The Switch Up

Well, been typing, brainstorming and rethinking this new manuscript I'm working on. Funny how some stories start out small, but then turn into so much more.

I think I'm going to switch this to a chapter book. About 5 - 7 chapters. This way nothing is shorted and nothing is over written.

When writing a children's story, you have to take into account that kids are way smart. They have imaginations and are professional questioners.

Yours stuff has to make sense and not leave the reader wondering something that was omitted and skipped over to save words or time.

This new book has really taken on a life of its own. I think if I go into little more detail about somethings it will be better for me and the reader.

Okay, back to the drawing board. Will take a little longer, but I think it will pay off in the long run.

Let's start with Chapter 1. Place and characters, everyone wants a good idea of characters and their personalities. That way the reader can relate and have an emotional pull to read on.

Sometimes writing is like cleaning a house. The mind gets lazy and doesn't want to do the details. Just wants to do the light dusting.

So off I go into the imagination room to fill in the chapters.

More to come.....

Writing A Children's Book

Well I have been hard a work writing my new manuscript. Or should I say, my imagination has been hard at work. I'm leaving the poodles behind for this book. I think I need to get a little more creative. I hope that this book will capture the interest of an Agent. I need to find a good publisher and real publisher.

But back to the writing part. Once you have the character names and an idea about what you want your story to be about, you will be amazed at how it just takes off.

Like a child that fantasizes about magical kingdoms and far away lands of all kinds of creatures, your mind....my mind just goes on a tangent.

Some things you may tweak along the way, like names, settings, maybe even story lines; but you get on that roll.

Sometime I amaze myself and thank God for this amazing talent and very vivid imagination.

If you're not sure how to get started and what to say once you start, my advice is to start with creating the characters. Writing their names down, what they look like, what are their personalities. Write down what the setting is; is it a town, city, farm, space, maybe a magical forest.

Then start with, "Once upon a time, in a far away land....." Let the imagination roll. Then when you are done, read through it. This is when the tweaking happens.

Love to write, you are a writer and will be a published writer. Just keep at it; it will happen for you and me.

Never go with a "print-on-demand" publisher!!

SBG - Strategic Book Group is not a "real" publisher. They are a glorified "self" publishing company.

I didn't have to pay up front, but the fees they charge, plus not helping with marketing is where they really get you. Everything for a price and then they are so slow.

With my contract, there wasn't an option for "returnable" books. Seems that is an extra service that costs $99.00 and a $200.00 deposit. HA, are you kidding me.

Well, I've been on my phone trying to book some book stores for my Fall Book Tour. I actually got a Barnes & Noble store to call me back and inquire about my book. Well as soon as they heard who it was published with, they decline. UGH....

Now I really have to get this new story going so that I can poll these Literary Agents again to try and get a REAL book deal with a REAL publisher.

Just beware of the sub-publishing companies.

New Book - New Direction

After getting about 30 rejections from the queries I sent out to the Literary Agents and seeing pretty much the same response, not for me, not a drawl, etc; I decided to leave the Poodles behind for a book or two.

I have been wanting to write a different children's book. A magical fantasy of sorts.

I have had the characters names for a while and have been brainstorming the plot and the citizens now.

I think I have a good start now. Now I just need to begin the story, figure out a villain and an adventure. Which you know each story should always have these to keep the kids interest. That is why Disney always has a villain and a triumph at the end of the adventure.

When writing a children's book, don't be afraid to go way out in your creativity. Set your imagination loose. Sometimes it is amazing the stories you can come up with. Tap into that inner child. There is a mountain of creative story lines and characters waiting.

My goal is to finish this book by the end of July and start sending queries out to the same Literary Agents that shot me down before. Maybe this magically fairy tale will spark their interest more.

More to come as I continue to build the story.

Agents or lack there of....

Getting an agent is like the hardest thing ever. I always thought the publisher would be harder, but that is not the case.

When querying agents, you really have to sell them on your book. Have them believe that your story is what they are searching for. This way they will want to represent you and work hard to find you the best publisher.

I have sent out about 90 queries in the past week. So far only rejections. I'm staying hopeful though, I think I have at least a 1 in 90 odds.

When trying to get an agent, research how to write queries. Look at sample queries. You can find all this on the web.

Is it the luck of the drawl.

An Image In The Clouds

Have you ever seen an image in the clouds? A shape, a figure or maybe a face?

When you do, what do you think it is or means? Do you think it is just a coincidence? Or maybe a sign? Could it be a shape looming our atmosphere that has been illuminated by the mist and foggy existence of a cloud?

When I was a child about 6 or 7 years old, I remember laying on the ground staring up at the clouds with a friend. We saw a cloud formation that looked like a face staring down at us and we were convinced that it was God watching us. I still believe that it was!

The other night I was out side while my dogs were doing their business in the yard. I happen to look up and saw an amazing cloud. I had to call my spouse out to look at it with me.

It appeared to be a man riding a horse with wings. Could it have been Jesus? As the cloud's shape began to shift in the wind, it started to then look like an angel riding a horse.

What an amazing formation, the image of a celestial being riding through our skies. Could it have been a sign, part of the four horseman or maybe just a happy resident of Heaven out for a stroll?

Please view the picture, take a minute to ponder it and see what it is saying to you.

Shenandoah Valley

Shenandoah Valley is one of the most beautiful and tranquil places on earth. Just stand a top a stone wall and look out over the valley.

Shenandoah

I stand a top of Stony Man
And gaze down upon my father’s land
Miles of green where twisted river runs
A top of trees and the blazing sun
I close my eyes to imagine a time before
When a different species roamed the lore
And the plains that embraced a heritage more
Same river, same green, same trees and blaze
But a different sound would carry up to the twilight haze
So now I stand captured in time
A part of this history, apart of my line
Smelling the fires to blacken the land
And gazing up the mountain so grand
I watch many climb the broadened hill
Up along the rocky and towards Hawk’s Bill
Young men, brave and strong with bow in hand
Hoping to steal a mighty beast from the vast land
But I myself have a different view
I climb the rock and sit upon a crescent pew
To gaze along fields of labor and toil
To gaze among the citizens of my father’s spoil
Braids and feathers flow through the air
Songs of white tails, wing-ed beast and bear
And still I sit and gaze and smell the freshened sky
Filled with the scent of blooms that past way by
And wander along the top of this mount
To Dark Hallow and swim in its fount
And on again I gaze and conceive
Of this mighty mass cloaked in its winter freeze
Oh yes, a magic befalls
The foggy walk along the Hallow falls
A daughter of the stars and of the night
A mystical land scaped in my second sight
A graze of peace
A graze of love
A graze of nation red
A mount so high
Full of history and full of lives
Never a care, never a lonely cry
For all would trust the Spirit in the sky
Now those centuries have past and with it, change
Of progress, of fleeting and of the strange
No more braided and no more brave
And all is quiet from songs of yesterday
But yet I still gaze and dream upon Stony Man
Eyes are open, but still I see that land
Of my once upon a time and long ago
And of my bloodline past, a place called Shenandoah

Michelle Elizabeth Rogers 10/08/2009