Writing Career Coach

Using what you live to deepen character conflict

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:03:00 +0000

"That will end up in a book."

If you spend any time around a writer you will hear that phrase. That is because so much of our writing is drawn from our personal experiences in one way or another. While most of my stories are not autobiographical [I don't stalk women based on a misinterpreted scripture, nor am I a college student in a small town trying to solve a murder], I have to admit that things that I experience do find their way in to my writing in one way or another.

Maybe it is the way I personally reacted to a breakup or disappointment. It could be that one of my characters is afraid of the same thing I am. These are all obvious and easy to do.

Have you ever considered bringing the dual nature of your personality in to your writing?

I am really a dichotomy. On the one hand, I am a successful speaker who really enjoys speaking to large groups. On the other hand, I am a total nerd who gets excited at the idea of doing research and looked forward to every term paper in college. My idea of a dream job would be sitting in a room full of ideas, articles, news reels, historical data, etc. and making sense of it all. Pecking away at a keyboard and discussing the implications with a coworker of similar temperment. Trying to find a pattern and constructing possible scenarios from it.

How do you reconcile the two? One is extremely extroverted, the other introverted. One thrives on feedback and the energy of a crowd, the other the quiet solitude of one's own thoughts.

I guess you become a writer. That's what I did.

Think about the contradictory things in you. Then take time to discover and deepen the contradictory nature of your main characters [including your villain]. Doing that will deepen your writing and create a more relatable story.

Learn how to get readers to pick you and your story by following these links:
Getting readers to pick you
How readers decide what to read
Presenting yourself well
Getting noticed by readers
Going on the hunt

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Interview with Anita Higman

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:53:00 +0000

Today we are interviewing author Anita Higman. Her most recent book, Love Finds You in Humble, Texas, is available through Summerside Press.

Award-winning author, Anita Higman, has twenty-four books published (several coauthored) for adults and children, and she has been honored as a Barnes & Noble “Author of the Month” for Houston. Anita has a B.A. degree, combining speech communication, psychology, and art. Some of her favorite things are exotic teas, going to the movies, and all things Jane Austen.
Anita latest novel, Love Finds You in Humble Texas, is now in its second printing. She’d love for you to pick up a copy at your local bookstore, Wal-Mart, or Sam’s Wholesale Club.

Please visit Anita online at http://www.anitahigman.com/.

Love Finds You in Humble Texas: Trudie Abernathy is a little inelegant, and she’s never had much luck in love. To makes matters worse, her thirtieth birthday is fast approaching and her sister, Lane, has decided to “treat” her to a makeover and a blind date. Trudie is about to protest, but then she meets the kind and devastatingly handsome Mason Wimberley. In spite of Trudie’s humble manner, Mason finds her attractive, funny, and smart. But there’s one obstacle in the way of the budding romance: Lane suddenly decides that she’s in love with Mason! Trudie has never been one to compete with her glamorous sister, even when it means giving up the things she wants. Will she be able to stay true to her humble self and find her heart’s desire in the process?

Anita took a few minutes to talk about publishing from a writer's perspective with Writing Career Coach.

Writing Career Coach: Tell us about your book.
Anita Higman: In a nutshell, my latest novel, Love Finds You in Humble Texas is about two sisters who love each other very much but happen to fall in love with the same man.

WCC: How do you plan and write your book?
AH: I do a combination of both SOTP and an outline. I write a basic synopsis of the story, but then I let the characters take it from there. I rarely hold strictly to the synopsis. So, I have a destination and a roadmap, but I take lots of side trips along the away, which is also the way I love to plan my vacations.

WCC: How do you market yourself and your writing?
AH: I do a lot of marketing, but I’m not in love with it. I love to write, but I know marketing is very important too, so I try to do my best and get out there and spread the word about my books.
Here are a few of my marketing ideas: I pay for a blog tour, a book trailer, and then distribution for that book trailer. With this latest novel I had a book launch party with sponsors, which was a happy success. I recently put up a TV interview on my website, which came from The Harvest Show. It was live TV in front of eight million regular viewers. Whew! A little nerve-racking, but lots of fun. I hope having that interview available to watch on my site will generate more interviews. If you’d like to watch it, go to http://www.anitahigman.com/ and then click on the little TV screen. In addition, my promotions include giving away a ton of free books to influencers and reviewers. Those offers have helped gather 40 reviews on Amazon. I do traditional promotions as well, such as book signings and monthly contests. I wish I could tell you what the most effective publicity ideas are. I’m never sure, but I do know that promotion is no longer an option for a writer. We must see publicity as a team effort along with the publisher.

Read more of Anita’s interview here at Examiner.com

YOU COULD WIN!
Leave a comment on this posting and you could win a copy of Love Finds You in Humble Texas. The drawing will take place on Nov. 9, 2009. This give away is for US residents only. There is no fee to enter.

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! In order to offer you more services and a central location for all information I am moving this blog to our main website: http://www.writingcareercoach.com/ There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

THE PHOENIX RATTLER – DOES YOUR STORY HAVE BITE?

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:52:00 +0000

Christian Writers of the West (CWOW) is the Arizona branch of American Christian Fiction Writers

PRIZES: What’s the prize? Finalists will not only receive the opportunity to have their ten pages judged by an agent and/or editor, they will also receive a finalists’ certificate. The winner in each category gets a designer championship pin and will be mentioned on the ACFW loop, on our CWOW website, and Michelle Sutton’s highly trafficked blog: http://edgyinspirationalauthor.blogspot.com/

Categories and their esteemed FINAL ROUND judges:
Contemporary Fiction: Melissa Endlich, Love Inspired, Harlequin
Historical Fiction: Barbara Scott, Abingdon Press
Suspense/Thriller/Mystery: Elizabeth Mazur, Assistant Editor Love Inspired SuspenseSci-Fi/Fantasy/Allegory: Diedre Knight, Knight Agency
Young Adult: Janet Grant, Books and Such Literary
Women’s Fiction: Rachelle Gardner, Wordserve Literary

FEES: A flat $20 fee per entry paid through Paypal button on http://christianwritersofthewest.blogspot.com/

HOW TO ENTER:
Please include an attached RTF file of the first ten pages of your manuscript, Paypal receipt, and the following information (You can copy and paste the entry form below into an RTF document and complete/attach to entry email):

ENTRY FORM:
Name:
Address:
City/State/Zip:
Phone (cell/home):
Email address:
Are you an ACFW Member? (Membership not required for 2009 contest)
Title of Entry:
Word count of completed manuscript:

Category Coordinators:
Contemporary Fiction: Terry Doyle terrydoyle@cox.net
Historical Fiction: Sandra Smith sandraleesmith@cox.net
Suspense/Thriller/Mystery: Pamela Tracy PamWrtr@aol.com
Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Allegory: KM Wilsher gzusfreek@live.com
Young Adult: Lynn Rush sheriboeyink@cox.net
Women’s Fiction: Jennifer Cary jlcary@writeme.com
((Romance included in all categories))

THINGS TO REMEMBER:
1. You should send entry form (shown above), the first ten pages of your manuscript, and paypal receipt to the coordinator of the category you desire to enter by Midnight (PST) October 31, 2009.
2. Use Courier New or New Times Roman font 12 with 1-inch margins all around
3. Make sure to pay your $20 fee by the paypal button on http://christianwritersofthewest.blogspot.com/
4. Finalists announced mid-December, 2009 and Winners announced mid-February, 2010.
ELIGIBILITY: CWOW’s Phoenix Rattler is open to all unpublished writers. There is no membership required for this first annual contest. Published authors may enter if at least five years has passed since their last publication.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

How to clearly show your story to your reader

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:42:00 +0000

“Writing is telepathy.”

I read that in Stephen King’s book, On Writing. It changed the way I looked at writing. The reason was not so much because it was funny or clever but it was because it made my understanding of writing so much clearer.

That is our job as writers. We need to convey with clarity every thought and emotion our characters express. They need to cry when our character hurts and hide their eyes when the evil is fast approaching. We need to transport thoughts and that comes through the senses.

While there is no simple way to build tension or infuse emotion there are some things that are fundamental:

1. Make sure you engage every sense, including a sense of smell, on every page. Use creative nouns and different ways to explain the senses.

2. Connect a physical sense to an emotion. Don’t smell a sweet flower. Smell the intense softness of a lilac and let it pull them back to spring nights of hide-and-go-seek in grandma’s back yard. You can further infuse the emotion by making the darkness an enveloping blanket or a deep black shroud.

3. Be true to the character of your story. A city girl won’t know the difference between scratch and mash, but a chicken farmer will. If you want her to know that, however, it can add an interesting dimension. You must make clear that you know it is unusual.

4. Clue the reader in. While you don’t want to interrupt the story to explain something to the reader, you need to clue them in. Find ways to weave details in the story that the reader may not always know. Readers read to explore; help them do it.

While this isn’t an exhaustive list of the skills necessary to engage readers, these elements are a part of every good story. Go back through your current manuscript and incorporate these elements in to your story.

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! In order to offer you more services and a central location for all information I am moving this blog to our main website: http://www.writingcareercoach.com/ There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Fight for it

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:13:00 +0000

Last night I was having a conversation with three of my daughters, I have four, and I was talking about my years in school. With the new school year in full swing we were talking about goals and expectations. One thing in particular I wanted them to think about is the strength of their dream. My daughter who is nearly eleven was talking about all the different things she’d like to be when she grows up. Her young mind was struggling to figure out how she could be so many differently, and seemingly unrelated, things.

It occurred to me that many people that I am in contact with through Writing Career Coach battle with the same issues. They arent’ sure if they are interested in or committed to writing. I’ve encountered many people in the years I’ve been writing. I saw some who are stagnating. They have reached a certain level and they’ve become enamored with the idea of “One Day” being a writer, but never really committed to seeing it happen. I’ve seen others get so paralyzed with fear over their writing that they stopped doing it all together. And then I’ve seen some who have really fought for it, and they’ve prevailed.

When I was in sales they used to say “Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice.” Usually we said this about a new person who was starting out. They were excited and saw no limit to their potential. Over time, and with a steady stream of rejection, they gave up. They had more knowledge and better sales techniques but they went nowhere because they’d decided it was impossible. They weren’t willing to fight for it.

So, today, right now, consider what it is about your writing that you’re willing to fight for? Maybe you have an article almost done that is rotting on your hard drive. Wrap it up and send it off. Maybe you need to stop watching a cool new series on TV and spend time writing instead. Maybe, like me, you need to flip your body clock so you can write in the mornings as the house sleeps instead writing at night when there are more distractions.
Often by changing one small activity you can completely change your amount of progress. Don’t give up if you’re in a rut. Fight for it.

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! In order to offer you more services and a central location for all information I am moving this blog to our main website: http://www.writingcareercoach.com/ There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Writing: Making work or making progress

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:14:00 +0000

For more than five years I had a relatively successful network marketing business. I had a large team of sales people and our annual revenue as a down line topped six figures in my best year. This gave me some great practice in sales, marketing, and working with people. One thing I learned that I continue to apply to my writing is recognizing the difference between making work and making progress.

It is important as a writer to clearly determine which you are doing on each project. Early on it is best to take on every opportunity you can find to write. This is because we all need the practice. My mentor once told me that writers have to write half a million words to get all the junk out. That is why some authors even write letters (real ones, not email) when they have writer’s block. But as you progress as a writer, how do you distinguish whether you’re making work or making progress?

Here are a few ways to know if you are actually making progress in your writing:

• If you take time to write a piece and then consider the market it might work best for.

• If you continue to work on it, even if you haven’t found ‘Your Muse’.

• If you are working on an already contracted piece [this may seem obvious but writer’s block sometimes leads us to work on ‘new ideas’ before we’ve finished contracted work.

This is by no means exhaustive, but it does begin to give criteria to help you recognize whether you are stalling or progressing. The sign of a professional writer is a person who pushes through and writes even when they don’t feel like it.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Interview with Editor Sally Bradley

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:03:00 +0000

Today we are interviewing Editor Sally Bradley.

Sally Bradley has worked for two Christian publishers, writing sales and marketing materials, sorting through the slush pile, and proofreading and editing fiction. She has a BA in English and a love for perfecting novels, whether it’s her own work or the work of others. A judge in fiction-writing contests, Sally is a member of ACFW, The Christian PEN (Proofreaders and Editors Network), and the Christian Editor Network. She’s a work-at-home mother of three and is married to a pastor who moonlights as a small-town cop.

Sally took a few minutes to talk about editing with Writing Career Coach.

Writing Career Coach: How did you get started with editing?
Sally Bradley: Straight from college, I worked for Tyndale House Publishers. I created the sales sheets the entire staff used to sell every new product. The editorial department sent me information on a new book, and I’d create a short book blurb, an author bio, a list of potential markets, things like that. That was a great foundation for learning how to create hooks in a proposal.

I left Tyndale when my husband and I moved out of state for him to attend seminary. The church that ran the seminary started a small fiction publishing company, and I proofread and edited a number of books as well as sorted through the slush pile there. Sadly the company no longer exists because they had no sales or marketing department. It’s awfully hard for people to buy a book they don’t know exists.

I left that job to have my first child, and my goal at that point was to become a published novelist. I spent the next six years writing and studying the craft. I spent almost half a year studying how to write a synopsis and proposal, and the proposal I wrote garnered an offer of representation from two reputable agents.

About that same time, I began to consider opening my own freelancing business. A friend from church asked me to read over an essay for grad school applications. She was having a hard time getting it to word count, and I showed her a number of changes that made it concise and below word count. It was at that point that I realized how much I loved words and that this was a job I needed to do.

My friend got into her dream grad school, by the way. :)

WCC: What type of editing do you do?

SB: I work mostly with fiction. I love diving into a story and finding ways to make it (and the writer) stronger.

I will customize my work to fit whatever a client needs, but most of my work involves looking at the big picture of a novel--plot, characters, setting, story structure, opening hook, etc.--and seeing what works, what needs some help, any areas where the story can be tied together better, anything that will make the structure of the book itself strong and more appealing to publishers and agents.

In addition to critiquing the big picture, I offer line editing where I do my best to make the actual prose more polished and professional. This involves deleting unnecessary words, identifying pet phrases, fixing awkward wording, and other little details that make a book sing. I'll even mark any misspelled words and grammar and punctuation problems I find.

WCC: What is one consistent issue you see in the manuscripts you edit?

SB: There are a few I see routinely, but the most consistent problem is telling instead of showing.

Telling isn’t evil; there is a time and a place for it, but it should never be the main action of the story. Fiction readers want to experience the story happening right in front of them through dialogue and action. They don’t want to have it summarized as if they were hearing about it from another person. Think of it this way—would you rather watch a movie or hear about it from someone else? Writers need to make sure the reader is watching the action happen.

Read more of Sally’s interview here at Examiner.com and find out what the best resources are on writing well.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Changes in the industry

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:29:00 +0000

Hello everyone!

I wrote two articles recently on the new FTC rules/guidelines for Examiner.com. Take the time to go check them out.

Reviewer Beware: New guidelines could cost you $11,000 in fines.

Reviewer Beware again: Clarification on guidelines causes more concerns

I have three new articles coming next week on craft and your writing business. I will also have the code so you can sign up to continue to receive the postings when we go to our new website. Stick around. Next week is going to be a great week.

See the latest blog on our new website

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:02:00 +0000

The latest Writing Career Coach blog has just been posted at the Writing Career Coach website which will serve as the new home for our blog. Go there now to read the post or it will post here tomorrow.

I look forward to seeing you over at Writing Career Coach.com

Tiff

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Writing Career Coach is moving!!!

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Greetings,

For almost exactly two years this has been the home of the Writing Career Coach blog. During that time this has transformed from an idea born out of passion for writing to a place where thousands come by each year to learn craft, grow their platform and develop their writing business.

Well, I'm pleased to announce that we are now taking the next step. We are integrating the blog with my newly updated WritingCareerCoach.com website. This new website offers free articles for you to download, the blog and will soon have even more features to help you with writing. I hope it will become the central location for you to go when you need a reputable source of information for any aspect of your writing.

For those of you who don't know the full story of the birth of this business, let me give you a quick history. I began freelancing full time in 2003 and quickly broke in to the national market. By late 2005 I was writing regularly for a local paper and was working on my second full book manuscript. [I had scored in the top 2o of Operation First Novel in 2004].

Then my husband, who was 29, was diagnosed with cancer. We had 4 small children ages 2-7, including a special needs daughter. During his battle my husband read books on business, marketing and finance. I read them along side of him and we'd spend hours discussing them together. The summer of 2006, Chris was declared cancer free, but over the next 2 years we'd face joblessness and a drop of our income to 1/2 then 1/3 of what he'd previously earned. So, all of you facing financial trials. I've been there. I know the pain. The threat of foreclosure loomed heavy and we struggled to hold on. In was in the midst of this lack that we took $160 and put together a two page website and I bought the domain "WritingCareerCoach.com". I wanted to teach writers all the business/marketing information that I'd learned during Chris' cancer treatment.

Tiffany Stockton of Eagle designs helped me build the website and a week later I was up. That was followed 4 months later by the Writing Career Coach blog. The rest, they say, is history. We are now moving to the future. We are taking Writing Career Coach to the place I always envisioned it as: A place of resources, information, articles and other things that will help every writer who may have more passion than money. I hope each of you will take advantage of the information here. I spend more than 20 hrs a week reading, learning and researching so I can bring you the blogs, articles, products and services that I provide.

Over the next couple of weeks I will continue to post my blogs both here and at WritingCareerCoach.com, but by late October my website will be the only source for updated information from the Writing Career Coach to advance your writing career. I would like to thank Grant Webster at Launch Thought for helping me develop and design this new website. Both webmasters are incredible people who have truly been a blessing to me.

To all of you who have taken the time to subscribe to this blog, I hope you will follow me over to the new site. There I will be able to add new free articles each quarter, offer new products and services and offer a single, central place for all information. And if you link to my blog, please update to reflect my central www.WritingCareerCoach.com website. Thanks!

For those of you who don't follow, I want to thank you for more than two years of support. From the humble beginnings we have become an incredible business. I have valued each and every one of you.

Later today my latest blog will appear at our new home: www.WritingCareerCoach.com I hope I'll see you there.

Interview with Patti Lacy

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:37:00 +0000

Today we are interviewing author Patti Lacy. Her most recent book, What the Bayou Saw, is available through Kregel Publications.

In 1955, Ann Qualls gave birth to her daughter Patti in the front seat of a Buick. By pure coincidence, Ann claims, their daughter was named Patti Day Qualls, PDQ.

This moniker has served Patti well, as she’s moved at least ten times, traveled to forty states, and changed occupations with a liberality unusual in native Texans. However, Patti thinks her latest profession will stick awhile.

The Still, Small Voice encouraged Patti to write after a brave Irish friend shared memories of betrayal and her decision to forgive. In 2008, An Irishwoman’s Tale was published by Kregel Publications. Patti’s second novel, What the Bayou Saw, draws on the memories of two young girls who refused to let segregation, a chain link fence, and a brutal rape come between them.

The secrets women keep and why they keep them continue to capture Patti’s imagination. She writes full time, teaches Bible studies and seminars, and attends book signings. Patti and her husband Alan, an Illinois State faculty member, live in Normal . They have two grown children and a dog named Laura.

You can reach Patti at http://us.mc591.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=patti@pattilacy.com or http://www.pattilacy.com/.

What the Bayou Saw: Since leaving Louisiana, Sally Stevens has held her childhood secrets at bay, smothering them in a sunny disposition and sugar-coated lies. No one, not even her husband Sam, has heard the truth about what happened to her and her best friend, Ella Ward, when they were twelve years old.

Now a teacher in Normal, Illinois, Sally has nearly forgotten her past. Then Shamika, one of her students, is violently attacked, and memories of segregation, a chain-link fence, and a blood oath bubble to the surface like a dead body in a bayou. Lies continue to tumble from Sally’s lips as she scrambles to gloss over the harsh reality of a betrayal that refuses to stay buried.

Finally cornered by the Holy Spirit and her own web of lies, Sally and Shamika embark on a quest to find Ella in post-Katrina New Orleans. With the help of friends, family, and God, Sally can glimpse a life free of the mire of deceit and truly begin to live with joy. Will she pay the price for a lifetime of deception? Can she save Shamika?

Patti took a few minutes to talk about publishing from a writer's perspective with Writing Career Coach.

Writing Career Coach: What are some ways you prepared to market your book before you were published?
Patti Lacy: Thanks to Kregel’s marketing guru, Cat Hoort, and the experienced and fabulous Wynne Wynne Media, I jumpstarted the old girl (What the Bayou Saw) before she hit the shelves. Then I could focus on local bookstores, who I blackmailed into scheduling signings (chocolate helped!) The talented and lovely Dineen Miller designed brilliant flyers that I distributed, both in hard copy and e-mail, to friends, relatives, coworkers, or folks that just needed a cool sheet of scratch paper.

They say word of mouth sells books. Thanks to genetics (a Southern mama) and loads of practice, I have lots of words and a big mouth. Let’s hope what “they say” proves true!

WCC: Tell us about your book.
PL: I’d love to gab on about all of them, but let’s cover Segregation and a chain link fence separate Sally Flowers from her best friend, Ella Ward. But a brutal crime and a blood oath bind them together. Forever. Decades later, Sally Stevens can’t get that bayou betrayal out of her system. And her bad habits are catching up with her and threaten to ruin her future. When Hurricane Katrina slams into New Orleans, Sally heads home to make amends…and to save her soul.

WCC: How do you plan and write your book?
PL: My first two novels were totally seat of the pants and definitely had some snags and holes. But I’ve matured and use an altered version of Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method:

Nail a hook. Expand to a short summary. Get wild and crazy with a synopsis. Then plan those scenes. If you’ve got complex characters and plot and that supernatural thing called timing, folks just might buy your manuscript. But if God asks you to write it for Him, let that be enough. And make it as good as it can be.

Now, is that a plan OR WHAT??????

WCC: What is it like working with editors? Do you have tips for getting along and building a great relationship with them?
PL: My editors at Kregel have to be the most brilliant folks in the world! My advice, especially for newbie writers: THE EDITORS ARE RIGHT. You are wrong. Use them unashamedly, because they have sooo much to teach. And don’t be afraid to ask for their help in writing a scene.

Dawn Anderson, one of Kregel’s great pros, asked me to compose a prologue from threads of a climactic scene in my first book. Instead of screaming over the phone or ripping off a crazed e-mail, I took a jog, prayed, then called her back and asked her if she could “get me started.” She wrote a paragraph or two (don’t all editors have a tinge of frustrated novelist inside?) As soon as I read her lines, I grasped what she’d been trying to say. Second tip? BE FLEXIBLE. The story really CAN have a different twist than YOU planned.

WCC: Do you have a tip for finding-and working with-an agent?
PL: Wait for the one you consider a soulmate. One who shares your dreams, your visions. Take it ssslllloooowww as cold molasses. It has been said that a bad agent is worse than none.

Read more of Patti’s interview here at Examiner.com.

YOU COULD WIN!

Leave a comment on this posting and you could win a copy of What the Bayou Saw. The drawing will take place on Sept. 21, 2009. This give away is for US residents only. There is no fee to enter.

Another book by Patti Lacy:An Irishwoman's Tale

Interview with Roxanne Rustand

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:29:00 +0000

Today we are interviewing author Roxanne Rustand. Her most recent book, Final Exposure (Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense), is available through Harlequin Enterprises.

Roxanne lives in the country with her family, and a menagerie of pets that frequently find their way into her books. If not working at her day job as a registered dietitian, writing at home in her jammies, or spending time with her family, you'll find her riding one of the family's horses, playing with her camera, or hiding with her nose in a book.

She is the author of twenty-three romantic suspense and heart-warming relationship novels. Her first manuscript won the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart, and her second was a Golden Heart finalist. More recently, one of her books won RT Bookclub Magazine's award for Best Superromance of 2006, and she was nominated for RT's Career Achievement Award in 2005.

She loves to hear from readers, and can be reached through http://www.roxannerustand.com/ or www.shoutlife.com/roxannerustand

Roxanne took a few minutes to talk about publishing from a writer's perspective with Writing Career Coach.

Writing Career Coach: What are some ways you prepared to market your book before you were published?
Roxanne Rustand: When I first started writing, I had no thought about becoming published. It seemed so impossible that I just wrote for pleasure. And then I found out about RWA (Romance writers of America) and the education about writing and the writing business that I got through that organization was worth its weight in gold.

For those of you who are starting out in inspirational fiction, instead of secular fiction, I can't recommend American Christian Fiction Writers enough. It's a wonderful resource, and the annual conference is simply amazing. I belong to both ACFW and RWA now, and their value is far beyond what costs to belong. Armed with the knowledge you gain, you'll be far better prepared to move from aspiring writer to author, and to do the best job of marketing your first book!

Part of marketing is to build your name, and thus the potential readership for your book, long before you sell. In that vein, I wrote articles for chapter newsletters and for the Romance Writers Report. I entered contests. I volunteered in every way I could. And when I finally made my first sale, I did everything else I could think of, within a very limited budget.

I made my own business cards and bookmarks. Developed a simple website. I joined a group of newly published authors who bought group advertisements in Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine and the RWR. I took part in book signings, and signed stock in bookstores. I spoke at schools, organizations, and libraries. And I also sent out my book to many online review sites. Not only did that yield quotes for my website and promotional materials, but then all the visitors at those sites, who read the reviews, had a chance to decide if they wanted to buy the book or not.

Times have changed since then. New authors now have a whole new world out there--and so much more of it comes at a reasonable cost, or free!

The wonderful Romance Sells advertising magazine, for instance, which goes out to many thousands of booksellers and librarians quarterly, is a bargain--one couldn't personally mail all of those people for that amount. There are many inexpensive places to buy professional bookmarks and business cards that you can design yourself. You can find easy publishing software for creating professional quality newsletters, though these days, with the cost of ink, paper and postage, using the Internet is probably far more cost effective than mass mailings of postcards and newsletters. There are hundreds of writing blogs out there, and most owners are eager to host guest authors--which opens up a chance to share information about you and your book to a whole new population of followers, every time you agree to participate.

Listing your personal website and blog when doing those "guest appearances" is a way to draw some new people to your own site, where you can market your new book. People may be more likely to buy your first book if they've gotten to know you!

Thanks to Lyn Cote's patient urging, I recently started something that has been such fun. I wanted to start a blog, but didn’t have any focus for it until she reminded me that many of my books have been romantic suspense, but they've also had a warm, touching, emotional element--often with quirky animals in the subplots. So I started the "All Creatures Great and Small Blog" where authors and readers can exchange stories about their pets, and I can also run articles about an old-time horse traders. It's fun for both the followers, and me and it ties in with my books and my brand. Which is something else for you to think about--developing a blog that means something to you, not just something generic, and one that will hopefully draw the type of readers who might enjoy your books. Oblique marketing? Maybe...but it's a good thing to try.

So....marketing your first book can start well before it hits the stores, and there are many options now for getting that title out in front of potential readers. It's an exciting journey, and I wish you all the best1

WCC: Tell us about your current release.

RR: FINAL EXPOSURE is the first book in the "Big Sky Secrets" trilogy, Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense. The series is set in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, and involves three women who shared a tragic loss as children--the murder of their close friend. They've all been away for years, but now they are drawn back to Montana, one by one, to a place that offers healing, new beginnings and unexpected danger...

WCC: How do you plan and write your book?

RR: People talk about being a "seat of the pants" writer, or a plotter...as if it is something permanent, like red hair or blue eyes. I think that many of us evolve over time, as we internalize the process of writing, learn from each other, and put a lot more miles on the computer.

Most authors need to be plotters...at least, to sell a book. There are some who can sell on a concept. Sometimes, we're asked to write a certain story, and that's that--off to contract. But usually, authors have to come up with a coherent synopsis that makes good sense, and that in itself involves being a plotter...at least at the outset. After that, all bets are off!
I started out being an avid maker of charts. Graphs. Lists. W-plot graphs. Charts with the hero's journey. I did personality charts, not knowing if my hero really did like chocolate ice cream, but dutifully filling out his favorite flavors. You name it, and I probably did it--needing every crutch in the book. I still get teased a bit about being--quite possibly--the most left-brained person on the planet!

But as time went on, and I starting selling, there was less and less time for all of that. And, as I wrote more, I needed it less, because the sense of rhythm in story telling became easier. I gradually developed a better sense of what had to happen when (which is probably inherently part of true pantser's psyche, but I think I missed that gene!)

Now, my process is simple--and it has saved me a lot of work. Yep--I still have to write a synopsis to sell. But once I have that in hand, I break it down into subplots. Sit down at the computer. And then start to brainstorm with myself--writing "lists of twenty" (or thirty) things that could or should or might happen for each subplot. I just let my brain fly, and type fast as I can. When that's done, I look at my lists and pull them into logical order under each subplot heading...discarding the silly things and keeping the best.

Now, I may not use half of these scene starter or turning point ideas. A subplot may veer off in a different direction, and change completely. But I've got ideas listed, in a semblance of logical order...so I'm less likely to end up in a muddle. Referring to those lists can spur even better ideas, once I know the characters more fully. Nothing is planned scene-by-scene, chapter-by-chapter, but my lists always give me an idea of where to go next!
So...is this being a plotter? Pantser? I don’t know...but for now, it works for me!

The other thing I do which is of immeasurable help to me, is that I do my bookkeeping as I write. Doesn’t that sound boring? It isn't--it's a great tool that helps prevent the need for major revisions. I don't plot in detail ahead of time. But as I finish each scene, I switch to my "Subplot Tracker" file and type in the main things that happened for each subplot. My form is set up in columns and rows. If I neglect a subplot for too long, I'll see a lot of white space. I can also see if something isn't developing well enough. It's kind of hard to explain, but I've got copies of my forms on my website under "articles" at http://www.roxannerustand.com/. Take a look!

Roxanne Rustand
"The All Creatures Great and Small Blog"
http://roxannerustand.blogspot.com/

http://www.roxannerustand.com/

YOU COULD WIN!

Leave a comment on this posting and you could win a copy of FINAL EXPOSURE. The drawing will take place on Sept. 15, 2009. This give away is for US residents only. There is no fee to enter.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Interview with Christina Berry

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:36:00 +0000

Today we are interviewing author Christina Berry. Her debut novel, The Familiar Stranger, is available through Moody Publishers.

Single mother and foster parent, Christina Berry carves time to write from her busy schedule because she must tell the stories that haunt her every waking moment. (Such is the overly dramatic description of an author's life!) She holds a BA in Literature, yet loves a good Calculus problem, as well. Her debut novel, The Familiar Stranger, releases from Moody in September and deals with lies, secrets, and themes of forgiveness in a troubled marriage. A moving speaker and dynamic teacher, Christina strives to Live Transparently--Forgive Extravagantly!

Her work has also appeared in The Secret Place, The Oregonian, and Daily Devotions for Writers. Find her at http://www.blogger.com/www.christinaberry.net%20 and http://www.authorchristinaberry.blogspot.com/

The Familiar Stranger—formerly known as Undiscovered—is about a couple going through a really rough patch in their marriage. When an accident incapacitates the husband, their relationship must be redefined. Which would be a lot easier to do if BIG secrets from his past didn’t raise their ugly heads. Despite the upheaval, the choices they make involving forgiveness and trust might allow a new beginning. Or … they might not.

Christina took a few minutes to talk about publishing from a writer's perspective with Writing Career Coach.

Writing Career Coach: What are some ways you prepared to market your book before you were published?
Christina Berry: In November 2006, my mother (who is my co-writer on other projects) and I launched our website http://www.ashberrylane.net/ and asked our friends and family to subscribe to the infrequent, humorous Ashberry Lane Newsletter. Technically, this marketing effort began before I wrote a single word of The Familiar Stranger, but it laid the foundation for my current marketing.

We set a goal of getting 1,000 subscribers before one of our books made it to print. While we’re still a couple hundred short, setting such a goal pushed us to recruit from real world, shoutlife, facebook, and conference contacts. Having access to 750+ interested readers and the building of momentum over the years has been priceless. I can’t imagine starting at ground zero in the midst of all the release date hoopla!

As soon as Moody designed the cover and secured the ISBN, Amazon and cbd.com put the book up for pre-order. Though I haven’t seen much of a push from other authors, I decided to really promote pre-ordering. We’ll see if it worked!

I’m also focusing on making one reader at a time, whether it be the woman who waited with me as our snow tires were removed at the tire shop, or the checker in the grocery store. Pretty much just looking at me sideways will earn you a business card.

WCC: Tell us about your book.
CB: Craig Littleton has decided to end his marriage with his wife, Denise, but an accident lands him in the ICU with fuzzy memories. As Denise helps him remember who he is, she uncovers dark secrets. Will this trauma create a fresh start? Or has his deceit destroyed the life they built together?

The Familiar Stranger (Moody Publishers, Sept 2009)

WCC: How do you plan and write your book?
CB: My previous writing has been heavily plotted and I’ve known almost everything about the characters before diving into the story. Writing with a co-author, Mom and I both need to know exactly how a character looked and his or her history. We wrote out each scene’s main plot point and point of view character on index cards and posted them on a large corkboard. We also found catalogue models that looked like our characters, made collages of the pictures, and slipped our character interview in the back of the plastic sleeves.

With The Familiar Stranger, the first scene came to me like a movie. Once the first chapter was written, I took a few hours to write down how I saw the story progressing. Then I numbered each main point and called it a chapter. All told, I had just over one page of plotting. To keep everything straight, I made notes about the characters as I went along. A very different experience to write by the seat of my pants, but I’m working through my current book in the same way.

WCC: What is it like working with editors? Do you have tips for getting along and building a great relationship with them?

CB: Cookies and chocolate! No, really, I have no trouble working with them because I believe their desire is to make the best book, which in turn makes me look better than I would on my own! I’ve had the pleasure of working with a freelance editor and two editors with Moody. Each person shaped and buffed the manuscript and the end result shines.

One tip? Treat the editor/author relationship like you should any other. Be respectful and honest, ask questions to clarify, and be thankful of his or her time and talent.

Over the years I’ve become real friends with several editors who rejected my work because I care about them as people, not as stepping stones on a career path. Two are even listed in my acknowledgements!

Read the rest of Christina's interview here at Examiner.com and learn about her upcoming projects.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Preparing your fall calendar

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:04:00 +0000

When I was in sales we had something called planning your calendar. That meant figuring out what you needed in sales and then looking at your ratio of calls to bookings and finally looking at your average income per booking. The way this usually worked out was about 4 or 5 calls before you got a “yes”. Once you had a yes the average income was about $75-$100 for the booking.

With that information you were to look at what you needed to earn and time available and get your calendar booked. You always booked it 4-6 weeks out starting with the first two weeks.

Writers need to do the same thing. Our industry is slower than making a cold call [most places require a month or more to give a response on a proposal, even an article] but that isn’t an excuse to delay building your calendar. In fact, that makes it even more crucial.

Now that the chaos of summer is over the excuse from many will be “Well, we have back to school, the holidays, etc.” I think you’ve figured out by now it is always SOMETHING. There will always be SOMETHING that makes writing a challenge, but there is nothing in life worth doing that comes simply.

Take some time to determine what is necessary to get your goals met. Here is an example of what I am doing:

One editing project per week

Ten new coaching clients per month

Three blogs per week on each of my two blogs

Three examiner articles per week

Monthly marketing columns for the three different magazines I write for

Complete rough draft of one book every 6 weeks

Read one book per week on business and read one novel per week

In order to do each of these things I know what I need to do daily. I need to bid about 8 jobs because I know ½ of people who contact me for a quote end up booking a job that month. I need to read the book/novel every week and maintain the blogs because that leads to the new material that leads to more coaching clients. Everything builds on something else.

With that I go through and determine what must be done each day.

So what are you working towards in September? Do you even know? Do you have a plan of any kind? That will be the first thing.

Once you’ve done that, go plan your calendar.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Interview with Erin Rainwater

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:24:00 +0000

Today we are interviewing author Erin Rainwater. Her two most recent books are True Colors and The Arrow That Flieth By Day.

Erin Rainwater is a Pennsylvania native now living in Colorado. As an Army nurse during the Vietnam War, she cared for the bodies and spirits of soldiers and veterans, including repatriated prisoners of war. Her military experience has helped in writing parts of her novels. In addition to writing, she serves as a nurse in the National Disaster Medical System, and has deployed to disaster areas around the country. One of her favorite pastimes is volunteering at the USO in Denver. Erin has been married to her sweetheart Keith for 35 years, has four children and the four most adorable grandchildren on the planet.

True Colors--Her war is not with enemy soldiers but with battles of the heart and of the will. Only truth can conquer this type of foe. And truth is in short supply

The Arrow That Flieth By Day--The course of her life diverted by a mistaken accusation, Mandy’s journey now leads her into a faith tested by fire, and a love tested by sacrifice.

Erin took a few minutes to talk about publishing from a writer's perspective with Writing Career Coach.

Writing Career Coach: Tell us about your book.
Erin Rainwater: Both my novels are historicals, set in the 1860s. Both heroines are strong women without being alpha females who can ride, shoot and chaw tobacco better than any man. True Colors is set during the Civil War, and Cassie Golden leaves her safe but lonely Pennsylvania farm to work as a government nurse in a Federal hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. It is there that love, passion and conspiratorial intrigue enter her life, all in the form of one man, intelligence officer Major Michael Byron. When Michael is offered a mission so secretive he will not even be able to contact Cassie, he is torn between his calling and his desire to stay and begin a family with the woman he loves. Cassie, too, must decide if she can subject her heart to his destiny. Kidnapping, imprisonment and a murder challenge Cassie's ability to survive her inner battles during this terrible war. Cassie's cousin, Mandy Berringer, is the courageous heroine in my second novel, The Arrow That Flieth By Day. Mandy is on the last leg of a homebound journey to Denver when a mistaken accusation by Indian warriors diverts the course of her life. Believed dead by her family, Mandy will do anything to get home. But a disabling accident, an epidemic, and unexpected love and a tragic loss prolong her separaton from her family until she is finally reunited with them--only to be devasted by what she finds. Dakota, the half-breed man she loves, undergoes crushing trials of his own, leaving him handicapped and alone. Their search for each other leads them on separate journeys into new tests of faith and enduring love.

WCC: How do you plan and write your book?
ER: I get broad stroke ideas about stories and the characters that inhabit them. I usually have a pretty good vision of a beginning, parts of the middle, and the end, but none of these are set in stone. The hard part is fusing it all together. Sometimes I have some solidly formed scenes in my mind but no clue how I'll get from one to the next when there's a time lag between them. But I just write anyway, knowing from experience that it'll take shape. It's been said a gazillion times before, but it is absolutely true that sometimes stories write themselves. If only that were true in the sense that it was easy to write them. It's NOT. If it were, my Recycle Bin wouldn't be so full of discarded scenes. But it is true in the sense that the stories, and characters, work themselves somehow into our brains and eventually we figure them out. I don't have a good explanation of how that works. My guess is that it has something to do with how the Lord wired us in the womb, but that's as far as I can take that phenomenon.

WCC: Upcoming projects?
ER: I currently have a novella (a romance between a disfigured veteran and a ruined nurse set in the 1950s) in the hands of two publishers. It started out as a short story, but I am apparently incapable of such a thing. To me, "short" and "story" are oxymorons.

Read the rest of Erin's interview here at Examiner.com and find out who has influenced her.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Special opportunities

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:48:00 +0000

This summer was the largest summer in the history of Writing Career Coach. I want to thank each and every one of you who took advantage of all the free resources as well as the coaching and editing services I provide.

I am excited to say that among my clients there are finalists in national contests, individuals who have acquired agents and some who are being looked at for publication. I’ve had clients sell articles to publications [for pay] and also have things published locally & nationally in exchange for bylines.

In addition to all of this I have received many emails about how you are growing as writers, advancing your careers and getting new focus and drive. We have expanded to include two assistants for administrative tasks, so I can begin to focus on only coaching and tutoring.

From its humble beginnings, Writing Career Coach is growing strong! Since we are going so strong I am financially in a position to offer some discounts and special offers to the people who got me here-you!

For those of you who read my blog and my newsletter I have a special offer! My September calendar is already booking up and I’m giving you first priority along with some substantial discounts and bonuses. All of these are on a first come, first serve basis. You may contact me through my website to book your spot. First, a bit for those of you going to conference, then something for everyone else.

Conference Dry Run

One of the greatest parts of a writer’s conference is the opportunity to meet with editors and agents. It is your shot to pitch your project. You want to do your best. The Conference Dry Run is what you need. For $25 we will have a 25 minute phone call. The first 15 minutes I will play the part of an editor/agent. For the last 10 minutes we will look at the strengths and weaknesses of your pitch and brainstorm ways for you to put your best foot forward at this all important meeting.

Proposal/Conference preparation plan

[Whether or not you’re going to conference]

I will edit your one sheet, give you a query template to use when you send in your requested manuscripts after conference, evaluate your synopsis [up to 3 pgs] and 30 pgs of your manuscript [up to 8,000 words]. You’ve worked hard to get this far. Make sure you’ve put your most professional face forward. $80 [I will only do 5 of these in September, contact me for scheduling.]

Complete Conference Prep Kit

Get the Conference Dry Run and the preparation plan for $100.

Coaching

I will now offer two kinds of coaching. Select the plan that best meets your needs.

Straight email coaching This has been the Writing Career Coach standard for years. For $30/month [with a minimum 3 month commitment] you will get the two writing career coach workbooks and 3 months of email coaching. This coaching includes customized feedback for each Writing Career Coach exercise.

Coaching with the phone option Or, for $50/month you can have the email coaching with a monthly 45 minute phone call where we can discuss marketing, brainstorming, answer questions, etc. This option is available to all of my clients [even those in other countries, however you will call in to a US phone number so you will incur long distance charges.] This is a great option for writers who want a little more.

I will accept 10 coaching clients in September. Anyone who signs up in August will get to begin immediately and get August as BONUS days! [however there is no additional phone call]

Edits
I will do content edits [see this blog for an example]. I have many happy clients from the US, Canada, Europe and the UK. I edit both Fiction and Non-Fiction. I will do 4 edits TOTAL at the price below, [one per week in September] so contact me for scheduling. A 10% deposit is required to hold your spot.

As a bonus ALL edits on full manuscripts of 50,000 words+ will get the full 3 month coaching plan with their edits FREE!! [A $90 value] They may upgrade to the phone option for only $50 TOTAL [not per month. This is an additional $10 savings.]

50,000-60,000 words $500 to do a complete edit.

60,001-70,000 words $550 to do a complete edit.

70,001-80,000 words $600 to do a complete edit.

Larger or smaller projects, contact me for a quote.

*Complete edit means I will go through the project one time. Some authors want a second edit after they complete revisions. If you’d like re-edits of your work, ask me for a quote.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Some good news coming out of publishing

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:24:00 +0000

http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/press_releases/2009_aug_20_second_qtr_earnings.html

Good news in publishing. Barnes and Noble are showing some growth. What does that mean to all of us? It could mean more books are selling. It could mean consumer confidence in this small segment is going up.

Or it could mean none of it.

For us as writers, what does it mean? It means we need to keep writing. When things started going down last fall how many of you stopped writing? How many of you decided to keep writing to be ready when the market turned around? How many of you didn’t change anything in response? In publishing there is a huge delay between when they acquire your manuscript and when it goes to press.

That means you can’t chase the market. You can’t write based on what is hot, because when you are done that market is done.

You can’t allow yourself to be concerned with industry experts and what they’re saying.
Your focus must remain on consistent work.

What I have found in publishing is the people who are “lucky” are actually people who were prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves.

What are you doing to make some of your own luck.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

An interview with Kimberly Woodhouse

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:41:00 +0000

Kimberly Woodhouse's new book Welcome Home: Our Family's Journey to Extreme Joy is an incredible story of overcoming odds. I have the pleasure of knowing Kimberly [she had an extreme makeover house done in Colorado] and her story truly touches the heart...

1. What is something you've learned about the writing process through this book? [what I mean by that is what is something you learned about writing, publishing, marketing your book that you didn't know before.]

Well, I learned I could write really fast. I cranked this one out in two and half weeks. I also learned that good marketing takes a lot of work and a lot of time. And I am still learning the proper use of an em-dash. (And I love those little buggers.)

2. You have a very unique story. How have you been able to maintain some kind of normalcy while spending so much time in the limelight?

I guess I’d have to say that my normal has never been well… normal. So, I re-defined it. And it works great for us :)
Here it is: Normal defined by Kimberley Woodhouse
“The unusual standard—it is irregularly patterned, nonaverage, occurring chaotically, and full of mental liveliness and creative flow.”(Compare it to Webster’s and I think you’ll get a laugh out of it.)

Read the rest of Kim's interview here at Examiner.com and find out how Kim grew as a person by writing this book.

Overwhelming trials . . . met with overcoming joy.

Kayla Woodhouse is not your typical twelve-year-old. Due to a rare medical disorder, she feels no pain, doesn’t sweat, and needs protective cooling gear just to go outside. With her restrictive lifestyle; countless hospitalizations, including brain surgery; and the resulting mountain of hospital bills, what’s a family to do?

How the Woodhouse family has faced seemingly impossible challenges is a story that has captured the hearts of America. Millions of people have experienced glimpses of their lives on Discovery’s Mystery ER, The Montel Williams Show, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (recently voted one of the show’s all-time best episodes!).

Now Kayla’s mom, Kimberley, takes readers behind the cameras to reveal their family’s journey as never before told. From medical sleuthing to cross-country moves, from freak fires to battles with insurance companies, Welcome Home proves that truth really is stranger than fiction. This candid life story reveals both success and failure and demonstrates how, even during tough circumstances, to shift your life from heartbreak to extreme joy.
Peak inside the Woodhouse family’s life (and their famous house) with a 16-page photo insert.

Kimberley Woodhouse is a wife, mother, author, and musician with a quick wit and positive outlook despite difficult circumstances. A popular speaker, she’s shared at more than 600 venues across the country. Kimberley and her family's story have garnered national media attention for many years, but most recently her family was chosen for ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Montel Williams Show, and Discovery Health channel’s Mystery ER. Welcome Home: Our Family’s Journey to Extreme Joy, releases from Tyndale House Publishers September first. In addition to her non-fiction, she also writes romantic suspense and children’s books. Kimberley lives, writes, and homeschools in Colorado with her husband and two children in their truly “extreme” home. http://www.kimberleywoodhouse.com/

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Your writing dream

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:13:00 +0000

I’m finishing up the book “Put your Dream to the Test” by John Maxwell. I have learned a great deal not only from the book, but also from the questions in the book.

When I picked up the book to read as part of the mentorship program in PVN I figured this book would focus on how to accomplish your dream. The title seemed to be a call for individuals to pursue with full gusto their dreams…

That wasn’t the case at all. Rather, what Maxwell challenges the reader to do is to check their commitment level vis-à-vis their dream. Are they really committed to seeing the dream to completion or are their dreams little more than wishes?

This is an important question for us to ask ourselves regularly. Once we have decided if we are committed or not we need to determine if your actions are on par with what we say our commitment level is.

Many times it can be difficult as a writer. You need to balance time between developing your writing, writing, and working to pay your bills. That is where I find myself at the moment. However, rather than running from that challenge, future writers see it as an interesting challenge. They don’t take their eyes off of the publication goal. Not only that, many of them try to find ways to make streams of income so work is no longer necessary.

What are you working on right now and is it part of your writing dream, or a distraction from it? Reply here and, if you’d like, continue the conversation of facebook. I would love to get to know more of you over that way.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Where is Writing Career Coach

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:43:00 +0000

I've taken the last week off to catch up on reading, do some one-on-one coaching with clients and enjoy the last glimmer of summer.

BUT, I am never really off duty. I have started a facebook page and would love to see you there. If you ever wanted to know the "Tiffy" behind the Writing Career Coach, she is there.

And I'll be back on Monday with a great new blog series as well as some cool announcements.

See you in a few days, Tiff

The first 3 pages: Part 5

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:05:00 +0000

I hope this series of short blogs has helped you develop the opening pages of your book. I have given you quite a few assignments and asked many questions. I hope it made you want to look at many books in many genres. I hope it will improve your craft in those first crucial pages.

And most of all I hope you learned from my technique.

I always seek to show rather than tell my readers. That is because I am first and foremost an author. It is in my blood. Did you see how I left unanswered questions from the first day up until today? Some I answered right away [how we will use this will be described tomorrow] others were taken throughout the entire “work” of this blog series [What are the things I need to do to engage my reader? What is the valuable lesson about showing vs. telling?]

I modeled the techniques that every writer must use. I hope they have been useful to you [and for those Non-fiction writers who may have wondered on day one how this would help them, I hope I’ve now answered that as well. These 5 blogs weren’t fiction.]

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The first 3 pages: Part 4

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:31:00 +0000

Last week we looked at the first three pages, now we’re going to pull it all together.

Day 1: What questions were introduced?
Day 2: What physical senses were engaged?
Day 3: What emotions were engaged?

Now think about your own book. How much do you have going on in the first pages? Are you spending so much time trying to tell the reader what happened before they opened the book that you don’t get them involved in the moment? Are we bogged down with interior monologue? Or are you pulling the reader in to the moment and making them feel, taste and experience the moment? Are they wondering about parts of the book? Are there unanswered questions that keep you reading?

How important is that to your book? We’ll talk about that next time.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The First 3 pages: Part 3

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:27:00 +0000

This week we’ve looked at the questions that pull your reader along and the 5 senses that cause you to experience each moment. Now we’re going to step in to the emotional realm. Pull out your same book and go over those same three pages:

1. What emotions are engaged? [Fear, Love, Hate, wonder, Confusion, etc…]
2. How did they cause you to experience them? [What words did they use to create the emotion?]
3. How long was it before you had an emotional experience of any kind while reading the book? [How many lines in?]

We will tie this all together next week. I hope to see you then.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The First 3 pages: Part 2

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:21:00 +0000

Yesterday we looked at the first few pages of a novel and asked three questions. Remember, the way to keep a reader moving through your book it to ask and answer a series of questions during the course of the story. You want the reader curious. This has to be about more than just the big “will the good guy win” questions, also questions like “Why doesn’t she trust people?” or “Why does he want her to come over tomorrow?” It is those little questions that keep your reader satisfied enough that they don’t hurl your book across the room. The unanswered ones keep them reading.

Today I have three new questions for you to consider. Grab the same book from yesterday and now look at the first few pages again:

1. How many physical senses were engaged in the FIRST page? [Be sure to look for very subtle ones]
2. Find one creative way they caused you to experience something physically. [Look for creative ways to describe the way something smells, tastes or feels.]
3. How long before you have a physical experience? [By this I mean how many lines in to the book before one of your 5 senses were engaged?]

Are you learning about craft? We’ll take it a step deeper tomorrow.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The First 3 pages: Part 1

tiffany@writingcareercoach.com (Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:08:00 +0000

This week we’re going to do some exercises to jumpstart our writing. We are going to work with novels but this exercise is useful for non-fiction books too. These techniques over these 5 lessons will help you engage your reader and learn a valuable lesson about showing vs. telling.

Select your favorite novel [or one you like that is in your home]. As you read it you are going to ask yourself three questions AS A READER.

1. What question does the writer introduce in to the mind of the reader?
2. What promises are given to the reader? [What are you looking forward to?]
3. How do the first lines engage you?

Try this with a few books if you have the time. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.