November Up-Dates

I know I've not been here in the past months, but I see that a number of you have been--yes I have spies that tell me when you've been here and when you haven't. But I'm very greatful for your stopping in and checking things out. I owe you at least a post or two. I hope to have more news for you in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, this is what I've been up to.

I've been busy working on Sabrina Strong novel #5, awaiting my edits for #3--my hope is that it will get to me this month and you'll have a new book to read by December.

I've also been busy working on edits to my Spell of the Black Unicorn, (a paranormal mystery), to turn it into an eBook, eventually. My beta reader has been working on it for several months, and I'm now just about done working through the edits. Then I'll let it set for the rest of the year, I think. I'll then go back to my other WIP.

I'm not a believer in writing like a mad woman for the NaNo. That just isn't something I want to do. I really don't need the motivation. I'm already motivated to work.

Here is what other things I've been working on over the summer. Two titles are now at Amazon and one is now on Smashwords.

Vampire, My Own is my only YA short story. You can see a description and buy it HERE: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009FAXUP8.


Murder Mansion is a short horror piece. You can see the description and buy it HERE:
 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009UDZHDI


I've also been busy taking care of some feral cats/kittens. They've added delight to my life. My husband also takes care of them, and will report their antics to me when I'm busy in here. He's the one who feeds them and sets out water for all the critters that come to our yard. The other night he thought he saw one of the cats taking a drink. Nope. It was a 'possum.

Hard to believe we'll be carving up a turkey, when we've just finished carving a pumpkin. But I look forward to the meal. Who doesn't? I'm planning on making my own cranberries so as to avoid the high fructose in the canned versions. We'll see how that goes.

Hope you can stop by and say "hi", and let me know whether or not you're into the NaNo this month, and if not why. I love hearing from you, no matter.

My Agenda This Spring/Summer

Even though I've sent in my third book to the publisher, and feel a great relief, I still have many projects waiting for me. My only deadline right now is for a short story I'm doing for an anthology. It's deadline isn't until June something, and so I'm almost done with this, which is great!

We've been having perfect days this spring. They feel more normal than not, to me. We aren't supposed to get to the 80's in May! So, when they show a row of 70's all week, that's great. I've been getting out, and moving. I've used my interest in nature and birdwatching to get out there. Plus, we live on prairie/wetlands, and it is great out here.  Nice to be able to walk out the door and have it all to yourself some mornings. I've lost 4 pounds this last week by both watching my calories, and getting out nearly every day and walking. I hope to loose 10 pounds by end of this month and maybe 20 all together, if I can keep at it.

My plans are to work on a few projects I have not been able to work on because I wanted to get the first three books in my Sabrina Strong Series out in the first three years. Which looks like I'm able to accomplish. I already have the fourth book in a third draft, so I can put it on hold for now and turn to some other things.

I realize I have been writing for more than 3 decades and it has not been until this 4th decade that I had been able to publish a novel (I'm flabbergasted I've got two out with a third pending!) My first self-published novel, Spell of the Black Unicorn is now in my hands and out of the publisher's hands. I am going to be working on it this summer, release it as an ebook and also give it a new title. Maybe "Spell of the Vampire" might work?

Along the way, I've made a lot of great friends in the virtual world. Many of you have stuck with me, become my fans and friends, and we have found a common bond: writing. Whenever I figure out something new I do try and reveal it, once I'm sure that it's something important. While a lot of us have been working on our novels, we have to understand that people who do not know you will not buy the book just because it's out there. What will help them decide? I mean besides the reviews you may get, or the guest posts you may also be able to stack up when your book is released. You have to realize that money is tight right now, to take a chance on a new author--even one that has two or three novels out there--there has to be something a reader can find written by you that is short and cheep--or free. There have been a few authors I've gotten to know, and those I see around me, who write a short story that might be a sort of prequel to the book itself. They offer it for free, and sometimes they place a couple of chapters from the novel they want you to buy at the end of it, so that further sells the book.

Also, you might want to get yourself into a few anthologies. It is a good way to get name recognition, should someone who read a short piece by you comes across your name again. On your main blog you need to have these posted somewhere. A "page" below your banner is a very good way of doing this. I get hits on my pages daily. It's a way for people to get to know you and what you've done. If you have writing credits you want to get them there on another page, and be sure to up-date all your pages regularly.

The above suggestions are ones I'm going to be working on this spring and summer. Now that I don't have a novel to try and write and get out there in a year, I have time to work on these other projects. Hopefully these things will help sales of the books. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile... I think I might step out and feel the sunshine on my face.

Driving Around Without a Map...

I've never use an outline. Period. I know in my head where I want the story to go. I usually have an idea, I know the ending, pretty much (but it can change slightly to suit), and I may have a beginning. I will flesh out the characters before I start. Or sometimes they simply come alive on the page. I've often wanted to just go down a country road without knowing where it went just to find out. I'm an adventurer in that respect.

I've been working on a short story, lately. I'm going to offer it to Dark Moon, eventually. It's their "women's" issue. I thought the title "Mother Knows Best" would nail down that this is a woman's story.

I don't normally write short stories. There's a reason. I want to go on and on with the story, get into every one's heads as to what they are doing and make the plot twist and turn and... well, that's impossible to do with a short story. The novel and short story may seem similar to some, but they are very different. You have to tell a story within so many pages--like five or eight or ten. We're given a 6,000 words max, so I've got more than enough pages to play with.

I knew the story long before I began this or decided to write this for the anthology. It was a section taken from my first vampire novel, and saved in a discard file. You never want to absolutely delete all your hard work. These may offer you new ideas for new stories.

It has taken me a few weeks to pound out more than the three pages I struggled with at the beginning. I've now got 8 pages. I'm not pushing myself, because I can't work under that sort of pressure. I don't tell myself I have to write X amount of words or pages in a day. I'd rebel. I'm in charge of what I do, where and when and I've got the keys to this car and when I say we go, we go.

As I began this short story, I knew it would involve a vampire (of course), and a teenager who meets him, and there would be a rival. The rival would be her friend. But, after I lingered over this idea, I liked the old jealousy rage story less and less.

While I fiddled in facebook, and took on a new blog (actually it's not "new", just that I am now captain of the ship, so to speak), I allowed my mind to wander. Give it a break, because I had just been working on edits for the third book, and I think I was tired and needed a little fun time. (keys to the car, remember?)

The story sat at the bottom of my desktop. Once in a while I'd have something to add, and that was about it.

Then...I don't know, but maybe I relaxed enough, let the wind blow through my hair. Had a little fun choosing new backgrounds for a couple of blogs (like this one???), and working with another writer friend who is teaming up with me on the aforementioned blog.

I was at another blog I follow earlier where they spoke of giving yourself permission to do this or that when it gets a little scary when you write and wonder about things. Giving yourself permission to relax, maybe take a walk, get away from the manuscript for a while, helps me. I think we writers put too much pressure on ourselves when it comes to getting something done. Deadlines and so forth. If they work for you. Fine. But if you feel as though you've driven yourself into a wall. Stop it. Give yourself permission to sit back and not write but have a little fun.

Go for a ride.

Cover Letter Jitters

Hi, everyone! How's your weekend going? Have you accomplished your goals for the time being--whatever they may be?

I'm about to send off a short story to Penumbra Publishing, which is an ezine. I've checked out their "open call" submissions page a few times to make sure what I'm sending them is what they want--they only take their themed pieces--when it closes, length, and so forth. I'm entering a steampunk short story. It's somewhat based on a chapter in my third novel (which is not even finished yet), and since it has everything to do with steampunk, I decided to re-work it into a short story. I haven't written any short stories in a while, as I was concentrating on getting my book(s) published. Well, this sort of falls after having participated in the "Campaigner Challenge",

So, having gotten the story ready, you might think I'm done. No. Not hardly. Now comes the cover letter. If any of you have never written one, I'm about to tell you how. It's not difficult. However you need to pay attention to the rules.

Consider any cover letter/query like a job interview. Sometimes the less said the better. In fact you want a cover letter to be short, to the point and very professional. The editors merely want to know WHO, WHAT, WHY, and your writing credits if any. Nothing more. You want your beginning to sound professional. You never start out with "Hi". This is not your friend you are talking to. You do not want to be cute, silly or funny. You don't know these people and they don't know you. Keep in mind, if you are a serious writer, your query should show it. Many times they will look at the piece you've sent first, read a first sentence, and if they like that, they'll read further. Your query letter might be the last thing they look at closely to see whether you have any publishing credits, awards--writing wise--and that's it. Or it may be the very first thing they do look at. Either way, a bad query can kill the piece you're trying to send them.

Your beginning should look like this:

Dear Madam, or Sir: {if you do not who you are addressing, but see below}

If you know who you are addressing, always use  Mr. Ms. (last name). Usually it's a good idea to see what your publisher's name is, or, if there is an editor, direct it to them.

The first paragraph should be short and to the point:

I have a steampunk story, "Dreadfuls", I have placed in documents sent in attachments and would like you to consider it for your March issue for Steampunk.

At this point you might want to say how you came to find them, and why you want them to consider your work.At this point you might tell them how long you've been writing, if you wish. Sometimes the best way to put it is: I felt that this piece may fit well with your publication. If you have read their publication, or subscribe to it, this would be good to place here too. But don't go on and on about who/what you like to read, except to make it clear that you've read at least one publication.

At this point you've reached the middle of the letter. If you have any publishing credits mention them in a third paragraph. Even if you had a letter published in any publication (newspaper, magazine, etc.) it counts. You don't have to say what exactly you've had published. But if you have had poems, articles, short stories, a book published, this is where you want to place it. The most impressive first.

This is how mine will probably look:
My publishing credits are as follows: With Copperhill Media: book/eBook Vampire Ascending, and soon to be published: Vampire's Trill; Short story anthology eBook: "Campaigner Challenges 2011". Short stories, poems and articles: ByLine Magazine, Writer's Digest Magazine, Black Oak Media ezine, Weed's Corner, Mid-America Poetry Review, Liquid Ohio, Rock River Times, The Mid-Week, and others.

Your ending should be just as clean and crisp as the rest of the letter. You bow out gracefully, and get out of the way so that they can get to your piece.

End of letter and salutation:

Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours truly,


Lorelei Bell

There you have it. I'm about to get this written up and send off some time today. I'll let you know if I make it through the first selection. It may be a while before I hear back from them--they said 2-3 weeks. Sending this via email isn't exactly a frist for me, but things are sure done differently when I remember you typed things out, or even printed them out and sent them via snail mail.