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Joyce Elaine

AVAILABLE NOW: The Gift of Death

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Finishing Up The Final Steps

Well, folks, I’m just about there! I got the final edits from my editor and they have all been cleared out. I sent the final information that the book cover designers needed. Once I get some things back from them…I’LL BE READY TO PUBLISH!!! I’m looking at around mid-November to get The Gift of Death published on Amazon. That will be the only platform for now but it will be available as an E-book or print.

I’m going to be 100% honest…I’M NERVOUS! It’s really hard for me to take a chance on myself and put my book out there. Even though it’s been read and loved by a few people already, even though it’s had three rounds of edits, even though I’m excited, I’m still really nervous. All I keep thinking is, what if people hate it? What if I only get bad reviews? I can handle it, but it’s not what I want. I know there will be bad reviews, people who just hate my book, and that’s okay…as long as there are some good reviews too. I know I can’t please everyone! I guess what is really rolling around in my mind is that I’ll finally have the answer once my book is published. The question? Are you good enough to gain a little following for your books? If not, I’ll hang up my pen and paper and call it a day. If I am good enough, though, I’ll be encouraged to write more and keep publishing more. After all, there are two more books in The Gift of Death series so as long as I have people who want more, I will get them out.

Marketing is going to be the hardest part of this. I know I can’t just rely on social media to try to gain readers and I have some ideas brewing in my head. Lets just say, you never know where I might end up at to try to sell my book…I think I’m going to take it old school. Back in the day, I attended many concerts. After leaving the show, there’d be what was called a “street team” outside. These are people who work for bands in the same genre as the concert you were just leaving. They stood outside and handed fliers or promotional items to you as you left the concert venue. That was how they got word out about their band…when the internet was not such a big thing as it is now. It was really the only way to promote your band. That’s all I’ll say for now!

Stay tuned for a release day and maybe a pre-sale offer!

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My Editing Venture

Hello loyal readers! I know it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog, so I figured it was time. Some of you may have read that I entered another writing contest a few months back. I did not move along to the next round. Oh well, I can’t win all the time!

Now to update you on The Gift of Death. I had to look for an editor and it was not something I was looking forward to doing. It’s hard to find an editor who knows what they are doing, that you can trust, and doesn’t cost you an arm and leg. Don’t get me wrong, I’m willing to pay top dollar for a good editor because it will just make my book that much better, but I had no idea where to start. A couple of friends pointed me to an editor they knew personally but after reading their bio, I didn’t feel like they were a good fit for me. Then a good friend of mine reached out to someone she knew who sent her a couple of links that were full of editors.

So my search began…

I sent out three emails to individual editors, knowing that I wanted to have a couple different types of editing done. I won’t bore you with the whole editing thing but there’s more to editing than just looking for spelling, puncture and grammar errors. I knew I’d need to hire at least two editors. One for those type of edits and then one who looks at the whole picture. It was a little discouraging knowing I had to search for not one, but two editors!

I found a few that I thought might be a good match so I sent them emails. They all responded and were interested in taking on the project.

But then something amazing happend!

I stumbled upon a company on the list called The Artful Editor. I checked out their website and as I read what they offered and then checked their reviews, I was smiling from ear to ear. What was so great about this company is they offered what’s called an “Everything Edit” package. It was the two types of edits that I needed done and each edit is done by a different person on their staff. So, I didn’t have to look for two different editors, they did it for me!

What was also great about The Artful Editor was that they offered a payment plan that I was able to pay in three installments. They get the first payment and then started the first round of editing. Once they were finished that (it took a little over a month), I sent them the second installment and they sent me their edits. I was excited and nervous to look over what the editor had to say. I was happy with the results! The editor pointed out things I missed…a lot of things…and gave me many great ideas and suggestions. Some of them I didn’t take but most of them I did. I had the chance to speak to him if I wanted but I didn’t have a need to.

Once I finished with the edits, I sent it back to them for the second round of editing. This one took closer to two months before it was finished. Once it was, I sent my third payment installment and then received the edits. I had more things to fix again but again, I was happy with the work that was completed.

Those edits have been completed and now I have a finished book that I’m even more excited about. A few days ago, I found a company that I hired to do my book cover. It will take them one to two weeks to have a design sent to me and I cannot wait to see what they come up with!

I’ve been thinking about marketing and actually publishing this book. But I am nervous that my book is still not good enough, that there may still be missed errors and plot holes and so, here I am, going back to the Artful Editor for another round of editing. This one is proofreading and it’s basically one last round of another pair of eyes reading over it. Don’t dare ask me how much I’ve paid for all the editing! It was a lot but I believe it’s worth it if it means having a product that you can be proud of. I don’t want to look like an amateur (even though that’s what I am) when I publish my first book because then no one would ever read my second book!

So once I get my book back from the editor for a THIRD time, I guess I will have to be ready to accept that it’s ready to be published. It will probably be another month or two but that’s okay. It will give me time to try to generate interest.

So that’s where I am at right now. It would have been nice if I could have had a Halloween release date but I don’t know how possible that will be now that I’m waiting for the last round of edits. But hey, good things come to those who wait!

In the meantime, if you haven’t already done so, please sign up for my newsletter by filling in the contact box here on my website. You’ll be the first to know about release dates, you’ll get special promotional offers and even some free stuff!

Thanks for reading!!

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A NEW NOVEL IS IN THE WORKS!

Okay, okay! I’ve been going on and on about trying to find an agent and get my book, The Gift of Death representation and published. I’ve also been working on the second book of the trilogy. But something has been eating at me for the past couple of weeks. It was about a week ago when I realized that I wanted to write something different. I didn’t want to write another thriller or a horror or anything like that. I’ve had this urge to write something that will make readers feel inspired or enlightened or maybe even bring a happy tear to their eye.

As far as the completed book and the second one that I’m currently writing, don’t worry. They are only being put aside for now while I get this out of my system. If an agent should email and say they are interested in my book, then I will come back to it. But right now, my passion is not with those books. It’s somewhere else…

I posted the other day about some of my favorite chick flicks. I thought, I need to write something like Foxfire or Thelma and Louise. I’ve been stewing in my thoughts for a week, trying to come up with a good story line. Nothing was coming though. I watched Foxfire yesterday during my time of laziness. I love that movie. It’s about a group of high school girls who beat up a teacher who is sexually assaulting his female students. They get suspended and pretty much go on this journey of self-worth and learning how to “not take any shit.” I wanted to write something similar to that.

Maybe it was because I watched the movie yesterday, but I woke up at 5:20 this morning with an idea sitting right there in my head. I’m not sure where it came from but I have a hunch that my mom might have had something to do with it. She passed away four months ago and I’ve thought about writing a book of her life. I’m not ready to do that yet, though. Her life was sad and depressing. This morning, in my wake of reality, I thought, why write about what her life WAS? I should write about what her life COULD HAVE BEEN!

The ideas were flowing! I mean, I have the opportunity to create a story that can honor my mom. It will be fiction since I’m pretty much re-writing her life but there will be some reality mixed in with it – things that really did happen. Basically, mom and I are going to run away after being fed up with so many things (this is something that her and I had talked about doing many times) and we are going to have an adventure that will lead us to a new life as well as giving a us a new view on life. I’m cooking up some funny scenes, some serious scenes, and well, accidental murder! I guess I can’t totally turn by back on the thriller part of me. But don’t worry, we will not get in trouble for accidentally killing someone!

When I got up, I went straight to my computer and started writing. There’s already 1,800 words written! I want to share the prologue here on this blog because, well, I think it’s pretty good and it will leave you scratching your head and make you wonder where in the hell I’m going with it. So here it is, enjoy!

PROLOGUE

            Here are some interesting facts about cockroaches that you probably have no desire to know. A cockroach can live an entire week without its head. True story! They have little holes throughout their bodies that allow them to keep breathing. They can survive a whole month without food. The only reason they die without their head is because they can’t drink anything. They die from thirst. They can hold their breath for forty minutes and swim under water for a full half hour. Who knew those little fuckers were so resilient? Also, they have the ability to run up to three miles in an hour. I know a lot of humans who can’t even do that! The cockroaches here in America are attracted to beer. I would be too if I had to live around dirty humans. They have to get through their day somehow, right? Maybe that’s why some cockroaches eat other cockroaches; they want to soak up the beer that their friend consumed earlier that day.

Cockroaches have arthropod bodies, or segmented bodies, that consist of the head, thorax and the abdomen. That’s the gist of their body layout. Not much to them, right? Well, did you know someone can not only choke on a cockroach but die from it as well? We sure as hell didn’t know that. We had to find out the hard way. Be glad I told you before you force someone to eat one. You can thank me later.

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Trying To Stay Positive

Good morning world. I thought I’d do an update since I haven’t done one in a while. There’s not really anything to update. I’m still getting rejections. I think I’m up to 25 now. It’s hard to stay positive when you get that email that says something like, “Thanks for giving me the opportunity to read THE GIFT OF DEATH but I feel it’s not the right fit for me.” I get that trying to find an agent is close to trying to find the person you want to marry and spend the rest of your life with…it’s that important. But after getting so many rejections, I start to question myself. Does my writing suck? Well, I did let five people read my novel and all of them loved it and couldn’t put it down…so it can’t suck that bad. Right?!?

Maybe it’s my query letter. I’ve revised that thing so many times that I’m sick of looking at it. I’ve even changed my novel drastically in hopes to make it more marketable. That seems to not have helped at all. So now I’m questioning if I should have changed it at all. This is all so frustrating!

It would be nice if the agents would give you a real reason as to why they are rejecting me. I get that they get hundreds of letters a day but for that one hopeful author, it doesn’t help us that they give us no reason. UGH! I’d much rather them tell me that my query letter or my sent sample pages suck than hearing “it’s not the right fit for me.”

I guess this is just the way all of this goes.

I’ve decided that I’m going to give it to the end of the month. If I still don’t have any bites, I’m going to work on dropping a shit ton of money to self publish. I have to pay for editing, a good book cover and marketing. I don’t know the first thing about marketing but I guess I could learn. We’ll see…

I also have an urge to write a new novel that is not a thriller. I want to write something that won’t scare the crap out of someone, but rather change someone’s life or the way they look at life or bring meaning to them. I want to write something that makes a difference. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing these thrillers because I’m able to write about stuff that I pull from the depths of my fucked up mind, but I want to be more than that…just a thought right now.

In other news, I did submit to my first writing contest. I had to write a short story (1,000 words or less) about the holidays or winter. I submitted it already but the deadline is not until December 31, 2019, so I have a while to wait. It’s not a big contest. It’s only open to members of the Maryland Writers’ Association. The first place winner gets a $75 gift card to Amazon, second place winner gets a $50 gift card and third place gets a $25 gift card. Nothing big but it’s a start for me since I’ve never entered a writing contest before. I let my fiance read what I wrote and he said if I didn’t submit it then he was going to. I’ll share it with everyone after the contest is over.

Thanks for reading and feel free to share my site to your friends. Evidently, having followers is important…see, I’m already starting to think about marketing myself!!!

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My Writing Journey So Far…

For those of you that have been following along, I started sending query letters to literary agents. Query letters are basically letters that give a description of your  novel and gives a little bit about yourself. Depending on the agent, they may also want a synopsis and a certain amount of your  novel (first five pages, etc.). The goal is for the agent to ask for the entire novel. That hasn’t happened to me yet.

I’ve sent out 19 queries so far and have gotten 8 rejections. Someone asked me if I’m getting discouraged and the answer to that is “no!” I’ve read that all authors will get multiple rejections…maybe even hundreds. It’s all about finding the right agent for you. So, I plan to keep on pushing forward until I’ve ran out of agents to query. Self publishing will be my very last resort. I’d much rather pay someone else to clean up my novel and do all the advertising. I’d rather just spend my time writing. It’s time consuming to query an agent and I don’t even want to do that!

I did realize, though, while sending out all these queries that my novel is too long! Originally I had read that a thriller for a new writer should not be more than 120,000 words. So…I cut a lot out of my novel to get it down to over 119,000 words. Then I started reading the literary agents websites and soon discovered that thrillers should not have more than 90,000 words. I tried really hard to chop off between 29,000 – 30,000 words but it just wasn’t possible.

Soooo…I ended up going back to my original ending (just made it a bit better) and took out the third part of my book. The third part will now be book number 2. I just have to add a lot more to it to make it an actual novel. So that’s what I’m working on now…plus still sending out queries. I’m trying to send out 3 queries a day. I’ve only sent out one so far with the new word count. I’m hoping it makes a difference…we’ll see.

What’s really cool about making the third part into a second book is that I also came up with another idea to have a book three. In fact, book two will end with a hint of a follow-up. So, yes, it’s going to be trilogy! What’s cool about that, you ask? Weeeeellll….you may think I’m nuts but I went to see a physic a few weeks back. She’s legit, the real deal. She told me that my book is going to get picked up by an agent, it’s going to be trilogy (which I didn’t think so when she told me) and there will be talks of turning it into a movie! How cool would that be? That’s not my goal. My goal is to get an agent and get published. If it turns into a move, then so be it. I’ll take it!

I’ve also joined the Maryland Writers Association. Being a member will give me access to free workshops and I will be able to meet other people just like me and author’s who can give me pointers. They have their annual conference in March. There will be literary agents there. Being a member, I will be allowed to do an in-person query with one agent for free. I will have to pay if I want to query more than one but I have to say that being able to pitch my book to an agent in person will be AWESOME! I just have to find confidence in myself because like most authors, I put myself down as a writer sometimes.

We will see what happens next. I’ll keep you updated!

Thanks for reading!

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