Randy Rooney

The Road to Heck

Sitting in my office thinking about possibly blogging, I saw a shiny new truck pull into my driveway. Instantly, I shut the curtains, turned off the lights, and cut the music on my computer.

I was not—absolutely not—going to let Sam the Plumber know I was home.

Five minutes passed, then ten, while I waited for Sam to pound on my front door.

Nothing happened.

Finally, I crawled into the living room, took cover behind the couch, and peered out the window.

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Bookclubs

WHAT MAKES A GOOD BOOK CLUB MEMBER?

What makes a good book club member? Would a person who never says a word at meetings come to mine? How about someone who never reads the book? In my experience, the most important quality of a book club is the members’ faithfulness.

This means being faithful to show up at meetings and calling if he or she is running...

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ECPA Bestseller Lists

Notice it says plural lists! That's right...we have ALL of the ECPA lists now, including their Archives. Check out the latest in hot reading across all Christian spectrums.

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Agent Column

Be Your Agent’s Dream Client

One thing authors wonder about is how to “behave” once they have a working relationship with a literary agent. Especially if it’s your first time, you want to be the kind of author an agent wants to keep as a client. Agents understand that—and we want to be the kind of agent you want to work with, too! In fact, I tell my authors that the best partnerships are when the agent and author are president of each other’s fan clubs. That takes time, but it shouldn’t take years if you are intentional about making the relationship great.

The secret to a good agent-author relationship isn’t a mystery. It’s like any other relationship: kindness counts; communication 

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Fiction Fixit Shop

Bomb the Barnacles

If you joined me last month, you know that Meredith is writing on deadline (Lucky Baby is due spring 2010 from Howard/Simon & Schuster), that I am not on deadline and crowing it to the world—neener neener!—and that Meredith and I both like cheese.

So here I am again, your trusty stand-in, bringing you part two of the Down and Dirty of Dialogue.

Having asserted that 1) we need to write like people really talk, 2) dialogue, not being real speech, should exclude some of the real foibles of spoken conversation, and 3) even dialects need to be legible, I give you:

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POD And Self-Publishing

POD Publishing: Untold Secrets

My name is Betsy St. Amant, and I’m a POD author.

That’s right. I got my start in publishing through The Wild Rose Press. At the time, they were fairly new and an unsung option in the publishing world. I didn’t know much about them, but I wanted my story to have a chance, so I did my research and decided to give them a shot.

It paid off. The Wild Rose Press contracted my first full-length novel, Midnight Angel, in 2006, and shortly thereafter, two e-stories entitled If Wishes Were Dog Biscuits and...

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