A2A Teen Years: Back in Time and Forward Again

Tip of the Day: Forget about New Year's Resolutions this year. I'm going to choose one word for the year. I haven't quite decided what it is yet, but I'm mulling it over.

It's time for Author2Author: The Teen Years, when we mine our memories for what it was really like to be a teenager and how that impacts our writing. This week, we're talking about what you (and your friends) in your teen past thought you'd be like in the future--meaning now, the present. (Did that make sense? I feel like I should be inventing time travel appropriate verb tenses.)

It's good for me to remember that when I was 15, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up and that was OK. I didn't lose sleep over it, you know? My friends and I figured we'd probably live in Manhattan and see a lot of live music. We expected to be at Madison Square Garden when the Rangers finally won the Stanley Cup again. Those were great goals.

What I really, really secretly dreamed of was writing for the best show on television: Days of Our Lives. I was willing to make the sacrifice of leaving my friends and moving to California for this.

I actually didn't move to California, as life got complicated with college and true love and the compromises both required. Also, I was not at Madison Square Garden when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. But teenage dreams don't need to compromise, baby.

The last thing my friends and I expected was that I would have kids. I had two younger brothers and two younger stepsisters, so I was always babysitting while my friends were off doing (what I imagined were) exciting things. The only positive in this was that I honed my craft reading this masterpiece over and over again:

I don't want to spoil the ending for you. It has a great twist.

Friends were so much more important than career goals, weren't they? How about you? What did you and your friends envision doing together as legal adults?

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages

Happy Thanksgiving

We're taking the week off from blogging to celebrate American Thanksgiving. We'll be back next week, as witty and topical as ever. Have a great holiday!

A little itchy

Tip of the day: Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday next week! We’ll be taking a blogging break for the week, but don’t worry! We’ll be back November 30th with another fun week of A2A, the Teen years!

I had a good conversation with my agent this week, about a finished project as well as a proposal and some pages I’ve been working on the past couple of months.

She is excited about both of these projects, and that makes ME excited. So yes, sometime soon, I will be out on submission again. It’s been a year or more since I’ve had a sale, and I admit to itching just a little for some good news of the “Sold” variety. Ack, does that make me greedy?

Maybe. Sorry, can’t help it. My mind is already thinking ahead to the year 2011 – it will be a very sad year if there are no new book babies to look forward to! Anyway, stay tuned, I guess. Although I don’t suspect we’ll hear anything until after the holidays at this point.

Honestly, I still pinch myself when my agent e-mails me and says, “Let’s set up a time to talk.” Really? You want to talk to ME? About my work?

I don’t think I’m more talented than most writers. I think I just kept writing and working at it. And it’s what I do even now.

I can remember the days when I wanted so desperately to have a sale. Or even to have an agent who loved my work. It wasn’t really that long ago. I know it seems like the publishing business is mostly gloom and doom these days, but take heart. Books *are* still being sold.

So, keep writing. Keep working at it. And if you’re itching for some good news of the “sold” variety, I hope you get some very soon!

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

How to do a Drive-By Signing

Tip of the Day: Always carry a signing pen with you. You never know when you'll be asked to sign a book and the average ballpoint just doesn't cut it.

Drive-by signings. You either know exactly what I'm talking about or you're scratching your head. This post is directed to all the head scratchers.

Once you're a published author you can stop by bookstores wherever (in your town, somewhere you're vacationing, at that store around the corner from your office etc.) your book is carried and ask to sign it. This sounds a little bizarre at first and I was really hesitant to do it until I went with Aprilynne Pike on a drive-by signing while she was in town for a signing. She, Kristin Walker, and I were walking to get a drink and were about to pass by a B&N. She said let's do a drive-by. I said what?! Are things that hard right now? Ok, we didn't say that stuff. :-) But she did suggest stopping to do a quick stock signing. After I witnessed her doing one it gave me the courage to do it myself. See, at first I thought maybe the stores wouldn't want me coming in and mucking up their merchandise. But then I was reminded that I wasn't mucking up their stuff but adding value to it by signing it. Oh yeah. :-) Someone else told me that a signed book is a sold book. I'm not sure who originally said that or if it's true but it sounds good. Anyway, on to how to do a drive-by signing.

1) Stroll into a bookstore.

2) Locate all of your books on a shelf (in my case it's only like 3 to 5 at a store).

3) Carry all of your books up to the information desk.

4) Say to the person working there, hello, I am the author of this book and I'd like to sign it. Do you have any signed by author stickers?

At this point they'll give you a huge smile, whip out a strip of the stickers, and say fabulous! Or some such scenario like that. This actually happens often for them.

5) Sign each book.

6) Sticker the book (or the employee might sticker the book for you).

7) Ask the employee, would you like me to re-stock the book?

And they'll (hopefully) say no, no, I'm going to put them on display up here at the desk.

And that's all there is to it! Bonus tip: you can go online to bn.com or Borders.com and type in your zip code to see if the stores near you have your book in stock. Might save a trip!

Kristina, Miss Delighted to Debut

How BAKE Came To Be (or Warning: Sappiness Ahead)

Tip of the Day: It's not too late to enter THE ESPRESSOLOGIST contest! All you have to do is snap a pic of the book at a coffee shop. It's too good a deal to pass up!

I've got an exciting, Subbing for Pubbing news bite for you!

Ready?

I got my first rejection.

I know, I know, you're all in tears for me, but I'm not! I have faith. Just send good vibes into the publishing world for my MG, BAKE, SET, MATCH if you have a spare minute. Can I tell you how much I love this book? I really love this book -- and what it has become through all of its visions.

Oh, you want the whole saga in abridged form? Of course! Here it is.

When I was in 3rd grade, I met another 3rd grader named Beth. She, her older brother, and her parents were new to the neighborhood. And both her parents had cancer. Her dad's was really bad and her mom's was a passing thought as she spent all her time caring for her family. My 8-year-old self didn't even know her mom was sick, but Beth and I became super friends.

At some point, Beth began spending nights at my house. Sometimes weeks. Of course to me this was fun and new and exciting to have a friend over 24/7! But the reality was that her dad was in the hospital all the time and her mom was there with him and she didn't want to leave Beth alone.

Mix in what happens when pre-adolscent girls spend tons of time together (bff love + sisterly beeyotching), a step into the tumultuous fourth grade, best friend necklace drama, and material jealousies and you have the makings of an MG novel 20 years later without even knowing it.

Very sadly, Beth's father passed away while we were in fourth grade, and her mother while we were in sixth. At my older, wiser age of 12 I couldn't believe all the materialistic, trivial stuff I thought about and went on about with Beth in elementary school. I mean, her parents were really sick and I would get upset when my mom let her eat candy before dinner but not me.

So a few years ago in super hindsight, I wanted to explore the relationship between two girls who are trying to forget about the scary cancer surrounding them. Yet if they completely forget about it, nothing else is really in perspective anymore. It's a balance between what's real, what's right, what's important. And I think it's a good lesson for ALL of us at any age to think about.

BAKE, SET, MATCH is not a memoir of my time in 3rd through 6th grades, but rather a story about friendships and baking and tennis based on that kernel of best friends who are forced to become nearly sisters in the midst of drama and heartache. OK, so my first drafts were a bit more true-to-life, but once I got that out of my system, the true plot of the book came out and I think it says what I want to say and have needed to say for all these years.

Fortunately, Beth and I remained friends after she had to move away in sixth grade, and are still friends today despite the miles between us. She also gave me permission to keep the name "Beth" for the Beth-like character in my book. What friend could ask for a greater gift than that? :)

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Joining a Writing Group

Tip of the Day: joining a writing group can be fun and encouraging.

I've been writing fiction seriously for about four years now (wow has it really been that long?), but I've yet to join a writing community such as the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators or Romance Writers of America.

I've kind of dabbled a bit by going to meetings, but just when I started to feel a part of something, I moved and had to start all over again. And I've justified not joining because there's such a wonderful writing community online that I've gotten a lot of great information from and I didn't feel I needed to spend money.

Until now.

Recently, I decided to attend the Winter SCBWI conference coming up in January (with Deena!) and thought what better time to join when it would help get me a discounted rate at the conference.

I just received by packet of information and I have to tell you that I actually kind of feel like a real writer now. It makes me feel official that I'm going to a conference to better my writing and my career and that I'm part of such a great group of writers. I'm kind of amazed I hadn't joined before and I'm so excited to meet writers in my area and future events. And to get the most out of membership that I can.

Are you all members of writing groups? And what benefits do you see and how do you get the most out of your membership?

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

Time to Type "The End"

Tip of the Day: This is a periodic public service announcement. Backup your word processing files. Have you saved your writing to a stick drive lately?

Revisions are done, line editing is done, and it's time to virtually step away from another huge folder on my c drive. I've spent lots of time on my tween paranormal, but now it's completed. It's time to work on a new project.

I always feel weird when this happens. It's almost like moving to a new town. I have to meet new people, figure out where all the important buildings are, and say goodbye to the characters I knew so well.

To make it worse, I have a few projects competing for what to work on next, and I'm having a hard time making up my mind. I have a haunted house novel that I feel needs an entire rewrite, a graphic novel script I started in Fast Draft January, and a shiny new idea that needs a lot of research.

To paraphrase Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb, I need a Brain Switch Gearerator.

I always feel happy the first time I type "The End" on a project, after the first draft. Yahoo, finally, I can start revising!! But the last time I type "The End" makes me feel a little adrift. I guess it's time to be the new kid in a new town again.

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages