Help Me Get Published!

Q) I know most authors got published because they knew someone, but I don't know anyone in publishing and I don't live near New York. Can you help me get published?

A)

Lynne Griffin
I've never won the lottery, or got a job because I knew the boss, and I didn't know a single person in publishing when I landed my first agent back in 2001. And of all the people I've met in my journey so far, not one landed their deal without doing so the old fashioned way. They did their homework. They networked like mad. And above all, they wrote a great story.

No one can help you get published, but you! Plain and simple there is no easy way to do it. Now certainly networking by attending conferences, author signings, and taking classes can help in innumerable ways (This equals doing your homework, learning about the industry) but at the end of the day, this process is not a linear one. In fact the journey requires you to travel through the narrow gate.

Amy MacKinnon
I know lots and lots of people in the publishing business, everyone from authors to agents to editors. When I completed my manuscript, a few authors offered to refer me to their agents and a few agents offered to read a full. Maybe it's the Aries in me, but I wanted to do it on my own without ever having to wonder if the work was good enough. Of course knowing someone is no guarantee your work will get published, still I didn't want to argue with "that doubt" the rest of my life.

I went it alone, through the slush piles and was fortunate enough to receive several offers from agents. I chose the one who best got what I was aiming for; turns out I chose well. She put my manuscript before the perfect editors and there was an auction involving -- if memory serves me well -- eight publishers. Bottom line, you don't need connections, you need to write an excellent book, do your research, persevere, and then work harder than you imagined every step of the way.

Lisa Marnell
Going it alone is exciting. It's like that first time you borrow your mom's car and drive to a friend's house. Will you make it there? Who knows, but it's all up to you. Write well (as Miss Snark says) and you'll find an agent who falls in love with your work. BTW, there will be agents who pass you by; it's not for them. Stick to it and surprise yourself!

Hannah Roveto
One word: persistence. Or many words: Finish your manuscript, make it the best it can be. Find an agent who believes in you. Keep yourself positive and excited about what may happen, what you will make happen. The business is a hard one; go into it with eyes wide open and a readiness to handle what comes your way and still find every drop of joy. No joy, don't bother. Network, and keep networking. The first contacts you make may not be the right ones. Do your research, and know whom you are approaching and why you are approaching them. Don't assume any open door will stay open, or even that you may want it to do so, or that any closed door will stay closed. Keep sending letters. Every journey is unique. Take classes and more classes, and listen to new thoughts on your manuscript, as long as you are faithful to its core and know how it might be made better. The world can be your oyster; you need to know it and explore it for it to open wide.

Book Sales in This Economy?

Okay, so maybe you heard Houghton Mifflin is no longer acquiring manuscripts. I know, breathe. Or you read this post by Editorial (Ass)istant and you're scared your book won't catch an agent's eye or sell to any of the twenty editors to whom she's submitting. Scary stuff. But take heart, where there's a will, there most certainly, undoubtedly, is a way.


Q: Okay, I know the chances of making it as a writer have never been good, but the bad economic news I hear every day has to make my chances worse. What I need to know is whether or not there's any chance now for me. And before you tell me I need to write well, let me say that I'm no J. K. Rowling. All I ever hoped for was to be a mid-list author; I love to write and I want to make money on the side. Go ahead ladies, make my day and say there's still a chance for me or tell me to give it up. I can handle your version of the truth!

A:
Lynne Griffin
My answer contains both good news and bad news. The bad news—and the reality is—there will be fewer book deals in the coming months and years. So whether you want to hear it again or not, this means you must write well. Very well. Pen a story strong in narrative drive. Work hard to unravel the secrets of writing a novel.

Yet this reality has an up side, too. In my opinion, fewer books should be published. Being an eternal optimist, I think this economic downturn will force editors and publishers to acquire only the best books, working with talented writers who have career potential. Fewer acquisitions will mean more focused campaigns for promoting the ones they do buy. Economic concerns aside, your challenge will always be to write the best book you can. And for goodness sake, readjust your attitude. Don’t aim for midlist, hoping you’ll be offered pocket change. Aim high. Don’t settle. And of course, write well.

Amy MacKinnon
Until you want this with every fiber of your being and you're willing to dedicate nearly all of yourself to your writing, no, I don't believe you have a chance. Writing isn't about the money, it's not about dabbling here and there, and it should never be about shooting for mediocrity. It's about pouring your soul onto the page.

Lisa Marnell
Well, all I'll say is that children's books were published in the Great Depression. You've heard of the Tales of Babar, right? What about The Little Engine That Could? That's right, both of these published in the worst of times and from what I here, the news today, unemployment, etc. doesn't even come close.

Oh, by the way. I asked this question to my husband (A Marketing Man). He said simply: Publishers need product. And the piece I heard on NPR the other day said that authors like you, my friend, are now often referred to as "content providers."

And I promise you, between now and Christmas, Publishers Marketplace will annouce sales; just last week I read about an auction and a pre-empt for two children's book authors.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Hannah Roveto
If you have characters in your head who beg to come alive, whispering to you about a set of situations that make you laugh or cry or shake with fear, and they won't leave you alone no matter what you read or hear, then read and hear us instead. Get them onto paper. Fill the edges of their world with details and beauty. You can't get published if you don't finish a manuscript, so take control of what you can. Write, and read, and study, and revise, and connect and believe.

Me? A Writer?

The confession -- or revelation -- that one writes, always prompts some kind of response from others. Is is a hobby? A career? A worthwhile pursuit? How can one know for certain?

Q) I have been writing on and off for most of my life. Nothing published, and frankly, nothing close to being published. Recent conversations with loved ones (read husband and parents) make me wonder if I am wasting my time; I spend at least three or four hours a week on my writing. How do I know if I'm just wasting my time or not?

A)

Lynne Griffin
Doing what you love is never a waste of time. Yet from your question, I’m not feeling the love. If you spend three or four hours a week writing in a journal or dabbling with a short story, and you enjoy it, great! If you’re writing with the goal of being published, I’m afraid I have to be honest. You’ve got more than an uphill battle.

The single most important character trait of successful writers is drive. Good old fashioned work ethic, coupled with passion to tell a good story. One you are certain only you can tell. Even if you’re driven, there will be times when your story has you by the throat. You will wrestle with it in your dreams, it will distract you from your day job, and you’ll find you willingly skip leisure time in favor of stealing just one more hour at the keyboard.

Writers write for all kinds of reasons, publication being only one. If you write solely for self-expression, go for it. If you want more from your writing, you’ll have to give it more of your time and energy. Some days you’ll be wrung out from giving, and still, whether it’s a day later or a week later you’ll go back to it. You won’t be able to stop yourself.

Amy MacKinnon
Wasting your time doing what? If you enjoy those three or four hours writing, then it's not a waste of time. I enjoy reading and baking, and even spend a fair amount of time doing so each week. Is that a waste? I take pleasure in each, a vastly underrated pursuit.

If, however, you're writing with the intention of getting a book published, then perhaps it's time to re-evaluate your commitment to your dream. Find your story and write it through to the end. Just that one story. Do so with intention (it will be published, it will be the best writing I'm capable of at this point, I will tell a great story with honest characters). Like everything else in life that matters -- relationships, education, career-- your writing demands a consistent investment of time and devotion.

As for your family and friends, think twice before sharing your writing life with them until you are published. In all likelihood, they perceive you as another person, not as a writer. And because they love you, they'll be quick to point out the many, many obstacles along your journey in an attempt to protect you. Your job as writer, as one who dares to dream big, is to see your way around all of the brick walls. Remember, publishing is persistence.

Lisa Marnell
You don't. End of story.

I can't tell you how many times I've had near panic attacks wondering that very same question. Although, I can almost guarantee that I've poured even more hours into my writing than you have. What helps me is to think of the alternative to writing: what else would I be doing with my time? I would spend my evenings watching either Stephen Colbert of Two and a Half-Men, or likely both (I could tape one as I watch the other).

For me writing is as much about who I am and what my dreams are than whether I will be published this year, next year, 2012 or 2020. Writing helps me love myself and I long to become. Simply put, I am a writer, published or not. If you feel at all like I do, than, frankly, do you have a choice?

Hannah Roveto
I have been a writer all my life, personally and professionally. The challenge of being a published author of fiction is its own unique beast. Ignore the others; listen only to yourself. If you want to be a published author, take writing as seriously as you have your professional career (workshops, books, network). Take it as seriously as you do your family (What to Expect, He Says She Says, playgroup wisdom, counseling). Take it as seriously as you do your garden, your decorating, your boat, your fishing, your skiiing, your tennis, your golf. There is a craft, skills that need to be acquired and practiced and polished. If you were to study for an MFA, your thesis would be "a book-length novel of publishable quality." That is your goal. The question is not when it will happen, but do you want to make it happen? If you answer yes, keep writing and revising and learning and moving ahead.

A Pause on the Journey

by Hannah Roveto

The journey becomes so encompassing, we sometimes forget to pause and look around. Today, stop. Look around and breathe it in.

Five years ago I was known as "the writer" at work, the first to be assigned press releases and speeches and reports and executive correspondence. I walked the aisles of bookstores and libraries and ran my finger along the spines of novels I loved and ones yet to be discovered. Once I was old enough to spell, I wrote short stories, snippets of long stories. I even had friends who'd been published. Still, theirs was another world.

Then comes the moment. Enough. I cannot live another day without releasing that part of my insides that insists on taking this writing thing seriously. The notice is up on the library bulletin board: a writers' group, hosting an author. A writers' group; are you a writer, or not, Hannah? A phone call, and I am part of the group -- a dysfunctional one, but it is a declaration of intent, a physical and mental step forward. Every year, more steps, tentative and yet increasingly certain.

Five years later, I am picking up my child at that same library. A large poster promoting an author's appearance is behind us, and my daughter points with a big smile on her face as she turns to her friend's mother. "She's in the mall, too, and there's another picture downstairs with the book." This is true. The long glass-fronted bulletin board in the lower entrance features a fall author series. Amy is there, leading the way, and nearby is Hallie Ephron, whom I had the honor of interviewing for this blog.

"You know her?" asks the woman.

"She's my friend." This is not enough. Amy's gorgeous black-and-white photo nudges me. "She's in my writers' group."

A neighbor passes by at that precise moment, overhears. "Really? How's your book going?"

"I've started to query agents," I tell her. "And I'm starting a second one."

"Anita Shreve and Hannah Roveto. Quite the neighborhood." She smiles and gives me a thumbs-up. The low-slung, brown shingled house was the home of the senior Shreves, but I won't quibble.

I get home and open my child's backpack. This is the same day, I kid you not. A notice falls out; a writer and parenting expert is coming to the school complex's massive Performing Arts Center to speak. The story was in the weekly newspaper, as well, Lynne's name in bold type, her Web site -- her beautiful sea-glass site -- listed for more details on her parenting work and her fiction, coming out in April.

On my computer is a recent email, promising that a full revision of a lyrical, stunning story coming soon for my reading pleasure -- before the agent sees it. How cool is that? (That's not how Lisa described it, but her voice is so distinctive, this character and situation so compelling, it will be that!) Before I switch to my PR email, I check blogs I love, your blogs about writing and life, all names I know and voices I hear in my head from the words on a screen. I glance at the list on my desk, too. Agents names. Real agents with real offices, with notes on whom they represent, their contact information not only jotted down, but in a few cases now, used.

This is my real world, five years later. This is a journey for all of us, a unique individual journey; mine certainly has been made clearer because of Amy and Lynne and Lisa, but there is still the do-ing of it all that has unfolded within me. While it feels unreal some days, yesterday it felt crystalline solid. Where this journey will lead, I don't know, but I am moving every day deeper into that territory. When my boss says, "You're the writer, you take this," I smile. Today that has a whole different meaning. Today I really am the writer, evolving as the writer I wished I could be years ago, step by step.

Do Your Homework

Posted by Lynne Griffin

If you have kids, then you know that homework can be a headache for everyone. Few have children who skip up the driveway after school, eager to pull up a chair to begin research for a term paper. And I don't know any parent who likes policing the activity. What does this have to do with living a writer's life? You too must do your homework. And other writers don't want to supervise you doing it.

In the last few months, I've been approached by a number of writers who, like most, wish to be published. Some have clearly done their homework, studying agents' lists and learning everything they can about the industry. I'm all too happy to share my lessons learned so far, having published a nonfiction parenting book and with my soon-to-be-released novel in production. It's the writer who hasn't done a lick of research, one who expects me to do the homework for him or her, that believe it or not, brings out the teacher in me.

I've taught elementary age children and now I teach graduate level students, and regardless of age, both groups have something in common. Some students are self-directed learners; they're well aware of what they know, what they don't know, and they have a strong sense of how to get the information they need. And some students need study guides.

"Can you give me the name of an agent who represents memoirs?" "I'm sending you some of my short stories, and I'd like you to tell me how I can organize them into a themed collection."

Stop your printer! These examples of real requests I've received just in the last two weeks are not examples of networking, nor are they reasonable expectations to have of a fellow writer. Would you ask a friend who works for a bank to balance your checkbook?

You've got to do your own homework. And with the Internet, lots of published books about writing, and blogs like ours and others available, your study guide is right in front of you. Take a look at our list of links. We've collated the best and brightest industry sites, author pages, and books on craft. Make friends with Google, folks. Search key words, mixing them up like a salad until you find what appeals to your palate. Take classes. Go to conferences. Join a writers' group. You'll find what your looking for if you're persistent enough. And speaking of persistence. Doing your homework is perfect practice for learning to cope with the ins and outs, the ups and downs of traveling the road to publication. Not to mention staying on the road after you're published.

So here's this week's homework assignment: Whether you've read it or not, read Carolyn See's Making a Literary Life. Take notes if that's your style. Trust me, there's a test and you're the only one who can take it.

Heroes

by Hannah Roveto

We have all heard it, the curse wrapped into bland pleasantry: "May you live in interesting times." Each morning when we wake up and turn on the news or open the papers, we indeed find ourselves in interesting times and few if any of us are feeling settled about them.

Truth is, we all have interesting times that go beyond today's headlines. We all have worries and fears, not just about the stock market, but about job security in any year, about our health, about the wellbeing of our friends, family and children. As writers we borrow those jumping heart rates, the crawl of apprehension, and transform them into interesting times for our characters. We create tension, strife, nemeses and tragedy, and we find ways for characters to make their way around, through and beyond, showing the why of how people act under stress and how they might succeed, whether or not they do in the end.

It's a fascinating pursuit we have chosen. We take bits and pieces of reality -- a wince of frustration, the honeyed sweetness of a rose, the angst of being sixteen, jaw-grinding tension -- and filter them through our own unique perspectives. We create a single, fresh reality that becomes a genuine experience for those who read it. What is real and what is made up, we are asked, over and over again. It's all real, we answer, and it's all made up. It is what we make it.

Take the "interesting times" phrase above. Turns out it is a fiction, created perhaps by an English writer around 1900. The real Chinese saying from which it seems to be derived does not involve a curse at all. Instead, it goes as follows:

Heroes are made over turbulent times.

This I like better, for my real life and for my writing. Life is what we make it. We can either feel falsely cursed to live in interesting times, or we can seek heroes made from turbulent times. Better yet, as writers, we get to take it yet a step farther. We have the opportunity to create heroes who rise from fictional turbulence to speak to readers riding the waves of the real world. The challenge to do so can be daunting, but how wonderful it feels to take that chance, and how beautiful the stories are from those who do it well. Lucky, lucky, us to be a part of it, yes?

Hurrah for... the Day Job?

by Hannah Roveto

"It's fine for writing teachers to talk in self-help jargon about how their lives require 'balance' and 'shifting gears' between teaching and writing, but below that civil language lurks the uncomfortable fact that the creation of literature requires a degree of monomania...It's hard throw your whole self into something when that self has another job." -- David Gessner, "Those Who Write, Teach," The New York Times Magazine, September 21, 2008

Mon-o-ma-ni-a: an excessive interest in or enthusiasm for some one thing. (Definition two: a mental disorder characterized by irrational preoccupation with one subject.)

How many of you are independently wealthy? How many of you have no families or friends, no homes save the hotel with staff who serve up each meal and deliver your laundry neatly folded? If only we could make our entire living by writing. How simple and glorious life would become. Hallie Ephron once announced in a class I took with her that she'd recently realized her entire income came from the literary life, at last. She taught, wrote bylined articles, wrote her wonderful mysteries. No more "other job." Those of us around the table sighed happily on her behalf and dreamed the whole way home of reaching that goal.

Into this comes Mr. Gessner's article in the New York Times, asking whether "an artist can survive success in the academy." I saved his article for dead last this week, hesitant to read it. Turned out, for good reason. He quotes Mike Magnuson as saying, "What teaching has done for me is make me not want to read anything, written by anybody, for the rest of my life." Holy cow. Now what am I supposed to do when I grow up?

I thought of my own day job in public relations. I can't count the moments when I grind my teeth against the compulsion to get back to my fiction. At least once a week I finish my PR checklist and pull up my work-in-progress and the phone rings and I gaze longingly at the screen before admitting defeat, because it will be a good hour before I can attend to it. Of course, at that time the kids will come home, and crazy me pulls up the WIP again as though that will make them instantly dive into homework without a fuss or cross word to each other. (The faint laughter you hear from my corner of the world at that point is, well, monomaniacal...)

Gessner's article made me think of my mother, who is an artist, who went back to school when I was young to get her master's degree in library science. She chose a job that had nothing to do with her art, on purpose. The work was satisfying, concrete and produced a paycheck. Most important, she would say, was the fact that she literally left her job behind her when she'd put in her time and could focus on her weaving or jewelry with every ounce of her creative soul intact.

Gessner also is making me rethink my day job to some degree. Have I given up my glowing vision of a fully writerly life, whatever that may be? Not a chance. However, I appreciate what I do have a little more, thanks to him. I am paid to write, first and foremost, and to think strategically and creatively in a way that does not fill my head with fiction other than my own or what I choose to read. Between us, I even love the rush when a television producer or newspaper editor agrees to interview my client.

Maybe the writerly life doesn't have to be fiction 24/7. Maybe there are day jobs that make writing possible on a financial level, and help keep it fresh on the artistic level. The answers, therefore, have to come from proportion and determination when it comes to the writing itself. Maybe someday a little less PR, a little more fiction could be a personal ideal in my particular case; who knows? After all, if we're really being honest, everything interferes with writing at one point or another. Showers and meals, everything and everyone. Which may be bad news for our WIPs, but it's not bad news for us. We are writers. We are monomaniacal. Which is what it takes to get the job done.

Choose to Write

Posted by Lynne Griffin

I love September. It's time for a fresh start. Positive outlooks and enthusiasm abound. Even my teenagers like being set up for success with clean rooms and tidy desks, new notebooks and a handful of good pens.

As a writer intent on revising my second novel, I deserve a new set of goals and an optimistic plan for achieving them, too.

Here's my four point plan for getting back to basics.

Schedule writing time
I write my appointments with writing directly on my calendar, just like every other important meeting I make time for.

Write down specific tasks I want to accomplish this month
I assign realistic target dates for completing chapters or polishing parts of my manuscript.

Feed my brain
My best writing happens when I exercise, eat right, and get seven hours of sleep a night. A sharp mind is critical to my ability to concentrate and work through challenging sections of my novel.

Feed my muse
When I read a short story, some poetry, or excerpts of a favorite novel before writing, it's as if I'm putting out an invitation for inspiration to find me.

So many writers lament there isn't time to write. Truth is, if you buy into that kind of thinking, there won't be. I'm of the mindset that we all have the same twenty-four hours a day to do with what we will. I choose to write.

Self-Talk

Posted by Lisa Marnell

Last Friday we, at the writers' group, posted our thoughts on what we've learned over the summer as September arrives today. I am in a very happy place these days as I have finished my first second draft of my YA - long story. I'm loving working to pull threads tight, word paint settings, work on dialogue (Hannah, you'll help me there, right?) As I reflect over the last year of scrapping and changing this WIP, there are many, many things that have helped me. Here is another strategy that works for me:

Make up a mantra about your writing to keep you focused and energized. Even when I am losing in a tennis match (and I'm not so good at tennis), I repeat these words in my mind: "I am fast, I am strong, I am getting better every day. " (I really do say that to myself - I can't believe I just admitted that). When it comes to my writing, I made up a mantra a month ago. It's very simple. It's this: "My story is beautiful." Whether or not my story is beautiful is something that readers will decide. What's important is that I remind myself that I care about this story and I care about these characters.

Did I just give out writing advice? Who am I to give out writing advice? My novel needs work. It will be ready for our group to read in September and there will be changes, perhaps many changes to make. Though I may not yet be published (time will tell), I am in a place where I have been successful with writing this WIP. I wrote a story I love and I am proud of. That's cool. I can't say I've been here before.

To go into the dark with a light is to know the light
To know the dark, go dark, go without sight
And find that the dark, too, blooms and sings
And is travelled by dark feet and dark ways.

Wendel Berry

Math and the Artist's Career

by Hannah Roveto

I was reading Rolling Stone yesterday, not because I am cool but because I was waiting for back-to-school haircuts to be completed. The current issue has an interview with Robert Downey Junior, who is, as far as I'm concerned, an artistic genius.

He was talking about his career and what a single choice can mean. People used to say to him, "Hey, I remember you in Weird Science; loved Less than Zero." By that latter movie he'd been in a dozen films, plus a season on Saturday Night Live. His achievements, he said, were like an algorithm -- a moveable, complicated process. Now, he says, people point to him: "Iron Man!" With that choice, Downey said, he has a fixed point from which to build.

The last time I took a math class was in high school. Calculus, actually, and that was pretty much the point when I switched with a happy heart to the humanities. But algorithms and fixed points -- the process of a career and its successes -- got me thinking.

As writers, we hope -- try -- for fixed points, one after the other. In part for ourselves, but in part for business reasons, truth be told. We want our stories to resonate and stay with the audience, to create a deep connection. The annoying thing is that -- as with other kinds of artists -- we don't get those starry successes every single time. This career is two-faced, the art and the business, and we can never forget it. And we worry.

What I like about Downey's math analogy is that it provides a long-term rationale for pushing forward, for not letting one moment make or break your determination. Yes, you can have a career and go along for a bit without a fixed point. If you keep at it, if you are smart about it, you will create one. Why am I so certain? Because what must be done comes not from the outside world, but from inside of us. We keep going, we keep creating. It is in our souls. Not to say we shouldn't be strategic. Many writers take pseudonyms to restart careers, extend careers. Or consider John Irving. His first three books didn't get the reception he thought they should have (career as algorithm), so he took his fourth book to a new publisher. That book, of course, was The World According to Garp (seriously fixed point!).

I have had relatives, neighbors and friends in this business; I have been lucky enough to absorb their experiences in preparation for my own. I know there will be times when my career might be more of a process; I also believe that with hard work, belief and determination, there will be points of achievement to stand upon over time, as well.

All for One

By Hannah Roveto

Amy MacKinnon spoke last night at her release party/first appearance/first reading of Tethered at Buttonwood Books. Friends from different points in her life were present: family, childhood, high school, college, neighborhood, and yes, from her literary career; many more who weren't able to be there in person were there in spirit. All the communities that have supported Amy through the years -- and that she has supported in turn -- were one as she stood alone, facing us.

Amy notes in her acknowledgments that writing is a solitary life, but that there are people who support a writer along the way without whom the final product would not exist. In her case, I don't believe that to be true, not completely.

Amy MacKinnon is fierce. She is gracious and intelligent and modest and devoted. And a force with which to be reckoned. Amy decides to do something and it happens. Not only that, but it happens the right way, because she will not not accept anything less. She asks questions, she involves people and makes them care, she finds out what is needed and pushes each venture forward. She makes people believe. Ask any of the people who were there last night.

Betsey Detwiler, owner of Buttonwood Books, told the crowd what a friend Amy has been to the bookstore -- a wonderful, welcoming, independent bookstore -- as did the store's events magician Totsie McGonagle. Authors -- teachers, cheerleaders, friends -- Hallie Ephron and Hank Phillippi Ryan of Jungle Red Writers drove down from Boston to share in the celebration. And as the crowd mingled later, a college friend spoke about how the roommmates in their house knew one of them would be famous some day -- and looking at Amy, she said not only is one on the way, but maybe more of them would still. Inspired, no doubt, by Amy.

Everyone there to see Amy at last in the full spotlight savored the moment when she stood alone before us. She believed she had a story to tell and found a way to tell it. She fought her way through a first chapter for six months. She found time in a crazy-busy life to get it all down, finish it, find an agent, revise it, work with a publisher, and now, to launch it into the world. The hard work is the part that is solitary, and Amy makes that happen. She has, she does, she will. Period. Everyone who knows Amy knows this moment, and every moment that is going to follow, is richly deserved.

Amy MacKinnon is fierce. She is many things to many people, and now she is a published author with a career ahead of her that will be long and sweet.

Tomorrow ...

Posted by Lisa Marnell

It's a Christmas Eve feeling today. Though tomorrow is August 12, not December 25th, I'm excited, a little nervous. Tomorrow Tethered will be in bookstores.

Tethered will be in bookstores! I read chapters from Amy's WIP so long ago. When I read the ending I sat on the bottom step of my old house in Massachusetts, cuddling with my dog, Maggie. I was en route to going to bed, but I had to read ONE MORE CHAPTER. Reading one more chapter turned into finishing the book. I loved the ending!

It's an Empty Nest feeling today. My friend's novel will be out in the world tomorrow. I'm melancholic, definitely. Times are changing for Amy, for our group. Though we are still determined to be writers, the stakes have changed and our own characters have developed in different ways. We aren't the wide-eyed wannabes we were three years ago; the writing world has its ups and downs.

Someday, I will walk into the Barnes & Noble near me, here in California, and I will see someone thumbing through the pages of Tethered. A part of me will be proud, no doubt. Yay, Amy! But is it odd that I will want to shut the book and tell them this is my friend's story? Is it insane I should want to whisper that a good, dear person I know struggled to write this gripping and touching tale and that looking at Amy's words is really none of her business? I know publishing is the goal in this business, but on some not altogether sane level, I want to buy every copy of Tethered, and keep it safe with me, I'll pile them in my study, if only for a few more days. I know readers will love this book; how could they not? The story promises such hope .

Oh My God, It's Almost August!

Posted by Lisa Marnell

With family visiting, I haven't had much time to write. My MUSE has always disappeared with the arrival of people in my home. Even people who are welcome and loved. My MUSE is shy; she's so frightened of being stared at, her whispers being heard. She scrams. I don't want to say anything bad about her, but she's kind of wimpy.

In the past few days, I have had time to think though, and this has been a surprise. As I drove through Hollywood the other morning, pointing out this celebrity's home and that celebrity's home, something about my novel was bugging me. Like an itchy mosquito bite, it was irritating me, asking me to scratch. I realized what it was: things weren't bad enough for my main character. When we went to the beach in Ventura the other day, I saw Rose and Rachael and Ava's faces, dressed in winter clothes, shivering before me instead the bathing suit clad bodies before me.

The other evening, after everyone had gone to bed, I stayed up late, propped in bed with pillows, holding a single piece of paper and a gel pen. I thought and thought, promising myself I would not go to sleep until it came to me. And, yes, it did. I discovered that one single thing my protagonist did that was wrong, wrong, wrong. The next morning I altered my plot outline (it only consisted of mildly changing three scenes but the stakes are higher, I think).

Though a writer mustn't rush or force the pages to come, one must push oneself and this is a conscious decision. This is my conscious decision:

I WILL FINISH THIS DRAFT BY AUGUST 31.

Strike while the iron's hot, right? While it's all fresh in my mind, while I feel passion for this work, I must push on.

When summer comes to a close, I must type the words THE END. I will let you know how I did in my blog post September 1st. Please feel welcome to join me in this quest to finish you own work in progress. Misery loves company right?

Refrigerator Poetry Life

by Hannah Roveto

Life gets crazy, yes? There are points in time when every aspect of existence pulls at once, every one and every thing needs attention. The small things fill your time, however, and the big things get put off for a day or two. You push them off, and they pile up, and one day they join forces and you can ignore them no longer.

Girl bicycle gears orthodontist pay thousand lost office reorganize pitch client additional release edit novel bingo excitement file letter state due house overflow costume buy... the sound of need is constant, overlapping, and grows louder and louder.

I want my mind to hear only one thing right now: my WIP. I am so close, so close. I want to be working on it non-stop, yet when I sit, something else calls me. Fifteen minutes here, thirty there is all I can seem to manage despite the fact that writing most rejuvenates me, excites and replenishes me. Leaving it is wrenching, and choosing which of the dozens of needs to address instead of it becomes more difficult. The sheer volume of real demands against my desire to be writing almost paralyzes me. Things fall behind, and yet life plunges forward -- rides, meals, activities, phone calls -- and I teeter at the top of the wave, about to go under.

My sister-in-law's refrigerator provides an answer. Waiting for my children to finish the morning routine for their vacationing cousins' elderly cat and five guinea pigs, I stare at photos in magnetic frames and surrounding them, pieces of refrigerator magnet poetry. Most of the words are in neat lines marching across the surface. At eye level is a pool of space with a few words floating. One is upside down: goals. I search the single words and find achieve. And there, heart. Borrowing only one piece from another thought, I create the following:

Achieve the goals of your heart.

That Gift of Time I wanted to give myself this summer? Gift, shmift. Clearly I'm going to have to steal it. Returning home, I let the kids watch television ("Mom's breaking the rules!") and invoke the Rule Of Two. If you can get two Big Things done and behind you, life is good.

I do one task start-to-finish before launching off in the car. Home again hours later, I do another, and only that. So what if none of the other big demands are addressed? The two most pressing are off my list. Amidst the daily routine and summer hubbub, I am going to knock another two off my list in the next twelve hours. Those four should keep the wolves at bay and tomorrow, I will make the first of my two Big Things my WIP, day after day after day. I can -- and will -- meet my goal, on my self-imposed timeline.

Life gets crazy, plain and simple. Demands press against you, threaten to knock you over. Never fear. The answer comes in focusing on the goals of your heart.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Posted by Lisa Marnell

I'm editing final chapters of my second first draft. Huh?

Let me explain. Last year I completed a draft of my YA work in progress, sent it to my writer's group, discussed it with them, and realized it had a FATAL FLAW: Rose, my young protagonist, was telling her mother's story, not hers.

It happens.

I was sitting in the study of our rental house, reflecting on feedback, suggestions for changing the ending of my novel, when I came to terms with the fact that I had to change more than the ending. I pretty much killed that story, poor thing. It's changed hugely, hopefully improved, and I see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

Last week I blogged about the 10,000 hours it takes to master a skill. The theory is that we need to practice and work at something for 10,000 hours to become good at it. This is not always the case, but how many authors who are "overnight successes" have been writing for years and have at least one novel in that bottom desk drawer. I know, I know, there are exceptions; some first attempts at novels are shoved far under the bed, toward the bedroom wall.

I am excited and happy at this point in my writing life. The light at the end of the tunnel draws me a step closer to it each day. Seeing the successes and inevitable success of my writing friends (those whose tenacity drives them to get up and dust themselves off with each and every writing disappointment) tells me my goal is within reach. I keep on keeping on. And so should you.

Besides, writing is really fun!

Dimensions

by Hannah Roveto

The surest sign of summer is the clonkety-clonk of large and growing feet around my house. Two voices have joined the cat and I, insisting they are exhausted when asked to do something, and bored beyond belief as soon as I let them rest. One critical detail: we are the only family in town, in New England, in the U.S. and perhaps the world to not have a gaming system.

Not that we aren't considering a system, although not as an immediate option or even a summer addition to our home. Not that the system wouldn't replace limited time on the TV, computer, and DS and come with rules. We haven't made the leap yet, and we are hesitant to do so. We do not see it as anything we really want. "Augh!" They groan, eyeballs spinning. "But why not?"

Because... I want them to live in three dimensions. Instead of playing Guitar Hero, one kid actually plays the guitar and the drums, and the other sings and is thinking about keyboard lessons. Instead addition to watching tightly edited television, one kid makes and edits videos and has done one for a local grocery. Instead of playing Dance Dance Revolution, one kid dances, dances on stage and can play both goalie and kick goals. Because both my kids are a bit obsessive and I worry it will be a battle to keep the primary focus on the 3-D worlds they have found for themselves in that time and space that being bored allows just before you decide what you want -- need, in your soul -- to do with your time.

Then I hear this: "You spend all your free (!) time on the computer." True enough. I spend my time writing, creating new worlds and new beings whom I need to see in three dimensions in order for others to experience them as well. I need to relive long-ago family vacations spent in piney campgrounds, or the feel of a baseball bat in my hands when it connects with the ball, or the summer spent working at a veterinary hospital, the sweet smell of disinfectant and the musk of dog and cat, and the paralyzing tension in the steps of a German Shepherd being brought into a room soon after an old, ill dog was put to sleep. I need to remember how a face crinkled just so with laughter, the precise pitch of a shriek of happiness and not anger, whether a particular person strode or lumbered or sashayed. I need to pull from the 3-D world to build a dream in the 3-D world: a real story, start to finish that may make its way into the real world some day.

I want my children to know how to live in three dimensions and to find their dreams. I want them to be bored, to have space and time to find what they want most in themselves, to nurture it themselves, to live it for themselves. Maybe because I waited so long in my life to dig deep and push my own dreams forward, I am being a bit obsessive myself on this issue. I freely admit this. What's the big deal, right? Maybe it's enough to realize that there is a 2-D and 3-D world at all, and that the rewards of 3-D are richer and fuller. Maybe by living life in 3-D and leading by example, we can all show -- rather than tell -- children in our lives and others as well how to realize their dreams in multiple dimensions, too.

by Hannah Roveto

A friend sent me a YouTube video yesterday, you know the kind, that has been mass emailed by people all over the world for months and months. In it was footage of tiny Connie Talbot, who came close to winning Britain's Got Talent last year (Simon Cowell's U.K. TV talent competition). Maybe you've seen it, maybe not. I often delete these things, but then again, I check chain emails claiming to serve some altruistic purpose against urbanlegends.com.

I was moved to tears by Connie. I admit to being in a particularly schmaltzy mood these days, but my thoughts afterward reflected more, I hope, than a bad case of over-sentimentality. Three ideas that have made me smile for the past 24 hours:

One: When someone has real talent, it will be noticed. Some creative people ignore the bubbling sound from within, even for years, as the path it leads to might be (a) impractical, (b) insufficient for bill-paying purposes and/or (c) put one in a position to be critiqued and criticized publicly. If you are known around the gray cubicles or in volunteer subcommittees as "the writer," then everyone is telling you something you need to hear and do something about.

Two: If it comes from a pure place, there is power. You can want something with your whole heart, but you have to want it for the right reasons. To be famous is not a reason. To make money is not a reason. To do it because you love to do it, because you do it in your sleep, because you are miserable when you can't do it, now there's a reason. There is a pure place deep inside you, and if you cultivate it -- the trick to it all -- you will succeed.

Three: Sometimes it is better to be older. A postscript on Connie's story, for anyone feeling equally schmaltzy who links to her performance, is that Cowell's record company came back to the Talbots and told them they believe in the future of this little girl, but that she is too young to launch a real career in the music industry. Kudos to them for having the backbone not to turn a six-year-old into immediate paychecks. There were other companies less ethical, but I hope the Talbots heard the full message and understand that bright lights and applause are frosting on a grindingly hard and brutal industry. Sometimes maturity -- of the artist, not those around her or him -- is truly essential equipment in tackling a dream.

Bottom line: If you want to fly over the rainbow, ask yourself, do you have the wings for it? If yes, then do you have the strength for it, or the willingness to build up that strength? And if yes again, well, get out there and fly. Start low but head high. You don't ever be the one to be stuck on the ground at the end of the day wondering why, then, oh why, didn't I.

Freedom to Fall

By Amy MacKinnon

Any Alicia Keys fans in the house? She's my girl. A musical savant, but even more, a philosopher.
Sarah Rodman, one of my favorite music critics, had an awe-inspiring, hit-me-upside-the-head, everyone-needs-to-read-this kind of interview with Alicia Keys in this past Friday's Boston Globe.

"Everything's not always going to be perfect or exactly the way you wished it was going to be, and the way that you handle that is what shows the growth you're going to have," says an upbeat Keys from New Orleans.

Now sit back a minute and read that paragraph a second time. Going to have. Now that's forward thinking. This coming from a 27-year-old woman. Ready for more?

"...the one thing I really want above all is to feel proud of the choices I made. And I also want to feel if I made any bad choices that I was able to learn from them."

Alicia Keys is telling you, me, the world, and most important of all, herself, that it's okay to fail. She is saying choose wisely, but if you don't, that's okay, learn from it and keep moving forward.

We know this already, don't we? We know that our failures teach us more than our successes. We know as writers, we will be faced with rejections, criticisms, acid-tongued Amazon reviewers. But we forget, too. In the moment, when faced with it, we can feel only the sting of the fall and forget it's a journey of a thousand steps this life we chose. We'll all fall, some of us spectacularly, others in silent torment. Just remember when you do fail -- and you will -- you tripped in the footsteps of those who went before you -- and they kept going. Will you?

Just watch her go.

The Gift of Time

by Hannah Roveto

My birthday came and went recently, accompanied by homemade cards hidden (surprise!) as usual under my placemat at breakfast, flowers from my husband, a cake from the supermarket chosen for maximum lusciousness by my chocoholic daughter, and dinner out a week later alone with my husband courtesy of my parents (during which said daughter did call to report what she'd done all day with Grandma and Grandpa before being put to bed at their house).

A special present is yet to come.

I sat my kids down and told them not what I want, but what I need most from them as we head into summer. I, too, am ready for less stress, later starting times to the day, a regular check on the quality and service at Dairy Twist, the smell of suntan lotion and bug spray and chlorine and sweat. I am not ready, or willing, or able, to lose Writer Time.

My manuscript will be in the hands of the group by month's end and barring fatal flaws, sent to agents soon thereafter. Thus, is the pressure off? Not a chance. I will still need to edit and polish, finalize my query letter, work at the back-office end of getting it ready and out the door.

Even when that happens, there is still no rest -- nor am I weary, in the least! Summer hits right as my WTBIN (Work-To-Be-In-Progress) screams into my ear, having waited patiently over the past several months for focused attention. Now is literally its time in the sun, and it and I cannot wait.

I explained to my kids that summer will run more smoothly for all if Mommy has Time. I need them to do a little more around the house. I need them to respect when I am on the phone and computer, and not just when I'm doing paid work (for which I have a separate but overlapping strategy to make time to do). Bottom line, however, is that Mommy on computer or sitting in corner with notebook plus quiet (low volume?) equals Mommy back to you faster -- and happier.

I will do my share. I've bought bottles of bubbles (for her) and new outdoor toys (for both). My son the videographer has a new greenscreen downstairs (Wal-Mart Arugula paint on a drop cloth). The promise of time at StarLand to play mini-golf and whatever else strikes their fancies awaits as a reward.

So, to follow on the themes of Drive and Tenacity and Moms Who Write, any other tips for creating Writer Time during the summer months? For giving oneself and persuading others to give you the Gift of Time? Bring 'em on!

Turn Things on Their Head

Posted by Lynne Griffin

A few days ago, a very creative friend of mine wondered out loud if she were innately imaginative enough to write a rich and compelling novel. I was first struck by how preposterous this musing was, since she's extremely inventive. Later, this thought intrigued me: should any writer rest on his or her God-given gifts of imagination and inspiration, or is every writer equally responsible for the search to find the thing that sets the break and tumble wave of creativity in motion?

Maybe there's a picture or poem that introduces you to an interesting character. The picture to the right is one of my parents in the early days of their courtship. I started a story inspired by their love affair, and it became something entirely different. I'm indebted to them, and to this photograph for planting the seed.

Or perhaps you've read or heard a news story so unbelievable you have to understand why things unfolded the way they did, or rewrite the ending.

As I write this, I have a copy of Anne Halpin's breathtaking book, Seascape Gardening on my desk. It's been sitting there since I received it as a birthday gift. The setting of my work-in-progress is laid out all over its pages, as if Ms. Halpin collected the Roger Foley images and wrote the commentary, specifically for me.

In writing, there are many well known taglines. Show, don’t tell. Write what you know. Allow yourself the shitty first draft. But like the idea of waiting on the Muse, to each of these there's a flip side.

Tell and show.
There are times when telling is the right thing to do. At the beginning of chapters, to let the reader know time has past, or in making the perfect transition, keeping the pace of the novel swift and the plot moving forward. I don't worry, in early drafts, if there's a little too much tell. I know adding show will be the work of revision. And a side note here--Jennifer Haigh wrote her first novel in sixty pages. In revision, she fleshed the entire story out. I imagine there was a lot of telling in the early draft.

Write what you don't know.
For me, inspiration is often found in learning something new. Research can be energizing. Choosing a character's occupation or fascination opens doors to all kinds of things that can provide inspiration and motivation. Why not try to write what you don't know?

Allow yourself a glorious first draft.
Perhaps there are days, weeks, or even novels that require one to write slowly, critiquing every word set down on the page. What a difference it might make to scrutinize each word choice, making every one count.

To a degree--though I may adjust the percentages a bit--I share Thomas Edison's thinking on achieving your goals. He said, success is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. Friend of our blog Larramie wrote a beautiful sentiment, last year about this time. I love it so much I'll share it here. She wrote, Summer is a season of indulgences. Mine just happens to be writing.

So my advice to writers, at the beginning of this Memorial Day weekend, is to go out and turn traditional ideas about writing on their head. You may just find the inspiration you've been looking for.