Month: March 2015

  • Q&A: Do you sign autographs or do you use a signature stamp?

    Do you sign autographs or do you use a signature stamp?

    I prefer to sign things with a peacock quill using only the blood of a unicorn foal for ink. 

  • Q&A: Tell me a story

    Q&A: Tell me a storyI’m home sick today. So…..Tell me a story. Please. 🙂

    I would, but I just spent the last 16 hours barfing. Maybe later?

  • how does writing affect how you read?

    It doesn’t affect how I read so much as what I read. I find YA and romance to be emotionally intense, albeit in different ways, so I’m more prone to funny things when I’m writing them. If I’m writing non-fiction or kids books, for a freelance project or whatever, I tend to go a bit darker. 

  • Q&A: How long did SHEIKH take from conception to this point now (w/ your agent and full r/r request)?

    How long did SHEIKH take from conception to this point now (w/ your agent and full r/r request)?

    I wrote the first few pages (all of which got scrapped in the final version) in December 2013 as a timed writing exercise, then promptly forgot about them. I found them again in late May/early June and decided to hang onto them, maybe they could be a story.

    The actual writing commenced in July 2014.

    In August 2014, I submitted synopsis and 1st 3 chapters to Harlequin.

    Harlequin’s So You Think You Can Write contest kicked off in September 2014. I entered the first chapter. Didn’t final, but I received a full request, and several agent requests. This is when I started researching agents.

    I began querying in mid-October 2014. Jessica was the first agent I queried and the first to request (that same day, even). Responses trickled in over the next few months.

    In February 2015, I received a revision request from Harlequin. Multiple pages of feedback on what I had done well in addition to what needed improvement. Great stuff.

    Jessica offered on March 4th, 2015. I accepted her offer a week later (THE. LONGEST. WEEK. EVER.) on March 11th, 2015. I finished revisions on March 18th, 2015. Tomorrow (March 25th, 2015), I’m starting a new book.

    And that’s where we are now.

  • Q&A: Song recommendation, PLEASE!

    Song recommendation, PLEASE!

    OK, fine. 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kixFJCrqK4

  • Q&A: Are you a F/T writer right now? Or balancing a day job with the writing?

    Are you a F/T writer right now? Or balancing a day job with the writing?

    I have a part-time retail job.

  • Q&A: I’m curious about your writing process.

    I’m curious about your writing process. Do you try to reach a word goal every day? What keeps you going when you have an “off” day? How much time do you spend writing and how much time do you spend doing other stuff (not really social media but research and planning stuff out?)

    My writing process is always evolving, but here’s what works for me now:

    I set a daily word goal and also a daily time goal, with the understanding that I’m free to call it a day when either of those are reached. ie, 2.5 hours or 2,000 words, whichever comes first. This helps a lot on those days when motivation is in short supply, because I know I won’t be frustrating myself for 10 hours trying to achieve a word count goal that’s just not going to happen. 

    I also really like deadlines. I don’t always meet them, but I like having them. Because honestly, if I could spend 2 years on a book, I would. More, if I could get away with it. Because there’s always something to fix, something I could do better, some area of doubt or insecurity I can’t seem to get over. Having a deadline helps me focus on getting it finished and let go of getting it perfect. 

    Another thing that helps with off days is that I put a time limit on indecision. When I can’t figure something out—like right now, I don’t know what I’m going to write next, I keep waffling—I give myself a few days to try and get some clarity, but no more than that. A wrong decision is better than no decision at all. I can’t just stay stopped because I don’t know what happens next. Eventually I have to start moving forward again. 

    The time thing is always a struggle. Jennifer Crusie did a post a long time ago about time management, and how sometimes the things you say are important to you are never made a priority. Writing can be like that if I let it. It’s so much easier to go on Twitter and talk to other writers about writing than it is to stay off Twitter so I can get some writing done. I’m on Tumblr right now, answering questions. Because writing is hard and this is easy.

    But I do make an effort. Some weeks I make a better effort than others, but I try. The breakdown of how I use that time follows the same logic of giving the most important things the most hours, and spending the least amount of time on the least important things: Writing > Editing > Reading > Generating Story Ideas > Planning and Analytics > Everything Else

  • Q&A: My critical critique partners is pissed I got an agent

    I’ve had this friend for years, we used to write fanfiction together when we were kids but now we write our own stuff. I let her critique my writing for years and she was always so critical. Almost mean about it. To the point where I would stop writing and move on to something else. Then I got this idea for a new book and didn’t tell her about it until I signed with an agent. Now she’s pissed bc I didn’t trust her enough to get her input. But I was afraid her input would make me stop. Help. 🙁

    First things first, congratulations on your new book! Sounds like you created something really great.

    And good for you, too, for not stopping this time when you felt insecure about your writing. That takes a lot of work, and you should be proud of yourself.

    Now. About your friend. 

    Are you sure you are, in fact, friends?

    I don’t mean that in the sense that one of you has done something un-friendly to the other, or anything.

    But sometimes writing friends aren’t really friends. They’re writing friends.

    Meaning the foundation of the relationship is writing and sharing writing and critiquing writing and promoting writing, with no other common interests. You may be friendly with each other, but you’re not exactly friends.

    Which would make her reaction make sense. Because in her mind, writing a book, getting an agent, might have been something she thought you would do together, and you cut her out of the process, whether you meant to or not.

    That’s one possibility.

    Another possibility is that you are friend friends, but are no longer compatible as writing friends. 

    Maybe you were compatible as fan-fiction critique partners because you shared a love of that particular fandom, but aren’t necessarily fond of each others’ original writing. Or maybe you grew older, and your tastes grew apart, and neither one of you are willing to admit it yet.

    I say this because it happens. Kind of like how your favorite author or favorite series one day doesn’t work for you anymore. And at first you’re mad at the creator, but eventually you realize it’s not just him, it’s you, too. You’ve changed. 

    Maybe she’s mean in her critiques and supportive of you giving up those other books because she’s trying to guide you back to a style of writing she enjoys, like what you were writing when you met in fandom all those years ago. She wants to enjoy your work again, but she can’t, and she erroneously thinks it’s your fault.

    And maybe the reason you didn’t tell her about this new book is because you knew she wouldn’t like it, knew she would try to talk you out of it, and likely succeed. Maybe in “hiding” this book from her, up until the agent stage, you were really just acknowledging what she couldn’t—that you’re not really compatible as writing friends anymore, and working together as closely as you used to only causes more harm than good.

    Which is why knowing the difference between friend friends and writing friends is so important.

    Because if you’re writing friends who are no longer compatible as writing friends…well…

  • Q&A: Congratulations on signing with your agent! 🙂 It must be so nice to have all of your hard work validated!

    Congratulations on signing with your agent! 🙂 It must be so nice to have all of your hard work validated!

    Thank you. 🙂

    Though if I’m completely honest, I still don’t really feel validated by it. I mean, it’s great, and I’m over the moon happy, and everything. 

    But I don’t feel any more valid than I did before. I still don’t really have a clue what I’m doing. And I still have days where I’m terrified someone will find out I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, and call me out for being a fraud. 

    I got the agent call while I was in the middle of revisions. Revisions that shouldn’t have been so hard, but for some reason were. And there times I really did not know if I could do them or not. I felt like my book was broken and I did not know how to fix it. If it could be fixed. If it should be fixed.

    And in those times, I really wanted to be rejected. By everyone. I wanted them to tell me it wasn’t working and I should move on to something else. Because moving on to something else seemed so much easier than fixing what was broken. 

    So much easier than admitting something was broken, and I did not know how to fix it. 

    Then Jessica called, and she loved the story, even though it wasn’t perfect, even though it needed a lot of work. Loved it enough to want to represent it. And I as thrilled. 

    And then I was terrified. Because if I couldn’t figure it out, if I failed this book, I wouldn’t just be disappointing myself. I would be disappointing the editor who requested it. The agent who believed in it enough to represent it. 

    I really do not like letting other people down. 

    It took a lot of self ass-kicking to get over that. Probably it will take even more next time.

    So yes, it is a great thing, and I am very excited. 

    But no, I don’t feel validated, really, like my hard work finally paid off. If anything, I feel like the hard work has just begun. 

  • Q&A: do you/did you ever have a dream agent or editor you wanted to work with?

    do you/did you ever have a dream agent or editor you wanted to work with?

    Not an actual person, as in, “I want John Smith and only John Smith”, no. But I do get along better with some personality types than others, so that’s definitely always been a consideration.