blogs, blogs, blogs

So, I started classes today.
And I'm shopping like a mad woman, trying to find the perfect ones. Also, I am taking care of a zillion other school things. And I just got a job. In addition to my classes/homework/journalism/other activities.

American dream, eh?

So, when I get some time, I'm going to figure out a blogging schedule. I was thinking maybe doing a post for each genre I write each week and then publishing posts the last week of each month.

Maybe book reviews one day! I started reading The Goddess Test on my flight home. I'm excited for it to get past the "Oh my goodness I'm new and all the boys love me and why don't they just leave me alone?" Mary Sue part. I think it's going to be pretty good though. Aimee Carter definitely doesn't mess around, piling on too much back story or purple prose to describe emotions. I like that. I just hope the characters don't suffer for it.

Anyone else have thoughts on The Goddess Test?

Blogging Tips: Spam Isn't Just for Comments Anymore

So, when I came back from my impromptu mental/physical health break, I noticed that I had a lot of new blog views.

About 300 new ones. And considering I'm no blog star, I knew something was up. And because all of the referring links that the hits came from were weird broken links that had nothing to do with me or writing. A quick google search taught me that you can get "spam traffic" from this links because the SEOs who create them want you to click on their sites and try to make a few pennies. Not sure what the point of that is, but I guess if you spam enough it could be lucrative.

And I thought I was getting some blogging friends from Russia. Well, shoot! I still feel excited about getting referred from Google El Salvador though ;)

Blog on, friends!
-Jo

Writing Challenge UPDATE

So...today I am on...day 8? Over the weekend I ended up not doing as much editing as I'd like due to so real-world problems (sadly I cannot live in the writing world full-time). The reason I was so stressed about getting this short novella done and edited so quickly is that I really wanted to have it ready for a pitch contest on the 26th.

But here's the thing: there will be other pitch contests. I can always submit through the normal submission process.

I realize that if I don't get this baby edited "in time," it might actually be better in the long run. I'm the type of person that needs to let my work sit a bit before I come back to it. This is a new genre for me, and I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot by subbing too early (been there, done that). I've had a pretty rough week and my email inbox is starting to remind me that I have a lot of responsibilities at school that I'm going to need to prioritize. I'm not going to let my novel writing go completely this semester, but I will have to schedule my writing time carefully.

I guess this is learning how to make the real-world and the writing-world meet in the middle!

On that note:
I LOVE DOWNTON ABBEY. Watched an episode Sunday and now I'm hooked. I gotta see season one now! Does anyone have any good romance novel recommendations for this era?

The Notebook

Sorry this one doesn't have Ryan Gosling in it.

for your ovaries

I've been told two things since a very young age:

1) Use your indoor voice

and

2) Keep a writer's notebook.

I specifically remember some author coming to my elementary school and telling us how she kept a journal next to her bed to write down things in the middle of the night. And something about squirrels.

Anyway, writers often give (and subsequently get) the advice to keep a notebook. This is because we never know when our writerly brains will strike. Since we have so much going on up there in the old noggin, it's important we write it down to remember it.

The thing is, I hate journaling. Sure, I had plenty of pretty pink diaries as a child, but I never kept true to them for very long. It just didn't interest me to keep a running record of my sucky childhood.

So when my playwrighting professor this past semester made us keep a daily notebook, I was skeptical. I didn't think it would help me.

Boy was I wrong. Journaling turned out to be a great writer's tool. In fact, it ended up shaping a lot of my final project.

*voice of squirrel author haunting me*

However, I still found that I couldn't maintain a daily notebook. I never seemed to have the time to sit down and journal my whole day.

What I did have was a blackberry and EverNote

EverNote is a great app you can use on your smartphone and computer to take down quick audio, visual, and text notes wherever you are and whenever you're inspired. It transfers the notes from your phone to a notebook on your computer and PRESTO- writer's notebook.

I find it a lot more convenient than a paper notebook and since I'm attached to my phone anyway, I actually use it. Also, it's great for creepily recording dialogue you hear.

Not that I do that...

Anyway, there are a number of products like this on the market, but evernote is what my professor recommended to me and I think it works well. The free version does have a memory limit, but I haven't run into any problems yet and I use it quite a bit.

Do you journal? What methods do you use? Let me know!

Day 3 Writing Challenge Results

So, first of all, THANK GOD for modern technology:

How to Succeed in Novel Writing...

I know piracy of musicals is bad, but if ever there was ever something to get me writing sexy, romantic scenes, it's this man's voice.

HE IS SO BEAUTIFUL.

It's always made me sad that they over autotune him on Glee. I saw him and Starkid in November, and honestly, he's just phenomenal live. I wish I had been at UMich for the original A Very Potter Musical (and Sequel).

*Criss Rant Over*

Word Count: 11,424 (+2858)

Pros: I am essentially done my first draft other than a quick little HEA conclusion at the end. The hero and the heroine are together and all the conflict is resolved.

Cons: EDITING EDITING EDITING. I'd like to have this story ready to pitch by January 26th, which is scary fast considering I have no beta lined up and short contemporary romance is a whole new genre for me. I'm going to let the manuscript sit for a day or two while I crank out internship cover letters (oh, those things?) and maybe study my Russian (textbook has collected dust ALL break). Spring semester is around the corner and as excited as I am to go back, I'm also getting panicky.

And I need a haircut. So there's that.

If This Were Tumblr...

Posting only this meme wouldn't be so weird. So I apologize in advance if you were expecting an informative, thoughful blog.

Instead,

It's horrible, but this cracks me up every time. And I know how many of us writers/readers wish we were Belle/ grew up on Disney, so I thought I'd share

So, to any boys out there: smart bitches do indeed love libraries.

And to make yourself feel better about wasting writing time reading this post, just remember this:

Because you are fabulous!

Soaps

As I've gotten back to my routine television viewing over winter break, I've realized that there are two things I'm not afraid to admit about myself. The first is my suspense over the end of Wizards of Waverly Place (I'm 18, give me a break) and the second is my longtime love of soap operas.

Yes, soap operas.

At this point, you’re probably either a) gagging with horror or b) laughing hysterically. The thing is, soap operas aren’t as silly or awful as most people think. While no one is arguing that a Daytime Emmy carries the same weight as an Oscar,  soap operas still have entertainment value in an age of Jersey Shore and Gossip Girl. In fact, you might be surprised by how much Snooki and Blair Waldorf have in common with your average soap opera heroines and villainesses.

And sure, while nobody calls sex “lovemaking” anymore and  an “evil twin” has become standard skit-show parody fare,  soaps still have their purpose.

In fact, I thinkmanye conventions that developed in the soap world have influenced a lot of YA work and certainly countless romance titles. I've been watching them since my childhood and I think, at least subconsciously, they've had an impact on my creative process.

I have yet to determine if this is good or bad, but maybe if none of my other internship prospects work out this summer, I'll try writing for a soap mag.

And if you're still not convinced that soaps are relevant to broader culture, here's my case:

1) Stars Get Their Start on Soaps

From Oscar nominee Julianne Moore to rom-com sweetheart Meg Ryan,  many stars have launched successful careers from humble soap opera beginnings. Soap operas can give burgeoning actors a place to hone their acting skills and pay the rent while they’re trying to build a reputation in the industry. But this doesn’t mean all soap actors are models who decided they want to speak, many soap actors come from theater and classically trained backgrounds.

2) Not All Storylines Involve Evil Twins

Soaps also tackle heavy storylines, such as teen pregnancy, rape, and in the recent case of General Hospital, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Where prime time shows may only be able to deal with one of these heavy storylines with care and detail, soaps have the screen time and character back story to really make a meaningful impression on the viewer.

3) Basis of Modern Teen Dramas

You may not realize it, but you’re probably watching a form of soap operas already. Shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Gossip Girl are often referred to as “primetime soap operas” because they use a lot of the same techniques that have been keeping soap operas dramatic and fresh for years.  If it weren’t for these primetime soaps, we’d have nothing to watch but crime shows and bad reality competitions. In fact, you can still get your fix of Seth Cohen on the SoapNet, where they syndicate The O.C.

4) What Else Is On At 1-3 PM in the Afternoon?

If you’re laid out sick, do you really want to be watching the same Rachel Zoe rerun for the millionth time? Bravo and MTV programming may be addictive, but it’s also repetitive. With soaps, your chance of running into an episode you’ve seen before are slim to none. Soaps have plenty of storylines to latch onto and they’re normally not so Twin-Peaks-complicated that it’s hard to follow.

image courtesy of people.com

5) James Franco

Sure, he plays a serial killer named after himself, but we all knew James was a little off, didn’t we? If the last Oscars proved anything, it’s that James still looks pretty no matter what the quality of his work is. And surely if James Franco thinks soaps are credible entertainment, we should as well. He’s the one getting the PhD afterall…

What do you think? Do you watch any daytime soaps? Comment and let me know what you think!

Righting your Writing: PIN number and Redundant Descriptions

One of the things about virtual betas is you sometimes  never know what you're going to get, and as someone who already gets anxious over email, having "beta" in the subject line frightens me more.

It turns out, the beta I sent my novella to was pretty fantastic. Not only did she give my positive criticism, she gave me a lot of helpful editing tips for my next round of self-edits.

One of the tips was about redundant phrases. Honestly, I never paid much attention to editing for these before because I was worrying about more important things. But weeding out redundant descriptions is a great way to tighten up your writing and make it more terse.

See what I did there? Tightening up your writing means it is more terse, so terse was superfluous.

Ahhh.

Other examples from my own writing include:

burning flames- of course flames burn

and

condescending snear- a snear is a condescending look.

I've also noticed in my YA when I'm describing the advice column my MC writes for, I often put the column name before it. I mean, like every single time. Redundancies, like repetitiveness, are like hitting your readers over the head with these:

Don't Do It! (or wear these, please)

You can find a list of common everyday redundancies here: http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/redundancies.htm

They have ATM machine and PIN number, which reminds me of my days in high school financial literacy. My teacher really loved to point out the "number" was the "N" in PIN.

Check your own work and see what you can come up with! Have any silly ones? Let me know!

My Take On The Query Process Part One

So, to kick off my author blog I'm going to dive right into a subject that concerns a lot of new writers: the query process. From my time  on the YA writing site inkpop.com, I've seen a lot of people confused about what it takes to get published by a traditional/major publisher. I originally posted these thoughts on a thread there to try to help out new writers. Of course, much of this info can be found with a quick Google search and I encourage you to look at posts by authors/agents on the subject.

In Part One I'll be answering some FAQ and outlining the process:

1) How long is a YA novel? How many pages?
"Pages" isn't as important as words! Agents and publishers will ask for a word count. For YA books, the average is anywhere from 50,000-80,000. This all depends on genre and if it's lower YA or older YA of course.

2) How do I ask XYZ publisher to publish my book????
You don't. Sorry. You must first get a literary agent, unless of course you are dealing with a very small publisher that will accept submissions. In either case, you will need a query.

3) An agent? I don't wanna be an actress silly! What do you mean agent?
An literary agent's job is to pitch books to editors at major publishers. They have connections you don't. The trick is to get one to want to take you on as a client. This can be very difficult, but it has been done (or else you wouldn't be reading books silly!).

4) Do I have to pay for said agent?
No. A REAL AGENT WILL NOT CHARGE YOU UP FRONT. They will, however, ask for so much of your advance, earnings, foreign sales, etc. Normally 10-15%.

5)How do I find a agent?
There are a plethora of resources on the web. My favorites are:
www.agentquery.com/

and blogs
http://motherwrite.blogspot.com/
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/

6) So..I send them my manuscript?
No. Primarily you will send them a query letter, and maybe a synopsis/a few sample pages.

7) What the heck is a query? Is that British?
A query is like a pitch to an agent explaining what your novel is about, who you are, and why they want you/you want them.

I won't go into the basics here, but I will link to some valuable resources for beginers.

for the ultimate beginer:
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/08/how-to-write-query-letter.html
http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx
http://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/the-complete-nobodys-guide-to-query-letters/

and editing that query:
http://queryshark.blogspot.com
http://openquery.blogspot.com/

WARNING: If you have carefully read these entries you will know this, but DON'T BLIND CC A ZILLION AGENTS, ADDRESS YOUR EMAIL (or letter, because some agents still only accept paper queries) "DEAR AGENT" OR QUERY AN AGENT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. IT WILL RESULT IN AN AUTOMATIC REJECTION.

I don't know if "query" is British...

8) So what's next?

In the coming hours/days/months, you will get a response from the agent. Or not. Sometimes agents have a policy of no response=rejection.

But it they do respond you will receive one of the following (from least desirable to most desirable):

-A FORM REJECTION: this means that this agent does not think your work is right for them, but "this is a subjective business, and you should keep writing". It also means either they're too busy to tell you why they rejected your query or really have nothing constructive to say and don't want to waste their time or yours.

-A PERSONALIZED REJECTION: very rare, but still not extinct, a personalized rejection may give you insight to the flaws of your query, why the agent doesn't want your work, or even possibly potential flaws with your work. Take whatever they say and try to utilize it.

-A PARTIAL REQUEST (W/ SYNOPSIS): As the name implies, you're halfway there! The agent is interested in your pitch/ sample pages and would like to see either half your book/ about fifty pages. In a couple months they will get back to you with either a request for a full, a critique, or a flat rejection. Of course, if you do get rejected you want to use that critique to the fullest to improve your work. But sometimes form rejections happen even for partials. At that point, you need to start querying again and/or assess your work, invest in more beta readers, or trunk the manuscript and start something new.

*SYNOPSIS: A barebones description of everything that happens in your book, revealing the ending and the entire story arc. Normally 2-3 pages.

-A FULL (W/ OR W/O SYNOPSIS): Same as partial except for the whole shebang. Some agents will skip the partial and initially request the full.

9) And then what???I mean, if I don't get rejected?

Then you might just get offered representation. Or they might ask you to revise and resubmit. And if you chose to sign with the agent, they will start pitching your books to editors...

And that's the road to publishing.

So, this definitely summed up my initial querying experience. Does anyone else have anything to add? I'd love to hear your thoughts!