What A Sweet-Tart!

I went out to dinner with my sister and her husband the other night, and right after the main course I had to excuse myself to take a phone call. When I came back to the table, dessert was being served (I'd ordered a yummy lemon tart with raspberry sauce). I didn't know it, but while I was gone, my sister had whipped out an ARC of DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY and pitched it to our server, who not only took down the title and my website address, but decided to serve me up a little something special.

Wasn't that sweet? The tart was pretty good, too! Thanks, Misty!

One Of The Hazards Of Being A Writer...

A Banner Day

Web banners or "banner ads" are a way to advertise yourself on, you guessed it, the World Wide Web. People usually think of them as those annoying ads at the top of a page, but smaller banners have become a great tool for use as part of a signature line, also known as a "siggie". They can be used in forums and message boards, imbedded in web pages, blogs, MySpace, or whatever. :) Not only are they a cool visual aid, they can be linked to take a person anywhere with a single click.

So here's my new banner (clicking on it will take you to my website). Whaddya think?

We Need To Talk...

Oh, how my husband cringes when he hears the dreaded phrase, "We need to talk." :) Luckily for him (this time!), I'm referring to an online chat I'll be participating in tonight at 9pm EST in the Knight Agency's chatroom. (It's very simple to enter the chat - just choose a username, hit enter, and you're in!)

Literary agent Deirdre Knight has kindly invited eight authors published in the fantasy, futuristic and paranormal genres to get together in cyber-land and chat about their books. Deirdre is not my agent, btw, but she's published in the sci-fi/paranormal genre herself, and so tonight we're talking books, books, books.

Hope to see you there!

Fortune Favors The Brave

...or so they say. :) I can't say I'm a big believer in fortunetelling, but I've done lots of research on it, and I do find it interesting. I've only had my fortune told once, by a little Russian woman in the back of a NYC strip mall/flea market, where she kept a little room, open to passing shoppers. (It seemed cheesily appropriate at the time.) The first thing she said when she looked at my palm was, "You don't like anyone to tell you what to do."

Gee, is it that obvious? :)

It's amazing how many bizarre methods have been used throughout the centuries to pierce the veil between the known and the unknown. Everybody's heard of palm reading, crystal balls, Tarot cards and tea leaves, right? Well today, in honor of Friday the 13th, I thought I'd post 13 obscure, little-known ways used to tell fortunes. These are all true methods, none of them made up (as evidenced by the very official, deeply scientific addition of "mancy" to the end of each word.) :)

Ailuromancy: Observe how a cat jumps.

Keriomancy: Study the flickering flame of a candle.

Oomancy: Crack an egg into a glass of water and study the shapes the egg white forms in the water.

Bibliomancy: Open the Bible and read the first passge you see to learn your fortune. (In some Christian denominations, this is grounds for excommunication.)

Scarpomancy: Predict someone's future by studying their old shoes.

Scatomancy: Predict your future by studying your own..um..excrement. (Not to be confused with spatulamancy, the study of "skin, bones, AND excrement.")

Tiromancy: Study the shape, holes, mold, and other features on a piece of cheese to determine your future.

Alphitomancy: Feed a special cake to an alleged wrongdoer. an innocent person will be able to eat and digest the cake; a guilty person will gag on the cake or become ill. (Hey! Many people have eaten my cooking and gone on to live normal lives!)

Haruspication: Study the guts of an animal, preferably a sacred one.

Hepatoscopy: Study on the animal's liver; ignore the rest of the guts.

Dilitiriomancy: Feed African benge poison to a chicken. (You've got those laying around, right?)

Uromancy: Predict someone's future by studying their urine. (No thanks! But you know I had to include it, didn't you?)

There, now you're up to date on obscure methods of fortunetelling. Maybe it'll come in handy when you're stuck for small talk at your next party! :)

One Of Those Days...

Ever have one of those days when you just can't seem to focus?

The day started out great when the UPS man dropped off a big envelope full of cover flats for my upcoming book, Dead Girls Are Easy. I even got a copy of the HarperCollins Publishers September 2007 catalog (which is what the publisher uses to present upcoming books to booksellers like Borders and Barnes & Noble). That was kinda cool, because now I can see how I'm being "marketed" by my publisher. My first novel is being described as "hip and sexy", more specifically, "Medium meets Ghost Whisperer, with a dash of Grey's Anatomy". Can't beat that with a stick, as we say down South!

The cover flats are gorgeous and colorful, and I absolutely LOVE that both the title and my name are embossed (raised print). This cover is going to POP! on the shelves, and I'm happy about that. Now that I have the cover flats, it's time to start going and talking to my local bookstores. The idea makes me more nervous than you can possibly imagine - how incredibly ironic that writers (who are in general fairly solitary people) have to do a lot of face-to-face work to once they achieve the goal of being published. (Ah, now there's a blog for another day!)

At any rate, I have books to write, revisions to finish, and a marketing plan to work on, but I can't seem to focus on much of anything today for more than five minutes, and it's driving me nuts. Just like the kitty. :)

Only he's way cuter.

I'm Giving Away an ARC!

As hard as it is to pry it from my hand :), I'm giving away a signed Advance Reader Copy of
Dead Girls Are Easy. ARC's are limited edition, first run printings, which are sent to reviewers and booksellers before the actual novel is released. They contain a few typos (which is to be expected), as they've only been through one round of copy edits by the time they're printed. If you look real close at the bottom of the photograph, you can see how it's clearly marked "Advance Uncorrected Proof/ Not For Sale".

I'll even put a cute little sticker on it that says, "Signed by the Author". :)

Anyway, visit my WEBSITE to enter the drawing, which will be held Saturday, May 19, 2007.

ASKED AND ANSWERED #2

Every other month I ask a question of the published authors at RWAOnline, and every month many of them are kind enough to answer. :) This month's question was: “WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THAT ‘WINNING’ MANUSCRIPT THAT TOOK YOU FROM SUBMISSION TO SALE?”

Cathy Clamp credits both her agent and good timing for her first sale to Tor. “The manuscript had already been rejected by Tor, but that was before my editor was hired, before the romance line was conceived, and before we had an agent. The manuscript itself didn’t change, but was resubmitted at a time when Tor was searching for paranormal romance with unique characters and an unusual POV.” In Cathy’s case, there’s no question that persistence paid off. Her third book, Captive Moon, is currently a finalist for the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Werewolf Romance.

Harlequin Blaze author Tawny Weber believes that learning from her mistakes was key. “Because I’d spent quite a while targeting a specific editor and sending submissions to her, when I submitted this particular manuscript I made sure to use every bit of feedback I’d received from her. That’s one of the things she commented on later, that I never made the same mistake twice. Apparently, I learn well.” Tawny’s first novel, Double Dare, will be a March 2007 release.

Claire Delacroix feels she owes her long-term career to the ability to take constructive criticism. “The difference for me was a good rejection letter. The manuscript was rejected but the editor took the time not only to tell me what she thought was a problem, but to say that she’d love to read it again if I figured out a way to address that issue. It was a huge change and required that I essentially toss the second half of the book, but I saw her point, did what she suggested, and it worked.” Claire has since written and published twenty-three historical novels and several contemporaries under the name Claire Cross. “Many authors seem to believe that editors are just being nice when they say good things about a work that they don’t ultimately buy, but that’s not been my experience. It’s easy for an editor to write “This isn’t suitable for us at this time.” It’s much harder for an editor to pinpoint the reason she/he doesn’t think the work is marketable as it stands, and it shows an interest in the work when the editor takes the time to explain as much to the author. Instead of trying to figure out “the secret language of rejection letters”, I sometimes think that authors should just read the rejection letters that aren’t form letters and take them at face value.”

Author Holly LaPat, writing as Sierra Donovan believes it was a matter of finding the right publisher. “Silhouette Romance turned down my first book, Love On The Air, but added that another publisher might feel differently. I took that advice rather than trying to change what I had. I submitted to Avalon, and they said yes.”

Kate Duggan, writing as Kate Pearce gave herself permission to write naughty. “It began as an experiment to see how far I could push the envelope of my steamy sex scenes. After I finished it, I hid it at the bottom of my desk drawer for two years because I found it difficult to believe I’d actually written something so erotic. It took a lot of coaxing from my mentor, Julia Templeton, to get me to let her read it and ultimately send it out to Ellora’s Cave – who bought it!”

Silhouette author Gail Barrett feels that characterization was key. “What I think I did right with that first book was that I really nailed the hero. He was so real to me that I actually got depressed when I finished writing it – I didn’t want to leave his world! And I think that’s what made the difference. My characters took over instead of me pushing them around.”

As for me, Terri Garey, I would have to agree that characterization played a huge role in my first sale. The heroine in both my upcoming novels, Dead Girls Are Easy and Where The Ghouls Are, is a former Goth girl named Nicki Styx. Nicki just wants to run her business, live her life and immerse herself in fun and fashion, but her life is changed forever when she wakes from a near death experience with the ability to see and hear the dead. A cool chick like Nicki doesn’t like to take “no” for an answer, and when she sprang full-blown into my head, demanding to tell her story, I had no choice but to let her!

Timing, persistence, great characters. “Pushing the envelope”, taking constructive criticism and learning from our mistakes—more golden gems of advice from the published authors of RWAOnline. Thanks so much to all the authors who participated in this month’s topic, and I hope everyone enjoyed the first-hand insight. The next Asked and Answered question will be: “WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS THE BEST METHOD OF PROMOTION?” Websites? Reviews? Word of mouth? Look for the answers in the next edition of ASKED AND ANSWERED.
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Terri Garey is the author of two upcoming paranormal tales, Dead Girls Are Easy and Where The Ghouls Are. Both novels are about ghosts, voodoo and an extremely unlikely psychic - a former Goth girl who becomes an unwilling ‘ghoulfriend’ to the dearly departed. Dead Girls Are Easy will be an Avon September 2007 release, followed by the sequel, Where The Ghouls Are, in May 2008. Visit Terri on the web, or stop by her favorite haunt .