The One About Following Your Dreams

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Have you ever felt like giving up? After being punched one too many times in the gut, you just felt like enough was enough? Well, this week I had that moment. My hopes had been dashed and the light at the end of the tunnel had dimmed to the point where I believed it was just my imagination and it didn't really exist anymore. Then something wonderful happened! My hubby hugged me and told me the words I needed to hear. "You're an amazing author. Just because they weren't right for you doesn't mean you're horrible. Giving up will only let the ones who want you to fail to win."

I wiped the tears away and suddenly the light was back in view! Those few little sentences said it all to me. The person who said no wasn't wanting me to give up. They just knew something that I didn't. At this point in time, we were not meant to be. Sure it hurts to hear that, but I know that they're right. And I thank them for being wonderful and not trying to make something work that we both know wouldn't. (Wow! This sounds like a bad date or breakup!)

Another bright spot came when I found out from my other lovely friends that I'd made it into the wonderful Brenda Drake's That Doggone Voice Workshop! By now, everyone should know how much I love Brenda. She's a rock star and I'm super proud of her success! I'm also very grateful to be chosen as a winner for the workshop.

My friend, John Lucas Hargis, has been wielding his pimp cane and making me put more hooks in the water. As I wait for nibbles, I keep throwing hooks out and working on my next wip. Even though that light might dim a few more times, I'm not about to give up. This dream is worth fighting for and I encourage you all to keep fighting for your own dreams!

Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!

#BadWritingTips: Are you guilty?

I tried to find something with Bad Writing Tips, but couldn't. So, I decided on this one. It made me laugh.

Saturday, twitter exploded with tons of #BadWritingTips and even trended after Megan Whitmer and Julie Murphy started the ball rolling. In fact, it's so hot that it's still moving along today! There were many tips thrown out by awesome authors and even I managed to get one in. Below is a list of my faves. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did and find them useful in your writing. 

WARNING: These are BAD writing tips! NEVER do anything suggested in these tips.

1. Mine- Don't bother with pesky revisions & edits. They're not needed anyway. Just start querying. Agents love that sort of thing!#BadWritingTips

2. Lord Voldermont-#badwritingtips: Do everything Stephenie Meyer does. Just replace vampires with leprechauns. 

3. Maureen Johnson-Assume your readers are idiots. #badwritingtips 

4. Carrie Bailey-You don't need to write better. You need to stop other writers from writing better. #badwritingtips 

5. Leigh Ann Kopans-Try to use a different synonym for "said" every time someone talks. It will show people that you know lots of words. #badwritingtips 

6. Megan Whitmer-Use the word "just" as much as possible. And "suddenly."#BadWritingTips 

7. Julie Murphy-Use words you don't know how to pronounce. #BadWritingTips 

Now, a few more of my own:

8. Spell a word wrong? Just say that's how your MC would spell it and move on! #badwritingtips

9. If you're MC starts off as a jerk, leave them that way! Who cares if they're shallow & never develop into something more. #badwritingtips

10. Make sure that every character's name starts with a letter in YOUR name. #badwritingtips

11. Writing a YA book about first love? Every chapter MUST contain a sex scene. #badwritingtips

12. 50 Shades of Grey is huge right now. Take it and change it into a YA book about disco vamps. Don't worry if it's already been done. #badwritingtips

13. Agents totally love it when you drop by their office and demand they read your MS. Do it often and get signed. #badwritingtips

14. Make sure to threaten an agent in every query. It'll tell them how much you want them. #badwritingtips

15. Have sexy pics of yourself? Make THAT your author pic and send them along with your query. It'll totally sale your MS! #badwritingtips

Well those are just a few of mine along with some of my faves. Really, I could have kept going, but I decided to give you a break. Make sure to check out my friend and fellow #twitwits John Lucas Hargis' post complete with his own list of bad writing tips to learn more.

Do you have any bad writing tips to share? I'd love to hear them!

Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!

An update a long time coming!

Wow! It's been a little over a month since my last post and that was for the super awesome contest The Writer's Voice! I feel horrible for not posting, but I wanted to post something new only when I knew it was worth writing about. So, here's what's been going on since my last update.

The Writer's Voice: 

Well, as the button above that also used to be on my sidebar said, I was a part of the awesome Team Brenda! Our coach, the amazing Brenda Drake, helped me whip my ms into shape and set me on a revision race that ended with me loving my ms more than I had when I originally entered! Let's just say, she rocks!

So, my entry was put through the word wash, spit shined, and then posted on, Brenda's blog for all to see. Cheers were thrown mine and Spark's way and we love you all for doing so! Agents shopped around, but sadly we found no love in their arms. But don't worry! There's a happy ending coming--sort of!

#WVTP or Writer's Voice Twitter Pitch:

After some rocky road ice cream and a good chick flick, I did exactly what the White Snake picture says above. There I went again, down the only road I've grown to know. (Okay, sorry for almost quoting lyrics. I'll stop now.) Query in hand, I started thinking about what my next move should be. Well, I didn't have to think long because the wonderful all-stars of The Writer's Voice had talked a few dazzling agents into a twitter pitch party three days after my heart had been broken.

I had to sit and think about this. I had basically been turned down on Monday and by Thursday morning, I had to be ready to put my heart... I mean, ms back out there again and hope we wouldn't be shot through the heart one more time. Well, I'm an author! And as an author, I have to put myself out there no matter what happens. So, I got to work on my 140 character pitch complete with the #WVTP hashtag. It wasn't easy, but after using what my awesome coach had put to introduce me as her team member, I had something I thought worked and so did a lot of others.

Thursday: 12pm EDT/11am CDT my time rolled around. I'd went to bed around 6am, but sleep refused to come. So I got up at 10am, pitch in hand, ready for the party. Twitter freaked a few times on me, but it was okay. The party hadn't started yet, so it was allowed to live another day. Time for the agents to show up. I threw my pitch out along with a few hundred others and got nothing. Not even a nibble. My awesome friend, Erica Chapman, snatched one of my tops picks attention and I hoped I'd catch his eye too.

A few hours passed and I was way loopy by then. A pitch was being fought over by a few agents and one was chosen as the winner. One agent said something I found cute and funny, so I tweeted him that I'd pick him! My coach/friend mentioned something after I'd sad something, and one thing led to another...

The results of a wonky brain and a hail mary pitch:

It was getting late. Only a couple hours left for me to get someone to even want to peek at Spark. So, I threw a hail mary pitch out, never dreaming it'd catch someone's eye in the middle of the sea of amazing pitches being thrown out at the time.

My jaw dropped when the same agent, the one who'd asked my friend for her ms and I'd been joking around with/flattering him, said those magic words! Yes! The awesome agent, John M Cusick, said that he liked both movies I'd put in my pitch and wanted to read my ms!! I squeed so loud that my hubby almost feel from his chair before I told him why. A happy dance and some sleep later, I was doing a read through of my ms again & polishing my query before sending it off, praying he'll fall in love with it and ask for us to be on his team!

While I'm waiting patiently:

Agents are very busy people, so to keep myself from constantly checking my email, I've signed up for CampNaNoWriMo! Yep! I won November's NaNo, so I'm trying my hand at June's! I'm already 16K in and I think I'm loving this wip more than I've loved one in a long time. So, keep your eye out for an update and maybe even an excerpt!

And here it is!:

I feel another contest coming! During my time away my blog reached over 100 followers! You know what that means? Yep! I'm cooking up a contest with a prize or two in mind. So, watch out for it because it's coming your way soon!

Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!!