April Blogs

Friday April 28, 2006
I am blogging to you this evening from El Reno, Oklahoma. I only got one photo today. Check out my navigator and co-pilot in the truck cab...



Took that one somewhere in New Mexico earlier today.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to make it to Tennessee.

Stacey



Thursday April 27, 2006
I am blogging to you from the Econo Lodge at Exit 167 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am very tired as it is nearly midnight local time.

Well, it is official. Susan and I sold our home in Gold Canyon.



It was very hard to leave it last night. I got a lot of good writing done at that house, and we're both going to miss Arizona a lot. There was something very magical about living at the corner of Louie L'Amour and E. Desert Dawn Drive...



I wrote five novels there, and Susan and I made it through the first year and a half of our marriage together.

We loved the home. And we love Arizona.

Saying goodbye is hard...



Tomorrow, I should make it to Oklahoma.

Take car, folks. And keep those emails coming.

Stacey





Monday April 24, 2006
I wrote some of the most chilling suspense of my life today, bringing the Claws 2 novel to a close. Closing word count at the end of the day was 65,168.

I've got my work cut out for me, but I should be able to have a first draft done within the next few weeks.

SC


Sunday April 23, 2006
The packing is coming down the final stretch. Nearly everything but this computer is boxed up and ready to go. I will leave Thursday to drive across the country to North Carolina.

On the writing front, I got four more chapters uploaded to Podiobooks.com. Those should go online sometime in the next couple of weeks. As soon as they do, I'll get the word out here.

Stacey



Saturday April 22, 2006
Because I've got a couple copies lying here, today's topic is Writer's Reference Guide Books. The trick to getting ahead in this business is 1) write a lot; 2) get an agent; 3) get an editor who wants to buy your manuscript and publish it.

Agents take on writers as clients and represent their work to editors at large publishers. Many large publishers have policies that pre-empt unpublished writers sending work to them without an agent. That is, you need to get an agent.

Where do you learn about agents? How do you get one?



There are a number of Writers Reference Guide Books. My favorite in the past few years has been the series pictured above, Jeff Herman's Guide to Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents.

Don't know how well this'll show up, but my copy is loaded with paperclipped pages...



The book is filled with entries for hundreds of literary agents, publishers, and editors, and most of them list what kinds of writing they've worked with before, what their interests are, addresses, and phone numbers.

I've gone through and paperclipped the pages to which I regularly send queries.

Another good reference that I found recently for literary agents was this site. The search engine works well.

Every writer has to set his/her own goals. My goal is to write 1-2 novels per year, to (at least) self-publish 1 novel per year, and to have no less than about 50 queries to agents and editors in the mail at all times.

As always, if you have questions, just ask, man. We're all in this together.

Stacey



Friday April 21, 2006
Well, today is the official Walk-Through day for the folks who are buying our house in Arizona. The theme of the past few days has been Getting Packed. The boxes are beginning to stack up...



I will be leaving next Friday April 28 to drive a Ryder Rental truck from Phoenix, Arizona to Clayton, North Carolina. The estimated driving milage is 2,282 miles (3,673 kilometers).

As wireless hotspots permit, I'll be blogging my way across the country with lots of photos as well.

Writing-wise, I added three new chapters to the Podiobook version of Amber Page, so hopefully those'll go online sometime in the next week or two. I hope to have the full audiobook version done sometime this summer.

Might even hammer out a little bit on Claws 2 today, though my desk is being over-run with boxes and assorted crap.





Wednesday April 19, 2006
Well, so my bookstore appearance was last night at the Poisoned Pen. It was a success!

The headlining author was Pete Hautman, who recently won the National Book Award for his Young Adult novel Godless. Talk about a nice guy!

Let's start with some photos...



Above, that's a picture of me standing by my truck just a minute before driving into town to go to the event. Do I look nervous?

Most everybody that came to the event, came because Pete was there, but I did sell a couple of books and did sign one as well. The format involved a Q&A with Pete, the store owner, and myself for about 45 minutes. Then, the audience asked a few questions, and then we signed a few books.

After signing, Pete and I clowned around a little bit and took this photo. I'm holding his latest book The Prop, and he's got my Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone.






Tuesday April 18, 2006
Well, today is the big day of my Poisoned Pen event. I'm really looking forward to it. The past few days have been so high and so low emotionally, I'm just worn out.

Last night, I woke with a feeling of terror at 2:30 A.M., and I knew immediately that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. I had been dreaming that my wife and I were in a car with Tabitha and Steve King on a Hawaiian island. We were tourists, and they were telling us all of these interesting and horrible things that had happened to them on the island. The vehicle we were in could drive through and under water and could fly, and Tabitha had a really sharp sense of humor. She kept saying funny things. Then, somehow I got isolated from the rest of the group in a salt flats area of the island. It was marshy, too, and I began crying out for help, but there was no one to hear me. Then, I realized I was alone and no one could help me. It was really horrible.

And I woke up in a sweat.

Like I say, as soon as I woke up, I knew it was one of those waking-ups that was going to be followed by three or more hours of tossing and turning without sleep all night, and so I got up, carried a book to the guest room where I could turn on the light, and I read until about 6:30 A.M. this morning. I fell back to sleep around then, and slept off-and-on until about 10:00 A.M.

So, right now, I feel like I've gone twenty rounds with a demon in my mind or something. I'm exhausted and anxious and have a cup a coffee.

I'm sure I'll write something today on Claws 2. Thank God for good friends.

Stacey



Monday April 17, 2006
There were actually two national news stories about animal attacks this weekend. One involved a 7-year-old boy attacked by a mountain lion in Colorado and the other about a 6-year-old girl attacked and killed by a bear in Tennessee.

For a writer who has spent twelve years trying to break into the publishing business, who has written two novels about a wildlife biologist drawn into animal attack stories (Claws 2 regards a bear; Claws regards a mountain lion), it is imcomprehensibly timely.

And even more imcomprehensible that not one single editor in New York City thinks this subject warrants publication.

The most recent rejection from an editor put it this way:
"The tension in some scenes is incredible--I was on the edge of my seat when the cat came at Maggie in the shower. Unfortunately, I'm just not sure how many readers we could bring to a book about cougars and cougar attacks. So while your writing is good, I regretfully must pass."

At least a dozen others have said similar things this past year.

What do you do if you're the writer who has written a novel series as timely as this and can find no one who wants to publish it?

I just need help. Someone please help me get the Claws series to a sympathetic editor.

Kids are dying, and editors don't think they could bring readers to the subject.

Help please. God, someone help.

Stacey


Sunday April 16, 2006
Happy Easter! Had lunch at Fuddruckers.

No writing today. More packing.

Stacey



Saturday April 15, 2006
Today is a big packing day. Our move-out date is April 26, and so this weekend and next is all we have left before the move from Arizona to North Carolina. I'm probably not going to do much writing today.

Claws 2 word count today: 63,502.

The boxes are beginning to stack up.






Friday April 14, 2006
It's about 6:00 PM here on a Friday, and I'm just hammering away on the Claws 2 manuscript (62,737 words and counting). It's been kind'a windy the past couple hours, but it wasn't until about thirty minutes ago that we started to have a little bit of dust storm.



It's not the worst one I've seen since living in Arizona, but it was enough to make me close the windows on the house. Everything's getting kind'a coated with dust.

SC

Okay, it is now 6:45 PM and the dust storm has settled down. To compare with the above photo, check out this one taken just a minute ago.



Back to Claws 2.




Thursday April 13, 2006
Claws 2 current word count starting today: 61,719.

For any writers who might be reading this blog. No matter how much you think you can't go on, go on.

No matter how much it feels like you're shoveling sand from a sitting position, keep shoveling, man.

No matter how many hundreds of rejections you receive telling you that you are not what they're looking for, keep writing.

The true test of a writer comes not when a publisher throws you a $150,000 advance and says, "Write three more." The true test of a writer comes when you're eight novels into an unpublished career, and you have no reason whatsoever to finish the novel you're working on. That's the novel where you shine. That's the novel where you show what you're really made of. How well do you write when you have no incentive other than the joy that hammering away on the keyboard provides...

Stacey


Wednesday April 12, 2006
Well, this past week I received another nine rejections, seven for Maggie Redcrest and two for Claws. For a while there, I was getting 3-5 per day, but it has slowed to about 1-2 per day this past week.

Between the years of 1994 and 1999, I actually kept a shoebox where I put all the rejection slips (sort'a like Stephen King's "Nail" - if you've read On Writing). By 1999, it was filled to the brim, and one day I just tossed the whole thing out. I haven't slowed my rate of submission and queries in the seven years since 1999. If anything, it's increased.

This calendar year I've received about 200 rejections. One or two have been personal letters from senior editors at major publishers like Harper-Collins, a couple of which I've hung on to. All of this is to say, I think I'm going to begin keeping my rejection letters again.

What I'd like to do is get a 3-ring-binder style notebook, and just go to town on submitting work. I'm serious. Sending out like 50 queries every two-four weeks, until something gives.

I've kind of been in limbo the past month because I didn't want to do another mass sending of queries until I knew what address I'd be living at once we get to North Carolina. Having the Post Office forwarding a couple hundred SASEs from Arizona to North Carolina would only create head-aches, and stuff would be sure to get lost. Here's the list of agents who have been queried in the past six weeks for Maggie Redcrest.



What I do is I write their names down when I do the initial sending. As the responses come in, I mark a + or a - sign beside their name, depending on whether their response is positive or negative.

Welcome to my life.

Stacey


Tuesday April 11, 2006
So, what do I do to relieve the tension of constant rejection?



















Boo-yah!!!

Stacey



Monday April 10, 2006
Today's current word count on Claws 2 is 57,393. The first Claws novel was right at 70,000 words. For a while, I thought the sequel was going to be longer, upwards of 90,000 or 100,000 words, but I think I can rein it in under 80,000. Maybe even less.

The thing I'm finding having written eight novels in several genres, now, is that my suspense novels tend to be the length that I like the most. The action-adventure novels are really long (one was 150,000 words and another 215,000). Naturally, the Young Adult fiction is the shortest (around 40-50,000 words).

I think I'm coming 'round to the realization that I could just keep on cranking out suspense novels the rest of my career. It is the genre that feels the easiest and most comfortable for me to write. I could easily write two per year.

I've learned a tremendous amount about how books are produced, published, marketed, and sold these past few years. Susan and I actually chatted yesterday about the idea of starting my own small press. I know how to produce a book, and I know how to get it sold.

One area that I feel deficient in though is in distribution.

PoD publishing basically sells one book at a time. When someone orders your book online or at a bookstore, it is printed within 24 hours and shipped to them or to the store. The unit price of a book is significantly higher when produced this way: 8-9 dollars production cost versus 2-3 dollars, plus the cost of shipping which is usually about 3-4 bucks.

What I do know how to do is how to produce and format a book that will hold its own on a bookshelf next to most Trade paperbacks that major NY publishers will produce. Considering I'm doing this on a shoe-string budget, it's a pretty amazing start. I know how to list a book with online retailers worldwide, how to get cover images, descriptions, "search inside" features.

I think if I was going to start my own press, I would be interested in publishing writers of mainstream suspense, crime and mystery, and action-adventure novels (in the Indiana Jones/Dirk Pitt tradition).

Stacey


Friday April 7, 2006
I got a response from Jethro, our T-shirt winner. He is happy to have won, and so I'll be getting a T-shirt in the mail to him shortly. Thanks once again to all who entered. And if you didn't win, feel free to enter for the next quarterly drawing which will be on June 30th.

By that time, I'll be living in Clayton, North Carolina.

Stacey


Wednesday April 5, 2006
Well, we have a winner in the March 31st, 2006 free Amber Page T-shirt give-away. Jethro from Utah was the lucky winner, and I'll be getting the word out to him later today. Thanks to all who entered the new quarterly drawing.

In a few minutes here, I'm going to be cleaning up the blog, archiving the past month, and getting a new photo of the month up.

Also later today, I'm going to try to write up a newsletter for everybody on the email list. I think I'm going to make this a quarterly newletter to coincide with the quarterly give-away.

As always, any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Stay in touch!

Stacey

P.S. Incidentally, Amazon.com got the "Search Inside the Book" feature updated for Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone. You can now read an excerpt and search around inside the book. Try it out!


Monday April 3, 2006
I know I'm running behind on the T-shirt contest, but Susan and I just got in this afternoon from Raleigh/Durham. We're putting in an offer on a new house near Clayton, North Carolina.

We left Raleigh for Phoenix this morning at 8 A.M. The flight was 4.5 hours, and so we both woke up around 5 o'clock in order to get to the airport on time. My brain is fried.

On top of that, Susan picked up a nail in her front right tire and so we just changed the flat.

Only received one rejection in the mail while we were gone. One on a short story from Asimov's. This year marks an even decade I have been sending them work every year without publication. I started sending them work in 1996.

In the good news category, I found out just a couple days ago that Poisoned Pen Bookstore will give me a signing and discussion on April 18. That means that I will be there as an author. A huge honor, really. It marks my second professional bookstore event.

The key is to build working relationships like this with bookstores because chances are, you'll continue to work with them year in and year out. If I could have five or six stores that I've done events with by the end of the year that would be a huge success. So far, I have two. It's a good start.

Stacey


Wednesday March 29, 2006
We are in Raleigh, North Carolina safe and sound. Susan is asleep in this here hotel room, so I have to be very quiet as I type up this blog. Shhhh...

Here's a photo of me right before we left the house in Arizona for the airport to fly to Raleigh.



Sure, I felt fine then, but our plane didn't get in to Raleigh Durham until around 1 A.M. local time. I hate flying west-to-east because it feels like you lose time. When you fly east to west, it always feels like you have a few hours extra when you first get in.

Regardless, late or no, there's always time for a photo-op, and where better to do that than at the rental car place!



Yes, I'm a low-budget Michael Palin. But wait until my writing career takes off, I get a major book deal, and I got some money to burn. It's a T-shirt give-away on staceycochran.com right now. One day, I hope to be giving away stuff like a quarterly Toyota Prius on my site.

So, today while Susan was at NC State, I drove around Raleigh looking at all the changes that have happened since I last lived here. One of my first stops was Ebenezer Church on Ebenezer Church Road.



I had completely forgotten about this church, yet the memory of it was somewhere in my subconscious. I swear it was like driving up to it in a dream or something. It was really wild.



Tomorrow, we're going to do a little shopping for houses. Weather's supposed to be kick-ass.

Stacey