Resolutions

Today I went back and read my New Year's resolutions from last year to see if I came close to completing any of them. And then I laughed. So, instead of rehashing the resolutions I failed to accomplish because they were ridiculous to begin with, let's look at what I did accomplish.

1. I finished a pretty good draft of Spirit World, and I entered it in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel competition. I made it into the top 50 out of 5,000. Top 1%. I even got a pretty good review from someone from Publisher's Weekly via the contest. Not bad at all. Afterwards I did a few tweaks and submitted it to agents. I got 10 requests for either full or partials. And 6 nicely worded rejections. I assume the other 4 are rejections as well since I never heard from them. What did I learn? Spirit World was not ready to query. But I got some positive feedback as well as things to work on if I decide to revise and query again. I haven't made that decision yet because I'm busy at work on...

2. I started work in May on a new novel I tentatively titled Princess. I know that will not be it's final title, but it's what I call it for ease and consistancy. I'm currently on revision 4, and hopefully the last major one before I query. We'll see what my readers have to say about it after I finish revising.

3. I wrote quite a few short stories, trying to improve my writing. I think I succeeded at least a little bit in that capacity. I had a story published last year. Oddly enough, a vampire one. I try to stay away from them as rule because of the oversaturation in the market.

4. I won a contest for a 20 page critique from the amazing Tessa Gratton. (Who else can't wait to read Blood Magic?) I sent her the first 20 pages of Princess. She had some wonderful things to say about it, as well as some very constructive things which I am trying to apply to my entire work, writing and critiquing. I can't tell you how valuable her words were. Especially since her critique appeared in my email box the same day as Treetastophy 2010.

Also that same week, I met one of her critique partners, Maggie Stiefvater. She was doing a stock signing at a bookstore about an hour away and I made the trek out there. That meant the world to me, to be able to talk writing and books with Maggie freaking Stiefvater. OMG!

So, 2010 didn't turn out quite the way I had planned, but it was still good. Instead of making specific resolutions this year, I'm going to vague them up a little. I simply want to try to be the best writer I can be, and hopefully snag an agent along the way. If it's not with Princess or Spirit World, then maybe the next one. Or the next. Regardless, I plan to keep writing.

The Kindness of Strangers

This morning, I took my son into PetSmart to look at the cats and birds. PetSmart is currently selling their holiday stuffed animal, a dog named Chance. 10% of the proceeds go to homeless animals. At some point this morning, a woman purchased Chance and said to give him to a child in the store. The cashier picked my son. To both this woman and the cashier, I say, "Thank you." My son loves the toy, and hopefully I will find a way to pay your kindness forward.

A Florida Christmas Parade

Small Child and I had the pleasure of attending the Christmas parade in lovely Ft. Pierce, FL this past weekend. It was filled with everything you'd expect in a small town parade - Shriners, the 4-H club, dance teams. And then a few things you might not expect.

Here's McGruff the crime dog.


And then on the back of the McGruff float...the crime manatee?


Following that float (boat?) we have...um...McGruff. Again. This one wasn't lucky enough to ride on a float.


Next, we have Rudolph the 4-H horse.


And a bunch of little tiny painted horses. Seriously, there were like a hundred of them. But aren't they cute?


Small Child with his glow bracelet on one hand and a silly band shaped like a bank on the other. He loves those things.


Santa manatee


And the real Santa


And what Christmas parade would be complete without loot? Candy canes, life savers, and oranges.

O Christmas Tree

Despite being a dancer, I've never been particularly graceful. This became proven fact on Saturday while I was attempting to retrieve a stack of books from behind the Christmas tree. I thought, Surely, I can fit between the tree and the book shelf.

Um, no. I could not.

As I wedged myself into the tiny space, the tree tilted. My arms flailed. I grasped at needles, and then at nothing as the fully decorated tree crashed onto the chair. Witness the photographic evidence.



I tried to pick it up, but stopped when I heard the pops and cracks of the tree stand breaking into little pieces. This was when my fail face appeared and did not go away until hubby managed to purchase a new stand at Target. We righted the tree and, and since we tie the ornaments on due to the small things that run around our house, discovered only one ornament casualty. Yes, we have a cat, a dog, and a 19 month old, and I'm the one to knock over the tree. Awesome.

At least it had a happy ending, and I've got a funny story. =)

Meeting Maggie Stiefvater

One of my favorite authors, Maggie Stiefvater, was in town doing a stock signing at a local bookstore today. So, of course, I went down to get my books signed. And, of course, I dragged Small Child along.




Words cannot express the giddiness.

Writing with the Unwritten Sequel in Mind

I have a novel that I've been querying. I've gotten a list of requests followed by some very helpful rejections. So, now I'm in the process of revising that novel. One of the comments I got was guy #1 wasn't fully realized, so I set about making him more well-rounded. I ran into road block after road block. Then, I realized the problem. Although this novel can stand on its own, I've created two sequels to finish out the story. The first sequel has been outlined. The second is only vaguely realized. Here are the basics.

Book 1 - MC falls for guy #1. He's fabulous, but then she realizes she loves guy #2.
Book 2 - Guy #2 goes away. After a long period of time, she decides it's time to move on and tries things again with guy #1. Guy #2 returns.
Book 3 - She never goes back to guy #1, and she and guy # 2 live happily ever after.

Last night, I started thinking, "What if guy #2 doesn't want her back? What if guy #1 is who she chooses in book 3?" That's when things started to clarify for me in book 1. I'm not saying the problem is completely fixed, but looking at the unwritten has definitely given me renewed inspiration for my rewrites in book 1.

One Reason I Stop Reading a Series

Spoiler warning for Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy Book 3) by Richelle Mead ahead. *Not a series I stopped reading.*

I read mostly YA series, and I've been noticing one trend popping up lately. Somewhere in the end of the 1st or 2nd book, the intrepid heroine gets together with her true love. Then, in the next book, she spends many many chapters swooning over him, stating how perfect they are for each other and how they're going to be together forever. All this does for me is throw up a red flag that says, "Warning: These two characters will no longer be together by the end of this book."

Boring. I don't want to know the end by page ten.

Let me give you an example of a plot reversal involving the intrepid heroine and her true love that I felt worked. In Shadow Kiss, Rose and Dimitri finally get together in act 3. But, because of the age difference and the fact that he's her teacher, they both know it's going to be anything but smooth sailing. Still, you have hope for them. Until a couple of chapters later when Dimitri turns evil.

This was a reversal I didn't see coming, and it provided Rose's motivation throughout the 4th book and part of the 5th one. Plus, bonus, I didn't have to sit through chapter upon endless chapter of Rose driveling on about how happy she was. I like it when my heroines aren't allowed to breathe until the very end of the last book. If they're happy for too long, it just gives me time to imagine all the nasty things that are going to happen to them. Things I want to happen to them.

What about you? What makes you stop reading a series?