Dena's Going Bye-Bye for the Month

You will not believe the last 48 hours of my life.  Amazing how things turn around.  Okay, here's the scoop.  Remember how I got turned down for that Cat Book assignment? It's back.  Apparently the writer they went with got sick or something.  The editor was so nice, saying I had been a really close 2nd choice, and they really liked my work, and would I consider taking the project?

"Careful now," I said.  "Don't let the author hear the panic in your voice."

"I know, I know!" she laughed.  (She's really cute.  I like her).

So I'm going to do it.  25,000 words in under a month.  Not to mention all the ideas, research, compiling, etc.  I told Blair I hope he's enjoyed our time together the past 2 weeks b/c I don't think I'll see him until September.

FYI, the book will be 320 pages, a browse read for cat lovers (meaning each page is a stand alone), 4-color and hardback.  I'm doing a work-for-hire (meaning they pay me to do my work but I don't make any money from the sale of the book) but they are putting my name on the title page, which is fun.

But the fun doesn't end there! Remember how once I was turned down for the cat book by this company a different editor there asked me to submit some sample toasts to possible work on a book of toasts?  I never heard back and assumed they'd moved on to someone else.

Not true!  My cat book editor on the phone today asked if I'd heard from the other editor, who was planning on offering me the toast book as well!  Unfortunately, both books are on the same deadline and I just don't think with my other regular assignment and my judging (I'm a judge in 3 categories for the Cat Writer's Association annual contest - I am going to have cats coming out of my you-know-where this month) that I'll have the time.

Although I have to admit I'm tempted.  It's why I took the cat book.  I don't like working under pressure and I'm not an especially nice person while doing so, but I work very well under pressure.  I get things done.  And I haven't been feeling I've been getting a lot done lately.  So I welcome the challenge.  Besides, worst case, it's a month of hell.  The project is over by the 1st of September so the pain will end.

But I don't know how much I'll be blogging this month so I thought I would explain upfront.  But who knows?  Maybe I'll manage to keep it up.  Either way, say a prayer for me!

Writer's Yearbook EXTRA from Writer's Digest

Writer's Digestis a well-known magazine for aspiring writers and I had an article published in there last year about creating a successful 30-second pitch (also known as an "elevator pitch.") The article got picked up and included in their Special 2005 Yearbook Extra issue.  My special copy was just delivered to my door by UPS and I nearly broke a wrist trying to tear off the apparently untearable plastic casing.

The fun part is my article is listed on the cover: "GET NOTICED in 30 seconds"  -- That's me.  We writers live for these sorts of things.  Doesn't matter that my names not on it and chances are few people reading the issue will even bother glancing at my by-line.  My story made the cover listing.  Ya-hoo, I say.  Ya-hoo.

I do hope someone reads the byline though as it mentions my Lessons In Stalking book site.  Aaargh....I wish the book was ready!  I haven't heard back from my book designer on the last batch of edits.  I e-mailed him a follow-up earlier this week and have heard nothing.  I'm trying to balance that fine line between follow-up and stalking.  I think I'll risk the stalking.  I want to get the book to the printer ASAP, especially now that Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul is coming out in September and I have bylines coming out advertising the book.

The book is--I think--available on Amazon. com, or will be.  If you search for the title or my name, the book will appear.  However, what was supposed to happen was I joined this Advantage program of theirs so they would host my book.  I was supposed to receive an e-mail confirming I (and the book) were accepted in the program.

I heard nothing so I e-mailed Amazon and asked: 1) Have I been accepted?  2) Your guidelines state a password will be mailed to me.  I have not received it.  Can you forward.

I got back a nice long reply from Amazon about ordering my book with not one mention if I was accepted ( I guess so) and nothing about a password.  Okey-dokey, we'll just try that again using smaller words and more white space.

If you pick up an issue of the Writer's Yearbook Extra, check out page 14.  Me!

Beauty Pageants

Ooh, my aching head. Read an article this morning in our local 2x/week paper that our rural county is hosting a beauty pageant in November to "motivate young ladies of the county to earn scholarship money for college." My, aren't we noble? I ran upstairs first thing after reading the article and typed out my reply which I will be hand delivering to the editor this AM.

Dear Editor:

I read with interest the August 3^rd article that Western Rockingham Middle School will be hosting the first ever Miss Rockingham County Beauty Pageant in November. The scholarship is said to motivate young ladies in Rockingham County to earn scholarship money for college.

Uh-huh. What the pageant is really saying is we’d like to motivate young women in Rockingham County to earn money for college, but only the pretty ones. The rest of you will have to figure something else out.

I find it depressing our county is embracing the same tired, dated, and outrageously look-biased pageants of the past. This is not something to celebrate—this is something to be embarrassed over.

I’m all for competition to earn college money. But how about holding an event open to all young women in our county interested in attending college and not just those with attractive hair, good teeth and a chest that rounds out a swimsuit?

There are so many wasted opportunities here. Off the top of my head, how about a contest that involves talent, interviews, community service, grades, and maybe a prepared speech or public speaking segment? Instead of evening wear, the contests could answer questions while wearing appropriate clothes for those all-important job interviews. This would preclude excessive make-up, big-hair, dangling jewelry and theoretically anything that sparkles.

Young girls are not Barbie dolls to be dressed up and paraded across the stage. Shaky self-esteem is one of the greatest issues faced by young women. I fail to see how judging ones ability to glide gracefully across a stage in an evening gown addresses this issue. Not to mention the exclusionary nature of the event in the first place.

The pageant’s sponsors are to be commended for wanting to address the college needs of young women. I just wish they’d chose a less antiquated, less demeaning, and more fair way to do it.

Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul

You may think with all the painting excitement I've forgotten about my writing duties, but not true!  I've been working on a 1300-word piece for The Toastmaster on "Promoting Yourself As a Public Speaker," and am busy setting up interviews for future Art Jewelry marketing articles.

I received 4 e-mails yesterday from Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. These were the 4 rejections for my stories that didn't make it.  No surprise there as I knew only 2 of my pieces had made it in.  And far from being depressed by the rejections, I was elated. 

Out of thousands and thousands of entries, only 150 stories make it to the final cut.  Six of my humor stories made it in, which means 4% of the final entries were my work.  That's awesome.  Then out of those 150, 101 stories are selected for inclusion in the book.  Two of my pieces made it in, so almost 2% of the book is by me.  (Okay, this is one of the pitfalls of being a writer - How long do you think I spent playing with a calculator and admiring these figures?  Yeah, pretty long).

I actually think they would have taken more but they have to strike a balance among topics and works and authors.  I got a kick out of the assistant editor who, when she accepted my 5th and 6th stories e-mailed me, "Welcome to the Dena Harris show."  I e-mailed her back and asked if she thought they would mind changing the title of the book to that, because it sure would help me out.

So promotions go on.  I checked out the web stats for this blog for the month of June and had 230 unique visitors.  Not bad, considering I haven't really tried to promote this blog as I'm waiting until the book is closer to coming out.  For my main website,www.denaharris.comI logged 653 unique visitors for the month of July or an average of 22/day.  I think that may be for my denaharris and Lessons In Stalking websites combined.  And some of those hits are robots, but that's still pretty cool. 

I just went in and looked at the stats and it's showing 33 unique visitors in the past 2 days.  Stats are fun.  For example, so far this year I've had 7 visitors from United Arab Emirates, 6 from Australia, 4 from Hong Kong, 5 from South Korea and 9 in China.