HAPPY 2nd BLOGIVERSARY TO ME!
July marked the second anniversary of this blog. Last year, I ran a week-long series of guest posts where awesome authors Veronica Roth, Jodi Meadows, Marjetta Geerling, and Jennifer Echols shared the biggest lesson they'd learned in the previous year. You liked the series so much that I brought it back with a new set of guest posts. Nine young adult writers, including me, will share the biggest lesson they've learned in the last year. Beth Revis, Kathleen Peacock, Jodi Meadows, Elana Johnson, Myra McEntire, Kate Hart, Matt Blackstone, and Stephanie Kuehn have all kindly agreed to participate with amazing guest blogs you will love. Be sure to check back every day this week and next week to see what these great people have to say about the challenges they've faced. Read below to see what I had to say, plus there's a contest for a chance to win a $20 Barnes & Noble gift card.
My Lesson Learned
Okay. I'm taking a deep breath here. Last year at this time, I had been on submission for about five months. I'd started the sequel to TOUCHED – and stopped. I'd started a new contemporary – and stopped. The big, bad truth is that I let the submission process get to me in a terrible way. I hoped I would be one of those authors who sold overnight. I wasn't. I hoped I'd enter the YA scene with a big splash. I didn't. I hoped editors would be fighting over me. They didn't. They asked to see my manuscript, but mostly, not a lot happened for months and months. I grew increasingly dejected over my non-start. My confidence in my ability was shaken, and I agonized over every freaking word that I wrote, though admittedly there weren't many.
What kept me going? First, I went to SCBWI LA in August, meeting Steph Kuehn for the first time when I picked her up to drive the seven hours from the Bay Area to Los Angeles. I met some amazing writers and listened to many keynotes that inspired the hell out of me. Then I went home and started a crit group with a few friends. Steph, Dawn Miller, and I met twice a month (plus Debra Driza joined us for one faulty Skype meeting) to critique each other's writing. Twice a month, I HAD to turn in a chapter for the group. Not to mention, school packets of 40-50 pages of writing were due every six weeks, whether I felt like writing or not. And when I stalled on Chapter Ten of IF I LIE and kept agonizing over how different it was from TOUCHED, Steph gave me a short speech that's imprinted on my brain (even though she doesn't remember giving it to me). She told me to stop talking about writing and just do it. For about ten seconds, I hated her. Until I realized she was right and doing what the best of friends do – calling you on your crap. The book would never get finished if I didn't just sit my butt in a chair and get it done.
She told me to stop talking about writing and just do it.
That's what I did from October to December. I got serious about finishing IF I LIE. That book sold in February. And TOUCHED – the first book to go on submission – sold in a 3-book deal in March. Everything turned around because I KEPT WRITING. Even when I didn't feel like it. Even when I struggled. And even when I doubted I had anything to say. So my lesson learned should be to keep writing, right?
No.
My lesson learned is that every writer needs a friend like Steph Kuehn who will tell you exactly what you need to hear when you need to hear it, even if it will make you hate her for a whole ten seconds. I
AND NOW FOR THE CONTEST…
The Prize: One (1) $20 Barnes & Noble gift card.
TO ENTER:
Leave a comment on any of the guest blog posts this week or next week. Each comment counts as one entry. I will randomly choose one winner on 9/3 using random.org. It's that easy!
GOOD LUCK, and remember…check back tomorrow for a great post from Beth Revis!
