Fun With Word Counts

So, you've written an urban fantasy. It's 250,000 words long. You've got a problem. David B. Coe tells you why over at Magical Words.

Speaking of word counts, the Knight Agency is having a little contest this month that you might want to check out if you're querying agents. It's the Book in a Nutshell contest. Condense your book into three sentences that total no more than 150 words. Send it to the agency following the directions outlined here. The writers of the best 20 get to send their work in for a critique and possible representation.


Crits from industry professionals are really hard to come by, so if you've got a completed manuscript that fits their guidelines, give it a shot! You have 'till April 20th.

Avoiding Idiocy and Other Fun Writerly Things

Okay, I know that linking to a post of links in kind of lame. But in this case, it's worth it! Therese Walsh over at Writer Unboxed lists some great resources as An Almost-Published Writer's Guide to Not Being Stupid. I don't know about you guys, but I'm fairly ditzy. Anything that can help me avoid eventual idiocy is a good thing!


Lynn Viehl is one of my favorite writer/bloggers. She contributes to the group blog Genreality as well. She recently posted about how important characters are to your brand. This makes total sense to me. Some of the most popular and powerful series are known, not by their authors but by their characters. Harry Dresden, Anita Blake, Mercy Thompson, Anna Pigeon, Kinsey Millhone, James Bond. Viehl's insights on the subject apply to most of our regular members. It certainly got me thinking about my own imaginary people!

She also gives advice on her own blog about what to do and what not to do when a young'un you're close to shows interest in writing. Good stuff there, too.

I hope to see you all at the next Smyrna Writers meeting - this Saturday at 1:00!

E-books and A Writing Exercise

I usually don't do writing exercises. (I know, bad writer!) I guess I just have too many new shiny ideas to really want to work on them. I happened across this one at Deadline Dames, and the inspiration picture was so cool, I think I'm going to do it. Check it out! You have 'till March 18th to post yours. (There's even a prize for the best five!)

It's Read an E-book week! I'm decidedly pro-ebook. Being able to read on my smartphone has made my life so much easier. So much so, that at least half of what I read now is electronic. E-books aren't for everyone, but I recommend that you at least try it out once. I like the pleasure of the printed page as much as the next reader, but there are a few benefits to e-reading.

• It's green. Few to no trees have to die to produce an e-book title. Especially if it's from an e-book only publisher as they tend to do everything electronically from submissions to the final product.
• With the right device, you can read in the dark. This turned out to be a biggie for me.
• Font size is adjustable. No more squinting at the tiny print in those mass market originals.
• New authors. Some of my favorites only write e-books.
• Instant gratification. For paper books, you have to transport yourself to the library or bookstore during business hours. If you order from Amazon, you have to wait for the mailman or the UPS guy. With e-books, you can buy/borrow and download them 24/7.

What makes e-books daunting for most readers is that there are so many different formats and lots of different ways to read. The latter is one of the things that attracted me to e-books in the first place. There are dedicated e-readers, but one can also use laptop or desktop computers, smart phones (like Blackberry, IPhone, or Palm Treo/Centro), and personal organizers.

The format variety isn't as bad as most people think, though. The software, in most cases, is free. Fictionwise, one of the big online e-book stores, has a really great guide to the formats and links to where you can download the software.

If you have access to a computer, you can try e-books without paying anything at all. Tennessee residents have access to R.E.A.D.S, or the Regional E-book and Audiobook Downloading Service, with their library cards. You can check them out just like you do the physical books at the library. Most e-book stores have an area where you can download public domain (and a few un-public domain) books for free. Fictionwise's is right here, but Diesel, and Books on Board have some as well.

This Week on the Web - The Encouragement Edition

So, you know what happens when one goes on vacation to one's Internetless Mother's house for a week? One comes back to over 2,000 blog posts to slog through. Yeah. I never really caught up. So, I decided to start fresh.

I'm back into the submission cycle again, and I know some of you all are as well. There's very little that makes me feel more vulnerable and unsure about myself than submitting my work to editors, agents, and markets. Really. It's 1) Stranded with car trouble 2) Job interviews and 3) Submitting fiction. And the last two are pretty much the same thing, aren't they?

Over the past week, several people offered up some words to help us find courage, and to stay true to ourselves while carving out a place in the artistic world.

Only Amber Benson could make a writing/boobs comparison work.

Marjorie Liu wrote about the folly of following trends.

And this last bit isn't a link - it's a quote by Teddy Roosevelt that my hubby found and took the time to send to me in a series of text messages during the day. He never tells me what I want to hear, but he always knows what I need to hear. I hope all of you have someone like that in your life.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."