Sunday, November 21, 2010

RMFW Member Gets Major Book Deal

As Publicity Chair for RMFW, I wouldn’t be worth my salt if I didn’t act as the town cryer for this success story.

Julie Kazimer attended the RMFM Colorado Gold Conference in September 2010, and signed up for a workshop with an editor from Kensington. Hell, it’s kind of cool because I even attended the quaint little workshop with her and remembered the title of her manuscript very well…F%#ked Up Fairytale. She followed up with the editor and got a book deal.

CIR: The title says a lot about the book. It certainly got my attention and I knew it would be memorable. That said, can you give us a preview beyond a book blurb what it’s about?

JK: When Cinderella is crushed under the cross-town fairy second street bus, her not-so-ugly stepsister mistakenly hires RJ, a villain on mental health leave from evil doing, to solve the crime. From there, RJ must overcome a number of obstacles including his ex-wife, a weighty curse, and a semi-charming prince in order to win the princess and return to active villain duty.

CIR: Your blog said that you’d been working to get published for about five years. In the publishing business that’s just about an overnight success story. The average is ten years. Any tips that you can offer to new writers to expedite their journey?

JK: Write. That’s really it. In that five years I wrote over 7 manuscripts and plenty of short stories. You need to be persistent. If this is what you want, go after it. Don’t assume once you finish your manuscript it will be published. Don’t assume that once you get an agent you’ll be published. And from what I hear, don’t assume once you are published you’ll be published again. That being said, enjoy each part of the journey. Writing should be fun. It should make you happy. Of course, it also makes me crazy, so there is that.

CIR: How did you hear about RMFW?

JK: I attended my first conference at Pikes Peak Writers in 2007. That’s where I learned about a much closer to home group, and decided to join. I attended the 2008 Colorado Gold conference and had a blast. I met so many wonderful writers.

CIR: My standard goofy question. What did you do to celebrate the book deal?

JK: PG rated version? I went out for margaritas. I did a happy dance. A bar top might have been involved.

CIR: I loved the New Never News blog. Do you have any plans to incorporate the characters from your book in it?

JK: Thanks. The New Never News blog http://thenewnevernews.blogspot.com/ articles are very much like the book. In fact, some of the news stories are drawn directly from the book. So if you read the blog, when the book is released (early 2012), you’ll have a few clues to the identity of Cinderella’s killer. Of course, many of the stories aren’t in this book, but they will be in the next one.

Dave

8 comments:

Peg Brantley said...

Huge congratulations, Julie!

(And um, I kinda like those initials . . . JK. *grin*)

Mark Stevens said...

Great story, start to finish. I want more than the PG version of that celebration night. Congrats, congrats.

Mario Acevedo said...

Go forth and conquer.

Patricia Stoltey said...

This is a great story, Dave. Thanks for spreading the word.

Congratulations, Julie -- that happy dance is a perfect way to celebrate, especially when combined with margaritas. :)

Janet Fogg said...

Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music! Congratulations!

Tamela Buhrke said...

Julie! This couldn't have happened to a nicer person. You calmed me down before my first very first pitch session at the conference. I saw you doing that for others too. What a wonderful thing. Plus, what a great concept for a novel. I hope you enjoy much success! You deserve it!

J.A. Kazimer said...

Thank you all for the congratulations. It means so much. I am so thankful to be a RMFW member. And thank you Dave for the interview. I look forward to seeing you all at the next conference.

Happy Turkey Day!

Julie

Anonymous said...

Congratulations. By the way, F%#ked Up Fairytale is a book I'll certainly pick up when published.

http://www.ManOfLaBook.com