Photo Blog Friday

I'm finally home from the United Kingdom. England is my favorite place to visit, and I was so inspired by the spooky and endearing Corfe Castle and Old Harry Rocks, both in the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. Our day in Windsor was like stepping onto the set of Downton Abbey. (No, I didn't cheat and watch the new season while I was there.) And of course London was magnificent as always, a fascinating blend of cultures and history and modernity, all wrapped up together. I wish I had pictures to share from the Treasures Collection at the British Library. They have the original draft of Persuasion, in Austen's own hand, with revisions. An original draft of Jane Eyre, in Bronte's own hand, with revisions. First printings of Shakespeare and Wuthering Heights. The Magna Carta. A Gutenberg Bible. It's just an overwhelming affirmation that words, writing, and their power of communication matter, not just now, but in the past and in the future.

The Oakley Court grounds, Windsor

The Oakley Court

The Isle of Purbeck

Corfe Castle

The Jurassic Coast

Big Harry Rocks

One of many delightful pubs

At the Band of Skulls concert

The Eye and the aquarium

Big Ben, from Westminster Abbey

Finding Good

For my last post, I felt a bit down about the constant ugliness in the world. I didn't want to link to the specific issues that bugged me because I didn't want to give them any more coverage. So I challenged myself to find good things happening. People helping people, instead of tearing each other down. Today I want to share two of those Good Things.

One day this week, the person in front of me paid for my latte at Starbucks. It took me by surprise, even though it's happened to me before, and even though I've done the same thing on occasion. Confession: I did not offer to pay for the person behind me. It struck me in that moment that those of us in line at Starbucks, myself included, could afford to pay for our own overpriced coffees. But what about the people who are truly hungry, sleeping on the sidewalks downtown?

My first thought was to take a donation to our local food bank. I came home, researched, and found a partner of our local organization, called Farm Share. Farm Share focuses on distributing fresh fruits and vegetables in bulk to agencies like food banks and soup kitchens with no fees. Farm Share is an exciting organization, and just the kind of thing I want to support. So, no, I didn't pay for the next latte in line at Starbucks. But it did spur me to make a donation to Farm Share when I got home. For every $10 donated, Farm Share distributes 110 pounds of food. That sure sounds like a Good Thing to me. Please click on the link for more information.

In the world of reading and writing, where this blog usually lives, I found my second Good Thing. The We Need Diverse Books Campaign continues to grow. The leap from awareness to action is now providing grants, support, educational kits, and more. Now we can lend our support through the IndieGoGo Fundraising effort here. From swag packs to agent-offered prizes for writers, you can't go wrong.

I hope you all are out there finding your Good Things, too.

Music for today: Shiny Happy People by R.E.M.

The Public Eye

Source

We all live in glass houses in this digital age.

I write about this loss of privacy in my YA fiction, and the idea just won't stop cropping up in the real world. Athletes and celebrities seem to take the brunt of the public eye, but they're not the only ones anymore. It spans such a huge range of situations, from the embarrassing to the criminal.

I can't help wondering what it will mean for our society in the long run. Will it make us better, eventually, knowing that someone's always watching us? Or will it just expose more of the darkness we already fear exists?

The ugliness weighs on me, as a woman, a mother, and a Christian. We have access to multitudes of information and countless people in the palm of our hands, and what do we do with it? Threaten and intimidate? I'm not sure what's worse, the hatred or the indifference.

I don't have any real answers. But over the next few weeks, I'm challenging myself to use this technology that's supposed to make our lives better and easier for something good. I hope you'll take on that challenge, too.

Music for today: Lightening Bolt by Jake Bugg

Fall Contest Round-Up

I mentioned in a previous post that I have a thing for contests. It may be time for me to step back and do things the old fashioned way, but as a PSA to all of you out there in the query trenches, here are a few of the amazing contests coming soon to a blog near you!

1. Pitch Slam

This is Leatrice McKinney's amazing contest that provides feedback in between rounds. This fall's theme is Agents of Shield, and I can promise she makes every part of the experience amazing. The entry window for 35 word pitches begins October 4, 2014. You must enter the first round to continue, and the first page window begins on October 6. You'll get feedback on both, with the chance to revise for the final round on October 9. Click here for more information.

2. Nightmare on Query Street

Michelle, Mike, and SC host this fear themed contest. Along with your query and first 250 words, you must include a short paragraph explaining what your main character is most afraid of. The submission window opens on October 19, 2014. Click here for more information.

3. Baker's Dozen Agent Auction

Miss Snark's First Victim, Authoress, hosts this event each year. Submissions include a log line and the first 250 words, and there is a $15 entry fee for this one. There will be three rounds available for log line critiques on September 22, October 6, and October 20. Submission dates for the auction are October 28 and October 30 for adult entries and November 4 and November 6 for YA and MG. Click here for more information. 

4. An Agent's Inbox

Krista Van Dolzer hosts this contest, with submissions of a full query plus the first page. Not for the faint of heart, the agent provides an honest reaction to what works or what doesn't. September's agent is Melissa Jeglinski of The Knight Agency. The contest opens Monday, September 22, 2014. Click here for more information.

5. Operation Awesome Mystery Agent

Operation Awesome hosts a mystery agent contest most months of the year. The October lottery is open now until September 25, 2014. Fifty entries will be selected. This month's agent is looking for MG, YA, women's fiction, historical fiction, and romance. Entries include a twitter length pitch and the first page of your manuscript. Click here for more information!

6. PitchMas

Hosted by Jessa Russo and Tamara Mataya, this is an awesome December contest. Dates have not yet been set, but you can click here for more information.

Please be sure to check on all the submission guidelines before entering, and feel free to mention any contests I missed in the comments!

Music for today: Butterflies and Hurricanes by Muse

What Really Makes Contests Worth It

Online pitch events are exciting and addictive when you have a query-ready manuscript. Recently we've had WriteOnCon, Operation Awesome's Secret Agent Contest, Brenda Drake's Pitch Wars, and Adventures in YA Publishing's Pitch Plus Five. And that was just August!

The primary goal of contests seems to be grabbing an agent's attention and garnering requests for your work. But these four were fabulous for another reason. Each offered feedback before the judged component, often from many critiquers at once.

The multitude of feedback has been a tad overwhelming for me, but also helpful. In the interest of helping and supporting others, when I landed a spot in Pitch Plus Five, I decided to read every entry and give at least one line of response. If you enjoy entering these contests, I highly suggest you try reading all the entries at least once. Here are a few things I learned:

1. It really is subjective.

You can hear it over and over again, but experiencing it first hand gives you new perspective. There were some amazing, well-written pages in Pitch Plus Five that just weren't for me. I'm not a huge fan of straight historical, and some jump-off-the-page voices just rub me the wrong way. I get that they're good. I admire them. But they just don't fit my personal tastes.

2. Contests take more time than you realize.

When I set out to read all entries, the simple math looked like this:

5 pages X 50 entries = 250 pages

Most books I read have more than 250 pages. I should've been able to go through them easily in about two days. But starting at the beginning and trying to immerse yourself in a new story takes more time than reading a book straight through. Then you have to think about what you enjoyed and what questions you had to frame your feedback. I didn't log my time, but it took much more than I expected. Contest judges volunteer their time on an even larger scale. Even if you don't agree with the feedback you get, you should always appreciate that someone took the time to try to help you. Time that could've been spent on their own writing, reading, or outside lives.

3. Your opening pages need to match the tone of your pitch.

In the first round of Pitch Plus Five, you only see the pages. The pitches don't come in until the second round. For all of my favorites, I got a clear sense of the genre, tone, and the main character without the pitch. For so many others, I felt like I was missing something. I enjoyed many of those pages. But the ones with the clearer tones stood out.

4. Seeing what works and what doesn't can help you improve as much as a specific crit on your own work.

My top five submissions were in different age groups or genres, but they all had certain things in common. Each pulled me in from the opening paragraph. They gave just a bit of exposition before jumping into the action. None fell into opening chapter cliches, and I didn't have to go back and re-read sentences for clarity. As I revise this time, I'm trying to check off these items on the list.

If you're out there in the contest trenches, I wish you luck and throw my support in your corner. I also encourage you to get the most out of the experience, from finding new writer friends to improving your craft.
There are so many ways to win.

Music for today: All the Rage Back Home by Interpol

Remembering Why

I had this great conversation with a teenager a few weeks ago. He was a stranger to me, and circumstances just happened to have us sitting next to each other. He started by asking me what I was reading. (It was Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo.) I gave him a quick summary, and he shared with me how he used to enjoy reading so much, but things were just too busy between high school and his job to read for fun anymore.

He was a non-native English speaker, and it was learning to enjoy reading that brought the language alive for him. Any guess what the book that hooked him was? I wasn't surprised when he said Harry Potter, because I witnessed that same magic with my students in middle school year after year. My first revelation that day was a sense of regret that our education system hasn't picked up on this trend. In elementary and middle school, we encourage kids to read whatever they enjoy, to foster a love of books. We are dying for kids to read for fun. But in many high schools, the emphasis shifts. I think we'd do better to support reading as a source of entertainment instead of just work.

Next he asked me if I was a teacher. He said I just had that look, though I think it was more my enthusiasm for talking about Harry Potter, and books in general, that gave me away. So, here's the thing. I told him I was a teacher, but I didn't tell him I'm a writer. (I'm embarrassed to say I didn't relish the follow-up questions that come with that.) He could've asked more about teaching, or even stopped talking to this mom-aged lady, but next he asked me what I'd wanted to be when I was his age.

I can't remember anyone asking me that question in my adult life. So I told him. I told him how I'd always loved reading. Though there were many things I'd wanted to be throughout my childhood, when I was eighteen, I wanted to work in publishing as an editor. It was the only way I could see where reading could be my job. I didn't think I had the creativity to write, but I'd known I wanted to work with books. Teaching did let me do that, but not in the way I'd imagined.

It's taken a long and winding road, but I am finally following that dream. I'm really glad we crossed paths that day, because he reminded me why I'm doing what I'm doing. I love writing, and I'm proud of the novels I've completed. But whatever the outcome of my own writing career, joining this community, through SCBWI and social media, has allowed me to practice exactly what I wanted to do. Supporting writers. Reading books on the front lines of the industry through CPs, betas, and ARCs. And helping, even in some small way, books come to the shelves that bring our language and our world alive for young readers.

Music for today: Five Seconds by Twin Shadow

  

Fall Inspiration

With summer slipping away, so many changes are coming. In the grand scheme of things, after a month filled with one tragedy after another in the news, I'm looking forward to ushering in a new season full of potential, growth, and thanksgiving. Today I'm photo blogging with images to remind me of where I've been and keep me inspired for the times ahead.

The Upper West Side

At the Met

NYC at night

Boston and Cambridge from the Charles

Boothbay Harbor, Maine at Sunset

From the bay

Peaceful Summer