Carmen DeSousa

Although I believe that quote by the famous Florida author is accurate, I don’t know that it’s one hundred percent complete. If you really want to bleed, submit your work to an agent or publisher. Although we need constructive criticism, and I appreciate every agent who took the time to comment on my work, it still hurt. Actually, it was downright painful. As an author—and I know I have many authors who read this blog—I know you’ve been there. As much as you hate the standard rejection letter that rambles on the same, tired script, “Sorry for this impersonal letter, but your project just isn’t the right fit for us. But, opinions are subjective, so we wish you the best…”, it still hurts when you get that honest letter. The agent who is not afraid of your backlash of how you will someday be a superstar—because your mom says so—and is willing to offer you beneficial feedback. I welcomed these letters. With every one of them, my writing improved. And when my editor ac...

When I started writing my first manuscript four years ago, I thought, “I can write a novel. I went to college twenty-seven years ago. Nothing has changed, right?” Oh, my word! WRONG! Things change daily. Yes, the rule still applies that you have to set out a name or endearment in commas ; I still see that mistake all the time in novels, though. And yes, you still have to put a comma after a long introductory clause, or no telling what you'll end up doing to your characters.  You remember that pic: "Let's eat Grandma!" Without the comma, Grandma becomes dinner ! Other items in writing are subjective, though. The important thing is that the reader ‘gets’ it. That was my first mistake. I’d been editing nonfiction for ten years. It never occurred to me that I had to allow some fragments and contractions to slip by, and on occasion, start my sentences with ‘and’ or ‘but’. What? My college courses, Com 2 and English Lit, didn’t teach me that style of...

 Don’t look at the rocks below, keep your eye on the wave, and ride it all the way to shore. Does that translate? I think so. I don’t think you have to be a surfer to get that analogy, and you certainly don’t have to be able to surf well—I can attest to that. Thank goodness for web-surfing, because I never was good at it, even though I grew up in Cocoa Beach, home of Ron Jon’s Surf Shop if you didn’t know. Anyway, how does this relate to writing? It doesn’t. It relates to selling. Here’s what I learned in the last year: · Writing is easy; writing well is fractionally harder · Writing a query letter and synopsis is harder than writing a novel · Querying an agent or publisher is agony, way harder than writing a novel · But the hardest part of writing a novel, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is selling your novel. It’s a nightmare! Especially when you realize that though most authors are a little wacky and flamboyant, pretty muc...

Wow! One year ago today, I jumped into the wonderful world of Blogger and Twitter, hoping someone might notice me. I had been querying my book to a few agents, got some feedback, a few requests, and etcetera, but nothing really jumped out at me. Joining and participating on Twitter and Blogger made all the difference. I learned so much, simply by reading other authors’ blogs on what to do, and what not to do, when writing and querying. After reading hundreds of blogs, I stepped back, regrouped, and re-queried...many of the same agents. And to my surprise, it worked. I had several offers from big-name agents, large e-publishers, and of course, I was still toying with the idea of self-publishing. The problem was…I didn’t want to sign my life away just so I could say, “I’m published.” After much thought, discussions with other authors, and way too many sleepless nights, I met a small e-publisher who I felt could give me the best of both worlds. I know it sounds strange, but I really...