Discussion:Hello new writerly friends! Let's swap ten things.

I've had a lot of new friends via the #Nanobloghop subscribe to my social media and blog. Until now, most of my readers have been writerly friends I've met face to face or critique partners that I've been interacting with for years. It's been a pleasure to connect with so many creative, amazing people walking the same walk I am, word by word.

One such friend is Wendy Knight, and in her welcoming email for her e-newsletter, she offered ten fun facts about herself and encouraged us to respond with ten things too. I sent her a list and it sparked a really fun conversation that made me smile.

I want to reciprocate that on this blog post. So here are the ten fun facts about me that I want to share!

 

1. I love almost every green vegetable and know how to cook most of them from raw state.
2. I'm not a huge animal person, but I can sit and chat with the elderly all day, every day.
3. I could live on ice cream, tea, and red meat. 
4. I deal with depression, and am so thankful for my religion and family for helping me through it.
5. I have a husband, six chickens, two daughters, two dogs, a cat, and most recently we've added an adorable bunny named Oreo to the hobby farm.
6. I love fishing. This may or may not be due to my love of the water, and most certainly is due to my father being a fishing tournament champion.
7. I gave up coffee six, no - seven, times since December 31st. It's a problem.
8. My family and I are big puzzle people. There's almost always one on a surface somewhere in my house. Its a wonder we don't lose pieces, but it rarely happens.
9. I'm a health and wellness advocate, and use holistic medicine as much as possible. Need herb or vitamin suggestions? I may have an answer. Curious about essential oils? I'm an open book with lots of resources. Want some interesting stories about healing a body with food? I've got a heap... starting with healing my body from hormone imbalance and fixing my body to get pregnant.
10. I solemnly swear I won't judge anything you say or do, or I will at least see situations from all sides. I always do. It makes decisions hard sometimes.

Please comment with one or more fun facts about yourself, or ask me questions about one or more of my ten things.

Let's not just click the like, tweet, and subscribe buttons! Let's encourage each other, share our success, our experiences, and our words! We can start right here in the comments of my blog! I'd be honored!

Storystorm Part 2: Some Ideas Deserve a Drawer

Well, for my second year in a row, I've completed #Storystorm. Technically, last year it was #PiBoIdMo. The general idea is an idea each day for a whole month.

I'm super excited about a dozen or so of those ideas.

And then there are the other ones.

You know, the ones that deserve a drawer and a bunch of brainstorming. The obscure, the odd ball, the flashes of brilliance that are ridiculous when you think of them and add them to your list but may later be the masterpieces you initially imagined they'd be.

Here are a few of mine for 2017:

Cutting wood - learning the value of hard work
Human squirrel
Mikayla's pile of blankets
Little glasses


So if they deserve the drawer put them there and slam it shut if it makes you feel better.

Just be sure to pull them out once in a while and see if they are ready to show off their shine.

Storystorm Part 1: Are you participating?

I don't know if you heard, but Tara Lazar's #PiBoIdMo was transformed into #storystorm, 

and in January 2017 authors all over the world (including moi) are attempting to come up with a new story idea every single day. That's a lot of creativity.  We're about halfway through the month, and I will will be sharing a few of my ideas in a later post, but I wanted to see who else I know is participating and encourage others to jump in on the creative brain stewing, even if the official registration is closed.

Even if you only get 

ideas, that's more than you had on December 31st. 

And who knows where those ideas will lead you?

A Desert

Or a Rainforest

Or a neighbor's yard

Or outer space.

Or just finish that other idea you had!

Tell me if you're participating and the fun idea you're most excited about so far, or just share about other projects your working on. I'd love to hear from you in the comments below or via email.

New Year, New Words, and a New Perspective + A #QueryHelper Giveaway!

It's week two of 2017. So far I have....

Worked, shoveled snow, cut firewood, and drove my new truck a lot....

  

Mentally written some....

And edited very little.

But its all perspective.

 

I've connected with over 400 people since NANO ended on November 30th. 

Hi you all and thank you...

to those of your that participated in the NANO blog hop hosted by Raimey Gallant. I'm happy to read your words and know you may be reading mine!

I've connected with my daughters at the expense of some computer and TV time, and those memories are invaluable.

Recently I've learned...

As with some other things, less words can have more impact.

Hard work pays off.

Being Organized has perks

(sometimes, let's not get crazy with the sticky notes and folder tabs!)

So I promise my readers this year my blogs will be...

Short, Impactful, and Valuable

And hopefully some good news of publication will be in there too!

Let's start 2017 off "write" with a #QueryHelper Critique Giveaway just for NANO 2016 participants!
(As promised in November, and yes I know that was six weeks ago.)

Please comment with your NANO username, what you'd like like to know more about from my blog, how best to connect with you if you win, and what word project you're working on right now. Winner will be chosen at random.org on JANUARY 31st, 2017! Please share on your social media profiles!

Book Review: The Snowglobe by Jenna Nelson

In an effort to keep myself excited about the young adult novel trilogy I'm writing, I've also been reading a lot of that age category fiction. I have to admit that I've read a lot of novels that I've not been impressed with. I've put some down, or dragged myself through one.

This is not the case with Jenna Nelson's THE SNOWGLOBE.

It's been on my GoodReads to-read list forever, and then I discovered Kindle Unlimited on Amazon, much to my husband's concern.

With beautiful writing and an unexpected plot, this YA novel was a refreshing take on a hero's journey with a dark side. The prose reminded me of Juliet Marillier, and hooked me from the first page. 

There were a few things that sort of just happened to the main character, and I wanted her to take the initiative and use her magic a bit more or even consider it as an option. Other than that, I think this book is well worth the money. I hope that there will be a series that comes out of this story! I gave it 4/5 stars.

Looking for a smart, quirky epic fantasy? Grab a copy of this book!

5 Reasons to sign up for National Novel Writing Month (and giveaway announcement!)

Wow, okay so an update: This summer was insane in all the right ways. Lots of editing on my fantasy trilogy novels, and roping a few new (fantastic!) critique partners. I also helped put together a local writers conference in September, and did my first official speaking engagement related to writing. It was "A Self-Starters Guide to Freelancing: How to Get Started." All those nerves slipped away as I hit all my speaking points and people had some great questions. I might have to do that again some day.

I'm also proud to say that my Freelance Editing Services got a tremendous boost this summer. I'm so thankful to all my clients, old and new, for making this dream a reality. Not to mention, it helps with life's expenses, not dis-cluding the tuition for my girl's school this year.

I've been reading  researching for my fantasy trilogy, and sliding a few new shiny ideas in a drawer to focus on my current monstrous project. Did you know that the always debated pantser versus plotter theory has actually been debunked? I've in fact found out that I am actually a plotser or something like that, meaning I actually do some plotting just on a minor scale and usually in my head. Go figure!

Also, I've discovered Amazon Unlimited. To my husband's exasperation, poor guy.

GUESS WHAT? A short story that I submitted and was paid for over a year ago is finally going to be printed in 2017! I got the official word this week via email, so keep your eyes on my social media for when it releases. It's for the story "Wearing Teresa's Boots" that I mentioned months and months ago!

Okay onto my favorite writing topic this time of year.....

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH IS UPON US!!!

I can easily confirm that #NANO has singularly made my writing career possible. I've won for three years in a row and intend to keep up the tradition. This year will complete the draft of my fantasy trilogy. I'm throwing out about 15k words from last year to rewrite now the first two novels are in better shape.

WHY should you join the world-wide wackiness that is NaNoWriMo? Here are five good reasons!

1. International Event: You won't be alone! We're talking thousands of people committing to the same insane goal of 50 thousand words in 30 days. 
2. TONS of support: Forums to post in, blog and vlogs, virtual write-ins, local write-ins... if there is a will there is a way, so just do it.
3. Cool swag before, during, and after, plus winner discounts and freebies...... example A below: 
   
4. What you really get out of it: Writing habit, creativity flow, networking, word counting convenience, and just plain writing the words down. No pressure, right?
5. IF you need one more reason: #thequeryhelper be giving away three (3) query letter critiques at the end of the month for anyone that wins NANO! So be sure to follow my blog, network with me, and come on back on December 1st once you've crossed that finish line!

Are you participating in NANO this year? What's your favorite part of NANO or what are you most looking forward to?

#FicFest Fables #4 - Common Issues In Contest Entries

I need to apologize to those on my "give feedback" list who still haven't heard from me. Some health issues have clogged up life since #ficfest finalists were announced. My mentees have been patient with my delayed responses and I'm grateful for that. I will still be sending that feedback as soon as I'm able.

It truly surprised me how many of the same issues popped up in the #FicFest entries that didn't make it into my favorites list, and some of those issues existed in my favorites, too. Here's a brief list. I hope that this can help those who walked away from FicFest disappointed recapture not only their love for their story, but also with their future projects.

Passive Voice - I said it multiple times on Twitter as I read the slush, as did other mentors. Picture books only have so many words. Don't waste them on passive verbs (is, am, are, was, were) when you can use active, fun, meaningful verbs to entertain your readers. There are so many out there. Check out these great blog posts and resources to help you:

Verb Exchange Exercise by RobsAndersWrites

Vibrant Verb List by Super Easy Story Telling

Action Vocabulary Words by k-3teacherresources.com

Incorrect rhyming - This was my biggest pet peeve and also the most frustrating of the common issues for me. SO many great premises got buried under horribly written rhymes. Meter and rhythm help make rhyme work, and a children's book can rhyme but it needs to be creative and interesting, not just rhyming for the sake of rhyming. I could easily pick out a dozen stories that had rhymes that could have been written better without it. Also, there are dozens of literary devices besides rhyme that could make your story fun to read. Repetition of word, refrain, or structure, alliteration, hyperbole to name a few. 

A complete list of literary devices and definitions

Here's a great list of resources on proper rhyming!

High Word Count - This is a debated issues among mentors and mentees alike. A few years ago, the picture book word count sweet spot was 250-350 words, with a maximum of around 600. There are always exceptions to these rules, but at that time attention span seemed to rule the industry. However, in the last twelve months, some longer length amazing picture books have reset this way of thinking, bringing longer, more lyrical manuscripts back into vogue. Of course, word count will depend on your audience and your writing style. 

Unfortunately, in the Ficfest slush, many books were way to long and it was obvious they could be reworked into a shorter, more focused and interesting manuscript to read. (My FicFest query contest winner was one of these!) Again, if you're going to write a long piece, every word needs to have a purpose to drive the story problem and paint a tight, interesting picture for your audience. Removing passive verbs, redundant phrases, and expressive, unnecessary words can help. A note: a few entries were also too low in word count, needing to give the reader just a little more to paint the full picture.)

Query Not Ready - Despite the thousands of query workshops and resources on the internet about how to write a query letter, it is still a highly personal endeavor that is difficult for most authors. By and far, it seemed almost every entry's query needed a little help. I'm going to throw out a few tips using the made up query I used for the query mentorship contest.

- Simple salutation

- Don't focus on the story's inspiration

- Don't give the story's ending away in the query. Instead, give them a stakes sentence to entice them to read it to find out the ending.

- Always give a little bit of info on yourself, even if you have no literary experience.

- Other PB manuscripts can and should be mentioned in picture book queries. Agents of PB want to make sure you aren't a one hit wonder. Offering up info on at least 2 other COMPLETED manuscripts is advised by several of the FicFest mentors. (I actually didn't know this, as my getting-an-agent journey focused on my entire age spectrum of children's works.)

- Always end with "Thank you for your time and consideration," NOT "I look forward to hearing from you" or "I can be reached by phone or email". Leave that ball in their court and expect nothing from them, at least in your letter.

Example:

Dear agent name;

Mattie and John are playing hide and seek but the storm outside is loud and scary. Passive first sentences. The lights go out and they don’t know if they should keep playing or stop and ask mom for dinner. There are lots of hiding places, and the storm is making lots of don’t use same words in so small a space sounds like crashes, booms, and bangs. Maybe they can make similar sounds in their game?

A better story query paragraph:

BOOM, BANG, CRASH! As John and Mattie play hide and seek, the storm outside takes out the lights. The darkness makes finding each other hard and the once-familiar angles and hiding places of their house scary. Now, they must find each other by mimicking the sounds of the storm and decide whether to keep playing their improved game or find their way to Mom. Either way, they soon realize it will be more fun if they do it together.

Crash and Seek Book names in all CAPS CRASH AND SEEK is a picture book submission with about 800 words  way too many words, you probably shouldn’t be submitting this yet in the manuscript. It is similar to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom great comp, and will be as famous as Harry Potter bad assumption! I don’t have illustrations but I’m sure you could help me find someone to create my vision before we send it to publishers.   No, no, no! Don't put anything that makes your manuscript seem like more work to the agent. Plus, editors and publishers have more control over 

illustrations  anyways.

I am a writer and have been for about five years. My family says this is a perfect and fun book that any child would love to read.  The agent won’t care what non-industry professionals think about it. If you have any questions, please feel free to calll me at xxx-xxx-xxxx. Don’t ever provide a phone number unless the agent asks for it. Even then, reconsider. I just know you’ll love it since I read on your personal website that you love thunder storms.  While its good to do research, only mention things they like in their professional capacities, or things they’ve asked for on manuscript wish lists or in the contest you’re entering. Also, include a couple other PB manuscripts pitches that you have ready to go here. It's better to submit when you have at least three completed, ready-for-an-agent manuscripts.

Sincerely, Thank you for your time and consideration,

Emily Moore

The #QueryHelper learned almost everything she knows from reading EVERY. SINGLE. EXAMPLE of query letters and the critiques on  Query Shark, as well as reading blogs with great examples like Nathan Branford's blog. This is one place you don't want to short cut. The query can make or break your submission.