Relocated!

Another "re" to talk about...RElocated! I have officially moved all my blogging activity over to my site at renaolsen.com! I have loved Blogger, and will continue to use it for my personal blog, but my writing blog and news will all be at my new domain. If you haven't been over there, you're already missing out on some fun posts :) Let's go now! Click me.

Not my favorite "re"

Refreshed...renewed...rejuvenated...relaxed... Rejected. Well, folks, I'm in the midst of a querying storm, and you know what that means. Lots of rejections. It's really difficult sometimes not to feel defeated when that "Dear Author" email shows up in the ol' inbox. When I see I have a new email, I seriously cringe, and peek through one eye as I click to open it. The new gmail setup makes it worse, because it only says I have a new email if it's a *real* email, not something from Facebook or one of my millions of promotional emails (who signed me up for all that crap, seriously?). 

I do my best to maintain a positive attitude. I remember Sylvia Plath's words, "I love my rejection slips. They show me I try." Sometimes it takes a lot of reminders from my support system. Reminders that rejection is part of it, that I have an amazing book to sell, and that it will happen for me someday. I like reading about authors who were rejected many times before finding the right agent/publisher for their work, and I remind myself of that a lot.

Perhaps I just need to make the rejections more fun. I considered printing them out and rolling around on them, but, you know, paper cuts. So instead I found this little gem:

Hang in there with me, friends. It's all a part of the process, right? Now please excuse me while I go buy some more chocolate...

PS: This blog was originally posted on my new website, renaolsen.com! Check it out there!

Facebook official?

Yesterday I did something I had hesitated to do for a while. I started a Facebook fan page for my writing. I had hesitated because it seems really...what's the word...presumptuous? I mean, I'm not published. I have two completed novels, but so do a lot of people. I don't even have an agent yet.

But there's that word. Yet. I have to believe that it will happen, and when it does, I want to be prepared with a social media presence. For practical purposes as well, it's nice to have a separate place to talk about writing and my projects more, since I do have people asking me what's going on.

I already have a respectable number of "fans," since my friends and family are awesome, but I have definitely already gotten the response that I anticipated, and which kept me from doing this for a long time. I was making conversation with a friend and mentioned it, and she laughed and said, "Yeah, I saw that," and kind of rolled her eyes. What? Really? I'm not asking people to be my fans because of my pure awesomeness (although perhaps I should start a page for that too). I'm asking for support in my pursuit of a dream. And that's nothing to roll an eye at.

In general, the response has been positive, and people are excited for me. That is what I'm focusing on. That is what I will remember when my dreams come true. I am so incredibly blessed in my life. I refuse to allow the doubters, those who be condescending towards me, to dampen my spirits and my optimism about the future.

So thanks to all my wonderful friends and family who are faithfully following me, and to those who may not even know me personally, but have stumbled upon my words. Thanks for letting me be optimistic and confident and, yes, maybe even a little presumptuous at times. And for loving me and following me through it all :)

Oh yeah! And if you haven't visited yet, you can find me on Facebook HERE. 

Shipping?

I have recently noticed a new word popping up in the YA galaxy. "Shipping." Now, I realize this is not a new word, and, in fact, has been used for centuries. But...not in the same way. Maybe I am giving away my novice status here, but my best guess at a definition for this new form of "shipping" is wishing for characters in a book to get together. So if Bobby, Sally, and Jimmy are in a book, and you "ship" Sally and Jimmy, it means you want them in a relationship, and not Bobby and Sally (or Bobby and Jimmy, as the case may be).

I was reading through my Twitter feed one day and someone had asked an author if she "ships" her own characters. (I can't stop putting it in quotes...talking about shipping people just doesn't sound legal!) This author said that no, she doesn't "ship" her own characters, because it's a different sort of point of view when you are creating them. Since I was still caught up in trying to figure out why people were sending characters by mail, I kind of brushed off this answer until recently.

I was having a conversation yesterday with a friend who just finished my book. She read it in a day, and has already threatened my life if I don't continue the series. After securing a restraining order, I was thinking about the reaction that my book has garnered among friends and family thus far. It has all been positive (friends and family are fabulous at being supportive!), but in many case emotionally so. These people are totally invested in these characters I have created. They want to see things work out, and they have a need to see what happens next. They talk about them as if they are real people...

...which is exactly what I was going for. My plan is complete! Now everyone else is as crazy as me, and we can talk about the characters that sprang forth from my brain meat and into my story as if they are real, because THEY ARE.

But seriously, I was talking to this friend, and I realized that people who have read my book have in some ways become even more invested in these characters than I am. No, that's not exactly what I mean. I am invested, but I also have control. (Sort of. Characters can be wily.) So while they are stuck with whatever I choose to put on the page, I can visit with my characters whenever I please. Go hang out in a haloscape with Eden, or check in to see how Kalon is. They are belong to me. ;)

So, to make my point, I agree with that author. I don't "ship" my own characters, because I create them, and I create their relation"ships" in the stories, even if it sometimes seems that they have a life of their own. But it makes me enormously happy when other people "ship" my characters, because it means I've made them believable enough for a reader to have an opinion one way or the other.

And it also means that I can really mess with them...

And the winner is...

...not me.

Ha! Fooled ya!

I'm pretty sure in my last entry I talked about a contest I was entering. I can't be sure that was my last entry, and at this point I'm entirely too lazy to go and check, so work with me here, k? So this contest was one I had been planning on entering for months. I wanted to have my book finished and polished by the time I entered, because CLEARLY this was THE ONE that was going to lead me to my agent and a book deal and publication and possibly a hot tub. With jello. Not a hot tub full of jello. A hot tub in which jello could be eaten. From a bowl. With a spoon. Or a fork, if you're weird.

Wow, that derailed rather quickly.

Soooo, the contest didn't turn out exactly how I had planned. I prepared for the blog pitch, my 35 delicious word morsels to whet the appetite of any avid reader. Surely it would stand out enough to be in the top 50. Well. Not so much. They even expanded to the top 56, and still no dice. I think there were upwards of 300 entries though. I tell myself I was number 57. If you know better, don't tell me. Let me just...imagine. Anyway.

Last Friday was the Twitter pitch party. And boy, did I warm up my thumbs for that one. I had to work, but every break I got I was on that phone. I had some saved pitches I had worked on, and made some up when Twitter stopped letting me use the same ones. (Please, I was not spamming, Twitter. Have a heart!) I pitched and I pitched and I retweeted for others and I pitched some more. Two times an hour from 8am until almost 6pm. And...

Nada. Zero. Goosegg.

Well, that's not true. A couple likes from other writers, some retweets, and a few new followers. Made some good connections, which I love. So I don't consider it a waste. Not at all.

It would have been easy to feel super defeated after all of that. I was texting with a writer friend and she was definitely feeling the defeat, the hopelessness, the fatigue. And I really was too. I had thankfully already made dinner plans, otherwise I thought it would have been a lovely evening to stay home and mope.

But I didn't. And I worked during the weekend to write the evil synopsis. And researched agents. And lamented over the fact that they are all looking for something different in a submission. And then pushed up my sleeves and began preparing individual queries for each agent I was hoping to query. And I sent out some queries. And now I wait. And while I wait, I will work. Work on researching more agents in case it's a 'nah' from all the ones I sent out. Work on my next project. Work on things unrelated to writing, because we all need a break from time to time.

And hope.

To make a long story short.

In my last post I mentioned that I really suck at summarizing things, which can make conversations with people about writing very awkward. (Sidenote...when I was talking about how people react when I say I write, I wasn't talking about ALL people. I looove talking about writing, and as long as someone is genuinely curious and respectful about it, I don't mind whatever questions come out!)

ANYWAY.

Back to summarizing. Keeping things succinct is not my gift. I don't write short stories. It's a skill that I am working on, but I need a lot more practice. Unfortunately, when I'm doing things like entering Twitter pitch contests or writing a query letter, not having that skill can really damage my chances. Because, clearly, ALL of my story is important. So then I think I should cut NOTHING or EVERYTHING. And it ends up like this:

Eden is cool. She lives Underground. Then some bad stuff happens. Kalon.

Descriptive, right?

This is the problem I have run into with a contest I am entering tomorrow. PitchMAS. I had to work my pitch into 35 words. This is the first contest I will be trying with this book. I'm nervous, although the worst that can happen is that it doesn't get picked. Then I just work on querying.

The thing is, I know this is a good book. I have had some great feedback, from people who know me well and would tell me they love it regardless of its actual quality, but also from those who don't know me as well, and/or would tell me the blunt truth even if they hated it. I also realize that anyone who knows me is also able to read into the personality behind the words. I only hope that that personality comes across to others as well, and that they enjoy it as much as my beta readers have!

I had a panic moment earlier today, because I am at a family reunion at a Presbyterian camp (I worked here 10 years ago...that is just insane!) and I wasn't sure I was going to have internet access to enter the contest tomorrow! I was already making plans to go creep in the Perkins parking lot, and even buy a slice of pie inside if need be. But, clearly, it's working just fine. A wee bit slow, but working! Hopefully still will be tomorrow too ;)

Wish me luck!

People say the darndest things

Sometimes I think people don't think before they speak. Okay. Strike that "sometimes." People in general just speak what's on their mind before considering it and deciding whether it's a) logical or b) insulting/condescending.

I have found this to be especially true when it comes to the way people react when I talk about writing. Here's how that conversation usually goes:

Them: So you like to write? What do you write?
Me: Well, I've completed two novels.
Them: Oh! Are they, like, published?
Me: ...no...
Them: *sympathetic nod* So, like, how long are they?
Me: Well, you know, novel-length. 300-350 pages
Them: *shocked face* Really? They're like, real books?
Me: ...yes...
Them: So what are they about?

Okay, we'll get to the "what are they about" question later, but for now, let's focus on the first part of the conversation. (Also, please don't judge that bitty conversation as a sample of my ability to write dialogue...I swear I'm better than that!) Seriously, though, 95% of the people with whom I talk about my writing ask the publishing question first, then get this condescending, sympathetic look on their face when I tell them, no, I'm not actually published. Yet. As if being a writer is dependent upon getting published. As if publishing legitimizes the writing. Lies. I am a writer, dammit!

Whew. Got a little worked up there. Anyway.

The other thing that happens a good portion of the time is this response: "I have thought about writing a book." or "I started a book once." or "If I had time, I have so many great ideas for books I would write!" Now, I'm not trying to be that condescending, sympathetic person when people say this to me. In fact, I would love to have more writing buddies! But the way people say it...as if it's not that hard if you have the time or the ideas. I truly believe that many people could be writers. But in order to be a writer, you must actually write. Even if you are writing badly.

One time, in one of my many toe dips into online dating (those are a story for another time...), this guy approached me (in the internet sense) by telling me that he was also a writer. I had not yet learned to be leery of such claims, so I enthusiastically responded, asking about what he wrote and how long he'd been writing, and any number of other cliche writing questions. His response? "I wrote like a page about a year ago." Okay. Cool. We all work at a different pace. It took me three years to finish my first novel. So I asked what he wrote about. "Horror." Awesome. Different genre than I'm used to, but there are plenty of amazing horror novels out there that leave me rocking in the corner after throwing the book in the freezer because the characters can't hurt me from there. So how did he become interested in writing horror? "I work at Dairy Queen, and I thought of a lot of ways people could die."

Hm.

So here's the point in all this babble. Writing is easy. Anyone can write. People compose Facebook statuses by the millions every day. But Writing (capital W, which I realize is hard to compare since I had to use a capital to start the sentence about writing [small w]) is hard. Really hard. Like birthing a child (or so I've heard), but over months of time. Serious Writing takes dedication and drive and a certain degree of masochism. But serious writers cannot help themselves.

Honestly, a couple years ago, even in the midst of writing my first novel, I wouldn't have called myself a writer. But now, that's exactly what I am. Among other things, of course. I have always written. Now I Write.

In the end though, no one can tell you if you're a writer or not. You know if you are. And you don't have to listen to anyone else tell you otherwise. Because you're a writer, dammit. Just like me.

(Sidenote: Does the word "write" look strange to anyone else now?)