The Bouncy Castle

[jvc]

Originally Posted by MJWare

Wow, so much good news around here--especially Judies!

I have a bit of good news myself: I just sold my 2,000th book this month. I lowered two of 'em to 99 cents, but still, that's my best month ever (though I don't expect to sell that many next month).

Wow, that is really good going. Big well done.

[Smish]

Congrats, Mike!

[MsJudy]

Thanks, everybody. Signed the agreement on Monday and mailed it back. Now I'm working on getting new versions of Word installed on my son's computers so I can use them for work when my Power Mac dies, which it is trying very hard to do. And filing my taxes, and the FAFSA for my college-bound son, and all that stuff that will get in the way of the revisions if I don't take care of it now.

Here's the query for the book:

Twelve-year-old Charlotte Pilchard isn’t really a Pilchard at all. She’s a changeling, the daughter of a selky, left to be raised by humans. Her mother’s parting words--Be good, my darling, and always do as you are told--have bound her to a life of obedience.

When the Pilchards send her into service as a housemaid, Charlotte learns just how dangerous obedience can be. Feldspar Hall is a lonely, cursed place, its owner an old woman crippled by rheumatism and tortured by dark secrets from her past. Mr. Winthrop, the heir to the estate, is tired of waiting for her to die. He has a plan to speed her on her way, using Charlotte as his accomplice.

His orders are like a chain dragging Charlotte step by step closer to murder. The harder she resists, the more she finds herself caught in his trap. Her own life will end on the gallows if she can’t find a way to free herself.

CHARLOTTE PILCHARD is a 45,000 word Gothic Victorian fantasy for middle grade readers.

***

I guess Phil didn't see his shadow, so here's hoping you snowbound folks are in for some relief! Santa Cruz temps are dropping fast today, so... maybe groundhogs don't work around here.

[Smish]

Magazines and agencies and publishers sometimes ask you to include a resume. What do you guys include in yours? Because I'm pretty sure they don't want my multi-page professional resume...

[SheilaJG]

Judy - sounds thrilling! I told my agent about our connection, and she had read your book and loved it too. I called you my critique guru. I said to call you a partner would be wrong, since you've helped me so much more than I've helped you!

Smish - include all those non-writerly accomplishments, they're impressive! And, honestly, everyone has to start building their writing resume somewhere. In the end, the writing does the selling. Good luck. I'm so thrilled you're submitting something! Yay! Smish is writing!

[Smish]

Well, I'm considering submitting something.

Thanks.

[jvc]

Originally Posted by Smish

Well, I'm considering submitting something.

You can do it, I believe in you.

[Smish]

Thanks, dragon.

[DanielaTorre]

Seriously good news everywhere. I hope 2013 will be my year to shine one way or another. Not necessarily writing. I have BIG life altering decisions to make though. My current WIP is one and an education/career decision is another. I hope I have as much luck on both fronts as you guys. Congratulations to all.

[DavidBrett]

I got my first request for a full on Friday night... Only to discover, to my horror, that my USB stick was left at the work program offices I use every week.

I dearly hope it's still there. We shall see tomorrow morning. *fingers crossed*

Dave

[DanielaTorre]

Originally Posted by DavidBrett

I got my first request for a full on Friday night... Only to discover, to my horror, that my USB stick was left at the work program offices I use every week.

I dearly hope it's still there. We shall see tomorrow morning. *fingers crossed*

Dave

Is your ms on a usb stick? You should use a cloud drive like Dropbox where you can access, edit, share, and save your files from any computer. It's free and invaluable for a lot of writers. If you're interested, it's www.dropbox.com

Congrats on the full. It's a great story.

[jvc]

Originally Posted by DanielaTorre

Seriously good news everywhere. I hope 2013 will be my year to shine one way or another. Not necessarily writing. I have BIG life altering decisions to make though. My current WIP is one and an education/career decision is another. I hope I have as much luck on both fronts as you guys. Congratulations to all.

Good luck on your big life altering decisions.

Originally Posted by DavidBrett

I got my first request for a full on Friday night... Only to discover, to my horror, that my USB stick was left at the work program offices I use every week.

I dearly hope it's still there. We shall see tomorrow morning. *fingers crossed*

Dave

Congrats on the request for a full, and fingers crossed that the stick will still be there when you go into work.

[Smish]

You can do it, Daniela!

Congrats, Dave!

[DavidBrett]

Yeah, so the bad news is the USB stick wasn't there

Good news is the agent was VERY sympathetic once I explained the delay, and is giving me as much time as I need to reconstruct the finished draft. Its gonna take a few days, but what the hell.

Look at it this way: its one more chance to improve the final draft from 'great' (Daniella's words, not mine ) to AWESOME.

Wish me luck, patience and whatnot!

Dave

[Laura J]

Good luck Dave. You can do it. Too bad you hadn't sent it to Ben yet. I use my other email as a cloud and send it to myself. I also have a friend I send it to, just in case.

Good luck. Keep us posted. And Ben still wants to read. He asked about you the other day.

[Smish]

Hugs, Dave.

[Britwriter]

Oh gosh, I"m sorry, Dave.

The good news is that I bet your edits will be even better as you do them second time round.

Note to all of us, back up your hard drive, every time you do any major work or edit!

[SheilaJG]

That's terrible, Dave. I'm so sorry you have to redo all that work. I hope Britwriter is right, that this makes it even better!

[Smish]

So, I started a diet two weeks ago, and have already lost eight pounds! But I was kind of bad at lunch today. Everyone went out for Mexican - which is my favorite. I managed to avoid the chip basket, the cheese dip, and the rice. I ordered vegetarian fajitas and just ate the vegetables with a some salsa poured over them - no tortillas. But I did eat a little bit of the refried beans with cheese. I'm disappointed in myself.

[sissybaby]

Smish - don't be disappointed. Sounds like you did great.

I recently had surgery and have yet ANOTHER health issue which demands I adhere to a new way of eating. No fruits, no caffeine, no cheese, no preservatives, no condiments, and especially no tomatoes.

This is gonna kill me. I'm a huge fan of fruits and especially tomatoes. Probably half of my recipes include tomato in some form. Last night I made chili and watched the family eat it - with sour cream and cheese, of course - while I ate a baked sweet potato. Not that I don't love sweet potatoes, but it was difficult.

The worst part is, I need to lose weight, and this diet isn't going to help me do that in any way. So I'm going to have all kinds of cravings and still gain. Doesn't quite seem fair.

So, anyway, that's enough of that. Hang in there, Smish. Giving up coca-cola was something I thought would be impossible, but now I don't even miss it, and it's only been three weeks.

[Smish]

Awwww. Sorry to hear that sissy. Is this a temporary change in your diet? Or permanant? It does sound very limiting. And it's very sad that you still have to cook your favorite foods for other people but can't eat it yourself.

[DavidBrett]

Thanks, everyone, for the condolences and words of encouragement. You're all awesome, and it means the world to me

Originally Posted by Laura J

Good luck Dave. You can do it. Too bad you hadn't sent it to Ben yet. I use my other email as a cloud and send it to myself. I also have a friend I send it to, just in case.

Good luck. Keep us posted. And Ben still wants to read. He asked about you the other day.

Really? He wants to read it AGAIN? Because, apart from a few tweaks and the addition of casefiles, it's only line edited. No massive change...

If he really wants to, I'll send you a copy when it's finished.

Originally Posted by Britwriter

Oh gosh, I"m sorry, Dave.

The good news is that I bet your edits will be even better as you do them second time round.

I hope so - it sure feels that way so far! So much glaringly obvious additions I otherwise wouldn't have thought to include (example, the description I posted in Line of the Day), and it's a LOT of fun to go back and improve it.

Best of luck and well wishes sissy and Smish! I could never go on a diet, I know I haven't the willpower for it. I'm just dreading the day my fast metabolism finally slows down and my crazy eating habits kick me in the pants >_<

[Laura J]

Originally Posted by DavidBrett

Thanks, everyone, for the condolences and words of encouragement. You're all awesome, and it means the world to me



Really? He wants to read it AGAIN? Because, apart from a few tweaks and the addition of casefiles, it's only line edited. No massive change...

If he really wants to, I'll send you a copy when it's finished.

Yeah, wait then. Better yet, send him a published copy!! He will read the next in the series whenever you are ready.

[Britwriter]

Dave - sounds like the re-editing is working for you. I'm so pleased.

I've found in the past that I've suddenly opened the wrong document and am editing an older version of a WIP, and only realize after I've done some significant work on it. When I then compare the two documents, they may be a little different, but both are good in different ways. Sometimes editing for a second time produces a better edit.

I tend to have 157 versions of each ms saved, and occasionally can't remember which was the latest and greatest. It's all a process, so no writing is wasted.

Thank goodness for cut & paste, and save as. These things are the writer's friends.

[sissybaby]

Haven't queried in so long I'd forgotten how much I hate waiting for something to show up in my inbox. (sigh)