How To Say Goodbye To Your Child’s Nightmare’s

My little Bella has begun to have nightmare’s. And I’m talking about full-blown, waking up screaming begging for Mommy nightmare’s. Scared me to death the first time I woke up to those terrified screams. That was the fastest I’ve ever shot out of bed in my life. I could not get her to calm down for a long time. I tried a lot of things but every time I tried to put her back to bed, (including my own) she would start screaming again, too afraid to go back to sleep. So I pulled a trick from my own past and it worked so well that I have to share it with you. I hope the following helps, and forgive the first person as it’s the only way I could get the words out in a way that worked.

I carefully explained that bed dreams where like little bugs that lived in her head. They buzz around and get so scared that they can’t help but transfer that fear to her. But if she wanted I could help the bad dream bug get out of her head. Of course she agreed without a second thought. So I went on to explain that I would cup my hand over her ear to catch the nightmare bug and then I’ll blow into her other ear. The bug would then fly out of her head and into my hand. Don’t worry, I didn’t blow into her ear, I blew across her ear but she didn’t know the difference. The moment I blew I clenched my fist as if I had caught the bug.

I showed her my fist and told her I had the dream bug in my hand and now it was time to set it free. So she took my other hand and we went to the back door. She pulled it open but before I “Let the bug go” I explained that the bug might come back unless she told it to go away. She said okay. Then I counted to three and threw the nightmare out the door. Then Bella shook her finger at it and said very firmly, “Please go away.” Then she shut the door, grabbed my hand and pulled me to her room where she climbed into bed and went to sleep almost at once.

She slept soundly the rest of the night and hasn’t woken up that away again. So next time your child wakes up from a nightmare, try this and maybe it will help your little one sleep again.

And as always, write on writers of the world, write on!

wow

Well, if the past few hours have been any indication I think I was right. I should throw in the towel on the planned thought out posts. From now on I’ll just go with the flow. It’s a little disappointing but I did learn from this experience.

Instead of over thinking my writing I’ll let it live as is, for the most part. Maybe this new-found insight will help my novel-writing get better as well.

With much love.

And as always, write on writers of the world, write on!

Throwing in the towel

I give up. Plan and simple.

I’m no good at this whole planned blogging thing. In fact, I suck at it. When I plan out a post, put a lot of thought and research into it, I get less readers and comments then if I just wing it.

Why is that? Why is it that when I plot out blog posts I get less views than when I free write them? Is it because when people read blogs they want a more intimate feel?

I have no idea. But it’s run true for me. I plan and plot and research and nothing. I write what comes to me and bam there I go.

Does this hold true for my novel and short stories as well? Do I write better when I don’t pay attention to the “rules”? Should I just throw in the towel and let my writing be?

 

Agent Profile: Ms Suzie Townsend

Here is the updated Agent Profile for Ms Townsend. She recently moved Literary Agencies and I thought her updated profile would make a great start to my new leaf as a blogger.  I have to say, Ms Townsend blew me away by her fast and enthusiastic response to my request.                                        Agent Profile

Ms Suzie Townsend

Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation

240 West 35th Street Suite 500

New York NY, 10001

http://nancycoffeyliterary.com

Query@nancycoffeyliterary.com

Blog: confessionsofawanderingheart.blogspot.com

Twitter: @sztownsend81

Ms. Suzie Townsend began as a high school English teacher in San Diego before starting at Fineprint in 2009. She now works at Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation where she is actively building her client list. She’s addicted to soy chai lattes and books, and best of all (in my humble opinion) she believes the synopsis is evil.  She wants to read a manuscript with fresh eyes and the synopsis negates that by being one big spoiler.  She’s called balmy Miami, hip San Diego, cool Philadelphia and bustling New York her home.  Now she shares a home with two dogs in Washington Heights.

Some wonderful books Suzie has enjoyed include (but are by no means limited to) When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Nuffenegger, and The Black Dagger Brotherhood novels by J. R. Ward.

A couple recently published works that she represents are A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang and Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz.  For a more extensive list please check out her website.

Suzie loves strong characters, especially female portages.  While she did enjoy Twilight she prefers the main characters not be dependant on their love interests or friends.  They should be strong, independent people who can stand on their own two feet.  She’s also looking for strong, voice driven stories and complex plots with a deeper political, moral or philosophical issue.  In layman’s terms, if your plot has a woman who holds her own while exploring a meaningful plot that gets the readers thinking or leaves them with a new look on life and the workings of the world, she might like to read it.

The genres she represents are: urban fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, epic fantasy, middle grade and young adult, and historical and paranormal romance. Her response times are quick, an added bonus to us writers. (I prefer my rejections to come quick, like waxing an eyebrow.  Take a deep breath, grasp firmly and yank; quick, painful but you’re better for it in the long run.) The Query Stats at Querytracker.net show her average response time to be about a week.

If you wish to query her, you may do so by either an email query at query@nancycoffeyliterary.com. When sending an email query put QUERY MS TOWNSEND in the subject line. You may also include the first 5 pages, double spaced in the BODY of your email.   Also, don’t forget your contact information on both the query and the manuscript.  This would include your full name, email and mailing address, your telephone number and the word count. Of course, you can also send a standard post query. If you go this route be sure to write ATTN: QUERY MS TOWNSEND on the front of the envelope. Remember to keep the query to a single page and include 5 sample pages of your manuscript, double spaced for ease of reading. If you send out a hard copy query you don’t need to include a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) because they only respond to those they are interested in. One more thing in regards to querying Ms Townsend. The company website explains that they read all queries within 2 weeks but will respond only to those they are interested in. So if you haven’t heard back after a couple of weeks its most likely because they didn’t fall in love with your idea. If they have requested a full or partial manuscript it could take at least 8 weeks to get back to you.

I must say I was a little worried when I learned that Ms Townsend had moved agencies. However, I understand that it’s a good thing, for her at any rate. It means she has advanced in her career and for that I’m very happy for her. I’ve had to really sit down and think as to whether or not I still wanted her to represent my work. The main concern I had was if she moved agencies again would I have to find another agent or would she keep me on as a client. Of course it was an unfounded concern because I know most agents move around and they take their client list with them.

I’ve chosen to query Ms Townsend for a verity of reasons.  The biggest one being the selection of genres she represents.  When I’m looking for an Agent, I want one who will be able to stay with me as my career grows and as I have manuscripts in many of her genres she would be perfect for me and my work.  The tone of her blog shows me she’s a fun woman who loves her job.  Those two characteristics are like gold to me.  I can live without them, yet the job would be that much more enjoyable with them. Her love of Starbucks doesn’t hurt either.

Because of how wonderful she seems and the compatibility I feel we may have, I’d love her to be my Agent.  I had hoped I would be ready to query her last May; however, due to a verity of reasons I had to postpone until the middle of November. Yes, I understand that this falls during the Hollidays which is considered to be a taboo time to query; however, I’d really rather not wait until the new year. I plan on querying her with an exclusive.  She doesn’t require an exclusive; however, add my deep hope she’ll fall in love with my novel to her quick response times and I have no problem submitting only to her to start with.

Reference sites:

QueryTracker.net

Nancycoffeyliterary.com

Confessionsofawanderingheart.blogspot.com

Publishers MarketPlace

Google

I’m extremely excited to say that Ms Suzie Townsend not only agreed to let me post this profile but she also answered a few fun questions for me!

Fun Bonus Questions:

If you had to pick, who would your all time favorite author be?

It’s really hard to name just one, especially sine I’ve gone through phases. If I read and like one book by an author, I tend to read everything I can find that the author has written.  But I guess I have to admit JRR Tolkien would be my favorite. I can’t even count how many times I’ve read Lord of the Rings.

What was your favorite childhood book?

My favorite picture book was Where the Wild Things are, but I got sucked into adult books really quickly.

What type of movies do you enjoy?

Just about all kinds. I love going to the movie theater and taking a two hour break to watch a film. And I’ll watch just about anything–I just have to be in the right mood for it.

Review for Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

The views and opinions expressed in this review are just that, my own views and opinions.

Bleeding Violet

By: Dia Reeves

Let me start off by saying I couldn’t out this novel down. It caught me from the frist word and held me til the end. Her character development was outstanding and the way she used their flaws, and some of them were pretty big, (major mental illness with suicidal tendencies, sex addicted possessed unwilling mother figure), really added depth to the story itself.

Honestly I couldn’t really tell you what the book was about. Part of me wants to say it was about a teen learning to deal with her mental issues while trying to fit into a world that doesn’t make sence and part of me wants to say it was about a spooky town and its population of messed up people. At the moment I’d have lean more towards the first.

While her character development rocked, I wish I could say the same for her world building, but I can’t. I found the setting to be a little convoluted and inconsistent while the idea’s and supernatural element came across as half-baked so to speak. A lot of it felt almost as if it were plucked out of thin air and tossed in with little thought.

This story flaw is easily overshadowed by her captivation action and dialogue. The ending was a bit disappointing because I felt more could have been said and explored. Maybe these issues will be address in her other novel, Slice of Cherry, which takes place in the same town but does not continue the story of Hanna and her mother. Regardless, I personally feel that this book is well worth your time and money.

 

A New Week and Lots To Do

The start of another week is upon us and I look forward to a productive one. Since Monday is the traditional start of the week I thought it only fitting that I put up my goals for the week.

As I’ve mentioned before I began my Queries for The Watched and I’m really excited about that. As far as my Query goals go, I’d like to have 5 more Agent Query Packets ready to go by next week.

My writing goals are to write an additional 10 pages every day I don’t work my second job and 5 pages on the days I do. These pages can either be for one of my WIP’s or the short stories I plan to write. By the end of the week I hope to have at least 2 new short stories, one ready to post here on Fiction Friday.

I’m pleased to say that I am putting the finishing touches of my book review for Dia Reeves Bleeding Violet and I’ll have it ready for your enjoyment tomorrow. As I already mentioned Ms Townsend recently changed agencies and her updated profile will be up on Wednesday.

I will also be updating this blog over the next week.

My more personal weekly goals are to finish the side garden and finally catch up on the mountain of laundry.

As always: write on writers of the world, write on!

My Major Query Blunder…

I sent out my frist query letter for The Watched yesterday. I’m both really excited and really scared at the same time. I’ve been waiting for two years to make it to this point, no, longer then that even, closer to three years. I’ve put hours upon hours of hard wonderful work into perfecting the book. I slaved over the internet researching potential agents. I even found the strength to request an Agent Profile for my blog. Yet, when it came time to write the query letter, I’m pretty sure I messed it up in a big way.

I know you’re suppose to draft the letter, let it seit, edit it and polish it and make sure it really grabs the agent. And I didn’t do any of that, not really. Thanks in large part to my pain med fogged brain I messed up, but it’s too late to take it back, I already sent it out.

Yesterday the letter looked perfect. I wrote it in less than five minutes and at the time I thought it was pretty damn good. This morning, not so much. I didn’t do any of the major Query No-no’s which I’m very grateful for and I might still stand a chance but if the Shark got a hold of my query I think she’d have a heart attack.

What I had thought was a witty way to approach the Query not just looks sloppy and half-assed. I mean, my hook was pretty gimmicky now that I’ve read over it.

“Josh’s task is simple: destroy the key that could unlock the fabric of time and single-handedly save the entirety of creation.

“The obstacle: the key is his best friend’s new-born daughter, Jamie Artwell.

“The tools available: his Watcher abilities to sense and control emotions and walk between the Shadows.

“The complication: he falls in love with Jamie and cannot bring himself to kill her.”

At the time I thought that was really good, this morning not so much. Besides that major oops, the rest of the letter is good. The second paragraph really works well I think. I made sure my bio-paragraph held only relevent information such as my freelance writing experience and my e-zine published short story of the same genre. I also remembered to mention out past correspondences and I personalized the letter at every opportunity. Oh, and most important of all, I did spell her name right. You can have one killer Query for the next greatest novel but you’ll get rejected quicker then a cat dumped in tub of water if you miss spell the agents name.

Despite my major query boo-boo I’m still very hopeful and confident. If I don’t hear back in two weeks I can assume she didn’t like the quirky hook and I’ll just move down my list and try her again with a better query in a few months.

In the mean time I plan to revamp this blog, up date Ms Townsend’s profile since she moved agencies, write that dreaded synopsis and research more Agents.

Sundays were meant for summing up my past week and I’ve spent a lot of words on just my query mis-hap so I’ll be brief on the rest.

I’m healing well from surgery, even if I’m still in a butt load of pain. Overall I’m feeling really good. I have been able to plan all of next weeks blog posts so now this blog will have some semblance of order to it. I’ve updated The Watched sample chapters here on The Leaking Quill so be sure to check it out and let me know what you think.

I really hope next weeks goes as well as this week has, but without the query letter issue repeating.

Write on writers of the web, write on!