How Rebecca got her Groove Back

My writing groove, that is. I am revising away and tonight I wrote a new chapter for Fumped.

I haven't really written anything *new* in months--I finished Fumped last fall and then took a long time to edit it (apparently not enough, as I keep finding cringe-worthy typos and other assorted problems), and only got as far as an outline for my next project before I went back to revising Fumped.

Anyway, writing again was a little choppy at first, but I found my rhythm [is it just me, or is rhythm a terribly hard word to spell? I am always throwing in an extra h or m. Thank you, spellcheck] In fact I really got into it and totally lost track of time tonight, and now I'm going to be going to bed super late.

The other thing helping get my writing groove back: my writing space is back to normal. I live on the top floor of my building, and that means that when the roof leaks, my ceiling leaks. Did you know that this has been one of the snowiest winters and possibly the wettest March on record in NYC? I sure do! All of February I had pans catching filthy sludge water in my room. I helplessly watched the plaster crack move closer and closer to my books. All of the furniture eventually got pushed in the "safe" corner. It was really gross. Don't believe me? Check out my ceiling:

Nasty, right? That pic was actually taken in the bathroom but it's the funniest picture of the leak trauma (We referred to those as our ceiling paint boobs). Anyway, to keep it shortish because this blog doesn't exist for me to vent about my renting woes: finally in March they fixed the roof, and finally last week they came and scraped off the crumbling plaster on my ceiling and repainted. I moved my furniture back and put pictures back up on the wall. Now my writing space is orderly and comfy and bright and sunny and happy again. Just in time for me to start spending lots of time in here, revising.

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It's the most wonderful time of the year

Christmas? No. The Vernal Equinox? Not really. IT'S PEEPS SEASON! I understand that there are now jack-o'lantern Peeps, black-cat Peeps, Christmas-tree Peeps, and really gross-looking Valentine's Day heart Peeps. (Although in my opinion, any Peep that isn't representing a mammal is kind of lame.) Peeps are now available from late August through April, and possibly year-round if you find them at the dollar store (FYI stale Peeps = ew). But true Peeps season is the original Peeps time of year: Easter. Spring is when Peeps taste the freshest, I swear. The best part of Peeps season is actually not the actual Peeps, which are known to make you sick and hyper if consumed in excess*. The best part of Peeps season are the Peeps contests. *Excess is defined as eating more than two rows of Peeps in one sitting. The ultimate Peeps contest is the Peeps Show: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/03/29/GA2010032903934.html?hpid=artslot (I would post shots of the Peeps here, but sadly the WP isn't letting me) Other Peeps diorama contests exist, but the one in the Washington Post is the best. Check out these amazing literary Peeps scenes [see, this post does belong on my blog after all] from Peeps Show IV: Goodnight, Peep; Where the Wild Peeps Are; Peepaline; Peeps and Prejudice and Zombies; One Thousand and One Peepian Nights plus a recreation of Hitchcock's The Birds (a Tippi Hedren Peep!) and the infamous riding mower scene in Mad Men.

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A Gift from the ARC fairy

It's always exciting when I get the "You have a package at reception" email at work because that almost always means it's a new advance reading copy. (Unless I've been online shopping and sending the goods to work--Hey, I don't have a doorman, and UPS apparently hates both me and my building.) I ripped open the mailer and pulled out [drumroll, please]: The Prince of the Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. AWESOME! I'm not sure how I didn't know about this book already, because Shadow of the Wind is one of my faves. Reading the ARC's intro letter (which Ruiz Zafon wrote himself, not someone from marketing), I found out that The Prince of the Mist was his first book, written when he was 26 and published in Spain. Now's it's been translated by Lucia Graves and is being released in the U.S. as YA/crossover. Thanks to Ruiz Zafon's Wikipedia page, I now know that he actually published 4 YA novels before Shadow of the Wind came out in 2001. I wonder if they're going to be translated eventually, too? Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading it and getting excited about getting it in my mail was a good way to start off the workweek.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I finished Dragon Tattoo last night, sadly. Except not so sadly because it's a trilogy so I get to spend another (approximately) 1100 pages with Salander and Kalle Blomkvist. I will finish the last book very sadly in that case.

I'm not going to do any sort of review because I don't want to risk any unintentional spoilers. Also, I don't particularly like writing traditional reviews, and this is my blog. I'm a little surprised that I loved reading Dragon Tattoo so much. I like me some crime fiction now and then, but I generally dislike reading graphic depictions of violence (particularly if it's violence against women or of a sexual nature). I don't think it's spoiling anything to say there's some of that in the book. However, it didn't feel gratuitous and it was balanced by the book's subtle feminist slant. In my opinion, anyway.

I'm always a little sad when I finish a book and have to leave its fictive world. The upside is that for the past week I've been reading Dragon Tattoo pretty compulsively--pulling it out in the elevator (really? I am going to be inside for 2 minutes, max), finishing a chapter after I make it out of the subway car (don't worry, Mom, I am not reading while entering or exiting the train or anywhere near the edge of the platform), at home when I should be doing work. I'm sorry, but I needed to know what was gonna happen next.

Speaking of next, one of those ARCs is next in line for me to read: The Daughters by Joanna Philbin.

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Nose to the grindstone

This has been a pretty awesome week (and it's only Thursday). A pretty awesome two weeks, actually, thanks to my vacation. (Vacation, I miss you--please come back soon) But now it's time to get to work. First, I have a freelance article for Cheer Biz News due on Monday and I only have written one very lame paragraph for it. I'm not worried, because I did all my interviews before I went away and it's just a matter of organizing all of that info into 1,500 coherent words. But it is going to take some time. Then, I need to start my revisions of Fumped. I'm eager (and impatient) to get going on them. I have never been a real procrastinator because whenever I have something to do, be it a school assignment or a work project, or even just cleaning my fridge, my impulse is to drop everything and start right away. (Okay, maybe not for cleaning the fridge, and especially not if there is a new episode of 30 Rock on Hulu.) That's a good thing unless I have a lot of other stuff to do; then I just get antsy. I don't like starting things. I like being in the middle of things. So, step 1 is going to be: finish the freelance article. Followed by step 2: reread all my notes on Fumped, marking up a hardcopy of the MS as I go. (I hate reading on the computer so I always print out hard copies to edit. I would like to tell all the trees that I am very sorry, but I do always dispose of old drafts in the recycling bin.)

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News

The hardest part about writing this post was figuring out which adjective I was going to use with "News."

Good?

Fantastic?

Incredible?

Super Awesome?

Yeah, I couldn't decide. Nothing quite nailed how elated I'm feeling. How unwriterly of me! Bad Rebecca!

Maybe I should have just gone with O.M.G.

Now that I've drawn my news out enough to hopefully get your interest, here it is:

I signed the paperwork today, and I'm now a client of Suzie Townsend of FinePrint Literary Management!

I am seriously thrilled to be working with Suzie. I did my homework before querying her and she is an agent extraordinaire. I had a feeling from the minute I read her response to my query that she was going to be The One, and after I got notes back from her (which I alluded to a few posts ago but didn't elaborate on for fear of jinxing myself) I knew she was. Suzie understands my vision for the book*, her suggestions are spot-on, and she's been a pleasure to work with so far. I. Am. Thrilled.

So now I'm going to take her excellent input and start some revisions and have them done before June (you know that I love deadlines). And then we'll see what happens!

*I realize I have been very vague about my book, so I'll post with more info about as I start diving into those revisions. For now, I will reveal the title: Fumped

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Vacation Reading Report Card: Needs Improvement

My vacation time is dwindling. I have 15 hours, give or take a few punches of the snooze button, until I will be back at work. :( Which isn't to say that going to work is terrible; it's just that vacation time is lovely.

So remember that post where I told you all that I had 4 books plus several magazines to read on the beach? And how I thought it was entirely feasible that I'd read all or most of them? HA!

I slept for most of the flight there (St. Thomas), browsing through a magazine and reading maybe 20 pages of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Did I mention that I find planes terrifying, despite having a gazillion frequent flier miles? The terror gives me acute ADHD and it's usually kind of hard for me to focus on anything other than pretty pictures while in flight. I have too much butterfly-mind to even watch the in-flight movie usually.

Naturally, we spent only one day just hanging out at the beach (and a lot of it was in the water--not conducive to reading although I saw one lady propped up by a water noodle reading in the Caribbean, which was pretty awesome) and one evening reading on our balcony. The rest of the time was spent hopping over to St. John or checking out other beaches on St. Thomas or snorkeling or downing fruity rum concoctions. Forgive me, but I wasn't raised to take relaxation vacations but stimulating trips and it's a hard habit to break. Although I made a lot of progress this past week in taking a vacation.

So my vacation reading tally stands:

Books read: just 300 pages of Dragon Tattoo

Magazines read: 1.5

Although I read a lot of our USVI guidebook, but that doesn't really count.

Now that I've unpacked, the "too read" portion of my bookshelf just got longer. Oh well! I would never be happy if it wasn't always overflowing.

BTW, Dragon Tattoo is really awesome so far, particularly Lisbeth Salander. My mom picked out another good one.

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Change of plans

No, not related to my vacation. Thank God.

I was all set to start the writing process for a new project in April. I have a working outline of the story, and I've been working on character-development creative activities (making collages, etc.). However, I'm going to put that project on hold for now and do a pretty sizeable revision of my YA novel.

Why? Well, I got some excellent notes from an agent interested in the book. The things she highlighted for revision, for the most part, I agree could be reworked/massaged/pumped up/etc. I had revised the book before I started sending it out, of course, but there were some sections or aspects I wasn't 100% thrilled with. Those were the things she really hit on in her critique and her suggestions have started to inspire me to revise, revise, revise. I feel lucky that I have some great notes to use to take another crack at revising my book. I'm actually kind of excited to start working on it again, with fresh eyes.

It's funny because I wrote my master's thesis on editing and authorship, and particularly the relationship between an editor and an author in the writing process. I am not going to get into my thesis because it's pretty dry and theoretical, but I will say that one point I tried to make in the thesis is that an editor is essential to the creation of a story/book/novel/whatever and that his/her contributions shouldn't be minimized or seen as an intrusion. I kind of see it like the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child." It takes a village (full of agents and editors and writing friends and family members and coworkers) to write a book, too. Of course, I work as an editor so I am biased.

I really groove on setting schedules and deadlines for myself in writing, mainly because I need to set goals to keep myself accountable and prevent my writing from getting derailed by Hulu and reading and wine bars and yoga classes. I think it's important to realize, though, that flexibility is equally important. I'm definitely putting my schedule aside for now to revise my YA book, but once revisions are done I'll pick it up again. Who knows? Maybe in the meantime I'll have some more Eureka! moments about that story.

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Book Binge

I finished Half Broke Horses and immediately began experiencing Jeannette-Walls-storytelling withdrawal. Seriously, how have I not already read The Glass Castle?

So I went to Borders for a book binge, which I could justify because I'm going on vacation on Monday, and I need a lot to read on the flights (to distract me from my routine plane panic) and also on the beach. Yes, the beach! I am escaping the gray Northeast finally and I'm going to spend 5 blissful days in the Caribbean, reading in the sun. I haven't taken a real vacation in 6 years so I think I have earned this trip.

What am I supposed to be posting about? Oh, right. Books I'm reading. So I picked up The Glass Castle, and struggled to refrain from sneakily reading it at my desk the rest of the afternoon. (If I hadn't been so busy, the book would have won. For the record, I have never actually sneakily read a novel at work instead of doing my job.) I also got The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo because my mom recommended it and she has wonderful taste in books. I like to think I inherited it.

I'm also bringing along two advanced-review copies (ARCs) of YA new releases. I get those a lot through various industry mailing lists, which I still find exciting and awesome. Free books! Sent to me before you can buy them in the store! Anyway, the two I got last week are Sisters Red, which is described as "a dark, taut fairy tale with heart-pounding action, fierce sisterly love, and a romance that will leave readers breathless." Sounds intriguing. The other is the daughters, a novel by Regis Philbin's daughter, Joanna. It's about "what's it's really like to come of age in the thick of the celebrity world." I don't typically like stories about the celebrity life, but this promises an underdog/outsider's take on it, so I'm interested in reading it.

I have no idea how many or few of these I'll read next week--I could very well just end up snoozing in a hammock and drinking fruity drinks. Or I could burn through all of them. We'll see!

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Writing jitters

Two things in my fiction work are making me anxious lately. (Anxious might not be the most appropriate description. I feel in no way similar to how I feel when I am boarding a plane. Although that's probably more like terrified or pants-shitting. Antsy is a better word for how I feel about writing lately. I digress.)

The first is that I've sent out some queries to agents in the past month and a half for my YA novel. It's such a rollercoaster, at least for someone who is new to this game. On the one hand, you have the instances in which someone replies favorably, and you inch forward by sending them a partial or full manuscript, and then you go back to waiting. That scenario, even if it leads to a pass, is still positive reinforcement regardless. On the other hand are instances of total silence. I think I would actually prefer a speedy form rejection to no response. Without any response, you are left wondering--Did my query go through? Did a spam filter eat it? Is the agent just slow (which is fine; I know the volume of submissions they receive)? Or did they hate it and chuck it? So many questions and limitless time to ponder them in your head.

The second is that I completed the outline for my next writing project. I am a huge fan of a detailed outline, even though I always end up straying from them. I need a road map before I can embark on storytelling. Anyway, it's been a while since I wrote something fresh. I spent a lot of time revising my YA book and working on freelance articles. I know how rewarding writing is, but also how much work it is. Starting something new is always daunting! Hence I'm feeling a little anxious/antsy.

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WIRRN: Half Broke Horses

WIRRN: What I'm Reading Right Now

Well, not right right now because right right now I'm writing a blog post. Whatevs.

I'm reading Half Broke Horses and loving it. I imagine the true-life fictional protagonist, Lily Casey Smith, was a lot like my Grandma Margaret in her youth. Tough, straight-shooting, raised-in-the-Great-Depression women who knew how to roll up their sleeves and get shit done. Teacher women who got their education from life. Women who went through so much and came out still wearing a steely grin.

Reading it makes me want to write a book about Margaret's life, or how I would imagine and tell it, even more.

I'm only about halfway through but already I've forced others to pick up a copy. It's that good.

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Why YA lit is so great

I came across an article about YA lit's popularity with As who are not exactly Y on the interwebs:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-young-adult8-2010mar08,0,1082099.story

I can't say that I agree in viewing it as a new trend, or that YA lit has only recently gained credibility among other groups of readers. I think it depends on how you define YA lit. Personally, I would classify Franny and Zooey, Crossing California, Tonio Kroger all as YA. I tend to see the genre as an extension of the bildungsroman. Anything that has relatively age-appropriate content and is a coming-of-age-story seems like YA fair-game to me.

It's interesting to see the reasons why adults are embracing YA lately discussed. I agree that creativity abounds, especially with paranormal/fantasy being rather hot right now. Speaking for myself, I like YA because I think the genre allows for simpler and/or quieter stories to be told. The action might not be in the plot but in the protagonist's introspection. What might be mundane or universal feels huge to a teenager, so it's not weird to devote 250 pages to describing one person's emotional rollercoaster. Eat, Pray, Love was a great and successful book, but I heard a lot of people criticize how it was basically one woman working through her messy divorce on paper, and the book never really ventured away from her navel. I don't think a YA version of EPL would get the same criticism. How many great YA stories are about the aftermath of a life-changing end to a relationship? The introspection in YA lends itself to a lot of great narrative voices, too. Not that non-YA lit isn't full of incredible voices, but there is a distinct openness and vulnerability to the voice in many YA works that is charming and, to a non-YA reader, very nostalgic. (Of course, I am generalizing about the genre, big time!)

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One of my articles is online!

For the first time, one of my articles, Beat the Winter Blues, was posted on American Cheerleader's web site! (It ran in the February 2010 print edition.) The link is here:

http://www.americancheerleader.com/2010/02/beat-the-winter-blues/

Most of the articles I write for Cheerleader are actually for its business/industry news publication, Cheer Biz News. Occasionally, though, I get a general-interest article for the teen magazine. I don't know much about cheerleading, so a lot of their cheer-specific content would be difficult for me to write about intelligently (although I'm learning as I go).

I've written a lot about health, mental health, and safety for the magazines. Maybe it's just because I'm a recovering hypochondriac but I love writing about health and wellness.

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Don't you mean voracious reader?

Yeah, I did. But I am a horrible typist and I initially made the title "Vocarious Reader," which looked and sounded like a misspelling of vicarious. I thought about it, and I realized that possibly my favorite thing about books (both reading and writing them) is the escapism/transportation factor. I will never get to time travel, or fight in the Spanish Civil War, or go drinking with Dorothy Parker. I get to approximate those experiences through books. I like that.

Hence, I went with vicarious reader. Voracious reader is a little cliche anyway, right?

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The Dread First Post

Why blog, why now?

So apparently a writer these days needs a public forum. Seeing as I don't have the inclination (or money, or knowledge of advanced HTML or whatever one uses to make snazzy web sites) to set up a web site proper, that means I need a blog. And away we go!

But to make anyone who stumbles upon my blog feel not-used, I'll tell you some other reasons why I sat down today and started posting. I love books. I live for them. I spent $30,000, which I will be paying back to the federal government for the next several decades, studying them. My day-job* is to write, edit, and produce them. This is a place where I'm going to ramble on about the books I'm reading now and the ones I've read before and can't get over. *won't be discussing that, though

I've started to write books too, which only seems fair considering how many I devour. So I'm also going to discuss (i.e. vent/lament/celebrate/contemplate) what it's like to write books and then try to get them published.

Sometimes I learn about really interesting stuff from my freelance writing. For example, did you know that something called mat herpes exists? You can contract it from contact with gym mats if you have open cuts or wounds on your skin. It's nasty. I'm not making this up. Cover yourself up if you are going to be lolling about on any gym mats. Anyway, I might share cool stuff (or gross stuff, as the case may be) I come across through freelance projects here.

I intend to keep this a *professional* blog, but fair warning is that I am known for my chronic bouts of diarrhea of the mouth.

So that's that. And this is my blog.

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