Valentine's Day Tonya Kappes Interview

Happy Valentine's Day! First, my valentine to you is that I'm giving away my YA short story, Kiss of Death, for free today through the 16th. Be sure to get your copy now! Hope you love it! But that's not your only Valentine treat today. USA Today bestselling author Tonya Kappes is here and she's generously offered to give away a copy of her brand new YA novel, Tag...You're It!

(details at the end of the post)

It is my pleasure to introduce you to super talented author and marketing whiz, Tonya Kappes. If you aren't familiar with her, you're in for a treat! If you want to have some fun, you need to connect with Tonya. Seriously. Like her Facebook page and join her Street Time. It's a riot! So much positive energy and fun and she does the coolest events for her readers. Don't take my word for it. Sign up!

Become a member of Tonya’s STREET TEAM! It’s a gathering place of readers who love Tonya Kappes novels and Tonya gives away monthly prizes! To sign up for Tonya’s STREET TEAM, newsletter, view book trailer, and upcoming news, check out Tonya’s website, Tonyakappes.com.

And be sure to stalk her on Facebook and Twitter!

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USA Today Bestselling Author, Tonya Kappes writes humorous cozy mystery and women’s fiction that involves quirky characters in quirky situations. Not only have her novels made the USA Today bestsellers list, but they are an Amazon Top 100 author, Amazon Movers and Shakers, and International bestsellers.

Strung Out To Die and A Charming Crime are USA Today bestselling novels.

Splitsville.com, the first novel in the Olivia Davis Mystery Series, is a double finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the Mystery and Humorous Categories.

Carpe Bead ‘em is 2012 winner in Amazon’s eFestival of Words in the Women’s Fiction Category.

A Charming Crime, the first novel in the Magical Cures, is the 2013 eFestival of Words in the Fantasy Category Winner.

A New Tradition the Indie Romance Convention 2013 novella of the year.

When not being the princess, queen, and jester of her family of three teenage boys, an adoring husband, and three fury kids, she travels to various writing groups as guest speaker on “How to Market and Promote Your Novels Effectively,” where she is known as a marketing guru.

Now, without further ado, I present Tonya Kappes!

Restless Writer: (RW) I am in awe of the vibrant and fun street team of fans you've assembled. How did you go about getting it off the ground and how long did it take until it became the thriving community it is today?

Tonya Kappes: (TK) A few years ago I started receiving a ton of reader mail, which I love. They continually asked what they could do to help spread the words about my novels. I decided to start a street team on yahoo loop and it was a place where we talked about EVERYTHING...not just my books. We became a little family. I knew I wanted to give back to them so I started to have Facebook street team parties, which no other authors were doing at the time and it took off like a rocket. BUT we have continued to be a close group. I show up every single day! I am personal with them! I LOVE them. That is what this writing gig is all about. 

RW: More and more authors are choosing the indie path to publishing. How did you reach the decision to do this with your books?

TK: When my first publisher thought they knew what the best marketing was for ME, I knew they were wrong. I could not let someone take me down a road I knew was not going to help me. So...we parted ways only two weeks away from publication. After I cried my eyes out, I got my head screwed on straight and took a look at self publishing. Self publishing was such a taboo at the time, this was four years ago, and writers were telling me I was crazy and I was going to burn my writing career. I rolled my eyes because NO ONE tells me I can't do something. I took the bull by the horns and had that book, Carpe Bead 'em, out on the day of the release. READERS have no clue how a book is published. They don't care as long as the book is good.

RW: It seems like you have an awesome new book out every few months! You are a wife and mother, what is your writing schedule like?

TK: I write every single day at least 2-5k words a day. They might not be GREAT words, but they are words that I can go back and change. I write full time so my kids and hubby are at school/work. I get up at 5:30 when my hubby leaves for work. I do all my business stuff until 8 am. My three teenagers can get themselves off to school by themselves now ;) 8-10 am I write and write. Around ten, I eat breakfast and shower only to sit back down by 11 and stay there until 1 pm. Then I grab my dogs and take a 2-3 mile walk, eat lunch, catch up on Days of Our Lives and back at the computer by 2. From 2-4 pm I write. I turn off the computer around 4 because my hubby and kids are home, plus I love to watch the Wendy Williams Show at 4 :) There are times in there where I jump on my Facebook to check in with readers or email.

RW: Your book with Melissa Bourbon Ramirez, The Tricked-Out Toolbox: Promotion and Marketing Tools Every Writer Needs, is full of great marketing strategies for authors. What do you think is the most valuable thing a writer can do to give them the best chance at success?

TK: Write, write, and write. 

RW: In this day and age, social media seems like a holy grail of (free) marketing possibilities. Authors seem to rise to stardom overnight because of social media. There has to be more to the story. Can you offer a reality check on your experiences with social media marketing and the effort and/or costs it takes to achieve success? 

TK: You have to show up every day. That's it. Be present. Be relatable. You have to have a presence. If you only do one social media~DO IT WELL! 

RW: You just published your first YA novel, Tag, You're It!. It's right up my alley, a teen girl who loses her best friend in a car crash but becomes connected to, and annoyed by, her friend's ghost. What made you decide to try YA and can readers expect more in this genre? (I hope so!)

TK: I have three teenage boys who are all in high school. I'm around so many girls...not by choice ;) Of course they all like to talk and hang out with me and I hear all sorts of drama (I'm soooo glad I have all boys!). I'm pretty good at relating to them and easy to talk to. I understand the young adult mind. So many writers ask me why I haven't written a YA and my standard reply was, "I live it...why would I write it?" Then I started to think...hmmmm....Low and behold Tag. . .You're IT was written and given to some of those teenage girls to read. They loved it so here it is :) 

YES! There will be more in the series.

RW: What kind of writer are you, a planner or a pantser?

TK: Panster!

RW: Name some of your favorite authors who really inspire you.

TK: EECK....I can't do that.

RW: I absolutely adore your book covers! Who designs them?

TK: I have several designers for each series. Tag was done by two different designers.

RW: Can you tell us what you're working on now?

TK: I'm working on a new mystery series called Yellow Cab Capers where my sleuth drives a taxi. It's fuuuuunny!!!!!

RW: You do a lot of cool reader events. Where will you be next? 

TK: I love my readers! I travel at least once a month. Check out my events page on my website at www.tonyakappes.com to check out my next event.

 Thank you so much, Tonya!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

But enough about me...

Hello everyone out there!  In the spirit of fairness (and pushing down that debut video post of mine) I decided to do something fun with you.  At least, I think it'll be fun. 
Besides writing, music is very important to me.  I usually listen to music while I write.  It helps me access the right mood, feelings, words.  So I thought I'd post a list of the top 10 songs I listen to while writing my YA novel...which I'm still revising.  In exchange, I hope you'll post your own top 10 list of songs in the comments.  It can be for what you're writing, it can just be the soundtrack of your life, it can be your favorite 10 songs right now, it could be 10 songs you just hate.  Whatever you want.  It's all about you. 

These are the 10 most played according to my Itunes, and you know, Itunes doesn't lie. 

1.  The Consort  - Rufus Wainwright
2.  Trapeze - Iron and Wine
3.  Thinking About You - Radiohead
4.  A Long Goodbye - Erasure
5.  Rise - Gabrielle
6.  I hope tomorrow is like today - Guster
7.  To the Ghosts who write history - The Low Anthem
8.  Porcelain (Trin Remix with Enya) - Moby and Enya
9.  Follow Me  - Paul McCartney
10.  I'm About to Come Alive - Train

What top ten songs make your list?

Pajama Girl is coming!

The big day is finally (almost) upon us.  Pajama Girl will be released by MeeGenius for general consumption on Sunday, May 8, aka Mother's Day! 

So, for those of you who may wonder how I achieved this, here is the story of Pajama Girl:

My daughter was probably around 2 years old when the idea hit me.  Toddlers don't like to go to bed.  Picture books don't often depict girls as super heroes.  What if a toddler girl became a super hero when it was time to go to bed?  I thought the idea had merit.  I wrote the little story as soon as I could and I was pretty happy with it.  A few months later, I attended a local SCBWI conference and had it critiqued by Daniel Lee, who was editor at Turtle magazine at that time.  He had a lot of great things to say about the story and very minor revisions.  He basically indicated that it could probably find a home in Turtle or Humpty Dumpty magazine.  At that time, I was a newbie to SCBWI and I also clung to the dream of seeing my book in print.  (not my story in a magazine)  So I sat on it for over a year.  Around that time, the SCBWI Bulletin newsletter came out and it profiled a company called MeeGenius, which publishes e-picture books.  I thought it was intriguing so I did some research.  E-publishing doesn't give me the same fuzzy feeling as traditional publishing.  I had visions of receiving my print copy of Pajama Girl in the mail, cracking the spine and sharing the book with my children.  I could do book signings for my friends, work the local library circuit.  It would be so glamorously wonderful.  An e-book, doesn't really afford you those opportunities.  Yes, I could curl up with an E-reader to share the book with my kids but I'm not completely sold on that idea even now.  How can you do a book signing when there's no product to sign?  You see my dilemma.  So, I made a decision.  I would send the story to Turtle to see if there was still interest.  If there wasn't, I was going to try MeeGenius.

Alas, I had waited too long.  Daniel Lee was no longer the editor and the new one passed with a form rejection.  So, my decision was made.  MeeGenius it was.  It was exciting to peruse the artist portfolios and select an illustrator for my own story.  To my mind, Sean Ingvard Ashby was head and shoulders above the others and I could see my Pajama Girl hiding in the faces of his other characters.  I contacted him to see if he'd be interested in the project.  He agreed that it sounded fun so I sent him the manuscript and he began illustrating.  Toward the end of the illustration process, Meegenius announced their first Author Contest.  Sean and I were excited because we could easily make the deadline, which we did.  And the rest, as they say, is history. 

Clearly, I'm very pleased with my decision although it's not what I always envisioned.  I took a chance, deciding that since E-books seemed to be on the rise (they definitely are now) that maybe I could get in on the ground floor and take the opportunity to try something new while many others were still leery.  It paid off.

Besides my Pajama Girl success, I am hoping to get similar good news for a YA ghost short story contest I entered last week.  If I am chosen as a winner in this contest, my story will be one of 13 to go into a collection of short stories, the proceeds of which will benefit 826 National.  Fingers crossed on that.  If it isn't chosen, I think I will publish it here on my blog.  It was fun to write, I hope it will be fun to read. 

I will be attending a local SCBWI conference next weekend where I will participate in an intensive workshop with Pete Hautman.  Upon hearing that Pete would be at the conference, I read his newest book, The Big Crunch, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I'm excited to see what developments for my novel will be unlocked through this experience.

I'm also signed up for SCBWI Annual again this summer.  Several of the authors I've interviewed on this very blog will be attending which gives me a chance to meet some of these writers whose work I so admire!  I'm so excited!

So, to conclude this rather lengthy post, the year of awesome continues to live up to its moniker.  I'm happy, you should be happy, and I hope you'll check out my first book, Pajama Girl on Mother's Day!

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

Michael Lawrence Interview

Michael Lawrence and I go way back.  Like 5 or 6 years back.  I read his book A CRACK IN THE LINE, the first of the Withern Rise trilogy while doing book reviews for www.myshelf.com  I was so impressed with the book that I decided to interview him for Myshelf's author of the month feature.  I contacted him via email, unknowingly starting a regular correspondence that would last approx. 18 months.  At that time, I became a mom and dropped off the face of the earth for awhile.  But let me back up a bit.  

     Michael's book combined with my subconscious, which had been simmering a story idea for 2 years.  It hit me like the cliche ton of bricks.  My book had to be a paranormal YA novel!  Well, over the years, that book became DREAM GIRL which I know you are all anxious for me to finish revising and get published.  

     After A CRACK IN THE LINE, I waited impatiently for book 2 to come along, SMALL ETERNITIES.  It was every bit as amazing as the first, and, luckily, it came out in the UK shortly after I read A CRACK IN THE LINE.  The final book, THE UNDERWOOD SEE made me wait longer, as he was writing it while we were corresponding.  As a result of the correspondence, Michael included a small homage to yours truly in that last book.  Those of you who've known me since before 2005 must drop everything right now, buy all three books and tell me when you've discovered what it is in THE UNDERWOOD SEE that I'm referring to.  For those of you who didn't know me, buy the books, read them and I'll tell you what it is.  Go ahead, the links are right here.  The interview will still be here when you get back....

Ok, now we can get on with things.  

    A CRACK IN THE LINE was up for a Printz award.  Let me tell you, I was thoroughly disappointed that it didn't win.  It should have.  It should have won a great many awards.  If I had anything to do with it, it would have.  

    Michael is such a talented fellow that he writes books for all age levels.  He's done an adorable series for babies, Baby Loves.  He's written the Jiggy McCue books for elementary school kids. He wrote his own memoir for adults which I really enjoyed, MILKING THE NOVELTY, which is only available through Michael.  And those are just the ones I've read.  There are more.  Buy them.

     So I'd like to introduce you to Michael Lawrence, someone I admire greatly as a brilliant author and a really great person who tolerates numerous emails from an American wannabe author.  

On location doing research for his book, JUBY'S ROOK

RW (Restless Writer).  It seems that the YA genre is full of trilogies and series these days.  How did you approach editors with Withern Rise?  Did you know it would be a trilogy when you started writing it?

ML. A Crack in the Line, volume one of the Withern Rise trilogy, was a slightly expanded rewrite of my first published book for children, When the Snow Falls, published in England (but nowhere else) in 1995. Some time after publication of Snow Falls I began to get an itch to further explore the premise of life alternatives thrown up by chance and circumstance, but for older readers. I only approached two editors with the proposition, and the second of them accepted it, probably because she had already published other books of mine. Although I intended The Aldous Lexicon (my English title) to be a trilogy I had no idea what would go into the second and third volumes until I came to write them, but I dropped little things in the first volume (and the second when I came to it) that seemed to have no business there, which meant that I had to find a reason for their presence in the next volume or volumes in due course. The story was thus a sort of unfolding puzzle for me, but I liked that process. It meant that I couldn’t write on automatic.

RW.  You write for very young children through adult.  Do you prefer writing for one age group more than the rest?

ML. I’ve always liked variety, though writing for children can be both limiting and frustrating as there are times when I want to use language and plot devices that would be beyond the young reader. 

RW.  The first time I interviewed you, I asked if you thought you'd tire of writing.  You said "I seem to change interests and professions every ten years or so. 2005 is my tenth year as a published writer, so I’m a bit restless at the moment, wondering what I can do to spice things up a bit."  So, 2010 marks year 15 as a published writer.  Have you found a way to 'spice things up' or are you searching for a new direction?

ML. Five years ago I put up a shelf that fell down. So I’m still writing. But the restlessness has not gone away. Far from it. Ever feel that you’ve strayed into the wrong reality? If so, you might be in mine.

RW.  Since you've been publishing for 15 years, how do you continue to generate ideas for your books?  What moves you along when the muse isn't smiling on you?

ML. I’ve never needed a muse, smiling or scowling. I’m one of those unfortunate individuals who has too many ideas to sleep through more than three nights a week. There are times when I long for writer’s block. What peace!

RW.  You've written many great books with memorable and quirky characters.  Is there any character that has remained with you or do they 'go away' when you've finished their book(s)?

ML. When I finish a book I’m out of it immediately and working on the next one. My characters are creations, that’s all, and disposable. Plenty more where they came from. I recently lost a close friend from childhood. He was real. He stays with me.

RW.  BABY CHRISTMAS has become a holiday classic in my house.  Did you find any major difference in selling a seasonal book?  Would you want to do more seasonal books?

ML. It took about a decade to find a publisher for Baby Christmas. Publisher after publisher turned it down, but after it came out I was asked to write a sequel. This I did – setting it on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. It was turned down on the assumption that buyers of Christmas books wouldn’t be interested in an after-Christmas book. Pity. It was a fun idea.

RW.  I think many people are drawn to writing and publishing because they want their words to live on and touch other people.  Which of your books are you most proud of? 

ML. Proud of? Tricky. I get absolutely no buzz out of seeing my books in shops, libraries or anywhere else. I might think fondly back on something I’ve written, but that’s about as close to ‘proud’ as I get. The book I think most highly of is the one that will be in my head next week, or the week after.

RW.  Where is your favorite place to refresh and rejuvenate your mind?

ML. I have a wooden lodge on the coast of North Cornwall, about an hour and a half’s drive from where I live. I go there for a week or so at a time, to work. It’s very quiet there. There’s no telephone and I receive no mail there. My view is of a field of grazing cows, hills dotted with walkers, and a small rocky bay. At night the sky, when not heavy with cloud, is filled with stars. It suits me very well.

RW.  What is the worst advice you've ever been given, about anything.

ML. ‘Don’t do it.’

RW.  What is the best thing that's happened to you because of your writing?

ML. Being able to give up sleeping on park benches under newspaper. For a while anyway...

RW.  I confess that I often procrastinate when I could be writing.  Facebook is a fabulous procrastination tool for me.  Do you procrastinate when you should be writing?  What is your diversion of choice?

ML. Facebook holds no allure for me. My preferred diversion? I write music of various kinds, including songs. No one hears these things. They’re for me alone, but hugely satisfying to produce and record. 

RW.  The publishing world is in an uproar over the future of publishing and digital rights.  Has any of this affected you and the work you're currently doing? 

ML. Book sales are way down at present for most authors, including me, though I doubt the reason is entirely the digital market. Ebooks could be the thing of the future, however, and accordingly I have just signed a contract for sixteen of my books to be made available in that format over the next year. These include the three Withern Rise books (the English version, as The Aldous Lexicon).

RW.  Do you have a favorite book that you find yourself coming back to?

ML. Nope. Tons of music, though.

RW.  You used to work as a photographer, do you think the artistic process of photography has influenced the way you write?  Do you still do photography for fun?

ML. These days I have no interest in taking pictures other than to record things or places I wish to remember or as an aid to my writing. When about to start work on a novel that requires a vivid setting I go to some lengths to find a real location for my characters to inhabit. I’ve just finished a comic novel about a murder weekend that goes wrong. Before starting it I searched quite widely for a house to set it in, and eventually found a likely prospect and wangled a guided tour by the owners. It was a huge dark place, with ivy over much of it, and a bell tower, and battlements, rambling grounds, and so on. I took a stack of pictures, which I spread over my desk in order to feel in touch with the place while moving my characters around its various rooms and parts. I did something similar during the three years in which I wrote The Aldous Lexicon. Withern Rise, the house in the trilogy, is the house I was born in, which overlooked a quiet stretch of English river. During the writing I revisited it often, photographed it and made notes through all the seasons, to ensure that every description was as precise as I could make it.

RW.  Are you ever in the States?  If so, how could I wrangle you to Michigan for a pint?

ML. The Big Invite has yet to arrive, and I doubt that it will. You need to hit the best-seller lists for that kind of interest, and I’ve only sold a couple of million books or so. Peanuts.

At last! (and yet we're still not there)

Well, I'm sure most of you know from my Facebook page (Sarah Perry, Children's and Young Adult Author), I finished the first draft of DREAM GIRL.  Surprisingly, after 5 years of on and off writing, there was no fanfare, no blast of trumpets, no earthquake when I keyed in the final word.  In fact, I couldn't even celebrate with anyone because it was going on midnight and the rest of the household was asleep in their beds.  Even Facebook was a desolate place.  So I watched Youtube videos for the songs I'd listened to while writing and ate a victory bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream.  Then, with nothing better to do, I crawled off to bed myself.  Can you stand the drama?
So when is the book coming out? you may well be asking.  Ah, my friends.  Now is when the real journey begins.  I am now revising, as best I can, in between work, mothering, and a negligible amount of housework.  (Ask my poor husband.  A good housekeeper I am not!)  The struggle of revising has also been put a bit on the back burner as conferences approach.  In a mere 4 days, I'll be attending a conference.  The main attraction, for me, is that Jay Asher will sit down with me for 10 minutes to tell me if my first chapter has any merit.  He is the bestselling author of THIRTEEN REASONS WHY, which is, last time I checked, on the NYT Bestseller list at 59 weeks.
I also signed up for the big conference this summer and booked myself a manuscript critique for the first 15 pages + 1 page summary.  This will be another chance to get the work in front of an agent, editor, or other industry professional who can give me advice which will help me from looking more foolish than necessary when I'm really ready to query.
Oh, and did I mention I won a free agent query letter critique from Elana Roth of Caren Johnson Literary?  That was already enormously valuable.  Thanks to her, I now know that the part of my query that I thought was intriguing and compelling was actually vague and generic.
The bottom line is I feel things are going well with revising and that I'm enormously happy to have access to all this good advice before I start sending it out.  The more mistakes I can correct now, the better my chances of piquing someone's interest and moving to the next step.
In the meantime, let's all read THIRTEEN REASONS WHY and hope Jay has at least one nice thing to say before he rips into my chapter.

Coldplay knows

"Nobody said it was easy.  No one ever said it would be this hard.  Oh take me back to the start." -Coldplay  This song, "The Scientist" came into the rotation as I was writing.  I have a soundtrack carefully assembled to help me keep the mood and momentum of my story.  I have been struggling all day with this chapter, #43 and when this song came on I knew I had to take a break and blog my way through it. 
Ladies and gentlemen, I am in labor.  Labor in all senses of the word.  This book is nearing delivery and we're both struggling hard to get it here. 
I recently read on an editors blog that a mistake newbie authors make is trying to sell a book they haven't finished writing.  This happens because a new book is all consuming, energizing, amazing.  It grabs you in a passionate embrace that doesn't fade until...oh...say, several chapters in.  Once the blush of infatuation has worn off it can be hard to stay with your new book.  There are a lot of break ups.  It's been five years now, but Dream Girl and I have held on to our relationship.  Other potential books and I have flirted, even dated a bit, only to find that we just didn't have the same goals.  We had to part ways.  I've suspected for a long while that Dream Girl is "the one".  We're together and we're going to stay that way.  The only problem is that Dream Girl is the caterpillar in the cocoon and she needs me to get her out.  Let me just state, for the record, that it is a hell of a lot easier to build the cocoon than to extract the butterfly.  Yes, I'm mixing metaphors but you see how this is all swirling around in my brain.  It is harder to write the end of a book because it's sort of like getting the results of an experiment.  (Sorry, a different metaphor)  Throughout the experiment, you're adding elements getting everything set up and then, at the end, you have to make sure those elements lead to the proper outcome.  Did the foreshadowing in chapter 7 actually come to fruition by chapter 15?  Did the set up in chapter 25 give me anything to work with logically by chapter 43?  I know, I know, that's what revising is for but the business of not adding any more elements, tidying up what was already thrown out and making sure that it makes sense, is still worth reading, and satisfying is HARD work. 
There is no epidural for this kind of labor.  It's 100% all natural.  I'm feeling every word.  I love it because I know what I get at the end.  I hate it because the end still feels forever away. 
Oh for those heady days at the start when Dream Girl and I couldn't get to know each other fast enough.  I looked over chapter 1 today...where it all began.  I'm entering it in a manuscript critique for a conference this May, so yes, it's a useful diversion from finishing up.  Looking it over drove home the point that revising is easier than finishing up the course we've set.  (we = the characters and I)  However, it also made me feel that I'm doing well with this.  It's a long, slow, difficult labor, for sure but I am seeing steady progress.  Keep up the cheerleading.  It's time to birth this book! 

The Doldrums

Well, I didn't do much blogging here last month because I was on fire with the actual business of writing Dream Girl.  I managed to hammer out 4 chapters in February and felt quite giddy with joy about it.  I finished February 2 chapters ahead of my goal and down to a total of 8 chapters left to write.  8!  EIGHT!  Hold up 5 fingers on one hand and 3 on the other and you will see how many chapters are left to finish!  It isn't very much is it?  I should be blazing like a wildfire to get those last 8 chapters done, but am I?  Nope. 
The end of February found me with a 4 day jury duty stint on a very serious criminal case that was exhilarating, but energy sapping.  During the same 4 days, an insidious virus was slowly fighting for dominance of my body and the struggle ensued for a total of 12 days.  The baby has also decided that sleep is for the weak and has been slowly but surely making his wake up time earlier and earlier.  (5:30am today...sweet Lord, I can't go on like this!)  So is it really any wonder that I'm looking at my calendar and thinking, "Eh, it's only the 8th.  Plenty of time to write my 2 chapters."  Looking to the past, this would be the part when months would go by with no thought to writing at all.  Normally, it wouldn't bother me and I'd know that I'd pick up again when the time was right, when I felt the urge again.  So this is my long dark night of the soul for my writing life.  But I do have my monthly goal to complete.  I do have the looming deadline of the conference.  I do have the stab of jealous camaraderie when I see updates from fellow writers (who already have that book deal).  I've been looking at blogs by literary agents.  I see what's going on.  Deals are being made.  Writers are writing books, getting paid, feeling proud.  I so desperately want to join them, but I feel that I'm lamely struggling to the finish line of "someday" I'll have a manuscript ready to send out.  This is why writing is a lonely craft.  Besides the solitude of the actual work, you spend a lot of time on the outside looking in.  Longing with an unquenchable thirst to get through that magical door.  And yet, here I am, rubbing my two sticks together haphazardly, hoping to get that spark that will lead me through these last 8 chapters.  Anyone want to sign on as members of my literary cheer leading squad?  No athleticism required.