Sarah Allen's Blog, page 42

U Got the Look

So I've been tagged :)
As you can tell by the irregular meme postings on this blog, I don't usually pass on tags. Lame of me, I know, I know.

I'm doing this one today not just because the tagger is a friend, but because the meme is one I really like and syncs with what I've been wanting to do. I've never really posted a clip of my book on this blog, and I think its maybe time to do that.

Here's the deal with the "U Got the Look" tag. All you do is find the word "look" in your manuscript and post the surrounding paragraphs. I decided to use a clip from the end of my book.

The woman was squatted down next to him, eye-level with him and the dog. “You know,” she said, after he’d given her back the stethoscope. The rest of the class was chatting and laughing, and she was talking softly enough that only he could hear her. “We think dogs talk by barking and yapping, and they do, that’s how they talk to each other. But sometimes when you have a question or something’s worrying you then they can answer you with only their heartbeat and their eyes. Usually they have better answers than anyone else, too. Try it. Think of something you’re worried about and look in his eyes and see.”

George didn’t remember what his silent question had been, but he did look in the dog’s eyes and had come away with something more and less than an answer. The dog couldn’t tell him what to do, but it was as if the way the dog looked at him and would always look at him made the answer and even the question irrelevant.

That’s what he was looking for.

I'm nervous now :) But it was fun. Now its your turn. If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged, and if you decide to play along, leave a link in the comments so we can all see!

Sarah Allen

The Utmost a Writer Can Do

Patience is not my strong suit.
This is not new news. But it does mean that periodically I have weeks where I am anxious about everything, frustrated by slower-than-I'd-like progress and just everything. 
I have this image in my head of my ideal future. It involves things like a cute little house with a balcony and a large library, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, a man with hair like Josh Groban, trips to London and a livable salary from my books. Every cell in my body is ready for this to happen. The livable salary part has to come before a lot of the other things, obviously, and I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can possibly do to make that happen, so I can get me one of these:  Here is what I think a writer can do on a day-to-day basis, and I what I try to do:Write. Obviously. Read. Fill your creative tanks in other ways too, i.e. art, film, gardening, other projects, etc.Network. I try to keep up on my social media profiles for at least a couple minutes every day.Submit. To everything. Contests, literary magazines, agents. I like having each of my stories out to at least two magazines, and now with my novel I am trying to have it out to somewhere around 5-7 agents at a time.Those are the things I have come up with. Sometimes life gets in the way of these things, sometimes in an okay way (Disneyland), sometimes in a frustrating way (double shifts), but I try to keep these as a rule of thumb. I believe I can always get better at these things, qualitatively and quantitatively. 
But what else? I am trying to get a good schedule going with writing this novel. I'm loving my new friend library. I'm trying to keep up with the online stuff and now have my query with a handful of agents. What else would you suggest? Is there anything more I can be doing? Because if there is, I'm ready to do it.
Sarah Allen
p.s. Check out the latest on the vlog :)

Favorite Word? Favorite Letter?

I like thinking of these things. And that's all the reason one needs to write a blog post on something, right?

Favorite word? There are so many good ones to choose from. Actually, let me start with my least favorite: secular. I don't like that word because it implies a spiritual neutrality, and I'm not sure I believe in spiritual neutrality. I think everything EVERYTHING helps or harms our spirits, brings them closer or further to God, and there's nothing "secular" about that.

But as far as favorite words. I love the word entropy. I'm not sure why. I love the word bellwether and adore the word panache and the Russian word for hello. I think my favorite, though, is the word chimerical. I love the shimmeriness of it, and in a way I think our whole world is chimerical. To be honest, though, there is a very visceral reason why chimerical is my favorite word and it is this:

(Yes I've posted this song before. And?)

Favorite letter? There are also some good ones to choose from. I don't like I don't like G or R or X. I like Z and L and O. My favorite is probably M. Think about it. When you say that letter, make the sound mmmmm, what are thinking of? Probably this:

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Your turn! Favorite word? Favorite letter?

Sarah Allen

How do you pick the setting for your novel?

[image error] This is my most recent problem with novel #2. Also I need to find something else to call this besides #2, because my sense of humor is about on par with that of my teenage brothers. So yeah.

Anyway. I'm really not so good at setting. Is it bad how many blog posts I talk about the things I'm not good at? You guys are never going to buy my book if I keep saying stuff, you'll all be like, well she sucks at plot and can't do setting, so whats the point?

The point is I like talking about my weak areas because you guys are smart and so hopefully they will become less weak. To be determined--you can all yell at me when you read my book.

Anyway. Again. Jeez I'm rambly today. So the question is, how do you decide where to set your novel? Setting isn't typically a huge determining plot factor in my novel. As in it doesn't change the story so much. Is that bad? Should it have more of an influence? And it doesn't help that the places that are really appealing to my psyche right now are either deep cajun country or like...Alaska. Neither of which works for this story. Or maybe it does? I'll have to think.

There is my long and rambly way of putting it out to you. How do you decide where to put your story?

Sarah Allen

3 Things That Would Make Me Buy Your Book

The interwebz is kind of a crazy place. It is an absolute zoo, and you have to have skill, honesty, and strategy to get your voice simply heard, let alone listened to.

Twitter and Facebook and every other social media platform is full of people shouting LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME BUY MY BOOK HERE! I definitely understand the sentiment--we all have this dream and we are all doing everything we possibly know to do in order to achieve it. But has that arm waving look over here strategy ever worked?

So I tried to think about this: what would actually make me seriously consider spending my hard-earned money on the book of one of my Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads friends? What strategies would actually work on me as a buyer? I came up with three.

1. Proof of Goodness: If I already know you are a good, entertaining and interesting writer because I read your blog and your tweets, I am more likely to consider buying your book. This has definitely happened several times, where I buy a book purely based on a writers blog. So what does this mean for us on the writers side? It means pay attention to your social media accounts, if you have them. Be yourself, your best self, on Twitter and Facebook and your blog. Provide content as informative and entertaining as you can.

Another way proof of goodness might work is if you prove to me I would like the actual book. For example, if you post a quote from it that totally grabs my attention, or if I come across your summary and can't stop thinking about it. On the other hand, if you bombard me with quotes and summaries I'm probably not even going to read them. So put it out there where people can see it, but then act genuinely and naturally with the virtual community and they will find it themselves. That's much more satisfying for a reader.

2. Reciprocation: This may sound a bit scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours, and maybe it is. But what I mean is that if someone leaves a nice comment on my blog or video, mentions me in a post or writes a nice review, I will basically always try to reciprocate. At the very least I smile while I check out their blog and twitter feed, which probably has the eye-catching book summary I was talking about. I've been turned into a life-long fan of certain writers because they were incredible enough to offer to read my work. That's kind of  a major deal, and I'm not saying you should offer chocolate and critiques to every blogger you find (I prefer white chocolate, btw). What I am saying is that kind words--a blog comment, a personal and sincere twitter mention, a review, a YouTube conversation--can go a long, long way.

3. Continued Correspondence: I guess this one boils down to determination and staying power. What I mean is this: I've found many, many good writer/bloggers out there that just don't seem to fit my taste on first impression. I enjoy their blog, their book blurb looks good, they occasionally tweet me or comment on the blog, but they are enough outside my genre or my first taste that it just doesn't translate into me really thinking about buying their book. But then a few weeks or months go buy of me continually enjoying their blog or videos, a few more tweets, something like that, and their name starts to stick in my head. Then the next time I'm at the book store I think of it and actually hold their book in my hands. And having their name in your head and holding their book can be a powerful incentive. So don't drop any bridges. Keep talking, keep corresponding, you never know when it will translate into a new fan.

I hope this helped. These are just the things that have brought me from a casual social media observer to an actual book buyer. What about you? Have you ever bought a blogger/twitter friends book, and if so, what made you shell the dough?

Sarah Allen

The Trial of Living in Time

Mortality is an interesting thing.

When I am having a hard time, going through something difficult, the thing itself usually isn't so bad. Work is tedious, agents reject me, rent is due, but I think in general we have it pretty good. The hardest part for me is the thought that my time is being used up on something so annoying or frustrating or difficult when I know what I would rather spend my time doing, and it is not that. On bad days (nights) the thought can almost make me panic, like I only have so many days and I'm feeling them being used up doing something I don't want to do. Like days are a stack of cards and seeing any of them stacked in the Bad Day pile seems like a drain and a waste.

Except I think that thinking is flawed. It is my gut reaction, and that's not going to go away soon, but I can at least try and change the thinking process in my head.

Days are not cards. Life is not an hourglass or a drip of water into a bucket. Existence is eternal, and I believe that. I don't need to panic that I am using up days away from my best friends (which I often do) because in a sense I will ALWAYS be with them. In fact, understanding for a tiny glimpse of time what it feels like to not have them presents the contrast to more fully appreciate it when I do, although to be honest the thought isn't terribly comforting on the bad days. But it will be, in the future.

While I think it is definitely possible to waste time, and that we should be doing our best with the time we have, getting into a panic about it is definitely one of the pointless/wasteful things to do. I think many times it comes down to attitude, and one thing we have to do with our time can be paralyzingly awful or manageably annoying or even surprisingly pleasant depending on how we approach it.

Time is hard. One of the hardest things in this life, I think. But its up to us to do something with it.

Hurricane Sandy and a Vlog

I've talked about vlogs and posted a few vlog videos here before.

This time its different. This time I have a buddy who is doing it with me.

Also Hurricane Sandy.

Y'all ready for this?

P.S. Check out the INCREDIBLE background that Bridey designed for our channel. I seriously can't get over it.

P.S.S. Happy Halloween :)

Bringing Your Frankenstory to Life

Sometimes I feel like I have the parts of a story, the head, the feet, the arms, but I don't feel like I have the pulse, the electric current that binds it all together.
That's how its going with novel number two. I pretty much have my main character, a thirteen year old girl who has been in my head a long time. That's how it typically starts for me, a person who won't leave me alone with a life and a situation that they want my help to understand. I know her situation, her family, where she's living. But I still haven't figured out the plot points and heart beat that moves the story forward.
Does this happen for anyone else? What do you do to solve the problem?
I have been watching a bit of Twilight Zone (great hurricane entertainment, let me tell you.) Like I said, it is the most incredibly conceptual show ever, and I am hoping some of that genius rubs off on me.
So yeah. How do you go about bringing your monster to life?
Sarah Allen

This Story Is For You

It happened again, you guys, and it hasn't happened in a while.

The word click seems so inadequate. It is more like when you haven't had bread pudding in maybe months, and you know it is your favorite thing in the world, the warm bread and sweet and condensed milk and caramel exactly what your taste buds were made for. Sometimes you think about it, sometimes you crave it enough to try and look for it, even though often you can't find it, have to settle for toast instead. Then after a day when you've gotten three rejections from an agent and come home late from the night shift, you finally settle in, get comfy for the night, and lo and behold, the universe hands you a big, perfect, warm bowl of bread pudding, made exactly how you like it.

I love stories about old people. I love old people romance. I adore the English. I love stories about marriage, its many intricacies and complications. I love the puppy-dog loyalty and sweetness in Bill Nighy's face and the humaneness and pain when he finally stands up for himself. I love the wit and really-a-softy-crustiness of Maggie Smith. I love Judi Dench all the things.

Maybe this bread pudding is to my taste specifically, and if it is, that's okay. But watch The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. See.

Do you know what I'm talking about? What books or movies or stories or shows have done this for you?

Sarah Allen

Things Going On...In the Twilight Zone

Life is interesting, isn't it? I can't focus, or rather I am trying to think about too many things. And I'm going to allow that for now.

I am very sick of the election. I'm sorry, but I am. It will be nice when Facebook doesn't totally drive me nuts anymore. Wait...

Also, freaking Rod Serling. Given the ride I should have known the show would be freaking amazing, but guys, its so cool. I love how literary it is, and how well written, and I think it definitely qualifies as the most conceptual show ever. What I wouldn't give to be as conceptual as Rod Serling.

I could use that right now. I always have such angst in coming up with my novel ideas, and this time is no exception. Maybe number two is even harder? Its not so much a shortage of ideas as plethora of sort of half ideas that I can't seem to hold on to long enough to really work with. Its like I have thousands of puzzle pieces that I'm shuffling around randomly and I hope soon they will start forming some kind of picture.

Steven King, you guys. Some new leaf for me or something lately, but Twilight Zone and The Green Mile audiobook in the car are totally jiving with me lately. I don't know if I would do so well with Kings more straight up horror stuff like It or Cujo, but Green Mile is awesome. I've read it before, and listening to it is so awesome. Literary plus high concept equals awesomeness. And yes, I consider Steven King literary.

Agents! Gah! This submission process is so much more nerve-wracking than submitting to literary magazines. It feels lots more personal. Part of me wants to tell everyone about every step of this process, but I also think that's probably not a great idea. How long do I have to wait after submitting to an agent before I can freak out? Because right now its when I press send and then I'm all Y THEY NO WRITE ME BACK NOW.

Libraries. I don't know why I haven't discovered them until recently, I mean, you'd think...being a writer, and going to school with one the largest university libraries in the country...I think it took all my books being in boxes. But checking out an audio book for my commute is glorious, and being able to read books as more of an experiment without the same kind of obligation. Its awesome!

Imma go watch Twilight Zone now :)

Sarah Allen