On Celebrating and Braggery

I finally got my act together and joined my local chapter of the RWA (What up, WisRWA Milwaukee Chapter?!)  And to my complete luck, our first meeting featured a talk by the delightful Isabel Sharpe, and she shared a piece of advice that has stuck with me for over a week.  (To be fair, she heard it from someone else, but I am not a notetaker, so this is as close as you're going to get to an honest attribution).

"Always allow people to be happier for you than you are for yourself."

It took me a minute to digest, and I'll be happy to wait if you need to take a moment yourself.  No, really...go ahead.  I'll be here.

Back?  Okay.  So what does it mean?  Well, there are two interpretations.  The first is simple:  be humble.

The second is more complex, but I think more applicable when the average person is suffering from the all-too-human urge to be less-than-humble.  And here it is:

Do not be so happy for yourself that you become a bore.

As writers, we suffer from an overabundance of rejection.  So those moments of approval can be precious. Hell, they can be balm to a ravaged soul depending on how long you've been at this.  How can you not want to celebrate, right?  Don't worry, you should.  You absolutely should.  Got an agent?  Congratulations!  Tell me the story!  I love agent stories!  Sold your manuscript?  Amazing!  Where?  When is it coming out?  I'm doing virtual cartwheels for you!  Won the cover lottery?  Color me jealous and give me the damn link already so I can drool appropriately!

But then, you need to calm yourself a bit.  Don't crow.  Don't tell us about every full manuscript request. Don't have a party for yourself every week on your blog after your book sells.

Let others do it for you.  Because they will.

Now of course, this doesn't mean you should only mention it once and never speak of it again like it's some shameful part of your past.  You need to promote yourself, of course.  But that's a matter of timing, frequency and tone, at least in my humble opinion.

And there are some really delightful writers out there who are pulling off this perfect balance of self-promotion and humility.  In fact, I'll give you a list of some of my favorite examples.  You can check out their blogs and see what I mean:

• Kiersten White - the humblest, most lovable New York Times Bestseller.  Ever.

• Stephanie Perkins - Steph works gobsmacked like nobody else.  She got the love from John Green for God's sake.  And you still want to squeeze her and bask in her glory.

• Hannah Moskowitz - Hannah is the most earth-bound wunderkind you'll ever encounter.  And she rocks her good news with charming swagger.

So if you can't be guided by my misattributed quote above, ask yourself:  What would Kiersten/Stephanie/Hannah do?

Who are some of your on-line humility heroes?

- Liz

What I Did On My Blogger Vacation

I've been gone from here. A lot. As usual, no small part of it has to do with me being an infrequent blogger. But for once, I have a decent reason, too.

In October, I accidentally did my own personal NaNoWriMo.

See, I was plodding along through a decent project that I like, and I'm still fond of, but it just wasn't coming easily. Meanwhile, I was struck with inspiration in one of those bolt-from-the-blue moments.

I have an older project that has made the querying rounds with lots of requests, lots of positive feedback, but no offers. A lot of "great writing, not enough of a hook," "love your characters, love your dialogue, but this plot isn't original enough to be a debut." Which was really hard at the time, because I love those characters, too, and I felt like they weren't getting a fair shake (from their story, not from the agents).

Now, over a year later, I finally had my Aha! moment: I was telling the story from the wrong character's perspective. The idea stayed with me, and all but stalled progress on my other work-in-progress.

"I'll just write a few pages to get the basic premise down," I thought. "Get that first scene out of my head so I can concentrate on the other one."

Twenty-two days and 74,000 words later, it was done.

And it feels right. My wonderful crit partners have already given me the thumbs up and the first 50 pages have been through the ringer in my crit group. If I had a Magic 8 Ball, it would be reading 'All Signs Point to Yes.'

It doesn't feel like a first draft, or even a second, third or fourth. It feels like the final edits on the story I told a long time ago. I guess it just took a year, a leave of absence from work, and that final spark to give me the chance to absorb all the input I got on the query trail last time.

So, I'm not doing NaNo this year. I need a break! My wonderful friend Ryan made me my very own certificate though, for doing my personal NaNo a month early. It's at the top of this post. Pretty awesome right?

Fingers crossed, people! And for those of you doing NaNo--It can be done. Trust me!

- Liz

I'm a Tepee, I'm a Wigwam: I'm Torn Between Two Tense(s)

Okay, wow, I'm a little disappointed in myself for such a terrible title. Apologies.

Moving on.

Recently, I've been doing some very pleasurable pleasure reading. Just finished Hannah Moskowitz's BREAK and just started GOING BOVINE by Libba Bray (who, by the way, makes my teeth sweat with her wonderousness.) Both of them write in the present tense (at least in these two books).

Turns out, I'm embarrassingly suggestible. Here I am, trying to start my new project, and I keep slipping into present tense. It's like an infection in my brain. Maybe these clever ladies are secretly infecting the whole literary world with present tense-itis!

So today, after two days of writing sentences that mixed tenses like a third grader, I have finally decided to give in. I am writing my first present-tense story. I may live to regret this, but I think it's worth the noble experiment.

In a spectacular feat of rationalizing, I have come up with a short list of reasons that present tense can be the right fit for a story.

1. It puts the reader smack-dab into the main character's experience. There is no sensation that there are secrets being kept from the reader.

2. It eliminates that pesky past-perfect tense if you have a lot of backstory or flashbacks to get through.

3. It's jam-packed with all sort of swell actiony verbs for that sense of immediacy!

4. In first person narrative, it eliminates potential confusion between direct thoughts and narrative.

5. It's kind of trendy! Something I can so rarely say about my projects!

What's the verdict, people? Do we like present tense?

- Liz

Random Acts of Bravery

Today, I committed random acts of bravery. Well, for a writer anyway. See, as a breed, we are largely introverted (though general charming when you get to know us) and writing is by nature a solitary endeavor. To be fair, the very idea of querying was terrifying to me at first, because it meant I had to seek someone else's approval [rejection].

But, I digress. To the list.

1. I did my first "pitch." It wasn't in person, but it was still an experience worth having. The competition is stiff, but we should have answers tomorrow.

2. I internet stalked a number of my fellow pitchers. Why? Because they, like me, are writing contemporary YA, or Women's Fiction, and in the current market [all fantasy/paranormal all the time], it was nice to know I wasn't the only square peg.

3. My stalking resulted in some new e-mail contacts, a couple new followers at Twitter and some fun new blogs to haunt.

4. I wrote a synopsis, which most every writer I have ever met/read about/can imagine dreads the way most people dread a root canal.

5. I sent out four queries. My hands didn't even shake when I hit send this time. [Personal growth!]

So, now we're back to our regularly scheduled program of waiting, obsessively checking my e-mail and trying to tamp down hope. Now if THAT was a career path, I would be the frickin' CEO in no time.

- Liz

image courtesy of: http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/george-reeves-biopic/s-cost-tb.html