Archive for February, 2011
Friday, February 25th, 2011
There’s been some trash talking here about the DFWConnference ShoeCam Grudge-match. You know who (yes, you, Jenni, so don’t even think you can hide) has asked her blog faithful to tell her which shoes will grind my lovelies into the dust and win her the glory. It’s only fair that I beg for your advice in turn.
Don’t leave me unprepared.I’m packed (overpacked, actually), but which shoes should I wear? There are a couple of business-y but not too conservative dresses/dress suits in my bag, a skirt with a two different silk blouses that match, and jeans/leggings to wear with funky T-shirts or a tunics. And we’ll be in Dallas Fort Worth, so no need to worry about dressing for warmth.
So tell me, SAMH readers–Which of these should I wear to smack Jenni down for the grudge-match count???
The dresses are blue/blueish gray, so naturally I’m thinking of wearing this cool brown Nanette Lepores.
Or, my black platform Cole Haan Mary Janes. These have Niki air soles, believe it or not. Definitely conference wearable, regardless of the heel. (more…)
Tags: creativity & inspiration, travels and memories, writing coach, writing craft
Posted in Shoes are My Heroin | 11 Comments »
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
My journey deeper into understanding digital publishing, marketing and promotion ramped to another level this week as Secret Legacy was introduced to the sci-fi/fantasy genre as a featured book on NetGalley.
A site that (from their FAQ page) is a service for people who read and recommend books. Publishers upload their galleys, plus any marketing and promotional information; then invite contacts to view their title on NetGalley. Readers can also find new titles through NetGalley’s Public Catalog, and request to review those titles from the publisher.
“Is this just another way to push books that don’t have a traditional publishing path ?” you say. Browse the Buzz for NetGalley Titles link on their homepage , like I did. Look at the national media tours and blurbs and reviews of the featured books to see the projects that are generating NetGalley buzz. Traditionally marketed or not, it’s pretty impressive stuff.
“But are ‘real’ publishers using NetGalley?” Check out the Browse Catelog by Publisher link and look for the print publisher of your choice. At first glance, I see Avon, Grand Central, HarperCollins, Penquin, and William Morrow, top print publishers, all, amongst digital and eBook pioneers and leaders.
“How is this going to help you establish your series as sci-fi/fantasy?” Under Browse Catalog by Genre, choose Science Fiction & Fantasy. You’ll find Carina Press, Harlequin, Harper Collins, Red Sage (Ooo! Angela Knight, I LOVE her), and, on Page Two, me. There Secret Legacy is, waiting for anyone who loves sci-fi/fantasy to dive into and fall in love with, right next to authors from Hatchette Books, too, and Thomas Nelson, and on and on. Not bad company at all.
To tell us more about what publishers are all about on the site–we have a Dorchester PR specialist with us today, the person who’s worked hard behind the scenes to position my Legacy series on NetGalley.
Everyone, welcome Hannah Wolfson to PIFS– (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, digital promotion, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, gallies, indie publishing, Legacy Series, NetGalley, promotion, reviews, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 10 Comments »
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Jenni’s talking plot today over on her blog. Or, more to the point, she’s sharing how often I have no plot when I first start writing because I spend so much time researching my characters (which you can hear more than you ever wanted to about, in our last month of HoWW posts).
She’s being gentle, pointing her “YOU NEED HELP WITH YOUR STORY, GIRL” finger at me–for now. I suspect that won’t last as we get deeper into things in March. You thought our shoe confrontations got aggressive–just WAIT until we start bantering turning points, and I’m not allowed to use internal character motivation or emotion in my debate…
Seriously, it’s a great post. You should all dive in, contemplate her sage advice and experience, ignore any pot shots she takes at sick little me (cough, cough, sniffle), and come back next Wednesday when I take my revenge turn at the story structure wheel.
Oh, and tomorrow. Come back here tomorrow, when I’ll kick off a Publishing Isn’t For Sissies series on online/digital/viral promotion,beginning with an in depth look at NetGalley, where Dorchester’s just launched their presence, including a feature of my to-be-released-in-May Secret Legacy.
Take a look at the link–Dark Legacy and Secret Legacy are both up there, in all their new sci-fi/fantasy glory, which is really cool, since I’m starting brand new in that genre and we need reviews and industry exposure to draw a whole new segment of readers to my metaphysical/parapsychological/psychic world ;o) Come back tomorrow and the next few Thursdays to hear more.
As for me, I’m taking my coughing self back to bed the rest of this morning, so I’ve got a shot at kicking this flu’s ass before I fly out Friday to teach and network and wear amazing shoes at the DFWcon in Fort Worth. I can’t wait to meet many of you there!
Take it away, Jenni!
Tags: Anna DeStefano, brainstorming, critiquing, digital promotion, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, fiction, fiction writer, Legacy Series, narrative structure, novel, novel structure, plot, plotting, publishing, Secret Legacy, writing, writing articles, writing coach, writing craft, writing resources, writing workshops
Posted in How We Write | 2 Comments »
Monday, February 21st, 2011
You know a few things at the beginning of a challenge.You learn a few more as you immerse yourself in the day-to-day. Like when Brian Boyd in his Waterfalls Book says, “turn at the Days Inn from Clayton,” you better hope the Days Inn is still there, but he’s serious about his landmarks ;o)
The problem with working from a 20-year-old guide book is that some things just are where they used to be. Luckily, the North Georgia Mountains is still enough of a tourist destination certain times of the year, I found my right-hand turn onto “Warwoman” Rd (you better believe I double-checked that name to make sure I wasn’t misreading it), because without the Inn to show me my way I’d have been a bird dog without a scent to track–there’s NO STREET SIGN at the intersection, because it’s a funky little fork off HWY 441 (that perhaps they added FOR the Days Inn), and you don’t really hook up with Warwoman until a few hundred yards further.
Good, I thought, as I and Warwoman got better acquainted, the first challenge was behind me on my way to Becky Branch falls. I’m now on the lookout for the Warwoman Dell Recreation Area, 2.4 miles down the road. 2.4, mind you. And I was tracking that mileage carefully, given that the directions were so exact. Turns out mileage is something Mr. Boyd played a bit more fast and loose with. That .4 can come sooner in some directions, take you further in others. At some point, you have to throw the guide book onto the passenger seat, slow your speed to a crawl and scan the farmland outside your window, often for several passes, until you find the obscure entrance into a local park that everyone who lives there can locate blindfolded. (more…)
Tags: anna's world, Becky Branch Falls, Clayton, creativity & inspiration, Rabun, travels and memories, waterfall
Posted in Waterfall Challenge | 2 Comments »
Saturday, February 19th, 2011
Next week, I’ll be speaking at the DFWcon near Dallas, and Jenni and I are already holding our shoe grudgematch on Twitter. To sum up, here’s this week’s throwdown from my camp ;o) Come on…who do you love more???
Today’s GRW Chapter Meeting “business” shoes:
My “walking around town and critique meeting” shoes choices. Which did I pick? (more…)
Tags: creativity & inspiration, travels and memories, writing coach, writing craft
Posted in Shoes are My Heroin | 7 Comments »
Friday, February 18th, 2011
I dreamed last night…Can’t tell you how many times my husband’s found me trying to wake up over my first can of Diet Coke in the morning, realized I’m more tired than normal, even though chronic insomnia isn’t anything new for me, and heard me say, “I dreamed last night…”
Yeah, now that you ask, my fascination with the dream theory and the metaphysical, parapsychological mysteries I weave my fantasy stories around often find their genesis in early morning, shadowy moments. The mind is an amazing, complicated pain in the ass sometimes, and I can’t help but want to know more. Even when I’m finding it hard to pry my eyelids open on heavy mornings. It’s almost like being hung over, except there was no alcohol involved in this cycle. This circuit, if you will. A dream circuit that replays itself regularly through my valuable sleep patterns, when I actually do find myself sleeping. Damn it ;o)
It’s almost like the dreams have a mind of their own. Almost like they’re in control of the shadows of my sleep, working through the things I need to work out while I’m waking, but I’m not paying close enough attention then because I can distract myself with whatever “physical” things I need to to keep the metaphysical at bay. (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, clairsentience, contemporary fantasy, creativity & inspiration, dream curcit, Dream Theories, dreams, fantasy author, Inception, Legacy Series, lucid dreams, parallel universe, parapsychology, physics, precognition, psychic, psychic children, psychokinesis, Secert Legacy
Posted in Dream Theories, The Psychic Realm | 10 Comments »
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
This week’s Borders bankruptcy restructuring announcement was expected. Dorchester’s financial difficulties–people in the “know” saw a huge change coming, though not necessarily the business model transformation the publisher adopted rather than filing Chapter 11 themselves. Are you saying–Whew! Glad it isn’t me? Are you sure about that?
I’ve been writing this weekly column on my blog regularly for over a month, and the hits each Thursday are rising exponentially as each week passes. Because I’m so witty and relevant? I’m not buying it. The reason, I suspect, is a lot of folks coming to the conclusion I did last fall–that these “signs of the times” are coming for all of us, happening to all of us one way or another, so what the heck are we ALL going to do about it?
I’ve looked back a lot in previous posts, so check them out if you’re interested in my view of what was before and what is “most likely” now. Starting this Thursday, PIFS is going to be focused on the “will bes,” as I race toward the May digital/trade sci-fi/fantasy release that wasn’t even on my radar six months ago.
What should be my (and maybe your) focus in this rapidly changing market?
1) Distribution. How will our books find readers now, with physical bookstores in so much upheaval? (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, Borders Inc., digital promotion, digital publishing, Dorchester Publishing, ebooks, ePublishing, indie publishing, Legacy Series, promotion, trade paperback, Who Dares Wins Publishing, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles
Posted in Publishing Isn't for Sissies | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
We’ve talked a little about analyzing story, a lot about what character growth means, and even more about how to figure out why your characters are doing what they do in key places in your story. So, is that it? You know me better than that. Let’s take a closer look at Jenni’s example from last week’s HoWW Post, think this through a little more, then set things up for a whole new topic starting next week. One of Jenni’s favorite things this time–plot.
But don’t think you ‘ve seen the last of this lovely planning document. It’ll be back sooner than you might expect, especially since we’ve established that character is plot is character is plot. And those of you coming to hear me teach at the DFWCon this month and the Central New York Writers Minicon in March, we’ll play with it even more ;o)
Okay, let’s bullet point some cool features about this type of character analysis that we’d love to get you excited about (I love bullet points, so for those of you who dug the bullets Jenni uses above, you’re my kind of detail freaks):
- Think critique group–you know, the kind of thing Jenni and I were doing when I first showed it to her. Think about the type of digging deeper conversations you’ll have with those helping you with your own stories, with this as a starting point to visualize evolving components of your novel.
- For the first row in Jenni’s table, (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, brainstorming, character growth, characterization, critiquing, fiction, fiction writer, narrative structure, novel, novel structure, plotting, publishing, writing, writing articles, writing coach, writing craft, writing resources, writing workshops
Posted in How We Write | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
I’m not a militant feminist. In my life, with the men–with all people–in my life, I like taking care of them. I like them taking care of me. We take care of each other and respect each other and make sure everyone’s needs are met. We try to spoil and pamper each other as much as we can. And when we can’t we work our butts off together every day to make the harder-fought-for stuff happen.
That said…
It’s crazy how easy it still is for the world not to take women seriously. On a daily basis. Even in the silliest of examples, there remains an obvious inequity between the sexes in this country (and don’t get me started on the rest of the world). The very core of how we think of the masculine and “fairer” sexes still needs to sort itself out.
Chick-fil-a is a prime example. It’s been my son’s favorite restaurant since he was old enough to choose flavor over texture in his hunt for the perfect chicken nugget. They make of the best milkshake on the market. And they offered an amazing promotion this year. Daddy and Daughter Valentines Night, so dads could bring their littlest sweethearts in for some special family time a day or two before he takes mommy out for the big day. Sweet, right?
I guess that left Mommy and Son home that evening eating whatever mom managed to whip up from her Betty Crocker cookbook. (more…)
Tags: creativity & inspiration
Posted in I Hear The Craziest Things | 8 Comments »
Monday, February 14th, 2011
As a fantasy/paranormal reader, what makes you “buy” into a story’s alternate reality? As a fantasy/paranormal writer, how do you earn that commitment from your fans? How do you, like in Book 1 and 2 of my Legacy series (or the movie Inception), take concept like dream theory and spin an alternative world (in my case, a Psychic Realm) out if it that’s so real, a reader could see it as her own?
As for me, let’s start with some of the more obvious techniques I see out there:
1) Cool! Fantasy/paranormal readers crave the cool factor in their entertainment. As a writer, do your research (I have an entire shelf and a full “favorites” browser folder of dream research). If you veer toward sci-fi like Inception and my Legacy series do, understand the science behind the concepts your manipulating as best you can. Then ramp it up several levels.
Go for the new (which I thought I had four years ago when I started writing Dark Legacy). Then we saw Inception last year and I sat through it saying, “Cool!” over and over as the same lucid dreaming techniques and “psychic’s manipulating reality through dreams,” and “dreamers losing control of the physical world because they’re not sure when they’re dreaming or not” concepts I used play out on the screen in an even more vivid way. Go for the cool.
Those of you who saw Inception, (more…)
Tags: Anna DeStefano, contemporary fantasy, creativity & inspiration, Dream Theories, dreams, fantasy author, fantasy readers, Inception, Legacy Series, parapsychology, psychic, Psychic Realm, sci-fi, Secert Legacy, writing articles
Posted in Dream Theories, The Psychic Realm | 2 Comments »
