Category: Writing

Drafting, Writing

It Is Finished! My Longest Draft Ever

Michelle I. Mason

Hey, friends! So, it’s been a really long time since I’ve posted an update about my writing. I looked back through my posts and found one about revising YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED from October, and then there was one about how I tried pantsing a book last summer. (That sounds really strange if you aren’t a writer, but the writers DO know what I mean 😉.)

Anyway, that book I was writing last summer? I ended up setting it aside because I just couldn’t figure out what to do with it. I do intend to go back to it, but sometimes you just need some distance. What this means is that for the first time in quite a while, I went more than a year without finishing a draft. In fact, the last time I finished a first draft was May 2018, when I finished writing YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED. Of course, I have done a lot of revising on that in the meantime 😀.

Last September, while I was still trying to figure out that other project, I had an idea for a new one and jotted down a few thoughts. Over the next couple of months, I added more ideas for it, and in December, I decided to sit down and draft for real. For me, this means setting an end deadline in Scrivener that gives me daily word count goals. Generally, I set my deadline so that I’m writing about 1,800 words per day.

I know many people find it hard to create in an anxious or stressful environment. For me, the best way to cope with anxiety and stress is to have goals. As much as I hate drafting, it gives me focus, and I’ve needed that for the past several months. As I already shared here on the blog, in early December, my best friend suffered a massive brain bleed while on vacation. Her family has shared her story and updates on a GoFundMe page here. At the end of December, she was transported back to Missouri, and I was able to start visiting her at the hospital. I wrote a significant portion of this book sitting in her hospital room, sometimes brainstorming ideas with family members or talking aloud to her, even when she was sleeping. With COVID-19, I can’t visit her right now (she moved to a rehab hospital a few weeks ago), but she’s still on my mind constantly.

And then there’s COVID-19 itself. Everyone in my family has stayed healthy so far. My kids have been home from school since March 13, and my husband started working from home a week ago. It’s a change for all of us to be here together, but we’ve gotten into a pretty good routine. It’s definitely a blessing that my kids are old enough to manage most of their school on their own. But I’d be lying if I didn’t think initially about how having everyone here might affect my drafting momentum. I had decided at the beginning of March to step it up to 2,000 words per day, despite what Scrivener was telling me, and I was able to stick to that, even with everyone here, plus overseeing eLearning and general anxiety about what’s happening in the world.

So, here I am on April 1 with a finished draft. It’s my longest draft ever at 90,983 words. It’s also messy, as all first drafts are. I’m going to let it sit for a few days, and then I will get back to the part I love most–REVISING!

To celebrate, today we’re going to make cupcakes. Usually I treat myself to a gourmet cupcake as a reward for finishing a draft, but making them ourselves has the added bonus of a family activity 😍.

How are you all doing with your writing? Have you drafted anything new lately? How do you celebrate milestones?

Instagram, Writing, Young Adult, Your Life Has Been Delayed

Author Life Month on Instagram

Michelle I. Mason

Hi, friends!

Sorry I’ve been absent here on the blog. My best friend’s been in the hospital since early December, and I’ve been spending a lot of time with her. If you would like to read her story, her family is sharing it on this GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/chrissy-stricker.

But I did want to check in here as well since all of January passed without me posting anything at all. This February, I’m participating in #AuthorLifeMonth on Instagram, which is a great way to meet other authors and learn their stories. I’m going to include my first week of posts here, but I hope you’ll come check me out there as well!

Day 1: Me!

This is the shot I’m planning to use as my author photo, which I sort of snuck out there as my profile photo a while ago. My husband took it, and I just really love it. Looks like future days will have me talk more about what I write, but in general it’s YA with a twist of something more.

Day 2: My books!

My debut novel, YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED, is forthcoming from @bloomsburypublishing in winter 2021, and I couldn’t be more excited! It’s about 17-year-old Jenny Waters, who gets on a plane in 1995 in New York and lands in St. Louis in 2020. Everyone on the plane has stayed the same age, but everyone on the ground has aged 25 years. I love this book so much and can’t wait to share it with all of you!

Day 3: Writing Fuel!

Basically… caffeine. When I was younger and didn’t care about calories, I drank multiple cans of soda a day. I now limit myself to one can per day, which makes me sad because I really love my soda. However, I also love tea—especially Pure Leaf—and coffee. A couple of years ago my husband bought me a Keurig, and I didn’t think I’d be that into it, but it’s so perfect for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. Pictured are a few of my favorite flavors 😀.

Day 4: My Biggest Fan

In all honesty? My kids! But since I don’t post photos of them here (although my 9yo would love it if I would!) and my book isn’t out in the world yet to accrue reader fans, I’ll go with the fourth graders I presented to last week. They made me the nicest “compli-mats” full of notes about how they’re excited to read my book when it comes out. I mean, they’re just a tad below my target age, but they’ll be awfully close by the time the book hits shelves 😉.

Day 5: A Shelfie.

I really love my bookshelves. When we moved into this house, the basement had basically been party central. Like, the walls looked like an Applebees. Our painter said he’d never had to fill so many holes 🤣. And man, did it stink. So we had to overhaul it, and as part of that, we had these beautiful bookshelves built. I very quickly filled them up, and I’ve been trying to weed out some of my old books to allow room for my continuing book-buying habits. There’s still a little space…

Day 6: Inspiration.

I sort of hate the question, “What inspired you to write this book?” YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED is the seventh book I’ve written, and most of the time I can pinpoint what triggered the idea, but in this case, I don’t remember. I just know that one day I had this question:

  • What if a girl got on a plane and landed many years later?

And when it comes down to it, “What if…” is what really inspires anything I write. Sometimes it’s a movie I watch and I think, “That’s cool, but what if…” Or maybe I’m walking around at an event and see an interaction and think “What if…” I’ve written numerous stories based on questions that start right there. Some of my favorites have been:

  • What if twins were separated at birth by alien abduction?
  • What if a magical violin pulled you into the story of the music you were playing?
  • What if a girl is the star of the biggest reality show on the planet—and she doesn’t know?
  • What if a girl discovered her babysitter dead right after she texted her a death threat?

I am never short of “What if” questions.

Day 7: Swag/Stationary

As a pre-published author, I don’t have any swag yet, and I’ve never invested in fancy stationary. However, thanks to my kids’ schools requiring us to buy new notebooks every year that never get filled up, I have an endless supply of half to three-quarter empty spiral notebooks. So I use those for my to-do lists, writing notes to people, brainstorming, and anything else I want to keep note of at my desk.

When I do have swag, bookmarks are high on my list as many author friends have told me they’re the most beneficial. I’m not sure what else. I’d love ideas! If you’re a reader, what swag do you most love getting? If you’re a writer, what swag have you had the best feedback on?

Come see my entries for the rest of the month at https://www.instagram.com/michelleimason/!

After the Book Deal, Research, Revising, Writing, Your Life Has Been Delayed

After the Book Deal: All the Doubts!

Michelle I. Mason
Elizabeth, Me, Allison

Hey, friends, I promised I would give an update once I had gone through another round of edits, and I just finished on Friday. Boy, was I glad to send those edits in! But, first, let me just share that I got to do something very exciting earlier this month, which was to meet my editor, Allison Moore, in person. Here we are in the Bloomsbury offices, along with my agent, Elizabeth Bewley. I also had the privilege of meeting many other Bloomsbury team members, in marketing, publicity, design, and editing. I am so excited to be working with all of them!

On to the editing process! A lot of life had happened for me since I turned in my first round of edits (broken foot! starting a new book! kid stuff!), and so when I received the second round, I had to completely realign myself to YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED again. Even though I had been in a cycle of writing a book, querying, starting a new one for many years, this still felt different. In any case, my second round of edits was nowhere near as extensive as the first. My editor included some overall notes plus line edits. We set a deadline for me to turn them in three weeks later, and it seemed like no big deal. In one sense, it wasn’t. But here’s where the title of this post comes in: a huge wave of doubt and second-guessing myself hit as I was going through the notes.

Why now? Perhaps it’s because my editor said my book was in pretty good shape–not that I think this means I’ll be done after this round of edits–and that means everything is REAL. Before, even though I was super-excited, it still felt unreal. But people will actually be reading this book and have opinions about it at some point in the near future. Winter 2021 doesn’t feel nearly so far away in that context.

So, suddenly, I started re-checking every fact, even things my editor hadn’t flagged for me to double-check, out of my own self-doubt. If you aren’t aware, my book is about a girl from 1995 who travels to 2020, so while it isn’t set in the nineties, it’s still about a girl whose world view is the nineties. Even though I grew up in the nineties, I did not rely on memories alone. When I first wrote the book, I went through yearbooks, watched documentaries, did a ton of internet research, talked to people who were teens in the nineties, watched movies and read books from that time. And… I did that much of that all over again during this draft, just to confirm what I already had. I did end up making a few tweaks, but still.

So here’s a funny story about redoing my research: As you know if you’ve been following me, I use Scrivener. One of the features I love is that I can pull all of my research into the same file where I’m writing and just scroll down to it as a reference. Well, when I went to import some of this new research into Scrivener, I found that I’d already imported that same information the first time I researched.

Ah well. In the end, I came to the conclusion that when people ultimately read my book, there will probably be some adult readers who take issue with particular points regarding the nineties based on their own experience or think “Clueless” is an accurate representation of technology in 1995 (sooo not life anywhere but Hollywood and I bet not even there). Like anything else, my book is about how my character experienced technology and the world up to that point. And that’s always the trick when writing, right? That not everyone has the same experience.

What I do know is that with every round of edits my book gets better. Despite the doubts, I’m excited for it to be out in the world and love the team that is helping me get it there!

So, now that my second round of edits are off, I am diving back into my new project and gearing up for the craziness of that time between Halloween and the holidays.

Stay tuned for another update soon.

Character, Drafting, Writing

When a Plotter Attempts to Pants

Michelle I. Mason

It’s been a while since I posted a writing update here on the blog. That’s partially due to it being summer and my schedule changing drastically with my kids being off school and driving them to various camps, partially due to more freelance work, and partially due to drafting a new project. That’s where today’s post comes in.

A couple of months ago, I was looking through my idea list to see what I might want to write next. I keep a whole file of ideas, and usually when I’m ready to write something new, there’s one that jumps out at me. That’s certainly what happened this time as well, and I expected that I’d proceed along my normal system, plotting out the story in Scrivener so that when it came time to draft, I could set myself a deadline and whip out a draft I could then revise into shape. This drafting system  has worked for me for the past several manuscripts, and it serves me well as I HATE drafting.

Unfortunately, this manuscript just hasn’t cooperated. I’m not usually a write-by-hand sort of person, but for some reason, I pulled out a notebook and started writing down miscellaneous notes about the manuscript. I ended up with six pages of random notes that did not make up an overall plot but were a lot of interesting ideas. And I had no idea who I wanted the character to be. I brainstormed with my husband and kids, and they gave me some fun ideas. Then I signed up for One Stop for Writers and went through the character building tool to further figure out my main character’s motivations, fears, and obstacles. But when I sat down to try and plot the actual manuscript the way I always had, I just couldn’t see it. I was coming up blank.

I talked with my agent about what I was considering writing, and I wasn’t able to articulate the story well with her either. She said that it sounded intriguing, and her recommendation was to just start writing it and see how it went. As a plotter, I found this idea intimidating. Quite honestly, I’ve more often gone into drafting knowing my complete plot and learning my characters along the way instead of the other way around, but I decided to give it a shot.

I started drafting three weeks ago, and it’s been interesting drafting without all my scenes laid out. Even though I hadn’t plotted everything, there were certain points I knew internally my character was working toward, and so my scenes have been leading in those directions. But I’ve also surprised myself with a few subplots I didn’t originally have in my six pages of notes, and I think they’ll add depth to the story.

However, yesterday I tipped over 27,000 words, which is about one-third of the way toward my goal for the first draft, and I reached a point where I felt like I could no longer keep drafting without knowing where I was heading more specifically. So, while this experiment with pantsing has been interesting, I’m now going to regroup and see if I can develop a true plan for the rest of the manuscript based on what I’ve written so far.

Overall, I think it was good to just write for a while, but now I need to return to my outlining ways :).

Have you ever thrown out your drafting system and tried something new when starting a new project? How did it work out for you?

 

After the Book Deal, Revising, Writing, Young Adult, Your Life Has Been Delayed

After the Book Deal: Next Steps

Michelle I. Mason

So, it’s been a couple of months since my book deal was announced, and invariably I get the same question from friends and family when I tell them my book will be coming out in winter 2021:

Why is it so far away???

Um, do you know how much goes into publishing a book? If you haven’t been through it, probably not. I’m learning as I go along, so I will share my experience, which won’t be the same as everyone’s.

What I can tell you are the steps so far.

First, there was a ton of celebrating because I HAD A BOOK DEAL!! There are times when this still doesn’t feel like a real thing. After querying agents for so many years, then signing quickly with Elizabeth and then Bloomsbury for this book, it was quite a crazy ride. However, I will never forget–and I don’t want anyone else to either–that there were seven years of learning and building up my skills that happened before that whirlwind. Sure, there are writers who get there with their first book, but it’s not the norm. Sorry if that seems like a downer, but even though I’m an optimist, I’m also a realist. Thus the feeling of unreality.

Next, there was the waiting for the announcement. Oh, did you think the deal got announced the day we agreed to it? Nope, that’s not how these things work. You have to keep it SECRET until things are all tied up and ready to be announced publicly. Let me tell you, it’s really hard not to hire a skywriter to fly around with a huge sign saying “I HAVE A BOOK DEAL.” But then, once the announcement is out, there’s a whole other round of celebrating with all of the writing friends you’ve made along the journey, and that’s a ton of fun.

Then, it’s time to get to work. Woohoo! I mean, you didn’t think revisions were over once a publisher buys your book? Personally, I love revising, and I’d talked to my editor before we signed about what she had in mind for the book, so I had an idea what to expect. There was just one teensy little glitch. My editorial letter arrived the same day as these:

Yep, I’m the cookie mom for my daughter’s Girl Scout troop. Now, lest you think my editor is a horrible task master, I never told her this was happening at the same time–or that my daughter’s talent show also got rescheduled during this same window and I was running rehearsals for her act. Or planning friend and family birthday parties for my son. Um, yeah, February and March were absolutely CRAZY. And the weather didn’t help, as things kept getting canceled and rescheduled, including the cookie season getting extended an extra week so that I ended up having to finalize cookie sales the same day I turned in my edits. I was leaving for vacation the next day, and I was about to lose my mind. But, the thing is … I like deadlines. And I REALLY wanted to turn in my first-round revisions before I left for vacation. Because when I did leave on vacation and had nothing left hanging over me, it was AMAZING. It felt like a huge reward for everything I’d finished. I’m so glad I didn’t ask for an extension (which my editor totally would have given me because she’s awesome).

But anyway, back to the edits themselves. I’m sure you’re wondering what it’s like to revise with an editor. It’s fantastic but challenging–as it should be. When you get to this point, your book is going out into the world. It’d better be ready for that. My editor asked in-depth questions and told me this was just the beginning of what we’d be working on, so I know there will be more work to do. I read through her notes, and then we talked on the phone before I started revising. How did I tackle my revisions with all those other distractions going on?

First of all, I kept my online activities to a minimum during the five weeks I was revising. If you were here on my blog you saw reviews every week, but that was misleading, as I scheduled all of those before my edits and the cookies arrived on Feb. 13. I even took photos and drafted captions for Instagram posts in advance so I could just post them on the days the reviews went live. I was on Twitter some the first couple of weeks, but after that it was mainly just to lead people back to my reviews on the blog or give updates on my revision progress as I didn’t want to disappear completely. I actually turned my phone upside down so I wouldn’t see notifications.

Next, in case you’re new here or just need a reminder, I do EVERYTHING in Scrivener, so I imported the document from my editor into my Scrivener file. It included all of the questions from my editor, the notes I’d made in response, plus the notes from our phone conversation. Then, I made a revision checklist. This checklist was a compilation of both little items I could check off quickly and major things I needed to fix–like rewrite the ending :). What works best for me is to start with the biggest items first and work down to the smaller items for a couple of reasons. One: they will take the most time and then they are out of the way. Two: I will have the most distance from those items when I get to the bottom of the list and am reading back through everything to see if I nailed them or they still need more work.

So, as you perhaps guessed from what I stated above, I did not revise linearly, by reading straight through the manuscript and tackling items as they popped up. Instead, I addressed each big-picture item individually, which Scrivener makes so much easier to do than, say, Word. I’ve blogged about this before, but the way that I did this was by using the Collections feature. I had already created collections for various subplots in the book (the love interest, the best friend, the antagonist, etc.), so it was easy to click into those collections and revise just those sections. Sometimes notes on these areas overlapped and so when I went into another subplot I’d already tackled something, and that was just a bonus :). This worked really well because by the time I got to the read-through, I had some distance from those big-picture items and could ensure the continuity was working.

Another feature I made use of during revisions was the split-screen option, for several purposes. I could pull up my notes from my editor while working on a scene to compare what I was doing to what we’d discussed. Or sometimes I would pull up two different scenes to compare how I was foreshadowing a particular incident or if I wanted to move something how it impacted the other scene. Or just keep my checklist open while I was working through scenes. Super helpful!

Does this mean my book is ready to go? Ha ha ha! There’s the answer to that question: Why is it so far away???

Because next I will have another round of edits. If you were reading closely, you saw that my editor said this was just the first round of changes she wanted to address. As I was working on the edits, I could totally see that there were areas we weren’t touching yet, and maybe that was because they were fine, but maybe that was because they were for the next level of edits. Plus, once you make a round of changes, you always open yourself up to potential new issues. It’s the nature of the beast.

But I’m excited because I know this book is getting better and better. I’ll continue to update here as I go through the publishing process. I’m not sure if I will approach revisions any differently the next time around, but if I do, I’ll be sure to share. At least I shouldn’t have cookies to deal with. But you know what? There will probably be something else, and that’s okay because I actually thrive on that sort of pressure. Bring it on! The payoff is worth it.

Writing, Young Adult, Your Life Has Been Delayed

My Debut Book, YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED, Is Coming in 2021!

Michelle I. Mason

I’m thrilled to announce that my debut book, YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED, will be published by Bloomsbury in winter 2021, followed by a second untitled young adult book in 2022. I’m so excited to be working with Allison Moore. Here’s the announcement that ran in PW Children’s Bookshelf.

There are so many people who have helped me along this writing journey, and I’ll be listing all of them when I write that all-important acknowledgments page in the actual book. But for now, thank you to my amazing agent, Elizabeth Bewley. When we started working together in October, I didn’t expect her to find a home for DELAYED quite this quickly, but I believe strongly that things happen when they are supposed to, and I’m very excited to be partner with Bloomsbury and Allison Moore. I can’t wait to share YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED with all of you. If you aren’t familiar with publishing, 2021 may seem very far away, but I expect it will fly by (pun intended) for me.

As usual, I’ll be sure to keep you updated as I continue on this publication journey. No more delays–except in the actual book :).

Agents, Querying, Writing

Agent-Author Chat on Krista Van Dolzer’s Blog

Michelle I. Mason

Today I’m on the virtual road with an agent-author chat on Krista Van Dolzer’s blog. She interviewed me and my agent, Elizabeth Bewley of Sterling Lord Literistic, about how we connected. You can read the interview here:

http://kristavandolzer.blogspot.com/2018/11/agent-author-chat-elizabeth-bewley-and.html

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, Krista’s name should be familiar. We first met in 2012 when she was my mentor for The Writer’s Voice contest, and we’ve been friends and critique partners ever since. I’m a huge fan of her books, all of which I’ve reviewed/interviewed her about here. I encourage you to check those out!

THE SOUND OF LIFE AND EVERYTHING

DON’T VOTE FOR ME

EARTH TO DAD

Happy Thursday!