My Inner Muse

I sit here staring at the calendar and wondering where all the time has gone. Eleven more days until my release party for Jewels.

I can’t say it enough, how much the support for my written that I’ve gotten in the last year and half has helped and encouraged me to grow as a person and as a writer. For those that helped in my growth thank you. You know who you are.

To celebrate the big day, I’m giving away prizes and running a few contests. I will also be doing a live blogradio talk show later that night. For all the details, please visit here.

Everyone who participates will receive a $5 off discount coupon to Jewels. It’s my way of saying thank you to all my friends and fellow writers.

Also, my website Kishazworld.com has been remodeled, streamlined and up for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to visit any time.

Just a few more things. I have created a fan page on Facebook and if you like me well enough, you might join me here. You can find me on twitter and myspace as well.

I am so excited. I am inching closer to my debut novel’s (Jewels) release date and I’m trying to take it all in. I have to say that it was not the first book I thought I would get published. But that doesn’t matter. It’s the fact that I can say I finally did it.

After choosing to write a story with the intention of later getting it published, my publishing journey started in 2004 when I moved to Florida and joined the Inverness Writer’s Workshop group. I met so many wonderful people, Elissa Malcohn, Belea Kenney, Nelson “Grandpa” Williams, Meredith and more. I brought my manuscript, “Moonbeams” with me and embarked on the writing adventure of trying to churn the novel out.

Life, however, got in my way. Several things happened starting in 2005 that spanned the next three years of my life and changed me and my writing irrevocably. I got married in 2005, got pregnant, had my husband decide to split before the birth of our child and our first year anniversary in 2006; he filed for divorce two months before the birth of my second child in November 2006. I spent the next two years dealing with lots of issues associated with the ongoing divorce and dealing with my soon-to-be ex-husband.

Any desire to write had slowly dwindled away at the start of the marriage and stopped during the upheavals following the separation/divorce. I tried to make it to the writer’s workshop meetings but my attendance was spotty at best.

In 2006, in the middle of all the drama, I learned of a friendly writing contest called NaNoWriMo. I thought it would be the perfect way to go back to doing something I loved–writing. The birth of my youngest daughter on November 1 stopped that plan but I was determined that 2007 would be different.

2007 rolled around and I was still smarting from the divorce procedures and being a single parent again. My oldest daughter was having trouble being sociable at school, throwing tantrums and living up to the expression “holy terror.” I spent many nights crying and trying to muster the energy to even bother to write. I watched November 2007 looming closer but the idea of trying to take the NaNoWrimo challenge of 50,000 words was too much. I resolved instead to write one new chapter for my unfinished novel Moonbeams, which I managed to accomplish with a bit of a struggle.

The following year, 2008, so an improvement in my mental state of mind and attitude. I started getting rid of things that were weighing me down. I went back to college to earn an Accounting degree and I made a solemn vow that I would finally finish Moonbeams. Between August – October 2008, I added 3 new chapters to the novel and I was elated. Finally my dry spell was ending. I just didn’t realize how much of a creative well-spring I had unleashed until I participated in NaNoWrimo 2008.

This time I was ready for the chapter and though I didn’t hit the 50,000 mark (I made it to 40,498), my new novel, Werelove, was born. Everything changed for me. I couldn’t seem to stop writing. And if it hadn’t been for a half-joking, half-serious statement made by Nelson Williams, I might not have finished Werelove. But because I had to prove Nelson wrong and show that I could indeed finish something I’d started, I fell into a writing zone and didn’t come out of it until July 31, 2009 when I typed the last words of Werelove. I had written a whooping 86,000+ words in nine months.

My writing bug didn’t end there. While I was writing Werelove and giving Moonbeams apologetic looks, I read an email that said Samhain Publishing was doing a submission call for a Space Opera (think Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars) anthology. It had to be a novella and no more than 30,000 words. I contemplated doing it but wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until I pulled out a piece I had stashed away that was my fooling around with using first-person in a story, that the idea for Jewels emerged.

I changed the name that I had first chosen in that rough draft and renamed my heroine Jewels because of the multiple meanings the name and title would later have. Of course being the procrastinator I was, I didn’t start on Jewels until two weeks before the deadline. I wrote 27,550 words in seven days and the week before the deadline, was lucky enough to have two friends read over and help me edit it.

I wasn’t satisfied with it because I knew there was more story that I had to not put in for the sake of the word count. When I got a rejection from Samhain, I wasn’t disappointed for long because I realized that now I had the change to add more. And man did it grow. I went from 27,550 to 55,000+ words. I couldn’t have done it without Lyn Ehley who I shyly asked to read my work. She used to teach English and of course put a red pen to the manuscript but all the changes and suggestions were worth it.

I tried pitching Jewels to Freya’s Bower at the Muse Online Writers Conference and the Freya’s Bower rep asked me to send the first chapter and synopsis in. This happened in October 2009. I sent it in and settled in to wait the required number of weeks mentioned on their website for a response.

During that period, I stumbled across an ad for Createspace. Curious as to what it was, I followed the link and found Amazon.com’s print on demand company. Intrigued, I read everything and then some before deciding that I needed to reevaluate what I wanted from my writing and writing career.

I had to acknowledge after some soul searching that I really wasn’t trying to get famous from my writing. I only wanted others to read my work and enjoy it. That decision led me to the path of self-publishing and Createspace seemed the ideal way to go because p.o.d. companies like Lulu, Xlibris, Yorkshire Publishing and others, charge to publish your work.

I’m a single parent of two. Money does not grow on trees. Createspace wasn’t going to charge me anything, only catch was I had to literally do it all–edit my book, layout the book interior, and create the book cover. That’s of course if I wanted to keep it free. If I wanted any of those services, Createspace has packages that offer them. You do have to pay for those.

Being the entrepreneur that I am, and having always loved a challenge, I decided to do it all. If my college friend and artist, JD Hollyfield, hadn’t seen my post about needing a cover artist, I might have had to settle for one of the generic cover templates that Createspace offers (not that there is anything wrong with them).

On February 19, 2010, Jewels will be released in paperback from Createspace with the Kindle edition becoming available the following week.

And if this is exciting enough, I am submitting Werelove to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest that they are running in conjunction with Penguin Books. The Grand Prize: a $15,000 advance against royalties contract with Penguin Books.

Looking back, I would never have thought I had it in me to finish one book, let alone, two books in such a short span of time. I hope to continue riding my creative wave and sharing my writing adventures with all of you.

**IMPORTANT ADDITION: I was made aware that I didn’t thank or mention people who helped me along the way and feelings got hurt. It wasn’t an intentional oversight. So with that being said, I want to apologize to Dianne Dykstra. She put up with my long ramblings and screeching kids in the background when I would call and needed to hear an adult’s voice. She also helped me in the self-publishing decision because of her own thoughts and feelings on the matter.

I’m beginning to understand why authors lament about deadlines. They can be nerve-wrecking, especially for a first time author.

Although I don’t have a publisher (I’m self-publishing my first novel), I chose to treat the whole process of publishing my book as a serious deal. I set deadlines for everything and I will say this much, it has taught me that procrastination is definitely, not an option.

I have two WIP (works-in-progress) that are nearing the finish. The first one is my novel, “Jewels,” that is waiting on cover art and final revisions (not that there are many after six rounds of intense editing to find all the little grammatical and punctuation errors). The release date is February 19.

Then my second novel, “Werelove: Dusk Conspiracy,” is being revised and checked over thoroughly because I will be submitting it to Amazon.com’s “Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award” contest that they are hosting along with Penguin Books. The prize: a contract with Penguin Books. I thought, why not? So I’m going for it.

If you’re a writer and interested, you can read about the contest rules here.

Well yesterday I received a response in the mail from the Writers of the Future contest. My entry, “Moon Feast,” was not a finalist for this quarter’s top three.

I had a feeling my very…unique fantasy story might not be what they were looking for, but I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. So for now, my lovely, but different short story, will cool its heels for a bit. Don’t worry, I have in mind a place where I can use it later.

Though no one likes to get rejected, I will admit to having fun at least trying even if my style is not the judges’ cup of tea.

The moral of the story: Rejections are a dime a dozen. Do not let it keep you from pursuing your dreams.

Wow, another year has come and gone. I have to say that this year has been the best year for me writing-wise since I started my journey to become a published author in 2004. I thought it would be fun to take a quick recap of my 2009 Writing Year and give a glimpse into my 2010 plans.

January – July 2009

I spent the bulk of 2009 working to complete my first draft of my first completed novel. The journey for “Werelove: Dusk Conspiracy,” started in November 2008 as a NaNoWriMo novel (I managed a little over 40,000 words) and steadily progressed to a finished first rough draft on July 31, 2009 with a word count of 85,960 words.

August – December 2009

Samhain Publishing had put out a call for submissions for its space opera anthology contest. Though I had known about the contest for a little while, I was consumed by Werelove and wanted it finished first. I wrote the novella form of “Jewels” in one week and with the help of several writing buddies, managed to get it edited and turned in. It didn’t make it, which was a little disappointing. I decided then to go back and add more to the 27,450 words already existing.

I still had more story to tell and the work of fleshing it out began. The novella went from 12 chapters to 14 chapters and became a novel. My enthusisam for “Jewels” was so contagious that one of the librarians from my local library asked to read and edit “Jewels.” Thanks to her insights and encouragement, “Jewels” sits at 16 chapters with close to 55,000 words.

I also started on a short story for another anthology, The Writer’s Support Group: The Writer’s Challenge, which I will finish in January 2010.

In November, I once again participated in the NaNoWriMo contest and turned out my third novel for the year, called “Mine Dreamer” which is set in the same universe as “Jewels” but focuses on a different part of the culture. I hit the 50,000 word goal and celebrated my success. The current word count on this one is roughly 55,000 words contained within 18 chapters.

The other great thing that I did during the second half of 2009 was to form an online Writer’s Support Group, in an effort to help my fellow writers that needed encouragement and support, as well as a place to pool knowledge and resources about writing and the publishing industry. I wanted to give something back to those who helped me learn so much in the last few years about writing and publishing.

So what about 2010?

I’ve made definite plans and goals for 2010 and here they for your reading pleasure:

1. Submit “Werelove: Dusk Conspiracy” to the Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest. The prize: a publishing contract with Penguin Books.
2. Self-publish “Jewels.” It will be available via Createspace/Amazon on February 19, 2010.
3. Complete the short story, “Sierra’s Protection,” for the Writer’s Challenge Anthology.
4. Edit and revise, “Mine Dreamer.”
5. Complete first draft of my fantasy novel “Moonbeams and Moonlight,” which has been patiently waiting since 2004 for me to complete it.
6. Attend Oasis and Necronomicon and set up a table at each event to promote my novel(s).
7. Self-publish “Werelove” (if it does win) and self-publish “Mine Dreamer.”
8. Start the writing on my middle grade fantasy/mythological story that I’m writing for my oldest daughter who really wants to read mommy’s work.

And if all my writing goals weren’t enough, I will be graduating from Kaplan University with a Bachelors in Accounting. How’s that for a busy year?

May everyone fulfill at least one goal or dream. Catch everyone on the flip side.

What is my mission statement? A very thought-provoking question and I have another blog writer to thank for it. In the post the writer said the idea came to them after looking at writing from a “business” standpoint. And all businesses have a mission statement that they follow.

I thought, wow, that sounds like a good idea. I’ve had enough business courses to know that having that mission statement helps define you. Though the last half of 2008 (namely November 2008) and going forward has been a turning point in my life and writing, I think having a mission statement and then align my goals to match it, will help me further focus on what I want to do for 2010 and beyond.

I’ve given it a lot of thought and I think my mission statement shall be this: “To not procrastinate when it comes to writing. If an idea enters my head, write it down immediately. No more “I’ll write it down later.” To write the best that I can providing both quality and quantity in my writing. To set definite goals and deadlines for editing/revising/writing my books, while balancing my college classes, child-rearing, and work.”

I also figured that it would take the following steps to achieve my mission statement:

1) Time management = Better Scheduling of class work, children-time and writing.

2) Pick an order in which to finish all WIP (works-in-progress), in a timely fashion.

3) Attempt to finish partially started ideas and turn them into WIP.

4) Assist other writers by helping with critiques and revisions of their WIP.

5) Maintaining a working website for my works

6) Attempt to put up a least one useful/pertinent/informative blog entry a week. And the day I pick to do this is Thursday.

Those are the six main goals I want to accomplish for 2010. Here’s hoping that I can pull it off.

I don’t think anyone ever runs around saying, “I’m going to be a famous self-published author.”

Most first-time writers are busy doing the rounds of querying agent and/or publishers, or are hard at work fine-tuning that novel they just churned out.

I was like most first-time writers–confused, searching and a little frustrated as I tried to figure out how to write that query letter or synopsis, which markets and genres my novels fit it and that all important should I go with an agent or try it alone?

I’ll admit, I was dreaming of bestsellers and fame, I mean, who doesn’t? But as I have done research, read the numerous blogs and articles on publishing and even heard stories from other writers, I’ve come to the following conclusion:

1) Yes having an agent makes life easier, especially when navigating the contracts offered by publishers. And hey, I can live with a 15% fee for that convenience.

2) Writers have little or no control over book covers and how the book will be marketed.

3) My chances of having that bestseller is not a high as I thought because traditional publishing houses favor their tried and proven writers.

4) Big advance is not something you want in the long run. It’s great in the short run but if your book tanks, the publisher can, and often does, cut you loose.

All these things made me start thinking really hard about what I really wanted from my writing and for myself. I began doing more research on self-publishing and the more I read, the more I started liking the idea for these reasons:

1) I’ve always had a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit and I love a good challenge. Being responsible for my book from start to finish (writing, publishing, marketing) appealed to me.

2) I don’t want someone else’s vision of what my book cover should look like. Hey, I’ll admit, I’m a control freak lol. Seriously, after reading the uproar about the “Liar” book cover, I pondered the implications of what it would mean for someone like me. Most authors agree that the book cover is out of your hands when you go with a traditional publisher. Now, of course there are exceptions but from what I read it appeared to be rare.

Small press publishers and many e-publishers seemed to like the input of the writer about their book covers.

3) No stress to get revisions done and on time to meet deadline. I work rather well under pressure but when you are single mom and have children, it makes it harder to get things accomplished. And though I am a night owl, lately I’ve been falling asleep earlier than usual leading to no writing, revisions or designing that day.

4) Marketing. I have a sales background (insurance, advertising, etc.) and I love working angles and presenting items in the best light to appeal to the potential buyer. What? I’m being honest.

5) Conventions and events. I get to pick and choose. I hope to start small and branch outwards. This year I went as an attendee to Necronomicon and talked to many authors (several were self-published) and general took in what seemed to work or not work as other attendees stopped at the various tables to check out the books available.

6) I realized that I didn’t really want fame and fortune. I just wanted readers to take a chance and read something I’d written and was proud to share.

Now that I talked about the pros, I have to take a minute to do the cons.

1) Money. The world revolves around it and you need it to make things happen. Depending on the avenue of self-publishing you choose, you will need it.

2) Distribution. You don’t have the same clout, availability and ease of ordering that the traditional publishers have. Some local bookstores might be willing to stock your books but major chains (Barnes & Nobles, Books-A-Million) might not be so eager to take your books or a chance on you.

3) Marketing. Once again, depending on who you use to self-publish, they may or may not a marketing package you can use to help you.

4) Readership. You may or may not be able to reach those readers who like your genre/type of book.

5) Lack of Publisher’s name to open doors. I know, that sounds petty but it’s true. The axiom, “It’s all in who you know,” is very true in the writing industry.

I think that about covers this topic for one evening. Time to go back to work.

I first heard about NaNo in 2006. A fellow writer’s workshop member, Elissa Malcohn handed me a flyer about a NaNoWriMo kick-off party. Intrigued, I attended and was hooked. I decided that I would participate in NaNo that November. Life, however, had different plans. I was in the final trimester of my pregnancy with my second child. She was due October 28 which to me was plenty of time before NaNo was to start.

Like most things in my life that year, nothing went as planned. On November 1, my youngest decided to put in a belated appearance due mainly to a bout of dehydration on my part. And she came by emergency C-section. Needless to say, I wasn’t in any condition to write.

The following year, 2007, I was dealing with the aftermath of child visitation issues, divorce proceedings and a general sense of depression. I signed up to do NaNo, but chose instead to go back to a manuscript that had been laying around since I abandoned it in 2005 to focus on adjusting to being married.

My goal was simple: write one new chapter to the three chapters already done. It took the full 30 days to do it, but I got it done.

I made a promise to myself January 2008 that I would fully participate in NaNo that November, come hell or high water. Or both. Everything, especially my personal life, smoothed out and chaos took a detour away from my door for the first time in the last decade.

Even though I had just started taking online courses with Kaplan University, I figured I could do it. It turned out to be the roughest thirty days due to illness (kids and myself), homework, oh and that little something called a 50,000-word novel. The deadline approached and I uploaded my manuscript only to be dismayed by the final count: 40,296. I’d failed!

Upset, I talked to fellow writer, Dianne Dykstra and she with her usual forthrighness, put it all in perspective with this statement: “You are not superwoman. I’m impressed that you did all that with two kids, school and being a single parent.” That made me feel better and it also fueled my determination to hit that mark in 2009.

Which brings me to this year. I made sure to minimize distractions, get ahead on my classwork and work out a schedule to write when my children would not interrupt. It helped as well that my oldest participated in the Young NaNo writing program. And as can be seen from earlier entries during November, I hit the 50,000 word mark with a little over.

I’m feeling really great and can’t wait for next year’s NaNo.

After two below average writing days on Thursday and Friday, I kicked it into over drove and spent the last three days writing at a breakneck pace.

The result?

I wrote a total of 50,616 words. Did I celebrate my accomplishment? You bet I did.

The only mar on my moment of triumph was the fact that my word count, due to a slowed internet connection, did not post until after the 11:59:59 pm deadline. So I didn’t get the glowing gold halo or the cool NaNoWriMo badge and certificate.

But you know what? That’s fine with me. I did it and I know I made it. That’s enough to put a smile on my face for the next few days.

I will take the rest of this week to finish my novel which started out as something else and turned into a companion novel to my unpublished novel Jewels.

Go figure. Several key characters from that story found there way into this year’s NaNo story, Mine Dreamer.

My next blog entry later this week will give you the skinny on my NaNo novel and the plans I have for my writing in general.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in NaNoWriMo. I hope you enjoyed your experience and I look forward to seeing you next year.