My Human Moments and the State of the Desk

The State of the Desk: Thank goodness Athena is here to watch over it all. Lots of post-its, manuscripts, and endless emails coming in, which I am, indeed, thankful for--emails mean that people are stepping up to volunteer! :)

So, I've been creeping around behind-the-scenes here, and thought I would mention the creeping things.

I'm querying. Which feels a lot like I might be walking around with broccoli in my teeth (from the crepe I had with @Annastanisz last night), and nobody is telling me. But I know that can't be true. You guys would tell me. Right?!

I'm filling volunteer positions for the Spring NE-SCBWI conference. I'm even singing about it. (Don't worry, twitter isn't wired for sound...yet.) You can follow along on twitter (@HeatherGKelly) and #nescbwi, or check out the full version here.

I went to Jodi Meadow's book launch for ASUNDER at Brookline Booksmith. I was so distracted by the above tasks that I was at the launch a full two minutes before I realized that Jodi had written INCARNATE which I had read and loved. Then I was even happier to be there.  I know, #ICanBeSoDense and I promise, #ImNotACompleteFlake. I'm just having a lot of human moments right now. Would love to have more superwomen moments, though. Loved talking with @ACGaughen at the launch. I think she's all kinds of awesome.

Then I caught up with the fabulous @KristineAsselin, @AnshaKotyk, @Kiperoo, and met a couple other awesome kidlitters like @Lena_Goldfinch at Kris's fabulous meet-up. If you live in New England, check out the date of the next one in Kris's sidebar. There were not enough hours in the night to get all the talking done. (Well, there might have been enough hours, but we chose to go home and sleep through some of those.)

Phew. Lots of fun stuff this week.

So, is your desk any less post-it-y than mine? Have you gotten out for a bit of community during this long winter? What has been your flakiest moment this week? Maybe I'll give out an award. :)

To everyone attending the NY SCBWI conference this weekend: Have fun!!

How My Characters Would Query, and How Superman Sleds

Querying is an odd beast.

I send off e-mails, not knowing if they are even received (or are victim to the Spam Bot), and wait for a reply, not knowing if I will get one. I don't even know if the agent I queried is ever going to see my e-mail--I understand that some agents use interns to weed the in-box out.

I'm working over-time to put myself in the shoes of the agents, to understand why the system is what it is, but at the same time, some days I feel like I'm giving away my power.

Everyone copes differently with stress. Some queriers openly rage against the system. Some quietly hide the stress. Some do what is recommended and work on the next thing. Some alternate between all of the above.

Right now, I'm thinking about what my main characters would do:

Pete would create to-do lists to keep him on track. He would look at the puzzle of how to get an agent from all sides and come up with concrete, but out-of-the-box solutions. He would stay steadfast, systematic, and ignore the feelings of powerlessness.

Jeze would jump right in and pretend to bold and un-crushable. She would hide her insecurities behind attitude and blow through emailing agents like a bull in a china shop. She would face her fears unquestionably and query all the scariest agents first. :)

So, how am I doing it? I think I'm combining the two. I'm definitely ignoring the feelings, and some days, ignoring the fact that I am even querying. I am making lists and doing research, but I am also jumping out there. I'm probably making a bunch of mistakes. You know, because I'm human and just a little stressed about being vulnerable.

I am being methodical, but also pretending to be bold. I'm hoping the combination works for me.

I'm doing the hard work.

And rushing out there. 

I admit, the risk of querying can be a rush. :) Clearly, just sitting on the sled isn't enough thrill for Superman. 

And, if it doesn't work, there is always the next book. :)

How would your characters query? How do you?

We're going to be sledding until there's no more snow on the ground. :) Are you enjoying winter?

Writing Rites of Passage

Wow, it's been a while. Since I've talked on the blog, anyway. I've thrown up a few TED talks, but those posts are more about sharing other people's ideas.

I have been in a major time of transition--finishing a novel and starting to query. Yup, I've started to put my work out there.

So, I haven't been using this platform as a voice recently. But I've also been busy on other (writing) fronts--finding office space and doing work for the NESCBWI conference. I'm sure I'll talk more about those things soon.

Right now I'm trying to decide what to work on while waiting for query responses. I have so many projects in various forms of completion, since I have been doing this writing novels thing for such a good long time. I might work on a MG contemporary fantasy, a tween contemporary fantasy, a YA cyber thriller, or a YA humorous contemporary (an almost spy novel). I think I'm leaning toward the YA cyber thriller, since the novel I'm querying is a YA urban-futuristic-psych thriller. Sounds awesome, doesn't it? :) And, no, I don't call it that in my query. :P

And, I don't know if the novel that I'm querying will land me an agent. There's just so much out of my control. But as far as my evolution as a writer, I believe I'm there.

Here's my know-you're-ready-for-an-agent checklist:

Made a complete fool out of myself in front of an agent at a conference. Check. I know, most of the time I seem relatively put-together when you meet me in person. But, boy, occasionally the wallflower in me comes out, and I can't string together actual words into coherent sentences. It's a rite of passage. :) I hope.

Toted my kids to writer events all over the state. Check. Their response now is, "You mean, we have to meet ANOTHER writer?" The honeymoon is definitely over. Except, of course, for this chick, who continues to have rock-star status at our house.

Revised my philosophy into: Butt-in-chair no matter how I feel about the current project, shoot for the stars and believe they're reachable, but understand that there is so much about this career choice that I have no control over. Know that rejections don't make me any less of a writer but sometimes can help me become more of a writer. Check.  Not that I have such a rosy attitude every single day, but even when I don't, I still do the writing.

Have cheerleaders (a.k.a. crit partners) from every walk of the writing spectrum. Check. There is nothing like having a published author point out that you learned a comma rule incorrectly and need to go back and relearn. So embarrassing. I tell myself that most people have a quirk like this that they have to rectify. We're all human. :) We all have bad (writing) habits.

Decided not to give up on my writing career, multiple times. Check. Although, I don't know how much power I have over this. No matter what conscious decisions I make, I always end up writing. Call it a compulsion. Plus, I don't know how to make cherry pie. Yup, I'm shameless. I linked to my own blog post. But reading about how L'Engle was rejected for an entire decade before anything of hers was published is so heartwarming. (Or maybe not--depends on perspective!)

So, does you're I'm-ready checklist look anything like mine?

How do you survive querying? How did you snag your agent? If you are an agent, what kind of check-list do you look for in your clients?

Happy New Year, everyone!

TED Talk Tuesday: Malcolm Gladwell Talks About CHOICE, HAPPINESS, and SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Today's TED talk, by author Malcolm Gladwell, is lengthy but worth the watch. I find his reasoning to be spot-on for helping me create a healthy querying mindset. He's not talking about writing, either. He's talking about how his friend Howard Moscowitz systematically and scientifically studied what makes people passionate about food.

It's really hard to see our writing with professional detachment, but we all know our feelings about coffee, Pepsi, and spaghetti sauce.

It all comes down to taste.

Your manuscript cannot be the perfect Pepsi. There is no perfect Pepsi. There are only perfect Pepsis.

Intrigued? Watch and see why your book can't, and shouldn't, be loved by all your crit partners, all agents, the whole general public.

Take it away, Malcolm Gladwell!

Can't view Malcolm's talk: Choice, Happiness and Spaghetti Sauce? Watch it here.

My takeaways?

1. People don't know what they want, but it is our job as writers to give it to them anyway. :)

2. "There is no perfect mustard or imperfect mustard. There are only different kinds of mustards that suit different kinds of people." Once you have perfected your manuscript, there will be crit partners/agents/readers, who don't like it. It doesn't mean that your manuscript isn't awesome.

It may mean that your manuscript is old world tomato sauce, and that the people you have been showing it to prefer spaghetti sauce with tons of visible solids. :) Your job as a writer is to use all your clues to find the crit partners/agents/readers who prefer the taste of spaghetti sauce with visible solids and see what they think of your manuscript.

We don't have the time to create different versions of our manuscripts. So we need to be specific when we search for our audience.

I have to add a personal caveat here--and that's that I do find value in receiving a crit from someone who doesn't read in my genre. As long as I know their tastes going in, it is extremely useful to me to hear their feedback.

3. It's all about taste. I know this on some level and have been told this in different ways along my career. But comparing books to food REALLY brings this idea home to me. We need to study and embrace human variability--embrace the diversity--in order to find the fans which will love the taste of our book. I don't want to write a book which appeals in a mediocre way to all. I want to create a book which is loved by some.

So, what do you think? Does this idea make it easier to think, when facing a rejection from an agent, that that agent prefers the taste of Pepsi and your manuscript is a Coke?

(Of course we need to make sure our Coke is the best tasting Coke it can be.)

What are your takeaways from this TED talk? What do you do when you are faced with a crit from someone who clearly doesn't like your book? How do you find your true audience? How do you handle the querying process? How do you deal with the rejections?

I will be the first to admit that I love weak, milky coffee (preferably with a nutty flavor). 

I'm so hungry for some spaghetti smothered in garlic mushroom Prego sauce. I think I'll go make some. :)

Evolution of Community and Laura Tells Us How to Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings

*dusting off the blog* *cough* 

Phew. :)

It's been a while since I blogged. I've missed hanging out here and in your virtual living rooms! Slowly, I'm going to get back into it. Being a part of this blogging community really supports me. 

And when I'm away, I'm plugged into other community--in this case, I circled the wagons of my crit partners. In my writing life, I'm putting the finishing touches on my revision and hoping to query shortly. Revision is an interesting beast for me, one which I am happily taming. This time around I needed to focus on that process and take a break from the blogging.

My writing community used to be chiefly blog-based. From this wonderful community, I found writers close to me in proximity and writers (in virtual proximity) willing to be AMAZING crit partners. Now I'm even looking for local writers to go in on office space, something similar to Writers' Room Boston, but unique and in the 'burbs. Give me a shout-out if you are interested--it's going to be a kick-butt community space. :) 

So, I apologize if I haven't been a part of your circle of support recently. I would love to know what you've been working on!

My good friend Laura Pauling has been very busy--her new book How to Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings came out recently.

I'm so excited for Laura, I invited her here to tell us a little about why she chose to write a girl's adventure story. I love strong female characters, especially since #myboysreadgirlbooks.   (Oh, and #mygirlreadsboybooks.) Sometime those hashtags will CATCH ON. :)

Wait, I need to throw up a banner before Laura gets here. 

*getting out virtual glue* *standing on ladder* *sluurp*

There! It's official. :)
Welcome, Laura! Tell us a little about your book.

Published by Pugalicious Press

 When Bianca and Melvin brave the jungle to rescue their grandfather, they stumble upon the ancient Maya city of Etza, where the people haven’t aged in 2,000 years. They must learn to work together as they face loincloth-wearing skeletons from the underworld, a backstabbing princess, and an ancient prophecy that says in three days the city will be destroyed. No problem. They’ll find Zeb and zip right out of there. The fact that a crazy king wants to serve Bianca up to the gods as an appetizer is just a minor technicality. But this ancient evil dude has finally met his match. 

Writing adventure stories for girls. 

When I started writing, I had no desire to write a story about a girl in elementary school dealing with typical problems. Not that those aren’t needed or good books, but I saw a lack of books starring girls that struck out on adventure. Usually they’re the sidekick. Maybe that has to do with marketing. I’m sure there are reasons. Or maybe girls really do prefer reading about everyday life and struggles with their friendships. Not me. I long for adventure. I did as a reader too. That’s why I made a girl the main character in my time travel adventure. I truly believe boys will enjoy this story just as much. Bianca’s cousin, Melvin, accompanies her on her adventure, so I didn’t leave the boys out!

So how did I add girl power to the adventure?

• Bianca discovers the clues about her missing grandfather.
• In Tikal, an ancient Maya city, she’s the one to make the decision to sneak out at night.
• She fights Maya skeletons from the underworld and cunning enemies that try and trick her every step of the way.
• Together, Bianca and Melvin fight in an ancient battle.
• And in the end, she faces death with no escape route.

But, she is a girl. Woo hoo! I carefully wove in details about friendships and the challenges of relationships. For Bianca to discover truth about friendships, she had to experience the adventure. I tried to balance the struggles of contemporary middle grade for girls but in the backdrop of a time travel adventure. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks, Heather, for having me today!

How To Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings released in November. Pugalicious Press did a fantastic job, and I’m extremely happy with the results. This book would make a fantastic gift for boys or girls who enjoy adventure stories with lots of excitement! You can purchase it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. You can read the first chapter here. Thankfully, my journey is just beginning and I’m excited to see where it leads. Click here for the list of blog tour stops! Enter to win these prize packages!

Prize Package One (signed paperbacks)

Prize Package Two (signed paperbacks)

Prize Package Three

  Refresh the page if you can't see the Rafflecopter form! a Rafflecopter giveaway

You're welcome, Laura! The book sounds fascinating--one that I am sure I (and my boys and girl) will love.

So, make sure to enter Laura's giveaway, and check out her other blog tour stops.

I know Laura first from blogging, and second from NESCBWI, and her blog is a must-read. She analyzes the how-to of writing in wonderfully enlightening ways. And she is kind and supportive. If you want to read more about behind-the-scenes-Laura, I interviewed her way back in 2010.

So, what have you been up to recently? Please let me know. And if you want to link to a blog post about it in the comments, I'll be sure to stop by and say hello! Do you crave office space in order to write? What works for you? Do your #boysreadgirlbooks? Have I asked enough questions yet? :)