Friday, July 18, 2008

Making a Literary Life Friday: Woo-HOO!



Good news! Yup, today at the Writers' Group, we want to hear your good news. Another writer's glory elevates us all, doesn't it? So share!

Did you write a gorgeous paragraph this week? Overcome a hump in your manuscript that's had you blocked for days? Did you hear back from that dream agent and s/he wants a partial or full, or from that editor at your favorite literary journal who wants to publish your short story? Maybe it was a rejection, but, hey, you got ink. Ink!

Whatever good news you have, we want to celebrate with you. So share!

Lisa Marnell
Elin Hilderbrand long time acquaintance, married to my hubby's best friend, is on the New York Times Bestseller List. For two books, no less (hardcover and paperback)! Well-deserved. Hurray, Elin!

Amy MacKinnon
Woo-HOO to WG best bud and blurber of Tethered, Kristy Kiernan! Her second novel, Matters of Faith, is an IndieBound pick for September!!! MWAH, Kristy! Another FOWG, Gail Konop Baker, received her cover for Cancer Is a Bitch and it is stunning! Take a look at it here and MWAH to you too, Gail. And for all of you who still don't believe perserverance pays off, then you don't know the backstory of Jenna Blum's debut novel, Those Who Save Us, hitting the NYT's bestseller list. It's been there since February and it's still there-- four years after it was published! Suggest it to your book club and then invite Jenna to speak. She'll tell you the extraordinary story of it all.

For myself, I've finally figured out how to structure my WIP. It reminds me that writing really is the best part of this whole journey.

Hannah Roveto
I received critique this week from three fabulous writers, and am thrilled with what they said. Were they unanimous in their comments -- say, choice of an industry for one part of the story, or perhaps the length of Chapter One? No, they weren't. Despite that, their comments when blended with what I was planning to do on one last edit before sending got me excited. The end of this stage is near -- I've already put together their edits into one copy -- and it will be off to agents by my self-imposed deadline! Once I've absorbed it all a bit more, I'll share the critique and how I addressed it.

Lynne Griffin
Lynne is still in NYC. What could be better than that?

8 comments:

Judy Merrill Larsen said...

I love being able to share in everyone's good news--what a great topic for the post!

So, here's mine--my revisions (final, I hope!) are coming along really well and things are falling in place. I'm excited about sitting down to with each day. And, my first novel is still (since the end of May) on the bestseller list in Taiwan.

Lisa Marnell said...

Congrats Judy. On both the revisions and the bestseller list!

Everyone's news is so inspiring. Thanks for filling us in!

Joanne said...

What a timely post! Good news came my way today when I was notified my work would appear on a publisher's website page. I'll post the link on my blog when it's up. Here's to everyone's good news!

Lisa said...

Last week while on retreat I finally figured out where my story should begin. I'd known that the initial chapters for my WIP weren't right, but I didn't know what was. I've got a good start on my new Chapter 1 and I think that I now know what I need to know to reshape the first part of my story and continue through to the end. This week, I only got 379 words into my new Chapter 1, but I've been remembering that Amy worked on her first chapter for six months. It all makes complete sense to me now and what I'm doing feels right.

Anonymous said...

Hey! Congrats to everyone on their good news, posters and commentors alike, and many thanks for rejoicing with me in mine! The Notable pick is a great surprise :-D

Unknown said...

Thanks for the invitations to share good news. I had a great weekend with students at Grub jump-starting their writing and then I met with MY writing group afterwards and we discussed two short stories I wrote in the past month.

But a highlight of the weekend, was reading Grub's copy of Tethered. I took it home on Saturday night and brought it back Sunday morning. Besides enjoying the novel, I was making a mental list of all the people in my life who would enjoy Amy's novel.

I've already told a few people about it and my brother (who used to work for the Mass med examiner as an autopsy tech) can't wait to read it.

Congratulations Amy!

Anonymous said...

I've been able to solve some of my MS problems.
As a result I am coming out of my self imposed blogging exile. Today I have posted my first entry after months.
Feels better this way.

Amy MacKinnon said...

Lots and LOTS of good news! Congratulations, everyone! Thank you, Grace, for reading the books and for recommending it. It makes me squirm to think people have/will actually read it, though. Yikes...