A little revision tip

Recently I wrote about how going through first pass pages causes me to catch things I hadn't previously caught because there is something about reading the manuscript more like a book that makes my brain sit up and take notice.

Author Melissa Wyatt commented that she always prints out her manuscript in a style similar to first pass pages for this very reason. What a great idea!! Why didn't I think of this before??

So, I thought I'd try this. In case you'd like to as well, here is what I did:

In Word, go to Format, then Columns, and select TWO.

Then go to File, then Page Setup, and select LANDSCAPE.

I also chose to single space it, to save on paper (It went from 171 pages to like 97 or something). And then I have hard page breaks after every chapter ends.

Here's how it looks, in case you're interested:




So this is my task this week - to go through the manuscript and read it like a book, and see what things pop out at me. Fun, fun!!

A Friday Five

1. A beautiful day here today. After school and work, we'll have dinner and then go to the high school football game. I love high school football! The senior across the street made a touchdown last week. It's so fun to have someone to cheer for!!

2. Looking through my 10th graders syllabuses (syllabi?) I am a little overwhelmed just looking at it all. Quarter 1 in Lit and Comp, for example, will be elements of Political Protest Literature. They'll also be learning Greek roots. I think school has changed a lot in the past 25 years.

3. I woke up at 4 am and instantly my mind went to my kids and my worries for them and my struggles to be the kind of parent I know I should be but fall short most of the time. I have to remind myself constantly - one day at a time, one day at a time. Do the best you can, one day at a time. That's all anyone can do, right?

4. I am struggling with a scene in my WIP. I want it to really say something and be a scene that people remember. The hard part, I think, is sometimes it's the little things that make people remember a scene. It's the the underlying emotion or the little details that come like magic from somewhere unexpected. I think I may be trying too hard. I may need to step back and try again, see if the magic will come in some other way. Writing is definitely an art, not a science, yes?

5. Want to smile? Want to see a real, live miracle? Go here. (L, hope you don't mind. :) )

On a day like today, I think it's important to look around and remember, there is so much good. If we focus on the bad, let the bad take over our lives, the bad guys win. So today, look for the good. Do something good for someone else if you can.

Have a great weekend all!

An author's thoughts on the value of Twitter

I know there are still a lot of people who don't get it. And many who don't want to go there because it seems like it could be a giant time suck.

I've been tweeting for a few months now, and thought I'd share my thoughts, as well as a very smart editor's thoughts, about how this social network is good for an author.

First of all, I should say that because I work a day job, I can't be on twitter and probably am not on twitter as much as most authors.

But the the great thing about twitter is you can pop on for a few minutes, reply to a few tweets, post something, and pop off. Later, I can go back and check if I had any replies to my tweet, and respond if I want to.

So why twitter?

I really think this is social networking at its best, if you use it correctly.

You can reach a whole bunch of people in a matter of seconds - to share good news, to point people to a blog post, to ask a question... The list is endless. And, if people see that you have something great going on, they will retweet your tweet (with a RT at the beginning, followed by what you tweeted), which means you have reached even MORE people.

Do some people use it like a giant chat room? Yes. Do you have to use it that way? No, not if you don't want to. Sometimes I get into a conversation with someone, and that's fun though. And there are scheduled chats that go on, like the weekly #kidlitchat that happens every Tuesday evening, I believe.

Author and Twitter Guru Mitali Perkins does this great thing called #bookbday. It's a tweet on a book's release that gives the title, the genre, the publisher, the author, and a link to somewhere that gives you info about the book and shows the cover.

People retweet these book birthday party posts like crazy, and you just never know who might click on the link and hear about your book for the first time.

I want to sum up this post with some words from the very wise editor Molly O'Neill, who answered some marketing questions over at Shelli's fabulous blog - Market My Words. If you haven't read the interview yet, it's AWESOME, and you should read it in its entirety.

I'm going to paraphrase here, because you should go and read the interview, but basically she said, by participating in social networking sites, WE ARE REMINDING PEOPLE WE EXIST. We are reinforcing the connection we established at some point, and this is how we build relationships.

Yes, writing a good book is the most important thing for an author. But it is so competitive out there, and I think whatever we can do to build relationships with librarians, booksellers, readers, other authors, etc. is very important. Twitter gives us an opportunity to connect with people, even if only for a few minutes a day.

I'm sure I've missed some other valuable reasons. Anything you'd add, twitter users???

My kids make me laugh

First day of school today!

Last night, the youngest boy's status update on Facebook was:

"sigh... i just took my last shower of the summer... i made it as relaxing as possible..."

=)

Happy Labor Day!

This morning, I stood at the stove, flipping pancakes for the youngest boy, trying not to notice all the dirt on my kitchen floor, when my mind drifted back to some of the blog posts I had just read.

Posts about Kate Messner's launch party and book signing for THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z, and the people who traveled there to see her, plus the amazing bookstores, The Flying Pig and Bookstore Plus, who hosted Kate.

Posts about Kristy Dempey's book signing for ME WITH YOU and the people who traveled there to see her, plus the incredible bookstore, Hooray For Books, who hosted Kristy.

Posts about the Decatur Book Festival, the many authors who participated, and the people who traveled there to see them, plus the awesome bookstore, The Little Shop of Stories, that provided the books.

As I thought about these posts, the people in them, and the amazing books the reason for them, I got teary! And then I realized I had burnt the pancakes. It's okay. I always make extra batter.

I love our community. It's the people who have such passion for what we do that make this job of ours so much fun.

This Labor Day, when we are supposed to take pause and rest from our work, I am grateful for the day off from my day job so I can labor at the one I really love.

Thanks for being such a big part of this amazing, frustrating, heart-warming and at times, heart-breaking, writerly job!

I am confident, hear me roar (or perhaps meow)

I am not a very confident writer. I know doubt much better than I know confidence.

I don't want to be like this, I promise you. And some of you are probably going to think - this should not be happening to you, Lisa, and you have the power to change it. But I don't know - is the ability to believe in yourself a switch you can turn on and off, just like that? I don't think it is, but maybe some of you think differently. If so, please share, and tell me how do it!

Quite a few authors I admire seem to be fairly confident in their abilities, so I know it's possible to be a writer AND to be confident.

But here's what I've been really thinking about as it relates to this confidence issue:

If I'm not confident in my abilities as a writer, are readers going to want to read my books?

Let's say I have a serious health condition, and I need to have surgery to try and correct said serious health condition. If I go to a surgeon and he doesn't appear confident in his abilities to do that surgery, guess what? I'm going to another doctor!!!

The doubt probably makes me work extra hard, and I'm hoping with time, I can replace the doubt with confidence. The old saying – practice makes perfect comes to mind.

And in thinking about those doubts, often times, it's me comparing my writing to other books out there. I've talked about this before, and of course I know I shouldn't be doing this. In fact, Cheryl Renee Herbsman had a great post about this yesterday, and I love her phrase to remind herself to be happy with who she is - Don't be the clown.

When people pick up a Lisa Schroeder book, they aren't expecting a book by anyone else. My name is on the front, right? So I need to stop stressing that it's not as good as this book or that book or whatever.

Anyway, in thinking about all of this, I've realized it's probably best to keep the doubts to myself. I mean, I can't imagine that doctors don't have doubts. Or teachers. Or airplane pilots. They all must have doubts some days. But they've learned it doesn't do any good to share those doubts with the world. And in fact, it can even hurt their career to do so. And perhaps those authors I admire so much DO have doubts, they have just learned their readers really don't want to hear about them.

Therefore, let me go on record as saying:

You are really going to want to read my YA novel, CHASING BROOKLYN, coming out in four short months. It’s a ghost story told from two points of view, Nico and Brooklyn. A book told in multiple points of view is not easy to write. But guess what? I think I did a damn good job.

(how'd I do?)

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm feeling thankful for:

1) a really nice summer. Even though I feel like I worked through most of it, I still managed to do a lot - Disney World, a 4th of July stay at the beach, Chicago and LA. Plus the little things I love about summer, like fresh peaches and strawberries, blackberry pie, walking the dog many a warm night as the sun sets, etc.

2) a rainy forecast for the 3-day weekend, which will allow me to work on the WIP, and hopefully find that new ending I'm still looking for.

3) some good news my Aladdin editor sent me last week about IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES.

4) the people who buy my books and tell their friends about them.

5) the anticipation of new book babies going out into the world next year.

6) an amazing TBR pile that makes me thankful to be a part of the awesome kidlit world.

7) You. Yes YOU!

Happy Thursday!