Friday, June 25, 2010

Friday's at the Piedmont Grille

Good morning everyone. As you can see, my internet/modem/power outage/stupid thingy messes are gone. Yay! I can blog and comment again without having to worry if I'm going to crash.

I want to say as well, that I haven't gotten around to following all my new 'friends' back yet because of my dastardly internet but I'm hoping to rectify that situation this weekend.

For those of you who may have missed it, I guested an article at the Guide to Literary Agents blog on Tuesday. Which you can find here.. Chuck Sambuchino did a great job editing it for word count. If you'd like to see the whole article as it appearred on my blog awhile back, I've made a pages link on my side bar. Click on the title and wah-la, there it is.

I've also posted a short story which gained me an honorable mention and pub credits in the Genre Wars Anthology hosted by the Literary Lab last year. High Tide. Don't know where it came from. Have tried to write another but it just seems I can't do it.

I've also decided I'm going to put some other "pages" up -- namely the pages that aren't going in my books. I've some from Genna & Tony, some from MASQUERADE, some from Richard's book. I know I've had one agent take a peek over here recently and I don't want her thinking I'm just a blogger, but that I should be taken seriously as a writer, and how would she know that if she can't read my writing. Pretty smaht of me eh?

Now, while I was dealing with my modem crisis, Sarah Jayne wanted to know what kind of sex Genna & Tony had -- Angry? Make-up? Reflective? Great question. My answer, sort of all of the above. I know I needed them to have sex at some point in the story, otherwise the story wouldn't have made any sense. I mean really, what's the point of all the angst if Genna doesn't realize why she has the angst. Which is also why, I decided to put the sex in the first act, right away, so she can carry that guilt with her when she meets Pete. Pretty genius huh? I'm hoping to post the sex scene next week. (Okay okay, for those of you who are horrified at the thought I would actually post a sex scene on my blog, don't be. I don't write sex. I write sex through a closed door. For those of you who are disappointed, sorry, I write stories, not erotica.)

My other Sarah wanted to know what 'writing' books I've been reading because when I don't write I read. Hooked by Les Edgerton. Very insightful for what makes a great first chapter, first paragraph, first line. Let me tell you, if you haven't read it, find it. Great stuff in there.

I also read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Your Romance Published by Julie Beard. Okay, done laughing now? It's an interesting book, helpful in it's own way. The parts on writing didn't shed any light on anything I didn't already know, but the chapters on the publishing aspect were wonderful. She discusses the various lines in the industry (altho written 10 years ago and lines have come a long way) she was very informative and helpful from the money, to the contracts.

Just for fun I also picked up Merriam-Webster's Concise Handbook for Writers. I only browsed through this because it was dryer than crackers in an oven. Kind of like Strunk & White (and if you don't have Strunk & White, you better get one).

Now late next week, I'm leaving to go back to Rhode Island for the 4th of July family reunion. I won't be blogging until I come back, sometime around the 7th. I've already promised to post the scene from Genna & Tony so...stay tuned.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Get some writing done!

27 comments:

Jessica Bell said...

I'll definitely make my way over to see your article on tuesday. Congrats on the honorable mention last year. Those things come around rarely (or in my case, never). Savor it! ;o)

The Words Crafter said...

I'm so glad your internet woes are over, woohoo! I'll check out the link after work and thanks for the info about picking up Strunk & White. (Newb, that's me) And, Ma'am! Yes, Ma'am! (about getting some writing done)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Glad you are streaming online again!

Liza said...

I enjoyed your guest article. I'm a long way from any of those stages...but appreciate the head's up! And, I love "Dryer than crackers in an oven."

Stina said...

I linked your GLA post on my blog today. I loved it. :)

Anne Gallagher said...

Jessica -- Oh yes, the sweetest fruit is in the top of the trees, it just takes a really high ladder to get there.

Words -- Strunk & White is invaluable!

Alex -- They're over but not forgotten. A few minor glitches in the system this morning.

Liza -- Thanks. Where else would you keep crackers.

Stina -- I saw that, thanks for the shout-out.

Summer Frey said...

I loved your 5 Stages of Querying article!

Can't wait to read the sex scene. :-)

Have a great weekend!

Jaydee Morgan said...

Glad you're back and running properly again. And I think it's a great idea about putting up a few pages of writing! I'll be sure to check out those links.

Tahereh said...

OMG yes i totally saw that article on the GLA blog! haha for a second i was like -- wait -- no, is that really --

hehehe

YOU'RE FAMOUS! :D

loved the article!

Creepy Query Girl said...

I love the 'guide to literary agents' site! That's so cool you've got an article up on there! I'll be sure to check it out!

Talli Roland said...

Happy Friday Anne! I saw your article and did a happy dance when I saw your pic come up - congrats! It was very well done.

Glad your internet woes have been sorted - I've been having some of my own!

Anne Gallagher said...

Summer -- Thanks. Happy Weekend!

Jaydee -- It couldn't hurt to have pages up. I don't think.

Tahereh -- I wish I was famous. Maybe infamous is a better choice.

Katie -- Thanks!

Talli -- Thanks! I hate the internet. Still a few bugs roaming around!

j.m. neeb said...

Sounds like I should check out Hooked, based on your strong recommendation. I'm going to pick that one up.

I wanted to comment first, but I'm rather excited to check out your short story. I'll eventually put one up over at my blog, but I am not ready for that just yet. :)

Anne Gallagher said...

j.m. -- Hooked is well worth reading. Les lays it all out on the table pretty succinctly.

Ed Pilolla said...

looking forward to hearing more about genna and tony. have a great weekend.

Kathi Oram Peterson said...

Thanks for the tips on good writing books. Have a good time away. :)

notesfromnadir said...

Anne,
I really enjoyed reading your article about querying. Very useful information but also I liked the flow of the article along w/ the theme.

Glad you got the modem thing fixed -- I think I can hear a huge sigh of relief!

Am looking forward to reading any excerpts you post. But in the meantime, enjoy your vacation. Even the most dedicated writer needs computer/writing downtime to recharge the batteries.

Happy Weekend! :)

DL Hammons said...

I loved your article! So much so I've bookmarked it for future reference. Color me impressed!! :)

Anne Gallagher said...

Ed -- Thanks. Happy Weekend to you!

Kathi -- You're welcome.

Lisa -- Thanks. Downtime is well worth the aggravation at getting up before dawn to catch a plane with a 5 year old.

DL -- Awww, aren't you sweet. Thanks.

Dawn Simon said...

I read your GLA article and loved it!

Glad your computer issues have been fixed. We totally rely on computers, so it's painful when they aren't working properly.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Terry Towery said...

That's SO weird. I just bought HOOKED yesterday and started reading it today. I think I need to re-do the beginning of my book ... :)

February Grace said...

And now I see that you already have one but...gave you the One Lovely Blog award (again)!

bru

Julie Musil said...

I read your article at Guide to Literary Agents! That was really well done.

lisa and laura said...

These links are awesome! CONGRATULATIONS!

Ann Best said...

I just read your story and article. Very good story! And the article made me smile, which is good. All very true.

I like following you. You're a good writer and a very nice person.

G.~ said...

Oh I'm so sorry it took me so long to get over here. Just call me Gina come lately. Glad your connection is back up but now you'll be leaving. :(

I will be back to read the sex scene. The last excerpt was so fantabulous I can't wait to read more.

Roland D. Yeomans said...

I hope your guest blog on GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS brought you lots of new visitors. As soon as I saw you on the site, I put up a link to it, mentioning it in my post even.

A great book for writers, even though it is written for screen writers is SAVE THE CAT :

http://www.amazon.com/Save-Last-Book-Screenwriting-Youll/dp/1932907009/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277708978&sr=1-3

A used copy is $8.38, and I know that with Monster Baby, every penny counts. But keep at eye out for it on Amazon, and if it goes low enough to buy -- snatch it up. It is truly worth it.

Have a healing, profitable week. And I'm with you on backstory on your comment on my post about THE PASSAGE. Ballantine Books, I believe, was going for the two bangs for their buck : literary fiction {which is why they put up with so much backstory} and the mass appeal of vampires/zombies/post-apocalyptic times.

Before we can get away with backstory, we have to win major awards and be praised by THE NEW YORK TIMES. Yeah, a lotto win is more likely for me, Roland