Why All Writers Need a Hobby

Photo from: http://www.sycamoremall.com/Photo%20gallery.htm

After reading that title, you may be thinking to yourself: "What do you mean? Writing is my hobby." If that's the case, you probably don't need this tip. But if you're like me, and you feel like writing is your life because you want to spend every waking moment of your free time (and some of your sleeping time too) working on a story, then you, my friend, need a hobby. "But wait!" you say, "I don't want to do anything else. I just want to write all day, every day." Well, that's very nice and I can relate, but you need to drag yourself out of your chair, shut your laptop screen for a moment, and go do something else every so often. Why? Because it will make you a better writer.

Critique Groups: Why They Rock & Why They Should Be Like Randy Jackson

Tonight (or rather, this morning since I'm writing this at 1 AM), I'm going to write about something very near and dear to my heart: critique groups. I participate in two - one is composed of online writers, who I have never met in person but have given me some amazing advice, and another is an in person group of fellow members of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. My critique groups have been absolutely amazing at giving me helpful advice, and also giving me a confidence boost when I really needed one. A few weeks ago, I went to my group for SCBWI, and as I was reading I kept thinking to myself 'This is horrible. This is garbage. This is the worst thing I've ever written. I am so embarrassed. Why on Earth am I reading this out loud????' but I'd already started, so it was too late to quit. I finished reading my chapter, and sat back, waiting for my critique partners to eviscerate me and...they didn't. They actually had very nice things to say, suggestions too, but the general consensus was that they liked it. And once I took a deep breath, I realized that what I'd written was actually not so bad and even had some really nice moments.

How to stay sane: Get feedback from your target audience

I've decided to start writing a series of entries called 'How to Stay Sane,' describing the things that I do to keep from losing my mind while I wait to see what will happen with my book. And so, without further ado, my first piece of advice:

So I recently posted my first 4 chapters of Jasmine Powers, Super Geek on InkPop.com. (That's right, you read correctly, the first four chapters. So if you wanna read more than what I've posted here, you can join InkPop and hopefully select me as a pick!)

What is InkPop, you ask? It's an online community where writers of YA fiction can post their work, read other peoples' stories, and get comments on their own. Plus, you can choose up to five stories as 'picks' and at the end of each month, the 5 stories with the most 'picks' are selected to receive a critique from editors at HarperCollins. Pretty awesome opportunity right? But what's even cooler is that it gives you an opportunity to get your work read by actual teenagers.

Even though some really amazing agents have requested my book, getting query rejections still stings. It starts to make me paranoid like 'omigosh, this agent didn't love it, so that means every agent is going to hate it!' Of course we all know the business is subjective, and even the most popular, successful authors in the world have some rejections under their belt (Meg Cabot says she has a whole bag of them under her bed!) but it's still discouraging that everyone I've queried isn't clamoring to represent me (dare to dream right?)
And when I start to think this way, instead of feeling excited about the requests I have out, I start feeling gloomy and waiting for the other shoe to drop, like I shouldn't even get my hopes up because bad news is worse after you've gotten hopeful and the news is destined to be bad.

Then I give myself a reality check. The truth is, although I am dying to find the right agent, my real goal is to impress teen readers. I want an agent to help me find a great publisher who will make my book available to the masses, but after that, I'm not really marketing my book to literary agents. I mean, I would love it if they buy it too (heck, I want EVERYONE to buy it!), but my target audience is teenagers. And if every literary agent in the world hates my book, but teen readers love it, I've still accomplished something pretty cool. And InkPop gives YA writers an opportunity to get feedback from the people they are ultimately catering to, people who read (and buy) YA books.

So, unnamed agents who do not love my book, you might not be head-over-heels for it but guess what? Some total strangers (who are in my target audience) have loved it and that makes me feel GREAT. And that is the feeling I'm going to hold on to, instead of the stomach-dropping sadness of query rejections.

Glowing Inkpop reviews = my anti drug.

LOL.