Thursday's Children 12/6/12

Agents Are People Too

As you may recall, last week I shared a bit about a phone call I had with an Agent-Person. 

Things didn't go exactly as I expected.

Having unintentionally misled her about my inspiration for TENDRIL gave me  this kind of feeling...

So, I emailed her and told her that I'd actually been inspired by my love of old cemeteries. 

Here's a photo of Hope Cemetery in the town next to mine. I walk here a lot.

Well, guess what? 

She adores old graveyards, lives near a fairly famous one, AND one of the things that initially appealed to her most about my book was the whole cemetery aspect. 

She even promised to take me to that well-known graveyard if I'm ever visiting. 

I would LOVE that. Here's a photo of it below.

Now because my week wouldn't be complete without an awkward moment, here's my second story. 

Agent-Person #2 had asked for a full a couple of weeks earlier. 

After Agent-Person #1 and I had our chat, I thought perhaps it was time to "nudge" a little.

It's always a good idea to have as many options as possible, just in case things don't go according to plan. My experience is certainly that they RARELY go according to plan.

So I dashed off an email saying that while I didn't have an offer, 

I definitely had an indication of strong interest... 

and when might TENDRIL reach the top of Agent-Person #2's To-Be-Read Pile? 

Then about an hour later, while I was doing this on Twitter... 

I saw that Agent-Person #2's child was having surgery.

Which led to this kind of feeling.

Until I discovered I'd gotten an auto-response. 

Her query email was turned off because she's closed to queries until next year.

 (That email was the one I'd used because it was the only one I could find). 

So then, I was like...

A couple of hours later she emailed me (because she had read my email after all). 

She asked how long she had. I emailed back to let her know-while at the same time apologizing for my crappy timing, and sending wishes for her child's speedy recovery. 

She wrote back and told me not to worry,

 if she hadn't wanted to look at email, she wouldn't have.

Remember that agents get inspired too, and having shared inspirations might even be what brings you and your eventual agent together. 

Oh, and remembert that they are real people with their own problems. 

And of course-remember to join the Thursday's Children Blog Hop! 

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Thursday's Children 11/28/12

Perils of Querying

As some of you know, I've been querying TENDRIL. I was trying to approach the whole process cautiously and scientifically. By that I mean entering pitch contests to get feedback and help on my query, querying in batches, testing the waters with various incarnations of my query letter, and not blanketing AgentLand all at once with a desperate cry for representation. 

Rather unexpectedly I got a request from an agent for a phone call.

I can't go into details, and this isn't a THE CALL post. Though, I would LOVE to be doing one of those...

This is more about a deer in the headlights experience.

Based on her email, I thought we would be discussing her suggested revisions-and we did. 

I hoped she would tell me what she liked about TENDRIL-and she did.

I was worried that I would have technical difficulties using Skype-which I didn't.

I was worried that I would involuntarily start imitating her accent, because I sometimes do that when I'm talking to someone whose accent isn't like mine-but I didn't, THANK GOD.

Unfortunately I was not prepared for her to ask me why I queried her specifically. 

I mean, I had reasons, but  I didn't explain them eloquently. AT ALL. It was more like...

"Um, well, I saw you on Twitter. And then I went to your site. And your bio said stuff that seemed as though TENDRIL would be right up your alley..." 

See what I mean? Sounds more like a lame Match.com convo.

Perhaps even more tragically, I was not expecting her to ask me how I came to write the story, what INSPIRED me (here's the tie in to Thursday's Children) to write it. 

I, who have been spending nearly a dozen Thursdays rambling about inspiration, drew a complete and utter blank. Damn pathetic.

What I came up with was something along these lines...

"Uh, er, I have always liked fairy tales, and I liked the movie Tangled a lot, but of course because I wanted to write for a YA audience, and not copy anyone else's work, I had to make it different. So, uh, I..." 

Well, I'll spare you the rest. It was lame. And not even true. Because what really inspired TENDRIL was my love of old cemeteries. That's what got me started. Thinking about a girl who discovered she could communicate with the lost souls in a graveyard. I didn't even realize I was writing a retelling until I was a good halfway through the first draft.

Hopefully you've gotten a laugh at my expense, and if an agent wants to discuss revisions with you, bear in mind that he/she might also want to discuss INSPIRATION and other matters. 

Thankfully for me she was still expressing interest by the end of our chat.

If it all ends up going nowhere, at least I'll be ready next time. 

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Thursday's Children 10/18/12 Get Back on the Horse

Taking a leaf out of my friend Kristina Perez's inspriation "book", I decided to share my sports and writing analogy this week.

When I was a teenager I had a horse. His name was Kerry. Technically he was a pony (by one quarter of an inch) and his pony blood was definitely evident - ponies are known for being smarter than horses, and for having more highly developed senses of humor.
With Kerry this took various forms:

 1. Being the stable Houdini (one time he not only got himself out of the stall, but also his pony girlfriend Strawberry, one of them took the barn phone off the hook, they had a snack out of the grain bin, and then at 2 in the morning began galloping around the driveway).
2. Ambushing unsuspecting stablehands by digging a monstrous hole in the floor of his stall and then covering it with hay, so that they fell in.
3. Going under, over, and through pasture fences. Or standing in the middle of the pond, so he could only be caught if you were willing to get very wet.
4. And most importantly, teaching me first, to get back on after a fall, and two, how not to get thrown in the first place. He specialized in bucking.

Here's a picture of us together, at a dressage show. A looong time ago.

For your amusement here are some videos of riders getting tossed at horse shows.

BTDT.

Apparently I once did a cartwheel in the air when Kerry stopped short at a jump and I kept going.

I landed on the other side, on my feet, still holding the reins.

Unfortunately my mother didn't have a video camera.

Unintentional Flying Dismounts

So, about falling...
The very first time is nothing less than SHOCKING. One minute you're in the saddle, seemingly in control of the situation, and then something happens (a buck, a rear, a startle, a stumble, a sudden stop). Momentum, gravity, and your not so trusty steed, are no longer your friends.

BLAM!

Frequently the breath gets knocked out of you. Sometimes you get really hurt. If you're lucky neither you, nor your horse, sustain any serious injuries.
Falling or being thrown is scary, sometimes painful and bruising, both to your body and your ego.
Kind of like sending out queries or manuscripts and having them rejected.
With riding, assuming both you and your horse are okay, the thing you must do is, of course, get back on the horse. That's also scary. You have to dust yourself off, check your tack, mount up, and not let your horse sense your nerves.

Above all, you must not give up.
Not if you love it.
Not if you want to get better at it.
Good enough that some day the same situation will arise, and you won't get thrown.

I have two daughters. They both wanted to ride.
The older one got thrown her fifth time on a horse. She refused to get back on. But you know what? She didn't love riding. She loves cheering. She's a flyer, which takes skill and courage and trusting her stunt group. She's fallen many times, and gotten hurt. She gets back up. Because she loves it.
My younger daughter has fallen only once, at a trot. I was jogging right beside her and actually caught her as she slid off. I've told her that if she keeps riding, she will fall. All riders do. If she loves riding, she'll get back on.
If you love writing, keep doing it. No matter how many rejections you get. Someday you'll make it.

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Thursday's Children 9/20/12 - Cornstalks & Coptic Bombshells

Welcome to our weekly inspiration-sharing post Thursday's Children. 

Writing, being published, it's all part of the journey, and most of us have far to go.  Hopefully keeping each other company and sharing our inspirations will make the trip more fun, if not any shorter. 

We hope next week you'll join Thursday's Children with your own inspirational post.

Generally I have to chain my muse to something - an image, an idea, a song - before she'll start actually working on my behalf.

My muse doesn't know quite what to make of this week's "somethings".  Can't say I really blame her...



Cornstalks - Up Close and Personal



What's with the cornstalks?  Well, cornstalk mazes are creepy - I've already written one into my book UNQUIET SOULS. 
And I'm not the only one inspired by corn - there's that other "Maine-ah" (that would be "Mainer" for those of you who don't live here) Stephen King.  He knows a few things about cornfields too.

I took these photos while we were at an orchard picking apples.  The one on the left inspires me to paint (but I have no time for that).  The one below inspires me to write a story about cornstalks that come to life after dark.  I can tell you right now they'll be up to no good.

Qoute of the Week - "The world is not really crawling with crooked papyrologists"

- Roger Bagnall, regarding the possibility of a Mrs. Jesus Christ.

 

A business card-sized bit of papyrus from the second century might

turn Christianity on its ear. 

I've used an heirloom diary in one of my books, but now I'm thinking

smaller, older, secret code or defunt language...

Somebody will definitely be writing a book about the scrap below, just not me -

Kristina, how about you?

And speaking of my partner in crime, here's a link to her blog. 
This week's post is titled Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You

Kristina Perez



Favorite Authors - George S. MacDonald

Two books I loved as a child were THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN and THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE by George S. MacDonald (1824-1880).

I didn't know, until the other day, that MacDonald was C. S. Lewis's mentor (thanks Denise!)

Turns out he also was a major influence on Tolkein, Auden, L'Engle, Carroll and even Twain.  Guess I'm in good company!

Socially he hobnobbed with Thackeray, Dickens, Tennyson, Wilkie Collins, Longfellow, Whitman - well, really anybody who was anybody in those days.



Looks a bit like Rasputin - eek!

 About THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN, G. K. Chesteron said it "made a difference to my whole existence."

The books we had were early editions that had been in our family for ages.  I adored the beautiful evocative illustrations as much as the words. The stories involved a race of goblins who lived underground where they plotted to abduct the child Princess Irene and marry her to the goblin prince.  The mastermind behind the scheme was Prince Harelip's mother, the Queen, whose feet sported toes, unlike the other goblins.  She took great pains to hide her "deformed" feet from the other goblins, she probably feared they'd turn on her, I don't really remember much about her motivation as a character.  I do remember that the goblins had extremely hard heads, to hurt them Curdie had to aim his miner's pick at their feet instead. Curdie and Princess Irene's goddess-like great great grandmother ultimately saved the day. 

These stories inspired certain aspects of my novel TENDRIL.



Young Princess Irene & her Great Great Grandmother



Older Princess Irene with Curdie



What author from your own childhood inspired you?

I Know There's A Story (or two) Here

Yahoo! is chock-a-block full of inspiration this morning.  Which news tidbit (technically I think it's supposed to be "titbit" but I just can't bring myself to say that, even in print) do you think makes the best story idea?  Tell me which one inspires you in Comments.

1.  Moths and bleeding canker are destroying the stately elms of Europe (this includes the ones at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, see a photo of me there on the Tendril post).  Sick trees are toppling over on unsuspecting motorists.  I don't know about you, but the words "bleeding canker" get my creative juices flowing...

2.  Giant earthworm takes over backyard.  How's that for a picture book idea?  My backyard is currently being taken over by toadstools.  It's very 1970s retro looking at the moment.  All I need now are a couple of frogs and an owl or two.

 

3.  Exploding stars are carving out "gas cavities" in other galaxies.  Alright, I'm NOT a sci-fi writer and every time my family watches Star Wars I go hide in my office, but if I WERE a sci-fi buff this would hook me in a nanosecond, or at warp speed, or whatever.

4.  Seven year old girl surives the bubonic plague.  Fine, I will confess that at one point during my teen years I was unhealthily obsessed with reading about the bubonic plague.  The Black Death.  Who wouldn't want to learn more about something called that?  Anyway, I'm glad she survived, it's a horrible way to go.

5.  Kim Kardashian's body insecurities.  Good God, no.  But how about "Snooki and the Black Death"?  Isn't that a snappy title for a kids' book?  Sorry, I'm getting obsessed again.  Jeesh.

6.  Trees eating man-made things, like signs.  There was an even better photo on a site called satanslaundromat dot com, but I'm afraid to ask permission to use "his" photo.  But I might have to go see why Satan needs a laundromat.  Although now that I think of it, laundromats generally are rather Hellish, so maybe all laundromats belong to Satan.  Who knew?