Hate List and Bitter End

Okay, so I finished Hate List last night.

And I cried several times.

Jennifer Brown tackled the tough issue of a school shooting with sensitivity. But really, the book isn't about the incident, it's about what led up to it and what happened afterward.

The main characters are outcasts at their school. Bullied. Rejected. Losers (in their minds, and in the minds of the other kids).

But in reality, as we all know, or should know, or need to know, they were just two kids looking for acceptance, love, life.

What everybody wants.

What everybody deserves.

Unfortunately, the bullying went too far and the main boy character, Nick, snaps.

The girl, Valerie, is left to pick up the pieces of her life. Her family doesn't trust her. Her friends disappear. Nick, her boyfriend is dead and she feels guilty for still loving him.

What happens throughout the story is a poignant tale of forgiveness, acceptance, and above all a lesson in what bullying can do.

Amazing!

Here's the trailer:



Bravo, Ms. Brown!

I encourage each of you to pick up Hate List.

On another note...

Jennifer's second book, Bitter End, is coming out soon, and I won a copy of the ARC (Advanced Reader Copy)! I am super, super excited! In it, she is tackling relationship abuse. Another sensitive topic and again, I say, "Bravo!"

Look for it on shelves soon!

And finally...

No news from the agent on the MS yet.

I'm kicking around a new title while I wait. But, I'm so not good at waiting -- I was the kid who opened the presents under the tree waayyyy before Christmas and learned how to re-wrap really well.

I know patience is a virtue and fruit of the spirit, but, crap, it is so hard!

*big sigh*

I'll find something to do.

I'm sure....

Shout Outs

This is going to be one of those meandering blog posts, so hold on to your hats...

Revisions
I think the revisions (at least for this stage) are done. TS Ferguson (editor extraordinaire) did such a great job with his edits and I feel like the book is stronger than ever right now. What I really feel good about is that he seemed to connect with the characters and the story. Gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, this could actually get published.

Yea, TS! Thank you!

I'm just waiting to hear back from him on a couple points and then it's off to the agent. Hopefully she will like it and sign it. Fingers crossed and prayers going up.


Hate List & Bitter End
When I started the editing step, the agent gave me three names of potential editors. TS seemed to be the one from the very beginning, but it was an easy choice after receiving a glowing recommendation by one of his authors, Jennifer Brown.

Last night I started the book that she wrote and TS edited, Hate List. It's about a school shooting, but told by the perspective of the shooter's girlfriend. The story begins five months after the shooting when she returns to school. Fascinating stuff (and well written and edited, I might add).

I stayed up way too late reading last night. Seems to be a pattern for me. :)

Anyway, her next book, Bitter End, comes out in about a month and I just wanted to give a shout out here.

She's giving away an ARC this Friday, and by blogging about it here, I've just entered the contest for it. I would love to win it, but quite honestly, I'm also just really happy for her. And grateful that she emailed me about TS.

Thanks, Jennifer!

If you, my wonderful readers, get a chance, grab Hate List and read it! It will really make you think about another side of high school. And then support Jennifer by grabbing Bitter End when it comes out too!

Okay, that's it for now. Maybe it wasn't so meandering after all. Hope you all have a lovely day.

It's definitely Spring here!

Flirting

I've just finished reading (for the second time) Flirting in Spanish by Susan McKinney de Ortega. This soon-to-be-published book is a beautiful and true love story that transcends cultures, age, and economic stations.

At thirty-three, Ortega runs from a life of affluence, fame, and tragedy to find herself in Mexico. She struggles to make ends meet while working odd jobs, and eventually becomes an English teacher at a high school.

There she meets Carlos, an extremely poor nineteen-year-old student, who captures her heart and brings her out of a deep pain that she has hidden for years. Together, they find how love has no boundaries.

I wish every woman had a Carlos. Every woman deserves to have a man like him.

Seriously, I cannot wait until Flirting... is on the shelves in bookstores everywhere (and until I can buy it for my friends).

And to answer your question...Yes, I do have my own "Carlos" aka the love of my life, Mark (to whom I've been married for almost twenty years).

*sigh*

On another note...

The edited version of Pearl should be back in my hands tonight.

Tonight!

I'm so excited, I can barely stand it!

Questions whirl in my head...

What has been changed? Have any characters been axed out? Is it tighter? Polished? Ready to go?

How will I ever get anything done at work today?

Hmmmm....

Maybe I will have to blog again tomorrow.

UPDATE: Okay, so I started this blog last night, and don't know how to change the date on it. Really the MS will be in my virtual hands tonight, Monday. Blame this all on Daylight Savings Time. :)

Muse

These last few weeks have been weird for me as far as writing goes. Well, maybe in other ways too, but that's for another day....

For the first time in two years, I really don't have the freedom to work on Pearl, since I want to see what TS has to say first. He should be done next Monday, and I am super excited about getting the MS back.

It's like Christmas anticipation...in March.

So, instead of working on Pearl, I've been dabbling with the another work in progress. A piece that is shaping up nicely. It's still YA, but not fantasy, and it has lots of interesting characters who are showing their many facets. More on that later.

On another note, the Drama Queen and I took a small roadtrip on Friday. She, of course, sat in the back seat totally immersed in a movie. We hooked her DVD player to the car speakers, so I could listen to the movie too.

I must admit it was kind of a bummer to just listen, especially since she was watching Inkheart. If you haven't seen the movie, it has a great premise: People who are called Silvertongues make stories come alive when they read aloud.

Imagine the possibilities and problems associated with that!

There are several characters that I would love to get to know personally - Jo from Little Women is the first that comes to mind.

And there are several who should never come alive - He Who Must Not Be Named, for instance. However, part of me would just poke him in the nose and tell him to be gone.

And then there is Aslan - who doesn't want to meet Aslan? Besides the White Witch...

My conclusion is that we all have characters we love and hate. And good stories have both. Otherwise the tales become one dimensional.

Boring.

Forgettable.

I'm off to make sure my stories have dimension.

What character would you like to read out of a story and invite to dinner?

I Did It

Okay, I did it. I truly did it.

Writing Pearl Edda has been quite the adventure. Two years ago, an idea came into my head and I was forced to spew it out on the computer.

What did I know about writing a book?

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Except that I always have known (well at least since 5th or 6th grade) that I loved YA books.

So, it really was no surprise that the story that came out of me was not meant for adults (although I've heard that adults like it), but for the young adult crowd.

What was surprising is that a book, a story, a complete novel was in me.

Me.

So I wrote. And wrote. And wrote some more.

And then I queried.

To those of you who are like me two years ago and don't know a whole lot about the publishing world, after one writes a book, if one wants to publish said book, one must find an agent to pitch the book to publishing houses.

A year and a half ago, I sent my first query. To Kristen Nelson (Hi, Kristen!). She promptly rejected it. Why? Probably many reasons, but the main reason is that the manuscript was not ready. Truly not ready. Embarrassingly not ready. (Sorry, Kristen.)

And I started to revise. And revise. And revise.

All the while, querying. (You're right, I didn't learn...Well, maybe I learned a lot through the process. Actually, I'm sure I did.)

Last summer, an agent requested the full manuscript. I whooped and hollered (afterall, I was in Montana at the time). And then she said no. But not really no.

Just a it's-too-long-I-can't-sell-it no.

Hmmmm....

So I revised. And revised. And revised.

And emailed that it was better if she wanted to read it again. And she responded with a yes, and she reread it, and she still thought it was too long. (I agreed.)

So she sent me to an editor. A really good editor. An editor who worked for a publishing house. An editor who gets glowing endorsements from authors.

And I emailed Pearl to him this evening.

And now I wait.

I can't believe I did it.

agents, and publisher, and facebook, oh, my...

Authonomy Update: 43!

agents, and publisher, and facebook, oh, my...

Pearl has had quite the roller coaster ride in the last couple of weeks.

First, I skyped with an agent and talked through Pearl's first chapter. He had read it and critiqued it, and this was a culminating exercise.

He had good things to say about the premise and had some insights on the writing (simpler is better). I think the meeting went well, but since he doesn't agent fantasy, he won't be picking up my book. Bummer. He seems like a really nice guy and would be good to work with.

So, these are some things I learned from the process:

1. Know your agent: This critique came from a seminar in Montana, and it was a very last minute submission, so I didn't have time to research Mark and find out if he would be a good fit for the book. Although, as stated, he was nice, if he doesn't rep my genre, he doesn't rep my genre.

2. Time is relevant in the publishing world: I submitted the first chapter in May, and didn't get the critique until last week. I totally understand the chaos of life and especially summer, but it seemed like a long time to wait. To his defense, he did apologize. To mine, I should realize that these things take time.

3. Simple is better: I had decided to add a bunch of things to my first chapter and it got bogged down. It really did. My husband in his infinite wisdom told me that I needed to go back to when I first wrote and look at the freshness of it. I did that and realized it was pretty good. With a couple of tweaks, it is back to the original. Simple.

Next on the ride:

I received a really nice rejection letter from an agent. Truly nice. In fact, she said she was probably crazy for rejecting it and gave me several things that she saw to improve, and I had an aha moment. I wrote back and thanked her (which you should always do), and she wrote me back (which they never do) and told me if I revise, to let her know. So now, I need to decide: To revise or not to revise, that is the question. Or aye, that's the rub.

On the same day she rejected me, a small publishing company asked for a full manuscript.

So here are the stats:

1 agent critigue
1 agent semi-sorta rejection
1 publishing company ask

Oh, and I also had another agent ask for the first 50 pages, so add 1 partial to the list. Annnnnddd....I now have 158 fans on my FB page.

Pretty good couple of weeks, I'd say.

chickens!

Authonomy Update: 50! Amazing!! Here's a picture of it (Yeah, I'm proud, and yeah, I know you can't read the numbers. :) Below the picture is the word, Public. Below that it says Rank: 50 (+2))




chickens!

My friend, Peggy, had two extra chickens in her freezer that she very graciously gave to her pastor's family (us :)). While extremely grateful for the gift, I will admit I was a bit apprehensive about roasting them. After all, I am more of a baker than a cook. In fact, this morning I already made gluten free blueberry scones...and ate two of them without hardly blinking. Yum!

I also spent three summers in college baking at a guest ranch in Colorado. I was in charge of most of the desserts, which made me run about five miles a day to alleviate the effects of sugar, butter and chocolate on my waistline...and on my diabetes.

Baking is what I do for fun. Cooking...well, that's what I have to do to feed my family. If only they could live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. :)

So, back to the chicken.

I also need to note that my mom gave me Mastering the Art of French Cooking (and the movie, Julie and Julia) for Christmas. Obviously I'm not either Julie or Julia, but I've been trying some of the recipes.

Julia writes passionately and poetically. Here's a blurb about Roast Chicken: "While it does not require years of training to produce a juicy, brown, buttery, crisp-skinned, heavenly bird, it does entail such a greed for perfection that one is under compulsion to hover over the bird, listen to it, above all see that it is continually basted, and that is is done just to the proper turn."

Me! Me! Pick me! I have that greed! I also turned the bird four times during its hour and forty-five minute party in the oven (and basted it every ten minutes).

But, most of all, look at her writing. She could have said, "Anyone can roast a chicken." Instead, she makes me want to roast a chicken her way.

The result: A pretty fine heavenly bird, if I say so myself!

For the second time today....Yum!!