Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Friday, December 3, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
My review of Threads West, An American Saga: Novel One
THREADS WEST, AN AMERICAN SAGA: Novel One by Reid L. Rosenthal
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| Get it now and don't miss "The Branding Party!" |
What separates a good novel from a great one? I close a good novel and feel satisfied. When I close a great novel, like this one, I feel sad that there are no more pages to read. From the first time each character appears in the book to the last time they fade from the pages, I was immersed in the personal stories of the heroes, the heroines, the bad guys, the powerful, the vulnerable, and the brave. I cared about their lives and loves, strengths and weaknesses, and their strife and successes. As they head for their compelling shared and undiscovered destinies, their paths unfurl like a Western sunrise in this new saga of the American West.
The Threads West series opens with a bang and closes with a promise of more excitement to come. The story of these enduring characters is destined to stamp its imprint on the spirit and heritage of readers' hearts.
The writing is incredible. I'll leave you with this small taste from Reid L. Rosenthal's pen: "Dawn on the day of departure was a brilliant palette of indigo in retreat to the west and blossoming fire orange to the east. The Mississippi had a slight chop from the morning wind, the surface ripples reflecting the burgeoning day in a shimmer of color."
Five stars are not enough. One book is not enough. Let there be more Threads West. Soon!-- Eve Paludan
Eve Paludan was twice a #1 Writer's Digest Book Club national bestselling author of The Romance Writer's Pink Pages, a three-book series from Prima. Paludan is also an editor of scholarly work at a state university, as well as a freelance fiction editor, e-publisher at NoTreeBooks.com, and a book reviewer. She is also the author of the novel, Letters from David and the novel manuscript, The Man Who Fell from the Sky, pending publication.
Get it - first day of first printing is October 12: http://threadswestamericansaga.com/
Author site: ReidLRosenthal.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Anticipation - standing on the point of change
A fantastic literary agent has my entire novel manuscript. She's reading it. She has a lot of manuscripts to read. She posted on her blog that manuscripts under review have a 10% chance of being accepted. Around Oct 6, authors who will be offered representation will get a phone call. The others will get an e-mail rejection.
Arghhhhh! The suspense is intense. This is one of the most important moments of my professional life, coming soon!
And, of course, I cannot get this song out of my head:
Arghhhhh! The suspense is intense. This is one of the most important moments of my professional life, coming soon!
And, of course, I cannot get this song out of my head:
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Still in the running
At the advice of an industry professional, I cut 20,000 words from my novel. It's svelte and fast-paced, a much better read at 90,000 words. The executive editor of a large publisher who had the longer version requested the shorter revision. My manuscript is now under serious consideration. I'm, of course, very excited and hope she loves the revision.
In the meantime, I'm working on editing three fiction anthologies. Come see:
http://www.notreebooks.com/submissions
Agent news: After requesting two separate exclusives and a revision (see above), the agent who tied up my manuscript for 8 weeks (including rewrite time) said "no thank you" after her previous praise of "great potential." No reason given. She was very nice, so I won't grouse about it. She also sent it to her readers and they apparently liked it a lot. This kind of stuff happens all the time -- the almosts -- but the end result is that I have a KICK-ASS version of my novel manuscript and the biggest romance publisher in the world is considering it. So it was, after all, a positive experience and I am grateful that the agent asked me to cut 20,000 words. It was nice of her to take the time to like my work that much and ask others what they thought. I will also cut her a lot of slack because my manuscript landed in her office after the death of an associate and that, I am sure, affected her desire to take me on as a client. Sometimes, the timing of such events can affect a business and I wouldn't want her to take me on as a client when so much else is going on and she already has a full list. I can honestly say the manuscript has been honed to a fine perfection and is the best work I've ever done. I'm so proud of this manuscript and will keep riding on my comeback trail.
The waits are interminable, between submission and news related to it, but it's all part of the process, so I try to work on other things and be patient. Life is wonderful.
In the meantime, I'm working on editing three fiction anthologies. Come see:
http://www.notreebooks.com/submissions
Agent news: After requesting two separate exclusives and a revision (see above), the agent who tied up my manuscript for 8 weeks (including rewrite time) said "no thank you" after her previous praise of "great potential." No reason given. She was very nice, so I won't grouse about it. She also sent it to her readers and they apparently liked it a lot. This kind of stuff happens all the time -- the almosts -- but the end result is that I have a KICK-ASS version of my novel manuscript and the biggest romance publisher in the world is considering it. So it was, after all, a positive experience and I am grateful that the agent asked me to cut 20,000 words. It was nice of her to take the time to like my work that much and ask others what they thought. I will also cut her a lot of slack because my manuscript landed in her office after the death of an associate and that, I am sure, affected her desire to take me on as a client. Sometimes, the timing of such events can affect a business and I wouldn't want her to take me on as a client when so much else is going on and she already has a full list. I can honestly say the manuscript has been honed to a fine perfection and is the best work I've ever done. I'm so proud of this manuscript and will keep riding on my comeback trail.
The waits are interminable, between submission and news related to it, but it's all part of the process, so I try to work on other things and be patient. Life is wonderful.
Monday, August 2, 2010
My toughest editing assignment yet
Today I started to edit a journal article that will be submitted to five medical journals. (I'll explain simultaneous submissions to the author.) The journals all have different submission guidelines and different reference styles, different rules about abbreviated journal titles in the references, modified Vancouver rules, etc. I've never used the American Medical Association style. I had to Google examples and depend on the guidelines for almost everything. I read some articles from those journals and was just amazed at the ratio of passive voice to active voice, definitely not what I usually see. I may need to create five versions of the journal article manuscript, one file for each targeted journal. Oh, my. I think targeting more than one journal is overkill, though.
I'm surrounded by brilliant people, people who change the world with their words. Works for me.
My brain got a tremendous workout today. I'm going to curl up with The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand and try to slow down a little before I go to sleep. Why yes, I am a book nerd.
I'm surrounded by brilliant people, people who change the world with their words. Works for me.
My brain got a tremendous workout today. I'm going to curl up with The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand and try to slow down a little before I go to sleep. Why yes, I am a book nerd.
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