More on the work/live balance...

We've been talking about it around here recently, the work/life balance conundrum.  And recently, my fiance JP also blogged about it.  Plus, I've been struggling with the whole balance issue myself recently, so I thought I'd blog about it.

I think JP brings up a lot of good points, one of them being:

My other thought is that you need to take the time you need to get things done right. And that means that sometimes writing needs to win out, and that means sometimes the Day Job or other things need to win out. The trick is to keep one from pushing other off the face of the map, particularly writing. Too many people let the stress of life be an excuse not to write, myself included. Conversely, though, you shouldn't let the drive to write add more stress to an already stressful period.

 As JP points out in his post, there are a lot of people who will say that if you truly love writing, if you truly are a writer, then you'll find the time to write.  No matter what.  You'll sacrifice everything else before you'll sacrifice writing.  But I think that is unreasonable when you've also got other things going on in life: day job, raising kids, moving, a budding relationship, etc.  It's just a fact of life that sometimes, other things will have to come first.

Conversely, I hear from a ton of writers who never put writing first.  Family, job, cleaning the house, volunteer work, exercise, cooking, etc. always comes first.  This is also unreasonable if you want to be a professional writer.

We all know that a writer writes -- it's the bottom line of the profession.  How that happens?  That's the difficulty.  And yeah, it's going to take sacrifice.  If you want to sell a book, I don't think you can just throw writing on at the end of your priorities and have that be enough.  Just the opposite, I think that it has to come first (and has to come first a lot).  That's why I'll be eating a frozen dinner tonight.  And tomorrow night.  And every night this week -- because it takes a lot of time to cook and that's time I could be writing.  That's why our house is often messy -- because we write rather than clean.  That's why our garden isn't winning us any awards in our neighborhood.

We had to prioritize.  One of the first things to go -- most TV shows.  Did I *really* need to know who the last Cylon was right when the rest of the world found out (or has it even been revealed yet)?  Nope, that's what Netflix is for.  Do I *really* have to see the million different shows about planning a wedding?  Nope, that's what eloping is for (just kidding mom!).  Even when I go online and find myself following comment trails on blogs and message boards I ask myself: do I really need to spend time doing this?

And sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes other things must take priority.  Yes, JP and I take the time to walk the dog and spend time together.  We take the time for our day jobs because we happen to like our house.  But we looked at what could go, and we cut it.  I do think often that's the investment writing to go pro requires.

But you know, the thing is, sometimes life just gets in the way.  You meet someone new.  You get buried at work.  Sometimes, even though it's a big priority, writing just has to get bumped down for your own sanity.  For me, the key is then to ENJOY that time not writing.  I think of it like dieting, if you're going to eat that tres leches cake, enjoy it!  Don't sneak it in, pretend you're not eating it -- no! sit there and savor it!  Same thing with time off -- admit that you're taking time off.  Live with the decision, and don't beat yourself up.  But also acknowledge that taking that time might mean extending personal deadlines -- again, you have to make that decision knowingly and honestly and then live with it!

In the end, remember that you're going to mess up.  We're human, it happens.  Sometimes the alarm will go off at 5:30 and you'll jump out of bed ready to write.  Sometimes you'll keep hitting snooze until your fiance rips the clock cord out of the wall.  I think it's a constant struggle and it constantly needs tweaking.  Bottom line, I think you just have to be honest with yourself.  It's way too easy to fritter away time rather than being conscious about the choices you're making.

All that being said... I have some pages to write :)  What are y'all's thoughts on the work/life balance?

What you wish you had known...

Tonight I'm giving my first ever talk to a group of writers.  To be fair, I'm a last minute substitute and I'm talking to a very small group.  We're all both writers and member of the local bar (i.e. lawyers) and I wasn't given a topic.  We're all in very different stages with different goals -- some have been published in short fiction, some poetry, some are writing non-fiction and historical.  And so I've had a hard time trying to figure out what to focus on in my talk. 

Many of them aren't ready to worry about how to find agents and the ins/outs of submissions.  And my path to publication with a YA novel will be different from someone writing poetry or nonfiction.  It's been a really wonderful exercise trying to figure out what to talk about because it's made me realize just how much I've learned about this business over the years.  But it's also made me wonder -- how much do you need to know?  I spend a fair amount of time reading blogs, industry sites, books.  I check out message boards and talk to other writers.  That's the kind of person I am (and I know it often drives my friends crazy): when I'm faced with something I don't know, I research the heck out of it.

But there are other people I meet who didn't bother with any of that.  They wrote their books without paying attention to markets and trends.  They found agents by looking a few up online and submitting.  They don't pay much attention to industry gossip and forums and blogs about which agents prefer what.

I feel like there's so much information out there that's so readily available that it makes me wonder how people ever made it in publishing before the internet and chat rooms and blogs!  But they did.  At the same time, I've heard anecdotally that the internet has raised the bar for agents and editors: they have less tolerance for those who don't know how to write a query or format a manuscript because such information is so readily available.

So it's made me wonder (a) what I can share with this group that they can't find/haven't found out on their own pretty easily and (b) whether anything I have to say will be useful or helpful.  Because there are no rules in this business and mine is just one story out of thousands -- it should be taken in the context of all those other stories.  But then I remember that we're all writers (and lawyers which makes us analytical) so we enjoy sharing stories.  Hopefully that will be enough!  Also, hopefully they'll have a lot of questions :)  And just in case they don't... I'm turning to y'all for help!

So if you were just starting out in writing, what questions would you have?  What would you want to hear a soon-to-have-a-book-on-the-shelf author to talk about?

What your characters feel...

When you read this... I'll be asleep.  Or I might be out crabbing.  Or reading.  Or sitting in the sun watching the tide change.  As I said last week, I'm taking a few days off this week and that means not spending a lot of time online either :)  One of the things I'm reminded of being at the beach is ambiance.  Those things that are hard to remember when you're far away -- the random sounds in the background, the angle of the sun, the feel of the breeze and the way spartina bends in the air.  We're told as writers to incorporate the 5 senses into our writing and even when I try to remember to do this, it's easy to forget those senses that constanly hum in the background.  Those sounds that we take for granted.So it's nice to be here remembering all of that since my current WIP is set near the ocean.  I close my eyes and imagine my characters, wondering what they'd be doing.  It's led to some interesting plot ideas :)What do you do when you find yourself in settings or situations that your characters may face?  Do you ever wonder what your character would do?  Wonder what they'd experience taking a few mental notes?

Agent myths -- you must change everything

Recently, I've been blogging about myths that many of us hear about agents. I started this theme based on a few tidbits I overheard at a conference and just wanted to be able to throw my spin on things.

So, at that conference I heard an author talking about how you should be careful about the details you tell an agent about your story. The idea is that if you know an agent doesn't like things like... say... a story set on a star-ship, you shouldn't pitch that your story is set on a star ship and should instead highlight other aspects of your story.

And while I totally agree with the fact that you should highlight your strengths in light of what an agent is looking for, the advice I heard went farther than that. The advice was -- if an agent doesn't like a star-ship setting, you should be willing to rewrite your entire manuscript based on that even before the agent makes an offer or shows interest.

Here's the thing... agents definitely ask for revisions, even before signing clients. And I think trying to figure out whether to tackle those revisions and re-submit is a difficult choice. The advice I've seen most often is that if you agree with the revision requests you should go ahead and do them. If you don't agree, you should think twice. And I tend to agree with this.

But I don't agree with re-setting and changing everything about your story on the off chance that doing so will please an agent who hasn't even given an opinion on your story. To me, this ties in with my post from last week -- feeling like agents are these terrifying beats. They're not -- they're there to work with the author to present the best story possible.

When I was submitting The Forest of Hands and Teeth I was convinced that agents would reject me the moment they saw the word "zombie" in the query. Worse than that, I fully assumed that my query would be sent around from agency to agency to be laughed at. "Zombies!" they would all shout, "This girl wanted me to sell a book about zombies!" This is one of the main reasons I queried my agent, Jim -- I knew that he'd recently sold a book about zombies and therefore wouldn't laugh at me!

In the end, I took a chance with my zombie query and it worked out, even though I expected nothing but laughter. And so I feel very strongly that you shouldn't be willing to compromise your story on the off chance an agent may possibly not be interested. First of all, if you do it right, the agent will often be interested. Second of all, if you find the right agent, they'll love it.

So take that chance. Yes, be aware of the market and what agents and editors are looking for, but don't be willing to sacrifice your book because one agent might, on a whim, not be interested. You want an agent just as excited about your book, your ideas, and your writing style, as you are.

What do you think? Should you be willing to sacrifice parts of your book to gain agent interest?

The Con Agent

This weekend I went to a local con - ConCarolinas (for a recap, see JP's post here). It was awesome -- totally tons of fun and my first SFF con! Of course, because I didn't even hear about the con until the Monday before and therefore couldn't pre-register, I went rather stealth :)

But here's the thing, over the course of the day I attended, I heard a few authors give advice that kinda made me squirm. And it made me want to blog about it because I felt like some of this advice was perpetuating some myths about agents and getting an agent. Of course, rule number one that I must highlight is that there are often no hard and fast rules. Everyone has their own approach and you have to figure it out for yourself. Even so... here are my thoughts on some oft perpetuated myths (spread out over a few posts...).

One thing that really stuck out to me: a few people (and some of them well published authors) said that the best was to get an agent was to go to cons. Now, while I agree that you can make some great connections at conventions, if you're only going so you can attend a pitch session and stalk some agents at the bar, you're wasting your money. Here's the thing, you can be the most fun person ever, you and the agent you meet can go get manis and pedis, you can spend all night sharing embarassing stories and margaritas, but if your book isn't any good, none of that matters. Sure, knowing the agent might get a little more attention, but you still have to deliver the goods.

Agents are generally on the lookout for books they can sell -- they want to fall in love when they open their slush. You don't have to go to cons and meet agents in person in order to have them fall in love with your work. Trust me, I've met plenty of agents at cons and none of them ended up offering me representation for my book (in fact, one of my queries didn't make it past the slush reader for an agent I'd met several times). All the offers I got were from the good old fashioned slush pile. Yes, agents do read queries and they request pages and they make offers without having ever met you!

Don't get me wrong, cons are great things. It's a super fun way to meet other like-minded people and to be surrounded with the buzz of it all. Meeting agents is part of that buzz and it's part of the business. But it shouldn't be the only reason you go. Save the money from plane tickets and hotels instead and invest them in stamps :)

More myths to come next week (unless, you know, I forget or get distracted :)

So tell me what you think -- is the best way to get an agent to go to a con?

Refilling the well, redux

I feel like I'm Erica's biggest fan these days, but her posts get me thinking :) Yesterday she posted about Refilling the Well and specifically about having taken time off from writing (and vowing to get back to it). It made me think about my own writing life.

I agree with what Erica says, that sometimes you have to take time off to refill the well. I've done that many times and I know that it's worked. I also think that sometimes it's really easy for us writers to be hard on ourselves. Many of us have other full time jobs, plenty of other commitments, and, you know, a life to live. I find time to write the words I need to because it's a priority of mine (and because I have a deadline) but I have also learned to forgive myself when I don't make it.

For example, I had a business retreat in Charleston, SC last week the result of which is that I had a spa appointment midday Thursday and the rest of the day off. My plan for weeks had been to pull out my computer and spend the afternoon relaxed and writing. I was practically salivating at the opportunity -- I could write Thursday-Monday -- think of the progress I could make!!

But after I walked back to my room after the spa, I wasn't sure I was ready to write. So I wandered down to the bookstore (in the hotel - bliss!) and picked up Valiant by Holly Black, a book that so many friends have recommended to me. And then I wandered down the street and came across one of my favorite restaurants that I'd forgotten about. It was middle of the afternoon and they were slow so I snagged a little table outside in the garden. I had a beer, read and people-watched, had amazing She Crab Soup and Shrimp & Grits. Yum!

And when I got back to the hotel, I still didn't write! I threw open the doors to the balcony and read and napped until it was time to go to dinner. All that time I'd set aside for writing, gone. But it was an amazing day, so relaxing and fulfilling. I think, in the end, it was just what I needed. To just be in the world and not pushing. It was a time to refill the well.

So yeah, I think it's important to make writing a priority. But I also think there are times when other things have to be a priority -- the day job, the family, the pets, plain old life: yourself. I think the problem is when you know you're using other things as an excuse not to write. When you have time to write but you just don't, over and over again. That's when it's time to re-examine, maybe re-prioritize and re-commit.

But sometimes, you have to let the writing go. And it's important to really enjoy those times, to recognize them and live in them, rather than always feeling guilty.

So what do y'all think? When was the last time you put writing first and felt really good about it? When was the last time you didn't put writing first and felt really good about it? How do you juggle it all?

How do you define success, redux.

Last week, Maven Erica had a fantastic post asking the question, "How do you define success?" The gist of the post was that we can't and shouldn't define our own success by anyone else's. This really got me thinking and while I'm not sure I've come to any conclusions or have any grand statements on the matter, I thought I'd share :)

One of the things that's difficult about writing is that there's always a goal out there in the distance, always another rung on the ladder or another bar to hurtle over. Suddenly it's not just "write the book" it's "write the book, revise the book, research agents, query, get requests, get representation, sell, sell for more, get tours, make lists, sell again, sell more books..." Every time you reach one milestone, another appears in the distance and rarely do we stop and say "great job on climbing that hurdle" and instead we take off full speed to the next.

I think it can be too easy to fail to recognize your own accomplishments in this business. I think it's too easy to think "when I get an agent, then I'll know I've succeeded" and then once you get the agent shift that goal to "when I sell, then I'll know I've succeeded" without recognizing the success you've already had. This is one reason I feel it's so important to find that feeling of success within yourself rather than needing outside validation. That's why ultimately you have to write for yourself and your own love of it rather than to reach these external milestones.

Another issue with defining success in writing is that everyone succeeds in such different ways. In most other professions there's a defined-ish path to success. For example, being a lawyer my path is laid out: I toil as an associate for however many years billing X number of hours and collecting Y% of my hours billed and then I'll make income partner whereupon I'll work however many more years building a suitable book of business until I make equity partner. I can look at those around me who have succeeded and copy their paths and there's a good chance that I can follow in their footsteps.

There's no way to do this in writing. You can take 10 different highly successful authors and trace the steps they took to get to where they are and even if you could copy those steps, there's no guarantee you'd end up in the same spot. Just because Author A becomes a NYT bestseller after being lead title from B House doesn't mean that you're guaranteed to become a NYT bestseller if only you can be lead title from B House the next year.

I think that's why success has to be a deeply personal question for everyone. I love to look at other author successes as motivation. I love hearing about the success and reading about how the author got there (especially because there are so many paths). But in the end, I think it does come back to enjoying what you do and being happy with where you are.

How much do you share?

A writing friend recently asked what my second book was about. Good question. Right now it's a companion book to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, ostensibly it's a sequel but we'll still see if that label fits once it's finished and turned in (incidentally, writing under contract does feel a lot like school, just with longer deadlines before you turn in your homework). As I pondered what more I could say about the book I started to wonder how much people really share about what they're writing.

Early on, when the idea for FHT came to me, I didn't say much about it on my blog. Maybe I didn't want to jinx it, maybe I was following what other writers were doing, but not talking about what I was writing suddenly became my habit. For my previous projects (pre FHT) I had word meters up (which I then protested) and talked at least minimally about what I was writing. And then, at the other end of the spectrum you have authors who have daily updates not only about word count, but also about plot.

On the one hand, I'm a writer and I blog about writing. It seems silly not to talk about what I'm actually working on at any given moment. On the other hand, I don't want to give too much information because I'm very anti-spoiler.

Plus, there's another element at play. It's hard to know how much I'm "supposed" to talk about. Not that there's a blog mafia out there watching my every word, but you start to get advice that maybe you shouldn't complain about writing, maybe you shouldn't talk about the struggles or put up a word count meter that will not only show the added words, but also the deleted words.

So that's the question I ask y'all. As blog readers, how much information do you want? What do you like to read about? As blog writers (or any kind of writer) how much do you share or think you should share?

Tell me who you are

These days a lot of authors have blogs and often, the blog gets more hits than the author's website (or sometimes, the blog exists for way longer than the author's website). I've also found, that a lot of authors include links to their blogs in emails or posts to various groups (another good way to generate traffic). And many times, these blogs are the first glance a potential reader has of the author.

Which is why I'm always so surprised at how scant some of these blogs are when it comes to promotional information. For example, on one of my loops an author has linked to her blog twice in the past month -- once to show us her new cover (very cool) and once to ask for help choosing an author photo. I followed the link. I thought her cover was cool and wanted to know more. But there was nothing about this author on the blog other than her name. Nothing.

No links to webpages. No profile telling me how many books she had, when her books would be published, how I could learn more about her. Here I am practically begging to become a fan of hers, but how can I?

I'm constantly amazed when I stumble on an author's blog but can't find out more about him or her. Sometimes, I can't even figure out what name they write under because their blog just has a title like "Book Writer" or "I like to write books" (just for example). And they don't put their pen-name, link to a blog, etc. I even remember Miss Snark once saying that she had an agent email her interested in a crapometer submission, but when they clicked on the writer's profile and blog, there was no email -- no way to contact to offer representation.

Naturally, you are all calling me a hypocrite right now. Because I barely have any information at all about my book (I have some in the sidebar to my blog) and my website isn't even designed much less written. But to be fair, the moment my announcement hit Publishers Marketplace, I put at least *some* information on my blog -- my name, an email, a link to the blurb.

I still believe that if you have a blog, hoping it will help with marketing (which I argue it will), then make sure it works as a marketing tool. Make sure people who randomly find your blog get the information they need. For example, look at Diana's blog -- she has all her book covers (so if I forget the title I can recognize it in the store), a list of her books, and her website and email are listed in her profile (though I'd argue that information gets lost and they should both be clickable links). Diana makes it easy for people to learn more about her and buy her books. Sure, hers is fancier than most, but even the most basic blog can have that same information.

So, if you have a blog, take a look at it and think about the random browser who stumbles on it. Maybe links from another blog, maybe follows the footer in an email of yours. Ask yourself what you want that new visitor to know about you, and then make sure that information is front and center.

Which leads me to my question -- what do y'all look for in a blog? What do you look for in a website? What are your pet peeves?

___________

* When I see an interesting deal listed on PM, one of the first things I do is google the author name and a lot of times that leads me to a blog (or livejournal or whatever). It's frustrating to find a blog that doesn't give me any info on the author. Because to me, marketing starts the day the announcement is listed. Seriously, what better marketing is there for your book and name than tons of publishing professionals reading about it and wanting to know more? You don't have to have a professional website or anything, but at least update the blog with current info.

Sharing the love

I spent last weekend at the WRW conference in Maryland (that's the Washington DC chapter of RWA). It was fantastic mostly because I was surrounded by people who loved writing as much as I did. Ok, it was also fantastic because I got to hang with my CP Diana and just chat about everything and I met super cool people who were fun to hang out with.

I wish I could remember when I first learned about RWA. I know that in 2000 I started my first book and I'm pretty sure I joined RWA a few months later. It was like this huge cache of knowledge that suddenly was open to me. I learned about series romance, I learned the proper formatting and length and how to write a query. I was on loops with authors whose names I recognized in the bookstore (and newbies whose names are now regulars on the NYT list).

I joined my local chapter, which at the time was WRW (to give you an indication, Nora Roberts is a member of this chapter). I went to their retreat in 2001 -- my first exposure to agent/editor appointments. The first time I ever heard Nora speak (every time I hear that woman speak I'm amazed and I learn so much).

Back then, the internet wasn't quite as every day as it is now. Sure, some people were using it all the time, but it wasn't quite as assumed or prevalent. It wasn't "understood" that all authors knew how to format a manuscript or pitch or all the other aspects of writing that are now easy to find out with a few google searches. I'm still amazed at the writers I meet who figured it all out without the benefit of RWA and the internet. Who just sat down and decided to write a book and it worked out!

Anyway, it was really neat to go back to this retreat, to be greeted as a newbie even though I'd once been a part of this chapter and at that retreat 7 years ago. It made me realize not only how much has changed, but also how much hasn't changed. In the end, these groups -- RWA, WRW, conferences, retreats, blogs, etc -- are all about spreading the knowledge. About writers loving writing and loving to talk about writing, to share what we've learned and to ask questions about what we don't know.

Perhaps it's a constant refrain in my posts, but it's always nice to be reminded what a great community we have. Unpublished, prepublished, published -- we all help each other out. And it was really wonderful to be surrounded by that -- the excitement and indulgence in what we all love.

Authorial Responsibility

I'm a YA writer, and one discussion that seems to be continual in YA circles is sex in YA books. There's one such discussion going on here. It feels a little funny to bring this up here since most of us are romance novelists (with lots of sex!). But then a friend of mine and another YA author raised a question that I really found interesting (goes beyond just the questions of sex).

She asked if as writers for teens we have a responsibility to our readers (and their parents). I'm paraphrasing here and probably twisting her question, but essentially it comes down to whether we have a responsibility as authors to show the consequences of certain actions. I think it's actually a question that can apply to all writers: do we have a responsibility for the message that's in our books? Is it important that our readers get the "right" message?

Of course, this predisposes that there *is* a "right" message. One person's take on sex before marriage can be vastly different from someone else's take. And sex is always a hot topic. But what about something else that most people would agree on... is it important that murderers are always caught and punished? Should liars never profit? Should the drug user or alcoholic spiral downward?

And do you think this is something that applies to all authors or just to YA authors particularly? What are y'all's thoughts on authorial responsibility? Does/should it exist?

Carrie's Novels

So this week in Mavenland we're pulling the bed-skirts off the mattress and dusting off old manuscripts hiding under the bed Yep, we're jumping on the novels meme that's been making it's way around the LJ community. This one is pretty simple: just list and chat a bit about your previous novels. So without further ado...

1. The Marriage Contract a/k/a Pledged to a Stranger (2000 - complete and "edited"). A 100k word sensual historical romance (western too!). And it just so happens that I found my old rejections file so I can just quote from the query to tell you what this one is about! *clears throat*

"I won't do it mother... I won't marry a woman I've never met simply to fulfill my father's gambling debts."

Cole Ide never knew that his life was pledged to a stranger until the day his mother died, forcing her only son to grant one last with -- retain the family honor by marrying Miss Baxter of Memphis, Tennessee. Cassandra Baxter is halfway to marrying another man before her father stops the wedding and tells her of her obligations to a marriage contract signed long ago. They meet and fall in love in Las Cruces -- each unaware of the other's identity -- and together they must face Cole's ruthless stepfather, Bartlett, who relentlessly pursues them. During the course of the novel both characters face what it means to have honor while learning that the absence of trust can shatter a relationship, and that second chances are rare but beautiful.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha. Ahhh.... *wipes tear from eye* How can you go wrong with secrets! coincidences! relentless pursuit! I actually got some requests from this one -- even some fulls!

2. Game, Set, Match (2000 - complete, never edited). After I realized writing historical required research and that I really loved to read RomComs, I decided to change my direction. This one opens in an autopsy suite with the heroine cutting up a corpse. A guy walks in, the heroine thinks he's the new detective and to prove she's got... cahones... she um... pulls the corpse's balls out (which you really do in an autopsy). And uh... turns out the guy is the corpse's brother. I'm sure everyone can see all the logic plot flaws here (ones that I didn't see until after finishing the rough draft). Anyways, blah blah blah the guy blackmails heroine into pretending to be his fiance at his brother's funeral so the family will get off his back about getting married. She pretends to be ditzy and it's actually fun in places.

3. Untitled (2006 - unfinished). Maybe about 20k on a RomComSuspense set in the Caribbean. I don't think I ever figured out the Suspense part of that story which is why I never finished it. Or even got that far into it!

3. Dead Bodies and Debutantes (2007 - unfinished). Maybe about 30-50k written on a YA chick lit about a yankee college student who has to spend the summer with her maternal grandmother and great aunt in South Carolina so she can "come out" (which is a phrase with vastly different connotations at her New England college). And she also interns at the coroner's office. Natch, her two worlds collide. I never finished it and was writing the scenes out of order which I found out really isn't my style!

4. Pyrean Academy (2007 - unfinished). Ill-fated NaNo book. I was writing it for a YA novel class and got maybe 15-20k in. It was about a school for the descendants of the Greek Gods (I later found out that someone else sold a strikingly similar idea so I'm glad I put it aside!). This is what I set down in favor of The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

5. The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2008 - complete). YA, apparently quite dark :) The book that my agent pulled from the slush pile and sold to Delacorte -- coming out April 2009. Set generations after the zombie apocalypse about a girl growing up in a village surrounded by a forest full of zombies and her fight against the status quo.

6. Untitled Book 2 (2008). Your guess is as good as mine - lol!

So there you have it! I started with historical romance, slid into contemporary romance, took time off, tried contemporary romance and then transitioned into YA and eventually zombies :) I'd only completed two books before selling, only one of those even "edited" (by editing I fixed typos and read it out loud one day -- hardly the revisions I put into FHT).

Anyone and everyone feel free to join us -- tell us about your own trip down memory lane and don't forget to put a link in the comments so we can all check it out!

Support Yourself

So, I joined Seventy Days of Sweat and so far I've written... um... nothing. I joined 100x100 (one hundred words a day for one hundred days) last year and um.... it didn't stick. In fact, I think the only writing challenge that's ever worked for me was when on her blog Diana Peterfreund challenged everyone to write -- something, anything -- every day for a month. Her motto was "writers write" and so she said we should all write! This couldn't have come at a more perfect time for me -- I was trying to finish the first draft of The Forest of Hands and Teeth and I was gearing up for a massive trial -- working 80 hour weeks. There were days when the most time I had to write was the 8 minutes it took for my mac 'n' cheese pasta to boil. But I wrote during those 8 minutes because Diana was (and still is) right: writers write.

All of these challenges and all of these goals are very useful and they're great! I'm all for anything that gets people writing (the old motto I learned around the RWA boards: BITHOC -- butt in chair, hands on keyboard). But here's the thing that I have to remind myself: at the end of the day, it's only you and the keyboard. You and that blank piece of paper. At a certain point it can't just be about being accountable to other people -- about sending an email to a loop checking in -- it has to be about being accountable to yourself. In the end, no one else can make you sit down and write except yourself.

Of course I'm not saying to go out and unsubscribe from your loops and disconnect from your support systems. Trust me, I know that at the end of a long day sometimes you just want to steam your face with pasta water rather than sit down and bang out a few paragraphs that you'll end up deleting anyway. And sometimes the only thing that forces you to trudge to your computer is knowing that the next day someone is going to ask you: did you write last night? But I am saying that you also need to find that accountability within yourself. It has to matter to *you* if you wrote or not. You have to answer that question for yourself and be satisfied with the answer.

And here's something that I'm starting to catch a glimpse of now that I have some publisher-set deadlines off in the future. Deadlines don't necessarily force you to write. It may seem reasonable to say "well, once I have a contract and publisher-set deadlines I'll have built in accountability so I won't need to rely on myself any more -- something external will push me to sit down and write." Here's a truth: some published authors miss deadlines (well, except for Nora Roberts). Some published authors misjudge and come close to missing deadlines. My next book is due in roughly six months -- that's at least 10k a month I need to write to get it done (and let's not forget that it took me 4 months to revise the last one). That's over 2k a week. How much did I write this week? Last week? Nothing. See, I have a deadline and it's not making me accountable, because that has to come from me. A contract does not make you write -- the skills, perseverence, dedication, motivation you learned getting to that contract make you write.

I'm all about supporting each other and riding each other to reach farther and write better. Trust me! I love nothing more than celebrating an awesome word count or an awesome chapter or writing The End or submitting -- all of it! And I love it when people celebrate those steps with me (like all the awesome support for my book cover!) At the same time I think that we all have to find that part of ourselves that wants to write -- that needs to write -- and that's what has to drive us. Because in the end, no one else will: it's you and the blank page.

Be sure to drop by tomorrow and visit our Guest Maven, Mave Fave Angie Fox!

Cover!!

Hello Mavenland! This week I'm ecstatic to be able to show you my cover and introduce you to my protagonist, Mary:

I couldn't be more excited about this cover -- I love the Forest in the background, I love the way her hair is blown out behind her, I love her expression, I love the font (rumor is both my name and the title will be glossy) and I love the colors. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting a person, and especially not a face, on my cover -- first, there just haven't been heads on YA covers recently and second, I don't describe Mary that much (and I don't think I ever describe her clothes which is another reason I'm uber impressed with this cover). So when I first opened the email I was like "Oh!" and then I was like "Oooooohhhhhh!!!!!" I just don't think they could have done a better job on this cover -- I'm totally in love :)

And yes, I've totally been staring at this cover all the time. I have a print out hung next to my desk at work and one propped on my bookcase (my future inlaws actually glued my cover to another book so that it looks like a real book!).

So tell me your thoughts! Do you ever imagine your covers while you're writing your books? Do you create mock covers for your blog or website? What do you like and dislike in a cover?

Aha! You don't have to write everything...

As Erica said yesterday, this week we're talking about that advice we hear time and again until one day when it clicks. So funny that this is the topic this week because it's something I was just discussing with my fiance JP (love to drop that in) last week on our drive up to Williamsburg.

I have a terrible memory -- truly horrific at times. And this means that I often forget a lot of writing advice that I read and hear. I think part of that is because I tend to mentally discard any advice that isn't important to what I'm working on then and there. So I read a lot of great tips and advice and think "that's great!" but because it's not what I need at that time it tends to go in one ear and out the other.

Which is kind of cool because I can read the same advice over and over again and still find new nuggets! This is one of the reasons that I love to read (or talk) about craft -- every time I'm in a different place when I read about craft and so I learn a new lesson. And I love to look at things with new angles.

So I have tons of "aha!" moments all the time :) But there's been one in particular that I've been thinking about a lot recently and that's a combination of the advice to skip the boring parts and to make every scene matter. One reason this has been on my mind is because I've been reading a lot of contest entries lately and I see the same thing: writers feeling like they have to show *everything.*


The thing is, as writers we really don't have to show everything. Our readers are smart and they can put stuff together. For example, a lot of the contest entries I've been reading are YA and set in school. We see the character in class, walking out of class, at her locker, changing out books, walking to the cafeteria. This is all stuff that every student does almost every day. But some of these scenes don't pull their weight -- they don't add anything to the scene -- and so they can drag.

When writing these scenes I think it's important to ask ourselves "Why is this here and what does it add?" Maybe there's a note slipped into the protag's locker and so it's important we see her there. Maybe the cafeteria scene sets up the social hierarchy of the school which will play a pivotal role in the book. I'm not saying that you can't write these scenes, I'm just saying that they have to carry their weight. If you're just writing about your protag going to her locker because that's what kids do, then skip it. Or don't linger over it.

This is one of those bits of advice that I felt really comfortably with when writing FHT. I used * * * to skip all over the place! But then, in writing Book 2 I found myself writing a scene that seemed lackluster. It was three people arguing about having to get a first aid kit and what it looked like and where it was and blah blah. Which, in some cases, could be important. But it wasn't important to what I was writing at all. And the characters kept repeating the same arguments and the whole thing was just meh going in circles.

Finally I just decided that I would skip ahead and my first thought was "I can't! I have to explain to the reader everything so they can follow along!" Bah! Such an easy trap to fall into! In that scene the first aid kit wasn't important, what it looked like and even getting it -- none of it was important! What was important was the protag sewing up someone's wound and I didn't have to spend 10 pages getting her the supplies she needed. Going through all the motions just felt like the logical next step but it's like sending your character to her locker because that's what kids do before going to lunch -- if the important scene is the lunch scene, who cares about the lockers!

Maybe a movie example will help... in Independence day Will Smith shoots down that alien and he gets the ship open and punches out the alien. We don't see him struggle with getting it out of the ship, getting it wrapped up in the parachute, starting on the journey -- we don't see any of it even though it had to happen. We just see him walking alone in the desert dragging the thing because that's what's important. The details would drag and it wasn't that kind of movie (it would be a different movie if Will took his time examining the alien, trying to figure it out, etc -- but that wasn't his character).

I'm not saying you should zip merrily through your manuscript hitting only the highlights of the plot. But pay attention when you're writing that stuff that you feel like HAS to be there and ask yourself if it really does. And if it does, make sure the scene pulls its weight.

So that's what I've been pondering. As I said, I LOVE LOVE LOVE writing advice. Tips, craft, thoughts -- all of it! So share some of your own aha moments or just some tips that really resonate with you!

Be sure to drop by tomorrow when Guest Maven Tanya Michaels aka Tanya Michna is in the house. Tanya is a three-time RITA finalist and has authored over twenty-five books. One lucky commenter will receive a signed copy of her book, Trouble in Tennessee!

Real Life Romance

Hey Y'all! Big news in the Ryan-Davis household: soon we will become the Davis household! That's right, we got engaged this weekend! Yay!! The whole story is here on my blog and here x-posted on my livejournal.

JP was wonderfully romantic and the whole weekend was just amazing. I'm still floating with my head in the clouds, surrounded by a pile of wedding magazines and the knowledge that I have pleeenty of time before I have to start planning :) I just get to enjoy this moment.

And because this is a blog devoted mostly to writing, I've been trying to figure out how to tie writing into all of this somehow.... and here's my thought. People often say that truth is stranger than fiction and it's often true. I remember critting someone's partial many years ago where the first scene took place in a federal courthouse. JP just happened to be working in a federal courthouse at the time so I asked him questions about the authenticity of what she had going on (from courtroom stuff to courthouse security). Now, things differ from place to place and judge to judge, but our conclusion was pretty much that what she had set up couldn't/shouldn't/wouldn't happen. I pointed out a few things (nicely, natch) and got an email back telling me that what she'd described had happened to a friend and was authentic (and yes, I think the email said, "so there!").

But she was missing the point. It doesn't matter what *can* happen in real life or what *does* happen in real life, what matters is what is believable to the reader. So if the reader is questioning "could this really happen?" then the author should take a second look. I think this is sometimes the danger with writing what we know when what we know might be a little too outside the realm of believability.

How does this tie into my engagement story? Well, a few things I didn't mention in my other post.... first, about half-way through our reserve tour some guy came up and said that he too was supposed to be on the reserve tour. That really ramped up JP's tension because he knew (a) that guy wasn't on the tour because JP had bought all the tickets and (b) there was no way for JP to say anything without me getting suspicious. But our tour guide went to straighten it out and me, knowing nothing, went to follow him (in my defense, he beckoned us to follow him). And then a big fluffy cat walked in front of us and I said "Ooooh kitty!" and JP I know was thinking "ooooh, perfectly timed distraction!"

Second, when JP opened the ring box I swear one of my first thoughts was "ooh, the ring box has its own light to shine on the diamond! How cool is that?!" Not the most romantic first thought to have upon seeing your engagement ring. And it was only a fleeting thought (but seriously, how cool is a ring box with its own light?!).

You may still be wondering how this ties together and I swear that in my mind they did (yes, the same mind still floating in the clouds so you may have to be patient with me!). Sometimes there are details that really are authentic, but that feel a little wrong in the story ("ooh! Look at the light!"). But sometimes, depending on the story, those are the details that make a story actually feel authentic (seriously, who is ever able to pull of such an elaborate scheme without some guy claiming to be on the reserve tour and throwing in a potential wrench?). I guess the key is determining what type of story you're telling in order to figure out what details add reality and which don't.

Um, I hope that made some sort of sense. If not then...oooohh! Look! Sparkly!

Getting from here to there

So I admitted to Maven Erica the other day that I'd started working on Book2 and the first thing she asked was "What's the first line?" It's pretty well documented here, on my blog, and on my friends' blogs that I can't start on a new project without the right first line. I've talked before about how this was a myth that I'd created (unintentionally) and how I wanted to bust it. Once I'd turned in final substantive edits on The Forest of Hands and Teeth, I knew it was time to start on Book2, but I didn't have the first line.

I tried all sorts of things: thought about the same things that brought me the first line to FHT, tried to feel inspirational when walking in the same place where I came up with the first line to FHT, stared into space trying to clear my mind of the pressure. None of that worked and I was getting fed up.

For anyone who hasn't heard Nora Roberts speak (or read an interview with her), she pretty strongly believes that there's no such thing as writers block. And here I was, not writing because of one stupid line. It's always been clear to me that if I wanted to be a professional writer, then I was going to have to get over things like this myth.

And so one day (when I was at work, sshhhhhh) I wrote a first line. And a second line and pretty soon I had about 300 words. I was terrified and elated and I sent them to JP and then paced around my office until he got back to me. His response: awesome! but I doubt that ends up being your first line.

Which made me laugh, because I agreed with him. But suddenly, it didn't matter that the first line wasn't perfect, because I was writing again. What did matter is that the words that followed were pretty darn good. And they led me to more words and more words.

And then I hit a scene that I knew wasn't cutting it. I just didn't "feel" the scene. JP read it an he agreed (I love him for his honesty) and for a while I was upset that it didn't work. And then I figured out a fix and I wrote the scene that way, but again... wasn't working. I waited for the despair -- for the fear that maybe I wasn't going to be able to do this writing thing after all. But I kept pushing (which isn't usually my writing style) and the thing is -- as I wrote the last paragraph I learned something new about the plot. Something I didn't know before. And then I was on fire -- 2k words in less than an hour (that's my writing style :)

The thing is, that scene that wasn't working? It's still not working and I'm still not sure if I want to keep it, if I want to revise it or cut it or whatever. But the thing that I DO know is that it got me from one point of the story to another.

So what's the moral of the story? Sometimes you just have to write something to get from here to there and sometimes what you're writing isn't the best but it does the job. Maybe the first line isn't perfect, but if it gets the story going, what else can you ask for in a rough draft?

What about y'all? What gets you from here to there?

More Synopsis Pondering

Darcy's post yesterday really got me thinking some more about synopsises (synopses? what is the plural of that word?!) I'll admit it: I've only written two synopses in my life. The first was for my first romance and I actually found the process quite easy at the time. The book was a very action centric plot -- lots of kidnapping and miscommunication and storming out and (gasp!) maybe even a secret baby? So I just followed the trail of the narrative. I'm quite doubtful that I ever delved into the emotions of the characters, of their arc and growth. It was just the facts, ma'am and then moving on.

It wasn't until after I'd finished writing my second novel and sat down to write the synopsis that I realized I'd made a critical plot mistake. Darcy's post yesterday made me think about that experience -- sitting down to boil down the story only to realize that the story was, irrevocably, broken. She's totally right -- the synopsis can really clarify those sorts of things for you! I didn't even bother writing the whole synopsis -- the first paragraph was all I needed to make me realize it was time to move on.

So that leaves The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Per usual, I left the synopsis to the very end. This time I included character arcs, started with a blurb of text from the book that I thought set up the world nicely, and tried to make sure I didn't dump in a whole bunch of backstory. I remember stressing over it, trying to winnow it down to a reasonable length.

But here's the thing I've been thinking about after Darcy's post -- so often we stress and dread the synopsis, but really, in the grand scheme of things, how important is it? I know I'll probably engender some lively debate by saying this (and I'm sure some will point out my propensity to stress over the most minute detail of anything, ahem), but in the end, the synopsis is nothing more than a sales tool. And here's what I've been thinking: if the gist of the synopsis is a story that fits together, and the sample pages are well written, who cares how well written or poorly written the synopsis is?

Of course, there are some caveats -- you still have to have some sort of flow to the thing. But in the end, the synopsis is your way of convincing the agent or editor that the brilliant beginning they have in front of them in the form of sample pages has a logical arc and comes to a solid end. It's your way of saying that you have a plot that holds water and can carry a book. Editors and agents just want to make sure you don't have aliens landing in chapter five, or that your sweet paranormal doesn't turn into a rampaging orgy. They want to make sure they like where your story is going.

I recall a contest I judged a while back that included synopses in the submission. It was amazing to see these from the other side -- not as a critique partner already involved in the story, but as a complete stranger. There was one entry in particular that had a really neat premise but the synopsis got so incredibly bogged down in the details that my mind was spinning in the end. It was too much! It was all plot and no character, no emotion, no arcs.

Now, when I think about writing synopsis it's not about just retelling the novel in a few pages, it's getting that gist across. It's about telling the agent or editor that yes you have a plot and yes it works and yes the characters grow. Think about it from the other side, think about what you would need to know to ask for more, to invest in reading the entire manuscript. That's what we should all be focused on. And if you have the chance to read/critique/judge synopses I highly recommend taking it -- you'll always learn something new!!

Also: Don't forget the 2008 Maven Valentine CYOA starts Feb 1. Vote for the story time period on the left, and get ready to choose your own adventure!

As always, the Manuscript Mavens would like to thank CYOA for graciously letting us borrow the "Choose Your Own Adventure" name. Choose Your Own Adventure is a trademark of Chooseco LLC, Waitsfield, VT. Check them out at cyoa.com. The trademark has been used by permission herein. Thanks, CYOA!

Where to begin?

First, I owe a massive huge tremendous THANK YOU to Jennifer Linforth for volunteering to set the Mavens up with a LiveJournal feed (she even had to email the peeps at LJ to get things straightened out -- how above and beyond is that?!?). So for those of you who would like to add the Mavens to your LJ friends' list, here's the link. Thanks again Jennifer - you rock!!!

A week ago I turned in what are hopefully my final substantive edits for The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Wahoo! Naturally, this has me thinking about beginnings. After all, I've been using edits as an excuse not to write something new for a good few months now. As of now, it's time for me to start writing again. Yikes!

So this has me thinking about beginnings. While my Untitled Second Book under contract is wide open (just has to be a YA), it turns out there's a chance they're going to want me to write another book set in the FHT world with a particular character. I hadn't considered writing this book, and so now I find myself pondering what happens next -- where to start this character's journey. Immediately, a thought came to mind and I followed that trail for a while, getting more and more excited about it.

But then it left me wondering -- should I just follow my first inclination? Should I be spending more time trying out different plots, different settings? Should I try the whole "list 10 things that could happen next" to make sure I'm on the right track? Where do I want to take the character in this book?

I think this is the closest I've ever really gotten to plotting, which is kind of weird. I've never felt the need to know all these things before -- I generally just start with a person in a place with a first line and see where it takes me. Why, all of the sudden, do I feel the need to know exactly where this character goes and what this character does?

I was talking to JP recently about this whole thing and really what it boils down to is my feeling that writing a novel is really just a series of closing doors. When you start, before you write the first word, you have a million possibilities ahead of you. And with every word and every line, you begin to shut those doors, diminish the possibilities. And generally, you can never go back and follow a different path (unless you think the current path is bunk and you have to back-track).

So if I send my character down Path B, I've lost the chance to tell the story about Path A. And to me that's a little sad. And I stink at making decisions in my own life, much less anyone else's. Honestly, sometimes I find this situation to be a little paralyzing -- standing here looking at all those paths and all those doors and wondering which are the rights ones (is there such a thing as the right one?).

Which made me wonder how y'all approach beginnings. Do you go with the first idea that grabs you? Do you think out a ton of possibilities and then whittle them down? Do you worry about closing all those doors or do you love the sense of so much possibility?

That Workshop High

I apologize in advance for the brevity of my post and for it maybe not making too much sense. I'm turning in my final edits today which means my head has been firmly in the Forest of Hands and Teeth recently. They don't have so many workshops there, as you can imagine :)

I must admit that it's been a while since I attended any workshops, but there is one thing I find in common with all of them -- that high you get when it's done. I don't know if it's being around so many writers, so much enthusiasm, so much love for the craft, but it's nearly impossible to leave a workshop without being completely fired up, your brain in overdrive with new thoughts, new plots, new organization tools.

Even if the subject of the workshop isn't necessarily up your alley, I think you still learn things. Maybe you learn what doesn't work for you. Maybe you learn that something you didn't think worked actually did on occasion. Or maybe you just learned some good industry gossip from the other writers there. But always, you realize that you are part of a bigger whole of writers going for their dreams. And that's pretty darn inspiring.

I still remember the feeling I got at my first RWA National conference -- how I couldn't write fast enough. How ideas sprang from everywhere. I got in my car for the 13 hour drive home and I shut off the radio and wrote a book in my head. It was amazing -- I was so full of energy and drive. Same thing with the last conference I went to -- I met wonderful friends (friendships that have grown since then) and solidified my ultimate goal of wearing that First Sale ribbon.

So if you feel like you're flagging and you need a boost, find a workshop. Bonus if it's something that you need, but remember the key is just being around other people who are excited to be there and who are interested in improving and being the best that they can. I think you'll find your creative wells filled, your dedication a little stronger, and your energy soaring. Plus, you're bound to pick up some great tips in the process!