I sort of feel like an agent right now. No, I don’t live in New York, and no, I don’t have editorial contacts there. But, I do have a very small slush pile, and it’s not pretty. As you may know, I’ve got four books that I’m working on for Nelson Publishing and Marketing. I’m very happy with each of them, and as expected, each are at different stages in the process. Two of them are chugging along and don’t need much from me at the moment. Because of this, I asked my boss if there was anything else she’d like me to do for her – she’s very, very busy, especially since now one of the books we’ve published, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud has won two awards, The Mom’s Choice Award and the Writer’s Digest Award.

So, my boss gives me two manuscripts to read. She wants me to tell her what I think. That’s a loaded question, of course.

I’m usually a really fast reader. But the first manuscript was so full of exposition – meaning, it was ALL exposition – that it took my five hours to read a little over 200 pages. I shook my head through the whole thing, wondering what the heck this person was getting at. Finally once it ended, I thought that maybe I knew, or at least, felt how an agent feels after reading someone’s manuscript. I know this person worked hard to churn out those 200+ pages. I’m a writer. I know how much that story means to the author.

I understand why they do those form reject letters. I really do. If I had to speak with this author, I’m sure he/she wouldn’t like to hear what I’d have to say. In fact, I know they wouldn’t. I can see the idea, I’d say, it’s there buried in all of the exposition. Go back, try again.

How many times have I heard that? Too many. So much so, that I try to stay away from narrative. Narrative is not evil, as a fellow Romance Diva posted on the RD forum. It has it’s place and purpose. BUT it can’t be used to tell the entire story. TELL…no, show. That’s what I’d say to that author. Stop telling me what’s happening and show me.

Luckily, I only have to give my thoughts to my boss. She’ll be the one to turn it into something tolerable to swallow.

Now to my own writing….I’ll make sure to do no telling and all showing!

Peace,

Kris

Ok, so I missed Thursday Thirteen, so I thought I’d make up my own Friday Five.

Here are five things that I love about October:

1. The changing of the leaves. I love when the green leaves turn to gold, orange, yellow and maroon. So pretty against the Michigan blue sky.

2. Halloween. I LOVE going to my kid’s school and watching their Halloween parade. All those little darlings dressed up in costume makes me smile.

3. Pumpkins. We’re a little late in getting ours this season, but every year the family goes to a pumpkin patch to find our pumpkins. We traisp around in the mud (there’s always mud), looking for the best one to make our designs.

4. The start of the “Holiday Season.” This is the only time of year that I don’t put my nose up in the stores when I see Christmas stuff. I don’t mind that they’re reminding us that the next holiday is 90 days away. Any other time of the year, it makes me throw up in my mouth a little.

5. Sweater season begins. I LOVE sweaters and layering clothes. I don’t really like being warm, and in the summer the only remedy for that is air conditioning or hoping that our friends will invite us to use their pool. But in the fall and winter (sometimes even spring), I love to layer clothes. It makes me feel all snuggly and warm. Crazy I know.

So, what’s your favorite time of the year?

Peace,

Kris

Ok, I normally don’t write about food, or should I say get inspired so much to write about food…but my sweet Lord, I just opened up a Trader Joe’s Organic 1% Milkfat Lowfat Yogurt Caramel flavor and about had my socks blown off. Yeah, it was that good. Who knew?

I must say, though, it doesn’t come without it’s own 190 calories, 1.5 grams of fat and only 2 grams of fiber (which makes if 4 Weight Watcher points), but oh my, it’s worth it. I normally don’t get that excited about yogurt, but this is so different.

Ok, enough about food, let alone yogurt, but I could do a whole post about what I bought at Trader Joe’s yesterday ….. chocolate decadence cake, artichoke and olive ravioli, salmon patties, peppermint chocolate toffee covered popcorn, Kilnarey cheddar cheese….oh the list is so long. If you have a Trader Joe’s near you and you haven’t gone to check it out, I urge you to go. I was so surprised at the amount of groceries that I bought and how small the bill ended up totally.

Back to my work in progress…..

Peace,

Kris

Last night my family and another family went to Halloween in Greenfield Village. If you’ve never been, check here. It was a fantastic time. Just the right amount of scare for the little ones, as well as the older ones.

Since Greenfield Village is a turn-of-the-20th century replica village, their idea of scary is different than today. Throughout the walking path, there were actors telling stories. One that really scared my youngest was about a ten-foot tall monster (think Frankenstein) that had escaped from the workshop and hadn’t been seen in awhile. This “play” took place right at the beginning, so when my youngest heard that the monster was roaming the village and mostly like at the covered bridge, well then you can imagine how terrified he was. He wanted to turn right around and go home. We coached him into the wagon we were pulling. The oldest of the three boys from the family we were with came up to my youngest and casually said, “It’s a fake.” Youngest responded with, “It’s not real? Really?” The oldest said, “Naw. Just a fake.” The oldest caught up with the other boys in our party, and I noticed that our youngest son relaxed. I thought this was funny because no matter how many times we told him that it was not real, he had to have a peer tell him before he believed it.

There was only one other site that scared us a bit. It was the bride who’d been left at the altar. All dressed in flowing white fabric, she paced the top of an outside balcony of a two-story home lamenting about the loss of her groom. He apparently left her at the altar. She had a black light on her so she glowed, and she used a voice changing contraption so her voice was horribly scary. Even I didn’t like it.

We all agreed that the best attraction was Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. It took a while for the kids to realize that the Headless Horseman’s face was sticking out through a portion of the covered vest. Then it wasn’t as scary to them. But they had a ball watching the HH chase IC and listen to the hilarious ramblings of IC.

As we drove home, the boys spoke about what they liked the best and what freaked them out. Mostly they realized that it was all show, but the ideas that were planted in their heads (the unknown monster, a ghost bride and the headless horseman) seemed to stick for awhile. We’ll see how long they talk about our night at Greenfield Village.

As they spoke about their fears, I couldn’t help but think about my own and how they’ve changed over the years. Being a parent really has defined mine, more so than I ever thought possible. I don’t have many fears; I’m confident in my life and feel very stable. But as a wife and parent, one can’t help be afraid of losing those you love, physically and emotionally, among other things. I don’t live my life thinking about my fears, and I don’t plan on starting now.

How about you? Do you live your life with your fears in the fore front of you mind, or do you deal with them as they come up?

Peace,
Kris

With the exception of yesterday, I’m doing much better than I thought I would in this new writing challenge. Three days in a row of writing. Wow – I haven’t written that much in weeks, maybe months. It’s been a long time; I’m always waiting for the perfect time to write, but I’ve realized that there is no “perfect” time. Writing takes place only when I make the time.

So that said….off to do my words for the 70 Days of Sweat!

Sounds kinky, doesn’t it? It’s not meant to. I came across this site while trolling the Romance Divas forum. It is a challenge to all participants that they write between 750 and 1500 words a day between October 15 2007 and January 15, 2008. Each participant has 23 free days during this time for unexpected (or expected) breaks. Every Wednesday and Sunday each participant is to head over to the site and let the moderators know how they’re doing. The goal is to complete between 60K and 100k during the challenge period. If you’re interested in joining me and over 250 people in this challenge, check it out here. You can still join, even though the challenge has already started. I signed up late yesterday afternoon and then completed 843 words.

Hope to see you over at 70 Days of Sweat!

If you’re a reader, you may start a book and finish it even if you aren’t completely interested by the characters or the plot. I have to admit that this used to be me. I’d pick up a book, read half way through and decide that I didn’t like it, but I’d trudge through it the rest of the way out of sheer loyalty to the author.

I don’t do this anymore. If by chapter three or four I’m not interested, the book goes back to the library or in the pile to be donated. I just don’t have the time to devote to stories that are uninteresting.

As an editor, I’m already reading stories that I may or may not like. I’m paid to read them, so there’s no doubt that I’ll keep reading until I’m finished. As a personal reader, I’d rather move on. I read on average 40-50 books per year, all genres. I used to keep a list of those books I started to read and stopped, but this was beginning to be a weekly habit. Now I track only those I finish. If it’s a particularly good book, I’ll tell my friends about it. If it’s not, then my lips are sealed.

What about you? Do you finish until the end even if you aren’t interested? Do you tell your friends about good and bad books?

Hello! I’ve decided to move to WordPress as I’m tired of the old blog. Let’s see if I can update this one more often than the last!

Isn’t that a pretty scene above? Wished I lived there. Right now, though, we are in the midst of autumn. The leaves are turning brilliant colors of red, gold, maroon and yellow. Soon, they’ll blanket the ground, turn brown and ugly, and we’ll wait for the first snow fall to cover them up.

I love this time of year – not because it sort of represents death in a way – but because the chill in the air and the blazing blue sky always puts a smile on my face.

Peace.