Official deal announcement.

Hey, look!  My book deal was posted at Publisher's Marketplace last week!

October 9, 2009
		Children's: Young Adult		Mindi Scott's debut FREEFALL, in which the bassist in a teen rock band deals with alcoholism, his best friend's death, and first love, to Liesa Abrams for Simon Pulse, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (World English)

Yes, it's several months delayed.  We were waiting until we selected a title and stuff. 

I am SO GLAD there's news out there from a source other than me that this book is getting published!

Thanks for letting me know, .

More about my revision.

Filtered to include only the usual suspects!

Liesa and I spoke on the phone for 45 minutes last week, and I still came away from it feeling like I don't know WTF to do with this climax thing.

We discussed some of the ideas you all wrote about on my last entry on this topic, but she didn't seem overly keen on any of it.  I mean, she didn't say, "No, don't do it!!!!" or anything like that.  But she definitely was not giving me the go ahead either.   She thinks I just need to get started on the rest of her suggestions and The Right Climax will come to me as I'm working. 

We'll see about all that...

She did say something that I find extremely interesting, though. 

Back story, blah, blah, blah:  When I was 14 and a freshman, every morning in homeroom I would see this kid go slouching past the window outside on his way into the school to get to his own classroom.  I watched for him while I sat in my classroom a couple of minutes before the bell like a good girl.  I suspected that he was late to his class every single day. 

I thought he was kind of cute, kind of ugly, and very intimidating.  I thought he looked like a total stoner.  And mean!  I thought he looked mean.  Months later, I discovered that I was very wrong about that last part, and he wasn't into drugs at all.  He just wasn't a morning person.  He wasn't a school person.  Dragging his ass out of bed was his least favorite part of the day.

So, when I was coming up with my idea for the characters who would become Seth and Rosetta, I wanted to write a dynamic like that.  Where the girl found the boy interesting, yet intimidating, and thought he was a stoner when he really wasn't.  Then I decided that, actually, maybe it would be more interesting if she was right and he was a stoner, but that he was trying to change.

Things evolved from there.  To make the story more compelling, he needed a good reason to want to change, right?  So, I killed off one of his friends.  This served to scare him away from his old ways, which was my whole intention.  It also caused him tremendous guilt because he felt like there he should have been able to save his friend.  That was sort of a side effect, but it added to what I was doing, so I went with it.

Liesa doesn't see this story the same way I do.  I mean, if I were to ramble through what it's about to someone, I would probably say it's about a kid who gets scared sober after the death of his friend, and who has to learn how to deal with this new, sober version of himself, and not fitting into his old life, etc.

Liesa thinks of it more as a story about a kid who self-sabotages because he can't forgive himself for his friend's death.  He's distancing himself from everything that lead up to it -- the drinking, the partying, even playing in his brother's band -- because doing those things and trying to continue on like normal makes him feel guilty.  Like, why should he get to have this life, how can he even try to be happy when Isaac can't?  And it's all his fault that Isaac can't.

So, Liesa thinks that what the whole story is building toward is not about Seth being able to confront his fear and accomplish something sober (playing onstage) for the first time in his life, but really, it's about Seth accepting that he isn't fully responsible for Isaac's death,  deciding that it's okay for him to move on with and be happy (and understand that it's what Isaac would want him to do), and ultimately, forgiving himself.

When she pictures this abstract climax that she can't seem to articulate, it doesn't have much to do with drinking or drunk driving or anything dramatic.  It's all about Seth seeing something or experiencing something (and she doesn't think it should be someone telling him something in dialogue) that makes the switch flip in his brain so that he's finally able to do those things mentioned in the previous paragraph and forgive himself.

What I have is more subtle in that regard.  In that talk with his mom, he sees that his mom's guilt over Isaac's death is misguided.  And that helps him see that maybe some of his own is, too.  But that isn't enough, apparently.  My focus is more on, Look!  He's accomplishing this very specific thing when he plays onstage sober!  And now we have a satisying character arc!  And while Liesa likes that stuff and wants to keep it, she also wants Seth's Big Realization That Needs to Happen During the Climax to be very specifically about the guilt thing and all of Seth's inner pain.

Oh, what a headache this is giving me.

Advance check, birthday, and revision notes.

There are lots of exciting things going on around here, I tell you what.

Advance Check
My first advance check arrived last week with no fanfare whatsoever. In fact, I didn't even get to open it myself. I think it came the same day as my mail-order prescriptions. I was so excited about getting a refill of my face lotion stuff that I set the rest of the mail on one of the tables unopened. My husband was tidying the living room and dining room a day or two later, found it, opened it, and called me up saying, "Do you have any idea what you left lying around the house???"

But, yay! It's here! I've now been paid for the first time EVER for something that I wrote. Here's a picture of my check and me totally making out:

Aren't we hot? I think we look kind of like the original NICK & NORAH cover.

Birthday
Last Saturday, I turned 32. I also got up super early that day and boarded a plane to Phoenix to go celebrate my grandpa's 80th birthday. (His is actually tomorrow, but the party was a few days early.) I got to see a bunch of relatives whom I haven't seen for a while. I also got to meet relatives I'd never met before.

Here's Me, Bebe the tiny, tiny dog, and Grandpa.  You'll note that we are looking at a different camera than the one from which this picture came.  For reasons unknown to me, the photographer (my husband) used this particular style to photograph just about the entire trip.

Revision Notes
A package arrived on my front steps at around 4pm PST today.  It came from NYC.  From my editor.  It contained a marked up copy of my manuscript as well as my revision letter!

So, yeah.  That's the stuff. I have a phone call scheduled tomorrow with my editor to discuss these notes, so I'm very relieved that the package arrived in time.  I'll have to remember that it can take a full week for packages to travel between New York and Seattle.

P.S.  Today, I started a "Tenners Tell All" discussion on the Tenners' page.  It's called "The Evolution of a Title."  Check it out!

Preparing to start my revisions. Help?

Hi.  I believe this filter includes those who read and critiqued my manuscript in 2008, back when it was still titled THE FAKE MCCOY.  There is absolutely no obligation for any of you to read this post or try to help me, but I figured that since I'm typing up my thoughts anyway, I might as well share them with people who might have an idea of what I'm talking about.  And if any of you do have time to offer ideas, all the better for me, right?  :-)

My agent forwarded me the revision notes from my editor, but there are more to come.  Basically, she did this two-page letter, but she also marked up a hard copy of the manuscript for me.  That hard copy should arrive in the next couple of days.  With a scheduled long weekend out of town and other obligations, I think I'll get a chance to sit down and dive into this on Wednesday or Thursday of next week at the soonest.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get my head in the right place and start thinking thoughts for how to accomplish the things my editor is hoping I can accomplish.  It is my hope and expectation that most of it will be pretty straight forward.  But there is one change that I'm concerned about.  I have been done with this story for so long, and a lot of this has felt permanent to me.  I don't even know where to begin in ripping it apart.

Liesa said this in her notes:

I really only have one structural note—overall the story flows so well and each scene builds upon the last. But I do feel like we need more of a concrete climax to drive the resolution than this conversation with mom that’s here now. After everything you’ve set up, which is all so great, readers will likely look for a larger payoff. Something more dramatic, more of a wake up call . . . there’s the scene earlier finding Daniel, which is awesome where it is and shouldn’t be duplicated, so it’s not so clearcut as just adding another echo here of Isaac’s death.

At the same time, though, it does feel like what he really needs is something to help him make a certain degree of peace with what happened to his friend and internalize how that can help him stay on track going forward—without going the After School Special route. I know that’s what you were going for here with his mom expressing her guilty feelings and Seth seeing how off-base that is and translating it to himself, but it just didn’t feel like enough to me. Can we think a little on what the right scene would be here? Again, it’s not something I want to just dictate from my own ideas, but I’m happy to brainstorm with you together.  I can’t help feeling that it would be nice for it to involve Rosetta, and to see her onscreen again rather than just hear from Kendall that Rosetta has forgiven him and then see her at the show. It is cool to see her in the audience and how that helps him play, but do we need something more before that? Does it need to even involve her and her fear of being in cars?  

I’m not sure exactly what would be right here, honestly, I just know there’s a little of an anticlimax as it stands. So let’s both think on it a little, and then get on the phone to discuss. Sound good?

As it's written now, the events of the last forty pages happen like this:

Seth has a cool girlfriend.  He's convinced his band to cancel the gig he's been so stressed about.   Basically, things are going super well in Seth's life.  Better than they ever have.

But then...Seth arrives at school where Xander and Taku that the gig he thought they'd canceled is back on.  The stress returns.

Rosetta shows up.  She is pissed.  Accuses Seth of saying and doing things that he never did.  Things that Carr had told her he'd learned from Kendall.  Seth tries to defend himself and explain that Rosetta has it all wrong, but everything he says makes him sound worse.   And then, because he doesn't want to lie to her, he admits to her what happened with Kendall That One Night, and lets her know it meant nothing to him.  The explanation backfires and makes him sound like an even bigger jerk.  Rosetta walks away, crying.  Defeated, Seth lets her go.

Seth confronts Kendall about the things Rosetta told him.  How did Carr know those things?  Why did he tell Rosetta that Seth had told everything to Kendall?

Kendall doesn't explain, but runs off to confront Carr.  Seth follows.  Carr tries to humiliate Kendall in front of everyone.  Seth realizes what's been going on with Kendall and Carr all this time.  Defends Kendall.  As they start to walk away, Carr shoves Seth.  Seth then lunges at Carr.  He ends up getting his ass beat down by Carr.

Later, Seth is alone by the river, drunk.  He's been suspended for the fight with Carr.  He's depressed about how everything unraveled so quickly between him and Rosetta.  Kendall shows up.  She apologizes for Seth getting dragged into her mess with Carr.  He doesn't blame her at all... until she confesses that everything that went wrong with Seth and Rosetta was because of her.  And then she tells him that she let him think something happened That One Night, but actually, nothing happened.  Seth is angry.  If he'd known the truth, maybe he'd still have Rosetta.  Kendall has really screwed things up for him this time.

Seth stumbles home, completely wasted.  He tries to just make his way to his room, but his mom is there.  She starts getting on his case about skipping work, getting suspended, and being drunk.  Seth doesn't want to put up with this.  He goes back outside, falls down the steps, crawls underneath the rosebush where Isaac died, and pukes.

He lays there in the yard, realizing he is a complete loser.  After a while, Seth's mom comes out and helps him get back in the house.  They talk about things, mostly Isaac, and at the end of their talk, they both feel better about themselves.  Seth is ready to move forward and get his life on track.  [This, of course, is the part Liesa feels is an anticlimax.]

Later, Seth is stressing about his upcoming band gig and getting no sleep.  Rosetta won't return his calls.  Daniel calls asking Seth to meet him at a party.  Seth goes, hoping Rosetta will be there.  She isn't.  Naturally.  Daniel and Seth find Carr passed out on the floor.  Before they walk away, Seth uses his foot to turn Carr onto his side, which is what might have saved Isaac's life if he'd known to do it back then.

Kendall comes to see Seth before his gig, saying she went to Rosetta's and told her the truth about everything.  Rosetta feels bad for not having believed him before. Seth is grateful to Kendall; for the first time ever, she came through for him.  Now, he just has to get through this set and then he can go to see Rosetta and make things right.  He's onstage, he's freaking out, he can't do it.  But then he sees Rosetta.  She's here at the show.  She came for him.  He calms down.  And then he starts to play.

So, yeah.  That's the stuff.  To me, it sounds like Liesa isn't anticipating huge changes to that last forty pages.  Just something bigger and better than what I have now where he talks with his mom and resolves to get his shit together.  I...just... I don't know what a new scene would look like.  Who should be involved.  How in the world Rosetta can fit into it.

Any thoughts?

Today was the day for revision notes.

Remember the deadline in my contract that I've been stressing out about all summer?  It was September 30th.  (Has recently been changed to "early December.")

Today is September 30th.

Today is also the day my editor completed and sent my revision notes to me.

I got an email from her this morning saying she mailed a hard copy of the manuscript with notes in the draft along with her letter.  I also received a forwarded email from my agent containing an attachment which is my editor's letter. 

Naturally, the attachment is a .docx, which I can't open on my computer. 

I sent Jim a note back, asking if he can convert it to an .rtf for me so I can open it.  He hasn't responded yet.

So, part of my notes are right here, in my house, but I can't see them.  ISN'T THAT JUST THE WAY?

(If Jim doesn't get back to me soon, I'm going to have to forward this to a friend who can open a .docx and convert it for me.  I've waited 4.5 months for these notes, and I refuse to wait one more day!)

Edit:  Jim pasted them into an email for me.  And now I'll try Melodye's plug-in link to see if that will work moving forward.  :-)