SOUTHEASTERN WRITERS, I MISS YOU!!

I missed the Southeastern Writers Conference this year. Money and time restraints would not allow it. Nonetheless, I feel the need to shoutout to the many people with whom I have spent wonderful trips to St. Simon’s Island.

These include but are not limited to:

Emily Sue and Lee Harvey (and family!)
Tim and Sheila Hudson
Amy Munnell
Lee Clevenger
Charlotte Babb
Katharine Sands
Marjory Wentworth
Chuck Sambuchino
Cappy Hall Rearick
Holly McClure
Jeanie Pantelakis
Louis Gruber
Wild Bill
Zhanna P. Rader
Cheryl Norman
Brian Jay Corrigan (and family!)
Grace Looper
Judith Barban
Jimmy Carl Harris
Mollie Glick
Ricki Schultz
Gail Karwoski

Thank you all so much for your guidance, support, and friendships through these last few years. I doubt you know how much of a blessing you have been.

THE CAT WHO SNIFFED GLUE

…Why am I not published yet?

KELLEY SONNACK AT ANDREA BROWN LITERARY AGENCY ~ THOUGHTS

I’m back! I thought I’d share my thoughts on an agent I had an experience with recently:  Kelly Sonnack with Andrea Brown Lit. I got a positive response to a query I sent her back in September and traded three or four rounds of subsequent emails with her before I was ultimately rejected.

Ms. Sonnack was very polite. I can find no fault with the professional nature of her emails, as I could with other agents. She formatted all of her criticisms with “I like… but…,” the exact style I encourage wherever I can.

She did say one thing that got under my skin. She didn’t like the narrative choices I had made with my story, and at one point she expressed this in a way that made my writing sound like a mess that needed to be “put together.” That may simply say a lot about my sensitivity, though.

Overall, she was helpful. Based on her criticism and the concerns of a few other of my trusted critics, I began another rewrite. I reworked the narrative into a simpler if less compact form.

Another positive experience!

STUDIES OF STORYTELLING

I have a very unique way of battling writer’s block. When I can’t seem to make a story fit together, I go back and review the first fundamentals of storytelling I ever learned…by watching Disney movies.

Yes, this works! I’ve told quite a few other writers about it who’ve seen where I’m coming from. Classic stories told in ways that have caused people to love them all their lives. If you’re shooting to be a bestseller (though maybe not a Pulitzer), why not pay a little attention?

I’ve started making a study of storytelling in everything I watch. As an 18-year-old, I believe I am still entitled to my share of anime and That’s 70’s Show, not to mention movies with friends. I always try to pay attention to character development, narration as the way the story unfolds, the effects of setting and time. I suppose I can attribute it to my teacher Mr. Ford, who invented a class called Film & Fiction in the Fort Mill school district and taught students to appreciate film as art. It was one of the best classes I’ve ever taken.

Writing isn’t the only form of storytelling out there. It’s not even the most popular anymore. There is lots of room for writers to take advantage.

THE TOP 7 DOWNFALLS OF WRITERS

Again, I made this list with the help of a workshop I received in Cheryl Norman’s Novel Writing Class at the Southeastern Writer’s Workshop.

The Top 7 Downfalls of Writers:

1. Lack of self-discipline
2. Failing to use biological time positively (Ex. Are you a morning person? A night person?)
3. Creating distractions/giving in to them
4. Failing to finish individual pieces of work
5. Failing to set goals that are high enough
6. Not honoring one’s own unique material and VOICE
7. Failing to acknowledge the duality within the creative person (Ex. Extend yourself! See what you can do.)

BREAKING INTO THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY

As my blog readers know, I attended the Southeastern Writer’s Conference last month and got a bit of a shock. Miss Stephanie and–godforbid–Edward flipping Cullen did far more for me than I ever could have dreamed.

The industry is in a sad condition right now. That is undeniable. Agent in Residence Mollie Glick gave a speech about her job as a literary agent and revealed that a large part of it is keeping up with editors. Not only are editors moving and shuffling around between publishers and houses these days, they’re dropping like flies. Entire branches and houses are getting cut off.

It’s dark.

Apparently, Borders booksellers has nearly gone bankrupt several times within the past year and have survived by a miracle. (I’m very interested in this situation and there may be a post about it soon.) Without a doubt, the disappearance of a major booksellers would be disastrous to the industry. E-books would probably take off, boosting the printed word toward an obsolete state.

How do you break in when things are this bad? Where is the hope?

1. Okay. Competition is high. It’s always been high. Relatively, it’s not that much of a difference.
2. One market is still booming. One genre is easier than ever to break into. Respect for it is growing, and its popularity is wonderful. This is the Young Adult market, especially Fantasy. My market.

Four people–Emily Sue Harvey, Cheryl Norman, Mollie Glick, and Holly McClure–all remarked on how well the YA market is doing at the conference last month. About a week after it ended, I was in a bookstore, and I asked an employee if she was familiar with the YA section and if she could tell me what was selling best. She pointed to a few titles, naming one I’d never heard of (which made it all the more beneficial to me). “Anything to do with vampires, witches, or fairies. Actually,” she said, pausing, “that’s most of what we get coming through here right now.”

I almost cried.

If you’re a young adult fantasy writer, now is the time to step up and shoot for it. Despite the economic downturn, we are the ones who have been empowered. And it’s probably all thanks to Miss Stephanie Meyer and Mr. Edward Cullen!

UPDATING THE DREAM – REALITY GAUGE

I thought I’d blog a little about what’s going on in my own life today and update everybody on how my dreams are going. =) I attended the SWA Conference a few weeks ago, which I blogged about. I repeat:  This conference is an IDEAL beginner experience.

Thanks to this experience, my manuscript is in the hands of a literary agent I like very very much. Keeping my fingers crossed. We’ll see.

The last few days, I’ve been outlining Sunlight, the sequel to Sunrise. No, I’m not completely satisfied with that title. Bubbles would be more appropriate, but it sounds too much. like the name of a poodle. Le sigh. I think I’m going to start updating my second book’s word count on my blog just to add some accountability.

At the SWA Conference this year, I also got a definition for that mysterious thing I’ve been hearing about called Dragoncon–it’s an anime convention, a writer’s conference, and a sci-fi/fantasy convention combined.

Can you say My Paradise? How cool is that

It must be humongous. Apparently there are even something like 1500 registered Storm Troopers in Atlanta. My little brother wants to register and keep his helmet in his car so he can put it on whenever he sees a state trooper

I’m going. =D At least, I’ve got some of my anime friends interested, not to mention my Star Wars-fanatic parents. (Which might be an Oops….)

That’s the general past, present, and future of the moment though. I’ll keep everyone updated.

More soon ❤

Word count:  4000

JENNIFER JACKSON AT DONALD MAAS LITERARY AGENCY

I apologize for the never-ending two-day absence. My 9 cousins have been eating me alive.

Today I wanted to talk about an experience I had at the South Carolina Writer’s Workshop way back in October. This workshop is ENORMOUS–surprising for the petulant li’l palmetto state, no?

One of the ten agents in residence was Jennifer Jackson of Donal Maas Literary Agency, a lady I refer to as the Chuck Norris of the industry. She has over 40 clients, and I don’t know how she reads and manages that much every day. Even before I went to the conference I’d been reading her blog, and I admired her.

I was thrilled but extremely nervous when I learned I would be receiving a critique from her.

It turned out to be a wonderful experience. One on one, Ms. Jackson is quite friendly and very pleasant to work and talk with. Her critque of my writing was not harsh. She simply pointed out the things she wished for as a reader–and this approach moved me to start a rewrite. I aged my audience up, took out the backstory dumps, fleshed out the characters, and dimmed the corniness a bit–and these changes turned out to be the difference between 3rd place and 1st place in the contest for the M. L. Brown Award for Young Adult Literature offered at the SWA Conference.

I cannot express how much I admire Jennifer Jackson for the amount she accomplishes in the industry and her friendly attitude. Though my book isn’t right for her–I think she prefers 3rd person narratives–my book would not be the masterpiece it is without her critique. Thanks Chuck!

THE SOUTHEASTERN WRITERS CONFERENCE

All right, I have to take this chance to recommend to all aspiring writers out there, if you’re in the south, the Southeastern Writers Workshop is an ideal place to start. That’s where I began my journey, and it has given me the boosts I need. I didn’t understand why I needed to go to conferences, honestly, and I got much more than I bargained for.

On my record now are:
The SWA Juvenile Writing Award – 2nd place and $30
The Smith Moseley Poetry Award – 2nd place and $30
The M.L. Brown Award for YA Lit – 3rd place and $10 (2008) & 1st place and $50 (2009)!

So those cash prizes aren’t extravagant, but the thing is those awards are perfect credentials for a query letter. If you want to be published, people, build them up!

The conference also gave me the chance to meet with Mollie Glick from Foundry Literary + Media and agents from Sullivan Literary Agency there on St. Simon’s Island.

I’m going to be posting every day for the rest of the summer and quite often after that. Hold me to it, please! I don’t mind nagging. =)

~Courtney

RESEARCHING AGENTS TIL I’M LITERALLY BREATHLESS

Status:  Out of breath. I’m not kidding.

What’s the anime freak listening to now? Megumeru, the Clannad theme.

Dream Diary:  Agents. I dreamed about agents.

Yes, I just added the dream diary. It’s an idea I came up with when I made my livejournal account yesterday. And yesterday night’s dreams were much more interesting. Crosses between tornadoes and dragons, and clowns in blue bodycasts. You think I could consciously make that up?

MORE GOOD NEWS:  A “certified individual” (no, he really is certified) informed me this week that I have “a genius level of verbal ability.”

Now I just wish I could be diagnosed with an “a helluva proportion of luck.”

Yeah, I’ve been researching til I’m blue though. Sitting in the bookstore with stacks of books, taking notes on voice and elements, growling at authors who don’t do acknowledgements (that’s where I find out what their agent is!)

Then I come home and look the agents up. If an author didn’t have acknowledgements, I look up their agent online. Publisher’s Marketplace is certainly a faster way to find agents, but a lot of agents aren’t listed there.

If I can think of something to say, I post on their blog, so hopefully they will say “Heys! I know that personn!!” when I query them. I’ve also been looking at writers’ blogs. Mostly Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, and Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, so far.

I take notes on all agents in the Agents Masterlist I’m compiling. I might post some of it when it’s more complete.