I made up my own hashtag last week as I was working on the synopsis for the YA version of DUET: #evilsynopsis. Because I truly think they’re evil. How am I supposed to condense 77,000 words into a less than 500-word summary? It’s much harder than when the book was 44,000 words. My point with…
writing
Solving the Revision Puzzle … plus pictures of Harry Potter World
I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since I posted, but I promise I wasn’t just slacking off. First there was Christmas, then we went to Florida so my husband could be one of the best men in a wedding. And then we went here: In case you can’t read the signs in the second…
So Apparently I Write YA …
Or at least I’ve written one YA. I hesitated whether to put this out there since a few agents still have DUET, but I’ll go ahead and say the revision I did was to make it YA. I had no idea if I could pull it off. For one thing, I had to add at…
If: A Word That Gives Hope
So, last month I did a post about when it’s time to revise. Then, two weeks ago, I talked about timing and how that plays into querying strategy. I had this whole plan for finishing out my querying for DUET, not because I want to give up on it but because I’ve been working on…
How Timing Plays Into Querying Strategy
Querying is such a game of strategy. And timing is a major factor in so many ways. Here are a few I’ve been thinking about lately. Catching the agent at the right time. Although I don’t have the link handy, I once read an interview with an agent who listed 10 reasons she might reject…
Endings: How Much Can You Leave Hanging?
As I’m working on revisions for my current WIP, I’ve been musing over a question that’s occurred to me before: As an unagented, unpublished author, how much can I leave hanging at the end of my manuscript if I have ideas for a series? Unfortunately, I think the answer is: not much. When I wrote…
Character Flaws and Why We Have to Care
Over the past few days, I reread two of my favorite romance novels. Although I read much more MG and YA these days, I grew up reading romance novels, starting when I was 11. This may seem young, but there wasn’t the strong category of YA or MG books then that there is now, and…
Practice Makes Perfect–Or At Least Closer to Perfect
It’s been more than a month since my cupcake celebration for finishing my latest first draft. It took great self-control to let the draft sit for that long, but I filled the time with critiques for other writers, a major contest, and a revision to DUET. But finally, this week it was time to start…
When Is It Time to Revise?
There’s a time to query. There’s a time to wait. There’s a time to … revise? I started querying DUET WITH THE DEVIL’S VIOLIN in April, entered a little contest called The Writers Voice in May, queried a bit more for the first two weeks in June, then decided to wait. You see, I had…
Cupcakes for Everyone! The First Draft Is Finished!
Ok, I can’t actually give everyone cupcakes, but that’s what my husband took me out for to celebrate finishing my latest first draft. Lucky for me he worked from home today! This is the cupcake I selected. My followers know how much I hate writing a first draft. I had a particularly hard time with…
Sometimes I Wish I Had A Pattern to Follow
A couple of weeks ago I blogged about how much I hate writing first drafts. That hasn’t changed. I’m two-thirds of the way through this first draft, and it’s torture. I know I’ll have to cut a lot of what I’ve written, and that drives me crazy. I’m the kind of person who wants it…
How Writing Is Like A Black Belt Test
I’m in the midst of a new project, and the main character is a 12-year-old girl about to take her black belt test. Earlier this week I got to the scene in the book where this momentous event takes place. Since the most martial arts I’ve done is a self-defense class, I turned to an…
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