What's Your Standard Writing Day?

It's that time in the book cycle where I'm filling out a gazillion interviews before a book launch (this time it's the launch of the paperback for My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours- 12/31/13) and a common question I seem to get is describe your typical writing day. I like this question because I'm always curious how other authors work. So I'll tell you guys my typical day as a writer and you tell me yours okay? Here goes:

6:15am- get all the rugrats up, fed&dressed, and then off to school by 7:45.
8:00am- breakfast and errands with the littlest rugrat who has afternoon kindergarten. Then home to work on all book marketing related things- contests, promotions, interviews, social media, you name it.
Noon-drop the little off for kindergarten and back home to write like a maniac until it's time for pickup at 2:35.
3:00pm- all the homework/activities and so on, dinner, and kids to bed between 7 and 8.
8:00pm and on- catch up on e-mails and and book marketing related tasks still to do.

So it seems like my time is pretty split between writing and doing promo stuff. Is this how it is for everyone else? I see people say things like they write all day and I wonder how they do it. Maybe someday I'll get to that point but I'm pretty comfortable with my current schedule.

What about you?

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

P.S.- Stop by my contest between now and 1/15/14 on my blog for a chance to win the Fake Boyfriend Prize Pack. Lots of goodies!

Warning: Your Life Will Not Drastically Change

Tip of the Day: Looking for a job in editing in the Chicagoland area? Albert Whitman just announced an opening for a children's book acquisitions editor.

A facebook friend's post made me think of this week's topic. In it he said that he was writing a book and that if you (his friends reading this post I assume) aren't there for him now during this initial writing process then you sure as heck better not ring him up when he's published and rich and famous.  

Published and rich and famous. Hmm.

Well, I guess I've got to break the news. Getting published isn't going to change your life. Much. Sure it's fun and exciting and book covers are shiny and all that. But unless someone just bought your book for a million dollars and you're going to be getting the top marketing treatment that only very very few authors ever see, then you're still going to have to cut the grass tomorrow, lug the kids to soccer, and clean the toilets.

I met a debut author at a reception not to long ago and he asked me too-- is my whole life going to change after this? And I told him the truth. Nope, not really.

At the last book club event I did with 4th and 5th graders they asked me questions like, are you a millionaire? Do you live in a mansion? Do paparazzi follow you around everywhere you go? I thought their questions were awfully cute but yeah, it's really not that different than before my first book came out.

I think people hear you're an author and assume you're making Snooki book money but that just isn't the case. The majority of the time advances on books are pretty low-- maybe $10,000 to $30,000 per book. $100,000 if they really want the book. But even if it's the $100k, break that down-- take out agent fees, taxes, and split it up over the years that it takes the book to come out (for me it took almost a year to write and revise the book and then another 2 1/2 years from the date I sold the book until it published) and you're making what your local part-time crossing guard is making. Agent Mandy Hubbard does a brilliant job breaking down how an author gets paid in this 2011 post.

After saying all this, I have to tell you that I DO love being an author. It's the best job I've ever had (and I've tried lots of jobs!). But the reason is because I love writing. I love telling stories. And I think that's the key, loving what you do. If you're looking at being an author because you want to be rich and famous, well maybe try out for a reality show instead because the chances are slim. But if writing makes you happy then stick with it. But don't quit your day job. :-)

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

Five Things I Love About Author Fairs

Tip of the Day: Want to chat? Borders in Bolingbrook, IL is hosting their monthly Reader Meet Author event this Saturday, 4/17 at 4pm. I'll be there with some other fun YA authors to discuss whatever you want to know!

I attended another FUN Author Fair this past weekend. I can easily get hooked on these things (have I mentioned in previous posts that they give you candy? Oh wait, I gave up candy. Never mind.). I want to road trip around the country just hitting author fairs. The people who come are so nice and the people who run the fairs are awesome. Love it. But here are five specific things I love about author fairs:

1) Kids who are writing their own books and are very excited to chat about them.

I loooooove hearing about all of the cool books young people are working on! What a bunch of talented creative kids out there. When I was a pre-teen and teen I was too busy chasing boys (they could run fast! Haha.) to sit down long enough to write a book. So impressive!

2) Kids that come by with their autograph books.

I have huge love for the autograph book! I totally had one as a kid and I asked every famous person I met for their autograph. Of course, back then famous people to me were the guys on the soccer team and the high school kids in the school play. I still remember chasing Danny Zuko around after a matinee of Grease. "Danny Zuko! Danny Zuko! Sign my book pleeeeeeeease!"

3) All the authors.

It's so fun to walk around and see everyone's cool tables set up with all their books and swag. Some have tables covered with a dozen or so books. And everyone is so darn smiley and in a good mood. Of course, that could be from the free lunch (and the candy. Did I mention the loads of candy?) but I'd like to think it's just from sharing the love of writing.

4) The staff at the libraries.

They are always so nice! And they kinda treat you like a rock star. "You can go relax and grab a beverage in the Green Room." Green Room? Wh--? Am I on Oprah? I scooted right over to the Green Room (aka storytime room with a Green sign that said Green Room) and chilled with the other guests.

5) The badges.

Oh, the power of getting to wear an author badge. I kind of want to wear one everyday. Would that be weird? I could wear it at the gym, picking up kids from school, at the grocery store etc. How cool would that be? If I got pulled over for speeding I could be all, um, do you not see the badge? Emergency Author Fair obviously. You'll be providing police escort, no?

Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves





(Me & Kristin Walker at last week's fair.)

Author Etiquette

Tip of the Day: The Espressologist is available on Kindle now! Also, if you're near Bolingbrook, IL I will be at the 2010 Author Fair this Saturday, April 10th, from 11am-3pm at the Fountaindale Library. Stop by!

I was driving through Naperville with two of my kids yesterday and we passed the cute coffee shop where I had my launch party for The Espressologist. My oldest said, "Mommy, look! That's where we had your book party! Where are we having your next book party?" I immediately said, "Oh no, honey, that was a one time thing. Authors don't have big parties for every book they write." And then I thought, or do they? Huh. I think I right away equated releasing a book to having a baby and went with the oh you don't have a baby shower for any of your kids after your first thing. I know I didn't. It was a known thing (in my fam) that people just don't do that. And the occasional person who would have a baby shower for say kid number two, three or oh my god four, would be tsked tsked and talked about for weeks if not well through the next two holiday gatherings. But is this all old fashioned? And why am I comparing a book release to a baby shower anyway? Still, I can't say I recall a party party for a second or third book. A nice big launch book signing at a bookstore-- yes. I've seen lots of those. But the big hoopla invite everyone I know party? Hmm. Of course, I'm out here in Illinois and not New York where most authorly stuff goes down so maybe authors do throw big parties each time. Have you guys been to launch parties for books that weren't debuts?

This then got me thinking about the acknowledgment page that goes in the back of the book. With your first book you sorta gush and thank everyone you know and it's so cute and sweet and I know I love reading them. But then with your second book you either don't do one at all or it's shorter and more to the point thanking maybe a few individuals. Then by the time you get to book three you have people rolling their eyes and going oh please, look at so and so go on and on like she just won an Oscar. Am I wrong? What do you guys think about acknowledgment pages in that back of books? Ok, quick test-- I'm going to run to my bookshelf and get three books by authors who are not debut and see if they have acknowledgment pages. Here we go: 1) Rymes with Witches by Lauren Myracle. Nothing in the back but a short four-sentence Acknowledgments in the front. 2) How to Ruin My Teenage Life by Simone Elkeles. Again, none in the back but a slightly longer one than Lauren's in the front. Simone's is a little over half a page. Last, 3) After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick. Nothing in that back again (what is this a new trend? I thought they were always in the back.) but a one-sentence Acknowledgment in the front. So, my quick research concludes that the acknowledgment page does get shorter with subsequent books but does not altogether disappear. Unless, perhaps you are Meg Cabot. I bet she doesn't have Acknowledgment pages any more. Anyone have a Meg Cabot book and can check for me? I usually have tons but I must have loaned them all out because I couldn't find any just now.

So what do you guys feel about this author etiquette stuff? What's an author to do?

Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves

My Writer's Cup is Full :-)

Tip of the Day: To see my write-up on the Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfast see my personal blog.

I have a new project! And I'm so jazzed to work on it-- it's literally killing me that it's so busy at my house this week that I haven't been able to write! My son is having his tonsils out on Friday and I'm going to sit at the hospital all day with him and I'm bringing my laptop to get some writing done. (Does this make me a bad mommy? I can type with my right hand and hold Popsicles with my left I'm sure.)

So why am I so excited? I'm coming off of a fab writerly weekend! Deena and Em stayed with me this weekend and in between my children climbing the walls and leaping from Deena's lap to Em's we got so much writing chat in! We talked about our projects, did a little reading, and made suggestions for each other. And I'm just stating this now so that I can say told you so in a month or six months or whatever it takes until they sell-- OMG guys, wait until you see Em and Deena's new books!! AWESOME!!

We also spent the majority of Saturday at the Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfast. Here we are looking oh so cute:

The breakfast was pretty cool and I honestly never realized just how many kid lit authors Illinois has. WOW! I vote us coolest state ever! :-) But seriously, I remember just four or five years ago complaining that there were no authors near me and now there are tons! 65 at this breakfast alone. Yay!

After the breakfast ended we hadn't chatted quite enough so a group of us went to lunch for some more fun writer gab time.

I'm sure you can spot Deena and Em in there but also you'll see from L-R around the table nice librarian whose name I forgot (sorry!), Kristin librarian/Bookworming in the 21st Century blogger, Ronnie and Adam Selzer, Kristin Walker, and Trina Sotira. Fun, fun, fun people! I'd like to tell you what we talked about but some of it was Rated R (looking at you Deena) and I had to put my hands over my ears to protect my innocence.

Having such a fun writerly weekend has made me realize I want them more often! So who's planning the next one? :-)

Kristina. Miss See Me on the Shelves

When bad things happen to good authors

Tip of the day: Check out this GREAT post by Agent Rachelle Gardner on how much it really costs to publish a book.

October was a hard month. And until now, I haven’t talked about it publicly. But what happened to me is something that happens to authors quite often, and it’s part of being an author, hard as it can be. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about it a little bit.

See, my editor was let go from my publisher. The editor I made three beautiful books with. The editor who I had a wonderful connection with – who got my books and my writing in a way I had only dreamed of.

Some will say editors don’t really edit anymore. I can’t say that’s untrue all the time, but I know in my case, with this particular editor, it wasn’t true. When I flip through each of my books, I see a little bit of him on every page. And it’s a little hard to imagine having books in the future without those fingerprints, so to speak.

I really went through the stages of grief when I heard the news. I was in denial, I was mad, I was sad, and finally, I think I’ve come through to a place of acceptance. You know what they say – the only thing that’s constant in life is change.

I’ve been assigned a wonderful new editor, and now, after I’ve had some time to grieve a little bit and process everything, I do think it will all be fine in the end.

Interestingly enough, months before this all happened, I felt the need to dedicate CHASING BROOKLYN to my editor. He knew how much I appreciated him, because I told him a few times. But I'm so glad the world will know that too. Especially now.

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

Two books ain't enough??

Tip of the day: Stock up on school supplies now for later in the year, when things need to be replaced. They’ll never be as cheap as they are now, especially if you shop stores specifically to get their in-the-door specials.

Remember when I talked about how having a book released is similar to having a baby?

Recently I realized, that as you have more books, it’s also sort of like having lots of kids.

The first one, people get REALLY excited. They shower you with gifts and food, and just think that baby is the best thing ever. It’s the same with the first book. People you know can’t wait to run out and buy it. I know a real author, they exclaim!

The second one, people are still fairly excited. People come to the baby shower again, although a little less enthusiastic, because, after all, can’t you just use most of the stuff you got the first time around? With the second book, some people are still really excited. Your mother, of course. Your good writing friends. But some people think, I bought her first book. Do I really have to buy the second? I mean, she writes teen books. Not really my thing.

The third, fourth, fifth one? Yeah, the excitement kinda wears off and it almost seems like people turn the other way when they see you coming. People talk amongst themselves – how many kids are they gonna have anyway? And WHY? Why do they want so many kids? Isn’t two enough? And with more books published, some people look at you differently. Stop talking about yourself, they think. You’ve been talking about yourself and your books for four years now. We KNOW you write books. So what? So do a lot of people. Let someone else step in the spotlight. Like this amazing debut author over here. Haven’t you heard? Everyone is SO excited for this book and people are talking about it like it’s the next best thing since THE CATCHER IN THE RYE.

Yeah, it’s easy to feel like old news. But for an author, each book is new, different and special. With each one, it’s expected we’ll do some promotion. In this golden age of YA, where the shelves in the bookstores are expanding by the day it seems, we have to do everything we can to compete. We have book signings not because we intend to beg the same people over and over again to buy our books. We have them because hey, maybe there are real, actual fans out there now who might want to come.

I’m proud and excited about the fact that I have more books coming out next year. But I still have to work to sell them. I still have to put myself out there, even if people want a little less Lisa Schroeder and a little more of New and Shiny Debut Authors.

Don’t worry though. I don’t ever expect you to have me and my five books over for dinner.

Please note: I love all you debut authors and want the very best for you, I really and truly do. This post is more about how I feel sometimes with people in real life than people on-line, in case you were wondering. And really, it's all good. I'm very lucky to be building a body of work and just think it's fun to stop and ponder what happens at various points along the way.

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

Losing Control

Tip of the Day: Don't waste your time trying to make the people who work at the DMV laugh-- they're a tough crowd.

You may not know this about me but I'm a bit of a control freak. I don't like things to just happen to me that I didn't completely intend to happen. And with being an author and getting closer to my release date I'm learning that there are a lot of things that are just not in my control.

Like pictures. If you are an author, people are going to take pictures of you and they are going to post them online. And some of them might be really, really bad. You could look like a squashed up monkey. Now you wouldn't post a picture of yourself looking like a squashed up monkey of course but you can't stop others from doing so. Not that they do it intentionally-- I'm sure they think you look like an adorable little monkey. But still. They're out there. And it's not like you can find every picture of yourself and paste a label over it that says "Seriously, my head isn't this big. I think the picture got weirdly stretched." right?

Then there is youtube. You could be giving a chat or whatever and someone can film it and put it on youtube. And you wouldn't know. Until you find it that is. I made it on youtube this week (no, I'm not telling where!) and the person even told me there were filming for something. Didn't stop me from sounding like an idiot. Then I think well, maybe I came off as more of a sweet idiot. And I watch again. Nope, I sound like the babbling kind.

And of course there's your book. People don't know you and how long you worked on your book. They can say anything at all about it online-- even if they've never read it. A person wouldn't come up to you on the street and say, "man your kid is one ugly little bugger." But they might write that about your book.

Ahhhhhhhh!!!

See? Powerless. How do you guys suggest dealing with this losing control thing? My current coping mechanism is closing my eyes, sticking my fingers in my ears and saying lalalalalalalala.

Kristina, Miss Delighted to Debut