Writers in the internet age have a tremendous depository of resources available at the click of a mouse. Sometimes it can be a whole lot of information, and if you’re anything like me, you tend to get buzzed with reading too many sites.

Nonetheless, I find I’ve learned a lot by visiting writing-related websites, and thought maybe I could share a few of the sites I’ve found useful.

The list is completely subjective and random, and reflects my own interest in the genres I like. Some are related to book reviews, some provide writing advice, others help with writing markets, some are by renowned editors and agents. This is by no means a complete list of all the sites I visit, they’re just off the top of my head.

Here’s the list, and feel free to point us towards other sites writers could find useful in the comments to this post. Happy browsing!

Guardian Books

Nathan Bransford

Stroppy Author

Alan Rinzler

Help! I Need a Publisher!

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For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people’s dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie’s seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can’t tell anybody about what she does — they’d never believe her, or worse, they’d think she’s a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn’t want and can’t control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else’s twisted psyche. She is a participant….

In an over saturated market of paranormal ‘series’ books, WAKE is a treat. Great story line and true-to-life characters make this an enthralling read. Teenage drinking, drug use, and language play a role in this novel which makes it one of the more edgier YA’s in my opinion.  Though sex is not an issue, a captivating romance reels you in.

Likes:

Length: A fairly short read. After just finishing BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (576 pages), the 210 pages were somewhat of a relief. Especially considering there are two other books in the series.

Characters: Teenagers in real situations. Likable.

It actually ends! Several ‘series’ books out there leave you hanging for a whole year for the next installment. WAKE wraps up nicely while still letting you know there’s more to come.

Plot: I love books that have me guessing or even fuming sometimes. This one does both. Excitement=staying up ’til one AM to finish!

Dislikes:

Language! The F-word to be exact. I would have recommended this to more people had this expletive been left out the several times it was used.

WAKE was published in 2008, with the second book FADE, and third book GONE, published in 2009 and 2010. I picked up FADE from the library this morning and I can’t wait to dive in!

Stay tuned for reviews on the rest of the series.

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Halloween is nearing, only a week away. We are sharing the reviews for the Zombie Cookbook and wishing you a Happy Hallows Eve.

To order your copy, go to Amazon or Damnation Books.

Light on the horror and heavy on the fun, this book has a lot of imaginative stories and cover the gamut of interests.

–Karina Fabian, www.virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com

The Zombie Cookbook helps, what really keeps the idea of zombies “fresh” in the mind of readers around the globe is its collection of stories, poems, sketches and recipes which orbit around a subject everyone can sink their teeth into: Food!

–Trent Kinsey, http://www.trentkinsey.com/reviews/091017-zombiecookbookKR.htm

As you can imagine, all of these stories are written tongue-in-rotted-cheek.  So if you want a fun collection of writing that mixes humor, horror, and a dash of cilantro, pick up The Zombie Cookbook.
– Sean McLachlan, http://midlistwriter.blogspot.com/2009/10/book-review-zombie-cookbook.html cot 5

“Are you a fan of rotting flesh, drooping eyeballs, dismembered bodies, romance? Romance? Yes, The Zombie Cookbook has something for everyone whether your reading tastes lean toward the gruesome or the romantic. Kim Richards has put together an eclectic collection of zombie tales and recipes… Interspersed with these delectable tales are eye-popping, finger-licking good illustrations provided by the talented George Silliman”

Penny Ehrenkranz, http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com/2009/10/zombie-cookbook-review.html

The Zombie Cookbook is kick-ass, ‘pee-your-pants’ funny, and definitely worth checking out! For those with a dark, twisted, sick sense of humor, GET THIS!! 5 Stars!

–Shaun Collins, Purple Raven Reviews: http://thepurpleraven.blogspot.com/2009/08/book-review-zombie-cookbook-by-various.html#comment-form

If you’re a fan of zombie fiction, I would definitely recommend picking this up. Don’t try the recipes at home, though, unless you’ve got a shambling dead to feed.

–Muse’s Block, Sinai Enantia, http://www.worldofenantia.com/musesblock/?p=146

…well-written.  …When the collection hits its high points, in stories like The Right Recipe and My Big Fat Zombie Wedding, you end up discovering some short stories that have a lot of depth and world-building done to them in addition to the puns and slapstick humour that pepper the book. …definitely worth checking out at http://www.zombiecookbook.net.  Both e-book and print versions are available.

Ryan Harron, http://harron.dreamwidth.org/4310.html?view=14806#cmt14806

The Zombie cookbook puts a totally new twist on the lives or rather lack thereof, of such creatures.

–Ron Berry, http://unwriter1.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/the-zombie-cookbook-tour/

full of surprises–a wonderful break from the traditional Halloween-type horror stories

– Books and Authors, http://joyce-anthony.blogspot.com/2009/10/zombie-cookbook-some-answers-and-review.html

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Our guest today, Karina Fabian, contributor to Zombie Cookbook has given us a little insight to herself and her work. The fun cookbook, which came out September 1st through publisher Kim Richards of Damnation Books as part of the massive launch of DB. They put out 25 books that day!  They’re touring it during Halloween because there’s nothing more appropriate to the season than food and zombies. To purchase your copy, go to  Amazon or Damnation Books.

Karina’s two stories in the book are:

“Wokking Dead” It’s war and love when zombies attack a Korean restaurant.

“My Big Fat Zombie Wedding” So he’s undead–doesn’t mean he’s not the perfect man for a romance that will last ’till death and beyond.

Interview:

Girls with Pens:  How different is this process than writing the typical spooky fiction?

KF:  My stories “Wokking Dead” and “My Big, Fat, Zombie Wedding” are humor despite involving zombies. I don’t write spooky fiction, so I really couldn’t tell you, except that my stomach hurts from laughter and not tension.

GWP:  What’s your favorite recipe from the book?

KF:  Becca Butcher made one for “Beer Battered Brains and Butternut Squash,” but I have to admit it’s an acquired taste. Not everyone likes squash. For humor, Scot Virtes’ “Brain Salad” was very gross and fun and definitely something that should have been in Zombieland, the movie.
GWP:  Give a brief summery of Zombie Cookbook.

KF:  Cooking With Zombies Has Never Been Easier or More Fun! The Zombie Cookbook contains eleven poems, recipes and stories to entertain you and help you entertain with zombies from writers who know. Romance and revenge, the Wild West and a wild train ride, exterminator tips and zombie tirades. Come, see how the other half lives…or doesn’t.

GWP:  What’s the first thing you wrote? What’s it about?

KF:  Oh, heavens! I can’t think back that far. The first thing I’ve written as an adult that sold was a sci-fi about an artificial intelligence that wanted to prove it was real. It went back to Descartes. The story is that Descartes isolated himself from all outside input to try to prove he existed and why he know that. He came up with: “I think, therefore, I am.” The computer did the same thing; but having been schooled in the scientific method, realized he needed a control group. So he isolated a human at the same time. The computer came away a year later having had much deep thoughts; the human slowly went insane.

GWP: What’s your favorite book, and why?

KF:  Too many to count. I love Madeleine L’Engle. Wrinkle in Time will always be my first love as far as books are concerned. I’m also very fond of Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar books, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams and Jim Butcher.

GWP:  Tell us a little about you.

KF:  I am very much alive, the mother of four and wife to Robert, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and my best friend and first point of reference for everything from ideas to advice. I’ve been writing publishable stories for over a decade and have six books out: two anthologies that I published, one novel, and three anthologies that I’ve got stories in. You can see them all at www.fabianspace.com. I have been president of the Catholic Writers Guild since it’s founding—and adore the people and the work we’ve done—and I co-organize catholic writers conferences online and live. I also have workshops on writing and marketing books. (If interested, click on Marketing Mentor in the menu at www.fabianspace.com)

I love writing funny stories and stories that involve the exploration of faith and religion. More and more, I gravitate toward the funny, though, especially in my DragonEye, PI, series. It stars a down-and-out dragon detective living on the wrong side of the Interdimensional Gap and solving mysteries with his nun partner. I love writing Vern, and my kids love Vern stories. Learn more at www.dragoneyepi.net.

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Since Eden’s post on Friday was so helpful, I thought it’d be appropriate to do a critique using her advice.

Email your first five sentences of any WiP to ifyougiveagirl@gmail.com by Saturday June 27th and I’ll post them Sunday June 28th.

This is not a contest, so it’s open to all Girls With Pens as well!

Remember to look at the rules Eden specified and we’ll all be as helpful as we can!

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On Rejection:  Or what I have learned about publishing so far….

For those of you who are following my blog who are not aspiring novelists, forge ahead with amusement. For those of you who are published authors who may peek in here, forge ahead with amusement and pity. And for those of you who may be literary agents that nose around, forge ahead with sublime interest and a deep desire to read whatever it is I have to write. That is the point right? Pique your interest and hope I catch you on a good day. In some cases it is the hope of getting your assistant on a good day. I wish I knew what the assistants wanted to read… can someone blog about that please? Anyway….

I finished my first novel in December. I am almost through with my second. That was fast, right? Yeah, well it was written fast because getting attention for the first one may just kill me. The only way I know how to deal with the waiting/rejection process I have come to know and love (like a hair shirt), is to keep on writing. I wrote what I thought were the last words of my novel Haunting Anne on my birthday, December 23. I was awash with enthusiasm and confidence that with my dream fulfilled I would be a huge success. Or at least successful, or maybe brush up against success, or see it from across a room even? Hmmmm. I had so much to learn.

What I didn’t know still amazes me. I didn’t know you had to find a literary agent. I didn’t know you couldn’t just send your manuscript in a brown paper package and wait for a publisher to reject or publish your work. The business doesn’t run that way anymore. The big houses require an agent submit your work, the indie houses are great, but they are very picky about what they represent, so if your genre is all over the place, as is mine, you are screwed. And the really priceless part is that many of the great literary agents don’t accept what they call “unsolicited queries” either. Huh? Shut UP.

So I did what any good American would do. I asked everyone I know if they had an “in.” And one did! Yeah! I was saved. But I did the unthinkable. I happily sent agent number 1 the wrong draft of my manuscript. Damn my disorganization, damn email, damn hitting send.

Agent number 1 was really nice to me. She told me my writing was “strong” which I know now is agent speak for “please don’t kill yourself. I can’t have your blood on my hands…” because that term “your writing is strong” pops up in almost every form rejection that comes my way.

I didn’t even know what a query letter was. I found out. And then I did unthinkable thing number two. I queried widely, to the most open and friendly of agents. To the agents who would really like my book. But I didn’t research how to write a query letter first. Yes, I know. You don’t have to say it. I am still shaking my head. I filled those queries with boastful, typo’d comments and sent them out with names spelled wrong and with a vain, puffy bio. No joke. Some were nice enough to send out the automated rejections. Some weren’t and I don’t blame them.

I then wrote the good one. Really good! In fact I got a lot of response to my “good query letter.” And the requests for partials flooded my inbox. That’s the process, for those who don’t know it. You send the query and if the agent likes it they ask for a partial, if the agent likes that, they ask for the full, if the agent likes that you get an agent! Which still doesn’t mean you get your book published, because after all that work, the agent has to do the same thing you just did with the actual publishing houses. Crazy right? Yep.

So I send those partials out and I proceed to do unthinkable thing number three. I know… high drama. Agents don’t seem to like prologues. My manuscript started with one of those. Agents don’t seem to like back story, my manuscript is full of it. (But I like a good back story, doesn’t anyone want any description anymore? Sheesh.) And let’s not even touch the typo issue. One of the reasons I am writing this very blog is for editing practice. Needless to say as soon as I sent them out, the rejections on the partials began to pour right back in. Yuck. Oh sad and sorry day.

So I rewrote the beginning, paid someone to edit the beast, and started again. Eureka! I have some interest. No contract, but some interest. Meanwhile, I started feverishly writing novel number 2 to keep my mind steady. Only to find out this is exactly what all decent agents and publishers tell you to do. Really, when will I learn to read advice first instead of after I figure it out the hard way? The basic idea is finish the first novel, really finish it, so that it can be read and understood. Query widely, and write number 2 while you wait. If you have no luck with novel number 1 by the time you are ready to query novel number 2, it is time to put that first baby down. No joke no crying, no whining, just do it. I am not there yet. Not even almost. Well maybe almost…this stuff is hard.

So here is my take on the whole adventure. I am a really lucky person. I have found what I love to do. This is rare. I can finish a book. That is rare. I learned the process the hard way… I don’t think that is rare… maybe? I would like to think I am not the stupidest first time novelist on the face of the planet, but I guess I could be. Absolutely anything is possible.

I thought I would sum up this entry with the actual query letter I send out, followed by my two favorite rejections so far, and then end with the pitch I wish could send. The dream pitch. Okay, here goes:

Actual query letter for Haunting Anne

“Dear Agent’s name spelled right,

Anne is not your average girl. Imagine a deeply flawed, borderline sociopathic, Anne of Green Gables. For one thing, she sees ghosts, two of them to be exact, who live with her, and raise her like a good family should. For another, she is not fond of actual humans and this distaste for her own kind leads her to do some very, very bad things. <em>Haunting Anne</em> follows the life and adventures of a new kind of “young, creative, protagonist,” at the same time as it chronicles the tragic family history that precedes her, chases her, and ultimately defines her. Think Alice Hoffman and Stephen King sit down and rewrite “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.”

In my novel Haunting Anne a dark, unstable girl, finds herself on a unique (and sometimes dreadfully funny) journey from her industrial, east coast, urban playground to the Deep South where she confronts a father who abandoned her in order to get rid of ghosts who she cannot afford to lose. The 82,000 words of my strange, sad, character driven novel, weave history, crime, mystery, and psychological intrigue into a fast paced story that is, in the end, a simple tale of a girl who needs to find her way home.

(This is where I insert what I have researched about each agent and why I believe they should read my novel… and I really do the research. I learned that you NEED TO DO THE RESEARCH.)

About me:

I am a Sociologist by profession and degree. I teach Social Behavior and Social Interaction as well as many courses in Deviance at the university level. My background made it possible for me to create multi-leveled characters that are believably capable of many horrible and wonderful things. I live in New Haven Ct. with my husband and my three daughters. I am 38 years old and this will be my first published novel.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration,

Sincerely,

Suzanne (contact info here)

Okay: Now come my Favorite Rejections:

“This is brilliantly written. A really sharp, vivid portrait. Unfortunately, this isn’t something we could represent ourselves. I wish you good luck elsewhere.” This one made me very, very happy until I searched some writer’s forums and found out this person is usually very nice.

And then there was this one. I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants. It made me want to query him again with the next one. It made me want to sit with him and drink a beer. I am not kidding:

“‘I am 38 years old and this will be my first published novel.’ I can hear Annette Benning’s American Beauty character saying that.” My friend Sarah thought it was mean, but I think he was right. I can see Benning in that scene in the car, you remember…”I will sell this house.”

Now I want to put down in writing the pitch that I want to send. It has nothing whatsoever to do with a book. The Dream Pitch:

“Dear glorious agent whose picture is so lovely on your website,

I write. I write fast. I can write whatever you are looking for. I can write 10,000 words a day if I have a good idea and I am not interrupted. I am also not bad looking, which I know is important because I am a sociologist and we do studies on that kind of stuff. This means I could sell books. My jacket flap would be nice.

I play well with others. I will tear apart anything I think is brilliant if you say it will be better. I have a huge ego when it comes to the color of my eyes, but not when it comes to my writing. I believe authors need to work at what they do. I am willing to do the work.

Take me on, believe in me, if nothing else I could amuse you for the term of our contract.

Thanks,

Suzanne”

Pandering? Yes? Prostitution? No… not yet anyway. Kissing ass? Of course. But that is the truth. Honesty can be so base and ugly. But I wish we could all be a little more honest.

Suzanne M. Palmieri

Suzanne is a Sociologist by profession and degree. She teachs Social Behavior and Social Interaction as well as many courses in Deviance at the university level.

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