Why It's Really Helpful to Read Your Book Aloud

We all (I think I can safely say all) feel silly reading our writing aloud. Especially if one's spouse/child/roommate is sitting there smirking and/or laughing their ass off. However, I completely value the importance of it. And reading really quickly under your breath doesn't count.

So, if you are wise enough to read your book aloud, slowly and carefully as if you were reading in a public setting, you might discover things like glaring errors from when you edited the heck out of your first chapter fifty million times and accidentally removed a reference to an object on the first page that then abruptly and nonsensically appears and makes no sense whatsoever on the second page. It would also help you avoid run-on sentences like that one.

Of course, it's extremely helpful, dandy even, if you read your work aloud and discover this before you submit your manuscript to ten agents, including one that requested a full. Your first request for a full, mind you. However, in the event that you don't discover this before submitting to ten agents including one that requested a full, there are other options involving bullets, rope, cliffs, poison, daggers, mass quantities of alcohol...

*Enormous sigh* So, does anyone else want to share a really embarrassing story?

My Preccciousssss....

So it happened last weekend. I sat on my bed. It was mid morning. I was clutching it in my hands. Checking my email, or tweeting, I can't remember. But that's when I realized I was hopelessly addicted to my Droid smart phone.

How did this happen? When did this small electronic device become like crack to me? I have to say, it makes checking my email for agent responses much more efficient. And checking Twitter while I'm sitting in the car pickup line at the kids' school. Sometimes I feel like it's an extension of my body. Maybe I'll turn into a robot. That could be a cool story.

Soooo... don't leave me in an awkward silence. Are you obsessed with your phone, or other electronic toys? How do you use such things as a writer?

Happy Birthday Blog!

Technically, my blog's first birthday was yesterday. But stuff happened, so the party is today!

I definitely didn't know when I starting blogging how awesome (and addictive) it would be. It's been so amazing meeting lots of new friends and talking about writing with other writers.

So, here's a cheers to all of you, my rockin' blog friends! A walk down memory lane:

My first blog post, So the Journey Begins... Through the summer I was just blogging for myself and not trying to connect to anyone. But then all of the sudden in October, I posted Begin the Begin, and my very first non-family commenter appeared! After that, things happened very rapidly and my followers grew pretty quickly.

Then in November, I had my first big querying breakthrough. I wrote about it in Good News and Bad News. Then, in January I wrote a fun post, Top 10 of '10, about all the crazy writing things that happened in 2010. Shortly after that, I wrote Recipe for a heart-racing, knot-in-stomach, loss-of-breath good time, which is just sort of funny.

It's been great getting to know you guys, and I look forward to another great year!

An Awesome Contest!

Over at Shelley Watters' blog, Is It Hot In Here Or Is It This Book, she's having an agent critique contest! The first stage of the contest is to post your first 250 words and other writers can blog hop around and critique each other. Then on May 31st, you submit your polished 250 on Shelley's blog, and Judith Engracia of Liza Dawson and Associates will pick one to receive a 10-page critique and maybe request more pages! I love these sorts of contests. So, here's the first page of Countless, my urban fantasy novel. Critique away!

He had found his prey at last. From across the room he took in every detail of her face, though he knew it well. The full lips, thin nose and most of all the deep green eyes. Green like a highland meadow or a piece of lustrous sea glass. His eyes traced the moon-pale curve of her calves down to her stilettos. She had raven hair this time.

One hundred and ninety-four years had passed since he’d last seen her. That time when he’d killed her had been different than the times before. He’d made it so that when she came back, she wouldn’t remember a thing. Their times together. The power they’d shared. The life they’d almost had. She’d chosen another path. Taken pity on humanity, decided she didn’t want to go through with their plan. And worse than all that, she’d fallen in love with one of them.

So now, as he watched her, he took a moment to appreciate the beauty of it. She stood here before him, completely oblivious to the fact that she was being hunted. Totally unaware that though she may look human, as he did, she was not. And this time, there would be no temporary death. He had discovered a way to end her forever. She thought of herself as a human now, so she would die like one. Permanently. He had taken her powers, her memories, her lives and her love. Over and over and over again. Now he would take the very last thing he could. Her soul.

Silence So Loud

I haven't gotten any rejections since May 17th. I guess that's not really that long ago. Nine days. But who's counting, right?

It's not like I want to get rejections. But when you hear nothing, you just get a little paranoid. For instance, remember how my email got hacked? And I sent all of my email contacts emails saying to please disregard any previous emails with strange links? Well, of course there were no strange links in any queries I sent. But what if the agents misunderstood? What if they blocked my email? What if all the agents have blacklisted me because someone sent spam emails from my email address????

I don't really think this has happened. Well, the first one I kind of wonder about, if they just deleted my query because they thought in my second email I was saying it was the spam email. The rest of it I know is not logical. But that's just how paranoia works. It creeps in. It's usually not logical.

I am staying busy writing on both my MG book and my new adult book. And truly, I'm not obsessively checking my email or having constant meltdowns. I’m pretty chill about querying, since I've been at it awhile. But the last couple days the silence has been eating at me just a little...I don’t want to hear bad news, but hearing nothing at all is sometimes worse.

So, who else is walking through the frightful realm of QueryLand? What amusing paranoid thoughts are you having?

Since We're Not Dead...

A few public service announcements:

1) I have succumbed to Twitter mania and started an account. Still learning the ropes, but please pop over and follow me so we can be birdies together.

2) Me and hubs went to a beer tasting today to benefit the national Animal Shelter Foundation. Man, does supporting a good cause taste good.

3) Still querying. Still getting rejected. No squee news to share. Yet.

4) Still writing. Little Dude is still asking me almost every day to read more of the new MG. Want to be motivated to write? Bear children.

5) Saw the movie Thor. Thor is delicious.

And that's all for now, writer friends! What did you guys do today when the world was supposedly ending?

What's Your Number?

My Saturday started off real swell, with my email getting hacked and spam emails with links to undoubtedly shady websites getting sent to all of my contacts and just about everyone I've ever sent an email to. Meaning all of you guys, other friends and family, and every agent I've ever queried included the ones that are currently reviewing my manuscript. SOOO fun, let me tell you. So, you probably got a real email from me saying to disregard the first email that wasn't really from me. Alas, I cannot assist you with fashion deals, the secrets to supreme health, finding your perfect love match, or otherwise discovering the universal key to eternal happiness.

On to better news, I've gotten the first chapter done of my new MG novel, and Little Dude has approved of it. I read it to him the other night and he laughed at some of the lines (that were supposed to be humorous) and asked lots of questions and wanted to know when the next chapter would be ready. Yay! I'll make sure I mention this in the query letter. Um, yes, I'm totally joking.

So, what's any of this have to do with my blog title? Nothing. I just got to wondering the other day how many blogs you guys are following, because I feel like I'm following a ton! But maybe in relation to other people's blogging habits, it's not that many. What's my number? 183. That means I'd have to visit about 26 blogs a day to get through everyone in a week. Which is a lot when you work full time and have kids and a hubby to attend to. Oh, and a book to write. So, what's your number? Spill!! And have an awesome Monday.