004 Writer's Digest Book on the used book store at Amazon. No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells (Hardcover) Book Description It's often said that "rejection is a part of the writing business," and aspiring writers are advised to learn to live with being rejected again and again. Not anymore! With the invaluable hints in No More Rejections, readers will learn how to turn "No" into "Yes." Successful literary agent, author, and former editor Alice Orr combines lessons on craft with lessons on marketing to create a series of tips and techniques that help writers think about their book's marketability while they write it. Chapters feature lessons on: *Scoping out salable story ideas *Creating compelling characters *Writing an opening sentence that sizzles *Crafting s

(Don't forget to comment on my online class idea.) I just found this great resource called AutoCrit . It analyzes your writing to catch words and phrases repeated and overused in your manuscript. From the contest judging and freelance editing jobs I have done, I know that other writers as well as myself have a tendency to repeat words and/or phrases, not just our “hot words.” For example, “pop” is not a word I use often, but I might write something like: I went to the local mom and pop grocery to grab a soda pop, and then I popped out of town. The free version is very limited and will only catch overused words, repeated phrases, and sentence variation. You can also only submit 800 words 5 times in one day. The paid versions offer more, included repeated words (which would catch the “pop” above), dialogue tags, first words, and names and pronouns. The free version itself is amazing. The cost for the lowest level of membership isn’t bad, just $20 for one year, and it analyzes the th

Brandilyn Collins posted about the opening of a new fiction line at Abingdon Press. I've met the Senior Acquisitions Editor, Barbara Scott, and she's both talented and personable. She has a terrific reputation and I would jump at a chance to work with her. New Fiction Line

I read Susan Meier's 10-Minute Solution several years ago and was struck with how logical and effective it was. Susan was at Seekerville on Monday talking about her 10-minute solution . This is a MUST for any busy writer to check out!

Janet Kobobel Grant runs Books 'n Such literary agency (where my agent works) and she's blogging at Fiction Matters about Razzle-Dazzle Titlest .