Finding your people, and the ANWA writer's conference.

Yep, I am alive.

I know, I know. It's been over two months since I have posted. Life has been nuts with Christmas break and then starting back up with a new semester at ASU. 

Though life is crazy it has also been really great. 

During my time between semesters my creative juices were flowing at max speed and I put them to good use. I worked on several projects around the house, plus I did some rewrites on my current YA novel. (I will post about the house stuff another time, I am still recovering from it, and it's definitely going to warrant its own post). 

This past weekend I attended the American Night Writer's Association's annual conference. This was my third time, and as always, it was fabulous. The people who put this thing together are seriously awesome. 

Last year I came away a little discouraged. Not that it was the conference's fault. Everything about last year's conference was amazing. It was just me and where I was with my writing. A lot of the talk was about how crapy the industry can be. I came home feeling as if I would never break through. That I was waisting my limited time and energy.

This year was a bit different. I honestly have no idea why (the industry is still pretty difficult)… maybe its just because I am different. Though I do think Brandon Mull had a hand in all of the positive energy. 

For those of you who do not know who Brandon Mull is, you must not have middle grade kids. He is the author of the Fablehaven series, The Beyonders series and the Candy Shop Wars… among others. 

He is kind of the stuff in my house. 

Anyway. Listening to him talk, with his endless enthusiasm for his craft, was inspiring. He is kind of this twelve-year-old boy in a forty-year-old body. (I mean this as a total compliment.) 

Yes, I am in a shark costume. Don't mock. 

As Brandon was talking about his childhood filled with daydreaming I found myself relating more than I had thought possible. I too grew up living mostly in my head. I had all of these ideas, these imaginary places that were a lot more enjoyable than what was really going on around me.  I am sure it must seem strange for someone else looking in. But for me, being a young girl who didn't have the easiest of childhoods, my imagination was my sanity. AND, here is this guy who is tremendously successful, who has blessed so many others because he has embraced what many may think are eccentricities. 

At that moment I looked about the room at all of these ladies, (and a few men) and thought to myself…. these are my people. 

And how grateful I am for these people.

I do have other people in my life. People that I love and who love me unconditionally. But they don't relate to this part of me, nor do I expect them to.

Let's be honest, authors are a little bit strange. You can't be normal when your brain is in a fantasy world half of the time. 

But that's okay. If we were not a bit kookie how would we be able to touch so many with our own creation? We couldn't.

Here are some of my people dressed up as antagonist. 

I think we all need our people, whoever those people may be. 

So, it was nice to embrace the crazy for a weekend. I learned a lot, and came home with several ideas to improve my work in progress. I even earned an award for the novel I have been editing for the last few years. 

First place for the beginning of the book contest for Young Adult Fiction.

I have NEVER won anything in my life. Yes I do frequently win random drawings, but never have I won something in which I had to earn it.  Yes, I am pretty lame. So you can see why I am so thrilled to have won in something that I have literally put my blood, sweat, and tears into. 

I am continuing to work on my craft. Revising, revising and revising so that someday it will be me who is the keynote speaker at a conference. 

Hey, why not? Surrounded by my people, I can do just about anything. 

A change of plans

It is super late, but I have been crazy busy and I have not been able to post as often as I like, so, I am taking the time now before my eyes seal shut and my head hits the pillow. (Please ignore errors caused by exhaustion.)

I have been at a crossroads lately with my last novel. I have been editing like a mad woman, and finally got it to the point where I needed to make a decision.

For those of you who do not write or are not in the know, the publishing industry (thanks to sites like Amazon) have been moving in the direction of sell-publishing over small publishers… and for some, the "big 5" publishers. This puts authors like myself in an interesting situation. In the past, I have not thought twice about doing anything other than be on the hunt for an agent, (the first step to finding publication with the "Big Five").

But now. . . I am not so sure. There are many advantages to self-publishing. You have more control, and you don't have to wait. You also receive a larger percentage of the book sales, (if your book sells).

The down side is, if you are not diligent, the quality of your writing may not be what you really want out there representing your work. Also, you have to pay for your own edits, (and if I am going to publish I want the best editor I can find). You have to pay for the cover art, among several other things. The cost adds up fast. You also have to do all your own marketing, though, some say with publishers you have to do this now anyway.

About a month ago I sat down at my computer and weighed these pros and cons. I did not come up with a decision but I did decide to go ahead and find a professional editor to look over my manuscript.

All was going as planned. I had received the quote from the editor. After I swallowed down THAT number, I began brainstorming ways to pay for it without digging into our saving. I found this beautiful chesterfield type sofa on craigslist…. and I thought, hmmm, I can recover this and make a little profit. No, this won't cover the cost of the edits but it will put a dent in it.

I am going to be doing a full post on this sofa later. 

Then, half way through the reupholstering of the sofa something happened that had me rethinking my goals. (I will let you know if it turns out ;) ).

Isn't this just how life is. I have to be flexible, otherwise I may get whiplash. Especially in this journey to become published, so much of it is hard work, but a lot of it is being in the right place at the right time with the right people. A LoT of it is having thick skin and listening to what others are saying in order to polish your work.  I am still working on my little projects to pay for edits on my book, but now is not the time for me to have it professionally edited.

I am a girl that wants things NOW, but I am learning to wait for when the stars align. In the mean time I will be very busy making my novel the best it can possibly be and working my fingers to the bone tufting and stapling this sofa.

Wish me luck, and happy writing.

My Muse has left the building

Oh, the pain! 

For the last few weeks I have been in a bit of a writing slump. It's not that I am having writer's block, because I have my story mapped out. The problem is I don’t have any motivation to sit down and write for hours on end.  

It’s weird because I do love to write. It’s fun. So why aren’t I doing it?

For the last few weeks I have sat in front of my computer and let my mind drift elsewhere. Not into my story as it should but drift to projects I want to get done around the house, books I want to read… etc. etc.

I have been in the middle of chapter five for weeks!

Finally, yesterday I decided that enough was enough. I needed to pinpoint what was wrong or I will never get this book finished. I have never experience this before so I wasn’t sure what was wrong now.

After a lot of self-reflection, I realized what was different now from when I have written books before. This is the first time I have seriously been looking for an agent/publisher. To be honest, this part of writing stinks. You have to have some extremely thick skin to handle the constant rejection. AND I don’t care who you are, or how great of an author you are; in this business you will be rejected left and right, whether it’s agents, publishers, or reviewers. If you don’t have a healthy dose of self-confidence cemented inside of your soul being a published author is not the right path for you.

It’s not really even the rejection that’s the problem; it’s the waiting to hear if I am rejected that is causing me difficulty. Its put me in kind of a funk.

What I need to do is compartmentalize, put my last book in a box in my mind and close it for a while so I can write. I need to stop checking my inbox for starters. This is hard when one of my goals is to send out a few submissions a week, so yes, I need to check my email.

Do you see the tough spot I am in? I want to be looking forward; yet, I have to look over my shoulder from time to time.

I am new to this. Before, I just wrote and bypassed the submission phase completely. That is no longer what I want. I feel ready to share what I have written. I need help. What do you suggest I do? Is it possible to write during the submission phase of another book? How do I get myself out of this slump?

My muse has gone on vacation and I miss her. 

The start of a novel

This photo has nothing to do with the post. I am just shamelessly posting this pic of the Opera House in Vienna. Shameless!

Now that you have all admired the pic, lets move forward, shall we...

You have this idea in your head of what you think would be a really good book. It’s been rolling around for some time nagging you to do something with it. it's been keeping you up late at night and you need your sleep. I totally get you, right?  So, how do you get that story down on paper?

There are many different ways authors go about this. No one way is right. Lets just get that out of the way. Some free spirited, let the novel guide me, type people, just start at page one and then see where the novel goes. I know others who skip around in a novel, writing a variety of scenes then put the manuscript together in a start to finish format later.

Neither of these examples is me, though sometimes I wish I could let go and be that way. I like to keep things structured, or that's how I am comfortable writing.  Never in my writing have I had a character do something that I didn’t want him or her to do. This isn’t true for all authors. When I hear of this happening, something I do hear often in my writing circles, I think to myself, WOW! I would love to be in your head when that battle of wills takes place between you and your characters. I guess I am a bit headstrong so my characters don't stand a chance against me. 

Before I even start a project I always map out chapters and characters. I want to make sure I don’t get struck somewhere, not knowing where the story should go next. This way I never have to deal with writers block, a very real thing. Can you imagine writing forty or fifty thousand words and then getting stuck having no clue where you were going. Yep, it happens to authors all the time. I even know of some who actually scrap what they have written. My heart aches just thinking about it. 

I also write scenes in order. Why do I do this when I clearly know what happens at the end when I start on page one? The anticipation to write those juicy scenes keeps me moving forward everyday.  Due to the anticipation I write very, very, quickly. I am an instant gratification girl, so I like to hurry to get to the resolution. I write in the morning, 4 to 6 hours a day. It usually takes me two months to write a complete first draft. It is always error ridden and a bit flat with plot holes, but that’s what revisions are for… and those take me at least a year before the book is readable. Sounds like work right? It really is. I am so glad my day job is in my home or there is no way I would be able to write. Even then, my house looks like a bomb went off when I am writing. I except it as the trade off and thankfully my family is very supportive. 

So, today I sit in front of my computer with a novel that needs to be begun. Yes, it has been nagging me for months and I can't put it off any longer. This for me is one of the hardest parts in the writing process. The chapter sketches are done and I feel confident that this book is going to be fun to write and even more enjoyable to read.  That being said, putting the first chapter down is a bit of an overwhelming thought. It takes a lot of concentration to write a novel… headache-inducing concentration, I often am forced to take a nap after a morning of good writing. I kind of have to psych myself up to begin. I also know that once I cross that start line it’s going to be an intense roller-coaster ride until I reach THE END.

So, wish me luck. I have bought my ticket and its time to board the ride.

A huge sigh of relief

For the last year I have been editing, editing, and editing my recent fantasy novel. I have done many revisions on this novel. Some focused just on descriptions, characters, others on the overall plot. Last night, I finally finished the line editing type revisions. Here, I focused on grammar, spelling, that sort of mind numbing thing.

It has been SO painful. This is the moment when you ask yourself  WHAT WAS I THINKING WRITING A NOVEL OVER 100,000 WORDS?  I still don’t have a clue. This beast is so long, even after I cut 8000 words.

I am madly in love with it, though. Last night, as I was editing through the last few chapters of the book, I kept saying to my husband… “Oh man, this is so good.” Of course that was when he says, “you can’t say your own novel is good.” I informed him that he was right. “My novel isn’t just good, it’s amazing!” He rolled his eyes and got back to work emails.

The truth is, you had better think your work is amazing otherwise you are wasting your time. How can you sell your book to an agent, publishing house, reader, if you don’t 100% love what you have written? You can’t.  So I am putting it out there. I love my stories. I love my characters, even the evil ones, especially the evil ones, and I love that creative part of me that sees stories everywhere around me.So, today, following my latest, and hopefully last major revision for a while, I am celebrating. Pita Jungle is involved because it wouldn’t be a celebration without pitas and hummus. And a little Sweet Tooth Fairy. They have these cake balls that are to die for.

I am going to kick up my heels, maybe even watch a good flick, and most likely have a smile plastered across my face for the rest of my day.  Because, let’s be honest, I love what I do.

The End Of An Era

Last weekend I attended a writing conference sponsored by ANWA. It was a fabulous weekend filled with wonderful speakers and even more amazing writers. I love the lessons learned, but even more, the sisterhood that is felt when you are in a room with women who love what you love.

Had a blast with this crazy group at lunch!

A lot of the conversations at the conference seemed to be centered around how the “industry” is changing. No longer do the publishing houses rule, and no longer do you need to go through typical avenues in order to be a successful author. This is all in thanks to the E-book. Is this a good thing, yes, yet, there seems to be some definite trade offs here.

            Before we know it our bookshelves will be empty and our kindles will be filled. I admit I very rarely read actual books anymore. But, just recently I stopped to realize what we are losing. For over 600 years we have been blessed with printed books. Soon that time will be gone, gone! I hope we can all realize the significance of this. It is HUGE! I am all for technology, but man, this makes me sad.

            Another thing that worries me is this idea that the author is the brand and the book is the product and that for some reason the brand is more important. I know I am old school but this idea breaks my heart. If the craft is not as important as your ability to sell yourself, are we losing something here? What happened to writing a great book, a book that changes lives? Books have changed my life plenty of times. I remember being 11 and reading “A Summer to Die” by Lois Lowry. This was the year after my brother had died of cancer. That book changed my life! That book allowed me to feel what I had kept bottled up for over a year.

            Now, I know you have to built your platform and sell, sell, sell, I just feel that your writing should still hold supreme.

            Well, this is all coming from a struggling author, so, what do I know, right? It is just something that has been clinging to my mind for a while and I thought I would share, and hopefully get your take.