The auction has concluded. Wowza. I’m completely humbled. And trust me, I’m going to spend hours on this critique! The winner deserves that and more.
I don’t think Dave and company are going to believe me when I tell them how much money we raised on their behalf.
THANK YOU! I’ve said it before but y’all are awesome. If you still want to make a donation, feel free to. I haven’t closed that portal yet.
First off, let me just say how AWESOME every single one of my blog readers is. You guys have just blown me away.
Right now my 50 page Manuscript critique with 30 minute follow up Skype session is at $2500. That’s crazy! And just FYI that the auction closes today (August 7) at 5 pm Mountain Time. As soon as it ends and there is a winner, I’ll be sending out an email to set up the date and time.
And for folks not bidding but just wanting to make a donation, we’ve raised $3240.00!
That’s $5740.00 total!!!
Dave, Jen, Jason, Rebecca & Timothy are just going to be stunned.
Big Hugs. People in publishing are the best.
A police officer pounds on your door and when you open it, yells you’ve got 10 minutes to get out before the fire hits. What do you take?
Well, if you are Kristin’s good friend Dave Olsen, you take nothing. Sadly Dave was out of town when the alert came to evacuate because of the Colorado Springs Black Forest fire was raging out of control and just about to hit his street. Luckily, one tenant, Jen Stemen was home. Rebecca and Timothy (who had literally just moved into their bottom half apartment two weeks prior) were not there. Nor was Jason Sullivan who lived in the apartment above the workshop barn.
Jen has ten minutes. She grabs everyone’s laptop and throws it in her car. Then she runs to grab her dog Cosmo, Dave’s dog Shadow, Jason’s dog Switters (all big dogs). Then she dashes to load them into her tiny car only to realize that there isn’t going to be enough room.
She has to make a split decision: dogs or car? She doesn’t hesitate (even though she had no renter’s insurance). She abandons her car. Throws the laptops, the dogs, and her just-in-case suitcase into Dave’s old truck and hightails it out of there. The house, the entire property, is completely destroyed.
TV coverage captured the 100 foot flames that was their street. If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll see my posting on the day I learned that Dave had lost everything but was cheerfully moving on and even quipping about how he could now move to Boulder, Colorado to be closer to his daughter. Nothing to pack!
Every year I donate a 30-page manuscript critique with a follow up Skype session for the Brenda Novak Charity auction because my nephew has juvenile diabetes and this is a cause close to my heart. Well, this is very personal for me as well. My friend Dave is lucky. He is insured. It will cover a lot but probably not everything.
But this auction is for Jen and Jason–who had no renter’s insurance. And especially for Jen, who sacrificed to save the pets. (And please let me take a minute to say that if you are renting your place and don’t have insurance, please buy some. Today. You just never ever know. Usually it’s under $100 for a year. Well worth the cost for the absolute worst case scenario. And I hope you never have to use it!)
So if you’ve ever wanted a critique from me and you want the money to go to great cause, now is your chance. I’m really hoping to raise at least $1500.00. Deets below.
BLACK FOREST WILDFIRE AUCTION –
50-page Manuscript critique followed by a 30 minute Skype Session
Runs: August 2, 2013 thru August 7, 2013
Click on this link and bid.
And if money is tight and you really can’t participate in an auction but might like to donate a buck, you can do that too. Just click on this link. Even if you think $1.00 is not a lot, that’s $1.00 more than what they have right now and if 200 people donate a buck, that adds up.
And THANK YOU. Except for the small percentage that GoFundMe takes to process donations, ALL the money will go to Jen & Jason.
Pic 1: Me, Jen, and Dave on the day we were clearing the property
Pic 2:: the house before
Pic 3: the house after
I’m sure you’ve been dying to see a picture of Agent Kristin manning a wood chipper. Finally, your chance. My husband Brian and I spent a weekend with Dave helping him clear his property after the Black Forest Wildfire destroyed his home and everything there.
Pic 1: Dave chainsaws a tree
Pic 2: One tree down
Pic 3: That’s me picking up branches that have been cut so as to take to the wood chipper
Pic 4: I’m watching Dave cut so I can grab those branches
Pic 5: A very dirty Kristin & Brian
Pic 6: Dave & Me & a wood chipper
Pic 7: Me feeding the chipper. Fargo anyone?
Pic 8: The clean up crew. Jen, who saved the dogs, is sandwiched between me and my husband Brian. She, who had just lost everything, still came to help clean the property. Amazing gal!
Pic 9: My favorite picture! Dave had a stack of firewood for his fireplace. It was the ONLY thing that didn’t burn. LOL How ludicrous is that?
Just recently I did a workshop where I had the participants partner with another person in the class and exchange the first 30 pages of their manuscripts. The assignment I gave them was to read the 30 pages all the way through once. After that was completed, to go back and start rereading. On the second read, I asked them to go page by page and outline the plot points in a neat list list by chapter. I stressed that they were not summarizing the chapter. Simply listing the action found in it. Then I had them email me the outlines before I started reading.
Those were the instructions and everyone in the class tackled the exercise just fine so I’m confident all of you can do the same.
I’d take a quick glance at the by-chapter outline and as an agent, I’d know what was wrong with the manuscript before I even hit the first page and started reading. I would then read the document to confirm what I already knew. One hundred percent of the time I was right. I’d say 90% of what we see on submission has these issues so it’s definitely worth taking forty minutes to do this exercise with a writing partner that you trust.
Because the two main culprits that will nix you getting a full manuscript request are these:
1) The work is missing a plot catalyst to really start the story (so there is a lot going on action-wise but no actual story unfolding).
2) There is nothing at stake for the main character.
Happy revising!
STATUS: A lovely lovely spring day. I’ll work for a bit and then simply enjoy the day.
What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? WHY by Annie Lennox
As a writer, are you a panster or an outliner?
I ask because your answer determines when you’d assemble the road map of your novel.
If you are a panster, don’t attempt the road map until you have finished a full draft and at least one revision.
Why? Because if you do it too early, the process of outlining can suck the creative spark or essence of storytelling right out of your project.
I’ve seen it happen with several of my clients who are not intrinsic outliners. It is simply not how their creative process works and the process of doing so dampens the story voice.
But eventually, once the story is down on paper (or should I say computer screen) then I highly recommend the road map. It reveals, very clearly, the bones of the story.
More importantly, it also reveals what is structurally weak in the plot.
STATUS: I’ll be out of the office all next week for the RT Convention in Chicago. Wait, wasn’t I just out of town?
What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? PYRO by Kings of Leon
More and more as of late, I find myself creating what I call an editorial road map for any novel.
Now, when I edit a client manuscript, I use track changes to make comments as I read along. That’s pretty standard
But lately, after I finish the entire read, I then go back through the novel to construct the road map. In this process, I literally skim through the work, chapter by chapter, and I create an outline of all the major plot points by chapter for the novel.
I find that the process of formulating the outline allows me to create a framework for writing up my editorial letter.
Via the outline, I can clearly point out what works, what doesn’t work, where it should build tension or escalate the stakes, what could be deleted to tightened or even if the story has gone off the rails completely.
It’s definitely more work on my part but I think it a valuable exercise. In fact, my “road map” critiques are becoming a bit legendary with my clients. *grin* They love it (or maybe they are too afraid to say otherwise!)
And to be blunt, from a lot of the sample pages and full manuscripts I’ve read within the last 6 months, I think many writers could benefit from doing a critique road map of their own. It really does force you to ignore character, dialogue, description and boil the story down to its plot skeleton core.
A lot can be revealed about pacing and story arc.
Hum…. I’m sensing there may be a workshop idea here.
Creative Commons Photo Credit: Image Catalog
