Wacky What-If-A-Thon Wednesday

As my new project (and on my blog), I will be starting the Wacky What -If-A-Thon Wednesday; thanks to Brittney Breakey for the idea! This is a great way to spark some new ideas for stories. Please feel free to share your own What-If thoughts! I will start us off. 

*What if everyone was forced to tell the truth?*

Workshop: Ulimate Picture Book Editing



Picture courtesy of pacingpicturebooks.com (Jodell Sadler)

I have fantastic news!

Beginning today, I will be participating in an incredible writer's workshop geared toward picture book editing. Hosted by the wonderful Jodell Sadler (SCBWI-IL!), participants will spend three weeks actively learning 20 great pacing techniques to strenghten their picture book stories, such as rhyme, rhythm, repeptition, word choice, etc.

As many writers (specifically picture book writers) are well aware of, writing picture books is not easy. In fact, it's pretty difficult. If you have a computer-full of picture book manuscripts just awaiting your red pen, I highly encourage you to check out this workshop. If you want to make a difference in your stories, this is the place to start!

For more information, please check out: http://www.pacingpicturebooks.com./

Best writing wishes to all!

Live Twitter Chat with Author Cherie Colyer

**NEW EVENT**

Tonight, YA Bound will be hosting a *live* Twitter chat with debut author, Cherie Colyer, using hashtag #EmbraceNovels. She'd love to hear from fans and readers! The chat starts at 7pm EST, and she will be announcing the winners of the giveaways and Grand Prize. Join us with questions or come just to follow! You don't want to miss out!


Check out Cherie's website, blog and Twitter!
www.embracenovels.com
http://cheriecolyer.blogspot.com
@CherieColyer

*Random Spark -- Thursday, March 29, 2012

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

~English humorist and science fiction novelist, Douglas Adams

While following hundreds of authors, agents, editors and a plethora of other literary professionals on Twitter, Blogger and Facebook, I came to the realization that I was missing something all of these above people have: deadlines. As a published author, you're given various deadlines: drafts, revisions #1 thru #1,303,439, proofs, and more. Agents and editors have to meet deadlines in order to stay abreast of the current market and publish books target audiences are eager to read RIGHT NOW, as well as deadlines relating to copyeditor, printer expectations and publicity/marketing departments.

Since most of those deadlines are part of someone's part- or full time job, I came to the conclusion that I needed to set goals and deadlines for myself. Using my iCalendar, I mapped out when I needed to have my first and second drafts done, certain revisions completed after receiving valuable feedback from my critique groups or making sure I simply wrote 500 words by nightfall. I also pinpointed what days I needed to work on specific chapters of my MG novel, or the first part of my current WIP picture book. Having these reminders keeps me informed of what needs work and what doesn't.

Creating personal deadlines for yourself also helps when contests rise. If the deadline to submit your entry is down the road, set a goal to finish your first draft by the end of the week or month. If it's shorter than that, try completing it by the evening. Why not choose a unique time to finish it by: "I must finish this part by 4:44pm." Spice it up! No need to be boring.

Professional deadlines have consequences when they aren't met, but by setting your own personal ones now, it will keep you on track, motivate you to write every single day, and help you avoid the evil procrastination. 

Good luck!

* Random Spark * -- Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Figment.com is an excellent site to spark your writing skills and get your creative juices flowing! Jumping into your manuscript where you left off the day before can work well if that is your style, however, like athletes I prefer to warm-up.  Hence, Figment.

Recently, I tweeted that I would take on the challenge to enter each and every writing contest Figment posted. While I haven't succeeded in ALL of them, I do find myself at the very least, attempting to enter each one. Now I receive an email every day with a different type of writing prompt; sometimes from Judy Blume, other times from Figment or from journalist Douglas McGray (@dougmcgray).  Some of these daily writing prompts really hit home and I can explore my writing capabilities, crossing boundaries and taking risks unknown to me. Simply put, it expands my writing circle far beyond the children's arena that I'm so comfortable in. Other times, they are more challenging, but the outcome is always something unique.

And gets me in the zone. Perfect.

Now I'm warmed up, and ready to roll!

While you can find (and follow) me on Figment, feel free to stop by here as I will be posting my Daily Figment Themes as much as possible. Comments are always welcome!  For writers of any genre that have not yet joined, I highly recommend it!

News: Figment.com recently welcomed the members of inkpop.com to the Figment community.  Founded by HarperCollins and similar to Figment, InkPop encourages members to comment on other writer's short stories, poems, etc.  According to Figment, HarperCollins will also continue to its search for great stories and host contests for publication consideration.  Exciting things to come!

Lucky 7 Meme

A couple of weeks ago, my good friend Cherie Colyer, debut author of Embrace, tagged me in a really neat manuscript post called The Lucky 7 Meme.  See how it works below:

1) Go to page 77 of your manuscript (in this case, my middle-grade novel)
2) Go to line 7
3) Copy and paste the next 7 lines -- sentences or paragraphs -- and post them as they are written. No cheating!

And without further ado...my manuscript...

     “Huh?” I asked.

     “Prepared and professional.” Casey smiled. “I think that’s going to be my motto if I win.”

     She has a motto?! “I would have changed, but I didn’t have time,” I said. At least this was the truth. After Mom picked me up from school, she dropped the twins off at a play date, ran to the bank and then took me straight here. 

     Casey couldn’t have cared less. “Whatever. Let’s go in the basement. It’s all ready.” Boy, was she prepared.  In the middle of the room sat a round table with a striped cloth and a bowl of flowers. 


**They actually appear as 7 lines in my manuscript. Pretty neat, huh?

My "Re-Vision" Vision

Over the past few days, I've been diligently working on my middle grade novel's revisions. After 30 pages of non-stop redmarks, cross-outs, rewrites and A-Ha moments, I realized something:

I was actually enjoying the revision process. (Wahoo!)

Now as an avid writer, you'd think I'd love every single part of the writing process. And in theory, you're right, but to an extent. I love the moment an idea pops into my head and I just have to get the details written down before I forget the magic in those thoughts; I love when I type The End or click save on my latest draft; I even have come to love (and rely) on the constructive criticism of my critique group members, knowing they have my story's best interest at heart.

The parts I don't like are few, far and between -- but still they exist.  For me, the one thing that stands out the most, is writer's block.  The moment I feel that I am not in the mood for writing, or the moment that I feel what I wrote down is no good, I find myself frustrated.  What other options do we have then to blame it on writer's block, or your cold that isn't making your head feel right, or that hostile conversation you just had with a friend.  Yeah, sure we could blame it on anything; use every excuse in the book.  We've all been there.

However, it's the beginning of a brand new year: 2012. Why not focus some of these pitfall in our writing career and see them as our own personal bumps in the road.  If writing came easy to us all the time, where would our excitement be?  Some of my BEST writing came at the moment where I talked myself out writer's block and put my BIC. (butt-in-chair as Jane Yolen says!) That's all I had to do and lo and behold, some great scenes were created.

What about the challenges?  Another writer once told me "When you revise, shoot your darlings."  I had mentioned to him how challenging my revision was and how one of my best chapters seemed in the way. He explained that while we may not want to, we may whine, complain, groan and moan, sometimes you have "shoot your darlings" and get rid of some of your favorite lines, chapters, scenes.  Heck, I know some writers who have omitted characters because their voice was just not working. And start over. (No!!!) Of course, make sure you save whatever you "shoot" in a separate file just in case you can use it at a separate time in the book.  But his advice was stellar; don't let one or two good moments hold your story back from having five or six (or more!)

Don't we feel even more accomplished when we overcome something difficult?  Sure, if an agent or editor accepted our manuscript after the first time we tried we'd be thrilled.  But think about it.  How much more will it mean to us if after 239 rejections, you finally get that "Yes!"  Wouldn't you be that much more excited versus 238 chances ago?

But I digress.

Back to my middle grade novel. As my first novel, I didn't have any expectations going into the revision process.  I grabbed a red pen, printed out my novel and sat down to read my own story beginning to end.  Boy was I surprised!  Why?  It allowed me to see all of the gaps:

1) My Main Character development needed some work.  i.e. Why would my MC say/do this in Chapter 2 and not again in Chapter 8? Would she really say that? Would she really do that?  What actions or thoughts of hers am I missing when a scene explodes? Why not push the envelope and see what happens if she doesn't hold back here, there, etc.

2) Who are my MC's friends? Why do they fit into this story and how?

3) Tying the beginning, middle and end together so they fit like a puzzle

Along the way I also checked my grammar, sentence structure, spelling and of course, word choice. Tackling these revisions have made my story so much stronger, and with every chapter I edit, I get more excited to share it with readers.  Maybe revision is such an important part of writing because it encapsulates what it means to be a writer: Re-Vision.  There's a reason the latter part of the word is as such.  Writers have a vision.  For some it's to share their story, or their passion with someone else.  Others it's to make an impact or difference in a reader's life.  Or maybe it's all of the above.  To share a story that will crack a smile, elicit a laugh or change one's outlook on life quite possibly is one of the best goals one can aim to reach.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on your revision process.  What do you enjoy most about it? Least like about it? Are there tips you want to share with other writers when revising?