Friday, February 20, 2009

HEART 2 HEART - "The Write Coast"

Stomach in, chest out, and breathe!

In a few days time I'll be crawling into my suburu forester along with my two huskies and two cats and heading west, to southern California. This is a temporary relocation but it's for good reason. My baby girl is going to have a baby boy in a few weeks and I want to understand all the rules and regs to earn the title, Grammy Jo!

The fact that I'll be trying to write on the west coast and not from my cozy, loft office in the Rocky Mountains ... well, I'm a bit concerned about finding comfort in any "new writing spot." And then there's the other thing ... CA is a huge place and I'm a total unknown in any CA Hood. At least in the Rockies, my friends have ever been supportive of my writing habits, good and bad, and there are always a few friendly faces at signings. I hope the natives in southern CA are friendly!

I hope to hit the ground running (well, how about waddling) and join the local RWA chapter in Los Angeles, and approach many of the local libraries as well as bookstores. Hey, I used to sell Girl Scout Cookies and maybe my skills with mint cookie sales will come in handy. Naaa ... we all know mint cookies sell themselves. I've got it! I'll get myself lasered and lasicked and nail-polished and waxed and made over, and then maybe I'll get a library card or two, for starters.

I'll let you know if the Write Coast is Right for me. Tune in tomorrow ...

:-) Jo(anne) Gregg Sundell
www.joannesundell.com
author@joannesundell.com

MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER
A...MY NAME'S AMELIA
THE PARLOR HOUSE DAUGHTER
MEGGIE'S REMAINS
THE QUAKER AND THE CONFEDERATE-HEARTS DIVIDED
THE QUAKER AND THE CONFEDERATE-HEARTS PERSUADED

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

HEART 2 HEART - "Going LARGE Isn't So Bad"

I just found out that my 12/08 release, THE PARLOR HOUSE DAUGHTER, is going into LARGE PRINT with Thorndike Press Historical Fiction, come April 15th! Bigger IS better, tee hee!

The primary market for my books sold to Five Star-Gale, an imprint of Cengage Learning, is the library market (BLESS THEM). If any of our books sold in original hardcover survive the numbers crunch, they have a chance to go into LARGE PRINT. These large print hardcovers (with Thorndike) are sold primarily to the library market as well. Most libraries have large print shelves and I'm sooooo happy that THE PARLOR HOUSE DAUGHTER will perhaps go on many of these shelves.

My second Five Star-Gale sale, A...MY NAME'S AMELIA, also went into LARGE PRINT, as a softcover with Wheeler Publishing. It did quite well for which I'm truly grateful. If I may add, the heroine in the book is deaf and I did the majority of my research at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind (CSDB). I happily was able to gift the school with a large print copy of AMELIA as well as donating the wall hanging I had made of The Manual Alphabet. I'm honored the school will display the wall hanging and put copies of AMELIA in their library!!!

So ... you can see why I'm saying that "going LARGE isn't so bad!"

:-) Jo(anne) Gregg Sundell
www.joannesundell.com
author@joannesundell.com

MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER
A...MY NAME'S AMELIA
THE PARLOR HOUSE DAUGHTER
MEGGIE'S REMAINS

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

HEART 2 HEART - "Everyone Needs Their Own Writing Spot"

As I'm about to Leave the Comfort Zone of my "old writing spot," I'm more aware than ever that we all need Our Own Writing Spot!

Where, When, Why, and How we write is what makes us unique, of course. Unique is good, is it not? It's what the agents and editors want and hopefully, what we want, too. I subscribe to the school of thought professing that every step in the writing process is an important one. Every step matters. How do we feel when we sit down at our computers, both physically and mentally? Is it a good day or bad? Are we writing under pressure, under deadline, or can our imaginations wander where they will? Some might be able to write, unfettered by outside distraction, but not moi`! Some write according to a fairly-set schedule ... which is moi`!

How many of us have heard people say that they'd love to write a book but don't have the time? (Of course, they never talk about any skill that might perhaps be involved.) I believe that those who want to write but say they don't have the time, are unwilling "to take the time" to actually sit down and write. Writing takes discipline. Writing, to me, means I have to set down a time and place to write and stick to that schedule no matter what. Of course we all have "push" moments when we have to get something done, but that's not what I'm talking about here.

This is where "Our Own Writing Spot" comes in. If we have a place of our own and a time of our own to set down our thoughts ... viola` ... those thoughts actually come! Our unique story begins to unfold before our very eyes because we're snugly tucked in the warm, welcoming arms of our own writing spot, where we can trust our imaginations to soar!

Happy Writing,

Jo(anne) Gregg Sundell

www.joannesundell.com
author@joannesundell.com

MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER
A...MY NAME'S AMELIA
THE PARLOR HOUSE DAUGHTER
MEGGIE'S REMAINS