First-and-a-Half Pass Done!

Made it through to THE END of the romance rewrite this afternoon. Why am I calling it a first-and-a-half pass? Because so much of it turned out to be new material! I retyped the whole thing, even the scenes that came across reasonably intact, because I was hunting down passive voice and shallow point-of-view along with the deeper issues of wobbly plot.

Next week I'll read through the whole thing and figure out if it works now. Doubtless I'll find a few things to change, to say nothing of the fact that I'm 3,000 words over the maximum allowed for my target publisher. 3K will be quite easy to cut, though. In fact, I may already have chopped a third of that as I tightened and retightened the opening pages for the Genesis contest. I'm not sure until I transfer the pages back into Scrivener, where I've been doing all the writing since then. (I had to do the pages in Word to make sure I had the formatting correct all the way through.)

And then it's off to a few trusted critique buddies while I turn my attention to writing the workshop for May. I'm happy! :)

Genesis contest

Having experienced a measure of success in the ACFW Genesis contest the past two years, this year I decided to try out some of the other genres I've been writing in. This morning I got my third (and final!) entry into the '09 contest. I've had a lot of help over the past couple of months from my critique partners as I've polished three sets of 15 opening pages and their accompanying single-page synopses. Now they're out of my hair and can be ignored until the first round results are released in early May.

Next week I'm back to the romance rewrite, currently sitting at almost 45K out of 60. Back to critiquing, back to workshop writing, back to rebuilding my website, and back to *normal* writing life. Whatever that is.

2009 plans

Well, here it is the 17th day of the new year. You'd think I could post up some goals for it at some point, eh? Perhaps my first goal should be...

1. Blogging more. Aiming for at least once a week might be a good idea.
2. Getting my website completely redone and the blog integrated. Hopefully within the next month.

Most of the things in my life that I have *some* measure of control over are writing related. While many of the highlights of last year (and previous years) are in family areas, those aren't areas where public goals make sense. So here goes on writing ones:

3. Novel Submissions: Keep Majai's Fury in submission. (I've sent queries out twice already this year, and it's been rejected once. So I'm succeeding in this goal, thus far.)

4. Writing: Finish Dottie and Tempest. (It looks like Dottie is going to move forward and be the first for concentration. I'm taking her story through the How to Think Sideways course as we speak.) I'll consider doing NaNo this year, if these are complete and nothing else seems to be more pressing.

5. Contests: I plan to submit at least two entries into the Genesis. Of course I would like to increase my *streak* of finaling and increase my standing. *If* I final again this year, I'd like to try to get to conference in September. But that's not quite a goal.

6. Revising: I'm not sure what will hit the front burner on this one. It depends on how long the writing from Goal 4 takes. At the moment it's a toss-up between Quest to Be Queen and Chloe. I wish I revised faster is the real truth!

7. Critiquing: I'll take on up to four novels this year for crit, though I'm not sure right now which of my partners will have something ready. So this goal is a bit vague.

8. Forward Motion: Continue with moderator duties at FM, including writing and facilitating one new workshop this year. Other things may come up.

9. Book Tours: I'm committed still to touring at least a dozen new books on this blog this year. Maybe it's cheating to stick it in my goals when there will be two next week!

Tempest

I'm making reasonably steady progress on Tempest, though not as rapid as I'd have liked. Still, it seems that it's better to think a bit here and there than to rewrite/rewrite/rewrite. Of course I'll probably still have to! It might be that this story just didn't have as long to percolate, so there wasn't a huge build-up of words just waiting for the starting gate to open (think the rush of the first hour of Nano!). It might be that my muse is a bit reluctant, being as this is definitely a bit darker story than anything I've written previously. Or it might be that this is just the perfect pace for this story!

I'm doing in the neighborhood of a chapter a week, and they're averaging over 4K each. So if I can just keep the wheels turning, it will get itself done in a few months. That's fine.

I'd been thinking that I'd go on another round of revisions of some of my older stuff once I got rolling with this story, but it's not happening yet. I'm teaching another workshop at Forward Motion in August, and I've recently signed up for a six-month writing course put on by author Holly Lisle, How to Think Sideways. Even after only one week, I'm beginning to see that this investment is quite likely to pay off in a practical sense.

So it'll be at least September before I start revising again, and it's a toss-up still whether it will be Joy Comes in the Morning or Off Beat. Off Beat (aka Squid) has finaled in the Genesis contest, but I won't have the results of that until mid September. I'd hoped to enter Joy in the 08 contest as well, but didn't have time to revise the opening pages to my satisfaction, so I'd like to enter it in '09. A whole new category for me: romance!

And if I'm going to get chapter five written this week, I'd better get rolling!

More confirmation from contests

Monday afternoon I received word that my entry to the Genesis contest (which I'd sent in in late February) is progressing to the final round. First round was judged by an assortment of published authors and experienced unpublished writers, and I got a lot of great feedback--pleasant praise mixed in with solid suggestions for improvement.

New to Genesis this year--the possibility of taking 48 hours to edit based on the feedback and send it back in for second round. I jumped at that option for two reasons. One, the feedback was too valuable not to act on! Two, I had the opportunity to add a one-page synopsis, which I'd been honing in the hope I'd be able to use it. Well, I could have sent it in the first time also, but it wasn't ready and there didn't seem to be much point.

Second round is judged by (in this case) one agent who likes Christian spec fic and one acquisitions editor who buys it for his house. I have spent the past two days poring over my pages with the help of my buddies (thanks, gang!!) and just sent my entry back out to face the firing squad.

I'm not to mention the title of the entry publicly, lest either judge come across it inadvertently. This is the same contest in which Marks of Repentance finaled last year, but did not place in the top three. Those results don't come out until mid-September, so I have plenty of time to ignore that novel and do other things.

Like start writing another one...

Complete list of finalists:

Chick lit/mom lit/lady lit: Annalisa Daughety, Tiffany Kinerson, Sara Richardson, Lynda Schab, Erica Vetsch

Contemporary Fiction: Christina Berry, Dan Case, Lynne Gentry, Jennifer L. Griffith, Jim Rubart

Contemporary Romance: Annalisa Daughety, Kathleen Haynes, Cara Slaughter, Sandra van den Bogerd, Linda Yezak

Historical Fiction: Yvonne Anderson, Lori Benton, Mona Hodgson, Christina Miller, Rachel Moore

Historical Romance: Patty Smith Hall, Myra Johnson, Allison Studer, Erica Vetsch, Karen Witemeyer

Mystery/Suspense/Thriller: Ed J. Horton, Melanie L. Jones, Janice Olson, Donna Alice Patton, Jane Thornton

Romantic Suspense: Dani Pettrey, Kelly Ann Riley, Julie Scudder, Jane Thornton, Jenness Walker

Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Allegory: (there are six finalists because there was a tie for the 5th finalist spot) Lynda K. Arndt, Valerie Comer, John W. Otte, Jim Rubart, Chawna Schroeder, Stuart Stockton

Women's Fiction: (there are six finalists because there was a tie for the 5th finalist spot) Heather Goodman, D'Ann Mateer, Sara Richardson, Linda Rondeau, Cynthia Ruchti, Kristian Tolle

Young Adult: Kasey L. Heinly, Stefanie Morris, Susan Miura, Janet Rubin, Carla Stewart

Party Time!

Late last summer I heard about an upcoming contest hosted by Tosca Lee, whose debut novel Demon: A Memoir was released in June 2007. When announcing the contest, she said that people had begun asking her if she could put in a good word for them with her agent, Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary Agency. Tosca decided to run a contest, and Joyce agreed to look over the winning proposal. The deadline for entry was November 15.

This gave me something to shoot for when completing revisions on Marks of Repentance, which, as you may recall, I spent most of 2007 doing. The deadline pushed me through market analysis, synopsis, pitch, the whole works (thanks to everyone who helped critique these, by the way!!). When it went out my email box, I heaved a sigh of relief and turned my attention to Quest to Be Queen.

Every once in awhile I wondered what was happening with the contest, but I was very busy in early '08 and didn't have a lot of time to dwell on the proposal's fate. In late February I heard from Tosca with the grand news that my proposal was the winner! There were a few things that needed to be ironed out before the official announcement would be made. She has now posted the results on her website.

I've gotten general praise from both Tosca and Joyce, though it's far too early to tell if this win is a major step towards publication or just an entertaining and confirming side trip. Either way, I wanted to share the news with all of you!

Goals for 2008

I went hunting my blog for my 2007 writing goals so that I could have a good laugh. It worked! The complete list is here.

To sum up, I thought I would :

1. Finish this revision pass on Quest to be Queen.
2. Complete one (or, if needed, two) passes on Marks of Repentance and GET THE THING KICKED OUT THE DOOR!
3. Write something. Maybe two somethings.
4. Revise something else if time permits. Squid?
5. Work on the recipe book project.

What of that did I actually accomplish?

1. I set aside the revision pass of Quest to be Queen and started back at it in November of '07. It isn't quite done.
2. The only thing on the list I actually completed! Marks of Repentance did, in fact, get revised. It took nine months, but I did complete a pass! It finaled in a contest and is currently out at another one, so I guess you could say I *kicked it out the door*.
3. Write something? Not so much.
4. Revise something else? Not so much.
5. Recipe book project? Decided it wasn't my passion and shelved it.

Yikes.

In the spirit of providing amusement to us all again in twelve months, what are my plans for 2008?

1. Keep sending out Marks of Repentance. After awhile, analyze whether the novel and/or the query package need another revision.
2. Complete revision of Quest to be Queen, get it out to critters and hopefully into submission in 2008.
3. Revise the opening chapters to Chloe's story (romance) and The Girl Who Cried Squid and submit both to the Genesis contest in April.
4. Revise both novels, send to critters.
5. Write something. Maybe two somethings.
6. Keep critting
7. Keep up with moderator duties at Forward Motion

Contest results

For those of you who might be wondering about the results of the contest I finaled in last spring, I just found out I'm not the winner. Or the followup! Congrats to:

First Place – Sally Apokedak
Second Place – Chris Mikesell
Third Place – Rebecca Grabill

Finalist!

Happy Birthday to me...I just found out that my manuscript has finaled in the contest I entered in April. It's still a long time until September when the winner is announced, but meanwhile my 25-page opening sequence is being evaluated, along with the entries of four other unpublished writers, by acquisitions editors in the market I would like to break into.

The complete list of finalists can be found here.

I'm kinda excited! :D

Winner!

Thank you all for entering! I got hubby to draw a name this evening. And the winner is...Random Walk Writer! Erin, I have your address on my other computer and will forward it to Sue in the morning. Feel free to nag me! Er...remind me. Not that I'll forget or anything.

Never Ceese giveaway

So far I have the following names entered in the draw: Maripat, Katie, Margaret, EJ, Random Walk Writer, Karenee, Hanna, and Todd. (Todd, I'm only entering your name once even though you posted three times! :P) If anyone else comes along that would like to enter their name, please post in comment to THIS post. If you don't have Blogger, email me at valerierco AT yahoo DOT ca.

Read the three posts about Never Ceese below if you're curious about the book.

I'll be picking a name at random this evening sometime and will post the winner then.

Blog Tour - Never Ceese Day 3 and GIVEAWAY

Here today to tell you a little more about Never Ceese by Sue Dent is book reviewer Kevin Lucia. I stole his review from Amazon:


Werewolves and Vampires....oh my!

Centuries ago, two unfortunates were wronged in the worst way imaginable; they were cursed by evil forces they did not bring down upon themselves. One was made a vampire, a creature of the night, forced to find sustenance on the life-blood of others, and subject to whims and passions never meant for humankind to experience. The other was bitten by the wolf, and is now a prisoner to the wild beat of nature, running with the pack, lost in the primitive uproar of instinct and survival.

Perhaps worst of all: they are cursed to live with near immortality, to walk the face of the earth while those they love die, and if they do die while still in the grip of the curse; by either a silver bullet or a wooden stake, they will forever miss the chance of an eternity in heaven with those they love and care for.

They have one chance, as this unlikely pair is drawn together by unseen forces, to reclaim their mortality and a chance to pursue a normal life, a chance to go home to heaven when they die, and it lies buried in a riddle cryptic as it is contradictory, Two wrongs make a right. Richard, the cynical, sarcastic vampire and Ceese, a culturally naive werewolf inexperienced in the ways of human beings, leave the comforts of home and the wild behind as they travel from England to New York in search of the one thing they desire more than anything: an end to their curse.

However, working behind the scenes are forces that want them for other reasons, and none of them altruistic. As Richard and Ceese struggle to loosen the bonds on their souls, someone else lusts after what they have: immortality, power...and will stop at nothing until they have it for themselves.

In her first novel, Sue Dent has crafted an intriguing mix of two genres yet thought exclusive; Christian faith-based fiction and dark, noir-fantasy, and it comes off well. The key difference between her novel and others revolving around vampires and werewolves is its focus: Dent focuses on that which our two protagonists want most, an end to the curse and chance for a restored relationship with all that is good and holy, and not on the aspects of the curses themselves. However, her touch is light here: it is not a Sunday school lesson with a pretty red bow at the end; it is a story about enduring faith and love.

Richard is hopelessly sarcastic and cynical, evoking images of Tom Cruise's blond haired and egotistical Lestat, and Dent portrays Ceese as a poignant picture of what faith can do even in the thrall of the curse that damns her. Never Ceese is also rife with cultural humor and satire, and though the reader treads the dark streets of film noir and intrigue, they will find themselves chuckling out-loud just as many times as they shiver.

Ceese ends with surprising plot-twists that work well but perhaps could have been hidden a little better, and it may have a theological "bump under the rug" here and there - but who cares? It is a work of fiction, and a creatively imaginative one at that. The novel also successful wraps up the narrative while leaving a nice hook for its sequel Forever Richard.

**Remember, Sue has offered ONE READER of this blog a free copy of Never Ceese. Commenters may post until Sunday evening (whenever I get around to checking the blog...an inexact science!) and ask to be entered. So far I have Maripat, Katie, Margaret, EJ, and Random Walk Writer. Anyone else?

Blog Tour - Never Ceese Day 2 and GIVEAWAY!!

Since I started poking around at Sue Dent's website yesterday looking for information on her debut novel, Never Ceese, I discovered that this novel was published by a small newcomer to the Christian publishing market, Journey Stone.



The reviews I found here left me undecided whether the novel could be classified as a horror or a dark fantasy. I realize that there is often a fine line! Anyway, I emailed Sue Dent and asked her about it. Here's what she said:

The person I saw who referenced Stephen King was saying they liked Never Ceese as much as they liked Stephen King's The Stand, not that it was like The Stand. There's nothing horror about it. It's more hysterical than anything. I can write horror. Mr. Grabowsky who wrote Halloween IV, a true horror writer, said it was "adorable!" However, one woman didn't read it because even the thought of blood made her sick.

So, okay. Not fully horror, but a little. With a humorous side. I can handle that. Am I odd? When it was a horror novel, I was skeptical. Now that it's a vampire/ werewolf dark fantasy, I'm keen. Yes, okay, I'm odd. We don't need to go there.

So I was curious about how Sue found her publishing house and how she's liked the experience of working with a small house. Her opinion is against much of what I've read elsewhere, to be honest. I've heard that you should always shoot for the top...you have nothing to lose. (Except for the turnaround time, of course.) Sue felt differently. She had her manuscript professionally edited and then says:

I thought about agents but learned after searching, that they were basically just a middle man who couldn't do anything I couldn't do myself. There were arguments from others that I'd never get to the big publishers if I didn't go through an agent. My response was a hearty laugh and a sarcastic, "I'm not going to get to a big publisher anyway! It's my debut novel, not even an agent can get a big time publisher to look at it! Get REAL!"

She followed up by emailing every house that accepted electronic queries. Journey Stone asked for the manuscript. This company is set up for promotion of children's books, and Never Ceese is considered YA. After some time and discussion, a deal was reached and 5000 copies were printed, with another same-size press run due soon. As Sue puts it:

She's (referring to JS's owner) only small in that she's new. And you can't start off being big. She's getting geared up and I'm in on the ground floor. I do a lot of promoting that I wouldn't have to do if I were Ann Rice or someone like that but that's because I like to.

If anyone else is interested in this read by a new author, post in comments. Sue has graciously allowed me to offer ONE FREE COPY of her novel to a reader of this blog. Contest ends Sunday evening. So let me know why you'd like a copy of Never Ceese and say you'd like to be entered.

Landon Snow Give-Away

At this moment I have one name for the giveaway of Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum. Closes this evening, so if you're interested, get your name in today!

So far the only name is

Margaret Fisk

Not that I mind sending the book to Mar, mind you, but... :P

Although I did have a late entry (thanks, Katie!) I am declaring the winner to be Margaret Fisk. It will be on its way today, Mar.

Blog Tour Day 3 - Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum

As R. K. Mortenson's third novel about Landon Snow opens, Landon is now attending Winterwild Middle School and is playing on the school's football team. Unfortunately for Landon--in the midst of an important game--he loses concentration when it seems to him that the various opposing players are wolves, bears, hyenas, gorillas, and zebras. This is a hint for him that soon he will be off on a new adventure, and that it involves animals.

Landon's adventures always start at the library down the street from his grandparents' home in Button Up, Minnesota. In this adventure (with his younger sisters Holly and Bridget), Landon heads up a team to rescue the animals of Wonderwood from the place they have been hidden by the evil Malus Quidam: The Island of Arcanum.

Although this story is the third book of the series and showcases some characters from the earlier books (and alludes to their adventures), you will find Landon Snow and The Island of Arcanum to be an enjoyable stand-alone read.

To get a taste of a short Landon Snow story, check out Christmas Lights, published in the December edition of Clubhouse for Children, a Focus on the Family magazine.

Sunday is your last day to enter my contest for a free copy of Landon Snow and The Island of Arcanum. Just tell me in comments (on one of the three posts this week about this book) what child you would like to give this book to for Christmas, and one lucky commenter will receive it. I'll mail it out Monday (if I can get your address that fast) and only hope it will get where it's going faster than some other books have been traveling. If you're not sure I have your email address, stick it in the comment to save some turn-around-time.

Blog Tour Day 2 - Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum

This week's tour is about Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum, the third novel in an ongoing series by R. K. Mortenson.



The publisher, Barbour Books, has done a beautiful job on the presentation of this series. Cover and interior illustrations were done by Cory Godbey of Portland Studios; the cover was designed by DogEared Design. The cover captures both a child-like imagination and a traditional tooled design. Inside the book, heavier than average paper provides the look of a classic.

Kudos on an excellent cover!

Remember that you can tell me in comments (on one of the three posts this week about this book) what child you would like to give this book to for Christmas, and one lucky commenter will receive it. I'll mail it out early next week and only hope it will get where it's going faster than some other books have been traveling. If you're not sure I have your email address, stick it in the comment to save some turn-around-time. And if you can't leave a comment, email me at valerierco AT yahoo DOT ca.

Blog Tour - Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum

You may remember a couple weeks ago the Christian Science Fiction Fantasy blog tour presented a children's fantasy novel. The original plan was for the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance tour to pick up the same novel the same week, so those of us in both tours would have been plugging the novel Monday to Friday. That would have been kind of cool, actually, but the CFBA tour was postponed because copies of Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum were late getting mailed. (What's ironic of course is that most of the other tour books this fall have been late getting to me--and everyone else)!

Being part of both tours netted me an unexpected dividend: TWO copies of this great book for young readers age 8-12 (or for parents to read aloud). My usual habit is to donate the books to my church's library, but there's no point in them having two copies of the same novel by R. K. Mortenson.

So...tell me in comments (on one of the three posts this week about this book) what child you would like to give this book to for Christmas, and one lucky commenter will receive it. I'll mail it out early next week and only hope it will get where it's going faster than some other books have been traveling. If you're not sure I have your email address, stick it in the comment to save some turn-around-time.

Congratulations!

Two gals whose blogs I frequent were Christy Award winners this past week. These awards are given out at the International Christian Retail Show for books published by Christian publishers.

Deanne Gist won the award for Best Romance of 2005 for her novel A Bride Most Begrudging which I read last summer and thoroughly enjoyed. The story is laugh-out-loud funny in places, so I'm not surprised to hear that I wasn't the only one who loved it! Deanne blogs here.

The winner of the Award for Excellence in Christian fiction in the Visionary category was Karen Hancock for her 2005 novel Shadow Over Kiriath, the third book in her series Legends of the Guardian-King. Karen blogs at Writing from the Edge.

Of course, other people won awards as well, but these are two authors whose careers I have been following, so they're the ones who get an honorable mention here!

In other news, our friend Rick (who was sent to the Regional Hospital for rehab on June 2 after he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre) is coming home today! The rehab has been a long haul...and the complete recovery will be much longer...but at long last he is coming home. He is now able to hobble about with a cane. The family has been able to borrow much of the equipment they need from the local Red Cross. Sunday is Rick and his wife's 18th wedding anniversary so it is particularily cool that he will be home for that. I have offered to take the three kids off their hands for the afternoon and to supply an anniversary supper at their house. (It's going to be awhile yet before he can navigate vehicles and restaurants with ease.)