My Story Ideas.

Yes, going on ghost hunts is a new way I've found inspiration for my stories. But my ideas come from all over the place. I am the first to admit that there is a lot going on in my head and not long ago, there was an incident that made me laugh so I thought I'd share.

We have a Half Price Books in our neighborhood, and being a history/research nerd, I love to browse. I love my kindle, but I use it for books that I want to read cover-to-cover. Half Price Books is my favorite place to find additions for my reference shelves. I'm all about finding a bargain.

My personal bookshelves are filled with ghost stories and nonfiction books about ghosts. The ghost books help if I need my ghost character to do something and I get stuck. I also have history books that relate to whatever I'm working on. For example, I have biographies on all of the major gangsters like Al Capone and John Dillinger. These help me solidify and add depth to certain characters in my stories. I also have books on true crime, because honestly, sometimes fact really is stranger than fiction.

So when I find myself in the vicinity of a used bookstore, with an extra $20 in my pocket AND a few minutes to spare (which isn't very often for either of the later -- I have three kids), I enjoy a browse. On this particular day, one of the first books that caught my attention was a small, yellowed paperback book that was waiting to be shelved. (Or probably, more likely, waiting to get cleared out because nobody bought it.) It was an extremely dated horror anthology entitled: Haunting Women: Chilling Stories of Horror by Women Writers (edited by Alan Ryan).  Excited to learn what women of decades past wrote within the horror genre, it went into my purchase pile.

I've been puzzling through a new series idea and I was specifically looking for some background on secret societies. So I wandered to my favorite corner next. It's the corner that has Paranormal, Secret Societies, Mystical Creatures and the Occult all in one place. Yes, there really are books about all of those things. And a lot of them eventually end up at Half Price Books in the same corner which works out well for me.

It was there that I found one of the best reference books I've ever found. Seriously, what mystery writer wouldn't want to add The Elemental Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols (by Adele Nozedar) to their personal stacks?

And finally, I always check out the Clearance Room in the basement. There I found yet another collection of ghost stories, aptly named, Paranormal Obsession: America's Obsession with Ghosts & Hauntings, Spooks & Spirits (by Deonna Kelli Sayed). For 99 cents, it seemed an appropriate addition to my library.

I was ready to leave and I handed my books to the clerk. In my head I was trying to figure out if I'd have enough change for a fancy coffee, and time to stop anywhere else before I had to pick up the kids from school. So when she stopped and stared at me, I don't think I even noticed at first. When I did, she said, "These are really scary." And after that, she wouldn't look me in the eye. I was instantly thankful I'd opted not to buy the history book I'd found on insane and sadistic European royalty. But I realized what I must look like to her: a housewife looking for a fun book to read in her free time, or maybe even something for the kids.

I just smiled at her and said, "I'm a writer." I've always enjoyed when I have the opportunity to take someone's expectations or judgments and shake them up a little for the better.

And in case you were wondering, I did go back and buy the book about insane royal family members the next time I was there. Because, really, all of us need a jumping off point for our bad guys. Especially those of us writers that look like normal housewives.

How I Accidentally Became a Ghost Hunter.

It has been a busy couple of months. And in the last few weeks, I've heard the question: "You're doing what?!" more than once, especially from family members.

Since my last post, I have some news that I am very excited about. I got to go on a ghost hunt! A good writer friend of mine, Jessica Freeburg, founded a group called Ghost Stories, Inc. It is a group of children's writers and illustrators that turn to the paranormal to find inspiration. (Translation, the group goes on ghost hunts.) When Jessica asked me to come along on a night of filming for their documentary, I was all in.

It doesn't take much for me to get wrapped up in history. But take an afternoon of historical research, combine that with an overactive imagination and then put me in the dark basement of the place I just researched and I'll probably be writing ghost stories about it for the next year.

And now that I've gone with them, I can attest: No matter what your beliefs about the afterlife, when you sit in a building that has history oozing from the walls, it's inspirational. With a good dose of adrenaline thrown in for good measure. I was hooked.

But wait, it gets even better.

They asked me to join the group! I get to go again...and again! I am one lucky paranormal writer. I guess that also means I get to add "Ghost Hunter" to my ever-growing eclectic resume. And I can't wait to see what happens next.

My first guest blog post!

Last year at this time, I participated in #AdPit (a pitch contest on Twitter) and it led me to my agent, Terrie Wolf at AKA Literary.

This year, I was asked to do a guest blog post by the event coordinator, Heidi Norrod (@HRNorrod). Here is a link to her blog and my guest post!

Notes of a Neurotic Scribbler:  neuroticscribbler.tumblr.com/

If you still haven't decided about participating in tomorrow's #AdPit, I will be the first one to tell you, GO FOR IT!

Right On with WriteOnCon

I know. Writers always have to do kitchy-catchy things with words. Thus the above title. My sincere apologies for not being able to resist.

But. WriteOnCon was huge for me last year. I almost missed it altogether, but a writer friend of mine happened to post on Facebook that she was getting ready for a dedicated day of WriteOnCon participation. I had just "finished" (and I use that term loosely because now I know that "finished" is relative) both of my manuscripts and I was gearing up for a big push with queries. A brief peek at WriteOnCon and I knew I had found the perfect launch pad. Without a moment to spare, I jumped right in.

I played with and posted a few queries of my own and got some great feedback. I thoroughly enjoyed paying it forward by helping others with theirs and celebrated (not without envy) when fellow attendees  caught the eye of the ninja agents.

But the absolute most important gift I received from WriteOnCon was that it led me to Twitter. A lot of the aspiring authors I connected with via WriteOnCon were also on Twitter. If I remember correctly, there was even an entire chat line-thing about why writers need to join Twitter.

I've said before that the entire query process is like shooting arrows into a dark room and trying to hit a bullseye. But utilizing social media, and most especially Twitter to help with the query process, is like turning on the light. And while Twitter was initially way out of my comfort zone, with Twitter, I found new agents. With Twitter, I found a supportive community of writers who shared my same crazy dream of getting published. With Twitter, I found hashtags like "#tenqueries" and "#MSWL". I could follow agents I was thinking about querying. And more than once, I even unfollowed an agent because they were rude and disrespectful and I couldn't imagine myself working with them...no matter how bad I wanted my dream of publication to come true.

But even more important than anything else, I found my agent. My agent happened to see a pitch I posted in a Twitter pitch contest, @HRNorrod's #adpit to be exact. The rest is history (but still in the making of course -- this whole path to publication takes awhile.)

Thanks @writeoncon, for being one of the lights that aspiring hopefuls like me can turn on, in order to take a little bit better aim at that bull's eye.

Crimefest 2012: My Live Pitch Session

The Crimefest conference included a live pitch session with three well-respected literary agents. It was advertised as "speed dating" but with literary agents. I was signed up for Saturday morning, and I would get a precious ten minutes of face time with three different agents.

In the handful of queries I'd sent prior to the conference, there were two requests for fulls. There was no reason not to be excited. (Unless you subscribe to the theory that you shouldn't count your chickens...which I now do.)

I floated through the Friday panels in an aura of excited confidence. "I wrote a book. I have a finished manuscript," I thought. "They are going to love it," I told myself. "Just wait until they hear that I've already started on the next one!"

I arrived to the pitch room early, wearing an outfit I'd chosen weeks before. I took my place next to two other other pitch participants. One was wearing flip-flops and biker shorts. Neither had a finished manuscript. "I got this," I thought.

Cue the sound of breaks screeching to a halt.

It turns out it doesn't matter so much what you are wear (although I wouldn't recommend flip-flops and biker shorts). What matters the most are the words you've written on the paper.

I sat down in front of the first agent. He told me that he didn't believe in ghosts and could never represent anyone who wrote about ghosts. My mouth dropped open in stunned silence. I recovered enough to make an effort (I used to be an attorney after all, I couldn't let it go without a fight.) But after that opening statement, I should have just looked at my watch and asked, "Well, what else should we talk about for the next 9 minutes and 30 seconds?"

My second pitch went a little better. But I walked away with the advice that I should rewrite the entire novel with a young adult MC. Huh. I'd never really thought much about Young Adult, I was just writing the story that was in my head. In hindsight, I realize now that this agent was ahead of a market trend, she just couldn't put her finger on what it was. And it was something I had struggled with a bit as well. In the months since, the market has identified a new category: New Adult. And my manuscript as it stands now and as it did then, fits within this perfectly.

To be honest, I don't remember much about the third pitch. I only remember that she told me "she didn't really believe that my MC would still be mourning the loss of her best friend from a few years before." At which point I actually started to cry. You see, my husband's best friend was murdered, for real. And watching him cope with the loss sparked the original inspiration for my main character. I explained this, and the shocked expression on her face was enough of an apology. But I'm sure to this day, at cocktail parties, she probably tells the story about "that time she made a pitch participant burst into tears at Crimefest."

I walked out of that room utterly deflated. It took me several months to regroup from those 30 minutes. During that time, I even rewrote my entire manuscript with a young adult main character. (Which was a disaster, by the way.)

But I will forever be grateful for that experience. First, because attending Crimefest made me realize how very much I want this writing dream to come true. Second, because it made me take a wrong turn - rewriting the manuscript as a Young Adult. If I hadn't taken that wrong turn, I never would have found my way to SCBWI Belgium and the greatest critique group I have ever known.

Crimefest 2012

Two years ago, last May, I had the chance to hop on a train in Brussels, Belgium (where I lived at the time) to attend a mystery writer's conference in Bristol, England. The headliners included Lee Childs, P.D. James, Sue Grafton and Jeffrey Deaver, among many talented others.

I had never experienced anything like it, and the weekend was a pivotal turning point in my life as an aspiring author. The book sale room was stacked with mystery novels, all written by authors in attendance. The panels included a wide-range of speakers, from newly published authors to experienced forensic researchers. Avid mystery fans mingled with their favorite authors, and the book signing queues often stretched down the hall. I was in awe of it all.

My table for one of the dinners included university student volunteers, excited to embark on their creative writing careers; a newly published author who had just hit the bestseller list; and two super-fans, who spent their summers driving around to various book festivals, filling their car boot with stacks of first edition signed copies. They admitted to not having room in their house for all of their books. And I could have listened to them talk about their favorite (and least favorite) autograph experiences all night.

Later, sipping cocktails in the bar with some of the newer authors sealed the deal: This was what I wanted to do with my life. In those 48-hours, my mystery writing hobby, became a passion. I vowed to do whatever it took to try and make it to the other side of that panel table.

It's a good thing, too. Because my pre-arranged live pitch session on Saturday morning was about to become the most difficult 30 minutes of my writing career thus far.

The Brick Wall

Last year, right around this time, a quote about brick walls from Randy Pausch was trending: 

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people." 

I vowed to do whatever it took to tackle my brick wall. This inaugural blog post, and the launch of my website celebrates my climb to the top of it. In May, I signed with the amazing Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary. Like they always say, it only takes one “yes.” I am so thrilled that Terrie was the one who said “yes.” 

Like others before me, I have stacks of rejection letters, and took a few wrong turns. I want to share some of that here. Others inspired me on my climb and helped to get me on the right path, it’s my turn to pay it forward if I can. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there will be many more walls to come. I will stop for a moment to enjoying the view, but I’m also ready to climb the next one.