Wednesday, October 22, 2014

I'm Just A Believer That Things Will Get Better...

About two weeks ago I made an announcement via my social media outlets. In case you missed it, here it is:

I've finished revisions! And I can now add that my query letter is done, too!

I can't tell you how good it feels to have rode the waves of revisions and to have survived. There were a couple moments there where I seriously believed I may be drowning in the blankness that stood between me and some rewrites. But I relaxed, let it flow organically (because that tends to works best for me) and though it took me longer than I'd wanted it to, I did it. Then I celebrated by dancing wildly to my personal "get psyched" playlist. The top song for that amazing moment? "Believer" by American Authors. It's a good jam if you need a pick-me-up, I highly recommend it!

With research completed on my first batch of agents-to-query, I will be subbing as soon as next week with any luck. Just waiting on some final feedback to make sure it's in good shape.

This is craziness doused in awesome sauce. The only way I can describe the idea of querying is its equal parts insanely exciting and painfully terrifying. Rejection is no fun, so preparing for the worst while hoping for the best outcome is all I can do right now. As I've said from the start: I believe in my story and its characters. I don't think I've followed this path for this long if it wasn't meant to be. Now I can finally go on the hunt for an agent who feels the same way, who can see my passion for and dedication to this universe I've created on paper, and who shares my hopes and enthusiasm for its success.

In other K.T. writerly news, I'm taking one final stab at The 2014 Baker's Dozen over on Authoress' blog. I'm not getting my hopes up, but I can't not try. The first pages have had a total makeover, one that's received (mostly) positive feedback. Fingers crossed this is my year. At this point, it'd be a nice form of validation for all my hard work. Not saying I need validation, but it's always a great feeling to have someone else judge your work as worthy enough to grace their agent auction. I know I'd be honored to say I finally made it in. Again, not getting my hopes up. 

Okay, maybe just a little bit.

Speaking of Baker's Dozen, if anyone needs feedback before next week's adult/NA submissions, or YA/MG, let me know if the comments. If there is enough interest by tomorrow evening, I'll host a critique round for over the weekend (it will be a quick round, so please be quick to respond so you can benefit from this rare opportunity to receive some honest, supportive and helpful feedback!). When commenting, please let me know what you'd like critiqued (logline, first 250, or both). 

Stay golden, my lovelies. I'll check in again next week! 

Xo






Sunday, October 5, 2014

Forever A Dreamer, Remain A Believer...


Hello friends!

So I’m writing this from quarantine—okay, not like, actual quarantine, but I’m locked away in my bedroom with a temp of 100.7, to keep my little ones from catching whatever I may have. And although I despise being sick, I’m a tad grateful for the solo time, because the past few months I haven’t gotten as much of it as I’d like.

I can’t believe how much time has passed since my last post. I know one of my resolutions was to post more, but as unpredictable as my life is, I should know better than to make long-term plans. Things are still pretty topsy-turvy in my personal world. But I feel like in spite of all I’ve been through, all my family has been through these past couple of years, my outlook has changed for the better and remains mostly positive now.

With that said, I’ve been elbow deep (more accurately, eyeball deep) in revisions on my pet project, my first baby. The biggest change? I’ve moved it up to New Adult Fiction from YA. Yes, I still write YA, and yes, I’ll always consider myself a YA novelist. My second baby is YA and will remain YA, as well as my third and forth novels (that are on the back burner while I take care of the first two mentioned). I’m just opening my career into a new, blossoming field of hungry readers, in the hopes I can eventually be a trailblazer of NA. Big hopes, big dreams, people.

The next change is the title. I’m no longer calling it “Unnatural”. I’ll announce the title when I feel ready, but for now, it’s something I’m keeping between me and my betas and editors. The third change is that I’ve rewritten the entire beginning and eliminated a chapter that I once believed crucial to the story. And finally, I’ve changed a major character to more reflect on paper how he is in my mind, because he wasn’t coming across as I wanted him to.

These changes I once thought impossible. Why? Because I was seeing my book as the author, not as an editor or a reader. I became blinded by love for my own words, a mistake often made by lots of writers. I was in denial over this fact, but once I opened my eyes to what the issues were and actually worked on them, I became a better writer for it. I’m also extremely happy with where my manuscript is now. It’s healthy, it’s mostly polished, and soon (like, end of the month soon), I hope to FINALLY QUERY IT!

I’d hope to do interviews/profiles with them, to pay tribute, but for now I’d like to just give a shout out to two people who’ve helped me get to this point. First, T.J. Loveless. T.J. offered her copy editing services on my first 50 pages as a gift, for my work on the Write Stuff for Boston auction back in April/May 2013. Because of that, I can now see where I make errors and stop making them. That input has saved me a lot of time. I still need a second set of eyes, but thanks to T.J. and her generosity, I can now save myself from most of my silly errors.

And then there is Jen Malone, my content editor. Jen answered my call for a content editor via Twitter back in May. I’ve followed Jen’s blog for a while (since before the auction she so generously contributed to), so to have her take me on as a client was exciting, to say the least. She’s supportive, creative, has a keen eye for editing and is totally awesome sauce. And funny enough, we found out we live 5 minutes away from each other and have a lot in common. I’m thrilled to be working with her on this and hopefully on future projects, for her advice and guidance have been invaluable. She’s gone above and beyond to help me see what needs to be done, with the patience of a saint. I do hope to call her my mentor in the future (no pressure, Jen haha!), cause it’d be an honor to do so. If you’re reading this, Jen, thank you! You’re a writing rock star!

Now that I’m done gushing (and scaring them off with my fangirling, I’m sure haha), I want to share one last thing. Though I love writing novels and such, I think my heart wants to write for TV and movies, too. I don’t just want to write, I want to be a show-runner. I want to be like a Julie Plec, a Shonda Rhimes, a Jerry Bruckheimer or a Kevin Williamson. I don’t want to be them, but I do want to do what they do, establish my own name. I want to create stories and characters, and then bring them to life on screen. From writing to casting, to site-scouting and pre/post production and everything in between, I want to be involved with it all, not just one aspect of it. I want to take the worlds out of my head and create them for all to see. I’ve always been fascinated with how TV shows and films are brought together from creation, everything that happens behind the scenes to make viewers tune in, and now I know why. I think I can do it someday, with a lot of hard work and perseverance. It’s a BIG dream, a far-fetched one at that, but a dream I never truly identified until a few days ago. But it clicked. It was a revelation. I tend to live with my head in the clouds, though my feet remain on the ground.

First thing’s first, though; I need to get these revisions completed and my query letter out the door. I’ll write again once those are done.

Until then, Happy Fall and Happy Writing! <3