I got some footage of the event, which is below. Unfortunately I couldn’t get everything, and my camera has issues when filming inside, so the footage could be better. I regret that I didn’t get any film of John reading from The Fault in Our Stars or talking about the book, but I got Hank’s song inspired by the book, and some of them messing around. Hank Sock also makes an appearance.

The merch line and signing line were insane, but when I finally made it to the two of them, they were both really nice in person. John seemed genuinely glad to meet me, even though he was meeting hundreds of people. And although Hank seemed a little less comfortable with the celebrity status, he was equally welcoming. Of course I wish I could have sat with them for awhile and had a real conversation, but at least I got them to sign my stuff!

Don’t forget to be awesome!

I always intend to. I always say “I can do it during November, so clearly it’s possible—I just have to keep this up every day!” Yeah, right. I realize real authors are supposed to write every day. I realize it, and I want to be that person. But consistently, I’m not.

My new goal (yes, more goals) is to at least touch one of my projects every day. It’s ok if that just means opening the document and staring at it for awhile. It’s ok if all I do is make some world-building notes. Because once I’m on that document, I’ve made the big first step towards actually working on it. I can trust that most days, I’ll end up actually getting something done.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from doing Nanowrimo for the last six years, is that once you stop a project, it gets really hard to pick it up again. Days go by. Weeks. Months. And finally, years. Now it’s just a half-finished document somewhere, and your writing style and skills have changed so much that in order to “get back to it,” you basically have to start all over again.

So, that’s my goal. Not a word count or a scene count or a set number of hours in my desk chair. Just opening a document, and seeing what happens.

So, if you’re curious, click here and check out my tumblr.

I’ll keep it updated with photos, videos, anecdotes, and anything else that inspires my story. Expect lots of pictures of cemeteries. I never said I was normal!

I promise some real post about this later, but for now, I’m just celebrating. Woooohoooo!

I really like the Snowflake Method. It was introduced to me by some friends in my writing group, and it’s a really detailed way to figure out where you’re stories going, down to the smallest details. I usually don’t go all the way with it, but I’ve only used it a few times, so I never say never. It’s great if you’re a “plotter” instead of a “pantser.” These are terms that get thrown around the writing community a lot, but if you’re not familiar, a “plotter” is someone who needs to know where they’re going when they write, and a “pantser” prefers to just write and figure it out when they get there. I’m more of a pantser, and I think that makes Nanowrimo easier for me than for plotters. I don’t need to know where I’m going, or I need only a vague idea, so I can just jump right in. If you’ve found you’re more of a plotter, the Snowflake Method of outlining may work for you. (if you’re a pantser, you may find that the Snowflake Method is more appropriate when you’re ready for revising—that’s when I use it)

The Snowflake Method was created by author Randy Ingermanson, and it’s based on the idea that you start with something very basic, and keep adding small parts to it until it becomes something beautiful—like a fractal snowflake. Or a great novel.

You can find the full, step-by-step breakdown of the method over on Randy’s website. But here are the basics.

You begin with a one-sentence summary of your book. Basically your elevator pitch. For one of my stories, my sentence is “two college students make a lot of mistakes and fall in love.” It doesn’t have to be perfect, and you can and should revise it as you go, but it really helps you figure out what exactly the point of your story is. What matters most? What’s at the heart of it?

From there, you basically make longer and longer summaries. One paragraph. 5 Paragraphs. 1 Page. And so forth. You do the same thing with individual characters, figuring out their backstories and plotting their place in the story. It’s a very managable process, but it does take time. You can’t do it all in one sitting. I think it took me about 2 weeks, working on it almost every day for about an hour.

So if you’re stuck on your novel, and ready to give up on Nano, you should really consider shifting your focus. You can still do something towards your novel, without getting totally stuck on 50,000 words thing. Then when December comes around, you’ll be ready to really work on your novel in ernest.

First off, know that you’re not alone. Everyone gets the Week Two Blues. It’s just part of the natural pacing of Nano. Week 1 is fun while you’re high on adrenaline and coffee, and Week 2 is when reality hits in. I can’t offer perfect fixes, but here are some general tips to keep yourself from sinking.

1. Don’t give up. It can only beat you if you let it, so just keep setting that time aside, keep putting pen to paper or fingers to key pads.

2. Don’t get depressed. You’re not a bad writer or uninspired or a total failure at life. In fact if you’re feeling the Week Two Blues, that’s because you’re doing the right thing. I’ve heard real, honest-to-god-published authors talk about this happening at a certain point in each of their manuscripts, too. So it’s not just you, and it’s not just Nanowrimo. It’s part of writing.

3. Don’t start over. Around now you’re losing enthusiasm for your current project, and all those other story ideas floating around in your head are going to start looking really nice about now. That’s because they’re new and unexplored. Don’t give in. Stick with your current story, and focus on pushing past the block. If you’ve already started over, don’t panic, but don’t let it happen again. You and your story are in it to win it. (the exception to this is if you’re really behind and this story just isn’t flowing at all. It may be worth it to start something else, if you know you can run with it. Nano doesn’t work for every story, and sometimes you need to accept that.)

4. Don’t be afraid to write some shit. One of the reasons this week is hard is because you’re getting to the middle section of your story, and middles are always difficult. You have to keep the pacing going without giving away too much too fast, and if you’re not an obsessive outliner, chances are you’re not sure what happens in this section, or what happens next. Don’t be afraid of it. On the Nano website there are a lot of people offering up prompts, like “have your characters go out for ice cream.” Don’t be afraid to have your characters do something random for awhile. It will help you learn more about them, and will help keep the words flowing, even if it doesn’t end up contributing directly to the overall plot. Don’t be afraid to write the same scene more the once, if it didn’t work the first time. It’s not cheating, and it doesn’t lessen your worth as a writer. It’s a necessary part of the process.

5. Don’t isolate yourself. Cook dinner with your hubby or go out for drinks with the guys. Find a write-in in your area, and try to bust out some words around like-minded people. Staying high on coffee, locked alone in your room, is not going to make you feel better, especially if you’re hitting some creative blocks. Take a walk. Go ice skating. Read a good book. Do something to recharge your creative batteries.

6. Don’t stop writing! Don’t let the Week Two Blues paralyze you until it’s too late to bounce back. Don’t let yourself become so distracted with the problems you’re facing, or the creativity you’re lacking, or how far behind you already are, that you stop moving forward. Even if you’re a week behind, you can make it up. There will be days of wild inspiration where you catch yourself up. Just keep writing.

I hope these tips are helpful, and that you don’t let Week Two get you down! Trust me, if you can get through this, Week Three is awesome.

There is a certain stigma against publishers, and a certain tendency to bad-mouth them when they’re not there. To a certain degree, I think this is healthy, at least for authors. It’s good to have a safe space where you can just complain to your peers. And there are things that publisher’s do that can drive authors crazy, just like there are things authors do that can drive publisher’s crazy. It’s part of co-existing. Hopefully we’re doing this because we love books, but we’re also all in this game to make money, and sometimes our interests don’t actually overlap. Sometimes what’s good for a publisher isn’t good for an author, which is why it’s so important for authors to understand how to read their contracts (even if they have an agent–sometimes what’s good for an agent isn’t always what’s good for an author, either) and for publisher’s to respect the authors they’re working with. That’s why communication is important. It’s also why a little venting is healthy.

However, it’s frustrating to see bloggers and authors blame publishers for things that simply aren’t their fault, or at least not within their control. There wasn’t a whole lot of mud-slinging at this conference, fortunately. Most people were pretty respective of publishing. What I did encountered occasionally was ignorance about the industry, which is no ones fault really, it’s just interesting to see. There are loads of things I take for granted now, that I didn’t have any clue about just two years ago. It’s mainly good to be reminded as a publisher that there are a lot of things about the industry that aren’t clear to people on the outside.

Take book covers, for instance. At almost every signing I go to, the author always get asked one thing: how did you pick your cover? It’s a funny question to hear, because the truth is that authors get almost no say in what the covers of their books look like. It’s not part of their job, it’s part of the marketing and design team’s job. That doesn’t mean publisher’s don’t want authors to be happy with their covers; an unhappy author is not likely to work as hard to promote their book. However, the big decisions about the cover aren’t related so much to the book itself as they are to the audience. A book’s cover is one of its first and most powerful marketing tools, so publishers have to take it seriously. It’s not thar authors don’t know their own books (they do, better than anyone), but they don’t always have the market awareness that their publisher does. So, cover choices come down to the marketing team, not the author. Like it or not, this is just how the industry works.

One things that did come up at the conference was the notion that publisher’s don’t really know how to deal with bloggers yet. I think there’s some truth to this idea, but I think it’s less that publisher’s are ignorant or oblivious, and more that we, as an industry, haven’t finished shifting. Blogs are important, yes, but only time will tell how the relationship will develop and continue. It’s a bit hard for publisher’s to work with bloggers because bloggers aren’t trained members of the industry. That’s not to say anything against bloggers–many of them are amazingly professional and knowledgeable about the industry–but publisher’s can’t always rely on them to act in the same way, or to know the same things. It’s best for publishers to try and build relationships with specific bloggers, but it’s also good to seek out new bloggers for specific books, and that can lead to a lot of leg work. Even the big guys don’t have an unending supply of manpower. And each blogger as their own preferences, desires, and needs. Like with the relationship between publishers and authors, there’s a certain line to walk, because we’re both getting different things out. As we charter this new territory, we need to focus on working together, on learning from each other and being patient with the process. And I think KidLitCon proved that we’re headed in the right direction.

My friend Stephanie Kroll and I are starting a social media consulting agency for young adult authors, called Whirlabout New Media. What’s a social media consulting agency, you ask? Well, we work directly with YA authors, and help them figure our the best way that they can use social media towards their own goals. Not everyone takes to twitter right away, and not everyone gets facebook. But there’s something out there for anyone, and our job is to help authors find what fits them.

We’re not really set up to take clients yet. This is what’s called a “soft launch.” We’re starting to get our name out there, but we haven’t started doing business yet. In the meantime, you can read all about us on our shiny new website. We’ll be keeping our blog and current social media accounts (twitter and facebook) updated often, so it’s a good time to start keeping your eyes on us. In a few months, we’ll launch for real, and then the game is on.

The draft topped out at just over 60,000 words. Funny how it took me a month to write 50,000 words, and nine months to write the other 10,000. But, that’s the magic of Nanowrimo.

It’s been a long time since I finished a rough draft. Well, I rough draft I was somewhat happy with, that is. For Nanowrimo 2009, I wrote an entire draft of Falling in Love with the Wind, but I was never really happy with that story. That’s a topic for another day, but basically even months after “finishing” it, I still wasn’t sure what the story was really about. I recently had an epiphany about that, but again, that’s a whole other story.

So the last first draft I really finished was for Nanowrimo 2007. That was also the first year I actually “won” Nanowrimo (read: made it to 50,000 words within the month). That story was Special Blend, and I thought it was done. Not perfect, not without need of editing, but done. How very wrong I was.

Now that Whispers is through it’s first stage, I’m bringing Special Blend back. It needs a lot of work. If you follow me on twitter, you’re gonna see me doing a lot of #writingpartys where I’m just outlining. Since I’ve already written the story once, I mostly know what’s going to happen, so I’m trying to outline it before I really delve into rewriting it. For those of you who are curious, I’m using the Snowflake Method. I’ll talk more about that in a later post, but so far it’s been very helpful. In a few months I’ll get to do this with Whispers, and I’m really excited for that.

Special Blend, which I’m currently just calling “Blake and Logan” until I come up with a title that actually fits, is about two college students making a bunch of mistakes and falling in love. When I wrote it originally, they were a few years older then me. Now they’re a few years younger. I’m not sure how I’ll go about writing it once I’m done with the outline (I may start from scratch, or I may drag out the old draft and see if anything is salvagable), but I’m really enjoying the revision process so far. I’m never really carried a story from first draft to second draft, but this story is a great place go start. It’s really the story I’ve thought most about, and it’s undergone the most changes.

This post was supposed to be about Whispers, but I guess I’ll save that for next time.