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Hello, Madison, Alabama! Hello, Orson Scott Card!

Before the writing update, some other news…

I received word last night from Youth Services Librarian Lexie Robinson that SPEAK won an Ellie Award for Favorite Dramatic YA book in Madison, Alabama. The Ellies are awards voted on by the teens in their community, much in the spirit of the Emmys. Thank you, Madison!!! Yeah, I want this library in my backyard, too. They have a Myspace page for their YA section. (I am looking up how long it would take to drive there…)

Speaking of hanging out at libraries, I will be giving a writing workshop at my beloved Mexico Public Library, Mexico, NY the morning of Saturday, February 3. It’s going to run from 9- 1pm. You have to pre-register to attend. If interested, call the library. (No, I am not going to post the number. Looking it up is your first assignment for the workshop.)

came up with the best gifts for a CATALYST lover (or fan of caffeine), ever.

Yesterday’s writing went well. I achieved the first 2 of my 3 goals and my head did not explode. I had forgotten that I had a hair appointment; that messed me up some. By the time my hair was pretty and we finished dinner and talked to various kids on the phone, I was beat and did not go back to work. But I slept well, that was good. Kept seeing platters of hors d’oeuvres in my dreams. Now I am hungry.

Today’s goal is more modest: the dusting and polishing and uniting of chptrs 28-32 and new work on 33. (I have a mammogram this afternoon, and its a long drive. Have you had your mammogram?)

I haven’t gone to the gym since Sunday and it is making me crazy. I can’t wait for this book to be done…. well, at least this draft.

Edited to add: just tipped me off to the fact that Orson Scott Card (yeah, Ender’s Game. Yeah, really, him) gave David’s wonderful books Hidden Talents and the new one, True Talents, stellar raving reviews. And then! And then! He wrote about watching the SPEAK movie and reading the book and said very, very nice things about both. (scroll waaaaaay down the page to read it. Please. I’m begging.)

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I have…

… completely unrealistic writing goals today:
a. dismantle, restructure, and rewrite two chapters
b. clean up yesterday’s three chapters reorganizing
c. a general dust and polish to the five chapters currently under scrutiny.

I also have a magical elixir. (Dark roast, 1% milk, no sugar. Thank you, Steven!)

Let the games begin!

bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

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Not a day of rest

This past year I have been trying to take Sundays off from work, but that won’t be the case today. My goals for the day are ambitious: review yesterday’s work on Chapter 27, one more edit of Chapter 28 (which I think is in fairly good shape already ::crosses fingers::), and major reconstruction from the ground up on Chapter 29, which is a shambles right now.

I also need to answer the stack of mail on my desk and empty the email box. And get some exercise.

I took some time off yesterday, so don’t feel bad for me. Wrote all morning and played all afternoon. We went to a tattoo convention and to the booksigning of my friend, Ellen Yeomans, whose new book Rubber Houses just came out.

The differences between the tattoo convention and book signing were rather….. striking.

Writing prompt: Take a person from each world (World A: tattoo/biker convention, World B: booksigning in suburban chain store on a cold snowy day) and drop them into the other world.

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More of the author at work

I SO ROCKED THOSE CHAPTERS YESTERDAY!

::dancesdancesdancesdances::

It took from 7:30 – 5:30 but by all the gods above those two puppies (chapters 25 & 26) are done. I think. I hope. Well, they are in good shape for right now. And 25 wound up having a very sweet unanticipated turn of events, so that was fun. (Notice that I did not go to the gym… that’s the tradeoff – exercise or another chapter. Argh.)

This is what my world looked like as I worked yesterday:

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Today will not be quite as tidy. I have to go to a doctor’s appointment and take care of my mom, and there is more family stuff later in the day. If I can squeeze in work on Chapter 27 I will be very happy, but I am not going to be unrealistic about it.

In yesterday’s comments a student asked a couple of career questions I’ll answer here:

Do you enjoy what you do? I love it, even the hard days.

What is you favourite part of the job? When ideas jump up out of nowhere and when characters talk to me.

What is the hardest part of the job? I hate how long it takes to write a book, I hate how anxious I get, I wish I had affordable health insurance.

what is the average salary? (don’t answer this one if you don’t want to) Authors are paid based on the numbers of books sold. Generally, we earn 10% of the price of a hardcover book, and 6% of the price of a paperback. (Out of that money I have to pay my agent 15%.) A book that sells 10,000 copies a year is considered to be doing very well. Authors are not as rich as many people think. Except for J.K. Rowling.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a writer? Have a Plan B. You need some other kind of job that will pay the bills while you are learning the craft and breaking in (which takes on average 10 years).

Do you think that this is an obtainable career goal? It depends on how hard you are willing to work.

In other news, the magical people with the microphones just finished recording the TWISTED audiobook. I’m not sure when it will be released, but I am really looking forward to it.

Safe travels to everyone headed out to the ALA Mid-Winter conference in Seattle. Is anyone blogging from there?