Telephone Tag

Rae tagged me with something really cool that I loved doing in a favorite class in high school.

Did you ever play the game Telephone when you were a kid? It’s sometimes called Rumor or Gossip. You sit in a circle, the bigger the better.

The ring leader will tell a “secret” to one person. That person turns to the person on their left and whispers it. Each person hears the “secret” on one side and tells it on the other until it goes all the way around the circle. The last person says out loud what they were told, then the ring leader says what everyone started with. Most of the time it isn’t the same thing, and can be quite funny.

Using the power of the Internet, let’s give it a try.

I’m going to write a paragraph. Your job is to make a change. It can be as little as one word or as big as twenty words. You can change names, plot and setting, but don’t change it so much that we can’t tell how it relates to what (Alice) started with. Post your paragraph on your blog with a link to Alice’s post. She will link back to you. Then, pick three people to whom you will “whisper” your modified version. Let them know they are up next. Link to them and to the person who passed it to you (me).

Here is my paragraph for the three people I’m going to tag:

“Jocelyn and Will staggered up Cob Street to find a corner in a dark alley. When Jocelyn tripped over the curb, she broke her bottle of pink champagne and asked Will to kiss her senseless. Will was happy to oblige Jocelyn’s innocent desire before she changed her mind, but her kisses weren’t enough. If he hadn’t already lost the bet that night, he could have had Jocelyn.”

I'm tagging Theresa, Mel and Jennifer. You can still play this game even if I didn’t tag you. Anyone can play if you follow the rules. Come back in a month and see what happened to our little rumor.

~*~*~*~*~

The rules for this meme:

1... Change something in the paragraph you received; a minimum of 1 word, a maximum of 20 words.

2... Link to the post at http://aliceaudrey.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/alice-calling/ and leave a comment so we can keep track of what happens to the paragraph. Alice will link back to you.

3... Link to the person who tagged you, preferably to where ever they posted their version of the paragraph.

4... Tag three people you think might enjoy this game. Let them know they’ve been tagged. Link to them.

5... Include these rules in your post.

No One Heard Her Scream

No One Heard Her Scream by Oklahoma author Jordan Dane.

Not only do I want to give a shout out to a fellow Oklahoma author, a fellow member of my local OK RWA chapter, but she is a very cool person! This is her debut novel with back-to-back releases from Avon. Here's a glimpse at her press kit. Check out her website!!!

Burdened by Grief, She Hunts a Killer
They never found her sister’s body, but Detective Rebecca Montgomery knows her murderer is still out there. In the five months since Danielle went missing, there have been two more brutal abductions. A savage menace stalks the women of San Antonio and therelentless detective will do anything to find him.

And a Seductive Stranger Shadows Her Every Move
But her latest case—the discovery of a young woman’s remains inside the wall of a burned-down theater—plunges Rebecca from her grief into a brand-new nightmare. She soon meets handsome, mysterious Diego Galvan at the crime scene and his shadowy connections will lead to her first break in both cases. But when Rebecca submits to his considerable powers of seduction, she will leave herself vulnerable to a merciless killer . . . and when he attacks, no one will hear her scream.

I've just bought Scream which is the first in the series, and I'm having a hard time putting it down! I'll blog more about if after I finish.

Another one bites the dust...

Well, unfortunately, another e-publisher is closing. A good friend of mine had a release date set for April and has had her rights reverted back to her. Sadly, it doesn't have anything to do with lack of readers...the owner is having health problems and refuses to allow her business or authors suffer as she undergoes treatment. The website as of yet has not posted the news, but apparently the owner has sent emails out and it was announced on Smart Bitches.

Here's the link...Smart Bitches.

Putting yourself out there...

One of the things I've realized recently is that I'm not the only person who gets freaked out by the thought of a face-to-face pitch. Whether it be with an editor or an agent...you're still having to put yourself in a situation where you look someone in the eyes and try to sell yourself.

When I pitched this last weekend at my OKRWA mini-conference, I knew I'd be extremely lucky if I could sound halfway intelligent. I also knew that so many others were just as nervous and I wouldn't be the only one to walk in and stumble my way through the pitch. To be honest...the only thing I remember is that I did one thing right - I did my homework.

One of the key things I can honestly recommend is that you do a search on who it is you're pitching to. Know the line and key elements that the line or publisher is known for. The conversation became easy and relaxed when I discussed several of the authors she'd published, books I had read.

Another bit of advice...have a high concept pitch ready and practice, practice, practice. Narrow your storyline down to a basic book cover blurb. Talk about how your book fits the line but is unique. I was able to compare my writing to a favorite author in the line and the storyline was similar to a light paranormal concept similar to another author being published by the editor. But it was unique because...blah, blah, blah. And know the key turning points which highlights the relationship and how it progresses.

Remember...the romance is the selling point. The GMC of the characters is essential to the turning points and progression of the story. Know your black moment and resolution. What helped me is that I had a basic 2 page synopsis I'd studied, but I'm not sure if I was able to spit it out in a way that made sense. LOL! At least I have my first one-on-one pitch...well, two actually, under my belt and out of the way. I know what to expect now. I don't honestly know if that will make a difference next time.

Here are a couple of links that helped...

http://www.screenplaymastery.com/3MinutePitch.htm

http://writerunboxed.com/2006/09/15/interview-michael-hauge-part-1/

http://www.kathycarmichael.com/pitch.generator.html

And remember to breathe...without hyperventilating!

OKRWA Mini~Conference Weekend

Wow! I now know, that without a doubt, the best thing I could've ever done for my writing career...was to join my local RWA group. The Oklahoma Outlaws are an incredible group of talented and generous women...and one man - sorry Kevin.

We had an awesome time this weekend. I could go on and on about the intimate details but I need to be frantically typing on something else other than this blog. My editor and agent pitch was Saturday afternoon and I have some work to do...I got a request from both.

So my friends...I will miss you!! I'll have to neglect the poor blog for awhile longer.

Beautiful Life

Yeah, okay....so I'm in one of those moods. I could just hug you guys today. But, I won't. Probably because I'm soooo sore, I can't raise my arms. Yesterday was such a beautiful day. Our patio area is the link we have to the outside world. We live in a commercial building, downtown on a busy street. But my hubby built a 9 ft. metal fence so we can have privacy. Welllll, I had let the patio become overrun with trash and a bunch of crap. The pool I struggled to put up last year....holes. My buddy Rae calls them Smurf's pots. It was big, and very blue. Anyhoo...I got it taken apart yesterday and we worked all day, but the patio is clean. As spotless as it can ever get. I wonder how long it will last? Three dogs and two boys? I'll give it a day or two.

I woke up very sore, but in a fantastic mood. That's my little one's new word for the week. Fantastic. I have a busy week ahead, but I feel very optimistic. LOL. Just check in with me at the end of the week. I will spare you though and NOT post a picture. You can thank me later. My reservation has been made at the hotel where our conference is to be held. My OKRWA group will have a dinner, Friday night, and it's kinda like a meet-and-greet with the editor and agent. Hopefully it'll make me a little more comfortable on Saturday for both pitches.

Hope ya have a "fantastic" day.

A week?!?

Boy, I'm a bad girl. I need to be punished. Haha. JK. Well...maybe not, I wouldn't mind being sent to time-out for like...two days.

What have you guys been up to? Me? Obviously not enough because I decided to torture myself. Ya know, when I was younger I thought I was the bomb when it came to working under pressure. Eh...not so much anymore. I decided to push myself and kick things into high gear. I thought I would force myself to get off my butt and make something happen. In several different areas of my life. Well, maybe not.

I make handmade soaps, body products, candles, and jewelry and sold them on a website. When Mom was diagnosed with cancer, we decided I had way too much to handle and put everything in storage, taking the website down. Several of my local customers refused to back away and insisted they were hooked on the candles, soaps and/or fragrances, so I'd kept a few local junkies hooked up. Hubby and I have talked about getting the website published again. We thought maybe I could build it back up and try to get it going good before he came home. At that point we would expand it with his woodworking and custom welding decor.

So I did it. I bought three web addresses today. Velvetcowgirl.com - velvetcowgirl.net - and what the heck...Chellesandell.com. I was able to program a basic format today for velvetcowgirl.com and got it published, but have a ton of stuff to do. I still have to make products, labels, take pictures, set-up a shopping cart and payment gateway. I'm not quite happy with the current design so it may change as I get the logo designed...



Did I mention I have an editor/agent pitch next weekend...and wanted to submit to two contests? What was I thinking???