To sort of piggy-back on yesterday’s post about what readers want, I’m curious, what do you read?

Do you tend to read in the genre you write or do you kind of go all over the map?

Right now I’m reading a mix of things.

Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz. It’s the third in his Frankenstein trilogy. Good stuff.

Moonwalk by Michael Jackson. His autobiography. Not far in yet but it’s interesting so far.

Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I admit…I’ve been slack with the course, but I’m still with. I will finish, dammit!

I just finished a book, which I won’t name, because I really like the author, but the book was such a disappointment, that well…*sigh* I just can’t talk about it. I’m too upset. Hopefully you haven’t read anything lately that’s had THAT effect on you, but if you have, please share. We can get through this together.

And if you haven’t already, be sure and friend me on Goodreads!

Have a great weekend.

As writer’s we  write what we are presented with. An idea or characters start to form, and we write it. When that inspiration hits, it’s the best feeling in the world. Birds sing when you walk by, the sun shines a little brighter. For me, seriously, it’s like falling in love.

Then we edit. Some people love it, some people hate it. For me, this is the time in the relationship where the honeymoon is over, and now we’re starting to fight and argue. We fight, we make up…sometimes. But now the scars are there. It’s make it or break it time. If we can make it through the editing process, we can make it through anything, and hopefully we’ll be better and stronger on the other side.

Then, we send it out, get an agent and a huge advance and a multi book publishing deal. We start hanging out with big time authors and having millions of people worship us. For me…ok, I don’t know what that’s like yet, but I’ll bet it’s awesome.

Basically, we write because we love it and we can’t NOT do it. If we’re honest with ourselves, we write for ourselves, NOT for other people. We hope beyond hope that other people, (besides our writing group buddies) like reading our work too, because if we are to make a LIVING off of our writing, it’s essential that other people like it. But, what do readers really want?

As a reader, my must haves are plot and character. Style is important, but secondary. I love a good turn of phrase, but if there’s no plot and character, so what?

As a reader, what’s important to you?

Here’s an interesting article by Salon’s own Laura Miller on that very topic.

It’s Tuesday which means it’s time for another edition of our Featured Writer Series. Today I’m excited to bring you a true renaissance woman, Cheryl Malandrinos.

V.R.L: Thanks for being a part of our Featured Writer Series, Cheryl! First off, tell us a little bit about how you started your writing career.

CCM: Thanks Vanessa. It’s great to spend time with you and your readers. I’ve been an avid reader since preschool and began writing in my teens. Of course, back then I was using an electric typewriter with an “i” key that stuck. (Doesn’t that make me sound like a dinosaur?) I had always wanted to pursue a career in writing, but it wasn’t until I became a stay-at-home mom in 2003 that I could do much about it. I began blogging, getting involved in writing groups, and networking. In 2006 I began writing articles for Writer2Writer on the subjects of time management and organization. In 2008, I presented a workshop on these topics at the Muse Online Writers Conference. I am also a founding member of Musing Our Children, and last year took over as editor in chief of their quarterly newsletter, Pages & Pens. My first children’s book will be released by Guardian Angel Publishing this fall.

You are involved in quite a few things. You do a lot of online book promotions, you’re a copy editor, create video trailers, and much more. How do you manage to do all of these things and still find time for your own writing?

Now, why didn’t someone tell me I am supposed to manage my time? LOL! Seriously, time management and organization have always come easy to me. I took for granted that it was this way for everyone until I was asked to start writing articles on these topics. Making time for my writing is a challenge. Working as a virtual book tour coordinator for Pump Up Your Book Promotion is a full-time job. Luckily, I love it, because it requires me to be online almost all day long. I go to my office right after the girls get on the bus at 8AM. Then except to eat or do housework, I am there until 3PM when the girls come home from school. The rest of the afternoon is spent with the girls. I go back to my office after they are in bed for the night and try to use that time to write. It doesn’t always work, but I make decent progress. Some weeks are more productive than others. The reason many people struggle with time management is that they don’t know where their time is going. I began tracking my time, which allowed me to cut out areas where I wasted it—surfing the Net, overcommitting to projects I didn’t have time for, and just plain old focusing on things other than my writing. I religiously write a weekly to-do list to keep me focused.

I understand that you are sponsoring “Promo Day” this year. Tell us a little about that.

Officially, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is sponsoring PROMO DAY. Jo Linsdell, a wonderful and talented lady I met through the Muse Online Writers Conference, puts on this event each year. PROMO DAY 2010 will take place on Saturday, May 15th. In Jo’s words, PROMO DAY is “an all day, online, international event for people in the writing industry packed full of tips and advice along with a variety of opportunities for writers, publishers, editors, etc. to promote their work and services. Readers are also welcome to drop in and get to know the authors better.” This is the first time that Pump Up Your Book Promotion is sponsoring PROMO DAY, but I doubt it will be the last.

You have a children’s book coming out and are currently working on a middle grade novel. Can you tell us a little about those?

Now you’re in dangerous territory because a writer likes nothing more than to talk about her work. [snicker, snicker]

My first children’s picture book will be released by Guardian Angel Publishing in the fall. Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love Christmas; so it will be no surprise that my first book centers around this holiday.

Little Shepherd Boy tells the story of Obed, a young shepherd in the fields outside of Bethlehem on the night of Christ’s birth. After the angel’s visit, Obed is hesitant to follow the others to see the newborn King because he doesn’t want anything to happen to his flock. His father finally convinces him to go, but Obed spends the whole time worried about his sheep. When Obed returns, however, he discovers all his sheep safe and sound and not even the fire has dwindled in their absence. Obed believes it is a night of miracles.

My current work in progress is a middle grade novel about a young orphan girl named Amelia who is sent to live with her spinster aunt in a fictional New England town. Aunt Martha is a very unhappy person. Amelia is determined to figure out why her aunt is so miserable and fix it. Amelia’s best friend is Ralph, the stable hand at Havenwood, Aunt Martha’s estate. Ralph is opposed to Amelia poking her nose into her aunt’s business. In addition, Amelia wants to teach Ralph to read, but he refuses, even though Amelia is sure he wants to learn.

Where can we read more about you and your work?

Thanks for asking. I’m in the process of having a new website designed, but for now, readers can find me at http://ccmalandrinos.tripod.com/ I have a few blogs that I update on a regular basis:

The Book Connection

Book Tours and More

The Children’s and Teen’s Book Connection

I can also be found at Facebook and Twitter if anyone looks up ccmalandrinos.

Thanks for giving me the chance to talk about myself and my work.

As a follow up to Wednesday’s post about Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (I’m still confused, myself, but thank you everybody for weighing in), I present you this:

Tim Burton Wants to Adapt Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter for the  Big Screen.

People who know me personally, know I’m a Burton fan. I’m even a fan of the movies that nobody else likes, except for maybe Planet of the Apes. But now, ladies and gentlemen…if the first sign of the apocalypse was the idea/book of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, then surely, this is the second. This might even count for two signs, maybe even three.

I am a true believer now. Anything really IS possible. It MUST be. My husband told me about this last night and then I saw the following book trailer this morning. I’m really not sure whether I should smile, cry, high five the author for getting a several million dollar advance for this, or hunt him down like a dog, or curl into a ball and die myself, or laugh hysterically and enjoy the ride, or just vomit. Maybe a combo of all of the above. Really, I’m that confused. Check out the book trailer and let me know what you think.

Welcome to the very first post, in what promises to be an exciting series. Today, our featured writer is Garry Graves, author of “Character Happens – The Five Most Important-But Fleeting Virtues.” Please feel free to leave any questions for Garry in the comments section and if you bribe him with doughnuts, he’ll probably even answer them.

VRL: Garry, thanks for your time. Let’s talk a little bit about your book. How did you come up with the idea for your book, “Character Happens?”

G.G:…I mention this on my site and in my blog—I’ve spent over thirty years as a business owner, sales broker and small business consultant, consequently, I’m met all kinds and types of ‘characters,’ so to speak. As surely we all have. Pointedly, many individuals disgust me with how they make decisions and conduct their business and personal lives. Most make decisions based purely on ‘self-interest,’ and not a better decision considering what’s good for all. And, from my 30 years of observations, the makeup of people spread across; gender, age, religious sect, degree of religiosity and ethnicity. So no one group was more or less ‘virtuous’ in their decision making. One day my lovely wife, after hearing another horrific tale about an encounter I had with someone, said, ‘good character seems more sporadic today.’ I decided it would be a good book topic and the rest is history.

VRL: You are self-publishing your book. Tell me how you came to this decision and what are the pros and cons?

G.G:…I came to the decision after a couple years of writing agent-specific query letters with no positive response. Additionally, my inquiries direct with publishers came back with a variety of reasons why they were not interested. All the while I’m reading how the publishing industry is more closed to new writers than the National Football League is to the new players. That’s pretty damn closed believe me. Unless, you’re a celebrity of sorts, or another Stephen King, then chances of being ‘discovered’ by an agent or a publisher is monumental. Finding an interested agent or publisher is like playing the lotto. I don’t play either.

Further…we have all read books from big publishing houses that amount to crap, no two ways about it. This crap can be edited in an extraordinary fashion, (which is the slam about self-published books, typically coming from agented-authors and big publishers), fact remains it’s still crap. Not fit for human consumption. Yet here it is! So the old mantra of ‘if it’s self-pubbed, it’s not good,’ …is just that, ‘old.’ Self publishing is changing the industry and big publishers are worried. Writers can do much of this on their own (or hire it done) and that upsets big publishers to no end.

What are the pro’s and con’s you ask…the pros as I see it are: more control over the process like when the book comes out, no changing of passages or cover design, and finally—making more profit by avoiding the agent and publisher commission fees. The cons might be: editing—the better you’re editing (like hiring a professional), the better the book’s presentation. Marketing has to done by you…but then again publishers today leave much of that to you anyway, unless you’re the King. That’s the difference as I see it.

Vanessa, don’t forget to mention to your readers about the ‘ebook’ phenomena. It’s relatively new but writers cannot afford to not produce their books this new way. It’s another income stream and its beginning to grow with the new devices like the Kindle, the Nook and now the iPad.

VRL: Where can reader sample some of your writing?

G.G:…My books website has a page whereby a reader can sign in and choose from several snippets I’ve posted. The link is:

http://characterhappens.com/Snippetspage.html

Also, please inform your readers of my new ‘book trailer’ just produced by Jeannie Ruesch who conducts a book-trailer workshop. She did my trailer and it looks great. Here’s a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYfx69-SJm4

The music is most inspiring…Jeannie did a beautiful job.

Thanks Vanessa for asking me to visit with you today. If any of your readers have questions, please have them comment at the end of this post—that way all readers can view.

Something interesting for Friday…  Have kids? Live far away from the grandparents? They can still participate in the time honored tradition of the bedtime story. As somebody who does frequent webcam visits with loved ones far away, I thought this was pretty cool.

Click here for the Galleycat article and video.

Also…don’t forget! Next Tuesday kicks off our Featured Writer/Author Series! It’s shaping up to be very exciting!

Please mark your calendars! Next week, on Tuesday March 2nd, I’ll be kicking off a weekly series featuring various writers and authors. So far we have a great line-up! I’m hoping to introduce you to some exciting new voices in the writing and publishing world.

Next week, I will be featuring Garry Graves, author of “Character Happens -    The Five Most Important-But Fleeting Virtues.” Garry will answer some questions about his upcoming book as well as writing in general, and he’ll be happy to take any questions that you may have.

So be sure and stop by next Tuesday. This will be a great opportunity to meet new, or new to you writers and authors.

Writer, Lynne Kelly Hoenig, recently signed with an agent. She shares her journey with photographs.

Click here to check it out.

Yesterday, Galleycat published an article about sf/fantasy imprint, Pyr, accepting unagented manuscripts. You can see the article here.

First of all, YAY!!!!!!!  Yay, obviously, because I don’t have an agent, yet. I’m not alone in that boat. Lots of us don’t have agents, for various reasons, so this is a unique opportunity to strike out there and get published without the help of an agent.

Secondly, this brings up an interesting thought. Why would a publisher do that? At conventions, don’t we get pounded into our heads that we need an agent? Don’t publishers always say they’d RATHER work with an agent?

I’m wondering if part of this is a reaction to the current state of the publishing industry. We’re seeing a huge upsurge in e-books. More and more people are going the self-publishing route and having legitimate success. In my mind, we’re seeing what the music industry saw with iPods and mp3s. Suddenly musicians realized, hey, I can do this on my own. I don’t need a major record label to release my stuff. And some of these musicians are wildly successful.

So, is this direction publishing is going too? As a reader, do you see a stigma against self-published or independent writers or is it just becoming more mainstream to do it that way?

As a writer, have you considered going independent or are you holding out for an agent and publisher? What are your thoughts?