Fill-Me-In Friday: Best Publishing Links of the Week

 

Need to catch up? It's that time of the week again--best links!

But first, I'm a guest over at the Save the Cat blog today talking about Why Your Writing Process Shouldn’t Be Sacred. Yes, I fangirled about Save the Cat so much online that they invited me over, lol. But seriously, that book changed my writing life. I'm a believer. :)

On Writing/Publishing:

• Revisiting The Fevered Egos Of Self-Publishing via Chuck Wendig
• Encouraging Words from Seasoned Professionals « Threadbare Gypsy Soul
• The Dos and Don’ts of Writers’ Conferences: Part 4 :: The Knight Agency, Inc.
• Glass Cases: Damn Yankees, and Other Ways Self-Publishing Holds Itself Back
• All About Advances | Rachelle Gardner
• 10 Writing Quotes that Will Keep You from Quitting (gleaned from @DFWCon) | D.B. Smyth
• Neil Gaiman Gives Graduates 10 Essential Tips for Working in the Arts | Open Culture

On Social Networking:

• The Comfort Zone is for Pets, Not Professionals « Kristen Lamb's Blog
• Pitch Slapped: Why Do You Still Blog? (Or, "Is Anyone Out There?")
• Footprints in Shifting Sands - The Knight Agency on what not to talk about online
• Author, Jody Hedlund: How Much Interaction Should Authors Have With Readers?
• Social Media is an Imperfect Sales Tool. Use it Anyway. | Nathan Bransford
• You’ll Look Like a Spammer If… | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author

Reading:

• Looking for Some 50 Shade of Grey alternatives? The USA Today Happy Ever After blog asked romance authors for their recommendations. (I'm happy to be on the list, but they also list many of my personal favorites too. Great list!)

What You May Have Missed Here:

• 
• From Terrified to Teaching: My Writer's Con Journey
• 
• Alex O'Loughlin - Boyfriend of the Week via Sharla Lovelace
• 
• What Will Make An Agent Gong Your Pages
• 
• Spice It Up Thursday: The Real Girl's Guide to Lingerie
• 
• In Denial About Summer
• (posted on the parenting blog Peanut Butter on the Keyboard)

So that's what I've got for the week. What were some of you favorite links this week?

Spice It Up Thursday: The Real Girl's Guide to Lingerie

Okay, so as many of you know might already know, I have a novella coming out June 5th (and it's only 2.99!). This novella, STILL INTO YOU, is part of my series (I'm calling it #1.5) and is the first story I've ever written about a married couple. 

Here's the blurb:

Seth and Leila used to have trouble keeping their hands off each other. Passion, desire, love—it was all there. Yet, eight years after their whirlwind marriage and kids, they’ve settled into a life where choosing Letterman over Leno is considered a wild night.

Seth knows things need to change. But when he hears his wife call into a relationship radio show and admit she’s been tempted to cheat, he realizes how far off course they’ve gotten. He comes up with a dramatic plan. Three days. No rings. He’ll take Leila to The Ranch, a resort where any sexual fantasy can be had, and give her the freedom to have whatever or whomever she wants.

However, Seth doesn’t intend to simply stand by and watch other men fulfill Leila’s dark desires. He has a lot more bad boy in him than his wife suspects and he knows there’s only one man who can give her what she needs. Now he has to show her why that man is him.

I had a great time writing about a couple that could be any of us--two people who love each other, but have been together a long time and life has started to get in the way of their romance. Now, I don't necessarily suggest taking the extreme measure my couple does in the book, but I thought it'd be fun for the next few weeks to have a Thursday feature focused on simple ways to spice up a relationship and have some fun.

Fair warning: These posts are for 18 and over.

On today's agenda...lingerie.

Okay, so we all know what's out there. We've seen those skimpy things on the Victoria's Secret models. You can't eat a crouton and still fit into half that stuff. (For those of you who can wear those outfits and look flawless...well, move right along before we spot you and start to hate you.) Most of us can't pull off things designed for models. 

And I know there are some guys out there who will say that it's not about looking perfect. They like the idea of it and see us as sexy no matter what. Or they're good with plain old naked. Okay, we love you for that. But half the appeal of lingerie is that the woman can feel sexy in it. It changes things up a bit and can make everything feel a little different, a bit more exciting. But if she feels uncomfortable or un-cute in what she's wearing, it's going to ruin the mood.

So what's a girl to do? Well, here are some ideas that will probably make both your and your guy happy.

Lingerie Alternatives for Every Day Women

1. A man's dress shirt and a pair of heels.

Classic, sexy, and very forgiving on body shape.

2. The sports jersey (striped athletic socks optional)

Just, uh, make sure it's not a team he hates. :)

3. A trench coat with heels or knee high boots.

The only time it's okay to be a flasher.

4. The cowgirl look

This could be jeans or jean skirt, boots, hat, and either a wife beater or plaid shirt tied in the front.

5. The buttoned up business woman or librarian look

Slim black skirt, sheer blouse, heels, sexy lacy stuff underneath (or nothing at all). Glasses for bonus points.

There are also outfits that could be fun for role plays, but I think I shall save that for another post. ;)

So what do you think? Think your guy would go for this? Any other lingerie alternatives you can think of? And men, if you're reading this, would you be happy to see your women in any of these?

What Will Make An Agent Gong Your Pages

This past weekend I attended the DFW Writer's Conference. And one of the most entertaining sessions of that conference is the Gong show. They did it last year and I wrote a post on it here. So I thought I'd do the same thing again since I think it's a really helpful exercise.

So basically this gong show consists of a panel of agents who sit at a table in front of the audience. They are each given their own personal gong to hit. Then either queries or first pages are read by a moderator. Everything is anonymous. And the agents hit the gong at the point they would stop reading. Once three agents have gonged, they give their explanation as to why they would've stopped reading.

I imagine this is pretty painful for those writers who volunteered their pages, but it's a fantastic learning experience. And it makes me realize that even over the past year, my own internal editor has gotten more refined because most of the time, I mentally "gonged" for the same reasons the agents did.

So what were some of the mistakes that got gonged?

In queries...

1. Starting with a question - Have you wondered what the world would be like if...

This is an old one (and was on last year's list), but apparently people are still doing it. One agent said that if you start with a question, 99% of the time, the answer is going to be 'no.' 

2. Not giving the meat of the story - And he transforms into something no one expected...

You don't have to give away the ending, but if you're hiding the twist or the really interesting part because you don't want to "spoil" it, you're hurting yourself. If you don't hook the agent in that query, they're not going to ever get to those pages you want to surprise them with.

3. In YA, sounding like an adult trying to speak teen (or sounding patronizing).

4. Complaining about what is already out there. There is a void of really meaningful vampire stories out there, my story will change that...

This starts you off with a negative and makes you seem pompous. Don't tell them what you think is wrong with your genre. Just show them why your book is worth reading.

5. Using vague language or meaningless words. A story of love and betrayal, deep inner turmoil, and forgiveness...

What is your story about? Give the nitty gritty not all these vague themes.

6. Going on for too long and not getting to the point.

They want short and sweet. Give the main driving story of the novel and get out. You don't need to go into every subplot and every character.

7. Wasting words

One agent was particularly sensitive to things like, "I am writing you in hopes that you will consider..." All those extra words and stating the obvious made him think you may not write tight.

8. Zombies

Zombies were this year's "vampires". Not all the agents gonged them, but there was a definite aversion from some.

9. In YA, the guy/girl moving to a new school or the guy/girl discovering they have a power they never knew they had.

These are getting clichéd in YA.

On the opening page...

1. Not grounding the reader

For instance, starting with dialogue but we get no sense of where the people are or what's around them.

2. Starting with someone being chased through the woods, waking up, dreaming...

All these are cliché and will get you an immediate no from most of the agents present.

3. Using clichéd language.

Your writing needs to sound fresh. It's easy to slip into cliches because they are the first things that come to our mind. I seriously recommend checking out Margie Lawson's lecture packets about fresh writing. It will scare you off clichés forever and make you want to work harder.

4. Showing too much of your research.

This is like your slip showing. If you have to do research for a novel, you don't have to show the reader all of it. Leave some things tucked under your skirt. Only give the reader what they need and move on. Historical authors are particularly prone to this.

5. Not getting to a hooky moment fast enough. 

This was the most common reason. They want conflict and action on the first page. It was okay to set up something in the first or second paragraph, but then they wanted to see the reason why they were supposed to be reading this story. Dumping in a bunch of character descriptions or yammering on about setting got old quickly. What is interesting on that first page?

There were more, but these are the ones that jumped out and got mentioned more than once. (Thanks to the brave souls who volunteered their queries and pages so that everyone else could learn.)

So what do you think? Any of these surprise you? Do you think you've fallen into any of these traps?

Alex O'Loughlin - Boyfriend of the Week via Sharla Lovelace

Today I'm rerunning a boyfriend of the week, but with good reason. When Sharla stopped by orginally, her book, The Reason is You , had just come out and I hadn't read it yet. But now that I have, I needed to see this post again, lol.

Seriously, if you haven't read her book yet, check it out. I know it sounds like I'm just pimping a friend, but I don't rave about books I don't genuinely like. I couldn't put this one down and I loved every minute of the journey. This is the beauty of meeting writers. This is probably not a book I would've picked up on my own since I wouldn't have thought romantic women's fiction (with a paranormal twist) would've been my thing. But I'm SO glad I did. I can't wait for Sharla's next book. I'm officially a fan girl.

Now over to Sharla...

Hi and I’m so glad to be here!  

When she told me I could do a Boyfriend of the Week and talk about who I pictured as my main guy for THE REASON IS YOU, it was shameful how quickly I jumped on that.  There are actually two main men in the story, but back in the beginning…wayyyyy back in the seed of an idea that the story was at first….there was only one fact I knew for sure.  That my main character Dani Shane had a mad love for a man she’d known her whole life and could never touch…because he was a ghost.  And in my head after watching season after season of Moonlight and the sexiest vampire I’d ever known…always wearing black… that all-black-wearing ghost had to be Alex O’Loughlin.

And his character’s name became...ahem…Alex.  Um, yeah, but his last name is Stone so…yanno.  Nobody can prove I was thinking of him when I wrote it.  And I trust y’all.  You wouldn’t sell me out, right?  Or then maybe you should, and Alex O’Loughlin would read about it, and decide he needed to read that book, and then decide he needed to play that part, and go talk to directors about optioning the script, and then…and then…he’d call me at home and say he needed to come talk to me in person about it…  

Okay, I need to quit.  I’m starting to hyperventilate and my dog’s looking at me funny.  And so is my husband.  *glancing sideways*

So here you go…some Alex eye candy.  With commentary from me.  

Does it get better than this? I don’t think it can.

Just being cute and funny on Hawaii Five O…love the funny

Yes.  My answer is yes.

This is back in his vamp days when I first fell in lust

Did I mention he’s Australian? You can’t tell, he totally Americanizes his dialogue in every show, but in talk shows in real life there is that take-me-now accent.  Yum.

He plays a former Navy Seal on Hawaii Five O. 

Vamp days too…all in black. Alex Stone the ghost was born here.

And below is my favorite picture of all time…

From his GQ Australia photoshoot.  I was speechless the first time I saw it.  Then I made it my wallpaper.  There just aren’t words.

So there you go!  Now you can all rejoice with me in the ecstasy that is Alex O’Loughlin.  Yum.  What do you think?

Thank you, Roni!

ABOUT SHARLA: Sharla once hunted for crab in a Honduran jungle, and explored an unknown cave on her belly through a rabbit hole. Not in the same night.  Now, she lives in Southeast Texas by the Neches River with her family, an old lady dog, and 19 cockatiels--the birds actually have their own house outside. The Reason is You is her debut novel, and her second book, BEFORE AND EVER SINCE, is due out in November.

When she's not writing, doing the day job, or doing the family thing, she's stalking her Twitter feed (way too much).

Sharla can be found at her website www.sharlalovelace.com, as well as… Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads under ‘sharlalovelace’.

THE REASON IS YOU Blurb:

In the small river town of Bethany, Dani Shane never fit in. Being different pushed her to the fringes of society, and even leaving town for two decades didn't stop the talk. Now, with her sixteen year-old daughter Riley in tow, Dani is back in Bethany looking for a fresh start. Too bad her plans for staying under the radar are about to be thrown out the window.

Mischievous and sexy, Dani's old friend Alex still has the power to rock her world, but there's a big obstacle standing in their way—Alex has been dead for forty years. With a ghost popping up at inopportune moments and sparking conversations with her teenage daughter, Dani scrambles to find solid ground and get a grip—both on her sanity and her heart.

Now don't you all wanna go out and buy Sharla's book? If nothing else but to picture this guy for an entire novel? - Roni

From Terrified to Teaching: My Writer's Con Journey

Apparently, I'm a hand talkerThis weekend I had the privilege of attending the DFW Writer's Conference. It's a fabulous con and one of the biggest in the area, so if you ever have a chance to come, I suggest you do. 

Three years ago DFW Con was the very first writer's conference I ever attended. I was a brand spanking new writer. I had just finished my first manuscript (the YA that now has permanent residence in the depths of my hard drive) and I was ready to absorb every ounce of information I could.

And I was freaking terrified. 

I'm an introvert and was still coming to terms with calling myself a "writer" out loud. So walking into a room with hundreds of people, some who REALLY knew what they were doing and were already published, was one of the most intimidating situations I'd ever been in. So I went into recluse mode, sitting at a table, simultaneously hoping someone would talk to me and worrying about what I would say if they did.

And of course, I quickly discovered that though we're often the "quiet ones", writers are some of the friendliest people out there. Plus, get us talking about books or writing and we don't shut up. So I ended up managing a few conversations and met some other people. Apparently, I wasn't going to be allowed to survive in "just go to the classes and not socialize mode". :)

I also remember being completely in awe of the published authors and the people teaching the classes. I was too nervous to talk to them. I mean--hell, they had actual books in actual stores. But I sat there like a sponge, absorbing all the fabulous info (and realizing--oh crap, I have done a lot wrong with my book, lol.)

I left that conference completely overwhelmed and totally inspired. (And it turned me into a total confernce junkie.)

So fast forward to this year and I found myself at DFW Con for the third time. But this time, instead of being the girl who was afraid to talk to a published author, I was a published author. And instead of the shy girl who was freaked out by a crowd, I was the one in front of all those people, teaching. (And enjoying it--imagine that, lol.)

Total outer body experience. 

I know I'm still at the beginning of my publishing journey, but having that kind of full circle moment was pretty amazing. 

So thank you to DFW Con for inspiring me three years ago and making me feel welcome. And thank you for inviting me this year to teach a few classes.

And most of all, thank you to every writer who came to my classes, asked great questions, and made this shy girl feel at ease in front of a group. You rock. :)

(Oh, and for those of you who bought my book: *tackle hug*)

Have you ever had a full circle moment? Have you ever been the shy guy/girl at a conference? What was your first writer's conference experience like?