What I’m Working on…

Happy Wednesday all.  I have been in the midst of holiday cheer.  My parents are in town, my girls and I are making holiday bears (long story…I will share pics at a later time), we’ve been baking, sending cards and prepping for all the festivities.

WHEW.  Made me tired just typing this!

Needless to say, writing time…not so much.  That being said, I did get a lot done over the weekend.  And I did get good news about a NF project from my agent this week.

So, a recap of my current projects:

• Lacrimosa – this is being revised as we speak.  Hungry betas are anxiously waiting for my pages (promise…I’ll be done with the section by Friday)
• NF Projects – as you know, Emotionally Intense has been sold.  I have two other NF books (both related to gifted students) in various stages of completion

And yeah, that’s it – more than enough to keep me very busy.

Over my holiday break, I will be finishing up Lacrimosa, planning out a trip in the Spring (I hope.) related to one of my gifted projects,  and spending some much needed time with family.

What have you guys been working on???

Don’t forget about my Blogoversary contest.  Be sure to leave me a comment so you can enter!

Blog Anniversary Contest…

Hi there everyone!  Saturday marks ONE YEAR since I started this blog.  WOW…a whole year!   And WHAT a year it has been!!!  Here’s the abbreviated list of the things I learned about blogging:

• Blogging is fun, but really tiring.  I work a lot of hours for my day job, so finding the time to blog is a bit of a challenge.  Still, I like it.  A LOT
• The best part about blogging is discovering other great writers out there.  I have found SO MANY amazing blogs.  I really can’t keep track of them all.  And even though I don’t comment nearly as much as I probably should, I read at least five different blogs every single day.
• Finding things to blog about = hard.  I mean, the minute I decided to blog more than once or twice a week I knew I was in trouble…what on earth was I going to write about.  Hopefully most of my blogs have some value to someone.
• Starting a second blog was…INSANE!  I love my other blog.  I get to write about different kinds of things.  But man oh man…It is so hard to manage both.  I fear I neglect my other blog way too often.
• All in all….this has been an amazing ride.  I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT YEAR!!!!
• And now – the stats:  Over 17,500 visitors this year, and more than 1400 comments.  Not as good as some; better than others; fascinating to me.  I mean, if you had asked me a couple of years ago if I would have a blog, make online friends, participate in social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and I would have said NO WAY…clearly I was WRONG.

In honor of  the blog’s upcoming anniversary, I am having a comment contest.  The prize  – a mystery pack of YA books and other cool writerly things you are gonna love!

Here are the deets on the contest:

• Leave me a comment and I will enter you into the contest
• Talk about it on your blog, and I’ll give another entry – just leave me the link.
• Subscribe, follow me on twitter, friend me on facebook and you get more entries (Just be sure to tell me in the comments)
• Follow my other blog, Growing Up Gifted, and you get another entry.

Easy, right.  The contest runs from Today (12/14) through Sat (12/19 – the official anniversary day).  I’ll announce the winner on Monday (12/21).

Thanks everyone, for making this an amazing year.  I am 100000% certain I woud not have my agent, the book deal, the friends, or my sanity without each and every one of you!!! 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Unofficial Agent Day…A Tribute to Krista Goering!!!

Today is my favorite day…not because it is Friday.  And not because Christmas break is a mere four working days away….

But because I get to say amazing things about two of my favorite people. 

First – a quick Happy Birthday shout out to my favorite online buddy, my crit partner, and an amazing writer in her own rite – Elana Johnson.  HAVE THE MOST AMAZING DAY EVER….YOU DESERVE IT!

Now, the purpose of this actual post – singing the praises to my agent, Krista Goering.  It started with a bunch of authors getting together and deciding to make today the Unofficial Agent Day – an opportunity to thank one of the most important people in our lives…

I got the email about it from a friend and took all of a microsecond to decide “HECK YEAH, I AM SO GOING TO SING KRISTA’S PRAISES!”

I found Krista Goering through some friends and the QT website.  I really wasn’t certain I could get an agent for my NF book.  I mean, the niche I write for is pretty small…who would want to be part of that?  Right?  But my crit buds and others encouraged me to try – nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that!

So, I queried.  She requested.  And the rest is history. 

After signing with her in August, we immediately went on submission.  She kept in regular contact with me, gave great advice on things and encouraged future projects.  After we signed Emotionally Intense (Prufrock, 2011), we went to work on the next project.  It has been an amazing ride!!!

Throughout the entire process, she has kept me motivated, stayed in touch, offered amazing guidance and been everything I could want in an agent.  AND MORE.

So on today, the Unofficial Agent Day, I want to tell the world how amazing Krista Goering of  The Krista Goering Literary Agency is!!!

Thanks,Krista…for everything!

Hop over the Elana’s blog for a great list of othr agent appreciation posts, and Lisa and Laura’s blog for even more.

Have a terrific weekend!!!

Crit Partners – more necessary than air!

I decided I was overdue to sing the praises of my crit partners…You see, my crit group took a few months off.  And I have to say – I hate it!  Not that I have anything to work on with them at the moment.  But I hate not having to post for them weekly.  And I miss reading their 15 pages every week.

So yeah, I hate it.

My crit partners have become a crucial part of my writing process.  They tell me when I’ve lost my mind.  They force me to stretch further than I thought I could in order to perfect the story I am working on.  They ask the questions I can’t see.  They reassure me when I am too close to the project to see its merits.

In short – they provide the perspective necessary to perfect the story.

And without them, I would be lost.  Or at the very least, I would NOT be the writer I am today.

So, to Elana and Michelle (the greatest crit partners on the planet), my Betas (you guys know who you are), and my reader test market group (my YA audience that gets to read just before my agent), I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Thanks for everything!

What do your crit partners mean to you?

Blog Chain: Digging through my personal slush pile…

Happy Holidays everyone.  This is the only Blog Chain post for December.  Shaun started us off and decided to embarrass us a little.  Here’s his question:

What is the silliest thing from a book or short story you’ve written, and why? It can be a line or a paragraph or a whole page. Anything that you look back at and go, “Say what?”

Wow…this is a really hard one for me.  Not because I haven’t written a ton of junk…trust me, I have.  I just don’t keep any of it.  Seriously, not one thing.  I write stories or novels.  Edit or delete them.  Period. 

And my writing exercises that I do in between projects – yeah, I don’t keep those either.

So this post made me search….and search….and search.

And after days and days (since December 1st actually), I finally found something to post.  So, here it is…completely unedited, just as it looked the day I wrote it last May (part of a daily writing thing I was committed to at the time).  It has no title, and is just, well, trash-can bound…

I read the email again, staring at the screen in disbelief.  She was leaving.  In two weeks.  I closed her email, only to open it within moments, the words cutting into me as I read them for the millionth time.

 

Jannie – Can you believe it?  They want me.  They really want me.  For the cover.  I have to leave next week. 

This is really it.  I’m finally going to make it!  Everything we always talked about.  Gosh, I can’t even think straight.  Call me, ‘kay.

-          Aisha

My eyes blurred the words, willing it to all be a mistake.  Desperate to believe that she wouldn’t leave.

But I knew she had to.  And I couldn’t blame here.  I would do the same in her shoes.

Aisha was a special girl.  She had exotic features, at least that’s what the agency said.  Dark wavy hair that fell to her shoulders and piercing blue, almond-shaped eyes.  Unnatural.  Special.

The agency couldn’t wait to book her on jobs, even if she had no experience.  They said her  Special looks would make up for the time photographers would have to spend with her.  Funny thing is, Aisha never thought of herself as Special.  That was part of her charm.  She thought she could make her dreams happen if she just worked hard enough.

I knew different.

And so did every agent we ever met.

Like Aisha, I wanted a shot at a cover too.  Except I wasn’t anything special.  Sure I had the height.  And the right build.  But I looked just like every other six-foot, skinny, blond-haired, blue-eyed wannabe model.  Every, Single. One.

Nothing special.  Not like Aisha.

So I shouldn’t have been surprised at the email.  I mean, we both went to the casting call.  I saw how they looked at her, clamored over her book, took extra pictures.  I knew she would get this job.

And her career would sky-rocket.

 My heart pounded in my chest, fear consuming me as I stared at her email again.  Her news wasn’t unexpected.  I planned for it.  Waited for the day when she would get her big break.  Leave.  And yet, now that the day was here – now that she knew she’d make it to the big leagues – I panicked.

Aisha met on a casting call four months ago.  We both needed each other then, for moral support and advice.  Since then, we built our books together, sought agents together, and even went on a few jobs together.  We shared the same dream.

To be a covergirl.

 Truthfully, I always needed her more than she needed me.  Oh, she would say otherwise – say that we were well matched, that she needed me too.  But, I knew the truth.  I knew that I needed her the way I needed air. 

And I knew she would make it.  That she was Special.

And I wasn’t.

Now that she would grace the cover of Sport’s Illustrated, our paths would change.  She wouldn’t need me at anymore.  Not that she ever needed me at all.  Her new world wouldn’t welcome me.

I would be alone.  My dreams, broken.

And that scared me even more than her leaving.

Well, there you go…don’t say I didn’t warn  you!  For another look at our “purple prose” writing adventures, check out the amazing, self proclaimed Princess of  Da Purple Prose Kat (who posted yesterday), and Sarah who posts tomorrow!

Have a great holiday everyone.

Whatcha working on?

NaNo is over…December is here.  And with it, the holidays.  I don’t know about you guys, but things are crazy busy in my real life – with work, family obligations, and writing.  And the busier things get, the more I long to write something new….fun….reckless even.

I know, I know…That is what I was supposed to be doing in November.  But yeah we already know that did not work out for me this year.

I SHOULD be finishing up revisions (for this round), working on the two NF projects I’ve go, and finish fleshing out the third NF project.  But those don’t sound as inviting – as shiny – as something new….do they?

So, excite me my wonderful readers.  Tell me what you are doing.  If I can’t start something new (I actually have deadlines to get this other stuff done), I want to live vicariously through all of you!

WOOT! Holiday publishing/writing/agenting fun…

Hey everyone – the fabulouso Julie Butcher (@jimsissy for you Twitter types) is having a holiday editing bash…check it out from Julie’s website:

So. The Holidays are here again. I wanted to have a huge bash and fly all of you publishing-types into town for a party. Unfortunately, the lotto people didn’t cooperate so I’ve teamed up with a few of the twitter writers to make our party virtual. Here’s what we need to do.

 

1. Join the party by tweeting  to #holidaybash by Monday, December 7, 2009

2. Run around you house and find a white elephant gift that will fit into an envelope, put it in the envelope and get it ready to mail. You can’t buy something new. Your gift can be humorous, thoughtful, strange or dramatic. The wilder, the better. (Risque is acceptable but not dirty. PG rated gifts.)

3. On Monday, we’ll post who you mail your gift to. It will be your job to follow them on twitter,

get their mailing address, and send their gift.

4. Tuesday, December 8, 2009 we get our work done. Agents do agent stuff and clear your inboxes. Writers write and work on revisions. Editors, set a goal. We’ll cheer you on! Authors, finish those projects.

Let’s all work like crazy so we can enjoy the holidays with our families!

5. Don’t open your present when it arrives! We’ll open them together at the party.

6. Party time is Thursday, December 17th at 9:00 PM Eastern. We’ll get a chat room, open the presents, sing songs and drink the beverage of our choice ;D

Going On Vacation….

Hi everyone.  I am off to a wonderful, and much needed, vacation with my family.  I’ll see you back here in December.  Until then, enjoy a little of my favorite classical pieces for this time of year.  (AND BTW, go to the bottom of this post for a NON-CLASSICAL video…that is just so…random!)

Have a great week.

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons:  Autumn

Adam Sandler’s Thanksgiving Song

 ENJOY!!!

Blog Chain: Making Time For It All….

Happy Friday everyone!  It’s blog chain time again.  Mandy asked:

How do you prioritize? How do you balance paying attention to your writing, critiquing for friends, spending time with your family and earning a living?

What a great question!  I did a blog post on this a few weeks ago.  In that post I talked about the craziness in my life – all of the things I am involved with that both enhance and complicate my life.  Basically I work a 40 hour a week job (on a mellow week), spend 30 hours or more on the craft of writing (and building my platform), am involved in my kid’s lives, have a great marriage, meditate daily, try to work out, and enjoy leisure time. 

The only way this happens…

balance.

I learned a long time ago that certain things MUST be part of my life if I am going to stay in balance:

• I must meditate daily
• I stay in better balance if I eat healthy, sleep at least 6 hours, and exercise – daily (This is the hardest one for me)
• I must write consistently – it provides a creative outlet that I need as much as I need air
• I must take the time to “play” every day – and its even better if my play time is with my family

Everything else are things that I want to do…things I like to do….things that every day life requires (cleaning, paying bills, etc).

For me, the key is in doing what I must, establishing goals for my life and asking this essential question when prioritizing the rest of my to do list:

Does this activity move me in the direction of my goals?

If it does – great.  If it doesn’t, it goes to the bottom of the list.

One last thing makes this all work for me…and it is something I talked about in my previous post on this subject.  I do my best to live in the moment.  I know, I know…it sounds trite.  But really, if I can live 100% in the moment – focusing deliberately on what I am doing at the time, and not allow my brain to run amuck worrying about other things, I am able to accomplish an amazing amount of work each and everyday.

So, to sum it up -

1. I know the things I MUST do everyday
2. I know my life goals – everything other than the MUST dos are weighed against my life goals and prioritized from there
3. I life in the moment as often as possible – choosing to deliberately focus on what I am doing as often as I can.

If I do these things, I stay in balance, the relationships in my life thrive, and I accomplish a lot.

Check out one the most amazing writer’s I have ever had the pleasure to read – the amazing Kat before me, and the ever-incredible Bonnie tomorrow.

Fresh Eyes

So, as many of you know I am knee-deep into edits for Lacrimosa.  The rough draft was finished a month ago, and I edited through my crit group as I wrote…so the rough draft is a little stronger than a typical rough draft. A little…

But now that it is in the hands of betas – and they are appropriately shredding and helping find the holes – I am getting the “fresh eyes” I need to see the story from a new perspective.  So, with the help of my best writerly buds, I’ve set some lofty goals and deadlines to get this baby polished up and in the best shape I can!!!

Thanks Betas and crit buds…without you, this would b a whole lot harder…but more on that in a later post.

For now I have a question for you guys – How do you get the perspective you need to do a good job with edits after burying yourself into your WiP?  Betas?  Time?  Lay it on me!