One Good Thing...

I was in a quandary; what do you get your 101 year old grandmother for her birthday? She has everything she needs and more than she wants. I thought about 100 stems of flowers, but in November, even carnations cost a small fortune and she gets tons of flowers. She once told me it was like a funeral home with all the bouquets and arrangements she received. Even though she protested she didn't want anything, I couldn't let her birthday pass without something.

In the end, I gave her nothing--but wishes and hopes and dreams.

It's a decorative mason jar filled with wishes like, "A bowl of your favorite ice cream." Here are some others:

*The smell of fresh cut grass
*Knowing how much you're loved
*A great book to thrill you
*A day without annoying phone calls
*A happy day
*Hope for the world
*Quiet time with God
*A spectacular sunset
*Remembering where you left your keys
*A visit with the new baby ducks
*An emergency bottle of wine in the cabinet

Some were very personal to her:
*A Republican president
*A decadent birthday cake
*Eating dinner in your jammies
*Osama Bin Laden's obituary
*The smell of snow

Once I got started, it wasn't hard to come up with 101. I could have gone on for 200 or more. Sadly, my grandmother passed on--at 105--and she saw almost all these wishes come true. I have her jar sitting in my office and when I browse through the wishes, it makes me smile and feel like she's dropping in for a visit.

And it's inspired me, as the New Year approaches, to create not a wishing jar, because we're all always wishing for something, but a "Blessing Jar." This is not my idea, I heard of it from somewhere and I wish I could give them proper credit but I can't remember who to thank! I'm taking a plain mason jar (which held pickles (and still smells like them- gotta remember to leave it open to air out) and whenever I can, I'm going to put in a slip of paper of something good that I've been blessed with. The first good thing for 2013 is that I'm alive to see it rung in, and to have the opportunity to accomplish and be and learn and give so much more than 2012.

Wishing you all many blessings, opportunities, hopes and dreams,

Char

The Next Big Thing Meme

What's the next big thing you ask? I was tagged by the adorable Cesya McRae Cuono (The Collector, Battle Scars) and the remarkable Shannon Delaney (13 to Life series, Weather Witch series) to join their blog tags for The Next Big Thing Meme. So, here it goes:

What is the working title of your next book?

Blonde Ops, which is co-authored with Natalie Zaman, or Lethal Dose, my solo novel.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Our editors at Thomas Dunne (St Martins) Books, Peter Joseph and Kat Brzozowski, came up with the idea for Blonde Ops (‘Jane’ Bond, Roman Style), and Lethal Dose was my NaNoWriMo project.

What genre does your book fall under?

Blonde Ops is YA hacker adventure humor (is that a new genre?) and Lethal Dose is a sci fi adventure.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Hmmm. For Blonde Ops, I think Bec Jackson, the main character would be great played by Chloe Grace Morelz (500 Days of Summer, Hugo, Dark Shadows). Of course my co-author may disagree… For Lethal Dose, I would like the main character Dalen to be played by Sean Faris (Christmas With Holly, Bonnie& Clyde, Burn).

 What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Blonde Ops –Bec Jackson is a non-conformist teenager who becomes “Jane” Bond, and goes to Italy, taking her hacker skills to save the First Lady. Lethal Dose- Dalen doesn’t poison anyone who doesn’t want it—or deserve it.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Blonde Ops will be published by Thomas Dunne (St Martins) and debuts Spring 2014. Lethal Dose is on my laptop, awaiting the final chapters and mucho polishing before it goes to my agent.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Blonde Ops took several weeks for the first draft, but that was working from a detailed chapter by chapter synopsis. If you add synop & ms writing time, a little less than six months. Lethal Dose was written as a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) project, so it took 28 days (I skipped the last two, but I guess I should have finished it.) I’m hoping to finish it by the end of December, so two months!

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? I think Blonde Ops could be compared with Ally Carter’s Uncommon Criminals series. Lethal Dose I really have no idea because it involves science fiction elements and a teenaged poisoner. Maybe you know one?

Who or what inspired you to write this book? Our agent, Natalie Lakosil of Bradford Lit, sent our book Sirenz to Kat and Peter. They were looking for someone to write a book based on an idea they had. Our style meshed with their need. As for Lethal Dose, the idea of a teenage poisoner, who helps support his family a little like Katniss in Hunger Games, roaming around different planets because Earth was destroyed by an asteroid fascinated me. I wanted to do something completely different from the Sirenz series and Blonde Ops.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Hmmm. For Blonde Ops, I think Bec Jackson, the main character, would be great played by Chloe Grace Morelz (500 Days of Summer, Hugo, Dark Shadows). Of course my co-author may disagree… For Lethal Dose, I would like the main character Dalen to be played by Sean Faris (Christmas With Holly, Bonnie& Clyde, Burn). 
 

Who or what inspired you to write this book? Our agent, Natalie Lakosil of Bradford Lit, sent our book Sirenz to Kat and Peter. They were looking for someone to write a book based on an idea they had. Our style meshed with their need. As for Lethal Dose, the idea of a teenage poisoner, who helps support his family a little like Katniss in Hunger Games, roaming around different planets because Earth was destroyed by an asteroid fascinated me. I wanted to do something completely different from the Sirenz series and Blonde Ops.

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest? Blonde Ops has fashion, technology, international intrigue, an Italian hunk… And Lethal Dose has a male main character who uses poisons, but with a caveat- he doesn’t poison children, the innocent, or for political/monetary gain.

Now that you've gotten your sneak peek, let me tell you about my co-horts-

I met Cesya at PAYA (Pennsylvania loves YA). Another person with a severe obsession for writing and reading, we chat on FB and she was the first to intvite me to The Next Big Thing Meme blog tag. Look for her book, "The Collector" to debut shortly- she's started the countdown on her blog.

Shannon I met at Unmask the Writer Within, a Halloween event thrown by friends Melissa Marie and Patricia Locatelli and the Mysteries on Main Street Book Store. (Great peeps, all!) We've done a few signings together and keep in touch via FB too. Watch for her new series, The Weather Witch a 'stormpunk' novel which debuts soon too.

So now I pass the torch to my fellow KidLit author and friend, Alissa Grosso (Popular, Ferocity Summer). I met Alissa through Natalie, we had a very nice lunch at a tea house, and we've been doing signings and meeting at the annual SCBWI conference together since then. She has a new book coming out, but I'll let her tell you about it...

And between Cesya, Shannon, Alissa and myself, it looks like there will be plenty of exciting books coming out. Stay tuned!

Char

Counting Down and Adding Up...

This is my little author tree in my office.

 See the owl ornament on top, the squirrel in the middle and bottom, and the acorn toward the right? Those were all gifts from Nat, in 'honor' of my middle grade novel, Evolution Revolution: Simple Machines (languishing in publishing purgatory). The swan was also from Nat for Sirenz Back In Fashion. The diamond ring in the blue box I bought for Sirenz Back In Fashion.

From another view:

(You can see the ring ornament better.) The two bells are because I play in two, sometimes three bell choirs in my church. I love music, but since my jaw surgery, I can't sing in the choir or play violin in our Festival Orchestra. :( But I have my bells. The red shoe (fabulous!) I bought myself for the debut of Sirenz. Down at the bottom left, there's a Barbie ornament from Nat that is a fashion window that lights up! That was for when we were working on Sirenz, dreaming of the day when we'd be published. The little pink tree under the bells has little ornaments of....shoes! :) I think the hubs bought that one, but I can't remember. The feather is for Sirenz Back In Fashion, from Nat. (You'll have to read the book to understand the significance, along with the ring box.) Underneath you might be able to see my dragon and wizard ornaments (I have a small collection, and a story to go with them).

One more view:

Yep, another squirrel and red shoe ornament. People understand I have this obsession with ornaments and Christmas--both have to mean something. You can't see it, but there are two other ornaments that don't really show up in the pictures: a bronze ornament at the top, underneath the star, depicting the Holy Family, and a Nativity scene underneath the tree which was hand carved in the Holy Land. It's a reminder for me to keep the holidays in perspective. No matter how much success I have, or don't have, not even my little tree is all about me. There are bigger things, like the meaning of the holiday.

So for all you traveling for Christmas, Channukah, the Solstice, the New Year, please be careful, be kind, be generous, be the kind of person you dream you can be.

Holiday Blessings,

Char

What I DIDN'T Get Out of NaNoWriMo

I got my little award certificate for reaching the goal of 50,000+ words (actually 51,115) in 28 days.What didn't come with the award certificate?

A complete draft. 50,000 is probably about 3/4s of my book, tentatively titled Lethal Dose. It's a sci-fi, which tend to be longer than other genres except high fantasy. So I'm not done. I figure I have another 25,000 -35,000 words to write.

A perfect manuscript ready to go out. Notwithstanding the manuscript being incomplete, this draft is so rough I would be embarrassed to have my name on it if it went out now. My main character, Adara, is now a guy named Dalen. (Adara became the little sister). Guys think differently so I'm going to have to reword some of the dialogue and inner thoughts. (As if I understood how males think in the first place. My life, surrounded by the males in my house, would be simpler if I did.) I know there are gaps in time- hard to keep track of the days when I'm writing as fast as I can to meet a goal. Accuracy and fine details aren't in the queue. Some scenes will need to be deleted entirely, others reworked.

Pressure. There was no pressure from liaisons to pony up each day to meet my quota of blood, sweat and words, which was good since I missed a large chunk of time from Superstorm Sandy and had to play catch up (which makes me even prouder. Don't I deserve a special golden certificate, for achieving goal under fire?) Not once did I get an email or flag when I visited the NaNoWriMo site to update my count that I was seriously behind a lot of other people across the globe. There was no shame, just little emails from both pubbed writers and facilitators with pick me ups and encouragement in a special mailbox if I wanted to read them. Sometimes I did out of curiosity, but let's face it, I'm anal enough that I'll finish the ms even if it probably should be scrapped. I can't leave unfinished business.

A offer of a contract. I've already told you that the ms is both unfinished and in rough shape. I didn't go into this insanity (50,000 words when you have Halloween clean-up, Thanksgiving prep& dinner, then Christmas prep to do- who in a normal frame of mind would even consider doing this? But obviously enough crazy people do.) thinking that editors will soon be begging me to consider offers, and deluging my agent with promises and gifts. NaNo doesn't work like that. You're on your own to create a work and where it goes after that is up to you; no one is waiting anxiously on the sidelines while you bring up your word count.

The feeling of abandonment. On December 1, our little Central Jersey group had a gathering at the Bridgewater Library. There was candy (to help bring up our blood sugar from having skipped some meals to make it under the wire no doubt), camaraderie as we shared our triumphs and trials, and continuity as we talked about taking our ms or our writing to the next level, and looking ahead to next year. Not once was anyone left out as talk turned from individuals to the group to the organization. The municipal liaisons (as our heroic leaders are called) talked about opportunities for leadership, organizing write-ins (our group had numerous ones), and possibly adding more chapters in the Central Jersey area. If anyone felt abandoned, it was through no fault of others.

Overall, I didn't get coddled, but I got support. Writing is a solo sport, even if it's done in a group. So will I do NaNoWriMo next year? If I don't have a deadline looming, if I'm not out promoting Sirenz or Blonde Ops, or jetting to Hollywood to talk movie deal (as if). So yeah, I think it's a good way to jump start a new project.


Char