Thailand Tour

I'm finally over the jetlag bit. Taking 28 services in a little less than a month is hectic, especially when travelling from place to place. Still it's amazing how you quickly adjust to travelling there, unpacking, getting ready for the night service, performing and preaching, talking to folk, eating late supper, going back to the hotel(usually a 1 star job) then off again the next morning!

We met some wonderful folk who want us to return. But we leave all the booking of our next itinerary to Somchai-our evangelist interpreter. So, health permitting, we'll be returning around the 2010 Christmas season. We love Saenthong, she looks after us food wise and also likes to do a bit of "roadying". We got to Phuket this year and you'd never guess a tsunami had struck. We dunked-in our jeans- in the Andaman Sea. A great experience!

Now it's finishing off my proposal to my agent, after working for a short time with an editor. I'm deeper into the point of view of my characters now and have strengthened all my verbs. It sure makes the writing sharper.

learning as I go

When I find out how to place pictures here, I'd like to take shots of the different artworks I do while my husband preaches. I have some already on my website at www.ritastellagalieh.com but a friend put them there. Now I need to ask this friend to show me how to do it for myself. I mean you can't strain the friendship can you?

writawrites

Being at a crossroads is always an interesting point in your life. Right now I'm waiting from an editor to see what corrections and/or suggestions she's made on my book proposal. I'm also waiting for a promised contract on another title. So I just sits and waits. And waits.

This is also the first time I've ever blogged and as I'm not a techie sort of person, I don't even know whether this will work out or not. By that I mean whether anyone will read this. In the meantime, I'm rambling while I'm waiting.

The most important thing I've learned lately is that presenting a book proposal to an agent or editor is quite a formidable task. It's a lot more than presenting your story. It's acquiring the art of making them want to read YOUR book above others. Therefore the actual publishing of said book gets one step closer.

When thousands of good writers are struggling to get their words into print you have to have an edge. A good hook first of all. eg. "How could she believe in her future when she couldn't escape her past?" (Does that sound interesting enough?) Then you need a short overview of the story, a synopsis of about 3 pages, your bio, market analysis, comparative book analysis and so on. Next, the first 3 Chapters. They've got to grab the attention or else why should they bother?