Mindy Hardwick's Blog, page 20

Goals

In January, I set a goal to write three books in three months. Now, let me clarify here…..The first book, a contemporary romance was in the drafting stage. I had a fast draft of the story, I had done all my character work, a twenty-five page series bible, and plotted the story using color coded stickies and butcher paper. I had written the first seventy-five pages, but I still had another 150 pages to go.�� This is the finished draft of the contemporary romance. My dog is peaking out from under the table and wants to play ball…

My second book, a contemporary middle grade mystery, needed to be revised using the edits from the freelance editor I use in the final stages of writing before a book goes out on submission. This included line edits, cleaning up some subplot issues, and clarifying the mystery of the story. Here is the completed manuscript of the middle grade.

The third book, a memoir about my experience running the poetry workshop with teens in juvenile detention, also needed to be revised using edits from a free lance editor. Again, like my middle grade, the edits were similar: line edits, cleaning up some subplot type things, and adding a bit more of me and my “musings” into the story.

 

I am happy to report that I finished the contemporary romance on January 30, completed edits on the middle grade by February 16 and am now working in the third book–ahead of my three books in three month schedule which is now allowing me to send out my romance to a freelance editor and I will do revisions on that by the end of March–which means I completed three books in three months and all will go out on submission in April.

 

So, what have I learned in this process on how to reach these goals?

1. Break Writing Into Manageable Chunks–Each day, I set page and/or word goals for myself. The romance was three chapters a week, the middle grade was to edit at least fifteen pages a day, and the memoir is to edit at least 15 pages a day. The romance was the hardest because I was creating new material and I had to really work to override my analytic side of my brain which wanted to go into editing mode and stop the creation process.

2. Reward Yourself: As writers, we can’t control publication (unless self-publishing), and we don’t control too much of the process once the book leaves out hand to go out into the world, but what we can control is the writing of the book. So, it’s important to reward ourselves when those goals are met. When I finished the romance book, I had a nice manicure and a pedicure at a spa I don’t usually go to. When I finished the middle grade, I took a hike I’ve never taken before on a beautiful sunny, February afternoon. I also gave myself the gift of a lawn gal to do my fall clean-up–which meant raking leaves and cutting the tall decorative grasses. I hate that job and our spring is coming fast this year, so this was a real gift and took this chore off my hands.

3.�� Eat well and exercise–In order to keep up my momentum, I ate well. I cooked a lot of soups and prepared a lot of salads I could pull out of the refrigerator for lunch and dinner.�� I don’t cook for a husband or family, but cooking for one has it’s own challenges. I cut back on sugars, sweets and breads because those things give me a quick energy boost and then I crash. I, however, did not stop my coffee drinking but I did limit my trips to my favorite coffee stand. I also increased my water intake and snacked on veggies and nuts instead of stuffing whatever I had in the kitchen in my face in the afternoon. I already attend yoga twice a week, but during this time, I also picked up an extra yoga class a week–usually a gentle or restorative yoga to help focus and clear my mind. And by February, I started walking on the treadmill again–mainly because I am missing my beach walks.

Each book I checked off on my business plan gave me a feeling that yes, I am moving forward again and there will be new books coming soon for readers!

 

 

 

 

Romance is in the Air Blog Hop Winner

Congratulations to Sonya Sanderon for winning the Romance is in the Air Blog Hop!

 

Titles and Scenes in Picture Books

There have been some interesting picture book resources posted in the last week or so.

The first one comes from Ripple Grove Press who posted about the importance of titles. Titles can be something which are often overlooked but can make or break a story, especially as a picture book story. To read about picture book titles, go here.

If you’d like to submit to Ripple Grove Press, here are the guidelines.��

Note: Ripple Grove Press is only taking picture book submissions and they do not want religious or holiday themed stories.

 

The second blog post comes from the Children’s Book Academy Blogateers. This looks like a great blog to follow if you write for children and includes the Newbery Honor Book Award winner, Audrey Couloumbis. Audrey posted a great article about scenes in picture book. This is not something I’ve seen written about for picture books and is extremely important in any type of story. You can read that article here.

And yes, I know Valentine’s Day is past, but this was a very fun article about love notes found in used books.

 

 

 

 

 

Romance Is In The Air Blog Hop

Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m participating in Romance is in the Air Blog Hop sponsored by I Am A Reader Not A Writer. On this hop, you�� can win all kinds of young adult and sweet adult romances. You can find all the blogs participating here.

On this blog, I’m giving away one copy of my book, ROMANCE FOR ALL THE SEASONS. (Print to US mailing addresses and ebook to International winners).

ROMANCE FOR ALL THE SEASONS is a collection of sweet contemporary romance stories–all taking place at the holidays including Valentine’s Day and Christmas. The stories are set in Upstate New York and take place at the old, Elmheart Hotel and a Sailing Club.

Included in the book, ROMANCE FOR ALL THE SEASONS, is my sweet, contemporary romance, VINTAGE VALENTINE!

Vintage Valentine (Elmheart Hotel Series Novella #1)

Hailey has returned home to the Elmheart Hotel with her ten-year-old daughter. After years away, Hailey is happy to be back and celebrating her grandparent���s golden wedding anniversary. But, when Hailey finds former, high school boyfriend, Patrick, working as the hotel���s chef, she will have to find a way to tell Patrick the secret she has kept for ten years.

This story was inspired by vintage valentine’s that were passed down to me and belonged to my grandfather and his sister.

Here are a few pictures:

 

In order to win a copy of ROMANCE FOR ALL THE SEASONS, please leave me a comment with one of your favorite Valentine memories. One comment per person please. I will select a winner and announce it on this blog on February 16. Please be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you. If you are an International entry, the book will be an ebook, if you are a US address, the book will be a signed print copy.

You can find all of the blogs participating here.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

2015 ALA Award Books Announced

The 2015 American Library Association Award books were announced this morning in Chicago. These books include the 2015 Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Coretta Scott King as well as the Alex Award books. I love to see which books are included on the Alex Award list. These are books written for adults that appeal to teens too. I recommend many of these in my adult book group when it’s my turn to pick a book for the month.

You can see the entire award list here.

One of the books which won a Newbery Honor is El Deafo by Cece Bell. The story is a memoir, told in graphic novel, about when Cece Bell looses her hearing as a child during the 1970’s and has to wear a hearing aid. I read this story earlier this year and loved it, not only because this is set during the time period I grew up and so many of the cultural details I could relate to, but because the voice is fresh and the story paints a picture of everything a child has to do to deal with a loss of hearing.�� Here is a review of the book in the New York Times last summer.

And here is an interview with the author on NPR.

If you only have time to read one book from this year’s award list, I would highly recommend El Deafo.

Agent Seeking Picture Book Writers

When I began writing for children, one of the best resources was the Seattle chapter of SCBWI. During those years, at the monthly meetings they often posted calls for submission from editors. My first children’s short story, “Hurricanes,” published in an anthology called SUMMER SHORTS, was the result of one of those calls for submission.

Although I don’t attend the monthly meetings of SCBWI anymore, you can still find calls for submission and events of interest to children’s writers on their blog, The Chinook.

This announcement was posted on the SCBWI Seattle blog, The Chinook, this week and I thought it might be of interest to those of you writing picture books. Please note, she is very specific in what she is seeking.

Clelia Gore, literary agent specializing in children’s books at the Mercer Island-based Martin Literary Management says…. “I recently realized that the Kraken, the mythical sea beast that has been having a bit of a pop culture moment in the last few years, would��make for��a great picture book protagonist. As far as I know, there aren’t really any Kraken picture books in the current marketplace, and I think the right book would be an easy sell to publishers. I have already received some editorial interest for this idea. I am looking for a modern, humorous, quirky, and beautifully illustrated picture book. Perhaps someone has a manuscript that already exists, in which case, I would love to see it. If not, I’d like some author/illustrators to take a “krack” at writing a Kraken picture book and send me manuscripts and some sample artwork (i.e. a mock up of a spread). I’d love to see samples by February 15th. They can send their submission to me at��Clelia@martinliterarymanagement.com. Please indicate “Kraken submission” in the subject line.

Clelia is one of the agents who will be at the SCBWI Spring Conference, which I highly recommend attending if you are interested in children’s writing. The conference is good for both writers and illustrators. Registration opens on February 13 and you can find out more here.

 

 

Writing the Picture Book Additional Resources

On Wednesday, I am teaching a two-session class at the Schack Art Center, WRITING THE PICTURE BOOK.

This fall, I taught this class to two packed audiences at the Seattle Public Library branches.

One of the questions which we discuss is…but how many pages in a picture book story? And how does an ebook picture book story differ in page count from a traditionally print published picture book?

Darcy Pattison is one of the best resources I know for current information about picture book writing, and she answers this very question on her blog:

How Many Pages in a Picture Book? Printing Methods Determine the Answer.

 

She also has a great post about Indie Publishing here. Be sure to read what she says about the Amazon Program, Kindle Kids Creator–this is the picture book self-publishing program at Amazon.

If you’d like to learn more from Darcy about writing picture books, she has a great ebook about writing the picture book which you can purchase and download here.

If you are interested in writing picture books and/or other children’s stories, I’d highly encourage signing up to follow her blog.����

 

When the Writing Comes First

At the beginning of every year, I always sit down and map out writing and household/personal goals with measurable markers. It’s something my dad taught us to do as children and a skill I’ve always been grateful. For example, I will write ten pages a day and finish a novel in so many weeks. I don’t ever set a goal of I will sell a book this year–as that part of the publishing process is out of my control, unless I am self-publishing. For example, my ebook rights to my young adult novel, WEAVING MAGIC, will revert back to me in April and I am planning to repackage the ebook and print and bring it out under my own imprint. But, other than that, in writing, I only focus on what I can control which is the output in writing.

I also prioritize one or two household projects that need to be done during the year–sometimes these are projects which are carried over from the previous year. For example, this year, the deck railing has to be painted. It should have been done last summer, but it wasn’t. I’m hosting my women’s book group of twelve people in August, so I know that project will be done this year.

One of the things which became clear to me when looking at 2015 is the writing has to come first. At least for the first three months of this year, the writing has to come first, not the teaching, not the workshops, not the promotion angel of my business, not my various household responsibilities, but the writing and creating books.

I have three books which I need to finish in the next three months. One is a contemporary romance, the first twenty-five pages were requested by an agent at a fall conference. I did not want to send the pages until I had a handle on the length of the story and possible markets.�� I also have a middle grade novel which received an editorial critique last August and I’ve never finished the edits. And I have a memoir which also had an editorial critique that I received in December. Both of those books, the middle grade and memoir, need one more sweeping round of light revisions before I start submitting–neither of which will take long if I focus on it.

And that’s the thing–Writing Needs to Come First. For the next three months, I have committed myself to finishing these three books. It’s very doable. The romance novel is in good shape. The other two just need revisions. But it does mean the distractions need to go for the next three months.

I call them the anxiety about writing distractions. These are the things I do while the anxiety races–What if I this story sucks? What if the words won’t come? What if no one wants to buy it? What if everything I’m doing is a waste of time? Shouldn’t I be doing something else?�� Shouldn’t I be obsessively scanning for new workshops? New students? After all, teaching is what pays, not this writing thing.

Stop. I tell myself. We’re looking at three months here. Three months to put the writing first and finish these three books.

So what needs to be eliminated or decreased?

Too much social media time wasting, reading Facebook, clicking on all the articles and news media links. It’s not the updating of my own feeds which take awhile. It’s the distraction of finding out what everyone else is doing. Or what big news story I might be missing. Or what big weather storm is headed our way. Enough. Enough!

Too much checking email and responding immediately to everything that comes in. The best business practices with email are twice a day, in the morning and in the evening.�� I need to stick to that. Nothing has to be answered NOW. In a working day, it’s reasonable to expect that within a twenty-four hour time period, emails will be responded and for the next three months, that’s how mine will be. Now, if you happen to email me in the evening and I’m sitting in front of the fire, half-hardheartedly watching some bad movie or reading a book which isn’t keeping my interest, then yes, you may get a response quickly from me. Maybe.

But, the best thing I did to affirm this goal for myself? I hired someone to do my least favorite job–my fall/winter yard clean-up.�� By doing this, in late March, my yard will only need me to pull some weeds, which in the Pacific Northwest, is a job in itself, but it’s a lot better than trying to clean up leaves I never picked up, trim grasses I never bothered to trim, and cut back shrubs I never pruned, all while being irritated that I’m not writing.

In the spring, after I have finished these three books and met my goal, I’m also planning to have my backyard redone and will hire someone to rip out the grass, put in gravel paths and easy to care for plants. A few years ago, I did this for my front yard and I love it. There is no mowing. The flowers are pretty in the spring and the gravel paths don’t get soggy with our winter rains. The biggest time suck for me in the spring and summer is my yard. I hate doing it and so the chore becomes a weight hanging over my head every week.

So, by eliminating that big winter yard chore and making my spring and summer yard work lighter, I am giving myself permission to say that yes, writing comes first.

What are your new year goals and intentions?

 

 

STAINED GLASS SUMMER CONTRACT NEWS

Three years ago on December 30, 2011, my very first book, STAINED GLASS SUMMER, released as an ebook from Musa Publishing. Although I had been writing and publishing short stories and articles, I had not yet sold my first book.

I began writing the story in 2002 and it traveled with me to the National Book Foundation Summer Writing camp where I met Norma Fox Mazer who encouraged me to apply to the Vermont College Masters in Fine Arts Writing for Children program. Once at Vermont, I continued working on the story and the first seventy five pages, then called, GIRL ON A THIN WIRE, were my creative thesis.�� The scene I read during my graduation lecture is the scene where Jasmine first meets Cole. Through all the revisions between my graduate reading and the publication of the book, that scene stayed the same.

It took awhile for me to find the right home for STAINED GLASS SUMMER. It was a “quiet story” and no one wanted to buy it, although it came close at two different publishing houses. However, I could not give up. Every time, I went up to Orcas Island, where I based the story, I saw the setting and characters unfold before me. My mom often joked that Jasmine was her granddaughter and we expected her to pop out at us any minute while shopping in Eastsound.

Through all the rejections, I knew there were readers for this story.

Finally, in August 2011, I received the long awaited for email from Celina Summers that Musa Publishing wanted to publish it as an ebook. At the time, ebooks were new and not common–especially for children’s books, but I took a chance and signed the contract with Musa.

In those three years, STAINED GLASS SUMMER went on to have a companion short story, ELF SHOES.

It became an audio book.

It was a�� 2013 EPIC ebook Award Finalist in the Children’s Category.

I had many positive reviews:

���...The author did a great job of making this story relatable, not only to children dealing with the emotions of their parents splitting up, but also to anyone that has dealt with feelings of inadequacy������-Long and Short Reviews Young Adult

������Hardwick���s setting on the San Juan Islands of Washington State is rich and authentic. The relationship between Jasmine and little Sammy is heart-warming and revealing���.���-Goodreads Review

I’ve done numerous school visits and received touching letters from young readers and adults.

And that holiday season of 2011, when STAINED GLASS SUMMER released, those “uncommon ebooks” became something we all read–even children.

But, the one piece of the puzzle which STAINED GLASS SUMMER did not have was a print book which was widely available. Six months after publishing the ebook, Musa released a limited edition promo print copy. I used theses for book signings and giveaways and sold to friends and family. But there was always the piece of the puzzle missing…how could people who did not see me locally get a copy of the print? How could more readers find Jasmine’s story set on this small Pacific Northwest island?

It is my great pleasure to announce that STAINED GLASS SUMMER has a new three year contract with Musa Publishing and we are going to a print version which will be available for you to purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.

And as a bonus–the companion short story, ELF SHOES, will be included in the back of the book!

That print version should be out in January 2015–look for it near the end of the month.

STAINED GLASS SUMMER’s journey is a story of never giving up, believing in the story against many odds, and being graced with finally finding the right publisher for this story to send it out into the world for readers to read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Kiss Blog Fest

It’s the No Kiss Blog Fest! Authors, readers and bloggers are posting No Kiss scenes from their works-in-progress, published books, or even movie clips on blogs everywhere today. You can find the whole listing of bloggers participating here.

So without further ado…this “no kiss” scene comes from my sweet contemporary short romance, NEW YEAR HEART SONG. In the excerpt, the heroine, Angie, is helping the hero’s son, Jesse, practice his piano playing for the upcoming New Year’s Eve party.  But when she shows him how to play the correct notes, she slips into the song which used to belong to the hero, Caleb, and herself years ago. Stirring up old memories, the two long to kiss each other, but…..are interrupted….

 

The disconnected notes rang in her ears. “Mmmm….” Caitlin was right. Jesse didn’t play the right notes. “Let me see if I can show you.”

Angie sat down at the piano and quickly played the correct notes.

“That’s what I played,” Jesse insisted.

“Why don’t you let me play the song for a few minutes?” Angie suggested.

A dark shadow crossed Jesse’s face. He placed his hands over his chest and balled his fists. “I quit.”

“No,” Angie said quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that. When I get confused or frustrated, it helps to listen to someone else play. It’s like inspiration for me.”

Jesse’s lower lip trembled.

“Listen.” She ran her fingers over the notes in a couple quick scales and slipped into the song she performed every summer. The notes rushed back to her and she allowed herself to get lost in the music, Caleb and the cool summer evenings.

When she finished, clapping filled the ballroom. Across the room, Caleb stood in the doorway and stared at her with a hunger in his eyes that took her breath away.

“Your cheeks are red,” Caitlin said.

“Playing the piano is hard work.” Angie mumbled. She couldn’t break her gaze with Caleb. His eyes mirrored her emotions.

“Can I have some hot chocolate?” Jesse asked, and touched her sleeve. “I think hot chocolate will make me play better.”

“Of course.” Angie cleared her throat. She shifted on the piano bench and broke her gaze with Caleb.

Caitlin and Jesse flew from the room, as though all arguments were forgotten. Slowly, Angie wound her way to the entryway and Caleb. When she reached the doorway, she looked up into Caleb’s eyes. He placed a hand on her shoulder, his eyes searched her face. “I have never forgotten that song. Will you play it tonight?” His fingers crept into her hair and softly, he stroked the back of her neck.

“I don’t know,” Angie whispered. She couldn’t find her voice. “I’m not sure it’s in my set tonight.”

Caleb’s fingers played their own song on her neck. “I’d like to hear it again,” he said softly. He twirled a piece of her hair in his fingers.

Angie’s heart melted. She knew it was wrong. She couldn’t promise Caleb anything—but she wanted him. She wanted him to kiss her, to hold her in his arms and never let go.

“Dad!” Jesse hollered from the hallway. “Mrs. Matthews is looking for you and Angie.”

“I guess we should go.” Caleb’s eyes darkened as he gazed at her.

“Yes,” Angie said weakly. “We should go.”

NEW YEAR HEART SONG is one of the Elmheart Hotel stories. You can find NEW YEAR HEART SONG here

All of the Elmheart Hotel sweet contemporary short romances can be found here.