Silly Sunday & A Stamp on your Butt

Getting Noticed~Being Silly, Insane or Otherwise Normal

"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm."– Sidonie Gabrielle Colette aka Colette

It's one of those crazy, insane moments for me. I just heard from an agent who liked one of my children's stories and wants to see more.

This wasn't necessarily brought on by a foolish thing, I was desperate to get off the slush pile with one of my new novel ideas. As I may have mentioned in other posts, I'm the Queen on Abby Normal...long live the queen. When life is serious most of the time, you need a release or permission to be crazy, impulsive, silly and just not normal. This particular time since one of the main underlying themes was chocolate...I sent two pounds of assortment of mini chocolates along to illustrate my book. I'm NOT recommending this tactic to anyone. It was an insanely stupid thing to do.

I know queries and first chapters can lie in THE PILE for weeks or months. Non monetary type "bribes" would become stale, draw insects, or worse yet smell to high heaven with time. I'm not recommending monetary bribes either. Any ethical agent or publisher (the only ones to work with) would probably reject your work on principle alone. I was hoping the irregular bumpiness might draw some attention. I was extremely lucky Homeland Security didn't pay me a call.

Well, it worked sort of. It was almost two months before I received the call so I'm pretty sure, the chocolate was a bitter mess. All publishers and agents say, "Don't bribe me. Impress me with your writing." I know how to do that. My credentials speak for themselves. It was just a silly, fun thing to do. But it's given me some thoughts on how to market my books...like dressing like a zombie for my horror novel book signings.(a previous post see-book signing 101)

Authors use everything at their disposal to market their books with to the reading public. I have a romance writer friend who passed out match books along with the standard bookmarks for her new book. Saying her book was hot stuff! Another romance writer friend passed out little net baggies with her bookmark, a tea candle, and a trial size bottle of bubble bath, and still another hands out red eraser lips. A juvenile writer passed out bookmarks with a small magnifying glass so children could look for the bugs that are in her book.

Getting noticed and remembered is the key. You may wear a funny hat to all your book signings and events that publicize your book. Giving out little freebies, or even the standard bookmark with a little something extra like a tassel on top. I'm a member of Southeastern Writers Association. I've been a member since their 25th anniversary. At the first conference, I was a budding novelist and it was the first writers conference I'd ever attended.  I was only printed in nonfiction at the time. On the first afternoon, it was meet-and-greet, each person in the auditorium was asked to stand up, say their name, and then attach something memorable to it. I thought about it long and hard. Then I decided to play on my heritage. My turn came, I stood up, announced my name, and followed it with, "I have 'made in Japan' stamped on my butt."

It worked. Now when I travel and run into one of those original two hundred authors, they'll point, start laughing and say, "made in Japan, right?" After a few minutes, they will remember my name. This is after a decade or more! I keep hoping that as we all age they will forget, although I did get noticed and remembered. The challenge for the day is do something full tilt outrageous in your writing and in your life. And above all...

Keep writing and loving the Lord.

Saturday's Saunter into How to Write & Blogging

Writing~Baby Step to Flight

"He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying."
– Friedrich Nietzsche

I have met very few people who haven't said that they have a story to tell. Close to 90% of the American public has an idea for or started the "Great American Novel." Less than 10% will finish writing it and of that, maybe 3% will ever see their novel in print unless they self-publish. Sounds discouraging, doesn't it? But with every published work, there were steps that had to be followed. This is the same for e-publishing. It's doesn't matter whether you are J.K. Rowlings or the Writer-nobody-knows.

Many publishing hopefuls keep their first novels in a box under their beds, and that's where it should stay. I can hear you now, "Aw, come on! It can't be that bad!" Oh yes, it can be. Ive taken a lot of heat from wanna-be authors over this statement. Even authors with their first work published go back and compare what they have written in the past and what they have currently published, and cringed! An acquaintance of mine, Bob Mayer, just bought back his rights to his previous works. Before republishing them for e-consumption, he's corrected his previous works!

Ask any published author how bad their first attempts were and they will tell you. Writing starts with baby steps into writing. No one is a born writer. They had to learn how. No matter how famous they are, they didn't wake up one morning and become a published author. They had to learn how to write composition even if it was in grade school, read, edit text, reedit text, seek representation, and deal with publishing and promotion. Name an author who hasn't done extensive research on any given project and I'll show you an author who isn't published. And yes, you can be an author without being "published." Anytime you write, you are an author. You are the authority. The same root word applies to both.These are the baby steps involved with becoming a published author.

Have you ever seen a baby go from the do-nothing-stage to running around terrorizing your house in an instant? I haven't. I'm the mother of four and I've watched the progression with pride of achievement. The first little wobble of the first steps to swaying back and forth to music in their simplified dancing...babies are cute, aren't they? You approach writing the same way. You have to learn to stand and walk before you can dance. Take a creative writing course at your local college, read incessantly, increase your vocabulary, take a refresher in proper grammar, all of it is important in life and writing. Learning is never a waste of time. For an author, writing is a dance that you never tire of.



Now, I'll discuss blogging as a published work. As a blog writer you are being published worldwide. Don't be confused by this, once you open your pages to someone else...you are a published author. No one can write your story as well as you can. This heyday of blogging, myspace, FaceBook, and twitter proves it. I've read numerous blogs over the past few weeks. In writing a blog do you think of spelling, grammar, and punctuation, or do you just write because you can? You have an important point to make, right?

Think about what you are blogging about. how distracing to you is mispelings, gramtec erros adn such whn u r tryin 2 read? If you read the previous line and went, huh? Don't laugh, I've read it online. You get my point. The point is take pride in what you write and correct (edit) it and use the spell checker offer above your compose screen (it's that little icon with the check mark and "ABC" or check mark), preview and proof it before you publish it. I have a writer friend who can't put two sentences together without a dictionary and thesaurus, but that's okay. He's attempting to learn and taking baby steps to achieve it.

You, as a blogger, ask in forums, FaceBook, Twitter, SheWrites, and assorted other sites to find a readership. You obviously have something to share. Take pride in what you have to say and put your best foot forward. A number of literary agents and publishers frequent blogs. The search for the authors of the future may be somewhere in blogs. I got my start with a letter to an editor, too many years ago, and a commentary on a little known subject. It could happen to you also. In writing baby steps are important, learning to write well, and flying into publication are all achievable by following the steps. 

Keep writing and loving the Lord.

Help Wanted-Writers~ A Meltdown!

Yesterday I was scrolling through twitter and saw what looked like an ad for a writing position. Now after decades of job searches (both hiring and seeking), I know not everything on a list of skills sets wanted has to be met, but you need to be pretty darn close.

As I read down the list of "Writer Qualifications" I couldn't help feeling a bit depressed, my resolve wavered, frustration set in, and I'm truly a bit frightened about my own writing career choice. I had honestly thought to email about it, but I stopped myself. (We are our own worst enemy) Normally, I'm this upbeat and happy person, but today I just feel old and tired.

Yes, I've had sales which causes me to do the snoopy dance of happiness.

Yes, I'm building a following  s-l-o-w-l-y. I've want quality over quantity, if that makes sense in this fast paced virtual world. It takes time to build a customer base, trust, and all the things that go with it. Building a market from the ground up is difficult...why do you think big companies use celebrities to touth their products. I've owned enough successful businesses ventures over the years to know how important this is. All of that being said...I want it yesterday.

I believe in building a relationship with my readers and writers I work with, is that wrong? Possibly.

I'm not a best selling author and never have been, nor do I expect to be. But yes, my dream is to possibly be one. Isn't that every author's dream?While sales have been fair to good in my mind, my sales cannot be counted in 500+ copies a week since publishing various titles instead in the 1,000's. That's not even a mid-list author if there is such a thing anymore. It has taken months to build to that number.

I look at the 23 following this blog and the almost 2,000 views since January plus the 8 networked blogs and rejoice because the number is that high with only 80 odd posts over the past year. It's significant to me and appreciated.

But then, I read a true, strong following is 15,000 a day. I am a long way from that, if I ever reach that. My researching the author business and other authors is depressing me further. But you have to stay on top of everything as an indie author.

I know, I hear you. I've said it often enough to myself and others...it takes time...hang in there...and, it doesn't happen overnight. Overnight? Try five years? Try ten years? Try twenty years? Try thirty years? Try never????

At this point I may be the next Stieg Larsson, best seller after I'm dead. Or maybe just another wanna-be that tried in dismal failure. Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up. I'm going to keep plodding away because I love writing almost as much as I love reading.

I look at what I've accomplished in this writing life and feel a sense of pride in helping other authors "make it." But still there is this little voice inside me that chastises and is petty, "WHAT ABOUT ME!" I'm pretty much selfless most of the time...ask the 250+ authors I've helped with editing, storylines, trailers, covers, social networking, queries, snyposes, outlines, ghosted for, etc, for free over the years, well not for free anymore. But writers are not banging on my door for these pay-for services either. Maybe, I'm just not good enough. Or maybe there is just too much competition out there. Maybe... aw heck, this is worthless babbling and I'm screaming at the moon.

Just my frustration talking here. My fifteen minutes on the pity pot are over. I think I'm going to take the day off and go to the beach, without having to officiant a wedding, and let the brisk wind and the wavesbcrashing on the sand  carry all this away.

As always...
Keep writing and loving the Lord.

Halloween Fun & Interview with...Nina Perez

Welcome to the Halloween Blog Hop.  I definitely had ghosts in my machine trying to put this interview together. Words appeared out of nowhere, sections adding themselves to various other spots which does not appear on the new post part, spaces, text color shift (10 deleted blog tries total!)...I know spooky, huh? So if this comes up cattiwompered you know why...blame it on the season! My special guest today is Nina Perez. Help me welcome her with wicked cackles and rattling chain in the true Halloween spirit.

Nina, you know I have to ask you some questions for this to be an interview, but let's have some spooktacular fun and give my readers further insight into who Nina Perez is and later we'll chat about your novel.


1) Would you walk into a room full of zombies and ask "what’s up?"
Absolutely not. It was only till recently that I could even watch a zombie flick. The only thing scarier than zombies are zombies that can run.
Really? A suspense/horror writer afraid of zombies? What a revelation!


2) What is the scariest situation you’ve ever been in?
In my very first apartment, a roommate and I had a party and someone brought a Ouija board. With all the lights out, and only a candle lit, one friend pretended to get possessed. Looking back, running out of the apartment was probably an overreaction, but at the time, it was scary.
Yes, Ouija boards can be scary especially when they start moving by themselves.


3) What are you most afraid of?
Dying. And zombies. Dying by zombies.
Uh Nina, you know I write zombie horror, don't you? Muaaaahhhh!


4) Pick one…trick or treat and explain.
Treat! Um, chocolate. Need I say more?
Nothing more for me...chocolate in any form pretty much says it all!


5) What is the worst Halloween prank you’ve ever pulled?
I'm so lame. I don't really pull pranks. For a few years we'd sit out a pair of jeans, flannel shirt, and sneakers stuffed with newspaper to make it look like a headless dude was sitting outside of our house. Another year, I played spooky music outside the window next to the front door, which scared the heck out of a trick-or-treating toddler. I feel bad about that. Kinda.


Nina, please tell us about your novel.

High school sophomores Jack Morrow and Violet Ross don’t know each other, but they have similar secrets: she can feel the emotions of others and when he touches people, he can see their future. A tragic accident thrusts them into a world where they learn an even bigger secret: all the mythical beings they believed to be fictional are real.

Guided by prophecies predicting the end of the world, the mysterious Dr. Tesla - who leads an alliance of supernatural beings - helps Jack and Violet come to terms with this secret world, control the growing powers within them, and face an unspeakable evil determined to possess their very souls.

Rebirth is the first in a series that follows Violet Ross; sarcastic, smart, rebellious and Jack Morrow; sensitive, brave and loyal, as they unlock the mysteries behind magic as old as time, team up with a centuries-old vampire, and expose the corruption within the inner sanctum of a secret alliance - all while trying to graduate from high school.The Special Edition includes a bonus chapter, new chapter titles, a new cover, and an excerpt from The Twin Prophecies: Origins.
Cool new cover. Love the colors. I can't wait to pick up a copy.

Where can my readers grab a copy of this novel?
The Twin Prophecies: Rebirth – Special Edition is available at Amazon.com for the Kindle and in paperback.

Tell us a little bit more about you.
Nina Perez is the author of The Twin Prophecies: Rebirth, the first in a YA fantasy series. The second, The Twin Prophecies: Origins will be released in the spring of 2012. She enjoys spending time with her husband Donny and their two children, Kali and Jack, in their suburban Atlanta home. When she’s not writing she’s watching massive amounts of Doctor Who, and wishing she had her very own TARDIS.
Yeah, I wish I had my own TARDIS too.

Can you share an excerpt of The Twin Prophecies: Rebirth?
The two bridges that crossed the Preston River, connecting Little City to South Rosemont, were the Sagaw and the Newton. The Newton went from the warehouse district of Little City into the west side of South Rosemont and the Sagaw started at the tip of the shopping district and deposited commuters on the east side. Residents joked that from the sky you could tell the annual income of each side of South Rosemont simply by the make and model of the cars going across either bridge - the east side residents tending to be a bit more of the working-stiff variety.

Either way, it wasn’t something spoken about too often or too loudly. Rosemont residents liked to think that no matter their socioeconomic divisions, they were still better off than people living in a city like Philadelphia or New York. They considered Rosemont one of the best truly all-American small towns on the east coast.

Like all small towns, Rosemont had its traditions and stories, passed down from generation to the next, losing a bit of detail and truth along the way. There were incidents the town would never forget, like the time a fire claimed the lives of ten nuns in a Catholic church in southwest Rosemont. That story was told so many times in so many ways, that by the latest retelling, the nuns’ screams could be heard for miles before the fire trucks arrived. In truth, the nuns had been long dead – suffocated on the smoke - before anyone knew to call for help.

For many years people would talk about what happened on Maclean Road one evening in early September. They’d talk about the bizarreness of the accident and the sadness of it all. And, one day, they’d talk about how that was the start of everything.　
Diane Morrow and Marianne Ross thought nothing of it when their husbands each took the wrong bridge home. It would have made more sense for the Morrows to have taken the Sagaw, and the Rosses the Newton, considering where they lived, but the women were so content from a wonderful night of good food and conversation that they welcomed the extra time the scenic routes provided.

Diane rested her hand on Nick’s thigh as he drove, looking out the window and smiling to herself. The Preston River was calm to their right and the nearly naked trees of the woods swayed to their left. Dinner with the Loebs had gone well. Joseph Loeb was building a community of condos outside of Philadelphia and Nick wanted in on the contract. He could use the work, and they could use the money. Nick hummed as he drove, and Diane knew he thought the dinner had been a success as well.

Heading westward, the Rosses were also feeling good about life. They had no financial worries – their issue was time. After all these years, Marianne’s hours at the hospital still caused problems. The couple could go days without seeing each other and family meals were often Brad and Violet eating alone at the island in the kitchen, for it seemed a waste to set the table for only two. Date Night provided them with the opportunity to reconnect, recharge, and rekindle.

Marianne leaned forward, looking past Brad to get a better view of the river. In the moonlight, the water looked as endless as the sky and shimmered like onyx. It reminded her of the evening they’d had an anniversary dinner there; a nighttime picnic under the stars. It would be the last happy thought she’d ever have.

She opened her mouth to recall the memory aloud when Brad jerked the steering wheel of their mid-size SUV sharply to the left, into the other lane of traffic. Where it had seemed just a moment before that they were the only ones on the road for a mile in either direction, Marianne was now staring in horror at two headlights, coming at them fast.
In the other car, Diane screamed for Nick to look out, and briefly thought they were going to avoid the accident. Nick stared straight ahead, but instead of swerving or applying the brakes, he pressed down hard on the accelerator and pointed the nose of their sedan directly at the SUV.

He never stopped humming.

Metal met metal. The engine of the late-model sedan entered the front of the car, shredding Nick Morrow’s lower half and killing him instantly. The Ross’ SUV rose up from the rear, threatening to flip the whole vehicle upside down, atop the sedan. Instead, as the sedan spun violently towards the river, the momentum caused the SUV to spin too, and land on its side. Brad Ross died instantly as well; his neck broken.

When it was over, Marianne Ross lay pinned inside her car listening to the hiss of steam, the leaking of fluids and her own struggle to breathe as her lungs filled with blood. She’d been a nurse long enough to know what was happening to her.

A few feet away in the mangled sedan, stopped dangerously close to going into the river by a guardrail, Diane Morrow was also dying. She thought about only one thing: Jack. She knew he’d be taken care of, but it wouldn’t be the same. A child needs a mother.

As Marianne felt herself fading away, there was great sadness that she wouldn’t see Violet graduate high school, get married and have children of her own. A girl would need her mother for such things.

As both women let go of the last threads of life, they prayed their children would have a mother to care for them, somehow. And though they had never met, their last thoughts were of each other.
Wow powerful stuff!

If my readers wanted to stalk you how would they find you?
If you’re an adult, you can follow her on Twitter (@AuthorNinaPerez). If you’re a fan of The Twin Prophecies, follow her at @TwinProphecies. You can also find her on Facebook or by email: nina@blogitoutb.com

I understand you are giving away copies for those who stop by http://angel-haze.blogspot.com/2011/09/halloween-blog-hop.html and follow the instructions for a chance to win.

Nina Perez, thank you for stopping by the Murphey Saga. To all my readers, help support this author by following her blog, twitter, and facebook, but most of all BUY THE NOVEL!

As always...
Keep writing and loving the Lord.



Thank You Lisa & Computer Illiteracy

Thank you Jerzi! My interview looks fabulous! The one thing which was wrong turned out to be a blessing...my old blog. I started reading through it and laughing at myself. For those of you who do not know, my old blog was started on Blogger in April 2007. It was called "A Writer's Life and Beyond."

Just like this blog it dealt with life and writing. There are some real gems in the few posts I did in six months. Today I blogged about ghosts in my machine...Here's my blog from 2007 about The Literate Computer Illiterate. I thought I'd share it with you because I honestly still feel this way about computers and blogs for the most part.

The Illiterate Computer Literate

Today, I've spent almost the whole day on this computer updating my website and reading through HTML how-to's until I'm cross-eyed. I honestly thought I was trying to do something simple in my blog space...add a button to access my disclaimer and copyright information. As a writer I always protect my rantings and ravings, and writing with my copyright. I just didn't want it to appear on the bottom of my page in tact. [this was the old Blogger format-not friendly at all!]

Well, one hour turned into two hours, into five hours and now eight hours. I've had one of those days and totally DOH! moments where my brain doesn't engage properly. Thank you Rat for all your help because you have been trying to show me the obvious and it's just not sinking in. He asked me if I was dizzy...now you can take dizzy in a couple of different ways...either you're nuts or the spinning around sort...I'm both at this point. I messaged him back and told him that I was a dizzy, old broad trying to some new tricks. I'm a dinosaur heading for the tar pit. Today is just adding more gray hairs to my head.

I'm not a total computer illiterate. Once upon a time, I made pretty good money as a programmer. That was back in the day, when Bill Gates said all the average home computer would ever need was 640K of memory...then he created Windows. When I first started with computers, programs were copper disks and punch cards, and computers filled an entire room. I kept up with the times when COBOL, Pascal, and even Basic came on the scene...then came the programming explosion. C, C++, C+++++++, and HTML came on the scene and were changing things faster than this old dinosaur could keep up. I do know enough HTML to get myself in trouble and actually do from time to time.


I was just beginning to run circles around Windows XP and then comes VISTA with all the bugs and patches. I just bought a refurbished laptop because it still had Windows XP on it. [wow, I didn't realize my laptop was that old!] It's not because I don't like challenges, because I do. I'm one of the original Don Quixoites tipping at windmills. Fortunately, I know when I'm licked and I call for help. When something irritates me so much I actually start yelling and hitting inanimate objects. It's time to walk away and call it a night, kick the habit, and play Scarlett O'Hara...I'll think about it tomorrow.

While I no longer maintain the other blog or an actual website other than this blog anymore, sometimes it's good to look back and remember just how far you've come or maybe not. Right now I've got my annoining oil out, my cross, and my prayer book out for this computer.

I think I'll update a few more of the old blogs for my new readers in the future.

Keep Writing and Loving the Lord