Author Heather McCorkle

The list of tweets for writers that I scrounged up this week is a bit thin since I've been spending most of my time writing, but I did manage to find a few really good ones. This first one is from me but it is about an excellent post that Chuck Sambuchino wrote. If you're a writer you need to read this before you do your holiday shopping: @HeatherMcCorkle The Publishing Industry Needs Our Support: http://tinyurl.com/24spacc A great post via @ChuckSambuchino  of @WritersDigest  #writing Literary agent Jennifer Laughran of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency let's us in on a little secret about when to submit: @literaticat Do you want to know the secret, sure-fire time to submit so your query will definitely get noticed? http://tinyurl.com/32gv4s9 Are you curious about why Super agent Nathan Bransford left the publishing industry? Then you need to read this interview: @NathanBransford  In which I'm interviewed by the awesome @RachelleGardner  about leaving publ...

The picture that inspired me this week is much different from what you're used to seeing here on Heather's Odyssey. If you spend much time on the web you've probably heard the shortened version of this header, NaNoWriMo. For those who don't know what it is, NaNoWriMo is a month where writers of all kinds come together to encourage one another to pump out words. 50K in 30 days is the goal, though no one minds if you fall a bit short. The spirit of NaNoWriMo is to get words on the page by dedicating an entire month to your writing. Though I didn't participate this year I cheered from the sidelines and did my best to keep my word count high in honor of those who were taking part. Every time I saw a tweet, Facebook, or Scribblerati update from one of my friends about their NaNoWriMo progress it encouraged me to pick up the pencil and do a bit of writing myself. You were my inspiration not only this week, but the entire month of November and I want to say thank you. Th...

This year I am thankful for many things but since this is my blog about my writer's journey I thought I'd focus on that. Great links for writers will be involved so read on! #1) I am thankful for the use of my right hand. It seems like a simple thing until you lose it. Several years ago I broke it and my right wrist. The doctor said I would be lucky to get 60% use of it back. That was unacceptable to me. I finished six months of physical therapy in two and not only got full use of my hand back, but full strength as well. #2) I am thankful for my critique group the Scribe Sisters . A good critique group is like finding that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Such a thing is almost unobtainable it seems and yet is so worth the hunt when you do find it. If you're looking for your own you might try the wonderful writer's social network Scribblerati or Twitter . #3) I am thankful for each and every one of my followers here on Heather's Odyssey, Twitter, Scribbl...

I found some gems among the publishing world tweets on Twitter for you this month. Some of these I'm sure you'll want to bookmark! This first one is fantastic. My friend Angela found a blogger, Shawntelle, who created a book royalties calculator. You definitely want to check this one out! @AngelaAckerman Book Royalties Calculator by @shawntelle (How cool is THIS?) http://bit.ly/cKhv19  #writing #amwriting Brian Klems of Writer's Digest answers the question, should you grant an agent an exclusive read if they ask? @WritersDigest Should You Grant an Exclusive Read to an Agent? - Q: I recently had an agent respond to one of my queries and reques... http://ow.ly/1a05aK You don't want to miss this interview by Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest with agent Katharine Sands about agent pet peeves. Read this carefully to make sure you don't do any of these things! @ChuckSambuchino Lit agent Katharine Sands talks "Agent Pet Peeves": http://tinyurl...

Finally I found a picture that makes me think of my main character! Since much of this novel takes place in a forest this picture couldn't be more perfect. Sure you only get to see her from behind but the subject of this picture has the same long, brown hair as my main character and about the same build. The picture has an air of magic and mystery to it that I thought was perfect. I have a feeling this will be my main picture muse for this novel! I finished reading Blood Promise by Rachelle Mead and wow did it wrap up good! The second half of the book more than made up for the slow first half. I loved it and am definitely getting the next one. In the mean time I'm taking a break from reading the young adult genre and have picked up Grave Witch  by Kalayna Price , an adult urban fantasy. After a great chat with the author over on The Knight Agency's blog I had to pick up one of her books. She is a fantastic, fun lady and I'm glad I did because this book has sucked me...

Luck was with me in the book winning department this November which has made my mailbox a very happy place. Unfortunately I fear it makes the UPS person a bit nervous as I appear to be stalking them. ;) But with good reason, just check out these fabulous books that I won! I won Torment , the sequel to Fallen, by Lauren Kate from the wonderful Mundie Moms book bloggers. These ladies are always doing giveaways and their reviews keep my To Be Read list very long. The best part? They never disappoint. Every book they've recommended I love! Follow these gals! I won Unconventional by J.J. Hebert from the fabulous and ever supportive writer of middle grade novels Eisley Jacobs . It looks like it is going to be a very inspirational novel which will make it an excellent read for December! If you aren't following Eisley you're missing out on knowing a truly special lady so click on her name and check her out. Now to get some reading done! What was in your mailbox this month?

Now that I have a few fulls of my manuscript out to agents and editors I've started to seriously think about The Call. You know the one, the call every aspiring author dreams about. The call from an agent offering representation. I'm not so arrogant to think I have it in the bag, especially in today's economy. But, I know it's best to be prepared. Having gone through this before I know the excitement of that call can cause you to forget everything you were going to ask. And let's face it, this is a big decision. You don't want to forget your questions! I've scoured the internet and have put together a list of questions that you should ask an agent when they call with an offer of representation. Some of these are questions I've come up with and some are from other sources. Some sources said to ask questions such as, is this agent a member of the AAR, who are their clients, what have they sold recently. All these things can be found on the internet so yo...

I spent a lot more time on Twitter last week. It helps me when I have writer's block, which I suffered from a little last week. Check out this interview with one of the authors that will be attending the Writer's Digest Winter Conference: @alicepope SCBWI TEAM BLOG Pre-conference Interview: Patricia Lee Gauch: The latest Annual Winter Conference faculty member... http://bit.ly/d04RXF My friend Julie shared this link of agent Joanna Volpe talking about her views on realistic teen dialogue. If you write young adult or middle grade you don't want to miss this: @juliemusil Agent Joanna Volpe On: Why Realistic Teen Dialogue Isn't Necessarily a Good Thing http://t.co/6G1G1nL  #amwriting #YA This is a fun one by Christi about staying organized while writing: @ChristiWhitney How do you organize all those little details that pop up during writing. Leave me a comment! Death By Post-It Notes http://t.co/sG4wFSZ Do you have a great Christmas story? If so check out ag...

For every novel I write I like to find pictures of people that look similar to how I picture my main characters. I can't find anyone that resembles my main character for this novel so I found one that resembles her love interest. He's enough to make a sixteen year old sigh don't you think? Things are moving along smoothly with this novel. I'm over 14,000 words into it now so it's starting to feel like it has a bit of substance. It's not quite a NaNoWriMo worthy word count, but it is a solid beginning! As for reading, this last week I had the chance to really dive into Blood Promise and it has started to pick up, a lot. Now that Dimitri has come back into the picture I can't stop reading! I must admit though, until then it drug a bit. But I love Richelle Mead's writing and I will definitely be buying the next book in the series. I've fallen in love with the music of Mairead Nesbitt. This week her 3rd Movement song off her CD Raining Up was my mus...

When a writer is on submission, be it to agents or editors, each passing day can feel like a grain of sand that slips away. It is easy to get discouraged when days, weeks, and sometimes even months start ticking off. We understand that the grains~or moments~are precious but often we end up putting off any more writing and just waiting. All too often I hear writers say they are going to submit and see where that one goes before they move on and write anything else. If you want to make a career out of writing, that could quite possibly be the worst thing you could do. Make every grain count. Start researching, brainstorming, and outlining for your next novel or project. Don't have any ideas? Read everything in your genre that is hot. Read some of the novels that aren't. Read outside your genre! Allow yourself to be open to inspiration of any and all kind. Once you have your novel idea and are ready to start, set goals. Don't allow yourself to be aimless just because you...

To say I was busy last week would be a gross understatement! I hardly poked my nose in at Twitter at all. Harlequin was putting on a fantastic So You Think You Can Write week in which they gave us unprecedented access to the editors of their house. It was a great learning experience but of course I had other motives as well. Ever since finishing one of my novels I have wanted to submit it to Harlequin because I felt it would be a great fit for their Teen imprint. The problem was, Harlequin's Teen imprint doesn't accept unsolicited (unagented) submissions, so I couldn't. Until last week! At then end of the week they opened submissions. Most of Harlequin's imprint's accept unsolicited manuscripts but for their Teen imprint this was special. I couldn't miss it! So I leave you with a meager two tweets from Twitter for last week. The fabulous WriteOnCon ladies do it again. This will be a free chat with literary agent Stephen Barbara. Check it out here: @ElanaJ Du...

This foggy forest inspired me last week because my main character takes a wild ride through a forest that looks very much like this one. She ends up somewhere completely unexpected that changes the course of her life. I'm really enjoying mixing historical with fantasy. It is both fun and challenging! I love it so much that I now have plans for at least two more historical young adult fantasy novels. If you peeked over to the right you'll see I'm still reading Blood Promise. But, this last weekend I did make a huge dent in it. Though this novel in the series is a bit slower it's still very good and I'm really enjoying it when I get the chance to read it. I stopped at the bookstore and picked up Grave Witch by Kalayna Price. I looked at the first page and wow, I can hardly wait to read this! The song that inspired me this week was Finan's Isle by Mairead Nesbitt. What inspired you this week? How are those of you participating in NaNoWriMo doing?

This month Kitty Keswick , author of the young adult novel Freaksville takes time to drop in and answer a few questions about her novel. First a bit about Freaksville. High school is hard enough when you’re normal. There’s peer pressure, book reports, the in crowd and the enormous zit that has a life of its own. Having a family whose skeletons in the closet lean toward the paranormal is not a topper on anyone’s list. Sophomore Kasey Maxwell is busy juggling the typical teen angst. Add visions, ghosts and hairy four-legged monsters into the mix and you get FREAKSVILLE. It’s a wonder Kasey has survived. Every woman in the Maxwell family has the gift of sight. A talent sixteen-year-old Kasey would gladly give up. All she wants is a normal life. Shopping and talking about boys with her best friend and long-time sidekick Gillie Godshall consume her days. Until Kasey has a vision about Josh Johnstone, the foreign exchange student from England. The vision leads her into new waters, a lea...

Though Halloween is over I have a bag of treats for you! Last week was an excellent week for writers on Twitter. Registration for the Writer's Digest conference has opened! You can check it out here: @WritersDigest Registration is open for the WD Writer's Conference: http://ow.ly/2YPmX Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest introduces us to another new agent. Like he says, new agents are a golden opportunity for writers seeking representation. @ChuckSambuchino New agent seeking writers! Denise Little of The Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency http://tinyurl.com/2cdqcqu If you live in the New York area and are seeking a job in publishing be sure to check out this excellent link from ex-agent turned editor Colleen Lindsay: @ColleenLindsay taking resumes for awesome entry-level pub job. Love romance? Good writer? Online savvy? Read on: http://bit.ly/bAmYGD I always thought I was kind of strange because my characters talk to me. Now, agent Weronika Janczuk tells me I...

Okay so this is a friesian and the horse in my novel is an Irish cob. But I couldn't find a picture of an all black Irish cob so a Friesian it is. Of course the horse in my story may or may not be a p úca , a type of shapeshifter, so close is good. I just passed 4,000 words on this freshly minted baby and I feel like the character in Stephen King's Tommyknockers. For those who haven't read it, she was a writer who had a 'special' connection with her typewriter. It wrote what she thought. Now wouldn't that be an awesome ability! The story is flowing so well that it feels like that. As you probably noticed from the link on my right sidebar, I'm still reading Blood Promise. It's really good, I just don't have much time to get to it. I need to because I have The Hunger Games lined up to read next and I'm really looking forward to it! The book that will soon be feeding my muse after that is Torment thanks the wonderful Mundie Moms who I won it from...