I was tagged by Nina for this. I rarely do memes but since I don’t have anything else more useful to post on my blog today, here it goes!

Here are the rules:

Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
Go to line 7
Copy down the next seven lines as they are – no cheating
Tag 7 other authors

It’s not much taken out of context, but this is from Exactly Where They’d Fall page 77, one of Amelia’s chapters:

She [Piper] wanted to switch tents so she could bunk with Tom, which left Amelia only men to bunk with, most of them being strangers – liberal and forward-thinking as Amelia might have been, that was just not going to work. But there was also Drew. “Come on, it’s Drew,” Piper said. “You guys are friends. He’s not going to assault you or anything.” She paused then, a very serious consideration, nodding her head. “He might dream about you naked though.”

He he. That’s the start of one of my favorite scenes in the book!

And also, I don’t like tagging people. It makes me feel icky, lol! I don’t want anyone to not be tagged and feel left out. So if you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged! And post a link here in the comments if you do one, so I can read it!

With the indie author hat comes a great responsibility. If you have the power to bring any words you want to the world, then you shoulder the WHOLE responsiblity of making sure they’re the best words you have to give.

Self publishing is not the easy way out. Sure, it *can* be easy if you’re doing it wrong – and yes, lots of people will do it wrong – but to do it right takes a great deal of self-discipline (even more self-discipline than it takes to publish traditionally, since the only deadlines and bars set for you will be your own). It takes a lot of stubborn-headed persistence and a little bit of idealistic hope.

And maybe some insanity too.

But most of all it takes the responsibility to know when something is ready, or when it’s not. (more…)

Need to do some edits… pour coffee #1, might as well get Tumblr, Pinterest, and Facebook out of the way… coffee #2, okay now work, chapter 4.2, read it, one scene, push a few commas around… what’s the weather like out there? (wouldn’t know because I haven’t even opened the blinds yet today – haven’t gotten out of my robe yet either)… oh, edits *clicks back to manuscript*… read a chapter that is not 4.2, push around different commas… could at least work on some blog posts, stare at them, push some commas around… *song on the TV* oh hey, I like that, wonder if it’s on iTunes?… somehow magically end up on FLICKR swiping pictures that look like Leila, who is not even really IN THIS BOOK… WRONG BOOK!… coffee #3, chapter 4.2, stare at it, stare at revision notes, revision notes look like a big brick wall with holes in it… maybe feeling more visually artistic today, think about painting something instead, go to art space… art space is near the kitchen… make lunch… pour coffee #4, get stuck rereading chapter 2.5 – oh yes, that one is still my favorite, that one doesn’t even need much work at all… unlike 4.2, which is DEFINITELY not my favorite… get on Twitter to complain… contemplate coffee #5 but probably shouldn’t… feel bad about having not gone out for a walk on such a sunny day… child is coming home in an hour… read chapter 4.2 again, note two more things that need fixing but actually fix nothing… the big brick wall is infinitely big… push around a couple more commas… have complained enough on Twitter so decide to complain into a blog post instead.

At least the blog is updated?

If you remember back in this post, I promised a “part 2″ to my self-publishing mini-series, and yes, that’s still coming. First though, I need to retreat to my editing cave. I’m passing off my final, FINAL draft to my proof-readers NEXT WEEK! (OMG, right?) We’re like, almost there, people!

I could panic just thinking about it, which is why I’m trying not to think about it too hard, lol!

I’ve finally uploaded the rest of my Traverse City pics from last summer – the deep blue waves, the sand so white you can just tell it would be so warm and smooth between your toes. They’re very relaxing to look at, so go check those out!

So, for now, I have a guest coming to my blog tomorrow! Jenna Anderson will be here, and it’ll be my very first time hosting a visitor on my little corner of the internet, so I hope you’ll all stop by to say hello and make her feel very welcome.

Then on Friday, I’m going to start my preview series for Exactly Where They’d Fall, and you’ll get to read the whole first chapter for free! I’m going to try out Scribd for reading. Seems like a really nice reading and sharing platform. And from there, if you don’t want to read it online, I believe you can download it as a PDF and read it on your e-reader! Or hey, print it on paper too if you want!

The preview series will be the first five chapters of the book, one of them posted (for free!) every Friday leading up to Release Day!

Also, I’m not sure if it goes without saying or not, but in the weeks to come, with the preview series, or any blog entries of substance, and on Release Day of course, I would appreciate any and all sharing or FB liking or reblogging or retweeting you might feel like doing. It’s a big job, and I’m one little woman. I feel stupid and cheesy typing “PLS RT” after every Tweet or whatever, so I won’t, but just know that if you do, I’ll love you forever and ever and ever!

So if you don’t see me much on Twitter or Facebook or wherever these next couple weeks, you’ll know what I’m up to. After I get this proofing draft out to my very gracious proofreaders, I’ll have some more time for blogging again, and I’ll follow up with that “part 2″ of the self-publishing series. And making other fun goodies for Release Day, like bookmarks and key chains!

But for now, into the editing cave with me! Deep breath and think of a happy place…

This is not going to be a post about what I think you should do – you’re the only one who can answer that for you – but this is a post about what I’ve decided to do, and why. It seems, since we all have these choices now, people feel inclined to vocalize what choices they’ve made. It’s become something akin to mommy wars – bottle feeding or breast, working or stay-at-home – which isn’t always a good thing. It splits us more often than it unites us. Has there ever been a time authors have been so split? Indie on one side, traditional on the other?

In any case, we feel inclined to talk about the choices we make, and that’s what I’m doing here. It’s something big and exciting for me – the most exciting change in my life since I became a mom. It is like becoming a mom all over again, the anticipation of launching my paper baby in a few more weeks. Less diaper-changing required, though paper babies do oddly require middle-of-the-night feedings sometimes.

the indie author hat:

It’s sort of funny how the industry has changed in just the twelve months since I first drafted this post. (And now you’re thinking: Who the hell keeps a blog draft hanging around for twelve months?!? Well, I do, lol!) When I first drafted this post, it was February last year. A little bird whispered the idea of indie publishing in my head – that bird was my friend Nina, so if you want to blame someone, I guess you can blame her. (more…)

It’s shocking to me how little I’ve managed to say publicly about this book so far, especially when I used to say so much about previous projects. I have my reasons – gun-shy about all those half-written books I didn’t finish (yet), which made me worry I’d never finish a project. That I was incapable.

I’m not incapable, I know now. I just had to find “the right one”, catch the right timing. Everything is kind of like dating, you know?

I’ve also got a great group of girls to babble to about it in private, and I find that’s a much safer option in the early stages of a project.

All that said, I can’t really say this book is in its infancy anymore. If a book was like a child, it wouldn’t even be a snotty pre-schooler, or a moody middle-schooler who thinks she knows everything. It might be a high schooler, that I’ve taught everything I know, and that I’m about to ship out into the real world, ready to stand on her own two legs. Oh how I hope she’ll make me proud! (Okay, that analogy is spent.)

Exactly Where They’d Fall is about many things: friendship, love, betrayal, trust. It’s the story of a group of friends – mainly Jodie, Drew, and Amelia – and what loyalties they owe to each other, or don’t. (more…)

I made it outside a couple weeks ago just in time to snap a few fall pictures before the colors were gone for good. Now it’s December, and freezing outside, and we’ve put up our Christmas tree.

Wow, how did that happen?

A rhetorical question, of course, because I know how it happened – I’ve been working! I’ve been in my writing cave, revising up my third draft, and sending it happily on to my editor and another beta reader.

Oh, have I mentioned that I’ve hired a real and actual editor? Because I did! And I’m going to be setting up accounts with printers in these coming weeks. (I’m planning to use Lightning Source, for those curious.) And I’ve started an expense folder for my tax deductions. (I think I might need an actual accountant this year, rather than TurboTax.com, lol!) This is turning into a real operation here, folks!

I’ve also started work on my book cover. There’s a peek of the working draft of it – front and back – over on my FB author page. I’ve also made Exactly Where They’d Fall its own book page, and you can see a smaller peek of it there too. The final, official book cover image will not be very different from this – just some minor tweaks I want to make. But I’ll post it here, and make a very loud and official fuss over it when it’s finished!

I’m also planning a small refresh for this website – OMG, why didn’t anyone tell me how pink it was!?!

(No, I don’t mind the pink, sometimes, but I’m bored of it now.)

Also, every fall, somehow we always manage to get sick for the whole span of mid-September through mid-November. All those little kids and back-to-school germs, and before we know it, it’s December. It’s sort of shocking how short a time the fall colors last – just a couple weeks. We managed to sneak outside for a minute, in between colds and revisions, and see all the colors before they were over. Before they all turned brown and fell, to decompose and become worm food.

(click through for more fall pics, 6 in total)

So that’s what I’ve been doing. What have you guys been up to?

Have you ever written a stalker protagonist before? My friends and I were talking about this this evening, and they helped me compile a list of some more twisted love songs.

Yes, I’ve written one. A short story. Her name is Lynn, she likes to jog (past people’s houses…), lol!

Also pasting the list here. There were some songs not available on Grooveshark, and also, Grooveshark likes to delete songs over time, so here’s a static list for reference:

“Meg White” by Ray LaMontagne
“Every Breath You Take” by The Police
“Olive Grove Facing the Sea” by Snow Patrol
“Possession” by Sarah McLachlan
“Lily” by Smashing Pumpkins
“Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran
“I Put a Spell on You” by Creedence Clearwater Revival
“Love Letter” by Bonnie Raitt
“The Blower’s Daughter” by Damien Rice
“I Will Posses Your Heart” by Death Cab For Cutie
“#1 Crush” by Garbage
“Creep” by Radiohead
“Possum Kingdom” by the Toadies
“Watching Alice” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
“One Way or Another” by Blondie
“Stan” by Eminem

Happy writing! Or not so happy, depending on whose point of view you’re writing it from!

This was a really good post, by Jane Roper over at Grub Street Daily: What is women’s fiction, and what does it mean to be a “women’s fiction” writer?

This part struck the feminist in me particularly hard:

As best I can tell, Women’s Fiction refers to fiction that focuses on the relationships and emotional lives of women, and that is marketed to and read almost exclusively by women. The large majority of these books are also written by women, although there are some male authors of so-called women’s fiction (Nicholas Sparks comes to mind.)

Likewise, books that focus primarily on the relationships and emotional lives of men, whether written by men or women, are called Men’s Fiction.

Just kidding. They’re not. They’re called fiction. And they’re marketed to and read by both men and women.

As a soon-to-be indie author, I won’t get the freedom of letting someone make this decision for me. I don’t get to pass the “sell-out” buck to my publishers, and claim that “Oh, I hate the terminology too, but you know, my publishers get to make that decision.” Nope, I am my publisher. So whether my books are marketed as “women’s fiction” or “chick-lit” or something else is entirely my decision alone. I do have to say, there would be some strong advantages to having a clear-cut divide between the author’s personal ethics and the publisher’s need to market the book in the most effective way possible.

Because you know what? Dammit, women’s fiction and chick-lit SELLS! And it’s a clearly-defined market that I think my book would slot nicely into. As a feminist, this puts me in a sticky spot though. I could refuse the label (as I’ve often seen Nicholas Sparks do in interviews, lol!), but I don’t want my book to live in obscurity. Being an indie author, I’ll be obscure enough as it is. I’d love to use genre marketing to my advantage, but yes, it does make my skin crawl to call my book “chick-lit”. “Women’s fiction” is slightly better, though still not perfect.

I’m now beginning work on my book’s cover, which I’m quite smitten with the idea of. There is no pink on it, no shoes or dresses or shopping bags either. Not even a cocktail glass. (Though there are definitely some cocktails in the book!) At one point, I thought there might be some hearts on the cover, but no, I’ve decided against it. What there is, if I might be cryptic: hand-made paper stick people and a watercolor painted sunrise. (Really, you’ll just have to see it, lol!) The cover is going to be quirky, a little bit dorky, a little bit more funny, charming (hopefully), and as an undertone, both romantic and deeply sad. And well, that actually captures the mood of the book quite perfectly!

I suppose I’m designing the cover to fall more in line with literary fiction titles, while keeping the fun and emotion-rich sense of women’s fiction. If I want to be honest with myself, the book is probably cross-genre anyway.

I do hope some men might read my book. (There’s no pink on the cover, and quite a lot of blue, so maybe they wouldn’t be too embarrassed to carry it around? And one of my three main POV characters is a man!) But I also imagine many more women will enjoy it. I am quite confident that women who read chick-lit and women’s fiction will *really* enjoy it. Perhaps I don’t agree with what the market has been named, but regardless, it’s one of the markets I’m writing for, a valid market that has a powerful fan base, and I’d be a fool to turn my nose up at them. Not only just a fool, I’d be denying both myself and my readers that special chance to connect with each other.

So, if you write relationship-based fiction, how do you feel about the label? What would you call it instead?

My boy finished his last week of preschool last week. This first year for us – first year of school for him, first year working on anything in a very focused capacity for me – went by sort of unnoticed, I think. We started it, and became immersed in it, and just as soon it was over.

I know it made a big difference for him to be in school. But I spent a lot of the year not feeling like I’d accomplished very much. During the days while he was at school, I’d often find myself on Twitter or blogs. I struggled with the discipline to sit down for those 3-5 solid hours and write for the whole time. For so many years, I’ve trained myself to write in little pockets of time. 20 minutes while he watches a cartoon, or 35 minutes while he’s in the bath, or 15 minutes when some toy has caught his attention, or 45 minutes before bed. So suddenly when I had a stretch of 5 hours uninterrupted, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

I’d like to say I got better at it as the year went on. Maybe I did. It’s hard to measure in any certain capacity. There were days when nothing went according to plan – hubby missed his train and I had to drive him to work, or I had household stuff to do, phone calls to make, errands to run or whatever. There were plenty of days where one, or two, or even all three of us were sick. (Starting school = disease, let me tell you!!!) There were days when one blog after another after another were just so damn interesting that I never got around to the writing, and before I knew it, it was pickup time already. (more…)