Knowing Your Brand

By Ann H. Gabhart

Did you know that even fiction writers have brands these days? Our brand is the type of stories we write. Amish, romance, historical, mysteries, to name a few. Then those brands break down into more categories. A historical writer might be known for World War II stories, Western novels, or Biblical settings, for example. Mysteries can be thrillers, detective stories, or cozies like my Hidden Spring mysteries.

Some writers prefer to stay in the same genre or brand for all their stories and do that very successfully. Other writers branch out a bit. I’m a branch-out writer. My first published books were historical romances. I might have stayed in that genre forever, but a flurry of rejections convinced me to try something new. Rejections can be great motivators for change. So, I switched genres and wrote eleven coming of age stories for younger readers. My writing direction changed again when those young adult stories stopped finding a publisher. I began writing for adults again, but this time for the inspirational fiction market. I definitely haven’t stayed with one type of stories.

But even if you, like me, write stories that fit into different genres, you can still have things that brand your stories. Many of my stories are set in small towns. Even my fictional Shaker village of Harmony Hill can be considered a small town. Also, most of my stories have a Kentucky setting. Perhaps some of my books could be labeled Small Town Kentucky stories.

So, think about some common elements in your stories. What sets them apart from the stories others write? Do you focus on character? Or does plot drive your stories? What themes keep popping up while you’re brainstorming ideas?

Consider what you do well. Is it making people smile through the actions of your characters? Can you make history come to life on the pages of your book? Do you melt when you hear a touching love story? What settings inspire you? Have you always loved mysteries? Your answers to these questions and more might help you decide on the type of story you most want to write.

Or you might come up with your story and then think about how it could fit in today’s market. But market is such a fickle thing. The genre selling like hotcakes now might be on the decline by the time you get your book written, edited and ready for a reader’s eyes.

During one of those rejection motivating times when market needs were changing, I determined to write a story I loved and not worry where it would fit in the market. That was a turning point in my writing career.

Now I would most like to be known for a good story brand. Tell the story you want to tell and be your own first excited reader. Other readers will surely follow no matter the genre.

______________________________________________________________________________ 

Ann H. Gabhart, a bestselling author of over thirty novels, has been called a storyteller. That’s not a bad thing for somebody who grew up dreaming of being a writer. Also writing as A.H. Gabhart, Ann recently tried a new genre and published three Hidden Springs mysteries. Ann and her husband have three children and nine grandchildren and enjoy country life in Kentucky. To find out more about Ann’s books and to check out her blog, One Writer’s Journal, visit www.annhgabhart.com. You can also join in the conversation on her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/anngabhart or Twitter @AnnHGabhart.

Additional Opportunities for Writers

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


Here on Suite T a few weeks ago, I blogged about some immediate opportunities that writers can get in on.  Today, I'd like to update you on some of them and add a couple of new ones to the mix.

SHORT STORY CONTEST 2017
First, I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you that the deadline for our 6th annual Short Story Fiction Contest is this Thursday night, June 15th.  If you haven't sent in your <1500 word story yet, the $250 first prize might be the right incentive! The easy guidelines are online.
http://www.southernwritersmagazine.com/shorts.html

WHERE WRITERS WRITE
Secondly, I want to thank all the authors who jumped right on the mag's new "Where Writers Write" feature, sending us photos of your work spaces. It's fascinating and fun to get a glimpse of the very spots where great books have come into being. We are full for the July/August issue of Southern Writers, but if you get us your photo and description by July 1st, there's a good chance you'll make it in the September/October issue. Visit http://www.southernwritersmagazine.com/promos-2017.html

SIGNINGS AND SELF-PROMOTION
We knew you guys were clever, but some of the promotions you've cooked up and sent us photos of for this upcoming feature have been downright inspiring. If you've developed a creative giveaway for marketing your masterpieces or have a photo from a book signing you're proud of, show it off in Southern Writers Magazine.  http://www.southernwritersmagazine.com/promos-2017.html

TITLE WAVE
We've been getting in some very entertaining submissions for this article about how book titles were changed before publication, and the reasonings behind each one. Got a story to share about the evolution of your book's title? Tell us about it at http://www.southernwritersmagazine.com/promos-2017.html

GALLERY OF STARS
Each week our online Gallery of Stars gets a ton of visitors seeking to discover authors and new releases (it's only Tuesday and we've already gotten 1,200 hits this week). If you write books, you should be in there! All Southern Writers subscribers are offered a FREE author page in the Gallery. Even if you have your own website (and you do, don't you?), the Gallery is a solid and steadily-seen addition to your promotional platform. Details are at the bottom of this alpha list of authors. As you can see, you'll be in good company! http://authors.southernwritersmagazine.com

SUMMER WRITERS CONFERENCES
The season is heating up with lots of choices that would make a terrific destination for a summer vacation while you regain your writing mojo and get friendly with your fellow wordsmiths. Coming right up, for example, is the popular Mystery Fest Key West this Friday thru Sunday, June 16-18 (www.mysteryfestkeywest.com). Other soon-to-come conferences are in Alabama, Missouri, Virginia, West Virginia, and Nashville, to mention a few. You'll find this summer's offerings at: http://www.southernwritersmagazine.com/conferences.html

As you can see, there are lots of opportunities to get the word out about your books and to recharge your literary battery this summer. What a great time to be a Southern writer!

What a Writer Can Learn from Friday Night Lights

By Lindsey Brackett 

I’ll be the first to admit I know little about football. But the drama of Friday nights down South? Those stories are worth the ticket price.  After all, Friday Night Lights owed its television success to being a football show that wasn’t about football. Every time I watch Coach Taylor mold boys into men, I add a new play to my writer’s handbook.

1.     Raise the stakes. This show wasn’t just about high school football, but Texas high school football. Not only the best team in Texas, the Panthers are considered the best in the nation. Their stands are full of scouts. As if that’s not enough, it’s Coach Taylor's first year as head coach. Talk about pressure. When you’re at the top, you only have one place to go, right? So the high stakes story becomes all about how the characters handle the fall.

2.     Introduce the players. Whether script or a novel, whenever multiple characters pull equal weight in a story, you’ve got to introduce them quickly—and succinctly. FNL handles this wonderfully in the series premier by having the boys interviewed for a media outlet. With a few sentences, we learn which player is cocky, which one is terrified, and which one is full of grace.

3.     Make them honorable, vulnerable, and human. Once your cast is on the page, make them relatable. Every story needs a hero who demonstrates humility, but we also need those characters who exist in our real life. Unfortunately, real life isn’t edited, and when you deal with hard issues, you make your characters resonate more with your audience.

4.     Say less, show more. Movies and television shows don’t have it any easier with “show don’t tell.” It could be all too easy for them to get caught in the dialogue trap.  But on FNL, when the worst thing happens during the season opening game, the writers didn’t opt for actors recounting the situation. Instead, they gave us images—like the players linking hands when Matt gets called on to captain—and they gave us silence. When a football stadium gets quiet, you know it’s bad. Then those boys drop to their knees and lift their voices to plead for the wellbeing of their teammate, and I never fail to cry. It’s easy to have a character say—or think—how they feel. But readers react when the character faces an uncomfortable situation and proves who he’s going to be.

5.    

Offer a uniting goal. Everyone in Dillon, Texas believes football is the ticket. To a way out. For community pride. For a better life or situation for their family.  But all these very different people have one common goal—the success of their beloved football team. That unites them, and it could even destroy them.  But this one goal creates the tension a story needs to drive the reader to the next page, the next scene, the next book.

Your turn—is there a show that challenges you to raise the stakes and write better?

___________________________________________________________________ 

Award-winning writer, Lindsey P. Brackett just writes life — blogs, columns, articles, and stories — in the midst of motherhood. As Web Content Editor for Splickety Publishing Group, she publishes pieces of flash fiction and writer wisdom for those who love a good story and have limited time. Her debut novel, Still Waters, a Lowcountry story about the power of family and forgiveness, releases in September. Connect with her at lindseypbrackett.com, on Facebook at Lindsey P. Brackett, on Twitter and Instagram, or email blog@splickety.com.

HIRING A PUBLICIST . . . A GOOD OR BAD IDEA?

By H. W. “Buzz” Bernard

Writer to writer, the first piece of advice I’d like to give you is this: Don’t listen to any advice I give you.  Why?  Because I don’t listen to my own.

If you’d asked me a year and half ago if you, as a novelist, should hire a publicist, my answer would have been, “Absolutely not.”   That was the conventional wisdom I’d always heard.  A publicist, I’d been told, might make sense if you were a nonfiction writer or a big, brand-name novelist, but certainly not for us scribes who travel in steerage.

So what did I do prior to the release of my most recent novel, Cascadia?  I went out and hired a publicist.  Why didn’t I follow my own advice?

My previous novel, Blizzard, came out with very little pre-publication publicity.  My publisher, BelleBooks, is a small independent press and doesn’t have the big bucks to mount strong pre-pub campaigns.  Blizzard ’s sales, despite its great reader ratings, were miserable. I was extremely disappointed.

I knew the same thing would happen with Cascadia unless I tried something different.  I thought, how can I prevent my book from becoming a bottom feeder among the million and half other titles published every year?

In the past I’d tried blog tours, Goodreads giveaways, Facebook ads, blog series on my own website, special presentations, and Facebook campaigns.  None of those efforts really paid off.  So, given that trail of failures, I began to toy with the notion of hiring a professional.

But there was another reason.  Cascadia takes place in the Pacific Northwest.  I live in Georgia.  That, in and of itself, posed a significant promotional challenge.  So I thought it would be really great if I could find a publicist who lived in the Northwest.

Much to my surprise, I found one in Portland, Oregon.  And, by lucky coincidence, she, Jessica Glenn of Mindbuck Media, just happened to be getting her home retrofitted to withstand a powerful earthquake.  Cascadia, you see, is a novel set against the massive earthquake and tsunami that will be triggered by the Cascadia Subduction Zone in the Northwest (think San Andreas Fault on steroids).  Most everyone who lives in the region is aware of the danger.

Jessica jumped at the chance to represent a novel centered around that eventuality.  It helped, too, that I had, as Jessica said, a great “track record,” solid sales for my previous four novels, including a number-one bestseller on Kindle.

Jessica was up front with me, saying she doesn’t promise sales, but does promise reviews.  Reviews are what I needed, something to get Cascadia in front of readers.

Mindbuck delivered.  The reviews came, despite the fact there turned out to be a huge stumbling block.  Jessica told me a lot of the bigger-name reviewers require a print ARC (advance reader copy), not an electronic one.  I requested print ARCs from my publisher, but they balked, said I’d have to pay for them myself.  I reluctantly did, but the ARCs, through CreateSpace, turned out so crappy we couldn’t use them.  Thus, we undoubtedly lost some great opportunities.

Still, we got some wonderful reviews, including what I considered a real coup; a three-quarter page spread in The Sunday Oregonian, Oregon’s most widely circulated newspaper.

The number of ratings posted by readers on Amazon and Goodreads responded, and so did sales.  Cascadia reached fifty reviews on Amazon twice as fast as did Blizzard.  Cascadia also sold more units in its first six months on the market than Blizzard did in almost two years!  To me, that defines success.

But, you ask, was the effort cost effective?  The answer is Yes.  Publicists aren’t cheap, but the gross royalties from Cascadia for the first six months of its existence covered the expense of hiring Mindbuck . . . and a bit more.  I expect even more dividends down the road.

I can’t tell you if a publicist is right for you.  Each of you will have to perform your own analysis.  Remember that I had a “track record” going for me, and that the novel I wrote resonated personally with the publicist I hired.

______________________________________________________________________ 

H. W. “Buzz” Bernard is the author of Cascadia, Blizzard, Supercell, Plague and Eyewall. Before becoming a novelist, Buzz worked at The Weather Channel as a senior meteorologist for 13 years.  Prior to that, he served as a weather officer in the U.S. Air Force for over three decades.  He attained the rank of colonel and received, among other awards, the Legion of Merit. His “airborne” experiences include a mission with the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters, air drops over the Arctic Ocean and Turkey, and a stint as a weather officer aboard a Tactical Air Command airborne command post (C-135). In the past, he’s provided field support to forest fire fighting operations in the Pacific Northwest, spent a summer working on Alaska’s arctic slope, and served two tours in Vietnam.  Various other jobs, both civilian and military, have taken him to Germany, Saudi Arabia and Panama. He’s a native Oregonian and attended the University of Washington in Seattle where he earned a bachelor’s degree in atmospheric science; he also studied creative writing. Buzz currently is vice president of the Southeastern Writers Association, member of International Thriller Writers, The Atlanta Writers Club and Willamette Writers.  He and his wife Christina live in Roswell, Georgia, along with their fuzzy and sometimes over-active Shih-Tzu, Stormy.

6th Annual Southern Writers Magazine's Short Story Fiction Contest

Enter today and be a part of the

6th Annual Southern Writers Magazine’s SHORT STORY FICTION CONTEST

ENTRY FEE:  $15.00  DEADLINE:  June 15, 2017

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. Entry must be original fiction, unpublished (in any form). Must not be accepted by other publishers at time of submission.

2. Manuscript word count––1500 words maximum, 12 pt Times New Roman, double spaced. Word (.doc) format preferred over .docx. No Apple "Pages" please.

3. Your name, phone number, email address, mailing address and word count must be on page 1 ONLY with title and story beginning on page 2. No author identification beyond page 1.

4. No Erotica or controversial language.  Keep it family-friendly.

Submit your story document online(see contact form below). 

Send your $15.00 entry fee via PayPal (PayPal will appear once you have submitted your story.)

First story entry fee:............$15.00

Second story entry fee:........$10.00

To submit by regular mail, your check must be attached to story, made out to Southern Writers Magazine.  

Mail to Southern Writers Magazine, 875 W Poplar Ave., Ste. #23-178, Collierville, TN 38017

OFFICIAL RULES
1. Winners will be chosen from all entries received between May 1 and June 15, 2017 at 11:50 p.m.. Entries will be judged by a panel of editors and authors on the basis of writing quality, creativity, style, grammar and overall appeal. Judges will not know the identity of the entrants. Submissions must be the sole work of the entrant and previously unpublished in print or Internet. Submission constitutes understanding and acceptance of rules and guidelines and grants Southern Writers Magazine first rights to publish the winning stories. Entrant retains all other publishing rights. Multiple entries accepted ($15 first entry, $10 each additional). First Place, Second Place and Third Place winners will be asked to provide high-quality JPG photo. Inclusion will be at the discretion of the publisher, but every effort shall be made to secure a suitable photo. Publisher will also request a brief bio from winners to accompany their story.
​2. Winners will be announced and contacted via email after all entries are evaluated and winners chosen. Expected date of bonus publication is August 2017.
3. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Open to all U.S. Residents and U.S. Citizens abroad, 18 years and older; except for the staff and families of Southern Writers Magazine.

Good luck!

Birthing a Book

By Vicki H. Moss

Some books are written within a few months or a year. Some books, especially nonfiction, take longer because there’s a process that parallels the path of a writer’s journey and experiences. My path to publication had its beginning through magazine writing. From there came an opportunity to write blog articles, author interviews, writing articles, poetry, a newspaper column, and the list goes on. My list includes writing that could be used as teaching examples that would one day form a book, hopefully to help other writers figure out the path to publication. So here’s my story on how I birthed a book from my experiences.       

It took several attempts accompanied by many rejections to figure out how to be one of the top ten writers to make the cut for a single issue of Boys’ Quest, and Hopscotch magazines. The magazines combined published approximately 20 articles every two months, and the editor received 10,000 submissions in one year for a total of twelve issues—bringing the total number of articles purchased in a year to approximately 240, not including the sibling magazine Fun for Kidz.

So, how to make the top ten cut in one month? Or less daunting, how to make the top 240 out of 

10,000 in one year’s twelve issues?

I determined the only way around the dilemma was to read articles written by writers who had made the cut. The project was daunting. Unlike having compilations of short stories on my bookshelves written by successful writers like Flannery O’Conner and others, I’d never heard of a book of compiled kids’ magazine articles written by one author.

Therefore, I spent a small fortune buying kids’ magazines to study. The venture paid off. My stories began selling. And one thing I noticed about the writers who were getting published in these magazines—they all had what’s known as Voice, what all editors look for in writing.

I’d been told my writing had voice. But, what exactly, was Voice? And how did one acquire it? The more I studied the subject, I realized Voice was nothing more than a writer’s personality coming out on the page. Voice could also be the tone, the mood, or the style of the piece written in a unique voice totally different from someone else’s. Voice was writing that made a reader feel like they were there—part of the story. And Voice was recognizable.

After compiling some of my published kids’ stories in one book—How to Write for Kids’ Magazines—to give other writers examples of what worked and what didn’t, which translates to “what sells,” I decided a book on Voice would be even better.

Oh, no. Not another one.

Actually, I found a few books on Voice I liked, but none at all that were a compilation of examples of persuasive voice, voice in blog writing, narrative voice, and voice in creative nonfiction, memoir, flash fiction, nonfiction, newspaper column writing, advertising, poetry, devotions and Bible studies—all of which I’d at one time published. Perhaps a compilation was long overdue so writers in a volatile writing market, having to write more nonfiction because fiction sales have taken a downturn, wouldn’t have to spend a small fortune to do what I’d done; buy a truckload of books to study voice in different genres.  

Another writer and college professor also thought a compilation was a good idea. New York Times bestselling author Lee Smith wrote a blurb for my book, Writing with Voice, “I’m looking forward to this collection…because in my own mind, voice is the single most important element in prose narrative, fiction or nonfiction. And unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to teach. The only way I’ve ever been able to do that is to give my students some good examples to read—so it’s great to have a whole collection.”   

And from my desire and passion to help other writers realize their own dreams of publication, an idea was sparked. And a book was birthed.   

______________________________________________________________________

Vicki H. Moss is the author of Writing with Voice, How to Write for Kids Magazines, Adrift, Rogue Hearts, Smelling Stinkwood (available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble) and frequent contributor to the Moment’s series. She’s written over 500 articles nationally and internationally and is a freelance editor and Contributing Editor for Southern Writers Magazine.  When Vicki’s not writing and teaching at writing workshops, she’s often outdoors behind a camera.            

Where Do You Write?

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief for Southern Writers Magazine 

Where do you prefer to write? Is it in a room with a window, desk, office equipment and books around you? Perhaps you prefer to write outside, sitting on your deck looking at nature. Some people prefer to sit on a beach and write, listening to the waves as they come rolling in and hear the seagulls as they fly in the air, then dive into the ocean for food.

What if you were sitting down, overlooking plush greenery with a waterfall cascading into a pool of blue water.

Could you write there? 

This is the La Fortuna Waterfall in Costa Rica. The question, could you write there is important. There is another question that likewise is just as important. What could you write there? Mystery, Romance, Thriller, Fantasy?

For me, I couldn’t write there. I would be mesmerized at the sound of the water pouring into the pool and would become too relaxed. I would not want to think about anything or anyone nor do anything.

Yet, I know authors who could write master pieces seeing this, being there, and hearing all the sounds.

However, if I were not sitting up there looking down, but was on the ground––moving through the bushes, hearing the sound of rushing water, watching where I step, swatting insects, praying I don’t step on a snake or run into a spider web . . . then I could write. Why? Because I would not be a bystander looking on, I would be down in the trenches, so to speak; part of it.

If you’ve never experienced being scared, how can you share what that feels like? You would have to write what you think it feels like or what you heard someone say it felt like or what you read in other books.

If you’ve never loved, how can you explain love to someone else? Feelings are real, in the sense that we experience them in the moment they occur. Then remember them afterwards, even though through the years many will fade.

Would it not be great, if we could then take those feelings, and enclose them in a jar, then when we need a particular feeling in our writing, we find the jar with the feeling, unscrew the lid, pull it out and sprinkle it on the paper. Since we can’t, we have to dig deep into our being; pull back the films hiding the feelngs.  Some of us are better than others at burying our feelings.

But once you have the layers peeled back, then the feelings can jump onto the page and enter your character––their feelings about fear, love, anger, and hurt. This is where your reader is drawn into your character, feels what they are feeling, becomes connected. The reader can picture in their mind what your character sees. They can experience walking through the bushes, hearing the falls, afraid they might come upon a spider or a snake.

There is nothing more fulfilling for a reader than to be totally immersed in the book they are reading. This is what every author wants for their reader.

Writing What You Know

By Celeste Fletcher McHale

For me, the easiest part about writing a book is simply being familiar with the subject. In my case, it is a simple southern life in a small town full of characters everywhere I turn.

There’s an old saying that goes like this “It doesn’t matter if I know what I’m doing, someone else always does.” That should be painted on the water tower in a small town. I can go to the local breakfast shop/bait shop/grocery store in the morning and come back with five new ideas for a novel. Somebody’s daughter ran off with the married preacher, somebody went off to college and met and married a major league pitcher, somebody’s child went into the military….and didn’t come back. (And by the way, all those things are true of my small town.)

There is a novel in every one of those stories and many more. I’m not sure about a big city, I’ve never lived in one, but when things like this happen in a place with a population of 750, and I’m being generous, any event affects us all. It’s a buzz that lasts for weeks, months and sometimes even years. This is what makes what I write easier. There is no research, no digging up bones, no “I wonder how someone would react” because I see everything I need to see…I just have to write it down.

I find people are eager to tell their stories, they just have a hard time trying to get someone to listen. When you sit with someone and really let them talk, you can sometimes come away with a new perspective, a new gratitude, a new found respect and a new sense of pride for a family. For instance, I know a girl that lives pretty close to here who has been married five times. Feeling most superior to her because my own marriage has lasted thirty- seven years so far (Applause here, please. We got married when I was 17) I sort of looked down on her. I didn’t talk about her or make fun of her, but to be honest, I felt just a LITTLE bit better than she was. You understand what I mean. But one night, at a ballgame of all places, I found myself seated beside her and we began to talk. Before that night was over, I had made a new friend, I understood why her life had been so rocky and I was ashamed of myself for my superiority complex. 

In fact….I’m in the middle of writing my next book about how the rest of us got up every morning and lived and for many mornings, she got up and survived. If I have any advice to give to anyone considering a career in writing, it would be to write what you know. And you know much more than you think.

_____________________________________________________________________

Celeste Fletcher McHale is a writer from Central Louisiana. She attended LSU & Northwestern State University where she majored in History. She is the author of the award winning debut The Secret to Hummingbird Cake. Her next novel, The Sweet Smell of Magnolias & Memories is scheduled for release on May 23. Celeste lives on her family farm and enjoys raising a variety of animals and fruits and vegetables. She is an avid sports fan and has passed that love for sports to her grandchildren. Celeste Fletcher McHale | Small Towns…Big Spirits!Twitter @fletchermchale   http://www.facebook.com/celestefletchermchale 

     

A Circuitous Path: Short Stories to Novels

By Bob Strother

When I started my journey into creative writing in 2005, my first steps involved joining a statewide writers’ association and becoming part of a critique groups. While diverse in terms of length of membership, craft knowledge and literary aspirations, most of the group’s members focused in one of two areas: short stories and novels.

I was full of stories. They rattled around in my head like arcade pinballs. I wrote furiously, trying to get them down on paper while they were still fresh. That first year, I amassed about three dozen stories, fed them through the critique process and, after careful editing and proofing, began submitting to literary journals.

My first acceptance came on September 30, 2006—quite by chance, the day I retired from my professional career. The literary journal moonShine review published “Gray Area” soon thereafter, and for the first time in my life, I truly felt like a “writer.”

I kept on submitting and, although the rejections far outnumbered the acceptances, by the end of 2006, I had a healthy portfolio of published stories. Including two more stories published by moonShine review. A critique group colleague asked why I would resubmit to a journal where I’d already been published. I understood his logic. He and several other novelists in the group wrote and submitted short stories only to build up enough publishing credits to, hopefully, attract an agent (the more different journals under your belt, the better). Still, probably because they were the first to publish me, I had a soft spot for moonShine.

Over the next few years, I continued to write short stories and continued to be published twice a year in moonShine review. In 2010, the editor of that journal suggested I compile a collection of stories. She knew the publisher of Main Street Rag, a small press publisher in Charlotte, North Carolina, and felt he would be interested in publishing the collection. As a result, Scattered, Smothered, and Covered, was published in 2011. Then in 2013, again with assistance from the moonShine editor, my first novel, Shug’s Place, was published by the same press.

In 2015, with the release of my novel, Burning Time, I was honored to become the first author published through the newly created moonSHINE review press.  The sequel, A Fire to be Kindled, was released April 1, 2017, and I hope to complete and publish the third book in the trilogy sometime in the next year.

I might have secured an agent at some point, had a book sold and published at some point in time. Or, I might still be sending out those query letters and hoping for divine intervention.

In the end, I’m glad I didn’t follow the typical path of agent to publisher. I would offer that building relationships with literary journals—people in the business who know other people in the business—might just be the right path for you.

_________________________________________________________________

Bob Strother is an award-winning author and two-time Pushcart Prize nominee with over one hundred publishing credits in a number of literary journals and magazines both at home and abroad. In addition to his short story collection and three published novels, his short story “Doughnut Walk” was adapted for a short film that premiered at the 2014 Expecting Goodness Film Festival. Bob lives with his wife, Vicki, in Greenville, South Carolina. One of the quotes Bob Strother likes best is from a Doonesbury cartoon where one of the characters is referring to a novelist: “He lies for a living.” Bob thinks that’s all right—to make up stories that aren’t true about people who aren’t real—that done correctly, they help us realize truths about ourselves. https://moonshinereview.wordpress.com/moonshine-press-releases/new-a-fire-to-be-kindled-bob-strother/  Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/bob.strother

OWA – Never Cease to Amaze

By Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor for Southern Writers Magazine

It always amazes me that something can spring up overnight. Construction sites are like this. Last week I drove past a huge construction site that seemed to do so. It had been 6 months since I was in the area so it wasn’t exactly overnight I discovered coming to Foley AL in the summer of 2017 is one of America’s most amazing Sports and Entertainment complexes. It is located on the Foley Beach Expressway just 7 miles north of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores AL, and only 2 miles east of the Tanger outlet Mall on Hwy 59. Foley has long been known as a Sports Destination in the Southeast US. In 2012 the City of Foley and the Poarch Creek Indian tribe joined forces and began their development of the multi-function amusement, entertainment and sports complex. In a county with 43% growth over the last 16 years and an additional 6.2 million tourist annually it should be a sought after destination. Here are some of the amenities:

• 44,000 SF of retail, dining and entertainment space with 110,000 opening in 2018
• a 14-acre lake surrounded by extensive landscaping
• a 150-room Marriott Town Place Suites
• a 90,000 SF indoor events center
• an extensive amusement park with 21 rides including a breathtaking roller coaster
• a state-of-the-art outdoor water park
• another major nationally-branded hotel with state-of-the-art conference center
• a resort-level RV park

The City of Foley will own and maintain the Foley Sports Complex Center with some 16 multi-purpose fields for competitive field sports. Also there will be a 90,000 square foot Event Center for indoor events like competitive basketball, volleyball, dance, cheerleading, and gymnastics. It is also to be used for trade shows, concerts, banquets and conventions. The City of Foley will no doubt be expanding its already know interest in sports to a greater level. Amazing!

This shook my memory of some of the great reads I have encountered over the years. They came to me like a great construction site springing up overnight. Suddenly before me I noticed a story, idea or insight that was new to me or was presented from a different point of view that I had not noticed. As with this OWA project I had to ask myself was it possible? Apparently, yes it is!

Just as the construction site was nothing more than an idea in 2012 so are an author’s project started with just an idea? Ground work was done, money raised and construction began. It did need the support of all parties involved which is the case for writers getting books written, published and marketed. Basically it is all a lot of work to get there but this is true with any worthy idea. As with this great construction project, which will not be finished until 2018, it too can take years.

So as you begin with your great idea, seek support, do your ground work, seek financial backing if necessary and have patience. Like all great ideas it will come together with time. And here is hoping your great idea will never cease to amaze.  

        

    

Spit-Shine Those Throwaway Words

By Sarah Andre

I volunteer to judge a lot of writing contests and one weak craft component consistently stands out: bland verbs and adjectives. A writer will choose, for example; he sat over a myriad of words that would’ve otherwise sparked the reader’s imagination. And that’s what great writing is all about, right? Hearing a reader say, “It was like I watched the scene unfold…”

So, let’s go back to he sat. Sure he did, but be more precise: did he sprawl into the chair? Flop? Kick back? Ease into? Huddle? What works for the scene and tells you a little more about the character? A  CEO will claim a chair, a surfer-dude will slouch into it and a female thief, combing through the desk drawers might perch. See how none of the three verb examples is interchangeable with the other subjects? And how that verb choice paints a clearer picture in your head?

Other throwaway opportunities, IMO: move, got, went, took, put. He got out of the SWAT van becomes: he shouldered his way out of the van. He went south versus he headed south. She moved closer becomes she slipped closer. Did he take the cellphone out or pluck/snatch/palm it? Did she put the BP cuff on the patient’s arm or Velcro it on?

In this excerpt from Locked, Loaded and Lying, my hero is striding up a hill at midnight in a snowstorm when he witnesses a car crash through a guardrail down on the highway. Naturally, the real action is going to occur when he is at the scene, trying to open the battered door and save a life. So I could have made quick work of his return descent to the road. It’s windy, slippery and my hero is going as fast as he can. All boring words right? This is a lost opportunity to build the suspense and pace. Therefore I chose powerful verbs and adjectives, and sliced off any padded, filler words. The descent becomes sleek, action-packed and hopefully unfolds like a movie to you.

The thick forest would have made this descent treacherous on any given night, but combined with the stinging snow and thin, bobbing beam of his flashlight, his journey became one of survival. Flakes blinded him and clogged his breathing. Slashes of frigid wind whipped him until he staggered. He pushed on, slipping and sliding, and twice collided with cottonwood branches, the second one clocking him so hard it sheared off his knit cap.

Uttering an oath, he continued on, his breath now ragged. He reached the highway and half-ran, half-skated across. He halted at the guardrail’s serrated hole and swept the flashlight in an arc. A Honda Civic lay upside down on the embankment. The headlights shone with morbid stillness into the swirling river three feet away.

Play fast and loose with rules. Hijacking nouns and bend them into verbs. See if it sparks your scene. Happy writing!

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Sarah Andre is a 2017 RWA RITA® finalist and writes ‘romantic suspense that keeps you up all night.’ Novels include: Locked, Loaded and Lying (2015), Tall,Dark and Damaged (2016) plus an anthology From Florida with Love (2016.) She lives in serene Southwest FL with her husband and two naughty Pomeranians. When she’s not writing, Sarah stays crushingly busy in various volunteer positions which she complains loudly about, but secretly enjoys. Her latest romantic suspense, Capturing the Queen releases in June, 2017. (She’s probably on deadline right now!) Website  Facebook  Twitter  Goodreads Amazon Author Page  BookBub Page   Kiss and Thrill blog