Writing Week #2
Man, my first weekly update and I forget to post on Sunday afternoon. Lame! 
But, I’m still committed to tracking my progress, so even though I’m a day late (and a few hundred words short), here it is. Confession time: I fell short of my weekly word count due to a couple long-distance book signings and library appearances this week. (And going to the Utah v. Montana St. game on Thursday didn’t leave me a lot of time for writing. Go Utes!) But I’m still working and still writing and my word count is still going up–and that’s what counts.
I encountered an interesting challenge with the story this past week. I’m alternating chapters between Sara’s and Sam’s POV when I realized that the story was going to separate the two characters for a chapter and while I wanted to follow Sara–because that’s where the action was going–my pattern demanded a Sam chapter. For a moment, I considered breaking the pattern and just saying, “I’m the author, I can do what I want,” but then I thought, “No, let’s stick to it and see what happens.” And what happened was a pretty nice Sam chapter with a little more insight into his character and history. I’m glad I trusted my gut and gave Sam a chance to shine.
Lesson learned: Sometimes our best work comes when we place restrictions on our work. It forces us to be more creative in order to work around the obstacles.
Favorite Sentence: Paul rolled his eyes. “Apparently Bootsie likes valium almost as much as her owner does.”
Word Count: 7953/70,000
Writing Week #1
So last week, I made a promise to report in every week about the writing of Hello, Good-bye: how it’s going, what’s working (and not), and what my word count is up to.
I’m happy to report that so far, so good. I missed writing for a couple of days due to some book signings that ran late this week, but luckily my Saturday was mostly free of commitments. I was able to catch up for both my missed days and still stay on track. I think that’s actually a good bit of advice: have a goal, do your best to reach it, but still give yourself some flexibility. For example, I had a book signing on Thursday night in Orem from 6 to 8 and then I had a dinner date with my good friends Ally and Becca. I didn’t get home until after 11 p.m. I was exhausted, but if I had forced myself to stay up for another hour or so and write, I’d be willing to bet that none of those words would even be worth preserving. It was better for the book–and for me–to wait until Saturday when I was rested to dive back into the story. Remember: Don’t kill yourself off too early in the process; your characters need you alive to tell their story.
And the story is coming along pretty well. Sam and Sara are talking a lot, so I don’t have much written in the way of description yet. That’s okay. I can always go back and flesh it out a little more later. Right now I’m just trying to keep up with the conversation.
And in more good news, my plan to switch from first-person POV to third-person POV in alternating chapters seems to be working out. At least so far. We’ll see if I can sustain it in the long-term.
Favorite sentence this week: He tried to ignore the warmth of her skin against his, but not very hard.
Total word count: 5,226 / 70,000
Staying on Track
It’s true. I’ve started writing my next book. *deep breath* And for some reason, I’m really nervous about this one. I know that each book has it’s own personality and pace, so I’m telling myself not to expect the process to be like writing Hourglass Door (or even Golden Spiral or even Forgotten Locket) but there’s something about beginning again that has me feeling more cautious than usual.
So to combat that feeling, I’ve come up with a plan. I’m a “one-bite-of-the-elephant-at-a-time” kind of a writer, and I’ve set myself a goal of writing 700 words a day–every day. If I can do that, then I’ll have a draft done by the end of November. And that feels do-able. Not too many words (I still have a full-time job, you know) and not too few either. We’ll see if I can stick to it (my husband says, Yes, I can).
One thing I thought I could do to help myself stay on track is to post my progress every Sunday afternoon. I’ll report in about what I’m thinking and feeling about the book and the writing process, as well as my favorite line so far and my total word count. (Bonus: that means I’ll actually, finally, be blogging on a regular basis–something I’ve been trying to do for months with varying degrees of success.)
What do you say? Wanna help me write a book?
Back to Back Wins!
On Saturday, June 25, 2011, The Golden Spiral was named the 2010 YA Book of the Year by ForeWord Reviews. And for those of you keeping score, that’s two wins for two books. (The Hourglass Door won the 2009 YA Book of the Year.) The best part of the win–well, there were a lot of best parts–was that I was actually there at ALA for the announcement.
I’ll admit it; I was so nervous. But my husband, Tracy, was with me, as well as Chris from Shadow Mountain (my publisher), and we all held our breath as the winners were announced. Honorable Mention. Bronze. Silver. And in that moment just before they announced the Gold, that moment when I knew it was all or nothing, I held my breath . . . and then: The Golden Spiral came up gold. (Yay!)
Needless to say, there was much celebrating that night, including a round of beignets at Cafe Du Monde.
Three New Ideas . . . Vote Now!
I’ve been struggling with picking which idea to work on next now that the story of Abby and Dante is all finished. I’m curious as to which idea you guys like the best. I wrote up sample “back cover copy” for each of the three ideas that I’m most interested in at the moment. So pretend you’re browsing at the bookstore and you see a copy of these three books: A Fairy-Tale Wedding, Just June, and Hello, Good-bye. Which one do you pick up? Which one do you take home? Please leave me a comment with the title of the story you would like to read first (don’t worry–chances are good I’ll write all three of these stories, but I’m really interested in which one I should do first).
(Voting closes July 1st.)
Thanks for your help!
A Fairy-Tale Wedding
Tessa and Noah
Will be wed in Washington Park on June 4th
Send your wishes up to Grandmother Moon for us
All good faeries invited!
Wedding invitations are rare for faeries living in secret in the city, but Lily isn’t interested. As the owner of the only floral shop catering to both faeries and mortals, she has too much work to do. She may be a faerie, but she’s never really felt comfortable letting her wings down—so to speak—and joining in the revels and festivals.
Reluctantly, Lily attends the party and is surprised to see Ash with his brothers Thorn and Oak there. She hasn’t seen Ash since Lammas Tide when their long, on-again-off-again relationship finally broke apart. But when Thorn and Oak steal away the bride, the party turns to chaos. Hoping to avert disaster, Lily steps into Tessa’s place. But how long will she have to pretend to be someone she’s not?
As it turns out, not long. True love is a powerful magic all its own, and Noah quickly sees past Lily’s glamour to the truth. Determined to rescue Tessa, Noah asks Lily for help, and they begin a journey through the moral realm together, looking for a way into the heart of Faerie. But the pathways between worlds have fractured, and it will take all of Lily’s magic to find a way home—before she and Tessa become trapped in the wrong worlds—forever.
Just June
When June finds the body of May, her identical twin sister, dead in the bathtub, she is horrified by the suicide. As her own life spins out of control, she is faced with question after question—each one more difficult to answer than the last: How could two girls—so alike as to be almost the same person—have such vastly different lives? What was happening in her sister’s life that led her down a path June would never have considered in a million years? And the hardest question of all to answer: How come June didn’t know May was in trouble?
As June follows the broken path of May’s secret life, she meets Knox: an avid, amateur magician, fascinated with the idea of making something disappear, the possibility of escape, and the challenge of transforming one thing into something else. Knox has a part-time summer job performing magic shows for the neighborhood kids. He had asked May to be his assistant, but extends the offer to June, who steps into her sister’s role, hoping to understand her sister and find answers she needs to relieve her guilt.
As the relationship between Knox and June transforms from friendship into something more, June comes face-to-face with the answers to her questions. But will those answers led her to the same end as her sister? Or will she find a way to set her sister’s soul to rest?
Hello, Good-bye
Sara is a seeker. She’s always on the lookout for the perfect moment to capture with her ever-present, point-and-shoot camera. She may just be an amateur photographer, but she wants to be ready when inspiration strikes. And inspiration is all around her during her first trip to New York. The noise. The people. The nonstop energy. It’s a little overwhelming to face on her own, but with her dad in meetings all day, Sara is ready for a little exploration. A little adventure. Ready to leave her most recent heartache behind.
That’s when she sees him coming out of a bookstore, a wrapped package under his arm, a gray hoodie emblazoned with the name of her favorite, no-one’s-ever-heard-of band: the Zebra Stripes. Sara can’t help herself. She snaps a picture just before he disappears into the crowd.
Sam is a finder. He has a knack for finding what other people can’t. Like an out-of-print, first-edition book, or the last two tickets to a sold-out show. In New York, there’s always something interesting to find. He’s good at what he does because he’s good at seeing what people need and what it takes to fulfill that need. He knows what want feels like, the shape it takes inside people. Secretly, though, he’s hoping that if he looks hard enough, maybe someday he’ll find what he’s looking for—the one thing that can fill the emptiness inside of him.
When Sam and Sara’s paths cross, neither of them is prepared for what they will find out about each other—and about themselves—in the single day they spend together learning how to say hello. And good-bye.
Devouring a Book
We’ve all done it. Somewhere on your bookshelf—and mine—there is that one book that you devoured in one giant gulp. The book that fulfilled you body and soul. The book you just had to read out loud because the words tasted so good on your tongue.
You might not suspect it but The 2011 Book Blogger’s Cookbook is such a book. It’s a beautiful blend of a cookbook about books. It’s worth reading straight through if only to find new books to add to your “to-read” shelf. It’s worth savoring page by page if only to try all the new, easy-to-make recipes. The lineup is stellar (and I say that not just because I’m included in the list; I’m honored to be in such company) and the recipes are equally stellar. Main dishes, desserts, drinks—there’s a little bit of everything in this cookbook. Each recipe is inspired by a specific book—mostly from the YA field—and the food ties into the story in some fashion. For example, the recipe for The Hourglass Door is “Time-stopping Chocolate Truffles.” (Yum! I can’t wait to try it out for myself.)
But maybe the best part of this book is that it comes with a contest where the grand prize is a brand-new Kindle. (And who doesn’t love a chance to add more books to their library?)
From the official Book Blogger’s Cookbook website:
Grand Prize Giveaway: Kindle, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6″ (the kind without the ads), plus five copies of The 2011 Book Blogger’s Cookbook
Rules: All you have to do is leave a comment on this post or any of the great blogs that are participating. (Click here for a full list of blogs.) If you want more entries into the contest, simply Tweet, Facebook, or blog about the cookbook and comment on Christy Dorrity’s blog (the author of the book) telling her what you did. Winners will be drawn on July 21st.
Good reading. Good eating. And good luck!
The Joy of a New Idea
“Are you working on anything else?” That is the question I seem to be hearing most during my book signings for Forgotten Locket.
And the short answer is “yes.” But what that something is remains to be seen. It’s not that I don’t know what to do–I’m never at a loss for ideas–it’s that I don’t know which idea to pursue first. I thought I knew exactly what was up next after finishing the story of Abby and Dante, but then I had this dream…
And there was this moment in the dream that felt so real that I knew as soon as I woke up that I had a new idea vying for my attention.
For me, that’s one of the best moments in the whole process. That first moment when a new idea stretches up and reaches out and whispers, “What about this…?” I find a lot of joy in that first moment of discovery. And even more joy when that moment turns into a whole story. So, what’s next? Maybe it’ll be this new idea after all . . .
New York and BEA report
So much has happened the last few weeks (ahem, months) and I haven’t blogged about any of it. Not a single word about my awesome trip to New York for BEA. Not my feelings about attending the Benjamin Franklin Awards and just missing the gold. Not a peep about the kickin’ launch party for my book at the Purple Cow. Nada about the Utah Book Festival. Nothing. And, for that, I’m sorry. *hangs head in shame*
But I believe that one of the big purposes of life is to become better than you are, and so from here on out, I will do better about blogging and keeping track of my thoughts and sharing what’s going on. Starting now…
NEW YORK
This was my first trip to New York and if I have anything to say about it, it won’t be my last. Tracy was able to come with me to BEA so we tacked on a few extra days to enjoy some of the tourist-y stuff. Here is a list of the top ten things we did that I will never forget (in no particular order):
1. Visiting Trinity Church and Ground Zero. Just stepping foot on that hallowed ground had me in tears.
2. Visiting Ellis Island and seeing the Statue of Liberty. Part of my family came to America through Ellis Island so this had special meaning to me. I just wish Tracy and I could have spent more than 40 minutes there (stupid ferry schedule!)
3. Seeing Rock of Ages on Broadway. When I was a teenager, I vowed that one day I would see a musical on Broadway. I kinda didn’t think it would be one featuring the music of 80 hair-metal bands, but I loved every minute of it. Don’t stop believin!
4. Standing on top of the Empire State Building at midnight. Looking back, I probably should have been all romantic and kissed Tracy, but it was really windy and really cold. But beautiful. Oh, so beautiful.
5. Standing on top of Rockefeller Center at eleven o’clock at night. Not so windy, not so cold. And the best part? You have a killer view of the Empire State Building!
6. Seeing Danielle Barbe perform at the Rockwood Music Hall in the Lower East Side. She is AMAZING! And I loved having a front-row seat in the small club and being able to sing along to all of her songs.
7. Ducking into St. John the Divine cathedral to escape a rainstorm, only to discover they were holding an organ recital. Oh, man. That building is beautiful!
8. Walking through Historic Little Italy and stopping to have dinner at the best Italian restaurant I’ve ever been to and watching the sun set and the lights on the Empire State Building come up.
9. Devouring a slice of Junior’s famous cheesecake. And yes. It is that good.
10. And, of course, going to BEA for the very first time and seeing the big poster of my book hanging up, and meeting such wonderful people, and signing copies of my books, and seeing all the booths on the floor, and hearing Sarah Dessen speak at the breakfast (I love her books!)–it was all so perfect! I’ll be honest, it was a little overwhelming at first, but it was something I’ll never forget.
Enter to Win a Copy of Forgotten Locket
Can’t wait to read Forgotten Locket? Can’t come to my early-release party on May 28? Then enter to win one of two copies of Forgotten Locket at GoodReads.com here. The contest closes at the end of the month. Good luck!
Tour News
I’ve been posting tour information for where I’ll be this summer promoting Forgotten Locket. I’ve locked down my June dates, and they’re mostly Utah location, but it’s looking like I’ll be traveling in July. Nothings set in stone yet, but it’s looking like I’ll be in Seattle the weekend of July 1, in Idaho the weekend of July 15, in Arizona the weekend of July 22, and in San Diego the weekend of July 29. Stay tuned for exact times, dates, and places.