Please help support my publisher & fellow authors! :)

Hey everyone! Today's entry is...well, rather unusual.

It is time for me to break out my pom poms

(no, I was never a cheerleader! LOL. These are my virtual pom poms!) because...

Several authors who are published with my publisher, as well as managing editor are in the P & E contest. To see SO many of us in this poll is amazing! These are GREAT writers, and I am so proud of all of them! We're like a small family of writers, so I am more than happy to support my "comrades." :)

As of Monday afternoon, this was where they all stood:

2009 Preditors & Editors Readers Poll


Anthology:
#3 With Arms Wide Open
#16 Voices of Survivors



Author:
#4 Chelle Cordero
#9 Brenda Hill



Bookart:
#3 A Chaunce of Riches, cover by Kimberlee Williams



Book editor:
#2 Smoky Trudeau



Novel:
#6 Jock Stewart by Malcolm Campbell



Novel Mystery:
#6 Conquering Venus by Collin Kelley



Novel Romance:
#4 Hostage Heart by Chelle Cordero
#7 Beyond the Quiet by Brenda Hill
#13 A Chaunce of Riches by Chelle Cordero



Novel Thriller:
#4 Deadly Demented by Jeffrey Martin
#6 Final Sin by Chelle Cordero


PLEASE, let's get our votes in and support VHP!

You can only vote once in EACH category but wouldn't it be great to have all VHP entries finish in the Top Ten?!

Please vote at:
http://www.critters.org/predpoll/

But what do YOU think?

"But what do you think?" That's a question we've all heard a million times over. Whether it was a child seeking our approval, or our better half asking how they look in their latest wardrobe purchase, we know that question well. What is our opinion?




Today, we're going to discuss opinions, or subjectivity.




In the medical world, we use something called "SOAP" for our patients. SOAP stands for:
S = Subjective (What you see, what your opinion is)
O = Objective (fact, undebatable. Like a temperature or weight)
A = Assesment (how the patient presents. What conditions do you asses?)
P = Plan (treatment plan: medications, therapies, surguries, etc.)

So, we're on S. Subjective. What does that mean?

Subjective means "what's your take?" Or, "what's your opinion?"





Subjectivity is GREAT in the arts, especially in writing.

Subjectivity means we all get something different out of the same book. I'm gonna use my books as examples (There's a shocker!)




Loving Her




Loving Her is a collection of intertwined short stories. It's about a group of friends and lovers who tackle everything from the mundane to the unthinkable.

In Loving Her, you can walk away thinking about prejudice, love, police work, mechanics, friendship, illness, success, Philadelphia, devotion, a particular character, and more! Loving Her is a GREAT book for subjectivity because there are so many characters, events, and issues that you have a myriad of things that may affect you as the reader,

Unbreakable Hostage



Ahhh, my first suspense novel. Unbreakable Hostage is another good one for subjectivity. When you close this book, you can think about love, friendship, family, control (and controlling people), abuse, torture, love, strength, ingenuity, math and more! This book really keeps ya thinking! Each person who reads Unbreakable Hostage will have a different take on it, you will all be affected differently!

The fact that readers can be affected in various ways makes me giddy like a school girl! :) I LOVE the fact that what I write will touch people in different ways. I cannot tell you how it fascinates me to know that there are people all over thinking different things about MY work! It's GREAT!



Our minds all work so differently. We've all experienced different things, so our perceptions are different. Thus, our subjectivities are different. Make sense?



That's one thing that I LOVE about book clubs & doing my on-line book club discussions. Readers have brought things to my attention that I have never thought about before! That is one of the greatest feelings as writer! Well, at least I think so!



I love the fact that the arts make us think. We could all look at the Mona Lisa and walk away with a different feeling or experience. How great is that?! Now, my books are not comparable to the Mona Lisa, but they can still have that same impact & that just plain rocks! :)



So, readaholics, READ!!!! That's right: read! Read, read, read and read some more! See what you gain from the various books and publications you read & discuss it with other readers & writers. You might just be surprised! ;)

On sexism, racism & politics in books

Ok, ok. I know I seriously struck out with yesterday's blog. How do I know? Well, the fact that I only got one comment (and it was on Facebook, mind you) about how funny my pictures are pretty much gave it away! LOL.



I know we all hate editing, guys, but it still needed to be said. Kinda like the dentist. We all hate it, but we have to do it.






Moving on, today we are discussing racism, sexism and politics in writing. Why? Because I can (insert scary, evil laugh here)!








Actually, writing is a phenomenal medium for stating your political beliefs either blatantly or subtly. Our art form gives us that freedom, and our readers eat it up!





Ok, if you haven't figured it out by now, I am out of the closet. Not just out - I went flying out of it years ago! :) I put the "B" in GLBT, baby! ;)






What does that have to do with anything? Everything! As an out person, I use my books to discuss the hatred that I have seen and experienced towards all of us in the GLBT community. If you've read Loving Her, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Imperfect will also discuss similar themes. I can use my personal life and my craft to point out just how evil and ignorant prejudice is! Ha ha! Take that, biggots! LOL.





I do the same for racism. I mean c'mon!

I'm Puerto Rican,




Irish,




Czech,




and Hungarian!



What does that mean? It means I can curse you out in a few different languages, so play nice! LOL.





Seriously though, I am able to use the racism and prejudice various members of my family faced and incorporate that into my story lines. Once again, I have no problem using my books to tell the world how I feel about racism.




Then there's sexism. Oh sweet sexism! Let's see...I'm an openly out, loud, out-spoken, multi-lingual writer who puts her political views in her books. Oh yeah, you know I'm going after sexism HARDCORE! LOL. :)





If you notice, everyone in Loving Her is well established in the various careers. Not one of them is unsuccessful.





Carol and Alex are both very intelligent and successful in Imperfect.




Lareina in Unbreakable Hostage is smart, strong, and very sharp witted.






All of my female characters are strong, have strong personalities and prove that they can hold their own in the world. Have I gone overboard with that? Personally, I don't think so. I've dealt with so much sexism in my life, it's been very important to me to have strong, capable, and intelligent heroines. My readers may not even realize it as they're reading these stories, but I am proving to the world, that I (and all women) are capable of amazing things (and we shouldn't be disregarded simply because of our gender). Am I a Feminazi? I wouldn't go that far. But I do prove that chicks rule! LOL.




My point is this, blogger world: we all have different agendas, different beliefs, different politics. It's ok to disagree. We can't all see eye to eye, and that is part of what makes this world so great! Just because you & I may not agree on every little thing doesn't mean we can't appreciate each other's writing, even if our politics is in our writing. That's a good thing. It's a damn good thing, actually. 'Cause you're making your readers THINK. Now that is the mark of great art!

But that's what editors are for!

First off, I want to thank everyone for their great responses to yesterday's blog. You all had some wonderful & very insightful things to say. Thanks! :)



Today, I am going to discuss one of the worst things for a writer: editing! (Insert scary music here)




I know, I know. We're writers. Editors are...well, editors! They love to hack up our work and change our words, right?


WRONG! The editor is a fresh set of eyes. They are the new person reading your work & making it really shine. Editors are our friends, fellow scribes! :)




Plus, if you really want to stick it to them, edit your work yourself!



When I wrote my first book, I edited it umpteen million times. Why? I wanted it to be strong and to be well received by publishers. Like all of us, I went through quite a few rejections. I doubted my abilities as a writer, but I pressed on and was eventually published. My publisher was impressed by the fact that the book needed almost no editing. Saved her time and money, and I came out looking like a damn good writer!




If you are seeking publication, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to either edit your work or pay someone to edit it for you. Professional editors rake in over $10,000 per piece they edit. So, unless you're crapping out money, edit your work yourself.



Editing actually gives you the opportunity to improve your writing and linguistic skills. Remember that this is your work, so take pride in it and really edit it until it is perfect.



My publisher gave me a great tip which I implement & am passing along to you today. Once you're done with a piece, set it down for a while. Each of us works on a different schedule, but I have found that you need at least one week minimum before you get back to your story. Why? You need a break. You need to stop reading the same words repeatedly. You need to NOT think about your characters. Read a book, watch TV, or just do something to take a mental break before you get back to it. By giving yourself that break, you actually come back to your piece with a new set of eyes and it really helps your ability to edit and enhance your work! Trust me, I've done it & it works out tremendously well for me! :)





Yes, editing is boring and monotonous. We all hate it. It is the bane of the writer's existance, but it must be done. By editing your work yourself, you become a better writer (and you'll find that as you progress, your works need less editing! How cool is that?!)

Put aside your hatred for the editing, fellow story tellers, and allow the editing process to help you grow and become better at your art!

Books: A Dying Art?

Good morning, world! Well, we've all survived another new year. Still no armageddon. Sorry, folks! :)




This needs to be the year of writing, guys.



Let's face it: Writing is a dying art. Anyone can have a blog and call themselves a writer or a blogger. Print has been dying since late 2008. We saw how many newspapers - some of which were historical institutions - die with the bad economy. Why? Because we'd rather sit in front of our computers to read.




Trust me, I am ALL for saving trees. But I also know that there are so many alternatives for paper such as hemp (not pot people, HEMP). Hell, we could take a cue from the ancient Egyptians and create something along the same lines as papyrus. There's an idea!





My point is this: we have options to save writing and still have print without killing the environment.



We're not even reading books any more. We're reading stories on our computers or nifty little gadgets called Kindle. Don't get me wrong, e-books are currently the main bulk of my sales. But you can't curl up under a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and a good Kindle. We ALL remember that great cozy feeling! Is there anything better than that?




Living in this digital age has separated us from human contact and from those feelings of warmth and reading good books. Now, we'll read something, see a flashing ad & go over there. We have allowed ourselves to have an attention span of about 2 seconds.




I miss books. I miss READING. I miss the feeling of a book in my hands. I spend so much time on my computer typing away. I would love nothing more than to curl up on my couch and read, or to get lost in a good story right before bed.



Let's do what we can to save our ancient roots as story tellers. We need print. We need our traditions and formats to stay. I look at our little three year old and wonder if she'll ever have the memories I have of just reading books, or will she be glued to a computer before she even turns 10. I don't want her to miss out on that. I don't want our society to lose its historical roots. I think we need to make this the year that our art form is revitalized and doesn't become a bunch of zeros and ones in the computer world.



We need to all come together as readers and writers to make 2010 the year that our art doesn't die!

Happy new year and happy reading!! :)