The countdown is on! And I am excited about this new year.
Will it be a year of transformation? stronger faith? new directions and
convictions? stronger families?
I am definitely all about self-improvement. While accepting
that God loves me as I am, he also wants me to grow. Yes, he wants me to
accomplish my dreams, but he also wants me to rely on him in their fulfillment.
So, I have a lot of expectations for this coming year. And
I'm preparing. I've begun my time management schedule, and will complete it to
start on New Year's Day.
2012 has been a good year for me. I published
my first novel. I paid off all my debt, except one student loan. (I did
backslide a bit and put myself into another small debt, but that has been paid
off as well.) And I feel I've grown a great deal in my relationship with God.
2013 goals?
To complete my second book
Become infused in marketing and selling my first
Shall I dare say, become more organized? By that I mean
neater.
Push myself out of my comfort zone when it comes to relating
with people
Strengthen my prayer life
Trust God in all things
Here's a last writing prompt for 2012. It's a broad one and
can be about anything. Please feel free to post your writing to this prompt as a
comment: Strength
Here's a start of a story that
will be put on the back burner:
Standing at the edge, I looked
down at fifty feet of cutting crags and rigorous, smashing waves, and tried to
imagine what she went through. I could not understand how anyone could go
through that. Especially Danta. She seemed to have everything, and she went
about her day as if all was perfect. After learning otherwise, I took it upon
myself to find out how she could fool so many people and how her life had
gotten out of control.
That was three years ago. Today
I stand again at the same edge with Danta's daughter by my side, considering how
I had uncovered more answers to my questions than I thought I ever would. And
now I had to explain to Danta's ten-year-old daughter why she could not live with
her relatives and why we had to find Harold. Once we find Harold, only then
could she have peace and, for the first time in her short life, be introduced
to the child inside of her she never knew existed.
~~
Will someone tell me how I can
write everyday without the nagging voices in my head telling me I don't have the time or ability?!?
I am looking forward to
developing my time management New Year's Eve resolution plan, so then I can be
organized and do all the things I need to do on a daily, weekly and monthly
basis. (I'll try not to worry about the bi-weekly or two to three times a week
chores, because something's just got to go by the wayside.)
~~
Here are a couple of other
networking sites I've recently learned about:
Absolute Write - I've known
about this site for a long time, because it's helped me in researching on so
many topics, but never knew I could join! This is a bars none site when it comes
to getting answers regarding literary agents, publishing companies, writing,
etc. You can also promote your work once you've made enough posts to do so. The
conversations and games on this site make it worth the wait.
Author's Den - Another site for
promoting your work, including novels, stories and poetry, and for networking. I've just learned of this one, and it seems
like there's a lot you can do on it.
I hope these are helpful, and I
wish everyone the most delightful, sweet, warm, welcoming, God and laughter-filled,
wish granting, special family/friend and "me time" Christmas Day of
your life!
I wrote this article for Publish Myself, a great web-site for people wanting to boost their writing resumes or just like to share ideas. This was my first published article.
The Woes, Fears and Promises of an Expectant Writer
The “wannabe” writer
At the end of December 2011, I was a hopeful “wannabe”
writer who just completed one of the many “final” drafts of her first novel. The
San Francisco Writers Conference 2012 was coming up in February, and I just
learned that their Indie Publishing Contest deadline was soon approaching. I
asked my niece to do a rushed final edit, and sent in my entrance application,
which included the first 50 pages of the book, believing with all my heart that
I had a good chance at winning. When I made the finals and they asked for the
complete manuscript, I was ecstatic that other people would be reading my work.
They announced the winners near the end of the conference,
and I was nearly devastated when I did not hear my name called. I spoke with
literary agent, Elizabeth Pomada, who stated that initially my book had won
because the story was engaging and the writing was wonderful. This changed, she
said, when they got to the Christian parts. She said the judges, of whom she
was one, believed it was preachy, that Christian audiences would not like the
dark parts of the book and commercial genre readers would not like the
Christian aspects. She made other comments that I took to heart. At that time,
I had not heard of Christian speculative fiction and, looking back, it seemed that
no one at the conference had either. Afterward, I did a search of various
Christian fiction and learned of this growing genre.
Although I didn’t win the contest, I took in Ms. Pomada’s
comments and set out to make changes to the book. It was reduced from over
98,000 to about 93,500 words, and I spruced it up in areas I felt Ms. Pomada
made good points. After an ad finitum set of revisions and edits, I felt it was
as complete as I could get it, and set out to send query letters.
Queries!!
The conference had introduced me to query letters, pitches
and organizing a database of submissions. I was on my way to becoming
published! I knew I was still clueless, did some research, and finally came up
with a query letter I was pleased with. It took over six months and 53 failed
queries for me to realize that my pitch was horrible. I learned this when
someone from Authonomy.com (a free site where you could upload your manuscript
and get advice) finally commented that my pitch put her off, but that the story
was great.
I became weary of sending out query letters, especially
after learning and becoming more shocked everyday with the number of people who
have written books and are looking for agents. Later, I made a book trailer
with a different and better pitch, which I’ve been using ever since.
Should I wait or should I publish?
I decided to research other avenues of publishing besides
the traditional, and learned about vanity press companies. Ignorant of it all,
I had seriously considered using Tate Publishing, a company that claims to be a
traditional, Christian-based publishing company. They offered me a contract to
publish my book for $4000, which included editing, creating the cover, book
trailer, a television commercial ad and marketing, and stipulated that my
investment would be returned after I sold 1000 books. I probably would have
accepted the contract, except that they gave me only ten days to decide. I
hadn’t heard back from enough people who had used them to make that decision.
So, I declined.
Then came WestBow Press, which used to be a traditional
publishing company, but is now a vanity press affiliated with Thomas Nelson
Publishing. They were also willing to offer me a contract, but I had enough
debt and, after continued research, decided to stay away from pay-into
publishing companies.
Once that decision was made, I learned about CreateSpace and
Lulu, two top-rated self-publishing companies. I researched both, and felt that
CreateSpace met more of my needs. So I decided to publish!
The hard part was over. Or was it?
The book was finished, I had a publishing venue, and I was
making headway to putting my book out there. The hard part was over! I so naively believed.
I have accepted myself as a writer who loves to create short
stories and books, and have one novel in slow-working progress, and two others
on hold. I believed that I could finish the publishing process, do some
marketing (although I dreaded the idea of it) and focus more on writing. The
further I got into the process of self-publishing, the more I realized that if
I wanted to be even a slightly known author, I needed a second job:
Self-marketer-networker-promoter, all in one long job title.
And this is where I’m at. My book is out there in paperback
and eBook. I have made some formatting changes in the print version and corrected a few typos, and now I have my first copy in hand. I’m also realizing
that my second job, although it causes me to I pay out more than is coming in
from my writing, it takes up more hours than my pay job, it is learn-as-you-go,
and it consists of countless hours of research, it is nonetheless very enjoyable
and fulfilling.
The promise of the future
Looking ahead, I dream of when I can retire from my day job
because my writing brings in enough money, when I will have time to write regularly,
and when I will know that each passing day more people are discovering and
loving my work. I believe God gave me this gift and desire to write, and that
he will lead me to the fulfillment of all of these desires. I count these
dreams as promises from God that will one day come to fruition.
Bio
Nancy LaRonda Johnson has recently published her debut
literary Christian speculative novel, Anticipation
of the Penitent. She has written short stories, poetry and personal
journals most of her life, has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and a
Juris Doctorate, and works as a deputy probation officer. She maintains the
blog “Writer’s Mark – Christian and other fiction, poetry, and ideas” at www.nancylarondajohnson.blogspot.com,
and is working on several projects, including a sequel to Anticipation of the Penitent.
Anticipation of the
Penitent was a front-runner in the Indie Publishing Contest sponsored by
the San Francisco Writers Conference 2012.
This was a beautiful, faithful and public gathering in Christ's name. I hope you watch it to the end. It's very touching.
Which gets me to my point tonight. It's nearing Christmas and I'm feeling in the spirit for gatherings, sharing, and good memories.
And gifts? I wish not. In these economic times when we should be sorting out our finances, retraining how we spend, and saving money for emergencies, it's hard for me to spend money on things for people that they'll probably not like so much and don't need. Long gone are the days when Christmas lists were written so parents would know what to get. Instead, the family is growing exponentially, the weather's cold, time's short, and who knows what anyone wants.
I usually try and get what someone needs instead, especially for adults. Most times, however, even that's unknown, except the most expensive stuff - car, stove, work on the house, furniture.
But in my complaining, I realize that I'm being selfish and need to think on what Christmas is really about. Instead of complaining, I could look to give true gifts of Christmas - items that reflect the gift of God and the sacrifice of Christ. That would be a challenge, one that all of a sudden is quite exciting to think of trying to meet. Not everyone in my family is a believer, but that doesn't matter, because this is what Christmas is all about.
To put in different words, here's a writing prompt:
A Christmas gift of transformation.
This is a poem I wrote from the prompt. I invite you to post a writing to this prompt as a comment.
A True Christmas Gift
With eyes closed and wishing for the best,
seven-year-old Anderson instead learned
his parents failed the Christmas Spirit test.
No Christmas lists for Anderson to post,
no lines to Santa to wait expectantly in,
only parents so tired they resembled dreary ghosts.
In the living room, was a skinny fake tree
which Anderson eyed – it looked as dry as toast.
They failed to notice his tears or his heart so broken,
that he wished Christmas was another time – almost.
The night moved slowly, until he drifted asleep.
Upon waking, he smelled what seemed to be Christmas.
Jumping out of bed, Anderson took a quick leap
down the stairs and, with eyes wide open,
he saw what could only be ...
a true gift of Christmas, not just a token.
In the arms of his mother, looking so small,
was a baby, newborn, cuddled up close.
Turning his head to peer through the hall,
in the kitchen was a Christmas breakfast feast
fit for a king, his family and all.
Cinnamon steeped in tea and chocolate,
and stockings hung near a very real tree!
Underneath was a small bassinet.
Did his family suddenly grow
to four from three?
"You came down just in time,"
said Anderson's mother, her voice filled with delight,
"This is your brother, a new heir in our line.
We've adopted him and he needs our love,
so he can learn, as you have so fine,
the true spirit of
Christmas.
"What is his name?" Anderson couldn't help but
ask.
"You tell us. Look in his eyes and hold him close,
because a name is not something you can remove like a mask."
His father added, "We've been so busy bringing him
home.
You're seven years old now, and this is your Christmas task."
I'm very excited that two of my tagged bloggers have completed their posts of "The Next Big Thing." Please be sure to check out their sites:
Ann Marie Thomas has opened the gates to write about a topic no one else seems to have written about. Historical non-fiction about the origins of a particular 13th century castle that seems as exciting as it is interesting.
Marilyn Lesser Katz is putting another notch into her greatest fiction interest: Zombie apocalypse! She's more interested in how the horror started than how they go about eating each other. Quite intriguing. Let's continue to support the players in this very fun blog hop!
I’m excited to be a part of this celebration of blogger Alex Cavanaugh! New to this community, I nonetheless have had the pleasure to experience
Alex’s advice and to welcome him into my cyber world. Here’re my four responses
regarding Alex.
What Alex looks like:
I’m sure he’s tall, full head of dark hair (maybe graying), roaming
eyes because he’s always on the go.
Who could play him in
a documentary:
Gary Oldman, a versatile actor, would have no problem
playing Alex in a documentary
Who Alexs remind me
of:
Alex reminds me of an actor whose name I don’t know. SO
instead, I’ll say he’s a cross between Gary Oldman and Chris Cooper.
Flash fiction using
“Cavanaugh” “cosbolt” “ninja” “guitar” “IWSG”
It was the night Cavanaugh never wanted to see – a night of
cosbolt trained ninja fighters who used Cavanaugh’s last surviving guitar as
weaponry and fuel for fire. That he created the night of his own will and let
it remain on the white pages of the now filled computer page, did not stop the
tears from flowing down his cheeks. Between weeping and mewling sniffs, he
exclaimed to himself, “Thank goodness it’s the first Wednesday of the month. I
desperately need IWSG to get over this. The story must go on!”
Bonus points comments:
Thank you Alex for making blogging so much funner and
connecting like-minded people who otherwise would likely never meet.
