Surviving THE CALL, part 2: Herding the Mental Cats

Yesterday I talked a little about the lessons I learned that prepared me for THE CALL. Today’s follow-up looks a little more closely at the experience itself. It’s a generally-accepted axiom among writers that when your novel is on submission with agents, bad news comes by email and good news comes by telephone. This isn’t always so. My “call” was preceded by a fantastic email from my agent telling me that she loved my manuscript and wanted to represent it. (No, you don’t get the actual text.) I’d heard other authors speak of hearing the news this way, and I

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Surviving THE CALL Part 1: Do Your Homework, Polish and Plan … and Smile.

As those who follow my Twitter feed already know, I am now represented by literary agent Sandra Bond (of The Sandra Bond Agency). As those of you in the publishing industry know, this means I received “The Call” – an experience which has near-mythical status among writers, both for its significance in an author’s career and also for its ability to turn even reasonably stable people into blathering idiots. Every represented author has a story about THE CALL – and since three days have given me the distance I need to write without collapsing into giggles that make those around

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A Word to the (Not So) Wise

A few things to look out for (read: avoid like the plague) when setting up a spam-comment-bot to make allegedly personalized comments on “unsuspecting” blogs that link back to your sales-or-phishing website: 1.  Inadvertent humor. (“I’d been meaning to research this very topic! Thank you for posting!!” takes on an entirely new meaning when attached to an entry about the Garden Gnome Apocalypse.) 2. Carpet-bombing. It’s possible your flattery will make me overlook the clearly ad-related website your comment links to. I might even overlook the fact that your email address is XXX1109190253252skehwieu_km@gmail.com (Looks legit.) But you’re much less likely

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Reads and Reviews: The Witch’s Trinity (by Erika Mailman)

I met Erika Mailman at the Historical Novel Society Conference last June (2011). I was browsing the conference bookstore and noticed a paperback novel with the intriguing title The Witch’s Trinity. As it turned out, the author was standing only a few feet away. Never one to miss an opportunity to have a novel signed, I picked up two copies – one for myself and the other to give away. I deliberately held the review of this book for October because The Witch’s Trinity is a fabulous tale for this time of year. The story takes place in 16th century

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Taking Battery to a Whole New Level

This is what happens when puns (and baked goods) attack. Earlier this week, a Chicago woman allegedly assaulted her husband … with cupcakes. The husband called 911. When police arrived the wife admitted to “pelting” her icing-smudged husband with baked goods, whereupon the police arrested her. (Wait for it….) For battery. But if the cupcakes were cooked, shouldn’t they actually have arrested her for bakery?

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Chocolate, Cupcakes and Fire

October 18 is official “Chocolate Cupcake Day.” To my dismay, the lemon cupcake appears to have no holiday of its own – a tragic oversight on the part of the Universe. Still, we pick ourselves up and we do the best we can with what we’re given. (Even if we must make do with cocoa and not lemonade.) Chocolate cupcakes. Or, as I like to call them, “happy on a plate.” They come in many varieties and recipes abound. But in honor of today’s festivities, permit me to connect you with a recipe that combines three of my all-time favorite

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Sometimes, the Weeds, they Win

Last night Tesla informed me that he wants to change his 11th grade science course from Physics to Special Topics in Botany. But not foo-foo botany. Life’s not all daisies and dogwoods you know. Tesla wants to study … “aggressive species.” The type that take down non-sessile organisms, conquer forests and make mighty oaks cry for mercy. In short, he wants to study poisonous plants and creeper vines. He is his mother’s son. We homeschool in part to allow (and foster) his curiosity, so this morning I pulled up Amazon and went looking for a suitable text. Didn’t take very

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Shiny Dinglehoppers: Sexy Shrimp

As promised, this is your slightly delayed Tuesday Wednesday Tank-Day Post. It’s also a shiny dinglehopper post, because I’m guessing many of you have never heard of a sexy shrimp. Permit me to introduce Connery and his lady friend, Zeta: And yes, the species’ common name really is “sexy shrimp.” Thor amboinensis is native to the Indo-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean. Adults measure almost one inch in length. They acquired the slightly risque common name because they wave their abdomens around like miniature hyper-caffeinated belly dancers (or strippers, I suppose). The best photograph I can offer for size comparison

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Boys Will be Boys…At Any Age

While driving to work this morning I saw something so awesome I had to share.* My neighborhood is aging, and many of our neighbors are couples in their late 80s and early 90s. Many of these couples walk regularly for exercise, and on my way to work I normally pass at least one, and sometimes two, elderly couples out for a morning stroll. We normally wave when we pass and though I don’t know most of them well it makes me happy to see them. A couple of months ago I noticed that one of the older gentlemen had acquired

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Reads and Reviews: Die Buying (by Laura DiSilverio)

Die Buying: Military police(wo)man E.J. Ferris became a “mall cop” out of necessity, after a roadside IED injured her leg and forced her early retirement. Her new job hardly presents a challenge – until an unpopular real estate developer ends up naked and dead in the window of a ladies’ boutique on the same morning animal activists release dozens of reptiles – and one giant python – from the mall’s Herpetology Hut. It’s murder … with a side of snake. Short review: Highly Recommended. This is an engaging, entertaining page-turner with an intelligent protagonist, hairpin turns, a little roller derby

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