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| Friday, February 13, 2009 |
| Romance, Erotic, or Christian... |
Valentine’s Day is supposed to be for couples, but if you are a writer – why not give yourself a gift or ask your significant other to buy that in lieu of chocolates. Guaranteed these books will not add to your waist line. They just might give you some new ideas, for both writing and personal use. {grin} Below you will find some from my arsenal. I have shelves and shelves of how to books.
I was perusing my writing romance books for a writer’s group I founded and host once a month in my home. These writers are in various stages of discovering they want to write. Some haven’t decided what genre yet, some write sermons, or lesson plans and want to do more. Some are into genealogy and creative non-fiction, yet there are those who want to write mystery, suspense, plays, screen plays, Young Adult, Thriller and yes even romance. While most of these books would be appropriate for all of them. I think I would have to keep those below that deal with the erotic to myself. They are all full of good methods for writing however – so don’t shy away from a how to book just because it isn’t your genre.
I have found I learn from every manual I read.
How to Write Romance for the New Markets, by Kathryn Falk
Writing the Christian Romance by Gail Gaymer Martin
Writing Romances, A Handbook by the Romance Writers of America, Edited by Rita Gallagher, and Rita Clay Estrada
Writing a romance novel for Dummies by Leslie Wainger
The Easy Way to Write Romance, by Rob Parnell
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to: Getting Your Romance Published, by Julie Beard
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Erotic Romance, by Alison Kent
Secret Sexual Positions, Ancient Techniques for Modern Lover’s by Kenneth Ray Stubbs, Ph D
Extraordinary Sex Now, by Dr. Sandra R Scantling
The Bald-Headed Hermit and the Artichoke, an Erotic Thesaurus. By A.D. Peterkin. “Entertaining and very funny,” says Hustler Magazine.
Just so you know A. D. Peterkin is a Toronto psychiatrist and journalist. Kind of makes you wonder what beat he covers.
But if you are bored with the trite and over-used check this book out.
http://www.cricket-sawyer.comLabels: Cricket Sawyer, erotic romance, Inferno, reference books, Romantic Suspense, Valentine's Day |
posted by Unknown @ 10:44 AM  |
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| Wednesday, January 21, 2009 |
| Irish Whiskey -- Coming Soon |
Yippeee -- it will be in time for St. Patrick's Day. I just got my first edits back for Irish Whiskey - due out early March - March 5 to be exact. We have a rock star -- we have two very defective twins bent on having him for their very own -- we have a heroine with a very different idea about that...when they are away on a much needed R&R weekend - the twins show up with much evil on their minds. Be sure to check out what happens in this unfolding drama - Romantic Suspense will never be the same.
www.cricket-sawyer.com
www.cricketsawyerinfo.com
Any questions, want more info - want to know about the contest? send me an email at cricket at cricket-sawyer dot com - I'd love to hear from you.Labels: Cricket Sawyer, Irish Whiskey, March 5 release, questions welcome, Romantic Suspense |
| posted by Unknown @ 11:36 AM |
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| Thursday, January 15, 2009 |
| Do Rejections Get You Down? |
It is just one person's opinion. Here are 12 reasons never to give up. Well, maybe 13 because Inferno will be published February 19, 2009! Thank you Forbidden Publications for taking a chance on me.
CELEBRATION OF REJECTION
From the pages of, How to Get a Literary Agent by Michael Larsen
1. 112 Books Louis L’Amour though he received rejections. He received 200 rejections before he sold his first novel. During the last forty years Bantam has shipped nearly three hundred million of his one hundred twelve books, making him their biggest-selling author.
2. 600+ rejection slips wall paper Jack London’s home.
3. 774 rejection slips for John Creasy who went on to publish under 13 pseudonyms 564 books
4. 14 rejected Pearl S Buck finally published The Good Earth
5. 20 rejections didn’t stop Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s publication and you know how famous it became, written by Richard Bach
6. 40 rejections before she sold her first book didn’t stop Mary Higgins Clark
7. 200 rejections Roots by Alex Haley was published.
8. 15 publishers and 30 agents rejected John Grisham’s A Time to Kill before it was finally published.
9. 375 publishers rejected naked in Deccan over seven years before the Baltimore Sun deemed it a classic.
10. Dr Seuss – 24 in his file of rejections before his first books was published
11. 8 years after the novel Steps won the National Book Award, Jerzy Kosinski allowed it to be send out again with a name change to 13 agents and 14 publishers – all of them rejected it, including Random House, which originally published it. Proves the plight of new writers trying to get recognition or a publishing contract.
12. The New Yorker rejected a short story by Saul Bellow after he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
So there you have it. Don’t let a little pile of rejections stop you from persevering in your desire to be a published author. The three P’s of getting published: Polish, Persist, Persevere.Labels: celebrate, Cricket Sawyer, Forbidden Publications, How to Get a Literary Agent, Inferno, Michael Larsen, rejections |
| posted by Unknown @ 10:35 AM |
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| Friday, December 19, 2008 |
| Writing and Music - a Comparison |
What is Music Anyway? What is Writing Anyway?
In The Intellectual Devotional by David S Kidder & Noah D Oppenheim we are given a lot of food for thought. One thing they say is that Music has a pattern where noise only has sound. I’m afraid that could define Heavy Metal for me. Noise, loud and busy that has no rhyme or reason for being. Sorry Heavy Metal fans, it just doesn’t translate for me.
Kidder and Oppenheim say the basics of music compared to noise have to do with
Pitch —How high or low a sound is to the ear;
Scale—a stepwise arrangement of pitches;
Key—which is an arrangement or system of pitches usually based on one of the major or minor scales.
Simple isn’t it? The Ghost Music of Vaudeville as a mystery has a similar basic set up. Pitch: how intense (high) or relaxed (low) the action
Scale: an arrangement of pitches that take us from each paragraph with a beginning, middle and end, to each chapter with its beginning, middle and end; to the book as a whole with a beginning, middle and end.
Key: That is a little harder, but I think of it as all the system of pitches – the paragraph, page, chapter, and book according to one of the Major (genre) or Minor (sub-genre) scales –genre and sub-genres of the mystery from cozy, procedural, true crime, or hard boiled. The same can be said for Romantic Suspense as in Inferno - soon to be released from Forbidden.
Therefore, everything in writing the mystery/suspense can be reduced or elevated to its musical counter part. Our culture influences our pitch, scale, and keys whether that is in writing or in music. Extremes may abound even while the rules are followed. For instance music in India compared to the music here in the west such as opera, rock or Country. Or, compare the Native American Drum, to the drum of modern rock – they are nowhere in the same playing field – the Native American Drum is spiritual, the rock drum is entertainment. Both, however, are entertainment and in some circles could be called spiritual.
Music and writing are both creative processes. Whether we use pitch, scale, and key or whether we use some other method to join the parts into a complete whole – they compliment each other, and I believe they embody each other.
It is said that we each “march to our different drummer,” and I believe that is as true in creating fiction as it is in creating music.
Sing Loudly, Write Like The Wind and enjoy the rhythm you create!
CricketLabels: Cricket Sawyer, Ghost Music of Vaudeville, Inferno, key, music, pitch, scale |
| posted by Unknown @ 1:00 PM |
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| Thursday, December 04, 2008 |
| Reasoning a Gift Selection |
You have to admit these are perfect gifts - Books that is - The printed word will never go out of style for any gift giving reason.
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Two pertinent lists from Jessica James, author of Shades of Gray, posted on Amazon:
Top Five Reasons Why Guys Should Give Books as Gifts
5: She can't connect with a new sweater like she can with a book.
4: Hey guys, they're easy to wrap!
3: They come in all sizes, shapes and colors--what could be easier?
2: It's cheaper than a romantic getaway but can produce the same result.
1: Books are gifts of love and joy--and can create everlasting memories.
Top Five Reasons Why Girls Should Give Books as Gifts:
5: They're easy to store--on coffeetables, bookshelves, nightstands or countertops.
4: They never go bad no matter how long they're stored--and they can be used quickly or savored over time.
3: Books can teach, educate, entertain--and distract him from football.
2: It's a small investment that can return dividends for life.
1: Books are the perfect gift of enjoyment that don't require him to leave his chair.
[Thanks to Traci A. Lower.]
BillieLabels: books keep giving, Cricket Sawyer, gals, gifts, guys |
| posted by Unknown @ 1:15 PM |
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| Thursday, November 20, 2008 |
| Prolific Writers - Are You One? |
So you think you write a lot — How many books have you written? As a reader, how many books do you read a month?
Barbara Cartland, who my college Women’s Lit Instructor disliked intensely, wrote a stunning 723 books and made the Guinness Book of World Records for her efforts. She wrote a novel in one or two weeks. The critics say she actually didn’t write them she dictated them to her secretaries and they typed them up. I beg to differ with them. It was her creative genius that dreamt them up in the first place. If she hadn’t dictated them would each of her secretaries have written a best seller and had them published?
I take issue with the big name authors who have an understudy of sorts write from their outline and create a book for the named author. I see James Patterson and a few others are finally listing those as co-authors on the covers of their books. But now does that make them author of those books or the co-author? Who gets to count coup – will Patterson have 300 books because of their efforts or will he let them count those as their own?
Isaac Asimov wrote over 200 books, by himself – he then, in my humble opinion, especially with all the special issues Sci Fi authors face, was a prolific writer.
Georges Simenon wrote 400 books each book took him eleven straight days of writing. I’m sure he took food breaks and a nap break here and there – but that’s profound. Imagine fellow NaNoWriMo authors if you could write a novel in 30 days, why not one in eleven days?
How many words a day would that be? Approximately 4,500 words a day. Hey you could do that couldn’t you? {smile}
So write like the wind, read like a Tsunami and perhaps you will earn a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for your effort. After NaNoWriMo I’m sure many of you are thinking you deserve at least that commendation. I am proud of those of you who tried, even if you didn’t finish. And I am doubly proud of those who did – included in that my own daughter who finished her novel at just under 54,000 words ahead of the deadline. GO BECKIE!
www.cricket-sawyer.comLabels: Barbara Cartland, Cricket Sawyer, Geroges Simenon, Guinness Book Of World Records, Isaac Asimov |
| posted by Unknown @ 1:29 PM |
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| Tuesday, November 18, 2008 |
| Forward and Upward |
Forward for Inferno, coming soon from Forbidden Publications
When an author re-reads something they have written long ago it’s sometimes very disconcerting, at least I thought so. I thought I was the only one who looked at my once written, even once published books and thought, oh my good gracious how could I have let that go as a publishable piece? I don’t feel so bad any more after reading this from Aldous Huxley (Brave New World 1932 among other novels) This was in the revised/republished 1946 edition of Brave New World. “…Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment….”
He goes on more eloquently but it boils down to what we both feel after pouring over the short comings of a novel written at a younger more inexperienced time in an attempt to patch a faulty piece into a perfect masterpiece. That particular piece having missed that mark the first time around—should be repaired to a place where growth had taken me. To spend time trying to mend the artistic sins committed by that different person, the person I was then—is surely vain and futile. Its defect may be part of its charm.
I could rewrite the whole book as an older, perhaps wiser, other person. What might happen then though is I probably would get rid not only of some of the faults of the story, but also rid it of some of its merits as it originally possessed them.
So, resisting the temptation to wallow in artistic remorse, I leave well and ill alone and move on to ‘next’ with what I have learned and am able to create in my next novel, with much thanks to Aldous Huxley for making me feel less alone and imperfect.
Cricket Sawyer
www.cricket-sawyer.comLabels: Cricket Sawyer, fiction, forward, greed, Inferno, jealousy, lust |
| posted by Unknown @ 10:45 AM |
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| Sunday, November 16, 2008 |
| Exercise: The Reluctant I |
 Coming Soon from Forbidden, Inferno Heat of a bonfire and suspense of a thriller. Watch for it.
Now a tribute to the woman who guided my life.
I sat there listening to her always with the phrases for everything. A quote, a song title, a bible verse, pulled as if from a small box in her mind. This time it was essential that her directive be avoided (not that it was known then.)
"Brags a good bargain, but hold on is a lot better," she said.
"Then how do you propose a writer will sell his/her work? No one can promote what another has written as well as the author. It's his/her baby, birthed with no fewer labor pains than the birth of a human infant. It seems weird to internalize that phrase and know now that one size, or in this case, one phrase, does not fit all.
Years after her death her phrases pop up as rules of life. Life is not a box of little ticker tape answers to every questions, though a lot of those do strike home with a ring of truth. Following, hanging on her every word helped to raise a lemming, a self-conscious, fearful individual with a couple dozen successes that many have never had, and yet that success feels like an embarrassment. It shouldn't.
Not all her phrases affected life that same way. Expressing the way her grandfather began a story - a phrase she repeated often, began a story created for my only Young Adult Historical novel. Watch For the Raven was born from her phrase, "When Tag was a pup, and turkey's chewed tobaccy."
Her phrases in all fairness did guide and still do.
We stood, the five of us, at her coffin during her wake, the final time we were able to talk with her and reminisced those phrases and funny fax paus she emotionally rendered throughout our growing years. "I'll slap my face against the back of your hand," was meant to be an admonition to my brother for inappropriate actions and words that we no longer remembered. We did remember watching our dad try to repress the laughter lighting up his mahogany eyes, the twitch in his lips that threatened to curve in a smile. Five faces suppressed the laughter only until she caught her mis-spoken words.
Laughter, hearty and long, followed as the tension in the room dissolved in fits of laughter, as it was as we swayed, arm-in-arm, remembering--the good, the bad and the hilarious--
And now alone, I think of perhaps the only wrong phrase, at least for me, that she ever insisted was law. Perhaps, she was right, but never for her daughter, the multi-published, award-winning author who needs to promote herself to sell her books. What would she say knowing about the Erotic Romantic Suspense titles written by me?
Perhaps there is a way to brag without boasting, is that what she meant? Be proud but not too proud? Be verbal, interesting, social, outgoing, be discovered by your talent, not what you say on your own behalf. If only it was possible to ask her for clarification, if only she had lingered as long as her phrases have. If only she had stayed until I had my first book published--then maybe it would have been different. Maybe then she would have said,"You deserve to be proud and brag," perhaps...
(This post sprung from an exercise in the book The 3 A.M. Epiphany. The use of I was permitted but only twice and it had to be a first person narrative.)Labels: aka Billie A Williams, boasting, bragging, Cricket Sawyer, Mother, promotion |
| posted by Unknown @ 10:06 AM |
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| Monday, October 20, 2008 |
| Don't Wait For Your Ship to Come in Swim out to it! |
In my morning reading today I came across this quote by Jonathan Winters: "If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to meet it."
There was another a day or too earlier that said something, "Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle." Abraham Lincoln.
In other words, the only thing that will create success, or create that book you've been waiting to write, or create some other printed words you dream to have written, is ACTION. There is no way around it if you don't put your butt in a chair and write - you will never publish a word. You need to banish all fear of failing, of making a mistake -- mistakes are the lessons of life.
This Frank and Ernest cartoon strip says it all. Frank is at the counter at an employment office he has a long long sheet of paper he is apparently reading from to the guy who is taking his application. The caption says--"I don't have any formal education so I brought you a list of the mistakes I've learned from."
Feel the fear and do it anyway is almost a buzz word nowadays, but it's absolute truth. Do not be afraid of mistakes, no one is perfect. Perfectionism will stall you in your tracks. Not that you should adopt a careless, reckless, not-give-a-darn attitude. You should do the best that you can do with what you have at this very moment and let the rest happen.
"You can never learn less; you can only learn more. The reason I know so much is because I have made so many mistakes," says Buckminster Fuller (a mathematician and philosopher who never graduated from college but received 46 honorary doctorates.
Imagine!
Write Like The Wind
Billie/Cricket
Coming Soon Inferno
Beyond the Shadows
Irish WhiskeyLabels: action, Cricket Sawyer, printed words, quotes, Writing |
| posted by Unknown @ 12:46 PM |
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| Wednesday, October 01, 2008 |
| You Are Better Than You Think You Are! |
Well Okay, perhaps we don't even begin to live up to our potential. I was reading an article by a gal named Melissa Galt today--Her great grandfather was Frank Lloyd Wright famed architect, her god mother Edith Head -- do you know she was a teacher and it was a couple of her students sketches that started her on her career as the designer of Hollywood fame and fortune. Well Ms Galt's mother was Ann Baxter...talk about blue blood - okay so maybe she wasn't rich - certainly Mr. Wright wasn't rich when he died -- he said he would rather have the luxuries of life then the necessities {grin} and Ann Baxter wasn't rich by the time she died -- but Ms Galt had a vision, and her mind was rich with possibilities and she followed it.
Some psychologist - James Joyce I think? said that we use less then ten percent of our brain - can you imagine if we engaged that whole mass what wisdom, what creative talent, what potential we would have to be as great as our greatest relative, whoever that might be.
Stretch yourself - stretch your mind - grow into what you might become. I double dog dare you to = )
Cricket
There's still time to enter my contest check it out at http://www.cricket-sawyer.comLabels: Ann Baxter, Brain power, Cricket Sawyer, Edith Head, Frank Lloyd Wright |
| posted by Unknown @ 1:42 PM |
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| Thursday, September 18, 2008 |
| Looking for a way to Promo? |
Contest wins are incredible advertising - as well as just entering -- you get a chance to get out in front of people.
Check this out:
Time Sensitive material:
Of interest to authors who are published electronically. Please distribute to your membership
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
EPPIE Contest in Full Swing to Highlight Excellence in ePublishing
Worldwide–September 16, 2008—EPIC, the Electronically Published Internet Connection, proudly announces the annual EPPIE contest. This is the premier contest in the book industry that celebrates the outstanding achievements of electronic books by authors and publishers. The EPPIE Awards have been given annually since the first EPIC conference to recognize outstanding achievement in ePublishing. The contest deadline for entries is October 4, 2008 at Midnight CST.
Categories are judged by volunteers, the largest percentage of which are members of EPIC, an organization consisting of electronically published authors and industry professionals. Guest judges, all of whom are either published authors or publishing professionals, are used only as deemed necessary by the EPPIE Chair/Committee.
The First Round Judging delivers our EPPIE Finalists, whose works are forwarded to a second panel of judges before the winners of our thirty categories are selected. Winners from each judged category are announced at the EPIC conference's gala award ceremony, taking place at the annual EPICon Convention, taking place March 5-8, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
EPIC is also the proud sponsor of the QUASAR/ARIANA Awards for excellence in graphic cover art for eBooks.
For contest guidelines, please visit http://www.epicauthors.com/eppierules2009.html
Electronically Published Internet Connection
Contact: Karen L. Syed, EPIC Publicity Coordinator
9735 Country Meadows Lane 1D, Laurel, MD 20723
410-878-7113 (v) 410-988-2864 (f)
erevolution.epic@gmail.com
www.epicauthors.com
Good Luck,
CricketLabels: authors, Contests, Cricket Sawyer, ebooks, promo op, writers |
| posted by Unknown @ 8:27 AM |
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| Friday, June 27, 2008 |
| Excitement is to put it mildly |
Getting a contract from Forbidden is like dessert before the meal - Inferno, by Cricket Sawyer will be my first novel with Forbidden, but I certainly hope not my last. With the scorching weather in the midwest and wild fires raging in California - it seems a perfect time for Inferno to hit the air waves.
Arson, greed, jealousy, revenge are just a few of the blazes that are cooking high in the LaPlata Mountains of the four corners area of Colorado. An LP Gas blaze, a victim whose bloody footprints mark her trek through the snow-- Smokey Hamilton isn't sure just what he'll find as the first fire fighter on the scene -- the reader soon realizes it's not just a fire, and not to think, merely because the blaze is extinguished is no reason to believe the smoldering wild fire at Thunder Ridge Mobile Home Park is controlled. Irony = things aren't always what they seem at first glance and that proves to be fact not only at Thunder Ridge but in Summerville, Colorado as well.
Can't wait to be able to post an excerpt for you.
Thanks Rene for the invitation!
Cricket SawyerLabels: Colorado, Cricket Sawyer, Forbidden Publications, Inferno, LaPlata Mountians, Romantic Suspense, Wild Fire |
| posted by Unknown @ 1:24 PM |
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