Thrice Interview & Giveaway!

Hi, Guys! I'm over at Jessica Spotswood's today, being interviewed as part of her Thrice Interviewed segment, and there's a giveaway of Sky Jumpers! Come on over!

Jessica Spotswood's Thrice Interview & Giveaway

How to have a great Writing Retreat

Okay, so I've only been on one writer's retreat, so I'm no expert. But I have been to a ton of writing conferences, so I know--- when writers get together, we like to chat! I mean how can we not when we are finally surrounded by people who *get* us?

But...... chatting up a storm and getting writing done generally don't go hand in hand. So what's the number one secret to getting way more writing done?

CONTESTS!

Yes, writers are a chatty bunch. But we're also a competitive bunch, and we really like to win. (Plus, we really like to see that word count climb, so we've got that constantly working in our favor.) There's probably about a billion ways to bring competitiveness into writing, but we did two things.

The first was one the fabulous Elana Johnson suggested. We each brought a prize, and put all those prizes into a pot. The prizes don't have to be big-- we had various kinds of chocolate, fancy notepads and pens, an Amazon gift certificate, etc. Every so often throughout the day, we'd have a writing sprint. We found that 45 minutes worked best for us, but you can do them for any length of time. Then, the person who wrote the most in that 45 minutes got to choose a prize. And ohmygosh. Never did I imagine that eight non-sleeping people in the same room could be so quiet!

The second was an overall prize for the person who wrote the most words over the course of the retreat. Again, this could be anything. As an example, our writing retreat's official name was The Writing Retreat of Joy and Awesomeness, so the person who won overall was crowned Queen of Joy and Awesomeness. Each of us added to the prize pack for the winner and lemme tell you: THAT was what kept people burning the midnight oil to get in a few more words, then waking up much too soon in the morning. How could you stay in bed when you saw your competition already adding to their word count?

The second secret to having a good writing retreat?

LOCATION!

Not as big of a factor as contests, of course, but it definitely makes a difference! Imagine a noisy hotel with elephants stampeding above you. Or an office building, where the floors and walls are all gray. Now, imagine a comfortable mountain cabin tucked next to a lake or stream. Or a high-rise overlooking a beautiful city. These may be extreme examples, of course, but some locations definitely are more conducive to creative juices flowing than others. Location matters. And the third secret:

FOOD!

The better you eat, the better your brain works, right? The right food can make those late nights / early mornings not so painful. Not to mention the better the food, the happier the retreaters. :)

So what about you? Have you ever been on a writing retreat before? How was it? And if you could choose to go ANYWHERE on a writing retreat right now, where would you go?

Hi! **waves sheepishly** I'm not dead.

image by dev null
via Flickr Creative Commons

And I haven't been an absent blogger because don't I love you, or because I haven't missed you all like crazy, either. After being gone from blogging for what felt like the entire summer, let's update each other, shall we? If you want me to start, keep reading. If you'd like to start, feel free to scroll right down to the comments first.

I made it through content and line edits! I did round one edits in the spring, but my editorial letters for rounds 2, 3, and 4, each complete with line edits all came during the summer. It was tough, but I'm done! And right now, my manuscript is in the hands of a copy editor.

My kids made it through what has arguably been the MOST BORING SUMMER EVER. (Apparently stressful deadlines for me = no fun for them.) And they went back to school today! I now have kids in three different schools, with six different drop off / pick up times. 7:45, 8:15, 9:05, 2:15, 2:45, 3:30. Crazy much? Maybe just a little. Benefits to having the most boring summer ever? My kids are actually, for the first time ever, mentally ready (and possibly even a little bit excited) for school to start. Huzzah!

I recently okayed my author bio, wrote my dedication, and worked on my acknowledgements. :'o) I haven't finished them, though. Holy hardness-- they're tough! So much more difficult than I anticipated. Oh! And I made a book trailer! Aaaand I can't show you for like ten months. But it's awesome! (You're just going to have to trust me on this one for now.) It was crazy time consuming and had to happen right during crazy deadlines for edits in order to be used at list launch, and possibly made me a little crazy,  but it's done. And my agent is going to use it to pitch my book to foreign editors, which makes me crazy happy. Plus, in ten months from now when I'll probably be crazy busy, I'm going to take a few minutes to sit down, kick my feet up, and be so glad I'm not in the middle of making a book trailer.

I actually worked on book 2 this past weekend! I went to a writing retreat and got SO MUCH DONE. I'm still living off the high from accomplishing so much. Especially because I'm generally a slow drafter, so what I got done in 2 1/2 days amounts to 7 good weeks of writing. For a moment, though, I didn't think it would happen. I was wandering outside the resort, talking and plotting (because I plot best when I wander. And it's even better when I do it chatting on the phone with someone than when I'm just talking with myself...), and I saw this:

I took this with my phone, standing directly in front of our place, looking at the Park City mountain that's so very close to us. That stuff in the background? Those aren't clouds! They're the first billows of smoke from a massive forest fire. I thought for sure we'd be evacuated. The writing gods smiled down on us, and we forged on.

I swear, guys, I am back, and I plan to blog like I love it again. Because I really do. I figured I'd do a few industry posts, too. I think it's so good to know what you're getting into every step of the way, and the best way to do that is to read about the same things from different people. Things are just so vastly different between publishing houses, between genres, age groups, editors, authors-- it's good to hear all of it. So I think I'll post this week on List Launch--- the thing I knew the least about when I got my book deal. Plus, I think I'll post on how to have a successful writing retreat, because it could've just as easily become a chat-a-thon as a write-a-thon.....

So tell me what you've been up to this summer! You don't have to write a post-length comment, of course. It is, after all, my fault I haven't been around to see what you've been doing. But if you do decide to leave a post-length telling of your summer, I am so VERY okay with that.

Chuck and Firefly in the same interview?

Hi, guys! Jenny Morris interviewed me at Falling For Fiction today. She asks the best questions! Plus, everyone on the FFF blog is awesome. Come hang out?

Falling For Fiction

Going to LTUE? Let's hang!

First off, don't forget to scroll down and see the poll graphic from The Way We Are post below. I loved reading everyone's answers! And just so you know, Character is in the lead. If you'd still like to put in your two-cents, please do. I'll update the graphic. (Especially if your two-cents involves using the word *cough*SETTING*cough*. ;))

I've been so excited on so many of your blogs that you are going to LTUE this week! (If you wondering what the heck it is, it's kind of like a conference. Except that there are only a few traditional presentations / classes like normal conferences, and a ton of panel discussions with a ton of authors. Oh, and editors and agents generally don't come. But it's cheap! Go to ltue.org for more info.)

I love you all online, and I would love even more to meet you in person! Erin Summerill and I are going to have lunch in the food court, and would love to have everyone who can to come join us! It'll be a party! And then we can see how much we look like our pictures, and sound like our blog posts. :o)

(For the record, I look EXACTLY like my picture. ;) Well, except for the Multiple Hair Color Disorder I have. I can never decide if I want it the blonde of my youth, the brown of my now, or the dark dark brown of my... never. Or somewhere inbetween. Or! If it weren't a) considered socially unacceptable or b) almost reaching the point of being cliche for authors, I'd go for an unnatural color. Like a deep purple. And now that I've written it out loud, I SO want a deep purple underneath, where it can hide if I want to! Who cares about being socially accepted and non-cliched? I want purple! Sigh. And... End tangent.)

But really. Come join us! If you live near UVU and aren't going to LTUE, just sneak in for lunch.

Friday, February 10 at Noon in the food court (first floor, but we may eat upstairs).
Saturday, February 11 at Noon (same place).

And I've stolen their map and added a big red arrow, for your directional enjoyment.

For those of you not going to LTUE, I'm shedding a tear. And I hope we meet at another conference. (If you don't live near me, I speak to come to your state / country! ;o))

Revising?

Are you knee-deep in revisions?

Or maybe you dove in and now you're completely submerged?

You know there's an amazing diamond in that rough, and you just need to keep chipping away until it's revealed? Do you want to polish until it gleams so brightly you can see it a mile away?

But do you keep seeing people's posts on NaNoWriMo, and it makes you sad because you really WANT to do it, but you really NEED to get through revisions first and you know that even if it sounds like bucket loads of fun, NaNoWriMo is just out for you?

It kinda gets you RIGHT HERE, doesn't it.

Well, guess what? I have the perfect solution!

NaNoReviMo

(The NaNo folks will be okay with me distorting their name and using it for my own purposes, right? They're cool like that, RIGHT?)

Here's the deal: I think we can have it all. NaNo craziness AND revisions.

I think that all of us who plan to really rock the revision scene during the month of November should do it together the way NaNoWriMoers write together! I first got the idea when Carrie Butler left her comment on my NaNo post last Wednesday. We could have a group email and give each other a kick in the pants, inspire one another, and best of all, report our progress!

We could REVISE 50,000 words in November. Or, we could make a different, personalized goal that fits with our needs better. FINISH revising. CUT a certain amount of words. ADD a certain number of words. Work on the revision letter I just got from my agent. :) EDIT a certain number of chapters. Whatever works. We just each decide what our goal is, then WORK LIKE CRAZY TO GET THERE. And have fun while we're doing it!

So who's with me?

Feel free to leave your RSVP or your regrets in the comments.

If you'd like to join, I'll need your email address at some point. You can leave it in the comments if you'd like. If you're weirded out by that and you have it somewhere on your blog, I can click over and find it. If you don't, email me. Peggyeddleman [at] gmail [dot] com.

Let's do this!

Quotes and Cookies: All the Richer

"If you have other things in your life - family, friends, good productive day work - these can interact with your writing and the sum will be all the richer."

~David Brin

We've kind of had an immerse-yourself-in-this-writing-community theme this week, and I think that we can all agree that interacting with each other will make our writing all the richer. And I think we pretty much all know that our writing will also be all the richer when we spend time having fun with family and friends. Here's to enjoying the last bits of summer with those we love!

Oooo! And speaking of "all the richer," check out these cookies! Go ahead and grab one and enjoy it's richness while you're making your life-- and your writing-- all the richer.

Blogiversary and a huge THANK YOU Party

This is Jessie Humphries. Maybe you know her. She's a fabulous writer, incredibly fun blogger, and every bit as beautiful in real life as she is in her picture. I'm not even kidding. She also happens to be my blogging bff.

For everyone who blogs: I highly recommend having an awesome blogging bff. I think that every blogger runs into a really frustrating time when it feels like no one reads your blog. That all the work is for nothing. Jessie and I started blogging at the same time, so we ran into the same struggles and frustrations and successes at the same time. We talk about goals, give each other advice on handling unexpected things, comment on each other's blogs and cheer each other on. We both reached 100 followers on the exact same day. She had a big celebration thanking everyone on her blog. I had.... Quotes and Cookies. And well, okay, I'll admit: every day you have cookies is a celebration. But it definitely wasn't enough to thank you guys! Since I didn't on that day, I decided to wait for my blogiversary.

I entered the blogging world really late in the game. For a very long time I knew I needed a writing blog, but I kept procrastinating. I'd been blogging on a personal blog for years, so I had no misconceptions on how much time, effort, and stress it would take, or on how much writing time it would eat. Committing to it for me meant committing to do it full out-- five posts a week, along with putting every bit of effort into it that it required. I did not come into this blind. I knew exactly what to expect.

What I didn't expect was how much I would love it! What I didn't expect was YOU GUYS. I'd been lurking and commenting on writing blogs for years, so I already knew that the writing community was a great one. I mean, you guys are my people! We have so many of the same hopes, desires, dreams, struggles, frustrations, and successes. It wasn't until I plopped myself right down in the middle of the writing blog world, though, that I realized exactly HOW GREAT it is. How great my people are. How much I love getting to know you through reading your blogs and reading your comments on my blog. It doesn't matter that we live all over the world-- it feels like you all live right here.

So, to everyone who reads, comments, follows, links to, and / or lurks on my blog, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.You guys have made this worth every single second.

Okay, I think I've been up here, babbling and holding my fancy stemmed cup of sparkling cider, waiting to clink glasses long enough. Cheers! Now let's get to the party! Last time, we had a traditional block party, so I figured we'd go Chinese this time.

First, check out the parade with the awesome dragons!

Then we'll set off fancy lanterns into the night sky, because it is the greatest idea EVER.

Then we'll watch some Chinese fireworks!

And because a party just isn't a party without cookies and because I LOVE fortune cookies in the hugest way possible, for refreshments we are definitely having this classic.

Have a great day, everyone! And may all your fortunes say that fantastic things are about to happen to you.
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A THANK YOU Blog(k) Party

Today is my four-week blog-iversary. And it happens to fall on the exact very middle of summer vacation. We should have a block party!

Er-- I mean "blogk" party.

Not because of the anniversary or the middle of summer thing, though. It's because I want to say,

THANK YOU.

Thank you so much to everyone who reads, comments, and/or follows my blog, and those who have linked to my blog. You guys all seriously rock my world!

When I rub the sleep out of my eyes, click on this blog, and see all your smiling faces over there --->  it totally makes my day.

So come on over and grab a balloon!

Eat some cotton candy! Come on. You know you want to. Everybody's doing it. Plus, it makes you feel young again!

Have some candy! If for no other reason than because THEY ARE SO DARN COOL LOOKING. And um good tasting. Yes. I'm sure they taste every bit as good as they look. How could they not when they went to so much trouble as to put the little Lego logo on the top of each little poker-up?

And have some pizza to attempt to counteract the sugar high!

Then hang out and watch the jugglers. Trust me-- they're amazing.

And then accept the sincerest thank you from the very bottom of my heart. I love you guys!
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Welcome! Welcome!

I finally have a blog!

Okay, I've had a personal blog for several years, but after three-and-a-half years of serious writing with the unwavering goal of getting an awesome publishing contract, I now finally have a writing blog! I know-- it's about time, right? So, welcome! Come hang out. We'll have fun together. And we'll eat cookies. The virtual kind that you can eat with your eyes and salivate over without any of the calories. Who am I kidding? Virtual eating of cookies makes you want to physically eat cookies. So I guess you can call our shared eating of virtual cookies inspirational.

I've just finished revising and revising and revising my fourth full-length novel (the first three were for practice. And fun. They were totally fun to write.), and I'm about ready to find myself an agent.

But first, I think I'm going to go bake some cookies.