Shaping the Story

Question of the week: How do you learn to do it? I realize this is a huge question, and that there are many books written on this subject, but I'd like some personal responses too. I just finished a beautiful book (Blue Diary, by Alice Hoffman) and it reinforces the fact that I have no idea how to do that -- how to shape and tell a story from so many angles, how to illustrate characters in such a way that they're living and breathing people. I have the basic outline of an idea, and I'm working at it, but I have no idea how to shape and mold it into something beautiful.

(Disclaimer: this was posted on one of my fiction forums, and I responded to the poster with my answer. A lot of people chimed in that my answer was really helpful, so the poster gave me permission to share both her question and my answer here.)

Very, very good question. I can only speak from my experience, which, I think, is different from a lot of other people's. I learned on the job. I didn't read any book on how to write, though I'm sure those would have been helpful, but frankly, I'm just not a "here's how you do something" reader. Self-help books have never appealed to me.

Instead, I wrote a book that, looking back on it now, wasn't particularly good. But it got me an agent who showed me how to revise it to make it better. One thing that we really worked on was showing, not telling, and I think that this is a huge trap that new fiction writers can fall into. Exposition is so easy to write...and SO boring to read. No one wants or needs to be inside of the head of your character all the time; what they want instead is to read about how your character's actions translate into what is going on inside of her head. Don't write an entire chapter about how she's so pissed off, and how's she's thinking about how she's so pissed off. Instead, show her going to the gym and blowing off steam or snapping at her significant other because she doesn't have another outlet for it. Or whatever. So...I trained myself to really be on the lookout for any instances in which I told, not showed. And every time I saw one of those moments, I edited them into actionable scenes, usually by putting in dialogue and drawing the reader in that way.

Another thing that I didn't realize I had to do, and thus the ms stagnated at times, was add more conflict and obstacles for my characters. Your characters need to be on a journey, and the only way that they can get from point A to point B is to deal with problems and difficulties. So you have to throw the book at them: relationship, work, family, emotional, etc, problems. If you sit down with your characters and do this, often times, plots can emerge because you have to figure out how to resolve these issues for your characters...and that becomes the story.

For example, in The Department, my heroine decides to take a look at the wreckage of her romantic life. Her boyfriend has just left her (problem) and she has no one to lean on while undergoing chemotherapy (problem) and is oddly attracted to her good friend's ex/OBYGN (problem). So, I sat down with my character and thought, "How would she come out of this with new knowledge that can make her a better person and partner, and thus allow her to potentially be in a thriving relationship at the end of the book?" And for me, what emerged was that my protagonist was going to retrace her romantic history by tracking down her former loves to see where things went wrong and what she might learn from that. So that was the story arc for that particular problem in her life. (Which, of course, also opened up other issues as she went along.) As I wrote the book, I wove in these scenes and the plot/story arc created itself.

Does that make sense? I hope that helps!

Oh, I should add that the manuscript that this agent took on never sold. And in hindsight, it shouldn't have. I reread it recently, and man, it sucked. Sometimes, you just have to write to improve your skills, and I look at that book as my minor league experience...it helped me get to the majors, even though the book itself lead nowhere.

So, writers and authors out there, how do you mold and shape an idea into a bigger story and concept?

Here's the Deal

And I mean that literally! From Publishers Marketplace:

Allison Winn Scotch's TIME OF MY LIFE, pitched as Sliding Doors meets The Family Man in which a 35-year old with a seemingly pitch-perfect life is haunted by her "what ifs," and wakes up one morning to discover herself seven years in the past and granted with the chance to meet the mother who abandoned her, pursue the career she left behind, chase down the man she could have married, and answer all of her lingering doubts, to Sally Kim at Shaye Areheart Books, in a pre-empt, by Elisabeth Weed at Weed Literary.

Yahoo!

(And can anyone please explain to me why blogger is only publishing half of a picture - per the below post? I have no idea what I'm doing wrong and want to fix it!)

GCC Presents: Judy Larsen and All the Numbers

Okay, I'm not sure what I'm more impressed with: the fact that Judy Larsen has five kids and still has time to write, or the fact that she was selected as Target's breakout author in September '06, when All the Numbers first hit shelves.

Here's the scoop on the book - how good does this sound?

Recently divorced and navigating the uncharted territory of single parenthood, Ellen Banks is a tough but loving teacher and a devoted mother to her two sons, Daniel and James. When they take their summer trip from their home in Madison, Wisconsin to their best friends’ lake house for weekend, she has no idea that her life is about to irrevocably change. While Ellen sits on a nearby dock, a teen on a jet ski shatters their perfect day when he hits James. Suddenly Ellen is faced with decisions that are every parent’s worst nightmare. Life support, organ donation. And then, a funeral. A grieving sibling who blames himself for the death of his brother. A distant ex-husband, friends and family who don’t know what to say or how to help, lawyers, judges and policemen—none who can make the hurt go away. Healing the empty space in Ellen’s heart and soul is almost too much to bear. But she is determined to see justice done for her son, and to heal the deep wounds in her family. All the Numbers culminates in a highly charged trial which, in an unexpected turn, leads Ellen and Daniel to a new beginning.

Lucky for us, Judy stopped by to answer all of my questions:

1) What’s the backstory behind your book?
Well, I was sitting on a dock at a lake in Wisconsin with my best friend, Her girls and my sons were playing in the water and a jet skier went by. And I just started thinking,
"What if?" What if the kids had been out too far? What if the jet skier hadn't been paying attention. What would that do to me as a mother, as a friend? The story flowed from there. I think, in a way, I'd been writing it ever since my kids were born. That's the biggest fear for most parents--losing a child. So I explored it through my character.

2) It seems that a lot of readers confuse fiction with real life, assuming that a novel must be an autobiography of the author as well. How many elements of your real life are reflected in your book?
I stole quite a bit from my real life--some have even suggested I cannibalized it, but I think that's a tad harsh. My main character Ellen is a single mom with two boys who teaches high school English. I was a single mom with two boys who taught high school English. She's pretty cluttered and likes wine. Me too. But, as you can see from my earlier answer, it makes sense that Ellen was like me. Fortunately, I have not suffered the loss of a child--and there were days I felt like I was tempting fate, (and my younger son did ask once why I killed him in the book) but I had to have that honesty, that connection to make it ring true.

3) A lot of my blog readers are aspiring or new authors. How did you land your first book deal?
My big break came 5 years into the process when I went to a week-long writing institute at University of Iowa. The editor who led my workshop really liked my first chapter and offered to introduce me to some agents. That's when everything fell into place. Two weeks later I had an agent and within 3 months we'd sold it to Random House.

4) I have a serious procrastination problem when it comes to tackling my fiction. What’s your routine? How do you dive it? Do you have any rituals or necessary to-dos before or while you write?
I'm right there with you. There's always another blog to check out or another game of computer solitaire to play. So, having a routine is really important. I try to write every morning (so I never make appointments in the mornings if I can help it). I need good coffee and legal pads and a couple good ink pens. And then I try to challenge myself to write at least 1000 words a day.

5) Clearly, your book will be optioned for a multi-million dollar film deal! Who would you cast as the leads, if you were given creative control?
Oh, Reese Witherspoon would make a great Ellen. And Bob Hansen should be played by Dennis Quaid (but only if I can be the kiss double!)

With Or Without You

I was sipping my coffee this morning, feeling like it was literally warming me from within, and mulling over this question: what are the outside elements that my writing can't live without? I'm not talking about an active imagination or moment-to-moment inspiration, but real, tangible things that I need to write well. In college, I couldn't work without music: everyone thought it was so strange that I'd read and write with background noise, but I truly couldn't get anything done without it, so my stereo was always on in my room or else my Walkman (remember them?) was always plugged into my ears in the library.

These days, here are the two I came up with:

1) Coffee. Yes, partially because I'm half-brain dead in the morning, but also because I think it has a psychological effect on me as well. I think that researchers have discovered this too (I'm nearly certain that I've read studies about this), noting that for many people, coffee is more than a physical stimulant, that it's also a psychological signal that it's time to be more alert and time to start your day. And certainly, for me, it is. I drink my coffee, and my brain says, "Hey, okay, let's start your work."

2) An organized desk. This one is maybe weirder. I'm not sure. But I think I have a teeny touch of OCD because I absolutely can't work on a cluttered space. So before I start writing, I have to straighten everything into perfect piles and if I see a smudge or a light coating of dust or whatever, I have to clean it off. My husband laughs at me because I'm the same way with the dinner table. (As I said, probably OCD..and not that OCD is laughable or funny, but he finds my idiosyncrasies amusing, in the way that spouses do...like how I can't go to sleep unless the closet door is closed.) I can't eat dinner until the table is presentable. I mean, I truly can't stand to sit there - I'm anxious and antsy and bothered by the mess. My husband's idea of presentable means pushing the newspapers and mail and ipods and my son's cars and other crap into a giant, towering heap on one side of the table, and then, inevitably before I sit down to eat, I have to organize it into something neat and linear...and thus, I can actually enjoy dinner. Anyway, I've digressed, but much like our dining table, my desk needs to be palatably organized - as if a cluttered desk means cluttered work - before I can dive in.

So what about you? What can't you write without? Good light? Music? A picture of your family peering over at you? A daily run through certain blogs or websites?

It's Never Easy

So we're announcing the sale of Time of My Life this week. Yay! And I thought this would be a good time to tell you the story of the sale because, well, as the title of this post indicates, it's never easy. This career is never easy. Making it as a writer is never easy. Selling a novel is never easy. (Get the theme here?) And as I've said countless times before, if you're easily discouraged or have a thin skin, this ain't the career for you.

So here's what happened:

As I've mentioned in the past, I wrote a manuscript years ago that never sold, though it did land me an agent. In retrospect, it was a blessing. I mean, it just wasn't that good of a book, there was too much exposition, my conflict wasn't quite realistic, my characters were too unlikable...you get the point. Though the book wasn't great, I was still drawn to the themes behind it: friendship, betrayal, etc. So in January or so, I started to rework it, taking it apart nearly entirely, creating a different protagonist with different conflicts, and weaving in a few of the scenes from the old story because some of them still worked (and they weren't all bad) and as I said, I liked exploring these themes. This wasn't easy work: in fact, there were times when I thought it might easier to start from scratch rather than trying to rebuild something that was broken, not unlike a house remodel vs. demolishing and starting over.

But I kept at it. And at 150 pages, my agent read it, and we both agreed that we really liked it. Maybe we didn't love it, but we liked it well enough, and both felt that my writing had been elevated since The Department. We were anxious to nail down the sale of my second book, so the ms went out to editors. And the response was...fine. Fine, completely fine. Editors enjoyed it, and it looked like we would get three or four offers, but these weren't the big, frothy offers that we hoped for, offers that would slam-dunk my second book as a sure-thing. In fact, a few editors (who explicitly said that they weren't offering but who believed in me as a writer) set up phones calls and/or coffee with me, and all of them said the same thing, "You're capable of a bigger book. A better book. This one is too quiet. This one doesn't have a hook. Try something else, and come back to me."

Sigh. So my agent and I faced a decision: sell this one for less than we'd like (and risk that indeed, it would be a quiet book, which is industry-speak for "small print run and probably not a lot of readers"), but still register a sale (and hey, a sale is still a sale), or gamble and walk away from these potential offers, and try to come up with something new.

I went out for a run after having one of these decision-making conversations with my agent, and as I circled the running loop in Central Park, I was also replaying the words of these editors, editors who really wanted to work with me but who knew that I could deliver something better. And part of me knew that I could deliver something better too. And as I replayed their words, I was struck with an idea for a new book. It came out of nowhere, and bam - I already had some of the scenes and the characters and the conflict before I got home. I ran (literally) back to my computer, banged out 15 pages, and sent them to my agent.

She read them within the hour, and we both immediately knew that this was the book that we should be selling. It was what editors call a "big book," with a big hook, and with relatable, challenged characters...and their scenes and stories flowed easily every day that I sat down to write. It just felt so instinctively right, so much more so than my other effort which was agonizing and frustrating and not particularly enjoyable, and within two weeks, I'd written 100 pages. We sold it soon thereafter, and I wrapped my first draft last week.

That other manuscript still sits in the bowels of my computer - another lesson learned, another practice run for a better book. There's no shame in this for me. Instead, it's just proof that there is no ceiling on the learning curve for fiction writing: you can be as good a writer as your knowledge and effort and yes, some natural skill, allow. And it's also proof that even when you've established yourself in this industry, you have to keep proving yourself again and again. There's no coasting, there are no half-efforts, there are no assurances that because you sold one book to a publishers, you'll sell another.

It's like the old cliched adage says: try, try again. In our industry, that's the only way to succeed.

What Are You Reading?

This is a fun little thing that we do on some of the industry forums I visit...we always enjoy hearing about what everyone is digging into, and in light of how often we talk about that books sell via word of mouth, well, let's start some word of mouth!

So right now, I'm tearing through Gwendolen Gross's The Other Mother - lush prose, wonderful plotting...I'm really enjoying it. In fact, I even pre-ordered this book because I was so excited to read it, but am just getting to it now because I try to avoid reading anything that I worry might be similar to my own WIP - I don't want to be unconsciously influenced. Now that I've wrapped my WIP, I'm free to enjoy it.

So what are you guys reading and loving right now?

Putting the P in Promotion

I think the subject of promotion is a never-ending one with writers, and it pops up on every writers' board that I frequent. Everyone is always chatting about the most effective ways to promote yourself and your books, and no one seems to have a surefire, solid method, other than maybe Joe Konrath, who is the king of all kings of promotion and seriously, I'm in awe of the man and could never do what he does. But it works for him, so to that, I say kudos.

But yeah, other than Joe, a lot of writers are always rooting around, looking for newer, better, shinier promotional tools (Post-its! Bookmarks! Book club phone-in!), just in case we're missing something that might help get the word out.

I was chatting about this recently with another writer whose book has just been released, and I have to say, it's remarkable how similar writers' complaints and worries are: nearly every writer feels like he or she could have had more push from his or her publishing house and nearly every writer is scrambling to make up that perceived deficit. In my case, I've been really pleased with my promotional team - they continue to support me, pitch the book and line up a variety of things for me - but from what I hear, I do feel like I'm more of an exception than not. Our worries about sales and PR and marketing are virtually universal...after all, at the end of the day, while we might pretend otherwise as we bang out our manuscripts, this is a business, and in any business, what matters is the bottom line: we. have. to. sell. books. Period. Your next book deal depends on it, and your publisher depends on it so they can earn back their advance.

Which brings me to my thoughts for the day: what, really, is the best promotional tool? I think this can and will vary from author to author. Konrath swears by store drop-ins and signings, which again, I really commend him for, but (and this has been hotly debated on Backspace), I don't know that for me, that's the most time-effective way to go. I'm an unknown author, and who shows up to hear an unknown author to read, and sure, I could certainly sell a few more books that way, but I'm also a busy mother of two, and trekking out to dozens (or hundreds, as he does) of stores to introduce myself doesn't seem viable right now, though I do agree with him that it probably leads to better shelf space, hand-selling and all of that. Published authors out there, do you agree or disagree? I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

For me, I really think that the best promotional tool might have been starting this blog. I did it partly to promote the book and partly because I really enjoyed offering a counter-perspective to Miss Snark, a writer's perspective to this crazy industry. And what's been amazing, and I alluded to this earlier in the week, is not that I have thousands of eyeballs and readers and all of that, but via this blog, I've MET so many other writers and readers...and we all champion each other. I've been interviewed on blogs, and I've hosted interviews here; people have talked about my book, and I've talked about theirs. The blogging community not only has incredible power, it's also incredibly open and generous and kind, and so, from the security of my office, I can sit here and get the word out, and also befriend some fabulous folks.

Promotional tools I'm unconvinced of: bookmarks and doo-dads and various things like that. I've never bought a book because I had a pen or a stress ball with a title on it. Have you? (And I don't ask this rhetorically...I'd like to know!)

One new spin that I do think works: Book clubs. I've done a few call-ins for these, and they're not only superfun, they're a guarantee of books sold. So, for pubbed authors out there, if you can spread the word that you're willing to call in, do it. It's a great way to connect with readers, and I'm always surprised at how excited they are to have me! It completely cracks me up.

So pubbed authors, what are your favorite promotional tools? And readers, what are the ways that get you to buy books? I'd love to have a discussion on this!

Another Book Giveaway! Back to COOL!

Man, free stuff has just been oozing out left and right these days. Here's the latest contest from my fabulous friend, Rachel Weingarten, who is an all-around culture guru and who has been quoted just about everywhere, including CNN and a gazillion other places. Her latest book, Career and Corporate Cool, is a must-have handbook for navigating even the stickiest of work situations.

Here's the lowdown on the book:

Imagine if life came with a handbook to help get you through just about every potentially awkward, stressful, or over-the-top situation, with humor, grace, and dignity intact. Life doesn't come with a handbook—but now business does. In Career and Corporate Cool™, style and marketing maven Rachel Weingarten defines and details the elements necessary to succeed and stand out in the modern work environment. It's filled with witty and user-friendly advice on building your personal brand equity in the business world while staying true to yourself. Part business memoir, part hybrid of business and style, Career and Corporate Cool™ is a cheat sheet for your professional life, with fun and helpful anecdotes from people who've been there.

And here are the details of the contest:

For those of you who have been waiting to get your hot little hands on a copy of my new book Career and Corporate Cool- now's your chance! To celebrate the first week of autumn on 9/25 from 9 to 5, we'll be having an all (work) day long promotional event that will include hourly giveaways including an icy cool diamond pendant, gift certificates to iTunes, Sephora, FabulousStationery.com, Barnes and Noble, autographed copies of my book, magazine subscriptions and more.

The rules are fairly simple: Purchase a copy of CAREER AND CORPORATE COOL™ from any online retailer on 9/25/07 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (EST) and e-mail your receipt to backtocool@careerandcorporatecool.com for a link with access to exclusive hourly updated content not included in the book. Once purchase is verified, you will be entered to win the cool prize for that hour, with one grand prize winner announced at the end of the workday.

Visit www.CareerandCorporateCool.com for more information and complete contest rules.

Blogging for Beginners

Question of the Week: I'm thinking about starting a blog. Can you tell me where to start and how to go about it?

Well, starting a blog is easier than you think, maintaining it is more difficult. To start a blog, simply sign up with either Blogger or Wordpress, and voila, you're a blogger. FWIW, I opted for Blogger because its functionality seemed easier, but I do admit that I like Wordpress's design and layout a bit better. Beyond that, I don't really know the differences between the two, though some readers might, so feel free to chime in on your preferences below.

Once you're up and rolling, well, that's when the work begins. According to some article I read recently, there are millions, literally millions, of blogs out there, so before you start typing furiously away, you should probably assess what you intend the purposes of your blog to be. Will it be something personal for friends and family? A promotional tool for upcoming projects? A way to help hone your writing? An niche outlet on, say, knitting, to reach other knitters? I think that without a purpose, your blog is likely to flounder because a) you won't have much motivation to keep at it and b) you won't have any readers. (Note: these two things may self-perpetuate.)

Once you figure out why you're blogging in the first place, you're faced with your next two hurdles: posting frequently, which takes more time than you'd think, and gathering an audience, which also isn't such a breeze. I don't have any brilliant insights into getting readers other than befriending - genuinely - other bloggers. Take the time to visit their blogs and leave comments. When the time comes, ask for them to link to you. Hone in on your niche - for our purposes, knitting - and maybe participate in some online forums, then ask people to check out your blog. I'm sure that there are other ways to drive traffic - I was fortunate enough to get mentioned in MediaBistro several times - and that certainly increased eyeballs, but I'll also let other readers chime in here with other tactics too.

One wonderful side effect of blogging: I've made a whole slew of online friends whom I'd never have met without the blog. It's a nice and welcome perk when you sit in a lonesome office...even when updating the blog falls to the bottom of my list, I'm grateful that I started it because I've met such awesome people through it.

Speaking of you awesome people, what are your suggestions for this reader? What blogging format do you use? And how can she increase her traffic? Any other blogging tips?

Back Next Week!

So sorry about the paltry posts this week...my son started preschool, and I've spent most of the day there, as we deal with separation (even though he doesn't really care if I leave, I have to stay!). So...I haven't had any time to catch up on posts or on your questions, which I know I have a bit of a back log of. (Poor sentence construction there, sorry.) In fact, I covertly slid out this AM to run an errand (and post this message), but I'm running back there now.

Speaking of questions, when I switched formats in July, I didn't mean to indicate that readers couldn't still ask any or all industry/writing related questions, so please do feel free to send them to me, and I'll put them up when I can.

Have a great weekend! I'm rushing back to preschool. :) (Bad mommy who sneaks out!)

YAHOO!!!

First of all, you guys had some fabulous suggestions in yesterday's post. I'm so psyched and am going to the store today to get some ingredients for these wonderful concoctions. So thank you. Keep 'em coming.

More importantly, I had to put up a quick post because I JUST FINISHED, THIS VERY SECOND, THE DRAFT OF TIME OF YOUR LIFE!!!!!! And I'm beyond excited! Isn't it just THE BEST feeling on the planet to be done with a manuscript??

Now, of course, I'm not done done. I'll start revising it tomorrow, giving it one spin through before both my agent and my editor read it, but still! It's SUCH a thrill! I enjoy revising so much more than writing from scratch because a) I don't remember half of what I've written, so I'm usually pleasantly surprised at some of the scenes (er, and mortified at a few as well), and b) it's much easier to work with a structure rather than build it from the ground up.

So, I'm blowing the rest of the day off! What do you guys do to celebrate big career moments? Share your best celebratory ideas...maybe some of us will steal a few of them! :)

Let's Do Lunch

So I'm admitting up front that this is a mindless, silly little post, but come on, join in and help me out.

Here's the deal: I'm stuck in a lunch rut. Come midday, I almost dread the thought of getting lunch because I'm so bored with my options. I usually take a break from work and either go to the gym or run errands before lunch and then grab something from one of the gourmet markets near me - usually a salad, though lately, I've added soup into the mix. And since I've lived in the same area for six years, I've pretty much eaten the same rotation for six years: salad with grilled chicken, salad with tuna, salad with feta and cucumbers. You get the idea. For a while, I was really into the salads at Cosi, a sandwich chain around here, but they redesigned their to-go area, and now, not only does it take about 20 minutes to get my salad, 80% of the time, it's wrong. Oh, and last week, I was halfway through it when I found a dead fly in the lettuce. Nice. I wish I enjoyed sandwiches more...I just don't though, probably because I can eat them in less than five minutes, and then it feels like I've barely had a lunch break!

I don't know why I never make lunch at home - probably because I can't muster the energy. Dealing with making dinner is effort enough. But you know, my taste buds are listless, and I'm willing to give it a whirl if that's what's necessary to shake things up.

So tell me, what are your favorite lunch foods or where do you grab lunch every day? Inspire me to eat something different tomorrow!

Emmy Post-Mortem (and Some Name Dropping)

So, if you've followed this blog at all, you know that I'm a huge TV addict, my love for books aside. So, it's with a fevered frothiness that I anticipate the Emmys...not so much because I think the nominations are the true highlights of the best of TV (because, er, Lost was amazing last season and the fact that it wasn't nominated is shameful, and while I don't watch The Wire, critics said the same about that), but because hey, it's a chance to see (and critique) all of my favorite (and not so favorite) celebs. And of course, to root for a few of 'em too.

So my thoughts on last night? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Was it just me or was that not the most boring snoozefest? I mean, seriously! I guess it was made a little bit interesting by the fact that so many of the wins were unexpected (um, James Spader???), but still. I can't even think of anyone who I thought was so gorgeously dressed that I'm dying to chat about her here. And those musical numbers? Ugh, I wanted to claw my eyes out.

I will say that while I was really disappointed that Jenna Fisher didn't win, I'm cool with Jaime Pressly victory. Cool story: I actually interviewed her a few months back, and when the piece came out, she sent me flowers! I mean, come on! Jaime Pressly sent me flowers??? I almost fainted when my doorman handed them to me, and I read the card. Pretty classy, so yeah, I'm okay with her win.

And I was also torn over the 30 Rock win. If you don't watch it, you should. It's is so freaking hilarious that it even sucked in my husband, who has sworn off all new tv shows because we already have too many on our list. But, as you guys probably know, I'm a devoted Office-phile, so I was a little bummed for them, as well as for Steve Carell's loss...though when he bounded on stage, I nearly peed in my pants. I've also been lucky enough to get to know Melora Hardin a bit (she's so super-awesome and the opposite of Jan in real life), and I was hoping to see her on stage in a fabulous dress!

Anyhoo, speaking of Carell, I have a cover story out with him now! The interview might have been one of the highlights of my career...I kid you not. He was so cool and funny and warm, and writing it meant that I got to interview other members of the cast, so, here it is. At times like these, I really love my job. :)

So...what did you guys think of last night, for those of you who watched? Anyone wow you with her dress? Thrilled for anyone's victory?

Finding The One

So today, I'm talking about finding the right idea for your novel and having it click. (And giving up on ideas that don't.) Check it out on Writer Unboxed.

And Happy New Year to those of you celebrating!

Like Pulling Teeth

So, due to a variety of life-circumstances over the past week and a half including, but not limited to: a daughter who had to go to the hospital (she's fine), a son who has just moved to a big boy bed and who now seems to shun sleep time for play time at all hours, a nanny who was also hospitalized (different reasons, she's also fine, but I haven't had childcare all week - she's back today, hurrah!), a closing on a new house (an nearly all-day event, sigh), renovations and constructions plans for said house, furniture deliveries that didn't come at the appointed windows (of course!) and thus sucked up an entire day, various conferences and meetings at my son's new school, misplaced keys that left me locked out for the better half of a day, and looming and mounting magazine deadlines - I haven't been able to focus as much as I'd like to on my manuscript. Gee, go figure.

Last week, I was still relatively productive: I set a word count for myself each day, and somehow, come hell or high water, I got there despite various (see above) obstacles. This week? I'm floundering. Of course, trying to squeeze in my writing during Sesame Street or nap time (which, did I mention, is non-existent for my son right now?) doesn't help. But still...I hate not meeting my daily goal. So I force myself to write, and it's sort of like drawing blood from a stone.

So I'm curious what you guys do when life gets in the way and your brain just can't settle down: do you keep writing because it's a) a nice distraction (which it is) and b) some writing is better than nothing, or do you just toss in the towel and know that your energy is better served attending the obstacles that have been thrown in your path and returning to your work when you're feeling refreshed?

I can see arguments for both sides. If you forge on, you don't lose momentum, and I do think that even a few paragraphs per day is better than none. BUT, you also risk burning yourself out - I'll admit that I'm sort of dreading getting back to writing today because yesterday was so awful. What if I can't bust out of the funk? So you do risk worrying about that...

Hmmm, I dunno. But I bet that you guys do! :) Tell me, what are your writing strategies when life goes haywire and sitting down to your manuscript seems almost impossible?

Help with a Story: Surviving the Holidays While Pregnant

Help! I never, ever troll for sources on my blog, but I'm truly desperate. I'm working on a story on surviving the holidays while pregnant, and I need some more real-life mom tips. You wouldn't think this would be so hard, but I'm having a very tough time getting unique, interesting tips on things such as travel, stress, shopping, entertaining and energy. If you have some ideas and would like to be quoted, please email me! allison@allisonwinn.com Pretty please?? Thank you!! (Or you can post below, and I'll get in touch with you directly.)

GCC Presents: Toni McGee Causey and Bobby Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day

As if the title isn't enough to make you buy this book, Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and called it "hilarious." And this review in Book Reporter inspired me to shell out for my very own (fabulous) copy. Here's the gist, followed by Toni McGee Causey's answers to a few questions.

Bobbie Faye Sumrall knows that a day without disaster is a day in someone else's life. Criminals have kidnapped her good-for-nothing brother and are demanding her Contraband Queen tiara--the only thing of her mama's she inherited--as random. So Bobbie Faye has to outwit the police, organized crime, former boyfriends, and a hostage she never intended to take (but who turns out to be damn sexy!), in order to rescue her brother, keep custody of her niece, and get back in time to take her place as Queen in the Lake Charles Contraband Festival (think Mardi Gras, with more drinking and pirates).

Luckily, Bobbie Faye knows how to handle guns, outsmart angry mama bears, drive a speedboat, and get herself out of--and into--almost every kind of trouble. If only that pesky state police detective (who also happens to be a pissed-off ex-boyfriend) would stay out of her way . . .

1) What's the backstory behind your book?

Bobbie Faye was that rare story where the character just showed up whole, and about five minutes later, so did Trevor and Cam. I knew these people, inside and out, and knew what kind of long-term arcs they'd have. There was something so exciting about writing a kick-ass woman character, an action / comedy where the woman was capable and smart, even though she does have tons of disasters and obstacles and bad luck aiming her direction. I'd spent a lot of years in non-fiction and then screenwriting; there were some successes, but Bobbie Faye inspired me in a way no other story had.

2) What do you love most about writing fiction? What do you like least?

The daily writing is the most satisfying to me. Seriously--I love the process. I enjoy the brainstorming, character-building, world-building, plotting. I'm one of those weird people who also loves rewriting--it's where a story really takes shape for me.

The least satisfying part is probably after it's done (really done, after copy edits and galleys) and before it comes out, because there's this awful suspension of process. It's hard to concentrate on something new because there's promotional stuff to do and, and nothing can be done about the one that's about to come out, and it's a bit like holding your breath... for a month or so.

3) A lot of my blog readers are aspiring or new authors. How did you land your first book deal?

I started off years ago writing feature and staff articles for The State Times / Morning Advocate; from there, I wrote and edited for a regional magazine and sold to some national magazines. I wanted to get back into fiction, though, and went back to school, finished my degree and did (most of) and MFA in Screenwriting. Before I graduated, though, an agent in L.A. signed me and I spent some time doing the whole screenwriting gig. When I wrote Bobbie Faye, though, I knew I wanted to go back to the novel form, but went ahead and wrote it originally as a script to use as an outline. A friend read the script and handed it to a friend of hers, though I didn't realize at the time that this woman was a bestselling author (under a pen name). She called, asked if I was writing it as a novel; I said yes, and she pitched it to an editor friend of hers and suggested an agent. I told her that first time novelists don't sell on three chapters and a synopsis, but she proved me wrong. Before I knew what had happened, I'd signed with an agent and the editor had made an offer for that novel and the next two in a pre-emptive deal. It still boggles my mind: I'd spent years slogging it out in the trenches, though. At the point of the sale, I'd actually been writing just about twenty years from the point when I first published the non-fiction. It was incredible luck, that sequence of events, so I want to encourage people to keep trying, keep asking for feedback, keep handing your stuff to someone--all that hard work helps to create the opportunity for good luck to work for you.

4) I have a serious procrastination problem when it comes to tackling my fiction. What's your routine? How do you dive it? Do you have any rituals or necessary to-dos before or while you write?

I write mostly in the evening (and blogs are my worst procrastination problem). Evening's are just when I'm most creative, though I tried to fight that for years, and when our kids were little, evenings / nights writing took a heavy toll on my morning coherence in getting them ready for school. I don't really have any necessary to-dos... except maybe quiet / no interruptions. I'll mull for a while and then write in a burst. It took me years to get my family to understand that the writing part--sometimes even the more important part--was happening even when I wasn't banging away on the keyboard. If I'm staring off into space, that's usually when I'm doing the hardest part--brainstorming or arranging/finessing something.

The Early Bird Gets the Book

Question of the week: Congrats on your sale! Um, not to sound like an idiot, but what's a pre-empt?

You're not an idiot! A few people wrote me to ask this very question, and when I was starting out, I didn't know the answer either.

A pre-empt is when one publishers jumps in before all of the others and says, "I'll give you X amount of money to take this off the table and refuse other offers." The publisher thus "pre-empts" the other bidders.

I asked my agent all about accepting a pre-empt vs. going to auction, and she explained it thusly: with a pre-empt, the publisher will usually come in with close-to-their highest possible bid, let's say, for simple numbers purposes, 50k. If you were to hold an auction, the bids would start much lower, let's say, 10k. As people bid up and up, you may or may not reach the original pre-empt offer. You can also conduct a "best bids" auction, in which publishers don't necessarily bid "against" each other in the traditional sense, rather they all toss in their highest possible bids and hope that they come out on top. In our case, my new publisher came to us and said, we'll pay X, to which my agent said, "how about you pay X+Y and we'll take it off the table." (This was an editor I was dying to work with, and both my agent and I agreed it was worth it to take our chances.) The editor called back, and the deal was sealed.

So that is a pre-empt. Remember that I'm not an agent and this is just the best that I can figure it all out - I might have gotten some of the details wrong!

Anyone else out there gotten a pre-empt? If you have, why did you decide to go with it? And for those of you shopping around your ms or hoping to one day be published, which would you rather: a pre-empt or an auction? (You know, in a dream world! I should note, to for disclosure, that most books sell on one offer, not at auctions or pre-empts...I don't want to pass along misinformation here.)

Contests Here, Contests There...

Contests, contests everywhere!

Okay, so clearly, I'm reading a bit too much Dr. Seuss with my son, but you get the point.

Writer Unboxed is giving away a full set of Writer's Market guides worth over $150.00. As if the wonderful advice and prose isn't enough over there, so go check it out!

And the lovely Sara Hantz, whose YA debut The Second Virginity of Suzy Green was just released is throwing a blog party this week. Head over there to win free books, among other things, from a variety of guest bloggers. Ooh, and here's a little info on Suzy Green, which sounds hilarious!

"Suzy Green used to be one of the coolest nonconformist "almost-Goth" party girls in Australia. That was before her older sister Rosie died and her family moved to a new town. Not even her best friend would recognize her now. Gone are the Doc Martens and the attitude. All she wants is to be like Rosie—perfect. The new Suzy Green makes straight As, hangs with the in-crowd at her new school, and dates the hottest guy around. And since all her new friends belong to a virginity club, she joins, too. So what if she's not technically qualified? Nobody in town knows . . . until Ryan, Suzy's ex, turns up."

Hope some of you guys win!

So Here's Something Interesting

(Quick note: the Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit (GCC) was mentioned in Sunday's New York Times! Check out the article on author tours.)

So, as I noted last week, I'm back in the swing of writing my manuscript. I took a few months off as we shopped it around - I was able to sell it on the first 100 pages and a synopsis - and I dove back in about two weeks ago. And here's something I've discovered: I'm not so sure how much I actually like writing. Hmmm, interesting isn't it? :)

Let me clarify. I LOVE spending time with the characters in my head. I LOVE crafting obstacles and dialogue and all of that. But for some reason, even as my brain spins in the story - which these days, is almost a constant - I DREAD sitting down and writing. Weird, right??? I mean, I will do just about anything to procrastinate. I get into my office, so full of enthusiasm and ideas and bursting to put them on to the page, and then I open up the document, and I'm just sort of like, "ugh." So I surf every last gossip blog, and I check in on all of my writing forums, and if there's even a teeny-tiny thing that I need to buy, I'll cruise from website to website browsing.

The only way that I get anything done is that I set time deadlines for myself. I nervously eye the clock on the lower-right hand corner, and know that say, as soon as it flips to 10:30, I have to focus, come hell or high water. Once I start writing, I accelerate and all of the ideas snowball, and I'm always glad to have done it (and enjoy doing it too), but for me, I think it's the anticipation of the work ahead that I dread. Sort of like how some people can't stand to think of going to the gym, but once they're there, they dig it.

I actually recently interviewed Peter Hedges, the author of What's Eating Gilbert Grape and the director of the soon-to-be released movie, Dan in Real Life (so good, go see it when it comes out in Oct), and he said something similar. He was trying to wrap up his new novel and had taken a lot of time away from the book to work on the movie. And he said something like, (I'm paraphrasing here), "I always kick myself when I take time off from a manuscript because it's so hard to get back into it. I stare and it and wish that I could get back those months when I did nothing."

So hey, if an incredible writer like Hedges feels the way I do, I can't be that off my rocker, but tell me, do any of you guys feel the way I do? That sometimes, writing is a battle, albeit a necessary and even enjoyable one, but a battle all the same. Am I making sense? Or am I just weird and alone in this? :)