Coffee and Conferences...What Could Be Better?

I'm in a coffee shop! On my laptop! Sipping coffee. Mmmmm.

I have nothing of great importance to blog about. Just so you know. But, I was wondering something. Or maybe merely thinking about it. Whatever.

So, conference. Going? I'm bringing this topic up because, while it's been talked about a ton online, it's still fun to discuss. Summer's coming and all writers know what that means:

~Select agents closed to submissions

~Loads of aspirations to get tons of writing done

AND...

~Conferences!


It's the preferred topic of discussion within my writers group these days. The thought of an upcoming conference is like Christmas for the writer. A possibly uncomfortable Christmas with potentially amazing presents and that slight fear that you'll completely ruin the holiday dinner by burning the roast and running the guests from your home because you've set the kitchen on fire. Yeah, that about sums it up.

Two of my writers group friends are attending the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon. This one looks big and full of opportunities. Lots of agents and classes. I'm tempted to join them, except I've already made plans to attend another conference. And paying for two conferences within months of each other is probably a pretty expensive move.

I plan on attending the Emerald City Writers Conference through RWA in Bellevue, Washington. As much as I'd like to attend the national RWA conference, this summer is a busy one for me, what with moving and all. So, the next best thing, I hear, is the conference of a local RWA chapter. I chose the local one for many reasons, one being that this will be my first conference ever. So, I suppose this one will get my feet wet. Plus, this conference has a program for first time attendees--green horns like myself. Another reason? I'd like to get to know writers in my area of the U.S. In my neck of the literal woods. Also, they had a contest going called the Emerald City Opener. I thought it would be great fun to submit some of my work, and if I place, I'll be there to chat with the judges.

So what about you? Ever been to a conference? Plan on going this year? When, which one, and what made you decide on that particular conference?      

The Devil Flu

I am not an incredibly busy person. My best friend works full time, has two children, entertains guests every Sunday night for dinner, and writes books. To me, she's an incredibly busy person. Still, somehow I've managed to not blog much in the month of May. I could blame it on the house buying stuff, but it's more the fact that the flu is the devil keeping me pinned to the couch. The devil I say.

It exhausts me and sucks out any pieces of creativity and word-putting-together I rely on. It makes me loathe the idea of world building, and even stare at the lap top with disgust. Yes, the very lap top that I usually treasure and hold dear to my heart.

But, as this devil flu has raged through my head, and sinuses, and throat, and limbs, I've clung to a tiny shred of the writerly me. A glimmer of hope. And that is, The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa.

Ah, so goooood. I've been wanting to read this book because it's about a kick-ass predator of a girl. And my book is about a kick-ass predator of a girl. :)

I am in no mind to write a review right now, but it's coming. I just had to say that WOW this book was fun and creepy. (I still picture vampire type zombies with milky eyes when I try to go to sleep at night). I also had to say that WOW, I've reached 100 followers. Crazy what happens when your head is pounding and you feel as though you'll never breathe normal again.

So, have a great Memorial Day Weekend everybody!

Have you read The Immortal Rules? If so, what did you think?

What are your plans this weekend?      

OF POSEIDON by Anna Banks

YAY! Mermaid novels! Okay, here's the book blurb on Amazon:

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he’s heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma’s gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . . 

Told from both Emma and Galen’s points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

OF POSEIDON will be released May 22nd, tomorrow. And on Good Reads it has a rating of 4.39 stars. Sounds good to me.

I read through Anna Banks' blog and if you too want to read through her process of publication and the very crazy story of signing with an agent, go here to read her blog. And so you don't have to scroll back through her previous posts, here's the exact post on how she signed with her agent.

Want to buy the book? Go here. And don't forget to post a review when you're done with it. :)

What do you think? Does this book sound interesting? What do you think about the cover?

Phone Lovers

I'm a fan of Trigger Happy TV show

I am in the throws of house buying, and that means making phone calls. Lots and lots of phone calls. To people I don't know, to turn on utilities, to get insurance quotes, to just...be uncomfortable. 

I. Hate. Making. Phone. Calls.

Weird right? Or is it?

I'm the writing-to-communicate type of girl. I'd rather discuss something over text, or email, or even Face Book. Why do I dislike talking on the phone so much? Hum. I have my assumptions. But, what about you? I've read on some of your blogs that you're not phone lovers. Wait. That didn't sound right. You're not people who love talking on the phone. Although, you could be someone who dislikes phone conversations, who is also a lover in the long distance sense, thus from time to time a phone lover...hummm.

But seriously? What are your thoughts? Business phone calls, fine with them or hate them?

And what about personal phone calls? Love them or dislike them?


Just a little Trigger Happy TV comedy for your viewing pleasure. ;)

QUERY ADVICE

Pic taken while on one of my walks last week

Lets talk queries.

No, not rules and blah, blah, blah. But fun query talk. And it's fun because it's not so much about the query, but about that book you've written that you absolutely adore and dream of seeing on a bookstore shelf. I think that's where we go wrong. We make the query about the query. We make it about the rules, and format, and the opinions of others who are also trying to figure out how to write an amazing query.

Erase all that. Take it all away. For me, this meant going on nature walks and just thinking about my book. Thinking about my main character, Allura, and clearing my mind of the piles of advice I'd read on the subject.

Why? Well, because basically I'd followed the rules and my query still sucked.

I knew Dark Waters was super unique. And everyone who's heard the premise has expressed the same opinion. (Except my mom, she says it's dark and asks why I'd want to write about man-eating huntress' of the night.) So, I knew it wasn't the story premise keeping agents from requesting materials.

The main problem? My query failed at mirroring my manuscript. And while I've read lots of amazing manuscripts, but very few amazing queries, I would assume that's the case for other writers as well.

So, go for a walk, do the dishes, or whatever it is you do to think, and ask yourself, "What makes my story unique?". I'm not telling you to then devise a one sentence pitch to explain it's uniqueness. We don't want to deflate creativity by forcing a format onto it. Just, ponder the one-of-a-kind elements in your story. Why is your story so special? What makes it different from everything else out there?

When you figure it out, write your thoughts. Again, NO FORMATTING. Just random thoughts. And then come back and visit me next week cause I'll be posting about stage two in the query writing process.

Can you think of a few now? Tell me in the comments section, what makes your story unique?



~ As a side note, I want to let you know why I'm posting on this topic. I am by NO means professing to have this query-writing thing down to an art or science, or whatever. But, during the last few weeks I've been pondering what it takes to write a great query. And we've all seen them online. The ones that make our mouths drop, as we wonder what they heck that writer was smoking to create such a masterpiece in 200 words. 


I'd been taking walks, thinking on my story, stepping into my character's shoes, and trying to create a great query. It wasn't until Friday night (yeah, last Friday) that I got pissed off at this whole elusive query thing, stomped off to my room with my lap top in tow, and flung myself on my bed. I'd had it and decided to write the query that I wanted to write. The one that had my voice, and Allura's personality coursing all through it. 


I started the query with: Allura's done following rules. The words began spilling out, grateful to finally be released from the cage of opinions. When I had finished, my whole query length clocked in at 229 words. That includes my address. Then after I had my two critique partners double check everything, I started sending a few out. Only a few. Within the last week, I have received more than one full request. 


When I finally wrote the elusive--but not so elusive--query, I called my best friend who is also querying. I told her I'd had an epiphany and wanted to help her write her query too. And I want to share my thoughts on my blog as well. I'm hoping they're helpful. So stay tuned, cause I've got more to come. :) 

On an agent's blog, I read that a writer should learn all the rules of crafting a query. They should write a few, following those rules, and then throw it out and break a few rules. I couldn't agree more. :)          



   

Jumping Through Hoops

I wanted to title this post as, An Ode to Jumping Through Hoops, but it would have been a little long.

I am on the freeway connection between House-Hunting Land, and the Nation of House-Owning. Basically, I'm right in the middle. Our offer on a home was accepted. So that's great. But it doesn't mean the hoop jumping has suddenly ceased. Now, I'm jumping through a whole new set of round things.

And I'm okay with that. Because here's how I see it: At this time, the house prices are super low. And you want to know what else? So are the interest rates! Now, the reason these numbers have swung downward, has much to do with banks, and foreclosures, and basically the market tanking. So most of these homes for sale are bank-owned. And banks love hoops. Well, they love to watch you deal with hoops. And I'm gladly jumping, like a little kid playing hopscotch, chewing on a big wad of bubble gum. Because if it weren't for these homes being bank-owned, and the market bringing the interest rates down, I wouldn't be buying such a nice house.

Same goes for writing. You don't need a degree and ten years experience to be an author. And, if you're like me, you want to write lots of books, so it'd be a career. How many other careers can you think of that allow you entrance without an exact amount of years experience in the business, and a degree or two under your belt?

However, the flip side to this open-for-all mentality, is that it's open for all. Open for those who get a wild hair to write, whether they're any good at it, or not. Whether they are eager to learn and strengthen their skills, or not. Whether they even plan on making it a career, or not.

Thus, the hoops. The queries, synopsis', critiques, email stalking, agent stalking, blog trolling. You get the picture. Stuff you normally wouldn't be doing if you weren't trying to get published. And yet most of these are necessary if you choose the traditional route of publishing. Why? Agents need to weed out the wild-hair writers from the serious, career-minded ones.

And yes, I've heard writers comment that, "agents will work for us, so why do we have to beg for their attention". I hear yeah, I am not the begging type either. (Plus, I don't think agents want us to beg, and I also don't believe they work for the writer. I see it as a partner relationship. But, that's beside the point).

Because this career is open to anyone interested, agents get lots of personalities contacting them, and must take precautions to professionally wade through the river and locate the gold nuggets. And thankfully, every agent has a slight difference of opinion as to what a gold nugget looks like.

What I'm trying to say is that while hoops can be tiresome and bog you down, the activity also strengthens you. So instead of hating the system, I'm thankful that I have a shot at my dream job. And if that means I must prove myself in ways other than degrees and recorded experience, I'm happy to oblige. Hand me the box of bubble gum, and I'll jump away. :)

HOPE

As you know, I'm wandering through house-hunting land and collecting bits of understanding along the way.

Today, I want to talk about getting your hopes up. 

Last week I saw a new house pop onto the market. And, when you're house hunting right now, looking at mostly bank owned homes, the good ones go fast. Like less than a week fast. I live an hour and a half away from where we're buying a house, so whenever I see a house I like online, I frantically rearrange my schedule to race up north and look at it. Every time I've done this, I've also put an offer on the house I like.

And every time I've put an offer on a house, I've been either an hour too late (someone was already approved to buy it) or I've been out-bid.

So last week when I saw this gem of a house, I called my realtor and jetted up north. I liked the house and put an offer in. Then, we wait. And if you've done this process numerous times, you know that this whole signing offers, getting your hopes up and then getting let down becomes old...fast.

But it got me thinking.

Don't we do that every time we send out a query? We get our hopes up. Despite the mounting rejections, our fingertips grasp that thread of hope, and we click the "send" button again.

In the world of house-hunting, keeping the hope alive will do nothing short of get you a house. Eventually. It WILL happen. Quick action, perseverance and hope will most certainly MAKE that happen. So why wouldn't it be the same with queries.

I know this isn't a long post, but it's what's on my mind and I wanted to share the encouragement to those of you struggling in query land. Keep up the hope and grasp at those threads!!