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A story reborn…

Out of the ashes rose a phoenix…wait scratch that, a raven.

When I was thirteen years old I began my love affair with dark, paranormal fiction (back then I think the whole section of the bookstore I was drawn to was simply called “Horror.” One of my favorites was Of Saints and Shadows by Christopher Golden. Some of the vampires in the story could transform into animals. This inspired me to write a novel about a young shape-shifter on a quest. I called it Ravyn’s Quest. I began typing the story on my tiny Mac Classic. I actually made 3/4 of the way through the manuscript before I realized I didn’t know how the story would end. I sent my character on this treacherous journey only to realize I didn’t know what she was going to do when she got to where she was going. I always thought in the back of my mind, some day I’ll finish it.

It has taken me seventeen years but I have finally resurrected my story. The original version is still trapped on that little mac, but I didn’t need it anymore ~ I started from scratch. The story comes to me in waves, and I feel I have a solid idea for the whole novel. So far I have completed a preface, and 2 chapters. I am very excited about this project. Wish me luck as I dive into writing my first full length young adult novel.

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My Personal Journey

I think it is quite apropos that my new music obsession (actually an old music obsession that has been rekindled) is with the rock band “Journey,” because I have been on quite an interesting personal journey of my own. You might notice my lack of blogging the past few months.

Well, in a nutshell…here is what happened. I was blessed enough to enjoy a family trip to one of the most beautiful places on earth ~ Tahiti, in early Nov. 2010. When I returned to a gloomy, rainy California I had a bit of a case of the post-vacation blues. Okay, more the a bit, more like a lot! Just as I was trying to recuperate and get over it I received my first rejection note from my manuscript submissions. I was expecting this of course but nonetheless I was already feeling down and this just tipped me over the edge. After that I didn’t get the urge to write at all for quite some time. Once my writing bug finally returned it took a turn for the personal ~ so for the most part I have been writing in a journal, which contains such inward thoughts, its hard to share them on a blog in such a raw state. Perhaps one day I will be able to or even turn it into a story.

By the way, upon further research, I revisited that rejection note I received and found that particular publisher does not typically respond if they are not interested in your work. Just knowing that, gave me a little glimmer of hope to send manuscripts to them in the future. I am able to think of it as less of the more final “no” to merely a “not now, not this project.”

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Query Time

I am so excited to have sent out my first set of queries and manuscript submissions for my first children’s book, Iris the Colorful Spider in the past few weeks! If the query package process is foreshadowing the road I’m on it is going to be a bumpy one!

I spent several weeks researching publishing houses, manuscript submission guidelines, how to write query/cover letters and more! I also spent a big chunk of time on getting to know the books each publisher produces and whether or not it seemed like my manuscript would be a good match for them. Once I had completed all of these things I was ready to take a day to put together my packages and send them off.

And then the hitch…

First my printer decided to put big black inky lines all over the pages of my manuscript. There was not way I could send that out. It looked completely unprofessional. My hubby and I lost several hours to cleaning and checking the printer after which the printer died all together! Ugh!Then I decided to send my copies to be printed at Kinkos. I lost several more hours due to technical difficulties.  Finally, I picked up my finished copies from Kinkos only to find that half of my order was missing. Double ugh! The next morning I visited my Mother-in-Law and she allowed me to use her printer to print up those missing copies. I was finally able to send my packges off by Monday morning.

If anything I think this served as a reminder to me ~ this is not an easy breezy process. I may succeed but it’s highly possible I may fail this first time around. I am going to learn a lot and hopefully grow and learn from my experiences. I will keep you all updated on the progress of my submissions. It should be approximately 2 months or so before I hear anything. Some publishers will not contact you at all unless they want to accept your manuscript. Wish me luck!

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Book Review: 2011 Children’s Writer and Illustrator’s Market

I have been absent from the blogosphere for about two weeks now, sorry Readers. It has been an insanely busy two weeks! I made it through the first two weeks of school and a weekend trip to San Luis Obispo for the Central Coast Writer’s Conference (more to come on the conference soon!). Our drive for the trip was a total of 10 hours in one weekend. I have also spent this last week trying my hand at queries/manuscript submissions, which has been quite a challenging, yet enjoyable ride thus far.

During my free times in the evenings I have been avidly reading, writing, and researching. One of my current reads is the “2011 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market.” The book came to me very highly recommended by both peers and Amazon.com patrons. I can certainly see why! As you can see by my photo at the left I have already “Post-ited”  many pages to come back to in my copy.(I’m a post it addict!)

Here are a few things I like about the book:

1) It’s a great reference book for Writer’s looking to get their works published. It includes valuable information about publishing houses, submission requirements, contact information and more!
2) It’s more than a reference book, it includes inspirational stories and “how to articles”
3) The online component is another awesome resource. Each purchased copy comes with a 1 year free subscription to to the Writer’s Market online.
4) Glossary of industry and writing terms. These have proven to be very helpful for me to get to know the field better and build my knowledge base.

If you are a new Children’s Writer (or even a veteran) I highly recommend this book!

My rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Book Review Disclaimer: I review books from time to time because I love to read and share about my experiences. Some of the best books I read come at the recommendation of other voracious readers like me.  At this time all books being reviewed at my blog are from my personal library. Should that change, I will be certain to notify my readers.     
 – Christine
 
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Loving my new Kindle

A few weeks ago my husband bought me a Latest Generation Amazon Kindle for my birthday. I don’t have any other kindle models to compare it to, but nonetheless I am very happy with it. It sure beats what I was using before. Last December my brother-in-law gave my hubby an itouch for Christmas. At night time, when he wasn’t using it I hijacked it and instantly downloaded the Kindle application for itouch. From December 2009 until now I had been reading books off of the itouch. The screen was tiny and I had to turn pages every few seconds but it did the job. So in essence, in the contest of kindle vs. itouch for reading, kindle wins, no contest. I am also amazed at how much the screen text looks like an actual page out of a book. I’m all for authenticity. Now all it needs is to emit puffs of paperback scented air every few seconds and it will have completely replicated the sensory experience of reading a physically real book.


So what am I reading at the moment you might ask? For pleasure I am reading “Blue Moon: The Immortals.” by Alyson Noel. My favorite genres have always been YA and adult dark & urban fantasy, and Sci-Fi. I loved reading the Twilight series but my love for this type of  book began many years earlier with books such as Christopher Golden’s “Of Saints and Shadows” and L.J. Smith’s “The Vampire Diaries” being among my favorites.

I’m also reading a few books on writing right now including Stephen King’s “On Writing” and William Strunk’s “Elements of Style.”

If you have a kindle and have not checked out Amazon’s huge selection of Free Popular Classics, you should do so. I have downloaded “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen and “Anne’s House of Dreams” by L.M. Montgomery to name a few.

I love being organized, so having all of books in one place on my kindle has been very comforting for me. You can also put your books into categories which I found to be equally delightful!

Do you own an e-reader? How do you like it?

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My Year 30 Epiphany- I want to be a Writer.

I had a milestone birthday recently. I am now 30 years old. You know it feels less weird to say that out loud than I thought it would. I’m genuinely surprised. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I feel settled into my life or maybe that I am moving in a new direction in my life? It is likely a combination of both of these things and more. I finally feel like I’m on a new path.

You know how they say a career has  an average lifespan of approximately seven years and then you starting feeling the itch to pursue a new one? Well a few years back I had that itch. I have been in my current job for nine years. I love working with children and have been blessed by the many years I have spent in the Child Care Field. It’s not so much a change I was in for but a growth or evolution into something new.


In looking into my prospects I ran into the same problem I had after graduating from college that kept me from pursuing a Master’s Degree right away. I knew I wanted more education but nothing sounded right. Masters in Psychology, if so what type? What about a teaching credential or career as a Guidance Counselor? I had no idea and furthermore I needed a career stat! I couldn’t see myself investing more time and money into something I wasn’t even sure I wanted.  So here I was faced with the same problem and even less focus this time around. I had no idea.
Becoming a Writer was something I had always dreamed of doing. Around 1988 I wrote my first book in elementary school as part of a class project. It was about a young girl who had a time machine and traveled to the future and back. I even credited my young self with having come up with the idea for the discman, which wouldn’t come out in stores for a few more years. At the time, I hadn’t considered that the next logical incarnation of the walkman would be the discman.
It would be several years later before I started writing again. This time it be around 1993 and would be on my tiny Mac Classic. My memory is very fuzzy and unfortunately I no longer have this computer, but I know my first manuscript for a Young Adult Chapter book is stored on that computer. I made it ¾ of the way through the book entitled “Ravyn’s Quest” before I got Writer’s Block and couldn’t figure out how to end the story. I never completed it. The experience taught me a valuable lesson. Always outline your whole story first ~ start to finish (well for me at tleast I need to have a rough idea what I plan to do with the story at the end, but I know this is debatable amongst writers.)
In my junior year of college in the year 2000, I was able to peak my interest in writing again by taking a class called, “Writing Books for Children.” It was great. We got to write everyday and learn all the in and outs of the publishing process. I felt like this class gave me all the tools I needed to become a Writer some day. I put the idea on the backburner for quite some time.
In 2008, I remembered my aspirations for writing and desire to write a children’s book and tried to come up with an idea. My stories have always been largely built upon my characters. My inspiration for stories comes from them. I have to have a character first and then I can build the world up around them.  So I tried to find that character. I was a little obsessed (ok a lot obsessed) with Meerkats at the time due to the program Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet. I tried to build a character, “Molly Meerkat” and story around it. It just did not come together. There was no inspiration there.
I continued my search for a new career, not really seriously thinking that Writing was going to be a contender, however it would soon be apparent that I was premature to make that judgment.
My husband has always been trying to find ways that we could connect better, and one of the ways he considered was to bring me into his world a bit more. My husband is an Internet Entrepreneur, a Renaissance Man or Internet Guru of sorts. He has built a career on the Internet and has been a force to reckon with for over 13 years now. In  February 2010 he introduced me to wordpress so I could build a “blog.”
I took to blogging like a duck to water. If ever there was a way to get my juices flowing this was it! I just loved blogging. I loved designing my blog, visiting other blogs, writing blog posts, and promoting my blog. And the added bonus was that my desire for creative writing was rekindled.
In June 2010, inspiration struck. My first children’s book main character, Iris the Colorful Spider was born. The manuscript is written and now I am learning more about the editing and publishing process. The journey has just begun and I have finally found my focus. I want to be a Writer. I have come to terms with the fact that this may be a process that is years in the making but, I am up for it! Carpe Diem! I hope you enjoy the ride! I know I will.