Elita

I haven't submitted any of my work for over a year now. I guess that's not the way to get published. I certainly haven't reached the 100 rejections Steven King amassed before finding a publisher. In the meantime I have started another novel--a complete departure from my sci-fi/fantasy trilogy. It's set in Northern Ireland at the start of the troubles and is centered around a fifteen-year-old Catholic girl, whose character is totally based on Ellie; her family is also based on Ellie's family. It has a definite religious setting, since religion has always benn a major part of Ellie's life, beginning in her early years. I've gotten about 1/3 the way through it. If anyone is interested in giving it a read, pop me an email and I'll send it on to you, but only if you agree to actually read it and give me some constructive criticism.

Twilight

I finally read Twilight and saw the movie. Not bad. Not a literary masterpiece but very well written and a clever idea--a gimmick almost, but it sure caught the attention of a lot of teenagers (and adults) worldwide. I recently had Michelle Bacon (my niece-in-law) and her reading group read Shaylae .... They liked it, sorta, but the most common comment I received was: "It needs more romance!" Shaylae does fall in love with Mika, but there's only one kiss, and that is more of a friendly kiss, but hey, she's only fourteen, and isn't fourteen a little young for romance? So, I decided to rewrite the book, starting on Shaylae's seventeenth birthday, rather than her fourteenth and let's see how it goes from there ...

Lauren Cooper (aka Catherine Tate) meets Doctor Who (aka David Tennant)

Two of my favorite British TV stars. The Catherine Tate show is the funniest sketch-comedy show since Monty Python, and Doctor Who is the best SF TV show ever! OK, so it doesn't have the whizz-bang of US TV shows, but who the heck cares.

And now, in the new Doctor Who series 4 they are united as travelling companions.

By the way, the sonnet she recites is:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

William Shakespeare (Sonnet 130)

St. Martin's Press

Creative Byline finally "approved" my submission package. I'm not sure it means anything, other than I can now submit it through their site to a "registered" publisher. The publisher I chose was St. Martin's Press (one of Macmillan's imprints--I think) and an editor who is looking for YA novels. Now I just wait. I'm not building my hopes up because publishing these days has very little to do with art, and a great deal to do with business. These days midlist published authors have difficulty getting published. Click here for a great article by a midlist author

Publishers are looking for a blockbuster, and not only that, the author better have a ood supply of blockbusters up his sleeve, or he too will get dropped.

Still, while being published would be a wonderful bonus, as I've mentioned before, writing is its own reward ... writing is its own reward ... writing is ...

Shadow Mountain

Deseret Book has four imprints:

• Deseret Book - LDS history and Doctrine - very official


• Bookcraft - not-so-official history and doctrine


• Eagle Gate - art, niche markets, library editions, and teaching aids


• Shadow Mountain - general market for "value-based" publications—they publish quite a few sci/fi and fantasy novels.

I tried to submit to Shadow Mountain a few years ago, but they did not have much of a web site; I ended up sending my query to Deseret Book, mentioning Shadow Mountain, but got a super-polite rejection a couple of weeks later. Since then, Shadow Mountain has had terrific success; many books have reached the NYT best seller list-at one time they had three of their publications on the list. They now have specific submission instructions—I guess it's time to give them another opportunity to publish my trilogy.

Shadow Mountain is also the publisher of the upcoming first book of Jeff Savage's new series, Farworld. (I mention him in a previous blog.)

League of Utah Writers

I finally joined a writing group—The League of Utah Writers. Don’t ask me why it took so long. I’ve been meaning to do it for years, but being the procrastinator I am, I’ve always put it off. Sure, I’ve been able to share with my wife the joy and sorrow of writing, the highs and lows, the times when it flows, the inevitable writer’s block, and she is always happy to hear my stories—either that or she’s a great actress. (You think I’d be able to tell after 37 years of marriage …)

Today I attended my first meeting—a workshop held at Spaghetti Mama’s in Sandy, and it was great, well, everything except the lunch (If you’ve ever eaten at Spaghetti Mama’s you know what I’m talking about.) I met some really interesting people, many of whom are already published. I sat at a table with K.C. Grant (Kim) who has published a number of articles and her first novel is scheduled for release this fall.

All of the presentations were good, but the one I enjoyed most, and was probably the most helpful for me, was a presentation by Jeff Savage on the art of creating a plot. Here's his main blog and the blog for his upcoming series, Farworld. Both very interesting and useful blogs.

Hopefully there will be many more opportunities to meet people in the business; other writers, publishers, editors, agents. Who knows what it may lead to …

Creative Byline

I found this new site, Creative Byline, which "sounds" pretty good. I guess the jury is still out though because it's only been going for about four or five months. So far I've submitted my query package and their "first readers" have given me some pretty good advice. The idea is that once a first reader has approved your package you can submit it to an editor. So, where do these editors come from? Creative Byline has signed up some pretty impressive editors from some pretty huge publishers. For example, Tor-Forge is the largest publisher of science fiction and fantasy in the world; and since my books fit that genre it's a risk worth taking. Actually, it's not much of a risk--they charge $19 for a query submission. Worst case, I will end up spending $76 to get a submission-worthy query package.

There are five or six Tor-Forge editors listed. One in particular is looking for sci/fi novels with a strong female character. And Shaylae is nothing if she isn't that.

I'll keep you posted as to how this goes; I'm ready to make another submission, probably Monday or Tuesday.

Oh, one more thing. Have you heard of Writer Beware? (If you're a writer you should definitely check them out--search for "creative byline".) And as far as they're concerned, it doesn't look or feel like a scam. But like me, they still think the jury is out.