Show Your ISBN At The Door : Forum : Biographies


Biographies

16 Years Ago


This is where our members should post their bios and tell us where they are in their journey to the "promised land" of authorship.

What genre do you write?

Have you completed a first draft?

Maybe a completed manuscript?

Have you queried publishers or agents?

Maybe you went the self-published route using a POD.

 

We want to hear it all, we can learn from each other.

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


Jerry M. is like any one of the rabble of wannabe best sellers who harbors the dream of doing what he so dearly loves for a living.

 

Jerry's writings explore the darker crimminal side of humanity. He wonders what drives those who would perpetrate the ultimate crime; what lies in the depths of their hearts and souls. His stories revolve around murder and it's solutions. He has started no less than five novels and never finished a first draft.

 

Currentlty, in "The Fourteen", Jerry is following the daily lives of Detectives Nick Marley and Wes Slagis as they pursue a murderer whose crimes seem to be making their jobs just a little bit easier.

 

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


Norma M Sutton writes predominately two types of stories. 
One being children's pictures books of which she has written several.
She has published one, The First Lamb, through Lulu.com and
has another, Harry Goes To The Fair, waiting to be illustrated.
Norma's other books are geared towards the young adult, or just the young at heart reader.
They are a inspirational family saga series Haunting Memories that follow one family from the arrival of the ancestorial grandmother in America.  The series is being written in reverse order however. 
The first book in this series, Matthew's Legacy, is being copy edited and should go to print in Jan or Feb of 2008.  The second book in the series, The Challange of Love, is in the early stages of writing as well as another couple of books in the series.

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


Hey Norma, do you do all of your books with LuLu.com? I'd love to know about the LuLu.com process.

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


Siobhan MacIntyre is a knackered novelist (current status: Hungover Hack) whose mission in life is to uphold the urban legend that all writers drink like fish. But seriously, she is a full-time employee of the state (Washington), full-time mother to three kids, six cats and a dog, and a full-time wife. This means that Siobhan is a part-time writer, so something has to give so that she can devote her time to the activity she loves most: drinking...er, writing, that is. Siobhan would prefer the job goes, but unfortunately it pays the mortgage.

Somehow she has managed to complete a novel-length manuscript titled The Wyckham House (some say it's two novel lengths but every word is necessary, according to Siobhan. Others will back her up if only to halt her whining about it). Currently she is working on the second book, Gothic, which is a continuation of the story of The Wyckham House's main characters and the introduction of new ones. This is the second in a planned series of three or four books about "the devil's mansion". Indeed, because Siobhan is of Celtic descent and loves those tangly little knots, she has even tied her short story The Stone Garden (currently being published in the Deliver Us From Evil anthology with Jaded Silence Press) into the convulted mess the devil's mansion creates.

The Wyckham House is currently being edited in preparation for submission to selected literary agencies. If no one sees its worth, Siobhan will self-publish to ensure the world is not deprived of her golden prose and forgettable--er unforgettable plot.

 

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


JC Fox is a hole in the wall small town girl who never really finished a piece of writing in her life. That was until she gave birth to Twisted Lies, an unusual piece of true crime meets romance meets gritty in your face action. JC Mainly dabbles in horror or fantasy, some of her stories shades of Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. She is currently working on her first Science Fiction piece called The End?, a name which will probably get changed along the way. She is working on revising and editing Twisted Lies, and should have it published by the end of Spring 2008.
She has a friend that is also helping her with agents and publishers and if that doesn't work she will probably self publish through Lulu.com. Her story Agnes and her Twisted Love, will be published by Jaded Silence Press in an anthology called Deliver Us From Evil. This is not the first time she has been published, she has had several poems published by poetry.com.
This is a whole new experience and JC is working on a few other books now, The Ghosts Ride Again, The Chronicles of Death, Forbidden Hunger, Father Darius: The Beginning, and a few others.
On a personal note why am I in this business of writing? Because it has always been a passion of mine and I would like one day someone to come up to me and say, "wow your writing has really influenced my life and I now know that I don't have to be afraid I can write too!" Writing is the drug that keeps me together and sane in an insane world.

Brrrrrrrrr!

16 Years Ago


Good morning, Group -  I am glad I found my way to you. It's a cold morning here in Northern Virginia but I plan to spend the day hiking wth my dogs - a Samoyed and a Dalmatian/Pointer mix - along the river between Harpers Ferry and Pont of Rocks. The thermometer won't climb above 25 but it should be sunny. Now that I have given you a weather report - on to my writing.

What genre do you write?  I write fiction. I called it literary fiction until someone told me that was for the critics to decide. I also enjoy writing mystery/suspense. I wrote a memoir but the agents I sent it to told me no one would believe it really happened so I re-categorized it as fiction. That is Pungo Creek - the book I will be posting here.

Have you completed a first draft?  Yes .... many (well four)

Maybe a completed manuscript? I have two complete. One is ready to go. I am still tweaking the other -- Fanny's Tattoo.    Fanny was born this bast November during NaNoWriWo. I finished the first draft in 28 day. I would say it was "inspired" if I had a little more ego.

Have you queried publishers or agents?  I sent out more that 200 query letters in 2007.  Only two asked to see more. I think I have some problems with my query letter. I spent more time revising it than I did writing Pungo Creek.   I also entered the ABNA contest and failed to make the semi-finals.  So sad.

Maybe you went the self-published route using a POD.i Group -- I haven't ruled this out yet.

Here is the query letter for Pungo Creek.   I have developed a thick skin. Please tear it apart if you are so inclined.  --  Brenda

Following the murder of her father, 9 year old Clara finds herself on Pungo Creek in an old house shared with her Great Aunt Sarah, her mother Rose and her younger sister Ivy. Rose sinks into alcoholism and is unable to shield her daughters from the volatile tempers, destructive behavior, incest and bleakness that have permeated the lives of the women of Pungo Creek for generations. Their grandmother silently endured her husband’s rage. Her Uncle Benjamin molested his sister Pearl. When her cousin Kate is raped and murdered by her own brother �the same person who is assaulting Clara - the defenseless girl, having no refuge and no protector, makes a horrific choice.

 

Clara drowns herself to escape the cycle.

 

Pungo Creek, my first novel, was inspired by my own childhood in rural North Carolina where I lived in a house shared by three generations.

 

I have a synopsis, character sketches and sample chapters ready to send you.

 

 

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


Tony Chavez is a 20 year old college student living in fayetteville, north carolina. his path as an author started several years ago, when he wrote poetry simply as a means of getting out his own frustrations and personal issues. the trade soon evolved though into short stories and other things, though, and his friends and family began to take notice.

Tony generally steps into all genres of writing, but fantasy and sci-fi seem to be a common favorite of his.

just in the past year, he has put his first two books to print. a self published work, "Beyond the glass mountain: A collection of Stories and Poetry", and "The Hidden Flute", a fantasy novel that was recently picked up and published by Jaded Silence Press.

both can be found here:
www.lulu.com/blacknexus
www.lulu.com/Jadedsilencepress

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


Hi Jerry,

So far all I've used has been Lulu.  I've been very pleased with their quality and I like having complete control over the look of the finished book.  I took a couple years of graphic design so I enjoy the process of designing the covers and laying the chapters out although it can be frustrating.  A college friend that majored in English writing is copy editing for me.  I could have done it I guess, but I'm more than happy to pay her to do the final editing.  She is almost half way finished with Matthew's Legacy.  I'm making the chapter corrections as she sends them back to me, finalizing the final chapter layout and embedding it, then uploading the chapters to Lulu.  When I have them all loaded I'll know what size the cover needs to be and upload it as a wrap around pdf.  I do have to purchase the ISBN, but that is fairly reasonable.  If you have any specific questions please feel free to ask.

Norma

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


I'm new to the whole Lulu experience and I am looking to have my novel published by the end of spring are there any hints and pointers that I would need to know when dealing with Lulu?

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


Hi J,

Lulu is pretty straight forward.  Just make sure you have everything embeded before you upload if you want it to look a certain way.  Hopefully you are writing in Microsoft Word as their book template is a Word document.  I've learned that the hard way.

Norma

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


N.L. Gervasio (aka Jinx) tends to write in the horror arena, sometimes without a thought on the topic--it just ends up that way.  She has three novels finished and is working on several others, one of which is surprisingly not in the horror genre, but she's fairly certain it'll end up there one way or another.  She has queried agents, one in particular twice regarding two different novels, and has been rejected by the likes of Writer's House Literary Agency (who represents Stephenie Meyer).  N.L. Gervasio has also self-published two novels, which are available for purchase from her website (below).


When she is not writing, N.L. Gervasio is either working respite on the weekends with underprivileged youth, or she is attending classes to earn her B.A. in English Literature, and will eventually go for her Masters.

And she will have to finish this later because her mom is here to get her taxes done.  =)

[no subject]

16 Years Ago


I would like to add that when working with Lulu, it is best to design your own cover, otherwise your cover will look like someone else's cover, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?  =)  Seeing as how I am not the best when it comes to PhotoShop, I design my covers in PowerPoint (yes, that's right--you'd be surprised what one can do in PPT, such as also designing posters).

[no subject]

15 Years Ago


Hey, Siobhan. You left out Office Politics. It HAS to be published and soon. Any additions lately?

[no subject]

15 Years Ago


Emily Burns is, well, I'm not sure yet. I thought I was a poet. Then I had this wonderful idea for a juvenile fiction novel but find myself writing a children's book instead. I use the word fiction loosely as I only write things I know. I use the phrase 'things I know' loosely, sometimes I have to ask my ten-year old daughter how to do this or that. I began writing almost two years ago.

I've almost completed the first draft of 'A Children's Civil War Alphabet'. I'm letting a friend illustrate as I go. She graduated with a Graphic Design degree last year. Cross your fingers that I can keep her focused and that she doesn't drift off somewhere. It kills me to relinquish control over anything. If I could draw a straight line with a ruler, I'd probably try to do it myself. I've looked at Lulu and Createspace and gone back and forth. It takes me forever to make a decision.

I'm pretty thin-skinned as far as queries. I sent some poems to a local Appalachian Literary Magazine about a year ago. The rejection letter felt sort of like a slap on the hand and so I've not ventured that way again. I have queried University of Kentucky Press concerning my works in progress as they are related to Kentucky history. I've not heard anything back, I will undoubtedly be going the route of self-publishing.

[no subject]

15 Years Ago


I've got to remember to get one of those biography thingies . . .

yup, sure looks useful