Posted in books we love, heather's posts, tagged book review, Candor, dystopian, Oscar Fairbanks, Pam Bachorz, subliminal messages, YA on March 30, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Wouldn’t life be great if it was easy to make the “right” choices? If you had everything you needed and everyone was always happy? If crime was non-existent and the streets litter-free?
That’s life in the town of Candor, from the book CANDOR by first-time novelist Pam Bachorz.
The catch? Your thoughts aren’t your own. They are sent to you via messages broadcast non-stop at a frequency only your sub-conscious can detect. (more…)
Posted in conferences we love, laura's posts, tagged Andrea Brown Literary, Big Sur, Caryn Wiseman, critiquing, Henry Miller Foundation, writers conference on March 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Heather and I recently travelled to Monterey, California to attend the Big Sur Writer’s workshop, sponsored by Andrea Brown Literary and The Henry Miller Foundation. It was an action-packed weekend of revision, critiquing and networking. As a testament to the experience, I went there thinking my latest manuscript was near done. I left with ideas for ways to make it stronger, a clearer vision of my story’s purpose and new writer friends to bounce ideas off of.
Different from a conference, the Big Sur’s workshop was much more informal. Throughout the weekend we had four sessions of in-depth critiquing in small groups and one-on-one time with an agent or editor to go over a query letter, synopsis or the opening pages of a manuscript. I was impressed by the depth and breadth of critique from both the professionals as well as fellow writers. It’s amazing how feedback on three pages can be applied to an entire manuscript.
Some of the highlights for me were… (more…)
Posted in angele's posts, books we love, editors we love, on writing, publishers we love, revisions, writers we love, tagged A Curse Dark as Gold, Arthur A. Levine Books, Cheryl Klein, critique, Elizabeth Bunce, Netflix, Oscars, revision, SCBWI, Springmingle, Star Crossed, Stirwaters, YA on March 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce
Years ago, I read with great interest author Elizabeth Bunce‘s posts on the SCBWI discussion boards about selling A Curse Dark as Gold to Arthur A. Levine Books. When her book was published in 2008, I put it on my “to read” list…where it kept company with the dozens already there. See where this is going yet?
Most months I’m able to chisel out enough free hours* from my other responsibilities to read at least five books. Some months I even make it to that reading nirvana of ten or more. (You can check out my reading list if you’re curious.) Even with all that reading time, though, A Curse Dark as Gold never made the leap from list to lap. Silly, stupid me, right?
Then last month at Springmingle, editor Cheryl Klein talked about how she came to acquire the manuscript (more…)
Posted in heather's posts, stuff we love, tagged antique keyboard, computer, custom, imac, Leviathan, mod, retro, Scott Westerfeld, steampunk, writing on March 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Steampunk meets imac -
Has Scott Westerfeld seen this? What a great way to finish writing the Leviathan trilogy.
Want one yourself? Check out Old Time Computer to get the lowdown on these handcrafted covers and antique keyboards.
Posted in heather's posts, on writing, Revision is Tough Love, revisions, tagged fiction, novel, outline, plot, revising, revision, writer, writing, YA on March 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Used with permission from Inkygirl.com
Writers often use plot outlines when planning a story, but this week I discovered how they can help in revising an existing manuscript.
My YA novel is currently in its third draft. With each version, I had gone through the manuscript cutting and reworking scenes to make significant plot and character changes. The changes were good, so the outcome would be good, right?
Wrong. I ended up with an inconsistent plot, based on a conglomerate of old and new ideas.
So this time I tried something new. (more…)
Posted in angele's posts, musings, on writing, tagged coffee shops, Cone of Shame, Dug, eavesdropping, inspiration, no shame, Up, writing secrets on March 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve spent hours at my favorite coffee shop this week, working hard to finish my post-critique revisions. As much as I try to block out the distractions, words still flicker in through my earplugs or over the ambient music.
And I love it.
Really, as a writer, there’s not much better than those unexpected gems gleaned from overheard conversation. So when the words “there’s no shame in that” drifted my way from one of the guys behind the counter, I stopped writing and started listening. Though the hiss of milk being steamed kept me from hearing what he and his customer were discussing, his words got me thinking. (more…)
Posted in advice we love, angele's posts, blogs we love, on writing, writers we love, tagged Cornell, J. Robert Lennon, Rhian Ellis, Ward Six, writing mistakes on March 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
With Heather and Laura away on an extra-cool writerly trip (the lucky ducks!) and my fingers seriously stuck to the keyboard as I finish post-Springmingle-critique revisions, today seems like an excellent day to peek at another writing blog.
I highly suggest Ward Six, online home of two of my favorite writer friends, Rhian Ellis and J. Robert Lennon. JRL, brilliant novelist and Cornell writing prof that he is, recently offered up some advice on the errors beginning writers often make.
Turns out I’m a huge offender of (more…)
Posted in conferences we love, laura's posts, tagged Atlanta, Cheryl Klein, children's writers, conference, Hotlanta, Josh Adams, Little Shop of Books, PURE, SCWBI, Springmingle, Terra McVoy, The Bookshelf on March 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Here are my top ten reasons to love the Red Eye Writers adventure to the 2010 SCWBI Springmingle conference in Hotlanta, in chronological order.
1. Visiting TWO independent bookstores in one day–The Bookshelf in Thomasville, GA and Little Shop of Stories in Atlanta.
2. Meeting Terra McVoy, author of PURE, at the Little Shop of Stories, and getting insider information to her next project.
3. Hearing Scholastic editor Cheryl Klein’s seminar on revision and speaking with her one-on-one in a critique.
4. Seeing all the regional authors succeed in publishing their first books. Kudos!
5. Hearing Agent Josh Adams talk on how he sells books.
6. Sharing a hotel room with Angele and Heather, staying up late to read our works out loud and get 2am feedback, which is the funnest feedback to get.
7. Freshly made, in front of you omelettes at the Marriott hotel–yum!
8. Rocking at the Muse concert Saturday night in Atlanta with Heather–what a show!
9. Meeting Angele’s writer friend Jennifer Groff, also in attendance and widening our literary circle.
10. Reading NIGHTLIGHT, a parody of TWILIGHT, out loud on the car ride home.
Posted in laura's posts, on writing, tagged adverbs, editing, gender genie, how to literally procrastinate, overused words, revising, search on March 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This is a quick post to share something that I did with my latest manuscript that I found really, really effective. On Angele’s recommendation, I did a search for “ly” and brought up all my ugly adverbs. Wow. My biggest offense was the word “really” which I had one on nearly every page, which I’ve used three times already. Who knew? I also came up with the word “family” a lot, which led me to believe that it was a big theme that I had overlooked before. Next I’m doing “okay” and “like,” words I use way too much, and hopefully at the end of it, my manuscript will be cleaner, tighter and stronger for it.
Every little word counts. Really, it does, really, really.
Oh, and one more fun thing to do when you’re trying to procrastinate, check out the Gender Genie, http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php Basically, you plug in a sampling of your text and the Gender Genie figures out how male or female your narrator is. For instance, I inserted this blog post into the Gender Genie and it gave me a score of 254 Female and 235 Male.
Just as I suspected, I’m a female.
Posted in angele's posts, on writing, tv we love, tagged Conjunction Junction, National Grammar Day, Schoolhouse Rock on March 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Hey, it’s National Grammar Day, the official holiday of writers everywhere!
I’ll be celebrating by, uh, writing. And paying extra close attention to all things grammatical. But you know the very best way to mark the day?
A little Schoolhouse Rock, of course…
***
 | Deborah on CANDOR by Pam Bachorz |
 | Lisa Yee on KidLit Drink Night is coming t… |
 | lauralascarso on THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX by… |
 | heatherwhitaker on CANDOR by Pam Bachorz |
 | Holly on CANDOR by Pam Bachorz |
