Search found 66 matches

by karenbb
November 8th, 2011, 2:19 pm
Forum: Procrastination
Topic: The SQUEE GOOD NEWS Thread
Replies: 356
Views: 171855

Re: The SQUEE GOOD NEWS Thread

This post should really be called a Bransforums fairy tale. Yes, there is such a thing. First off, I admit that I have been completely MIA from the forums for months. I have been writing, blogging, and querying like a damn fool. My long-time critique partner, Cheekychook, is around all the time and ...
by karenbb
April 7th, 2011, 8:36 am
Forum: Social Media and Book Promotion
Topic: Do you have a new blog post?
Replies: 2655
Views: 817152

Re: Do you have a new blog post?

Author and syndicated humor columnist Celia Rivenbark made a guest appearance on my blog today, reminiscing about music and high school!

http://goo.gl/3BSJN
by karenbb
January 11th, 2011, 10:16 am
Forum: Social Media and Book Promotion
Topic: Do you have a new blog post?
Replies: 2655
Views: 817152

Re: Do you have a new blog post?

rock and roll high school installment 4--Ant Music to Zen Arcade

http://karenbalcom.com/news/rock-n-roll ... zen-arcade
by karenbb
January 4th, 2011, 12:47 pm
Forum: Social Media and Book Promotion
Topic: Do you have a new blog post?
Replies: 2655
Views: 817152

Re: Do you have a new blog post?

I started a series on my blog about high school and music memories, since my book has to do a lot with both. Here's today's installment, featuring Jon Wurster of Superchunk.
http://karenbalcom.com/news/rock-n-roll ... herly-love
by karenbb
December 15th, 2010, 1:39 pm
Forum: Procrastination
Topic: What is your favorite thing about this time of year?
Replies: 74
Views: 25102

Re: What is your favorite thing about this time of year?

I'm all about the cookies. Seriously. http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/h461/cheekychook/?action=view&current=christmascookie2010017.jpg I don't want to brag or anything, but the UPS man just brought me a huge box of cheekychook's cookies and I'm sorry to say that everybody is missing out, bi...
by karenbb
November 15th, 2010, 9:15 am
Forum: Queries
Topic: Query - Breaking the Rules (Chick Lit)
Replies: 17
Views: 7421

Re: Query - Breaking the Rules (Chick Lit)

BREAKING THE RULES is my first novel No one cares. It's also implied if you don't have a list of publishing credits, therefore, it's wasted space. and is complete at 87,000 words. Try something like" BREAKING THE RULES is an 87,000 women's fiction novel. <--- all the info you need, and much mo...
by karenbb
November 10th, 2010, 1:31 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Ever Have A Character That Made You Cry?
Replies: 42
Views: 11224

Re: Ever Have A Character That Made You Cry?

Your group sounds AWESOME. I've always wanted to prick my finger and dance around the fire while a virgin was sacrificed. I hope you have hot chocolate, then it would be like a life dream. How do I join? Please? Pretty please? Mira, Anyone who wants to dance around the fire is welcome. Of course, w...
by karenbb
November 10th, 2010, 5:59 am
Forum: Writing
Topic: Ever Have A Character That Made You Cry?
Replies: 42
Views: 11224

Re: Ever Have A Character That Made You Cry?

hey now, everybody's going to get me in trouble with cheeky. It's a very difficult club to get into to, the one where you get to read her book, and it's not for the faint of heart. It involves a finger prick, a dance around a fire, virgin sacrifice (and let me tell you, it was not easy to find one o...
by karenbb
November 9th, 2010, 10:35 am
Forum: Writing
Topic: Ever Have A Character That Made You Cry?
Replies: 42
Views: 11224

Re: Ever Have A Character That Made You Cry?

Yes! There are some things about my characters that make me cry just to think about them. I don't even need to be reading the manuscript. I probably went through at least ten boxes of Kleenex while writing my book. There were some days when that was all I did all day long...write and cry. It's incre...
by karenbb
November 9th, 2010, 10:28 am
Forum: Queries
Topic: QUERY - TRIAL OF THE HEART - Which one?
Replies: 23
Views: 7277

Re: QUERY - TRIAL OF THE HEART - Which one?

Erin, Poor thing--I feel your pain on this whole entire process! Such a pain in the neck (and other places). Here's my take--the first one is better. It feels more polished and I also like the balance of specifics and questions you leave us with in the last paragraph. That being said, there are some...
by karenbb
November 7th, 2010, 5:28 pm
Forum: Queries
Topic: QUERY - TRIAL OF THE HEART - Which one?
Replies: 23
Views: 7277

Re: QUERY - TRIAL OF THE HEART * REVISION #4*

Erin, I think you did an excellent job bringing in more emotion, making Emily softer and more likable. I also like the way you give us the image of him walking into the courtroom--very dramatic. I would take the previous comments on your most recent revision into consideration, a few minor tweaks to...
by karenbb
November 5th, 2010, 5:08 pm
Forum: Queries
Topic: QUERY - TRIAL OF THE HEART - Which one?
Replies: 23
Views: 7277

Re: QUERY - TRIAL OF THE HEART * REVISED*

Erin, I've made comments below. I'm one of the other women's fiction writers on the board, so hopefully this will be of some use to you. The main thing I would stress is there is a lot of toughness to this query. Let us see both sides of the story...let us see Emily as both an angry mother eager for...
by karenbb
November 2nd, 2010, 5:59 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Do you listen to music? What motivates your muse?
Replies: 14
Views: 4679

Re: Do you listen to music? What motivates your muse?

I have a playlist for whatever I'm writing, but I generally only use it to get to a certain place emotionally and then I need complete silence to accomplish any actual writing. I find music quite helpful, especially if you only have a short amount of time to sit down and write and you're saying to y...
by karenbb
October 5th, 2010, 4:11 pm
Forum: Ask Nathan
Topic: Non-fiction publishing credits in a fiction query
Replies: 1
Views: 1587

Non-fiction publishing credits in a fiction query

Nathan, Is it ever appropriate to mention non-fiction publishing credits in a fiction query? I had thought that was a no-no, but I've seen many successful queries (ones that garnered representation) break this rule. If a major newspaper (top 25 media market) paid me (repeatedly) to write lifestyle a...
by karenbb
September 23rd, 2010, 12:42 pm
Forum: Queries
Topic: Query: Bring Me Back, women's fiction--Updated 9/23
Replies: 32
Views: 10629

Re: Query: Bring Me Back, women's fiction--Updated 9/23

fishfood, thanks so much for your own take on my query--I hope it was fun! I think it's much more enjoyable to work on someone else's query. quill, thank you , again, for your input. I was astounded that you had so few comments (and I don't think they're nitpicky, we have to be nitpicky at this poin...