Author Heather McCorkle

In the vacuum created by the loss of our favorite chat years ago, a friend, Tee Tate , and I created the #WritersRoad. We also have a Facebook group , though the live chat occurs on Twitter (via Tweetdeck is one of the easiest apps to use). Tee and I co-host this chat every other Monday night on Twitter at 6:00pm Pacific Standard Time (9:00pm for our east coast friends). We chat about everything related to the writer's road. We decide on a topic based on the needs of our chatters (suggestions are welcome on both Twitter and our Facebook group) and we announce it the weekend before on Twitter. On the off weeks that we don't chat, we engage in #WordWar (still using the #WritersRoad hashtag as well), an hour long writing sprint where we check in at the end with out word count and encourage each other along the way. We often have outstanding guests be they authors, agents, editors, or another type of publishing industry professionals. This is a great opportunity to networ...

Here is an abbreviated recap of last Monday's chat on finding the right beta readers or critique group: Heather McCorkle   Finding beta readers or critique groups can be the easy part. Finding GOOD ones, and keeping them, is much harder. #WritersRoad Yelena Casale   to  @HeatherMcCorkle There has to be a good balance betw a constructive critique and encouragement #writersroad Heather McCorkle   The key is to know what you're looking for in betas or crit partners, and be ready to reciprocate. #WritersRoad Karen Strong   It's important to know what you're looking for: Do you want structure, grammar, character development? Helps to know first. #WritersRoad Karen Strong   For instance, I'm not much into grammar and misspellings. I like having CPs who can do structure/plot/character stuff. #WritersRoad Melinda Primrose   to  @Yelena_Casale and you have to be willing to take the constructive criticism #write...

This week's chat was all about querying, when to query, how to query, and who to query. Here is an abbreviated recap, complete with links to the chatters on Twitter: @HeatherMcCorkle  Getting ready for #WritersRoad and it looks like we need a eulogy for TweetChat. It is dead as a door nail. So I'm using Tweetdeck. @HeatherMcCorkle  And of course that makes me think we need a chat sometime about where all those old sayings come from. #WritersRoad @Nightveil  to @HeatherMcCorkle Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to mourn our dearly departed TweetChat. #WritersRoad @HeatherMcCorkle  to  @Nightveil *raises hands in praise for its finer days* #WritersRoad @HeatherMcCorkle  When to query may seem like a given, when you're done with your manuscript, right? Well, yes, but, 'done' means well edited. #WritersRoad @HeatherMcCorkle  Agents and editors expect manuscripts to be polished now more than ever. If you send in a rough draft, your cha...

Last night on the live #WritersRoad chat on Twitter we chatted about writing lessons that we learned last year. It was so much fun hearing what other authors and writers had to say that I thought I'd share some of the chat with you. Here are a few tweets complete with links to the person on Twitter: KrissiDallas   I learned more about 3rd person POV by reading others' works-that I can feel just as close to character. LurchzPrincess   Yes, it is! I've definitely learned how to find what fits and hone my voice. Loriprima   My lessons learned in 2012? 1. Sometimes faster is not better. Yelena_Casale   I learned a lot by writing short stories and flash fiction. Hope to do more of that this year. It helps with novel writing, too ixtumea   2012 learned that it's okay to get off the querying wagon and work on craft. Chelsea_Pitcher   In 2012 I learned firsthand that there is definitely such a thing as working on too many projects at once! HeatherMcCo...

I've discovered that if I have writing goals and give voice to them, knowing my friends will help hold me accountable, then I end up getting a lot more writing done. Twitter is wonderful for short bursts of writing inspiration and accountability. We have #1k1hr (one thousand words in one hour) where one of us will tweet that and see if anyone else is game. If others are able to join in then we all use the #1k1hr hashtag and check back in at the end of the hour to see how much we accomplished. There is also #wordwar which is like a sprint to see how much we can get done in whatever timeframe we all agree upon. But there isn't always someone on Twitter that is up for a writing goal or challenge, and I know there are many of you who don't use twitter. So, I've decided to start a new reoccurring post called Wednesday #WriteGoal (sorry about the hashtag for my non-Twitter friends, but this way my Twitter friends can join in too). I won't do it every week because th...

The writer's road can be a lonely one but it doesn't have to be. Have you ever wanted to chat with other writers, meet agents, editors of publishing housing, and authors? Or at least ease drop on their chat? You can achieve this by attending conferences but let's face it, they are getting hard to afford in this economy. There is another way. Every Thursday night on Twitter there was a fabulous chat called #Scribechat. I met a lot of authors, agents, editors, and fellow writers by attending that chat. Unfortunately the hostess, Lia Keyes, had to step down due to other commitments so the chat is going away. I'm very grateful to her because I've made amazing friends, connections, and learned a lot from #Scribechat. You can find Lia hosting #SteamPunkChat on Fridays on Twitter at 6:00pm PT. For those of you who loved Scribechat and are sad to see it go, have no fear, we have a plan. My friend and fellow chatter TS Tate ,or @TeeTate as she is known on Twitter, plan ...

If you are a writer working on your platform and you decide to add Twitter to it there are some things you are going to want to take into consideration. The wonderful thing about Twitter is that it is like the adult coffee shop version of Facebook. On Twitter you'll find agents, editors, authors, and all manner of publishing industry people, and they'll find you. Be aware of that when you tweet. The image you portray can hurt or help you. Here are some do's and don'ts to help. Do post something under your bio. People won't follow you if you don't tell them a bit about yourself. Something as simple as 'aspiring author' along with the genre you write will work. Do upload a picture. It doesn't have to be of you. It can be anything that you feel represents you as a writer. A quill or pen will work. Do add a link to your blog or website. People are more likely to follow you if they can find out more about you through a blog or website. Plus, it l...

This week I decided to start something new for Twitter Tuesday. I wanted to spotlight some of the best tweets for writers and book lovers. I'll be doing so every other week and writing about a great person I found on Twitter the other weeks. You aren't going to want to miss these tweets, they are fantastic! The @ symbol before a person's name means it is their Twitter name. The # symbol means it's a hashtag, or ongoing conversation that can be followed by looking up that word. See my post on Twitter hashtag's  for a more in depth explanation of that. @WritersDigest Agent Advice: Seth Fishman of Sterling Lord Literistic - "Agent Advice" is a series of quick interviews with literar... http://ow.ly/18iYXo @thecreativepenn The Write and Wrong Way to Promote Your Book http://dld.bz/n8rK via @bookgal @NathanBransford The one question writers should never ask themselves when reading: http://goo.gl/b/pWg1 @JaneFriedman No. 1 thing that sells books i...

This is for those of you who haven't taken the Twitter plunge yet, or have just started and are overwhelmed. The first thing to remember about Twitter is only those who follow you will see your tweets. If you follow someone and they don't follow you back, they won't see your tweets. But there is a way to see the tweets of those you don't follow. If you've been brave enough to venture onto Twitter a bit then you've heard about hashtags. But what are these strange things, and what are they for? A hashtag is a word of group of words with a # sign in front of it. It allows people who want to talk about a certain subject to follow each other on a self made chat. The words are always run together to make things shorter. For example, #amwriting is an on going chat that most writers participate in to follow along with who is writing on a daily basis. #writing is the same thing, just a little different. There is also #amreading, #amediting, #AskYAed, and the big one...

Instead of featuring someone specific today I'm going to talk about Twitter for those who haven't taken the plunge yet because you just aren't sure how it works. After you read this post, you will have no excuse! Those of you who are already on Twitter might drop in on the comments section and let me know if there's anything I've missed. This last week at the NYC Pitch conference I made a lot of great new writer friends. The problem was, they aren't on Twitter! I'm making it my mission to remedy this. Much of this will be basic for their sake. Twitter is unlike any other social network out there, which is part of why I love it so much. You don't have to follow everyone who follows you, it isn't like the 'friend' thing you see elsewhere. Those who follow you see what you tweet to everyone but they won't see what you answer tweet to someone else if they aren't following that person as well. The same thing goes for the people you choos...

For those of you who are new to following Heather's Odyssey Twitter Tuesday isn't just for Twitter user. What's it's really all about is writers connecting with other writers and book lovers. On my Twitter Tuesday posts you'll find not only great people to follow on Twitter, but great blogs and websites as well. On to today's Twitter Tuesday feature. Selena and I came across each other on Twitter through a friend of a friend. She's one of those Twitter people who takes her followers very seriously and chats back and forth with them directly a lot. I love that about her. If you check out her Twitter page you'll see she's not really one to throw out random tweets, but she does talk with those she follows a lot. Selena is the author of several spicy paranormal books. Aside from writing she loves movies, music and enjoys cooking. For someone you can actually connect with rather than just another number on your followers, be sure to check out Selena. ...

Margaret Stohl is one of the dynamic co-authors of the YA paranormal Beautiful Creatures . I started following her on Twitter shortly after I featured her co-author on my Twitter Tuesday post a few months ago. Margaret isn't a frequent Tweeter (sorry for the reference non-Twitter users) but she has a way of drawing you in and making you listen when she talks, or tweets rather. Though this is Margaret's debut novel she has a long history with writing. Among her repertoire are screenplays and video games, yep, video games. Not one to be taken too lightly though, she has an MA in English from Stanford and taught Intro to Film as a TA at Yale, and Romantic Poetry as a TA at Stanford. All that education hasn't gone to her head though. Quite the contrary. Margaret is a down to earth writer who isn't afraid to enlist the help of her daughters when it comes to her writing. She is also one of the most supportive and encouraging people I've met on Twitter. To learn more a...

I found Chuck Sambuchino when I did a search for people using my name on Twitter. I like to do that occasionally to see what comes up. If you've never done it, try it, you'll be surprised! Chuck was asking others if they knew how to get a hold of me. I then noticed he was a new follower of mine. Knowing that Chuck is the editor of Guide To Literary Agents and curious as to what he could want, I was quick to follow him back and direct message him. Chuck was looking for me so he could ask me to do a guest post on his blog for his column How I Got My Agent . I wrote the article and he posted it last month. During the process I discovered Chuck is a really nice guy who's very dedicated to helping new authors. If you've never checked out Chuck's blog you don't know what you're missing. Writers aspiring to become published authors will greatly benefit from his wisdom and advice. Chuck spotlights new authors, new agents, and blogs all kinds of great advice. The b...

I met Saundra on Twitter through a mutual friend, author Aprilynne Pike. Saundra was one of the Deb's, a group of fantastic young adult authors who debuted in 2009. Saundra and I frequent many of the same chats on Twitter, #YAlitchat and #scribechat. She is incredibly generous in sharing her experience and advice to help others and she isn't shy about answering a question honestly. Aside from being generally an all around sweet gal, she's a fantastic writer as well. Her debut novel, Shadowed Summer is a fantastic read that will keep you on the edge of your seat rapidly flipping pages. She leaves you wanting more but in a very good way. Not one to disappoint, she has another book coming out soon called The Vespertine . I'll definitely be on the lookout for it! Saundra wields more than one type of pen, she's also a very accomplished screenwriter. You can find Saundra on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/SaundraMitchell Check out her website to learn more about ...

Every now and then you meet someone really special on an online community that makes you think, 'yeah, that's why I'm on here!' Someone who makes you laugh and cry and feel llike the whole writing experience doesn't have to be lonely at all. Myra McEntire is one of those kind of people. I think we first came across each other in the YA lit chat on Twitter (or #yalitchat for those of you who tweet!). Myra writes young adult urban fantasy and is represented by agent Holly Root of Waxman Literary Agency. Now that's a dream team! In her free time (LOL!) she reviews books for Young Adult Books Central Blog (YABC). She reviews some outstanding books and has never steered me wrong! Keep an eye on the bestseller lists for Myra. Its coming girl. . . You can find Myra on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/MyraMcEntire Here's her blog: http://writingfinally.blogspot.com/ And here she is on YABC: http://yabookscentral.blogspot.com/

Whether you want to meet agents, editors, other writers, or even connect with your target audience, Twitter can do it all. I'm amazed at how many writers I know who still don't Twitter. I don't know of any other site out there where agents and editors will follow an unpublished writer. If you're looking for the new place to be discovered, I've found it. Just look at my followers. My book isn't published yet and I already have agents, editors, published authors, and producers following me. I'm close mind you, but not there yet. While I didn't meet my agent on Twitter I did use Twitter to help me decide who I should submit to. And yes, he was on there. Reading his tweets was a huge help in deciding if he was right for me. I saw how hard he worked and how much he advertised his clients. Those are priceless tidbits of information when you're figuring out who to submit to. Before you jump in be sure to read Jane Friedman's (from Writer's Diges...

One of the main reasons I love Twitter is because I can connect with other writers who are at the same stage in their careers as I am. Sharing this journey is priceless. But I also love finding debut authors who are one step ahead of me. Hey, I like to live vicariously while I'm waiting for that big sale! Kami Garcia found me and I remember looking at her page and loving what I read. I followed her back immediately. I'm so glad I did because otherwise I might have missed out on an amazing book. Though I'm pretty sure some of the great gals I follow would have steered me toward it eventually. As you may know from my previous ravings about her, Kami is one of the co-authors of Beautiful Creatures. What you may not know is Kami is a great lady who supports others. You can find her on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/kamigarcia Though it was released early, today is the official release of Beautiful Creatures. Happy birthday Beautiful Creatures! I haven'...

Once you're able to do this your chances of finding representation explode. However, before I tell you how to do it you must understand that no matter how well you get to know an agent, they are only going to represent you if they love your book. Like your mother taught you, no means no and when an agent says it that means its time to move on, not plead your case. They will not love it more if you can just explain it to them in person. It's your writing you're trying to sell them on, if it didn't convince them in the first place the spoken word certainly won't. Even if an agency lists their phone number on their site you should never call them unless you're invited to or you become a client of theirs. Once you get to know an agent and think they will be perfect for your work, it's even harder when they say no. This is especially true if you think you'd work well with them. I'm speaking from experience here folks. But, be noble and take it like a pro ...

To Twitter or not to Twitter? That's the question on a lot of writers minds. Heck it was on my mind. So why did I take the plunge? A couple reasons. The first was to connect with other writers and follow agents & publishers who tweet. Sounds a lot like networking right? And we all know how necessary networking is for us writers. The second was to further build my platform. Agents & publishers love their writers to have a platform, it helps sell books! The platform thing sounded very foreign and intimidating to me at first until one of my published friends explained that it's just different ways of gathering readers. With the mystery taken out of it the whole idea made sense. Then suddenly twitter made sense too. You don't have to jump on there and think of something witty every day. Use it as a networking tool and it will have served it's purpose as part of your platform! You don't have to take my word for it though. Check out what Publisher's Weekly is ...