How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

I'm in the midst of some major revisions on The Book at the moment, and let me tell you, there is nothing more amazing than going back through something you wrote and seeing how it all hangs together. Seriously, there are times when I'm looking at The Book and thinking to myself "I cannot believe that I, Jay, put this together!" Of course, then you change one teeny thing and BAM! the whole structure falls apart. Revision, my friends, is like a sweater. Pull on one thread and a whole bunch of other stuff unravels and the next thing you know a sleeve falls off and now you don't have a sweater, but an asymmetrical sweater vest, which who wants that, you know? No one, that's who. Because this is a major revision, I'm doing it on paper. I know it's ridiculously old school of me to have printed out all 265 pages of my manuscript and be marking it up by hand, but I find it much faster than doing revisions on computer for two reasons: 1. when you're ...

Over at Fangs, Fur & Fey, they've got a great topic of the week: Five Signs a Book Was Written By You.* Here are mine: 1. One of the boys has a girl name . :) Or, if not, know that one of the boys did have a girl name until my readers told me to "just change it already, Jay. Jesus!" 2. The main character will be the oldest child or an only child. I may branch out at some point, but this is true of all of the stories I'm working on right now. 3. At least one of the male love interests will be tall. Tall is good. :) 4. No one will save the world. Something may get saved at some point, like a house, or a cat, or mybe even a whole town , but the world? No. No way. 5. The mother will be scary. Scary mean, scary smart, scary talented, scary hot...or just plain scary. ~~~ * If you read that blog, you might have already seen this entry, since I cross-posted over there.

Last week, agent Nathan Bransford mentioned that he is considering disabling anonymous comments on his blog as a result of a couple of trolls who are making inappropriate comments. The response was heated, to say the least. Now, of course, Nathan can do whatever he likes on his own blog. Plus, Nathan has a day job that doesn't involve moderating the hundreds of blog comments to make sure they're all appropriate every single day. Who has the time, right? So whatever he wants to do over there is his business. I'll still read the blog, regardless of what Nathan decides about anonymous comments, because it's entertaining and useful, a win/win of blogs, if you will. But I don't think I'll be posting over there anymore.* Why not? Not because I'm some ideologue who assumes that she has the right to say whatever she wants wherever she wants. (I don't.) Not because I'm "taking a stand" against the banning of anonymous comments. It's Nath...

1. This song, "Fireflies" by Ocean City, is just...magical. Sometimes electronica sounds harsh and cold, but this song demonstrates that it can also be charming and whimsical and heartfelt.* Take a listen: 2. Does anyone watch Heroes anymore? Because I don't. 3. I have over 60 pairs of shoes. I know this because this weekend I bought 60 lucite shoe boxes at Target to get a handle on organizing my closet and I have filled all the boxes and there are still shoes left. And that doesn't include the tennis shoes and boots that are too big to fit in normal shoe boxes. 4. I hope that this article in the Washington Post isn't true, but it probably is. I think it's sad that people might not have handwriting in the near future. Sure, typing is much more important in this modern day and age, but the ability to write a letter in something besides block print is a sign of a civilized person, I think. 5. I had a breakthrough on a story that I'm not even wo...

Jessica, over at the Bookends blog, has a post about the crazy hours of an agent and she wants to know: I’m wondering if your day jobs also require you to work weekends and nights, because in my experience in publishing, as an editor and agent, it’s not an option. And if you are required to work nights and weekends in addition to 9 to 5, how do you possibly find time to write on top of that? HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm not laughing at Jessica's question; I'm laughing at the thought that a lawyer might work 9 to 5. Sure, I know some lawyers do it, but you know what they call those lawyers? PART-TIME. I'm not even kidding. When I worked at a law firm, my standard work week was 10 hours a day, Monday through Friday, plus at least half a day on Saturdays. And that didn't count any important work that came up on weekends or evenings or big projects that were going on. For example, one month we had a major case going on and I worked almost 320 hours that month. Working 9 to 5...

The most important thing in fiction writing is a compelling story. There are a number of ways to achieve that--character, plot, writing, etc--but it's the most important thing. And no one can tell you how to do it. Seriously. No class, no workshop, no blog by any agent (no matter how awesome) can make your writing compelling to others. It is, or it isn't. Period. But what those other things can do is help you avoid mistakes that everyone makes when they aren't thinking. J.A. Konrath judged a short story contest back in June, and he's got some guidelines about how not to write a story . His list is all examples of things that writers do that slow a story down or make it feel like every other story out there. Prologues, dreams, a character waking up, weather...all things that happen over and over and over again, and are almost never a good idea. My favorite? "Do Not Start A Story With A Setting Description." The funny thing about this edict is that one ...

As you know if you've read any of this blog before, I am basically a fourteen year old girl. And because I am basically a fourteen year old girl, on Sunday, I watched the Video Music Awards on Mtv. They were fine. The live performances were great this year actually,* and the awards don't really matter. They're VMAs--aka just an excuse for Mtv to showcase a bunch of popular artists. But apparently no one told that to Kanye West because when Taylor Swift won the VMA for Best Female Video**, this happened: Yep, you saw that right. Kanye West got mad that Beyonce didn't win*** and got up on stage and told everyone, basically, that Taylor Swift didn't deserve her VMA. During Taylor's acceptance speech. And look at Taylor Swift when she realizes what he's saying. She's stunned. And so is Beyonce. So that's my rule: Don't Be Kanye. Or, in more general terms: don't be the person who has to rain on other people's parades even if, in you...