ARCs

First off - wow! Lots of comments! Keep them coming and I'll choose a winner on Friday!

On to the blog post...

A while back a bunch of people were talking about ARCs - Advanced Reader Copies - and I thought I would finally weigh in with my opinion. These are the books that are sent out to reviewers, friends, bookstores, etc., before the book is officially published in order to generate buzz. Generally they're paperback, all the ones I have are trade size, and they look like what the final product will look like (except in some cases when they change the cover design after printing the ARCs). These are promotional materials, printed up before the book is really finished so often times they might have small errors, typos, etc. A lot of them have stats on the back for how the publisher plans on promoting the book. These ARCs are not intended to be sold, to even hit the open market and some are even stamped to that effect in big letters on the cover. Lots of these ARCs end up on the internet for sale anyway - you'll find tons on eBay.

There are lots of good reasons for people to be upset about this. First, it's an unfinished product - the ARC form is not the final form - what writer wants their drafts floating around on the open market? Second (and perhaps this should have been first) they're not supposed to be sold. Third, these are often sold for less than cover price and before the "real" book comes out, so people buy these instead of the "real" book thus causing the author to lose a sale (that sale will never be counted towards the authors numbers, nor with he or she get paid for it). Fourth, some people are concerned with false-advertising - that the purchaser won't know they're getting and ARC rather than the "real" thing. Fifth, in some instances the ARC purchaser can spoil a well-kept secret (I think I remember reading something about the main characters in JD Robb's In Death books having a baby and people were bidding outrageously on the ARCs to find out the sex and name or something).

However, I do think there can be some positives to ARC sales. For some readers, an ARC can be like a collector's item. If that reader is truly a fan, they'll likely buy the "real" book in addition to the ARC. Furthermore, if they're that big of a fan, they're the type to talk your book up to their friends -- they become little publicizing machines in your favor. To that end, I think I'll always hesitate condemning anyone who buys an ARC - you don't want to tic off a big fan like that! Even if they don't buy your book but only get the ARC, they're still likely to push your book on others who will buy the book -- some who might not have otherwise.

I guess for me it all comes down to the intent of the ARC buyer. If they respect the author, I think I'm OK with it. And to me respect means that they're not going to spoil the plot for others, they're not going to intentionally deprive the author of a sale (either by purchasing the book themselves or getting their friends to do so), and they recognize that they're buying an ARC, not the book. I'm not OK with people buying ARCs only because they're cheaper and faster with no regard to what they're doing to the author. So I guess it's pretty easy to see where I fall in the debate (though I'm always willing to change my opinion if convinced I'm wrong).

And yes, I've bought ARCs. In fact, I started thinking about this topic again because I just got an ARC in the mail. This is a book I didn't even know existed until I read about it on another author's blog about how he'd picked up a copy of BEA. As soon as I read what the book was about I NEEDED IT (it actually is very relevant to my WIP, but also just way too cool). It comes out in two weeks, but I couldn't wait. So I waited for it to pop up on eBay and paid cover price or more for it (more, actually, with shipping). I've already pre-ordered the "real" book -- I'm not about to let this author lose a sale because of my impatience.* And you better believe I'll be hocking this book to all my friends.

The only thing that gums me up a bit is the fact that someone is profiting from this sale. That someone got this ARC through BEA or is a reviewer or works in a bookstore and they just made some easy cash because of me. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Interestingly, Patricia Wood turned the ARC of her debut Lottery into a collector's item. She publicizes when ARCs go up on eBay and tells the buyer to send it to her and she'll autograph it. These ARCs have sold for WAY over cover price because of that. But again, only a BIG fan will buy above cover price - and those are readers you want.

So what are y'all's thoughts on ARCs? Ever bought them? Do you think I'm right? Wrong? A little of both?

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* I always buy the "real" book even when I buy an ARC. And really, I've only bought a few ARCs.

Free Books... Get Yer Free Books!

Yes, you read it right, I'm giving away books. Four to be exact. A copy of Secret Society Girl and Under the Rose here this week and another copy of Secret Society Girl and Under the Rose at the Manuscript Mavens starting at the end of the week. And if you guys really impress me, then I may feel compelled to give away more :)

What prompts this you may ask? It's the debut* of my dear friend Diana's second book, Under the Rose. It is, in a word, fantabulous. There is no sophomore slump here, let me tell you. Under the Rose grabs you and won't let go. I loved this book. Diana didn't rest on her laurels, didn't recycle old jokes and old plots like so many sequels do. Nope, Under the Rose is fresh, indulgent, and raises the stakes even more. Diana knows how to keep the reader on her toes, how to satisfy us but keep us wanting more.

The bottom line is that Diana wrote a damn good entertaining book. A book I couldn't put down. I was reading it on the plane and it landed and I refused to get off until I finished it. Yes, this book is that good: enough to keep you on a plane even when you've landed and reached the gate.

And because I love this series so much, and because I think that Diana deserves every praise she gets, I'm happy to spread the word on how good these books are. To that end, I'm giving away one signed copy of Secret Society Girl and one signed copy of Under the Rose.

How do you win? Easy - just comment on my blog this week. Any comment, any day. At the end of the week I'll draw two names and announce the winners. If, for some reason, you want to comment but not be entered in the drawing, or you want to be entered in the drawing for one book but not the other, just mention that in the comments or email me at quitclaim [at] gmail.com.

Remember, if you don't win here, there will be another chance when I give away another copy of Secret Society Girl and Under the Rose as the guest blogger at Manuscript Mavens this Friday.

Congratulations Diana on a fun and fantastic book - when do I get to read the next one?!?

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* is it still a debut when it is their second book? I mean, it is the debut of the book - correct?

Stay Tuned...

Yes, I've been silent. I've had my reasons (and, no, unfortunately, they have nothing to do with writing but other life issues - all good things I promise). But just so y'all know, this week I plan on being a lot more active because - I'm giving away free books! Yes, stay tuned because soon I will be posting the books and how to win them!

Also, I'm looking for good book recommendations. I'm going to the beach for a week and need lots and lots and lots to read. Right now I've been digging YA, especially Spec Fic YA, but I'm open to anything. Bonus points for apocalypse stuff, that always has a spot in my heart :)

Be back soon!

Moving on (and whingeing)

So I've been whingeing a lot in private recently. It's pretty repetitive and goes something like this: "but what if they don't like the whole book and it sucks and I suck and then I have to come up with another idea to write but I love the last one and I'll never be able to do anything as good again, sigh, gasp, moan" and repeat. JP, bless his heart, has gotten used to it. And he tries to help, telling me the right things but in the end he's a writer too and so he knows how I feel.

Because there's not much I can do right now about the "what if they don't like it" aspect of my whingeing, I've been focusing on the "what do I do now" part. I've been casting about for ideas, trying to find my place. I've posted before about how much I enjoy YA and I'm pretty sure that's where I want to stay. But what I've had to face recently, which was quite a revelation for me, is that I've been writing speculative fiction. This excites JP to no end since he is also a spec fic writer and credits himself for my genre shift (he probably does deserve credit since my recent WIP is written in a world he created).

Let me tell you, though, writing spec fic opens up so many doors! When I was writing romance I at least had a basic premise: man and woman, get them together by the end. There are a gazillion ways to write that book, and it's not as easy as I make it sound (and I don't mean to make it sound easy). But at least there's a starting point! I even wrote contemp romance which means it was set in the here and now. With spec fic it could be set anywhere, any time, no rules, all rules -- it seems anything at all goes!!

For the past week I would mutter things like "vampires... done and not my thing... fairies... being done and by great authors... werewolves... I don't have the passion for it... future space epic...." and on and on and on. Part of my problem is that I haven't read enough in the genre to know what's taboo (or done to death) and what's not. Part of my problem is that I'm not sure how far to push the limits, how creative to get?

Then JP reminded me of a story idea I'd come up with about a year ago. Before WIP even (so maybe even two years ago...). It's an idea based totally on a vision. And I love the vision. But that's all I had for a while - that vision. And then JP and I started playing around with it. And then on Friday I had this total revelation (which I would share but it involves details of WIP which I'm not ready to share yet) and the new idea started to fall into place. I realized that I do want a hero and heroine, I love the tension of romance. I think I know the final scene (rare for me to know how it ends) and I'm not quite sure where it starts (though I may have a first line that's been kicking around in my brain). I know the general sense of the plot, but it is going to take a LOT of work. I don't think it will be like WIP where I just sit down and wonder "what shall I write about today?" and then have 2k pour out. I think this new one will take some structuring, some *gasp* plotting. Who knows if it will stick, if it will work. But I'm pretty darn excited about it. I think it's pretty original (though how I'd know since I haven't read widely in scec fic is beyond me). So I think I'll kick the idea around as I put the finishing touches on WIP. I'll poke at the plot, research, see what I come up with.

It's just a relief to have something to play with. To realize that maybe I can come up with another story idea, another world.

What about y'all? How do you feel when it's time to start on the next project? How do you formulate your ideas and develop them?

I'd sell if only...

Diana has a wonderful series on her blog right now which is basically a primer on writing. She goes into detail on all of the basic industry terms and demystifies a lot of them (like what's really important when formatting a manuscript). It's a really useful series and even if you know it all already, it's nice just to get a little refresher.

One of the points that she makes that I think cannot be made enough is that writers tend to focus on things that don't matter. As someone who is starting on querying, I understand how easy it is to be tempted by these things. To wonder if I'd have a better shot at publishing if I just submitted in Courier, to wonder if my page count is too high/too low and I should re-count my pages by some other method (like 250xpage count) to see if that's a better count for me.

But these things don't matter - what matters is the writing. Diana said something else on her blog recently that really really resonated with me: "People often ask if it's difficult to find an agent. The truth is, if you have the right book, finding an agent is a relatively straightforward process. If you don't, it's very very very very hard." You know, sometimes you just hear something that gets you in the gut. This was one of those.

It's not about whether you put an extra space between paragraphs in your query letter (I do) and then indent (I do as well). It's about the book. It's not about whether you put your contact information on the front page of the manuscript in the bottom left or top right corner, it's about the writing (and you do need the contact info somewhere!)

And yet it is so easy to focus on those little things, those things that don't matter. It reminds me of a story I heard once about the managers of a corporation putting together a $100 million budget.* The parsed out millions on salaries, marketing, legal fees, etc. And then it came down to the last $500 dollars and they started to bicker over 1 ply toilet paper or 2 ply, whether to use plastic cups in the break room or paper. All of these tiny little things that really were a drop in the bucket of that massive budget. But to the managers, these were numbers that were fathomable, and within their control. These were numbers they dealt with in their every day lives. They felt a sense of control with these numbers that they didn't feel with the massive millions.

I think writers get that way. Yes you can control your writing, but you can't control whether the agent likes it. And so sometimes we focus way too much on the little things. Font, location of page numbers, how to sign off the query letter, whether to thank the agent or not.

To a certain extent, having started doing a lot of in depth agent research, I can understand this. There are some agents out there who are picky about what they want and how they want it (which they have every right to be). But they are so adamant about how they want things that sometimes it reads that submitting any other way is incorrect (the first line of your query letter isn't the hook? Bad! Your plot summary in the query is more than one paragraph? Bad!). These agents make it easy to worry, make us second guess the way we go about things (one agent said that the double space between paragraphs in a query letter is unprofessional - that's exactly how our entire law firm of 400+ attorneys format our letters).

But the key is not to despair. Do the research. If the agent doesn't like that extra space, take it out in that letter. If the agent wants the plot in only one paragraph, get it done (although I doubt that agent will toss a query for a really cool book simply because the plot was summarized in three paragraphs). If the agent doesn't generally like quest stories (Rachel Vater) make sure that you don't describe yours as such. I've been pleasantly surprised at just how much information on agent preferences you can find online (through their blogs, through interview on loops - especially absolutewrite.com which doesn't require registration to read).

Now, just as you can get too worried about nit-picky formatting, it can be similarly easy to turn that obsession to determining an agent's likes and dislikes. I mean, the internet is huge and sometimes there's a ton out there on agent preference (for example, Rachel Vater did a version of the crapometer on her site** and you could spend a whole lotta time weeding through that). On the one hand, if Rachel Vater is your #1 pick for agent, then read on. Get to know her - her style, her likes and dislikes. You'd be amazed at how much you can pick up about an agent and his or her personality by reading through their blog for a while - I even think you can get a good sense of whether you'd be a good fit. But should you devote a ton of your time to that sort of in-depth research for 80 or 100 agents? Maybe. But at the same time, you could just be using such research as a reason to stave of the inevitable: suck it up, send out the query letter (following their guidelines, of course).

Remember that in the end, it's about the writing. Make it easy for the agent to focus on your writing. This means present it clearly, concisely, giving the agent all the information they need to make an informed decision. Follow their rules, get to know your top choices. And then press send or let those letters drop into the PO box. Then get started on the next one!

Easier said than done, right?
________________

* Yes, it occurs to me that it prob. isn't the managers putting together the budget, but that's not the point of the story so stop being nit picky

** I'd link it but it's multiple posts. Go back to March '07 and you'll find them all.

Weekend Goals recap

Here I am to recap my progress on this weekend's goals. My main goal was to input all the revisions that JP has made on WIP. So far he's read about 2/3 of WIP and I've put in all the minor changes (word choice, misspellings, grammar, etc). I didn't make any substantive changes because I'm waiting to hear back from my beta readers first. But already I can see there's a section that will need a little bit of attention. Nothing big, but a little changing around perhaps. Fingers crossed my beta readers like it! :)

I also spent Saturday surfing the internet for articles on querying and drafting the synopsis. I think that's one of my ways to procrastinate: read as many articles/blogs as I can on point. There's some great stuff out there, but ultimately you just have to suck it up and sit down and write. So I drafted a basic synopsis that I'll have to put aside for a while before editing and put a query letter together (thank goodness for the help of wonderful friends like Diana!) I've done some preliminary agent research so now it's just time to start putting everything together and polishing. Eep!

All in all it was a great weekend. I guess the next step is to start thinking about what I want to write next. Now that is a scary thought!

How was everyone else's weekend?

Weekend Goals

Y'all know the drill - every weekend I like to post my goals so that I have someone to answer to if I make them or not. This weekend my goal is to finish another round of revisions. JP has been incredible this week, reading his poor little heart out.* The good news is that he seems to lose track of time and has a hard time putting it down. The other good news is that he's got a lot of great corrections/suggestions. The bad news is that he found some things that I managed to forget not to change/make clear before sending the last draft out to my beta readers. Thankfully they're so busy they haven't had too much of a chance to really dig into said draft.

So my goal is to implement his corrections on Saturday and have this turned back around to my beta readers by Saturday night.

What might complicate things slightly is that the trial is now officially starting on Monday (thank all that is good and holy). This means that there is a good chance I might have to work this weekend. It's been eerily quiet thus far and I'm worried it's just the calm before the storm.

Thankfully I've already had a G&T or two tonight so there will be no litigating for me in the next few hours!

But the best news of all - and what this ultimately boils down to - is that this trial should be done in a few weeks. Which means I should get a little bit of my life back. Which means I should be able to finish this sucker up and get her sent out. Yipes!

Currently my tentative goal for having first round of query letters out is June 30. I leave the next day for a week at the beach and it sure would be nice to have this thing done. Plus, I can't think of another way to forget about the waiting game. But that goal is just tentative right now - it all depends on my work, my wonderful beta-readers, etc.

What are y'all's weekend goals?

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* seriously, I could go on and one about how awesome he is but that is for another post. Also, did I mention he made another "sale"? One of his short stories was just short-listed for an anthology. Fingers crossed the whole anthology sells!

Making friends in the "neighborhood"

First I want to send a big congratulations to Jessica Burkhart on her recent sale!! I was just casually perusing PM the other day when this sale popped up:

Jessica Burkhart's HIGH JUMPS AT COLLINS ACADEMY series, pitched as Saddle Club meets Mean Girls, about a small-town girl who attends a boarding school and must learn to compete with the equestrian elite, to Molly McGuire at Aladdin, in a four-book deal, in a very nice deal, by Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident Media Group (NA).

I squealed in my office! And then I thought - wait, maybe this isn't the Jessica I know from the blogosphere, she's been so calm recently on her blog - how could she be so calm with this going on? And so I immediately went to her blog to congratulate her but there was no announcement there yet... so I went to email and then I realized it:

Jessica probably doesn't know me from Eve.

That's what is so weird about the blogosphere. I feel like I "met" Jessica through Diana - we're both regular commenters on Diana's blog and I "run into" Jessica at other blogs too. I also read her blog, though I'm usually just far enough behind on the entries that I miss my chance to add my 2 cents in.

So I feel like I know Jessica, that at least we have mutual friends. Which was why I was just so excited about her sale. From her blog I know how she's worked for it and it's so cool to watch someone succeed.

A few weeks ago, Patrick asked what the point of a blog was (not in a "why would you ever have one" sort of way*). For me, having a blog is being part of a community. I feel like I've met friends through my blog. Even if we don't email or talk on the phone, I generally know what's up in their lives - or at least I know what's going on in their writing lives. And I've met friends through blogs that I do email and talk to. Honestly, I don't think I would be nearly as far along as I am with my writing if it weren't for blogs, for the discussions on craft and just "talking" to other people out there going through (or having been through) the same things.

But every now and then I pull up short and wonder if I'm just some sort of weird internet stalker. And yesterday was one of those days when I so wanted to send an email to Jessica congratulating her, but wasn't really sure what to say: "You don't know me but I sure know a lot about you because I read your blog?" Yeah, way to sound like an internet stalker.

Plus, I'm never quite sure what to say in the real world about my blogosphere friends. I get excited seeing a book in the store by Rachel Vincent whose blog I've read since the beginning (but I'm a lurker there pretty much too) and what do I say: "read this cause my friend wrote it?" I probably would say that, but then I feel a little weird because Rachel probably doesn't know me. Or when I talk to my family about my blogosphere friends and what's going on with other writers and the industry - ah, the blogosphere gossip - and I feel like they're thinking "don't you have any offline friends?"**

Perhaps one problem is lurking - getting to know someone without letting them get the chance to know you. Perhaps de-lurking is one way of solving what I think is often a weird imbalance of the blogosphere (of you knowing someone who does not know you). Perhaps another solution is to take the blogosphere for what it's worth and don't expect to make "real" friends (though I don't like that solution).

For me, the blogosphere is a tie into the writing community. It keeps me focused, engaged, excited about writing. And I really do feel like part of that community, even if I lurk in part of it. What do y'all think about the blogosphere? Of knowing people who may not know you? Do you make "real" friends? Am I just a crazy weird internet stalker girl? :)

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** That's not exactly what he asked, but I'm saying it anyway. I can at least say it was that post that led, eventually, to this post...

* for the record, I do.

What has...

What has...

• 34 chapters
• 68,640 words
• 231 pages
• and will soon be read all over??

Yes, that's right! I finished revisions! Or draft revisions at least. And I'm in the process of sending WIP out to beta readers. This is the terrifying part, folks. This is where I hold my breath and wait. Hopefully they'll love it. And if they don't, hopefully they'll love the bones and have excellent suggestions for revisions :)

So now it's time to put all of your good advice to work and start in on the query letter. At least writing a good hook will give me something to think about during the down time of preparing for this pesky trial that keeps getting postponed!

Fingers crossed this trial starts on Friday as calendared and that my beta readers love WIP!

The eternal question of the day...

My goal is to finish revisions today. I meant to get an earlier start but a few hours at the mac genius bar got in the way. I have 80 pages and 24k words left to revise. Hmmm... perhaps more daunting than I thought. We shall see!

To set the mood, this little secret from PostSecret:

Rounding towards third

Well hello!

First of all, I have to give a massive shout out to Diana and her new book sale announcement:

Children's:
Young Adult
Author of SECRET SOCIETY GIRL Diana Peterfreund's RAMPANT, about killer unicorns that can only be defeated by virgin descendants of Alexander the Great, and the teenage huntress whose birthright is seriously messing up her social life, to Kristin Daly at Harper Children's, in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency (NA).
Film: Matt Snyder at CAA.

I was extremely lucky to be able to read the proposal and it is awesome - totally totally awesome! The characters are fun and complex, the set up is so unique and wow - what a world! I have been dying for this book to sell (a) so that I could talk about it and (b) so that she would hurry up and write it so I could read it. Congrats Diana!

Of course, it's also neat to see how she wrote the hook for her PW announcement. I can totally see that she's been practicing this one!

Thanks to such wonderful inspiration as seeing a friend sell a book* I've been diligently working on my WIP. For some reason this week I've been getting home from work at a reasonable hour and I bypassed fresh sheets and a comfy fluffed bed to write, write, write (no, I didn't give up sleep... just post work naps - terrible habit, those). Finally, I'd like to announce that I'm through rewriting the dread middle. Yes, with about 12k new words, some new scenes, characterization - just basically rewriting everything, I'm through the part that I felt sucked the most and needed the most work. I know, not quite the huge announcement I was hoping, but a big deal all the same. Seriously, I have only about 30k left to revise at this point and it should go quickly (furiously knocking on wood).

So naturally, my mind turns to what's next. So far, my plan is to send this bad boy out to a few beta readers and while that's going on I need to study the market. Make my agent query list. Write the query, draft the synopsis (just remembered about that bad boy a minute ago). I used to be the type of girl who never worried about a query letter. I never worried about getting past the gate-keeper.

Now I'm terrified. I'm worried that I won't be able to capture the tone of WIP correctly. That I won't be able to really express what it's about. That there are too many reasons for an agent to auto-reject because the premise is a little weird. Part of me hopes that my beta readers can help me boil down the essence of WIP and part of me laughs that I now join the ranks of all the other people out there who dread the query. Seriously, if I do it right, I think the query can rock. If I do it wrong, I'll get more dings than ....well... something that dings a lot, I guess...

Suddenly I find myself re-reading Miss Snark's crapometer. Evil Editor. The Fangs, Fur & Fey contest. I re-read posts like Diana's on writing a good PW announcement. I scour the internet for posts like this by Jennifer Lynn Barnes about what can grab or drag a hook. I've been jotting notes on post-its like "why does the reader care?!" and putting the post-its on my computer (at work, which must cause my co-workers to wonder...).

I think what it comes down to is that I'm not sure I really know the essence of my story. And it probably helps to know the core in order to write the hook. I don't know whether to emphasize the world, the protags relationships, the journey. And I'm afraid of getting it wrong, of not properly representing my book, and of losing the chance. Of not being judged on the writing, because I couldn't get the agent interested enough to get that far.

I used to pride myself on how well I could handle this part of the business. But then it's things like the debate on one agency's blog over whether thanking the agent for their time in a query letter is considered grovelling that start to worry me. I tend to think that the writing trumps: make the query professional, get the story out there, show the voice and you're good. Now I have to worry about which agents like to be thanked? Seriously, in the legal world I sign all my letters with "with best wishes, I remain, yours truly," when I really want to say "up yours!" It's just the way we write things. And we thank people for their time - even when it's their job. Sorry for the mini-rant there - you can tell what side of the debate I fall in :)

I know, I know - it's too early to worry. I'm psyching** myself out, I need to finish revisions, listen to my beta readers, let them help with query letters and synopsis,*** etc. Most of all, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. But not too far...

For the past few months, I've made a concerted effort to keep my head out of the sales arena. To not doodle hook ideas, research agents, etc. To only care about the writing and the book. I'm starting to surface from that world and it's scary. What helps is knowing I'm not the only one out there. That I have great friends who can help me, talk me through it and offer advice.

I just needed to express a little of my fear before pressing on. And now you'll understand why the next few weeks' posts might just be about hooks and writing query letters :)

So, how do y'all go about this stage in the writing? Do you make lists of agents, scour the blogs to find out how they like their hooks and tailor them (find out which agents like to be thanked ;). Do you write one hook and go with it? How do you work on crafting your hook? Boiling the story down. Got and good links to other good advice?

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* she started rewriting Rampant at the same time I started writing WIP so (a) it's extra special to see it sold and (b) extra inspiring for me to get my rear in gear.

** random: I only know how to spell psyched because we spelled it out in a cheer in high school. Seriously, when I have to spell that word, I'm mentally cheering.

*** I hate that I find myself in that awful morass of wondering how long to make the synopsis. Whether to write it in first person or third. Whether to double or single. All that crap that isn't really about the writing itself.

My weekend: a statistical review

As y'all know from my last post, I was in the mountains this weekend. Ahhh... bliss! I think we're even going to head back next weekend! Without further ado, here is my weekend in numbers:

• number of dogs lost: 1
  
• number of dogs found (thank goodness it was the same one!): 1
  
• number of frantic runs through the woods searching for lost dog: 1
  
• number of crab rangoons consumed by yours truly: 20+
  
• number of regular bottles of wine consumed: 4
  
• number of magnums of wine consumed (not all of that wine was consumed by me!): 2
  
• number of hours slept: 30
  
• number of books read: 3
  
• number of short stories read: 5
  
• number of levels advanced in Guitar Hero II: 3
  
• pieces of birthday cake eaten (with rocky road ice cream, of course!): 2
  
• number of words written on WIP to shape up the pesky middle: 11,000+
• number of times I checked my blackberry: 0
  
• number of Jacuzzis taken: 2
• number of times JP said we should actually leave cabin: too many to count
• number of times we actually left cabin: 1 (foraging for food)
  
• number of stories written by JP: 3
• number of hours sitting on porch watching birds on bird feeder and enjoying view: 7
  

It was truly a perfect weekend! How was everyone else's?

I'm not at work today!

So it is becoming apparent that I blog about once a week - generally on Saturdays. Soas not to leave y'all in the lurch this weekend, I thought I'd post a little early this week. That's because I'm going on vacation. Yep. That's right - at this very moment, I am not working. And I will not be working for the next few days. I'm going to a glorious place with no blackberry service and no internet. Can't wait!!

As y'all know, it's been a hectic few months for me preparing for this trial. It's meant pressure, lots of long hours, and doing whatever is necessary to help out the trial team. Even if it that meant counting boxes full of documents.* At the end of each day I would drag myself home. Sometimes mentally exhausted, sometimes physically exhausted, sometimes emotionally exhausted, but usually all three.

I'm a big fan of the motto that writer's write. But when I got home at the end of these days, the best I could do was zap a lean cuisine and flop in front of the couch. Usually I would just go straight to bed and read. I felt bad for not working on WIP, but I just didn't have the energy. I realized that it isn't about having the time, or not being tired, it's about being emotionally able to write. These past few weeks, I couldn't place myself in my character's worlds. I couldn't dig deep enough into their emotions. I was too flat. It wasn't that words wouldn't come (those can be forced) but feelings wouldn't come. And those can't really be forced.

I realized that when I write, I become my characters - all of them. It's like a dream where supposedly you are everyone. I think that's why I have a hard time visualizing my characters, because I'm so deep inside them (even the ones that aren't the POV character) that I just don't know what they look like. I know how the feel, how their emotions manifest themselves physically, but not appearance.

So that's why I haven't been writing/revising. And that's why I'm so looking forward to this weekend - nothing but time to sleep, read, hang out, and write in a beautiful setting. More than enough time to recouperate, and plenty of time to get fidgety about writing so that I have no choice but to revise.

With that in mind, my goal for the long weekend is simply to revise the dread middle of the book. This might take wholesale rewriting of about 10-20k. I'd love to finish revising the whole thing. But I'll be happy just to make progress.

I'm looking forward to recovering from the past few months, of slowing life down a little bit. It's supposed to be beautiful weather, and my spring clothes order from Old Navy came in the mail and everything fits. I can't wait to sit in the sun, look at the mountains (that pic is the view from the porch of the cabin), and breathe.

I hope everyone else has a wonderful long weekend. Take time for yourself - enjoy the break of spring. And happy writing!
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* no lie, I spent 13+ hours on Monday counting the number of pages in boxes. Turns out there were over 20,000 pages. Not all counted by hand... but most.

Do Blogs Sell Books?

As a preliminary matter: my big trial was postponed a month which means another month of late hours and not a lot of time for writing. I was kind of hoping to get this trial over with so I could take some time off and play at being a full time writer. Ah well... I'll know more about my time this Weds when the court rules on a lot of really important motions. This weekend I hope to tackle the dread middle revisions of WIP. I haven't even looked at it for weeks! Maybe I'll also play with post-its to see the arc of the story. It's JP's* birthday this weekend, so that will take some time :)

Moving on... people have blogs for different reasons. One reason, I think, that writers have blogs is to form a community, share knowledge, be accessible to fans, and as publicity - to sell books. Natch, there are other reasons, but these are just some off the top of my head. But, many authors wonder, do blogs sell books?

I'm here to tell you, they do. After lounging around this morning reading, I began to think about my TBR pile and how I find the books I read. Right now I'm reading An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. I picked this book up a few months ago when I first heard about the Printz Prize, but it's languished on the TBR pile since then (to be honest, I'm generally not a road-trip-plot kinda girl, but now that I'm half way through this book, I realize that it's not really a road-trip book - go figure).

So, ok, a blog had nothing to do with that particular purchase. But I'm also listening to John Green's Looking for Alaska on tape right now. And yesterday I wanted nothing more than to sit in my car in my driveway all afternoon to find out what happens next (my computer speakers don't work). This particular purchase was purely motivated by John Green's blog - sparksflyup (and Brotherhood 2.0). Justine Larbalestier** talked about Brotherhood 2.0, wondering if video blogs worked and I commented that I had a problem with video blogs because I can't watch them at work and I can't watch them on my computer (again, the speaker issue). But then I purloined JP's computer, started watching Brotherhood 2.0 (and reading the archives of sparksflyup) and became a big fan. Big fan.

So I bought John Green's first book. I wanted to know about it. To see what this writer wrote. Perhaps, because it is a Printz Award winner, I would have purchased Looking for Alaska anyway. But really, I got it cause of the blog. It felt like buying a friend's book. Like I would be disloyal no to.

Same thing with Maureen Johnson and Bermudez Triangle. When all the stuff came up about that book being banned, I wanted to show my support by purchasing the book. I wouldn't have known about the banning if I hadn't been reading her blog (I think I got there from Justine's blog and also John Green's blog too). I got both Bermudez Triangle and Devilish - both because of reading her blog.

Speaking of Justine - I got her Magic or Magic trilogy partly because of Diana's blog (where I heard about her) and partly because I started to read Justine's blog.*** And speaking of Diana, I became a huge fan of hers after reading her blog (and then reading her books and becoming friends - but the blog came first).

Does this work on a massive scale? I mean, does having a blog get you lots and lots of sales rather than just a few fans? Is it worth the time that some authors put into it? Probably not if you're only blogging for the sales. But it does seem to work to build a community. And I tend to think of those communities as mini sales forces. I would think that every person who comes back to your blog day after day, comments, gets to be friends, then hits the streets when your book is out and goes to work. We turn books face out. We talk books up to our friends. We make sure our local bookstores are stocked.

Because sometimes, I think, that fans like that feel like the book kinda belongs to them too. I mean, when I read a blog for a looong time (or even just go back through the archives) and watch that book get written, submitted, sold, edited, etc., I feel like I'm invested in that book. I want to watch it do well.

And I think that sells books. It reminds me of talking to a politician who said that when he gets a letter from a constituent (not a form), he tends to take it seriously. Because if that constituent took the time to actually write a letter, then that constituent cares enough to go out and drum up support from another 100 constituents. That constituent isn't the voice of one person, but rather 100 people.

I think it's the same with loyal blog readers. Or rather, it's the same with me (I guess I shouldn't speak for others). If I read a blog, I buy the book. If I'm a fan, I buy the book for my family. I make sure it's turned out. I make sure it's stocked and I talk about it to others.

What about you other blog readers? Do you think a blog helps to sell books? Do you buy books of the blogs you read?****

Here's a list of other books I bought and read this year because of blogs:*****

1. Allison Brennan's books
2. Rumble on the Bayou
3. The Rest Falls Away
4. Angel's Choice (recommended on Diana's and someone else's blog)
5. Foul Matter (recommended on Kristin Nelson's blog)

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* formerly known as The Boy.

** Who just won a Norton for Magic or Madness which is just so cool!

*** There are lots of reasons that people buy books and I'm not going into all of them here. For example, I also bought Justine's books because, frankly, they looked good. But for this blog entry, I'm only finding connections between blogs and purchases...

**** I'm a lazy linker. There were lots more places to put links in this blog and I didn't put them there. For that I apologize. Kinda :)

***** I'm also too lazy to list the books I read last year because of blogs - but there were a lot.

Ah-ha!

Writing pal Erica posted about the TARA meeting on Saturday that Diana attended but which I, sigh, could not attend. I even had it all planned out with work that I'd fly down for it... but alas... I could not go. I'm sad to have missed all the fun!

But Erica kindly posted on her blog the ah-ha! moments she had during Diana's talks and her ah-ha moments became my ah-ha moments. Two things she wrote about really stuck with me. The first is that in a love triangle, both choices should be viable.* I'm always reminded of Sweet Home Alabama for this. In that movie, Reece Witherspoon has two men to choose between. And both of them are great. Neither one of them pull that dick move to make you hate them and make the choice an easy one. I always loved that - because it was a really hard choice. An honest choice. Because, really, if one of the potential love interests is a dick, is there really any choice at all? That makes it too easy and we all know that writing is about torturing your characters.

This came up in my WIP. See, I have my protag choosing between two men. And I wrote some pretty angsty falling in love stuff between her and one of the guys. My instinct was to then make the other guy no good. Or even just make him "eh." But that wouldn't cause tension. And so I made him a good person. Someone who clearly tries to do right by the protag. And that makes the protag have to choose. It makes her look within herself to really figure out who she is, and what she wants. It's harder to write that way, but I think the payoff is much greater.

Another thing Erica wrote about is "save the cat" meaning (and I quote from Erica here) "an act that an otherwise-unlikable character performs in order to engender reader empathy/support." Boy did I need to hear/read this right now! I'm entering the revisions of the dread middle and I was going back over what one of my crit partners wrote *cough*Diana*cough* and realized just how much she detested one of my characters. And I mean, really really really really didn't like the character at all. Similarly, The Boy** finished reading that same portion of the book and said "you know, no one is really likable there."

Bummer. But this whole "save the cat" idea is great. Because really, our villains are people too. They're the main characters of their own story. And this character that Diana hates so much has her own arc, is going through her own crisis and it's easy to show her slide down into that poisoness place. But it would be much easier to show her struggle. To show that she can be good. Because she used to be so good. So I need to find a cat to save :) And then I need to write her back into the last chunk of the book because I didn't really know what to do with her and so I just pushed her aside. Not really the best course of action.

So thanks Erica for posting your thoughts. It's hearing things like this that seem so straightforward, and yet are somehow so forgettable, that excite me. That get me pumped up to write and give me that clarity I need. That's why I read blogs and listen to industry tapes again and again. You never know when you're going to get that gentle reminder that nudges you back into place. That ah-ha moment that you may have had before, but that you needed again. And thanks Diana for giving that workshop even though I missed it. I promise to have your detested character save a cat. If I can find one...

Anyone else have ah-ha moments or advice or thoughts on craft they want to share? I firmly believe that you can never hear craft advice too many times!

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* This is one of those pieces of advice that makes so much sense but then is SO easily forgotten like so many other good pieces of advice.

** Still looking for a good name. Not that I can't use his real name since that's pretty easy to track down. But I'm looking for something that will have instant recognition with readers... you know... so they'll know he's my sig other rather than a son or cat or iguana.

An update so soon?! Plus, the long awaited Series on Series continues!

I decided that I should follow through on that whole "posting weekend goals and then telling y'all how it went so I was accountable" stuff. Somehow I jump out of bed early on Saturdays (even earlier than I get up for work during the week) raring to go. I sit down and decide to warm up with a little blogging. Then comes the trek to the bagel place. Then.... stuff. This weekend "stuff" was an email I received at 11am basically tripling my workload for the weekend. So I didn't get ANY work done on the WIP. Instead I billed, billed, billed. But I look at it this way: every hour billed now is one that I don't have to bill later.

You'll be happy to know, though, that I've been a good little girl and came straight home from work and straight to my computer and revised the big "ack - this needs to be totally rewritten!!" scene. It feels good to have that first rewrite under my belt. *

A while ago I posted about series, sequels, etc. There were a ton of great comments about that and I wanted to add my much-promised take on the matter. For some reason I feel like I'm seeing a ton more series (and I use that as an over-arching term to encompass any book that is not a total stand alone). Perhaps it is that I wasn't paying too much attention to the market before, perhaps it is because for the past few years I was really into reading chick-lit which I don't think lends itself to series very well and now I'm more focused on YA. It just seems like I'm always reading Book 1 of something.

It makes me wonder if authors are consciously trying to write more series these days. If they're trying to make the ideas bigger, the arches longer. And if so, then why? A part of me thinks that it's easier to build an author brand from a series and to build reader loyalty. Would I be as big of a Scott Westerfeld fan if there'd only been an Uglies and no Pretties or Specials (or Extras!)?

I think this can work both ways. On the one hand, I do think the fact that Westerfeld's Uglies was a trilogy is a reason that I became such a fan of his. I was hooked and I gobbled them all up over a family vacation (I was a rude reading hermit!). Because I was hooked I needed more and so I shifted to his backlist and I'll probably read just about everything he publishes. Yep, he's found a very loyal fan in me!

But what happens when the reader just doesn't dig the trilogy? I had this happen recently. I love the author, I WANT to love his books. But... eh. I mean, they're ok, but... eh. I have other TBR books haggling to take that place. And so I petered out on the first book. Which means I won't pick up the second book even though I really WANT to love this author's work. Or the third... yup, he's just lost a fan in me. I'll probably try him if he writes something outside that series, but that's a way off and who knows where I'll be.

So on the one hand, with a series you can really solidify the people who like your writing, but on the other hand, you can lose fans. How do you find that balance? Do you think that more authors out there are writing series? If so, do you think it is a way of branding? Of job security? A crutch?

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* and now, having gone back and reviewed what I worked on tonight, I realized that I write 2.2k. Wow. I felt like I barely wrote anything at all. I love when the writing is like that: time flies, the world comes alive and everything else slips around you.

Ahem... the updates you all have been craving

Yes, yes, thanks all for pointing out in the comments of my last post what a slacker I am since I didn't update after last weekend's post on goals. That would be because I... er... didn't really accomplish what I wanted.

Here's the deal: on Saturday I jumped out of bed bright and early and updated my blog and prepared to tackle revisions. Then The Boy* got up and we went to get bagels and then we started in on the garden/yard and then we sat on the freshly scrubbed porch and admired the yard and then it was nap time/writing time. As I was dragging my butt to delve into revisions, The Boy said, "you know, I've decided to pretend for this weekend that I only have one full time job and not two and so I'm not going to stress about writing."

And I thought about how nice that would be, just to have time to relax and breath. And I thought about how everyone's been advising me to step back from WIP and take a break. So that's what I did. We napped. We ordered in and sat on the back porch with a bottle of our favorite wine. On Sunday we cleaned the house, called in Roto Rooter for the 4th time in 6 weeks. And I didn't stress about WIP.

In a word, it was glorious.

Then this week at work kicked my behind. Our big multi-million dollar trial starts in two weeks. Lets just say that things aren't going well for our side right now. On the home front, we had to replace the roof this week and we're replacing the outside plumbing this weekend - ain't being a homeowner great?!

So, that's where we are. The house looks great, the yard looks great - we even have a cool new trench:


No tomato plants, but we did grocery shop and walk the dog - she's a special needs dog,** and she has a pack:


But enough about what's past. On to this weekend! Of course remembering that I had to cancel a trip to see my sisters and nephews because I have to work for my day job this weekend, I'd also like to get some revisions done. It's time to jump back in folks.

And I'm starting with getting back to my roots. This blog was meant as a procrastination tool and that's what I'll use it for. Hence, forthwith, I will update the list of books I've read this year. And I promise to post updates on my goals as the weekend progresses...

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* The Boy needs a new blog name. I came up with The Boy in a rush. It's boring. People think I mean my son and not my boyfriend (ew). So I'm taking suggestions...

** Yes, the people who say that no dog is untrainable and guarantees results just offered us our money back. It's only the third time they've had to do that (the first was when the dog died, the second dog was too old for training). Fortunately, we love our trainer, he's a cool guy, and so we told him to keep the money and keep coming out to the house every week to work with us.