Natalie Bahm

How Do You Choose What To Read? (and MAY B Winner!)

2012-01-17T04:55:00.000-08:00

The winner of MAY B, as chosen by Random.org, is Melissa Sarno. Congratulations Melissa! Email me your address and I'll get it to you ASAP.

Last week I went to book club. I LOVE book club, mostly because it's the only time all month when I get to be with my friends and without my (very lovely) children. We read SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson and, unsurprisingly, everyone liked it and we had a great discussion.

Most of the women in the group a major readers. While we chatting I thought I'd ask them how they choose which books to buy. I was especially interested to hear about how the kindle users picked one book over another.

This is what I got from the discussion.

-They choose books with a lot of positive reviews.

-They buy books that friends have recommended.

-They choose books priced over $8.00 or free classics. One of the women said that she steers away from anything with a low price ($0.99 to $2.99) because "it's usually a sign that the book will be awful." She said her time is too valuable to waste on a $0.99 eBook.

-They don't look at who publishes the book and don't care if it's self published, small press published, or big press published.

Now granted, this group probably doesn't represent the average Kindle reader, but I thought their answers were interesting, especially in light of the self publishing/$0.99 eBook boom.

How do you choose what to read? What matters most to you (price, publisher, reviews, cover, etc.)?

I'm Back (for today) and MAY B Giveaway

2012-01-10T04:48:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

Today, I have some good news, some less good news, and some VERY good news.

The good news: I finished my book.

The less good news: It still needs some editing and I'm not coming back to blogging land until it's done.

The VERY good news: I'm back today to give something away!

This:

I had the very great privilege to read this novel several years ago, before Caroline began submitting to agents. Yup, I'm that lucky.

There are some novels I love because the author tells a great story. There are other novels I love because the writing is brilliant. MAY B has both brilliant writing and an engrossing story. I love it so much.

Here's the description from Goodreads:

I've known it since last night:
It's been too long to expect them to return.
Something's happened.

May is helping out on a neighbor's Kansas prairie homestead—just until Christmas, says Pa. She wants to contribute, but it's hard to be separated from her family by 15 long, unfamiliar miles. Then the unthinkable happens: May is abandoned. Trapped in a tiny snow-covered sod house, isolated from family and neighbors, May must prepare for the oncoming winter. While fighting to survive, May's memories of her struggles with reading at school come back to haunt her. But she's determined to find her way home again. Caroline Starr Rose's fast-paced novel, written in beautiful and riveting verse, gives readers a strong new heroine to love.

I know you'll love it as much as I do. To celebrate May B's release I'm going to send one blog reader a copy. All you have to do is follow this blog and leave a comment on this post. I'll choose a winner Monday, January 16th.

Congratulations on your debut, Caroline! I hope it's a wonderful day.

Tangled Tides Release and WINNERS

2011-11-25T06:13:00.000-08:00

"Yara Jones doesn't believe in sea monsters--until she becomes one."

The day has come! Karen Hooper's debut, TANGLED TIDES, releases today.

Tangled Tides includes several different species of mythical monsters and a battle is going on between mermaids, selkies, gorgons and sirens. To celebrate the day Karen has asked us to choose a side.

This was an easy choice for me, because as much as I love the selkies, gorgons and sirens in Tangled Tides, the mermaids and mermen are by far the coolest.

I choose MERFOLK!

You can choose a side too. Karen's blog has info on all the creatures and details about how you can participate.

Now, as promised, I'm going to announce the winners of the TANGLED TIDES giveaway and send two of you your very own copy. And the winners (chosen by random.org) are: E.R. King and Elaine AM Smith! CONGRATULATIONS! I'll email you and get these in the mail ASAP.

YAY KAREN! I know this day has been a long time coming and I hope it's every bit as wonderful as you've hoped it would be.

Karen is giving away a signed copy of her book and some other sea creature themed prizes. To enter, join the underwater web war on Twitter. Tweet which sea creatures you’re rooting for and why. Include the hashtag #TangledTides and you could win.

Karen will be on Twitter all day celebrating and answering questions, so stop by and say hello. @Karen_Hooper

Here are a few places to buy the book and read reviews:

Amazon: http://amzn.com/1936850435

Rhemalda Bookstore: http://tiny.cc/BuyTangledTides

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tangled-tides-karen-amanda-hooper/1035791101?ean=9781936850433&itm=1&usri=tangled%252btides

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12047201-tangled-tides

Win a Copy of TANGLED TIDES!

2011-11-15T07:15:00.000-08:00

I know I'm supposed to be on blogging vacation, but I overlooked one MAJOR thing when I decided to take a November/December blogging break:

KAREN HOOPER'S BOOK RELEASE!!!

Karen has been a dear friend since we met and traded manuscripts more than two years ago, and her debut, TANGLED TIDES is a book no one should miss.

I knew when I read the first draft of TANGLED TIDES it would be something special. I was in awe of the incredible world Karen built, I loved her complex characters, and I got sucked into her brilliant story.

A few weeks ago I pre-ordered two copies. I got them in the mail last Friday, a full two weeks before the official release!

So, because I love Karen and I love my bloggy friends and can't wait for you all to read this fantastic book, I'm going to pass both of my copies on to you. Don't worry, I'll buy another one for myself on release day.

I like to keep giveaways simple, so all you have to do is leave a comment and a way to contact you. I'll announce two winners on Black Friday, (November 25) the day TANGLED TIDES officially releases. And yes, this giveaway is open to everyone, so you can win whether you live in Kansas or Timbuktu.

I hope everyone is having a beautiful November!

Blogging Vacation

2011-11-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

This month I'm trying to rewrite a book. Then it's DECEMBER: the month of over-scheduling and joy.

Something's got to give.

I know you are all busy with NaNoWriMo and the holidays, so I'm thinking no one would be too sad if I take a few months of blogging vacation.

I'm planning to be back in 2012 and I'm really going to try to be a better blog neighbor then.

I'll miss you!

Seeing Both Sides

2011-10-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of people who preach tolerance in one breath and belittle people who dare to think differently than them in the next.

I'm tired of people who don't try to understand the other side.

I'm tired of angry words.

I'm tired of hate.

I believe most people are good.

I believe most politicians want what's best for our country.

I believe most churches are filled with good people who want to serve others and serve the god they worship.

Maybe this makes me stupid. Or blind. Or both.

It probably shows how naive I am.

Oh well.

I just think that maybe we'd live in a better world if we spent less time trying to be heard and more time trying to hear and understand others.

Being a Mom

2011-10-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get a little annoyed when I see interviews with celebrity moms. Many times the focus is on their designer nursery or their creative naming skills and NOT on the fact that they are responsible for a small person and need to do their best not to screw up that small person's life.

I'm here to tell you that being a mom has NOTHING to do with designer nurseries. It has very little to do with cute clothes, creative baby names or fancy car seats.

Being a mom is about waking up with a newborn every three hours day and night. It's about sleeping on the floor next to the crib when a toddler has croup so you can hear each rattly breath and know he's still breathing.

Being a mom is about cleaning carpet a million times when it's time to potty train and not getting upset when a five-year-old still has an accident every now and then.

Being a mom is about comforting a six-year-old when a kid at school has been mean. It's about sitting down with a book and trying to explain why the a in "have" doesn't make a long A sound.

And being a mom is about skipping a birthday celebration so you can be up all night with three kids with 102+ degree temperatures. It's about cleaning puke, and poop, and pee ALL THE TIME.

Being a mom is not glamorous.

Today is my birthday. I'm 31. I feel happy about these 31 years. I'm glad I graduated from college. I feel very lucky that I was able to marry my best friend. I'm pleased that I've written a few books. But I'm most proud of the seven years I've spent being a mom.

This morning my sweet sick children brought me birthday cards full of pictures they'd drawn and creatively spelled versions of "I love you, Mom."

Being a mom is hard, but it's so, so worth it.

Inspiration

2011-10-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

Guess where we've been?

Yesterday we (my husband, 4 kids, and I) spent nine hours on airplanes/in airports coming back from one of the most interesting places in the world. I'm BEAT, but very inspired.

I'm also already missing the beignets and gumbo.

Have you ever been to Louisiana?

Time, or the Lack Thereof

2011-10-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like my time is a giant pizza sitting in front of a room of starving people.

I yell, "Dinnertime!" and everyone lunges for a slice. By the time I get to the table all that's left are crumbs.

The problem is all these people deserve my time. I WANT to give it to them.

But I want some for me too.

I feel like I'll always be searching for that balance.

Do you ever feel like that?

Be Happy Now

2011-09-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

If you aren't happy now you probably won't be happy when you have:

An agent

A book deal

A bestselling book

A movie based on your book

A theme park based on your movie

Millions of dollars

Etc.

That is all.

Get it Done

2011-09-18T16:46:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been making a lot of excuses not to write.

The last few weeks have been NUTS. We've had a slew of school activities, doctor's visits, and volunteer commitments. Now, we're in the middle of a pretty big remodeling project and my four-year-old just started puking.

Nice.

I decided to let my writing time slide, thinking I'd get back to it when I'm not so swamped.

Then I read this on Jody Hedlund's blog, and realized I need to make time to write. Life is chaotic, but I know I can carve out an hour to write, even on my busiest days, as long as I make it a priority.

I NEED that hour.

I'm going to try harder to make it happen.

Do you struggle to fit writing into your daily schedule?

A Year

2011-09-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get tunnel vision. When I have a goal, whether it be renovating a bathroom or publishing a book, I put all my energy into it, often letting other important things slide.

Every now and then I need to be reminded of my priorities.

This happened one year ago, when I had my fourth baby. There were complications and as a result my little guy spent the first two weeks of his life in the hospital, learning to breathe.

Those weeks were the hardest of my life, but they were also cleansing in a way. I focused entirely on him. The only thing in the whole world I wanted was for him to be okay. All those other things, things I thought were important, disappeared.

I've tried to remember those weeks as I've gone through this year. It's been a frustrating time for my writing. Things haven't always happened the way I hoped they would.

But, when I think about the what REALLY matters to me, I have no complaints.

My little guy is a healthy, thriving one-year-old now.

My family is happy. Life is good. And I am grateful.

The Fork in the Road

2011-09-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the blog silence Monday. Time seems to be getting away from me lately.

Last Friday I wrote a scene that introduced a new character. It was a good scene, full of tension and suspense. I loved it at the time.

But then I realized that this character will change the course of the story and now I'm not sure I want him to do that.

I'm going to have to give him the ax. It's a shame, but he just doesn't fit with my vision for the book. Now I just have to build up the courage to cut and try again.

Do you ever get to a place in your manuscript when you have to make a decision that could drastically change the rest of the story? What do you do?

My Writing Life, Simplified

2011-08-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

I realized yesterday that I started writing almost exactly 4 years ago.

I thought about those years and decided it might be fun to break them down.

So here's my life (in mostly chronological order):

Year One:

-Wrote really crappy stuff

-Let family and friends read some of it (much to my embarrassment)

-Learned a lot

Year Two:

-Finished first book

-Sent 2 queries

-Realized it was awful and put it away

(hopefully forever--no one should ever have to read that book!)

-Finished second book

-Queried agents

-Had some requests and a few invitations to rewrite

-Met writing group

-Revised

Year Three:

-Signed with lovely agent

-Began blogging

-Revised more

-Started several new books

-Started tweeting

-Went to my first writing conference with my writing group girls

-Met many writers online and in real life

Year Four:

-Had horrific pregnancy

-Had sick baby

-Finished first draft of third book

-Shelved third book

-Wrote first draft of fourth book

-Went to second writing conference and met my agent

(who is even more lovely in person)

-Let fourth book simmer while working on fifth book

-Made plans to finish fourth and/or fifth book before 2012

And that's where I'm at.

I think if someone told me when I started writing my first book that I'd have to write at least four more before I saw one published I would have been discouraged.

But, looking back, I'm not discouraged at all. It's been a wonderful four years. I've learned a lot and plan to learn a lot more over the next four. And, you know, hopefully sell something someday.

How long have you been writing? How have those years shaped your perception of writing and publishing?

Balance

2011-08-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was talking to my cousin at my grandmother's funeral.

He asked me about my writing and I told him a little about the book I wrote and the ones I'm working on now. He said something to the effect of, "I'm so impressed that you can do that and raise 4 kids."

It was a sweet thing to say, and I could tell he meant it. I should have just said thank you, but I've always had trouble taking compliments, so instead I said, "Well, I don't do very well at other things. My house is always a mess."

Then he said something that really made an impact on me. I can't remember his exact words, but they were something like, "We should feel sorry for people with little children and immaculate houses. They miss out on a lot."

I liked that.

Confession

2011-08-14T15:38:00.000-07:00

I'm going to admit two things:

1. This year, and probably last year too, I've been a really crappy writer. I haven't written regularly at all. I've started 3 manuscripts and finished 0. I've had a few spurts of productive writing time, but mostly my focus has been on other things.

2. I don't feel bad about it.

I had a reflective moment the other day as I looked back over the year and some of the struggles we've been through, and overall I feel really good about where I've put my focus. My family needed me and I was there for them.

Sometimes I feel like a lazy bum when I see how much writing some of my friends do. Several of them have written three books in the time it's taken me to write half of one. I have to remind myself that this is not a race.

Writing is important to me, but it's nowhere near family on my list of priorities. I know the day will come when my babies will be all grown up, and I don't want to look back at my life and feel like I wasn't able to enjoy their childhoods because I was so wrapped up in my own pursuits.

Still, I don't think it's impossible to be a good mom and a good writer, (plenty of people do it!), and a shift in our schedule should make it a little easier to get some quiet time. On Monday two of my four kids will be headed back to school. My preschooler will start school the next week. They'll be filling their little brains with knowledge, baby will be napping, and I'll be writing up a storm. Hopefully.

Do your priorities sometimes push your writing to the backseat?

A Life

2011-08-08T05:46:00.000-07:00

My 91-year-old grandmother passed away last week. She lived a long and remarkable life, and she will be very missed.

She raised six children in a two room log cabin without indoor plumbing. They were poor. My dad tells stories of Christmases when the only gift for the kids was a bit of hard candy.

All of Grandma's kids learned to work hard, and as a result all six children graduated from college.

It's impossible to think about Grandma's life and not feel a little ungrateful. We have so much, and can't imagine life without television or Internet, much less flushing toilets or air conditioning.

I am grateful for Grandma and all the people who've gone before us to make this world what it is. It's not perfect, but darn it, at least we can pee inside.

The Writing Bug is Contagious

2011-08-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning my eighty-seven-year-old grandpa called me to tell me he'd written a story.

My older brother is half-way through his first novel.

My younger brother started writing his book too.

My seven-year-old daughter carries a notebook around with her and is constantly writing things down. She wants to be a writer when she grows up, just like her mom.

The stories they write make me happy, and I wonder if they'd all be writing now if I hadn't tried it first. I'm glad I did.

Do you have friends or family who have caught the writing bug?

Just Write Something

2011-08-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get busy.

When this happens I'm often frustrated that I don't have enough time in my day to write a respectable 2-4 pages, so I don't write anything.

That's dumb.

I should just write a page, or a paragraph, or a sentence, because writing something is better than writing nothing.

This month will be crazy with family visits, back-to-school stuff, birthday parties, and appointments, but I WILL write something every day.

Do you have days when you don't write anything? Do you want to join me in August and write something every day?

Inspiration

2011-07-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working on a book about pirates.

One of my struggles has been describing their fictional world because, before now, I've never written a fantasy setting.

So, for the last couple months and I've been taking a pictures of otherworldly things. Like this:

And these:

And these too:

Pretty inspiring, no?

It's a lot easier for me to describe something I've seen rather than something I've only imagined. I love having pictures of the real world to inspire my pirate's fantasy world.

Do you get your settings straight from your imagination or do you base them off things you've seen?

Recharge

2011-07-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

I just picked the winner of Heather Dixon's ENTWINED using Random.org.

And the winner is:

Alexandra Shostak!

Congratulations Alexandra! I'll email you soon.

We just got back from the Oregon Coast. It was AMAZING. We go every couple years, and it is my favorite vacation ever. I love everything about the Coast. The cool weather, the amazing landscape, the ocean. But mostly I love this:

We talked. We played. We rested. We made memories. And now we're refreshed and ready to get back to real life.

And revising.

How do you recharge?

The Writing Community

2011-07-20T04:00:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about social networking lately, and particularly about writers supporting writers through blogging, twitter and Facebook.

My husband started an experiment in January. He's an entrepreneur, so he thought it would be fun to blog business ideas. He'd never blogged before but, not one to do things half way, he decided to post every single day of 2011.

I told him how to make friends through blogging, (visit other similar blogs, follow, comment, start a conversation, etc.), but he hasn't had a lot of success. After 200 posts (more than I've written in the 2 years I've blogged), he still has less than 10 followers and rarely gets a comment.

I tell you this not because I want you to pity my hubby and follow his blog, (though you can if you want, it's here), but because I think his experience has shown me what a unique and supportive community we writers have.

It's easy to make friends in writer-land. I'm grateful for that.

Have you felt welcomed by the blogging writer community?

Have you left a comment on my Karen Book Deal Celebration post yet? I'll choose the winner of ENTWINED by Heather Dixon next Monday.

Finally Guilt Free (Almost)

2011-07-18T04:00:00.001-07:00

I have four little kids. Caring for them is a full-time (plus nights and weekends) job.

I write.

I don't do much else.

It's taken some time, but I think I've finally learned to let go of my guilt over not being a super-mom. I'm at peace with a not-immaculate house, piles of laundry that build until there's no clean underwear, and Costco lasagna for dinner. I probably won't ever be the mom who runs marathons, throws over-the-top birthday parties, or makes my girls prom dresses. But that's okay.

I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my family and friends. I love writing. And life is too short not to put my focus on the things I love.

Do you have to sacrifice some things so you can write?

Have you left a comment on my Celebrating Karen's Book Deal post yet? I'll choose the winner of ENTWINED by Heather Dixon next Monday.

Time to Celebrate! Win a copy of ENTWINED by Heather Dixon

2011-07-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

It seems like I've had a ton of friends sign with agents, announce book deals, or have books come out in the last few months. Congratulations to all of them!

Today I wanted to honor my sweet friend and loyal critique partner, Karen Hooper, who sold her mermaid book, TANGLED TIDES, on Friday. YAY!!!

Karen is a master of fantasy. The world she builds in TANGLED TIDES is rich and magical, the story is brilliant, and the characters are deep and human (even though they aren't actually human). You will love this book.

To celebrate I'm going to give away my favorite debut so far this year, ENTWINED by Heather Dixon.

I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who hasn't read it, so I'm only going to say five things about it:

1. I hadn't heard about ENTWINED until my 17-year-old sister picked it up from the library.

2. She gushed as she read it multiple times, finally convincing me to pick up a copy.

3. It's a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses (probably my favorite fairy tale ever).

4. I LOVED IT. The story is as gorgeous as the cover.

5. Heather Dixon has the most entertaining blog I have ever read (and I've read A LOT of blogs). Seriously. Check it out.

You can watch the book trailer here.

All you have to do to win the book is follow my blog and leave a comment. I'll announce the winner Monday, July 25.

And to make it easy to leave a comment I'll ask two questions: What's your favorite debut so far this year? And HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO READ KAREN'S BOOK!?!?

I'm Back!

2011-07-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

After a very productive blogging break, I've decided to come out of my writing cave.

The break was wonderful. I think I've done more writing in the last three months than I'd done the whole year previous.

Still, I've missed my blog buddies and I've missed having a place to share my thoughts. Plus, there's been so much good news lately, and I was desperate for a blog celebration.

On Friday, one of my best friends and oldest writing buddies, Karen Hooper, announced her BOOK DEAL. This is huge, as she is the first one in my critique group to reach this step. I'm so proud of her and so excited for her. Her book, about mermaids, is titled TANGLED TIDES, and it is awesome. You're going to love it.

So on Wednesday, to celebrate Karen's big news, I'm going to give away a copy of my favorite debut this year. Trust me, you want it. It's REALLY good.

What have you all been up to?!?

Goodbye for now

2011-04-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

You all know I'm a writer. Most of you also know I'm the mom of four very little children. For the past few months I've been pondering how I can be both a good mom AND a good writer. I've realized that, to make it work, I need to give up some things. One of those things is this blog. I plan to come back to it. Maybe in a few months. Maybe in three years, when my baby is in preschool. I don't know. Right now I want to focus all of my nearly non-existent free time on writing books. I'll miss you. I know I haven't kept up very well these past few months, but I do care about you and I'll try to check in on your blogs every now and then. If you ever have a question or just want to chat about writing, books, publishing, parenting, or anything else, please EMAIL ME. I even added an email button to the sidebar to make it easier. You can also tweet me, though I should warn you, my tweets are sporadic. I'm @nataliebahm on Twitter. Good luck to all of you! I hope to see many of your names on book covers soon. Happy writing.

Liar Society Blog Tour

2011-03-28T04:03:00.000-07:00

Today I have the privilege of welcoming Lisa and Laura Roecker, the authors of THE LIAR SOCIETY, as part of their Blog Tour of Awesome.

Lisa and Laura are two of my favorite, favorite bloggers. They are hilarious and super sweet and inclusive. When they sent me an ARC for their debut novel THE LIAR SOCIETY, I knew I was in for a treat.

I was not disappointed. THE LIAR SOCIETY was a very fun read. One of the things I appreciated most was the well thought out mystery. They kept me guessing right up to the end. I asked them to share a bit about how they managed to keep the mystery fresh and exciting.

KEEPING A MYSTERY MYSTERIOUS

A big part of our process when we're writing a mystery is outlining. We would be completely lost if we didn't have some kind of road map while we're drafting. For us, outlining and mysteries go hand in hand. We need to at least have a rough idea of where the story is going. For us that translates into a loose outline of the entire book and then a more detailed chapter outline for Act 1. After we wrote the first act we created an outline for Act 2. This worked really well for us because we had both structure and flexibility as we drafted.

Revising was an entirely different beast. After editing The Liar Society for the nine millionth time, we began to really, truly, whole-heartedly regret our choice to write mysteries in the first place. Keeping track of which clues went where and who we were supposed to suspect and when is enough to make our collective heads explode. Our number one goal while writing was obviously to keep the mystery fresh, but not completely out of left field.

At the end of the day, for us, the most important thing was to have fun with the book. Our hope is always that if we have fun writing, our readers will have fun reading. Hopefully our theory holds up!

If you want to enter The Liar Society Blog Tour of Awesome contest, and really, who wouldn't want to enter!?! There's a $100 Amazon gift card up for grabs! Just click here and enter the super secret password, BFFS, for an entry. Remember you can enter one time for each stop on our blog tour, so be sure to click here and see where else we're visiting this month to maximize your chances of winning.

Audi, Vide, Tace,

L&L

Thank you Lisa and Laura!

Empathy

2011-03-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

I feel so sad for all the people affected by the tsunami in Japan. I hope the worst has passed and the people can start healing.

On that note, today I wanted to write a little about empathy.

Last Thursday, I was reading a book with my three-year-old son while his big sisters were at school. He stopped me, mid-sentence and said, "I wish [big sister] was a boy."

I asked him, "Why do you wish she was a boy?"

He replied, "Because it hurts her head when you brush her hair."

So sweet. He wasn't thinking of how cool it would be to have a big brother, he was worried about the pain his sister goes through every morning when we brush out her long tangley hair.

The conversation got me thinking about empathy.

I've read several books lately where I was unable to connect with the main characters. The authors tried to create sympathetic characters. The ingredients were there, (sad past, dismal looking future, and a lot of personality), but for some reason the characters didn't work for me.

Then I read I AM THE MESSENGER, by Markus Zusak. WOW. I was so invested in the main character. I felt his pain. I wanted him to find happiness. And because I was felt so much empathy for the main character I loved the book.

When I write a character I try to make her real. I try to make her likable. I want the reader to care about what happens to her. I don't always succeed.

I wish I could give you a checklist for "how to create characters that people care about," but the truth is I have no idea how to do it. For me, sometimes a character works, and sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes half of the readers love him and the other half don't. It's something I'm working hard to get right in my current WIP.

So, since I have no easy answers, I'll ask you.

How do you create characters people will care about?

Being Honest

2011-03-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

Some days I read something brilliant and feel like a hack.

Some days I read something awful and wonder HOW it ever got published.

Some days I write and I'm sure what I've written is fantastic.

Some days I read what I wrote the day before and think, "How did I think this was okay yesterday?"

Some days the words flow and I love writing.

Some days writing is hard. I force words to come. Those words suck.

Some days I wonder why I didn't choose a less frustrating obsession. Like cooking. If I put all the time I've devoted to writing into cooking I could be an awesome cook. Maybe. But I love to eat, and if I was an awesome cook I'd probably be a bit chubbier, so it might be a good thing that I chose writing.

Some days I don't write at all. I hold my baby. I read a book. I play blocks with my three-year-old. I watch American Idol. I might even do some laundry.

Some days I'm sure I'll never finish writing this stupid book.

But I'm sure I will... someday.

Writing, Parenting, and GUILT

2011-02-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been feeling a lot of guilt.

This is mostly because:

When I'm writing, I remember the pile of laundry that needs to be done. When I'm doing laundry I think I should really be spending time reading with my five-year old. When I'm reading with my five-year-old I feel bad about the sinkful of dirty dishes. When I'm working on the dishes the baby starts crying and I know I should just hold him for a minute. When I'm holding the baby the big kids start fighting about what to watch on TV and I think I really should get them all dressed up in warm clothes and send them outside for a half hour to play. When they finally get outside I feel like I should be writing.

It's a vicious cycle.

I think it's impossible to be a parent and not feel guilty every now and then. Being a parent is hard and it takes SO MUCH TIME and ENERGY. It's physically impossible to accomplish everything I need/want to do everyday in 16 waking hours. I often feel overwhelmed.

Then I get reminded of just how great my life is.

A few weeks ago I was putting my oldest to bed she gave me a big hug and said, "Mom, I know you work real hard to clean the house and write your book, and I think you're doing a great job."

I may not be anywhere close to perfect, and I may never be able to do everything I wish I could, but I do have very sweet kids and a wonderful husband who love me despite my imperfections. That's got to count for something.

Do you have mom guilt, dad guilt, writer guilt, etc.?

A healthy dose of PERSPECTIVE

2011-02-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

I'm very sick right now. Three of my kids are sick too, including the baby. My family hasn't all been healthy at once since January, and because of that I haven't written anything all month. I'm snuggled up in bed right now with baby, trying to keep warm despite a wicked case of the chills. I've been feeling pretty sorry for myself for the past couple of days.

And then I read about the earthquake in New Zealand. I realized that Chistchurch is where my dear friend Wen Baragrey lives. Any of you that follow Wen know that she and her family have had a very trying couple of months. Her premature grandson was born in November and seemed to have complication after complication before he finally came home in January only to head back to the hospital last week.

Thankfully he and all of the rest of Wen's family made it out of the city okay, but it was a scary time for everyone. Wen detailed the experiences of her family here.

It's so easy for me to get caught up in mylife and my worries and not realize that other people are suffering far greater challenges. But today my thoughts and prayers are with Wen and the people of Christchurch, NZ.

The Author Website

2011-02-13T12:14:00.000-08:00

We've had a whole lot of yuck at my house this week. The baby had an ear infection and now he and my 3-year-old have RSV, and my girls are recovering from strep. Not fun.

So I'll keep this short and sweet.

For months I've known I needed to create an author website.

My agent recommends that ALL writers who want to submit their work have a website (not just a blog). Websites are nice because agents and/or editors can look through in just a few minutes and get a pretty good idea of who you are and what you write.

I worried putting up a website would be a ton of work and/or super expensive and/or very time consuming. I didn't want to think about it, so I put it off for months.

Last week I finally decided it was time. I now have an author website www.nataliebahm.com. It's nothing fancy, but I think it will be sufficient for now. And to my surprise, it wasn't hard, it wasn't expensive, and I got it done in just a couple of days.

Do you have an author website? If not, have you thought about creating one?

SPEAK and Free Speech

2011-02-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

I usually steer clear of controversy on this blog. I don't like making people mad (and I hope I won't make anyone mad today!). But this is something I've been thinking about for a long time.

Last week I finally read SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson. I've had it on my list ever since all the hubbub last fall. For any of you who missed it, this should give you the gist of what went down.

I know I'm super late to this discussion, but I wanted to say a few things now that I've read the book.

First, I thought SPEAK was excellent. A must read. The subject matter (recovering after rape) was painful, but so important. I felt like both of the scenes dealing with rape were done well. They were not gratuitous at all, but still showed the violence and horror of the act. I agree one hundred percent that the Missouri professor was WAY off base calling it soft porn.

It is absolutely a book I want my kids to read when they get older.

All of that said, I want to address one of the issues I had with the uproar last fall. While Laurie Halse Anderson and all the bloggers and writers who rushed to her defense had the right to speak up and defend something they believed in, so did the guy in Missouri. And though I don't agree with what he said, I do believe he had the right to say it.

In the U.S. free speech is a right for everyone, not just writers and artists. Not just people with whom we agree. EVERYONE. Whether a person is conservative, liberal, communist, or just plain crazy they have a right to say what they believe. Sometimes I think we forget this.

Here's an example:

About a year ago, I was on Twitter when a published author tweeted about reading a Goodreads review of her book. She was livid. The reviewer found some of the things in the book offensive and rated it low.

So, the author went to the Goodreads review and left a scathing comment about how the reviewer was an idiot, and the review was tantamount to censorship. AND THEN the author posted a link to her reply on Twitter and encouraged her followers to leave more mean comments on this poor person's Goodread's review. Goodreads! This was not some national reviewer. This was just a reader who picked up a book and didn't like it.

I thought the whole thing was very TACKY. And wrong. The author had the right to write her book. She had the right to include any content she wanted to include. But the reviewer also had a right to voice her opinions. Having the author and twenty of her twitter followers jump down the the reviewer's throat, and attack her personally, for sharing her thoughts was more than a little hypocritical.

Needless to say, I deleted the author from my twitter feed.

I think the issue I had with both this situation, and to an extent the SPEAK uproar, was that people did not simply defend the books in question, they also attacked the person voicing their opinion. It is one thing to say, "I totally disagree with you. I believe this book was good and important for XYZ reasons," it's quite another to say, "Because you made this comment you are a pervert/homophobe/idiot/insert- overblown-insult-here."

I think we need to accept that not everyone will like what we write. We may offend people. Our books may even get banned. And while we have the right to defend ourselves against criticisms we find unjust, we should try to do it in a civilized manner. It's importatnt to respect other people's right to speak freely, even if we strongly disagree with their opinions.

Thoughts?

Momentum

2011-01-30T19:41:00.000-08:00

I decided last Saturday that I was going to finish my first draft.

I sat down at the computer and wrote for three uninterrupted hours while my husband took care of the kids.

I didn't allow myself email, or twitter, or spider solitaire. I just wrote.

And 3500 words later I was done.

Sort of.

I have some characters, a setting, and a pretty good story, but there is still SO MUCH work to be done. I'm so excited to do it.

I know everyone says to wait a few months before revising. It makes sense to wait and get some distance from the story. It's good advice.

But even though I know the "right" thing to do is write something else and let this story simmer for a while, I just can't wait.

I'm excited about this project. I want to work on it. And, after my 2010 (aka the year of crappy writing), I feel like I need to keep this new found momentum going.

So, I'm jumping into revisions tomorrow. It might be the "wrong" way to do it, but I don't care.

How long do you wait before you start revising a first draft? Have you ever been so into a story you couldn't let it rest?

Why I May Never Buy an eBook

2011-01-23T11:07:00.000-08:00

Last week I told you about my new iPad and how I had no idea what to do with it. Now, thanks to the advice of several awesome commenters I have a much better idea of what this little thing can do. Thanks everyone!

After I read all of your comments I immediately downloaded apps for all of the bookstores (kindle, nook, ibooks, etc), and began to browse.

It was AMAZING. I couldn't believe that every book I wanted was just a tap away. Not only that, I had some bookstore gift cards from Christmas, so I didn't even have to spend my own money! The only question was what I should buy first.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I am not and impulsive buyer. Before I could tap that buy button I had to do some research. So I looked up what it would cost to buy a REAL paper and ink copy of the books on my list, and I was surprised to find that for most of the books I wanted, it cost the same or just a dollar more to buy a book instead of an eBook.

I thought about that real book sitting on my shelf. I thought about lending it to friends. I thought about all four of my kids pulling it off the shelf when they get old enough to enjoy it. I thought about reading it in the bathtub and not worrying about a few little water spots, because it's paper and it will dry. And the eBooks suddenly looked much less shiny.

Yeah, I've heard about Kindle's new lending program. But I've also heard about all the caveats, like the fact that only a few books can be lent, you can only lend a book ONE TIME, and only lend it for 14 days.

Yes it would be convenient to get a book the second I want it and store my whole library in one two pound device. But I don't think those conveniences outweigh my desire to share my books with friends and family and smell paper and ink while I read. Plus you know I'm not taking the iPad with me to the tub.

So instead of buying books online I'll be headed to the bookstore to browse the aisles the old fashioned way.

But don't worry! The iPad will see some reading action too. I downloaded an app that gives me access to my library's eBooks and eAudiobooks and it turns out my library has an AWESOME eBook collection. So I think I'll save myself a couple trips to the library every month by doing more of my library reading and listening on the iPad.

I will probably break down and buy an eBook one of these days, but not anytime soon. The sad truth is I like real books too much.

Do you buy a lot of eBooks? What do you like about them? If you're not an eBook fan, why can't you live without good old ink and paper books?

The Tale of the iPad

2011-01-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

My husband got me an iPad for Christmas. We don't usually give each other big ticket gifts, but this year he wanted to WOW me.

See, a few months ago, on my birthday actually, he called me up to let me know he'd just bought a car. It was a piece of crap Jeep Wagoneer and it was puffing blue smoke. This was a problem for 5 reasons.

1. He already had a car, a very nice car actually.

2. He'd never fixed a car in his life.

3. It was my birthday

4It was barely a month after my c-section and there was a ton of work that needed to be done in the yard and I couldn't do it.

5. He didn't ask me first (probably because he knew I'd said no).

I was a little upset. He was very apologetic. We made a deal that it would be out of my garage before Christmas, whether it was fixed or not.

He worked on it most nights, pouring time and money into it. I wondered if the dump had a pick up service. Then, one week before Christmas, he fixed the blue smoke problem, put it up for sale, and sold it two days later for a pretty decent profit.

He used that profit to buy me an iPad for Christmas.

It was very sweet of him.

Since then I've been trying to figure out what to do with this iPad. It's a very useful little contraption, with apps to help with everything from calorie counting to tweeting. But I'm finding that we (and by we I mean my three-year-old and occasionally my husband or me) mostly use it to play dumb games.

Truth be told, I have the same love/hate relationship with the iPad that I have with most of the other pieces of technology in my house. It makes me miss simpler times... like last month.

But I'd still rather have the iPad than the Jeep.

Do you ever get overwhelmed by technology? Has your spouse ever bought a car without asking you? Do you play Angry Birds?

Bedtime Stories

2011-01-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

My kids have requested a lot of bedtime stories lately. Books are still fun, but they'd rather have us make up a story on the fly.

My husband tells the best stories. He has great characters with funny voices and silly names. They go on exciting adventures. He always has the kids giggling by the end (which actually isn't all that helpful just before bed, but it's pretty cute).

My bedtime stories aren't so good. They're pretty much all about dragons and princesses and a quest where they have to get three things. Not very original. And not very fun. When the kids get to choose the storyteller it's no surprise that they always want daddy. Mom's stories are lame.

So how, when I can't even tell a decent bedtime story, do I manage to write books?

I'm pretty sure it's because my creative process takes time. I need to work out the basics. I have to decide where the scene will take place, what the characters are going to say to each other, where the bad guys come in, and how the problems I create will be solved later on. I always say I'm not a plotter, but I think plot more than I admit. I don't outline a whole book before I write, but I can't just make stuff up while I'm typing either.

This might be why I can't do 10,000 word days. I run out of stuff I've thought through after a couple thousand words and I can't go on until I get an hour to do dishes or vaccuum so I can think out the next scene.

Are you a good on-demand storyteller? Can you sit down at the computer and create, regardless of whether you've worked out a scene before? Or do you have to have things planned out before you write?

Keeping it Simple in 2011

2011-01-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Last year I made a bunch of goals. They were good goals. Or they would have been good, if I'd actually been able to accomplish any of them.

So for 2011 I am making just one resolution for my writing.

FINISH WRITING THIS BOOK

That's it.

I'll probably do a lot of reading. I hope I'll keep up with the blog and Twitter. I might even write another book after this one is done.

But if I finish the book I'm working on (and by finish I mean write, revise a hundred times, and polish until it sparkles), and do nothing else with my writing this year, I will be happy.

What do you plan to write in 2011?

My Favorite Books This Year

2010-12-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

I read kind of a lot of books this year. I didn't quite reach my goal of 100, but I got to 83.

A couple of the books I read were BEASTS (ahem LITTLE DORRIT and THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE), and I also read 10 manuscripts for friends, so I practically made it to 100.

Many of the books I read were fantastic and I wanted to share my list of favorites, so here goes...

(Note: I'm only including books I read this year. If I had to list all of my favorites this post would go on forever.)

Favorite Memoir

THE GLASS CASTLE by Jeannette Walls

This is pretty much a must read. It's horrifying and heartwarming all at once.

Favorite Middle Grade

PRINCESS FOR HIRE by Lindsey Leavitt and Janice Hardy's SHIFTER

PRINCESS FOR HIRE is really cute and magical (two things I love in MG) and THE SHIFTER is a great story, with great writing.

Favorite YA

MATCHED by Ally Condie, followed closely by Ally Carter's HEIST SOCIETY and Kiersten White's PARANORMALCY

These were all just fun. I read a lot of deep YA too, but I really appreciated the lighter stuff this year.

Favorite Classics

Charles Dickens LITTLE DORRIT and Thomas Hardy's FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

I always read a few classics. LITTLE DORRIT took me all year to get through, but it was a great story and well worth the effort.

Favorite Series

THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy by Suzanne Collins (Obviously)

I love these.

Favorite book from a genre I'd never read before

Jody Hedlund's Christian romance THE PREACHER'S BRIDE

I read this because Jody is a friend. I loved it because it was a really great story, told well.

Favorite Nonfiction

NURTURE SHOCK by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

Fascinating!

Favorite Books from Childhood Revisited

THE GIVER by Lois Lowry and pretty much everything by Roald Dahl

It was really fun to read these again now that I'm grown up.

Favorite book for grown ups and favorite book this year

THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett

LOVED this. I think it was probably my favorite read in five years.

So there you have it! I read a very wide range of books this year so hopefully there's something here for everyone. I promise if your taste is exactly like mine you will love these books! And if you're taste isn't exactly like mine you'll probably still like some of them. :)

Now the question is, what should I read in 2011?

I Believe in You

2010-12-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

Pursuing publication is hard.

If you are reading this you probably wrote a book. A WHOLE BOOK. You spent hundreds of hours of your life making it as good as it can be. You loved it. You were proud of it.

You queried agents. You're work was rejected. Maybe, eventually, an agent liked it and you moved to the next step. Maybe no one connected with it, so you wrote another book, and maybe another one after that, hoping that someday, someone would appreciate your work.

If you are one of the lucky ones (and yes, luck does play a role here) who managed to find an agent who loved your work, then you moved onto the next step, editor submissions. Maybe your book was brilliant and it got picked up at auction the first week. Or maybe you waited. A long time. And you came so close, but never close enough. So you wrote another book, hoping that maybe this would be the one to make it to the bookstore shelves.

Maybe you decided to self publish. Maybe you gave up on publication and instead wrote just for you and your family. Maybe you gave up writing all together for a while.

We've all traveled different roads to get us where we are today. I know that among my blog friends there are BRILLIANT writers who have worked at it for years. I also know there are some of us who are just starting out, who will learn in the coming years exactly what it means to be a writer.

I just want to tell all of you, whether you've been writing for a week or fifty years, that I believe in you. I really believe you can write a book that people will love.

It won't be easy. In fact I promise it will be very, very hard. But you can do hard things. If this really is something you want, you CAN do it.

Happy Holidays everyone! I'm going to take a little blogging break so I can put all my focus on the kids while they're out of school. For all those who celebrate, have a wonderful Christmas!

Finding Time to Write

2010-12-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

Before I start I want to tell you about Dear Teen Me. It's a new blog where writers post letters to their teen selves. You'll recognize a lot of the writers involved (authors like Sarah Okler, Carrie Jones, and Charles Benoit along with a lot of the bloggers you know and love). My letter is up today. *bites nails*

It's really fun. Check it out.

On to my real post.

I've had a lot of friends comment over the last few months that they don't know how, with 3 kids and a baby, I find any time or energy to write.

My answer is I need to write. It is what keeps me sane. Some moms exercise. Some moms decorate. Some moms have jobs. I write.

Because I need it, I make time for it.

Here's how:

1. I write when I get a quiet hour. My three older kids are all in school at the same time for 5 hours a week. It's not a lot of time, and the baby usually requires my attention during a couple of those hours, but the leftover minutes are golden writing time. I can focus.

2. I write when the kids are occupied with other things. My kids destroy the kitchen table with markers, glue, and playdough at least once a week. It's a small price to pay for an hour of uninterupted writing time.

3. Writing is a higher priority than cleaning, unless I'm hosting book club that day or my in-laws are visiting. I still do manage to keep the house picked up most days, but I have a busy day and I have a choice between dishes or writing, I'll write.

4. I'm flexible and realize that it probably won't be possible for me to write everyday. Some days the baby is fussy. Some days I have other commitments. But I write when I can and eventually all that writing becomes a book.

The truth is EVERYONE is busy. I imagine many of you are way busier than me. There are always going to be things we could/should be doing instead of writing, but I believe that most people have time to write a book. It doesn't take much. It's about sitting in the chair, staring at that blank screen or empty sheet of paper and creating something wonderful... or at least decent.

How do you fit writing into your life?

The Truth

2010-11-28T12:57:00.000-08:00

I've decided to shelve the manuscript I've worked on for over a year.

Any of you who have followed this blog for a while know that this has been a hard year for me. I've tried to be upbeat about it, but the pregnancy, the months of sickness and sleep deprivation, and the stress of having a sick premie took their toll on me and by extension the story I was writing.

I'm proud of the first 50 pages--the part I wrote last November before I was pregnant. The rest just isn't right. It's never been right. I can't put my finger on exactly why it doesn't work, but I think it has something to do with the fact that I've lost passion for the story.

I wanted to finish it. I wanted to have a brilliant little novel come out of my tough year. But I didn't feel it. The story was meant to be funny and light, but I wasn't in a funny light place. I felt tired and sick and worried and it's hard to hide that from the reader.

As a result the novel needs to be completly rewritten. I don't have the energy to do that right now, so I'm putting it away for a while.

The good news is, I finally feel free to work on one of the projects I'm actually excited about. Writing is FUN again. I started a new manuscript and in just three weeks I've written almost 15,000 words. It's a first draft of course (which means it will need to be rewritten a couple hundred times), but it's a good, usable first draft, with characters that I love and a story that I'm into.

November was good to me. I think I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. My baby is doing much better, I'm feeling creative again, and I'm excited about my life moving forward.

Have you ever lost your passion for a story or shelved a project you'd worked on for a long time?

How did November treat you?

I'm Thankful for Writers

2010-11-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

I love Thanksgiving. It's one of my very favorite holidays.

This is mostly because of all the amazing food. I LOVE turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pie, and sweet potatoes. LOVE. But this year I'm on a diet. The my-baby-is-allergic-to-milk-and-soy-and-I-don't-want-to-give-up-nursing-yet-diet. This means I cannot eat BUTTER which is the base of every good Thanksgiving dish.

So this year Thanksgiving is not about the food. This year I'm going to be focusing on the long, long list of things I'm grateful for while I watch my family enjoying all the lovely food and I eat my mashed potatoes made with rice milk and margerine.

It'll be great.

Near the top of my long, long list of things I'm grateful for are WRITERS. I'm thankful for the worlds they create and the stories they tell. I'm grateful for all the writers I'm privilaged to know through blogging and twitter and in real life and I'm grateful for the writers who inspire me through the books they write. You make my life richer. Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate this time of year!

What are you grateful for?

Super Awesome NaNo Contest

2010-11-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

I know it's shocking. Two posts in one week. But I had to come out of my writing cave to tell you that one of my agent buddies, the lovely and talented Ashley March, is having a contest.

Our agent, Sara Megibow of the Nelson Literary Agency, is offering to read a partial for one very lucky NaNoWriMo participant.

This is cool because:

-You don't have to write a query letter

-She'll read the NaNo novel you are working on RIGHT NOW

-All you have to do to enter is comment on Ashley's post before November 30

-When I posted this there were only 5 comments

Yeah, you might want to check that out.

My New Writing Buddy

2010-11-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

I wrote 7000 new words last week, making it my most productive writing week in over a year. I think all the productivity had something to do with my new favorite writing buddy.

Life just doesn't get better than this.

How is NaNoWriMo treating you?

How To Read If You Have No Time

2010-11-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that I'm trying to read 100 books this year.

I often see bloggers complain that they don't have time to read as much as they would like. I will admit that with 3 small children and one extremely needy baby I don't have enough time to read either.

So, I don't read.

I listen.

Audiobooks folks. I have two or three hours most days when I can't read, but I can listen. Whether I'm walking around trying to soothe the baby (who has colic in a major way right now), doing dishes, or driving the kids from place to place, I almost always have an audiobook on.

I recently discovered LibriVox, a website where you can download free audio versions of books in the public domain. If you love the classics and you like audiobooks you need to check it out.

So yeah, maybe I'm not actually "reading" 100 books this year. When I'm done I imagine I will have read about half of the books and listened to the rest. But I say it counts. :)

So if you're too busy to read, why not try listening?

Are you an audiobook reader?

And two of my agentmates, Miranda Kennealy and Jennifer Wolf sold their debut novels last week! They are very awesome girls and you should get to know them. If you have a second stop by their blogs to say congratulations.

NaNo Sidelines

2010-10-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

I am not going to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Writing Month) this year because:

-Last year I tried and failed miserably, writing about 12,000 words that almost all had to be deleted.

-I'm kind of busy this month what with

--my baby who is still way too tiny to sleep more than 3 hours at a time (which means I never sleep more than 3 hours at a time)

--Laundry

--Thanksgiving with 20+ family members at my house

-I'm finally ALMOST done with the manuscript I've been working on for a year and if I just buckle down I might be able to finish it in November.

Still NaNo is tempting because:

-I have a new idea that is WAY different from the project I'm working on and it sounds like more fun.

-Revising my current project is hard work

-I like to make my life as crazy as possible

But don't worry. I'm not going to give in. Maybe I'll try NaNo again next year. This year I'll be doing NaNoReviseMo and *hopefully* finishing this sucker.

Are you doing NaNo this year?

Revising: The Chain Reaction

2010-10-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm knee deep in revisions. I'm adding scenes, fleshing out characters, and trying to decide if the ending is awesome or really crappy. Good times.

One of the problems I run into every time I revise a manuscript is the chain reaction.

The chain reaction occurs when I decide that the choice the main character made on page 5 really isn't consistent with his character the rest of the story. He must make a different choice. That different choice snowballs into changes on pages 6, 8, and 10 and those changes cause problems with pages 12, 16, and 20. Pretty soon I'm rewriting almost the entire book.

This makes me crazy.

I try to come up with some way I could just not change the thing on page 5, but I'm pretty sure the book will stink if I leave it as it is. I try to patch up pages 6 and 8 so they won't cause problems later. Some of the patches work. Most don't. The chain reaction has taken hold of the manuscript and it won't let go until I rewrite every single thing in it's path.

The interesting thing is, though I hate chain reactions while I'm revising, I love chain reaction revisions once I'm done. They fill in the gaps and make the characters believable.

Do you run into chain reactions when you revise? Is this a problem plotters run into too, or does it only happen to those of us who write without outlines?

I'm Soooo Mature

2010-10-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

I turned 30 yesterday. Yup, the big 3-0.

I'm thinking that having three decades under my belt (not to mention 4 kids, a dog, and a mortgage) ought to mean that I am finally mature.

But, I don't think that's the case. In fact, I fear my maturity might be declining.

I had pretty sophisticated tastes in high school. I read Dickens and Austen and I appreciated good food and nice clothes. In college I still liked those things, but I started reading some YA too and eating whatever I could afford and dressing in whatever was still wearable from my high school years.

Now, at 30, I pretty much wear whatever has an elastic waistband. I eat whatever the kids are eating--mostly peanut butter and jelly, mac and cheese, and chicken nuggets. And I read more kids books than anything else. I laugh at vomit jokes. I don't make my bed. And when my husband gets home I giggle as the kids tell poop stories from the day.

I am not mature, which is probably why I love writing middle grade stories. I'm working on revisions for my current MG novel right now and as I read through the manuscript I realized just how juvenile I've become.

When I first started writing I planned to write a serious novel for adults about one man's influence in life and death. It was going to be deep. Instead I'm writing about eleven-year-old boys who play on kickball teams called "The Ugly Butts" and "The Smelly Armpits." Nice.

I blame it on my kids.

How about you? Have you gained or lost maturity as you've aged?

It Takes Time to Write a Book

2010-10-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

But how much time does it take? I've read about authors taking decades to write novels and I've also read about books that were completed in a few weeks.

I wrote Underground, the novel that got me my agent, in 4 months.

I've been working on my current manuscript for almost year. I'm still working on the second draft, and if I am very honest with myself I think it's likely that I won't finish this book until 2011.

This is frustrating! I've been working hard at it. Why is it taking so long?

Well, I could blame the fact that I've been pregnant. I could subtract two months for horrific morning sickness and I probably subtract the last three months of the pregnancy too, because I was sicker than I was during the morning sickness part. But even if I subtract all the months when I was unable to be productive, this book will still take WAY longer to write than the last one did.

Why? Because it's a different book. There are new puzzles to work out and new characters to get to know and maybe some of those puzzles and characters have been trickier for me to get right.

Also, I'm not quite as clueless this time around. My writing pace slows as I make a conscious effort to use more action verbs and fewer adjectives and adverbs.

Plus I'm going to makes sure to give this one to a lot of great beta readers before my agent sees it. Underground was only beta read by family members before I queried. As a result it needed A LOT of post-querying editing and rewriting. Hopefully this one won't need as much.

I've accepted that every book is different and some might just take a little longer to bake than others. Every writer is different too, and though I'd love to be able to write a book every few weeks, I don't think I'm that kind of writer.

How long did it take you to write your novel? Are you one of those writers who can churn out a masterpiece every month? Or are you still working on the one you started 25 years ago?

Real Life is Boring...

2010-10-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

And that's a good thing.

Tomorrow I go back to real life. For the last 3 weeks I've either been living in the hospital or home with my mom or mother-in-law helping me. Friends and neighbors have brought meals almost every night. It's been incredible. We feel very loved.

But the time has come to return to normal. My mother-in-law left today, which means I'll be cleaning my house and caring for my kids all by myself again. I am strangely excited about this. I can't wait to get back into my routine--my lovely, boring routine. These past few weeks have been WAY too exciting for us.

Exciting stuff belongs in stories.

I'm still trying to adjust to the baby's (lack of) sleep schedule and my brains are pretty frazzled. I tried to write a real blog post today and it came out completely incoherent. I'll try again next week.

Is your life usually boring too? Do you like it that way?

Home

2010-09-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's been a long road (horrible pregnancy followed by 15 days in the neonatal intensive care unit), but on Saturday my little guy and I finally got to come home.

He's little, but he's breathing on his own and eating like a champ, and that makes me really happy.

A little over 3 years ago, just after this baby's older brother was born, I started writing. It's been a great outlet for me ever since.

I haven't been very motivated to write for the past few months because I've been sick, or baby has been sick. But now that we are both well and happy my mind is overflowing with stories and scenes that need to be put down on paper. Baby and I will start a morning writing routine this week while his older siblings are at school, because there is nothing better than dreaming up stories with a cozy little newborn in my arms.

Thanks so much for all the support and prayers. I love my blogging friends. I hope to catch up with all of you really soon.

See You Later

2010-09-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the time has come. My doctor informed me today that we've reached the point where the baby needs to come out, so I'm going in for a c-section in an hour.

The good news is I've made it to almost 36 weeks. Unfortunately the baby's lungs still aren't looking good, so there's a chance he'll spend a few weeks in the NICU. I'm a little stressed about this, of course, but I feel like everything will be okay.

Thank you so much for all of your support over the past few months. I've really appreciated the well wishes, thoughts, and prayers. They've made a difference. I look forward to getting back to normal life again soon, and using this blog to write about WRITING, instead of awful pregnancy.

I probably won't be blogging for the next few weeks, but I will try to post a few updates on Twitter. I hope you all have a great September and I'll look forward to seeing all of your agent and book deal announcements when I get back!

Live Life Then Write

2010-09-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX. It was really good. If you like dystopian or science fiction, I highly recommend it.

After I finished, I listened to an interview with the author, Mary E. Pearson. She explained that her first ideas for the story came when her daughter was diagnosed with cancer. Her daughter lived through the ordeal, but it changed the way Ms. Pearson looked at life. It caused her to ask a question: What length would a parent would go to in order to save her child? THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX explores that question, and others. The characters were complicated and believable, and I think Ms. Pearson's life experience made authentic story telling possible.

I've wondered during the last few months what I can learn from my current situation (a complicated pregnancy), and how I can channel the things I discover into my writing. I know a lot more about pain now. I understand anxiety and fear in a way that I never did before. But I've also been able to see miracles first-hand, and empathize with people who have it so much worse than me. These months have been humbling, but I'm grateful for them. I'd never choose to repeat them, but I think they've made me a better person and maybe a better writer too.

Do you draw from difficult personal experiences when you write? I imagine we all do.

The Referral: A Success Story

2010-08-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

By now I'm guessing that a lot of you have seen Roni (the Fiction Groupie's) big news, but if not go take a look. Don't worry, I'll wait.

Done? So now you know that Roni signed with my wonderful agent, Sara Megibow, earlier this week. Pretty darn awesome right?

What makes it even more cool is that I had a tiny hand in matchmaking Roni and Sara. Roni gives a pretty detailed description here, but the short version is that I knew Sara wanted more romance writers and I knew Roni wrote romance. I'd read a few excerpts of Roni's work on her blog, and I knew she could write well.

I wrote a few emails, and then I got to giggle and squee when Sara wrote me to tell me she loved Roni's work and do it again when Roni wrote to say she liked Sara's notes. It was fun, and it was a great diversion during my summer of very little productivity and lots of not fun things. I'm so happy for both of them and I'm hoping they'll have a quick sale once revisions are done.

I've been thinking about why Roni came to mind when Sara asked if I knew any talented romance writers, and these are my thoughts:

1. Roni has a GREAT blog. Really. It's one of the first blogs I started following and I think it appeals to writers of all genres. Her posts are helpful, well written and informative and the look of her blog is very professional.

2. She posts occasional excerpts. This is something I've haven't done much because to be honest, when I see long excerpts (and sometimes short ones too) on a blog I usually skip it, especially if the blogger posts excerpts daily or weekly. BUT, I'll read excerpts if they are part of a blogfest I'm participating in, or if I feel like the blogger is a friend.

3. And that brings me to my last thought: Roni isn't just a blogger, she's a blog participant. She reads other people's posts and comments, she gives back with contests and critiques, and she's approachable. She's the kind of blogger that makes everyone feel like a friend.

I have no doubt that Roni would have found an agent regardless of my referral, but I hope it made the process a little quicker (and the WAIT is the worst, right?)

Have any of you agented writers given your agents a successful referral? Are those of you who are not yet agented making the most of your blog presence?

That book you COULDN'T put down

2010-08-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Sorry for my stinky blogging lately. I'm finding it really difficult to sit at the computer and write anything these days. Between the pregnancy and foggy medicine brain I have a hard time forming coherent sentences. The good news is I am 33 weeks pregnant today and it looks like I might have the baby as soon as 35 weeks, so I should be back to normal (sort of) pretty soon. :)

I may not be a stellar writer just now, but at least I can read! I've been reading some great books lately. Over the weekend I decided to reread THE HUNGER GAMES and CATCHING FIRE to prepare for tomorrow's MOCKINGJAY release. I forgot how much I love these books. Suzanne Collins is pretty much my (and about a million other people's) writing hero.

When I started reading I wanted to analyze the reason that these books are so engrossing. Then I got too engrossed to analyze anything. This is about all I can come up with.

1. The story is brilliant. The concept is unique, the tension is constant, and the relationships are compelling from page 1 of Book 1.

2. The writing is fantastic (in my opinion-- this is one of those really subjective things). Suzanne Collins is not a word waster. Every sentence, paragraph, and chapter moves the story forward. She includes the perfect amount of description. The setting and characters are vivid. I can see the world she's created. But, I haven't noticed a single time when I've skimmed a descriptive paragraph to get to the good stuff (something I do really often when I read a wordy author).

That's about it. I can't wait for MOCKINGJAY tomorrow! I wish I could make it last a few weeks, but I'm sure I'll devour it in a day or two. And I think I'm Team Whoever at this point. I'm just excited to see where Suzanne's master storytelling takes us.

I don't think I've read a book quite so gripping/hard to put down for a long, long time. And I read a lot!

So have any of you read something recently that you couldn't put down? Please share! I'll be pregnant and on bed rest or I'll have a brand new, slightly premature baby for the next few months, so I'll probably be stuck at home for a while. I could use some recommendations for awesome books! What have you read in the last few years that you COULDN'T put down? What made it so good?

When The Words Flow

2010-08-12T15:02:00.001-07:00

There are a few positive things that come from being pregnant and sick and mostly confined to my bed and my couch.

1. My mother-in-law comes and cleans and cleans and cleans some more AND entertains my children. Mmm hmm. Some people might have lousy mother-in-laws. I am not one of those people. My mother-in-law is an angel.

2. I get a lot of couch snuggle time with the kids.

3. I have plenty of time to read.

4.I get to attend the AWESOME WriteOnCon from the comfort of my own home.

5. I can write as much as I want.

It sounds pretty idyllic, huh? There have been some crumby days lately, I'm not going to lie, but I've had a couple of great ones too.

Last week I had a day where the kids played sweetly with each other for two hours and I was able to WRITE. It was one of those days when the words just flowed. It was one of those days when I sat down at the computer and was immediately immersed in the story and in sync with the characters. One of those days when I LOVED the story and knew it could be great. I've only had a handful of days like that since I started writing. Usually I have to work for my words, typing them out, even when I don't feel like writing. But I guess it's worth working through those days to have a magic day every once and a while.

Have you had days like this? I wonder if the people who can write books in a few months (or weeks) have days like this all the time. If you have magic days all the time, I need your secret to success!

What We Can Learn From Reading

2010-08-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't done nearly as much writing as I would have liked to this summer, but I've done a lot of reading.

I read a variety of genres. The last 10 books I've read include:

2 Middle Grade Fantasy

2 Contemporary Middle Grade

2 YA Fantasy

1 Contemporary YA

1 Classic

1 Adult Memoir

1 Adult Fiction

I've read varying opinions about what we, as writers should read. Some people say you should read extensively in your genre, some say you should avoid your own genre (so it won't effect your manuscript and you can write something fresh), some suggest that you SHOULDN'T read while you're writing, and some say you should read new releases and NYT Bestsellers, so you can understand what people are reading now and write to the market.

I believe I should read what I feel like reading! Reading is something I do for fun, but it's also something I do to learn. I think I can learn more by reading a variety of great books, (and maybe a few that aren't so great), than I can by reading only one or two genres (or heaven forbid, nothing at all!).

A few lessons I've learned this month from reading that will help me with my writing:

-I like short chapters, they keep the action going.

-I'm not a fan of explaining or over-description. If a book takes 500 pages to tell a story that could be told in 250 pages, I will be annoyed.

-Non-linear story-telling is awesome if it's done well (I don't think I'll try it anytime soon though).

-Humor is a great tool for keeping the audience engaged. This is true for almost all genres.

-I love a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter.

Do you read while you write? Do you read outside of your genre? What do you learn from the books you read?

You Gotta Have Friends

2010-07-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the sweet comments and well wishes and emails and everything this week. You're all wonderful.

It's been kind of a stinky time, I'm not going to lie, but the baby and I are doing okay and I'll be 30 weeks along on Sunday, which is good.

I managed to get some writing done this week! It feels so great to accomplish something again. I am inching along on this manuscript, but I really love what I've got so far, so that's encouraging.

And I made a surprise appearance at RWA on Thursday to hang out with two of my favorite people, Sara Megibow and Karen Hooper!

My trip was made possible by the photoshopping skills of the talented Megan Rebekah (I love that she added a pregnant belly!), and the photography skills of the lovely Tiffany Reisz. You girls are awesome. :)

I've been following all the RWA tweets and blogs all week and that has been ALMOST as fun as being there. It sounds amazing. I will make it there someday! Karen has had a bunch of great updates on her blog, so if you want the inside scoop you should check it out.

I looked at my summer word count yesterday and it's shockingly low. I've only written about 5000 words since June 1. Granted, it's been a crazy summer. I'm just hoping the quality is a little better than usual and that's why it's taking forever.

How has summer been for your writing? Are you more productive, less productive, or about the same during summer months?

Sometimes Life is Tough

2010-07-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

In June I decided July would be the month I would make stuff happen. I was going to finish my manuscript. I was going to enjoy awesome-summer-mommy-time with my kids. I was going to go to RWA and meet my amazing agent, hang out with some of my favorite people, and be surrounded by writers, agents, editors, and DISNEY WORLD for three whole days. July should have been the month I did all the things I wouldn't be able to do when baby #4 comes in October.

Alas, July had different plans for me. I got sick. A few weeks into the illness I was diagnosed with a nasty little pregnancy complication. All of my plans for July (and August and September) were put on hold or cancelled, (sniff...RWA...sniff), and I spent the month passed out on the couch while my kids watched brain-frying amounts of PBS. Good times.

The good news is I have a fantastic doctor and we feel like everything is going to be okay. I just need a lot of rest and the baby needs to stay healthy and delay his entry into the world for another 7-8 weeks.

Until then, (and probably for a month or two after), I'm sure my blog posts will be sporadic. I will promise to write about writing or reading or something sort of interesting when I do post.

I didn't read many blogs in July, (I hope to check in with everyone this week). I'm sure I've missed some things. What have you all been up to? Amazing vacations? Conferences? Agents? Book deals? Fill me in peeps.

Oh and if any of you are on Twitter you should check out my super cool agent, @SaraMegibow. She just started tweeting a few weeks ago and she's getting the hang of it now. Plus, I think she'll be tweeting from RWA next week, and if you can't go, aren't tweets the next best thing?

Another Visit From My Agent

2010-07-05T06:21:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I'm still on my month-long blogging break but my lovely agent, Sara Megibow, offered to share some notes from last month's referral experiment and I knew you'd find them interesting. Enjoy!

Dear readers and writers -

Thank you for all the wonderful submissions referred by Natalie last month! I've had a delicious month reading romance, romance, romance! Just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work and for considering me in your agent hunt.

Here are the results:

I read 75 partials (still have a few in my database, but not many)

I asked for 3 fulls

if I sign any new clients, I will definitely let Natalie know

Of the partials that I read, there were three main reasons for passes - I thought I would share my notes in case it helps. These notes are not true of all submissions of course, but were more of a general observation.

1) stories that opened with dialogue in which the purpose of that dialogue was to "explain" the story to the reader:

ex. (and I am making this example up - it's not taken from any real submission)

Chapter 1

"Fred, how could you? You know that mom and dad sent us here to Wisconsin specifically so you could learn how to get along with others and stop fighting!"

"But Sally, I've just had such a hard time since mom's cancer and I don't like anyone here in Wisconsin anyway"

To me, this feels like an awkward way to introduce a story to the reader, so it was one reason why I passed on some partials.

2) occasionally, I saw examples of weak writing right up front. Yes, as an agent, I could "edit" this kind of thing. But, if I see it up front, then I'll gamble that it's throughout the book. An editor at a publishing house would pass on a book for weak writing and therefore so will I.

ex. (again, making this up)

James looked out across the mesa. James picked up his coffee cup and took a sip of the hot liquid. He didn't know what was next in life, but he felt overwhelmed. James felt like this a lot.

Obviously, no submission is perfect. But, if I saw too much of these kinds of mistakes (poor use of pronouns and "telling" the reader what James is feeling instead of showing us), then I would pass on the sample.

3) data dump. This is the number one reason that I pass on projects submitted to the agency in general. I know it's really hard to integrate backstory and get the reader "into" the story. But, editors will only read 30-50 pages before nixing a work, and that's how important those first 30-50 are. So, there is no room for datadump especially upfront.

ex. (again, not taken from anything specifically)

Gretchen was an only child and the last chance for the Duchess to produce an heir. She's been sent to boarding school, trained to perform, pampered, educated, pushed and prodded. And yet, she was 22 and single. Her mother was losing her patience and Gretchen was losing her confidence. Really, there was only another month until her 23rd birthday and her mother was insisting on throwing a big ball in an effort to attract suitors.

I hope my thoughts and notes are useful and I wish you all Happy Writing!

Sincerely,

Sara Megibow

Nelson Literary Agency

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/SaraMegibow/

www.nelsonagency.com

Good stuff, huh? I've struggled with all three of these things. My first manuscript was a lovely little story that began with a gigantic info dump. I did learn a lot from writing it though and I'm glad I didn't give up after the first attempt. Practice. Practice. Practice. The more we write the better we get!

I hope you all have a great July and I'll see you in August.

Are You Trying to Do Everything?

2010-06-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

So most of you probably know that I'm pregnant. This is my fourth baby, so you'd think by now I'd know what I'm getting myself into, but I've got to admit, this pregnancy is kicking my patoot. I have never, ever been so tired. I could easily get 16 hours of sleep a day and still be a walking zombie.

But, despite the pregnancy, I'm trying to do a lot of things, like:

-Write a novel

-Potty-train a 2-year-old

-Keep my kids fed and clothed

-Harvest and weed my way too big vegetable garden

-Read 100 books this year

-Keep my house clean enough so the neighbors won't call social services

-Host birthday celebrations for the kids

-Blog and read blogs

-Dog-sit two barky, chewy, diggy monster dogs

-Take food to sick neighbors

-Beta read for friends

-Help my grandparents house hunt

-Take my kids to swim lessons, play groups, the park, etc. (when it's 90+ degrees outside)

It's a little too much--I'm not going to lie. I'm exhausted. I need rest.

So as of today, I've decided to let some things go. The garden WILL be weedy and there will be spinach that goes to seed and strawberries that get eaten by birds. The house WILL be messy, though hopefully not unsanitary. Sick neighbors WILL have to make their own food (or have it delivered by someone else). No more dog-sitting for the rest of the summer.

And blogging, oh blogging... I hate to do it, but I'm going to mostly unplug through the end of July. I'm writing a really fun little manuscript right now and I feel like I should focus any free time, that isn't used on sleep, on that. I will try to stay in touch through Twitter, so I hope you'll all check in there.

But, the good news is at the end of July I'm going to RWA in Orlando with my writing group girls Karen Hooper, Marie Devers, and Megan Rebekah. I'm also going to meet my agent, Sara Megibow, for the first time (I am so excited about this!). So come August I should have some really fun things to blog about.

Do you have too much going on? Do you ever have to pull back on commitments to keep your sanity?

Oh, and the final Critique a Week winner is Melissa! Melissa, I'll email you later today with details.

*As of Tuesday, June 29, Sara will no longer be accepting referrals from the blog post earlier this month. Thank you to everyone who sent queries and partials. Sara said she read some excellent queries and pages and even requested a few full manuscripts. She'll probably do another guest post soon--so there will be something on the blog in July :)--about what worked and what didn't. Thanks again!

Book Reviews: Love them or Hate them?

2010-06-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! I love that we have days to celebrate mothers and fathers. They deserve the extra recognition. My father is probably the most supportive person in my life. No matter what I attempt, he believes in me 100%.

My husband is the best dad ever to my kids. Plus, he's super hot and funny.

And he's really good at cleaning bathrooms, which is good too. I hope all you fathers have a great day, and I hope everyone will take some time to call your dads and tell them how great they are.

Now onto business. The winner of last week's 10 page critique is Sandy Shin! Sandy, I'll email you sometime today. Commenters today can be eligible for next week's critique. Just make sure to say you would like to win a critique in your comment and include an email address. If you want more info, this post explains everything.

Today I have some confessions to make. They're shocking. Don't hate me, okay?

I don't like book reviews.

I won't read them unless I've already read the book being reviewed. I don't like to know much about a book before I read it and I think almost all reviews, even the ones that claim they don't include spoilers, give too much away. I might skim for the sentences where the reviewer says whether or not s/he liked the book, but that's it.

Also, I don't read jacket copy for the same reason.

I choose my reading list based on buzz and personal recommendations. If I notice a lot of people are blogging about a certain book, I'll put it on my to-read list. If a friend with good taste in books recommends something, I'll probably read it. If I already love an author I will definitely pick up his or her latest book.

This means I am a lousy bookstore browser. When I go to a bookstore I have to have a list. I pick up the books I want, skim the first few pages to make sure they look good, and buy them. I usually don't know what they're about, and sometimes I don't even know the genre. (I recently read a book that I assumed from the cover would be YA fantasy--it wasn't. It was literary fiction. I loved it.)

I have a good friend who loves reading reviews. She likes to know a lot about a book before she decides to invest time in reading it and finds almost all of the books she reads through reviews. She wouldn't even consider reading a book without first knowing the basic plot.

Both of us read some books we love and both of us read some books we really don't like, so neither method is infallible, but they work for us.

So how about you? Do you like reviews? Where do you go when you need to add to your to-read list?

My agent Sara Megibow is still looking for romance writers. So if you write romance, romantic YA, fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, etc. and are ready to query agents check out this post. I'm giving blog readers a referral!

Client Referrals and Critique a Week

2010-06-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

First off, anyone who writes romance, romantic YA, fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, etc. and who is ready to query agents needs to check out my last post. My agent Sara Megibow is looking for romance writers and I'm giving blog readers a referral.

Second, the winner of last week's 10 page critique is Tracy! Tracy, I'll email you sometime today. Commenters today can be eligible for next week's critique. Just make sure to say you would like to win a critique in your comment and include an email address. If you want more info, this post explains everything.

Since Sara's offer has created such a stir, I thought I'd write a little about client referrals, (or at least my experience with them).

What is a client referral?

Referrals are basically a recommendation from a client. I have given Sara 3 client referrals since I started working with her last fall. I only refer when:

1. I have read a full manuscript AND loved it

2. And I feel like the piece might be a good fit for her

3. And the writer is interested in being referred

(That probably gives you an idea of why this blog referral is so cool!)

Why would I want a referral?

The reason client referrals are desirable is that an agent is more likely to request material when a writer is referred. A referral gives a query letter a little more weight. If an agent is debating over whether or not to request a partial from a query letter a referral might be the deciding factor.

What happens after a partial (or full) is requested?

At this point the referred piece gets about the same consideration as any other requested material. The agent has to LOVE it and believe it's salable. The agent knows their client loved the manuscript, but unless the agent loves it too they can't offer representation.

So, in summary, referrals are cool. They can definitely help to get your writing (and not just your query letter) in front of an agent. But they aren't magic. In the end, the only thing that will get you an agent is a great book that an agent thinks she can sell.

But remember, just because one agent doesn't connect with your work doesn't mean another agent won't. There are hundreds of agents and it only takes one yes.

Have you ever been given a referral to an agent or editor? Was your experience similar to what I outlined or totally different? Agented authors: Have you ever referred writer friends to your agents?

A Visit from My Agent Sara Megibow

2010-06-10T06:34:00.000-07:00

*As of Tuesday, June 29, Sara will no longer be accepting referrals from this blog post. Thank you to everyone who sent queries and partials. Sara said she read some excellent queries and pages and even requested a few full manuscripts. She'll probably do another guest post soon about what worked and what didn't. Thanks again!

Well, I said I'd only be blogging once a week, but that was before I got an email from Sara with some news I knew you'd want to hear. I'll let her tell you all about it.

Dear Natalie's readers -

My name is Sara Megibow and I have the true honor of being the literary agent representing Natalie and her writing. It is my privilege to be working with such a talented, hard-working and passionate writer!

Natalie is being kind enough to allow me to post this message to all of you - thank you.

So, here goes...I am on the hunt for romance writers. If you have a completed romance novel of about 100,000 words, please send me a brief query letter before the end of June. Let the floodgates open - I really, really want to read your work!

The project must be complete, not represented by another agent and be in any sub-genre of romance except category or inspirational (yes, this includes young adult, fantasy with romantic elements, paranormal, etc). Email me at query (at) nelsonagency (dot) com with a note in the subject line saying "referred by Natalie's blog" and a 2-3 paragraph overview of the work in the body of the email. Yes include your website or blog address, no don't include sample pages, synopsis, headshot or attachments.

You can find out more about me and my tastes at www.publishersmarketplace.com/Members/SaraMegibow

and more about our agency at www.nelsonagency.com

Happy writing!

Sara

I hope you'll enjoy this little referral. If you have questions feel free to ask in the comments section.

*This just in: The 100,000 word guideline is for adult romance. YA should be quite a bit shorter.

**This offer will be good for at least a week or two, so there is no rush to submit today. :)

Critique a Week

2010-06-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

It's finally summer! The kids are out of school, the weather is warm, and I am getting quite humongous (I'm pregnant so this is sort of okay). It will be pretty busy having all three at home 24 hours a day, so I'm going to cut down my posting schedule to once a week (every Sunday). I'm hoping to do some cool things over the summer to make up for my infrequent posts.

During the month of June I want to give something back to my blogging writer friends. It's been so fun to beta read for friends during these last few months, and to see a few of them get agents and book deals. I thought it would be cool to get to know more of you through your writing, so I'm going to offer a ten page critique to one commenter every week.

This is how it will work.

-You must follow the blog and comment on this post to be eligible for this week's drawing. You'll have until next Saturday to do so.

-Tell me in your comment that you'd like to win a critique. Most weeks I'll probably write a real post about something writing related too, so people who don't want a critique can still comment on that and stay in touch. :)

-Next Sunday I will randomly choose one of this week's commenters to win.

A few things to consider:

-I will be nice but I'll also be 100% honest, because I don't think anything less will be helpful to you. If you can't take an honest critique you probably shouldn't enter.

-I write MG and a little YA. The only genres I've critiqued in the past are MG and YA, so if you write literary fiction or romance or thrillers or something I might not be the best person to critique your work, but you can still enter and I'll do my best.

-I won't be posting these critiques on the blog. They are just between you and me (and I'm nice, really), so you don't need to be nervous.

I hope this will be a fun little experiment.

I also want to say congratulations to my friend Thomas who just accepted an offer to publish his MG book! I hope you'll pop over to his blog and say congratulations too.

Jury Selection and Query Reading

2010-06-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I've been absent all week. It's the last week of school for the kids and got called into jury duty yesterday, and everyone is sick. So basically it's just a normal week and I have no excuse for not blogging. :)

Anyway, jury duty was a bit anticlimactic this time because I didn't get selected to be on the jury. I don't know if jury selection is the same in every state, but where I live they have 24 jurors go into the jury selection process. The lawyers have 1 hour to get that jury from 24 to 6.

They start by asking questions to weed out the people who might be crazy or have biases that would make it difficult for them to judge fairly. It's pretty easy to tell who these people are. When asked if they would have a problem trusting law enforcement testimony they say policemen are all out to get us. Or when they are asked about how they feel about children testifying they say that kids are stupid and unreliable and they don't think they could believe anything a kid says.

Then the prosecution and the defense get to exclude 3 jurors each just because the attorneys think they might be sympathetic to the other side. They could easily make a mistake at this point. They've only had an hour to get to know 24 people. They can't know everything about them. Maybe they excuse jurors who would have been on their side. The first 6 people not to be excluded have to/get to be on the jury.

Some of the people who are excused feel a little rejected. They are competent people. They didn't do anything wrong. But the judge reminded us that it wasn't personal. The lawyers were just doing their best to put together a jury that would be fair to both sides.

I was one of the very last jurors in the room so I knew I wouldn't get picked unless more than half of the people in the front two rows were crazy. So I had plenty of time to contemplate other things, like what it must be like to sort through queries looking for clients.

I think it must be a little like jury selection. The agent or assistant starts with way more authors than they could possibly represent. It's easy to do the first cut. There are many people who don't follow submission guidelines, there are a few crazies, and there are probably some letters that are so poorly written the agent knows the writer couldn't put together coherent novel. I'm guessing none of you fit into this category.

The second round is more difficult. The agent has to read each letter and decide if the the story being offered is something they would like to read AND something they can sell. They have to make guesses. They don't have unlimited time so they have to limit their requests to the works that are most promising. They miss the mark sometimes. They might reject a piece they would have enjoyed and they might request pages they don't care for at all. But they do their best.

Query rejections (and sometimes even partial and full rejections) are done quickly and I think writers need to remember that rejection isn't personal. It doesn't mean the agent hates our ideas, or our writing. It doesn't even mean they didn't like it. It just means that they had a lot of material to get through and our project wasn't the one that stood out.

Have you ever thought about what it must be like to read all those query letters?

Book Recommendations and Contests and Jury Duty, Oh My

2010-05-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

There are A LOT of great contests going on right now, and there are two I'd like to bring to your attention. First off, my lovely writing group friend Megan Rebekah is having a 500 followers contest on her blog. She's got 3 books to choose from or A FULL MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE. Trust me when I tell you, you want the critique (even though she's got some awesome books too). Megan is a fantastic beta. Her notes have made my stories SO MUCH BETTER.

Second, I'm sure you've heard about Elana Johnson's book deal giveaway extravaganza this week. It's been epic. There is still another day or two to enter to win one of her prize packages. They are all super cool (all of them include Girl Scout Cookies!), so you should go leave a comment there too.

So you all know I'm trying to read 100 books this year, right? The book count currently stands at 31 and the year is almost half over, so I may not make it (or I may need to start counting picture books!). But I have read several amazing books this year though and I thought you might want to know about the very best book I've read so far this year. The Help by Kathryn Stockett was amazing. I know it's a bestseller. I know many of you have already read it. But those of you who haven't need to pick it up.

And finally, I have jury duty next week. I think this is pretty unfair since I served on a jury just a few years ago and my husband has NEVER been called, but I'll smile do my civic duty. Anyway, because of Memorial Day and jury duty I may not be around much next week so I hope you all have a great week. May agent offers and book deals abound!

What's the best book you've read so far this year?

Finished!

2010-05-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

I finished my first draft yesterday. YAY!!!

It is the slowest first draft I've ever written. It took me seven months to write 30,000 words. I was a little disheartened by this until I started thinking about these seven months.

The first two months were November and December (Thanksgiving and Christmas!)

During three of the months I had terrible morning (all day) sickness and sitting at the computer for longer than fifteen minutes wasn't really an option.

Two of the months were spent working on a different project.

So really, it wasn't THAT slow.

I've been trying to decide if I should jump right into revisions or let this manuscript simmer and write another one. I think I'm leaning toward the simmering option. After seven months I'm really anxious to write something new! And I have the perfect summer project in mind.

When you finish a first draft do you start revisions right away or do you set it aside and work on something else for a while?

Influences

2010-05-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

We've just wrapped up a huge family reunion. Thirty-five family members were in town and it was up to my mom, my sister-in-laws and me to shelter, feed, and entertain them for two days. We had a great time. I'm tired.

We did a lot of talking and during one of the family chats my cousin's boyfriend asked me what author influences my writing most.

That should be an easy question to answer, right? But I just stood there, for an awkward amount of time, trying to think of someone. I couldn't.

There are hundreds of authors who I admire. I would love to be able to write quirky stories like Roald Dahl, or laugh out loud funny scenes like Shannon Hale, or gorgeous prose like Markus Zusak. But I don't think I write like any of them.

When I first started writing I tried to mimic the voices of authors I loved, but the results weren't good. I probably wasn't good enough at writing to make it work. My words felt like a lame attempt to write like people who could write. It wasn't until I finally decided not to try so hard, just to tell a story in a voice that came naturally, that writing became fun.

Even though I don't have that one author I'm trying to emulate I hope that all of the books I've read influence the way I write. I've read some really great books. I hope they rub off on my writing, at least a bit.

How about you? Do you have one author who influences your writing more than anyone else?

And I just want to say congratulations to the beautiful and talented Elana Johnson who announced her book deal on Friday! If you don't know her, you should. Her blog is a must read for writers. Plus, she's super cool, and possibly the friendliest blogger out there.

Busy and Productive

2010-05-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

This week has been a little insane. Kind of like last week! I think I was kind of nuts to think May would be LESS busy than June. My girls are finishing school and with that comes school programs, field trips, art projects, and assignments. And right now we're gearing up for a huge family reunion this weekend. It's going to be awesome, but people are staying at my house which means it has to be clean...

Anyway, despite the crazy week I've been able to get a lot done on my WIP.

Have you ever heard the saying that if you want something done you should ask the busiest person? The idea behind it is that busy people know how to manage their time.

I think there might be something to this. I know when I don't have much going on in my life I don't manage my time very well. I spend a lot of time online and waste time doing stuff I really don't need to do. But when life gets really crazy I HAVE TO figure out how to fit everything in and as a result I usually get more writing done and have a cleaner house, despite the added workload elsewhere. It's kind of cool actually. I do get overwhelmed by busy weeks sometimes (like last week!), but most of the time I'm pretty productive.

Have you noticed that you're more productive when you're busy? Or does too much to do overwhelm you?

The First Draft

2010-05-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

It is a miracle, but I think I am going to beat my deadline by a week and get this first draft done by Friday.

Yep, that's right. It only took me 7 MONTHS to finish it. I know, I'm speedy.

I've realized some things about my first drafts that I thought I'd share.

1. The beginnings are always way better than the endings. This is because I am a compulsive revisor, so while the end is a true first draft the parts before have all been tinkered with and the beginning has been revised a lot.

2. My first drafts are always short. This one will only be about 30,000 words. This isn't too horrible because I write middle grade, but I know that the revision process will bump it up to about 40,000. I tend to write my stories with sparse detail and fill in the blanks later.

3. When I finish a first draft my first instinct is to trash the whole thing and start over. The idea of revising and rewriting is really overwhelming. A part of me (well most of me actually) just wants to start something new and never look at that mess again. Right now I have a shiny new idea that I can't wait to start on, so that doesn't help.

But I will get this one done! I plan to get the revision finished by the end of the summer (and get a good chunk of the shiny new story written too.) I don't know if this goal is reasonable with the kids being home all day, but I'm going to try.

What do your first drafts look like? Are they long or short? Messy or clean? Are you excited or terrified to dig into revisions?

The "Dream" Agent

2010-05-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

Last week literary agent Kristin Nelson posted about agent submission etiquette, saying that when an author gets an offer of representation it's courteous to let all agents reading the full manuscript know that an offer has been made and give them a chance to offer as well.

I thought this was pretty common knowledge, but the comment section proved otherwise. Almost half of the commenters felt that an author should be able to take the first offer when it's given and just inform the other agents that the manuscript is no longer available. A few of the commenters made valid points, but most used this argument: If the first agent to offer is the author's "dream agent" then why should the author even talk to the other agents? It will just waste everyone's time.

How does one determine who their "dream agent" is?

I admit, I used the term when I was first querying. There were a few agents who had fantastic blogs that I'd read for months. They were cool. I liked them. Then there were a few agents who represented authors I loved. They were on my "dream agent" list too.

At the time I didn't have a subscription to Publishers Marketplace, so I didn't know about any of their sales histories, and I'd never met them in person or talked to them on the telephone.

I didn't know anything about their communication styles. Would they let me know what was happening with my submission every week or just when there was news or just when there was good news?

I had no idea if they were hands on editorially and I didn't know if they'd want a major rewrite or just a few edits.

When the project was ready I didn't know whether they would submit to 5 editors and be done or whether they would see the project through until every option was exhausted.

I didn't know how they'd feel if I got tired of writing MG and decided to write YA or picture books--would they still represent me?

I knew almost nothing about them, so how could I know they were my "dream agent?"

When Sara offered representation I asked her about all of these things and many more. Her answers fit with what I wanted in an agent. But one of the coolest things about Sara was that when she was done answering my questions she asked, "Do you have other fulls out right now?"

I told her I had two. She encouraged me to let both of them know I'd received an offer and give them a chance to respond.

I was so excited about her offer I would have jumped right into signing if she'd been pushy about it, but she wasn't. She told me that she loved my book and she really wanted to work with me, but I needed to make a decision I felt good about. In the end one of the other agents offered too. She was lovely and it was a difficult choice, but I felt like Sara was the right one for me.

Having choices is not a bad thing. You'll have to work with your agent for a long time. You should like him or her. You should work well together. You should know what to expect. How will you know if you've made the right choice if you go with the first person to ask you?

So yeah. There may be a good reason to accept the first offer you get, but an offer from a "dream agent" isn't that reason. When you all have agents fighting over you I hope you'll take the chance to talk to all of them, weigh their pros and cons, and make the choice that's right for you.

Do you have a "dream agent?" If he or she offered would you accept on the spot or would you talk to other interested agents first?

For the agented: What are the things you love about your agent that you never would have known before you talked to them?

Thwarted

2010-05-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

I was doing great until 2 days ago. Then life decided now was NOT the time to write 1000 words a day.

There was some pregnancy exhaustion, made worse by the fact that my daughter spilled a gallon of milk on the carpet, which meant I have to clean the whole house so the carpet cleaners can come and rescue our noses from the rotten milk smell.

Then there was that dinner I had to take to a sick neighbor, and the activity I'm in charge of coordinating for 15 girls and their moms at my church tonight, and the clay projects for my daughter's kindergarten class that need to be glazed ASAP. Oh and my grandma's 90th birthday this Saturday. But the icing on the cake happened a few minutes ago when my two-year-old threw up. Yeah. Life just got a little nuts.

Writing probably needs to take a back seat for a few days. I'm still going to meet my May 31 deadline, I just might need to cut myself some slack for the next few days.

Do your goals get thwarted sometimes?

How Are Those Goals Coming?

2010-05-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last week I decided that I'm going to finish my first draft by May 31. I planned to write 1000 words a day in order to reach this goal. I am happy to report that I am doing well! I've written 1000 words everyday (or caught up on words I missed) and I'm right on target to finish by the 31st.

I haven't written this consistently for almost a year so it's been a challenge, but I'm liking the results. I've been surprised that it's easier to sit down at the computer and write now that I know I have to meet my goal. Also I've been pleased to find that the story is coming along nicely and doesn't feel forced.

I've never been good with daily writing requirements, but I'm starting to think I just haven't tried hard enough to make it work before now.

Have you ever tried to write a certain amount every day? Was it hard or did you get used to it after a while? How are your goals going?

For Mothers and People who have Mothers

2010-05-09T05:11:00.000-07:00

Before I was a mom, I thought I knew what I was getting into. And I did, sort of.

I knew there would be nights of interrupted sleep. I just didn't realize I'd have them EVERY NIGHT for the next 6 years (and counting).

I knew I'd have to clean up occasional accidents. I just didn't realize there would come a time when I would clean 3 or 4 A DAY.

I knew my kids would want to play. I just didn't realize that sometimes the ONLY way to play is to dump every toy they own onto the family room carpet and cover the mess with couch cushions and every last blanket, towel and sheet from the linen closet.

I knew they would have to eat, and I hoped that eventually they'd learn to feed themselves. I just didn't realize this milestone would come with new messes (like blueberry yogurt all over the carpet).

I knew I would love my children. I just didn't realize I'd love them more than ANYTHING else in the world.

I'm so grateful for my wonderful mom and I'm so grateful to be a mom. My family is everything to me. Writing is a fun thing I do when I have a few minutes to myself, but it isn't my focus.

One of the reasons I've made so little writing progress these past few months is that I'm pregnant. I was terribly sick for a few months and it was hard to do anything more than feed and clothe myself and my kids. But it will be worth it! Now I'm feeling good and my life should be fairly normal until the new baby comes next fall.

To all of you mothers out there HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! And to everyone else, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO YOUR MOMS! They've raised beautiful, imaginative, talented children. You should thank them.

What We Can Do

2010-05-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before that I get overwhelmed when I see news coverage about natural disasters. I feel helpless. I know I can't fly down to Haiti and feed hungry children suffering after the earthquake. I can't do anything to staunch the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. And I can't go to Nashville and put my arms around the people who have lost their family members, homes, and livelihood.

But, I can give money. Even if it isn't a lot.

There are some fantastic opportunities right now to share with people effected by these disasters. I'm sure you've heard about the Do the Write Thing for Nashville Auction raising money for flood relief. You can bid on agent critiques and phone calls, editor critiques, books, and so much more. It's a great opportunity to get professional feedback AND help out people in need.

And if there's nothing at the auction that interests you, there are hundreds of other ways to give (just make sure to only donate to legitimate charities!). I hope you'll do something if you can.

THE WINNER and Trying to be Productive

2010-05-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

First off, thanks to everyone who participated in Spread the Awesome and thanks for all of your comments and book recommendations! I now have more books on my TBR list than I could read in a year, but I'm excited to dive in.

I selected a winner this morning using Random.org. The winner of a copy of When You Reach Me is Christina Lee! Congratulations Christina! I'll email you to get your address.

Now onto today's post.

My kids get out of school in four weeks. Once summer comes they will be at home 24 hours a day. I'm really excited about this actually. I love having them home. I love walks to the park and lazy afternoons in the backyard.

But... I know my writing (and blogging) will have to move to a back burner. And that is why this month needs to be productive. I've been working on the same first draft since November and I need to get it done before summer comes. I have a few REALLY good excuses for taking so long to write it, but my excuses have run out and now I just need to get it done.

So, for the rest of May I am committing to write 1000 words a day and finish this manuscript.

I've mentioned before that I do better with deadlines than daily word counts so I'm also going to set a date for finishing. I will be done with my first draft by Monday, May 31.

Do you have something you need to finish? If you need a kick in the pants to get something done I urge you to join me. Let me know what you plan to accomplish in May. It will be fun.

Spread the Awesome: When You Reach Me

2010-05-03T04:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Elana Johnson had this great idea to have a day celebrating the books and authors we love. Today is the day. A bunch of bloggers will be highlighting favorite authors and a lot of us will be giving books away (some people even have SIGNED books to give!) Go check out Elana's blog for a complete list of participants. With so many giveaways the odds are in your favor to win a book or two. And who doesn't like free books?

For me choosing a favorite book is like choosing a favorite child. I just can't do it. So instead I chose a recent read that I really enjoyed: Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me.

I am not too good at book reviewing, and I really don't want to give anything away (there story has some great surprises), so I'll keep this short and sweet. This was an awesome read--well written, page-turning, and sweet. I was engrossed from beginning to end. It was brilliant, and you don't have to take my word for it, it won the Newbery. Um yeah, that means a lot of other people thought it was great too.

Read it.

I'll be giving away a copy. To win it all you have to do is:

1. Follow this blog

2. Leave a comment telling me about a book you love

I'll pick the winner Wednesday morning. If you comment before midnight on Tuesday, you'll be in the running!

We're doing a blog chain so you can check out all the Spread The Awesome posts if you want to. Next up is Windy Aphayrath. She's highlighting Elizabeth Scott and she's giving away SIGNED books. Enjoy!

Someone You Ought to Meet

2010-04-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of beta reading this last month. I think I've read from 5 different manuscripts. I still don't feel like I'm a very good beta reader, but I've definitely getting some practice.

A few days ago I got a note from a friend I read for last fall. I also read a different novel for her last summer and it was the first piece I had ever beta read. I had no idea what I was doing either time, but she claimed my notes were helpful, and she was writing to tell me SHE SIGNED WITH AN AGENT!!! I love hearing great news! She is a writer who really deserves this, and I'm thrilled for her.

I won't give too much away about her story or her agent because you can go check it out on her brand new blog. I hope you'll stop by and say congratulations.

Work in Progress

2010-04-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

When we bought our house a couple years ago we liked the house, but what really sold us on the deal was the HUGE garden area hidden behind a hedge in the back yard. My husband and I imagined what we could do with the space and we dreamed BIG. We'd transform the dirt patch into a garden worthy of the Martha Stewart catalogue-- raised beds, stone walkways filled in with Irish moss, mini fruit trees in giant pots, and a fountain to add ambiance. It was going to be awesome.

Two years later it is not awesome... yet. We've started the raised beds. My husband spent half the summer carting giant stones for the walkway and only finished about a third of it. The moss doesn't really like growing between the stones, but weeds LOVE it.

So now mostly we have a giant weed patch with some pretty rectangular structures filled with vegetables in the middle. I know it's a work in progress and it's better than what we started with, but most days all I can see are the weeds.

This is kind of how I feel about my manuscript right now. I haven't even finished the first draft yet, but all the imperfections are driving me crazy. I just have to remind myself that my last one felt like this too. Writing, like creating the perfect garden, just takes time. I need to finish it before I move on to massive revisions.

Maybe in a year I'll have another finished book AND a garden that would make Martha Stewart proud. Or maybe just another finished book.

Do the weeds slow down your writing process or are you able to forget about them until after the first draft is done?

Writing is Rewriting

2010-04-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

"Writing is rewriting. A writer must learn to deepen characters, trim writing, intensify scenes. To fall in love with a first draft to the point where one cannot change it is to greatly enhance the prospects of never publishing." ~Richard North Patterson

and

"Books aren't written--they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it." ~Michael Crichton

Um, yes. That's really all I have to say today.

Do you want to have your work published someday? Does your story need another rewrite? Mine does.

Are E-readers Really the Greenest Option?

2010-04-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

First off, Happy Earth Day! My six-year-old has been looking forward to Earth Day all month and she's insisting that she use every bit of trash we create today to do an Earth Day art project (I think she got the idea from PBS). I want to do my part too, so my post today is about the environmental impact of books in their various forms.

I've been thinking about buying a Kindle or a Nook or an iPad for a while, but I've wondered if this cool new technology is really as green as it appears to be.

I did some research and unfortunately there don't seem to be any concrete answers. From what I've read, purchasing an e-reader could leave an equivalent carbon footprint to anywhere from 15 to 100 real books. That's kind of a big discrepancy.

The best break down I read was in a NY times article entitled How Green is My iPad? The authors describe e-reader and paper book footprints in 5 steps: materials, manufacture, transportation, reading, and disposal. It was fascinating. You need to read it.

My other concern is that I might buy more books than I do now if I had an e-reader, just because it's so easy to click a button and download. I usually buy one or two books a month. I try to limit my book consumption to new releases that I HAVE to read ASAP and books that I already love and want in my home library, so my family can enjoy them too. Most other books I try to get from the library. I wonder if an e-reader would make it so easy to get a book that I'd end up buying things I would never read again.

Also, if I stay on my current book buying schedule it would take me 5 or 6 years to purchase 100 books. It's likely that the technology will be so old by then that it will be time to upgrade to a new e-reader anyway.

So, I think I'm still a real book girl for the time being. I feel pretty good about real books and I think it's awesome that more and more books are being printed on recycled paper, using soy based inks (these are very landfill friendly, though I always wonder, who throws their books away?). Plus, I love the feel of a real book in my hands. I'll probably cave in and buy an e-reader someday, but not yet.

For those of you with Kindles, iPads, Nooks, etc., was environmental impact something you thought about when you purchased your e-reader? Has your e-book consumption been enough to offset the opportunity cost of buying real books? For the rest of you, is e-reader greenness a factor in whether or not you will buy one in the future?

Meeting Writer Friends in Person

2010-04-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to meet a writing friend over the weekend and it was so fun. Sarah Skilton was in town and we got to have dinner together and chat about writing, reading, and the road to publication.

I live in a place where there are not a lot of writers (or at least not any writers I know). I'm so jealous of some of you with great local writing communities. It must be amazing to get together and talk about writing on a regular basis.

Don't get me wrong, I have GREAT writing friends. They just all happen to live on the other side of the country, so we basically only communicate through email.

I think there's something to be said for being able to meet and talk to other writers face to face. In an hour Sarah and I were able to cover every topic from recent reads to submission experiences. It was wonderful to chat with someone who is doing the same things I'm doing. I came away feeling energized and excited about writing.

This is the main reason I think every writer should consider going to a conference. I don't know about you, but I tend to get lost in my little bubble. I get busy with the kids, cleaning, running errands, blogging and writing and I lose sight of the big picture. I forget that behind those blogs there are REAL people--people who love writing and books as much as I do. Meeting other writers in person brings it all home. We are not alone in this. We may type away on our computers all by ourselves everyday, but there are thousands of other people who know what it's like. They "get" us in ways our friends and family probably don't.

Have any of you met writer friends in person? What have you gained from those experiences?

And the Winners Are...

2010-04-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

Terri Tiffany, Aik and Roni!!! YAY for you! I'll email to get addresses and I'll try to get you're books in the mail ASAP.

Thank you to all of you who entered, blogged, tweeted, etc. You rock.

I'll have another book giveaway in two weeks as part of Elana Johnson's "National Hug an Author Day." It's going to be May 3 and lots of people will be giving away books that day. Stay tuned for more information.

I'm back to my regular blogging schedule now, so I'll see you Wednesday!

Come on Down and Win a Book!

2010-04-15T04:25:00.000-07:00

I'm back from blog vacation! I've missed everyone, and I apologize for how absent I've been for the last few months. I'm ready to jump back in to the blog world and I thought I'd start with something fun.

One year ago today I sent the first query for my middle grade novel, Underground.

So to celebrate one year of being serious about my writing, returning to blogging after a month long hiatus, and having more than 200 supporters on the blog and on Twitter I've decided to give some books away.

Since I'm a bad decision maker, and I don't want to continue agonizing over what books might appeal to all of my blog readers, I've decided to leave it up to you.

So this is how it will work.

1. Tell me in the comments what book you've been dying to read and/or own. (I don't have access to any awesome ARCs, so make sure it's been released, okay?)

2. Follow this blog

3. Tweet or blog about this giveaway and tell me in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry

Do this before Sunday, April 18th at midnight EST. On Monday, April 19 I will randomly select 3 winners announce them on the blog and send them the book they chose.

That's it. Easy peasy right?

I'd also like to say thank you to all of you who follow, read and comment here. I've been amazed at how supportive this community has been since I started blogging 7 months ago. You make it fun--thanks for that. I look forward to catching up with everyone over the next few weeks.

*Yes it is open internationally! If you win I'll send you the book of your choice whether you live in Ohio or Australia.

Why You Need Beta Readers

2010-04-06T14:52:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite ready to come out of blog hibernation, but I wanted to say hello to everyone because it's been WEEKS. I've been reading some blogs but not commenting much, and I feel really out of the loop. Does anyone have exciting news they want to share?

So my question for today is: do you use beta readers?

I've been wondering how many of you take advantage of this WONDERFUL resource, because during my break I've been rewriting. And rewriting. And rewriting some more.

After weeks of rewriting my manuscript stops looking like that story I thought was so fun and starts looking like a bunch of random words I threw together so I could make it to 40,000 words.

That's when I send the manuscript to my betas. They've only read it once or twice, so to them it doesn't look like a jumble of words, it looks like a book. They can see the places where it needs work and sometimes they can even help me figure out how to fix the problems. Their critiques are awesome and invaluable. I learn something different from every one of them. And while I don't take every little bit of advice they give me, I do use a most of it. They make me a better writer.

But that's not all they do.

They also let me read their manuscripts, and in some ways I learn more from reading their brilliant work, than I do from reading their comments on mine. I'm pretty sure I have some future bestsellers and award-winners among my beta group, seriously.

I know not everyone has this kind of experience. I've read horror stories about beta readers who are unhelpful, overly critical, or just rude. I know I'm lucky that I found my girls before they were snatched up by other writers in need of awesome betas. But here is the thing-- you can be lucky too if you try.

Post an invite on your blog. Trade manuscripts with a few different people and find the ones that you click with. These people will get your writing and you will enjoy reading theirs. There might be some people who don't work for you as beta readers. That's okay too. Just keep looking until you find someone (or several someones) who are perfect for you.

Their might be some genius writers out there who can make a book perfect all by themselves, but I'm not one of them and I'm willing to bet most of us could improve

Do you have beta readers? Do you need to get a few?

Finding Joy in Other's Success

2010-03-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

I'm still on my blogging vacation. It's been fabulous. Last week was my most productive week in a year. So I'm not back for real yet, but I wanted to pop in to share something I've been thinking about.

Last week, my good friend Caroline Starr Rose sold her debut MG novel. This, coupled with Beth Revis's wonderful news, got me thinking about how great it is to be able to be happy for other's successes.

In high school I sang in a really good choir. I love to sing and in many ways it was a wonderful experience, but it was also kind of awful. The kids were cutthroat. Auditions for solos were tough, feelings were always hurt, and mean-girl (and boy) backbiting was constant. Everyone wanted to be the best and when someone got the solo, everyone else hated that person.

It wasn't a very nurturing environment.

The writing community hasn't been like this at all--at least for me. Every time a writer friend has achieved a goal, I've been genuinely thrilled for them. I don't know why this is exactly. I get jealous of people all the time--mostly people who have perfect hair and makeup everyday, have immaculate houses, and always have well behaved children--I hate people like that. But I haven't had a moment of real jealousy over a writer friend's triumph.

Maybe it's because I appreciate the work that goes into writing a novel. It's hard. When a person sells a book, I know they've probably worked for years to make this dream come true.

Caroline is one of these people. She's worked hard. Her work is brilliant, and she totally deserves this victory. When she emailed me Friday to tell me her book sold I jumped and squeed and felt true joy in her success.

How about you? Is it easier to feel happy for other writers' successes than it is to feel happy for your neighbor who got a promotion and bought a new car? Does knowing what's gone into getting a book deal make it easier to be delighted when someone else reaches that milestone?

Head on over to Caroline's blog to share congratulations!

I'll probably still be out on blog vacation for a few more weeks, but I am going to try to get around to a few of your blogs and see what's happening with you.

Something's Gotta Give

2010-03-11T12:49:00.001-08:00

As much as I hate it, that something needs to be blogging. This next month is going to be busy, and I need to cut out as many distractions as possible.

I'll still might read a few blogs, I'll probably post once or twice, but for the most part I'm going to be absent from the blogging world for the next four or five weeks.

I'll miss everyone! May you all get agents and book deals while I'm away.

Keep Moving Forward

2010-03-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the Disney movie Meet the Robinson's? It's funny, you should see it. It's about a kid inventor whose inventions don't always work. He learns that if he can "keep moving forward," keep working hard trying to get things right, eventually things his creations will work and change the world.

I've made very little progress on my WIP this last month. I have a hundred excuses for why I haven't done more, and some of them are really good. I have to keep reminding myself that I am making progress, I am moving forward, and eventually this book is going to get done.

And that is kind of the beauty of writing without being published. I have time. It's not a race. I really want to finish my manuscript, but I also want to be a good mom. Last month doing both of those things wasn't possible. Hopefully it will be they will be this month. But I am happy that I made some progress, even though it was small.

Are you moving forward with your work? Do you ever have times when you don't make as much progress as you'd like?

Why We Should Diversify

2010-03-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know that my first completed manuscript was YA fantasy. It was also REALLY bad.

Just a few days after I "finished" it, I got the idea for a middle grade story. I'd never written middle grade. I hadn't read much middle grade since I was in elementary school and junior high. I had no idea what my middle grade voice should sound like. But I knew I couldn't query my first novel (because it sucked) and this new idea felt exciting and fresh, so I changed genres and transitioned from a world filled of anxsty teens and fairies into a world of happy-go-lucky real world sixth graders.

It was scary at first. I had no idea what I was doing. But as I wrote, I learned. And as I rewrote, I learned more. The voice came easier than it had with my attempt at YA. In the end I had a manuscript I felt confident enough about to start querying agents.

I've been thinking a lot about genre changing recently. I'm not planning a change anytime soon, MG is still a happy place for me, but it seems like a lot of blog friends have been reinventing their writing and several of the agents and editors at SCBWI talked about how it can be beneficial to diversify what we write.

So I wanted to share with you three good reasons to write something different.

1. A different genre may be more salable.

It seems like a lot of people decide to write because they fall in love with a super popular book and they think, "maybe I could do that." I think this is a great reason to start writing--a love of reading spills over into a love of writing. But if you decide to write YA paranormal because you loved TWILIGHT, you are going to have a lot of competition if you decide to pursue publication.

People don't talk about it much, but there are areas of publishing that are super saturated. Getting a book published in one of those genres may be harder than a less popular one. I don't know what the least competitive markets are (I bet agents and editors may have a clue though), but I do know that way fewer people write MG than YA.

That's something to think about.

2. You may be better at writing something else.

I started writing YA fantasy because it was one of my favorite genres to read. Unfortunately, loving to read something doesn't always translate to being good at writing it. I can tell you without a doubt that I am a better MG writer than fantasy writer, but I never would have discovered that if I hadn't tried to write MG.

3. Changing genres keeps things interesting.

Do you ever feel bogged down with your writing? Does it ever feel boring? Maybe a new genre is just what you need. Writing romance is WAY different than writing picture books, and writing middle grade is a huge departure from writing grown up thrillers, (have you seen the news about John Grisham's latest project?) Switching genres may give your writing new energy and make it exciting again.

So there you have it. There's a lot out there about the need to brand yourself, to stick to your genre and build your reputation on it, but maybe there's some good to be said for occasionally reinventing your writing.

So what do you think? Would you ever consider leaving your genre behind and trying something totally new?

Me, as a Liar

2010-03-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

I have a few blog awards to pass on and one of them involves creative lying, which is something I do well.

I think I'm going to have to save a few of these for next week, just so I don't have a crazy long post, but I'll do 3 today.

First up: The Circle Of Friends Award.

This was given to me by a lovely new friend and new blogger Nicole Dulcleroir.

I was thinking about all my blog friends and there are SO MANY. I always talk about my critique group girls, who are my ultimate circle of friends, but I've given them awards already so I thought I'd give this one to a new little circle of friends, my agent buddies Sarah Skilton and Miranda Kenneally. They are both represented by Sara Megibow and they are both super cool girls, so check them out. Miranda is more of a Tweeter than a blogger so you should go see her on Twitter @MirandaKeneally.

Next: The Sunshine Award

BJ Anderson gave me this little beauty. BJ has been a bloggy friend for a long time and she's a great writer to get to know.

I'm going to pass this along to a few new friends: Mariah Irvin, because she is hilarious and Derek Whisman, because he's new to blogging and he's got great taste in books.

And last: The "Creative Writer" Award

This was given to me by the beautiful and talented Erica at Laugh Write Play and sassy sarcastic Matt at Pensive Sarcasm.

Both are encouraging me to tell LIES, and I intend to take them up on their offer. But I'm going to switch up the rules and tell 6 truths and 1 lie instead of the other way around. Here they are:

1. I once threw up all over a fireman

2. I only dated my husband for 4 months before we got married

3. I've never seen an episode of LOST

4. I have several exciting things happening now that I can't share with you yet

5. I didn't like reading when I was kid and I often fudged book reports by reading only the back cover and the last page.

6. The best class I ever took in college was called "Walt Disney's Influence on American Culture." We mostly watched cartoons.

7. I love lima beans and I've never understood why they get such a bad rap.

I'd like to pass this one on to two good honest people who might enjoy a little lying: DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude and Jamie Debree at The Variety Pages.

And there you have it. I'll try to catch up on the rest next Friday. Thank you everyone! And feel free to try to guess the lie. I might tell you what it is... someday.

My Workspace

2010-03-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm still a little sick and this has been kind of a crazy day, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and post pictures of my workspace. I didn't even clean it up before I took these pictures, so you can see it in all it's messy glory.

My workspace is located in a little extra bedroom, just down the hall from the room where my kids play. The walls are light green, the air circulation is good, and there's a window with a pretty decent view of the best yard in the neighborhood (it belongs to the house across the street).

This is where the magic happens:

Fancy right? I especially like the large winged horse and the fact that more than half of the screen is taken up with Dora the Explorer on Netflix. When my son is awake, I usually have to share the screen, which is why I try not to write while he's awake.

I know you are coveting my awesome flower lamp, my puppy dog mousepad, and my ghetto high school pottery too. There's nothing like looking at crappy pottery to get those creative juices flowing.

It's not exactly glamorous, or clean, but it's where I write.

Where do you write?

If Writing Weren't Hard, It Would Be Easy...

2010-02-28T12:47:00.000-08:00

... and then everyone would do it.

My unplugged week didn't go so well. This was because:

1. I set an unrealistic goal. I needed to write about 15,000 words last week to finish my manuscript. I knew it was possible-- if the stars aligned, and the kids cooperated like never before, and my muse was operating at full strength--unfortunately, last week wasn't one of those weeks.

2. My kids were sick. I've said it many times, but they really do come first. If given a choice between snuggling with my feverish pukey child while watching a movie, or trying to get some words on paper, I'm going to choose the snuggling every time.

3. I got really sick, and I'm still not really over it. For me, sickness is the ultimate creativity drain. I can't be witty when I feel like poop.

4. The Olympics

5. American Idol (I can't help it! I'm an addict.)

So yeah, some of these things I had some control over. I didn't NEED to watch every single night of figure skating, or ski cross, or aerials, or everything else. And I could have gotten a lot more done if I had turned off the television and read the recaps the next day, but it wouldn't have been as fun.

I did manage to write about 2000 words despite all the craziness, and I feel okay about that. It feels like a drop in the bucket, but at least I'm 2000 words closer to finishing.

Do your writing plans ever get thwarted by things outside your control? What are some things you can control that keep you from reaching your goals?

And I missed you all last week! I can't wait to see what everyone has been up to.

It's All About Taste

2010-02-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

It occurred to me about a month ago that all of the steps in the publishing process come down to one thing: personal taste.

You can write the most brilliant novel ever about sea slugs, and if you only submit it to one agent, and that agent happens to detest sea slugs, it won't get published.

Or perhaps you'll find an agent who is crazy about sea slugs and loves your chatty MC and thinks the story is wonderful, but when he submits it to editors, one editor doesn't like the chatty MC, and one likes the MC, but thinks the story is lame, and another just hates sea slugs.

And then if you manage to sell the book you have to worry about reviewers who hate sea slugs or chatty MC's or books with alternating points of view. And then readers... you get the point.

Every person in this world has their own set of likes and dislikes. I dislike books where people seem to fall in love/infatuation for no clear reason. This scenario drives me crazy. But there are a lot of books like this that are popular, so just because I don't like them doesn't mean someone else (or millions of someone elses) won't.

I think it's important to remember when you query agents, or your agent submits to editors, that in the end it comes down to taste. The agent has to love your book in order to take it on. And if one agent doesn't love it, that doesn't mean it isn't great. It could be the hottest book since Harry Potter, but it just didn't fit with that agent's interests. I think this is why we're told over and over again to query widely.

So there you go. Don't feel bad about rejection, it's all (or at least a lot) about personal taste.

Have you ever read a bestseller that you hated? Or have you ever read a quiet little book that you loved?

I was supposed to unplug this week, but I didn't. So, I'm going to officially unplug tomorrow and stay unplugged until a week from Monday. I'll miss you!

My goal during unplugged time will be to FINALLY finish this first draft. It's close. I just need some time to focus.

This Is A Contest You CAN'T Miss

2010-02-16T06:56:00.000-08:00

I'm supposed to be unplugged this week. Unfortunately, this week has turned into a crumby week for writing, so I'm pushing back my unplugged time until next week.

And this is good, because I need to tell you about this totally awesome contest at Elana Johnson's and Shelli Johannes-Wells' blogs.

This is the kind of contest I would have LOVED to enter before I got an agent, because you can win query critiques (and partial critiques) FROM AGENTS.

I don't know about you, but when I was writing my query letter I would have done just about anything for some professional advice. I think they are giving away 6 different agent critiques(just kidding, between the two of them they are giving away 8 agent critiques-WOW) so there are many chances to win (plus, while I'm sure there will be hundreds of entries, there probably won't be thousands like Nathan Bransford's contests. The odds will be pretty good.)

I'm sure 90% of you already follow Shelli and Elana, but I'd hate for the other 10% to miss out on this opportunity.

You need to follow both blogs to enter (which you won't regret--they are both must-reads in my opinion). And they even have cool prizes for the already-agented, so you should enter too.

So I'll ask you, if you could have any leg up before you query (a referral from a client, a query critique by a professional, a conference pitch session with your dream agent, etc.), which would you choose?

Cupid Shot Me

2010-02-14T12:41:00.000-08:00

I was going to participate in Diane Estrella's How Cupid Shot Me Day, but I really, really need an unplugged week. So instead of taking the time to write a new post about how I fell in love with my sweetheart, I'm just going to link to a few I wrote a while ago. (I know, I'm lazy)

Why Italian Poetry is the Key to My Heart

How a Weekend of Honesty Lead to a Lifetime of LOVE

My husband and I have been married for more than seven years and I love him more everyday. I'm so grateful to be married to someone so supportive, and helpful, and... hot.

Mmm Hmm. Nice.

Do you have a love story you'd like to share in the comments? I'm totally in the mood for mushiness.

And I've won a few blog contests lately and I want to say THANK YOU to Terry Lynn Johnson and Mary Campbell for the lovely new books. I'm so excited to get reading!

See you next week!

The Books I Read

2010-02-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

You might know that I am trying to read 100 books this year.

Before you become impressed I should probably tell you that I will most likely listen to half of these books, and another quarter will be chapter books or easy middle grade. But it's still cool, right?

So I think I'm supposed to have a post listing the books I've read so far this year, so you can all see that I am actually reading 100 books and not just pretending to read them. Plus, you can all giggle at my reading choices.

This is what I've read so far this year:

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

2. Soulless by Gail Carriger

3. The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl

4. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

5. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney

8. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

9. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl

10. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

11. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

12. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

13. Stargirl by Jerry Sprinelli

14. The Ranger's Apprentice #1 by John Flanagan

15. The Ranger's Apprentice #2 by John Flanagan

16. The Ranger's Apprentice #3 by John Flanagan

17. Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

18. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

19. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

20. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

21. The Black Tulip by Alexander Dumas

22. Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business by Barbara Park

23. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

24. The Shifter by Janice Hardy

25. The Giver by Lois Lowry

Yeah, I've been reading a lot of Roald Dahl. He was my favorite author when I was a kid, so I got my daughter the Roald Dahl collection for Christmas. We've been reading them together every night. So, I can guarantee there will be a lot of Roald Dahl in the final 100.

Anyway, check back if you're ever curious about what I'm reading. I won't ever do reviews, because I don't think I have reviewing skills. Plus I don't want to say negative things on the internet if I hate a book. That wouldn't be nice. But if you are dying to know what I think of a book (because my taste in literature is so excellent--as you can see from my list), feel free to email me.

What are you reading right now? Do you have any recommendations for great MG reads or books meant for grown ups? (My reading list appears to be mostly YA, and I can only take so much teen angst).

My Story Won't Behave

2010-02-09T17:43:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on the first draft of the story I started during NaNoWriMo. I know, it's shameful. I wish I were a faster writer, but speed writing isn't my gift.

Back in October, before I wrote anything down, I decided I would try to outline. On November 2 I strayed so far from the outline that it became useless.

So I just wrote.

In December, I started getting a sense of what should happen later in the book. I wrote down a few of these ideas and tried, once again, to stick with the plan.

Then this Monday, I wrote 2000 words in one sitting. Those 2000 words took my story to an entirely new place, a place where many of my December ideas won't work.

The moral of this story: some people are plotters, unfortunately I'm not one of them.

Are you a plotter? If so, are you ever tempted to leave your outline behind?

A Word About Endings

2010-02-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

They don't have to be happy. They just have to make the hours I've put into the movie, book, television show, etc. worth it.

My husband and I watched a movie last night that both of us were really into. We were invested in the characters and we wanted to see what would happen to them. When the final scene came and NOTHING was resolved, both of us pleaded out loud, "Please don't let that be the end!" But it was the end. And we were frustrated. I won't be recommending the movie to any of my friends, even though I liked the rest of it.

Endings are important. They're the last thing your readers will read. I have a really bad memory when it comes to books or movies that I saw years ago. I might forget the entire plot, but I'll remember the ending (especially if it was really good or really bad).

I'm feeling a lot of pressure to end my current WIP well. I love the characters and I want their final moments on the page to be both surprising and satisfying. I know it's going to take some work to get it right, but it'll be worth it.

Does it bother you when a book or movie ends without resolution (or when the resolution isn't satisfying)? If you've enjoyed the rest of the story can you overlook a bad ending?

Oh, and if you haven't entered Karen's awesome Valentine's Day contest (in which she is giving away books AND chocolate) please do so! You won't regret it. Karen is the coolest.