Monday, May 31, 2010

the fog has lifted

ever wake up from a two-month writing spree and find the rest of your world suddenly in focus?

and i don't mean you look around with serene clarity and a satisfied sigh of a job well done.

i mean you literally look up and see all the things that have blurred into the background for weeks. that pile of laundry and the stack of dishes in the sink are crystal clear. all those fuzzy shapes on your "to do" list now look like words demanding your immediate attention. you can finally see your cozy writing work space for what it really is - a big mess in the dining room that will have to be cleaned up tomorrow.

this is the kind of focus that hit me today.

i sent the new manuscript to Agent Almost last night, and when I woke up today, a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
but the fog lifted too, and i realized i have a couple days of "catch up" ahead of me to get back on top of my chores and errands and other real-life responsibilities.

all this is to say.... i won't have a video blog posted for a little while yet. (not that you're all tuning in every day dying to see it, but i like to keep my promises.)
so hang with me, and i swear - a vlog will come. it's just delayed.

in the meantime, my beta and i are cooking up something fun and hopefully educational for you blog readers. stay tuned... ;)

Sunday, May 30, 2010

thank you

this is for my beta.



that is all for today.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

side effects

creative urges driving you crazy?
itching to put pen to paper?
infected with words and need to purge?

for so many of us, the only cure for these maladies is to write.

writing sooths our souls, scratches that itch and empties our brains before we go mad with ideas.
i popped the writing pill, and now i'm addicted. hopelessly.

it's too late for me, but i'm here to tell the rest of you: writing should come with a warning label, because there are side effects... serious side effects.

WARNING:
Writing has been known to cause ailments, including, but not limited to:
Insomnia
Shooting pains in the wrist
Back aches
(please consult your doctor about ergonomically designed chairs)
Mood swings
Obsessive-Compulsive behavior
Severe side effects may include:
Hearing voices
Loss of time/Daydreams bordering on blackouts
Psychotic rambling
If you experience one or more of these severe adverse effects, please consult your manuscript and increase your writing dosage until all the voices in your head bleed out onto the page.
....or maybe that's just me. ;)
speaking of side effects, i have discovered one awesome side effect of interviewing the most impressive YA blogger around -- HOLY BLOG TRAFFIC, BATMAN!
my hits for yesterday's interview with the fabulous T.H. Mafi have been off the charts.
and better yet - i found some new friends!
Welcome, new followers:
Meredith, Angela, Helena, Matthew, MBW and "Writing Again" !!!!!
welcome as well to:
Vic, EJ, Jamie, Kara and Julie - also recent additions! :)

i believe i mentioned something recently about doing a vlog post if my followers hit 25. guess i'll have to make good on that promise sometime in the next week.
how about this -- when i hit "send" on the email to Agent Almost with my new manuscript, that will be the day i vlog.

i would say, "don't hold your breath," but go ahead and hold it - because i promised him i'd have it in his inbox early next week.

YIKES! guess i should get to work!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

impossible endings

gah! writing challenge fail AND blog fail!

missed yesterday's post because, simply, it was friday, and i had fun stuff to do. :)
i also wrote only a couple hundred words yesterday, which means i have my work cut out for me today and tomorrow.

my 'drop-dead'line for sending this polished puppy to Agent Almost is the 27th. that will be two months to the day that i got my revision letter. that seems like a reasonable amount of time, and the journalist in me just HAS to work on a deadline, or i'd never get anything done.

NOW, on to the REAL POINT OF THIS POST: ENDINGS

working on my own ending has me thinking about just how difficult it is to satisfy an audience, especially if they've been fans up to the end.

tomorrow, LOST comes to an end, and i have already resigned myself to the fact that i will most likely be disappointed. no matter how genius their story, how cleanly they wrap it up, there is nothing they can do to make me go "wow" at this point.

and here's why:
the best part was the mystery.
the guessing game, the trading theories with other fans, the anticipation, the "aha!" moments that only led to bigger mysteries. the appeal was in the not-knowing.

my book (without giving too much away, and with all modesty and humility) is very much a "will-he-won't-he-and-how" page-turner. once i get to the end and answer those questions, i feel anything i say beyond that will only be disappointing, because the anticipation is over, and that was the fun part.

i like to think of this as Harry Potter Syndrome. there was so much hype and anticipation over the epilogue, it almost didn't matter how JK Rowling ended the actual story. everyone was just dying to know what happened after that. and, inevitably, most folks were disappointed. they wanted to know why their favorite character was left out of the ep.. or just exactly what ron and harry had done to revolutionize the auror system, etc... basically, we wanted an encyclopedia, not an epilogue. (and bless JK, she's giving us one.) but the point is - there is nothing she could have written that would have made all the millions of potter fans say: "ahhh. perfect."

the manuscript i sent to the 4 agents who requested fulls had the wrong ending - the easy ending.
i punted.
as a result, i got one outright 'no' - two 'revise and resubs' that both mentioned the ending - and one Agent Almost, who also nixed the ending but gave me a chance to fix it.

that just puts a girl under more than a little pressure to make it "ahhh perfect."

Thursday, May 20, 2010

superpowers

you know that question people sometimes ask... 'if you could have any superpower, what would it be?'
i hate that question. (ok, i don't really hate it. and, ok, i'm usually the one asking it.) but the point is - i never know how to answer it. it's too hard to pick just one! i often fall back on invisibility or supernatural charm, but those never actually feel right.

well tonight, i finally decided.

but let me keep you in suspense for one second while i tell you how i decided.

i have been writing since i got home tonight - a solid two hours. i put off all my chores. i neglected my dog. and right now, i'm even realizing that i forgot to eat dinner.
what do i have to show for all that? ...STILL only one-third of my new ending written.

i already know this week of goals is going to end this way:
BlogChallengeWIN - WritingChallengeFAIL ...EPIC FAIL.

i was thinking about that as i closed my manuscript tonight and said to myself: 'I wish I had more time.'
and i realized it's something i say all. the. time. i don't think more than two days ever go by without me saying, 'There aren't enough hours in the day.'

so i have finally hit on it.
my superpower would be... TO CONTROL TIME.

i wouldn't even need some mega-time-warping-bending-traveling sort of superpower. i just want to be able to freeze time with the blink of an eye.
blink. 6 hours of sleep just became 8.
blink. 1 hour of writing in the morning is now 4.

and i could speed it up if i wanted to too.
blink. that 9 hour work day just zipped by in 20 minutes.

you get the idea.

so, what would your superpower be?

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

cover art



this is a little array of book covers i love. i see bloggers post their faves all the time, and i wanted to share mine too. you can see i like simple covers and the occassional captivating facial close-up.
i especially like the covers that manage to be super simple and still tell a story or evoke an emotion. there is humor in the "flipped" cover, suspense in the "time" cover and a sense of the bizarre in the "the little girl and the cigarette" cover.
what kind of cover draws you in?
by the way, i managed to get through my beta chapter revisions today, so half of today's goals accomplished, for those of you keeping track. ;)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

the rules of writing/life

i've learned so much about writing since i decided to pursue it seriously. the knowledge i've gained could fill an encyclopedia. and lately i've been thinking - so many of the "rules" of writing are really universal truths that can be applied to life in general.

so here are a few, off the top of my head.
The Rules of Writing ...Life

1) Your backstory is probably a lot less interesting than what's happening right now.

2) When you hit a rough patch, don't give up. Push through it, and keep moving forward with your story.

3) Don't just tell (people how you feel); Show them.

4) As much as your story sounds like a dozen others out there, it's probably completely unique.


5) When you get to "the end," you're just getting started.

Give me some more! What writing rules can you apply to your own life?