Sunday, December 1, 2013

Must, Want To, and Should


As the holiday season approaches and I receive requests for more and more things (shopping, parties, extra work, and so on), I begin to get overwhelmed by it all. At first I toss another ball into the air, fill up another blank spot on the calendar, and make a note to myself.  But very soon, the air is thick with balls, the calendar has no more empty squares, and I've run out of note paper.

You have to say no sometimes. But when? And what to say no to?  Well, it occurred to me that there are really 3 categories of things: those we MUST do, those we WANT TO do, and those we SHOULD do.

The MUST do's: attending work parties, buying gifts for Mom and Dad, making a visit to the grandparents.

The WANT TO do's: attending a new movie, buying gifts for friends, arranging a trip to Disneyland.

The SHOULD do's: attending a relative's party way out in the Valley, buying a gift for the boss, visiting a friend's new baby.

Sometimes they overlap - you may want to do the same thing you should do, like visiting that friend's new baby, for example - and sometimes they are at utter odds with each other, like when that relative's party is at the exact same time as the only day the museum is holding its free exhibits that you really want to go to.

So where do you begin? Do you start with the MUST's? Or the WANT TO's? Are you a SHOULD do person?  I know plenty of people who start and end with what they WANT TO do and have no care for anything society or family/friends may tell them they SHOULD or MUST do.  That takes courage to disregard others' opinions as well as a healthy ego that says "My WANTS come first."

Me? I start with the MUST do items and then go to the WANT TO. I am independent enough to ignore what I SHOULD do but let's be honest, I often run out of time and money just completing the MUST items on my calendar/list/inbox. I rarely get to the WANT TO's!

This is the way I plan to approach my gift-giving, party-attending, subbing requests, and so on this month. If it's not a MUST, then it ain't getting done.

But what about writing? Well, I think you can apply these categories to writing as well.  As writers, we all feel we MUST write, that is not in doubt, but whenever I feel like I SHOULD write - whether it's on a particular day or at a particular time or about a specific subject or theme - then my writing ends up terrible. That's happened when I tried following a trend I wasn't crazy about or chasing an editor who kind of liked a book I submitted but wanted to go in a different direction, or even when I wasn't finding anything to write about at all. Each time I did the SHOULD rather than the WANT TO, my work suffered.

I have to find the WANT TO in every SHOULD in order to do it. Otherwise I will resent every ounce of energy I am spending on it.  Life is too short for SHOULD.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Writing contemporary fiction - pros and pitfalls

The first handful of novels I wrote were contemporary young adult fiction.

Actually, the first novel I wrote was science fiction but the first novel I completed was contemporary and not originally intended to be young adult but eventually rewritten and marketed for that category.

There are definitely advantages to setting a story in the present day and using commonplace references.  For one thing, there is a shorthand between author and audience. For instance, if I have a character refer to a celebrity named "Lindsay," you know I mean Lindsay Lohan. If I talk about Facebook or YouTube, you get what I'm saying. I don't need to waste time explaining things that we all understand.

With contemporary fiction, it's easy to throw in cultural references as mile markers or for in-jokes.

But what happens in fifteen years? Will readers know who Psy was? Or what the Harlem Shuffle was? Will TV shows like "Dexter" and "Breaking Bad" be remembered in all their intricate glory? If I say a character was like Walter White, will they think he was simply cruel and manipulative or will they get the multi-dimensionality of him?

No?  Well, what about in ten years? Five?  Three? One?

My first published novels were, naturally, written years prior to their actual publication. As we got closer to the books' pub dates, my editor and I made sure references that could be badly dated were cut or made generic so the books would be as fresh as possible. But there is no getting around the fact that the world changes really, really fast. And things that were big or popular or seemingly impossible to forget were forgotten or left behind.

Things I thought would become big didn't. Things I didn't think could become big did.  After all, I am not a seer.

LOL (will that be old soon too?)

As a result, my books became dated. Certain things my characters did became hard to understand a few years later. Readers today don't consider the time having passed between writing and reading and they wonder, in reviews and to themselves, "Why didn't Vee use the internet for finding work?" (Because when it was written, that wasn't how it was done.) "Why didn't Meg have a cell phone of her own?" (Because when it was written, they were far too expensive for a poor girl.) Things like that throw the reader off and make them question the author's expertise.

Believe me, if I could have seen the future of cameraphones and people taking "selfies," I would have used them but back then, it would have been seen as impossible. Then I really would have been writing science fiction.

Monday, April 9, 2012

"Jennifer Aniston is My Best Friend" coming soon

The next novel to be released, "Jennifer Aniston is My Best Friend," which was originally published by Penguin/Razorbill as "Love, Meg." It's now getting its original title back and an added bonus which I'll discuss closer to the release date.

This novel will be .99 cents. At that point, the price of "Fat Girls in L.A. (Book 1: All About Vee" will be bumped up to 2.99. So get "All About Vee" now while it's still .99 cents!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Free! Gotta love free stuff!

To celebrate the release of my new novel, CHASING THE FALLS, I am giving away the Kindle version of my short story, "I Brake For Whales."  FREE!!


Starting tonight, Friday April 6 at midnight PST, all through the weekend until Sunday April 8 at midnight PST, you can download my horror short for free at Amazon at its Kindle store! FREE!!


Here's the link but remember, it will be free at midnight and no sooner! Enjoy~



Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Coming in April: my new book featured on "Ultimate YA Reading Group"

Hey everyone!  The release sequence of my novels has gotten a little rearranged due to work commitments and illness but the second e-book (my third published novel) is being released April 2 on Kindle and Nook, for starters.  Print editions will come later.

I'll post more in a couple of days but for now, here are a couple of teasers...

--The title is "Chasing the Falls."

--It's a contemporary young adult novel, set in Los Angeles.

Now, a bit of more cool news...

--I'm the April author for Ultimate YA Reading Group!  They'll be posting interviews 'n stuff with me throughout the month, including info about the new book.  So stay tuned to their tumblr and Facebook page!

I'll reveal the fab cover very soon, along with a blurb of the book, and more links - more, more, more!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

This short film just won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.  Not only is it beautifully-made but it is a lovely ode to books.  Get out your hankies!  I loved it.


Many congrats to the writer/illustrator William Joyce and co-director Brandon Oldenburg.

Friday, February 24, 2012

SHIFT in ABNA!

I'm kind of a little thrilled to say my novel SHIFT, a paranormal story about a girl who can shapeshift (but nothing to do with werewolves!), has advanced to the second round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.  There were 5,000 entries in the YA category and 1,000 advanced.  This means that our pitches were successful enough to get past a couple of Amazon editors who were judging.

Next step: excerpt reading by the panel.  Only 250 will move on from there to the Quarterfinal Round.  What, me nervous?  Nah!

Congrats to the other 999 writers too!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

All About Vee - Book Giveaway (7 days to enter)

Book Giveaway: Win a Signed Copy of “All About Vee” by C. Leigh Purtill - Head over to Woman Tribune and enter. All you need is a name and an e-mail or facebook account. Ends next Sunday.

 

Wednesday, December 14, 2011