Tag Archives: Writers Resources

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest: Did you make the first cut?

Posted on February 16, 2013 | 29 comments

The top 400 pitches in each category have been listed.  Did you make the cut?

I didn’t recognize anyone on the YA list, but congrats to everyone who made it.  I wish you the best of luck.

And, yes, that means that my name was NOT on the list.

Am I upset?  Honestly, not really.

The only thing I could really be upset about is that I stopped doing what I SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING and spent two weeks polishing my manuscript, rewriting the beginning, and writing an (unsuccessful) pitch.  I am now behind on a writing project that I should have finished and sent to beta yesterday. (I haven’t even written the climax yet)

***However***

My Fire in the Woods manuscript now has a KICK BUTT beginning that I believe fixes everything that was wrong with my first draft, and I also have a pitch that I know needs some tweaking, because there were 400 out there that were better than mine.

So, yes, I am behind on my current Work in Progress, but my “Big Tamale” Fire in the Woods is now quite a bit closer to being ready for query land.

So, am I mad I didn’t make the first cut?  Nope, not at all.  It was no reflection on my novel.  They didn’t even look at it.  My pitch didn’t grab them.  No harm, no foul.

Thanks, Amazon, for giving me that extra pressure to fix the overall problems.

What about you guys?  Did anyone make the first cut? Are you in the same boat as me? What do you think about all this?

JenniFer_EatonF

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Write a Story with Me Part 30 – To Janelle’s Horror “What?” – With Richard Leonard

Posted on February 11, 2013 | 8 comments

Surprise!  I’m changing the day for “Write a Story with Me” from Tuesdays to Mondays.  Why?  Well, ’cause I can!  Here we go!

It’s been nearly a month since we saw Marci’s poor mom go into labor all alone!  Richard Leonard throws it back to  the birth string this week.  Will Janelle get help in time?  Take it away, Richard!

30 – Richard Leonard

Janelle was already out the bedroom door before realising the old woman was still fumbling for her walking stick. She watched helplessly as Morana shuffled unsteadily across the short distance from the bed to the other side of the night-stand where her walking stick rested, using the night-stand for support. Janelle’s mood fell as she realised how frail the old lady now was. Her magic could only do so much.

“I’m sorry, Morana. I wasn’t aware you cannot -”

“I can do this, Young Fairy. I must do this”, Morana said.

Janelle, said nothing, guilt building within her. To drag this weak old dear out into the cold night to help a woman giving birth seemed to be a cruel irony. Patience, Janelle, patience. At the same time she needed to hurry. The longer Natalia was without proper assistance the more dangerous the situation becomes.

Morana finally had the support of her stick and began a steady rhythm of shuffling towards the door and out of the house. Janelle, to ease her impatience and peace of mind,  would fly up and down the street and patrol the area while Morana hobbled slowly towards Natalia’s residence. At the end of every run she would check on Natalia through the window, carefully ensuring she was still in a stable condition, sometimes offering reassurance that help was on its way.

On the way back she would arrive with relief to find that Morana had made significant progress walking up the street. This continued for several shortening laps until, to Janelle’s horror,

Oh!  The mid sentance stop!  What a way to leave it.  Someone’s quaking in their booth figuring out what Janelle saw!

Write a Story with Me is a group endeavor just for the fun of it.  A different writer adds a new 250 words each week.  It is the ultimate Flash Fiction Challenge!

If you’d like to sign up, come on over.  There’s always room for more!

Part One – Jennifer M. Eaton

Part Two – J. Keller Ford

Part Three – Susan Roebuck

Part Four – Elin Gregory

Part Five – Eileen Snyder

Part Six – Mikaela Wire

Part Seven — Vanessa Chapman

Part Eight — Ravena Guron

Part Nine – Vikki Thompson

Part Ten — Susan Rocan mywithershins

Part Eleven — Kate Johnston  AKA 4AMWriter

Part Twelve — Julie Catherine

Part Thirteen — Kai Damian

Part Fourteen — Richard Leonard

Part Fifteen — Sharon Manship

Part Sixteen – Shannon Blue Christensen

Part Seventeen — Bryn Jones

Part Eighteen — Jennifer M. Eaton

Part Nineteen — Shannon Burton

Part Twenty — J.Keller Ford

Part Twenty-One — Susan Roebuck

Part Twenty-Two — Elin Gregory

Part Twenty-Three — Aparnauteur

Part Twenty-Four — Vanessa Chapman

Part Twenty-Five — Ravena Guron

Part Twenty Six — Susan Rocan

Part Twenty Seven — Kate Johnson AKA 4AMWriter

Part Twenty Eight – Julie Catherine

Part Twenty Nine — Kai Damian

Part Thirty — Richard Leonard

Don’t forget to stop by next week to see what happens next.

 Sharon Manship — TAG!  You are “It”

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Critique Blog Hop #3 – 250 words from my YA Urban Fantasy

Posted on February 10, 2013 | 8 comments

Sunday_Snippets

Oh Yeah!  It’s the  Sunday Snippets Critique Blog Hop!

In this hop, participants post 250 words of their work in progress to be critiqued.  Then everyone hops around to critique others.  Don’t have a post of your own?  We’d love a critique anyway!  And next time you can sign up yourself (see below)

swish swivel squiggle 2

Okay… Here’s mine.  This is the second 250 words of my new YA Urban Fantasy: “The First Day of the New Tomorrow”.  In the First 250 words, Maya is in the bathroom getting ready for school.  She put on her glasses, and her vision got blurry.

swish swivel squiggle 2

“What the…” She grabbed the counter and pulled the metal frames from her face.  The room slipped into perfect crisp focus again.  Three slow breaths calmed her only slightly.

A ray of sunshine poked through the white lace curtain, landing on a towel beside the bathtub.  A spider web clung to the ceiling, holding more dust than forgotten prey.  Three nails popped through the wall near the door—all normal things, except she could see them clearly—just as clearly as she could see her glasses perched on the counter before her.

“Okayyy…”  She lifted the spectacles to her eyes, crinkling her nose as the world blurred before her. She stared at the lenses.  “Teenager’s eyesight clears up overnight.  News at eleven.”  She smiled and slipped the glasses into her pocket.  “I’m certainly not complaining.”

She trudged down the stairs and found her mother’s obligatory, “Don’t forget to eat breakfast” note fastened to the refrigerator door—as if she’d even look at the fridge if she weren’t already in breakfast mode.

Rifling past the food savers and soda cans, she sighed.  Would a few eggs be too much to ask for? She grabbed the milk and closed the door.  Cereal would have to do.  Spinning, she pursed her lips, seeing the nearly empty Cheerios container on the counter.  Great.  Eat breakfast, but I’m not leaving anything for you to eat.

She reopened the refrigerator and startled.  Three eggs lay beside last night’s spaghetti sauce, neatly balancing on the wired shelving.  How the heck could she have missed them before?

“Okay, eggs it is.”

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The Sunday Snippets Critique Blog Hop is on!

Want to join up? Click here for the rules, and leave a comment to have your name added to the list.  The more the merrier!swish swivel squiggle 2

Click on over to these great writers to check out and critique what they’ve posted!

http://mermaidssinging.wordpress.com/

http://caitlinsternwrites.wordpress.com/

http://ileandrayoung.com

http://wyrmflight.wordpress.com/

http://www.mandyevebarnett.com

http://womanbitesdog.wordpress.com/

http://jennykellerford.wordpress.com

https://jennifermeaton.com/

http://richardleonard.wordpress.com

http://jordannaeast.com

http://letscutthecrap.wordpress.com

http://threepiecebikini.blogspot.com/

http://itsjennythewren.wordpress.com/

http://writerscrash.blogspot.co.uk/

http://wehrismypen.wordpress.com

http://wordsbreathedupon.wordpress.com/blog/

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Why doesn’t this chapter work? The rules of writing a scene.

Posted on January 21, 2013 | 21 comments

Have you ever read something you’ve written, and know that it just doesn’t “work” but you can’t figure out why?

I’m currently reading a beta that is in probably its fiftieth draft. That’s okay.  People write at different speeds.  For me personally, I am reading this manuscript for probably the sixth or seventh time.  Each time I read it, I am pleasantly surprised by the “growth” of the story.

Think GirlSo, here’s where the “Why doesn’t this chapter work” comes in.  I am DEVOURING this manuscript this time around.  The added scenes are spot-on.  The story is exciting and driven.  Then BAM!  I hit a roadblock.

I hit a scene that just didn’t satisfy me.  Was it written well?  Yes.  Did it follow the plot?  Yes.  So what was wrong?

I went back to a writing lesson I learned probably a year ago.  It said that each scene needs to be a miniature story in itself.  It has to start, have a rising action, a climax, a falling action, and a resolution.  Now, I am not saying that this needs to be in depth.  Think of it.  A falling action can be as simple as an emotional response of a character shaking their head… but a scene really DOES need to have all these elements.

The problem with this scene is that it didn’t do this.  It was a scattering of information, mostly that I already knew as a reader, and it did not push the story forward.  No, it was not filler.  I just don’t think the author “did what they intended” to do with that scene.

Now, I’m not psychotic.  I am not saying that I look at every scene I write for rising action, climax and resolution, but I think at this point I naturally write this way… as all serious writers should.

So next time a scene is bothering me, and I can’t figure out why, I’m going to dissect it. Does it have a rising action? Climax? Falling action?

Most importantly … is something resolved?

I think that’s the biggie.  If nothing is resolved (however minor) then the scene does not drive the story forward.

What are your thoughts?

_JenniFer____EatoN

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I’m back! The blog tour is finally over. (Thank Goodness) – What I learned. And an ebook #giveaway for #FreeFriday #freestuff

Posted on January 4, 2013 | 46 comments

Omigosh.  I can’t believe it’s finally over.  This may have been the most painful thing wonderful experience I’ve ever had as a writer and I hope I never have to put myself through this can’t wait to do another one.

I just came off a month-long blog tour.  45 stops in 30 days.  The over achiever in me says “Yes! Awesome! Bring it!”  But the real-person side of me just wants to take a step back and sleep.

So, what did I learn?  A lot.  Would I do it again?

No._00000

Well, at least not in the same way.

Did we get the word out?  Yes.

Did we sell books?  Yes.

Was it worth it?  I’m not really sure yet.

I don’t think I am going to take on a blog tour this aggressively again. Will I be aggressive?  You betcha! But the rest of my life shouldn’t suffer for it.

Before I dig into the things I’ve learned, let’s discuss the result…

Don’t get me wrong, this was not an overall bad experience.  My fear is, though, that I may have lost some of my following because I was not “here”.  That is what is really bothering me.

Soooooo… In the future, I will not be wreaking havoc across the internet for thirty days straight.  I will take it easy so I can still enjoy my life, because I can’t write when I’m stressed, and that just doesn’t work for anyone, does it?

I’m going to cut back a bit on blogging too, so I have enough time for my extensive goals for 2013… but I have some great things planned.

Mondays will be my days for posting about whatever pops into my head… The fun rants on my writing, my world, or whatever.

Tuesdays will continue to be Write a Story with Me, which is still going strong, and new people are signing up.  This has been a HOOT!

Wednesdays and Thursdays I will take off, unless I have a book review or something exciting that I can’t wait until Monday for.

Friday is something brand new I’m going to try out as a gift to everyone who’s supported me through all this.  #FreeFridays will feature a different author every week with a giveaway. They may give away a book, an ebook, chocolate, dogs, cats, whatever. But it’s a chance for them to promote their book, and a chance at a freebee for all those who comment.  Should be fun.  By the way… since this is the first #FreeFriday, everyone who comments today will have a chance to win either For the Love of Christmas or Make Believe on ebook. (your choice)  Yay!

Saturdays will be open to my whims, and I may not always post.  But for the next month I will be featuring the continuation of author/Editor Danielle Ackley McPhail’s advice on the do’s and don’ts of how to submit your manuscript.  It’s great stuff we can all learn from.

Sunday will return to Sunday Snippets, where I will showcase a snippet from my current work in progress, and invite you all to do the same.  It’s a time to share a little, and see what you guys think of it.  I’ve thought of making this a weekly blog hop, but it will be very informal, and I won’t kick you off if you post more than six sentences.  Yeah, I’m nice that way.  If you want to sign up, click here and be sure to hop around to other people’s sites to see their snippets.

Okay!  Now that all of that is out of the way….. What I learned:

A few things to keep in mind when you set up your own blog tours:

1.       Just because a person says they will host you, and you do the interview, doesn’t mean they will post it.  Just say’n.  Be ready for it.  It’s embarrassing to send people to a post and have it not be there.

2.       Confirm, and make sure you get confirmations.  I sent out interviews and sent confirmation emails, but in one instance I didn’t get a response for the confirmation.  Not sure what happened to my emails, but the host never got either, so the post ended up late.  My fault for not following up better on that one.

3.       There will be posts that it seems no one has read.  I try to tell myself that not everyone who reads posts comments. I hope some people read some of those guest posts, because I thought they were pretty good! Try to keep your chin up.  No all stops will look as successful as others, but you won’t know unless the host lets you know the number of hits.

4.       Some tour stops will be AWESOME.  Make a note of those people and become buddies.  Luckily for me, I’m already buddies, so everyone else has to suck up to them J

5.       Scheduling, doing the interview/post, telling people where you are that day, and following up and answering questions on all those other sites is time consuming and exhausting.  Be ready for it. No matter how well you think you have prepared… well, you know how it is.

6.       Don’t forget about Facebook.  I forgot about Facebook.  Oh well.

So, there you have it.  The good, the bad and the ugly – and what I learned through all this monotony.  For the most part, it was fun, and if I were a full time professional writer, and didn’t have another job, a part time job, a poodle that needs to be brushed, three kids with homework and a husband, it would have been no problem.  But for me, I think a more leisurely pace will be the ticket for the next one.

Thanks for sticking with me! And Here’s to an AWESOME 2013!  What do you have on tap for this year?

Don’t forget one commenter below will get their choice of For the Love of Christmas or Make Believe on ebook!

It’s GREAT to be back!

JenniFer_EatonF

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How do you spell Dreidel? Shame on you Microsoft!

Posted on December 9, 2012 | 15 comments

First of all, I would like to wish everyone celebrating today a blessed Chanukah or Hanukkah. (I’ve found it spelled both ways) I don’t celebrate Hanukkah, but I appreciate the holiday, and its significance.

While I was writing a guest post this morning, I found myself smacking myself upside the head over the word “dreidel.”  Why would I do such a thing?

Well, it seemed an easy enough word, but no matter how I tried to spell it, a wavy red line appeared beneath it (using the Microsoft Word program.)

So, I did a left-click on the word, all ready to choose the correct spelling.  What came up?

Deride, derided, derides, dreaded, derider.

I don’t know about you, but I figured that I must have been SO DERN FAR OFF in my spelling that it couldn’t figure out which word I wanted.  So I tried several different combinations.  No dice.

Not to be thwarted in my holiday spirit, I copied the original spelling and went to Dictionary.com.

I pasted dreidel into the website, and low and behold…

——————————

drei·del

/noun, plural drei·dels, drei·del.

a four-sided top bearing the hebrew letters nun, gimel, he,  and shin,  one on each side, used chiefly in a children’s game traditionally played on the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

——————————————————–

You guessed it, I’d spelled it right to begin with.

Now, I ask.  How the heck can a big company like Microsoft not have a simple word like dreidel in their spell-checker dictionary?  SHAME ON YOU MICROSOFT!

And, I must now say, shame on WordPress too, because when I pasted this post into WordPress, I find it is being underlined here, too.

Soooooooo… This made me wonder.  How many words have you come across that a spell-checker didn’t have on file?

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Oh my gosh, I am such a wuss. I don’t think I can do this

Posted on November 29, 2012 | 19 comments

Have you ever written something, thought it was great, but had second thoughts?  Ugh.  I am soooo there right now.

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m working on a Paranormal called Une Variante.  I am a Fantasy writer at heart, but I like to stretch myself.  My first publication (Last Winter Red) is a Dystopian, and my second and third publications are contemporary “Sweet” Romances.

So why the second thoughts about Une Variante?  Well, the problem is that there is a heat rating.  It’s not kinky or anything, but there is definitely and “open door” to the bedroom.

Having always “faded to black” in the past, I am understandably nervous about this.  I have two people lined up to do a full beta on Une Variante as soon as it is complete. I’ve asked them because one looks for open door romances for her recreational reading, and the second is a writer of open door (and far worse kinkier stuff).

That aside….. Today, I sent the first ten pages to my local critique group.  You know what I did?

**blush**

I CENSORED MYSELF. [Smacks head on desk]

What am I doing?  Ugh.  I just couldn’t send it out in its “True glory”.

Now, part of the problem is that the word count would have dropped them right in the middle of “the scene”.  I didn’t want my critique session to be just “about that”, and I was afraid it would deter from what I really wanted … which was a critique of the beginning.

I considered asking if anyone would find it offensive, and just send “the scene” to people who wanted to read it… but I wussed about that too.

I gotta admit that I also didn’t want to look into the eyes of people after them just having read “that”.  Ugh… I am such a wuss.

Part of me is hoping that the Romance Reader and Erotica Writer tell me that the heat scene stinks, because that would give me an excuse to fade it to black.

[smacking myself again]

Have you ever had second thoughts about something you’ve written?

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Road to Publication #20: Setting up the Blog Tours

Posted on October 15, 2012 | 26 comments

OMIGOSH, my head is spinning.  Seriously, it is.

I started a few weeks ago, setting up my own dates for the blog tour for the “Make Believe” Anthology.  Then, after the Arcs went out, all of the sudden requests started coming in from people who contacted J.Taylor Publishing asking for interviews.

I’m really glad that I took someone’s advice and found the calendar feature in my email program.  I started making appointments for the different days in December… but December is filling up pretty quickly.

I also have to wiggle in a blog tour for Connect the Dots, coming out from Still Moments Publishing in their “For the Love of Christmas” Anthology the day after the “Make Believe” Anthology releases.

It looks like I’m going to have to double book dates – talking about Connect the Dots on one Web Site, and Last Winter Red on another.

Now, I’m starting to pull my hair out because I have a list of people who I “Cyber know” who I wanted to ask to host the blog tour, and all these dates are filling up fast.

I know, I know, just smack me.  These are good problems.

I am starting to feel what I’ve heard other authors talk about in the past…  Marketing is a full time job, and detracts from your writing.

I had all these lofty goals for when I would finish and submit Fire in the Woods, but they are falling by the wayside.

It’s true what you hear… this really is hard work.

What do you think… Do you hear about books on blogs?  Have you / would you buy a book after hearing about it on a blog?  What would make you interested in buying an anthology?

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The Proper (and easy!) way to Market your Novel #1

Posted on October 5, 2012 | 10 comments

Okay… Now this manual says to…

Oh!  You are here.  Yes, Jennifer M. Eaton is still tied up.  Yet you still return?  Come, foolish humans… I am still taking bribes listening to pleas to release Jennifer M. Eaton.

Her fate will be decided tomorrow, so click here if you would like to save her and maybe win a copy of her Make Believe Anthology In the meantime… this little book says I can find one of her posts and set it up… Here!  I have found it!

My writers group was recently treated to a visit by Author and Editor Danielle Ackley McPhail.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Danielle, she is the author of The Literary Handyman: Tips on Writing From Someone’s Who’s Been There, Yesterday’s Dreams (The Eternal Cycle), The Bad Ass Faeries Series, and tons of other stuff.

Danielle is open and friendly, and I would encourage any author to make the effort to attend one of her appearances if you are able.

A fellow writer asked her about authors marketing their own books.  As expected, Danielle said that no matter where you get published, you will be expected to market your work.  My eyes breezed across the crowd, and I smiled as they fell on the pale, trembling faces of my counterparts.

Everyone hopes for a magic wand to tap them on the head.  “Bing!  You are a best-selling author”.  Sorry, guys.  It’s not going to happen.  At least not with a magic wand. (And if it does, pray that it’s not one of Danielle’s Bad Ass fairies.  That would not be pleasant at all.)

The main thing I have been worried about is turning into the “Amway Salesman.”  (Not that there is anything wrong with Amway.  I am sure their products are great— **Wink**)

I think many of us have been through a friend or family member who got caught up in a get-rich quick scheme, and every time you saw them they tried to sell you something.  It gets annoying.  And in the end, you don’t want to see that person anymore so you don’t have to deal with it.

Well, that is NOT the way to market your novel.  Danielle made a great comment.  It struck home for me, and I hope this helps you out, too.  Are you ready for the secret?  Are ya?

Well, I’m going to make you wait until next Friday, because this post has gotten to long, and I need time to think up a new Friday Series… but when you see how easy it is, you will smack yourself in the head.

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Road to Publication #18: Reviewing the ARCs, OH NO!

Posted on October 1, 2012 | 36 comments

Holy Crud.  This is not happening.  I just found out why you DON’T want to have two works being published at exactly the same time… and even worse… by two different publishers.

I was stunned this morning when the first round edits for Connect the Dots came through. I thought I would have another week.  I have two weeks to finish the ARC edit (the very last edit) of Last Winter Red AND finish the first round edit for Connect the Dots.

Okay.  Breathe.  It’s all good.  This is a great problem to have.  People are going to spit at you for having this problem.  Take a deep breath.  Chocolate helps.  Good.  Relax.

Okay.  No problem.  I can do this.

So… back to Last Winter Red.  I started reading it on Kindle last night.  I made a lot of highlights on the ARC with the handy Kindle Notes feature.

The reason for some of my notes is because my writing style has changed a lot in the last few months since I worked on Last Winter Red, and things don’t seem right to me anymore.

I did find a missing quotation mark at the end of a sentence.  Easy fix (I hope).

What is odd, is every once in a while I stopped and said “Is that what he said?” or “Did I write that?” or “Wait.  That makes absolutely no sense.”

I’m wondering if I even wrote some of these things, or if they were edited to the point of losing “something”.  I want to go through the whole thing, make notes, and then go back to my original copy and see if I need to smack myself upside the head for past mistakes.

Maybe I do.  At this point, I’m not sure what happened.

Either way, I think some more changes are in order.

What makes me cringe over this is that I could have made these changes months ago.  I am tucking this away as a “lesson’s learned” though.

I did have a bad feeling about not reviewing the full version before it went to copy editing.  You know that deep clawing pit-in-your-stomach feeling when you think you lost control of something?

To make sure this doesn’t happen again, I MADE SURE before I signed the contract with Still Moments Publishing for “Connect the Dots” that I WOULD have a chance to review a final before it went to final editing.  Not only that, I will get to see a FULL VERSION as it stands through each round of the editing process.

For a control freak like me, this is a huge relief… because I know I will not be down to the wire and fixing errors I would have seen earlier.

This is not J.Taylor Publishing’s fault either.  It is the way they work.  All publishers are different, and as an author, I need to be ready for this.

What I need to do now is finish reading and marking.  Then I want to go back again reading carefully for spelling/punctuation errors, and then I need to document and changes necessary on  a spreadsheet.

I need to do this within one week, so I can devote the next week to Connect the Dots.

Once again, sleep may become optional.

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