Friday Fricassee

Hello, dear ones!

I'm taking another week off.  This week has been a bust; I have been admittedly lousy at giving myself a FULL break, as Josh would attest to.  So I'm going to try to do better next week.

I've got "stuff" in the works for MSFV, though!  Things will get rolling again quickly once I return.

Two quick things:

1.  AGENT:DEMISTIFIED, my eBook-for-all-aspiring-authors, is now only $5.99.

2.  Despite my vacation, AUTHORESS EDITS remains open for business.  If you are considering hiring me to edit your partial, don't feel like you have to wait until I'm back in the blog-o-sphere.  I place projects in my spreadsheet in the order in which they are received, so go ahead and get in the queue.

And that's all for now.

Are you writing?  Are you finding balance?  Are you keeping your dreams alive?

Hope so.  I'll see you when I get back.

Friday Fricassee

Let this be my official announcement:  I'm going dark.

Normally, June is vacation month for us (which is why I never schedule Secret Agent contests in June).    If not vacation, then at least a trip to my parents' home.  This year, though, we're not going anywhere.

Long story, but we're just not.

So I'm longing for a break that I'm simply not getting, and it's not feeling too good.  Which is why I came to the conclusion that the least I could do is to give myself a PUBLISHING INDUSTRY BREAK.

For at least next week, I won't be on my blog, my Authoress gmails, or Twitter.  At the end of the week, I'll see how chipper I'm feeling; I may need a second week.  (I'll let you know.)

Important:  AUTHORESS EDITS clients:  I will be editing, and I will be checking my editing business account.  I can't afford to fall behind!

You all know that I have recently attempted to recapture my JOY of writing by returning to my trunk novel for a complete rewrite.  At first, it was wonderful.  But it hasn't lasted.

I'm going to keep writing it, but it's more of a do-it-when-you-feel-like-it project for me, to remove the relentless pressure I always foist upon myself (it's how I get things done).  Frankly, I'm in a hard place that isn't getting easier.  I've hit my 8-year mark, and it feels like such a big number.

That's right.  I started sending my first, tentative queries to agents eight years ago.

Eight years.

(Okay.  I'm a little stuck on how long I've been at this thing.)

And right now I need to get away from the internet's "OMG-I'm-17-and-I-just-signed-a-huge-book-deal" and the "Ever since the crash, agents are only selling one out of ten projects...projects......projects.........projects...........projects............".

*cue dramatic music*

Anyway.  I need to soul-search and regroup and find whatever it is I need to find within myself to push through.  No one promised me this would be easy, so I'm not going to whine about it.  It's just the facts.

Honestly, I'm okay.  I AM!  I'm sharing my journey with you--being as transparent as I can be while still maintaining anonymity--so that you will be encouraged to KEEP GOING WHEN THINGS GET REALLY HARD.

So press on while I'm away.  Remind yourself why you're doing this thing (because you love it, right?).  And if you're in a good place right now, SPREAD THE GOOD.  Positive attitudes are infectious!

Love and hugs to you all.

The 2013 Baker's Dozen Earliest Info Ever

Six months may SEEM like a long time, but...we'll blink and it'll be September, right?

So for those of you who are already counting the days, and for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, I give you THE 2013 BAKER'S DOZEN EARLIEST INFO EVER!

SUBMISSION DATES:

October 29 and 31 -- Adult fiction (all genres except erotica and erotic romance)*

November 5 and 7 -- Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction (all genres)

THE ACTUAL AUCTION DATE:  December 3

Now, there will be lots of other dates nestled in there as well, such as our logline critique rounds (3 of them), winner notification dates, and so on.  But the above dates are THE BIG ONES.  So mark your calendars!

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T KNOW WHAT THE BAKER'S DOZEN AGENT AUCTION IS:

The Baker's Dozen Agent Auction is MSFV's biggest event of the year. 60 250-word entries, hand-picked by Jodi Meadows and Authoress, will be placed on the auction block for agents to bid on (with requests for pages, up to a full manuscript request). It bears the name "Baker's Dozen" because the original auction in 2010 included 13 agents--a baker's dozen.

(Well, it deserved a bigger font, right?)

Here's the thing:  Though participation was comparable last year (as in, actual number of entrants), our audience on the actual day of the auction was slightly smaller than the previous year.  I COULD NOT ACCOUNT FOR THIS.

So do this, if you will:  Take a moment to share this link on your blog.  Or swipe the info and include a link back here.  If we're going to do this thing, we want people to KNOW, right?  The bidding is always fast and furious (I seriously have to clear my calendar that morning); too much fun to risk missing.

If you're new to the Baker's Dozen, you can learn more by perusing past contests.  Just click on the "Baker's Dozen" tag in the archives (on the side bar).

Oh, and now's your chance to ask questions and get generally chatty in the comment box.  No question is too stupid (well, unless 5 people have already asked the same thing, in which case it's a matter of YOU ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION), so ask away.

* I've been asked about the inclusion of NA fiction.  Please know that the genres represented reflect the tastes of the agents who agree to participate.  If there is a fair showing of agents who accept NA, I will include it with the adult submissions (because NA is not children's literature).

Super Critique!

First of all, bravo!  The EXPLOSIONS round offered some excellent critique to its participants.  To all of you who took the time to leave feedback--thank you.

We've chatted in the past about the participation in critique rounds and the ratio of people-who-critique to people-who-don't.  Here are some stats for you to chew on:

• 49 people critiqued during this round.
• The breakdown of the critiques is as follows:
• 28 - 1  (Thank you,  Leah Petersen!)
• 24 - 1  (Thank you, sbibb!)
• 20 - 1  (Thank you, Michael Wulf!)
• 15 - 1  (Thank you, Barbara!)
• 14 - 2  (Thank you, MMChandler and Rebecca M!)
• 13 - 1  (Thank you, Anonymous!) (Grr.)
• 9 - 1  (Thank you, Jodi Meadows!)
• 8 - 1  (Thank you, Danielle La Paglia!)
• 7 - 4
• 6 - 5
• 5 - 7
• 4 - 8
• 3 - 3
• 2 - 2
• 1 - 11
• The total number of unique visitors during the peak critique days was 1,295.
• Which means that not-quite-4% of the total number of viewers over those 3 days actually left a critique.  (And since several critiques continued to filter in over the weekend, the actual percentage is smaller than that.)

Taking into account the fact that it's perfectly okay for people to read our critique rounds without participating every single time, I am admittedly discouraged by such a low percentage of participants.  What I haven't done (because, seriously, who has the time?) is to cross-reference the screen names of the critiques with the screen names of the 30 participants.  Because, without taking the time to make a detailed comparison, I don't know how many of the 49 critters were participants in the round.

(Who, as you know, are politely requested to leave critique for a minimum of 5 other entries.  In order to give back.)

Anyway, it's on the table now.  What I really want to say is this:  If you are not critiquing because you are afraid you have nothing positive to offer, please think again.  Critiquing is a LEARNED SKILL.  You will not learn how to do it--and learn to be confident in your ability--if you don't try.  And I would hope that this blog, above all, would be a safe place for you to flex your critiquing muscles.

The first manuscript I ever critiqued belonged to Jodi Meadows.  TALK ABOUT SCARY.  The gal was lightyears ahead of me in just about everything, and she had recently pulverized-I-mean-critiqued one of my manuscripts, which had left me feeling a bit "I Suck At This".  But if I hadn't jumped in, offering my critique as though it mattered, I wouldn't have begun to grow my wings.  I did have something to offer.  It was a start, at any rate.  And we all need a start.

Let MSFV be your starting place.  A wing factory, as it were.

And, full disclosure:  This critique round was peppered with at least 3 published authors and 2 of my beloved critique partners.  And me.  (If you received critique from "Just Me", that was me.  I didn't play favorites; I chose 5 entries that had fewer critiques than some of the others.)

So there you have it -- dissection of a critique round!  There were fewer entries, so it was a good time to do this.

Thanks again to everyone who participated!  The quality of the critiques was high; I hope that the participants have found it helpful.

Love you guys!  (Truly!)

Friday Fricassee

Sorry this is so late!

(Well, I assume everyone notices, just because I'm anal about getting the Friday blog post out very early.)

Anyway, I'm back from an overnight writing getaway.  It was fabulous, and much-needed.  I wrote 4000 words in a 24-hour period, which, for me, is unheard of.

I mean, that's 4 days' worth of writing!  So, yeah, I'm feeling really good about that.

There were horses and a bullfrog and a dog that insisted on licking my elbows and thighs.  (If you don't know how much I hate dogs, then YOU DON'T KNOW ME.)  In the dog's favor, she was truly the BEST BEHAVED CANINE I've ever met.  She was a farm dog with free reign of the land, yet SHE NEVER BARKED.  Not once.  When we arrived, she escorted us up the steps to the loft where we were staying.  When we said, "Sit!", she sat immediately.

Kudos to the owner, right?

There were two other dogs, too, who ALSO NEVER BARKED.  But they were lazy and disinclined to visit us.

So I'm refreshed and happy.  (Not because of the dogs.) And that's a good way to start off the weekend.

Also?

I have REALLY GOOD NEWS.

(No.  It's not a sale.  I would never stick that in the middle of a Fricassee.)

The Really Good News is:  MY CAT HAS COME HOME!

My dearest Lucy showed up in our neighbor's yard on Monday evening.  Apparently, my neighbor called out to Mr. A, "Hey, that cat of yours is here."  So my dear husband (who is allergic to cats), spent at least ten minutes trying to coax Lucy onto our property.  I was in the bedroom doing ballet stretches, when I heard my husband calling, "Lucy!  Luuuuucy!"

I ran to the window and said, "WHY ARE YOU CALLING LUCY?"

And Mr. A, with characteristic nonchalance, said, "She's out here."

Needless to say, when I finally made it out the front door (in my jammies) and called to her, and she came slinking through the bushes to me, I LOST IT A LITTLE BIT.

She was so thin--bones draped with fur.  Light as fluff.  But otherwise unscathed, and as affectionate as ever.

Stupid cat.

And, of course, she's been acting like nothing happened.  As though it's perfectly normal to disappear for more than a month, and then show up again without warning.

No matter.  I love her so much, and I'm so thankful she's back.  (The picture above was taken the morning after her return.)

Huge thanks to so many of you who offered words of support and encouragement when she went missing.  It helped me stay in a hope place.  

And that's enough rambling for today.  I've got to unpack and figure out what to do for dinner (a restaurant sounds good).

See you Monday!