Sydney Salter's Blog, page 7

Blogging Elsewhere

I'm over at YA Outside The Lines, blogging about marketing--the time it didn't exactly work out as I'd planned. You can read the post here: http://yaoutsidethelines.blogspot.com/2013/05/when-it-doesnt-work-sydney-salter.html

Setting Your Dream Aside?

Are you procrastinating? Maybe setting your dream aside for later, you know, when you have more time, or [insert excuses here]. Watch this--it might get you going.

Blogging Elsewhere

Today I'm over at YA Outside The Lines, blogging about beginnings... You can read it here.

Advice & Giveaway with Jessica Brody

Please welcome Jessica Brody! I'll be giving away a copy of her new release UnRemembered to one lucky blog commenter. 
What's your best advice for fellow writers?
Don’t be afraid to write badly. Every first draft is crappy. But you can’t know what needs to be revised until you finish that crappy first draft. So don’t let “fear of being bad” stop you from writing. Just write. You can always fix it up and make it pretty later.
What popular writing advice do you never follow?
The other day I saw a piece of writing advice from Stephen King that said, “Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.”
Well, apparently there are exceptions to this rule because I use the thesaurus all the time. It’s my very best friend when I write. Mostly because my brain is mush and I can never remember the word I’m trying to think of. So I think of a similar word and thesaurus search until I find it.
Where do you do most of your writing? 
I find that I have a really hard time writing at home (too many distractions!) so I have a few coffee shops/tea houses that I rotate through and I write there.
What's the best book you've read lately on the craft of writing? 
It wasn’t recently that I read it but it’s by far my favorite book: Save the Cat by Blake Snyder. It saved my career! I actually teach the method now to fellow novelists.
About The Book
The only thing worse than forgetting her past...is remembering it.
When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find a single survivor; which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating amid the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe. She has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories…period. As she struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is, every clue raises more questions. Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?
Set in a world where science knows no boundaries and memories are manipulated UNREMEMBEREDby Jessica Brody is the first novel in a compelling, romantic, and suspenseful new sci-fi trilogy for teens.


About The Author
Jessica Brody knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer. She started self “publishing” her own books when she was seven years old, binding the pages together with cardboard, wallpaper samples and electrical tape. She is the author of 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, My Life Undecided, The Karma Club, and now, Unremembered. Her books have been translated and published in over 15 countries. She currently splits her time between California and Colorado. www.jessicabrody.com
Please leave a comment to win a copy of the book! 

Contest Winners!

Congratulations!!!



Jade won a copy of Miss Fortune Cookie by Lauren Bjorkman.




Deborah won a copy of Lucienne Diver's Fangtabulous.

Procrastinating?

I'm two-and-a-half chapters from the end of my novel--so close--yet I'm dragging my heels. I could spend hours analyzing my reasons procrastination, but I really, really, really just need to finish the darn story! 
Two strategies I've used to prevent procrastination:
1. Trap myself with my laptop--outside my usual workspace--for a limited amount of time. For me this means driving both ways for soccer carpool on Fridays. After I drop the girls off, I drive over to a fancy-schmancy market, buy a big peppermint tea & write at a table overlooking the store.


The other parents are incredibly grateful, the soccer players love the fresh-baked cookies I buy, and I usually manage to write about 900 words in 90 minutes, plus I get my grocery shopping done! 
2. Write with others. Sometimes it's hard to put down a good book, turn of the radio, or stay offline when I know I'm going to be alone with that blank page. About once a week I meet with friends to write. We chat, write furiously, chat, write a little more, eat lunch, and chat some more, sometimes writing a bit more too. Despite all the talking--which I crave--I manage to get a lot of words down when I'm typing with friends. 


This week I combined #1 with #2, meeting fellow writers, Anne Bowen and Wendy Toliver, at the Snowbasin ski resort lodge. Beautiful views, great food, fantastic conversation, and another 1,000 words. 
I will finish this thing!!! 

Sticking With It.

Writing takes the kind of persistence and perseverance that is measured in years and decades. Often we watch others succeed, sign contracts, work with enthusiastic editors, show off pretty book covers, schedule book signings, etc. while we labor to fix yet another rejected manuscript.

Last week a longtime writing friend sold her first picture book after years and years of writing, attending conferences, making connections, and all that waiting and rejection. YAY!!!

I also found out that Valynne Maetani Nagamatsu, a longtime conference friend, is a finalist for Tu Book's New Visions Award. Please check out her blog post here.

If you're in that dark writing place where the dream seems so far away, please stick with it. You'll have your glorious moment!

Advice & Giveaway with Lauren Bjorkman

Please welcome Lauren Bjorkman, author of My Invented Life and Miss Fortune Cookie. Leave a comment to win a copy of her new book! 
What's your best advice for fellow writers?Write all the time. The more you write the better you get. Which brings me to the obvious follow up question: How does a person keep one’s butt in the chair (without resorting to adhesives)? Write what you want to write. Forget about the market.Think about your story while doing other things—driving the car, cleaning the kitchen, showering, etc. When you finally get to sit down to write, you’ll be ready to go.Describe your story to others. When I try to summarize my WIP, it gets me excited about the story, again, and often gives me new ideas.Set goals. Give yourself rewards for reaching them. Whenever Franz Kafka reached his writing goal, he would treat himself to a pineapple upside down cake. Be like Franz.Join a critique group.Read a truly amazing book (Jealousy is an awesome motivator).

What popular writing advice do you never follow?Write what you know. It is much more interesting to write about things I’m ignorant about. Research is fun and inspiring.
Where do you do most of your writing? I used to write in bed on a laptop. My cats would keep me company. It all started with living on a sailboat and having to complete 3rd, 5th, and 6th grade from my bunk. I continued working in bed through HS and college.
Unfortunately, for the past two years a tweak in my upper back has forced me to sit in an ergonomic chair at a desk. My office measures almost 7 by 9 feet, which sounds spacious until you shoehorn in a desk with drawers, a filing cabinet, a dresser, two bookcases, and an exercise machine. The door is my favorite feature. I surround myself with inspiring photos and objects while I work. I have a special cushion for my bare feet, plus a radiant heater under my desk to stay cozy in the winter.
What's the best book you've read lately on the craft of writing? Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby. When I applied his exercises to a half-finished novel, they helped me organize the plot, clarify the role of my characters, and expand conflict to make key scenes more powerful. I spent two weeks revamping taking notes, which made writing the second half easier. Note: Easier
Find out more about Lauren & her books at: http://laurenbjorkman.com
Please leave a comment to win a copy of Miss Fortune Cookie by Lauren Bjorkman!

Advice & Giveaway with Lucienne Diver

Today Lucienne Diver is back with writing advice--plus you can win a copy of her new book Fangtabulous! Just leave a comment.
What's your best advice for fellow writers?
Keep the faith. Seriously, it can be very difficult to keep writing in the face of rejections or a bad review. The important thing to remember is that nothing, not even the cutest kitten or puppy dog in the world, is universally loved. There will be detractors. That won’t change no matter how successful you become. You just have to stay true to yourself and your ambitions and, as Dory from Finding Nemo would say, “Just keep swimming.”
If anyone’s interested in reading about a particular subject, here’s a full list of articles and blogs I’ve done that address various aspects of writing and publishing http://luciennediver.wordpress.com/articles-guest-blogs/with a cut-out leading to this list of blogs for Magical Words http://varkat.livejournal.com/218703.html.
What popular writing advice do you never follow?
I don’t know that I listen to popular advice or “truisms.”  There’s too much misdirection out there, like the suggestion that you have to do things this wayor you’re wrong, wrong, wrong. The truth is that there’s no one-size fits all in publishing, no “one true path.” You have to find your way, and the path you choose will depend a lot on your end goals. 
Where do you do most of your writing?
In the warm weather, I like to take a pen and notebook (I freehand everything before typing it onto the computer) up to the pool or dock at our lodge. In the cooler weather lately though I’ve been writing in our Florida room. Our dogs like to keep me company, one laying on each side of my lap while I attempt to write over them.  For example, here’s a picture of them in our papasan chair with Ginger, the littler one, occupying my spot. The other is Micky-doodle.


What's the best book you've read lately on the craft of writing? 
I actually don’t read books on the writing craft. I’ve learned through reading fiction and analyzing what works and doesn’t work in the books I’ve loved and how authors do what they do. I’ve also learned a lot through trial and error—writing, workshopping and learning about my strengths and weaknesses from people who can see them more clearly.
About The Book:
Gina Covello and her band of federal fugitives are on the run after taking down a secret (and sinister) government facility. Strapped without cash or credit cards—a fate worse than death for Gina—the rebels must find a place to lay low. They roll into Salem, Massachusetts, the most haunted town in America and the only place they have friends flying under the radar. But within a day, Gina and her gang are embroiled in a murder mystery of the supernatural kind.
Someone—or something—is strangling young women, and it's rumored to be the ghost of Sheriff Corwin, late of the Salem Witch trials.  Is it the ghostly Sheriff or is someone on this side of the veil using the famous story as a cover up? Gina is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, and she needs to do it before a paranormal reporter on the scene exposes them for what they are...fanged federal fugitives.  

About The Author:
Lucienne Diver writes the humorous, suspenseful Vamped series of young adult vampire novels for Flux Books, including Vamped, Revamped, Fangtastic and the most recent, Fangtabulous.  Her short stories have been included in the Strip-Mauledand Fangs for the Mammaries anthologies edited by Esther Friesner (Baen Books), and her essay on abuse is included in the anthology Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories (HarperTeen).  She also writes the Latter-Day Olympians urban fantasy series for Samhain (Bad Blood, Crazy in the Blood and the forthcoming Rise of the Blood). www.luciennediver.com

Please leave a comment to win your own copy!

Contest Winner!

Congratulations!



Lisa A is the winner of Deadly Little Lessons by Laurie Faira Stolarz.