See you in February

Off for an adventure ;) Be back next month.

The Lost Lord - A Sneak Peek

Welcome to, possibly, the world's shortest blog. Please swing by my website to check out a sneak peak at The Lost Lord: http://danellafayecom.ipage.com/Page11.html

Good Critique Partners are Treasures Worth Hunting

Writing invigorates as the story in your mind, once a small lump rattling around in the brain, builds and grows until the pieces crystalize into a complete work. Characters, born from imagination and fleshed out on paper, come to life. Plot lines twist and curve, revealing surprises and unexpected elements, and an idea turns into a story. However, the story isn’t perfect; the little gem still needs polishing.

The next step requires submitting your work to those rare treasures trusted to provide feedback and direction needed to turn the rough gem into a shining beauty. Critique Partners will find those hidden flaws, unnoticed errors, and jagged edges dulling the tale. Critique partners are a valuable resource, and every writer needs them.

My first attempt to find these resources started amongst my family and friends. They all love and encourage me, and were as shocked as I was when the rejection letters arrived.

After picking myself up, slapping some bandages over the still-bleeding wounds, and re-evaluating my situation; I realized I needed more help. The key question was where to find critique partners.

I started my search by reading, listening to, and investigating any available advice on the subject, but none of the information fit me perfectly. I am still searching for a magic formula, and have learned a few things during my hunt for those jewels among writers who fit well with me.

First, find potential candidates. There are many resources to help locate other writers: online groups, professional associations, even twitter and Facebook. Try them all, or try the ones you feel most comfortable using. My best resource are writing groups, specific to my genres, because, let’s be honest, a mystery writer is probably not enthused by my Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, or Young Adult works, and I’m not the best candidate to critique a mystery.

Second, ask for help. Critique partners will not appear the second you decide you need one. No one knows you’re looking if you don’t say anything especially in this age – the digital wallflower doesn’t exist, nobody sees him.

Third, trade writing samples to make sure you are comfortable with each other’s work, and be honest about your shortcomings. Make sure the other person knows what to expect, and what to review or not review. Grammar and punctuation are not my strong suits until revision 10 of a story. I’ve chased away a few critique partners because my early submissions contain errors, and although my process altered to reduce the number of mistakes a critique partner finds, I’m not willing to change my entire process – it’s working for me. My punctuation shortcoming is something I always tell potential candidates, to save anyone from undue headaches trying to chase down missing commas.

Fourth, if you don’t think the partnership will work, say so. You will save yourself and the other person time and frustration if you’re honest.

Finally, keep trying. The biggest secret to success is persistence. Not everyone you run across will be a good partner for any number of reasons. Fight the discouragement, and try again.

As I stated earlier, we all need critique partners. You love the story; the writing is a treasure you created. Good critique partners will help you perfect your work, and make it shine. I’ve met a few people who are fortunate enough to work with a perfect team, and many more who are still searching. Me, I am blessed with a good team, and am thankful for every member, but am still looking for a few good women or men.

As I continue my search, I’ll add information to this topic. Check in for updates, inspiration, and nuggets of wisdom as I stumble upon them.

Best Wishes To and Through the New Year

I'm signing off for a few days to enjoy family and friends and life without cell phones and computer access ;) Wishing everyone Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year.

See you in 2012
Danella

Deadlines and the Unexpected

For about six months now, I have been waiting for a call from my husband. Well, not just any call, despite his male telephone skills, I do get calls. No, I was waiting for “The Call” - the call beginning with “Guess what” and ending with the location of our next move.

The call didn’t come, and life moved on with approaching deadlines. I set a rigid schedule for myself to keep on track and avoid my favorite pastime (procrastination). I do believe it is essential to scope out this year’s best in new boots, check out what all of my friends are doing on Facebook, and read some new blogs. More importantly, I must stay on schedule. Otherwise, I would have forever avoided Chapter 3 in “Wolf Runner,” which caused me brain pain. Without the schedule, I wouldn’t have made it to revising Chapter 4 (Chapter 3 is set up for another round of revisions).

Then, last week, the call came. The new location is welcome news, the timing – not so much. This winter, right in the middle of the holiday season we will be selling the house (fingers crossed), finding a new place to live, and preparing our belongings and the zoo for a cross-country trip.

Now, I’m faced with the original deadlines and wondering how I’m going to pull this off. Times like this, I remind myself of wise words a friend of mine once shared as we were racing to catch a plane together. Mid-sprint, as computer bags and carry-ons were banging against our legs and my choice of shoes for the trip was proving most unfortunate, she turned to me and said, “you know, if we don’t make this one there is always another plane.”

We made the plane, and I'll make this deadline. This time, I'm fortunate enough to have chosen good shoes.

Herding Cats

“Herding Cats” happens to be a favorite phrase of mine, especially when faced with an organizational nightmare slipping rapidly out of control. In my past life, I held the cat herding title and rounded those little suckers up, in the figurative sense.

This morning, my youngest canine companion took up the reigns - literally. Our neighbor has an exploding population of feral cats. Pip decided to chase them.

Unfortunately, when tempted with the promise of capturing something his recall is not the best (it doesn’t exist). In turn, I chased Pip through the back yard to the neighbor’s tumbledown garage where a pride of mini-lions were expressing their displeasure at his intrusion.

Praying that the excitement didn’t inspire Pip to leave a “present” on our neighbor’s lawn, I snagged his collar and tried to pull him away. The drama overwhelmed one little lion to the point that he/she decided to attack and managed to land on Pip’s back. I shouldn’t have laughed, but I did. Karma will get you every time.

The bright note in this adventure, aside from watching the canine rodeo is that when we went outside for the noon “break,” Pip showed no inclination to check out the cats. I will re-claim my title as family cat herder until he decides to challenge me again.

Look at that face, he can't wait to challenge me again ;)

Happy Holidays - A Rant and A Rave

Being a scrooge during the holidays does not win me any bonus points and makes me wonder – is everyone else in the world doing the same stuff I am? So far this month I have decorated, baked, shopped, packed, shipped, and coordinated plane travel and pick up. Come on January 2^nd – you can’t get here fast enough.

I’m still bracing myself for the travel, visitors, and big explosion sure to happen when everything does not go exactly to schedule. I know a plane will be late, the drive will be longer than anticipated, and/or I will burn Christmas dinner.

If you have ever seen the National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, you’ve seen the chaos I’m expecting this holiday. Thankfully, we had the foresight to send the canine kids to a doggy-sitter over the holiday - missed that bullet.

In a moment of frustration, I asked my mother why we do this and, after receiving “the sigh,” she reminded me of a few things. After listening and reassuring her that I understand, I agreed with her. The chaos leading up to the holiday is worth it.

At the end of the day, I will get of my baby nephew opening his gifts and the look on my much-beloved younger brother’s face when he sees what we bought the dear child, and visit family we don’t get to see often enough, and no one will care about the quality of my cookies or the travel stress.

I’m back to the kitchen to make some more cookies, candies, and everything else we need with a happier heart and some good red wine.

Happy Holidays Everyone!