Colombia from the Hip -- Pereira's Parties!!

Silletero

On Saturday, we watched a magical parade of dancers, musicians, beauty queens (of course!) and monsters go by, ending with the first Silletero parade of Pereira. The silleteros are famous in Medellin -- a tradition that began when Santa Elena flower farmers used silletes (a kind of support to carrying things on your back) to commercialize their flowers in Medellin -- walking up and down the city streets, throughout neighborhoods, carrying hundreds of pounds of flowers on their backs. Now, it's a world-renown festival in Medellin. Pereira had its first silleteros in the parade last Saturday. Stunning.

Miss Pereira

Silletero

Afro-Colombian Dancers and Musicians

More Dancing!

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity Video on TED.com

Please take the time to watch this video if you're a parent, a teacher, an educator, an aunt or uncle or grandparent, sister, brother, daughter or son ...

That pretty much covers it all!

Colombia from the HIp -- Let the Mayhem Begin

It's that time of year again ... Pereira's parties. Parades, beauty queens, papayeras on every corner (loud loud brass bands), orchestras, party Chivas (big wooden buses filled with irritating drunk people and papayeras -- those loud, loud, loud brass bands), and, of course, the infamous burro-teca (yes, I'll get a photo of that). Let the mayhem begin!

What would Salinger Tweet?

On Fridays my palms sweat and I feel a sense of dread and excitement. Yes. #FF ... EAch week I could very well be recommended by others to be worthy of being followed. Naturally, in the real world, this would be considered downright creepy, warrant restraining orders and the like, but we're not talking about the real world, even though we oftentimes feel more real here than in our own lives. We're talking about the Cyber Universe.

Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, MySpace, e-mail (Yeah! That still exists), YouTube, Flickr, blogs, Gather, Goodreads, Waka Waka (Okay. Not yet. But it won't be long before there's a waka waka social networking site, I'm sure) ... All of these are ways in which we keep in touch, disseminate information, share ideas, debate ideas, and make ourselves known in the Cyber Universe -- one that has re-invented itself over the past five years. Now it's not good enough to write a novel. You've got to be witty in 140 characters: pithy, funny, relevant, polemic, brazen, bold (no, I'm not talking about the hoochie-mama followers), and follow-worthy.

Blogs just ten "followers" away from the promise of  Swag (loot, free promos), ARCs (Advanced REader's Copies), book cover posters, signed bookplates and more! We click on the "follow" button because, hell, who doesn't want to win a new book? Contests, giveaways, all about building numbers on Twitter, Facebook, fan pages and more.


Groups form: vampire groups, non-vampire groups, groups that prefer werewolves and nasty fairies with body odor to vampires and groups that have sworn off vampires, except for the latest FAT VAMPIRE because that doesn't really count as a vampire group ...

Flurries of messages, tweets, dinging bells, and chirping birds remind us if a friend's sent a message, if we've been mentioned (big big deal here) or if anybody wants to contact us. To track the mere mention of our names or novels, we've got Google Alerts. And the goal: to create a world of followers. A strong online presence is important now.


So, I wonder, what would some of the classic authors tweet today?

JD Salinger: Grand. There's a word I really hate. It's tweet. I puke every time I hear it.
Shel Silverstein: I know a way to stay ff, There's really nothing to it, I tell you what to do, & #FFshelsilverstein
Ernest Hemingway: I turned on the computer. I sat down. I logged on. I wrote the tweet. I twittered. And it was good.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Just kidding! He can't do anything in 140 characters ...
Truman Capote: When I think about how good my tweet can be, I can hardly breathe.
Orham Pamuk: The tweet twitters, tweets, its sound tweeting on my computer in a tweet-like, tweetish presence.
Ayn Rand: Who is Tweet? 
Shakespeare: Such SWAG as tweets are followed on ...

See. It's even a stretch for them. I think it's easy to get swallowed up in the CyberWorld. Everybody has a different way of approaching it. I've been feeling a bit "out of it" of late, and it got me down until I remembered why I do it: for friendship. In this vast universe of people, I've made some really good friends, all thanks to that intimidating Cyber Universe. I don't have loads of followers. Just a little over a handful. But I'll take them. Gladly. At the end of the day, the relationships I've built online have been pretty incredible! 


So being a bit of a Cyber dud, myself, you can imagine my amazement when  I was given this cool award below by my friend Anne M. Leone. It made my day!So I'm now passing this on to five bloggers I follow in my "circle of friends" because, at the end of the day, that's what this is all about for me: making friends, developing real relationships not with a flurry of followers but with people I genuinely care about. Thanks for reminding about that, Anne!! 

So I'm now passing the torch to (Pass it on to five more friends!): 

Jennifer Duddy Gill (whom I met on the Verla Kay boards and was the first non-family, non-"friend" to congratulate me on my sale of FREEZE FRAME). We've kept in touch, and I now consider her a good friend.
Lisa Amowitz at Why? A for being a poet, wild ball of energy, and good friend.
Christine Johnson for her kindness, graciousness, and amazing eye for detail, and being a good friend.
To Shannon and Stacy at Girls in the Stacks  for great reviews, loving YA, and letting me be part of their YA world!
And finally to Kari and A Good Addiction because of her in-depth reviews of so many novels (she eats them for breakfast, lunch and dinner), and hoping she gets her boot off this week!

Things NOT to do on the Agent Hunt ...

I am lucky, lucky, lucky. I am represented by the most intrepid agent in the business (Stephen Barbara of Foundry Media + Literary Agency).  We've been together for over four years now, and I thank my lucky stars. So I've been thinking about all of those authors out there looking for their dream agent.
With all the information about what we SHOULD do to find an agent, I thought I'd share my thoughts on what NOT to do when trying to land your dream agent. Some, though obvious, are probably things that happen more often than not. Again, this is from a writer's POV, I'm sure agents could chime in and tell us loads loads loads more!

1. Don't query an unfinished project. Your novel needs to be finished and in as perfect conditional as possible. (Yes. We've all heard the Stephenie Meyer story, but, well, in the real world, you need a finished novel.)
2. Don't misspell the agent's name. Please. 
3. Don't send out a "form letter". EVERY query should be personalized geared toward each individual agent. (They're not this amorphous body of people. They're REAL people with REAL clients with REAL tastes and interests and contacts etc. So your letter should reflect your knowledge of this person.)
4. Don't say an agent's client recommended you if she did not. This is such a small business. When I recommend somebody query my agent, I specifically say, "You can use my name. Use it in the query. Use it in the RE: line." If an author does not specifically say that, then don't use that author's name. It's really awkward and will inevitably get you a rejection.
5. DO, though, mention authors the agent represents. (Not in the, "I was at their BBQ last weekend-way" but in the "I admire their work-way.")
6. Don't talk badly about other agents and problems you've had with other agents. This looks bad. Real bad. Again, it's a small business. When something doesn't work out with another agent/agency, it sucks, but it's how it goes sometimes. Venting to a prospective agent will not make things better. (This is actually a good thing to go by: If you don't have something nice to say ...)
7. Don't send gifts or gimmicks with submissions. (As far as I know, this doesn't work unless it's like, I dunno, a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S). Guess what. Agents LOVE great writing, unique perspectives, out-of-this-world novels and commercial projects, too ... that's what they're looking for, so sending gimmicks, unless it's the aforementioned 4 + million dollar car, won't work.
8. Don't tell the agent you've queried 723 agents, and he/she is your last hope. (I exaggerate, but you get my drift). Nobody wants to be the last pick -- like the old school days when kids picked teams and you were the one left with the kid with Coke-bottle glasses that couldn't hit a ball to save his life, but they still picked you last. That really stinks. Big time. And it doesn't feel any better for an agent
9. Don't assume the "big name" agents are better for you. It's all about how much an agent loves your work and how good a track record an agent has. For new agents, working to build their lists, it's important they have a good agency backing them. So, don't pass on the newbies just because they're new (they're taking a chance on you, you can do the same!). Also if a "star" agent wants you, it's because they're ready to sell, sell, sell. So that's a great thing, too. At the end of the day, you want an agent who loves how you write and believes they can sell your novel.
10. Don't NOT ask questions. It's really important to know what the agent's expectations are and if they align with your own.
11. When an agent says they'd like to see a revised project DON'T rush the revision (if you agree with the revision ideas). And, when you send the revision, DON'T forget to mention this was a project they were interested in etc. etc. etc. If an agent takes the time to send revision notes, it's because SHE'S INTERESTED BIG TIME. Agents rarely give revision/editorial notes or requests. They're busy selling their clients' novels, trying to find new clients, coddling clients' egos, going to workshops and conferences, reading novels that have come out, battling over contracts, reading thousands of queries, networking with editors, editing clients' novels, offering feedback, all the while hoping they won't get bed bugs (the New York ones, anyway) ... BUSY ... They don't have time to send revision notes and won't do this unless your novel is something that really intrigued them. So take your time. Do it right. SHOW them how you can revise. This is WAY important for a future editor/author relationship.
12. Don't be too keen meaning, take it easy. Inhale. Exhale. Agents are busy people. They try their best to get back to you as soon as possible. Don't nag. Don't write "reminders". Don't follow up every week and double-triple check to make sure they haven't changed their mind about your future best-seller. See #12. They'll get back to you. If a few months have gone by, write a quick reminder. If no response, move on.
13. Don't forget to send a thank you -- either e-mail or snail mail, after an agent takes the time to talk to you or send you revision notes. 
14. Don't take it personally: This is hard. I know. We're sensitive people, laying our souls out on the page to get "Sorry. Not right for my list." Bugger. It's hard. But don't take it personally. Really. Agents aren't out to get anyone. They don't have time. (They have that bed bug issue, remember?)
15. Finally: DON'T GIVE UP ...