Everyone's got one...

Can we talk about something for a second? The saying goes, 'everyone's got a story.' And if you're friends/family/doctor/mildly distant oh so annoying accquantinces are anything like mine they all 'thought about writing a book once'
And then comes the reason they didn't.
And that's the other thing EVERYONE has. An excuse not to write. Now, please, don't think I want everyone to write the random ass story that pops into their head about the time they got lost in Mexico--cuz, no. A few name changes does not actually make it fiction. But here's the thing. Not everyone will write.
Ugly truth? Even the people who say they are a writer are not always gonna write. There is always a good reason--the kid has a birthday party, it was a ridiculously busy day, the other kid has a party at school, you didn't feel good, you just didn't want to.
They're excuses, people. And here's my dirty secret: Those were the ones I used last week.
So, wait. You have them too, but your telling us...what?
I'm telling you everyone has them. And sometimes, their legitimate. I have two dear friends who are insanely busy with life and writing is just taking a back burner. That isn't what I'm talking about--everyone will go through a season where writing takes a backseat to this beautiful messy life.
But when you know that you want to write, when you actively say you are a writer, and you still make daily excuses like the ones listed above? When a full course load and internships and nursing school aren't keeping EVERY SPARE MINUTE occupied? Then that's what they are--excuses. And they don't measure up.
Everyone has an excuse not to write. And that's okay--as I mentioned, I have them, too. But if you can push PAST the excuse--if you can find five minutes at the kid's party, or while sitting in pick up line, or driving to your mother in law's house or when you do it even when you don't feel like it.
Well.
That's what makes you different from everyone else. That's what makes a writer.
So, you tell me: What's your excuse? And are you going to push through it?

Waiting on Wednesday

Let's talk about a book I'm REALLY excited about.

Synopsis:

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I adored Peter Pan as a little girl--there was a five month period I toyed with a retelling myself--and that someone is offering up Tiger Lily's story has me crazy excited with anticipation. It releases on July 3 from HarperCollins and I'm already planning on buying it that day. 

Q4U: What book are you looking forward to reading soon? 

Query Week!!

Welcome to Query Week!!


This week we're focusing on queries. For a lot of writers, the query is the worst thing about the business, almost at the level of synopsis (Because lets be honest, there is NOTHING worse than the synopsis.)


Personally, I've gotten to a point where I enjoy working on the query. For me, it signals the end is in sight.


I generally start working on my query around 20k before my first draft is done--coincidentally, that's right now. Why? Well, by then I know the feel my story has (dark, usually) and the major plot points. But the writing of the query helps me hone the ending, and that's always a good thing.

But honestly, the reason I start my query before finishing the book or starting edits? You get one first chance. Would you send your manuscript out without slaving over it, letting crit partners tear it apart and rearrange the bloody bones and polish and shine until it gleams? (If you would, we need to talk about more than the query.)


If you take that much time to work on perfecting your manuscript, shouldn't the first thing the agent reads be just as perfect? Just as shiny and polished, if not more so?


I read once, I forget where, that a good query takes six months to craft. When I first read it, I was just learning and rolled my eyes and moved on. But I've grown up a lot, and now when I start working on my query four months before I'm ready to send anything out--I smile.


Later this week, Liz is going to talk about her agent research process (which I have to tip my hat to. Except I don't wear hats.) and Auzy will be talking about loglines. And we're going to share a list of queries do/don'ts.  As well as some of our old (read: awful) queries. So come back and check it out!
In the meantime, a Q4U:

When do you start working on your query?

Evolving Process

I'm about to celebrate my seventh wedding anniversary. 
Which, really doesn't matter to y'all. Except that on my second anniversary, I started writing after a two year hiatus. And so I'm looking back on the past five years and how I've grown and changed as a writer since then.
When I first started writing again, I had no idea what I was doing--I struggled to find my voice, and a style. But I did have a story, and in a very lame (not to be read) way, I told it.
And the next project was similar--more of my voice and style were defined, but it was still floundering. That went on for another two books while I wrote short stories and learned the market and what I liked and what I didn't and what worked for me. I figured out how to write in MY style and voice, how much planning was best for my process and how much was too much. I learned how I like to edit--and how much time I need to devote to querying/agent research.
By the time my anniversary arrives, I will have written six books in five years. And my process now is completely different than it was five years ago when I started working. The evolution in my writing--both my process and my writing itself--has amazed me. Every time I do a rough outline or half a synopsis in preparation for writing, or when I read over a passage and thing OMG, I can't wait til I start revisions! I have to laugh a little, because of how far I've come in five years.

And I can't help but wonder how far I'll go in another five years.

Q4U: Looking back over your own journey, how have you grown and changed?