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How I Signed with a Literary Agent

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

I signed with Margaret Hart of the HSW Literary Agency last July (2011). We met at the Humber School for Writers Summer Workshop.

Sounds easy, but it was a long journey to get there.  I attended the Humber School For Writers correspondence course with Joan Barfoot as my mentor. At the completion of that program my novel wasn’t ready to submit to an agent.

Throughout the course I compiled many tips from Joan and used these to improve my writing.

After spending a week with Mary Gaitskill at the summer workshop in 2010, Mary introduced me to Margaret, and she kindly agreed to read Fracture Line. I spent another month updating the manuscript, this time based on comments from Mary Gaitskill, before sending it to Margaret.

Margaret’s first feedback was that she liked the novel, but I had to pick up the pace. I asked a few specific questions about what she meant and then got to work. Four months and a lot of rewriting later, I resubmitted Fracture Line. This time Margaret was happy and she offered me a contract.

There are many ways to sign with a literary agency, but getting connected through the Humber School for Writers sure helped me. If your interested, the summer workshop is starting July 7, 2012.

Mattina on the Hard

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Part of our cruising lifestyle includes putting our boat on the hard for the summer. I’m always sad to put her away, but ecstatic when we get to launch her again.

Mattina, our Lagoon 380 S2, is on land, tucked safely away. She’s in a marina in Florida. Our only worry for the summer is a hurricane, and there’s not much we can do about that, so really why worry.

There is value in decommissioning and re-commissioning  each season. The process forces us to evaluate each piece of equipment, deep clean storage spaces, fridge and freezer, determine if repairs are needed and perform any yearly maintenance. I think if we didn’t get off the boat each summer, we might not get around to some of these tasks because we are too busy enjoying sailing the boat.

So for now, while our boats takes a rest, I’ll stop my Wednesday blog about cruising and start it up again in the fall.

Crime Writers of Canada

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 1 Comment

At every writer’s conference, I hear how important it is for writers to have a platform, but when you’re just starting out, how do you create a network of people? If you’re a Canadian Crime writer and looking for a way to build your platform and make connections in the writing world, the Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) might be for you.

This is my third year as an associate member, and all of a sudden I realized I belonged to a group that could help me expand my network and connect me with people who write in crime genre.

Now here’s the delightful surprise. I sent LinkedIn invitations to the other CWC members, and I’m getting messages back almost as fast as I can read them.

CWC has professional members (those who have published their work) and associate members (those who are unpublished), and I’ve connected with many authors in both groups.

This members’ list can be found at Bios on the CWC website  along with writer’s webpages and profiles. It’s a great way to explore Canadian crime novels.

I spent the weekend being amazed at how generous people are with their time and how willing they are to add me to their network.

Related articles (just a little insight into the CWC) . . .

Do Dogs Need Role Models?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

#Dogs

Joe, the 120 lb retriever, teaches Farley, the 15 lb wheaten terrier, some manners.

Farley arrived home at 8 weeks old, and Joe spent a few months teaching him how to behave like a dog.

Joe is a very tolerant and gentle dog, and even though he is huge, he made a great leader for Farley.

The best friends played, slept and ate together.

Driving Across Canada

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Ottawa to Winnipeg: 2000 Km of writing time – except when it’s my turn to drive.

The views are spectacular, the roads winding (until you hit the prairies), and there are ample passing lanes.  But what do you do with your time, hour after hour, in the car?

I find my mind wanders and with time to think, I get inundated with ideas. I keep a notebook handy to capture my thoughts. If I’m driving, my husband has to write them down. If only I could get him to write neatly.

Living is such a big country and having family in several provinces, along with the crazy notion that driving is the right way to get there, gives me lots of hours to write. I’ve written entire scenes without noticing what town we passed through, or that maybe we should stop for lunch, or that we are arriving.

As this is posted I am somewhere between Wawa, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba hopefully coming up with some great ideas for my fourth novel.

Sailboat Stored For The Summer

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Up on the hard, as they say. Mattina, our Lagoon 380, has been stored for the season.

Every year the list of tasks seems to get easier as we store and secure the boat for the summer.

The handy Excel spreadsheet seeps into every aspect of my life, including keeping track of boat tasks. We have a three page to-do list to remind us of everything that needs to be done.

Some of the important items that keep our boat in great condition include:

  • Taking all sails and canvas down and storing below
  • Flushing water maker
  • Waxing
  • Maintaining engines and genset
  • Emptying food lockers, fridge and freezer (Get to eat everything left in one day)
  • Washing all settee covers
  • Plugging through hulls (don’t want any unwanted critters to get aboard)
  • And on and on it goes…

It’s sad to put the boat away for the summer, but we look forward to getting back on board in the fall. The more we do in the spring, the easier it is in the fall when we are anxious to get going again.

Interruptions While Writing

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

#writetip

When you write at home do you get interrupted? I’ve heard it said that you wouldn’t get interrupted if you worked in an office. Well, I’ve worked in an office, and I did get interrupted, just not from my family. I think we all get interrupted.

They key for me is to not let it happen at critical moments. At work I could shut my office door. At home, maybe there isn’t an office door.

Here’s what did the trick for me. I explained why a 10 second interruption hurt my writing.

When I’m writing, I hold 2, 3 sometimes 4 ideas in my head at a time. If someone says “Do you know where the (blank – and you can fill in whatever blank is) is?,  the ideas in my head crash to the ground and shatter. I then spend the next idea picking them up and putting them back together again.

This description seemed to work and now I’m left alone unless there is a true emergency.

Now all you need to do is define a true emergency.

Related articles

Running Safely with Your Dog

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

#dogs

Farley, my wheaten terrier, loves to run. If he can run off leash, he is ecstatic. I only let him do this if he is in a safe place. In the photo, he’s running in a wheat field in Manitoba.

When I take him running with me on the road or on paths he is on a leash.

For my safety, I have a leash with a belt. I wear it around my waist and that way, if he jerks sideways at, oh say a rabbit, he won’t jar me. This protects my knees and shoulders.

But really I’m writing about dog safety.

First, learn the dog’s limits. Farley can do 10K. More than that and he seems sore. I’m not sure running in a straight line at a consistent pace is what dogs are build for.  He can run forever off leash and not show any signs of soreness.

I have a command for him to run on my right side. He’s been trained to heel on my left, but this doesn’t work while running. On the right, he is tucked between me and the side of the road.

This allows cyclists to pass without the worry that Farley will dart in front of them, and it allows me to be sure he won’t dart unexpectedly in front of a passing car. If there are other dog walkers coming the other way, I have better control of Farley so he can’t stop of a visit.

If you have any tips about running with your dog, I’d love to hear them.

English to German: Translation Process

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Translation Process

It’s been two days of translation work and we are at the end of Chapter one. Since this is the first time my translator and I have worked together on a project we are carefully working on each sentence.

Our process:

–       Read sentence out loud in English.

–       Read sentence out loud in German.

–       Discuss whether we have it right.

–       Investigate words in two printed dictionaries and three online ones.

–       Agree on changes.

–       Start on next sentence.

I think I might have to stay here all summer! 🙂

As we go along, the work should be faster. We understand each other better and are quicker at deciding what word we want.

Land Crabs

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

#sailing The creatures we meet while living on a sailboat can be alien.

These creatures come out at night. They scratch their way across the sand and sound like something out of a horror movie. Come to think of it, they look like something out of a horror movie. If you don’t know what they are, they can be a bit scary. They are slow moving, and as far as I know, harmless.

We spotted this beauty on an early morning run.