Jessica Ferguson

Author, Writing Coach, Speaker

Receiving Awards with Gratitude

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I received an email last night that my novella, The Last Daughter, won second place in the 2014 International Digital Awards in the Suspense Short category. As happy as I was to win second, I was just as disappointed that it wasn’t first place. Does that sound ungrateful? I’m not ungrateful. I treasure every good review and compliment and award I get when it comes to my writing. I NEED the kudos. Any negativity just throws me into a deep, dark mental hole.

I know my writing lacks a certain sophistication, and I can’t help but think that’s what the problem might be. Of course, I’m going back to an article I read that said publishers/editors/agents are looking for sophisticated writing. And then I remember the Amazon review that stated my book sounded as if it was written by a teenager.

What is sophisticated writing? One article I read stated to reach that level we need to increase our vocabulary. Another article stated sophisticated writing doesn’t mean using big words. There are so many opinions and points of view.

I recognize sophisticated writing, I just can’t figure out how I can achieve it. Maybe I do write like a teenager. If so, it’s probably because I think and talk like one too.

Would love your take on sophisticated writing. Share.

There’s Nothing Like A Wedding

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Here it is September 17th. How time flies! I thought I’d be writing up a storm by now, but guess what: we’re still involved in the hellacious home renovation. A hot water pipe burst in the slab, flooded our bedroom and the hallway so our new wood laminate floors have been pulled up. Four holes were cut in the walls trying to locate the source of the problem, then holes were cut at the bottom of our new kitchen cabinets so tubes attached to fans could blow the water dry.  My vow was to edit/revise my novel by early November. I’m trying but at a snail’s pace. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Let’s  focus on something more pleasant, and certainly more beautiful–our daughter’s wedding. I’ll share some photos with you. As some of you know, it was a “literary” wedding. Every table centerpiece was a stack of three books.

   Guests registered in a wonderful coffee table book called Books Do Decorate a Room. They just turned to their favorite page and signed. Below, you can see the delicious cake and the bride’s fancy shoes. She was determined her feet would NOT hurt during the wedding reception! 

 

 
 Her dad shook hands with the groom. The groomsmen looked on. As you can see, daughter had some beautiful bridesmaids. Three of them are best friends from her LSU days–they met her freshman year (2001) and have been BFFs ever since.

And I pray they live happily ever after.

Oklahoma Authors, Love and A Cursed Doll

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Many of you know that hubby and I lived in Oklahoma for about eighteen months. I think Oklahoma must be one of the most interesting states in our country. It oozes creativity and authors. I loved it.

While there, I had the opportunity to participate in a series of novellas with the recurring theme of a cursed Scrimshaw doll. The curse began in the late seventeenth century when a father feared his daughter’s betrothed would betray her. A gypsy attempted to hex the girl with this spell: All those who betray you will suffer. Only true love can break the curse. Unfortunately, the curse went into the doll the daughter held, and has been passed on for centuries.

All our stories are written in various genres and all stand alone. They were published by The Wild Rose Press as individual releases, but we’re excited that they have been released in two boxed sets.

If you ever have an opportunity to write a series with a group of writers, go for it. It’s a learning experience but loads of fun. We hope you enjoy our Scrimshaw Doll series!

Pirate’s Proposal – Diana Layne
The English Lily – Kae Elle Wheeler
Trail of Hope – Heidi Vanlandingham
Fading Rose – Tamrie Foxtail
The Last Daughter – Jessica Ferguson

 





Volume 2: Burdened includes:

The Color of Betrayal – Kathy L. Wheeler
Thicker Than Water – Alicia Dean
Skinbound – Anna Kittrell
Tessa’s Treasures – Callie Hutton
The Bone Bride – Tamrie Foxtail

IWSG: Rejection and Encouragement

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Today is IWSG day-the first Wednesday of each month. IWSG stands for Insecure Writers Support Group and was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Our purpose is to share and encourage.  You can follow other IWSG members here or on twitter using the hashtag #IWSG. We also have a Facebook page.

I submitted a mini-mystery about three months ago to Woman’s World magazine, and received the rejection a week or so ago. I felt so certain it might find a home with them. We never know, do we? But I think it’s good to feel positive about our work. It makes it a little harder when the rejection comes but still … maybe next time. Hope some of you are getting acceptances instead of rejections.

I can’t think of a better way to encourage you than to share Cindi Myers’ newsletter with you.

Every year Cindi attends the annual Romance Writers of America conference and comes home to share market info with her readers. As usual, she allows us to pass the info on to our blog readers too. I think that’s incredibly generous of her so invite you to check out/subscribe to her blog HERE. 

This week Cindi is spotlighting St. Martin’s Press.  Read on:
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The Spotlight on St. Martin’s Press was presented by Publisher Jennifer Enderlin, Associate Publisher Ann Marie Talberg, Associate Editor Rose Hilyard, Executive Editor Monique Patterson and Associate Editor Eileen Rothschild. St. Martin’s publishes all formats and all kinds of fiction. They produce three to four romances a month in hardcover, trade paperback or mass market formats. In addition to the editorial staff, they have an 11 person marketing team. All the St. Martin’s romance editors will accept queries from unagented authors.

Jennifer Enderlin began by talking about “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Publishers”:
1. They know their authors are a resource. They want the author’s feedback on covers, marketing, etc.
2. They are not slaves to trends. Once you identify a trend, it’s over.
3. They do not give up quickly.
4. They know they are working with an author. It is not a case of ‘us vs. them’ but ‘we.’
5. They understand we live in a global world, and take a global approach to marketing and publishing.
6. They listen to editorial passion. If an editor is passionate about a project, they will take a chance.
7. They have fun. They are readers and book lovers who are excited about their work.

Ann Marie Talberg is a former bookseller and romance buyer for Waldenbooks. She oversees the Heroes and Heartbreakers website and St. Martin’s ebook original program and welcomes romance submissions of both novels and novellas for the ebook program, and short stories for the website. Find out more details about Heroes and Heartbreakers here.

Monique Patterson is interested in all kinds of romance, except sweet and inspirational. She’d also like to see some high concept commercial women’s fiction, and she’s open to contemporary fantasy with strong romantic elements. She also edits some literary fiction. She loves paranormal romance and is still buying it. She prefers a snail mail submission of a query, synopsis and first three chapters of the book.

Ellen Rothschild is actively building her list of authors. She loves Alpha heroes, redemption stories and “quirky, sassy, interesting heroines.” She’d love to see a contemporary trilogy about brothers. She’s open to all sub-genres of romance except historical romance. She prefers an email query.

Rose Hilyard is open to submittions of all kinds of romance, including sweet romance, Young Adult, New Adult, women’s fiction, and erotic romance. Her favorite books are either really sexy or really sweet. She loves historical romance, and she’d love to see more Christmas books in all sub-genres. She accepts both email and snail mail queries.

The editors did not give out their email addresses at the workshop, however, the standard form for email there seems to be firstname.lastname@stmartins.com.
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Tor.com, the online short story magazine for science fiction stories, is closed to submissions until October 1. The magazine is separate from Tor Books, the publisher, which remains open to both agented and unagented submissions.
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Eldritch Press is seeking steampunk horror stories for an upcoming anthology, Lost Worlds. Stories may be up to 17,500 words and should focus on post-prophetic or end-times scenarios in which the world has been reconstructed with mechanized curiosities and steam power. Payment is 6 cents a word and the deadline for submissions is December 30, 2014. Find all the details here.

Thank you Cindi Myers. Readers, for more about Cindi and her books, check out her websites here and here. And good luck with your submissions!

IWSG – Encouraging Quotes

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Today is IWSG day-the first Wednesday of each month. IWSG stands for Insecure Writers Support Group and was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Our purpose is to share and encourage.  You can follow other IWSG members here or on twitter using the hashtag #IWSG. We also have a Facebook page.

I thought I’d share some encouraging quotes today. Maybe these ten will give you something to think about.  If you find one that speaks to you, share how and why.

1) No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.~ Anonymous

2) You can do anything, but not everything. ~Anonymous

3) Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. ~Dale Carnegie

 4) Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning. ~Robert Kiyosaki

5) Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better. ~Jim Rohn

6) It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. ~Anonymous

7) If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission. ~Anonymous

8) Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. ~John Wooden

9) To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. ~Anonymous

10) Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. ~Maya Angelou

I’m afraid numbers 4 and 9 really say a lot about me. Way too often, I give in to my fear and let it control me. I need to get a tattoo that reads lose the fear! Unfortunately, I FEAR needles!

Do you have a favorite quote that says a lot about you? Share!

Insecure Writers Support Group

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It’s IWSG Day! IWSG stands for Insecure Writers Support Group and was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. You can follow other IWSG members here  and on twitter using the hashtag #IWSG.
Our purpose is to share and encourage.

These days I wonder if I’ll ever write again. Retirement, renovation, weddings… set backs! Renovation is complete but now we have to put the house back in order. A challenge. Not as fun as it should be.

And while I’m contemplating where the new sofa will go, or what color rug to purchase to complement the new wood floors, time marches on, technology changes, marketing and social media become more and more important and complicated … and I’m behind on keeping up with it all.

I know it’s true that if we quit writing, we forget how to write. I’ve been there/done that before. The old saying if you don’t use it you lose it is true. This is what writer’s block is made of: fear. Fear that life is rushing by and I’m not accomplishing anything. I just pile ideas in my cell phone and hope someday my life gets back to normal.

Then I ask myself: what’s normal? Haven’t I been hearing a lot about the “new normal.” Surely this isn’t MY new normal! If so, I don’t like it! I don’t want it!

I’m keeping the quote by S.K. Gipson at the forefront of my mind: “Success may be measured in determination, but only those who persevere ever see success.”

Persevere.

P. E. R. S. E. V. E. R. E.

Let’s make a pact to persevere.



CFBA Introduces Until I Found You by Victoria Bylin

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Until I Found You is the third book I’ve read for CFBA this month. I have one word to say: AMAZING! And to think I almost didn’t order it because the blurb sounded so cliché. The reason I did order it is because of the hero–he’s a travel writer. Often, editors don’t want characters who write or paint or play sports. Artists and writers are a big draw for me. How about you?
 
While I liked the hero and heroine, the grandmother truly fascinated me. I wish there was a prequel. I would love to read her story.
 
Another thing I found fascinating is that the hero was a new Christian, but the heroine isn’t a Christian at all until later in the book. I was curious to see how the author handled it. I was somewhat bothered that neither of them referred to the Bible, yet the heroine talked about how one gets to know God. He wasn’t real to her… she felt alone. I kept waiting for the hero to share his favorite scriptures, for her to pick up a Bible but she didn’t. I wasn’t really satisfied with her conversion but to each his own, huh?
 
You’re probably wondering why I thought this book was so amazing. It’s not just one thing. It’s how everything played together. I wouldn’t like this heroine at all, without this particular hero and his own vulnerabilities, though I have to say, I’d probably like this hero anywhere, in any book. What tied it all together for me–what really made it amazing–was grandma, her problems, her memories, and her relationship with the California condors.
 
What is a California condor? A scavenger that eats large amounts of rotting animal flesh. It’s one of the world’s longest-living birds, with a lifespan of up to 60 years. This author created a romance around what we here in the South call a buzzard. Interesting?
 
This is my first Victoria Bylin book. I like her writing style. Her characters are realistic. I plan to see what else this author has to offer me, and I’ll look deeper than the blurb.
 

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Until I Found You
Bethany House Publishers (May 6, 2014)
by
Victoria Bylin

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:A word from the Author:

This may sound crazy, but I was driven to write romance by giant bugs and killer rabbits. I just couldn’t take it anymore. My husband and two sons would be camped in front of the television watching a movie about spiders the size of bowling balls, and I’d be wondering when the handsome scientist would get around to kissing the spunky woman with the bug spray. When it didn’t happen, I decided to write my own happy endings–without the giant bugs…

Known for her realistic, likable characters and vivid writing, Victoria Bylin writes both western and contemporary inspirational romance. Her books have finaled in the ACFW Carol Awards, the Rita Awards and RT Magazine’s Reviewers’ Choice Awards. She and her husband currently live in Lexington, Kentucky and have two grown sons.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Finding each other was only the beginning . . .

When Kate Darby swerves off a mountain road to avoid hitting a California condor, she ends up trapped in her car, teetering on the edge of a cliff. Terrified, she breathes a prayer that changes her life.

It’s Nick Sheridan who comes to Kate’s rescue. Nick is handsome and confident, and he seems to develop a habit of rescuing her, but Kate is in town only until her grandmother recuperates from a stroke. She’s not planning to get involved with one of the locals.

Nick is a reformed veteran of life in the fast lane, a new Christian, and a travel writer. When he sees a car dangling on the edge of a cliff, the daredevil in him jumps into action. He doesn’t expect to be swept off his feet by the car’s occupant. He’s made a vow–no dating for a year–but keeping that vow is going to be a lot more difficult now that he’s met Kate Darby. . . .

If you’d like to read the first chapter of Until I Found You, go HERE.

Blog Tour and Happy, Happy Birthday

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Late last year, I had an opportunity to be a part of a series of Christmas stories. While I don’t “comfortably” write short stories, I jumped at the chance because Kathi Macias was spearheading it, and I knew anything that had Kathi’s name on it would be a success. Plus, this would be my first real chance to write Christian fiction and be published by a Christian publisher. How could I let this opportunity get by me?

Kathi said the theme would be 12 Days of Christmas and that we twelve writers (that includes her) could write anything we wanted–a historical, a mystery, a romance, Amish fiction–whatever. The catch was that the story had to take place on a single day. Our stories would be epublished first, then come out in an anthology. It all sounded good to me.

My story occurs ten days before Christmas. The title is If You Believe, and the theme is “trust God’s will for your dreams.” My theme meant something to me. I knew when I married my husband after being divorced for nine years, and moved to Louisiana almost immediately (after living in Texas all my life), I was trusting God’s will.

Thirty-one years ago today, our daughter was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Here’s a picture of when we stood before our pastor and dedicated her to God. Look how tiny she is. Just looking at this picture, I can hardly believe she’s real.

Here’s a picture of her “reading” her little picture book. We put books in her hands from the get-go. We definitely wanted a young reader!  A few weeks after she was born, she attended her first writer’s meeting–at our house. Her first public appearance was to the Goodwood Library in Baton Rouge.

By the time she was three, she knew many of my author friends and was a Hemingway fan…through me, of course. We lived in New Iberia, Louisiana and started a writer’s group there.

Our daughter has always been chatty and had a beautiful, happy personality. You can probably see that by these other two pictures. 

On May 29th, 12 Days of Christmas will release. If you’re wondering what my daughter has to do with any of this … it’s simple. She’s always my heroine. No matter what I write–mystery or romance–the heroine is always the young woman you see here. 

Happy birthday, Chaney. Thank you for being the perfect daughter for me and your father. The years went too fast.
I pray God’s blessings on you, and that you’ll always trust God’s will for your life. I love you.


 Please visit the other authors in our 12 Days of Christmas anthology. Several are giving away a copy or you can purchase one HERE. We hope you enjoy our stories and above all, we hope they bless you.

May 19 – Ruth L. Snyder at http://ruthlsnyder.com/

May 20 – Anne Baxter Campbell at http://pewperspective.blogspot.ca/
May 21 – Marcia Lee Laycock at http://marcialeelaycock.com/
May 22 – Mishael Witty at http://bluebrownbooks.com/
May 23 – Christine Lindsay at www.christinelindsay.com/
May 24 – Sheila Lagrand at http://sheilalagrand.com/
May 26 – Jessica Ferguson at http://jessyferguson.blogspot.com
May 28 – Peg Phifer at http://www.whispersinpurple.com
May 29 – Jeanette Hanscome at http://jeanettehanscome.com/

IWSG Day! and More!

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I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date!

Today is IWSG day–the first Wednesday of the month. IWSG stands for Insecure Writers Support Group and was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. You can follow other IWSG members here  and on twitter using the hashtag #IWSG.

Our purpose is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds.

We’re wrapping up renovation at our house and then, after putting everything back in its place, I’ll be in a position to tackle another kind of renovation. Novel renovation! Short story renovation! Mental renovation! I can’t wait!

You probably remember that I said I planned to go to the library every day of renovation and write. Did. Not. Happen. Why on earth I thought I’d be able to do such a thing is beyond me. I’ve never renovated a house before. I’ll give you a tip. Move out completely. Rent a pod or a storage house and get all your furniture out. Otherwise, you’ll go stark raving mad!

When it comes to renovating novels, I suppose we might say the same thing. Some people segregate things. One day they might tackle characterization or setting. The next, they look at the plot line. I hear Scrivener is great at helping compartmentalize things like this. I’m slowly learning Scrivener so we’ll see.

Even though I’m late posting IWSG today, I wanted to post to encourage you all. (And I didn’t want Alex to get me!)

On another note, I’d like for you to read an interview with me and my partner, Jan Rider Newman at The Review Review. Leslie Schultz spoke with us about starting our literary magazine, Swamp Lily Review. The Review Review quoted me at the very top of the website! I’m thrilled!

Z is for Zero

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Today is my last day of blogging through the alphabet with the many others participating in the 2014 A to Z Challenge. It has been fun and, as the name implies, challenging. We’ve blogged daily–except for Sunday. I’m glad the end has come but I’m sad too. I always enjoy putting my thoughts down with no pre-planning. Something about spontaneous writing the morning of, proves to me that I CAN write every day. I need to make myself do it.

Today is Z day and I’ve chosen Zero for absolutely Zero words toward fiction writing. Ever since we started thinking about renovation, I’ve been unable to worm any creativity out of my mind toward my novels. Okay, I did write a 700 word mini-mystery, and I have met my NF deadlines. I guess that counts. But the novels are on the hard drive, exactly the way they were when we moved back home from Oklahoma last August. That’s embarrassing. And pathetic!

Time marches on. Hair gets grayer. Mind gets slower. Fingers become more arthritic.

Zero writing progress.

Zero sounds like such a nothing state of mind.

I’ve decided to pretend this A to Z Challenge is never-ending, and write at least 500 words a day on a new project. (Once I start, I can write for hours so maybe more than 500?) New projects are exciting. They energize us, don’t they? Once they’re embedded in our mind, they’re all we think about. Plotting, planning, naming characters, working out the conflict.

Keep your fingers cross for me.

Down with Zero productivity–for all of us!

Tell me what you plan to do now that you aren’t A to Z-ing any more. Rest? Dive into a new project? Finish an old one?  Share with us.

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The A to Z Challenge is the brainchild of Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out. Every year there are hundreds and hundreds of participants. This year 2018 bloggers signed up.  There’s some mighty good reading on these blogs. Check them out!