Day Four of LiLa!!! Love Them

This is the conclusion of my interview with LiLa. They've been at this writing and rewriting and querying thing since 2008. In fact, I've blog-stalked them and wanted to link you all to their first blog post. Why? Simple. Because writing is hard, and we all come from the same place: complete fear and total lack of confidence.

But why do we do it? Put ourselves through this every day? The fear, the doubt, the ice cream or chocolate and Twizzlers ;) Because we love it. That's why.

So, with that, I give you LiLa's advice to the rest of us:

Don't be afraid to start over. We can't tell you how many words we've thrown away since we've begun writing. BUT, we never truly throw the words away because they were all such good practice. The best part about writing is you can always start again. (Emphasis mine.)

Personally, I think it's important that we remember we can start over. Because we're living, breathing organisms, so's writing. I had similar openings (and the same ending) for Duality for about 10 years, until some very wise people told me that it didn't work. And I was kinda mad. But after I got over myself, I started over, crafted a MUCH stronger opening; crafted a second and then a third ending, which still doesn't work that well BTW. LiLa's right. Every word we put on paper or in pixel teaches us something, and even if they're not the best words EVAR, they teach us where we're weakest or strongest so that we can continue to grow, mature, and improve as writers. Personally, this is some of the best advice I've gotten. What about you guys?

OK. Two more pieces of business:

1) DON'T FORGET THE CONTEST!!!!!!!!!! It closes tomorrow, and I seriously have like 3 entries. So come on, play along. Don't make me beg for your participation. On any of the LiLa posts, leave me the best lie you ever told (or wanted to tell) for a chance to win a The Liar Society gift pack courtesy of our lovely ladies and moi.

2) LiLa's book birthday is TOMORROW. The Liar Society hits shelves tomorrow, March 1st. Be sure to leave Lisa and Laura some love on their blog, k? This is a big deal for them, and we should all help them celebrate. Right? Right.

Until tomorrow, my peeps!

Liar Society Day 3 + Six Sentence Sunday

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back with another installment of my interview with LiLa. AAAAAAND it's Six Sentence Sunday! Woo hoo!

So without further adieu, Question 3:

What is your writing process like? It's probably a liiiiittle different since you're co-writing.

LiLa: Lisa always writes the first chapter and Laura edits, writes the next chapter and sends it back to Lisa where she does the same. We continue with this rhythm until we have a finished manuscript. And then we edit. And edit and edit and edit.

I'm a little envious. A built-in editor would be FANTABULOUS.

Okay, y'all, don't forget about the contest for The Liar Society swag. Just put in the comments on any of the LiLa posts what the best lie you ever told (or wanted to tell) is. I'll decide the winner on Tuesday.

And now, six sentences from Duality. Don't forget to check out the other entrants here! And happy 1st birthday, Six Sentence Sunday! They grow up so fast! *sniff*

The bitter scent on his breath had grown more pungent since his last visit. My breathing sped up. My jaws ached to clamp down on his throat. The sick were the easiest to kill.

I fought the need to pounce. My tail twitched like a cobra about to strike.

Liar Society Day 2

All right. If you guys aren't familiar with the Roecker Sisters' The Liar Society, then I'm still convinced you live under a rock. Or you don't read YA (and if that's the case, what's wrong with you???? [j/k, sort of]). Well, you can check out the super-cool Liar Society website and get caught up on everything Liar Society. Even if you don't read YA, you'll want to pick this up.

Today we continue with my micro-interview with the Roeckers. For anybody who follows their blog, two things are clear: 1) These two are HILARIOUS; and 2) They love them some Twizzlers, even going so far as to make chocolate-covered ones (which miiiiiiiiiiiiiiight be included in a certain prize package...just sayin').

So I asked them:

Besides Twizzlers and chocolate, what's something that helps you while you write?

LiLa: Internet research. We seriously could not write without the Internet. We're constantly looking up questions (TBD whether or not the answers are accurate), Latin, photos for inspiration. We'd be lost without the web.

Ditto.

And now, I'm opening the "Best Lie You Ever Told (or Wanted to Tell)" Contest. The prize is a Liar Society prize package that will include some swag, poooooossibly some chocolate-covered Twizzlers, and a copy of the book. Commence lying! :D

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

All right! We totally have a winner of our 50 Followers contest!

*Drum Roll Please*

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Congrats to The Cautionary Tale! I guess it's appropriate that the 50th follower wins ;)

Thanks to everyone who participated.

If our winner would be so kind, please email me at c.peace@live.com and let me know which restaurant you'd like your gift card for.

TWITTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All right, peeps, today I wanted to tackle my version of the joys (and oys too) that the World Wide Web can bestow upon all of us, specifically through the Twitterverse.

TWITTER IS AWESOME.

There. I said it.

I admit, I was a skeptic at first, and it took me a LONG time to succumb to Twittermania. When I signed up for it, Terrell Owens was coming to visit the Bengals, so I signed up to specifically follow him and Chad Ochocinco Johnson Whatever. And then I found some agents. And then some writers. And then some friends. And then I was addicted.

Twitter holds an interesting power, an allure that can't really be identified in 140 characters or less. Agents, authors, fellow writers, sports figures, actors, directors, musicians, they're all on it. Except for Chris Evans *dammit*. It's like Facebook, but without all the annoying games.

Here are the reasons I love Twitter. They may be few, but they are epic.

1. Twitter makes one a better writer.
   
   Believe it or not, Twitter can help you improve your writing. Why? Because it forces you to choose your words carefully. And for ramblers like me, it forces you to filter your thoughts down to the most important aspects of your message. Vaguely coherently and with mondo abbreviations... But still. It's the principle of the thing. Twitter makes you more conscious of word choice. You learn to eliminate useless words (like "very," which is the most useless word in the English language) . You focus. Your writing becomes tighter. Trust me. What I took from Twitter helped me get rid of about 4000 pesky words.
   
   
2. Twitter makes one bolder.
   
   This one is probably the more important one for me. I'm a weenie. I do not like to speak unless spoken to. But on Twitter? I'm a chatty Cathy. Agents, authors, whoever. I'll tweet you. Aaaaaand if you tweet back, that's just even more fun. I've had actual conversations with awesome authors (not just OMG I LOVE YOU *SQUEEEEEEE*) I would never have had a chance to speak to otherwise. Colleen Lindsay tweeted me back once LOL. It's fun. And it helps to get a little name recognition. One agent I follow said she'd be more likely to read pages if she recognized your name from various social networking media (mostly Twitter). So? You're not losing anything by joining Twitter. Except perhaps valuable writing time... Hmm...
   
   
3. Agents/Authors use Twitter to pass along valuable info.
   
   There are quite a few agents, like Ginger Clark, who will tell you what they're looking for via Twitter. Where they are on queries. What they're reading now that they love. And one wonderful agent even shared her story about how it feels to be rejected by a writer. Yes, agents blog. But agents tweet a lot more. And they share valuable links, as do authors. And what's cool is that a lot of them will answer questions. I had a conversation with Sara Megibow concerning what she was looking for in SF right now. Did my stuff fit? Nope. But for anyone who wrote a space opera style SF, she's totally up your alley. She even shared books that she liked. Did my stuff fit? Not even close. I write hard SF, not space opera. But if you do? QUERY HER. She's SOOOO nice. *Also, I got re-reassurance from Joanna Volpe that synopses can be boring. So, huzzah!*

If these reasons aren't enough to at least make you think about joining Twitter, then I just don't know what to tell you. However, if you're on the glorious tweeting machine.. what are your reasons for using it?

Also, we have 50 followers!!!!!!!!!!!! You know what this means, right? CONTEST.

SO! All you have to do is leave a comment answering my Twitter question on this post by 11:59 PM Monday the 14th. No exceptions this time since I'm not as poor right now (LOL). On Tuesday I'll pick my winner. And depending on what restaurant you choose, you might get a chicken dinner. *OK that was bad. I promise not to do anything like that again. Maybe.*

STUFF!

OK, so I'm completely awful at titling things. Cut me some slack, k? Thanks.

All right. The last couple of months, I've been working out with a trainer 2-3 days a week. Like reeeally working because I want to look like Shakira :D But what I've gained from this more than 3 lbs of weight loss and sore muscles is one important thing that we need as writers: endurance.

We all know how difficult the actual act of writing is. Between jobs, housework, screaming kids (or whimpering dogs and Valium-addled cats in my case), and the rigors of daily life, finding the time to write can be HARD. And let's face it. Even though common advice is to write every day (which my dear Elana refuted not long ago), it's not always feasible. How does endurance fit here? Easy. You do it anyway.

Here's what I mean. Writing is like a decathlon. 1. You get bright shiny idea. 2. You mold bright shiny idea into something workable. 3. You write. 4. You write some more. 5. You get angry because MC doesn't do what you want her to do. 6. You write. 7. You finish! 8. You revise. 9. People beta read. 10. You revise.

Some people don't get past step 2. Some make it to step 6 and pass out .Endurance is the only way to finish what you've started, and then some. And it does take a lot of practice, too. A lot of training.

But eventually you wrestle it into submission, right? I mean, most of us are on Query Road now, and THAT takes more perseverance than even writing the novel! Rejection after rejection after request after rejection can exhaust a person.

Writing is a marathon, not a sprint (unless you're Stephanie Meyer, but that's a story for another time). People reach success because they persevered, not because they were lucky. One of my favorite quotes is "Writing is 90% perseverance, 10 talent" and it's true. You have to push to the end. Otherwise, you'll never get anything accomplished.

All right, I promised you some funs. And I shall deliver. The fantastical, wonderful, cotton-candy tressed Sisters Roecker have been awesome enough to agree to an interview with yours truly! If you haven't heard the buzz about their debut novel, The Liar Society, then you're probably living under a rock. So go, check it out. I'll wait.

OK, done? Well, I'm also doing a giveaway that will coincide with their release date of 3.1.11. It will be fun. I promise.

So for the next week, I'll be taking suggested questions, things that you guys want to know about Lisa and Laura, their book, and their publication journey. AND I'm thinking about a contest for the giveaway. What would you guys think about this:

What's the best lie you ever told (or wanted to tell)? Everybody's got at least one. Let's have fun with this, shall we?

And please pop over to LiLa's blog and give them some love if you haven't yet! They are awesome ladies.

4 more people to our next contest!

Or 13 days. Either/or. Get ready, folks.

I don't have much to add tonight. I'm still highly intimidated by my synopsis, to the point that I might rock back and forth in my floor from the sheer fear of it. The one I was working on was filled with way too much backstory. Must start anew.

Q4U: What's your least favorite (or for you sadists, most favorite) part of the submissions process?

For me? The synopsis. I'd rather have a million rejections than write a synopsis.

Work. Tired. Ready for a vacation

I'm completely envious of people who get a week off for Christmas. I got 3 days and that still wasn't enough! I love my family, but I need some recovery time from them, too ;)

Just dropping in to announce the winner of the $50 gift card.

Congrats to Nicole Zoltack! Check her blog out here. She's pretty dang cool.

Nicole, please email me at c . peace (at) live . com with your mailing address so I can get your card mailed out (when I get it).

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Next contest @ 50 followers, OR Valentine's Day. Whichever happens first.

Merry Two Days Before Christmas

I wanted to throw that out there, you know. In case I explode from all the Christmas surrounding me.

I've decided to extend the contest til after Christmas, since THAT will be when I procure a $50 B&N gift card. Oh yes. It will be glorious. Like Christmas after Christmas or something.

ANYWAY, I do have something real to discuss with you, and I maaay have talked about it before, but since I have a memory the size of a pea, I don't know. Bear with me, those who have been with me for a while, because you might be getting a repeat dose of...whatever this turns into.

You see, dear readers, I have this nasty NASTY NASTY habit of comparing myself to other writers. Not necessarily people who have already been published, but people who have partials or fulls out with agents. You see, I have only a microscopic amount of faith in my talent (when I'm sober at least), and sometimes, when I see one of my writer friends at QT announce their partial or full is with an agent, I have simultaneous reactions of OMG THAT'S FABULOUS I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU and *Slump* Obviously you're a much better writer than I am, so what am I really doing? I can't even get an agent to say yes.

That, my friends, is ungood.

Here's the thing that I've forced myself to realize, and the thing I must constantly remind myself of. The agenting/publishing game is a crapshoot. I know that my repped and soon-to-be-published and already-published comrades can attest to that. There's skill and luck involved with landing an agent/publisher's interest. One of the problems, aside from JUST NOW getting a super-awesome query (thanks again, y'all), is that SF is just not selling that well right now. I read on Pimp My Novel that a lot of women (majority of book-buyers) don't gravitate to Science Fiction, and I can understand why. Even though I love the genre, I love hard science fiction like FlashForward. I'm not a huge space SF fan. I don't get into the aliens and whatnot that much, unless the story is just ridiculously well-crafted. I love the stuff that could actually happen, and that's what made me read The Island of Dr. Moreau when I was still in school. And honestly, most people associate Science Fic with spacey stuff like Star Trek. And I don't know a whole lot of women who are in lurve with Star Trek (aside from roommate).

*Ok. Let's get back on track.*

The numbers for my genre aren't great right now. But the great thing is that numbers are always subject to change, which is why I'm going to continue querying Duality. I love the story, and I keep hearing from women who've read my query that, though they don't read SF, they'd probably pick my book up. *Which is EXCITING* Do I think that Duality will revolutionize the way women approach SF? Heck no. I'll be thrilled to death just to see it on shelves, and perhaps in someone's hand at a coffee shop someday. But if I can change someone's perception of SF just through the 114,000 words I've labored over, then I'll feel accomplished.

Ok. Really getting back on track now.

Here's my point (I really need to learn to focus these posts, jeez). There are a million and one reasons why someone's getting representation when you're not. Seriously. Sometimes you're betting on the red square, and the agent wants the black square (back to gambling references...yay....). Sometimes the cards aren't in your genre's favor and only an agent with a severe passion for that genre will take a chance. Sometimes, you get an agent on the wrong day. Sometimes, you need to refocus on your project (otherwise known as the dreaded "querying too soon") or rework your query to make it stronger. And then sometimes you just need to shelve the project. It hurts, but it's true. And that doesn't mean that you can't come back to it at a later date. A friend of mine who just got repped a few months back is getting her shelved project into her agent's hands as well (totally exciting!). So there's always the potential for success. You just have to keep at it. And the best way to do that is NOT to compare yourself to your friends who are having better luck. Keep writing, keep improving, and keep trying. Those are the key tenets to a writing career.

Also, have faith in yourself. No one can do this for you.

And you've come this far, so don't give up.

PS. Don't forget about the SocialVibe thing, either. Easy way to give back!

(And this was my 100th blog post! Woo hoo!)

Curiosity...well, hasn't done anything tragic. Yet.

Although I may have a dead cat if she keeps climbing the Christmas tree.

*Obligatory linkage ahead*

If you're looking for my uber fantastic contest where you (YES, YOU!) have the chance to win a $50 Barnes and Noble gift card just by following and leaving a comment, then click here. So far, I've only had 3 takers. Come on, peeps! You still have until Monday!

If you're looking for my entry for Jodi Henry's uber fantastic blogfest, click here. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, if you want to view the other 29 uber fantastic entrants, click here.

All right. I think that's all of my obligatory linkage.

I don't have anything earth-shatteringly important to share with you. I know, you're disappointed. So am I. Hopefully you'll still be entertained.

Thanks to Mr. Rodell over at Eight Days to Amish (sorry, more linkage, but not obligatory, just...fun) and his post about his readership stats, I decided to look at mine, just out of curiosity. As I figured, most of my page hits are from this here United States. A lot recent hits came via Jodi's blog (yay blogfest!). What kinda boggled my mind, though, was that a teeeeeny tiiiiny percent of my readership was in Croatia.

Ok. One hit from Croatia. But it's Croatia! How cool is that?!

Strangely, after the US and Canada, my largest amount of views (a whopping 14) came from India, followed by:

United Kingdom - 8

Libya - 4

Netherlands - 2

Australia - 1 (has to be Hugh Jackman, right? :-D)

Switzerland - 1

France - 1

Croatia - 1

To me, that is strangely random. And completely awesome. But mostly, random. *Inner editor is screaming about my adverb use right now, btw*.

So. In honor of this, I'm thinking I'm going to begin scheduled posts after the holidays. Actual, scheduled, themed posts. Like normal writers do. This sporadic thing probably doesn't work out well in agent searches...

SO! I have one question and a follow-up question for you (which, in my mind works out to about 1.5 questions).

Q4U: What makes you become a follower of a blog? And what would you like to see here? I'm not the most knowledgeable person on earth, but I am supreme when it comes to research. So, whatever you guys want. How does that sound?

FOLKSES!

All right, folkses (I'm stuck on that word for some reason). If you're interested in my contest, click here. Otherwise, my query for Jodi's blogfest is below. You can check out the other participants by clicking here, and believe me, there are some really awesome queries in this blogfest. I'm having trouble critiquing them ;)

Here goes, based on Chris and Nicole's, and also Jodi's and Tracy's, and Roberta's suggestions:

Dear Super-awesome Agent of my Dreams:

If Subject 31 could remember her life, she’s damn sure she’d want it back.

The Humani Project’s latest experiment believes she’s human, but after seeing her sleek black fur, claws, and tail, she’s not so sure. Her only clue to an existence before panther DNA was spliced to hers is a fragment of a memory and a name—Janelle.

According to the scientists, she's the perfect blend of human and animal. Most importantly, she can still speak, making her the lab's most successful Humani to date.

Imprisoned in the Phoenix, Arizona lab, 31 must complete the grueling, and sometimes deadly, physical assessments administered by resident asshole Dr. Frederick James. Her failure means immediate termination. To survive, she must tame the wild animal that wants to take over—only she has no idea how. That ability wasn’t coded in her new DNA.

When she fails an assessment, death looms in the form of the lab-made creature she was supposed to kill. She’s surprised that the project's founder breaks his own protocol to save her without hesitation. When he calls her “Janelle,” 31 understands that somehow the scientists have erased the existence of someone they knew. Someone who deserves to understand her fate.

The closer she gets to piecing together her past, the harder she has to fight to stay alive. Buried in her past is knowledge that could bring the Project to its knees, and Dr. James will do anything to protect the Project, even if it means killing its greatest success.

DUALITY is a science fiction novel complete at 114,000 words.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Lexcade