Universe, Give Me a Book Deal

Not so long ago, I was invited to a wine tasting. Being new to wine, I was entirely excited--so excited that even though my husband and I drove 46 straight hours from Montana to Massachusetts and only got home that morning, I was still going to go. In my mind, there would be ten to twenty people all bringing their favorite bottles of wine, there would be crackers to clear our palates, and I would leave with a list of new wines that I would love forever and ever.

It started out great because I saw these little cucumber things, but imagine my disappointment when people started showing up with cases of beer...in cans. I don't drink beer, but I'm a beer snob because my husband is a beer snob. No self-respecting beer comes in a can. Then there was a backyard fire. I hadn't dressed for a backyard fire. In fact, I hadn't even brought a sweatshirt, which I was sure to need.

The conversation eventually turned to people I had never met in situations where they might have been funny if I knew who they were. What did I do? I was rude. I pulled out my phone and started texting the babysitter. We spoke briefly of my daughter's refusal to go to bed and then moved on to the founder of Chinese communism. Yep. That's what we texted about.

Then, someone started telling a story in which she really wanted her husband to get a snow blower. It went something like this: Newly married and in a new house, she experienced her first winter in which she had to shovel snow. She told her husband they needed a snow blower. He said, "We live in the city and only have 50 feet of sidewalk to shovel. We do not need a snow blower. We aren't going to spend two grand on a snow blower." She told him, "That's fine. The universe will bring us a snow blower." Lo and behold, a couple weeks later, someone left one on their driveway for them.

So this woman continued. She told me her husband wanted a truck. They're sensible people, so after some discussion they decided they had neither the money nor the need for the power of a truck. But what did she say? She said, "If we really need a truck, the universe will bring us a truck." What happened? You got it. Someone gave them a truck, which after $300 in body work looks brand new and works like a charm.

Forgetting my whole texted conversation about Mao, I said, "I like your universe. Could you tell it I want a book deal."

"That's not how the universe works," she said.

If you know me, you know I have a really hard time in social situations. I promptly felt like I needed to go to the bathroom and hyperventilate.

"That's not how the universe works," she repeated. "If you really want a book deal, it's got to be something you need, and it's got to be something you're willing to wait for. The universe doesn't just give you things. You have to constantly give it things first. I'm always doing nice things for other people. That's why the universe gives us things. If you really want a book deal, you have to say, 'Universe, give me a book deal,' and then be willing to wait and give the universe back."

I was duly chastised.

Her husband saved me. "April's a teacher. She understands all about giving without receiving."

But it got me thinking. After I finished WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL, after completing and polishing it, I started to put every effort into my query letter. I wrote four drafts before putting a better draft up on Agent Query Connect to be peer-critiqued. Unfortunately, practically nothing came up for help. I had a maximum of 20 hits with only a few vague responses. I entered the New Agent Contest as hosted by Michelle Hauck. My query didn't make it onto anyone's 'maybe' list, but there was a tweet about an LGBT contemporary that might have been mine, saying it was still too much like a draft.Then I saw with dismay that WriteOnCon probably wasn't going to happen this year. And I thought to myself, "But I really needed WriteOnCon to help me with this query. I'm floundering here."

Still, I made sure to critique other queries on the AQC forum; all the while, I started to create a list of author friends who may be willing to take a look at my query letter and tell me where I went wrong.

But what did the universe do? The universe did not bring me a book deal--has not yet, at least. The universe brought WriteOnCon back! My vacation will have ended by then, and I'll have to overlap work with WriteOnCon. I'll be writing lesson plans while critiquing others' queries. So what. I'm optimistic now. With some perseverance, a little luck, and a lot of giving back, the universe may very well bring me that book deal yet.

Oh. Let's not be remiss. Thank you for the wine tasting. Even though I didn't taste any wine but that which I brought, I still learned some valuable information.

New Beta Readers

WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL has reached that point. You know, the one where I send it out to be read by awesome people so they can help me make it the fantastic novel I want it to be. That means one thing (or seven, depending how you see it)--BETA READERS!

Let them introduce themselves:

Ally

Ally didn't send me her bio (or if she did, I lost it), so I'll introduce her. If I were Ally, I'd say, "I'm Ally. Y'all need to know one thing 'bout me: I eat raw eggs and guzzle root beer." Actually, Ally would NEVER say that. I took some creative license here. :)

Chris

I'm Chris and I'm self-diagnosed as being allergic to fun and free time.  In that lack of free time, I teach kids how to do martial arts, collect books that I want to read in a pile on my desk, and wear polos.  Despite my self-proclaimed aversion to fun, my claim to infamy is being fan of terrible jokes that don't really make people laugh...just question why they agreed to hear yet another bad joke.

Hannah

Along with reading, I enjoy hiking, knitting, farming, and travelling. I'm a glass half-full type of person. My dream is to live on a farm and to dabble in many different hobbies and skills.

Hope

I am "Baby B" out of a set of triplet girls.  In my spare time I love listening to music (specifically twenty|one|pilots and Jack's Mannequin), reading, and exercising.  I will attend Framingham State University in the fall where I will study Spanish and secondary education.

Jackie

My name is Jackie and I really like driving with the windows open. My hobbies include breakdancing and Tae Kwon Do.

Kim

Hey there I'm Kim and I love hockey and country music. I bet a lot of people just groaned at the fact that I like country music. I love to read and am known to sit down and finish a good book in one day if I get the chance. I'm also a tree hugging  environmental science geek so please reduce, reuse and recycle :)

Query Kombat 2014

I got into Query Kombat!

Query Kombat? What's that, you say? Check it out here.

Thanks to SC's vote of confidence, I'm on team #writerbees. Check out my entry "Loving Logic" on June 1st. Follow the contest on twitter at #QueryKombat.

Look! I'm on the list!!!

MSFV Drop the Needle Contest on Anger

If you write and you've never heard of Miss Snark's First Victim, a blog by the currently anonymous Authoress Anon, then you're missing out on some great writing and critiquing opportunities. With the exception of the Baker's Dozen--a yearly contest--all her contests are free, and they're excellent ways to connect with fellow writers and receive feedback on your own writing. Go there.

Last week, she called for entrants for her Drop the Needle Contest, this time looking specifically for 400 word scenes from novels in which the characters exhibited anger. I was lucky enough to have a scene near the end of WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL chosen. 

One commentator wrote: "This is really great -- so much tension! The dialogue felt very realistic, too. I wish I could keep reading!" Take a look for yourself and let me know if you agree. Although, SPOILER alert. (Yeah, it gives away a huge chunk of the ending.) Any and all suggestions are welcome!

Oh, and I plan to introduce my new beta readers in the next week or so. I so so so look forward to working with them to make WINTER the best it can be. :)

Aaaaand DONE! (at least with the first draft)

This is what someone looks like when she completes the first draft of her second novel:

Alright, so it's what I look like. But I did it. I completed that difficult first draft of novel #2, WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL.

In case you've forgotten (not that you'd care to remember. I get that.) what it looked like when I completed my first draft of novel #1, it looked like this:

Here are some comparisons:

1. D1 of N1: that's me inside in my jammies after having eaten an entire box of chocolate. D1 of N2: I'm outside in the shade (and not in my jammies). My hair surprisingly looks the same. Weird. Okay, so no one really cares about that.
2. D1 of N1: completed during February vacation, after <2 months of writing. D1 of N2: April vacation, after 5.5 months.
3. D1 of N1: I look a lot more excited than I am with D1 of N2. Part of that is because it's true. There's something exciting about completing that first book that can't be matched with the second. I guess the main difference here is that with N2, I've proven to myself that I can do it. More than one story exists in me, which is comforting. Awfully comforting.

So yeah, there you go. Now to reread that which I haven't read since November. Oh, and if you haven't read it yet, here's what WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL is about.

New Betas Wanted

There we go. I just did it. I sent the request to my principal for approval to obtain a new panel of beta readers. I'm, what I estimate to be, four or five hours of work away from a completed rough draft of WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL.

The novel itself has been more difficult to write than LitD. It's taken its toll emotionally. Whereas LitD was a constant high, a wave of pleasure and pride and fantasy, I've had more doubt about WINTER's contents...and more nightmares.  It's the book that I wonder at being able to write at all, and that at some points I feel trapped within. It's high school and college wrapped together--the containment within institutional walls with the delicate promise of liberation in the end.

I look forward to revisions.

Neglected but not forgotten

I have this large--and perhaps unfounded--fear that if I don't update my blog regularly, something evil will happen to my writing career. I read several writing blogs, and many say, "make sure writers have an online presence," and, "agents want to see that you're out there," and, "agents don't like to see a forgotten blog."

It's not forgotten.

I've been busy writing. I'm up to 50K consecutive words in WINTER ON BRIMSTONE HILL.

So while I have been neglecting my blog, I haven't been neglecting my novel.

That's more important, right? :)