B.B. Swann's Blog, page 2

WriteMentor Time!!!!

Hello, WriteMentor hopefuls! I’m excited to be back for my second year of the contest and can’t wait to see the wonderful stories you have prepared for us mentors. If you’re thinking about submitting to me here is what I am looking for in a mentee and story. I want to work with a writer who is ready to dive in and make their MS sparkle like the sun. That means work. Lots of work. Weeks and weeks of work. But don’t worry, there will be fun, too. Be prepared to put in the time and effort needed because no matter how polished you think your book is, there is always SOMETHING we can do to “take it to the next level.” (That’s my agent’s favorite thing to tell me. Which usually means more revisions) So what kind of stories do I want? I am a YA romance writer. My strengths and passions are heavily skewed toward this genre. I prefer sci-fi, magical realism, fantasy, paranormal or anything generally considered weird. I should warn you, I am a member of RWA and follow the “rules” for romance. If you’re not sure what those are, you might want to check them out here: Romance Guidelines Normal contemporary isn’t really for me, neither are historical fiction or westerns. Some of my favorite authors to read are Dean Koontz, J.K. Rowling, Danielle Paige, Brandon Mull, Neal Shusterman, and Allie Condie. That should give you an idea of what I like and what I am most prepared to help with in the YA realm. Middle Grade is not for me. I am also interested in working with a picture book author. In PB for me, anything goes! I am not an illustrator so don’t expect too much direction with that area, but I LOVE writing and reading PB stories! As a twenty-five-year veteran early childhood teacher (I’ve taught pre-k special ed through 3rd grade) I have read thousands of picture books. This is one area where I feel extra qualified to help. I am a member of SCBWI and co-rep for our area’s chapter critique group. So bring on those PB submissions! I hope I’ve answered your questions and given you an idea of what I’m looking for. But if you think you have something I’d like, send it in. I’ll leave you with a few words from my past mentees to see what they thought of my mentoring style. Good luck to everyone and enjoy the ride! Bonnie was such a great mentor! Not only did she encourage me where I was doing well, but she helped me see the places where my story needed work. The homework she gave me also gave me good tools to use in future writing. They were especially helpful for someone like me who has a harder time with the big picture. This pantser is super grateful for this awesome mentor! What I like about her mentoring is her encouragement, and for someone that was terrible at grammar, I am a lot better. I didn't even realize that she steadily helped to improve it by setting up notes and being patient with me, so I learned. I also really found it valuable with what she taught me about show don't tell. Expressions and breaking it down for me so I understood that the audience needs to have a clear picture of the person's face or reactions to important scenes. If I had to describe the best mentee for Bonnie, it would be someone that is not afraid of learning and putting their nose to the grindstone, for real. They really need to be willing to get down and rewrite whole scenes or even add new ones. It's not for the faint of heart when you think as a writer you did great on a scene and you're told that it needs to be rewrote or added to or even struck completely. There is a push to have that manuscript polished.

Book signing tour for my latest work

To be continued... KATIE COMMA Will be released by Pelican Publishing Company in September 2019. Once I have more information on the launch, I will share it! So stay tuned!

#WriteMentor

Once, while at a meeting in the district where I teach, I had a conversation with a fellow teacher who had become a published author. We talked about our students, shared teacher friends, and—of course—books. I’d always wanted to write children’s stories, so I decided to ask her a few questions to get started. I said what a lot of want-to-be authors do: “Hey, I have an idea for a book. How do I get published?” Her response was undoubtedly the best writing advice I would ever receive.“The first thing you do is find a writing group.”Easy enough.I took her advice and went with her to her SCBWI critique group, armed with my first ever picture book. I knew they would love it. It was cute, it was unique, it was finished! When I sat down to write that book, the words flowed from my fingers to the keys like honey on a piping hot, gluten-filled biscuit straight out of the oven. It was everything I wanted it to be and that meant it was good, right?Well, if you’ve never written a picture book, you should know, it’s a whole different beast from writing a novel. In a novel, you have 30,000 + words to make your story work. You can take your time painting pictures with those glorious nuggets and drawing your reader into your world and the lives of your characters. In a picture book, every word counts and you only have less than a thousand. And don’t forget, your target audience generally can’t tie their own shoes, sit in a chair without falling out, or focus for longer than five to ten minutes. You have about twenty words to grab their attention. If you don’t, the teacher/parent/whoever is reading the book to them will abandon it for something with a bigger entertainment factor. The same goes for agents and editors, too.After three more monthly meetings, several revised drafts, and a few nights of wondering what in the hell made me think I could be an author, I finally had something I could work with. Fast forward one twitter pitch party and two years later, and that book (Katie Comma) is finished and in line to be published by Pelican Publishing Company. But without the tough, and sometimes nerve-wracking critiques of my writing group, it wouldn’t have happened. They taught me. They guided me. They helped me see the areas of my book I needed to fix (or burn and bury the ashes under a rock). Like parents of children, we authors love our book babies. Unconditionally. We’re too close to them to see their faults and need that fresh set of eyes to open ours to what can and should be changed. Even if it feels like we are ripping out (or deleting) a part of our souls.The proverbial “they” aren’t kidding when they say you need to have skin a mile thick to be a successful writer. There will always be someone who loves your writing, and likewise, there will be the naysayers who make you want to crawl back to the day job and give up on your dream. I’ve met them both. (Sometimes their identities will surprise you.) The thick skin gives you the strength to keep your head under control and not let it swell from the praise or crack under the pressure of criticism, both of which will kill your dream before it comes true.So, what does all this have to do with my wish list as a mentor? Easy, I promise to be your writing group.The type of story I’m looking for is easy. YA romance. Any kind. Contemporary, paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi—bring on the angsty-teen-love and I’m happy. (There is a big push right now from agents for those vamps again. Just saying.) These are the genres I write and enjoy reading, as long as it’s a true romance that follows the rules; Happy ever after (HEA) or happy for now (HFN). The latter applies mostly to series romances but if done right, works for a stand-alone, too.The type of mentee I want is more complicated. If you have a book that fits my simple want-to-read list, choose me and send it. If I choose you, I will read your book, query, and synopsis and do what I can to help you prepare for that agent round or future queries. (And your future books!) The catch? You need to have that thick skin in place because I am here to help—and that means I am here to work. Hard. I can help you polish your book baby, but it might not be pretty at first. In fact, I can guarantee it won’t. It’s going to sting. It’s going to hurt. But it’s that good “pulling out a thorn” kind of hurt that only lasts for a moment.Now that I have scared you off, let me say, I am excited to read your book. I’m excited to pay forward all the help I’ve received over the last two years that has tested my skin and made me a better writer. And I’m excited to see, and do what I can, to help your dreams come true, too.

Knock, Knock. Who's there?

Recently, I read a blog post by author KT Daxon about pen names and how to choose them. She told the sweet story of how her name is a combination of all the important things in her life. Her children, her husband, her family.... touching and pretty inspiring. I respect her choice, and think it is the perfect blend of love.I have no such story. I chose my pen name because of a perpetually pregnant adult cartoon character.No. There isn't a hand drawn or CGI woman with a bulging belly named B.B Swann. However, there is one with my real name. When I decided to make the leap into authorship, I couldn't wait to see my name on a book cover. I imagined my family bragging to their friends, spreading the word far and wide that they knew me.Ahh, the dreams of the naive.While creating my web page, with the help of a friend, she asked if I would use my real name or a pen name for my books. Like I said, I wanted to use my name proudly.Then reality hit.I already had an inkling that there would be problems. I first noticed it when I bought new tires for my car. After I signed my name to accept said tires, the clerk laughed. "Hey, do you know that's a character on..." (Not sure if I should/could put the name here, copyright laws and stuff you know.) I just gave him a smile and said, "Yeah. I know." It happened again when I got an oil change. And again when I bought new wiper blades at the auto store. (Seeing a trend here?)So, I did what I always do when I have a question: I researched. The first thing I did (and I highly suggest all new authors do this when deciding on their names) was open google and type in my name. Once I sold a book, I'd hoped the multitudes of my vast readership :) would search for me in the same way, and I wanted to make sure nothing sketchy appeared.Well...let's just say, a dark haired, scantily dressed, lady-with-child (who never seems to give birth) is as sketchy as it comes. I didn't want my potential future readers to get confused, or worse, turned off. So began the search for my nom de plume.Here is what I learned. For some reason, there are lots of baseball players with a variant of my last name. Also not good. I like watching the Cards, but I don't play the game. And though there are sports like running and soccer in my books, there are no boys with bats and tight pants.TV dinners, boat makers, art dealers, vitamins, doctors, neuroscientists, and various criminals convicted of crimes I'm pretty sure I wouldn't commit (court martial? murder?) All came up as I tried different touching combinations like KT did.It took trial, and error, and a quite few laughs, but I finally found a name I could work with. B.B. Swann, it kind of rolls off the tongue, don't ya think? Well, it's better than the many alternatives I tried anyway, and I'm way too old to have babies. Only time will tell how the name works out in the long run, but I'm looking forward to the ride.At least I have new tires to do it on.

Dreams Really Do Come True!!!!

Some authors take years to write a book. A select few take days. Most, like me, fall somewhere in between. Whether pantsing or plotting, we all follow the same basic routine. Wake up and write. Go to our day jobs and sneak in some writing when we can. Drive home from those day jobs and think about our writing. Get home, feed our *insert appropriate mammals here*, and write. We pour gallons of our blood, sweat, and tears into a manuscript in the hopes that someday somehow somebody besides our mothers and critique groups will read it. No matter the road we take to get there, with enough effort, and coffee, we will reach the destination and finish writing a book.We write because it's in our blood, because it's a part of the glue holding us together, because most of us would go crazy without getting those thoughts on paper. But we also write to share with others. We want other people to enjoy our words as much as we do. And, just maybe, we want to touch their lives in some significant way; to entertain, to teach, to validate their feelings. But first they have to read the words we write.How do we make that happen?There are really only two avenues to take; self or traditional publishing. The biggest pro to self publishing is the time involved. It's fast. With a few clicks, you can upload your book and BAM, you are a published author. The feeling you get when you hold your book in your hands for the first time is indescribable. Try it, and you'll probably agree. I know because I've done it.But the road to trad publishing is long and rough. Filled with hills, valleys, potholes, and all kinds of road blocks. But there is hope! All you need is a guide. A.K.A. a literary agent. Easy, right? Just write a query, do your research, and find that special someone who loves your book and knows exactly where to sell it.I'm happy to say, I've done this, too! After months of reading agent profiles, MSWL, sending out little pieces of my soul in queries, (and reading the rejections) I  found the one. I signed with an agent who not only liked my books, she also understands my purpose. She shares how I feel about the issues in my books. Issues most have every day, sometimes facing them but more often, ignoring or looking the other way. My agent gets them, which also means she gets me. I know she will do everything she can to promote my work and see that it reaches the correct final destination, and I'm looking forward to the ride.It wasn't easy or fast. My heart raced every time I'd open a return email from a query and I'd wonder, could this be it? Is this the last time? Anyone who's been rejected understands the gut punch you get when you open that email only to see, Thank you for sending me your manuscript, but... Maybe it just wasn't my time yet. Maybe I needed to develop an emotional callus to prepare for what's to come. Maybe all those rejections came because the writing gods knew I had to wait for the right person to show me the way. (If you believe in that sort of thing.)My advice to all the writers still looking for that special person, the one who gets you, is to keep trying. Your someone is out there, waiting, just like mine was.  Keep writing, keep searching, and don't give up hope. It's a long, painful, and sometimes murky road, but it's worth it in the end. I found my agent. You'll find yours, too.

COVER REVEAL!!!!

When I first heard the word Nanowrimo I thought, "That's a cute word. I wonder what it is. A kind of grandmotherly rhinoceros?" Then I discovered what it actually was; a month long, sleep deprived, put-your-life-and-everythingelse-like-cleaning-and-parenting-on hold, novel writing month. Being who I am, a slightly crazed newbie writer with no self respect for healthy sleep, I signed up.I had already written a novel in a month, that's just how I work. But, this was a little more official and I loved the challenge. Before I began, I made myself a promise. If (When) I finished, I would try something new and self publish the final book.I began researching the waters of self publishing and found out it's way more involved than I originally thought. There is tons of information on the internet, some helpful some insane, but most of it was easy to understand. It's just a lot of work. (Lucky thing I have that lack of respect for sleep, I'll need every minute I can find outside of my day job of teaching.)After finishing my book, a couple weeks early I might add because remember I am now a vampire and don't sleep, I found an editor, had a great cover created by an incredible artist, and sent it off to my beta readers.Now, I am excited to share with you the cover of my new young adult book, Breaking The Bro Code. It's a fun story about young love, high school drama and a little sports action thrown in to make it spicy. Oh, and if you are a fan of the 80's, you'll be happy to hear that's in there, too!So, hop on over to the Breaking the Bro Code page on my site and you'll find a link to the first two chapters of the book where you can meet my MC's,  Molly Mason and Hayden Bishop.I will be publishing the book on Amazon and Createspace in February and will post a link as soon as I have it available. I hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Email me or message me on Twitter to let me know what you think.Thanks for checking in and happy writing!

Nanowrimo Update

So I intended to chronicle my nano journey each week. To record my feelings and enlightened state of being for posterity. Or to at least vent about my late nights and weary days of teaching first graders when fueled by nothing but coffee and my character's voices in my head urging me to stay awake so I could get home and write again.Well, I'm surprised, and happy, to say that this is the last nano post to make because I finished. Two days ago. With the whole book. Hmmm. Looking back now, I've decided a few things. It was fun. It was hard. It was something I can't wait to do again next year!If you have never done Nanowrimo, I highly suggest it. Even if you only write the first 50,000 words of a story you never finish, or even if the story is the worst thing you've ever written, the experience of dedicating yourself to doing SOMETHING just for you is worth the effort. And just maybe, the words you write will touch somebody else when they need it most. After all, that's why we write. To make ourselves, and hopefully our fellow humans, feel.Write on.

Week One of Nanowrimo

Well, week one has come and gone. As unbelievable as it seems, I still have fingers and brain cells. I think my family is somewhere around here but I could just be imagining them. They look suspiciously like the characters that are walking around in my head.I have a few thoughts about my first Nanowrimo experience.1. I think I am obsessed with this book.2. I think I am obsessed with the "update my word count" button on my dashboard.3. I think I am obsessed, well, just obsessed with the whole thing.My husband would agree and my kids are probably looking for a new mother by now. I love writing.  I already wrote a lot before entering nano and this brought it to a whole new level. I should be overwhelmed with the amount of writing required, but I find that I am thriving on it. And I wouldn't have it any other way.If only someone could invent a way for me to implant caffeine directly in my brain so I could function at my day job after the late night obsessive writing sessions. Write on my friends!

Nanowrimo 2016

So, I am going to try and chronicle my Nanowrimo experience for posterity. Or at least so I have proof that I did it and can hopefully do it again. Hopefully, I'll still be able to think and string a few sentences together to share my experience. For all who are doing it too, good luck. For those who haven't tried yet (like me) consider it next year. Any chance to write is a good one.

Blogging Newbie

So this is my first attempt at adding a blog. I found out that it's harder than I thought. Happy Halloween!