Final blog for spring semester

I enjoyed this class, I think that it gave a good perspective on all the work that goes in to being a writer. I think that it has shown me that writing a short story or a screen play are two things that I am good at. However this isn't going to be my last try at a novel but I will not be concentrating on this as much. I enjoyed getting feedback from everyone but I chose to look at the ones that enjoy reading mysteries and suspense thrillers more so than others. I found their feedback more helpful because I feel like, since they've read more mysteries, they know what it takes to make a good mystery. I am not ready to send off a letter yet, though it could be a series of short stories someday. I would want to have it ready first. I probably won't E publish because of all the work involved, not trying to be lazy but it makes more sense to have someone with experience for my first time.

Publishers, which ones fit my ideal mold?

     Well, to start off, I didn't have a rough time choosing through the five main publishers given. (L.B. Publishing; Penguin Random House Publishing; St Martins Press; and Harper Collins.) These were the five and they all are great, but I had to narrow down for myself to two. Honestly I went by who had what on their website, whether it was the books they already published and were marketing or trying to get to know those who come to their site looking to be published. 
      I chose L.B. Publishing and Random House Publishing because they both had my style of stories in their published section, also they seemed to want to encourage writers to come checkout their site to receive information about them as well what they needed from them to be able to help them get published. I also think that they are a little more spread out in genres, not saying the others aren't, but I honestly can't remember when I've picked up a book from Penguin or Harper Collins. Now they may have something that I just don't remember reading, and it had most likely been since high school since I've read something from St. Martins Press.    
     My main reason for not choosing the other three were because they either weren't marketing my genre and therefore didn't seem to be all that interested in what I would want to give them. Also I didn't feel like with Penguin that their site was as user friendly as some of the others, St. Martins press was user friendly but didn't really stand out to me. Although Harper Collins was interested in the writer and helping the writer get published most of what was being marketed was either a romance novel or something more female oriented in my opinion.

Literay Agents

I have had a time finding agencies, but I feel that these three are a good start and would give my story a good chance at being published.

The Steinberg Agency have three main publishers, Edward Graham, Lisa Kopel and Peter Steinberg. (The founder of the agency.) Lisa’s likes reading more of the nonfiction but Edward and Peter welcome fiction with open arms. (Edward has a few requirements for the writers. He would like to see clear and thought filled writing.) Peter does more of the YA fiction, he enjoys almost every genre category. They’ve had nominations the Pulitzer prize and several other awards since they began in 2007.

My next choice in agencies would be Heart line agencies, they are a Christian agency based out of Amarillo, Texas. Since they are a Christian agency they’re main focus is on that sort of writing...duh. They don’t however turn down other literary pieces with general interests in mind.

Terry Burns is an agent that works with my genre he says in his biography if it “is unique and different” along with what he sees to be marketable. (which I feel my story would fit these criteria). 

Now, last but not the least I would like to send a letter to The Knight Agency, They are another Christian agency who like suspense, thrillers, as well as mystery. They also deal with other genres but these are the ones I was looking for in an agency. One of their books from these genres is THE ANATOMIST’S APPRENTICE by Tessa Harris. It’s based back in the 1800s and it is a murder mystery, kinda like mine. 

I feel that Terry Burns would best serve my story because it is right up his alley, how ever looking at an agency as a whole I think The Knights Agency has more opportunities in my opinion and has been around the longest of the three. Then again The Steinberg Agency has been nominated for more awards so I would definitely have a hard time choosing one publisher.  

Fiction Revision...It kinda rhymes

         OK so to start off, I think my main focus was trying to add a few more pages to my story. The hardest part was trying to remember what I had originally wrote out for the plot. I think I got most of it, but I honestly remembered more things happening near the end of the first chapter.

In saying this I looked through most everyones reviews looking for any grammatical errors, and anything having to do with structure.

As far as taking criticism for everyone I tried to compare everyones thoughts with Ms. Fried’ comments. Which for the most part everything lined up, some of the comments had more details attached to them, and vice versa.

I had some help with my creativity when I added to the chapter, so I can't take all the credit. My girlfriend put in some time looking over it, as well as my mother. This being said my computer decided it wanted to suck, and crashed right before I saved their proofreading it. So I gotta go back and re-re-edit it but oh well such it life and I guess I can't be to upset it honestly could've crashed completely and I wouldn't have anything to show.

I like the twist at the end, but honestly, I would have liked to have added it in later on in the story. I really want to go back before the prolog and start from there but in the time crunch that I put myself in, I couldn't figure out how to change it to much from where it was already. So hopefully I can add that in when I resubmit it in April.

BookTubers

Book Hauls: I watched part 2 of Grazingpages book haul. Her books included Anna Dressed in Blood, A Million Suns, Virals, The Paradise Room, Abandon, Between The Lines, The Book Thief, The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, A Desirable Residence, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Blood Red Road, Rebel Heart. 

Book Tags Grazing pages said she would like to do a movie blog on The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Shout Outs: GrazingPages made a shout out to Cora for sending her the book Warm Bodies.

Friday Reads Grazing pages was reading Abandoned on this particular Friday.

My Bookshelf / Bookshelf Tours: GrazingPages, mentioned other peoples book selves, about them having books but implying that they haven’t read them yet. 

Favorite Book Covers: I liked “Unwind” Book cover.

All-time Favorite Characters: “Grazingpages” Dog...ha ha

Wrap-ups / Weekly Wrap Up I watched “Grazingpages,” she was wrapping up the month of January, where she read “Unwind, Warm Bodies, The Perks of Being a Wall Flower, poison study, then she read I think magic study, and to wrap up she read Outside In.

To be Reads: Also she started reading four books which were, If I Stay, Rage within, Zombie underground, and then the book thief.

Book Reviews: I think she gave some good reviews, however she was a little back and forth on a few books, but she did really well over all.

Book Clubs didn’t mention any

The Saddest Books I didn’t see any.

Please also answer the following questions in your blog about BookTubers:

Who do you like the best and why? I liked GrazingPages, Mainly because she gives a good description of the books she read.

What makes a good Booktuber in your opinion? I think it takes someone who is fun and energetic, but they keep their wits about them when they give an opinion.

How important is the technical quality/film editing/production quality? Not really important, in my opinion it makes it more personal.

How important are pretty bookshelves in the background? I think that it doesn’t effect it at all, I think that as long as they give a good review, you don’t really need a background.

Would you ever consider doing this? I think that it really isn’t my style of explaining a book to someone.

How blunt should you be in a book review? I think that you should be blunt, because if you give a false review or a somewhat fake review some people might believe you and then buy something that isn’t as good as you say.

What do all Booktubers tend to say? “Like” ha ha

What I think About Good Reads

What do I think about “Good Reads” I like the fact that I can go through the site or the application and find different books that I have or want to read, mainly because  it helps me remember good times sitting down relaxing and being sucked in by a good book. Even though I hardly find a book I am interested in I do enjoy the ones that do catch my entrest.         

 I Like the group called “The Wild West” I like reading western adventure stories especially ones that keep you wondering what could happen next. So I think that this group would be great for me to find a story that fits this description.

Counting myself there were 273 people, as of 7o’clock Feb/6/2013

I do like “Good Reads” better than “Shelfari,” Probably because I am already used to “Good Reads” but also because they seem to have a better selection for the genres I like reading.

I have and will continue telling people about “Good Reads,” because it is helpful when you need to look up a certain genre of story but you’re not sure on the title, you can find what you are looking for most of the time without spending a ton of time searching.

What Am I?

I come in many different sizes, short or tall, big or small. I can brighten up the situation without really trying hard, although I can also take it away without any reason. I can be decorative or you might just hide me because I am too old to keep around, but who knows when you might want me again. I can have many different shades without changing colors. I can go anywhere with you to guide your way, or you can leave me behind where I can keep someone from falling on there face or running into something and stubbing their toe. I have an open top but I usually stay dry when it rains. You can press my buttons until I go off on you or you can take good care of me and I’ll never fail you. My tail can be long or short depending on what I am being used for, you can even give me a little helping hand with an extension, but be careful not to touch my teeth because I might bite, given the right conditions. My extended family likes to hang from walls, from the ceiling and in the shower, what am I?

Workshop #1

Thursday was our first workshop where we did a critiquing of the short story, Harpers Night Out. I enjoyed being able to listen and see what other people thought of the story, and see how their opinions differed from my own opinion. Which some did but in most cases they were in places that I felt could be taking either way? 

I liked the thought of being able to read other writers work, as well as being able to just critique the work based mainly on what it is about and not the technicals like grammatical errors and spelling.  

I felt like almost everyone came prepared to give their thoughts on the story. I think for the most part these workshops should be fairly easy if all we have to do is write out a short critique twice a week, I mean it will take time and focus but once I get into it I think it will be fun! Which is what makes writing enjoyable in the long run, and well I guess anything? If you can’t have fun doing it then it really isn’t what you want to do. 

The good thing about being able to go through and see how other people write their stories, helps me to figure out how to form a story in a way that more people will be able to enjoy it, without having to feel like they are having to weed through a mess just to get to the meat of my story.

school blog #1

In this story we have two main characters Georgie the orderly, and the narrator who has only been working in the ER for three months.

  I enjoyed this story for the most part, and it took me rereading it for a second time to understand it a little more. Although I still have a hard time understanding the ending, I mean the part where the guy who knew the narrator from before comes into play, Hardee is his name. I mean it just seemed that he shows up with no warning at all but he seems to play a bigger part than what part of the story lets you in on. Also the narrator has such a poor choice in friends, you have Georgie who is a pill popper moreover the narrators supplier, even though it doesn't look like he could remember giving or selling them to him he's so doped up, and then there is Hardee. Hardee was drafted into the army but went AWOL, and was fleeing the country to Canada to escape, and to make matters worse Georgie was encouraging him and trying to figure out how to get him there. Thats all that was given in respects to Hardee. Georgie on the other hand is a different story, this part confused me as well, when the guy with the hunting knife is his eye comes in, no one panics no one rushes him into the O.R, or give him something to ease his pain I mean it almost seems as if no one wants to touch him, just incase he dies. but back to Georgie, when they get everyone lined up for the surgery they send Georgie in to "prep" this guy Terrance Webber so that the skilled surgeon could take the knife out. I'm not sure if I read this right or not but "But when Georgie came in from prepping the patient-from shaving the patient's eyebrow and disinfecting the area around the wound, and so on-he seemed to be holding the hunting knife in his left hand." just thought of having someone who has no skill in the field of surgery, no knowledge of what could possibly be damaged inside Terrance's brain, along with the fact that he is dealing with a large amount of prescription pills that he has no idea what they are. Any who to  me I'd want to know that if I was in Terrance's spot, that I would have a better skilled doctor taking care of me and not the orderly who happens to be tripping out on pills.