Category Archives: Sing Sweet Nightingale

Fun, Fate, and Farewell

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I am a HUGE Stephenie Meyer fan. Seriously. I’ve been a fan since Twilight first released and have been going to different signings and events since 2006. So far, I’ve been to Nashville, Phoenix, Miami, and Los Angeles specifically for Stephenie Meyer events. When I saw she was doing a signing in Coral Gables yesterday? Yeah. I was totally there. Especially since it was a Host-centered event and The Host is the ONLY book of hers I never got signed. Problem solved. 🙂

Because fate is a funny thing, I ended up standing in line next to a girl named Michelle Madow. She’s an author and was passing out bookmarks for her self-published series which starts with Remembrance. We started talking and slowly realized we’ve known each other for years! We were both early addicts of the Twilight Lexicon, fanfiction writers, and a bunch of other coincidental things. So the two hours standing (we were both really early) in line breezed by! In addition to also selling her debut traditionally published novel for a March 2014 release and apparently not being able to take a bad picture, Michelle is energetic and really fun! Check out her books and if you see a blonde girl wearing sequins at a book event this year, go say hi! It’s probably Michelle.

It’s been so long since I was at a Twilight event I forgot how much fun they can be. Book events in general, actually. I’m starting to go to more this year and it’s awesome! Definitely looking forward to the rest of the amazing events on the lineup. What are they? Well, BEA in May/June and Vegas in November! Hopefully I’ll get to sprinkle some other events between the two, but even if I can’t at least I know I have two weekends of awesome to look forward to!

In other news, my revision on Sing, Sweet Nightingale has officially begun. As of this morning, I am in editing mode. So, yeah… this post may be my last coherent one for a while. My disappearance is for a good cause, I swear! 😉

Because it’s HELLA RELEVANT: The Five Phases of Revision

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Like I mentioned before, I recently got my first official edit letter. So now I have to start, you know, editing. And so, of course, my brain is going LH KHGF LKSHKZHJGHADFU:KG<MSV!!!!!

A while back I wrote a post I called The Five Phases of Revision. I liked it a lot and I think I need the reminder of how awesome the end result is going to be to get me through the really hard work ahead. So, for my benefit and yours, here it is again:

The Five Phases of Revision:
(originally posted on this blog August 22, 2012)

I had a phone call with my wonderful editresses last night and we went over some things that essentially mean I will be rewriting 3/4 of Sing, Sweet Nightingale. We were on Skype, so I could tell they were kind of waiting for me to start going crazy. The fact that I neither started crying nor tried to jump through the computer screen to maul them seemed surprising, so that got me thinking about the way authors handle revision suggestions. The psychology major in me was intrigued and thus we end up with this post.

Kind of like for parents, it is necessary for a writer to love her book. NECESSARY. I will accept no arguments on this point, kay? Good. Now that we have that established, let’s talk about what happens when someone tears into your work for the first time and points out all the holes, inconsistencies, pacing problems, character issues, and generally sucky spots.

Sad Snot-Nose Kid (c) Mike Gieson

That’s right. You end up looking like this child. Either that or you turn into rabid lioness and try to shred anyone stupid enough to get to close. The problem is, neither of these reactions are productive! They can be, however, the first phase of the revision process.

1- Hurt
“WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE ME?! HOW COULD THEY SAY SUCH MEAN THINGS?!  THIS IS MY BABY! THEY JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND!!”
This reaction, while overblown, is completely natural. Someone is telling you the idea you nurtured from infancy and shaped into this beautiful thing called a book isn’t working. It’s flawed. Maybe heavily. Feel it, live through it, and then let it go so you can move on to:

2- Denial
“They signed me and read it in one sitting and they’re supposed to be my best friend, but they don’t actually know anything about books. They have to be wrong. They THINK they’re being helpful, but if they hadn’t absolutely loved the book they wouldn’t have even read it. SO THERE.”
Nothing is perfect. Ever. There’s no such thing. We just have to try to get ourselves and our work as good as we can get it and chances are you’re not going to do that on the first try. And maybe not even on the tenth. The sooner you accept that, the happier you’ll be. And this applies to both writing and life in general.

3- Bargaining
“Well, what if I sent so-and-so to Sibera?! That would fix the plot problem, right? And then I would get to keep this little shiny section I love so much that doesn’t really fit here, right? RIGHT?!”
You might come up with some crazy ideas and try to pass them off as good. Maybe you’re stuck and maybe you’re trying to save a particular part of the story you adore, either way if you’re getting weird looks when you explain your ideas you might want to reconsider actually putting them in writing.

4- Slow Acceptance
“I finally reread the book and I guess, MAYBE, I can see what they mean about this one part told in second person totally distracting from the rest of the first person narrative. But it seemed so quirky and original at the time!”
This step is arguably the most important. This is when you once again become capable of rational thought and are able to look at your book through the editor’s eyes and see what they’re seeing. Then you can look at it again through your knowledge of the world and hopefully end up hit with:

5- Inspiration
“OMG! I just had this brilliant idea! What if A and B went to X and did Y?! It would fix everything and it’s SO MUCH BETTER than what I had before! How could I have been such an idiot? Why didn’t I think of this the first time around?!”
All the pieces have finally come together! You see the editor’s changes and raise them a rewrite of four other chapters that suddenly you’re absolutely certain you can make shinier. YOU ARE AUTHOR! Nothing can stand in your way. Now go lock yourself in a room and start typing. 😉

If you ever get stuck on any of the phases before Inspiration, just try imagining how shiny and wonderful and compelling and three-dimensional and addictive and beautiful your book will be once your editors are done with you. Then, suddenly, you feel like this:

Happy Young Woman (c) Vera Kratochvil

And that, friends, is a very great place to be. 😀

For the next couple of months, I make no promises.

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So, remember how I was all excited about getting my edit letter a couple of months ago?

Well, I got it! And now I’m not sure if I’m excited or if I want to go curl up in a ball in the corner and cry.  I think I’m leaning more toward the latter at the moment. But, anyway. MOVING ON.

I tell you this for two reasons:
1- This means that Sing, Sweet Nightingale is one step closer to being finished and ready for ARCs which is one step closer to being an actual book I can share with people! Yay!

2- The next few months of my life are going to be INSANE and therefore I make no promises whatsoever on my posting schedule here.

It’s not just the arrival of the edit letter that has taken over my life, it’s also one of the two busiest times of year at my day job. Within the next five weeks, I have two events that will put me out of commission for anything non-day job related for five days each. Plus, I have an awesome book-related trip that will also put me (at least partially) out of commission for five days. Combine that with an incredibly in-depth edit letter and I’m surprised my brain isn’t already melting out my ears in protest.

There shall definitely be posts here, particularly when I get to share cool things from other Spencer Hill authors. I know there’s a trailer reveal on Friday and I’m jumping on a cover reveal a couple days late on Monday! Luckily, these are things that take very little thought processing from me and even less creation of content. Other than that, don’t expect much. I might not even have the time to do my roundup of awesome Cracked.com articles because I won’t have time to read them myself.

So, um, that’s it for now! I still have some good news that I hope to share later this week or sometime next week, but for now I need to go buy ten thousand post-its and a few hundred notebooks and prepare for SSN Rewrite Number Three…

The view from my side of the fence.

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In an industry where change has occurred rarely and at a slow pace, the past decade has brought an avalanche of new ideas, technology, and problems. Publishing as a whole has dealt with all this in ways both good and bad and, honestly, I don’t know enough about the details of those decisions to even begin to tell you which is which. One of the things I do know has happened because of these changes has been the rise of the small press both in number and in prestige.

Despite this, many people within (and outside) the publishing industry don’t know much about small presses. Or equate them all with the vanity presses of old. This is just not the case. And my editor (and fellow small press author) Danielle Ellison has teamed up with the girls from Tangled up in Words as well as various industry professionals to help shed more light on the pros and cons of publishing with a small press.

They’re calling the series Small Press 411 and it started with a post yesterday. And now? Now there’s already a post with questions answered by agent Julia Weber! I’m thrilled by this blog series because the information needs to be out there for those still doing their research on the publishing industry–and even for those already in the industry.

Simply based on my own experiences, small presses are awesome! Granted, I’m still at the beginning of the process, but the most important part of publishing–to me–was finding an editor who understood my vision for my book and was willing to take the time to help me get there. I ended up with TWO! I call that lucky and I’m more than happy that Danielle is now taking the time to spread the small press love.

Take the time to check out what’s already up and look for a LOT more posts over the next three weeks. Even if you already know about small presses, you may be surprised by what you’ll learn!

Dreams and goals for 2013

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Fireworks (c) RAWKU5

Before we begin anew, I want to say goodbye to 2012. Many amazing things happened this year.

I won my first writing award.
I sold my first novel.
I sold my first short story.
I attended BEA and spent ten fabulous days in NYC.
I traveled just because.
I made new friends!

All in all, I call that a very successful year, but did I meet my own goals?

Last year, I posted about New Years resolutions and how bad I am at keeping them (like many others, I think). I set ten goals for myself last year and this is how my list looks now:

1. I will redesign my blog with a custom template. (Done!)

2. I will finish book 2 of my current series. (Progress! Closing in on the halfway mark! :D)

3. I will polish and shop book 1 of my current series. (Begun June 2012 Sold to SHP July 2012!)

4. I will attend at least one conference. (Yay! BEA was amazing!)

5. I will post in this blog at least three times a week. (Good enough, I’d say! I was really close to doubling my count from last year)

6. I will develop the storylines for at least one additional series. (Two different series are in the works with Lani Woodland)

7. I will figure out how to make myself work out… somehow. (Yeah… this one is still an epic fail.)

8. I will develop some kind of a social life, even if it is a sporadic one. (The success of this one has been hit or miss, but I did get myself out of the house more often!)

9.I will budget better so I can either take my dream vacation or move to New York within three years. (Uhm… Yeah. Progress has definitely been made–I’m officially out of debt!–but this goal is still a LONG way off.)

10. I will not let more than two days pass without writing something, even if it’s only jotting down an idea that passes through my head. (The productivity of this year is kind of amazing, so I mark this one done!)

Fireworks (c) RAWKU5

Overall, not too bad, right? Seven complete victories, two partial wins, and one epic fail. It’s a lot better than I’ve done in years past, I can tell you that. But now that I’ve made this much progress, where do I go from here? You always have to have goals or you’ll end up drifting and getting nothing done. So, my new goals for 2013:

1. I will finish two first drafts (of non-co-written books).

2. I will rewrite my book tentatively titled Pyrrhic Victory.

3. I will continue to work on getting myself out of the house to have some kind of social life.

4. I will not let more than two days pass without writing something, even if it’s only jotting down an idea that passes through my head.

5. I will attend at least three conferences/events this year.

6. I will keep trying to make myself work out.

7. I will keep up my blog schedule of posting three times a week on average.

8. I will start promoting Sing Sweet Nightingale — OMG YAY!

9. I will keep saving money to put toward moving out of Florida or taking my epic vacation. Or both.

10. I will take the next step toward becoming a full-time writer.

Some of the goals are the same, but that’s okay. Aiming for productivity is never a bad thing and I really do need to figure out how to make myself work out. I’m really excited about some of the other goals and I know 2013 is going to be a FANTASTIC year!

So this is what my life could be like?

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Sign 2: Men at Work (c) Davide Guglielmo

I have been off work since Friday and I don’t have to go back until January 2nd. Usually when I have time off–especially this much time off–it’s for something like a trip or a conference or something like that. For the first time in a long time (seriously… a long time), I am able to stay home with nothing but a holiday to fill up my schedule. For the first time I’m getting a taste of what my life could be like when I’m able to be a full time writer. After four days, all I can say is OMG CAN I HAS THIS LIFE NOW PLS?

Right now I’m concentrating my efforts on the first draft of book two of The Dream War Saga and I’m hoping to hit at least 40,000 words by the end of New Years Day. I started my vacation at around 15,000 (approximately… I think), so that would mean about 25,000 words in ten days. When I set the goal I kind of thought it’d be close to impossible, but I still have almost a week left and I’m already at 25,000 words!

This book is moving along nicely (it definitely helps that I have an editor-approved outline to work off) and it’s taking twists and dark turns I didn’t expect, which is always fun. Especially when those twists make the book even more tense and exciting than  hoped! Maybe, if the pace continues, I’ll have a first draft done by the middle of January when my editresses send me the first set of notes on Sing, Sweet Nightingale. That’s an intensely strenuous goal, but who knows? Maybe possible.

All I know is that when January 2nd comes, I’m not going to want to give up this taste I’ve had of what it’s like to be a full-time writer. It makes me that much more sure I need to amp up production and make sure quitting my job becomes a possibility ASAP because, honestly, this is awesome.

Wish me luck!

The road to discovery.

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Make it Bigger 2 (c) Joana Croft

Earlier this week I talked about my state of overwhelm. Yeah. It’s still there. However, I have made a lot of progress toward the other side of the tunnel by coming up with a plot for book 2 that meets the approval of my editresses! And I’m excited. Not only do I get to play with some awesomely interesting new characters, the story itself should be a treat to write! All sorts of twisted and compelling.

The biggest lesson I’m taking away from the last few days is trust those you trust. That sounds weird to say, but let me explain.

After I wrote Sing, Sweet Nightingale, I had a vision in my head of where the story went from there. I knew more or less which characters had a part to play and how what happened in SSN changed those people and the world around them. I presented this whole idea to my editors and they came back with questions that made me go back and really take stock of the world. Now I’m still telling the same story–mostly–but the impact will be completely different. And better, I think. If almost anyone else had come to me with the same questions, I probably would have defended and talked them down until they went away and left me alone with my outlines. But I’ve already seen that Patricia and Danielle’s ideas–even when at first I don’t see where they’re coming from–are usually right. They’ve earned my trust, so when they wanted me to reexamine my story, I listened. And I’m really glad I did.

I still don’t know exactly how I’m going to pull everything off or where exactly I’ll end up if I do, but I’m thrilled to be on the journey, to discover new things about this world I’ve created. And, really, isn’t that the important part anyway?

Thanksgiving news and new stories!

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Beautiful Doorway (c) jhay0781

Thanksgiving is always my favorite holiday, but this year it was better than ever! I got good news! A short story I wrote this summer will appear in Spencer Hill Press’s upcoming anthology Doorways to Extra Time!

Set in the same universe as my debut novel Sing, Sweet Nightingale my short story looks at what else is happening in the world. It follows Valari as she desperately works to save her best friend Will from a death that never should have happened to him, a death she feels responsible for. Titled Whatever It Takes, the story features characters who will make an appearance later in the series and gives a brief glimpse into the world readers will get to dive into when SSN releases in March 2014.

I’m thrilled to continue working with Spencer Hill Press and can’t wait for the anthology to release next year! More information will be forthcoming as I have it, but for now the news that it will be included is exciting enough!

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving!

Giving thanks, being thankful, and Thanksgiving.

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Thanksgiving Arrangement 2 (c) Christa Richert

Bar none, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. With no presents and no pressure, Thanksgiving is just about finding people you love, spending time with them, and eating good food. It’s also a time of the year when people remember to take a moment, step back from their lives, and look at all the things they have to be grateful for. For me, that’s a lot this year.

In all honesty, the time between the beginning of 2009 and the beginning 2011 kinda sucked. A lot. There were a lot of things in my life that ranged from stressful to downright horrid and I had mounting pressure financially and emotionally. I made a few changes and things started to turn around in 2011, but 2012 was when things really started looking up. I’m out of debt for the moment, I’m at a job that pays me enough to let me travel to conferences and to visit friends, and I’ve finally made it past the querying stage of the publishing process. I have supportive friends and family, ideas for future books, and a comfortable place to live with people I love. So, this year, I have a lot to be thankful for.

Looking back, I am thankful for:

  • Friends like Lani who make me crash parties with them.
  • Everyone at my publisher Spencer Hill, especially my wonderful editresses Danielle and Patricia.
  • Those years of misery for making me able to truly appreciate what I have now. 
  • A job, which in this economy is a lot to be thankful for!
  • My family who has supported me through everything and continues to cheer me on as I work toward becoming a full-time writer. 
  • The friends I have made in the writing community for welcoming me into the fold and commiserating with me on my frustrations and celebrating my successes.

2012 was better than 2011 and it looks like that trend will occur again with 2013. I’m thankful for the path that has led me here and excited to see where it brings me in the future.

So enjoy your Thanksgiving if you celebrate it. Even if you don’t, take a moment today to step back and be thankful for the good things in your life.

Why do you write?

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I was kind of amazed when my local NaNo group asked me to contribute a pep-talk for this mad month of mayhem. Technically, this was my first request as an author! It made me all warm and fuzzy inside. 😀 The problem was that I had absolutely no idea what to write. But, in the end, that’s what helped the most.

Here it is, posted for you to read and for me to remember.

“Why do you write?”
It’s a question authors get asked a lot. What always amazes me is when people can provide an answer that makes sense.
“Why do you write” is like asking, “Why do you breathe?” I write because it keeps me sane. I write because I like telling stories. Because it connects me to other people. Because reading has always inspired me and I want to bring other people the same feelings I had when reading my favorite books growing up. I write because. Sometimes it’s as simple as that. And sometimes it’s as complicated.
National Novel Writing Month seems to be a point of contention in the writing world. It as though you’re either one hundred percent for it or against it. Until last year, though I supported the idea of NaNo, I’d never participated. I’d written 50,000 words in a month before, but always when I had a lot of free time and was driven by a heavy dose of inspiration. In 2011, I realized on November 2nd that I had already set myself the goal of a book in a month. I was supposed to be turning two short stories into a single novel and I wanted to finish it by December.
Hard, but not impossible. I wanted to do it. I wanted to write. Because. Just because. Did I hope this story would one day be published? Sure. Okay, definitely. I did. I had hopes. But what really drove me through the month of November was the question that should (hopefully) drive every reader: What happens next?
I joined NaNo and found a community of fantastic people all working toward the same goal. I found support and people who could empathize when I wanted to toss my computer through a window because this minor character I threw into the mix suddenly wouldn’t go away. We all toiled away with computers or pens and paper and got closer to our goal word by word. Some of us reached it before the first of December, some of us didn’t, but we all felt better knowing there was an entire community behind us.
I went forth into the world at the end of November with a book to show the world. Not that it was ready to show the world, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I did what they always tell you you shouldn’t do and dove straight into edits. I filled in little pieces I’d left blank the first time around. I added voice where before there was just narration. I fleshed out my characters even more and tried to foresee where the story would go from here. I took advice from an author and entered some contests for unpublished manuscripts because you can’t win if you don’t enter, right? I sent it to readers, held my breath, and edited some more. And then things started happening.
Now this book was not the first I had sent out into the world. It was the third I’ve ever finished and the second to see daylight. But this one actually had legs. I won an award. And then I sold the book to Spencer Hill Press this summer. And guess what? I’m going right back in. Writing, editing, sending to readers, holding my breath, editing some more.
Whether you’re one day hoping to see your book on a bookshelf—or, you know, Amazon’s shelves—or plan on hiding your words away in a filing cabinet or hard drive, the important thing is that you’re here. Trying. You’re putting words down and recording your thoughts and dreams and characters and stories. You’re expressing the thoughts that drive you. You’re answering the call that drives you to create and you’re joining the rest of the NaNo community in reaching for the seemingly impossible goal of 50,000 words in a month. But you can do it. And at the end of the month you can look back and know that, even if you didn’t hit that mark you still have part of a story that didn’t exist before.
So, now I only have one question to ask: Why do you write?