As promised…

San Francisco pics! I did not take my laptop to San Francisco with me. (I wanted a no pressure kind of vacation) so I had plenty of time to snap pictures with the help of my husband.

First up, the iconic streetcar, which gets manually turned around at the end of the line:

A circular section of pavement turns so the streetcar is headed in the right direction. It’s not a smooth ride, lemme tell ya. Cars pull out in front of streetcars because they’re a little on the slow side. But they are the best place to experience very steep hills:

We’re headed down to the bay area piers on this one, and they do pick up some speed while heading down.

Here’s another icon seen from when we took a short bay cruise, the Golden Gate bridge:

Foggy as it was for the first few days, we had to get this close to even see the damn thing. Of course, the day after we took this cruise, it cleared right up. Figures. Anyway, we had fun, but damn it was cold. Here’s another landmark shot: Alcatraz.

They send tours there now, but when we asked about tickets, we were told they were booked until Tuesday, the day AFTER we left! Ah well. We were plenty busy. We looked at seals:

We visited Ocean Beach and walked UP a cliff. Yeah, you heard me. Up a cliff. I think one of my lungs is still there:

Okay, so it wasn’t a cliff. It was a hill, of the cliff-like variety. The athletic among you can feel free to laugh.

Anyway, my favorite place in San Francisco has to be the Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park. I took so many pics of the place, and here are a few of my favs:

I love that gnarly tree. I have no idea what any of these plants are called, though, so it’s no good asking. The place was just amazing. It made me want to revisit my first book that was, in part, about walking trees.

Here’s a couple of parting shots for you, the view from our hotel during the day and at sundown:

Ahhh. So much tv watching took place in that room. So many sore feet got complained about. How’s that for grammar, eh?

Favorite vacation memories? Please share.

Doings, Happenings and Goings On

I’m back! I was in sunny, breezy San Francisco and am now back in the ol’ Texas oven. Here’s a cliff view from Ocean Beach.

I’ll have some more pics for you later in the week, once I’m organized.

While I was out there, though, I got an email from an agent requesting a partial. Only problem is, he wanted an exclusive partial. I had to write him and tell him that other agents are currently looking at my book, and he said he’d take a look if all the others came back with a no.

I’ve never gotten an exclusive partial request before and thought I never would again, however…

Once safely aground at home, I discovered I had a phone message…from an agent…requesting an exclusive partial.

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I was enormously excited that an agent actually called me, another thing that has never happened to me before. I was very nervous about having to call him back. (I don’t do well on the phone at the best of times. Without visual cues, I tend to start talking over the other person.) But in his message, he said he would email me, so that’s how I replied. Whew. He also said he would look at the material if all the others came back no. That’s heartening and disappointing all at once. I mean, I’m glad they’re interested, but I have to wade through a few no’s to get to their interest. Ah well. I’ll think of them as a safety net. ^_^

How was your weekend? Did you miss me? Awww, I thought so. Do any of you actually live in sunny Cal? Any writing news I missed?

Will be out all week

Sorry, folks, no posts from me this week. Everything’s cool. No need to worry. Look for me next Tuesday. ^_^ Have a great week, everyone!

I’m having a lazy day

Here:

Better Book Titles.

Laugh it up.

You never forget your first…

…story. Ha, not what you thought I was going to say, was it? Of course, since this blog is mostly about writing, that’s probably EXACTLY what you thought I was going to say. Ack! I’m losing my ability to surprise you! Soon you’ll be buying a sporty little race car and leaving me for a much younger writer! Well, let’s hope not. ^_^

I remember the first story I wrote from beginning to end. Well, when I say end, I mean the part where I got bored of writing and inserted something like, “So, they all escaped.” Climax and falling action? Nah. Denouement? Bah! Those were clearly for sissies. I was eleven and not very patient. All I can remember about the plot was there were schoolchildren on a bus, like myself, and one day we drove into fog and couldn’t find out way out, and it was all very scary and exciting….to me, least.

Even without a clear ending, I let my 5th grade English teacher read it, and I must say that without the encouragement she gave me then, I might not be trying so hard to succeed at writing today. Thanks, Mrs. Miller.

What was your first story? Even if you never finished, even if you never wrote it down but made it an ongoing “game” you played with friends, what was it? Anyone inspire you when you were young? Give you that extra little boost that you needed to believe in your storytelling skills?

I had a plan

I was going to sit in Barnes and Noble with my pen and notepad, looking through the 2011 Guide to Literary Agents and marking down any agent who represents fantasy but who wasn’t on my submissions sheet.

It went well. The first hour.

My thought process went something like this:

“Man, this was a great idea! There are TONS of agents in here I haven’t seen yet! I will be a query machine! These chairs are a little hard, though.”

“Wow, there really are just lots and lots of agents in here. I’m getting a hand cramp from writing down all the names in my little book. I hope I’m spelling some of these right. This chair is a freaking BRICK.”

“I’ll start using shorthand. I’m already doing LA for Literary Agency and Ass for Associates. (Heh, ass.) I can guess later that Mi stands for Miriam, right? Speaking of ass…..hurts…..”

“How much is this book anyway… I said I wouldn’t buy it, but, there are so many names and the lower half of me has gone numb….”

So, yeah, I’ve got a brand-spankin-new copy of the 2011 Guide to Literary Agents. For 30 bucks or your hopes and dreams, they’ll take either. ^_^ It really is useful, at least for me. My ass thanked me personally.

Writing books? Books that help you persevere? Books that may help you get published?

Yes, I’m still posting about querying

How focused am I on querying right now? This focused:

They’re staring at some treats that are off camera in my left hand. And they want those treats. Badly. They’re trying to use dog-Jedi powers to will the treats from my hand into their mouths.

That’s me with queries right now. With force of will, I’m getting an agent. Do you feel it agents? My Jedi mind powers? It’s a goooood boooook. You want to rep it….. It’s the book you’re looking for…..

I’m sorry if those waves of mind force accidentally hit some of you. If they do, I’ll try to pull it back a bit. It’s working in unpredictable ways. See?

The force is so strong, it’s made the image all blurry, and even the cats are wanting the dog treats, now. It must be unstoppable.

I don’t have a query question for you today. I guess I could ask a general one. How’s it goin? ^_^

Query trials and tribulations

I’m querying again. And we all know what that means. I’m either chewing drywall in anger or consoling myself with brownies. Does eating brownies while walking on the treadmill do any good? That cancels out calories, right? I’m pretty sure that’s how that works.

I was going out of my mind the other night. I read one agent blog that said, “Never put your word count and genre at the top of the letter. That’s dull business info that should come at the end. Lead with a hook!” And then I read another agent blog that said, “Putting the genre and word count at the end of your query is highly unusual. Let the agent know right off if this query is right for her.”

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Querying isn’t confusing! Nah, it’s easy peasy lemon squeezy. Mind you, this info wasn’t front and center on their agency submissions pages or agency bios. It was floating around in their blogs. I did find it, tho. And if I query either of these, I’ll make sure to follow instructions. It makes me wonder if those agents who never specify what they want in a query will take any damn thing, if they’re just more laid back and relaxed. “Baby, I’m so chill, I didn’t even MAKE a webpage. Send me any old damn thing.” You could mail them a query that says, “Dear Sweetie, here’s my query. Get in on the ground floor of this cornucopia of awesome, and we’ll make some serious cash. Righteously, Barbara Ann,” and they’d send for pages in the following seconds.

Or maybe not.

How thorough is your agent research? A quick scan of Publisher’s Marketplace or Query Tracker? Or do you click on every Google reference AND shell out some serious dough for the Agent’s Market book? Or are you at the stage of your career where you’re done looking or don’t yet give a shit?