Susan Adrian: Pay It Forward

Showing posts with label Pay It Forward. Show all posts

Friday, April 02, 2010

Pay It Forward: Catherine Karp

The final interview of the Pay It Forward series!! Don't forget everyone else who's playing:

Click here for more inspiration: Lisa and Laura Roecker, Beth Revis, Leah Clifford, Victoria Schwab, Kirsten Hubbard, Elana Johnson, Dawn Metcalf, Kim Harrington, Carrie Harris, Amy Holder, Kathy McCullough, Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins, and Tiffany Schmidt.

*****
Catherine Karp & I have known each other for years. We worked together at Academic Press in San Diego, as editors of various types along the chain, on the same "team" even. She was my Mommy-mentor, pregnant a year or two before me. I went to her for advice and bags of hand-me-downs from her daughter to mine. (We *just* ran out of these, by the way!) We were both writing then, she more seriously than me at the time. We kind of lost touch when she moved to Oregon and we moved to Montana, but oddly enough we're both writing YA now. And her agent, the slithery Barbara Poelle, is great friends with mine, the sharkly Janet Reid.

As a certain Disney ride told me yesterday, "It's a Small World After All..."

Here's Cathy's interview. Enjoy!!

1. Tell us about your current book.
I'm working on a young adult historical ghost story/mystery that's tentatively titled Blackbirds.

2. Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publication (finding an agent)?
I've been lucky enough to have landed an agent twice, although I'm still struggling to reach that elusive publishing contract stage. I worked with the first agent back in 1998 and 1999, when I was writing historical fiction for an adult audience. It took me four years of writing, rewriting, and querying, but eventually I received a heart-racing email from an agent who said she was excited about my work. Unfortunately, the historical fiction market was dead back then, and she couldn't sell my manuscript, despite glowing rejection letters. We parted ways, amicably, and after co-founding a historical fiction publishing company, I came up with the idea for a modern-day comic novel about marriage, the suburbs, and a vampire. That querying process was a swifter one, and I started working with Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency after she suggested some revisions.

Barbara is fabulous and worked diligently to sell my manuscript for about two years, and we came, as she put it, as close as you can get to having a contract without actually having a contract. Last fall she and I started discussing going in the direction of young adult fiction. We met in New York this past January and chatted about my new project, so here I am today, working on Blackbirds, hoping the third time's the charm.

3. Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? Why didn't you?
There have certainly been moments along the way where I've questioned if I'm on the right path in life. But I've always received so much support and encouragement, plus I can't even fathom giving up writing. Deep down a voice inside me always tells me to keep plugging away.

4. How have your goals/dreams changed since you started the process?
At this point, after fifteen years of attempting to break into the business, I'd be thrilled to get even one book in print through a traditional publishing house. But I'd want it to be a memorable book. I've always admired Harper Lee's ability to produce a whopper of a novel and then gracefully give a bow.
5. What's the piece of advice you wished you knew when you started?
I actually received some wonderful advice from a screenwriter when I was in high school: Never give up. It's the most common words of wisdom given to writers, but it's so true. As long as writing makes you happy, keep on working away. If you're willing to constantly go back to the drawing board...and if you READ, READ, READ authors who challenge you to set the bar higher...you'll eventually get there.

Catherine Karp
http://www.catherinekarp.com
http://suburbanvampire.blogspot.com

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Pay It Forward: Kari Lynn Dell

Sometimes this writing business--especially the writing for publication part--is rough and bumpy. We all go through the ditches, and feel we're alone. It's easy to look at other writers and think it was easy for them, or that they have some kind of luck or talent we don't have.

This week, a whole big bunch of us are turning the spotlight on those who are almost there, writers who are agented but haven't quite got the deal yet, or writers who have sold but their books aren't quite out. Join us this week for 70 (yes 70!) success stories!

Each day this week I'm going to post an interview with one of these writers, to hopefully inspire you, provide hope along your way, and prove that you CAN succeed in this crazy business. You guys--you're going to LOVE these interviews. They were so inspirational to me!! They're doing it. You can too.

Click here for more inspiration: Lisa and Laura Roecker, Beth Revis, Leah Clifford, Victoria Schwab, Kirsten Hubbard, Elana Johnson, Dawn Metcalf, Kim Harrington, Carrie Harris, Amy Holder, Kathy McCullough, Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins, and Tiffany Schmidt.

*****
Kari is my agent-sister as well as my state-sister. I love that we have both writing AND Montana quirks in common, that we can trade anecdotes about weather and towns we know. That said, her experience on a real live ranch in northern Montana and mine sitting at my desk in southwest Montana are pretty distinctly different. I love to hear Kari's Montana for Real stories just as much as the New Yorkers, so I was so pleased when she agreed to be interviewed!

1. Tell us about your current book.

My current, as yet untitled book is the story of a woman who was rodeo’s version of a child prodigy, flamed out at age twenty, and is now confronting her past and attempting to make some kind of peace. It’s set on the pro rodeo circuit, so there’s a lot of action in and out of the arena. Emotionally, it’s the most complex thing I’ve ever written, with relationships—both human and animal—that stretch back over years and encompass both the best and worst of her life.
It’s also turning out to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever written, and a whole lot of fun.

2. Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publication (finding an agent and editor)?

I haven’t made it to publication in novel form…yet. I write a bi-weekly column for several newspapers. I do have an agent, Janet Reid of Fine Print Literary Management. She signed me after tolerating my very clumsy pitch at a conference, requesting a full and, in her words, “falling in love with your unique voice”.

Plus, she likes horses. ;)

3. Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? Why didn't you?

I did stop writing almost entirely for the two years before and after my son was born. He was eleven weeks premature and even though he came through it like a champ and has no ongoing health issues, it took a lot out of us. Then we moved from Oregon to Montana and things settled down and the writing bug bit me all over again.

As for giving up entirely, yes, I think every writer who doesn’t have instant success hits that wall. In my case, I looked at my husband and said, “Do you really think I should keep doing this?” And he said, “Well, as long as you like writing it, I sure like reading it. And it doesn’t cost much.” So I kept writing.

4. How have your writing goals/dreams changed since you started the process?

I started writing on a whim, with absolutely no clue about publishing, or even writing for that matter. My only goal was to entertain myself. By the time I finished that first novel I was hooked, and went shopping for books on writing to help me figure out how it was supposed to be done. It wasn’t until the fourth book that I considered going to a conference and pitching. That was the one Janet read.

Obviously my goals have changed, but I try to retain the attitude I had when I started. Publishing is such a crap shoot, the only thing I can do is write a story I love, enjoy the process, and hope for the best.

5. These interviews will hopefully inspire those who are just beginning the writing process. What's the one piece of advice you wished you knew when you started?

Start sooner.

Just kidding. But I do wish I’d considered writing earlier in life. Still, the experiences I’ve had in my various professions definitely feed my stories, so nothing wasted.

I can’t say there’s one piece of advice that would have changed my path as a writer, or made it easier. In pretty much every part of my life I’ve been a slow starter. It took me seven years and two changes of my major to get through college. I started competing in rodeo at age eight, but didn’t get really competitive as a barrel racer until I was in my last couple years of high school. Then I switched to roping and took ten years to master that event. And let’s not even get into how long and how many false starts it took me to get ‘find a good man’ down pat.

Suffice to say, if history holds true, I’m getting to the point where I should just about have this writing thing figured out.

Thanks, Kari!! Hopefully I'm getting there too. *Montana writer high-five*

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Pay It Forward: Daisy Whitney

1. Tell us about The Mockingbirds!

The Mockingbirds is about an underground, student-run justice system at a prestigious boarding school that operates as the judge, jury and prosecution -- of the students, by the students. They take their name from "To Kill a Mockingbird" and their mission is to be the honor code the school doesn't have. The main character decides to turn to the Mockingbirds for help after she is dated raped her junior year. Ultimately it's a story about justice, honor and speaking up and fans
of romance will be happy to know there is some good forbidden romance in the story too!

[Don't you guys want to read this RIGHT NOW?]

2. Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publication (finding an agent and editor)?

Ah, it was a long and winding road with many many twists and turns. In fact, there are so very many that Courtney Summers has assured me she will travel in a small backpack on any book tour I might do and pop out from time to time to remark on my journey! She's been with me for
many steps along the way. I suppose I can best sum it up in numbers: four novels, three agents, more than two years on submission, more than 45 editor rejections for various projects, many more agent rejections, two rewrites while on submission. AND THEN I GOT A TWO-BOOK DEAL FROM AN AMAZING PUBLISHING HOUSE!! The point being, it's not easy. It's not supposed to be easy. If it were easy everyone would do it.

3. Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? Why didn't you?

I never felt like giving up because that is not in my nature. I once did a bike ride called The Death Ride. It's a one-day, 129-mile ride over 5 mountain passes with 16,000 feet of climbing involved. I am not athletic, I am not fast, and I am actually a complete dork. I did not even train well for the ride. But I was determined to finish and I did -- I was one of the last riders to cross the finish line and now I can say "I finished the Death Ride!" But more so, I just made a decision when it came to writing to keep at it, to keep writing, to keep learning, to keep growing, to keep going. Plus, I held onto my favorite quote from Randy Pausch when I was being rejected six ways to Sunday: "Brick walls are there for a reason. To let us prove how badly we want something."

4. How have your writing goals/dreams changed since you started the process?

At first you focus on each step of the process - finishing a chapter, then a book, then landing an agent, then an editor, etc. Now, I'm eagerly awaiting my novel's release in November and my goals are more specific. I want the book to matter. I want it to matter to teens. I want it to matter to readers. And I want to hear from them if it does matter!

5. These interviews will hopefully inspire those who are just beginning the writing process. What's the one piece of advice you wished you knew when you started?

This might be a downer, but getting an agent doesn't mean you'll get a book deal. So keep writing! If the first one doesn't sell, maybe the second one will. If the second one doesn't, maybe the third one will. If the third one doesn't maybe the fourth one will. Yes, I was agented
for FOUR projects and it was the fourth one that sold. Which really means my advice is "Hold onto that dream and fight for it. Fight for it by putting your butt in the chair every day and writing."

Thanks so much, Daisy! I loved this.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Pay It Forward Interview: Sean Ferrell

1. Tell us about NUMB!!

What's Numb? Oh, right. My book. Numb is the story of a man who wanders into a circus without memories or the ability to feel pain. He follows what few clues he has from the circus to New York City, makes money exploiting his talent for nailing himself to bars, and ends up meeting more than a few people interested in taking advantage of him. In short, I am not very nice to the poor fellow.

2. Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publication (finding an agent and editor)?

It was easy. I clicked my heels together and there they were. And you were there, and you, and... Hold on, that's not right.

My pursuit of publication was just like so many other writers' paths. I call it the shampoo theory of publishing: lather, rinse, repeat. You work on something, you submit, you get rejected, you rework, submit elsewhere, etcetera etcetera. I was lucky enough to have Janet Reid want to read my book. Then she offered to rep it. Then the shampoo theory reactivated only this time she was the one in a lather. I tried to let her do her job without troubling her for too many updates. What good would it be to have me calling and asking "well, well, well?" Instead, I worked on another book. And another, and then another. Not only did she find an editor who liked Numb, she found an editor who saw the same book I do, and I am lucky on every conceivable front: I have a great agent, an amazing editor whom I like and respect and trust, and I look good in a suit.

3. Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? Why didn't you?

I think it depends on how you define "giving up." I know most people want to hear "ME? QUIT? NEVER! CAP LOCK!" The reality was that in some ways I did feel like giving up. I found excuses to not work. I found things to distract me from the work. I planned great writing sessions, if only the dishes were cleaned first I better do them and oh the rugs need to be vacuumed and I could really iron the napkins even though they are used and paper. For a time I thought about going back to school to pursue a degree in animation. It wasn't until my wife was pregnant with our son that I had a "What the #&@% are you doing?" moment. I was sitting in my living room in the dark, staring at a blank computer screen, and I heard a voice ask me, "When your son asks you what you do, what do you want to tell him?" The next morning I started getting up at 5AM to write. I did that for several months, even after he was born. Then we moved to a place in Brooklyn where my commute to midtown Manhattan was ninety minutes both ways. I wrote on the train, by hand, in leather-bound journals. Eventually I got a small netbook. I still get a majority of my writing done on the train, even though my commute is shorter now and my son older. Pregnant women and the elderly hate me. "No, you can't have this seat. Because I'm an artist, that's why." Through it all the reason I kept at it was "What will you tell your son what you are?" Did I follow my passion? Did I do what I HAD to do. At first, no. But eventually, yes. And I know now that it has stuck. I won't be stopping anytime soon.

4. How have your writing goals/dreams changed since you started the process?

At first it was very goal oriented. "I want to have a book published." Then you think you've become a "serious" writer when you no longer want the publication but instead just want an agent. That's bullshit. It's as much of a distracting goal as publication. The moment--and I am serious when I say "moment"--that I knew in my heart that I only cared about getting the words in the right order good things started to happen. Do I want my books to sell? Of course. But when I sit down at the keyboard I am completely absorbed by the issues my characters are facing and how to make the sentences clear, the plot work, the descriptions true. I have brilliant moments of self-doubt, beautiful certainty that I suck at this. I think of these moments as brilliant and beautiful because they remind me of what's important: the writing writing writing. Thank God I have those moments of doubt. The second I stop having them is when I'll be going through the motions and writing work that will most certainly be crap. Doubt is a sign of passion. Embrace it.

5. These interviews will hopefully inspire those who are just beginning the writing process. What's the one piece of advice you wished you knew when you started?

I'm a bit of contrarian. Sometimes for humorous effect, sometimes just because, and sometimes because by law I'm forced to utilize my Philosophy degree in SOME way. However, when it comes to writing, I really go the opposite direction from a lot of "how to"s. Some of the things I do wouldn't work for everyone. Some people are outliners; I'm not. Some people say "write in the morning" or "never listen to music, eavesdrop to learn dialog" or "Revise the day after/week later/month after you finish." I would never be so arrogant to recommend that others should write the way I write. What makes my way so special?

But there is one piece of advice I would question: "Know your audience." Why? Am I going to drive them to the bookstore to pick up the book? I always assume that my audience are people who like the things I like. If I fill a book with things I think are cool, people who might be like me will probably find some (I hope most) of it cool too. However, I enjoy lots of different things, and my tastes can change based on mood, weather, time of year. If MY interests and tastes can develop and shift how am I going to meet the interests and tastes of some anonymous "audience?" I spent a lot of time trying to write for a specific audience in grad school. The effect: I wrote very little, and what I did write was like someone else's work.

Thanks, Sean!! Go see Sean's blog for more general amusement AND advice, or follow him on Twitter @byseanferrell!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Pay It Forward Interview: Jodi Meadows

Sometimes this writing business--especially the writing for publication part--is rough and bumpy. We all go through the ditches, and feel we're alone. It's easy to look at other writers and think it was easy for them, or that they have some kind of luck or talent we don't have.

This week, a whole big bunch of us are turning the spotlight on those who are almost there, writers who are agented but haven't quite got the deal yet, or writers who have sold but their books aren't quite out. Join us this week for 70 (yes 70!) success stories!

Each day this week I'm going to post an interview with one of these writers, to hopefully inspire you, provide hope along your way, and prove that you CAN succeed in this crazy business. You guys--you're going to LOVE these interviews. They were so inspirational to me!! They're doing it. You can too.

Click here for more inspiration: Lisa and Laura Roecker, Beth Revis, Leah Clifford, Victoria Schwab, Kirsten Hubbard, Elana Johnson, Dawn Metcalf, Kim Harrington, Carrie Harris, Amy Holder, Kathy McCullough, Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins, and Tiffany Schmidt.

My own interview will be featured on Tiffany Schmidt's blog this Tuesday. Please go check out all the posts this week, because you never know who's going to say exactly what you need to hear to keep moving forward.
*****
Jodi Meadows likes books so much she decided to write them, and recently found representation with Lauren MacLeod of the Strothman Agency. Before that, she spent a year and a half reading submissions and evaluating requested materials for another well-known agent. She's a smart cookie. LISTEN TO HER. And I don't know about you, but *I* want to read her book!

1. Tell us about your current book.

My current project is called THE NEWSOUL TRILOGY. The first in the series is ERIN INCARNATE, and I'm working on the draft of ERIN ASUNDER.

The idea behind the series is one I've been cooking for a few years now, but didn't have the guts to try until recently. It's pretty simple, I think, but there were a ton of places it could go, and consequences from just the worldbuilding... It was intimidating!

Since the beginning of recorded time, people are reincarnated over and over. They remember all their past lives, develop their society, and so things go for about five thousand years. Then someone new is born.

The story is about Erin, the newsoul, and her journey to finding out who she is, why she was born, and learning whether there are more like her. There's a lot of science, magic, and romance. Also a lot of death and mayhem. My favorite things!

2. Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publication (finding an agent and editor)?

Let me 'splain.

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Once upon a time, I had another agent. We parted ways on good terms and I thought to myself, "Okay, I've had one agent. How hard can it be to get another?"

Famous. Last. Words.

Fast forward roughly two years of slaving over a hot keyboard, writerly angst, and several announcements -- mostly just in my head -- that I was going to quit the goal of publication and just write for my own darn self.
Well, obviously it didn't end up like that. I stink at avoiding my goals, so I kept writing new stories, kept querying, and got a job working as a slush reader for my former agent, which was really educational and gave me a lot of insight into what agents do and how writers interact with them on a submission level. I did note in my query letter that I worked for an agent, but aside from possibly garnering a couple more requests or personal responses than I'd normally get, it didn't really affect my submission process -- except once. It, ah, ended up a rejection.

Okay, so there was a *lot* of drama involved with finding a new agent. Two years of angst, ect.

At some point, I joined Twitter and met a bunch of cool people. There was this one chick who called herself @bostonbookgirl and her profile said she was an agent, though I hadn't seen her on AgentQuery before. After I'd gotten to know Lauren -- as much as you can get to know anyone through Twitter -- I sent her a query for the dark adult urban fantasy I had recently applied a new coat of polish to. And she requested the full! Hurrah!

Then she rejected it. She liked my writing and all that, but something about it didn't work for her. So I said okay and after I thought she had enough time to recover, I sent her a secondworld fantasy YA.

Well Lauren rejected that one too, saying she loved it...but... But she didn't know the right people to send it to. Honestly, I'd already known that secondworld fantasy was a hard sell, but a girl's gotta try.

After that, I was determined to write something Lauren a) loved, and b) could sell. I happened to be working on ERIN INCARNATE then, and of *course* she was the first one I queried when the project was ready. (I also queried a bunch of other people. I'm no fool. Well, not a fool like that anyway.)

No one will believe that's the sum-up version.

3. Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? Why didn't you?

Goodness, yes. As I said, these were mostly announcements in my head to see how it worked out. Never very well.

I never actually intended on quitting writing -- I knew that was impossible -- so I just tried to give up the goal of getting published. But as it turns out, I really like that goal. It drives me to do better and work harder, even when it hurts (really bad) sometimes.

I want to share my stories with other people, and the best way to do that is to get an agent and publisher. So I guess *really* wanting to do that is what kept me from quitting for real.

4. How have your writing goals/dreams changed since you started the process?

I was just about to say they haven't changed, but that's not true. I've learned a lot about the industry and I think the biggest thing has actually been very simple: people run it.

How did that change my goals? Easy. I went from thinking any agent/editor would do to realizing I want someone who's as passionate and committed to their jobs as I am to writing, and someone whose working style matches mine.

It's definitely harder to find the right person, but it's worth it. Perhaps any agent/editor can help me succeed, but the *right* agent/editor can help me succeed better. (And with 10x more fun.)

5. These interviews will hopefully inspire those who are just beginning the writing process. What's the one piece of advice you wished you knew when you started?

I ate one of those little pudding cups (vanilla with caramel on top, if you must know) for inspiration on this question, because I didn't want something generic like, "Don't give up!" or "Write better, yo!" but those aren't bad. (The pudding was sugar-free, which might have something to do with the lack of inspiration here.)

Okay, how about this?

Agents and editors aren't our enemies. They aren't trying to keep writers from getting published. They are, in fact, cheering us on and waiting for us to send them The Project. The one they a) love, and b) can sell.

We just need to give it to them.
***

Thanks, Jodi!! You can You can also find Jodi's blog here, or follow her @jodimeadows!