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I'm so excited to share my book release day with you! Winnemucca hit Amazon.com. You guys have been so awesome over the years. I started this blog when I started writing the very first versions of Winnemucca. Almost six years ago. Do you remember the road trip we took there?

Come and join in the twitterparty #Winnemucca. There's fun facts about the story. And giveaways. Right now I'm getting road trip tweets. The most exotic has been a road trip to Malta! Wow. Tons of stories about that, huh? A random road trip tweet wins a free Winnemucca ebook + $15 Amazon gift certificate:) But tweet fast. This giveaway is up at high noon [PST]...with more giveaways all day:)

Thanks again for celebrating with me! Couldn't have done it without you! *hugs*

One of the most important challenges I've had is how to get solid editorial input, since I'll lack the typical, very important back and forth that occurs between an agent, author and editor that takes a story to a whole new level. As a matter of fact, soon after I started working at The Los Angeles Times, my editor asked who edits my fiction. I tried to explain that it's not like that in fiction, that I had critique groups and trusted readers and I attended conferences. He turned to me and said, "Laura, everyone needs and editor."

I never forgot that.

Of course my trusted readers are my go-to folks for everything content and all brainstorming and encouragement. But I can't burn them out with commas and semi-colons. Still, I found it was hard to really know who to work with. I write ya magical realism. I need an editor who understands my particular type of story very well. I did hire an independent editor a few years back and she was absolutely amazing at helping take my writing to the next level. She identified my strengths and weaknesses which I loved because it was hard for me to wrap my head around those things. But it can get expensive. And I needed time to fix my weaknesses. In the end I tapped out of my budgeted editorial allowance before I could progress with her any further.

So I worked and worked some more on different novels. Writing one, editing another, getting better at seeing my blind spots. And when WINNEMUCCA was ready to go, which is a whole other blog post, I needed a copy editor. It had been largely edited for content--plot lines and subplots. I needed someone to make sure I crossed my i's and dotted my t's.

My search was thorough but not fruitful. I tried very hard to find someone who would only copy edit. But, most services wanted a lot of money to do content editing. Then I found BubbleCow [@BubbleCow]. [note: their website is having a bit of trouble today.] I originally followed them on Twitter last year. So I thought I'd let them bid on the job.

I found their service to be very affordable and they throw in content edits as well. I loved the comments and suggestions I got and learned I had another blind spot, thank goodness this one didn't requiring a lot of rewriting--always nice. Initially, though, I was a little skeptical. They are based out of the UK and my story is very small-town Western American. When I expressed my concerns I was told that they have editors in different countries and that my manuscript would go to an editor in America with 15 years experience with, among others, Penguin US. They were very quick to respond to my questions and also provided the edits before the deadline they gave me [typically a three week turn around]. So if you are interested in a polish of your manuscript, you might want to give BubbleCow a try.

One mistake changes Ginny forever.
One answer sets her free.
Once upon a time, Ginny's road blood ripened, the day she got wise to love.

I knew I needed a book trailer to help promote my debut novel Winnemucca, a ya coming of age small-town fairy tale, which hits Kindle in mid-July. First of all, I love movies. Heck, I lived in Los Angeles for twenty-four years. And, I worked in the entertainment industry. I know the power of the trailer. Plus, how much fun would that be?

But still, I didn't know how to make one. Hmmm. I'd incorporated videos in my designs for years at E! Entertainment Television and at The Los Angeles Times. But they were provided to me by amazing teams of award winning videographers. And the photos I worked with were shot by Pulitzer Prize winning photographers. Who did I think I was trying to do this all on my own?

Well, that's the best part:) We aren't on our own! Writers are some of the most generous people. And so I kept my eye open for trailers that I loved. Enter the wonderful writer Rebecca Rasmussen [@birdsisters] author of The Bird Sisters published by Crown/Random House. I was surprised to find out she made her own trailer. I don't know why I was surprised. I just thought big houses had trailer production teams or something. Anyway, Rebecca was very generous with her support and advise. Thanks Rebecca!

So here's the recipe for a book trailer:

iMovie application
A killer soundtrack
stock videos
stock photography

and WaaaaLaaa! You have your book trailer.

iMovie is a very easy application to work with. It's drag and drop so no worries there.

A killer soundtrack is so important. I don't mind book trailers where the author reads their work. There is something very pure about that. But, like I said, I love movies. Music that evokes your story is compelling and can draw a viewer into the trailer in a unique way. I used www.productiontrax.com. Most of the audio clips are very reasonable priced. [I splurged on this and purchased sound for $60 because I loved it and am a music junkie.]

Stock Videos. I've seen a lot of trailers on the web that have static images and scrolling or rolling text. It's a great effect. But, the medium is meant for video. And, if you don't have any that you've shot yourself, stock video sites are great ways to add some punch to your trailer. Sites I like include istockphoto.com and pond5.com. Both have great selections and great ways to save multiple videos for your consideration so if you are busy, like who isn't, you can come back later and make your final cut. Again, most videos are very reasonably priced, but watch it, some aren't. And don't worry if your video has a soundtrack with it. iMovie let's you separate the audio channel out and you can use whatever audio you want with any video. My average purchase for a video was $20]

Stock Photography. I use the same sites I recommended above to find images for book covers and for book trailers. Again, stock photography is reasonable priced. But be sure you check prices.

As always, have a budget in mind and stick to it, mine was under $100. It's really important to get the word out about your book, but what's more important is how much fun you have doing it! If you do like the book trailer and found any of this information helpful, would you be a pal and help promote Winnemucca by commenting here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa9n1KIpaWw

Got a book trailer story? Post it and your book trailer here.

Tomorrow I talk about the fun of promotion.

As I work through the process of getting all my ducks in a row for publication, I thought I’d spend this week sharing what I’ve learned in terms of promotion and marketing. So by the end of the week, you might be ready to make your dreams come true too. My debut novel, Winnemucca, a young adult coming of age small-town fairy tale, will hit Kindle in mid-July. I’ve been writing this particular story off and on for nearly seven years [more on since 2009]. I’m so excited. I’ve never done anything like this before.

Yesterday was a big milestone for me. I uploaded my new author website to www.authorlaura.com. This should have been something that was easy for someone like me, with 20 + years in the graphic design/multimedia industry. But, it really wasn’t. See I wanted to spend as much of my time as possible on my writing and as little as possible on my web design. I also wanted my site designed as cheaply as possible, and while I wouldn’t have to hire anyone, I viewed the amount of time I spent on my site as a cost.

So, what to do?

I discovered wix.com. There, I found a very user friendly interface, as well as the ability to incorporate all the different types of media I wanted--audio, video as well as images. The choice of templates made the whole process a lot of fun. And, the best part? Their templates are free. I chose to upgrade my free site for around $30 for two years to get additional features. With a click of a few buttons I integrated my site with Google Analytics, and incorporated SEO optimization so that my site will be able to be found more easily and hopefully get some good traffic. Wix.com made the whole process very painless. I really appreciated this because, like I said, I want to write, not spend all my time on design, even though I still love it. And I wanted a site that was easy to update. So far, I've been very happy with the ability to make all the edits I need. I love flash, but there is one drawback to flash sites: the iPhone can’t read them. Now, it’s not a deal breaker for me, but it may be for you. Just a heads up.

I realize now that I need to add an online media kit with interview questions and press releases. This is one thing that is a little intimidating for me. But, I’ve found several great resources. And will blog more about that this week.

I’m a rookie, but I’m discovering as I go. And I’d like to share what I’m discovering with you. Our books' success really does come down to our own initiative and helping each other get the word out. I hope by sharing my process it might help you in yours. Feel free to post your author website here and a blurb of what you did to make it. I’d love to hear your stories and advice:)

Tomorrow’s post will be about how I made my book’s trailer.

Thanks so much for your caring, generous prayers for Cody. There is power in well wishes and in positive thoughts sent into the universe. I've seen it. One of my daughters floated hers on the ocean last night.

Today I've thought about all the times I speak of my life in terms of before XXX and after XXX. We've all had them. This is one for me. And it's hard to put into words. It's more than war is hell. Or war is different until it hits your family. What family hasn't been touched by these wars? It's something different.

Last night I sought out some help sorting out the importance of my writing. Today it seems so trivial compared to the challenges of our time. To war.

I figured that if I feel this way today, other writer's must have felt this way at one point or another. I looked to John Gardner for some wisdom and here's what he had to say:

[From ON WRITERS AND WRITING]

He talked about being away at college, studying chemistry with this thought: "It did not seem to me that one ought to spend one's life on mere pleasure, like a butterfly or cricket. Beethoven, Shakespeare, Richard Strauss, Conan Doyle might be a delight, but to fritter away one's life in the arts seemed, well, not quite honest."

And then something changed in him,

"I've come to see that fiction dramatizes. It gives importance to ideas, it seems to me, pretty much in the way the string on which a handful of pearls have been strung gives a kind of importance to the pearls."

he went on to say,

"I understood that a story, like a painting, or like a symphony is one of the most wonderful, one of the most useless, things in the world. The magnificence of a work of art lies precisely in the fact that nobody made the artist make it, he just did, and––except when one's in school––nobody makes the receiver read it, or look at it, or listen to it: He just does.

with one final thought,

"...art's value is not that it expresses life's meaning though presumably it does, (as do butterflies and crickets) but that it is, simply, splendidly, there.

He relayed a story about his parents and their love of song and story. And how they would attend meetings of farmers who had many desperate issues to sort out. And after these meetings took place the farmers would devote an hour to listening to his parents sing. He said the whole thing felt weirdly absurd (as I feel today, working on my last edits)."How strange it seemed to me that all these serious, hardworking people should sit there grinning for an hour or more, listening, for instance, to my father telling them an endless, pointless story of a ghost in armor, or a ship rescued by pigeons or somebody called Dangerous Dan McGrew."

He drew this conclusion

"Clearly if one is to devote a lifetime to doing something as crazy as that, one had better do it well––not necessarily because there is any great virtue in doing it well but only because, if one does it badly, people may wake up and notice that what one's doing is crazy."

His words put a smile on my face today, a difficult day to do such a thing. I hope it did the same for you.

sometimes you think you're crazy. It's kind of funny sometimes. And kind of scary sometimes. But I find especially when I've been writing/editing something for such a long time, I start to question things. Like my sanity.

The other day I visited the beautiful Central Library in downtown Portland. We travel a lot and libraries make me feel at home. So whatever city we find ourselves in, that's where you will find me. I've been writing one of my novels off and on for six years. And now, after a lot of thought, I think it needs something more. Another layer. I questioned opening up this can of worms as I trod up the beautiful etched black marble steps to the third floor of the library. Happy to have left our hotel behind. Be in the "real" world. It's such a beautiful hunt. The search for the book. The book that might make the research complete and make the story all that it can be. And I think I've found a few. But, as with most of my research, it isn't in the subject or the section I expect. I go with it. Wandering a bit. Excited about what I might uncover. What I might discover in the books that might help the story.

And then it happens. I find the perfect room. The perfect chair. I read and make notes on books that can't be checked out of the library. Which is the only way I can research here, since we aren't here permanently. And as much as I enjoy learning and as much as I think I might use this thread in my story, there's a part of me who wonders if I will. There's a part of me who wonders if all of this, the entire six years, has been a big waste of time. If what I've written will ever be good enough. And then over my shoulder at about 5 o'clock I hear:

"I need an airplane."
Then nothing.
"Do you have an airplane?" The man says louder. A tall man, with lots of hair in a big overcoat.
"No, I don't." The man sitting at the desk behind me says very politely.
The large man sits down. His breathing is labored. So labored that I think there might be a hidden camera somewhere to see if one of us will do something to get this man to a hospital. None of us do.

I go back to my reading.

I met with a local marketing guru last week and Patricia and I had a wonderful brainstorm session on how to market my novel. She was full of wonderful down-to-earth advice that I'm working on and considering. She was very wise too. And at the end of our conversation she mentioned the four aspects of luck and I wanted to share them with you here because they moved me deeply.

Expect to be lucky

See the good luck in the bad

Follow your gut

Have the ability to take advantage of unexpected opportunities

You know when you are in a normal conversation with someone and it takes a turn? You gain a clarity that wasn't there before. That's what happened to me when Patricia spoke about luck. Following your gut is at the heart of my novel. And I never really associated that one thing with luck. And then it hit me. That when we follow our gut, or listen to our little voice inside, or listen to our own intuition, or whatever a person likes to call it––when we do that one thing, new horizons open and a new awareness kicks in and I guess a person can call it luck when they see opportunities they never saw before, or live a more authentic life, or stand up for wants and desires, let them grow and evolve.

And why is our own voice so hard to hear?

We've all been asking the question. Where is publishing going next? In particular, I've been asking what an aspiring author should do in this day and age? Go traditional? Self-publish? This is a not-to-be-missed post about the future from A Newbie's Guide to Publishing entitled "Ebooks and Self-Publishing - A Dialog Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath." Which makes me wonder if it's like Glenda the Good Witch said, you've had the power all along. Srsly thinking about clicking my ruby slippers together.

Today I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. I really think that one shouldn't move AND have their teeth cleaned too. Moving isn't really fun. Neither is having your teeth cleaned. But...NO cavities:) We've had some powerful storms here. Hail this morning. Over the weekend, on Saturday night, the storm was so crazy it blew over a portion of our grape-stake fence, the one between us and a neighbor up the hill. We went out to get stakes to make repairs and when we got back our neighbors had already shored the fence up. Nice surprise. Made getting the repairs done much easier. And it was a cool way to meet the neighbors.

It's taken just about six years to write my WIP. Of those six years I would say that it boils down to about a year and a half of solid writing time. The first eighty pages came to me in two weeks. I had a character talking to me. I wrote down what she had to say. And then there was nothing. I had an interesting beginning but no idea where it was headed. I took my first ten pages to a class I was taking at the time with Val Hobbs, one amazing teacher BTW, and she encouraged me, so did my writing buddies from class. Val helped me understand where the story really started and gave me some guidance.

Still, I had no clue what would happen after page 80. I put it away. Wrote four other novels and waited until I knew where my character needed/wanted to go. I picked my WIP up again in 2009. Went to the Big Sur Writer's Workshop and got lots of encouragement there to keep on writing the story. And I committed to the ending. I wrote one. And then another and another. I worked with Lisa Rector Maass. She's fabulous. She uncovered the weaknesses I have as a writer and coached me as to how I can overcome them. I have many weaknesses. The worst one, in my opinion? I wrote boring endings. Things that weren't surprising. Not worth the reader's time.

I tweaked and tweaked. The voice was so strong in the first version. Less so after so many revisions. I mashed up the first and last versions. And got something surprising. What I think is the best ending. I haven't sent it out yet. I'm doing a lot more massaging first. But soon. Very soon. And I'm excited. And I'm wondering what it will be like to have one of my stories "finished." Are they ever?

And it's funny. I've never really polished any of my stories before. Until now, I used to think that it was the beginning of the story that was so difficult for me. That first sentence. But, if you asked me today I would say its "the end."

What will happen next? I have no idea. But it's wonderful to got through this entire process. To literally walk around your story from all angles and to trust yourself enough to get to the end.

So, Sandy at Cool Stuff For Writer's tweeted about this article the other day and I thought I'd post the link to it here:

Books Gone Wild: The Digital Age Reshapes Literature

Interesting take on the future of publishing.

Love the madness of this time of year. Although, I must admit, it's more manic than ever this year. Hit the ground running when we got back home last week. Seems like I'm not getting as much done every day as I'd like and writing will take a back seat for the foreseeable future until the parties are over and the gifts are opened. I love the Christmas surprise. I wonder what it will be this year. Last night we went to dinner with a great colleague and tonight it's Christmas Bunco at a good friends house. The gift exchange is a riot when the stealing begins. There's always the year's "it" present. Wonder what it will be this year. And I wonder if the dice will be kind:)

The word here is that we could get snow in the mountains from a big storm due to hit the coast in the next day or too. Should be great skiing in Mammoth next weekend.

Check this out: Query Holiday

Ah, oh...the timer went off, got to get back to the brownies:)

Congrats to my writing buddy Anna! She just shared her good news with me at lunch last Saturday. Atheneum Books for Young Readers bought her book titled Cross Bones. Here's to many, many more!

I am so thankful this Thursday and here's a few reasons why:

•Third time's a charm on trying to connect to the Internet today. WOW. The things you take for granted.

•Life in the barrel is a LOT cooler these days. I'm thankful for our new cozy blanket.

•I'm thankful I met Laura Bly, a travel writer with USA Today. Her article about Big Sur is in USA Today tomorrow [I think it's in the travel section].I'm featured in the article. Learned a lot about reporting from Laura. I am thankful that in my own way I helped during the fire by connecting people. And making that connection is what writing is all about.

•I'm thankful I'm coming to terms with my gypsy status. I've lived in Big Sur more on than off over the past 8 months, and in the past month I've been back to SoCal for only a few days [the lure of the wine barrel]. So....when asked if I'm a resident I didn't really know how to answer. Part-time? Resident? I guess I'm really a temporary resident--through this December for sure--although my heart will always be here. Truth is Joe and I will move around a lot with his work. Not quite sure where we'll end up next. We're gypsys now. But, like our good friend Christian said the other day at Esalen, now we have two homes.

•I'm thankful for my two inspiring daughters. Their passion is powerful and their dreams, amazing.

•I'm thankful for Joe who's always been by my side.

•And...I'm thankful for Dad who took the time to translate letters from a Grandma I never met but who's fate was slightly similar to my own, and sent them to me in the mail. [I'm stopping by the post office on my way back to the barrel....]

•I'm thankful to once again be sitting on the patio outside of the library at Ventana, writing.

•And I'm thankful for the brave and heroic people who help people through crisis every day and for the memories kept alive of those we lost seven years ago.

Here's a shout out to my bro and his family in Houston. Take good care. They are, I'm told, not going on a hurrication and choosing to ride it out at home.

I have to echo my friend's blog post. It's hard writing a book. That's why when we accomplish a goal [even a tiny one] it feels so good. I accomplished one today. I sent out my first 20 pages of a story for consideration for a workshop I hope to attend. I polished and polished. When I thought it was ready, I set it aside. I read it and polished some more. Setting it aside. Polishing again. Over, and over and over. My goal was to get it out early last week. But, it wasn't ready. And, I stayed after it. But today I put it in the mail and it felt good.

Highlight from this weekend? Taking the dirt bike on The Old Coast Road. We dumped out at the Bixby Bridge on Hwy 1 and rode back. Beautiful ride.

So after coming back from SCBWI I focus on my two goals: obtaining an awesome agent and submitting my work to contests and magazines.

I’m happy to say that my pitch won the #22 Honorable Mention spot in the Editorial Anonymous Pitch Contest. Funny Thing [or pathetic, depending on how you look at it]? When I copied and pasted my pitch I forgot to send the first sentence [which actually told what the story is about]…Ha-ha. Live and learn. Get the goods at the web site that EA set up called Pitch Clinic [May be taken down at any moment]. Fascinating read. Thanks EA. What a great resource!

So I’ll post here what the pitch should have been:

TRANSFER STUDENT, a 45,000-word YA Fantasy, is a quirky Freaky Friday story where a senior fashionista from Beverly Hills High and a boy genius from planet Retha swap lives after a teleporting telescope experiment goes wrong. They survive each other’s lives only to fall in love a universe apart. There comes a moment in every teenager’s life when he or she wonders what it might be like to be the opposite sex. Most geeks fantasize about popularity. Every popular kid wants to stay on top. Alternating Earthling, alien points-of-view shed light on the things we tolerate about ourselves and those we must accept in others.

And, my hubby Joe just got another project. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Great to have good news especially since he is getting over a bad car wreck. He’s fine, nothing broken, only a very bad case of Poison Oak, something about having to climb out of a ravine. Don’t ask. Hug your significant other today…twice. Kiss ‘em too.

I’m subbing to another contest today. Using what I’ve learned at the SCBWI Conference to make my writing pop.

Getting ready for The Pacific Coast Writer’s Workshop.

Hanging with Edna

My red dress arrived and I slithered into it. I wrung my hands a little before leaving my room to go down to The Paint The Town Red party because I felt bold wearing red. But it was good for me. Made me remember that readers want a story that’s bold. That wears a red dress, takes chances. In my more-form-fitting-than-usual, redder-than-usual dress as I danced and talked into the wee hours of the morning I learned more about myself and about my voice. My voice needs to be like my red dress-bold, formfitting, with a kind of honesty that might make me wring my hands from time to time. That’s my goal.



Party people



More party people



All incriminating photos here.

Seeing old friends and making new ones has to be the best part of any SCBWI Conference. There is nothing like a writing friend who gets me and my quest: to write one good story. Honesly most of my non-writing friends kind of put up with my writing. They smile when I tell them that I am a writer, a part-sympathic-part-I’ll-get-over-it-kind-of-smile. But the best part about being a writer is that I’ll never get over it. It’s what I do. And, when I’m part of the tribe at SCBWI events I reconnect with the fun of this journey and how lucky I am to have found such an inspiring bunch of loonies to hang with.

Top three scoops from the rest of the conference:

Leonard Marcus did an amazing job of sharing the great editor Ursula Nordstrom’s wisdom with us by quoting some of her 100,000 letters. She always kept this note in her pocket [I am paraphrasing]:

Writing is transferring your vitality into action. This expression is unique. It is not your business to keep it yours but to keep the channel open because there is only one you.

A few other UN gems:

“Writers want to make order out of chaos, the rest of us just use our five senses.”

“Is there a prettier sight in the world than someone sticking out his neck?”

From Sara Pennypacker [who ran one of the best workshops about making your first pages sparkle] mentioned this during her Golden Kite award speech:

E.B. White said that “Each book is a love letter to humanity” So, if it’s written in love then why hold back?

Lisa Yee, during her awesome revision workshop mentioned:

Scrivener Software when she writes, might want to check it out.

A big thanks to Steven Malk who encouraged me to slow down and take time to plan my writing career and spend time focusing on what I want out of it. Plan a career in writing? Cool. Can't wait to get started. Before attending his Career Management 101 workshop, I always felt that so much of a writer's career is sort of left to the fates. And maybe it is, but the fates are prolly better able to step in when a writer has a plan.

Here’s to this years goals and the thrill of the journey. Happy writing!

1. It's about time to "Paint the Town Red" and I'm well, having a little anxiety. First, Joe and Mx dropped off my dress [and my cards...I swear, where did my brain go when I was packing?] So I've got the dress. It's hanging in the closet. And I'm feeling a little shy. Red is so BOLD. I don't wear red that often. The dress looked good in the fitting room when I tried it on. I swear. But tonight, as I sit here in my comfortable jean capris, and look at the dress I'm thinking it's too bold for me tonight. I want to blend. I want to fade into the background. Why oh why didn't I just get a red top or something. Go Cas....Well, it's too late now. I've got to put it on and boggie in this dress. That's what I've got.

It's a little like writing. Finding my voice. A voice should be bold. It shouldn't blend into the background. And so tonight as I don the red dress I'll think about what's bold about my stories. Are they bold enough? Should they wear red dresses for the night? Maybe. I'll let you know.

In the meantime I need to skee-daddle and get down to the party soon....so here are the other 5 conference-in-a-nutshell nuggets from today:

2. When you have anxiety about a book selling Arthur Levine pointed out that people like to make charts about the problem to help ease the anxiety and focus on a solution to the problem. He stressed that the picture book is FAR from dead with his [way cool] charts about market share and the 4-8 population growing over time he gave picture book writers a lot of hope. [I wondered what kind of charts I could create that would make me have less anxiety about wearing my red dress]. When a market is down there is always and opportunity. It was fascinating to hear Arthur talk about how he has been able to make opportunities in markets that have been considered dead by some in the industry.

3. Rick Riordan's 39 Clues was talked about as the future of books, having integrated marketing online and with trading cards, etc.

4. Margaret Peterson Haddox's writing rule taken from a theatrical rule:
"If you have a gun go off in Chapter 10 you better have hinted at the existence of it in an earlier chapter."
Taken from her break out session Bread Crumbs & Smoking Guns: Sustaining a Suspenseful Plot.

5. Rebecca Cohen contacted YA authors to talk about the teen POV. Gail Giles offered this insight:
"To a teenager consequences don't matter and instant gratification isn't fast enough."

6. Laura Rennert gave this great analogy for how to WOW an agent [or editor for that matter]:
Pretend when she opens to your first page she is throwing the door open on your party, arriving fashionably late, and she wants to see what's going on.

Well TTFN....wish me luck with the whole wearing-a-red-dress thing:)

Had an awesome time last night dining with a great writer friend. Nothing like talking writing into the wee-hours of the morning:)

1. This week my daughter got her first job out of college! Wooo-hooo! She’s excited and so are we. And…she decided to stay in San Francisco. Feels like home.

2. Hearing my dad say that he’s got seven more years after his pacemaker surgery this week.

3. I love, love, love the library. But you knew that. I hadn’t been in quite some time. Travels kinda got in the way. And, I mostly go when I’m writing, editing a mms. So I’m happy to say I’m on to my next novel. One I’ve written years ago but will be finishing, revising over the next few seasons. I like Stephen King’s idea of looking at writing books with the seasons. My last novel got me through Winter and Spring. This novel will be my Summer and Fall project. I love that Stephen King has a raven perched on the long vertical in the “h” on his logo on his website.

4. I love, love, love AAA. It’s amazing. I walk in yesterday, ask for help planning our road trip to Mt. Rushmore and get a great route and lots and lots of helpful maps and books---all because we are members. Love it. Among my treasures are…A map of the United States with our route mapped out in an orange highlighter [with cute arrows to let me know which way we are headed], maps of all the states involved PLUS a special “California’s Mother Lode Guide Map,” and “Yellowstone Grand Teton National Parks” map. And the AAA Tour books for all the states on our trip [and a few that aren’t but we may stray into]. So cool! If you are ever in the need to go anywhere, stop by AAA.

5. I love when Oso gets dusted with mustard on our morning runs. The yellow dust sprinkles beautifully over his black shinny fur. We met two new friends this morning: Blarney, a poodle [he got him on St. Patrick's Day, and Daisy a large hound, I think she was a Mastiff. And ran into our old pals, Yoggie and Rudy.

After my run [NICE to have muddy toes again, btw…been a while], I wanted to dive right in to make tweaks on my synopsis this morning but I just couldn’t stop thinking about what a lovely time I had last night catching up with my friend maedwen and her family at B&N last night at Melissa Marr’s book signing.

I love listening to authors talk about their writing and their journey to publication. What works and doesn’t work for them. There were lots of fun stories and interesting discussion about her books, published and unpublished. And there were many take-aways for aspiring novelists. But before I share those, I just want to say how blow away I was by Melissa’s generosity. She traveled way out to the boonies of Ventura County after attending BEA to meet with the group gathered here and was so laid back and relaxed in spite of her very busy day. Thanks for coming all the way out to see us, Melissa!

So....here are the nuggets I picked up. I don’t know sometimes it’s hard as a writer to keep it up in the midst of all the things that demand our time. Hopefully her thoughts will inspire you to keep it up and not sweat it so much.

*She said no matter what you write, there is always going to be someone out there that doesn’t like it.

*Didn’t really like the whole B.I.C [butt in chair] philosophy because it feels tedious to her. Best thing you can do is be passionate about what you are writing and the words will come. Some days you might write 500 words, other days 10,000 but each day is a good day. Although, she did admit that once she works out a story it’s a little harder to get to the keyboard as all the fun is sort of out of it for her. So then she needs a little B.I.C. incentive.

*She never took a creative writing class but took literature classes that deconstructed stories so she could see how books were put together.

*Most of her favorite authors are dead. Her favorite author is Faulkner because he uses sensory images to tell his tales. Recommended a book called: “Natural History of the Senses” by Diane Ackerman.

*She photographs things while she’s on the road to document settings she can later use in her books.

*Mentioned that if you sit two people down with opposing opinions that sets up conflict, which causes action which creates pacing. [I loved this. So easily said and not so easily written, but so…so true.]

*She said she likes to tell stories from multiple POVs because the truth can only be seen through a multiplicity of voices.

*She mentioned that she doesn’t really believe in networking too much. Says a good story will always sell. Spend more of your time writing than networking. [I guess this was nice to hear as I'm spending so much time road tripping this year and just finding time for writing is hard.]

*She creates playlists for each of her characters to help keep her in their voice.

I really enjoyed meeting melissa_writing. I’ve been a big fan of her blog for a while now and meeting her in person was so much fun. Of course I was super tongue-tied [but let’s not go there]. There really is no way to not sound geeky when you introduce yourself as a Livejournal friend but it was so nice to meet her. She’s super inspiring and confident, qualities I hope to have as a writer some day.

Maggie, Patty and Me at SCBWI LA Writer's Day

Friends

This weekend I had a great opportunity to reconnect with friends. We are all super busy with our own very different lives and it is SO precious to spend time with each other. My friend Anna and I got a chance to sneak in a lunch on Friday. I drove topless in the warm SoCal sun. I love driving Mx’s car because, well, I miss her and feel closer to her when I drive it. I love the car. It’s a little yellow ’91 Convertible Capri with so much family history. While I drove it, I thought that maybe all kids should drive cars close to their age. I don’t know why. It’s just kinda cool that she drives a car a few years younger than she is.

LA Writer's Day Surprises

Saturday was the best. It started out a little strange though. I arrived at LA Writer’s Day a little late [no, THAT’s not strange]. Checked around the room looking for friends and found…nobody that I really knew. EGADS! Now, anyone who knows me knows I’m not shy, but all of a sudden I felt kinda lonely. I took my seat anyway and knew the day would be a good but sorta lonely one. I was half right.

My favorite presentation was “Let Me Hear Your Heart: Figuring Out Narrative Power” by Patricia Lee Gauch. Amazing. She encouraged us all to hear our own hearts in a story, every part of it. She also made an amazing comment about “show don’t tell.” She said that you can’t always “show don’t tell” because an author also needs to "interpret life with zest." She quoted T.S. Elliot’s work Tradition and the Individual Talent where the poet mentions the process of writing as taking everything in during your life then everything comes together as numberless images and tells a story. She also mentioned that most mms. that come across her desk are “just fine, thank you” but wanted us to go far enough, DON’T FLINCH, she said when putting your heart into a story. Let our passions drive our ideas. She talked about Scott O’Dell, one of my favorite writers–Island of the Blue Dolphins is one of the books I donated to the high school I visited in Romania, and that he said the thing we all share is a heart beat and it’s what we need as writers. She encouraged us to speak in an authorial voice as if we want everyone to listen. Yeah, it was pretty much one of those WOW! speeches.

I could go on, and on…so many great speakers. Very inspirational. The “Random Routes: Three Authors’ Journeys to Publication” was excellent because it showed how fortuitous publishing is–just meeting people and the random ways those meetings bring authors one step closer to publishing. Check out castellucci, Caroline Hatton, Sally Jones Rogan.

First surprise? When I turned to look across the room during one of the speeches and my friend Maggie tapped me on the shoulder. She sat right in back of me. And in back of Maggie, my friend Patty waved. I was so happy they were there. We had an awesome time talking about our kids and catching up with each other’s lives in the shade of a beautiful tree on the school campus. Even made a new friend at lunch.

When the day was done, my novel Transfer Student won the SCBWI LA Honorable Mention for Young Adult Fiction. I am so excited. And, the best part? Maggi and Patty cheered for me when they announced my book had won. I listened to the judge’s comments and felt honored that the judge found my novel poignant and humorous. Patty won Honorable Mention last year for her book Greenwood Girls. We joked that she passed the tiara to me this year. And, even though they had a very long drive home afterwards, they took me out for a Corona and some tasty tacos to celebrate. When I got home Joe had the champagne chilled, congratulated me and we talked and talked about the day and all that I learned.

But what did I learn from writer’s day this year that I hadn’t learned before? I learned that nothing about writing is what I like to call in my writing-cave-induced stupors a waste of time. That writing is solitary but also very social. If it wasn’t for all the crazy and not-so-crazy things that I have done all these years—the nameless images—I wouldn’t have anything to write about, nothing to feel passionately for. And it underscores what I’ve known for a long time, there’s no way I can write alone. My writer friends know me in a way that is different than everyone else, as do my critique group partners. No, not as a crying slobbering mess of raw feelings, but as someone trying to find my voice, make my stories better. We know how dedicated we have to be to make the smallest of strides in our work. And, I think when I win an award, it needs to be shared with each and every person who believes in me. Who says keep it up when I want to put it all away. Who posts encouraging thoughts when I have my writing-cave moments where I think everything I’m doing–and I mean everything from the research to posting on this blog–is a waste of time. So, I want to share this with you, because without you I wouldn’t be writing right now. *Mwah*

The Mono Diaries:

Well, if you have daughter with mono and if she lives 3000 miles away and if she’s feeling overwhelmed and upset that she might not be able to finish the semester. What do you do? SIMPLIFY & DELEGATE. Srsly. Here’s what we’ve done for this week. Dropped a class, one that was droppable because it was extra—Converstional French. So she’ll have five classes instead of six. Her work has kept her off the schedule until Mx feels better, and with mono who knows when that will be. Mx signed up for grocery delivery at Fresh Direct and is going to start sending her laundry out this week.

So far what’s been the biggest challenge of mono for her? The unpredictability of the fatigue. She will have a good day and then two bad days where she can’t get out of bed. Going to the store to buy water tires her out so much she has to take a five-hour nap afterwards. So, trying to map out a successful way to finish her classes is requiring all of us to take it all day-by-day, week-by-week. Had a video call today and Mx looks great. Sasha, her kitty, really cheered her up! Oh, and Ears is a girl.

Patrons of Blue Chair Children's Books wiggled and waggled, squiggled and squirmed, their way through the store on Saturday.

The independent children's bookstore in Glendora, California, threw the worm event of the year: a Wiggle and Waggle party with author Caroline Arnold and illustrator Mary Peterson on Saturday.
"The shop did a great job preparing for our visit. We had a nice audience with plenty of bug juice and dirt for snacks," said Mary. "Caroline and I read the story, sang the digging song, had real worms for the kids to pet - and sold some books! We had a great time."

"The live worms were a big success, as well as the gummy worms in "dirt" (chocolate pudding mixed with Oreo cookie crumbs) that the store prepared for a snack," said Caroline.

Those real worms aren't nearly as cute as Wiggle and Waggle, but they're still a lot of fun!
Kudos to Rachel and Doug Rustenberg at Blue Chair for hosting a great event!