Posted by Christine on Aug 12, 2010 in General, Query, Randomness |
When I started the query process for Red and Grey I set a number. It was the “enough is enough†number. In other words, this is where I draw the line and call it quits number. Because, at some point a person has to realize that the manuscript they are pitching is not going to sell. I didn’t want to become one of those people who became blinded, tied to my project, and unable to move forward. Locked in a cycle they were unable to escape and chained to a manuscript that was long dead. So I needed to give myself an end date. It wasn’t about giving up so much as about moving forward. Realizing this wasn’t the right project and choosing to keep making progress. The number I set with the approval of my best friend and my husband was 100 rejections. Today I received my 25th. The rejections have varied greatly. I’ve gotten: – form rejections – very kind personal rejections – requests for pages that turned into rejections So, it’s all good. But today I realized I was a fourth of the way to my “enough†number. How do I feel about this? My emotions are mixed to be honest. I’m proud of myself for having gotten this far, and not being ready to quit. I’m disappointed by my growing pile of rejections. At the same time, I know that one day when I’m published, I’ll be able to encourage some other aspiring writer(s) with my binder full of researched agents with notes about when I sent queries and when I received rejection. (The binder is beautifully decorated by my five and seven year old by the way.) Finally, I’m excited. Why, two reasons – first because in the midst of sending those 25 queries for Red and Grey I haven’t just sat around and waited to see what happens. I revised and submitted a short story to a magazine and I rewrote a novel and submitted it to a publisher. (The short story was rejected, but I’m still waiting for the verdict on the novel, keep your fingers crossed.) The second reason – I still have 75 queries to submit – and that’s 75 chances for someone to say yes they want to read Red and Grey and with luck represent it. Will I still stop when I reach 100, even though I have proved to myself I will keep pursuing other avenues and new stories? In all honesty, I don’t know. I love Red and Grey (the character’s not the novel). I would hate to see them relegated to living under my bed (figuratively speaking) but I might let them sit for a while and come back to revisit them in a year or two after I have 100 rejections under my...
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Posted by Christine on Aug 9, 2010 in General, Randomness, Revisions |
Nope, it’s not an expression, it’s how I remember the three words I most overuse and have to search and destroy when I finish writing. In fact this is my fist line of revisions after I finish a story and do the initial read through for typos. I go to the Find/Replace feature in Word and start with “just†and work through the document starting at page one and eliminate all non essential uses of the word. Which, to be honest, is pretty much all of them. Then I do “had†and then “thatâ€. Most times when I use these words they are unnecessary, so why do I use them? I have no idea. But I seem to be fond of them. It’s incredible helpful to do a hunt for them, especially when I’m on a word count limit and need to cut words. I love to see my word count go down by cutting unneeded uses of these words. In fact as an exercise I wrote this entire blog post without using the words “just had that†except where they were encased in quotes. (As I read through it I ended up cutting a “that†and a “just†from this tiny little blog post how sad am I? 😉 ) I hope by eliminating these words it makes my writing tighter and flow better. My phrase might grow with time as I learn more of my problem words and start eliminating them from my writing. What are your problem words? What do you hunt for and eliminate from your...
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Posted by Christine on Aug 4, 2010 in General, Randomness |
or as they are often referred to Beach Reads. I know what books I took on vacation, you can see my list here. I didn’t make it through the whole list I finished Three Days till Dead and On the Edge. I’m currently working on Doppelganger and enjoying it when I can steal a few minutes to read it. Out of curiosity where do you go to get your summer reading ideas. One of them is Flashlight Worthy books that just put out a whole list devoted to Beach Reads. Another idea is to check out the blogs and websites of authors you enjoy and see what they are reading. What are your thoughts, feel free to share in the...
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Posted by Christine on Aug 3, 2010 in Randomness |
I am participating in a Blog Hop, something I’ve never done before. But I’m going to try. So I wanted to introduce myself and share a little about my writing. You can see the rest of the participants in the Blog Hop here. My name is Christine Brant and I have been writing for the past five years. It all started on a dark and stormy night… not really, it started with a dream and an author’s web site. The authors web site (Kelley Armstrong – because I can’t pass up the chance to promote her) inspired me and I turned the dream into a novel creating a futuristic dystopian society. The novel was 100,000 words long and currently lives under my bed. One day I hope to rewrite it. Even if I never do, it will always hold a place in my heart because it started me on the path of writing. A few months later (October 2007) I had the opportunity to attend the Surrey International Writer’s Conference. I entered their Storytellers award contest with a story set in the same universe as the novel I’d written and I won. WOW!!! I also had the opportunity to meet Kelley Armstrong. It was an amazing weekend and I will always remember it. Since then I have completed two novels. One is Red and Grey – this is a retelling of the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, it is written for an adult audience, meaning it is not a children’s book. While I would not call it a romance per se it has a strong romantic theme. (I do call it a fantasy, although I would have no problem seeing it shelved as romance or young adult as some people have suggested). I am in the process of querying Red and Grey at this time. The other novel I have finished is Cat’s Revealing – this is a paranormal romance that is currently entered in the Brava Writing with the Stars competition. No matter how it does in this contest, I will be starting the process of querying it later this month. Currently I am working on several different projects, I always seem to have two or three going at a time. One is the prequel to Cat’s Revealing, another paranormal romance. Another is the sequel to Red and Grey, called The Youngest Brother. This month I am committing to work on The Youngest Brother, I would really like to have it done by the end of the year. So feel free to look around my site, some samples of my writing are here for you to take a look at, including the first chapter of Cat’s Revealing, a piece of flash I wrote called The Window, and a chapter of Red and Grey. I hope you all...
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Posted by Christine on Jul 10, 2010 in General, Randomness |
So I have pulled out the stack of books I plan to read while away on my trip. I mean I’ll be on a farm in TN for a week with no internet and no cell phone. There are two things to do in my down time – read and write. I hope to take full advantage of the lack of technology and enjoy the chance to read some books that have been in my “to be read†pile for way to long. I would also love to get some writing done. I’ve been thinking about Red and Grey (the characters) a lot and the The Youngest Brother, I have some ideas I want to work out on paper. So what will I be reading while away on the farm? Here is my list, I’ll let you know when I get home how many I get through and what I thought. My To Be Read List: On the Edge – Ilona Andrews ( I started this one already and it’s keeping me from packing. Already on Chapter 5 so far it’s very good.) Kitty and the Midnight Hour – Carrie Vaughn Doppelganger – Marie Brennan Magic Lost Trouble Found – Lisa Shearin Three Days to Dead – Kelly Meding Magic Bites – Ilona Andrews (link to her web site above) So that’s what I’m reading on my summer vacation – no guarantee I’ll get through all six but I’ll give it my best effort. 🙂 What are you reading on your summer...
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Posted by Christine on Jul 6, 2010 in General, Randomness |
I am feeling non-directional at the moment and I don’t really like it. I have finished Cat’s Revealing and sent it off to the contest at Brava. I have a number of outstanding queries and a partial for Red and Grey. Now what? I have a sequel in mind for both Red and Grey (The Youngest Brother) and Cat’s Revealing (Cat’s Pride). But I don’t feel particularly called to work on either of them. As a matter of fact I haven’t touched The Youngest Brother in way too long. Why because I keep asking myself – is this the best way to spend my time? Should I really be working on sequels to things I haven’t sold yet? Should I dive into something new? I have an idea for a YA urban fantasy that I started a few months ago then put aside to work on Cat’s Revealing. I could work on that. I have an idea for a fantasy that I go to and play with whenever I get the urge, but it’s something I wouldn’t ever sell and I was recently given the advise not to waste time writing things you know you can’t or won’t sell. Or, I could go back to the story Coradonna Lost and rewrite that incorporating the things I have learned about writing, and rewriting. So what should I write next? Where is the best investment of my time and effort? Not just that but more importantly maybe – what do I want to write next? Where does my slightly scattered brain want to rest for the next few weeks and what story does it want to focus on? 😉 Anyone out there in the Blogverse or Facebook have a request for what you would like to see...
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