Hallelujah It's Raining Edits!!!

Okay! The promised post!! I've been working really hard this week, so it has taken a while, but here is a very full, very long, very picturesque post on edits!!!

First off, for your viewing pleasure.:)



Welcome to my closet office! Yes, I work in a semi-organized mess!

So the first thing that happens with edits is that you get your ed letter (I am doing a whole post on that later this week since it's something a commenter wanted to know about. So specifics on the ed later will come soon. I promise!) I generally get mine via email. Even if Tara is sending me a physical ed letter, she always emails it to me first so that I can have it and have time for it to sink in, etc. So I generally read it a couple of times before I get started. Then, when I am ready to get started, I print it out. Then I go through and I look at every change and suggestion she has made, and I make notes about it. Agree, disagree, how I am going to change it, etc. I was so pleased with my letter this time. I kid you not, there was not a single thing in there that I didn't agree with. I LOVE it when it happens that way! But even if I agree, I still make a note of how I am going to fix it.

Then I move on to the marked up manuscript which contains both notes and line edits. (But mostly notes since a hefty chunk of the manuscript is going to change.) I do the same thing, I make notes beside every one of her notes with a brief description of how I am going to fix it.


Then, this year I did something a little different. I have a bunch of flags compliments of my lovely friend, Carrie Ryan, and I flagged every note that wasn't a line edit. That way, as I am doing my first pass through the manuscript I can follow along with Tara's notes and get more done the first time. So here is the marked up and flagged manuscript.



And I'd like to say that I have a special, organized system for what each color of flag means . . . but, um, no. They are just random.:)

Then I'm ready to get down to work! . . . Almost. I need my snacks:



And my drinks:




And, for inspiration, a bunch of second books from popular series!



Then . . . well, I'm afraid there's no magic of puffs of smoke in this section . . . I just work. I tend to go chapter by chapter, in chronological order. I'm on chapter three. Hehehe. *fail*

Actually, it's really not fail as I wrote the first two chapters almost completely from scratch. So it really is a lot of work behind me! But unlike last year when I finished my revisions in just under four weeks, I suspect this time it will take almost the whole six weeks that I have. The nice thing about that is that once I am finished, I will be about two weeks away from the release of WINGS and will be able to really concentrate on that!

Wish me luck!

Ciao!

Secrets and Secrets and More Secrets, Oh My!

It is blog tour time again!! And I am so excited to present Heather Duffy-Stone's This Is What I Want To Tell You!! A few months ago I got to read the first chapter of this book and am so excited to read the rest! It is from a small publisher called FLUX and if you are unfamiliar with them, they generally serve a niche market, but they have a stellar reputation for putting out amazing books! This one, will be one of them!

A bit about This Is What I Want To Tell You:

Fraternal twins Nadio and Noelle share a close connection—and as Noelle’s best friend since they were five, Keeley Shipley fit perfectly into their world. But everything changes after Keeley spends the summer before junior year at Oxford. When Keeley returns, Nadio falls in love with her. Noelle, ripped apart by resentment, sees her as an ungrateful rich girl. But Keeley has a painful story that she can’t tell yet. As Nadio and Keeley hide their romance, Noelle dives into something of her own—a destructive affair with an older boy.

Beautifully presented by dual narrators in a haunting stream of memories, this is the deeply moving story of how secrets can consume a friendship—and how love can heal it.

*looks right, looks left* Also, there some cool tattoos in it.:)

And a bit about Heather who is lovely and wonderful! (And has this gorgeous curly hair that is, of course, totally natural.:))

Heather Duffy-Stone writes stories and essays that are mostly inspired by high school—either her own or someone else’s. This Is What I Want to Tell You is her first novel. She has lived in Vermont, England, Los Angeles, rural New York and Rome, Italy. For now she cooks, sleeps, explores, writes and teaches in Brooklyn, New York.

And now for our Feasty Five with Heather!!

AP: What kind of soda does (would) your MC drink?

HDS: Probably none. Coffee with milk.

AP: What is your MC's favorite kind of flower? How about yours?

HDS: I think we all love orchids. So complicated…

AP: *grin* Orchids? Hmmm, why does that seem familiar???;) Does your MC believe in magic? Do you?

HDS: Noelle doesn’t, but I wish she did. Nadio might, but he would never admit it. Do I? Sadly, no.

AP: I love that answer. Superman or Batman?

HDS: Batman. He’s so dark…

AP: Mmm, dark, eh? Give us one line from your book. You don't even have to give it context.:)

HDS: “What about the way being left out of love can wreck you?”

AP: *sigh* Can you guys see why I'm so excited about this book?!?!? Go and check it out! Or buy it! Or whatever, but find it and read it!

Also, check out Heather at www.heatherduffystone.com

Tomorrow, I promise you will get my big editing post!!

Ciao!

Win an ARC of WINGS!!

Popping my head out of my hole really fast to let you guys know that Elizabeth Scott, author of the amazing Stealing Heaven, is giving away an ARC of WINGS on her blog to help celebrate the release of her new book, Something, Maybe in eight days! This is a one-day thing, so if you want to enter, you better hurry!

Also, I am HarperTeen's blogger today on their MySpace page!

Back to the cave.

Ciao!

Winners, Debsness, and Stuff

Okay, winners first.:)

MATT WHITMER!!!

I promise this actually was random. Matt had one of the most creative entries, but I didn't judge it on that. I called out to my husband and asked him to pick a number (without telling him what he was picking it for) and he picked Matt's number. It really was just chance!! So Matt, I already have your address and I will send you your wife a copy of The Forest of Hands and Teeth next week.:)

Next up, it is Debs-ness day again!! I totally dropped the ball on announcing it last month so I am trying to make up for it now. In case you don't know what is it, the Debs at feastofawesome.com are giving away one very full gift bag on the fifteenth of each month this year. You have one day to enter, winners are announced promptly, and there are bonus prizes too! Click on the icon below to find out more details and to leave your comment to enter!




So it has been a very busy week for me, and not just because of edits. I have also had a ton of company of the teenaged variety. (Yay!) My brother is on his high school's ballroom dancing team and they came down to Nationals this week which was held at my husband's school. It was so fun to go and see him watch, and also to watch the really professional people dance. Wow!! I mean, I danced in college and all, but I never danced like that! It was amazing!

It was also fun to hang out with the teenagers. Five of them stayed with me for four days. I find that I write my books much more easily if I am around teenagers at least a little. It makes things easier when I don't just have to rely on my memory of when I was a teenager.

Plus teenagers are fun.

And easy to please.

Seriously, feed them good food and they are pretty much happy.:)

So next week starts my posts about edits. I'll start with talking a little bit about my ed letter and how it differed from last year's ed letter, and a little about my process of editing and how that is also differing from last year. So go enter to win a Debs-ness bag and get ready for editing week!

Ciao!

USA TODAY!!!!!! . . . uh . . . yesterday . . .:)

Okay, this is officially the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. I got mentioned in USA Today!!! I kid you not! I got like an entire sentence plus a parenthetical!! I think that's better than a mention. (But less than a story . . . it must be a stention . . .or a menory . . . take your pick.;))

So yeah, check it.:)




*dances gleefully!*

If you prefer the online story, you can find it here, but there's something about seeing the actual printed copy that is really cool to me!

In other news, my editorial letter got here this week for my sequel, and even though I knew it was coming, there's nothing like the actual letter to remind you how much work an author puts into editing. Good stuff though! Seriously. I wish you all the synergy that my editor and I have. I love what she molds my books into! But still, lots of work. So I will try to keep up regular posts (as a break if nothing else!!) but the next four to six weeks are going to be a bit brutal with edits and all the other stuff I have to keep up on.

Such as . . . blogging on the Harper Teen MySpace page!! (How did you like that segue??;)) I am tentatively scheduled to have my first official Harper blog on Monday! (Assuming, of course, that I get the blog done. *laughs maniacally*) I think I am going to blog about "Getting My Teen On." So I would love it if you guys would read and comment . . . mostly because it makes me look good to marketing.:D

So back on the editing subject, I will be blogging about the editorial process in general, and about my method specifically in the next couple of weeks, so if you have any particular questions about editing that you are wondering about, please leave them in the comments and I will answer them!! (As best I can . . .)

And don't forget to enter the contest to win a copy of The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. You can enter right down there, under this entry.:D

So have a lovely night. I am waiting for six teenagers to invade my house for the next four days. Yay!! Free babysitters . . . I mean volunteer yard workers . . . I mean story research subjects. YES! That's what I meant. Story research subjects!!! *grin*

Ciao!