Happy Release Day!

Dude, it's the book birthday of TRANSPARENT! I'm so excited for this book! Good thing I get to go to Natalie's launch party tonight.

About TRANSPARENT: Sixteen-year-old Fiona O'Connell is the world's first invisible girl, which makes her the ideal weapon for her crime-lord father. But now, she and her mother have escaped and are hiding out in a small town where they're determined to start a normal life.

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What book are you excited about?

Idea Envy

Okay, so I attended a conference a few weeks ago, and usually they're the highlight of my writing life. I mean, it's always fun to be around other writers and hear their stories, and realize that the publishing industry is still pretty healthy.

Then, of course, you learn about their books. Their ideas. And then you get Idea Envy.

Of course, reading does the same thing. Let me illustrate three separate cases of this Envy that I've experienced this month.

UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi. If you haven't bought and read this book, you should cease reading this post, go buy it, read it, and then come back. Seriously. I loved this book!

Here's a bit about it: Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

It is seriously so good. When I finished, I thought, "I have never fully imagined the worlds in my stories like this." Veronica does such an amazing job with the world-building, that it left me feeling like I really need to step it up. (Not necessarily a bad thing, you know...)

PIVOT POINT by Kasie West. This book isn't out yet, but I got to hear Kasie read a bit of it at the conference, and I can't wait to read it! (I also got to see a mock cover... And it's fab!) Anyway, here's a bit more about it: Reminiscent of the movie Sliding Doors, Pivot Point is about a girl who has the power to search alternate futures. When faced with a life changing decision, she lives out six weeks of two different lives (in alternating chapters), both holding the potential for love and loss, and must ultimately choose which path she is willing to live through. (Stolen from Kasie's blog)

I mean, SEARCH ALTERNATE FUTURES??? And I'm wondering how I can write about boy scouts and people who live in tents. (No, really. Those are some of my latest craptastic ideas.)

Anyway, the Idea Envy flared again. Sounds like a great premise, and the writing is fab.

Then, as if that weren't enough, I also listened to Natalie Whipple read a chapter or so of her forthcoming novel, TRANSPARENT. And I thought, "A girl who's INVISIBLE because of medication the government gave the population during the FREAKING Cold War??"

After I hung my head, my next thought was, "Dude, you should quit while you're ahead." Which translates to, "Your ideas suck. Get better ideas!"

So here's a bit more about TRANSPARENT: On the run from her mind-controlling father, the infamously invisible Fiona McClean hides in a small town, hoping to finally rid herself of the crime world she has always known. But playing at “normal life” with a mother she hates, a brother she can't trust, and a boy she can't stand proves more difficult than she ever imagined. Soon her father is hot on her heels, and it’s up to Fiona to protect not only her family, but the friends who’ve taught her that life doesn’t have to be as lonely and cruel as she thought. (Stolen from Goodreads)

This won't be out until Summer 2013, and I'm salivating already.

So yeah. I really need to kick my Idea Generator into high gear. Otherwise this Idea Envy is going to consume me. Or something. Hey, look! Parks & Rec is on...

Do you suffer from Idea Envy from time to time? What have you read or heard about lately that sounds like a fabulous premise?

When To Quit

So I read a lot of blogs. Who doesn't?

I internalize them, especially if they make me experience an emotional reaction.

Enter Natalie Whipple. You may or may not have seen her around. I kinda like her. She's smart. Funny. Photogenic.

We party sometimes.

But this post made me go all emo.

Trust me, I've thought about quitting. Many times. Yesterday even. Generally, in life, I'm a quitter. I quit exercising about two years ago. I quit brushing my teeth for years while I was in high school. I quit playing soccer when I didn't make the high school team. I've quit several jobs in my past.

Yeah, I'm a quitter.

So here's the next thing I'm going to quit: comparing myself, my writing, my goals and my life to someone else's.

And then: I'm going to quit beating myself up because my writing isn't perfect.

Finally, I'm going to quit wishing for something, and work for it instead.

Who's with me?

What do you need to quit doing? Why is quitting sometimes so easy (exercising) and sometimes so dang hard (biting my fingernails)? Riddle me that, quitters!

Author Success Story: Natalie Whipple

This week I'm bringing in the big guns: People who've traveled down this long and winding road toward publication. Some of them already have book deals. Some have agents. Some have both. They've "made" it.

I want to spotlight someone each day this week to hopefully inspire you, provide a beam of hope along your way, and really prove that you CAN succeed in this crazy business. You CAN go from slush-pile-nothing to agented to published author. Yes, I'm looking at you. YOU.

But I'm not the only one on-board this positivity wagon. Join us this week for 75 (yes 75!) success stories! Then dream big. Go forth and query. Conquer.

Click here for more inspiration: Lisa and Laura Roecker, Beth Revis, Leah Clifford, Victoria Schwab, Kirsten Hubbard, Susan Adrian, Dawn Metcalf, Kim Harrington, Carrie Harris, Amy Holder, Kathy McCullough, Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins, Gretchen McNeil and Tiffany Schmidt.

I will be featured on Lisa and Laura Roecker's blog this Friday (and just so you know, I asked LiLa to do an interview and they had the idea to spread it across the Interwebz. They are genius personified. So yeah). Please go check out all the posts this week, because you never know who's going to say exactly what you need to hear to keep moving forward.

First up! The loverly Natalie Whipple.

RELAX I'M A NINJA in a tweet: Tosh--nerd/ninja--must figure out who's behind a string of murders and discovers he's more involved than he thought.

Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? Why didn't you?

If I'm being honest, I feel like giving up almost every week lately. And I've almost given up probably about four hundred times in the past four or so years. The business is hard to get into. And slow moving. And sometimes you're just going to feel like banging your head against the wall is the better option.

Why don't I give up? The answer changes. Sometimes it's because I want this--I want it so bad it aches that I'm not quite there yet. Sometimes it's because I've already gotten this far [Elana interrupts to say that Natalie's agent is Nathan Bransford, so she has made it quite far], and it would be really lame to give up now. Sometimes it's just the fact that I'm freaking stubborn, and I refuse to let this beat me.

Whatever the reason is on a particular day, I grab onto it and don't let go.

What has been the hardest part of your road to publication so far? And why?

Not knowing where or when the road will "end," so to speak. The wondering, the waiting--that's what has been the most difficult trial through every stage. Is this the day my dreams will be reality? Or is it the day they'll be set back another six weeks?

You can only live in hypotheticals for so long before you start to lose it, before you begin to question everything you do as a writer. And at that point you have to find the inner strength to move forward. You have to make the choice to live as presently as possible, and be okay with things not happening when you hope they will.

What's your best advice to aspiring authors?

I would say not to be so hard on yourself. There are enough people out there waiting to tear you down, don't be one of them.

Super Secret: If you could meet anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?

Hmm, I'm so not good at picking. I want to meet too many people. Today I guess I'll say Tolkien, because he was a linguist and I majored in English linguistics. I'd love to take a class from him or something.

Find Natalie online:
Her blog, Between Fact and Fiction
Natalie tweets!