Just received first pass galleys for On the Road to Mr. Mineo's.
One step closer!
 |
| Coming October 2012 from Macmillan/FSG/Foster |
4 Comments on It's a Book! (Almost), last added: 3/1/2012
Display Comments
Add a Comment
new posts in all blogs
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 2/28/2012
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 2/20/2012
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 10/13/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Things I Love, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
The cover of my new book!
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 9/27/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: copyediting, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 4/26/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 4/22/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, revisions, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 3/25/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 3/23/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 3/23/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 3/22/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revisions, Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 2/26/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Work in progress, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 2/5/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, Scrivener, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 2/1/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
Look at my pretty outline!
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 1/24/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revisions, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 1/16/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 10/11/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
There's still one element of the story that has me stumped:
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 8/22/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 8/13/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Work in progress, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 8/10/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 8/5/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 8/2/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 7/28/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 7/14/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: On the Road to Mr. Mineos, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 26 - 48 of 48
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 2/28/2012
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 2/20/2012
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
My Fall 2012 novel, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's in Publishers Weekly Sneak Preview (Macmillan/FSG/Foster)
1 Comments on On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, last added: 2/21/2012
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 10/13/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Things I Love, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
The cover of my new book!
Coming Fall 2012
6 Comments on Things I Love Thursday, last added: 10/15/2011
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 9/27/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: copyediting, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
I'm in the midst of reviewing the copyedited manuscript of On the Road to Mr. Mineo's.
This part of the book creation process can be frustrating but eye-opening.
I'm always surprised at the mistakes I make consistently and the things I learn.
For instance, every time I used the following, I wrote them as two words instead of one:
barbershop
livelong
flowerpots (but flower boxes is two words)
shirttail
cornfields
hayloft
toolbox
I always write lawn mower as one word instead of two.
I forget that the following are hyphenated:
gol-dern (to prevent confusion for kids who don't know the term and might think it should be "golden" ??)
barn-owl (although a copyeditor missed it in one spot, where I had two words. HA!)
chicken-wire
run-down
I gave up on trying to use the expression "pure T". Copyeditor thought I meant "purty."
Those guys don't miss a thing.
On p 2 I wrote "empty doghouse in the yard"
On p 73 I wrote "empty doghouse in the front yard"
On p 2 I wrote "stamped her foot"
On p 42 I wrote "stomped her foot"
I wrote "screened door."
Was changed to "screen door. " (hmmm)
On p 17 I wrote "dern fool bird"
On p 118 I wrote "dang fool bird"
I had written: "greasy car parts and paint cans"
Was changed to "Paint cans and greasy car parts" since the paint cans aren't greasy.
And then, there is the constant inner battle between "diddly squat" and "doodly squat."
Writing is such hard work.
2 Comments on Details, details, last added: 9/27/2011
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 4/26/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
In honor of ALMOST finishing On the Road to Mr. Mineo's:
0 Comments on On the Road to Mr. Mineo's as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 4/22/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, revisions, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 3/25/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 3/23/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
I read my work-in-progress 5,499 times today.
2 Comments on You read it HOW many times?, last added: 3/26/2011
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 3/23/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 3/22/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revisions, Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
This looks like a big mess.
But by Friday, it will be in the mail.
It will be in the mail.
And it will not be a big mess.
4 Comments on A big mess, last added: 3/23/2011
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 2/26/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Work in progress, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 2/5/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, Scrivener, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
Why I Love Scrivener, Reason #578
My work-in-progress has multiple points-of-view (point-of-views?).
It's getting complicated to ensure that they flow correctly along the timeline of the story.
In Scrivener, I can make "collections" - inserting each POV into a separate folder.
Then I can see how that POV reads on its own, without the others.
(Does that make sense?)
It's getting complicated to ensure that they flow correctly along the timeline of the story.
In Scrivener, I can make "collections" - inserting each POV into a separate folder.
Then I can see how that POV reads on its own, without the others.
(Does that make sense?)
5 Comments on How I love you, Scrivener, last added: 2/5/2011
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 2/1/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
Look at my pretty outline!
0 Comments on Work in Progress Check-In as of 2/1/2011 9:41:00 AM
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 1/24/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revisions, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
I've been writing children's books for a long time now.
I've gotten pretty good at remembering to think like a kid.
But sometimes I forget.
Because I'm not a kid.
Recently, I was putting away my WIP for the day when I happened to scan a page.
I had written:
Stella watched as Levi and C.J. and Jiggs headed in one direction and Mutt in the other. She definitely smelled a rat. But she was tired and hungry and wanted to go home.
And it hit me....
A kid gets tired when she's in the department store with her mother.....
A kid doesn't get tired riding her bike.
So I changed it.
But she was hot and hungry and wanted to go home.
0 Comments on Thinking like a kid as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 1/16/2011
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 10/11/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
I've gotten all tangled up in my work in progress and found myself spinning my wheels.
I like the writing.
But it's just that: writing that I like.
It doesn't feel like I'm writing to a goal.
And actually I'm not. I don't have an ending and it's becoming obvious in the writing.
So I spent a day trying to sort out the plot by making a chart. I've NEVER done that before!
The problem is that I have multiple viewpoints and they weave in and out, so I was losing track of what was going where.
There's still one element of the story that has me stumped:
I even drew a little map of the setting. (Good artist, huh?)
2 Comments on The journey continues, last added: 10/11/2010
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 8/22/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
...to know your characters well:
Your dialogue will be better.
I just wrote:
"I bet Levi and them were lying," Stella said.
And when I was typing that into the computer, it hit me right away that it was wrong.
What Stella would say is:
"I bet Levi and them were fibbing."
[and that's such a good word "fibbing", isn't it?]
0 Comments on Another reason... as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 8/13/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Work in progress, Add a tag
I have moved on to my second notebook for my work in progress.
Ordinarily, this would be a good thing.
But this time, um, not so much.
Because I have a lot more writing in the notebook than I do actual manuscript pages that I'm using.
wor
Which translates to a lot of writing not used.
0 Comments on Making progress? as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 8/10/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 8/5/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
On the Road to Mr. Mineo's has turned into a multi-viewed point, multi-layered beast that I'm trying to wrestle into submission. It's been a weird and fun process that's taken on a life of it's own.
My problem is that it has pieces that need to fit together with a very smooth seam.
Can I do it?
See that red index card? That one showed up out of the cosmos while I was having a memory of my grandfather, whom my grandmother called Mutt.
That orangish card is called Little Brown Dog. I love it. But can I get it to fit into the story? I must. I will.
1 Comments on Work in Progress Check-In, last added: 8/5/2010
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 8/2/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 7/28/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
There's an old scriptwriters' adage that goes something like this:
If you show a shotgun over the mantel in the first act, you better use it in the third.
In other words, don't set up expectations for the reader that you don't plan to meet.
Don't deliver promises you aren't going to keep.
In my current, painful, teeth-pulling work-in-progress, I have the line in the first chapter:
At the end of Waxhaw Road is a little brick house with a sofa on the front porch and an empty doghouse in the yard.
That empty doghouse served no other purpose than description.
I've seen lots of little brick houses with sofas on the front porch and empty doghouses in the yard in the little Southern towns of my youth.
But a few chapters later, I wrote:
Stella went home to sit in the empty doghouse in her yard.
At the time, that was just something she did because she was feeling sad.
But then, I began to have the nagging thought that I had put a shotgun over the mantel.
The empty doghouse.
Wouldn't the reader begin to think that there was some significance in the empty doghouse?
Whether or not that is true, that question served as a springboard for a story element that I hadn't thought of before and I decided to noodle around with it.
I love this part of the writing process.
Don't deliver promises you aren't going to keep.
In my current, painful, teeth-pulling work-in-progress, I have the line in the first chapter:
At the end of Waxhaw Road is a little brick house with a sofa on the front porch and an empty doghouse in the yard.
That empty doghouse served no other purpose than description.
I've seen lots of little brick houses with sofas on the front porch and empty doghouses in the yard in the little Southern towns of my youth.
But a few chapters later, I wrote:
Stella went home to sit in the empty doghouse in her yard.
At the time, that was just something she did because she was feeling sad.
But then, I began to have the nagging thought that I had put a shotgun over the mantel.
The empty doghouse.
Wouldn't the reader begin to think that there was some significance in the empty doghouse?
Whether or not that is true, that question served as a springboard for a story element that I hadn't thought of before and I decided to noodle around with it.
I love this part of the writing process.
2 Comments on The shotgun over the mantel, last added: 7/29/2010
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Barbara O'Connor,
on 7/14/2010
Blog: Barbara O'Connor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Work in progress, On the Road to Mr. Mineo's, Add a tag
Some writers won't talk about their works-in-progress.
I am not one of them.
It doesn't bother me a bit.
So - here's how my current work-in-progress is going:
Slow, slow, slow and painful.
I have a title:
On the Road to Mr. Mineo's
I have characters I really like: Stella and Gerald
I have a pretty good setting: the roof of a garage in Kramer, South Carolina.
But, um, story?
I'm groping in the dark.
And yesterday a bad thing happened.
I've always considered myself pretty good at chapter endings.
They are uber important.
Today, I couldn't figure out how to end a chapter.
I have never ever done this before (i.e., moved on to the next chapter without a killer ending for the previous one)
2 Comments on Pulling teeth, last added: 7/14/2010
Display Comments
Add a Comment
maybe not quite a book at the moment but woo woo to one of your best covers ever. Sherman's waiting to lift off so The Road to Mr. Mineo's can spread its wings.
.
Sounds like a really fun read. Just added it to my Amazon wish list, so I won't forget to order it.
We can't wait!
I am sorry but this is taking way too long. Especially since my little pea brain thought the book was coming out a month ago.
Write faster!