Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Post: Wait A Second--This Isn't Monday?


An apology is in order. If you came by yesterday and was disappointed by the lack of my usual Monday post, well, I hope you didn't mind too much. Being sick is not fun. I'll just leave it at that. In fact, I have little memory of what went on yesterday. Maybe that's a good thing.

I do remember WriteOnCon, however, and man! What an awesome experience! All the social interaction of a writer's conference without the travel, lodging, and other general expenses. The only complaint I have is that it's HUGE! There were so many awesome writers there that it was virtually impossible (that's punny!) to look at even a quarter of what people posted (at least for me and my limited internet use). There's an ocean of talent and hard work out there. I commend you all!

What I took from WriteOnCon:

Read your market--as much as you can.
Make sure your MS is FINISHED before you query.
If you have no web presence, start a blog or site NOW!
Don't stress. It might take ten novels to get there.
Be careful what you post. Agents are watching ...
Never. Never. Never. Never EVER give up!

(That's right, Fievel. I said it!)

(I love that movie). Now, I'm not going to lie. My jaw dropped when I logged in. Maybe it had something to do with mingling among the awesomeness of WriteOnCon or some other cosmic force at work, but this little corner of the internet has SIXTEEN NEW MEMBERS to recognize!

 Let's hear it for this weeks Shout-Outs!

Increase some traffic for these bloggers!

In case you're wondering, the answer is yes--if one more terrific blogger decides this blog is cool enough to follow, and does so, I will host an awesome 200 MEMBER GIVEAWAY (similar to my first giveaway)! Go out and spread the word. Why? Because we all like free books!

Thank you for your continuing followship and support!

Update: I fear I may not have sent out my best query for Woven. Luckily, it was a small batch and not dozens. Still, I'll never know if I blew my chance with those I received rejections from (and I'm happy with every one of them). When I finish my next WiP, I'll definitely query them again. For those of you who helped tear at my query for all it's worth at WriteOnCon, I thank you! Speaking of WiP, I started my first stab at MG over the weekend. Looking good so far, for a primer coat. I'd shed more tasty details when the time is right (hint).

Have a great week, my friends! Dream on, think on, write on! Look for a new Aspiring Advice post this Thursday (unless I get sick again--let's hope not).

I'm David, and where can I find a good menu?

*Edit* Look for a giveaway post tomorrow!

And I'm going to be a Campaigner this year, hosted by Rachael Harrie. Looking forward to meeting others! If you want to do the same, check out this campaign!


(Excited!)

44 comments:

  1. So the bottom line is just write and edit and learn and interact, I guess.

    Hmmm. I guess I can do that. =D

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  2. I always enjoy reading your posts, David. Thanks for making me laugh again. Oh, and I learned all the same things you did at WriteOnCon. It was a blast!

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  3. I've been sick too. No fun. Glad you're posting and feeling better. WriteOnCon was truly awesome. It really was huge, but so helpful! I'm excited to have you hit 200 followers! YAY for you and YAY for a giveaway! *cheers*

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  4. Hey thanks so much for the Shout-Out! What an honor!

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  5. Everyone sends out a dud query letter. That's why it was incredibly smart of you to only send it out to a handful of agents. Keep moving forward!

    Also you stink for leaving two clues about that MG wip. Unless ID is the initials of the title and not the actual title....

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  6. Hope you're feeling better. And a Fievel reference never hurts either;)

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  7. Thanks for the shout-out! Much appreciated. Hope you're feeling better. Great blog, by the way :)

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  8. I'm so sorry you were sick yesterday. =( I hate being sick. I totally missed WriteOnCon this year. I'm going to have to hop over and see what happened. =)

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  9. Thanks so much for the shout-out, David! You rock! You got an awesome blog here. I am following your blog but missed it cuz I don't receive it via email.

    Can you possibly add an email notification option so people like me can read via email? I did a blogpost on how to add here: http://martzbookz.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-add-email-notifications-to.html
    And yes, WriteOn Con was great!!
    Hop you feel better soon!

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  10. You must be feeling better if you're making puns and thinking about food (even if it's only writing about food)! Thanks for the shout out.

    I felt like I "wasted" my first batch of queries (in spite of several partial and full requests in that round), too, but honestly not only did the query need work, the manuscript did too.

    Both have changed so much that I would have no qualms going back and re-querying those agents at this point, 2 years later.

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  11. I thought WriteOnCon was great too! Good luck with your queries.

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  12. Donna, Carolyn, Mark, Abby - Thank you. I was lucky enough to get over it quickly. Now I'm ready to hit the pages again!

    Christine, Jess - You're welcome! :)

    Steph - No. ID is not a clue...at all... (it's my way of saying "In Development"). The tasty part is a solid clue, though.

    Good idea, Martha, and you're welcome! I'll do just that. Thank you.

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  13. You SO did the 200! plus! Congrats!
    WriteOnCon was awesome even though I was only able to attend half of what I would have liked to. I'll have to go back and read the rest.
    Best of luck to you David!

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  14. Angelica - I might just have to do that, too, all things depending. Your encouragement and comments are appreciated!

    kmckendry - Yes is was. Have I not looked at anything of yours yet? I better check.

    Shelly - Oh wow! That was fast! Now to set up a contest post. Thank you very much! :)

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  15. That was quick. I almost thought I didn't see the email notification last visit until I read ur comment. Thanks. I'm all signed up now:)

    Happy writing!

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  16. Good to know you're up and about again. Hope the new WiP continues to go well.

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  17. Hey, David! Thanks for the shout-out! I see we have some friends in common. Way cool.

    WriteOnCon was amazing! And congrats on starting MG. I love writing for that age range!

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  18. We were trying to cram too much summer fun into the last few days before school started, so I had to miss WriteOnCon! I still need to get over there and try to find out as much of what I missed as I can. Thanks for the recap!

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  19. Thanks again for the shout-out. It's an honor.

    I hope you're feeling better now. I've discovered lately that preparing a query is more challenging than penning a whole book, or is it just me? I'm writing like crazy these days and it becomes difficult to read all the great available material online. I like your blog. You are a legend to have over 200 followers.

    And thanks for following me as well.

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  20. Good post, and thanks for the new links. I know some of them, but made some nice discoveries. Sorry you were sick, but glad you are better now. I always enjoy your posts!

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  21. I'm glad you're feeling better, and that post was chock full of good advice. Wish I'd known about WriteOn, but I missed that one. And so true about being careful what you post. I'm afraid I've violated that a few times. I've also sent off several queries that were disaster. Just can't write a good query to save my manuscript.

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  22. Best of luck on your query road David. You shall have amazing success I'm sure.

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  23. David, so glad you're feelng better. Steph mistaking Id for your title has just given me an idea...

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  24. Glad you are feeling better. I, too, was overwhelmed by WriteOnCon. Would've read every single book on there. :)

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  25. I'm in your YA campaign group, so I'm stopping by to say hi!

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  26. Glad your feeling better, and that you received so much help at WriteOnCon. I'm still trying to get through all the awesome stuff I missed on it.

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  27. Stopping over through the campaign. Glad you attended writeoncon. It's great!

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  28. Just saying "hi" to all of the members of the YA group I joined in the campaign.

    Hi :D

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  29. Thanks for sharing some of what you experienced with WriteOnCon, and for the links. I hope you're feeling better!

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  30. "Be careful what you post" -- good to remember!! And, I'm campaigning with ya, yay! :)

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  31. Awe, thanks for the shout out. Dang, now I need to get on top of my blogging. I've had so much to do since the conference. Haha!

    Thanks again!

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  32. Hello from a fellow campaigner. I loved Write On Con, but I'm still trying to get through all the information. So awesome. Pleasure to 'meet' you :-)

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  33. Another campaigner here! Nice to meet ya! (And google is making my life difficult at the moment--I'm Meradeth from the group!)

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  34. Awesome, awesome. I love shout-outs! Thanks you for including me.

    Big <3
    Kelley :)

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  35. That was my favorite movie too! I'm a fellow campaigner. Looking forward to reachinig out and meeting new bloggers.

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  36. I was over on WriteCon too :)I haven't finished reading through everything, but it's been a great experience!

    I enjoyed your post :)

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  37. Just dropping by to say hi and to follow. I'm in your fantasy group on the Campaign! Really looking forward to diving in ...

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  38. Hi David, I'm in the SF campaign group -- looking forward to getting to know you these next couple of months!

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  39. Beautiful images on this blog of yours. :)

    I'm dropping by from your Fantasy 3 group on the Campaign. Already I'm inspired by all the fantasy authors I've "met" so far! You guys are quite amazing.

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  40. dropping in to say hi to fellow campaigner and press all the appropiate buttons!

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  41. Hey I'm in your fantasy group and thought I would take a boo at your blog. Very nice and easy to read. :) Hope to see you around the fantasy water cooler. :)

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  42. Thanks for the shout out ;)

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  43. Hi David, Thanks for stopping by. Nice to meet you!

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