Kelly: New Puppy Tales

I admit it. Last week instead of starting a new novel, I browsed online for puppies. I don’t know why. I don’t need a puppy; I already have three dogs. The danger of shopping for puppies, though, is that no matter how much I know that I don’t need one and that I’m just procrastinating, sometimes they are irresistible.

Meet Penelope.

Penelope is like the idea for my next novel. Both are exciting and full of possibility. Maybe this puppy will be well-behaved and not take over my bed. Maybe this novel will be a runaway best-seller and win tons of awards. Maybe I’m completely delusional.

Despite my initial fantasies, as soon as puppy and novel enter reality, they both involve shit. This is not news to me. I’ve had puppies before; I understand potty training. I get Anne Lamott’s “shitty first draft” concept too. The problem is that delusion convinces me that this time will be different; that having written a novel and trained puppies makes me an expert in story and canine behavior; that experience provides an easier road, or at least a short-cut.

However, the truth is that second books (and dogs) not only don’t provide a short-cut, they actually make the road longer and messier. I’ve been dealing with (sort of) polished drafts and trained dogs, so my perspective is off. With the second anything comes comparison. And comparison adds lots of extra shit to wade through.

Somehow, deep down, I must expect to pick up where I left off rather than actually starting fresh. I expect Penelope to lie at my feet and not nip my toes. I expect her to be a cute puppy and a well-trained dog at the same time. I expect my manuscript to be inherently fresh, sensory-laden, and clever the way it is in my imagination. It’s as if the new novel or puppy should understand all that came before them and immediately jump to polished and potty trained, skipping all the in-between work. Instead, everything is immature and underdeveloped—character, backstory and history, level of love and commitment, and bladders—which only leads to frustration.

There is no getting around the mess. If only cleaning up a manuscript was as simple as a roll of paper towels and some Clorox! That’s probably why I opted to start with the puppy before the new novel. The scary part about the second book isn’t what I know or my skewed expectations; it’s coming to terms with all that I lack and realizing how far I still have to go. Will I have something worthwhile to say? Will I have what it takes to pull off another book, a better book? Or will I prove once and for all that I’m a hack?

While I might know a little about crafting stories and teaching dogs to pee outside, I don’t know squat about my new characters or Penelope. I need to start at square one. I need to let go of my egotistical and fearful baggage that only weighs me down and holds me back. I need to watch and listen and learn who these characters are and what they have to offer in terms of story and relationships and truth.

I need to be an old dog willing to learn new tricks.   

I need to break out a new roll of paper towels. 

Penelope!

Crowe's Nest Resolutions

Happy New Year from the Crowe's Nest! The start of a new year is of course a time to reflect on the past and to make decisions about how we want our futures to look. Here are the resolutions of the members of the Crowe's Nest.

• My 2012 resolution is to sell a new comic book series. (I already have a bunch of deadline-mandated items to tackle: two novels --a YA and a thriller I have to write next year--and a slew of short stories, novellas and comics.) --Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of Dead of Night and Dust & Decay.
• I resolve to have enough sense to recognize when to take a break from writing -- instead of stubbornly forging onward and writing dreck I have to delete later anyway. --Dianne Salerni, author of We Hear the Dead (Sourcebooks 2010) and The Caged Graves (coming from Clarion)
• In 2012, I resolve to learn and grow, to grab the words just beyond my reach, to write a book that's both impossible and true--one that's somehow, in some small way, worthy. --Jenny Martin, author and librarian (hooray!)
• My Writing Resolution is to read more poetry. For me, reading poetry slows down the world and makes me pay attention to what a poem expresses, how it's expressed, and my response to it. Reading poetry helps me become a better writer. --Mary Atkinson, author and poet
• I want to remember that it's up to me to protect my writing time. Though my husband and children and colleagues all care about me, most people in my life would prefer me to be available to them when it comes down to it. It's takes more than a little discipline and courage to protect that space. So here's to another go at it in 2012! --Vera Hiranandan, author of The Whole Story of Half a Girl, which releases next week!
• My resolution in 2012 is BALANCE. I love my job so much that I sometimes find it hard to not be working. There is a time for writing, and then there is a time for everything else (family, friends, hikes, movies, museum visits, travels, etc). I need to get better at finding the balance. I'd also like to spend less time on twitter, but I'm an addict and it's a guilty pleasure. If I resolved to cut down my tweets, I'd break the resolution in under a week -- more like two days, if we're being honest -- so I'm not even going to try. --Erin Bowman, author of Taken coming Winter 2013 from HarperTeen
  
  
• My resolution: To write short. --Brian Meehl, author of You Don't Know About Me, Suck it Up, Out of Patience, and the upcoming Suck it Up and Die
  
• For the first time since my debut novel came out in 2008, I don't have a new book coming out this year. It is quite strange and a little sad. But what that means is I should have lots of time to write. So I hope to write a lot. How's that for a resolution? Write a lot. At least two books. Maybe three. Though I also want to get in shape, read a lot, travel some, play and laugh, sleep. Okay, in actuality, the goal is to write but stay sane, which probably means write 500-1,000 words most days, which is what I've always done. Well, so much for resolutions. --Lisa Schroeder, author of numerous books for children and teens, most recently The Day Before and Sprinkles and Secrets
• Decide what I’m going to “default” to when I’m not on task, so I can read less Facebook and more actual books. --Katherine Grace Bond, author of The Summer of No Regrets (Sourcebooks, May 2012) and Legend of the Valentine
• I’m resolved that in 2012 I will be more fearless -- that I’ll write from my heart and have faith that if I love what I’m writing, I’m doing it right. --Frances Sackett, middle-grade author
  
• While drafting, I resolve to send my inner editor on vacation to a far, far away place. One that doesn't have cell service. Or WiFi. But that does have a great beach with awesome swells, so he'll be distracted by surfing until I'm good and ready for him. --Peggy Edelman, author of the upcoming Through the Bomb's Breath (Random House, 2013)
• My novel While He Was Away is due out from Sourcebooks this May, and so . . . I resolve to break (or at least balance) my habit of shyness and do my best to advocate for the book and more deeply connect with communities of YA readers and writers. Maybe this means blogging twice a week and tweeting twice a day; it definitely means reading posts like [this one]!I also want to more consistently embrace my own best rhythm of writing--which is a bit Pavlovian (ring the bell and I salivate). An hour a day, same time, same place, typically works way better for me than a binge writing weekend here and there (though writers residencies are a dream come true . . . and I'd like to resolve right now to apply for one of those too! :) ). --Karen Halvorsen Schreck, author of While He Was Away (Sourcebooks, 2012), Dream Journal (Hyperion), and Lucy's Family Tree (Tilbury House)
• I'm going to carry a little notebook with me and write a one sentence snapshot of something I see, hear, smell, taste or touch every day. --Leila Howland, author of the upcoming Nantucket Blue
  
• I used to make writing-related resolutions, but now I have to make my changes on the fly. It's like
  NASCAR: I try to make adjustments as soon as I notice something isn't working (or I'm running out of fuel). If I waited until the end of the year, I'm afraid the race might already be over. --Michael Northrup, author of Gentlemen, Trapped, and the upcoming Plunked
  

As for me, my resolution is to write a picture book. I've been noodling on an idea for a while, but I've found that just knowing I was going to publicly declare this resolution has me more focused. I've started plotting and even composing. So what about you? What are your writing-related resolutions for 2012?

Sara: Hello, 2012!

Happy New Year! 2011 was as busy and exciting as I hoped it would be at the end of 2010. 4 client debuts and 17 client books in all were published, and I sold 9 debuts, and made 11 other deals, not including foreign deals and film options. I attended the Bologna Book Fair for the first time in March and the Storymaker's Conference in Utah in May where I got to see the Wells brothers and where I found three new clients, definitely a conference record for me.

We bought an apartment and moved to a new neighborhood that we love, our daughter turned 2 and started at a playschool. It was also the year that we lost both of my father's parents, at 90 and 93. They had been married for 68 years and have 7 children, 21 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. We miss them and I wish that L had gotten to know them longer. In 2012, my maternal grandmother and my husband's grandmother and daughter's namesake with both turn 90 the same week in March, and we will be there to celebrate them.

This year I will have more client books coming out than any previous year, and I cannot wait to tell you about each of them. One of my resolutions is to be better about updating my website!

Here is some of the great news we got this year:

FROST by Marianna Baer is a CYBILS Best Young Adult Fiction finalist for 2011.

ROT & RUIN by Jonathan Maberry won the 2010 Cybils for Fantasy and Science Fiction.

ROT & RUIN is also on the ALA 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults list, a nominee for the Arkansas Teen Book Award, on the 2012 Texas Lone Star Reading List and on the Missouri Gateway List.

Jonathan's adaptation WOLFMAN won the Scribe Award for Best Adaptation.

CHASING BROOKLYN was a RITA FINALIST 2011, and is a Missouri Gateway nominee.

I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU by Dan Wells is A BOOKLIST HORROR TOP TEN for 2011.

Dan Wells was a John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer nominee.

MR. MONSTER by Dan Wells won the Whitney award for Best Novel.
MR. MONSTER is also an ALA QUICK PICK FOR RELUCTANT READERS.

VARIANT by Robison Wells is a PW best Book of the Year, and Robison is a PW Flying Start.

CHASING BROOKLYN by Lisa Schroeder, HOLD STILL by Nina LaCour, A SWEET DISORDER by Jacqueline Kolosov and THE MORGUE AND ME by John Ford are all on the TAYSHAS 2011 list.

TRAPPED By Michael Northrop is on the 2012 TAYSHAS List.

IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES by Lisa Schroeder and SAVING MADDIE by Varian Johnson are 2011 Bank Street College of Education Best Books.

THE DRAGON OF CRIPPLE CREEK by Troy Howell is an ABC New Voices Project selection for 2011.

YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME by Brian Meehl is on the BCCB Blue Ribbon Winner List for 2011.

TAKE ME THERE by Carolee Dean is a Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award Nominee.

SEA by Heidi Kling is a 2011 IRA Young Adult Choice and a Missouri Gateway Award Nominee.

THE MORGUE AND ME has been nominated for the 2011-2012 Georgia Peach Book Award.

OTHER by Karen Kincy is a Top Ten Popular Paperback 2011.

Two stars for Rob Wells's VARIANT (VOYA and PW) and stars for Jonathan Maberry's THE KING OF PLAGUES (Kirkus), Brian Meehl's YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME (PW), Kristen TRACY'S THE REINVENTION OF BESSICA LEFTER (BCCB), Kristen Tracy's SHARKS AND BOYS (Kirkus), and Dan Wells's I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU (Booklist).

And looking ahead to this year's books:
Three Stars so far for Nina LaCour's THE DISENCHANTMENTS (Dutton, February) from SLJ, Kirkus and PW, and two Stars for Veera Hiranandani's THE WHOLE STORY OF HALF A GIRL (Delacorte, January) from Kirkus and PW.

Congrats on all the lists and awards, Nesters! Today I am thinking about the projects I already know I am submitting to editors in 2012, and those I have not even read yet. I am feeling incredibly lucky about all the books my clients sent me this year and those they will send, and that I get to work with such amazing people every day. I can't wait for Bologna again in March, and for the DFW's conference in May where I will get to meet Jenny Martin, and to the Highlights Whole Novel Workshop in October with Varian Johnson and his laugh. 2012 looks to be even busier than 2011, if that is possible. I think I will need Erin Bowman's word of the year: balance. And also a clone. Wishing everyone happiness in 2012! Sara