Writers' Chasm

I love non-writers. I come from a family of them and I was a non-writer once. I love to think back about all the misconceptions I once had about publishing and writing. Today I'm going to share and de-mystify a few. #1: Publishing is easy This is a common one. Before I became a writer, I used to think that all a writer had to do was write a book and it would somehow magically become a novel. I'm not really sure how I thought that worked but I was a naiive young writer back then. #2: You make a lot of money publishing a book This one comes courtesy of my grandpa who told my mom to publish her book so she could make some money. It is not at all true. Many writers still need and have day jobs. Writing is not a stable source of income. Most advances are not the six-figure ones that so many people dream of receiving. Some writers may not get an advance at all. It depends on the publisher and the book, and advances can even vary book to book for the same author. Disregar...

The biggest news of the week was the release and reaction to MOCKINGJAY. I'm still recovering from the aftermath of that one and THE DUFF (which I will be reviewing next week). Hopefully I'll be able to think about something else by next week. Must Read: Unleashing your creative genius through dreams -- or how I'm going to justify sleeping until noon from now on 101 form rejection projects (I want to do the second to last one.) News: Real story on 6-year-old's book deal Contests: Natalie's Horrendously Hilarious Query Contest (Check out first prize! It's incredible and very original) GLA: 6 articles on dystopian Querytracker: Controlling the weather in your MS Rachelle Gardner: When you need a mentor Story Flip: The parts of a story YA Highway: Character motivation with Jack and Jill Everyone have an awesome weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding. It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans -- except Katniss. The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay -- no matter what the personal cost. As I'm writing this, it has now been twelve hours sinc...

It's the day we've been waiting for! Mockingjay's official release is TODAY! I know some lucky souls already have their hands on it and hopefully I'll be joining them VERY, VERY soon. I haven't been this excited since I went into Borders to get Deathly Hallows at noon on its release day. Will the Capitol be overthrown? Will Peeta escape? And most importantly, WILL Katniss choose Gale or Peeta? It's time to find out!!

Ahhh querying. Sometimes pressing send can be as scary as jumping into the pits of Tartarus. But before you start sending out those letters, what do you need to have first? # 1: A completed manuscript. This is the most important. Your story needs to be fully written and polished within an inch of it's life. It should've been revised and edited until it shone like a new penny, and read by at least one other person that gave a complete and honest critique. Don't be the person that queries before the story is done and then has to do a quick edit on it. Rushed editing does not make a polished novel. # 2: A polished query. This will be the first correspondence you have with potential agents, so treat it like you treated your manuscript. Don't just dash it off in five seconds and hit send. A lot of people will write this at the same time as the novel, perhaps having a first draft query before the novel is even started. I usually wait until I'm about halfway d...

FOUR DAYS TO MOCKINGJAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *explodes* Can. Not. Wait. Must Read: The Other: I'm Not It The ultimate advice on how to write a query from Nathan News: Oh my gosh, if you haven't seen the Beastly trailer , watch it. NOW. I must see this movie. And buy the book... I'm totally fangirling on Alex Pettyfer's hair, not gonna lie. Querytracker is now mobile ! GotYA: 7 tips for being a better beta Pimp My Novel: Inevitable envy Querytracker: The perks of being unpublished Rachelle Gardner: What a revision letter might include Story Flip: Poke those dead scenes with a stick Follow the leader *** I wrote a lot this week! I was really excited. The Elite finally hit 10k before I realized that dragging out every single word was not helping me and switched to Burning Bridges. The words are pouring out on BB and it hit 20k! I'm very excited about this one! Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

If you were away from the blog/Twittersphere yesterday, you may have missed the talk of censorship going on when Ellen Hopkins was uninvited to the Teen Lit Festival. Other authors soon began withdrawing from the festival in response to the censorship. From Ellen Hopkin's blog : Once again, censorship opens its nasty mouth and takes a bite out of me. This time in Humble Texas, a suburb of Houston. Let me say first thing that I did two high school visits there a couple of years ago, and they went very well. The librarians were totally supportive and, in fact, took me to the amazing Houston Rodeo afterward. So when they asked me to take part in the Teen Lit Fest they help organize, I said sure. The event is scheduled for the last weekend in January, 2011. But I won’t be there after all. Apparently, a middle school librarian saw my name on the roster and decided my presence would somehow negatively affect her students. I’m not sure how that is possible. Maybe she thinks I s...