Allow me to tell you about a little something I learned when I was just a wee little lad. Several times a week, my dad would sit me down and ask me: “so, what’ve you got planned for the day?” It was a simple question, and one I should’ve had an answer for each time he asked. But that was usually never the case. I hardly ever had an answer for him, and when I did, it was a fleeting thought about something that I might’ve wanted to do a day or two down the road.

“You need to make a schedule,” he’d then tell me. “Make a schedule and organize your thoughts. Create a checklist or something like that. You’ll be more productive that way.”

Did I listen to him? I’d like to tell you that I did.

So, how have I managed to write two YA fantasy novels, as well as two other picture eBooks for adults, while sticking to my deadlines without driving myself barking mad?

You’ve guessed it. I finally started listening to what my old man had to say. Here’s how I’ve incorporated his advice into furthering my productivity and finding success along the way.

Every Sunday, I’d take about five to ten minutes out of my time and sit down to make a checklist. Trust me on this. Make a list and write down everything you’d like to accomplish that week. And then when you feel like you’ve listed out and scheduled your entire week, add a few more items you’d like to accomplish.

There are seven days in a week, which equates to 168 hours. That’s a whole lot of hours just waiting to be used up (or wasted. That decisions up to you). 168 hours. There’s so much we can do in that time. There’s so much we can accomplish, and yet, the majority of us find that we’re only ever able to complete a fraction of what we intended to finish. The reason, I find, is because for the most part, we end up wasting our time trying to figure out what to do next, or how to kill that time which is given to us.

This is where the checklist we created comes into play. Take it as a challenge to accomplish each and every item on that list. Because you’ve already written down the things you’d like to get done by week’s end, there is little or no time wasted trying to get yourself organized. What’s more is that you’ve written down more than you can accomplish. Try your hardest to get all of it done. Chances are you won’t. But by reaching for the stars, you know how the rest of this cliché goes.

So how does making this checklist and trying to complete the items on that list help you meet your deadlines and remain sane while doing it?

Creating that list and hoping to check off the items as you finish them isn’t enough to get the job done. Sometimes, it is. However, along the way, we tend to bite our nails, repeatedly bang our heads on the table, grit and bare our teeth at our laptops hoping for some miracle to happen, take naps to calm our mounting frustration, etcetera, etcetera, and another etcetera, why? Because we tend to look at the project as a whole.

Don’t do that. It can be rather overwhelming considering the amount of work that needs to be done to complete whatever it is that you’re trying to complete.

Instead, take a deep breath. Relax. And while you’re making that checklist to start the new week, remind yourself to take this one day at a time, one step at a time. And while you’re at it, remind yourself why you’re doing this.

No one’s forcing you to be a writer.

This is your passion. Your choice.

You’re pushing yourself beyond your mental endurance because you want to see your book, your creation, come to life.

So why stress over that deadline and hurt yourself while trying to meet it.

You’ve got the tools. You’ve got the want and the will. And now, you’ve that magical little checklist to guide your way. So start cracking and start checking off those items as you breeze right through them.

If you’re a writer, you’re reading this, and you’re trying to meet a deadline, always keep one thing in mind. We’ve already embarked upon a quest that makes us partly insane. So tell me, fellow writer, what’ve you got to lose?

Haunted by memories of his massacred settlement, sixteen-year-old Weaver seeks cover in a hidden refuge among the remains of a ruined city. In the midst of building a new life, Weaver discovers that he has the amazing power to cast his dreams into reality. Convinced it’s just an anomaly, Weaver ignores it. That is until he learns of a mysterious man who shares the ability, and uses his power to bring nightmares into existence and wage war on the world. The peaceful life Weaver hoped for begins to unravel as waves of chaos begin to break loose about him. In a race against time, Weaver must learn to accept his role as a dream caster and master his new power, before his new home is destroyed and humanity is pushed to the brink of extinction.

Buy @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Fantasy

Rating – PG

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Connect with Najeev Raj Nadarajah on Facebook & Twitter

Back before I became an author (or at least a published author, this was 2009ish) I spent some time working in acquisitions at a small press. I don’t think it’s any small coincidence that, even though I had been writing and querying for years at that point, my first novel was picked up a year later. It is a sad fact of life that being a good novelist doesn’t necessarily make you a good query writer—and just like I think working as an editor has helped improve my own writing, I think reading thousands of query letters over my time in acquisitions at least taught me some of what does and doesn’t work in querying.

1.       Using  “Dear Sir or Madam”

You’ve probably heard this tip before, but if all possible find a name for your query. Many publishers will have an “about us” which will include the acquisitions editor’s name—take the three seconds to check. If you have looked around and can’t find any name at all, I at least find it better to address the letter specifically to the publisher (“Dear 5 Prince Publishing…” or the like). At least then it proves you have taken the time to acknowledge whom you are contacting rather than cutting and pasting a form letter to everyone under the sun.

2.       Not looking at publisher’s current list

Publishers like to know that you have taken the time to think about why you’re submitting to them rather than blanketing every submission email you can find hoping something sticks. It should go without saying, but make sure you are submitting to publishers who publish your genre before sending anything (more than I’d care to admit, there were automatic rejections due to people sending things like sailing stories to a fantasy/sci fi/horror press). You are only going to annoy whoever has to send out the rejection letters.

Beyond making sure the publisher publishes your genre, it’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with the books currently listed as produced by the publisher you are querying. If you feel like your book would fit in well, you have a better chance of being accepted. Bonus points for being able to point to the books by name (Similar to [PUBLISHER’S BOOK] and [PUBLISHER’S BOOK], [YOUR BOOK] would…)

3.       Grammar/Spelling errors

Another “more often than I’d care to admit” occurrence, typos are a big problem for query letters. If it doesn’t seem like you are a good enough writer to write a query letter properly, it’s likely the acquisitions editor won’t open your sample pages at all.

4.       Overselling yourself

Ok, you’re supposed to “sell yourself” in your query letter (or at least sell your work) but you make no friends by overselling it. If your query letter talks about how you’re sure your books will sell billions or how everyone says you’re the next [BIG AUTHOR] take it out now. Publishing is a business, and so query letters are first and foremost trying to get the publisher to go into business with you. No one wants to work with someone who is unrealistic and/or egotistical.

5.       Not letting your voice shine through.

While the golden rule of query letters is that it is a business letter, and should be treated as such, you certainly shouldn’t take “business” to mean “boring”. If you’re writing humor, it’s all right for your query to sound funny. If you’re writing horror, it’s ok for the tone to be a little scary (especially in your hook). Your query is your first foot in the door. Stay professional, but don’t feel as though you can’t have any personality in it. Certainly let that shine through.

Adela Tilden has always been more ambitious than her station in life might allow. A minor nobleman’s daughter on a failing barony, Adela’s prospects seem dire outside of marrying well-off. When Adela catches the eye of the crown prince, Edward, however, well-off doesn’t seem to be a problem. Thrown into a world of politics and intrigue, Adela might have found all the excitement she ever wanted—if she can manage to leave her past behind.

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Genre – Alternate Historical Fiction

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with Jessica Dall on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://jessicadall.com/

If you’ve read my author bio somewhere on the Web, you know that I live on a mountain ranch in Colorado and have a rather spirited Golden Retriever named Shelby. She follows me everywhere and wouldn’t give me a moment of solitude if I didn’t periodically assert my rights to be an independent being and do things like going to bathroom by myself. But I also have a wife who enjoys kanoodling with me from time to time, and it isn’t very romantic if a Golden Retriever is simultaneously licking your face. Fortunately, the young lady has her own, comfy bed on the floor. That would be the dog, by the way, not my wife.

As a writer, I clearly spend a lot of time at my desk, and Shelby is always nearby. She spends most of her time in the media room adjacent to my study staring out the French doors, monitoring our property for the multitudes of deer who frequently chow down on our landscaping. If I hear Shelby whining or barking in there, I know exactly what’s going on, and I’ll jump from my desk to let her out so she can chase them away. When she returns, she usually opens the door to let herself in and trots into the study looking like she had just saved the world from a nuclear holocaust.

You would think, since pushing down the door lever is a piece of cake for her, she’d also let herself OUT, but she doesn’t quite have the knack of pulling the door open yet. It’s so much easier to push from the outside. Then I have to get up and close the door again.

But Shelby’s favorite little caper is to come into the study periodically throughout the day and stare at me with a very clear message in her eyes: “Dad, I don’t know what you’re doing in here, but it’s quite boring, and I need you to stop it. Let’s go outside and do something far more entertaining like barking at things that don’t exist.”

These visits happen more frequently as the day goes on since we’re getting closer and closer to “quitting time” (or at least dinner time if I plan to return to work afterwards). Usually, after I spin around in my chair and see her staring me down, I’ll call her over and spend a couple of minutes giving her vigorous petties. That will pacify her for some indefinite period of time, after which she comes back for an encore performance, clearly hoping I’ll listen to reason this time.

I’m not saying we don’t take occasional breaks during the day to play, take a hike, exercise, or go for a ride in the car. We do all that. But I still adhere to a regimented work day, which means no less than 8 hours (and often 10 or more) at my desk, and that’s a lot of sedentary time for a dog to endure. Sometimes she’ll goof around outside without me for a while, especially if chipmunks or other nefarious creatures are in need of chasing around. But in no time she’s back at the study, and I need to get up and close the door, hopefully before those dastardly chipmunks scurry inside.

Oh, if you’re wondering why I harbor such contempt for chipmunks, just check out my author blog at GoodReads.com and read about our cutting-edge chipmunk relocation program. Then you’ll understand.

So it’s safe to say that Shelby has no understanding of why I fiddle with a four-screen computer workstation all day (I trade stocks, too), and I’m sure she thinks we’d both be better off if I did something else for a living. But my former career was in structured finance, which often entailed 60 to 80-hour work weeks with barely enough time outside the office to eat and sleep. If I went back THAT life, she would hardly ever get to see me, and I doubt that’s what she has in mind.

Sometimes puppy dogs just don’t think things through.

In this fourth action-packed thriller, Jack travels to Denmark for a business venture, but what seems to be a textbook transaction turns into a nightmare after he gets involved with Katarina, a vivacious Danish girl who apparently lacks a moral compass, not to mention an off button. After naively believing their liaison was just a random encounter, Jack discovers she’s connected to his business deal, and there’s a dangerous political group with skin in the game, too.

Katarina makes a convincing case of being a victim, not part of the conspiracy, but can Jack really trust her?

The firestorm gets out of control as Jack digs deeper, unearths the convoluted plot behind it all, and discovers that innocent people are being heartlessly killed. He’s not only horrified by the reason why it’s happening, but how it’s being done, and there appears to be no way to stop it from occurring again.

Then the scheme’s real objective emerges, launching Jack into action with intelligence operatives to prevent it. But that’s not so easy with assassins on Jack’s tail, forcing him to struggle for survival while trying to prevent Katarina from getting caught in the crossfire.

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Genre – Action, Mystery, Suspense

Rating – R

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Connect with Kevin Sterling on Facebook & Twitter

How do you write – laptop, pen, paper, in bed, at a desk?

I write on a laptop predominantly, although I also occasionally write in my journal (a spiral bound notebook).  My laptop is a relatively tiny Asus (my second…I loved my first so much that when it gave up the ghost I bought another one) that I can easily carry in my shoulder bag, because I prefer not to write at home!  Currently my favorite writing spot is Tuscaloosa’s sole Starbucks.  They know me here, and sometimes have my usual (grande iced coffee, breve with hazelnut) ready when I get to the register!

Where do you get support from? Do you have friends in the industry?

My friend and mentor Paul McComas has been my biggest supporter.  He’s been a writer for a long time (and manages to make a living off of his writing and teaching!) so he has a lot of contacts and time tested advice.  When I have a question concerning pretty much anything writing, publishing or marketing related, he’s who I turn to.

How much sleep do you need to be your best?

At least nine hours. I can function on less, but not much, and not for long.  My college days of running on three hours of sleep a night are long gone.

Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge and thank for their support?

My husband, who has been steadfastly supportive of my work and has endured a lot of the drawbacks of living with a mercurial writer!  Paul McComas, my teacher, mentor and friend.  And all the writers along the way who have  read and critiqued my work and shared their work as well.

Every writer has their own idea of what a successful career in writing is, what does success in writing look like to you?

Success is continuing to work on and improve my craft, and sharing my work with others.  Of course, having a best seller and making a lot of money would be nice, too!

It is vital to get exposure and target the right readers for your writing, tell us about your marketing campaign?

We are primarily reaching out to YA fans who love a streak of horror in their paranormal.

Tell us about your new book? What’s it about and why did you write it?

Haunted is about three college friends -Steven, Tara, and Paul -  who have the ultimate extracurricular activity: chasing ghosts.  While investigating a haunted house, they’re confronted by a ghost that nobody expected, someone connected to Tara’s past, and find themselves in grave danger.

Haunted started off as a project for the 2006 National Novel Writing Month, which is a yearly event where writers of all ages and all levels of experience sign up to write a 50k word novel in the month of November.  I had participated before, but 2006 was the first year I reached the finish line!  I came up with Steven, Tara and Paul first, three bright and ambitious college students with a passion for the paranormal, and started writing, following where they led me.

When you are not writing, how do you like to relax?

I do lots of things!  I love to listen to music (I have eclectic tastes: Nick Cave, The Fantasticks, Tim Fite, Chopin…), play guitar, solve sudoku puzzles, knit…

Do you have any tips on how writers can relax?

Do something to quiet your brain!  Listen to music, do something manual and repetitive like knitting, or take a walk.

Tara Martin – exceptionally accomplished neurobiology major with a troubled past. Steven Trent – confident political science major with an irresistible attraction to Tara. Paul Stratton – history major who is able to hear spirits. Together, they make up the Society for Paranormal Researchers at their prestigious New England University. When they’re not in class or writing papers, the three friends are chasing their passion….ghosts.

When the group learns of a local retired couple trying to sell a house they claim is haunted, they decide to investigate. As the clues unfold, a familiar spirit interrupts their investigation and Tara finds her life in danger. Can her friends save her before it’s too late?

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Genre – YA paranormal, NA paranormal

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with Eileen Maksym on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://eileenmaksym.wordpress.com/

The monk-like Hubbard sat against an oak partition with a half-full pint glass in front of him and a collection of crisp packets littering the top of the round table. He looked tired, with his brown eyes encircled by dark rings and a sallow complexion. He seemed to be aware of being watched, and his gaze appealed for Hendrix to come over.

Hendrix ordered a pint of cold Carlsberg for himself and asked the barmaid for a pint of whatever Hubbard was drinking. The barmaid grimaced, nodded, and pulled the pints in silence.

To his left a group of students sat around a large table, and the jukebox was playing electro-pop, a Soft Cell song the name of which he couldn’t remember and hadn’t heard since law school. Not a drinker then, but he had made up for it since. It was difficult to avoid drink during long hot periods just waiting in the services, and sober journalism was an oxymoron.

Hendrix picked up the drinks and strolled between empty tables to the monk and sat down, putting the pint glasses on the table.

“Barry isn’t it?” He offered his hand in greeting, “I’m Hendrix Harrison.”

“Man, I knew it was you when you came in. It’s really great to meet you. You’ve got a great name.”

They linked hands above the assorted crisp packets, and Hubbard gripped to the point of discomfort, keeping eye contact and nodding his head like one of those rear-window animals from a cheap gift shop. He had a glimmer of perspiration across his brow and a pained smile – almost a contortion – accented by a pearl of saliva nestled in the corner of his mouth.

“You don’t look anything like your picture,” Hubbard said, still nodding.

Finally releasing Hendrix’s hand, Hubbard turned his magazine around to show a picture of Hendrix in the Opinions section. It was an old issue, three years or more. Hendrix smiled.

“Yea, well. I don’t really want to be recognised in this line of work. There’s loads of weirdos out there.”

He wanted to say, and you’re one of them, but managed to stop himself. Instead, he laughed, and found his gaze returning to the saliva.

“Right,” Hubbard said, nodding in fierce agreement. “It must be dangerous exposing all of these conspiracies.”

Hendrix was always amazed when he met a true fan. He entered a world where UFOs, ghosts, and global-plots intertwined and Elvis played regular gigs as his own double. It was fantasy designed to amuse and sell magazines, not dangerous. And while he hoped he might illuminate some esoteric point of science, the magazine’s remit was to entertain on a theme of the unexplained.

A renowned forensic research establishment is troubled by impossible results and unprecedented interference from an influential drug company.

Hendrix 'Aitch' Harrison is a tech-phobic journalist who must link these events together.

Normally side-lined to investigate UFOs and big-beast myths, but thrust into world of cynical corporate motivations, Hendrix is aided by a determined and ambitious entomologist. Together they delve into a grisly world of clinical trials and a viral treatment beyond imagining.

 

In a chase of escalating dangers, Aitch must battle more than his fear of technology to expose the macabre fate of the drugged victims donated to scientific research.

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Genre – Crime, Thriller, Horror

Rating – R-16

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Connect with William Knight on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.williamknight.info

Colonel Thorne enters his bedroom and crosses to the nightstand beside the bed. A small decanter of brandy and empty glass rests there on a silver oval tray with filigree edges. Joshua is withdrawn and introspective. He removes the stopper and agitatedly pours the amber liquid into the awaiting glass. The liqueur captures all the sources of light in the room - yellow-red glowing coals in the fireplace, three candles burning in a small candelabrum before the dresser mirror. He eyes himself, softly reflected in the mirrored surface, as he turns the glass up and downs the contents. He welcomes the mellow burn, but then dejectedly sets the glass aside. He is drinking too much of late and silently admonishes the indulgence as weakness with which he must contend. His selfassessment is interrupted by a soft humming that comes from the opposite corner of the room, and only then does he realize that his lovely Sylpha is behind the screen and attending herself with her nightly ablutions.

Only her outline can be discerned through the thin screen covering, moving as an odd and sometimes jerky shadow cast by the feeble flame from a candle on her wash stand. Only when she moves to a different stance, bends slightly at the waist, and raises one shapely leg to a stool does her chance onlooker see any of her body exposed. But it is enough for the Colonel to appreciate the sight. Caught at angles to a long dressing-mirror on the wall, Sylpha’s well pronounced rear makes it’s tan presence known in repeated reflections; first this way, then that. Accompanied by the soft humming of her improvised tune, the movements resemble a dance; tantalizing enticements. As she presents her rear to the mirror her bending actions show prominent glimpses of dark womanhood between taunt thighs.

Joshua stands still and enjoys his chance entertainment. It is obvious to the man that his beautiful interest is unaware of his presence. Her actions denote that fact well. Oh, Sylpha can be a temptress, right enough, and loves to provoke passions in her lover with play, but this is different. She is just being herself, unaware that anyone is watching, and that in itself makes her movements all the more feminine, all the more sensuous because of their innocence. She writhes and stretches in the act of washing her body, and takes a pleasure in the moistening of her skin and the gentle cooling left behind with each swipe of wet cloth. Joshua can envision the track of water along each gentle curve; the sight of her cleansing each part of her supple form with scented soaps and oils; her matter-of-fact attentions to private parts that, to his masculine nature, hold such mystery and total fascination.

When Justin Thorne, coddled student and heir apparent to Sylvan Springs Plantation, is forced to find his heritage, his manhood, and his destiny, in the space of one brief spring, all hell breaks loose on the banks of the Ohio River. His Virginia of 1836 is a time of transition and enormous growth. Northern industrial might and southern aristocracy, abolitionist movements and slave cultures, collide in turmoil and lay bare the raw needs and desires of those intrepid spirits confronting the frontiers of the antebellum South. Coming of age is an expected result of time and circumstance. It happens to all who live so long, but to each within the dictates of their own lives. The process is on-going and ever dynamic. Every person is a precious product resulting from the effects of nature and nurture. 

One's ancestry, culture, and environment collude in myriad ways to make us; all as different as each life's story, and as singular as snowflakes. This theme is played out over-and-over throughout the world and throughout history, in millions of places like Holderby's Landing; as similar and as different as each human is to the other. Holderby's Landing is a single glimpse in time at the coming of age of a land, a community, and a few determined souls thrown together in love, strife and chance. What they make of the time, the opportunities and themselves is the story told and the living breath of this book.

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Genre – Historical Fiction

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with J. D. Ferguson on Facebook

Website www.jdferguson.net

Suddenly, a loud voice bellowed upstairs. “Bastard!”

Charles raced up to the third floor and found Arthur Hurst sitting at a desk, rummaging through drawers.  He clutched a piece of paper in one hand, shaking with rage as he looked up at Charles.

“Businessman, hah! This man, Black is a British agent! Here's the proof of his duplicity. Where is he? It's time to put an end to the vermin.”

Charles gasped in shock. The entire charade was unraveling! He tentatively leaned toward the desk and reached for the note. “What do you mean? What evidence?”

Hurst glanced down at one of the drawers. He reached inside and picked up a ledger. "Wait a moment. There's something else."

Charles' eyes darted toward the window, knowing Black lay outside, unconscious and defenseless. Quelling an urge to run, he pretended to be curious and slowly edged around behind the man, as if to look over his shoulder. What could he do? Desperately his gaze searched for an answer until he spied a letter opener. In one motion, he grabbed the dagger and plunged it into Arthur's back. The rotund body jerked upwards, dropping the notebook. He tried to turn around, but instead, slumped forward onto the desk.

For a moment, Charles stood shaking in disbelief at what he had just done to his sister's husband.

William Darmon and wife Elizabeth were powerful figures who in 1818 set society's pace from expansive grounds known as Mayfair Hall. When a family member is murdered, a mysterious pendant is found containing a long lost request by Napoleon Bonaparte for an American mission to burn down Parliament buildings. The couple sets out on an action filled pursuit of the killer. 

While interviewing Henry Clay in post-war Maryland about the failed mission, they uncover evidence of a conspiracy to free the Emperor from exile. The Darmons infiltrate the cadre, but a shipwreck off the coast of Scotland, a firestorm at the Darmon's Manor and a harrowing assault on the Island of St. Helena loom before the mystery can be unraveled.

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Genre – Mystery, Historical, Thriller

Rating – PG

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Connect with Thomas Thorpe on Facebook

Website www.darmonmysteries.com