GraveTell's INDIEpendence Week Blog H0P

As an indie author, I am thrilled to be a part of GraveTell's Indie-pendence Week Blog Hop!

I'm an indie author who published her first novel through a small press. BLEEDING HEARTS: Book One of the Demimonde was released March 2012 through Pink Narcissus Press. I couldn't have asked for a more amazing team—my Lord Editor Rose Mambert, my personal editor Stacy Giufre, my AMAZING copy editor SWEET JOSIE BROWN (capitals are intentional), and the unsurpassed Duncan Eagleson, my cover artist…

Did you notice all the possessiveness there? MY editors, MY artist? That's intentional, too. The folks at Pink Narcissus Press became my book's family from the very start. I am theirs and they are mine.

All those brains and personality and talent crammed into a tidy little publishing house—working with them has completely opened my eyes to the reality and potentials of small press publishing. I am proud to be an Indie-pendant. I'm proud to represent my publisher. I'm even proud to admit I stalked my Lord Editor at a convention and ambushed her in the bathroom so that we'd have a first meeting worth laughing about over cocktails one day. (It's how I roll.)

Anyways, today I wanted to share my origin story. I love origin stories—love them in comic books, love them on True Blood, just flat out love knowing where a body came from. Although I started writing novels right out of the gate—in secret, in snips of time, in Word documents and notebooks and sheets of scrap paper—I didn't become a published novelist right away. Noveling is a long and frustrating and amazing journey. (Writers will smile and nod their heads and know what I mean.)

I often took breaks from noveling to write shorter things like poetry and short stories. Those breaks served so many purposes: by switching gears, I combated writers block. I expressed ideas that didn't fit into my novel WIPs. I expanded on emotions I picked up from the music I love. As a result, I filled even more notebooks.

I couldn't let those words just rot in those notebooks, either. So I figured: might as well see if I can get them published.

We are a long way away from the days when we typed up our submissions, looked up the addresses to magazines and journals, and mailed away our precious work, only to wait weeks—months—before getting any type of response. Uck. That was so...analog. Thank you, Internet, for changing the publishing world as we know it.

Now, those magazines and journals are just a couple of taps on the keyboard away. Many even accept email submissions—and the ones that don't better get on with it before the archaeologists come after them.

One website, however, is deserving of special mention because it became the sharpest tool in my writer's tool chest. This one website became essential in my quest to get my small stuff published.

Duotrope.com.

I love Duotrope. If my memory serves, I first heard mention of them in a writer's group I'd joined on MySpace.  (That should tell you how long I've been using them. :D I haven't seen MySpace in years.)

Duotrope is a free resource for writers that primarily offers an extensive, searchable database of current fiction, poetry, and non-fiction markets—over 4250 current markets at the moment. They also offer a calendar of upcoming deadlines, submissions trackers (for registered users), and some nifty reports compiled from the data they've accumulated.

They have been honored as one of Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers for every year from 2006 through 2012. Also, Preditors & Editors selected them for their Truly Useful Site Award in February 2010.

Duotrope helped me find the folks who actually like my stuff enough to print it. I think I'm closing in on my one hundredth acceptance…I suppose I'll have to go check my submission tracker and get the official count. Some of those markets have since disappeared, some have grown bigger-better-stronger, and some have morphed into different things entirely. One thing for sure—Duotrope.com kept a handle on the sea of literary markets so that I can dip in and fish for new acceptances whenever I have a new offering.

I love the Duotroopers, as their team is known. I want to bake them cookies. However, eating cookies made by someone you only know online is a little creepy at best so instead of being creepy, I support them with donations to keep the site running. I need them to keep running. They do all my research for me. If I lost Duotrope, I'd be losing my entire staff. Almost seriously.

Most of all, I love Duotrope because, when I was putting together a list of novel publishers, I decided—what the heck? Might as well look on Duotrope. Up until then, I'd only used it to get my short stuff published. I hadn't even considered looking for a publisher for BLEEDING HEARTS on Duotrope.

I'm glad I did—because that's how I found Pink Narcissus Press.

And we live happily ever after. :D

Duotrope 's amazing web resources helped me to publish my small stuff while I was working on the big stuff—my novels—and, when the time came to finally sign that first novel contract, I'd become a seasoned, savvy Indie author who knew the joys of indie publishing. I like to think my Lord Editor signed a professional author when she got me. I know that I wouldn't have had that confidence without the experiences I got by perfecting my submissions and publishing my short work.

When you play the game of publishing, every bit of practice counts. Duotrope was an essential avenue that allowed me to make the transition from novice writer to professional indie author.And they helped me round out an impressive bio to boot. Editors love that.

How about YOU? Are you an indie? We indies stick together…so let's get to know each other better. What's your origin story? We want to know...and friends share. :D

Join my Demimonde--follow me here, or on Facebook, or on Twitter--and leave a comment to enter to win a copy of BLEEDING HEARTS, available in Kindle and Nook/epub formats.

(You can also visit THIS POST HERE where I'm hosting a new follower giveaway until July 15—you can win print books, gift cards, and crazy swag!)

Return to the party list by ckicking here: GraveTells INDIEpendence Blog Hop Linky List

4th of July Blog Hop!

Fireworks.

I love 'em. The sounds--the sizzle, the pops, the booms. I love the way you can feel the sound in your lungs, in your feet because the very ground shakes with each explosion.

I love the smell of burned matches and lit fuses and the thick scent of rocket smoke as the heavy clouds linger low in the air.

I love the lights--those flashes of colorful chemical incandescence that lend the brilliance of noon day sun to the smoky twilight. The colors flash off every leaf, every pair of eyes and the flames are, for a moment, a living part of us.

And then...

it's over.

Darkness. Silence. The fireworks are over. We hang on a breath, wondering--is this all there is? Was it over? And a part of us is truly disappointed that the fireworks are done.

Life is like that. Love is like that. Every bright and wonderful thing we've ever known is like that--bursts of light and sound that interrupt sleepy doldrums of uninspired predictability. We live moment to moment, hoping each one will be brighter than the last. And every once in a while we get fireworks--moments that burn so brightly that they leave fiery afterimages burning on our retinas for long seconds afterwards. We don't even notice the dark silence because the sounds of fireworks still echo through our ears.

Driving home from work tonight, I saw fireworks that someone in the neighborhood set off. The moon is near full and, between the lunar luminescence and the intermittent bursts, I could see dark shapes of trees like silhouettes against the sporadic light. I wanted to roll down the car window and take as deep a breath as I could. Seeing them weren't enough.

Then I remembered--these weren't the only fireworks I loved. My husband's lightning strike smile, my kids' bursts of laughter, those flash-and-fade victories and achievements of all shapes and sizes that get us day to day.

See this feeling right here?

There's a trick to making those moments last-- acknowledge them. Appreciate the work it takes to earn them. Savor the fuse and linger after the lights begin to fade.

Don't go though life stuck indoors with the windows closed. Go outside and enjoy the fireworks, living each burst as it blooms.

Fireworks are my favorite part of the Forth of July celebrations...what are yours?

Leave a comment and be entered to win a e-copy of BLEEDING HEARTS: Book One of the Demimonde, available for Kindle or Nook/epub formats (winner's choice).

And be sure to visit the other bloggers this week who are setting off fireworks of their own. Good luck and Happy Independence Day!

Goodreads G*I*V*E*A*W*A*Y!

Want a chance to win a copy of BLEEDING HEARTS? Goodreads is sitting on a stash of my books so stop by my Goodreads giveaway page for your chance to win one!

I also received my first Goodreads review...and I bet you all heard my sigh of relief, it was so huge. =) I know reviews are a necessary part of releasing a novel but I still had newbie jitters waiting for the first one to show. Thank you, Tricia, for your splendid words and for breaking the ice. I think I'll survive, after all.


Release day is March 15th... pre-order link is alive at the Pink Narcissus website--and thanks to everybody who's already ordered a copy. In fact, thank you to everyone who has supported me along this incredible journey... BLEEDING HEARTS would not have manifested itself without your friendship and encouragement. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So be sure to stop at Goodreads and register yourself to win one of the first ever copies of BLEEDING HEARTS: BOOK ONE OF THE DEMIMONDE. Don't forget I'll also be going on a virtual book tour for four weeks following the release date. Watch the tour line up for additions bscause we're still scheduling visits to a host of fantastic blogs! Big prizes and tons of mini-giveaways will be springing up all over and you don't want to miss a single chance... Good luck, everyone! The countdown will soon commence!

Hey, I got an idea...

There are probably a ton of other things I should be doing instead of blogging.

I mean, the laundry cries out from the bedroom (and when laundry cries out it usually means it's on the verge of developing intelligence and making plans to attack its human oppressors.) The list of I KEEP FORGETTING TO DO THIS gets longer everyday. Not only that, I've got story that needs written. Gah! Why aren't I doing any of it?

The blogs. It's all their fault.

I don't spent a lot of time writing them but I do read them. A lot. I don't even go looking for them. I come across these great links in newsletters and (yes, I admit) other blogs and I happily trip from site to site and the next thing I know, an hour zooms by.

Give up the blogs, then, you say? Surely, you jest. I don't read blogs just for entertainment or to get publishing tips and insights or to keep up with people and authors I like. I don't read them just for research or for market leads or for upcoming events and news.

I read them for *all* those reasons. Blogs are indispensible sources of information and I can't imagine being a writer today without them.

My trouble is, I am forever coming across a stellar article. I print it out, promising to frame it or tuck it inside some binder I never got around to actually preparing to use for the task. It's a keeper, I say. Then I promptly lose it.

My solution: I'll repost my favorites here. Then they will be findable and linkable and all sorts of accessible.

Got a favorite that deserves to make the Wall of I Need To Keep This Article? (I am working on a snappier name, fear not.) Send the link and I will post. I'd also love to hear about your most favorite blogs, too. What makes them so important? Why can't you stop reading them? And what poor chores do you end up ignoring for the sake of blogging? (The chores are the real victims here.)

The inaugural article comes via link from Tara Dykens, a writer I met on Facebook and whom I've had the pleasure of "attending" online Pennwriters classes with. This being a celebratory moment, join me in toasting Tara. Kevlar and Buspar to ya, baby. Thanks for the link!

http://storysensei.blogspot.com/2005/11/deep-point-of-view.html

Camy Tang has a fantastic blog. She's a chick lit writer who offers inexpensive critique services for synopses and manuscripts. She also has a blog loaded with articles--perfect for a writer's toolbox.

The Deep Point of View article came up during our dialog class at