Moon Tree Brothers

Moon Tree Brothers Book Trailer

2012-01-26T13:16:00.002-05:00

This is my Moon Tree Brothers book trailer. I would love to hear comments from my loyal, yet incredibly silent, following.

My nifty new award, my book tailer and REMEMBER to read your manuscript aloud

2012-01-26T13:13:00.000-05:00

Wow! Now that I have this nifty writers blog award, and from a site that is right up my fantasy alley, I better get blogging.

I have been doing a little of it on my personal blog, but as far as writing, I have just successfully edited out about 6,000 words in my Middle Grade book. It is with an editor, who is focusing on grammar and mostly punctuation, but I am still amazed to see the stupid mistakes she is catching in it: Redundancies (ie saying the same thing twice in a sentence), other odd things such as that.

I was so excited when she offered her services that I did not do the final 'out loud' read through on the revised manuscript. Always a mistake. You have to read it out loud to really hear it.

My book trailer is up on YouTube. I created it by creating several drawings and then using words in between. The thing that really sets it off though, is the music. I have a credit for the composer at the end. The piece I found just fits so perfectly. It has a low native sounding drum building up, for this book that has a lot of elements of the First People in it. You can find it at by searching YouTube for Moon Tree Brothers. My videos are at http://www.youtube.com/user/SAVanVleck and include my grandson's Country music, as well as odds and ends.

In amongst this, I seem to have a heart attack epidemic in my family. Mom ended up in the ER with a heart attack and has taken days to recover. Hospice is now coming out to her apartment and that is a comfort. The other family member is mom's little Chihuahua. I have to make sure she eats before she gets her heart medicine and some days she just does not want to eat. The vet doesn't have a lot of hope for length of her life.

So, your blog award was a bright spot in my day. Thanks, so much Storybook World. Click on my award for a link to their site. http://astorybookworld.blogspot.com

I have not been abducted by aliens!

2011-12-24T12:31:00.005-05:00

As time goes by is one of my favorite British sitcoms, but in this context I am talking about life and the passage of time. It has become a time, in my life, where I am caring for an ill, and elderly mother.

She complains that the roles are reversed. She loves to instruct and she does not like playing the child to me, the mother. This is a role that is made even more difficult by the fact that she is OC.

It literally, took me sixty years to realize she was OC, because it was a normal state of my growing up. I thought every household balanced like ornaments when hanging them on the tree. Surely every one's mother cut up bits of papers in perfectly straight squares.

I was the weak one, who cannot cut a straight to save her life. Who finds it disturbing to have perfectly balanced anything on the mantle or coffee table. Don't ever look in my corners and expect perfect cleanliness either.

Caring for a mother who is in stage four heart failure and who has a tube in her gallbaldder can be very time consuming. I am fortunate to have a very understanding and supportive husband, who is often more patient than I am.

My mother, who has done more than I could even detail here for me, is worth every minute of that time, but I do miss being able to dedicate my time to my artwork. But, not to marketing it.

I have a website but find I am not updating it. So, I have decided to drop my website and use blogs instead, to both market my book and artwork.

This blog is already entitled my working title, "Moon Tree Brothers." This blog will remain a place to discuss writing and give you hints of my book.

With that said, I do so hope, I can take the time every couple of days to give you snippets of Moon Tree Brothers. Throw in descriptions, drawings, anything that you might find fun, without endangering my publishing possibilities.

So, a happy holidays to everyone from the gang in the Moon tree, who have come from all over the world to fight the Darkness together. My you have peace, joy and love in your hearts for life.

Structure Part 1–Anatomy of a Best-Selling Novel–Structure Matters « Kristen Lamb's Blog

2011-03-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

Like most of you, I have been working a very long time on this novel. My first, a picture book, was written in the car as a story for my grandson. Everyone in the car was saying, "write that one down." So, I did and I have worked on it over the years and, as an artist played with illustrating it. I still thinks it stands the test of submission but other things came up.

My second, a mystery, went quickly. I did research at the library, both on writing and on the things needed for the story. I had index cards and binders up the wazoo. I felt I had a pretty good product, went to Of Dark and Stormy Nights, had an author critique, she gave me the name of her agent and stupidly, I sent it out. Looking back now, it was not ready and my query letter was FARRRR from ready. Someday, I will maybe get to working on it. I need a much better Protagonist, I know that.

This time, the internet is here, and research is at the tips of my fingers. My notes are in computer files and folders. I have still spent five years writing and researching and I still sit here and wonder if I have dotted all the 'i's' and crossed all the 't's?' Last night, in one of my "this isn't good enough" moments. I turned to Google and found a great blog.

Structure Part 1–Anatomy of a Best-Selling Novel–Structure Matters « Kristen Lamb's Blog

Besides having a great teaching overview for what you need to have a best-selling novel, she is also having a critiquing contest. So, check her out and tomorrow I'll share my insecurities with you.

Betch can't wait!!!

We_Are_Not_Alone

2011-03-08T17:43:00.001-05:00

By the way, Kristen Lamb has a book out that I just may have to order. It's called:

We_Are_Not_Alone

It's the Writers Guide to Social Media.

Finally, someone who is going to tell me just what the heck I'm supposed to do with Twitter.

And, how can looking at family pictures on FaceBook help me?

How to Create Characters for Your Character-Driven Novel - C. Patrick Schulze – Author of "Born To Be Brothers"

2011-03-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

I suffer insecurities. I come from a long line of Obssessive Compulsives who never found the 'just right' anything. It took me most of my life to realize that it was not me who was not 'good enough' it was everything. One thing I constantly work on is to improve my sense of self-worth.

My daughter, who has evaded these OC's problems, works on my reassurance too. She is one of my beta-editors and she will tell me honestly, when I have missed the mark in my writing.

The very first opening was so much better than any of the successive five
openings. Quit changing it and move on.

That makes it so much easier to beleive when she says, "It's great the way it is."

Since she is busy with her two teaching jobs, one a math and science public academy sixth grade class for the gifted, and three evening classes for a University and then there is Notre Dame in the summer, I try not to bother her too much.

So, last night, when I was wondering if I did not have to re-write my protagonist, I googled him. You know, there is that 'if you Google it they will come" thing going. And, I came across C. Patrick Schulze's article on Creating Characters for your Character-driven novel. And, trust me, they all should be character driven.

Check it out at: How to Create Characters for Your Character-Driven Novel - C. Patrick Schulze – Author of "Born To Be Brothers" It's a great article.

AgentQuery Connect

2011-02-05T21:30:00.002-05:00

Things seem to fall into your lap just when you need them. I am eternally working on my query letter and I've just discovered AgentQueryConnect.

AgentQueryConnect has a neat feature where you post your query letter and/or your synopsis and fellow writer members critique them. Within minutes of posting my, what I thought was polished query, I had my first critique. Don't forget, I have been researching and working on this Query for months and months.

When I wrote my first manuscript, a mystery novel, I went to 'Of Dark and Stormy Nights' mystery conference, in Chicago. I had a novel critique with a published Mystery author and her words to me were, "Would you like the name of my agent?"

I then, in true newby fashion, sent off a query letter (with absolutely no idea what one was) and, to make matters worse, without a finished manuscript in place. I was near finished, I was barely edited and I knew I had plotting problems.

This time around, I have worked for four years to learn plotting, character, everything I possibly can to make this book the best I can do. I have spent the last two years, while waiting for it to perk in my head and be critiqued by others, researching all the editor/agent/writer blogs for what makes a good query/synopsis/longline, you have it. But, there is always room for improvement and my first critique on AgentQueryConnect proved that to me.

I'm off to bed now, although I literally slept most of the day today, and hope to get back to polishing my query in the morning.

LESSON TO LEARN: Do NOT send your query off first to your very favorite pick of an agent. If you do, you will be sorry five queries later when you discover that it needs to be polished more.

AgentQuery Connect

2011-02-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

Brilliance in the night tugs at the back of my mind.

2010-11-24T10:37:00.003-05:00

Well, we should not say brilliance exactly. Perhaps, awareness of stupidity would be more appropriate.

For all intents and purposes, after dozens of edits by me and three edits by two very intelligent, english oriented people, including a sixth grade teacher, I sent out my query, etc to my first agent.

Did you ever go back and have this sinking feeling? Darn, how did that get into the first page? I found a grammar error in the query and a book error in the first page of the book. What??? Do gremlins come in the night and change your words??? How did that get there?

I decided I better go through one more read, yet again, for errors. Then, in the middle of the night I woke up with the realization that I had to change my ending.

I've had this nagging thought that I was doing a "Oh and then the magic fairy whipped in and solved the problem." It was not exactly the major plot but it should have been.

So, now I shall go through, one more time out of a zillion, and do several things: make a definitive list of curriculum references, check for those gremlin errors, and make sure that my plot is resolved by my protagonist and not by any pesky fairies.

But first, I'm going to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving, with turkey or with vegetables. It's the friendship that counts.

Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)

2010-11-17T18:21:00.004-05:00

Getting into my new way of eating. I've gone Vegan folks. Boys ate grilled cheese and tomato soup tonight. This is not going to be easy.

So, I have gone to my distraction, ta da, the net and found a great article by Mark Ury on using music to set the tone of your writing. Writing for Kids (While Raising Them). This is one of those "Duh!" moments.

I have used music in creating my art for years. When I sculpt a humorous animal, it's Lyle Lovett or Jalan Crossland. If I'm throwing on the wheel, it might be a country song or some hard core classical. As the sun is setting and I'm winding down, on goes the jazz and blues. So, why not bring that to my writing.

I have a major battle, t the end of my book series, and my mind is already wrapping around the problem of getting into the right mood for it. I've been writing in quiet or to CNN (it's on a lot). But, in four or five years, it's going to be something like Vagner or Wagner or Verdi.

In the meantime, I'm working on book two, MOON TREE MADNESS, and need to find some Charlie Chaplin movies for humor.

So, check out Tara Lazar's site for PiBoldMo and quit melting that cheese. Gosh, it smells good!!

PiBoldMo

2010-11-01T08:47:00.001-04:00

I have updated my new 2010 PiBoldMo button on the side and done an "Enclosures" link for you. Hopefully, that will work. I used to be able to put links in here but the "Link" button did not work so well yesterday.

Last year, was my first year with PiBoldMo and I loved it. Granted, I only finished about half the month and something came up, but I have high hopes for this year. I still came away with a bunch of great ideas, gleaned from all the guest bloggers Tara welcomes in November.

So, if you are short of ideas, join up and get inspired.

Query day and Madness

2010-10-31T12:00:00.013-04:00

Now that the manuscript for Moon Tree Brothers is complete, revised, edited and it's logline is done, it is time to work on my Query letter.

First, never think your logline is done. None of these submission documents are ever "done". They are just complete until you look up the next agent and see what they like and then you can emphasis the things in your novel that "the current submitting to agent" likes.

I think that makes it a bit easier to write them. It's like having an assignment in school and knowing that the teacher is really fond of (gosh, all I can think of here is chocolate), well that would work if chocolate is in your book, so okay, you emphasis the chocolate instead of the spaghetti this time around. But, you still need an original really good synopsis, query, etc to work from.

Late last night I came up with a good way to do it. Well, I didn't http://marcussakey.com/articles_querygoround.php did. Sorry it's not linking right, just Google Marcus Sakey. One of my book loves is mystery and I have turned to Marcus Sakey to figure out this Query in simple terms. "Just the facts, Ma'am."

Summing up your newly finished beloved baby in 3-5 lines is not easy. He says to "focus on the drama and the stakes and leave out the minor characters"...themes/complications. Check out his article if this is not clear enough for you. It seemed clear at 2am. But, I am tired now, from being up that late so nothing is seemingly clear.

The point of the Query, he says, "Just show them you know how to tell a story." Now, that is simple. I have also seen it described as sitting down to tell your manuscript as a short bedtime story. After all, that is what we are selling: We are great storytellers!

That said, I love Madness. Book two , Moon Tree Madness, is going well. I may have mentioned it already but I had this great idea for a character based on Dawn French. She just seems to flow from my fingers. I usually "cast" my characters early on. Even if it is a photo from a magazine of someone I have no idea who they are, I seem to see something in their face that makes them come alive for me.

So, I'm off to finish my basic query, so that I can get back to Madness. Have a great day.

It's one of those Senior moment days

2010-10-28T11:55:00.004-04:00

Since I cannot seem to remember how to answer a comment, I'll do it here. I am troubleshooting my website with my site owner. The site refuses my updates. So, I probably would not have gotten around to posting anyway.

But, YES, I am doing PiBoldMo. Check my links for this great Picture book idea think tank. While I have to admit I got involved and did not finish it last year, I have about half a month of great ideas for Picture and other books from last years contest.

I heartily recommend it.

QueryTracker's logline help

2010-10-27T13:15:00.002-04:00

One last mention about your, or my, logline.

QueryTracker,net is having a contest and, while I thought my logline was "all that it could be," (unlike my punctuation) I checked out querytracker'nets article on loglines and improved it further. It's a great article and I suggest you check it out.

Great Link for creating your LogLine

2010-10-24T08:09:00.000-04:00

I found the perfect help for me on creating a logline (one line synopsis) and I have read everything I could find. But, today, this one just hit my brain when it was ready to receive it.

This is by Christopher Lockhart and you gotta love his title "I wrote a 120 page script but can't write a logline."

I really was not quite getting what is wanted in the logline, but he explained it in great detail.

First, he says not to muddy the waters with the characters name. But, you use those precious words to describe your character. Such as saying, "An angry woman..." DUH! That means so much more than Alice Smith shot her husband. Although, once you knew she shot him, you probably figured she was angry.

Then, your logline must present:

"WHO the story is about (that's the angry woman)
WHAT she/he strives for (Their goal- having dead husband)
WHAT stands in her/his way (not much apparently)."

But, keep reading because he does a great job of explaining and there's a hysterical example of a logline for the Wizard of Oz there.

He also explains a bit how writing has changed in the last twenty years. How many times have you watched an old movie and thought, "Gosh, that is slow. I used to like it."? Is that punctuation even close to right?

Anyway, very interesting article.

I have joined the age of technology

2010-10-23T13:54:00.004-04:00

I AM ON HIGH SPEED!!!!

Excuse me for yelling, but it's so exciting. We tried it out for a month, with Verizon's USB port WiFi and it works.

That little USB port thing-a-ma-bob has become the most sought after item in our house. My custody is days, JCountry gets it earlier evening, like 3pm, and JediKnight gets it after work, which can be as late as midnight. So, it gets hung on doorknobs around the house (Not meaning, do not enter) meaning, "I'm done. Your turn."

I can see a movie clip and even look at all the forwarded junk certain relatives send out. If I want.

So, hopefully, I will become a regular blogger here again. Although, I picked up another watcher in my absence so I really think there may be a thing to this being paid not to blog.

My current status is a headache from rewarding my logline/one-line pitch. I have decided that I will never get it right and maybe, just maybe there is really NOT one perfect logline for your work.

I'm thinking that perhaps, as you would do with the Query, you need to slant it a bit to take advantage of the things you want to emphasis for each agent you query. What do you think?

While these submitting things are endlessly worked on, I have started on book 2 of the Moon Tree series and I am so excited. I don't try for a lot of humor, but this book seems to be bringing it out. I am introducing a new teacher and I just keep seeing Dawn French. Now, how can you not laugh when Dawn French is around? The first chapters have written themselves and are now making me work on chapter 3.

But, I have high speed, so ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!

Except getting the darn woodpeckers to stop chipping away at the house.

Outlining vs Writing by discovery

2010-08-27T13:58:00.008-04:00

One of the blogs I follows is Miss Snark's First Victim.
AT: http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/ .
Apparently, she received some advice that her book would be better if she did a detailed outline first. Puul-Leaseeee! I appreciated her response, which was to tell her what is wrong with her book but do not tell her how she has to write it.

When I began Moon Tree Brother, I tried to force myself to outline. I tried graphs, index cards, organizational charts, standing on my head (not really, that would not be a pretty - or safe- sight). But, I tried.

What I discovered was that it did not work for me. What works for me is writing by discovery. I start to do research on one thing and bump into something that I just have to include in the book. It may not make the final cut, as my beloved Roma (gypsy) scene did not make it, but it keeps me going.

My manuscript for book one, Moon Tree Brothers, is winging it's way back home from my personal editor, my beautiful sixth grade teacher daughter, as I write. I cannot wait to get onto my final edit before sending it out. In the meantime, I am working on book two.

With a working title of Moon Tree Madness, I am having a blast. Things are getting crazy in the Moon Tree and I only slightly hyperventilate that I have no idea where this will end before I remember that I had no idea where book one would end for a very long time. It actually has had two different endings. This is a lot better than the twenty-seven different openings it has had.

The thing is, we each have our own process. I do not think my book would work near as well if I tried to force it into an outline I did before I had discovered all the wonderful things that happened along the way.

More power to you, if you outline. It's all about what works for you.

When the world is just a little off.

2010-08-25T14:11:00.002-04:00

First, my favorite blogger, http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/, just disappeared one day. Everyone deserves a day or two off but she was gone fifteen days. She reappeared yesterday with pictures of knotted yarn. I've had knotted yarn. I totally understand. I'm happy she is back, but that makes me wonder if we owe it to our "followers" to let them know we are in deed alive.

Which, of course, brings me to the fact that I disappeared for, well a long time, and I gained yet another follower. I do think this disappearing is good for my blog but since I am really, honestly and truthfully in the home stretch with my manuscript, I need to get busy on this blog again.

The only thing between me and an agent now is Meijers. Yes, Meijers, as in the big store like WalMart only classier and less noisy. That's just my opinion since I am irritated at all the price roll-ups at my local walmart and Meijers is thirty miles away.

Anyway, sixth grade teacher/daughter has completed her edit of my manuscript. She tells me that only one chapter is really redlined and that she has put it in her car so she will not forget to mail it at Meijer's, next time she goes. Hmmm, mail it at Meijers?

I talked to my 88 year-old mother yesterday and she reminded me not to travel today and tomorrow as we will be hit with rain and wind from this huge hurricane that is hitting the Gulf. (insert long pause here.) All I can figure is she fell asleep during a show about Katrina, woke up to see the forecast for Katrina and fell back to sleep. She's all battened down though and waiting and since we live in central Indiana, she's got a pretty long wait.

ATandT keeps trying to sell me high speed but then telling me they don't offer it in my area. Mean joke? Did you know you are not allowed to blog an ampersand?

Our son tells us he is engaged via Facebook. Ok, to be fair, he is in the Army, in Germany, and in the field, so he cannot use his phone, but he could Facebook it.

On the plus side, I keep reading that Middle Grade and Young Adult Fantasy is still hot, so as soon as Meijer's ships my manuscript to me, I'll get at it and, in the meantime. I will do my best to post more often and untanble my yarn on my own time.

The "What if" moment

2010-04-18T12:50:00.009-04:00

Your characters need an environment and my big "what if" led to the discovery of Astronaut Stuart Roosa.

In 1971, Roosa went into orbit on Apollo 14. Since he had been a Forest Service smoke jumper, he decided that his personal kit would include hundreds of tree seeds.

Four to five hundred seeds from the Douglas Fir, Sweetgum, Loblolly Pine, Sycamore, and Sweetgum trees were included. He and his seeds stayed in the Kitty Hawk command module as it orbited the moon as other astraonauts stepped on the moon.

During decontamination the containers burst and the seeds were mixed together. Fortunately, nearly all the seeds germinated and the Forest Service had over four hundred trees to plant.

1975 and 1976 saw the trees sent to their future homes. The White House lawn, Brazil, Switzerland and even the Emperor of Japan received trees. Valley Forge, NASA, Koch Girl Scout Camp in Indiana, Goaddard Space Flight Center in Maryland were among states to receive trees.

You can read more about it here: The Moon Trees

Twenty years later, you can not tell a non-orbit tree from one that has orbited the moon, but WHAT IF???

What if those trees were imbued with special powers from their time in orbit and became the home of a world of creatures bent on saving the world?

What's your WHAT IF?

I'm BACKKKKKKKK!!! and finding my voice!

2010-03-20T21:29:00.005-04:00

And, I am hoping that this is a condition that continues. Absolutely no guarantees in this world where it took me two computers and twenty minutes to get on-line yesterday.

I have finally made friends with my Inspiron. Yes, I did have to restore it to factory settings twice and am holding my breath the external modem keeps working.

I am slowly making friends with my new eyes too. I should say "lens'" as that is really all that is new, after cataract surgery. My left eye seems better and I am adjusted to reading blurred until I can get a script for reading glasses.

Now, to the fun things in life. I am excited about my book again. I have two great editors now. The new one, who is reading it as a brand new reader of the book, is excited about it and has given me some good input. She's as full of ideas as my first editor is. I like to have a reader who is picking the book up blind, with no idea where it is coming from or even what my writing style is. She has never read anything by me before and is looking at it with a clean eye, so to speak. (Yes, I am obssessing on this eye thing a wee bit.)

Both editors have helped me find my voice and say what I want to say in a new and unique way. I had a pottery teacher like that in Casper, Wyoming. He could see through what I was trying to do, right to what I really wanted and needed to do, and lead me in that way.

I had set myself a deadline of March 1st, to get the book out, but it is so much better now and it needs to be "all it can be." Hmmmm, what made me think of that?

Oh, yeah, my grandson/son is graduating from basic training the first of April and we are going to sunny Oklahoma for the ceremony. He phoned today and told me it was 70 degrees one day and they woke up, on their camping trip, to five below, an ice storm and rain. So, how do you pack for that?

I am not actually all that excited about driving thirteen hours but am anxious to give him a hug. The motel has high speed, so I can let let you know what the weather is.

I also need to thank a very special grandson for the funding for this trip.

Why do I need internet when I can't see to read it?

2010-02-25T15:52:00.004-05:00

Wow! I don't write for over a month and I gain three followers. Would you guys consider paying me not to write?

My status is about the same. I am online on my old Sony Vaio desktop and my new Dell Inspiron 1545, with external modem, sits at my writing desk unable to go online. AOL neither can help nor care about the situation. The second tech who helped me was most apologetic about not being able to help. The third tech was totally delusional. They ignored my protests that the machine was still unable to connect to AOL and congratulated themselves on a successful session.

My IT nephew tried to help but, I believe we have now figured out it is neither my external modem nor my AOL dial up. I'm rooting for Windows 7 at this time and ready to kick myself for not just installing Windows XP. Remember good old XP? That's the last Windows OS that actually worked. Oh, how I long for the good old days.

I also long for my old eyes. My cataract surgery is complete. Yes, I have 20/20 in my right eye and I can see forever and to the moon with it. The left eye? Not so much. It's barely 20/80 now and I am wearing +300 (I think it is, since I can't see) reading glasses and must sit 8 1/2" from the computer screen. This is difficult when the Inspiron laptop is like 10" wide. The ophthalmologist tells me that it is caused by my lazy left eye. I also understand that complete recovery can take two to four months. I'm not sure I buy that, the lazy eye excuse, but what's done is done. I had my cry just thinking about not being able to paint again, but have moved on now.

I am currently looking for the silver lining in all this.

External modems and internal vision

2010-01-18T11:41:00.005-05:00

I feel guilty being even the slightest unhappy with my world, when I have water, food, a roof over my head, and medical care (at least until March 31st). But, it is the only way to let you know I have not abandoned my blog, it has just been a bit hard to get to lately.

You would think that you could plug in a new computer and be good to go, alas, NO!

My faithful Gateway tablet gave up its ghost. I am obsessive about back ups and also got a few hours advanced warning that things were not right, so i did not lose my book or anything, however, my new Dell Inspiron 1545 came complete with OUT a modem.

Okay, you look through the list of stuff you are getting and you notice what they are giving you but nowhere did it say, at least in noticeable letters, you do NOT get an internal modem. I then ordered one and got online quite fine until I went to my Master's Daughter for Christmas and enjoyed WiFi, came home and my Internet would not work.

Yes, I am still on AOL dial-up. It stinks, but it is all I have, so i checked the setting and I was indeed trying to go on dial-up, with my external modem and then I spent an hour, on the phone with Dell. We did so much changing that I could not possibly write down each step just in case and sure enough, just in case happened the next time I went to the library on DSL. And, it did.

So, I am currently on a very old Windows XP desktop, on dial up. Some days I can get on, some days I cannot. I am working on the laptop again but my eyes are complicating all of it.

This is also not the month to fight anything having to do with reading as I am having cataract surgery and, while I now have 20/20 vision in my right eye (a new one for me) I am really struggling to read. Believe me, had I known and if this was elective surgery, I would not have done it. I would rather wear glasses and be able to read easily. But, since cataracts have to go, I did not have a choice.

I am sincerely hoping that tomorrow, after the left eye is done, that things will eventually even out or whatever, at the very least I will get reading glasses, and life will be back to normal; well, as normal as my life ever gets, once i get my laptop working on line.

My new Dell and I are cohabitating.

2010-01-01T20:48:00.003-05:00

When the Gateway broke, I was devastated. Since the clips on the swivel screen had broken a year earlier, I was not too surprised but I loved that machine. Then, I used grandson's Gateway with VISTA. Not a good match but I found out that if you force yourself to use it, you can make peace.

My new Dell has Windows 7. We are in discovery mode with each other. I have figured out how to stop my thumb from setting off weird windows. I have also discovered that they make computers without modems now. Yeah, you out there in the boondocks, no modem! Who would have thunk???

It took me about forty minutes on their help phone to get my new external modem to actually work, but here I am back online. Now, the problem is my webpage. It works but I have these HTML errors and I am just not sure how critical that is. I do have several pages left to go.

We spent several days, of the holidays, with my Master's daughter and, guess what? Yep, her computer broke down too but was still under warranty. The bad thing, for me (not for her), was that she lost all her notes on my book. I guess that is for her too as she has promised to go over it again. She is only working three jobs right now, so what the heck???

Hope you all had a good holiday.

The world we live, or read, in.

2009-12-09T11:38:00.005-05:00

I love to get transported to a new world, so when I began on my fantasy, I had great fun creating my character's new environment. Today, I read the post, The Importance of World building Uncreated Conscience and was reminded of several of my favorite "new worlds."

Memoirs of a Geisha, Girl With a Pearl Earring, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are all favorites for me. I think we all tend to enjoy escaping our lives for a good read or movie.

JJ says:

...what makes a work of fiction with great worldbuilding stand out is the
implicit understanding the writer creates about the values of the society in
which the novel is set.

I think this is a major part of world building and is a good place to start building. Without consciously thinking about it being a basis of the world, my whole "what if" idea for Moon Tree Brothers is based on a conversation, or argument actually, wherein it was said that we just had a "difference of opinion in child rearing."

From this grew a world of dragon men, dwarfs and fairies, all dedicated to protecting children, and magical electrical energy that we are depleating by our increasing violence. They work to erase the 'Unknown Darkness' that is affecting the world we live in. They would like to do it without violence, but is that possible?

Write what you are passionate about, even if it is not vampires

2009-12-07T11:23:00.003-05:00

In my agent compatibility search, I ran across an interesting post. Agent in the Middle's take of the current market is:

it's become increasingly difficult to sell any genre fiction from a male
protagonist's perspective, unless he's really hot. But even if he's a really hot
teen vampire, it's better to tell the story from a female point of view."

I am no expert. While this is not my first manuscript, it will be the first I am actively pursuing and, early on, I fell into the trap of fretting over every single thing I read.

So, am I going to stop pursuing my male viewpoint fantasy story, sans vampire? No!

You have to write what you feel passionate about and I am passionate about this manuscript.

You have to figure that it can take upwards of two years to get your work out into the buying market. While female vampire stories are the current hot topic, two years from now it is going to be brothers living in a tree, or something you cannot even imagine.

Write from your heart and write with passion.

VISTA, Agents and Tense. Hmm, a correlation?

2009-12-06T18:38:00.006-05:00

So, here I sit fighting with VISTA, unable to write as I must type to write. I can hand write notes but my hand is unable to keep up with my brain for anything else. If I were on a desert island, I suppose I would get used to it, but really I am supposed to be sewing a quilt for my grandson for Christmas. But, no, I am screwing up the only computer I can work on.

It had two or possibly five versions of VISTA on it so I go online, find out what to do about it, download a program to fix it. Fix it! HAH! I now have nothing on the computer but five versions of VISTA and AOL. No Word, dang! No Jasc! No, nothing.

So, I go online again and decide this is a time to find possible agents. I decided to start by going down Miss Snark's First Victim blog list of blogging agents. And, guess what I found! I found an agent who has my same "Tense problem." AgentObvious

I have a horrible time with tense. The writer's group, in Wyoming, pointed out my tense issues, my daughter catches it and my grandson catches it and I read it and go, "HUH?"

I finally found out that I catch most of my tense problems, if I keep a book (it has examples of tense) open on my lap, as I edit, and look at it every paragraph, and sometimes sentence, to fix my tense. I really felt like such a horrible writer that I could not just automatically know my tense was off.

I am so reassured. Thank you AgentObvious.

The best laid plans!

2009-12-05T18:27:00.005-05:00

Yup! I was in the webpage creation home stretch, when my "Got Viggo Mortensen" bit the dust.

That's the name of my last computer. I do not normally name inanimate objects, but my Master's Daughter got me this neat sticker last year at Christmas, and, since I spend the most time with my laptop, I put the "Got Viggo Mortensen" sticker on the lid. We won't go there!

It was a beloved Hewlett Packard, write on swivel screen with styllis, dream machine. Now it is history, and I am stuck with a few pages to correct and create for my web site, and no way to get there.

Our house has many computers in it, from an ancient first generation laptop with no back up way to reinstall anything, to the three that supposedly work. I keep looking for a donation spot and just discovered that Good Will takes them.

I have three printers and three accesible computers. The newest computer is, of course, a VISTA. Drat!! The reason I am now using it is that no one else wants to and I am the resident computer person. So, now it is do or die to make the blasted thing work.

Out of three printers, one finally installed on it. I was able to put Word on it and then the story gets depressing. I could not install Coffee Cup HTML (which I need to fix the pages of my website that are not loading their pictures). I even spent eight hours on dialup, yesterday, uploading it from their website and it's nowhere to be found this morning. It is really difficult to find where things are on VISTA.

Jasc Paint Shop Pro installed just fine. The older desktop that takes all of these programs, is not wanting to view the graphics in PNG, which is what most of mine are. Other than that, this computer has nothing on it. What a sad waste of money and what frustration as I sit here waiting until the 22nd for my new Dell.

Anyone know where I can get another "Got Viggo Mortensen" sticker?

Web Page Update

2009-11-30T20:16:00.003-05:00

I am in the home stretch, no really!!

I have completed twenty-six pages with graphics and twenty-two text only pages.

The only pages left to go are for my artwork. I know! I know! you are not supposed to put personal things on your writing web page. However, my artwork is my income and it's gotta stay on. I cannot afford a second page just for art.

The text only pages are so easy to do because I just copy the text off the graphic pages onto a template page. It worked better to finish the graphic pages and then go back and do the text only pages.

Also, learn CSS. I will be working on that before I do a total new site again. I do have it built into this site for constant updates. There are lots of things I have planned to keep the web page active and alive. And, I am forcing myself to do so by having a "last date updated" on each page.

So, keeping in mind that all the ART pages are not done, take a look and let me know what you think. I have to go to the library and run through a check, checking all the links but I think I have found the new major one that was wrong.

My site can be seen at:
S. A. VanVleck - author of the Moon Tree series - Home Page

I already had a domain of "VanVleckStudio.com" and my web server recommended keeping that domain for my art customers who might need something new. I also purchased SAVanVleck.com for my writing. I did not go with my proposed title of "Moon Tree Brothers" because it is a working title and a kind agent or editor might find a better one

IQ, Beans, half a brain and MENSA

2009-11-29T22:16:00.003-05:00

Do you remember those IQ tests they used to give when you were like in sixth grade? My brother ranked MENSA. I ranked about three points below MENSA. And, I am living proof that those stupid tests do not mean a hill of beans.

Just exactly what would you do with a “hill of beans” anyway? Oh, my gosh! An idea for PiBoIdMo. Hold on, gotta type it down.

Digression over: After I took the IQ test, I was moved into an “advanced” class. The teacher was wonderful, it was challenging, I did homework until midnight every night, I began falling asleep in class and I was only in sixth grade. And, my grades went from being straight ‘A’s’ to C’s. I did not recover until I went to college, some twenty-five years later.

The reason I say those tests mean nothing though, is that sometimes I can be so stupid.

Take, building my website. (Insert Groucho eyebrows and cigar here.) That’ll be two-forty for the site and do you want me to wrap it? Obviously, I am till sleep deprived.

First: If I would have just taken the time to learn CSS, I could have saved a ton of aggravation. I know just enough to know that my links, which I have to continually go in and change on each and every page, could have been done, all on one page.

Second: My status is: Twenty-four graphic pages down, six graphic pages to go and twelve text only pages done, with twelve text only pages to go and I make the bright decision to go ahead and start putting it up on the web. Then, I discover that I have continually forgotten to do the description and keywords and change the Title. All important for people finding you. Meaning, I am now on my third round of uploading all those corrected pages.

Third: I have just now figured out about the only way I can get my illustrations reduced to manageable size without degrading.

Yes, I am so bright, I did a lot of my own illustrations.

A true renaissance woman, with half a brain and three points from MENSA!!!!

Great resources and a contest on the web

2009-11-12T20:00:00.005-05:00

The web site is going pretty well now. If I knew CSS better, I would probably be done by now. I cannot wait to be done, as I have been very neglectful of my blogs, twitter, etc and I am constantly tired, as I am waking up in the middle of the night and spending an hour writing on book two. Hey, it's when I get my ideas.

On the non-website side, I have been internet networking more. I just caught up on ideas on Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) and got a great news flash on We Interrupt Your Ideas for a Special Announcement « Writing for Kids (While Raising Them). Those who have 30 ideas by the end of the month, will be in a random drawing for a neat grand prize.

TA DA!!!! Jill Corcoran of Herman Agency - Representing Professional Artists, Authors, & Children's Book Illustrators and Lauren E. MacLeod of The Strothman Agency, LLC Advocates for books that matter. will each take one of the winners and read five of the winner's one sentence fleshed out idea proposals. Cool, huh??

And, on to the second great thing: I have a 1000 words of my YA novel in with Miss Snark's First Victim for some critiquing and was checking up on her site and found out that one of her follower/entrants, Lisa and Laura Write: Spread the Love, Win a Kindle, used the feedback they got on that site to revise their manuscript and score an agent.

Their book A Kate Lowry Mystery: The Haunting of Pemberly Brown (sorry, the link would not work) is now being published. And, they are celebrating by giving away a Lisa and Laura Write: Spread the Love, Win a Kindle KINDLE!!! (same link, so shoot me). But, and this is a cool link about their journey to publish their first book. Lisa and Laura Write: The LiLa Publishing Timeline.

We've all been waiting a lifetime for that, Right??? So, go to their site and enter to win a Kindle and read a neat blog. And, check out PiBoldMo, get 30 ideas and have five sentences ready for an Agent's review.

A writer who is not social? Who would a thunk?

2009-11-07T08:48:00.005-05:00

I am not a joiner. I am not running off to meetings and volunteering to head committees. While I have no fear of speaking in public, even to very large groups, I have never been one to "socialize." I never coffee klatched.

During my painting career, I loved to do demonstrations and talks, but I hated art receptions. Making small talk, with a glass of wine in hand, was never comfortable. I did it, because that is what you need to do but I did a lot of grumbling before hand.

Sometimes an idea comes along that is just too good to pass up, and, hey, being on an Internet group is not the same as getting in your car and going to schmooze. Still, I was a bit reluctant to join PiBoIdMo. It was a commitment, you know!

I have to say. I am thoroughly enjoying this one. Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) is hosting a Picture Book Idea month, and I just now realize that it is NOT PiBoldMo, which I thought was rather weird, but easier to say (Pie-Bold-Mo) but that the L is actually a capital I.

Gotta get those cataracts fixed soon, I hope. I digress, but I am a wee bit young to have cataracts and am definitely not enjoying them.

What I am enjoying though is all the wonderful ideas for ideas, that are being shared by various children's book writers. My picture book ideas list is up to seven and I have not even tried for two days.

It's all about looking around and thinking. How can I put this to use in a way I might not have before. It's a big "WHAT IF!" for book ideas.

I said it once before, so I will say it again: Give it a try. It's fun and you do not have to dress up and get in your car to join. However, I could use a cup of coffee right now.

What we can learn from Cubist artists.

2009-11-06T19:33:00.001-05:00

As writers, we look at relationships between things and ourselves, in an effort to bring our readers into the world we create.

As an artist, I saw those relationships in colors and now visualize them in order to find the most visual way to describe them.

In teaching art, I was often asked to explain cubism. It is when an artist depicts the totality of possible views, from all around an object or person, as if you could see them all at once.

I think this is a good way to think about what you wish to describe in your writing. Close your eyes and see your world, character or setting from every angle. Walk all around it. Fly over it and crawl under it and then find the best view to describe it from.

I am always one step ahead of myself

2009-11-05T10:44:00.004-05:00

Right now, with the never ending edit nearing its end, and while working on my web page (which, I am happy to say is finally progressing at a reasonable speed) I am dreaming about marketing. I think this is because I was a Girl Scout.

Not only was I a Girl Scout, but I was the Girl Scout leader's daughter. Which meant that I had darn well behave better than any other girl sitting in that circle and I had better get more badges. Actually, I cannot blame the badges thing on mom. I have this penchant for filling in blanks and that included making sure all the blanks were done in my Girl Scout book.

She swears I also made up school homework for myself. I am definitely NOT admitting to that one. But, all she had to do, to keep me quiet, was give me a book with blanks in it.

So, having Web Site, Synopsis, Query, Bios, all in partial states of readiness, I have turned my attention to Marketing. "BE PREPARED!"

One site, that I have found is not an instructional site, but is David LaRochelle. He is an author and illustrator and was a fourth grade teacher. He does tons of school visits and some teaching yet. He's also an awesome pumpkin carver.

So, if you go to his site, and click on Books, Children's Books, then Teacher's guides, The End: Teaching Guide, you will find some things that he does to go along with his books and his school visits that might encourage you to become more creative with your own work-in-progress marketing plan.

It is never to early to, Be Prepared!

Procrastination.

2009-11-03T19:03:00.004-05:00

Procrastination is the name of the game. Either that, or I am ADD. Some days I can focus on the web page for hours. Other days, not so much.

Some days, I alternate and work on the web page for a while and then on the synopsis or query letter. So, since I am trying not to procrastinate by spending hours on blogs and such, I will give you a link to a good site for information about composing a good query letter.

Guide to Literary Agents - "20 Tips on Query Letters," as Told by Agent Janet Reid

Off to procrastinate on something else.

Join PiBoIdMo

2009-11-02T07:19:00.005-05:00

A wee bit off my usual genre here, but writing is writing, and given you do your homework and practice, practice, practice, you could turn your brain and fingers to Picture books.

This month PiBoIdMo is Here! « Writing for Kids (While Raising Them), has a neat challenge going. She is giving you you an inspirational idea every day, during November. Let your mind, wander, investigage and imagine and come up with an idea for a picture book.

It will get your juices flowing. There will be guest bloggers and give-a-ways. So, get busy, check it out and write.

Native American peace and harmony in Nature

2009-10-29T10:34:00.007-04:00

I enjoy research and thought I would share some of the Native American mythology sites I have found in writing the Moon Tree Brothers.

Native American Myths, legends & stories; African-American folklore; French-Canadian folktales;Spanish-American folklore; and...

This is a great site which lists Native American Myths and Legends, as well as African, Cajun, French-Canadian, Dutch, Scandinavian and Spanish-American.

The thing I really like about it is the ease of use. Since I am still on dial-up, I avoid sites where I have to click on each item for even a hint of what it is about. This site lists the title and a sentence that gives you a good idea of what you will find in each story. How else would you know that "Coyote and Wishpoosh" was a story about How the Northwest coastal tribes were formed?

Native American Lore Index is an up and coming site for Native American Indian Lore and has a large listing of stories from many different tribe.

Myths and Legends for American Indian Youth has titles and short descriptions. You can find "Why Fart Man is more Powerful than Caribou Master," which sounds like the next possible super hero movie. My only problem here is that the red print on purple letters is very tough on the eyes.

I would like to finish with the Indian Legends site. Given that Moon Tree Brothers has its basis in the Native culture's message of "peace and harmony with nature," I love this site and would like to leave you with a quote from their index page.

"While Native American culture has struggled to survive through centuries of displacement and assimilation, the stories and legends passed on from generation to generation refuse to die; this is perhaps due to their common, timeless message of peace and harmony with nature, which is now more relevant with each passing year."

Well said, "Indian Legends." Well said!

The Moon Trees are a microcosm of cultures

2009-10-26T21:00:00.010-04:00

Her name was Ellen Pamela Nichols Parker (d/b: 11/23/1852 in Oklahoma) and she was my Great, Great Grandmother. Family rumor had it that she was related to Quanah Parker, the great Chief of the Comanches. Quanah Parker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Somewhere there is a wonderful black and white photo of her in a canoe. She had stereotypical high cheekbones and darker skin, that show where the rumor came from. That, and the fact that, when her son, my Great Grandfather, was off on a tantrum, my Grandmother used to say to him, "That's your Indian blood." From the other stories I have heard of my Great Grandfather, meanness came naturally to him. He did not need any help from stereotypes.

I traveled to Oklahoma to solve the mystery a long time ago. I was not successful in resolving it, but thought it was nice that mom can still have this romantic notion of a connection to the early inhabitants of this country.

She loves reading books about Native culture and watching every movie with Native American culture, she can find. She especially loves movies like A Man Called Horse and Dances with Wolves, but her heart is with the Native American woman. I envision her imagination sometimes lives in a buckskin dress and gathers berries. There is a very good listing of Native American movies here: Native American Movie Listing

I love to paint faces and find that all faces are beautiful and have so many stories to tell. I have been a professional portrait artist for twenty years and have exhibited at Pow Wow’s and painted many Native American faces. The sign on my booth read, “I paint with respect. Please let me know if you do not want me photographing you. I send copies of photos I have taken if you would like to leave your name and an address.”

I was only asked one time not to take a photograph. I have been honored with a white heart bead necklace by a Native Chief out west and I have been asked to keep watch over a treasured Eagle feather headdress. I have been able to do paintings of many beautiful Native faces and even painted the grandfather, father, son and daughter in one family.

Growing up with a love of all things Native and spending nights, in my van, falling asleep to the drums (believe me, it is the best sleep ever), gave me a great resource for the fantasy novel I am working on.

Native American culture is full of a wonderful Mythology, much of which is a bit adult in nature to use in a Middle Grade novel. I began throwing in other cultural references that enrich the world I have created. My personal opinion, that we are all one on this earth, is reflected in that I have a major character who is Celtic, a teacher from Bengali, an African beneficent faerie, and an Apache Mountain Spirit. Student's genealogy is also diverse: Japan, Africa, Native America, an Arabic young man and Caucasian.

My protagonist is an abused boy who, with his brothers, seeks shelter in a world that believes in taking care of the earth and all its inhabitants. I have enjoyed the research I have done for this book and it falls right in with "write about what you know."

The most important paragraph you will ever write!

2009-10-17T12:09:00.005-04:00

The most important paragraph you will ever write is probably the second paragraph of your query. This paragraph is your teaser, the paragraph that will take the agent/editor’s feet off his desk as he sits up with delight in his eyes and a deep desire to read the rest of your manuscript.

The following two paragraphs were in my entry for: Mandy Hubbard - Query Day is Here!

Alex is the youngest of a neglected trio of brothers with the will to survive. When the brothers flee their home, they journey to a land ruled by the Thunderer of the Iroquois nation and guarded by a fierce black dragon man. As they strike out on a quest for security and friendship, they find that learning can be full of magic, compassion does exist, friends come in all sizes, and some battles are worth fighting. (You will notice this is very near what I have on this blog side bar. I would not have left that up, had it been successful in the query. You do not want editor's/agents reading the same thing twice.)

Moon Tree Brothers is an fantasy novel told through the eyes of the youngest brother, Alex, age eleven. Alex’s battle, in this the first in the series, is to make life safe for the sisters they left behind, complete the education he has not been given at home, and stay out of trouble when he is used to being alone and out in the night.

Mandy Hubbard's critique:
So, I’m having a hard time with this one. You’re telling us a lot. But you’re not showing us much. All I know about Alex is he’s a neglected 11 year old. I think you spend too much of your query trying to summarize the themes of your novel instead of setting it up and trying to hook us. Don’t tell us what they’ll learn: show us what their challenge is in the beginning of the book.

Try something closer to:

“Alex LASTNAME is eleven years old when he leaves the only home he’s ever known in favor of a long journey to FOREIGNPLACE. But he, along with his two brothers, are determined to succeed in order to find a safe haven for their sisters.

"But the journey is complicated by X factor and Y event, and Alex begins to wonder if he’s made a mistake. Can he really make it all the way to FOREIGN PLACE?

"Hmm, see, I can’t even write the query for you because I truly have no idea what your story is about. You’ve got a 5 paragraph query and of it, only about three sentences pertain to the events of the book, and a few more are listing out the lessons we’re going to learn along the way. (NEVER preach the lesson’s we’ll learn, let us discover them ourselves!)."

I am now working on another version of my query. I want to make sure any editor/agent I submit to cannot wait to get my manuscript. And, do not forget that you want to tailor your query to each agent/editor individually.

I believe the lesson here is: write your query as well as you write your manuscript. How many years did you work on your book?

STUPID QUERY ERRORS 101

2009-10-15T10:04:00.006-04:00

I knew there were things wrong with the query I was working on. And, thanks to Mandy Hubbard - Query Day is Here!. My query is the sixth or seventh down in the list and, while query day is over, you can learn a ton by reading these queries and what she has to say.

We are told by "they." You know that great "they say, that..."? I subscribe to their blogs and web advice and then can get really confused at times. So, the first "they say," is that you should have the first paragraph personalized to the agent/editor you are sending it too.

One of my favorite agents states he wants to see everything. He is a nice person too, in helping people, even a total newbie to the world of blogs when I just could not get my comment posted for a test he was having. Okay, it's Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: The 3rd Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge.

I had read to personalize the query but then not to try to be funny. Do I listen? No! And, yet I knew in my gut that I was trying too hard. You judge:

Dear (agent’s name)(personalized to agent)
I am writing to you because you seem to have boundless energy and enthusiasm. Why else would you put yourself through judging so many on-line contests? Okay, perhaps you are a bit masochistic too. You always say that, even if the book is not perfect for your list, “Send it to me first.” I try to follow orders.

There are TWO MAJOR ERRORS here.

Just being way too personal and maybe even offensive by saying he is masochistic. (There is a reason I do not work as a comic.)
Even though he does say, "Send it to me first." My Middle Grade Fantasy is NOT on his list. Now, that doesn't mean he would not accept it, but should I really tell the agent I would like to have represent me that my work does not fit???

Okay, dumb moments of an author, post one, is done for the day. Next post, the most important paragraph you will ever write, and getting it right!

What happened to the Antagonist

2009-10-10T12:08:00.005-04:00

Golden books were popular when my girls were little. You could pick them up at the grocery story even. In a brilliant marketing move, grocery store owners put these little revolving book-stands in the mid-section of the store. You hit them just about the time your child was thoroughly bored with shopping, tired of shaking the cereal box and had not reached the produce section yet.

Being a book person, my two daughters had quite a collection of little Golden books. However, the ones I remember are the ones my mother picked up for them.

Mom is a ‘white bread’ person. She wants her onions and potatoes diced to within an inch of their life, no lumps in either the gravy or mashed potatoes and white bread with a light crust. Yes, please do not laugh if you see me, at the grocery store, pulling out loaves of white bread to check for the lightest crust delivered that day. That means I am shopping with mom.
Me, I like my food spicy, chunky and alive. Mom likes everything in the world to be ‘pretty.’ That includes stories also.

So, every Golden book my mother bought for my girls were well edited. If there was a character named Melissa, that name was blacked out with marker, and the appropriate girl’s name was written in. The big bad wolf became the misunderstood canine and never a tooth was bared. Little Red Riding Hood never got lost in the woods but was merely out picking flowers. My oldest daughter still has some of those Golden books and they looked like the CIA got hold of a state secret document.

Mom still fights the fact that life is not always ‘pretty.’ I just think that ‘pretty’ can be awfully boring and a book is never good without a really nasty Antagonist.

A blog beginning with "I"

2009-10-08T18:56:00.002-04:00

I have not been reading much lately but am enjoying the edit I am doing. It is simply, checking tense and cutting deadwood. It is relaxing and I can focus. I do it in between working on my web page. (YES, I am still working on that, eternally.)

I was in the library recently and happened by a poster of the Newbery winners. When the boys were little, I used to check out Caldecott winners, etc all the time. We spent a great deal of time reading together. And, here, on the poster were two books by Lois Lowry on the top row. How could I resist?

I do not know how I have missed Lois Lowry before. I checked-out Number the Stars from the library. I read it through and I am awed by the story, characters, and beauty of the book, and I realized how much I have missed lately, with my head buried in my own book. One part of the beauty of this books is that it is based on one of the true stories of people saving lives during the Holocaust.

I have a weak spot for anything to do with the holocaust. The horrors of the Nuremberg trial were one of the first things I remember watching on television. My boys are used to me talking about those years, when they come home with history assignments, with tears streaming down my face. It is the unspeakable.

I think next time an adult says to me, “Oh, I don’t have time to read.” I will tell them to go to the middle grade section and find a little treasure there.

Networking, Stupid questions and Line Edits

2009-10-05T20:48:00.006-04:00

In the beginning, I really did not see the benefit from so many social sites on the net; especially for a 'loner' writer. But, it is all coming clear.

At first it takes a long time to set up and get familiar with the various sites: Twitter, FaceBook, etc, but soon it is all clear and before you know it, you get the point. And, I am probably just talking to the older population here. If you are under ? what 40? you already know this stuff.

I was able to figure out and join my first Twitter Chat: (see it at Read Write Believe: Transcript of the Twitter Chat Between Me and My Editor, Cheryl Klein) the other day. It was between editor Cheryl Klein and Sara Lewis Holmes, the author of Operation Yes, Amazon.com: Operation Yes (9780545107952): Sara Lewis Holmes: Books an awesome sounding Middle Grade Novel. I can't wait to read it.

So, the benefits of things like Twitter are that you get to ask your favorite editor a really stupid question. However, since I have always told my students, "There are no stupid questions. Asking is how you learn." I just plunged in and asked: "What is a line edit?"

Ms Klein's answer: @sadairvanvleck Yes, line-by-line review saying "I don't understand this," "right word?" "cut this, redundant," "Love this," etc. #YESchat

So, now I know, and you do too.

It takes less time and you can learn a ton by just charging in and doing it. Loner or no loner.

Time Management

2009-10-01T09:38:00.004-04:00

What do you do when life and all the obligations of writing intrude?

Yes, I would definitely rather be creating a new world or editing the new world I have created than, say: paying bills, doing dishes, shopping, driving, just about anything, but the world has demands too.

Right now, we have one decent car and one old rattle-trap. Husband is driving people around. EMT, the middle boy, is the only one of the three with a driver's license. The oldest boy, Gaffer, has never had any interest in driving. I think he is a city boy, but he is learning now because he is back home and his job is around thirty miles away. JRock, the youngest, does not have a permit yet and has gigs to go to and music lessons. His girlfriend has a license so she takes care of the dates.

My jobs, are at home, dishes, bills, etc. You never dawdle over bills and dirty dishes, but I do spend extra time on the internet and that was a bit of the discussion on Read Write Believe: Transcript of the Twitter Chat Between Me and My Editor, Cheryl Klein.

Right now, I am stuck revamping my website. It is currently, if you have never read my considerable complaining about the web site, an artists website, with broken links to sell my artwork. Some of which is already sold and not marked. I am turning it into a web site for promotion of my book.

Big dreams started with doing something with tons of graphics and games for kids. Which I am now realizing is so far above my abilities, or my software, that this, my sixth or more version, is now a quiet, informative version. Not to play games on, just to educate about the world I have lived in for some time ow. The designing is going much faster now and an end is in sight.

That end may be another week away and a library visit to upload it all, but it is in sight. So, my time management is to just spend one hour in the morning on email, Twitter, Facebook and one of my blogs, then get off line. I already am in the habit of getting up, feeding the dog and doing the dishes. Today I need to pay bills for the month and make a grocery list. But, I promise, right after that, I am back to the website.

I am on page eight, twenty-three page to go. Hoping I can do the guestbook. I have code and am saving it for the end. One good thing, now that I have my design with links set in stone, I can just use that as a springboard for all the other pages.

My webpage week

2009-09-21T22:26:00.003-04:00

This is the umpteenth version of this webpage and I like the look but, what torture putting it together.

I spent Monday starting the page, all the search words, title, etc, the background and the banner up and centered. Then, moved onto the line of links that will be next.

I wanted to draw them myself and not use anything borrowed from a free site on the web. Geez, I painted portraits for a living for fifteen years, I should be able to do a colorful enough drawing to pass. Ya think????

I started a new sketchbook for this book and have pages of sketches I have started and discarded. That is nothing new. I have a reasonable set of sketches for the links, used Jasc Paint Shop to eliminate the background and put them up and guess what, the background showed. Did it again two more times and finally gave up and just blacked out the background.

I tried a little CSS again, went back to HTML. I tried using a template from HTML Editor, Flash & Web Design Software CoffeeCup Software, which I own, and have gone to using a table with two rows. I know there has to be a better way. I have always put the link list down the left hand side. My last version of Coffee Cup had a whole bunch of templates too, but I had to reformat and lost it all and, while I have upgraded, I have yet to find the long list of templates.

So, now I have a background, a banner, and a row of hand drawn icons to dress up the link buttons. As in all things with this webpage, it is all trial and error. Right now the buttons do not link. So, that is next.

In the meantime, I have entered the first 1,000 words of my novel in Miss Snark's First Victim critique. I could not find the complete rules, so here is hoping I did it right.

Down to webpage basics

2009-09-20T10:41:00.006-04:00

While, I have designed webpages for years (mostly for my artwork), I wanted to make the new webpage do several things: be entertaining to children, be a place agents and editors can go to for information, throw in some of my art and comply with accessibility guidelines.

Hopefully, I am doing the accessibility guidelines properly. That was the easiest part to do. I did it first and now will redo some pages as I have totally revamped my idea. I am back to basics.

I am not a programmer. I know a smattering of html and can use HTML Editor, Flash & Web Design Software CoffeeCup Software. I am not going to try to learn CSS, but utilize CoffeeCup to the best of my ability. I have given up dreams of curling pages, swinging beads and items that move when you click them. That is programming a specialist can do when the book is a success (power of positive thinking!!!!).

Right now, I want a presence on the web that showcases my books in a simple direct manner. I have found a sample design I like, with nothing jumping, swinging or moving. It is all about information. And, isn't that what people come to the internet for?

I am still doing my own graphics, for the most part, but the only way to actually get this done is to simplify. So, I have diagrammed the pages I want, I have a layout for the pages and I am off to put it together, on this rainy Sunday. Wish me luck!

My webpage redesign. Send help!

2009-09-17T14:47:00.003-04:00

I have started getting some interesting feedback and so must set aside the synopsis (The teacher in me keeps typing syllibus. ) and get to work on my Web presence.

Redesigning the webpage is something I have struggled with for several years now; a century in internet age. I am torn. I love the images I see that come out of Avalon Arts Studio of Graphic Arts and Web Design. They put texture on the internet. I love it.

However, I am going for fun right now (note to self, stop obssessing). I come from a line of Obsessive Compulsives and fight any hint that I am following in those footsteps.

In analyzing what is best for web design, I came across this great site. Actually, they found me from my Twitter. Thank you guys at The Pro Designer (theprodesigner) on Twitter. I have done webdesign for years, but you never stop learning, so I am off to redesign my webpage to make it bright and fun, easy to navigate and non-irritating. I come from dial-up and I do know irritating.

If you do not see me in seven days, send help!!!

My Logline is finished! Hooray!

2009-09-15T12:16:00.003-04:00

After a week and a half solid spent rewording my logline, not counting all the odds and ends of hours I spent in the past, I finally had a logline. Sent this one to my Master's daughter and five minutes later she sent me back a logline I like a lot better.

Diplomatically, she suggested I was too close to it and that I am working too hard to follow all the rules I read on the net. I think she is right about the second one. I want to have everything just right and ready when I send it out and am spinning in circles from it.

As far as being too close, that might be correct also, but I think I am just not looking at it from the right angle.

So, here is my new logline, my original edition, with major revisions from daughter and with revisions from myself:

A neglected trio of brothers with the will to survive, journey to a land ruled by the Thunderer of the Iroquois nation and guarded by a fierce black dragon man. As they strike out on a quest for security and friendship, they find that learning can be full of magic, compassion does exist, friends come in all sizes, and some battles are worth fighting.

So, now you all know what my Advanced Middle Grade Fantasy Novel is all about, and I may move onto the various synopsis, bios, marketing plan, query letter, writing experience and education; oh, and I am doing the WebSite NOW. You just have to bite the bullet and do it.

Final Step before sending out Synopsis - #5

2009-09-15T06:00:00.003-04:00

READ THE SYNOPSIS OUT LOUD, FROM A HARD COPY PRIOR TO SENDING IT OUT!

I could leave it at that but I do not wish to be hung.

Another option is you can check its plausibility by having someone, who has not read your manuscript, read the synopsis, then tell the story back to you. Even better, have them tell it to a third party who then tells it to you and a fourth party.

What you are checking is things like:
Have you mentioned too many names for people to keep straight?
Is it clear where the climax is and what is at stake for the protagonist?

QUESTIONS TO CHECK BY YOUR READING IT ALOUD:

Is my synopsis in the present tense and the third person, regardless of the tense and voice of the book itself?
Does the opening on my synopsis read too much like the book? Don’t forget, the same person is reading the first thirty pages of your book in the same sitting.
Does my synopsis read too much like a list of events? It should be like a story. Hey, it is a story! It should build suspense and give you quiet moments to recover inbetween.
If the reader had no information about my book other than the synopsis, would the story or argument make sense? Here is where those reading friends come in handy.
Does the synopsis make the book sound compelling? You definitely want that editor/agent eager to read your manuscript.
Does my synopsis present actual scenes from the book in glowing detail, or does it merely summarize the plot?
Is it clear who the protagonist is?
Is it clear what is at stake for the protagonist?
Is it clear what my protagonist wants and what is at stake for him/her.
Is it clear what obstacles stand in my protagonist way?
Does my protagonist come across as interesting, unusual person-involved in an interesting, unusual situation?
Have I mentioned too many characters in the synopsis? Are they each memorable?
Is it clear where the climax is and what is at stake for the protagonist? Or does it merely list all of the events in the book in the order they appear?
Does my synopsis make the book sound just like other books currently on the market, or does it come across as original?

Plausibility issues:

Does my synopsis make the story I’m telling seem plausible?
Is there an indelible image that the reader can take away? You definitely want it memorable (in a good way).
Is the synopsis absolutely free of errors of any kind?
Does my synopsis support the image of the book I want the agent or editor to see?
Do I need to modify it slightly in order to match the interests of the agent/editor, while retaining the truthfulness of my book?

Okay, I'm a dork!!

2009-09-14T15:16:00.003-04:00

Today, the mailman confirmed I am a dork!

I have often envied bloggers who chose neat names for their blogs: Crazy Aunt Purl, The flap copy challenge, Jacket Whys, Judge a Book by Its Cover « Adventures in Reading, Mishaps and Adventures. You get it! They are neat and descriptive of who you are.

I started my blogs, Savanvleck’s Weblog, and the one you are reading, because I read that writer's need blogs. I am not certain whether I have fulfilled the needed purpose or not. I do digress easily and recently I have gotten so caught up in the excitement of finishing the book and working on all the stuff I need to have ready for submission that I have sadly neglected my blogs, and Facebook, and Twitter and really MySpace. Are there ever enough hours in the day?

But, today I am one step closer. I am not certain why I feel this way. I paid for this and there is no test involved; but I am so excited. I have my scbwi membership. I belong to the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators.

I have no idea why it makes me feel so excited but, there, you have it. I'm a dork!

Fantasy land and a chart to fill out - Synopsis Part #4

2009-09-13T06:00:00.006-04:00

I am writing an Advanced Middle Grade Fantasy and due to the fact that it is written in a non-standard world, we Fantasy writers are allowed a bit of leeway, in the synopsis, to:

o Show your world building and plot
o Description must keep interest level up
o Needs to be germane to the plot
o Involving protagonist in description keeps it interesting

That said! I am finding it helpful to fill out the answers to these points to help clarify what to include in the synopsis, as a whole.

What is the prime conflict for your protagonist? Show prime motivation and resolution of all conflicts
What are the Plot points? – summarize between them to connect. Show the primary conflicts and what is at stake for your protagonist.
Where are the red herrings?
What is main character’s good moments?
What is the main character's big crisis?
What is the story's climax? Must show ending
What's the hook?
What's the tone of the story?
Show Conflict: Identify the motivations of, and conflicts between, the main characters.
Show Plot: Move the story forward along its main thrust, showing the protagonist as active while also noting other driving forces
Show Resolution: show the resolution of all conflicts and sub-plots--no loose ends, no cliff-hangers
Tell Ending: Tell the resolution. Never leave the editor guessing.
Bring back to full circle, as your book should, echoing an element from the beginning in the ending.

Books are about Characters so it is extremely important to tell them WHY your characters do what they do and how they react.

CHARACTERIZATION: For each action/reaction of hero make sure you tell WHY

Who are the main characters? Briefly identify each and answer the questions for each.
What he wants
What is in his way
What is at stake if he does not attain his goal?
What are the main characters' blackest moments?
What are their motivations?

Next and final post on Synopsis (maybe): A final check before sending out your synopsis

Synopsis should retell your story - part #3

2009-09-11T06:46:00.002-04:00

I have already mentioned and want to remind you that you are sending out a packet to submit your manuscript for publication. This is highly serious stuff. You have very few words with which to capture their attention, so do not waste words by repeating them.

Presuming you are sending the first fifty pages of your manuscript with your synopsis, remember that they are, hopefully, going to be reading at least the first few sentences of each.
Do you really want those first few sentences, that will make or break your chances, to be identical? That cuts, by half, the well crafted words you have written that they read.

OPEN YOUR SYNOPSIS WITH:

o Set up context of story
o Who is main character
o How old is main character, in the case of writing for youth,
o The setting
o The Events or circumstances that open your story
o Include actual scenes in glowing detail, not just a summary
o Connect the dots with your own summarizing

YOUR WRITING:
o Include indelible image in first couple of paragraphs to WOW them
o Use vivid, sensual images
o Portray, actual scenes in glowing detail, not just summary
o Surprising juxtaposition of words
o Fresh emotional element
o Make it compelling
o You may gloss over the premise, since the editor/agent will be reading those first fifty pages (which includes premise and introduces protagonist), but be very sure to make it very clear how it all fits into the overall arc of the book

YOUR GOAL:
o to convince agent or editor that the rest of your manuscript is every bit as interesting and action-packed as first fifty pages
o To summarize the entire book and show conclusion
o To make work come alive and show it is unique and interesting

SHOW:
o you have vision and tenacity to take compelling characters through first chapter to satisfying conclusion
o Point of view ie first-person/third-person omniscient/etc
o Build suspense, relieve it

THIS IS A retelling of your story, in your voice, showing conflicts and challenges of your characters.

Next post: A list of questions to answer to get your synopsis started in the right direction.

Tweet may be amazing BUT ---

2009-09-10T21:31:00.002-04:00

As my Master's Daughter pointed out, that last logline is just too generic to really let you see who my character is. Back to the keyboard.

Tweet your Logline

2009-09-10T10:49:00.002-04:00

Having trouble with your logline?

Tweet it. It is amazing, when you search for things you can delete, just how many of those precious words you can lose.

I am down to:

An uneducated teen’s quest for safety leads him to the Moon Trees, where he battles to save his new home from the evil that is pursuing him

The Mechanics of your Synopsis - part 2

2009-09-09T06:00:00.002-04:00

Hey, you are a writer. You should know that everything needs to be formatted properly and that you need to be professional. BE PROFESSIONAL! Avoid the gimmicks, folks! No, pink flowery paper or eye popping graphics, or humongous boxes.

Editors and Agents read thousands of words every day. They are looking for the next “great” whatever manuscript. They are professionals. It is not the time to be entertaining.

I am amazed at some of the things the editors/agents have written they receive. I mean, would you show up for a job interview in a clown suit, well, I guess if you were applying to Ringling Brothers, but you get my point. Proper attire for your manuscript is a necessity. And, that includes your synopsis. It needs to be formatted properly and here are my notes on formatting: (again from many sources)

AND, always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check the submission requirements of the agent/editor where are submitting, and fulfill those requirements.

Double spaced, standard margins, submit s 2 to 3 page synopsis unless otherwise requested.
Header with TITLE/YOUR LAST NAME/(word)SYNOPSIS and to right Page numbering. I have read varying on this, but only in that your last name should go first and then the title. Otherwise they all agree on the header.
Write in present tense (walks/rides/is), use active voice and few adverbs or adjectives
The synopsis should reflect the tone and voice of your manuscript. Mine is serious with a little humor so I am working on doing the synopsis in the same way. Can you imagine Terry Pratchett’s synopsis???
Do not include dialogue and avoid the words: AND, THEN
And, MOST IMPORTANT = DO NOT use the opening of the book as the opening of the synopsis. They will be reading the first 50 pages of the manuscript, hopefully, with the synopsis, so you do not want any repetition in the packet you send. You want to give them as large a sample, as you can, of your writing.
IN ADDITION: Write as though you are genuinely excited about this book and eager to market it. I am presuming here, that you are.
Include Action Scenes and Development Scenes that are important to the plot.
Include illuminating setting information, characterization, and theme and leaving out almost everything that does not serve this end. If it is not plot, really THINK why you are including it.
Everything must be shown. You should NOT say someone “found a surprise” or “has psychic power.” You must show this and tell what the surprise is, etc.
And, again, OCCASIONALLY, you will alter the synopsis to suit the agent’s interests you are submitting to.

Next post: Point by point details to include in your Synopsis.

The dreaded SYNOPSIS!!! OH NO!!!

2009-09-07T21:20:00.011-04:00

This is from a compilation of sites I have found and use regularly for help. They include some of my favorite sites, and I am including a link to a few of them but this is by no way an inclusive list of where I have gotten help.

Brooklyn Arden:
Editorial Anonymous:
Author! Author!

And, just about every other list on my links list.

I put the following together from my list of things to do right when compiling the dreaded synopsis.

First, I know that you need several variations.
There is the logline (1 or 2 lines, as you would read in TV Guide)
A paragraph to include in your query letter, which may be altered depending on the agent you send it to.
Then there is the standard one to two page Synopsis that will probably be requested.
And, the perhaps four to eight page synopsis that you may be requested to provide.

I started on the long synopsis, thinking it would be easy to go to the short one, but I am now thinking that it may be easier to work from the logline up. I am not sure yet.

MY CHECK LIST FOR SYNOPSIS: (from a lot of sources)

THIS IS FROM FAQ (the members of the Del Rey Digital Writing Workshop's first synopsis focus group (August-September '01).
Start: With a one/two-sentence summary encapsulating "what the story is about"
Then: establish the setting and identify the main characters.
Conflict: Identify the motivations of, and conflicts between, the main characters.
Plot: Move the story forward along its main thrust, showing the protagonist as active while also noting other driving forces
Resolution: show the resolution of all conflicts and sub-plots--no loose ends, no cliff-hangers
Ending: give it away. Never leave the editor guessing.

That is as concise as I have seen and what do you leave out?

Start by leaving out almost everything not mentioned above, except you must not forget that the point of the synopsis is to entice an editor/agent into requesting your full manuscript. Your synopsis should be able to stand alone. Look at it as if you were writing a short story or telling a child a five to ten minute bedtime story.

Avoid including any character unless they are absolutely essential to the plot. Too many names can be confusing and you want everything clear. You want them to see where you are going with this clever plot you have created.

You also want your world to come alive, so you need to drop bits about that, especially if it is fantasy.

While you want the synopsis to WOW them, REMEMBER, they are reading for content and not really savoring your style. So, write for clarity so that they can see where your plot is going.

Next post, proper synopsis formatting and excitement!

Everyone has their own method of working

2009-09-05T11:04:00.011-04:00

I would never get a book done if I hand wrote it, but everyone works in different ways. Everything about my book is on the computer: research, notes, manuscript, everything. My brain is jumping around so much that my 100+wpm typing can barely keep up. I love Word and the fact that it has a neat comments feature that allows me to share what I have written with my oldest daughter, who adds extremely invaluable comments.

All Middle Grade/Young Adult writers should have a teacher mentor. My daughter teaches math and science to sixth grade advanced students. She is also a writer and loves to read. Sorry, she is all mine. I cannot share my mentor.

The second thing you should have is a folder for Writing It and for Writing After. That is what I have labeled my two invaluable files of information. The first, Writing it, is articles and information to help me with plotting and all aspects of writing. The second, Writing After, is for all the things I need to do right, to successfully submit. my manuscript.

I do not wait until I am ready to write the synopsis or a query letter and then go searching for ‘how best to’ articles. I read and save information, I feel will be helpful for me in the future, when I need a break and am trolling writer’s sites, etc on the Internet.

And, the future is now!!! I have finished my outlines and am onto my synopsis.

I have kept a chart of what I felt were the things I needed to track for each chapter as I did my final twenty-something edits. In going through the “how to outline” folder though, I have found out that I saved a lot of stuff I did not need. So, first, I redid my chart.

I used a two column chart in MS Word. Above it, I have the chapter #, chapter title and the pages it covers. I.e. Chapter 3 – The Tunnel – pp. 17 to 25. Each chapter has its own chart so that I can print them out without breaks in a chart.

The first line of the chart gives the date it takes place and the conditions, or information about place. Since my fantasy has a lot of nature and outdoor locations, I put weather conditions in here, phases of the moon, etc.

Line two is titled Action, and it contains what happens in that chapter

Line three is Protagonist Development and details what is he anxious/fearful, etc about.

Line four is the characters that are in, or mentioned in, that chapter.

Line five is for key lines.

Line six is specifically for Foreshadowing. Since I am working on book one of a series, some foreshadowing is for future books and will say “Book 4” at end to remind me what book they will foreshadow. Some foreshadowing is for this book and I go back and run a line through it when I have completed the items foreshadowed.

The reason I settled on this is that it covers the items agents/editors want to see in a synopsis: Character, Motivation, Key Scenes, Character's blackest moments, resolution.

Next, I went from this chart outline to a chapter outline, where those notes are now in word form. i.e. “The brothers escape into a tunnel with Fergus MacDonald etc…” It is a dry outline and not for submitting to anyone. It is purely a “this is what happened.” From that dry outline, with its seven lines or less per chapter, I have created a two page short outline.

This outline is also not for submitting but is for following the Plot and Subplots to their conclusion. I have worded it a bit closer to what I would show an agent or editor but it still needs a lot of work to become a synopsis, but that is where I am heading right now. See you in a day or two.

And, if you are having trouble, keep trying until you find your own way.

And, that's not all

2009-08-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

I have folders for all kinds of hints and things to do in documents in Word. Since I am now going through outlining, synopsis, query, etc, it is time to go through all those notes and see what the experts tell me to do, to succeed.

After drawing up my list of items needed before I sent my manuscript off, I used that outline, including the numbering and I created files with the most important notes in them and the beginnings of what I had done as an outline, or synopsis, etc.

This was necessary as I found out I had about five starts on a synopsis and three outlines, etc. So, now I have a file entitled DOCUMENTS FOR SUBMITTING and within it I have folders titled: "2 a Outline - book long" "2 b Outline - book short" "2 c Outline - Moon Tree Series" and then: "3 a Synopsis Long 8 pg" "3 b Synopsis Long 5 to 3 pg."

I am working my way down this TO DO YET list from the top down, and yet, I have some started in almost every file. These starts will likely not be retained, but I'm off to work, yet again on my 2 a Book outline Long. Hopefully, the short one will be a bit more swift.

Constant Confusion - now Organization

2009-08-27T17:47:00.007-04:00

I live with confusion. My manuscript is written and edited and edited and edited. I figure about a hundred and five times at the beginning and at least fifteen edits towards the end. I have had two other people read it and I read it aloud. THAT (reading it aloud) was an invaluable edit. Never skip that. I have two more people who are in the process of reading it and while they are doing that, I started preparing my accompanying documents.

I started off with the log line. It is the TV Guide version of your story and it needs to be gripping and sexy and tantalyzing. I spent days on this and endless versions. That was when I decided I was going about this, yet again, wrong.

So, I went back through all my notes and made a list of exactly what documents I need to have to submit. Now, some of these are not needed to submit but, when that agent calls up and says, "Hey, love your manuscript. I need a one page bio by tomorrow." or "I need an eight page synopsis and your marketing plan." You better be ready.

Realizing that I need several various versions of several things, I decided it was easier for me to start with the longest version of synopsis, bio, outline, whatever, and get that exciting and vivid and then use it to edit a shorter version. I think that will work best for me rather than starting with a short version and going back to a longer version.

I have a list, note, I have hints on each line, but that's not all:

TO DO YET:
1. Know where your book would sit on the shelf & Read each of these from PAPER OUT LOUD
Outline
a. Moon Tree Brothers Book Long
b. Moon Tree Brothers Book Short
c. Moon Tree Series
Synopsis: See 12 things a synopsis should do
a. Long – 8 pages – for Manuscript Submission
b. Long – 3 to 5 pages – for Manuscript Submission
c. Short – 2 pages – for Manuscript
d. Short – 1 page – for Manuscript
e. Query Synopsis
f. Flap Synopsis
g. Log Line
Query letter that honestly represents your book
Bio: Third person, not first – Times New Roman - 12 point – 1” margins with heading above centered (Sheryl Adair VanVleck and next line centered Author bio) You are interesting
a. Web page longer for Web
b. Web page 2/3 to 1 page – double spaced page for the Web Page and book/agents without photo
c. 1/3 to ½ single spaced if author’s photo included - page for Book and Agents (200-250 words)
d. 50 word for Amazon and Blogs
e. Short bio blurb for book jacket
f. My Education
g. My Writing Credits
Marketing Points
Build Web Site - Conform all: Web page/blogs/myspace/facebook/twitter
Send: As much of manuscript as requested, ONLY IF RQUESTED

Now, some of these things, like flap copy, I am not responsible for, but I think it is a good exercise for me and also, I may use it on my web site. Yes, I know exactly how long I have been working on that website. I decided the wording I was struggling with for the web site were the same things I need for these documents, so why not just do these first and take the wording from there.

Told you I am a slow learner! Toon in again, for what I did next. "and that's not all."

You really MUST read it aloud

2009-08-21T11:52:00.002-04:00

As many times as I thought I had just one more edit, I do believe, this last edit was the last edit. It was the "read it aloud" edit and I am here to tell you that it is the one edit you must not skip. Nothing compares to you reading it outloud. You cannot do it while reading it to another person either. Do it alone. You will find all kinds of things, like places where the word "began" is better than the word "started", or where you should have a comma where a period should be or vice versa.

Husband was gone for three days picking up oldest son, Gaffer, from Duluth, Minnesota, where he was stranded after a three month futile job search. The second boy, EMT, was working each day and the youngest, JRock, was in school, so I took those three days to read my book. It was highly productive.

I had recently printed it out and had husband and EMT do their read throughs, marking comments. Now, it is Gaffer's and daughter's turn. I will take all the help I can get.

So, after having a month of power outages, a tornado and a large limb on my roof, and a computer melt-down, I am off to work on all those pesky things I need to submit. First up, is my log line and, while I have written about that before, I have found some new help, think I have a good one written and will write about that next post; providing I have power. It went on and off twice so far this morning.

Critiquing the manuscript

2009-07-31T15:28:00.005-04:00

The rain has stopped in Indiana, if only for a day and a half, and the sun has dried the ground enough that the phone lines are fairly good. Although, I have been kicked off twice in trying to post this and this morning, I had a party line. Thank you sooooo much AT&T, for this service.

I printed my complete manuscript and started passing it around. The first person who read it (son, age 20) marked corrections/concerns and returned it to me. I just corrected a few pages, reprinted those and passed it on to person #2 (husband, 47 going on 80).

No, I am not being mean, the poor man has had COPD for twenty years and is often seated with my mother, in restaurants, instead of with me. He is one of those people who you do not want to watch certain movies with as he will sit there and pick out something he feels is not logical and drive you nuts talking about it. Hence, he is good to have edit. Mostly, his contribution was to extend the final scene and it is now greatly improved and two chapters instead of one, and also reprinted.

Actually, my Master’s Daughter is the second editor, but is very busy and has not gotten all of it back to me. My very first editor was one of her sixth grade students. A wiz kid, with an attitude, who I found adorable. He’s ultra smart. I am trying to have as many people as possible read it and critique as you get a different ideas and comments from all ages and people.

I am now reading the book on the computer, to make a final list of all the foreshadowing for the future books in the series and also reading it off of paper to younger son, and am amazed that I can still find things like extra punctuation marks, etc. Does this never end? I am anxious for oldest son to get home at the end of August, with his fiancé, and have them read it. Hopefully, by then, I will have all the related documents ready to go, my website up and can get on with submitting.

#2 on the list of things to have ready for submission

2009-07-28T11:46:00.002-04:00

This is like fingernails on a chalkboard and I really have no idea why. It is a synopsis and, as near as I can tell, you need to be ready with two of them and an outline.

The first is one page, single spaced or double spaced.
The second is more in depth, two to three pages
and the outline can be a paragraph for each chapter.

Anyone who knows different, please correct me, because this is what I am working on.

As in everything you submit, be it logline, synopsis or query, or ANYTHING, you need to make it alluring, intriguing and make the agent or editor sit up and say, "I WANT TO READ THIS."

So, do not think this is going to be a quick thing to write. Sure, you can do the old school thing of Sally went to the store and ran into Tom. Then, they did this and then she stabbed him because he suggested she should write a synopsis, but that will not cut the mustard here, folks.

Nope, we are talking serious revision and exciting verbs and I will post my most helpful finds for a Synopsis in the days to come. Right now, I need to go clear my head of debri, and keep working on my synopsis, synopses, synopsi.

Working on my log line

2009-07-26T11:16:00.006-04:00

As I said, I FINISHED MY BOOK.

Actually, I find it rather anti-climatic. I am very much enjoying this world and it was sad to leave it.

Now, I am onto the large list of things you need before you send it off to an agent or editor. #1 is your log line.

This is like a TV Guide blurb to get you to watch a movie/show; only it is a blurb to entice someone to purchase your book. Either, on the big scale, and then hopefully at the bookstore or on the Kindle or one of its equivalent.

I found a lot of sites to help but was still really not getting it until I found this site: Article of The Month by Alicia Rasley. She shows you how to write a sexy, enthralling log line.

And, what do you do with this log line, you ask?

It is your pitch, your premise, your marketing line. You use it to pitch to editors and agents at conferences. You memorize it for cocktail parties; when someone says, "What is your book about?" You can use it in the opening paragraph to query agents and editors. It is your new best friend and you keep it by your side.

I started on mine yesterday. Actually, I have worked on it for a log time, on and off, but since finding this article, I am seriously getting it down. Than you Alicia Rasley

About Time!

2009-07-22T19:19:00.003-04:00

Remember me? I'm the long lost blogger of this blog. I have a good excuse for my absence this time. I have finished my book. Let me say that again, as it has been a long time coming.

I have finished my book.

Well, the first in a series. I have zipped off the final edition, after a bazillion edits to my Master's Daughter and there is a hard copy floating around the house as the boys were anxious to read it.

So, now I must:

Finish my web site revision
write an outline of the series
write a short synopsis
write a long synopsis
write a short bio
write a long bio
write a blurb
write marketing points.

You know what? I think I better go through my files a make a definite list of everything I have to have ready to send it out. I will share that list with you in a day or two, as well as the new title and header that I will be using on my web site.

Whatever I have to do now, I'm anxious to get onto outlining book two. But, that's a ways down the road.

What I did on my summer vacation

2009-07-05T12:12:00.003-04:00

What have I done lately, to put off writing?

Gardening - always a demanding chore. Those pesky weeds will not stop growing. On June 11th, I was doing a no-no and bending over to pull up weeds instead of using my foam kneeling pad. I stood up and said, "Oh, that didn't feel too good." But, I continued weeding and then went in and on the computer for a good half hour. At which point, I needed to use the facilities (bathroom - water pills you know). Only, I found out I could not get up without intense pain. It was like the Rocky Horror Picture Show (to definitely date my age.) I "moved to the right," "moved to the left," one arm over leg, one leg over leg, the mixtures are endless.
I did finally get up, and went to the ER. Something about a swelling pressing on a nerve. I opted for Ibuprofen, rather than steroids, and Hydrocodone. Four days later, all I wanted to do was throw up, but my back hurt too much to move. I went to my G.P. Turns out that sixteen ibuprofen a day can do that to your stomach. I was sent home with steroids (could have done that to begin with) , a leg x-ray (he felt I was favoring one leg and hurting my back), and an appointment to see a stomach doctor and a bone doctor
Took mom to the ER on the 23rd. She has congestive heart failure and this is her third trip this year.
29th, had my stomach scoped and now am on the worse pills in the world. Fourteen days of H-Pylori medicine: four amoxicillin capsules, two clarithromycin tables and two prevacid a day. It's a great diet; if you don't mind being nauseous.
Then there was the fourth of July. I was to take mom to a parade, a festival, a picnic and the fireworks. South Central Indiana had its own plans - RAIN! The parade must have consisted of six guys on motorcycles, but we didn't see it. All the rest was rained out and we drove to Indy and she found three recliners she has been wanting to buy.

If anyone wants to know how my book is coming, that explains the slow final edit.

However, in my never-ending quest of what works and what doesn't, I have found that listening to it is great. I write in Word, so I am highlighting portions and listening to the "convert text to speech." I would much rather hear Jim Dale read my book but guess I will have to wait until it is published. In the meantime, it is amazing how much you can catch with a computer voice reading your work.

Trials and Tribulations

2009-06-28T14:55:00.004-04:00

And, just what does it tell you about my blogging, when I take a month off from posts and I gain a follower? Curiouser and curiouser! Forever, I have had one loyal follower, who has followed me through my "here is how to do your XYZ, on your website building or in your book, and then, Opps! I found a better way" postings.

I do thank you A LIFE IN THE DAY OF ME for being a loyal follower. Perhaps she is just too lazy to cut herself off from being a follower, or doesn't want to hurt my feelings, but thanks for whatever the reason is. And, thank you SHANI for joining our party.

I am still working on both the web site and the book.

I am downsizing the work involved in the website. It was taking too much time from my writing, when I am finding time at a premium. There will be nothing fancy, just get it up and done. I am tired of people telling me about all the broken links on my old one and I just want it all fixed.

I am up to chapter nine in the editing with Master's Daughter and her ideas have been invaluable so please do find a writing partner who can read your work and provide valuable insight. Master's Daughter is not for hire. She is actually working at Notre Dame this summer on some new fancy microscope. So, she is all mine, when I can get her.

The lack of posts. Could I just be lazy? I don't know but we have had a spate (gosh that's an old fashioned word) of illness. Mom was in the hospital again for her Congestive Heart Failure. I threw my back out, went to the ER, opted not for Steroids but to take Ibuprophen. Three days later my stomach was in such a mess I could not eat. So, now I have to have a stomach scope. More than you wanted to know, right?

Anyway, I lay here, propped with pillows, taking an occasional Hydrocodone for my back, and a something or other for my stomach and trying to focus on my book.

I do think it is time for an isolated writer's retreat. I'm off to do research on finding one. Hope you are all well. And WELCOME, new follower.

Colons and commas and Semi-Colons, OH MY!!!!

2009-05-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

It has been a long time since I was in school and found it essential to have good grammar and punctuation skills. Hence, I have pulled out my trusty copy of Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference. http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Reference-Diana-Hacker/dp/031202455X/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1243211518&sr=11-1

I have re-learned/re-freshed my skills with colons and semi-colons and commas; colons being those pesky things which I use way too often.

Okay, was that right? Is that second half of "equal grammatical rank?"

My real lesson with this book though, has been tense.

About a year ago, I entered one of agent, Nathan Bransford's contests. Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent. Occasionally, this masochistic man will offer to read a bazillion entries of the first "x" number of words of any novel you are working on. I was not one of the winners but I did take another reader's offer of critiquing them and the first thing he said, is that I had two tenses going on.

I thought I had gone in and corrected this, but I knew I had not been thorough enough, so after my character charts were over, I started from word one and began reading the book, sentence by sentence. My first page or so was in present tense, then I slipped (with no good reason, if there ever is one) to past tense.

For some reason, if I can keep my Writer's Reference, right beside my laptop, to keep glancing at, page 39, it becomes clear to my foggy brain.

Now, if I can just do something about run-on sentences, in my blog!!!

Yipee Ki Yi Aye! Character charts done!!

2009-05-24T20:13:00.006-04:00

Character Charts are all redone. Like everything, it was a bigger job than I thought. As I went through each character chart, it was much easier to visualize these characters, now that I have lived with them for a while.

Several of the characters had their parts, in the book, fleshed out in the book as well.

Today, I was able to spend some time with Master's Daughter in person. I had to bring my spanking new Character notebook, complete with colored index tabs to separate teachers from students, from others. Her response?

"Okay! Now I know where I got the 'must have it alphabetized, organized, and in a folder' phobia from."

In all fairness, to moa', I believe it originated with my mother and goes hand in hand with the office supply mania we all have.

Now, if I could just learn to spell in Cowboy, my title might make sense

On To: Text to Speech

2009-05-16T14:06:00.002-04:00

I have spent a couple of weeks polishing up my character charts. People change and grow and so had some of my characters. I have them all printed out and put in a binder and can now refer to them as I go through the book again. I will be looking for inconsistencies, this time around. However, I also made changes in the book as I was redoing my character charts.

When I found out something about my character, that I thought was important to change or add in the book, as I redid their chart, I did a Word find for their name and made corrections and/or additions in some of the spots where that character appears.

I use the find feature in Word, or find and replace, constantly. One way I use it is with asterisks. Since my book does not have asterisks in it, it is a character that I can use to mark a spot I want to go back to. And, since I now have my whole book in one Word document, it has been a real timesaver way to mark these spots and also where I left off last and wanted to return to.

Today, I started, what I hope will get me nearer to sending the book out. I am listening to the book, using my “Text to speech” feature. I highlight blocks of text and then listen to it without really looking at the text. My mind can concentrate on how it sounds and it also picks out mistakes.

One of the simple mistakes, that I had not caught in umpteen readings, was:

“In between his own yells hear he could hear Joseph yelling.”

I have to wonder how I could have read that and missed it, but our eyes/minds see what we expect to see, and I apparently knew the word "hear" should not be there. An Editor or Agent is not going to see what they expect. They do not have expectations on what is happening next (Well, we hope they do not, as you want to surprise them) so they will read it and read that extra “hear” and it will slow them down. Too many of these spots and you will lose them.

If you do not have text to speech on your computer, you can always set your book aside for a couple of weeks and then read it aloud. Having someone else read it aloud is good too.

Seven days and counting, to make my book alive

2009-05-09T10:36:00.004-04:00

Character charts are still in progress. This has grown to become a bigger job than I thought it would.

I have it down to three types of charts. I am trying to simplify my life as well as my work. I have completed two out of the three charts and am seeing a big improvement already.

With many of the redone character charts, I have gained a new perspective of my characters and found wonderful things to make the writing more alive.

So, when I am done with a character chart, when they are completely fleshed out and alive, I go back to the book. I am writing in Word and I use my Find to find each instance of that characters name to make sure their actions are consistant. This also allows for adding touches that are unique to their true character.

People do not reveal themselves right away. How often do you meet a person and think they are one type. Then, as the layers peel away and you find a whole other person. So, why should these characters, who you have created, show themselves to you on your first meeting?

Let them interact with each other and their new environment and then revisit them down the road to see who they actually are. It will make your book so much more alive.

Three days, and counting, on Character Charts

2009-05-03T10:34:00.002-04:00

I started off with a story idea and then I had about three versions of character charts to combine and fill out for my characters. And, you know what?

After writing for years on this book and being nearly done, these guys are not all who I thought they were. Frankly, I think there is some identity crisis' going on here. Some of these guys are not even the same race any more.

So, I have spent maybe four days, my head is buzzing and I do not even remember anymore, redoing character charts. I hope to finish up today (the best laid plans, she reminded herself).

I am not sure anyone would recommend my thoroughly backward way of writing a book, but it's me. I do not outline, I write. I decide who I want in there and I write. They tell me they are not who I thought they were and I write.

It's exciting, really!

Instincts and names

2009-04-28T12:39:00.008-04:00

I am currently revisiting the names of my characters. Some of these folks just have their own mind and do not want to be who I thought they were and, as their true colors come through, they need better names.

Daughter and I debated her feeling that she would rather discover who these people are than have a name hint at it. This debate was never resolved, with both of us seeing both sides to the issue, and me being of a mind that my eleven year old reader may well not even know what the name "means" the first time they read it anyway.

I have also tended to use names by the fact that I have never met a "Butch" who wasn't rather a bully. The first Butch I knew, beat my brother up every other day. He was around twelve at the time and my brother was under nine. So, think bully, I think Butch. This site Bad Baby Names put a new definition for "Butch" in the mix. One I had not thought of.

Then, there was AOL's article Does Your Name Spell Success? - Careers Articles. A real quick simplification of it is that if your name starts with an A or a B, you sit to the front of the class and your grades live up to your initials. Those whose names start with D and F however, tend to get those grades. There is a lot more to it, so you might want to read it, but it is something to think about. Also, read the numerous comments underneath that totally disprove their theory.

My last name put me at the end of the row of students and often at the back of the room; which was not real successful with my poor eyesight. I got eyeglasses and A's. So, I think our lesson here is to read the available information and take it all with a grain of salt. If it works for your character, it is right. If you change his/her name five times, try out the first name you thought of for the character. It may have been the right one all along. Trust your instincts.

Life goes on and so does editing

2009-04-26T17:44:00.008-04:00

As much as I would like to hibernate in a room and just write, life keeps on moving around me and requiring my attention. So, this week, I took the dog to the vet for some unexpected surgery and then was up all night with her, was at the ER till 1:00am with my EMT boy the next day (he keeps passing out), and the next day I took my mom to the ER for her Congestive Heart Failure. It's like a central Indiana ER tour, without sleep.

My body is still trying to recharge, so I spent the day surfing, the internet, not the waves. There are not a lot of waves in Indiana, and I found an interesting blog at BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency: How Long to Query.

BookEnds, and I hope they will forgive me for quoting, but BookEnds states: "Hands down one of the biggest mistakes I see authors making is spending all their time and energy revising, rewriting and reworking that first book. I know from experience that over time you can do more damage than good with all of that revising."

This is something I have wondered about as far as the book I am writing. I am actually working on my third book, none published though, so I tend to worry about everything a bit. But, I found one way to resolve that issue.

Never, ever, ever throw out or delete anything. I have printed this book out twice in full and I have CD backups for over three years now. I back up a minimum of once a month, and I do a flashdrive backup every night. And, I will say, that any time I thought to myself that I was not improving the book, I have been able to go back and so far the improvements have been improvements. That said, I will add that for my picture book, I still favor my original version and am very glad I kept a copy of it.

I did, however, reach a point with this book where I felt I had gone as far as I could and that is when I called in my Super-Hero .....Master's Daughter, to the rescue. Originally, it was for grammar and punctuation but it turned into so much more.

Master's Daughter is a sixth grade teacher, a writer, a worker with electron microscopes and now for her summer will be working with an Atomic Force Microscope. Her heros are Einstein and Yoda. She is bright and funny, knows today's kids, and we work so well together.

My book has been a family project: inspired by grandsons/sons, ideas from them and husband and now a massive tweaking with daughter. Her ideas have really added that touch I was searching for. And, no matter how much I wanted to get it out to agents and editors by June, the extra months will be worth it.

So, the lesson is, always keep backups at every step and try to stay out of the ER.

Characters, names, stupidity and Cultural Diversity

2009-04-20T12:08:00.001-04:00

I’m going along just fine. Going over the end of the book for an edit and then along comes Master’s Daughter with a question. Well, a comment really. She’s my eyes and ears on the youth and little things that just seem to go right over my head, like a character with the name of Dama Gazelle.

Okay, it’s a fantasy, just accept the name. But, Master’s Daughter points out to me that the children are going to be calling her, “Damn a Gazelle.” Gee, duh, I never thought of that. Therein leads to days, the last three at least, of going over the names I have.

And, as long as I am doing that, I have some cultural diversity but not as much as I would like. One thing leads to another and, I have to admit, it just makes the book that much better. Of course, at this rate, I may be seventy by the time I am done.

Too busy writing to blog? Yeah, Right!

2009-04-14T08:41:00.004-04:00

Unlike The Swivet [Colleen Lindsay]: "I don't know what we're doing for May, but I hope it involves Nerf weapons." I am not procrastinating on writing my book, nor am I looking forward to a Nerf war.

I am working eight or more hours a day on my book. I am now three chapters ahead of Master’s Daughter, who is helping me with the final line edit. What is my projected date for sending it out now; perhaps June? I hope!

I should add that I am working eight or more hours a day, given days when no one is ill, including me. The flues this year have been a real drag, and my mother is still battling one. So, when I take her groceries today, I am sure I will find myself bringing home some pesky germs to again spread the flu to our home.

What else am I doing? Well, it certainly is not blogging here, as you can all--all two of you--attest to. I do blog a bit more on my WordPress account: http://savanvleck.wordpress.com. Other than that:
1. I cooked Easter Dinner.
2. I am still weight lifting and doing aerobics.
3. I have cared for Irritating Little Chihuaha for several days; both before and after surgery.
4. I just bought groceries and will be baking cookies, to send to Army Guy grandson and his buddies.
5. I actually did work on the web site for several days but it was because I have some interest in my paintings from a friend in California.
6. I also have worked a small bit on my website for writing.
7. I watched Two and a Half Men last night and two episodes of Monk yesterday.
8. Watched son, JRock perform as a nasty prison guard and a Bobby/Policeman in a production of “Oliver” at the high school.

And, that is my life and why I am just tooooo busy to post here. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I do not want to tell too much about my book and I have no other interesting life and nothing to say. Honest!

Wednesday with the Aspiring Writer's Journal

2009-04-08T12:07:00.010-04:00

I have been extremely busy trying to figure out to get the visitor from -- well maybe an escapee from somewhere, out of my house. You finally have to lock the dog safely in her pen, hide the jewelry and say, "Hey, you gotta go home. Preferably, your own home." Actually, her mother's home would work. But, I don't care, as long as it is not my home.

She was supposed to be around a lot but by the fourth day I realized that a lot had turned into not leaving and she was living with us. It is now day fifteen and she's on her way out. New house rule, NO ONE STAYS OVERNIGHT.

Okay, got that out of my system, and so I promised myself to open The Aspiring Writer's Journal, Susie Morgenstern, Book - Barnes & Noble and pick the first page I opened. I actually took the second page: April 22nd. "How would you define "clean"? The directions state: "Spend your day giving your room a good spring cleaning." Gheeesh!!

Forget that. It's spring. Why would I want to stay inside all day and clean? That's for fall, when it is getting cold outside, and you know you will be spending more time in the house for winter.

I first time I read it, for some reason, I thought it said, "Define your idea of clean." I like that one better.

Clean is the way the air smells when a breeze blows in the window of my not so clean house.

Clean is how my work surface should look inbetween projects.

Clean is how it feels to have a hot shower after you have spent the day canoeing and getting dumped. (In water, not necessarily by a boyfriend, but I bet that would feel clean too.)

Clean is how it feels to have a cool shower after standing on hot asphalt, under the August sun all day at a city street art fair.

Clean is snuggling a freshly bathed baby.

Have a clean day!

Two days of research equals a page this time.

2009-04-01T09:47:00.003-04:00

Sorry, yet again, for the long absence, but the book has to take precedence over the blog at this point. It is one of those things you can taste; the joy of when you are actually ready to send your book out into the world, to survive on its own

Master’s Daughter is really busy right now, so I think she may have a plot to slow me down. She keeps finding neat things I need to do with the book.

As a sixth grade teacher, who is writing a teacher’s companion for my book, she has been a great source of inspiration. This time, it was all about the phases of the moon. I did not really think about children having a problem with this concept. Apparently, younger children seem to view the phases of the moon as if the moon could change its shape.

The world in my book is greatly influenced by nature. They do not live in little square wooden boxes, as we tend to do and so they must learn to live and survive in nature. This means they need to understand the natural world and so I have again spent two days researching a way to say something in one page. That amount of research generally results in one sentence. Good thing I love research.

So, now I shall pay Master’s Daughter back and shoot my new page off to her for more corrections. This is a discussion of the phases of the moon. I am afraid it might be too long or unclear, but she will let me know.

Okay, let's be honest here.

2009-03-15T15:47:00.004-04:00

I am so sick of redesigning my web page that I could -----.

You can fill in the blanks. I just want it done and if I could hire it done, I would.

I have settled on a background and page design. I am trying to go fairly simple. But, it seems to take forever. The graphics are pretty well done. I have eleven text only pages written and have four more to go.

I had an addition this week, which seems to be happening a lot. And, that is the fact that I need to have Marketing Points. I need them before I start submitting my book anyway, so I feel I need them on the website. After all, what is the point of writing your book if you do not market it.

Here is an interesting Blog post on Book Marketing Buzz: Book Promotion & Publicity Tips: How to Promote Your Books with Epic Fantasy Author R. Scot Johns « Book... And, he confirms, what I am finding out even before really beginning. Marketing is very time consuming so get used to it.

The Marketing points that I have, for my book are:

Fantasy
Native American Indian Lifestyle
Native American Indian mythology
Child abuse

I have researched these for popularity by books sold and statistics of the issues involved.

I also have lists of possible Promotion based on my history: where I have lived, what I have done, etc. And a list of Promotion that I have (will have) in place for my book already.

In this crowded market, with so many people out of work and trying their hands at writing, you need to be willing to work to get your book out there, no matter how long it takes to build your webpage.

Unfortunately, I do not remember exactly where I got the list of marketing points. But, it was probably from one of my two main sources of information about marketing, which are:

Shrinking Violet Promotions: An Interview with a Real Live Publicist: Random House's Kathy Dunn - which actually has a great article right now about promoting your book, and Author! Author!,

Okay, enough break for me, I'm back to web design.

Less artistic, easier on the eyes!

2009-03-11T10:16:00.004-04:00

Every few days I try to complete another text only page for my site, so I was interested in a site I found by Jakob Nielsen, entitled Writing for the Web. His message is that writing for the web is different than writing for print media.

First, computer users scan pages instead of reading word-for-word. I do not know about you, but I know I do this, until I find that it is interesting enough to give it a more careful read. I am on dialup, and those minutes are slow going, so I am not wasting my time on a page that does not have the information I want on it.

He also states that it is 25% slower to read from the computer screen than from a paper. I have to wonder if this is also a case of it being easier to read black letters on white, rather than some of the insane combinations I have seen on the web.

I have literally seen red letters on green and when you have colors like that, itthey just seem to throb at you. It is popular right now to put black letters on white backgrounds. This is probably the hardest, especially for older people or those whose eyesight is not the best, to read.

I have said it before and I will say it again, this is not going to stop anyone from copying your words. All they have to do is copy it and then change the text color. And, there is always PrtSc for anything else, folks, so be kind to your readers and, not so artistic, and make your copy readable.

His other points were to use simple sentence structure, update the page frequently, use bulleted lists --- oppps!! Let's change that to a bulleted list and see how much easier it is to see.

· Simple sentence structure
· Update page frequently
· Use bulleted lists
· Avoid scrolling
· Have a main page and link it to secondary pages for more detail
· Use headlines and captions
· Edit your work.

The only one I disagree with is “avoid cute headlines.” Frankly, a funny catchy headline will slow me down to investigate how well a site is written, now if you are writing for a professional audience, perhaps you want to tone that headline down.

I am off to edit and simplify and write catchy headlines, now.

My to-do list.

2009-03-09T12:05:00.005-04:00

Sorry, if you are on RSS feed. (What does that stand for, anyway?). I had allowed a comment on the site and then realized I was giving out someone's email for the world to have. Not that they cannot get it anyway, but I did not want to be responsible for someone being spammed to death. I could not find a way to erase their email, in their comment, or to alter their comment, once allowed, so I just deleted the whole post and reposted it.

No, you have not landed in "Ground Hog's Day" or in a time warp, it is a repeated of the post of the fourth, and no, it did not fool anyone into thinking it as something new and stimulating.

That said, what is the new news?

I have eighteen graphics ready to put on the website. That means they are cleaned up, altered to suit and the backgrounds are clear. Two of these are background images.
I have nine, out of fifteen, text only pages done. From these I will complete the pages that the graphics go to.
I have completed twenty chapters, and have the wrap up chapter to go. I havecut back to 69,118 words.
I have also discovered that, before I send the book out, I need to have a Marketing Points, My Bio and a list of reasons why someone would buy my book. That is what I spent yesterday on, and today and tomorrow, and probably all week.

All of this stuff is sooooo important to the process.

My Long Absence

2009-03-09T11:55:00.002-04:00

Wow! This has to be the longest time between posts yet. But, trust me, my reader. It will all soon be worth it. I am so close to the place where I can begin submitting my novel to agents.

That is very exciting to me. Everything clicked and my Advanced Middle Grade Fantasy Novel (could that get any longer?) is down to the "wrap up" chapter. One day, the big scene just fell in place.

Actually, I reached that point in my millionth edit and just kept going this time. Master's Daughter and I are up to chapter seven in our joint edit.It is amazing to me, that she picks up on the exact same spots where I have thought, "This isn't right. This isn't necessary. The wording is off." Thus, showing me that I need to trust my instincts more and that everyone needs a partner editor.

The edit is picking up words mostly, or where a scene is confusing. It is nice to have a second pair of eyes, or should I say, a second brain, to help me find the right word.In the evening, when my brain is a bit tired, I do a few more things on my web site.

The website is coming along well. I have my graphics ready and I am working on my text only pages, knowing that the wording for those, will go into the graphic version, so I am killing two birds with one stone.I have worked out how much I can say without giving too much away and making the web site interesting enough to get people to return.

I look forward to the day when I can post a request here for help in critiquing it. Nothing really humorous to write, just that Master's Daughter found my pile of leaves confusing. And, if you want to know what I'm talking about, you'll have to read the book.

Read everything you can.

2009-02-24T18:58:00.006-05:00

Please excuse my absence; I am deep into editing the last half of my novel. Since I tend to write by reading from the beginning, even though I am writing the third, fourth, fifth chapter, the first half of my novel is well edited. At some point that becomes difficult though and I am now editing the 'less gone over' part of my book, so my writing here is more sporadic.

I am a reader. Set it in front of me and I will read it. But, when I began writing my youth fantasy novel, I was afraid to read any more fantasies, as I was afraid I would inadvertently steal from someone. Do not be afraid of that. It’s like they say, there is nothing new.

This Christmas, Gaffer gave me two Terry Pratchett books to read and I was hooked. Low and behold, the third one I picked up had a small section of something that is similar to a very important object in my work and that is when I decided that you do not need to worry about stealing from an author, when you are writing. What you need to do is learn from them.

I would be working on a sculpture, something new and dynamic no one has ever done before (I thought) and the very next issue of one of my Ceramic/Clay magazines would arrive, and there would be something very similar to what I was creating. In other words, everything has been done. You just have to find a way to do it in a unique way.

The art adage is “steal it, don’t borrow it.” This means to take an idea and do it in your own unique way. And, I think it is finally dawning on me that the more you read, even as you write, the more other authors will influence your writing in a good way.

With Pratchett, it’s the way he turns a phrase and the things he relates to other items that I would never think to do and yet it’s just brilliant. He is a master at the Simile and Metaphor.

With Rowling, it is the way she draws you into her world immediately and how you identify with her characters. I can get so lost in her books that I barely know what is going on around me.

So, read everything you can get your hands on, but only after your writing hours because that has to come first.

If you post it, they will steal it! It's that simple.

2009-02-18T12:13:00.002-05:00

I recently joined FaceBook. Again, it is all about my book and the networking necessary to promote it. I have actually pretty much ignored it, since I joined, but now my family is sending me “friend” links so I went back on it, for the second time.

Then, the big hype that FaceBook is going to steal your content.

PEOPLE: If you post it, they will steal it. What makes anyone on earth think that there is any way to keep people from stealing your work, your words, or your art?

I did national art shows for years and I once saw an artist, nearly break his neck, jumping in between his precious artwork and a woman with an Instamatic camera. I talked to him later and he was very concerned that someone was going to steal his work and make prints. I have news for him, no way was an Instamatic camera of high enough quality to make saleable art prints. I freely would pose by my paintings or give permission for photos of them to anyone who did not have a $6,000 camera on a tripod. Then, I want my cut.

People who grab a picture want them because they admire the work and they wish they could do it themselves. I have heard of someone who was snagging pictures of polymer fairies, off eBay, and making needlepoint patterns to sell. That was wrong. But, it’s hard to stop that. You could obscure your artwork by putting your name across it but that is so distracting. They are going to steal it. Take my word for it.

Having my artwork visible and open for theft on my website is something I quit worrying about, when I discovered the print screen button on my keyboard. This works even on sites that have their graphics protected. Not that I would use it, mind you, but I have checked it out and it works. So, get over it.

Nothing is sacred. Nothing is protected. The very first time I went to find out the cost of a cell phone, the person in front of me refused to give her Social Security number to the man selling the cell phones. She walked away without a phone and we had a good chuckle over her thought that he could not have her number. He even told me how he could have her number right now, if he wanted.

My mother cuts up all of her address labels, of course mom has a thing with cutting up paper, but she is ensuring that no one gets her address. “Have you ever looked in the phone book, Mom?” Why would anyone dig through your garbage, when they can just look in the phone book?

Beside my young adult novel, I have a mystery that I would like to polish up and put out there. I started and nearly completed it a long time ago. When I found out that you should not put anything on the internet, giving away first rights, when you are going to be submitting it, I thought of my Mystery and the fact that I had entered it on an on-line book site once, long ago. I could not find it anywhere and I thought,” that’s good.” I will tell them it is no longer out there.

But, you know what; there is never a time when something you have posted is ‘no longer out there.’ Google recently had their tenth anniversary and so, to honor it, they posted all the stuff you could access when they were first in business. Yep, the first first chapter of my mystery was right there- ten years later, an eon in the life of the internet.

2009-02-15T10:37:00.006-05:00

Instead of writing here, or on my WordPress Blog, Savanvleck’s Weblog, I have spent my last week creating a Book Map Outline. It is yet another thing I have learned from Cheryl Klein’s Blog. Brooklyn Arden

I have spent countless hours finding a way to keep track of my book and, for some reason, this one is the one that works for me. I have added a bit to it, and I will get into how I use her Map Outline below the graph, but I have added a number system to keep track of the tension in my plot. 1 is the least tension and 10 is highest.

Now, one chapter I had going from 6 to 1, which I did not work into my graph above but it is always a good waste of my time to learn how to do something new and I have never made a graph before in Word.

This graph is for the first nine chapters of my book.

I start off with some tension, Chapter 1 is #5. This is my world set-up, what life is like for my protagonist and his two brothers, and it is the incident that moves my plot line along.
Chapter 2, a #6, is the external conflict which rises as life is thrown off course. (Hmmm,! Sort of like getting a $500 cell phone bill one day and a $1,200 propane bill the next)

I drop down to a #4 in tension for Chapter 3, for a bit of relief and then jump up to a #7 in tension. My goal here is increasing tension and relief. This is the final outline. The first one showed me that I had to go into a couple of chapters to increase the tension in the right amount.

And, about the Book Map; I am not sure how Ms. Klein exactly formats hers but table obssessed as I am, I created a table. It is just two columns but a varying number of rows. I have nine charts so far, one for each of the first nine chapters. Below the chapter title, I put my tension number.

The left column's are: Key Action, Plot Point, Protagonist development, (I have added one for Characters, to keep track of what chapters they are in. This is good to keep track of things like that someone important has not been mentioned lately.) Key Thoughts, Key Lines, Clues, Foreshadow, Red Herring. Some of these are things I have added and I have actually deleted one you might find strange.

I am not using the Plot Point. There again, Ms. Klein had excellent help on this with Brooklyn Arden: A Character-Based View of Plot. So, I am using the Protagonist development as a plot line.

We shall see.

My Book Map progress

2009-02-11T10:44:00.001-05:00

I have been ignoring all of you lately. But, other than the foot of snow that had our car trapped for six days, and school cancelled for four days, and the flu that I just cannot seem to shake, and my mother's birthday and my birthday, other than those, I have a good reason to ignore you. I am outlining my book.

There has to be a reason I am having a problem writing, also known as putting off, the ending of my book. So, I am taking Brooklyn Arden: Search results for Book Map advice and creating a Book Map. That was a link to what I found with my search for Book Map. I did not find the post on doing the Book Map, but there was a neat blog about the artwork she has made in her own apartment. Tres Cool!

I am up to chapter 10, which is on its way out. Yes, a whole chapter is just taking up valued word space, and it is redundant to a future chapter (which is much more important) and, like all things I take out, I save a copy in its own file. I have deleted many of these files later and I may this one or I may put it in a future book, but for this book, it is history.

There is one little section, which will be worked into the next chapter. But, I feel as though I am getting somewhere already, even though I have yet to go back through the Book Map and really look at what is going on in the book.

This is also giving Master’s Daughter a break from editing as she has a lot on her plate right now and could use a break.

So, I sit here with the flu now turned into something that is settling in my chest, and move on to Chapter eleven, with ten nine more to go.

Sunshine on snow; through closed eyelids.

2009-01-30T15:47:00.005-05:00

The sun is shining and the world looks a lot better in central Indiana. Chihuahua can about see over the snow we received, since it has settled down some. We did have close to a foot of snow. But, we only lost power momentarily that night so we are really lucky. Our stomachs, on the other hand, are not.

Monday night, I think it was, all these "school's cancelled" days have me confused, but whatever night it was saw me emptying my stomach in the bathroom for about ten hours and today, sun or no sun, all I want to do yet, is sleep. At least, I am working again, a little at a time. Sorry for the absence.

I really want my new website up and running and was working hard to complete it for the first of February, but I will try for week two now. One thing that I did do yesterday is a new opening for my book. I really should have kept count. This has to be close to a dozen different openings.

I love the help I have gotten at Talking Books, from Cheryl Klein. With the help of her 'Rules of Engagement," I may have an opening that fits the bill. It has to simmer in the stew for a while yetbefore I know for sure . My next assignment, beside the web page, is to make out a Book Map. It is the first editing thing she does and I think it is going to help me a great deal, so I will let you know how that goes.

The car is still stuck in the drive but life is cancelled/closed for the day in Brown County anyway, so no need to go anywhere. Maybe I will take another nap first. Stay warm, if you can.

Deaf Resource Library link for creating Accessible pages

2009-01-22T21:09:00.004-05:00

This is just a quick post. I am taking the tree down, moving the weight bench inside (it has been on a screened in porch, so not getting used by me), and working on my web page.

Since I needed to type up information for my new web site, I decided to use those pages as my accessibility pages. I wanted to check on an HTML tag, so I went onto Google and found a page I just have to share with you.

Creating Accessible HTML is from the Deaf Resource Library and by Karen Nakamura. It really puts it in concise form.

Topics include hearing impairment, visual impairment, mobility impairment, economic accessibility, and educational accessibility. These are short paragraphs, explaining the whys in simple terms.

Part 9 - The Web Site Design

2009-01-19T15:36:00.010-05:00

The above image is a list of the graphics I am working on and getting ready, to place on my INDEX page. I had to create a lot of these, alter, make the backgrounds invisible, and spend a ton of time just on getting the graphics ready.

You can throw up a webpage in a day, but if you are interested in using the website to sell yourself, as a writer, or your writing, you will need to give some thought to:
1. Why are you doing it?
2. Who do you want to reach?
3. What is your message?

This is the fourth web site I have designed: Three were for my artwork, one for another person. But, I still felt the need to spend a lot of hours, this time, checking out other writers, published and non-published, web sites. I made notes on what I liked and what would work for me and notes on what I thought was bad. I googled “What makes a good web site” and I have read a ton of information on what works and what to avoid in web design. Website Ideas for Writers, is a great site to stop at: Website Ideas for Writers, the official idea site for writers

If you are still unsure if you should have a website, as an unpublished writer, here are some reasons to do it. Dawn Chartier ~ A writers life: Websites for unpublished writers

I have mentioned before that I am going a bit off of the “writers” site advice and going directly for the series of books I am writing. I have a few minor writing credits, like a story in “Good Housekeeping” and I would just like to try something different. To me, I am selling, not just myself, as a writer and my writing, but I am selling this story. I want to make my site fun and interesting and something that might make someone, preferably a twelve year old reader, a teacher or a librarian, refer someone else to look at it, and that might entertain and enlighten an editor or agent.

All the while, keeping this doable with the time I have to invest in this site. So, my design is first. I already mentioned working with Master’s Daughter and others on the design for my site. I want it to be interactive, just a bit, and so I have designed a bulletin board interface, with objects that will move a bit and link to other pages. Is this above my capabilities? Possibly, but that has never stopped me before.

Above my bulletin board will be a line telling my viewer to click there for the Text only version, for accessibility. I am creating a simple link to a text version of the page. I know there are programs that will pick this out, but I am just going to cut and past the text and put it on a simple page with no graphics.

A note here: You need to sit down, at this point, and draw a simple sketch of the layout of your page. Where will your links go? What will they be? What text will you have on your index page (that is your first page)? What colors will you use? Google that if you are unsure, or go to 500+ Named Colours with rgb and hex values and drool over all the great colors you can get. Believe me, it is a lot easier to have your design down on a napkin than to keep redoing it in your WYSIWYG html editor.

After I have my graphics ready, I will print out, to scale, the bulletin board and the graphics and do some cutting. I will probably spend an hour or so rearranging the printed objects on the board until I am pleased with the design. I have found, in the past, that this is the easiest way for me to arrange the look of an element of my page, than doing it by rearranging code within my WYSIWYG editor.

There is a ton of help on the web. Not sure of a background? Google it. Need a template? Google it. Want to look at what others have done? Google it.

Web Site Creation - pg 8 - Site Maps and Search Engines

2009-01-17T18:12:00.008-05:00

By talking about site map, we are skipping ahead a bit, but it is important to have some other things in mind before you get down to coding, or WYSIWYG’ing, your web page. After promising to talk about "site map" I have done research and found out that you site map your site AFTER you create it. So, for now, we will discuss getting your site found by Search Engines. This is something to consider during every step of your page creation.

Note: I have substituted the word carrot for the <> for each page, don’t say “page 1,” “page 2,” etc. Do use very descriptive sentences, like: “Painting information from SaVanVleck” or “Native American characters in the Moon Tree books.”

2. And, don’t forget that detailed ALT text for all images, we have discussed.

3. Use your (carrot) meta name="”keywords”"> to good use with detailed information. If you will look at your WYSIWYG editor's HTML, you will find the "keywords" and "content" at the top of the page. These are two very important keys to being found by search engines.

4. Use CONTENT => also The CONTENT can also be used by search engines as your site’s description when displaying search results. These are where the lines that you see when you google come from.

Below is the AOL Google search for “www.vanvleck studio.” I do not find the AOL Google to be as thorough as a straigh search with:http://www.google.com/, but it was handy.

a href="http://www.vanvleckstudio.com/" target="_blank">pottery, painting, drawings, fairy, doll sculptures, by Sher...carrot /a>
Welcome to VanVleck Studio on-line ... Link to pottery and sculpture by Sheryl VanVleck ... Link to 2-dimensional work by Sheryl VanVleck ...www.vanvleckstudio.com/ - 11k - Similar pages

AND

http://www.vanvleckstudio.com/
Welcome to VanVleck Studio on-line
VanVleck Studio and Gallery is located in a quiet rural area in Brown County, Indiana, USA. ... On the left will be VanVleck Studio, 7873 N. Oak Ridge Road. ...
www.vanvleckstudio.com/4studio.html - 8k - Similar pages
[ More results from www.vanvleckstudio.com ]
http://www.vanvleckstudio.com/4studio.html

My INDEX page is the top search for vanvleckstudio. So, it is saying welcome (probably unnecessary and certainly non-descriptive) Link to pottery and sculpture by Sheryl VanVleck is okay. “Link to 2-dimensional work by Sheryl VanVleck” really does not tell anything about my portrait paintings in three medias. That should be more descriptive for full affect.

a. A caveat here is that search engines will ignore keywords if you repeat a given keyword too often. That means any word used more than seven (7) times, in some search engines, will be ignored.

5. I read some advice in my CoffeeCup HTML, to check out your site on Lynx, and you will see the text only version. This is good to see what the visually handicapped will see, but also good to see what words will pop-out on search engines. My vanvleckstudio.com came up thus (it is too long to copy all in here, so here is the link) seebot.org text view of http://www.vanvleckstudio.com. Suffice it to say that it is a lot of words, but perhaps not what I would intend to point out as the most important information on my site.

6. It is also said that some “well-known free hosting services” are ignored by the search engine. So, if you are serious about marketing from your web site, you should consider having it hosted. It costs me $100 a year for a basic service package from Gold Rush Hosting Solutions. There are cheaper options for hosts, but I got tired of not having someone to email when I got into trouble.

Hey, what can I say? "I got people, now."

Web Site Preparation for writers - page 7 - Titles and EMail contact

2009-01-15T16:20:00.004-05:00

I don’t know about you, but I love to learn new computer programs and, in my first rush excitement to play with my new program, I have a tendency to think I can just jump in there and make a web page.

Yes, you can do that and I have. But, if you want to make the best page you can, some research time is well spent.

First is to decide who your target audience is. I have a tendency to spread myself off into too many directions. I am a painter, a potter/sculptor, a doll maker and a writer. Since 2003, my website has been targeted for selling my artwork from my home based studio. It was geared to show what work I could do and what work I had available for sale, and about visiting my studio.

When I started to redesign the website this time, I still had that in the back of my mind. It was research and Master’s Daughter, who pointed out where I was going wrong. After going over the initial design for my website (and I spent way too many hours on creating the page that was eventually declared to be going the wrong way), we decided that I was not focusing my site on what was important to me now. I had links to my painting and my pottery. Not only were they distracting, but they were taking up space that was better spent on telling about my writing experience and drumming up interest in my Young Adult Fantasy Series.

Research tells me that author’s seeking representation need to focus their site on themselves, first and foremost. I have a focus on marketing for my book, and I have decided to spread out my focus and cover my writing background, as well as generating some word of mouth, hopefully excitement for my book series.

SECOND: As Mike Cherim points out in Beast-Blog.com - Mike Cherim's Professional and Personal Web Log - Home Page, there are millions of websites out there. That means there are 999,999 + other websites, beside yours, for a viewer to click on. If you create a website that requires JavaScript, or large images to load, or “mystery meat navigation,” you are going to lose viewers. I am a dial-up user and no matter how much I want to view a site, I will close out of it if there are large images to load.

THE SEARCH: How will viewers find you? One essential element is the “title element” that is shown on the bar of your browser. It is the content title with the terms in it that users will search for. Each page of your website should have its own unique title. It is contained in carrots, at the top of your webpage. We are talking coding here in your WYSIWYG editor.

That would be the title for my first page, the INDEX page and a different one for each succeeding page. In my current webpage, I never thought about that fact that if you have twelve or six or more pages to your website. Each individual page should have its own title so that there are that many more titles to be found in a search. So, change that title for each page.

Also, it is important to NOT put your email address link on your site. Even supposedly secure ways of doing it will eventually be Spy Bot-ted. You do need a means of contact though. Use a secure contact form and we will get into that, just as soon as I have it all figured out. If you are in a hurry, Google it. This is from a person who has already had my domain email address harvested by SPY BOTS.

NEXT POST: Site Maps

Web site creation for Writers - page 6 - a few last tidbits on accessibility

2009-01-10T17:31:00.005-05:00

I have not forgotten my project, or my own webpage. Late at night, will find me sitting in the dark, fixing the graphics that will be on my index page. This is when I have gotten home for the hospital, and now the rehab, with my mom. First she went to the hospital with three infections. She had double pneumonia, walking pneumonia and an unidentified one. Now, she is in a rehab taking antibiotics for the last infection and getting some therapy.

Once I have gotten my graphics ready, then the putting together part comes. I have designed what I want my, index to look like. The very first page of your website will be titled index. When you upload to your web page, you will have a page (depending on how you lay it out) that shows all the files on the server. Right now, I must have over five hundred graphics in there. I am a visual artist, selling potter, painting and fairies, so that has been the focus of my site. It will all be deleted soon.

Some final quick issues on accessibility:

1. Pop-ups can interfere with navigation. So, there again is where you have to inform the viewer that if they click on a link or area of a window, that it will either open a new window or give you a pop-up. For people with readers, it can be very disorienting.

2. Make links clear. Website visitors will find it easier for your visitors to find what they are looking for if the links are consistent throughout your whole site. If you place them along the bottom, do it on every page. It is most common to look for links along the left side of a webpage. Whichever you choose, just use it on each page. It makes it easier on you too really. Design it once, copy it, paste it to each page and you are set.

MY HINT: Depending on your WYSIWYG website designer, they will have shortcuts to do it. Things that take time to learn, often have me using the secrets I have learned over time. Once I get the background and links of my first webpage (INDEX) done, I then use that same page and name it for every other page I will have on my website.

In case that is confusing. I am just renaming that first page over and over, and will end up with how many ever pages my website will have, right away. Every one of them will have some type of a conistency. Whether it is a banner or background, I want people to know they are till on My Site. And, I do not have to redo the links every page that way. Then, I go back and specialize each individual page. More of that later.

That said, numerous times I have had to go back and make a correction and then redo it, but if I was more careful about checking it to begin with and designing it, I would not use up that extra time.

Okay, back to links. You have a name for a link and the alternate text. Do not use "click here" as link text. A screen reader reads that text to let the disabled viewer know just what they will find if they click on that spot, just as the visual should tell your non-disabled viewer. It should be something like "view the Text only version of this site, here." or "for information about healthy lunches, click here."

One last point on links: An arrow can often convey, more easily, what you want then a button.

3. Despite the abundance of graphics on blogs, the web and my site, the internet is mainly about words. Use clear and simple language for your target audience. I believe I once read that a sixth grade reader was considered average; but I may be wrong. Obviously, if your site is for scientists, it will contain a different language than if it is "Science for non-scientists."

Remember, your audience also consists of those with cognitive disabilities and those whose first language differs from that of the web page.

While the internet is about words, graphics can be an invaluable alternative to help with comprehension of the page. If the information is more easily conveyed visually, then use the graph or chart or photo. Just make sure the alternate text is clear and don't forget you will also have a text only version of your site.

Web Page Creation for writers - part 5- Physical vs Logical Markup -

2009-01-07T09:08:00.001-05:00

HuH? You say if you are new to web making or even if you, like me, use a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) web page program. I use CoffeeCup and when I started, I did not know anything. But, I always search for the whys and as I designed my site, I wanted to know 'why it did that' and 'how it did this.' I also was forever wanting it to do something different than it was doing, so I had to learn why it was doing what it was and how to change it.

I learned a lot about HTML that way. In redoing my page and wanting to make it accessible to as many as I can, I have learned that there is a Physical markup and a Logical Markup. I found my first definition here Dan's Web Tips: Physical vs. Logical Markup.

Physical tags affect the physical look of the words: italic & bold & underline, etc. (The carrots surround the initial that tells what you want done: i for italic, b for bold, u for underline, etc. The slash in front of the end set of carrots is the 'not' or 'end', as in end the italics here.)

Logical tags refer to the "structure and meaning of a document" and only suggest their appearance. Examples: (This is tough because the editor here is putting these into action. But, at least you get to see what some of them do.)

= emphasized text
= strong emphasis

Your best bet here is to go to a couple of sites to become more familiar:

Site one is: html guide - online HTML guide - logical tags in HTML - free html guide - online beginners html guide free Who states that there are actually nine logical codes:

There are 9 logical tags each requiring a closing tag:
Strong: I am strong = STRONG in carrots and a closing carrot
Emphasis: I am emphasized = EM in carrots and with a closing carrot
Abbreviation: I am abbreviated = ABBR
Citation: Citation = CITE
Code: I am programming code = CODE
Definition: Definition = DFN
Keyboard: Quite like keyboard strokes = KBD
Sample: Sample = SAMP
Programming Variable: Programming Variable = VAR

If I am understanding this right, then these are it and anything else that needs doing you go to the physical code.

Then, go to: HTML Logical Tags - HTML Code Tutorial And I'm recommending you go there and learn it from an expert. He also has lists of Logical Tags. But, don't let this scare you from using a WYSIWYG web page creator. It's just something to be aware of and occasionally, as you get more familiar with HTML, you will find yourself changing out tags to bring them into compliance.

There are no police out there saying you have to do it now, it is just that you will want to do the best for your viewers you can; including the 20% disabled.

Website Design for Writers - part 4 - Tables

2009-01-06T15:32:00.013-05:00

I found a site today that laid out the issues in a straight forward manner. Web Teaching Articles: Practical accessibility .

First things, first: Back in the new days of the Internet, the net was made up of words. This was a time in the 80's of bulletin boards. My nephew ran one called "The Twilight Zone BBS". JayJay Net, LLC - Premier Dialup Internet Provider for people who want Top Quality service But, he and all of us have moved on. He's an Internet provider now and has kept up with the times.

Those times now bring us high-speed access and web sites with all the bells and whistles and graphics galore. It is the bells and whistles that is a problem for the disabled. Readers for the blind work well with words. They run into trouble with non-text items.

Standard browser software can accommodate many disabilities, as long as you keep your web page flexible, so that it can transform to meet the viewer's needs. This includes low-vision users being able to change the scale of letters, and color-blind and low vision users being able to change the color of text and background to increase legibility. So, your page needs to be legible and navigable under different viewing conditions.

Some simple ways to do this:

1. Have audio descriptions to accompany your text content.
2. Use images for navigation and page content.
3. Use captions with video content.

Now, for the pesky, great tables:

The Accessibility Guidelines discourage the use of layout tables, but it is really a great option for positioning elements on a page. If you carefully design the tables, then the newer screen reader software can handle them.

To understand the problem, you need to know that some of the screen reader software reads the screen, from upper left-hand corner and from left to right. They do not read the code, they read the web page as you see it. So, if you have multi-column layouts, as many Web pages do, with navigation links on the side and then content in the middle, it turns it into gibberish. Newer software looks at the underlying code instead. It will read the site, cell-by-cell.

So, the answer is to make sure your cells are "group related content." Put all your navigation links in one cell and your content in another. It is actually a logical way to do it anyway. And, one side note here is that most people expect your links to be on the left of your web page. It's good to go with the flow there.

You need to also keep your table layout "fluid." This means it scales to fill the browser window and re-sizes to accommodate content. This works also for enlarged type.

Next post, What the heck is logical markup?

A quick Part 3 Website Building-Disability access continued

2009-01-05T22:15:00.003-05:00

This is just quick, a bit redundant from yesterday, but with some new stuff. The reason is that I spent the day in the hospital with my mother who has pneumonia. Excuse me if I do not post for a few days. Hopefully, she will only be in there a day or two but she has a lot of heart problems so everything can be scary.

Much of today’s information came from a PDF file downloadable from www.terpsys.com

Your web site building should involve a good deal of research to make it the best you can. I have spent a lot of time working on a website only to find there was a better way to do it. I have always been one to jump into a project, but the advice to lay out your web design, before jumping into it, is sound advice. Get out a tablet and draw your site out on paper, second. First, is to check out a lot of similar web sites and what they offer and what you feel works; all the while noting what does not work so that you can avoid it.

I spent most of yesterday researching the disability issue for my web site. It is estimated that twenty percent of your audience has some type of disability. Me? I’m getting cataracts and this little print is hard on my eyes. I also have arthritis in my fingers. Other disabilities include blindness, deafness, color blindness, and even just the confusion that comes with aging. And, losing twenty percent of your readers is a large loss.

Then, you have the disability that those of us on low-speed dial-up have. I do not watch any movies. I do not even stay on a page with movies, usually. Images are a similar problem, and I do not have time to wait around for them to load. Sound is just a personal thing. I like quiet. A hint though, a lot of people in their cubicles are cheating a wee bit by viewing “non-work related” web pages and if your music blares out, they are going to click that “X” and turn you off and may never come back. So, think music through before you add it. You need to have a mute, in plain sight and/or make it so they have to click the music on.

The other problem is that assistive technologies, those that convert non-text information have their own requirements. Text is converted using speech synthesizers or Braille displays. So, what do you do to make your website fully accessible?

First, what I mentioned in the last post, always use the alternative text descriptions; for everything: maps, bullets in lists, graphical buttons, spacers, links, etc. One bit of advice is to pretend you are reading the document aloud over the telephone. How would you explain the need for and use of this image on your web page?

Second, do not rely on color for understanding. Print your page out in black and white to see if all the text and images are still visible. Check for color contrast, also. There are many people who have difficulty with contrast and colors. Again, printing the page out will help you see what works and what does not. Don’t forget to show it to grandma and get her advice.

My next research is about the use of tables. I like tables but it seems to be turning out they are not always good for disability access. More on that next time.

WebPage Design for the Writer - lesson 2 - Access

2009-01-04T10:52:00.008-05:00

When J.K. Rowling’s new site was created, it was created byAward winning website design and build, Flash design, e-commerce design and build, digital strategy, analytics consulting, se... , to be accessible to those who are disabled, blind, partially sighted, mobility impaired, deaf and cognitively-disabled.

Now, while I have not contacted Lightmaker about my site, I am pretty sure they are beyond my budget. Heck, the guy down the street is beyond my budget. But there are some things we can do to make our sites more user friendly to all. And, did you know that there is actually are guidelines ADA Home Page - ada.gov - Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The website Internet Navigation by NetNav has tips of the day and examples. Now, on dial-up, that pdf may be too much for me to wait to upload, what with my slow dial-up, so Cynthia Waddell, JD has a very straight forward section on Web Accessibility: Websites Must Be User Friendly, Handicap Accessible and Meet the American's with Disabilities Act

But, what can you do, if like me, resources are limited and you are designing the website yourself.

1. Make sure you have Alt Text for your pages. Tell your reader what they would be looking at, if they could see better, AND what you would expect them to do. This might be “Welcome to my garden. Please explore the flowers and objects you find in it.”

2. Then, every time their cursor lands on something you add, “You have entered the Marigold section. This is a link to “a game for finding gold.” Or “Collect pill bugs to get into the secret garden.”

3. Sounds can be confusing for some disabilities and for screen readers, so be sure your site allows muting the sound. Make captions for the audio too for those who are hearing impaired. This is especially important if the sound is saying something important to your site. I personally turn off sounds on my computer, normally, so I would miss these clues also. Any time I need high speed, I work at the library and it’s either turn it off or wear headphones.

4. Another thing is to make a “text only” alternate to your site. The link for this should be on your opening screen. It will not take that long to just copy the words, without the coding, that you want your viewer to read. White page, black letters make it all the easier to see and there is a site, I will give you the link next post, that can convert your site for you.

I have barely touched the surface. My site will be the best I can do, with the help of my CoffeeCup HTMLHTML Editor, Flash & Web Design Software CoffeeCup Software software and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). More on this next post

Next, CSS and me.

Web Page Design - LESSON 1 - email and SPY BOTS

2008-12-31T12:58:00.006-05:00

I am definitely not an expert web designer. But, I am learning and seriously working on my new web page for the writer in me.

Just this week, I was told by my web holders, something I already knew and something new. First, my email link, on my web page was the victim of a SPY BOT that trolls the internet and steals your email address, then uses it for SPAM.

I knew this was happening, because I was getting SPAM from my own website and I wrote my friendly and knowledgeable Web “host” Gold Rush Hosting Solutions. These guys are literally on duty 24/7. They are friendly, to boot. I am not so cheerful after 10:00 pm, but these guys are all smiles.

Anyway, AOL has actually requested that they shut off my email forwarding to my AOL account because I am sending out SPAM. It’s a bit inconvenient but not that much. The main thing is, I am not sending out SPAM.

So, if anyone has gotten SPAM from http://www.vanvleckstudio.com/ , trust me; I did not send it out. My web page may be rather messed up now because the new design is not ready and yet I had to take off all the email links to stop the SPY BOT idiots. I also deleted some of the pages that were not valid and so it is all a mess. I don’t know if it will stop those who have already stolen my email but I hope so.

SO, the lesson for today in web design is the second thing I learned from my Host: Do not be nice to your viewers and link to your email or the SPY BOTS will get you and one day you will be, along with a million other people, receiving spam from your own web page.

My Web Host suggests I either just write the email address, without a link, for contact, or use a form for contact. It may be a little more work for you to be checking the form, but it keeps your web page fresh anyway with constant use. This is a good thing for the search engines as one thing they look at is use on the web page.

The Best Laid Plans

2008-12-27T00:23:00.002-05:00

I am spending a week at my free personal editor's house: Master Daughter. She has high speed. No, that is not why I came. We usually spend a week at her house during the holidays. It was a wonderful week too and you will have to read my personal blog, Savanvleck’s Weblog, to see just how wonderful it was. But, back to the high speed.

I've been working like crazy, since I finally have a finished design for my web page, to get it done so that I could do the uploading and checking on high speed. Well, you know how well my "plans" work out. I thought it was looking pretty good but the best laid plans are now trashed.

Fortunately, it is for an even better, more dynamic site. This is really what I wanted all along. I wanted a site to entertain and keep people coming back for more.

Master's Daughter took one look and started adding and adding and adding. And, the ideas were too great, and in keeping with my book, to pass up.

I know your web site should be about the author, but I plan (there's that word again) on breaking with that a bit to start getting people interested in the book. I've learned a lot more programming in the last few weeks that I think I can pull this off and I already know what my opening page will look like, so that's a benefit.

Now, to go home and redo that page and work on the secondary pages. I can always go to the library to do my uploading. Our dial-up is just not reliable enough to do it.

Hope you all had a great holiday. I will start posting more regularly in the New Year.

Young Adult novel, revising critique & never ending revision

2008-12-17T20:59:00.005-05:00

Okay, couldn’t fool you on that last post. Tonight my Middle Grade novel became a Young Adult Novel. I have read the definitive reason on deciding how, The Difference Between Middle Grade & Young Adult, when it is meant for an 11/12 year old age group.

My book does have the subject of child abuse as a part of the story and this will probably put it into a more advanced Middle Grade category. With everything else I am fretting over, including yet another opening, I am not too concerned about this. It's for my agent/editor to decide.

A third draft of my query letter states: "When Alex and his two brothers decide they have had enough, they run away from home with the help of a half man/half black dragon and a deteriorating house fairy. But, that is only the start of Alex’ battle as he must learn to accept help from others and learn what being a friend means." This battle, for Alex, is due to his past neglect and abuse.

Now, if I could just find that perfect opening for my story. I just recently began revising my opening again after entering it in Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent's first paragraph contest. His comments about what an agent use to judge that all important paragraph, opened my eyes to the deficiencies in mine. I'm sure my personal editor will be just soooooo happy.

New Blog Look & More about my Young Adult Novel

2008-12-12T21:01:00.005-05:00

This is my new look for marketing my perpetually "in edit" Young Adult Novel.

I am simplifying the process of updating my web page with 'room to grow' written in. This happens to coincide with the attempt to declutter and simplify my life. Both processes are a bit slow at this point.

A bit about my new banner and my book:

Alex lived a feral life in his home until he and his brothers had enough of it, and with the help of a half black dragon, half fairy man, and a tiny deteriorating fairy, they have gone to live in Yellowwood Forest.

Deep in a neglected area of the forest resides a Moon Tree and five offspring trees, where Alex and his brothers take up residence. Alex must grow to trust others and learn the good from the bad, and learn that being a friend means accepting help from others.

Publisher's Questionnaire

2008-12-10T20:54:00.009-05:00

I do not have a publisher yet, but am thinking seriously about marketing. A wise teacher I had stated to me that things come to you when you are ready for them. And, two days in a row now, blogs that I follow have been about marketing. Yesterday, I filled out my wish list for marketing my book, on Shrinking Violet Promotions. And, today BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency: An Author Questionnaire has a post regarding a publisher’s questionnaire.

I do not have an agent or publisher yet, as I am still in final edit and that is slowed by working on revamping my website, etc, etc. But, I thought the publisher’s questionnaire would be a good exercise. The brain kind--not the hip kind.

· What are the main points about you and/or the book that should be emphasized to the media?

My Middle Grade Fantasy (Yes, folks, it has decided it is DEFINITELY a Middle Grade fantasy) is about a boy has had enough of his life and with the help of two of his brothers, a half black dragon fairy, and a tiny deteriorating fairy he leaves for a new home, where he must grow to trust others and learn that being a friend means accepting help from others.

· Who so you think will buy your book (i.e. your market)?

I hope through word of mouth, and my promoting it to every library and school I can, that the children, approximately sixth grade, themselves will be the biggest instigation in purchasing my book.

· Are there any anniversaries, occasions or events upcoming to which we might tie publicity for your book?

The setting for my book is in a magical part of Yellowwood Forest. There is a real State Forest in Indiana called Yellowwood, but in my part of the forest, there is a grouping of trees that contain folks whose ancestors have walked the land, alongside humans, since the beginning of time. They live a primitive/self-sufficient life and hold with ancient festivals such as having a Beltane Bonfire celebration for the coming growing season and lammas for the harvest. The book actually begins with Imbolc, which is another name for Groundhogs day. Which just happens to be my birthday, and a very cold time of year that was needed to start my novel.

· What was your inspiration for the book?

The three grandsons I have taken into my home, and their struggles are the inspiration for my book. This, and the fact that I have been told that it is often the other students who know what is going on with a child, who is having problems at home, before any adults realize it. This caused me to wonder what I could do to inform children on the issue of abuse, while creating an entertaining story that they would want to read for it's own sake. The abuse is but a small portion of the book, really relegated to a few paragraphs of dialogue.

It is the ensuing struggle of a boy who has been neglected, by his family, and abused and his ensuing struggle to deal with a world he has been kept separate from, that is the heart of this first book in the series.

· What do you hope readers will learn/discover from reading your book?

As I was writing this book, I was having a wonderful time learning all sorts of things that lead to more new things to make the book enjoyable and create a solid world, with a history, for my characters to inhabit. It really wasn't until my "Master's teacher daughter" began helping me with the final edit, that I learned how much information I had snuck into the book. It was all just fun for me, but made the teacher in her jump for joy. She is currently working on a Teacher's guide to go with the book.

There are tie-ins with cave painting, Roma camps, ancient festivals, clothing from the 1700s, winter survival, Native American traditions such as gifting, and it is 9:30 and my brain is shutting down, so I will continue this later, along with the four questions I skipped.

So, good night to all. Dream of your own world to inhabit in your head.

A sample from my Blogger reading list

2008-12-07T18:47:00.005-05:00

My blogger reading list provides me with all sorts of wonderful, informative reading. Today, it gave me even more: confusion, laughs, wonder.

Starting from the top, and mind you I was only reading from the list and not opening the site.

Monty Python: Science Fiction Sketch posted from The Swivet - said it all: “Still funny after all these years!” However, since I can't get movies on my dial-up, I'll never know. Love the banner though.

Slush and Punishment: Fairy Toilets at Editorial Anonymous– had three lines about boy fairies failing to put the toilet seat down. And also a post that started like this:

Robert was a sweet little mutt.
His favorite food was cashew nut.
Eating it had given him a bit of a gut.

Slush and Punishment: Love Potion No. 12 at Editorial Anonymous: Something about children falling in love earlier from television watching and a love-struck bunny.

Okay, I’m just reading the blurbs for these, so decided to go to the site and it is hilarious query letters. A good lesson for all.

Then, Editorial Ass posts “Forget doom and gloom!”
Ahh, an answer to Editorial Anonymous and a return to normalcy.
I forgot to link to this great post: Editorial Ass: just what I wanted to see today. So, here is a Hee-larious story from Moonrat.

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