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.

Weekend Goals

Regular visitors here (ahem) will notice a trend here. I've taken to posting my weekend goals. Makes me sit and think about what needs to be done and gives me some accountability. Plus, it feels good to check off that list!

So, without further ado... my weekend goals:

1. revise... revise.... revise. I've revised the first third. The second third has some BIG changes. That's what I hope to tackle this weekend...
   
2. clean house (yipes!)
3. find suit in back of closet to wear to court on Monday. Hope said suit does not need dry cleaning. Buy new suit if needed.
4. tomato plants - uh, get them and bury them. I mean plant them. I guess...
5. walk the dog... walk the dog... walk the dog...
6. oh, and grocery shopping.
7. blog. Yeah, I owe y'all some real content.
   

So, not a bad list. Totally tackleable so long as I don't sleep the weekend away. As I am wont to do.

What are y'all's weekend plans?

Thanks! and what's next?

First of all, I really can't thank y'all enough for all of your congrats - you really made reaching THE END feel that much more special! And I'm sorry for not blogging more often - I'm gearing up for a very large trial next month and that tends to suck a ton of time.

Right now I'm in the process of revising my WIP... really, I don't think it should take this long for someone to read their own book. But I've gotten bored and other people have sent me their ARCs that I couldn't resist! My goal is to finish reading through the WIP and make the corrections on the computer by the end of the work week. Then this weekend my goal is to write all the new scenes, plot it all out on a plotting board, and get 'er ready to send out to beta readers! Go me!

So this weekend, as we were walking the dog, The Boy turned to me and said, "What's next?"

Good question. And, fortunately, one I've been pondering. My WIP is actually the first of a trilogy. Not that it can't stand alone - it totally can. It's a very lose trilogy (and yes, I do know I owe y'all another post on series...). But I don't want to invest in Book 2 of the trilogy until I know that the first one would... well... sell. No need for a follow-up if there's nothing to follow up. I could always start it, get a partial together just in case... but... eh.

At the same time, I'm a huge believer that once one project leaves the door, it's time to start on the next. So if I'm not starting on Book 2 of the trilogy, then what? This leads to a pretty complicated series of thoughts... my WIP is VERY different from what I've written in the past. It's dark. It's paranormal. It's YA. It's not really where I ever would have seen myself - but I love it.

Which leads me to a question that I come round to every now and again: how do I want to brand myself? Do I want to keep writing darker, speculative fiction YA? Do I want to go back to the lighter stuff - the chick lit YA? Or do I want to go back to straight romance where it all began?

Unfortunately, I don't see myself ever going back to straight romance. I hardly even read straight romance any more. I can't put my finger on it... but something has just changed in me as a reader and writer. Realizing this makes me a little sad because I've always dreamed of being a romance writer.

But at the same time, it gets me all excited too. Because I'm now in love with YA (young adult). I know that scads of authors are dipping their toes in the YA pool, and I really really hope we don't see a market correction like we did with chick lit. But I think it's awesome that all of this attention is focused on the next generation of readers. I remember so well all of the nights I stayed up late reading as a kid/teen. I swear that I learned to speed read because of Christopher Pike. To think that I could count myself as part of that tradition - that my writing could cause that same sense of excitement (getting a little ahead of myself here...)

One of the things I think I like most about YA is that there don't seem to be as many rules. So much of writing and storytelling is new to these readers. They don't know "trite" like adults do. They aren't tired of the same old same old. The don't say "well this book has X so it doesn't fit in Y genre" or vice versa. It just seems like the strict lines that adults place on their own genres is so blurred in the YA world.

I feel like as I ponder my next book that I could write anything - the world is wide open! And that's a pretty cool feeling.

So what do y'all think? Think YA is going the way of chick lit? Think there are rules that I'm just blind to? Any thoughts on branding as an author?

5,631 words later and... THE END

Hey all! I was going to post this as an update to my weekend goals post below, but I figured it was important enough to merit a post all on its own.

Yep, I typed "THE END" tonight on my WIP. I thought this would feel like a massive accomplishment, that I would feel great gobs of relief. Champagne corks would fly. Video games would be paused.

But the problem is, it doesn't feel like THE END yet. I have SO MUCH REVISING to do. I mean, so much that I'm afraid to even start reading it all from the beginning. The big story will be fun to fix. I think. But then it's those awful details. Like the fact that a wrote two characters as being married but now they're not married but kinda engaged and so I have to make sure there's never ever any reference to them as husband and wife. And let me tell you, she refers to him as her husband all the time.

That's the kind of stuff that I hate about revising. The little things. Too many little things to list and so you have to comb through the sucker over and over and over again.

*shudder* Maybe I should stop talking about all of that :) It's at this point in the process that I marvel that books ever make it to print. That books out there are consistant, that the plot holds together, that the hero's name is the same throughout (did I mention I'm still thinking of changing some character's names? At least that's just a "find and replace" job!).

So, yeah. Done with the first draft. Terrified to read through it. Afraid it will all be worthless crap. Very afraid of that.

But for tonight it's WOOHOO! And let me tell you, I'm pretty proud of myself for knocking out that 5.5k word count in one afternoon.

Weekend Goals

Hello all! I've lots to talk about but unfortunately not a lot of time to write. Which is ironic, I think, because I'm in the middle of crafting a post about time and finding time to write. For now I'll just say that thanks to Diana and Erica, I've lit a fire under my behind and have been writing every day in April (except for the two days that I worked 15+ hours...). Unfortunately, I've been called into work tomorrow (Sunday) morning, so I have even less time to get everything done this weekend that I wanted to (like blog, write, clean, relax, etc).

I was able to pay the bills, conference with RotoRooter about the sad state of the pipes in our house (stupid roots), and file my taxes (yay for losing lots of money writing!). Looking towards the rest of the day I'd like to get lots of writing done. Because, my friends, I have a big scene to write. I've been putting it off all week so that I can writing it in one go, really sink into the emotion and tension of it.

Wish me luck!

meme: 5 things about me

I know, I still owe y'all my thoughts on sequals. Lets just say I've been a little distracted by my day job...

Erica tagged me with a meme asking me to list five things y'all don't know about me. Since I have a terrible memory, I'm not sure what I've talked about on this blog and what I haven't - ha! Hmmm... how to tread that line between telling y'all interesting and juicy tidbits while remembering that blogs are public info forever....

1. In college I was diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) because I went to school in New England and didn't see enough of the sun. That's why when I was looking at law schools I didn't look farther north than UVA. For a while I had to sit in front of a light box but now that I'm back in the sunny south I'm doing fine. Winter solstice is one of my favorite times of the year - I love it when the days get longer and there's more sun! The Boy calls me a sun sponge and jokes that I'm solar powered. I think he's right.

2. One time when I was in high school and my dad was out of town and I was alone in the house it started to snow. Since I grew up in SC, snow is a BIG DEAL. I decided to skinny-dip in the hot tub and streaked down the path in our backyard, threw off the hot-tub cover and jumped in before I realized there was a problem with the heater. The water was SO COLD except for like an inch at the surface and before I could climb out our neighbor started to do some sort of "yard work" along our fence (which meant he could totally see me). So I ended up trying to float in the 1 inch of hot water before I gave up and streaked back into the house.

3. During college I renovated an old landmark pub on campus and opened it back up for student use. In the winter there was free hot chocolate in front of the fire and a few nights a week we had a band, open mike night, or a DJ and beer on tap. It was the type of place where students would scratch their names in the tables and there were tables there with names going back to the 50s and 60s - a pretty cool place. It was exciting to see it in use again.

4. The Boy was the first person I really fell in love with. I totally didn't plan it that way. Growing up I always wanted to have my heart broken once just so I would know what it felt like. Now my heart is very safe in The Boy's hands.

5. Sometimes at night my cat will stalk around the house with his favorite toy (a long tail attached to a stick) meowing. And I mean to say, this cat can holler! He'll bring his tail to bed for us to play with and sometimes I just can't deal with it and so I pretend to throw it and hide it under the covers. I like to think he forgets because he certainly shuts up. I rarely feel guilty. I'm such a horrible mom :)

So there are my five! Hope you all were entertained! Um, I'm not sure who to tag because I've been blogging so sporadically recently, so I tag anyone who wants to write about five things we don't already know about you :)

I'm out of town this weekend for Easter - will check in again on Sunday!

April Fools!

Wow, tons of great comments about my last post - I love it! I definately already knew what I wanted to say next about series, sequals, etc., but now I'm forced to rethink a bit. So, as I do that I wanted to throw out another fun little topic...

Anyone out there have any good April Fools Day stories?

I tend to forget about the day. And the best I've ever done is pretty lame. You know, calling my mom to tell her I'm preggers or engaged when I'm not. Even I can't keep a ruse up for more than a couple of seconds. The Boy was reading an article about the top 100 pranks which was pretty cool. Apparenly some guy in Alaska set off a huge tire fire in the top of a dormant volcano so that the residents of the town nearby would think it was about to erupt. That's pretty ballsy. Google is getting people with their new paper archives (gmail.com - but you can't be logged in which is why I can't get a better link for you).

So I didn't do anything pranky today and don't really plan on it. I have to fly and I don't like to tempt Karma when I'm about to do something as unnatural as being hauled through the air with hundreds of strangers in a massive metal container with faux wings. Seriously, anyone else ever find themselves at 10,000 feet wondering how the hell these things work? That's where a good book comes in handy - great distraction (today I will be alternating between writing on the WIP on my new alphasmart and reading Fear No Evil by Allison Brennan... and maybe napping.)

So share those fun April Fools Day stories! I'll be back in a few days with more on series.

Sequels, trilogies, and series - oh my! PART I

So the other night The Boy (also a writer) and I were discussing series books. You know, sequels, trilogies, etc. It all started when I mentioned to him reading on Justine's blog about interviews with Norton nominees. In one of the interviews, Susan Beth Pfeffer announced she just finished writing another book set in the same world as her book Life as We Knew It (except this new one is in NYC).

We all know from my recent post that I loved that book and therefore it follows that this was pretty exciting news to me. I mean, I thought this was a neat world. It's all about what happens when the moon is knocked a little closer to the Earth causing all sorts of problems: floods, out of control tides, economic failures, earthquakes, etc etc. Juicy survival stuff.

So I was excited to share this news with The Boy which started a whole conversation/debate over series books. My whole thing is that I think it's pretty neat to create a world and then make it withstand the tests of other stories. I mean, creating a world for one story is hard. Then making that world sustain another story and still work, and still have the rules of that world stay consistant, that's pretty cool. His whole thing is that he thinks that too many writers are jumping on the series bandwagon and aren't turning their creative juices to creating new and cool worlds and that we as readers lose out.

Now, I must admit that I have a personal stake in this argument. After all, I've been playing around in a world that The Boy created and I've come up with a sequel idea to my current WIP (gotta think of such things now so that I can plant the seeds). So I like the idea of sequels cause... uh... I'm plotting one. One would think that The Boy would feel similarly since he's already started a short story/novella/novel set in the same world. Hey, it's a big world. And pretty neat too.

Anyway, I think his main point is that he doesn't mind series books, but he just feels like every single author is jumping on the bandwagon. That it's a given. A must these days. So I thought about the books I've been reading. Twilight (first of three). The Rest Falls Away (book one of the Gardella Vampire Chronicles). Magic or Madness (book one of the Magic or Madness trilogy).

I have my own thoughts about this, but must give some attention to the dog at this moment. Y'all comment away on the blog and I'll finish up my thoughts soon. Do you think this is a trend? If so, why do you think it's more prevalant these days?

Oh, and as an aside, we decided that there are basically two ways to go about a series. The first is one where it's basically one book split into many. He cites Lord of the Rings as an example. The other are loosly related books that each stand on their own but are in the same world. He cited Sword of Shannara books as examples. Do y'all agree?

What we read...

So, recently I posted lots of photos about my bookshelf and the piles of books slung throughout the house. In the comments, Miri pointed out that our tastes don't overlap too much and that got me thinking about the books in the pictures.

After a quick perusal I realized that the books you can really see the titles of in my pics aren't really my tastes either. I know that sounds strange, so let me explain... lots of the books piled on the table are books I bought for research. Some are on the same topic as various WIPs and I wanted to see how other authors approached the same subject. Other books are just really popular books that I wanted to read to understand their popularity. Still others are in the genres that I'm interested in (most specifically I've been reading a lot of YA - you can see the bottom of An Abundance of Katherines on the floor by my bed).

Then there's the Terry Brooks book that I purchased because I was having problems writing a group of people and so The Boy suggested that I read books that deal with multiple interacting characters (kind of the standard fantasy group of people go on a voyage type). I was in the middle of reading Foul Matter and the recent Romance Writers Report which is why they're also on the floor by my bed (Foul Matter was recomended by Kristin Nelson on her blog). Oh, and the Neil Gaimon Sandman series in the suitcase - that belongs to The Boy but I think it might be on my TBR pile now :) Peeps is on The Boy's bedside table cause I think he'll like it since he was really into parasitology in college.

Once upon a time I was pretty much a strict romance reader. At the bookstore, I'd head straight to that section without passing go. I knew what I liked: which authors, which sub-genre, eventually which publishers. There were times I wanted to stray to another genre, but I didn't know how to sift through all of the books to find one I'd like. Now, reading for me is such a mixed bag. These days I tend to head towards the YA section if I go to a bookstore, then I hunt for books recently published by writers I know. Rarely do I find myself in the romance section anymore (to be fair, rarely do I even find myself in a bookstore either these days - I'm an Amazon Prime girl now).

Recently I seem to be in a reading funk. I don't know what I'm in the mood for and nothing in the various stacks in my house speak to me. I just want another Uglies trilogy that makes me really think. I want another Vanish that keeps me up at night. Another The Rest Falls Away that I can't put down or another Hattie Big Sky that was totally unexpected but wonderful. Some books that I know I want are still not published, some won't even be published for too long to wait. What I really want is something like Life as We Knew It or World War Z.

What I really need to do is sit down and finish writing the book that I really want to read. I need to remember that that's why I started writing this book in the first place.

Reflections on weekend goals

So this weekend I once again posted my goals in the hopes of getting more accomplished than I normally do. And, once again I'm happy to report that it worked!

Yes, I got the contest entries judged, a few blog posts written and stored away, and even a little bit of writing done. In fact, I was done with the first two items on my list on Saturday in the hopes of having all days Sunday to write. I had visions of 5+k words written by this time.

Uh, didn't happen. I was lucky to get 1k written. And many of those words weren't new (to be fair, I actually wrote about 2k but lots of what I wrote was either deleted or set aside for later scenes).

Even though I know what I want to happen, I just can't seem to get it written down. What do the rest of y'all do when this happens? How do you motivate yourself to write? How do you keep at the keyboard when the words either won't come or come kicking and screaming from your head one at a time? How do you keep the magic?

More weekend goals (updated!)

Ok, so it worked really well last time I posted my weekend goals so I'm going to do it again. Gives me some accountability.

First, I have contest entries to judge that are due today. I always do this, I read the entries as soon as I get them because I'm so excited. But then I realize I have tons of time to judge and so I put it off to the last day. So that should take a good chunk of Saturday to do.

Second, I want to write some real blog entries. I was getting some decent momentum and now nothin'. And I have lots to say. Even a book I really want to talk about. Yes, I did write them, but you don't get to see them yet :)

Third, work on WIP. Yes, once again I'm in the middle of a big scene. Stuff is happening. I want to finish this scene and then clean up the last 10k and send it off to be critiqued. That last part (getting it cleaned up to send) would be a bonus to the weekend - my main writing goal is to add lots of words to my WIP.

The house is clean, the dog is worn out from doggie day care yesterday (yes, we have become those people) and I'm boycotting my blackberry so I can't get dragged into work. So everything is set for a great and productive weekend.

Wish me luck!
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sigh... for some reason I can't even comment on my own blog. But Miri pointed out that I wasn't quite clear in my post... when I said last 10k I meant the last 10k I wrote, not the last 10k of my WIP. I only wish I was that close to the end... sigh...

Tagged! The bookcase meme

I've been tagged by Miri for a meme involving books! And we all know I love books! It involves counting books. We all know that lawyers only become lawyers cause they suck at math so please know that all numbers in this post may or may not be correct. I may just give up and fear Miri (and Patrick's) ire!

Miri gives an awesome breakdown of the books she owns (131 including manga) and very rightly states that you can learn a lot about a person by looking at their bookcase. I can't agree more - the first thing I do when I go to someone's house (apartment, etc) for the first time is sneak glances at their bookcases. Unfortunately for me, in a fit of "uncluttering my life" I packed up all the books that were my "core" and stored them before going to law school and I still haven't dragged them out of storage. Though I wonder if they would be my core books today...

Anyway, the meme she proposes is: give us a general breakdown of your bookshelf, by number of authors, genre, series, anything you want. That's a lot of counting. And if I do all that counting I'll never get this post up.

So, since we just found our digital camera, I'll cheat and answer the meme via illustrations!!

To begin, more than half are in boxes at my parent's houses and others are at various family member houses since we pass books around. Recently I cleaned off the floor on my side of the bed and came up with 20+ books!

Without further ado, here are photos of all the books in our house (well, a good majority of them):*

This is a small book-case in our guest room. Basically I use it as a place to store magazines, a carton for important papers, photo albums, etc. As we can all see, this poor little guy needs a bit of work!

Then there's our other little bookcase in the living room. This one is a depository for The Boy's F&SFs, some paperbacks, and cookbooks. Lots and lots of cookbooks. The Boy loves to cook and I am the happy happy recipient! Astute gazers will note the dog bone, the boxes for memorabilia, and the picture frame that the dog knocked over and broke. And the cat hair roller. And the random piece of decorative ribbon. We tend to have those about as cat toys.

Then there are our two big bookcases.
This one on the left The Boy and I share. It stays pretty static (and there's generally a chair in front of it but it broke and we need to get a new one. The one on the right tends to get used as a place to put dog stuff since it's right in front of the dog cage. As y'all can see, this one still has some space left to fill, but not much (and there's only space cause I just sent a load of books to my mom and sisters). You may also note Daphne's e-collars decorating the top!

And then of course, are the books that are scattered throughout the house (and throughout this post) On a random table. On the dining room table. On the bedside table. On the floor next to my side of the bed. In a suitcase. Holding the bed up. On my dresser (yes, I have to put laundry away.) I live my life surrounded by books. And thanks to my Amazone Prime membership I keep adding to the collection at break-neck speeds! I know, I know, libraries are our friends... I just love to own books! I tag Diana, Patrick, and Erica - tell us about your books either in as much detail as Miri or as much laziness as me :)


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* no comments on my inability to keep a clean house. I have 2 ruptured disks and can't bend over right now... house gets dirty when you can't bend over. And we all know it would be spotless were I healthy...

Seagulls

For Valentine's Day, The Boy and I took our annual romantic getaway to Williamsburg, VA. As usual, we had an awesome time and came back with 6 cases of wine - always one of the highlights of the trip. This year we even had dinner with George Washington which sounds hokey but was fascinating.

Anyways, that's not the point of this post.

The point is, on our way there, when we were near Richmond, VA, The Boy pointed out all the seagulls flying around a parking lot. And it hit me: seagulls!

See, my current WIP has something to do with the ocean. There may be scenes involving the ocean at some point, but I don't know yet.* On the drive down I was thinking about what it would be like for my protagonist to approach the ocean. What she would notice: the heaviness of the air, that smell of salt, sounds.

But it had never occurred to me about the seagulls. How well before she even got close to the ocean or anything having to do with the ocean that there would be seagulls flying around. That the seagulls would arrive on scene well before anything else: sounds, smells, etc. They would be a huge clue that the ocean was somewhere nearby (and I use the term nearby very loosely!) I just couldn't believe I'd forgotten about the seagulls!

The experience made me wonder what else I'm forgetting - what other details would complete the scenes I've already written?

As writers I know that we all struggle to incorporate all of the senses in our writing and that we all have our own "sense" weakness. I tend to forget to put in smells.** I have to constantly remind myself to deepen descriptions beyond just appearance with sounds, tastes, smells (I think I do ok with touch but I'm sure I could do better). Of course there's always a balance - no one wants a rundown of every sense with every new description; instead, we as writers have to pick and choose what is most important.

What do y'all have to remind yourself to describe? As readers, what stands out to you the most? Has anyone else forgotten something like the "seagulls"? How do you remember these sorts of details?
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*Yet another example of my seat-of-the-pants writing style. Seriously, when I re-read that sentence I have to laugh: I may have a scene with the ocean but don't know yet? Sigh...
**Sometimes one sense can be very important to a story. When I think of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies trilogy, I remember smells because it is a key plot aspect.

For Valentine's Day

I remember the first time The Boy fell asleep on my couch. We were in law school and it was exam time and I had a real fire going in the fireplace. I sat in front of the fire in my crazy-creek chair with my Trust & Estates outline (canned) on my knees. Obstensively The Boy was also studying. He'd started out with a large red-brown law book held in one hand in the air (I was always so impressed he could hold those books with one hand while lying down, and that he didn't have to take notes or highlight or underline but could just...absorb... the information). But the book was elsewhere now.

His arms were crossed over his chest. I think he was wearing a white button down shirt with some sort of pattern, the cuffs of the arms rolled up to show his forearms dusted with blond hair. He wore flat front khakis and his feet were bare - his shoes and socks tossed somewhere on the floor.

He slept with his mouth open a little, his lips looked so soft. The Boy is a big guy - 6'3", tall and broad shouldered. He filled my couch. And I remember thinking, "there is a man on my couch." Not a boy, not a kid, but a man. Even though he is younger than I am. I remember the feeling of awe that this beautiful creature could just fall asleep in my presense. That he felt so at ease, so comfortable. So gentle.

I couldn't help but sneak glances at him as I studied. Sometimes just pausing to stare at him. To watch his chest rist and fall. I think a part of me fell in awe with him then. Maybe not love just yet because it was early. But I can still remember that moment so brightly, as if it was a turning point rather than just a guy taking a nap.

Right now, 3+ years later, The Boy is asleep on the couch in our living room. Tonight he's wearing a teal fleece we got on a trip to the San Juan Islands, the sleeves pushed over his elbows. He has on blue windpants with a few patches of dirt from playing with the dog. He lies on his side tonight, not his back, and his mouth is closed.

But still... it reminds me of that first nap. That first time I ever saw him asleep. Of the trust he placed in me that I would take care of the world while he rested and that I would be there when he woke up.

And I will.

Happy Valentine's Day!