A Gift From Jeff Gerke: FictionAcademy.com

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Kourtney

While, I’m on vacation, I wanted to share a generous gift from Jeff Gerke. He appreciated my review of his fantastic book, The First 50 Pages. And generously extended an offer for 30 days of free access to his Fiction Academy to me and my readers!

FictionAcademy.com is an online training site that contains all his teachings on how to write great fiction. It’s part of the Bestseller Society, which can be considered conference in a box. I’m going to sign up in August when I get back from vacation.

When you’re subscribing to www.BestsellerSociety.com, enter the code “theanomaly” to get your free month.

Please note that you will be asked to enter your credit card number when you sign up, even if you’re using the code to get a free month. Once the 30 free days expire, you will automatically be charged $37/month. So make sure you set a reminder for yourself so you will remember to cancel your subscription before the 30 days run out. If you want to continue with a paid monthly subscription, do nothing and you will automatically be billed for your continuing access.

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I’m On Vacation!

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Kourtney

It sorta started last Wednesday night. I took the train into NY. Arrived at Grand Central and cabbed it over to my friend’s Chelsea digs. I was cat sitting for a couple days before I flew to LA. Well, to be honest his cat is a cat with a dog’s soul (greets you at the door, cuddles in bed with you). So I did some shopping and caught up with a friend who happened to be in the city at the same time.

Then I got up horribly early Saturday AM and went to JFK for a flight to LA. Saturday I hung out with my dear friend J who I’ve known 12 years now. Sunday, we drove up to Napa. And today we are wine touring and tasting in Napa.

We’ll spend the next 2 days driving back down the coast to LA. Thursday, I meet the awesome August McLaughlin whose been a blog buddy for months. We’re going for lunch!

Ill explore my hotel for the SCBWI LA Conference. Then my terrific writing buddy and dear friend, Kat Bender arrives.

And we conference for 4 days. Then I fly back to NY next Tuesday and train back to CT Wednesday August 8th.

During this time, I probably won’t be commenting much on people’s blogs. Please forgive my absence. It’s my only official vacation this year. 🙂 And I’m conferencing for 1/3 of it!

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The Fault in Our Stars–Book Review

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Kourtney

The night I finished John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, I sat on my bed crying. For Hazel and Augustus. For the friend I lost to cancer years ago. For the people I was afraid to love. For those I never realized I’d lose.

John Green doesn’t just evoke emotion. Over the past few days, he took me on an odyssey of emotions. He’s made me look inside myself. Questions things. And THINK. Think differently, think obsessively, think openly.

I can’t quite explain all the reasons I was crying, but it’s definitely because of his beautiful prose, his disarmingly lovable characters, and his vivid storytelling.

But this book didn’t just make me cry. It made me laugh out loud and smile like I haven’t since college. The characters are brilliantly witty and their dark humor in the face of oblivion is oddly uplifting.

Some of my favorite lines:

“Depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying. (Cancer is also a side effect of dying. Almost anything is, really.)”

“And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that’s what everyone else does.”

“Ma’am, your daughter’s car has just been deservedly egged by a blind man. Please close the door and go back inside or we’ll be forced to call the police.”

If I could only read one book for the rest of my days, this is the book I’d choose to read.

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The First 50 Pages–Book Review

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Kourtney

The First 50 Pages by Jeff Gerke is an insightful look at what agents and editors are truly looking for in the first 50 pages of a novel. The information is provided by an author/editor in an easy-to-understand manner.

I had the opportunity to hear Mr. Gerke speak at the Writer’s Digest Conference in January and I immediately jumped in line to get a copy of his book signed. He was a terrific speaker who provided lots of examples and explanations. His workshop was one of the best at the conference.

The first part of the book is dedicated to explaining the submission process. Some important points he raised are that your opening lines must hook the reader. He clarifies that starting with action isn’t about blowing stuff up or having someone’s life at risk. IT SIMPLY MEANS IT MUST BE INTERESTING TO THE READER.

He also talks of the three bombs: POV, show vs. tell, and character creation. A problem with any of these can blow up a book and not in an Oprah knocking on your door sort of way.

The rest of the book focuses on what your first 50 pages must do. And it’s a lot. A lot a lot. In this section he touches on how to engage your reader, introduce your main character, establish the main character’s normal, establish the story world’s normal, start the inner journey, and follow the Three Act structure.

As I read this book, I analyzed my two finished manuscripts and tried to think of where I’d missed the mark. Where I needed to work further on them. What was not working in their first 50 pages.

This is one of my favorite craft books because Jeff Gerke’s conversational presentation style is captured perfectly in these pages. I felt like he was talking right to me and sharing his personal experiences. He used lots of movies as examples which made concepts much easier to grasp and apply later to my own work.

This is a must read for any writer submitting their work to agents and editors.

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Finishing The First Draft of my 3rd WIP

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Kourtney

This is what it feels like to write “The End” on my third novel. I see the entire thing clearly and am delighted by the ending. I’m ready to put it aside for a month or two.

Long enough that I can see the faults in my star. Then I’ll revise for a few months and pass it to betas. But right now, I just want to bask in the completeness of the story.

And this week, I’m taking a break.

Ten pounds of stress drained out of my neck on Monday afternoon when I realized that’s my ending. And the first draft is dunzo!

This is the book that refused to adhere to my outline. Each chapter was hijacked by the characters.

It was a terribly fret-filled and heart-jerking writing experience.

And it required an act of pure faith. To put aside what I thought should happen and let the characters tell me what happened.

I never had any idea how the book would end until I typed it. This was a source of massive writer anxiety. It was like driving on an unfamiliar road in complete fog. I could only see a few feet in front of me and never had any idea what was around the bend. Half the time I thought the book would careen off a cliff. The other half, I was sure we’d end up wrapped around a tree.

And it’s one of those things you don’t tell many people. Because saying it makes it too real. So I shared it with my crit partner but otherwise tried to keep it inside.

The last 15K were the hardest of my life to draft. I didn’t know where I was going. Because I wasn’t leading. I was being tugged along by the characters and made to tell the story as it happened to them.

And when I took that first breath after typing “The End” I knew this was how the book had to end. This was the only way the story could be told. And I felt that rush of joy in knowing I captured their story as they wanted it.

 

 

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Happy July 4th from Emerson and Me!

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Kourtney

As America celebrates it’s independence, I’d like to wish everyone a Happy July 4th from Emerson and me!

He’s turning 8 this month so I thought I put up a couple pics of him and I through the years. A little celebration of our co-dependence. 😉

The pic above is our first meeting in October 2004.

You’d never guess someone so cute would destroy my kitchen on a daily basis. I’d come home to pee all over his nice little bed. But he was the cutest monster so I kept him.

Then he got older and developed a love of toy cigars.

King of the Castle

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Book Review: Deadline by Chris Crutcher

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Kourtney

What if you only had one year to live…and you knew it?

That logline alone caught my attention. But I had the amazing opportunity to hear Chris Crutcher read an excerpt from this book, Deadline, at the Winter SCBWI Conference last January. He hooked me with the opening scene.

The protagonist is unforgettable. I think Ben Wolf will live in my memory for the rest of my life. I feel like I just spent his last year with him. And I sobbed when he died. It was so hard to finish the book through the blur of tears. Because despite the fact that I knew he was going to die of a terminal illness, I fell in love with the character and I wanted him to live.

This is the best YA book I’ve read this year. It deals with some tough stuff–dying young, child abuse, racism, truth, and Jesus (Hey-Soos as Ben calls him).

Ben tries to cram a lifetime of living into his senior year of high school. He does everything he was afraid of doing. Talks to the hottest girl in school. Goes out for football despite his small size and weight of 123 lbs. Baits his teacher into debates about the lies in history. And in his dreams, Hey-Soos comes to help him deal with what is happening to him.

This book made me think. About our expectations of god, our prejudices, our concept of what matters. I took the entire journey with Ben. And even as I write this post, my eyes tear up because he taught me so much and I’m sad to say goodbye to him.

There were many amazing lines in this book, but this was my favorite: “Something you learn on the last day of your life is as important as something you learn on the first day of grade school, because you’re not dying, you’re changing.”

This is a YA novel that belongs up there with The Catcher in The Rye. Destined to be a classic that should be read for generations to come.

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Being Thankful For Dreams: Reblog of Beth Revis’s Post

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Kourtney

Once again, the fabulous Kat Bender,  has provided me with another blog post topic.  We were talking about some of the frustrations of the writing life and she sent me a link to one of the best blog posts ever on this topic. 1000 thank yous Kat! And 10,000 thank yous to Ms. Revis for writing the post.

I bookmarked the post because I know I’ll need to come back to it again and again. If you’ve ever wished you didn’t have this writing dream (even for just a moment)–read this post:

Beth Revis: Thankful For Dreams

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Bloodrose: Book Review

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Kourtney

Bloodrose is Andrea Cremer’s final book in the Nightshade Trilogy. This book is super fast-paced, soaked in action, and I loved  almost every second of it.

Andrea Cremer is a terrific writer. She’s mastered setting the scene without getting bogged down in setting. She knows just where to add a pretty literary phrase. Her world building and plotting–I’m in awe.

This book was a superfast read and I never wanted to put it down.

One of my pet peeves is when readers disagree with author’s ending and want to rewrite them. To me, it’s the author’s world, and I just get to walk through it.

But the ending to this book didn’t leave me completely satisfied.  I think the problem for me was that I wanted the character to struggle with the hard choice and actually be forced to make the decision. I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone else, so  I won’t say anymore.

I’m sure in a few days, I’ll understand why this ending was chosen.   Because at the end of the day, I do trust the author and I do believe she made the best decision she could for her characters.

I’m glad I invested the time to read this trilogy and I’ll definitely read Ms. Cremer’s other books.

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Finding The Right Web Designer

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Kourtney

My website, kourtneyheintz.com,  was recently redesigned by the amazing Jian Chan.  I was lucky enough to have my cousin James  refer me to Jian.  James spoke so highly of Jian,  I was 95% certain he was the web designer for my site before I  met him.

Jian and I  exchanged a couple e-mails,  where we talked about my budget and my timeline.  We decided to meet to discuss the redesign of my website. I honestly think the meeting was the most important part because the website of an unpublished author isn’t about their books, it’s about their personality translating into their website.

Before we met, I looked at a couple dozen writer websites and took notes on what I liked and what I didn’t like. I also thought about what was and wasn’t working with my current website.

We talked for a couple of hours during which Jian  asked some really insightful questions and made me think about my website in a new way. He focused me on what I needed the website do and how to accomplish it.

I left that meeting 100% certain that Jian was the only web designer for my site.

I also  had some homework to do. I had to write and rewrite everything that was going up on my website.

Several times, I deferred to his expertise in making decisions about the site. I appreciated  how invested he was in the project and how he explained his choices to me.

Jian  kept in touch with me  while he worked on the redesign. He passed several options by me and implemented my suggestions. Sometimes even anticipated how I would like things before I even articulated it.

He created a test site so I could see what my site would look like before it went live. The day it went live,  he was available all day  to tweak things.

He stayed within budget, met every deadline, and kept in touch throughout the process.  He also put up with tons of questions from me  about the most basic  web designing things. And he always answered them politely and kindly. I can’t imagine a better experience with a web designer.

You can check out Jian’s work on my website. He also has examples of projects he’s done for other clients on his website: Celestial Sonata.

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