subscribeIn which I discuss The Book. Not really.
Tuesday July 27, 2010
Ever since the happy announcement of my representation status last week, I’ve been asked, poked, and prodded about The Book. (The Book, of course, being the reason I was querying in the first place.) What is this book? What is it about? I’ve been utterly vague about it so far because: (1) I am unused to talking about my book with anyone other than the people who have read it or those I’ve encouraged to read it and (2) for all of my online activity, I’m in the habit of being private/vague about what I do creatively.
The first writing I ever dared print out (at something like age twelve) went into a yellow clasp envelope with the words “For Erin’s Eyes ONLY” scrawled across the top. Because I was superstealthninja about my early writing. (Who am I kidding? Part of me is still trying to be superstealthninja about my writing.)
What it comes down to is this: when one spends the majority of one’s life NOT talking about a Thing, and suddenly a lot of people want to know about a Thing, it is not exactly easy to talk about that Thing.
It’s a habit I need to break. Slowly. In the past week, I have taken some baby steps.
My first was answering questions for QueryTracker.net’s success stories page. When describing my book, I’m only slightly less vague than I am on this blog. Yay!
This past weekend I took another step and told some friends who knew nothing about The Book other than that I’d written it… what The Book is about. My face was probably bright red the entire time, for a reason I can’t entirely explain to myself. I’m not embarrassed about my book — I love my book. Lovelovelove. Love the characters, the world, just simply being in it. But I’m so unused to actually talking about it that mentioning more than the fact that it’s young adult fantasy feels strange. New.
After those, I’ll take another baby step here: the novel is called BOUND BETWEEN. *lets out a long breath* Now you all know what everyone I’ve queried knows!
I’ve avoided ever mentioning it on this blog until now because I hate titling things; it has to be a twist-my-arm necessity for me to actually title something. I’m not one of those people who can start with a title. Any time I’ve tried that, while writing short fiction, my title ended up having nothing to do with the story. So somewhere down the line I gave up on titling things until I absolutely had to throw a title on it. I admit, I kind of like it. It’s appropriately vague.
What about you all? How has the way talking about your writing, your books, changed over the years and how/why?
Good news!
Friday April 16, 2010
It’s another Friday, except instead of still being somewhere in February (where I am somehow mentally still finding myself? Why?), it’s mid-April. A lot of exciting things have happened. Most recently, the excitement has surrounded the closing for the new apartment (a week hence, ha!) and the move-in date (the following Monday). I’m trying to focus my energy on the move rather than dwelling [nervously] on the full requests I’ve gotten (but more on that later).
As a result of the impending move, the current apartment is filled with boxes, a product of my [obsessively] organized [and very preemptive] packing. We don’t officially move until April 26 and yet most of the apartment is packed. Who’s excited? Certainly not me! (As I look around guiltily and giggle…) Not only is the new apartment brand-new and spiffy (we’re the first owners), it’s located in an entirely new neighborhood (Williamsburg, Brooklyn) and it’s in a high rise. We’ll have an incredible view with lots of sunshine. Nothing motivates me quite like bright sunshine! I’m positioning my “office” right in front of one of the huge windows. I can’t wait! (Though the boy insists I will “nest”—settle in and slowly unpack—for far too long, delaying the writing, but I maintain I will unpack with all haste in my eagerness to feel at home as soon as possible. We’ll see.)
On the writing and querying front, there have been full manuscript requests! It’s thrilling to be at this point, which I know is rare. I am trying to be both up-beat and flattered while not dwelling on the drastic increase in my level of ambient apprehension. I’m forcing myself to be ruthlessly realistic. I have a good feeling, my alpha/beta readers have a good feeling, but that doesn’t mean anything for my level of potential success. I’m still working and pushing onward. The moment I received the full requests, the boy’s prompt suggestion was, “Send out more queries.” No rest for me! (But he’s right. So I am.)
Today my most interesting project was sending out my first USPS mail partial request as opposed to email partial request. (Can I admit to nerdy enthusiasm at the idea of sending pages via actual mail rather than email? This is closer to the process I learned about when I first learned about queries and manuscripts back in high school, before the age of email-as-life-necessity and e-readers and all of that.) I put the new address on it, though, because in one week we’ll have the apartment and keys, so I may as well start converting everything over. As regards everything else, I am going to trust the USPS’s forwarding service and my trusty email account(s) and cell phone (which won’t change) to keep communication consistent.
In other [thrilling!] news, my friend Kristan will be coming to visit New York City this weekend! The boy is hoping Kristan’s actual (rather than typically via-internet) presence will magically amplify both my motivation for writing and my creativity. The weather in New York will be textbook April (60s and rainy), which is a let-down (what happened to the 80s and sunny of ten days ago?!), but one of the best aspects of this city is that you can find a little hole-in-the-wall place to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and relax for a bit almost anywhere. That feels so… stereotypically writer-ish. Thrilling, as I said. Have I mentioned I’m a nerd about that kind of thing?
Sheer terror.
Sunday February 7, 2010
Am I allowed to admit to sheer, stomach-dropping-out-of-shoes terror? Or does that ruin my street cred? (Wait: I had street cred?) All I’ll admit to, in that case, is brain malfunction after overuse. Yes, that will suffice.
I finish finished the work in progress’s final draft today, meaning all of the last niggling edits have been made. The baby is done. Past due to my overly obsessive brain, but there we go. DONE. It even has a title — even though I think it will forever be known in my subconscious by its WiP title. (I hate titling things.) It’s like referring to your friend as Ellie all the time, then someone calls her Elizabeth and your reaction is stunned recognition: Oh, right, that is your whole name, isn’t it? Huh. Just like mytitle. The proper name of a much more casually nicknamed intimate friend.
My brain also hurts from query editing and revising. Holy goats. I haven’t had an assignment so demanding of my mental faculties since my thesis. Condensing tens of thousands of sweat-and-tears words to… two hundred? Less? By golly, it’s near perfect. (Or, well, considering my standards, close enough to do its job. Right? That’s the point; the query isn’t the end, it’s the beginning.)
Speaking of beginnings, I’m going to admit to that terror after all. I’m about to jump off the cliff and query. So many years of writing so many books and this is the first official leap — the first time I’ve wanted to make it, felt it was right enough.
Let’s hope I can fly.
a random quote
The world is governed more by appearances than realities, so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it.
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