Opps! Missed a bit of the link!
http://blog.onpaperwings.com/2008/07/andy-warhol-rejection-letter.html
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
A "great" Rejection Letter!
I can see the frowns and scratching of heads already. How can a rejection letter be great you ask!
The answer my friends is when it's one sent to Andy Warhol! Go to this site and check it out!
http://blog.onpaperwings.com/2008/07/andy-warhol-rejection-letter.html
Take care. Caroline x
The answer my friends is when it's one sent to Andy Warhol! Go to this site and check it out!
http://blog.onpaperwings.com/2008/07/andy-warhol-rejection-letter.html
Take care. Caroline x
Sunday, 22 November 2009
A kick up the backside works wonders....
Since I gave myself a metaphorical kick up the backside last week I've managed to write 11,391 words of the current wip this week. Trust me this is amazing for me considering how little I've done recently. This word count also goes towards my unofficial NaNoWriMo target which I also set myself last week as well. Hopefully I'll be able to keep at this pace and finish the first draft by the end of the year. Take care. Caroline
Friday, 20 November 2009
"How do you plead?" - "Guilty m'Lord!"
Yuk! Just clocked the I (heart) Presents blog about feedback from the editors concerning the latest HM&B Writing Competition. They have identified 7 major sins that we newbies are guilty of with our First Chapters (FC). They are:
1. Not enough dialogue
2. Dire dialogue
3. Well worn plots and characters
4. Random meetings; meandering action
5. Inappropriate first kisses
6. Unattractive hero
7. Sexual premises
Moi? Yikes having read the above I am convinced they have targeted my First Chapter (FC) and no one else's! Seriously folks I kid you not. And to prove it I now put my case to the jury as follows (as per the 7 sins above) :
1. My FC is too full of the back story - having read it again after my CP pointed it out to me it is. So "guilty as charged."
2. I think the dialogue between H/h is static and stilted. So "guilty as charged."
3. The story revolves around the heroine mistaking the hero for someone else. So "guilty as charged" on the well worn plot and characters.
4. Heroine meets hero in a dark stable block. So "guilty as charged" on the random meeting.
5. Hero kisses heroine in the FC so "guilty as charged."
6 . Have to say I am "not guilty here" as there was no rumpy pumpy in the FC (Phew!)
7. Juries out on this one. He's angry with her but not a total "B" if you get my drift! "Hung jury" on this one.
Umm. Like I said. Call me paranoid but...ya have to admit the evidence is pretty stacked against me. Ah well. I gave it a go didn't I?
Take care. Caroline x
1. Not enough dialogue
2. Dire dialogue
3. Well worn plots and characters
4. Random meetings; meandering action
5. Inappropriate first kisses
6. Unattractive hero
7. Sexual premises
Moi? Yikes having read the above I am convinced they have targeted my First Chapter (FC) and no one else's! Seriously folks I kid you not. And to prove it I now put my case to the jury as follows (as per the 7 sins above) :
1. My FC is too full of the back story - having read it again after my CP pointed it out to me it is. So "guilty as charged."
2. I think the dialogue between H/h is static and stilted. So "guilty as charged."
3. The story revolves around the heroine mistaking the hero for someone else. So "guilty as charged" on the well worn plot and characters.
4. Heroine meets hero in a dark stable block. So "guilty as charged" on the random meeting.
5. Hero kisses heroine in the FC so "guilty as charged."
6 . Have to say I am "not guilty here" as there was no rumpy pumpy in the FC (Phew!)
7. Juries out on this one. He's angry with her but not a total "B" if you get my drift! "Hung jury" on this one.
Umm. Like I said. Call me paranoid but...ya have to admit the evidence is pretty stacked against me. Ah well. I gave it a go didn't I?
Take care. Caroline x
Saturday, 14 November 2009
UPDATE!
YAY! I've cracked my writer apathy. Managed to type 2,935 words today. Gonna stop now as X Factor is about to start! NaNo (my way) is gonna help me finish this wip come hell or high water! Take care. Caroline x
Better late than never....sort of!
What am I rambling on about? NaNoWriMo - the "write a novel in a month". I wasn't going to do it -mainly because I'm a coward, but mainly because I'm 35k through my latest wip and I didn't want to start something new.
But because I've been so sparse recently on the writing front - ( mainly due to the latest "R" if I'm honest) - I've decided to set myself a target. To do at least a 1000 words a day until the middle of December. I've extended "my" NaNo time until then.
I've been spurned on to do this by reading Nicola Marsh's blog yesterday in which she talks about "sprinting" - writing something/anything in short sharp bursts - fitting it in around "life". I can do this I decided - so this morning - another first for me as I'm normally a night writer - I just fired up the PC and typed. 30 minutes later - 866 words done. Yay! Writer's apathy broken at long last! Now all I need to do is keep on top of it. Take care. Caroline x
But because I've been so sparse recently on the writing front - ( mainly due to the latest "R" if I'm honest) - I've decided to set myself a target. To do at least a 1000 words a day until the middle of December. I've extended "my" NaNo time until then.
I've been spurned on to do this by reading Nicola Marsh's blog yesterday in which she talks about "sprinting" - writing something/anything in short sharp bursts - fitting it in around "life". I can do this I decided - so this morning - another first for me as I'm normally a night writer - I just fired up the PC and typed. 30 minutes later - 866 words done. Yay! Writer's apathy broken at long last! Now all I need to do is keep on top of it. Take care. Caroline x
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Love Inspired Historical
I've just finished polishing off my latest WIP - a Love Inspired Historical - a HM&B Steeple Hill imprint.
For those not familiar with this line it is HM&B's Christian imprint. I've read the guidelines and had a go! This book is a "Roman" set in and around Rome in AD63. My heroine is a Christian. The hero isn't! That is the basis for the internal conflict in a nutshell. The external conflict revolves around the fact that the action happens in and around Rome before and after the "Great Fire of Rome", when in order to deflect blame from himself, the Emperor Nero blames the poor Christian's for starting the fire, and so begins their persecution.
I'm going to print it off - one final proof read - and then send it off to the New York offices next week. So wish me luck people. Take care. Caroline x
For those not familiar with this line it is HM&B's Christian imprint. I've read the guidelines and had a go! This book is a "Roman" set in and around Rome in AD63. My heroine is a Christian. The hero isn't! That is the basis for the internal conflict in a nutshell. The external conflict revolves around the fact that the action happens in and around Rome before and after the "Great Fire of Rome", when in order to deflect blame from himself, the Emperor Nero blames the poor Christian's for starting the fire, and so begins their persecution.
I'm going to print it off - one final proof read - and then send it off to the New York offices next week. So wish me luck people. Take care. Caroline x
Friday, 6 November 2009
What "type" are you?
On Michelle Styles blog the other day she discusses (very well btw) the Myer-Briggs personality tests. I remember doing these "tests" when I was doing a Management Course. In all honesty I don't remember much about the course but I do recall these tests and the Belbin Team Role Inventory - which I did find interesting at the time.
Belbin assess how an individual behaves in a team environment. It is a behavioural tool, and not a psychometric test. Whereas Myers-Briggs sorts people into 16 types dependant on types of behaviours the Belbin Inventory scores people on how strongly they express traits from 9 different Team Roles. Phew - confused - I'll explain. These roles are as follows:
1. Plant - plants are creative, unorthodox and a generator of ideas. Bright and free thinking they refrain from getting bogged down. But...the downfall is someone like the absentminded professor-inventor - who often has a hard time communicating ideas to others.
2. Resource Investigator (RI) - the RI gives a team a rush of enthusiasm at the start of a project by vigorously pursing contacts and opportunities. RI's are makers of possibilities and an excellent networker. But...they have a tendency to lose momentum towards the end of a project and can forget small details.
3.Coordinator - Often the chairperson who steps back to see the big picture. They are confident, stable and mature. But...they can be accused of being manipulative and will tend to delegate all work rather than do it themselves!
4.Shaper - is a task-focused leader who abounds with nervous energy. Winning is the name of the game; and the Shaper will "shape" others into achieving their aims. They can challenge, argue or disagree with others in pursuit of goal achievement. But...two or three Shapers in a group can lead to conflict, aggravation and in-fighting!
5. Monitor Evaluator (ME) - are fair and logical observers and judges of what is going on. ME's are methodical, analytical, taking every thing into account to come to the right decision. But....ME's can be excessively cynical, damping enthusiasm for anything without logical grounds and they have a hard time inspiring themselves or others to be passionate about their work.
6. Teamworker - the greasy oil between the cogs that keeps the team running. They are good listeners and diplomats, talented at soothing over conflicts. But...as they don't take sides, this can, sometimes, mean that they are not able to take decisive action when needed.
7. Implimenter - Turns ideas into positives. They are efficient and self-disciplined and can always be relied on to deliver on time. Motivated by loyalty which means that they often take on jobs everyone else avoids or dislikes. But....they can be perceived as closed-minded and inflexible since they will often have difficulty deviating from their own well thought out plans.
8. Completer Finisher (CF) - is often a perfectionist who will go the extra mile to make sure everything is just right. Will double check and check again. Strong inward need for accuracy, rarely needing any encouragement from others because of their own high standards. But...they may frustrate other team members by worrying excessively about minor detail and refusing to delegate tasks that they do not trust anyone else to perform.
9. Specialists - are passionate about learning in their own particular field. Great depth of knowledge and they enjoy imparting it to others. Constantly wanting to improve their wisdom. If they don't know it - they will go out and find it. But... because they are specialists then sometimes they will be uninterested in anything which lies outside their "narrow" confines.
When I did the test I came out as a Completer Finisher with Plant tendencies! So is that a good combination for a writer? Hopefully yes. I would imagine if you were a strong Coordinator / Shaper you probably wouldn't finish writing anything! I'm sure an Editor working with a new author who is a Shaper would find it a recipe for disaster! Can you imagine the arguments when the poor editor asked for changes to a MS?
I'm sure these groups are not cast in stone, and many of us could probably see traits in ourselves that fall into most of these groups.
So what Group(s) do you think you fall in? Come on 'fess up if you dare!
Take care. Caroline x
Belbin assess how an individual behaves in a team environment. It is a behavioural tool, and not a psychometric test. Whereas Myers-Briggs sorts people into 16 types dependant on types of behaviours the Belbin Inventory scores people on how strongly they express traits from 9 different Team Roles. Phew - confused - I'll explain. These roles are as follows:
1. Plant - plants are creative, unorthodox and a generator of ideas. Bright and free thinking they refrain from getting bogged down. But...the downfall is someone like the absentminded professor-inventor - who often has a hard time communicating ideas to others.
2. Resource Investigator (RI) - the RI gives a team a rush of enthusiasm at the start of a project by vigorously pursing contacts and opportunities. RI's are makers of possibilities and an excellent networker. But...they have a tendency to lose momentum towards the end of a project and can forget small details.
3.Coordinator - Often the chairperson who steps back to see the big picture. They are confident, stable and mature. But...they can be accused of being manipulative and will tend to delegate all work rather than do it themselves!
4.Shaper - is a task-focused leader who abounds with nervous energy. Winning is the name of the game; and the Shaper will "shape" others into achieving their aims. They can challenge, argue or disagree with others in pursuit of goal achievement. But...two or three Shapers in a group can lead to conflict, aggravation and in-fighting!
5. Monitor Evaluator (ME) - are fair and logical observers and judges of what is going on. ME's are methodical, analytical, taking every thing into account to come to the right decision. But....ME's can be excessively cynical, damping enthusiasm for anything without logical grounds and they have a hard time inspiring themselves or others to be passionate about their work.
6. Teamworker - the greasy oil between the cogs that keeps the team running. They are good listeners and diplomats, talented at soothing over conflicts. But...as they don't take sides, this can, sometimes, mean that they are not able to take decisive action when needed.
7. Implimenter - Turns ideas into positives. They are efficient and self-disciplined and can always be relied on to deliver on time. Motivated by loyalty which means that they often take on jobs everyone else avoids or dislikes. But....they can be perceived as closed-minded and inflexible since they will often have difficulty deviating from their own well thought out plans.
8. Completer Finisher (CF) - is often a perfectionist who will go the extra mile to make sure everything is just right. Will double check and check again. Strong inward need for accuracy, rarely needing any encouragement from others because of their own high standards. But...they may frustrate other team members by worrying excessively about minor detail and refusing to delegate tasks that they do not trust anyone else to perform.
9. Specialists - are passionate about learning in their own particular field. Great depth of knowledge and they enjoy imparting it to others. Constantly wanting to improve their wisdom. If they don't know it - they will go out and find it. But... because they are specialists then sometimes they will be uninterested in anything which lies outside their "narrow" confines.
When I did the test I came out as a Completer Finisher with Plant tendencies! So is that a good combination for a writer? Hopefully yes. I would imagine if you were a strong Coordinator / Shaper you probably wouldn't finish writing anything! I'm sure an Editor working with a new author who is a Shaper would find it a recipe for disaster! Can you imagine the arguments when the poor editor asked for changes to a MS?
I'm sure these groups are not cast in stone, and many of us could probably see traits in ourselves that fall into most of these groups.
So what Group(s) do you think you fall in? Come on 'fess up if you dare!
Take care. Caroline x
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