That Pivotal Moment

*Crawls out from under rock*

*Checks all critique partners' comments have been actioned/considered*

*Smooths hand over completed manuscript and sits back*

*takes a deep breath*

I'M READY TO QUERY!

At least, I think I am.

After years of blood (paper cuts), sweat (it's really freakin' hot in Australia right now), and tears (usually critique partner-induced ... KIDDING!), I have finished Waiting for April. My baby is ready to go out into the world.

BUT.

How do you know if your query letter is good enough to give your manuscript a chance in the world of agents? Well, there are sites where you can offer your query up for critique by agents, including (but not limited to):
Janet Reid (FinePrint Literary Management): http://queryshark.blogspot.com
Jessica Faust (BookEnds, LLC): http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/
and
Lauren Ruth (BookEnds, LLC):  http://slushpiletales.wordpress.com/

These generous ladies critique regularly, and the advice they give can (usually) be interpreted and applied to all queries. However, if you're lucky enough to be following some amazing agents on Twitter, you'll find that most, if not all, will at some stage host competitions where they'll critique your query/first page/partial/full manuscript. Fantastic? Yes. Yes they are.  

One such agent is Meredith Barnes, of Lowenstein Associates. Right now, Ms. Barnes is offering up query critiques to people who mention some (or all!) of the authors featured in this post: http://merbarnes.blogspot.com/2012/01/you-scratch-lorena-dureaus-back-ill.html

So here's MY entry! And honestly, I've already bought some! ;) I love me some romance novels!!! (I'm especially keen on Lorena Dureau's The Last Casquette Girl, and Deborah Camp's The Butler Did It.) :D

• Deborah Camp (A mix of contemporary and Old West Historical romances...over 40 coming in the near future, but here is a list of 10 or so available now)
• Lorena Dureau (Historical Romance: American Colonial South and West. Very Sexy)
• Dan Streib (thrillers with a James-Bond-meets-Anderson-Cooper main character)
• Barbara Keesling (her too-hot-to-blog nonfiction is here, here, and here)

So there you have it. Ms. Barnes is helping those, like me, who are ready to query, and by doing so, is spreading the word about Lowenstein Associates' authors. Everybody wins! If you'd like to enter, simply follow the guidelines here: http://merbarnes.blogspot.com/2012/01/you-scratch-lorena-dureaus-back-ill.html

But hurry! The celebration closes at midnight, Sunday 22nd! (So I'm feeling a little Back to The Future here in Oz, where it's already midday on Monday the 23rd).

TTFN!

P.S. I'll update as I query, and promise to blog more. :D

The Beta Question

Last week I finished my latest rewrite of Waiting for April.  YAY!  For those of you who have only recently tuned in, I had to completely rewrite the first half of the novel, as well as the end, and give my female MC a complete personality overhaul.  Not an easy task. 

After six months in the writing cave, it felt so good to finally have something to send off to my betas, who have been very patient with me (especially Livia Dane, who has been waiting for months for me to get these latest revisions to her!  Sorry!). 

It actually feels like I’m getting somewhere now.  That terrifying/exciting query process is one step closer, and will hopefully begin next month.

But unlike my very first draft, which I sent out to so many people to read (mainly friends, a couple of members of my family, and one beta who also writes), this rewritten version will only go to three betas (who are also writers).  Two are reading it now, and I’ll make changes to it based on their suggestions before sending it to my third beta.

This does make me wonder, though, how many beta readers does it take to screw in a light bulb do you send your manuscript to?  How many opinions does it take for you to know you’re truly ready to hunt for an agent? 

Love-Hate Relationship.

I’ve been at this manuscript, Waiting for April, for a while now.  As in - over two years.  Of course, in that time I’ve written other things (the sequel), and taken breaks when it has been off with betas or I’ve done beta-reading myself, and when I’ve been off having babies (well, I had a break during the 14 hours of labour, anyway). 

This concept has no intention of letting me go.  I think about it when I’m supposed to be socializing (sorry, guys and gals, but when I’m staring off into space, I’m writing), when I’m watching TV, and well, pretty much every minute of every day.  Right now, though, it feels like I’m clinging to a hot guy who’s been trying to break up with me for a while now.  Not that I really know what that feels like (I married my high school sweetheart), but you know what I’m saying.

Don’t get me wrong – I will finish it.  I will query it.  I will not stop until I’m represented and this book hits the shelves/e-shelves, and it will be the biggest achievement of my life (aside from pushing out two gorgeous kiddies).  Maybe I’m speaking out of lack of sleep.  Maybe I’ve just hit a rough patch in revisions.  Again.  Maybe I’ve just read one too many great manuscripts lately *shakes fist at Sarah Fine and Tracy Buscemi*. 

But I wonder: how many people get this far in, only to trash their novel?  Have you ever been completely in love with a premise, but broken up with it without following through?  How do you overcome these nagging, negative thoughts whilst revising?

Those Two Words that Writers Hate.

So, after being super eager to get my blog up and running, I went and abandoned you all.  My bad!  I promise I’ll try harder to post a regular ... um ... post.  But what has me holed up, you ask?  Two words: Writer’s block. 

Well, it wasn’t writer’s block straight away.  I did some beta-reading (one of my awesome beta partners, Sarah Fine, sent me an un-put-down-able manuscript), I sent her my manuscript, we spoke, we bounced ideas off of one another, we laughed, I cried when it was decided my manuscript needed a complete overhaul – and then I got down to business. 

Everything was running smoothly.  I was adding the necessary chapters in order to have a consistently alternating PoV, instead of a couple of chapters for one character, then one chapter for another, and so on.  I was having fun adding more personality to my characters.  I tweaked, I deleted, I got over my fear of short chapters ... and now I’m stuck again. 

On a short chapter. 

It’s a pivotal moment.  I could add tension, but there’s already a lot of tension.  I could add more secrets, but there are already a lot of those, too.  It’s one night – the night before all hell breaks loose – and I’ve got nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  But I NEED to come up with something in order to maintain that alternating PoV.

So I’m procrastinating.  I’m eating – a lot.  I’m checking Twitter every three seconds, and even scraping the bottom of the barrel by checking Facebook, too.  I’m ready to pounce on any DM, any Gmail Chat window, any comment that would give me a good excuse to minimise my manuscript document.

My question to you is: What do you do when you’ve got writer’s block?  Do you read?  Do you watch TV?  Do you exercise?  Do you sit at the computer and stare at the screen until an idea jumps out at you?

Please answer me.  Checking blog comments will give me something to do. J

Oh, and you can check out Sarah Fine’s blog here.  If you haven’t already, I promise you, you won’t regret it.  It’s coated in awesomesauce. J

New Kid on the Block!

Well, here I am with a shiny new blog ...

*takes a deep breath* ...

*leans back in chair and drums fingers on table* ...

*checks watch and glances around room* ...

Oh, right!  I should start by writing something for followers (hello!) to read.  So, gentle viewers readers, this is what you should know about me - if you don't already know me, that is. :)

I'm short, loud, honest (sometimes a little too honest - think Anya, from Buffy), and easily distracted.  I'm a wife, a mother, a horse rider, and a skater.  I love dancing, but you won't find me in a nightclub these days.  On a Friday night you're likely to find me playing Halo Reach with 11 of my geek friends, eating pizza, and smack-talking the other team.  Oh yes.    

I'm a medical scientist who went and got a 'real' job, just as my mother had told me to do.  "Use your brain," she'd said, "and do what you love in your spare time."

What she failed to mention was I'd be constantly spending my 'real' job time wishing I'd followed my heart, instead of my brain.  It took me around 12 years to rediscover myself through writing.  It was 2009, and my son was just a baby.  I had some free time, and an idea for a paranormal romance novel (and no, it wasn't about vampires!).  Two years later, I'm just as in love with my idea and my characters as I was when I started turning images and conversations into chapters.  No, actually, I probably love them more.  My only regret is that I didn't follow my dreams sooner. 

So if you'd like to follow my journey, I'd be more than happy to share it with you.  Please, feel free to introduce yourselves in the comments section so that I can get to know you, too!