Plagiarism Update

Dang, here I go posting an extra time during the week. Again!

As horrifying as last week was with the plagiarism that was followed by cyberbullying against the victim, this week has been so heartening to see people rally behind Rachel Nunes (you can read her story here).

NY Times bestselling author David Farland, who has met Rachel at a few writing conferences, suggested to her that she start up a litigation fundraiser so she could go after this person. He talked about it Monday on his Kick in the Pants post (click here to read it), and he put his money where his mouth was by donating $500. Click here for the direct link to donate.

Litigation of any kind is expensive. Plagiarism litigation can be especially so. If you can help share the word, it would help a lot. Even donations of $5 can help--if there are a lot of them.

This isn't just Rachel's battle. It's a fight for all authors.

Here's a sample of Rachel's book and the plagiarized ARC.

Rachel's original work.

Sam Taylor Mullen's Plagiarized ARC.

And here's a screen capture of the attacks against Rachel's other books on Amazon (some are under Rachel's pen name. These were all done by one person the day the plagiarism came to light.

In response to these attacks, author Candace C. Bowen created a Facebook group, Author Against Plagiarism and Cyberbullying. She's been keeping followers up to date and posting some interesting articles about the issue.

Donation Bomb for Ben Wolverton

I love how supportive our writing community is. Recently, the son of our own David Farland (Wolverton) was was injured in a terrible longboarding accident.

Ben Wolverton, age 16, was in a tragic longboarding accident on April 3rd, 2013. He suffers from severe brain trauma, a cracked skull, broken pelvis and tail bone, burnt knees, bruised lungs, broken ear drums, road rash, and pneumonia. He was in a coma, but has recently awakened. His family has no insurance.

Ben's treatments are already over $1,000,0000.
Ben will need extensive therapy as he relearns how to walk.

Ben's estimated hospital bills are looking to be somewhere around $1.2 MILLION! So what can we do? We can help! Even the smallest donations can go a long way when everybody gives a little bit.

• THE PLAN: Donate any amount, large or small, to the Help Ben Walk Fund (feel free to donate more, if you can.)

• THE DATE: Friday, June 7th!

To find out more about Ben and other ways you can help, CLICK HERE.

Also - on JUNE 4th there is a TWITTER BOMB! If you can't afford to donate, please help spread the word and use hashtags #davidfarland or #helpwolverton! 

Please help spread the word by sharing on your blog, tweeting, posting on Facebook, or any other way you know how. For those who help spread the word, one lucky person will receive an Ebook through Kindle or Nook of David Farland's book, Million Dollar Outlines!

Rafflecopter isn't working for this post, so you can go to Leigh Covington's blog here to sign up on her Rafflecopter.

Book Bomb - Help Ben Wolverton

Ben Wolverton, age 16, was in a tragic long-boarding accident on Wednesday the 4th, 2013. He suffers from severe brain trauma, a cracked skull, broken pelvis and tail bone, burnt knees, bruised lungs, broken ear drums, road rash, pneumonia, and is currently in a coma. His family has no insurance.

Ben is the son of author David Farland, whose books have won multiple awards. Costs for Ben's treatment are expected to rise above $1,000,0000. To help raise money for Ben, there is a book bomb (focused on Nightingale and Million Dollar Outlines ) on behalf of Ben.

You can learn more about Ben's condition, or simply donate to the Wolverton family here

What is a Book Bomb?

A Book Bomb is an event where participants purchase a book on a specific day  to support the author, or, in this case, a young person in serious need: Ben Wolverton.

Since Dave's written so many books, which should I buy?

David Farland’s young adult fantasy thriller Nightingale has won SEVEN awards, including the Grand Prize at the Hollywood Book Festival--beating out ALL books in ALL categories. It is available as a hardcover ($24.99), ebook ($7.99), audio book ($24.99), and enhanced novel for the iPad ($9.99).

What is Nightingale about?

Some people sing at night to drive back the darkness. Others sing to summon it. . . .

Bron Jones was abandoned at birth. Thrown into foster care, he was rejected by one family after another, until he met Olivia, a gifted and devoted high-school teacher who recognized him for what he really was--what her people call a "nightingale."

But Bron isn't ready to learn the truth. There are secrets that have been hidden from mankind for hundreds of thousands of years, secrets that should remain hidden. Some things are too dangerous to know. Bron's secret may be the most dangerous of all.

I've read this book and really enjoyed it. You can see my review here.

What if you already own Nightingale or aren't interested in it?

If you are a writer, you may want to consider purchasing David Farland’s Million Dollar Outlines  It has been a bestseller on Amazon for over a month and is only $6.99.

As a bestselling author David Farland has taught dozens of writers who have gone on to staggering literary success, including such #1 New York Times Bestsellers as Brandon Mull (Fablehaven), Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time), James Dashner (The Maze Runner) and Stephenie Meyer (Twilight).

In Million Dollar Outlines, Dave teaches how to analyze an audience and outline a novel so that it can appeal to a wide readership, giving it the potential to become a bestseller. The secrets found in his unconventional approach will help you understand why so many of his authors go on to prominence.

What if you just want to donate?

You can donate money to Ben here:

You also have the option to purchase a book for someone else.

Want to help but don't have any money?

Spread the word about either the option to donate or about this book bomb. Share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, your blog—anywhere you can. Invite others to the event.

TELL ME MORE ABOUT BEN. WILL HE BE OKAY?

David Farland has been keeping everyone posted on Facebook. Subscribe or friend him to get up-to-date information. At the moment, Ben is stable and appears to be improving.

"Nightingale" by David Farland

So what's it about? 
Some people sing at night to drive back the darkness.  Others sing to summon it . . .

Bron Jones was abandoned at birth. Thrown into foster care, he was rejected by one family after another, until he met Olivia, a gifted and devoted high-school teacher who recognized him for what he really was--what her people call a "nightingale."

But Bron isn't ready to learn the truth. There are secrets that have been hidden from mankind for hundreds of thousands of years, secrets that should remain hidden. Some things are too dangerous to know.  Bron's secret may be the most dangerous of all.

My take
I got the ebook (back when I only had a Nook Color) when it first came out. I read it aloud to my hubby, and we were totally immersed in the story. I really felt for Bron who just wanted to have a chance at a normal life. But he has no idea how far from "normal" he is. The story spirals into a dizzying array of surprises.

I loved Olivia and her sweet husband. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the high school at Tuacahn since hubby and I attended the play there that's described in the book. I look forward to the next edition in the series, which will include three more books: Dream Assassin, Draghoul, and Shadow Lord.

What's really cool is that the enhanced book is now available.

• Grand Prize Winner of the Hollywood Book Festival, placed first in all genres, all categories
• Winner of the 2012 International Book Award for Best Young Adult Novel of the Year
• Finalist in the Global Ebook Awards

What I've Been Reading

Don't forget to check out the

Banned Book Giveaway Hop here.

As much as I complain about not having enough time to read, I have been getting through some books.I'm usually listening to an audiobook, so I can have something going while I'm doing mindless things at home like laundry, cleaning, or yard work. My hubby likes me to read to him, so we've frequently got a book going together, though those take us a while since he tends to fall asleep rather easily (he's got Fibromyalgia). Then I'm usually reading a book myself, either before I go to sleep (when I'm not critiquing) or when I'm on my treadmill or exercise bike.

So, here's what I've been reading (or listening to):

Seeking Persephone is a prequel to Courting Miss Lancaster which I reviewed here. These are Regency Romances by Sarah M. Eden, whose writing I love dearly. She's got a wonderful way of creating conflict riddled with humor. And her characters! I was crushing on Adam after reading CML, but we get to learn so much more about him in SP, that I just love him even more. Sarah hinted there might be another book in the series. I can't wait to visit these characters again. 

I had an opportunity to read the ARC for Everneath by Brodi Ashton, which I LOVED! You can read what I said about it here. It comes out in January 2012.











And another ARC I got to read was Shifting by Bethany Wiggins. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It comes out on September 27th. You can read about it here.

I've read the first two books in this trilogy, and the final book comes out in October. I hesitated to start it since I heard about the first book right after the first Hunger Games book came out. I didn't want to start a new trilogy. But then I was so disappointed with Mockingjay, I wasn't sure I wanted to risk be disappointed again. But Dan Wells did such a fabulous job with his I Am Not a Serial Killer series, that I decided to give this series a chance. We'll see in October. 


I enjoyed Watched by Cindy M. Hogan. I'd definitely want to keep track of any children I sent on summer field trips after reading this book!










I loved Laura Josephsen's book Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School). You can read my thoughts on it here.                    

Hubby and I have been reading this series together (we're on the third book). It involves the brother of one of the characters we meet in The Saint Squad Series--see below (love these books about Navy Seals).

 Hubby and I have one more book to go in this series after we finish The Deep End.

 This book is the first in the Runelord series by David Farland. I really enjoyed it. David is the "father", so to speak, of the online critique group forum I'm a member of.

I recently listened to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (who died before the book came out) and her niece Annie Barrows again. I just love this story and the way it's written using letters or notes. The unique voice of each character is so well done. Some of the characters I wish I could meet in real life and just hug!

This books provides one of those places I wish I could go to and live.

I hate getting old. I was thinking I hadn't read this one. Guess what? I have. Oh, well. I liked it the second time, too. It's the sequel to her book Masques, which I read earlier in the year. What can I say? I love Patricia Briggs's books. 

Entwined by Heather Dixon is a charming retelling of the fairytale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

A Night of Blacker Darkness by Dan Wells is a really interesting book, very different from his I Am Not a Serial Killer series. Because of that, it took me a few pages to get into it just because it was so different from what I'd expected. It's a farce and has some very silly moments. Talk about a comedy of errors!

From the product description on Amazon:
Wrongly imprisoned, Frederick Whithers is desperate to commit the crime he's already being punished for: defrauding the bank out of a vast inheritance. He fakes his death to escape, but when he's seen climbing out of a coffin everyone assumes he's a vampire; when he shows none of the traditional vampire weaknesses, they decide he must be the most powerful vampire in the history of the world.

Half horror and half farce, Frederick's tale is an ever-growing avalanche of bankers, constables, graverobbers, poets, ghouls, morticians, vampires, vampire hunters, not to mention some very unfortunate rabbits. With a string of allies even more unlikely than his enemies, can Frederick stay alive long enough to claim his (well, somebody's) money? And if he can't, which of his innumerable enemies will get to him first? 

I think this book would make a hilarious play.

Okay. I really need to quit complaining that I'm not getting any reading time. 
Obviously I'm doing better than I thought!


So what have you been reading?

Anything I should add to my Goodreads list?
I haven't reached 100 books to read yet.

Politicians, Writers, and Critique Groups

My dear friend Robin Weeks had a great post yesterday, that got me waxing a little whimsical. You should check out her post before reading on.

Since I work with politicians, am the election official in charge of a primary for over 50,000 registered voters three weeks from yesterday, I must add the following to Robin's theme:

If you want to be a politician, you need to try and please everyone (to get their votes) with the end result that you tick off a lot of people.

If you want to be a writer, you must try to please everyone (because you can't submit anything without feedback so you've got beta readers, critique partners, friends, neighbors, people in line with you at the grocery store, etc. giving you input) with the end result that your ms could wind up without the power and emotion to move anyone (and you are now bald from having ripped all your hair out from trying to conform to what everyone else wants your tale to be).

Hmmm ... seems like everyone needs to accept that if you can't please everyone, you should at least please yourself.

And keep your hair.

But seriously, I've received some good feedback from my betas and tremendous input from my online critique partners. Really. These people are incredible.

Remember that stupid $770 college class I worked so hard to get into last fall because it was a prerequisite for the creative writing class I wanted? But then I got into the class and realized that no way was it going to teach me what I wanted to learn, so I dropped it?

But then I found out about my online critique group (through Robin, btw) at David Farland's Writers' Groups. So I submitted my name to a couple of groups and was accepted by both of them? And now the members (one group is very small and not overly active, which is saving my neck--while the other one is very active and keeping me busy) are teaching me just the stuff I wanted to learn?

For free!

Well, last Saturday, I attended the first meeting of a new in-person critique group.

You know. The kind with real, live people actually sitting in the same room together.

It was a heady experience. They were all at the professional critique session I attended a week ago Saturday, and two of them were in my group. This should be interesting. I've gotten so used to the online format, there will be an adjustment to this live thing.

Do you belong to a live critique group? How does yours work? How often do you meet?

If you don't belong to a live group, do you have on online one? Are you happy with it? How'd you find out about it?

Self-Publishing .... Decisions, Decisions

I've talked about self-publishing before (here), so this isn't a new topic for me. But I've been thinking about it a lot more seriously lately, especially after Marsha Ward's blog post here. She raises some issues that, for me, are compelling.

• I'm kind of old to have started on this journey, and I sincerely worry that I could die before I have a chance to publish traditionally.
• I'm not in this for a new career. Because I'm older, I've already got one I like just fine, and I can retire in less than ten years.
• This is supposed to be fun for me. I worry that the whole query/rejection process will suck all the joy out of what I'm learning and doing--recognizing that if I put my stuff out there before it's ready, there will be plenty of people who will be happy to help suck all the joy out of what I'm doing--but that's true even of people who publish traditionally.
• A lot of people believe self-publication is the way to go, including David Farland, who's spoken to this issue in several of his Daily Kicks.

On the other hand, there are some compelling reasons not to self-publish.

• You have to do all your own marketing. I can't tell you how much I hate sales. I realize authors are the true salespeople for their work. Readers don't come to book signings to meet the publisher or the agent or the printer; they come to meet the author. It's just hard for me to consider trying to pimp my own work.
• At LTUE, self-published author Anna del C. cautioned writers considering self-publication to get a lot of books written before beginning. She said she spends so much time now marketing her books that she has little time to write. Considering I have a full-time job and limited time available for writing already, this is a huge concern for me.
• As Marsha mentions in her blog, she thinks she's had success so far without marketing because she has so many finished works and could get them out there quickly, that having several books for readers to select from is a big advantage. I don't have a bunch of books to throw out there. I have one WIP close to being "ready" (I know, define ready), two partial WIPs, and lots of ideas. I've spent a ton of time on this first book because it's my on-the-job training, so to speak.
• Many people who, for good reason, haven't made it out of the slush pile are now publishing and flooding the ebook market with dross. Readers could become jaded about the quality of self-published books, and (assuming my book is not just more dross) mine could get lost in the trash.

My friend Laura Josephsen just bravely self-published her book Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School  (I read it this weekend and loved it, but I'll write more about it on Friday).  She's already published traditionally and had a publisher interested in this book, and she opted to self publish. Does it help that she's already published and has a fan base? Is it better for someone like Laura than it is for fledgling beginners?

A comment from the LDSStorymaker conference really struck me. Someone reported that author Larry Brooks said writers are too worried about getting published. What we should be worrying about is getting read. When I heard that, it gave me pause.

So what's a girl to do? 

• What are your thoughts on self publication? 
• Have you ever considered it? If so, what did you decide and why? 
• Do you feel like you'll be taken more seriously as a writer if you have the endorsement of the gatekeepers and stick with traditional publishing? 
• Or do you think self-publication is the wave of the future?

Critique Groups

I'm sure all you writers out there have heard of and/or participated in a critique group. I've heard some tales of some wonderful groups, but I've also heard some real horror stories. When I was at Life, the Universe and Everything conference (LTUE) in February a couple of New York Times list authors mentioned how destructive they'd found them to be and no longer participated in them.

Late last year, I posted on Brodi Ashton's blog asking about how her critique group had found each other (her group is one of the wonderful ones that meets in person). Well, Robin Weeks who also follows Brodi kindly let me know about her online critique group at David Farland's Writers Forum. Dave is a wonderful supporter of writers as well as a well-known author in his own right. He teaches classes on writing, and I think he's been at all three conferences I've attended in the last nine months. Members of his Writers Forum who were attending LTUE were able to get together at a local restaurant for dinner. It was lots of fun, and I got to meet in person several people I'd conversed with online.

Anyway, when I joined Dave's writer's groups I found there are a number of individual groups based upon genre. I applied to join two of them. One was for the romance genre, since my finished ms is a romantic suspense. This group is not very active right now, but the two ladies there are very supportive.

I also applied to Robin's group for YA fantasy. This is a very active group, and I've learned so much already. As I detailed last fall, I signed up for a college creative writing class ($770 in tuition for 3 credits) hoping to learn more about the craft of writing. I knew within a week this class wasn't what I was looking for and dropped it. I learned more in a month with the Pied Pipers critique group than that class would have taught me.

Critiques can be frustrating. There's no getting around it. But they have to be honest, or they're a waste of time and effort on both sides. The frustration isn't always about how people are critiquing your writing. It's also about figuring out how to make something work in your book. I can have a number of my friends (who aren't writers) be beta readers for me. They can give me input on how the story is working, but they can't necessarily tell me WHY it isn't working. My fellow critique group members can. And their input has been very insightful.

But critiques need to be about what works as well as what doesn't. Sometimes it's too easy to get caught up with finding the errors. As with our children, we need to catch the writer doing it right.

Now, as the writer, I must realize that I can't please everyone, even in my critique group. But I should seriously consider what I'm being told and decide how best to use the input to improve my book--or not. A funny thing happened with my first submission. None of my beta readers had ever had any doubt about the gender of my MC. Yet two of the critiquers in my group got the impression she was a guy and that totally changed how they looked at everything. Considering the number of people who have read the beginning of my book, that's a good 10% of the people who could potentially think my MC was a gay guy. It was an easy fix for me to make, but one I wouldn't have considered without their input.To me, that's priceless.

The things I'm learning from this critique group doesn't t just come from critiques on my writing but on the critiques I read on other members of the groups. I'm learning what I should be looking for, how to be a better critiquer myself. I'm still really new and raw at it.

I know a very talented woman, who's written two books. I've read comments she's made in an online forum, and she's intelligent and writes very well. I imagine that her books are really good. But I'll never get the chance to know because she won't let anyone read them. Anyone.

When my oldest daughter decided to run for student body president in the 6th grade, she made a comment to me that was very profound and wise beyond her years. It's something I wish someone had told me when I was in younger. She said she could never win if she didn't try.

Well, she did try, and she did win. Did I ever mention she's my hero?

How about you? Do you have a critique group? Do you meet in person or online? What's your experience been?