author – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

My Road to Publication by Kathy Lynn Harris

Published on December 5, 2012December 5, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle3 Comments

Thank you, Sydney, for hosting me here during my blog tour for my new novel, A Good Kind of Knowing. I thought I’d give readers a quick timeline of my road to publication for the novel, since it’s not exactly a straight path! In fact, the story began a long time ago, and it includes my first novel, Blue Straggler. So here you go!

1999 – 2000 Completed the first full manuscript of A Good Kind of Knowing while living deep in the heart of Texas.

December 2000 – Summer 2001 Moved to Colorado to live in the mountains and write; began revising A Good Kind of Knowing like a crazy person

Fall 2001 Pitched it to NY lit agents; got picked up on my 10^th bite! Thought I was Hot Snot (not really!) Began writing Blue Straggler.

Spring 2002 Got close to a contract for A Good Kind of Knowing, but alas, ultimately rejected by the Powers That Be.

Spring 2003 – 2004 Completed Blue Straggler; decided to leave my NY agent and sign with one on the West Coast who was a better fit for me.

2005 – 2006 Revised Blue Straggler; agent held auction for publishers; got oh-so-close again, but no final takers. Drank lots of vodka. Licked literary wounds.

2006 – Spring 2011 Left novel-writing for a while and published essays and short stories and bad poetry. Adopted a beautiful baby boy.

August 2011 Discussed self-publishing Blue Straggler as an ebook with my agent; she was supportive and I had nothing to lose, so I went for it!

Fall 2011 Blue Straggler as an ebook went viral, and sales exceed expectations. Signed a five-year contract with 30 Day Books of Seattle to publish the novel as a trade paperback.

March 2012 Blue Straggler published in paperback. It becomes a #1 bestseller in two categories on Amazon.

May 2012 30 Day Books passes after reading A Good Kind of Knowing, but encourages me to publish it myself.

October 2012 A Good Kind of Knowing is published as an ebook. Paperback release planned for December 2012. Sales are rockin’ along! Just released a Music-to-Read-By playlist, too.

So there you have it. My steep, winding roads to the publication of two novels.

Good Kind of Knowing is a novel about the power of music and friendship, the relationship two-steps that go on in old Texas dancehalls, and the secret to finding just a little bit of common ground in a world full of distrust.

Sera Taylor’s store is the one place in Lakeville, Texas, where individuals from all walks of life share a universal love for music and a respect for the gypsy-like woman behind the antique glass counter. Readers get a taste of the unorthodox connection between Sera and Mack, a young local cowboy and musician, and Sera’s previously untested devotion to her husband Bill. They learn of her relationship with Ruby D., the vibrant but misguided mother of five; with Louie, the shy high school band director; with Beverly, the religious, upper-class socialite; with Antonio, a local bar owner striving to make a life for himself; with Tommy Lee, a rich and directionless gigolo; and with Wes, the only out-of-the closet gay man for miles. As Sera battles a serious illness, the characters must overcome long-held stereotypes to save Sera’s store, and in the end, large parts of themselves.

Buy Links:

agoodkindofknowingcover

Amazon | Barnes and Nobles

Author Bio:

Kathy Lynn Harris grew up in rural South Texas—and comes from people who work hard, love the land and know how to have a good time on a Saturday night. In 2001, Kathy made the move from Texas to the Colorado Rockies to focus on her writing and soak up All Things Mountain. She lives in a 1920s log cabin with her husband and son, plus two fairly untrainable golden retriever mixes. Kathy has written two novels, three children’s books, a lot of bad poetry, short stories, newspaper and magazine articles, and personal essays. Kathy’s blog, You Can Take the Girl Out of Texas, but, can be found at kathylynnharris.com.

Connect with Kathy at kathy@kathylynnharris.com or take your pick of social media channels:

Twitter – @KathyLynnHarris

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/BlueStragglerFiction

Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5137823.Kathy_Lynn_Harris

Pinterest – http://pinterest.com/kathylynnharris/

Tour Stops:

December 3 My Escape Book Blog Excerpt

December 4 Her Story Calls Excerpt

December 5 Happiness, Passion, Love & Faith Timeline to publication

December 6 Nothing Better Then A Book Excerpt

December 7 A Buckeye Girl Reads Review

December 8 Bex N Books Review
December 9th My Devotional Thoughts Review

December 10 My Devotional Thoughts Excerpt

JuNoWriMo Participant Interview James Eggebeen

Published on June 15, 2012June 29, 2012 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle1 Comment

It is the end of Week 2 of Junowrimo and I would like to introduce you to Junowrimo Winner James Eggebeen.

Tell me a little about what you are writing for Junowrimo.

I am writing the second book in my Fantasy Series. The first one Foundling Wizard is about a young Wizard whomeets a young Sorceress on his way to Amedon where he hopes to be trained. They find out that they are destined to work together to defeat the Evil Priests, who kill young Wizards, and take their power.

The second book is Wizards Education. Now they are on their way to Amedon when they get derailed by not only by the Priests, but a rogueWizard. The Wizard wants to keep them out of the hands of the Priests, but also wants to keep them away from Amedon, so he can take control of the Wizards Council. They have to face challenges that test their commitment to magic and to each other in order to survive.

The web site for this series of books is www.loritwizard.com.

Is this your first time doing this type of challenge?

Yes, this is my first time doing one of these. I thought it would be nice to meet a few other authors and stay motivated to keep writing.

How has it meet your expectations so far?

It’s far exceeded my expectations. I’ve made a bunch of new friends, and even re-connected with one of my old writing group partners from way back when. (waving hi to Eden Maee) I love doing the sprints. The excitement and mutual support is great. I never would have made the progress I did without the sprints, and oh yes, the competition (waving hi to Angi Black).

What was your writing schedule like this past week; time of day, # of words per day?

I usually get up at 3:00 to 4:00 AM. I drive for an hour to get to the office and then take some time to write before my work day starts. I have daily overseas calls, so I start pretty early, but I usually manage to get in an hour or two before work starts.

It takes me an hour or so to get home at night. This gives me time to think about what I want to write. Once I get home, I usually write for at least another hour or so. With the sprints, it was more like two.

This schedule lets me really think through the scenes I’m going to write, before I finally sit down. I review all of the action and dialogue in my head while I’m driving. Then it’s just sitting down and writing out what’s in my head already.

Did you do any planning for Junowrimo? If so what type of planning and how are your plans working out so far?

When I found out about this (two days before it started), I stopped writing and planned out a lot of the remainder of the novel. I was already 30,000 words into it, but I had not detailed out the whole thing. I knew that I would need some solid plot and scene design, so I went ahead and created all the scene templates before it started.

My scene template is a file where each scene lives (I am a big Scrivener fan; don’t get me started on that!).

Each scene template has the following form:

Title:

Point of View:

What changes in the scene?

What is the conflict?

Why will the reader continue reading?

I lay these out three scenes to a chapter and template twenty four chapters.

I thought I had enough material when we started, but I ran out of outline by the end of the first week. I had to take some time to outline more, and then I ran dry again. The last few days, I had an epiphany. We read linearly but don’t have to write that way, so I plotted out the ending and wrote some of that, now I have to go back and fill in the middle.

I think that’s going to work out real well. Now that I know where it all ends up, I can drive the plot there. Of course, there’s a lot more work in revision than writing. I just love that part. You get to go back and drop in all the foreshadowing and hide Easter eggs all over the place for the reader to discover later. It’s a lot of fun.

You are the first to complete the 50,000 word count for JuNoWriMo 2012. Any advice for those of us still in the trenches?

Don’t worry about the word count. The words will come. Think about what you want to write, imagine it all in your head, and then make it come alive. That’s the secret to getting a lot written.

JuNoWriMo is about setting up good habits in how you approach your work. Get into the habit of writing on a regular basis. Turn off the TV and shut down your web browser for a while each day, and before you know it you’ll have written more books than you would ever have believed possible.

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