The hardest road for a writer is often the bumpy one of rejection.  But if you can’t see your book published and on the shelves, it will never happen for you.  You’ve got to believe in yourself, your own worth, even when no one else does.  The life of a writer is filled with uncertainty and doubt — don’t add to the weight of that.  Believe in yourself, in your talent, and you’ll see results.  Make a replica of your book jacket, put it around a book and stick it in your bookshelf.  Take a writing class, join a writing group.  When people ask what you do for a living, answer with “I write.” And then do just that.  Soon you’ll see the results of your labor and those doubters and rejectors will miraculously become your most ardent supporters!

“Would Samantha even like this?”

“I don’t know.  Just get her a book.”

“Does she wear perfume?  Or do you think she’d like a candle?”

This year was especially difficult because I had set certain goals for myself that I was certain would be accomplished before this mile marker.  They weren’t.

Birthdays also make me reflect on three dreaded thoughts:  What If? If only.  And Why?  I always spend part of the week leading up to my birthday reflecting on my life.  And while I’m thrilled that my family and I are healthy, grateful for my wonderful friends, and excited for the progress I’m making at work, I still feel a tinge of regrets over a few important choices I made or didn’t make.  And a certain shock that I haven’t yet lived up to all I thought I would be.  Maybe those old Army commercials had more of an impact on me than I thought.  I really believed that if you just tried to be all you could be — anything could happen.  Wars would end.  World Peace would be a possibility.  Okay, maybe not all that.  But I at least bought into the hype of my potential.  God, how I hate that word.

When I was a kid, I loved those books where you could choose your own ending.  ”If you’d like to see what happens if Amber takes the train to see her grandmother, turn to page 82.  If you’d like to see what happens if she stays home, turn to page 97.”  Wouldn’t it be great if life were like that?  If after high school, college or grad school or whatever your final jumping off point is, you could walk over to your bookshelf and pull out The Book of Me and see what your best option is.  ”If you marry boyfriend A, turn to page 160 to see how it turns out.  If you move to X city, turn to page 202 to find out if you’ll really be happy there.  For career option C, turn to page 300.”

But life isn’t like a book.  We don’t get to skip ahead, to read the ending first.  It’s filled with uncertainty, choice and mystery.  All we can do is smile, blow out the candles and try to be all that we can be.

Go Robin!!

Here’s a great post from my agent Jill Corcoran on query writing.  http://jillcorcoran.blogspot.com/2010/04/formula-for-query-letter.html She even gives you an outline to follow and links on how to research an agent.

This blog http://www.charlottedillon.com/query.html gives some good points and has links to tons of articles and books written on queries.

In my humble opinion, I think a good query letter needs to show that you’ve done your homework and have approached the correct agent.  My agent, for example, only represents MG and YA, so you wouldn’t send her your thriller that’s sure to be the next Dan Brown.

You also need to narrow your MS down to three sentences.  What does the main character want?  What’s preventing this and how is it resolved?  Your future agent does not need the details of your MS in the query.  You just need to give enough information so he’ll want to request more.

End the query with your request:  Can I send you the manuscript?  And don’t forget to tell the agent a bit about yourself — your writing credits, your MFA, and any information that may be pertinent to the MS itself.

The query is your key to the first door of getting published.  Make sure you polish that key until it gleams.  Happy Writing!

Myth #2: Editors only want to work with published authors who have a proven record of sales

Myth #3: Editors won’t look at, work with or comment on a MS until it’s 150% perfect

We’ve all heard these myths before, right?  Well, I have had the pleasure of encountering an editor who proves all these myths are wrong.  My super fantastic agent Jill Corcoran submitted my MS to an editor who responded with a very nice rejection.  No seriously, no sarcasm intended.  It was a rejection letter that actually made sense and offered helpful points.  So superhero agent Jill asked the editor to put together some helpful notes for me to incorporate into a revision.  And amazing editor said YES!  Then she agreed to look at the revised MS.  How crazy cool is that?

Okay, back to writing . . .

jillcorcoran.blogspot.com/

http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/

http://internspills.blogspot.com/

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/

http://editorialass.blogspot.com/

http://editorialass.blogspot.com/

http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com/

2. Thou shall not whine

3. Thou shall not obey any other cooks but me and shall lay at my feet compliments and hostess gifts

4. Discussions regarding politics, the national health debate especially, and anything to do with “crazy young people these days” are expressly forbidden

5. Commentary on how the cook chooses to roast, brine, grill, blacken or microwave the turkey are not allowed

6. Thou shall assist heartily in helping cook to clean up.  Tasks may or may not include mopping the floor, taking the dog out and letting the cat in, cleaning out the recyclables, massaging the cook’s feet (hot stone massage is optional), and keeping cook’s wine glass handy and filled at all times.

7. Thou shall promise to listen to cook’s three year old tell the story of Cinderella (again and without correcting her version) with rapt attention and appropriate nods.

8. Thou promises to keep cook’s husband and associates away from TV until after food has been cooked, eaten and cleared away.  Failure to obey this commandment is punishable by more cleaning.  Did I mention the dog and 9 kids coming who are all under 9?

9. Thou shall happily bring home as many leftovers as cook wants you to

10. Thou shall leave the cook with several gift certificates to area restaurants so cook doesn’t actually have to cook for several more weeks

There, that’s not so hard, right? 

Okay, so back to the first commandment.  I’ve been reading some great YA and thought I’d share a few of my faves. 

Just finished reading Luxe by Anna Godbersen.  The story takes place in the elite society of  19th century Manhattan.  It’s like 90210 meets Edith Wharton.  It opens with the funeral of 18 year old main character Elizabeth Holland and then flashes back to the events leading up to her funeral.  Luxe is a super fun read that allows you to escape back to a time when corsets were in and flashing a meaningful look was dangerously sexy.  I’m now happily diving into the next in the series, Rumors. 

I’m also enjoying another series – Gossip Girl (Cecily von Zeigesar), a super fun read about ridiculously rich kids who get into lots of trouble in a Manhattan — 21st century style.  You know when you eat an entire ice cream sundae, you know, the kind loaded with brownies and scoops upon scoops of ice cream and dripping with sauce, whip cream and, yes, the cherry on top.  Then you feel a bit guilty afterwards, but only a bit.  That’s what reading Gossip Girl is like. 

City of Bones is a great paranormal read which also takes place in Manhattan.  I also bought Marked and am happily waiting to dive into that series about a vampire academy.  I know, I know.  Enough vampires.  But once bitten . . .ha, ha.

Okay, so those are my recs for fun, escapist reading as you travel, trek and tread carefully through meals, conversations and all the rest of the holiday fun.  Safe travels and happy reading!

So I thought I’d blog about how I write, and I’d love to hear comments from other writers about their own odd perks. 

Before I write anything, I fill out a character analysis sheet for each person I’ll be writing about — even the minor characters.  This involves creating details about the character that may never come into the story — their middle name or favorite book for example, but it also forces me to dissect each character’s essential details — what he wants most, her greatest fear.  I write down all sorts of information about them — their car, hair color, pets – if they have   any -, pet peeves – we all have those, hobbies, interests, favorite music . . . you get the point. 

Then I go to iTunes and download music that my main characters would listen to.  I usually put about 20 songs on, and this is all I listen to while I write.  It helps me to jump right back in night after night.

I always write at night.  This is my time, when the world quiet downs, and I can hear myself think. 

Oh, and I tell no one.  And I mean no one about what I’m writing until I’m about half way through and already know the ending.  And even then I only tell one or two trusted people. I had the luxury and blessing of a great writing teacher, Clyde Edgerton (who’s best known for Walking Across Egypt.  If you can read the rocking chair scene without laughing, there’s something wrong with you).  He  always said, “Throw up on the page.  You can fix it later.  Get it all out first and never tell anyone what you’re doing.” 

And he’s right.  We writers are a picky, sensitive bunch.  One raised eyebrow, one improperly phrased question from a well intentioned friend and the book’s a goner.

So once I’ve connected with my characters, I do just that.  I throw up on the page and tell no one.  I write every night from 8-12 or 1 — this is in the throwing up stage.  Sometimes I jot down notes and ideas during the day, but most of my work is done in the evening.  iPod on, music transporting me into a world my characters create for me.  And that’s it, I just listen to them telling me their story, and I transcribe it on paper.

Then, of course, there’s the revising part.  But that’s another post and gives new meaning to Edgerton’s “throwing up on the page” comment!