I'm Reading a Book!

You're reading.

You've gotten to that point in the book where the stakes are hold-your-breath-punch-you-in-the-nose fantastic and someone talks to you...

\

Thanks to Medeia Sharif for introducing me to the funny!

Happy Wednesday.

Will Write for Food

Writing is often like climbing a mountain. Think about the struggle to the summit of a difficult chapter. The joy of finishing a scene/chapter/edit. The odd down moments when things don't go right. Sometimes you need a little push via a place I call the motivation station.

What can be found in the motivation station? Anything you like. It's kind of a donkey trying to get to the carrot on a stick. In math terms: 

G (Goal) + W (Want) x D (Do) = R (Reward) 

But how do you figure out when to use this reward method? I'll have to admit I'm often (always) tempted to reward myself in random ways for very little. But I have a few levels: 

Level 3: Food. There is nothing like finishing that tricky chapter before allowing yourself to and indulge in a cookie treat.

Level 2: Relaxation. This is when I'm taking a break. This is for the times your eyeballs are ready to explode. Watch a movie. Take a bath. Whatever you like to do to relax is golden here. 

Level 1: New books/music. Now I know books are something to buy at anytime, but finishing a first draft/major revisions means a BIG reward. That reward, for me, is a book or a track off iTunes. This works in two ways:

1) I get inspiration from the music. 

2) Reading helps with my own writing.

I love writing, but there's something fun about reaching the end of a stage with something to look forward to. A completed MS is a wonderful thing (and the achievement that comes with it), but I've learnt it's the little things can help push me that little bit further.

How about you? How do you reward yourself for a major writing achievement?

The Frozen Guide to Ideas

I do love a GIF post. Seriously. I've got Van Der Queries here. And Buffy here. And a bit of Doctor Who here. Some Tangled. Let the tradition continue with the Frozen guide to ideas. 

The moment you wake up with a shiny new idea:

And you think:

The exhilaration of jotting down some basic plot points: 

Although it can be hard to see where the story is going: 

And you think:

So it's time for a break:

Sometimes a quick break is all you need to get back to feeling like this: 

Happy Wednesday.

A Writing Journey: The Hunger Games GIF Edition

With The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 being released very soon (November 20th in the UK and November 21st in the US), I decided I'd do a little GIF post

Those moments where fragile inspiration begins:

Where finding/developing a new story is precious:

Image via http://gifthg.tumblr.com/

When the progress of writing feels like:

To those moments where you push to keep going:

To the hard, often destructive, task of editing : 

Then making sure your book baby is the best it can be:

Celebrating the triumph of a completed manuscript:

And the moment you start the query journey:

With highs of success:

And the tough moments of doubt:

And there are times where your writing journey stalls. Times when the words won't flow. Where your creativity feels blocked. Some days are harder than others. Can you write today? Love of writing means  you open up that document and say: 

Image via http://gifthg.tumblr.com/

Because writing, telling stories, is what we do. And... : 

Image via giphy.com 

All images via http://gifthg.tumblr.com unless stated. 

Happy Wednesday.

It's All in the Details

Photo by Sylvia Duckworth (cc)

A spiders web begins with a frame. It works, creating the structure as it goes along, but it knows what will strengthen it is the detail.

It travels round and round. Spinning it's thread into the image it needs, but knowing the truth can't be seen until the end.

But it still works. Detail after detail. If it falters it doesn't give up. It rests and returns to work.

We spin our story in the knowledge that it could fall apart at any moment, but we work. We push on with the fine thread of our plot, layering it with the detail we need. Until the day we step back and, hopefully, reveal something beautiful.

The structure holds it together, but it's all in the details that catch the reader in our story webs.

The Thing about Inspiration...

... is this: 

                               Image from www.theoatmeal.com

Or is it just me?

Query Sushi

Since it's the Easter school holidays, I'm spending the day with my gorgeous niece (we're making Easter baskets and cards and Easter nests filled with chocolate eggs. Yum). Being rushed off my feet means I'm revisiting a post today. 

I love Sushi. There's always something yummy going around on the conveyor belt at Yo! Sushi.

For anyone who hasn't been before the idea is you sit in front of a conveyor belt and choose what you like from a selection of dishes. Each dish is colour/price coded. And you can order off a menu if you want something in particular.

(Image: Voucher Mum)

So I'm sat watching all the yummy dishes going round, waiting to be chosen and enjoyed, and I realised that this is the same as querying.

I imagine an agent is pretty much sat at the table looking at all these dishes going around. We know they have a huge number to choose from depending on their preferences, but they only have a short moment to make up their mind before they pass. What they choose could be different on any given day. 

Just like what you pick from the sushi bar.

Some days all you see are California roll/urban fantasy and you want Katsu curry/dystopian YA.

But the agent could still pick your California roll query out if it looks appetising.

The job of the chef/writer is to make our dish/query stand out from all the others on offer.

So next time that 'I'm afraid this isn't a good fit for me' email pings in your inbox it just means the agent wanted a different dish that day.

One day an agent will pick your yummy California Roll/query off the conveyor belt.

It's just a matter of appetite.

*No sushi was harmed during the writing of this post. It did make me hungry though. :)

Van Der Queries

It has been a while since I did a GIF post (see here and here). I've got some awesome GIFs I'm preparing for some future posts, but today (due to the evil of having a horrible cold) I'm revisiting the Gif glory that is the Van Der faces of queries.

You get an email from an agent you queried:

 

It's a form rejection:

It's a partial request:

 

 

It's a full request:

 

The wait is over. An email from the awesome agent lands in your e-mail. 

The form rejection:

:

The personalised rejection:

The "I'm not quite in love with this as much as I wanted to be, but send me your next project" face:

 

 

There's the "Can we arrange a time to talk" face:

 

And the "I'd love to offer you representation" face: 

 

 

Source: jamesvandermemes.tumblr.com

Any faces I've missed?

Creativity FTW!

I'm stepping away from a writing related post today to share something fun. 

I love the fact that there are so many talented, creative people who share their gifts on the internet for us to enjoy. You may have already seen this floating around the interwebs already, but I hope this brightens up your Wednesday. 

Source: Brian Hull, via YouTube

Happy Wednesday. 

In the Words of...

I was on the interwebs doing writing research...okay, I was procrastinating by looking at pictures of cats doing things. Like this:

Source: www.icanhascheezburger.com
But then I found some wonderful writing/storytelling tips that to share with you: 

Kurt Vonnegut:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

George Orwell:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which are used to seeing in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. (I’m charmed by his example: use “snapdragon,” not “antirrhinum.” Snapdragon is so much nicer.)

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Source: www.gretchenrubin.com

E. L. Doctorow:

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. 

Source: Suzanne Bates-Glover via Pinterest

Do you have any writing tips or quotes you'd like to share? Leave them in the comments. 

Happy Wednesday. 

An MS Isn't Just For Reading

Since I've sprained my ankle for the third time in two weeks (I really shouldn't be let out of the house), I decided I'd see what goodies were in my previous posts file to share with you all.

Congratulations. After many long hours, days, weeks, months (sometimes years) of doing this:

Image: Hyperbole and a Half

You have turned you bubbling mass of ideas into a book type thing. Okay, a book. 

Now what? 

Obviously you've let it simmer. You've edited it into submission. You've passed it around your critique group/beta readers/people who read your stuff. But what about those printed copies?  The ones with the red pen of doom scrawled across them that sit in an unloved pile? 

Fear not, I have some handy uses:

1) Got an annoying door that won't stay open? Use that MS as a literary doorstop. When people trip over it you can tell them it's your book. Instant conversation starter. 

2) Stand on it for extra height when talking to taller people. 

3) Want a unique focal point? Wallpaper. A room covered in your words = priceless.

4) Do your friends/family/co-workers pester you to read your book? Give them a birthday/Christmas treat by wrapping their present in your pages. Not only will it look chic, but they'll get a sneak peak of your writing. Two birds, one MS. 

5) Build a fort. Okay, it may be the first small brick, but the foundations are important. And a book fort would be pretty awesome... until it rains.

 

I'm off to ice my ankle (and elevate it on a few drafts of old manuscripts). Any more creative uses for hard copy manuscripts I've missed?

A few quick reminders:

 

Got a query you'd like some feedback on? Angelica announced another awesome Query Critique Contest on Monday. Want a chance to win some feedback on your query? Enter here.

 

You can also enter the Copper Girl blog tour giveaway here.

Letting The Story Rise

I love to do anything that involves making things. One of my favourite things, after writing, is baking.

It was while making bread that something struck me about the process of letting the dough rise. There's a brief amount of time where you have to take a step back to let the ingredients do their job before you can finish the loaf.

It's the same for writing.

The word mixture you've created needs time to rest. You need time to think about what you the final product to look like. We all know the importance of stepping back from your work. There might be lots of changes you know need making. Scenes that need trimming. That character who might seem a little bit flat.

Take a step back.

Spending time away from your story, even if it's just a day, can help you to see what work needs doing.

Do you let your manuscripts rest before edits?

A Blast From The OA Blog Past: The Doctor Who Stages of Rejection

Two of my favourite shows have returned to TV over the last few days:

1) Game of Thrones.
2) Doctor Who.

Since my brain exploded from the awesome, I popped into the Operation Awesome Tardis and found this little Doctor Who inspired post to, hopefully, bring you some Wednesday smiles.

The waiting is over. An email sits in your inbox holding a thousand promises:

You open it and read:

 

Was that a rejection? You read it again:

And the sadness rains down on you:

The hurt kicks in:

But you don't quit.

Rejection is part of the process.

No. You send out the next query:

 

Because next time it might be something that makes you do this:

Never give up.

Have FUN Writing! (with writing prompts)

There are a few things I always associate with FUN:

• Fridays
• Saturdays
• Parks and lakes
• Ice cream
• Yellow
• Balloons
• Bubbles

You'll notice something very important is missing from this non-inclusive list. 

WRITING!

But writing is fun, right?

Well, it usually is. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it always is... except when it isn't.

Times when writing isn't fun include: 

• writer's block
• December 1st, the day after NaNoWriMo
• post-accident/baby/surgery

All other times, though, writing is SOOOO much fun we're all just giggling manically, right? Maybe that's a bit of an overstatement. Last night, I wrote until 1:30am before I forced myself to synopsize the rest of the story in my head and go to bed... for the sake of the kids the next day. 

Why was I writing so long? I was having the time of my life. It is FUN to make up conversations and relationships and conflicts that only I can resolve. It is FUN to create a whole new world with made-up slang and rites of passage and...

Mmmm...

Oh yeah! Magic edible sparkles!

In fact, there's no job more fun than writing. 

So if you are writing today and you aren't having fun, take a step back and try one of these prompts instead:

1. You're a zoo animal the night before a planned zoo/prison break.
2. You're a socialite/social climber with a huge zit on a prominent body part the night of your engagement party to the man or woman of your dreams.
3. You're a five-year-old child in a war-torn town.
4. You're Scooby-Doo.
5. You're a 7-foot tall man who's falling for his English tutor. 
6. You're the last pickle in the jar.
7. You're a dynamite performer of the charisma level of Elvis and Justin Bieber all wrapped into one, and your stage just collapsed with you and all your favorite people on it.
8. You're Castle meets Veronica Mars meets Doctor Who.
9. You're a five-time mixed martial arts champion with a sprained toe going into the last fight of your career. 
10. You're a small town CPA who starts an a cappella group in the basement of your professional tax preparation office.

Also, see the Writing Prompts tumblr page (not mine, but so awesome) for more inspiration.

WriteOnCon Fanboy: An Interview With Ryan Lochte

After hearing about WriteOnCon, a free online writing conference kicking off tomorrow, Olympic medalist/ swimmer Ryan Lochte invited correspondent Amparo Ortiz to London for an exclusive interview. 

Amparo: "Thank you so much for having me, Ryan. How are you today?"

Ryan: "First of all, let me say a quick hi to my fans."

Amparo: *waits for Ryan to stop*

Ryan: 




Amparo: "Um, Ryan? Sorry to interrupt, but-"

Ryan: "Wait, I missed a spot."




Amparo: *lunges at Ryan* *sits him down* "Okay. Now that you got that out of the way, let's discuss a topic near and dear to your heart."

Ryan: *nods* "My grill."

Amparo: *closes eyes* "No, no. Not that. I was referring to what you invited me here for."

Ryan: *nods* "To show you my abs." *starts to lift shirt*

Amparo: *opens eyes* "NO! Ryan! Keep it together! We're here to discuss WriteOnCon, remember?"

Ryan: *lets go of shirt* "Oh, jeah! Sorry. I distract myself all the time."

Amparo: *cringes at the substitution of 'y' for a 'j' in the word 'yeah'* "So. WriteOnCon. I understand you're a secret fanboy."

Ryan: "Jeah. WriteOnCon is, like, the best. I love it 'cause it's about writers giving back to other writers. It's free, too, and you know me, Amparo. If it's free, I'm, like, totally there."

Amparo: "Yes, I can see why something free would appeal to you. But I'm sure our readers at Operation Awesome want to know: why is Ryan Lochte so invested in the writing community?"

Ryan: "Well, it's pretty simple. I wear these sick glasses..."

"...and they make me look, like, really smart and stuff. Then one day, I realized writers wear glasses, too, you know."

Amparo: *blinks* "Not all of them wear-"

Ryan: "And they look really cool with them on. Then another day, I realized that not only do writers wear glasses and look cool, but they also, like, spend a long time writing."

Amparo: "Yes, that's why they're called writers, Ryan."

Ryan: "Exactly! So then some other day after that, I realized writers wear glasses, look cool wearing them, they write a lot, and they sweat, you know. Like, not like I sweat 'cause I swim all day and stuff. But writers? They work really, really hard. As an athlete, all I know is hard work.  But I also only know what success is like if I get a medal, or beat my best time. Those writers who attend WriteOnCon? They taste success in all sorts of ways: finding the courage to post their work in a public forum, striking a connection with a potential critique partner, learning valuable tips about their craft, getting positive feedback on their query/first 5 pages/synopsis, and requests from ninja agents/editors. WriteOnCon is more than a free online conference. It's a slice of success after all that hard work. Sure, there's more hard work after the conference is over, but at least writers can have some fun before going back to sweating." 

Amparo: *drops jaw* "Wow, Ryan. That was really deep and lovely and-"

Ryan: "OH MY GOD I HAVEN'T SHOWN YOU MY SICK DANCE MOVES YET"

Amparo: *runs away forever*

*I'd like to thank Ryan Lochte for his time, despite him chasing after me in his Speedo while singing the Bad Boys theme song with his grill on. I am currently accepting donations for therapy. 

**Don't forget: WriteOnCon starts TOMORROW! Make Ryan Lochte happy and check it out. 

***This exclusive interview is a figment of my vivid, oftentimes disturbed imagination. No Ryan Lochtes were interviewed or harmed during the making of this post. :)