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.

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!)

Whew!

First off, welcome to mysterious follower #14! I say mysterious because my blogger is not showing me my followers (now my "peeps"). So, Mysterious #14, I hope that you and everyone else will find something of worth on here.

OK, on to my regularly scheduled posting.

Lots of excitement going on! So many of my QT peeps are making their ways through the muck known as querying to reach the golden land of REPRESENTATION! That, my friends, is incredibly exciting, and also incredibly inspiring for those of us still trudging through the query swamp. Congrats again to Em, Jessica, and everyone else who got some sort of deal. Can't wait to read those books!

All right, peeps. For the writers following me, I wanted to point you in the direction of one of the best ways I've found to learn about upcoming contests:

C. Hope Clark's newsletters. To sign up, go to her blog and subscribe. That easy!

Some of you might be wondering why bother to enter contests. I did too, to be quite honest. But I ant to be able to have some credits to my name when approaching agents/publishers, and entering contests is one of the best ways to accomplish that. Being held up against dozens, possibly hundreds, of other writers and coming out at least top 3 is a pretty big deal. Some contests publish anthologies containing the winning entries. Some pay cash prizes. The important thing is that you're putting yourself out there. In a way, it's like marketing yourself.

And it helps with confidence, too. Even if you don't win, you still put your best foot forward. Most people don't have the courage to do that.

For instance, I entered my query in a contest on the disgruntled bear blog for the chance to win a 30 page critique from Ms. Bear herself. For the voting, my query was stacked against 10 others, and in the end, my query received 5 votes out of 332 (that's about .02%, just for reference). As I followed the voting, and as it became more and more clear that I was NOT winning, I consistently re-evaluated myself, my writing, my reason for subjecting myself to failure over and over again, and I eventually settled on the fact that 5 people would want to read MY book. Even though I felt that the other entrants were more talented (Jennifer, mentioned above, was one of them) or that they had much better stories, at least 5 people whom I have never met wanted to read my book over theirs. And now I feel pretty damn good about the whole thing.

You see, the one thing that separates Authors and Writers is perseverance. And IMHO, entering contests builds that. As long as your perspective remains positive.

So, go, my writers. Enter contests. Get your name into the world somehow. If you win or not, you're still working to get your foot in the door. And as always, I wish you success, regardless of your endeavors.

Lex

first date jitters

well, not that kind of first date. i will never have another first date (hopefully, anyway). no, this is an actual post about part of the writing process that scares the bejeezus out of me--querying.

i've queried twice already and twice i was rejected. my first query was to nathan bransford simply because he replies really fast and i wanted to get that first one out of the way. after that, i thought i'd be okay. kinda like in school when you first ask that cute boy/girl to dance after spending half the night working up the nerve only to be rejected. the idea of rejection becomes palatable at least, but the action rejection still stings. and then you get nervous. scared. you think that everyone's going to keep rejecting you, until you find the one who says "yes."

landing an agent is a LOT like dating, i've discovered. currently, i'm planning first dates for about 42 agents. i want to get the mood right, say all the correct things, stroke a few egos (at least of the ones about whom i can find more personal information). i need to package my manuscript to their needs, to make them more interested. hopefully ask for a second date (partial), or a third date (full). and then we can slowly slip into the ease of relationship. yes, there will probably be a few arguments here and there when i don't want to cut an entire chapter or rewrite the entire thing from the perspective of a dust mite--it's early, leave me be--, but there are also the rewarding times. like the book getting sold. it'll be nice to know that my agent has my back when trying to sell the book, when going through contract negotiations, etc. yeah. 'twill be nice indeed.

but only if i can get over these first date jitters. rewriting the query is like changing outfits. do i want to wear something that accents my curves or makes my eyes pop? what jewelry? what makeup? which shoes? do i focus on the character's inner struggles or the conflict in the big picture? should i bring romance elements in? is it punctuated correctly? are there any stupid errors? did i address it to the proper agent? cause let's face it. getting your date's name wrong = BAD.

i'm still trying to pick the right outfit. i'm not necessarily afraid of the idea of rejection. it's the actual rejection i'm not so thrilled about.

eight!

up to eight followers now! woo hoo! when i get to ten, i'm having a party ;) by then, i should have enough avon stuff to do a pretty nice giveaway (which means that you're gonna have to keep checking back to find out; see how i did that? tricked you into reading? muahahahahahahahahaha!)

however, this means that i'll have to update more frequently than every-so-often. i've been trying to be a good girl and write, but that's just become more daunting every day. i'm still trudging through query-land, trying to keep the word count down to a reasonable level, but i'm about to call that a pipe dream and just write what'll make sense, then worry about the word count. i've been reading queries that are waaaaaaaaaaay over 250 words *which is what i've been trying to stick with* and those people got repped. so i'm just gonna say what i have to say and then worry about it. all right? all right. now that we have that established...

i have to admit, though, that between query tracker and the bransford forums i've been getting a lot of really good feedback. a LOT of it. so if you haven't checked out either site, first, shame on you, and second, GO. they're such great resources. i could sing their praises all day. but i'm a writer, not a singer, so i won't.

and now, back to query writing.