Jennifer Walker

Sometimes people follow grammar rules they were taught in school, or rules they think they remember from school, without really thinking about them or understand them. I think it’s important to not only learn the rules, but understand them as well, because then you know when to break them and when not to. Today I’m going to talk about adverbs.

Some people will tell you that adverbs are bad and you should never use them. It’s not so much that–sometimes they have their place. However, when you use an adverb, you’re missing an opportunity to tell a story.

“So there,” she said menacingly.

You could say menacingly, but it’s a little flat. It makes the story more interesting if you show it to us. Maybe she draws her eyebrows together, lowers her voice, moves close to her opponent until they are nearly touching noses, and pronounces slowly and evenly, “So there.”

Yes, it’s more economical to just say “menacingly” rather than writing out all that garbage, but ask yourself: what is the point of what you’re writing? To efficiently tell the story as fast as possible, or to evoke imagery in the reader’s mind so they find themselves deeply involved in the story?

THAT is the whole point of show vs. tell. Adverbs tell. Imagery shows. By taking a few lines, or sometimes just a few words, to show the reader how a person is speaking or acting, your story becomes much more interesting. You plant images in the reader’s head so it’s like a movie playing while they read. THAT is your goal as a writer, not to simply list a chronology of events. That imagery can then get your reader to feel a visceral reaction. Get goosebumps to raise on their arms. Get their heart to quicken its pace. Make them bite their lip in anxiety for the characters.

That doesn’t mean you should never, ever use adverbs, of course. Use them judiciously, and make sure you aren’t missing an opportunity to grab your reader and drag them kicking and screaming into the story.

I’m typing this on my iPhone on a beautiful hillside, waiting for an event to start where I will sign books. My table is all set up, so all I have to do is wait for the masses…a good time to update my blog!

Book signings are interesting things. They come in many different shapes and sizes. Sometimes it’s just me, all alone at a table, assaulting everyone who walks by to tell them about my book. Sometimes it’s a big event with other authors or even assorted vendors, like today. Today’s event is the Grace Foundation’s annual poker ride and safety day, and I’m donating a porTion of my sales to the foundation.

Book signings are amusing. People think that because you wrote a book, you must be rich and famous. They ask me things like if I’ve been on Oprah. When I say no, they tell me I should, like it’s this great advice and they can’t believe I haven’t thought of it. It’s also amusing to watch people who are completely disinterested. They either studiously avoid your eye or politely listen to your spiel and then struggle to find an excuse not to buy. It’s OK, really. You don’t have to feel obligated!

Book signings are humbling. On the one hand, you feel like you’re begging people to buy your books. On the other, you’ll have people show up just to meet you in person or tell you they loved your book. That is totally awesome. When I tell someone what my book is about and they tear up because it brings back memories, that is very cool.

Book signings are inspiring. Even though I generally don’t sell a ton of books, every sale bolsters my confidence and reminds me why I do this…that I CAN do this. Every person I give my spiel to brings me one closer to getting a yes, because it’s all about numbers. Keep asking, and eventually I’ll get the sale.

Finally, book signings are fun. I almost always meet interesting people. Today, I get to look out on the grassy hills dotted with horses and cows while I do my thing. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Between starting this post and finishing it, I’ve already sold a book. Here’s hoping to send a few more copies to new homes where they will hopefully be read and loved!

I cannot stress enough the importance of picking the right editor to help you with your manuscript, whether you are self publishing or getting ready to submit to traditional publishers. I have seen a lot of books that were supposedly professionally edited, but the editing was sub-par. In most of these cases, the basic grammar and punctuation is fine and there are no misspelled words, but there is so much more to editing a book than that. A good developmental editor will help you flesh out the story so it comes alive for your reader, make sure dialogue sounds natural, identify plot holes and inconsistencies, and make sure the story flows well. A good copy editor will not only pick up on basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors, but they will identify things that don’t belong in fiction, like using present tense words in a past tense work (i.e., now or yesterday), over-use of passive or weak writing (a common problem is gerunds–”he was walking” instead of “he walked”, which is stronger), etc.

Some people are under the impression that developmental editors are evil creatures who are out to ruin your book and suck every ounce of your essence out of it. Completely untrue. While there are bad developmental editors like there are bad everything, a good one will work with you to maintain your vision for the book while making it better. All editors should maintain your voice when they edit you. However, if an editor is telling you something in your book isn’t working, it doesn’t hurt to get a second opinion, but it deserves some serious thought…they are looking at your book from the viewpoint of the reader, and not everything that makes perfect sense in the writer’s head comes across the way they expect.

When you have a traditional publisher, this is all done free of charge for you, although I think you have the best chances of getting your first book published when it’s already in good shape when you submit it–others disagree with that, but I’d rather put my best foot forward and make a good impression from the start. Anyway, many of the very small presses do not have quality editors, and they make a lot of the mistakes I pointed out above. If you are considering submitting to a small press, you should look at one or two (or more) of the books that house has published and see how the editing is. If it sucks, move on to another press (or at least hire your own editor). After all, you want your book to be the best it can be, right? You can do this by either buying them, looking for excerpts on Amazon or the author’s or publisher’s website, or looking for reviews online.

Two of my short stories, The Fire and The Assignment, were published in the anthology Elements of the Soul from Twin Trinity Media. Now, the book is going on tour with Walker Author Tours! Check out the tour page for dates so you can read reviews and author interviews.Purchase a copy today–it’s a great collection!

The sequel to Bubba Goes National and second in the Green Meadow Riders series, Bubba to the Rescue, is now available for pre-order from Twin Trinity Media!

What starts out as a leisurely trail ride turns into a terrifying afternoon when Alex and Leslie see a plume of smoke rising in the trees. After saving the neighbor’s horses from a horrible fate, the two teens must run through the burning woods and get back to Green Meadow before it’s too late. On the way, they encounter a strange horse wandering through the woods by itself, and it follows them home. Leslie soon becomes attached to “Spark” when she can’t find his owner…but will she get to keep him, or will someone come forward to claim the horse she has come to love?

Order your copy today at a special price!

I joined Shared Reviews back in 2007 when it started, when we got paid $2 per review on a limited basis. When they stopped that, I stopped writing there, but my reviews stayed. I have concentrated my energies elsewhere since then, but they have made a lot of changes lately that made me decide to give it another shot.

Although they still do not have the $2 up front model, there are a bunch of ways to earn money. I just started back and I only have 15 articles as of this writing, so I can’t say how well this is working. I do know that Joan Young is happy with what she has earned there. There is a lot of information in the Knowledge Center on the site, but Joan gave a good breakdown on Accentuate.

 I found it fun to go on the sige and complete some simple challenges (like updating my profile) to earn experience points and author credits. The review raters I have come across so far have done a really good job of providing helpful comments to get my reviews up to the site’s standards, style and expectations. I was able to edit my reviews to incorporate their comments and up my score. The reviews are super easy to write, because there’s little research reqiured. Use a product, snap a picture of it, write 300 words about what your experience was. Sprinkle in some SEO so people can find it, and you’re good to go. They must be 100% original.

My goal is to post one review per day for the next month. I’m three-for-three so far, and at the moment that ranks me 14th in the most currently active list, which is on the Community Activity page. That gives me a little exposure, although I don’t know how helpful that is, since I assume only the site’s writers look at that, and their views don’t count. It’s fun, though. If you decide to try it, please put me down as your referral–my user name is twnkltoz. Or, just stop by and read my stuff!

I am a full-time freelance writer and editor. This means that I make my living by working on different writing and editing projects for a variety of people, and it also means that I have several projects on my plate at any given time.  These projects range in their difficulty, length and deadline. Most of them are not one-day projects if they are for other people. Therefore, when I get a new project, I am often not able to complete it that same day, but I am always up front about how long I think it will take, and I ask when the person needs it by…if at all possible, I try to accomodate their deadlines.

What gets me, however, are the people who don’t seem to think I should have anything else to do. They have an assignment, and it seems easy enough to them (event though they aren’t capable of doing it themselves), so why can’t I do it by tomorrow? Honestly, wouldn’t you be a little concerned about a contractor (assuming it’s a one-person or one-team type business like mine) that was available to start immediately? If they are, maybe they don’t have any other work…and why don’t they? If you hire someone to put in your pool, and he’s ready to come over immediately, wouldn’t you worry that he isn’t good enough to have other customers? Think about that.

On the same note, these people are often not willing to pay much for said project. I have a skill many people don’t. Why, then, shouldn’t I be paid a decent wage for it? I have bills to pay, yet there are people who think American writers are lazy and demand too much money for their services. My rent on my apartment alone is $925. If I were to pay that strictly on $5 articles, I would have to write 185 articles in a month just for that. That’s six articles per day just to pay my rent. To pay all my other expenses, I would have to double that. How can you expect any kind of quality at that rate?

You get what you pay for. If you want cheap labor and don’t care about the quality, there are writers outside of the US who have lower living expenses who can write in English for less. The grammar is generally bad, but, like I said, you get what you pay for. If you want a quality product in good English, be willing to pay a decent rate for it, and be patient. It shouldn’t take months to get a project with a few thousand words for someone, but give them more than a couple days!

It’s January 4th already, four days into January 2011 Let’s All Finally Finish a Novel (LAFFN). Have you started working toward your goal yet? I’ve worked on mine a little, but haven’t gotten very far. My goal is to finish the first rewrite of my novel Flying Leaps, and I’m on Chapter 4. I had started it in December to give myself a head start, but I have a ways to go! Come over to the forum and post your progress!

http://accentuatewriters.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=89Whether you’re just catching your breath from NaNoWriMo, have always wanted to write a novel (or self help book or whatever!) but haven’t gotten around to it, or have a have a half finished novel on your hard drive you really need to get to, Let’s All Finally Finish a Novel (LAFFN) is the time to get it done! Heck, even if you have the book done, but need to rewrite it and polish it so you can submit it. You can do that, too. At LAFFN, we don’t care what your goal is, as long as it gets you at least one step closer to getting your book published.

Sometimes, all we need is a little push and some support to finally get around to it. That’s why I started LAFFN, to push me to finish my own projects. I run it in January and July (although that may change when we get our real, official website. For now, Accentuate Writers Forum graciously hosts us. Please stop by, declare your goal, and let’s all finish something together!

I recently had the opportunity to promote myself and my books on Children’s Author Discussion with Fran Lewis on blogtalk radio. I shared the air with several great authors, including Marsha Cook. She is a literary agent in addition to her writing career, so I brazenly asked for and she graciously agreed to an interview. In addition, she has agreed to field your questions, if you put them in the comments on this post today! Be sure to read the interview all the way through, then if there is anything left unasked, feel free to ask it. All I ask is that, if you disagree with something she says, you treat her with courtesy.

Jennifer Walker: Let’s start by learning a little about Marsh Cook as a person. You are an author yourself–tell us about your work.



Marsha Cook: I love writing and I must admit I have spent more of my time promoting others more than myself. I am now promoting my work but I would much rather write all day. It is so much easier for authors to do different promotional projects to get there work out there than years ago and that is what I try to help authors do.

I have written three children’s books, THE BUSY BUS, THE MAGICAL LEAPING LIZARD POTION and SNACK ATTACK. I have also written SALA, MORE THAN A SURVIVOR, a Memoir of a Holocaust Survivor and LOVE CHANGES, a mainstream novel. I have also written twelve screenplays and have had two of them optioned for movies.

Jennifer Walker: What made you want to be a literary agent, and what makes you a good one?


Marsha Cook: I became a Literary Agent basically because there were very few agents that were willing to help writers in the way I could. Most agents don’t really understand how hard it is to write a book, even one that isn’t a best seller. I always believed, and still do, with someone believing in you as a writer success can happen. Dreams do come true but most of the time not without help.

Jennifer Walker: Tell us a little about your agency. Do you have a company philosophy on how you represent authors and what sort of work you like to take on? How many queries do you receive, and how many new writers do you take on per year?


Marsha Cook: My philosophy has always been to keep writers writing and not have them give up. Most writers give up when they realize they will be rejected by most of the publishers and for screenwriters they will be rejected by many production companies. Rejection letters that I receive usually make me work harder to prove them wrong.

I receive thousands of queries a year. I don’t take as many clients as I did in the past because I really believe authors need management and an agency that helps them get where they need to go. One of the problems that exists is authors have always heard don’t pay an agent because when you sell they will get a commission, however most writers don’t stay in the game that long and the agent never makes any money.

Years ago I paid an agent and I didn’t mind because it does cost quite a bit to send projects out to production companies and publishers. I think if they changed the rules back to where that can happen more authors would be taken by Literary Agents. Life is different to most people these days, which means sometimes things need change. I don’t feel anyone should work for free; however, that is what I have done for years. Don’t think if an agent charges money that means they are taking advantage of you.

A good agent will help a self- published author market their work and that does mean authors should pay for these services and not feel that they are being taken advantage of.

Jennifer Walker: Can you share some of your agency’s success stories?

Marsha Cook: We have been very successful at getting our clients work read , by producers and publishers. We also have had several optioned book for movies. Most importantly many of our clients have self – published their books and they are doing very well with their sales. They are happy and that makes us feel great.

Jennifer Walker: What are some of the biggest mistakes you see when people seek you out for representation? What sort of mistakes are deal breakers that will cause you to throw out a submission?


Marsha Cook: W e have never just thrown out a submission. One mistake is to say this is the greatest story ever…right there I know this is a person that will not be in this business for a long time.

Jennifer Walker: What are the most important things a writer can do to get you to want to learn more about their book?


Marsha Cook: Also talk about their credentials and how long they have been writing. That really does matter.

Jennifer Walker: I’ve been taught to make sure I have every i dotted, every t crossed and every duck in its row before submitting to an agent or editor. Have you ever received a submission that was all wrong, but something in it caused you to look past all that and take the author on anyway?


Marsha Cook: I am not like other agents. I first look at the work. The story and the characters matter to me. They can always have an editor fix their grammatical mistakes but if the story isn’t there that would be a problem. I’m not big on bringing out the red pen and finding fault with everything.

Jennifer Walker: How important is it to you as an agent for a manuscript to be well edited, by a professional if necessary, before you see it? Isn’t the publisher responsible for editing?


Marsha Cook: The manuscript should be in pretty good shape and we would never send a script or book out that is not edited. I need an editor and so does everyone else, if not before we read it after. Every writer needs an editor and that the writer has to pay for. If a publisher does take it they will edit it however they want but when we send it out it has to be the best it can be.

Jennifer Walker: How do you feel about the huge surge in recent years of self-published authors and what this means to the industry? How do you feel about these authors querying you–do you want their book to have made a certain threshold of sales before you will consider them for future projects? Do you ever take on self-published books to try to sell to publishers (I’m wording that weird, so I hope you understand what I’m asking)?


Marsha Cook: I think most publishers are so used to rejecting books they sometimes miss great stories. I actually think self-publishing is a great way to start a career when the writer can’t get published traditionally. Taking on self published books is what we do. These books can be sent out to producers, because producers are always looking for a good story they can develop into a movie.

Jennifer Walker: Does the author having a book published with a small press give them any better or worse chance of getting representation with you?


Marsha Cook: It doesn’t matter because we look at the content. If the story is there we will take them.

Jennifer Walker: Jonathan Franzen stated in a recent issue of the New York Times Book Review that novels are going the way of newspapers, only faster. Do you feel that novels are still relevant, important and salable?


Marsha Cook: I think there will always be books, but there is a big shift in the market because of kindle, nook and all the e-readers. I think novels are always going to be revalant.

Jennifer WalkerYou represent a lot of screenplays. Do you think any book can be a movie? If not, what should an author look for in their book to decide whether they should try writing a screenplay for it?

Marsha Cook: Not every book can be a screenplay but there are so many that can make great movies. In a screenplay there has to be some degree of speaking and action. If there isn’t enough dialogue or action in a book it may not translate into a good movie.

Jennifer Walker: Now that we’ve gotten to know you, some of my readers might want you to represent them. Are you currently accepting queries, and are there certain types of projects you are looking for–or not? Where can writers find submission guidelines?

Marsha Cook: We are taking clients after the first of the year. They can submit by query letter. They can check out http://www.michiganavenuemedia.com/

Have some questions for Marsha? Post it in the comments section, and she’ll come on and answer them!