Lots of fun things going on here today!

First, let’s give away a free book…

Courtesty of random.org, the winner of yesterday’s book giveaway is: Minerva Alvarez!

Congratulations, Minerva – you will be receiving a paperback copy of Empty Arms!! (I’ll send you a message via Facebook to coordinate the details).

A BIG THANKS to everyone who entered!

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Next up…

I’m honored and ecstatic to be making an appearance on one of my favorite blogs, Women’s Fiction Writers. This is a bit surreal considering the heavy-hitters who regularly grace its pages (Sarah Jio, Jennifer Weiner, Therese Walsh, Allison Winn Scotch…just to name a few).

So, if you want to hear the story behind Empty Arms, learn about my writing process, and find out what’s next for me…come on over! You can read my interview here.

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Last but not least, a little fairy dust has been sprinkled on me…

Literary Fairy Godmother, Larramie, has waved her magic wand once again. Today the author she’s revealing through her infamously fun, rapid-fire Q&A is none other than moi! Pop on over to The Divining Wand to find out my biggest regret, my fantasy profession, and the one food I could eat every day for the rest of my life.

See? Didn’t I tell you we’re having lots of fun here today

Contest…

To celebrate this long-awaited day, I’m giving away a free copy to one lucky reader. All you have to do is follow these 2 easy steps: 

1) ’Like’ Empty Arms on Facebook (if you’ve already done this you can proceed to step #2)

2) Leave a comment below today’s Facebook post (the one that announces the contest)

The small print: Contest ends tonight at 11:59 PM EST. One lucky winner will be selected by random number generator and announced tomorrow morning on this blog and over on the Empty Arms FB page.

(Friendly reminder: Comments left here won’t be counted as entries, though you’re more than welcome to leave me a comment if you’d like.) 

Here’s what readers are saying…

“Erika Liodice’s Empty Arms is a compelling novel about haunting secrets, risk and consequence, and one woman’s journey to build a future out of the scattered ashes of her past. A beautiful debut.” – Therese Walsh, author of The Last Will of Moira Leahy and co-founder of Writer Unboxed.

“One of the best books I’ve read all year.” – Brianna Soloski, book reviewer at Girl Seeks Place. 
     Read the full review.

To find what you seek in the road of life,
the best proverb of all is that which says:
“Leave no stone unturned.”
-Edward Bulwer Lytton

There are no words to describe how it feels to finally hold my book in my hands. I spent about an hour holding it and repeating, “It’s just so beautiful.” (More proof that writing a book really is like giving birth). This moment is absolutely surreal.

The paperback will be going on sale soon. Stay tuned to for details… 

There aren’t many things that I really, really hate, but cleaning is one of them. Why do I hate cleaning? Plain and simple: it’s a waste of time. Our place is not all that big, but cleaning it by myself takes about 6 hours. And I can think of a million better ways to spend 6 hours of my life. Don’t get me wrong, I love things neat and tidy (and sanitary), but I don’t like being the one who has to make them that why. (I, of course, blame this on my mother who never made me lift a finger and sent me into the real world believing that things magically clean themselves.)

Most people ask me why I don’t just hire a cleaning person. The truth is, I have trust issues. I’m afraid that someone will walk off with a piece of jewelry…or, you know, steal my identity, wipe out my bank account, and involve me in some sort of international crime ring. Others have asked why I don’t just ask Dave to do the cleaning. Ha! Every time I ask him to help me clean, he says it’s a waste of time and begs me to hire someone to do it. (His Mom is to be blamed as well).

Believe me, I’ve tried to get over my trust issues and hire a cleaning service but it always ends badly. The first time, I came home to find my bi-fold closet doors ripped off the hinges and resting against the wall. Another time, I discovered gouges in the wooden trim along the bottom of the couch where the vacuum had rammed it mercilessly. One time, I was stood up by a cleaning person who never bothered to call me about the so-called traffic jam she was stuck in, and it made me late for work. And most recently, I was nearly ripped off (if you leave an hour early, I’m not paying you for that hour…kapeesh?).

To date, no jewelry or sensitive information has been stolen (to my knowledge), but there’s always that nagging question…what did they do with my toothbrush while I was gone?

So that leaves only one semi-willing person who I trust to clean our home: me

Determined to find a way to make those six hours less awful, I decided to add the thing that I love (writing) to the thing that I hate. No, I’m not writing my next manuscript while waiting for the toilet gel to work its magic on hard water stains (though that’s not a bad idea); I’m using those “wasted” hours to do something that I don’t usually have time for: developing my craft.

One of the best things I’ve discovered online (other than Groupon) is the wealth of videos and podcasts on every writing-related topic under the sun: author interviews, readings, advice, classes, conferences…the list goes on and on. The seven dwarves might have you believe that you should whistle while you work, but if you want to become a better writer, I say, listen while you work.

Here are some gems that I’ve enjoyed while scrubbing shower tiles and steam mopping my kitchen floor:

Elizabeth Gilbert: A New Way to Think About Creativity (via YouTube)

Joyce Carol Oates on Writing Characters (via YouTube)

Sessions from Book Group Expo (via FORA.tv)

The Writing Show Podcast

B&N Studio’s Meet the Writers Podcast

iTunes: Meet the Author Podcast

Writers on Writing Podcast

New Yorker: Fiction Podcast

(These resources are also great for a long commute or a trip to the DMV.)

So the next time you reach for the rubber gloves, pull out your iPod too.

Just don’t drop it in your sparkling clean toilet.

What writing-related resources do you like to listen to?

Today is a sweet, sweet day; it’s a day I’ve been fantasizing about for years…I got my very first book club request! This morning I was ecstatic to learn that a lovely book club in Rochester, NY has selected Empty Arms to discuss at its May meeting…and they invited me to join them!

I think May is a wonderful time to read and discuss this novel…after all, its major theme is motherhood. And Mother’s Day, of course, falls in May (this year it’s May 13th). What a great way to reflect on the meaning of motherhood and celebrate the wonderful mothers (and children) in our lives!

If you love this idea and want your book club to read Empty Arms for its May meeting, e-mail me and I’ll try to join your discussion either by phone, Skype, or (if you live near Bethlehem, PA) in person.

I am available to join book club discussions all year long, just e-mail me: BookClub@ErikaLiodice.com

Reader Question: How many query letters did you send out for Empty Arms?

Before I give you the exact number, let’s travel back to 2007 when I had completed my first novel, The Sounds of Silence, and was certain that agents would be fighting to represent me. Even though this was only 5 years ago, at that time most agents preferred snail mail queries. I sent at least a hundred…which, when you consider the oversized envelopes and the weight of the first chapter or first fifty pages that most agents asked for, cost me a small fortune.

The grand result? A few encouraging comments but no offers of representation.

Frustrated but determined, I spent the next six months reworking the story, fueled only by the few compliments I’d collected in my first round of querying. My revisions led to some major plot developments, new characters, and a title change: The Ardent One. In early 2008, I was back at the library printing copies of my new and improved query letter and sample chapter. Another hundred or so thick envelopes went out, and I was certain that this time I’d land an agent.

The grand result? More encouraging comments but no offers of representation.

I was at an impasse. I had to do one of two things: begin another major revision or put the story to rest and set to work on a new idea that was burning in my brain. I chose the latter and began writing the book that became Empty Arms.

Now, fast forward to 2011. After taking some fiction writing courses, workshopping my first draft of Empty Arms, working with a developmental editor, and doing some pretty hefty revisions, I ended up with a manuscript that I was immensely proud of, a manuscript that put The Ardent One to shame. And during the three years that I spent writing Empty Arms, the publishing industry changed completely. Now, hardly any agents accept snail mail queries, e-readers have revolutionized the marketplace, e-bookstores have grown into a serious distribution channel, and, as a result, the big six publishing companies no longer hold all the keys to the kingdom (though, admittedly, they still hold quite a few).

With my completed manuscript in hand, I had a decision to make: do I query a bunch of agents and hope that one is willing to take a chance on me OR do I take a chance on myself and leverage the new technologies and opportunities that are available to emerging writers? Again, I chose the latter. Instead of spending months querying agents who would probably rather be working with their established (read: money-making) clients, I decided to spend my time setting up my own small press, Dreamspire, and sending my work out into the world now rather than a couple of years from now.

So, the number of queries I sent out for Empty Arms? Zero.

That’s not completely true. A good friend of mine invited me to send a query letter to her agent. At first I was reluctant because I’d already made the decision to establish Dreamspire to publish my work. But it was such a generous offer that I did end up sending that agent a query letter and the first 30 pages of my book. I waited a few weeks and when I didn’t hear back I assumed that she wasn’t interested and I moved forward with my plan. But the agent’s lack of response ate at me. I thought I had grown so much as a writer, how could she not have responded? I forced myself to forget about it and focus on the positive comments I was receiving from early readers. Then, a funny thing happened. I received an e-mail from the agent apologizing for taking so long to get back to me. Here’s a little excpert from her note…

I did read the first thirty pages of your work early on and made a note to myself to read more since I found your writing engaging. In looking at your website I see that you have found a publisher and that you are launching an e-book. I wish you the very best of luck.  I think you are a very good writer with a strong voice, which is a great combination for success.

Could she have been the one to take a chance on me? Maybe. Maybe not. I guess we’ll never know because in the end, I decided that the person who was going to take a chance on me…is me.

How many query letters have you sent?

I’ll be the first to admit that I may be overindulging in my New Year’s resolution. In recent weeks I’ve let my blog, Facebook feed, Twitter stream (not to mention my writing!) sit idle in favor of going to yoga, Pilates, and spin class, learning new things on YouTube (like the proper way to cut an onion – I’ve been doing it wrong all these years!), trying new recipes (I’ve got Cornish Hens slow-cooking as we speak), perfecting coffee in my new French press (still haven’t gotten that one down yet), and launching an effort to convince Dave that we need to reduce our carbon footprint by getting a rain barrel to collect storm water for gardening and a worm farm to compost our food scraps and junk mail (he rolls his eyes, but I know he’s intrigued by the idea of a worm munching its way through credit card offers and Hammacher Schlemmer catalogs).

I guess what I’m saying is that the holidays and the new year (and, okay, all of the wine, food, and late nights that went along with it) left me feeling spent and in need of a mental health vacation. So my apologies for my little hiatus. But on the bright side, all of this downtime has given me the chance to reflect on many things in my life, one of which is this blog. Since launching Empty Arms, I’ve gotten a number of delightful e-mails from readers with interesting questions about my publishing journey. I got to thinking…if one person writes to me with a question, how many more readers are wondering the same thing? So, over the next few weeks I’m going to begin answering those questions publicly (keeping the questioner’s name anonymous, of course). When I first started this journey, this type of author Q&A really helped me learn about the craft and business of fiction writing. And now I’m hoping to be able to do the same for you. So tomorrow, I’ll be answering the first question: How many query letters did you send out for Empty Arms?

Oh, and the right way to cut an onion? Don’t cut the root.

Do you have any questions you’d like me to answer here on my blog?
If so, please e-mail me: erika@erikaliodice.com

Enjoy it.

What’s your New Year’s resolution?