Writing Advice: It's not one size fits all.

note: I started drafting this post back in March, when I was knee-deep in the query trenches. I finished it up today.

I hate giving writing advice.

Why? Well, because, just like anything else in life,
the path to publication is not simple, nor is it easy.

There are as many different paths as there are individual writers.

There are people who write one book, send fifteen queries, sign with a powerhouse agent, and eventually end up with multimillion dollar book, movie, and merchandise deals.

There are people who write nine books and finally snag an agent and huge deal with their tenth.

There are people who send hundreds of queries and revise and resubmits before finding an agent to represent and sell one wonderful novel.

You can find your agent with a query, by referral, during an online conference, through a contest, or via ninja agent ambush.

A book may be on submission for two days before selling, or sit there for ten months.

Generalized writing advice can be useless and demoralizing because writing is so closely tied to who we are. And if the writing advice I give contradicts with someone's experience, the message they get (and the message I have so often gotten) is that they are doing something wrong, that they are missing some crucial piece of "how-to" that they should have picked up on a long time ago.

Ripe berries and green, all on the same branch.
Metaphor KAPOW.

Back in March, when I had sent a couple hundred queries, received almost as many form rejections, revised two novels dozens of times, been in more contests than I could count on my hands, diligently spent every spare moment working on my craft, and gotten the thumbs up from over a dozen (yes, a DOZEN) readers, if you had given me cliched, platitudinal writing advice like "never give up!" or "keep working hard!" or "believe in yourself!" I would have seriously had to restrain myself to avoid punching you.

This is when straight-up inspirational talk and advice is tough to deal with for a lot of writers.

They (we) know that it's not just a matter of "never giving up," "believing in your work," or "writing something awesome."
They (we)  know it because they've been living it for months, sometimes years.
They (we)  know it because we have a drawer full of manuscripts that we poured our souls into, that we loved, that we thought was the One. (It wasn't. It's getting harder to believe that this one will be.)


But what's even worse - what I hate with every fiber of my being - is the attitude that there is a hierarchy of writing skill that exists in this little community of ours.
Often, I see advice that goes something like this: "Keep working on your writing, and eventually you will come up with something good enough to catch an agent's attention."

Let's just think about that for a second. This seems to suggest that there is some qualifiable level of writing skill that you can attain which, when submitted to an agent's eyes, will magically lift the blinders to Bad Writing or Sub-Par Writing or Non-Awesome Writing, and they will then behold the book, and declare it good, and sign the writer, and submit it to editors, where the process will begin all over again. (Is there a writing skill purgatory, I wonder, for the work that was awesome enough to get an agent but not quite awesome enough to get an editor? Hmm?)

In case my sarcasm isn't one hundred percent obvious, let me be clear: Publishing is a subjective business. What one agent thinks is awesome could look like fire kindling to another. What one agent reads in twelve hours and offers on immediately thereafter could be the same manuscript that garnered 95 form rejections. (Yes, that's my sweet superhero novel, One.)


There is no such thing as a level of writing awesomeness that is worthy of agent or publisher attention. No, there really isn't.


And, if that level doesn't exist, then a simple way to get there doesn't either.


So, why does it bother me when I hear people giving advice that suggests that that level does exist?


Because it makes fellow writers feel bad. And that is not cool.
Not. Cool. At. All.


Listen. The MS that attracted my (very impressive) agent received 89 form rejections before I signed on the dotted line. It's gotten six more in the six weeks since then.

Now, maybe to you that means that I haven't worked hard enough on my craft, that my query letter sucked, that I didn't believe in myself enough, that the story was not marketable, or that my writing just wasn't up to par.

But if you met me, if you read my manuscript, if you knew that it was an in-demand genre and free of YA cliches, if you'd been with me through every grueling step of the process, would you still say those things?

I'll tell you right now - No. You would not.


So, listen, writers. If you take anything away from reading my blog, let it be this. When you finally, gloriously leave the query trenches, however you manage it, to Agentland, or better yet, move from Agentland to Publisheddom, do me a favor. Don't offer advice on how to get there based on your individual path. That path was yours and yours alone, and implying that others are doing it wrong because theirs isn't similar enough is just bad form. 


Yes. Bad form.

For those of you in the Querying Trenches or Submission Hell (here! have a cookie!), here is what I have to say to you.

I'm sorry. It sucks. I hope that you're able to find a way to make that part of the journey translate into something awesome for the more fun parts.

Will you get an agent? I don't know.
Will you ever publish? I have no clue.
Will the worry and stress and grief tear you apart? Will your writing get worse? Will you fall into an inescapable black hole of suckitude?
I don't know. I'm not you.
But I am here to listen, and to commiserate, and to celebrate with you when things work out the way you want them to. 
And I think that's probably what we all really need most.

(Hey! You! Troll! Yes, you! I delete trollish comments. So don't waste your time. Kisses!)

Thursday Thank Yous - Inaugural Edition

Hey, sweet readers.


So, I had a bangup past week and a half. I finished a (very messy) first draft of Solving for Ex, and I couldn't be happier. But the thing is, I didn't do it alone. I've said it before, and I'll say it a million times again, but it takes a village to make a novel.

I went all super-cheesy saying thank you to everyone in my "Hey! Agent!" post, and it occurs to me that I had to do that because I hadn't spent the time thanking everyone for their help as I went. And since, thank goodness, it seems I'm still producing work, I thought that THIS TIME, I'd start saying thank you to folks on a weekly basis.

So! I'm introducing the "Thursday Thank You" post. It'll be a fast weekly shout-out to the helpful souls who enable me to keep writing each and every week. Please, link up! There can never be too much gratitude in life, and especially in writing.

This week on the Thursday Thank You! Four amazing kid-watchers who took Peninah off my hands for twelve hours total this week, enabling me to finish up this draft and deal with the aftermath (namely, three weeks worth of laundry. Oops.)


Here they are!

The amazing Hirsch sisters!
From left to right:
Monica (who is also my 15-year-old YA-reader bullshit meter. )
Peninah (duh)
Jaclyn (my classic Brit Lit soulmate)
and
Alexa (my Megan, and future literary agent. Truth.)

The lovely Allison, whose recent wedding summarily kicked ass,
 and who loves my kids always.

Thanks, ladies! Thank you SO MUCH.
Because if Penny's happy, she's quiet, and then I can write.

(If I let her.)

Good Newsssss!!!!!

Actually, it's freaking AMAZING news.

Let me tell you a little story.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful MS floating around the contest circuit at the same time mine was.
This MS was about TEENS who swore they were NOT KILLERS (which, of course, meant that they definitely were killers) and so they all got sent to what one might term a KILLER ISLAND.


("Killer Island")
(CC Matt Northam)

Obviously, I wanted to read this MS. Because I'm smart.
So, what do I do when I want to read an MS that one of my existing critique partners did not write?
I stalk that mothereffer.


(Yep. I looked just like that)
(CC Sergey Galyonkin)


I commented on posts. I tweeted. I begged and pleaded. I asked her people to call my people.
And FINALLY, Erica emailed me a copy of ANOMALY.

You guys? I read it, and almost instantly, I was IN LOVE.

There was a sweet yet gutsy MC! Amazing premise! Awesome friendships! Cuter-than-cute boys! (Yes! More than one!)

I finished that sucker in 24 hours and it was like stars were dancing around my Kindle.
Seriously. I HUGGED MY KINDLE in the middle of the Phoenix Airport, where I read the very last page.


(Dramatization of what my universe looked like while I was reading ANOMALY)
(CC Sean Kelley)

I'm so happy this MS, and most particularly, this fabulous lady, are in my life.

I'm even happier that they're about to be in YOUR LIVES TOO - because Erica got an agent!!!!

So go visit her and say CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

PSA: You Can Get Sued for Using Images on Your Blogs or Sites

Hey, sweet readers!

I know I totally freaking ignored my Friday Obsessions post. It would have been boring, because the only thing I was obsessed with is finishing the draft of SOLVING FOR EX, which is a sweet YA romance about Mathletes that also happens to be a redux of Austen's MANSFIELD PARK, my second fave Austen. Yay!

(Seriously, somehow I wrote 28k in the entire month of June, and then up and knocked out 30k in eight days. Deadlines are apparently KING in getting me to finish anything. Sigh.)

Anyway, I'm diving into editing today, but I wanted to take a second to blog about something important to me. The you-know-what hit to proverbial blogging fan at the end of last week when Roni Loren, an author with an amazing blog about all things writing craft and industry, posted a blog recounting her experience of being sued, losing said suit, and being responsible for PAYING DAMAGES over an image she had used on one of her blog posts.

I think all of us casual bloggers gasped when we read it. Who hasn't been looking for that perfect image to spruce up a blog post, ran a Google images search, copy-pasted, and called it a day?

It was a wake-up call for sure, and a reminder that:

1. Photographers own and DESERVE the copyright to their own work, no matter what you're using it for and
2. Even if it's just for an innocent blog post, or pinned to a Pinterest inspiration board, we are still benefiting from the work of others for free.

Now, you all can do whatever you want with this sweet reminder from Roni (thanks, Roni!)
 I did a little internet poking-around myself and found this article, where a photographer who's also a lawyer deleted her Pinterest inspiration boards because she found some fundamental flaws in the Pinterest terms of use vis a vis copyright law. (Plus, some really sound ethical arguments, if you click through to her blog on the topic.)

Look. I don't care if the chances are slim that I could get sued and lose for doing this. Personally, I consider ANY chance that I could be held responsible for thousands of dollars for doing something I consciously knew violated copyright law or even potentially did so to be too much of a chance. Seriously. I'd rather have the cash to go to a writer's conference than spend it getting busted using some image I didn't need to use without permission anyway. Wouldn't you?

On a happy note, I did take some time to track down the creators of some of my Pinterest images I absolutely LOVED. For example, I'd orginally repinned this image:

but when I clicked on it found no link to the creator. Luckily there is a watermark on it.  I Googled "whimsy studios" and found a perfectly lovely Etsy shop where a perfectly lovely lady puts a lot of love and hard work into creating this and other images FOR SALE. 

It turns out that if you go into her Etsy shop, you can "Pin" one of her items for sale onto your Pinterest board from there. So, what's the difference? Well, take a look: 

And it's actually a lot easier to pin it with the price tag and Etsy link on it. In order to pin the image itself, you'd have to navigate to the seller's uploaded SAMPLE image, save it to your hard-drive, then re-upload it to Pinterest.

I'm sorry, but the only reason I could think for anyone to do that would be to use the image free of any pesky price tags that remind us that someone worked hard to create that image and deserves to be paid for it if you're going to use it without reminders of that.

Anyway. I contacted the creator of this image (her name's Lori, by the way, and as I think I already mentioned once or twice, she's lovely) and she said that I could absolutely pin the image to my board, and then she THANKED ME for doing so.

Meaning: whoever originally went to the trouble to pin this image with as few traces of original ownership as possible was really just taking advantage of a really sweet lady trying to make an extra buck by creating pretty pictures for a minimal cost.

The moral of the story (as I see it): I know it sucks, because it's way less fun, and I've TOTALLY been guilty of this, but we really, really, REALLY can't use stuff that other people made for our blogs, Pinterest, etc. without their permission. And we writers, of all people, should know this. We're creative types, and I hope to God that the stuff I create won't be thrown around and free-shared by people who think they deserve access to something I poured my heart, soul, time, and energy into just because they like it, want to read it, or maybe it looks cool on their Pinterest board.

The secondary moral of the story: Artists are awesome, and a lot of them really do want to share their stuff with you. So take a second to ask. My buddy Lydia Kang asked a couple photographers she loved if she could pin their stuff, and they were happy to oblige.

In the future: If you have images that you're fine with giving people free reign to use, make them readily available. I can wrangle a camera okay, and I've done just that with some of my images on this Pinterest board. My friend Cait has done the same on her own Pinterest board, and my friend Jenny has a Flickr stream for the same use. Go ahead, use any of those images without fear of being sued. We promise not to, though it would be nice if you credited back to whoever took the picture, because we worked hard on them, and implying that they're your own is kind of cruddy. But even if you do, we won't sue. Swear.

Whew! This turned into kind of a long rambly post. If you made it to the end, I guess it interested you anyway. 

Were you impacted by the "You could be sued for using images" revelation? Or have you already known that and I've just been living under a rock?*

*I love that you take the time to comment, but if  you're rude or trollish or disturbing to me in any way, I delete yours. No, seriously.

Friday Obsessions: Pineapple Greek Yogurt, We Are In Love, and the Drafting Cave

Heeeey sweet readers!

*Sigh* I'm afraid it's gonna be another fast Friday Obsessions.
Not that you all are heartbroken or anything, but I do enjoy talking to you.

I have to cram a lot of stuff into today, but it's for a very good reason - tomorrow, I'm driving for three and a half hours both ways to meet a couple of my critique partners in person. (I won't tell you who. I don't want you to get more jealous than you already are just because I'm in collusion with them. Don't deny it.)

I know. It's probably one of the most amazing things that will happen to me all year. I'm super excited, but damn I can write a lot of words in 7 hours.

Anyway. Now that I've ramble-typed for five minutes, here they are:

Friday Obsessions!
Wooot!


1. Pineapple Greek Yogurt
So, you know how I had a baby about three months ago? And how I probably ate a little a lot too much when I was pregnant with her, and how I have like twenty five pounds to lose now?

Apparently I'm way less likely to lose the pounds if I eat marshmallow cereal for breakfast. It sucks, but you gotta do what you gotta do. (I'm not looking for dieting advice. It makes me stabby. Please don't give it to me. Seriously. I would probably delete your comment, that's how stabby it makes me. Not joking.)

I've been eating Greek yogurt because of the high-protein, low-fat, low-calories thing. But between you and me? That stuff SUCKS. It's like tangy and thick and bleh. But yesterday, I found Greek yogurt with pineapple on the bottom.

You guys? It. Is. Incredible.
I mean, not INCREDIBLE, but way better. Hallelujah.

2. We Are In Love by Cider Sky.


Oh, this song. So young, so strong, so beautiful. So Merrin and Elias. Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be thinking of the next book, but damn I love these two.



3. The Drafting Cave
Speaking of The Next Book, I'm just about to hit the homestretch. I kind of failed it during Camp NaNoWriMo, and only got something like 28K done in the month of June.

But now I'm at 43K, and figured out that if I pull 3k/day between now and next Friday, not counting Saturday, I can hit 65K (finished!) a week from now.

Aaaaaand that's pretty much all I need for motivation.
I'll report back next Friday, but please cheer for me and my sweet YA romance!


Okay, your turn! What were you obsessed with this week?
(Rachel posted her week's obsessions yesterday. By all means, guys, if you post about yours, link up!)

Reflections on the Voice Workshop at Brenda's Place.

Hey, sweet readers!

Last week, I was super honored to be asked to participate as a critiquer for the entries in That Doggone Voice Workshop over at author and contest-thrower extraordinaire Brenda Drake's blog.

She asked me to write up some reflections on my experience, and I thought I'd post them on my blog so that anyone else who was interested might like to read. (You can read my fellow critiquer Becca's reflections here.)

Brenda ran this workshop because Voice is just SO difficult to grab a hold of and wrestle into a book. And as hard as it is, it's that much more difficult in just the first 250 words of a novel. Writers have to ground the reader in the story's world, tell us something about the main character, give us a story hook, entice us to turn the page, AND establish voice. 

We seriously lucked out with the entries in this contest. They were all great! From a random entry picker, it's like a miracle that every single writer was so talented. Wow. 

So, well done, all of you.

Confession time: I realized while I was writing this recap that I actually have no solid advice on a surefire way to establish voice in your writing, because all I've ever done is listen to my characters and write down what they said. But then I realized that that's really not such bad advice. Look, you've done the hard work of dreaming up this story and characters to go with it. Trust those characters that they know how to tell their own story. 

A lot of the snags I hit when reading the entries had to do with the writer of the story jumping in and cutting off the Main Character.

"Wait," the writer seemed to be saying, "I don't think you know what you're doing here, Main Character. Shut up for a second and let me step in and explain to the reader the precise pink tone of that Heffalump's fur, or the exact tang of the fancy vodka you're drinking. Or even what you really meant to say when you said that one thing." 

Well, here's the thing, writers - 
With all due respect, no reader picks up a book to hear us tell our characters' stories for them. Readers crack those pages open to step into our characters' minds for a moment. So, forget about YOUR voice and let us hear THEIR voices.

Of course, during revisions we've got to comb back through and make sure our characters don't switch favorite slang words midway through the manuscript, or use words from an SAT prep course when they're a normal twelve-year old. But for most voicey stuff, my advice is simple - sit back, close your eyes, and imagine what your character would see, feel, and think. Then write that down. Again - You've done the hard work in dreaming her up - now let her do a little work for you.

Thanks again for letting me play! I had so much fun reading, and am seriously impressed by everyone's hard work!

Friday Obsessions: Doggone Voice, Rainy Mood, and Cake

Happy Friday, sweet readers!

I've had a heckuva week - I was home alone (!!!) with all four of my monsters for the first three days of it, and I am 

So! Quick obsessions rundown, shall we?

1. THAT DOGGONE VOICE Workshop over at Brenda Drake's!
Yes! I am famous! Brenda asked me to be part of The Voice Team in her latest workshop, along with my CP Marieke. Some of these entries are STELLAR, you guys, and it was all I could do to not ask to read their manuscripts. Come visit and tell them what you think when it opens to comments next week!

2. RainyMood 

Raise your hand if you like to read, write, or just generally BE inside with a thunderstorm happening outside.

Yeah, I thought so.

Navigate to rainymood.com for a summer thunderstorm any time, any place. You can play your music over top of it, too. Writing bliss!

3. Cake


I want cake. Just some cake. Any cake. So badly. *sigh*


Yeah, I know it was short. The workshop wore me out!
What about you, sweet readers? What were YOU obsessed with this week?

Adventures in Reduxes, Step 1: Deconstruction

Hey, sweet readers.

Either we've known each other for awhile or we're planning on the sticking it out for the long haul, yes? So I might as well be honest with you. I need to tell you three things right now:

1. I'm a pantser, (which you might have known.)
2.  But I hate that about myself, (which you probably didn't know.)
3. I am LAZY. (which, if you've been paying attention at all, you definitely knew.)

So, what does a lazy pantser do when she wants to write with an outline but doesn't actually want to write an outline?

She writes a redux.

It makes perfect sense! You can just take a story you love, change some details to put it in a different setting, or a different universe, or add some aliens, or change someone's gender, and BAM! Awesome story! Outlined for you! Just write it! SO EASY.

Right?

So very very not even close to right.

I'm currently working on a Bible story redux and an Austen redux, and the first thing I'm learning is that the first step in any redux is perhaps the most counterintuitive -

Separate yourself from the story.

This was so, so tough. I'm doing this redux because I love the story. LOVE it. But in order to do this redux right, I had to first tear myself away from making gaga eyes at it so that I could completely critically rip that sucker apart.

These are all issues I'll be exploring in subsequent posts, but questions like:

• What was the original pacing of the story? How does it need to be changed for a contemporary reading audience?
• Where - and what - are the themes? 
• What did the settings, characters, and individual events symbolize and accomplish plot-wise? 
• Are there too many characters? Too few? Do I have to change any? How much? Why? 
• How do the character triumphs and flaws translate into my new setting and/or plot? Do I need to change any of those?
• How do the character relationships translate into my new setting/plot? Do I need to change any of those? 
• What am I trying to communicate with this story, and to what extent does the original story serve that purpose? What needs to be fundamentally the same, and what can I change without ruining that message? What must I change to get that message across to a contemporary audience?

Now that I'm typing this all out, I'm realizing that the question I should have been asking myself when I started these reduxes is not what I wanted to change about the original, and why, but what I could reasonably keep, and why. 

(The important part being WHY. I can't let flaws in the original story and/or how it translates to be an excuse for lazy writing. No deus ex machinas, telling instead of showing, or stock characters allowed.)


In other words? I thought writing a redux would be easier, but it's actually way, way, way harder.
I guess it's a good thing I love the story.


What about you, sweet readers? Have you had experiences with reduxes, either reading them, watching them (yay Clueless and Ten Things!) or writing them? Tell us in the comments!

Friday Obsessions! Interview at Becks's Place, Twitter, and Taylor's "Enchanted."

Hey sweet readers!

I'll bet you thought Friday Obsessions were dead.

Nope! It's just that I have an eight-week-old in the house, and it turns out that when I'm physically/mentally exhausted, my obsessive personality calms down just a tad. But I can feel it coming back readers, slowly, surely, wonderfully-obsessively, creeping into the exhausted recesses of my heart.

So. Enough sentimentality. FRIDAY OBSESSIONS!!!!

1. Becca interviewing me!

So apparently people think it's hilarious that I have so many critique partners (really?) and are inspired by my querying stats (which, really, really, really?) so Becca thought it would be a good laugh to interview me. And whaddya know? She was right. We had an awesome time.

Check us out right here!

2. Twitter.

You guys, Twitter was down yesterday, and I think it highlighted just how obsessed we all (yes, ALL, don't deny it) are. Yes, we resorted to Facebook. Yes, we texted each other. Yes, we all lived. Don't worry.

3. Taylor Swift's "Enchanted."

Each of my WiPs' playlists has had one song from my girl Taylor on it. Solving for Ex's didn't have one, and I put out a call on Twitter for help. 

Wouldn't you know it? The amazing Amanda Olivieri gave me this song and it is HOLY CRUD SO PERFECT. *sigh*

(Also I kind of really love how Taylor writes like half her songs about real boys that she met/dated. Amazing.)

That's it for me for this week! What about you guys? What were you obsessed with this week?

How to Build the Best Crit Group on the Planet

Hey sweet readers!


A week ago, I made a blog post about my amazingly supportive and encouraging team of critique partners. A lot of you marveled at how wonderful and tight-knit our group is. Some of you asked me how I got such great writing besties.


So, I'm going to tell you my secret for building the best, closest-knit, most helpful, honest, and supportive writing group in town. 


But first, I'm looking for some help.


 I've got this house I need someone to clean up.  It's very cluttered,  has some grime in the carpet,  and the walls need a bit of scrubbing. Also,  there might a leak in the roof,  so could you just climb up there and patch it up? And if the walls buckle,  don't mind that - I'm sure they won't fall on you. Probably they won't.

It's really not all that much work at all,  considering that I'd let you into my house - I built it myself, you see,  and I'm very proud of it. I'm sure you'll love it!  While you're in there taking care of things,  you might even get to talk to me. No promises, of course - I'm very busy - but it could happen.


Sound like fun? No, I didn't think so. Alright, well, how about this?


You look so nice today! In fact, I've noticed that you have really lovely clothing, and you pay such close attention to how you dress.

 What's that, you say? You're worried your closet is a bit of a mess? You know, people say I'm good at organizing closets. I have a couple of hours. I'd love to help out, that is, if you could use the extra hand.
How does each offer make you feel? 
Which one are you most likely to take up?


Now, here's the story of my critique group. One year minus eleven days ago, Gina commented on this here blog (when it was just a baby!) offering to critique my manuscript.

The key part of that paragraph? "Offering."

She must have known from reading the blog what a hot mess the MS in question was. She didn't care. Something she saw over here made her want to hang out with me (God help her) and she offered her help.

Well, I followed her example, and started stalking the Dickens out of contests and blogs. I scoped out plot lines that interested me, writing I loved, people who seemed dedicated to their work. I asked them (begged them) to read their manuscripts. That's how we found Maggie, Chessie, Jenny, and Jamie, in pretty short order. Not long after that, we snagged Marieke, MarcyKate, Megan, and the whole rest of the crew. (I have a list of my CPs and their blogs on my "Resources for Writers" page. - go visit them!) I read, critiqued, and raved about their manuscripts.

And, wouldn't you know it? All of them offered to read my MSs, too.

We became friends over email and Twitter. We dragged each other through the mud and muck of revisions and/or the query trenches. We probably would be lost without each other.
So, instead of getting people to read your stuff and give you their amazing input by asking them to do something for you (i.e. "Who wants to beta read for me?!?!",) try asking people if you can do something for them. I'll bet that not only will they give a lot more care to your work, but critiquing their work will make you a better writer, too.

And if things work out, you'll have a friend for life. 
Which is the best part, really.

(If you made it this far and still don't hate me, heads up - I'm going live with a new site in the next few days, and the blog address will change to www.leighannkopans.blogspot.com. If you follow through Google or just clicked the "follow" button, it should still show up in your feed, but if it doesn't, now you know why. THANK YOU for following and for staying with me while I'm under construction!)

It Takes a Village to Raise a Writer (Or: Agented!)

My dear sweet readers,

A couple of months ago, I made a blog post called "Belief," about having written a manuscript that I truly believed in with all my heart, even though it wasn't getting a great - or really any - response from my carefully planned and strategized querying efforts.

To be honest, I almost didn't post it. I thought it made me sound like an entitled, maudlin jerk.

But you all came on over and expressed your love and support, your "it's normal"s and your "ONE is fabulous"s, and your "keep on truckin'"s, and I felt better.

Your comments, and your love and support, pushed me to put it in just one more contest before I officially called querying quits - The Writer's Voice Contest. I was lucky enough to get plucked from the contest slush by Cupid, and my amazing teammates helped me polish ONE's query and first page to an even higher shine.

Three weeks later, I got this email:

I LOVED ONE. Merrin Grey is complicated, she's not waiting to be saved (THANK YOU SO MUCH for writing a heroine like this) and Elias is complicated and intriguing and the entire premise freaks me out in a good way...

You guys. This agent THANKED ME for writing Merrin. (Um, what do you even say to that? "You're welcome?") I figured I'd died and gone to heaven. 

Well, it got better. We talked on the phone, and the way she talked about my characters, it was like she'd crawled into their brains and stayed in there awhile, taking notes. She said she felt like she could fly with Merrin and Elias (cue copious tears.) But wait ! It gets better! She wanted to talk about TWO (sequel to One, if we ever got that far) and all the other projects I'm cooking up. (I mean, seriously. So surreal.) 

Tonight, I was delighted and honored to sign with Tricia Lawrence of Erin Murphy Literary. Tomorrow, the paper contract goes in the mail, and we're officially super official.


There could not possibly be a better fit for this manuscript or for me, for so many reasons. Her excitement for ONE is palpable. She's squealing-excited, and we haven't even gotten to work yet. But I can tell she has big plans, and will do just about anything to see ONE and maybe some other things I dream up succeed. She gets the story, you guys. She gets it. She gets me. She's a truly amazing agent, part of an incredible team, and I can't believe my luck.

******

But that's not the real "How I Got My Agent" Story. Because, after all, in order for all that to happen, I had to have two things:
1) An Insane Amount of Luck and
2) a finished and polished manuscript that would catch Tricia's eye.

To get to that manuscript, I had to have the strength and perseverance to keep writing, keep working my butt off, even when my own better judgement told me that ONE was destined for a life in The Drawer.

How did I keep myself standing, and wading through the muckiness of Query Hell?
 You. Each and every one of you, who ever:

• read a horribly messy draft and cheered it on anyway,
• helped me tear my MS apart and reassemble it time after time after time
• dragged me through the mud and muck of the query trenches
• grabbed my bootstraps and pulled me up 
• made me feel ashamed of wallowing in self pity
• inspired me to write more
• challenged me to keep going
• guilted me when I said I would give up
• made me feel ashamed about feeling sorry for myself
• hugged me when I thought I couldn't take any more
• loved my writing
• loved me, especially when I whined and complained and really, really, REALLY didn't deserve it.
• Who gave me chance after chance after chance at success.

Most especially, and never, ever to be taken for granted, my critique partners.
The sweet Gina, the energetic Maggie, the understanding Jamie, the reflective Jenny, the hilarious Megan, the cantankerously brilliant Chessie, the encouraging MarcyKate, the painstakingly proof-reading A.K., the fangirling Amber, the levelheaded Cait, the enthusiastic Kat, the supportive Rachael, the industry-insightful Jessica, the loving Jani, the ruthless Marieke.

You gave me exactly what I needed at exactly the right time to make ONE the best it could be before going out into the world, to survive the query trenches, and to come out having signed with exactly the right agent, in a way I never expected, never planned for.

That's how I got my agent. I leaned on all those people, I loved them the best way I knew how, and they gave back to me in spades. They carried me through all the writer's toughness and helped me come out on the other side intact, alive, and kicking. With a manuscript that's now, happily, doing the same.

Thank you. I owe you everything. 

Lastly, since I know you're wondering, some (terrifyingly abysmal) stats:

Queries sent: 127
Rejections: 89
No-response: 38
Requests from queries: 6
Requests from (three) contests: 4
Informal requests (AKA "ninjas"): 2
Offers: 2 (You never know how the offers will come. YOU NEVER KNOW.)

Last, my (hopefully) non-condescending, non-platitude advice to aspiring authors like me:

Keep writing as long as it makes you happy.
Surround yourself with loving, supportive, encouraging people.
Keep sending your work out, if you believe in it.
Remember:You never know what's around the corner. NEVER. (Even though, if you're a control freak like me, that thought makes you CRAZY.)

Please wish me, Tricia, and ONE, the little manuscript that could, tons of luck as we send it even further out into the world! (We sure could use it, and appreciate it more than I can say.)

Critique Partners 2.0 - Inspiration for our Work, and Book Recommendations!

Hey, sweet readers!

I am just over the moon that my CPs and I are vlogging now. I mean, I'm seriously psyched. We're getting comfortable with a new tool in self-marketing - which we'll all need for book promos verrrrry soon obviously - and most importantly, we get to hang out without leaving our houses! (Or, um, changing out of our pajama pants.)

Last week, I asked the crew where they got their inspiration for their work. Jenny answered, and asked us a new question for this week: (also her cutie little boy is in here, *smoosh*)



Do we have some book recommendations?


Uh, yeah. Obviously.

Here's my answer, and next week's question (plus! All four of my monsters cuties! *smoosh smoosh*)





Megan's book recs, including one book she DEFINITELY DOESN'T OWN. And neither do I. *ahem* And the inspiration for her fabulous querying MS, BETWEEN.



Chessie's inspiration for ALL OF EVERYTHING, and her pre-emptive answer to next week's question.



Marieke tells us all about the BEAUTIFUL inspiration for her about-to-query-MS, and makes her CATS NARRATE THE VIDEO.


The inspiration for Gina's AMAZING ROMANCES, featuring the now-famous "bitch face."



Maggie shares her inspiration for her YA international thriller, The Elite, and also HER HAIR CONTROLS THE LIGHT OMG.



Also! Angi shares all about her first published work. It's AMAZING.


Stef shares LIVE FROM HER CAR about the ever-painful experience of SHELVING A MANUSCRIPT (been there. It is ALL THE PAIN.)

And meet my sweet Ohio State writing friend Abbey, who responded during a study break.



Wheeeeee! Isn't this fun?


Do you have a vlog this week?  Link up, loves!

Sometimes You Need Some Mac and Cheese

Happy Monday, sweet readers!

There's a reason I love writing Young Adult Science Fiction. I'm a geek, first of all, and besides that, it gets me excited. I like thinking about the future, I like thinking about what scientific advances mean for the future of humanity. I like to think about, and write about, what the changes of the future will make people do - what will remain the same and what will change forever.

So, I wrote a YA Sci-Fi book I LOVE - One - and I'm currently clutching it to my poor beaten-down bosom while wading through a particularly horrific portion of Querying Hell - the WAITING. This is the fun part when your manuscript is on the desks and/or e-readers of some really, truly, fantastic agents, and you've been waiting for an ETERNITY (or, okay, a week and a half, whatever, that's not really the point, okay?) for them to respond to you with their thoughts. And the fact that they didn't respond within 24 hours could mean that they HATED it (probably that's what it means,) or that they're giving it careful consideration, or it could mean that they're ultra-busy and just haven't even clicked the darn file open.

(But probably they hated it.)

D'you see where I'm going with this? Querying Hell isn't called "Hell" for nothing, folks. The only hope for a writer's addled mind at this stage is to GET BUSY.

Luckily for me, CampNaNoWriMo is happening in June, and is the perfect kick-in-the-rear challenge I need. I tried to get psyched to finish up Chrome, my futuristic Sci-Fi retelling of the Exodus, but every time I thought about it, my brain went on strike. A big, foot-stamping, whining strike. All my brain wanted to do was write a Young Adult recasting of Mansfield Park.

Yeah.

I've never written straight-up romance before, though like 99% of my critiquers for One very helpfully contributed, "So, this is a sci-fi...romance?" (Uh, yeah. Probably. Maybe. Whatever agents want it to be.)

Anyway. I loooooove YA SF (sci-fi or speculative fic, either-or and both.) When I think of all my favorite books from the last three or so years, all but a couple were YA SF.

But THEN, I think about my comfort reads. The ones that make me want to curl up on the couch with a blanket and completely lose myself in them. The ones that don't require too much thought, or prompt any Big Revelations About The Nature of Humanity.

One of them is MG Sci-Fi Romance (A Wrinkle in Time, duh.)
And the rest are classics. Mostly Austen, a little Bronte, Alcott. Which, if you think about it? Are all YA (about 18-20-year-old girls) and ROMANCE.

So...if YA Romance is my comfort reading...
why wouldn't it be my comfort writing, too?

After my customary agonizing over this on Twitter, my dear, sweet, wise writing buddy Jenny said, "Sometimes you just need the writing equivalent of Mac and Cheese."

Mmmmm.

And you know what? She was right. Four days later, I'm 8K into SOLVING FOR EX, a YA recasting of Mansfield Park with Mathletes instead of snobby rich people.  I don't know if it's any good, and it's highly possible I'll never query it. But it IS good for my soul - I'm pretty damn happy writing it. And right now, in the depths of Query Hell, that's really all that matters.



What about you, sweet readers? What's your Mac and Cheese, for reading or for writing?

"What Else Are You Working On?"

It's been happening kind of a lot lately. 
Not all over the place, but enough for me to sit up and take notice.
 Whether it's me or one of my writer buddies, a lot of agents have been asking,
"What else are you working on?"

Sometimes it's after an agent has read requested material.
Sometimes, it's before she'll request material at all.

I don't know how you would feel, but the first time I heard this question I had a tiny moment of freak-out.

"I'm a pantser. That's how I approach my art. I can barely write a pitch for a book I've finished, and you expect me to throw one out for a book that's being drafted, or outlined, or is just an idea flitting around in my head? Are you crazy?"

Um...excuse me?

But after a few seconds, it started to make sense. Agents want writers for a career, not just for that one book they're signing on. They want to know that writers have potential to be more than a one-hit wonder, and rightfully so. More than that, agents want to know that an author can be enthusiastic and articulate about something besides that one shined-up book baby that happens to be sitting in their inbox.

After a minute or so, though, I started to feel appreciative of the question. Grateful, even. For a couple of reasons.

1. For a professional author, it's always about the next book. By the time your book is being shined up by editors at a publishing house (please God,) your next draft probably should be finished, at the very least. By the time your book appears on a shelf (please please please God,) your next one is in the final stages of production.

2. "What I'm Working On" is what keeps me sane. My life has been so crazy lately, between having a new baby six weeks ago and riding a little wave of querying/revision/contesting excitement, that I totally forgot about how important it is to have The Next Book in the works.

Yesterday, I was reminded how, the week after I started querying my first manuscript, I started writing ONE, and didn't stop for eight weeks. That's probably the only way I survived the emotional trauma of putting my first manuscript in a drawer. I should probably be ready for another round of that. I need a new draft, one into which I can pour all my optimism and hope, now that I'm at the end of my second tour through the query trenches (sigh.)


So! Thank you, literary agents, for asking questions that kick me in the butt and remind me of all the above. And please, ask me what else I'm working on. Because now, I can confidently, articulately, and excitedly tell you all about it. (And, if you don't actually want to talk to me, click here to read my blurbs.)

What about you, sweet querying-writerly types? What else are you working on?

Critique Partners 2.0 Week 2 - What's the Best Critique You've Ever Gotten?

Hey, thanks everyone for your heartily enthusiastic response to the first installment of CPs 2.0!
(Remember, you can keep track of any and all additions to the series on my regularly-updated CPs 2.0 playlist...click here!

It turns out that, as a whole, we really seem to like vlogging...and SO MANY of my CPs and CPs once removed answered this week's vlogging question, originally asked by Megan:



Jamie vlogged for the FIRST TIME (and I kind of couldn't contain myself.)



Here's my response to Megan, where I also ask Next Week's Question:



Aaaand, some extra treats!

Chessie's surprisingly entertaining intro!



Marieke's super geeky intro! (cool accent alert!)



Jenny's intro, plus a tour of her house!



Maggie's intro, plus cats, writing cave, her natural hair color revealed, and her shopping list!



Jani's intro, where you learn how to pronounce her name! (ANOTHER cool accent alert!)



Angi on why writing is like karaoke! (You'll agree with her when she explains it to you.)



And Sarah with her official intro!



Next week's question is: What inspires your writing??? So check back here next Wednesday for everyone's AMAZING responses!

Critique Partner 2.0 Kickoff! (with Vlogging!)

Sweet readers, the past three weeks have been a whirlwind for several reasons which may or may not turn out to be immediately relevant to this blog. (*raises eyebrows*)

What IS relevant is that I had a FABULOUS time being a member of Team Cupid in The Writer's Voice contest this week! The support and love of the entire Writer's Voice community was INCREDIBLE.

It made me wish I could spend more time with you. Yes, ALL of you. 

I've been a longtime viewer of John and Hank Green's Brotherhood 2.0 series (and subsequent related videos) on YouTube. It made me think that we should do something like that with all our writing buddies - a conversation via video, to make our interactions even more personal than they are now. (but not too personal, I mean my goodness, everyone should have a chance to do their makeup.)

All my critique partners (except Megan) shot back with reasons they "can't vlog."
Thus, the first episode of "CPs 2.0" was born. Enjoy!



(a bunch of my writing buddies jumped on the bandwagon! So you get to see EVEN MORE! Enjoy!)

The Power of Readers

I've had a lot of readers for One. 

No, really. Like...20? Maybe more?

Some of them have served as Megans, some have given beta feedback and reader's reports, others have commented on large-scale issues, and my most dedicated CPs have done in-line comments.

Of course, they didn't all read at once. I did my due diligence before querying, of course - about a dozen people read before I queried.

But even after I started querying, crazy things happened.
People were telling me they were willing to read One.
Sometimes, people even told me they wanted to read it.
Sometimes, they said - get this - they were excited to read it.

You can imagine how I felt sending off a copy to those people.

And then? If one of those readers told me she liked it?

Well, something utterly magical happened a couple of weeks ago - one of those readers said she liked the book - actually she said she "LOOOOOVED it" - (*dies*) - and that she had a couple suggestions for how to make it even better - tightening here, ramping up there, a little extra something-or-other somewhere else. Here's the really magical part - I agreed with every one of her suggestions. 

So, I made the changes. Even though they were just a couple not-huge changes, we all know about the revision house of cards, so of course their effects were manuscript-wide. Guess what you need when you spend dozens of hours making manuscript-wide changes? 

More readers. *gulp*

Amazingly, I managed to find even more people willing to read and give me their thoughts.
Even more astounding than that is that my dear, dear CPs agreed to read One YET AGAIN.

And then? And THEN?

Some of them even told me they loved it even more than they had the first time around.
 (Of course they had notes. They're my CPs. And obviously I'm not perfect. But they still liked it.)



You guys, this is like the first draft high times one hundred.

As hard as I worked for the first draft, there's something about pushing your manuscript over one more hump, about shining it up even more than you thought you could, and people saying, "Well done. Really well done," that is completely and totally overwhelming to me. 

It's like circuit overload, honestly. There's so much work and love and emotion that goes into a manuscript, and then to have people VALIDATE that effort, whether by reading, being excited to do so, taking the time to give me critique, or straight-up loving my story? Holy geez. I almost can't handle it.

Seriously. I think that, if I ever became a published author, I'd need to schedule time every day just to respond to every person who said they read my book. My gratitude for that alone, and my shock that someone would even take the time out of their day to do it, is so huge, it's overwhelming.

You know, the good kind of overwhelming. The whole-reason-we-do-this kind of overwhelming.

So, because it's starting to look creepy and maudlin to do so on Twitter and emails,
Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you.
I love you all. I can't thank you enough. You, and your time, and opinions, and reads, and re-reads, and re-re-reads, and enthusiasm, and support, and hugs, and hand-holding, mean the world to me. 
The WHOLE FREAKING WORLD.


What about you, sweet readers and writerly-types? Does it totally throw you for an emotional loop every time someone reads your stuff? What do you do with All The Gratitude? And, published readers - how do you handle the circuit overload on a daily basis?

Writing Rewards

Well, sweet readers, this is shaping up to be a pretty intense week between some revisions I've been doing on One (I know, I know, I thought it was almost dead too) and The Writer's Voice Contest Agent Round starting tomorrow (GO TEAM CUPID WOOOOO,) so I thought we'd have a bit of a light post today.

So, here's the thing. Writing is my passion, it's exhilarating, it's delightful, yes, yes, all that. OBVIOUSLY.

One of the reasons I love writing, though, is that it's so darn CHALLENGING.

Which means I look like this about half the time I'm working on something (which is, you know, half of All The Time.)


So. Hard work deserves rewards, right?

I don't know many writers who don't reward themselves with chocolate, a stiff drink, a favorite TV show, or similar after a few thousand words drafted or revised...



And when One was ready for queries, I treated myself to this beauty of a poster, which now hangs on the wall of my writing cave:

The Wasp is almost dead center on the poster. Definitely a Sign.

If any other really really good things were to happen with this sweet manuscript about misfit half-superpowered kids *ahem,*

I'd buy myself this sweatshirt. Because, to those of you who have read it, obviously:

I'd give one away on the blog, too. I'M JUST SAYING.

So, writerly types - what are your rewards to yourself for work well done? Anything you'll buy yourself when you hit that next big milestone?

How to Be a Megan - Guest post by Alexa Hirsch

Sweet readers! Today we have yet ANOTHER blog post from the Amazing Alexa (who told us about her literary crushes a few weeks ago, remember?)


Before the post, a bit of background: I read a blog from the amazing Jani Gray on how to find writing support in the obvious places. She has a friend named Megan who is always one of her first readers because she is positive, supportive, and unfailingly loves everything she writes.


This post lead me to adopt the following philosophy: Every Writer Needs a Megan.


(Now, before you get all snippy and accuse me of not wanting to hear or being able to take critique, I'll advise you to read my "crit diaries" posts and think twice about posting that comment, or I'll do a whole terribly boring post highlighting my amazingly scathing army of CPs. Ahem.)


Well, sweet readers, I'm super-duper lucky, because I have a Megan. It's Alexa! She also happens to be a Real Live Teenager and rabid reader of YA, so her opinions matter to me on a number of levels.


She's put together a post on How to Be a Megan. So, without further ado, here's she is:

******

One day Leigh Ann and I were hanging out in her office, talking about my favorite thing, her books! She told me she read a blog post about another person trying to get published who had a friend named “Megan” who always told her how amazing all of her books were and was just a super awesome peppy cheerleader!

Now don’t misunderstand me, this position is in NO way fake. I honestly ADORE Leigh Ann’s, Chessie’s, and Gina’s books! But if I didn’t, I would have to tell them, but luckily for me, they are all PERFECT. So readers, here’s how to become me in three short steps, minus all the craziness.


1.     Think Positively. If you look at everything with a silver lining it makes everything way more enjoyable.


2.     Fall in love. This is simple when you have such great pieces of work. The number one thing is just engrossing yourself in the novel. Even if it’s only a few minutes a day, don’t get distracted! Allow the beauty of the words to take you in, and don’t ever come out! Even if you have trouble picturing yourself as the main character, picture yourself as a fly on the wall. Having a vivid imagination about other people’s work lets you truly feel the book in your own special way. No two people interpret something the same, so maybe you think Merrin can fly on her own, or that Ryan isn’t such a douche, it’s all up to interpretation!


3.     Don’t worry about being fake and pleasing people. If you really love a book, praising it will be second nature to you! Just state your opinion, and maybe the author won’t have even realized how much their own words affect you! There is nothing more special than realizing that an idea you had is changing someone else’s life.


Now if this sounds like a lot of work to you, then maybe you aren’t supposed to be a Megan, maybe you’re better at Critiquing, or better at Grammar, and that’s AWESOME. Because honestly the more Megan’s there are, the quicker I’m out of a job.


Well here it is folks, my shameless plug! If you have written anything at all and you are looking for a little encouragement, hire a Megan! I come free of charge, all I ask is an ELECTRONIC copy of your awesome novel! Hopefully Gina, Chessie, and Leigh Ann would give me a good recommendation! Thanks for reading, you guys are awesome!


Isn't she fab??? If you're looking for your very own Megan, Alexa's a great one! Leave your comment below and she'll get in touch with you when she's got a free minute to read.