Query me

Query letters are a Bitch! I'm not even going to sugar coat it. But they are in fact masterful and can get your book in places you've been dreaming IF and only IF you do it right.

So what's the perfect Query letter look like?

Well, for starters it has a Hook, A snappy but well thought out entertaining summary, and an ending that leaves you with an Ouuuu! 

You must remember P's and Q's. Be polite, and remember your manners when writing a query letter.

Here's an example of a decent query letter:

Dear Agent, (Obviously not what I'd really address my letter. Mr or Ms Agent's name is the proper way)

I am seeking representation on my Young Adult, Sci-fi Romance, RUNAWAYS. (I'd also add in here the reason I was querying them above all else.)

Your Pitch "Hook"----->What if your blood contained all your secrets, like a diary, how far would you go to protect it?

Summary pitch "Short and snappy"---> In a time when juries will be replaced by truth telling devices, which not only projects your darkest secrets, but every emotion, thought, and reaction you’ve had throughout your entire life. And when seventeen-year-old Analee Summers is accused of murdering her roommate Mia Morgan, she must put her faith in her own blood to set herself free. But the court refuses to test her innocence using this device.

With the help of a snarky, guy named Brooks Rawson, she flees Winter Academy. However running from the law isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Especially when the guy she’s with is more like a overbearing cynic, constantly telling her what to do, keeping her isolated from others and moving them from place to place. Analee desperately wants her life back and knows the only way that will happen is if she finds Mia’s true killer. But discovering the truth might not be enough to set her free. RUNAWAYS is complete at 70,000 words.

This is the part you tell them a little bit about you. What kind of things do you actively do, publication history, etc.---->I am an active member of the YALITCHAT writing community.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you. (End with politeness)  

Sincerely,

Practice make perfect. Also join a writing group ones that have query critiques. A lot of them get down to the nitty gritty and really help your query letter shine. good luck

Profanity

Are you for Profanity in YA, New Adult, or even Adult? Are you turn off by excessive amounts of curse words in novels today?

I'll be honest I've got a potty mouth and my characters well, they tend to have potty mouths. However after reading over a lot of reviews made for other authors works I noticed there are some people down right offended when a character drops an F-bomb. Says the words Piss, Damn, or even Hell. Now I'm not one to judge for this doesn't bother me. I mean I heard all these words and few others on the school bus at age five. Yes, my youth was forever changed when I told my mother at the age of six "I'm going to piss." Instead of saying I'm going to pee. Soap not so awesome, in the mouth.

What's your thoughts?

N=NYC

Are any of you attending BEA?

I am and let me tell you I'm so excited to be seeing all the authors I communicate with daily. As well as the ones I've read all their wonderful published works from. But not only am I excited about all these things but just being in NYC brings me a thrill.

So if you were to go anywhere where would you go?

M=My oh My

When it comes to romance what draws you in? Is it the steamy kisses? The love bursting forth that you can just feel it from every corner. Through screens, TV shows, and even books, how do you like to feel?


If you ever watched Dawson's Creek, yes, I was a watcher "Don't hate!" We're you secretly rooting for each one of Joey's conquests. First her all time crush Dawson, from their love of films, to camping out sleepovers in his room. A beautiful friendship turned more finally, after all these years of Joey pinning over her best friend. Then her romance with the joker/slacker Pacey, a person she loathed. Tolerated because he was Dawson's Best (Dude) bud, and they were sort of like this trio, and Dawson was the peace keeper between them. And yet, Joey slowly succumbed to Pace's charms. And we all silently cheered because it was one of those Awe they love each other. And they can be great for one another.

So I ask again, what draws you in? For me it's that person who can hold balance. The one person who can equal out the other without it being too weird or overly annoying. I'm a fan of forbidden love, enemies falling in love, the underdog. Yeah I'm a sucker for these.

Do I like writing about these kinds of things? Oh yes.

L= Liebster Blog Award

So I've been tagged for this award from the Awesome Month9Books author, Vanessa Barger! Wahoo!!!

1.       What is your favorite vacation you've ever taken?

Ah this is between two places Vegas and Bahamas

2.      What is your biggest pet peeve?

Messes. I don't like clutter of any kind.

3.      What is the scariest movie you've ever seen?

The Rite, because it's about possession and it's just creepy. I had nightmares for a week.

4.      Name one food you cannot live without.

Bacon!

5.      Pirates or Ninjas?

Pirates

6.      What is your favorite childhood movie?

Beauty and the Beast, or Mulan Loved them both

7.      Do you have any pets? 

Yup a Dog.

8.     What is the best piece of advice you've never taken?

Um ... Okay so like four years ago, someone told that I should read a bunch of books on writing. And I just started doing it.

9.      Road trips: good or bad?

Great!!!

10.  If you had to spend the night in the woods and could only have one thing to entertain you, what would it be?

My Nook

11.   Do you have any writing rituals?

I always outline with Post It's. And about 35K in a book I send over to my CP's and see what they think.

The Liebster Rules:
1. The Liebster Award is given to bloggers by bloggers.
2. Each blogger should post 11 facts about himself / herself.
3. Each blogger should answer the 11 questions that are asked by the nominating blogger.
4. Choose 5 new bloggers to nominate for the Award and link to them in the post.
5. Create 11 new questions for your nominees.
6. Go back to their pages and tell them they've been nominated.
7. No tag backs.


Tagging:

1. Sheri Larsen

2. Kelly Hashway

3. Shannon Duffy

4. J.L. Spelbring

5. C. Lee McKenzie

New Questions:

1. Think of your favorite character, got it, okay what's their favorite color?

2. What's the last book you've read?

3. What kind of music do you listen to?

4. Do you set writing goals for yourself?

5. Which do you like better Dogs or Cats?

6. Are you a Rule Breaker or a Rule Maker?

7. Brownies or Cupcakes?

8. Favorite Movie?

9. Name one book you can read over and over?

10. Name your favorite meal to eat?

11. Name your favorite character name? (It can be from your own works or someone else's)

K=kickin it

Bad Habits are hard to break. Writing ones, Personal ones, and Work too.

My horrible habit is cursing. God, can I curse. But I've been trying to kick the habit of swearing. So I've been replacing my words where I use profanities for other words. Example: Oh you mother of a cookie monster! --when I have some road rage. When someone keeps repeating something after i gave an answer: Oh holy mountains of hot chocolate are you serious? ---this has been happening a lot. 

It's also been kind of a fun word building experience.

What kind of Habits would you like to Kick? And how would you go about it?

J= Jamming

Here is a list of bands I love to Jam to:

Imagine Dragons
Eskimo Joe
Adelitas Way
Cavo
Evans Blue
Coheed and Cambria
Paper Tongues
Rise Against
Neon Trees
Radio Head
Death cab For Cutie
Muse
Deftones
Awolnation
The Boxer Rebellion
Jane's Addiction
Sum 41
Linkin Park
Adema

And that's just to name a few...

What do you all like?

I= It is I

Okay, I must confess there is going to be 11 things about myself I'm about to reveal. So here it is:

1. I'm an author. J.Million

2. My birthday is sometime this month.

3. I love animals. My favorite is a Koala Bear.

4. I love to cook

5. I love reading

6. I love writing

7. I could spend all my time at a beach.

8. I hate snakes (AHHH)

9. I hate people who start a crap load of drama in order to make themselves the center of attention. you're not awesome. In fact, you suck.

10. I don't like forced emotions in novels, seriously people who say I love you just to say it in novels because you think it will have an awe affect to the book, it doesn't. If up to this point person was absent and then comes back and something happens, yeah don't pull the I Love You's...

11. Yes, my last name is Million (like the money) although people say it wrong a lot. 

H= Hurry

What's the deal with everyone being in such a hurry? I'm guilty of this sometimes I get myself in a little rush to get a lot of projects done at once. Or to get to a certain word count. But the truth of the matter, most things I tend to rush almost always needs fixed.

I realize sometimes we set deadlines for ourselves. And sometimes when we do this, we're not thinking about the amount of work ahead in order to complete the task on time. So we end up hurrying through, and hoping it's all there by the time we get done.

Here's some tips to remember so you don't end up in a hurry.

1. If you know it take 15 minutes to get to a certain place, and you want to make it on time. Leave five to ten minutes earlier giving yourself Five to Ten more minutes of extra time to get to the place you need to be.

2. When setting a deadline for a story, set a word count goal, how many days you want to complete this goal then figure it out like so     x days/ y word count  : you'll get the word count you must reach every day to complete the goal. (what I like to do is give myself more days in order to meet my goal early but also, not put myself in a rushing mode.)

3. Make to-do lists with a reasonable amount of things on it.
example mine today:
1. write blog
2. breakfast
3. send RR email
4. answer emails
5. Clean house (living room, kitchen, floors)
6. write 800 words
7. Read MS's (2)
8. Make (3) files
9. Update (4) files
10. Lunch
11. Clean the rest of the house
12. Pick up child
13. dinner
14. homework
15. bedtime


Never more than 15 items on my to-do list daily.

Happy writing

G= Good Grief

Ever watch Charlie Brown? I love when he sighs, Good grief. Especially when he's talking to Sally. That's how I feel sometimes when talking to people who don't quite grasp all the things I do on a daily basis. For Instance my job(s) are the following:

I work for MONTH9BOOKS, LLC. What do I do there? I'm kind of like a gofer or the go to girl. I'm the assistant to the publisher, Georgia. Look at all these G words spouting through here. I'm also the Author Liaison which means I deal with all the authors, answer their questions and get anything they might need.

I'm also a writer. I write every day. Not 1000k words like I'd love to do, but I do write about 500-800 words per day.

I'm a mother. My children need picked up from school. Driven to events. Fed. Helped with homework. Yup this is all the makings of me.


Am I busy every day? Yes. I am.


Happy writing

F=Friendship

friend·ship [frend-ship] noun the state of being a friend; association as friends: to value a person's friendship. a friendly relation or intimacy.friendly feeling or disposition.


I believe in order to be great at anything in life, you need to develop friendships. As an author, I have gained friends from all different aspects, fans of books, well known authors, Agents, Publishers, and people still climbing their ways through the publishing stages. I grow from these people, by understanding and honing in on where my talent is best served. 

To those people who have helped or touched my life to get me to where I am today, Thank you. And also I want to Thank my Blog Followers. I love your comments, and the face that you still enjoy my posts. 


And here is a list of my writing friends Blogs that I've always enjoyed reading:

http://creepyquerygirl.blogspot.com/

http://writersally.blogspot.com/

http://www.writegame.blogspot.com/

B=Balance

bal·ance  [bal-uhns] noun, verb, bal·anced, bal·anc·ing.
noun
1.a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.
2.something used to produce equilibrium; counterpoise.
3.mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior, judgment, etc.
4.a state of bodily equilibrium: He lost his balance and fell down the stairs.
5.an instrument for determining weight, typically by the equilibrium of a bar with a fulcrum at the center, from each end of which is suspended a scale or pan, one holding an object of known weight, and the other holding the object to be weighed.
verb (used with object)
18.to bring to or hold in equilibrium; poise: to balance a book on one's head.
19.to arrange, adjust, or proportion the parts of symmetrically.
20.to be equal or proportionate to: I'm always happy when cash on hand balances expected expenses. One side of an equation must balance the other.
21.Accounting.
a.to add up the two sides of (an account) and determine the difference.
b.to make the necessary entries in (an account) so that the sums of the two sides will be equal.
c.to settle by paying what remains due on an account; equalize or adjust.
22.to weigh in a balance.


This is difficult to do. Balance in your life, Work, Family, Schedules. I know. I've been there and done that. What works for me is to-do lists, and timelines.

This can also work for stories. You've got to have a balance, a flow of direction, and a solid timeline. Give a reader too much too fast, you'll ruin the story. Give them in spoonfuls but in long spans the reader will get bored and likely shelf your work. Balance make this is possible. So how do we create balance?

Simple enough, Make a map of what you want. Main plot, Sub plots. Where do you want your main plot to unfold? You've got to give hints to the main plot through out the story. Follow a cookie crumb trail if you will.  Sub plots where would you like them to unfold. These are kind of like little obstacles. put up your road blocks. Remember all detours lead to the point of destination where you need to go. Make sure your plots do just that, but are leading to the main plot.

Happy writing.

A=Attitude

at·ti·tude  [at-i-tood, -tyood] noun

1.manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind: a negative attitude; group attitudes.

2.position or posture of the body appropriate to or expressive of an action, emotion, etc.: a threatening attitude; a relaxed attitude.

3.Aeronautics . the inclination of the three principal axes of an aircraft relative to the wind, to the ground, etc.

4.Ballet. a pose in which the dancer stands on one leg, the other bent behind.

Let's face it, as a writer our egos get slammed daily. Our attitude suffers, because we're told Don't Lash Out. Don't React. But we want to. Oh man, do we want to. I mean who do these people think they are? Well, they're humans. Humans with opinions. If you feel your Attitude changing from positive to negative try these steps. 

1. Breathe.

2. Shut down the screen or walk away from whatever is making you feel miserable.
3. Read or do something that always makes you smile.