I got WOWed on 7/8/9

I knew 7/8/9 would be a lucky day! I got my first WoW (Waiting on Wednesday) post - which means a YA book reviewer has marked my book as one she's excited to read! You have no idea how cool this is to a newbie author. Seriously. I'm levitating right now. Thanks Catt!

Click here to check out at Catt's blog, The Dreamer Reader, and see the 7 reasons why she wants to read the book!

Release Date! Happy Beltane!

I just got word from my editor that my release date has been moved up for marketing and publicity reasons. So, move aside July 1, 2010 - May 1, 2010 is my new release date!

It's weird that I can be both elated and nauseous at the same time.

Ever superstitious, I was a bit worried about “mayday” being a distress signal. So I googled it and found it’s just the mispronunciation of the French “m'aidez”(come help me). That aside, I like being released on May Day. It's a holdover from the Celtic celebration of Beltane, especially nice since much of the book takes place in Scotland. I might even have a bonfire in Lithia Park on Beltane Eve to celebrate! Because there are also some ancient Indian connections in the book, I had to also check out the Jyotiṣa calendar and 1/5/10 and indeed, it’s one of the few auspicious days in May 2010—at least according to Vedic Astrology, with which I am temporarily preferring to side on this matter.

PS – Let’s not tell my editor about any of this. It may make me seem crazy. Or crazier, depending on his current assessment of me...

Sláinte!

Consecutive number fun

Tonight if you set your alarm for 04:56, then tomorrow morning you will experience 4:56 on 7.8.9. Why? Why not!

An anonymous commenter (who are you?) had a brilliant idea:

Or, even better, set it for 12:34 and in less than a minute, you'll be at 12:34.56 on 7.8.9

I'm totally staying up for that! Thanks, Anonymous.

Shadenfreude Monday

The problem with publishing is this: it takes too damn long. The writing itself takes time, but then there are the additional years of:

1) Acquiring an agent and polishing the work for submission

2) Submitting to editors

3) Getting an offer and starting the editorial process

Once #3 happens you are still another 12-18 months from on-sale date. In my case I finished my first book in October 2006, signed with an agent in February 2007, sold the book in August 2008, and the book will hit shelves July 2010*. Doesn't that seem insane?

Yesterday a fellow author and I were bemoaning the fact that we think our first books may suck. Since I finished that first book in 2006 I’ve written a lot. And learned a lot. This other author and I both feel we’ve gotten so much better since the creation of our debut works, but what can you do?

Well, for one you can prepare for the worst. I just found this great site called The Worst Review Ever where well-know and award-winning authors post their worst review. Reading silly bad reviews of authors I actually like really takes the edge off!

*This timeline is pretty standard. For an unusual publishing story, hop over to read AC Voller's post about how "Gone With The Wind" was published. Warning: you may experience a tinge of erfolgtraurigkeit (the opposite of shadenfreude, but equally shameful).

Guest Blogger: Better Half

I'm still typing with only the lame left hand, which has clearly been getting a free ride all this time. It's spent the last 43 years as glorified a ring holder and now that I'm asking it to take up the slack for my sliced up right paw, it's getting a bit cranky. So I'll redirect to Scott's blog for all the exciting 4th happenings (sadly, no naked lady this year at the parade).

We're hoping there will not be another evening of watching the lawn go up in flames, but with an arsenal of fireworks and a big bucket of frosty beverages, there’s just no telling...

Happy Independence Day everyone!

Sweet Sixteens

Today is my 16th wedding anniversary. This is us at Kiana Lodge on Agate Passage, a short ferry ride from Seattle. It was an amazing day, but stressful as I prefer not to be the center of attention! For our honeymoon we were dropped by float plane to the middle of the British Columbian wilderness where a lone cabin sat on the shore of a lake. No electricity, no technology. But the ice chest was stocked with champagne and steak and every three days a pilot flew in to drop off provisions and make sure neither of us had been eaten by a bear. We caught enormous Rainbow Trout and cooked them on the wood stove in big cast iron pans. It was the best way to chill out after a big stressful wedding.

Today is also my 25^th High School reunion. This is me at 16. My marriage is as old as I was in this photo. Weird. My marriage may not be looking as fresh, but it’s definitely wiser than this sap!

Why I won't be typing much for a week or two...

The latest...

Another one flies the coop

When is enough enough? How do you know you are done with a manuscript? I find it a lot easier to write "The End" on a first draft than I do with subsequent drafts. I just sent off my work-in-progress manuscript (Astrid) to my agent and I had a hard time figuring out if I was “done” or not. When someone questions your work, pushes you to strive for more, it’s hard to know if you’ve reached that goal they had in mind for you.

For me, the biggest surprise in this publishing process is how little line editing is done early in the process—mostly you receive “notes” in letter form, describing overall things that need to change with not a lot of direction about how to do it. And it seems you could do one of a hundred things to fix each thing! In my experience, revision has been a bit like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. But then again, I have a very editorial agent who wants to go through a revision (or two!) before ever sending to editors.

So, Astrid is gone. She’s flown from my email to a desktop where she will be printed and scrutinized. Good thing I have so much to do in the coming weeks—stewing over whether or not the spaghetti is sticking to the wall is no fun at all.

How do you know when you are done?

And this is your brain on caffeine…

I'm back! After 1200 miles of driving with two kids across two states and an island, I'm ready for some parental help. It was tough without Scott, and not just because of all the driving. How do single parents do it? There is just no relief, no quiet, no end to the crushing responsibility of feeding, cleaning, and clothing children. Not to mention all the listening. The listening might be the hardest part.

While we were away, my cat of more than 16 years went down for The Big Sleep. I just could not face the fact that it was time so I heaped the entire burden on Scott, who had to take care of it before he left on his trip and before we got back. So after having been traveling for 14 hours, the kids and I arrived home at around 9 at night to an empty house for the first time in a very long while. Being the only driver, I was caffeine loading at every stop and was too wired to sleep. At about midnight when I felt I could finally get in bed, I went to check on the kids and screamed as I saw a cat running from the kitchen to the cat door.

Even though I heard the click of the cat door flap, I still walked the house with my headlamp and two brooms just in case there were any other cats that had decided it was okay to cruise around in our house now that Stimpy was no longer protecting her turf. And what about raccoons, I thought, a pack of raccoons could have been totally nesting in the house while we were gone! And opossums! Adrenaline coursed through my body as images of opossums hanging by their scaly pink tails from my son’s closet rod ran though my mind. The kids were so exhausted that Hank would probably not wake even if feral cats were gnawing at his succulent little fingers nor would Juliet stir if rabid raccoon kits curled up in the soft warm curve of her neck.

In a dark house at midnight, my imagination is more dangerous than an intruder.

Beyond the cat that managed to escape, no other animals were found. I stacked all three of our suitcases in front of the cat door and had to watch both episodes of the New Jersey Housewives reunion show to get my heart rate back to resting.

Scott returns tonight. He has been missed!

Out of Isolation

So, I was in isolation at the cabin for four solid days and missed reality TV and the internet almost more than I missed my family. But I got a ton of writing/revising/plotting done so I feel like things are under control as far as book deadlines go.

I drove back like a bat out of hell to make it to a doctor's appointment that was straight out of a nightmare. I was hooked up to an electrical current and had all the nerves in my arms and wrists repeatedly shocked to test for nerve damage due to carpal tunnel syndrome, also known as I Shouldn't Have Cheated Through Typing Class Disease. Fun!

Now I have just enough time to do laundry and repack, for tomorrow the kids and I leave for a 9 day trip. We'll be making our way up to Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands for my family reunion. We've rented this fabulous little chalet for our immediate family:

Isn't it adorable? Home base for the rest of the extended family will be at the exquisite Timber Lodge. Me likey:

Orcas is a spectacular island with lots of good memories, all the way back to high school when my friends and I went to bike camp up in the San Juans. I spent a lot of time there when I lived in Seattle and we took the kids there for the first time just last year. We're all happy to be going back. I love any place you can only get to by ferry or float plane!

My postings might be intermittent for the next week or two! Happy summer everyone.

Off the Grid

In a few minutes I'm heading out to the Moody cabin for some high-level hermitry.

Between this evening when I arrive and Monday afternoon when I leave, I'll finish my revision of Book One, get to the halfway point of Book Two, and possibly dabble in a WIP I've got going on the sidelines.

No TV, no intewebz, no children, no laundry.

No problem.

Radio silence begins...NOW!

End of an Era

Today Hank spent his last day at University Preschool! Now, for the first time in six years, I have no children in preschool. Huzzahh!

We had a luau carnival thing and I signed up for the exploding volcano booth because really, who doesn’t like chemical reactions? I also souped it up with lots of red and orange food coloring because without it, baking soda and vinegar just looks like an oozing sore. Plus I let the kids scoop up big handfuls of pine needles and sticks to throw in the volcano so when the magma came rolling out it had some nice texture. I was shocked that no one had taken that booth until afterwards, when I stepped in from the outdoors and realized I smelled like I'd just pulled two shifts at the pickle factory.

Some snaps from the day...

Crowding the tattoo table.

Hank decided on a full-face Spiderman face tattoo. After a whole box of wipes, some of the red pigment still will not come off.

It gives him a bit of a drunken Irishman’s glow.

It really can't be called the last day of school until the parachute comes out.

Hank walks up to receive his memory book from his teachers.

His self portrait on the front is not that far off...

Cognitive Dissonance and the ARC

I just read my first ARC and I’m devastated.

An ARC is an Advanced Reader Copy that the publisher prints up and then sends out to buyers and reviewers to get an early buzz going. Authors get a case of these too, to use as they see fit.

As part of The Tenners, a group of Young Adult authors making their debuts in 2010, we circulate the ARC among our ranks so we get a sneak peak at what’s going to be published next year.

I just finished Kimberly Derting’s The Body Finder and am blown away. To say I’m intimidated would be an understatement; it’s honestly made me consider never sending my ARCs out at all. Ever. To anyone. Kim has a perfect plot with two great lines of tension. As the engine of the book, this plot makes The Body Finder read like a luxury sports car runs—really fast with a smooth ride. In comparison, my plot is more like one of those early model Fords, where after pushing and pulling lots of levers, you would crank the car to get the engine going and then bounce around in the cab because the thin tires absorb none of the shock of the crappy unpaved roads.

I’ve been thinking a lot about cognitive dissonance lately—you know, that bad feeling you get from having two contradictory ideas at the same time. For instance, these two thoughts live side by side in my head at all times:

- I want to be a published author.

- I don’t want anyone to ever read my book.

As my release date inches ever closer, I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle the public scrutiny.

While I privately suffer with my crisis of confidence, may I suggest you place your order for The Body Finder? Congratulations, Kim. Amazing debut work!

Literal Video Hilarity

My sister justs sent a link to this and I don't think I have ever laughed out loud alone for that long. Still wiping the tears away... I'm now going to watch every Literal Video ever made. It's genius!

Nude Dude

I'm getting some flack from my friends in Seattle because my little towns is, again, in the news for having random naked people roaming about.

Last year we made the national news because of the fracas over the naked lady with a conch and now we've got an old dude getting his daily exercise by cruising through town naked and making children burst out in tears. It was my first time seeing a very old man in the nude and I must say, gravity wreaks shocking havoc on some parts of the anatomy.

Both skin lovers moved here from California, natch. Viva the lax nudity laws of Oregon!

Just like the space shuttle (without the rocket fuel)!

My book has a launch meeting date!

On July 21 the marketing, editorial, and design people all get together to discuss my book, set the title in stone, and start cover design. My editor asked me to send lots of title ideas and cruise Amazon for covers I like. So many choices! So many directions to go!

Help! What are your all-time-favorite book covers?

LA Conference!

I was in, then out. Now I'm in again! Arriving Thursday afternoon, leaving Sunday night. Who's in? Who's up for dinner Thursday night?

I've been reading my post about the last conference and marveling at how a year could have passed so quickly. Deadlines be damned! I just can't quit you, conference.

Feast Your Eyes

Move aside, Pygmy Tarsier--there's a new pygmy in town! The Pygmy Jeroba is smaller! Cuter! Has more alien-like eyes!

I was hypnotized by this video. Only the Japanese could so romanticize a miniature rodent feasting on tiny shreds of cabbage.



Not enough? Need more big-eyed pygmy action? Enjoy:



Kind of has a rat/duckling hybrid feel, no?

And now for some shameless self-aggrandizement…

In January I was shocked to find out that I was the winner of the Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship for Young Readers Literature, judged by Printz-winning author An Na. Today I was shocked to find a story about me in the Oregon Literary Arts Quarterly! For those of you related to me, the entire story can be found here, but for the sake of brevity I’ll post the good bits below:

In July applications traveled from our office in Portland to judges around the country. Christy’s application went to author An Na’s home in Vermont. After reading through all the young adult submissions, An Na selected Christy for the Edna L. Holmes Fellowship in Young Readers Literature.

Judge An Na commented on Christy’s promising writing:

“Raedeke’s portrayal of a teen protagonist grappling with secrets, her family’s as well as her own, shines with details that amuse, enlighten, and startle as we recognize ourselves and others in the everyday revealing moments of truth and pain. As only the best writing can accomplish, the story compels us to take a leap of faith and believe in the unusual, to lose ourselves in a character’s life and voice as her struggles and questions become our own.”

Best blurb on a nonpublished, desk-drawer work ev-ar! Despite the fact that An Na loves the book, my agent has sent it back to me for revision twice. Hopefully I’ll get it right this time… 

This weekend we were invited to be the mystery guests at something called the Ashland Secret Society Dinner. Basically for the last 18 years a group of friends has been having a monthly dinner, to which a mystery couple is invited. Does it say something that it’s taken 18 years for them to get to us? 

Anyway, the host decides how to introduce the guests and for us he asked that we write down some odd things in the manner or two-truths-and-a-lie. But as a twist, he wanted them all to be true. Then hidden on a balcony above the living room where the group was gathered, Scott and I had to read our lists:

Christy 

For my 40th birthday week I went to a monastery for silent seclusion.

I have Bill Gates’ comb in my desk drawer.

One Halloween I spent the night in a 500-year old Scottish castle. 

After breakfast of toast and tequila, I jumped of the I-5 Bridge into Lake Shasta (for those who have never seen this, it’s like jumping off a skyscraper)

Scott

By not going to seminary, I have broken a 300-year ancestral streak of Lutheran Pastors.

My mother and stepfather, a nurse and a doctor, ignored the fact that I had a broken leg for a week. 

I have walked deep into the cave where Zeus is said to have been reared.

I once thought I was going on a standard advertising Booze Cruise on Lake Washington in Seattle and found myself with Steve Forbes on the Forbes Yacht in all-too-casual clothing.

Once the group had voted on what was true we were allowed to come down, show ourselves and reveal that all the statements were true. Word to the wise: don’t fall for this trap. Once you list anything remotely odd that you’ve done everyone expects you to be supremely interesting and engaging. Fortunately, Scott shines at this kind of thing (while I wash down beta blockers and pretend to be comfortable as the center of attention). There’s a reason I’m a writer—and it mostly involves being alone in a room…

Recycling, Kid Style

My kids get something from rom Toys R Us that they've spent months longing for and then spend five minutes with it before getting bored. But give them a cast-off box and the possibilities are endless!

This one, from my recent ergonomic chair purchase has been a robot, a toy cart, and a slide, among other things. My favorite use of the cardboard has to be what they call the “Luxury Box” created as a TV-watching base. They take turns being on the first or second floor. 

They loved it so much they wanted to eat dinner in/on it, so I indulged them, "Luxury Box" style. Becasue it won't be long before the aperture narrows on their eye for possibility and a big box loses its magic.

The Claws That Haunt

I am not always a good mother. Revision: I am often not a good mother. But if you want to grow something in water, I’m the mom to have. Triops, fish, crustaceans, frogs, snails, seamonkeys, algae—you want it, I’ll help you grow it. 

So this week we built a pollywog nursery in the yard and went out pollywog hunting. We made three stops before we finally tracked some down at an old reservoir, and we now have 14 beautiful babies scurrying around under a layer of lacy duckweed. 

My children’s first experience with tadpoles ended with me possibly breaking some environmental bio-hazrd laws. It started innocently enough through a grow-a-frog by-mail thing. You get this tiny aqua version of a hamster habitrail called Tube Town, put the ’wogs in, and watch them grow. It was great (for me, the kids got bored after about 42 seconds) to watch them sprout their tiny little legs and arms and turn into itty-bitty frogs. After a week or two I noticed one of the frogs was getting much bigger than the others, then one morning one of the smaller frogs a had vanished and the larger frog had a bit of a pot-belly. A few days later the other small frog was gone, and the lone frog remaining was licking his smug little frog lips. I kept my distance and had the kids feed him after that. He was the kind of frog that had long toenails that you could hear click against the plastic of his aquarium. My daughter enjoyed picking him up and feeling the little claws, but that’s something I really couldn't abide. 

One day we realized he could touch all four walls with this arms and legs and the clicking of nails was getting louder as he grew, so we transferred him to the lovely new aquarium chock-full of a variety of interesting fish that my in-laws had given the kids. I think you can see where this is going. The next morning the aquarium was empty, save for the frog, who looked like he could use a cigar and a couple of Tums. 

By that time we learned not to put anything in with him. But after the massive fish buffet, he grew really big, really fast. I started to dream about him and those sickening claws tippety-tapping against the glass. I won’t say exactly what we did with him because after looking this species up on the web and reading things like, “when released into the wild they have the capacity to wreck entire ecosystems by eating native wildlife such as fish and turtles that have no natural defense against these creatures,” I’m pleading the fifth. 

Lesson learned: no frogs by mail. Now we just get native species and let them do their thing outside the house. Who doesn’t love the sound of (clawless) frogs at dusk? 

Addicted to Goodreads

Are you all fans of Goodreads? I'd joined a few months ago, entered a couple of books and then left it for dead. I didn't really see the point. After the initial entry it felt a little too much like entering my snack calories into FitDay - a chore with not much reward. 

But then one day I poked around a little bit and I was hooked. Hooked! Really, it combines the best of what I love from online book browsing with my love of CIA-level-profiling of the people I stalk online. I've been burning up my library card checking out stacks of books recommended by my online peers and they don't even know it! Like Facebook, it's the ultimate way to get personal information without having to employ any actual interpersonal skills. Huzzah! 

Plus, once I started entering books I'd read, forget it. My All or Nothing Switch (on which I'be been trying to install a dimmer for years) was flipped and I voraciously ripped through my last three years of B&N and Amazon orders to post my books. In the end I got a pretty collage for my blog. Bonus! When I find some time I'll try to work in all the books I've bought in meatspace as well, which takes actual work rather than just cutting and pasting from Amazon. So, yeah, it might be a while.

I urge you to give Goodreads a try - more for book recommendations than for a catalog of your own reading. And please, if you sign up, make me your friend so I can peruse your books as well...

The Expatriate: Interview With Author Stephanie Burgis

Ever since I read Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas and Hemingway's A Movable Feast as a teen I've wanted one thing: to live abroad as an expatriate. However, the choices I continue to make get me no closer to that goal, which only fuels the burning envy I have when I read about expatriates. Today I bring you a perfectly seethe-worthy case study in expatriatness:

Name

Stephanie Burgis

Age

Too damn young to be so accomplished

Stats

Spent a year in Vienna on a Fulbright scholarship, studying Austrian music history before receiving Masters degree in Historical Musicology. Was accepted to the Clarion West six-week residential writing program where she met her husband, the writer Patrick Samphire. Now resides in Yorkshire, England where she can freely use the term expatriate. Has a three-book deal for regency-romance-flavoured fantasy series (my own categorisation, not hers). Ed. note: See how easily I can slip in the u and swap the z for an s? It's all part of my expat preparation program.

I like to start interviews with a deal report becasue it's a good way to get all info about book, agent, and editor all in one place, but Stephanie says her report is all wrong now. "My editor and I have both changed publishers (I followed her from Hyperion to Atheneum Books), and the book titles (and series title for the trilogy) have all changed!" she says. "My trilogy is now called The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, and Book One: A Most Improper Magick is due to be published by Atheneum Books in early 2010."
Becasue we don't get a blurb about the book's premise, I'll add the summary at the bottom of the interview. For now, let's get to The Expatriate!

How did you meet your agent?
I'd heard of Barry Goldblatt years ago as a really stellar YA fantasy agent - he represents a lot of my favorite writers in the field - so he was always my dream agent, from the moment I first decided to market A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK. I’d never met him in person or online - I just mailed him a query letter and hoped like crazy for him to like it. So you can imagine how excited I was when an email from him popped up in my inbox a week later, asking for the full manuscript! And from then on, everything went just amazingly well - he offered representation, as did another couple of really good agents at the same time, and I was suddenly in the unexpected position of getting to make a choice. I am thrilled that I signed with him. He's been absolutely wonderful.

Can you tell us how your book deal happened?
After I signed with Barry, I did one more round of revision based on his critique, and then he sent the novel out to 11 different editors, giving them a 1-month deadline to reply. Two editors made serious offers at the end of the month, and we ended up choosing to sign with my editor, Namrata Tripathi, who has been fabulous.

What was the inspiration for A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK and how long did it take you to write?
A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK mixes up my two favorites genres of fiction - fantasy adventures and Regency romantic comedies. But I really never planned to write it!

I was actually already in the middle of writing a different - a very different! - novel, one that was very angsty and dark and adult. It was the kind of novel I felt that I *should* write if I wanted to be a Serious Writer, rather than what I actually *wanted* to be writing (or reading!). Then, as I was chopping onions one day for lunch, I actually heard Kat's voice very clearly in my head, speaking the first two lines of A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK. ("I was twelve years of age when I chopped off my hair, dressed as a boy, and set off to save my family from impending ruin. I made it almost to the end of my front garden...")

I giggled as I "heard" those lines, and that was it - I was hooked. I just had to write down those first two lines to save them for later...and then I just had to write the next paragraph and the next...I wrote the first two chapters in a week, having more fun than I'd ever had writing *anything* before. Then I forced myself to stop, because I was convinced that it was a commercially impractical thing for me to do. A few years earlier, I'd come very close to selling an adult historical fantasy novel with my first agent, and I was convinced that that meant I should write more dark, adult novels as my way to break into publishing. I told myself that it didn’t make any sense for me to write a lighthearted, funny book, no matter how much fun I was having with this one.

So I put away A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK for almost a year. But I missed it like crazy, and I kept wondering what had happened to Kat and her sisters. Finally, I gave up, because I couldn’t focus on any of those serious, angsty novels I thought I was “supposed” to be writing. I came back to Kat instead, I told myself I would just write it for fun and not worry about ever marketing it, and I wrote the rest of the book in a big, joyous rush, finishing the first draft three months later.

So...it took me only 4 months of actual writing time to write the first draft of A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK (followed by another 3-4 months of revisions), but if you add in the year I took off in between, I guess the answer would be a year and a half.

What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?
A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK is due to be published sometime in early 2010 - there's no exact publication date yet, but I'm waiting with bated breath! :) I've been through the copyedits and have just turned in my dedication and acknowledgments.

What are you working on now?
Right now I'm revising Book 2 of The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, which is full of scandalous gossip, notorious rakes, and wild magic. :)

Kat plays matchmaker to all three of her older siblings in your trilogy, but she doesn’t even look for her own true love. Why not?
The easy answer is that these books are set in a Regency society where no real concept of “boyfriend” existed for well-bred twelve-year-old girls. The real answer, though, is a lot more complicated and personal.

When I was a teen, I loved the Regency romances of Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, as well as some adult contemporary romances. All of those books left me feeling hopeful and happy about my own adult future. When I read YA romances, though, I often ended up feeling really depressed and “less” because I didn’t already have a boyfriend, whereas the YA romances I was reading seemed to prove that “normal” girls were dating like crazy all through high school.

The truth is, although I and my friends from high school have all experienced wonderful romance as adults, none of us had any luck with romance as teens, and I think that’s not uncommon for smart girls who are better at schoolwork and writing than at makeup and flirtation. There are lots of wonderful YA romances out there - I particularly love the romances in Maureen Johnson's and Sarah Dessen's novels - but a serious romance just didn't feel realistic for Kat at this stage of her life, partly because of my own personal experiences, and those of my friends.

I wanted Kat to have all the fun of vicarious romance, by observing (and sneakily manipulating!) her older siblings, but I also wanted to empower those smart high school girls who aren’t getting any romance of their own yet. So Kat, at twelve years old, is much more focused on her family, and on the magical challenges that face her as she discovers and develops her own powers, than on trying to find the perfect boy.

On the other hand, if the series ever continues past these first three books to show Kat growing into adulthood, then of course I’d love to explore her eventual romance, with all of its attendant magical complications... ;p

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
Yes! Don't imitate my mistake of writing what you think will be most publishable/what you think the market wants. Writers are terrible at making those predictions! Instead, write what calls to you the most strongly. Write the novel that's most fun for you, and there's a good chance it'll be just as fun for other people, too!

Where can we stalk you on the web?
www.stephanieburgis.com
Livejournal blog
Twitter

And here's the summary of Stephanie's book (this was what she sent in the query that landed her the agent Barry Goldblatt).

Her mother was a scandalous witch, her brother has gambled the whole family into debt, and her Step-Mama is determined to sell her oldest sister into a positively Gothic marriage to pay it off--so what can twelve-year-old Kat Stephenson do but take matters directly into her own hands? If only her older sisters hadn’t thwarted her plan to run away to London dressed as a boy and earn a fortune! When Kat makes a midnight foray into her mother’s cabinet of secrets, though, she finds out something she never expected. Her mother wasn’t just a witch, she was a Guardian, a member of a secret Order with staggering magical powers--and Kat is her heir.

Of course, there’s no chance of Kat choosing to join the Order that forbade her parents’ marriage...but Mama’s magical mirror doesn’t seem to understand that. It keeps following her wherever she goes, even when the family travels to Grantham Abbey to meet the sinister Sir Neville, her oldest sister’s chosen fiancé. And what with Sir Neville showing a dangerous interest in Kat’s untapped powers, her mother’s old tutor insisting that she take up her mother’s position as a Guardian, and her sister Angeline refusing to listen to her about anything, as usual...well, it’s a good thing Kat kept her boy’s clothing, because she may well have to use it--especially if the rumors of a highwayman are true.

Thanks so much for the interview, Stephanie! You've kept the expatriate dream burning in me!

Smell an apocalypse? Get thee to Georgia!

This really freaks me out. On a barren knoll in northeastern Georgia there’s a man-made monolith (unveiled in 1980) that’s built to withstand most any disaster. In addition to being an astronomical tool, instructions for rebuilding society after an apocalyptic incident are etched into the stone. Several languages are represented, including a couple of dead ones.

The capstone reads Let these be guidestones to an Age of Reason and the instructions tell us to keep human population at 500,000,000 or lower, pay attention to diversity in reproduction, and create a new worldwide living language, among other things. Buried below the enormous granite monument is a time capsule. And I’m just dying to know what’s in it.

Only one living soul knows what group of people commissioned this work and he’s not talking.

Have any of you lovely southern bloggers seen this thing in person? It’s at once baffling, titillating, and frightening. What do these people know that we don’t? Why would northeastern Georgia be the place to put this massively expensive set of instructions? Could that be the safest place in the world from an apocalyptic standpoint?

Wired has a really great article about it if you’re interested in reading more.

Test Your Title...

As an addendum to the title post from yesterday, here's a fun tool for testing the likelihood of a bestseller based on your title.

Click here to test your title.

How did you score?

Baboon Metaphysics

Books titles are tricky. Titling is a marketing function performed by the publisher and while the author does have input, it’s the publisher’s call. That’s okay with me—I like to rely on experts so I’ll go with whatever they give me. I’ve never been wed to any of my titles anyway, and there have been a few already. The book that Flux is publishing started as a manuscript called The Fáistine, which became The Last Daykeeper when I was agent hunting. Then when my agent submitted to editors she renamed it Prophecy of Days, and the working title my editor has given it is Prophecy of Days, Book One: The Daykeeper’s Grimoire. In a couple of months it will go through the marketing/titling process and come out with an ISBN and a final title. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get me the Odd Title Prize.

Yesterday the Oddest Book Title of the Year was announced. The winner? The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-miligram Containers of Fromage Frais. That title edged out other front runners, including Baboon Metaphysics, Curbside Consultation of the Colon, Strip and Knit with Style, Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring, and—my personal favorite—The Large Sieve and its Applications.

I’d love to see some other working titles. Care to share your titles and/or title evolution?

From Mushroom Farmer to Word Wrangler: Author Denise Jaden

Denise Jaden is one of those people who seems to have done everything, from farming mushrooms to dancing professionally. And now with her forthcoming novel from Simon Pulse she can add "Author" to her ecclectic resume. Go Denise!

Here's her deal report from Publisher's Marketplace:

Denise Jaden's LOSING FAITH, about a teenage girl whose quest to solve the mystery of her sister's death leads her to a strange religious cult, to Anica Rissi at Simon Pulse, for publication in 2010, by Michelle Humphrey at Sterling Lord Literistic (NA).

Welcome, Denise! Can you tell us how you met your agent?
I met my agent through the blind query process. I know a lot of aspiring writers think this never happens and that those who have agents "know" somebody, but for me this was not the case. I kept an eye on the Verla Kay "Blueboards" and sent out a few queries at a time to agents who were actively pursuing young adult fiction and sounded like a good fit for my book.

Can you tell us how your book deal happened?
In October, 2008 I attended the Surrey International Writers Conference. I still didn't have an agent at this point, but I did sit down with several at the conference to pitch my book to. I also pitched it to Anica Mrose Rissi, Senior Editor from Simon Pulse. Anica loved the idea for my book and invited me to send her the full manuscript. I chose to hold back from sending right away after the conference, and instead kicked up my efforts to find an agent first. Once I had found a wonderful agent (Michelle Humphrey from Sterling Lord), we made plans to submit my manuscript to Anica and several other editors. The whole process went fairly quickly for me. I attended the conference in October, found my agent in November, submitted to editors by the end of January, and had an offer from Simon Pulse by the beginning of March.

What was the inspiration for your 2010 debut book and how long did it take you to write?
LOSING FAITH was inspired by a couple of incidents I experienced as a teen. A close friend of mine was killed by a drunk driver when I was in tenth grade. This influenced the way I shaped LOSING FAITH around the loss of a sister. A few years after high school, I experienced a second tragedy, another car accident with another death (no alcohol involved), but this time I was at fault. Writing my character through her grief, guilt and eventual forgiveness was cathartic for me as an author as well as the basis for a great character journey.

I wrote LOSING FAITH during National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo) in November 2007. That's when over a hundred thousand writers around the world attempt to write a novel in one month. Well, I did it! But that's not saying I had a saleable book after thirty days (not at all!). In fact, I spent the month of September beforehand on a thorough outline of the book. Since LOSING FAITH is a mystery, I really needed to have clues and, more importantly, a satisfying solution in place before starting the actual writing. The first draft took me 21 days, and then between passing it back and forth to critique partners as well as revising, I spent about another eight months on it.

What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?
My release is scheduled for fall of 2010 (I'm still waiting on a more specific date). I am currently working on the first round of revisions.

Other than writing, tell us about some of your other jobs and/or hobbies.
Let's see...I've been a mushroom farmer, jewelry manager, fitness & strength competitor, and church secretary. At the moment, I split my time between writing and homeschooling my five year old son. I'm also a professional Polynesian dancer and have traveled worldwide as a feature dancer/dance captain of my dance troupe.

What are you working on now?
I have several novels in various stages of revision. BELLY UP is about a pregnant teen who fights to keep her baby despite the pleas of her emotional and infertile mother. APPETITE FOR BEAUTY is about an insecure teen who discovers her perfect sister's life-threatening secret and tries to intervene before it's too late.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
Writing for yourself first and foremost will make your writing more honest and believable. It may also give you peace of mind in the sometimes long process toward publication.

Where can we find out more about you on the web?
My website can be found at www.denisejaden.com, where I also have links to Facebook, Twitter and Live Journal.

Thanks Denise! Cults have always been one of my pet fascinations, so I can't wait to read this one...

A Good Day

What a great Mother’s Day! I got everything I wanted:

- Bagel and coffee in bed with homemade presents from the kids
- Time to read my manuscript (in bed!)
- A clean house
- My favorite dinner of herb-crusted steak sandwiches, spinach salad, and warm brownies right from the oven
- Lots of love from kids and husband

What more could a person want?

And Speaking of Strange...

This tops the Cat Collar Mystery.

Mysterious keys. Check it out!

Cat Psycho In The Woods

A very strange thing has happened. Let’s start with the setting. My dad built a house on five acres on the top of a mountain in Jacksonville, and it’s not the kind of place you can just wander by or accidentally find yourself. There’s a gate with a code and even if you just park there and slide through the gate you still have to walk the quarter mile driveway to get to the house. In sum: it’s remote.

Recently, two cats were abandoned on a road near their house. After going though all the channels to get them back to their owners, they ended up adopting them in lieu of sending them to the pound. No one wants middle-aged black cats so their stay there would most likely end with The Big Sleep. Because there are all sorts of kitty predators in the woods around their house, the cats are now indoor only and they don’t wear collars.

So, yesterday dad and his wife Pam drove into town to take Pam’s mom to an appointment. When they returned, they found the larger black cat - still inside the house - wearing a shiny new red collar.

They checked all the doors they thought they had locked and found a side door to the guest room was indeed unlocked.

The fact that nothing was missing is perhaps the creepiest part of all. What kind of person would brave sneaking into a house only to put a flashy but useless collar on a cat? Which begs the question: What’s would be that kind of person’s next move?

Babies! Books! Author Sara Bennet Wealer is the Ultimate Creative Machine!

Author Sara Bennett Wealer is having a banner year. Not only did she sell her book to HarperTeen, but she just HAD A BABY! Yep, just two days ago she gave birth to a little girl, her second child.

The bio Sara wrote for the Tenners site is very amusing, and I recommend going straight there, if only to see how elegantly she can segue from “I love ballet” to “I write a lot about poop” with only two sentences in between. I simply cannot do it justice here! Go, go! (Then please come back....)

Here’s Sara’s deal report from Publisher’s Marketplace:

Sara Bennett Wealer's debut RIVAL, in which two high school seniors compete for a prestigious singing scholarship, set against a backdrop of the events that turned them from best friends to rivals, to Erica Sussman at Harper Teen, by Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency (world).

Hi Sara! Can you please tell us how you met your agent?
The traditional way. I queried, then sent a partial, then a full. Holly loved my book (which actually *wasn't* RIVAL - I'd sent her a newer manuscript that came thisclose to selling, and that I'm planning to revise). I loved how enthusiastic and professional she was, and she's been a dream to work with.

Can you tell us how your book deal happened? It happened within hours and was heralded by an airplane flying over my house, tugging a banner that said, "Please let us publish your novel!" :-)

Actually, unlike some of my agency mates whom you've already interviewed (*cough* Rachel Hawkins *cough*) it took awhile. Erica Sussman, who now is my editor at Harper, told us that she loved RIVAL but felt it needed some tweaks before she could take it through the various approval committees. She shared her suggestions, and I agreed that they would make the book stronger, so I agreed to a revision. When I was finished, Erica took the book to acquisitions. They loved it, too, but felt there were a couple more things that needed to be done in order to get a final sign-off from those farther up the food chain. So I revised once more, and it paid off. Harper made an offer in October. I feel so fortunate to have had a champion in Erica. Her thoughts on the story really helped me take it to that all-important next level!

What was the inspiration for RIVAL and how long did it take you to write?
I worked on RIVAL off and on over a period of about six years. During that time, I wrote two other novels as well, one that will never see the light of day and the one I mentioned earlier, which I currently am revising.

RIVAL was inspired by my experience as a singer in a competitive high school music program. There was only one high school in my hometown, which also had a major university, and that meant you had a high concentration of very talented, very driven people. Being in the top choruses meant lots of rehearsals and lots of traveling, which created quite a pressure cooker when it came to relationships. There were rivalries galore and I had my fair share, though "grown up" me wishes I'd focused more on being friends than on who sang better or who got the lead in the musical. The memory of what that atmosphere was like inspired me to write RIVAL (though, of course, nothing that happens in the book actually happened in real life).

I also wanted to write a book that kids who are interested and/or active in the arts could identify with and enjoy, though RIVAL isn't just about music! There's a romance, Homecoming drama, scheming BFFs--and if you aren't into singing, just substitute cheerleading or your favorite competitive sport. In high school, rivals pretty much can be found around every corner.

What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?
I'm waiting on a concrete publication date. I just turned in my formal revisions and am awaiting feedback from my editor. I imagine copyedits will be coming next and then... well, I'm dying to see a cover!!

So will you be singing opera on YouTube to promote your book?
Probably not! My voice isn't what it used to be, though I still like to sing when I can find time. I do plan to create a spot on my website where visitors can explore the various singers, musicals, etc. that I mention in the book. And I've got some marketing ideas that could include real teen singers showing off their skills. They would be MUCH more fun to watch than I ever would.

What are you working on now?
I'm working on two projects. The first is a re-write of the novel I mentioned earlier. The second is a totally new project that I'm super-excited about, though I always feel funky giving out details of a work in progress. Let's just say it deals with a whole 'nother kind of rivalry, and it may or may not have an element of the paranormal.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
Be obsessive, but objective. By obsessive, I mean that you have to be willing to sit your butt down every day and write, whether you feel inspired or not. You have to be willing to keep submitting and working, no matter how many times you get told "no," until finally you get a "yes." I tell my friends it's like beating your head against a wall. You get to a point where the next blow could be the one that breaks it all down, and you sort of have to say, "I either get brain damage, or I bust this sucker, but either way I am not quitting!"

At the same time, you have to be objective about your work. Find good critique partners and listen to what they say. Be willing to rip your stuff apart and start over. Educate yourself about how the publishing business works and behave professionally as you look for an agent and publisher. Don't fall into the trap of blaming others for the fact that you haven't made it yet. It's not that nobody appreciates your talent or that the market only wants the next Twilight or that agents are evil, etc. Many, many times, the problem is that your work is not ready for prime time, which can be difficult for people to hear. When it is ready, then things will start to happen. They still won't be easy (I don't think anything in this business is ever easy), but when you see that wall start to come down, you'll know it was due to your own hard work, and that is an incredible feeling!

Where can we find you on the web?
You can find my website at http://www.sarabennettwealer.com/ (There's a lovely "coming soon" message there now, but I plan to go totally live within the next month or so--even planning on doing a cool giveaway. Yay!) I'm also on Facebook and on Twitter and I blog at LiveJournal.

Thanks Sara! Hearty congratulations on your amazing creations, both literary and human!

Ah, the humanity!

Sometimes I am an idiot. Like today. As I mentioned in an earlier post, today was the "date to appear" stamped on the photo ticket I got in the mail awhile ago. So I actually put on clothes that have to be dry cleaned, got my children off, and then showed up at court expecting to talk to someone Judgy. Well, officially Judgy, that is, not just judgmental.

Instead I got an unfriendly woman standing behind a sheet of bullet-proof glass. The microphone on my side was down by the sliver of an opening that will allow a piece of paper to slide through but not, say, a hunting knife. This meant that I had to bend over like I was talking to a toddler in order to speak through the glass while looking at her belt buckle, not her face. This is municipal court? What's "courtly" about this?

To make a long story short, through a series of misunderstandings that I was too embarrassed to admit, my case is now going to trial. The best part? The part the snarky woman behind glass didn’t tell me until after I chose this route? There was an officer in the van, not a robot.

I’ll face him at my trial on June 10.

Raedeke v. Robot

Today I am off to face a robot in traffic court. I have a lot of robots in my life, I don't need them now accsusing me of things and then mailing me photos as proof. I’ll admit to 29, but not 36 in a 25 zone! I think I might exercise my right to face my accuser in court.

I’ll let you know how it goes. I'm sure you're all trembling with anticipation...

Happy May Day

I love May.

May feels like an appetizer at a good restaurant; a small peek, a little taste, of what’s to come. Then we get our beautiful hot and dry summer, June through September, like the hearty main course. Fall is short but sweet: coffee and dessert. Winter? Winter is the bill, when you realize how much that great bottle of wine cost. You hate it but pay it, knowing no great meal comes free.

This is Juliet, my eight-year-old, at the May Day Concert and Dance.

No Stranger To Fiction: Interview With Author Steve Brezenoff

Today we have author Steve Brezenoff, a New Yorker living in exile in Minnesota. He’s a member of the Tenners because his first Young Adult book debuts in 2010, but he’s no stranger to publishing. In fact, if you look him up on Amazon you’ll find a whole page of books he’s written and co-written. In addition, Steve used to work as a production editor at Simon & Schuster and he has an agent with a name that I precede with “Count” in my mind every time I read it, because Edward Necarsulmer IV just begs for a title of continental nobility. Oh, and his book deal was inked in Italy! So yeah, Steve is fancy in every possible way.

Here’s Steve’s deal report from Publisher’s Marketplace:
Steve Brezenoff's untitled book, about four Long Island teens whose lives unravel suddenly and dramatically (and with a fair amount of pot), to Andrew Karre at Carolrhoda, for publication Fall 2010, by Edward Necarsulmer IV at McIntosh & Otis (NA).
(Note: The working title is SPLINTERS, but that will probably change.)

Hi Steve! Welcome. So, can you tell us how you met your agent?

I haven't actually met my agent yet, Edward Necarsulmer IV at McIntosh & Otis, though I did see him on a panel at SCBWI NYC conference earlier this year. I liked the cut of his jib; he was the only one up there in a suit, which for some reason struck me as awesome.

So I submitted it to him and he was mind-blowingly enthusiastic about the partial, and just as enthusiastic with the full. I was flattered and there was much stammering on both our parts, and some disagreement on JD Salinger's best work, and the Grateful Dead's best work, and we agreed we ought to work together.

Can you tell us how your book deal happened?

I joined SCBWI in 2007, I think, and went to the local (Minnesota) chapter's conference in the fall of 2008. There, I went to Andrew Karre's presentation on YA--he contrasted Kurt Cobain and John Cougar Mellancamp to great effect. Riveting, naturally. Afterward, I approached him with this wacky resume thing I made (at my wife's suggestion!): it was on one side my work-for-hire writing experience, of which there is a fair amount, and on the other my WIPs, summarized in snappy little blurbs. I don't know how much value that resume had; it may have been enough that my name and email address left with him. Either way, Andrew emailed me pretty much right away, asking for fulls on all the WIPs on that resume. Little did he know, that was essentially impossible, since none of my WIPs were actually finished. Rookie mistake FTW!

I banged through my YA WIP, realizing it was the stronger MS (I'd been working on it, on and off, since around 1999), sent it along (though it was WAY too short) and he liked it. If I can pat my own back a little, he read the whole thing in one night! Granted, it was much shorter then, but still. I was over the moon.

Six months later, after I'd nearly doubled the length of the thing, Andrew was ready to make an offer. That's when I decided to get an agent (see above). What was the inspiration for your 2010 debut book and how long did it take you to write? The initial inspiration for the novel was a short story I wrote in a college creative writing class in 1995 (yikes). The protagonist was a few years younger than the one in Splinters, but his obsession with death and his closeness with and admiration for his older sister were already evident. After my own father passed away, it became very obvious that the protagonist's father would die as well. From there, the bulk of the novel wrote itself. What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?I'm on the schedule for fall 2010 at Carolrhoda. Right now, I'm waiting for my editor's first official round of notes so I can get started revising. He assures me it will be a fairly light series of revisions. I hope he is right.

If you could choose any writer or writers to blurb for your debut, who would you choose?

Since we're strictly fantasizing here, I am free to choose JD Salinger. However, more realistically, I'll say Blake Nelson (author of Girl, years ago, and Destroy All Cars, this year) and Sara Zarr (author of Story of a Girl and Sweethearts). Both of those writers are masters of YA voice, in my opinion, and I would be beyond thrilled to have even a drop of respect from either or both of them.

What are you working on now?

I always have a few work-for-hire jobs going on, about which I usually can't say much. They're almost always hella fun to write, and I think of them as my day job. (That and being a stay-at-home dad, both of which are pretty awesome!) In my spare time, I'm working on another YA novel; this one has one foot slightly in urban fantasy, but is still mostly about a foul-mouthed teen. I like writing foul-mouthed teens.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?

Go to conferences! Meet editors and agents and writers at those conferences. Practice your elevator lines, and if you're just not that good in person, write them down, so you just have to introduce yourself and put a piece of paper into editors' and agents' hands.
Oh, and, ummm, don't do that until your WIPs are no longer IP. Have something finished.

Where can we find out more about you on the web?

I blog at http://stevebrezenoff.blogspot.com/, and my twitter is @sbrezenoff.

Thanks, Steve! Great interview. As a seasoned professional, we’ll be looking to you for advice when 2010 rolls around...

Eyes Up Here, Please

Some nice things have been happening over at the home of my forthcoming books. Publisher’s Weekly just ran a story on how well Flux is doing, with sales up 30% over last year and publicists are “fielding calls recently from Hollywood agents and producers looking to tap into popular teen reading trends by adapting Flux titles for television shows.” In this sh**y economy, I’d call that more than a ray of sunshine. That’s full-on sunspot action.

When you look at their list, it’s hard to believe that Flux is just three years old. The much respected Andrew Karre is responsible for those first great years and now Brian Farrey, the new acquisitions editor (and former senior publicist at Flux), is adding his own flavah. I’ve really enjoyed working with him so far—he’s the perfect blend of smart and irreverent. One of the things he’s changing up is the blog, which is moving in the direction of podcasting. Check out the newly redesigned Flux blog for details. Brian is a big fan of musicals and I’m hoping he brings that love to a few of his podcasts. Can you see it? The stage is dark, the audience is hushed, Brian sits alone in a chair framed only by the gilded proscenium. Then a small, soft light floods his face as he delivers the latest news, a cappella, about Flux books and authors. Quiet at first, then…wait for it…wait for it—there it is! He hits the money note!

(To be clear, there was no mention of these podcasts becoming musicals, but one can hope.)

And lastly, the bitchin’ Flux covers are not going unnoticed— Publisher’s Weekly Shelftalker columnist Alison Morris even went so far as to award a gold star in this article. Can't wait to see what they do with my covers.

Yay Flux! You make me proud to be in your stable.

The Three Book Deal: Interview with Author Julie Kagawa

Today’s featured author is Julie Kagawa, whose 2010 debut novel is THE IRON KING (Harlequin Teen). If you visit her website you can read her amusing bio, which includes the following, “To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dog trainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time. Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, and one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good.”

I love her already.

Welcome, Julie, Can you tell us how you met your agent?
I met Laurie McClean, my fabulous agent from Larson-Pomada Literary agency, at a writer's workshop in Louisville, KY. The workshop was held at Spaulding University, and after a week of classes and instruction, we would get the chance to pitch our novels to a panel of agents and editors on Saturday. The end of the week was very exciting and nerve wracking; you'd think we were preparing for the arrival of the royalty, the way everyone was talking about it. But to an unpublished writer, an editor is nearly that.

Early Friday morning, before anyone else was up, I walked into the lounge to see a woman I'd never seen before standing in the middle of the room drinking a Coke. I knew it wasn't one of the students, and all the agents and editors flying in later were staying at a hotel. So I had no idea who this person was. Maybe security let someone slip in unnoticed.

"Uh ... hello?" I said intelligently.

"Oh, good morning!" said the strange person, much more cheerful than I would be at seven in the morning. "I'm Laurie McClean."

And at that moment, all the pieces clicked in my brain. "Laurie McClean" sounded awfully familiar, as if I read it somewhere before, like on the schedule. The agents and editors were supposed to be flying in today. The director said something about an agent who was not staying in the hotel, but in the dorms with the students.

Oh crap. This was an agent! I just "Uh helloed" an agent!

And to top it off, I was taking her to lunch that afternoon.

Fortunately, Laurie is one of the nicest persons on the planet. We sat in the lounge and talked for several minutes before the rest of the students got wind that an agent was in the building and mobbed the room. I talked to her a bit more at lunch, she asked for a few pages of my novel, and a few weeks later I nearly fell out of my chair when she asked to represent me.

Can you tell us how your book deal happened?
Laurie sent my novel to Natashya Wilson at Harlequin Teen (then MIRA), who loved it enough to offer a three book contract.

What was the inspiration for your 2010 debut book and how long did it take you to write?
I always loved old, creepy faery tales, the ones that showed faeries as primal and dangerous, instead of glittery winged sprites. But when I decided to write a book about faeries, I got to thinking: what are the fey afraid of? The obvious answer, in ancient myth and in more modern stories, was iron. They can't stand the touch of iron and steel, something we are completely surrounded by now. We even have monsters that inhabit machines: gremlins, worms, viruses, ect. So, what if there were a new type of faery, born from technology and progress? How would they affect the more traditional fey? And, from that thought, the Iron Fey were born.

THE IRON KING took me a little under two months to write, thanks to Chris Baty's book, No Plot, No Problem. Chris is the founder of a little known writing workshop you may have heard of: National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNo WriMo. I was already 40k into the story, but I was super-eager to finish, so I set my own 30 day, 50,000 word deadline, and typed like a madwoman until the story was done.

What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?
THE IRON KING will come out in February of 2010. I'm waiting on copyedits now, but last week my editor e-mailed me cover concepts; you could hear me squee-ing a mile away.

Who is your favorite character in your book?
I would have to say Ash, Queen Mab's son, just because I love dark, stoic bad boys who can wield pointy objects. But of course, a smart-ass talking cat named Grimalkin runs a very close second.

What are you working on now?
I'm working on the second book in the series, THE IRON DAUGHTER. And when that is done, onto the third and final book, THE IRON QUEEN, right now just a wee twinkle in my eye.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
Persevere. Don't let anyone tell you you're too young, or too old, or too inexperienced, or too whatever. Learn everything you can about your craft. Go to conferences, workshops, and critique groups. Read books on writing. Strive to make yourself a better writer. Accept criticism graciously; don't think your story is too special and unique for people to understand--if they don't understand it, it's usually the fault of the writer. But don't let anyone discourage you. Above all, keep trying. As someone once told me: "If you want something bad enough, you'll get it. If you didn't get it, you didn't want it bad enough."

Where can we find out more about you on the web?
My website is at juliekagawa.com
Thanks so much for the interview!

Thank you, Julie! Looking forward to THE IRON KING and its sequels!

All The Gym's A Stage...

The town I live in is quirky, mainly because our economy is driven by theater. Each year more than 300,000 people come to our little college town of 20,000 to see some eleven plays in three theaters. Because the Oregon Shakespeare Festival employs 500 people, you run into a lot of theater folks while doing your everyday business. The one place it’s becoming a bit much, however, is the gym.

I understand multitasking, but must one practice one’s monologue while other people are trying to catch up on their trash TV? I mean the whole reason I joined this gym was because every single machine had a TV attached to it running expanded cable – I was going to multitask by loading up on makeover shows on the Style Network while simultaneously burning my daily 500 calories. But now, as theater season swings into full gear, I’m being sabotaged by actors. Sure, I like comedia dell'arte as much as the next person on a treadmill, but even with headphones crammed as far down my ear as they’d go, I couldn’t hear a word of Dress My Nest over Truffaldino next to me running all his lines from The Servant of Two Masters while logging miles on the recumbent bike, the prefect piece of exercise equipment, it seems, for wild gesticulation.

Writer in Bloom: Interview with Author Amy Brecount White

I’m incredibly excited about fellow 2010 author Amy Brecount White’s book, FORGET-HER-NOTS because I love love love flowers. The idea of using a flower's secret power to change behavior is fascinating to me—cannot wait to read this one!

Here’s Amy’s deal report from Publishers Marketplace:

Virginia Duncan of Greenwillow Books has acquired FLOWERSPEAK by Amy Brecount White, in a pre-emptive offer. In the novel, a girl discovers that she can use flowers and their magical potency to make people change their behavior – even fall in love. The novel is tentatively scheduled for a spring 2009 release. Steven Chudney of the Chudney Agency did the deal.
[We didn’t make the spring 2009 release, and Greenwillow really wanted a spring release. The title was also changed to the more fun and catchy FORGET-HER-NOTS.]

Hi Amy, can you tell us how you met your agent?
I had heard good things about Steven Chudney from several people and checked out his website. Our taste in books seemed very similar. At that point, his website asked for the first three chapters. He loved them so much he said he was tempted to offer representation just based on those! He did read the whole novel, though, before I signed.

Can you tell us how your book deal happened?
Over the years, I had lots of agents and editors express interest in my novel mostly at SCBWI conferences, because I have such a great premise, imho. It took a few years, though, for me to get the story exactly right and to find the perfect house—Greenwillow. Once we did, Virginia Duncan made an offer within two weeks and right before Christmas. It was the best present ever!

What was the inspiration for FORGET-HER-NOTS and how long did it take you to write?
I used to write a lot of articles for newspapers and magazine—mostly lifestyle and travel pieces—so I was always on the lookout for new ideas. I found out about the language of flowers from a book called, TUSSIE-MUSSIES, which is the Victorian name for symbolic flower bouquets. Once I knew about it, I started seeing the language everywhere. I also gave several friends symbolic bouquets, and I definitely wished that the messages I was sending to them came true. So it was an easy jump from wishing to imagining real magic in the blooms. And I do believe there is a special magic any time anyone gives flowers.

How long did it take you to write it?
Hmm, how long was it? From conception to an offer, about 8 years. I was working on lots of other projects, too, and taking care of my three kids. (I like to say it had the longest gestation period of all my children.) But, I must admit, my learning curve on the craft of novel writing was a little steeper than I expected. It’s a lot different from writing an article, but I think–I’m hopin’—I’ve got it now.

What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?
Right now they’re saying February 2010, and I’m on copy edits.

If you could have any magical power, what would it be?
Flower magic, of course! I’d love to be able to awaken emotions and transform lives with a few lovely blooms. Actually, there are several scientific/psychological studies showing how receiving flowers elevates your mood and feelings of happiness for several days. And patients who have flowers in their room generally have shorter stays and respond better to medications, according to another study.

Soooo… what are you waiting for? Go give someone some flowers!

What are you working on now?
I’m writing a YA novel tentatively called, STRING THEORY. It’s about relationships, growing up fast, and taking care of the earth. I’ve described it as HOOT meets STORY OF A GIRL. No magic, but a few flowers sprinkled in.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
Read everything you admire in your genre and then read it again. I was a very good prose writer, but it took me awhile to get a novel right. Even if you can string words together, it’s a real craft and skill to be able to tell a story well, so people want to keep reading. I still go back and read some of my favorite novels – GRACELING, WICKED LOVELY, and THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND – to see exactly how they’re sewn together. It takes also practice and dedication to learn to read like a writer.

Where can we find out more about you and your book?
If you want to learn more about me, FORGET-HER-NOTS and the language of flowers, or read my blog, check out my website.

(There’s a really cool list of flowers and their meanings on Amy’s website – just found out that my favorite flower means fantastic extravagance! Love it.)

Thanks for the interview, Amy! What flowers should we send for congratulations?

Mad Scientist, Secret Lab, Clones! Creepy Creeperson, M.D. is Back.

Did you guys read the latest from Dr. Zavos, the mad scientist hell bent on making cloned children? Yesterday he claimed he’s already cloned 14 human embryos and put 11 of them into the wombs of four women who wanted to give birth to cloned babies! The cells? Yeah, culled from dead children. Apparently grieving parents are desperate enough to do almost anything. This is total movie material, including the fact that he’s operating out of a secret lab, suspected to be in the Middle East where there’s no ban on cloning.

Why would a parent want a developmentally challenged version of a previous child to the tune of more than $45,000? Why not just have another child naturally? It seems the easiest way for Dr. Zavos to get test-cases is to prey upon parents who cannot get beyond their grief. Is this ethical?

One of my favorite freelance clients is the Women’s Bioethics Project, a think tank in Seattle that focuses on making sure women don’t get hosed in the policy making process. Let’s face it; almost all biotechnology issues have to do with women yet the majority of the people making laws about biotechnology are olde white guys but. Having hair sprouting from your ears does not necessarily make you wise, sometimes it just make you crotchety, shortsighted, and misogynistic. (Color me jaded.) Anyway, if you are interested in women’s rights with regard to medicine and biotechnology, check out the Women’s Bioethics Project. Interesting stuff.

The Dangerous Allure of Freelance Work

The past week or so I’ve had a deluge of freelance work for which I am most grateful, and not just because I love the ad agency that sends the work. See, I am secretly grateful that I have been too busy with “real work” to get back to Book Two. Maybe it’s the feeling actors get when they’re allowed to leave their happy homes and spouses to go make out with another actor in a movie. It almost feels like cheating on my book, but since it falls in the “work” category, all guilt is assuaged. I’ve been on a paid vacation.

But today, all three freelance jobs I was working on are with their respective clients, so alas, paid vacation is over. Even though it totally throws me off to write out of order, today I’ve decided to treat myself to a particularly enticing scene that I’ve been looking forward to writing. You know, just to get things rolling again. It seems with me and writing, inertia = everything. Well, that and my dog-training-based reward system—if I hit 2,000 words I get to Mix Sweet Shop for a lemon tart and the best cappuccino on the planet.

Off I go!

Storming LA - who's in?

Anyone planning on going to the SCBWI Annual Summer Conference in LA, August 7-10?

A Life As Fabulous As Fiction: Interview With Author Alexandra Bracken

If I pitched a novel about a funny and beautiful girl at college who writes a couple of novels, gets the call that she’s landed a top literary agent while out celebrating her 21st birthday, then gets a book deal with Egmont and subsequent foreign deals all before graduating from The College of William and Mary with a double major in English and History, the response would be, “Right, like that would ever happen!” Well, it has. It's the true story of Alexandra Bracken. This is all so baffling to me; as previously noted in this blog, my college career could be measured in acts of stupidity performed not works of literary merit produced. Ah, Alexandra, how do you do it? (BTW, this photo of Alexandra was taken on her 21st birthday right after she accepted representation by Writers House.)

Here's her deal report from Publisher's Marketplace:

Alexandra Bracken's BRIGHTLY WOVEN, about a girl with a dark curse who is taken from her village by a mysterious young wizard in the midst of an apocalyptic war, to Regina Griffin at Egmont, for publication in Spring 2010, by Lindsay Davis at Writers House.

Welcome, Alexandra! Can you tell us how you met your agent?
I finished Brightly Woven in the October of my junior year (2007) and worked on polishing it for submissions all through December. It took a lot of willpower to wait until AFTER finals were over to begin submitting to agents, but I just had this picture in my head of me sneaking a glance at my Blackberry in the middle of a test, trying to see if I had any new emails.

I submitted to my agent on the night of February 25th and she got back to me right away, asking for a full. At the time, I was trying to memorize the titles, authors, and content of a ridiculous amount of early American primary documents, because I had a midterm on the 27th. The 27th rolls around and I’m being a total Bitter Betty about the fact I have a monster midterm on my 21st birthday, so when my cellphone started buzzing with an area code I didn’t recognize, I ignored it, thinking it was a wrong number. I think you can see where this is going!

I took my midterm and promptly went back to my room for a nap. In the meantime, the same phone number calls again, only this time I get a message—and it’s from Lindsay Davis at Writers House, asking me to call her back. I flipped out and tried calling her back right away, but I got her voicemail. (There’s a side story here about my mom walking around Target, trying to visual Lindsay calling me back right away, but I’ll spare you the details!) Eventually, my friends brought me to Carabba’s for a quick birthday dinner, and that’s when Lindsay called me back and offered representation. It was lucky it was my birthday, because my friend had a camera on hand and took that picture of me a second after hanging up. The waitress brought me a martini to celebrate, too! Best birthday ever!

Can you tell us how your book deal happened?
I revised with my agent for a number of months, until we both felt that it was ready to go out and visit with editors. She submitted it to an awesome group at the end of October, and we started hearing back right away. The timing of it actually made it very exciting (but also stressful!), because editors were trying to finish things up before leaving for Thanksgiving and we weren’t sure who would be able to put an offer together in time. In the end, I was very, VERY happy to go with Egmont USA, who had gotten back to us very quickly with an offer and a neat marketing plan. I got to tell all my friends and family on Thanksgiving Day that we had officially accepted.

What was the inspiration for your 2010 debut book and how long did it take you to write?
There are two ways to answer this question, but I promise I’ll keep it brief! Brightly Woven wasn’t the first novel that I wrote while I was in college. My freshman year, I had finished this 150,000 word beast that began as a NaNoWriMo novel. I went through many, many agent rejections for it before finally shelving it. It was devastating to me at the time, and it really ate away at my creativity and confidence. When I finally had another idea for a novel, I was completely intimidated by the thought of going through it all again, so instead of writing it with the aim of trying to get it published, it was only ever going to be a birthday present for my friend Carlin, who had edited the aforementioned 150,000 word beast and had been an amazing support system. I was only done with half of the story by the time her birthday rolled around in July 2007, but writing it for a friend—and really, only for a friend—made the story something special, I think. So I have her to thank for restoring my writing mojo. (She’s wearing the green sweater in that picture, by the way!)

The actual story itself was inspired by the insane weather we had in 2006/2007, both at home in Arizona and in Virginia, where I was attending school. Coming from a city in Arizona that averages about 7 inches of rain each year (if we’re lucky!) to a place that got 45+ was a hard adjustment, even before we had Tropical Storm Ernesto AND a series of about five Nor’easters. I had literally never seen so much rain in my life!

But the idea for Brightly Woven didn’t come until I returned to Virginia from Winter Break. I had literally just walked back into my dorm room when my mom called to tell me that it was snowing. In central Arizona. I was so mad that I missed it by a day, but my mom only laughed and said, “You jinxed us, the minute you left it started snowing!” She wasn’t too happy when I hung up on her and immediately started brainstorming, but the idea of a girl unwillingly at fault for a series of weather disasters was way too interesting to pass up!

What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?
I don’t have an exact date yet, but I’m hanging out as a “Spring 2010” author. Right now I’m in the process of revising with my editor, so it’s still a little up in the air for me! I’ve heard that there’s a draft of my cover floating around somewhere, but I won’t get to see it until all the right people approve it.

How do you handle being both a writer and a college student at the same time?
There’s no easy way to do it, to be honest. I’ve been asked this by a number of students, both here at my school and some who have emailed me or left a comment on my blog. If writing is something that you love, then you should write! But if you’re going to try to be a novelist in college, you’re going to be confronted with a lot of problems and issues you wouldn’t have as a graduate. Midterms, finals, papers, social events, roommate situations, extracurricular activities, looking for jobs and internships, trying to figure out who you are and what you want to do with your life—and so on and so forth. I’m sure any writer will tell you that writing is a very lonely occupation and it’s difficult to juggle all areas of your life with writing, and it’s no different in college. I “sacrificed” (is it a sacrifice if you love it?) many opportunities to go out with my friends on weekends because I knew Friday or Saturday night was the only time I was going to have time to write that week, to say the least.

The advice I usually give is to just be disciplined and manage your time well. Don’t let your schoolwork fall by the wayside, because you’d much rather be writing. Well, of course you’d rather be writing than reading a textbook or studying, but don’t forget your parents (or you) are paying for you to get an education, not for you to skip class and have unlimited writing time. ;) That said, write when you can and where you can, even if that means plotting in the margins of your notebook where you might have doodled...

I hope that doesn’t sound scary! There are a ton of benefits, too—I can’t even tell you how much both my History and English classes have informed my writing. I like that I can go through the story and think, “I wrote this while I was taking 18th century British Lit!” or “I wrote this scene studying abroad in England!”

What are you working on now?
I have two projects that I’m working on right now! I’m about two-thirds of the way through a story about a reluctant immortal looking for a way out of his predicament, but I’m taking a break because the story needs to simmer for a while, until I work all of its kinks out. My other “secret” project is the story of a boy willing to do anything to save his childhood sweetheart, even if it means making a pact with a demon with terrible consequences.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
Write what you want to read and don’t even THINK about trying to be published until after you’ve produced something you love and believe in. Easier said than done, but when you genuinely love something it comes through in your writing.

Where can we find out more about you on the web?
I’m all over the place - Blog, Website, Twitter - so stop by and say hello!!
(I highly recommend checking out this little video from Alexandra's blog - I loved it!)

Thanks for the interview! And congratulations on creating such a fabulously fictional real life. Can't wait to read Brightly Woven!

A Pile Of Stinking Maws

Today I spent eight hours sitting four feet from this pile of gaping maws - faceless CPR dummies frozen mid-scream. (Just now getting around to that pesky Red Cross certification requirement for the Brownie Troop I've led for the past three years. Ooops.)

So I've been seriously dreading today. There is absolutely nothing I hate more than being trapped in a classroom with some pedantic gasbag. But I was kind of delighted when I walked in and was met with this pile of astonishingly horrific faceless dummies. And then I got a booklet with lots of really grotesque photos in it! But the highlight was when we got to pick our guy from the stack; we each hauled over our chosen and made a circle on the floor while the instructor produced a giant metal bowl and said, "Take one each from the face and lung bowl," with the casual indifference only one who uses the phrase "face and lung bowl" daily could have.

Things I learned:
* If you drink one box of pectin dissolved in water or juice each day for six days you will not get poison oak for six months.
* A person will always throw up while having CPR performed on them, even if they don't become conscious. This is not "sometimes" or "often" but always. They don't show that on TV.
* I have an aversion to avulsions.
* Always put a severed part in milk, not on ice.
* Give a hypothermia victim a thermos of hot chocolate with a stick of butter in it.
* Some people need to let everyone in class know about the most intimate details of their medical history.
* I could not work with the public at large.

BONUS - While I was with a pile of the unconsecrated, my son learned to ride a bike! Check out this link for his victory over physics.

Double Bonus - More maws.

The Honest Answers To Freaky Questions

You guys outdid yourselves! We need to publish one of those question books you whip out at parties - I got some great questions. Purple Clover, you're en fuego! Here are your random questions and my answers:

Did you really write your own query letter and how much help did you get if you did? I hate query letters. I went the conference route instead so that I could just write an email saying, “Here’s the manuscript you requested.” I spent a lot of time and money to avoid the dreaded query! Seriously, though, I do believe it’s far easier to toss a query in the trash from someone you’ve never met than reject someone you’ve met and liked.

Who's writing style is your book most like? That’s really difficult to answer. Honestly, I’m stumped. I don’t feel my book is good enough to even compare to any published works. I’d LIKE to write like a combination of Anne Spollen and Jennifer Egan and Heman Hesse and John Steinbeck. I’d write a helluva book if I could stuff all those brains into mine. BTW, full disclosure here: I have been playing it cool but secretly freaking out that Anne Spollen reads my blog! If you haven’t read The Shape of Water you are seriously depriving yourself. I'm sorry I can't better answer that question.

Do you snore? Yes. But daintily.

When I say "Most embarrassing moment" what comes to mind? *Gross Alert* I was on my university ski racing team, which was a mix of the coolest kids on campus—we had the badass downhill racers on the Alpine team and the beautiful Norwegian exchange students on the Nordic team. We were in a big van, driving up to Mt. Hood for a race the next day. After dinner, someone bought chewing tobacco and passed it around and I thought I’d try a pinch. As the van started, I felt instantly sick. Projectile sick. So I opened the window and hurled. Because it was so cold, my dinner froze onto the van window behind me, much to the disgust of the skiers in the back. I think I got my best time ever that next day in an effort to vindicate myself, but I could have made the Olympic Team and there would have been no vindication for that.

What do you think of Stephanie Meyer's work really? Well, first off I’m not into vampires or angsty romance, so even without discussing her writing style I can say I don’t like the series based on content. She’s obviously a genius storyteller, and sometimes story trumps writing style.

Refer your new readers to the post about how you use psychics instead of psychologists. Yes, I highly recommend this—it’s much faster, easier and more enjoyable than therapy!

Thanks to a few major scientific breakthroughs and a contest, you have won a trip to any planet or astronomical object of your choice to spend up to two weeks. Where would you go beyond Earth? Time and distance will be no object in this fantasy trip of a lifetime. Oh, and why do you wish to go there? Oh, how I wish this was true! I would go right to the galactic center to see what’s really there…though it’s 26,000 light years away, so I may need some sort of time travel device or wormhole. From there I’d hit the Pleiades and Jupiter. I may never come back…

Who is your therapist and why are you seeing them? Are you crazy :) Well, since I sort of turned the tables in therapy and know way more about him than he knows about me, I’m going to have to plead patient-doctor confidentiality and not reveal his name. He was in Seattle, I went to see him about 13 years ago when I was going crazy from squandering my youth by working round the clock at Microsoft. And yes, I am still crazy.

If I stopped by unannounced, how would I find your house and what is the most extensive meal you could offer me at the drop of a hat? (pending you opened the door and let me in..buwahahaha) You would find my counters clean but my floor not vacuumed (impossible with the state of my carpal tunnel). The living room is trashed because my son doesn’t have school on Friday and the dining room table is covered with the 34 books we brought home from the library this week, ready to be parsed into Me/Juliet/Hank piles. As far as food, I could make you a Mediterranean sampler plate (kalamata olives, roasted peppers, hummus, babaganoush, good crackers), or offer you a variety of cereals, or make you an ice cream sundae. That is all. Oh, and I could make pretty much any cocktail you could dream up.

As a detective, you want to put away a vicious rapist, but a crucial piece of evidence is lacking. You can plant it. Do you? Excellent/Scary question! I would not plant it, mainly because I believe in karmic law. Plus I’d forever be afraid of the scumbag coming after me.

Due to some freaky coincidence two very dear friends are in need of a kidney and you are a match for both. How do you choose? I guess I’d go with who is sicker. If they are both equally ill, I’d do a 2 out of 3 coin flip so each of us would have to toss the coin.

Got any favorite brands of deodorant? Why, do I smell? Actually I’m the catch-all for men’s deodorant. My husband has sensitive pits so he’s always looking for the perfect deodorant. Most of the time he nixes ‘em and I end up with it, so I use man deodorant. TMI?

Would you ever have plastic surgery? If so, what would you choose first if it was free? Oh, man. I have so much I’d fix/nip/tuck if I were not such a baby about pain. But it’s not worth it to me, pain wise, to do any modifications. Even Botox freaks me out too much to take care of the “11” wrinkle above my nose. The farthest I’d go is microdermabrasion and laser to remove dark spots on my face, and even with that I’d probably have to be mildly sedated.

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? I’m a cruncher so I’ll never know. I can’t even suck on a cough drop, have to crunch it up right away.

If you dropped the tootsie pop in the gutter and it was the last one and your child was screaming for it, would you let them eat it (all you have is a napkin to wipe it off...no water)? Um, yes. To bolster the immune system and all. Unless the gutter smelled like hobo pee.

You find a deceased author's unpub'd manuscript - the wife will stand to inherit half or all of the advance/royalties if you publish - do you publish giving her all the moolah or take it for yourself and give it a big rewrite thanking him in the credits for contributions to the idea? I’d be totally delighted to publish it and give the wife the money. I could never, ever take credit for work I didn’t do.

Your hubby receives a prestigious award (lets just say the Nobel) that is a once in a lifetime opportunity for him iand he wants you and the fam to go. You find out the publishing house wants to meet with you with a potential multi-million dollar negotiation for future works and movie options, in NYC at the same time. No reschedules - take it or leave it. Which do you choose? Hmm. I guess I’d go with the Nobel trip, figuring that if one publisher is offering that much another might offer something later…

What was the biggest lie you ever told? [Answer removed at the request of legal counsel.]

Ask Me Anything...Anything!

I'm secretive by nature. Maybe it's more reserved than secretive, I mean I don't intend to be mysterious or anything, I just don't enjoy talking about myself. I tried therapy once and it was torture! A whole hour of talking about me? I ended up turning the tables and learning WAY more about the psychiatrist than about myself. For instance, he liked to sketch in the style of Miro and preferred Haake Beck to O'Douls in the non-alcoholic beer department. A Vietnam vet, he was a reformed alcoholic who was estranged from his children for awhile and was on his third marriage, though he felt that was crumbling as well. I could go on. There's a reason this conversation is usually one-way; once you find out how screwed up the psychiatrist is how can you trust them to straighten you out? So my therapy was short lived. This may be obvious to many.

In some ways this blog feels like a one-way conversation. I blather on and the kindest of you make comments about my blathering. But is there anything you want to know about me? As you may have noticed, I don't proffer a lot of personal information because 1) that's my nature 2) my life seems utterly boring to talk about. But today I am an open book! Any questions I receive in the next 24 hours I will answer...completely and with however much honesty I can muster.

So friends, anything you want to know?

Boomerang!

Well, after all this interviewing I finally landed one myself! Check out Suzanne Young's blog for a quicky interview!

It's A Baltimore Thing: Interview with Author Holly Nicole Hoxter

Most of the Tenners I’ve interviewed have had these fairy tale stories of six-figure deals sold through auctions and pre-empts and frankly, they’ve been giving me an inferiority complex. So when I started reading Holly’s interview responses I was feeling a bit better because her road to publication seemed closer to mine—that is until I saw that she wrote her book in sixteen days! Sixteen days, people! It takes me nearly that long just to format my manuscript! So much for finding people like me. My inferiority complex is back in full bloom.

Here’s Holly’s deal report from Publishers Marketplace:

Holly Nicole Hoxter's debut, ON THE VERGE, in which a seventeen-year-old girl's world is turned upside down when her mother's suicide brings the older sister she never knew back into her life, and they have to work together to raise their 5-year-old autistic brother, to Jill Santopolo at Laura Geringer Books, by Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger (world).

[Note: The title has changed to THE SNOWBALL EFFECT, and it will be published under the HarperTeen imprint due to Laura Geringer's departure.]

Welcome Holly! Can you please tell us how you met your agent?
After toiling away on my first novel for over five years, I resolved to find an agent in 2007. I spent a lot of time on Absolute Write, Verla Kay's message board, and Query Tracker researching agents. My strategy involved reading everything I could about a potential agent online to determine if we would be a good match, and then heading to the library to find one or two of their clients' books. If I didn't like the books or thought they were very different from mine, I skipped over that agent.

I sent Sara Crowe a query for my first novel in May 2007 and she requested a full. Unfortunately, she passed about a month later, but said to keep her in mind for my next project. So when I finished revising the new novel that fall, I contacted her again. She offered representation a few days before Christmas. You can actually read my second query letter on Sara's blog, Crowe's Nest.

Can you tell us how your book deal happened?
After a round of revisions with Sara, she started sending the novel out to editors in March 2008. Jill Santopolo at HarperCollins made an offer three months later. It sounds so dull when I sum it up, but it was very exciting at the time!

What was the inspiration for THE SNOWBALL EFFECT and how long did it take you to write?
After a few months of querying my first novel, I was getting plenty of partial and full requests but no agent. It had taken me five years to get from initial idea to the querying stage, and that scared me. If no one wanted my first novel, would it take me five more years to write another one? I felt a lot of pressure to start a new novel, but I had no idea where to start.

One day in April, I had an odd dream about a dead old man in a bubble. He was on display in the center of town, as some sort of mourning ritual. Then the old man's widow pushed her way through the crowd and climbed inside the bubble with her dead husband. She cut open his chest and massaged his heart until it started beating again. The old man sat up and they hugged. Then they lay down again, in each others arms, and died together.

The dream stayed with me after I woke up. The old woman reminded me of my mother, who has always said that she hopes she dies before my father does, because she doesn't think she could live without him. As I sat in bed I wondered what my life would be like if that actually happened--if my father died, and my mother couldn't live without him. My sisters were only 8 and 9 at the time. If both our parents died, I would be their guardian.

And then, suddenly, I knew Lainey and her family, as if they'd been hiding in the back of my mind waiting to appear. I outlined for the next few weeks and then wrote the first draft in sixteen days. I spent the next few months revising and soliciting critiques from my friends and revising some more, then I began querying in the fall, starting with the agents who'd read my first novel and invited me to contact them again. So from initial idea to book deal was a little over a year. Pretty amazing!

What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?
The novel will be coming out winter 2010. I'm not sure about the specific date. I finished copy edits a few weeks ago and recently saw a draft of my cover. So basically, I'm not doing much of anything right now.

You love snowballs. What exactly is a snowball?
I never realized that snowballs were a "Baltimore thing" until a few years ago when I became friends with a girl from New York and she had no idea what they were. A snowball is basically shaved iced with flavored syrup. Maybe they call it a snowcone where you come from, but in Baltimore, they're snowballs and they're ubiquitous in the summertime. There are snowball stands all over the place. When I was a kid, we even had a snowball truck that came around every night like the ice cream man. They are awesome and delicious. My ultimate goal in life is to own a snowball stand. My teen sister actually works at one now, which makes me insanely jealous, but at least she hooks me up with free snowballs.

HarperCollins hated my original title and I did too, but it took us forever to settle on a new one. Finally Jill threw "The Snowball Effect" out there in a brainstorming email, and it was perfect. I love that it can refer to the general snowballing of events that are happening in Lainey's life, or it can refer to a specific scene where Lainey and her love interest visit a snowball stand.

What are you working on now?
I'm working on a novel about a girl who falls for the hot young drummer in her Dad's band. I don't know if it's any good—no one has read it yet! Hopefully I'll get it polished soon and send it off to my agent.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
First, figure out what your book is about. When I wrote my first query for my first novel, I realized I had no idea what it was even about. I'd been working on it for five years, but I couldn't even tell you the genre. Writing the "pitch" really helped me focus and rewrite the novel (again). So now whenever I begin a new project or get a new idea, I write a practice query letter right away to help me nail down what I want the story to be about.

Second, don't waste time getting discouraged. If one agent says no, query another. If no one wants your first novel, write another one. Don't become stagnant or start to feel sorry for yourself. If this is your dream, you'll make it happen or you'll die trying. Right??? That's the attitude you need to have.

Thanks for the interview, Holly! (And congratulations on your engagement and your book deal!)

Stop by and check out Holly’s LiveJournal, where she blogs about writing, her cats, and things that annoy her.

The Mystery of Advances

This is a really interesting article on advances. Coming from a marketing and PR background, I think the newer model of less money upfront but a 50-50 split of profits makes so much more sense. I really wonder how long the broken advance system will keep chugging along. After decades of only 30% success in recouping advances through sales, you'd think they'd move quickly to a new model yet every day I see massive advances announced in Publisher's Lunch. It's really puzzling!

Would you take a small advance and 50% of profits (instead of a minor percentage as royalty) or do you prefer the big advance up front?

Impermanence

The Helix Nebula - one of brightest and closest planetary nebulae. Isn't it beautiful? I'm a sucker for a bright ball of gas.
It boggles the mind to think that our sun will one day run out of fuel and look like this before going on to become a white dwarf.
Note to self: We are all just exchanges of energy;
truly nothing is permanent.

Sticky Name, Sticky Title: Interview With Author Anna Jarzab

As soon as I saw Anna Jarzab’s name on the Tenner’s site I knew it would get stuck. Do certain names stick with you? And once they're stuck must you say them over and over—silently, of course, using your brainvoice—until you've worn it out? Or is that just me and my mild OCD?

Anyway, the point of all this is that Anna's name got stuck in my head but I've been saying it like Ah-nah Yar-zahb, which is apparently all wrong. I just learned on her shiny new website that it’s Anna with a short A and Jarzab with a solid J. Just wanted to clear that up before it get stuck for any of my fellow compulsive-brainvoice-name-chanters.

Now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you about the person behind the catchy name. Anna is actually a publishing insider. She’s a graduate of the Denver Publishing Institute, has a Master’s degree in literature and creative writing from the University of Chicago, and works in book marketing in New York City. On the side she happens to write the occasional novel and get preemptive offers and two-book deals. Yeah, so what have you done today?

I'm dying to read Anna’s book, All Unquiet Things, because it was pitched as The Secret History meets Looking for Alaska—two of my very favorite books. Class struggle in an elite school with a murder mystery? That's my sweet spot! Count me in Ahnah Yarzahb, I am all over it.

Here's the Publisher's Marketplace deal report for Anna's sale:

Anna Jarzab's ALL UNQUIET THINGS, pitched as The Secret History meets Looking for Alaska, about two unlikely allies from different ends of the social spectrum at a NorCal prep school who band together to solve a friend's murder, to Francoise Bui at Delacorte, in a pre-empt, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, by Joanna MacKenzie at Browne and Miller Literary Associates.

And here is her beautiful-in-a-creepy-way cover:


Welcome, Anna! Can you please tell us how you met your agent?
That's a bit of a long story, but I'll try to condense it here. The summer after graduate school I got an internship at Browne & Miller, a literary agency in Chicago. It was such a great experience, I loved it and learned a ton. Joanna (MacKenzie, my now agent) was just starting to take on her own clients and really wanted to work on YA projects, but for a long time I was afraid to send my manuscript (which I started querying in fall 2007, right about the time I moved to New York) to her because I was afraid if she didn't like it she'd think less of me or something. Writers are neurotic, you heard it here last. Eventually I just sucked it up and sent her an email with a short synopsis of the book, and she offered to represent me about a month later. She's the most awesome agent, I couldn't be luckier.

Can you tell us how your book deal happened?
Joanna and Danielle (Egan-Miller, the president of Browne & Miller) and I worked on ALL UNQUIET THINGS for about six months before Joanna started submitting to editors. She sent the book to six editors the second week of September, and by the end of that week one of them (my now-editor) called to tell us she'd get back to us on Monday with a pre-empt offer. Over the next two days Joanna did a little bit of negotiating on the offer and we accepted it. It went INCREDIBLY fast. I was at work when the deal was done and I remember my friend Doug had to literally drag me up off my chair to give me a hug because I couldn't move.

What was the inspiration for ALL UNQUIET THINGS and how long did it take you to write?
I started writing ALL UNQUIET THINGS my sophomore year in college, which would be 2002, so about seven years at this point, which seems like an awfully long time to be working on one book but it has actually gone through two vastly different versions. The version I wrote in college was a huge melodrama with mysterious elements, and I abandoned it after it was finished for about six months. I went back to it because I actually really love the characters, realizing that to make it work I had to turn it into a full-out mystery, so I started making notes for that. When I went to graduate school the next year I opted to write a creative thesis, and ALL UNQUIET THINGS was it. As for what inspired it, I don't have a great answer for that. It's definitely a conglomeration of influences so thick it's hard to separate them out individually.

What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?
I just found out my pub date (or, I guess I should say "tentative pub date" since it hasn't been confirmed by my editor) through GoodReads, believe it or not. It's January 12, 2010, which is the day before I turn 26. Happy birthday to me! Right now I'm waiting for my manuscript to come back from copy edits. I suspect I will weep bitterly and then get over it. Then come ARCs!

What's the biggest change having a book published has made in your life?
It's funny, but at every stage in the writing process, the book feels a little less like mine, especially the stages that have nothing to do with writing: getting the cover, for instance. Having a face for Carly was truly jarring, because I was like, "That girl is a stranger to me." The cover is so beautiful and I love it, but it was odd for a while to see her come to life (or death, I guess). Recently we've been going back and forth about flap copy, and I started to feel a similar sense of alienation from the book, because someone else was talking about it, not ME. That feeling is only going to increase as time goes on because soon the book won't just belong to me and to my agent and my editor, it'll belong to lots (I hope) of readers. It's not a bad feeling, it's necessary and good because it means other people are investing in something that matters so much to me, but it always catches me off guard.

What are you working on now?
Well, Delacorte bought two books from me. By the time the deal happened, I had finished a second book, and we sent the three-page prologue along with the manuscript when it was submitted to editors, so instead of having "Book 2" on my contract, it actually says the title of my second book: MURDER BURGER. It's another YA mystery, but it's much more humorous and less dark (although I would not say "light"), a little more romantic. My editor has the manuscript now, but I'm not sure how long it'll take her to get to it, since it's coming out in January 2011 (although according to my contract it's due June 1, 2009, which is not that far away, so...) and, you know, priorities. Right now I'm working on a book I'm calling GEORGIA'S RESCUE, which is a quasi-post-apocalyptic pseudo-mystery set in semi-rural California. It's different than anything I've written before, so I'm working really hard on the synopsis and trying to not to talk myself out of it. I'm also working on another YA mystery, off and on, an Agatha Christie homage set in Pebble Beach, CA.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
The thing about writing is that the more you do it, the better you get. I've wanted to be a writer since I was in junior high and started writing really seriously in high school, so I've had many years of practice, but I learn something new every day. It's important not to get discouraged in the face of worthwhile critique, and to realize that it's not just going to happen with the flip of a switch: most people don't decide to write and then become instantly good at it. It's a process, so you've got to be in it for the long haul. Always write for writing's sake--not just to be published. If you write to be published, disappointment becomes more bitter than if you're more focused on the work itself. That's kind of my life mantra: "It's about the work, think of the work, focus on the work." My writing is the touchstone of my life. It's really cheesy, but whenever I get frustrated with things, in my personal life or in my writing life, I think of that scene in CENTER STAGE when the instructor tells Zoe Saldana "The smart ones know where to look when things get rough. It isn't there, it's here." And then she touches the barre, continuing, "No matter what happened in class, performance, last week, five minutes ago, if you come back here you'll be home." That's how I feel about my work.

Anna has a freshly hatched website, a blog, and she can be found in the realms of Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.

Thanks for the interview, Anna! I hope I haven't totally freaked you out by admitting that I used to chant your name, albeit incorrectly.

Just Finished Reading...

The upside of being in treatment for carpal tunnel, flexor tendonitis, and ulnar neuropathy (do I sound like I'm 87 or what?) is that there is less writing and more reading going on around here. I just devoured How I Live Now by Meg Rosof and my review is this: It's incredible. One of my new favorite books. There's a reason this book won a Printz and now I’m going to go to the library and check out everything she’s ever written all at once and gorge myself on her words!

It’s a slim book that can be read almost in one sitting, and is simple yet incredibly powerful. As a writer, what I marveled at the most was how she used virtually no quotation marks. Usually this means that scenes read more as “telling” than “showing” but Rosof writes so masterfully that I stopped noticing.

I’d recommend How I Live Now to everyone; it’s one of those books you cannot imagine anyone disliking. Any contrarians out there who did not enjoy it? I’d love to know why. To me this book seem flawless.

Warning - May Induce Envy: Interview With Author Rachel Hawkins

I must put a warning label on this interview: If you are an aspiring author and you seethe at stories of writers querying before a manuscript is finished and then getting a request for full from a top agent, or writing 120 pages in 24 hours and getting signed based on that work two days later, or having an agent submission accidentally turn into a big auction, then avert your eyes! Avoid this post! Either Rachel Hawkins is sprinkled with lucky dust or she’s a really, really good writer. Or both. We’ll soon see as her book is now officially less than a year away from debut!

Here is Rachel’s deal report from Publishers Marketplace (note working title was DEMONGLASS, but new title is HEX HALL.)

Debut author Rachel Hawkins' paranormal YA trilogy starting with DEMONGLASS, about a sixteen-year-old witch shipped off to a boarding school for witches, shapeshifters, and faeries, where the traumas of mortal high school are nothing compared to the goings on at "Freak High," for publication in winter 2010, to Jennifer Besser at Hyperion, at auction, in a three-book deal, by Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency (NA).

Hi Rachel, can you tell us how did you meet your agent?
Well, first off, I have to make a confession: I broke one of the most important rules of querying, and started sending out queries before the book was finished. However, at the time I A) was naïve and stupid, B) thought the book only had 50 more pages or so to be written, and C) thought it would take WEEKS for agents to start getting back to me.

Ahem.

So cut to about a week after I sent out my first query, and Dan Lazar at Writer’s House wanted a full. After I finished jumping up and down, I realized I did not actually HAVE a full to send him. So I threw up in my mouth a little, and then promptly got to work. Turned out the book DID NOT have 50 more pages- it was more like 120. I pounded those out in 24 hours. There was much consumption of chocolate and coffee. Also, there may have been some crying. Okay, there was A LOT of crying. Kids, don’t try this at home.

In the end, Dan passed on HEX HALL, but he DID give me several other agents to try, for which I’ll always be insanely grateful. One of those agents was Jenny Bent, who was then at Trident. Jenny sent me an email saying that it wasn’t quite her thing, but she’d shown my query to her friend/colleague, Holly Root at Waxman, and Holly really wanted me to get in touch with her. I emailed Holly, she asked for the full, and two days later, she offered representation! It was definitely a twisty road to getting an agent, but so worth it! Holly is Made of Win and Covered in Awesome Sauce.

Will you share with us how your book deal came together?
Holly and I worked for a couple of weeks on tweaking the MS and getting it ready to go out into the world. It went on submission the first week of April, 2008. If memory serves, we subbed to around a dozen houses. For the first week, things were pretty quiet. Then we got our first rejection. But that same day, we got our first offer! Quite the emotional rollercoaster! And the day after that, we had another offer on the table. Things started moving pretty quickly then, and before I knew it, we had several houses who said they were working on an offer.

That’s when Holly called me and said those magic words: “We have an auction on our hands.” And lo, there was much squeeing and dancing at Chez Hawkins.

The actual auction was supposed to start at noon on April 22 (I will never forget that day!) It was exciting, but also ridiculously nerve-wracking. It got so bad that I sent my husband to the store because we were both jumping every time my cell phone rang. So the hubs was MIA when Holly called around 10 and said even more magic words: “Are you sitting down?” Disney-Hyperion had come in with a pre-empt. I made Holly repeat the details of the deal about three times before it actually sunk in. And then I screamed. And cried. And babbled incoherently at Holly. Also, I may have used profanity. It was quite the moment.

What was the inspiration for HEX HALL and how long did it take you to write?
There were lots things that inspired HEX HALL! For one, I’ve always loved spooky stuff, especially stuff set in big, creepy houses, like The Haunting of Hill House, or The Turn of the Screw. Around the time I started writing the book, I’d just read Anne Rice’s THE WITCHING HOUR, and I really responded to the whole Southern Gothic/twisty family legacy aspect of that book. Also, I was teaching high school English, and I’d really fallen back in love with YA because of that. So I had all those things—creepy house, Southern Gothic, teenagers- percolating in my head when I sat down to start HEX HALL. I wrote the first chapter and a couple of “snippets” in January 2006. The story was very different then—my main character, Sophie, wasn’t a witch, just a regular girl, and the school wasn’t a reform school for monsters, but a regular boarding school. The original idea was that Sophie would get caught up in a supernatural mystery there (and there are still times when I wish I had written that book! Hey, maybe one day I will!)

Then I got caught up in work, and grad school, and family, and those 15 or so pages languished on my computer until October 2007, when I decided to quit my job and see if I could write a book. (I always have to give props to my husband when I get to this point in the story. We both quit our jobs at the same time because the high school where we were both working, um, was awful and soul-sucking. The hubs cashed out his retirement fund and worked a crappy retail job so that I could stay home and write. Books can get written without that level of support, but I’m not sure how!)

I had several half-finished projects that I thought about pursuing, but I kept getting pulled back to “that messed-up boarding school story” as I called it. Over October and November, I reshaped the story, but those key elements I really enjoyed—Gothic, spooky house, teen angst- remained. I finished it in late February, 2008, and I’d taken December off, so I guess it took me around four months to write. Or two years, if you want to count from the time the idea first occurred to me! ;)

What’s your publication date and where in the process are you now?
My pub date is March 2, 2010! So less than a year away now, hurray! Right now, I just turned in my copy edits, and the book is going to the presses in a few weeks, which fills me with ridiculous levels of glee. We’re also talking covers right now, so I’m waiting to hear something on that front pretty soon. I think it’s important for aspiring authors to know that even when you sell your book, there’s still EVER SO MUCH WAITING. I sold nearly a year ago, and I still have eleven months to go before I can go take embarrassing pictures of myself pointing to my book in stores.

Who is your favorite character in HEX HALL, and why?
I think I’m supposed to say Sophie, since she’s my main character and all, but I have to say, it’s actually her love interest, Archer. Shhh…don’t tell the others! ;) Now, as Sophie would be sure to tell you, Archer is The Hawtness, but that’s not why he’s my fave. I love him because he pretty much saved the whole book. I had this idea of creating a “decoy” love interest for Sophie, a guy who you would think would be her One True Love, only to have her fall for her REAL OTL in Book 2. The problem was, since I wasn’t interested in Fakey McBoyfriend, he was a completely blah character. Totally two-dimensional, and boring…ugh. And having this charisma-less, Ken doll of a guy for Sophie-who is feisty and funny and smart-to play off of, well, sucked. A lot. So when I was about halfway done with the book, I completely scrapped that character. I started to think about the fictional characters I’ve always crushed on, and bam! Archer showed up, all snarky and dreamy and carrying a boatload of back story. What’s more, he stopped being a fake love interest, and became a real one. And, best of all, he gave me a huge plot point for Books 2 and 3. So I lurve him and want to smoosh him and call him George.

What are you working on now?
I’m about halfway done with the sequel to HEX HALL. It doesn’t have a title yet, but personally, I have my fingers crossed for HEX HALL 2: HEXUAL HEALING. Sadly, I feel this might not fly with Disney. ;) I’m also in the prep stage (which means staring out my window and thinking, “Ooh, wouldn’t it be AWESOME if I wrote a book where, like, THIS STUFF happened?”) with a new series that will be sort of an offshoot of the HEX HALL trilogy. It deals with a relative of Sophie’s, and it’s set in the same “world,” but with different characters. And last but not least, I’m wrestling with a standalone tentatively called REBEL BELLE about a Southern Belle/homecoming queen turned supernatural assassin. You know, that old story.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
Don’t worry about the businessy side of things-agents, editors, query letters-until you have a product to sell (and yes, I realize I totally violated my own rule on that one! But in my defense, I’d spent a lot of time working on my writing before I jumped the gun with querying. Besides, grading a bazillion essays every year had definitely sharpened my inner editor, haha!)

I think a lot of aspiring writers get really caught up in that side of things-which is totally understandable!-and they neglect the whole craft part. Also, while critique groups and writing conferences are awesome and really useful, don’t let those things suck up the time you should be using to write.

And, the biggest thing of all, KNOW WHEN TO LET GO. Of your manuscript, that is. Obviously, you want it as shiny and special and pretty as you can get it, but if you keep putting off querying until your book is “perfect,” you’ll NEVER get it out there. And I know it’s hard! On this last round of copy edits, I was fighting the urge to call my editor and say, “How about I just rewrite the whole book? Can I do that, huh? PLEASE?!” You’ll always want to make it better, but you can’t hold on to it forever!

Rachel, where can we stalk you on the web?
As for where you can find me on the internet, I am everywhere, because I am that particular brand of obnoxious. I’m on Facebook, and Twitter and I blog on Blogspot and LiveJournal.

Thanks so much for the interview, Rachel! I love that you and your husband had the guts to quit your jobs, cash out retirement, and believe in the book that you were writing. A three-book deal from Hyperion is definitely the happily ever after in that story! Well done.

Project Buenos Aires!

Envy has been dripping from my pores ever since I heard about the gaggle of YA authors who planned a writing retreat in a castle in Ireland. In my head I've been planning my own writer's getaway. We can dream, no? While castles in the British Isles do have a certain allure, I'd also like a place that has really really great food and wine. And nice weather. And an excellent bookstore. So when I saw this site that shows photos of the most interesting bookstores in the world, I knew it would be Argentina. Just look at this photo!

Isn't it the most exquisite site in the world? Acres of books! Acres!

Plus, Buenos Aires (known as the Paris of South America) figures prominently in Book Two of my series, so I figure it's meant to be. We can rent Jardin Escondito, Francis Ford Coppola's villa in Bueno Aires.
We'll write like fiends all day (with breaks for dips in the pool and tapas, natch) and then talk books and writing over scrumptious food and great local wines into the wee hours of the warm, Argentinian nights.

Who's in? Say 2011-ish when we're all wildly successful? Vaminos!

I dare you not to laugh

Footage in the wild of a pole dancing bear! 30 seconds of anthropomorphic hilarity.

Thanks Peggy!

This Could Be the Most Boring Post Ever...

But it could also be the most helpful to me. Has anyone out there had problems with carpal tunnel syndrome from all the damn typing we do? Mine has gone from 0-60 in two weeks and is almost unbearable. I'm going in for acupuncture tomorrow, which helped several years ago, but would love any tips from people about what they do to keep their wrists healthy. Of course, this is all a huge cosmic joke for cheating my way through high school typing class.

Monday Perk: Toonces

When I was young my favoriet skit on SNL was Toonces the Driving Cat. I'm not really sure why, I mean it's really stupid, but it always made me laugh. So, for today's Monday Perk I bring you Toonces Mows the Lawn!

I have run away.

After two weeks of kids on spring vacation and a freelance project on the side, I’ve not been able to write anything for Book 2 in way too long. With each day that passed I was getting grumpier to kids and bitchier to adults. Without even realizing it, I’d let fear take over. This book became something I had to do, an obligation—like an annual exam or helping a friend move. I was simultaneously feeling guilty about not working on it and dreading working on it.

So the day after I came home from California, I left for the weekend. Jumped in the car with my laptop minutes after deciding to go, leaving the kids and the supportive husband to fend for themselves. (To assuage my guilt here, I must add that the kids love it when I go away so they can have “Super Dad Weekend” and Scott had just had five child-free days at home.)

But the point of this whole post, without trying to sound too Oprah-esque, is to say that I have turned my feelings about Book 2 from fear back into joy. The first night here I read a short but dense book that I needed to really understand as the basis for research for Book 2, but had been far too distracted to read at home. So I finished it and then went out and sat out under the stars, which at this high altitude are incredible. I thought about the information in the book under the clear night sky and BOOM! I figured out the key. That pesky ending? Check! Suddenly I was giddy and excited to write; for the first time, Book 2 had turned from an obligation to a privilege. Someone was going to publish this thing! How could I have been such a brat about it? Can I hire one of you to kick my a** if I start getting grumpy about this again?

Sure, I have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time, but it’s doable. And, more important, it will be fun!

And the book deals keep coming! Interview with Angie Frazier

Angie Frazier’s book Everlasting has it all—sailing voyages, treasure maps, forbidden love, immortal stones, bushrangers! What more could you want? After reading the teaser, I pictured Angie as an avid sailor, but when I contacted her about this interview she admitted that she's not much of a sea goer. "In fact, I am extremely jealous of anyone who can get out on the open ocean without becoming paralyzed with sea sickness," Angie admits. "I definitely did not ‘write what I knew' and had to do lots of research!”

Whatever Angie is doing, it’s working; in addition to getting a two-book deal from Scholastic for Everlasting, she’s just announced on LiveJournal that she got a SECOND two-book deal for a middle grade series with Scholastic for publication in 2011! WOW!

Okay, because this is an interview for authors debuting in 2010, let’s stick to Everlasting. Here’s Angie’s deal report from Publisher’s Marketplace:

Angie Frazier’s EVERLASTING, a romantic, high-seas adventure pitched as A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY meets THE LUXE, to Jennifer Rees at Scholastic at auction, in a two-book deal, by Ted Malawer at Firebrand Literary.

So, Angie, can you please tell us how you met your agent?
I was pleasantly confused when I queried Nadia Cornier at Firebrand and received a reply from someone named Ted. No last name, no information about who he was. He just said he really wanted to read my manuscript, so of course I sent it off to him! Only later did I realize he was Ted Malawer, a new agent there and that he was building his list of clients. I was thrilled when he offered to represent me. He is amazing to work with, and I really don’t know what I’d do without him.

How did your (first!) book deal come together?
After about six months of revisions with Ted, we finally sent the manuscript out to editors on a Friday. I was floored when we had reports of interest by Monday morning. Everything happened very fast from there. After years of trying to catch an editor’s eye through queries and one-on-one critiques I was in total disbelief that I was having phone conversations with a number of editors who all loved my novel and wanted to offer on it. It was surreal! The book went to auction, which was an amazing experience for a first-time author.

What was the inspiration for Everlasting and how long did it take you to write?
The first place my husband and I lived was a small caretaker’s cottage on the property of this huge mansion in Dublin, New Hampshire. The ceilings were plastered in old travel posters from the 1920s and 1930s, and many of them were for places in Australia. I decided I wanted to write a story set in Australia. That’s how all my books seem to begin—with a setting, a place. The story and characters built themselves from there, though it did take me 7 long years to figure out the right plot! Once I had that revelation, it only took a few months to complete.

What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?
Right now, Everlasting is slated for June 2010! I have great visions of teenagers laying out by the pool or on the beach in their bathing suits, catching rays and reading all about Camille and Oscar’s hot romance! As for where I am in the process, not much has happened since the deal back in March of 2008. My fabulous editor is just about to start in on her summer 2010 list and I think I should be seeing a revision letter soon. She’s promised light revisions (crossing fingers!).

If you could spend the day with one of the characters from your book, who would it be and why?
If I ever stepped into my book’s world, I would be very tempted to spend the day with Oscar Kildare, the hunky hero. However, being the reasonable gal I am, and knowing he’s already in total love with my protagonist, Camille, I would opt for some time with Ira Beam, the Australian card shark who guides Oscar and Camille to the legendary stone of the immortals. He’s adorable and a riot, and I would love to be his sidekick for a day.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a few different projects, including some agent-directed revisions on Everlasting's sequel, due out in summer 2011. I’ve also started work on a new YA dark fantasy loosely based on the Huntsman from the tale of Snow White. And I’m also in the final stages of selling a middle grade historical mystery set in a grand hotel in New Brunswick, Canada.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
It is a piece of advice that has been said time and again: Don’t ever give up. If you truly believe your manuscript is ready for an agent or editor, keep sending it out. You almost need to have a delusional optimistic outlook on the whole process. Rejection hurts, but each rejection is a step closer. Just don’t give up.

Thanks Angie! And congratulations on your huge success. Can't wait to read Everlasting!

Angie is all over the web. I recommend going straight to her LiveJournal blog to read about her second round of book deals. You can also check out her website, and to hear about third, fourth, and fifth round of books deals (surely imminent) keep up with Angie on Twitter and Facebook!

Spring Break, Part Deux

Had a big day today! We spent many hours at the new California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, which is a marvel inside and out. It houses an aquarium, planetarium, rain forests, swamp, Africa exhibit, and a Galapagos exhibit all under one living roof (the top of the museum is a two-acre garden of native plants). The planetarium show was spectacular!

Inside looking up.

Hank as dino treat.

Checking out the living roof. Remind you of Teletubbies?

We took a leisurely drive through some of the gorgeous neighborhoods, up and down the city's steepest hills.

Then we went down to the waterfront to see some street performers and hit our favorite little donut stand. (Alcatraz awaits the children in the background.)

What's a trip to the pier without a good bungee jump? When you're this small you really fly!

We finished off the day with an excellent dinner in Chinatown. San Francisco has the largest Chinatown outside of Asia and I love to just wander around looking at all the cool and weird stuff.

Such a great city! Such a great trip.

Double Cappucinos, Double Writers, Double Bookstores!

We arrived late afternoon yesterday and rolled right in to a beautiful engagement party for my cousin and his gawgeous bride to be. It was superfun to see all my California family all in one place at one time. My kids worked over every adult at the party, and ended up having 19 desserts. Good times.

Today we didn’t have any big stuff planned, so I bookended the day with writers and bookstores—what could be better? I started at Café Borrone with a young adult writer named Michelle, who had just been to the Big Sur conference (where she had met the hilarious and talented Graeme Stone!). It was fun to chat about projects and process and people we knew in common. After coffee we walked next door to the 53 year old die-hard indie, Kepler’s Books. Antonia Squire, the General Manager and Children’s Buyer, was in the YA section so Barb, my aunt and biggest fan, told her that I was going to be published next year. I am THE WORST at self promotion and wanted to melt into the floor, but Antonia was totally great and gushed on about how much she loved Flux books. I ended up walking out with her card so I could send an ARC! Thanks Aunt Barb – what would we do without our family “publicists”? (By the way, Kepler's has a great teen books blog!)

Later in the day, I met Heidi Kling, author and Queen of Tenners, for a bite. I swear it was like I’d known her for years. There was none of that meeting-a-new-person weridness; we slid right into publishing talk and were even oblivious to the fact that the bakery was closing and we were the only ones in there. From there we walked to Books Inc. to cruise the YA section and talk book covers, as Heidi had just sent off her ideal mock up to her editor, who had asked for her input. Very exciting! I walked out with The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Way We Live Now, and I can’t wait to dig in to both of them. The bookseller who took our picture had never used a digital camera before and held it upside down at first, so I blame her for me looking greasy and round in this photo—in real life I’m svelte and matte. (!)

All in all a great day, but time flew by way to quickly, as it does when writing and books are the subject!

Spring Vacation!

I'm leaving tomorrow for San Francisco,
so until I blog again, I bid you Happy Spring!

Fun With Venn Diagrams

ADDENDUM: I'm getting comments that no one gets the humor in this. Let's try pie chart form instead of Venn diagram. Can you see the humor in this:

From Dream to Novel: A Peeve Story

Pet peeves. I’ve got lots of them. I guess I’m just a peevish person. But numero uno pet peeve relating to writing is this phrase, “I was having this amazing dream so I woke up and wrote it down and it turned into a novel!” I know of several people for whom a dream turned into a six-figure book deal.

Because this peeve usually comes from the mouths of urban fantasy/romance writers, I’d sort of chalked it up to genre thing, but then recently I read that Josh Berk’s The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin, started as a dream. Because I know and respect Josh, I wasn’t immediately peeved; I was intrigued. His book is not urban fantasy and it’s being published by Knopf, most likely on high-quality deckle edged paper.

So I’ve been thinking: What is it about books that start as dreams? I always remember my dreams and have an incredibly rich dream life, but I never wake up and think, This would make a killer novel! Usually I think, Wow, trippy dream! Shouldn’t have has so many Thin Mints before bed.

I think the reason books from dreams become so popular is because for the most part we dream in archetypes—primal, inherited patterns of thought. Look how Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, the perfect example of dream to novel, has become a worldwide phenomenon. That’s some straight-up anima/animus + shadow archetypes mixed with some Mormon doctrine (or at least that’s how I interpret the old man/Edward & young girl/Bella relationship, as well as Edward’s parents/The Church, who gave him everlasting life by “saving him” from dying. But that’s just me!).

Tapping into the archetypes of the collective unconscious is like hooking your pipes up to city water instead of pumping from a well; you’re tapping into a steady flow of ideas that we all share. These have nothing to do with personal experience, but rather inherited thought buried deep in the primal brain. Sadly, I think I’m a writer who continues to work a deep, drying well. I need to get hooked up to the flow. Come to me, oh six-figure archetype dream! I’m waiting with open arms…

Has anyone out there had the dream-to-novel experience?

A Fab, Fragile Bird: Interview with Author Lindsey Leavitt

Is it just me or is everyone able to spot a writer they'll like within a few words? Even in email, it will often only take a sentence or two before I can recognize whether or not I’d dig a person’s writing. For me, Lindsey Leavitt was a writer I dug right away. I think it was reading her post about New Years resolutions (ripped from her adolescent journals!) when I was struck; I just knew I’d buy whatever she wrote. I wanted to interview her because I was sure you all would love her as well.

To set the scene, here's Lindsey’s deal report:

Lindsey Leavitt's PRINCESS FOR HIRE, about a tween girl's amusing adventures when she becomes a magical substitute for princesses, to Emily Schultz at Hyperion, at auction, in a three-book deal, for publication in Winter 2010, by Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary Agency (NA).

Welcome Lindsey! Can we start with you how you met your agent?
I’d been querying for a few months when I saw a post about the new Greenhouse Literary agency on the Verla Kay boards. I’d actually quit querying that particular book to work on PRINCESS FOR HIRE, but figured… why not? What’s one more query going to hurt? A month later, I had two agents offering and an editor taking that book to acquisitions (which they didn’t buy, but we will probably start shopping it soon!). The moral, I suppose, is you never know when IT (the deal, the agent, whatever) will happen, but the only way it will is if you keep trudging along,

Can you tell us how your book deal happened?
I can do one better. I’ll show you! Here is my very amateur venture into Vlogging, announcing my sale. Yes, I’m pretty spazzerific in it, but can you blame me, really? I’m still bruised from the pinch-fest.



What was the inspiration for PRINCESS FOR HIRE and how long did it take you to write?
I was at a writer’s conference, listening to one of those editor panels where people ask what they want, and they answer “good books” and everyone gets mad because they’re really hoping the editor would say a mutant bunny love story, because everyone has one of those in the drawer. At the end, an editor made an off-hand comment, “Of course, never hurts to hit a sweet spot, like dinosaurs or princesses or something.”

The comment triggered a daydream I used to have in fifth grade where I was whisked off to a castle in the dead of the night, and a whole bunch of girls would line up, and a prince would pick a dance partner/girlfriend/best friend. The catch, he had to pick based on the girl’s cool personality! Yeah, I pretty much invented the concept of reality TV dating, but I like to stay humble about it. Anyway, every night, I would switch the particulars… my spandex/tie-dyed outfit, my inhumanly-high bangs, but it never mattered. The prince always approached me, the only brunette (yeah, Barbie gave me issues), and said, “You’re the one. You are different. You seem cool.”

OK, that was a bit personal and I guess he wouldn’t really know my personality from a look. But hey, I was ten, and a rather awkward ten at that. Still, that memory hit a chord with me and I started to ask questions… Why the prince? I mean, what we want in our prince, really, is the recognition we are special for who we are, right? And if I was lined up with a bunch of princesses, how would I stick out, and how would I fit in? From that, I came up with a teen girl figuring out who she is while constantly pretending to be someone else. And there it was… a substitute princess.

Do you ever wake up in the morning, look in the mirror in awe, and think, “Dang, how did I get so fab?”
No. What a weird question, Christy. So weird you’d think I wrote it myself. Besides, I’m totally humble, remember? I DO, however, have a file of all my rejections, and when I’m feeling super philosophical, I’ll thumb through it and think how subjective this all is. I love her voice! I hate her voice! Reminds me I can not control others reactions—it’s part of the game. I really hope that perspective will help me maintain my sanity when reviews and the like start rolling in.

I also have a “You are fab” file, although I don’t call it that due to my supreme humility. That has really nice notes from writing friends, emails from editors, kudos from my agent. When I’m especially frustrated, I’m one click away from a little pat on the back to get me going. Also, I tend to eat chocolate regardless. See? I’m actually a rather fragile bird. A fab, fragile bird.

What's your publication date and where in the process are you now?
March 2010, which is less than 400 days away so save the date now! I guess you don’t need to SAVE it, you can do other things that day. Like buy the book, go get some lunch (not soup, though. Sloppy). I don’t want to take up all your time, just the trip there and the journey between the pages. Freak, that was so cheesy. Short answer = MARCH 2010 (er, and Jan. in UK)

I just turned in my last round of revisions a few weeks ago and there was much rejoicing in the Leavitt household. Much rejoicing. I’ve been revising since September, draft after draft because we went from a stand alone to a series and that took some slashing and hashing. Right now, I’m very very patiently waiting for my copy edits AND looking forward to receiving my cover!

What are you working on now?
This interview.
Oh, you mean WORK work. I’ve just barely started the second book, now titled Book 2. It’s scary and fun because the possibilities of where it can go are endless. Endless, I say!

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
Write your heart out. Write your face off. Write like whatever you wrote will win you a spot on the “I want to be a Princess!” reality show. (oh my gosh, I just Googled that. That was ACTUALLY a show. See? It’s a calling).

Because…

I know the idea of being published is a sweet seductress and I know that ache of wanting your words out THERE is fierce but…

If you can’t write, it ain’t gonna happen. Close Agent Query and finish the best book you possibly can, revise that book a million times (and I don’t mean spell check, people), THEN focus on the publishing side. Don’t let all the business stuff overtake the writing, especially that first book, which is such a raw and exhilarating experience.
Just write.

Great advice! Thanks so much for the interview, Lindsey. And best of luck with your Princess empire!

To read more from Lindsey, check out her LiveJournal blog and/or friend her on Facebook!
THIS JUST IN: Lindsey is having a big fat St. Patrick's Day contest giveaway on her blog - win great books or a critique! Click here! Go, go, go!)

A Fiction Treat?

I'm working on the sequel to the Flux book that's heavy on conspiracy, mythology, and ancient science. To get back to that world and mindset, my bedside table is stacked high with nonfiction: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, Codebreaker: The History of Codes and Ciphers, and Science and The Akashic Field, to name a few.

I'm going on a trip soon and need a great book, either YA or adult fiction, to take with me. So, if you could break a nonfiction fast with one book of fiction, what would it be?

Who Are These People?

And why do they keep asking me to feed them?

Today, I bring you The Offspring: An Interview

Name: Juliet Raedeke
Age: 8.5
What do you want to be when you grow up? A famous seafood chef and artist
Favorite food: Seafood with pasta, calamari
Favorite thing about your brother: When he’s quiet. And his puffball. (That’s the cowlick on the back of his head; we’ve yet to find a cut or product able to tame it.)
One wish: To go on a Mayan adventure to Chiapas with Mom
Funny memory: “When Mom told the story about getting food poisoning from Pea Salad.” (Um, yeah, not so hilarious to me.)
Favorite thing to do at home: Play scrabble and cook.
Favorite thing to do outside of home: Go skiing or travel
Website: Natch! Click here.
Blog: But of course! Click here.

Name: Hank Raedeke
Age: 5
What do you want to be when you grow up? The person who owns the restaurant where Juliet cooks. (To this, Juliet rolls her eyes and says, “No thanks. He’ll probably own something like Witham’s Truck Stop and serve all-you-can-eat nuggets and candy.”)
Favorite food: Candy
Favorite thing about your sister: When she plays spies with me.
Funny memory: “I was playing Duck, Duck, Goose at school and as I ran around the circle my pants fell down!”
One wish: That candy was healthy.
Favorite thing to do at home: Make robots with Dad and play Spider Pig (this is where Scott holds him upside-down and lets him walk on the ceiling. It’s a Homer Simpson thing.)
Favorite thing to do outside of home: Have a playdate with Grammy
Website: Why, yes! Click here.
Blog: Why not? Click here.

This Concerns Me

While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. At the same time, draw the number 6 in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction and there's nothing you can do about it.

This bothers me far more than I want it to.

Recycling Day

I started this blog a year ago, and what fun it's been. I've met so many people through the blogosphere whom I would never have met otherwise, and I've kept in touch with the amazing people I've met at conferences through our blogs. For the little work it takes to maintain, I'd say the payoff has been huge.

Today I'm slammed with work and don't have it in me to write something, so I'm recycling the very first Juvenescence post from this week last year. I think my blog stats peaked at 3 visitors that day, all blood relatives.

THE FIRST POST IS THE FEAKING HARDEST

So here I am, making my first post and freaking out.

What do I say?
What is my stance?
What will my readers think?

Ah, what a relief. The answer to the last question helps inform the rest, because I HAVE NO READERS!

Now on to the mundane.

Like many writers, I procrastinate. Can't seem to open my manuscript until I have exhausted every excuse NOT to, including finishing such odious tasks as litter-box mining. Today as I sat down at my desk, I realized I could not possibly write without my Goldfinches.

Let me pause here and acknowledge that admitting to birdwatching puts me in that category with your phlegmatic pipe-smoking great uncle, but hey, I want to keep it honest, this being my first post and all. So anyway, I have a finch feeder hanging just a foot away from my computer on the other side of the window and I love to watch the tiny yellow birds fight for thistle seeds as I search for the right word/phrase/idea.

It's no wonder that I was uninspired today, the feeder was empty! So I've filled it up again and now I wait; I'm not opening that manuscript until there's at least one feaking bird outside my window.

Word of the day: Feak - The action of a bird wiping its beak.
The goldfinch feaking on the willow branch inspired me to write.

FASCINATING BREAKING NEWS: I've had my first customer. A fat fluffy male who looks like he knows where to get thistle even when I've run out.

Damn, now I have to open my doc.

A Blunt Arrow to the Psyche

I heard some horrible news yesterday—one of my fellow debut authors had her book contract canceled. The saddest part is that this writer has serious talent and her book premise was wholly original. In all the downsizing that’s happening, her editor was let go and the editor whose desk it landed on didn’t feel strongly enough about it to forge on in the current economy.

Somehow this news struck me like a blunt arrowhead to the psyche, and I had four separate nightmares about it last night. To think you’re achieving your dream and then to have it rescinded on the whim of someone who was not involved at the get go is just so bleak. So bleak! That's some serious Orwellian "Room 101" material.

On the upside, she has an excellent agent and she’s beautiful and marketable in addition to being a talented writer, so we’re all certain that she’ll be under contract somewhere else very soon.

I just really, really, really can’t wait until her book wins the Printz Award.

Now, how about we all go out and buy a book today so we spare more authors a trip to the Ministry of Love's Room 101?

From Poetry to Prose: An Interview with Author Irene Latham

Irene Latham comes to YA writing from the world of poetry, where she has already published a full-length collection of poems. The book, What Came Before, won an IPPY (Independent Press) Award and was named Alabama State Poetry Society's Book of the Year. I think it’s safe to say Irene is no slouch when it comes to using language! I can’t wait to see how she applies her poetic voice to young adult fiction.

Irene will be one of the first Tenners to be published; her book, Leaving Gee’s Bend, will be released by G.P. Putnam's Sons in January of 2010. Here’s the beautiful cover and a short synopsis:

A ten year old girl in Depression-era Gee’s Bend, Alabama, sets out to save her sick mother and records her adventures in quilt pieces.

Now on to the questions!

Can you tell us how did you meet your agent?
I met Rosemary Stimola at an SCBWI Southern-Breeze (AL-GA-MS) conference in October 2006. Or rather, I sat in the back row and listened to her speak. I was too shy to introduce myself. But I really liked her straightforward approach and thought if I ever decided to pursue an agent, she was who I was going to go for. My dream at the time was to be one of those slush-pile miracles, so I had only been subbing to editors--I really hadn’t considered getting an agent until I met Rosemary.

Can you tell us how your book deal happened?
I sent a Gee’s Bend story I’d written in verse (poetry: my comfort zone!) to Rosemary just after the conference. She promptly declined -- said she had a novel-in-verse sitting on her desk that she couldn’t sell. So instead of feeling sorry for myself (well, AFTER feeling sorry for myself), I decided I would rewrite the story in prose. So I worked on that for several months and re-subbed to Rosemary as if we had never had the previous contact. And this time, she said YES and sent it to the editor she had in mind. That editor was Stacey Barney at Putnam, and she really liked the voice of the story but didn’t feel like it was quite fleshed-out enough. (again, I write lots of poetry, which is of course very spare: manuscript was only 17,000 words!) She requested a revision, so I got busy adding meat to those bones. Stacey liked what I did with the story, and at that point Putnam offered a contract.

You’ve had a book of poetry published, was that harder or easier to sell than fiction?
Poetry is a much more elusive animal than fiction. It is extremely difficult to sell because there is virtually no market for poetry. My experience has been with small independent presses where there are no advances and a book is considered a success if it breaks even financially. It’s definitely one of those things you do because you love it. And I do.

What was the inspiration for Leaving Gee’s Bend and how long did it take you to write?
On a trip to New York City in the fall of 2003, my husband and I visited the Quilts of Gee’s Bend exhibit at the Whitney Museum. I was completely enamored of the quilts and the voices of the women from this teeny tiny isolated community that is geographically only 120 miles from my home in Birmingham, Alabama. Couple this fascination with the fact that I am the daughter of an amazing seamstress who very early on put a needle and thread in my hands, and it’s no mystery where this story comes from. The story that sold was the fourth one I had written set in Gee’s Bend. So from the point of seeing the quilt exhibit to the point of sale, it was right at four years. It took me that long to find the story I was meant to tell all along - Ludelphia’s story.

What are you working on now?
I’ve just completed the third draft of another midgrade historical fiction: ESCAPE FROM FIRE MOUNTAIN. It’s set in 1902 Martinique and chronicles the adventures of two girls (one native, one American) during the eruption of Mt. Pelee (an eruption that claimed 30,000 lives). So I’ve zipped that one off to my agent and now I’m working on a contemporary midgrade DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS. It’s set in an Alabama zoo and is about the son of a zoo director mom and elephant keeper dad whose terrible misfortune is that he was born human (with no particular interest in exotic animals).

Did your childhood dreams include being a writer?
According to my Dr. Seuss’ My book About Me, six year old me wanted to be a writer, a mother, a veterinarian…. and a horse trainer for the horse that my sister would ride to victory in the Kentucky Derby. So far that hasn’t happened, but I do write books, live with three sons and over the years have had all manner of pets, including horses, rabbits, goats, chickens, hamsters, parakeets, fish, ferrets, snakes, frogs, turtles, cats, dogs, ants and butterflies.

Do you have any words of wisdom for writers trying to get published?
Be the Little Engine that Could. And instead of getting frantic about a manuscript that is not selling, transfer all that energy into writing the next thing. Every word you write makes you a better writer.

Thanks for the interview, Irene! For more information about Irene Latham, check out her website or blog, or become friend on Facebook. To read her award-winning book, get a copy here.

Permission to Flog

For me, beginning a new manuscript is a big, big deal. While I do have several folders with new book ideas in them, I’m not one of those people (ahem, Suzanne) who can have ten partially started manuscripts on their desktops. Once I start, I become a bit obsessive; like a dog with a bone (or me with a sleeve of Thin Mints), I want to finish it all—and quickly.

I need to start Book Two of the Flux duo. I owe a super-secret draft to my editor at the end of July, which he will then help shape into the Real Draft that’s due September 1. I have a pretty detailed three-page outline, so there are really no big surprises (ha! Doesn’t every writer think that until fifty pages in, when book takes on a life of its own?) but I can’t seem to open a doc and name it. Every day something looms; today it’s the overnight trip I have with our third-grade Brownie troop. Seriously, how can I start a book with an overnight Brownie trip coming up in just hours? Starting a book is monumental! It deserves a clean house! With laundry folded and put away! And the dishwasher empty! And new chlorine tabs in the toilet tanks! And a stretch of a least 5 hours of writing time beforeme! And…and…and... This is where my monkey mind takes my rational mind hostage.

I’m rambling. I’m rambling so I won’t have to open that document and name it.

Monday morning, my friends. All housely distractions will be taken care of tomorrow, so I will have no excuse. Permission to flog me (or take me to a musical) if my new manuscript’s date-of-creation stamp in Word does not read 3-9-09.

Have a great weekend, peeps. I’ll toast you all with marshmallows roasted on unwound coat hangers!

Of Moles and Musicals

Yesterday I endured a painful mole removal and a musical. I'm still stinging from the musical.

Is the ability to enjoy musical theater something you are born with, like earlobes that dangle or a tongue that rolls? Or is it an acquired taste, like stinky cheese?

I wish someone could just club me on the head and I'd wake up loving musicals, because as I was slinking ever lower in my chair until only my spine rested in the seat, everyone around me seemed to be having the time of their lives.

Flashy Fiction

Here's a fun new diversion: Flashy Fiction! Seven writers, seven days of flash fiction. Each day there's a new writing prompt, which will inspire you to write a mini "flash fiction" piece in the comments section. It's fun and gets the gears rolling...come check it out!