Writing Update

After a few rounds of revisions for my agent, she submitted the manuscript for my young adult novel to several editors.

Unfortunately, they all passed on my work.

However, a few of the editors had kind words and some constructive criticism. At least one expressed an interest in reading the manuscript again if I made revisions.

Guess what I did?

I spent April and May busily revising, revising, revising — early mornings, lunch hours and after work.

Today I sent the whole thing back to my agent for her to read over. We'll see what she thinks.

Finally Found My Role Model

My mother has been doing family history research on her side of the family. Every evening she tells me some new family member she found or some new detail she learned. This leads to some interesting conversations since both of us love history.

What we've discovered is that our family came over to Maryland and Virginia during colonial times in the 1600s and 1700s from England and Scotland.  We also had some come over from Ireland through Canada in the 1800s.

She recently discovered a relative named Mourning Glenn. Isn't that a fantastic name? I have to use that in a book at some point.

Mourning Glenn was apparently someone not to be trifled with.  From the book "Genealogies of Virginia Families: From Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine: Volume 1," comes this story:

In 1705/6 she [Mourning Glenn] was ordered to answer in Court charges of ill treatment of a white servant. When the Court messenger delivered the order, she sent for the servant and the overseer and had the overseer give the servant 31 lashes (one more than the law allowed) "on his bare back". Then said to servant, "Now go and complain again". And to the messenger what she would do to Justice Marable if she were a man. And she did not go to Court.

Tough as old boot-leather, I'd call her. Somehow I have to get that spirit into a book.

When I told this story to some co-workers (and one new employee), they assured the new employee that I only whipped them within the limits of the law and usually very lightly.

Revisions to Queries

I finished the revisions on my young adult novel and have begun querying agents. While I don't have an accurate timeline for the book, I think I worked on it – off and on – for about three years.

I wrote about four chapters and then set it aside to work on other things. When I came back to it, I picked up where I left off. Then I started writing the middle of the novel all the way to the end. I came back and finished the beginning.

The next step was to revise the entire thing, which I did on the computer.

Then I printed it out and revised again. Which led me to retype the entire thing and revise it again on the computer.

Another printout. More revisions – this time with highlighters!

Typed it all again.

Another revision on the computer.

Took it to a novel revision retreat where three other people critiqued it.

Revised again – retyping it once more.

Printed it out again for more revisions. I read this copy aloud to myself during lunch in my office.

Made corrections. Printed it out again. Emailed copies to some trusted readers for comments.

Made final corrections. Read over it one last time (mainly for typos) on the computer.

Prepared complete document for sending out to agents.

Wrote query. Revised query. Revised again. Revised one last time.

Wrote synopsis. Revised synopsis.

Sent queries to some agents.

And now the waiting game begins.

I have four different drafts saved on my computer. The first and second drafts had thirty-one chapters, and the third and fourth have thirty-three. Scenes were dropped and added, characters were added, and the ending changed completely.

Fingers crossed!

Lots to Do

I haven't written anything here in a while. Since the novel revision retreat, I've been incredibly busy – both at writing and at work.

I revised my entire young adult manuscript based on comments and ideas from the retreat. For the moment, I've set that aside to 'stew' a little before I make one final set of revisions.

I went to two SCBWI conferences – in Austin and Houston – and learned more tips for writing and revising.

And, of course, I've started a new book. A middle grade story that's been fun to develop. I haven't written much of it yet – only about four chapters – but I think it'll be fun when it's finished.

But my short-term focus has had to change from both the young adult novel and the middle grade one. The Houston SCBWI conference included a presentation by Jenne Abramowitz from Scholastic. She discussed chapter books, and I got the idea to re-work an earlier piece I had written as a chapter book. So, that's my concentration right now. I have a three-month window in which to re-work the book and submit it. We'll see how that goes.

And in the middle of those three months, I'm going on vacation, so I have to work double fast. Not to mention all the work I have to do for my job. It's going to be crazy!

Here's hoping.

And I created my own website.

Aftermath: Novel Revision Retreat

Using the word aftermath in the title of this post is not the best word choice, but it's the best I can come up with after an exhausting weekend of learning revision techniques.

The retreat was phenomenal. The people at the retreat were terrific. The location was beautiful. The facilities were excellent (the chairs in our work room were fabulous - I could actually touch the floor!). The food was delicious - I didn't even eat that much on cruises!

On to the retreat, though. As I said, we were assigned to groups of four. We sat with them and discussed each other's manuscripts all weekend. My group's work was wonderful, promising and encouraging. Each of them had work that was distinctly different from mine and from the other people in our group. I can't wait to read the published versions of their works, and I do believe that all of them have the potential to be published.

Throughout the retreat, I learned ways to add depth and improve my novel. I have lots to do, but I'm ready to get to work.

Thanks, Darcy and Houston SCBWI, for a wonderful retreat!

Novel Revision Retreat

In a couple of weeks I'll be attending a novel revision retreat led by author Darcy Pattison and sponsored by Houston SCBWI. I don't really know what to expect from the retreat.

We had to read two books ahead of time and submit a completed novel. From those submitted novels, we were assigned to groups of four participants, and we got copies of each others' manuscripts to read.

I've read the assigned texts and the manuscripts – one was a contemporary middle grade and the other two were middle-grade fantasy. Mine was an historical novel for young adults.

I enjoyed the manuscripts. I'm looking forward to meeting the writers.

Hope I learn lots at the retreat. I really want to improve my writing. And then I hit the road for conferences in February and March.

Vacation: Bruges

For the final part of our trip, we departed England in a ferry and headed across the North Sea to Belgium. Ever since we saw the movie In Bruges, Mom and I have wanted to visit the "fairy tale city," and this was our chance.

We weren't disappointed.

We took a canal ride and the captain gave the tour in English (for Mom and me) and French (for everyone else on the boat). He switched back and forth with ease, making jokes in both languages. His ease with languages was amazing and also made me jealous. I wish I could do that.

In addition to the Belgians having a sickening ease with multiple languages, we even saw Madonna and Child, a Michelangelo sculpture, in the Church of Our Lady.

Breathtaking! Even better than the replica of the Pieta we saw in Sainte Anne de Beaupre, Quebec.

I climbed all 366 steps to top of the Belfort and got to hear the bells pealing. It was glorious.

I got to see a vial of Christ's blood in the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

And, of course, we ate lots and lots of delicious chocolate.

Even when we left, we were ready to go back. Bruges was amazing! Everyone should visit.

We took the train through the Chunnel back to London for our flight home.