Unagented Again

I hate to make people wait. The thought that someone has put some aspect of their life on hold for me, while I do whatever it is they're waiting for me to do, feels burdensome. I realized last week that I've been carrying that feeling around with me for a long time and it was getting heavy. Maybe I didn't know it then, but now that it's gone, I feel lighter.

I've had an agent for many years. I remember the day he took me on as a client. I couldn't believe it. I was ecstatic. It was the next best thing to selling a manuscript. And I bought into the myth that landing an agent is almost harder than landing a publishing contract, something that agented (but unpublished) writers like to believe. I loved that myth, too. It made me feel better, somehow, like all I had to do now was back-pedal a little, the hardest part was over. I don't know how many times I said to people, "Oh, yeah, it's actually harder to get an agent." It was a cocky thing to say. But it fit the way I was feeling. And then, to top it off, I would add, "He's in New York.". I think I said it so many times over the years that I started to convince myself I was almost done.

After a third rewrite of a third novel my agent began waiting. He was waiting for the fourth novel that I promised him I was half finished with. I've been half finished with it for years. And I knew he was waiting for me to be done because I was waiting for me to be done. Every week that I didn't write, I knew we were both waiting. I guess he finally decided he'd waited long enough. I don't blame him. I know how he felt.

We had some success. My rejections were, for the most part, great. I had a few requested rewrites of a few novels and each time really believed I'd nailed it. And, although editors "really enjoyed reading Mrs. McDowell's story" and thanked us for letting them, no one ever actually bought it. It takes more than liking, loving, enjoying, admiring to sell your work. It takes something special, at a special point in time. And it's all hard.

So, my life as an agented writer is over. Though I'd expected to be as devastated at the end as I was ecstatic at the beginning, I'm actually fine with it. I have the freedom to do with my work as I please, which may be something fun and exciting or nothing at all. But at least I know no one is waiting. And that feels good.

Fran McDowell

Symbiosis of Inspiration

As I drove down our winding country road this weekend, I happened to look over at one of my favorite scenes.  Our farmer neighbor, Sam, plants his corn in alternating arcs of corn and grass that follow the concave sweep of the hillside. Filling in the acres next to the field is a stand of hardwoods, carefully managed by another neighbor. It takes my breath away at various times of the year; the color, the curve, a seemingly perfect symbiosis of nature and man’s attendant touch.  As I drove past and glanced at the swaths of cornstalk remnants, I saw the hand of nature once again working in harmony with man’s pursuit. A flock of Canada geese, two hundred, maybe more, had stopped for a respite and a meal. They would clean the field of fallen kernels before continuing their flight south. On another day, when my thoughts were on doing, rather than creating, I might have seen the geese, smiled and looked at the clock on my dash. Instead, I stopped the car, got out, and sat in the field to watch, knowing that the scene will be repeated in my writing, somewhere, sometime ( maybe this is it). As I listened to the soft honks warning of my presence among them, it occurred to me how often I am inspired to write by what I see, but, also, how I am inspired to see because I write. And how, when the cycle engages itself, it is incredibly satisfying .

The idea for a new novel bloomed suddenly in my mind last week. I’m excited and grateful. It has awakened me. For months I’ve been laboring over, and worrying about, a new ending for an old novel. When I finally completed it, the relief was tremendous. I can now move on. Not only is it exciting contemplating the journey of a new story, it’s also exciting because I know that I will be seeing, hearing, feeling more intently. The whole creative process will awaken me, connect me to my world, and make me more cognizant.

Today is rainy grey, the perfect inspiration for a new first paragraph. I’m going for a walk in the woods, but not before I light the logs in the fireplace and slip a tray of slivered acorn squash into the oven. When I return, I’ll settle in front of the fire with my computer and a plate of the salty-sweet squash, and begin to create the world of a young boy named Ansel . Hopefully, I will bring to life a world as lush with color, aroma, and texture as my own world is now.  
   

Roasted  Slivered Acorn Squash

Use any type of squash. My favorite is acorn, however butternut also works well.

Wash the squash well, as you will eat the skin. Cut the squash in half (this is the hardest part) and scoop out the seeds.  

Lay the cut side down against a cutting surface and slice into ¾ inch pieces.

Put slices in a large bowl and toss with olive oil. Then lay them side by side on a cookie sheet.

Sprinkle each piece with a little sea salt, a little brown sugar, and, if you like, a green herb such as thyme or rosemary (my favorite).

Roast at 425 for 30 to 40 minutes, until they look slightly caramelized. Slip off tray with a spatula and eat. Yum.

Will E-readers Destroy the Novel?

"Amazon's going to ruin the Novel," Dear Boy said yesterday.

I looked up from my laptop, where I had begun to suspect I was ruining my own novel, without any help from Amazon. "How?"

"The Kindle offers free samples," DB said. "So the opening will make or break the sale. This will totally warp the way authors open their novels." 

"But that's how I shop for novels already. Especially with authors I haven't read before. I read the first page. Sometimes only the first paragraph."

Dear Boy looked shocked. As if I'd confessed a new secret vice. (He already knows about my old secret vice: compulsive revising.)

"Well, how do you shop?" I challenged him.

"I guess I read the first page. But after that I riffle through the book."

"You riffle."

"I riffle. I think most people riffle."

"Agents and publishers don't riffle!" I crowed. "At one of the SCBWI conferences, an agent told us that if page 1 doesn't grab her, she doesn't read page 2. She can't afford the time. She always has something like 3,000 submissions in her email in-box."

"They just read the opening?"

"Yep. The agent recommended that kidlit authors put an active scene—in dialogue—on the first page of every novel. So books are already being sold or not sold, based on first pages."

"The Novel of Tomorrow: a smashing opening, followed by a long downhill slide," DB muttered darkly. "Soon people will realize that the only part worth reading is the free sample. We'll only read openings. We won't read anything we have to pay for." And he sat down and opened his Kindle.

"What are you reading now?" I asked.

"HEART OF DARKNESS."

"How does that open?"

"Doesn't matter. The classics are free on Amazon." 

What think you? Do Novels open differently nowadays? Must they? Is there a book you love whose opening would fail today? What opening recently sold you on a book? And how many of you really, truly riffle? 

Here are three openings (by authors I had not previously read) that recently made me buy the whole novel. (Guess the publication dates. Answers will appear in my next post.) "It wasn't there. Then it was.  Later, that was how Angela DuPre would describe the airplane—over and over, to one investigator after another—until she was told never to speak of it again."

"I was not the first girl she saw, nor the second, and as to why she chose me, I know that now: it was because she did not like me."

"When the doorbell rings at three in the morning, it's never good news."

And here are three oldies-but-goodies that had me at hello:

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents."

"The bear had been their undoing, though at the time they had all laughed."

And my all-time favorite: "'Where's Papa going with that ax?'"

The Best Laid Plans

Back in high school, you wouldn’t have caught me dead at a high school football game on a Friday night. If an event didn’t involve art, theater or female songwriters, it didn't interest me. Who knew that several decades later you’d find me in the bleachers. Why?

            My daughter joined the marching band. 

            She's a member of the Guard, the team of girls who wave colorful flags in glorious, swirling precision to the music. Last month she asked if we could host one of the dinners held before the home games. 

As a YA writer, I was thrilled. Here was a golden opportunity to talk to 17 high-school girls about what novels they love to read. I had the whole thing planned – over a hearty meal I’d ask about their favorite books, talk about characters they loved, discuss beloved authors – and I'd write up the results for this blog.

            "No," my daughter said. "Bad idea." She tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen. The girls flew in, did their hair and makeup, gossiped about boys, chattered like, well, high schoolers, ate, grabbed their treat bags and flew back out the door to get to the school by Report Time. I'd have been too busy pouring drinks and setting out dishes to participate even if there was time and interest.

            Research plans, like life, don't always go the way you hope. 

            While I didn't get to talk to the entire team, four of the Guard Girls were visiting a few nights later and talked with me about their favorite books. When I asked them about some of my favorite YA novels like Looking for Alaska and Thirteen Reasons Why, they said they'd read them, but none of them ranked those books with their top picks, which surprised me. Other award-winners were mentioned. Here's their list:

The Harry Potter series (2 & 6 were special favorites), by J.K. Rowling

Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale

A Great & Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray

Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie and Scott Gustafson 

Angus, Thongs and Full- Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, by Louise Rennison

Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie

Nancy Drew Series: Secret of Shadow Ranch & The Secret of the Old Clock, by Carolyn Keene

            Isn't it interesting that the older classics popped up? Not the 'results' that I was expecting – but that's why I make myself do research even if it's something I dread (like calling that scientist about water analysis equipment for the story I’m working on).

            What was expected was a good meal for the party. If you're going to feed teens who report for duty at 5:15 pm and won't be done until 11:00 pm, you want to serve food they'll eat instead of push around their plates. Ilene, another mom and a great cook, teamed up with me and made lots of the food. The girls loved the dinner.

Here's our menu and a recipe.

Spinach lasagna

Baked Squash (with egg, flour, sugar & cinnamon)

Raw broccoli salad with cashews, sunflower seeds & cran-raisins (this was wonderful, too bad I forgot to pull it out of the refrigerator and serve it!)

Green salad with cherry tomatoes & feta cheese

Cornflake Chicken

Brownies & crisped rice treats

Recipe for Cornflake Chicken

(The coating keeps the chicken incredibly moist)

• 2 cups cornflakes, pulverized in a food processor or crushed in a sealable plastic bag, but not crushed to the consistency of flour. A mix of small chunks and fine crumbs make a crunchier coating.
• ½ cups grated Parmesan cheese (if I use Kraft's, I skip the salt)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper if you want
• 3-4 lbs of chicken – I use boneless breasts cut in half or thirds to make smaller pieces. Reminds the kids of XL chicken nuggets.
• 2-3 eggs

Oven: preheat to 350 degrees F.

• Line a couple 13x9 baking pans with foil and spray with cooking spray (I like canola oil).
• In one shallow bowl, beat the eggs with a fork. Mix the cornflake crumbs, parmesan cheese and spices in baggie, then pour some of this mixture into a second shallow bowl.
• Dip the chicken pieces in the egg, then roll/coat all sides in the cornflake mix (refill bowl as needed). Place in the prepared baking pan. Don't let the pieces touch. When finished, I like to lightly spray the chicken with some more cooking spray, but that's optional.
• Bake for 1 hour, without turning. Chicken will be crispy, golden and delicious.

If you're not cooking for a crowd, cut down the recipe. Use drumsticks or other bone-in chicken pieces if you prefer, just pierce the skin and make sure the juices run clear to test for doneness. If you have leftover cornflake crumbs, seal up the bag and keep it in the refrigerator for the next time.       

Hope your friends/family/guests enjoy!

Cheers, Jenny

NanoWriMo, Butt-in-Chair and More: Tools to Get You to Just Finish Your Novel

We're kicking off this blog with a month of posts about novels. I have to confess I had my doubts about being the debut poster on this topic, because although I love novels and although I've even had three several-hundred page nonfiction books published (as well as assorted picture books), I've never actually managed to finish any of the half dozen novels I've started.

For anyone out there who's like me, I'm here to tell you about some of the tools/tricks I'm using right now to help me finish at least one of them. Though maybe you should take them with a grain of salt until I actually get a first draft completed...

• NaNoWriMo November, in case you've been avoiding all writing-related sites recently, is National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is an unbelievably cool idea/organization: you write a 50,000 word novel. In a month. Yes, 30 days. From scratch. For those of you who also hated math in school, this works out to 1,667 words a day, which may not sound bad, but is in fact a lot of words if you are really good at distracting yourself with trips to the refrigerator, trips to the bathroom, trips to the coffeemaker, more trips to the bathroom, and oh, heck, even trips to the laundry room. Fortunately, if you go to the nanowrimo site and sign up, you get tons of emails inspiring, encouraging, nagging, scolding you, etc. until you get your daily quota done (and post it on their counter thing). 
• Not much of a joiner, you say? November's a terrible month for you? Want to keep working on something you already started? No worries. You can: a) do nanowrimo unofficially (like I'm doing with my son - we nag each other with no need for gobs of emails); or b) you can do a mini version (set your own target word count or write a picture book or something); or c) you can join one of the Plan B groups, like the janowrimo people, who go through a similar process in different months, not even just January; or d) cheat, and pretend you just started, which will make those first few days very easy, but the last ones super tough. 
• BIC HOK TAM This is a mnemonic I first heard about at a writing conference years ago - and it remains the most effective tool I know for successful writing. It stands for: Butt-In-Chair; Hands-On-Keyboard; Typing-Away-Madly. And in the end, it's the only thing that works. To remind myself to settle in and work, I decorated my writing chair (shown above) with buttons, making it a button chair. Get it? Hilarious I know. (I was nice and spared you a view of my butt in the button chair.) Here's a close up:

• It is about the easiest craft ever. Find some spare buttons or cut them off the shirt of your worst enemy (preferably when he isn't wearing it). Grab a hot glue gun. Apply dots of glue to the chair and stick the buttons on (dot, stick; dot, stick - the hot glue sets up quickly). Don't worry about being all arty about it - just get it done. That will put you in the right frame of mind.
•  Yoga I'm not much of a New Age-y person, but I've got to say yoga is great for stressed out writers. It teaches you to focus, helps you work out the kinks from sitting in your button chair too long, and reduces the stress you feel from trying to beat the nanowrimo deadline. If you're prone to carpal tunnel or other desk jockey ailments, I strongly recommend the great exercises to prevent repetitive stress injury you can find at My Daily Yoga.
• A Tree House

Okay, not strictly necessary. But a place where you can get away from your every day responsibilities and people looking over your shoulder is a big help. A couple years ago, I took over my kids' old treehouse playhouse, painted it, added curtains and some nice furnishings from my neighbors' trash (yep - even the Oriental rug, which is in better shape than some of the rugs in my house, came from the trash), and got the electrician to run wiring to it when he was here fixing some other stuff, and now I have the perfect writing get away, when the weather cooperates. Which it magically is this week!

Of course, when all else fails, there's always the inspiration/reward of chocolate. Preferably Linder's Dark Chocolate with a Touch of Sea Salt...

How about you? Anyone else have great ideas for a kick in the button chair?