Revision

For the first time this week I finally feel productive, at least writing-wise.  I’m still working on a first draft of my book, but since I have a manuscript consultation coming up, I put a little time into revising the first chapter.  Some of the conflicts in my story have changed since I first wrote the opening, so I went back and made everything work.  I feel pretty good about the result, but I’m so used to seeing the words one way that it feels weird too.  Either way, I’m feeling better about the revision process than I ever have.  Someone once said it’s easier to revise than to write, because when you revise you at least have material to work with.  I’m starting to see the light.

Resource Thursdays: Holly Black

I am a huge fan of good surprises.  Often, some of the best surprises are meeting people who make you think about the real or fictional world in a different way.  At the SCBWI conference I was surprised and delighted to meet Holly Black.  Holly, along with Tony DiTerlizzi, is the author of the Spiderwick Chronicles and YA fantasy Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside.  After dinner one night, a few friends and I got a mini lesson from Holly on fantasy plotting.  Though I don’t write fantasy, the things she talked about definitely apply to other types of books and I was super pumped.

Holly also has a ton of great information on her website about writing and research.  It’s really fun to read, so be sure to check it out.  Don’t forget to read her books too!  I finished Tithe:  A Modern Faerie Tale a little while ago and was so hooked I now have the rest of the series on order.  Read.  Enjoy.  Repeat.

My excuse for slacking off

As you may have noticed from my husband’s posting a blog entry for me (sneaky, he is) I was dead tired last night and in no mood to blog.  I have a good excuse though!  My husband and I had purchased tickets to see Neil Finn play at Largo, and after our weekend to San Francisco, we completely forgot about the concert.  Luckily I remembered that afternoon or we would have been doing laundry and grocery shopping while the band played on.

Before the show we grabbed a bite to eat at Kings Road Cafe, and overheard one of the funniest conversations in awhile.  Some musician, who wasn’t famous enough for me to recognize, sat down across from his friends.  He launched into a story about how when he was in Milan and Donatella Versace recognized him.  “Come to my store,” she said to him.  “I’ll close it down for you.”

The musician thought it would be a trip, so he and his friend went.  “Come,” Donatella said, “pick what you like and take whatever you want.  You can have what you want.”

“Sweet,” this guy thought.  “It’s free.”

He and his friend went on a shopping spree, picking out things they would never wear, like leather shirts with gold studs, all because he thought it was free.  When it was time to leave the store, Donatella says, “Let me just take your credit card in case.”

“In case what?” the guy thought.  That’s when he realized that what he thought was free wasn’t free.

He and his friend walked out.  “Holy cow,” his friend said.  “I spent 35 million lira.”

They did the math.  “That’s thirty five thousand dollars.”

The musician sighed.  “I guess I got off lucky.  I only spent seventeen grand.”

There’s a lesson to be learned in there.

Motorbike

This is Tanya in Cozumel, which is an island. She was going through her motor-bike phase.

Back to the daily grind

You know what’s ironic?  At the airport you need to be at your gate at a certain time, and yet there are no obvious clocks in the entire place.  This is not just one airport, but nearly every one I’ve been to. Seems odd to me.

That tidbit aside, this wedding weekend in San Francisco was fun but brief.  I didn’t get as much writing done as I would have liked, so I’ll try to play catch up this week.  I’ve got added incentive to work efficiently – at the SCBWI summer conference I was a door prize winner for a manuscript consultation with Stephen Mooser, President of the SCBWI.  I’m beyond excited, but I have to pull together a synopsis for my book.  This is harder than it looks, since my book isn’t actually finished.  That and I want to make a few changes to the first pages, since some plot lines have changed from when I began writing.  All in all, it’ll be hectic but fun.  Let’s just hope life doesn’t throw too many other projects at me.

Up and away

This weekend I’m off to San Francisco for a wedding shoot, and while I could use the weekend at home to catch up on sleep, I’m super excited.  Not only is the couple we’re working with fun and cute and totally in love, but they treated us to a night at the hotel where the reception will be held.  I’m looking forward to hard work and then some relaxing.  And of course, the plane rides.  Airplanes and airports are a constant source of confessions and characters, an emboldened world where you can say anything you want because you’ll never see that person again.  Here’s to collecting more people for the file.

Exhausted

I feel guilty for not updating this blog for the past few days, though it appears my husband has been busy behind the scenes posting old photographs of me.  I feel so absoluletly tired and excited and inspired by the SCBWI Summer Conference, which was truly an amazing experience.  I don’t do too well without sleep, and while the adreneline kept me going this past weekend, my body is now in catch-up mode.  I’ll give you more details on what I learned over the next few days, but for now I’ll leave you with this: the biggest piece of advice I heard over and over was to write what you love.  Write the story only you can write, the story you have to write.  The rest will come.

Cows and Us

Since Tanya has forgotten how to update [post writing conference] I’ll have to do it for her.  This is one of my favorite photos of Tanya.  I had just flown out to see her for the second time and things were getting pretty serious by this point [in a way only online instant messanger relationships can].  You can tell by the way she’s looking lovingly at me, and not the cow which in approx. 1.2 seconds is going to ram the gate into her exposed stomach sending her to the hospital for a week.

Resource Thursdays: SCBWI Conference Blog

Tomorrow starts the four day whirlwind that is the SCBWI Summer Conference, and I am beyond excited.  With so many amazing faculty members and so many interesting workshops, I’m having a hard time figuring out which sessions to attend.  Sadly I haven’t yet figured out how to be everywhere at once, but luckily for you and me, there’s the SCBWI Conference Blog.  This team blog, featuring contributions from Alice Pope, Lee Wind, Suzanne Young, Paula Yoo, Jolie Stekly, and Jaime Temairik will be the place to go for faculty interviews, conference highlights, and a run down of the events.  I’ll be catching up after the conference by reading the blog, but I’ll be signing off my own blog for the next few days.  I hope you enjoy the weekend!

I’m a prepper

What can I say, I’m a prepper.  And by prepper, I don’t mean preppy a la cardigans and blazers, I mean I’m a preparer.  For the SCBWI Summer Conference, which starts on Friday (holy cow!) I’ve got more notes than I know what to do with.  Not kidding – I have a 12 page spreadsheet.  (This should be a clue as to the kind of student I am.)  I want to get as much out of this conference as I can, so I’ve been spending my time the last few weeks taking notes and reading up on the conference faculty.  Not only has the research helped in narrowing down the speakers I want to see, it’s also helped me start a list of agents who I’d like to submit to in the future.  Getting ready for the conference is also like studying for the best kind of test – one where you hope to prove yourself professional and involved in your community.  Hopefully I pass, and if nothing else, this has been such an incredible learning experience.  I can’t wait for Friday.  I may not sleep for the next two days!