That is a question crossing a lot of minds these days.  My husband talked me into joining late last May.  He hasn’t made a comment SINCE May.  I, on the other hand have had 267 – one-hundred and forty characters or less comments.

Reasons NOT to Join Twitter:

1.  You may become addicted. Seriously, no kidding here.

2.  You start thinking and talking in 140 characters or less.  I’ve always been that way–but I can see how it would be problematic for some.  Hey, I think there are a couple of people I might invite to join. **scratching chin in a knowing way**

3.  It’s yet another place to regret what you’ve said.

4.  When the site is down, there is a possibility for adverse effects on your sanity.

5.  You have to learn a whole new jargon… hashtags (#), RT (re-tweet), DM (direct message), FF (follow Friday) and many, many more!

Reasons TO join Twitter

1.  You get to meet fantastic people that you otherwise would never meet.  I’ve met about five people who are really cool and helpful writers and they’re NICE on top of it all.

2.  There’s the possibility that someone famous will like what you say and repeat it to the masses, giving you credit, of course.

3.  It’s a great way to advertise your blog, product, service.

4.  Everyone understands when you state that “you need to take a social networking break”.

5.  People share the coolest things they find online, commiserate with each other…basically communicate.

This is all considering that you do what I do and only follow people that you’ve checked out fairly well.  If they have a blog, look at it and see if they are compatible with your standards or you may end up with unwanted trash in your tweets.  If that does happen there’s hope, you can always unfollow them.

Jen Learns Something New

Here it is!  The much awaited return of fifteen for friday!

1.  School is in.

2.  Yesterday I noticed three blooms on my flower.  Normally it only has two, and when I see another about to bloom I know that one flower will fall off before it gets a chance to open.  This is the first time there have been three blooms all at once actually attached to the plant.  I was pondering the reason why this made me so happy.  It has to be that it was unexpected and it involved a pretty lilac colored flower that has a perfect yellow circle in the middle.

3.  A BIG thank you to Jodi, Coy and Amy this week for reading and giving me invaluable feedback.  You guys are great!!!

4. Fun site of the week - www.mentalfloss.com

5.  As You Wish came out this week.  Don’t forget to pick up a copy.

6.  Finally read Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen.  I’m noticing that I like her books almost in copyright date order, favorites being the newest.  In other words, I really didn’t like Keeping the Moon so much.  But I’m looking forward to Along for the Ride, the only one I haven’t read yet and her newest.

7.  The forget-me-nots have grown, but why aren’t they flowering?

8.  I feel like I’m forgetting something.

9.  Good Girls by Laura Ruby –Wow, very modern.  I guess kids these days are having to deal with the issues covered in this book–everything you do can be photographed and sent to everyone you know–yikes.

10.  the sweet, terrible, glorious year i truly, completely lost it by Lisa Shanahan–I really liked this book especially following the heaviness of Good Girls…not that the sweet… isn’t heavy in its own way.  But it has a lot of very funny moments and some outrageous ones.  Gemma’s older sister is getting married and decides her theme will be animals who mate for life.  Sis dresses Gemma up as a SWAN for her flower girl outfit.  The story is set in Australia and has a few quirky words and phrases, but it’s all very followable.  I was a little confused about “the tip” which I could only surmise was a piece of undesirable land that smelled awful.

11.  Girl in Development by Jordan Roter made me realize that the way I tend to write (casual writing, mind you) in “valley girl” may not be the best idea.  Yeah, it’s cute for a little while, but it’s looking more and more immature when I read it from someone else.  I was excited about this book and picked it up because of the blurbs on the back.  It was an okay read.

12.  The three books I picked up at the library all had a copyright date of 2006.  Is that weird or what?

13.  When will I wise up and make it FIVE for Friday?

14.  Random thought (I told you this might happen…no, I did…back in the beginning) is dim sum the same thing as dumplings and pot stickers?  I could look that up, I know…just killing numbers here.

15.  Could someone please please publish me please?! Thanks.

Dear to us are those who love us… but dearer are those who reject us as unworthy, for they add another life; they build a heaven before us whereof we had not dreamed, and thereby supply to us new powers out of the recesses of the spirit, and urge us to new and unattempted performances.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’m not sure I find the people who send me rejection letters “dear” but I do think they make me want to try harder and be better.  Here’s an excerpt from my latest rejection regarding my short story:

I hope you’ll consider us again, and I wish you the best success in placing this story elsewhere.

I love it!  My very first non-form rejection!  Notice the change in font indicating the move from form to non-form, isn’t it bee-utiful?  Okay, okay it really sucks that they didn’t like the story and yes I am a little embarrassed to share my lack of skills–but it just felt like the thing to do.  And now that I’m done lamenting the rejection I’ve been urged to a new and unattempted performance…aka more editing!

The self-interview is a rare occurrence.  If thought through fully, one would hardly see the benefit of asking one’s self questions and then answering them…oneself.  Half the stuff I get done wouldn’t if I thought things through fully, (and I don’t get all that much done, kids) so, anyway…what was my point?  Oh yes, instead of waiting to become published and then, of course, famous for my ah-mahzing skillz, or instead of waiting to receive a “25 random things about me” note on Facebook–I’m going ahead and giving myself the third degree.  Just so you know, I’m no pushover interviewer.  Tough questions will be asked, we’ll just have to wait and see if they are answered.  I skipped all the hellos and how-de-doos and included only the meat of the interview:

Q:  I see that you’ve been posting on your blog a lot less lately.  Is there a reason for this?

A:  Not a good one.

Q:  Right.  K.  Your public has noticed that you can’t seem to keep your blog on one subject or another…one day it’s about your kids, the next about some writerly thing.  Why is this?

A:  My kids aren’t loony enough to write about every day and I don’t actually know much writer stuff so I just write what I know, ya know?

Q:  How many freakin’ pets do you have anyway?

A:  Wow, that was really out of the blue… ah, wasn’t expecting that one.  Let’s see.  2 dogs (Sam and Lola–and no they were not named after Denise Richard’s children.  That’s just a happy coincidence),  3 cats (Cally, Lil Kat and P.J.), and 2 turtles (Squirty and Toothbrush).  That makes 7 in all.

Q:  Why the heck would you name a pet Toothbrush?

A:  I’m sorry, that’s just a little too personal.

Q:  Moving on then.  Why do you use so very very many ellipses, parentheses, and em dashes?

A:  Why not I always say!  Plus it’s how I talk…gotta get that rhythm right.

Q:  What do you hope to accomplish with this self-interview?

A:  To kill some time.  Ha ha, honestly I’m bored.

Q:  That is so interesting.  Have you ever thought about renting a personality?

A:  It’s way cheaper than buying, that’s for sure.  And then you can try as many out as you want without committing.

Q:  That was an insult.

A:  That wasn’t a question.

Q:  Okay, this interview is over.  I don’t think we’re going to actually find anything out about this person.

A:  That wasn’t a question either.

The dogs seemed uncharacteristically happy when I came home from dropping the kids off to school this morning.  Lola hopped around wagging her tail and spinning in the only way a barrel tummied, bow-legged, bearded terrier can.  She’d already been fed, watered and let loose in the backyard.  I could only surmise that she knew what day it was.  The start of 7 hours a day, five days a week where the only noises are Sam (my corgi mix) snoring and me punching the keyboard (or doing a little snoring myself–wait, I don’t snore).  So I danced with her for a moment, letting her get her wiggles out and exclaiming that yes, I do know that the kids aren’t here.

This is the first year my daughter actually cared what her hair looked like, “Mommy, can you make my hair so the ends point out like this?” and she swooped her hands away from her head indicating a flip hairdo.  “Yes, sweetie I sure can!”  A good hair drying with a round brush, hairspraying and curling the ends later my daughter looked in the mirror and smiled a giddy smile, “It’s perfect!”

My middle child searched, yes, searched and FOUND(!!!) a belt, which I know within two weeks will be shunned for another five minutes of morning TV.  No messing with hair here, the lady at the hair-cutters unceremoniously shaved it all off a week ago (I could’ve done that for free!)  He checked and rechecked to make sure he had everything he needed.

My oldest was definitely cool about the whole first-day thing.  But I could tell he was ready to go back because he was dressed and had eaten before I even woke up this morning.

When I picked them up after school they talked over each other, mentioning old friends, favorite teachers and some not so favorite ones.  My middle child told me that he will know when his math teacher is having a bad day because he will continually brew and consume coffee during class if this is the case.  The less coffee, the happier the teacher.  We laughed.

I took them to the store to get stuff to make cookies.  We came home and my baby helped me make the dough.  I let them eat more cookies in a row than I think I ever have.  It was that kind of day.

This weekend I read This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen – I hate to say it but I didn’t enjoy this book.  I kept waiting for something to happen and it just never did.  It won’t put me off Dessen forever or anything…here’s my ranking so far of Dessen novels in order of enjoyment: 1. Lock and Key 2. Someone Like You 3. The Truth About Forever 4. This Lullaby.  I expect that This Lullaby will remain at the end of the list however long it gets.

Another, much more enjoyable read this weekend was Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurtry.  Funny, I just realized that I kept waiting for something big to happen in that one too.  There was definitely more action than in the Dessen novel (did I just compare YA fic with a western?) but it wasn’t up to McMurtry’s normal heart-pounding and gut-wrenching abilities.  It wasn’t nearly as serious as the Lonesome Dove series but not as comedic as Sin Killer either.  I get the feeling it was written for fun–as an easy-going western.  That said, it was still superbly written with McMurtry’s trademark realistic almost lyrical back woodsy prose.

I don’t know if it’s a great idea to jump from reading a pulitzer-prize winning novelist’s book to editing my own un-published work, but that’s exactly what I did.  Then again, maybe it was good, since it made me realize that my manuscript needs a massive overhaul.  It wasn’t my first hint.

oleander aka sea rose

After an excellent tell-it-like-it-is reader told me like it was, I recognized there were some serious issues.  1st massively major edit: Switching from omniscient point of view to first person.  This will not be the first time I have done this…just the first time I’ve had to do it with 65,000 words.  It means that scenes will have to be cut…the scenes that my protagonist, Cate wouldn’t have seen.

Which leads to 2nd massively major edit: I will have to shimmy the information in somewhere else.  Thus creating the major overhaul.  Another good thing…I hadn’t written really much of anything for years and years when I started Sea Rose.  It’s safe to say that I have a lot more written words under my belt at this point so re-writing is a positive.

Some might say, why not scrap the whole thing and start over if you have to change so much?  I think the main story is good and I really think there is still a lot of good writing that I could make great.  So wish me luck, folks!

1.  Finally found a crit partner (actually three).  Already found about five ways to improve my manuscript.

2.  Oh!  Good news!  I finally finished my short story!  To celebrate I lopped off about 1,500 words while editing.

3.  Anyone know any good places to send a short story that runs about 8,200 words?

4.  Read another Sarah Dessen, Someone Like You.  Surprise!  I liked it.

5.  Currently reading Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurtry.  It’s a nice change of pace from YA fiction.  I wonder if Mr. McMurtry hangs out at his bookstore every day (does that sound stalkery)?

6.  I think I’m getting used to Splenda Diet Coke.

7.  Just won AMIGOLAND by Oscar Casares from Little, Brown for twittering about it!  I love #freebiefriday!

8.  Lately I’ve been spending about 90% of my “free” time networking socially and only 10% writing (or reading).  Maybe it’s time for a priority check.

9.  Still getting a huge kick out of visiting Jackson’s site.  Check out her haiku…

10.  I don’t really get the bubbl thing…but if it can help someone else (planners in particular) I’m happy to pass the link along.

11.  17 days until school starts.  I’m looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time.  It will be nice to have quiet days to work…but then there’s homework and lunches and uniforms and supplies, oh and money for this, that and the other thing.

12. Crit Partner Match is a site that helps hook you up with a crit partner.  Not super user-friendly, but it does give you a small pool of people to choose from.

13.  Excited to check out Dollhouse.

14.  If your maiden name was Weadon would you write under that name hoping to receive some kind of noteriety from Joss Whedon’s success?  Would it be wrong, right or neither?

15. How Fail Went From Verb to Interjection http://bit.ly/HJ8VK

1. For fiction, a good idea is gold.  So make sure you start querying any and every literary agent you can get your cursor over, even the ones that only work with non-fiction books…heck, go for it and query other types of agents too…you never know.  Whatever you do, don’t actually have anything written yet; you’ll just have to rewrite it all later anyway.
2. Proper punctuation and spelling are for English teachers.  Those squiggly lines under your words on the computer?  They’re for decoration.
3. Can’t type?  No prob.  Pencil written manuscripts are perfectly fine to send in.  That coffee stain?  Don’t worry about it.  You are an artiste; you have grander things to think about than neatness.
4. Do not follow the query writing / submission guidelines.  Your way is MUCH better.
5. Rejection letters are a personal assault on your sensibilities.  Any agent who turns you down is a drooling dope and everyone deserves to know it.  Call, email, blog, and twitter about the injustice that has been done to you and the unsavory traits of the person who offended you.
6. As soon as you send a query, and especially if you’ve been asked to send a manuscript, call the agent DAILY to check up on the status.  When they start to get a little firm with you that just means you’ve got their attention!  When they threaten to call the police, only then is it time to stop calling.
7. If you have the good fortune to attend a writer’s conference, zoom in on your dream agent and never leave her side.  Share personal stories, the more intimate the better.  Make her think you’ve been best friends for ages.
8. Make sure you start a blog that thrashes the publishing industry completely.  Tweet your links to the nation and sit back while you single-handedly revolutionize every negative thing about it.  It may hurt now, but they will thank you later.  There might even be a statue in your future.
9. On your shiny blog, don’t forget to list out the crappy authors who somehow, by some crazy twist of fate, became published before you.  Make sure to tell the reasons why their writing sucks too.  Everyone can use some constructive criticism.

10.  When you finally have an agent (this should take 1-2 months-tops) DO NOT BUDGE on anything.  Take all you can get, but give as little back as you can.  Rewrites, schmewrites.  Oh, and don’t forget, these are big city folk, they only respond to rudeness.

11.  Do not ever try to help any other writer on their road to publication.  They are the competition, never forget that.  If you have the opportunity to sabotage them -do it.

I first saw Jackson Pearce last week in one of her hilarious youtube videos.  So I checked out her site and found that it was even more hilarious.  Her debut novel, As You Wish is scheduled for release this month, on August 25th but I got my hot little hands on a copy last Friday.

I found out from her site that she would be participating in a panel at TwiCon and then signing copies of her book before you can even get them in the store.  Then I found out, lo and behold, that the convention was taking place in Dallas, just one little town over from my own.  So in a weird stalkery kind of way I asked if I could visit her at TwiCon without paying the TwiCon prices.

The day of, she twittered: “In response to emails: if you’re in TX but aren’t coming to TwiCon, I can meet you in the lobby and get you a copy of ayw on the sly. @ me.”  So I promptly @ed her.

Fast-forward and I’m at the Sheraton downtown on my way to the Dallas Ballroom to meet Jackson.  I am not a real huge social person, so this was seriously out of character for me.  I had lots of scenarios going through my head, pictured myself asking questions and being altogether charming.  Then I got a little distracted.  Imagine seeing this guy from behind going up an escalator:

That’s right, the klingon at TwiCon.  And he was huge!  And all I could see of him was the long black hair and a draping dark “cloak” falling to just above the heels of his heavy black boots with metal accents.  Okay, I’d already seen tons of Alices and Rosalies (most wearing baseball uniforms) and there were all manner of interesting characters swarming the convention…but this guy really stuck out.  I finally got a good look at the front of him when I was off the escalator.  It made me smile, calmed my nerves a bit.

So I found Jackson, she was sitting watching a panel and I tapped her on the shoulder from behind.  Later I thought, boy, that was weird.  I really should have stood in front of her and introduced myself…  The first thing I noticed was her shoes.  They were really rocking.  The second thing I noticed was that she looks exactly like herself.

She motioned for me to come and sit next to her.  And she hugged me.  I was not expecting a hug, even though she is a southern woman and this often happens with them (us).  I could tell she was a bit nervous, but that’s to be expected, meeting a perfect stranger in a strange city right before your first book signing ever.  I asked her a bunch of questions about pre-sales, her book cover design, her cat.  She told me that I was getting her the very first sold copy of As You Wish.  It felt like an honor.    I took her pic (see above).  She was really sweet, a truly nice girl.  She signed her book for me, we got shushed by a lady behind us, and not long after that I left.

It was a fun little adventure all in all.  And I got the privilege of being this person : “Just sold the first copy of AS YOU WISH! Thanks @jl_parker! ”

It was a good, fun read.  Perfect for brightening what was a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Thanks Jackson!