Just a Reminder

Just a reminder that tomorrow is Guest Blogger Friday. If you want to advertise yourself and your blog, send me a blog post to my email address that I will publish tomorrow. Don't forget to include a short bio.

We want to hear from you!

~Emily White

That's the Way...uh, huh, uh, huh...I Like It!

Okay yes, it's late, but there's a reason, you see. I've been reading. All day, in fact. Dishes have gone unwashed and half the day went by before I even thought about picking up a hairbrush. Yes, it's pathetic, but it's what I do. When I read, that is. And that got me thinking. What is it about books that transfixes us so? How do we get swept so completely into a world that we leave the real one behind? And how do we, as writers, capture that magic in our own works?

I have a few theories of my own about this, but I want to hear from you. Do you have the answers? What in particular do you like about certain books? And how does it affect your own writing?

Tell me. I'd love to know.

~Emily White

Sharing the Love

Last week I had received yet another reward from Christi Goddard at A Torch in the Tempest. Many thanks to her! She's a wonderful writer and reading her blog just brightens my day. Unfortunately, I tend to be a stalker in every sense of the word because I secretly read her posts but rarely make my presence known. Sorry about that, Christi! :( But I appreciate the love.

Speaking of...

That's precisely what she gave me! And I'm going to spread the love right now. I would imagine that all of you lovely readers are rather sick of me tooting my own horn with all of these awards, so I'm going to focus on one particular blog by a good friend of mine:

Ex Libris Draconis

I was very fortunate to have met Jaleh over at the Writer's Digest Forum. She's really helped me with Aurumenas and I've even gotten to read a bit of her work too. Of all the blogs I follow, hers is definitely at the top of my list of favorites. Each week she reviews a new book--most of which I'm sure you have never heard of--and she describes them so splendidly that you just have to read them.

Think you know every possible cause for a war? Think again! How about a feline friend in your royal court? Or a Frying Pan of Doom? And of course, no fantasy writer's library is complete without a comprehensive list of magical creatures.

Go over there and pick her brain. There are few people I have met in my life who are as knowledgeable in everything fantasy as she is. And don't forget to ask her about filk music! Seriously. Ask.

This is one blog that I seriously love, and I hope that you will too!

~Emily White

Wolf Moon-Chapter 2a

For earlier installments of Wolf Moon, click here.

Eight days passed by before Chuck saw anything but that big bright moon rising up above the trees of his family property. Eight days before he saw anything but the black nothingness of a coma. When he did finally open his eyes, screaming and thrashing away the flimsy blankets of his hospital bed, he fully expected to be staring down the snarling mouth of his worst nightmares. But he didn't. Instead, tender arms reached out for him and shoved him against the mattress. A voice called out to him, soothing him.

He laid back and took in deep, slow breaths. Something was wrong. He wasn't where he was supposed to be. It was too bright, and warm. Someone walked into the room and pulled away the tender arms that had remained firm across his chest. One of his eyelids was pulled back and a light was shined at it. Chuck pulled away and blinked his eyes.

"Where am I?" he said.

"You're at St. Juliana's, honey," the woman examining him replied. "Don't you worry about a thing. You're wife here brought you in just in time. You'll be okay."

Chuck turned his head. His wife stared back at him, smiling and clutching his shoulder. "Oh, Jeanie," he said.

Her sweet, sparkling eyes did all the talking; she didn't need to say a thing. Red rimmed and swollen, they showed the many hours of worry, but the lines that creased around their edges also showed how happy she was to see him awake. He reached his hand out to caress her cheek. She met it halfway and melted into his arms.

"Jeanie." He sobbed.

She brought her head up and wiped her eyes. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, you bastard."

Chuck laughed. His muscles screamed against the sharp movement, but he was so glad to be alive. No pain in the world was enough to take away how happy he was to be with his wife at that moment.

She leaned toward him and brushed her lips against his. "I love you," she said. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Jeanine pressed her soft cheeks against his scruff.

"No!" Chuck pushed her away hard and sat up on the bed. He couldn't let her get close. He needed to see the doctor. He needed to know the truth. "Get the doctor," he said to the nurse.

She didn't budge. "Now come on, just lay down."

"I said get the doctor."

The woman looked from Chuck to his wife then rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. Minutes later she returned with an older man with short, white hair. He walked up to Chuck's bed while the nurse stayed by the door.

"You wanted to see me?"

Chuck sat up straighter and narrowed his eyes. "Did I come in here with any scratches or bites?"

The doctor smiled his patronizing little smile and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Bardine, we treated all your wounds."

"That's not what I asked."

He sighed. "Yes, you had a few deep scratches from where the wolf attacked you, but nothing debilitating. You'll be up and out of here in no time."

Chuck closed his eyes and laid his head back against his pillow. "You have to kill me."

Check in next Monday for the next installment!

~Emily White

Aspirin Please

Trust me, dear readers, I had a great post planned. Unfortunately my monthly migraine has decided to take full swing and I only have enough stomach to tell you that I'm alive, but there won't be a writerly post today. I apologize. Please check in tomorrow, though! It's gonna be good!

~Emily White

Etiquette We Wish All Agents Would Live By

Joshua from The Technical Parent brought up a very good point in response to my post, Etiquette for the Writerly Folk. Sometimes agents and people from the publishing industry in general don't live by the kind of etiquette we wish they would. And how do we know to what standard we wish all agents would be held? Because some of them actually do.

So listen up agents, publishers, assistants everywhere! We've gone crazy checking our email 100 times a day for months on end only to discover the inbox empty and we're not gonna take it anymore*!

Let's get started...

Please get rid of your "no answer means no" policy. Yes, you are busy, but there are plenty of agents who find the time to respond to each and every query and it's reasonable to assume that you can find the time as well. It takes two seconds to hit reply and paste that form rejection and it saves us from months of fretting and wondering if we should move on to our next batch of agents.

Don't be so inaccessible. There are thousands, perhaps millions of new writers out there who just don't know where to get started when looking for publication. So what happens? They go to google and are bombarded by vanity publishing companies. They fall for it and end up ruining any chances of really getting their works out there. Here's a fact: There are plenty of honestly talented writers who write amazing novels but don't have the first clue about the industry. If they can't find you on the first page of google or bing, they're going to get bamboozled by people who want to take their money. Admittedly, this sort of thing has improved over the past few years and we certainly appreciate it.

One should not have to have a masters in computer engineering to find your submission guidelines nor a law degree in order to be able to read it. We want to submit to you and we want to do it right. Please leave no questions unanswered when telling us exactly what we should do. We know the war between Times New Roman and Courier. If you prefer one over the other, make it known so that we may comply and prove that we have done our homework.

If you have our full manuscript in your possession, wow, thank you, our hearts are a-fluttering in anticipation! But that high in the sky feeling quickly drops when we fail to hear from you for 6, 12, 18 months. Please oh please let us know the state of our submission! Just a short, "hey, still reading, back to you soon" or "thanks, but no thanks" after a few months would be greatly appreciated. As you might expect, the queries are probably on hold and waiting a year for a no is a long time to be out of the market. I've heard of a particular horror story from someone who didn't hear back for two years from an agent who had his full and eventually decided to self-publish only to have an offer from said agent just weeks after going through the self-publishing route. Ouch.

So there it is. We don't ask for much, but what we do ask for could keep us from making huge mistakes that inevitably ruin a potentially successful career in writing--like sending nasty emails or showing up at your office uninvited.

~Emily White

*This list or emphatic cry for change should not in any way indicate that all agents, publishers, assistants, etc. have failed to help us poor new writers out. In fact, it's because of the wonderful blogs provided by many in the industry that we even know what we should come to expect.

The Awards Just Keep Coming

Last week was quite a busy week as far as awards go! Yes dear readers, I was awarded not one, but two awards for my blog. You can't imagine how flattered I am. I want to send a big thank you to Jai Joshi over at Jai Joshi's Tulsi Tree. She is an amazing writer and her blog has been one of my favorites for many months now. Stop on over there and check it out!

And because I seem to be the most interesting person in the world, *cough* I must now think of another ten things to reveal about myself. Believe me readers, you don't really want to know any more about me, but I'm certainly not one to break with tradition.

1. I'm a huge procrastinator who thrives on deadlines.

2. I've been thinking about writing a memoir about my time in the U.S. Army. I was a 107 lb pipsqueek. Trust me, it would be funny.

3. I'm a double spacer. Yes, I said it and I'm proud of it. Good luck to anyone in trying to teach my thumb to not hit the space bar twice after a sentence!

4. I grew up in a very small town in WNY with a student class size of about 97. I still only live about 15 minutes away from that very town today.

5. I learned the very hard way that when someone asks you if you can type you should reply with an emphatic NO!

6. I prefer writing male characters, and when I do have a female lead, she's usually surrounded by men.

7. I have a sick love for the smell of gunpowder. It was my time in the Army, I swear.

8. I've fired a 50 cal. and it was awesome!

9. I may have a violent streak. But I'm so cute. :) Teehee!

10. My favorite musical instrument is the bagpipe.

And the award goes to...!

Christi Goddard at A Torch in the Tempest

Abigail at Enigma Inklings

Justine Dell at her blog of the same name

And there are a couple others that I would have given the award to, but I didn't know if the guys would like be called sugar dolls. :o

So, I'll just give their blog names. They don't actually have to claim the award if they don't want to.

Ryan Chin at the chin project

Silentjackel at Inside My Demented Mind

Congratulations to everyone! Do check out these blogs; they're really great.

~Emily White

Awesome stuff right there.