C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

Last Official Day of the Swamp Hop & Taking On The Whole Enchilada

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This is the official last day for that SWAMP HOP. Do I hear huge sighs of relief? Try to muffle your joy, okay? The good thing about being last is these posts are not the least. There’s a saying about that, right?

JESSICA HAIGHT of FAIRDAY-MORROW fame is interviewing me and the beauteous SHERI LARSON is doing a guest post-giveaway for Alligators Overhead. SAMANTHA MAY, bless her college-bound heart is also hosting me on this final Friday.

They’re all great blogger, so I hope you’ll pay them a visit, say hi, and join their blogs if you’re not already a follower.

Now about this business of self-publishing. I promised I’d do some posts about three main decisions a writer has to make when embarking on this journey. I have to amend that after reading the wonderful comment by KAREN G. She pointed out, and rightfully so, the distinction between Small Presses and Presses that provide services for money. So I’m adding another major decision category and calling it the SMALL PRESS decision.

Now THE WHOLE ENCHILADA

As to taking everything on your own shoulders, let’s start by identifying just what “everything” means and looking at these tasks from my recent experience. I’m assuming you already have a website or a major blog and that’s it’s spectacular.

Editing (I’ll only refer to proofreaders in this post and leave Development Editors and Copy Editors for another series): I will never again try to do final edits of my own work. I thought I could because I seem to be darned good at spotting errors in other people’s writing. I have an excellent proofreader, and I usually rely on her, but she had to leave town on business and couldn’t handle my job. I should have hired someone else, but I didn’t. Do not make this mistake.

Cover Design: I’m a writer, not a designer, so while I selected the image of the alligators in their swamp, I wisely paid an artist to tailor the cover for my book. It’s the font and the clever way he inserted the boys and the alligator inside those fonts that tweaked the image to make it fun and unique.

Book Trailer: (if you want one of these) I wanted one because I love these things and I often buy a book if the trailer pulls me into the story. Definitely, find someone to do this for you. I tinkered with one, but it only turned me off watching it. I wouldn’t  have bought my own book if I’d published that.

Distribution: I’m still fuzzy on all of this, but my book is listed in Ingram’s & Baker & Taylor. it’s available in every eBook format that I know of, and I have what Mark Coker refers to as “quaint” print version.

Buzz: I’ve done this blog hop and I’m looking closely to see if that affects the sales of my book. I’m doing a goodreads giveaway and checking that for results as well. I’ll probably be doing a FREE book promo over one weekend. I did a RADIO INTERVIEW, but I think that was more fun than buzz creating.

Reviews: I requested reviews from online bloggers. 15 have accepted either an eBook or a paperback for review. When I give a book away during a guest blog appearance, I ask those winners for a review, and if I win a book I’m sure to review it because of that Karma thing I happen to believe in. I also decided to sub the book to Kirkus Indie Reviews.

What did I miss? What would you do differently when tackling these parts of book publishing? Is the whole enchilada approach something you’d take on?

The Swamp Hop Still Under Seige. Lynn Nerd Kelly Sympathetic

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Lynn Nerd Kelly reacts to CAT attitude.

The cats have returned from their conference. Some are willing to negotiate, some refuse. 

Negotiations have resumed. Fortunately, LYNN NERD Kelly has stepped in to bring all of you up to date on this issue. Please stop by and lend your support.

This CAT matter will be settled soon, then I’m going to the Bahamas and swim with these guys.  They aren’t  sharks, are they?

The Swamp Hop Moves Ahead

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If you’ve got a book out and you’d like to talk about it to a few million people, here’s one way. The Book Club Radio Program with John Austin. He does a mean interview. I’ve put mine here if you want to have sample of what happens. Once you’re on the site, you can find a lot more.

Now about today . . . 
Five blogger/writers let the alligators visit. They even let me tag along on this part of the Swamp Hop!

Ruth Schiffmann goes OUT ON A LIMB and hosts Alligators Overhead. 

SUSAN KAYE QUINN let’s me go on a bit more about characterization, so I hope you stop in and see us there.

Carrie Butler offers up my piece “Is It YA or MG?” on her supercalifragilisticexpialidocious blog, SO, YOU’RE A WRITER . . . 

and at Arlee Bird’s TOSSING IT OUT I take my life in my hands and talk about “catnip and writers.” I hate to even mention catnip these days. 

I’m very excited to be Empty Nest Insider’s first ever guest! 

Don’t dilly dally here today. I’m taking a nap before I start the last lap around the SWAMP. Remember I still have those ridiculous cats to deal with when they return from their conference. This story has an ending, so stay tuned! 

The Swamp’s The Happenin’ Place

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The swamp does seem to be where all the ACTION is today because Alligators is visiting three more great blogs. And that started me thinking about–of all things–writing stories.


I’m one of those writers who likes to start with characters, then figure out what their story should be. I’m a terrible plotter, so it takes me a while to start the story engine, and I guess that’s why I  have to rewrite the beginning after I’ve written “The End.” My beginnings are miserable in early drafts. They can put a couch to sleep, really.

When I do my final revisions, I jump between rewriting the first pages to rewriting further into the story, tweaking both until I get that engine firing on all cylinders from page one. What I’ve found is that a smoothly running plot is really all about bringing those characters to life on the page before I do anything else. To me the characters are where the real ACTION is.

I have a lot to say about this, but I’m going to start with one easy characterization technique, EXAGGERATION. I love this when I’m writing for kids, but I think it works for adult stories as well. Here’s what I mean.

“Max towered over all the kids in the fifth grade and outweighed them by a bazillion pounds. He outweighed Josh by two bazillion.” (The Aliens From Murrg, C. Lee McKenzie)
Sure Max might be big, but I wanted him to appear super big to the kids at school. The description is funny because it’s impossible. It gives an idea to the reader that maybe this Max scares those kids, especially Josh, so there’s a bit of plot hinted in this short characterization. I’m getting to the ACTION through the character.
“Girl, my fingernails could grow an inch just waiting for you.” (High Hearts, Rita Mae Brown)
I loved this because how often have I waited for someone who is never on time, all the while wishing I had a way to express my frustration, humorously. Brown does that. I can see the friends in this scene, one tapping her foot, the other having just strolled up late again.
Do you use EXAGGERATION? Are characters your first entry into the story or do you try to figure out the plot first? I’ll try to come up with another technique tomorrow and run it past you to get your take on what I do when crafting my stories. 
Now I hope you’ll say hi to LM PRESTON whose newest book Flutter Of Love has just come out, but she’s written several and here’s another of her action-packed stories.
DARBY KARCHUT, who series is getting a lot of buzz and awards.
and DONNA MCDINE, who I’ve know since before I published anything, is going to host today and her interview is one I really enjoyed doing because I feel I’ve known her since I began this trip through book land. Hope you’ll stop in and say hi to this award winning author who supports authors all the time. 

Swamp Hop Goes to Hawaii & New Jersey . . .Then To A Fairday Place

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Hawaii and New Jersey? Now how can you do that, you ask. Easy. I have super powers. Where do you think I get my ideas? Certainly not from any natural talent. What I can’t steal, I conjure up. Plain and simple.

But where do ideas for our writing come from? So many writers say the seed of their book came from a news article or an overheard conversation or a trip. Ideas are those free floating, invisible bits that you happen on or that happen on you. Have you ever considered how many ideas you’ve missed? I often think that if I’d only turned left instead of right, I would have written a totally different book. If I’d only ordered Russian tea and not that cappuccino, another character would have materialized instead of the one that did. If I’d only gone to Spain and not to Turkey, the setting . . . You get the gist.

Where do your ideas come from? Do you remember what triggered that last novel or short story? Do you think about ideas you might be missing out on just by making one choice instead of another? Do you think I’m nuts? 






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I hope you’ll take a vacation with me as I say Aloha to MARK KOOPMANS. He’s a wild and joyful guy with a smile as big as the islands. He’ll make you laugh, so come say hi today.

Then in New Jersey the lovely CYNTHIA WILLIS has let me drop in for a visit with my book. She’s another one with a winning smile and lots to say about writing and life. Here are her books. They came from some lovely ideas. Hope to see you there.

Now off to THE SECRET FILES OF FAIRDAY MORROW who gives Alligators Overhead a review.

Swamp Hop Back on Track . . .Almost

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In “saner” times this blog connected with some great bloggers. One of them was Rach at RACH WRITES. Remember that wild month of April when we were A to Z all over the place? I saw a lot of these badges when I visit blogs, so I know you do.

During that month when daily blogging happened, I loved visiting Rach’s site because she temped me with a challenging prompt that I had to use to create a response, using the letter of the day. Oy!

Rach’s Prompt

Long story short. . . I started playing with those prompts and wrote the story so that each word started with the letter of the day. Another OY here, please. I didn’t make it all the way through the alphabet ( I think I got to P) my computer gathered up what I now realize was an immense hairball (all very logical due to recent developments on the cat protest issue.) and I had to stop. 

I thought that since I was visiting Rach today I’d regale you with two of my A and Z stories from the A to Z Blogging Challenge, sort of a stroll down memory lane. Ready? I’ll only subject you to two. Promise.

DAY C: Castaway Clara considered causality. Could Clara’s condition cease? Cautiously, Clara ceded control, collapsed . . . comatose. 

DAY D: Diedre, dazed, decried, “Don’t depart, Donald!” Donald dared defiance, decisively declaring, “Departure, dear Diedre, demands derring-do!” 

And so there you have the end to anyone asking me respond to writing prompt ever again. 

The Swamp Hop Goes Loopy

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The LOOPINESS is all Alex Cavanugh’s fault. Yes it is. I took his advice and offered up huge doses of CATNIP in hopes that when the cats returned to the negotiating table they’d be, well, mellow! This is what happened, instead. They can’t meow straight let alone negotiate!

Anyway, the launch must go on and to help sooth my angst over these latest developments, Alex has offered to have me on his BLOG. Please visit me at his place. I’ll definitely be there because I can’t stay here with all these stoned cats. You all know Alex because he writes these books that everybody’s talking about.

Then because I’m a very lucky writer, I get to take my Swamp Hop to MEDEIA SHARIF’S. She’s cooked up some wonderful questions for me to answer. Tell me if I get any wrong, okay? Check out Medeia’s book, too.  Is this a great cover, or what? If you know a little about me, you know my background is in intercultural communication, so I get excited about any book that smacks of intercultural themes. This one does, for sure!

LARISSA’S WORLD is a really beautiful blog, but she’s agreed to let me mess it up a bit with some alligators and swamp mud. She is very kind, so come say hi, and then stay to tidy up, okay?

KAI STRAND is a busy writer who has two books out and a third almost here. Still she has time to host me and my Swampy Crew, so stop in, count some gators and say hi.

See you all soon!

Swamp Hop Saga and Emotion

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Today Alligators Overhead is featured at Angela Ackerman’s Amazing The Bookshelf Muse . Her book will soon be in student hands in U. S. classrooms, and it’s about a topic dear to my heart–our silent language. Very powerful in life and very powerful in fiction. Hope you’ll stop in to say hi to me and to Angela today.  She’s given me a chance to pontificate, write about Synopses, One Strategy. Please come take a look and say hi.

Jemi is a wonderful blogger at Just Jemie and she’s kindly allowed me visit her there as well. If you don’t follow Jemi, you’re missing a lot of great posts.

Hope to see you at both blogs today. Gotta go so I can be in both places! 

Swamp Hop Still On But Check Out Pinterest Along the Way

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(My title for this post SU#2!!!K.) However, here’s a great article from PW by Kate Messner about Pinterest that I thought readers might like. The other day when I was on Verla Kay’s I expressed some concern about the copyright issue in the pinning and re-pinning on this media site; Kate responded by sending this link.

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Today I’m visiting some more special bloggers. Kelly Hashway gives one of  my characters a chance to have his say about Alligators Overhead. Kelly writes across genres from Picture Books to Young Adult fiction. TOUCH OF DEATH (Spencer Hill Press, 1/15/13) & CURSE OF THE GRANVILLE FORTUNE (Month9Books, 1/21/ 14) Her picture book, May The Best Dog Win is a wonderful early book.

Cece is hosting me as well and if my writer’s brain isn’t totally on the fritz, there’s a giveaway here.

And here’s something special . . . I’m blasting off to Spacedock19 to talk to the marvelous M.Pax. I’m over the moon . . . well, not really. I’m this side of the moon, right Mary? I’ll have to ask her where her Spacedock orbits. She doesn’t mess around in space, either. Look at her lineup of publications.

I also have the great pleasure of being on Cheryl Rainfield’s blog. Author of the realistic, contemporary Scars and Hunted.

I get so excited by all of this visiting. Don’t dawdle around here today, but please come see what’s going on at all this super sites.

Lee

Alligators Overhead On Its Swamp Hop Tour

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Because writers are the most amazing people on the planet, I’m on this SWAMP HOP with my first ever middle grade novel. Here are some writers who are helping to make my launch happen and happen well.

ALLIGATORS OVERHEAD ON TOUR
Tuesday, August 14

Swamp Hop Schedule

Julie Musil is going to INTERVIEW today. (*Lee turns cartwheel, then dials her chiropractor.) I hope you’ll pop by and say hello, then follow Julie’s blog. She’s a super blogger who introduces her readers to a lot of great books, but also pulls out what she learns by reading these books and shares it. One of her more recent posts on MATCHED was wonderful. I suggest you visit this post. It has some excellent writing tips.

Buddy, Mike Boyd’s owner and trainer, will interview me today, too, on his Confessions of A Canine Couch Potato. Buddy is considering a position as MUSE, so if you’re hiring one of those you might check out his credentials.

Beth Fred is hosting me on her blog, so I hope you’ll paddle over and say hi. It’s very pink over at her blog and very unswampy, so it will be a nice change from what you’re seeing here these days.

Thanks and here’s to a wonderful August.