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Romance, zombies, angst, fantasy, social issues, dystopia, history…we have it all!

21st-century Marketing

I opened the door Saturday morning to a packet on the doorstep from my publisher. As I opened the packet, at first I was excited—there was the spring catalog with my book in it! As I read the accompanying letter, though, I drooped.

 In addition to having a website (which I had paid someone to do because I couldn't get past the first paragraph in the book which claimed even Dummies could do it) and a blog (which I did do myself, and it looks like it – can't figure out how to put pictures on or reformat my entries which look fine on Word and sprawl messily when they post) the publisher suggested that I Tweet and use Facebook. I have strongly resisted the latter two.  I don't even have a cell phone. If 18^th-century people survived waiting six months waiting for a reply to a letter to family in  England, why do I need a cell phone?  I don't want to go back to the Jane Austen pre-word processing days and learn to sharpen quill pens, but uff da!   

     I see more and more references to Facebook, though. Sometimes I can't even get where I want to go without Google and Facebook accounts. I feel like a whiny kid: "Do I hafta?"  Maybe I do.

 
 

 
 

21st-century Marketing

I opened the door Saturday morning to a packet on the doorstep from my publisher. As I opened the packet, at first I was excited—there was the spring catalog with my book in it! As I read the accompanying letter, though, I drooped.

 In addition to having a website (which I had paid someone to do because I couldn't get past the first paragraph in the book which claimed even Dummies could do it) and a blog (which I did do myself, and it looks like it – can't figure out how to put pictures on or reformat my entries which look fine on Word and sprawl messily when they post) the publisher suggested that I Tweet and use Facebook. I have strongly resisted the latter two.  I don't even have a cell phone. If 18^th-century people survived waiting six months waiting for a reply to a letter to family in  England, why do I need a cell phone?  I don't want to go back to the Jane Austen pre-word processing days and learn to sharpen quill pens, but uff da!   

     I see more and more references to Facebook, though. Sometimes I can't even get where I want to go without Google and Facebook accounts. I feel like a whiny kid: "Do I hafta?"  Maybe I do.

 
 

 
 

The Class of 2k11

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I didn't forget The Class of 2k11 when I was writing about friends. This group has become such a big part of my life that it deserved a blog of its own. The other eighteen members (all debut middle grade and young adult authors) have become the best friends I've never met. I'll write more about them later, but today I don't want to dilute this message with too much rambling. Just look us up and sign on!

 

Why I need my friends; or, Milwaukee is not Minneapolis

Jane Austen wrote with a quill dipped in ink and no critique group, but she was a genius. I get by with a lot of help from my friends. Since Clarion won't want five-pages of acknowledgments in my book, I would like to thank some of those helpers and friends this morning:

 

All the editors who rejected my manuscript (with varying degrees of diplomacy) when it wasn't ready. I'll have to make sure someone burns all those old versions before I die, but in the meantime, I keep two shelves-worth of the major revisions out in the open as a reminder that writing is ninety percent re-writing.

My teachers and role models, especially Brenda Guiberson and Janet Lee Carey.

SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) which arranged workshops, provided a place to mingle with more role models (among them, Kirby Larson, Holly Cupala, Karen Cushman, Justina Chen, Martha Brockenbrough, Sara Easterly, Meg Lippert, and the whole rest of the Seattle crew) and awarded me the Sue Alexander Award at just the right time in my writing to get me a publisher.

My acquiring editor, Jennifer Wingertzahn at Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who had faith she could guide me through the transformation of a sprawling picaresque travel adventure into a mother-daughter story with heart, and had saintly patience while I figured out how to do it.

The editor who took Jennifer's place when she had to move – Daniel Nayeri. He talked me off the Snohomish trestle when I discovered a place my mind had gone walkabout when revising the author's notes – after the ARC had already gone to print. (More on that later.) He also answers my emailed questions quickly, often within minutes. No lie.

My critique group, currently composed of Deb Lund (Dinosailors books), Penny Holland (some early computer books for kids), and Ruby Tanaka (soon to be discovered for Agatha). I never accomplish as much as I do the week we spend together in an intensive writing retreat.

My young adult book discussion group, which includes Nancy Vittor and Kristen Hendricks-Fonseca, librarians, Pamela Greenwood, writer and free-lance editor, and Mindy Hardwick, writer and teacher. They help me become a more analytical reader and give me a whole month's worth of therapeutic laughs in an evening.

And then there's the serendipitous help that comes with a network of friends. As an example, here's Was it a gypsy curse or Alzheimer's; or I knew
Minneapolis wasn't Milwaukee:

 

Pamela Greenwood was working on a manuscript for a historical novel by Phyllis Franklin. She had questions on blending fact and fiction; would I like to get in touch? I pulled up my manuscript to send Phyllis my author's notes which explained how I dealt with fact/fiction.

If you were within twenty miles of Everett you probably heard me scream. On the next to the last page was the word Milwaukee. It wasn't Milwaukee my main characters passed through on the way home, it was Minneapolis. I knew that as well as I knew the name of my first-born child. Disbelieving what I saw on the computer screen, I pulled out the page proofs. There it was again: Milwaukee. Gypsy curse destroying credibility of 15 years of work? Alzheimer's? Or, more likely, working on another book at the same time which did involve Wisconsin?

Even over a week later as I type this, I shudder. I emailed my editor in a panic. Maybe by some miracle I could have the error corrected before the ARCs were printed. Nope. Too late. In frantic (on my end) and calming (on his end) emails back and forth, Daniel settled me down and off the trestle.

Without my friends I wouldn't have discovered the mistake until the book itself came out. It's still embarrassing to have the ARC go out that way, but as my editor said, that's why each copy says 'uncorrected proof.' I guess I'll live to write another day. And that's why I love my friends.