This is why all writers are amazing-- whether pubbed, self-pubbed, or un-pubbed

There are a lot of ups and downs to being a writer. One minute, we're convinced we've written the next Harry Potter, and the next we want to bury the monstrosity we've created in the backyard. We have the thrill of completing a novel, and the struggle of revisions, and the excitement of submission, and the agony of rejection. We have the mind-blowing screaming moment of joy when we finish a book or get an offer of representation or a book deal or release our own book on Amazon, and then we have the crippling panic of writing the next book and being terrified we will never again be able to write something worth reading.

And sometimes we forget. We forget how far we've come. We forget how amazing we are.

My brother-in-law told me something over the holidays that I'll never forget. I'd announced my book deal to family, though I couldn't announce online yet because the contract wasn't final. Amidst all the congratulations and joy, my BIL said (and I paraphrase), "You know, this is so amazing. Nobody stood over you and told you to write every day, or made you keep going through all the rejections. This was all you, working hard and determined to reach your dream. And you did it."

Did you read that, people? Did you see yourself in it? I hope you did.

After he said that, I stood in the kitchen for a moment, dumbfounded and full of pride. Because he's right, and I'd forgotten it.

Did you know that as a teenager, I decided I would never write a novel? My plan was to stick to short stories, because a novel was hard. It was huge. It was impossible. And now, fifteen years later, I had forgotten that there was a time when I deemed something impossible and I had accomplished it. Several times, in fact. Because I worked hard and pushed through hard times and found joy in the good ones.

Four writers, all in different stages of our dreams, all amazing.
Congrats to Sara B. Larson on her book DEFY.

Every writer in the world is the same in a way. Whether pubbed, self-pubbed, or un-pubbed, we are astounding examples of tenacious hard workers, dreamers who are doing the impossible of actually trying to make their dreams come true.

We forget that. We focus on what we haven't yet accomplished-- we don't have an agent, or a book deal, or a number one slot on Amazon. We forget that there was a time when we didn't write. When it was too hard or we were too busy or we just hadn't ever thought about doing something so mind-boggling as attempting to communicate our souls through 300 pages of words.

Try not to forget that. Wherever you are in your pursuit of your dream, you did it yourself with no overlord but your own determination. And that makes you one of the rarest and most amazing people in the world.

So, my friends, what are your dreams? How far have you come? And if you don't mind, can you hop on over to congratulate a writer just like you whose book, THE GATHERING, comes out today? I'm so thrilled for Randy Lindsay!

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It's 2014! AKA How to Manage the Busiest Year Ever

Farewell to 2013, a year that was a fascinating combination of screaming-jumping-dreams-coming-true and crushing-depression-worthy-unexpected-but-turning-out-okay kinds of things. I haven't talked much about the second part here on the blog (or anywhere, for that matter), but I may eventually. Suffice it to say, it was a year of growth and change.

Fireworks! Celebration! Happy 2014!

And now-- it's 2014! There's a whole year ahead that's a blank slate of possibilities, some of which will be good and some bad. For me, it means my book is coming out THIS YEAR. Which fills me with all sorts of squeeing and panic attacks. I'm so thrilled that my publisher wanted to release my book earlier than expected. It's that much sooner that I get to share my story with you all.

But it's also THAT MUCH CLOSER. Which means the typical publishing time schedule I'd expected isn't applying here. Already, we're talking about covers and flap copy on top of things like edits due soon. Already, I've joined the awesome group of Fearless Fifteeners (authors releasing books in 2015-- or late 2014 for me). Already, I'm putting together a marketing plan that loads up my 2014 with all kinds of shenanigans.

I'm facing edits for Unhappening, marketing for Unhappening, and writing a new book all RIGHT NOW. And let's just say my poor hubby had to deal with a frantic, panicky me for far too long last night. But I woke up this morning non-panicky. Know why?

Because these are all the things I wanted, and I get them. And because I have a plan. No New Year's Resolutions for me-- I've got a Plan instead. Here it is:

FOCUS
Splitting my brain apart to try to do everything at once is what induces those lovely frantic moments. So instead, I'm going to focus. At some moments, some things become the obvious priorities. On those hours, or days, or weeks, that's what gets my focus.

In addition, I'm going to focus on the THINGS I CAN CONTROL. Being run through the publishing submission ringer has shown me just how much is out of my control. And nothing I can do will change that, so I'm going to (try) not to worry about it.

DO ONE THING EVERY DAY
This seems like the opposite of the above, but hear me out. In all of my "categories" of things to do (mom-ing, wife-ing, editing, writing, marketing, me-ing), I can do one small thing every day. Write one new sentence. Edit one page. Tweet one person. Play one round of Candyland with my kids. Give my husband one thorough kiss. Sweep the kitchen floor. Sometimes, one of these categories is going to take precedence, and I'll be doing that focus thing a lot more heavily, so this part of the plan is subject to frequent change. But I can still preface a marathon editing session with fifteen minutes of Zumba. I can take a break from scrubbing down a neglected house to write a blog post. There are lots of little spaces in the day, and I can make sure I fill them.

DON'T GIVE IN TO GUILT
That focus thing? That one-thing-a-day thing? Yeah. Odds are, I'm going to mess those up a bit. So what? Things change, life throws curveballs, I have days where all I want to do is go on a Star Trek:TNG Netflix binge. Bring it on. It doesn't mean I've failed. It means that's life, and I need a break, and I don't have to feel guilty because of it. I give myself permission to let go of the plan occasionally with no guilt, so I can jump back into it with gusto.

So, my friends, what does your 2014 look like? What are your goals or plans or hopes or dreams? More writing or revising? Some querying? Some self-pubbing? Some books on submission? Some real-life things that really matter to you? Do tell!

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I Have a Book Deal! AKA Ultimate Nerd Dance Party

YOU. GUYS. *clears throat* I hereby announce that The Unhappening of Genesis Lee is going to be a real, live book! AHHHHHHHH!!

It'll be coming from Skyhorse/Sky Pony Press to a bookstore near you in the fall of 2014. Yeah, that's not a typo. That's NEXT YEAR. AHHHHHHHH!!

Ahem. Now that I'm a little raw from screaming, I'll let Publisher's Marketplace make it all official and real-like.

Basically, it happened like this. After the agony of being on submission (because, yeah. The waiting. The pain. The WAITING.), I heard tell from my agent that a particular editor was really excited about Unhappening, and wanted to talk to her publisher about it. Which of course, put me on pins and needles. I didn't let my phone out of hearing distance, and scrambled for it with every *ding* of an email and every *ring* of a phone call. I was finally starting to calm down a little bit, when my phone rang and Hannah Bowman's name came up on caller ID.

My agent said, "Kristin Kulsavage from Skyhorse has made an offer for Unhappening."

And I said, "BA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Or something like that. Basically, I giggled and said "okay" and "awesome" a lot and didn't really have anything coherent to say. Then I hung up and screamed/laughed and went crazy in the kitchen. I swept up my children, who were eating lunch, and danced around the living room with them. I told my 4-year-old son that my book was going to be a real book you could buy in the store, and told him I was excited.

"Are you excited?" I asked him.

"No," he said. "Who's making the book?"

"They're called Sky Pony."

And THEN, this My-Little-Pony-obsessed boy finally got excited. I'll take what I can get. :)

And then my hubby came home and I screamed and he grinned and hugged me and told me he knew it was going to happen--and he meant it, because he's never doubted me for a single second. And I called up my best friend and we screamed together. And I gleefully ran outside to one of my other best friends, yelling her name, and she took one look at me and shrieked, "Oh my gosh!" and we screamed together. And I emailed my crit group and we e-screamed together.

And then I had to shut my mouth, because I couldn't tell anybody else until the deal was official, and I'd probably told too many people already. After the contract was negotiated, Hannah called to go over it with me, and of course, I had to put her on hold at one point to put on My Little Pony for the Kiddo. Then I signed it and took the contract to a friend's to scan and email it in, and her computer wasn't working. So I drove to Kinko's and realized my wallet was home on my desk. Drove all the way back to get it, and then the machine wouldn't read my card. Nor would it read the first two Kinko's cards an employee used. Then it finally worked, and wouldn't attach the scanned file to the email. Then, with my children yelling and rolling on the floor and getting into paper scraps, FINALLY I got the contract sent. Such is the life of a writer, eh?

And then today, I saw my name pop up in Publishers Marketplace. Which means I again screamed and danced in the kitchen with my family while my husband made waffles, and I can finally scream and dance in public! I can't wait to work with Kristin and Sky Pony, and I can't wait to share my book with the world!

So, my friends, as a thank you to all of you who read my erratic blog posts and cheer me on with comments and write blog posts of your own that I love and who share your writerly or non-writerly friendship in any way, I give you-- THE ULTIMATE NERD CELEBRATION DANCE PARTY. Pick your partners and get your groove on! (But, *ahem* don't touch the Hiddles. He's mine.)

WHEEEEEEEE!

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How to Double Your Hourly Word Count Without Even Trying

So. For the first time EVAR (I know, I just used EVAR—I’m that excited), I have won NaNoWriMo! Woot woot, yee haw, and a little bit o’ squee!

And actually, I won it a week ago.

You see, there was a plan to go to the in-laws’ place for the entirety of Thanksgiving week. And because my in-laws are the fun kind, not the scary kind, I knew I wouldn’t get my daily 2,000 words in, and thus would not win NaNo. So last Thursday, kind of at the last minute, I decided I would write the final 15.5 thousand words before we left. That gave me three days. It was going to be my highest daily word count ever—I’ve only once breached 4k a day, and that was on the first day of NaNo this year.

On my best day, I can average a little over 1k an hour, which is not too shabby at all. But I have a toddler, a preschooler, a house that needs to be relatively liveable, and dietary restrictions that mean I have to cook pretty much from scratch and don’t have a lot of eat-out options. I knew there just weren’t enough hours in the day for me to achieve 5k a day unless I stayed up really, really late, but I figured three days of that wouldn’t kill me.

And then. I tried a new method. At least, new to me. Ya’ll are probably going to laugh at me and say, “Wait, you mean you’ve never done it before?” I did a timed word sprint. I set the timer on my phone for half an hour, and I had to keep my fingers typing the entire time.

My first half hour, I logged over 1k. That was DOUBLE my usual hourly count. I was thrilled, and did it again. In my first hour, I had 2.5 thousand words. Which meant my usual daily writing time of 2 hours would get me the 5k a day I needed to win NaNo.

And I did. In a series of half hour timed word sprints, I hammered out over 15,000 words, won NaNo, and finished a (very, very) rough draft of my fourth novel. It was a little mind-numbing, and some of those words are undoubtably not among my greatest. But I achieved my goals, discovered a new method, and I’m thrilled to death about it!

So, my friends, I hope your NaNo month or non-NaNo month and Thanksgiving Day or November 28^th were all wonderful! And tell me, have you done timed word sprints before? What do you think about them?

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The Power of the First Draft

Usually when we talk about first drafts, we talk about how hard they are. How fast we can write them. (Hey there, NaNoers!) How much they suck. But really, when you think about it, first drafts have incredible power.

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A first draft is where your core story idea is at its freshest, where it's still pure without having been touched by critiques and rewrites. It's where your creativity is really at its peak. You plan to go off one way, but then--surprise!--right in the middle of that, something different flows out of your fingers and the story is going somewhere you didn't anticipate. It might be a little chaotic, but its a sort of chaos like the night sky-- the stars are everywhere, but if you look closely, there are patterns in them, and they're beautiful. That first draft is where so much of the magic happens, where so much of you gets poured into a brand new story that's never been told.

On my very last draft of Unhappening, some comments my agent made reminded me of something in my first draft. I went back, reread a section, and realized something important had somehow gotten lost in all my 15 subsequent drafts. I ended up pulling some things from my first draft right back into my final draft, and it solidified major thematic and character points. It made me glad I saved each and every draft of my book separately, so I could look back on the simplicity and chaos and beauty of my first explosion of creativity on this idea and make sure it was still there in the final product.

So, my friends, as we NaNo or don't NaNo, and as we continue to write in general, I think we should stop bagging on that first draft. I usually enjoy rewrites more than the first draft, but I'm remembering now why I also love drafting so much. Do you prefer first drafts or rewrites? Are you working on a first draft or a rewrite now? What are you loving about the magic of either one as you write?

P.S. On a whim, I started tweaking with my blog design...and ended up staying up until 1 am and creating a whole new look. What do you think?

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And Now for Something Completely Different

Happy NaNo Day 1, writing world! Whether you're participating or not (and usually I do not), it's kind of inspiring to see the internet explode with eager writers cheering each other on to hit their 50,000 words every November. I've attempted it twice, and both times had major issues come up that prevented me. This year, I'm DETERMINED to win.

Wait, I hear you say. Didst not thou speak of a book thou wast already composing last month?

Verily, my friends. I got 25,000 words in--around the first plot point--and found myself screeching to a halt. Because I was writing the wrong story. I didn't like the way the plot was going. This story is going to kill me, I swear, and I won't deny it's been frustrating. And so, I am taking a break to let new plot ideas for that idea percolate. What better to do in the meantime than NaNoWriMo, to keep getting my daily words in?

It helps that I got a brilliant flash of inspiration for a new idea just days after pausing on the previous story. While browsing Etsy, I discovered that you can buy love letters. LOVE LETTERS. Real ones, from couples in the 1920s or 30s or whenever. And BAM, story idea. The thing that's odd about it is that it's not a YA story, nor a sci fi, nor a fantasy.

Yes, I made a mock cover. Just for kicks.

My friends (deep breath), I'm delving into romance. I've never done a straight-up romance before, and I'm pretty excited about it. I've spent the last week researching the genre (I've luckily at least read romance before this, so I'm not totally out of the loop), plotting the main points, and building my characters. It's going to be awesome, folks. The story is flowing out
my ears. Already before 8:00 am on this November the first, I've got almost 400 words down.

It seems writing something completely different is just what I need to get me excited about writing, rather than being frustrated about it.

So, my friends, have you ever written something completely different than you're used to? Are you doing NaNo? If you are, buddy me and we can cheer each other on!

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A Different Characterization-- Defining Who We Are by What We Do

One of the hardest things about my most recent book has been my main character. It's not like she's a pain in the butt or anything. Though, to be honest, she could have been a pain in the butt and I just didn't know it. That was my problem: I had no idea who this character was. And it's pretty freaking hard to write a story when you've got no idea who it's about.

I have a typical process for my characters. I usually have a general idea of who they are, based on the story concept. So I spend a little while going places and trying to see the world how they would see it. This usually gives me tons of character fodder, which I then use to write out a very detailed character information sheet. Backstory, favorite food, character traits, it's all there.

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But this girl. Seryn. I had nothing. I couldn't even form an entirely coherent outline for the plot, because how could I know what she would do if I didn't know her?

Then I had an idea.

What if I played this one backwards? Instead of figuring out who she was, and then deciding what she would do, I would return to my pantser roots (kind of). I had a detailed world, a fleshed-out magic system, themes that meant a lot to me, and a general idea of where the story was going to go. I would start writing, and throw out some conflicts. Give Seryn some choices, and think about all the possible decisions someone could make in that situation.

Her choices would tell me who she was. Once I knew what she would do, then I could fill out my character sheet about why she would do that. I guess it hasn't been an exact return to my pantser roots. I've got a sort of structure where I know some of the key conflicts and choices, and then I'm let Seryn decide where to go from there. And it's SO FREAKING FUN.

I love discovering who she is. I love finding new conflicts that are stemming from her choices. I love playing with a new story and a new character in a new way. After all, if who we are is defined by what we do, what better way of developing a character is there?

So, my friends, how do you approach characterization? What are your techniques? How have they changed from book to book?

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