Release Day! MAKING STORY: TWENTY-ONE WRITERS ON HOW THEY PLOT

 

It's release day for MAKING STORY! This collection of essays from twenty-one writers on how we plot is the first in a series of writing books that will address all sorts of writing topics. Collectively, these books will be known as the Twenty-one Writers Project. Our first installment addresses plotting methods. Some writers are outliners. (I envy them.) Others are "pantsers," who write by the seat of their pants. (I envy them too.) Some, like me, fall messily in the middle.

 

Our range of approaches are shared candidly in this collection, compiled and edited by Edgar- and Macavity- nominated thriller author, Timothy Hallinan.

 

I'm so excited to be part of this, and I hope that those of you who enjoy writing will check out the new book.

 

 



Win a book contract. Get a free book. And one other thing.

Prepare for Random, folks.

1. If you are a mystery or suspense writer who is trying to get published, please don't miss an amazing opportunity offered by Poisoned Pen Press. The Discover Mystery Contest is open through April 30th and the publisher is looking for new blood!

2. In my last post I mentioned that I received two courtesy copies of Now Write! Mysteries: Suspense, Crime, Thriller, and Other Mystery Fiction Exercises from Today's Best Writers and Teachers from its publisher because I was one of the contributors to the book. Yay! But the deal is, I'm an OCD clutter-phobe, minimalist sort and the second copy is creating issues. It needs a new home. If you will feed it and walk it, it's yours. Just leave a comment below to let me know. If more than one of you are interested I'll figure something out. Just check back here in the comments. We may have a drawing on our hands.

3. Finally, I've just discovered Erica Spindler. Have you read her? I'm glad I'm finally aware of her wonderful books. Good stuff.

I hope you all are having a wonderful week and that your projects are behaving.

My Guest Appearance in Now Write! Mysteries

The other day I received a package in the mail from a New York publisher. Packages are fun!

I wasn't expecting this one, but upon opening it I found two courtesy copies of Now Write! Mysteries: Suspense, Crime, Thriller, and Other Mystery Fiction Exercises from Today's Best Writer's and Teachers.

In 2010 I was invited to contribute an exercise for this compilation and it was about this time last winter that the submission was due. I polished it and sent it off. Then life happened and things got busy, as they will, and I lost track of the production schedule for it.

And then, suddenly, books in the mail!

My exercise, "No Sloppy Seconds: Write a Purposeful Supporting Cast," is squeezed between the covers with others from many of my favorite writers and friends, including: Stephen Jay Schwartz, Gar Anthony Haywood, Diana Orgain, Kelli Stanley, Tim Maleeny, Rebecca Cantrell, Meg Gardiner, Twist Phelan, and Bill Crider.

It was an honor to be included, and I love seeing the finished product.

WRITING IS FUN.

Wonderful news from Left Coast Crime

Dead Lift has been nominated for a Watson, Left Coast Crime's award for the best sidekick in a mystery novel. Thanks to everyone who nominated it! Jeannie wants to buy you a round. :) I'm humbled by the company in the nominee list.

At the conference in March, I'll moderate a panel called "Detectives Without Badges." Panelists are Laurie R. King, Annette Mahon, and Lawrence Light. This should be a fantastic time!

How fast can you reject me?

This e-mail came today from my writer friend who is querying agents:

I've sent a handful of queries out into the great void. Yesterday I got a response from an agent in New York dated at 2:56pm to a query I'd emailed at 3:35pm. Which means that, due to the vagaries of the internet, my query was, technically, rejected even before I submitted it!

Ouch. And yes. This is exactly how much querying sucks.

I recall sitting down with a list of e-queries I planned to send one afternoon. Of course, I was spending inordinate amounts of time personalizing each one with small nuances to suit each particular agent. I sent one off, and before I had the next one crafted, a rejection from the first agent popped right up into my Inbox. Total time? Maybe three minutes.

I think these quickies are more palatable than Rejection by Omission, though. There were quite a few queries I sent that never received a response of any kind. So we're kind of comparing the "rip off the Band-Aid fast" rejection against the "I know you're bleeding, but I'm just going to let that gusher go forever until you give up and die" rejection scenario.

How do you take your pain? Got any good rejection stories you're willing to share?

Celebrate the Small Stuff

A good friend of mine was fond of reminding me to celebrate all the small things in life. I finally made it to a place where I remember to do this on my own.

For me, once the book is written and turned in, there are three events in the journey that feel really good:

1. When the editor finally says the revisions are over. "We're moving to production."

2. The first time I see the cover art.

3. And this one...

Jack Allred made my day.

I like to check out new Followers... you know, see whose coming aboard and learn a little bit about those of you kind enough to join me here. Imagine my surprise when I clicked through to Jack's profile today and found this.

Yes, I'm a bit of a girl (read: emotional) but the reason this resonated with me is that it's exactly the reason I started the blog. Starting out as a new writer can be a lonely thing, and launching a new blog was equally lonely. After all, who are you talking to in those early posts?

For me it meant taking a leap of faith. I did it last March, and apparently inspired somebody.

It doesn't have to be writing or blogging, guys. Take the leap. You can never tell who is watching and what you might encourage someone else to do.

Well done, Jack. Wishing you much success.

Houston Press Interview and first book signing for Final Approach

Last week I was fortunate to be interviewed by Olivia Flores Alvarez of the Houston Press, a delightful editor who was kind enough to read Final Approach and, better still, like it. :-) It felt really nice to receive some support from the local media and the Houston Press was gracious to advertise the book launch, which happened yesterday at Houston's awesome indie mystery bookstore Murder By The Book. The interview is here.

My friends took great care of me at my first book signing. I had crazy-sweaty palms, but surprisingly managed to sign everyone's books without my hand sticking to their title pages. It was a standing room only crowd, thanks to dozens of wonderful, encouraging friends who brought their spouses, family, and neighbors. I met some new folks too, which is always fun. Walking away, I felt really grateful for another dream realized.

Next up is the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention! I'm heading to Indianapolis on Wednesday to talk books and writing with authors and fans from all over the country. Few things I like more than writers' conferences, so I'm bouncing with energy and excited for the trip. I'll post from there and let you guys know what's up.

When did you know the manuscript was ready?

Today's post addresses the second part of Sian's question:

When did you know you were ready to approach editors? Did you have your manuscript completely finished with multiple rewrites?

Fiction projects absolutely must be complete and polished before new authors approach agents or editors. Non-fiction is often handled differently, going through a proposal phase first. Since my book was a novel, yes, it was finished with multiple rewrites before I began to query.

While finishing the first draft, I collected and saved the comments from my critique partners as the book unfolded. In special cases, I rewrote scenes or chapters, but for the most part I saved their comments for later and pressed ahead with the next chapter. When I finally reached the end of the first draft, I knew I had a lot of work to go back and fix. I had stacks of notes to prove it.

It took a few months but I systematically went through the manuscript with those notes in hand and changed the things I knew needed to be fixed. These were issues that my critique partners raised that I agreed with. I should say here that I agreed with almost all of their feedback. There were a handful of smaller details that I liked the first way, so I left them alone. A point of interest is that when the book finally sold, one item I didn't fix got called out by my editor. Guess I should have listened the first time.

Anyway.

I changed all the things I'd written in my notes and made a final pass through the manuscript correcting passages and sentences that I thought I could improve. Of course I spell-checked it multiple times.

Then I was at a cross-roads. Send it out as-is or get a professional opinion first? I had little confidence in myself as a writer. Even though my critique partners were mostly encouraging, a part of me wondered if the book would read amateurish to a professional reader. I ended up hiring an author who also worked as a freelance editor.

His feedback was positive and he caught a few plot elements in the story that I made sure to clarify or clean up before querying. He also copy-edited it, which was all the better. When our exchanges were finished, I felt like I had done everything I could do. It was time.

My advice to anyone about to query is to get the book as clean, perfect, and totally polished as you possibly can before you send it out. If you can afford it, hire an editor. If you can't, give it to someone who hasn't read it yet, preferably to someone who is not a relative or a friend.

I had read here, there, and everywhere about the importance of turning in a polished manuscript so I really took it to heart. I feel like that advice served me well so I pass it along here emphatically.

Stuff I've learned: writing and selling my first novel

Sandra Moore was gracious to invite me for my first author interview today at Novel Journey, where I talk about my experience writing and selling my first book. I like to imagine that years down the road I'll have written more books, and I wonder how my insight into publishing will have changed since this first interview.

All my Exes: thoughts on book promotion

Exciting.
Exhausting.
Expensive.

Those are my exes. They represent my early impressions of book promotion, and I have a lot to learn.

I've heard authors say that once they begin to promote one book, it's tough to find the time to write the next one. This observation has turned out to be spot on. In the evenings lately, when I'd normally be writing, I've spent an inordinate amount of time e-mailing people I've never met, setting up dates, tracking down phone numbers, following up on ideas, figuring out ad placement, designing those ads, seeking advice, looking for cheap flights, and generally stressing out.

I want to approach the bookstore folks (and in my case, drop zone folks) with the lead-in, "So sorry to bother you. I'm really an engineer and I don't know what's going on here, but I'm trying to figure out how to promote this book," but I resist doing this. The researcher I work for at my day job always drills into me that nothing we want should be approached apologetically. Have confidence!

Yes. Confidence and a fat wallet.

Until now, the only ads I've ever placed have been classifieds. Like . . . to sell an old washing machine. Maybe a $15 ad. Real ads, that are not classifieds, are crazy-expensive. Think $15 with a few exponents. Enough said about that.

The other thing, maybe the hardest for me, is that it's really important to me that everybody likes me. I know that is foolhardy but I try to be a nice person and I hate to ask for anything. Maybe I'll ask you for a french fry, but usually not for favors. Promoting a book feels like going around cyberspace asking a lot of people who don't know me to do nice things for me for no reason. Awkward.

It's a learning experience. The original challenge was finding time to write amidst my family and career responsibilities. The new challenge is adding a publicity element into the mix. I'm seeking the new balance. This is just like parenting: once you find something that works, the kids change it up on you. And in writing, once I found a rhythm, the business end of publishing changed my rhythm.

It's a good problem to have, and I'm not complaining. Just whining a very little bit.

What happens to my manuscript after it's sold?

Ever wonder about that? I did. This post at Redlines and Deadlines gives a succinct account of what you might expect after signing a contract. Individual experiences may differ, of course, but the process described here is almost exactly how it went for me. I like heads-up articles like this because one thing I've noticed about publishing is that it's a good idea to look a step ahead of where we are.

First Book Review!

The first weird thing that happened when I started submitting the manuscript was that agents or editors would write back and mention my characters by name or talk about a particular scene, giving the impression they'd actually read the story. Of course, they had read it. That's what was so weird.

Now I've received my very first review! Yay! And it's a nice review too, a bonus. It still feels strange that folks I don't know are starting to read the story. But it's a good strange.

Here's what Paige Lovitt of Reader Views thought of Final Approach. I heart Paige Lovitt.


Final Approach
Rachel Brady
Poisoned Pen Press (2009)
ISBN 9781590586556
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (7/09)

When Emily Locke gets a call to assist PI Richard Cole in an investigation by using her sky diving expertise to go undercover, her past comes back to haunt her. Having lost her husband and daughter four years prior the case that Emily is called to assist with bears strong similarities to the one that she was working on when she lost her family. As Emily continues assisting with the investigation, she discovers that the accident involving her family might not be what it appeared to be at the time. Desperate to find answers, Emily throws herself into this investigation and in doing so her own life is now endangered.

Rachel Brady has written a novel that is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. She has built an incredible amount of suspense into this drama. Incorporating a unique twist into the plot allows for some interesting surprises. Her knowledge of sky diving and attention to detail make the story seem very realistic. This makes it kind of scary for a reader who has a fear of heights! I also appreciated her ability to create interesting and colorful characters. They added a great deal to the story.

I can’t imagine any fans of suspense that will not enjoy this novel. I highly recommend “Final Approach” by Rachel Brady, and believe that it would also make a great selection for readers’ groups.

It's raining hard in Houston. Great time for an ARC.

Another first. My ARCs came in the mail today. These are "advanced reading copies", which the publisher will send to reviewers and also which we'll proofread for spelling, punctuation, etc. It's too late at this point to make substantive changes to the text. We're down to the nitty gritty.

I wasn't blogging yet when we went through two rounds of substantive revisions a few months ago. I'll blog about that process if I'm lucky enough to have a next time. For now, I'll just say that this version of editing is by far my favorite of the two.

I received two copies of the ARC--one to keep and one to mark up and return. In addition to The Bridges of Madison County, I'll be reading this on my flight to Malice Domestic this week.

What Google Indexing and our Tax System Have in Common

I don't understand either of them.

A few weeks ago I got an e-mail from my publisher saying it was time to launch a website so I did. Then I Googled myself to see if the site turned up. Turns out there is another, much prettier, much younger Rachel Brady who was Teen California and she rates waaaay up there in the top Google hits. I'm sure she is as lovely on the inside as she is on the outside, but with her youth, beauty, and preferential Google treatment, I confess I struggle daily not to dislike her. Let me save you the trouble so we can get back to my story.

All the stuff I read online said to be patient. It takes the Google "crawlers" and "bots" a while to find new websites. I never would have thought the day would come that I'd long to be crawled... but come it did. And crawled I was not.

Every few days I checked. Then one night I Googled "Rachel Brady, Final Approach" and got a surprise. My new book was listed on Amazon! Wha?! Really? What a neat discovery. Suddenly, being dissed by Google didn't sting as much.

Then another fun thing. My first royalty statement came in the mail. This was extremely funny because, since my book isn't out yet, the statement reported a whole bunch of zeroes. Still. Who cares?! I got a royalty statement in the mail!

And finally today, I made it to the first page of the Google search. I'm still listed way below the better looking Rachel Brady but that's okay because Amanda has started to follow my blog. You made my day, Amanda. Welcome!

Author websites and sexy dresses

My ARCs will go out soon and my publisher has asked when my website will be active. ARCs are "advance reading copies" that go out to reviewers a few months ahead of a book's release. The progress is exciting, but the website question makes me a little bit anxious.

The website content is ready. What's distressing is finally pulling the trigger on how the page will look. This feels like choosing the right dress for an important party. Lots of dresses look fine, but when I walk out the door I'll still wonder if I chose the perfect one.