Monday, November 30, 2009

Back to the Business of Writing

Had a fantastic craft show this weekend. Sold out of all my 110 Christmas light boxes [see previous post if you want to see what they look like.] I loved doing them, but my craft business seriously cut into my writing time. Can't do both at the same time - who knew????

There is a new chapter posted over on our author pages, Otharia.com. Thanks Dave for posting this weekend. I'll be visiting Dave in CA in a week so we'll have time to work out the plot for our new book. Time to get back to our writing.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!



Just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you all are with loved ones and enjoying the day.

For Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I'll be at the Castleberry Christmas Craft Show with my business partner selling our crafts. My craft business has taken off so I've been MIA on the blog lately. If you're in the Wilmington, MA area, come to the Shriners Auditorium, exit 39 off Rt. 93 and enjoy the crafts of over 300 vendors.

Here's a peak at my light boxes:


Sunday, November 22, 2009

New Chapter is Posted

Our wayward trio, Darius, Dyla and Eclair are trying to navigate their way in modern day England. As if almost getting run over by a car wasn't bad enough, Eclair gets his first taste of a woman's jealously. Dyla is not happy that the women on Earth seem to find him charming and poor Eclair is clueless and keeps digging himself deeper into the hole with Dyla.

Head over to our author pages, Otharia.com, to find out how Eclair is doing with his lady love Dyla and to see if Darius can convince a young archeologist to help them find clues about the ancient Otharians who first visited Earth in the 5th century.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Lesson Learned

Writing carries the same principal as every other sport - the more you practice, the better you get. When Dave and I started writing 3 years ago, it took us awhile to find our groove as co-writers. Now, we are in-sync and even though we do a lot of editing, it's not nearly as painful as that first edit we did on our first book.

I got an encouraging rejection today - encouraging in the fact that the agent was on the fence about offering representation because the writing was good. However, I wish now that I had not queried so fast on that book because edits done to it later made the book stronger and maybe that would have tipped the scales for us.

In the end though, it's a good lesson learned. Don't query too quick. Take your time, finish the book, let it sit, then do more edits before you query.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

December 21, 2012

So is 12/21/12 the end of the world as we know it? Were the Mayans correct in their prediction? Are all those unpublished authors out there going to perish without ever seeing their words in print?

Have no fear, the world is not going to end in 2012. NASA has a great article that debunks all of the latest myths about the destruction of the Earth.

Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?
A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Writers everywhere, you have no excuse. Keep writing. Publishers/editors/agents will still exist in 2012.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Red Alliance

Chapter 22 is now posted over at our author pages, Otharia.com. Duke Lucas Jortac has managed to convince the shadowy group, The Red Alliance, that he can capture the twins in the Beckson Duchy and bring them back to face murder charges. Seeing as there is a civil war raging in Beckson, he believes a better outcome would be if Darius and Dyla were killed in a skirmish. What Lucas doesn't tell anyone is that his son, Eclair, is also with the twins.

But, is Lucas trying to save Eclair because he loves his son or is it so he can save face with the Alliance? Is Lucas really that cold-hearted?

Stay tuned.....

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

E-book royalties

Kristin Nelson over at Pub Rants has an excellent post about publishers and e-book royalties. It seems three years ago when e-books were not a very large percentage of sales and therefore royalties for an author, publishers were willing to give royalties at 25% of retail.

Now that e-books are becoming more of a market force, publishers want to change the rate structure by offering authors a lower e-book royalty rate. Publishers, what's wrong with you? More and more of you demand that authors participate heavily in the promotion and marketing of their books using their own money and resources. How much more do you expect authors to do without any kind of compensation whatsoever?

Agents are negotiating with publishers for better rates, but it is getting more and more difficult to make any headway. And if you don't have an agent and find a publisher on your own, you better read the standard boiler plate contract with a fine tooth comb because if you don't, the publisher will squeeze every dime out of you that it can.

So, authors, be wary and read all the fine print.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Writer's Retreat

There is a great photo essay from photographer Kyle Cassidy depicting the space where writers do their thing - in other words, create magic.

I'm glad to see so many of them have their loyal pets beside them. There's nothing like the look of disdain a cat can give you to make you realize that your "small" problem with plotting is inconsequential to the universe at large.

To view the offices, check it out here. My favorite one is Joe Haldeman.

So author friends, what does writing space look like?

Sunday, November 1, 2009

And the Plot Thickens

Lilliana has returned, but is it really her? This Lilly doesn't sound or act like the benevolent Duchess of Telkur we've seen before.

Find out what's going on with Lilly in Chapter 21 over at our author pages Otharia.com. Was it really the best thing for the gypsy captain to save her life back at the warehouse?

Stay tuned......