Aaaaand we're back. It's Friday. And you know what that means. Quality time with some of the best editors in the country! This one is a little long, but I loved getting Angela's perspective on a myriad of issues that authors can sometimes face in their writing. It's one worth reading twice! If you would like to have your first page critiqued, just send your double-spaced, 12pt. font entry to juliecoulterbellon@gmail.comOn to today's submission!The EntryOut of the Waterby Deniz BevanShe hurtled down the corridor, the slap of footsteps close...
Friday, 30 March 2012
Thursday, 29 March 2012
I am so excited today because Meridian Magazine published my review of Jennie Hansen's new book, Heirs of Southbridge. Woohoo! Now some of you might say, oh, pshaw, Julie, you're already a published author, why would a magazine article be that big of a deal to you?And I would say, because this is Meridian Magazine! Meridian! One of the biggest LDS online publications. And honestly, anytime I'm published, whether in a book or a magazine, or wherever,...
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
So I stumbled in the door from critique group last night (or this morning?) just after midnight. For some reason, whenever I'm together with those ladies, the time just flies by and it never feels like we've been there all that long, and then when I look at the clock I think, boy I'm going to pay for this tomorrow. Yet, even though I have to get up early with the kids and I feel like a walking zombie, critique group is totally worth it in the laughs alone. (Fun fact for you: because of crit group I now know that when I read my book aloud, I...
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Last night was a new Castle and it finally FINALLY gave us some movement on the relationship front. It's what I've been waiting for all season.But let's start from the beginning.We have a reporter covering a sort of Occupy Wall Street protest when suddenly a bomb goes off behind her. People are killed, dozens injured, it's horrible. (And oddly, they kept showing the bodies. Castle isn't really known for doing that.) The FBI takes over the investigation...
Monday, 26 March 2012
I know I usually do book reviews on Tuesdays, but I'm part of Rachelle Christensen's blog tour for her new book, Caller ID, and somehow I got scheduled for a Monday. So I apologize and hope you will bear with me in the change of plans.Rachelle Christensen is a fairly new author since her first book, Wrong Number really burst onto the suspense scene two years ago. Rachelle had a way of ratcheting up the tension a little higher with each page in...
Friday, 23 March 2012
I thought it might be fun for us all to get to know the editors who help us every week. We'll start with Angela Eschler, our editor extraordinaire from Eschler Editing.Angela, how did you get into editing? Did it always come naturally to you? I’ve always loved reading and writing, and I was very fortunate to discover an Editing for Publication class in college the semester before I graduated or I might be on the street begging even now; I had no plans for a career before that point. I guess I just hoped I could find a job where I got paid...
Thursday, 22 March 2012
I wrote three blogs today but I deleted them all because they sucked. And now I'm sitting here eating semi-crunchy raisins (that are somehow molded into a giant raisin ball) with my son, singing "M-I-C, see ya real soon, K-E-Y Why? because I like you, M-O-U-S-E." That's the glamorous life of a writer, my friends. Crunchy raisins and Mickey Mouse Club.But that got me thinking. If I could have a glamorous writer's life, what would it look like?For me, the first thing would be to have at least two hours of uninterrupted writing time per day, not...
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Well, I was going to have to post some dismal numbers again this week until my baby started throwing up at 4 a.m. After we'd gotten everything cleaned up the second time, I just couldn't go back to sleep. So guess what I did?I got up and got some word count in!So hooray for baby vomit! It has saved my word count. I officially wrote just under 3000 words since "the incident." Yay me!How did you do this week? And do you ever get up in the middle of the night to wri...
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Monday nights are crammed with all sorts of awesome for me. Not only do we have my two favorite shows---Castle and Hawaii Five-O, but now we have Dancing with the Stars added to the mix. There were some pretty awesome dances last night, but I think I liked Gladys Knight's the best. Not because it was the best technically, but she had a lot of grace both on and off the dance floor. And dang, poor Melissa Gilbert got some harsh criticism. Yeah,...
Monday, 19 March 2012
I recently read an opinion article that little girls shouldn't be encouraged with so much princess stuff. If you've been to a little girl department of any store you can see what they're talking about---there are princess dress-up items, princess radios, phones, books, you name it. All you have to do is slap a Disney princess face on it and it's headed for the popular little girl toy lists.The opinion in the article was that princess toys encourage princess "thinking" which hurts little girls because real-life doesn't work that way and it can...
Friday, 16 March 2012
I am so grateful for all the submissions we've received in the past week. As you all know, they are critiqued in a first-come, first-served fashion, so be watching for yours!I also want to thank everyone on this blog who has tried to cheer me up and wished me well over this past week of misery while I've been sick. I even had a blog reader send over a McDonald's chocolate shake! I have the best blog readers in the world. Thank you.On to this week's submission!The EntrySTORYWORLD SPIRITby Carol Ayer I craned my neck to look up into the giant's...
Thursday, 15 March 2012
I've been in the writing business a long time. Before I was a published author, I was an editor at a publishing company, and before that I was writing papers and building lesson plans for my English teaching degree. I feel like I've taken part in a lot of aspects of the business of writing. I also feel like I've changed dramatically from when I first started.As all of you know, I've been purging my paper piles this year and last week I came across the first full-length fiction novel I'd ever written. I skimmed through it and chuckled a bit,...
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Well, it's pretty much been a horrible week for me. I've spent most of it lying in bed with a fever and chills, more miserable than I could ever remember being. I thought about my manuscript, but most of the things I thought of were sort of hallucinatory and now that I'm on the mend, I don't think they would make sense to the plot. But at the time, I thought they were brilliant. Ah, the feverish mind tricks.While I was miserable in bed, I watched the BYU vs. Iona game last night. The BYU Cougars were getting spanked, down by twenty-five and...
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
I'm still sick and mostly lying in my bed feeling grateful for medicine. I would have made a horrible pioneer because I couldn't go to the store and pick up medicine back in pioneer days. (Or make my husband.) So, if nothing I post today makes sense, I blame the meds. And thank you all for your get well wishes.I read two books over the weekend, Show No Fear by Marliss Melton which was a romantic suspense that takes place in Colombia. Lucy is a CIA agent who has to go undercover with her old college flame (that she dumped) to try to save two...
Monday, 12 March 2012
I'm sick today. I felt fine until about 5:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon and then I just felt really cold. And then feverish. And every part of my body aches, from my tiny toe to my teeth. And my throat hurts. (Is that TMI?) I tossed and turned all night and around 3 a.m. I thought about my mom. Even though I'm probably well past the age to want my mom when I'm sick I came to the conclusion that I still want my mom to come and take care of me. And bring me a chocolate shake from McDonald's because that would make my throat feel better and that's...
Friday, 9 March 2012
I saw this quote today and thought I would share. It's so beautiful!"Alas for those who never sing but die with all their music still in them." - Oliver Wendell HolmesSo, so true about writing or any art where you are expressing yourself. Today is First Page Friday. Yay! Just to let you know we still have an opening in March if you or anyone you know would like to have their first page critiqued by a national editor. Just submit it to juliecoulterbellon@gmail.com with First Page Friday in the subject heading.Here's this week's submission!The...
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Since I write suspense books about terrorists, spies, law enforcement agencies and the people who love them, I have to do research. (Of course if I was a terrorist or secret agent or someone who loved them, I'd probably say that just to throw you off my trail.) But let's just say for argument's sake that I'm just a regular writer person and I have to do research. It's nice to have some real people who can help you make the plot and your characters more, well, realistic.I have met people who have helped me enormously with my work in various ways....
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Can I say how grateful I am for all of you who read and comment on my blog? It is so amazing to me how many people I've met since I started blogging with the Frog blog and then over here at my own blog. I am so glad to have you all for bloggy friends. I don't have much of a word count this week at all. I finished my chapters for my critique group and then I started on the paper boxes (I have seven left to go! Woohoo!) so I'm afraid my word count fell by the wayside. I know I'll go back to it after my critique group meets (they're so motivating!)...
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
I read two amazing books this week that I have to tell you about. (And yes, I only purged one box yesterday because the book just kept calling to me, "come find out how I end," so I gave in and read.)Final Call by Rachel Nunes is the third in her Autumn Rain series. It's sort of paranormal in the fact that Autumn can read "imprints" that people leave on objects and she is a consultant for the police department because of it (mostly helping to find...
Monday, 5 March 2012
Do you remember how I purged my bedroom of mountains of paper in the month of January? It felt so good and my room is so much bigger, I decided to tackle my basement of paper. It's not really totally filled with paper, but it did have thirteen bankers boxes of paper, which, yeah, is a lot. (I can't seem to throw away any piece of paper that my children colored or wrote on. It's so hard!)But I'm being brutal now. I can't possibly scrapbook or keep all the paper from my children's school years. So, *gasp* I'm throwing it away.Of course I'm...
Friday, 2 March 2012
Time already for another installment of First Page Friday. The purpose of First Page Friday is to help authors write a first page that will get them noticed because last year I was at a conference where agents and editors agreed---if you haven't caught them by the first page they simply reject you.If you would like your first page critiqued by a national editor, please submit it to juliecoulterbellon@gmail.com with First Page Friday in the subject line. We have one March spot still open!The EntryShaking the Sandby Joshua BerryRotor blades spun...
Thursday, 1 March 2012
If you are not a follower of Jordan McCollum, you definitely should be. Seriously. I am so impressed with her free writing guides and how she is always looking for ways to share her writing knowledge with others. Having her as a crit partner has really improved my own writing because of the way she makes me dig deeper into my plot/characters/whatever else needs it. She has such a clear critique style I know I'm lucky to have her. Beyond her teaching...
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