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As I grow older, and spend more time finding my true heart, my true spirit, and how to reign in all of the emotions I was gifted (yes, I believe they are a gift, not a curse), I have discovered how important it is to take time away from it all.

All of it. Shut off, close the door, sleep, and rest.

I fly so much, so often, that I always forget to stop and take a rest, and then the emotions take over and I have no control because I'm too tired. By taking a break, I regain my energy and my mental stability. It seems so simple, but so hard to do!

Every week it's a different day, but at least one day a week I give it up and just rest. It always looks different in how I rest too, but the important thing is to allow my mind a break from the "to do" list and the weight I place onto my shoulders in serving others, work, and realizing my responsibilities will still be met the next day.

Thursday, today, was my day. Last night was a deep, dark night within my heart, and when I was given the opportunity to have time alone from caring for Norah, and with hubby at work, I laid down and slept all afternoon, 3 hours! This time renewed my sore heart, gave my brain a break from all of the chatter, and my body time to heal.

As a creative soul, an introvert, a mom, a wife, a friend, and care taker of our home, I need to step away and rest. We all need this, and it is why I have been commanded to. Out of love for my soul I was told to take a day of rest.

It truly does amazing wonders when you allow yourself to be FREE from this world, and FREE to roam the heart and breath given to you. The day continues, life doesn't fall apart when we aren't attentive to EVERYTHING, ALL the time. I need that reminder, or this world will run me, instead of me running me as I walk this world.

1) Body Finder Contest Winner

The Winner of the Body Finder swag and signed book is.....

Denise Madness

Denise, please email me your address.

Congrads!

2) Do The Right Thing For Nashville.
My blogger buddies: Amanda Morgan, Myra McEntire, and Victoria Schwab have started Do The Write Thing For Nashville with the hopes of raising money for Nashville Flood Victiom.

This group is currently throwing an auction and all the money goes to Metro Nashville Response Fun. You can still donate items or go to bid on items for a good cause.

I have donated a marketing package so go over and bid on it or many items they have received from editors, agents, and authors.

As you know Nashville was tore up this last week by a sudden dump of 14 inches of rain. Its an interior Katrina situation. People without homes, fatalities, families tore apart, and homes gone.

3) A Mom's Tragedy.
I heard a story about about Sherry Quall, a mom in Nashville who lost her husband and daughter within a matter of seconds. The flood just swept them out of their yard. The husband risked his life to save his kids. He saved the son, but wasn't able to save his daughter - or himself. They both lost their lives. Sherry has her son, but she lost her family and her home in a matter of minutes. Everything.

Guys, can you imagine losing your child, husband and home? It broke my heart. I found out there is a fund set up at First Bank in Linden. The public can mail donations to:

First Bank/The Bobby Qualls Fund
120 West Main Street
Linden, TN 37096

4) Glee. Oh Glee. I was a bit disappointed with Glee this week. And that is hard for me to say because I LOVE GLEE. But I felt this week they took it too far. I feel like the episode made fun of bullying and cyberbullying which I do not find funny. With everything going on in the US with these two topics, I think it was irresponsible to make light of either one. Kids are committing suicide over bullying and

411 on Marketing Mardi Gras

As you know, next week (Feb 15 - Feb 19) is my Marketing Mardi Gras Party. The party will last all week long and include many special guests, daily prizes, a Marketing Scavenger Hunt, and 2 Grand Prizes awarded at the end of the week.
1) A Marketing Package for agented authors
2) My Agent's Critique Package (Alyssa Henkin at Trident Media group) for unagented authors.

Sound fun or what!?

Now, Elana Johnson (The Query Master) and I are throwing this PAR-Tee together. She will be having tons of prizes as well including additional agent query critiques.

The thing is to enter this Mardi Gras Party - you really need to follow us BOTH.

So go ahead and sign up for both blogs today and get a head start.

What do you have to lose? We give great advice, we are fun, and we give 30 day guarantees if you don't laugh at least once. Plus let's face it - the prizes are awesome! (if i do say so myself :)

All details on the party will be announced TOMORROW so come back!

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Today, Elana stopped by today to tell us the Five Things To Avoid When Querying (On her blog today she asked me about how to balance Social networking with Writing. GO check it out!)

Querying can be a long and tiring process. Writing a query letter can feel the same way. And since your letter is what you use to query, here are a few hints for what to avoid when getting ready to enter the query trenches.

1. Querying too early. Write your query letter. Revise it a few times. Post it for others to review. Rewrite it a few more times. This same advice should be applied to your manuscript. Write it. Revise a few times. Give it to some trusted readers. Rewrite some more. Don’t query until both your letter and your MS have gone through this process.

2. Sending mass queries. You need to personalize. Research each agent. QueryTracker.net has all the pertinent links you need for every reputable agent. And stats for how long they take to respond, how often they request, etc. Make sure you spell the agent’s name right. Be sure they’d be a good match for your work. Mass querying is bad for everyone.

3. Gushing. The query letter is a business letter. Treat it as such. It’s okay to say you read something on their blog/twitter/website that made you think they’d be a good match for your book. Don’t gush about how amazingly awesome they are or that you like their cat or whatever. That just screams “stalker!” and that’s not really how you want to start your professional relationship.

4. Blathering on and on. We all want to make ourselves personable. But as I said before, the query letter is a business letter. State your business and be done. They don’t need to know how many kids you have or anything like that. They want to know if you can craft a concise summary of your book. Because usually, that means you know how to use words well, and your MS won’t be stuffed with useless words. If your query is, agents likely think your MS is too.

5. Sending repeatedly. Follow the rules. If an agency says a “no” from one is a “no” from all, don’t try someone e

Just got into LA!

Whew my plane did not go down so I have to send a shout out to my guardian angel :)

Left this morning about 8am. Got here at noon. Who loves a time change! (I do! At least today I do!)

Luckily it was after my kids left with hubby for camp so the goodbye was not traumatic (for me that is). All the kids care about is if I am bringing them back anything. Daughter's request: ice cream sandwich (uh not going to happen) and son's - same as usual (truck. Oops A big truck!) My hubby always brings back great gifts for kids when he travels so I'll have to upstage him (not that it is a competition :) Since my hubby always seems to bring me either airport chocolate or free shampoo - who knows what he will get. ;)

Now that I am here - i've realized the following: I forgot my sunglasses so I had to buy 15$ pair. (how is that possible when going to LA?), forgot my camera! (again, how is that possible) and forgot my iPod (no music for 5 days?). I guess I was too busy packing 10 pairs of shoes (dont' ask. I will say I blame Katie at Plot this!) and 10 outfits (yes for 5 days. Again Katie's fault). hey if Delta is going to make me pay 15$ for a bag - I might as well take all I can. I think my bag weighed in at 51 lbs (*sigh*) so I had to throw out my contact saline solution to get it under the weight limit. (another sacrifice for fashion) Sad I know but at least I'll have wardrobe choices (I don't know if I said this but it is KATIE's fault! ;) Besides, for those who know me, I am forever spilling stuff on my shirt - coffee, salsa, or ketchub. It's true. So this is safer.

Flight was uneventful except the normal stuff - screaming baby, man in front leaning too far back threatening to kill my new MAC (yeah you heard me and no I refrained from taking him out), and 3.5 peanuts. No wonder I'm full.

BTW - why is it when you travel you feel hungrier than normal? Is it the altitude?

I think I saw the Grand Canyon from the window but its hard to tell at 30,000 feet up. I know it was a mountain though :)

Got here in the allotted time of 4 hours and 2 minutes (could they not just round up?).

So what have I seen so far? no agents to befriend, no editors clamoring for my book, and certainly no stars. *sigh*. I did see one of my regional advisors!!!! woot woot!! (Hey Donna!)

Now, I am sitting outside in shaded deck, overlooking pool, pretending to work (on free wireless!!!) so I don't look like a loser, and waiting for someone/anyone to recognize me from my blog photo or college mug shot - whichever comes first - beggars can't be choosers right? (Just kidding people! :)

I'm excited to get started and waiting for Kimberly to arrive in a couple hours. Ready to bask in brilliance, Ready to enjoy some time away from hustle and bustle of kids/schedules. Ready to meet new friends.

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Marketing Muse
Here is a podcast on how to best sell your book to libraries/schools by Dana Lynn Smith (author of "Selling your book to Libraries" and the Savvy Book Marketers Guide.)


The Soundtrack of My Life

Do you ever kinda feel like your life is a movie? Sometimes I do and I think I always have. Weird huh? I remember picking out songs and putting on plays for my family about my life ( all 6 or 7 years of it!) . I would act out a montage of my life as the music played on my record player (how kewl was I?)

I even wrote songs (oi!)

Anyway, I was thinking about my soundtrack today because I wanted to add a song.

My soundtrack also seems to reflect the music of that time. Whether it be the 70s (not that I was born then gulp) the 80s or the 90s.

When I was born - my song would have had to be: We've Only Just Begun. (Caren Carpenter)

When I had my first kiss (with a boy who kissed like a snake - or maybe he was a snake - we'll never know. But I am pretty sure Kevin Bacon would have been much better!): Let's hear it for the boys!

When I dated my first Love at 15 (Did everyone love The Pirate Movie as much as me? Especially Christopher Atkins hair - wait most of you probably are too young to remember :( I had the VHS tape and the cassette!): First Love (Kristy McNichol/Christopher Atkins)

When I got my first car at 16 (who else is in the 1983 Toyota Celica Hatchback club! Or should I say C-Hell-ica Unfortunately, Danny Zuka didn't come with the car - an oil leek and a bummed radio did): Grease Lightning (Grease 1)

When I went off to school (UGA was a party school where I learned very little, but got caught doing bad things. Auburn where I got my MBA was tough - just a different kind of jungle.): Welcome to the Jungle (Guns and Roses)

When I got my first job (I was just happy to be making real money money money!): Opportunities (Pet Shop Boys)

When my first wedding was called off (This is your cue to boo and hiss! There were so many songs during this time - and the sadder the better! Alice Peacock's Some Things Get Lost but my friend and I used to sing this song when we were down - and yes I was 30 years old!): I Will Survive - but it had to be Cake's version)

My second round of single days: - Nelly Furtado's I'm Like a Bird. I parachuted out of a plane (with a hot guy I might add) to this song!

When I met my hubby - we met at the zoo but those songs seemed inappropriate so I chose our first concert together: Macy Gray's Still (though I loved the whole album). (BTW - I KNOW my hubby would agree with me on this one! right honey? ;)

When I got married (to the most amazing man!): We danced to Someone Like You - the Shawn Colvin version. But all of our wedding music was to Enya - I walked down the aisle to The Sun in the Stream

When I had my kids (Alicia Keyes' If I Ain't Got You)

So to date, that would be my soundtrack (you only get like 12 tracks right unless there is Part 2) This represents where I've been - give or take a few other songs. Maybe I'll have to have a few different soundtracks, depending on the montages - like Dawson's Creek's Soundtracks - you know a new one every year.

Sometimes a song will pop up and I'll think - that would be a great song for my soundtrack - maybe for the time I did....or the time I said that....

Come on - anyone else? Who's with me?

Anyway - the new song by Miley Cyrus (Climb) is awesome! I love it and it totally captures how I am feeling these days about this whole publishing process.



I'll keep you up to date on my revised soundtrack! ;)

Enjoy!

I just reread this post - man I am a sick person. I need help - a soundtrack to my life - am i crazy? Oh - Wait I need a song for that? (Crazy by Gnarles Barkley!)

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Creating EZ Web Sites

Ok so lets dive into building a web site as your first step to an online presence. I personally think Godaddy is the easiest to use. As marketing person, if a small business comes to me with limited funds and wants to manage their own content but have someone set it up, I always go to Godaddy first. Some people may disagree, but this is my experience.

Godaddy now has a feature called WebSite Tonight. It provides templates for you to choose from - probably about 100. And it allows you to enter content in a window that is similar to blogger windows or Word. You can get a 5 page web site for under 20$ a month.

First let me say as a marketing business owner - I always think you can do greater things with a company like mine. But if you don't have the money - and web sites can cost anywhere from 1,000 - 6,000, Godaddy is a good place for you to start on your own. If you do want to invest, you can call me - I offer 30% off to authors :) (shameless plug huh?)

First Steps:

1) Buy your author domain. I suggest your name unless you have a huge series like Stepahnie Meyer . Even then I would suggest a name domain and a series domain. For example: Since I am doing a knitting mystery I may use shellijohannes.com as y author but since my knitting series is called "Knit me baby one more time" I may also get Knitme.com. You can search and buy your domains right on Godaddy.

2) Hosting and a web site tonight feature - Go daddy will host your web site for you. ON the web site tonight account - you will need to choose from 5 pages, 20 pages or unlimited. I would do unlimited just because it is only a few dollars more a month and you will have no constraints as to your page numbers.

3) Take the tutorials Godaddy offers to learn the basics. They also have a Help line that is very good. They have great customer service and will help you over the phone. You will feel better about playing around if you do this.

4) Choose your design template - you can look through each one and see how it is structured. This is where a graphic designer can come in handy - because they can manipulate the files to be more "you specific". The templates are pretty constraining in color, buttons, look, etc.

5) Main topics to cover include: Do not have more than 6 or 7 main pages - menu items. Home, Books (you can separate into mg/ya and PB if you do both), Author Bio, Blog (and link to your blog), Resources, Other pages could include - Events/Media Kit/Ect - whatever you need now. If you are pre-published - I would link to your favorite authors/resources

4) Don't be afraid to mess up. You can always fix it. After any change - you don't have to publish it to the web. Just preview it. Work in preview mode until you feel good enough to launch your site.

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One Word Only

This will be hard for us MG/YA authors but give it a try.:) USING ONLY ONE WORD. Not as easy as you might think!

• Where is your cell phone? Purse
• Describe your significant other? Amazing
• Hair color? Brown
• Your mother? Giving
• Your father? A. Funny
• Your favorite thing? Family
• Your dream last night? Driving
• Your favorite drink? Martini
• Your dream/goal? Published
• What room are you in? Office
• Your hobby? Reading
• Your fear? Failure
• Where do want to be in 6 Yrs? Healthy
• Where were you last night? Home
• Something that you aren't? Patient
• Muffins Flavor? Blueberry
• Wish list item? Computer
• What are you wearing? Jeans
• Your pets? Dog
• Friends? Blessing
• Your life? Content
• Your mood? Persistent
• Missing someone? Beth
• Drinking? A. Coffee
• Something you're not wearing? Jewelry
• Your favorite store? Target
• Your favorite color? Green
• When is the last time you cried? Rejection
• Favorite place to eat? Mexican
• Favorite place to be at right now? Beach

Marketing Muse for the Day: Tweet tweet!
Twitter can be used as a marketing tool. First you can you use the search engine to plug-in book titles, topics and even personal names and check your buzz level. It is a way for your readers to keep in contact with you. And a personal connection is key to gathering a following. Twitter is a fantastic way to give your brand a voice and a personality.

Titillating Thoughts on Thursday

1) What a crock! Evidently, I have been a sucker for the 5 major gimmicks in the U.S. Does that make me an idiot or just plan gullible? Evidently the top 5 merchandising scams are: 1) Rudolph, 2) Valentines Day, 3) engagement rings, 4) wedding registries, and 5) green bean casserole.

Green Bean casserole? really? I was surprised but evidently it was a gimmick started by Campbell Soup. Who knew? Now I have another excuse not to eat greens!

2) Freaky Families What is it about families? You can't wait to see them and while they are here you enjoy them. But they sure know how to stomp on your buttons. I always feel like I am 17 again when my family is around. Read this Discovery article about what happens to you physiologically when family comes over. Very interesting :) No wonder my blood pressure changes.

3) My mind is a wastin' I am definitely tell I am getting older. I used to be great at Trivia Pursuit and coming up with random facts quickly. Today, someone asked me the name of the movie triology that Keenu Reeves was in about computers. Do you know it took me about 5-7 minutes to come up with Matrix? Ugh. (Now what was I talking about? Oh yeah my memory. :) I researched "mucky memories" (ahh, the things we will do sometimes to avoid writing!) and came up with this interesting article on a few way to keep your memory sharp. Look at #5 - "Read a book." CHECK! My question is why can't MMs be brain food? Boy, I'd be a smarty pants!

4) Creepy Cops - OK, this was just plain creepy to me. Evidently, the Thailand police are now wearing smiley-faced masks to cheer up motorists. What?! The pictures are creepy. Is this really supposed to get me to smile? Can't they just use their own faces and actually smile without masks? I think that would make me feel better....but saver - I don't think so? I don't really want happy cops skipping around my neighborhood. I'll take a bad-ass cop anytime.

5) Virgo rocks 2009 and takes names! This was my horoscope for 2009 -

"Virgo - Look out world, because here comes Virgggggg-Oooooo! Holy crap Virgo. What did you have to do or sell to get a horoscope like this? My guess it wasn’t cheap and may have been sexually related. You’re on fire this month and the momentum will only increase (like a hot flaming fireball) through the course of the year. The stars show love, money, mind-blowing sex, and a television mini-series. Enjoy this success and all its glory because, let’s face it, you’re probably going to pay for it sooner or later."

Yikes, pretty clear huh? My question is if I get a mini-series, does that mean I got a book deal too? Oh please let it be true :)

Quote for the day: "I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper." -Steve Martin

Who to send to? Who accepts what? Who's looking for what genre? Who is currently looking for new clients?

If you're on the hunt for an agent, there are two great sites out there. The first one is www.agentquery.com/
There, you'll find tips, resources and advice on submitting to an agent, plus it has an advanced search feature to help you find an agent targeted to your specific genre. This one also allows you to find out what agents represent other authors.

The other site is www.litmatch.net/
This site has similar features as the first site, and this one also has a "submission tracker" feature to help you stay organize. Isn't that nice? :0) The results are a little easier to follow from this site.

Both sites are great and allow you to find agents who are actively seeking new clients and will also tell you if they accept e-mail queries and what works they represent.

Good luck in your search