Recommendations?

WAKE UP EVERYONE!

Hermiting is done for now. I think. I'm writing SSP (and it is FUN to start a new book and play!), I'm at work for a full normal week (last week was too weird and disjointed), and I get to go out to dinner with hubby tonight. And we had a lovely weekend.

Plus...I'm just tired of listening to my own voice in my own head. It gets a bit monotonous. So in an effort to mix it up a little, I'm declaring it Recommendation Monday.

Idea: for those two people still reading this blog, post with a recommendation for something you love. Anything. Book, movie, food, hobby, computer game, music, art, blog, whatever. The idea is to share the stuff you love with other people, so we can all discover something new today.

My recommendations for today:

Book: WAKE, by Lisa McMann. I'm not done yet, but I'm enjoying!

Movie: CASHBACK. Again, haven't quite finished; we were watching last night. But I love it!! Quirky and original.

Recipe: Honey Mint Glazed Chicken. Made again last night, and it's sooo moist and flavorful and yummy. And easy! I don't have a grill, so I broil it.

Most Excellent Funny Blog Post: Courtney Summers guest-blogging on The Swivet about YA "rules" or not-rules.

Web Programs to Make Your Life Easier and More Fun: Google Reader. Statcounter (if you have a blog). Pandora.

Your turn!! Please share at least one thing you recommend!!

Wha?

Oh, uh...hi.

Look at that, it's been more than a week since I blogged. Hmmm. Let's see. I...

--only ended up working for about 2 days. I went home sick Monday afternoon, Tuesday was Veteran's Day, Wednesday Child went home sick suddenly, Thursday I was home with her, and today I've been here for most of the day, though I had to run out for an appointment. Whew.

--had meetings every day I WAS at work.

--did not write. With everything else, I just didn't manage. I tried to get back in the swing today, and discovered my writing muscles are weak and flabby and sore. Now I have to get back in shape again. *sigh* But I will not let it beat me! SSP, I will get going with you!

--on the day no one was sick, and yet we did not have work, hubby and I caught 4 beautiful rainbow trout, about 4-5 lbs each. Most excellent.

And so here I sit on Friday afternoon after a mostly unproductive week. Yet I had fun spending time with Child and hubby, which is much needed. And *right* this second I'm sending out powerful good-luck vibes to one of my closest friends, hoping for The Best News Ever. You know who you are. :)

Thursday linkage

And with all that time on my hands, I've clicked on some links that I absolutely LOVED.

First, an interview with Michael Crichton and his editor, Bob Gottlieb, on the editing process of The Andromeda Strain, courtesy of Sarah Weinman. Priceless.

For fun, a wonderful and wonderfully weird video of a cappella singing (a group named Moosebutter) to John William's music, about Star Wars. Yes. I mean it. It's fabulous.

Last, Sharpie Art. Because why not, really.

Enjoy.

Between book blues

(I know I've blogged about this before, but I can't find it, so good luck on anyone ELSE finding it.)

I am useless between books.

Absolutely blooming useless. I sit on my butt and do nothing. I am not motivated to clean, or get working on my thesis, or catch up on things that have been long-undone, or even read! I watch YouTube. I click on links I don't even really want to read. I annoy people on Twitter. I stare at my screen and feel empty.

It's like if I'm not using my willpower to fit book-writing in between everything else, my willpower runs away and takes a holiday. Even though there are things I should be doing, I don't want to do them. I am adrift.

Yeah, I've been Without Book for 3 whole days. *eyeroll*

Okay, that's not really true. I haven't been working on a new book since...August. I've been doing revisions since then. So maybe this is all an accumulation of all that blankness of new creativity.

Anyway. Enough is freaking enough, and I'm going to start real work on SSP* today. Thank God. Things can get back to crazy-normal, which is normal for me.

*Super-Secret Project. This will be its name in public for quite some time, I imagine...

At last.

I cried last night.

Actually, I teared up a lot yesterday.

When I stood in a voting booth, surrounded by all the enthusiastic bustle of a whole town's worth of people, and marked the space next to a candidate I REALLY want to be my President.

When I was knocking on doors for Obama, and I had a long talk with a lovely 82-year-old lady in a housecoat about how voting for Obama reminds her of things her father, an immigrant from Ireland, told her were important. How excited she was that he might actually win.

When I was holding Child in my lap and watching election results, and she was keeping track for me, cheering as the states came pouring in.

But mostly when the results were announced, and I realized I could stop holding my breath in dread that something-would-go-wrong, that it would all be a dream, that it really couldn't happen. That I really could allow all that pent-up hope to come out, at last.

HOPE.

And then I saw his speech, and I blubbered my way through it. All those emotions that I'd been keeping in, free at last. (and no, I didn't type that accidentally)

More hope. Joy. Optimism. Gratitude. Pride.

Thank you, Americans, for giving hope a shot this time. And for those who didn't, I hope you're pleasantly surprised. I've got lots of hope to share, now.

Please, please, please...

VOTE!!

I'm off to volunteer for Barack Obama's campaign, most of the day. Fingers crossed. I still have hope.

Hiring Obama

Maureen Johnson is made of awesome.

Her post on YA for Obama about how McCain/Palin would run a Starbucks, vs. how Obama would:

http://yaforobama.ning.com/profiles/blogs/hiring-obama

Edited to add:

I kept reading. Libba Bray's is pretty amazing too.

Ramblings

Hello there.

I meant to write in-depth about my experience at Surrey, but it's too late now. The moment has passed, and other events have eclipsed it and changed my perception, as they do. So I'll just say that I had a wonderful time with my friends and Agent Janet. Shout-out to my girls.

Next time I go to a conference, I will remember to post about it sooner! But for now...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

I'm not a Halloween devotee, mostly because I generally don't like putting on costumes and traipsing about. Also, it's usually FREAKING COLD here on Halloween. Last year it was like 10 degrees below zero when we were out. It turned into a race: how many houses can we visit before our fingertips are frozen to the point that we need to go back to Grandma's house and warm up with more cocoa?

But it IS fun having a kid on Halloween. Child gets very excited about the costume thing, and the candy thing. (who could blame her?) She's been a princess in some form for the past 3 years, so this year she decided enough with the princess: she is going to be a panther. Black clothes, black fuzzy tail, black cat mask. Black painted nails for claws. This was the MOST exciting part, as nail polish is generally not allowed yet at our house. So last night I painted her nails, and--at her request--mine. Am typing this with black panther-claw nails. :) We also decorated a pumpkin to look like a black cat, to match.

We are READY.

And I hope I'm ready for the election next week, too. For the first time in my life I volunteered to work for a candidate--I believe that strongly in Barack Obama. Tuesday I'll be doing whatever they need me to do, getting out the vote. Hoping it will make a difference, and this year won't be like all the others. This year we'll do it.

I have hope.

Yes! I'm back!!

First I had no brain to make a coherent post, now I have no time to make a coherent post.

Soon, my pretties.

Buh-bye!!

All RIGHT.

Midterm paper done and turned in. That was my last obstacle, and now I am free! (free free free) *you must visualize the little dance I'm doing while I sing that*

I am off to Surrey.

I love Surrey. Surrey is learning from and hanging out with the best writers, agents, and editors around. Surrey is finding yourself in a room FULL of people who completely understand what hell this whole process is and how you're obsessed with spending all your time doing it anyway. Surrey is reuniting with all my very best friends once a year and enjoying the heck out of it for 4 full days. Surrey is leaving behind all my commitments for a little while--family, work, school, thesis, internet--and just being.

Later, all. I am absolutely not bringing my laptop, so I will be back on Tuesday. Exhausted, maybe a little tipsy still. But refreshed.

Yipsy doodle

Revisions, you are MINE. Yessss!

Um, for now. For at least a couple days.

Homework, check.

Now off to read my research articles and write an outline for the paper I need to write tomorrow. But I think I've made enough progress that I can allow myself to catch up on ANTM at lunch and eat dark chocolate.

Now that, my friends, is a wahoo!

I know you missed me so much...

But I was really away!

Last week I was in northern California--my old stomping grounds--visiting family. Also, trying to fit in work. In between FairyTale Town-ing, pumpkin patch-ing, and a quick dip in San Francisco, I managed to pound on my revisions, do research for a paper, and do homework.

In other words, I had no time to blog. Crazy, I know.

Now I'm back home, but it's crunch time. Those revisions are due tomorrow (almost done, on final read-through to make sure I didn't leave any craziness dangling in there). The homework is also due tomorrow. The paper is due Wednesday.

And Thursday, I leave for my beloved Surrey to hang with my girls and my fabulous agent Janet.

More on Surrey when I find my head!

*warning* *overload*

AAAHHH!

Okay, revisions, thesis, prep for Trip 1, prep for Trip 2, homework, thesis work, work work, prepping house for winter, buying present and getting stuff together for a sleepover/swim birthday party Child was invited to TOMORROW NIGHT that I just found out about last night...

I can do all this, right? Tell me I can do all this.

Monday Love Day

Okay, it's Monday afternoon. I've seen a lot of people having rough times today.

I think everybody's in need of a love day.

I like to do these every once in a while--they make at least ME feel better. Hope they make you feel better too, for a minute at least. I don't like rules, but if you feel like it here's what you do to participate:

POST A COMMENT SAYING AT LEAST ONE THING YOU LOVE, RIGHT NOW.

Easy, huh?

I'll start. Right this particular second I love:

--Louis Armstrong
--Candy corn
--The brilliant orangey fall light streaming in my window

Your turn! You don't need to stop Monday either. Post as many as you want!

Register!

Okay, I know YOU'RE all registered to vote, right? But you might know some people who aren't. So feel free to pass this one along!

Link Festival

Some amazingly interesting stuff going on this week!

• Maggie Stiefvater's kickass YA faerie novel, Lament, comes out today!
• YA author Kelly Parra's launching her new book, Invisible Touch, with a Secret Fates Extravaganza. Go see! And watch the video.
  
• Janet Reid (okay, yes, my fabulous agent) has a blog post about the questionable decision of Northern Illinois University Press to exclude agented writers from submission. A firestorm of comments ensued. (warning: don't look unless you have lots of time!)
  
• Last but not least, Moonrat, aka Editorial Ass, is raffling off her editorial services to benefit a friend with cancer. Full of awesomeness.

Back to work!

A timely quote from my planner:

"Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find joy in overcoming obstacles." --Helen Keller

Thank you, Helen. Some days we all need that.

All your publishing questions ANSWERED!

Finally, after much struggle and heartache and dangerous adventures on your behalf, I have located the magic treasure box of Publishing Answers. This box is soooo magical (and sparkly) that it not only contains all the answers every writer wants to know, but it personalizes the answers for each person. So yes, the answers below really are for YOU. They are the real, truthful answers. No more waiting! No more endless wondering! No more twitching!

Now, I haven't tried it yet either, so I'm going to be surprised right along with you. I've made up a list of the usual questions, and we'll see what the oracle has to say.

Anyway, without further ado, here we go....

1. Will my book be published?
ANSWER: Maybe. It depends.

2. When will I get an agent?
ANSWER: When the time is right.

3. When will I get an offer?
ANSWER: When the time is right.

4. Is the book good enough yet? Should I send it off?
ANSWER: No.

5. How many times will I need to revise this book?
ANSWER: Over and over and over and over and over. Until it's ready.

6. Will I go insane before I finish this book/land an agent/get an offer? Will all my hair be gone, because I ripped it out by the roots? Will I be old, and gray, and peering at the screen through massive grocery-store-bought magnifying glasses?
ANSWER: BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA.




{looks at magic chest. looks at all of you. looks at magic chest again.}


{HACKS MAGIC CHEST TO BITS WITH HANDY AXE}

Whew. Sorry about that. I'll keep looking.

How to Talk to Writers

So you're a writer. Not a dabbler, but a "serious" writer—your butt has spent many many many hours in that chair, you have at least one book finished (or damn close), and you're serious about this whole getting-published craziness.

God help you.

Wait, that wasn't where I was going with this.

So you're a writer, and you're headed off to a writer's conference, or a writer's lunch, or some other social function where writers are meant to talk to people who exist outside their own brains. And being a writer and therefore maybe not the best at social events, you panic. "What do I have in common with all these other random writer people? What will we talk about?"

Friends, I am here to help.

I have discovered, through my own vast experience in goofing off research, at least five topics that writers can ALWAYS talk about. A pack of writers could be stuck together on an island for—oh, a long time—and still be able to chatter crazily, if you kept to only these topics.

Ready?

1. Food
More than books, writing, family, anything, food is the king of writer talk. I'm not sure if it's because we sit alone so much, or we're using powerful imagination muscles that require constant nutrition, but writers are obsessed with food. I haven't met one yet, man or woman, who isn't. So if you're meeting over lunch, yay! There is food. Discuss.

2. POV
POV is one of the great writer secrets. You don't even know what it IS until you accept that you are a writer (unless you were really paying attention in english class, but most of you were probably secretly writing stories anyway). Then you have to figure out what group you belong to. 3rd person? 3rd person omniscient? 1st person? 1st person present? (Courtney, this one's for you. *snort*) Or are you bold enough to {gasp} MIX? Or {further gasp} SWITCH?

3. Revision Hell
It is hell. You'd think that would be 'nuff said, but no. Plunk two writers down together (especially those with a toe or a whole foot in the pub process), bring up the "R" word, and you'll be sobbing on each other's shoulders within an hour. Guaranteed bonding.

4. Waiting
Worse than the "R" word. I'm not waiting for anything right now, so I can say this without a hint of whine in my voice: waiting is THE worst part of this whole thing. Especially for those of us with a patience deficit. The good news: you're not alone. Every single person in that room has had to wait, and has HATED EVERY MINUTE and UNDERSTANDS.

5. Ways of wasting time procrastinating preparing yourself to write.
Agents and editors, cover your ears for this one. Okay, ready?
Writers waste time when we should be writing.
It's not just you, with the Spider Solitaire habit and the secret reality-TV watching and the manic cleaning of toilets or baking or laundry that must be done. We all do this. It makes every one of us feel guilty sometimes, but we do it anyway. I think it might be part of the process or something. Anyway, just bring up reality TV or mention casually that you're looking for a new online game, and watch the conversation spark.

You'll note that "pets" and "kids" aren't included on this list, because though they often do come up, I wouldn't recommend them. Usually half the group has one and half the other, or half both and half none, and those in the non-halves hate these topics. Stick to the top 5, and you'll be safe.

But I'm sure I'm missing some. Fellow writers? What necessary author-topics have I forgotten?

Addendum: I knew I'd forget something! A writer friend reminded me of another oft-used (and necessary) topic: "getting beaten around the head by the publishing process". Heck, yeah. I didn't even mention the other nasty "R" word: Rejection. (bleah)

And then I...

Update: over the weekend, I:

slept in, scrambled to get family ready for fishing trip, HAD 8 HOURS TO MYSELF, researched and wrote a paper for class, did thesis work, caught up on ANTM and Project Runway and TopDesign (gack I am getting addicted), IM'd with friends, saw Romeo and Juliet staged with 4 actors in a 1970s set (fab!), slept in again, went swimming, went grocery shopping, played with Child, watched football with hubby, ate and slept again.

What a marvelous weekend.

Yesterday I had to get all caught up on school/work stuff, and dive back into Jenna-land.

That's right! I'm in Jenna-land again! It's a good thing I love Jenna-land, honestly. Sometimes I have a feeling I shall spend half of the rest of my life there.

Sadly, all this work-thesis-Jenna-family stuff has sucked my brain dry, hence the lack of interesting on-topic blog posts of late.

I'll try to round one up from the recesses this week. Stay tuned!