I Have a Tagline!

We had a meeting last night of the Appalachian Wordsmiths.



It was nice to see Granny Sue again, it had been a while since she had been able to attend a meeting. She's not only a great storyteller, but a wonderful poet and we got to read a couple of her most recent poems.

Max was also there with a copy of the book Coal Country. He has a poem titled, Mountain Travesty, in it.



And before the meeting was over, between the three of us, I have my Tagline for Lucy of Tupper's Hollow!

My Tagline is Appalachia 1908, superstitions, secrets, witchcraft, mountain healer and young love coming of age against a rich back drop of mountain culture.

Keep On Writing

As many of you know that follow my blog, I try to inspire people to keep writing.

It may seem funny for a beginner like me to try and inspire someone to keep writing. Many of you probably think, "who does she think she is anyway?" Well, I guess I think I am someone who, just like a lot of my readers, wants to get my stories published. I want children to be able to read my books and get enjoyment from them.

I think the hardest part of writing is not giving up!

So many times, I've thought of quitting. So many times, I have said to myself "It's time to go on to something else. You've piddled around with writing enough."

Well, for some reason, I have stuck with it. I am not sure why, but I keep pecking at the computer keyboard. I keep going back to my stories and making changes until I think they are good enough.

I am a member of CBI Clubhouse. There is a click to The Fighting Bookworms over on my sidebar. And even if you are not a member, it is a great place to go to and look around. There are lots of articles that you can look at without being a member. If I were you, I would bookmark it and go back on a regular basis and look around, and if you do, you will learn lots of useful things about writing.

They have a free e-book download on there now that is titled, "The Greatest Children's Writing Success Secret."

Here is a little of what it says. It goes along with what I am always saying on my blog.

It states in it that many successful writers over the years were not, when they started, wizards at crafting query letters, or marketing savants with their fingers on the pulse of the children's book industry. But, they became those things.

Their secret was: They changed their mindset.

They didn't think they could become successful writers. They didn't hope they could sell a book. They didn't wish to someday get published.

They sat down to write each day with a burning desire to succeed. They knew they would become successful. They expected to sell their book. They were certain that they would get published.

Through their thoughts they built their careers.

So try it. It is kind of like the movie where the man builds the baseball diamond in his cornfield. The voice kept telling him to build it and they will come.

Say to yourself. . . write it and they will read, speak it and they will listen, send it out and they will accept it.

Yes!

Last year I did a post titled Just Wondering. It was about the mailbox. In the post I asked if anyone ever received good news in their mailbox, or if they just received rejection letters.

According to most of the comments, people only received rejections in their mailbox. I agreed with them.

Well, I have changed my mind about the lowly mailbox. I now give it a star rating!


I received my signed contract today from 4RV Publishing for my middle grade manuscript titled, Family Secret!

I have been bursting at the seams to announce this for a couple of months. It is now official. I have the contract in my hands.

I am anxious to start the process of turning the manuscript into a book and getting it in the hands of children.

Don't give up. If I can do it, you can do it.

Pitch Session

Hi everyone. I thought I would do a little pitch session for the WVWriters annual conference.

When? June 11,12, 13, 2010

Where? Cedar Lakes, WV (about 30 minutes north of Charleston off I-77)

Price? If a member of WVWriters ($20 for a year's membership) it costs $120 for a 3 day pkg. If not a member it costs $140.

Why? Lots of reasons why. It's going to be a great one this year. Pitch sessions with Peter Lynch, Editorial Mgr. at Sourcebooks, Inc., Christine Witthohn, founder of Book Cents Literary Agency and Kelly Mortimer of Mortimer Literary Agency. Workshops with Kaylan Adair, Associate Editor of Candlewick Press. If you go to her workshops, you will receive a validation to submit a full manuscript for consideration. If you check out their site, Candlewick is not accepting submissions otherwise, so this is a chance to submit to them.

At the conference, you can post samples of your prose and poetry on the writer's wall. Attendees vote for their favorite. Go to the Awards Banquet on Saturday night and see if you won.

Go here to get all the info.

Check out all the links to see the workshop schedule and presenter's bios.

I've went all out this year. I sent in 5 entries to their writing contests. I sent part of one of my manuscripts to Kaylan Adair to be critiqued by her. I also scheduled a 5 minute pitch session with Peter Lynch. I'm not sure what manuscript I'm going to pitch to him yet, but I have a while to figure that out.

I figure, if nothing else, it's good experience. I may fall flat on my face, but you never know unless you try.

Go ahead and check out the site. If you don't live too far away, think about attending. It's fun and you meet a lot of neat people who like to write.

Any suggestions on giving a 5 minute pitch?