How to Make a Million Dollars Writing a Book

Inspiring Me Today: The Over-Ambitious

So, you've heard about all these people writing books? Just sit and type, and out comes a paper-bound money maker. But how do you start?

Ready to rake in the cash? Let me tell you how to make a million dollars writing a book.

1. Come up with a stellar novel idea. Vampires and Mermaids are hot right now. So are ghosts and love stories. Ok, so, a vampire mermaid falls in love with a ghost! Awesome! Step one done!
2. Now, go to a Starbucks and write the book. Get a Starbucks credit card to pay for all the mochas you buy.
3. Get an agent to fall in love with your vampermaid love story. This is the easy part.
4. Now, the agent gets a publisher to fall in love with it too. The agent sells the book for a low 5-figure advance. Hooray! The advance will almost pay off the Starbucks card!
5. By some tragic statement about the tastes of today's youth miracle, you just pay through the advance. Now, time to write Vampermaid 2!
6. Go back to Starbucks and pull that credit card back out. 
7. Sit down with your PC and piping hot mocha, and perpare to write.
8. The person next to you asks what you're doing.
9. You tell them who you're the author of VAMPERMAID, and say that you're writing book 2. Maybe they want an autograph.
10. The person says, "Hmm... Never heard of you."
11. A little irritated, you accidentally hit your cup and spill mocha all over you and your computer.
12. Sue Starbucks for medical bills, damages to your computer, and pain and suffering.
13. Win million dollar settlement with Starbucks.
14. Congratulations! You've just made a million dollars writing a novel!

So there you go. Just follow those easy steps, and you're on your way to riches!

What Search Terms Find Your Site?

Inspiring Me Today: Google Analytics and Claire Legrand

Recently, Claire Legrand did this awesome (lol. Read to see why I laugh) blog post about the hilarious search terms people used to find her blog. While my results can’t hope to compare to her baffling results, I did find my results (from Google Analytics) interesting.

My top results are:

• S Kyle Davis, Kyle Davis, or some other variant obviously.
•  Various searches for info on J.K. Rowling’s plot planning sheet because I analyzed it here
•  Intern Amie variations because I defended her back in the day
• Dialog vs. Conversation variations because of this post
• “Finding a plot” variations for similar reasons
• Logline-related searches because of a critique session I did once
•  Searches for Steven Malk because I did a post on something he said in an interview once
• Jodi Reamer variations because I mentioned her ONCE in passing
• Searches for other people I’ve mentioned in passing, etc.
• yWriter variations because I’ve mentioned several times how the software is awesome and free

So, those are the normal results. What about the weird ones?

• “kyle davis” stranton. you make one Office joke…
• Celtic demi-goddess. You know, you can just say you think I look nice in my photo. You’re taking the flattery too far.
• Faster faster kyle davis. Fine, fine. I’ll hurry up.
• Graffiti on the wall interview skills. I’m not sure what this means
• How do you get “a thicker skin”? some sort of body armor perhaps?
• If your name is kyle your name is davies. No, it’s Davis, actually, and that’s a logical fallacy.
• Kyle davis it’s your life Great, now I have Bon Jovi stuck in my head. “Bow wow.”
• Meaning of “ledger domain”. This is because my book used to be called “The Ledger Domain.” If you’re searching for this, it’s a pun. Legerdemain is a French-based word meaning “sleight of hand” or magic
• Nextbook 2 (and variations). No clue why searches for this come to my site. Maybe Nextbook wants to sponsor me! If so... sure! I’ll say they’re the best things ever if you give me one for free!
• Semiotic analysis of beatles blackbird. This. Is. Awesome. If someone actually does this, please leave the link in my comments.
• The man in the trenchcoat and the fedora dreams umm… creepy…. (especially if you’ve read this book)
• The usual suspects logline. I love this movie, but... ???
• What influenced james patterson to write daniel x? Kyle, remember: if you can’t say something nice...

Five Years with an Amazing Woman

Inspiring Me Today: My wife

Yesterday, I celebrated five years being married to a truly amazing woman. I don't normally get super personal on this blog, but I just wanted to say that Wendy Davis is, in a word, awesome! She's smart, funny, and kind. She's also my best friend.

Wendy Davis is my ghostwriter. She's the one that helps me come up with the ideas, from the big ones to bits of dialog.

Wendy Davis is my alpha reader. She reads my work and lets me know if its crap.

Wendy Davis is my crit parter. She thumbs up the good ideas, and (very kinds) thumbs down the stupid ones.

Wendy Davis is my biggest supporter. She encourages me to keep going, tells me it's going to be ok, and lets me leave her alone with the kids so I can write--or run off to a writers conference. I couldn't do this without her.

Thank you Wendy! I love you!

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Oh, and if you're curious, here's Wendy's blog post on our 5 years. She said it much more eloquently than I did, but then she's the real writer in the family.

Love You Something Fierce: 5 Years: "Five years ago, my whole world changed with two simple words...'I Do!' Five years ago I put on a beautiful gown, my momma put my veil on, ..."

How to Pitch

(photo by SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent))

Inspiring Me Today: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

So, as many of you know, last weekend was DFWcon. I do have coverage coming. I promise. Just need a bit of time to edit the videos.

Anyway, I met so many authors there, and they were all trying to tell me about their story. What I found was that a lot of people have no clue how to do that.

Don't feel bad. I didn't either.

Here's a case in point. I was walking back to my room after The Gong Show, a hilarious and enlightening event where a deep-voiced "movie trailer"-style announcer read anonymous query letters. Five agents had "gongs," which they would sound at the point they'd stop reading. Anyway, the thing they said over and over was, "Get to the story! What's the story?!"

As I was walking back from this event, I started up a conversation with another conference-goer about The Gong Show. She complained, "They always tell us they need the story, but it makes no sense! It's all so confusing and contradictory. I have no idea what they're looking for!"

Well, I'm going to tell you what they're looking for. And really, you've probably heard it before. When the agents want the story, they want to know this:

When [beginning of book] happens, [main character] must overcome [what stops him/her] so he/she can [goal] before [bad stuff happens]. 

That's it. That's what they want to hear. And they want it soon, not two-thirds of the way through the query or pitch. Work hard and develop that sentence. That's your pitch. If you have that, you can do any of those other little marketing things. You can scrunch it down into a twitter pitch. You can expand it into a query letter. You can even use it as a springboard in a face-to-face pitch or elevator speech. 

Now, don't tell me your book doesn't fit into this formula. It does. Or rather, it should, unless you've written something really REALLY experimental (which you shouldn't attempt unless you're already a very accomplished author, because this takes skill). So figure out what the inciting incident, goal, obstacle, and stakes are. Who knows? You may find you need to revise your manuscript to really bring this out. I've done that. My book is much better for it.

Oh, and the other thing you'll need for your pitch: the hook. What's a hook? Well, we'll get to that next time.

Blog in Brief: Questions for THE CALL

Inspiring Me Today: Suzie Townsend, Maria Gomez, and WriteOnCon

Ok, so last night was WriteOnCon's monthly chat. I was reading through the transcript, which is simultaneously hilarious and informative. Lots of great nuggets of info, but this bit from agent Suzie Townsend was gold. If any of you are lucky enough to get "the call," here are some good questions to ask the agent before agreeing to representation.

I don't know if there's one single most important question. So here are a few:

1. Does the agent want to rep you for just this one project or are they intersted in your other ideas and your career as a whole?
   
2. What happens if this project doesn't sell? Do they shop your next project or let you go?
   
3. Who handles their subrights and books to film?
   
4. What happens if (god forbid) something happens to your agent (they get sick, stop agenting, win the lotto)? Who handles your stuff then?
   
5. How communicative is the agent? How much do they share with the writer? How do they prefer to communicate (via email or phone?)
   
6. How editorial is the agent?
   

That's all I can think of right now, but those are important.

So yeah, that's awesomeness, and I thought it needed to be posted somewhere people could find it.

Give and Take Part 1: How to Give a Critique

Inspiring Me Today: The Alibi by Sandra Brown

[Author's Note: Sorry about the long break. I keep saying, "I need to write a blog post," but just haven't.]

As many of you know, I've been knee-deep in revisions gearing up for DFWcon (which is SOOO soon!). As part of that, I called for beta readers, who were so awesome to read through my book and provide feedback. Thanks SO MUCH for all y'all's help!

Well, as I've gone through this process again, I was struck several times by all the awesome little things my beta readers did as they critiqued, and I wanted to share what they showed me, not about my novel, but about how to give a critique.

Now, this ISN'T a post on literary aesthetics. I trust that each of you have a sense of what's "good" and "bad" in a novel. You don't need me to tell you, and I wouldn't presume to try. No, this post is about logistics. This isn't about what to critique. This is about how to critique.

1. Give the forest and the trees. When doing a critique, you should include two things. First, open the manuscript in some sort of document that you can edit. Make comments and changes as you read, and then send this back to the author. Second, in the email, include overall comments about the book. The document you'll send is the trees. These are the specific points that you want to comment on. The email is the forest. This is where you tie those comments together into larger thoughts about the book as a whole. The author needs both, and they'll read in the reverse order of what you'll send. They'll read the overall comments, and then go to the document to see where specifically you've pointed out these issues. 
2. Have an overall impression. This is the initial reaction to the book as a whole. Taking everything else you're going to say into account, what do you think? This is more than "I like it." This is, "I think the heart of the characters and plot are good, but it needs a lot of work before you're ready to submit," or "I like this a lot, and think if you make these changes, you can submit with confidence!" This impression part is important, because otherwise, the author can be left going, "Ok, they have all these comments, but... is it any good? Is my book crap, or is it finally ready to send now?!" Either way, they need to know. What if it is crap? Well, first, don't say it like that, obviously. Use tact. But tell them. If you aren't buying the premise, then let them know. Maybe it's good but they're just not handling it right. Tell them why you aren't buying the premise. Maybe it's something they can fix. Or maybe it just isn't your thing. That's ok too. If you let them know why, they'll have a better idea of whether they should ignore you or not. 
3. Point out the good things. This goes back to the "Is my book crap?" question the author may be having. Always, always, always point out the good things in a manuscript. And yes, they're there. If you aren't seeing them, then you need to STOP READING. Take a break and come back to it. Every manuscript has something good going on, no matter how much work it needs. Even if the very premise just isn't working, the author at least has something they're doing well that they can take to the next project. This is especially true if you're loving it. Don't just say, "This book is awesome!" That is much less helpful than saying, "I really liked the part where the kid traded a corn dog for a space ship! That was hilarious!" Maybe this was a part the author was thinking of taking out. Saying you liked it will reaffirm what they need to keep, and will lessen the blow when you make other critiques. 
4. Cover plot arcs in general terms. Going back to the forest/trees metaphor, writers many times have trouble seeing the forest. We get so focused on scenes that we can't put the whole book into the right perspective. Rarely do we get the chance to just read straight through the book. That's why, as beta readers, we need to give those overall comments about the plot arcs. If a particular subplot isn't working for you, say so, and say why. They need to know if character development starts too late or if the romantic plot plateaus. They need to know if you figured out the murderer in the second act. You can give the perspective they don't have.
5. React to the manuscript with specific comments. Now, we're turning to the other side of critique. As you're reading through the manuscript, document your reactions in comments (that is, Insert Comment). This gives the author a blow-by-blow to your reactions. Note that I'm NOT telling you to point out errors. I'm telling you to give your reactions. These include, "Oh no!", "Wait, HE'S the murderer?!", "LOL!", and, yes, comments like "I don't understand what's going on here" and "You could make this better by doing such and such."  This process makes pointing out the good things a lot easier to do. It also helps the author know what's working and what isn't. Comments like "clean up this section and get rid of the adverbs" are, of course, helpful, but need to come naturally.
6. Editing doesn't need to be line editing. Remember that the most important part of beta reading is for structural corrections. Most basic line editing can be covered using Word's Style Checker. This doesn't mean you can't do "micro" edits rather than only "macro" edits. It also doesn't mean you shouldn't help point out how to cleanup language, identify overused words, etc. You should DEFINITELY do that. I'm talking about getting so absorbed in pointing out each thing that you never finish or fail to point out the more important structural changes. Pick a few key times they do that repeated offense and then move on.
7. When line editing, use track changes. This is a small thing, but it really helps. You'll inevitably be tempted to fix a punctuation or spelling error somewhere. That's fine. If it's bugging you that much, it'll bug an agent, editor, or reader. However, how do you identify it? The best way I've found is by using Track Changes. This will help the author navigate through all the corrections and not miss it. 

Ok, I hope this has been helpful. After all, it's one thing to give critiques. It's another to give helpful and meaningful critiques. 

Paying It Forward

Inspiring Me Today: S. R. Johannes (NOT  Haley Joel Osment)

No, this isn't a post about the year 2000 film with the horrible, needless ending that I absolutely loathe. Although, a post about horrible, needless endings that provide nothing but shock value would be an interesting post...

Ok, back on track.

Anyway, this post is part of S. R. Johannes's "Pay It Forward" contest. Up for grabs: a personal recommendation from Shelli (Johannes) to her agent, Alyssa Henkin at Trident Media. Awesome, right? Here are the details.

So, I'm posting an entry over there with my pitch in 4 sentences or less. Here, I have another requirement: thank someone who has helped me along the way.

This is the real reason I want to do this contest. Yes, winning would be awesome, but I love having an excuse to thank those that have been a help.

Now this is an exhaustive list or an acknowledgements page. This is just an "off-the-top-of-my-head" round-up.

• My wife, Wendy Davis. She is so incredibly supportive. She's a SAHM and awesome at it. How she does everything she does is beyond me, and I certainly couldn't do what I do without her. Of course, she's also my ghostwriter, and a lot of my best ideas come from her.
• My girls, Finley and Rowynn. They're such an encouragement to me, and make writing fun.
• My parents. They are my first and biggest supporters. They even gave me a ticket to DFWcon this year for Christmas.
• Rocky Westbrook. A fellow writer, filmmaker, friend, and former co-worker. He listened to ideas for The Dowered Three Series when it didn't even exist yet. 
• My friends Emily and Matt. They were my "control cases" as I wrote the book. I didn't tell them anything that was going to happen, and yet they read each chapter as I finished it, giving me chapter-by-chapter reactions on what they thought was going to happen, etc.
• S.A. (Sheri) Larsen. Sheri helped me form my first ever crit group, and was one of the first people outside my close circle of friends to befriend me and help me with my MS. She proved that there were nice people out there who were willing to help.
• Casey McCormick. My first contact with Casey was writing a Tip Tuesday. That was nearly a year ago. Since then, I've written several tips and guest posts on Literary Rambles, as well as emailing Casey several times with questions I had, etc. She's always been kind to give her advice and support.
• Holly Bodger. A few months ago, Holly helped me get my logline ready for Authoress's Baker's Dozen contest, giving her time to do a back-and-forth of emails as we tweaked and retweaked my logline into perfection. Then, my email didn't even get in before the spots filled. It was a great logline no one would ever see. But then, I totally pressed my luck and asked if she could help me expand it into a query. To my relief, she did! Now, I have a (hopefully) great query that I'll be using when I restart that process.
• Amanda Johnson. One of my go-to advice people, this wonder-intern for the mysterious Awesome Agent (or AA) has been a great help in the short time I've known her.
• My Beta Readers Heather Kelly, Ishta Mercurio, Dianne Salerni, and E. (Elizabeth) Arroyo. These guys all gave AMAZING tips on my novel, all coming from different perspectives. Heather gave great tips on character and tension building. Ishta gave great tips on developing my romantic plot and MC. Dianne targeted quite a few logistical fallacies for me, which bug the crap out of me in other people's novels. Liz gave some great overall flow advice and pointed out specific places I could take my writing to the next level. You all rock! Thanks!

Like I said, this is certainly not an exhaustive list, but just a few of the people I really wanted to thank today. Tomorrow, it might be a different list! Lol. Of course, a huge thanks also goes to my friends, family, and anyone who follows me on the blog, twitter, or Facebook (So... you)! So many incredible people!

Thanks everyone!!

My Daughter Creates My Next Book Cover

Inspiring Me Today: Finley Rose Davis

My daughter Finley is an amazing artist. Or, at least I think so. Then again, I'm biased.

She's 19 months old.

But anyway, we were coloring the other day, and we worked on Dada's book cover together. This is what we came up with:

 

Isn't she brilliant? Notice the little bird on the left. I admit. I drew that. And the letters. Like a said, she's 19 months old. Still, I think she did a wonderful job.

Here's a picture of the little artist:

Guest Post at Literary Rambles (again)

Inspiring Me Today: Casey McCormick

I have another guest post up on Casey McCormick's Literary Rambles blog. Today, my post is a repost and expansion of my post from a couple months ago on JK Rowling's plot planning methodology. However, I expanded it a lot, so I recommend stopping by and checking it out, even if you saw the original post.

http://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/2010/12/guest-blogger-s-kyle-davis-jk-rowling.html

Now for a couple housekeeping notes:

1. I won't do any more REDLINE FRIDAYs until the new year. I may post something for the end of the year, but no regular posts until 2011.
2. If you want to have your first 250 words, query letter, or logline ripped to shreds gently critiqued on my blog, don't forget to send an email to kyle(at)skyledavis(dot)com. 

JK Rowling and Plot Planning

Inspiring Me Today: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

If you're as much of a Harry Potter geek as I am (or if you've been following YA authors on twitter lately), then you may have already seen this:

http://ofthephoenix.tumblr.com/post/1258947964/a-spreadsheet-plot-written-out-by-j-k-rowling

Released originally as one of the easter eggs on her website, this is a glimpse into J.K. Rowling's plot planning methodology. I found this a wonderful tip on how to plan out your plot, whether during initial writing or during rewrites (depending on if you're a "planner" or a "pantser"). I thought this would be especially helpful for those of you attempting NaNoWriMo next month.

To save you time deciphering this page, here's what Rowling does:

In the far left column, we have the chapter #. This page is for chapters 13-24. Next to that, she has the time frame. Note that she doesn't go too overboard here with specific dates. She just has the month, which is about all she needs to remind her readers of what time of year it is (I need to get better myself at remembering to include a reference in each chapter). Next to that, we have her tentative titles for the chapters. After that, she has the overall plot of that chapter.

Now, for the really interesting part. After that, she has listed all of her main plots and subplots. These include:

• The prophesy (the main plot of Voldemort being after the prophesy, Harry's glimpses into Voldy's mind, etc.)
• Cho/Ginny (the main romantic plot/love triangle)
• The DA (also includes Umbridge, etc.)
• Order of the Phoenix
• Snape and Harry's Father
• Hagrid and Grawp

What I find really interesting is that, especially for the more important subplots, she tries to work each one in to every chapter (except when the plot is finished or they're away from school, etc.). This not only helps her remember what all is happening in the book, but also reminds her that these subplots need nourishment.

Now, I don't know about you, but I have trouble keeping all my plots straight. Even when I outline, it's hard to really tell how much I feed the subplots. This is a great way to do that. For some chapters, all she may do is include a line or two, but that's all we need as readers to remember, "Oh yeah, that's going on." So, from this I not only took away a great planning tip, but also a great reminder on how to write subplots successfully.

Hope you all find this as useful as I did!

Love You Something Fierce: She's Here!

From my wife's blog Love You Something Fierce

She's Here!

Well, a week ago today, our lives changed for the better when we were blessed with our second baby girl! Rowynn Faith Davis was born on September 27, at 6:27 a.m. She weighed 8 lbs .06 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. It has been a whirlwind of a week!

Here is a picture of me with my new girl, and my mother-in-law, my hubby, and my mom! They all got to see Rowynn being born!

For more details, see her blog post!

Love you something FIERCE!!

Inspiring Me Today: My very talented wife

This post will be short. Just wanted to share with all of you my wife's new blog, http://loveyousomethingfierce.blogspot.com/

You should all go and follow her, especially if you are a parent. Her writing is wonderful and I am so very proud of her. She's writing about life as a mother, our family, and what happens day-to-day in our crazy world. Wendy is an amazing mom and wife, and I am trilled she's sharing what she's discovered as a parent.

Here's a short excerpt from a post about where her blog title came from:

When I became a parent, I was given the opportunity to experience a different kind of love. The love a parent has for their child is fierce, protective, overwhelming, and generally indescribable. You instantly love this tiny little creature unconditionally and I was taken aback at how strong that love is. It's not that I love my children more than my husband, because honestly the best way to love my kiddos is to love their father first and foremost. I just love my children differently.

Great stuff, huh? Go check it out, and click that little follow button while you're there. You can thank me later.

Getting a Thicker Skin

[Author's Note: I have officially broken my hiatus and am returning, slowly, to blogging.]

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Inspiring Me Today: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This is not a Mockingjay post. In fact, I'm still reading Mockingjay, so I'd just as soon avoid the subject. Thanks.

Anyway, the impetus for my return to the literal blogosphere was a need to respond to a recent rash of complaints. I've seen them everywhere, but two very recent examples were an entry on Nathan Bransford's (in)famous blog and a semi-fight on Intern Amie's twitter feed (her blog reacting to the incident here).

I guess my greatest annoyance was the use of the term "mean" in response to Amie's query postings. First, some background. Amie Cortese is not her real name. The person styling herself Intern Amie is a literary intern for an agent, and keeps herself anonymous so that all comments are free of context and she can give advice without being inundated with queries. I like this plan. It's safe and helpful for everyone.

Now, Amie does something many agents and interns do, which is critic queries live as she reviews them, giving her honest opinion of the query without giving any details/specifics. She does this on twitter using her own hashtag, #queryslam. Now, there is little doubt that the name is a big source of the frustration when it comes to Amie's posts. However, as she has said repeatedly (at least once a week), the intent was something akin to a "poetry slam." It was not meant as "slamming on queries." In fact, she often finds things she likes, or at least wants to like, and we get the good, bad, and ugly all together. It's very real and honest. I love it.

Here are some samples from her last #queryslam:

"This WWII historical has a great query, but opening pages were so expository that it reads slow & heavy. Pass. #queryslam"

I like this, because it shows how VERY important it is to have great opening pages, and how slow, expository openings can get you a quick pass.

"This nonfiction has a stellar, concise query and a compelling, no-nonsense pitch. Love it! Now on to the sample pages . . . #queryslam"

Here, she has one that works, and tells us why. The pitch is concise, compelling, and no-nonsense. That helps. So not everything is negative. A lot get passes, but then, that's life. That's how reading through queries goes. We can't all get deals, can we?

"Now a thriller, whose opening pages tell me too much about the mc's drive home from work. Uh, where's the story? Pass. #queryslam"

Perhaps this is a bit snarky, but it's also honest. There's nothing wrong with a little snark. It's not like she said, "Joe Bob's Insert Generic Book Title Here has a stupid and boring opening." No one knows who Amie even is, much less whose book it is.

After the recent hubbub, Intern Amie has now changed her hashtag to #queryfest. Hopefully this clears things up, and people will cut her some slack.

Now, in some ways juxtaposed to this (and one source the prejudice people had against the hashtag going in) are things like Slush Pile Hell. Slush Pile Hell is from another anonymous person, an agent in this case, but is wildly different in its content and purpose. Rather than going through all queries, good and bad, and explaining why one gets a pass or request, Slush Pile Hell simply posts some of the most ridiculous quotes from bad queries I've seen.

Here's a great example:

"I want an agent who’s confident to get me a 7 figure book deal or high 6 figure deal, not some bull crap deal."

The agent's response:

Funny, that’s exactly what I say to editors when I send them a proposal. Works every time."

Now, I subscribe to Slush Pile Hell and read it every day. It makes me laugh. I admit it and am not at all ashamed of myself. If you have the arrogance to say the things in these letters, I... well, I don't know what to say about that. It's just... I can't imagine anyone actually doing these things. And if you do... then read up, because this is how agents honestly react when you do them. It makes you look unprofessional, and what makes you look unprofessional is information you need to know.

I guess my general annoyance with this issue is that there seems to be a mindset that agents and editors should be holding your hand and playing nice. Here's a wakeup call for you.

Agents are business people. Book selling is a business. Yes, writing is art and books are fun and the publishing industry is full of fun people who love books, but it is still a business. Agents are generally nice people, but they are not in the business of hand holding.

But what does this have to do with sites like Slush Pile Hell? Well honestly, it's a matter of having a thicker skin. Getting upset that the agent didn't say, "You poor thing. I'm sorry. I'll try my best to make you rich, but it might not work out," is unhelpful. The truth is that honestly, the likelihood of getting a 6 or 7 figure advance is so extremely remote as to make the entire email insulting. In general, Slush Pile Hell is focused on queries with a tone or intent that is hostile or insulting to the agent: implying that the agent is going to steal the work, declaring that anything other than a huge advance is a result of a bad agent, or overt and terribly unprofessional butt-kissing. That the agent responds with a hint of "snark" or even annoyance to these is to be expected, and isn't a sign of overall "meanness."

This is the same sort of indignance people express at agents not responding, or else sending form responses. This indignance is natural, but is unhelpful. They are professionals that are in the business of selling books. If they don't want to rep your book, move on and find someone else that does. Be courteous. Be professional. And please, please... get a thicker skin.

In the Mean Time: WriteOnCon

While I'm not going to be making real blog posts like normal during my hiatus, every once and a while I may post something interesting but low effort for your reading pleasure. This is such a post.

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I realized I never officially posted about WriteOnCon, so I figured this would be a great "In the Mean Time" post.

So, there's this thing called WriteOnCon. If you haven't checked it out, you should. Here's the data from the website:

WriteOnCon is an Online Children’s Writers Conference (rated MC-18, for Main Characters under 18 only) created by writers, for writers.

When: Tuesday – Thursday, August 10 – 12, 2010

Where: http://www.writeoncon.com

Cost: Free!

Who: That’s the best part—it’s for EVERYONE!

Attendees won’t need to take time off work, travel, or spend a truckload of money. You can enjoy the conference from the convenience of your own home, for free—and the schedule has been designed around working hours. (Transcripts will also be available of the entire conference, should anyone have to miss part of it.) Everything will take place within the website, which means everyone with basic Internet access will be able to participate in all aspects of the conference—no additional software or technology required.

Keynote addresses, agent panels, and lectures will be presented as blogs, vlogs, moderated chats, webinars, podcasts, and livestreaming—check our amazing list of presenters to see who’s signed on. There will also be a critique forum, where participants can post query letters and first pages, to receive helpful feedback and comments from their peers and industry professionals. And, as if that weren’t exciting enough, there will also be daily contests, giving random winners everything from books to personalized critiques from agents.

It’s everything great about a writer’s conference, without any of the cost or inconvenience. Click here to register now.

In the Mean Time: yWriter Again

While I'm not going to be making real blog posts like normal during my hiatus, every once and a while I may post something interesting but low effort for your reading pleasure. This is such a post.

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Today, I came across a great video tutorial showing how one author uses yWriter. You can find the tutorial here:

http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com/2010/07/ywriter-outlining-software-in-action.html

The interesting thing is that she uses yWriter strictly as an outlining tool. I'd never thought of using it in that fashion, and this tutorial does a great job showing some of the cool outlining tools yWriter provides.

However, in a comment I left for her, I wanted to point out some of the benefits of writing with yWriter. And so, I thought I'd repost those comments here for your reading pleasure.

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yWriter is actually an editing software (you can actually write your novel in the software), and there are some benefits to using it like that. By having each scene as a separate file, you avoid the problems that sometimes occur with large word files for the entire manuscript, and you also don't have to keep closing/opening files if, say, you have one for each chapter.

The tools it provides in the writing process, and especially the editing process, are great. It displays word count for scene, chapter, and the novel. It provides word count tracking, which is great for those with writing goals. And you can drag and drop scenes. This is very helpful when you realize that a scene really needed to happen earlier. You can drag and drop it, which is much easier than copying/pasting. You can even import a manuscript in, and it will split up the word file automatically into chapters/scenes.

The one downside to the software is that there is no grammar check and the spelling check only works if you download the additional plugin. Still, for a first draft (or for an editing round that you plan to follow up with a spell/grammar check in Word), it's great.