You're Never Too Old

Betty X. Davis is a writer waiting for her big break. The fact that she's 93-years-old is not slowing her down one bit. She says, " I write because I can't stop writing" - something that all writers can relate to.
Davis is a retired speech pathologist and has some writing credits to her name. But she dreams of selling "the big one". She has almost made it several times. Her dogged determination and wonderful spirit lead me to believe she will do it, too.
Read more http://tinyurl.com/c5f9rx .

The art of the query letter

Now for the hard part - querying agents.
Not my strongest talent.
Doing lots of research and revising.
I found a good article on this. http://www.sfwa.org/writing/query.htm

iUniverse

While my personal experience with iUniverse Publishing was very good, I have been hearing some sad stories lately. They were recently bought out by AuthorHouse which has also just purchased XLibris. All that monopoly of the market spells trouble, if you ask me. Some people who are still using iUniverse are posting problems. Sales reports have been lost, response has been poor, staffing changes are causing problems. I once again am thankful I have moved on and am now being published by All Things That Matter Press.

The hard part

Sending queries to potential agents has got to be the hardest part of any novel process. I admire those writers who say they just wrote their book and sent it off to agents, one of whom snapped it up and then there was an auction to buy the rights and now they are millionaires, months later.
I also don't believe it happens that way. At least not for most of us.
So, today we start the process. Write the query letter.
Rewrite the query letter.
Worry about the query letter.
Rewrite it yet again.
Make a list of potential agents.
Worry some more.
Revise the query letter.
Send it off.
Pray.

My brain is going 70 mph. The days just aren't long enough.
Got our book back from our first beta reader and she loved it! I'm so happy - and so relieved. It's always scary when you send your baby out to be read for the first tine. She made some good suggestions that we're going to incoporate. I'm reading the book more slowly this time. This is the go-round where we layer and add the final touches, making the characters as real as possible and really checking for mistakes, etc. Hopefully, just one or two more read throughs and it will be ready to go to an agent.

I'm so excited about this year!
My brain is percolating with ideas and the days aren't long enough.
My book continues in its edit journey and today will go to a reader to look for inconsistencies, spelling errors, etc.
And I have another new project in the very early stages that has me very excited. I am starting an art line named after our kitten. It will be called The Life of Riley and will feature our little boy on various projects - calendars, bookmarks, notecards, magnets, mousepads, etc. I am in the process of learning all about licensing and getting our products in front of people who will care.
But so far, the response has been very positive.
Check here for updates.

Here's to 2009!
And not a moment too soon.
Don't get me wrong - 2008 had its moments that were good, some very good. But by and large, 2008 wasn't the best year for many people.
I look forward to better things to come and more books to publish. More words to write - to inspire, to help, to bring joy.
My new web site will be live in just a few days, I have a book signing this coming Saturday, my newest novel is in the next round of edits and will be ready to send to an agent very soon.
Life is good in my writing world.
We have a new President ready to take office in just a little over two weeks and the world is anxiously awaiting his arrival.
I predict a very very good year.