Progress, I have, tho.

Brown Shoe Diaries: Moving on toward finishment.

(no word yet from editor reviewing requested partial)

Life's Too Short

(yeah, still completed, still out on subs, no news from agent nudges this week)

the Summer Novel (as it shall be called here)

No new word count as I am focusing on those brown shoes :)

The Anointing aka that pesky partial-ish+synopsis+series proposal I must have ready for a crit submit by June 17

dudes, I hope it is perking away in my brain.

Since I don't do Teaser Tuesday's myself, and can't talk in any detail about projects in process (once they're out in the world, it's different) I was going to write a little about Life's Too Short and that particular book journey.

Instead, I'm going to whine a little, and then get back to work. Sometimes this life is so isolating it sucks. Especially if you're like me, and live in a small town where the SCBWI presence is virtually non-existent and gas prices are prohibitive. Having crit partners and writing friends you stay in touch with every day or week is so critical to well-being, because the waiting and the subjectiveness of this business can be crazy-making!

My two dear friends and crit partners have both dropped off the radar lately, mostly due to family issues, and (selfish moment, here) I am so bummed out and lonely without them! Meh.

Carrying a book through to the end (for me) is in part made possible by sharing the process with one or two people who get my writing, know my weaknesses, and love my stories and my characters as much as I do.

The mc in Brown Shoes, Aiden, has lost all her supports, she is totally alone and must fight her way to safety/security. I hate to admit that on a smaller, more insular level, I feel the same.

Write well, and fellowship!

+ 3 days= Me.

Bleh.

However, I was able to salvage something positive out of the non-productive writing days. An epiphany re: the ending of Brown Shoes, that will make moving through the remaining chapters much easier than it had been.

So, goody!

No additional progress yet on what I'll call summer novel. But Secret Agent Man liked what he read, so yay!!

Catch ya tomorrow! Enjoy the remainder of the weekend!

And OOOh!! squuee-age! I was a winner in Meg Cabot's Airhead t-shirt contest! :D WOOT!

So, spoke on the phone today with Secret Agent Man--great convo. We've been brainstorming which project I'll submit in June for my face-to-face crit at the conference in August. Along those same lines, I've been trying to decide which of several projects would become my love affair post Brown Shoes. I really want to work on something light and humorous, as BSD has been... darker... more emotionally charged than LTS, or anything I've done in a couple of years.

Ready for a break, much? Yeah.

So as Steve and I were running through projects, I pitched this one I started a month or two ago (not getting into the whole process thing again, if you're interested, I've totally dished on this in previous posts) and he got SO excited, he asked to see what I've already written. lol. Normally I don't share first draft material, but he insisted, so I complied, and we'll see what he thinks.

For now, the word count stands at:


and I think this one might be a crazy-fast, summer-festacular ride.

Ask me Monday, when BSD is to the cps and I've had no sleep to speak of...

My agent is made of awesome. Just saying.

So, once again I've been a bad, absentee blogger. Other than the typical life things (mother's day, school ending, summer plans etc.) I've been finishing my wip, and determining which project to submit for the face to face crit at Pacific Coast Childrens Writers Workshop.

This stage of a project is always both stressful and amazing. I imagine it to be a bit like riding a chemical high, though I can't say from personal experience.

I don't sleep much, and when I do it is a light doze filled with dreams of scenes and mini-revelations and epiphanies.

I barely eat, and then only what I can grab and gulp, or consume at the computer.

(the extreme heat 102 degrees forecast for the next several days, doesn't help at all)

I tend to zone out and have to have people repeat themselves, because I am totally focused on the story and its culmination on paper.

I can't type fast enough, unable to keep up with my brain, which has been finished with and waiting to tell this story for a rather long time. And it goes on like this until I type the end.

So that's the agony, such as it is.

The ecstasy is that beautiful siren song calling to me as I finish, of the next project (the beginnings of which I've already begun), the story itself playing out in the recesses of my mind even as I complete its predecessor.

This weekend I will type The End on The Brown Shoe Diaries. I will pack it off to my cps, who will tear it apart, and then I will revise it to my own standards, feast on their feedback before implementing it, and send it off to Secret Agent Man.

And we shall see.

Meanwhile, I fully intend to document my journey through the next novel. Starting today.

So, Happy 2008!

2007 was a rather up and down year, but overall more ups than downs :)

I went to ArtFEST and had a blast!!



Ruth Rae, Martha and Me

Da Peeps had a writing retreat here:



I have some great piccies Laurie sent me, but they're not scanned into the computer yet. But here are Laurie and Diana hard at work, or reading the Blue Boards :p



I signed with my uber-fabulous secret agent man:



My kids were fabulously healthy and as happy as a teen, preteen, and tween can be :) [which means they whined a lot, lol]

The sad items included:

The continuing toll of the war in Iraq.

The loss of some voices that carried me through my childhood and adolescence, including the incomporable Madeleine L'Engle, after whom my oldest daughter is named.



And just after the holidays, this little girl, who my son brought home from the last farmer's market of the season, and who turned out to be not a Rotweiler, but a mostly Jack Russell terrier, and far more than we as renters were suited to handle. She lived with us for two months and I still miss her darling face and sweet spirit every day, but hope her new family are able to give her more than we were.



Abby

A week ago, I was an unagented pre(novel)published writer.

Now I am an awesomely-repped, contract-signed, mss going on subs soon (maybe this week?!) writer.

Wow. Just wow.

WOW :D

Many of my posts will now be f-locked, so if you show up and can't read an entry, please just email me and ask to be added to the f-locked list.

I have STELLAR news, that I hope to be sharing in detail sometime this week!!!!

Wow!!!!!!!!

Networking/Business/Friendship:

Get out more with friends.
Comment more on the LJ's I read.

Reading:

Blog about what I'm reading.

Writing:

Revise The Brown Shoe Diaries.
Re-write/revise J.
Come up with new title for J. I HATE this one.
Sign with one of my top-tier agents.

Art:

Make some art daily.
Actually post to my art journal daily.
Take and share more photos.

Life:

M-F am bike ride with M.
Hold fast to the margins. (Getting tough)
No second-guessing decisions.
Deal with K and M's medical situations. Bleh. (try for gracefully)
Start reading the James Herriot books with the kids at night.
Take time to RELAX!

From Da Peeps trip to Oceanside. Inspiring or what?

This week has been a whirlwind; of activity, of information, of thought. Now it's Saturday, and we're all putzing around, cleaning, organizing, hanging.

I still have tons of catching up to do from my week off, both at home and at my *other* job. But it was a productive week in all areas, including family-medical-wise, though the news wasn't necessarily positive. Bleh.

Teens:

My oldest daughter isn't *exactly* a teen, being only nearly 12, but she's going into 7th grade, so I consider her in that age group. And as mood-swingy as it can be, she is just the coolest, most fun, sweet nearly 12 year old on the planet.



Ain't she a cutie!


Ten:

Got a tenth request for a full yesterday, from another agent in my top tier. Color me shocked; I had settled in for the long wait until early September and the end of summer. May still have to wait that long to hear back, but truly, the sweet words he wrote about my partial will stay with me forever. If this is what it feels like to hear your words hit the mark with an industry professional, know that someone "got it", I can't imagine what it will feel like to see the book in print. Well, I can imagine it. Sweet. Sweet. And seeing a reader laugh, and perhaps cry with the characters? Priceless.


Tiering:

So I feel like I should explain my agent-search process, since it is currently playing such a large role in this blog :)

(Background) I've been writing off and on since high school. I wrote my first novel (for adults) at 19 and followed it shortly afterward with a teleplay. I first did the agent thing for that grown up novel and had some positive responses, BUT I didn't have the experience, insight or the writing chops to revise as requested.

I learned a great deal about working with editors from Michelle Ashford when she was with 21 Jump Street (Stephen J. Cannell Productions) and I will always be grateful, though eventually nothing worked out with the teleplay. I wrote another novel, this one a YA (now probably an upper MG), joined SCBW (yes this was in the pre-I days, lol) and fell in love with the genre. I finished some degrees, had some kids, and started writing health, parenting, and techie articles for national and online magazines. Between that and my Master's thesis, I grew in the craft, in taking editorial direction (I hope) and honed my skills.

I gave up magazine work to focus on kidlit. Did some pbs and magazine stories, but found my style and voice most-suited to novels. Had some family things to deal with and took about 2 years off altogether. Subbed 3 previously-written/started novels to Smartwriter's WIN and well, won. lol. 1st, 2nd, and an honorable mention. I was contacted by an agent and we worked together for about 1 1/2 on a different novel without any representation agreement. That particular novel needed a ton of rewrite, and though I plan to do it, I wanted to finish something else I had started. So I did, and this terrific agent had an exclusive for about 4 months.

I nudged. He asked for a few more weeks. I gave them. No word. Another nudge. Nothing. So I let him know I was subbing it elsewhere, and started doing that in Feb. In March I still had no word, and based on lack of communication and other things I was hearing from friends who had friends who were clients of this agent, I decided to withdraw the manuscript, leaving the window open for him to contact me if he were interested in the future.

In the meantime, I had two referrals to agents I had been sitting on for about 6 months. I from another agent at a conference and one from a friend. (Anyone still reading? Dang this is long!! Guess it's good at least for posterity, or some such thing.) We'll call these agents Agent A and Agent B. Agent A had been referred to me by an agent at her firm after a conference. She read the partial, asked for the full, and declined, but asked to see other work as it became available.

Agent B wanted to see the partial of a different mss. and he passed on the partial.

So, now we get to the tiering. YAY! lol Okay, so I tier agents based on: (what they represent only children's or other as well) (time and experience in the industry, not just agenting but in publishing as well) (sales and clients) (agency rep and have they worked at other agencies and in what capacity) (length of career, and by this I mean several things: are they nearing retirement? are they prime to pop out a child or three in the next 10 years? are they burnt out, green, looking at other horizons?) (submission methods) (communication methods) etc.

You get the picture. BUT when I started querying I didn't just query my top ten agents, I queried a selection from all three tiers, leaving some of the top agents to be queried in the last batch.

First batch went out in March. Second in April. Third in May.

There was a high attrition rate for the March batch; all of those were email queries and I still have a number outstanding with no response. I've chosen not to resend or nudge because most of those were third-tier agents.

From the first batch I received several requests for fulls; from those I had three who read and commented and are now looking at a revised full, one who is looking at a revised large partial. All four of those agents are in my top tier.

Surprisingly, the second batch (which was all snail) had a much much lower attrition rate, and I'm still waiting on 4 queries. Out of that batch, I had one request for a full and a number of requests for partials, and just received a request for a full from one partial from a top tier agent.

The third batch was mixed email and snail mail. One was an agent who takes only on referral or from conference attendees. I received a request for a snail 1st chapter and then a request for a full and additional partial of another mss. She is a top tier agent as well.

Also from the last batch came 2 more requests for fulls and one request for a partial. None of those were top tier agents, however, an agent who requested a partial, then a full moved from second to first tier, by virtue of her quick and sweet response to the partial.

And that's where we are: Top Tier Agents (22) Top Tier with fulls (7) TT w/Partials (3) The remaining TT agents were either non responses or rejections, and of the R's only three saw pages. I don't consider a rejection on a query a rejection per se... I count them in there but they don't carry weight the way an R on pages does.

Ramble officially ended. Hope if it wasn't inspiring or interesting, it at least helped someone procrastinate!

I might be losing count, lol! I'm mathematically challenged...

I need to update each night before bed rather than the next day, that would help.

So! Received crits from da peeps and implemented necessary changes.
Started adding scenes to ch 3.
Went through my agent log just to make sure everything was updated and current and organized in a way that was easy to read.
Contacted several agents who had indicated either an overt or implied interest in LTS if it was revised. Already got one request for the full from those emails. YAY! So that's five due to go out, plus another very likely as she specifically said she wanted to see it again. (But I don't want to count my eggs, yet.)

Saw an absolutely AWFUL movie last night. Bleh. Bleh. Bleh.

In 17 days idaho_laurie our peep Diana, and I will be here:





on our very first crit group writing retreat!!!

I'm so excited I can't stand it!


The engine was delivered today for my new (to me) Camry. It's a 1993, green with tan interior and has been meticulously maintained. We bought it from some friends. Having a husband who can fix cars has huge benefits sometimes!! Soon I will wave good-bye to my minivan days!!

I got another request for the full of LTS today!! On Monday, (please let me make my deadline) I'll have at least four fulls out, with the potential for four more, not including partials.

*happy dance*

Stressors: The landlord who guaranteed us he wouldn't sell (before we signed the lease) last year, is indeed selling. And not a bloody soul wants to rent to a family with three kids, two dogs, and four cats. Not even with an additional deposit. Are we going to end up homeless? I don't really think God works that way. The two things I will not do: Lie about the pets. Get rid of the pets. They're part of the family. We've had one of the cats longer than we've had the oldest teen.

Please send your good thoughts and prayers toward a lovely, garden-esque, 4-bedroom house for us! And hey, if you know anyone who has one available in Chico, Paradise, and environs, let me know. Miracles happen.

Stress-relievers: Repeated playing of TobyMac's new song I'm For You. Love it! Love it! Love it! And my crits girls aka Da Peeps are planning a mini-retreat this summer. I'm SO excited!! Diana and I have gotten together a couple of times, but I've not yet met my girl idaho_laurie. Can't wait!

In writing-related news, the revision of LTS goes on. And goes well. And deliciously enough, the top 3 emails sitting in my Inbox right now are from agents on my top-tier requesting fulls. GOOD TIMES!