Falling Into a Plot Hole

Blinded by Toxic Nerve Gas

2012-02-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

A golden rule of writing: if your manuscript is getting stale, put your heroine in more trouble.

It's great to follow, but I always loosely translated that as:
Throw some bombs at her!
Kill off her family!
Have her blinded by toxic nerve gas!

That's all well and good, and exciting to be sure, but can sometimes be a little too much. What the rule really means is to push your heroine's desires further away from her, which could be a bomb or the sudden onset of blindness due to toxic gasses, or something much less dramatic. Basically, don't give her what she wants. Make her work for it and get the reader involved in her struggle.

Some of my favorite books are the ones where I'm practically shouting at the heroine to do something different. Of course, some of my least favorite ones are books where the heroine continually makes stupid decisions. There is a very fine line between being cautious and being a moron. So the challenge is to make things harder for your heroine but have her respond to new developments in a logical way.

In my current MS, my heroine is starting to like someone who is completely wrong for her. When she finally admits it to one of her friends, the boy overhears her confession. In the following chapter he confronts her about it and I had two choices: he could profess his undying love for her OR he could give her the "just friends" speech.

I wrote this chapter twice, using both scenarios. The thing us, you WANT the two of them to hook up, but the chapter I liked better was the one where he gave her the "just friends" speech. Had I let them skip off into blissful relationship happiness, what reason would you have to keep reading?

This is what I mean by making trouble for your characters. Simple trouble. Relatable trouble. Who hasn't liked someone only to find out they're in the "friend zone?" When my heroine finds out, she's stunned. Her ego takes a major blow. This is something we've all felt, and in addition to dashing my heroine's expectations, I make you, the reader, like her more because you can empathize with her.

If I had blinded her, you might feel sorry for her sudden loss of vision, but it wouldn't be something you would understand. (Unless it has happened to you.) So if your story is starting to drag in the middle, try giving your girl some normal troubles like:

Lied to by a friend!
Dumped by a boyfriend!
The target of the mean girl's bullying!
Parents getting divorced!
Dad in jail!

And if those don't work, by all means set off a gas bomb.

Is Goodreads Good?

2012-02-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, of course it is. It's in the name for Pete's sake. BUT is it good for aspiring writers? I'm still going to vote yes, even though I think there are some potential pitfalls.

Where it is absolutely good: Groups
I'm in a couple of YA groups and not only does this connect me with folks who would be my potential readers, it connects me with books in my chosen genre. With a new book assigned every month, I keep up on my reading and while I'm reading, I think about the book in terms of writing, story and characterization because I'm going to have to discuss it all later. They don't take a vague "I liked it," or "I hated it," as an answer. You better have reasoning as to why you felt that way or consider yourself shunned from the group.

Identifying aspects of what I do or don't find appealing about a book helps me improve my writing. I might notice how an author has a lot of shoulder shrugging and nodding going on in their novel, and then look back at my own MS and see the same nervous ticks.

What other people have to say about the book is helpful too. These are my readers, and they read a lot of books. The leaders of my groups have about 700+ books a piece under their belt, and they'll be the first people to point out tired story lines, cliche characters, and all around bad writing. They'll also share what they would've liked to see, and I take some of these ideas and try to incorporate them into my own writing. Give the people what they want!

Where it can be iffy: Reading other reviews
I am certain I'm piling up some bad karma points because some of the one-star, asshole-ripping reviews are hilarious. Even the shelf designations people give to books are somewhat funny, ie, the shameful-shelf-get-rid-of-it. And after I read one of these reviews, wipe the tears of whimsy from my eyes, I gasp and think, "When I get published, someone's going to write one of these about my book." Ouch.

Of course, below that one-star review is a five-star review contradicting everything the previous reader said. This reminds me that the publishing industry is SO subjective. I need to keep plugging onward and not get beat down my the rejections.

HOWEVER, when I read a book, give it a low rating and see it has an overall rating of 4+ stars, I think, "I can do better than this. Why are they published and I'm not?" Commence pity party. And a pity party is always a bad place to be in.

One thing I do love about reviews is when I make a note of poor characterization or lack of description and read five other reviews in agreement, I know my editing eye is in pretty good form. I can apply that to my own writing.

Where it could be bad: Writing your own reviews
The first rule about being on submission is don't blog about being on submission. The second rule about submission is DON'T BLOG ABOUT BEING ON SUBMISSION.

I don't. Because editors could type my name into Google, find my blog and see that my novel has been rejected by twelve others. But then I go onto Goodreads, write a less than glowing review of a novel that happens to be on the list of one of the editors considering my book. That has to be just as bad, doesn't it?

I see a lot of five star reviews on Goodreads for everything and wonder if the reader really likes all of those books or if he's just trying to gain some brownnose points for ARC giveaways or publishing presence. I might be lighting my MS on fire, but I can't do it, and personally, as a writer I would want to know what someone hated about my book so I could fix it in the next one.

I try to make my reviews honest and personal and always point out positive and negative aspects of the book. But it's true, there have been some I wanted to refer to as a "stinking waste of trees," and held back my typing fingers. For those books I follow the rule of, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

What about you? Are you on Goodreads? Friend me if you want to share reviews!
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/642255

Draft Done!

2012-01-16T08:34:00.000-08:00

Notice how I didn't title this: Book Done!, because a book is never done until it is on the shelves. Even then, there could still be mistakes. I was recently going through the Hunger Games and found a typo. (But we will forgive Ms. Collins and her team because they produce amazing books.) What I mean is a draft is done. And the draft of a novel goes through many stages.

The First Draft
I am a pantster (most of the time). I figure out the overall concept for a story in my head and start writing. Often, I write 50 pages, decide it is crap and start over again...several times. Eventually, I get through it, and sitting on my hard drive is piece of fiction that is mostly crap. But I do have a good idea of the sequence of events, how I want things to end and the overall persona of the characters.

The Second Draft?
Sometimes, at this phase, I decide the original idea is beyond crap and not even worth saving. At this point, I set it aside and start something new...50 pages at a time. If I decide the first draft is worth a second go around, I rewrite it. Yep, that's right. I may take a few pages of my first draft to my second draft, but the majority of it is completely re-typed. I only use my first draft to identify what's working and what isn't. The ideas that are working, stay. The ones that aren't are changed.

The Third Draft
Now I have something I can work with. Again, there is some serious rewriting to be done here. Often complete chapters. This is also the stage where I go, "I don't really like this character." And I rewrite all her dialogue and scenes. I start looking hard at where I want my chapters to end, and even though the events may stay the same, I'll change the character's motivation for making them happen.

The Fourth Draft
This is a decent draft, something I'm not embarrassed to associate with my name. The editing in this stage is minor: formatting, correcting typos, making sure names and dates match up. I also look at my paragraph and sentence beginnings and make sure they don't all start with, "I." This draft I've read through fairly quickly, so I can also spot places where I used the same decriptive phrases, and I wrack my brain for another way to describe curiosity besides, "a raised eyebrow."

The Fifth Draft
I've just gotten my draft back from my Beta readers. I read their comments, cringe at all the typos I did miss, curse at some of the things they've said and then I put it away. Days later I go back and fix everything they suggested because they're right. Once those are done, I take one last look to make sure everything's in place and THEN I send it to my agent. We might have discussed concepts before now, but this draft, draft 5 will be the first time she sets eyes on it. And while I'm waiting for her comments for draft 6, I go right back to the top and start something new.

A lot of time might pass between drafts, but at every stage there's a sense of accomplishment and pride that you've done something, made it better, and eventually it could be great. So keep writing!

Bad Query Update with Comments

2012-01-05T09:37:00.001-08:00

You can view the query in its original horridness in the previous entry.

Dear Sir/Madam,
Are you writing to a hermaphrodite? Most unlikely, and if you were, you probably wouldn't know that from researching their website (which you obviously didn't look at or you would know the agent's name.) Always address queries as Mr. Smith, or Ms. Jones.

I have just finished... Never say you "just finished" it sounds like you typed "the end" five minutes ago and then dashed off a query. Whether you did or didn't, that is the impression the agent will get. Expect a form rejection. ...my 145,283 word... Way too high for YA. The optimal word count is 50K-90K words. I know. I know. YA books come out all the time that are 400-500 pages, but they don't start that way. Your agent and editor will probably add about 50+ pages, so to avoid the rejection pile, edit down to the most important content or split into 2 books. As for the specific word count, this might not get you rejected, but I'm sure the intern pouring through queries will roll her eyes. 145,000 is sufficient to say. ...YA paranormal romance fiction novel. It's redundant to say "fiction novel". I started it for NaNoWriMo and finished it last night. Well we suspected it hadn't been edited. Now we know for sure. It will appeal to both fans of Harry Potter and Twilight because of the passionate romance and magical elements. I'm convinced it will be a million dollar bestseller. My, my, aren't we the confident one? Everyone in the entire world will read it, and you, having only written one novel, already know everything about publishing. Your novel isn't a lottery ticket, and most debuts (the ones that sell) get an average of $15,000 for an advance. If you're going to compare your work to anything, make sure it fits. Most of the time, I opt to leave comparisons out and instead insert a line as to why I am querying said agent. Where I found her name and why I think we might be a good fit.

What would you do if you found out you were adopted and your real parents were merpeople? ACK! Rhetorical question alert. You're trying to be a writer, so write. Don't make your readers guess, describe to them the emotions associated with this circumstance. What's even worse, is the answer to this question isn't addressed in the rest of the query.

Midville, Iowa is a small town where the most exciting thing to happen is the annual tractor pull. Bad opening sentence considering the location is not important. Start with what is important, your main character. It's the perfect place for Jane Smith because she's not that exciting herself. How is she not exciting? The next sentence adds some description, but not enough. Butterfly collecting sounds somewhat interesting. I would picture Jane to be a bit of a dreamer, not exactly a boring person. I'm also wondering how old she is. The main character's age helps determine the target market. When she's not reading or chasing butterflies, she's helping her father in the cornfields. Living in a land-locked state, she never would've guessed her roots were deep seeded in water. This line isn't particularly awful, but upon further reading, the water puns start to fall off the deep end (see what I did there?) Excessive cliches and puns in your query elicit yet another eye roll and causes the agent to think your MS is drowning in them. (See I did it again, and I'll bet you're already annoyed. Just wait.)

Until she goes on a family beach vacation to California and nearly drowns in the surf. A sexy, suave and somewhat broodish merman named Finn pulls her from the water, and Jane's life gets flipped upside-down when he tells her she was born with scales.

Finn helps Jane reconnect with her fishy past, and as she learns to swim again, they splash into deep sea romance. But when it's time for her to go home, she has to decide: to stay underwater with Finn or return to her quiet life on land. The choice she makes will be forever. I understand the comparison to Twilight now because it sounds exactly like it...except with mermen. To break into the market, you need something fresh and original. Everyone's looking for new, not vampires swapped for mermen.

The only positive thing I can say about this query is it's short. Brevity is good, but this one is a little too brief. I don't care that much about the main characters and I'm wondering how this person wrote 600+ pages about a supposed boring girl and a merman. At this point, I expect 200 or so pages could be removed by deleting cliches.

I have been writing since I was seven-years-old. My first short story, Fido's Day at the Park, won my second grade fiction contest and I received A's on all of my English papers. I practice underwater basket weaving and play kickball on the weekends, and have an extensive stamp collection. Unless you have won NOTABLE awards for your writing, or have a career in oceanography that might give you unique perspective on undersea life, an agent won't care. My mother and best friend have both read the first chapters of the manuscript and love it. Is your mother an editor at Random House? No? Then no one cares if your dog, neighbor, mailman read it and loves it. You have a week to review the material. In this case it might happen because the majority of agents would send a form rejection after reading, "Dear Sir/Madam." In most cases though, agents have a 6-8 week turnaround. The specifics of their response time (or lack of response) will be posted on their website. If I don't hear from you by Friday, I will stop by the office to follow-up. This is a great way to earn a restraining order instead of a book deal.

Sincerely,
Aspiring Writer

How NOT to start 2012

2012-01-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have just finished my 145,283 word YA paranormal romance fiction novel. I started it for NaNoWriMo and finished it last night. It will appeal to both fans of Harry Potter and Twilight because of the passionate romance and magical elements. I'm convinced it will be a million dollar bestseller.

What would you do if you found out you were adopted and your real parents were merpeople?

Midville, Iowa is a small town where the most exciting thing to happen is the annual tractor pull. It's the perfect place for Jane Smith because she's not that exciting herself. When she's not reading or chasing butterflies, she's helping her father in the cornfields. Living in a land-locked state, she never would've guessed her roots were deep seeded in water.

Until she goes on a family beach vacation to California and nearly drowns in the surf. A sexy, suave and somewhat broodish merman named Finn pulls her from the water, and Jane's life gets flipped upside-down when he tells her she was born with scales.
Finn helps Jane reconnect with her fishy past, and as she learns to swim again, they splash into deep sea romance. But when it's time for her to go home, she has to decide: to stay underwater with Finn or return to her quiet life on land. The choice she makes will be forever.

I have been writing since I was seven-years-old. My first short story, Fido's Day at the Park, won my second grade fiction contest and I received A's on all of my English papers. I practice underwater basket weaving and play kickball on the weekends, and have an extensive stamp collection. My mother and best friend have both read the first chapters of the manuscript and love it. You have a week to review the material. If I don't hear from you by Friday, I will stop by the office to follow-up.

Sincerely,
Aspiring Writer

...with a bad query letter. I would like to say this is the worst, but I'm sure agents have read some that make this look quality. It's the worst I could come up with, so have fun, pick it apart and laugh because that is what I wrote it for. Later this week, I'll update with redlines pointing out all of the horrible, terrible, awful mistakes I made. You should be able to spot them all right away, but if you can't, go visit the Query Shark. NOW. I mean it. I'll wait.

Holiday Gift List for Writers!

2011-11-22T11:03:00.000-08:00

Friday marks the day when all-hell breaks loose in the malls, someone gets trampled in a line at Walmart trying to get a 95% off flat screen, and in their efforts to get into the holiday spirit, shoppers push, shove and bite their way through the stores. Ahh, Christmas.

I do my best to avoid all that and do my shopping online. I hope no one starts plotting my death when I say I'm almost done already. But before you call a hitman, I'm here to help. Below is a list of my favorite gifts for writers this year, and you can get them without having to put on your steel-toed boots.

Literary Pets
Illustrator and Artist, Chet Phillips, created this unique line of prints of our favorite authors as cats and dogs. The detail on these is amazing, and the colors are extremely vibrant. Each portrait has a unique name too, like Jane Pawsten (featured) and Snarls Dickens. At only $18.00 these prints are a steal.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/chetart?ref=seller_info

Uneek Dolls

I'm a sucker for miniature things especially when they're crafted in such detail. Artisan Debbie Ritter has a huge collection of wooden dolls hand-painted and dressed as timeless writers and a few of the characters they created. I just love how the authors are holding tiny copies of their books too!

http://www.uneekdolldesigns.etsy.com/

War & Peace Kindle Book Case

I especially like this because bystanders will think I'm reading War & Peace when in fact I'm reading City of Glass on my Kindle. What a novel idea... (see what I did there?) ...to make your e-books look like books. It's a little pricey at $50.00, but a great gift for someone who has everything except for a Kindle cover.

http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/ipad-kindle-book-case-war-peace

State Necklaces

I wore mine on Sunday and got stopped by 3 people asking me where I got my necklace. I don't wear a lot of flashy accessories, which is why I love this necklace so much. The brushed silver is clean and the small diamond (in the city of your choice) adds just a touch of sparkle.

I have my home state of Rhode Island, but how cute would it be to get a writer friend one of the state their novel is set in? My only complaint about this necklace is the box it came in. It was a small cardboard box and not something I would present to someone as a gift. If you do buy one, plan ahead and get a nice jewelry box to gift it in.

http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/custom-state-necklaces

Burning Bookmark

A great stocking stuffer! Not that I would ever condone the burning of a book, but this plastic and very safe bookmark gives the impression that what you're reading is HOTT. At only $2.99, you can get one for every reader on your list.

http://www.perpetualkid.com/burning-bookmark.aspx

And p.s., I do not know any of these people nor am I getting kickbacks for recommending gifts. I just love to shop!

Why Hello There

2011-10-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

My excuses for not posting lately.

1. I started watching Doctor Who. I was trying to avoid it because I don't need anything else to add to my nerd-dom, but the TARDIS sucked me in.

2. My husband and I turned our change into the Coinstar after saving it for about a year and got a huge Amazon gift certificate which meant Christmas for us and about twelve new books I have to read along with the thirty or so already sitting on my shelf.

3. I was invited to five weddings this year. FIVE. No one else is allowed to get married. I don't think anyone else I know can get married. So no one is allowed to get divorced and re-married. I like a good wedding, but come on!

4. It's fall here in Rhode Island which is my favorite season of the year. The leaves change, the sweaters come out of the closet. I eat Clam Chowder out of a breadbowl at least once a week and there is tons of fun stuff going on. Too much. Last weekend we went on a haunted hayride and this weekend we're going to Salem will I will get my weekly serving of bread bowl clam chowder along with a dose of spooky stories and witchlore.

5. I've been writing, and it has been a tedious path. I have a lot of good ideas. I make up so much insanity in my head, it's well, insane. As many often say, ideas are a dime a dozen. It's the execution that matters, and I had a great idea that wasn't coming across the way I wanted it to.

I rewrote the manuscript four times, trying from different perspectives. Switching perspectives. Starting in a different place, and that's when I set it aside and started on something new. It doesn't mean I won't go back to the idea, but before I do, I need to have a surge of brilliance on how to twist it into something different.

It was a downer, of course, to spend so much time on something and shove it in a drawer, so I took a break and watched Doctor Who. And somewhere when I was driving to work or brushing my teeth, another idea slapped me upside the head. I started writing, and this one I liked from draft one.

I'm going back to revise now and know it's got potential because I get sucked back into reading it. The concept is nothing groundbreaking. I'll tell you right now, it's about witches, but again, it's not the idea, it's the execution, and I think I have a unique enough spin on it to work.

The other positive, is while I'm eating my creamy chowder out of a sourdough hunk of bread this weekend, I can count the entire weekend as research.

Don't Hold Back

2011-08-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

I'm writing my first YA sex scene. Yikes! I think there's a fine line between describing too much and not enough. Kids know what's going on. In middle school I was reading Judith McNaught novels. I knew what was going on, and that was before the widespread use of the Internet.

But as I was writing it, I found myself taming it down, and losing something.

My day job is a creative position as well, involving product and packaging design. When I first started working here, I was designing a box and trying to be conscious of the color usage because more colors means higher cost. The marketing manager at the time said to me, "Don't worry about that. Let the printer worry about it how to make it work. That's their job. Your job is to design."

She was right and that stuck with me. My job is to design. So I do, using as many colors as I want, and after it's done we work with the printer to see what we have to change to get the cost down, and sometimes we don't change anything because the box is that good.

It's true with writing too. My job is to write, and in a first round, I should include as many details as I feel necessary to describe the scene. Later I can edit it down, or I can decide to keep it as is, and let my crit partners or agent tell me to cut it. If I limit myself in the beginning, I'll never know what the scene could have been, what it would look like with six colors instead of two, which might be worth the extra cost.

Show vs. Tell: Examples

2011-08-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted a lot of my writing up here. I like to play things close to the chest, but I'm working on a new piece and thought I'd post a couple of excerpts because I think they're good examples of show vs. tell.

Example 1:
This is the first line of my new work:
Only in Scott’s Valley, Connecticut would kids stand outside in the misting April rain to get into a barn.

One sentence and you learn it's a small town, probably remote and farm-ish, and the MC is not too happy about being there.

A really bad example of telling:
Scott's Valley, Connecticut is a small town. The biggest event to happen is a barn party. I hate it here.

Example 2:
When we are introduced to Hallie:
I find Hallie with her arms draped around a boy, one our mom would love, with long hair and fake tattoos drawn on his arms in Sharpie marker. They’re using the cramped quarters as an excuse to dance with their bodies pressed together.

Here we learn Hallie and the MC are sisters, and Hallie has a taste for bad boys.

A really bad example of telling:
Hallie is my sister and always picks the wrong guys to date.

Example 3:
Showing in dialogue.
"I would tell you to get my good side, except I don’t have one. They’re both equally appealing.”

This character is attractive, knows it, and isn't ashamed to tell everyone he knows it.

A really bad example of telling:
He is conceited.

I love show vs. tell examples. If you have some good ones, please share in the comments!

Cat's in the Bag

2011-07-20T09:33:00.001-07:00

This isn't writing related, or it isn't yet until I craft my letter to the Providence Animal Control director, but more of a public service announcement regarding feral cats.

Early May this article was released about a string of rabid cats in Providence.

Hoard of Rabid Cats Invade Providence's West End

One of them bit a garbage collector and an Animal Control Officer. Of course about two weeks later, I see a family of cats in our neighborhood, a mom and four kittens, and as a responsible citizen, call Animal Control who says, and I quote, "We don't pick up feral cats." When I asked who would, the woman responded, "No one does that." Her suggestion was to leave them alone and they would go away.

From the Providence Animal Control Website under services they (supposedly) provide:

We regulate uncontrolled domestic animals, investigate bites and attacks by aggressive animals, investigate reports of animal nuisance and cruelty, pick up stray and unlicensed animals, rescue injured animals, keep records of lost/found cats and dogs, license dogs, enforce city ordinances, state statues pertaining to animals, give animal information and referrals, and promote responsible pet ownership through education.

Of course if I reported the cats as being rabid, then they would have to come, but it seems to me that it would be better to collect them before they contract disease and breed rather than after, but the government always knows best. (insert extreme sarcasm here)

After I spoke with the helpful woman at Animal Control, I called the ASPCA and Providence Animal Rescue League, neither of whom could help me. The ASPCA did say I could rent a trap from them for $80 to catch the cats. Not knowing how to use a trap and a little paranoid about wrestling with a wild, mama cat, I declined.

Then, a friend suggested PawsWatch, a local non-profit organization that deals specifically with feral cats, and last night, with her help, we trapped the mom and one of the babies. Sadly, the other three disappeared before we could catch them.

What PawsWatch does is capture them, get them fixed and innoculated and releases them back into the neighborhood, unless of course one of the cats is tame enough to adopt. Here's a picture of the baby.

Now if you have any wild cats roaming the neighborhood, this is what the woman told me:

If you see a roaming cat, don't assume it's owned

After they have been fixed, the vet notches their ears

If you don't have a PawsWatch type organization in your area, you can probably rent a trap from your local ASPCA. (And it was really easy to set.)

She had me feed them regularly and when she came, we put the trap in the same place. I caught both mama and baby ten minutes after we set the trap

When the kitties are fixed and returned I will still be feeding them but at least I know they'll be healthy and not able to breed a hundred cats.

Blah Characters

2011-06-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

I finally finished reading a book that took me months to complete, when I usually sit down and finish something in a few days. The biggest reason for my apathy was the main character. I didn't connect with her and thought at first it was because she was underdeveloped. But that wasn't quite it. It was mostly because I found her somewhat, blah. For a character to carry a novel, she has to be both interesting and real. I felt this character did neither.

Characters need a history
My characters generally have a rich history because I will write one hundred pages of a manuscript and decide I started it too soon. I start an entirely new draft at a later place but still, I have all that content from before that I can sprinkle in as backstory.

A female character going on her first date in two years is much more interesting when you can flashback to her last date, where she accidentally lit the waiter on fire and her dress tore down the middle. Tossing that in as she approaches the restaurant tells you, the reader, that she is obviously nervous and you continue reading to see if date number two is as disastrous. You probably also expect this character to be somewhat clumsy and awkward, all of which is displayed through one single story.

Reaction
I feel how characters react to situations reveals more about their personality than anything else, and this is where show don't tell plays a huge role. Take our dating disaster character from above. Knowing a bit of her history, how do you think she would react when her new date orders chocolate flambe for dessert?

Description
The book I recently read was also one of those told from first person from two characters who switch back and forth which seems to be a growing trend that I think could be cool except that often it's hard to decipher which one is narrating. Different people see things in different ways and describe them in different ways. Our dating disaster might see the chocolate flambe making its way to her table and decribe it as, "a flaming dessert from Hell." Now lets change her into a pyromanic who might look at it and say, "chocolate tickled in orange, blue and gold flames. It was mesmerizing."

Motive
I read a blog post from http://www.kidlit.com/ (I tried to find the post and couldn't) but she made a point on one of her posts that has really stuck with me. People are selfish. As I'm writing, I constantly repeat this to myself and try to think about what each one of my characters wants. Even a self-sacrficing person is that way because she wants to be. Maybe she has low self esteem and tries to make friends by pleasing everyone, or she has a wicked past and wants to make amends for it. The reactions might be the same but the motive behind those actions is what defines a character and makes them human.

What about you? Do you have any other suggestions for character development?

Some Inspiration

2011-06-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

Nothing will work unless you do
-John Wooden

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
-Source Unknown

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather is a lack of will.
-Vince Lombardi

Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing until it gets there.
-Josh Billings

"I can't do it" never yet accomplished anything; "I will try" has performed wonders.
-George Burnham

Persistent people begin their successes where others end in failure.
-Edward Eggleston

When we think positively and imagine what we want, we risk disappointment; when we don't, we ensure it.
-Lana Limpert

Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.
-Henry Ford

Yes, you can be a dreamer and a doer too, if you remove one word from your vocabulary: impossible.
-Robert H. Schuller

Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.
-Charles F. Kettering

Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.
-Roger Crawford

It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired, you quit when the gorilla is tired.
-Robert Strauss

Failure is a detour; not a dead-end street.
-Zig Ziglar

I've never failed once. It just happened to be a 2000-step process.
-Thomas A. Edison

It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.
-Babe Ruth

You are never a loser until you quit trying.
-Mike Ditka

That Sucks

2011-06-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

We had some rough storms here last night and though none of my friends were hurt, my friend Stephanie's car was flattened by a tree. Her car insurance won't cover it and neither will her homeowners, since it was an act of God. This might not seem like a tragedy, but it is to her since she has no car and no money to buy a new one. If anyone would like to help her, you can donate at the link below.

Orlando!

2011-05-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my hubby and I got back from Orlando, FL where we spent an entire week at Disneyworld with a final day at Universal Studios. After walking about twenty miles in the hot sun from park to park, it's good to be back except for the dismal rain here in Rhode Island. We had an awesome time though. The Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster was amazing, and the Tower of Terror lived up to its name. I think the German boy who was sitting next to me is probably experiencing some hearing loss in his right ear because of my blood-curdling screams. Sorry!

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom lodge and from our balcony window got to watch exotic animals like giraffe and zebra munching on fresh grass. The hotel also had a huge pool with a water slide and an eighteen person hot tub.

The Magic Kingdom I discovered is dry. Don't be fooled by restaurant names like Tortuga Tavern. There is no alcohol. Thankfully Epcot features a walk around the world with eleven featured countries each with their own beer. We did manage to drink around the world, but it took us three days.

Epcot also had the flower show where classic Disney characters were re-created entirely with plants. Here's a photo of Lotsa from Toy Story 3, and he even smelled like strawberries!

Another highlight of Epcot was the return of Captain EO starring the late Michael Jackson as a spaceship captain of renegade muppets. I saw it at Disneyland when it came out in 1986. (that's how old I am). I think it was more magical this time because I was really able to appreciate the complicated plot where an evil alien queen's inner beauty is brought forth through the gift of synthesized music and pop dancing. I of course, had to buy the signature rainbow T-shirt that Michael wore during the filming of this.

After that, I didn't think anything could top evil aliens growing 80's mullets with the power of wailing guitar riffs. I was wrong.

Our last day was spent at Universal studios where, yes, I went to Hogwart's. Be jealous. It was amazing. The castle, the village of Hogsmeade, even the butterbeer was exactly how you would imagine it to be. Inside the castle, there are talking portraits, floating candles, and 3-D projections of Harry, Ron and Hermoine.

On the main ride, you experience a broom flight with Harry, battling dragons, giant spiders and dementors with the help of a robotic carriage and a large video screen. Honestly the best ride I went on during the entire trip, and we couldn't help but laugh at the icons on the warning sign.

I love how the little "motion sickness" figure is actually spitting out polka dots.

Now it's back to routine, back to work, and I happen to have some edits waiting for me. Unfortunately vacations can't last forever.

Tropes

2011-04-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

My blog poll has been up for a while and it seems like manual labor is the way to go for getting shirts off. This opens up a plethora of other options. What can my male lust-figure be doing? Mowing the lawn, building his little sister a treehouse, chopping wood for a fire...I could probably come up with a hundred things to get my male protag sweaty and bare-chested instead of using the trope of ripping it off to bind a wound.

Speaking of tropes, please tell me you've been to the site tvtropes.org. It's a place where you can find recognizable characters, stories and plot lines used by writers in television and fiction. As the site says, "Tropes are not inherently disruptive to a story; however, when the trope itself becomes intrusive, distracting the viewer rather than serving as shorthand, it has become a cliché."

Last night for girls' movie night we watched Burlesque. The songs, the costumes and the choreography were amazing. The plot was basically one hour and forty minutes of strung together cliches. We were calling out lines before they were spoken and had the plot figured after the first five minutes.

Tropes aren't bad to use, they're tools to help the reader or watcher connect with your story. The key is to piece them together in different ways or have your characters fit one trope and switch to another. I always think of it like writing a song. There are only so many notes, so many chords, and so many ways to piece them together, yet new, original music comes out every day.

Take it off!

2011-04-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

I've read quite a few YA books where the female protaganist cuts herself and the male protagonist doesn't hesitate to tear his shirt off to bind the wound. Talking with my husband I asked him, "If we were in the middle of nowhere and I cut my arm, what would you do?" He said he would tear a piece of his shirt off, a sleeve or the bottom, but not the whole thing.

So I think this is just a clever way to get the male love interest half-naked, but it's starting to become a little cliche, so how else can we get a guy's shirt off? What would you like to see? (Besides a little more fictional skin?)

Any other ideas? Post them in the comments. Whatever gets the most votes I'm using in my next manuscript.

Multi-Tasking

2011-04-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

While I'm going back and forth with my agent on edits on a manuscript, I've started something new. Some people may call this obsessive compulsive disorder. I like to call it dedication to my craft. Of course as I'm going hot and strong on my new work, I get revisions back on the other.

Priority is the edits, so I had to abandon the new one and go back to the first. And they couldn't BE any more different.

First: YA Fantasy set in a fictional historic place. Written in limited 3rd, past tense.

Second: YA Sci-Fi set in contemporary fictional place with elements of time travel. Written in 1st present.

Oy. What have I gotten myself into? It's not so hard to get back into the head of the character, but what is difficult is getting back into a different style of writing. What to do?

Well first, I went through the edits and re-read chunks of my manuscript. Then I didn't do any writing for a couple of days. Instead I thought about how I would incorporate the changes, and re-directed my daydreaming to manuscript 1. During the respite time, I also re-read some of a book written in limited 3rd past tense, to get myself accustomed to the style. When I sat back down to the computer, I felt like I had a good handle on what I was doing. And reversing back to the other, I used the same strategy.

Have you ever done this? Worked on two different things simultaneously? What did you do when going back and forth?

Reasons Why I Don't Read Self-Published Works

2011-03-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not criticizing the entire self-publishing industry, but I think even self-pubbed authors admit there is a stigma attached to veering from the traditional publishing route and this is why.

Reason #1: This woman.

If you didn't see this going around yesterday, check it out now. Self-published author, Jacqueline Howett, received a less than glowing review of her book and reamed the reviewer for it. She, as an individual, acted unprofessionally and I certainly don't think all self-pubbed authors would behave the same way or that even the majority would. The greater problem is she defended sentences like:

"Don and Katy watched hypnotically Gino place more coffees out at another table with supreme balance."

What?! I would have given it a much worse review. And not only did she defend her writing angrily and with more improper grammar, she showed us all she has no desire to improve her writing, and this I think may be a more widespread issue with self-publishing. As if the writer said, "Crank off a book and post it to Amazon. Become Kindle millionaire."

Reason #2: Covers like this

I don't want to specifically insult this author. This is just one of many bad covers I see from self-published works. The book itself has a five star review if you would like to read it, but this is why I won't.

I am a designer. I went to school for six years, I've worked in the industry for eight more and now everyone with a bootlegged copy of Photoshop thinks they too are a designer. Doing a fade out effect, a few dropshadows and slapping some Comic Sans over a photo does not a book cover make. What this says to me: "I put this together in five minutes."

If you don't take your cover seriously, what makes me think you took the pains to seriously edit your work?

Even though I am a designer and could probably put together a decent cover, I wouldn't. I have a friend who worked for Houghton as a book cover designer and you can bet if I self-pubbed, I would have her do it because she is a professional. If you're thinking of self-pubbing a work, contact her. She still does freelance.

Which brings me to...

Reason #3: If it was really good, an editor would have bought it.

There. I said it. Going the traditional publishing route is hard, and so I feel the pain, but I also get the feeling that after a book is rejected by a list of agents, an author goes, "Fine. I'll just publish it myself."

As I wouldn't deign to know the ins and outs of the book cover design world, I wouldn't assume I know more than the publishing professionals. Editors and agents read more books than you and I could ever read. It's their job. And they read books that we haven't heard of: new books, debut books, books from established authors. They know where the industry has been. They know where it's going. They have a crystal ball, and when you work with them, they'll share their knowledge with you to make your work better.

Maybe the book wasn't rejected because it was bad, but because it wasn't as good or original as something else. And if it wasn't as good or original as something else, why would I want to read it?

Reason #4: Time

I don't care if a book is only $.99. I don't have time to read it. As of now I have at least thirty books piled on my desk all waiting to be read. Books I know that are good. Books that have five star reviews from friends of mine with similar reading taste. Yes, I listen to a ton of indie music from unknown bands, but listening to song takes five minutes, not hours or days. When I have time to read a book, I have to KNOW it's worth my precious time, and three five star reviews from an author's friends and family does not convince me of that.

Reason #5: I can read pre-pubbed works for free!

I have author friends. We exchange works. We critique. We share ideas. If I'm going to read something not yet ready, it makes more sense for me to do this, so in turn, I can get feedback on my work. And I know it's coming from someone with talent, committment and a desire to improve.

But ah-ha! I am a hypocrite. I have read self-published works and they were good, but what did they do differently? The authors combatted the stereotypes above.

Check out my friend Karen's books. She hired an editor. She worked with an illutsrator. She has a website. She markets herself. She goes to events and does speaking engagements. She's showing a serious committment to her work, which is something I can stand behind.

And we've all heard of Amanda Hocking (or if we haven't we should have) Self-published Kindle Millionaire. She did the same. Put a lot of time and effort into writing, editing and marketing her book.

Of course now because of her success, we're probably going to see a slew of self-published works, and the question bodes will they take the time to edit, invest the money to hire a cover designers, and give their blood, sweat and tears to market it? Probably not, which is why I still won't go out of my way to read a self-published work.

What about you? Have you self-pubbed? Do you read self-published works? What is your opinion? And are there any good ones I'm missing out on?

The Day My Calculus Class Was Mortified

2011-03-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

I'm saving my trip into the garbage can for a later date because the day my calculus class was mortified is more relevant to my current work.

In it, are two girls who are extremely close and as I was writing it, I thought their relationship could be construed as lesbian-y (Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just hadn't intended that type of relationship for this particular work.) My agent disagreed, saying teenage girls are like that: always sitting in each other's laps, hugging, kissing on the cheek, etc, which is true. I did that, and consequently several people, most of my Calculus class, thought my friend Vanessa and I were in a romantic relationship.

It probably didn't help that we both had trendy short hair cuts, or wore ratty jeans and t-shirts most days. And I'm sure it didn't help when she sat in my lap one class because there was a hair on her seat, but there was one event in particular that clinched it.

Keep in mind, Vanessa and I were the oddballs in Calculus. We were more social, hung with a different crowd and were probably the only two in there to have seen the inside of the detention room. I feel we kept the class lively, and because of our outwardness, we were often used as an example.

One lesson, our teacher explained a problem on the board using a drawing similar to the one below:

"Let's say Rachel is standing on top of a cliff and Vanessa is down below in a boat--"

He didn't get further than that because Vanessa burst out...

"Why does Rachel always get to be on top?"

The entire class exploded into laughter, but many of them had an "I knew it look" in their eyes. When we went to Calculus Camp (yes I went to Calculus Camp, don't judge) our cabinmate Christina tried to force us to tell her we were dating.

So if there's such a fine line between two very close friends and two people who want to be "more than friends", how can we as writers, distinguish these two types of relationships? Where do the lines between them start to blur and is it okay to let them blur? Think about it and think about why two characters are just friends or more than friends. What does one get from the other? How do others perceive them? How does your reader perceive them? Real relationships are multifaceted, and your characters' relationships should be too.

The Day I Ripped the Crotch Out of My Pants

2011-03-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

The previous post has inspired me to share embarrassing moments from high school and well since there are so many I'll have blog fodder for at least the next century or so.

These are the pants, not the exact pants but so close it's bringing back the memory. The artfully torn and faded bell bottom jeans that I coveted and finally shelled out $60 of hard-earned babysitting money to purchase. They were so soft, so comfortable and fell ever-so-gracefully over my blue converse with the cheeto-orange shoelaces.

I loved these pants.

And I wore them almost daily further adding to their vintage glory.

This was senior year so I was in physics with my best friend Vanessa. We were the goof offs in the class: always late, always talking, always joking, and much to the dismay of the other students, aced every project (I'm sure it didn't hurt that my dad was an engineer). Anyway, I was wearing my fabulous bell bottom jeans on the day of bottle rocket testing. (In case you don't know what that is, it's a 2 liter soda bottle that we attached foam fins to, glitter and a handkerchief parachute. You set it off with air and the winner was the one whose rocket remained aloft the longest.)

They couldn't be tested indoors, so Mr. Vine, our physics teacher, dragged the class out to the soccer field. To get there we had to hop over a very short fence. No problem. I'm five foot nine. I lifted one leg in the air to throw it over and heard:

RIIIIIIPPPP!

A cool breeze washed over my thighs as I realized my fabulous bell bottom jeans had split down the middle. Panicked, sweating, cheeks flushed, I pinched my legs together to close off what modesty remained.

"What happened?" Vanessa asked.

"I split my pants," I replied in a quivering voice.

She laughed hysterically, and I had to laugh too. The teacher recorded the bottle rocket send offs (of course) so if any of his later students watched the videos they would see me, legs crossed over one another bending ever-so-carefully to avoid having my underwear captured on film forever. After class Vanessa and I used a conglomeration of safety pins to hold them closed for the rest of the day because as luck would have it, physics was first period.

And as upset as I was to be stuck in crotchless jeans for six hours, I was more upset over the demise of my fabulous, faded bell bottoms. The moral of this story: If you're going to wear artfully faded jeans, DON'T HOP ANY FENCES.

Next: The day I fell into the garbage can.

Hooray for Hormones!

2011-03-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking. Why is there a picture of a chubby German boy on your blog?

I know because I thought the same thing as I was flipping through my eighth grade yearbook. Who is that boy? I don't remember him from school....until I read the name listing and found my own at the end. Did I completely forget what I looked like or did I erase it from my memory along with most of the horrors of middle school?

Unfortunately in writing young adult literature, I dredge up those horrid memories and think about that time a lot. Both of the photos above are of me. The first one I was thirteen. The second was three years and six inches later. But when I write about sixteen-year-old girls, I have to think about where they came from, which means I have to think about where I came from.

Thirteen-year-old me was NOT cool. She was overweight. You can see the retainer, a welcome blessing after three years of braces and headgear. She had no boobs, but had to wear a training bra because she changed out for gym. But because of the flat chest, she often forgot the bra and had to shamefully change in the restroom. The whole point was moot, because she was awful at sports, teased for that on a daily basis and also riduled for her appearance. She was spit on, bullied...oh and she was in the National Junior Honor Society, straight A student and later in the year had the brilliant idea of getting a perm.

Finally puberty came late and fast, adding six inches over the course of two years. All that baby fat turned into a figure. (thank goodness) But the second girl still felt like the first girl. Her freshman year of high school, she collected six dollars and eighty two cents in change because she always looked at the ground.

And do you have any idea what it's like to all of a sudden add six inches to your body? It's all arms and legs. I was tripping all over the place, constantly knocking things over with my butt and I had a permanent bruise on my hip from running into tables and counters. And now I love being tall, but not in high school when most of the boys were shorter than me and I felt like this huge, awkward, hormonal giant. I may have been outwardly attractive then, but I didn't see it.

So when I'm working on a new character, I try to get into her head. Maybe she wasn't a chubby dork turned Amazon, but where was she in middle school? Where was she as a child? How was her upbringing? What were her friends like? And what lingering childhood traumas followed her into adolescence?

Answering these questions often tells me how she perceives herself and the world around her. Someone with confidence sees things very differently than someone without. Or some people use confidence as a shield against their low self-esteem, so internally they're as miserable as the rest of us. All of this starts before your story, but it makes your story.

Often I start a new document and write a short story on a historical event for my character. Sometimes I add it into the manuscript as backstory, sometimes I don't. Either way I think it helps me build a real person.

Do you do this in your character development phase? Do you write an outline for your character's past? Jot down some earlier events? Or do you just plan it all out in your head?

Crushing Dreams

2011-03-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

I have a self-published writer friend who is mentoring a young lady aspiring to be a YA novelist. She asked me to meet with her and talk about my journey in the quest for publication. This particular young lady is extremely ambitious, but like most of us starting out, has the starry eyed dreams of making it to the New York Times best seller list in a year.

I tried very hard not to laugh and be considerate of her aspirations, but I felt I would be doing her a disservice if I didn't prepare her for the journey because it's not for the faint of heart.

The truths I told.

You have to edit.
New writers never think of editing. I didn't. I cranked out my first book in a month and started sending it out. Unfortunately for me, I wrote a fantastic query letter for it. I got a manuscript request on the first query letter I sent. And later I got my harshest rejection to date: "There's too much wrong with it for me to go into detail." And she was right because I also didn't pay attention to formatting. It was double-spaced and that's about it. No indentations for dialogue, improperly punctuated dialogue and I think the word, or pretend word, "OK" was in there at least a thousand times.

Agents typically only sign a few clients a year from the thousands of query letters they receive.
I thought she might cry after I told her this.

Even after you get an agent, it doesn't mean your book will get published.
I saw her mind at work, picturing herself at my age, still unpublished.

You're going to get rejected...a lot.
This she seemed prepared for, which is good, but I think everyone says that until they start collecting rejection letters.

Once you've sent a query letter to an agent and been rejected, that book is dead to that particular agent.
This I wanted to tell her so she would only send out her best work.

On the positive side...
The industry is really subjective.
Someone may hate it. Someone else might love it. If you've edited your little heart out and you stand behind your work, keep sending it out.

Why the heck aren't you reading blogs, twitter, etc?
I cringe over my first novel. It's locked in a drawer, never be seen by human eyes again. Had I not researched, researched and researched online: reading agent blogs, publishing blogs, articles, Twitter chats, other writer's blogs...I'm confident my following manuscripts would be equally crappy.

And because I follow a ton of agents on Twitter...
Mermaids, vampires and books in the eighties are over done.
She said she was working on some manuscripts set in the eighties and I told her agents get innundated with those because a lot of YA writers are in their thirties (like me), and we write what we know, the eighties and nineties. Agents see this as a lazy way to get around dealing with technology or finding out how things are today.

BUT I also told her the most important thing is to write a great book, because a fantastic story about a mermaid in the eighties will get more notice than an okay book about a modern shapeshifter.

I don't think I completely dissuaded her from writing, but I certainly gave her a lot to think about.

Did I miss anything major?

Social Media. WTF.

2011-03-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

Ah yes. The hidden joy of having a day job: business conferences. This morning was the Providence Business News' Social Media as a Marketing Tool.

I always enter these warily, expecting a thinly guised sales pitch, but this one was not. It was informative and discussed differing techniques for utilizing social media across varying industries featuring social media marketers in consumer product, design, legal counsel, insurance and non-profit organizations.

The major takeaways:

The majority of Facebook users are in their thirties and college-educated
Every one of the panelists has a full-time person monitoring their social media networks (and not an intern. Someone familiar with the brand and the way it should represented.)
Followers like giveaways and contests. They also like to input their opinion. Lolita Healy, Founder & President of Designs by Lolita, uses her followers to create collection ideas
Followers also like to vote and nominate. The Newport Art Museum allows people to upload their own art and users vote on their favorites
Followers do not respond as well to open-ended questions, rather a choice: Vanilla or chocolate?
Customize your Facebook page with the Facebook Static FBML app
Create an icon for your product. Alec Beckett, Creative Partner for Nail Communications created Hector, the paper mache cockatoo, for the Margarita's Mexican restaurant to converse with customers

As writers, think about how these techniques can apply to your own social media marketing plan. Can you create a Facebook page for one of your characters? Allow people to upload ideas for your story and vote? Which authors do you think take charge of Twitter and Facebook?

Back in the Drawer

2011-02-15T06:30:00.001-08:00

My latest manuscript is out for reads. This doesn't mean I stop writing. I just move onto something else. Before I started this one, I was trying to rework an old manuscript. It's a good idea. There are good things about it, but overall it needs vast amounts of work. This is my first complete manuscript and it's been sitting in a drawer.

I took it out, tried starting it in a different place, switching to first person present from first person past and it's still not working for me. And now, it just feels old. Last night I was growing increasingly frustrated with it and though I still think it has potential, I've decided to put it back to rest.

It's hard to let go, but who knows, it still may come back out at a later date when I'm struck with inspiration.

Have you ever had to drop a manuscript and move on? Was it utterly painful?

My Week in Recap

2011-02-04T07:41:00.000-08:00

*Finished a draft of my latest novel and sent it off for beta reads!

*Wrote a parody of Patience by Guns n' Roses, filmed it with muppets and posted it to win a Valentine's Date on the Conan O'Brien show (see previous post)

*After seeing myself on video and consequently wearing muffin top pants today, have signed up for Weight Watchers.

*Agency sister Brigid Kemmerer sold her book to K Teen (read her post about it here)

*Had chick flick movie night last night and watched Eclipse. I've switched to Team Jacob

And now for your enjoyment, pets cuddling!

This is what happens when I'm not writing

2011-02-03T06:31:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to go see Neko Case last night, but due to the weather, the show was postponed. Already having scheduled a writing free night, I had some time to fill. And that's when I found this contest to share Valentine's Day with Conan O'Brien. Sick and tired of snow and ice and cold I thought, "A free trip to L.A. is worth embarrassing myself on YouTube."

This is the result:

We shot the video first using ourselves and when I saw it, realized how fat I look, which is why we re-filmed it with puppets. Enjoy! I'm off to sign up for Weight Watchers.

Revision Success!

2011-01-31T08:42:00.000-08:00

Regarding my previous post, I am a prolific writer and although I can maintain enough patience to keep from spreading my new work to the universe, I have to show it to someone, that person usually being my ever-supportive husband.

I thought I had the first few chapters of my new manuscript in amazing shape and passed them to him. He read and enjoyed the first two and put it down at the third.

"Isn't it amazing? Isn't this the best thing you've ever read?" I asked him.
He lowered his eyes while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Umm, it's well, uh, it gets a little slow," he replied, and cowered in anticipation for my wifely outrage. (which did not come)

Instead I went back to my computer. Immediately I found the reason for his boredom. There was information I needed to impart to the reader that I didn't think was very exciting so I started the chapter further along and dumped it in as backstory. Too much backstory. Two pages of backstory. So I re-wrote it, starting the chapter in a new place and added a bit of a rush to the circumstances to build the excitement.

He re-read it yesterday and said, "I don't know what you did. It seems like all of the same information is in there, but it's so much better."

Now that is a great revision compliment. Sometimes turning something good into something great just takes one brave person to tell you it's boring and you having enough sense to listen to them.

Benefits for the Prolific Writer

2011-01-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, agent Rachelle Gardner posted a blog: The Dilemma of the Prolific Writer. Since I happen to be one of these writers, I read it several times.

Rachelle's intent was not to suggest that cranking out novels is necessarily a bad thing, but as a first time novelist, there will be some considerable waiting time, and these books may spend years on a shelf before they can be submitted.

I think one of the key points in the entry is..."they’ve finished that new project and they’re antsy to do something with it."

If you're going to write novel after novel, you can't get antsy about it, and there will come a time when you have to set aside a new work in progress to market or edit an older one. Though, understanding these challenges, I find there are some benefits to being a prolific writer as well:

1. During waiting times for feedback or revisions, there is no better way to distract yourself than to work on something new, and since you might have a year or more before it goes out for sale, you can experiment. Try different voices, narrators, play with the language, really use this as an opportunity to work on your craft.

2. Like it or not, your work is a product to be bought and sold. If you own a dress shop and only have one dress, you only have the opportunity to sell one dress. A customer comes into the store who adores your designs, but is looking for something blue, and all you have is purple. Well it just so happens I have a blue dress in the back. It might need some major alterations before it can be sold, but that's easier than making one from scratch.

3. Break it up and sell it for parts. Agent says, "I'd really like to see a scene where elephants trample through a suburban neighborhood." Luck behold, I just wrote a scene in a new book where dinosaurs trample through a suburban neighborhood! I can change the dinosaurs to elephants, insert the character names from my older manuscript, rework the language and dialogue, and it's done. I can always insert some other terrifying scene into the new manuscript later.

Are you a prolific writer or do you take a break between manuscripts and brainstorm? What are the benefits to your process?

Chapter Endings

2011-01-17T07:14:00.000-08:00

I've been avoiding watching True Blood for a while, saying to myself, "I need a break from vampires." I finally gave in, drank the Kool-aid, and have become obsessed. My hubby and I watched eight hours of it yesterday. Eight hours!

There are so many things that make it great: the premise, the mystery, the dialogue, the multi-dimensional characters, but there's one thing in particular that kept us going from one episode to the next...the endings.

We'd start a new one and say, "Okay, this will be our last." Then at the end, the characters were left in such dire circumstances we had to find out what happened next. Do they live? Do they die? Will vampire Bill be able to save Sookie yet again? We finally had to quit so we could go to bed, but I'm sitting here at work, counting down the hours to another episode.

Even though I spent my entire Sunday on the sofa, it wasn't a complete waste of time. It made me think about how I could incorporate this ploy into my own work and because of it, I thought of a few high-strung places where I could cut to a new chapter and keep people reading.

The Hunger Games is another example of great chapter endings. Prim's name is called for the reaping and BAM! End chapter. If you can close the book there, you have stronger willpower than I do.

I haven't read the Sookie Stackhouse books yet but they are on my list (along with about 20 others) I want to see if Charlaine Harris employed the same chapter endings in her writing. What about you? What books have you read that left you wanting more chapter after chapter?

Chocolate-cranberry-pecan dreams come true

2010-12-21T12:28:00.000-08:00

It took me a minute to remember my blogger password. I'll admit it. I'm spent. And when I'm spent, I need SUGAR! I made these for my coworkers and now I'm the most popular employee in the building. So if you need a late 2010 energy boost, or you're vying for a raise, or just want to make friends, I'm going to give away my secret.

Cranberry Pecan Crunch (or little bites of ecstasy)
(Recipe from Christmas Together, reprinted by Woman's Day magazine)
Makes: 2 Dozen
Prep: 5 min.
Cook: 25-40 min.

3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp corn syrup
3 Tbsp water
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
(I usually start with whole pecans, seal them in a STURDY freezer bag and pound them to dust with a hammer. A good way to easy holiday stress as well.)

1. Butter an 8x8-inch pan and sprinkle bottom with dried cranberries.
2. Melt the butter with the vanilla in a heavy saucepan. Blend in the sugar, syrup and water. Cook over medium to high heat until mixture reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer. Stir constantly. (The magazine says about 25-40 minutes. I don't use a thermometer, and mine took just over 20 minutes. The mixture will reach a fluffy point. As soon as it passes that and takes on a syrupy consistency and a nice golden brown color - it's done. )
3. Quickly stir in chopped pecans and pour mixture over cranberries in pan.
4. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and spread when soft. Sprinkle with pecan dust. When cool remove from pan. Cool thoroughly and break into pieces.
5. Prepare to hear, "OMG! These are sooo good!" repeatedly.

I can't post a picture for you BECAUSE EVERYONE ATE THEM ALREADY! They're that delicious. And I won't bother adding the nutrition information. No one really wants to know. You can assume they aren't diet snacks by the 2 sticks of buttery goodness inside. ENJOY!

Give Books

2010-11-17T08:37:00.000-08:00

My blog has been lacking as of late. That's mostly because I work for a Christmas ornament company, and we get pretty busy during 4th quarter like, tear-my-hair-out-and-scream busy. But it gets me thinking about the holidays sooner than most so I get my shopping done early. I always buy a lot of books. A book isn't just pages full or words and or pictures, it's an idea, an adventure, a laugh or a cry. What better gift to give? Some of my favorite giftable books are below:

Interior Desecrations by James Lileks

This is a great gift for anyone with a sense of humor, especially someone who works in interior design or lived through the seventies. It contains the best of the worst disco-era home decor with hysterical commentary on each photo.

Oh Crap, I'm Having a Baby! by Anna McAllister & Mike Strassburger

I love to give this book to my expecting friends, especially the ones who impart on me all of the glorious aspects of pregnancy and ask when I'm planning to have a baby. Not intended for a woman who can't take a joke, this book lays out all of the ugly truths about pregnancy, delivery and child rearing such as baby poop, never sleeping again, and losing all of your friends.

Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt

Once those friends have their babies, I get them Pat the Bunny. I remember this being one of my favorite books because of the soft bunny fluff inside. I'm sure there are more touch and feel books out there now, but Pat is a classic.

Why We Buy by Paco Underhill

This is a great gift for anyone in business, escpecially someone who works in consumer marketing, and I would say, writers. It delves into the psychology of why we buy things. For instance, toothbrushes are kept at eye level because they sell better there. It also shares tricks to improve customer satisfaction and what color to paint your business to evoke certain moods.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Need I say more? I think this is a great gift to give to the friend or family member who doesn't like to read. I can't imagine anyone not being completely absorbed with the trials of Katniss Everdeen as she tries to survive the reality driven death show.

Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Another great gift for someone who isn't a big reader because Scott Pilgrim is a graphic novel with a hilarious story about a sub-par musician who has to fight his girlfriend's seven evil exes. The conversation is witty and fun and the drawings, albeit somewhat crude, remind me of comics I used to make in high school.

Forever by Pete Hamill

I have a couple of History buffs in my family, and Forever is the perfect gift for them. It's about a man who lives forever, trapped in New York. Through him the reader sees the changing landscape of the city over the years, following Cormac on his quest for love and revenge.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

I would give this book to anyone in a creative field, but especially, my writer friends. Pressfield talks about overcoming Resistance in order to channel your creativity and gain success. Mant times when I felt the frustration of writing, I picked this book up and read one short chapter. It gave me the boost to pick up my pen and keep on going.

What about you? What are some of your favorite books to give and share?

My Readers

2010-11-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

Before I consider a work sub-ready, I pass it around to friends and colleagues. I've used my focus group a few times now and have lovingly given them titles by how they further my writing.

The Plotter:
I have two of these readers in my circle and they are the first eyes on a new work. They tend to point out places where my world is lacking in details, or if a character is underdeveloped. They have no problem telling me a scene sucks, that a line of dialogue sucks, or will scrawl "BORING!" or "REALLY?!" in the margins in bright red pen.

The Ego-Booster:
After my Plotters have devastated all of my bestseller dreams, I go through a period of "This is awful. I should trash it and write something new." But before I drag the paper shredder out of the closet, I give the Ego-Booster a copy.

She is the critique partner everyone says you shouldn't have. When I give her thoughtful questions like, "What pulled you onto the second page?" She replies with, "Everything. I love the characters! I love the idea! I love it all!" I know she's not going to give me any helpful insight, but what she does give me is a renewed love for my manuscript and the strength to pull it out of the trash and go back and work on the Plotters' comments.

The Spell Checker:
Round 3. I've pulled my book apart and put it back together. I can't even look at it anymore. This is when I send it to the Spell Checker, who does so much more than fix the typos Word missed. He's a stickler for details. He points out where I used the wrong name for someone, or put "he" insead of "she". He can spot where I'm missing a comma or a quotation mark is backwards. He doesn't have a lot to add in the way of story, but he keeps me from looking like an idiot.

The Not-My-Types:
I write YA. These are the people who don't write YA, read YA, or even walk through the aisle in the bookstore. They write and read Christian fiction, romance, mystery, crime, women's fiction, short stories and poetry. They would never pay money for one of my books so why in the world am I giving it to them? For an outside perspective.

I don't always agree with what they have to say, but often, they offer plot suggestions that I never would have thought of. They're good, and they're different from YA because they're inspired by another genre.

After the rounds, a vacation in the drawer and one last look, I consider my manuscript ready to submit.

What about you? Who are your readers? Any I should consider adding to my list?

Friday Fun with Photoshop: Dream Jobs.

2010-10-28T20:06:00.001-07:00

It's not Friday, well not yet. I have an hour to go, but maybe by the time I finish this post it will be closer to midnight. A week or so ago, I had a call with my agent, and we talked about how we both like female heroines who kick ass. I admitted to her, that in the 80's, I dreamed of being on G.L.O.W., which if you didn't live through the eighties stands for Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.

Warning: the photoshopped picture is a bit creepy.

That career dream never panned out, and sadly, the show was cancelled. I'm glad I moved on though because the only roles for women in wrestling nowadays are support positions. They stand outside of the ring and hand their beefy boyfriends chairs and shout slurs at their opponents.

Throughout my childhood I had quite a few other aspirations. After I heard Lucky Star, I wanted to be Madonna, and not just a pop star like Madonna, I wanted to BE Madonna. (JEM was my back-up plan) Following a brief obsession with Divorce Court, I thought about becoming a lawyer, but then I wrote a paper in elementary school on manatees and decided oceanography would be my field. When I saw Working Girl, I wanted to be an executive with a big corner office in New York. Doing what? I didn't care, as long as I had penthouse view of the city and a briefcase with my name on it.

My senior year of high school I had an amazing Calculus teacher, and considered majoring in math in college. What you do with a math degree, I'll never know, because once I read the descriptions of the classes required for the degree, I changed my mind yet again.

I DJ-ed at the college radio station and although I made a very poor on-air personality, I was introduced to the business side of music and wanted to go into A&R. That's when I chose Marketing as my major.

I've never worked at a record label. What they don't tell you in college is that a degree won't get you your dream job, but again, I was starting to feel that maybe the music biz wasn't it anyway. I don't know when I decided I wanted to write. I know I thought about it for years before I sat down at my computer. But I'm not the only writer you didn't have a pen in hand at age five. I found this blog post that shares a few of the day jobs famous authors held before they hit the bestseller list.

What about you? What were some of your dream jobs?

Everybody Makes Misstakes

2010-10-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

I'm generally a stickler for grammar. Among my top pet peeves are using the wrong forms of "there" and "your", but in the umpteenth perusal of my novel, just before it was sent to editors, I found a "you're" where there should have been a "your".

When I'm on a roll, the text is flowing from the tips of my fingers, I don't inhibit inspiration by stopping to check for spelling errors. Last night, I had one of those good writing nights and before I shut down the computer, I did a quick read through. This is what I found: (This isn't the exact copy, but these are my shames)

She knew the earn was buried just below her feet sense she'd watched them dig the whole.

Oy. If any of my former English teachers are reading this, they're probably considering a change in career.

But everybody makes mistakes. The point is to catch them before you submit anything publicly, which is why it is always good to have one, two, or three sets of eyes on your work.

What about you? What are some embarrassing typos and errors you've found in your writing?

Friday Fun with Photoshop!

2010-10-18T15:49:00.001-07:00

What five people, dead or alive, fictional or real would you invite to your ultimate dinner party?

Mine pictured below:

Jesus: I have a few questions I'd like to ask the man, and who doesn't want the guy who can turn water into wine at their party? He would save me hundreds on alcohol expenditures.

Steve Perry: I love Steve Perry. The only songs I know how to play and sing on guitar are Journey's greatest hits. They are the most epic love ballads of all time and Steve Perry was just the man to sing them. I know he doesn't perform anymore, but maybe if I ply him with enough of J.C.'s wine, he can be persuaded to whisper me a few lines of Open Arms.

Lucille Ball: She was the original comedienne. I Love Lucy is nearly sixty years old, and it's still just as funny as it was the day it first aired. No question she would have everyone in stitches.

Roald Dahl: I had to choose at least one writer to dine with us. It was a tough decision, but Roald Dahl has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember. One summer I devoured all the Dahl books they had at the library, from BFG to Matilda, and when I was done, I read them all again. Just think of the dinner stories he could tell.

Marilyn Monroe: I have a few questions for her as well, and for some odd reason, I really think she and Jesus would hit it off.

How about you? Who would you invite and why?

Boston Book Festival 2010

2010-10-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

My first concern when I stepped off the train was, "How are the outdoor booths going to survive in this brutal wind?" But they did because they were surrounded on three sides by white tarp. Just the first example of the superstar planning that went into this event. (link to the site here)

***

I arrived just before noon and went directly to the Writer Idol session. The description of the session on the site is:

In this freewheeling session, a professional actor will perform the first page of YOUR unpublished manuscript for the audience and a panel of four judges, including Esmond Harmsworth, Sorche Fairbank, Ann Collette and Caroline Zimmerman, all agents and/or editors with years of experience reading unsolicited submissions.

And yes, even though I have an agent, I submitted a page. Why? Well, this is a page of something old I'm trying to edit. Before I send things out, I like to get them into the best shape possible. I figured I would take advantage of the free professional critique, hear how someone else interpreted my writing in a reading, and listen to the critique of the other works.

The process went as follows: the actor randomly selected a page and read it. When he reached a point where an agent would stop reading, he or she would raise his or her hand. Once two hands were raised, the submission was rejected and then the agents gave their reasons why.

The take away. Of the fifty or so pages read, not one made it through without at least one hand. Only three made it to the final. So always query widely because you WILL get rejected by someone.

Comments on Fiction and YA fiction
The biggest problem in the pieces read was too much description or backstory and not enough action. The agents said this can be fixed with heavy-handed editing. You can't be afraid of cutting segments or moving them to later chapters if you want to get published. Also, trust your reader. They can figure things out.

My piece was the opposite. Too much action and the agents didn't care about my character. This can also be fixed. I have to put more in. There was also a part that didn't come across the way I intended, so I need to correct that as well. I have to say it was really helpful to hear someone else read my piece. It gave me a lot of insight into how I want to change my pacing and sentence structure.

Interestingly enough, two of the three pieces that made it to the end were YA fiction pieces, and I think this is because YA writers are more accustomed to the marriage of character and action. The piece that won was an adult mystery that did a great job of blending humor with action. The panel did comment that if this particular piece continued with heavy humor though, it may be too much.

Comments on Memoir and Creative Non-Fiction
There were more of these types of submissions. I admit, I don't read a lot of non-fiction nor do I write it, so I will only relay what the panel said about it. (warning: it wasn't really positive)

Memoir: For the first time I heard the term ME-moir. If you are writing memoir, you need to make your story relatable to others. No one wants to read your personal history...unless, and I quote from one the agents, "You're famous or an extremely talented author, which never happens." (ouch) The other case is if you are writing a medical book (or similar) and happen to be famous in that field, or have a well-established list of credentials.

The other comments were that dating books are overdone, as well as personal journeys through medical illness.

None of this means you shouldn't write it! It just means you'll have a REALLY hard time getting published if you do.

***

Next, we tried to attend Home & Away with authors Bill Bryson and Tony Hiss. The line stretched about two blocks outside of the theatre after it was already filled. And they say the printed book is dead. I beg to differ.

So instead, we went to Talking about Justice with Nobel Prize-winner, Amartya San, Michael Sandel and Dambisa Moyo. Again, I'm not a big reader of non-fiction, especially politcal non-fiction, but since I had dragged my friend to Writer Idol, I had to make a compromise. If I can get him to weigh in on his thoughts, I will post them here later. As for me, I did manage to stay awake and learned a thing or two.

***

The last session of the day I went to was, It Books: YA Writers Discuss What’s Hot. (Also packed, I had to stand outside the doors along with fifty other people)

An all-star group of bestselling writers get together to discuss what’s hot and what’s not when it comes to YA fiction. Francisco Stork, author of The Last Summer of the Death Warriors shares the stage with Kathryn Lasky, celebrated author of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series, now a major motion picture, Harvard sophomore and writing phenom Noni Carter, author of Good Fortune, and Kristin Cashore, bestselling author of American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults Graceling and Fire.

I am going to get my complaint out of the way first. (And this has nothing to do with the presenters) A better title for the session would have been: YA, What I Wrote and How I Wrote It. Everytime I attend a session called, "What's Hot..." or "Publishing Trends..." I hear the same thing: "You must write the book that needs to be written." So, if you go to one of these sessions, don't expect to take away some profound inside industry information because you're not going to get it.

Of course, they did have some interesting things to say about their writing process. Kristin Cashore admitted she writes her novels by hand and that she usually goes through about four revisions and then copy edit revisions before a book is done. I also loved her quote, "When a writer tells you what they wrote is crap, they're not trying to be modest or humble. It really is crap. It's all of the editing that makes it good."

Those may not be her exact words, as I'm going off memory, but that's the basic idea. It was really good to know that even NYT bestsellers start with the same crap we do.

Will I go again next year? Yes, but I will be very selective about the sessions I attend and make sure I get to them early.

Friday Fun with Photoshop!

2010-10-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

I'm too late to write a zombie book based on a Jane Austen classic, but I have my own mash-up ideas.

How many husbands would Scarlett go through if she lived forever? And how long would guilt-ridden Edward be able to keep his "no human blood" vow with a disagreeable Southern belle by his side?

Tragedy doesn't always have to be Tragic

2010-10-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

I do my best to avoid disaster all together. I am an over-planner, over-thinker, and over-packer. I'm the kind of person who carries a huge handbag so I can stuff it with all kinds of useless things. Remember that one time four years ago when you were on a plane and nearly ran out of chapstick? You had to dig out the little bit around the inside edges with your pinky nail, and it wasn't nearly as soothing as smearing it on from the holder. Now I carry a back up so I never have to worry about running out of lip balm again.

But no matter how much I pack or plan, there are some disasters that even I can't control. I was on my own for the first time after college, living on the other side of the country from my parents. I had a job, albeit, not a good one, an apartment, I was making friends and of course, digging my way into debt. I knew I needed a second job, but I wasn't ready to give up my nights and weekends just yet. My car was paid off, so that was a load off of expenses and my parents still had it under their insurance.

CRASH!

They were working on an intersection downtown and forgot to put up a stop sign. I hit the back end of a truck twice the size of my little car and that was it. (No one was injured thank goodness). Already living beyond my means, I had to add a car payment and insurance to my overtapped budget. It was time to sell my soul for minimum wage.

Since I'd worked as a barista through college, I crawled my way into Starbuck's and filled out an application. I was hired, and had to work nights until twelve and then get up for my day job at seven, and back to Starbuck's right afterward. I also got the priveledge of opening on Saturdays at five-thirty a.m. And it was the best thing that could have possibly happened to me.

I got my finances back in shape and met two of my best friends, one of which introduced me to another friend, and I met my husband at her New Year's party. All of this happened because of a car accident.

Some tragedies are, of course, still tragic and no one wants to get into a car accident, but some things, like having your first or even second manuscript rejected could be that one unfortunate turning point that leads you on to greater things.

The First Draft

2010-10-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

There is nothing more satisfying than completing the first draft of a new novel. You did it. 50,000 to 100,000+ of your very own words collected into hundreds of pages. You have characters, a hook, a unique plot, danger lurking in every corner, witty conversation...it's sure to change the literary marketplace forever.

And then you read through your first draft, and there's nothing worse than the feeling that comes after that. Your characters may be one-dimensional, you have spelling errors, plot holes, you changed the name of a character halfway through, or you almost fell asleep reading one of your chapters. You have two choices at this juncture: you can scrap it or fix it.

You should always try to fix it.

I treat my first drafts as a journey. I need to complete it, reach the destination, before I can determine what's wrong. The first trip through, I hit detours, road blocks, bad parts of town...overall, it's a less-than-fabulous experience. But there are some bright spots. Maybe I happen upon that largest ball of twine I've always wanted to see or find a roadside restaurant with the best chicken strips.

The next time I take my trip, it's a bit smoother. I take an alternate route to avoid the road closures and still make my stops at the twine and chicken strip restaurant. Maybe I ask someone else for directions and they point out some other cool places I can go.

Each time I take my journey, it gets better and more interesting. But it wouldn't exist at all without that first unpleasant excursion. The most important thing is to finish the trip.

Writer friends, how would you classify your first drafts? Do they need a lot of work? A little tweaking? Or are they perfection the first time through?

I fall into the "need a lot of work" category.

Art vs. Business

2010-10-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

I'm going to say this and probably get reamed for it, but I'm a gambling gal by nature. (I hope you got the John Hughes reference)

Writing is an art. Publishing is a business.

There it's out there. I don't know a whole lot about publishing, but I do know quite a bit about working in a creative field. My day job: Christmas ornament design and marketing. Weird. I know, and I also know that Santa ornaments are a hard sell. (This isn't to say some Santa ornaments aren't successful. The ones we have out there are some of our best sellers.)

But let's suppose I have an idea for a new Santa ornament, the most adorable Santa ornament anyone has ever seen. I can design it, we can make it, and we can present it to our retailers. There are a few things that can happen:

The Santa can get rejected. Then we can choose to shelf the Santa, or if we are so confident this Santa ornament is the one, we can sell it on our website. He may be successful there, but he will never earn as many dollars as he would if he landed in a major retailer. However, if he does perform strongly on our site, we can use his sales figures to try and re-sell him into the retailer for next year.

We can push the Santa. We have pretty good relationships with our retailers and if we feel strongly about him, sometimes we can get him in there. The retailer knows it's a risk, but because our other ornaments are so succesful, they're willing to give our new Santa a try. Our Santa could end up being their number one seller...or he may not. And if he isn't, then trying to sell a different Santa in for next year is going to be impossible.

We can scrap the Santa completely. The retailer could say "No," to Santa but then add, "You know what sells really well for us? Wedding ornaments. Could you make us a new wedding ornament?" Of course we will. If wedding ornaments are what's selling then that's what we're going to make. I may still love my little Santa, but the market's not ready for him. I have to move on.

I decided to write this because of this blog post on Pimp my Novel. In the comments a lot of people complained that there is an oversaturation of paranormal romance, vampire books, etc. etc. That's because those books are their wedding ornaments, and maybe the books you're looking for are their Santas.

You may be saying to yourself, "You know, I haven't seen a really cute Santa ornament in the stores lately. I want more Santa ornaments!" If you don't like what's going on the marketplace, then change it.

-When you do find a Santa ornament, buy it.
-If you're sick of only seeing wedding ornaments, don't buy them.
-Tell all of your friends you just got this really great Santa ornament.
-Put a post up on your blog about the Santa ornament.

If you help increase demand for Santa ornaments and decrease demand for other ornaments, you could create a niche market for Santas and then when I go back to my retailers with a new one, they'll be more willing to give him a chance.

The Name Game

2010-09-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

This post is somewhat inspired by the lovely Brigid Kemmerer, who reached out to the Twitterverse last week looking for a surname for one of her characters. The names of my main characters are usually carefully selected. I go through the baby name books and look up the deeper meaning of names, choose monikers that complement each other for my love interests, things that are easy to pronouce, or that represent a character's heritage...but for all of the third tier characters who don't come into action all that much, I just need a name.

I'm working on something new that has a lot of these third tier characters. They are more like scenery, populating the world around my heroine. First names are easy, they can be pretty generic: Liz, Ann, Mark, Michael, etc. Last names are a little more difficult. I can't use Smith or Jones for every one.

One of my favorite resources is the obituaries. Yes, it's morbid, but it's a real name and I feel like the person will always live on a little bit in one of my books. I was also inspired to look through my old yearbooks. I can mix and match first and last names from my old schoolmates, and there's a fairly plentiful list. And so I can write off my celeb gossip mags, I sometimes use celebrity names, as long as they aren't too widely recognizable.

What about you? What are some of your name resources? Do you use friends, family members? Make them up? Please share.

OMG. I'm back in High School

2010-09-21T08:20:00.001-07:00

Not really. But in this whole trying-to-get published journey, I am strangely reminded of my relentless High School boy chasing.

Similarity 1: Analyzing Communications
I got a mix CD from a boy once and analyzed the lyrics for every single song, assuming he was sending me subliminal messages about his true feelings for me in music. Since the majority of the songs were focused on the theme of "love", I came to the conclusion that he did in fact, like me. (I was right by the way).

I do the same thing for communications regarding my writing. I obsess over every word, analyze the meaning and look for hidden messages within the text to see if I can figure out the true emotion for my work.

Truth 1: The people sending these things likely do not put as much thought into creating them as you do analyzing them, ie, the boy may have put the love-themed songs on the CD because he likes them and wanted to share them.

Similarity 2: The call
When I got the first call from my agent, I missed it. As soon as I saw a missed call from a 212 area code, I proceeded to shriek loudly, dance around the kitchen for about ten minutes and then spent another ten minutes calming myself down so I wouldn't sound like an absolute spaz when I called her back.

After my ritual was complete, it was after five and I got her voicemail. The brief thought ran through my head, "Should I hang up and call back tomorrow?" Yet with Caller ID, she would know I called and then see I didn't leave a message and I would be a freak. Message was short, sweet and to the point.

The next day while I was waiting for her return call, I kept my phone with me at all times with the ringer turned up high so I wouldn't miss it. I may have also had my husband call me once or twice to make sure my phone was working. When that 212 number came up again, I let it ring twice and then picked it up, so she wouldn't know I had glued the phone to my hand earlier in the day.

I once had a crush on a guy named...we'll call him Brett, and after a very romantic afternoon at Denny's, he said he would call me later that night. I lay down on my rug with my face right next to the phone just staring at it, willing it to ring. Did I pick it up every now and then and check for a dial tone.? You betcha! Then after I hung it back up, I thought to myself, "Oh no, that could have been the exact moment he tried to call me." (my parents didn't have call waiting.)

Truth 2: The call will come if someone likes you (or your work), and if they don't, no amount of obsessing will make it happen.

Similarity 3: It's too perfect

Brett did call that night, just like he said he would, and asked if I wanted to do a repeat of our Denny's outing the next day. Hell yes I did! I hung up, floating on a cloud of teenage hormones, but after the high wore off, I thought, "It's too perfect. There is no way this can possibly be happening to me."

I decided it would never work out. After one or two outings, he would inevitably find something wrong with me and the short-lived relationship would be over. Do I ever wonder if this book may not be the one that gets published? Absolutely.

Truth 3: This is not necessarily a bad thing. A healthy does of reality can bring your head back out from the clouds and enable you to say, "It may not work out with this boy, (book) but it doesn't mean I'll be single (unpublished) forever."

And on the bright side, since I write YA, dredging up this torrent of teenage emotion only gives me more fuel for my writing.

On Staying Organized

2010-09-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

There is no place more terrifying for my husband than my office. There are stacks of books and paper on every available surface, poorly scribbled sticky notes stuck on the top of my desk. If you open the closet, you're likely to be buried under a pile of junk. No one can ever find anything in there, but you know what? If you asked me where I keep the hand puppet I made for the 1992 Arizona State Fair, I'd be entertaining you with a puppet show in less than five minutes.

In his office everything is neatly tucked away. Everything has a place and that place is generally labeled in hand-drawn calligraphy. The contents of the drawers are organized by purpose: pens and paperclips in one, stapler and hole punch in another, and camera cords and iPhone plugs in the bottom; all perfectly coiled of course.

We've had our disputes over the matter. My husband also likes to reorganize, so I'll be trying to cook dinner but not be able to find my pans. He moved the trashcan once and I think it took several months before I quit throwing tissues at the empty spot on the floor.

What is it that makes our organization styles so different?
Memory. I have a good one. He does not.

When he decides the pans would be better off in the larger cabinet (and they are), he moves them. But all I remember is where I put them in the first place and I'll keep going back to their original home because I didn't partake in the relocation or even witness it happening. Of course, he can't stand when I leave piles of old mail on the kitchen table...understandably.

It definitely helps to have both styles of organization. If I forget the date of the show we were supposed to go to, he has it written down on his calendar. When we leave the show, and he has inevitably forgotten where we parked, I'll always remember.

This brings me to the point of this long-winded blog entry. I'm experiencing the same problem in my writing life. After adding new chapters, developing new characters, and changing the order of things in my editing process, all I can remember is how they started. I'm working on the second book and still throwing tissues at the floor.

I painfully have to admit that perhaps my husband's meticulous organization does serve a purpose, and as much as I scoffed at the character bible, I think I'm going to have to make one. I'll still rely on my memory. It comes in handy when a character enters a room and finds the knife that she stashed there eighty pages ago. But by making a bible, I can keep track of the details. It will be like a map to the trashcan in case its location changes.

Do you use a character bible or just write by the seat of your pants? Discuss.

There's More to Write than Just Novels

2010-09-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

I didn't always write novels. In fact, the idea used to petrify me. Three hundred pages of copy? How can someone do that? I recalled a research paper I wrote in college that was seventy-five pages and finishing it on time nearly killed me.

For a long time I wasn't ready to embark on a novel, but I still wrote and keep writing. Business letters, ad copy, email copy, packaging copy, articles, ghost blogs, market reports, trend copy, proposals, press releases and web copy. Each type of writing involves a different skill set...for example web copy.

I've posted before about overusing words, but for web copy, you have to overuse words. A site will rank higher on search engines if the keywords are found organically, but you also want it to read professionally.

When preparing to create copy for a website, I first determine the search terms and write them down on a piece of paper that I keep next to my keyboard. Below is an excerpt I created for Hairspray Salon in Providence.

Dress your tresses in style at Hairspray Salon, a full service hair salon located conveniently on Wickenden Street in Providence's beautiful East Side, Rhode Island. Create bold and chunky highlights, find out if blondes really do have more fun, or lengthen your locks with lavish layers. Our experienced hair designers are well versed in all forms of hair care from foiling, to one press color and perming, extensions, dreads and ethnic hair care. Whatever your hair vision is, we can turn it into a reality.

Can you guess what my keywords were? In order of importance: hair, Providence and Rhode Island.

Below is the excerpt again with the words highlighted.

Dress your tresses in style at Hairspray Salon, a full service hair salon located conveniently on Wickenden Street in Providence's beautiful East Side, Rhode Island. Create bold and chunky highlights, find out if blondes really do have more fun, or lengthen your locks with lavish layers. Our experienced hair designers are well versed in all forms of hair care from foiling, to one press color and perming, extensions, dreads and ethnic hair care. Whatever your hair vision is, we can turn it into a reality.

In one paragraph I managed to get the word "hair" in six times. One way to achieve this is to use the word in different ways. "Hair" is paired with other words so it isn't always "Hairspray" or "hair salon". I have "hair designers", "hair care", and "hair vision" too. This makes it sound like a different word even though it isn't.

Of course a lot more goes into SEO besides well-executed copy, but it's the first stage in getting your site noticed. Do you write other things besides novels? What do you write? And how does the process differ from your creative writing?

Shout Out to the Support Team

2010-08-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

The act of writing is thought of as a solitary occupation. You sit alone, at your computer, day after day, night after night with only your imagination and your words to keep you company. And it is, in a sense, but most of us wouldn't even be able to get there if it weren't for our support teams backing us up and pushing us to do our work.

My support team is my husband. He's my first reader. He's the one who listens patiently while I bounce new ideas off of him. He's the one who keeps the house in order when I can't. Tomorrow is his birthday, and in between my day job, getting my manuscript in shape for submission and helping one of my friends with her wedding, I have no time. No cake. One present that is going to show up late. No card....and he's okay with that.

I'm lucky. I know it. I probably don't tell him that enough, so today is a shout out to him, my support team. And if you have someone like that in your life, take time today to thank that person (or persons) and let them know how much their help means to you.

Queries, Queries, Queries

2010-08-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

There have been a lot of posts this week about queries: request rates, how to write them, how not to write them. I can't see that I would have anything to add, as I didn't get a 75% request rate like this guy. But this girl thinks that's pretty unrealistic, and I agree.

Ignore the numbers (unless they're zero) and write the best damn book you can and an even better query letter. Need some help?

Nathan Bransford - How to Write a Query Letter
Writer Beware - How to Write a Query Letter

Good luck!

Gawking Characters

2010-08-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

What is a gawking character? I always picture the old cartoon shows. When Bugs Bunny encountered the hot, female robot bunny trap set by Elmer Fudd, his eyes would pop out of his head, the outline of a heart would beat through his chest and his tongue would drop to his knees. But if you want a more technical (and not, in my opinion, as sassy) definition:

A "gawking character" is a narrator who tells the reader what happens in a scene instead of letting the reader experience the action directly. This is called narrator intrusion, and it robs the reader of the full experience, thus distancing him from the story. Inspiration for Writer's, Inc.

A gawking character can ruin a story and is an easy thing to spot. Just look for the words: hear, see, feel, taste and all other variations. Not to say they can never be used, but using them sparingly will boost the quality of your writing. (And do a lot more show, a lot less tell.)

Example of a very bad gawking character:
Jimmy heard the wail of the train whistle as the engine pulled away from the station. He saw Margaret, sitting in the third car next to the window, her broad-rimmed wicker hat with the rose on the front pressed to the glass. Jimmy hated that hat, almost as much as he hated Margaret. He should have been glad she was leaving, yet for some reason, when he could no longer see that stupid hat, he felt sad. He tasted the bitterness of regret on the back of his tongue.

Jimmy managed see, hear, feel and taste all in one short paragraph. No Jimmy, no!

Jimmy's Rewrite:
The train whistle wailed as the engine pulled away from the station. Margaret was on that train, in the third car next to the window, her broad-rimmed wicker hat with the rose on the front pressed to the glass. Jimmy hated that hat, almost as much as he hated Margaret. He should have been glad she was leaving, yet for some reason, when the stupid hat disappeared from view, a weight dropped in his chest. The bitterness of regret washed over his tongue.

Neither one of these excerpts is a work of art, but which one of the two do you think paints a better picture?

(Not So) Quick Editing Tips

2010-08-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

Even when my book was getting rejected, I heard the same things over and over again.
"Because of the quality of your writing."
"It's good, but not right for me."
"This isn't right for me, but I would love to take a look at future works."

A rejection is still a rejection. It hurts, but these hurt a bit less because they all agreed that it was good. It certainly didn't start that way. My first draft was only slightly better than atrocious. A LOT of editing went into it, but these tips below were the first steps to making it good.

That and Just
I tend to use these words quite a bit, and find them in other unpublished works too. Most of the time, they are unnecessary, but we use them so frequently in conversation, they fall from our mouths into our WIP.

My eyes traveled up the white leg and the brown skirt that bunched up along her thigh.

Do we need it? No.

My eyes traveled up the white leg and the brown skirt bunched up along her thigh.

The sentence is more concise without it. You can do a simple word search and look for "that" and "just". Take them out and reread the sentence. If it still makes sense, leave it out.

On a side note: I do leave these words in dialogue pieces. Since we use them in speech, they add realism to the conversation.

Smirk, Laugh, Smile, Nod, etc.
Kate Schafer Testerman posted a blog entry with a note from an editor "...smirking is less common in the world than it appears to be from reading manuscripts." It is a common pitfall of newbie writers.

Search your manuscript for any of these meaningless actions. When you find one, delete it, or if you need to pause, try to replace it with something more original, like "He drummed his fingers on the table." To me, that provides a better picture of boredom than "He yawned."

Along this same vein are "shooting glances", which Mary of Kidlit.com discussed recently as well.

Adverbs
A lot of writers, editors, agents say to get rid of these. For me, yes and no. Pick up HARRY POTTER or TWILIGHT and read one page. How many adverbs did you find? Now reread the page and pass over the sentences with adverbs. Did the scene change? Did you feeling you get from the scene change?

I think adverbs have their place, and they really need to be looked at on an individual basis. In our literary arsenal, the adverbs are the grenades. You can still use them, but sparingly, or you'll blow the whole thing up.

He said, She said
I am notorious for this. In my first draft ,every single piece of dialogue has a "he said" or "she said" after it. (I think this may be a surviving remnant from my Arizona Valley Girl days). If there are only two people in the room, you maybe only need it once or twice in the entire conversation. It will be up to your discretion, and your writing buddies will be a good resource. Remove as many as you think you can and ask your critique partners to make note of any conversations that were confusing.

Sentence Structure
"She walked..." "She drove..." "She went..." She. She. She. Identify the paragraphs with the same sentence beginnings and change them. This is honestly the best editing tip I can provide. Because when you start changing these sentences, you think. And when you think, you come up with something far better than before.

She walked to the store.

The cold wind cut through the seams of her jacket as she walked to the store.

Overused Words
In addition to "that" and "just", we all have our personal catch words. We know what they are, and maybe we tell ourselves we don't use them that much. But we do. Search for your words and count them. You might be surprised to find you used the same word over 300 times in your WIP. (or maybe you aren't).

Whatever your words are, change as many as you can. And again, this is a great exercise for adjusting sentence structure. If you can't find a suitable replacement, rework the sentence so the word isn't necessary.

Side note: If you use the thesaurus, be sure to select a word you know. I have a rule when I play Scrabble. If you make a word on the board, you better be able to use it in a sentence. The same goes for your manuscript. If you've never used the word in your life, don't start now.

Do you have any editing tips you follow? Please share them, and if you've already posted them on your blog, send me the link.

Okay...Now What

2010-08-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

You wrote a masterpiece, you queried the hell out of it, you managed to snag your dream agent. Your dreams of literary stardom are coming true! Soon your name will be right up there with J.K Rowling's, Dan Brown's and Stephenie Meyer's...right? Wrong. Or maybe not wrong, but not right now.

My novel was on draft four or five before I even let my husband look at it. After he put in his two cents (or more) I made a new draft. Then I submitted a segment to my writer's group, had a manuscript mart session at the Grub Street conference, and made more edits. From my first batch of requests, I got a letter asking for changes. I made those. Now, that I have signed with her, guess what? I made more edits, and although I am new to the process, I would wager there are more to come.

What kinds of changes is she asking for?

1. More world development.
My novel is set in an imagined world, and of course I know everything about it. I made it. If it jumped out of my head and became a real place, I would know where to get the best pizza and the biggest discount on shoes. I would know how to get from point A to point B without directions. I could give you a complete history of the place and tell you exactly who would be coming around the corner at 10:15 am on Saturday.

My readers do not know this. Nor do they need too unless these details are pertinent to the story. But they do need to know enough so they could at least find pizza, even if it isn't the best pizza. As world builders, it is easy to forget that everyone doesn't have GPS into your head, so you need to show them the way.

2. More relationship development
We know in fiction, people fall in love at first sight, run away and elope after three days and live happily ever after. Regardless of how little time it takes our characters to find true love, there still needs to be a reason for it. Why do they connect? What makes them so perfect for each other? (And it has to be more than a hot ass)

3. More character description
I'll admit. I am not a fan of going on and on about every physical detail of my characters. In fact, Scott Eagan of Greyhaus Literary Agency posted today about not going overboard with description. Well, I go underboard (is that even a word?) She flipped her chocolate brown hair over her shoulder...etc. I just can't bring myself to do it more than a few times. However, in my fight against physical description, my agent envisioned blank faces for half of my characters. That's not good either. So I put in a little more, trying to sneak it in subtlely without having anyone look in a mirror (by the way, don't do that).

3. Cut the Crap
I received my marked up manuscript, thankfully, with more things to add rather than take away... but oh, when I scrolled through the document and saw rows and rows of red lines, sometimes cutting entire paragraphs or pages it was like my wrists had been slashed and my own blood had poured onto my beautifully crafted prose. So many a night had been spent hand-picking each word so the end result would be perfect, and in a moment - they were gone.

What did I do? All I could do. I cut them. I pressed backspace and held down until all of the red lines were gone. I read through the section again, and found the words were completely unnecessary. In one case, cutting the segment made a chapter beginning more compelling. I was excited to read my book again (and folks, I've read it at least a dozen times).

What comes next? How the hell should I know? I'm blogging this as I go through the process, so I'll let you know when I find out.

One Step Closer

2010-07-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

I just signed with an agent! All of the late nights hunched over my computer, the countless hours spent on researching agencies and licking submission envelopes, the missed beach trips because I had to edit...all of these things are paying off. Someone in the publishing world thinks I have potential. I am still having difficulty believing that it's true. In fact, I was afraid to mention it until I had the signed representation agreement in my hand.

The day I received it, I tore open the envelope, clutched it to my chest and called my parents to share the wonderful news.

"Hey Dad, guess what? I have an agent!"
"That's great...so how much money are you going to get?"
"Err, umm, it doesn't really work like that. First I have to edit, then we go on submission and hopefully, a publisher will buy it."
"Then how much money are you going to get?"
"Well, the average debut advance is about $15,000."
"That doesn't seem like much...you know we have a friend who is a writer. She doesn't seem to have any trouble getting published..."

In a few short sentences, my father managed to stomp out my excitement with the steel-toed boots of reality. Thankfully, my mom was a bit more enthusiastic.

I realize though, for those not so heavily immersed in the publishing world, getting an agent or getting published doesn't seem like a big deal. They have no idea how many talented writers are out there, struggling, just to be noticed. They also don't understand how we can write for the love of it, with no promise of receiving any praise or money for our work...but we do.

We are all bound to receive criticism or cynicism in our writing journeys, so always remember why you write and celebrate the milestones: crafting the perfect scene, getting a full request, signing your first agent agreement...even if you are celebrating by yourself.

Bad Kiddy Books

2010-07-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

If you are not following @SlushPileHell on Twitter, you simply must. Today this buried-in-slush agent started a Bad Kiddy Books contest (#badkiddybooks) and the entries are hilarious. Some of my favorites, including my own:

So You Made a Mess: the BP Guide to Dealing with Spills
Pop! Goes the Poodle: 101 Fun Things to Put in a Microwave
The Bipolar Express
Phonetics: Who Gives A Phuck?

There are hundreds more. Contest ends at 5:00 p.m. EST, but the laughs never will.

**UPDATE**
Top 25 best (of the worst) kiddy books posted here!

Where the Genius Happens

2010-07-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

Taking a cue from Le Rejectionist, I am posting photos of my home office, that I recently redecorated, in order to promote the creation of genius.

In my old office, I had my printer sitting on the desk, which did not leave room for my cheese puffs and beer. So I created a workspace off to the side where I could store my printer, extra paper for printing those 300 page manuscripts and of course my full collection of Twilight books and Harry Potter series.

Bookshelf and hanging wall files from Ikea

What writer's den is complete without a quiet area to sit and read and a very ferocious guard dog to protect your written genius?

Fainting couch and pillows from UrbanOutfitters
Mirror from Target
Invisible bookshelves from Amazon.com

I love, love, love this old vanity I got at a yard sale about 7 years ago for $5. Probably the best $5 I ever spent because I hide all my junk in it. The painting is one a friend made for me for an engagement present, the cat picture is a piece of art I bought in Portland, OR, and the chalkboard is there because I wanted a chalkboard. I don't think I need to explain why Madonna is there.

Dusty Girl Chalkboard from Uncommon Goods

Ahh and this is really where all the magic happens, where I toil night after night writing pages and pages of some of the most beautifully crafted prose and absolutely not watching videos on YouTube or participating in Twitter chats.

Desk and Chair from Target.com
Wallpaper from Graham & Brown

What about you? Where do you write? Share it here in the comments or share it with Le Rejectionist so the world can see where you make your genius.

The Comedy of Querying

2010-06-23T06:10:00.000-07:00

My hubby and I have recently started watching Last Comic Standing. We both love it, yet as I was watching it this week, I couldn't help but notice how similar the process is to querying. A huge group of people perform a short audition and they are either rejected immediately or asked to present more.

The ones often rejected in the first round are the ones who wear clown suits, attempt to juggle and drop all of their apples, or just have awful material to begin with. This is similar to the queriers mentioned here or the ones who CC: every agent on the planet in their letter, begin with "Dear Agent" or mention their preferred cast in the movie version of their book.

Weeding these people out is easy, but then what is left is a large group of talented comedians with their own voices, great stage presence, and funny jokes. The sad part is, from this group, only one will win the title.

I think if you take a random sampling of any profession, the results would be the same. Yes, there are some oddballs out there, but there are also a lot of really talented people. And this is the group we often find ourselves in. To stand out from the pack, the only thing we can do is make our work the best it can possibly be, and keep trying. The good news is, unlike Last Comic, where they only have three judges, we have hundreds of agents to submit to, and there will be more than one "yes" in the group.

Reading my Mind

2010-06-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

When I read my daily agent blogs, sometimes I swear they are reading my mind. Yesterday, Rachelle Gardner uploaded a post about receiving differing opinions from agents. Coincidentally this just happened to me regarding my latest WIP.

Agent A suggested I insert more emotion. Agent B suggested I insert more danger. However, what they both agree on is that it is good and it needs more work. I can handle that.

I am currently working to incorporate Agent A's suggestions because I agree with them. I think they will add to my story and not affect my overall message. Agent B's suggestions, while valid, would change my story. (Although I do appreciate her taking the time to write me back in such detail)

So fellow writers, has this happened to you? What do you do? Move onto a new agent or make the changes? Since Rachelle is dedicating this week to differing opinions, it must happen quite a bit.

And now for your enjoyment, a photo from my recent trip to Clark's Trading Post in beautiful Lincoln, NH. If you're in New England, you should go. They have a trained bear show and a train ride where a crazy person chases you. It doesn't get any kitschier than that (unless you go to Dollywood. )

Bad Blogger

2010-05-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

I am a bad blogger. I intended to make my update on Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace conference mere hours after it ended. However, I was so inspired by all the wonderful writers, editors and agents I met over the weekend, I got to work on my novel and abandoned my poor blog. So now, two weeks later, I will provide you with a very brief and bulleted summary:

Chuck Palahniuk told us how to eat cheese in France
Author Ann Hood gave me editing tips
Author Anita Shreve continued the fight against writer's block
I failed to hear about the Boston water pipe breaking and drank parasite water all weekend - and survived
I met a ton of interesting people
Am definitely going again next year and you should too.

The Muse Frame

2010-04-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

When I start a new story, I've already decided certain things about my characters: if they are quiet or boisterous, if they are tall or short, fat or thin, if they like to eat ham sandwiches or turkey. All of those things help bring them to life, but often I am undecided about their exact look. Do they have a short nose or a long nose, do they have high bony cheekbones or soft pudgy jowels? This is where the muse frame comes in handy.

On my desk in a little pink frame where I place a photo ripped from a magazine or printed online, or sometimes a picture of one of my friends. (shown above)

Meet my latest love interest. He's a super hunky Italian with a long straight nose and eyes shadowed in the fold of his brow. When he smiles, the left side of his mouth rises ever-so-slightly higher than the right. It's as if he always has a secret, one he's never told anyone. VOILA!

And sometimes I find the picture first and try to imagine what his or her life is like. It's a great brainstorming exercise and could just spawn the idea for your next novel.

Writer friends, what do you do to help bring your characters to life? Discuss.

In the Minds of Boys

2010-04-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

Usually a dangerous place for us girls to be. None of it makes any sense. But even if your MC is a girl, she is likely to come in contact with some boys, and they aren't all super-dreamy early 20th century vampires.

So, how do we, as female writers, make convincing male characters?

I reached out into the Twitterverse to get some suggestions of well-written YA books from a male point of view, and this is what I received:

LITTLE BROTHER by Cory Doctrow
STRUTS & FRETS by Jon Skovron
THE ISLAND by Gary Paulsen
PERFECT CHEMISTRY by Simone Elkeles
AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES by John Green
THE GIVER by Lois Lowry
I AM THE CHEESE by Robert Cormier
THE CHOCOLATE WAR by Robert Cormier
A SEPARATE PIECE by John Knowles
CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER by Stephen Chbosky

Notice something? Most of them are written by men. Does this mean there is no hope for us ladies looking to expand our character base? I think not.

Why not try spending time with some boys? Yes, it is torturous at times and a response to a question or statement may often be "That's what she said", but we write best what we know. So go out, get yourself a couple of guy friends, buy tickets to the baseball game or hit the go kart track. But if one of them asks you to "Pull my finger", just say no.

Covered in Red Ink

2010-03-30T06:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while because *gasp* I've been working on new things. I also joined a writer's group to help improve my craft. My first meeting with them was this past Sunday, and as I had never been to an official writer's group, I took my job of editing seriously. The submission was emailed to me, I read it through several times making notes with my little red pen along the way. It wasn't bad, mind you, in fact the scene descriptions were phenomenal and many of the characters were brought to life in only a few pages. I would say my biggest issue was with the dialogue. It felt more like it was used to tell us things about the characters and less like natural conversation. Just my opinion.

When I arrived, the other members took out their sample pages and looking around I saw only a little comment here or there, and then I peered down at my own pages, covered with so much red ink they looked like a murder scene. I kept them hidden as we discussed the story with the writer, and at the end of the meeting I was tucking them back into my folder when she asked, "Can I please have your notes?"
I froze.
"You want my notes?" I asked.
"Yes, if you don't mind."
My hand was shaking, as I stretched them out across the table, immediately making apologies.
"Well...uh...I really made these notes for myself and...I mean some of them are just my opinion...er, you can take it or leave it."
She smiled graciously, put them in her folder and then it was decided that the group would look at my writing next. I am expecting to receive an equal lashing in return.

Guaranteed, if I had known she was going to take my notes I would have made less of them, and I would have written more clearly. I decided I would be more careful with my comments in the future, but is that really helpful? I suppose I will see how it feels when I am on the chopping block next week, but fellow writers, what do you think? Should I continue to be unscrupulous in my feedback, or tone it down a little? What would you prefer?

I say drinking fountain. You say bubbler

2010-02-24T15:41:00.001-08:00

While reading a short excerpt of fiction, I stumbled over a phrase. I had no idea what it meant. Was it a bit of teenage slang? Was it a saying spoken only in remote parts of Wisconsin? No idea. Regardless, I was confused, and a writer shouldn't confuse readers.

So where do we draw the line at using bits of dialect?

I grew up in Arizona, and moved to Rhode Island when I was twenty-two. I thought, hey, it can't be all that different. I'm still in the US...Wrong. I can still hear my roommate's guffaws when I told her I was going to Worcester (Wore-sess-ter). New Englanders say (Woo-stuh). It was merely the tip of the language barrier.

I called the main roads freeways. Here they call them highways (because they aren't free). I also called our freeways THE 202, THE 10, THE 101, but in New England it's just 95. I said hella cool, they say wicked cool. Things of this nature are a preference. If I said freeway, people would laugh, but they understood what I meant. And everyone knows a sub, a grinder and a hoagie are all the same thing. (At least I hope so)

Then there are the terms that everyone doesn't know. Do you know what a quahog is? (And it is NOT a city Family Guy fans) It is a large clam found only in this area. And I'll never forget when a woman asked me, "You gotta bubbler?" The way she spoke made it sound like an infectious disease. However, a New England translator informed me a bubbler is a drinking fountain. I am also embarrassed to admit that I thought the package store, or packie, was a place to mail packages and not purchase liquor.

In writing, you can make your characters more believable by using some regional dialect. In fact, I wouldn't write about a place without knowing some of the local lingo. If your protagonist is a girl from Arizona driving 202, I wouldn't buy it. It just doesn't sound right without THE. On the other hand, when using obscure terms like "quahog", you need to make sure the meaning is explained in context, otherwise your readers will spend the rest of the book trying to figure out what the hell one is and miss your story.

So what are some of your local terms? Please share and state your location. And if anyone is writing a book set in New England or the Southwest, let me know. I would be happy to help.

February is Now Get-Your-Foot-in-the-Door Contest Month

2010-02-09T09:25:00.001-08:00

Contests! Contests! Contests!

Miss Snark is holding another Secret Agent contest, and the entries closed fifteen minutes after they opened. (WOW! There are a lot of aspiring writers out there.) If your entry didn't make it, you can still benefit from her contest. Her readers and the Secret Agent leave great comments.

Want to go to Backspace, but can't afford the registration fee? Colleen Lindsay is offering two scholarships to attend. Read the rules carefully. For this contest and this contest only submissions are to be mailed.

And last but certainly not least, Chuck Sambuchino is hosting a Dear Lucky Agent contest on his blog. Authors of Middle Grade and Young Adult novels can enter the first 150-200 words of their work for a chance at a manuscript critique.

Know of any other contests going on this month? Post them in the comments!

Teen Speak

2010-01-26T06:16:00.000-08:00

I've seen a few posts floating around the Internet about creating realistic teen dialogue. A teenager today (or ever except perhaps in the 19th century) would not say:

"Perhaps I shall accompany you to the shopping center."

She would say:

"Let's go the mall."

If you really want to know what teens are saying to each other, visit Texts from Last Night. The conversation is vile, rude, riddled with sex and binge drinking, but it is a true portrayal of the lives of young people. It certainly gives me some good ideas. What about you? Do you have other sources for realistic teen speak?

The Power of a Period

2010-01-13T08:18:00.000-08:00

I'm at work doing some data entry (not the most glorious aspect to marketing, but a necessity. You always have to prove that your hard work produces results.) and whoops - I missed a decimal point. Suddenly $10 turned into $1000. That's a big difference. Do you have 990 spare dollars lying around? I certainly don't.

It got me thinking of the importance of punctuation. Something seemingly so small and insignificant like a period, a comma or an exclamation point can give a sentence entirely new meaning, and turn the cost of a CD into a downpayment on a car.

As they say, the devil is in the details so slay the beast and pay attention to your punctuation, and feel free to point out my excessive use of commas in this post.

Things I have learned about queries

2010-01-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

Below is a list of query tips I have gathered from agents. I am, of course, going to elaborate on each one, but I have bolded the list so you can skip past my comments if you would like to. I also apologize for not being able to give credit where it is due, but I have read so many query tips that I can't remember where I got each one.

1. Don't query too soon
Make sure your novel is in the best possible shape before sending out your queries. I know, it is exciting, you love your book and you want to get it out there so everyone can love it too, but there is a lot of competition out there, so you need to make yours stand above the rest by making it awesome.

2. Don't put "Imagine if..." in your query
Show don't tell. I don't have to give credit for this one because almost EVERY publishing professional has said it at one time or another. A good writer should be able to paint a picture so readers don't have to imagine.

3. Don't blast everyone at once
This is very important. I send mine in little groups at a time, testing alternate queries and making changes as I go. This is a process and the more you do it, the better you'll get. Besides if you send out one mass blast and everyone rejects you, than that novel is finished.

4. Keep your letter professional
There may be differing opinions on this one. I have seen succesful queries that are creative, witty, funny, etc., but I have received a better response from my letters that are straight up business letters, like a cover letter for a resume. Also, like a resume cover letter, I mention in the first line where I discovered said agent and why I am querying them.

5. Only query agents who represent your work
I have seen differing opinions on this one as well. I think Janet Reid said to query everyone - because you never know, but Nathan Bransford mentioned yesterday that he's experiencing a query deluge, and probably a good chunk of those are for titles he doesn't represent (although from his blog it appears he'll look at anything that tickles his fancy) But not all agents are the same. Best bet is to review their submission guidelines on their website and stick to them. I also wonder, as a querying author, if mine gets lost in the slush pile because agents are just so inundated with proposals. At my job, I have to filter through about 100+ emails of SPAM every day and I've often deleted a relevant email just because it is surrounded by junk. Do you want your email to be classified as junk?

6. Only query agents you want to work with
If you don't feel an agent will be a good match for you, don't query them. Enough said.

7. Don't respond to rejections with something nasty
I don't even know why I have to list this, but I see in a lot of Twitter feeds and blogs that agents still receive ridiculous things from authors: responses trying to change their minds, telling them how they're missing out on a best seller, etc., etc.. NO! The most important thing in business is networking and the first rule of networking is don't burn bridges. You don't want to say something in haste and get labelled as crazy writer, someone difficult to work with, someone unprofessional. Agents talk, and once something is in writing it can be sent from California to China with the click of a mouse. If you are really irked about something, go out with a friend (not associated with the publishing industry) and vent about it over a beer.

Okay, that's all for now, but if anyone has something to add or something to dispute, please feel free to post it in the comments.

Props to my Internet Allies

2010-01-07T07:27:00.001-08:00

In my last post, I mentioned that I finished the book and now I'm in the hangover phase of editing (as Mary of kidlit.com calls it) I was starting to think that the book I once loved is total crap. I mean how many times can one use "scowl", "looked", and "smile" in one itsy bitsy novel? Apparently I can - a lot.

Last night I was almost to the point of throwing it in the trash and starting from scratch, but thank goodness hubby stopped me because it is good, it's just not great yet, and the painstaking editing will make it that much closer to excellent.

I don't think I would survive this part of the novel writing process if it weren't for you, my Internet allies. You may not represent me (yet) but you certainly help me in my trials.

So thank you to Mary of kidlit.com for your excellent tips on revising, editing, developing characters and creating plot structure. I may not comment that often, but I am reading. (Good tip I read today: Change the font of your novel to read it from a new perspective)

Thank you Rachelle Gardner, for your brutal honesty and for reminding me that the journey will be tough, but I should keep plugging along. (I don't write Christian fiction, so you won't get my submission, but you're helping me improve it for your fellow agents)

Thank you Rejectionist, for posting all of the crappy submissions you get, making me feel better about my own. I may not be there yet, but at least I know I'm one step ahead of the others because I am NOT insane.

Thank you Nathan Bransford for keeping me up to date on all of the latest publishing news.

Thank you Kristin Nelson for clearing up some of the confusion about the publishing process and for your Friday funnies. (I did send you my query, but you were one of the first agents I sent it to, so it was terrible. That was before I knew better and I apologize)

Thank you Janet Reid for showing me what makes a BAD query, and for your recent post on manuscript requests. It made me depressed to know that I have less than a 2% chance of publication with every manuscript request, but good to know that the odds of getting a manuscript request are even less than that.

And thank you Michelle Wolfson for your many tweets, especially your #queryquotes.

I did not mention everyone on my list, but these are just the people on my mind today. Every blog I have linked on my page is an excellent resource for aspiring and seasoned writers. So pat yourselves on the back Internet friends. You may think you're just posting nonsense out into cyberspace, but people like me are reading it and using your words to preserve our sanity.

A New Year

2010-01-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

Over my holiday break, I took a vacation from the Internet as well so I apologize that I have not updated my blog in a while. I did, however, finish the first draft of my second novel during this online hiatus, so I think I am going to try and make social networking avoidance one of my New Year's resolutions. It amazed me how much writing I got done when I wasn't wasting words on Twitter and Facebook.

My second goal is to get an Agent.

And my third is to shed the holiday pounds I gained. Gone are the days of performing a series of squats to squeeze into a pair of freshly washed jeans. I want to be able to slip right into them and be able to bend my knees once my body is tucked inside.

I fell pretty positive about achieving all of them, and I want to know what everyone else's resolutions are. (If you have any)

The Top Ten Reasons Why I Would Be an Excellent Client for Any Agent

2009-12-04T08:40:00.001-08:00

This post isn't really intended to be serious...unless you want it to be...

1. My book is awesome - the kind of read that you can't put down and you want to go out and buy the second one when you reach the end.
2. My book could always be more awesome (awesome-er?) So I will kindly respect your expertise and make any edits you suggest.
3. I have more than one book in me, at least five or six ideas at the moment, so I won't be a one hit wonder.
4. I am generally well-mannered and polite. I have a Southern mother who raised me to mind my P's and Q's, so you will likely receive many 'Thank You' notes for your hard work.
5. My background is in marketing, so I will do anything short of breaking the law or offending aforementioned Southern mother to sell my book.
6. I am a Connector (from Malcom Gladwell's, The Tipping Point) so I know a lot of people who know a lot of people, and most of them owe me a favor or two.
7. I am an excellent baker so you can expect homemade fudge and delightful craisin chocolate toffee for the holidays.
8. I am fun to hang out with after hours. I have quite a few karaoke songs rehearsed with choreographed dance moves and I offer witty yet insightful conversation.
9. I think the general consensus of my acquaintances is that I am sane. You don't have to worry about me flipping out if something doesn't go my way or calling you at all hours of the night. I know how to carry myself professionally.
10. I am a snazzy dresser. I'm not sure how important this one is, but that is why it is number 10. But I'll never show up to a meeting in sweatpants and that is a promise.

Holiday Cheer

2009-12-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

I've scrapped two previous versions of my next book, and I'm hard at work on the third. I'm trying not to think of it as a wasted 150,000 words, countless hours of time and agony, but hope...nay pray that after all this time when the book is finally completed it will be that much better because of its long and arduous journey.

This is pefect timing for the next card, because I'm feeling down about the whole thing, but nothing cheers me up more than cats in clothing, and this card features our beastly little felines, Sid & Nancy.

*Note to animal-lovers, no cats were harmed in the making of this card. Maybe just tormented for a few minutes.

Inside: Maybe after a few beers, we'll forget we're wearing these stupid hats.

Happy (Almost) Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T17:47:00.000-08:00

As promised, the second card in my series is below. This one was after I met my husband, and I talked him into participating in crazy Christmas cards. The sad part about this one is that we did not have to do too much set-up to the room. This was pretty much how the 'ol bachelor pad looked most times.

So enjoy and think of all the things you have in life to be thankful for. Me? I'm thankful that I have a wonderful husband who will wear a mullet wig for my holiday enjoyment.

Inside: Have a White-Trashy Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2009-11-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

I know. It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but certain radio stations that will remain unnamed are already playing 24-hour carols, and as I mentioned before, my day job is at a Christmas ornament company, so I'm forced to recognize the holiday year-round. But I'll be the first to admit it - I love Christmas!

Back in 2004 that I got the brilliant idea to start making my own Christmas cards, and not the wearing matching sweaters in the snow Christmas cards, but cards that reflect my twisted sense of humor. So as a special treat, I will post all of my previous card images up here on my blog, a new one each week until we build to the (insert drum roll) brand new 2009 card that is yet to be released!

*Please keep in mind that all cards have been staged, photoshopped, tweaked and distorted and could be considered offensive.

Inside: Man those elves throw one helluva party!

Possibility Thinking

2009-11-16T15:37:00.000-08:00

My husband bought this book How Successful People Think by John C. Maxwell, and one day in a state of boredom, I opened it up directly to the chapter I desperately needed to hear.
Possibility thinking.
(most of the content below is blatantly plagiarized but this is only a tiny fragment of the excellence in this book so I urge you to go buy it)

Possibility Thinking Gives you Energy
Who gets energized by the possibility of losing? Are you going to put two hundred percent into something you believe will fail?

Stay Away from the "Experts"
Experts do more to shoot down people's dreams than just about anybody else. John Andrew Holmes said, "Never tell a young man something cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for somebody ignorant of the impossible to do that thing."

Dream One Size Bigger
Have Stephenie Meyer dreams and J.K. Rowling fantasies? You're thinking too small. If you set your goals high, you have more room to grow and you will believe in greater possibilities.
Henry Curtis advises, "Make your plans as fantastic as you like, because twenty-five years from now, they will seem mediocre. Make your plans ten times as great as you first planned, and twenty-five years from now you will wonder why you did not make them fifty times as great."

To Outline or not to Outline

2009-11-11T06:39:00.000-08:00

I'm working on my second book (or probably third or fourth, I have a few unfinished manuscripts lying around) and I've written 50,000 words (not for NaNoWriMo because I started it in October), but now I'm debating totally re-writing it.

My normal writing style is to think about an idea, and plan it out in my head. I get the main characters' basic temperment and behavior decided and then let them take shape on the pages. However, when writing this one, one character evolved into a person I like so much, I want to change the plot to include him more.

Since I've already written a hefty amount, I don't want to write another 50,000 words and then scrap that too so I'm thinking of doing an outline (even though I'm not a fan).

My question to you writer friends is how do you begin crafting a new work? Do you create an outline first? Do you make lists of personality traits for your characters? Or are you like me and you just write and see where the story takes you?

Honorable Mention

2009-11-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

I'm totally psyched to have received an honorable mention in the Rejectionist's Form Letter contest! Especially since all of the entries were amazingly hysterical. (If you haven't read every single laugh-inducing one, you simply must.)

My entry (click below to read) was selected as:
Best Zombie/Best Insinuation That Reading Young Adult Literature Is More Fun Than Our Actual Job, Which is Definitely True

Rob Zombie is the best Zombie.

I have to thank the Rejectionist for offering such an extremely awesome contest and send my overflowing praise to everyone who posted a letter because we all need something fun to read when we're working (or not working actually). Your combined creativity wasted at least ten hours of my normally monotonous work week, and I could not be more grateful.

Now I have to decide if I will ask the overworked support staff of "Steve" to review my query or first 5 while I daydream about the delicious treat that will soon grace my mailbox.

Messy Desk, Clear Head

2009-11-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

I just thought I'd share what a mess my desk is. Someone once told me, "A messy desk means a clear head." I suppose whoever said that never spent fifteen minutes searching for their mailing labels.

Thoughts on Consumer Products

2009-11-05T08:23:00.000-08:00

My day job is at a Christmas ornament company, so obviously this our season. The day after Halloween (or several days before in some cases) our product hit the shelves, and almost immediately thereafter the emails started rolling in.

What does this have to do with publishing? Probably nothing, but it's my blog so I can write about what I want. But I do work in consumer sales and marketing, and what's true for one consumer product is often true for another.

So as our sales reports begin to come through, we make a note of the top sellers, and the 'dogs' as we call them, and then try to determine the ornament trends for the following year. Are angels going to be hot? Or will it be snowmen? (I bet you never thought this much work went into Christmas ornaments did you?)

Without fail though, every year there are one or two surprises. Perhaps an ornament we didn't feel very strongly about is blowing out of stores, or one that we loved is collecting dust on the shelves. But we designed that ornament a year ago. Right now we're working on 2010. How can you predict the future of consumer wants a year in advance?

Ah hah, and therein lies the problem, and the same one that publishers have. You can't predict it, you can only make an educated guess based on the current happenings and how the trends have evolved in the past. And I guarantee you that publishers get some surprises as well, perhaps spending a fortune on marketing for a book that bombs, or one of their mid-range books gets rave reviews. And their only thought is, "How can we recoup all those lost marketing dollars?" Making them cautious to invest in a project that might be questionable when they have a sure-thing sitting on their desk.

This posting is going on way too long, but I have one more thing to add. You notice how I said we're working on 2010 now? That's right. It takes a year for a design to move from concept to production, and these are ornaments we're talking about, not 300 page novels that need to be reviewed, edited, covers designed....blah blah blah. The fastest we can turn around a design is in several months and that means dropping everything and putting all our resources into that one item. Something we would only do by retailer request and it would have to be a BIG retailer. (Like publisher would only do that for J.K. Rowling) So just keep that in mind when you sign your publisher contract and they say your book will be out in a year, because in retail world, that is a pretty quick turn around.

A Bad Attitude?

2009-11-04T06:41:00.000-08:00

I just read Rachelle Gardener's latest post on how NOT to get an agent. She addresses first and foremost a bad attitude towards the publishing industry, and of course, I panicked. Do some of my own blog entries sound too snarky? I read through them all and found only one that might be a little harsh, and I'm toying with the idea of deleting another, but I think I'll leave it for now.

I am always very careful not to mention any specific names in my rantings, and honestly, I don't harbor any ill will towards the agent acquiring process. In fact, it astounds me that people do. If an aspiring writer has done his research than he would know that this is a tough time to break into the market, that query letters should sound professional and that most writers don't get picked up until their third book. It is what it is. You can't do anything to change it, and your best shot at success is to follow the guidelines.

Rollercoaster Ride

2009-10-26T11:38:00.001-07:00

I had my first manuscript request and drank a few beers to celebrate, now I've received my first manuscript rejection and I plan on drinking a few beers to drown out my sorrows. The Coors brewing company must love me (this may be considered an insider tip if you are planning on buying stock)

However, the rejection was an extremely thoughtful rejection, so I'm trying not to take it too hard. Loved the plot, loved the title, but not in love with the voice. OK, I can understand that. I still have two partials out and about eight queries in the slush pile.

After receiving the kind rejection, I thought a lot about the agent practices I have encountered, and liked, which I would like to list below so we can improve the process for everyone.

1. Timely feedback - I know this isn't always a possibility due to the number of queries you receive, but it does keep us writers from going insane waiting...and waiting...and waiting...
2. Using our name and/or title of our book in the rejection - Even if the rest of the response is a form letter, this leads us to believe that you did in fact read our submission.
3. A reason for rejection - "I'm not completely in love with this project", "I don't have the time to commit to your project", "This isn't the right project for me". Even if it is vague, it's still something.
4. Constructive feedback - I know this is also difficult to do because of time constraints, however, pointing out things that you love or hate may help us when writing our next book, and that book may be one you'd like to rep.
5. Clear and consise submission guidelines on your website - I make a new query packet for each agent. Some pieces are copied and pasted from others, yes, but if an agent clearly outlines what they are looking for, I will include it. And hey, if you give us great guidelines and someone fails to follow them, then BAM, quick form-letter rejection. If a writer can't read, how do you expect them to write?

The Price Wars

2009-10-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've heard about the Battle of the Books that is going on between several mass market retailers. (And if you haven't, you can read about it in the Wall Street Journal here.) Most of my favorite bloggers have expressed their concerns on the situation, and these are the two things worry me most:

1. People are going to expect hardcover books to always be $10.
But they aren't. Walmart.com, Amazon.com, Target, Sears and everyone else jumping on the bandwagon are only discounting the top 10 or so books. As a potentially new author, my book would still be priced at $20, which could deter buyers.

2. Independent book stores cannot meet these prices.
This really bothers me because I am a big supporter of local business, and I would hate to see small business disappear. However, we as a group of consumers can stop this by not shopping at mass market retailers and trying to purchase things from local retailers when we can.

However, on the bright side...
1. I remember when gas stations were having a price war in the late 90's and gas dropped below a dollar. I would drive a block and then fill-up again because sadly, I knew it would end soon and the prices would shoot right back up. And they did. There is only so long a retailer can sell things at a loss.

2. Since books are currently on sale, perhaps the lower prices will get people buying and reading and they will remember how nice it is to curl up on the couch with a good book. More people reading is always a good thing for the publishing industry.

So in closing, I'm not going to panic just yet. I'm going to wait and see how this all plays out. One thing I am sure of is that printed books will never go away completely.

Sensitive Writer Types

2009-10-20T16:42:00.000-07:00

I just read Nathan Bransford's blog that suggests that us writers do not take criticism well, and unfortunately, criticism is part of the biz. Everytime I've written something that has been circulated among the public I have received some sort of hate mail, so I am well-prepared for what is to come.

Case in Point I
I won an essay contest in college that was published in the most prestigious campus newspaper, the State Press. After publication of aforementioned essay, one of the students who worked at the front desk of our dorm took it upon herself to slip me a hate letter explaining to me why my essay was total crap and I was just a spoiled rich white kid who didn't know anything about diversity.

What did I do? Nothing. I won a gift card at the campus bookstore so I didn't have to pay for my books for the rest of the year which left me with enough extra cash to drink away the memory of her hate mail.

Case in Point II
I published my own punk zine in College called Chelsea and actually had advertisers and readers who submitted stories and artwork that I included in my printings. Of course, there are always some sore apples in the bunch so I received copius amounts of hate mail and one death threat.
My response was always , "If you hate it so much, don't read it."

And of course I tallyed the hate mail responses into my readership rates and used it to get more advertisers.

I know that if I get my book published, I am likely to receive a much larger hate mail response rate, and I really don't care. As long as they bought their hated copy and didn't borrow it from someone else.

My First Pitch Session

2009-10-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

I questioned what to entitle this post because in all honesty, my day in New York City at the conference was not at all what I expected. Was it interesting? Yes. Was it informative? Yes. Will my attendance be beneficial to my writing career? We'll see.

Part 1- Meet the Authors
The day began with short speeches from a panel of authors involved with the IWWG. Of course, my friend and I arrived late due to the weather and traffic on the way from RI to NYC. (However I did score a free parking space right across from the venue) The venue was cold and the metal folding chairs that were crammed into the space did little to promote my comfort.

Of the 8 or so authors who spoke, only 2 had gone the traditional publishing route. The rest had self-published. The founder of the organization said, "Self-publishing does not have the same stigma it did years ago." However, when the agents heard this, they all rolled their eyes. I'm not against self-publishing, but clearly, it does carry less weight in the industry.

Of the authors who spoke, the ones who were helpful and interesting spoke the least, and the ones who shouldn't have spoken at all, talked the longest. Some took the opportunity to sell us their books, and others actually gave us helpful advice on how to further our writing careers. Needless to say, when we broke for lunch, I high-tailed it somewhere warm with comfortable chairs and alcohol.

Part II - Meet the Agents
More writers arrived for this segment, and surprisingly, many of the attendees were wearing jeans, sweats and sneakers. (As a side note, if you are looking to sell ANYTHING, it is better to overdress than underdress and I felt quite pleased that I had dressed professionally)

The agents were very informative, however, only one was actively seeking YA, so after the entire trip, I only had one agent to speak with. I hadn't felt nervous all day, but as soon as I started talking to her, I felt the heat rise. I managed to get out part of what I wanted to say, but she cut me short and said "Sounds great, send it to me." I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing, but of course, I'll send it along and hope for the best like always.

Would I attend another conference? Of course.

Where are these girls?

2009-10-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, they are YA fantasy novels, so I suppose the authors are entitled to some liberties but really? Teenage girls who behave like middle-aged women and cook dinner every night? Please. I feel it is more likely that I will come across a vampire or a werewolf in my travels. Not to say that I don't love these novels, because they have great stories and are well-written, but I am concerned about the impression these heroines are going to leave on the youth of today.

When I was sixteen, I was surly, rude, obnoxious and way more concerned with clothes and boys than making sure my parents ate a hot meal. Goodness. I couldn't even cook anything without disabling the smoke alarm first. Secondly, my parents were parenting, and yes, I did have some friends with negligent parents, but of those friends, not a one of them ever cleaned the house or cooked a meal for them. In fact, we took full advantage of those kinds of parents and always threw the parties at their houses.

The other thing that bothers me is how fast these girls ditch their friends for some boy. To coin the old phrase, probably dating myself, "Bros before hos". Boys come and go but good girlfriends are hard to find.

This is why I really hope my book gets published one day, because my teen protagonists behave like teenagers, keep their friends, eat junk food and go to college. And that is what I would like the new YA trend to be.

Why are you the best person to write this book?

2009-10-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

That is often one of the pieces of information agents ask you to include in your query letters - for fiction. But how does one answer that question? What makes someone qualified to write about zombies or magic amulets? Have you ever been in contact with the living dead or found an other-worldly piece of jewelry in your Grandmother's attic? Chances are - no.

So what exactly are they looking for? (and it's not writing credits because that is in itself an additional question) Am I qualified to write about teen romance? Yes. Why? Because the number of boyfriends I had exceeds the double digits and we don't even want to talk about the number of boys I dated that never evolved into actual boyfriends. But somehow I get the impression that is not a piece of information I should put in my query letter.

So dear agents, please explain, what exactly are you looking for when you ask this question? And if I'm writing about zombies should I just ignore it?

The Average Work Week of a Struggling First Time Novelist

2009-10-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Monday through Friday
7:30 a.m.
Crawl out of bed thirty minutes late and curse and swear at myself for sleeping through the alarm before I get up to hit the snooze button and then fall back asleep for nine more minutes and repeat process.
8:30 a.m.
Run out of the door fifteen minutes late with one shoe in my hand and my fly unzipped.
8:40 a.m.
Arrive ten minutes late at day job and pray that the bosses are running late as well.
8:45 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Check work email, then personal email, and read snarky agent blogs causing me to question the quality of my work and if I should just face the facts...I'll be a nine to fiver until the day I die.
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Take care of the important day job tasks while I daydream about ways to improve my book.
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Eat a dry sandwich from Subway, run to the bank, go to the grocery store, the pet store, etc. and then try to speed read ten pages of a novel while I smoke a cigarette.
2:00 p.m. - 2:05 p.m.
Check personal email again to see if I have any manuscript requests and then sigh heavily with dissapointment when I discover I have none.
2:05 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Finalize all of my day job tasks while planning out my book tour having forgotten all of the advice from the snarky agent blogs.
5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Kiss the husband, pat the dog, drink a beer and smoke a cigarette before settling into the home office.
5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Eat a nutricious dinner of Triscuits and cheese log while reviewing submission requirements for several agents.
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Prepare new query letters, plot synopsis, biography, resume and whatever else agents are looking for. Possibly complete one or two agent submissions, and then drink another beer because regardless of what I have prepared and sent, I get the feeling that they will end in the same result...nothing.
8:00 p.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Work on new novel because I have convinced myself without a doubt that the first one is going nowhere. Yell at my husband in the room next door because his cursing at CSS is disrupting my train of thought. Since my concentration is broken, I get up and drink another beer and then swear at the cats for having thrown up on the kitchen table again. Clean up vomit, check facebook and then return to writing. (Repeat several times)
12:00 p.m.
Go to sleep slightly drunk and try to end the day on a positive note by telling myself, "it only takes one"

Words they are a'changin'

2009-09-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

I was reading this article in the Washington Post about how new authors have to market their own books now. (I'm not surprised, and I'd planned on doing that anyways. I already have the local launch party planned in my head.) Anyways, as a marketer, it got me thinking about all the new terms we have in the English language today, mostly due to the explosion of the Internet and all of the new digital sales tools we have available.

I'm not that old, but old enough to remember a time when the Internet didn't exist. How I survived - that I can't recall, but it got me thinking. What would some of those computer terms meant to us then? And I made up some definitions of my own.

Website - noun - The center of a spider web.
Blog - noun - A piece of wood, cut into a rectangular shape.
Cell Phone - noun - A telephone that is stored in a small compartment.
Javascript - noun - A cursive font used for coffee packaging.
Facebook - noun - A photo album similar to a scrap book except the pictures included are only of people's faces.

That's all I came up with, but it's Friday so if you have any more, post them in the comments. Creativity is welcome and thoroughly enjoyed.

Music and Words

2009-09-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

What am I doing right now? Arguing with my band about the set-list for our show on Sunday. Minor details. At least we have a show, and it's our first fundraiser, and we'll be playing for the mayor of Warwick. (http://www.buckeyebrook.org/ -We would be Live Music) To be honest, we were not the first choice for the band. The scheduled band cancelled so we were a last minute replacement, but I don't think it matters how you get your foot in the door, as long as you can cram it in there.

I'm bringing this up, because the journey our band has traveled is so very similar to path I'm embarking on for my writing career. We've been playing together, oh I don't know, two maybe three years, and we've just started getting some gigs this summer. After several years of playing together, we sound pretty darn good, but you can't get a gig unless you have a following, and you can't get a following unless you get gigs. It's a catch 22.

Like querying agents, we've gone from bar to bar, dropped off demos, and get positive feedback from the owners, but then never an email or a phone call. But I think the important thing is here, is that we've never given up. Playing music is fun for us, and I think we'd play even if we never got a gig. The same goes for my writing. I'm not gonna stop just because no one is reading it, and who knows, maybe two years from now, I'll be able to finally cram my foot in that door and shove it wide open.

Y cant anyoone spel?

2009-09-15T08:18:00.000-07:00

This is somewhat related to my previous post; however, as I continue to read tweets, blog entries and other various Internet chats from aspiring writers, I am horrified at the lack of spelling ability. If you want to become a writer folks, you need to learn how to spell.

As the third place contender of the Laguna Elementary School Spelling Bee, proper spelling has always been a passion for me, so when I see a word that is blatantly misspelled, I cringe. Especially when the word is from a wannabe writer and they misspell something like "writeing" or as I saw today, "rediculously".

Of course, we're all human and we all make mistakes and with the invention of text messages, instant messages, Twitter, and spell check...we've all gotten a little lazy.

My rules of thumb:

Personal email, texts, instant messages, etc. - Don't worry about it.

Internal Corporate Email - Worry about it, but if you make a mistake don't cry about it.

External Corporate Email - Check it, check it again and just for fun check it a third time.

Query Letters - Please see "External Corporate Email"

Emails, texts, instant messages, etc, when you are talking about your dreams of writing - Please see "External Corporate Email" or re-think your career dreams.

I am probably going to be massacred for this post because usually when you are pointing out other people's follies, you tend to make one of your own. As I said before, everyone makes mistakes.

I recently started reading Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by self-pronounced Grammar Girl, Mignon Fogarty. My purpose in reading this is to improve my grammar skills and hopefully my writing as well. Surprisingly, much of what she covers in her book, I already knew, but I did have one issue, and I want to see if you feel the same way.

According to Grammar Girl...

Correct: I felt nauseated.

Incorrect: I felt nauseous.

However, I feel that more people in the general public use "nauseous" versus "nauseated". When does something become correct due to popular opinion? I'm sticking with nauseous, because I'm not writing Nobel Prize literature, I'm trying to write books that people will understand and enjoy, and if the people want "nauseous", I'm gonna give it to them.

A Little Sympathy

2009-09-11T08:11:00.001-07:00

I may have a little more sympathy for the hard-working agents. I wonder how many queries they receive each day from people like this...

Round 2

2009-09-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

I've sent out a new group of queries and one is still pending from my first round. Hopefully the second round proves to be more successful...as in yielding a contract. I just purchased the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents, and this book has been a Godsend. I discovered many additional agents that I can query that I did not find in my Internet searching. It also includes a list of writer's conferences held around the country.

I am pondering going to the one hosted by the International Women's Writing Guild in NYC on October 18. The Sunday session includes time to pitch your novel to available agents. Many agents take on new projects from writers they meet at conferences. You'd think it would be easy to get from Rhode Island to NY, but it is proving more difficult and expensive than I would hope. It's hard to spend the money when I'm not collecting a paycheck.

Reader's Comments

2009-09-03T09:03:00.000-07:00

Last night after yoga, my friend who reviewed the book for me, and I sat down for our frozen yogurt and discussed. Her initial thoughts:

"The book is GREAT! You either need to write the second one or tell me what's gonna happen."

To the agents currently reviewing my first 40, please note above. If we can get the first one going, we have a shot at a sequel!

She also gave me some contructive feedback on certain areas and caught more minor typos. I made the changes last last night, and I have to say, it's in excellent shape.

Dare to Dream?

2009-09-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

I was reading Design Sponge the other day (view link to the right) and they had a post about the Penguin recovered classic series of books featuring adorable cloth covers. Can I dare to dream that I may have a book in print one day and it will have a cover as adorable as these?

I'm pondering re-purchasing some of my favorites in these covers just to sit on a shelf in my office and look fabulous.

Initial Impressions

2009-09-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

I just released my novel to friends and family to read. I'm ashamed to say the reason I didn't do it sooner was because I was afraid of what they would have to say. However, I can't improve it if I don't get constructive feedback and to everyone who has a copy, I instructed them to be honest. So far...

Husband says, "Ok, now I need to read the second one."
(but he is obviously biased, and not really my audience, besides, he doesn't read)

Friend says, "The book is great!"

She's still in the process of reading it, so I'll have to wait until she is finished to get her overall take, but she would be my audience and does read. Of course, I almost forgot to tell her that I used her name in the book. Her namesake's role is a very small one in the story, but I still hope she doesn't mind.

Feeling Active

2009-08-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

I received one more rejection, but it was not a standard rejection, they actually used my name. This leads me to believe that the agent actually did read, review and ponder my novel. I'm going to take this as a positive sign.

My husband and I printed a copy of the book, which he is currently reading. We had to load the printer with paper twice and I think I killed the black ink cartridge. Although he is not my intended audience, he says he likes it, and is getting involved in the story. He may be a bit biased though. After he's done, I plan to pass it around to a few of my girlfriends.

I picked up the printed copy myself the other day and read through a few pages and noticed several changes I need to make. At this point, I only have two more agents to hear from and they've received the first 40 pages. What they have definitely needs some work...is that going to ruin me? Perhaps I should have waited a bit longer before I started sending out queries. I'm just impatient.

Today's task - going through the book once again to turn as many passive verbs into active ones.

I'm torn between wanting the sun to come out and wanting the clouds to stay. If the clouds stay, I can stay inside all day and work, but if the sun comes out, Lucy and I have to go out and train for our charity walk. I'll leave today's fate in the hands of the weather.

The Hope is Still Alive

2009-08-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

I'm on stay-cation this week which is a dangerous thing. I created a list of all the things I wanted to get done and I've only crossed about two off the list. I tend to actually do less, when I have less to do. I always say "You can take care of it tomorrow." and then I end up spending an entire day watching CSI. Not that it is a bad thing, until I go to sleep that night and dream about the many possible ways there are to die.

Anyways, today, I actually had a productive day. I sent out 5 queries, 3 by email and 2 by snail post. By the end of the day, I received 1 rejection and 1 who wants to read more! I'm pretty psyched. Although my success rate is low at this point, I'm well aware that many great authors have sent out hundreds of query letters before they received a response. 1 for 6 is not too shabby.

Little tip: I sent each agency a different query and stored what I sent them in separate folders so I can review what received a positive response and what doesn't. However, this cannot be considered a truly accurate scientific experiment because as I have been told in my rejection letters, the business is quite subjective.

Now I am debating if I should curl up with my sea dog blueberry ale and watch the rest of the CSI season 7 or start gathering the materials that I need to send out to the request. There is always tomorrow right?

The Business Side of Things

2009-07-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'm at the stage of preparing my presentation to submit to additional agents. I worked for hours last night and felt like I got NOTHING done. I have to say that creating Chapter Summaries and Marketing Plans and Cover Letters is not nearly as much fun as just writing. I also keep going back to the book and re-editing parts. I'm not sure if that is a good idea or not, because I feel I'm second guessing myself. My goal is to have them sent by next week. Wish me luck.

I've also started plotting the sequeal...I haven't written anything yet, but I'm working it out in my head. Barry says I shouldn't work on it until I get the first one going, but you really can't stop inspiration when it starts.

Chapter Outline

2009-07-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

I feel pretty good about the latest version of the book. The tenses are pretty clean and my punctuation has been corrected...to the best of my knowledge. This morning, I divided the book up into chapters and I'm working on creating a brief chapter outline.

I'm trying not to be discouraged about my first rejection. I'm taking a deep breath before I head back into the ring with reinforcements. I'm working on a stellar proposal with a marketing plan and additional support materials. I'm going to make it impossible for the next agent to say "no".

The ladies, Lucy and Nancy, my dog and cat respectively, are sleeping in my office under patches of sunshine. I'm going to have to leave them soon though because it's almost 3 and I have to shower and get ready for the show tonight. So much to do, so little time.

Rejected

2009-07-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

I sent in my first query and received my first rejection. Ouch. I'm trying not to let it get me down, and I have a long list of other agents to approach. As I was told in my rejection letter, it just takes one "yes" to find the right match. Now I just have to hope that I can get one.

Internal Monologue

2009-07-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

I found some useful information online for properly punctuating internal thoughts. Of the three options:

1. "How could she do that?" I thought.
2. I wondered how she could do that to me.
3. How could she do that?

I decided to go with italicizing the text so as not to disrupt the flow of my story. I made the corrections on the first 20 pages last night before we headed off to band practice, which by the way, went very well.

I think we have about 30 people coming to the show tomorrow, so we'll have a pretty good turnout. Now I just have to pray that I don't choke and forget my lyrics...although I can usually cover it up. Most of the cover songs we play are pretty obscure, so if I mess up a few words, no one knows. The originals obviously don't matter either, but one time I sang the same verse twice for Angel from Montgomery. Oops.

They key to performing, is to just keep it going. Spout gibberish if you have to, but whatever you do, DON'T STOP THE SONG! You'll wreck someone's jam and that is something they will notice. I'm trying to take that approach with my writing - to just keep it going, stumble over the pitfalls and hope that eventually someone will listen.

Waiting at the Sidelines

2009-07-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

I sent in my first query yesterday. I don't expect to get a book deal, but I am hoping to get some constructive criticism. Now, I just have to wait and see if she requests some pages for review. I'm trying to tell myself that won't happen, but I have a little inkling of hope that she will. Just in case, I started editing last night.

However, in correcting my grammar and adjusting the tenses, I feel like I might be sacrificing some of the original tone. I saved the edited version as a new version just in case I need to go back and pull some pieces from the original. I'm still not exactly sure how to properly annotate internal thoughts. I also changed the name of one of the main characters so they don't rhyme anymore.

I won't have time to work on it tonight though, the boys and I have band practice for our gig on Saturday!

The Name Game

2009-07-22T06:22:00.001-07:00

I stayed up again working on the book, so I slept through my alarm and ended up arriving 20 minutes late for work without a shower. Why is it that whenever you oversleep it's never just by a few minutes? You always have about 4 minutes to get dressed and out the door.

I'm feeling pretty positive about the book overall. I got most of the loose ends tied together last night, so my next challenge is to striaghten out the timeline and make grammar and punctuation corrections. However, I realized for the first time last night that the first names of my two main character RHYME! I can't believe I didn't notice it before, but does it matter? I kind of like their names, but perhaps I should replace one. Thank goodness, I can do a "find and replace function" in Word.

Fun Fact: Did you know that Scarlett's name from Gone with the Wind was originally Pansy?

I learned that on my tour of the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta. I don't think the book would have been the same if she had been called Pansy O'Hara, so maybe there is more to a name.

My questions at this point:
How much do I need to edit my book before I start sending out queries?
What should I include in the cover letter that accompanies my query?

I plan on going to the library this weekend to do some research, but if anyone has some advice, I'd gladly take it.

My Bio

2009-07-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

When I submit a query, I'm going to have to include a bio. This makes me a little nervous because I don't have a lot of documented writings, especially in creative writing. I'm in Marketing Design and PR so most of my writing has been for business. I have stacks of press releases, letters, ad copy and some creative product copy, but I am not sure how relevant that is. Would it help that my product copy is distributed to retailers nationwide?

I can only think of two notable writing achievements that I have:
1. I had a letter published in Vogue Magazine.
2. I won an essay contest in college and had my story printed in the school newspaper.

I'n not even sure how impressive the second one is, but I might be able to spin it with some creative marketing copy like...
Was awarded creative writing commendation in University newspaper

Hmm. Not bad. Oh and I also self-published a music zine in college. I actually had advertisers too, but no time to produce more than two issues because of school and work. Time is always against me. I think my husband is getting sick of eating ramen for dinner and my dog misses the long walks we used to take together.

My husband did offer to help and take some headshots though. I am not very photogenic, but on the inside cover of most books is a ridiculously cheezy photo of the author. I need some shots posed on an arm chair, or out in the garden with my chin on my knee, and most definitely one with the dog. I will be sure to post them here when we take them....for a good laugh.

Getting Published

2009-07-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

Since I'm in the home stretch of completion, I've started doing some online research on what to do next. I mean, writing is great. I really enjoy it, but it would be nice to get my stuff out there -and get paid for it. However, as I'm learning more about publishing, I'm discovering that it is pretty difficult to get your foot in the door. In the back of my mind, I always knew that, but when you're daydreaming about your fabulous life as a best-selling novelist, you don't want to clutter it up with harsh reality. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to start facing it soon.

I've decided that I am definitely going to pursue an agent. Since this will be my first book, I think that would be the best route for me. I've found a few online resources as well that offer advice on writing, selecting an agent, and maneuvering the publishing world.

Association of Authors Representatives
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Literary Marketplace