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9/25/06 6:54:49 PM Opening "Chat Log 9/25/06"

PCarlson: ready to rumble!
Mhr or mhr: I'm just used to east coast times posted for all US stuff (it's an AOL Host habit).
PHeeren: hi and I'm going to KS SCBWI conference this weekend...I may take "New Challenges" with me to show off to an editor or publisher but it's only a prospect and risk I'll take, of course!
PHeeren: SCBWI=Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
Skywarrior3: Getting some tea before we get officially started :-)
PCarlson: Tom, that's great!
Rose1533: Good luck, Tom!
PHeeren: thanks
PHeeren: is there a sample of what a manuscript of a children's book looks? All I got is a fellow writer's manuscript format with no illustrations :-(
PHeeren: what I need is a drawing of the manuscript format, okay?
Rose1533: I'm sorry. I don't know, Tom.
PCarlson: Adam will be greeting for us
Rose1533: When he gets here, that is.
PCarlson: soon
Mhr or mhr: Thank you all for letting me join your chat.
BrownDvs: HI EVERYBODY!!!!
Rose1533: Hi, Adam.
Skywarrior3: Hey everyone
PCarlson: Our guest tonight is Maggie Bonham, aka Skywarrior
PCarlson: she writes fiction and nonfiction, pet books, S&S fantasies -- a lot of variety
PCarlson: no strict format this evening
PCarlson: she will begin with a little intro chat :-)
Mhr or mhr: ::: perk ::: pet books?
PCarlson: the floor is yours
PHeeren: yes definitely

Skywarrior3: Ok, what I would like to know is what interests you folks. I could ramble on about things, but what is it that is important
Rose1533: How's the Fantasy market these days?
Skywarrior3: Tough, but it depends on where you're looking to publish
Rose1533: Do you have any suggestions?
Skywarrior3: are you looking small press or the big guys?
Rose1533: I'm writing an Epic Fantasy.
Skywarrior3: Are you looking at NYC publisher or small press?
Rose1533: I"m not really looking at all. I still have to write a query and synopsis I'm happy with.
Skywarrior3: Ok, have you finished your book?
Mallie1025: So sorry--was in a chat where the host is trying to get me to host my own journalism chat--lost track of time
Skywarrior3: np
Rose1533: first book, but the story goes more than one book and book two is not yet complete.
Skywarrior3: OK, do you have a finished story arc for the first book?
Rose1533: Yes.
Skywarrior3: Good, then you should be looking for a publisher now. What is your hook?
Rose1533: The disappearance of one of the protagonists and her mother.
Skywarrior3: nope
Skywarrior3: That's not a hook
Rose1533: OK, I guess I don't understand what you're looking for.
Rose1533: You mean not the event in the book, but how I would actually present it.
Rose1533: Right?
Skywarrior3: When the editor goes to marketing and marketing asks how they can sell this story, what will be editor say that makes the story unique?
Skywarrior3: Ok, that's the catch
Rose1533: Right.
Rose1533: I'm probably too close to it to see it clearly.
Skywarrior3: Here's the situation authors are facing all over
Skywarrior3: Rose, here's the problem


Rose1533: I think Tom wants to know formatting for a children's book that WILL have illustrations.
PHeeren: I don't draw
PHeeren: I draw badly lol
Rose1533: OK, maybe I'm wrong.
Skywarrior3: Tom, I think you need to look online. I don't know children's books

Skywarrior3: A hook is something that will sell the manuscript. I'm not talking opening lines
Rose1533: I understand that.
Skywarrior3: I'm talking about something where the publisher says "I've got to have it"
Mallie1025: sky, is this done through the query letter?
Skywarrior3: For example, I think the book Orphan was sold on the premise that it is "In the vein of Heinlein's Starship Troopers"
PHeeren: can you give an example of a hook, please?
Skywarrior3: I've seen books that were sold because it was a Vampire Chic-lit in the South (Charlaine Harris) Or space aliens in the old west
Rose1533: The base story is the classic good guys against the bad guy--most powerful sorcerer in the land.
Rose1533: The two Protags are sisters.
Skywarrior3: Rose, how is it different from any other epic fantasy novel?
Skywarrior3: See, this is the question big time editors will ask
Skywarrior3: However, your book may stand a good chance with small press
Rose1533: The sisters, as well as others, have the power to use the magic of crystals. That's nothing new, but in this case, the shape of the crystals determine their magic.
Skywarrior3: Have you read Donald Maass's "How to Write a Breakout Novel?"
Rose1533: I have it, but not read it yet.
Rose1533: Also have the workbook.
Skywarrior3: See, that sounds interesting to me
Mallie1025: How does one present the HOOK-thru the query letter or jacket blurb?
Rose1533: BTW, all the shapes exist in today
Rose1533: Today's world.
Rose1533: I have them all.
Rose1533: That's how this story came about.
Skywarrior3: What you do is present the hook in the query letter
Skywarrior3: Get the editor interested in the concept so he or she will ask for more
Skywarrior3: That may be your hook. I can't say if it's strong enough
Mallie1025: OK-thanks
Rose1533: Thanks. I'll try that.
PCarlson: Maggie, you are giving me ideas
PCarlson: I thought such things might come across as boastful
Skywarrior3: yes?
Skywarrior3: LOL
Skywarrior3: how so?
PCarlson: but I must tell them what makes my SF different!!!
PCarlson: like, I own ALL of the novels with a similar premise, and/or with Cassandra as a character
Skywarrior3: EXACTLY!!!
PCarlson: mine is different from them all
Skywarrior3: Yes! That's what you must do.
Mallie1025: What would grab an editor in a memoir--esp a tragi/humor--the humor or the pathos?
Skywarrior3: BTW, how many people here wrestle with writer's block?
Mallie1025: writer's block only in fiction--as it is a new genre for me
Skywarrior3: Ah, you're a nonfiction writer too?
Rose1533: It wasn't exactly writer's block--it was more like fear.
Skywarrior3: nods
Skywarrior3: I do have a small lecturette on the subject, if you care to see
PCarlson: Mallie writes great Americana -- family drama, based upon her own experiences
Rose1533: I gave my character an anxiety attack and two days later, I had one that sent me to the ER!
Mallie1025: yes, for 25 yrs--slice of life humor and writing for newspapers
Skywarrior3: nods
Skywarrior3: I do articles and pet books, as well as novels. 22 in all
Rose1533: What are your fantasies, may I ask?
Mallie1025: Wow--novels scare me to death--too many pages--like herding sheep
PCarlson: baa baaa
Skywarrior3: Prophecy of Swords -- published by Yard Dog Press
Mhr or mhr: Sky, I would like to see the 'lecturette' please. :-)
PCarlson: YAY Yard Dog!!!!!
Rose1533: Yes, I figured that out.
Rose1533: I've heard of them.
Mhr or mhr: WTG Dog!
PCarlson: she just sold a few at the FenCon gathering in Texas
Mhr or mhr: What breed are you?
PCarlson: woof!
PHeeren: I write different genres--short fiction for adults and children, essays, plays and poetry
Rose1533: Where in Texas?????
Mallie1025: Yard dog always shows up in MY Documents--never knew what it was lol
Skywarrior3: I have two more novels coming out next year -- Runestone of Teiwas (YDP) and Lachlei (Dragon Moon Press)
Mhr or mhr: <~~~~~~~~~ AKC Hunting Test Judge, did editing for the AKC, GRCA and FCRSA WC/WCX Judge
Skywarrior3: heh
Skywarrior3: I do a lot with my Malamutes too
Skywarrior3: anyway, here goes
Mhr or mhr: Mals, do you read Susan Conant, LOL?
Mhr or mhr: <~~~~ Goldens, in Conant's back yard, LOL (Yankee Rescue, etc.)
Skywarrior3: I know Susan -- she's a friend
Mallie1025: Sky my first fiction--three pubbed are horror and paranormal
Skywarrior3: Cool! Novel or short?
Mallie1025: Just have trouble stretching out a novel from them
Mhr or mhr: sky, wonderful!
Skywarrior3: ah, maybe the ideas aren't novel-worthy
Mallie1025: short--I wrote 1000 words and the story goes on auto-stop :)
Skywarrior3: nods
Skywarrior3: I understand
Skywarrior3: See, I write looooooong books, but I am a fast writer
Rose1533: How long?
Skywarrior3: oh between 75,000 to 115,000
Mallie1025: True--quite possible I am not a novel writer, although the memoir is novel style but of course I know the story :)
Rose1533: mine's 130k
Skywarrior3: Well, first books should stay around 100K
Rose1533: Even Epic Fantasies?
PCarlson: my longest is 175K -- after much trimming
Skywarrior3: Yep
Mallie1025: uh-oh--memoir is nearing 400 pages
Skywarrior3: LOL
PCarlson: my new one may become my first published -- will be shorter!
Mallie1025: how many words is that -- give or take?
Skywarrior3: That's a rule of thumb -- you can always be the one to violate it
Mallie1025: dyslexic keyboard
Skywarrior3: 400 pages = 80-100K
Skywarrior3: depending on margins
Skywarrior3: I was pushing it with Lachlei at 115K, but it's not my first novel either
PCarlson: all modern word processing programs do have Word Count features
Skywarrior3: yes
Rose1533: True, but that's not what the publisher wants.
Mallie1025: Oh okay then--I am good to go at 400 pages then? 250 words to a page?
Skywarrior3: sure
Skywarrior3: Rose, what?
Rose1533: They don't want the exact word count.
Rose1533: That won't give them any idea how many pages they'll need.
PCarlson: who said that???
Rose1533: I have a lot of short speech in my book--lots of empty space on a page.
Mallie1025: Whew, I can relax now--although tightening up a work is where I shine lol
Rose1533: They usually have a way on the publisher's website that they want you to figure out your word count, even if it isn't exact.
Skywarrior3: All publishers I know want an exact word count
Mallie1025: How I got to over 300 pages is amazing to me
Skywarrior3: LOL
Rose1533: My 130k goes over 600 pages of printer paper.
Mallie1025: MSWord's counter okay?
Skywarrior3: Fine. I use that
Skywarrior3: I have 7 or 8 publishers
PHeeren: "New Challenges" has 8 pages=2,000 pages
PHeeren: but it is so so written, of course
Rose1533: 2000 words, you mean?
Mallie1025: 2000 words, tom?
PHeeren: yes
PHeeren: 2000 words, yes, sky
PCarlson: well it's a very small turnout this evening :-/
PCarlson: thanks VERY much to those of you who are in attendance
PCarlson: Tiffany is moving house, out of state, so she gets an excuse :)
Rose1533: I noticed, Paul.
Rose1533: I hope some of the absentees will get something from the log!


Skywarrior3: so, let me start with the thing on writer's block. My controversial opinions
Skywarrior3: ok, here goes
Skywarrior3: Ok, now I get to talk about something that is near and dear to every writer: writer's block.
PCarlson: yes do :)
Skywarrior3: There are three camps of writers when it comes to writer's block: the folks who say it exists because they're constantly suffering from it, the ones who think it exists because they've had
Skywarrior3: some troubles writing, and those who say it doesn't exist.
Mallie1025: back
Skywarrior3: I'm in the third camp: the camp that says writer's block is a wonderful bedtime story we writers have made up to explain our lack of productivity.
Skywarrior3: Let me explain. Writing as you know (if you do this for a living or do it with any regularity) is work. It's hard sometimes to sit at the page or computer day after day and write something that sounds decent.
Skywarrior3: We battle with internal editors ("That's crap -- why did you write that?"), doubts, and negative feelings. Many authors battle with depression and other disorders.
Skywarrior3: So, when we finally get to writing, we sit down and stare longingly at the white screen and realize that our favorite rerun of Hogan's Heroes is on TV Land and we have to watch it.
Skywarrior3: Or maybe we're going to meet our friends at the local coffeeshop and bitch and moan about writing.
Skywarrior3: At some point if you want to be a writer, you must write. That's a really simple concept and yet it's one that eludes people constantly.
Skywarrior3: People will tell me they're a writer and yet, when the final word count is tallied up, they simply don't write. The truth is that they like the concept of being a writer, but don't like the work.
PCarlson: ROFL!
Skywarrior3: It would be like me telling people I'm a bungee-jumper, but I'm terrified of heights and certainly wouldn't jump. Those who simply can't get started because they don't have the toolkit
PCarlson: "talk a good game of writing" is how Poul Anderson put it to me once
Skywarrior3: It would be like me telling people I'm a bungee-jumper, but I'm terrified of heights and certainly wouldn't jump. Those who simply can't get started because they don't have the toolkit
Skywarrior3: or don't have the ability or motivation to write simply call it writer's block and go to the coffee house and tell their friends they have writer's block (who nod sagely at this announcement)
Skywarrior3: and order a double-shot mocha latte. Again, it's too hard to get started, so why not take the easier road?
Skywarrior3: Then there are the pros who get so-called writer's block. A favorite author of mine, Douglas Adams, used to say he loved deadlines because he loved the whooshing sound as they flew past.
Rose1533: LOL
Skywarrior3: And yet, when his editor forced him to rent a hotel room and put their desk in there and sat with him, he managed to crank out a novel in a month or so.
Skywarrior3: Again, it's not a block, per se, it's procrastination, laziness or whatever you want to call it. When held at editor-point, Adam's could write a book.

Mhr or mhr: what do you consider the "toolkit?"
Skywarrior3: Toolkit -- meaning that the writer has the ability to write, to form good sentences, to spell, to be able to construct a plot and decent characters
Mhr or mhr: Any reference materials you'd suggest as "bibles?"
Skywarrior3: did I answer that?
Mallie1025: You asked if we wanted you to
Skywarrior3: There are lots of good books on that -- How to Write a Damn Good Novel I and II
PCarlson: we have a list of How To books on our W2P web site
Mhr or mhr: Sky, thanks!
Skywarrior3: This form of "writer's block" is what I call the "psyche-out." The author looks at the project and seeing it as such a monumental task, despairs and goes to buy a half-gallon of fudge ripple (or gin) to drown his sorrows.
Skywarrior3: The author is a typical INTP or INFP and can't see organizing himself long enough to finish a project.
Mhr or mhr: Ah, ty W2P ... I have read several for info, but will certainly look at the website! Merci. :-0
PCarlson: http://www.cuebon.com/ewriters/buy.html
PCarlson: personality types?
Mhr or mhr: Sorry INTP, or INFP? I don't know those ...
Skywarrior3: Everyone knows what an INTP/INFP is?
Rose1533: No, I'm afraid not.
Mhr or mhr: SNAP, LOL ... nope, I don't! ;-)
Skywarrior3: In Myers-Briggs it's a personality type
PCarlson: there is a web site you can test yourself, to see which you are
PCarlson: I think we have link(s) for that stuff, as well
Skywarrior3: Introverted-Intuitive-Thinking/Feeling-Perceptive
Mhr or mhr: What is Myers-Briggs? Is that a private DSM-type site?
PCarlson: many such tests
Skywarrior3: Personality test
PCarlson: a very standard test and classification system
Mallie1025: I am all those and still cop out on writing :)
Skywarrior3: Very standard
Mhr or mhr: Ah, TEST .. via DSM? (this is very helpful for my research, thanks!)
Skywarrior3: I'm a INTP, so I know
PCarlson: not DSM. not for disorders
PCarlson: It's for all people
Skywarrior3: no, not disorders -- very standard
Skywarrior3: google Myers-Briggs
Skywarrior3: There are other reasons for not being able to write, none of which I would ascribe to this mythical dragon known as "writer's block." Most have to do with just not having any idea what to write.
Skywarrior3: That's not writer's block. You could sit down and write something if you had to but for some reason, nothing is clicking. So you stare at the page and ended up in this self-feeding watermelon situation.
Mallie1025: that is time to get up and walk away?
Skywarrior3: Namely, you could write something -- anything -- you just don't want to or you haven't done your research, or whatever. If I were to give you a writing prompt, you could probably write something, even if it's utter dreck.
PCarlson: by the way DSM = the psychiatrists official Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
Rose1533: Or not yet coming up with the idea that floats your boat. I'm still trying to come up with the best way to get my people out of a situation.
PCarlson: we have links!
Skywarrior3: So saying you can't write is more of a mind game than anything.
PCarlson: on our web site, to several such tests
Skywarrior3: COOL
PCarlson: you can also "run" your book characters thru these tests! ;-D
Skywarrior3: yep
Rose1533: When you put it that way, I agree. It's all in your head. Not real.
Skywarrior3: But there is something that saps you of creativity. Depression is possibly the worst drainers of a writer's creativity and yes, if you're depressed you're not going to write. Let's call it what it is: depression.
Rose1533: Cool!!!
Mallie1025: Sky -you are so right--I love chats when they give me a prompt--write me a story about--and no matter how bizarre--I can do it
Skywarrior3: yep
Skywarrior3: You're not going to get much accomplished when you're depressed. In this case, you need therapy and you have bigger problems than just writing. I remember after 9-11 being sapped of creativity.
Rose1533: I've had it.
Mallie1025: I have a rubik's cube, witch story in skyline that way--poem
Rose1533: Didn't want to do anything I normally love doing!
Skywarrior3: You know what I talk about
Mallie1025: Think of an original idea--not often sigh
PCarlson: http://www.cuebon.com/ewriters/characters.html
Skywarrior3: I had some work that I did get done, but I didn't write for two months. Then for two more months, I wrote Prophecy of Swords. I've found that unpleasant things are the biggest detriment to my creativity and
Skywarrior3: I just can't write when I'm upset. (But oddly enough, I finished several books during the time when Kiana died. I used the work to take my mind off the grief). Kiana was my dog
Mallie1025: Sky--that is odd to me--I lived 911 and the first thing I did was write about it
Mallie1025: But I am a catharsis type writer
Rose1533: I was already on treatment when 9-11 happened.
Skywarrior3: nods
Rose1533: It didn't make me worse, at least.
Skywarrior3: James Frye, the author of How to Write a Damn Good Novel II likens the writer's block to a bricklayer's block. I won't go into the story, but in essence he says that it's just an excuse for not writing.
Skywarrior3: I understand this all too well. Some days I don't feel like writing on a particular piece so I move onto another. That's why I have so many projects going. I know I've got to work on something.
Skywarrior3: The truth is I've written hot and I've written cold and the quality of the work is about the same. Sometimes when it's like pulling teeth, I actually write better. Go figure.
Rose1533: I've actually written scenes out of sequence sometimes.
Skywarrior3: I do that all the time
Skywarrior3: We writers tend ot have a vivid sense of imagination and at some point, some writer wank came up with the term "writer's block" because he didn't want to finish on deadline. He might have actually convinced himself of it
Rose1533: Good! Glad to know it's not a bad thing!
Rose1533: thing!
Skywarrior3: It's very good. I write that way
Skywarrior3: (we love to psyche ourselves out, don't we?) and may have been so convincing that his editor bought into it. Well, folks, there are thousands of writers out there making a steady living in this trade who don't get writers block.
Mallie1025: Yes, I did that with the memoir and not being a novelist boy did I get myself in a mess!
Skywarrior3: LOL
Rose1533: some scenes that I haven't gotten to in book two are more vivid than what I'm just getting to
Skywarrior3: I mean, what would all the newspapers, magazines, and other publications do if their writers were to plead writer's block at deadline? I can tell you what the editors would do! Find writers who didn't have this problem.
Rose1533: Also afraid of that blasted anxiety attack!
Skywarrior3: So, there's my take on writer's block. I could write for hours on the subject.
Skywarrior3: See, I don't mind doing stuff out of order. Eventually I piece them all together in a second draft
Mallie1025: Get over it!! ??
Skywarrior3: I'm so mean and nasty, aren't I?
Rose1533: Basically, my adrenal gland opens up and won't stop. It's nasty.
Mallie1025: Nope--just realistic
Skywarrior3: More or less, I tell people to work through it
Rose1533: No, not mean or nasty.
Skywarrior3: Coddling whatever is causing you not to write isn't an answer
Skywarrior3: With the exception of depression -- and then you have to be treated


Mallie1025: Sky, my problem--swear to god--is not writing--I love to write on a yellow legal pad--black erasermate
Skywarrior3: ok
Rose1533: No, so for the mean time, I'm writing a different scene. I HAVE actually gone a little farther into the scene that I'm so worried about.
Mallie1025: It is the blasted typing!! I hate it -- it is painful and I am slow
Rose1533: I still need to iron out the details, anyway.
Skywarrior3: The dead type faster than I do
PCarlson: we need better voice software
Rose1533: LOL!
PCarlson: Dragon I think it's called
Rose1533: Good name.
Mallie1025: Ah someone who understands!!
Skywarrior3: I had a coworker tell me that when I was working a job
PCarlson: all Macs have the capacity built in
PCarlson: speak it aloud and the words appear
Skywarrior3: PCs do too
Skywarrior3: But they get wonky with fantasy names
Rose1533: LOL!
Mallie1025: No, Paul--I even have a mike to talk my story in--I want
PCarlson: you need to 'train' the software
Rose1533: I'll bet they do!!!!
Mallie1025: my paper and pen!
Skywarrior3: Yes, you must train the software
Rose1533: Even in Word, you have to teach it the names.
Mallie1025: Like Ludlum, I want to hand it to someone and say--here type it
Rose1533: Add them to your dictionary.
Skywarrior3: There are also wordpad type equipment.
Mallie1025: Yes--it is so funny--the mike tries to write the story for me--actually not half bad lol
Rose1533: The only thing I ever used the mike for was talking to my sis and bro-in-law long distance by computer. But now I live in the same area they do.
Skywarrior3: What's funny is I'd say Romarin, for example, and it would type Romarin, Romaine, Roman, or Ronan, depending on the phase of the moon
Rose1533: LOL!
PCarlson: well there are typists for hire
Skywarrior3: Drove me nuts
Mallie1025: I had a 3 day weekend off from work--I got 10 pages typed during that time and it was written--so this was just typing
PCarlson: pro offices like you see their ads in WD
Skywarrior3: Yeah, I haven't done that yet
Mallie1025: I am too old to get a slew of novels written this way
PCarlson: maybe a starving college girl who will do it for less $$$
Skywarrior3: maybe when the carpal gets too bad
Rose1533: I do most of my writing that way, too. Pen and paper, then transfer to computer.
Skywarrior3: I used to do that
Skywarrior3: Not anymore -- it's almost all to the computer direct
Mallie1025: Paul I have readers who want my next chaps so bad they offer to type for me--honest lol
Skywarrior3: When you write 8 books in a year, you have to do something
PCarlson: wow
Deluge7: Handwriting then typing gives more time to consider what you are saying.
Rose1533: I do a lot of my writing at amusement parks. My daughter loves roller coasters and I don't. I did a massive rewrite of my book in Summer of 2003.
Deluge7: But it is very time consuming.
PCarlson: I have not reached that stage :-D
Skywarrior3: Deluge
Rose1533: 80% was done on the bench at the Steel Eel roller coaster at Sea World San Antonio.
Mallie1025: Dale--right--I create on paper--I edit and clean up on the pc
Skywarrior3: I write slow anyway, so I've edited it about a million times before it hits the page
Skywarrior3: But I used to do that
Rose1533: Emily would ride that coaster for hours on end.
Skywarrior3: lol
Rose1533: It was great having something to do!
Deluge7: Rose, you don't feel that people are looking over your shoulder when you write in a public place?
Rose1533: No.
Skywarrior3: I did that when I was working. Wrote in a journal and then transcribed at night
Deluge7: Or worry about dropping your notebook in a puddle?
Mallie1025: Sky I wish I could write on the pc, but there is a creative connection between me and the paper/pen
Rose1533: No.
Mallie1025: I must try to break this
Deluge7: Some folks have no worries.
Rose1533: My daughter and I were both well known there--her for her riding (70 times in one day) and me for my writing.
Skywarrior3: lol
Rose1533: I have written on PC before. Not unheard of.
Mallie1025: Hey, harry potter was written that way-the first anyway
Skywarrior3: Mallie -- whatever works for you
Skywarrior3: I don't say to do it my way -- it is simply my way
Rose1533: But my notebook can, and frequently does, go where I go--and that's not a notebook computer, mind you!
Deluge7: Rose, if I did that the guards would tell me to leave.
Skywarrior3: yes
Mallie1025: Sky you are so right about procrastination though--I know I am not a prolific writer-I write when I have something to say
PCarlson: I almost always use a keyboard
Skywarrior3: I used to do this, as I said. I don't because I just plunk down at the keyboard and write
Rose1533: Don't see why. I'm a paying customer. What do they care?
Mallie1025: Or if someone says--write me a story lol
PCarlson: many of my columns never see paper until it hits the commercial printer
Rose1533: I still do it at Six Flags.
Mallie1025: deadlines are wonderful for me--because I wait til the last minute and then beat them lol
Skywarrior3: Same here, Paul
Rose1533: They just don't want food from the outside coming in (among other things.)
Rose1533: Notebooks are OK.
Skywarrior3: nods
Mallie1025: Now none of this nonsense can go on if I intend to write novels :)
Skywarrior3: I have a gazillion deadlines
Skywarrior3: I think you need to not psyche yourself out about it -- Susan writes on a yellow legal pad
Rose1533: It's late, and I have to go to bed. Good night, all. And thank you soooo much, maggie. I finally have an idea what to write in my query.
Deluge7: Rose, they don't ask you if you are spying for the competition?
Rose1533: Oh, there is one more question I meant to ask
Mallie1025: Night Rose--hug emily for me
Rose1533: Do you have an agent, or did you query your publishers yourself?
Rose1533: Thanks, Micki. I will.
Skywarrior3: yes and no
Rose1533: Depends on the book, right?
Skywarrior3: I have an agent, but she does my nonfiction
Rose1533: Got it.
Rose1533: Thanks.
Rose1533: Night, all!
Skywarrior3: I sold my own fiction
Skywarrior3: night
Skywarrior3: I should head off
Mallie1025: Sky--non-fiction books or articles?
Skywarrior3: Agents only sell books
Skywarrior3: articles don't pay enough
PCarlson: Thanks, Maggie :-)
PCarlson: sorry for the low turnout
Mallie1025: thought so--Hey you must come again--we loved listening to you and there is much more to tell us.
Skywarrior3: NP
Skywarrior3: Happens
PCarlson: great chat, in any event
Skywarrior3: Thanks!!! If Paul invites me again!
PCarlson: the only one who ever maxed out our chat room was Tom Clancy
Skywarrior3: no surprise there
PCarlson: maybe if we can invite JK Rowling? ;-)
Skywarrior3: you all have a great night and keep writing!
Mallie1025: No problem with that-if not I will invite you to my new chat :)
Skywarrior3: lol
Skywarrior3: night all!
PCarlson: we are a school for chat hosts, here. without even trying
Mallie1025: Journalism --right up your alley
Skywarrior3: 8-)
PCarlson: thanks, all
Mallie1025: Night, Sky and many thanks
PCarlson: I have to go grocery shopping now. wife awaits some goodies
Mallie1025: Paul did she give a website?
PCarlson: I did, but of course nobody ever reads my emails
Mallie1025: could you give it to me--or are you running?
PCarlson: http://www.shadowhelm.net/
Deluge7: I do, Paul.
PCarlson: there you are :)
Mhr or mhr: <~~~~~~~ jumping back quickly ... so sorry ... still with Dhell ...
Mallie1025: Oh I did -- if it is there and it is--I have it then
PCarlson: well I do gots to run
Mhr or mhr: thanks to all ... will read the log! :-)
Mallie1025: Wow we ran long---night guys!!
BrownDvs: Goodnight all.
BrownDvs: Kickass session, Paul.

9/25/06 8:30:26 PM Closing "Chat Log 9/25/06"

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