cj Miscellany

cj Sez: Yesterday, the world remembered D-Day, June 6, 1944—the day Allied forces hit the beaches of Normandy in defense of freedom. I remember especially an uncle who was injured on those bloody sands and a dear friend, who travelled with Patton and with whom I am privileged to be able to still connect. Sa-Lute to America’s heroes and thank you.

Following up on last week’s post

The toon is from my Facebook page.

I’ve written about this before but it bears repeating: Critiques are a must for serious writers. We’re way too close to our manuscripts to be subjective. Despite our best intentions, we can’t judge, proofread, or edit our own words, at least not thoroughly and objectively. We read past things. Sometimes the words we intended aren’t even on the page. Objective critique partners are able to find those missing words, poorly constructed sentences, punctuation errors, missing story threads, plot holes, and all the etceteras that the subjective writer misses.

It’s true that finding compatible critique partners is often very hard. Shared likability and a mutual respect for expertise are required by/for/from each other. But your manuscript deserves/needs critiques, so connecting with a critique group is definitely worth the effort.

Your (and my own) role in a critique group is to remember the rules for critiquing. The most important one is: Be kind. Second: Find a way to start the critique with something positive. (Writers have fragile, creative egos, but you know that.) Third: Be truthful. It won’t help any writer if you praise something that is poorly written. I truly understand that no one likes to hear their baby manuscript is ugly, but speaking from experience, if we’re going to be successful writers, we have to develop a rhino hide in order to continue writing despite criticism—whether unwarranted or warranted—and despite the feared agent rejections.

 

Okay, time to quit this tome and get back to transcribing my notes from the Southern Christian Writers Conference that I attended over the weekend. I’ll tell you more about that next week, but in the meantime, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
DEADLY STAR (Publisher: Crimson Romance)  
    http://bit.ly/19QDQq3   (B&N.com)
    http://amzn.to/1LRRwC9  (Amazon.com)

 

P.S. Congratulations to prolific author Carolyn Haines on the release of the latest must-read book in her Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery series. BONE TO BE WILD is number 15 in this series!

 

PPS:  Still waiting for publisher Crimson Romance to send me the edits they want for my newest romantic suspense, CONFLUENCE OF TERROR.  The anticipation is making me nervous. ::grin::

 

Now is the time for all good readers . . .

cj Sez:  . . for a chance to win a whole summer of romance novels enter the contest at www.SummerOfLoveBooks.com       DEADLY STAR is one of them.

There will be more than one winner, and for an extra chance to win, "like" my Facebook author page at    http://on.fb.me/1xRVDej 

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE

*************

In May of last year, my Lyrical Pens post said this:

In addition to the usual writerly things (critiques, writing short stories, attending a conference or two, entering contests), my writing plans for 2014 include revising a romantic suspense/mystery, completing the first book in a detective series, and thinking through (is that called outlining?) a young adult fantasy. Several months into these projects, the dust is settling around me, and I wonder how much of this ambitious schedule is wishful thinking.

I accomplished only one item of that ambitious schedule. . . revising the romantic suspense novel. I did more than one edit cycle on the story, tweaked it a zillion times, and it's now ready for submission to someone somewhere. (I'm working on a back cover blurb and will post it in the near future.) The first story in my proposed female sleuth series has resurfaced, but the young adult fantasy is still on the proverbial back burner. I sometimes wish I wrote faster because there's so many stories I want to tell.

Attending a conference or two in 2014 never happened, but I've registered for the 2015 Southern Christian Writers Conference, June 5-6 in Tuscaloosa, AL. And I'll be at Killer Nashville in October (the Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise). Between registration fee and hotel rates, the first conference is very reasonably priced for the number of workshops and speakers, plus I'll have the opportunity to sell some books. By the same measure (mostly the hotel), the second is not so reasonably priced, but there are a great number of workshops and speakers, plus there's a possibility I may be selected to participate on a panel (maybe). Lot of experiences and networking possibilities there.

The thing is, I didn't get "everything" done during 2014 that I planned to do, but I'm not going to beat myself up over perceived failures. I'm okay with them. I took time to enjoy my family, my gardens, and my friends. I think that counts as success. 

Okay, that's all for today. Be sure to enter the contest and give my Facebook author page a "like" for a second chance to win 16 romance novels. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I'll try to do the same.

cj