We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Poem . . . The Accidental Novelist does have an actual accidental novel

I know it seems like there’s a lot of poetry on this site for being called “The Accidental Novelist.” And that would be because there IS a lot of poetry on this site. Poetry is my first love, it will be my last breath, and I believe every writer could improve his/her craft by creating room for poetry practice.

Poetry has made my work visual and given rhythm to my words. It teaches economy and breath.  I am a better screenwriter and novelist for it.

This post isn’t about poetry, though, it’s about the accidental novel that was accidentally launched last year, and is now making its very purposeful appearance!

If you don’t know the story, I originally wrote Brigitta of the White Forest as a feature screenplay several years ago. I decided to adapt it as a novel and that’s when I discovered I actually liked novel writing. No, more than that . . . I discovered that I could live inside it. I seriously had not thought of myself as a novelist, nor had I plans to become one. (And if I had thought romantically about it, I would have pictured some brooding journey of self and not a middle grade fantasy adventure about faeries.)

It was a happy accident.

The publisher is launching the official first edition (as opposed to the limited First Fan edition) THIS FRIDAY, Feb 11. I do not know when it will be available from Amazon or B&N, but I believe the distributor is shipping to them this week.

Buying directly from a small press publisher is always the most supportive thing you can do.

Also THIS FRIDAY, Indie Debut is officially launching its new website. Indie Debut is a collective of children’s book authors who are debuting books with small and independent presses. Anyone interested in learning about what it’s like to work with a small press will learn a ton from the site. We hope to be a service to those wanting to know more about the industry.

All DAY on Friday (Feb 11) there will be an OPEN HOUSE at the Indie Debut website with various activities. All the authors are offering contests and games and discussions. There will be swag, oh yes.

I am having a Faerie Wing contest over at The White Forest from 9 AM – noon (PST) on Friday as part of the Open House. Come play and win an autographed copy of the book. 🙂

Keep on swimming.

Interview with Indie Debut Author Jo Ramsey

I’m putting all my White Forest novel series and Indie Debut 2010 information on my new website: The White Forest

If you have a moment, take a look-see. I just posted an interview with debut author Jo Ramsey, who is the first Indie Debut 2010 to launch a book this year with her YA metaphysical fantasy Connection.

Indie Debut 2010’s First Debut of the Year!

(First off, anyone else out there wear potentially conflicting hats in the blog-o-sphere? I started The Accidental Novelist so I could talk about the writing life ups, downs, ins, outs… for an adult audience. It’s not all that risque, but definitely has contained some mature themes. Because my novel is a children’s novel, I’ve started to watch what I say around here. I’ve never been one to censor myself, so I’m having conflicting thoughts. Eventually, I’ll move all my kid-o-sphere material over to my novel series website: The White Forest)

AND NOW…

I belong to a fabulous collective called Indie Debut 2010. We are a group of writers who all have debut children’s books being released in 2010 by Small and Independent Presses.

The collective was started due to the marketing and distribution challenges of small presses. In my previous post, I mentioned how small presses couldn’t usually get on the shelves at major bookstore chains and were reliant upon online distribution, social media, and good old grass roots footwork.

When asked in a recent interview why she began the group, founder Amy Cook stated:

Frustration.  I saw how much buzz was being built by marketing groups like “Class of 2K9” and other debutante groups.  I wanted to join but was told over and over that I wasn’t eligible, because my press wasn’t listed in Children’s Writers and Illustrators Market.  A lot of small presses aren’t…  I knew I couldn’t be the only person in this situation, and being a die-hard ‘do-it-yourselfer’, I thought I’d put together my own group. I also hoped we might be able to capitalize on the recent groundswell of support for Indie Bookstores to generate publicity for our publishers and our books.

The first book to launch out of this group is Jo Ramsey‘s metaphysical fantasy YA novel Connection, which will be released next Friday (the e-book was already released last week). She’s been doing a blog tour this week and will be over at my new website: The White Forest this Friday.

This is so very exciting for us. There are a total of 12 of us for 2010 (and one author on board for Indie Debut 2011). It’s also a lesson that when we start to feel alone, frustrated, or overwhelmed we can always create a community of like-minded people and work together to ease the pressure.