Fall has sprung and school has begung

Wait, that's supposed to be spring, but it just doesn't work here as well as fall. I just like to pretend I'm a poet occasionally.

But, indeed, although the calendar does not reflect that it's fall just yet, school has started and I am enjoying the first week of quiet during the day. When the kids get home, it's another story. Chaos reigns and panic ensues as we contemplate the remaining number of emergency forms to complete and supplies to purchase.

Yet, for the moment, I'm ensconced in my favorite coffee shop for the first time since school ended in June. Can you believe that two entire buildings appeared while I was gone? Well, maybe the foundations and frames were there, but they are now mostly finished, and the skyline of this tiny corner of suburbia is forever altered. By this time next year, I'm sure it will be new again.

I did finish Kristy Kiernan's Catching Genius and highly recommend it--all the way to the end. There were a few moments where the scenes regarding the main character's separation and pending divorce felt so real and painful (and slightly familiar), I felt a bit sick to my stomach. Some might consider that a bad thing ("Julie, why do you LOVE depressing books so much?!" Ha, just wait 'til they see what I'm writing!!), but I love a book that draws me in and allows me to experience the emotions along with the character. It's always nice when the story ends with great hope, though, and this one does.

Working on a self-imposed deadline on my manuscript so I can send it off to my expert, so I better get to work! How's back-to-school working for you? Seems like everyone feels the excitement, even when they don't have kids at home to remind them. It's just a frame of mind, I guess.

We interrupt this silence for an update

Sorry for the radio silence lately. I've had family in town and was too busy having fun with them to think about blogging. I think that is a good thing. :0)

School starts next week and I'm gearing up to have the middles of my days free again for thinking about nothing but writing. Yee haw! I've received a partial critique and a full critique of my manuscript back from two critique partners and have my work cut out for me over the next week or so before I send it off to my "expert." Let's hope my hands aren't too weary from filling out the myriads of forms the schools require during the first week ... that are populated with exactly the same information as last year. Sigh. At least I only have two piles of them this year, much as it hurts my ego to admit I have a child in his second year of college. (I had him when I was five, of course, so I'm only 25. Snort!)

Awesome critiques received, though, with plenty of positive feedback, too. (YAY!) That light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

Speaking of positive feedback, I've been reading some books lately. Not like that's anything new, but I couldn't think of a better segue.

So, one I read last week totally flabbergasted me. Well-known author I've been fairly impressed with before, fascinating subject, and you'd think it would have been a great read. Not so much! This always puzzles me. It doesn't happen that often, but when it does, I really have to wonder what was going on with the writer during the writing and editing.

The writing itself really came up short. Seemed like every other sentence started with a ... um ... gerund phrase? Is that the right terminology? I can't remember what it's called, but it sure drove me nuts every time I saw it. You know, the "Looking out the window, she ..." or "Checking her watch first, he ...." thing. And ten bonus points goes to the reader who notices I started this very paragraph EDIT: section (sorry!) with one. Hehe! But gosh, this is just a blog, right? Besides the gerund crimes, the story just plain dragged, and the characters were pretty flat, IMHO.

Not naming any names, though. I'm giving the author the benefit of the doubt, and I checked it out from the library, so I didn't lose any money except for a fraction of a penny of taxpayer contributions, right? Let's hope the next one is a home run.

BUT ... (big but), there is this OTHER book I'm reading now. I'm only about 2/3 through, but I'm totally loving it. I checked it out from the library, too, but I would have gladly paid for it. It's the author's first and her second just came out, so I'll likely shell out the bucks for the new one.

The author I'm referring to here is Kristy Kiernan, and the book is Catching Genius. It seems like a lot of books about sisters or twins, their mysterious secrets, and strangely, MATH, are popping up these days, so when I first read the cover copy, I was like, "Hmm, another book about sisters, secrets, and math?" but I told myself to shut up and read it anyway, and I'm so glad I did. I started reading Thursday at 11, and by the time I finally switched off my tiny flashlight at 1:30 (cuz yeah, my husband actually has to get up in the morning and go to work, poor thing), I was half through. Haven't had much time to read since then, but I'm picking it up in any spare moment I can find. The writing is gorgeous, the story is mesmerizing, and darnit, I just can't stop turning the page!

I'd been reading Kiernan's blog (I think she's even commented here before) and have been marking time until her new release, Matters of Faith, came out, but Catching Genius was in at the library, and I'm so glad I went ahead and picked it up. I've rambled on long enough, but I think you should find it and read it, too. Great debut novel, and I can't wait to find Matters of Faith.

Best books for boys

I just received an email. "Amazon's Best Books of the Year ... So Far"

We've had this discussion, but still, it rankles. Sixteen books listed in the body of the email, one written by a woman. A children's book.

Who's picking these books? That's what I'd like to know, but I have my suspicions. When you go to the web pages to see "more," one woman author is listed among the ten additional fiction picks. A Shannon wrote the first one listed, but he's a guy.

Needless to say, the nonfiction books were all by men. In best hidden gems, a female co-author (probably the main writer, but not the "expert") gets a nod.

And, of course, five of the ten total books for children/YA were written by women. Because we're so good at that.

My mom liked it, and other stories

One of the cardinal sins while querying agents and editors is telling them, "My mom liked it." I'm going to avoid that sin by just doing it here. After all, it's my blog, right? :-D

A little more than a week ago, I sent my mom my manuscript by email. She read a little at her volunteer job the next morning (in which she answers phones and does other things as needed, so she has lots of time where she's just sitting, waiting) and when she got home she asked me to set up my old laptop where she could read more. She read all afternoon and evening and finished around 10 p.m. Yeah. My manuscript is about 425 pages at this point. I knew she was a fast reader, but seriously?

I asked if she read that fast to get it over with because she was falling asleep and bored out of her mind or if she actually liked it and couldn't stop reading. I am proud to say she answered the latter.

Since, I've heard her brag to a few people that it was really good. Now, I know what you're saying. It's your MOM, Julie. Of course she's going to like it. Well, yeah, of course she is, but at the same time, I do highly value her opinion. You are free to smirk here. :)

See, I come from a family of writers. Mom's greatest joy and my greatest trial as an adolescent were the stories she had published in national magazines. About me. Learning to drive. And other embarrassing moments. I'm taking revenge by blogging about my children in my other blog. At any rate, Mom was always attending some writing conference or another, watching the mail for those lovely rejection slips and the occasional acceptance check, going to critique group, and so on.

My brother has aspired as a novelist, screenwriter, and in more recent years, he's written and performed standup comedy on a regular basis. (And I get to edit his routines--now THAT is satisfying payback for countless years of sibling torture, let me tell you.)

When I approach Mom to read something I've written, I hold my breath because I know she's going to give me the lowdown. Always in a positive manner, but not 100% positive feedback.

When I sent her the manuscript last week, she knew nothing about it other than one of my main characters was a deaf teen. She knows exactly what you might know from reading my blog, because she gets her info the same place you do. It's been more than a year of living in the same house while I worked on this story, me sitting in the living room with my light shining into her room as I wrote and revised into the wee hours, and I was nervous about telling her about my story.

Apparently, it was nothing at all like she expected, but still ... she liked it. Wheeee! Well, other than the (few, non gratuitious) sex scenes, which normally wouldn't bother her at all, but apparently gave her the heebie jeebies because she knew I wrote them and that was just too weird to wrap her mind around. Heh. Sorry, Mom. (Hey, for the record, they gave me the heebie jeebies, too. So, ha.) Of course, she gave me lots of other feedback as well.

But, I proudly say here, where it doesn't really matter who smirks at me, My mom liked it.

I've noticed in Jodi Picoult's acknowledgements she always mentions her mother, Jane Picoult, as one of her first readers. Apparently, it hasn't hurt her. :)

In other news ...

1) I'm winding down the current set of revisions and maybe, just maybe, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Which is good, because I am sick and tired of this story, let me tell you. I'm brewing a new story in my brain and I'm eager to get started on it physically, but I really can't until I'm ready to query B/O.

2) I am excited about having identified an "expert" to vet the world building I've done for my deaf and Deaf and hard-of-hearing characters. (You'll understand why I state it like this once you've read my book or if you do a little research on your own!) I'm even more excited that she has agreed. And, of course, now I'm a nervous wreck and madly trying to be sure I've done my homework because I don't want to waste her time. She is *truly* an expert in the field and I'm humbled.

3) I can so identify with Carleen Brice's blog post from one day last week. I believe there are three main periods during the writing of a novel that are emotionally exhilarating, but also emotionally draining.

First, the honeymoon period: the initial state of euphoria when you are writing a new, exciting story, when you live, eat, and breathe the story and it makes you oh, so happy. In other words, the first 100 pages. :)

Second, when you are so close to the end, you can almost taste it, and you are racing to get there and you think of little else.

Third, and I'm there right now. The intense period of revisions. You've had a few people read your story, you know what needs to be done to improve it, there are some hard issues to work through, and you're sick and tired of these people who live in your head and ready to kick them out, but their lease hasn't expired yet. Too much togetherness, as I like to say.

It becomes difficult to do anything, including sleeping, showering, or something as simple as taking a walk without the story haunting you. Yes, literally haunting you, and not always in a pleasant way. There's been speculation about Heath Ledger's death and how much he took on the roles he was playing, and I can see a connection there between writers and actors. (Don't worry, I'm not in that deep.)

Carleen wrote last week that as writers, it's too easy to train ourselves to work 24 hours a day, even in our sleep--after all, we love what we do. But sometimes it's not healthy. She took a much needed break this summer because it was literally affecting her physical health.

Anyway, I find that this is most likely to happen during these three time periods. I'm ready to be in between for a while.

4) I did get my hands on a copy of the Lace Reader and I'm reading when my own characters give me a little break.

So, what about you? Does your mom like your story? Are your characters taking up all your oxygen? Are you simply a reader and worrying about my sanity? (Hi, Brenda.) Are you reading any good books?

Have a great week!