In the past week I found a few interesting posts I’d like to share.
First Justin’s Awkward Writing series on sex, gore and… love! My beta-reader (who is male) told me I’m good with “romantic” moments, so I’m wondering if this “love writing” awkwardness is only for males or also for women… I’m not very romantic anymore, but I guess I can handle love, even if it’s not the biggest theme of my stories! As for sex, I tend to fade to black and leave things to the imagination… or not to be too graphic anyway. I don’t like gore, therefore I almost never use it – makes for very bloodless battles, haha! 😉
Then on Red Pencil there’s a good Writing 140 advice to writers from writers and an excellent post on acting first, explain later.
Colleen Doran and Self-published Author’s lounge both issue a sort of Writers Beware about iUniverse (who didn’t do a very good job on a friend’s novel, IMHO, so I sure hope she doesn’t go back to them for the second book in the series).
The latter also has some Blogging Tips for you, I will do another post about them later in the week to share a little more info and doubts about self-publishing. Oh, I added the little Tweet button to my posts even if I don’t tweet courtesy of their short post on how to do it! 😉
And I found an article on pen-names which I loved (although I already said why I use a pen-name)!
Agents:
Jessica Faust points us to slush hell, a very funny place to be – although, what if I end up there?
Susie Townsend will be “replacing” Colleen Lindsay at FinePrint Literary Management. She points to the Very Humungous Blogoversary Contest. Colleen, who was a “dream agent”, has moved to other things, so I wish her all the luck.
Speaking of agents, I’m finished with my research and divided them in “first choice” (5), “second choice” and “third choice”. BUT how about in an agency there are TWO agents that look dreamy? How do I choose? Is it possible to pick up one at random and telling him/her to pass it on to his/her colleague if not interested or would they do it anyway?
This looks so complicated, that I’m having second thoughts on the topic. Maybe I should just self-publish. But that is a matter for another post. Please add your views on the matter: to query or not to query? Self-pub or trad-pub?
One last article on the new world of publishing… better than any other I’ve read, but still doesn’t answer my question, so I’m still waiting for your comments! 🙂
One final word: Melissa has given me the Spotlight Award…
I’d like to pass it on to 5 bloggers (because I like that number) in no particular order:
Thanks, Melissa! 😀
jannatwrites
/ 17/08/2010You’ve got a tough question here. I’ve ran into the same issue: 2 agents I like at the same agency, but the agency website usually tells you to only send to one agent and not query others if they pass. You can try asking them to pass it on, but no way to know whether they do it or not. You’ve got nothing to lose, though 🙂
Good luck!
P.S. Thanks for the award (my first one ever). You started my day with a smile!
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Barb
/ 17/08/2010you’re welcome for the award…
I still have the rest of the month to make up my mind about queries! 😦
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Miss Rosemary
/ 17/08/2010Thanks Barb! Your links are always helpful and interesting.
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Melissa
/ 17/08/2010Oh, agents… I’m about to really start researching agents and the thought kind of scares me a little. It’s a lot of pressure to find the right one and then you play the ‘what if’ game of what if nobody likes what I have to offer..that sort of thing. It’s just a complicated, stressful time haha.
You’re very welcome for the award! 🙂
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jpcabit
/ 17/08/2010My advice: DON’T self-publish!!!
Go for it. If you choose an agent that is one of two choices, don’t ask him to pass it on to his colleague if he’s not interested. Just leave it as it is.
Be prepared for rejection, but don’t dwell on it to the point of depression. Hey, I’ve been rejected like ten times. And still no acceptance. But do I let it get to me? No. Don’t get discouraged.
Thanks for your sparkly award!!!! 😀
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Barb
/ 18/08/2010thank you for the advice (you mirror David Farland, did you notice? ;-))!
I’m also considering to publishers who accept unagented submissions such as Daw and Tor – big publishers, but they do accept unsolicited material (now, I’ll check the guidelines before submitting, just in case)…
We’ll see! 😉
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Hema P.
/ 19/08/2010Thanks for such interesting (and different points of view) links, and thank you so much for the award! I appreciate it very much, Barb!
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Barb
/ 19/08/2010you’re very welcome, Hema! 😀
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