A February post

How is everyone's 2013 reading going? It's already February and I've only finished two books! Although I'm nearing the end of Justin Cronin's The Twelve, which is a long and crazy journey through post-zombie-psychic-vampire-virus-apocalypse America. Sticking to my resolution to branch out in my reading, I'm also making my way through an illustrated collection of Rumi's poetry, and today at the library I picked up a book on West African history and one on pre-Columbus American history—enough to keep me busy for a little while, at least.

Libraries—I practically live in them these days; I go to one in the morning before work, and sometimes again after work. On our drive home, Big Chimp and I will often stop in at our local branch to browse or pick up reservations. I started a new job in November as a one-on-one aide for a child with special needs—and often when my student needs to take a break from school work, we'll walk down to the library and explore the books and DVDs. I really think I was meant to be a librarian.

Oh, writing. My writing time has been taken up entirely by editing; I'm finally doing some serious work on the novel I finished last summer—reading through and taking notes on changes I want to make. It's now been so long since I wrote the book that sections of it seem new to me, as if someone else wrote them. This is both strange and exciting; I believe it allows me to judge the story more as a reader, which is a whole lot more helpful than judging it as the person who wrote it.

And—nothing whatsoever to do with writing or reading—my half marathon is looming now, disturbing my sleep and filling my dreams with phantom injuries, turning my thoughts to stitches and stretches and running playlists and hydration and shot blocks. I am, to say the least, apprehensive. In a couple of weeks it will all be over. I hope my legs survive.

What's everyone else up to this winter?

New Year's resolutions

It's been an eventful year here at the book cafe: European trips, one amazing Harry Potter studio tour, the Olympics, a trans-Atlantic move, new jobs. But in between all the excitement and the scariness of life changes, one thing remained constant: as always, I had my nose in a book about fifty percent of the time. This year my reading goal was sixty books, a goal that I managed to meet with a week to spare (fist pump).

My other literary goal, of course, was to finish my first draft of Dyllan and Abigail, my second young adult fantasy novel, which I accomplished over the summer.

So, what's in store for 2013?

Reading goals:

• Read 40 books.
• (Of these: 5 history books, 5 poetry collections, and 5 classics.)

Writing goals:

• Write 8,000 words each week.
• Edit Dyllan and Abigail until it looks like something resembling a real novel.

Non-literary goals:

• Complete my first half marathon (only a few weeks away!).
• Keep on running even after the half marathon is over.
• Start doing yoga.
• Learn Spanish.
• Support more charities.

So, what are your New Year's resolutions, readers? Let me know in the comments!

And however you celebrate tonight, stay happy and safe! See you next year.

The ninety-nine percent

*picks up blog*

*blows away dust*

Hello? Is everyone still here? I've been away for a while now, with November being crazy with NaNoWriMo and Thanksgiving and birthdays and new jobs and helping people move—did you guys do NaNo, by the way? I managed to hit 50K at 5:00pm on November 30th, just squeaking by with another "win," although my dragon novel somehow turned into a crazy time travel novel instead.

Anyway, with November being totally chaotic, I managed to fall way behind on my reading. My goal is to read 60 books this year, and last night I finished my 54th. I think I'm going to ease off writing for a little while to make sure I hit my reading goal by January 1st.

But I wanted to leave you with a quote that resonated with me, from one of the two books I did manage to read in November. This is from Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (page 159). If I were a teacher, I would put this up on the wall of my classroom:

Persistence is not very glamorous. If genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration, then as a culture we tend to lionize the one percent. We love its flash and dazzle. But great power lies in the ninety-nine percent.

"It's not that I'm so smart," said Einstein, who was a consummate introvert. "It's that I stay with problems longer."

Writing your first novel? Helpful blogs for new writers

An old friend of mine from high school recently made the huge decision to write his first novel. Awesome! And that made me think back to a few years ago, when I first started writing seriously and genuinely hoping to be published one day. I had just finished my MFA and I was feeling a little lost. The same sort of feeling you get when finals finish after a really tough quarter: like a train that's run out of tracks. That's when I started to venture into the online writing community, checking out Facebook groups (remember those?), websites, and blogs. I learned a lot from agents, editors, and authors—both published and unpublished. I learned about craft (the MFA didn't teach me everything), good writing habits, setbacks, the publishing industry...you name it and I probably read a blog post about it. These days, I feel confident that I've learned the basics of the publishing process. So while I'm still a long way from querying, I feel informed, I feel ready, and I know what I need to do (namely produce a manuscript that's good enough to sit on the shelves of the YA section in my local bookstore, rubbing shoulders with the works of JK Rowling and John Green and Diana Wynne Jones—yeah, totally no big deal).

So the first thing I did when my friend announced that he was writing a book was offer to give him a list of blogs I found helpful when I first started out. And then I figured that that information might be useful to other just-starter-outers.

Thus, without further ado, here's my list of helpful blogs for the first time novelist hoping for publication:

Rachelle Gardner, literary agent: This lady's blog helped me a lot in understanding how the publishing industry works, and what the roles of agent, editor, and author entail. Her posts are concise and informative, and her tone is helpful and friendly. Check out her lists of popular posts on the right hand side.

Nathan Bransford, author and former literary agent: When I first started reading this blog, its author was a literary agent. As such, there's a lot of fantastic information here about the publishing process. But Nathan Bransford is also a published author of middle grade novels, so his posts span a broad area of the writing/publishing spectrum.

Natalie Whipple, YA author: As nice as it is having the "inside scoop" that you get from the blogs of agents and editors, it's so encouraging and informative to read about the author's journey to publication. Natalie Whipple's first novel comes out next year and she's been gracious enough to share every step of the process, both good and bad. I can't tell you how inspiring and helpful this blog has been for me.

Kiersten White, YA author: Author of the bestselling Paranormalcy series, Kiersten White takes an often humorous look at writing and publishing.

Query Shark: When your novel is the best it can possibly be and you feel like you're ready to get it out into the world, the first step is to write a query letter to a literary agent. This site, on which query letters are ruthlessly critiqued, will help you learn how to write one—or how not to write one, as the case may be.

I read a lot of blogs, but these five stand out as particularly helpful for new writers. As you start to explore the online writing world you will find your own favorite sites. Reading the comments sections on blogs you like and participating in discussions there will also help you find and connect with people who are on the same path as you.

Of course, the most important part of your journey isn't reading blogs, it's writing. So give yourself a little time to check out these blogs, then turn off your Internet connection and write!

Writing at the library today

We've been looking for places to write—libraries, cafes, book shops. Unfortunately, there's nothing very promising in our immediate area; our local library branches are small, and there are a couple of chain coffee houses but they're not very exciting (and I always feel I have to keep buying drinks and snacks to justify sitting in there—not so good for my unemployed self). But a couple of days ago when looking for an Arabic textbook for my sister I stumbled onto a library branch I never knew existed, about a 15-minute drive from our house. This place looks awesome, guys. Big new building, lots and lots of books, and plenty of work desks and study nooks. Plus, they had the textbook my sister needed. Total win! Big Chimp and I are going there for an extended writing session this afternoon.

As for what I'll be writing, I haven't decided yet. I'll either continue with the contemporary novel I've been slowly working on lately, or I might start the third book in my YA fantasy series, or if I'm feeling very brave I might start reading over Dyllan and Abigail and making notes for edits. I'll report back with how it goes.

Hope everyone is having a happy reading and writing day today!

***

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons, image credit to Nick Moreau.

Relocation, relocation

Well, we've arrived in our new home in San Diego after a lot of stress, too many hours on too many planes, and a three-week separation due to visa issues. But now we're happy and suntanned and enjoying lots of great vegetarian food, so all is well.

Mission Beach, San Diego, CA

I've been kept very busy revisiting my hometown like a tourist: the beaches, the bay, the harbor, Coronado Island, the aquarium, the zoo, SeaWorld, a Padres game—I'm doing as much sight-seeing as I did when I lived in England, if not more (probably more, since I'm now unemployed). A lot of that has been with my sisters and my four-year-old niece and six-month-old nephew. After five years of living 6,000 miles away from my family, it's nice to be able to see them on a daily basis. That includes, of course, my ancient and honorable cat, Timmy, pictured here with his summer hairdo:

Love.

Today I rejoined my local library, which was a total blast from the past—I used to spend hours there when I was small, picking out picture books, and later chapter books, books about animals, Sweet Valley Twins, everything by Cynthia Voigt, and on into science fiction (middle school was all about Michael Crichton for me), fantasy, horror, and classics. Walking into that library was like revisiting my entire reading history. It was pretty cool.

In all of this, writing has taken a backseat for me for the first time since 2007. I didn't write a word of fiction for over three weeks (just my personal journal). First it was jet-lag, and then spending time with family and friends, applying for jobs, researching phone companies and banks...somewhere in there, writing got lost.

Yesterday I opened my current WIP for the first time since the move. It felt awesome getting back into a writing rhythm, like scratching an itch or eating your favorite food for the first time in years. It felt right.

So basically this is just a post to let you know that I'm still here, still writing, and still blogging for the foreseeable future. And that I'm so glad to be back. :)

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So the Big Chimp and I have some pretty big changes coming up. Next month, we're moving. But not just to a new house or a new town. We're moving across the ocean, like this:

This won't be the first time I've done this, but that doesn't mean it isn't stressful and a little scary. I've lived in England for almost five years now, four of them with the Big Chimp. And if you include my junior year abroad during college, that adds up to about 60% of my adult life spent living in the UK. Even my accent has changed—I pronounce tomato to-mah-to and banana ba-nah-na. In short, I've pretty much forgotten how to be American.

And I'm excited, too. We're moving to my hometown, wherein resides the largest chunk of my family—my sisters, my aunt, my grandma and my unbelievably ancient cat, Timmy. I've got a niece and a nephew there, and childhood friends, and—stacked patiently in a cheap storage unit—all of my books. And there's sunshine there, and beaches, and Mexican food, and palm trees and avocados and the Pacific Ocean and all the other things that, in my mind, make up home.

It's a strange feeling, going back to a place that I left so long ago. But it's an adventure, too. When I came to England the second time, to do my MA, I only planned to stay a year. I arrived in Brighton knowing no one and now I have this whole British existence that I never could have imagined just a few years ago. Isn't life weird?

All experiences, big and little, contribute to creating and developing your personality. England is one experience that I'm so, so glad I've had, for so many reasons. But I'm ready for a new adventure now. And a little bit of sunshine.