Ready? Go!

I honestly and truly have not been writing fiction for the past three months.   Instead, I've been reading, researching agents, querying, and thinking.  A month ago, I thought I was ready to go on it again, but then I decided to move on because I didn't have a story.  

Since then, I've been planning how to start over completely with MEOW SISTERS while trying to work in that boyfriend scenario I was pondering.  It hasn't been going well.  I've been so directionless!

But today, while filling in for a sick coworker, I made a Very Important Realization about this messy plot.  If I make a small change, I think it might simplify matters and pull this story together.  The more I think about it, the more sense it's making.  And I'm excited!  My heart is going all crazy and I'm looking forward to working on this!

So, if everything goes according to plan, I will finally be back in a writing routine next week.  Wow.

Meme!

I was tagged by

elmarshall

What were you doing 10 years ago? 

Oh, ho!  I was, in fact, preparing for my June 14 wedding to my now ex-husband, getting ready to start my last class at community college (Physics), working full-time at a bookstore, watching Titanic and relating all too much to Rose who would thought she would rather jump off the back of the ship than marry her fiance.

What are 5 things you need to do today?

This day is almost over!   I need to 1) finish eating dinner, 2) wash my face, 3) reflect on the suckitude of my day at work which kicked off with NINETEEN voicemails I had to attend to and only got worse after that, 4) stop reflecting on the suckitude and focus on my three-day weekend at Mount Rainier starting tomorrow(!), and... 5)  finish this meme. 

What are some snacks you enjoy?

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream (Neapolitan Dynamite and Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough), creme-filled eclairs from Safeway's bakery, pretzel rods, Tim's Cascade potato chips (salt & vinegar, barbecue, and sour cream & onion).   Hmmmm. I seem to be craving junk. 

What would you do if you were a billionaire?

What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire, or what would I do if I'd always been a billionaire?   Because those answers would be very different, I'm sure.  I assume the interesting choice is supposed to be the former.  

I'm actually simultaneously too lazy and too much of a perfectionist to give this question enough attention.  I want to talk about my involvement in travel, charity and goodwill, and maybe some kind of business venture that would change the entire world.  But all I can think about right now is that I want to have a really great party and fly out a few bands I like.   I'm thinking Ash and Chris Shinn's project will be swell.  And Nightmare of You.  Yeah.  Wouldn't that be fun?

What are 3 bad habits?

Of mine?  Using profanity, falling into metaphorical pits of despair, obsessing over whether everyone hates me.

Name 5 places you have lived:

Klamath Falls, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Olympia, Washington
Bonney Lake, Washington
Seattle, Washington 

What are 5 jobs you've had?

Shipping Clerk (sweatshop-- I mean, packing warehouse)
Assistant Manager (bookstore)
Legal Assistant
Assistant Office Manager (auto appraisal firm)
Clinic Coordinator (weight managment program)

I tag:  

mandywriter

lilrongal

meredith_wood

cyn2write

bluemalibu

You know, but only if you wanna.

SASE

I got an SASE in the mail today. I only had three of those out in the world because my querying has been all about equeries so far. I had one Writer's House query w/ pages and an SASE, and two full manuscripts that were sent by snail mail. This SASE contained one of those dreaded rejections of the full:

Dear Mindi--

I felt that the tone of this mss was too light & sarcastic for the subject matter. Sorry I couldn't be more positive. - [Agent]

Er. Okay?

So, I think I may have mentioned before that I have a theory about myself. (And maybe this theory would apply to other humans, but I am only analyzing myself at this moment.) When I am in receipt of criticism that makes me angry -- whether it's regarding my writing or something else -- most often it's because the other person has a made a good point and I don't want to deal with or accept it. (Or sometimes it's just because they presented their opinion in an offensive/hostile/jerk-off way. But I'm not talking about a scenario like that.)

But this note? Didn't make me angry. At all. This note made me pause and think, Huh. Really? Tone too light? M'Kay.

Maybe the general consensus would be that this agent is right. Maybe the tone is too sarcastic and light. But since I'm not all irate over it, it would seem that I respectfully disagree.

So, that's that!

Current Query Stats

Current Query Stats

Agents contacted:  36
Rej of query:  12
Partials requested:  1
Rej of partials: 1
Fulls requested:  6
Rej of fulls:  2
Non-responses (thus far):  17

So, of the 36, I'm waiting to hear from 21.  The 4 who have the full and the 17 who have queries.  Of course, there are some who have queries who will never respond, but I'm not going to consider them as "no"s until more time has passed.  My first set of queries only went out two months ago yesterday.

One thing I like about querying now (as opposed to in Aught-Six) is that more agents are asking for pages (pasted or even attached sometimes) to be submitted along with email queries.  It might take some of the fun out of the "game," but it increases my confidence that my writing is sinking or standing on its own merit.   (That said, the vast majority of the rejections I received on queries so far have been for those whose guidelines state "query only" or those who flat-out state that the don't want to see synopsis or pages with a query.)

Boy Toy.

Someone mentioned BOY TOY by Barry Lyga in comments in someone else's LJ recently.  Since I have this addiction to YA written from teen boy POVs,  I decided to check it out.  

Prior to doing so, I scanned through some Amazon reviews as I am wont to do.  I like to read a few gushing reviews and a few scathing ones before (and after) I read something for myself.  I want to see what I'm about to encounter.  One woman was all over the place in the reviews and comments, talking about how trashy and porny the book is.  How inappropriate it is for teens.  Which, of course, made me want to read it all the more.  I do like me some trashy YA!  (As long as it's well-done "trash," I mean.)

I'm not finished reading BOY TOY yet, but I have to say now, I was a little unnerved by the details myself.  The book jacket doesn't give much away, but if you've heard anything about it, you'll know that it's about a high school senior who was involved in an inappropriate sexual relationship when he was twelve.  The descriptions of the goings-on in those scenes were so, um, vivid.  Yes.  Vivid.  And they started feeling kind of... gratuitous.

I was having a hard time sleeping last night as I tried to imagine why the writer would go there.  Apparently my mind was trying to work it out all night because I awoke at 3am sure I knew the answer:  I really think Lyga wants you to feel EVERYTHING Josh feels to get the clearest understanding of him and the situation.  It really is interesting (in a sick way) to see how it all unfolds.  It's like this kid really didn't have a chance even though he felt like he was in control part of the time.

One thing that strikes me about the (few) stories I've read involving children who have been molested and whatnot is that most of those are about someone who has been forced to do something.  The victims are clear victims, and they are manipulated into believing the situation is their fault through a variety of subtle and/or overt threats.  In BOY TOY, the boy is surely a victim.  But he doesn't believe himself to be one most of the time.  Because even though he knows what is happening is wrong, it feels good.  Sexually and, in some ways, emotionally, he is getting what he honestly wants.  He feels guilty and scared, but he blames himself.  He feels like the other person involved is only doing what she's doing out of regard for him.  (Although it is clear to the reader that she has manipulated that situation so deftly.) 

Anyway, like I said, I'm not done reading the book.  But I'm so impressed with the honesty of the writing up to this point.  It's the most relatable example I've seen of how and why a confused and conflicted adolescence would keep a secret like this that doesn't involve fear of the other person.   (I just realized, Melvin Burgess had similar storyline in DOING IT, but his felt a little over-the-top to me whereas this one just seems real.  Plus, it did turn scary more than once!)