Decisions, decisions

At the rate I'm going, I'll finish CoYA (Shayda's nickname for my contemporary YA novel) by March 1, if not before.  This begs the question: what next?  I already know that I have to write every day - see Saturday's post for my explanation - and I have a few options.

First, I have to let CoYA rest.  It needs at least a month, if not two, to sit - just enough time for me to a) start another novel or b) get deep into revisions.  If I were to start a novel, there are so many possibilities.  For one, there's the (post) apocalyptic Western with the two warring families that's been creeping through my head.  Or the prison city/crime family novel that Salom keeps bugging me about.  Or the Jewish folktale fantasy, full of dybbuks and mazikim.  Or, or, or...I have a list of novels I want to write, and I don't know how I'd ever choose.

Or I could revise.  If I did, it'd have to be The Brothers and Sisters of Interesting People, my 2010 NaNoWriMo novel that finished at 102,000 words.  But that's not YA, that's adult ("new adult" at best), and I think I might need to be a few years older to do it justice.  It doesn't suck, but I worry that the characters read a little too young.  Plus, that would mean two months of serious intensive revision, and then...CoYA doesn't quite need a total rewrite, but it needs a lot of work.  And if I were lucky enough to catch someone's eye with The Novel, I could be revising that at the same time too.

No, I think I'll take my break from CoYA with a new writing project.  The only question is, which one?

A confession, or Why I Write Every Day

I have a confession to make: though I loathe being boxed into a routine, I require myself to write every day. Right now, the required daily word count is 750, just because I like the badges on 750 Words; in the past, it's been 1000 words per day, and last November (for a little while) it was 3300 words per day.  Things I do not count in this total?  Blog posts.  Freewriting.  Anything that could not actually be inserted into the current project on which I'm focused (i.e. anything in which I break the fourth wall).  This may seem overly rigid, but I've lived with my laziness for twenty-two years now.  I know that if I let myself count freewriting, I would just blather for a thousand words and never make any progress on my novel (whichever novel that may be).

I am a creature of habit.  Mostly bad habits (nail-biting, failing to put dishes in the dishwasher), but a few good ones.  The best way for me to keep a good habit going is to be on a long streak - months of writing every day or testing my blood sugar four times a day.  One day without writing, whatever my excuse, and I lose the power of that streak.  I've written sick, I've written drunk, I've written desperate for sleep.  Obviously, this habit reinforces itself; the longer the streak, the more likely I am to continue, one reason that 750 Words works so well for me.

Some people do better writing four days a week, or taking weekends off, and I admire their fortitude - but it's not for me.  I'll take it one day of writing at a time.  What about you - how often do you write?

Unforgettable Settings: Oradour-sur-Glane

As a writer, I'm always on the lookout for intriguing settings or locations - places with a certain hook to them.  I thought it would be fun to talk about some of those places in an occasional blog series - what they are, how I encountered them, why they have such an enduring hold on my mind.

The first such place is Oradour-sur-Glane, in France.  I saw this town at the age of 10, and I don't think I'll ever forget it.  Oradour was razed by Nazis in 1944, its entire population massacred - the men shot in the square, the women and children burned inside the church.  The entire town has been preserved in this state, and it's the most powerful and terrifying war memorial I've ever seen.  You wander the streets, past ruined buildings and rusted-out vehicles, and every so often you pass a plaque bearing names - the former residents of the house or owners of the business.  The feeling can't be replicated in photographs; what's one picture of a collapsed building, without being surrounded by the crushing absence of a town's normal noises?

Oradour never gave me nightmares - it was so sweepingly sad that I couldn't be scared of it.  But I wrote about it at the time, in the guise of an empty town in my fantasy novel-in-progress, and I've been writing about it in one form or another since then.  Someday, I hope I'll do it justice.  I would've posted a picture here, but I didn't take any in Oradour.  Signs ask all visitors to remain quiet out of respect, and in my mind that extended to taking lots of photos.

What places have caught your attention lately?

The Evolution of a Writer

Once upon a time, I believed a lot of things.  My parents could fix everything.  The Tooth Fairy responded personally to every letter I wrote her.  Most importantly, I believed that writers only wrote when they were inspired.*  If they wrote without inspiration, their writing was ordinary.  In retrospect, that's probably because I enjoyed a four-year period during which I felt almost perpetually inspired.  I'd sit at my computer and write a few pages, rarely working on the same thing I'd come up with the day before.  Every once in a while, I could put off annoying chores like mucking stalls or washing dishes by yelling "I'm writing, guys!"  At 13, this seemed to me the very essence of being a writer.

This approach stopped working in my junior year of high school.  College essays had to be written, inspired or not, and at the time inspiration didn't come like it used to (it tended to strike in the middle of Algebra II).  I panicked.  A lot.  Mostly because I didn't realize I was transitioning from an inspiration writer to a daily writer.  I first recognized this extremely slow transformation when I wrote a novel-length story (I hesitate to call it a novel) in a 24-hour period.  This may sound like I was crazily inspired, but it was actually very silly.  I like to remember only typing frantically and chortling with glee at certain scenes involving rocket-propelled grenades, but I know that about four hours in, I stared at the clock and thought "I am never going to finish."  The only way I could was by writing inspiration-free.  This meant a lousy first draft, but a complete one.

In the end, National novel Writing Month hammered the lesson through my head.  If you don't have the right words for what you want to say, use the wrong words.  Keep using them until the story's done.  Then you can agonize over the right words, in the long bloody torturously repetitive process known as revision (kidding, revision, you know I love you).  I write every day now (more on why in another blog post), and it's a hundred times better than waiting for elusive inspiration to strike.  Sure, when it does, take those perfect characters and intricately constructed phrases that pop fully-formed into your head.  Build something around them, even if the framework is unworthy of their beauty.  Don't wait for the next moment of inspiration.

* There are probably some people who write only when inspired.  My mother still claims she was only taking dictation for the Tooth Fairy.  Inspiration is great, but it's not a very productive way to build a career as a writer.

Attending Conferences as a Teenager: A Retrospective

Agent extraordinaire Jennifer Laughran has posted some great advice for conference-goers, and I thought I'd chime in from a teenage conference attendee's perspective.  I sold my first books as the direct result of a conference, and I know how helpful they can be, but there are a few particular things that I think can help teenagers who go to writing conferences.

1. Go to a smaller, local conference first.  It's cheaper than a big national conference, and it'll help you get an idea of your strengths and weaknesses at conferences.  My first was the Willamette Writers Conference, when I was 12 years old.  I was terrible at mingling with people I didn't know, but I signed up for pitch sessions with editors and was able to wow them that way (I also lied about my age.  Don't do that).  You may be great at mingling, but not get much out of classes.  Practice with small conferences first.

2. Be professional.  If you don't want people to treat you like a kid, don't act like one.  Wear clean, grown-up clothes (at the very least a nice shirt) and make sure you haven't chosen something better suited for a party; if your clothes are a vital part of your author platform/persona, tread carefully.  Talk to people, even if they aren't your dream agent/editor.  Don't use crude language.  You'll probably see adults who don't follow these rules; that's because they tend to be taken seriously by default.  Life isn't fair; make it easier on yourself.

3. Be prepared.  At the very least, carry pens and pencils as well as a notebook from which you can rip pages (a convenient way to meet people, lending them paper or pen).  Business cards are handy, but don't be cute - just print them with you name and contact info.  Speaking of which, if your email address is anything but your name, get thee to Gmail.  "teengoddess2010@aol.com" will not make a good impression when you email people to follow up afterwards.  Similarly, though it may seem obvious, read up about the speakers and about the industry in general - you don't want to be the person who asks how to write a query letter.  It's called Google: use it.

4. Don't go big until you're ready.  I went to SCBWI-LA for the first time when I was 13.  Standing in line for punch at the evening social, I found myself next to Arthur A. Levine.  Yes, the one who published Harry Potter.  Was I in any way ready to meet him and do something besides babble?  Of course not.  Big conferences cost a lot of money, especially on a teenager's budget; make sure you're getting the most out of them.

I loved Willamette Writers, and I had a fantastic time my second year at SCBWI-LA.  There's great general advice out there about making the most of a conference - if you have questions specific to teenage attendees, I'm happy to answer them!

Blog vacation

Well, I took a new full-time job (I don't like uncertainty) and as a result, I'm now hoarding every second of free time as I adjust and move to a new house.  Writing comes before fun stuff on the internet, so I will be taking a blog hiatus until Monday, January 31.  I'll continue posting on Twitter and reading for the 100-Book Year, but I have vowed to start submitting The Novel by the end of January, and I've still got plenty of work left to do.  See you on the other side!

Trips and To-Do Lists

As my beloved former co-workers at The Office of Letters and Light can tell you, I am a huge fan of to-do lists. Not only did I build a massive web of Post-It tasks in the office, but I also made daily task lists.  Now that I am self-employed, my to-do lists are even more important.  They're how I gauge the amount of progress I make each day, and how I allot my time.  Often, a single item on my list refers to another list of tasks, so that I can check off smaller tasks (i.e. "write training scene", "fix sneaking-past-guards scene") within a larger, multi-day task ("The Novel edits, acute").  I've been known to add tasks to my list for the express purpose of checking them off, too - especially when they are time-consuming but not particularly productive things like "Return library books".

Over the next week, my to-do list is especially crowded, because I'm headed to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands on January 19 (with my parents).  Ten days of sun, snorkeling, and writing with incredible views.  I can't wait - I'm not usually a hot weather person, but I love the Virgin Islands.

Before I go, I want to finish revising The Novel.  That way, I can give my brain a break from it and look at it with somewhat fresh eyes before I (fingers crossed) start querying.  After that, I'll be in Portland until late May, when I head to Grinnell College for graduation.  Now, back to the to-do list!

The Friday Reader: Week 3

I've been reading like crazy, so there are quite a few books to review this week.  I'm also re-reading some old favorites (Tamora Pierce and Diane Duane), but I don't include those in the 100-Book Year.  If I've forgotten to review anything, I'll do it next Friday!

Fiction
1. Break, by Hannah Moskowitz
This book absolutely blew me away.  I heard about it a long time ago, meant to get it, and then...forgot.  Break is heartbreaking and terrifying and even a little romantic, all at once.  My father came into my room as I was nearing the end, and I practically yelled at him to leave me alone until I'd finished the book.  Highly recommended.

2. One Day, by David Nicholls
I'd heard a lot of good things before I read this book, so I had high expectations.  One Day follows the relationship between two people by checking in on them every year on the same day.  It's an interesting conceit, and it works very well sometimes and not so well other times.  The reader misses key moments in the relationship because (of course) they can't all happen on the same day each year.  On the other hand, it's a good way to track long-term progress of the relationship.  I didn't love the female protagonist, but the book was compelling enough to keep me engaged despite that.  Recommended.

3. The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman
I love the concept of this book - the story of an English-language newspaper in Rome, told through profiles of the employees.  Rachman has a fantastic command of language, and a knack for making the reader sympathize with a character we hated from a different employee's perspective.  That said, I did grow weary of the profusion of adultery subplots.  Yes, I get it, people are unfaithful, but I'm only interested in reading the tale of their unfaithfulness so many times.  Still, I highly recommend the book, especially to anyone with an interest in journalism, English, or Rome.

4. Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld
The sequel to Leviathan expands the rich steampunky world to Istanbul.  An enjoyable and rather quick read, Behemoth gives the young protagonists a chance to strike out and make their own mistakes, away from their respective armies, and further develops their relationship with each other.  Highly recommended.

5. Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, by Kaleb Nation
On the surface, this book sounds a lot like Harry Potter - an orphan with special powers, raised by a family that resents him and magic.  There are a couple of key differences, most notably that there is no magic school and benevolent cadre of wizards to rescue Bran Hambric from his miserable life.  The plot has a lot of potential; the writing itself (particularly the humor that verged on absurdity) wasn't quite my taste, but I'm guessing a lot of other people would enjoy it.  Recommended for people who enjoy MG fiction.

6. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter and 7. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, by Ally Carter
I have a major weakness for spy stories, especially ones featuring teenagers and cool gadgets (see also: Alex Rider).  These are fluffy and fun and kind of addictive, like White Cheddar Pirate's Booty or butter toffee peanuts.  Recommended if you ever wanted to be Sydney Bristow.

Nonfiction
7. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
This book has been recommended all over the place, and now I see why.  Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, whose cervical cancer cells were taken and used to create the HeLa cell line.  She interweaves the scientific story with the human story to build an absolutely captivating narrative.  Highly recommended.

8. The Adventurer's Handbook: Life Lessons from History's Great Explorers, by Mick Conefrey
A curious mix of advice for explorers and tales of historical figures.  Somehow, it works - I didn't pick it up looking for super-technical advice, and Conefrey has plenty of exciting stories to tell about successful and unsuccessful expeditions.  Would be nicely accompanied with a few historical accounts of the expeditions mentioned in the book.

The Year of Writing Dangerously

Okay, not sure there will be all that much danger involved.  But, as it's turned out, I'm going to spend the next six to twelve months as a full-time writer (and hopefully part-time MFA student).  I started yesterday, and so far it's glorious - massive productivity, lots of writing, waking up at 8 AM, actually cooking meals.  I'm living on savings (hence the wide range in possible length of time) and whatever I can scrape together from writing/web design/etc.

So here goes - day two!  Today, I want to write more of my MFA critical essay (part of the application), write at least 1000 more words of CoYA if not more, and the big one, do some plot-significant rewrites suggested for The Novel.  Oh, and exercise - I started on the stationary bike yesterday, and I'll do it again today.

I should clarify - I don't expect that I'll be able to continue doing nothing but writing (and some chosen volunteering) after this year ends.  This is more of a gap year between college and...real life.

To the best year of your life...so far

Like everyone else, I've made and broken New Year's resolutions a hundred times over.  Well, no, I'm 22, so probably sixteen times over.  Anyway.  I've learned that you shouldn't make resolutions that are out of your control (i.e. "I resolve that the cute boy in my class will ask me out" or "I resolve that someone will buy my novel").  Instead, here are some goals for the new year.

1. Meet new people.  As a corollary, do stuff to meet new people.  If left to my own devices, I'd probably leave my house only to go to the grocery store.  It's not because I hate going out - in fact, I really enjoy it - but because I am lazy.  This means volunteering regularly out in the world, attending readings and lectures, volunteering at political events, and also being open to (or even initiating) conversation with people I meet at coffeeshops, bookstores, etc.

2. Write every day.  Actually, this is not a goal, it's an absolute rule.

 3. Submit The Novel to agents.  That's pretty self-explanatory, and that's a goal for January 2011.

 4. Finish another novel.  When I say "finish", I don't mean a first draft.  My goal for the first draft of CoYA is March 1; I'll take a break, write something else, and then start revising.

 5. Eat healthy, socially responsible food.  Healthy is much easier than socially responsible, especially on a tight budget, but I'm determined to do it.

 6. Get my HbA1C down to 7.0 or lower.  Hemoglobin A1C is a way of measuring a diabetic's average blood sugar over the past three months; to get it down to 7.0, I'll need very tight control and...

 7. Exercise.  I have a bike.  It's time to ride it.  Every day.

 8. And finally, return to writing nonfiction.  I burned myself out on it back in high school, writing two nonfiction books during my freshman and senior years, but I miss nonfiction and I'd like to start pitching articles again.

I hope everyone else had a fun, safe New Year - what are your goals for 2011?