Characters in My Head

Query, write, query, write, and keep on doing it until something breaks.  Sometimes, I feel as if I'm climbing uphill with no end in sight, as in the summit cannot be seen.  But many climbers before me have reached it, so I must keep going.  Right?  Right.  And of course, write. Because without writing, who am I? It's my very life-blood, the air I breathe. It's what keeps me going and it's what gets me up in the morning.  It's all I think about.  Okay, maybe not all.  However, my mind does drift an awful lot, and when it does, it's mostly conjuring up plots with my current set of characters, or introducing new ones, if necessary. 

My characters are always in my head, aren't yours?

I'm in love with my new novel! Seriously, I am. The best part is, I get to do research! Yay! I adore research. You might wonder why. Simple, aside from reading and writing, learning is another passion of mine.

Ever since I was a kid, I've been drawn to books that taught me something.  I'm not necessarily talking about societal lessons, but things of an historical nature.  Mind you, I don't want to be bogged down by facts that I couldn't understand, either, but I most definitely am fascinated by technical things my characters can teach me, things that are woven into their lives, that interest them, that enlivened them.  Or, simply brought the story to life on the pages and remained with me for days afterwards.  In some cases, for years.

In my first novel, I found myself doing a tremendous amount of research, sometimes for a sentence or two, or several paragraphs, but it was so rewarding.  I'm finding myself in a similar situation with the new one and am so excited! It entails interviewing, too!  What's better than that.

In my book, nothing.

Oh my, it's hard to believe the year's coming to a close.  But it is.  That begs the century old question-have you come up with your New Year's Resolution? No worries, you still have time, and depending on which time zone you reside in, either you've lots or the clock has run out! Rack your brain and either come up with something zany or snappy, something that will be sure to impress your friends and family. Right, forget it, that hasn't worked in the last several years...ah, go with something novel. Right. I mean, write. Yeah, right, I'll write way more than last year. Exactly. That's what I shall do, I shall write.

Write on.

Right.

Happy New Year!

Don't forget to write :)

Right.

 It's official, I ordered my 2015 Writer's Digest Guide to Literary Agents, yesterday. With all of the Holiday shipping, it ought to arrive in the next couple of days, and that's sufficient time for me to get it together in revising my synopsis, go through my query letter, for the umpteenth time, grab my coat and wait for the UPS delivery :)  I'm very excited!

For those of you who missed it last night, the best thing happened on the Internet  at 8 pm EST, and can still be found for your viewing pleasure, if you go to this link:

http://pubtalktv.com/

An awesome group of agents gather to answer your questions, via Twitter, and it's the most fun and informative hour you will spend.  Believe me, it's worth it! They cover a tremendous amount of ground, such as what to put into your query letter vs. a synopsis.  They also address the real meaning of  "we didn't quite connect, but continue looking for an agent," a question posed by me :)  It's an issue a lot of us face, and they're not merely being polite in telling us that.  It's honest encouragement to query on!

Watch! You'll be pleased you did :)

The next airing is January 20th.

Oh look, an interview over at Book Country:

 http://blog.bookcountry.com/member-spotlight-meet-jean-marie-wiesen/#more-2044

How cool is that! My very first interview, ever!  Please go check it out.  Thanks :)

Guess what tomorrow is folks?  Another pitch contest! Yay! Get yer pitches together, and do them, now. Time's a wasting.  Where should you go to attend this madness? Why, #PitchMas. Put it in your search engine, and it shall bring you where you need to be.  It's being hosted by @JessaRusso and @FeakySnucker.  Okay, that last one makes me laugh every time I read it.  Gotta love it.

Here's the link to their Blog w/ all the necessary info for tomorrow's Twitter pitch party:

http://pitchmas.blogspot.com/

I hope to see you there, b/c all kinds of top level agents, editors and publishers will be attending and it's a wonderful opportunity to pitch your completed, polished ms.  Who knows, Santa might even show up?  Hey, it's close to Christmas :)

I'm participating in #PitMad, today, and I'm taking a tiny break. Only a short one, to...I don't know, be here, b/c if I go anywhere else, I might take a nap, and that would be disastrous. So, instead, I shall write nonsensical sentences and bore myself to tears. Then, I shall go tear into some delicious treats I purchased the other day prior to sending out the next Tweet. After that, I shall attempt to walk my pups, take along my prepared Tweets and hope that they make it to the cyber sphere.

Alas, 'tis time for another Tweet!