Twitterpated, Part 4

Mar 04, 2013 Uncategorized 9 comments

So I know you’ve all been dying for more about my mistakes on Twitter. I’m realizing I may have to do this one mistake at a time, because apparently I’m a bit long winded. But hopefully this will help any newbies to Twitter have a smoother time of it. Maybe it won’t take you A YEAR (!!!) to figure it out.

My Mistakes and How to Avoid Them


Mistake #1:  When I set up my account, I followed only a select few tweeps. My reasoning was that I didn’t want to hear a bunch of random comments from people I didn’t know.

Umm
. . . so that’s pretty much what Twitter is. But there are the good
kind of stranger-tweeters and the bad kind. I think you will learn
pretty quickly which is which.

So here are my suggestions about who to follow (speaking as one writer to another)

1. Agents: Summer Heacock (aka @fizzygrrl) has made this easy for you. I present Agents-to-Follow Cheatsheet 1 and Cheatsheet 2. You might even want to create a list of just agents so you can see what they are tweeting at a glance.

2. Editors: A couple of my favorites include: @the_SDB, @StacyAbramsEdit, @CarolineAbbey, @MKCastellani, @EgmontUSA, and I could go on. My focus is MG, but find the editors that work on the stuff you write. GalleyCat gives a long list of tweeting editors here.

3.
Industry Groups: This would include publishing companies, writing
magazines, and any group that might give information you’re interested
in. Twitter can help find the bulk of these.

4. Blog Friends: Gosh, I hope you know who this is for you. 😉

5. People who interest you: Heck, if you think Ryan Gosling is the bomb, follow him. Maybe Honest Toddler is your thing. Go for it!

6. People who follow you: This is the trickiest group. I know that most people who follow me do it to get a follow back. But that doesn’t mean I have to give it. Usually, I glance through their tweets and see if they are a real person or just a tweeter of spam, then make the call. I know some people who only follow people they know. But I have met some cool people by taking a chance

7.
Family/Friends: So no one in my family tweets, and very few of my real
life friends do. And I’m okay with that. I use twitter as a tool in my
writing life, and reserve Facebook for my family and friends. But if you
do, you might want them on your feed. Your call. Just remember who follows you when you tweet. If you wouldn’t want your mom to read a tweet, better not tweet it.

(And actually, that might be a good rule to live by whether your mother is on Twitter or not.)

So there it is. In a nutshell. My suggestion is that you take some risks. Try following some new people. The thing to remember? YOU CAN ALWAYS UNFOLLOW SOMEONE. If you don’t like someone’s tweets, unfollow them. And if they unfollow you back, so be it.

Twitter is a tool, and you should play around with it until it works for you. And for all you experts, how do you decide who to follow?

Next Twitterpated installment? What to tweet . . . and what not to.

Pitches: A Reader’s View

Feb 25, 2013 Uncategorized 9 comments

Today I come to you with my WriteOnCon Pitch Fest Blogger Cap.

If you head over to WriteOnCon’s blog, you will find all sorts of posts from various agents giving advice on writing a pitch. AND, if you go to the WriteOnCon Forum (open until March 10), you can get your pitch critiqued.

So, about pitches. Sometimes, I think we forget their purpose. We think it’s supposed to tell people what happens in our book.

Wait . . . what? Isn’t it? I can hear the questions already.

The real purpose of a pitch is to entice readers to read more.

The irony of it all is this: As a person writing a pitch, it’s easy to forget that. As a person reading a pitch, that’s all you think about.

So let’s pretend: You walk into a bookstore unsure of what to buy. So what do you do? You read back cover copy (and maybe a line or two of the beginning) until something grabs you.

First book you grab: The Hero’s Guide to Saving your Kindgom

This could be good, you think, so you flip it over:

Obviously, every person will have their own reaction to this pitch here is mine, Twitter style (just because):

• Prince Duncan? LOL! Except now I want some cake. #DuncanHinesForever
• 4 fairytales in 1??? Where do I sign up? I *heart* Fairytales. #ObsessionOfMine
• “Lousy bards” *snort* I do like me some snark. #VillainousBards heehee
• That’s why they’re all named “Charming”!!! I’ve wondered for years! Ha!
• What?! Prince Charming rejected? Low blow Snow White. Low Blow.
• Trolls, check. Bandits, check. Dragons, double check. Witches, check. You go Prince Charming . . .er, Duncan! #WhatsNotToLove

And of course, what do I do? I buy the book (yes, I bought this one in real life, not just our pretend adventure).

So how might this help you?

First, realize that pitches are subjective. Not everyone likes the same things. I happen to love fairytales, and this pitch is absolutely aimed at people who like fairytales. If you have an intended audience, make sure they know this is for them.

Second, voice. It didn’t take much to set the tone, but “lousy bards” told me this would be a voice I’d appreciate. Work the voice from your book into your pitch.

Third, hook. This particular book plays off the fact that all of the princes in fairytales seem to be named Charming. Absolutely something I have laughed at for years. That is the line that sold me on this book. What is the hook of your book? What about it will make others connect to your story and want to read more?

Writing a pitch is not easy. The pitch I shared is a mere 112 words, and I guarantee those are some labor-intensive words. But try to look at it as a reader:

What in a pitch makes you go, “Ooh! I want to read that book!!”?

Best of luck to all you pitch writers!

Leigh Moore Is at it Again!

Feb 21, 2013 Uncategorized 2 comments

If you haven’t heard the news, my friend (and member of the uber-cool Hacky Sack Club), Leigh Moore, just released a companion to The Truth About Faking. And if you missed that one, seriously go find it.

But in the meantime, here are the deets:

A companion to The Truth About Faking (not a sequel; the books can be read out of order), The Truth About Letting Go (link) takes readers back to Shadow Falls, or more specifically Shadow Creek, with Ashley Lockett as she learns about real friendship, love, and letting go.

Get me

The Truth About Letting Go (link)
by Leigh Talbert Moore

Ashley wants to smash everything in her once-perfect life.
Charlotte wants to walk in Ashley’s seemingly charmed shoes.
Colt wants to turn Smalltown USA on its ear–with Ashley at his side.
Jordan wants to follow his heart… but Ashley is the one sacrifice he never expected to make.

Up until now, Ashley Lockett has always followed the rules. She’s always done the right thing, played it safe, and then her ideal life is shattered when her dad dies suddenly.

Fueled by anger and grief, she vows to do everything opposite of how she lived before. She rejects safety, the rules, faith, and then she meets Jordan.

Jordan has big dreams, he’s had a crush on Ashley for years, he’s a great kisser… but he’s also safe.

Enter Colt. He is not safe, and he’s more than willing to help Ashley fulfill her vow.

Get it today on Amazon * Barnes & Noble * iTunes * Kobo

Add it on Goodreads.

Excerpt:

I feel Colt laugh, and he looks down into my face. That’s when he seems to realize what I’ve been acutely aware of for the last several minutes—our bodies are pressed together.

“It’s awesome, yeah?” he says. “Adrenaline rush.”

“Yeah,” I breathe. “I guess.”

I’m not sure if he’s going to kiss me until he does. His mouth covers mine, and energy mixes with the alcohol flooding my body. Our tongues slide together, and I grip his shirt so I don’t collapse. 

Every single bit of this is wrong, and there’s no way I’m stopping it. It’s back, that good feeling. The sadness has been pushed out again, and in its place is this rush, this rush of adrenaline like Colt said. 

He pulls back and smiles at me. “We’re going to start dating. Now. You’re my partner in crime.”

About the Author:

Moore

Leigh Talbert Moore is a wife and mom by day, a writer by day, a reader by day, a former journalist and editor, a chocoholic, a caffeine addict, a lover of YA and new adult romance (really any great love story), a beach bum, and occasionally she sleeps.

–The Truth About Faking is her debut young adult romance (on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Kobo)
–Rouge is her first New Adult romantic suspense novel (on Amazon).

Leigh loves hearing from readers; stop by and say hello!

Blog * Facebook * Amazon Author page * Goodreads * Twitter * Tumblr

Twitterpated, Part 3

Feb 18, 2013 Uncategorized 6 comments

Apparently, my knowledge of Twitter is a secret weapon of some sort, and the evil Twitter gods don’t want me to share, because THIS weekend, my computer took a hit. Like, we had to go get a new computer type of hit.

The thing is, when Twitter is one-sided (i.e. you lurk instead of participate), it’s kind of lame. The BEST way to make Twitter a useful tool is to respond to people.

And the beauty of Twitter is that it won’t take you long because you CAN’T send a hefty reply. 140 characters. It’s BRILLIANT, I tell you!!

But even then, if you aren’t up to words, you can still interact quite easily: If you like what someone tweets, Favorite it! If something makes you laugh, send a quick “LOL” in reply. Find a quote that inspires you? Retweet it!

Yes, it’s limited, and it’s hard to imagine much coming from such a response, but do you know how cool it is when someone Favorites your tweet?!?

Really cool.

And do you know how much my esteem goes up for someone who responds to me (in any way)?

Yeah, like a lot.

(True, I just admitted my need for outside affirmation, but no judging. We all have it to some degree.) 😉

Okay, not as brief as I planned. So for now, my advice is “Interact.” It makes everything better. In the next series of “Twitterpated” posts, I plan to talk about my mistakes and how to avoid them.

In the meantime, how do you interact on Twitter?

Lost: A Writer’s Tale

Feb 11, 2013 Uncategorized 11 comments

So eep. I spent a bunch of time this week writing my planned blog post: Twitterpated, Part 3. For once I actually sat down before Sunday night and organized my thoughts and had the thing all ready to post for you. And my post was actually going to be useful (or so I told myself in my massively narcissistic mind).

I just wanted to add a picture.

Just a picture!

And then, oh yeah, I needed to add this other link to Twitterpated, Part 4, because yes, I was just that organized this week.

Happy, no?

*Sigh*

No, it was not happy at all.

Because when I closed Part 3 (after SAVING it!), Blogger ate the post and then spit out a second, identical copy of “Twitterpated, Part 4.”

The thing is, I don’t really need 2 copies of the same post. And I betting you don’t either.

So I flailed in woe for a minute. Made my husband put his book down to come make sure I wasn’t going crazy. Then stubbornly refused to try to rewrite the thing.

And in the end, I thanked my lucky stars I only lost a blog post instead of a chapter (or worse, a whole book!).

Still. Blogger and I? Not on good terms right now.

Have you ever lost a piece of your writing? Tell me about it to console my frustrated little heart.

And maybe by next week I’ll be over my Blogger tantrum and try to reconstruct my Twitterpated post. *sigh*

“Luck ‘O the Irish” Pitch-Fest!

Feb 08, 2013 Uncategorized 5 comments

So if any of ya’ll haven’t heard, WriteOnCon is coming out of hibernation this winter to host the “Luck ‘O the Irish” pitch fest.

I happen to be a HUGE fan of these things (can’t imagine why . . .), so I jumped in with two feet and beggedapplied to be an official book blogger for the thing. Hurray! They accepted me, and now I have a shiny new badge over there on the sidebar.

So. Here are the deets:

We
here at WriteOnCon are organizing a mid-winter “Luck ‘O the Irish” pitch-fest,
where agents, book bloggers, and authors will team up to read and vote
for the best pitches of 2013.

You read that right! A pitch-fest! At WriteOnCon!

The details:
–Pitch-fest
runs from March 18-22. Authors, book bloggers, readers, and our
fabulous literary agents will be voting on the pitches. The favorites in
each category will win prizes, including some great agent feedback or
membership in the official WriteOnCon mentorship program!

–There
will only be a limited number of pitches accepted. That number is
unknown at this time, because it depends on how many agents attend.
We’re still recruiting agents and will let you know the final numbers as
soon as we do! Pitches will be selected randomly, so it doesn’t matter
what time zone you live in.

–The
agents have selected their top three genres, and pitches will ONLY be
accepted in those genres. Again, all genres are unknown at this time as
we’re still finalizing agents, but don’t worry. We will make
announcements about genres and numbers as things solidify (sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss a thing!).
At this time, we are only focusing on the children’s market, so you can
know now that this pitch-fest will focus only on middle grade and young
adult genres.

–We’re
announcing this now, before all details are finalized, because we’re
running a “perfect your pitch” workshop in February. This will take
place in the WriteOnCon forums, and will work much the same as the query
critique boards do during the annual WOC. You will post your pitch, and
your peers will critique it. We will have posts from industry
professionals on writing pitches and genre classification.

We’re
doing this for a good reason. We want your pitch to be as perfect as
possible once the submission window hits in March. We will only be
accepting your entry for the pitch-fest one time. We will not change
your genre or edit your pitch after it has been submitted. This workshop
during February is the time for you to fine-tune your pitch and get
feedback about which genre your novel really belongs in.

–Only one pitch per person. Put forth your best work.

–Pitches
should be for polished and query-ready novels only. That means if you
haven’t finished your novel yet, you shouldn’t pitch. Still revising?
Don’t pitch. The agents attending are looking for material, and when
they request, you want to be ready to send out your novel. We’re
announcing early to give you time to finish!

Dates to know:
February 18-March 10 – Forum peer pitch critiques (Carolin has the forum boards built! Check them out HERE)
March 11-13 – Submission of final pitches (this will be done through a Google form, NOT in the forum–details to come!)
March 14-17 – We build the boards in the forum (they will be hidden until March 18)
March 18-22 – Voting and commenting by literary agents, mentor authors, and book bloggers

We can’t wait to see you at the Luck o’ the Irish Pitch-Fest! Watch the WOC newsletter and site for more updates as we get closer to liftoff. Yeah, that was totally a mixed metaphor.

Hope to see you all there!

Twitterpated, Part 2

Feb 04, 2013 Uncategorized 16 comments

Phyllis the Groundhog in Twitterland

A little over a year ago, I took the plunge into Twitter, and talked about it in THIS post. I always meant to do a follow-up when I got a hang of the thing.

Yep, so here we are, 1 year later and I finally feel like I have something to say on the subject.

The thing about Twitter is that it’s kind of like going to a ginormous party during a blackout where you can only hear snippets of conversation, and all the conversations mingle together into a vat of confusion.

 I spent many months tweeting a random comment here or there, and feeling like I was shouting into the emptiness of the Grand Canyon. And then, whoah . . . someone replied to one of my tweets, and it was like, “That was cool.”

And then I connected with an actual friend and we had silly conversations in 140-character-spurts or less. And I started with the head bobbing. “Maybe Twitter isn’t so bad.”

And THEN, I finally got up the courage to respond to something with a tweeter I didn’t know. . . .

And HOLY COW! They replied! And suddenly I started actually enjoying Twitter. Looking at it more than once a month. 🙂

The point of all this is that I finally have concrete thoughts on how to make twitter a useful (and FUN) tool. And I plan to share those thoughts, but just not this week, because I revel in brevity and this post is getting too long.

So while you wait for the exciting 3rd installment of “Twitterpated,” feel free to share your thoughts about Twitter. And if you’re on Twitter and I’m not following you, please leave your handle so I can! Because seeing what friends are posting is my favorite part. 🙂

And P.S. My handle is @MsVerbose.

This vs. That: Cats vs. Dogs

Jan 28, 2013 Uncategorized 13 comments

Wow it has been forever-and-a-day since I did one of these. Have I really been that distracted? (And uh, no need to answer that.)

So I went back to tally the votes on cats vs. dogs, and what I am really learning is that I need to stop with the pre-conceived notions thing. I TOTALLY thought this vote would go a certain direction and it did not. So lets see those results and then have a chat.

Total votes: 27

Cats: 13 votes; 48%
Dogs: 8 votes; 29%
Raccoons: 1 vote; 4%
Both: 4 votes; 15%
Neither: 1 vote; 4%

I was certain, certain!, dogs would take this thing. Hands down. And yet here we are. So I want to break this down. WHY did I have that mistaken notion? Was it because I simply don’t know my readers well enough? Am I unfairly biased against cats? Was I brainwashed by an evil dog-lover?

Surely not! And I have a theory. When was the last time you saw an unfavorable portrayal of a dog in a movie? Or even in a book. I mean, they must exist, right? But I can’t think of one. Perhaps part of it is that Cats and Dogs has been in my car DVD player of late and therefore watched a bajillion times or so (well, heard, as the case may be). But that movie is simply evidence of the stereotype that has been perpetuated over the years that dogs are loving and loyal and inherently good, whereas cats are selfish devils surely working on some sinister plot.

Lady and the Tramp. 101 Dalmations. Old Yeller. Lassie. Air Bud. Beethoven. The list goes on.

My husband brought up Aristocats, but not one of Disney’s more successful films. Am I missing something? What are your thoughts? Is it a conspiracy? Have dogs taken over the media?

Okay, so I’ll step off my soap box now and move on (and no, I’m not telling you what I voted for because I fear backlash).

Anyhoo, next debate (in honor of the upcoming Superbowl):

Potato Chips

Belated Year-end Review

Jan 21, 2013 Uncategorized 12 comments

So, confession. I did not make any resolutions this year. Nary a one.

I had good intentions, but we were on vacation, then life was coming fast, and next thing I know, here I am, 3 weeks into the new year with nothing done.

But if you recall last year’s discussions about resolutions vs. goals, well, let’s just say that I always have goals I’m working on. And I actually did accomplish quite a bit this past year.

So today I’m giving you my top 5 goals accomplished in 2012:

1. I ran a half marathon. To be honest, it still boggles my mind that I ran for 2 hours and 15 minutes straight. That’s a long time. And I don’t know if I can ever make myself do such a thing again. But I did it ONCE! And man was I proud of myself. (You won’t mind a little bit of pride to seep through here, will you?)

2. I started the Hacky Sack Club with the fabulous Amy Sonnichsen. This was not a goal I set, but rather something that grew from connecting with a kindred spirit. I am particularly proud of this one because I tend to be extremely reserved. Did you just die of shock? Yes, despite all the crazy videos I’ve posted in the past year, I am a VERY reserved person. Not shy, per se, but I do tend to keep my talents and deepest passions inside. Breaking out of that just a little, and sharing myself a little more with others has been surprisingly satisfying. So THANK YOU for indulging me with it all. And P.S. It’s still open to members! 😉

3. I moved half-way across country without dying or killing anyone. Overexposure to the question “Are we there yet?” almost did me in, but fortunately we discovered the cure in time: “Here, play with my iPod.”

 4. I finished writing a book. A book I’ve been in love with since the idea first struck me. We shall see what happens with it from here, but let’s just say that IT’S AWESOME! I know, humility and all that. Sorry. But if I don’t love it, how can I hope others will?

5. I signed with an agent. *Heehee* I still giggle when I say that. And I still sometimes go back and read the e-mails to make sure it’s real. In truth, I don’t feel like this is something I really accomplished, but rather something I’ve been working toward for a long time that finally came to pass. But since this IS a writing blog, I thought it should count.

So how about you? What did you accomplish in 2012?

Hacky Sack Club: Congratulations Edition

Jan 14, 2013 Uncategorized 18 comments

Happy New Year! I hope you all had wonderful holidays and that your new year is already swinging in with all sorts of good things.

I know at least one person who finished the year with a super bang: Amy Sonnichsen! She was offered rep by the fabulous . . . well go read her blog and find out!

Wait!!! Don’t click over yet!

Because you don’t want to miss this. Some of you may recall that the
fabulous Amy did a little video for me when I signed with Agent
Fabulous. I’m ashamed it has taken me so long, but I couldn’t let this
go without returning the favor with a Hacky Sack Club video of my own.

Hope you enjoyed, and Congratulations, Amy! So excited for you. 🙂