Tamson Weston Interview

     I admit, Tamson Weston was not a name I knew until I got the latest edition of the SCBWI Bulletin.  In the back, they list market news which announced that Ms. Weston had left her position as senior editor for Disney-Hyperion to start her own editorial consultancy called Tamson Weston Books.
Since Dream Girl revisions are dragging on and I have no greater wish than to get it properly revised and start submitting it, I anxiously looked up her website.  It looked fantastic.  In fact, it was so compelling that I thought to myself, "I wonder if she'd agree to let me interview her for my humble blog."  Having nothing to lose, I asked and she did agree.  I found her answers very valuable and she's been excellent to work with, as an interviewer.  I'd love to have her as an editor someday.  So, without further ado, I give you, Tamson Weston: 


  Restless Writer (RW): What first attracted you to youth publishing?

Tamson Weston (TW): I was a bookseller for many years and was given the children's section to oversee.  No one else wanted it because it was always so messy and I loved it. Spending all that time straightening books and reading them along the way made me want to participate in their creation.  When I went to Emerson to get my MFA in Creative Writing, I took some children's writing courses with Lisa Jahn-Clough and then interned at the Hornbook Magazine.  It all unfolded from there!

RW:  What made you decide to stop working at a publishing house and start your own editorial consultancy?

TW:  The further along in my career I got, and the more the publishing industry evolved, the less time I had to spend actually editing books. Editing is the whole reason I got into the business. I've always loved working with new authors and illustrators and I'm pleased to have been able to work with people like Adam Rex, Mac Barnett, Mark Newgarden, Megan Cash and others early on. I decided to leave because I felt that I could spend more time doing this if I didn't have the added responsibilities of profit and loss--creating profit and loss statements, estimate requests and so forth. And I was right. I spend much more time with manuscripts and authors now. I will always have non-editing work to do, too, but it has been greatly reduced in my current role.

RW:  What genres do you most enjoy reading?

TW:  I don't know that I have a particular genre that I enjoy most. I like good writing. I think, generally, I prefer picture books and middle grade the most because they tend to be more playful and less brooding than YA. That said, one of my favorite books is I CAPTURE THE CASTLE and another is THE ASTONISHING LIFE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING.

RW:  What are some of the most common mistakes you see in manuscripts?


TW:  INFORMATION DUMP is a big one. This is when authors withhold information in a story to create suspense, and then feel the need to provide all the answers somewhere just before the end. Key information should be revealed gradually and organically, not all at once like the final scene in PSYCHO when the psychiatrist explains why Norman Bates went crazy. And it's not necessary to answer every question. Readers can often imagine perfectly satisfying answers on their own.  That's part of the joy of reading!

RW:  What would be the traits of an 'ideal client' or 'ideal manuscript'?

TW:  I don't know if I have an ideal for either, but I really enjoy working with people who are honestly interested in improving their writing and/or manuscript and not just looking at me as a means to a publishing deal. I can definitely be that, but  the best way to make sure that your manuscript is going to attract the interest of the right agent is to work hard on revising and keep an open mind about its possibilities.

RW:  What should writers look for when hiring an editor?

TW:  I think it's a good idea to hire someone who has had experience working in the industry and has maintained those connections, because market awareness is pretty important, obviously, if you are trying to get published. But a writer should also be sure that he or she has an affinity for the editor.  Part of this means that the editor has either worked on or is interested in the same kinds of books that inspire the author.  Another part of this connection is being sure that you "click" with a person and that she has a sense of what you are trying to accomplish with your manuscript. The best way to find out if the chemistry is there is to communicate with the editor.  Sometimes it takes a phone call, other times it's an extended email exchange. The writer should be sure to ask questions about what the editor's process is before hiring him or her.

  

RW:  Should a writer send you a pitch or a query to see if the manuscript is a good match before you take them on as a client? 

TW:  I don't think a pitch is necessary. Authors should save this for agents and publishers! I'm trying to help the beginning author get to that point.  Usually, if the author is genuinely trying to improve his or her manuscript, I can find a way to help.

RW:  Do you believe there are manuscripts that are beyond the help of an editor? 

TW:  No. The only pre-requisite for making a manuscript better is a desire on the part of the author to do so. This doesn't mean, however, that every manuscript will find a home at a major publishing house. That's a different question.

  
RW:  What are your top five favorite books?

TW:  Ugh! This is the hardest question for me to answer. Kids books or adult?   I Capture the Castle, all of the Frog & Toad books by Arnold Lobel, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by MT Anderson, The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kuskin, Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham, The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch. And of course, there are all the books I've worked on, but I can't even include any of those for fear of leaving out something crucial.

RW:  How do you feel about e-publishing?  Is it opening the door for more authors or opening the door for mediocre writing?

TW:  Well, honestly, probably a bit of both, but I still think it's worth it for the former. Having witnessed how many cool manuscripts I could not publish because of the business requirements of a large house makes me excited for all of the innovative, bucking-the-trend fiction that we will see in electronic form.  Buzz was always a very valuable publicity tool and I think we'll see some very interesting stuff rise to the top.

RW:  We know paranormal romance is still hot in YA literature right now, do you see any signs that a new trend is coming soon?  If not, is there a trend you'd like to see?

TW:  Well, there's a little bit of an alien trend on the rise with I AM NUMBER 4. And then there are all the Angel books--FALLEN, MERCY, etc., but I don't really know if these are significantly different than the paranormal trend. I keep hearing that there's a Steampunk trend, but I've yet to see it materialize in the same way that paranormal has.The truth be told, paranormal is still being acquired rather aggressively--I still see a great deal of these kinds of books still in the reports from Publishers Lunch, etc. In all honesty, I wish that publishers would adhere less to these waves of popularity and take more risks, but these are the realities of a competitive market.

RW:  Do you attend writer's conferences or workshops?  Do you have any appearances coming up?

TW:  I do attend conferences, but I don't have any scheduled at the moment.  

 
RW:  Do you write as well?    

TW:  Yes. I've written  a picture book called HEY, PANCAKES! that was illustrated by Stephen Gammell. I'm working on some other things now. Stay tuned....  

RW:  What is the most frustrating thing about being an editor?

TW:  Not being able to read as quickly as I'd like to!

Fantastic opportunities abound

   Remember when I told you 2011 would be the year of awesome?  I wasn't kidding.   Cool things just keep happening.  You'll recall that my picture book, Pajama Girl, is the grand prize winner in the first MeeGenius book contest.  Still awaiting publication on that, but you'll be sure to hear about it when it's available.  I am currently signed up for the next SCBWI-MI spring conference.  Last year's spring conference is where I met Jay Asher.  This year, I will be attending an intensive workshop with Pete Hautman.  (YAY!)  SCBWI LA, look out!  I'm heading back to the west coast this summer to hobnob with the stars of children's publishing once again.  So why do I have this Leap Books badge in the corner?  Well, thanks to Children's Authors & Illustrators for Japan | An auction to aid victims of the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami, I have scored myself a 50 page critique with Kat O'Shea, editor in chief of Leap Books!!!  Could I be more excited?  Doubtful.  Well, I could be more excited if she enjoys those 50 pages and asks to see more and then offers me a contract, but I'm happy to take one step at a time.  Especially as the revision continues.  

     Anyway, I thought you might want to check out the current list of titles at Leap Books, and imagine, if you will, a world in which Dream Girl appears on that list.  Even if it doesn't, check them out.  

     Coming up in the near future, an interview with Tamson Weston, editor of Tamson Weston Books.  

It's still an awesome year.  :)

  

First Anniversary

Do you remember what's historic about March 26, 2010 10:42pm?  Odds are, you don't but I'm here to tell you.  March 26, 2010 is when I finished the first draft of my YA novel, Dream Girl.  That moment had been seven years coming.  Let me explain. 
A friend of mine had given me a nice suede covered journal as a gift years ago which I decided would make a great writing journal.  On January 30, 2003 I wrote down these notes from a bizarre dream I'd had:

A dream
A strange new male co-worker with dishwater blonde/brown hair and a squarish rugged face begins giving me stories on tape to listen to.  The stories are usually quite odd.

-sisters, young girls, who for some reason have to cut their feet off...in their pretty little shoes.
The man and I go to visit their home and encounter the ghost of the sisters and their cruel father.  A horribly creepy scene, but I'm not scared by it.

-go back in time to visit two brothers, young men in their 20s.  Long hair in pony tail-dark, red head with shoulder length hair.  We aren't afraid of each other.  We picked the day dark hair suddenly goes mad and dies.  Unfortunate.  He's very kind.  A guard comes in to inspect.  I fly to the top of a tall bookcase to hide.  The brother's body lays on its back on the floor, red head kneeling beside it.  I close my eyes.  Open them to find guard's blade inches from my face.  I pinch the blade and point it away.  Explain I'm not from there.  Disappears.  I wake.


Ok, so those are some crazy notes.  But the dream was so vivid and unusual that I felt I could use it for something, someday.  Flash forward to 2005.  I was doing book reviews for www.myshelf.com  I had requested a YA book called A Crack in the Line by Michael Lawrence because it sounded interesting.  I picked the book up as soon as it arrived and read it feverishly.  I loved it.  When I put it down, a lightbulb came on in my brain.  It basically said, "Oh my God.  That dream I had, I can write it as a novel but it needs to be a YA novel!  I did a little thinking as the basic outline and characters started to form in my head.  I first sat down to write it on August 31, 2005.  I got married September 9, 2005.  I got pregnant shortly thereafter.  Life came on with a vibrant vengeance and Dream Girl went mostly into hibernation again. 

After my son was born, June 2009, I decided that it was now or never for Dream Girl.  I wanted to be a writer.  I kept telling people I was writing a book but was I really?  I wanted it to be a reality.  I wanted something to show for all my years of thinking and wishing and wanting.  So I sat down to write as I could find time and I worked it out.  I averaged 2-4 chapters a week.  I gave myself the deadline of having the first draft complete by the time I went to LA for the SCBWI writer's conference in August.  And, dear reader, I accomplished that goal, ahead of schedule on March 26.  Whew!

But the story doesn't end there.  Following writerly advice, I let the draft sit for a few months.  I figured I earned the break and I could get started on revising after the conference.  And yes, that's what I've been doing, slowly, ever since.  If you've been following this blog for awhile, you know there have been ups and downs and that I've started and re-started the revisions.  I've had breakthroughs and setbacks.  Currently, I'm back to breakthroughs.  This week, the pieces in my head finally clicked together.  I hadn't been happy with my first draft ending and I knew I needed some major plot fixes and after months of pondering, I believe it's finally come together...again.  I am just as excited about this project as I was when I woke from that vivid crazy dream in 2003.  I can see potential.  I can see progress.  I can see myself growing and becoming what I've always wanted to be, a writer. 

There is still a lot of work ahead to complete the revision process.  I am still working through that as time allows.   I still need my trusted critiquers to look it over after that.  I'll need to consider and incorporate their suggested changes and then, maybe then, I'll be ready to tackle that all important query letter. 

But that's where we are, one year after I finally completed the first phase of this crazy project.  Happy Anniversary, Dream Girl.  I can say, with certainty, you only get better with age. 

April Lindner Interview

If you know anything about me, you know I love Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.  The book is haunting and beautiful and it has a big impact on the novel I'm still writing/revising right now.  So, when I saw that April Lindner had written a modernization, entitled Jane, I was intrigued.  I was even more interested when I read that the character of Rochester, (Nico Rathburn in Jane) is a rock star.  Might seem a bit crazy to die hard Eyre fans but I decided to give it a chance.  I'm glad I did.
Lindner was meticulous about remaining true to the original, despite what Rochester as a rock star might make you think.  I was particularly pleased with how she handled the relationship between Jane and St. John Rivers.  I found it more satisfying in Jane than in the original.
However, no one can top the original, but the fact that Lindner so obviously loves the Bronte makes Jane an excellent read.
Lindner is currently working on doing a modernization of Wuthering Heights, which excites me to no end.  Have you read Wuthering Heights?  I love the story, but I feel like it's a mess to read.  I have read it twice and both times were very painful.  Not just because it's a horrible/wonderful story but the language, for me, is very difficult to get through.  There are a lot of passages written with an accent that I just can't get through.  It hurts yet I want to love it.   Heathcliff fits my ideal literary love interest, horribly flawed, somewhat dangerous but consumed by love for his woman.  (see the Phantom of the Opera, Rochester, and Edward from Twilight as a few examples of the kind of crazy lovers I like to see in books).
     I greatly admire April Lindner for tackling this modernization project.  I think it's wonderful.  In a way, I wish I'd done it myself.  (longtime friends will know that I did do a rewrite of the Phantom of the Opera as my very first 'complete' novel when I was in 8th grade.  I'd be tempted to resurrect it if it didn't involve so much research.  However, I may have outlined a modernization of it myself to be worked on when I'm done with my current novel.  Don't go stealing that idea...)
   Anyway, without further sidenotes, and with great admiration for my fellow Eyre lover, I give you April Lindner.   

1. Restless Writer (RW): Clearly, you love Charlotte Bronte's original Jane Eyre.  Were you ever afraid of taking on a classic and making it your own?
  April Lindner (AL):  I probably should have been at least a little afraid. Modernizing a beloved classic like Jane Eyre is treading on sacred ground, and it would be easy to make a misstep and alienate the novel’s longtime fans. While I was doing the actual writing, though, I didn’t let myself worry about what readers would think. What I did do was try to write in good faith, to be as true as possible to the spirit of an original book, and I hoped—and still hope—that my respect and affection for Jane Eyre comes through.

2.  RW:  What was the most challenging aspect of writing this book?
AL:  Taking plot elements in the original and finding believable contemporary equivalents was the book’s big challenge. You can’t have Jane Eyre without having a madwoman in the attic, but how could such a thing happen in our age of medical miracles? That was the biggest roadbump but there were lots of smaller ones along the way.

3.  RW:  A friend of mine and I were recently chatting about how Rochester is never ugly enough in film versions of Jane Eyre.  If Jane was made into a movie, who would you envision as Nico and Jane?
AL:  Any actors I can think of are bound to be on the too-attractive side. In my imagination, Nico looks and sounds quite a bit like Toby Stephens, the actor who played Mr. Rochester in the wonderful 2006 BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre. Nico’s in his early thirties, though, and if I had to choose among thirtyish actors, I’d choose Milo Ventimiglia, who has brooding rock star looks, or maybe James Franco, who seems versatile enough to do just about anything. As for Jane, I think Carey Mulligan could do a great job in the part. She’s got a lovely, quiet intelligence that fits the character.

4.  RW:  I'm a Jane Eyre addict myself.  (it is heavily influencing the YA novel I'm writing)  As a fellow Eyre lover, I would love to know what specific scenes in the book haunt you/stick with you the most. 
AL:  My favorite scene is the moment under the chestnut tree when Jane breaks down and admits her feelings for Mr. Rochester and he has to convince her that he feels the same way about her. The speech she gives him—“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!”—is one of the most perfect moments in literature. And there’s the wonderfully understated declaration, “Reader, I married him.” Really, there are so many touchstone moments I couldn’t bear to leave out.

5.  RW:  I've read that you're working on a retelling of Wuthering Heights next.  I've read the book twice and found it a slow difficult read both times.  (although also compelling and worth the difficulty).  I'm so happy to hear you're modernizing it.  How far along are you and how does it compare to writing Jane?
AL:  I’m revising, but I’ve got a long way to go. I’ve found this particular novel much more difficult to write. With Jane, I meant to stay faithful to the original, so I had a pretty clear template to follow, but Wuthering Heights has so many elements that resist translation into the 21st century, for example, first cousins marrying and Heathcliff digging up the long dead Cathy for a last look at her body. I knew I had to give myself permission to go a lot farther afield, so I did. Like the original, my retelling, Catherine, is a multigenerational story of obsessive love. The Heathcliff character is a punk rocker and Catherine is the brilliant and somewhat spoiled daughter of a legendary night club on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It’s a darker story than Jane, but still nowhere near as dark and violent as the original.

 6. RW: The writer in me wonders if Jane was an easy sell for you.  How long did it take from idea to book deal?
AL:  Don’t hate me, please, when I tell you that Jane was a relatively easy sell. I wrote it in the summer of 2007, revised it over the next year, found an agent, and sold it in 2009, though a lot more revision ensued after that. But Jane isn’t really my first novel; I’ve got another one languishing in a drawer, unpublished. Also it took me ten years of banging my head against a brick wall to get my first poetry collection, Skin, into print. A second poetry manuscript has been a finalist or a semi finalist in multiple contests but has yet to win the competition that is the usual way into print for a poetry book. So I’ve paid a lot of dues along the way.

7.  RW:  You're also a rock fan.  What are the top 3 concerts you've been to?
AL:  1) My all time favorite concert would have to be almost any Bruce Springsteen show I’ve seen, and I’ve seen many. If I have to choose just one, it would be my very first, in 1980, during The River Tour. He played for almost four hours, and was a fireball of charisma and energy. He still plays longer, more intense shows than anyone else, and he’s got such a wealth of material to draw from that I’m always left wanting more.2) This summer a friend took me to see Paul McCartney. To tell the truth, I was more excited about seeing my friend than about seeing Sir Paul, but the show took my breath away. When Paul launched into the Long and Winding Road I surprised myself by bursting into tears; it was an instant flashback to my early childhood. The rockers—both Beatle era and from Wings and beyond--still sizzle, and nobody does a ballad better.3) On a whim my husband and I went to see Train at a free music festival in New Jersey, and they were fantastic. Lead singer Pat Monahan threw his whole soul into every song, and he has such a beautiful, powerful, resonant voice.

8.  RW:  When I write, I often listen to a specific soundtrack I've put together for my story.  Do you do the same?  If so, would you share some of the songs from your Jane playlist? 
AL: Absolutely. The playlist’s still growing, but here it is in its current form:It Happens Every Day (Dar Williams)Bad Reputation (Freedy Johnston)American Slang (The Gaslight Anthem)Parachute (Train)The Lucky One (Alison Krauss & Union Station)My Love Will Not Let You Down (Bruce Springsteen)Romeo’s Tune (Steve Forbert)Hey, Soul Sister (Train)Don’t Dream It’s Over (Crowded House)Your Mind’s Playing Tricks on You (John Wesley Harding)Rumors (Josh Ritter)Janey Don’t You Lose Heart (Bruce Springsteen)Troubled Times (Dar Williams)Intro/Sweet Jane (Lou Reed)

9.  RW:  Do you have any projects in mind once Wuthering Heights is complete? 
AL:  I want to do another modernization, and I’ve been thinking about the possibilities of reworking E. M. Forster’s A Room With a View, to tell the story of young American backpackers in Italy. When I was 22, I backpacked solo across Europe and I’ve always wanted to work some of those experiences into a story.

10.  RW:  When can readers expect to see your version of Wuthering Heights hit the bookstores?
AL:  Fall of 2012 is the projected date. It seems so far away, but also, considering how much revising I still need to do, terrifyingly close.

11.  RW:  You're also an award winning poet.  Did you always have an inkling that you'd write for the YA audience?  Are you still writing poetry?
AL:  I always thought I would write a novel some day, and I knew it would probably be about young adults, because I’m fascinated with that time of life, the point at which people really start to grow into the adults they’ll become. But it didn’t occur to me that I was writing for a YA audience until my agent, Amy Williams, wisely pointed out the possibility. Now that I’ve fallen into the YA world, it feels like home. There’s so much enthusiasm among YA book bloggers and readers. There’s a sense among academics that high school and college students just aren’t reading for pleasure anymore, but now I know that there’s a hard core of passionate young readers hungry for more.As for my poetry, it comes from a different part of my psyche—a more personal place. I still write poetry, albeit maybe a bit less of it these days, and I don’t plan to stop.

Tammi Sauer interview

I first discovered Tammi Sauer's work when I was working as a children's librarian.  I was browsing our new book shelf for something to bring home for my daughter and the cover of Chicken Dance  caught my eye.  Having been an Elvis fan for as long as I can remember, I picked it up, checked it out and brought it home.  It was, in short, hilarious fun.

Fast forward to SCBWI annual last year.  It was the last day of the conference.  I was sitting in the last row and who should sneak in next to me but Tammi Sauer and Cynthea Liu.  Tammi and I exchanged business cards and I was delighted to exclaim, "Oh YOU wrote Chicken Dance!  My daughter and I LOVE that book!"

This led to the all important Facebook friendship, and as a result, you get to read my interview with her.  If you want something fun to read with your children, Tammi Sauer is the author for you.  If you want to read some picture books to examine style, humor and get inspired to perfect your own writing, Tammi Sauer is the author for you!

Thank you so much for agreeing to the interview, Tammi.  Can't wait to read your upcoming books!


Restless Writer (RW): My daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed Chicken Dance. I’ve always loved Elvis. So the question is, how did you pair together poultry and Elvis? (It’s a brilliantly fun pairing!)

Tammi Sauer (TS):  When I first started working on Chicken Dance, I knew there would be a barnyard talent show, and I knew the grand prize had to be big. That prize couldn’t be a bucket of oats. It couldn’t be a hay bale. It had to be amazing and different and fresh. I was sitting around thinking chicken when two words popped into my head:  Elvis Poultry. And I knew I had my grand prize:  Tickets to Elvis Poultry in Concert:  The Final Doodle-Doo.

RW:  How did you choose the name ‘Bernadette’ for your little monster in Mostly Monsterly ?

TS:  My mom comes from a huge family. Seven boys:  Lawrence, Sylvester, Sonny, Al, Robert, George and Frank. Seven girls:  Rosalia, Ramona, Loretta, Caecilia, Vivian, Gladys, and Bernadine. While these names are perfectly lovely, I always thought they sounded like a great cast of characters for a monster school. When I came up with the idea for Mostly Monsterly, I didn’t even have to think about what the main character’s name should be. I tweaked Bernadine’s name and had the perfect fit for my big-hearted, little monster.

RW:  What are some picture books that make you laugh the hardest? (in a good way)

TS:  Oh, there are so many! Some of the books that have made me laugh out loud are Ugly Fish by Kara LaReau, illustrated by Scott Magoon, What Will Fat Cat Sit On? written and illustrated by Jan Thomas, and Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox, illustrated by Lydia Monks.

RW:  Wannabe writers, like myself, hear over and over again that picture books are the hardest area of children’s publishing to break into. How did you manage to do it?

TS:  I kept reading, writing, revising, and researching. I never gave up, and I never stopped believing. I didn’t sell my first story. Or my second story. Or my third. But those stories helped me to be a better writer. The more I wrote, the better I wrote. I tell kids that writing is just like playing a sport or an instrument. You get better with practice.

RW:  The ‘average’ person often seems to think writing picture books must be easy. How long does it take you to complete a manuscript? How many rounds of revisions do you typically go through?

TS:  The hardest part for me is coming up with a great idea. That can take months and months. Once I have that idea, it generally takes a month or two for me to complete a solid manuscript. I then get feedback on the manuscript from my critique partners and from a number of other picture book writers. These days, I usually go through ten rounds of revision. Some of those revisions might just involve a few word changes, but with picture books, every word must be the right word.

RW:  Many people don’t realize that picture book writers don't choose their illustrators or have a lot of input into the illustrations of their books. Tell us the truth, how do you really feel when you’re holding your yet unseen artwork for your precious characters?

TS:  I feel nervous/excited/hopeful, but I always trust that my publishers will find the perfect match for each book. Getting those emails with art attachments is one of my favorite parts of the business.

RW:  Can you give us any hints on your upcoming projects?

TS:  I am super excited about the soon-to-be-released Mr. Duck Means Business. Mr. Duck loves his solitary life on his pond. One day he goes a little haywire when the barnyard animals mistakenly think they’ve been invited for a swim. Following that is Bawk and Roll, the sequel to Chicken Dance. In 2012, I have Princess-in-Training, Oh, Nuts, and Me Want Pet. Princesses, chipmunks and a Cave Boy? I can’t wait!

RW:  What is one of the coolest things you’ve been able to experience because of your writing?

TS:  I love hearing from kids. This is my all time favorite letter:

Dear Mrs. Sauer:

Your [sic] the best. Your [sic] my hero and roll [sic] model. My dream is to right [sic] a book. Do not tell her this but I like you more than Kelly Clarkson.

Love,

Elizabeth

2011 is the year of Awesome

This is the level of awesome I'm talking about.  Partying with NYT bestselling authors in drag on the West Coast awesome!

     If you follow me on Facebook, you already know that yesterday I got the news that my story, PAJAMA GIRL, is the grand prize winner for the MeeGenius book contest.  My prize is, in order of awesomeness: an Apple Ipad, an ebook deal for Pajama Girl with MeeGenius and an associate editor at a major publishing house will be working with me on my manuscript prior to e-publication.  This is beyond exciting!!!  So, the Ipad alone is far more than I've ever earned for my writing.  The book deal is exciting because no one really knows what's going to happen with ebooks just yet or how it fits into the traditional publishing model.  This could potentially be starting out on the ground floor of something really awesome.  At the very least, I can earn a little bit of income for something I've written.  And, for me, the coolest part of all is that I will be working with a real, live editor at a major house.  I will have a real contact!  This is the stuff writer dreams are made of!  (and this is not to say that I'm not stoked about being an Ipad owner.)  :D  So, yes, 2011 has started well.  But I'm not stopping to rest on my small victory.  I am trying to power through these Dream Girl revisions as well.  I think I've got a good grasp on it now.  I've been working through Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook and it has been so incredibly useful.  This book is brilliant.  It's like the author knew what all the weaknesses of my novel are and he told me what to do to fix them.  This book managed to get me generating multiple plot twists that I've been grappling with for a year.  I'm excited about the direction things are going now.  I have a firm understanding of what the story is, where it needs to go and what the details are.  This is big news!  This is good stuff!  This is 2011, my year of awesome!

We've come a long way, baby

Around this time last year, I started dreaming about how awesome it would be to attend the SCBWI annual conference.  At first, I never expected it to come close to reality.  Why on earth would I travel across the country, alone, leaving my husband and two young children for almost a week just so I could indulge in a big conference, which would undoubtedly be at least as much fun as it was informative?  Well, you all know how that turned out.
I don't know if it's just this time of year or what, but the dream has returned.  I want to go back to that conference.  I want to go badly.  The hubby is on board so it's time to start planning and saving up the $$$.
In the meantime, you may also recall that I was brilliantly happy with my writing strides in 2010.  I completed a full draft of my YA novel, which had started as a bizarre dream all the way back in 2001.  I attended a regional SCBWI conference that assigned NYT bestseller, Jay Asher, to critique the first chapter of my novel.  His feedback was amazing.  He encouraged me.  He made me feel that my work really does have merit and that I need to pursue it.  I attended the SCBWI annual conference.  I met unpublished authors who I'm working with to perfect our craft and break into this crazy business of kidlit.  I met wildly successful published authors who were also very encouraging and kind.  I met my critique partner.  I learned that I'm totally capable of traveling all by myself.  I learned a lot about my novel and the work it will take to get it from that completed draft to a version that I can show an agent or editor with pride and confidence.
I entered my picture book manuscript in a contest for MeeGenius.  The results are yet to be announced.  (sigh) But I'm still holding out hope that I could be the winner, and if not, that I will get a small ebook deal with them out of it and be actually making some money for my writing.
I have been grappling with the revision of DREAM GIRL.  It's a hard row to hoe, let me tell you.  I thought it was a struggle to get the first draft out, I will tell you with confidence that it's harder to make that draft into something engaging, intelligent, suspenseful, polished, compelling and coherent.  Thus, after many attempts to get through a revision of the entire draft (which I have not done,) I have come back to a title recommended by editor Ruta Rimas at that same regional SCBWI conference where I met Jay Asher.  The book is WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL WORKBOOK by Donald Maass.  I had checked the book out from the library after that conference, but I wasn't ready for it.  I was riding high from completing the first draft.  I just knew it was brilliant as is.  (if you're a writer, you know that feeling, let's take a moment to laugh about it now.......ha.....ha.....ha....ok, let's continue.)  So, zoom forward to tonight, I bought that book 5 days ago from Amazon.  It arrived on my porch this morning.  (pretty impressive since Christmas has occurred in between purchasing and receiving).  We got the kids to bed by 8 tonight and I did the exercises in the first two chapters.  This involved answering 8 questions/ doing some brainstorming and I stopped after those 2 chapters because it's draining but incredible work!  I think I'm already on track for a heck of a lot better book just from those 8 questions alone.  And let me tell you, there are 34 chapters!
Working through this workbook, which I highly recommend for any of you out there who want to write better novels, is helping me to polish this manuscript better than I could myself.  I wouldn't know about this book if it wasn't for that regional conference.
    Besides that, all of my current revision work is reminding me of the talks I attended by Rachel Vail on character development at the SCBWI annual conference.  I didn't want to admit it at the time but I didn't know everything there was to know about my character.  In fact, here's a dirty secret, I hadn't spent much time thinking about her before I threw her into my story, let alone the other characters.  So now, I'm putting in the hard work, or starting to.  These conferences I've attended, these connections I've made to the writing world, have helped me tremendously, even if it takes me a few months to process it and apply it to my project.
   So, in closing, I suppose my point is that even though this is really hard work and the conferences are a lot of fun, they are so valuable to this dream I have of publishing books.  This past year has been my most successful as a writer even though I have not even advanced to sending out queries yet.  The devil is in the details, and right now, I'm striving to make the details of this novel as good as I can so I can fashion a product that will make myself and my potential readers proud.
    I can only imagine what 2011 will have in store, but if I can continue reaching and growing even slowly, it's going to be another amazing year.   Thanks for being part of this journey.