Thanks for the feedback Regina, I did post the first chapter of my book on my blog, but so far haven't reveived any feedback on it.  I'm glad you like the overall idea I have for the book, I have started to write chapter 2 and can't believe how quickly the story changes and flows through my hands as I add new characters and embark on the main characters journey. 

     I also write, reread, revise, rework, etc.  LOL  I have also heard not to do that, but it something I just can't help, like you I can't go on until its perfect or close to it!  I just can't seem to move on until its just right, thats why I have worked so long on chapter one, alot goes on in the beginning for the main character and her life changes drastically and takes on a new direction by the end of the chapter.  The second chapter Ive just started but I am working on adding more characters and working out the bugs in it as we speak. Its been interesting to find people who think and write like me in the process of talking with fellow writers on She Writes, its funny to me, Ive spent my whole life looking at others and seeing their natural talents and telling people that I wasn't born with one, only to realize I was born with one, it has been writing all along I was just doing my best everyday to ignore it. 

     Your book sounds great! I love the idea and the way her actions trying to change her life disrupt her life in a way that spirals out of control for her, I think alot of people will be able to connect and relate to the character and that will make her memorable and give her strength with the readers.  I know what you mean about pitching, Ive never pitched anything in my life and only have written one chapter and not knowing where my book is going to take me yet makes it really hard for me to effectively pitch it to anyone.  I just simply wrote on my Facebook the other day that I had finished writing the first chapter in my book and the response and curiousity I got back was awesome.  The next problem was people wanted to know what the book was about...hard question for me at this moment to answer, so I chickened out and simply wrote fiction.  LOL

Hi, Carrie!
I love the back story for your book.  I think coming up with a title for it will be super exciting for you.  I'm trying to imagine what kind of title I would give it, but so many thoughts pop into my head.  And I love that whole ominous Sandman angle.

I don't know if there's a right way or wrong way to write, but people have told me (and I haven't always listened) that I shouldn't revise as I write; but to just write, write, write until the end.  I don't know about you, but that drives me bonkers.  I can't seem to concentrate on the next bit until I've worked out kinks on the previous bits.  It's weird, I know.  And probably a little counter-productive, but hey.  We write however we can get it to work, right?

As for The Other Side of 30, thanks for asking!  It's a piece of women's fiction that has been receiving pretty warm, but very few, reviews over the last couple of years. 

It's about a young woman's struggle with her expectations of what makes a happy life.  Finding herself "painfully" single, with no children, and nearing her 30th birthday, Sebrina Cooper decides to take matters into her own hands.  Blaming her biological clock and her fear of missing out on a "normal" life, she throws her better judgment and moral compass aside, and engages in an affair with now-married ex-boyfriend, whose proposal she had declined years earlier, in favor of pursuing an education and career. 

During the course of the affair, she meets and befriends with the man's wife, and she feels awful about it; but not awful enough to stop the affair, or to come clean about it.  The story goes on with all the trouble she gets into from a lapse in judgment that spirals out of control.  She becomes the one living in the glass house instead of the one who throws stones at it. 

Keep in mind that I've written this summary about 20 different ways, depending on who's asking who I'm pitching it to.  The blurb on the book cover is a good bit shorter, because I hope not to give too much away to potential readers who are just browsing.

I'm hoping that when I'm done revising it for the 2nd Edition, it will appeal to a wider audience and get more readers.  :)

Hi Regina!

  I just realized I didn't answer your questions earlier about my book "

What's the name of your book?  What's it about?  How long is it?

Mine is called The Other Side of 30, and it's 375 pages.  In hindsight, I think it's about 50 pages too long, but I guess got carried away.  :)"

I haven't named my book yet, so far I have only written the first chapter and tonight I have been busy reworking and revising it.  What its about overall is still in the works, but I will tell you what I have so far.  A village summons Mother Earth (Gaia) to save their village from evil, while performing this ritual the men of the village come out and once the first male foot (which is my main characters older brother Cayden) steps on the ritualistic soil, Gaia appears (except the women can't see her), she kills all the men leaving the women in such desperation they kill themselves.  Shay (my main character who right now doesn't have a last name lol) also attempts to kill herself with the rest of the villages women (she feels great guilt because she led the ritual and was the only one in the village who knew how to call Gaia) but she lives.  She goes back to her house after the massacre and finds her nephew cowering in the closet... she must raise him herself and protect him from the evil that plagues the village (which later on my readers will find out is the Sandman). 

The other side of 30 sounds great!  Tell me a little about it other than the obvious from the title. :D

Hi, Carrie!

I don't know about your Facebook page, but my writing doesn't get much attention there.  My friends are more into the socializing than any networking or constructive feedback.  My friends and family love me, I'm sure.  But their interest and enthusiasm is just not there when it comes to my writing.  I get more comments on pictures of food and cats than I do on anything that has to do with my writing. 

I have a Facebook page exclusively dedicated to my writing, but the traffic is slow-to-moderate there, too.  That's part of the reason I joined She Writes.  To be around people who actually care about writing, and who interact regularly about writing.

I'm sure it couldn't hurt to post some work there.  You never know who's reading, or what kind of encouragement you'll get that could give you just the right amount of push to get to the next step.  :)

Thanks for all the advice Regina, it sounds like you have been working long and hard on your book.  I have shared with a few friends I trust in private and my mother to get a readers persspective on it, I also put the first chapter up on WritersCafe.org for other writers opinions which seems to help, so Im slowly stretching that comfort zone as well :D  I have a Facebook page, would you recommend sharing it there and getting feedback from friends and family there as well? 

I started blogging back in 2006, on a site that was exclusively for blogging.  That's where I first found my nerve to share with strangers.  I was fortunate to get some good feedback, mostly positive.  Then, I moved on to MySpace, which is where I made some of my closest connections with other writers and bloggers.  By the time MySpace fell off in popularity, I was already comfortable sharing my work with the world.

I built my first website as a New Year's resolution for 2010, because I'd made up my mind that I would publish my book that year.  I used a site called Weebly.com, where it's free.  I just went out and bought my own domain names, and went on and started putting together little bits and pieces at a time, all while learning from what I saw and heard others doing.  My sites are still works in progress, but they're doing okay for now.

I have a blog here on She Writes, too; but I don't spend near as much time on it as I'd like.  I'm stretching myself pretty thin, trying to maintain pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, and here.  I'm hoping that I can gain buzz and exposure by tapping into different audiences from all over; but it is a LOT of work.  Not enough time in the day to do them all justice.

As for folks taking your idea, try not to fret too much on that.  Your words are copyrighted to you as soon as you write them down, so no matter what, they are legally yours.  If it makes you feel better, you can register your copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, DC, for about $40 (or something like that).  And you can apply online.  It's a little bit of extra comfort, but not a necessity.  You don't have to wait for your registration certificate to come back (it takes a few months) before you start blogging and sharing, but if that's what makes you comfortable, then that's what you should do.  I've learned to only stretch my comfort zone a little bit at a time.  But I do stretch it.

Or, you can start out just sharing with a small circle of readers who you trust, maybe family members, and then go from there.

Thanks Clene and Regina, I appreciate your responses and help on this. I hadn't heard of a "Memorandum of Understanding" before, but found it interesting because part of my sharing dilemma is fear that someone could take my idea and market it for themselves. I don't have a blog or a website set up like many of you do Regina, although I think the websites are a great idea! Did you start sharing yours on the blogs here?

That's great, Carrie!  Congratulations on getting it started.  Keep up the good work.  :)

As for sharing it, I'm not sure if there is some accepted standard on when and how to share your work, but I started sharing mine on my blogs.  I felt like the feedback would do me some good, because the people who read my blogs were total strangers.  After a while, I got to know some of the readers, and they got more comfortable sharing their thoughts and idea at length, instead of just short comments.

For me, that worked well.  It was because of some of my blogging friends that I finally got the nerve to push forward and self-publish my novel.  It took a while for me to warm up to the idea, because I'd sent out queries to dozens of agents with no success.  As a self-published work, the book is doing moderately well, and I'm pleased with it.

If you have a blog, consider sharing little snippets at first with your readers, and see how you feel after you get some feedback.

What's the name of your book?  What's it about?  How long is it?

Mine is called The Other Side of 30, and it's 375 pages.  In hindsight, I think it's about 50 pages too long, but I guess got carried away.  :)