Call for Submissions: Hero Series

Literary Cottage is compiling a new anthology series for Adams Media featuring uplifting, original, true stories about the experiences and relationships that inspired and enriched our lives, namely those with our mothers, our fathers, and our teachers (also mother figures, father figures, and mentors).

Each Hero anthology will include a balanced mix of true stories of varied themes, such as:

• Extraordinary achievements and experiences of real life, ordinary teachers, mothers, and fathers.
• True life-changing, life-affirming, or life-defining experiences and relationships.
• Epiphany, synchronicity, serendipity.
• Finding/giving comfort in difficult times.
• Triumph over tragedy; overcoming adversity or challenges.
• Life’s blessings and miracles, big and small.
• Finding the silver lining in a dark cloud; turning lemons into lemonade.
• Relationships and experiences that bring hope, understanding, healing.
• Catalysts for and examples of positive change; acts of kindness and compassion.

LENGTH: 850 - 1200 words
PAYMENT: $100 per story (one per volume), plus a copy of the book; also 3 top story prizes: $100, $75, and $50, plus a free copy of the book
RIGHTS: Anthology, archival (data storage/retrieval), promotional use, and serial rights

Please carefully review all of the Hero Series Guidelines. Sample stories are also available.
Email submissions with Word attachment preferred.

My Mom Is My Hero

Being a mother can be the most difficult and important job in the world, one that often brings conflict but also brings many untold rewards. For this anthology in which we honor real-life mothers, we seek inspiring true, personal stories that speak to the challenges, positive experiences, and extraordinary relationships between mothers and their children (mothers of all ages and their adult children, i.e., grandmothers count).

DEADLINE: December 15, 2007

My Dad Is My Hero

This anthology celebrating the powerful bond between fathers and children will feature inspiring true stories that reveal the extraordinary impact fathers (or father figures) have on their children. We want stories that portray fathers as heroes in their children’s eyes, as companions, helpers, messengers, healers, teachers, and inspirational forces in people’s lives, as well as stories about the incredible, and the simple, yet vital, things that fathers (or father figures) do out of love for their children.

DEADLINE: February 28, 2008

Should I send five manuscripts to an agent?

While I was away last summer I wrote five picture book manuscripts. Now that I have made some revisions, I think they are ready to send out. Would it be better to send all five to a literary agent? Or should I submit one at a time?

Wow, your summer was way more productive than mine!

The first question you should ask yourself is: do I really need an agent? In his article, Agents for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Harold Underdown provides an excellent analysis of the agent question for children’s writers. He says:

If you will only be happy if your first book is published by a famous publisher such as HarperCollins or Random House or Simon & Schuster, then you need an agent or the ability to network and find ways to meet or contact editors at those houses. Otherwise, you need to look to smaller publishers and plan to get an agent later, if ever.

Whether you submit to agents or editors, most prefer that you submit one manuscript at a time, unless their guidelines say otherwise. I have seen a few agent and/or publisher listings that say you can submit “up to 3-5 picture book manuscripts” in one submission.

Since you have five stories, I think it’s a good idea to submit to both agents and editors at the same time. Submit some of the stories to agents and some to publishers. The submission process is long and tedious, so you need to make your submissions process as productive as possible.

You might also find my article helpful, The Elephant in the Room: Marketing Your Children’s Manuscript.

How do authors get online interviews?

I am a children’s author and illustrator. My first book was published this year but I’m having a hard time finding book reviewers and author interviews. I have read dozens of interviews with children’s authors online. I’m wondering how I can get interviewed – or just get my book reviewed. Do you have any suggestions?

Do your research and ask for reviews and interviews.

I have compiled a list of more than twenty-five Children’s Book Reviewers, which is posted at Writing World. (Please note, Readers Room is not currently publishing new reviews.)

If you’re a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), go to their web site and download the free “Guide to Children’s Book Reviewers.” The guide lists individuals and publications that review children’s books, along with information on how and what to submit.

Author interviews are more difficult to obtain and will require more research on your part. You can start by doing a Google search for “children’s author interviews”. Look for web sites that publish interviews with children’s authors and send an email requesting an interview.

For example, Absolute Write and author Cynthia Leitich Smith have published several author interviews. Members of SCBWI have access to online discussion boards where they can post requests for interviews.

Many bloggers, myself included, do author interviews. There again, you need to surf the internet searching for author interviews on blogs, then email the blogger and request an interview. Search for blogs that feature interviews with authors who write books similar to yours, or in your genre.

Better yet, start your own blog. Begin with an interview with yourself – just for practice. You probably have friends with blogs, offer to do an interview exchange, or a guest blog. The possibilities are endless!

TV sucks? Don’t blame the writers

I’m not a member of the WGA, so technically I am not on strike. But I am a writer — a poorly paid one at that. And last week seemed like the perfect time to take a vacation in support of the writers’ strike. So I did.

I know. I know. You just dropped 5 grand for a 50-inch plasma and now there’s nothing on the damn thing. So before you go blaming the writers, please take a few minutes to understand the issues behind the strike.

Here’s the opening salvo from an article that I think best explains the reasons behind the strike. Yeah it’s all about money – but it’s really all about writers being able to make a decent living anymore.

Message to Hollywood: We Write — You Wrong
By Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

I’d like to thank my friends here at Absolute Write for allowing this reluctant revolutionary the opportunity to attempt an explanation of the Writer’s Guild of America 2007 strike as best I can. For those of you who are our audience — the people whom William Goldman once accurately termed The Ultimate Critics — you need to know this because the outcome will affect your life in ways that are different but no less profound than it will affect the lives of me, my friends, and our fellow screenwriters, as well as everyone else who works in our business …

Please click through and read the entire article to understand exactly how the entertainment industry uses and abuses writers.

You can keep up on what’s happening behind the scenes – what the MSM won’t tell you about – at the striking writers’ blogs:

United Hollywood

Deadline Hollywood

Strikepoint — East coast writers

You can also sign an online petition in support of the WGA – click here.

Even if you’re still really PO’d about the strike, sign the petition anyway. You get to send a comment with your name so you can seize the opportunity to get all that anger off your chest. Writers get heaped with blame and criticism all the time. We can take it.

In the meantime, watch hockey. Or turn off your TV and read a book.

A Cuppa Joe

 

Joe O’Connell has been a long-term member of my online writers’ group, The Write List. As with many of my cyber-friends, I haven’t had much chance to get to know him beyond his postings to the list. Then I read and reviewed his new novel, Evacuation Plan and it just knocked me out. So I HAD to get to know Joe better. He was nice enough to agree to an interview – especially since I didn’t even really ask – I just emailed the questions to him. And I’m nice enough to share that interview with you.

Me: I love movies so I envy your job as a columnist about the film industry for The Austin Chronicle and Dallas Morning News. In many ways, Evacuation Plan reminded me of the hit movie, Crash. How has film influenced your writing?

Joe: I think film is really the literature of our era. If Shakespeare were around today, he’d probably be writing teen comedies. So, I don’t think there’s any escaping that. The result is much of today’s literature is very cinematic. That said, the big influence for the form of Evacuation Plan – the stories within a story – is the wonderful writer Tim O’Brien, and in particular his novel July, July, which tells of students reuniting at a college reunion. The story veers off to tell the important stories of what happened to individual characters since college. That’s sort of what I was after with this form. I wanted to understand what personal baggage steered these people – the dying, their children, the nurses who care for them – to a hospice, this place of last things. I’m in Austin, Texas, where the film industry has been championed by independent director Richard Linklater, who some people say I even look a bit like (though I’m about a foot taller!), and I do think his films like Slacker and Waking Life are a bit of an influence.

Me: You also teach writing to grad students at St. Edward’s University and to undergrads at Austin Community College. I’ve done a little teaching myself – mostly online workshops – and it’s a difficult job. Mainly because of the variety of skill levels that come together in one class. How do you accommodate that with your students? 

Joe: Teaching is an odd thing. It’s sort of like walking onto a stage. You’ve got to create this safe, fun environment for learning. I was thrown into it without any preparation during my last year completing an MFA in creative writing at Southwest Texas State University. I was scared to death! But I discovered I love working with students, particularly what I call the “mutts”— students  who have failed before somewhere down the line, but who used that failure to make themselves stronger. Does that make sense? A famous poet came and spoke to my classmates during grad school and one student asked him what he thought our chances for success as writers were. His response was that we were already failures. He weren’t in the famed University of Iowa writing program where agents come and woo you. We were in San Marcos, Texas, studying with some fine writers (Tim O’Brien teaches there now, but came after my time there and I’ve never met him). So the poet meant we started out as Mutts ourselves. We were going to have to fight every step of the way. It was a call to challenge.

OK, I don’t know if I’m really answering your question. I’ll try to do better! In grad school I worked long distance with Andre Dubus, one of the best American short story writers ever. I was taken with how generous he was with students while still being very honest about the work. I try to do that. The idea is for each student to improve during the semester. I believe a lot in the workshop process, and I think the key is to create that safe environment. So far none of my workshops has gotten toxic, which I saw happen once in grad school, where people were making personal attacks or critiquing the choice of subject matter instead of how it’s executed.

Me: What’s your favorite writing exercise?

Joe: Most of my best writing exercises are stolen, and I usually don’t remember where I got them. Here’s a good one for being visual: Imagine you are in your car with the windows up and the stereo up full blast. Outside your window you see two people arguing. You can see their mouths moving, but you can’t tell what they were saying. SHOW that scene.

Me: Your book, Evacuation Plan touched me deeply. My own experience with hospice happened in 1985, when I was hospitalized with Lyme disease. At first the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with me (or if I was contagious) so they tucked me away in a far corner of the hospital right next to the hospice wing. I guess they didn’t care if I infected those patients. Anyway, once they determined I wasn’t contagious, I was allowed to roam the halls so I visited the hospice patients. The staff discouraged that because they thought it would depress me. But it was just the opposite. The people I met inspired me and gave me a renewed outlook on my own life. Evacuation Plan brought that experience back to me and I remain struck by the similarities between my experience and Matt’s (the main character). Hospice truly is the intersection of life and death and your portrayal of that is stunning. Please share with us how you came to write this unique book.

Joe: Peggy, your story is wonderful! You are the type of person I wrote this book for. Back in 2001, I was working on a mystery novel set in this odd sort of halfway house. Then I saw an ad asking for writers and artists to spend time with the terminally ill at Hospice Austin’s Christopher House and tell these people’s stories. The experience was eye-opening. They don’t have time for phony conversations about sports or the weather at the hospice. They live in the moment, because most people at the hospice die within a week of checking in. I became friends with a woman who was the exception. She lived at Christopher House for more than three months, and I got to know her, her wonderful daughter who also moved in there, and her husband. They taught me a lot about life and death, and I saw the power hospice offers people to be in charge of their own ending. It gives people the gift of being able to comfortably say goodbye on their own terms. And there is a hazy line in this place between life and death that, regardless of your religious beliefs, is truly spiritual.

Later my wife lost her 93-year-old grandmother, a feisty woman who we both really cherished. At her bedside as she was in the death rattle, I decided to tell the story of hospice through fiction. During my time at Christopher House I only chickened out once. It was while talking to an older man who reminded me a bit too much of my own late father who, like the character Matt’s dad, died suddenly. I decided that man’s story – or one really inspired by him – would have to be at the backbone of the book as it meandered through the many stories coming to an end in the hospice. I hope I’ve succeeded in being true to the experience. One strange complaint is that there’s not enough actual physical death in the story. As the dying man Charlie Writing says in the book, he won’t know death until he experiences it. Instead I tried to write about the lives that surround this place of death.

Me: Evacuation Plan was just released in August so I know you’re still busy with the promo stuff. Are you working on anything new?  What’s can we look forward to coming next from Joe O’Connell?

Joe: The promotion is crazy stuff. My novel was published by a small literary press, so I really have to do a lot of work myself, and I’m committed to that. I particularly want to encourage book clubs to read Evacuation Plan and discuss this notion of life and death. Anyone interested can drop me a line at: Joeosbooktour@yahoo.com

Right now I’m working to get a series of mystery novels out in the world. I’ve had a lot of encouragement on the first in the series, Dreadful Selfish Crime – you might have seen I had a character in Evacuation Plan reading it! Now I’m completing the second book. It’s all a juggling act, but I just keep in mind what Andre Dubus said to me: “It’s a tough job, but we volunteered for this mission.”

Me: OMG, we did, didn’t we? The definition of insanity. Let me also add my encouragement to book clubs out there. Evacuation Plan is the perfect choice because the possibilities for discussion are endless. This is a book you want to talk about and share with others.

Thanks for your openness and insight, Joe. I think it would be a gas to be a mouse in the corner in your writing class.

Joe O’Connell’s blog

Read my review of Evacuation Plan

Do you have any tips for dealing with writer’s block?

I am in the process of writing a middle grade novel. I got about halfway through it while my kids were in school last year. But then I didn’t have much time to work on it over the summer. I was hoping that I could finish it when they went back to school but I’m having trouble getting back into it. I’m afraid I have writer’s block. Do you have any tips for dealing with this dilemma?

I have always felt that writers who are also moms have a particularly hard time staying focused. Mainly because I am a mom, a grand-mom, and a writer! Multi-tasking is a big part of our lives. Our work time is fragmented by the demands of changing schedules around us, and umpteen chores and errands. Writing fiction is challenging and time consuming work. Once it took me an entire day to find one right word in the sentence of a picture book manuscript.

Our writing can be too easily pushed aside in the reality of our daily lives. There are many causes for writer’s block. In your case I think you need to find a block of time that works best for you and your family, no matter the season, whether the kids are in school or not. Take Control of Your Time! by Kelle Campbell, is an excellent article for busy moms like you. She outlines effective steps you can take to better manage your time. 

If you don’t have an office space, create one for yourself. Don’t work at the kitchen table. Go to your own space every day at the appointed time and work. If at first you have trouble working on the manuscript, take some time to re-read and edit what you have written so far. Perhaps that will inspire you to continue. Sometimes when a novel writer gets stuck in the middle of a manuscript it can mean she is headed in the wrong direction with one of the characters, or the story itself.

Do some writing exercises that relate to your novel. Write an interview with your main character. Write a chapter-by-chapter synopsis to make sure the plot is going in the right direction.

Family life, illness, or personal problems can take their toll on the writing process. Take stock of your life and health. Maybe there’s a problem you’re not dealing with. Or perhaps you just need a little exercise. A half-hour walk or bike ride can do wonders for breaking writer’s block. If none of the above seems to help, take a class. Writing classes, acting classes, or art classes can all stimulate creativity. Self-hypnosis and meditation are also effective ways of dealing with writer’s block.

David Taylor’s four-part series on Fighting Writer’s Block deals with the causes and solutions to help you break your writer’s block. In her article Writer’s Block: Is It All In Your Head?, Leslie What analyzes the causes and treatments for writer’s block, including good advice from fellow writers.

A new website, Hit Those Keys lets everyone have some fun with writer’s block. This is a user friendly site with useful tips on how to get unblocked and get writing.  Click on “’tips” button under Words for solid suggestions to get you back on track.

Two Natalies = One Talented Author

It should not surprise anyone that an author with two names is the voice of so many interesting characters. And she’s not even a Gemini!

As Natalie R. Collins, she penned the Mormon suspense thrillers, Wives and Sisters and Behind Closed Doors.

As Natalie M. Roberts, she’s the creator of the Jenny T. Partridge Dance Mystery Series, and author of the brand new thriller, Twisted Sister.

Born in Utah and raised as a Mormon (she has since left the church), she rewards her readers with captivating stories and an insider’s views of the cloistered world of Mormonism.

I’ve known Natalie for almost 8 years – though we’ve never met in the flesh – and I’m a big fan of her work and green with envy at her success. But enough about me, let’s go pry into Natalie’s world.

Me: The Jenny T. Partridge Dance Mystery series is laugh out loud reading for romance and mystery lovers alike. Jenny owns a dance academy, which makes for a unique new twist to the cozy mystery genre, with a dash of romance. How did you come up with this winning combination?

Natalie: My daughter dances. A LOT. She is at our studio four to six days a week, which naturally means I am the studio, and for the past six years or so, I have worked for the studio. In this role, I get to see behind the scenes, and BOY is it a crazy world. After watching this for a few years, I decided this character, an eccentric dance teacher with a great sense of humor, was a natural for a mystery. I tied it in with elements that everyone can relate to (if you HAVE children, YOU’VE done a cookie dough fundraiser of some form or another), and voila, the Jenny T. Partridge Dance Mystery Series was born. And let me tell you, I never run out of material. All the dance moms at our studio ask me who the characters portray. I just laugh. I’m not telling!

Me: You also write books under the name of Natalie R. Collins. Wives and Sisters and Behind Closed Doors are page-turning thrillers which have received rave reviews. So what gives with the two pen names? And who are you really?

Natalie: I’ll start with the last question, and then work my way back. I’m a little bit of BOTH. The Natalie R. Collins books are controversial, and set in a culture that does NOT like to be spotlighted, unless you are singing praises about them. Mormonism is big news right now, and being born and raised in this religion, I know all about it. That said, I knew when I tackled the subjects in Wives and Sisters and Behind Closed Doors, that I would really get some anger directed at me. I have not been disappointed. But it taught me something. I really honed my humorous voice, in responding to these angry Mormons. I was determined not to get mad, nasty, and yet to get my point across. I’ve said before that I think all authors should receive hate mail. It really builds character, and you learn to appreciate the good things that are said.

The Natalie R. Collins books came first, and when I sold the Jenny series, my publisher for those did not want me using the name, so I decided to write them under Natalie M. Roberts. Who am I, really? Both!

Me: There’s definitely no dust on your keyboard. You have another book which is not in the Jenny T. Partridge series. Tell us about your latest release, Twisted Sister.

 

Natalie: This book was actually written right after the very first book I ever wrote, Sisterwife (which, by the way, is available as a free download from my Web site). [click on the title] I wrote Twisted Sister featuring the same characters as SW, but moved it away from Utah, and gave it an entirely different theme. I also tackled a very interesting and controversial subject–are women serial killers?–in what I think is a very unique way. For me, this book has never been about the “who” but is more about the “why?”

It’s getting good reviews, including one from Publisher’s Weekly. So I think that overall it stands up, even though I was a rather novice writer when I tackled it.

Me: Hey, tell your publisher to send me a copy and I’ll review that one, too! Your books are set in Utah and the Mormon religion is like a character — at times comical, and other times infuriating — in all your books. How has this “attitude” of yours been viewed upon by the faithful?

Natalie: Well, like I noted above, often not very well. At this point, that really just refers to the St. Martin’s books Wives and Sisters and Behind Closed Doors. In the Jenny books, Mormonism is really just a backdrop, mentioned in passing, explored lightly but humorously. But in the dark suspense thrillers I write, Mormonism has a much more complicated role. I’ve said for years that there are good Mormons and there are bad Mormons, and I believe I spotlight both. In writing about the religion, however, I have managed to anger many people who don’t believe the bad Mormons are “real Mormons.” Even when many of them do bad things IN THE NAME of that religion. There are certain aspects of Mormonism, and certain beliefs, that just SPEAK to a depraved mind. One only has to look at the history books to know this. The belief in blood atonement alone could spin off hundreds of books. It’s a very colorful religion, with a dark and troubled past, and even now those dark moments keep popping up to haunt the members. This rich culture is my heritage. I was born in Utah, raised as a faithful Mormon, and I will continue to explore it. One side of ANY story is not healthy, and everyone should know that. Unfortunately, the angry Mormons who write me often don’t. But I just laugh it off and move on.

Me: What’s coming up next for our new BFF, Jenny Partridge the wacky dance detective? And when for god’s sake?

Natalie: He he. Pointe and Shoot is coming out in May 2008. In my opinion, this is the best of the three books, and I was thrilled to learn that my editor agrees! You watch Jenny mature a bit, and address her budding relationship with hunky Detective Tate Wilson, but the quirky characters keep popping up and trouble is never far away when Jenny is around. In the third book, you get to know more about Jenny’s sidekick and dance mom Marlys, and also visit some more great places in Utah you might never have known about.

Me: Thank you for gracing these lovely Caterpillar pages and sharing a glimpse into the real Natalie. You are a joy to know and to read.

Natalie: Thanks for having me, Peggy! And thanks for all those kind words.

Natalie’s websites –

Natalie R. Collins

Natalie M. Roberts

Jenny T. Partridge 

Natalie’s blogs –

Trapped by Mormons

Murder She Writes 

Read my reviews of Tutu Deadly and Tapped Out right here at Advice from a Caterpillar.

Call for Submissions: Fantasy Anthologies

Title: Bad-A$$ Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad

Premise: Urban Fantasy stories about tough faeries. Basically in professions or with interests that you would least likely expect faeries to be in. For this volume a faerie must
be the antagonist. In other words, both bad-a$$ and bad. This is not to say there can’t be good faeries in the story as well. (for those that aren’t sure what constitutes urban fantasy,
it is a story in a modern setting with fantasy elements).

Word Count: 5,000 - 7,000 words

Payment: One comp copy per author and a pro rata portion of $1.25 each book sold

Deadline: November 30, 2007

Ideas to Avoid:
(Used in first volume) Biker Faeries, mob faeries, detective faeries, ghetto faeries, assassin faeries, ossuary faeries, cowboy faeries, indian faeries, street urchin faeries, Puck, gang faeries

(Submitted for second volume) Nazi elves, world war two faeries, faerie reaper, pirate faeries, heavy metal faeries, faerwolf, corporate raider faeries, repo faerie, evil tooth faerie

Stories We Might Like to See:
bounty-hunter faerie, hocky or rugby player faerie, mercenary faeries, teamster faeries, construction worker faeries, robber faeries/bandit faeries … that kind of thing. And one thing I’d really like to see is a cops-and-robber faeries story.

Keep in mind, though a faerie has to be a bad guy, that doesn’t mean their can’t be good faeries in the story, too.

Title: Cry Havoc - Stories of Conflict Between Men, Monsters, and Machines

Premise (collection is broken into sections): Pure Fantasy (Men vs. Monsters, no tech), Historic Fantasy (any combination of the three, primitive tech, like DiVinci or such), Urban Fantasy (any combination of the three, modern-day tech), Soft Sci Fi (any combination of the three, future projection tech based on current design or theory), and Hard Sci Fi (Men vs. Machines, anything you can imagine, even if the science doesn’t yet support it)

Word Count: 5,000 - 7,000 words

Payment: One comp copy per author and a pro rata portion of $1.00 each book sold

Deadline: November 30, 2007

Submission Guidelines

For more information contact:
Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Editor of Bad-A$$ Faeries
danielle@sidhenadaire.com