Every Woman Dreams…

(This post comes from one I did at the Book Boost on July 19, 2011.)
The Jane Austen Method of Pitching with Guest Blogger: Regina Jeffers

Meet author of all things Regency…Regina Jeffers…today at the Book Boost!

Here’s what she had to say about how to pitch your romance novel…

So, you have landed your first pitch session. Now what? To create a pitch for a romance novel, remember to offer a KISS by Keeping It Simple, Stupid. You will have ten-minutes or less to convince an industry savvy agent/editor that your manuscript is exactly for what a publisher searches. Some key points to consider before beginning the process include:

* Do your homework prior to the scheduled pitch. Know something of the publisher or agent. Who else does he represent? How does he view his place in the publishing realm? If it is an agent rather than an established editor, it is a good idea to know the agent’s mailing or web URL, what categories he represents, whether there is a charge for a reading fee, what manuscripts he has placed with publishers, etc.

* Secondly, practice your pitch. This is no time to “wing it.” I am a pantser by nature, but this is not one area in which I would go unprepared. Do you remember Speech 101 back in high school? There was a reason your guidance counselor advised you to take that class. This is that reason. Write out what you wish to say and practice it. Because invariably your nerves will effect what happens in those few short moments, notice that I did not say memorize your pitch. If you memorize the speech, you will leave something out. Practice means to review it over and over. To develop an organization. To make sure your ideas flow.

Within the pitch, one should include the word count, the genre (and subgenre, if necessary), and something of the setting. One might also mention the working title’s significance. Keep in mind, if sold to a publisher, a title change is likely.

In a romance, one must address both the hero and the heroine. Think through what you will say of these characters: adjectives to describe them; their motivations; their goals, and the conflicts the characters face. Be sure to include how the characters must resolve their differences to finally come together, but do not leave out how the antagonist or the circumstances come close to defeating them. Do not ramble on. These points should take no more than 3-5 sentences. Add a sentence or two about your expertise in the area or about your enthusiasm for the story line/manuscript.

The agent/editor may at this point ask you questions about the project. Again, keep your responses to the point. Stay focused on the goal. This is not the time to tell stories of Uncle Horace’s bunions. Respect the agent/editor’s hard earned status in the publishing world by conducting the pitch session in a business like manner. One can offer a friendly attitude without creating a TMI situation.

Finish with a polite “thank you” for the person’s time. Then state the obvious: “With your permission, I would like to send you my manuscript.” Hopefully, the agent/editor will agree. Yet, there is the possibility that he may not. I, personally, prefer to have a second pitch arranged in such cases. If you have not rambled on previously, you will have time for another short pitch. Use your time wisely.

To see the whole article, visit http://thebookboost.blogspot.com/2011/07/jane-austen-method-of-pitching-with.html

The Charlotte Observer reports the following story from its Monday, July 18, 2011, edition. For the complete story visit: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/07/18/2463676/borders-fate-to-be-decided-this.html#storylink=misearch

Borders’ Group made a move on Monday to liquidate its assets and close its remaining 399 stores. The move could come as soon as this Fridy. Failing to receive any bids to keep it in business, the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based chain, has sought court approval to sell off its assets.

Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Group lead the way as possible liquidators. Borders will head to U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Thursday. If the judge approves the move, liquidation sales could start as soon as Friday; the company could go out of business by the end of September. (Although the news says the local stores may stay open through January, my October book signing at the local Borders, obviously, is in jeopardy. When the events coordinator asked me to bring my own books to the signing, I knew I was in trouble, but I hoped, against hope, that this might not be the outcome for Borders.)

Creditors and lenders recently objected to Najafi Cos.’s $215 million bid to take over the company. They argued the chain would be worth more if it liquidated immediately.

With 10,700 current employees, Borders liquidation could have far-reaching effects. The most obvious is the loss of jobs, but retail spaces will feel the loss, as well. Borders stores average about 25,000 square feet.

“Borders’ move to close 228 stores while it reorganized in bankruptcy protection already increased the collective vacancy rate of shopping centers that contained a Borders to 9.3 percent from 4.2 percent, estimated Chris Macke, senior real estate strategist at CoStar Group, the nation’s largest provider of real estate data. Macke calculated the liquidation of the rest of the chain could increase the vacancy rate on that same basis to 18.8 percent.”

“Additionally, Simba Information senior trade analyst Michael Norris predicts the closing could cause sales of electronic books to fall. Borders, for one, entered the electronic book market with Canada’s Kobo Inc. last year. Owners of the Kobo e-reader will still be able use Kobo software to buy and read books. And Kobo officials said users of Borders e-book accounts, which began transitioning to Kobo in June, will be able to access their e-books uninterrupted.”

“At its peak, in 2003, Borders operated 1,249 Borders and Waldenbooks, but by the time it filed for bankruptcy protection in February that had fallen to 642 stores and 19,500 employees. Since then, Borders has shuttered more stores and laid off thousands.”

This article comes from The Washington Post. The myths include:
1. Austen led an uneventful life.
2. Austen’s novels are chick lit.
3. Austen didn’t take her writing seriously.
4. Austen’s works are escapist fiction.
5. For all her popularity, Austen’s literary influence was limited.

For the full article, visit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-jane-austen/2011/07/08/gIQAZALCEI_story.html

The Northern Glass Cone is a 19th-century structure formerly used in the glass manufacturing process at Alloa Glass Works in the burgh of Alloa, the administrative centre of the central Scottish council area of Clackmannanshire. The brick-built cone is the only such structure to survive in Scotland, and is one of four in the United Kingdom, along with Catcliffe Glass Cone in South Yorkshire, Lemington Glass Cone in Tyne and Wear, and Red House Cone in Wordsley, West Midlands.
Lady Frances Erskine established the Alloa Glass Works in 1750. Craftsmen from Bohemia (in the present-day Czech Republic), who also oversaw the construction of the first glass cone on the site, trained the workers. The original structure was 90 feet (27 m) tall.
By 1825, the Edinburgh Glasgow and Alloa Glass Company owned the site; they built another three cones, of which the Northern cone, 79 feet (24 m) high, was one. (Its immediate neighbour was correspondingly known as the Southern cone.) The base was octagonal, rather than circular, and had arched entrances. The main body of the cone was of brick laid in English Bond formation. The original cone and one other were demolished before the 1960s, but the Southern cone survived until 1968. At the same time, the Northern cone regained its original appearance when some later additions were removed.
So, why am I going on and on about the glassmaking industry in the UK? Besides the interesting structure that the glass cone is architecturally, one of these structures plays a pivotal role in my third installment of the Realm series.

I will release A Touch of Cashémere initially through Xlibris. Within a week or so (have more proofreading to do), I will also release it in eBook format.

According to BBC News, a rare Jane Austen manuscript sold for £993,250 ($1.6 Million). Sotheby’s Auction House sold the unfinished piece. As the experts thought the work would fetch some where around £300,000, the bid surprised everyone.

The manuscript, originally owned privately, was purchased by the Bodleian Libraries of Oxford.
It is thought Austen wrote the tale, about a young woman who returns home to her father’s household after being brought up by a wealthy aunt, in 1804. Richard Ovenden, from Bodleian Libraries, said they were “delighted” to have secured “such a valuable part of our literary heritage.We are glad it will stay now in Britain,” he added, saying the “priceless manuscript” would be made available to the general public as early as this autumn.

Much of the money came from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), through a £894,700 grant.
“This was an unprecedented opportunity to acquire the only surviving original draft of a novel by one of our greatest and most popular writers,” said Carole Souter of the NHMF.Other organisations who donated included the Friends of the National Libraries, the Friends of the Bodleian and the Jane Austen Memorial Trust.

Sotheby’s specialist Gabriel Heaton said the work was “particularly informative” because it is “very much a working draft.” Every page is littered with crossings out, revisions and additional text between some of the lines.

Everyone thought that the Morgan Library in New York, which already owns an eight-page element of the manuscript, might take the manuscript out of the country.

Jane Austen published six complete novels during her lifetime, including Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility, before dying in 1817 at the age of 41.

With the exception of The Watsons, two draft chapters of Persuasion and two other works named Lady Susan and Sanditon, few of her draft works have survived.

The Bodleian Library already holds her Volume the First, a manuscript of Austen’s juvenilia (early writings).

I owe much of my writing career to Jane Austen, as do several of my associates at AustenAuthors.net. Without her model, I would not be an author. THANK YOU, JANE AUSTEN, FOR YOUR INSPIRATION. It does my heart good to see your work is still appreciated after 200+ years.

I’ve been proofreading another book the last two days. I needed something to place the smile back on my face. What would it do to the divorce rate if we all were aware of the “worse case scenario” before we said “I do”?

http://janeaustenreviews.blogspot.com/2011/07/more-about-austenesque-extravaganza.html

I am looking forward to this month-long celebration of everything Austen.
http://janeaustenreviews.blogspot.com/2011/07/coming-soonaustenesque-extravaganza.html

Shannon Hale’s Austenland will be made into a film. Jerusha Hess, co-writer of Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, will direct. It will be Ms. Hess’s first directorial attempt. Filming begins this week in the UK. Austenland will star Keri Russell, J.J. Field (Northanger Abbey, The Sally Lockhart Mysteries, Captain America: The First Avenger) and Bret McKenzie (Lord of The Rings, Flight of the Conchords), The film will also mark the producing debut of Twilight author Stephanie Meyer. The supporting cast will include Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Seymour, Rupert Vansittart and James Callis.

Below is a sample of the types of questions one must master in order to become a naturalized citizen of the United States. Do you have what it takes??? On a recent survey, only 75% of those asked knew that the U.S. sought its independence from Great Britain. Only 53% knew in what year the U.S. declared its independence.
* If you are 65 years old or older and have been a legal permanent resident of the United States for 20 or more years, you may study just the questions that have been marked with an asterisk.

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

A. Principles of American Democracy

1. What is the supreme law of the land?

A: The Constitution

2. What does the Constitution do?

A: sets up the government
A: defines the government
A: protects basic rights of Americans

3. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?

A: We the People

4. What is an amendment?

A: a change (to the Constitution)
A: an addition (to the Constitution)

5. What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?

A: The Bill of Rights

6. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?*

A: speech
A: religion
A: assembly
A: press
A: petition the government

7. How many amendments does the Constitution have?

A: twenty-seven (27)

8. What did the Declaration of Independence do?

A: announced our independence (from Great Britain)
A: declared our independence (from Great Britain)
A: said that the United States is free (from Great Britain)

9. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?

A: life
A: liberty
A: pursuit of happiness

10. What is freedom of religion?

A: You can practice any religion, or not practice a religion.

11. What is the economic system in the United States?*

A: capitalist economy
A: market economy

12. What is the “rule of law”?

A: Everyone must follow the law.
A: Leaders must obey the law.
A: Government must obey the law.
A: No one is above the law.

B. System of Government

13. Name one branch or part of the government.*

A: Congress
A: legislative
A: President
A: executive
A: the courts
A: judicial

14. What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?

A: checks and balances
A: separation of powers

15. Who is in charge of the executive branch?

A: the President

16. Who makes federal laws?

A: Congress
A: Senate and House (of Representatives)
A: (U.S. or national) legislature

17. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?*

A: the Senate and House (of Representatives)

18. How many U.S. Senators are there?

A: one hundred (100)

19. We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?

A: six (6)

20. Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators?*

A: Answers will vary. [For District of Columbia residents and residents of U.S. territories, the answer is that D.C. (or the territory where the applicant lives) has no U.S. Senators.]

* If you are 65 years old or older and have been a legal permanent resident of the United States for 20 or more years, you may study just the questions that have been marked with an asterisk.

21. The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

A: four hundred thirty-five (435)

22. We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?

A: two (2)

23. Name your U.S. Representative.

A: Answers will vary. [Residents of territories with nonvoting Delegates or resident Commissioners may provide the name of that Delegate or Commissioner. Also acceptable is any statement that the territory has no (voting) Representatives in Congress.]

24. Who does a U.S. Senator represent?

A: all people of the state

25. Why do some states have more Representatives than other states?

A: (because of) the state’s population
A: (because) they have more people
A: (because) some states have more people

26. We elect a President for how many years?

A: four (4)

27. In what month do we vote for President?*

A: November

28. What is the name of the President of the United States now?*

A: Barack H. Obama
A: Barack Obama
A: Obama

29. What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?

A: Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
A: Joe Biden
A: Biden

30. If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?

A: the Vice President

31. If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?

A: the Speaker of the House

32. Who is the Commander in Chief of the military?

A: the President

33. Who signs bills to become laws?

A: the President

34. Who vetoes bills?

A: the President

35. What does the President’s Cabinet do?

A: advises the President

36. What are two Cabinet-level positions?

A: Secretary of Agriculture
A: Secretary of Commerce
A: Secretary of Defense
A: Secretary of Education
A: Secretary of Energy
A: Secretary of Health and Human Services
A: Secretary of Homeland Security
A: Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
A: Secretary of Interior
A: Secretary of State
A: Secretary of Transportation
A: Secretary of Treasury
A: Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs
A: Secretary of Labor
A: Attorney General

37. What does the judicial branch do?

A: reviews laws
A: explains laws
A: resolves disputes (disagreements)
A: decides if a law goes against the Constitution

38. What is the highest court in the United States?

A: the Supreme Court

39. How many justices are on the Supreme Court?

A: nine (9)

40. Who is the Chief Justice of the United States?

A: John Roberts (John G. Roberts, Jr.)

* If you are 65 years old or older and have been a legal permanent resident of the United States for 20 or more years, you may study just the questions that have been marked with an asterisk.

41. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?

A: to print money
A: to declare war
A: to create an army
A: to make treaties

42. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?

A: provide schooling and education
A: provide protection (police)
A: provide safety (fire departments)
A: give a driver’s license
A: approve zoning and land use

43. Who is the Governor of your state?

A: Answers will vary. [Residents of the District of Columbia and U.S. territories without a Governor should say “we don’t have a Governor.”]

44. What is the capital of your state?*

A: Answers will vary. [District of Columbia residents should answer that D.C. is not a state and does not have a capital. Residents of U.S. territories should name the capital of the territory.]

45. What are the two major political parties in the United States?*

A: Democratic and Republican

46. What is the political party of the President now?

A: Democratic (Party)

47. What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?

A: (Nancy) Pelosi

C: Rights and Responsibilities

48. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.

A: Citizens eighteen (18) and older (can vote).
A: You don’t have to pay (a poll tax) to vote.
A: Any citizen can vote. (Women and men can vote.)
A: A male citizen of any race (can vote).

49. What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?*

A: serve on a jury
A: vote

50. What are two rights only for United States citizens?

A: apply for a federal job
A: vote
A: run for office
A: carry a U.S. passport

51. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?

A: freedom of expression
A: freedom of speech
A: freedom of assembly
A: freedom to petition the government
A: freedom of worship
A: the right to bear arms

52. What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?

A: the United States
A: the flag

53. What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?

A: give up loyalty to other countries
A: defend the Constitution and laws of the United States
A: obey the laws of the United States
A: serve in the U.S. military (if needed)
A: serve (do important work for) the nation (if needed)
A: be loyal to the United States

54. How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?*

A: eighteen (18) and older

55. What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?

A: vote
A: join a political party
A: help with a campaign
A: join a civic group
A: join a community group
A: give an elected official your opinion on an issue
A: call Senators and Representatives
A: publicly support or oppose an issue or policy
A: run for office
A: write to a newspaper

56. When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?*

A: April 15

57. When must all men register for the Selective Service?

A: at age eighteen (18)
A: between eighteen (18) and twenty-six (26)

AMERICAN HISTORY

A: Colonial Period and Independence

58. What is one reason colonists came to America?

A: freedom
A: political liberty
A: religious freedom
A: economic opportunity
A: practice their religion
A: escape persecution

59. Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?

A: Native Americans
A: American Indians

60. What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?

A: Africans
A: people from Africa

* If you are 65 years old or older and have been a legal permanent resident of the United States for 20 or more years, you may study just the questions that have been marked with an asterisk.

61. Why did the colonists fight the British?

A: because of high taxes (taxation without representation)
A: because the British army stayed in their houses (boarding, quartering)
A: because they didn’t have self-government

62. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

A: (Thomas) Jefferson

63. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

A: July 4, 1776

64. There were 13 original states. Name three.

A: New Hampshire
A: Massachusetts
A: Rhode Island
A: Connecticut
A: New York
A: New Jersey
A: Pennsylvania
A: Delaware
A: Maryland
A: Virginia
A: North Carolina
A: South Carolina
A: Georgia

65. What happened at the Constitutional Convention?

A: The Constitution was written.
A: The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution.

66. When was the Constitution written?

A: 1787

67. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.

A: (James) Madison
A: (Alexander) Hamilton
A: (John) Jay
A: Publius

68. What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?

A: U.S. diplomat
A: oldest member of the Constitutional Convention
A: first Postmaster General of the United States
A: writer of “Poor Richard’s Almanac”
A: started the first free libraries

69. Who is the “Father of Our Country”?

A: (George) Washington

70. Who was the first President?*

A: (George) Washington

B: 1800s

71. What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?

A: the Louisiana Territory
A: Louisiana

72. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.

A: War of 1812
A: Mexican-American War
A: Civil War
A: Spanish-American War

73. Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.

A: the Civil War
A: the War between the States

74. Name one problem that led to the Civil War.

A: slavery
A: economic reasons
A: states’ rights

75. What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?*

A: freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation)
A: saved (or preserved) the Union
A: led the United States during the Civil War

76. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

A: freed the slaves
A: freed slaves in the Confederacy
A: freed slaves in the Confederate states
A: freed slaves in most Southern states

77. What did Susan B. Anthony do?

A: fought for women’s rights
A: fought for civil rights

C: Recent American History and Other Important Historical Information

78. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.*

A: World War I
A: World War II
A: Korean War
A: Vietnam War
A: (Persian) Gulf War

79. Who was President during World War I?

A: (Woodrow) Wilson

80. Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?

A: (Franklin) Roosevelt

* If you are 65 years old or older and have been a legal permanent resident of the United States for 20 or more years, you may study just the questions that have been marked with an asterisk.

81. Who did the United States fight in World War II?

A: Japan, Germany and Italy

82. Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?

A: World War II

83. During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?

A: Communism

84. What movement tried to end racial discrimination?

A: civil rights (movement)

85. What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do?*

A: fought for civil rights
A: worked for equality for all Americans

86. What major event happened on September 11, 2001 in the United States?

A: Terrorists attacked the United States.

87. Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.

[Adjudicators will be supplied with a complete list.]

A: Cherokee
A: Navajo
A: Sioux
A: Chippewa
A: Choctaw
A: Pueblo
A: Apache
A: Iroquois
A: Creek
A: Blackfeet
A: Seminole
A: Cheyenne
A: Arawak
A: Shawnee
A: Mohegan
A: Huron
A: Oneida
A: Lakota
A: Crow
A: Teton
A: Hopi
A: Inuit

INTEGRATED CIVICS

A: Geography

88. Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.

A: Missouri (River)
A: Mississippi (River)

89. What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?

A: Pacific (Ocean)

90. What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?

A: Atlantic (Ocean)

91. Name one U.S. territory.

A: Puerto Rico
A: U.S. Virgin Islands
A: American Samoa
A: Northern Mariana Islands
A: Guam

92. Name one state that borders Canada.

A: Maine
A: New Hampshire
A: Vermont
A: New York
A: Pennsylvania
A: Ohio
A: Michigan
A: Minnesota
A: North Dakota
A: Montana
A: Idaho
A: Washington
A: Alaska

93. Name one state that borders Mexico.

A: California
A: Arizona
A: New Mexico
A: Texas

94. What is the capital of the United States?*

A: Washington, D.C.

95. Where is the Statue of Liberty?*

A: New York (Harbor)
A: Liberty Island
[Also acceptable are New Jersey, near New York City, and on the Hudson (River).]

B. Symbols

96. Why does the flag have 13 stripes?

A: because there were 13 original colonies
A: because the stripes represent the original colonies

97. Why does the flag have 50 stars?*

A: because there is one star for each state
A: because each star represents a state
A: because there are 50 states

98. What is the name of the national anthem?

A: The Star-Spangled Banner

C: Holidays

99. When do we celebrate Independence Day?*

A: July 4

100. Name two national U.S. holidays.

A: New Year’s Day
A: Martin Luther King, Jr., Day
A: Presidents’ Day
A: Memorial Day
A: Independence Day
A: Labor Day
A: Columbus Day
A: Veterans Day
A: Thanksgiving
A: Christmas

NOTE: The questions above will be asked of applicants who file for naturalization on or after October 1, 2008. Until then, the Current Set of Citizenship Questions and Answers remains in effect. For those applicants who file prior to October 1, 2008 but are not interviewed until after October , 2008 (but before October 1, 2009), there will be an option of taking the new test or the current one.