Good Riddance!

Kerri Carpenter, , ,

2012 is almost over and I, for one, cannot flipping wait! Adios, 2012 and get the hell outta here!

When asked, I often tell people that the best year of my life was, hands down, fourth grade. What a great year! I had a fantastic homeroom teacher, lots of friends and if I finished my computer assignment early I could play Oregon Trail (best computer game ever).

If my life peaked in fourth grade, it’s been coasting ever since. Until 2012. The year of Debbie Downer doom & gloom. For every good thing, there’s a bad thing. For light, there is dark. Up and down, yin and yang, smiley face, frowny face. For glitter, there is … um, poopy brown? Anyway, you get my point. Continue reading →

Guy Day: Interview with Santa Claus

Alethea Kontis, Guy Day, , ,

Yes, it’s that time of the month again here in the Mermaid lagoon: Guy Day!

I would like to welcome an incredibly unique and special guest to our site today. I caught him during the off-season and used all my magical princess mermaid powers to persuade him to answer a few questions for this special day.

Please sit back, relax, and enjoy your milk and cookies while you read this EXCLUSIVE interview with the one…the only…SANTA CLAUS.  Continue reading →

2012 Year End List: 10 Things I Don’t Know (no snickering please)

Denny S. Bryce, mermaids

Yes, the holidays are around the corner, which means the New Year is almost here and its time to start thinking about resolutions.

I know, I know, I know.

Ugh…who hates resolutions? Raise your hand (arms raised, hands waving wildly).

It’s a no win situation. You sit down, you make a list of resolutions and what happens? You end up starting the year feeling overwhelming pressure – make a change, keep on track, finish, start, begin again, yada, yada, yada. I don’t believe in resolutions (other than I will finish my three books sworn to finish for the WRW challenge, and I will submit to every publisher on my hit list, as well as editors and agents, again, again, and again, etc.).

But today, I decided to go for a bit of a reversal. I created a list of things I don’t know, and don’t care if I ever learn (kind of)…and I’d like you to join me in this anti-resolution list making thing.

Continue reading →

Twelve Days of Christmas, Writers Style

Dana Rodgers, mermaids

We’ve all heard the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas song. Today I thought we’d have a little holiday fun and try it writer’s style, so here we go.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
Twelve supportive friends.
Eleven sold out book signings.
Ten craft classes.
Nine new story ideas.
Eight hours of writing time everyday.
Seven writing conferences.
Six Friday Man Wars.
Five New York Times bestsellers.
Four works in progress.
Three Swedish massages.
Two editors bidding.
And a multi-book contract.

I’d also throw in some diet coke, chocolate and a few bottles of wine! So tell me what would be on your holiday list this year?

Facebook: My New Frenemy

Avery Flynn, Marketing, ,

Oh Facebook, you’re like the girl who tells you she loves your shoes only to follow it up with: “If you like that style.”

Yeah, Facebook you’re my new frenemy.

As you probably know, Facebook has implemented a new promote button to fan pages and profiles. Here’s the simple version:

1. Any status update you put on Facebook is only seen by a percentage of your friends and fans.

2. However, for a nominal fee you can promote a status update so it is seen by more of your fans/friends and their friends.

My fan page has 952 fans. These are people who’ve opted in to hear news from me. I love these folks. They’re awesome.

On November 26 (a Monday), I posted a photo of a contest winner with a link to another giveaway I was having. According to the Facebook gurus, adding a photo increases your chances of being seen on a newsfeed. Four people liked the post and one fan commented on it. Ninety people or 9.4 percent of my fans saw the post. We can agree this is not a great percentage. However, if I paid to promote the post for $10, all of my fans would see it (potentially). Or I could pay $15 and reach at least 1,680 of my fans and their friends.

On November 16 (a Friday), I posted a quote from a positive review for Passion Creek with a link. I paid  $15 to promote this post. Note: The amount you are charged to promote varies depending on how many fans you have and how many folks you could reach. More than 9,100 people saw this post – 7,975 of whom saw it because I paid to promote it. Of those, 231 liked the post, eight commented on it and three clicked the link to the review.

On November 25 (a Sunday), I used HootSuite to schedule and post a status update with a link to a Tumbler of men reading. Fifty-seven people saw the post. That’s 6 percent of my fans. No likes. No comments. That is the kind of result that makes very unladylike words spill from my lips. Why the difference? According to all those Facebook gurus it’s because Facebook’s algorithms rank posts from other sources that go to Facebook (a scheduler like HootSuite) at about the same level as pond scum.

End result? Facebook can still be a marketing platform for you but you going to end up paying for that reach – even if you’re targeting your own fans who want to hear from you. And you won’t just be paying with money. You’ll be paying with time by hand-posting status updates on Facebook instead of using a scheduling application.

Paying to promote gets your status updates seen by more people. However, if you’re going to go this route, I’d recommend using it judiciously unless you want to be paying out the wazoo.

Final thought? I can’t wait for the new My Space platform to send me my invite.

Kill Your Darlings

Alethea Kontis, , , ,

So…I didn’t end up completing NaNoWriMo. Again. And let’s be honest–I didn’t really try. I finished my third pass of revisions by November 10th or so, but sometimes a body just gets SO EXHAUSTED that it’s like getting the flu. Everything shuts down, emotionally and physically, and you can barely get out of bed. The worst part is, we somehow have to find a way to let our bodies do this, and heal.

Thank the Water Gods for Netflix.

I love watching full seasons of TV shows at a time. They’re fun and pass the time…but it’s difficult to see ten of them and not have the writer brain consider dialogue, pacing, and plot structure. This month, I’ve learned quite a bit from two shows: How I Met Your Mother and Grey’s Anatomy.

HIMYM is, at its heart, just a really fun show. But if one considers everything those writers cram into 22 minutes, it’s nothing short of brilliant. Recursive plot lines and comedy, all while moving forward (slowly) the central basis of the very long story Older Ted is telling his children. In 22 minutes, every piece of dialogue has a purpose.

So should our novels.

Grey’s Anatomy is a 43 minute show, which gives them a lot more time for relationships and Long Looks With Puppy Dog Eyes. It is difficult (if nigh impossible) to pull off The Long Look in novels. As authors we default to describing what we believe the character is thinking at that moment. While watching the show, this is something we are forced to infer from the actor’s microexpressions. (Or lack thereof.)

GA also invoked what many people think of as The Whedon Rule: At some point during the episode, someone will die. It’s possibly going to be out of left field, and more than likely going to be a character with whom you are incredibly sympathetic. Even if you’re NOT emotionally connected to this character, sometimes the death itself makes you love the character even more.

It’s a bit of a game, when the show starts, attempting to deduce who’s going to kick the bucket so everyone else can live. There are no guarantees the rest of the cast will arrive at the end of the episode unharmed, but it’s a safer bet.

I’ve never liked killing off my characters. It’s not really something that was ever done in fairy tales, and when it did happen, those folks tended to have some sort of influence beyond the grave. (No matter the retelling, Cinderella’s story doesn’t work without the absence of her mother.)

These days, your audience will not believe you unless you are more brutal and “realistic” with your characters. This means that people have to get hurt–physically and emotionally–through the course of your novel, and in many cases, someone unexpected has to die.

This means we, as authors, have to off one of the characters we’ve poured our heart and soul into. And that SUCKS.

Why do you think The Whedon Rule is now all but required in today’s fiction?

Have you ever had to kill off a character, felt that you should, or wished that you hadn’t?

Anita Clenney Visits The Lagoon

Dana Rodgers, Interview, mermaids,

Today we welcome New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Anita Clenney to the Waterworld Mermaid lagoon. Anita writes mysteries and paranormal romantic suspense about Secret Warriors, Ancient Evil, and Destined Love. Before giving herself over to the writing bug, she worked in a pickle factory, a preschool, booked shows for Aztec Fire Dancers, and has been a secretary, executive assistant, and a real estate agent. She lives with her husband and two children in suburban Virginia.

Please tell us a little about yourself, Anita. I’m a romance junkie. And a shopaholic. And obsessed with something at any given moment.

How long have you been writing and do you recall what originally sparked your interest? I love to read, and one day about six years ago I decided I wanted to write the perfect book for me, one that had everything I liked to read. Of course I had no idea what I was getting into, but I’m glad I took the leap.

Do you have a favorite author or book? If so, what is it that attracts you to the work and how has it influenced you? Diana Gabaldon is one of my favorites. So is Elizabeth Peters, Janet Evanovich, Kristin Higgins, and Harlan Coben, to name a few. I’m not sure what it is about their stories that appeal to me since they’re very different writers. If anyone influenced me, it would probably be Elizabeth Peters. She’s been one of my favorites for more years than I can count. Her characters feel so real and I love the mystery and humor.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing? Reading, hanging out with hubby and kids, and treasure hunting! (Which means shopping for whatever is my latest craze).

Tell us 10 random things about yourself.

I like green.

I once lived in a tree house.

I have way too many candle holders and mirrors.

I live in Virginia.

I didn’t start writing until I was over 40.

I dream about vampires a lot.

I have two white boxers who rule the house.

I love trees.

I’m part Cherokee.

I wish I had more time to read.

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment? I write big, layered plots, and I’ve had a few comments that the story was cluttered. I try to simplify, but it’s hard because I love twists and turns. As far as compliments, it would really be hard to narrow it down to one thing. My readers are the best and make me feel humbled and a bit giddy all the time. One of the most interesting compliments was from a 73 year old reader who said, “Keep writing, girl. I’ll still read even when I’m packed away in my grave.”

What advice would you give an aspiring writer? Figure out the perfect book you would want to read. Then go write it.

How do new stories evolve for you? And what was the inspiration behind your most recent story? My first series started with a terrifying dream and an intriguing idea. I blended the two and the Connor Clan series was born. A conversation with my agent sparked the idea for the relic seekers series, and I’m forever grateful to her because we’ve gotten some big-name movie interest. Even if it doesn’t pan out, I consider myself lucky indeed. And that’s something important to understand in this business. It doesn’t just take talent to succeed. We all know talented writers who should have already sold. It also takes luck.

What can you tell us about the two new books you have coming out? Faelan: A Highland Warrior Brief was just released. It’s a novella and the prequel to Awaken the Highland Warrior. Here’s a blurb: Faelan Connor was the most powerful warrior the clan had known until a demon locked him in a time vault where he slept for 150 years while he waited to save the world and meet his destined mate. You know how his story ends. Now we’ll travel back to the 19th century and experience Faelan’s journey through his eyes. We’ll find out how he became the Mighty Faelan and if it’s possible that he met Bree before she was born. And for the first time, we’ll find out what really happened inside the time vault.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Faelan-Highland-Warrior-Connor-ebook/dp/B00A6IOMBY/ref=la_B004GSWJ4W

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/faelan-anita-clenney/1113786290?ean=2940015834826

 

 

GUARDIANS OF STONE is a brand new series about relic seekers. It will be released in four days! December 4th. This story has castles, curses, catacombs, and ghosts, with a love triangle for flavor. It’s described as Indiana Jones meets Stephanie Plum. A feisty heroine with a sixth sense, and two sexy heroes, a mercenary, and a dark, eccentric billionaire are on a hunt for four powerful relics that could change their lives…and the course of history.

http://www.amazon.com/Guardians-Stone-Relic-Seekers-ebook/dp/B008AJ771S/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/guardians-of-stone-anita-clenney/1112519390?ean=9781612186542

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Guardians-Stone/Anita-Clenney/9781612186542?id=5496382357672

 

What’s that? Your evil twin stole the car and you can’t get to the bookstore? No problem! To celebrate Anita’s new release we’ll be giving away a signed ARC of Guardians of Stone! All you have to do is leave a comment between now and midnight EST on Sunday, December 2, 2012 to have your name entered in the drawing!

If you are new to Anita Clenney or want a sneak peak here is a quick excerpt from Faelan: A Highland Warrior Brief. Enjoy!

     “Are you sure you want another?” the owner of the tavern asked. He looked nervous. The villagers didn’t know they were warriors, but the Connors carried a reputation nonetheless.“Aye.” Faelan slammed his whisky glass on the bar. He blinked his eyes and looked at the two tavern girls hovering nearby. “Forget the drink,” he said, his voice slurred. “I’ll take them instead.”     The tavern owner looked at the girls, surprised. Faelan and his brothers sometimes came in for a whisky, but they never used the girls. “Maybe I’d best call for your brothers instead.”     “No.” Faelan struggled to his feet and walked toward the girls. Both were young. Bonny. Even though neither one had dark hair and green eyes.

     One of them licked her red lips. He’d seen her in here before. The other—he didn’t recognize her—looked ready to faint. He took them both upstairs. Something he’d never done before. Two women at once. Bollocks. He’d only had a couple of women in all. The Council didn’t want the warriors consorting, as they called it. It was against the rules. The warriors needed to focus on destroying demons instead. He was tired of demons, and he was tired of rules.

     The boldest lass showed him to a room. “I don’t think I can do this, Maggie,” the timid girl said, staring at Faelan with wide eyes.

     “Are ye daft? Do ye know who this is?” she asked, as if he couldn’t hear. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll do just what he wants.” She put a hand underneath his kilt, running her fingers along his thigh. She smiled. “And we might even have a bit of fun.” Maggie pulled him toward the bed. He tripped and fell back, his head as unsteady as his feet. Maggie lifted his kilt. “You see that, Jocelyn? We’re gonna have a fine time.”

     Jocelyn paled and ran from the room.

 

Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans before we wrap things up today? THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. You have made my dreams come true.

To find out more about Anita, you can visit her website at http://www.anitaclenney.com/. You can also find Anita on Twitter @anitaclenney and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/anitaclenneyAUTHOR.

Thank you so much for joining us here in the lagoon today. Don’t forget to leave a comment by midnight EST on Sunday, December 2, 2012 to have your name entered in the drawing for the signed ARC of Guardians of Stone!

How a Mermaid got Entangled and Lived to Tell the Tale

Motivation, Susan Andrews, Writing, ,

The Savvy Authors Entangled NaNoWriMo Smackdown is winding down, and I am one of the lucky writers who participated.  I had an entire month to achieve a book, just for the Entangled Line!  How exciting is that?

Entangled Smackdown

I confess, I didn’t take this challenge seriously until I had an email telling me (surprise!) that my badge was waiting to be claimed.  Once I understood, I spend a couple of days being just plain scared.  I even ordered a workbook, Susan Alderson’s The Plot Whisperer Workbook (worth every penny, imho).  I splurged and went to Staples for a new paper notebook.

Then I got to work.  Then a hurricane came and took away my power for four days.  But I kept working, charging up (and showering) at a friend’s house, and working some more.  In fact, I worked even harder.  I was determined not to let a measly power outage stop me from writing!  I also knew a terrible truth:   These days off were my only chance to write full time! I also knew I have a tendency to panic.  Perfection, procrastination, panic, paralysis. 

Yes, spending a month with the NaNo challenge for Entangled was exciting.  Until I realized I have a habit of doing those four P’s mentioned above, and probably wouldn’t make my personal goal.  So I had to start getting a grip on some home truths, and the month wasn’t all about writing 50,000 words any more.

Friends, I did not make 50,000 words.  My personal goal was just to finish the story.  At forty thousand words.  Okay, maybe thirty thousand.

My final tally, as of 10:00 p.m., November 28?  18,260 words.  That’s right.  I didn’t even break 20,000 words. 

And it really sucks that I couldn’t keep up the pace with all those other fabulously prolific writers (Hi, Pin! *waves*).  There.  I feel better just saying it.  I am not prolific.  Still, it’s valuable  to look back at the mistakes I made, celebrate what I did accomplish, and acknowledge the reality of my life and commitments. Admit some truths about myself.  About my writing.  About my own temperament and tolerance for pressure.  And maybe, possibly, someone out there will see some reason in my ramblings about this past month.  Maybe there’s someone just as crazy as I am.

The most important lesson is one I have resisted for years.  But, let it be said, now and forever, once and for all.  It’s hard to say, and I have hated learning this:

I AM NOT A PANTSER.

There.  I’ve said it.  I can’t write by the seat of my pants.  Somehow, I was behind the door when that gift was being handed out. 

I am more intimately acquainted with my writing personality than ever before.   With Act One of my work planned (thank you again, Martha Alderson), I achieved a thousand words a day. Sometimes I made the full 1667 word the Entangled gods were asking for. When I tried to double that output in response to a promise of double points, though, I burned out.

Worse,  not having planned Act Two brought my output to a measly three to five hundred words a day.  Or none.  I needed two weeks to finally see the center of the story.  One evening last week, it finally clicked while I was eating sushi at a new restaurant in town (note to self: sushi is an effective writing tool).  I rushed home and blocked out the action for the rest of the book that evening.

So, now I can tell the truth.  If I have a clear idea of my story and what needs to be written, I can spit out five hundred words a day.  If there’s more time and I’m more motivated, a thousand.  I don’t want to do NaNo again.  I like taking my notebook with me when I go out to dinner with my sweetie, and calling it a “business dinner.”  I like online chat with other authors.  And I really, really like Martha Alderson’s books.

Not a bad set of lessons to learn in a month, huh?

Kicking off the Most Wonderful Time of the Year-Mermaid Style!

Robin Covington, Uncategorized, ,

Life has been a little hectic for me lately. Back-to-back book deadlines and edits and promo and . . . well, I was little burnt out. So, the Main Man and I decided to shake things up this Thanksgiving and forego the larger family gatherings and opt for a smaller, vacation with the kiddos. The destination?  No brainer!

New York City!!!

You see, we had promised Little Man and Lulu a trip this summer but . . .you know the summer gets away from you. We never went and the kids were disappointed. So, three weeks before Turkey Day we started making plans and it all came together just perfectly.

We treated the kids to their first train ride and took it straight into Penn Station. They were beyond excited and we only had one minor hiccup while waiting for a taxi to the hotel – the Hustler Club van went by with a HUGE ad with some chicks fake double-D’s on it and  . . . well, you can imagine the questions.  The Main Man got to handle that one. ; )

While there we were total tourists. We went to the Central Park Zoo and climbed the big boulders all around the lawns and splurged on a carriage ride.  We watched the parade and had Thanksgiving dinner at Rockefeller Center.

 

 

 

No trip to NYC is complete without taking in a show or two.  We went to see Mary Poppins and the Rockettes. Both were spectacular -shocker- and the kids eyes were bugging out the whole time.  When Mary Poppins “flew” across the theater and ended up right in front of Lulu, I thought she was going to come out of her seat with excitement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, none of you who know me will be surprised that I was in the city less than hour and I ran right into the Naked Cowboy. Yep, a city of all those people and I find the hot guy dancing in his tighty-whities. He’s done pretty well for a guy who prances around in his undies. He’s a franchise now and has a “cast” of Naked Cowboys and if you want him to marry you in Times Square – he can do it!  $400 and you can be joined forever with your sweetie by the Reverend Naked Cowboy . . . seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up.

We had a blast and the whole time my Plotmonkeys were running around my head with ideas.  I jotted down tons of notes and took lots of pics for future reference.

Good times.

The city was dressed for Christmas and it put me in the mood for my fave season. Are you in the spirit yet? How are you ringing in the Holiday season?

Robin

My Beloved Smart Phone

mermaids, Pintip Dunn

Many things can transform a writer’s life. Finding a great critique partner. Joining a community of supportive writers. Taking an eye-opening class on craft.

All of these things have happened to me in the last year or two. But one of the biggest differences in my writing life, from a decade ago to now, lies in a technological advance. That’s right: the smart phone.

Some of you may know that I can’t type away at a keyboard the way a regular writer does. Writing longhand with pen and paper is even a stretch. The only option that used to be available to me was voice recognition.

Until last year, when I started writing on my smart phone. More specifically, I send email messages to myself. Each message contains a scene or chapter, and I save it as a “draft” until I’m happy with the section. Then, I send the message to myself and transfer the section to Microsoft Word, which is the only time I touch my laptop these days.

I also lock the keyboard in “portrait” position. Believe it or not, the keys on an iPad or even in an iPhone “landscape” position are too far apart for me to handle without considerable pain.

This new method has Changed. My. Life.

Here’s why:

1. More time to write.

No more waiting for the moments when my house is completely silent. Even the sound of the shower running used to interfere with my speech recognition program. Okay, maybe that just means my shower was way too loud, but still.

Now, I can whip out my phone and write anywhere. Waiting in line, taking public transportation, lying under the sunshade at the beach. Those five minutes here and there really add up.

2. Convenience.

No more lugging around that laptop while I travel. This summer, I went on a two-week trip across the country and ocean. This fall, I’ve gone on several weekend trips in the States. My poor shoulders really couldn’t handle the heavy laptop bag. So I didn’t bring it.

Instead, I saved every chapter of my manuscript as a separate document on a word pad app on my iPhone, and I was able to continue revising my story as normal. I didn’t have to worry about leaving the laptop in my hotel room. And there were no issues with crowding my fellow passengers on the airplane.

3. Increased productivity.

Alethea-mermaid had a post this summer about how she feels less pressure to get it “right” when she’s scribbling in a notebook. Same idea here. What can be less intimidating than drafting an email? Especially an email to myself? Instead of wasting time worrying if I have the right words, I just write. And I don’t even have to carry around notebooks or loose pages or paper napkins.

My smart phone was particularly useful this past month, when I participated in — and won –NaNoWriMo for the first time. I rank my phone right up there with writing sprints and supportive mermaid sisters in helping me “write with abandon.”

4. “I’m a writer!”

The biggest advantage of the iPhone method is that it makes me feel like a writer. Yes, I got used to voice recognition. I became proficient at linking my brain to my mouth. But I never became truly comfortable with dictating my crappy first draft words OUT LOUD, even if there was no one else in the room.

Some writers are auditory learners. They prefer to hear the words rather than read them. Others don’t mind dictating their thoughts.

Not me. I love the written word. I love to sit in a moment of quiet contemplation, with the text on the page as my only company. Now, with my iPhone, I can finally write the way I’ve always wanted.

If you’ve never tried writing via smart phone, I urge you to give it a try. You might just fall in love.

I’ve written my last two novels this way. With the continual advance in technology, who knows  how I’ll write future novels?

What is your favorite way to write? In what ways has the smart phone changed your life? Who else desperately wants the iPhone 5 as a present this holiday season?