Celtic Hearts has a great workshop available this month for all those of you who are wondering how to build an online platform. One of the things that every agent seems to say is that you need to have an online platform, and I had to learn the hard way how to do it. Deborah Brent is going to teach a great class and guide us through the ins and outs of it. She's done it herself and has first-hand knowledge. Great opportunity. Discounts for Celtic Hearts members. I hope you'll sign up today! Here's the workshop blurb.

Building Your Online Platform with Deborah Brent
Since about 2002, I’ve been Deborah Brent. This is the name I plan to use in my writing from now on. Will you answer to Jennifer, Sandra, or Alexandra? Deborah is my real first name. I’ll answer to it. Keep this in mind when choosing a name. This course will help members pick their name or if they want to use their real name.
There are lots of writing-related Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, and chat rooms. We will look at online sites and help members decide which ones they have the time and which ones suit their personalities. Also, we will talk about what to and what not to share online that may impact your career.

You need a website. There are others much more computer literate than me who can tell you how to do this. We will go over some of the basics, free and cheap sites and how to pick a web designer.

Lastly, we will look at the conferences and workshops online that can help them learn their craft and advance their career.

I can’t guarantee that you will get published by building your platform, but when the time comes for the editor to look for you online, they will find you.

Instructor Bio:
Deborah is a native of East Tennessee. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tennessee with a focus on history and a minor in anthropology.

She is a member of: Organization of American Historians; Phi Eta Sigma – National Honor Society for college freshmen; Phi Alpha Theta – History Honor Society; Romance Writers of America® (www.rwanational.org) and several of its chapters.

She has ghost blogged and written many newsletter articles for Smoky Mountain Romance Writers (www.smrw.org), a chapter of Romance Writers of America ®, and other chapter newsletters. Some of these have been reprinted throughout the US, Canada and New Zealand.

You know the drill. These are what I consider to be the best of the best of what I've read in the blogosphere this week. I'm not trying to make any negative quality statements about any other posts. Just that these particularly struck me as being helpful, funny, interesting, quirky, insert adjective here.



* Maybe the best post I have read in a LONG time. It worries me, in our attempts to be open-minded that we are really just being closed-minded in a different way than before. You have to read this post.

* Jody Hedlund wrote another great one. About broccoli and bubble gum. :-) Or what to do with positive and negative feedback.

* Eliza Knight wrote a great post about what we can cut out of our lives. Love it. I need this reminder, pretty regularly. Cut out the other stuff and focus on the writing. On my way to do that right now.

* I loved reading this real-life love story. So beautiful. Thanks for passing it along, Maeve.

* Very cool post from "Romance In Writing" on the Slush Pile. I think I'd had those exact thoughts at some point when I read an agent's post about slush pile finds. Worth reading.

* I enjoyed reading little words from each of these Dorchester authors over at Musetracks this week. Very good.

I was watching 30 Rock tonight. I don't generally watch 30 Rock. Not because I don't like it. On the contrary, when my sister first showed me an episode, I thought, wow, I could get used to this. But for some reason, I never started watching it.

Well, I was trying to get this project done tonight, so I turned on the TV in the background, and 30 Rock was on. But I couldn't get the project done, because I kept stopping to watch this hilarious show. Plus, Will Arnett was on, and who can resist Will Arnett? Not me.

Anyway, as I was watching the show, I found myself wishing that I watched more often. But it's not like I need another show to watch. In fact, I'm trying to get rid of some of the junk I'm already watching. But there was something that was pulling me toward watching this show.

Then, in a scene with Alec Baldwin and Will Arnett, I realized what it was.

I have an undeniable addiction to crazy and ridiculous. In fact, there's one place in Harry Potter where I always laugh. And it's during the Ridikkilus spells. Just the word is enough to crack me up.

I used to watch a crazy and ridiculous show. It was called Arrested Development. This show was absolutely nutty, written by and acted by complete nutters. About a nutter family. But it was just brilliant. Quite possibly the funniest lines in all of television occurred on this show.

"But I wasn't about to take 'wasn't-optimistic-it-could-be-done' for an answer."

"I... am a Never-Nude. There are dozens of us. Dozens!"

"We'll start with the felonies, and move into the lighter treasons..."

"Michael was concerned that he was caught in a lie about his family. The family was concerned that they were being confronted by a woman they had clubbed, drugged, and left on a bench."

Okay, that's it. Time for a quick episode of Arrested Development. Yeah, as hard as I try to find a new ridiculous show, I just think there will never be another thing on TV like this show. Even 30 Rock, as cool as it is... I just don't know if it can hold a candle to AD.

What about you? Have you seen these two shows? Which one do you prefer? Do you have a favorite ridiculous comedy that I should check out? Any comedies to recommend?

When the Bachelorette was on the other night, apparently she made a comment on the show that raised some fuss. I didn't watch it, but the way it was described to me was this: She thought she was going to get married before, but she didn't, so she went back to work. And now that she's hoping to get married again, she is looking forward to quitting her job. That was the gist of what I heard about it, anyway.

Several of my Twitter friends commented about this, saying that she's not a very good feminist. These are all women whom at least I would consider to be good feminists. So when they say that, I sit up and listen. I used to work for maybe the most stringent feminist I've ever met, and I always have an interest in this. I have two friends who are pursuing Feminist Studies in school, and we have these conversations regularly--about what is and is not feminism.

So here's my 2p about this discussion.

Feminism, at its inception, was about equality. Equal choice. For women and for men. In fact, as one of my college professors so eloquently pointed out to me in my own Women's Studies class in undergrad, a true feminist argues as stridently for men's rights as they do for women's. Not women over men, not men over women. But equality. Women should have the same opportunities that men have. And vice versa.

A good feminist, according to my professor, should fight as hard for a woman to stay in the home and get married as s/he should fight for her to have a job. A good feminist should also fight as hard for a man to stay in the home and care for his children as s/he should for a man to have a job. A good feminist should fight as hard for a man to stay home and care for his family as s/he should for a woman to go to work. A good feminist should fight as hard for a woman to stay home and care for her family as s/eh should for a man to go to work. A good feminist does not need to be a women, nor feminine. Because it's all about equality.

Feminism isn't about women in the workplace. It was never intended to take away a woman's right to choose to get married and have children and be a stay-at-home mom. Yet somehow it seems to get the rap (on both sides of the fence) that it will do that. But that's not what it was intended to do. It was intended to promote equal choice for all genders.

And while I, as a woman, choose to work (and I'm not married, so I don't know who's gonna stay home and take care of the kids I don't have...), I will definitely defend the right of my fellow women (and men) to choose to let their spouse work. If a woman feels like she can't choose to do what she wants, that becomes an issue for me. But if she is given the opportunity to choose, and decides to choose housewifedom, then yay for her. It bugs me that we don't see that as a job, first of all. I have several friends who have done it, and they work harder than anyone with a corporate job I've ever seen. God bless those women who, because of economic pressures, have to be both a full-time mother and a full-time corporate worker (or other worker). I can't imagine how hard that would be.

What about you? What is your definition of "a good feminist"? What were you taught about feminism? How do you feel about choice? I know I'm taking my life into my hands in a manner of speaking, so let's try to be nice about it. But I really would like to hear your opinions.

**The last year-ish, have been coaching a couple of writers. I asked for permission from one of my clients to share this story.**

Meghan had been working on her novel for eight years. The story of a 21-year-old woman who decided to sell all her worldly possessions and work in the Mumbai slums with Mother Theresa was based on Meghan's life--and not very loosely based, as I came to find out through some intense coaching sessions.

The premise of the novel excited me from the moment I heard about it. Young woman struggles with her faith, has a life-changing experience working with the homeless in Vancouver, BC, gives up her life of privilege and spends her life serving others. There was even a romance. Better.

When Meghan got to the climax of the story, where her then-boyfriend decided to go back to America, abandoning the poor in the slums, and she has to choose between staying in India and following her new love back to wealth and opulence, she had a hard time writing the scenes.

The first time I read one of her drafts, it read something like this. Virginia sat down in the coffee shop to pray. She sipped her coffee and decided to go to America. I was dumbfounded! She'd just spent an entire book setting me up for this moment, and this was supposed to satisfy me? I immediately called her.

"Meghan," I said, tension oozing in the drawn-out syllable. Honestly, I didn't know what to say. How do you say, that last scene really blew in a constructive way? So instead of making a pronouncement, I asked a question. "So, what made you write that scene with Virginia in the coffee shop the way you did?"

"It really happened that way."

"So, when you decided to come back and marry Sam, you were in a coffee shop and you made your decision?"

"It happened exactly like I wrote it. I sat down, thinking I would pray, and I drank coffee for awhile and thought, and then I just decided to go back to America."

There was the problem right there. It really happened. She was writing, essentially, a piece of creative nonfiction, and didn't know it. She was trying to find the best way to say "and then I decided to go to America." But it just wasn't working, from a story-structure point of view. Why? Because it's not a good story the way it really happened. Not in that particular place, anyway.

"What made you decide that?" I asked, pushing for some motivation. "I mean, was there a thought that went through your head just before you decided? Were you thinking about Sam? Or did you maybe feel like your work was done? Did God at least talk to you? Or maybe nudge you?"

"I don't remember. I just remember I thought about stuff for awhile, and then... I don't know. I just decided I wanted to marry Sam and go back to America."

How do you say to someone, okay, honey, your real life is just not interesting enough to write what really happened? But that was essentially the problem. What really happened doesn't ring true. It really happened, but it was really boring.

I prodded her for awhile, and we established that her motivation was really her love for Sam. So I told her she needed to rewrite that scene so that she and Sam were in the coffee shop together, and he told her he was leaving, and she said she was staying. But when she sat there, with her decision, after he left her, she realized how much she loved him, and she wanted to be with him forever. Then she made some big romantic gesture at the end. Not like a chick-movie thing. No rain or corny lines or pencils or puppies. Just some kind of way to let him know that she chose him. That she wanted him.

"But that's not what really happened." Imagine the voice of a petulant child, and you will come close to seizing upon the whine in her tone right about now. She doesn't like me very much right here. And, yes, that's "telling". Not showing. I'm aware. And I'm doing it anyway.

"It doesn't matter," I said. "You want to get across what's true about her character right here. She has to realize that she wants to be with Sam. You have to resolve the anxiety that your building tension creates in your readers."

"But I like it the other way. People will believe it, because it really happened."

"Let me tell you something." I donned my most posh-academic MFA voice. "Readers don't believe something because it's real, they believe something because it's true. Because it rings true."

She did end up changing the scene, after a much longer phone call where she swore at me a lot. But I stuck to my guns. And the book ended up getting an offer for representation from an agent. It's on her desk as we speak, waiting for the call. And I guarantee you, it would never have made it there with that weak climax.

In reality, though, it didn't matter whether it was the climax or not. It didn't matter if it was an unthinking decision, a mother's two-week silence after her daughter's death, or a transvestite pastor taxi cab driver in Marrakesh who only knew two words in English... whether or not something is "real" is not important to fiction. This becomes especially tricksy if you're writing a novel that is based on a true story.

There is an element of truth to all good fiction. Otherwise, people wouldn't read it. There's something powerful and even transformative about a good story, well-told. In fiction, your target is not "real". It's "true". Even if your novel/novella/short story is based on a true story. Doesn't matter. As a writer, it is your responsibility to tell that story in a way that is transformative and engaging. That's the only way that the "real"ness of the story will have any power. If people get it. And sometimes we don't "get" real. It's just the unfortunate truth of being human. Sometimes, we need a little raconteur to spin a tale that teaches us something that's true about ourselves. And even entertains us in the process.

So what about you? Have you ever had an experience like this? Are you writing a "real" novel? Do you struggle with this? By the way, I should tell you, only about 50% of the above story is really "real". It's all true, though. :-)

Following means that my choice is done. I've assimilated. I'm addicted. If it comes to a choice between watching Lost and watching The Celebrity Apprentice, I have to choose Lost, because I'm addicted. I'm following their every move. I need to know what happened.

Following is all about addiction. It's about need and lack of choice. Think of your Twitter followers. Whether they want to or not, they've chosen to "follow" you. Every time you hit enter, your opinions show up on my screen. Even when I'm not a fan of what you have to say. But because I'm following, I have to see everything you say. Now, while I don't think it's a big deal with Twitter, I think it's creating some disturbing trends in other arenas that worry me a little.

I've written before about how much I enjoy watching television on occasion. I have "my shows" that I watch. And since it's been Season Finale (and/or Series Finale) week this week, I've been noticing some disturbing trends in television writing that remind me of similar trends I see in novel writing.

I worry that we've come to rely too much on devices. Some shows, it seems, rely almost completely on devices to keep people interested. My favorite examples of this lately is Lost, but I'll get to that. Soap operas are the classic example, in my opinion, and I think that a too many good shows are starting to follow this trend in order to get "followers" instead of "fans".

It seems like every show out there overuses cliffhangers, for instance. Cliffhangers are no longer used just at the end of a show (which is bad enough). But now, shows are using cliffhangers before they go to commercial. And sometimes, misdirected cliffhangers, at that. (The worst device of all, in my opinion.) The Biggest Loser has become so predictable about their cliffhangers that I can predict exactly when we're going to commercial because of the way people are reacting to the person's weigh in.

Lost has become famous for their in medias res beginning. The first scene of the show was a plane crash. Talk about in the middle! And every episode for awhile was opening in the beginning of something that no one understood. In fact, the whole storyline of Lost was sort of in medias res (in the middle). No one really knew what was going on until the very last five minutes of the very last episode of the entire series. And even then, we had to watch Jimmy Kimmel to see if we were really right. (Stupid, by the way.)

Lots of soap operas (and a disturbing number of reality shows, nighttime dramas, and even--unfortunately--sitcoms) are now using and overusing and hyperbolically beating to death the plot twist. You've seen it. Just when you think things are going a certain way, they pull the rug from under you and twist the plot. It might be someone's friend is really their sister. It might be that what seemed like a dream is really purgatory. It might be that all the teams we've become comfortable with will now be reorganized and pitted against each other. It might be that you have to sashay naked down main street instead of eat tapioca pudding. I don't know. But it is essentially part of most plots. Yet somehow, television shows have caught on that plot twists create anxiety in us and make us need to watch because we need relief!

And the only way to get relief is to have our anxiety quelled. To know what happens. To know the end of the story. To see the character for ourselves. To know who won. Whatever. This anxiety creates disease within us, and makes us need to know what happened. To a certain extent, this is a good thing. When you abuse it, or overuse it, it's just a device. And it makes people (like me) stop watching.

Coming tomorrow: how this effects writing.

These are just a few of the ways that television producers/writers, authors, musicians, and products are using devices to get followers. What are some others that you've noticed?

You know the drill. These are what I consider to be the best of the best of what I've read in the blogosphere this week. I'm not trying to make any negative quality statements about any other posts. Just that these particularly struck me as being helpful, funny, interesting, quirky, insert adjective here.

* Really fantastic blog post here about the Top Ten things that agents think when reading your query. Definitely a must-read.

* I read an amazing blog on getting organized as a writer that I wish I would have read before I started actively pursuing a writing career. :-) But I guess it's better late than never.

* The Muses had Mr. Romance 2009 on their blog this week. He wrote the post and included pictures. It was really cool to see.

* Writer's Digest released their 101 best websites for writers in their latest issue, and gave us a sneak peek. If you don't follow these websites, they're great!

* Yet another fantastic historical post from the ladies over at Celtic Queens. They blow me away!

* Have you ever been a blog stalker? I loved this blog post!

* This was a great post on how to write blog posts that lots of people will want to click on and read.

* Seriously, how does Rachelle Gardner always end up on my list? I think it's like six weeks running. But she's always writing great blog posts. Here's another really fantastic one about verbal pitching for those of us who are going to do an author's conference this summer. She's also doing a pitch class next week. I'm not sure if I can afford it or not, but I hope that I can. It sounds great.

Those of you who follow my blog regularly may have noticed that my WIP challenge numbers have not gone up in the last couple of weeks. *le sigh* And you would be correct. They have not moved since just before the Genesis Finalists were announced.

In trying to find a way to express my feelings about this, I turned on Pandora and opened a blank page, and lo-and-behold, the Harry Potter soundtrack came on. The little children's choir started to sing "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and I thought... that's it!! That's the perfect sentiment for what I've been feeling lately about this monster of a writing project.

Part of the Genesis and Touched-by-Love recommendations (even in the midst of great praise) was that my story starts in the wrong place. Too slowly do I get to the meat of the story, or the meet of the story, to be exact.

In the guise of the literary fiction I'm used to writing, I took my sweet time writing the lead-up to the meet-cute. (I hate it when people say "cute-meet", by the way. The phrase is an old screenwriting term, and it's meet-cute. Sorry, all my frustrations are just boiling out at once... I apologize. Say it however you want.) Thirty pages later, still no meet-cute. In fact, I was twittering about it like crazy when I finally got to it, on page 45!! And then I finally bit the bullet and wrote the meet-cute, and then it was fine. I went about my merry way and wrote a nearly the rest of the book.

Well, after the Genesis feedback came back (they only got the first 15 pages), I only had two days to revise before I had to get it to the judges, so that's what I did. I started the story about twenty pages in, cut about fifteen pages on the other side, and got my hero and heroine together on page 7. Much better, right?

Wrong.

That 45 pages of stuff (well, perhaps 22 pages out of the 45) were important. They weren't backstory. I talked with my critique partners extensively about this and they agreed with me. Yes, they thought, the pages I'd already written were critical to the story, but yes, h/h needed to meet quicker. So I've been busy devising a plan about how to make that happen.

Then the Touched-by-Love entries came back. These judges got the first 30 pages. I had two judges who loved the entry, and one judge who hated it. H-a-t-e-d. She said it wasn't even really romance. That was hard to hear, at first. But when I took a step back from feeling completely bashed by the comments, I could completely see her point. The entire entry she read, my hero and heroine were apart. That's not romantic. That's why SH/LI likes their h/h to meet on the first page. They want the romance to draw you in. And if I want to ever have a chance to write SH/LI, I have to learn to do what they ask me to do.

So now my quandary is this: I've spent a bunch of time re-working my first chapter. But in order to do that, I've had to cut at least 50% of my current ms. Which means that I have to re-plot the entire book. And that re-plotting has caused me to go back to the drawing board on my characters. Which then caused me to go back to the drawing board on my plot. Which caused me to re-think my characters. Which changed the plot. You get my drift?

At this point, the plot is completely different than it was before, but not really. It's still the same basic storyline, but the way that story unfolds is different. The characters are deeper, but different. But the same. It's really hard to explain.

What's become very clear to me is I'm getting stalled in all this change. I had such a clear idea of where I was going. And now I don't. And the wicked thing that is coming is the rewriting. That is the monster I'm dreading. Because I liked where my old novel was. I liked where it began (which, since then, has finaled in a Page-One contest), I liked the middle. I liked the end. It wasn't too complex. It wasn't un-complex. It was just right. And now I feel like I'm writing a different book.

But it really can't be helped. Taking out the first 45 pages makes the structure all wrong to just "add length" in the middle somewhere. That wouldn't have worked. I needed to begin a certain way, which meant that my heroine's circumstances had to change a little bit. And now I'm down to only about 10,000 completed words that are going to stay. So instead of being almost complete, I now have 40,000 words left.

It just makes me sad. And I think I needed to admit that, and sort of get mad about it, and now move past it. Because if I don't get the book finished, none of this will matter at all.

So I'm off to do some writing. Thanks for listening to my catharsis.

Don't forget about the Walker's Shortbread Giveaway over at Romancing the Palate. Today and tomorrow are your last chances to enter!! Entries close at midnight tomorrow (Sunday). So enter today!

Just click on this link, read the post, leave a comment. Low maintenance. :-) But hope you enjoy!

Jayne over at Dear Author put up a post today reviewing Bride & Prejudice, which if you haven't seen yet, I highly recommend you check out. It's the Bollywood version of Pride & Prejudice that is really quite good.

It was my first introduction to Bollywood, and I watched it (originally) because Naveen Andrews (Sayid from Lost) was in it. Of course, I knew it was based on P&P, but it was really Sayid that drew me to the film. And I just couldn't get enough of him.

Well, it turns out I couldn't get enough of Bollywood, either.

So I set out to get to know the genre, and to watch as many of its films as I could, and see how I liked them.

It also turns out that I liked them very much. So I watched every Bollywood film I could get my hands on for months. I saturated myself in the information and the music and the food and the experience. My best friend had just come back from a two-year stint in India, and she helped me out a lot. She helped me to fall in love with Bollywood.

Your average Bollywood film is going to be in Hindi. It's going to be a musical. And it's not going to have any sex or even (normally) kissing in it. There will be a romance story, there will be a conflict and often a villain. There will be color and excitement and lots of music. Did I mention they sing a lot? Okay. Musicals. Love it.

There is dancing, there is romance, there are often references to American films or classic English books. The settings are breathtaking, the acting is usually good, and the actors are delicious.

Abhishek Bachchan, who stars in a lot of Bollywood films, is pictured here. See, isn't he gorge? Yeah. In general, the actors are not ones you will have seen before, and they're beautiful people. Lots of fun to watch them cavort (but not "cavort").

Anyway, here's a Bollywood primer. If you haven't seen a Bollywood film before, go check out Bride & Prejudice. It's a good introductory film. It's in English, there are no subtitles, and it's based on an easily recognizable plot. It's cheesy, yes, but that's Bollywood for you.

If you don't like B&P at all... unless you are a BIG fan of foreign films and/or musicals, you probably are not going to enjoy Bollywood. You might want to try watching The Mistress of Spices, but chances are, you won't like that either. So you gave it the old college try. Good for you!

If you liked B&P a little... try a little film called Bunty aur Babli. It's also based on a recognizable Western plot (Bonnie & Clyde). It has great music. It's in Hindi. this can be your next primer for Bollywood. If you don't like BaB, probably Bollywood is not for you. But you can always try other films. There are definitely other films that you might like. Check them out.

If you liked B&P a lot... immediately go to your Netflix cue. Put into your cue the following titles, probably in this order: Kuch naa Kaho, Devdas, Om Shanti Om, Jodhaa Akbar, Umrao Jaan, Dhaii Akshar Prem Ke, Chalte Chalte. You may want to switch around Devdas and Kuch naa Kaho if you're not into heroes you don't like from the very first moment you see them (like, oh, say, Mr. Darcy?). But I still suggest starting with KnK. If you get to one you don't like, move on to the next one. Chances are if you like B&P, you're going to like Bollywood, and you might as well just get used to it. :-) Happy watching.

Do let me know if you watch them, what you think, eh? And what about those of you who are already Bollywood fans? What's your favorite? Do you watch Nach Baliya on the Internet? If you like Dancing With the Stars and Bollywood... you should. :-) Anyway, what other Bollywood films did I leave out that you love? What did you think of B&P?

So, if you've been here before, you might notice that I have a new layout. :-)

What do you think of it? Let me know. I'm considering changing it one more time, but I want to see what y'all think first.

I will miss the purple, and the great chick in the corner... she always made me think, "that's me... I can be that cool!" So we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, let me know.

What do you think of the new layout? If you've never been here, what do you think of the blog in general? Thanks for your feedback!

I wanted to post this because it's a great contest to enter. The deadline for entries is June 1st, and there are all kinds of categories! Hope some of you enter. Looks like some great judges!!

Cross Check My Heart
by Kerri Nelson
Spicy Contemporary Romance Novella
(Eternal Press, 2009)

I'm taking a pitching workshop right now from the illustrious and wonderful Kerri Nelson (and she really is illustrious, and wonderful). I signed up for it because I love Kerri, and because I'd heard from past students that it helped them to sell their novels.

Let me tell you... this is one of the most helpful workshops I've ever taken, and if you're a beginning writer, I highly suggest you check it out. Even if you're not, I think Kerri really has the art of pitching down and can be helpful to any writer of any level.

Because it is HARD. It's hard to take a collection of thousands of words that you've written and loved and spent time with and condense it down into three sentences. Three compelling sentences, no less. Full of just enough, but not too much, detail. Full of the major plot point and enough to pique character interest.

(This picture, by the way, I got off the web and I couldn't not use it... It was just too good. You can check out the original website--mediabistro--here. Or at least the original website where I found it. Also, lots of pitching resources.)

Now, we're not talking baseball here. This is the kind of pitching that authors do. It doesn't involve throwing things (unless you get rejected. just kidding.), but it does involve a lot of technique and a lot of time and a lot of courage. I never realized any of that before I took this class.

I have agent and editor appointments scheduled for Nationals. I have pitches out on a publishers loop. I have queries in the making, and queries on agents desks (or in their inboxes). But until I took this class I had no idea what I would be doing.

Granted, I had learned a lot from Noah Lukeman's book on how to query. Very beneficial. I had an agent comment on how much they liked my query letter and how I must have read Noah Lukeman's book. I thought that was funny. :-) They totally nailed me.

But this workshop is different. It's the difference between reading a book on pitching by Cy Young (one of the greatest pitchers in history) and getting live pitching instruction from Greg Maddux. Reading the book is great, but it only teaches you the technique. The live instruction gives you real-time feedback on your specific strengths and weaknesses. And it is invaluable.

I just did my first non-query pitch. It was intense. My heart was racing the whole time. But because of what I've learned about my individual pitching style, I was able to feel more confident in the product I put out, and now I can put it out of my mind. If they contact me, great. If not, great. The experience has been amazing.

If you want to know more about Kerri's next class, click here to see her June class from Colorado Romance Writers.

What about you? Have you pitched anything recently? Taken any good workshops? Learned anything about your pitching style? Played any baseball? :-)

Finaling in the Genesis Contest was incredible. And I'm so grateful to all of you for your support and encouragement! It was so much more special because I was able to share it with all of you.

But now I'm sort of wondering what to do next.

I spent the weekend re-working my ms according to the judges comments. And I had some **fantastic** judges. Their comments were so incredibly helpful. I feel like I was able to enter an ms that was at least passable in quality, but still not quite where I wanted it to be. I have no illusions about winning. Having judged contests before, it always seems like there's one manuscript that stands out as really excellent among all of the other *good* ones, and that is the one that will win.

Plus, I had to do some major re-writing. Because of where my story started and what my target market was, I essentially had to cut the first four chapters. And where it begins now is probably not even where it will eventually begin when it's completely edited... still, it feels strange to send out something that's so fresh after I've essentially been working on the first 60 pages of that novel for the last three months. And now most of those pages are gone.

It brings up an interesting point for me. Now that I've finaled in the Genesis, as Angie said so eloquently, I'll have more clout with CBA publishers, which I think is great. But I still have to have a publishable manuscript, no matter what I've finaled or not finaled in. So while I sit here basking in this glow, I have a bit of a reality check in that I still don't feel like I have a publishable manuscript. I know that there's work I can do on it, and I will. I just thought I would feel more confident after this final, but I don't.

It is a great honor. And no doubt my judges thought my manuscript deserved it. And for a little while, on the day when I got the call, I definitely felt like I was on top of the world.

Now I'm back to reality. Where I am insecure and uncertain. And I'm struggling through other things in my life right now that are not helping to build my confidence. So while this has been a great experience, it really is not the be-all-and-end-all of anything. A great honor. And life goes on.

I wonder if Oscar nominees feel like this after they don't win. If they get nominated and think, "wow, I could really be the best" but then wake up Monday morning and are just the same old person again. Interesting.

Well, I don't really have a lot of profound stuff to say. I'm just sort of processing where I am. Thanks for listening. If you have any insight, I would love to hear it. But either way, I just wanted to remember that I felt this way, because I imagine this whole cycle will happen again in one way or another. And it's good to know that it's normal when you're feeling in this place. :-) So thanks for being on my journey with me.

You know the drill. These are what I consider to be the best of the best of what I've read in the blogosphere this week. I'm not trying to make any negative quality statements about any other posts. Just that these particularly struck me as being helpful, funny, interesting, quirky, insert adjective here.

* Nicola Cornick wrote a fascinating post on toilets and waterclosets that would be especially helpful to those of us who write historicals, and names a really great resource.

* Loved this post "To Anonymous" on how to lose readers and alienate people. Would *love* to know who the "anonymous" was, so I can stop reading his/her books. I hate it when professional people don't act like professional people. Anyway, very interesting read.

* I thought that Rachelle Gardner's post on how to pitch was particularly helpful. Well, at least for where I am right now. And of course, like she said, it's conference season coming up, and we'll be pitching to editors and agents... and we need to know these things!

* Oh, and did I mention... I finaled in the Genesis contest??? :-) Here's the announcement of the finalists.

* The greatest idea in writing lately: The very well-organized (and successful) fundraiser for Nashville run by a group of Tennessee writers called "Do the Write Thing for Nashville". There are some really amazing prizes there. And still a big editor/agent lunch package. Check it out. 

* Maeve Greyson wrote a great comic post about charm and responding under duress. (When you get down to the joke part, you have to read it out loud... it's the best.)

* Steena Holmes wrote a great post on the Genesis contest. I remember what it felt like not to final in the Golden Heart, and to have critique partners who did. It is definitely the worst. I applaud Steena for the way she is approaching this. She's handling it much better than I did. :-)

* Nicole duCleroir said some very interesting things about book ratings and negative feedback that made me think. I'm not sure whether I would read my negative reviews on Amazon or not. What do you think?

* They're doing a "Successful Queries" series over at Guide to Literary Agents. I particularly liked the one he posted this week. It reminds me of how important it is to get to know all you can about your agent and their tastes before you query. Sound advice.

I was in Wal Mart yesterday, buying Orajel for my horrific toothache, and I got a phone call from an unknown number. Since it was from an area code I recognized, I thought it might have been my friend Mike, calling from a different number.

Mike's nickname is "Pants". Funny story. It involves pants. Anyway, whenever he calls, I always answer the phone by yelling "Pants!" into the receiver. Boy am I glad I didn't do that with this call. Because it turns out it wasn't Pants Johnson at all. It was a very nice woman from ACFW who had some very nice news for me.

I am a 2010 Genesis Contest Finalist!

Needless to say, I almost fainted dead away in the soup aisle. :-) For those of you who don't write Christian Fiction, the Genesis is the equivalent of the SAG awards for unpublished authors. Your entry is judged by your peers on a national level, and they pick "nominees" for each of the 10 awards, which are then revamped and sent off to be judged by agents and editors.

So, as Kristy said to me yesterday, this is a massive validation of the work I've done. And I do want to celebrate that. This is a big deal.

But there's still a lot of work to be done. And I have the toothache from hell, literally. I am convinced that hell is going to be just us living with bad dental hygiene and not an anesthetic in sight. I think I will have to make an emergency dental visit today. But my Genesis revisions are due on Sunday morning. And I have lots of revisions to make. I'm frustrated about having to deal with this tooth pain in the middle of everything. But of course, it will all be fine in the end.

I keep opening my email inbox to see the email from the "Genesis Coordinator" and it gives me a little thrill every time. It reminds me how important it is to stop and take the time to celebrate our little victories. So, even in the midst of all my mind-numbing tooth pain, I have a little victory. Okay, a big victory. And I'm going to take all the time I can to celebrate it and be happy.

And some of the dopamine will hopefully help to dull the tooth pain. :-) Until I can get to the dentist at least.

And I will get my contest entry revised and in on time. And then starts all the waiting. We don't find out who won until the National conference in September. So as excited as I am, I won't know anything for awhile. I'm sure I'll continue to ride this wave. My judges were very complimentary, and I can read and re-read those when I'm in a funk.

But like Kristy said, this is a big validation. I need to celebrate it. "There had better be a big blog post," she said. And there is. :-) I hope this was satisfactory. :-)

I am a 2010 Genesis Finalist!!

Okay, now back to work. :-)

What about you? Have you ever gotten a call like this before? A big call for agenting or publication or contest finaling or college entrance or anything like that? What was it like for you?

In my humble opinion, these are the best of the best of what I read on the blogosphere this week. How do I determine what the "best" is? Well, it's always arbitrary. It might be a good piece of writing, or good tips, or a good emotional connection. I'm just trying to save what I felt were the best of what I read. So here we go.

* If you haven't yet seen the "Do the Write Thing for Nashville" blog, you need to check it out right now. Bid on something! All the money goes to help victims of the Nashville floods.

* New to blogging? Check out this list of what it takes to be a good blogger. Very good!

* Agent Kristen put up a great post about beginning your novel in the right place. It was so helpful, I thought I'd pass it along.

*Booklife put up a really interesting post that all unpublished writers should probably check out. It's a great picture of the entire process of publishing a book. It's not quite as easy as it seems...

* Emily Bryan talked about what editors want from writers. Very good post.

* Do you spend too much time blogging? (I am looking in the mirror...) Check this post out.

Any of you like The Mentalist out there? Well, here's your chance to spot the lying amidst the truth.

Thanks to my wonderful and illustrious Celtic sister Kerri Nelson for nominating me for the "Creative Writer" award that she gave me. I hope that "creative" is a compliment. :-) Just kidding, Ker. I'm not sure yet who I'm gonna nominate for this... but I'll think about that later.

So, here's what I have to do. :-)

The rules for the award are simple:
1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth – or – switch it around and tell six outrageous truths and one outrageous lie.
5. Nominate seven “Creative Writers” who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.
6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.


Here are my Six Outrageous Truths and One Outrageous Lie. Try to guess which is which. People who comment on this post will also be entered into the drawing for the GIVEAWAY that's going on this weekend, until Sunday night.

1. I am a published writer.
2. I grew up on the Canadian border.
3. I used to tour with my band (does that also make me a rockstar?).
4. I've written and directed my own musical on stage.
5. I met Barack Obama.
6. I've been playing the piano since I was 2 years old.
7. I am a pastor.

Uh-oh. Which is which? Take a wild (or educated) guess.

Oh, and I have to nominate people, right? Right. Okay, here we go.

1. Steena (Chocolate Reality) - who is a great critique partner!
2. Jessie (Blog Schmog) - another great critique partner!
3. Lexi (Lexi Connor) - who is a fantastic VP for CHRW
4. Christy (At Split Ends) - who just finished a great month of accountability on her blog (great!)
5. Jen (unedited) - who is one of my most regular readers & loves Sunday Shout-Outs!
6. Arianna (Arianna Skye) - who wrote a book I loved
7. Maeve (Maeve Greyson) - who is in my Celtic Hearts group

I hope you all have as much fun with this as I did (which was: BLAST, by the way). Fly, my pretties!

Radical
by David Platt

Published by: Multnomah Books
Release Date: May 4, 2010
Price: $14.99 ($9.99 for Kindle)

The subtitle of this book is "Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream." Now, being a fan of this school of thought already, I was very eager to read this book when I heard about its release. I've been listening to Greg Boyd try to help us separate the American cultural mythos from the Christian faith for a long time. So a new voice is highly appreciated.

Not everyone who reads this blog is a Christian, so let me explain something about myself. I went to Seminary, so I tend to be pretty interested in theological writing. I'm also more of a rebel, so I like to push the envelope. And when the opportunity came to review this book from Multnomah, I was psyched about it. I like to read theology books that push at the edges of what's okay for Christians to talk about. I like to say, at my other blog, I am an equal-opportunity offender. I like to offend both the people who agree with me, and the people who don't. That way, no one feels left out. I'm really an includer. :-) But really, I just like to look at the edges. I think that's where the action is. This book, for me, is on the edge.

This book will speak to people who are tired of the same-old-same-old Christianity. It will also speak to people who are okay with it. What I appreciate about the way this book is structured and written, is that the author takes no prisoners. He believes in this radical living, and it's not the kind of "radical" you might initially think. He's not talking about preaching on street corners. He's talking about sacrifice. Sacrificing the superficiality of the American Dream for a life of sacrificial love to the whole world. It is truly an inspiring message. I highly suggest, if you are a Christian or if you are wondering if there's something more to this life, that you read this book. In fact, I would say that if you are a Christian, you need to read this book. Immediately.

**As per FTC regulations, I need to disclose that I received a copy of this book from Multnomah to review.**

So here's the giveaway.

I have been given a copy of this book to give away. If you comment on this blog post, you will be entered into a drawing where I will give away a copy of this book. All you have to do is comment before midnight on Sunday (May 9th). But make sure you leave a way for me to contact you. Either your email address, or if you have a blogger account with an email attached to it, comment with that.

Next week's giveaway will be something for the romance-lovers in the house. Check back next Friday for another giveaway!

Here's something to think about if you want to comment: When you think of what Christians are supposed to look like, what do you think of? Do you think of extravagant generosity? Sacrificial love? Televangelists? Street-corner preachers? Tell me about it. Even if it's bad.

I've decided that finishing a project is my favorite part. There is nothing I love better right now than the fact that I can finally post pictures of my COMPLETED Turtle Blanket. :-) I've been working on this thing for almost eight months, and it is finally complete.

Here's a picture of the fantastic thing! Seriously, there were days when I wasn't sure it was going to get done. And I wasn't sure I wanted to do it, frankly. I'd done three other blankets. No, FOUR! That were essentially the same blanket, just in different colors. Throughout the whole time I was in Seminary, I was always working on one of these things, and I finished one a year, for the last five years, essentially. :-) So this is my last one.

Probably.

Okay, so I'll admit. I always have a blanket to work on. And now that I'm done, I keep thinking... what am I gonna do next? I keep thinking, I should go to Michael's and pick up some new yarn for a new turtle blanket and then I think NO!! Do we remember how frustrated I was with this whole thing? How long it has taken me to get this done? How much I complained about it while I was working? I remember. :-)

I remember how frustrating it was to be in the middle. Definitely. I remember how much I wanted to get to the end. And with something this complicated, the end is a *LONG* way away, from every point. It feels like slogging in the middle. And it feels like it will never end, most of the time.

But when you finish... ahh. Bliss.

And, generally, I want to start something new right away. :-) I'm sure I will. But I need to take a bit of a break, just for a bit. But then I'll want to start up again. :-) And it's good to know that it feels this good to be done, because then I won't feel as bad about starting something that I can't wait to finish.

What about you? Have you finished a big project? How do you feel when you start? When you finish? In the middle? What's your favorite part of a project?

When I used to watch Seinfeld, one of the most annoying things about his comedic style was that he always seemed to take the funny moment one joke too far in the moment. One too many "Really?"s or one too many "Helllooooo"s in the moment makes a big difference to how you experience a story. We've all seen one of those moments, right? Where someone is riding the waves of humor, and they forget to end on a high note. They push the moment, and then it gets un-funny really fast.

Stories are like humor. There's a delicate balance between too much information, and not enough information. As a writer, walking that line is very difficult.

I entered a contest with a less-than-stellar ms a couple of months ago, and am just getting my feedback today. When I opened my files and read the judges comments, a lot of the things they liked the least was my tendency to take the description or the sexual tension "one joke too far". Too much information or too many inferences or too many touches. I didn't do a great job of reigning in my tendency to do "too much."

Now, I pride myself on never taking humor too far. I know humor well. But description and sexual tension are not as familiar to me. I have a harder time knowing how to walk the line between TMI and JEI.

How about you? How do you know? How do you walk the line between too much information and just enough information when it comes to your writing?

I'm guest blogging today over at Chatting with Anna Kathryn. I also posted a food writing prompt on my food writing blog at Romancing the Palate. Come on over if you want to talk about food and romance.

Here are what I believed to be the best posts that I read this week, out of all the hundreds that I read or were recommended to me to read. In no particular order:

* Glass Cases did a great post on literary Mash-Ups. Not those Puff-Daddy style ones. But the Glee-style ones. :-) Seriously, loved it.

* Loved this piece on guest posts. And it was a guest post! :-) How ironical...

* Rachelle Gardner wrote another fantastic post on why an agent needs to love your book. I've been reading her blog for several months and I am just more and more impressed each day with how well she can explain the business to people like me, who still have very little idea what they're doing. When someone who knows the business well talks, it's important to listen. I've learned that the hard way.

* Christa McHugh was on Paranormal Romantics talking about the theology of paranormal writing. As someone with a degree in theology, I find it very fascinating to think about these things. Not for the faint of heart.

* You have to go read Kerry's hilarious post about feeling repulsive. Right now.

* Tawna wrote a really great post on writing processes. I advise readers to also click on the links when she suggests you read posts about other writers' writing processes. Also good.

Okay, yes, I speak French, and I know that title doesn't make sense, but I'm tired, people. :-) I can't always be correct when I am tired.

So I'm on a quick break from the girls' day out trip, research in hand, and we got to go everywhere I wanted to go, and then some. It was awesome.

Sad news, Canyon Grill was closed. Great news. We found an *INCredIBle* place to eat instead, where I had possibly the best burger I've ever had in my life. There was apple and there was bacon and there was bleu and, well, I don't want to spoil it... it was amazing. Sydney's Montana Bistro is, I think, what it was called. I'm sure I will be posting about it again.

The Canyon Grill, where I needed to go, is not open until May 10th but the great part is, there are these huge windows in the front where you can easily look inside and I took a few pictures of the inside that did not turn out well. On the other hand, I took a few pictures that turned out okay.

This was the final voyage of the Fell-Down-at-Madison-Square-Garden digital camera. Soon to be replaced by shiny new digital SLR Nikon d40 with 18-55mm lens (at first... -300 and fisheye soon to follow). I am super psyched. So I'm planning to go on yet another research trip down to West, when the weather gets nicer. And I'm excited about it. But I did want to say, I'm not posting many pictures because frankly, this camera doesn't have it in it to take pictures anymore. It barely holds itself together.

In fact, I would have taken a picture of the burger-to-end-all-burgers, but this camera just wouldn't do it justice. I need to wait until there's time to take the new camera on its maiden voyage and get some really good pictures with that one. I'm sure I will post them as soon as humanly possible.

Anyway, just wanted to say, the girls' day out was fantastic. And it's about to turn into a girls' night in (complete with musicals and wine... hope I don't fall asleep on the couch, I'm beat), only I needed just a bit of down time to answer emails, take some notes, and do a little (of course) blogging. So I wanted to download and post the pictures that are, well, not horrifyingly bad. This one of the McDonald's is great. This is probably the most unique McDonald's in the country. :-)

Needless to say, I am waiting with bated breath for the new camera. Please, oh, please, be here in today's mail. It would be so great to go back after Canyon Street Grill opens and really get some good pictures!!

Happy Saturday. Research is great. I love my life.

Well, I'm headed out this morning to do my scenery research trip. Nothing too exciting to say other than just to let you know I'm going, and that there will hopefully be pictures later on tonight to commemorate the trip. And so I can have them to refer to as I write my book.

We are headed to West Yellowstone and here are the list of places I need to see:

The Market Place. (found a picture online)
Into the Woods Bakery
Canyon Street Grill
The Book Peddler
Eino's
Downtown

Lots of pictures to take! We'll see y'all cats lata on! Have a great Saturday, everyone!

P.S. Did I mention it's been snowing for the last two days here? Yeah. Should be fun. :-)