The Novelty Girls

Most of us as writers set goals. Whether it*s to complete a certain amount of words or pages a day, or a week. Whatever they are, we set them. We*ve winded down to the last three months in the year as 2007 looms ahead.

My goals for the end of the year are to complete my young adult novel and my cozy mystery. Which boils down to about 850 words a day on the mystery and 600 words a day on the young adult. Phew! It gives me hives just thinking about it. But as a writer, I must set high expectations for myself, because after all, no one else does. The only obstacle I have is *me*. The only person I can blame if it doesn*t happen is *me*.

I have to complete these two goals if I want to jump into the all important agent search. When I begin that, I have to find an agent out there that represents both YA and mystery. I*ve started that list already so the only hurdle I*ll have is actually putting finger to keyboard, typing the synopsis and query letter and sending it out. Something else that makes me itch, too. I*ve never been a fan of either of those things, but they must be done if you want to sell to NY.

And if that isn*t enough, I have some personal goals as well. I*m planning a trip to Jamaica next June and I MUST fit into a bathing suit and feel comfortable in it. Don*t get me wrong. I have NO desire to go back to the weight I was in in high school, or even college. I just want be able to look at myself in the mirror and say, *Hey, for a middle age lady, you look kinda hot.* LOL So that means, losing weight.

What about you? Do you have any end of year writing goals? Something you want to accomplish next year?

Have a happy Saturday!

Lyric

I realised something this morning. Well, two things really. The first one is that, by taking on blogging here, I’ve actually taken on the one writerly job I never wanted to have. I’m a columnist!

To be a good columnist, in my opinion, you have to have a sense of humour. And I also believe that to be truly funny, you have to be smart. (with the exception of potty humour, which I don’t really find that funny.) SoI have enormous respect for people like Dave Barry, who can write an article that not only leaves me feeling a little warm and fuzzy after reading it, but also made me chuckle out loud while reading it.

But I never really wanted the gig myself. Be entertaining on demand? Please. Once a week no less? What-ev-er! And yet, here I am.

This realisation, as tends to happen, led to another.

Whether or not I took the gig as a ‘columnist’ aka blogger, I use humour in my Regular Writing. Fantasy or romantic suspense…I like my characters to have a sense of humour. I like to diffuse some of the tension with a well-placed quip. Or endear my characters by having them make some wry observation.

Sometimes my CP or beta readers will read through a scene I’ve laboured over and say “I don’t get it.” Which doesn’t surprise me. Humour is a pretty personal thing, really. And sarcasm, apparantly, doesn’t always transfer to the page. And it happens in real life often enough for me to be prepared for it.

I mean, I’m not a big Jim Carrey fan. Or Ben Stiller, or Rob Schneider. That over-the-top humour just bothers me. And I hate those supposedly funny sketches in sit-coms that involve one of the main characters being thoroughly embarassed.
But I’ll sit through the Usual Suspects any day of the week, and laugh my head off at the deadpan delivery of some truly brilliant one-liners. (ie: I’m telling you this guy is protected from up on high by the Prince of Darkness.) Took you a minute, didn’t it? That’s part of the charm of this brilliant kind of humour.

I know that humour has been dissected:humour can be evoked by the absurd, the unexpected, the wry observation, physical humour, potty humour… and I’m not going to try to do a better job of it here. But I do wonder what is your kind of humour? What makes you laugh out loud, in a book or a movie? What doesn’t work?

Yep, it’s that time of year again. Every year the ALA lists the ten most challenged books and sets aside a week to devote to challenged books. This year’s top ten are

It’s Perfectly Normal
Forever by Judy Blume
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
Detour for Emmy by Marilyn Reynolds
What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones
Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey
Crazy Lady! by Jane Leslie Conly
It’s So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families by Robie H. Harris

And you can find the 100 Most Frequently Challenged list here.

Now most of these are kids books of course. As a kid that read everything I could get my hands on, the list makes me cringe. In the first 10 on the 100 list, I read and loved 8 of those books. Bridge to Terabithea has got to be one of my all time favorite books. The Goosebumps series is one of my oldest’s favorites. A Wrinkle in Time, Blubber, Killing Mr. Griffin…A Handmaid’s Tale!? The list goes on and on.

As a writer, I’m sure my aversion to banning books is obvious. As I reader and mother, other people trying to censor our book options pisses me off. There are some exceptional books on this list. Books that teach valuable lessons and books that are just fun. I’ve handed many of them to my daughters. Are they ready for all of them? Of course not, but when they are ready those books should be available to them.

For my own mini protest in support of Banned Books Week, I’ll provide a free copy of one of my books drawn from the commentors on this post. To enter have a look at that 100 list. Do you see an old favorite on there? A new favorite? Something you look forward to passing on to your kids? Tell us all about it!

I write this post with my head spinning, a little.

Writers, as a breed (we are a breed, show your pedigrees with pride!) live for validation. As we all know, this is a solitary business. We might join mailing lists or critique groups, or take a class or two, but mostly we do it on our own. We practice and we polish and we hope we’re doing it write. We get to the point where we think ‘gee, I’m pretty clever’ or ‘I did that well’ and we send our babies out into the world. They don’t always succeed.

And sometimes they do.

And when they do, we can’t help but be giddy and happy and, you know, we do embarrassing dances in our socks in the kitchen.

Annd… edited I took my big brag out, because really, this isn’t the place. Sorry about that. Got carried away.

But: Writers, tell me what you do when you feel or need to feel or want to feel validated? Do you do stupid dances in the kitchen? Do you buy yourself treats? Readers, do you save books for special days if they’re by a favorite author? Do you treat them like celebrations themselves?

We often have small victories. I’m of the opinion that they should all be recognized.

(I placed in the top ten in Avon’s FanLit contest. Hence my happiness and the motivation behind the post. There’s more gushing on my blog. If anyone’s interested in following along [or voting!], the website is Avon FanLit. It costs nothing to register.)

I realized something about myself the other day. I haven’t been watching much TV in the past year, mainly the news. I used to be addicted to one show–Lost–and I finally made myself cut the addiction.

Why? Why would watching TV be harmless? I’m not sure it is, lots of ideas for books come from it, but I have my own reasons. And I just pinpointed the main one. I don’t like to be kept waiting. I want faster–not necessarily instant–gratification. I mean I love some of these shows, but I don’t like the idea of waiting months, even years to get a conclusion to the storyline or certain conflicts.

I discovered this with Lost. I loved the show. But after the first season ended, I realized I”d just spent months, all those Wed nights without knowing what the hell was happening on that island. It got to the point where I’d put down my computer, stop writing, and watch the show. And it was only one show, but I didn’t like the way it controlled me. The way it was like my drug I had to have. Now I prefer a movie, where generally there is a conclusion at the end of two hours.

So what does this have to do with the world of writing? Well, for me, quite a bit. In my opinion, this need for quicker gratification is one reason short stories and novellas are becoming popular. Some people don’t have time to invest in these super sized novels that take weeks to read. At least I don’t. I’m a single mom of an almost-three-year old, trying to get my writing career off the ground. I don’t get the joy of sitting down with a big book and reading it in three hours like I used to. For me, an ebook short story/novella or print anthology is perfect.

I know this debate is completely different for everyone, and a lot of people prefer the longer books. But for me it’s all about a quick read, a jolt of romance, with a HEA. Maybe it’s the same as people who prefer a straight shot of espresso, rather than the entire Americano. (Sorry, showing my Seattle side) That’s how it is for me though. Well, at least at this point in my life. Maybe when my kid starts school, things will change.

Anyway, this was just my ‘ah ha moment’ of the link between my TV choices and my books choices that I wanted to share. So… what do you find yourself reading right now?

I think everyone here uses a pen name so I thought I’d explore that a bit this week. How do you pick a pen name? What does your pen name say about your writing?

Candy would make you flirty/sexy/cheerleader-ish.

Lola would make you naughty/wicked/fun.

Jane would make you sweet/closet kinky.

The point would be to find a good mix between your real personality and the type of writing you publish. You want to be able to pull off the name when people meet you in person. The hope would always be to get all famous like Nora Roberts and do book tours and signings. So…have to be able to live up to the hype of your pen name.

For me…I stuck with my real first name just in case I DID meet people in real life and “Jordan” is a nod to the master of fantasy, Robert Jordan. I started out only writing fantasy paranormal romance. As you can see, I’ve expanded my horizons.

How did you or will you pick your pen name? What do they tell you about your favorite authors?

I read somewhere that as a writer, you*re on a journey and every journey has a beginning and an end. At the beginning of your journey, you*re a novist. Not sure what you*re doing, but you have a story to tell, nonetheless. I remember the first time I put pen to paper, I had no clue about point of view. I didn*t recognize that in the books I*d been reading for all those years, the author actually didn*t switch back and forth between the hero and the heroine until my first critique partner (thanks, Erin) pointed it out to me. Along the way on my/your journey you must study your craft, set goals for yourself, decide what it is you really want to write, and then, Write It!! And after you*ve written your masterpiece, send it to a publisher in the hopes that they*ll buy it and publish it for the masses to read, love and keep coming back for more.

My writing journey specifically began with writing short stories, then progressing on to novellas, and then novels. Right now, I*m in the middle of my journey - novellas. During my w.j., I also discovered that I also want to write middle-grade and young-adult novels, which as far as word count, falls in between novellas and novels, which is where I am now: plotting, writing a novella and a mid-grade.

If you’re a writer, where are you in your journey. Where do you eventually want to be when you reach the end? I know I want to reach that best-sellar chart at least once in my life? What about you?

Have a great Saturday.

Lyric

I think Lori has caught on to my not-so-secret fear of being Uninteresting on the blog, because once again, I have an assigned topic. The winners of our grand opening contest!!

First, I want to say thanks to everyone who entered, all

of

you who

signed up for

our yahoo group…

Hey! Stop it. You can’t scroll through the thank you’s just to see if you won. That’s not how it works!!

Impatient readers!

Alright, the grand prize winner of all things Novelty is Mary Ann!!

Your prize includes:

A Tropical Dream Calgon sample pack (lotion, mist, and wash)
a Victoria’s Secret lip gloss
a cherry-themed notepad, pen, and magnet set
a $10 gift certificate to Bath and Body Works
a copy of Crystal’s Full Swing
and a $10 online gift certificate to Barnes and Nobles.

MaryAnn, if you could please email us (thenoveltygirls@yahoo.com) with your snailmail address, your prizes will be in the mail soon.

And our random draw winner of a $5 gift certificate to Cobblestone Press is Tammywar!

And so, all that’s left with my time today is to tell you the right answers

Crystal: handcuffs
Dayna: chocolate covered cherries
Lori: the gun
Lyric: the spyglass
Sara: cowboy boots
Shelli: the pink martini

Thanks to everyone for playing!

My husband and I have reached our mid thirties (me 34 and him 36). He seems to think this is middle aged which continually has me scratching my head. I keep trying to explain that no, dear. My mom is middle aged (she’s 54), but I strongly suggest you not tell her ’cause she’ll kick your butt. Age, my younglings, is a state of mind. And my mind ain’t old yet.

Our biggest issue lately has been trying to decide if he should just go back active duty or stay in the Guard. He’s deployed AGAIN. He’ll be home in Jan or April or August. Hell, the Army is as undecisive as my mother (sorry mom!) and then he’ll be activated again in Sept. Seems like a lot of wasted time to us. Soooo. Active duty? Guard? I can hang either way. I’ve been doing this so long, the deployments have been going on so long, there isn’t a lot of difference.

But in discussing all this, we’ve talked about where we have been and where we want to go. And he is just amazed. He started out a 19 year old Irish mechanic, American born but not bred, in New Jersey. He’s ended up an Army NCO or a civilian police officer in Alabama depending on the time of year lol. It’s nowhere near where he though he would be.

I, on the other hand, was in love with books at 19 and the assistant manager at a bookstore. I wrote my first novel when I was 19. Complete crap, but I finished that sucker. And then life intruded. The Gulf War started and I ran out of college money. I struggled for awhile. I waited tables. I eventually joined the Army as an MP and I loved it. Then I met this guy who convinced me I should marry him and I got out of the Army and I stayed home and had babies. Those were uncertain, but good years. Not a lot of writing, but a lot of living.

Now I’ve come back to the beginning, back to where I started, and I think I’m a better writer (and person) for it. I still love books. I still love good stories. And I’m more sure than ever I want to share mine with the world. Is this what separates writers from authors? I’ve never really considered there was a difference before. One thing is for sure. I would not be here today if it were not for my husband’s complete and total belief that I can do this. There are times I doubt my ability, but he never has.

So today’s question is two-fold. Today, are you where you thought you would be when you were 19? And what kind of support do you have outside the writing community? Not necessarily someone who loves your work, but someone who believes in YOU. We should all have that.

(Remember today is the last day to enter the contest! We’ll announce the winner tomorrow!)

I’ve been thinking. I start lots of posts like that. Apparently I think a lot. Who knew?

Anyway, I’ve been thinking. People often ask ‘what is your book about?’ and I think that, most of the time, they mean ‘give me a breakdown of the story’. You know, boy meets girl, girl is engaged to gorilla, boy and gorilla fight…

Or something like that.

But have you ever had anyone ask you what your book is really about? What’s the theme? What’s the underlying message? Do you have an underlying message when you write? Do you write with a theme in mind or to get a message across, or do you just stumble across it as you go and call it good?

Readers, do you look for deep meaning in the books you read? Are you pleased or annoyed if you find it while you’re locked in the pages of a book?

Me personally, I don’t write with themes or messages in mind. They happen without my consent, sometimes, but they’re never intended. They make me ridiculously proud when they crop up, but nope? I’m not a message writer.

Now, universal stories? That’s different. And… I think I’ll save that for next week.