In Love With Love

My littlest is in love with the idea of having a puppy. We emailed in a rescue application for a particular fur baby. They called our veterinarian. Things were hopping along, until I checked Petfinder and discovered someone else had adopted the cutie over the weekend. My little one cried. SOBBED.

Until I showed her a new puppy…with a fat little puppy belly…and pleading puppy eyes. Then my daughter fell in love. Again.

Sometimes we’re in love with an idea more than an individual.

This happened to me in college. I was dancing with my friends in a club, when I noticed a quiet guy watching from the corner. He’s probably shy…and smart…and funny…and perfect for me, I thought. In reality, he was shy, but not funny. He was sure UFO’s existed and visited often. I would look up during random times of my day and find him watching me. Not the romantic, sweet, sort of watching. The creepy sort of SomeoneDoACriminalBackgroundCheck watching. Yeah. Not so perfect for me after all.

Writers can do this with agents and editors. There are awesome professionals scouting for talent on Twitter and blog contests, but there are also people out there who call themselves agents and editors that don’t do either well. When a request comes from someone, ANYONE, it’s hard not to get excited. But a savvy writer will check out them out thoroughly before deciding whether or not to submit their work to them.

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been in love with the idea more than the individual? Tell us about it in the comment section. Substitute Bob or Bobbette to avoid naming names!

 

Leap!

My summer was packed with adventure. Camping with Yogi Bear. Racing down waterslides. Even finding my inner ARRRRGH at the Beaufort Pirate Invasion.

A favorite scene happened during one of my kids' gymnastics lessons. A teacher from a different class had a group running through the same obstacle course over and over. All of the sudden, a differently-abled little girl had had enough. Instead of returning to the end of the line like the others, she took off with arms flailing and a rebel cry toward the giant foam pit on the other side of the gym. The staff called for her to stop, but she ignored them—keeping her eyes on where she really wanted to be.

It is a thing of beauty to watch someone leap.

We get caught up in the day to day, making sensible choices and listening to reason, but most of us long for something more. To dive into a foam pit. Sing on a big stage. Lay a kiss on someone we’ve secretly loved. To fly across the Atlantic Ocean using hundreds of helium-filled balloons. It takes courage to leap. After all, it doesn’t always end well. But that moment when there is more hope than there is fear? It tastes like freedom.

So as the new school year begins, I’ll ask you…heck, I’ll double dog dare you! LEAP! Find something that makes your heart sing and take a chance.

Are you planning on leaping? Comment below to tell us what you are doing to throw yourself into a dream.

Beer Goggles, First Drafts, and Tattoo Nightmares

I love it when seeming unrelated things connect like paper dolls in my mind. Beer goggles (for those too innocent to know) are what people claim to have been wearing when they've had a few drinks too many and the Star Trek fan who never caught their eye before suddenly becomes HAWT and fascinating and all sorts of kissable.

So what would beer goggles have to do with a first draft of a manuscript? Lots, my friend. Lots. Creating words and worlds, chaos and conflict—it’s intoxicating. We come up for air enamored and hazy, buzzing enough that the lines between a good start and a good manuscript get blurry and sometimes disappear.

One of my current favorite shows is Tattoo Nightmares. It’s a reality show where people with awful tattoos come to three amazing artists to get cover-ups. The backstories? Fascinating. The finished products? Mind blowing. You can hardly see traces of the botched pieces they used to have. They each leave with a masterpiece of skin art.

Being a part of a critique group keeps me from beer goggling after a first draft. I am still the artist, but discussing my manuscript with other writers helps sober me up and transform a good beginning into a work that’s ready to show others.

So how about you? Ever fall in love with an awful first draft or get a terrible tattoo? Comment and tell us about it.

The Stars Fell Sideways Interview & Giveaway

It's Halloween, and since you stopped by, I have a treat for you. I interviewed Cassandra Marshall about her brand new book THE STARS FELL SIDEWAYS. Not only will you get the inside scoop on this author/freelance editor/lit. agency worker, but two commenters will be winning prizes. YAY! So ready, set, here we go...

What is your pitch for THE STARS FELL SIDEWAYS?

Alison Arroway takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’. She has to, or she won’t get paid. Alison is a stunt double for pampered teen actress Pomegranate and when the director takes the shoot to Portugal, Alison is anything but thrilled to be rooming with Pom. But getting to hang around teen hearthrob Erik? Now that’s a plus. 

Erik invites both girls on a sunset boat trip and Alison manages to have a decent time. Until the storm hits and the boat is shipwrecked on a small island, leaving Erik missing and the boat captain dead. 

In the morning light, Alison and Pom find themselves on the lost island of Atlantis. Only one problem: now that the girls know the secret of the island, the Atlanteans don’t want them to leave. They're stuck with corsets, full-skirted dresses, and the strange steam-driven contraptions that are just a way of life for the islanders.

When a plot by the ruthless army Captain to take over the island and declare himself General over all emerges, an underground group promises to return the girls to the mainland if they can help stop him. They'll go through a mountain, literally, to find the Book of Blue, a book that will explain how to make ‘the stars fall sideways' in order to save the day and earn their freedom.

THE STARS FELL SIDEWAYS, a YA Steampunkish fantasy, from MolliePup Press!

How would you explain steampunk to a reader who is unfamiliar with the term?
The basic gist of steampunk is imagining a world where mechanical development stopped in the Victorian age with steam-powered contraptions. There's also an undercurrent of questioning authority and asserting your independence. Aesthetically it's about Victorian garb--top hats, parasols, corsets, heeled shoes, etc--and decoratively it's about cogs and gears, wood paneling, rivets, hodgepodge construction, reusing the finite, etc.

Your main character goes on a sunset boat trip with a hottie actor. If you could go to sea with any actor, who would you choose?
Oh, wow... Um... ?? Hopefully one that knows how to make the boat go, because I have no idea! How about Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes? I feel like he'd know how things work, plus he's nice to look at!

If you could play any character from any book in the movie version, who would you play? Hermione Granger! I'd get to play with magic, Crookshanks, and I'd curl up with Neville Longbottom!

In addition to writing, you work for a literary agency and do some freelance editing. What are some of your tricks for balancing it all?
Scheduling, compartmentalizing, and I stay in a lot. :)

Where can we buy your book?
Paperback

ISBN: 978-0988264502

$9.99
Amazon | Createspace | Indiebound



Ebook
ISBN: 978-0988264526
$3.99
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Apple iBooks | Diesel
 |Sony

Signed print copies can also be purchased from thestarsfellsideways.com!

Thanks, Cassandra! I hope you sell a bajillion copies.

And now for the giveaway: Cassandra is offering one first page critique (up to 250 words) and an e-copy of THE STARS FELL SIDEWAYS as prizes. To enter, leave a comment telling us who your favorite movie star is. Make sure I know how to email you in case your name is drawn! For an extra entry, tweet a link to this post with @LauraRenegar in it. I'll draw 2 winners (one for each prize) out of a hat after Halloween's midnight. Good luck!

And The Winner Is...

All the entries to our BEING FRANK Birthday Contest had me giggling, but alas, there can only be one name drawn from the hat--although technically, I drew from an empty fruit roll-up box. The winner of Donna Earnhardt's fabulously funny picture book BEING FRANK is Maureen Wartski! Congratulations, Maureen! You will be getting an email soon so we can get your prize to your doorstep.

If your name wasn't picked, you don't have to miss out. You can buy a copy of BEING FRANK at  Barnes and Noble , Amazon, or your favorite bookstore. Thanks for visiting my blog and making it more fun with your comments!

Being Frank Contest

Today is a special day! It's the book birthday for my good friend and wonderful critique partner Donna Earnhardt's funny picture book BEING FRANK. Frank is an honest kid, but alas! Frank has not learned to be tactful. Anyone know a kid like that? I bet a few adults come to mind too! So to celebrate BEING FRANK's birthday, we're going to give away a copy of this hilarious picture book to one commenter. Here's how to enter:

Leave a comment below telling us about a time a kid you knew was a little too frank. You can have extra entries for sharing this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Just comment each time you share it with the link. As always, make sure I know how to get in touch with you if your name gets picked. We'll draw one lucky winner at noon EST on Friday, October 5th. This contest is open to U.S. entries only. Good luck!

The Next Big Thing

Thanks to Jaye Robin Brown for tagging me in this fun post. It gives me the chance to talk about the manuscript I'm querying and pass the microphone to some fellow writers to do the same. I'm tagging Neely Simpson , Chris Ledbetter , Donna Earnhardt , and Cheryl Angst in hopes that they'll answer these questions on their blogs too. No pressure.

1. What is the working title of your book? INK

2. Where did the idea come from the book? I was walking around Southpoint Mall in Durham, NC. They have amazing statues of happy children playing. My YA mind started churning about missing children instead. Warped, right?

3. What genre is your book? It's a Young Adult mystery.

4. Which actors would you choose to play the characters in a movie? I have no idea,  but if we could work in a cameo for Matt Damon, I wouldn’t complain. ;)

 

5. What is a one sentence synopsis of your book? Fresh out of juvie and living on the streets, Mazie is searching for the kidnapped daughter of the firefighter that died in the flames Mazie started. 

6. Will your book be self-published or repped by an agency? I’m seeking representation for it and hope to see it traditionally published.

7. How long did it take you to finish your first draft? I think the first draft took about 6 months. I worked my tail off. I have spent many more months revising though.

8. What other books would you compare yours to in this genre? I think INK would appeal to fans of fast-paced contemporary YA, such as Lisa McMann’s WAKE trilogy. As for movies? It has a bit of a Shawshank Redemption feel to it—especially at the beginning.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? The story just came to me. I did name an awesome character in honor of my favorite high school teacher who passed away last year. I think she’d be pleased with her namesake and hopefully with my story.

10. What else about your book might pique a reader's interest? Much of the story takes place in and around a tattoo shop. I hung out in one to do field research. Tattoos fascinate me.