Camp NaNo Redux July 30, 2012

The amazing people over at NaNoWriMo are running another summer camp starting August 1st.

I did not do so well in the June camp, but I have confidence August will be different. For one, the writing is coming easier now. And two, I am going to set myself an entirely reasonable goal.

(Don’t worry, I’m all in for 50,000 words in November.)

Apparently 30,000 words was too much in June–I managed just under 22,000–I am averaging around 500 words a night this month–but that was free-writing with very little thought toward plot and character arcs. Now that I’m working on another novel with an eye to publication, I need to allow myself to progress more slowly. So I’m thinking 20,000 will be a decent challenge.

I wish everyone who is shooting for 50,000 the best of luck. I am looking forward to playing for real in November!

C.

 

ZOMG, It’s Done! November 5, 2011

I’m popping out of my NaNoWriMo-induced cave to announce, that after a gruelling day totalling 5,734 words, I have finished the first draft of my YA paranormal (think ghost story, not vampires), INTO DARKNESS PEERING.

*squee!*

Deets on what it’s about to come soon.

For now… back to the writing cave!

C.

Lisa Schroeder August 8, 2011

YA and MG Author, Lisa Schroeder

Okay, so I’m not going to win any awards for my photographic skills, but I wanted you to be able to put faces to names while reading my post. (We won’t go into the fact that I have these pics–as less than stellar as they are–which serve as a subtle reminder that I got to attend this truly awesome book signing…)

Tonight I’d like to talk about the third author I met at Third Place Books.

*Confession: Lisa was actually the first author I lined up for. In fact, she was the primary reason I bribed my husband with a Mariner’s game to get him to drive me to Seattle in the first place. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love the other authors any less – they were like happy bonuses!*

I had the opportunity to read Lisa’s latest book, The Day Before, when it was still an unedited galley. ZOMG, it blew me away. I made the mistake of opening it on my computer a few minutes before the bell went to start the day, and holy doodles, let me tell you, it was hard to focus on actually teaching the students and not running back to my desk for just one more verse.

Yes, I said verse. The book is written in free verse – and I was totally wary about this – but Lisa’s writing style (and total command of plot and character) sucked me in and I had to read to the end. The Day Before is absolutely gorgeous. I’m not going to spoil the plot, but let me tell you, it’s worth reading just for the tale, never mind the word flow.

I am thrilled to have an autographed copy of my very own. I started campaigning for a class set of the novel the day I finished reading the ARC. I cannot do a novel study using The Day Before as a read aloud. Half the magic of the book is the way the text is formatted on the page, and I want my students to experience the book the way it was meant to be read.

That being said, school budgets are getting smaller every year, and I know my librarian will have to wait until the book is available in paperback (or trade at least) before considering purchasing thirty copies. I will attempt to be patient.

Anyway, Lisa was charming and pleasant to talk with. She seemed genuinely happy to interact with everyone, and she remembered that I’d commented over on Facebook that I was coming down from Vancouver for the signing. Lisa is very open with the public, she has a wonderful blog (http://www.lisaschroederbooks.com/), tours, goes to schools, and even visits classrooms via Skype.

If you’ve never read a book in verse, or have always wondered what one would be like, Go. Get. Lisa’s.

Seriously.

I’ll wait.

Suspend your wariness. I did, and I don’t regret it for a moment.

Non-Sequential Writing July 18, 2011

We all know I am a plotter. I revel in spreadsheets and outlines and character sketches and all that jazz. While it may be assumed, I feel it is also important for me to confess that I am very much a linear writer. Once I have an outline, I start at–well, the start–and I go until I get to “The End.”

You know this new novel I’m working on? The thriller (hee hee hee!)?

Well, I suppose I am writing it sequentially in a way, but not really. There is a collection of scenes that occur at various points throughout the novel, and I am writing all of them first. I am writing them in order – the first one first, the last one last – but I am not writing them at the point in the outline at which they slotted.

I really hope this novel turns out. It’s a bit of a departure for me (for one, it’s not sci-fi), and it’s far riskier in its structure than anything I’ve tried in the past. It may be that I am not experienced enough yet to pull it off, but I won’t know that unless I try. I do know, however, that I have to write this story down. There’s no way I can ignore the premise – it makes me feel all goofy inside just thinking about it.

I still find it hard to believe I’m highlighting sections of my outline that don’t follow one after the other. This is such a strange departure for me – I keep glancing at my printed out spreadsheet and shaking my head.

How many of you have to write from the first word to the last? Is there anyone who jumps around, writing the chapters that appeal in random order?

C.

Plotting, Plotting, Plotting! July 12, 2011

Rather than spend my summer lazing about poolside, I am using my copious amounts of free time (ha, ha, ha – did I mention I have small children?) to start work on another project.

The textbook people are planning on getting in touch with me shortly, so my freedom is about to be cut perilously short. I must use the hours that remain to their maximum capacity because I don’t know how many (or how few) are left.

So,

Now I’m plotting.

You know what’s really cool? Having an agent to bounce ideas off, that’s what’s cool.

I wrote out these character sketches and a short pitch outlining a book I’d like to write and then I sent it to Brianne. I had some specific questions, but was mostly concerned with, “Should I write this, or is the idea so atrocious no one will ever want to pick it up?” And you know what was really awesome? She wrote back! (I was not surprised by this, as she is very good at communicating with me, but the whole novelty of having someone in the publishing field who will answer my newbie/weird questions still floors me sometimes.)

I would ask you to guess what her answer was, but I kind of spoiled it for you at the top of the post, so we’ll just move on as though we’re all squeeing together at the discovery that my agent likes my new idea. Ready? *SQUEE!*

Being me, I couldn’t just jump into writing (I am SOOOOO not a pantser) – no, I had to whip out a spreadsheet and map the whole thing out. And, ZOMG, I had so much fun! I would post a pic of my spreadsheet, but I don’t want to give away the surprise…

Aw, who am I kidding? Look what I made!

Plotting, Plotting, Plotting!

Don’t be too upset if you can’t decipher what’s written. For one, it’s all set-up and nothing exciting happens. Two, I just wanted to show off my pretty little columns and rows. This isn’t a full chapter-by-chapter outline, more like an event-to-event one. There are key elements that must happen in the story for it to play out the way I want, and I need to get them in order before I start writing.

I did something very similar with Nikko, but I used index cards (and then stupidly recycled them so I had nothing to refer to when I wanted to create this spreadsheet). Seeing as Nikko landed me an agent, I figure the system must not be too horribly flawed.

I still have a few boxes to fill in, but I should be able to do that this afternoon, which means… Da-da-daaaaa! Tonight I will be writing!

A new book!

Writing!

A brand new, shiny book!

*happy dance* (Well, happy dance until such time as the textbook people come calling…)

C.

Synopses Hell July 8, 2011

The hammock creaks as she uncrosses her legs and stretches. A week of lounging in the dappled shade of the cherry tree has rendered her immune to the raucous cries of the crows overhead and the children tussling on the emerald grass. She closes the book with a satisfying thump and sighs.

Her doting husband approaches with yet another thick tome and a tray bearing an assortment of iced drinks. She wriggles her perfectly manicured fingers as she ponders which delectable beverage to savour. Deciding upon the frosted glass with what appears to be green and blue smoke swirling around elephant-shaped ice cubes, she tilts the brim of her sun hat over her eyes and sighs in contentment.

Okay.

If you think the first week of my summer vacation resembles the above fantasy in any way (beyond no longer hearing the damn crows), you’re not from this planet. For one, the weather has been decidedly un-summery. The furnace is still coming on in the mornings, dammit! Another reason is I don’t own a hammock. Plus, my children don’t tussle, they shriek. My back yard is not an idyllic retreat, and honestly, no one would let me enjoy it even if it were.

To be fair though, my husband does pour a mean ice water.

In case you totally ignored the title of this post, I’ll mention that I have NOT been relaxing next to the pool (although I did sit on a plastic chair nearby when the kidlets took turns sticking their arms in the frigid water). No, I have been wrestling with one of the few things guaranteed to give most writers nightmares: the synopsis.

And not one synopsis, but two.

I spent two full nights writing garbage just so I could get my rambling thoughts on the page. I spent another two nights attempting to detrashify the previous evenings’ worth of slop.

If I could throw my synopses off a cliff, I would.

Some writers get to a point in their careers where they can sell a book by writing a few sample chapters and attaching a synopsis. I’m not there, and frankly, after this past week, I’m pretty sure I’d rather write the whole darned book than try to write an effective synopsis.

Because, man oh man, can I write crappy ones!

If you need senseless swill that may or may not capture the key elements of your story, and may or may not be laden with useless backstory that no one wants to know, let alone get excited about, well, I’m your go-to girl.

Seriously.

It doesn’t matter that I’m one of those writers who enjoys planning. Planning a novel is nothing at all like writing a synopsis. When I plan a novel, I picture the assorted scenes – I can hear the dialogue and see the action. I don’t get to write dialogue in my synopses. I’m not supposed to describe how the subtle lift of the MC’s chin marks his decision to cross a line of no return - that he’s so numb with rage he no longer cares who, or how many, he takes with him.

I can see that.

What I struggle to see is how to condense 70,000-words (living, breathing, character-driven moments of agony and ecstasy) into roughly 750 words that highlight the plot AND give away the ending in such a way that even though the reader knows exactly what is going to happen, they still want me to write the darned thing.

At times like this I remind myself that I chose to write. Not only did I willingly choose to step foot upon this journey, but I vowed to enjoy each step along the way. (Boy, do I wish I could go back in time and slap myself for that one.)

Synopses are just one step.

One teensy tiny footfall.

A fruit fly on the salad bar of writing.

(I refuse to take that metaphor further as I do not wish to contemplate the fly laying eggs and then dying somewhere among the arugula.)

I know I’ll get past these synopses and I’ll no longer have to fight the urge to bash my head against the keyboard until one of us surrenders, but until then I am doing the next best thing. I am taking the night off.

I think I might write a short story. No one asks for synopses for short stories.

Right now, an angsty vignette sounds like the perfect summer fling. Writing with no strings attached. I’ll go back to my novels and their baggage (damn synopses) tomorrow, but for tonight, I’m stepping out with a fic I may not want to call again in the morning.

C.

Wishes and Big Ol’ Fishes June 26, 2011

*Disclaimer: The tale I am about to recount is in no way meant to suggest Janet Reid possesses even the tiniest ounce of “nice,” “kind,” or even “soft-hearted” cartilage in her sharkly form. None whatsoever. NONE, you hear me?*

BEWARE THE SHARKLY ONE!

Okay, then. With that out of the way, let me begin.

You may recall I blogged yesterday about how I’d fared in one of literary agent, Janet Reid’s famous (infamous?) writing contests. If not, you really ought to go back and read that post before going any further here. What? You WANT to know the ending before reading the whole thing? You’re not one of those people who like spoilers, are you? (Because if you are, I so totally am too…)

Sorry, I digressed.

Anyway, tucked away at the bottom of my post was a little comment – well, more like a wish – where I projected my little writer-self into the future and hoped a day would come where the Shark would read one of my books and be so impressed she’d run a contest using words from text I’d written.

I have big hopes for Nikko. Brianne does too. My cheerleader’s arms are going to fall off with all her pom-pom waving. With all this support, I can’t help but believe Nikko is something special.

I was projecting into the future, imagining Ms. Reid reading and loving Nikko – a nice little stroll into fantasyland for me. Until…

Until…

Until I popped by wordpress to check my blog stats. I stared at the spike (not too huge, but noticeable) and said, “Hmm, I wonder what that’s all about?” I scrolled down to look over the search terms people had used to find me (I’m still not sure why anyone Googling debt consolidation, air conditioning, or parole violations would click on my blog, but that’s for another post).

The combination of search terms were all related, and, frankly, made almost as little sense as debt consolidation. And it’s not like these were one-offs… No, more than one person Googled the exact same terms!

“cheryl angst janet reid”

“janet reid & cheryl angst”

Really? Um, Google, why are people looking for Ms. Reid in connection with me?

Several people tried to see if Ms. Reid was the agent who sold The Firestorm Conspiracy (sorry folks, I did that one all on my lonesome long before I wrote the novel that caught my agent’s eye). (My agent is Brianne Mulligan at Movable Type Literary, btw.) (And she’s awesome.)

Sorry, another digression.

Anyway, I was perplexed by the sudden (and significant) number of people checking Ms. Reid and I out, so I wandered back to her blog to see if maybe she’d mentioned my earlier blog post, or accidentally re-posted her reaction to my vlog entry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TB8ButGTaI) from a contest organized by literary agent, Kathleen Ortiz.

Nope.

She’d posted a new writing contest.

My jaw hit my keyboard. I think I may have snorted some flavoured water. I nearly toppled off my seat.

This is the contest Janet Reid posted: http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2011/06/that-was-so-much-fun-lets-do-it-again.html

Yes, those words are from my book. She ran a contest about one of my books.

*Please refer back to the disclaimer at the top of this post before you get any ideas about the true nature of the Shark.*

Seriously, go re-read the disclaimer.

Finished?

Good. Now that we’re all in agreement that Janet Reid is to be feared AT ALL TIMES, I can wrap up this post:

Janet Reid, you are a rockstar. If I’m ever in New York (you know, to celebrate Nikko or some other, equally awesome book), I’d love to buy you a scotch. Heck, I’ll buy the whole bottle.

C.

Sharkly Praise June 25, 2011

Like many authors, I follow a number of writing-related blogs. Some are a holdover from my querying days, but I still follow them because these agents and editors are experts in their fields and an excellent source of what is going on in the publishing world. I enjoy following Janet Reid’s blog because she speaks her mind – honestly and frankly. She also posts links to humorous sites (like Hyperbole and a Half), and, every once and a while, she posts her own writing contests.

I love these little flash fiction contests. I even won one once.

I found myself with a bit of spare time when she posted her latest contest, so I decided to enter. The challenge was to write a story using 100 words or less that incorporated the following words: willing, parrot, intuitionist, dope, and silette. Rather than use the words as written, I chose to break them up in a somewhat creative fashion.

Here’s what I wrote:

Chadwick scowled at the decree nisi. Letters, unless accompanied by officers in uniform, held no sway over him.

Until now.

The dinghy pitched as he smacked the useless mast. He’d asked his father, “What’s wrong with the spar?”

“Rotten,” his latest wife had replied, tossing his wardrobe overboard.

“Like you,” his father had added. “I’m cutting you out of the will, ingrate.”

“What am I supposed to do? Pending a passing trawler, I’m screwed.”

The yacht disappeared below the horizon.

Chadwick adjusted the rudder by intuition. Istanbul, he decided, heading for land.

I’d hoped to at least garner a chuckle for my liberal license with the rules. Here’s what Ms. Reid posted:

In addition to this recognition, it turns out the story itself was somewhat well-written as it made the third round of finalists!

I love these little contests and I hope Ms. Reid continues to offer them for the foreseeable future.

C.

Who knows, maybe one day she’ll fall in love with one of my books and choose five awesome words from within its pages…

 

The Firestorm Conspiracy IN PRINT! June 9, 2011

Yes, you read that correctly.

The Firestorm Conspiracyis now available in trade paperback from Amazon. It’s officially labelled Book One of the Firestorm Saga because I fully intend on repairing the sequel and launching it in some form or another. I’m using Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat book on screenwriting to wrestle the plot into submission.

Actually, I use the term ‘plot’ loosely. I know NaNoWriMo is all about quantity, not quality, but I have learned my lesson: One should not write 55,000 words of romance without paying any attention to the rest of the story. It is not a simple thing to ‘simply add a plot’ into the mix. My poor sequel is poised to go under the knife (no, that’s too gentle – it’s going under the chainsaw).

As we gear up for summer vacation, my plate is beginning to fill up. The textbook people have been in contact with me again, and I have some more work to do for them. The Firestorm Betrayal is getting a deep makeover and I have another YA novel (about mental health–suicide–with a sci-fi twist) I’d like to draft. Plus, Nikko is going out on submission soon and there’s always the possibility that whichever publisher picks him up will want a sequel or companion book too!

I am thrilled with the writing piling up – I love it. I live for it. Bring on summer vacation!

C.

Goodreads and Pre-Orders May 11, 2011

I’m giving away two free copies of The Firestorm Conspiracy over on Goodreads. I believe in making contests easy, if you’d like to enter, all you need to do is leave a comment in the topic below:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/551919-the-firestorm-conspiracy-giveaway

If you’re one of those people who just *has* to spend your hard-earned cash on a book, and you cannot stomach the thought of acquiring a copy for free, a wonderful friend spotted these two options:

http://www.booku.com/The-Firestorm-Conspiracy/Cheryl-Angst/ebook_573386.htm

http://www.booksonboard.com/index.php?BODY=viewbook&BOOK=1043290&v=widget

I can’t believe you can pre-order my book. I’m still struggling to accept the reality of publication, and seeing it available for pre-order (like it’s in hot demand or something) is way too surreal. The advantage of the pre-order is you get it at 12:00 am on May 16th, whereas there might be a few hours’ delay on the larger sales channels.

And look! It’s on sale at Books on Board! All the more reason to snag a copy.

Don’t worry, if you want to buy it through Amazon or one of the other BIG stores, I’ll post links on the 16th.

Until then I’m going to pretend I am not checking my inbox every five minutes as I wait for my agent’s response to my revisions on Nikko. Nope. Not me. I am one cool cucumber. *moves mouse over inbox tab*

C.