Tag: the writing life

Getting Psyched for the Fourteenery Retreat

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This weekend marks the first-ever Fourteenery retreat, in which thirteen of our fourteen debut 2014 authors descend on Savannah, GA for a few days of writing, bonding, cooking, nail polish, wine, and lots of Southern gothic fun. Which of course means I need to share my feelings and expectations of the experience in gif form:

What I wish packing were like:

What packing is actually like:

Getting off the plane and meeting everyone for the shuttle to the retreat house:

When I see everyone for the first time:

When someone says something hilarious (aka every five seconds):

Sharing industry gossip:

Writing time:

Stressing over book stuff:

Any “bad decisions” made:

When I realize that we have to go home eventually:

When I remember that we get to plan more awesome stuff for 2014:

Make sure to follow along on Twitter (#svrt) and Tumblr for all the real-time retreat fun.

Links Galore

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Lots of mid-week link goodness:

New Title Reveal!

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One of the first things I learned about being a debut author was “Don’t get attached to your title.” Even if it sounds perfect to you, it’s still part of the book’s editorial journey and, just like particular scenes or characters, is very likely to change*.

That change was part of my book’s journey. I’m happy to announce my brand new title…

…

…dramatic pause…

…

…suspense…

…drum roll…

THE CHANCE YOU WON’T RETURN

Tada!

I’m feeling really good about the new title, and I think it suggests a lot of the themes/emotions from the book–loss and hope and grief and uncertainty and searching. I really liked Queen of the Air, but ultimately I think The Chance You Won’t Return hits the vibe of the book way more, and feels more like YA.

With any luck, that means lots more reveals to come. (Covers! Blurbs! More kittens!) Major thanks to my wonderful editor and agent for working through the new title process with me; you guys are the best!

*Check out where some classic titles came from; one famous book was originally called Something That Happened.

Links Galore

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Some great links for your afternoon:

Read Outside Your Genre, Eat Chocolate, and Other Writing Advice from Joss Whedon

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Frequent readers of this blog will know that I’m a big Joss Whedon fan. Buffy started during my formative years and it definitely helped me figure out how to grow up and face the weirdness of middle and high school. What better person to get writing advice from than the man who makes TV shows/movies/videos that give me all the feelings?

My Whedon feelings.

This interview with Whedon has lots of fantastic advice about the writing and creating process. Even though Whedon mostly speaks to screenwriting and movie-making, I think it all still applies to writing fiction. We always hear “read a lot” as writerly advice, but I particularly like Whedon’s take on making sure to expose yourself to a lot of books/movies:

“Constantly watch things and things you don’t [normally watch]. Step outside your viewing zone, your reading zone. It’s all fodder but if you only take from one thing then it’ll show…I read The Killer Angels. It’s a very detailed, extraordinarily compelling account of the Battle of Gettysburg from the point of view of various people in it and it’s historical. It’s historically completely accurate, and the moment I put it down I created Firefly, because I was like, ‘I need to tell this story. I need to feel this immediacy. I so connect with that era, the Western and how tactile everything is and how every decision is life or death, and how hard it is and how just rich it is, and how all the characters are just so fascinating.’ But so I should be on the Millennium Falcon. Now, if I only watched sci-fi I would have just had the Millennium Falcon part, which has already been done, but finding that historical texture, it literally, I put the book down and started writing Firefly.”

How cool is that? And it makes so much sense–if you only read things within your category or genre, you’re not expanding your potential inspiration to anything that hasn’t already been written for your readers. Not that you should skip reading within your genre–I hope that if you write YA, you also enjoy YA–but it’s a great reminder to look outside of that sphere of influence. So often I feel like I have so many awesome YA titles on my to-read list that I don’t tend to as much adult fiction or non-fiction or poetry as I’d like. This seems like an excellent reason to dive into a few non-YA titles I always have on the back burner.

Make sure to click through for the rest of this excellent interview–if only because Joss also advocates the use of chocolate as writing fuel. Yeah. Dude’s a genius.

Links Galore

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Lots of great links to start your week:

Every Bean Matters

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Not exactly writing related, but a lovely video by Ze Frank featuring a whole lot of jelly beans:

Of course this reminded me of Our Town and Mrs. Dalloway (because everything reminds me of Our Town and Mrs. Dalloway). Our lives are filled with all of these seemingly insignificant jelly bean moments. Make each jelly bean count–not necessarily by climbing Mount Everest or saving orphans from fire (okay, at least call 911)–but by appreciating and recognizing each bean. We only have so many beans and we need to appreciate them while we can.

This week, let’s try to acknowledge and appreciate our beans as much as possible.

Links Galore

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Lots of great links to get you through the week:

Links Galore

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All the links I’ve been hoarding:

Making Strides

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Flashback to 1996. I’m in middle school, wear really unattractive khakis and clogs, and like to hide out in the library (and occasionally cry in the carrels because oh my lord, it’s middle school). I’ve never been an athletic kid and this year in gym class, a new horror is presented: I have to run the mile.

Me before the run.

Me before the run.

Okay, it’s not just me–everyone in our class has to run 11 laps around the gym, which equals a mile. Some kids finish in no time at all. Others (cough me cough) are left gasping and struggling until the end of gym class, after which there’s barely any time to change  so I arrive at my next class sweaty and red-faced. I mentally curse all gym teachers, all athletes, and anyone who ever thought a mile was a reasonable distance to make a nerdy middle schooler run.

Flashforward to last weekend. I willingly wake up at 5am, head to downtown Boston in the cold and rain to gather with a few thousand other people so we can all run 13.1 miles.

Middle school Annie would be shocked.

I started running a couple of years ago after my gym offered a running class for newbies. I found that I liked it and started running 5ks, then challenged myself with a 10k. Last fall, I was in a running rut and decided I should sign up for a half-marathon so I’d have to really challenge myself. I had to get up early, schedule running time on the weekend, deal with setbacks like sickness or foot pain. But when last Sunday rolled around, I felt ready and wanted to cross that finish line.

I actually got kind of emotional heading down that last .1 mile. The race was in honor of fallen MA police officers, like Officer Sean Collier, who had originally signed up to run the race. After the Boston Marathon bombings, I think a lot of local runners felt like this was a particularly meaningful race.

Me after the run. Woohoo!

Me after the run. Woohoo!

But I also got emotional thinking about how I never expected to run this far. For me, having never been athletic and not being used to pushing myself physically, this was a big experience.

It also got me thinking about writing goals. I know a lot of people talk about writing and running, and do so much better than I could, but the process is similar. You have to get up early or sacrifice some of your weekend hours. You may need to shower or eat lots of sandwiches afterward. Problems pop up all the time (knee pain, plot holes, etc.). It’s easy to say the weather/coffee’s not right and make excuses, but it doesn’t get the work done. Just getting out there/in front of the computer can be daunting, especially when your goal seems so far ahead of you. But the work builds and matters. Every step you take, every word you write, is bringing you closer to your goal. Maybe it’s a goal that you never thought you could achieve, but you can get there. Little by little, you can cross that finish line.

Another way running is like writing–a lot of time spent working is time alone, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a supportive community. So high five to all you readers who are working hard and making strides to your goals!