MacGregor's Curse 

Whispers by the Sea 

Julie 

Interview with Jim McAllister

I recently got to talk to Jim McAllister from the Independent Newspaper in Arizona. He was so pleasant and a delight to talk to. The article talked about the hardships of becomming a published author. He's spoken to many authors at book fairs and signings and he's heard all the stories. Most have made names for themselves, I hope to be one of those people one day.

Jim included me in his weekly Blog

He does a magnificent job with his article, The Rennaisance Man and I will continue to read his views.

Thanks Jim! I really appreciate it!

Where does the time go?

I can't believe I haven't written here since January! A lot of exciting things have happened for me since then. RuneStone Publishing is currently looking at Jacob's Pillow. St. Martin's Press has also requested my 4th manuscript. Yes, I am jumping up and down at that one! I'm still trying to get that thriller done, and now I have a deadline. I don't know why, but that makes it much harder for me to write. I'm constantly editing as I go now, which isn't such a great idea. I need to just finish the thing and THEN go back and re-write.

Some stressful things have also happened. My sister had major surgery and is still recovering and my aunt passed away. These events have pulled me away from writing, but as most authors know, life has a way of changing your plans.

I'm trying to stay focused and on track. This is what I want to do and I WILL make this happen!

As I say this, it is 8:00 in the morning and I have yet to sleep. Not because of writing, but because I had to take my inlaws to the airport at 4 this morning and we were up all night preparing for their trip back home. Time for bed.

I'm at the end of my thriller and I have to finish it by September 30th. I can do this...I can do this...I can...you get the idea.

Off to dreamland.

Romance Writers of America

I attended my first meeting for the local chapter of the Romance Writers of America. The Chapter is called SWFRWA. I had so much fun! The women there were really nice and made me feel very welcome. We had lunch first and then one of the members gave a presentation. She talked about marketing yourself without sounding like you are bragging. I was really nervous at first to walk into a room of established writers. I felt like I didn't belong there. Within moments, I felt completely at ease. One writer there, named Tina, really helped me out a lot. She's had eleven books published through St. Martin's Press and gave me great hope. Some of the women there are just now being published and some have never been published at all, but they all have the same goal. It seems to be more of a support team than anything else, which I could really use.

I'm working n a thriller manuscript that seems to be flowing well. It's the first time in awhile that I've been really excited about a story, so I'm taking that as a good sign. Now if I can get life to cooperate, I will have another complete manuscript. Hopefully the bigger publishers will be more interested in a thriller than a historical romance. I can only hope.

I received my book cover for Whispers by the Sea. It came out beautiful. The book is already available on PublishAmerica's website.

Take care everyone!

Holiday Blues

I'm sure I'm not the only one that struggled through the holidays, worrying about fitting in writing time. I didn't get much done. I thought about it, wanted to do it, but too many things got in the way. Now that the holidays are over, I'm suffering from a sort of...writer's block. I guess it's after-stress. I started a new novel, and then another and yet another. Now I'm stuck on three. I've got about 2 chapters in each novel and I sit and read them over and over and over again. I'm hoping if I stare at them long enough, something will click. So, aside from anxiety, post holiday depression and a busy work schedule (since my writing isn't supporting us quite yet...hehehehe), I'm struggling. I will get through this, I just need to buckle down and concentrate. After I watch Troy of course. LOL. Hey, it IS Brad we're talking about...

Julie Palella
MacGregor's Curse
ISBN: 1-4137-2458-2
www.juliepalella.com

I Finished my 3rd Manuscript!

Finally! I'm done. Now comes the fun part of editing and preparing for submission. Plus I have to build up my self esteem for all those nice rejection letters. Every one seems to want the same thing, so I don't think it will take me too long to prepare the Query and the first three chapters, it's the damn synopsis that is the hardest! How in the world do I take 135,000 words and break it down into 2 pages. But that's not the only hard part...no...I have to make those two pages GRAB the attention of the editor! It's the hardest thing for me to do. In fact, I'd rather write a whole book than a synopsis. I'm happy with the way the manuscript came out, lets just hope SOMEONE thinks it's worthy...please God. I already tried my hand at Baycrest Books (which is where I really thought this book would work), but they had different ideas...sigh. Now that I've re-written the Prologue, Chapters 1, 2 and 3, I might just try them again. I've bought every book on "The Perfect Query Letter" and nothing seems to work. I don't want this manuscript to take YEARS like my first two just to have someone actually read it. What in the WORLD is the trick??? Oh well, I'll give it ONE more try.

Between MacGregor's Curse, writing, and working full time, I think I'm starting to hallucinate from sleep deprivation. At this point, I'd make a great study subject for a sleep clinic.

I keep chanting the song from "Finding Nemo" in my head..."Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." only mine is..."Just keep writing, just keep writing..."

I can do this! (I think)
Goodnight all!

Julie Palella
MacGregor's Curse
ISBN: 1413724582
www.juliepalella.com

Finding the time to write

Now that you are marketing, how do you find time to keep writing? This has been a major problem for me. Writing my first manuscript was easy. I'd wait for my family to go to bed, sit down at the computer when all was quiet and let my fingers do what they do best...type. The story just seemed to flow, the characters came to life, and the next thing I knew, it was 4:00 in the morning and I had written ten pages.

After that book got published, things began to change. Now I find myself constantly marketing. The stories I'm working on are sitting in cyperspace waiting to come alive. The minute I start to write, a new E-mail pops up...someone from a writing group has a question...or worse yet, Yahoo Instant Messenger pops up: U there? (Dang, I forgot to turn that off again). Now, they KNOW I'm here. Ah well, I'll chat for a bit, keep marketing and write in a little bit. Next thing I know, it's 4:00 in the morning again, and I haven't written a damn thing.

It's a catch 22. If I don't market my first book, what's the sense in writing my second? So I decided to make a schedule. At 10:00 at night I sit down, answer my Email, chat for awhile...and shut down at midnight. This gives me only 2 hours to market, network, answer Emails etc. Then I take the rest of the time to write. Sometimes I'm just too tired and do none of that. Other nights the sun peeks through my office window and I know it's going to be a LONG day at work. With four hours of sleep as it is, I don't need to be hallucinating from lack of sleep.

Then comes the age old question: Am I just wasting my time? The answer to that is probably yes. I'm obsessive and I always will be. So at 3:00 in the morning, when my eyes are drooping and my book is going nowhere, I throw myself into the next story. Hey, my characters have something to say whether people want to read about them or not...there's no harm in that right? (Don't ask my husband that question).

Julie Palella 

MacGregor's Curse