WINNERS!

You know, really, we're all winners here. You, me, everyone. There's so much to find *winning* in, yanno?

Take, for example, how when Trisha mentioned she wasn't sure who Nathan Fillion was. This led me to look up more pictures of Nathan Fillion and sigh over them (making me, obvs, a winner). And then I was inspired to download a picture and post it here! Which, of course, makes YOU all winners (as you get to see not only his pretty face, but also his pretty pretty legs.)

Nathon Fillion's bare calfs ftw

Oh. You're not here about those kinds of wins, are you? You're here for the kind of win that involves me giving away books, aren't you?

You only love me for my books, don't you? *tragic sigh*

Fine, fine. You want books. I see where I stand in this relationship.

So, without further ado....

The winner of Book Group 1 is...

AERIN!

The winner of Book Group 2 is...

KATIE!

(Ladies, please contact me at bethrevis (at) gmail.com for prize info)

BTW, Aerin's win was on one of her extra points because she referred someone else (Jessica, I'm sure Aerin's really glad you came here via her blog!)--so spread the word and get more points and win like Aerin did! :)

Now, before y'all get all depressed about not winning (unless, of course, you're either Aerin or Katie, in which case you're not depressed about not winning at all), there's MORE!

Casey recently honored me with an award, and so did Ashley (for which I've been terribly late in posting)

Casey gave me these:












And Ashley gave me this one:












Now, to assuage all those who may be upset about not winning books, here is how you, too, can be a winner! Each of these blog awards are supposed to be passed on to seven people...but I'm like the little old woman who lives in a shoe with so many children she didn't know what to do--and I love all my children blog followers equally! So...the first seven people to comment on this post are WINNERS and receive any/all of the above blog awards!!

And if blog awards and books don't do it for you, there's always Nathan Fillion's bare legs :)

It's Not You, It's Me

[ETA: Clarification: the manuscript I'm talking about in this post is NOT the manuscript I worked on this weekend--it's the one I put aside in order to work on the current manuscript.]

I should be tallying entries for my book giveaway, and I will, I promise, but the universe is conspiring to make me write a post that I didn't think I'd actually write.

Confession time.

Last summer, I finished a manuscript for a middle grade fantasy. It wasn't the first manuscript I'd ever finished, but it was the best. I went to a conference with that manuscript, and at the end of it, I rewrote the entire thing with the advice of an agent. I sent the manuscript through critique group 1, added polish based on their crits, and sent the manuscript through critique group 2, and added more polish. I went through word by word and big picture changes. I found some amazing beta readers (who I still adore), and gathered their comments for a final polish.

In front of me was a manuscript I thought I adored. The story was complete, whole, polished to a shine.

I sent it off to agents. I had four requests for fulls and two requests for partials right of the bat. I've never done this well in the query stage before ever.

And then the rejections started to trickle in.

Some of the agents mentioned that the voice felt lost about the middle of the story.

It did.

Because about there, in that middle, is where I fell out of love with the manuscript.

Somewhere in the process of writing and revising and polishing...I fell out of love with that manuscript. I wasn't going to say anything here--I felt very guilty for seeking so much advice from beta readers and critique partners, and I didn't want anyone to think I'd given up. This is about the time that I wrote the post about being in love with your manuscript, because that's about the time that I realized that I really wasn't any more.

Here's how I knew I wasn't in love with it:

• Critiquers gave very real, valid, and harsh advice for changing the manuscript. It didn't sting at all. I just looked at the advice, thought "Yeah, that's true, I do need to change that," and wasn't terribly inspired to make it better or worse.
• The first chapter of the manuscript went through an online critique workshop, where the criticism was even more snarky. It did not phase me at all--not in that I was confident in my work, but it was almost as if I were reading something written by someone else, I felt so disconnected from that manuscript.
• The agents who rejected my full gave a reason why (the voice felt lost in the middle), and I was reluctant to change it, not because I was in love with my words, but because it felt almost tedious.

I am perfectly aware that all of this sounds as if I gave up on that manuscript...and maybe I did. I've put it aside, along with all my notes and critiques, and if I feel that old spark for that manuscript again, I know I'll pick it back up.

And I do have a history of doing this. My first manuscript was clearly a Narnia rip-off--but because I wrote that one, I was able to write the next one, which I still love. The manuscript after that was one I wrote in response to a death in my family, and although the story isn't well written, I had to write it in order to move on to other stories. I could easily put those manuscripts aside because they were clearly practice novels--something I realized almost as soon as I finished writing them.

But this last manuscript wasn't a practice novel. It was the one I wrote specifically because I thought it was a publishable idea, and I spent months polishing it.

But I didn't love it any more.

And you can't force love.

So, why am I telling you all this? Well, first, Michelle at The Innocent Flower posted about how she was considerin divorce with her manuscript. Then Courtney Summers posted about the painfully long editing process she took with her last manuscript. Michelle's post made me realize that I was not the only one to fall out of love with my manuscript, which (although I hate that it's happening to her) made me feel a little better about my own situation. And Courtney's manuscript made me realize that if I had to go through that much revision with that manuscript I didn't love...I couldn't do it. I don't care about it enough to do that level of revision to. (But I would do it for my manuscripts that I love...there's a distinct difference between the two.)

What made me fall out of love with my manuscript?

• I was writing an idea that I thought would sell. It started off as a fun idea that I wanted to write, but turned into thoughts of "Hey, this is pretty marketable! I can sell this!" Unconsciously, I started shaping my novel into my perception of what would be popular, not necessarily the story I loved.
• I took every criticism to heart. I didn't make every single change suggested by critiquers, but I do think that part of my novel was critiqued to death: a part of it became no longer mine because I was so intent on what others thought of it.
• I was absorbed with this one manuscript. It occupied every writing thought for several months straight, to the point where I'd read the thing so much that I was simply sick of it.
• I got another idea. One I loved. And there's really no comparison between working on something you don't love and working on something you do love.
• I became a little ashamed of this manuscript. It wasn't good enough. I wouldn't want that one to be my debut novel. It felt cheap and easy and sloppy.
• Changing the manuscript from one I didn't love to one I did was forced, like kissing a mannequin.
  

So, what now?

• I've put that manuscript aside. I had to, before my not-liking-it turned into hating-it.
• I've kept all my notes...but in a separate folder.
• I plan to go back to this manuscript after I finish the one I'm working on now. My theory is, if I can spend some time away from that manuscript, I may realize more specifically what parts of it I've fallen out of love with...and then I might be able to fix it. Also, by spacing working on this manuscript with working on the one I'm currently writing, I might be able to give myself some editorial distance from both.

In the end, I don't have any real words to say. Just that, falling out of love with a manuscript does happen. Now, I'm ignoring the manuscript. Not quite forgotten, but we're like two best friends who have drifted apart, waiting to see if, when we meet again later, we can reconnect.

Progress

Just a quick update.

I think I might have fixed the big plot hole in my manuscript that was preventing me from going forward (finally). This required that I delete about 5k words and add about 8k more. I had to add two chapters inbetween my original chapters 3 & 4, which not only made me renumber all the other chapters, but I then had to go back and change everything from CHAPTER THREE ON in order to make those changed fit.

I'm at about 57k words now...and I think I might might just be on the home stretch here. With that big plot hole fixed, the end is certainly in site. That, or the light at the end of the tunnel I'm seeing is an oncoming train.

OH YEAH. And I haven't yet drawn winners for my massive book-giveaway---but I will! I've been sooooo focused on this that I haven't had time to get the names organized in a list...and that's a LOT of names to organize with mutliple entries! Please don't hate me if I don't get to this until tomorrow! *ducks angry glares*

Live-Blogging Writing

Today is Writing Your @$$ Off Day. I was unable to participate, and I blame the husband. He wanted to go flea market shopping...and then visit his parents....and go out to eat.

But in amidst all this drag-me-away-from-my-computer time, the Husband also set up another boys' night out. Last time I infamously...er...fell dead asleep on my laptop. So let's see how progress goes this time!

Goal: Last night, I found a major problem with the ms.--one that has put progression on the ms. on hold until I can fix this problem. I've separated the text that needs rewriting--and it's about 12k words that I've got to move from near the end to near the beginning, which will effect the way every scene written between then (about 40k words) will work out.

Start time: 9:36 pm. I am actually a bit tired--I did have to wake up at the crack of dawn 8:30 am to go to the flea market, remember. And I'm a bit intimidated by the 12k words that I've set aside to rearrange/rewrite before I can start writing again. Oh, look, shiney distracting Interwebs!

9:41. Disconnect Interwebs.

9:44. OK, really disconnect Interwebs.

10:07. Chapter One was easy--only a few sentences had to be changed. Chapter 3 is looking like a total rewrite. I've had trouble with this one before--it's a "moving" chapter, and I don't like those. Basically, I've got to get a character from one place to another, and I've got to show that movement, or the story will make no sense. I've had the character walk, ride in a rickshaw, and fly in a science fiction device to get to this place in various other revisions. Now I'm going to change the location where he ends up! (And Robyn, I'm gonna try to bring back that rickshaw...)

10:09. Nathan Fillion is on twitter? OMGOMGOMG! *spaz fest*

10:10. Right. Book. *gets back to work, despite the online presence of Captain Tightpants*

10:11. OMG NATHAN FILLION MADE A HARRY POTTER REFERENCE I CANNOT EVER GET OVER THE FANGIRLNESS OF THAT!

This is a shout out to MATT LEWIS!! I know you are out there! Accio, another movie! 6:22 PM May 11th from Tweetie

10:12. RIGHT. Book. *sigh*

10:13. AND HE WEARS KILTS. MUST FIND PICS OF NATHAN FILLION IN KILTS.

Thank you, PRACTIKILT, for providing my wardrobe for the Late Late Show last night. Kilts are the new pants.3:23 PM May 7th from web

10:14. Curse you, Nathan Fillion, and your book-distracting hotness!!!!!!

10:16. *turns off Interwebs again*

10:30. Am optimistic about this whole thing.

10:34. Research on biometric thingummies for stupid science book.

11:00. Caffeinne break. Loves the caffeinne. Hates the world-building.

11:20. Crap! Orange Crush has no caffeinne! *switches to Mountain Dew*

12:03. OMG I AM STILL ON CHAPTER THREE.

12:16. Split Chapter 3 into two chapters, so progress. Also, just discovered that the character I had in a rickshaw won't work, as I want a horse pulling it, and by definition, a rickshaw is pulled by a person.

12:32. Finished with first third of the book revisions: rewrote Chapter 38 as Chapter 3, the moved original Chapter 3 to Chapter 5 (rewriting all this so it fits in the story). Am now skipping to Chapter 20, which needs more tension and focus on the main problem.

I'm not done with the ms, btw. I figure I've still got about 10k words left to write. The problem is, I can't write those last few words until I fix these other problems.

1:03 AM. Regain energy with caffeinne and pizza. Snack of champions.

1:25. Fixing Chapter 21 means going back and fixing Chapter 14. Argh. ARGH.

1:36. Chapter 14 is now too long--but I've laid the groundwork here and can cut it down in revisions. I'm not worried about perfection so much as getting the words down so I can get to the ending of this book!

1:57. And rewrote Chapter 16, because Chapter 14 changed so much. NOW I can tackle Chapter 21. Gah! Change one thing, change the whole book!!!

2:39. I'm calling it a night. That was more time than I expected to spend on this, but I did get less work down. I've got Chapter 22 almost finished, but I'm starting to struggle with simple words, and that's a sure sign I need sleep.

In the end, I started the revisions that need to happen for the rest of the book to fall into place, and I'm sure I'll finish tomorrow. I also had a great online conversation with my writing buddy Robyn, and I'm definitely set to make the corrections needed. So even if I didn't meet my goal of total rewrite/revision, I'm certainly not where I am at 9:36 tonight, when I was feeling overwhelmed and unsure!

...and, coming when I wake up...the results of the drawing for my massive book give-away!

Serves Me Right

I hate outlines. Wait, that needs italics. I hate outlines.

But I do see their point.

Take, for example, this.

Critiquer R pointed out that about mid-way through the book, the characters are exploring the world, looking around, talking...but not really focused on the murders happening on the ship. But, I thought, that's where I'm putting in all that pretty world building.

Critiquer E pointed out that in the first couple of chapters I need more world building. But, I thought, I didn't know enough about the world when I first wrote those chapters. I added all that pretty world building later.

Flashforward to tonight. I'm staring at the book, wondering how to add more action to those world building chapters in the middle, more background to those first chapters. Oh. Oh. OH. I've got to move the world building in the middle chapters to the beginning chapters, and then rewrite those middle chapters to focus more on the action.

That's 12,000 (or so) words that need to be rearranged and rewritten. It's like chopping off a foot and attaching it to a shoulder. We're talking major surgery here.

I talked it over with the Husband, in part because he reads more sci fi than me, and I wanted to make sure my world-building-method wasn't cliche for the genre.

"That makes so much more sense to put all that middle stuff here at the beginning," says he.

"I know that now," says I.

"Why didn't you just do it that way the first time?"

Me: *growl*

"You know, I think this would have been so much simpler if you'd just thought this through. Like with an outline or something."

Me: *stabs husband in the face and traipses off to collect insurance money*

Just kidding! (They don't give insurance money for face stabbings. I know. I checked.)

OK, OK, OK. Enough whining. I've got 12k words to rearrange. *karate chops manuscript*

Linkspam! Clearing up my tabs...

Here are the links that I've kept up on my tabs in Firefox for the past week, when I kept thinking "Hey, this'd make good linkspam!"

Writing Advice

• Truth is Consequence: A great and snarky and blunt look at getting your writing from critique-worthy to publish worthy. Direct quote (curse words and all): "First of all, throw the goddamn writing reference books away."
• Here's a free e-book on writing for publication. I've not read it yet, so be warned: it may be worth exactly what it costs.
• Speaking of e-books....I recently won a copy of Agent: Demystifed, and will be reviewing as soon as school lets out.
• Joyce Wolfley has a good article on using slang in writing.
• And Jenna's got about the best advice I've seen on cliffhangers. Call it Cliff Notes on Cliffhangers, if you will.
• MIG Writers discusses whether or not there are any original plots left. My favorite quote from this article:

  In Where Can I Find An Original Plot, Richard Young theorizes that there is really only ONE plot in literature:

  ‘The central character needs something, very, very badly. Failure to get this thing or do this thing will have dire consequences for this character or his or her loved ones. To begin with, every effort she or he makes to get this thing only adds to the complications and makes success look even less likely, but in the end there is a resolution, and either the protagonist gets the thing, and avoids the dire consequences, or doesn’t, and the feared dire consequences come to pass.’

• Whoa. I've been using Wordle for ages, but Screaming Guppy found a feature I'd ignored.
• Carolrhoda Books compare writing to bread. Trust me, the analogy works.
• You need to know good description? Tara Maya posted the best description I've ever seen:

  So what does hakarl taste like then? It tastes like crying. It tastes like broken promises. It tastes like the Lord God Almighty ripping the Bible out of your hands and saying, "Sorry, this doesn't apply for you. I think you want "Who Moved My Cheese?" It tastes like the Predator wading into a Care Bears movie and opening fire.

Books

• See this book? See this author? Yeah, I'm totally going to get a signed copy of that book this afternoon! If you live near me, come to Fireside Bookstore to meet the author and get his John Hancock!
• An article on how YA is going to save SF. It's a bit old, and I think I've linked it before, but it's good.

Contests

• Reviewer X is giving away 25 copies of The Chosen One, and so is Cynthia Lietich Smith! Come on, those are some good chances--go ahead and sign up for one (or both).
• Hip Writer Mama shares the story of Rick Riordan's latest book...and how you can get one and help out a cancer victim at the same time.
  

Agents, Editors, and Publishing

• The craziest publishing story I've ever heard. EVAR.
  
• 10 reasons why you don't make it out of the slush pile.
• Check out Cynthia Leitich Smith's interview with Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies author Erin Dionne

• "Have you ever considered turning this into a novel?" Wendy said when I was done.
  
  "Uh, no," I said. "I have a novel. It's completed." In my head, I added: And it's not funny. It's dark and sad.
  
  "But this could be a novel," she said. Others in the class nodded.
  
  "But I have a novel," I repeated, all the while, thinking, what is she talking about?! Why would I want to turn this funny story into a novel? How could I even do that?!

• Speaking of author interviews, this one on My Favorite Author with Janni Lee Simner (author of Bones of Faerie) is so brilliant that I had to repost an entire Q&A:

  MFA: The premise of BONES OF FAERIE is quite unique, it is post apocalyptic, social commentary, but also a fantasy. Was it hard to find a genre under which to market this book?
  JLS: When I first started writing Bones of Faerie, I remember worrying that no one would want a post-apocalyptic story. Writing about the end of the world seemed ... a little dated, harkening back to my own late cold war childhood perhaps. Yet by the time my agent and I sold the book, young adult fiction had become filled with both post-apocalyptic tales and faerie stories. It's sort of like the market for Bones of Faerie came into its own while I was off writing the book and telling myself not to worry about the market.
  
  If I'd waited until there was a already a clear place for a post-apocalyptic faerie story before I started writing, though, that never would have worked--the market would have moved on by the time the book was written. Which is one reason I think writing to our fascinations--and hoping others will share them--can often work out better than trying to write something that seems safer or more likely to sell.
  
  We really never entirely know what will sell, anyway--but if we write the books we want to write, we get the experience of having written them, and no matter what happens next, no one can take that away.

• Let's just round out the author interviews with Enchanted Inkpot's interview with Tamora Pierce.
  

Books I Want

• The Navel of the World, by our own PJ Hoover. Make sure to check out the preview here!
  
• Distant Waves: Titanic + supernatural = awesome.
• Beautiful Creatures. Honestly I wouldn't care about this book at all, until I saw Vania rave so much about it on Twitter....I'm like Steph: that's a pretty good reason to get excited about a book, imo.
• Eternal Hourglass.
• Daughter of the Flames.
• My Fair Godmother.
  
• Faery Rebels. Plus: Author Interview.

  So to writers who are struggling with the long process of submissions I'd say first: don't give up. Don't let the manuscript languish just because you're discouraged. Keep making it better, keep sending it out. If you get nothing but form rejections, then maybe this isn't the right book to be submitting and you need to write another one.

You Know You're A Writer If....

...supper = throwing whatever crap you find in the fridge into a pan and calling it a day so that you can get to work on writing sooner.

Tonight's supper:

• Some chicken, cut into pieces
• Tofu that the label says expired in April, but the day I cave to TOFU LABELS is the day I hand in my ninja badge
  
• A sweet potato, cut into pieces with a jack hammer as, for some reason, it was harder than a FREAKING DIAMOND
• Leftover peas
• Leftover green beans
  
• Rice (cooked)
  
• The remaining contents of a tub of chive and onion cream cheese
• Whatever's left in the bag of shredded unidentifiable white cheese
• Cinnamon, garlic powder, salt, pepper (here's how I administer spices: I open the jar and turn it upside down over the food for as long as I feel like it)

Throw it all into a cast iron frying pan, then go watch the Daily Show (until they get to the interview, which is boring). By the time that's done, so is supper.

(OK, so it sounds horrible, but it was actually pretty tasty...and quick enough so that after supper I was able get straight back to my manuscript!)

[ETA: Not all writers cook as if they're still in college! Check out Nomadshan's tasty dinner here!]

Today in Class

Background: The kids are reading Night, a memoir by Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor.

Kid: I want to know the ending so bad! Is he going to make it out of Auschwitz alive?

Entire class: *blink*

Kid: Oh, yeah! He wrote the book! Of course he survives!

Quote of the Day

To write is to plumb the unfathomable depths of being. Writing lies within the domain of mystery. The space between any two words is vaster than the distance between heaven and earth. To bridge it you must close your eyes and leap. A Hasidic tradition tells us that in the Torah the white spaces, too, are God-given. Ultimately, to write is an act of faith.
-Elie Wiesel

Agent: Demystified

Authoress, the genius behind Miss Snark's First Victim, has recently released an e-book called Agent: Demystified. If I did this right, I've got the trailer embedded above. *crosses fingers* But really, I think the proof is in the pudding: check out the glowing praise from agents on her website.

Sekkrit Confessions

This I do not like telling people.

I secretly like reality tv.

*hides in shame*

...but I do!

Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, Top Chef. I try to avoid them...but I always come back. (Darn you, Bravo marathons!)

What attracts me to these shows? It's not the "writing," that's for sure. It's not the "quality" (of which there is little, I admit). It's not even the brain-dead-ness of them, although I do appreciate that after a long day of work.

It's seeing people strive for their dreams.

Look, I think modeling's stupid. Really, I do. But when America's Next Top Model comes on, I find myself oddly sucked into the show. Because, even if I think their dream is stupid, I like seeing them strive for their dreams. In these kinds of shows, some people fail--and I sympathize, because I strive and fail, too. And sometimes who I want to win, doesn't--and there are good writers out there (I know, I've beta read some of them) and they aren't getting published (yet). Sometimes the contestant tries and tries and tries, and still fails...and then I look over at my pile of rejections.

But when the winner is announced, and their joy explodes on screen, I think about how it will be to get the Call.

And that's why I like reality tv.

Off Topic: A Good Day

Warning: This post is a sugar-sweet one. People with sour dispositions (like me before coffee) need not read further.

I've been crazy-hassled most of this week. Mother's Day put me behind, and then I've had lots of work to do with the paying job. But lots of good things happened today:

• Finished proof-reading the kids' literary magazine. I started the Creative Writing program at the high school where I work, and for the past three years, we've been collecting student stories to put in a literary magazine. The first two volumes were slender and comprised mostly of the same handful of students who were in the club, but this year's volume was 70 pages, with so many different entries that three pages were the lists of students' names who contributed!!!
• Got back students' writing test scores. And my students had a 90% pass rate. Freakin' A, man. (Full disclosure: my scores are bit a skewed in my favor because I taught honors students this year, but still....90% pass rate?! Personal best.)
• Yelled at my third period kids. This doesn't sound like a positive thing, right? Trust me, it is. See, I was reading aloud "The Yellow Wallpaper" for the students and they were supposed to be following along in the textbook. I look over and see that three--three!--kids have some other book hidden in the textbook so it looks like they're reading the textbook, but they're not. So I start yelling...and then see that all three of them are reading the copies of the novels I'd assigned for homework: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. They liked Speak so much, that they were sneaking class time to read!! How cool is that?!
• My friend gave me cake. How could that not make me happy?
  

So, yeah, none of these things have to do with my own writing...but it still makes me feel like this:


You don't have to comment. I'm just having such a good day I want to smile at the world. :)

The Difference Between Showing and Telling

So I was talking recently with Robyn about the difference between showing and telling. And I realized a simple truth:

The difference lies in the verb.

It was cold. = Telling

Amy shivered in the cold. = Showing.

An active verb connotates a showing sentence. But this isn't always true. I could have said, "Amy thought it was cold," and that does employ an active verb--but the beef of that sentence lies in the passive verb, not the active one.

To figure out what to show, ask: How do you know this?

It was cold. = A simple fact. Ask: how do you know it's cold?

Answer = Amy shivers.

Now, obviously, that's the ultimate in simplicity. You can't just stop there.

The difference between boring showing and good showing is in the emotion.

Amy shivered in the cold. = Boring showing.

Amy shivered: the cold seemed to reach all the way through her skin and into her heart. = Good showing.

Notice how they get longer? A picture's worth a thousand words--so to show that picture, it might take all thousand words.

Does this mean everything you write should be "showing"? NO. Lemme say that again: NO. Sometimes it's just cold. Say it and move on. But if this is a point where you can and should show character development or enhance the story, show it.

I got up for five lousy minutes, and this is what I found...

Reviewer X's Epic Giveaway

Reviewer X is having a HUGE giveaway: She's got 50 (yes, FIFTY) hardcovers of the book The Chosen One to give away.

From the review:

In thirteen-year-old Kyra’s world, a man must have three wives in order to go to heaven. In Kyra’s world, she’s got two mothers besides her own, twenty brothers and sisters, and more on the way. In Kyra’s world, modern medicine is forbidden, books are burned, and people like her fifteen-year-old sister Emily, with mental disabilities are seen as God’s pariahs.

...

And then Kyra’s whole world is shaken when she finds out she’s been Chosen to be her uncle’s seventh wife.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER. So simple--and such good chances to win!

Off Topic

These are the things that make me think: "Hmm, I would like to share this with my blog readers, but they are not entirely on topic with my blog."

Ah well, I will share anyway. These are strange and not really connected but...

A book I am SO GLAD is out of print.

OMG CUTE BEARS!

See? Not connected at all. Unless the bear cubs are boys and girls, and the boy bear cub says "I am a boy and I may grow up and eat people," and the girl cub says, "Uh, yeah, I can, too, stupid."

Just Entered!

I just entered the Online Pitch Contest being offered by Query Tracker.

This contest is limited to:
Young Adult Thriller,
Young Adult Horror,
Young Adult Fantasy,
Young Adult Science Fiction,
or
Adult Thriller

So, does your genre fit--and if so, did you/will you enter? (Share your pitch here so we can discuss!)

This contest happens to be limited to a select few genres...how would y'all feel about me holding an open contest for one-line pitches open to all genres, with project critique as a prize? I'm looking for a way to thank everyone who helped me perfect my pitch this weekend...

Is This Better?

I cut and pasted all your suggestions into Word, then tried to mash them all up. I tried to focus on the important things: 1) wakes up early, 2) murder!, 3) consequence. I felt that the sentence would be tighter/shorter by taking out the parents, but then that seemed to lose some of the threat to me, so I decided to keep it. I'm still not comfortable with the length of it, but I know that this is miles better than before-- SO THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP!!!!!!!

Edited with an (even further) updated version:

After waking up decades before her cryostasis was supposed to end, seventeen-year-old Amy must stop a murderer from killing the other frozens trapped on the space ship before her parents are unplugged.

I am absolutely not opposed to rewriting again, so feel free to rip this sentence up, too! :)

Ironically enough, your comments have also inspired me to entirely rewrite my query letter too! I am going to create, essentially, two pitch sentences (one for each POV character, as this story switches between them), and use that as a launching point for the query summary. Even if I don't end up placing in the pitch contest with this sentence, I'm thrilled that I now have a stronger query just because of the help you all have given me this weekend!

Thank you ALL so much for your help!

Thoughts on Seeing the New Star Trek Movie

Non-spoilery Thoughts:

-Wow. That was complicated. And crazy. Crazy like a fox.

-Spock rocks my socks.

Spoilery Thoughts (highlight to see):

-You know what's worse than being on a ship about to be eaten by a Romulan ship? Being pregnant and giving birth on a ship that's about to be eaten by a Romulan ship.

-Why does Kirk keep falling off crap? Seriously, he's like a dog on ice--whenever he jumps, he just sort of flops back over.

-I totally called the time travel plot. Not all the way, but I knew it was involved. (The Ahora thing, though, totally blind-sided me.)

-Seriously, how awesome is it that they've totally figured out a way to create a whole new series of movies that won't contradict the already decades-old established plotline? Freakin' awesome.

-Only one red shirt died? What the crap.

-Best line of the movie:
-Kirk: *sits in captain's chair*
-Spock: Get out of my chair.

-That green chick freaked me out. Even more than the chick with super-big eyes.

-Dude! Zulu with a sword = freak yeah!

Read a Sentence and You'll be my BFF

So I'm pretty excited about this.

See, he's specifically asking for YA SF. And I'm specifically working on a YA SF (it's a murder mystery--set in space! That's so my working title for it, punctuation and all.)

The contest asks for a one sentence pitch--he will select a winner based on that pitch.

Here's my original:
After a teen girl wakes up early from cryogenic freezing, she must work with the future leader of the space ship to find the person who is unplugging (and thereby killing) the other cryogenically frozen people...before her parents are unplugged.

I think it's too long--and I'm worried the second character is distracting from the main plot.

So how about this as a revision:
After a teen girl wakes up early from cryogenic freezing, she must stop whoever is unplugging (and thereby killing) the other cryogenically frozen people...before her parents are unplugged.

Which is better? Any suggestions for improvement?

Yup, You Heard Right

(movie poster credit: Saudra Mitchell)

The Forest of Hands and Teeth will be made into a major motion picture.

(Quoted)

Alan Nevins of Renaissance Literary & Talent has just closed film rights on Carrie Ryan's YA novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Nevins, who brokered the deal on behalf of Jim McCarthy at Dystel Literary, sold the book, which Delacorte Books for Young Readers published in March, to Seven Star Pictures (K-11, forthcoming). Nevins said the book, a zombie thriller set in colonial times about a girl who lives in a religious community in the woods and is equally worried about a zombie invasion and her planned marriage, is in line to "do for zombies what Twilight did for vampires." Supposedly Seven Star is developing the project for an-as-yet-unnamed A-list starlet, and fast-tracking the project with a first draft of the screenplay already in the works.

Author Interview: Sarah Prineas

Sarah Prineas is a sweetheart. When I asked her for an interview last month, she mentioned that her book, The Magic Thief was going to be released as a paperback in mid-April, and could I post the interview then. I agreed--of course--and I thought I'd scheduled the interview to post automatically on April 18th. But...it didn't. Yesterday I thought of something in this interview, and went looking for it, and realized it never posted. I'm so sorry, Sarah! Here it is--a bit late, but here nevertheless!

I'll be posting a review of The Magic Thief next week--but I will say this: it's my favorite MG read so far this year. is the book that capture the magic--both of fantasy and of writing--that will leave its readers in awe. Do yourself a favor: read this book.

YOU

We can all read about your bio from the back of your book or your FAQ online. So, what's a completely random fact about you that most people don't know?
This isn't that random because it is writing related, but I absolutely love to write. It's just about my favorite thing to do.

As a child, what was your favorite book? Have your tastes changed since growing up?
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle was my favorite. I also read and re-read T.H. White's The Once and Future King. Back then there wasn't a whole lot of fantasy available for kids, and I would have read more of it if I could. Now I read a lot of MG and YA fantasy and I must still be about 12 years old, because I love it just as much as I did then.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Kid readers often ask me this question, and my answer is that I never really thought about it; I was too busy being a kid to think that far ahead. I certainly didn't plan on becoming a writer!

YOUR BOOK

How much of you is in your book? Is there a character like you? Is a situation in the book derived from real life?
There's a little of me in both Conn and Nevery. Like Conn, I love biscuits and bacon, and I'm rather ruthlessly pragmatic in the same way he is. Like Nevery, I like a good cup of tea and I'm even more impatient than he is. None of the situations in the book are derived from real life.

What was your timeline for the book? How long did it take to write, revise, submit, and finally, get published? How did you feel at these stages?
Here's a blog entry about that: http://sarah-prineas.livejournal.com/19958.html. Pretty much during the whole process I felt hopeful that things were going to work out. I was incredibly lucky that they did.

If your reader could only take away one emotion, theme, or idea from the book, what would you want that to be?
Just one? Yikes! Let's see. I guess the very Tolkienish idea that one person can make a difference in the world.


YOUR WRITING

What are your goals as an author? Where do you want to see yourself as a writer in 5, 10, 15 years?
It took a long time, but I think I've mastered the novel form; that is, I feel confident in my ability to construct a readable novel and meet whatever due dates I've been given. My goals are to go on from that, to become a better writer, specifically in the area of plot. I'd like to stretch myself with every book. I'd like to write a book that isn't fantasy and I'd like to try a YA book.

What's the most surprising thing you've learned since becoming a writer?
That kid readers are the BEST. I hadn't planned on becoming a writer (I had a fulfilling career before writing), and I definitely didn't plan on writing for kids, but I love it, and it's mainly because of the kid readers.

Beyond the typical—never give up, believe in yourself—what would be the single best advice you'd like to give to an aspiring author?
Write it, send it off, and then start writing the next book.

Also Never Surrender, but that probably counts as "never give up".

What do you consider to be your strongest talent in writing? Your weakest?

Oh, my weakest is plot. One of the reasons I write fantasy is because it has an inherent plot structure, individuals striving to overcome the bad things in the world. I try to tweak that a bit ("is the evil truly evil? And is its defeat truly a victory?") but I have a hard time with it anyway. My strength is that I'm very observant and I have a knack for evoking a scene using specific, telling details. I didn't realize that I had that strength until reading reviews of Magic Thief that said the setting had depth and authenticity.

What's a writing pet peeve that you have?

I try very, very hard to never begin a sentence with "It was" or "There were" because these are empty pronouns and weak verbs. Actually, that's a peeve that sets me off when I read others' work. If I see it, I think, "lazy writing!"

THANK YOU SARAH, for agreeing to let me interview you! Come back next week for a book review of The Magic Thief!

Writing Contest

Can you make a good cliff-hanger? If so, the Girls with Pens would like to see it--and give you prizes for it!

Speaking of Contests...

This one is amazing.

Cindy Pon, author of The Silver Phoenix, is giving away an original framed brushpainting and a signed copy of her novel, or $100 gift card to a book store of your choice and a signed copy of her book.

Contest ends June 8.

Check This Out

Have you seen the Pub Stories on Reviewer X's site? They are so good. Totally worth reading.

So far:

• Cindy Pon, author of Silver Phoenix
• Diana Peterfreund, author of Rampant
• Michelle Zink, author of Prophecy of the Sisters
• Saundra Mitchell, author of Shadowed Summer
  

Pace

One thing I'm spending a lot of time focusing on in my current WIP, a murder mystery (in space!), is pacing. Because I'm inside my characters' heads so much, I have really been struggling to keep the story both focused on their internal struggles and their fast-paced external conflict. Sometimes it feels like I'm taking turns: in the charcater's head, out of the head, in, out, in, out. And I don't like writing that jerks the reader around--and I'm sure my readers won't like it either.

In order to focus this, I've come up with a couple of strategies that have helped remind me of maintaining a steady--but fast--pace.

1. Show motivations and reactions through action, not thought. I found that some of the biggest blocks of internal thought were when I was trying to spell out the characters' reason for doing something or explain how they felt about something after it happened. That's boring. A simple example of how to fix this would be changing "Bob was scared of the clown" to "Bob's stomach clenched as he looked upon the evilly grinning face of the clown." Use action (clenched) and adjective (evilly grinning) to explain the reaction and cause of the emotion, rather than just state the emotion. That way, you're still focused on the character, but you've not forgotten the pace, either. A simple mantra to remember: When in doubt about pace, use active verbs.
   
2. Evaluate how much time is spent on the page talking about something vs. actually doing it. This one has been key for me. As the story is a sci fi, I'm always debating just how much science and world building should go into the manuscript. Do they need to know about the nuclear reactive core that provides heat? What about the science behind their transportation system--should I explain how it works, or just show it working? My rule of thumb for this has become: If it takes more time to explain it than do it, just do it. When I saw that I'd written a page explaining the science of cyrogenic freezing, but only a few sentences on the character's experience beind frozen, I cut the science and beefed up the experience. This rule of thumb works for more than just sci fi--when my characters spend a chapter talking about who they think the murderer is, and then a page going to another room to look for more clues, I've got an uneven amount of talk vs. action. So I cut all the non-essential talk, and let them talk about the remaining points while they were walking to the other room. Characters sitting around and talking--about the world, about the plot, about anything--is boring.
   

Today in Class

The kids are reading an excerpt from Primo Levi's book on the Holocaust.

Kid 1: (reading from book) "...this is not a rabbinical school..."

Kid 2: What's "rabbinical"?

Kid 1: There's a footnote.... um, it means it's not a school for rabies.

Me: *blink*

Kid 1: Rabbis! Rabbis! It's not a school for rabbis!

Kid 2: Boy, that was dumb.

Fear

Do one thing every day that scares you.
-Elanor Roosevelt

Kathleen Duey is doing something pretty amazing. She's writing a novel on twitter. In her words:

A novel. A whole novel in Russet's voice, written in Twitter's 140 (or less) character bursts.

In public. Real time. No revision. (via Cynsations)

Why would she do this? After all, so much could go wrong. She's writing on the fly, without an outline--and while I do that, too, I also know I could drop the story and quit writing it if it doesn't work. And--even crazier--she's posting immediately as soon as she writes it. Which means...no revisions. No changes. Once it's up, it's up. You can't unpost.

So why is she doing this?

In a word: fear.

She said that

At a conference, I heard myself giving advice that I hadn't followed in a long time.

I wasn't experimenting with anything that scared me to death anymore. (via Cynsations)

I've been thinking about this since I read it yesterday.

I've always been a bit afraid of my best writing.

And my writing that's dry and stiff--that had no association with fear. I was just getting words on the page.

And it shows.

I can pinpoint scenes that gave my heart a squeeze or my stomach a clench. That scene where the characters kiss? Terrified--what if I didn't make it sincere enough? What if my readers laughed at the awkwardness of it? Oh, and that final battle scene--I was on the edge of my seat, in part because I was scared of not making that scene good enough for a last battle.

And there's other kinds of fear in writing. Breaking outside of your norm is one way. I'd once blogged about how much I hate first person POV in present tense. I like fantasy, not sci fi. But this most recent novel I'm working on? A first person POV present tense science fiction novel.

And I'm terrified.

More scared of this one than I've been in a long time. I don't know what I'm doing--and all those old fears of writers keep cropping up. I'm not good enough, I couldn't write my way out of a paper bag, who do I think I am to be putting these words down? And then there's the actual writing. It's a murder mystery (in space!), so is my killer creepy enough? Are my characters Nancy-Drew-enough? And then there's the genre. Will anyone even like this book? Will an agent? Will an editor? It's a weird little novel, a strange little thing that I'm not sure could even find a home with anyone but me.

See? Terrified.

But oh. It's been fun.

I feel a bit like Kathleen:

And when I thought about all the ways it could blow up in my face I felt almost sick. Bingo, eureka, perfect. I was scared to death.

Still am. But it has been worth it.

So, what about you? Are you doing something that scares you? Is it working?

The Perfect Writing Desk

I blogged before about how the husband made me a new desk, just for my writing. And it's been great--perfect size, perfect location. But the thing is, it wasn't quite done.

Enter in this weekend's project: finish the desk!

Here it is in it's raw stage: the bookshelves built into the wall came with the house; the husband added on the desk part.





















First things first: we separated the new desk part from the bookshelves in the wall and got it ready for painting!
















After layers of primer, I painted the shelves and the desk glossy black. I mean, black-black. Like a ninja's soul.





















One thing I've always wanted to do was to wallpaper a room with maps. I love maps. But it's never really been practical to line a whole room with one. What I could do, though, is line the shelves with maps. For this project, I chose England (top shelf, along with Ireland) because I've always loved it and studied abroad in London, and Italy (bottom shelf) because the first place I traveled abroad to was Malta, off the coast of Italy, and I love Florence--and my favorite movie (Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn) took place there. Oh, and pizza.





















Next step, add the writing instruments! On the top shelf, I've got a brand-new file sorter thing. I desperately need to keep better track of paper. So: red folder on left = rejections folder. Legal pad beside it = notes (I love legal pads!) On the far right is my pad folio that I take to conferences, and notes from my last conference. And on the shelves in the middle is work for my book: ms. pages, research, and blank note pads.
















On the Italy shelf, I intend to put a new Mac computer...once I save enough money to buy a new Mac computer (which will be months--maybe even a year or more--from now). So, while I'm waiting on the new computer, I've put a wine-bottle lamp in it's place. This wine-bottle lamp was custom made for me, right after I wrote my first ms. I've also got a full bottle of win (that wasn't drunk in preparation of the lights) that I intend to break out after I (finally) get a publishing deal.





















Some writers keep old manuscripts under the bed. I keep them in my hidden compartment under the desk!





















It's fairly hard to get to (you have to crawl under to get to this bottom shelf), but it's the perfect place to store those old manuscripts that I can't throw away, but can't work on, either.















And here it is--the end result! All I need now is a shiny new Mac computer to go on the Italy shelf, and I'm gold! For now, I guess the laptop will do. *sigh* I suffer so much for my art! :)

OMG the Linkspam, the Linkspam!

Here's what I do. I subscribe to a LOT of blogs--writers, agents, and editors. As I read, if I find something that I think is just brilliant, I "star" it in my Google Reader for linkspam for y'all--and to remind myself of what I liked about it.

Haven't done this for a bit...which has led to a lot of linkspam! So, if you want to know what I think is the best of the best in the past few weeks, read on. But if you don't...at least read the info on the first few posts, which are all for very worthy causes.

CHARITY

• Bridget Zinn is an author. And she has colon cancer. Several authors are showing their support for her--could you do the same? You could, perhaps, buy a signed copy of Hop! Plop! (the proceeds of which will help Bridget)

• Brenda Novak's Auction to benefit diabetes--oh, how I wish I could afford bids on this!!!

• Not for charity, but another auction...Bid now for Hunger Mountain, with auctions including ms. critiques!
  

INSPIRATION

• Liana and the Daffodil Principle.
• T. Anne on Passion.
• Have you seen this awesome writing room?
• How Diana Peterfreund wrote Rampant: Reviewer X's new series on Pub Stories.
• Willy Wonka and the Writing Industry--a hilarious and accurate take on writing and publishing!
• LitGirl: Confidence in Key

WRITING

• Anatomy of a Good Query, by Rachel Gardner: an author who had this agent salivating for more. I was interested in this one because the agent tweeted about finding the query when she found it, and then blogged about what made it work. I hope to get an agent that excited someday!
• Speaking of Twitter, here's agents who do just that.
• And speaking of that, here's children's authors on Twitter, too.
• Rundown on agents talking shop.
• Reverie's excellent rant, re: adults and YA lit.
• What works in a pitch. Read this before writing your query--heck, read this before you finish your novel and use your pitch to help you focus your writing.
• Flights of Fantasy gives a great run-down on fulfilling your promises to the reader. Totally worth reading.
  

CONTESTS

• Literary Rambles and my writing bud Robyn clued me in to Cythinia Liu's Writing Challenge
• Remember when I blogged about how Savvy author hit NYTimes bestsellerdom fame after she gave away her book in electronic form? Well, Maw Books is giving away a copy here.
• OMG OMG OMG a contest that includes an agent who wants YA SF!!! Oh, yeah, and some other stuff.
• WOW. What a great contest for Cindy Pon's debut novel (plus cash!)
• Want free books? Love give-aways? This is the most comprehensive list I've seen lately.
• An editor's take on why she says yes--or no.
• Can you write a good cliffhanger? Then the Girls with Pens want to give you prizes!
  

BOOKS I WANT

• The Awakening
• The Reformed Vampire Support Group
• Wintergirls
• Thirsty
• Lips Touch
• (not a book, but a TV show) "Friends" with Teeth
• If I Stay
• Here Lies Arthur

The Best Laid Plans...

Remember when I was going to have all night to myself while the boys played poker?

HA!

I fell asleep on my notebook.

Fortunately, the boys all stayed up waaaaaaaay late, and now I've got all morning to write! And to catch up on critiques, and to send work off to my crit group, and....

On Rejection

Of course we all feel rejection sometimes. We're writers--and even if we haven't subbed yet, we still know the feeling!

Last month, I received in the mail the rudest rejection I have ever received from an agent. It was the lack of professionalism that did it for me--when I ripped the envelope open and stood by my mailbox reading it, my mouth literally dropped open. (It wasn't as if the agent had slammed me or told me to never write another word--it was so unprofessionally presented I couldn't believe it.) Suffice it to say, I will never submit to that agent again.

Which got me thinking to about five years ago, when I was a fledgling young writer with a freshly printed first draft of a first novel sitting in my lap. I joined a popular online forum and asked for beta readers. I had a taker--I emailed him the manuscript and waited anxiously.

In about an hour, the beta reader wrote back. I wish I still had that email, but the essence of it was: this is the worst thing I've ever read, please delete it and never try to write another book. That, at least, is the mild interpretation of his opinion on my work. He'd read less than five pages and decided he could read no further. He said he'd literally gagged at the idiocy of my work. And he repeated more than once that I shouldn't even bother with this career, as it so obviously didn't suit me.

I cried.

But, fortunately, this was not this manuscript's first venture outside into the world. That year I'd gone to a writing conference, and that same manuscript that induced vomiting in that beta reader had been given to an editor at a major publishing house who'd actively considered it for publication. And having a real-life-honest-to-goodness editor say she liked your work certainly makes anything a rude beta reader says much more of a balm to the ego.

We all have rejection stories, some more graphic than others. But this whole preamble (wow, I didn't mean to get so carried away, but apparently I still harbor some resentment towards these rude people) was to lead up to a link: Literary Rejection, a blog that displays rejections from the literary world. (Found from Linda Kage's blog)

I don't believe in harping on about rejections on a public blog (I was actually very hesitant to post this, but I kept it anonymous so I'm OK with it), but I will say this: sometimes it helps to see that other people are being rejected, too!

Speaking of: The Screaming Guppy just posted about a different form of rejection: when you have to reject a fellow writer's writing during a critique. The comments on this one are pretty good, too.

How to Read 200+ Blog Posts on Google Reader

Say "screw it," and hit "delete all."

Now back to work!

Boys' Night Out

Last night, the husband approached me with a sheepish, innocent sort of look that made me know instantly that something was up.

He wants to do a boys' night out.

In our house.

Tonight.

The Husband: We'll stay in the living room and the kitchen, and we promise not to break anything (like they did last time), and we'll clean up, and we'll just stay up all night playing poker and video games, and you can just pretend like we're not there, and you don't mind, do you?

Me: *martyr-like sigh*

I'm not going to tell him that I'm thrilled to have the chance to have a reason to lock myself in my room all night long and not venture out. The guys wouldn't care if I came out--heck, they'd probably offer me a hand in poker--but I'm cackling and tapping my fingers like an evil over-lord with the thought of a full night of writing, by myself, with no disturbances (unless I hear the sound of breaking glass...again).

I'm so not telling the husband that.

After all, if I act pitiful enough, I'll probably get dinner and movie out this, too. ;)

PS

***Pure Housekeeping Details Follow. If you're here for something fun and entertaining, feel free to skip over this to something else***

In my Google Reader:

Over 250 blog posts.

I am reading them all! But only commenting when I actually have an opinion/something worthy to say. So if I don't comment on your blog, please don't think I love you less. My mind is simply mush.

ALSO: I am going to be revising my link lists soon. Here is the list of blogs that I follow. If I comment on your blog, no worries, I follow you. But if for some reason I happened to miss you (and I'm sure I've missed some, because in the recent rush of new followers, I know I've not caught up on clicking links), and would like me to check out your blog/add it to my list/share some linky-love....then please, add a link here! One of my weekend goals is to clean up my Reader and links list.

To Do:

1. Complete progress reports for over 100 kids
2. Grade essays
3. Work on critiques for friends
4. Update blog
5. Work out family plans for weekend
6. Get over writing hump and start back up on novel
7. Save world from zombie-fied ninjas...but keep it a secret in order to preserve humility
   
8. Finally, finally, get back to a regular writing schedule

Only one more to get to on my list!

Today, In Class

Kids are doing an art project based on Dante's Inferno.


Class: We get to use crayons?! YES!


Kid: Look! I color-coded Hell!

Other Kid: Look at my Hell! It's got a smiley-face sun! It's a happy hell!

Another Kid: Well, I can make my Hell prettier than your Hell.



Note: These kids are sixteen years old.

On Being Stuck

First of all: Wow. You commenters are awesome. Yesterday when I sat down to work on my novel, I had nothing. And then when I blogged about it, I realized I had nothing and put up a post that was a bit too emo even for me...and just when I was about to delete it because I don't want to be whiney, I've got three messages in my email and a ton of happy comments, and I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of those kind words. So: THANK YOU!

One reason why I was so blergh yesterday was because I'd been stuck on a certain scene in my novel since last Friday. I know what happens after that scene, but I somehow just couldn't get the characters where I needed them to be. Then I read Robyn's post on what to do when you get stuck, and that got me thinking about writing methods I've used to get over the hump.

1. Identify the problem: For me, I typically get stuck right before something big happens. For example, in my current WIP, I've got a murder mystery (set in space!) and I was stuck at the point where the protags get together and discuss who they think dunnit and why. But sitting around and talking = boring. Hence, I was stuck.
2. Figure out what needs to happen next: So, the next thing I did was brainstorm where I needed the characters to go after discovering this. There's a lot of layers of mystery in this one, and I had to be sure to drop certain clues: I needed one character to start to show signs of depression, one character to add an emotional level to their motivation, and I knew I couldn't have them sit around and talk for too long or it would be boring.
3. Figure out the logical next steps based on character motivation: One problem I think many writers have--myself most definitely included--is remembering character motivation. We know we need the characters to get to point B from point A, but we sometimes forget about the why in our hurry just to get them there. So if you're stuck, evaluating your character's motivation always seems to help.
4. Go back to pacing: Typically, when I'm stuck, the pace is too slow. Blow something up, make someone cry, drop in a ticking clock, something to ramp up the pace and just get them going. (Side note: ironically enough, I usually have to look at the opposite--slowing pace--when revising, to make sure the charcaters shine through the plot.) More than likely, if you're stuck, you're stuck because either something that needs to happen hasn't happened yet (so make it happen already!) or so much is happening that you've lost the storyline (so slow stuff down and let your characters breathe).

Thinking through these problems helped me get past my hump last night. I realized that in my murder mystery (set in space!), I didn't really need a Scooby-Doo moment where they sit around and talk about suspects. I needed action--so I threw in a red herring, focused the conversation on what they were going to do (active) rather than who they thought the murderer was (passive), and wrapped the chapter up with them being forced from the room--so they were on the way to the next event, and not still sitting around, talking.

This method may not work for everyone (I don't think it'll help Robyn, for example, as she's stuck on a beginning chapter, not a middle one...so if you've got advice for that, drop her a line), but it certainly worked for me! I've left the blergh behind and wrote two new chapters last night!

...now if only progress reports weren't do tomorrow...

*sigh* ;)

blergh

Ever have one of those days when all you really wanna do is punch someone or go to bed?

I hate those days.

blergh.

E-Books Lead to Greater Sales

Shelli at Market My Words had an interview yesterday that really struck a chord with me. Author Ingrid Law, of Savvy fame discussed her book and marketing. In the interview, she said this:

And one of the biggest technological marketing successes for Savvy so far has been the week-long free e-book download offered last summer, which was a factor in propelling the book onto the New York Times Bestsellers list for the first time.

Now, I have been a long time fan of the give-it-away-for-free-and-they'll-buy-it camp: ever since my Napster days in college, actually, but more recently with things such as free e-books or free downloads of audio books.

I've quoted it here before, but I feel it's worth saying again:

For me — for pretty much every writer — the big problem isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity (thanks to Tim O’Reilly for this great aphorism). Of all the people who failed to buy this book today, the majority did so because they never heard of it, not because someone gave them a free copy. --Cory Doctorow

Because YOU Rock

I told the husband, "it'd be cool if I got 100 followers, but I never will."

I told him, "if I actually did get 100, I should totally do something for them. But it's not like I'll actually get 100."

Today, I've got 103 followers.

So you know what?

There will be TWO winners of the massive book-giveaway. Whoever gets drawn first get's the group of books they wanted...whoever gets drawn second gets the other group of books.

It All Comes back to High School

Last week, I posted about how similar your manuscript is to being in love.

Well, I'm having a fight with my manuscript right now, so instead of love, I'm arguing that your manuscript is really like someone you knew from high school. Like Mike Gross, that creepy kid who sat behind me in Geometry and picked his nose. Yeah, manuscript, you're like that.

Just kidding manuscript. I love you. You're not mad at me are you? Please be my friend again, I hate it when we fight.


...So, without further ado, here's your manuscript in high school!

• The popular jock: You're the nerdy girl. He's the god of high school. What wouldn't you give to get to know him better? This is your manuscript before you get to know him, when you worship him from afar and he's just this perfect ideal in the back of your mind.
• The uber-smart kid: You can't compete with this one. He is SO SMART. And even if he's a little nerdy, you know the only reason you don't sit with him at lunch is because you're afraid you'll look like an idiot in front of him. This is your manuscript when you start. You've got this great idea: can you translate it onto the paper? Are you a good enough writer for this idea?
• The bff you've known forever: You know her backwards and forwards. You share ever secret. You'll be friends forever, right? This is the manuscript you're just rewriting...over...and over...and over. Don't be afraid to find/write someone new!
• That ugly kid who has a crush on you but who you, like, think is way gross: This is the kid who you know likes you...but ugh! It doesn't matter that he's good at heart, that all he needs is a comb and some zit cream...you can't stand him and wish he'd just leave you alone! This is your manuscript when you have writer's block. You know there's ways to fix him, you know he's got a good heart and he's really not that bad...but you can't stand him right now. Give it a little bit. We've all seen the classic teen movies: it's the ugly boys who get the girl in the end!
  
• The stoner: He sits in the back of the classroom (when he remembers to show up) with red-rimmed eyes. He's not that much more than a lump, although sometimes he has flashes of brilliance. This lazy guy? He's your manuscript when you're not willing to revise. Sure, there's some bright points in there, but overall, it's a lump: you're going to have to clean this guy up for him to compete.
• The new girl at school: She's a little weird. Definitely different. And no one sits with her at lunch. Will you? She's that new genre/style/tone/POV/voice/whatever you'd like to try out, but are always afraid to. Everything you've written is in first person? Why not give third person a try. You like romance, but not erotica? Try out some YA for size and see how that works for you. Don't be afraid of new things!
  
• The drop-out: She's an expert at being a freshman: after all, she's been one for four years. And then one day she drops out. Maybe you'll see her again at McDonald's...This is the manuscript you abandoned. Maybe you shouldn't have--maybe there was potential underneath all that sarcasm--but in the end, you had to make a choice and drop it. This isn't a bad thing (not at all--if it's not working, it's not working). But the important thing is to keep on writing, and try something new...with a manuscript you can see go all the way.
  
• The valedictorian: They've got it all. Brains. Brawn. Football star/head cheerleader. And, to top it all off, they're actually nice, too. The top of the class, beloved by all....this is your manuscript after four years of high school (read: after pain-staking hours of critiques), FINALLY ready to graduate (read: finally ready to submit)...and you know this one is going to go far.
  
• The teachers: There are some books out there that teach you good things....and some that only teach you how not to be. As you read (and you should be reading, all you writers out there) don't forget about how you can learn both good and bad things about writing from teacher-books...and don't try to be the teacher, try to take what you learn from the teacher and make it new and different!