CAC Indie Writers Get Together

CAC Indie Writers Marketing Association

The CAC Indie Writers Marketing Association was formed in order to collaborate on marketing efforts. We have discovered that writing books is lots of fun, and lots of hard work, but when we finish the book the real hard works starts. Marketing. The four original members of this group, John Paddison, Jeffrey Ross, Rhonda Jackson, and Janie Sullivan all represent different genres. Rather than compete with each other, we decided it was better to work together in our marketing efforts.

Over the next months we will be participating in various book related venues, bringing our books and all the things we have learned about Indie Book Marketing to our viewers, followers, and fans. Follow us on our journey, and if you have information, ideas and inspirations to share with us, you are welcome.

We are looking for more Indie writers in Pinal County to join us. The four of us are…

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The White Witch

The new book is getting interesting!

Alexis' Aggravation

Here’s a few lines from the new book: Alexis’ Apprehension: Murder Under the Cholla

“This woman, the White Witch, was a very mean woman.” O’Neill’s voice, softly accented with a bit of local patois, reflected a bit of amusement, as if he knew the tourists were gullible enough to believe the legend. “She killed her lovers after she used them all up.”

Hmmm, just what do you suppose Alexis is up to in Jamaica?? Stay tuned . . . . .

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Alexis’ Apprehension: Murder Under the Cholla

Book Two is underway! Alexis has more work to do — starting in Jamaica!

Alexis' Aggravation

The second book in the Alexis trilogy has Alexis off on vacation in Jamaica! Little does she know things back home in Orangedale are heating up. Will she have to cut her vacation short? Or does something happen to her in Jamaica? She’s already in trouble – and it’s just the first day of her trip!

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Alexis’ Aggravation:

Alexis' Aggravation

Below is an excerpt from Chapter 3 in the book:

Murder in the Southwest

The affluent neighborhood, basking in moonlight and quiet late night slumber, suddenly rumbled with the sound of a motorcycle cruising up the street. A garage door went up. The rider entered the open garage and dismounted after turning off the engine and taking off his helmet. He stuffed his gloves into the helmet as he opened the door into his laundry room, his back to the open garage door. His cell phone rang. Setting his helmet down on the dryer, he hit the garage door switch as he answered the phone. He pulled the laundry room door closed as the garage door slowly lowered. As he walked through to the kitchen, the knob on the door from the garage slowly turned.

“Dr. Shapiro. Yes. Yes. Do you need me now?” he said as he worked his…

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Writer’s Retreat

This weekend I will be spending some time in the cool pines above the Arizona desert floor. I am attending the Arizona Press Women’s Association annual Writer’s Retreat in Payson, Arizona. I hope to recharge, relax, and revisit some old projects. 

It is a small event, with optional guided writing activities as well as lots of free time to write. I’m looking forward to a whole weekend dedicated to writing without interruptions of every day life. 

I will come back here daily and post about the activities and accomplishments. 

All followers and Subscribers Lost

Good morning! When I moved the Center for Writing Excellence Website over to WordPress.org yesterday, evidently all the followers and subscribers were lost in cyberspace. If you would still like to follow or subscribe to the site, you can go to the new page: http://www.janiewrites.com. (The address did not change.) and click either on the Follow Me link at the top of the page or on the Subscribe link in the right hand column.

I also lost all the links I had in the old site to your favorite writer’s blogs and websites, so if you have a site or know of one, please let me know and I will get it added back in. Thank you for following me and I hope to see you over at our new digs!

Janie

Moving Day

We have an exciting year planned at the Center for Writing Excellence!

First, We are calling the neighbors and packing up the web pages- tomorrow is moving day at the Center for Writing Excellence. There should be no interruption in service, but if you do notice that you cannot log on, just wait a few minutes and try again. The pages are all going from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. The difference between the two sites has to do with functionality and integration. I already have the shopping cart for the contests and critiques hosted on the .org site, but now I am going to move the entire site over there. The backgrounds and design will change, but all the pages will remain intact with appropriate links still working.

And, not only is the site getting a new home, but the Institute for Instructional Excellence (our ‘parent’ company) has a new classroom for face-to-face workshops. The new room is equipped with a projector, an AC unit for the summer months, and enough chairs for 10 students. Small, but very nice. Both my business partner, Sheri, and I will be running classes in our new room. If you are in the Phoenix area and are interested in things like urban farming, aquaponics, and sustainable gardening, be sure to visit Sheri’s website: SupUrban Farm and see the list of classes she will be offering. I will be offering writing workshops for fiction and non-fiction writers. In the near future I will be teaming up with Barbara McNichol of Tucson (author of Word Trippers) to offer non-fiction, business writing classes both in the Phoenix and Tucson area.

Other exciting things for this year:

• The contests are growing, with prizes amounts increased to $100, $50, and $25 (Genre Contest) and $75, $25, and $15 (Fiction in Five contest).
• The Friends of C4WE Books page is getting bigger! I’ve added two new books just this week and plan on having a huge catalog of books written by you soon.
• One of my writing friends and I have started our first novel in what we hope to be a series of novels. More to come on that as we get more done.
• New live workshops in the works:
  • Character and Dialogue Development
  • Novel Writing with a Partner
  • Blogging your Writing
  • Email Etiquette for Everyone.
    • What topics are you interested in, either for a live workshop or a webcast you can access anytime?

That’s all for now, I have a lot of work to do to get ready for the big move tomorrow! Now, where did I put those boxes???

Seasoned as well as new writers can benefit from writing workshops and courses. The Creative Writing Institute is offering some great courses, and of course we have our new Workshops Series starting right here at the Center for Writing Excellence.

Writing Tips from Creative Writing Institute

Writing Courses Motivate, Stimulate, and Imitate Life
by Deborah Owen

ANTHOLOGY CONTEST NOW IN SESSION- No fee – Cash prizes
See Creative Writing Institute for details.

We creative writers are an odd bunch. Sometimes we can write. Sometimes we can’t. Sometimes we need inspiration. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we really feel like a writer. Other times we feel like we’re playing at writing.

For all you wannabe writers, if you can sit down and write about a picnic, a family function you attend, or a dream you have – you can be a writer! You just have to learn to channel your abilities in the right direction. The writing trade isn’t that hard to learn. No one is born with a pen in their hand. Writing is a learned trade.

• Do you want to be something more than you are? Look inside and what do you see? A new…

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Anticipation

Carly Simon sang this song on Martha’s Vinyard in 1987. It was the first thing that came to my mind this morning when my son told me that the doctor had advised his daughter  (whose due date is today) that she wanted to wait another week to see if the baby will come on her own. My son is anticipating the birth of his first grandchild and is so excited. Little Elina (my second great-granddaughter) will come when she is ready, but the waiting is getting harder and harder for her family.

I started thinking about things we writers wait for – and anticipate. Here are the things I am anticipating right now:

• Results from the Writer’s Weekly Flash Fiction contest. I entered in January and have about two more weeks to wait to see if I won.
• The NYC Short Story Challenge. I entered with a writer friend a couple of weeks ago and we are waiting for it to start on the 22nd. It will be our first attempt at co-writing a series of short stories. We practiced with three stories, which I have published on my Creative Writing Blog. They are the first three listed across the top of the page after the HOME page.
• The Fiction in Five contest started on Monday this week. I am anticipating all the entries by the very talented writers who signed up. While I do not judge the stories, I do read them all – and send them to the judges who do not see the author names.
• The Science Fiction contest ends on March 1 and I can’t wait to see who enters and read their stories.

Other things we writers wait for are replies to query letters, responses from agents, publishers, and editors. It is a lot of work to write something, put yourself out there and then sit back and wait (anticipating) for responses. But, as writers, we know we can’t just sit around waiting – we need to keep working and writing. If we keep putting the work out the time will pass and before we know it, those early efforts will start to come back, some as rejects, some as acceptances or winners. The key is to keep the pipeline full and the mail will eventually be two-way — not just one. Happy Writing!

Super WHAT Sunday?

I was raised in a family that did not watch sports. Neither my brothers nor I really played sports growing up, and we just did not develop an interest in any of the big ones. Our parents felt the same way. While I am aware that today is actually Super Bowl Sunday, you won’t find any beer, pretzels, hot wings or any other snacks (or sports fans) over here. The kids are watching Sponge Bob Square Pants (I don’ t understand that, either) and I am in my home office blogging. I worked all morning, getting the newsletter ready to publish tomorrow and prepping a Webinar I am teaching tomorrow.

Last year I called my daughter in Texas on this day, only to be told that she was watching the game and could I please call back? Huh? How is it that I managed to raise kids who devour sports? My son and oldest daughter both spend hours watching, talking about, and fighting over their favorite teams. My son-in-law even thinks it is fun to fly to cities hosting football games JUST TO GO TO THE GAME! That certainly never happened in my house while they were growing up! Now they play Fantasy Football (whatever that is) and think sports memorabilia makes great gifts – as long as it is from the right team. (I quit trying to buy it – I never remember the team’s names.)

My youngest daughter does not show much interest, however, and she is spending her SB Sunday pruning freeze-burned bushes in the front yard.

At least I can be grateful that they share the same politics as mine, and I can tune out when the talk turns to sports, or remember not to call on days like today. There are some writers in my family, but not many and certainly not ones who try to  make a living from it. So, I am wondering, how much does genetics play in all this? Where is the writing gene? How does it get passed down through the generations? Is it hiding out with the sports enthusiast gene, showing up randomly? Or is it something else that points us one way or another in our life pursuits, dreams, and hobbies?

Why do you write? Did your parents, grandparents or other relatives write? Are you aspiring to follow in the footsteps of someone you know or do you write because, like me, you cannot NOT write?