Hello. I'm Christy and I'm a Beta-aholic

Meet my new writing partners

Here's the story:

My 4 year old and 6 year old have been asking for a pet fish to have as their very own. I thought they were ready so, yesterday I went out and bought them each a Beta. I've had betas in the past. They are easy to care for and they are beautiful. The kids fell in love with their new pets and I started to think "Gee! I sure love Betas. I think I need one for my office.

The Beta I had years ago met an unfortunate and gruesome death. In the middle of the night my cat knocked over the fish bowl and tortured the poor little thing. I'm sure he didn't mean any harm. He was a sweet cat and probably just thought it was a super cool new aquatic-cat-nip toy. Or maybe an interactive kitty treat. In the morning little fish pieces were scattered all over my kitchen. (Mental note to self: must be more discerning in placement of fish bowl.)
So, I went to the store and purchased the fish below. His name is C.S. Isn't he pretty--I mean handsome?

Well, you see, I really couldn't just have one fish named C.S. His very name demanded that there be a second. Hence the fish below. I named him Lewis.

C.S. and Lewis are very happy in my office. I love watching them swish around in their bowls. (Notice their rocks match the wild color scheme of my office.) Their colors make me happy and their movement is calming.

I noticed that there were some spots in my office that needed "livening up." I KNEW that more Beta fish were exactly what those voids NEEDED. So I went to buy another fish.
That would be the fish below. His name is J.R. (see where this is going?)

However, I realized that I couldn't just leave the store with ONLY J.R. That just wouldn't be right! There HAD to be a Tolkien!
So, this is Tolkien. He lives among the the psychedelic palm trees.

But you know what? I think I need two more. And I think my husband needs one for his office too. I told him he needed a fish and he just gave me a funny look and didn't say anything. I think that's his way of saying "Sure! Great idea. I'd love to have a fish! Please get a beta for me too" (did he just say two?!)

The Agent Quest: AKA the search for the needle in the haystack

Who to send to? Who accepts what? Who's looking for what genre? Who is currently looking for new clients?

If you're on the hunt for an agent, there are two great sites out there. The first one is www.agentquery.com/
There, you'll find tips, resources and advice on submitting to an agent, plus it has an advanced search feature to help you find an agent targeted to your specific genre. This one also allows you to find out what agents represent other authors.

The other site is www.litmatch.net/
This site has similar features as the first site, and this one also has a "submission tracker" feature to help you stay organize. Isn't that nice? :0) The results are a little easier to follow from this site.

Both sites are great and allow you to find agents who are actively seeking new clients and will also tell you if they accept e-mail queries and what works they represent.

Good luck in your search

How do you do it? Learning to revise and rewrite.

My current WIP is a YA fantasy novel. This is the first novel length project that I have taken on and has been quite the learning experience.

When I started writing this piece I took the advice of many authors and writing books and I just sat down and transfered the ideas from my head to the page. That part was fun.

But I'll never forget when I sat down to revise what I had written. Though I still liked the story idea, the writing was horrible! There, before me sat 50,000 ugly, misplaced words waiting for me to give them a makeover. This was the hard part. There was so much to change, I grew very anxious trying to figure out how I was going to take all those words and make them worthy of submission. I was overwhelmed at the thought. I struggled to find a revision routine, but when I did, things really started to fly! I'm now ahead of where I thought I would be and I'm almost done with the second draft of the entire MS. Just 6 more chapters to go!!!!!!! I finished my chapter 22 rewrite last night.

What ended up working for me was that I just took one small section at a time. Sometimes it was just a sentence, sometimes it was an entire paragraph, depending on how much neede to be rewritten.

Once I'm done with the full second draft, I will do a third. Then it will go to my critique group, then to my husband and my parents, then I'll try to find someone to read it who will just say "wow. This is really good." so I can get up the nerve to send it out. :0) Who knows how many drafts it will take to get to that point!? I was happy to read somewhere that Avi does 50-70 rewrites on his work. It looks like an exhausting amount, but I think that will probably be the amount I end up with too.

I'd love to hear how other people tackle their rewrites. How many drafts do you go through? Any suggestions? How do you know when you're ready to send it out?

Cliche-Slayers Unite! Tackling the choking weeds of cliches one vine at a time

http://www.gamemaker.nu/upload/image/FantasySword1.jpg

The cliche = The poison of manuscripts

How can we describe that funny feeling in the pit of our stomachs when we're around that certain someone that make us go weak in the knees? (note the cliche)

Butterflies? Nope. Way over done.

Fluttering? Nope. That one is used a lot too.

Here's how Shannon Hale tackled this cliche in "Princess Academy".
This is from Chapter 11.
"Being near him made her insides feel like twisted vines, choking and blooming all at the same time, and her only thought was that his smile was worth trudging for."

So, here's to Shannon Hale! I here-by name you Master Cliche-Slayer

Here's my plan. . . (My feathered wakeful thought of the week)

Back in February I was inspired to use my blog as a writing discipline. As it turns out, it's much harder to do than I anticipated. I can't always think of something to blog about. So, I'm going to try something new. I usually like to be spontaneous and fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants. In most cases, I function much better when I don't have too much structure to follow. It bogs me down. However, I do see the benefits of structure. I do wish I functioned better in a structural surrounding. Especially now, with more people in my life to think about and more responsibilities, life is hectic and w/o structure, chaos ensues. Too much chaos is equally as binding as too much structure.

Monday's are my slowest day of the week. I usually use Monday as my big cleaning/organizing day at home. Then, the rest of the week happens and things pile up faster than I can deal with it all. I'm in search of a "structure" that will help me deal with this new phase in my life.

I find all of this is very similar to the Discipline of writing. A plan will probably make me more productive. I'm going to try to have a loose structure to my blog and see if that helps me to stay on track.

So, here's my loosely structured writing-discipline blog plan:

In honor of a phrase by Henry David Thoreau, Monday's writing discipline will be like my cleaning/orgainzing day. It will be my day of "Feathered wakeful thoughts" in aticipation of the new week. This is the day to organize, get inspired and look forward to the days ahead. So, that makes today's feathered wakeful thought about making plans for a writing blog. :0) Each day will feature a different topic:

Monday = Feathered Wakeful thoughts: Anticipating the new week.

Tuesday = Current readings: Book reviews or thoughts/observations on what I'm currently reading.

Wednesday = My current Work in Progress/ Learning the business of writing

Thursday = Pick of the week: What I've read on other blogs or web-sites that I find noteworthy.

Friday = Share Day: Illustration Friday, favorite lines, poems or whatever I feel like sharing

Saturday/Sunday = open.

Now, that seems to be just enough structure to keep myself disciplined, but flexible enough to avoid monotony. I hope. We'll see how it works.

Vacation landscape pictures

My family recently took a trip to Florida. I snapped some landscape shots of some pretty cool birds that liked to lounge right outside our window.

There were also some gorgeous plants

and flowers

and more flowers

and more plants

and more flowers

and more plants

I hear there's supposed to be some large body of water called an OCEAN in Florida. I'll have to try to find that next time and snap a few pictures. ;0)

Come to a Schmooze in Raleigh, NC!

What is a Schmooze? You may ask.
It's an informal get together sponsored by my critique group and SCBWI Carolinas.

Our guest speaker is none other than award winning author Frances O'Roark Dowell
Author of Dovey Coe, The Secret Language of Girls, Chicken Boy and many others.
(As a side note, Dovey Coe is one of the strongest "voice" books I've ever read.)

Date: April 13th
Time: 3:00
Place: Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh

We had quite a big turn out at our schmooze last year so you may want to come early to get a good seat.

Hope to see you there!