What Thrills You? by Sharon

I love adventures, well safe adventures. The most thrilling thing I've ever done was to fly in a helicopter without my husband's hand to hold on to. I thought I was going to be sick when I was waiting alone at the airport. I was pretty sure I was going to be sick as I walked out to the launch pad. I was turning green as I climbed into my seat in the helicopter. Then a kind gentleman sitting beside the pilot turned around. He said, "Don't worry he won't crash with me on board. I'm his Dad." The color began to return to my face as we took off. It was the most exciting thing I've ever done, as we flew over and in the Grand Canyon I was overwhelmed by nature's beauty. It felt like that momment I first saw my daughter.

So, what thrills you?

Interview News

Just wanted to post the links to my first two interviews! [eek!]

My Q&A with fellow PM Moon author Scott Heydt is here.

And my first-ever radio interview will be Thursday, May 7th (tomorrow night!) at 9:15 eastern time. Marcus Harris with Voices & Vibes will be talking with me about my book, the PM Moon contest and probably the weather, since I'll run out of things to say long before the 45 minutes is up.
You can listen to the interview at Blog Talk Radio.
Hit the "Click to Listen" button.

What Inspires You? by Sharon

What inspires you? My teenage daughter and I took a road trip last weekend. It was a six cd trip, literally. I let her choose the music. For the most part it was very enjoyable. When her newest acquisition started I was a bit concerned, it was rather risque. By the second song I loved the guy. By the third song, I had her jotting down notes in my "car" idea book. The song that really hit a nerve for me was called Roots. It is something anyone who has had struggles to improve their lives can relate to. The artist is Flo Rida. I hope you get a chance to listen to it. As Randy Jackson would say, "We've got a hot one, tonight!"

You can find inspiration anywhere...in an old picture album...a favorite book...a memory box...or in your teenager's cd collection. What inspires you?

Happy writing!

How Many Have you Read? by Sharon

I am nine books away from reading 100 books since the WAD was formed in July. I have read 60 picture books, 17 mid-grade/easy reader chapter books, 8 young adults, 2 adult novels and 4 non-fiction books. About two months ago I began taking notes as I read each book. For the picture books, I not only jotted down about the ups and downs of the storyline, but also how many pages there were of actual text. In the books I am using to research the World War II (in England) era, I made notes of language, setting, and behaviors that would be unusual here in the United States. I think by actively taking notes as I'm reading, I am gaining a better understanding of what I want my books to look like. I encourage everyone to study as they read...

How many books have you read since Chautauqua? Are you keeping track of them?

Happy reading and writing.

Memories of Last July

by Mjr. Moron

So--I was looking up Heidi's address today in my Chautauqua conference book, and I found the little notebook/journal I kept while I was there. OMG. I was such a goofball, I can't believe any of you ever spoke to me, other than poor Robin who was my captive audience all the way from Erie.

Here are a few choice highlights--sadly verbatim (Kimmee, THIS is how you get to be a MAJOR Moron):

7/12/08
Pre-opening dinner thoughts:
-why? why didn't I bring liquid eyeliner?
-why didn't I try on this stupid orange skirt before I left so I could see that it shrank in the dryer?
-why am I so sticky?
-is it time yet?
-why don't I own a watch?
-Ah--humidity. I'd forgotten what that's like.
-why did I agree to a room with no air conditioning?
-OH MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY HAIR?
-maybe I can put my sunglasses on my hair and hold it down.
-maybe I could put my belt on my hair to hold it down.
-why didn't I bring a belt?
-i think it's time to go.
-please, whatever gods may exist here, please don't let me be too afraid to talk to anyone.
-especially the famous ones.
-but don't let me say anything stupid.
-guess I better go.
-HEY! Where do I go?

Have you ever wondered about... By Sharon aka Sapphire

Have you ever wondered about the history of toilets? I think about it quite often. I was raised in a small rural village in England. The home I remember the most only had tap water in the kitchen. In other words, no toilet, tub or shower! The walk down the path to the loo seemed like it was miles. You had to walk past the swing, the garden, the apple tree, and the shed. My best friend convinced me there was a witch living in the shed. I'm pretty sure she was just messing with me. I remember when her dad bought home a portable toilet that we all shared in a shed next to our row of houses. I wonder who emptied the portable? Where did they empty it? Oh, now I'm really starting to worry...I'll try and refocus. The photograph is of a toilet in a Roman fort on Hadiran's Wall in the north of England. In the center of the photo is a long "bowl" this is where the Romans kept the sponges they used to wipe there you know whats with...They sat along the edge and grabbed a sponge when needed. I guess in retrospect, the walk to the toilet and the portable toilet weren't so bad. At least I didn't have to sit with a bunch of Romans and share sponges. Ick!

I'm A Nut by Sharon aka Sapphire

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I'm a nut?" Well, I'm pretty sure I'm a nut...I keep writing stories, sending them out to the WAD, printing their reviews, putting them into a pile and starting a new story. How am I ever going to get any rejections or dare I say it...acceptances if I don't get anything polished enough to submit to anyone. I keep in touch with several of the editors from Chautauqua, but what good is that if I never send them anything. You would think with my amazingly hard life..working out, feeding the pets, cleaning house, going shopping, and taking care of my family...I would get the gumption to send something out. I am challenging myself to send out one manuscript buy the end of the month.

I challenge you to do the same! Happy writing, revising and going to the post office!

bah humbug

I hate technology. At my house, we have two malfunctioning copiers, one broken laptop, one brand new laptop that is doing some seriously messed up things and one PC desktop that is in pieces with the computer technician. That PC is only about 2-1/2 years old, so crashes can happen to anybody. I have no idea if they'll be able to retrieve the data from it...much less salvage the drive itself.

So, I'm telling you right now. BACK-UP YOUR STUFF!!! Not just the stuff you know you need to back-up, like your writing, etc. Back-up all of your documents! If we aren't able to get my data off, I'm going to lose three years worth of photos; all the planning I've done for the school carnival; all my favorite websites; all my billing data (which for some reason I didn't think was important enough to back up).

And since I have a few back-up files that aren't operating correctly...it wouldn't hurt to have a back-up for your back-up...just in case.

Other Fun News

My short story, Baby Steps, which won first place in my local library writing contest is finally being edited. I was beginning to think they weren't going to publish the compilation book they had planned...but they are. So, it's called Creek Kids and will come out in May (Yes, just a month from now! And no, I have no idea how they will pull everything together that fast!)

Lastly, I am 99% sure I'm going to the Utah SCBWI conference in November...in case anyone has a burning desire to go to Salt Lake City in November. Any takers? They're going to have an agent (my old agent) Kendra Marcus there, along with an illustrator and an editor--I forgot who though. I'll post a link as soon as I get back on my real computer. I'm having trouble finding things on this lap top.

What news from you other Waddettes?

Hit Counter

Hi All--
I added a hit counter, so we can see how many people are looking at our blog. :) I did it for my book blog, so I thought I'd do it for us too.
xo
-MMo

Random Susan Thoughts

I once read that the best books come from ideas that have been percolating for a long time, preferably years. I definitely found that to be the case with Mark of Gideon. I started the first chapter, renamed the characters, redid plot outlines over and over again until finally I was ready and it just came out. It was at least five years before I was ready to write it, but by that time it had been brewing so long that it was much better than it would have been had I written it way back when I first tried. So take heart, Tess and Diana! Your efforts are not wasted, they're just necessary steps along the path.

Thanks for keeping us updated on your revision process, Amy! Sounds like a lot of work, but we all know you're up for it!

I'm almost halfway through my "final" (yeah right) revision of Mark of Gideon. Still hoping to be done by the end of April. I'll keep you posted.

If Only....

Actual conversation w/ friend not seen in a while:

her: so, Tess, how is your book thing coming along?

me: I finished Ollie, if that's what you mean. I'm working on another piece now.

her: And which publisher did you choose for Ollie?

me: It doesn't really work that way...you see, it is actually quite difficult to get a pub..

her - cutting me off mid sentence: Don't you think Ollie is good enough for a publisher?

me: it's not that, it's just...

her: seems to me like you should have more faith in your writing.

me: **silence**

In search of voices

Well, I did it. I signed up for Kim Griswell's "Finding Your Voice" workshop, and will be packing my bags soon to head to the Pennsylvania hills. Tess, I read your blog and totally connect with what you're saying...about the place where plot and voice meet. I've been working on a novel for 4 years now, and can't get past the prologue. I have tons of notes, detailed character sketches, descriptions of places, and snippets of scenes - and lots and lots of chapter 1 variations (all scrapped). But it hasn't come together...not yet. I decided maybe there's just too much noise here; it's making it hard to hear the whisper that could be the missing puzzle piece. This will be a serious search for voices. I'll be so upset if I come back still mute!
Sure wish there'd be another wadette there too. I miss you guys!
--Diana

The Invisible Sister

It official. (I've been saying that a lot lately). The new title of my old book is:
The Invisible Sister
Lux St. Clare ~ Book One

The publisher requested I set up a book blog, so I did. In case anyone wants to follow it, here's the link:

http://lux-st-clare.blogspot.com/

I'll be keeping the editing blog on that page now, but will still be checking in here at least as often as Robin.

Ha! That was a funny joke.

Moron Edits: #3

Editing Day 3 (cont'd)
LATER:

Just got the chapter 1 & 2 markups. Gotta love when the editor starts off by saying:
I did your first chapter to show you what you were doing wrong.
Then goes on to highlight every single place you used was, were or had. It probably didn’t help that I went through yesterday and made a lot of those changes, because now I feel like I’ve already fixed stuff that she’s marked up. Plus, I’m not sold that ‘was, were and had’ are the tools of bad writing. It’s seems kind of knee jerk to rule out words completely. She says those words lead to ‘telling’ instead of ‘showing’ and we never want to tell. We were told at Chautauqua that, really, every story needs to do both. Showing is better, but you can’t show everything. And the worst thing is to show and tell the same thing. Do one or the other; just make sure you don’t do both. MS though, is of the belief that any telling is bad.
….
[deep breath]

O-KAY!!

[deeper breath]

I’ll try it.

And I’ll remind myself that I told her to be blunt b/c I was used to critique and didn’t need kid gloves. Still…I have to wonder what the other mss looked like. If mine’s so bad, why was it the winner?

LATER STILL:
Went through and finished the revisions to chapter 1. Still think getting rid of every was/were/had is overkill, but she was right about there being a lot of ‘telling’. Wrote a snotty reply email re was/were/had.

Did not sent the snotty email.

Yet.

sometimes I hear voices...

So,I have been plotting my new novel idea for way too long (like four or five months) and have been struggling mightily with it. I have had the overall concept (girl, graveyard, ghostly happenings but somehow all realistic and not a typical paranormal read) for about a year. I came up with character names. I came up with great plot turns and ideas; but, it has not felt 'right'. Do you know what I am talking about? When plot meets voice and it is a perfect fit? Well, I haven't had it going on. I haven't actually written one single line of this book. Ugh! It has been frustrating! I have a good idea all plotted, but it doesn't feel organic to me...to my voice...to my desire. I mean, if you are going to spend years with a book you should feel emotionally connected to it, right????

So, I decided to forget it. Let it go. Someone else can write this paranormal book, but it ain't gonna be me, ya know??? Then I went to bed last night. I was tired. It had been a long day at work and home.

That is when I heard voices (ok, not really voices, but a strong impression and set of ideas). Adalee came to me and told me that she is NOT living in that house on the cemetery. Those are NOT her parents. She is just the girl next door. She has a totally different set if issues and that wierd/gifted family next door is where her best friend lives. Ta!da! I woke up with clairity. For the first time in MONTHS! Almost everything I knew about this story is wrong - but the story is there, and I will be the one to write it. Psycho? Maybe, but that's how I work.
---Tess

Moron Edits: #2

3-1-09
Editing Day 3:

Email from MS (titles and names changed to protect the innocent):
We have a few concerns about the name of the book. I personally didn't know what a XXXXX was and had to look it up. There are a lot of kids who won't know either. Would you be willing to change it to something else like,
Jimmy Little in Search of the Iron XXXXX? Or anything else you might think of.

I sent some suggestions. I wasn’t set on The Iron XXXXX. I like the title, but could live with something else. I really don’t like “Jimmy Little and…” I’d prefer not to have his name in the title. However, maybe having Jimmy’s name as a title creates brand loyalty, in which case I certainly defer to more experienced marketing minds.

My suggestions for other names, however, generated this response:
Mara likes The Legend of the Two. I'm not real crazy about any of them. Which do you like?

I sent some other suggestions. I asked if having an iconic cover, with a big picture of a XXXXX on the front wouldn’t help clear up the ‘what is a XXXXX’ issue. No word back yet--it’s Sunday after all.

I imagine the press release will be held up by the change in title, so it may be a while yet before I can tell anyone. I must be patient, Grasshopper.

BTW--I went through the first chapter and changed most of the ‘was, were & had’s to action verbs. Also--deleted most of the adverbs. I have to say--I don’t miss the passive verbs, and my concern that I’d end up with awkward sentence structures in order to get rid of them…mostly not an issue.

I said ok.
I tried it.
I agree it’s better. Yay me!

LATER:
MS likes the little blurb of history I sent her about the XXXXX:
In the Middle Ages, they tested witches by poking them with a XXXXX to see if they bled. If they bled, they were innocent. If they didn't, they were witches. A guy named Matthew Hopkins, called the "witch-finder general" supposedly had one with a retractable blade...which meant no one bled, and all were declared witches.

She & MCF want a paragraph like this (more age appropriate) to be included in the book. Also, MS likes the title: Jimmy Little and His Invisible Sister.
hmm…
Say ok.
Try it.

(More from this day's edits later. The post was too long.)

Moron Edits: Day 1

02-27-09
Editing: Day 1

My editor, MS, emailed the first of the editing notes:
This is your first chapter. I highlighted all the was, were, and hads. I may have missed some. I also highlighted the adverbs. I wanted you to see all of them. You will be rewriting to get rid of most of them if not all of them. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

I was surprised! I try to avoid adverbs, but I was shocked to see how many had wiggled their way in. Plus, I counted sixty-one was, were and had’s in this chapter. Wondering if I still made this mistake, I checked my WIP. It wasn’t much better. I guess I’ll have to go through all my MSS with a fine-tooth was-comb. It’s odd, because when I check the reading level, I always have 0% passive sentences.

LATER:
Ok--so I read the first pages of a bunch of famous, award winning kids books (Tiger Rising, The Wizard in the Tree, Harry Potter, etc.) and you know what I found? Lots and lots of was, were and had. There are seven ‘was’ or ‘had’s in the first paragraph of The Giver. Hmmm. If ‘was, were and had’ are good enough for the Newberry Judges, why can’t I use them?

LATER STILL:
Ok--I’ve decided to take to heart what Linda Sue Park said about her experience with revision requests.
Step One: Listen to the critique. Say “Ok”.
Whether you agree or not, just say, “Ok.” Sometimes, you’ll say it through gritted teeth. Sometimes, you’ll say it loud. Sometimes, you might only be able to nod gently, so as not to dislodge the tears from your eyes. However you manage it, just say “Ok.”
Step Two: Try it.
You might be convinced the advice is the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard. You might think it would ruin your book. You might even think, “I can’t wait to do this so I can show this [editor, agent, critique partner] just how stupid a request this is.” Whatever you think of the advice, try it.
Just.
Try.
It.
Linda Sue said of all the revision suggestions and requests she’s had on her books, she could remember only one time a revision didn’t make the book better.

Weekly Update

By M.Mo-
I haven't made any new submittals in the past two weeks. I also haven't gotten any new rejections. Still waiting on all the same people. I did write about 800 words in my WIP, and decided I needed to insert a couple new chapters between 7 and 8. I'm kinda burned out, though, and don't have the energy to do it today.
I just served chai tea to 230 kids at Xander's school.
I really want a nap.
Yesterday, my Wii fitness age was 32, which is a great improvement over the days before,where it alternated between 45 and 54.
TGIF!!

Post Holiday Slump

I've hit a bump,
I'm in a slump.
I think I've lost my muse.

The pen I hold dear,
just can't get in gear.
Now I'm about to blow a fuse.

Perhaps if I read,
Ideas will breed
And a story will soon come.

But as for now, sadly I feel like a real bum!

(A lame attempt at poetry by Sharon)