Friday Favorite

See that up there? That's amoxicillin and it's my favorite thing this week. Because it's going to get rid of my sinus infection and finally make my head stop hurting. Next week is looking really good to me, for several reasons.

1. My head will feel better.

2. The life-sucking school carnival will be over and I won't have to spend six hours every day working on food booths, passports or art projects.

3. I have a new project (architecture, that is) starting next week.

4. I have my critique group on Wednesday night.

5. With the carnival over, I'll probably stop grinding my teeth, which contributes to my headache. The teeth grinding is a new thing. It started just as the carnival-countdown entered the final week and I entered the Hub Challenge.

6. FYI--possibly no Hub today. Doctor says I should get some rest. Happy to oblige.

ZZZzzzzzz.....

It might come in the mail...

Nope, not a monster. Not a rejection letter. A big fat envelope. And inside...a publishing contract. Yippee!! Woo hoo!! ...er...YIKES!



Lots of words. Lots of clauses. Lots of legalese. Now what?



Let me first say, "Get yourself a lawyer or an agent, writer friend!" But having just gone through the process of signing a contract, I also have a couple suggestions for things to look out for.



If you're in the process of (or maybe close to) signing a contract, check out my Hub...



Your First Book Contract: Eek!



If you're not at the contract point, here's a picture of me and my kid. Don't we look happy? That's what camping does to us. Just before this was taken, I told my husband I'd rather be at Target!

The Pitfalls of a Trilogy

Ignoramous that I was, the first children's fiction I planned was a middle-grade trilogy. After many rejection letters, tears and brownies, I finally landed an agent...shortly before beginning the third book.

"Don't write it," the agent said. "Write something else."

Why?

Check out my hub to find out.

((Sorry -- I'm not trying to be sneaky. I'm just too lazy to repost the whole thing here. Hopefully, you're not too lazy to click over. How about we strike a deal a la Wimpy? I'm happy to repay you one blog next week for a click today.))

Best Camping Photo

Love it that my third-grader still holds his Dad's hand.

Knowing When to Send It In

Do you have trouble deciding when a manuscript is ready for submission? Check out my hub on when to stop editing.
http://hubpages.com/hub/When-to-Stop-Revising

Since my editor has requested our participation in the Hub Challenge, I'm afraid my blogging has taken a hit. Monday is almost over and I still haven't prepared a blog. Instead, here's a quick wrap up of the weekend.
1. We went camping.
2. It rained.
3. Blah.

(photo courtesty of http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4827704/131519-main_Full.jpg)

Friday Favorite

We're heading into the woods for the Memorial Day Cook Family Camping Trip. Happy Holiday!

Radio Interviews in your Future???

Check out my latest hub with five helpful hints for getting over on-air anxiety.

Five Helpful Hints for Radio Interviews

(Sorry for the short blog -- I'm taking a mental health day. I'm beyond over-whelmed. Is there a word for that? Uber-whelmed?)

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR SYDNEY SALTER

The Important Questions No One Else Bothers To Ask...

I recently caught up with fellow author and regional Co-Chair of my SCBWI chapter, Sydney Salter, to ask her a few questions. If you google Sydney, you'll find a ton of info about her books, her writing, her blog. So, I took a different tack. Here are Syndey's answers to questions everyone wants to know, but no one bothers to ask.

Ready? Question number one...

Fries or Tots?
Fries for sure—hopefully combined with a bacon cheeseburger and maybe a chocolate shake.

Chinese or Italian food?
Spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, risotto—yup. I’ve got to go with Italian.

See or be seen?
See. I love to watch people. Sometimes I hang out at the mall food court with a notebook just to catch potential characters.

Go to the theater or be in a play?
My mother liked to act so I found my young self in a few productions in which she starred, but now I’d rather go to the theater (and I LOVE all kinds of plays, musicals, and movies too).

Play soccer with friends or go see a game? (or, stay home and read a book?)
I’m not very athletic (I’m still amazed that my husband asked me out after watching me play flag football in college). I do enjoy watching my daughter play soccer (she’s a jock like her dad). But I truly love to stay home and read a book.

Countries you've been to?
One of my life goals is to visit every continent. That said, I’ve thoroughly explored this one—49 of 50 states, many provinces in Canada, and several states in Mexico. I want to add to my list!!!

Stone house in the country or slick condo right downtown?
I dream of living in a great city apartment someday, walking to cute cafes, visiting museums…. But I also think it would be really cool to live in the country and have llamas.

If you suddenly found yourself with an evening of nothing to do, what would you do?
Make a cup of tea and escape into a really good book.

How about a weekend?
Go hiking with my family, then come home and read a good book.

How about a weekend, if money were no object?
Explore a European town, dine at a sidewalk café, and write about my adventures in my journal. Oh, and find a really great local chocolate shop. I’d probably be too tired to read a good book though.

One thing that keeps you awake at night?
Okay, the cute answer would be my dog’s snoring. But my honest answer would be that I still worry about a manuscript out on submission. Just the other night I had a horrible stress dream in which my laptop completely disintegrated into a jumble of springs, screws, and spare parts (in front of a bunch of other writers). I’ve had bad dreams for a week—all somehow relating to that submitted story.

Thanks so much, Sydney! Hopefully those bad dreams will go away soon! Go have a cheeseburger.

Tuesday To-Do..

The editors say, "Go forth and complete the hub challenge."

And so...we must try. One hundred articles in thirty...er...twenty-three days. (We got a late start). No worries...I didn't have anything ELSE going on in my life...

My first 'hub'.
http://hubpages.com/hub/amycook
Just 99 more to go. Ha!

Monday Rambles

This weekend, my hubby and I spent hours and hours building food booths for the school carnival. That's the China booth above. Building these involved a lot of gluing, which involved a lot of heavy books to press pieces together while they dried. Lucky for us, we have lots and lots of very heavy books.

Waiting for glue to dry is almost as exciting as waiting for paint to dry, so while I waited, I read Joseph Campbell's Mythologies of the Primitive Hunters and Gatherers, which is heavy in several ways. One thing that struck me was Campbell's premise of why tribes who lived in forested / jungle areas so often used sacrifice as part of their ceremonies. He proposed that these tribes were influenced by their natual world, specifically the abundance of foliage and vegetation which grows, dies and is replaced. To quote:

Out of the rot of fallen wood and leaves, fresh sprouts arise--from which the lesson learned appears to have been that from death springs life, out of death, new birth; and the grim conclusion drawn was that the way to increase life is to increase death.

It struck me as profound, first of all, that people would be enticed to sacrifice animals and even humans in order to perpetuate the plenty and abundance of the land. It also reminded me of the phrase, "Kill your darlings." As writers, we've all heard this.

So I wondered...is there a correlation here, between writing and ceremony? It isn't a far stretch to imagine a first draft of a novel as a layer of rotten plant matter, especially my first drafts. I love the idea that the rot isn't useless waste, but a fertile bed on which great things can grow. As we revise, we sacrifice a lot of our initial ideas and head in directions not originally foreseen. As we kill off our darlings and do what's best for our stories, they grow stronger, in much the same way as pruning a rose bush encourages more blooms. If we want our stories to flower, we can't be afraid to cut them.

As Ms. Park says, "Say ok, and try it." The beauty of writing is, we can always put the branches back if we need to. And whatever ends up on the cutting room floor might live to grow again or feed a future book.

Friday Favorite

I can't believe it's already Friday! Even harder to believe, next weekend is Memorial Day!! What are everyone's plans?? We're going camping together, the whole fam-damily--even the cousins from San Francisco! As long as I can stay warm, I think we'll have a great time.

Friday Favorite:

I'll warn you, my choice this week is a little lame. Especially compared to last week's entry of The Espresso Book Machine! Disclaimer aside, my favorite new thing this week is...

I'VE FINISHED EDITING ALL THE CHAPTERS IN THE INVISIBLE SISTER! Yes, all fifteen chapters have been de-was'd, de-were'd and de-had'd, and you'll be hard pressed to find any -ly adverbs. Now, I wait for the editors comments and revisions to come back on this first round of edits. There is a final round of edits afterward. As I expected, the word count dropped. Original length: 40,000 +/- Edited length: 36,000 +/-.

Since my Friday fav pick has such limited appeal (meaning nobody but me will be all that excited about it), here are a couple links you might enjoy:

A cute FREE book! Erasmus James and the Galatic Zapp Machine

Great contest sponsored by the debutantes of 2K9 -- with lots of FREE stuff!

Hope everyone's weekend is peaceful and fun.

Random Photos

Last Week...







This Week. See the Big-Boy Feathers on One-Up Mushroom's Wing? And look how much more grown up Kate looks!

More Quick PR!

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater... debuts August 1. Preorder today!

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Wednesday Wrap-Up

I took Monday and Tuesday off to drive to our cabin in Oregon. I took my friend, S, and we had a great time chatting, dining and shopping (lots of good smelly candles from Simply Sandy's!). But now I'm way behind for the week. Here's what's on my plate:

The Invisible Sister: Fourteen chapters edited, one chapter to go. I'd love to get this off my plate today, but it probably won't happen...because...

Architecture Stuff: I have a case going before Historic Preservation on Monday night to prepare for. As soon as it's reviewed, I have to submit for the Accessory Dwelling Unit and the Variance. I'm trying to pull the applications and drawings together this week. I also have a meeting with a client tonight, which might require some legwork tomorrow. And there are two projects I need to track down. They seem to have disappeared...hmm...

Carnivale Stuff: I have about sixty double-thick cardboard sheets I need to cut into Masai Warrior Shields. I expect it will take four or five hours, which I don't have, because I also need to get the food booths glued together so we can attach them to the frames this weekend. I need to schedule the final meeting next week and coordinate volunteers from the local junior high. I won't do it this afternoon though, since I have to give an update at the PTO meeting.

Sports Stuff: Luckily, no tennis matches scheduled for me this week. I'll miss soccer tonight, because I have my meeting, but it's probably for the best. My knee is still a little sketchy from last week's problem on the stairs.

Misc Writing: I have other novels, begging for attention. I have an agent and an editor waiting on revisions. I have two month's worth of comments from my critique group to address in my WIP. They're all back-burner until The Invisible Sister is done (see #1 above).

Other Stuff: Add to that birthdays, aikido, scheduling summer camps for X, cleaning the house, laundry, billings to be sent out Friday, blogging, marketing research, stupid time-eating Facebook, NENA, the fact that I have a meeting every single night next week AND we're going camping for Memorial Day. . .

I need a time out.

I can't be the only one with months like this. How do you guys cope with it all? What's the first thing you like to cross off your list? And what's the first thing you decide to ignore?

Featured Writer: Scott Heydt

INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT HEYDT

Author of O.Y.L and his current ms, Mice Don't Taste Like Chicken.

Scott is a writer, teacher and a masters student. His first novel, O.Y.L. is available from Helm Publishing, and Scott is donating $1 from the sale of every book to American Forests. Please join me in welcoming author Scott Heydt.

I appreciate the chance to share with your audience!

Scott, as a teacher and a masters student, you obviously have a lot on your plate. What drives you to take time out of your busy schedule to write?
Writing is my escape and way to process everything I experience on a daily basis. A few years ago, I took a strength assessment after reading the book Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham. Turns out one of my strengths is Input. I love collecting facts, quotes, stories from news media, internet, and of course, my students. All that input has a purpose. It becomes output on the page.

What sort of books do you most like to write?
I enjoy writing books that are humorous on the surface but contain a deeper meaning underneath. Take my upcoming novel from PM Moon Publishers, LLC, Mice Don’t Taste Like Chicken. It contains many instances of simple humor—bathroom jokes, gross outs, and the like. Even the title is off beat. But behind the silliness (and behind the title) is a message about relationships, nature, and life. That’s the kind of book I love to write and strive to write.

How many years of writing and submissions did it take before you got your first book, O.Y.L., published?

I’ve been a writer all my life—dabbling in poetry and prose as a teenager. My entrance into the author scene came as a result of a different, failed dream. Back in 2005, I was in the prime of my marathon running career. Coming off my first marathon win at the God’s Country Marathon in June, I continued training for another race in October. Three weeks before the race, I suffered an injury that would lead to three separate surgeries on my feet and put me out of commission until mid-2008. Time on the couch gives you the opportunity to focus, so instead of wasting that time away, I devoted it to pursuing my dream of becoming an author.

The Excel database I kept to track submissions of O.Y.L. was littered with the red marks of rejection, but after six months of writing/editing and eight months of submission, Helm Publishing in Rockford, Illinois acquired my novel.

Writers usually have several books floating around in their head. What do you have planned for your next work in progress?
The Masters class I’m currently taking is the final class of my degree. My thesis project involves writing a young adult, nonfiction leadership text. The book will involve up-to-date research on the teenage brain in lay terms with strategies for how to harness those changes into student leadership opportunities. My summer is devoted to this work before I move back into the fiction genre (or who knows…this could be a genre shift for me!) For more information, feel free to log on to http://www.scotthbooks.com/

Facebook: www.fblink.com/scottheydt

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sheydt

MySpace: www.myspace.com/scottheydt

JacketFlap: http://www.jacketflap.com/sheydt

Friday Favorites

TGIFF!! I am sooo ready for the weekend! My hubby and son are going camping and I will have the whole house to myself -- to edit and write and rewrite! Plus, today I get to share two Friday Favorites. One is my favorite villain name; the other is my favorite new developement in publishing. So, without further ado...

FAVORITE #1:

The winner of my Name That Villain Contest is Miriam S. Forster for her submittal of

AMBROSE MURKLIN
I liked the way it sounded aristocratic and mysterious. Murklin sounds like murky, foggy, unclear which suits my villain to a T. Thanks to all who entered. There were some great suggestions and I appreciate everyone who played.

FAVORITE #2:

The Espresso Book Machine

I haven't been this excited about an invention since...well, ever! The Espresso Book Machine is like a vending machine for books, except that instead of merely dispensing books, it PRINTS them, one at a time, in five minutes. The books are identical to the ones sold pre-printed in bookshops. There are currently over two-million titles in the database, and as I understand it, the manufacturer plans to increase that, hopefully to include more in-copyright titles. These machines have been installed in locations all over the world and demand is growing.

Why do I like this? Because, if future books deals are written to include printing via the EBM, books from small presses or mid-list books from large presses will have a more level playing field. Small shops can only carry so many titles, which means anything other than best sellers don't make the cut. How many times have you gone to your local book store (or even B&N) looking for a particular title, only to find they don't carry it, or are out of stock? If you're like me, you probably pick up something else that *is* in stock instead of ordering it and waiting a week. I can't count the number of times I've done that. The book we wanted to buy (the small press, mid-list, back title book) just lost a sale and the high-profile, end cap, new release added one...as if they need more sales.

Plus, I just think getting a book printed in front of my eyes is way freaking cool.

Obviously, the EBM is going to cause some big changes in the industry. What are yourthoughts on the EMB? What benefits do you see? What possible pitfalls?

Home News

Our chicks and ducklings will arrive today! X and I have been working hard to select really great names. Per our original agreement, he names the chicks and I name the ducks. We decided on...

Chick 1: Corky
Chick 2: Skrall
Chick 3: One-Up Mushroom ( ??? --your guess is as good as mine.)

Duck 1: Dieter McDucky
Duck 2: Kate DiCamillo

Yeah--I just read The Tiger Rising. DiCamillo is a wordsmith extraordinaire. What voice. What setting. What kind of idiot names their duck after a children's book writer? [raises hand] ...me...

The chick/ducks will live in a cardboard box in our dining room (where we can protect them from Bella, our freak cat who's afraid of everything except birds). In about four weeks, we'll move them out to the coop in the backyard, where they will free-range with the urban 'coons, gang squirrels and the triplets from down the street. Photos coming soon!

NAME THAT VILLAIN

H E L P ! ! !

The mysterious villain in The Invisible Sister was originally named Heinrich Malbane. My editor asked me to change it, believing Malbane was too close to Malfoy (of Harry Potter fame.) I've racked my brain, but I'm just not happy with any of the ideas I've come up with.

So...

I'm having a contest. During the next five days, whoever suggests the best name for my villain will win an autographed copy of Dr. Mosetta Penick Phillips-Cermak's new book, Rajah and the Big, Blue Ball. And, of course, your suggested name will be used in The Invisible Sister. You can suggest a first name and a last name, or just a last name. The only rule is:

The last name must begin with "M".

Here's a little blurb about the villain (previously known as) Malbane:

The man removed his sunglasses and Lux gasped. His eyes held no color, just a small black pupil in the center of each. A scar cut across one eye and the lower lid drooped, glistening and red. It put Lux in mind of the blind cave fish in his Ancient Species book.
“It’s not in your power to give orders to me, Cerridwen,” said the man. His raspy voice carried a faint English accent.

Post your suggestions in the comments field below. I'll announce the winner on Friday. If your entry is selected, I'll contact you for mailing instructions for Rajah.

GOOD LUCK!

PS--Don't forget about my interview this Thursday on Blog Talk Radio! I'll post the links again on Wednesday.