Tip of the day: To print out your manuscript so it looks like a book (and saves on paper), go to Format, Columns, then select two. After that, change the set-up of your page to landscape and your line spacing to single spacing. I find reading the book this way helps me read it differently and I often find things I want to change I didn't see before.
I am happy to report my revisions are finished!
This book required some big changes. Lots of scenes had to be deleted and new ones put in their place. I was really nervous going into it, because I liked what I had and I worried I was going to ruin the book.
I think this is often what we fear when we go in and make changes. What if we make the thing worse, not better?
What really helped me was to draw out on a piece of paper 24 boxes, with each box representing a chapter. The chapters that didn't change, I wrote in what their purpose was (develop the plot, develop the characters, or both) and the big thing that happened in that chapter. Then, with the boxes where things were going to change, I wrote in pencil what I needed to have happen, and ideas around the scene(s) that would get me there.
One character became a lot more present during this revision. My editor liked him and said - more, please! Okay then. More. But if he was going to be a bigger character, I realized I needed to figure out what he wanted. Every character wants something, not just the main character. And I love it when characters' desires compliment each other or contradict each other. In this case, what he wanted came sort of organically, as I played around with a scene, but it ended up working really well, and tied in nicely with my main character's desire. I hope it works, anyway. We'll see what my editor has to say.
Anyway, each time I revise, I learn something. And the more times I do this, the more I realize that it's during revision when the real book is really written.
So yay, I'm done! Now I get to clean the house. Although there's that new idea I've been pondering...
~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Setting up a Book Signing
Tip of the Day: Congrats Soap Box in My Mind! You won MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS. E-mail me your mailing address at: Kristina at KristinaSpringer dot com.
I find that I blog on here about whatever is hogging up the most space on my brain at the moment. And at this moment it's book signings. Specifically my first signing for My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours. It's this Saturday, 9/11, from 2-4 pm at the Bolingbrook, IL Borders so if you're in the area stop by! But for today I'll talk about how to set up your own book signing.
1) Scope out bookstores in the area you're interested in signing in. Usually independent bookstores love to host authors. But the chains will too, sometimes.
2) After you've googled a phone number for the bookstore you're interested in, call and ask for the events coordinator.
3) Introduce yourself and your book. "Hi, I'm Awesome Author and my new book, Bound to Be a Best Seller comes out in October from Kick Butt Publisher. Would you be interested in having me come for a book signing?
4) If no, thank you anyway. Can I come by and sign stock sometime?
Note: The theory floating around the authorverse is a signed book is a sold book so stock sign whenever you can.
5) If yes, great! Set up a day & time and decide what you will be doing (Talk? Read? Both? Meet & Greet? Just sign?).
6) Advertise your book signing. Post on your blog, twitter, facebook etc. Send a note to the local newspaper for their calendar/events section (it's pretty easy to find e-mail address for this kind of thing online.).
7) A few days before the signing, check in with the bookstore. Is everything set? Did they advertise you were coming? Did they order enough books?
Note: Bring your author copies in your car. If they sell out of their stock you can bring in your books for them to sell and the store will replace your books at a later time.
8) Check your closet. Do you have something cute to wear?
9) Arrive early the day of the signing. Bring any giveaways you have (bookmarks, stickers etc.), any signage you have (cute posters?), your pen to sign with, your camera, and if it's a launch signing you might want to bring a treat for the readers (cupcakes, cookies or whatever).
10) Have fun! Smile pretty!
Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
My Revision Process (or My Revision Process This Time)
Tip of the Day: Feeling nostalgic for junior high as school starts up again? Watch this movie again. Sing along with Cyndy Lauper! 
By approximately this time next week, my YA WIP will be ready for my agent! I'm so excited about this book; it's been a blast to write. Let's go through a little time line of how I wrote and revised this novel, shall we?
Fall 2009 -- Brainstormed idea with agent. She liked it. Made notes and preliminary chapter drafts.
Jan 2010 -- Wrote about 30 pages. Kept brainstorming. Needed a title for the book/TV show in the book. Attended SCBWI Conference in NYC where Jane Yolen unwittingly provided me with my title in her keynote speech! Score!
Feb 2010 -- Edited 30 pages. Sent pages to Em and Tina for our meeting of the minds in Chicago. Revised some more. Sent 30 pages to agent who said to keep going.
March 2010 -- Wrote more book.
April 2010 -- Wrote even more book. Also, bought a house and prepared to move.
May 2010 -- Writing of book wanes as packing and moving gears up, but I start sending chaps to the Helper Monkeys CPs and taking in their feedback.
*MEANWHILE! Rejections come in on MG on sub and my motivation to get the YA WIP to my agent increases!*
June 2010 -- Helper Monkey Writing Day takes place and serious revising of first 100 pages or so based on Helper Monkey notes is completed. Woo hoo! I start to feel really good about this book.
July 2010 -- Wrote more book, sent more pages to Helper Monkeys.
August 2010 -- Wrote a ton like a mad woman with a writing itch! Finished the draft! Sent almost all of the book to Helper Monkeys.
September 1-8, 2010 -- Began revising like a mad woman, using notes I'd written to myself as I wrote and notes from Helper Monkeys and HM meetings. After revisions were completed on chaps 1-20, I sent them to my other CPs, Em and Tina. While my agent reads the book, I'll make some of their suggested changes as well.
So as of now, I have about 20 more chaps to edit, a handful more of chaps to get feedback on from the Helper Monkeys, and then all will then be sent to Em/Tina for the check of the polished pages. Then off to the agent!
I have to say, if I could always be this focused, man, I could be super writing productive. And this process of passing pages from one set of CPs to another for fresh views on revised pages has been working really well.
What has your revision process been like lately? Has it been working well?
Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing
By approximately this time next week, my YA WIP will be ready for my agent! I'm so excited about this book; it's been a blast to write. Let's go through a little time line of how I wrote and revised this novel, shall we?
Fall 2009 -- Brainstormed idea with agent. She liked it. Made notes and preliminary chapter drafts.
Jan 2010 -- Wrote about 30 pages. Kept brainstorming. Needed a title for the book/TV show in the book. Attended SCBWI Conference in NYC where Jane Yolen unwittingly provided me with my title in her keynote speech! Score!
Feb 2010 -- Edited 30 pages. Sent pages to Em and Tina for our meeting of the minds in Chicago. Revised some more. Sent 30 pages to agent who said to keep going.
March 2010 -- Wrote more book.
April 2010 -- Wrote even more book. Also, bought a house and prepared to move.
May 2010 -- Writing of book wanes as packing and moving gears up, but I start sending chaps to the Helper Monkeys CPs and taking in their feedback.
*MEANWHILE! Rejections come in on MG on sub and my motivation to get the YA WIP to my agent increases!*
June 2010 -- Helper Monkey Writing Day takes place and serious revising of first 100 pages or so based on Helper Monkey notes is completed. Woo hoo! I start to feel really good about this book.
July 2010 -- Wrote more book, sent more pages to Helper Monkeys.
August 2010 -- Wrote a ton like a mad woman with a writing itch! Finished the draft! Sent almost all of the book to Helper Monkeys.
September 1-8, 2010 -- Began revising like a mad woman, using notes I'd written to myself as I wrote and notes from Helper Monkeys and HM meetings. After revisions were completed on chaps 1-20, I sent them to my other CPs, Em and Tina. While my agent reads the book, I'll make some of their suggested changes as well.
So as of now, I have about 20 more chaps to edit, a handful more of chaps to get feedback on from the Helper Monkeys, and then all will then be sent to Em/Tina for the check of the polished pages. Then off to the agent!
I have to say, if I could always be this focused, man, I could be super writing productive. And this process of passing pages from one set of CPs to another for fresh views on revised pages has been working really well.
What has your revision process been like lately? Has it been working well?
Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Book Hype and Tourist Traps...oh my!
Tip of the Day: Don't forget to leave a comment on Kristina's post last Thursday for your chance to win her latest book!
There’s nothing better than a good tourist trap. Like Dinosaur World or the Wall Drug store and it’s famous ice water. A giant sculpture of Babe the Blue Ox or the World’s Largest Toilet.
Or even the one I went to over the weekend The Mystery Spot. It’s a place in northern Michigan where I’ve travelled by tons of times and always wanted to stop. You can’t miss the hundreds of signs advertising it every ten feet or so. It promises to be a piece of land discovered by three surveyors in the 1950’s that defies the laws of physics and gravity. A place where a person can climb a wall and tilt precariously in the air without falling. Or balance on the edge of a chair on the side of a wall :)
Classic Tourist Trap behavior!
Instead it was a dilapidated old building built on the side of a hill in various angles. So when you are on the inside, the sloped ceiling, floor, and sides create several visual effects that play with your eyes. Not exactly what I was expecting, but it was still tons of fun. Because they play up the “mystery” of the place so much, you can’t help but laugh and have a good time wondering if anyone is actually believing this.
In contrast, there’s nothing more that I dislike when a book is so hyped up and you sit down to read it you are left completely disappointed. A book that you’ve heard about on all the blogs, one recommended by your friends or family, and one that has so many holds on it at the library you can’t help but think it has to be the best book ever if so many people want to read it.
And usually when this happens--if I even bother to read the book at all--I’m always disappointed. Even if it was a good/decent book. The hype is just hard to live up to. When you go into a tourist trap, you basically know what to expect. You know it isn’t going to be as good as it says and that’s part of the fun. But with a book, it’s harder to tell. Maybe I just need to lower my expectations, and then every book I pick up I’ll go into thinking it can’t be as good as everyone says, and then I won’t be disappointed. Or I just need to stop listened to people who tell me “I have to read this book.” Because I know enough of my own tastes to know what I’m going to like and what I won’t.
But sometimes it’s just so hard to resist—the pull is too much. And you have to know what everyone is talking about. Can Lauren Conrad actually write a book? Hmmm…I’ll have to check that out.
I guess that’s how best sellers are made.
Maybe all of us just need to purchase hundreds of billboards all over the country and advertise our books every 10 feet and we’ll be a bestseller in no time!
--Emily, Miss Querylicious
There’s nothing better than a good tourist trap. Like Dinosaur World or the Wall Drug store and it’s famous ice water. A giant sculpture of Babe the Blue Ox or the World’s Largest Toilet.
Or even the one I went to over the weekend The Mystery Spot. It’s a place in northern Michigan where I’ve travelled by tons of times and always wanted to stop. You can’t miss the hundreds of signs advertising it every ten feet or so. It promises to be a piece of land discovered by three surveyors in the 1950’s that defies the laws of physics and gravity. A place where a person can climb a wall and tilt precariously in the air without falling. Or balance on the edge of a chair on the side of a wall :)
Classic Tourist Trap behavior!
Instead it was a dilapidated old building built on the side of a hill in various angles. So when you are on the inside, the sloped ceiling, floor, and sides create several visual effects that play with your eyes. Not exactly what I was expecting, but it was still tons of fun. Because they play up the “mystery” of the place so much, you can’t help but laugh and have a good time wondering if anyone is actually believing this.
In contrast, there’s nothing more that I dislike when a book is so hyped up and you sit down to read it you are left completely disappointed. A book that you’ve heard about on all the blogs, one recommended by your friends or family, and one that has so many holds on it at the library you can’t help but think it has to be the best book ever if so many people want to read it.
And usually when this happens--if I even bother to read the book at all--I’m always disappointed. Even if it was a good/decent book. The hype is just hard to live up to. When you go into a tourist trap, you basically know what to expect. You know it isn’t going to be as good as it says and that’s part of the fun. But with a book, it’s harder to tell. Maybe I just need to lower my expectations, and then every book I pick up I’ll go into thinking it can’t be as good as everyone says, and then I won’t be disappointed. Or I just need to stop listened to people who tell me “I have to read this book.” Because I know enough of my own tastes to know what I’m going to like and what I won’t.
But sometimes it’s just so hard to resist—the pull is too much. And you have to know what everyone is talking about. Can Lauren Conrad actually write a book? Hmmm…I’ll have to check that out.
I guess that’s how best sellers are made.
Maybe all of us just need to purchase hundreds of billboards all over the country and advertise our books every 10 feet and we’ll be a bestseller in no time!
--Emily, Miss Querylicious
Friday, September 3, 2010
The Top Ten Things I Don't Like About Revision
Tip of the day: Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend. School starts up for my kids next week, which means I'm back to my third (or is it fourth?) part-time job, that of Homework Assistant. Oh joy.
It has been a week of revision for me. This is me revising:
I know revision is a necessity. I know it makes the book better. I know it's a wonderful thing to have an editor tell you what to do to make the book sparkle and shine.
But it is hard.
Really, really hard. Sometimes it's harder than others. And this time? Pretty dang hard.
Here is my top ten list of things I don't like about revision.
10. About halfway through, you start to question everything. Everything! It can become almost paralyzing, because you have this urge to erase the whole freaking file and start completely over.
9. It makes you focus on all of your weaknesses.
8. Because it makes you focus on all of your weaknesses, you start to feel like you really suck.
7. That sucky feeling makes you reach for the crappy food, because crappy food comforts you.
6. Because you're eating the crappy food, and sitting at the computer for 12+ hours a day, you start to gain weight.
5. Sitting at the computer for 12+ hours a day not only puts on the pounds, it also gives you raging headaches.
4. A raging headache means when you finally get off the computer, you are absolutely no fun to be around and your family wants nothing to do with you.
3. When you finally go to bed at night, hoping for sleep that will bring relief from the misery and pain, you toss and turn, plot struggles and character issues refusing to leave you alone.
2. Each passing day means more suck, more fat, more crankiness, and less sleep.
And the number one thing I don't like about revision.
1. It is messy. It is rip your book apart, throw the pieces on the ground, mix them up, throw some of them away, try to find new ones that fit, messy. I hate messes!! And then there's the mess that accumulates around the house while you're revising, too. See?
MESSY!!!!
I better get back to it. I have a lot to clean up.
~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career
It has been a week of revision for me. This is me revising:
I know revision is a necessity. I know it makes the book better. I know it's a wonderful thing to have an editor tell you what to do to make the book sparkle and shine.
But it is hard.
Really, really hard. Sometimes it's harder than others. And this time? Pretty dang hard.
Here is my top ten list of things I don't like about revision.
10. About halfway through, you start to question everything. Everything! It can become almost paralyzing, because you have this urge to erase the whole freaking file and start completely over.
9. It makes you focus on all of your weaknesses.
8. Because it makes you focus on all of your weaknesses, you start to feel like you really suck.
7. That sucky feeling makes you reach for the crappy food, because crappy food comforts you.
6. Because you're eating the crappy food, and sitting at the computer for 12+ hours a day, you start to gain weight.
5. Sitting at the computer for 12+ hours a day not only puts on the pounds, it also gives you raging headaches.
4. A raging headache means when you finally get off the computer, you are absolutely no fun to be around and your family wants nothing to do with you.
3. When you finally go to bed at night, hoping for sleep that will bring relief from the misery and pain, you toss and turn, plot struggles and character issues refusing to leave you alone.
2. Each passing day means more suck, more fat, more crankiness, and less sleep.
And the number one thing I don't like about revision.
1. It is messy. It is rip your book apart, throw the pieces on the ground, mix them up, throw some of them away, try to find new ones that fit, messy. I hate messes!! And then there's the mess that accumulates around the house while you're revising, too. See?
MESSY!!!!
I better get back to it. I have a lot to clean up.
~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Release Week and GIVEAWAY!
Tip of the Day: Check out the way cute ad my publisher is running for Fake Boyfriend-- I love it!
YAY!! MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS came out this week! I'm so excited! And I've been getting lots of good reviews from all the biggies- Kirkus, School Library Journal, PW, and Booklist so I'm a happy girl! In case you're not sure what the book is about, here's the blurb:
YAY!! MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS came out this week! I'm so excited! And I've been getting lots of good reviews from all the biggies- Kirkus, School Library Journal, PW, and Booklist so I'm a happy girl! In case you're not sure what the book is about, here's the blurb:Seventh grade was supposed to be fun, but Tori is having major drama with her BFF, Sienna. Sienna changed a lot over the summer—on the first day of school she’s tan, confident, and full of stories about her new dreamy boyfriend. Tori knows that she’s totally making this guy up. So Tori invents her own fake boyfriend, who is better than Sienna’s in every way. Things are going great—unless you count the whole lying-to-your-best-friend thing—until everyone insists Tori and Sienna bring their boyfriends to the back-to-school dance.
I'm giving away a copy of MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS this week on A2A! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post between now and next Wednesday night at midnight EST. Thursday morning I'll announce the winner in my Tip of the Day.
Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Keep Reading, Please! (or I Will Follow Her, Follow Her Wherever She May Go!*)
*with apologies to Little Peggy March
Tip of the Day: Lactose intolerant? Going low-fat? Don't underestimate the power of Haagen Dazs sorbets. YUM! (Mango, raspberry, peach, strawberry!)
I was chatting with Tina the other day and expressed my concern that perhaps people who have been reading A2A since its inception in 2008, when we we claimed readers would be following the careers of five writers in five different stages, might think that is not really what's happening.
Why would I think that?
Um, because I've been Subbing for Pubbing for 2.5 years maybe? Ha! How's that for writer growth?
Over that time, I've had two MGs on sub, polished another YA (that neither agent loved but oh well, it was fun to write and my friends like it!), started rewriting my first YA, and am done with the draft of a new fun YA.
And I haven't sold anything yet.
Am I stagnating, I wondered, in the world of Subbing for Pubbing? Yes, I want to sell a book, but I am OK with being here -- but blog readers are like "What is going on with that girl?"
Tina, wise and thoughtful girl that she is, said no; that it was important for other writers to see that it is a long journey, that we each do have different paths, and that as long as I keep writing and really am Subbing for Pubbing, others can revel in the fact that there is nothing wrong with it taking time to sell.
And you know what? She's right. For those who hae followed me on this journey so far, the experience will only be sweeter when I DO sell and you can all celebrate with me. I've read that the average length of time to sell a book is 7 years from when a writer first seriously pursues publication. I started writing kidlit in 2004, and began subbing for pubbing to agents and some editors in 2006, so I'm around the 5 year mark. That gives me two more years to be average. And you know what? As much as I want to sell a book, I'm OK with that.
I hope you are too, readers, and you'll keep sticking it out with me!
Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing
Tip of the Day: Lactose intolerant? Going low-fat? Don't underestimate the power of Haagen Dazs sorbets. YUM! (Mango, raspberry, peach, strawberry!)
I was chatting with Tina the other day and expressed my concern that perhaps people who have been reading A2A since its inception in 2008, when we we claimed readers would be following the careers of five writers in five different stages, might think that is not really what's happening.
Why would I think that?
Um, because I've been Subbing for Pubbing for 2.5 years maybe? Ha! How's that for writer growth?
Over that time, I've had two MGs on sub, polished another YA (that neither agent loved but oh well, it was fun to write and my friends like it!), started rewriting my first YA, and am done with the draft of a new fun YA.
And I haven't sold anything yet.
Am I stagnating, I wondered, in the world of Subbing for Pubbing? Yes, I want to sell a book, but I am OK with being here -- but blog readers are like "What is going on with that girl?"
Tina, wise and thoughtful girl that she is, said no; that it was important for other writers to see that it is a long journey, that we each do have different paths, and that as long as I keep writing and really am Subbing for Pubbing, others can revel in the fact that there is nothing wrong with it taking time to sell.
And you know what? She's right. For those who hae followed me on this journey so far, the experience will only be sweeter when I DO sell and you can all celebrate with me. I've read that the average length of time to sell a book is 7 years from when a writer first seriously pursues publication. I started writing kidlit in 2004, and began subbing for pubbing to agents and some editors in 2006, so I'm around the 5 year mark. That gives me two more years to be average. And you know what? As much as I want to sell a book, I'm OK with that.
I hope you are too, readers, and you'll keep sticking it out with me!
Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing
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