For the last month, I've been slogging through first round revisions for my self-dubbed "light and fun" YA contemporary, and it's been hell. The revision process has been so bad I recently had a weekend-long panic attack. While I'm known to tweet/FB things like "Revisions. Grrr...," I'm not opposed to the process. It's an accepted fact of the writer life. So the fact I struggled for breath just thinking about my WIP caused even more anxiety. I didn't think too much into the why of it all but over the last few days I've come to the conclusion that most of my recent tweaking is due to unrealistic expectations I set for myself. Despite what I said publicly , internally I kept my goal of revising this project in 31 days while working the day job and querying and handling life. The truth is, I couldn't. No matter how much I wanted it, I'm a 2-4 month revision girl. Because I set down something I couldn't realistically achieve, ...

As a writer, it's important to um... well, write . This goes without saying. Another important thing is to be all professional and go to a writer's conference. This is a great place to meet other writers, get ideas, and be smart and shit. If you're new to the conference scene, you might be overwhelmed by the amount of things: people, freebies, ideas, agents, and the concept of not wearing pajama bottoms while conducting your writerly self. Fortunately for you, Flippant Girl is here to help. 1. Bring a stenographer. You'll be too busy being in awe of your workshop leaders to take notes. Because you don't want to kick yourself for not doing this, find someone to do the hard work for you. Let them write down the crucial bits while you fangirl/fanboy out over how brilliant so-and-so is. 2. Wear roller skates. With only a few minutes between conference sessions, speedwalking is too slow. Zip through the crowds to get that prime seat for you and your stenographer....

Credit Whereas Thanksgiving is a one-day-a-year phenomena, December through early January is riddled with holidays and holiday parties. If you're not careful, you can sucked into three events in a night. This many parties and dinners will seriously expand your waist. (Trust me, I'm a professional.) Of course, you can be in the opposite boat and not have even have a plan of Chinese and a movie. You might feel that this is worse than being overbooked. Don't worry, we can debate the misconception of that later. Today's all about holiday survival. 1. Drink in abundance. There's a reason why Santa is so jolly and it's not because he's full of good cheer. Embrace the nog, snuggle with schnapps, spike your cocoa. Make a drinking game out of every festivity you attend*. Is someone wearing an ugly sweater? Take a shot. Is there a couple snogging under mistletoe? Chug until said snog is complete. 2. Confuse holidays. Light sparklers and play John Philip So...

I write today's Friday Fives prompt several days in advance from the discomfort of the veterinary emergency room where The White One has caused me and Hubby too much stress in a small amount of time*.  With all this kitty (not to mention Alicia) drama, I am painfully behind my NaNoWriMo word count and each setback like this one is enough for me to tear out all my hair. Right now I just want to get it done and retire into an afghan-making frenzy**. If only there were a way to get this done in an efficiently painless way. There is.

For those not in the know, anxiety is a blanket term that covers everything from phobias to generalized anxiety, so a lot of people suffer from it. Not nearly enough get treated for it*. Anyone who suffers from general anxiety knows that functioning on certain days is difficult enough, but if you get a panic attack? You might as well pack it in for the day and take a nap. It's known that stress triggers anxiety, and what is more stressful than querying**? You're waiting to hear if your manuscript is good enough for Agent A, Agent B, and Agent C. You're creative life is on the line. All your friends have gotten requests and deals and everything and-- You get the picture. Just writing that scenario made my heart spasm. Everything you do is under the srutiny of you. Is it good enough? Are you good enough? No one is going to take you on. Everyone is going to hate it. Your crit group was just being nice. If you get an email back, the heart spams start anew: is this good...

Credit If you're a book person, you already know that this week is Banned Books Week. As a writer and book lover, this is an extremely important week because yours truly believes that censorship is crap. Even High School Alicia and College Alicia didn't like the concept. It's one thing if you personally disagree/dislike/outwardly hate something, but it's totally different when you force your opinion down the throat of everyone around you. (It's not just books that have this problem. Music and film go through the censorship wringer as well, something that sets my teeth on edge.) When you look at the statistics on why books are banned, it's clear what people have a problem most with: sexual content, offensive language, and violence. The top ten reasons for challenging a book can be broken down into seven categories, which you can see on this super awesome pie chart. Information taken from ALA's Challenges By Reason 1990-2010 Chart Sex Almost ...

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday. Today's Topic : How do you beat writer's block? Sometimes I think the ladies at YA Highway read my mind. I'm beginning to burn out from my frantic writing pace for Camp NaNoWriMo* and the other night I started five separate scenes before I found one that I could actually write. I can feel the writer's block creeping upon me. Here are three things I do to trick writer's block into retreating. Free Write. I open up Write or Die and set the timer for at least fifteen minutes. During the free write I examine why I'm blocked, what directions the story can potential go to, and use the word "cheese" or "blah."** Fifteen minutes is usually long enough to clear out whatever is trapped. Exercise. If the free writing doesn't work, an...

When I first started writing, I was totally a pantser. Whatever came to my head in terms of scene, I'd write. While this made for a fun first draft, it proved to be utter shit for my revision process*. As I progressed in my writing, I tried different things. Like plotting something out. Talk about life-changing. My drafting time went from three years to two months. In turn, my revision process went smoother. After years of pantsing, I've become a plotter. This November will mark my second plotter anniversary. With a few years under my belt, I thought it would be nice to give a rundown of what's different between plotters and pantsers. Pantsers... Go into a project with a rough idea. The key here is rough. They might only have a piece of a scene. Work more off of premise. Battling robots might sound awesome, but it's not enough to build a 50,000 word novel. Have more writer's block. They write themselves into a corner and can't figure out how to get ...

We all have those moments where the ideas/words/brilliance don't come. If you're like me, these times when nothing ends up on the page mean a lot of bitchy behavior until the block passes. If you're also like me, you like to expedite that process. The question is how? I've talked about this before , but that was more geared to when your brain entirely too fried to do anything. This is just about getting those juices going. Music. Sometimes a song's lyrics is all I need to get a shiny new idea. In fact, I have a few kicking around the ole noggin that have yet to be developed. Books on craft. Believe it or not, a lot of scene ideas come to me when I'm reading a how to book. When I was revising Phoenix Rising, I was also reading Writing the Breakout Novel. While the things that popped up didn't tie into what I was reading, the nonfiction allowed that other part of my brain to relax from the super tight hold it's usually in. Exercise. Not that I've...

Welcome to the final installment of Task-Setting for Writers. If you missed a week, you can read the previous three weeks here . By now it's been established that we're here because we need help getting everything done that we want to get done. Case in point, this week I spread myself too thin: date night with Hubby, the final meeting of my old crit group, my second meeting of my new one, not to mention some girl time with a bestie. Oh and probably some housework. Notice how I didn't mention anything about writing on that list*. Credit Part Four: Just Say "No" In order to achieve our goals, we have to be selfish. Sometimes. This is harder than it sounds because no one wants to be that way. It comes off sounding terrible and that we're being uncooperative. We want people to be able to rely on us, but while we're being selfless, we forget about our own needs. Coincidentally, the chronicness of saying "yes" to everything creates a lot of s...

Welcome to a new week, Lurkdom! Unfortunately, I don't have a thought-out blog post in mind for today*. What this means for you is that I might just ramble stream-of-consciousness style**. I've been thinking a lot about the different forms of writing space. Not just where I can park my butt, but the space in my brain and also on the page. Space may be the most important tool in the writing arsenal. On the Page Remember reading that dreadfully boring history text so jammed with paragraphs, you could barely jot a note in the margin? Weren't you always exhausted afterward? It's because there was no white space. Large areas of blank page trick our eyes into thinking we're reading less***. Within a Project Seasoned writers will agree: taking a step back from a recent WIP is a good thing. It gives you perspective on what you've done. Time apart also can help figure out that niggling plot point you couldn't quite nail. Wall Space, Desk Space I'm a f...

Welcome to part three of task-setting for writers. You can read weeks one and two here . There are some people out there that totally own the hand-off. My experience shows this happens with managers of some sort who drop the crap tasks on their underlings/interns. But your're not here to discuss my traumatic work history. You're here because you want to know more about task-setting. Part Three: Bargain and Compromise This part should really be called asking for help when you need it. I must admit, I'm having problems writing this post. While I can write a competent task list and do multi-task somewhat efficiently, I'm not good at this bargain and compromise thing. Since Wonder Woman was my idol as a kid, I like to think I can do everything**. The key is to acknowledge you need help. It can be something as miniscule as picking up a book of stamps, but if you know someone nearby who goes to the post office every day***, why can't they pick them up for you? ...

Welcome to part two of task-setting for writers. This will be a weekly feature for the next several weeks. If you're like me, you want to accomplish more things than reasonable during the day: blogs to read, TV watch, peeps to catch up with, that book you want to finish reading, not to mention the gym. This is on top of eight hours at what you consider your day job, whether it's school or work. Overwhelmed with how much you have to do, you opt to do none of it. Why couldn't there be four more hours in the day? No worries, you can trick yourself into additional hours by multi-tasking. Part Two: Multi-Task Some people will argue that no one can truly multi-task , that our brains aren't structured that way. While I know for a fact I can't tap my head and rub my belly simultaneously, I can walk and chew gum. It's a fine line, but it's still multi-tasking. Most of  us do this naturally. Have you ever read on the treadmill? Talked to your mom while groc...

Welcome to part one of task-setting for writers. This will be a weekly feature for the next several weeks. To say that the art of writing is time-intensive is like saying chocolate is awesome*. In my fantasy world, I have an unlimited amount of time each day to work on my projects, still train for a marathon, and give the pool boy a good tongue-lashing. Reality is pretty different. There's the day job, social commitments, housework, cats. Life. All of this chips away at the time I mentally block off as "writing time." "Writing time" consists of anything that falls into the writing bucket: researching, editing, revising, beta-reading, and *gasp* actual writing. That's a lot to fit in and it's not surprising that everything sorta overflows like that time I forgot to add the flour to the cookies**. The key to stop the overflow is to quit. Kidding. photo © 2008 Hartwig HKD | more info (via: Wylio ) All you need to do is find balance. Balance is t...

Nothing is more awesome than a cup of good hot chocolate. I'm not talking about Swiss Miss, but the kind that comes with actual chocolate bits. Right now I'm enjoying some dark chocolate peppermint stick hot chocolate. The only way it would be better was if it wasn't an hour old and if the office had milk for me to use instead of water*. Granted, I wasn't always a hot chocolate snob. When I didn't have any knowledge of the great beyond, I loved Swiss Miss instant hot chocolate. I didn't even think about the connotations of "instant" and that mean there was a "non-instant" version out there. I smartened up. So, as the work day winds down and my to do list ratchets up, I present you with the four best hot chocolates I've had in the Boston area. 3. Dark Hot Chocolate , Burdick's . It's very chocolatey and extremely rich. This is concrete proof that chocolate can be a meal. 2. Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate , Starbucks. Mayb...

I'd like to reiterate something those new to the Lurkdom might not know: I love Tacky Christmas. I love tacky lawn ornaments*. I love all things tacky . We got that. Why? The simple answer is "it's awesome." There's more than that, however. When life gets too serious and in the way of more fun things, something as simple as a multi-colored decorative chicken is enjoyable. The point of tacky is to be able to laugh and enjoy the awfulness that only human can produce. Do you need to have a sense of humor to embrace tacky? It doesn't hurt to have one, but the main thing is to be able to laugh at yourself**. Of course, there's a downside to tacky. When tacky goes hideously bad or wrong. A prime example of this would be the dollar pregnancy test and ovulation kit. ( For reals .) There's also a fine line between "tacky" and "whimsical," and it changes on the viewer. A picture of dogs playing poker? Tacky. Fairies? Whimsical? It...

Back in college, I acted*. Every winter break I would begin the work I would need to do for whatever bit part I was casted as in whatever Shakespeare production the director decided on. Once the semester started, I'd be eyes deep in rehearsal and any other theatre related class was required for that production** for three months; this didn't include all regularly scheduled classes. Credit Once the production came and went, and I recovered from my four day coma and predictable immune system collapse, I would say "I have so much free time that I have no clue what to do." NaNoWriMo is kinda like that. Chances are you've recovered from the November writing and food coma and are now wondering what to do with this first NaNo-free weekend, writing-wise. Whatever you do, don't query your 2010 project. Just. Don't. As agent Scott Eagan said , it needs a lot of work. Instead of mail-bombing every agent you can find, let your manuscript sit. This is the mo...

Thanksgiving is this week, a time when people get together and eat way too much food with family that they may or may not enjoy hanging out with for prolonged periods of time. It's a day chock full of football and it's the official kick off to the holiday season. Gas stations will jack up the price of gas and a lot of people will be in the air. Credit (minus rainbows and lollies). If you grew up in the U.S., you learned all about the Plymouth and how badly the pilgrims were in over their head. You learned that the local Indians* helped them that first year. Supposedly they had this nice happy feast after harvest, blah blah blah. There were rainbows in the sky and everyone was full of free love and had lollipops. Actually, that last part might be more awesome if historically accurate. Besides these things, what is Thanksgiving really? The nice folks at dictionary.com define thanksgiving as "the act of giving thanks, especially to god." This totally explai...

Everyone by now knows about NaNoWriMo, and, while having a working knowledge of what it is, you still might not know what it is. Miranda, for example, doesn't know*. NaNoWriMo Is... ...a great way to get yourself into the habit of writing daily. Even if you only manage 10 minutes each day, the important thing is the habit. ...helpful in completing that shitty first draft . It's a right of passage. Trust me, I'm a non-professional. ...useful in figuring out your backstory. A lot of times you need to know where you came from before you know where you're going. What better way to make that word count than writing backstory? ...a tool that can shut off your internal editor. Only if you choose. I know plenty of people who keep their editor on at all times. If I did, I'd be somewhere around 1,000 words. makes you accountable and also motivates! In order to win, you need to complete at least 50 thousand words. You have to verify them. If you have other friends on...

After an extremely shaky start, I'm *just* ahead of my writing schedule at fourteen thousand and something words. This one is more difficult to create as opposed to it's precursor, but I'm not focusing on that today. Today is all about WriMo fuel. In order to push through your first draft*, your brain to needs to be firing on all cylinders. If it's not, bad things happen: you write "SOMETHING IMPORTANT HAPPENS HERE," you decide watching a marathon of Cake Boss is a high priority, or you have narcoleptic naps**. These things shouldn't happen daily. Once and a while, yes, but if you find these more appealing than focusing on the task at hand, maybe you need something to jolt you into progress. Without further to do, I present... The Eater's Guide to NaNoWriMo Caffeine . It IS your best friend for November. It keeps your going much later than you would on just water or herbal tea alone. Energy drinks fall into this category too. Chug one of those...