Finding A Legit Beta Reader

So, my first group of rejections have come tumbling in.

Let me tell ya, receiving rejections from some amazing agents puts a dent in your brain.

***Update at bottom

After thinking about it, and beating myself up, I realized, "Maybe I should find more beta readers?"

A beta reader is someone who reads your unpublished/published novel and gives you feedback--either constructive, line by line, or general. Truth be told, beta readers are hard to find--especially the good ones. 

Sometimes they don't get back to you for an entire year--at least, that's what it feels like

Sometimes they're just as clueless as you are--which doesn't help much. 

Sometimes they read it and don't give any feedback--um, yeah . . . 

And sometimes they don't respond at all--those are the worst. 

For forever, I've had the biggest fear of sending my baby out into the world. I know what that can do to a manuscript. It can damage it in inconsolable ways.

But I've prepared myself for an unbiased response, and I'm ready to tackle the world of beta's again. 

So if any of you lucky ducks would like to take a look at my novel, and my query click this link: Click Me!

***Update:

For more information about my success in finding beta readers, click here!

Also, the link to the query above may or may not be chicken scratch. It's changed a lot since then. I'm going to try to get my actual query up soon, but I'm not sure how that works out with me sending them to agents right now. I'll keep ya'll updated. 

Till Then, Happy Writing Days. 

Essential to Writing an Awesome Manuscript: Research

As many of you know, I am writing a new book. 

Oh, the joys of starting over again........ha ha

But as many writers already know, writing a book envolves a lot of research!  Yeah, so if you thought your research days were far behind you, or you assumed that research was only useful for school papers, then you thought wrong.

The thing is, when we write books, we have all these amazing ideas in our heads, but in order to make those ideas excellent, we must research them. How embarrassing would it be if you described the Eiffel Tower like the St. Louis Arch? (That's a stretched scenario, but seriously, something like that could indeed happen.)

I like to think that I know everything, but I'm brave enough to proudly say that I don't. In my new book, the scenes take place in Kansas City, Ks, and Kansas City, Missouri. Though I live in Kansas City, KS, and am very familiar with Kansas City, MO, I don't know everything--but with the power of Google, I do!

Don't think of research as an awful event. It should be fun. I mean, this is your book, make it as worthwhile as possible.

So, I'll give you a little insight on my latest novel.

 

But not that much insight, ha, things could change drastically.

Anywho, my new novel will be a series of three books--hopefully--if all goes as planned.
And each book will be an allegory! (Yay to allegory's)
As always, there will be a protagonist, and an antagonist (a few of those actually)
But I have a lot of research to do because some of my characters are from like the 5th and 6th century...and I don't know much about those time periods.
AND, for fun, I am placing hidden symbols (more or less) throughout the entire novel.
Basically, I'm just really stoked about this one y'all.

That's all for today's post! Happy Writing Days, my friends!

Synopsis

I am avoiding the writing of my synopsis.

How do you even start something so terrible that gives away every plot and twist of your novel?

It's so......heartbreaking

I hate it.

I am avoiding a piece of my novel that is very valuble to some agents.

I just, I can't handle it.

And I'm pretty sure that this is ten times harder than writing a query.

WHY????

Sincerely, exhausted at looking at my stupid synopsis.

The Perks of Being Part of An Online Forum

When writing and working on books, I highly suggest that people join an online community/ forum. 

It is seriously the best thing ever. 

The people on there aren't just friends who notice your writing mistakes, but they're family, too.

They support you. 

They understand you.

And they're going through the exact same thing that you are. 

There are so many perks to having an online writing family:

-They truthfully tell you if that query you wrote is legit....or too full of cliches.

-Some of them have been on the community forever (The Grandparents) and they can spot a mistake in two seconds, rather than the normal five minutes to an hour.

-You can literally talk with them about anything, and they won't think you're weird. 

-You can vent about your book! You can vent about your query, and your synopsis! 

-They'll help you think of a title so awesome that you'll dream about it at nights.

-They'll be some of the first people who'll buy your book when it hits shelves. (Plus they'll have bragging rights!)

-They'll read your ENTIRE book and tell you if it's worth publishing or not. 

-They hurt when you hurt. 

-And most importantly, they want the best for you and your writing career! 

I can't even begin to explain how blessed I am to work with a community like this. Agent Query Connect has got the best people from all around the world--not joking! I really just want to make a huge shout out to all you amazing people who've helped me get this far. A little bit goes a loong way. Seriously, thanks for the support.

Till next time blog world!

Happy Writing Days! 

Idea Is Key!

I'm soo excited, I could just dance!

So this new book idea I have is going to be EPIC!

I wish I could share my entire outline on here, but I can't.

Just know that it's going to have A LOT of action in it.......okay, maybe not that much.

I know, the other day, I mentioned how I had writer's block (which is true. I get writer's block every now and then.) But today, all these magnificent ideas placed my brain on overload!
I can't even explain the glee I feel.

I could just turn on music and dance all day--except maybe not now.....because I'd disturb my roommates, and they'd probably look at me like I was choking on a hot dog....

Anyway, Just thought I'd share my news!

Happy Writing Days, Lovelies!

An Ordinary Tuesday

Do you ever find yourself with a really good book idea, and then, once you hit the third page, you have sudden writer's block?

Well, that's how I feel at the moment. 

While I'm querying my book, Unbroken, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to take my mind off ease and start on a new project. See, I've had this new book idea in my head for a long time, even before Unbroken was complete, but now that I have time to write as much as I please, I can't think of a single scene that will get me past the first chapter. 

I truly believe this is from not connecting with my new characters. 

I really need to sit down with them, one by one, and figure out who they are. And by that, I mean I need to get out a pen and paper and scribble down every single aspect about them until I can hear their voices clearer than I can hear my own. 

I think the big issue for me is the connection I have with my past characters. For the last year, I've been working hard to complete their story in Unbroken, and now that it's over, I don't know how to let them go. I think writing a new book entitles moving on . . . which means that I'll have to break up with old characters, and I don't know if I'm ready to do that.  Does that ever happen to any of you?

Eh, I guess that's enough ranting about my attachment issues.

Back to the drawing board I go. 

Happy Writing days!