Online Class: Can This Manuscript Be Saved?

Hi All,

I haven't posted the information for any online classes in the last few months, so I thought I start up again with this one offered by OCC/RWA in September.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Michele

********** permission to forward **********

Can This Manuscript Be Saved?
With Susan Meier
September 15, 2008 – October 11, 2008

Enrollment Information: http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassSept08.html

COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Enrollment deadline: September 13, 2008
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com


ABOUT THE CLASS:
Rejected? Can’t get an agent? Can’t sell, even though your critique partners LOVE your work? Susan Meier reviews the seven most common rejection catch phrases and explains why you and even your critique partners can't spot them, then shows how determining whether your book's trouble is a story, scene or word problem is the first step on the road to recovery.

Following the assignments at the end of each lesson, attendees will learn how to "skim-read" their manuscripts quickly, marking specific problems with post-its. Susan also demonstrates how to use a storyboard, a list of twenty and a one-paragraph blurb to create a plan of attack for fixing your book's trouble.

Susan can't revise or rewrite your manuscript for you, but with her tricks you'll not only see how to revise the book of your heart, you'll also see how published authors are able to write four, five and even six books a year without breaking a sweat!

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Susan Meier is the author of over 30 books for Harlequin and Silhouette and one of Guideposts' Grace Chapel Inn series books, The Kindness of Strangers. Her books have been finalists for Reviewers Choice Awards, National Reader's Choice Awards and Cataromance.com Reviewer's Choice Awards.

Her latest book, Her Pregnancy Surprise, an October 2007 release for the Harlequin Romance Line made both Walden’s Bestseller List for Series Romance and Bookscan. Millionaire Dad, Nanny Needed and Her Baby’s First Christmas are her 2008 releases. Visit her website at susanmeier.com.

Susan loves to teach as much as she loves to write and is a popular speaker
at RWA conferences. Can This Manuscript Be Saved? And Plot Points, Taking the Train to Somewhere! are her most requested workshops. Her article, “How To Write a Category Romance” appeared in 2003 Writer’s Digest Novel and Short Story Markets. Susan has also given online workshops for various groups and her articles regularly appear in RWA chapter newsletters.


Enrollment Information: http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassSept08.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Enrollment deadline: September 13, 2008

Don't Look in "The Mirror"

So I saw this horror movie parody last night on Hulu and couldn't stop laughing. It's an SNL sketch, called "The Mirror," and it's created by Andy Samberg and features him with Ellen Page.

Anyway... I thought it was funny. :-)

Summer and Writing.

So once again summer has sped along faster than any of the other seasons. Next week, school starts up again--poor kids. Or should I say poor parents who have to jump back into the routine of hours of homework and weekend science and social studies projects, essays, early mornings, quizzes, tests--the stress!

Okay. Breathe in. Breathe out. Let's look at the pretty flowers instead! :-)

One of my favorite things about summer? The daylilies in our garden. They bloom from spring to mid-August. Which means right about now, they're starting to lose their pizazz, just in time to mark the beginning of the school year...sigh.

Oh, and I've been a writing fiend these past two weeks. Seriously. A brand spankin' new proposal written! Of course, I've had to put in 14-18 hour days to accomplish this, but hey, whatever works, right? And yeah, I also visited blogs...I'm not a machine! LOL

So, how's your writing going? Any good news?

Take Care,

Michele

Loving the BBC. And Doctor Who.

So, I'm a "Doctor Who" fan. And thanks to a post by SB Sarah over at SBTB, I read that the BBC website is offering classic Doctor Who stories in e-book form...For Free! Woo-hoo!

Just thought I'd pass along the link...

And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the tenth Doctor returns next season and doesn't regenerate as another Doctor! David Tennant rocks.

Michele

EDITED: Image/wallpaper of "The Doctor" and "Rose" courtesy of BBC.com.

Over at Slice of Orange Today...

It's the 12th already! Ack! Almost the middle of August. You know, time is flying by way too quickly.

Anyway, I'm over at A Slice of Orange today and I'd love to see you over there! I'm talking about the amazingly detailed inscriptions the prisoners carved into the walls of the Beauchamp Tower in the Tower of London. Many of those prisoners had a message they wanted to impart and some of them turned them into works of art.

Hope you join me!

Michele

I took this one during our recent June trip to the Tower of London. I'm amazed by the intricate detail, but it does appear it wasn't finished... I posted more photos on A Slice of Orange.

The RWA Literacy Signing

One of my favorite events at conference is the "Readers For Life" Literacy Signing on Wednesday night. About 500 authors sign their books at the only event open to the public and the proceeds go to ProLiteracy Worldwide. This year, the 2-hour signing raised $58,000! Not too shabby.

This gives fans the opportunity to meet many of their favorite authors in one location, and it also gives folks like me a chance to say hello to a lot of people we only see once or twice a year...As well as buy those books we hadn't purchased yet. And it's all for a great cause. Yeah, I carried around an armful, which tends to make taking pictures a little difficult.

Oh, and just for a moment or two, I thought one monster crowd toward the back of the room was the checkout line, but it was two different lines for Nora Roberts and Sherrilyn Kenyon kinda mushed together. :-)

But! I did get a photo with fellow OCC Member Chris Marie Green. She writes for Harlequin as Crystal Green and also writes dark Urban Fantasy (VAMPIRE BABYLON) for Ace as Chris Marie Green. However, her newest release is a story in the anthology FIRST BLOOD (Berkley). I had such a great time catching up with her and her adventures! She came straight from Comic-Com in San Diego and had quite a few stories. Be sure to check out her blog, as she was even on a panel with Joe Hill, Adrienne Barbeau, and more!



Did you go to the literacy signing? Who did you run into?

Michele

Feeling Good...

So, I can't believe it, but I've actually written 50 pages since Monday. That's a record for me. Sure, I need to revise... But I've actually managed to push through and write until I've finished the first 3 chapters of this new story about which I'm soooo ecstatic.

This will give time to delve into a little more research as well. Whew.

And then, of course, there's the synopsis. :-)

Oh, and here I go sending you to another blog again...

BUT in case you haven't already read Barbara Vey's Publisher's Weekly Blog, "Beyond Her Book," from last Thursday (July 31st), you'll find a photo with a group of OCC/RWA members--including me! And we're right above Nora's shoes. Which sounds just about right, IMHO.

The photo above the OCC one was taken at the Romance Bandits Bash, which was a fabulous party thrown by the Romance Bandits blogging team. One of my friends, Kate Carlisle, is a Bandita and was so cool as to invite a group of us to this bash. I loved meeting these women after reading their blog for the past year or so! And I was standing on the other side of the camera when Barbara Vey took that photo. That's a cute picture of them all, isn't it? They're a fun group. I even had the opportunity to try Tim Tams for the first time because a couple of Banditas flew in from Australia for the conference and passed the cookie tray around the party. Awesome! (Apparently, a group of 30 flew in from Australia; that's quite a flight!)

Hope you all are doing well! It's back to my story for me. I'm trying desperately not to pick up one of the many books that I brought home from conference...desperately. If I do, then I won't be able to write. And I need to write.

How about you? Are you working on a story, poem, song or article?

Michele

Conference and Friends

I'm back from RWA's National Conference in San Francisco and I had such a wonderful time! Not only did I reconnect with friends I only see once or twice a year, but I managed to learn quite a bit about what's current in the business by hitting quite a few of the publishers' spotlights and workshops. Oh, and I returned home with quite a collection of books.

I also hung out with some really good friends whom I do see every month, but it's always fun to meet up with them a couple of times during the day and compare notes, to encourage one another before that certain meeting, or just to laugh.

Maureen Child was really good and already posted a blog about our lunches--photo included! So hop on over to her blog and take a look... I can't help but think I have helmet hair, though, LOL (Jennifer Apodaca, Kate Carlisle, and Maureen look fantastic). :-)


So, right now I'm working on proposal that I'd promised and it's certainly nice to know I still have that post-conference buzz going for me. Especially since I can't drink coffee. Yes, you should feel sad for me. So, so sad. Coffee, how I miss thee. ::sniff::

How's your writing going?

Michele