Stop by and see my work over at Flogging the Quill!!

Happy Friday! And it is happy, isn't it?

Thank you to those who answered my questions about my query. I really, really appreciate it.

Today the first few pages of my series are over on Flogging the Quill. Ray runs a wonderful series called, 'Would you Turn the Page', which essentially gets down to the question on whether the first 250 words make you want more.

Today it's my turn for the 'Flogometer Challenge'. Feel free to stop by and leave some comments.

Oh, and have a FANTASTIC weekend!

Query Letter and Genre Quandary. Help please?

As some of you may or may not know, I am very new (about two weeks in) to the professional writer realm. I am through my second round of edits, but I am just beginning to scratch the surface of all the 'business stuff'. Like writing a query, synopsis, marketing, etc.

I am very thankful to Krista over at Mother. Write. (Repeat.) for hosting "An Agent's Inbox", where 25 people were given the opportunity to submit a query letter, plus the first 250 words of there story, and have those who read her blog, as well as an actual agent, comment on them. If you'd like to comment on other's querys feel free to follow the link to her blog.

I had shown my original query letter (one similar to that on her blog) to seven different people. Mostly authors, two were editors, one was a friend. They all had a few suggestions for changes, but in general they liked it. Yay! I was super excited.

So then I submitted it to Krista's blog, expecting to see constructive criticism, but also expecting to get some people who liked it.

Well, that's not the case. No one likes it. (The agent has yet to comment.)

Hmmm. Now, I'm not upset mind you. I am VERY grateful for their feedback. That's why I'm doing this. I'm just confused.

But, I took there advice to heart and TOTALLY rewrote my query letter. And actually, I do think it is better than the first one.

I have it pasted below and I was hoping to get some feedback on two things.
1. Do you like it? What would you change?
2. What genre do you feel this falls under?

The reason for the second question is because a number of the comments I received were about the genre of my story, and maybe I am confused as to what it is. Someone suggests it sounds like High Fantasy, but there are absolutely no elements of magic in the story whatsoever. I am essentially making up a country, with its own characters and sticking it in the world as we currently know it today.

So, what genre do you feel this falls in? It might be hard without the whole story, but I'm curious what everyone initially feels. Does this sound YA?

In one horrific night Ava Shore is told that her father didn't accidently drown and must watch as her government kills her mother. It is assumed that King Eamon calls the shots in his country, Inaos. But in reality his advisor, Balach, pulls the strings. The murders are the result of Balach's need to uncover information about a rare stone, of which only he understands its use.


For reasons unknown, Ava is spared the same fate as her parents and is forced into servitude. Her life would be nothing if not for William Davis, a young boy who has been dealt the same fate.


Ava is sent to work at the palace where her observant eye uncovers a plot to assassinate the King. In her attempt to foil it, she becomes the ideal person to receive the blame. While she is experiencing torture that is sure to end her life, Will risks everything and saves her.


Ava's only hope for survival is to hide in The Burbs, a part of the country reserved for the worst criminals and miscreants. By a turn of fate she is granted protection from the notorious gang Khaos, and falls in love with one of its members. Ava and Lock are content with hiding in the shadows as long as they can be together. But Balach's relentless pursuit forces Ava to make a stand in order to save one who saved her. In her attempt to rescue Will she loses what she loves the most, and vows to hide no longer.


The Children of Inaos is a High Fantasy (?) series. Sacrifice is the first in the saga and closes at 120,000 words.

Would you recommend an eReader or a Tablet?

I recently came into some money.

Not a whole lot. Just $250. I won it by being crowned Italian Idol, at Milwaukee, WI's Festa Italiana. If you're curious about my winning performance you can follow this link.

I've been wanting an eReader for a while. This was solidified when I was recently traveling on business and ran out of books to read. I had to run to the airport bookstore and give them an arm and a leg in exchange for a book...

It was a no-brainer what I wanted to do with the money, until I ran into Best Buy and was introduced to Tablets. (Yes, I have been living in the dark ages.) I had heard of them, I just didn't really know anything about them.

The sales person was very helpful. He didn't try to sell me anything, just explained what they were about, what my options were.

Picture courtesy of MSNBC

I just don't know if I need all the 'bells and whistles' that come with a tablet. Leave my laptop for the internet stuff and have my eReader just to read, without the urge to jump on the internet, email and blog.

But then I read this article from the Huffington Post, stating that the eReader won't be around for much longer. Tablets will take over the world!

What do you think, eReader or Tablet? Maybe neither? Do you have one, or know someone who does?

Book Review: The Sword of Truth Series (Books 1-10)

Hello! I hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday.

I'm totally excited for my first book review on 'Between the Bookends'. Actually, its my first book review ever, so we'll see how this goes.

I just finished the tenth in the twelve book series, The Sword of Truth. The books were released from 1994 to 2007. I was actually introduced to them by my cousin, who liked the Wheel of Time series (as did I). The two series are quite similar but I do actually prefer this one.

It is an epic fantasy following three main characters: Richard Cypher, Kaylan Amnell and Zedd Zorander. Terry Goodkind does a fantastic job of creating believable characters in his fantasy world. If it weren't for the fact that I loved them so much, I would have stopped reading the series a while ago.

Richard is tasked with two things, keeping the world from falling into the hands of 'The Keeper' (the devil) and saving those who possess magic from the many who wish to distinguish it.

Each book focuses on a Wizard's Rule, essentially a rule that we all, as human beings should remember and live by. One of the main themes in all twelve books is that people must first live for themselves, then they can focus on living for others.

I like this series better than The Wheel of Time for two reasons. First, the characters are more believable. They aren't so high-and-mighty. Second, Goodkind describes less, even though he still describes a lot.

That is one of the major downfalls to the series. I find that I skip a number of spots just because there is too much description. The other downfall is that the story could have wrapped up a while ago. The main themes have been proven over and over again. I want to know how it ends, and he keeps throwing wrenches into it which prolong the story and frustrate me. There are so many other great books I want to read and he's forcing me to stick around because of his wonderful characters.

For example, in Chainfire (Book 10), instead of fighting the final battle, saving the world, yada yada, his wife, Kahlan Amnell, disappears completely. No one, except Richard even remembers her existence. It was a well written book which kept my interest, but the whole time I was frustrated because one of my favorite characters was missing and the story should be ending instead of this frantic search to find out what happened to her.

Its a great, entertaining series, especially if you're a sucker for well formed characters and a lot of description. The themes ring true. But make sure you've got a lot of time until you want to read something other than this series. And make sure no one is in the room when you want to throw the book against the wall, only to run over and grab it so that you can see what happens next.

I'll let you know how the last two books go.

Have you read any books/series that frustrate you? Did you give up or keep going?

On a Side Note: Italian Idol Winner!

Hello all!

I hope your week is off to a good start. Did you have a good weekend?

I spent most of my weekend editing my manuscript and making updates to this very new blog.

A book review is 'on the books' (hahaha...haha...ha...yeah) for tomorrow, but I had quite the exciting thing happen to me this weekend, and though it doesn't exactly pertain to writing, it does relate to my creative side.

Milwaukee is known for its festivals. It all kicks off with Summerfest and then the rest follow: German Fest, Irish Fest, Indian Summer, Greek Fest... you name it, we got it.

Well this weekend was Festa Italiana. I had never been before. If you are remotely curious about the event, you can check out my post here.

In summary, we stumbled upon a competition titled, 'Italian Idol' and I decided to enter. I competed against about 15 others Saturday night, was one of three choosen to return as a 'finalist', and then competed against 8 others Sunday night for the title.

And... I won! Quite exciting. The competition was really good. I was really shocked.

Not only did I win the title, but I get to come back as a judge next year and I won $250. Ereader, here I come.

Here is my performance Saturday night. I thought I did better on Sunday, but its not too shabby.

Weekend Links

Every weekend I will link us to the posts that I found either helpful, intriguing or just plain funny. A summary of sorts for the past week. If there are specific topics that you are on the looking for, let me know in the comments section and I will try my best to keep an eye peeled in the coming weeks.


Well, its official. My first week as an 'author blogger' is coming to an end. I truly appreciate all of the comments and views that I've received just in the first week.

One thing that I've especially taken away from this week is to make sure I answer for the reader, "What's in this for me?"

That's where this series: Weekend Links, comes from. Chances are you might have read most of these, but maybe there'll be a diamond in the rough...

It might also be a good post for us to save for future reference. We shall see. :)

Here are this week's links:

Crafting Your Elevator Pitch by Rachelle Gardner: This really helped me. I have a 'finished' query letter, which I now realize needs to be changed, drastically changed, because I did this exercise. The tips she gave were wonderful.


Your Verbal Pitch by Rachelle Gardner: Can you tell that I'm planning on pitching soon? Ha. Again, the tips in here are very helpful.


Resource of the Week: Google Keyword Tool at Book Marketing Strategies and Tips for Authors: I'm very knew at this whole blogging thing, and its nice to have articles like this to help with 'blog traffic'.


Our Perfect Veggie Burger at Oh She Glows: I subscribe to a number of food blogs as one of my really good friends, over at Savvy Eats, was the catalyst for my web presence. I'm not vegetarian, but I thought these looked just awesome. Hoping to convince the sister to make them...


Getting Short Story Credits is Getting Easier (Sort of) at Writer Unboxed: I had actually been wondering about whether to work on other writing other than my novel. I think I will.


This is a very short list of what I found helpful this week, as I just thought about doing the series this morning, so I confess, I wasn't totally prepared.

Have a great weekend!

Lessons from No More Trouble Zones

I promise that I was planning to do this topic before I read Rachelle's post last night. Apparently we both relate writing and exercise...

Last night after work, and probably at least twice a week, I don't feel like using my gym membership. But I like the feeling after I workout so I compromise and do my favorite workout DVD:

I guess its not really a compromise. This DVD is fairly difficult. I like this part of the description:

By keeping you constantly challenged, Jillian will transform your body from flab to firm in no time! 

As I was working out, huffing and puffing, sweatin' like none other and wondering why I put myself through this, I realized that the DVD was a lot like writing. Here are my conclusions:

1. Most parts are flabby when we start out.
Just like my thighs, tush and arms, there are parts to my writing that need a lot of work. And though it might be painful to look in the mirror (or look at a rough draft) and admit that it needs work, we have to do it. The cool part is that we are the only one that stands between us and a great tush (or a great manuscript).

2. Getting firm is logarithmic.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) we tend to see larger growth at the start of our writing (or working out). Just because the learning curve starts to plateau, doesn't mean we have to accept that. We have to keep changing our routine, stretch what we believe we are capable of, challenge ourselves so that we are still able to see ourselves grow.


3. There are some parts that are painful.
I'm not quite sure why my hips hurt for one of the exercises on the DVD, but they do. I could just clench my jaw and pound through it. But I do believe this move is just one that my body cannot physically do. We might run into that with writing. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. If you've given everything you've got and you know there is a part of writing you find absolutely painful (and you're not just being stubborn) it's okay. Which brings me to my last point...

4. Some areas are going to be that much harder than others.
Again, there's another move in the DVD that I just can't do yet. I try. Every time I try. But I can't do it yet. Maybe my arms aren't strong enough. Maybe I have the wrong form. I don't know yet. But I am going to get it, eventually. Same thing with writing. Just because its hard, or it takes more time to do it, or its not nearly as enjoyable as other aspects of writing (like, maybe the business side...) doesn't mean we throw in the towel.

There you have it. Those are the lessons I took away from Jillian Michaels.

One thing is for certain. After it is done, you feel like a million bucks and know that it was all worth it.


Do you find yourself relating writing to exercise? Or maybe relating it to something else?

Congratulations to Mandy Hubbard for the release of Ripple!!!

Ripple has been released today! It sounds like a very interesting book:

From the website:

RIPPLE is the story of Lexi, a girl with a dark secret-- she's cursed to spend her nights swimming, singing her deadly song and luring in unsuspecting vicitims. To keep everyone around her safe, she has no friends, and no boyfriend-- becuase the last time she fell in love, he ended up dead. But of course, there's a new boy....


I'm definitely going to be getting me a copy of this.


Congrats Mandy!

Do you hear music when you write?

I do. All the time. There is a radio in my head on 'scan', I swear.

Recently, I spent 10 days with two wonderful ladies in Ireland. (If you're at all curious about the Emerald Isle, feel free to follow the link.)

The whole trip was a musical. Everything that we said, or thought about, was followed by a song. No genres were left out. We had some Johnny Cash, Lady Gaga and everything in between.

I've always been drawn to music. I've sang in a classic rock band and now I do some 'guest appearances' around the area. I've written some original songs. Have a few recordings. The occasional wedding... that kinda stuff.

So my question to the land of writers: Do you hear music when you write?

Because I do.

Or... when I'm listening to a song, I can picture scenes in my book with which I would use it. To set the mood, add suspense, maybe some comic relief.

How about some examples...

I'm a huge fan of Josh Groban. He's my future husband.

See how happy he is about it? Anywho...

The first track, "The Wandering Kind", on his newest album, Illuminations, is a beautiful, whimsical, instrumental. I can totally see it as the opening to the first book in my series. Maybe a butterfly is fluttering around the landscape I have created, introducing the audience to this fictitious world...

Another one of his songs, "To Where You Are", on his debut album, is about the loss of a loved one. This song could definitely play while my protagonist, Ava Shore, mourns and tries to comprehend the departure of her love.

And just to assure you that I don't only get my musical inspiration from Josh Groban, the opening to my third book has Ava running through the city, listening to her iPod. The emotional journey she has experienced over the past two books has lead her to believe more in herself, what she can accomplish. She is in great shape, she runs this route often. Her breath is in steady rhythm to the song, "Here to Stay", by Christina Aguilera as she pounds the pavement.

Apparently the song was also used for a Pepsi commercial...

Do you hear music when you write? Do you find yourself with a 'soundtrack' for your book?

Am I cut out for this? How can I balance it all?

Those are the ultimate questions, aren't they?

A few weeks ago, writing was just a hobby. Yes, I had completed a 120,000+ word manuscript. But that was just for fun. I had to put what was going on in my head down on paper, see it come to life, so to speak.

And then, it came over me. This need to publish my story... or at least make a go of it.

I can't really pinpoint the exact moment, but between looking at writing conferences and reading author's blogs I realized that I wanted to give it a shot.

But am I good enough? Not yet.

There are some points when I am reading my manuscript and I can't believe I wrote it. Those times when I get lost in my own story, then look up at the clock and realize how much time has passed.

Then there are times where I cringe because what I wrote is so horrible. How can I possibly think I can get published?

But the idea is to keep learning, keep writing. Eventually the times when I'm amazed at my work will start happening more often then the moments I want to puke all over it.

That's the hope at least... I have to believe that I can do that.

But it takes a lot of work. I can see that just in the first month of taking this whole writing thing serious. Between my 40+ hour work week, building my knowledge through reading other's blogs and websites, writing my own blog and not to mention, practicing the actual craft of writing, how does one do it all?

I would appreciate any advice and words of wisdom. Do you schedule in time for everything or just let it come as it may? What are the little 'tricks' you've learned along the way? What are the things you focus on and what are those that should be left for the ever elusive 'extra time' we have in our lives?

On a side note: Trip to Ireland

As writers we gain inspiration from everything. I recently took a trip to the Emerald Isle. It was a trip of a lifetime. (I'm hoping to take many 'trips of a lifetime' in my life ;))

If you'd like to check it out, pop on over to my other blog, Just Call Me Jack. Its a blog that I use just to ramble and offer up tips and suggestions for other people to try, as my life is about as random as one gets.

Who knows, maybe I'll rewrite my story so that it has leprechauns and Irish Dancers in it.

I doubt it, but you never know.

More likely, the scenery, the most jaw-dropping cliffs, rolling hills, greenest parks and bluest waters I've ever seen, will be the aspects that make it into my tale.

But like I said... who knows.

An Ah-ha moment: When pitching to an agent, focus on the story, not the emotional journey

It is obvious from the fact that this is my second post, that I recently became very serious about turning a writing hobby into a goal of getting those words between a hardcover.

As such, I have been feverishly scouring the internet in search of the best places for advice. Most in the form of blogs.

Rachelle Gardner's blog is fantastic and her post today really created a light bulb moment for me.

A few months ago, back when I was new at this... haha. Right, I'm still about as new at this as I can get.

Ahem, back a few months ago, when I finally "finished" my manuscript I went through some of my favorite books and traced back to their agents. I wasted there time by querying them. I should have gotten blanket rejection letters, but from most of them I got personalized rejections, with advice on how to improve my work.

I'm currently making said revisions, among many others, but the post Rachelle had today about pitching your story and not your character's emotional journey really hit home. Sure enough, I looked back at my query letter and it was all about Ava's emotional journey. There wasn't a whole lot there about what the catalyst was for the emotional ride.

I think the reason author's trend towards this is because we grow so connected to our characters, that we want the agent to connect to them too. And we want them to connect through a one-page summary. Pretty much impossible.

The way to connect, to fall in love with the character is by going on the actual journey with them. Through that we experience their emotional journey.

Brilliant. Totally makes sense.

Thanks, Rachelle.

Time to edit a query letter...

Let's do this already!

Two years ago voices emerged in my head and would have conversations over,

and over

and over.

You might be asking why I didn't check myself into an institution, but I assure you, it wasn't anything serious... at least that's what I tell myself ;)

The voices were characters to a story that my head wasn't going to let me put aside.

But who was I to write a story? I was in college going for a degree in Chemical Engineering. My professors taught me Calculus, Chemistry and Physics.

I wasn't particularly good at those, but I most certainly couldn't be good at putting words to a page. I hadn't done that in over four years...

It wouldn't stop though. And finally, I couldn't ignore it any longer.

So I wrote...

and I wrote...

And I discovered that although I was rusty, more often than not the words on the page actually described what was in my head perfectly. There were many times when I could honestly say that what I had put there, surprised even me.

Two years later I have a 120,000 word manuscript for the first book in a four book series. I am not nieve to think that it is ready to hit the best seller's list. I have a lot of learning to do, first as a writer, and then as a business person.

What started out as just trying to quiet a few voices has now turned into a full-blown dream. I am driven to see the characters I have created in the hands of others. To have others feel what I feel as I write.

I do believe that I can do this, that I can be a published author. I will make sure that I continue to learn, make connections and take risks. This blog is to create an online presence, another avenue with which to accomplish my goals. To help document the steps along the journey.

After all this time of thinking this was just a silly fantasy, a hobby of sorts, I'm finally saying its not. I will make it a reality.

Let's do this already... :)