Tag Archives: fiction

Feb11

I make people lose sleep.

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I make people lose sleep.

I gambled with sending Herb an early pdf of Wish I Was Here so he could review it.

Herb: “I will give you a review that will be fair and honest.”

Me: “I really, really hope you like my book, or I may regret this!”

Fortunately, the bet paid off.

TWO DAYS after I sent him a pdf, he responded: “Okay, that was worth doing. I will definitely have good things to say in a review when the time comes. It was a great concept and well-written, even though I don’t know that I’m the target demographic for it. It held my interest and kept me turning pages right to the end, so much so that I stayed up late to read it.”

I was so relieved. Here’s his review:

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Jan22

Big news! New cover!

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I’ll tell you right now that the moral of this story is it pays to complain advocate for yourself.

I was told ads for my book were running. I had paid for those ads, so I asked the new orders lady I had befriended if she could get a hold of them to send me.

She did. One ad was just a “Quote Card” with my book cover and a reviewer’s blurb. That was fine, I guess.

The other two had good wording, but the AI images of the people looked like children, not 18-year-olds. I felt this was misleading and confusing to the viewer.

I pondered. I waited. Then I acted. I harnessed my newfound friendship with Orders Lady to see if she would advocate on my behalf. This morning she reported that my ads were on the docket for the company’s weekly meeting. They discussed it at length, and it was now in their hands.

I thanked her and let it go for the time being. Then maybe an hour later, I got an email from the publisher himself informing me that they’d run a full audit on my ads, which hadn’t done well [shocker] and the Amazon page. He believed the problem was the cover, so he sent me a new design he’d like to start using immediately.

“Let me know what you think!” he said.

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Dec6

If you’ve ever wondered what my voice sounds like…

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If you’ve ever wondered what my voice sounds like…

Wynne and Vicki at Heart of the Matter kindly invited me on their podcast to talk about Wish I Was Here and its long, winding road to publication.

Before we started recording, Vicki told me she was upstairs reading, got to the end of chapter nine, and yelled, “Shut up!”

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Oct5

This is why I’ll never make it as an author

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This is why I’ll never make it as an author

Here’s what happened.

Friday night was the school’s football homecoming game. Usually Hubby takes the kids, and I chill at home alone, blissfully. Ah, introversion. I was also super tired, so a low-key quiet night sounded great.

But, I wrote this book…

Apparently it’s harder to sell books if you don’t talk to people???

The funny, talented, and inspirational Cheryl said she keeps a box of books in her trunk (can do), and then SELLS them to people. (Wait, wut?) She even stops at garage sales and gets the sellers–sellers!–to buy her book!

Cheryl’s book. I bought it without her asking me to. That’s how good she is.

That’s next level salesmanship. I could never.

But, I chugged some caffeine, put a box of books in the trunk of the family van, and the six of us hauled off to the game. I ambitiously put four books in my purse with Hubby saying he could run back to the van if I needed more.

HAHAHAHA!

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Jul26

Take cover!

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Cover me.

I’m going under cover.

Cover your mouth when you sneeze?

Okay, fine. I was trying to be unique and not do the standard announcement, but…

Cover Reveal!

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Jun25

Bookblock and book cover

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Bookblock and book cover

The email from the publisher began:

“We have now begun the production cycle for your book, Wish I Was Here. Your submitted final manuscript has been professionally formatted into a custom PDF bookblock and attached here for your review.”

I had been texting with a coworker when this email popped up, prompting me to hastily exit that conversation and clock out of my day job.

The cover was also attached. Naturally, I began there. Oh, how I wish I could show you the cover, but it’s still a work in progress. When I saw it, I didn’t hate it. But I didn’t love it.

I sent it to my Faithful Few for feedback. (Isn’t it wonderful when alliteration happens naturally?) I got varied responses:

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Mar6

Okay, you writer types. Let’s talk editing.

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Okay, you writer types. Let’s talk editing.

A funny thing happened when I got feedback from the “kick-start editor” for my debut novel, Wish I Was Here. She checks the first 20 pages of your manuscript to give you an idea of stuff to look out for in the rest of your book. Mainly, it was all about the commas.

This cracked me up because commas were Mark’s primary concern when he did a run-through also. I specifically remember him adding a comma before “then” somewhere.

This lady? “No commas before then unless what follows is a complete thought.”

I understand the mechanics of that, sure, but what about when there’s a natural pause where the comma would go?

I googled comma chameleon because I knew there had to be something like this in existence.

I’d love your guys’ take on The Great Comma Debate. Here are two examples. Please vote 1 a or b and 2 a or b.

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Jan25

This is real stress

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This is real stress

The deadline looms for turning in my final-final manuscript of Wish I Was Here to the publisher. The feedback I’ve gotten from beta readers has been good, but that’s mostly been men in their fifties. Clearly, I need to expand my friend group.

But the harsh reality is, I should get the reaction of my target audience: teenage girls, especially ones who are well-read.

Gulp.

I needed to let my own children read this thing.

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Dec1

Early book reviews and utter craziness

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You may or may not have noticed I’ve done some site upgrades, including a new title to reflect the blog content, new about/contact (which is sort of funny), and a page called My book.

At My book, I have the synopsis and a few early reviews from kindly fellow authors. One guy wrote me in October saying he would read the book in December. A few days later, he wrote, “Got hooked. Will finish it this weekend.” The next day, he wrote, “What a fun read. Loved it. I think you have a hit on your hands.”

I didn’t mind that.

My kidlit author buddy, Mike Allegra, is currently reading it and said, “This book is fast-paced and fun!” He has been emailing as he goes, making predictions, which is both great and frightening, depending on how close to the truth he gets. I’m gratified that his guesses at plot twists are not the same as another reader’s.

This other reader emailed with subject line, “Wow,” followed by:

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Oct9

The birth of Ilsa Rey

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The birth of Ilsa Rey

I know I’m supposed to do My Birthday Month, Part 2, but something came up.

Months ago, I was chatting with one of my favorite thought-provoking blog buddies, Endless Weekend, about the novel I was working on and what author name I might use should this project come to fruition.

I was considering using a pseudonym to distinguish my fiction from my three non-fiction books. Today, I confirmed that decision with a little thought, a little prayer, and a coin toss. (Best way to make all major life decisions, really. My husband would still be single if not for me flipping heads. Kidding, kidding.)

Endless Weekend helpfully sent me a link to every derivation of my name used throughout the world. I sloughed through a TON of names, nearly giving up before sitting up straight at the sight of “Ilsa.”

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