BEFORE EARTH

It is almost November. And, yes, I'm doing NaNo again. I did it last year and, while it was a challenge, I learned so much and couldn't help but to do it again. The reason I'm doing it is exactly the same reason I did it last year. I love the community of it. I feel inspired by it. I mean, we're human and we need story to survive, so why not go crazy with story for one month. I love it!

I'd love for you to join me if you're doing it this year. Here's a link to me.

You can follow my progress there. Last year I wrote THE ART OF MAKING STARS, which is a contemporary YA romance. This year I'm going with a YA science fiction. I'm really excited about this new book. It's called BEFORE EARTH. Here's the pitch (which will, I'm afraid, probably change a lot because I'm a pantster):

Seventeen-year-old Meg Williams is totally pissed off when her dad invites a vagrant named Damon to live above their garage. It doesn’t help that he ends up in her physics class at school the next day. Although, she has to admit, his army green Chuck Taylors are pretty hot. But when Damon tells her he’s from Mars, she knows he’s more than weird, he’s psycho.

 Then NASA discovers something on Mars, something that freaks the world out: An exact replica of The Statue of Liberty, lying on its side, half covered in rusty Martian dust. While scientists, militaries and world leaders scramble to find answers, Meg goes to the only person who actually knows the truth: Damon.

 Damon explains he is an ancient Martian from a prehistoric green Mars, which is slowly turning to the silent red-desert-planet we know. In desperation, the advanced inhabitants of Mars have opened up portals through time and space and are slowly emigrating to different time periods on Earth.

 To convince Meg, Damon takes her through a portal to the dying Mars and, while there, she sees something strange. Something that could change the history of Earth, erasing her existence and everything she knows.

 It’s up to her and Damon to figure out how to save the Martians while attempting to maintain the now fragile history and population on Earth.

Doesn't it sound exciting! Unlike THE ART OF MAKING STARS, this book actually has a plot! We'll see if I can pull it off!

 Here's an image that is TOTALLY part of this book:

Isn't it dreamy! I LOVE it.

Here's a tentative cover:

So. Are you doing NaNo? If so, why are you? I'd love to hear! Also, let's be NaNo buddies!

 

Another One Down...

My amazing CP, Robin, just signed with an agent. I am over the moon about this (whatever over the moon means, I think it's a good thing). You should go here or here to congratulate her. She absolutely deserves this. Her novel, LOVESENSE, is unique and funny with great voice and characters that I care about.

Robin also works harder than anyone I know. She wrote LOVESENSE last year during NaNoWriMo just a few days after the birth of her fourth child. I know, I could barely function with a newborn, she wrote a whole book while taking care of a newborn! She's extremely inspiring. You should go read her story. While it was a stressful, nerve-wracking week for her, it was delightful for me to watch agents battle for her awesome story.

In case you're keeping count. That is four of my CPs who now have agents. And, yes, I am the lone wolf still, barely, standing. But I have learned great things from these girls and their agents. And I'm so thrilled for all of them and am their biggest fan.

I'm curious, what are your stories to agent-hood? I love to hear the different ways people find their agents.

The Light is Changing.

Wow. It has been too long. I'm just realizing I'm not very good at this blogging thing. I want to be better, really, but I'm not.

I will try harder.

In the intervening months since I last posted a lot of LIFE has happened. You know, the kind outside of writing. It's been mostly wonderful and exhausting at the same time. I've also been doing some writing too, which always makes me feel good, even if the writing isn't.

School is back in. Mornings are misty with a tiny chill. Afternoons are warm and breezy. Crows caw. Grapes are pregnant. The house is silent. ALL the kids are gone. I miss the kids sometimes...and sometimes, I don't.

It is the same season here as the season in my book. This makes setting easier. All I have to do is look out my window and describe what I see.

The chickens are laying again and we got eight new chicks.

I got some lime green sandals in the mail.

We began planning our Halloween party last night.

Summer must be over.

Also, I've been doing this.

What have you been up to?

All I Want is to write a Really Good Book. That's all.

 I'm sorry I've been out of the office. I had an existential breakdown. For reals.

Don't worry, I'm better now.

It's been a month long process of figuring out who I want to be as a writer. I've had some serious breakthroughs and made some heart-wrenching decisions (like re-writing my WIP COMPLETELY). You know, stuff like that.

I had amazing help with my emotional state at WIFYR with my critique partners, my incredible author instructor and all my new writing friends from boot camp *waves to bootcampers*

Right now I feel in control of my writing life again. I'm taking it slow and allowing myself the time to write a really good book.

Also, I've mixed in some serious summer things like a lot of swimming, sunshine, and camping with watermelon and bears. Oh yeah, and I've been busy being a mom. You know, little stuff like that.

How bout you? Have you ever had existential crises related to your writing? And if so, what has the outcome been?

I Interrupt This Blog Silence With An Announcement...

I am World-building.

 

Here is a picture of my world. Sort of.

Why is the most exciting and fun and can't-stop-thinking-about-it thing also the most exhausting and crazy difficult?

I feel like I need a Panem movie to tell my world-building for me. I mean, seriously, Suzanne Collins with the mandatory clarifying movie before the reaping: brilliant. I have no way in my WIP to have a propagandist movie to explain my world. So...I guess I have to do it the old fashioned way: a little bit at a time, but smooth and flawless. Information that my readers don't even realize is information.

Why is this so hard?

Another thing I learned from The Hunger Games: Ms. Collins uses the even chapters in the first part of the book to world-build. The odd chapters are more action. Don't believe me, go read it again. It's quite a pattern and, pretty brilliant. Every time I started an even chapter and realized it was more world-building I whooped with excitement. I love patterns.

Tell me, what ingenious ways have you read or written to build your worlds?

Marine Layer

Might be covered by Ocean in my dream, or in the near Globally Warmed Future.

This morning, when I woke up early to go swimming, a thick marine layer of fog had covered our little valley. This happens, in the summer, every few days...but this is the first of the year. I love the fog. It's thick and smells of the ocean--and it acts like nature's air conditioner.

At swimming, one of the other swimmers said, "I love this marine layer. I feel like I'm in Santa Cruz." And we all laughed and smiled and were just being humans together. And then he said, "Whenever the fog comes, I feel like I'm on vacation. Like I'm living in a different place."

And...he nailed it. His observation is exactly how I feel about the fog, even though I'd never thought of it in those terms. And it reminded me of a dream I had. I dreamed that the vineyard, behind our house, had turned into the ocean. The ocean, right in our backyard. And instead of Shakespeare festivals in the grape vines, we sailed in the foggy gray waters. And it was like we were living in a vacation home, instead of our real home.

I love when people wax poetic, especially when they're not writers. I guess everyone has the powers of observation, but real people saying things that are meant to be written down and remembered is just magical.

Have you met a 'character,' out in the world. You know, one you didn't make up?

What I've learned at Writing Conferences

So. Last year I went to my first writing conference. It was this one and it was amazing. Here's what I learned:
My MS needed more work than I thought.
The hook is the hook, so don't introduce it thirty pages later. Introduce it on the first page.
My MS was better than I thought.
How to critique others' writing in a way that's helpful to them.
Published authors are very generous with their time and advice. Always take notes.
Also, published authors are people.
Editors and Agents are only slightly less scary than I imagined. (Okay, they're cool. And people too.)
How to bring a book full circle.
But the greatest thing about going to this conference, hands down, was meeting my critique partners. Meeting them has been the greatest thing for my writing since I learned how to write in first grade.

This conference put me six months to a year ahead of where I might've been if I'd only had books, blogs and articles to direct me.

I'm going again this year as a seasoned veteran and am so excited for what more I can/will learn.

Now, having said all this, it is possible to attend a conference that may not be as fantastic. I attended a different conference (which will remain nameless) that was not as helpful. The agents there were not as accessible and the crit groups not as useful. Also, there was a query session that was downright unprofessional and, well, rude. In fact, one of my contacts from this conference recently emailed me and told me she quit writing after the query session because it was "confusing and intimidating." And, if anything, conferences should encourage and teach, not discourage.

However, I also met some great writer friends (conference attendees and published authors) who were amazing people and generous with their advice. And for that reason alone, the conference was worth it.

Definitely my favorite part of both conferences was meeting people like me. People who understand what it's like to cry over made up characters and stay up until all hours of the morning to get that scene right. I loved that we would discuss for hours about people and situations that had found its genesis in one of our heads. That, to me, was priceless.

So, what are your conference stories? Have they been good experiences, not so good experiences, or horrifying? I want to know.

Meanwhile, can't wait to see anyone who will be attending WIFYR this year!!!