How To Survive the Edit Letter

Okay, my feathered friends, today we've got another guest blogger! Welcome Shari Arnold, who's here to help you curb your neurosis...er, manage your edit letter.

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How To Survive the Edit Letter:

I know, I know. We're not supposed to talk about it. It's one of the mysteries of the publishing world, an essential part of how a book becomes a book. And everyone does it. I mean, without edits the libraries and bookstores would be empty. Books would not exist.

But for those of you wondering how to get from point A (the revision you finished a month ago) to point B (the re-revision you need to finish a month from now) here are a few suggestions:

1. Read the letter and then take some time to ignore it.
Seriously. Banish it. Hide it in a dark corner where you can't see its beady little eyes berating you and your tell-not-show self. It's important to let your editor's suggestions, questions, and comments sink in before you write her that email that explains how you JUST CAN'T MAKE IT ANY BETTER!

2. Don't Send The Email.
I know you want to write it. I know you've probably saved the draft and you'll continue to add a new excuse every few minutes (the excuses get better the longer you sit at the computer). I can even tell you exactly what your opening lines will be: I DO TOO KNOW MY CHARACTERS! Ask me anything! I could even tell you what song my MC is listening to AT THIS VERY MINUTE!

3. Do the character study.
Believe me. You don't always know the answers. And when you finally do, your characters will come alive, jump off the page and dance around your room. And it's okay to dance with them. They're just as excited to be alive.

4. Plotting and Pacing aren't here to hurt you.
You may think you've got it all figured out because your mom, best friend, and your two amazing critique partners love your book and tell you you're fabulous, but it's your editor's job to make your book better. And you want it to be better. You do. If you don't believe me, go ask Goodreads.

5. New scenes are like rainbows and unicorns.
Now that you know your characters, and you've been told exactly where the readers are going to drop off like flies, it's time to write some new stuff.

And that's the fun part. Remember this. It's very important.

Writing is what you love. You love to write.

Because you do. If you didn't you wouldn't be sitting all alone at a computer, making stuff up in your head, while the rest of the world is living and breathing reality.

So go write.

Oh. And chocolate helps. I recommend Junior Mints.

Shari Arnold is the author of MYSTIQUE coming Fall 2012 from Chronicle Books. Check out her blog or follow her on Twitter.

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Thanks, Shari! Those of you who've done major revisions, is she right or what? Don't we often just need a few days away from a critique in order to incorporate it? My vote is yes.

Back-to-School Reading

Okay, Labor Day (and summer) has come and gone, and the kids are back at school.  And you know what that means? New books.

Me, I've got Goliath by Scott Westerfeld pre-ordered.

Amazon blurb:

Alek and Deryn are on the last leg of their round-the-world quest to end World War I, reclaim Alek’s throne as prince of Austria, and finally fall in love. The first two objectives are complicated by the fact that their ship, the Leviathan, continues to detour farther away from the heart of the war (and crown). And the love thing would be a lot easier if Alek knew Deryn was a girl. (She has to pose as a boy in order to serve in the British Air Service.) And if they weren’t technically enemies. 

The tension thickens as the Leviathan steams toward New York City with a homicidal lunatic on board: secrets suddenly unravel, characters reappear, and nothing is at it seems in this thunderous conclusion to Scott Westerfeld’s brilliant trilogy.

So what are you looking forward to this fall?  (You have, of course, already bought The Eleventh Plague, right?)

Eleventh Plague Giveaway Winners!!

Hi all!

Thanks again for making my launch week so fantastic! I was just thrilled with the response to the big signed Eleventh Plague giveaway.  Speaking of which....

The winners are...

Safari Poet

and

Jill of the O.W.L 

Congrats guys and thanks for entering! Jill if you could comment with your email I'll contact you and get your mailing address to send the book. Safari, I saw your email and will be in touch soon.

So how's everyone doing post Labor Day weekend? Mourning the end of summer? Grudgingly re-entering the real world? 

A bit on writing through the rough patches

"The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it." ~Jules Renard, "Diary," February 1895

I'm working on a new novel - which is a good thing. At this moment, however, it's not motoring along lickety-split and flowing out of my fingertips. So - what's a girl to do?

I have found, that in writing, as in life - the best thing to do is "keep on, keepin' on." (Thank you Gladys & Pips!)



What that means for me is to keep on writing even when it's far from perfect and I don't think I'll ever find my way back to the story. But, you know what? Eventually I see what's NOT working and am able to noodle out what IS working.

It might seem like wasted time - but, I guarantee, no writing is wasted. It might not be used in a story, but it's like being on a path that suddenly disappears. You have your direction - you keep on moving towards it - and eventually you find the path again. The steps you took on the pathless ground were just as important in getting to your destination as the ones on the path.

Now I must beat a path to the day job!
What sort of tools do you have in your writing box to get through rough patches? I'd love to know!

Who Would You Be?

One of the first things you'll notice about Atlanta is the upswing of strangely dressed people walking everywhere. Dragon*Con is famous for the costumes, and it is no wonder--I've never seen such amazingly well done costumes before!



Which leads me to ask: who would YOU dress up as?

Steampunk definitely ruled the con!

Can't go wrong with a classic Wolverine and Rogue

You don't actually have to BE a character--a space suit and blaster is more than enough!

There was a surprising number of Disney Princesses (and Princess Friends) this year.

That Dalek? IS the costume. There's a person in there, making it move!

And, of course, anime! Here's Inuyasha, my fave anime character ever.

This is just a SMALL sample of all the fantastic costumes I saw at Dragon*Con! I, unfortunately didn't end up dressing up..but I'm starting to think it might be fun to do that next year!



So guys: what would YOU dress up for a day as? Or, if you've been to Dragon*Con (or any con) what was the best costume you saw someone else dressed as?

The Eleventh Plague: Giveaway and Video!

Regular blog post didn't seem quite fitting so I did a little video to express my thanks to all you awesome Leaguers!

If you didn't get a chance to watch the video, here's the upshot. Leave me a little comment below for a chance to won 1 of 2 signed hardcovers of The Eleventh Plague!


And if you don't get a book on the giveaway, don't forget you can always order here, here, or for the more indie minded here.

Eleventh Plague: How to Survive the Collapse

The Eleventh Plague takes place a generation after the Collapse.  This happened after the Chinese released P11 (aka the Eleventh Plague) which killed a significant portion of the world's population.   There weren't enough people left to keep basic services going.  Power grid: gone. Communication: gone. Government: gone.

In Jeff's fantastic book, the main character's family has survived by becoming roving scavengers, while others have done so by banding together into communities. Both groups, though, have to make do with what they find (or grow).

Let's say the Collapse happened tomorrow. What would you use to survive? There are many, many lists on the internet about stocking up on food and emergency supplies. (And weapons.) But, most of us aren't going to do that.  We're going to make do with what's around us.  And, I don't know about you, but I live in city neighborhood with a natural foods co-op, a cupcake store, coffee shop, old theater, and a hybrid car on every block. So I looked for some ingenious survival tips that kind of fit a more modern urban-hipster (or suburban) lifestyle. (Not that I'm modern, urban, or hip, mind you.)

1. Turn your Prius into a generator .  During one of our recent snowmaggedon's, an intrepid guy ran his refrigerator, freezer, woodstove fan, and lights for three days on five gallons of gas.  (For some reason, blogger doesn't like this link. The address is http://lifehacker.com/5118575/use-a-prius-as-an-emergency-generator )

2. Make survival gear out of Ikea products.  The Ikea Hackers show you have to make a firestarter out of a coathanger, a wine rack, and some ornamental doo-dads.

3. Use Craig's List to Barter for Future Currency Items  Think cigarettes, chocolate, booze, and other things that will be scarce. (Obviously do this before the sh*t hits the fan.) Your bartering skills will also useful after the Collapse when you'll be using cash for kindling your Ikea product fire.

4. Build a shelter out of a gas or oil truck.  After you steal it for the last of the fuel to run your Prius generator, you can clean this puppy out and build an apartment inside. Which might be useful if you need to flee the city.

5. Buy a Survival Ball.  If you think the above are too much trouble--and you have the cash, why not spring for this comfy looking survival suit / home to weather the Collapse?

Ok, you got me. The last one isn't real. (But this one is.) The Survival Ball is a product of the Yes Men.  Here's a clip from the documentary Yes Men Fix the World where they try to sell the idea to Halliburton:



btw, Halliburton took it totally seriously.


Your turn. Any ingenious survival tips you'd like to share? What would you use to survive the Collapse?