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!