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Posted
August 23, 2013
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It’s Contest Time Again

I’ve (again) been M.I.A. for the past few weeks. Can you believe I wrote an entire book this summer? I can’t. I still can’t. I am roughly 1 chapter away from saying…DONE. Let me be clear: It’s already written. That’s one more chapter to edit! Then it’s back to the query process. Which is fun in its own way, but also entirely stressful and exhausting. It’s perfect timing though. I’m going back to work next week AND I have another story which is just dying to be written. Sometimes, a scene comes so fully, that I can’t wait to thrust myself into that new world. Anyway, first things first. 

Contests are a great way for me to get a feel for how my query is doing and also get my work out there in one fell swoop. One of the biggest contests of the year (in my opinion) comes from the blog MissSnarksFirstVictim.blogspot.com. It’s called the Baker’s Dozen and you can read more about it here. I didn’t participate directly last year, but I did have fun cheering from the sidelines. The writers involved are all incredibly talented and it is a great way to get some exposure (if you enter) and read some great entries. Trust me, the writing is excellent. 

Hope to see you there.

Posted
July 20, 2013
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The Bucket List

When I was 22, I was blessed with an english professor who thought beyond writing the typical analytical essay on one of many countless books. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of books I was exposed to that I wouldn’t have been if not for him. But one of my most favorite assignments was in the form of writing a bucket list. It seems easy enough, right? I thought so too, until I sat down and attempted to write that list. I had no idea what I wanted to accomplish in life or the things I wanted to do. After a weekend, it ended up looking like a list of places I wanted to visit–basically, it was a list of countries. It was a travel guide. Regardless, I turned it into my professor and he took one look at it and said, “What’s this?”

I answered in the only way I could: “It’s my bucket list.” Obviously.

Then he hmmm-ed and awed a few times while nodding his head. He handed the list back to me and said, “No, it’s not.” He then went on to explain a myriad of things prevalent in an English class and I was left thinking that my list was not going to be acceptable. I went home and tried again. This time I put things down that included:

1. Write a book (Only then my idea centered more around the creation of a cookbook.)

2. Learn another language fluently.

3. Live in another country.

4. Fly in a helicopter (By the way, I hate flying by any means and this would actually be terrifying for me)

5.Take a cooking class.

6. Sail somewhere.

7. Try Paddleboard yoga.

8. Buy an old car and learn to fix it. (Preferably a Chevy Camaro)

9. Learn an instrument

10. Work for myself

Needless to say, it’s been 10 years, and I haven’t done much on this list. Yes, I am currently working on that book (and it’s not a cookbook) but, I haven’t even attempted to do anything else on that list.

Until now…I am going to try Paddleboard Yoga! I know, I know, it’s probably the easiest on the list and since I live next to many bodies of water, this should have been crossed off the list long ago. And on Monday, it will be. Yay!!

Okay, so I have other lists as well. One is my travel list, which I plan to revisit in the near future. And the other is my Reading list. Books are getting added to it all the time and it seems to only get longer, but it’s a goal right?

So, what’s on your list?

Posted
July 9, 2013
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Summer…week 2 ish

Summer is just ticking along for us in the Becker household. We spend most days at the pool, where the kids are insanely occupied and want very little to do with me, while I plot away on a tiny notebook trying to work through my latest debacle.

Writing is going well. I’m about 54,000 words into a projected 70,000 word novel. I’ve started Beta-ing for someone and though it takes away from other things, it is well worth it. She’s taking a look at my earlier chapters as well, so that’s keeping my head where it needs to be. 

There are contests in the works, namely PITCHMAS, which I had to watch from the sidelines this year. After a year of being invested in the contest scene, it is hard to not participate. The writing out there is amazing and I wish all of the writers luck.

Posted
July 5, 2013
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Happy 4th of July!

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This is where we watched fireworks last night and though you can’t tell from the picture–It was beautiful! I hope everyone had a happy 4th.

Posted
June 28, 2013
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Summer…week 1

Summer at home with the kids is a lot of things. We spent two days at the pool, one day doing chores, one running errands, and there’s one in there where I have no idea how we spent it. Time goes fast during this time of year.

I have a very long list of things I hope to accomplish this summer. One of which is to finally finish the rewrite I began four weeks ago. I try to write a minimum of 2000 words a day and if I stick to it I should be finished by mid-July. 

I also read. I’m at the end of THE BODY FINDER series by Kimberly Derting. I picked up this book originally because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too similar to the book I am writing. It does have similarities, but it is definitely different. It’s basically about a girl, Violet Ambrose, who has an unfortunate ability–she can find those that have been murdered. The dead leave behind a type of mark, which she calls an echo, and can be anything from a taste to a smell to something she sees around the body. Whoever murdered that person or animal carries their own mark, an imprint that matches the echo. This obviously creates a problem when someone local starts murdering teen girls. 

So far, I haven’t mentioned anything about the kids who rule my life. They obviously take the lion share of my time with pool and beach trips and this year we’re going to Legoland. And I really want to teach my five year old how to read this summer and get my seven year old off his video game habit. 

And lastly…I hope to feed the photographer in me. So, with a camera in one hand, a book or notebook in the other, and two kids running beside me, I am off. 

Posted
June 5, 2013
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The Location Scout

8416879327_75e08bd83c          8416879639_b60bba5411Since I love reading and anything that involves books, I thought this would be a project I could get excited about. I did this in place of a traditional landscape assignment–something I felt was a little tired. Their work didn’t disappoint. I was so happy with the results.

8389379799_03d5084ce38429322769_86561e8080 8559344619_6f7986b4f2This project was one of our more involved projects of the year and served as their final. Every student chose a book that they either wanted to read or have read recently. I had them find 5 descriptive quotes to base their pictures around. I taught them a little about “movie editing” and how color can affect the overall mood. Since this is the end of the year, the students had a good understanding of composition and camera controls.8412243036_95e14b452b8403422172_c58d3d0b0a8537581248_3a8e3e0775

Posted
May 13, 2013
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A Monday Rant

Mondays for me are another day to dwell on all I didn’t get done over the weekend. I begin with a list of sorts on Friday–chores, groceries, things I’ve run out of and need to replace, and a word count goal. I almost always push the chores to Sunday mid-day. Groceries and errands usually on Sunday morning and I try to pick away at my word count goal throughout the weekend. I knew it would be tough this weekend so I woke up extra early on Sunday morning (I do a yoga class on Saturday morning). Picture this: the alarm sounds off at 5am, you don’t want to get up, but you imagine a quiet house, fresh coffee, and somehow someway you peel yourself from the bed. And then…you’re not alone. Both kids figured the same thing. The tv was already on, the snacks out. I was definitely not alone. I tried anyway. I managed to write 200-ish words. Not exactly my goal, which was set to 4000. I like to think that I could accomplish so much more if only I didn’t have a full time job, but the truth of the matter is that I write less when I’m not working. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be!

What about you? How do you meet the goals you set? Do you make a timeline? An outline? Share!

Posted
May 3, 2013
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Contest Junkie

This has been something I’ve wanted to add for awhile and I finally have a little of time. There are a lot of contests this month!

“The Writer’s Voice” is a multi-blog, multi-agent contest hosted by Cupid of Cupid’s Literary Connection, Brenda Drake of Brenda Drake Writes, Monica B.W. of Love YA, and Krista Van Dolzer of Mother. Write. (Repeat.). They’re basing it on NBC’s singing reality show The Voice, so the four of them will serve as coaches and select projects for  teams based on queries and first pages.

Miss Snark’s First Victim’s First Kiss contest. Send up to 300 words with a lead-in so people know what’s going on. It needs to be PG-13, so not erotica.

Later this month there will be a multi-level query contest- QUERY KOMBAT – over at Michelle4Laughs . The details:

Query Kombat will host 64 kombatants in a single-elimination, tournament style query-off. There will be a total of six rounds in Query Kombat. First opponents will be grouped by target audience (ie. YA, NA, Adult, and MG). After that, a bracket-style grid will dictate future opponents. If you secure a spot in the tournaments, your query and the first 250 words (to the end of a complete sentence) will be pitted against another query and first 250 words. Judges will read each match-up and vote ‘Victory’ on the best entry (Remember, this is subjective). The entry with the most ‘victories’ will advance to the next round until only one champion remains. A growing list of agents (which will be revealed at a later date) will browse the semifinal round to make requests on at least one of the final four queries….

The tournament is open only to unagented writers seeking representation. Your manuscript must be complete, polished, and ready to submit. Submissions for MG, YA, NA, and Adult works will be accepted. No picture books or non-fiction.

The submission window will open at 11AM EST on Monday, May 13th and close at 11AM Friday, May 17th OR WHEN WE RECEIVE 225 ENTRIES. You may submit entries for two manuscripts (in the same email) but we will only consider the second entry on the last day of the submission window. Kontestants will be revealed May 24th and the tournament will kick off on May 28th.

Posted
May 2, 2013
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An Update

I’ve been MIA for a while now, but I had a good reason. I’ve been writing! Actually, rewriting. For any of you that have taken a manuscript as far as you can take it and then you realize…Wow! There are some major problems here that need some major fixing. I tried to salvage it, work through, move things around, etc. etc. I finally decided to start it over. The good news though is that I much prefer writing to editing and I know my characters so much better now.

I am approximately 10,000 words in with an expected 85,000 completion goal. I wrote 10,000 in just a few days though which is super fast for me. I’ve learned a couple of things along the way too and it’s made it a lot easier. I’ve realized that as much as I love to write pantster style, I work more productively as an outliner. I began by outlining the whole thing using Blake Snyder’s beat sheet method. Then everyday, before I write (this is important), I take a few minutes to outline each scene. In this outline, I really try to visualize where I want it to begin and how I want it to end. I also take notes of scenery, smells, and things my characters might say. The reason I write out the beginning and end of a scene is that it helps keep me focused. A whole mess of things can happen in the middle of the scene, but it has to eventually lead me to the end of it. This keeps me having to move scenes later or edit them out completely. 

My main outline is done inside of Scrivener, but I also have a huge corkboard in my office when I need a more tactile approach. The chapter outlines I do in a yellow notepad. It’s more portable and I keep it with me wherever I go. Inspiration hits at the oddest moments. 

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing.

Posted
March 21, 2013
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A Slush Pile Story

I want to begin this post by saying that I am not an agent, so my version of a slush pile is (hopefully) different than what they receive on a daily basis. I teach. And recently I assigned a 500 word short story to my students. I gave them two weeks to complete this assignment and then held my breath to what I’d receive from my mostly 12th grade class. I covered the basics that I expected–a beginning, middle, and end; formatted to 12 pt. font Times New Roman, and double spaced. 

Here’s what I got from them:

1. 52/180 followed my formatting guidelines. Most chose random fonts and point sizes. Some chose to write in all CAPS. (I felt like I was being yelled at the entire time.) And though I didn’t say it, I expected the margins to be standard–nope, those were all over the place too.

2. Speling and grammar are paramount to helping your reader get to the end.

3. Storytelling. Most were the same told with varying names. Very few were original. Even fewer had a sense of voice.

Now, I know…teenagers. I should take it easy on them. I really should. But after reading through 180 of them over the course of a weekend, I wanted to pull my hair out. 

From doing this, I learned some very important things and I thought I’d share them with you because, believe it or not…it’s important.

FOLLOW DIRECTIONS! I’ve done my share of contests and there were always those few random people that would argue their font choices or special formatting. I never thought much of it when I saw those people complain. I thought they must have their reasons. Let me tell you this: your reasons don’t matter. If someone is going to take the time to read your manuscript, do them one service and make it easy on them. Your weird fonts don’t make you look unique or creative, they make you look lazy and difficult to work with.

Next…spell check, grammar check, and then check it all again.

If you’re a good writer or at least a decent one, you will never have your story told if you can’t do these simple things.

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