Happy 2013! Yay, the world didn’t end!

January 2, 2013

cdrakebooks challenge accepted, goals, keeping the faith Leave a comment

It’s crazy that another year has come and gone just like that. Seriously, it feels like it was only a month ago that I was coming up with resolutions for 2012! While I didn’t exactly meet all four of mine, I did manage to accomplish two of them:

  1. I completed a new manuscript and sent out a batch of queries.
  2. For the most part, I enjoyed life much more.

There were several factors that went into the successful completion of #2, and I have to thank my rheumatologist first and foremost for helping me feel SO MUCH BETTER. Seriously, once my arthritis was under control and my pain was gone, it made a world of difference in my happiness, energy, and all-around attitude!

I also did my fair share of one of my favorite activities in 2012: traveling! Within the year, I managed to squeeze in trips to Austin, TX for a pitch conference with Jess; Wilmington, NC with my BFF, Sara; a trip to see Phish 4 nights in a row in Noblesville, IN & Alpine Valley, WI with Will, Tara, & Bill; NYC with my mom to see Madonna; DC to see Madonna for a second time with Sara; Atlanta with my boss & lovely coworker, Hayley, for market; AND another trip to NYC to ring in the new year with Phish and great friends.

Apart from traveling, I also did something else exciting in 2012: I graduated and received my MFA from Hollins! 

I may not have read nearly as much as I hoped to this past year and I obviously didn’t follow up with my resolution to blog more, but I’m hoping to fix that in 2013. Hey, better late than never, right?

*Switching gears, let’s go back to #1: yes, I did complete a manuscript and yes, I have queried it. However, I think I’m going to fine-tune it a bit more. But I’m still really proud of it and myself for bringing it to fruition! It’s a great feeling.

Now, let’s talk goals for 2013:

Apart from maintaining my previous goals of reading more and blogging more, I also hereby challenge myself to:

  1. Finish a first draft of a new project as well as continue to edit my previous one.
  2. Not sweat the small stuff anymore.
  3. Keep my desk area/work space organized. (Seriously, this’ll probably be the hardest resolution for me to follow. Just ask my husband.)
  4. Stay in better contact with my close friends. Sure, we’re all busy, but I want to put forth more of an effort to stay in the loop with my buddies this year! Especially my weasels. ;)

I could keep going, but to be realistic, I’m stopping there.

Cheers to each of you in 2013! Happy reading, writing, traveling, and anything else you may enjoy! May the new year treat you well.

The Art of Pitching: Batter Up!

May 5, 2012

cdrakebooks challenge accepted, keeping the faith, team weasels, writing Leave a comment

As my writing partner and friend, Jess wrote on her blog earlier today, the two of us are officially registered to attend the 2012 Agents Conference in Austin where we will both be pitching to agents in June. As in this June. As in approximately 48 days from now. As one can imagine, since we’ve never pitched before, I have been frankly a little intimidated. *takes deep breath & lets it out slowly* Ahh, that’s better. :)

But anyway, today after typing up different pitching do’s and don’ts I found online as well as suggestions from our lovely advisor, Hillary Homzie, I started thinking about pitching in relation to baseball. Yes, I know it sounds corny, but bear with me here. Not to brag, but I played Little League softball and yes, I was the pitcher. I was pretty decent at the sport except when it came to sliding into base – I don’t know if I just wasn’t coordinated enough to do it or if I just didn’t want to get my pants dirty, but I couldn’t slide for the life of me, which is why I sadly retired from the game before moving up to Senior League. But think about it: as the pitcher of a softball team, your job is to deliver fast-paced pitches that whizz right past the batter straight into the catcher’s mitt. You have to be careful, though, because your desired strikes can easily turn into balls by throwing a little too much to the side, too low, or too high. Or even if you throw the perfect strike, the batter might still make contact and even hit it right out of the park. Basically, what I’m trying to say is being the pitcher is a pretty tough job. It’s ultimately up to you to strike out your batters and keep the runs of your opposing team to a minimum if you have any hopes of winning the game. Your teammates are very important too, of course, but if the pitcher has a bad night – chances are the whole team will, too. Now, let’s switch gears and change into the mindset of the batter. When you’re up against a killer pitcher, you can breathe easy when the first strike hurls past your bat. You don’t even have to panic when the next one does. But before the third pitch, you better have it together and focus because it’s your last shot. You miss this one and you’re outta’ there!

Unlike in softball or baseball, you don’t get three chances to wow the agent to whom you’re pitching. You can’t goof up your delivery twice and still breathe easy. You have one shot – one strike – to deliver the ultimate pitch that will not only impress the agent but leave them wanting more – and hopefully even asking for it in the form of a full or partial manuscript request. When pitching to an agent, you take on the responsibilities of both the pitcher and the batter – your goal is to throw a curveball they’ve never seen before (read: show that your manuscript is unlike anything else out there and that your readers will eat it up) and then switch gears to blow them away so much, the “curveball” sails over the fence and out of the park as a homerun.

Okay, so if I’m being realistic, I know my pitch session might not result in a homerun. But my goal is to just “make contact” (read: make a connection with an agent). And hey, even if I only bunt it and barely make it to first base, it’s a start, right?

Celebrating a Finished First Draft: The Pre-gaming of Writing

April 10, 2012

cdrakebooks challenge accepted, editing, team weasels, writing 2 Comments

So, by writing this I will probably jinx myself, but as of today I expect to finish up a draft of my WIP by the end of this week (or the beginning of next at the latest, if my ending takes longer to wrap up than I anticipate it will). For any non-writers out there that are reading this, finishing up even a rough draft of a novel is a HUGE deal. And since I suffered an embarrassingly long drought where I couldn’t get myself to write at all and somehow managed to flip that on its head and bang out a complete draft is an even bigger deal to me.

Apart from my thesis manuscript that I had to finish in order to graduate, this is the first novel I’ve written just because – and hopefully won’t be my last. So even though I know I have a long road ahead of editing, getting feedback from my awesome weasel writing group, etc., I plan to celebrate this accomplishment much the same way college students gear up for football games: with a pre-game party, if you will. I can’t celebrate the win quite yet (a.k.a, a completely finished, can’t-look-at-this-again polished draft that’ll rock my socks off), but I can still toast to getting the story down, right? Right. ;)

So cheers to all my fellow aspiring authors out there that are in the process of finishing or have just completed the first draft of a novel. Enjoy this moment with whatever form of pre-gaming you so choose, because once we actually step out on to the field to play (read: edit), the real work has just begun. Be sure to suit up with some protective padding; you’ll no doubt get tackled dozens of times and may even want to leave the game all-together. But try your hardest not to, okay? If I learned anything from writing my thesis, it was that the ending product is well worth the tackles and hits you take during the editing stage.

And if you’re able to hook an agent and publisher with your brilliant polished manuscript, you, my friend, have won the game! Go Team!

Feelin’ the Writing Burn!

March 14, 2012

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Several months ago, my husband and I bought a Lance Armstrong exercise bike. Those that know me know I’m not exactly big on exercising – I never have been – so it won’t come as a shock that after the newness of the bike wore off, so did my desire to use it. My husband, on the other hand, works out on a very regular basis and encourages me to do the same. “Your doctor said you’d feel better,” he often says. And even though I know he’s right and I want to get in shape anyway for summer, every time I walk by the room where we keep the bike, I just keep walking. Even though I know once I do I’ll be happy with the results, I can’t seem to find the drive to actually get started.

Which was the exact same problem that, up until a little over a month ago, I was having with writing. Though I had what I consider to be a stellar story idea and had even mapped out a really rough outline for a potential trilogy of said idea, I still had trouble taking that first step into my office and getting started. I think a big reason for that now is the same one keeping me from exercising: I knew it would take a lot of time and effort to get up that metaphorical hill, and I just couldn’t talk myself into climbing it. But a few weeks ago, that finally changed. One day out of nowhere, I was in the mood to write. Not only in the mood, but the old feeling I used to get when crafting together my thesis manuscript bubbled back up, making me realize that the only way this book would ever come to be is if I started writing it. And that desire – that impossibly strong need to finish it – hasn’t gone away since. Even on days when I don’t have time to write, I’m constantly working out in my mind what should happen next in my story. And to beat it all, I’m actually really, truly excited about it! I haven’t been able to say that in a while. Case in point: yesterday I wrote more than 5,000 words. Granted, they were pretty rough and I’m already thinking of scenes I need to alter or scrap all-together, but that still makes me really happy. Because I’m writing again. And that, in and of itself, is something I’m pretty damn proud of!

So to all you other aspiring authors out there, if you hit a rough patch and can’t write for a while, I’m living proof that writing droughts can end. You just have to make up your mind to let them.

Finding a writing routine (and sticking to it)

November 3, 2011

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In honor of NaNoWriMo, I’m challenging myself to write like a mad woman throughout the month of November. That being said, I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish a full first draft of the novel I’m working on, mainly b/c I’ve been trained through Hollins that I need to have my work critiqued frequently (thank you, Jess & Rach!) so I know which way my story is going, that it’s good, and, most importantly, that it makes sense! After having my writing workshopped repeatedly during my Master’s program (which can be a good and bad thing, to be honest), I feel like for the most part I can anticipate some of the questions my typical teen readers would have while reading that aren’t necessarily important, but could distract from the plot itself. But of course I won’t catch them all, and that’s what writing friends are for. ;)

But anyway, after talking to Kiera the other day about getting yourself to write (I’d been going through a drought lately due to a few different life circumstances beyond my control), I realized I needed to develop a strict writing routine, which is as follows:

  1. having a specific place that’s a good environment to work in (which, surprisingly, is my husband’s desk. He’s currently using mine for his work. Yeah, we’re weird.)
  2. figuring out what part of the day I’m most creative (and, as a very much non-morning person, I determined that to be the afternoon/evening).
  3. putting together a music playlist that will keep me focused (which is currently Florence + the Machine’s new album, “Ceremonials”).
  4. having a group of people who will make sure I get my work done (Thanks Will & Mom!).
  5. setting a strict weekly deadline to have 25-30 pages done (Sunday!).
  6. drinking caffeine (preferably a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, but Coke also does the trick).
  7. & last but by no means least, having chocolate on hand (yay for tons of left-over Halloween candy).
What about you guys? Do any of you have a strict regimen for when you write? What do you do differently?

Writing without an ending in mind: smart or unwise?

October 14, 2011

cdrakebooks challenge accepted, writing 2 Comments

First of all for those who were wondering, no, I’m not dead! Since my last entry, I’d like to say I’ve been uber-busy (which, honestly, isn’t inaccurate. In the past couple months my thesis was approved by my second reader, I turned it into my advisor, and after paying my graduation fees, officially can call myself an MFA graduate. Oh, and I’m also working part-time at a store I used to work at last year.), but that’s no excuse for letting my blog get all dusty and forgotten. It won’t happen again, friends!

But moving on… one thing I’ve really been pondering lately is whether or not working on a WIP whose ending hasn’t come to you yet is such a good idea. I’ve got a couple ideas that have been floating through my mind lately for stories – one is actually a WIP I started a while back I want to re-work, the other entirely new – but the thing is, I don’t really know how one should end. As I said in a previous entry, outlines aren’t really my friends anyway when writing, but I typically still have the bare bones of an ending in mind when I write. So if I go forward without it, it’ll definitely be unchartered territory for me. Do any of you write that way successfully (i.e., without pulling your hair out and going crazy)? :P Well, regardless, I’m going to try it. Wish me luck, guys.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

May 27, 2011

cdrakebooks challenge accepted, writer's block 2 Comments

A few weeks ago, I was writing like crazy – if not every day, at least every other. Well, all of a sudden, I stopped. And not for lack of trying either! It was like my characters had all decided to go on some awesome vacation…and I wasn’t invited.

My usual writers’ block tricks weren’t cutting it either (i.e., listening to my WIP’s playlist, making notes, even trying to steal some mojo from Jess…) and I was stumped trying to come up with witty tweets! You know when you can’t even write 140 characters, something’s really wrong. I’ve been through a writing drought before, but I guess I was naive enough to believe it wouldn’t happen to me again – that I was to the point now where my creative juices would endlessly flow.

But yesterday I realized I may be down but I’m not out. After talking with Jess about my upcoming trip to KY (my husband’s cousin is getting married & we’re visiting some family), she made a good point: that I should try to use the trip for inspiration. In other words, I should take pictures and lay the groundwork of the setting of a story (either one of my current WIP’s or a new one altogether) first and let it inspire the details of the plot later. As a writer who constantly struggles with the in’s and out’s of setting (where to set a story, when to mention setting, etc.), I’m looking forward to the challenge! And who knows, maybe that’s exactly where my characters are waiting for me. Hey, a girl can hope, right?

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