I finished editing my young adult paranormal romance, Between, and got through the final read-through tonight. It's as spit-polished and shiny as I can, in my humble human condition, make it. So now I set off toward the path of querying agents. *gulp*
Before I swim too far into those waters, I just wanted to take a breath, have a celebration with my blogger buddies, and enjoy the moment. Thanks to all of you, for your comments, for your support, for keeping me going when there was all tunnel and no light.
I loves ya! :)
And if you have YA agent recommendations, please shoot them my way. I'll be doing my homework and can always use helpful info from the writing community.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
The Perils of Putting Yourself "Out There"
The last two books I picked up, I put down before I finished reading. One turned out to be way more violent than I was comfortable with, while the other was poorly written with an inconsistent POV. They were both paperbacks, so somewhere, an agent and an editor both loved them. I wanted to love them. I didn't.
Readers will want to love my book, but some won't. Some will think it's crap.
That hurts, no doubt about it. Yet, as a writer, I have to be okay with that. Putting my words "out there" for others to judge is tough because some readers will love it and others won't.
I want to make everyone happy, but I can't. You can't either.
In the end, what matters is that you've done your best, gave it your all, listened and incorporated suggestions as you were able, and that you love the book. If, after six million rounds of revisions, you don't love the book you're left with, then you've lost your way.
You. Must. Love. Your. Book.
Get readers, get suggestions, get feedback. That's all good stuff. But if the world loves your book and you don't, you won't be happy. You wrote the story that was in your heart. Polish it, make it better, but don't lose sight of the story you love. Because "out there", someone else will love it, too.
How have you dealt with negative feedback? Was there ever a point where you felt like giving up because of it? What did you do?
Readers will want to love my book, but some won't. Some will think it's crap.
That hurts, no doubt about it. Yet, as a writer, I have to be okay with that. Putting my words "out there" for others to judge is tough because some readers will love it and others won't.
I want to make everyone happy, but I can't. You can't either.
In the end, what matters is that you've done your best, gave it your all, listened and incorporated suggestions as you were able, and that you love the book. If, after six million rounds of revisions, you don't love the book you're left with, then you've lost your way.
You. Must. Love. Your. Book.
Get readers, get suggestions, get feedback. That's all good stuff. But if the world loves your book and you don't, you won't be happy. You wrote the story that was in your heart. Polish it, make it better, but don't lose sight of the story you love. Because "out there", someone else will love it, too.
How have you dealt with negative feedback? Was there ever a point where you felt like giving up because of it? What did you do?
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Singing In the Shower
With today's blog post, you were probably afraid (or excited) to scroll down, in case I had photos. Ha!
I love to sing. I sing everywhere I go. In the car, in the shower, in the supermarket, at work. It's not because someone is listening, or because I have a recording contract and there are cameras following me around. I sing because I enjoy it.
I need to look at writing the same way.
This blog post from Writers Beware describes writing as "deliberate play", something you practice and enjoy doing. I can get so caught up in crawling toward the oasis of publication that writing loses its joy for me. I need to stop sometimes, forget about the WIP and just write for the fun of it, write to get better at it, write for me.
A commenter mentioned a book by Ursula LeGuin called "Steering the Craft" that has writing exercises. I think I'll pick it up.
What do you do to keep writing fun, and to get better at it?
I love to sing. I sing everywhere I go. In the car, in the shower, in the supermarket, at work. It's not because someone is listening, or because I have a recording contract and there are cameras following me around. I sing because I enjoy it.
I need to look at writing the same way.
This blog post from Writers Beware describes writing as "deliberate play", something you practice and enjoy doing. I can get so caught up in crawling toward the oasis of publication that writing loses its joy for me. I need to stop sometimes, forget about the WIP and just write for the fun of it, write to get better at it, write for me.
A commenter mentioned a book by Ursula LeGuin called "Steering the Craft" that has writing exercises. I think I'll pick it up.
What do you do to keep writing fun, and to get better at it?
Monday, September 20, 2010
A Matter of Perspective
This blog is dedicated to love stories- reading them, writing them, enjoying all sorts of stories but particularly those about love. I've used it to share thoughts on writing and publishing as I go through this stage of my life. Today, though, I don't want to talk about writing or reading. I want to talk about what's important. Love.
Love one another.
It's more than a commandment from Jesus. It's the core of all that matters. At this very moment, I have one friend facing blindness, another facing deafness, two facing death from cancer, some with marital strife, and more who are unemployed.
I get so wrapped up in "my book"- editing it, getting critiques, queries, synopses, rejections... on and on it goes, this obsession with getting the darn thing published. And yet what truly matters is loving people. I've been blessed to meet people through this journey, great folks on this blog, through Twitter, through Facebook.
Sharing life with one another is what matters. The good, the bad and the ugly.
So thank you, for being part of this community, part of my life. For being part of this love story. Life is hard-- no one doubts that-- and the only way to get up each day is to have people around you (physically or virtually) who care, who prop you up. Be that person for someone else today, if you can. And I'll do the same.
Love one another.
It's more than a commandment from Jesus. It's the core of all that matters. At this very moment, I have one friend facing blindness, another facing deafness, two facing death from cancer, some with marital strife, and more who are unemployed.
I get so wrapped up in "my book"- editing it, getting critiques, queries, synopses, rejections... on and on it goes, this obsession with getting the darn thing published. And yet what truly matters is loving people. I've been blessed to meet people through this journey, great folks on this blog, through Twitter, through Facebook.
Sharing life with one another is what matters. The good, the bad and the ugly.
So thank you, for being part of this community, part of my life. For being part of this love story. Life is hard-- no one doubts that-- and the only way to get up each day is to have people around you (physically or virtually) who care, who prop you up. Be that person for someone else today, if you can. And I'll do the same.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Where The Story Begins (or Should)
Have you ever had a friend tell you a story that started something like this...?
"OMG, you won't believe what happened. Last Saturday, Luke and I went out- wait, was it last Saturday or last Sunday? I got my nails done on Saturday, oh yeah, so it must have been Sunday- and we ran into this old friend of his from California- wait, or was it Arizona? He seemed really tan, so it could have been either one, I guess..."
And all the while, you're thinking "GET TO THE POINT ALREADY!" while keeping your smile plastered firmly in place. You were sucked in with the enthusiastic "OMG!" and then the story was derailed with a bunch of detail that you didn't need or care about. So what if it was Sunday or he was from Arizona? Tell me what happened! That's what we really want to know.
And yet, when we sit down to write a story, we think it's all-important to set the scene, to give the reader insight into the character, to bog it down with back story. And that's just what happens.
The story- the OMG story- gets bogged down in all that muck.
I'm working on edits now and am going to keep this idea in the forefront of my mind, to help with pace and YA voice.
How would this thinking help you in your writing?
"OMG, you won't believe what happened. Last Saturday, Luke and I went out- wait, was it last Saturday or last Sunday? I got my nails done on Saturday, oh yeah, so it must have been Sunday- and we ran into this old friend of his from California- wait, or was it Arizona? He seemed really tan, so it could have been either one, I guess..."
And all the while, you're thinking "GET TO THE POINT ALREADY!" while keeping your smile plastered firmly in place. You were sucked in with the enthusiastic "OMG!" and then the story was derailed with a bunch of detail that you didn't need or care about. So what if it was Sunday or he was from Arizona? Tell me what happened! That's what we really want to know.
And yet, when we sit down to write a story, we think it's all-important to set the scene, to give the reader insight into the character, to bog it down with back story. And that's just what happens.
The story- the OMG story- gets bogged down in all that muck.
I'm working on edits now and am going to keep this idea in the forefront of my mind, to help with pace and YA voice.
How would this thinking help you in your writing?
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Tales from the Critique Trenches
In the spirit of 'show versus tell', I thought I'd demonstrate what it feels like to receive a critique.
Yep, it's about that pleasant. I have the good fortune to be working with two very different crit partners. Between them, they've given me some outstanding feedback that (once I incorporate it), is really going to make my manuscript shine. I can't thank them enough. But it still hurts like a... well, you know.
There's no way around the pain of critiques and editing. You just gotta do it. And if you survive, if you don't give up, then the book will be better because of the sacrifice. *sigh* Whimper fi! Hehehehe...
There's no way around the pain of critiques and editing. You just gotta do it. And if you survive, if you don't give up, then the book will be better because of the sacrifice. *sigh* Whimper fi! Hehehehe...
Thursday, August 26, 2010
The Real Scoop on Trends
If you read through the comments on the blog contest I ran last weekend, you might have noticed that readers' tastes in ice cream vary widely. Some people love Rocky Road- even consider it amongst their favorites- while others count it in the 'bleuch' category. And it's not just Rocky Road that has people on opposite sides of the fence. There are very few flavors repeated, either as a like or dislike, which got me to thinking:
Ice cream flavors are like books.
Say what? Hear me out. Readers listed their favorite flavors of ice cream and their least favorites, and no two posts were the same. I imagine that if I ran a similar contest and asked people to list the best and worst books they'd read, we'd have comparable results.
Different strokes for different folks, right?
What's great about this is that we have an abundance of ice cream flavors and a whole bookstore full of tomes that range from the highly literary to the downright fun. What's bad about this is that publishers (and, I imagine, ice cream manufacturers) are looking for products that will appeal to the crowd because the more they sell, the more money that they make.
So while they are looking for the next cookies and cream blockbuster, maybe I am busy at work perfecting my pumpkin ice cream novel. I am going to do my level best to make sure it's the richest, smoothest, creamiest dang pumpkin ice cream that ever graced a cone, but no matter what I do, it's still pumpkin ice cream. If you like pumpkin ice cream, you will love the book I'm dishing out. If you don't, then maybe you won't. That doesn't mean that there isn't room for my unique flavor, or that there won't be people who list it among their favorites. It just means that everyone is different.
Maybe the pumpkin craze will be sweeping the nation and my book will come out at just the right time. Or maybe red velvet cake will be 'in' and pumpkin will be so 'out' that no one reads it at all.
That's not up to me. My only concern is putting everything I have into making the best pumpkin ice cream I can so that when it touches your tongue, it has the greatest chance of finding a lifelong fan.
To that end, I've been burning countless brain cells editing my manuscript. Someday you may be curled up on the couch with your toes painted, holding a bowl of your favorite ice cream and my novel in your hands. If I've done my job right and the fates align, when you reach the end, you'll tell a friend, "You have got to try this. It is fantastic!" And that is the sweetest ending ever.
Ice cream flavors are like books.
Say what? Hear me out. Readers listed their favorite flavors of ice cream and their least favorites, and no two posts were the same. I imagine that if I ran a similar contest and asked people to list the best and worst books they'd read, we'd have comparable results.
Different strokes for different folks, right?
What's great about this is that we have an abundance of ice cream flavors and a whole bookstore full of tomes that range from the highly literary to the downright fun. What's bad about this is that publishers (and, I imagine, ice cream manufacturers) are looking for products that will appeal to the crowd because the more they sell, the more money that they make.
So while they are looking for the next cookies and cream blockbuster, maybe I am busy at work perfecting my pumpkin ice cream novel. I am going to do my level best to make sure it's the richest, smoothest, creamiest dang pumpkin ice cream that ever graced a cone, but no matter what I do, it's still pumpkin ice cream. If you like pumpkin ice cream, you will love the book I'm dishing out. If you don't, then maybe you won't. That doesn't mean that there isn't room for my unique flavor, or that there won't be people who list it among their favorites. It just means that everyone is different.
Maybe the pumpkin craze will be sweeping the nation and my book will come out at just the right time. Or maybe red velvet cake will be 'in' and pumpkin will be so 'out' that no one reads it at all.
That's not up to me. My only concern is putting everything I have into making the best pumpkin ice cream I can so that when it touches your tongue, it has the greatest chance of finding a lifelong fan.
To that end, I've been burning countless brain cells editing my manuscript. Someday you may be curled up on the couch with your toes painted, holding a bowl of your favorite ice cream and my novel in your hands. If I've done my job right and the fates align, when you reach the end, you'll tell a friend, "You have got to try this. It is fantastic!" And that is the sweetest ending ever.
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