Fangirl Friday!

Happy birthday to Isla Fisher, Nathan Lane, and Warwick Davis!

So, earlier in the week I made it into the beta of this:

And then I was like this:

I was also able to catch up on American Idol. Here are some of my favorites:

THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD Playlist

I love making playlists for my stories. Here's the one for my current book, THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD. Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants actually inspired one specific scene. Enjoy.

Fangirl Friday!

YAY! Haven't done one of these in a while. So let's do this thing!

Happy Birthday to Rainn Wilson, Lorenzo Lamas, and George Burns!

The Avengers - May 2012!

Can't wait for this! Now when are we going to get a Justice League movie?

The Hunger Games, obviously.

Agents and Queries and Links, OH MY!

So, writing a book is tough. This is a universal fact (and if it's not a fact for you, then I hate you. Okay, maybe hate is a bit strong. How about loathe? Yeah, that's better). Getting that book published seems to be even harder. The next step, after you've edited and revised, repeated that ad nauseum, is too find an agent (unless you want to go a different route like self-publishing or directly to publishers which I know nothing about). So, I thought I'd put together some links I've found useful for this process.

The very first step when you find an agent you're interested in is to go to their website to make sure they rep what you write, are accepting submissions, and to make sure of their submission guidelines.

Literary Rambles has been absolutely INVALUABLE for me. The tons of agent spotlights are helpful and concise. The "Helpful Posts" in the right sidebar are just... well... INVALUABLE.

The Absolute Write Forums are a great place to meet writer buddies, get critiques, and find out even more information on prospective agents from people who have real experience with them.

I can't do a query blog post without mentioning QueryTracker. So much info on agents there.

The Query Shark: read every word, you guys, to help with your query writing. Same goes for The Evil Editor who is really good about critiquing every query sent.

Publishers Marketplace is another place to find agent info. Their most recent sales, their submission guidelines, and links to their websites. Some sections are for paying members only, but there's still a lot of info to be had by us poor people.

Oh and check to see if your agent of choice is on Twitter. If he/she is, then stalk, er, follow their tweets. But, for the love of all that is good and holy, do NOT pitch to them on Twitter. Unless they're doing some type of Twitter pitch contest. Maybe there is someone out there that pitched to an agent on a whim on Twitter and it actually worked out for them, but I have yet to hear that story. I've only heard agents say that this does not work.

Google... yes, Google the hell out of the agents you're interested in. Read their blogs, read every interview they've ever done.

And just to keep your spirits high and maybe spur you toward following your dream, check out the How I Got My Agent columns over at Writer's Digest. Some days I read one after another after another just to remind myself that it does happen as long as one works hard enough.

Obviously I'm not an expert at this whole thing because I am neither repped nor published (and even if I were either one of those things, it probably wouldn't make me an expert), but this all comes from spending A LOT of time investigating the process. I hope this helps and if you have any more suggestions on great places to research agents or to help with query writing, comment away!

Has it really been almost a year?!

Ah, what to blog about? All the things? Only a few things? How about just one of the things? Yeah, let's go with that.

So, it's coming up on my one year blog-o-versary. Yep, I've been doing this crazy thing since December 22, 2010. Back then, I had an idea for a book. During the course of writing that book, I traversed a world I didn't know existed prior to December 22, 2010. I learned about writing via twitter and blogs. I learned about agents via twitter and blogs. I learned about the publishing industry via twitter and blogs.

Hmmm, I'm starting to see a trend here.

Now, I'm not a professional. Yet. I'm not the best writer I can be. Yet (and I'm sure that's something I'll forever be reaching for). But I wouldn't even be contemplating being an author if it wasn't for twitter and blogs. The internet is a vast and wondrous place rife with knowledge and support for people like me. The information is there, it just needs to be read.

Yes, the biggest step is actually writing. Twitter and blogs might help with the process, but they can't do that for you. And write, I did. Two manuscripts came from these fingers and this brain this year. One is on the shelf, poor thing. The other is my current WIP and I love it. I'm prepared to make it the best it can be no matter what. Of course, other parts of my life have suffered from my obsessive pursuit. Dishes and laundry have gone unwashed, floors have gone unmopped, flower beds have turned into weed beds, friendships have not been nurtured, BUT I'm making that step towards doing something with my life other than being a mother (which is the best thing ever, but still) and a wife.

This has all been pretty rambly, sorry about that, but my brain is fried from edits and revising. I guess the point is: twitter and blogs = awesome. Not giving up, still willing to go the extra mile = me even after a year.

Things For People...

So, there are a couple of things I'd like to bring to your attention this Saturday night. I gave myself a reward for reaching a critical spot in my WIP. The reward was being able to watch Crazy, Stupid Love. Normally, I'm a very critical movie watcher especially when it comes to romantic comedies. BUT since Ryan Gosling AND Steve Carell are in this movie, I let my critical nature take a backseat.

You guys.... such a wonderful movie. It is rare, in my opinion, these days to stumble across a sincere romantic comedy that doesn't just focus on how the girl and guy get together. To find one that has an underlying message that I can relate to is, for lack of a better word, crazy. Dear lord, I wish more screenwriters would make a note of this fact. We want romantic comedies that hit home, that make an impact, that make us relate. Not ones that basically come down to: hot guy meets hot girl, they copulate.

So, the first thing I think y'all should check out is Crazy, Stupid Love! Obviously.

And, if you're a YA writer, please watch Easy A. Emma Stone... I <3 her!

Next thing I'd like to bring you attention to is http://fuckyeahryangosling.tumblr.com/ . Which has images like this:

Yeah, I know right?! So freakin' cute and hilarious. 

The last thing I'd like to make you notice is this:

This... Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssss, has been stuck in my head all day!

Get Unstuck...

It was Friday. My husband took the day off. I had plenty of time to focus on my book. I pulled up the document that morning, excited to get to work. Then it happened. I knew what needed to be done, BUT the words wouldn't come. I'd get up, try to distract myself with one thing or another, then I'd sit back down and... Nothing.

At around seven that night, I decided something had to give. This day would not be wasted. It felt like I needed a change. Then, an idea struck. The product of said idea is the picture. I piled pillows and a blanket into my tub and curled up in there with my laptop and Pandora.

It worked. I ended up making plenty of progress.

Now, I'm not technically saying that curling up in your bathtub with a cup of hot chocolate will cure your writing blahs, but I kinda am. For me, it wasn't specifically the tub that did it, it was the change in environment, the change in mind set, the total aloneness. Plus, it was really comfortable.

So, that's my advice for you NaNoWriMo people and just writers in general. If you get stuck, change your mind set; set up on top of the dining room table, in a closet, in the pantry, outside. Maybe change your playlist, choose a genre of music that you never would have expected to go with your book.

I realize this isn't the revelation of the century, but it's worth mentioning. We all get stuck in ruts and a lot of the time (most of the time for me) it's up to us to get unstuck.