And the Oscar goes to...Part one.

I have been an award hoarder.

*hangs head in shame.*

But hey, I'm going to share the love so it's all good. So feel free to click on the links and go meet (if you haven't already) some of the other bloggers.


The squee-ing awesome Amparo gave me the Blogger Buddy Award.



I hereby award this to...

Justine Dell

Talli

Lydia

The fabulousnesses who are MissV , Jaydee , Ariel Emerald and Cipherqueen bestowed me with the Awesomesauce Award.

I give to...

Matthew

Tahereh

Kirk at The Alice Chronicles

And the wonderful Creepy Query Girl, and greatness that is Talli gave me the special Oh My Blog Award

MissV

Zoe Courtman

There are more awards to come next week.

Happy Saturday.

Re-jec-tion

"There is only one sure-fire way to avoid rejection - never send a manuscript out."
Carole Matthews

A post Lydia wrote on Wednesday about queryphobia inspired me to start thinking about rejection (thanks Lydia. heehee).

We write. We sit for hours hunched over a keyboard, our fingers scrabble over keys with the clicking, and the tap tap tap. Our nearest and dearest threaten to pull us from the room by the scruff of our neck if we don't spend some time with them.

We get so engrossed in our editing we forget chocolate isn't a meal, and then eat a bowl of cereal at 10pm (yup, that was me.)
We think about our characters, develop them, love them and then...we feel the fear.

It's small at first. The tiny little voice in the back of our mind that whispers. It tells us our MS isn't ready - which sometimes it isn't. We revise, revise, revise and then...nothing. Well, for some of us.

Yes, we have - as Lydia defined it - queryphobia.

What is is about rejection that freaks us out? We all accept finding that perfect agent for our work can/will take time. We need to spend time getting our MS edited and shiny.

But will we ever find our agent if we never send our query out?

Matthew over at theqqqe is an example of dominating this fear (for me anyway, he may disagree. Hi Matthew). His blog never fails to inspire me to keep going, and his Friday guest blogs on successful queries are great too (Lisa and Laura Roecker today folks).

And it's not just Lydia and Matthew who keep me going. It's all my fellow blogger friends.

I read your blogs (sorry I didn't get round to everyone yesterday). I admit, I get excited when one of you signs with an agent, gets a book deal or a submission request.

I share your pain if a rejection comes through. I want you all to land that agent so I can buy your book and say, "I know the author, and they are amazing."

And you are. Each and every one of you.

Our journey will be different - thanks for reminding me Elana, you rock - but we all have the same goal.

And my queryphobia? Well, lets just say I'm working on it.

Promise. :)

Election? Pah, lets vote books!

Today is the general elections here in the UK.

You know the day, when everyone votes for who they want to govern them from the fancy Houses of Parliament in London for the next four/five years.

And yes, I shall vote. But don't worry, I'm not about to get all political.

This is a politics free blog.

But - as is the way of my weird mind - I decided to have a little vote too. And my vote is for books.

Now I have many book loves. But, keeping with my YA writing roots, one of my must read books (and I'm going to cheat here) is The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.




Look at them, all shiny in their post-apocalyptic glory. Ahhh.

I'm sure you've heard about the books from other sources, so I won't bore you with the details. Okay, maybe just a snippet.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before—and survival, for her, is second nature....Welcome to the deadliest reality TV show ever...
Amazon.co.uk


Mockingjay- the third book - is released on the 24th of August, so you still have time to read the first two if you haven't already. Once I started reading I couldn't stop, so it won't take long.

Then join me in biting my nails for Mockingjay. :)

Much like Monday's amazing blog day that was Spreading The Awesome, I want to know what books you love. The ones you couldn't put down.

Go on, make my reading list grow. :)

The Adventures of imagination.

Today I have blogging block. Yeah, I know it is unlike me.

Perhaps you were expecting to visit and find some witty analogy or cute goddaughter story, but that's not what I got for you today.

Okay, maybe I have. But it's not a goddaughter story.

I was thirteen when my first little girl cousin was born. I remember cuddling her, and her falling asleep on my shoulder. When she was about three-years-old she hated having a bath, getting water in her eyes scared her. So I created a story for her.

Actually, I picked up a grey flannel and created a character called (wait for it) Mr. Flannel.

My elderly grandparents had a seat which fit across their bath. This 'bridge' was Mr. Flannel's home, and he lived under it. Anyone walking across -in this case a toy plastic swan- had to give him soup (bathwater in a plastic dish that we gave 'flavours'). If he hated the soup, he'd splash it over my cousin screaming it was "Yucky soup."

If he liked it - Tomato or chicken was his favourite - then he'd eat it.

"Yum yum, nice soup."

My cousin loved this game. Every time she visited I had to perform Mr. Flannel. When her sister was born four years later, Mr. Flannel was introduced to her too.

I swear it wasn't my fault, the older one made me, and I'm too soft to say no. :)

Now, you'd think they would be embarrassed by this story, but they aren't. Even at seventeen and thirteen they still talk about the time I used to play Mr. Flannel with them.

And they smile.

And I smile. It made them happy, so I'm happy.

I never realised how a simple flannel and a bowl of "soup" water could create such a memory for two little girls. It was just something I did to stop them crying when my aunt washed their hair.

I guess it is the simple stories that stay with us.

*Mr. Flannel has since retired to a wonderful home for old flannels. But I'm sure his offspring will appear in the near future for my nieces.

Writing is like chocolate.

To create chocolate you need a delicate balance of ingredients. The chocolate artisan blends them together, forming them in a silky bar for consumption.

I love writing, and chocolate, so when I saw this advert I couldn't resist sharing it. So, in its yummy glory, I present 'The Chocolate Charmer.'



So why am I showing you a clip about some guy playing with his food?

Because the same can be said about writing.

As writers we are word charmers.

You take your ingredients - plots, scenes, language and characters - then blend them together. You heat them to temperature within your word program, and mould them into shape before the hungry reader devours.

We may not get as messy as Mr. Chocolate while we are creating (unless you discount the word count sweats, hair pulling revisions, and occasional screams when the computer freezes). But we get to enjoy the fruits of our labours when we've finished.

And, if we have any, a bar of chocolate.

There we go, two loves combined. Now where did I put my chocolate?

O.pin.ion.

Feedback and critiques. The soul-crushing or elevating remarks from the people you trust to tell it to you straight and help you shape your opus.

But what if one opinion feels a bit wide of the mark? If the beta misses the point or just doesn't really read the genre you write?

What if it is a little too scathing, and it makes you question yourself as a writer?

I was asked these points by a friend. As usual my over-fertile brain began thinking about opinions.

o·pin·ion   /əˈpɪnyən/ Show Spelled[uh-pin-yuhn]

–noun
1.a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.
2.a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.
3.the formal expression of a professional judgment: to ask for a second Medical opinion.
4.Law. the formal statement by a judge or court of the reasoning and the principles of law used in reaching a decision of a case.
5.a judgment or estimate of a person or thing with respect to character, merit, etc.: to forfeit someone's good opinion.
6.a favorable estimate; esteem: I haven't much of an opinion of him.
dictionarydefinition.com

Opinions are personal, we all get that. I like tomatoes, my friend doesn't. Her opinion is that they don't taste nice. I disagree. Do I change my opinion because she hates them? No, but I respect it.
It is the same with movies, books and the manuscript you have been working on for the last (insert timescale in months or years).

An opinion can shatter you to the core. Cause you endless worry and sleepless nights, even reconsider your MS. An opinion is a personal preference.

And I started to wonder about opinions. More specifically, how do we react when someones opinion differs to others?

Do we change our work to suit one person ? Or do we seek more input from beta readers and crit buddies?

Or even shelve the project?

With any feedback I try to be calm. I'm human though, so I feel sad when something I wrote hasn't done what I set out to achieve.

I like to evaluate the points. So I re-read, I think, I digest, and then decide what to do. I change something, usually, if more than one person comments on it. If I re-read it and think "Oh yeah, I missed that!" (*slaps forehead*) then I will tackle it again.

If it is something vital to the plot, maybe I didn't word it right. If that is the case then I can re-shape it.

If the day comes when my novel reaches an agent - gets me signed, and then gets published - will I read each review and rush back to my laptop? Will I change my book based on the opinion of the reviewer/reader?

Will I care that someone doesn't like a particular part or character? Scream out loud when they miss/skip an important sub-plot? Yes I'm human (and quite emotional at times. heehee). But I will have consulted the opinions open to me up to that point.

The CP and beta readers will have worked their magic. The revisions for Mr. or Ms. Agent and editor at the publishing house will be done.

My work will be done and I'd have set it free. There will be nothing more I can do.

However, I hope that -if the time comes- I will remember the definition of opinion, smile and return to writing my next novel.

And rinse and repeat the cycle yet again. :)

Babytalk.

Last night I babysat my goddaughter. Her mummy -being an amazing single mum -deserved a night off so the little one stayed over.

The spare bedroom is being emptied after my parents decorating frenzy (the whole house!). So she sleeps in her travel cot in my room.

Which means one thing. When she is up, she is the boss.

This cute fifteen-month-old thinks Auntie being awake means playtime.

Auntie being up means it's all about her. She smiles, bats her long lashes and holds up her arms for a cuddle. So, naturally, I have to obey. :)

At breakfast she sat in her chair, with her cereal, having a conversation with my dad. Her talking (as you would expect)is the odd familiar word, followed by mashed up baby talk.

But it got me thinking about words.

We spend the first few years of our lives learning words. We practice, write them down and read them over and over until we get them right.

My dad answered back by talking in a mix of ''real'' and baby words. And she kept talking, her face full of concentration and joy. She believed what she was telling him.

To her it made sense, even if I didn't understand. I knew then that sometimes it isn't the words we use, it's how we tell the story.

All we as writers need to do is harness that and repeat it on the page.