Writing for the Love

Fantasy Author Shayla Cole I'm pleased to introduce Shayla Cole, fantasy author of the Livinity trilogy. Visit her all-new website: www.shaylacole.com And I know what you're thinking... Shayla Cole looks a lot like Bria Burton . That's because Shayla Cole is me! I now have a nom de plume for Livinity . What's a Nom de Plume? It's a fancy way of saying "pen name." A pen name is a name an author uses in place of their real name. Why a Pen Name? I'm not using the name Shayla Cole for privacy reasons. I don't mind that people will know that Shayla Cole and Bria Burton are the same person. The main reason I'm using a pen name is to separate my epic fantasy novels ( Livinity trilogy and anything related to Livinity ) from my other writing projects. Explain this one more time... Shayla Cole is my new nom de plume for all things related to my epic fantasy trilogy,  Livinity . All other writing remains under my re...

In a world called Livinity... I'd rather not mention how long ago I started writing my epic fantasy trilogy.... cough, cough, since 2001, cough, hack ... Back then I had the idea that I was writing a single fantasy novel. It wasn't until Livinity won a First Place award in 2011 for Unpublished Fantasy novel that I decided to take the advice of agent Nicole Resciniti of the Seymour Agency and split the book into two. The single novel was too long, and agents like herself would have trouble placing it with a publisher. As I went about splitting up the completed novel, I realized that I had more to tell. That included adding scenes to the first and second books, and expanding the story to create enough content for a trilogy. It's taken a lot of time. Book One: Done I LOVE writing in this world. I spent a lot of time editing scenes to improve world-building, as that was a weak point in early drafts. When I completed the latest draft of Book One in the tri...

For a long, long, long time, I've been working on an an epic fantasy novel called Livinity . There are older posts on this blog about my past progress. The unpublished manuscript even won an award in 2011. And yet, it still needed work. The latest round of edits involved splitting my 142K word novel into two books. One of the main reasons for that was the fact that I struggled to draw attention from agents/publishers with that huge word count, especially for a first book. With great, often eye-opening, feedback from my critique group, I worked on deepening characterization, adding tension, and enriching the other world setting--just a few of the things that needed work. I spent a lot of time editing, adding content, editing, adding content all while trying to anticipate where to split the novel in half. Something happened in the midst of all that writing and editing. My word count was climbing faster than I expected. I quickly realized that I might end up with a trilogy. Ye...

UPDATE 12/20/14: Little Angel Helper has been published in the Kindle Store and is no longer available to read on my blog. Click HERE to view it on Amazon. Original blog: I'm happy to report that I've done lots of writing lately. My focus has been deep editing two different novels ( Livinity and Sprinter ). I've gotten about 70,000 words edited (including added scenes) in the first book of Livinity , and anticipate that after about 30,000 more, I'll be ready to start the submission process again. Send, receive rejection, repeat. All while working on the second book. I changed the opening for Sprinter once, and I may do it again, so that novel is hard to calculate word-wise at this point. Every once in a while, I'll write and send out a short story. When I get a rejection (not if), I'll edit the short story and send it out again. Currently, I have about five stories submitted. Over at the Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine , a podcast where one of my s...

Just wanted to give a brief update on my days now that I'm an at-home writer for anyone who might be curious. Mon Edit Livinity Tues Edit Sprinter Weds Edit Livinity Thurs Edit Sprinter Fri Edit Livinity Random writing (ie short stories) A very generic, not comprehensive picture of how I spend each day, but a general idea of what I'm trying to get done. For a while, my focus had been deep editing Livinity , my epic fantasy novel turned trilogy. The process is slow. Many people ask me if I'm finished, and it probably doesn't make sense when I have to explain that I'm not. THE END is certainly written, and has been since 2008. But many years later, I'm redrafting yet again to make this the best book that it can be. Sometimes ideas for Sprinter interrupted my edits (women's inspirational fiction that I had set aside). Then I realized it might be fun to go back and forth between the two. And it is. Spri...

Because I'm spending most of my time writing Lance & Ringo Tails and editing Livinity , I haven't devoted any time to my blogs lately (this one or Anti-Running Runner , but Lance & Ringo Tails blog is updated regularly). I do give updates on Twitter @briaburton for anyone who wants to follow my feed. So here's a brief update. I attended the FWA Conference in October, and it was a wonderful time as always. The sessions were extremely informative and I love seeing friends from previous conferences and hearing about their writing progress. My short story, "The Price of Integrity" was published in FWA Collection #5 It's a Crime . I've decided to take all of my short stories from Lance & Ringo Tails and put them into a collection that will be available as a print and e-book to be released Dec 15th. Tail Ten will be exclusively featured in this collection. The other nine "tails" are currently available in the Kindle Store . Abo...

My writing weekend was a great success. Saturday, I dedicated to Livinity edits. Sunday, to completing the first draft of Lance & Ringo Tails: O Brother, What Art Thou?  I also outlined the next story and began writing that first draft. Then I returned to Livinity edits, which continued into Monday. I probably got through about eight chapters instead of ten, but that's okay. I still feel great about how far the story has come. The hard part was stopping at 11:30pm on Monday night to get enough sleep for work in the morning. I did allow myself one break to watch Downton Abbey with my best friend, but other than that, all writing. Not only did I meet the majority of my goals, I received an email acceptance on a short story reprint. Thank you, Lord! It uplifted and encouraged me so much. FICTION on the WEB accepted "This Is Hollywood" for online publication. The short story reprint will appear on their website Jan 27, 2013, and it's free to read. ht...

For the upcoming long weekend, I realized that I made NO plans. Hubby works, and I get Monday off for MLK day. Therefore, I am creating a dedicated Writing Weekend. This means no cleaning, no cooking, no laundry, no phone calls, no hanging out, no couch potatoing, and only a little running (if at all). I will make sure the animals get fed. I’m sure hubby will call to make sure I’m eating. I’m very excited about the opportunity. I don’t get many three-day weekends, and we usually use them to visit family or hang out with friends or do house projects. Like most writers with a day job, life is soooo busy. ALL-THE-TIME. Weekends often become dedicated to cleaning, cooking, laundry, and long runs. It’s just dirt, I’m sure I’ll tell myself when Lance comes in from the back yard (which no longer has grass). And it will be there for me to clean up on Tuesday. To set all those things aside, I felt the need to generate some accountability by announcing the plan. Saying it aloud ...

I'm very excited for the upcoming FWA Conference. It starts this Friday, and I'm carpooling and rooming with my dear friend, Rachel. She and I met at the conference last year, and she ended up joining my critique group shortly after. One of the other reasons I'm excited is that I made it into the FWA short story collection for the third year in a row. PTL! My science fiction short story, "The Wheels Must Turn," will appear in FWA Collection #4  My Wheels . The book debuts at the conference, and I get to join the other fifty-nine authors in a group book signing. The story is about a young narrator who comes to grips with the death of her father aboard a spaceship. This is my fourth year attending the FWA Conference. It's strange, I know, that I won First Place in the Royal Palm Literary Awards at last year's conference in the Unpublished Fantasy novel category...and I'm still re-editing Livinity . I received a rejection from an agent a few mont...

"Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any oath, but let your "Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation." James 5:12 NRSV In the submitting process, I think of yes as acceptance and no as rejection. Perhaps this verse doesn't exactly apply to that. I was thinking about the idea that each time I submit a piece, all I need is a yes. Yet that's not true. I need rejections as much as I need my one fabulous acceptance. The yes I received is the perfect example. In the last post, I detailed how the initial rejection turned into the acceptance. If the editor had said "Yes" the first time around, the piece would not have been as tight and strong as it became after I made edits from his suggestions. His "No" not only gave me incentive to try again, but it made me realize that the story needed more editing. I find it a blessing that he told me specifics, because he was right. ...

Part III  The RPLA Banquet The Royal Palm Literary Awards Banquet took place Saturday night. I had it in my mind to not think about winning, but to be grateful that I was a finalist. I could query agents and publishers with the line, "This manuscript was a finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Awards," and that would be great even if I didn't win. I had no way of knowing how many entries were in my Unpublished Fantasy Novel category. Nor did I know how many others were finalists like me. The chances of winning were completely unknown to me, and still are, in fact. I had the privilege of meeting Nicole Resciniti , an agent with the The Seymour Agency, just outside the banquet hall before the doors were opened. She and I had chatted about Sprinter at breakfast that morning, and she was willing to take a look at the manuscript. I planned to email her after the conference was over. When I spotted her waiting to get into the banquet, I realized I hadn't even ment...

October 21-23, Orlando Marriott I’ve decided to talk about the Florida Writers Association Conference in a series of blogs rather than overload a single post with 2,000 words, or whatever it will end up being. As a writer who wants to be a published novelist someday, I’ve learned so much from the conference, and I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about their writing. This is my fourth year in a row attending, and the quality continues to impress me, along with the variety of session topics and “wow!” value of speakers, such as NY Times Bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray . In a joint session with her agent, Mary Sue Seymour , Shelley talked about her writing journey and how the hard work never ends for authors. Even an author with several published books still faces rejection. There was a period for Shelley where three years passed while her agent attempted to place a Christian historical romance novel, and Shelley began doubting herself, even struggl...

I wish I always began by thanking God for each day. Something to strive for. I am going to borrow a tool from a friend in my critique group. She bought a book with exercises for writing and showed me the first one. It was simply to decode the words " thebegin " to get a person thinking outside the box. More specifically, to get a writer to open their mind to new ways of writing. The entire book looks fascinating, and once I get the title and author, I hope to purchase it myself. I won't tell you the answer to " thebegin " except to say that it is quite simply a way to start. For me, I am starting my first website simply as this blog. And I look forward to what is to come. I don't know the end of my story, like I know the end to the one I've written, but neither does anyone else. In college, I had dreams, and not only of becoming a published author. I wanted to marry and have a house. Those dreams have come true and I am truly blessed in the lif...