AARGH . . . Summer

So we are at the start of a three day weekend.  For most people that means the start of summer, some well deserved down time, maybe even some yard work. To me, and all the other people who live on Cape Cod, it means tourists and loads and loads of traffic.

It's only Thursday.  Last time I checked Friday was still a work day, yet I found myself sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the highway, surrounded by out of state plates.  It took me 25 minutes to go 1.5 miles.  1.5 flipping miles!  So in advance of all the tourists waiting to invade my space, here's a little recap of the things that annoy me the most.  And yes we can be snarky around here. It's not that we don't like you, we're just naturally sarcastic.

~ A round-about is just that  . . . something you drive around.  Do not attempt to back up should you miss your exit.  Simply drive around the circle again and pay better attention.

~ Do not stop me in the supermarket to ask me where the best place to view whales is.  I will, not so politely, tell you to try the ocean . . . say five miles off shore.

~ There is no tunnel to the Cape.  There are two bridges or you can swim.  Those fake tunnel passes you see on our cars are indeed a joke . . . at your expense.

~ If you slip your boat onto my mooring while I am out fishing, I can guarantee it won't be there when you get back.

~Following up on that note . . . the dock at the end of my yard is not, I repeat NOT for public use.  Do not tie up to it, do not use my hose to wash the fish scales of your boat, and for the love of God do not disembark your vessel and knock on my back door seeking directions.

~Reident parking is just that . . . for residents.  If you have New Jersey plates, I'm guessing you don't live here.

~And lastly, quahogs and clams ARE NOT the same thing. 

On that note.  Welcome to summer.  Feel free to come play with me on Cape Cod.  I really am actually a nice person . . . just ask my critique partners :)

Tag Team

My most recent creation, Fatum, was co-authored.  I went into it with an open mind, fully anticipating a few creative differences along the way, never daring to imagine the ease with which the partnership has flowed. Aside from having an amazingly talented writer in my corner,  I now have a constant cheerleader, a motivator, and someone to auto check your grammar (which for me is huge).  There is somebody constantly pushing me to finish up a scene, someone to bounce my crazy ideas off of, and someone to reign that often dark imagination of mine in.

But today, I hit the jackpot in benefits. "REVISION MASTER"

See Lindsay and I hit revision mode, a set of minor tweaks to an already thorough pre-submission edit we accomplished last week.  Editing 260 pages can seem like a daunting process, and after a few reads, everything blurs into one jumbled mess of words.  That's when I hand it off with a little tracked comment about how I can't get this sentence to flow or how I am sick of looking at the same character flaw, but am at a loss at how to fix it.  She picks it up, her brain in sync with mine, and polishes it, takes what I was struggling to get out and pours it onto the page with relative ease. I find myself eternally grateful, often relieved, and sometimes a tad bit jealous of her skill :)

The give and take we have is invaluable and has made the revision process not only quick, but actually enjoyable. What would have taken me weeks on my own, we have accomplished in mere days without so much as even a minor freak out.

So what about you, what do you find most valuable about your critique partners when faced with revisions?

Tunnel Vision

My poor neglected blog has fallen prey to my revision-mode, tunnel vision.  I used to be a great multitasker, could create lists in my head and tick the items off as I moved long.  Lately it seems I like I have a mind for only one thing, which unfortunately means everything else has fallen by the wayside.  Some of my writer friends think I simply need to transfer that list from my brain to a piece of paper, providing me with a visual reminder that won't go away.  I disagree; I think the solution is more caffeine!

So I am off to make my third pot of the day.  If that doesn't work . .  well then there is always chocolate-covered espresso beans.  I hear the carry quite the kick!

Filp Flop

After some amazingly funny and curious emails, I thought I would address the befitting comment my writing partner, Lindsay, left on my blog regarding Flip Flop.  First off, although appropriately named for my situation, Flip Flop does not refer to the stressful, yet thrillingly overwhelming decision process one is forced to wade through when dealing with multiple offers of representation. Nor does is it a reference to the grueling choice I made to switch agents.  It is simply the name of the Cabernet Sauvignon I indulged in the night I finally got up the courage to query our top three dream agents.

For those who are following my new “buy the bottle because you like the name” phase in wine drinking, I have since switched to a lovely Chardonnay called “Beach House”  Here’s to hoping that it’s hidden meaning will afford me a publishing contract big enough to secure said beach house.  Yeah . .  not holding my breath for that one.

Writing, Laundry, & Carpools

Happy Mother’s Day to all my blogging friends out there. Here is to an entire year of juggling kids, carpools, and massive amounts of laundry all while trying to crank out the next great novel!  I have three of them, and they have been my inspiration, the constant prod I need to stay on track; and, being that two of mine are teenagers, some amazing raw material for my YA characters!

When the Unimaginable Really Happens!

We all pour every ounce of our creativity into our writing; spend hours second-guessing word choices, triple checking for comma splices, and reading and re-reading critiques.  When we think it is perfect, we draft a query, curse the necessity of a synopsis, then hit the send key.  If you are like me, you send to a handful of agents just to test the water, never daring to contemplate sending that 250 word letter to your three or four dream agents.  Then some how, after a little well-deserved help from a bottle of Merlot you pull the trigger, send that bugger to the top three agents on your list, the ones you never dream about snagging.

Then you wake up five days later with a note saying, send me the full.  You stare at it, wonder what the waiter slipped into your food last night, absolutely refusing to believe this could be anything more than a mistake.  Still, holding out for the impossible, you send it along and pray to every know deity that she likes it.

Three days later there is a note in your inbox requesting a call, which you sweat through because you are too stunned to formulate a coherent sentence. You sign the contract, put your faith is the US postal service that it will get there unharmed, and pick up the phone, call your writing partner and scream .

Then you get in the car, drive to the store in search of that same exact bottle of Merlot that gave you the confidence to shoot that query off in the first place, and send up a virtual toast to your co-author.  Wow, I Still can’t quite wrap my head around that one.

An Amazing Opportunity & A Heartfelt Thank You

As most of you know, I tend to go dark, my online presence virtually non-existent from time to time.  Those of you who know me well understand that this only occurs when I am faced with a decision that utterly consumes my mind.  This may be related to marketability, story arch, or character revisions.  In this case, it was a much bigger decision, one that had me excited and terrified all at the same time.

Early this winter, I co-authored a book with a great friend and talented writer, Lindsay Currie.  It is a genre neither of us had ever played in but both quickly loved – YA Speculative Fiction.   Silo is gritty, written from the male POV, and explores how the real evil is in the way everyone loses their humanity in the face of survival.

I am excited, terrified, and a little anxious to dive into her suggested revisions.  But before I do that, I owe two people a debt of gratitude.  They listened to be churn this decision over in my head for the past few days, never once telling me to shut up.  They were my sounding board, the impartial parties that helped me lay out all my agent choices and align the pros and cons.  There were emails, and phone calls, and in the end a heartfelt “trust yourself, you know what to do.”   So Mary Waibel and Becky Wallace, thank you for your support, your confidence in my writing, and a week of virtual hand holding.