What Happens When I'm Internet-Deprived

'If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us." - Hermann Hesse (There are certainly exceptions to this, but I don't think there are many.)


Every morning this week, I have been turning off the internet and writing (that is to say, editing). I'm so much more productive that way. If the internet's on, I'm going to be procrastinating. The funny thing is though,  I don't go looking for other distractions if its turned off. I just write.


I haven't really done much with this manuscript in about a year (oh god, it really has been that long) due to other projects and the totally misconceived notion that it was good enough to not mess with anymore, and I hadn't really done much serious writing since the end of January for other reasons.


Now that I'm getting back into both noveling in general and this project specifically...my god, I love it. I've been having such an amazing time. I've been laughing at forgotten humor, giggling with maniacal glee at the villain, banging my head against the table when I come across something particularly awful before hitting backspace as fast as I can, and generally enjoying myself tremendously. I've cut almost 3,000 words' worth of verbose irrelevancy...


While I've definitely been improving some things, though, I've also been noticing weaknesses I hadn't seen before (and emailing two of my beta readers about them). It's coming together, and I'm blissfully (or perhaps painfully) aware of the stuff that needs work.
And having recovered from my recent rejection, I have a list of agents to whom I intend to send query packets within the month.


Last night my mom told me she was proud that I haven't given up hope yet. I told her it had very little to do with perseverance and a lot to do with stubbornness. I want this, and I'm not going to stop until I get it. 


My writing and my self-esteem are tied more closely than I want them to be- in more ways than one. However, the relationship between the two is reciprocal, which means they feed off each other. So I'm happy, and I'm happy that I'm happy, because that means I'm getting out of the literary rut I've been sitting around in (at least, that's what I'm telling myself).

Bad News

http://effyeahnerdfighters.com/post/5012660612/submitted-by-statictransmissons

"Clarity is the counterbalance of profound thoughts." - Marquis de Vavenargues


"The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race." - Don Marquis


"There's a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker." - Charles M. Shulz


Something else I liked a lot that you should read


Remember back in January when that agent asked me for my entire manuscript? Finally got a response yesterday afternoon-- after sending her a follow-up email. Rejection. (I post this and the following not out of a plea for sympathy but rather to keep you informed and hopefully amused.)


So I'm sitting there on the couch feeling mopey and depressed and my dad says to me "Don't be thinking about turning to drugs or alcohol. Are you thinking about drugs and alcohol? How long have you been thinking about drugs and alcohol?"
And I laughed and said "About ten seconds."


Then this morning he was trying to get me to drink some of his (decaf) coffee. "Do you want a sip of this room-temperature, horrible coffee?"
"Um, no?"
"I'm trying to get you to do drugs!"
"You just don't want to drink it yourself! You've been complaining about how bad it is all morning."
"I just want you to feel better. Oh, here we go--" He pointed at me and proclaimed "Feel-Better-igus!"
"You know, I don't know if Harry Potter jokes are going to do the trick right now."


At which point he shrugged and made a Doctor Who joke instead. The man knows me well. :)


So I think I'm going to do another editing swipe before starting querying again. At least I'll edit the end. The end needs work.


Today my Chemistry class came of age (the class itself. Not the people.) Something exploded, something melted, and acid went everywhere. Oh, and the bottom of a beaker literally fell off. (No one was hurt. It was mostly just funny.)

Re-Segregation in Schools

"Wherever you are - be all there." - Jim Elliot


"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." - Francis Bacon, 1625 


Children, I want you all to put on your clean dresses and freshly-pressed suits, because we're going to have a very important visitor arriving here on this blog rather soon. I will be going away for a little bit so that I won't be cluttering up the house while she is here. I want you all to be on your very best behavior. If you do as I ask, I will bake you a special treat.


Who is this visitor, you ask? She is an agent who has expressed interest in The Clockwork Experiment. I may or may not actually stop posting (most likely not-- I could never leave you dear ones for very long, could I? I mean, take a look at the archives on the right). However, the special treat is not a lie, unlike the cake. (Portal reference, anyone?) At least, it's solid truth for those of you in my writing group-- assuming I remember to bake it, that is.


Now, I could write a post in all capital letters about how exciting that is (and believe me, it's easily exciting enough to write one in THE LARGEST FONT SIZE), but I have more interesting things to be discussing, so let us move on to those.


Wow, this is coming out really formal other than the parenthesized parts, isn't it? I'll have to make up for it some other time.


As some of you may or may not know, my county's school system was mocked on the Colbert Report last night.  
I was not offended.
On the contrary, I was thoroughly amused, in a "Oh God, that's so true. Our school board sucks" kind of way.
As a friend of mine posted on Facebook, "When your county is the on the Colbert Report, you feel a mixture of pride and deep, deep shame."


It's heart-breaking to know that the school board is essentially re-segregating our schools with full knowledge of their actions. Worse yet is to see the parents, teachers, students, and even non-parent people who care pleading with them to keep the current policies at the open hearings. 
They claim that they're doing it to make it easier on parents-- so they don't have to drive their kids as far in the mornings-- and so that certain students won't have to sit on the bus for close to an hour twice a day.
However, many students with long transportation times clearly stated that they didn't mind. They understood the importance of socio-economic (and for the most part, therefore racial) diversity, and they were willing to give up a few hours of sleep each week in favor of that.


Let's see... "democracy." Literal definition: ruled by the people.
We elect those we wish to make the decisions for us, because we believe them to represent our values. They're supposed to do what we want, even if it's only so we'll elect them for another term.
I don't see the school board representing our values. I'm sure there are those who agree with them, but where are they? Not at that hearing. If they aren't making themselves heard, why should the school board do what they might want?


Hey...wasn't there that thing back when hippies were around called the Civil Rights Something-or-other? What was that thing about, again? I don't seem to recall.

Highlights Of 2010

This year, instead of posting an incredibly crappy poem for New Year's, I'm going with a Top 15 (since I am myself 15) list, written in no particular order. I'm sure I left some important stuff out, though, so my bad for that.


1. I finished my first novel, The Clockwork Experiment. Querying began, and has been so far unsuccessful. However, Daphne Unfeasible (aka Kate Testerman) of KT Literary reviewed my query letter, and had good things to say about it.


2. I spent a lot more time with my old friends this year, became closer to the newer ones, and generally had a more-fulfilling social experience in general. Every other Wednesday became the highpoint of my fortnight, both because of evening writing club and because I got to spend the entire afternoon and evening with my best friend, who for the first time since we met in 3rd grade, I was not seeing every day.


3. I read a lot of fantastic books, some of my favorites of the non-rereads being Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, Leviathan, Behemoth, and The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld, The Plot Chickens, and books 7, 8, and 9 of the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan.


4. I met two authors of some of my favorite books: Orson Scott Card and the aforementioned John Flanagan.


5. I got contacts and a new haircut, both of which I love, despite the fact that I'm not currently wearing the contacts. (I am allowed one purely vain thing on here, right?)


6. I was interviewed on the Office of Letters and Light's blog.


8. I was asked to include some work of mine in a publication, and will be receiving payment for it, providing I get it finished on time and everything works out according to plan.


9. My self-published anthology, Thoughts on Life became available on Amazon.


10. I took Driver's Ed (which sucked majorly), almost died several times (okay, I exaggerate) during the driving portion, but now have my permit and successfully drove somewhere today (I'm writing this on the 30th) without causing any harm other than pissing off the people behind me.


11. I've received over 4000 views on this blog since the Stat feature kicked off, and nearly a quarter of that in this month alone.


12. I was fortunate enough to attend about 5 wizard rock shows this year, which was incredibly awesome. These ranged from 7-band extravaganzas (ROFLCOPTOUR) to intimate Lord of the Rings-watching event with wrock sing-a-long-afterwards house parties. I spent a lot of money on music this year, and don't regret it. I met two of the Five Awesome Girls (Kristina and Lauren) which was, well, awesome.


13. The Quad N and "The Phantom of November" music video went pretty well. I got less views than I expected, but more views than would have been garnered if I hadn't done it. It was an enjoyable experience, and I grew as a filmographer (I don't think that's a word...). Also, I started a book reviewing YouTube channel, which while it only has 3 subscribers last time I checked, I plan to expand and make considerably better within the new year. Also, my Project For Awesome video got good reception from those who watched it.


14. I've done a lot of thinking about a wide variety of topics this year, so I now have a better idea of who I am and what I think and generally know more about myself, which boosts my self-confidence. So that's good. Yay for growing up and all of that.


15. I joined my school's Debate Team (as well as the Club, which are different), and had a fabulous and intellectually and creatively-stimulating time of it, even if my tournament scores didn't reflect my feelings on the event.


Seems pretty dang good for a girl of 15. Here's to hoping next year is even better.


If you want links to any of the other stuff, leave it in a comment and I'll put one in. Thanks for listening to me ramble, rant, and speculate here on Elf Army Writes, and I hope you'll continue to put up with me in 2011. :)
DFTBA.

The Power of Anonymity

"We have enough youth. How about a fountain of smart?" - something a guy in my math class wrote on the board


Whenever I get a rejection letter back, I feel slightly resentful. I know I shouldn't, and I know the letter is nothing personal (in more ways than one, considering that many start with "Dear Author,") and I know that I just need to keep sending out the queries. However, that feeling is still there.


Then some Tuesday night, I stumble upon one of these agents' blogs. Suddenly (in this case he) becomes real, and then I feel bad for my resentment. It's not his fault. He gets thousands of queries per year. He's a real person with real feelings and he doesn't deserve my irritation.


Which in turn annoys me, because I enjoy being annoyed at these faceless agents who send me death letters addressed in my own handwriting.


Today I began writing my first short story that can be classified as "real sci-fi." It's not dystopian. I love dystopian fiction. This is something else. This is something I'll probably read to writing group in January, seeing as how I have "Shortwave, Part 1" (which really needs a new title) finished for tomorrow.


Stay tuned for an announcement by the end of the week...probably. I would tell you what it depends on, but that would give it away.

Minor News Both Good and Bad

“Hope gives us as a species and as individuals what we otherwise wouldn’t have — a chance.” - John Green


I've had this window open all day waiting for something worthy to post, because it won't save as a draft and I wanted the quote.


My song didn't make it on to Jingle Spells 4, which is disappointing but not surprising. As I said, it was a bit out of my range. However, everything but my singing was awesome, if I might say so myself. It'll be available for free download online before Christmas, and I'll give you the link ASAP.


I'd post a lyric-free version here, but they might have the rights to that as well as the with-lyrics version, so I'm going to take the safe route. At any rate, I expect the CD to be awesome.


That's the bad news.


The good news is that Mom took my query packets to the post office today. Most of the return times on the various agents' websites were between 4 and 8 weeks, so expect a major follow-up on this entire post around then (I expect that's when the songs will be posted as well).


A word of advice for anyone querying based on information from http://www.agentquery.com: It's a great site, but some of the information is outdated/general. Always check the agency's actual site for the current submission policies, and read the specifics for your agent. Some like email, some don't. Some want different amounts of pages along with your query. Some want a SASE, and some just want you to include your email address. Which you should include anyway, by all of the stuff I've read.

Word After Word After Word

"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear." - Joan Didion


That quote comes from the beginning of a book entitled Word After Word After Word by Particia MacLachlan. This quote comes from the book itself:


"'I, myself, write to change my life, to make it come out the way I want it to,' she said. 'But other people write for other reasons: to see more closely what it is they are thinking about, what they may be afraid of. Sometimes writers write to solve a problem, to answer their own question. All these reasons are good reasons. And that is the most important thing I'll ever tell you. Maybe it is the most important thing you'll ever hear. Ever.' 'Some writers write to earn money,' said Evie. 'They do,' said Ms. Mirabel. 'But that is only one reason to write. And usually not the most important.'"


This comes from the page before that:


(After a student has asked her whether or not she writes with an outline) "Ms. Mirabel laughed loudly...'Of course not,' she said. 'Outlines are silly. Once you write the outline, there's no reason to write the story. You write to participate...to find out what is going to happen!' Miss Cash frowned. This is not what she had taught us in creative writing class. 'Actually, I loathe outlines!' said Ms. Mirabel with great feeling. Miss Cash closed her eyes as if her head hurt."


That made me laugh. Up until high school, I also loathed pre-writing, as we called it. I wrote because I liked it. I had the story all in my head. It wasn't until I started writing longer things that I was serious about (beginning with Clockwork) that I started outlining, and that was only because I couldn't wait for NaNoWriMo to start. This year, I've only been outlining Ishaera because I found a cool spreadsheet to help me do it, and it's a re-write in which a lot of things have changed (mainly names).


I spent the morning recording and mixing a song for The Leaky Cauldron's Jingle Spells 4. Up until this year, the CD was invitation-only, but this year they're having a contest. If I'm one of the winners, my song will be on the CD. If I don't win, it becomes available online for free. All money from the CD is donated to charity. My song is a filk (same music, different words) of "I Wonder As I Wander." My singing isn't the greatest (it was either slightly too high or slightly too low for me to sing comfortably, depending on which octave I tried), but I think it sounds pretty cool anyway.


The afternoon was devoted to printing, signing, stamping, and addressing queries and envelopes. There's five or six ready to go to the post office sitting on the floor of our study. Two of them have the first 50 pages of Clockwork, and the rest have the first three. The comments on the Ask Daphne post were incredibly helpful. Depending on when Mom gets them mailed, I expect responses to start coming in in late November or early December, and don't think I won't tell you the moment I hear anything.

My Query

I'm pretty sure I've posted my query letter on here for suggestions before, but Daphne Unfeasible of http://ktliterary.com recently critiqued it, so this time I'm including her comments as well. Tell me what you think!

Dear Ms. Unfeasible,
Nearly every civilization has a coming of age rite. In the 51st century, 15 year-olds travel to the dark side of their tidal-locked planet to live without adult influence for a month.
When Terry Massey first arrives, she’s expecting to have a blast, make the friends she’s never had, and start a new life. Her first few hours are great, but then things start to take a turn for the worse. A gang of thugs is terrorizing a select few citizens for seemingly no reason at all, her new friend is furious with her, and she’s surrounded by robots who might be trying to take over the world. The only person she identifies with keeps melting away into the shadows, and by trying to find him, she only succeeds in further isolating herself from the rest of her peers within the paradise of an enormous library.
She discovers a hinting of a secret of epic proportions within that library, as well as Colin, the devilishly charming and clever boy who led her to the library in the first place. As events escalate with the unbelievably irrational behavior of the rest of their age-group— especially the thugs— Terry and Colin join forces with several tea-addicts who sound like computers and an infuriating old man with secrets of his own. Together they must discover the truth behind both the actions of their fellow citizens and the enormous conspiracy that’s been lurking in the Palace’s tower for hundreds of years. And with the thugs after them, they’d better do it fast.
THE CLOCKWORK EXPERIMENT is complete at about 83,000 words. I live in [town], North Carolina, and this is my first novel.
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
O.W.

Good opening paragraph, although I think, moving on, you can be a little more specific about where Terry arrives.
Things go pretty quickly bad, I see, within a “few hours.” And the mention of the library immediately brings to mind that fabulous Doctor Who two-parter, “The Silence in the Library.” That’s a lot to live up to, there. Your language moving into paragraph three is a little rough. Can you find a better way to say “a hinting of a secret of epic proportions”? The way it’s worded now, I’m thinking that Terry may also only discover a “hinting” of Colin — although I’m curious to know if he’s the person in the previous paragraph who “keeps melting away in to the shadows.”
As you add in more details, I get a little lost, but overall, it’s something I’d definitely look at the first few pages of.
Readers, what do you think? What advice do you have for O.W.?



This is good. I agree with everything she said, actually. I just haven't been sure what to do about it.


It brings up a question, though: Ms. Unfeasible, I sent you the first few pages. What was wrong with them?


This worries me, considering certain people speak very highly of the first few pages.


Also: HA! A DOCTOR WHO REFERENCE! That, combined with the (regrettably short) nap I had earlier, combined with that I got out of school an hour early, made my day, even though it's in a semi-negative context.

The Nicest Rejection Letter

That I have ever received. Not that I've gotten all that many, and not because agents love my work. Mostly because I've only sent out about 10 queries. 
Anyways, I found this in my inbox today, and while it is a rejection letter, it's a very nice one. I can't tell if it's a form with the blanks filled in or if it's hand-done-but-they-say-pretty-much-the-same-thing-anyway. I'm betting it's the first, but I must consider the second due to that thing called Wishful Thinking.

Dear Olivia:

Thank you for your recent query letter.  I appreciate your patience while I’ve considered your project.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid I must pass on The Clockwork Experiment.  I represent a very full list of authors and must be highly selective in adding to it.  I realize that it is difficult to judge your potential from a query alone; nevertheless, please know that I give serious attention to every letter, outline, and writing sample that I receive.

Thanks again for thinking of me.  Please accept my best wishes for your project’s success.

Sincerely:

 (Agent's name removed)

And I've seen his author list. It is very full. But since he said "I" as opposed to "we," I'm going to send another one to someone else in his agency. Hahaha. What now, agents. What now.

(Stat update: Today someone from Serbia paid this place a visit. That's a big deal because for a second I didn't even remember where Serbia is. And the map wouldn't tell me because it's so small. Then I remembered it's in Europe because it was involved in WW1.)

He Might Have To Reconsider

Got another rejection letter today, this time from an entire agency as opposed to one agent. :(
And then my mom said "Maybe it's not the query letter. Maybe it's the story. Maybe it's just too much like other stuff."
This is not the kind of stuff I need to hear from my mother, and I told her as much. I said "That's the kind of stuff that torments me late at night. You do not need to say it."
She thinks she's being realistic and helpful, but really it just depresses me and makes me worry even more than normal about the quality of the book. She hasn't read any of it.
Trying to keep my hopes from getting too high is one thing. But crushing my dreams (yeah, I'm exaggerating) is quite another.
However, I can't actually take it personally or be upset at her, because she really is just trying to help me feel better and be supportive and stuff.
But honestly. If I'm worried about the quality of my query letter, you don't tell me my plot might suck in hopes of making me feel better. It's like stabbing someone to take their mind off the pain of their minor headache. Except I'm exaggerating again.


I also read the worst fan fic ever. It was sent to me by my friend with the note that people only read it simply because it's terrible.
And oh boy was it ever.
My list of specific things in the first 22 chapters (they're short, and I was sort of sucked into the bad-ness. I stopped after 22.) could go on for pages. 


And for the Doctor Who fans...
I put a comment on one of wizard rocker Alex Carpenter's YouTube videos telling him that it had occurred to me that I could see him and Captain Jack Harkness as a couple. Then I apologized because that was kind of a weird thing to say. His reply was this:


"I'm pretty straight, but for captain jack...i might have to reconsider...haha"


Haha indeed, Alex. (*cough* I KNEW IT *cough*)
I thought it was funny, anyways.

A New Query, and A New Blog (?)

Being lonely can have funny effects on people.
Some people cry. Some people do the smart thing and find some friends to hang out with. Some people go out and do stupid stuff. Some people bury themselves in a book or a TV show they love. Some people do other stuff, and I'm including them just so certain people don't bother me about grouping them in with a category to which they don't belong.
But all of them have something in common: They're lonely. They want a sign of love and acceptance from someone outside of themselves.


So what did I do, when bereft of email replies? I sent out another query. Just one. And it made me feel better. I'm weird.


I also just checked the last rejection letter I received, and she was presented with both a synopsis and sample pages. The first two chapters are awesome. This bothers me. Oh well. Her loss, right?


This agency wants 

• "brilliant, funny, original middle grade and young adult fiction, both literary and commercial
• witty women’s fiction"

I think Clockwork fits into the first category, and I'm really not sure what the second one is. I'm a woman (well, female, anyway. It depends on your definition of woman), and the book is witty (at least, I think so), and I wrote it specifically for an audience consisting of Mes and Variations Thereof. I'm a girl who likes sci-fi. It is a sci-fi book for girls. 

So even, because they didn't specifically mention sci-fi, they are listed as a "Maybe" on my spreadsheet, I don't think this one's any more of a long shot than any of the other agencies I've written to.

It occurs to me that I write an awful lot of sentences beginning with "So," "And," and "But," considering I'm a writer who pays attention to grammar. This might be a problem- especially if certain people (*cough* agents *cough*) find their way here. Also, this blog is rather unprofessional considering that it was originally intended to be mostly-so. Perhaps I should create a new one for professional-y things. Change this one to "Elf Army Blogs" and make a new "Elf Army Writes." Thoughts?

Sorry...and also my query

"Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week." - George Bernard Shaw


It turns out there were a few things I intended to mention in my last post....but didn't.


Last night I said it was more important to focus on the "Martin" aspect of the character than the "guy" aspect of the character. Get to know him as MARTIN as opposed to A GUY. He has a personality. Let us readers find out what it is.


Also, there are some weird people walking around Food Lion at 9:00 at night. After we dropped Emily and Jessica off at their house, we went to get some milk, and the moment we got back in the car we both voiced the same thought: "There are a lot of weird looking people around Food Lion at night." 
(Actually, it turned out that Mom had gone to the store as well, so now we have 5 gallons of milk.)


I started Part 6 of Ascension last night. Hopefully it will be longer than the rest of them, since they've been getting steadily shorter and shorter. The plot is progressing.


Now to send out those queries.


And here's my query letter, for those who weren't there. It's been edited since last night, so even if you were there, please give any feedback on my changes.

Dear [Agent],

Nearly every civilization has a coming of age rite. In the 51^st century, 15 year-olds travel to the dark side of their tidal-locked planet to live without adult influence for a month.

When Terry Massey first arrives, she’s expecting to have a blast, make the friends she’s never had, and start a new life. Her first few hours are great, but then things start to take a turn for the worse. An informal gang of thugs is terrorizing specific people for no apparent reason, her new friend is furious with her, and she’s surrounded by robots who might be trying to take over the world. The only person she identifies with keeps melting away into the shadows, and by trying to find him, she only succeeds in further isolating herself from the rest of her peers within the paradise of an enormous library.

She discovers a hinting of a secret of epic proportions within that library, as well as Colin, the devilishly charming and clever boy who led her there in the first place. As events escalate with the unbelievably irrational behavior of the rest of their age-group— especially the thugs— Terry and Colin join forces with several tea-addicts who sound like computers and an infuriating old man with secrets of his own. Together they must discover the truth behind both the actions of their fellow citizens and the enormous conspiracy that’s been lurking in the Palace’s tower for hundreds of years. And with the thugs after them, they’d better do it fast.

THE CLOCKWORK EXPERIMENT clocks in, if you’ll pardon the pun, at about 83,000 words. I live in Cary, North Carolina, and I’ve been writing for about 8 years; however, this is my first novel.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

           

                                    Sincerely,

           

                                                   Olivia Wood

Vessel of Varied Topics

As the title of a recent episode of a podcast I follow said.


"You're cooler than the flip-side of my pillow." -One of my sister's friends (in this case not to anyone or anything in particular. She just says it sometimes.)


5th grade boys are just plain strange. Sorry, male readers, but you used to be one, and while I may understand you better now, that inner 5th-grader is still there somewhere, buried deep down inside of your souls. This point comes as a result of a conversation I had with aforementioned sister about some boys in her class last year. Some guys don't understand girls/women. But it is really you who are the enigmas. End of topic.


I didn't read my query letter at the meeting today, as I had planned, as the two people I really wanted critiques from weren't there. (I depend on you to make my stuff better, you know. I don't just bring stuff in for fun, even if that is part of it.) Next time, probably.


There weren't any new people, and while new people are interesting, I was glad for a small group of people who have been around for awhile. It was more relaxed, and we had more time. We were even done slightly early (**gasp**).


I read a poem, which is something I don't do very often. It got exactly the reception I'd hoped for, so that was good. :)


And I missed Beth. She was the first person at writing club to hear one of my stories ("Last of the Nine, in case anyone was interested. Sorry for those of you who aren't in the club and don't know what I'm talking about), and the story she read at that meeting remains my favorite out of  all the ones I have heard (at meetings) since. Sorry.


I suppose that now I'm slowly accumulating non-IRL followers, I should be more conscientious of them. 
So if my blogging about more personal things that you don't understand bothers you, please tell me. I won't stop, but I'll cut down on it. Really the only super-personal ones are Wednesday evenings every other week, because I've just seen everyone at our meeting. So you shouldn't worry about it too much. But tell me if it bothers you.

If You Are Depressed...

...or otherwise not in the greatest of moods, make a list.


Make a list of what is currently making you happy. 


I know it sounds like one of those stupid things you hear about psychologists saying...but it works. It works amazingly well.


On a related note, I'm borrowing a book from my friend called The Book of Awesome. It lists things that are awesome and has a page or two on each one.


I've finished my driving lessons. I almost hit someone today while changing lanes. They were in my blindspot, and I forgot to check. Someone else almost hit me, because I was changing lanes and put my brakes on.
Conclusion: I'm bad at changing lanes.
But now I don't have to worry about it until after my birthday in October, so that's good.


Leaky Con 2011 (A Harry Potter conference I plan on attending) is having "Lit Day," where several authors, agents, and people from publishing houses will come and talk about related things. I'm unbelievably excited about this. However, it's proving difficult to get my parents to allow me to go, seeing as how its in Orlando and the hotel is rather expensive.
If only one of those agents I queried miraculously decided to represent me and got Clockwork sold...then I would have enough money. Haha.


Emily has declared that my query letter "needs work." Be excited, people, for the day when you get to attack it draws nearer. :D

In Which My Paranoia Sets In

This is all new to me, right? Sure, I've taken a class where we talked about it some, and read loads of personal accounts and blogs and whatnot...but I've never done this whole getting-published thing before.

I know Clockwork is good. I worked hard on it, and I've had loads of help from you guys. That's not what worries me. I know it's just a matter of time manuscript-wise.

But what about my query letter?

The query I wrote for Ishaera for my exam only got points taken off for phrasing and tense (I wrote it as if I was still working on the book as opposed to having finished. The directions confused me so I thought that was the way he wanted it.)

But that's just one. It's an entirely different thing. Prose I can do decently. Poetry is subjective. But a query letter? I've only written three of those in my entire life. Okay, maybe four. But still. 

And I know two rejection letters is nothing. Really. I know this. But that doesn't keep me from worrying. So I'll be reading my query letter to you next week, and you can have at it.

Yes, so I sent four or five more queries out this morning, and I got one reply so far (I'm actually impressed by how fast he was in getting back to me.)

One of them asked for people to send the first few pages along with their queries, and the first chapter of Clockwork is definitely the best (in my opinion, anyways.) Another said to attach the first 50 pages. Strangely enough, I'm more nervous about that one. The first 50 pages are very Queste-centric and set-uppy. And we all know that Queste is annoying. It's very girly YA and not much sci-fi. However, it does have the tea people in it, so I think that's good. It's pretty much immediately after that point that things start getting interesting (she finds the library, talks to Ronald for the first time, etc.)

Driving-wise, they took me driving around downtown Raleigh today (scary, right?), and then afterwards my mom and I went over to the elementary school and I practiced parking (I'm not very good at that. Especially right-hand parking.)

The Parselmouths are an excellent band. This is my second-straight time through their CD I bought last night at the concert.

And also, since I wrote some reviews of it on here during the beginning of the season (which I won't be doing this time around), I figured I'd tell you that Syfy's Caprica will be starting up again in January. 

You Never Forget Your First...

...form rejection. Haha.

Yep. That is what I received in my inbox after the ROFLCOPTOUR concert tonight (speaking of which, Emily, I thought you were going to be there?).

It was a very nice one, though. I archived it. :D

As my Facebook status says, it was exciting for about ten minutes, and now I'm just sort of "yeah, that's what I expected." I only said "dejected" because of the similarity to "rejected." I'm actually okay with it. 

Unfortunately, for most of the other agents I plan on querying, I'll need to write a synopsis. Yay. Of course, it was something I probably should have done at some point anyway.

Also: I started my driving lessons with the Driving School Teacher today. I'm either paying attention to my speed and turning too far to the right, or paying attention to my steering and speeding or going too slow. But I've only been behind the wheel for less than two hours total, so that's alright as well.

The concert was awesome. I'll be uploading footage to my YouTube channel soon. I bought two new CDs and got my ALL CAPS one signed.

So that's cool.

And So It Begins

About ten seconds ago, I did something rather important, relatively speaking.

I emailed my query letter to an agent. Kristen Nelson, of the Pub Rants blog, to be precise.

And now I wait 5-10 days. Far more than likely, I'll get my first rejection letter, which will be ironically exciting in and of itself.

On an unrelated note:

Following a lot of literary blogs can get confusing. Ms. Nelson is the agent representing the Gallagher Girls series, which is the book of the month at Readergirlz  The Eragon fansite I follow posted about the Harry Potter Alliance last week. Various authors and agents know each other, and they mention each other in their posts. It's rather annoying to have to figure out who a person is before I read their post.

Also:

I found some romance earlier today that is non-cliche and slightly cheesy, except since its so unbelievably honest it doesn't seem that way. Unfortunately, I can't read it to you at a meeting, as it is private. Private, as in the "letter from my dad to my mom" kind of way. And non-cliche in the "We're already married and have kids" sense. 

I don't want to say anything more than that, but my dad is a great writer when he wants to be. I only wish he had the time and inclination.

An Entertaining Blog (to say the least)

http://slushpilehell.tumblr.com/

On which an agent posts particularly cringe-worthy snippets of query letters she has received. Speaking of which, I should go send mine...

I Did It

Well, I did it. I sent my query letter to the Query Shark.

Apparently I'm supposed to get an "acknowledgement message" within a week, and after that, it may or may not get posted on the blog.

I think I did a fairly decent job on it, but of course I do. I wouldn't have sent it to her if I didn't think so. And I must admit, I didn't wait a week before doing more revisions. And I didn't take notes. I've just been revising as I trundle through the posts.

After you guys finish reading Clockwork and I go for a final editing swipe or two...I guess it'll be time for me to start sending out the letter. That's a scary thought. Even now, I'm thinking "No! Get more people to read over it! There's no way it's ready yet! There's got to be something wrong with it!"

And maybe there is. Maybe there's an enormously terrible thing wrong with it that I don't know about. But that's what you guys are for.

Quote

This query letter didn't get a fantastic critique, but this was the opening line, and I thought it was funny.

"'I'm not in love with Alice Stevens, she's just a very sexy reccuring dream.'"

Only about 20 more to read.