The Secret

What do you do when a big secret just happens to come to light and you aren't even thinking of your story? How do you keep that secret from exploding to a full-on reveal?

This happened to me just recently in my wip - Imogene: Innocense Lost. I discovered a secret, not about Imogene who the story is supposed to be about, but about her mother who is on the quest to save Imogene. The secret has blown up in my head and I'm very anxious to get it written but I can't. Once the secret comes out, the dynamic of the story changes drastically. It will no longer be about saving Imogene but saving Sarah Beth and the story is about finding Imogene first and foremost.

The biggest problem is that not even Sarah Beth knows the secret yet and I'm afraid once I put the secret on paper (or on the computer in the story somewhere - writing scenes as they come to me this go round since this is not like anything else I've ever written) that the story takes on a completely different meaning. I need to get Imogene's story written before entangling her mother's story and therefore, the secret will have to just keep niggling me until it's finally right to write it. The secret actually reveals a good bit about Sarah Beth that I didn't know before (my characters were still a bit two dimensional as the story really hasn't taken hold in my head and gotten to the point that I can just write from beginning to end). Maybe if I do a character chart for Sarah Beth, the secret can be put there for now and when it's time to work it in, it will be fine.

I just don't know what to do with this secret and this style of story now since I'm exploring new waters for me. If you've had a secret just pop up in your writing and have kept it a secret until just the right moment, please drop me a line and let me know how you handled it. See you all in the postings - E ;)

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Elysabeth Eldering
Author of Finally Home, a YA paranormal mystery
"The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), a humorous romance ebook
"The Tulip Kiss", a paranormal romance ebook
"Bride-and-Seek", a paranormal romance ebook
E's blog
E's website

Square credit card reader

Do you do a lot of in-person events? If you do any events where you sell your own books (not like a book signing where you sell on consignment or the bookstore actually does the selling of the books) and you aren't taking credit cards at said events, why not?

Did you know you could get a free device that reads credit cards and is connected to your checking account? It's called Square. You can sign up for a free account and receive a free card reader here. What does it cost to use? Just 2.75% of the charge when you swipe a card, which basically comes out to 3 cents on the dollar being taken out before you receive your money. You can also manually key in a credit card number but the percentage is higher - 3.75% plus 25 cents for each transaction. The pay out is the next day. The other device you will need to use the card reader is an iphone, ipod touch, ipad, smartphone or any android based type device that the Square app can be downloaded to and need to be in an wifi area.

This was a big issue for me when I was at the Savannah Children's Book Festival in November; a lot of people asked if I took credit cards or stated they didn't have any cash on them. I've had my Square since last summer but haven't had a device to use the card reader on until last month. My daughter got a new Pantech Crossover phone through AT&T and it has an Android 2.3 OS and she was able to load the Square app and we tested my Square out and I now have the capability of taking credit cards at my events. So now, until I can afford a device of my own, when I have an event, I will have to borrow her phone for the purpose of taking credit cards (not into using her phone for phone purposes). Each Square is programmed to your account only. Do I feel safe using it? Yes. Am I worried someone might keep swiping cards and trying to take my money? Not really. I get notices when the card reader has been used and if there is a dispute on a charge from a customer and I can refund the charges, I don't feel fraud or identity theft is a problem. I can't wait to put my sign up for display at my first event of 2012, Geofest, February 18.

For more information, check out the Square here. May you have lots of sales at your in-person events. - See you all in the postings - E :)

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Elysabeth Eldering
Author of Finally Home, a YA paranormal mystery
"The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), a humorous romance ebook
"The Tulip Kiss", a paranormal romance ebook
"Bride-and-Seek", a paranormal romance ebook
"Butterfly Halves", a YA fantasy ebook
http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com
http://eeldering.weebly.com

Ma America, The Travelin' Maven
Author of the JGDS, 50-state, mystery, trivia series and "Train of Clues" (a mystery destination story and predecessor to the JGDS series)
Where will the adventure take you next?
http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com
http://jgdsseries.weebly.com

Book Reviews

Last week in our Sisters in Crime local group meeting, we took care of the usual pre-guest presentation business. This being January that included electing officers, and making plans for guests and presentations for the upcoming months. Instead of having a guest author or expert in the field in February, we voted to have a members' discussion on publishing and marketing. During our introductions, one member mentioned she was a reader and also was a book reviewer. She is a retired librarian but she also put the word out there about doing book reviews, having done many of them herself, especially if we've read other members' books - word of mouth. Not only is that exposure for the book reviewer who is an author, it is exposure for the other author being reviewed.

Yesterday on my blog I talked about followers and readers, so it only makes sense that reviewers are part of the circle as well.

Therein lies the age-old question - how do you go about getting reviews and thereby readers of your books who are followers of your blog or website or your books in general? This is the hardest part of marketing. Getting those folks to read your books.

I've got a special deal running for the month of January of giving away PDF or ebook version files of all titles available in exchange for reviews. I have had one request for three of the titles (same person requested a copy of Finally Home, "The Proposal" and "The Tulip Kiss") as of the end of last week. How do I get people to read my books or stories when they won't even request a free PDF file to read in exchange for giving me a review?

I'm also going to try doing some sort of contest every time a new title comes out but I'm not really sure yet what I'll be doing. I need to build up some "swag" with covers, logos, et cetera but at this point, it's a bit tight. I don't think I can do contests and giveaways without really having a supply of things to give away. Please just keep checking my main blog for more information on what is happening with my writings.

I hope all of you will take me up and request a free copy of any of the titles I have available (all in PDF format, 100 copies of each title will be sent out) in exchange for reviews. This offer will go down the end of January. If interested, please email me at eeldering (at) gmail (dot) com and put "free books in exchange for reviews" in the subject line. In the body of the email, please state which titles you would like to review - State of Wilderness, State of Quarries, State of Reservations, State of Successes, State of Heights, State of Nature, Finally Home, "The Proposal" or "The Tulip Kiss". All of the state books will also have the accompanying study guide. You can request one or all nine or anything in between. If requests are made in the latter part of the month, I hope to have two more titles available (I'm waiting on covers for those two) - "Bride-and-Seek" and "Butterfly Halves" - so it is possible that will be eleven titles available. If you request them and they are not available at the time, I will send them to you as soon as they are available.

Book reviews, authors desire them and need them since this lets us know we are being read. Happy reading - E :)

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Ms. Eldering is the award winning author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad (JGDS), 50-state, mystery, trivia series. Her stories "Train of Clues" (shared 2nd place story), "The Proposal" (third place winning story, now available as an ebook), "Tulip Kiss" (1st place winning story, now available as an ebook), and "Butterfly Halves" (runner up, now available as an ebook) all placed first, second, or runner up in various contests to include two for Armchair Interviews and two for Echelon Press (Fast and ... themed type contests). Her story "Bride-and-Seek" (now available as an ebook) was selected for the South Carolina Writers' Workshop (SCWW) anthology, the Petigru Review. Ms. Eldering makes her home in upper state South Carolina and loves to travel, read, cross stitch and crochet. When she's not busy with teenaged children still living at home, she can be found at various homeschool or book events promoting her state series and her YA paranormal mystery, Finally Home.

For more information about the JGDS series, please visit the JGDS blog or the JGDS website.

For more information about Elysabeth's other writings, please visit her general writing and family blog or her website.

Kindlegraph

What is a kindlegraph?
by Elysabeth Eldering

According to the website, kindlegraphs are a way of making ebooks a little more personal. As an author, no matter what type of event we do, we usually sign our books and personalize them for the person buying the book. So what about those folks who don't have the opportunity to visit us in person at these events? How do they go about getting something e-autographed? Kindlegraph.

This is an easy-to-use site and is free to all authors and readers. All the instructions on how to set up your own author page are on the website. To explore the site, one does not need to sign in via their twitter account but to request a kindlegraph or to set up your own author page, you do need to sign in with your twitter account.

What does one need to list books on the site? A Twitter account, a valid email address and your books' AISNs or 10-digit ISBNs (AISNs are exclusively amazon's numbering system). Can one only list ebooks on kindlegraph? No. You only need your 10-digit ISBN to list any title you have available for sale.

Do readers need to have a kindle to receive kindlegraphs? No. As long as they have a twitter account and a valid email address, they can request and receive kindlegraphs from you. The kindlegraphs are PDFs sent to either a kindle email addy or a regular email addy as set up by the requester of the kindlegraph.

At the moment, Evan is working on making kindlegraphs available to other ereader systems but that is in the works. He has many changes and updates planned and is working on them as fast as he can. Evan used to work for amazon.com and felt something was needed to connect readers to authors when they are purchasing books other than directly from the author.

Why would an author want to promote kindlegraph? for this author, it is a way of trying to get in touch with readers and followers who purchase copies of my books from an online source and would like a personalized message and a signature of some sort. Technically they are electronic signatures and I haven't really signed anything, so I'm not concerned about others using these signatures to forge my name on any documents. I haven't had many online sales or requests for kindlegraphs but keep hoping that one of these days, I will have many requests. If you have purchased any of my state books from an online source or my YA paranormal mystery, Finally Home, or even my other ebooks available ("The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), a humorous romance ebook; "Butterfly Halves", a YA fantasy ebook; "The Tulip Kiss", a paranormal romance ebook; or "Bride-and-Seek", a paranormal romance ebook) and would like a personalized e-signed message from me, please check out my kindlegraph page and request yours today.

Check out Elysabeth's blog for an upcoming Christmas special on three of her stories. The special is good only for the week of December 17th through December 24th. For any of the books available, please don't forget to stop by my kindlegraph page and request your free e-signature.

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Ms. Eldering is the award winning author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad (JGDS), 50-state, mystery, trivia series. Her stories "Train of Clues" (shared 2nd place story), "The Proposal" (third place winning story, now available as an ebook), "Tulip Kiss" (1st place winning story, now available as an ebook), and "Butterfly Halves" (runner up, now available as an ebook) all placed first, second, or runner up in various contests to include two for Armchair Interviews and two for Echelon Press (Fast and ... themed type contests). Her story "Bride-and-Seek" (now available as an ebook) was selected for the South Carolina Writers' Workshop (SCWW) anthology, the Petigru Review. Ms. Eldering makes her home in upper state South Carolina and loves to travel, read, cross stitch and crochet. When she's not busy with teenaged children still living at home, she can be found at various homeschool or book events promoting her state series and her YA paranormal mystery, Finally Home.

For more information about the JGDS series, please visit the JGDS blog or the JGDS website.

For more information about Elysabeth's other writings, please visit her general writing and family blog or her website.

Rewriting Completed Stories?

Rewriting Completed Stories for a Totally Different Audience
by Elysabeth Eldering

Once a story is written, is changing the story from one genre to another or from one audience to a completely different one a good idea?

When I had a vision of a house one day a few years ago, I wrote two pages of a story that was supposed to be a past lives/metaphysical story for adult readers. I put the two pages aside for a couple of years. When I came back to it, the secret passages and the secret messages kept urging me to write the story. I created secret coded messages and urged my character to follow the paths and find the clues as to why the house was so important to her. I finished the story. I had worked long hours and many nights on the codes and secrets of the house. When I felt it was ready for my editors to give me their feedback (at the time I had two friends who are also writers who were big sources of encouragement as well as being great editors), I sent them the story. The first comments I got back were, "The story is too complicated; I stopped reading about a third of the way through." "I got bored with the details of the codes and all that stuff you had there." The second editor said I needed to turn the story into a children's story, in other words, completely change my thinking on the story and rewrite it. When I got those comments back, I felt like the story wasn't worthy of being told. So, again, the story went on the back burner for a year or so.

During the time the story had been brewing or maybe it was stewing, I started on my state stories. I was at the beginning of my publication route when I decided to pick Kelly back up and think about rewriting her story. I had been participating in NaNoWriMo as a cheerleader and source of encouragement for my friends for several years, not really tackling the task of writing my own novel during that time. (And for those of you not familiar with NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month, it is basically the month of November where the goal is to crank out 50,000 words of a novel or several stories in 30 days. We are almost halfway through the month at the time of this writing and there are some impressive numbers being posted on the NaNoWriMo site. This is a time when writers from all over the world keep their heineys in the chair and just write like the dickens during the month. But don't let that 50,000 word goal throw you off, you can set your own personal goal, which can be less or more, but you will not receive the winner's certificate at the end of the month if you don't write at least 50,000 words during the month. This isn't my reason for participating in NaNo; rather, my thinking is to hobnob with other writers and hope to be inspired to write a novel one of these days.) In November of 2008, after having had my first state mystery published and taking on my big promotion task (this meant traveling to different events trying to get my name out there) and sort of participating with Mr. Hughes' class during the little bit of time I could spend with the class at the beginning of November, I decided to rewrite Kelly's story.

I didn't start rewriting the story until the middle of November and completed it 30 days later, with the awesome cheerleading skills and encouragement of my two editors, topping out at about 56,000 words. Wow! I wrote a novel or 50,000 words in 30 days. That was a major accomplishment for me since all my previous stories for contests and even my state stories had not been longer than 10,000 words, and maybe not even that long (I think my longest story at the time was just over 8,000 words). I was very proud of how the story turned out. Yes, I totally started over so none of those 56,000 words were part of the original story other than the character's name staying the same and the house being full of secrets and enticing Kelly to find out what the secrets were. The theme was there; it was no longer a "past life" story but it did involve a ghost of sorts. And I totally went from a story geared for adult readers to a story geared for the young adult reader.

What, you may ask, did I come up with? A YA paranormal mystery called Finally Home. I took Kelly from being a 30something-year-old going into a house that she had been in before in a previous life to a 14-year-old who is uprooted when her father's company moves them to a podunk town and she is immediately attracted to a house across the street from where they are living. There is something in the house that beckons Kelly and with the help of Emma, the nosey busybody neighbor kid, Kelly finds out all the secrets. The house is more than an eyesore that needs to be torn down and Kelly finds out why. Did I make the right decision in rewriting my story for a totally different audience? I feel I did.

I finally finished the revisions on Finally Home (see last month's posting on this blog about revising) and submitted to my illustrator/graphic designer for her magic and received my first proof copy two days ago. I have gone through the proof copy and made some requested changes, sent them back to Heather and she has done her magic fixes. The ms is now back at the printers (I use createspace to self-publish my stories now) for review (usually within a few hours or a day or so, I get a notification that the book meets their specifications or not and then have Heather fix, if necessary, or go ahead and order a proof copy). I am now waiting for the review to be completed so that I can order the second proof copy, and barring no errors that I can detect on the read through (I will find them after I release the book I'm sure, so if you order a copy and find any errors, it's okay to let me know - lol), Finally Home will be released to the public, just in time for the gift giving season. I am taking preorders now so that as soon the book is released I can just place the order and have copies in your hands before you plan to give to someone as a gift. Orders may be made on my website. Copies are just $15 and that includes shipping.

See you all in the postings - E :)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ms. Eldering is the award-winning author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad (JGDS), 50-state, mystery, trivia series. Her stories "Train of Clues," "The Proposal", "Tulip Kiss", and "Butterfly Halves" all placed first, second, or runner up in various contests to include two for Armchair Interviews and two for Echelon Press (Fast and ... themed type contests). Her story "Bride-and-Seek" was selected for the South Carolina Writers' Workshop (SCWW) anthology, the Petigru Review. Ms. Eldering makes her home in upper state South Carolina and loves to travel, read cross-stitch and crochet. When she's not busy with teenaged children still at home, she can be found at various homeschool or book events promoting her state series and her YA paranormal mystery, Finally Home.

Elysabeth's everything blog
Elysabeth's other writings website
JGDS Series blog
JGDS Series website

Manuscript Revisions

Manuscript Revisions
by Elysabeth Eldering

How does one go about revising a first draft that is several years old, has been sitting on the back burner for a while?

When working your manuscript to a final draft or completed manuscript, one must revise, revise, revise and then revise some more. Since this author is currently revising her YA paranormal mystery, Finally Home,she thought this article was necessary. (By the time this post is up, Finally Home should be in the final stages of being published.)

Steps for revision:
1. Reread your manuscript before starting any editing or revising.
2. Utilize a critique group or a critique partner - someone you trust that is giving you sage advice. Remember that not all the comments given will be used nor will they be your way of doing things but if the comments are consistent throughout the story and they do help make the story stronger or better, then, by all means, you should use them. If you feel the comments don't have value as that may not be the way you write (your voice) or it will change the meaning of the story, then you are not obligated to use the comments. Just be consistent when reading through the comments and make sure to use the ones you don't feel strongly against.
3. Edit your story - go through looking for missing words, typos or misspelled words, checking grammar along the way (paragraphs are all in place, punctuation is correct, et cetera).
4. Jump in after receiving your edits/critiques/comments from your editor or person with whom you have established a rapport and trust to give you the sage advice needed to polish the manuscript.
5. After finalizing those comments, go back and reread the story to make sure you have a story that flows and makes sense (you want to make sure you didn't delete something or change something in the middle of the story that would affect something later or earlier in the story).
6. Send your manuscript back to friend for copyediting - checking all your words, punctuation, and flow of story.
7. Re-edit/polish.

You can repeat steps 4 through 7 as many times as you feel is necessary to make your story the best piece you can publish, but be careful. If you do those steps too many times, you will lose the content of the story and it will no longer be "your story." Revisions are a necessity when it comes to writing; everyone, fiction and nonfiction writers alike, has to revise their manuscript. Don't skip this very important step.

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Ms. Eldering is the award winning author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad (JGDS), 50-state, mystery, trivia series. Her stories "Train of Clues" (soon to be re-released), "The Proposal" (soon to be released as an ebook), "Tulip Kiss" (soon to be released as an ebook), and "Butterfly Halves" (soon to be released as an ebook) all placed first, second, or runner up in various contests to include two for Armchair Interviews and two for Echelon Press (Fast and .... themed type contests). Her story "Bride-and-Seek" (soon to be released as an ebook) was selected for the South Carolina Writers' Workshop (SCWW) anthology, the Petigru Review.

Ms. Eldering makes her home in upper state South Carolina and loves to travel, write, cross stitch and crochet. When she's not busy with teenaged children still at home, she can be found at various homeschool or book events promoting her state series (JGDS series) and soon to be released YA paranormal mystery, Finally Home.

For more information about the JGDS series, please visit the JGDS blog or the JGDS website. For more information about Elysabeth's other writings, please visit her general writing and family blog or her website.

BSP - Finally Home cover available

Thanks to Heather Paye, illustrator, book layouter and cover designer extraordinaire, I have a cover for my YA paranormal mystery (front cover at least), Finally Home. Check out my blog for the cover and leave a comment to let Heather know what you think of it.

BOOK DETAILS:

Back blurb: It isn't just history against progress - it's daughter against father, or is it? Find out what secrets Kelly learns as she works to preserve an historic house in a small town that will help her bring her father Finally Home.

Final book should be between 200 and 250 pages. It will be self-published using createspace as well as in all ebook formats (kindle, nook and smashwords). Release date is tentatively around the 25th or so of October.

Elysabeth's bio: Ms. Eldering is the award winning author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad (JGDS), 50-state, mystery, trivia series. Her stories "Train of Clues" (to be re-released in the near future), "The Proposal" (no longer available in print), "Tulip Kiss" (no longer available in print), and "Butterfly Halves" (no longer available in print) all placed first, second, or runner up in various contests to include two for Armchair Interviews and two for Echelon Press (Fast and .... themed type contests). Her story "Bride-and-Seek" (also no longer available in print) was selected for the South Carolina Writers' Workshop (SCWW) anthology, the Petigru Review. Ms. Eldering makes her home in upper state South Carolina and loves to travel, cross stitch and crochet. When she's not busy with teenaged children still at home, she can be found at various homeschool or book events promoting her state series and soon to be YA paranormal mystery. For more information about the JGDS series, please visit the JGDS blog or the JGDS website. For more information about Elysabeth's other writings, please visit her general writing and family blog or her website.

Preparing to Present

Curriculum fairs, teachers' conferences, librarians' conferences and other similar events are great ways to get yourself known by offering workshops and being an exhibitor. Who better to show what you know and get your books in the right hands than this group of folks.

I've been working on my children's workshops for about three years now. What happens when a conference geared for teachers and school librarians asks you to do a presentation? You rack your brain and try like crazy to come up with a workshop that works.

Recently I made contact with the SC Independent Schools Association (SCISA) inquiring about being an exhibitor at the upcoming teachers' conference. After explaining what my books were about and how they would be perfect in schools and/or classes, the lady on the other end of the phone stated, "We would love to have you as a presenter in addition to being an exhibitor." My reply? It was something on the lines of "Well, I usually do workshops for kids and don't really feel I have anythng to offer teachers." No, it doesn't end there. She assured me that teachers love having authors do presentations since they are always looking for creative ways to teach the students writing. So I thought about it a few minutes (or maybe it was an hour or two) and then went on one of my social networks and posted a comment something like this Elysabeth42 wonders what she has to offer teachers when she is but a writer herself?. The replies I received from the teachers in my network were amazing. That one plurk (like twitter but to me much more enjoyable and easier to follow the postings) went on my FB page as well as my twitter page. I received a direct comment from a twitter follower @SCASL about doing presentations for librarians as well. So, now I'm in the process of coming up with workshops or presentations geared for librarians and teachers.

The process will take a little time for me since I have to switch my mindset. I know what I have to offer but it's a matter of putting it into action.

I also may be doing a short presentation to a group of teachers at a curriculum fair but right now that isn't definite.

My question to all those writers who do workshops for groups of adults is what is your process? What kind of workshops have worked for you in the past? Do you do the same workshops at every opportunity you are asked to present or do you switch them out every so often? How do you go about getting the opportunities to be a presenter? I think I will come up with several different workshops geared for different groups - one or two for teachers and one or two for librarians - but on similar lines. This way, if I present to groups in the same area and there are some repeat people, they won't be bored.

Remember, it is all about making the right connections - the ones who will benefit from your books, and the ones who have the buying power to make sure your books get in the right places. - E :)

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Ma America, The Travelin' Maven (Elysabeth Eldering)
Author of the JGDS, 50-state, mystery, trivia series
Where will the adventure take you next?
http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com
http://jgdsseries.weebly.com

Author of "Finally Home", a YA paranormal mystery coming soon
http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com
http://eeldering.weebly.com

About Elysabeth:
Elysabeth Eldering is a traveler from birth. She has traveled with her family due to her father being in the military. She has lived in several states and overseas during her childhood. Ms. Eldering calls South Carolina home these days with a mindset of "Southern by choice, not by birth." She entered her first writing contest at the age of 41 and took second place for a children's mystery story, which has inspired her to take that story and write a series for children, the premise being that each state would be the mystery. Her series has a Jeopardy!® like style to it but for guessing the state in the form of a question. Each book concentrates on one state and there are supplemental study guides available, which take the series cross curriculum. For more information on the series, please visit the JGDS website. Elysabeth may be reached at eeldering@gmail.com with any questions or to place an order.