Rachel Starr Thomson

Sorry for no post yesterday; I slept in after a late performance the night before, answered overdue business e-mail, met with two young ladies who may be interested in working with Soli Deo Gloria Ballet, drove five hours home from the Niagara area, edited an article, and visited with a friend from England before falling into bed in sheer and utter exhaustion. All of which amounts to me forgetting to blog.

I do have exciting news, though, which is that later this year I get to guest blog for fantastic agent Rachelle Gardner of the fantastic agent blog CBA Ramblings, which is a Writer’s Digest pick for 101 Best Websites for Writers and really, really a great resource for anyone trying to break into traditional publishing. I’ll be writing on the topic of keeping the heart in writing, something I’ve been thinking a lot about as I get busier and busier.

A pithier post tomorrow, I hope; for now I need to tackle the busy.

While researching the conference I’m attending, I discovered Publetariat, a site for indie writers and publishers that’s run by April Hamilton, one of the conference presenters. I’ve only been frequenting it for about a week, but I love it. The site links to blog posts from all sorts of people walking the quirky road of indie publishing, with great articles on topics ranging from marketing to good writing to things of special concern to independents. Good stuff. I highly recommend checking it out.

Here’s the link: http://www.publetariat.com/

This post lifted from a promotional e-mail sent out by Writer’s Digest, complete with links. It’s a great explanation of why I decided to go to this conference — and why you, if you want to write professionally, may want to consider attending one as well. (If you decide that you simply have to be in New York this September, let me know so we can meet up!)

Writer’s Digest Conference
The Business of Getting Published
September 18 – 20
The Marriott Marquis
Times Square
New York

If you’re serious about achieving success as a published author, you should be at the Writer’s Digest Conference in September. Here’s why:

1.) You’ll get a one-on-one, professional evaluation of where you are in your career.
The Writer’s Digest team interacts daily with writers from all walks of life, with deep experience evaluating publishing materials. At your one-on-one editor meeting, a Writer’s Digest editor will review your writing and show you what paths are available to you, where you should focus your energy, and how to position yourself for greatest success.  Register and submit a writing sample by September 1 and you may be one of 10 people invited to also meet one-on-one with a literary agent. Click here for more details.

2.) You’ll learn the ins and outs of marketing and promoting your writing.
Once a book is accepted and published, a writer’s job is just starting. Successful authors know it takes time and energy to market and promote a book, both on your own and in partnership with the publisher. Writer’s Digest Conference shows you how the marketing and promotion process works, both in person, online, and with social media tools.

3.) You’ll start building relationships for long-term success.
Having a successful career as an author means you need to start building relationships with other writers, authors and industry people TODAY—not when you need something. At Writer’s Digest Conference, you’ll meet and interact with other writers, editors, agents and industry experts.

4.) You’ll move your career online.
If you’ve been holding off on starting that author website, building that blog, or jumping into Twitter, then this conference will show you best practices in the field. Don’t wait to start until you have a book ready to sell–you need to get known BEFORE the book deal. You can do that online—and we’ll show you how.

5.) You’ll learn nuts-and-bolts information not covered in most writing conferences.
Most writing conferences focus on helping you hone the craft of writing, but being a good writer is only half the puzzle. You need to know how to find your audience through publishing, promoting and selling your writing.

Take the next step to make your writing career a success.

Click here to register now!

Cindy Rushton is a wife, mother, businesswoman, prolific writer, and one of the most encouraging people I know! I’ve had the privilege of speaking and writing for her at various times, always a fun and uplifting venture. I tell you this because I’ve got a link for you today:

Among Cindy’s many ventures is a podcast for writers on Blog Talk Radio, called the Writers Radio Show. Last week’s topic was on being organized (I’m listening to that show as I type); this week’s is on tax info for writers. If you’re a Christian and you write (or you want to write), check this show out! You’re just about guaranteed to learn something, and you’re sure to be encouraged.

Today’s writing tip is cheating because I didn’t write it; I read this article in the Writers Digest newsletter earlier today, and it was so good I had to share it. (I’m also sort of somewhat on vacation, which makes less likely to blog with absolute faithfulness.)

The article, which urges writers to test their novel and short story ideas to see if they have “legs,” is an excerpt from The Constant Art of Being a Writer by N.M. Kelby. It’s got great practical suggestions along with a fascinating analysis of how a story is birthed. Check it out!

http://www.writersdigestconference.com/GeneralMenu/

That’s right, New York City. I may finally realize my dream of going to a writer’s conference! This one looks about perfect — it can help me with promoting my self-published books as well as with breaking into the traditional market.

In the meantime, I’m going back down to Lake Erie today to participate in a Fish Fry. On the hour-long drive, I’ll be burying myself in Worlds Unseen — trying to get my head back into the Seventh World so I can start drawing up ideas for The Advent. To all you Americans, I wish a fond happy Fourth of July tomorrow. See you Monday!

After 30 years of rejection, I finally got tired of not knowing why my writing wasn’t working. Before trying to find a publisher or an agent, I sent the novel I’d just finished (or so I thought) off to a professional editor.

Read the whole article on Jane Friedman’s Writer’s Digest blog. (The piece is actually by Jim Adams.) It’s short and pithy and a great defense of freelance editors and all they can do! As a writer and an editor, I liked it.

Calling all teen authors: If you have (or can write) a manuscript of 20,000 to 30,000 words that’s aimed at 8-12-year-olds, check out the Tweener Time Chapter Book Competition! The competition is looking for “a work of fiction that’s fast-paced, action-packed and values-oriented and written for a ‘tweener’ audience.” You can find guidelines and more details at www.TweenerMinistries.org.

I really encourage you to check this contest out. I had the privilege of serving as a judge last year, and in February, our very own Inklings reader Jessica Erksine won third place in the Tweener Time Cover Art Competition — designing a cover for last year’s chapter book winner! I’ll be reviewing some of the Tweener Time winning books in the next few months as well, beginning with the 2007 First Place Winner, Journey to the Homeland by 16-year-old Hannah Stahlhut.

The first-place winner is awarded a $20,000 college scholarship, a $1,000 cash prize, a book contract with Baker Trittin Press, and royalties on book sales. The other awards are pretty amazing too, and I remember writing up detailed comments for the authors whose books I judged last year — so you have a chance to receive professional feedback on your work as well.

The contest deadline is July 1. Check out the Web site — and I wish you success!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled contest entries to bring you this exciting announcement:

My friend Jen Igarashi (who writes one of the funniest blogs on the Web) is a Rosetta Stone rep, and she’s giving away a free Latin curriculum. I would LOVE to win this thing, and I hope you get a chance, too. Here’s Jen’s announcement. If you enter, copy and paste the paragraphs below.

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Rosetta Stone is the fastest way to learn a language and has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while — and you can WIN the *all new* version 3 Rosetta Stone Homeschool LATIN program… FOR FREE! This is the first year you can get Latin in the brand new Version III update.

This is a $259 program (and believe me it’s worth every penny!)
This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever! Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress- I love that!), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this most excellent Latin program copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR link to the contest from your facebook page and/OR email the information to your homeschool support group – Then go to the original page http://Jeneralities.com and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post. And good luck!

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Bless you this day! More contest entries.

In lieu of a writing tip from me this week (more comma rules to come next week!), I thought I’d share this article from Writer’s Digest, “You Must Follow These Rules for Stronger Writing.” These rules are fairly elementary, but they really will make a difference in your writing. Here’s an excerpt:

8. WRITE CINEMATICALLY. When you write, think visually. Language holds endless possibilities for a creative approach to expressing an idea.

Eddy Peters exemplified this when he wrote, “Not only does the English Language borrow words from other languages, it sometimes chases them down dark alleys, hits them over the head and goes through their pockets.”