Pitch Live! - L-6 - VEILED

Title: VEILED Genre: YA Science Fiction Word Count: 87,000

Pitch Live! - L-7 - LOSING IT

Title: LOSING IT Genre: YA Contemporary Word Count: 58,000

Pitch Live - L-8 - ACE OF SHADES

Title: ACE OF SHADES Genre: YA Steampunk Fantasy Word Count: 80,000

Pitch Live! L-9 - Title: JENNIFER STRANGE

Title: JENNIFER STRANGE Genre: YA Paranormal Horror Word Count: 55,000

Pitch Live! L-10 - RIP HER TO SHREDS

Title: RIP HER TO SHREDS Genre: YA contemporary Word count: 80,000

Pitch Liiiiiive!!!!

The sign up part of Pitch Live is now closed. Today starts the blogfest part of the contest. Hop around and view each others videos, comment, and meet new friends. You never know what agents will be lurking around the blogs. On October 17 at 8AM EDT the top 30 videos will be on the host blogs for the agents. Check out our agent line uphere.

The judges/hosts will cruise the blogs and pick their favorite videos. In the comments of the entry posts the judges will let you know if they've chosen your pitch for their blog. 

Make sure to put this heading above your videos... 
Title: TITLE OF FINISHED MANUSCRIPT
Genre: The Genre of your manuscript 
Word Count: The word count of your manuscript (round up or down to the nearest thousandth)

And here's your hosts...

            

 Leigh Ann Kopans                         Erica M. Chapman             Brenda Drake

Go check out the live pitches and come back and vote for your favorite in the comment of this post. We'll give away some prizes (to be announced) for the top ones. 

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The Next Big Thinggggg

Hey, sweet readers!

My brilliant co-redux-slinging CP, Cait Peterson, is the Next Big Thing, so she tagged me in this meme. (?) (I think that's how it works?)

Anyway, now that I've turned in Solving for Ex, my contemporary YA retelling of Mansfield Park, to Tricia, my awesome agent, I'm diving head first into my next project, which is what this meme is all about. I think you've all heard all of this already, but eh, what the heck?

What is the working title of your book?
Chrome.

Where did the idea for the book come from?
Well, I'm a sucker for theme in a story, as well as conflicted characters.  I spent like five years studying the Bible in grad school and I knew the story of the Exodus from Egypt had both out the wazoo. I thought it would be awesome to retell it for a young adult audience in a completely different setting. (Though there still is a bit of sand.)

What genre does your book fall under?
YA Science Fiction, baby!

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Uhhhhh I don't have any actors, but I have pictures! Beautiful ones.

Here's Havah:

(model Carolina Thaler)

And her sister Sarra:



And here's Havah's S.O., Orev:

(model Alex Cruz. Yum.)


What is the one-sentence synopsis for your book?
Chrome is a futuristic science fiction retelling of the Biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt with robots instead of taskmasters and plagues of mechanical spiders, twisted circuitry, and leaking battery acid. 

Will your book be self-published, or represented by an agency?
My work is represented by Tricia Lawrence at EMLA, who is a ROCK STAR. 

How long did it take you to write a first draft of your manuscript? May we see an intro?
I'm only about 40% of the way through, but all told it'll probably take me about three months.

What other books would you compare this story to within the genre?

Probably CINDER. *grins* A retelling of a classic story with robots. Wheeeee!

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The complete and total badassedness of Moses and the whole freaking story. Seriously. Go back and read Exodus 1-15. EPIC.

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

At the heart of the story is two relationships: a deep and complicated one between sisters, and a devoted, sexy romance. Also: a murderous queen and BATTERY ACID.

Thanks for reading! I hate tagging people in these things, but by all means, if you want to play, consider yourself tagged and link up. 

Everyone wish me happy drafting! Thanks! <3 font="font">

Banned Books Week! Plus, GIVEAWAYS!

 Hey, sweet readers.

So I know I've been MIA for awhile - going back to work at the busiest time of the year after a new baby while revising a manuscript will do that to you - but this week I have pretty much the best excuse ever to kick my butt back into regular blogging....

BANNED BOOKS WEEK.

I love banned books.

First, I should say I don't believe in banning or in any way censoring books for children. Or anyone, really, but especially for children. (Yes, I'm a mother. Of both boys and girls.) I've blogged about that before here and I'm also talking about it over on my dear friend Andrea's blog today.

Today, I want to tell you a little bit about some books that have shaped me as a reader and a writer. They've all been banned in one library or another.

1984 by Orson Wells and The Giver by Lois Lowry - I read them both in sixth grade, have been a dystopian junkie ever since. Equal parts terrifying and thrilling because LOOK WHAT THE HUMAN SPIRIT CAN ACCOMPLISH, you know?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - I read this as part of English glass in seventh grade, and I'll never forget Scout and her courage, and the teacher who helped my young brain unpack and analyze its deep themes of racial inequality and fighting for justice.

Forever by Judy Blume - Raise your hand if this book taught you things about sex your parents couldn't stomach telling you. Go ahead. No one can see you.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - Taught me that ideas are the most powerful weapons possible.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - This book was so important to ten-year-old, pudgy, glasses-wearing, geekiest-kid-in-English-class, so far from the popular-kids'-table-it-could-have-been-a-mirage me. Meg Murry was awkward and misunderstood and angry and brilliant and not only did her brains save the day, but got the boy too. (Calvin - *swoon*)

(Only she could pull off that first line. *sigh*)

Sweet readers, these books are such a huge part of what made me who I am that it actually makes me tear up to think about what my childhood and teen years would have been like without them.

And some of the books that have been banned in libraries, schools, and programs across America since then? I don't want to think about my kids growing up without Harry Potter and The Hunger Games to read.

So. Instead of thinking about that, I decided to do the thing that makes me happiest on Banned Books Week - give away banned books!

I'm so grateful to have a couple good friends helping me out with that:

John Hansen over at Teens Can Write Too has a great list of contemporary banned books AND is hosting a giveaway  of The Perks of Being a Wallflower sponsored by me and my friends the YA Misfits.

Andrea Hannah is interviewing me about my thoughts and feelings on banning books, and hosting a giveaway of Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler.

Please run over to their blogs and comment and enter to win! And read a banned book in honor of Banned Books Week! 

And, of course, I want to know - What is your favorite banned book? (A decent list here.)

Pitch On! Pitch Entry - GLOWING SHADOW by Anabel Gonzalez

Hey, sweet readers! Look, another pitch!

I'm so pleased to be a host for Pitch On! It's an opportunity for writers across the internet to pitch an editor. The hosts are critiquing individual pitches on their blogs, and in a couple weeks they'll all go up on Down Under Wonderings or YATopia to be perused by Marisa Pintado of Hardie Grant Edgmont!

Exciting, no?

Time for my brave writer to get her Pitch On!*

Name: Anabel Gonzalez

Country of residence: Mexico

Title: Glowing Shadow

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Word count: 81,000

Pitch: A genius girl with the curse of being an emphat and broadcasting her feelings to everyone finds a bigger curse in Madrid. There she needs to fight along a glowing shadow to rescue her brother and stay alive from the shadows that hunt her, while she convinces him that he deserves to love.

Welcome, Anabel! So glad you landed on my blog. 

 I LOVE the concept of empaths - one of my CPs wrote a whole book about them! Good stuff. 

I would LOVE to know some basic info about your main character - especially her name, since that helps us identify with her right off the bat. 

I'd also love to see a punchier first line. Something like, "Sixteen year old empath Anabel thinks broadcasting her feelings to everyone is the biggest curs possible - untili she gets to Madrid."

I'd also love to get the information that her brother has been abducted/is in danger right up front, since that would give us a sense of conflict and mission right away. 

Also, why are shadows hunting her? Have they always been doing so? Are they only after her now that she wants to rescue her brother? If so, why is he so special? 

I'm also confused as to why her brother's deserving to love is part of the conflict. If you can tie up all those answers in the allotted space, great - otherwise, consider what info you REALLY need to communicate in a pitch to sell the book's concept without being dishonest.

This sounds like such a cool concept! Best of luck!

*Please leave your critiques, comments, and encouragement below! Thanks!

Pitch On! Pitch Critique - MAD AS A HATTER

I'm so pleased to be a host for Pitch On! It's an opportunity for writers across the internet to post an editor. The hosts are critiquing individual pitches on their blogs, and in a couple weeks they'll all go up on Down Under Wonderings or YATopia to be perused by Marisa Pintado of Hardie Grant Edgmont!

Exciting, no?

Time for my brave writer to get her Pitch On!*



 Name: Alexandra Hayman 
 Title: MAD AS A HATTER 
 Genre: YA Supernatural Thriller 
 Word Count: 51,000 

 Pitch: For fourteen-year-old Emil Aleric, the series of ‘Wonderland Murders’ ravaging London mean only one thing: his former abductor, the Hatter, is back. Seven years ago, the man took Emil to a place called Wonderland, murdered Emil’s sister, and barely missed Emil himself. Emil knows he won’t be able to hide forever—until his best friend is taken by the madman, and Emil’s not sure he wants to. 

 Hey darling!
 I've seen this MS running around the contest circuit, and this writer running around Twitter, and am seriously impressed with both. So excited you landed on my little old blog, dear writer!

 So, this is a compelling pitch. There are just a few things that were unclear or I felt could be cut.
(Re: pitches - In my experience, clarity and economy of words can't be underestimated.)

  First sentence:
I'd love to know what differentiates the Wonderland Murders from any other crime. Give me a sense of the horror.

  Second Sentence:
I think you can cut "a place called Wonderland" in the second sentence, and just tell us that he abducted Emil. That means you can take "his former abductor" out of that first sentence, too! :D

How did the Hatter "barely miss" Emil? Did Emil escape? If he did, that tells us something cool about Emil in a few words - he has tenacity and wit. See if you can replace that "barely missed" with more specific words that also tell us something about story or character.

  Third Sentence: 
I understand what your last sentence is trying to say, but I think we might be able to streamline it with some artful rewording. What about, "Emil knows it's only a matter of time until the Hatter catches him, too - until he decides that he's going to be the one to catch the Hatter?" Just a suggestion. :D

  Lastly: I'd love to see a little extra bit of voice in here - just a little phrase or a word here or there would do. What's something that Emil says when he's mad or frustrated? That might be a great way to squeeze a little voice in there. :D

*Please feel free to comment and critique for Alexandra and her lovely pitch as well!  When you're done, the other hosts and I would love it if you'd run around to their blogs and critique over there, as well! Thanks, sweet readers!

Pitch Live! Video Pitch Contest!!!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Pitch Live! ... Elevator Pitch Contest/Blogfest

I'm so excited to announce PITCH LIVE! What is it, you ask? It's a video of your best elevator pitch to an agent. I wanted to give you guys enough time to produce a video of an elevator pitch for your finished novels, so I'm posting this now. We already have a couple agents signed up to view the top 30 videos (if we get that many), but there will be more agents. I'll announce the agents in a post soon. The contest is for Adult, New Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade fiction. The elevator pitch should be creative, as if you ran into an agent at a conference.

The blogfest...

Sign up on the linky below by October 15 at 8AM EDT. From October 15 to 17 judges will be hopping to each blog to pick the most creative and exciting pitches (content is important, too) that will make it into the agent round. Hop around the blogs and view your fellow competitors' videos, comment, and make friends. Participating in the blogfest is important, because if you don't make the top 30, you could have an agent or editor not participating (or participating) in the contest hop around the blogs offering to read more. It has happened in contests past. 

The contest... 

The top 30 videos will go live on the hosts' blogs onOctober 18. Agents will view and request to read more of their favorites from October 18 to 19.

Formatting... 

All videos must be accessible on YouTube and the recommended size of no larger than 854 x 480 (51.79 MB). Please make sure your videos are set to public viewing (not private). The video shall be no more than two minutes in length. No obscene content (I will remove the blog from the linky). Make sure to title it "Pitch Live!". Your posts should have the following heading above the embedded video:

Title: TITLE OF FINISHED MANUSCRIPT
Genre: The Genre of your manuscript 
Word Count: The word count of your manuscript (round up or down to the nearest thousandth)

Remember to include these things in your pitches: Character, Inciting Event, Goals, Obstacles, Conflict, and Stakes. 

Check out this site here for some samples on how to create a video pitch. 

Here's some videos from your hosts for hints on what to put into your pitch (warning: mine is awful, but hopefully it will make you feel better about your own)...

Brenda's gawd-awful video (Can you guess the skyline I didn't know?)... 




Erica Chapman's very informative video...




My video on how to create a video pitch...

 

Remember you can be as creative as you want, but your pitch must be there and we must see your face. It's about your personality. Good luck! 

So what are you waiting for? Sign up now!

1.	Jamie Corrigan	5.	Darci Cole	9.	Carrie- Anne
2.	Laura Hughes	6.	Rachel Hert	10.	Jami Montgomery
3.	Talynn Lynn	7.	Karen Walcott	11.	Christina Ferko
4.	Fiona McLaren	8.	Barbara Ellingson	12.	You're next!

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Pitch Onnnnnn!

(This post graciously donated word for word by Marieke, also hosting Pitch On!, in my time of most intense dayjob mania. Love you, Marieke.)

Hey sweet readers!

In case you haven’t heard yet, there’s an awesome new contest in the blogosphere: Get Your Pitch On! Hosted by Down Under Wonderings and YAtopia on October 15th, during Get Your Pitch On! Commissioning and Managing Editor of Hardie Grant Egmont, Marisa Pintado, will be poised and ready to take your YA pitches.

Marisa is looking for YA in any genre and is accepting submissions from any where in the world. It’s your chance to skip the slush pile and put your pitch right under the nose of a fantastic editor. There’s even better news – there is no limit on how many requests Marisa will make from the contest.

Here are the rules:

• Your manuscript must be complete, polished and ready to query – this means no first drafts or almost finished manuscripts.
• It must be YA.
• When the contest goes live on October 15th, post your entry details in the comments section of either YAtopia or Down Under Wonderings – each blog is accepting 100 entries only.
• Your entry detail needs to include a 50 – 70 word pitch.
• You can enter more than once if you have more than one complete, polished, ready to query manuscript.

Your contest details should be formatted like this:

Name: Sharon Johnston
Email: smjohnston [ @ ] live.com.au
Country of residence: Australia
Title: SLEEPER
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Word-count: 58,000
Pitch: Seventeen-year-old Mishca Richardson is a sleeper soldier with a weak heart. She has no idea that a life saving heart transplant has accidentally triggered her programming. In the search for answers, she discovers the truth and that her creator, Wirth, has classified her remaining “sisters” from her experiment group as defective, scheduling them for termination. Mishca sets out to save them before they’re eliminated.

All a bit daunting? No fear! Dozens of blogs around the ‘sphere will help you whip your pitch into shape. And (surprisingly) I am one of them! Workshops for Get Your Pitch On will start on October 1st*, but you can send your pitches through now to secure your spot with a host blog.

There is no date deadline for the workshops. Each blog has allocated a set number of pitches that they can host and once those spots are full then no more submissions will be taken. I’ll be hosting 10 pitches here on my blog!

Important Rule: If you want to participate in a workshop, you must be pay it forward by commenting on at least one other pitch. Not so difficult, right?

Also! For each critique you leave in the comments, you get an entry in the draw for one of eight 10-page critique from contest host Sharon Johnston and workshop hosts Larissa Hardesty, Stephanie Diaz, Catherine Scully, Jodie Andrefski, Paula Sangare, Talynn Lynn and Kaitlin Adams. Please use the exact same names for all of your critiques. The opportunity ends October 14. 

How to submit: Email your draft pitch to pitchonws@gmail.com and include PitchOnWS and the title of the manuscript in the subject line. Pitches must follow the formatting as specified for the Get Your Pitch On contest. If you missed if before check out this post here and you can see the list of blogs participating here.

Draft pitches will be evenly distributed between host blogs.

An interview with Commissioning and Managing Editor of Hardie Grant Egmont, Marisa Pintado, so that you have an idea what she’s looking for before she takes your pitches will be coming up soon on Down Under Wonderings. The exact contest opening times will be included in that post.

Have fun honing your pitches!

Are You a Misfit? (YA Misfits Launch Giveaway!)

misfit — n 1. a person not suited in behaviour or attitude to a particular social environment Yep. I've been a misfit in so many different environments, in so many different ways. Depending on the situation, my abilities, attitudes, voice, background, looks, and personality have failed to fit in one way or another. In fact, I feel like a misfit in pretty much every situation. I'm not like the other rabbis, or the other moms. I'm generally pretty at home in the writing community, but even y'all have to admit that YA superhero origin romance stories are pretty few and far between. *insert shaky smile* Which is why I'm so honored to be one of the founding YA Misfits - a ragtag group of Young Adult writers who are changing the world of YA Lit, one novel at a time. Speaking of superheroes. I think I always loved them because being a superhero was about being a misfit, and finding your place in the world anyway. The supervillains were the ones who got angry and tried to exact revenge. But the heroes...they were something special. They were misfits, and they were damaged, yeah. But they turned that into something positive. It may have taken them a long time to get there, but they were courageous, and determined. They found their place in the world by making their misfit-ness into something awesome, into a contribution, instead of something to be ashamed of. I guess I wrote a superhero novel because I hope to do the same thing. In celebration of the YA Misfits' launch today, I'm giving away two superhero DVDs, full of misfitty awesomeness, that inspired me to write about kids who turned their different-ness into awesomeness. (Also, I named my main characters after a character from each of them. I HAVE to share.)

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes: Volume 1

There's Jan VanDyne, AKA "The Wasp," Elias's namesake. She is FIERCE.

X-men Volume One (The awesome 1992 cartoon. Yes.)

 

Aaaand here's Jean Grey:
 total badass, quintessential smart-girl heroine, and Merrin's namesake.One entry for doing each of the following: (just tell me you did it in your comment - I trust you.)
1. Follow the YAMisfits blog
2. Follow the YAMisfits on Twitter
3. Enter the YA Misfits Launch KINDLE GIVEAWAY.
4. Follow this blog.
5. Follow me on Twitter.
6. "Like" me on Facebook. (hey, don't judge.)
7. Tell me your favorite superhero, or, heck, ANY misfit character. 

The giveaway ends on Thursday at noon, so you can have your DVDs for your weekend viewing pleasure. U.S. only, I'm afraid. :(

Thanks so much for coming over, and GOOD LUCK!!!

On Sacrifice

Hi, sweet readers.

Yup, I've been gone from regular posting for a few weeks. I've missed you. Somehow, I always forget how chaotic and stressful back to school is for a campus professional. There are few things I love more than my college students (hi, you guys!) but going back to  work has been stressful and exhausting in ways I somehow forget every year.

You know, people often ask me how I "do it all" - working a (three-quarters time) day job, managing my house, taking care of my kids, writing books, looking halfway decent every day, sleeping enough, and maintaining my sanity.

 I don't like to complain, because I truly am grateful for every aspect of my life that makes me crazy busy. Healthy kids, a job working with people I love, a house to live in, a budding writing career. Also, because I really don't like to assume myself more busy than anyone else. Everyone has responsibilities and stresses that take up their time and leave them suffering from Not Enough Hours in the Day syndrome.

But when people ask me how I "Do it All," I try to be honest and clear - I don't. If I'm spending time on the weekend with my kids, you can well assume that there's a disastrous house or languishing CP on the other end of that equation. If I'm being productive with drafting or revisions, you can bet my elliptical  - and abs - haven't seen any action for weeks. More often than not, I'm running on not enough sleep, and dealing with chronic anxiety and depression to boot. And even with All the Coffee and a supportive spouse, there are only so many writing minutes you can squeeze out of a day before you collapse in a fit of exhausted tears.

I guess what I want to say is that fitting writing into your life isn't easy. Sometimes, it's damn near impossible.

Either way, it takes sacrifice.

I spend less time with my kids than I could, I've all but given up cooking, I do minimal housekeeping. I still have twenty pounds of baby weight to lose and, honestly, I'm not sure it'll come off any time soon. I don't watch TV. I don't do a lot of hanging out with girlfriends, and my kids never go on playdates.

Do I regret any of these things? Heck no. I know I'll never look back on my life and say, "I really wish my kitchen floor would have been cleaner," but I definitely would think, "Damn, it would have been awesome  if I had just made the time for that Mansfield Park redux."

So, I slept less, spent some cash on babysitters, had a dirty house and a couple nervous breakdowns. But I wrote the redux. Sacrifice. 

Licensed for use under CC by Thomas (donnga BS) - thank you!

That's not to say there won't be times when I take weeks or months away from writing - I've just taken a couple weeks "off," and I'm not sure exactly how much more time I'll need to get adjusted.


Burt I do know that, now, once again, I have to figure out the new balance of work, self-care, and family to enable me to keep writing in which the sacrifice does not have to be my sanity. 

What about you? When people ask you how you do it all, what do you tell them? What sacrifices do you make for doing the things that you love?

P.S. - Watch this blog over the next several days for exciting news about something new and awesome that I'm lucky enough to be part of! (no, it's not a book deal, or anything like that. But it is awesome. I promise.)

Blog Tour! Clare Davidson and her Debut TRINITY

YOU GUYS. I have reached a landmark moment of popularity in the blogosphere. I mean, I'm alllll puffed up here, because I get to host Clare Davidson, debut author of the TRINITY series, on my blog today!

How cool is that?

I know. I KNOW.

Anyway, since I don't believe that there's any one right way to write a book, but mostly because I'm a little voyeuristic, I told Clare I really wanted to hear about her writing process. And since she's such a sweetheart, she said she'd write a whole post about it. (See? SWEET.)

So, here we are! I'm so honored to be hosting Clare on her VERY FIRST BLOG TOUR STOP!

Be sure to read ALL the way to the end of the post for information about where to buy Trinity AND how you could win a copy from me! (Also, read slowly so that you can savor the awesomeness of her Brit spelling, verb tenses, and phrasing. Siiiiigh.)

When Leigh Ann asked me to write this guest post about my writing process, I thought "hey, cool, I know what that is! I'm a pantser!" Then I sat down and thought about it and realised that it isn't that simple. I change my writing process depending on the project, my mood, the time of day…

Over the years I've been writing, I've tried to learn the "correct" way to write a novel. I've asked myself the following questions over and over again: Should I plan everything to the nth degree, have reams and reams of world-building and a detailed summary of EVERY scene? Is it enough to do a line-per-scene on cards or post-it notes that I can shuffle around? If I don't plan, will my novel be rubbish?

To find out the "correct" way to write, I've read scores of "how-to" books, done online and physical courses, joined writing forums and communities and asked advice. Do you know the biggest lesson I gleaned from all that time, energy and money? There is no RIGHT way to write. None at all.

I'll repeat that. There is no RIGHT way to write. It's what works for you and what works for you invariably won't work for the next person, or the next.

I'm not saying you shouldn't read the books, join the websites and take the advice. I learnt a LOT from doing all of those things. What I am saying is this: don't be a slave to someone else's writing process. If it doesn't work for you, you'll end up feeling miserable and like a failure. I know I did.

What I learnt to do is magpie bits and pieces from all the books, courses and forums that I've come into contact with, but I don't use any one method to the letter.

Trinity began as a plotting session with a friend when I was trying to save another WIP that was on its third draft and just wasn't working. That WIP wasn't saved, but became a different novel: 'Trinity'. During that plotting session my friend helped me hash out the "big picture" and I wrote down ten bullet points. That was my entire framework. It worked because I had direction, but enough freedom to flesh the story out, join the dots and fill in the gaps. It allowed my muse and my characters to be free. For me, plans become like a muzzle. I know plenty of writers who love to use detailed plans, they stick to them and write amazing books. Hats off to them! I couldn't do it.

For me, the first draft is the easiest. I don't worry about the quality of my prose, I just throw the story down on paper. The real work begins with the editing. With Trinity, I printed out a full copy, broke out the coloured pens (it's more fun to edit with different coloured pens!) and scrawled on every page, tightening the prose, fixing inconsistencies, bringing out more character emotion and so on.

All in all, the whole novel went through about five drafts. Certain sections of it went through ten or more. I had input from family, three different editors and, finally, a copyeditor.

Was all that hard work worth it? Damn right it was! Holding the finished product in my hand was the most amazing feeling: I wrote that; that's my book. Completing and publishing Trinity is a dream come true. A dream I hope to repeat, even if my writing process changes with every book I write!

Wow, Clare, you're so cool.  And if Clare's this cool, I'm sure her book is ZOMG INCREDIBLE. SO. Go buy it.  Seriously. Go on. Just click here.

No kidding. Go buy Trinity.

And! I'm giving away one Kindle copy to a random commenter. Follow this blog, follow Clare on Twitter, and tweet about this blog post for extra entries! (Giveaway closes on Tuesday evening, get your entries in before then! Fun fun!)

122 Words of Encouragement

Hey, sweet readers! I know a bunch of you are hanging out at Write On Con this week, hoping your hard-worked and awesome manuscripts get picked up by those Ninjas.  (Hi Ninja Agents! We love you!) Last year, for me, the week was full of highs and lows. I was hoping the conference would get me an offer, but it turns out that the best thing I got out of it was meeting my second-oldest critique partner. Way better than an offer. 

And, here's what happened since last year's WriteOnCon. 

(I mean this post to be encouraging. I hope it is. Forgive me if it isn't. I think you're wonderful.)

I met Gina fourteen months ago, and Chessie just about a year ago.

Back then, we swapped manuscripts for critique.
All of those manuscripts went through the query trenches.
All of those manuscripts subsequently went in the drawer.

We wrote new manuscripts, and critiqued those for each other too.
We queried and contested those manuscripts to death.
In the last two months, we all signed with agents.
Those second manuscripts are now floating around in the wide sea of Publishing.

I just sent Chessie my third manuscript.
That feels good.

It's a short story, but it's a big one.
And here's the lesson:

Work hard.
Have good friends.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.

You're doing a great job.
Keep. On. Going.

YA Writers Ask a Teen Chat = Awesome

Happy Monday, sweet readers!

So, you know how I've been trying to finish these revisions on SfEx? In the interest of that, I brought Penny to the Hirsch house, where Monica had agreed to spend the morning with her. I asked her offhandedly about   how those in her age group (almost 16) referred to their peers - "kids?" "people?" "peeps?" What?

Well, we ended up talking for over an hour about everything from slang to Facebook interactions to bullying via text message. I had to cut the conversation short then because I wanted to get SOME revisions done, but   she was so sweet and obliging and enthusiastic about the topic that I hated to go. So, I did what any social-media-obsessed YA writer would do - I asked her if she'd be up for answering some questions for my writing buddies on Twitter that night, if they had any.

And, WOW. Did they have questions.

We started tweeting about YA Writers Ask a Teen - #YAWritersAAT about nine hours before we wanted to start the chat, and not only did people get their questions ready, they retweeted. And retweeted and retweeted and WOW. We had a great conversation about voice and technology in teens' lives.

Jenny has a chat transcript posted on her blog, if you're interested in reading the whole thing. (Hint: If you're a YA writer, you probably should be interested.)


A lot has changed since many of us YA writers were teens, and we learned lots of useful stuff, like:  


Just Another Dreamer‏@EncoreUnReveur@LeighAnnKopans @ValerieFM80@marlanafiregirl Gosh yes. You always know when a guy's going to ask you out. His friends text you with clues.


To which a lot of writers responded, "WHAT KIND OF CLUES!?!?!" And began furiously taking notes. So awesome.


But what I really want to talk about in this post is the response to #YAWritersAAT. About halfway through the chat, Valerie joked that she was just waiting for #YAWritersAAT to trend. And then she checked, just in case, and:




Yeah. There we are. Trending at #2. 

You guys, I actually got kind of emotional. Because, hey. It's no secret how I feel about writing for teens. And teens in general. I LOVE teens. I LOVE writing for them. I think it's SO important that there is authentic, quality literature written with a teen audience in mind.

And you know what it tells me when a chat created for the purpose of helping YA writers write authentically for teens TRENDS in HALF AN HOUR?

It tells me that it's important to other writers, too. It tells me that other writers are more concerned about writing books with authentic, accurate portrayals of how teens speak, think and act as opposed to how writers WANT them to speak, think and act. 

And that? That is absolutely freaking wonderful.

(Thank you to all the incredible teens who participated and were gracious enough to spend an hour on the weekend talking to us clueless old folks. And thank you especially to Valerie, Hayley, and Jenny, who were my impromptu co-organizers and promoters. You all were INCREDIBLE. See you next week.)

Friday Obsessions: Dahlia Adler, WHISPERS IN AUTUMN, and Kiss The Girl

Hey, sweet readers!

Well, it's been an insane week.  I started back at work, and have been finding myself completely exhausted at the end of every day just from the sheer effort of leaving the house, I suppose.

Writing wise? I'm trying to get back into Chrome, and not being too successful, to be honest. Could use some good old fashioned butt-kicking on that front. Fingers crossed that this weekend is more productive.

Allllrighty. That was boring. Let's just move right on to the obsessions, shall we?

1. Dahlia Adler. All of her.
Dahlia and I were on the same team in the Writer's Voice Contest (Team CupidsLC FTW!) and we signed with our agents in the same week. There's no one I would rather have shared my agent week with. She's super hilarious, totally kickass, and wrote an amazing MS, BEHIND THE SCENES. When it comes out, you all should buy it without thinking. Don't worry, I'll remind you.

Anyhow, Dahlia interviewed me on her blog today!!! And it was super self-indulgent but also tons of fun. So go over and see us chatting.


2. WHISPERS IN AUTUMN by Trisha Leigh
I "met" Trisha on Twitter right before her book released, and she's a sweetie pie. The book's cover is stunning, and the preview was awesome, so I bought it.

YOU GUYS.



I only got 5% of the way through, and I'm obsessed. Like,  I'm counting down the hours till I can get home and get my  kids into bed so I can keep reading.


Go buy a copy. Now. Beautiful writing, great premise, and you can't beat that price.


3.  "Kiss the Girl" sung by Ashley Tisdale
You know how you're really obsessed with a song, but you feel like you should probably listen to some other songs, because it's kind of lame to keep pushing "repeat" and then rocking out to the same refrain over and over and over again? And so you do listen to some other songs, but they dont' make you smile and bop your head like That One Song and you're really just waiting for the other songs to end so you can go back to the obsession?

Yep. Just listen, and then try to tell me you're not rocking out to this  version of the song from "The Little Mermaid."





Welp, that's it for me! What about you, sweet readers? What were you obsessed with this week?

Thursday Thank-You

Hey, sweet readers! It's time for Thursday thank-yous again, and I have a TON this week.

First and foremost: Thank you to all of YOU, my sweet readers. My post from Monday on not being a douchebag when you give people writing and publishing tips got over 400 views and 50 comments in 48 hours (it looks like 105, but half of those are my responses.) I lost track of how many retweets the link got, but a bunch of wonderful writers and rockstar agents Erin Niumata and Jennifer Laughran all joined in. So thank you thank you thank you for coming over here and joining in the conversation. I'm glad we're part of such a supportive community that is so excited to climb the ladder alongside people instead of imagining ourselves rungs above and acting like we're better. (Most of the time.)


Second: Thanks to Cait, who read the first draft of Solving for Ex in lickety-split time and gave me line notes (!) even though she has plenty of her own stuff to do. And for talking me down when I had a panic attack that the book actually sucks and was a waste of seven weeks of my life.

Third: Thanks to Gina, for still loving me even when I'm completely insufferable. Love you like a sis, G.

Fourth: Thanks to Jess, who BAKED ME COOKIES and then SENT THEM TO ME. I'm overwhelmed, not to mention completely in love with the baked goods. She even wrote me  note and calligraphed the envelope! I mean, come on:

Once in awhile, it's nice to know that someone loves you just because you're you, and goes out of her way to show you. Thanks, Jess.

Fifth: Thanks to Valerie, who's reading my MS even though she's SLAMMED at work, and even though she's only 50% of the way through, sent me a gushing email, imagining fandoms and also telling me my hair looks pretty. Wow.

Sixth: Thanks to Amy, who took some gorgeous new headshots of me at the drop of a dime. If you're in Central Ohio, or are ever visiting, give her a call and she'll do some amazing work for you. Tell her I sent you.


Remember, if you want to join in on the Thursday Thank yous, I'm sure your thankees would appreciate it. Link up, please, because I'd love to see them. <3 i="i">
See you tomorrow for an especially teeny-boppy installment of Friday Obsessions!

Writing a Novel Out of Order

I write my stories out of order.
 Like, completely out of order. 
Many times, the ending or penultimate scenes will be some of the earliest I write.
(For example, the very first scene I ever wrote for my on-submission manuscript is now Chapter 8.)
And I'm a pantser.

This confuses a lot of people. If I am a pantser, and consequently don't know where the story is going or how it gets there, how can I possibly write ending scenes before beginning ones?

See, the thing is, drafting is the absolute hardest part of the writing process for me. Something about getting new words out is grueling.

The only way it's not grueling - and, in fact, the way that I find myself able to fly through the words, optimally pulling 5,000-7,000 in a day - is by "seeing" a scene in my head, or "hearing" a conversation between two characters, and kind of channeling those things into words. (Sometimes I even type with my eyes closed so that I can "see" or "hear" better.)


Most often those scenes that I "see" or "hear" consist of one of two things:
1. Intense drama
2. Kissing or other sexy stuff

It is in these scenes that the characters are most emotionally invested in what's going on. When a character is at the highest or lowest point of her emotional arc, that's when I can "hear" her most clearly, and so those are the scenes I tend to write first.

I mean, seriously. Once you have this picture in your  head, how could you NOT write that scene first?

(cc JLStricklin)

 Lately, I've been drawing up a beat sheet to get a very rough idea of the plot, so I'll plug these early-written scenes into whatever plot point they go with, and then write the other scenes I need to fill in the rest of the book.

What this essentially creates is a skeleton of a novel built around the characters' emotional arcs.

So, I think that what all this means is that I like to write character-driven stories, which is why this writing-out-of-order method works for me.

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I'm just lazy as all get-out.

BUT STILL. I've written three books in two years and I'm going on a fourth, so it works for me.

(And, let's not forget: a famous out-of-orderer is Stephenie Meyer. She wrote the scene where Bella and Edward canoodle in that field of flowers before she wrote anything else. So...let's hope that the whole method works just as well for me as it did for her.)


What about you, sweet writerly-type readers? Do you draft out of order, or do you have to draft in the first-scenes-first method?