Happy Memorial Day

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.  I’m taking today off from a regular post (Monday Poetry Train) since I don’t feel like I have anything suitable for this day.

Filed under: poetry train, writing , holiday, Jen Nipps, jennipps, Memorial Day, Monday Poetry Train, poetry, write, writing

Sunday Status Report

Today’s post is two weeks’ worth of sunday status reports.  Sorry about that.

May 2008

Go to, enjoy, and network at the conference (starting Thursday evening through Saturday night).

5/4: Got home around noon today.  I made some wonderful contacts, received invitations to send two queries to agents in addition to the two awards.  (3rd HM for Poetry Rhymed Long, “Paris, April 1998″ and the 1st is for How-to/Technical Article, “10 Tips for Getting Organized.”)  

-Get back on blog schedules.

5/4: “Sunday Status Report” on Creatif
5/5: “Response to Judge’s Comments” on Creatif, “To MakeUp or Not to MakeUp” on Confessions of a Fat Chick, “Exercise: Cliches” on The Idea Pocket.
5/6: “Tip: Trust Yourself” on The Idea Pocket.
5/7: “I’ve Been Tagged” on Creatif, “Weight a Minute: I’ve Got to Do Something” on Confessions of a Fat Chick, and “Associated Sites” and “My Thoughts: Life in General” on The Idea Pocket.
5/9: “Been Working” on Creatif, “Camouflage” on Confessions of a Fat Chick, and “Quotable Friday” on The Idea Pocket.
5/10: “Source: Music” on The Idea Pocket
5/11: “Sunday Status Report” on Creatif

-After the conference, do one query a day. (I’m pretty dang close to that now as it is, so we’ll see how it goes.)

5/4: Thursday morning, I got one query in to an ad on Craigslist.  I think it had to do with resumes, but I’d have to look at my “sent” file on Outlook Express to be sure.
5/6: Sent two queries, one to a magazine and the other to a business newsletter
5/7: Sent two queries, one in reply to an ad on Craigslist, one as a reply to an ad by Publishers Weekly on MediaBistro.
5/9: SUbmitted queries to write online for EthnicDenim.com and Sheckys.com.
5/10: Sent ground mail submission of a fantasy short story to Realms of Fantasy.
5/13: Sent two queries to Craigslist ads, one of which was to Global Entertainment News.
5/14: Sent one query in reply to a Craigslist ad.
5/20: Sent three queries in reply to Craigslist ads, one to a dating website, and one to Harvard Business School Publishing for a proofreader position.
5/21: Sent two queries in reply to Craigslist ads, one query ground mail to MediaOne of Utah, and one blog application as a Beauty blogger.
5/22: Sent a submission to WritingForDollars.com

-Send nonfiction proposals out to two agents.

5/4: One query will be going out tomorrow, as requested by an agent.
5/6: Due to delays in not being home, the query went out to the agent yesterday. (5/17-Received a rejection from the agent.)

-Send fiction queries out to two agents.

5/4: One query will be going out tomorrow, as requested by an agent.
5/10: Sent query & synopsis to Sourcebooks Casablanca imprint

-Edit Devon’s Wish (still haven’t started that).

Filed under: writing , agents, edit, fiction, Jen Nipps, jennipps, nonfiction, proposal, rejection, writing, Writing for Dollars

Sunday Status Report

Go to, enjoy, and network at the conference (starting Thursday evening through Saturday night).

5/4: Got home around noon today.  I made some wonderful contacts, received invitations to send two queries to agents in addition to the two awards.  (3rd HM for Poetry Rhymed Long, “Paris, April 1998″ and the 1st is for How-to/Technical Article, “10 Tips for Getting Organized.”)  

-Get back on blog schedules.

5/4: “Sunday Status Report” on Creatif
5/5: “Response to Judge’s Comments” on Creatif, “To MakeUp or Not to MakeUp” on Confessions of a Fat Chick, “Exercise: Cliches” on The Idea Pocket.
5/6: “Tip: Trust Yourself” on The Idea Pocket.
5/7: “I’ve Been Tagged” on Creatif, “Weight a Minute: I’ve Got to Do Something” on Confessions of a Fat Chick, and “Associated Sites” and “My Thoughts: Life in General” on The Idea Pocket.
5/9: “Been Working” on Creatif, “Camouflage” on Confessions of a Fat Chick, and “Quotable Friday” on The Idea Pocket.
5/10: “Source: Music” on The Idea Pocket

-After the conference, do one query a day. (I’m pretty dang close to that now as it is, so we’ll see how it goes.)

5/4: Thursday morning, I got one query in to an ad on Craigslist.  I think it had to do with resumes, but I’d have to look at my “sent” file on Outlook Express to be sure.
5/6: Sent two queries, one to a magazine and the other to a business newsletter
5/7: Sent two queries, one in reply to an ad on Craigslist, one as a reply to an ad by Publishers Weekly on MediaBistro.
5/9: SUbmitted queries to write online for EthnicDenim.com and Sheckys.com.
5/10: Sent ground mail submission of a fantasy short story to Realms of Fantasy.

-Send nonfiction proposals out to two agents.

5/4: One query will be going out tomorrow, as requested by an agent.
5/6: Due to delays in not being home, the query went out to the agent yesterday.

-Send fiction queries out to two agents.

5/4: One query will be going out tomorrow, as requested by an agent.
5/10: Sent query & synopsis to Sourcebooks Casablanca imprint

-Edit Devon’s Wish (still haven’t started that).

Filed under: editing, revisions, writing , Casablanca, fiction, Jen Nipps, jennipps, nonfiction, queries, Realms of Fantasy, romance, short story, Sourcebooks, write, writing

Been Working

There are actually a few things I’ve been working on today.  The first is my dial-up connection.

Yesterday, my phone cord and extender connector died.  That meant I had to get a new phone cord long enough to reach from the computer to the phone jack in another room.  Apparently whoever designed this house never thought of this room as being used for an office (probably because there’s a very small built-in office area by the laundry room), so there’s not a phone jack in here.  The phone jack in the small office area doesn’t work.  It would cost the same to get a new jack put in as it would to fix the old one.  But I digress.  I got the new cord and connector and then some.  I now have a phone on my desk so I don’t have to jump and run if/when my phone rings.  My other answering machine was fried in a thunderstorm sometime last year, so I now have a working answering machine as well.  That bodes very well for me so the editors/agents can call me now.  Hey, I can dream, right? 

I’ve also been working on my next website review, which is almost done.  (I’m sure my editor for that would be very glad to know that, if he were to ever read this, that is.)

Even more, though, I’ve been working on a work-in-progress that I’ve let sit for a while.  I found out, through some judge’s comments, that what I was calling a contemporary romance would actually be classified as romantic suspense.  Now that I know that, any time I add anything to it, I find myself thinking, “Does this work for suspense?”  I think I need to forget about that and focus on the romance.  I can go in and edit/tweak any suspense stuff later.  Right now, I’m sitting at almost 8,000 words.

Other than submitting requested queries, that has me covered for the past couple days.  How’s it going for you?  Been working?

Filed under: editing, writing , agent, editor, Jen Nipps, jennipps, office, romance, romantic suspense, suspense, telephone, web site, website review, write, writing

I’ve Been Tagged

This isn’t the post I originally intended to put up today, but with the way things went, it’s what I’ve decided to go with.

Cheryl at Aspiring Author tagged me with a meme. As always with this blog, I will attempt to keep it writing-related.

Instructions: Write down six random things about yourself and then tag six bloggers with the same task.

Rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• Write six random things about yourself.
• Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blog.
• Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
• Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Six random things:

1. I buy and read all the Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, and Katie McAllister (as Katie Mc, not as her mystery alias) books I can find as I find them.
2. I want to write a book about someone with a disability where the disability is not the focus and people don’t feel like they HAVE to help her.  I just haven’t found the right heroine or the right story yet.
3. I have two historical romances complete (still in need of edits), one in progress, a romantic suspense in progress, and two nonfiction projects in progress.
4. I just found out this past weekend that the romantic suspense is actually romantic suspense.  I’d just been calling it contemporary.
5. I’ve made more money this year from writing than I did last year so far.  ($50 vs. $20)
6. I like to write to music; I can’t write in silence very often.

Now, I don’t always play by the rules.  This is one of them.  My muddled mind doesn’t want to think of six people to tag, so…If you read this, you’re tagged. 

Filed under: writing , Christine Feehan, disability, historical, historical romance, Jen Nipps, jennipps, Katie McAllister, meme, money, music, romance, romantic, romantic suspense, Sherrilyn Kenyon, write, writing

Reaction to Judge’s Comments

I don’t know why I have to do this.  Last year or the year before, I felt the need to reply openly to some comments a judge made.  That one was on a poem.  This one is on a novel partial.

A comment was made to “watch those pesky cliches,” which I agree with. 

However, the things that were marked, for the most part, are not cliches but legitimate descriptions. 

How would you describe a soldier’s hand that had been calloused by using sword either in practice or in battle?  Is it truly cliched to say “calloused hand?”  I thought simpler was better, or am I mistaken?

On the same note, how would you describe the burning you feel in your throat because of thick smoke?  “Her throat burned” is apparently also cliched.  How would you say it?

It isn’t the idea of avoiding cliches that bothers me but the things that were marked as cliches.

I have no doubt there are still many things I need to learn, but am I completely out in left field by thinking those two things I mentioned are not among them? 

Please be aware that there are some things the judge marked as cliche that I do agree with.  I didn’t list those here since the point of this isn’t what I agreed with, but rather what I didn’t.

Filed under: writing , burning throat, calloused hand, cliche, critique, Jen Nipps, jennipps, judge, sword, write, writer

Sunday Status Report

-Go to, enjoy, and network at the conference (starting Thursday evening through Saturday night).
5/4: Got home around noon today.  I made some wonderful contacts, received invitations to send two queries to agents in addition to the two awards.  (3rd HM for Poetry Rhymed Long, “Paris, April 1998″ and the 1st is for How-to/Technical Article, “10 Tips for Getting Organized.”)

 

I’m still surprised.  That’s my first first ever. 

 

I’ll get my notes typed up by this coming weekend and get them on a page on my blog.  When that’s up, I’ll post the link and you all can take a look-see if you want to.

 

-Get back on blog schedules.
5/4: Posting this as my Sunday Status Report on Creatif as well as here.

 

-After the conference, do one query a day. (I’m pretty dang close to that now as it is, so we’ll see how it goes.)
5/4: Thursday morning, I got one query in to an ad on Craigslist.  I think it had to do with resumes, but I’d have to look at my “sent” file on Outlook Express to be sure.

 

-Send nonfiction proposals out to two agents.
5/4: One query will be going out tomorrow, as requested by an agent.

 

-Send fiction queries out to two agents.

5/4: One query will be going out tomorrow, as requested by an agent.
-Edit Devon’s Wish (still haven’t started that).

Filed under: writing , article, awards, conference, Jen Nipps, jennipps, OWFI, poetry, write, writer, writing