Pushing Through Summer

Hi, everyone! My name's Lindsay, and I'm so excited to be joining the team here at Tangled Up in Words. This summer, I met Danielle and Patricia through a local writers' . . . group? Drinking club? Coping mechanism? here in Washington, DC, and instantly clicked with them. What a fabulous bunch!

In fact, I've been really pushing out of my comfort zone this summer to meet other writers and readers, instead of holing up in my dog hair-filled urban cabin, banging away on a manifesto without eating or bathing (and possibly wearing plaid). While I love living in the city, and I ADORE talking about reading and writing, I'm very shy by nature. I've found such great friends--and so many awesome books--through this experience, though, that I'm kind of embarrassed not to have done it sooner.

And it's a good thing I'm getting over my social anxiety, because my life is about to turn into a psychotic blitz and self-promotion and marketing, because . . .

This summer, I sold my first book!! SEKRET, a YA historical thriller, sold to Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Children's, and is due out in early 2014. Enough time that I'm not yet hyperventilating, but I'm sure it'll be here all too soon.

Appropriately enough, then, that my summer has been one of keeping calm and carrying on despite the good--but scary!--but good! things happening. Happy hours, sure, I can lock my anxiety in the vault long enough to make some amazing friendships. I'm getting published, big deal, I'll just keep putting one word in front of the other in my new manuscript(s) . . . (s). (Wasn't kidding about the unhygienic manifesto factory I sometimes become.)

How are you pushing yourself this summer, in writing and in general life?

How I spent my summer (Christina's edition!)

Hey lovelies. Sorry this post is so late in the day. I had doctor appointments this morning. (No worries. All is well!) Anyway, here's my summer--highs and lows--in a nutshell.

(Excuse all the exclamation marks you will see in my "Highs" category!!)

Highs:

1. I've gotten several full or partial requests for my manuscript! EEK! So exciting!

2. I've started helping at Spencer Hill Press. It's fun, hard work, and educational and I'm so glad to have this opportunity!

3. I've entered some writing contests and groups online and met some really awesome people and got some requests from the contests.

4. I taught summer school and survived. ;)

5. Today is my anniversary! Yay! The hubby and I have been married for 3 years now (and together 7 years total). We are going to get away from everything and just have fun out of town for the next couple days!

Lows:

1. I am stuck in waiting limbo, hoping to hear positive responses to the requests I still have. (Not completely bad, but waiting is soooo hard.)

2. I've gotten tons of feedback from other people with the contests I've done. It's great to get feedback, but sometimes it's disheartening to hear some stuff. And other times I've gotten too many opposing responses that did more harm than good; they would leave me more confused on how to even try and fix my stuff then really helping.

3. I taught summer school. ;) Really it was great. My students were all good, but it cuts down on my summer writing time.

4. I've been in this weird no-book-is-holding-my-attention type of funk. I hate it. I've been picking up about 4-5 books and only finishing maybe 1 out of them. Not normal for me. I just really want to find an AMAZING book to just pull me back into them again.

So, how about you guys? Summer's not quite over yet, but what have you been doing?

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

It's elementary school all over again!  We're back and ready for action on Tangled. Since it's a new season (almost) and we've come back from a hiatus, I'm going to open my post with some exciting news. We have two new contributors to our blog!! 

Ariane Mandell started out with us as a guest poster, but she's now been recruited to full time! I met Ariane on some boards looking for CP requests two years ago and got to hang out with her when I lived in Boston. She's got a lot of passion and great vision. We're excited to have her with us regularly!

We're also pleased to welcome Lindsay Smith! Lindsay is a friend local to DC who swept Patricia and I away with her awesomeness. Her first novel, SEKRET, is coming out with Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan children's in Winter 2014. She's repped by Weronika Janczuk of Lynn C. Frankling Associates and she will bring some new perspective to Tangled!  

Welcome ladies! Glad to have you with us. :)

Now. We're all going to share our highs and lows for the summer. Please chime in over the next two weeks and let us know what yours were! 

Highs:

• My biggest accomplishment was definitely finishing Hotboyalicious. I really love that story and it was such a pain in the butt for a while. I'm in revisions now and I love getting to tweak it to perfection. I can't wait to start sending it out into the world. :) 
• I'm hanging out with a new WIP. I mentioned it before, but it's dual POV and has all sorts of things that I know nothing about. But I love it. These characters are so much fun to write, so different, and so very exciting. And, it's contemporary. (I'm calling it Interception as a working title, but that definitely won't stay!)
• Spencer Hill Press. I've been editing. Editing. Editing. I have four books coming out in 2013/2014 (right now!) and my summer has been A LOT of editing manuscripts and working with authors and cover designers. It's been an exhausting blast. I'm also the Intern Wrangler at SHP and knee-deep in diving through hundreds of applications to find the right fit for our needs.
• DC!! I totally love the new area. It's stressful and hot,  but full of exciting possibilities, new friends and closer to my sister.

Lows:

• I don't have a job. Which is stressful, but one of those things that I don't really miss. (I miss the paychecks!) I've gotten a lot of work done, so that's a positive, but I need a job. 
• My last MS didn't get anywhere in queries. I've decided to shelve it because it's not the right time. It's sad to do that when you love a book that was such a part of your life for two years. But onward to new things! 
• I miss reading. I mean, books that are finished! I've read only a few this summer---and next year isn't looking so good. I need more time in the day. 

As summer ends and fall approaches, I'm looking forward to completing revisions on Hotboyalicious and writing Interception. I'm excited about new interns, new projects and cooler weather!!! 

What about yall? Any highs/lows from the summer or goals for the fall?

Update

Hey all, 

In case you haven't noticed we're a little....er....absent. 

This is not without reason! 

Cindy is revising her MS for her agent. Christina is teaching summer school. Patricia and I are re-vamping a ton of stuff for Spencer Hill, as well as neck deep in edits for some of our upcoming books. 

Summer got away with us. 

We apologize. 

We promise that we'll be back in August--which is insanely close now. Insanely close.

Hope everyone is doing well! Leave us a comment and tell us about your summer. 

Christina the Absent

I've been pretty absent lately. I'm sorry about that. I feel kinda like a slacker and that sucks. So, what have I been doing? (1.) I went to visit and help out my twin sis because she just had another baby, and then (2.)summer school started and I'm teaching that, and (3.) I've been patiently (coughgoingcrazycough) waiting to hear from agents that have my ms, and (4.) I've started a new WiP.

1.-It was awesome to see my sister and her kids. They are so cute. It's also strange to have an identical twin with kids b/c her little toddler reacted differently to me than to his grandma (who came down w/ me also). He trusted me more b/c I looked like her. Weird and awesome. :)

2. Summer school is less hours of work, but still soooo tiring. But I love my students.

3. I might be developing an eye twitch while waiting to hear back from agents (and that might only slightly be a joke). I'm so excited and so nervous cuz these agents are awesome and obviously getting agented is something I'm hoping for. Plus the ms they have I love so so SO much and want to share with the world someday. But yeah, *eye twitch*

4. I started a new WiP, and I love it and it's terrifying. It's a contemporary that's got snark, a hot boy, a broken girl, a cute little brother with autism, Japanese candies, and insects. (And of course, so much more too.)

To wrap up, I miss my sister and her kids, summer school is tiring, and to keep my eye from twitching out of its socket while waiting to hear from agents, I've started a new WiP that I'm in love with.

What about you guys? How are all of your summers going? What do you do when querying and waiting for agent responses? (Because really, that is like 97.4% of my life right now)

Finishing, Waiting, Moving On

Last week, if you were around, I wrote this post about making choices. In it, I said I had no job (still don't) and was going to use all of last week to write. My goal was to finish the book--and it was a realistic yet challenging goal. Accomplishing it would take discipline.

After cranking out a day of 3k, a day of 4k, a day of 2k, a day of 10k and spending Friday writing the last 5k---I finished my first draft!!!!  (I also completed the manuscript I was editing on that 2k day in one sitting. Brain death.) BUT I DID IT!!!!!!

HAPPY DANCING ALL AROUND!!! 

I've written books before, but Hotboyalicious (not real title) was so hard for me. It was mostly a mental thing. This was scary because it was a lighter, actiony, sassier story and I'm more dark and twisty. I started and restarted twice. I lost a lot of great scenes. My character's motivation changed (or was fixed rather) and the pacing had to be adjusted in each re-start. It was a frustrating book and for many, many months I just HATED it because it was so annoying. But I kept writing because I wanted to tell the story.

When I wrote that last line, I called Cindy and I cried a little. I've never cried before upon finishing (even after two years and seven drafts of my last book.) But it was SO MUCH of what I hoped it would be when I started and felt like I could never achieve. BUT I DID. :) 

Now the story is finished, and I spent the weekend reading through it, fleshing out some areas that needed it, fixed some errors, made some more connections in the beginning to things that happened at the end. My fantastic CPs (three of whom are my blogmates!), an author friend, a writer friend and Patricia's sister (who NEVER reads anything) all have Hotboyalicious. I can't wait for the feedback and to jump in for revisions. 

Since I'm waiting, I'm faced with the NOW WHAT? dilemma. Well, yesterday I caught up on most of the editing stuff I have to do with Spencer Hill. I'll be working on that throughout the week. And this morning, I plotted a new book.

YES. I *do* know this is crazy. AH! 

I'm really excited about the new story--which does not yet have a working title or secret title. Remember when I said Hotboyalicious was scary because it was so different? This is even scarier. A tense I've never written in and POV that I have never worked with, (Two POVs actually!), and topics I don't know much about! Needless to say, I have a lot of character development ahead and even more research...

But this is the joy of writing. You get to try new things and you get to grow. I think it's supposed to be scary!! And just know that you are not alone.

The Choice is Yours

The 4th of July is just around the corner & I've been thinking a lot about choices. Every day we make choices. Right or left. Take the job or don't. Move or don't. Dance or sing. Eat that cupcake or dont (though that answer is always do!) Write or don't write.

Choices define our time and our passion and once we've made one we usually can't take it back.

My choice this week is to write. Since I am newly moved, currently jobless (& running out of money) and Patricia is on vacation--all I have to do is writing/editing work! Yay me.

This "I want to be a full-time writer" thing is a dream for all of us. But guys, I've only been doing this for three weeks (this is the third) and IT IS HARD. Like, so hard.

For one, you actually have to DO the work. It's really hard for me to do that at home, so I ventured out to Starbucks or Panera (or both) each day last week. I did GOOD work but my budget was NOT happy. (And apparently they frown at you sitting there without buying anything! Go figure.)

For two, when you waste time you feel really bad--and it is SO easy to waste time. I mean, stay up late. Sleep in. Then it's noon before you get out of the house/bed. Plus you have to eat and you didn't watch those shows from last week and you need call your mom...& then the day is almost over and what did you do??

There are other things I could add to this list. So many. But I won't because in the end it all comes back to or choices. That first week I made some bad ones. I slept, unpacked, I don't even remember. But you mess up and you learn and each day is a new day. The second week was better as I split my time between writing and editing an MS for Spencer Hill. These weeks of not working are not by choice. (Someone hire me!) but as my friend reminded me this weekend: how I use them is my choice.

And this week, I am determined to make good choices for my time. Since last week was so good for my writing/editing, I decided that I need to lay the smack down on myself. This week I have to write at least 2k every day. That's writing only! And I have to finish editing this MS by Sunday, which has 200 pages left to go after today. I'm hoping to do 40 pages a day of LINE EDITS. Needless to say this is motivation week.

It seems like a lofty goal when I think about it--but I have nothing else to do. Literally! I have ZERO excuses. Plus, my WIP is in that place where I feel like I can start tying all the ends together and finish it. I'm so close. I know the whole remaining story and I only need to write it!

And I am! I can't wait to Finish this draft. To send it to my betas. To start revising. I truly think I will finish it this week or next week at the latest. And I have to finish edits.

And if you guys see me on twitter, feel free (aka please please please!) ask me how it's going. 2k a day & 40 pages of edits is totally doable. Totally.

We have the freedom to make choices and writing is a choice. How you use your time is a choice. I hope that I have the discipline to accomplish my goal and that you have the joy of making whatever choices you have to make.

 Happy Independence Day!