The Writing Cave

Hello out there! Thanks for sticking with me through the silence, wonderful readers. I’m uncurling from the fetal position that follows the week of Day Job’s national convention and catching up on Google Reader. Some star-worthy stuff I found:

Roni Loren gives a much-needed list of contrived coincidences.

Social Times has this awesome infographic studying the best time to post on Twitter and Facebook (via Alice Pope’s SCBWI Children’s Market Blog).

The wonderful Kristen Lamb combines two of my favorite things (writing and Star Wars) in this post analyzing why the prequels didn’t work.

Link of Awesome: Leila at bookshelves of doom brings the awesome again with the surname meaning website. Enjoy looking up both your name and your characters’.

What else have I missed, folks?

Due to Day Job Convention insanity, no Linkfest this week. But to tide you over to next week, another adorable baby animal from the farm:

Ohhhhhh look at the piggy

http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-675_oh.html

I’m off working a board meeting and annual convention for the Day Job this week, which has me thinking about family vacations. For many of our attendees, this convention is their chance to get off the farm as a family and see friends from across the country.

My most scarring vacation memory was a 20-hour drive from Minnesota to North Carolina. I was stuck in the backseat with my younger sister and her birthday present: a cat. Now Tumbler (yes, she named him Tumbler) spent the first year of his life as a farm cat and didn’t take too well to car travel or the small kennel. The Parentals figured they’d have him neutered right before the trip and then he’d be under for most of the drive. Know how long that cat was under anesthesia for the 20-hour drive? 45 minutes. Not exaggerating.

So for 19 hours and 15 minutes this farm cat is banging his head against the front of his carrier and mewing, my sister is freaking out, my Mom is trying to calm everyone down, and Dad is driving like his life depends on it. Good times.

Vacations are milestones in childhood and can be great ways to illustrate character. Because, let me tell you, you learn a lot about other people when stuck in a car with a feral animal.

What was your most memorable vacation? Can anyone think of some good examples from literature?

Sometimes, when work is hard and the weather is hot and you’re feeling discouraged, you take a break and walk out to the pasture and see a miracle. Introducing Boo and her new daughter Atticus (Atty for short):

Happy Friday everyone

A late-in-the-day but quality list of links:

First, when I typed “stress” into the image search for Monday’s post, this picture was among the top results:

from http://www.cattlerange.com/stress-test/stress-test.html

Who can’t smile looking at that? I feel less stressed already. Now, on to actual publishing-related links:

Jess Haines has some great tips on promotion posted on the Guide to Literary Agents blog.

Whenever I need inspiration, Shannon O’Donnell is my go-to gal. And this post is a lovely reminder about beginning.

Adventures in Children’s Publishing brought the awesome again with this post on 40 questions for a stronger manuscript.

This week’s Link of Awesome: this chart from Indexed reminds me how to measure how long I’ve been on the farm.

And with that, I’m off to milk! What links of awesome have I missed?

Should writing be fun? I saw some other posts about this around the blogosphere and contemplated it this weekend. I had a rare block of three hours on Saturday to focus on my WIP and, let me tell you, writing is work.

Part of the process should absolutely be fun. The creative spark should be fun. Getting to know characters and developing relationships should be fun. And the most fun part of being a writer: hanging out with other writers. Critique group meetings, book clubs, book launches, and conferences; I could do it everyday.

But sitting down to that computer screen, notebook page, or typewriter, that is work. Finding the exact words to represent your character while moving the plot forward and establishing themes is work. Taking critique and incorporating suggestions is work. Revising and revising and revising is work.

It’s the balance between work and fun that is present in any job. Parts of writing should absolutely be fun, but it’s the work that you put in late at night, early in the morning, when it’s just you and your words that make you a writer. Please leave thoughts in the comments; I’m off to book club to hang out with other writers

Haaaaappy Wednesday everyone! I’ve got revisions to do, a garden to weed, and cows to milk, so right to the links:

I’ve always wondered about sending a “test group” of queries and now agent Jennifer Laughran has provided the answer.

Author Jody Hedlund keeps the gems of wisdom coming with this post: which is more important, the first page or the last page?

PROJECT MAYHEM outlines the basics of a marketing plan for your book.

Be sure to save this post from Livia Blackburne that examines different ways to connect your main character to their best friend.

And this week’s Link of Awesome: A Parody from Sarah Ockler. Have you had enough of the WSJ kerfuffle? I thought I had too (although I’m always up for an excuse to use “kerfuffle”). Then I saw this response from author and fellow-Sarah-with-an-h Sarah Ockler. Enjoy.

What are you busy with this week?

from seaofestrogen.wordpress.com/

Last weekend was the most productive two days I’ve had in a very long time. I did housework, I did farm chores, and I even finished a book map to start my next round of revisions! So, of course, today I’m rather lackluster. I figure it’s either because it’s a Monday or because I’m out of writing snacks.

I really think my writing productivity is tied to consumption of Diet Coke and Dove dark chocolate squares. And strawberry licorice from Licorice International. And marshmallows.

I can’t be alone in this. What spurs you on to productivity? Snacks? Music? Gold stars? Or is it all in my head…

Today The Writing Cave has a very special visitor, young adult author and fellow Iowa SCBWI member Jan Blazanin. Her latest novel, A & L DO SUMMER is now available from Egmont USA. Welcome Jan!

What’s your writing process? Do you plan or plunge?

I’m a planner. Before I start writing I develop character sketches for each of the important characters. It’s a good thing I do because if I get halfway through the story and forget a character’s hair color or last name I can refer to the sketch. Another thing I do is put together a detailed outline of the plot with several paragraphs explaining each scene. Although I never follow the outline exactly, it keeps me from having that sinking feeling of having nowhere to go in the middle of story. It’s not a perfect system, but it helps preserve most of my sanity.

Preserving sanity is always a good thing. Speaking of, the A&L summary hints at troublesome triplet pigs. Any hints on what happens there?

Sunflower, Daisy, and Rose don’t mean to be troublesome, and they certainly don’t want to be pig-napped and trapped on the second floor of Cottonwood Creek High. But there they are, and somebody has to deal with it. What happens next is not the way I’d choose to spend my Sunday night.

Wow, who can resist that teaser?! After I read about the piglets, I’ll need some new suggestions. What are your three favorite reads so far in 2011?

There are so many amazing books to choose from that I could spend all my time reading. Although I enjoy the occasional novel written for an adult audience, most of my reading selections are for young adults. Three that stand out are Mockingbird by Kathyrn Erskine, Libba Bray’s Going Bovine, and The Hunger Games trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. Mockingbird is the sweet, sad, and funny story of a girl with Asperger’s Syndrome. Going Bovine had me laughing out loud from beginning to end. And The Hunger Games kept me up at night wondering what would happen next. Those women are talented writers!

No joke! I could read the Acknowledgments section of GOING BOVINE all day What are you working on next?

I recently finished the first draft of a young adult paranormal novel in which two teenage girls from different worlds and times must complete a quest to save the people they love. It has a long way to go before my agent sees it, but it’s a great feeling to have that first draft under my belt. 

Ooo a time element, nice! What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Read in your genre, write as often as humanly possible, study your craft, listen to knowledgeable critiquers and follow their advice, develop a tough skin, and never give up. 

If you could switch lives with any character in any book, who would it be and why?

That’s a tough one. Characters lead hazardous lives because authors like me are always throwing problems at them. Look at how poor Katniss suffered in The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins gives her characters no slack at all! Thanks for the offer, but I’ll take my chances being my boring self.

I’m not sure how Katniss would do at our book club, so we’d appreciate you being yourself too Being my cheese-freak self, I have to ask: what’s your favorite cheese and why?

I love Brie! It’s moist and squishy and has a fragrance that makes my mouth water. Brie is fantastic with apples and nuts and berries and crackers and wine and—thanks for interviewing me, Sarah! I’m off to the store for some Brie!

Can’t blame you there! Thanks so much for stopping by, Jan. Learn more about Jan Blazanin and her books at her website and on Twitter. Also check out Jan’s interview with the lovely Pat Zietlow Miller at Read, Write, Repeat.

You know those holiday weekends where you’re more exhausted afterward than you were before? Anywho, as the novel-restructuring continues, it’s a short list of links for a short week:

Hooray for the first middle grade buzz panel at BEA (via Publisher’s Weekly)! If you want great middle grade reads, look no further (and here’s the YA buzz panel as well). It’s going to be an amazing fall.

Agent Jon Sternfeld has great advice about engaging readers. My favorite quote: “All genres are mysteries” (via Guide to Literary Agents).

What have I missed, folks?