The Process

Happy Thursday peeps!

Not much to say today, except that I am deep into the querying process. It's full of highs and lows. If you've done it, you know what I'm talking about.

On the flip side, my wonderful crit partner, Natasha (Writes by Moonlight), is revealing a secret tomorrow!! :) Stop by and give her some love.

What do you do to deal with the drama of querying?

Unscary the Query!

Tuesday night I attended a webinar given by the fabulous agent Sara Megibow, of Nelson Literary Agency. It was based off of her popular twitter series #10queriesin10tweets. If you follow Sara, you will probably be familiar with this.I really enjoy reading when she does these. Us unpublished, unagented authors can easily become obsessed with any information that we think might give us an edge in the game. Even though the tweets are fairly vague (she can't legally give too much away, queries are private) it makes us feel like we're doing SOMETHING to send us further in the right direction.

Because people are so into it, Sara put together this webinar. If she does it again, I suggest you attend and enter your query. You never know, right? And the least that might happen is that you will learn something. Here are a few things I took from the class. Oh, and follow Sara HERE.

(To be clear...these are my thoughts based on the info given! :))

1. The writing is the most important thing. I know, I know. You've heard this so. many. times. But think about it. You are-in essence-submitting a professional letter to an agent to CONVINCE THEM YOU CAN WRITE A BOOK!! So of course the writing is the most important thing! If you can't put together an intelligent thought about your book, why would they believe you can actually write your book?

2. The hook has to be good. With no hook, there is no interest. Without good writing, the hook won't be clearly expressed. You're book might very well be amazing. It might have an excellent hook, but if it isn't clear and well written in your query, you can forget about it!

3. The hook should involve WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and WHY. All of these are important. There were some beautifully written pieces that described the character and their deep emotions. She said they were well written....BUT, what happens to these wonderful characters? What do they DO? There has to be a story. An interesting character does not a book make.

4. Good writing is not subjective. We like to coat our gentle feelings over rejections with thoughts like "this is a subjective business." I understand, and in some ways it is. Genre is subjective. Character types might be subjective. However, good writing is not subjective. Any agent will know good writing when they see it. Perfect your craft and someone out there will probably be interested in your work.

5. In addition to number 4, do your research. Since agents like to rep what they like, (subjective) make sure you are querying the right people. Do not waste that agents time (and ours, those of us who ARE doing the research) by mucking up the slush pile with your query that is for sure not a good fit. Agents submission guidelines are not hard to find. Don't think you will change their mind.

6. The slush pile is brutal. I'm going to be honest, all the queries read in the webinar were pretty darn good. On any given day if I'd picked one up ALONE, I would probably have positive things to say. That being said, when we went through query after query, it was really easy to see how it could get boring. Things didn't sound interesting, characters started to resemble each other, and good all blended together. You have to make yours stand out. You do that with good writing, a great hook, and  being sure that it's the right genre for the right person.

7. If you're not getting requests....go back to the manuscript! To paraphrase Sara, once your book is written well, and edited to it's potential, it's easier to clearly pinpoint the hook and express it with your practiced writing.

I learned a lot, and really enjoyed it. Sara was fun, engaging and very passionate about the business. Agents are people, and they want to find beautifully written stories. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. Querying, waiting and getting rejected is hard. Really hard. But if I had to put all the advice I've accumulated over the past few years from other authors into one piece of advice, it is this. Don't. Give. Up.

I'm not going to, and you shouldn't either. If you keep reading, writing, and working hard, it will happen.

What a DAY!

Today is one of those days. The kind that are wonderful and stressful at the same time. Where you have a lot to do....just so you can get to the good stuff? Know what I'm talking about?

My son is having a birthday party tomorrow. Here. In my house. Ugh. Now I know why we moms are willing to spend buukuu bucks on having the party SOMEWHERE ELSE. There is that whole cleaning thing. It sucks. On top of that, I decided to make him a cake. Double ugh. I actually used to be pretty decent at making cakes. People actually paid me. I quit for a reason. But here I am doing it again for my beloved son.

I was up last night making Lego Star Wars Mini-figures out of fondant. Seriously. It will be awesome though. So today I'm baking, cleaning, fondanting, and all the while planning to get the four of us (me and my 3 boys) ready to hit a huge water park this afternoon with my sister. Oh, and I have a shoot tomorrow morning at like 7 am....before the party at 2:00.

Yeah. Sounds good, right? I will enjoy the water park....when I get us there. The shoot will be fun, although it will be early. (Plus I love this family!) And I will enjoy the party....when it happens. But the stuff in between?? Not so much. After that party tomorrow I will throw on some "soft pants" (as we call slumming clothes) and curl up with a good book to recoup.


Oh wait. Still haven't written through the kissing scene yet.

AHHHHHHH!!!  Sunday + Me = SERIOUS WRITING AND KISSING!!!

Happy Friday Peeps!! :)

What I know for sure....right now.

Today I'm channeling my inner Oprah. I need to do that sometimes. Don't you?


A few things I know for sure today.

Giving my husband back the job of handling the bill paying and finances has been the best decision I've made in the last 5 years. Really.

I'm desperately ready for school to start.

The last two days I've watched more TV than I have in the last year.

I made a deal with myself that I couldn't read another book until the two main characters in my ms have their first kiss. I haven't read anything since last Thursday!!! OMG!! (Hence the tv watching.)

I haven't been able to write because I've had so much picture editing to do. Ugh!!

My little puppy is almost one. He is still a brat! We love him anyway.

I'm feeling rather optimistic about everything lately. It's a good feeling.

The heat here in the Midwest is getting OLD!!

Having my work email give me issues has become a real problem. When you aren't getting your emails, you are just SURE that the ones you're missing are very important. I'm sure I'm missing a local celebrity asking me to shoot their wedding. I'm sure of it!

My wip has suddenly developed a new piece to it's puzzle that I'm very excited about. Don't you love it when your characters reveal a part of themselves to you that you didn't see coming??  Now....if I could just get some time to write!


Happy Tuesday to you!

Yee hawwwww....the words are flowing!

I'm in the groove lovelies! I think I ran the first/present bug outta town. (maybe) I'm feeling the motivation to get this thing DONE!!!! I want to type THE END so bad it physically hurts. I don't care if it ends with a 6 week rewrite. I just want to get there!! Oh, and I wanted to share that picture of my baby!

Happy Friday!

Able to breathe....

What a weekend right? Well, beyond the news...it was a big one for me.

Saturday night I had a surprise 40th birthday party for my husband. OH THE STRESS!! This past month I have been a wreck preparing for it. I'm so glad it's over!! Not because it wasn't fun, it really was. But because it was very stressful keeping it from my husband!!  AND, he is not a surprise party kind of guy. I was prepared for him to hate me for a minute when we walked in.

If you've ever held a surprise party you know about the paranoia. The whole week before I was just SURE he was onto me. I knew he was picking up clues, that he was looking for them.

He wasn't. He was shocked and horrified at the same time. :) It was a beautiful thing. As we walked into the game room at a local "pubish" restaurant and 15 people yelled surprise (at which was supposed to be a couples shower for one of his closest friends- I even sent us an invite in the mail!!) he jumped in surprise.

I instantly turned and hugged him, laughing in his ear. "Do you hate me?"

"A little bit," He said with a chuckle. It was a great night!

A-Z Challange ORGANIZATION

Not one of my strong points.

Actually, and my husband says this all the time, I am the QUEEN of planning, strategizing, and getting organized. It's the follow thru that gets me every stinkin time.

I come up with the most amazing solutions. Why can't I follow them? I've made myself so many "schedules" over the years.

I will say though, that I still do love a few things. I may fall off the wagon...often, but I come back to these and I think they are worth sharing.

1. Motivated Moms I love these things and I buy the new one every year. This is a chore organizational system that you purchase and then print out weekly, or daily depending on your preference. The idea is that you just do what is on the list everyday and it will cover all areas of your home keeping it perfect and clean! Each day is not hard, and there are certain things you do everyday. This is great for people like me that like to see a list and CHECK IT OFF! I also like the idea that someone has already figured out how often things need to be done and they just tell me when to do it. When I'm on a roll with this system, I love it!!! They even have one that comes with a daily bible readings if that would appeal to you. Best part? A year is cheap, $8!!

2. Steno Pads- So wonderful. I make long lists. Especially during my busy photo season. Each shoot involves a minimum of 12 different "things" I have to do. Even more if they order an album or something that needs designing. I have to keep track of these things for each client and for me the best way is a good old fashioned running list. I put everything on here, even if it's just "sign note for school". If it passes my brain, i put it down!! I am finding that I am a very forgetful person. I don't know if I'm stretched too thin, or I'm getting old but something is up. I've tried electronic, computer based organization...but no. I physically need to write it down and CROSS IT OFF. There is something very gratifying about looking at a list full of crossed off things.

Also, I don't start a new list everyday. I may write something on the list that doesn't have to be done for 2 weeks but every day I go back and look at everything that is still not crossed off and see if I can do that. I might still put it off...but I'm reminded everyday.

3. Hannah Kelley Downloads 
I found this site a couple of months ago and liked it right away. She is funny and helpful. The one thing I liked the most was her downloads! (I love me a good download!) I use the weekly food plan, the account ledger, and the kids performance log. Check them all out.

One thing I've learned though...this is a work in progress. I'm never going to be cured of my organization problems. I will always be starting over and re-cleaning a house that has been "let go". I have to accept that, which is hard for me. I want perfection from myself and I have to let it go or my frustration with myself sabotages me. anyone else relate?? I hope someone finds something here helpful!! :)

Spring

I have never been so ready for Spring!! It has been a very long winter here in the midwest. Long, cold and wet. With that being said, thank goodness my kids are back to school today!! Yay, Spring Break is over.

That may seem cold, but I've found the last couple of years that I am not a fan of Spring Break. It's not long enough to adapt a new routine, but it is long enough that the novelty wears off after a few days. It's just...annoying. You're kids are home, it may or may not be nice enough for them to go outside. I realize that not every parent may feel this way, but when you have three little boys under the age of 10— things can get pretty stressful. Fast.

In other news, I wrote 8600 words in the past 48 hours, and that feels good! Very good. I did a complete POV rehaul on my wip and it seems to be coming very easily, leading me to believe it was a good choice. We'll see.

Has anyone done that? I'm curious, do most writers just have a default style of writing and no matter what idea pops into their head it automatically goes to that style...or do you choose based on each individual piece? Do you try a couple and then choose?

Oh, and completely unrelated...but these new Thick and Fluffy Eggo Waffles=REALLY good if you sometimes crave that bad for you breakfast food!!

Tweet? Necessary, or don't go there.

I have never had a desire to open a twitter account. Ever.

Until recently.

It's not at all that I have a desire to have  my opinion or daily activity out in the universe, it's pretty much just because I feel like I should.

Which is why this is an issue for me. I don't dig peer pressure. It makes me feel weak, it stresses me out. I almost don't want to Twitter because I do feel like I should. Isn't that ridiculous? I also know myself. I don't want to add another "thing". Know what I mean? It's hard enough to write, blog, facebook, email, oh yea and I also work and have 3 kids. Oh and a house, and a husband. Those are kind of important.

So my question is this. Is it really necessary, as a writer, to be on twitter? Do you twitter? Do you feel you benefit from it? Does the good out weight the bad? And by bad, I think you know what I mean. Addiction, distraction, obsession.

Please weigh in on this.

And the Winner is....

KAREN AKINS!!!!

My sweet husband, although confused why I'd have a "contest" on my blog, read each entry and very carefully considered his choice. I should have seen this coming. He is very analytical. He took the idea that it was a "first kiss" very seriously. He made it clear that Karen's entry seemed to feel most to him like what a first kiss would be like. So...here it is. Karen't winning first kiss! :)


“So…were you ever planning on kissing me?” I asked.

Real romantic, I know.

Craig Campbell ponied up, over-exuberant tongue and all. It’s interesting the details I remember. Our porch light was burnt out. We were the same height (not hard as I’ve always been a freakin’ Amazon, even at seventeen). Looking back from my thirty-two-year-old skin, I realize the kiss stopped meaning something for me three minutes into it. Hubbykins’ pecks and end-of-the-workday quick smooches hold more depth and passion than that fumbled mashing of lips and teeth.

But that’s not what first kisses are for, now is it?


Fun huh? Loved it Karen.

The other 2 amazing women who entered...Thank you! Thank you for being a part of my first contest, and thank you for reading my ramblings. Your entries were also great, it was a toughie! I'm glad he was doing it, not me!! :)

AND, I finally feel better. Seriously, I haven't been down that long for...well, ever I don't think. It was bad. I had felt completely out of control for the past week. Life has been stressful lately, and being sick on top of it was the icing on the cake. So, yesterday, feeling a little better I had to act. I cleaned the heck out of my kitchen. I mean took it apart, and put it back together. About 15% of the crap in my kitchen is GONE! (Hello goodwill). Of what remains, about 60% is in a brand new place. It's more functional, its more attractive. (It's a little hard to get used too.) But man it felt good.

I was telling my sister in law about it on the phone and she nailed it when she said "sometimes I have to start a project just to see something to completion." Or something along those lines. But YES! I seem to have so little control over so many things in my life right now. Or, the things I can control seem so big, overwhelming and hard. (Hello manuscript, how are you?) I just needed to feel good about something. ANYTHING!

And it did feel good. My husband thought I was insane. It wasn't even planned. I was just unloading the dishwasher and didn't have room for the last mug. That was it. I started ripping things from cabinets, and tossing things into a trash bag like a mad woman. Before I knew it every surface in my kitchen was covered with food, dish or appliance. Obviously, that was the point I was ready to quit. (Doesn't it always work that way.) But no, I was in too deep. I couldn't leave the mess, so I methodically arranged a new order and put it all away. Cleaning and vacuuming as I went.

Needless to say, I want and need to do that to every corner of my home. Closets, laundry rooms, bathrooms. I think I'm feeling the spring cleaning bug. I'm feeling it not only with the tangible things, like my home. I'm feeling in my life. The need to clear out some cobwebs from my mind, my heart, and my relationships. I'm feeling the need to be honest and put myself out there.

Winter to me is about hibernating in so many ways, not just physically. I emotionally hibernate. I don't talk to my friends as much, or my mother even. I go inward. It becomes depressing.

Saturday night we went to my sons Cub Scout Blue and Gold Ceremony. (Yay he got his tiger badge!!) I stood there talking to all the other parents thinking, "gosh it feels good to be in public and engaging with people." After I got ready and put makeup on, I actually said to my husband..."did you forget I could look decent?" OMG, how sad is that? Please tell me I'm not alone. Being a mom, who owns a seasonal business (winter NOT being the busy time) it is so easy to fall into a pit. Throw 165 snow days and a house full of sickness on top and you've got yourself a perfect storm baby!

I'm telling that storm to take a hike. I'm ready for spring. Ready for green, ready for blue, ready for yellow. I'm ready for productiveness.

I don't think it's a coincidence I fell back on that old ms the other day. I needed something fresh, and I'm in love with it right now.

Now I need to decide if I should take it to my crit group tonight. Oh I can't tell you how HAPPY I am that I have that tonight!!

Happy Monday!

Back, Back - Forth and Forth

Remember that song? I loved Aaliyah.

So, here is the question. You're working on your WIP, but you have an unfinished piece that keeps bugging. It comes into mind while you're driving, while you're falling asleep, while you're taking a shower. Sometimes it comes to mind more often then the ms you're actually trying to finish. Or maybe, maybe, it's something new all together. Maybe a great new idea that you can't shove off.

What do you do?

Do you go back? Change it up, just get out what you can since obviously it is begging you too?

I started a piece back in the summer of 2007 and loved it right off. Wrote about 5 chapters and then stopped. For a long while. However, it has never left me. The story continued to build in my mind over the course of 3 years until last summer when I thought of my current wip. I started it.

Slowly, the previous work started to call me back. I haven't let myself open it though, and I'm starting to wonder why. There is no right and wrong in this process. I have read Keirsten talk many times about how you should "enjoy the journey" because once your signed it's a job.

It's not a job for me. It may NEVER be. I can do whatever the heck I want. But I don't. I'm considering opening it today. I'm feeling the pull. I feel like I could bust out 10,000 words today if I wanted. But should I ? Why am I stressing this?

Because I am stressed.

Being sick has made me feel despair. Don't ask. I can't explain other than to say...you know that feeling of being sick-feeling like garbage-then not showering for a few days-feeling like more garbage because your dirty-wallowing in self pity because your sick, dirty, and miserable-every dish in your kitchen is dirty-so on, and so on, and so on.

No? Never been there? If you've ever been home with a new baby you should know what I'm talking about. Especially a new baby with an older child at home. The self pity compounds itself until you have an overwhelming helplessness hanging over you like a cloud.

Wow, where did that come from? Well, you know where I'm at emotionally don't you?!

If you choose to never come back after reading this...so be it. Please do though!!

I'm just in a funk, and I think that's where the need to do something new is coming from. So, the question is...(wow what a circle to get back to this question!) should I go back and work on the old piece? Have you ever done that?

Tell me to stop worrying about nonsense like this.

Off to take a shower....and plot out this old story some more. sheesh! I'm even going to do my hair and makeup darn it! TAKE THAT 'sorry for yourselves'!

Oh, and DONT FORGET to enter the kissing contest to win Anna and the French Kiss....down below!!! Can't wait to get that book!!

Image source HERE

A beautiful day!!!

Today is such a beautiful day. At least where I live. I hope it is wherever you are also! Isn't it amazing how the weather has such an affect on your mood? I personally have really been needing a day like this. I have a really stressful couple of days coming up. When I get thru them I'm going to reward myself by making the best-est desert ever. White Chocolate Bread Pudding. Yup, that's right. I'm going to reward myself with food. I don't even feel bad about it. Sometimes you just deserve it, right?

Happy Friday!!

image source. HERE