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 (

) 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.

W8-BEN Form for Authors May 31, 2011

Now that I have the coveted ITIN (even though I am still waiting for my passport to be returned), I need to provide my publisher with a W8-BEN form. Given the pickiness involved in filling out the W7 to get the ITIN, to say I was paranoid about filling in the W8 would be an understatement.

That is, until I found this amazing blog post. Canadian authors, this is for you!

http://angelasstone.livejournal.com/15902.html

In other news, I got my line edits from my agent last night and she says the manuscript is ready to go out on submission! *happy dance*

C.

Get Rich Writing? HAHAHA May 8, 2011

 

Author/agent Mandy Hubbard posted an amazing article on her blog about the honest truth behind advances and how much writers get paid. She gives concrete numbers from typical $2,000.00 advances through to what people think of as massive $500,000.00 three book deals.

Her openess and honesty is fabulous, and her breakdown of the numbers provided a new insight for me. I had no idea that if you sign a multi-book deal, you get an advance for all of the books on signing. I assumed you got the advance for the first book, then got the second later, etc. While a large sum to start may sound good, take a look at how quickly that income drops off – unless you can write even more books than the three (or however many) books you’re under contract for during those three to four years, you’re not looking at a steady stream of income.

This is definitely an article worth bookmarking.

http://mandyhubbard.livejournal.com/249542.html

As an aside, The Firestorm Conspiracy is at the top of the list for To Be Reads over at Galaxy Express:

http://www.thegalaxyexpress.net/2011/05/sfr-news-and-links-for-may-2011.html

One week to until launch, folks! Can you believe it?

C.

Nikko v.2.0 Complete! May 1, 2011

Twenty-nine days and twenty-four thousand words later, a new version of Nikko’s Bond came into the world, polished and gleaming. I finished the latest draft on April 28th and spent the past three days polishing each chapter. I’d like to say it’s perfect, but we know nothing is ever error-free. Plus, I read through the manuscript less than twenty-four hours after writing it – not enough time to adequately separate myself from the words on the page.

Does this mean I think I’m sending Brianne an inferior product? No. The book is good – damn good – but it may contain a few inconsistencies that only time away from the text would permit me to catch. The plus side to this is by sending it to her, I’m getting another set of eyes on it, and hopefully between the two of us we’ll eliminate everything before she takes the manuscript out on submission.

Submission.

Can you believe it? The next phase of my writing journey is nearly here. While I’ve been re-working a 50,000-word MG into a 73,000-word YA, my agent has been drafting a plan for pitching my novel to editors.

So much of this journey has been about me making my way on my own (staunch cheeleaders and allies not withstanding) that it’s a little mind-boggling to envision my agent speaking (and emailing and phoning) passionately on my manuscript’s behalf. From this point on, I have another person in my corner when it comes to my writing career.

It’s a little frightening actually. For the first time since I decided to write a novel, I’m handing the lead over to someone else. At every other point in this journey I’ve had total control. I wrote what I wanted, queried who I wanted, and accepted the agent I wanted. Every success I had was mine to celebrate, and every setback was my responsibility.

I have total faith in my agent (if I didn’t, I would have been stupid to accept her offer), and I know she’ll keep me informed throughout the process – that’s not where the fear comes from. The fear is simply about letting go and letting someone else in. Before, if I failed I had no one to be disappointed in me other than me. Now, I have someone championing my book–putting her reputation on the line by vouching for me–and I find the prospect daunting. Self-doubt creeps in and I find myself wondering how I will ever live up to expectations.

(And now I can hear my cheerleader grinding her teeth and flexing her fingers in preparation for throttling me.)

Don’t worry, I’m not going to let my self-esteem spiral into the dumpster. This is my journey (my game, my rules, right?), and I’m going to love and learn from every step along the way. I guess I’m still struggling with the idea that I’m no longer walking the road alone.

C.

April Update April 22, 2011

I realised I haven’t been very forthcoming with my writing progress over the past several months. I’d love to say it was because I was working on some top secret project that I could only now reveal. Alas, it was simply because I was so focused on the writing I never considered telling you about it.

That, my dear readers, is about to change. Brace yourselves for a no-holds-barred update on where my writing career is at.

At the end of March the textbook people told me to hold off writing the teacher’s guide until they could get me the revisions for the student workbook. I was a little frustrated by this (I’d wondered about the wisdom of writing the teacher’s guide before the student book was set, but the contact only gave me two weeks between the two deadlines and I didn’t want to miss it). I’d hoped this contract would be fulfilled by late March so I could go back to writing fiction.

Given my forced waiting with the math stuff, I decided to finish my NaNoWriMo novel. I promised my cheerleader a sequel to The Firestorm Conspiracy, and I got 55,000 words into it during November, but December led to agents requesting Nikko and eventually the excitement around signing with Brianne Mulligan at Movable Type, so I never finished it.

Oooh, I also had to do several edits and proofs for Firestorm in order to get it ready for publication, and those took a tonne of time. Thankfully, I wasn’t also textbooking.

Life is funny sometimes. I was all excited about my ‘free’ time – I was going to finish my sequel and make my cheerleader ecstatic (or insane, depending on her reaction to the grand finale planned for the book), and then my agent sent me an email. She wanted to let me know she felt the sooner we got Nikko out the better – before all the publishers filled their YA dystopian quotas for the year.

I broke the news to my long-suffering cheerleader and set to work on revising Nikko with my eleven pages of editorial notes as a guideline. My goal was to increase the book’s length by about 20,000 words and change the ending, leaving the story more open to a romantic sequel (I’d left it open for further book[s], but I hadn’t planned on carrying a love triangle through, so that had to change).

I’ve been working steadily on Nikko for three weeks now, and I’ve added close to 13,000 words and four entirely new chapters. I’ve fleshed out one minor character into something of an antagonist, and I’ve gone far deeper into both my main characters’ pasts as well as the world building.

I’ll be honest, it’s hard. My brain does mental gymnastics every time I sit down and tackle a new element. I’m always saying, “Let’s see, how can I…” and then I’m gone – lost in a universe of my own creating. I love it. I love, love, love it. I wanted to get the revisions done by the end of the month, but as I’m only half way through the original version I think I’ll need more than the week remaining.

During a moment of procrastination I decided to submit a short story to a couple of magazines. I’m not expecting a reply for at least four more weeks, but I will let you know as soon as I hear anything.

I am expecting the revision request from the textbook people to arrive sometime next week. As this is something I am under contract for (and they’ve paid me a third of the agreed upon amount), I will have to set Nikko aside to work on them. Hopefully they won’t be too time-consuming and I’ll be able to get back to Nikko shortly thereafter.

On top of all this, I am also planning a launch party for The Firestorm Conspiracy. I can’t believe it will be available to the general public in just over three weeks. My first novel. Published. People other than my husband and mother buying something I made.

*SQUEE*

Phew, I told you this would be quite the update. You may relax now, it’s pretty much over. At the risk of becoming boring or tedious, I will endeavour to update you more often.

C.

Bad Austen Contest Results April 18, 2011

Woo hoo!

After waiting and wondering, and emailing and tweeting, the winners of the Bad Austen contest were notified earlier today. I did not win the $250, but my short story, John & Rebeccah: Love ‘Midst the Stars, has been chosen for publication in the anthology coming out in November.

I am thrilled to be adding another publication credit to my name.

I’m even more thrilled by the fact that a story involving the characters from The Firestorm Conspiracy has found its way into a print anthology. The more people who read about, and fall in love with, John and Rebeccah, the happier I will be.

C.

PS – A special shout out to my fellow #badausten tweeters: Thanks for your support throughout the wait! Glad to hear you’re getting responses too.

Bad Austen April 14, 2011

The judges announced their pick for the winning entry in the Bad Austen contest.

http://badausten.com/announcement-the-top-votedjudges-picked-entry-winner

I didn’t expect my sci-fi snippet starring characters no one other than my blog readers have heard of to win the cash, and I still have hope the writing is strong enough for it to be chosen for publication in the anthology. Everyone who has their work chosen is supposed to be informed over the next few days. *crosses fingers*

In other news, The Firestorm Conspiracy has been picked up by several book review sites around the globe (USA, UK, and Australia)! I’m totally excited by this – more to see how I’ll handle my first set of “official” reviews than by the reviews themselves. I have no idea how I’m going to react to the comments, and I’m curious to see how it feels.

I promise to post links to the reviews as soon as I have them.

C.

Bad Austen Update April 6, 2011

You may remember I entered the Write Like Jane: Bad Austen contest in February. The contest closed on March 1st, and winners were supposed to be contacted around the 15th.

Well, six new entries showed up on the 15th, and the voting options remained open well past the deadline for deciding on the most popular entry. Nothing was posted on the site to explain this seemingly bizarre behaviour (especially since the rules were quite clear), and my confusion morphed into concern.

I tried emailing the contest organizers. I tried tweeting them. I kept my comments respectful, and I avoided ranting here and on facebook, hoping someone would explain what was going on.

Over the weekend I made several new friends on twitter – all of them Bad Austen entrants who spotted my tweets and wanted to let me know they were dealing with the same confusion and mysterious silence. We shared what we’d tried, and one person mentioned her plan to email Adams Media (the Sponsor of the contest, and publisher of the winning entries) in a couple of weeks if she didn’t get a reply from her other inquiries.

I decided I wasn’t quite that patient and discovered the company has a twitter account. I tweeted. They replied. They asked me to email them my concerns (and, really, 140 characters would hardly be sufficient for my needs), and so I did. I sent the email this morning and had a reply by lunch.

I must say the folks at Adams Media are fast. They passed my concerns on to the contest organizers and assured me a blog post updating the situation was already in the works for the contest site. I popped over to see, and voila! the site had been updated!

Not only that, but I started getting tweets from the people on twitter who’d contacted me – one after another, they reported they’d just received emails from the contest organizers assuring them the winners would be announced soon.

I was very disappointed in the contest. I started to wonder if it wasn’t a scam after all. Thankfully Adams Media (the reason I assumed this was a legit contest) stepped up and put things back in motion today.

Hopefully I will have another update between now and April 18th (the date by which all winners will have been contacted).

C.

QT Interview! January 26, 2011

My success story is up over at the Querytracker site!

Go check it out!

http://querytracker.net/cheryl_angst.php

I’m serious!

Stope reading this blog – I’m not going to write anything of great import further down the page.

Go!

*taps foot*

Dude! Why are you still here?

Did you forget to click the link?

Let me help you:
http://querytracker.net/cheryl_angst.php

I promise not to write anything exciting – I pinkie swear.

C.

News and Chicken! January 7, 2011

I made the most amazing chicken dish in my slow cooker last night. ZOMG, the meat was so tender and flavourful. It fell apart when you touched it with a fork and the sauce at the bottom of the pan was to die for. Absolutely amazing!

(Can you tell I was thrilled to get a slow cooker for Christmas?)

In other, more writing-related, news, I received a lovely reply to one of my full submissions. It was a revise and resubmit – with specific and detailed feedback. In an industry where feedback from people you aren’t contractually linked to is more scarce than a duck’s fangs, this email was huge. I feel all warm and fuzzy knowing my writing impressed this person (who is not my mother) and that, with some tinkering, they’d be more than happy to read the novel again.

(I may have some other news but I can’t talk about it yet…)

The textbook is coming along slowly. I hope to have the initial draft of the student workbook done by the end of January, which would leave me all of February to work on the teacher’s guide. To say it’s proving to be a bit of a challenge would be an understatement, but at the same time, it is one I am enjoying pushing myself to achieve.

How goes your new year so far?

C.