Hoarding Resources

After writing DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, I made some amazing connections in the hoarding community. One of them is Geralin Thomas who is a wonderful organizer and one of the key players on A&E's show Hoarders. Today on her blog is a fabulous list of resources for books and DVDs on hoarding. Check it out with this link. Interestingly, there is only one fiction book on it (yeah, it's mine). Apparently more people should be writing about this subject for all age groups - get on it people.

...And Another Thing

I'm so glad that some people have found that last post helpful. One thing I forgot to mention that I think is key in the process of maintaining forward momentum - stop writing in the middle of something exciting. That tiny piece of advice has saved me countless hours of staring at a blank screen. Just when the scene really gets going, when you can't wait to write the next part because you know it's going to be awesome, when you've flown past your word count for the day and are on to a new personal best...hit Save and close the file. Sounds crazy I know, but it works and that excitement is what is going to carry you on to the next day's writing session.

I love the scene I wrote yesterday - a bunch of them go to a snooty party and I knew that Griffon and Cole were going to have a really heavy make-out scene up on the roof of the building looking over the lights of San Francisco (sorry to all of you who hate romancy stuff - these books are full of it). This is the point in the book where we see all of the good stuff happen before the shit hits the fan (Beat 4,: The Catalyst, for those of you SAVE THE CAT fans out there) and I was really looking forward to writing it. I wrote the beginning of the party, some cool stuff happens, and then just as Griffon was reaching for Cole's hand, I stopped. Closed it up and drove the kid to guitar lessons. I've been thinking about the next scene ever since - picturing it in my head and tweaking it here and there to make it even better - and now I get to sit down today and write it.

Just after that scene, there's a little bit of a cliffhanger where Cole bumps into another major character in the hallway and a big 'dum dum dum' is revealed. Yeah, you guessed it, I'm saving that scene for tomorrow. And am I writing on Labor Day? You betcha.

Have a great weekend everyone, but don't forget to squeeze in your 1k!

Write a Novel in 90 Days (or Less!)

So I'm about 8, 000 words into the sequel to TRANSCENDENCE (still a little bit of a thrill to actually write that) and it's occurred to me that I've learned a few things since I sat down to write my first book that might possibly be helpful to someone.

I have people come up to me all the time and ask how to write a book. My standard answer is that I don't know. Because I don't. For me, writing is like seeing a movie in my head and writing down what happens. But then I started to think, that, except for the magic part of the whole thing, I actually do know how to write a book because I've done it four times already (yes, I only have one novel published and one coming out next year - your math isn't wrong). And I have a guaranteed way to do it in 90 days. I wrote both DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS and TRANSCENDENCE in about three months each. (So what do I do with the rest of my time? It's called authoring, as opposed to writing, but that's another topic for another day.)

And the secret is...are you ready for it?....write 1,000 words a day, every day, no matter what. Thanks for reading, I hope that helps.

Wait, what? You need a little more? Okay, there actually are some guidelines for this groundbreaking butt-in-chair writing method.

1. Commit to write 1,000 words a day. I pick this number because honestly, it's not that much. Maybe an hour, maybe an hour and a half if I don't know exactly what's going to happen. 1,000 words in a standard, double-spaced manuscript with an average amount of dialogue is about 3 pages. You can do three pages, can't you? If you write really slowly (I always say that the typing course I took in 8th grade was the single most helpful thing I ever did), then you can change your word count to something like 500 words a day, but that moves you on to our 180 day guarantee. I have to keep myself accountable, so I write the date and the word count on the back of the notebook I use for, well, notes and stuff I print out from the internet. 1,000 words a day for 90 days = 90,000 words or about 300 pages, which is about how long my books tend to be these days.

2. That's every day. But what about Sundays? Or birthdays? Or soccer tournaments? Too bad. No matter what else is going on you have to commit to 1,000 words a day. Get up early, stay up late, stop watching TV, write during practice. I wrote most of DLS in a cold, drafty gym waiting for my son to finish his workout. Even people with crazy schedules can find the time if they want to badly enough. Looking at my notebooks, I see that I started both DLS and TRANSCENDENCE on November 17th. Why? I have no idea, but I had to force myself to work through the craziness of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last Saturday was packed with soccer and a pizza party we threw here at the house until fairly late. I was exhausted, but sat down at 11pm to do my 1k because I had to. The secret here is that it's not about word count per se, it's about sitting down and opening the file every day (we'll talk more about that later). If you're going on vacation for three weeks and know you won't write every day, then don't start the book yet. Which brings me to the next point....

3. Don't start your book too early. You know when a great idea hits you. You get that excited feeling in your stomach and your mind starts racing with possibilities. You feel like you should run to the laptop or notebook and start writing right away. Well, don't. Every idea needs time to stew and develop. For you to get to know the characters and the plot, even if it's subconscious. I got the idea for DLS from a magazine article I read in August, but started writing on November 17th. That's about the right amount of time for me. Your mileage may vary. Someone on chat asked last night when you know it's time to start writing. For me, it's when I find myself saying bits of dialogue out loud and I have a great first line.

4. Don't fly blind. Yes, my favorite writing quote is still the one over there on the sidebar about driving at night, but you do need to know that there's a road somewhere beneath you. I've tried a lot of different ways, from the 9 Point Plot Process to the method laid out in Blake Snyder's SAVE THE CAT (which I love), and find that I like a mashup of several different methods. I do like to have a lot of scenes plotted out on my bulletin board before I start so I have some idea of where to go, but leave a lot of room for the magic to happen where I have no idea why the characters are driving to the zoo, but I just go with it. This is the board for the sequel to TRANSCENDENCE (it was called FATED, but we're changing it - will NYT bestselling authors please stop stealing my titles!). Each card is a scene, and they're divided into acts. You might notice that the last two acts, basically from pages 151 to the end are a little...um...skimpy. That's because I get bored outlining and planning. This is enough info to get me halfway through the book. At some point before I reach the halfway mark, I'll go back and write a bunch more scenes for the last half of the book. You only need to stay a little ahead of yourself so that you don't get stuck.

4. Can you 'bank' words for the next day? No. Are you really on a roll and want to keep on going until you've cranked out 4k for the day? Awesome! Go right ahead. But you still need to sit down the next day and write your 1k. The deal is that it's not so much about word count as it is about sitting down and opening the file every day, whether you feel 'inspired' or not. It's like skipping class in college. I used to go as long into the semester as I could without skipping a class, because the first one is the hardest and the rest were easy. If you go one day without writing a word on your manuscript, it's that much easier to not open it the second day.

5. What if you get writers block? Then just write garbage. That's right , 1k of complete crap. Stuff you know you're going to dump. It's all in the doing, not what's done. Eventually, you'll get back to a place where it's working again, and you might surprise yourself that what you wrote isn't a total loss.

6. Can you revise as you go? Yes, but you still have to keep up word count, which is why I suggest not doing heavy revisions until the first draft is done. Yesterday, I was trying to get the first chapter in shape to show my editor, but my darling and wonderfully harsh critique partner insisted I cut a bunch of fluff, which amounted to over 1k words. That stunk, but she was right, so I did it, and then had to add enough words to make the final count for the day 1k over the count from the day before. Does that make sense? If you start with 5,500 words from the day before, and then cut 1,000 words, then you have to add 2,000 words that day to make up for it. Sound unfair? It probably is, but those are my rules.

7. Writing is not a 365 day a year exercise. At least it's not for me. I know Stephen King would probably disagree (and if you haven't read his On Writing or Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird you should). I do the 1k-every-day thing until the first draft is done, and then I go and do other stuff like revising, copyediting, website improvement, playlists, laundry and dishes. I can get about two books done a year at this point without completely burning out, and books are wonderfully cyclical in what they demand from you - create, fix, wait, promote.

8. What about punishments/rewards? I don't use them, but you can if you want. The guilt of not completing what I set out to do that day, combined with the crankiness I always get if I'm drafting but haven't done my count for the day is enough for me. Although I never say no to chocolate and I drink a ridiculous amount of coffee.

I hope some of this helps you zero in on the method that will work best for you. As for me, I only got 50 new words done this morning, so I'm off to do the other 950.

And the New Title is......

TRANSCENDENCE

I love it and think it works perfectly with the theme of the book.

If you're a regular around here, you might know that figuring out what to call this book has been a bit of a struggle. I blogged about it here and here. Right as we were submitting it we decided to call it DESTINED because it deals with reincarnation and the meaning of life (simple stuff, I know) and the publishers loved it too. After meeting with marketing, my editor told me that P.C. Cast was coming out with a book called DESTINED at about the same time, so we couldn't use it. Dang.

After throwing around literally hundreds of titles, my editor, the marketing department and I have all agreed that TRANSCENDENCE is the winner and I'm so glad. Even better, here's the catalog copy:

Love isn’t the only emotion to survive death . . .

When a visit to the Tower of London triggers an overwhelmingly real vision of a beheading that occurred centuries before, Cole Ryan fears she is losing her mind. A mysterious boy, Griffon Hall, comes to her aid, but the intensity of their immediate connection seems to open the floodgate of memories even wider.
As their feelings grow, Griffon reveals their common bond as members of the Akhet—an elite group of people who can remember past lives and use their collected wisdom for the good of the world. But not all Akhet are altruistic, and a rogue is after Cole to avenge their shared past. Now in extreme danger, Cole must piece together clues from many lifetimes. What she finds could ruin her chance at a future with Griffon, but risking his love may be the only way to save them both.
Full of danger, romance, and intrigue, Transcendence breathes new life into a perpetually intriguing question: What would you do with another life to live?

They're including a really kick-ass excerpt as the flap copy, but I don't want to give everything away. I've seen some cover-mock ups and they're amazing, and hopefully I can share sometime in the near future.

On another note, today was the first day of school, and like I promised, I wrote the first thousand words of the sequel to TRANSCENDENCE today - so far, it's still called FATED, and we should be able to firm that up soon. But that is another post for another day.

Look for TRANSCENDENCE sometime in June of 2012!

Now That's Cool!

Remember the Scholastic catalogs that you used to get as a kid?




















Look what's in the Fall Teen catalog!



















(Closeup of page 7.)















And what a bargain!

So How Was LA?

Every August, kidlit writers converge for summer camp, also known as the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrator's) conference. This year was the 40th anniversary, so there was record attendance with over 1,300 people.









This was the view from our room. LA even looked pretty for us.


















There were some amazing speakers!



Richard Peck was a master of the subtle glance to get a laugh. He was awesome.








Laurie Halse Anderson told us to stop volunteering and get to work. She even gave me a hug, because that's how we roll.
If you ever get a chance to sit down and talk to Gary Paulson, take it. Tell us more about jail Gary!


And then Judy Blume stopped by to chat with Lin Oliver for awhile. It was the dream of just about every woman in the room to hear her speak. She even told us what she wants on her tombstone. What is it? You had to be there.










Of course, everyone knows the real doing is happening in the lobby. Here's me with fabbo EMLA clients Ruth McNalley Barshaw (my son's personal hero) and the amazing (and not-so-shrinking violet) R.L. LeFevers.








And Robin with up-and-coming superstar Mike Jung.











Robin Mellom and her lovely agent Jill Corcoran.













Me and the lovely Lee Wind.





Greg Pincus and the glowing Eve Porinchak.














And then there was the party. It was crazy. Crazy good.
















Shelli Johannes-Wells and Robin Mellom looking a little sleepy.












Suzanne Young and my roomie Christy Raedeke getting reacquainted.











We're still not sure who let Miss Elaine in.

















And those are all of the photos that I'm allowed to post. So how was LA? Let's just say we're counting down the next 359 days until we can do it again. Ahem. Because it's such hard, hard work.

Meet Michelle Ray and her book FALLING FOR HAMLET

Most people who know me know that I only read YA books. Mainly because I don't have time to read anything else (The Help has been on my Kindle for months), but also because I love to see what new and exciting things other YA writers are doing.

A few months ago I started hearing about FALLING FOR HAMLET and I couldn't wait to get the book and see how Michelle imagined the main characters in Hamlet for a current audience. I know this one is going to be a favorite of many teens in my life. Michelle took time out of her busy debut week to answer a few questions, (and after hearing her answers, I can tell she's a kindred writing spirit) so let's get to know Michelle Ray and her wonderful debut book!

First comes love, then comes madness...

Meet Ophelia: a blonde, beautiful high-school senior and long-time girlfriend of Prince Hamlet of Denmark. Her life is dominated not only by her boyfriend's fame and his overbearing family, but also by the paparazzi who hound them wherever they go. As the devastatingly handsome Hamlet spirals into madness after the mysterious death of his father, the King, Ophelia rides out his crazy roller coaster life, and lives to tell about it. In live television interviews, of course.

Passion, romance, drama, humor, and tragedy intertwine in this compulsively readable debut novel, told by a strong-willed, modern-day Ophelia.

Adapting something that is well known can be scary for a writer. Did you have any second thoughts about adapting a Shakespeare play?

I did. First, the question was whether I had anything fresh to say. There are other adaptations of Shakespeare and even other adaptations of Ophelia’s story, but I thought the setting, my voice and my way of telling it made it unique so I kept going. Second, the language of Hamlet is incredible but translating it was rough. At times, I wasn’t sure I could make it sound colloquial enough, and at other times, I wished I didn’t have to. Shakespeare’s words are magnificent, so I hated to make them go away. However, my hope was to remind people what a great story Hamlet is, to update it with a modern message, and to perhaps draw the unfamiliar or the reluctant to the original.

How did you get to know Ophelia?

I thought about her a lot. I know that sounds basic, but I did. She was in my head constantly for years. I would imagine conversations she’d have with other characters, how she would view the media, and how she would feel about certain events in the book. I’m not a writer who jots these things down formally. I chat in my head while driving, while trying to fall asleep, and while going through daily activities. In fact, I created Ophelia’s conversation with Hamlet about his seeing ghosts while at a children’s museum with my kids. When a great idea strikes, I end up rooting through my purse for receipts or scraps of paper to write on so I don’t forget. It’s not pretty, but it works.

In terms of building who she was, I started with what would make her betray Hamlet and worked my way back and forth from that. I had to think about the history of her family (the dead mother was Shakespeare’s fault, not mine, yet it helped Ophelia be a little more lost and lacking in good guidance), her father’s position in the court and living situation (the pressure to behave well and the lack of privacy within the castle mirrored what happened to her outside), and how long she was with Hamlet (a tumultuous, long-term relationship seemed like a better answer than a new relationship. When you’ve got history with someone, you’re less likely to walk away from craziness . . . usually). Then it was a matter of adding detail. When I tried to make her do things she didn’t want to do, the pages didn’t work. Sounds as insane as the original Ophelia, but it’s true. She guided my way.

What kinds of things did you change as you worked on the story?

In early drafts, she was in college. This allowed her to be more independent, and in some ways, more irresponsible. Once my agent suggested that I try aging her down, the dynamic changed, and I believe it changed for the better. Her ties to her father and her conflicting feelings about his demands seemed even more believable when she was in high school. Some of the behaviors that got her into trouble were more embarrassing once she was younger. And her feeling of being out of her depths and having no one to turn to made even more sense with her still being in high school. Also, with Hamlet already in college, there was added tension of his being free of their old life while she was still under the thumb of his parents and her father. He had more access to girls, too, which drove her nuts.

You’re a teacher – have you always been a writer?

Nope. I was a director before I was a teacher, which is storytelling, but the words weren’t my own. There’s a certain comfort in that because you can always blame someone else for dull moments. In truth, I’d always had stories in my head, but I didn’t write them down because I didn’t see the point. My husband encouraged me to put them on paper, but it took a loooong time (over a decade) before I thought of myself as a “writer.” It’s still odd to admit that, actually. What really made me take writing seriously was teaching writing to my fifth graders. An incredible group called LitLife came to my school to teach teachers how to teach writing. In doing the activities, I realized that I loved putting words on paper and that I was good at it.

What’s a writing day like for you?

Choppy. My teaching day is intense, so I don’t usually have time to think about my writing. I love what I do, and I love that I have a job that keeps my mind occupied, but when I get home, I’m tired. Even so, it’s writing time. This means I sometimes shortchange my family by disappearing to write, and other times it means I’m frustrated because I can’t write when I want to. Kids’ homework, baths, bills, and quality time are important, but it means I have to be very efficient when I write. I admit that I get shouty when I’m interrupted (like if my kids can’t sleep and come out a thousand times to tell me so), and I stay up late a lot, but I love all the aspects of my life so I wouldn’t give anything up.

Many reviews for FALLING FOR HAMLET say they can’t wait to see what you do next. What’s up next in your writing?

It’s the most remarkable thing that people feel that way, and it presses me to keep going. I’m working on another adaptation for teens and an adult historical fiction novel. My great fear is that FALLING FOR HAMLET might be the only book I ever get published, but others I trust don’t seem as concerned as I about this. Either way, it’s been such an exciting ride, such an unexpected pleasure to be published and to have my book in real bookstores. I’m trying to appreciate each moment.

Thanks Michelle! Whether you know the story of Hamlet backward and forward or have never read a word of Shakespeare in your life, check out FALLING FOR HAMLET and hear another side of the story.