The journey toward publication: 5/9/10

Thursday, May 13, 2010

News....

Hello world,

It's been awhile. This is a pic of my dog Kita when she was a baby. If you look close you can see the mischieviousness in her eyes. She's still a baby, but a lot bigger now.

I've joined a writer's critique group, in the hopes that I'll learn even more about writing. . . and maybe get to the point where my manuscript gets more than a rejection from agents or partials. I'm not submitting anymore at the moment. I found a publisher who will take full manuscripts to read, so I've sent mine in, and am now doing the waiting game.

My apple trees are flourishing, leaving and blooming - they are happy in their new home. If you want to know what that's about, you have to dig into my archives of postings.

At the moment I am in human experiment mode. Trying out web remedies for teeny ailments that are creeping into my body. At the moment, I'm experimenting with toe fungus and Vicks Vapor Rub. It seems to be working. Read the ingredients before you ever rub it on your child's skin.

I'm twenty pages into book two, and am now attached to it. Don't know where it's going yet...how close is that to child rearing? This book is more of a challenge, not so much humour as the first, and there is a war of my mind wit to see where I might end up.

I've got a new interview coming up, and I'm really excited. I'm interviewing Liz Kales, author of Destiny's Weave. She's my neighbour, a very refined silver haired vixen, and I get to meet with her in person.

I've met some terrific people in the writing field, authors working toward publication and some who have been published. I swear some of them never sleep. They are too busy writing, promoting, giving of their time to other authors, blogging, networking, and doing a gazillion things to make it in today's world of book-selling. If nothing else, I am learning so much about the passion, dedication, commitment, emotional rollercoastering, hard work, and love that goes into creating a book. I'm hoping I can begin to show some of that in the interviews that I do. I'm starting to realize that authors don't sleep much, and when they do, they dream of writing, they dream of creating that book that will hold you captive, entertain you, make you laugh, cry, react, want to turn the page.

Cheers to all the writers I have met and that I am meeting. Thank you for letting me walk among you.

manuscript reader comments and critiques

I was hooked on this book from page one. The author tackles some heavy issues with the right mix of tenderness, irony and laugh out loud humour. The main character is someone you want to know - intelligent, witty, strong and imperfect. Witnessing her struggles and triumphs leave the reader at times cringing with embarrassment, cheering with joy and ultimately feeling rejuvenated and hopeful. A terrific read for anyone who relishes some absorbing alone time and loves to root for the dark horse. Jen K.
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What a fabulous book! It is a hilarious and captivating read. The main character is so wild and unpredictable one cannot wait to find out what she will do next, either on purpose or accidentally. The personalities of each character are well developed... and I could picture each one. The unexpected twist at the end was very clever and everything came together quite beautifully. Just enough romance to make it interesting without overpowering the theme. The animals added much to the humor and the characters who own them. Very, very well done. I think the audience for this book will be quite wide and enjoyed by many. This book MUST get published. I hope it is the first of many. Go Lisa!!

Once I got to the middle I couldn't stay away from it. I actually got grumpy when other things got in the way. I really enjoyed it. Do you have doubleday's number?? Donna R.

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Okay, I have to tell you right off that I loved it, Lisa. I genuinely mean that. I honestly sat with an overwhelming feeling of something almost spiritual after I finished it....it was like I could almost feel …{ ***}(as crazy as that sounds)… It was beautiful.I think this book should be on the "Required Reading List" for new therapists. I learned a lot just in the session with the "good shrink" (an oxymoron?) alone. I laughed out loud when you wrote about how shrinks should be called {***}...hilarious. I loved the {***}thing. Powerful stuff reading about how …{***}.The book has a good flow to it, you segue so beautifully. We see Danny metamorphose from…{***}. And throughout the entire process of that character development you make the reader fall more and more in love with Danny with your use of humour. The {***}…was powerful for me. I'll remember that metaphor for the rest of my life. I'm finding it hard to explain the feelings I was left with after finishing the book....a sense of possibility, hope....that it's okay to let go of certain people and situations in our lives if they are no longer working for us. To find humour in even the darkest times...that if we just open our eyes to it we'll see that there is no such thing as coincidence, that everything happens for a reason. Thank you for writing this, Lisa. I'm proud of you beyond words.Now let's get the {bleep} published. Dianne G.