The Kidlit Gang's Support and Accountability Thread

Hooray, Tromboli!! So happy for you!!

Thanka guys! Here's my blog post! http://www.staceytrombley.com/2014/02/a-sucess-story.html

Cool blog post, Tromboli! It all sounded very nerve wracking. Congrats on the contract!

Hey Tromboli, congrats!

Tromboli said:

In other news... I finally signed my contract so I can officially say... my YA contemporary sold to Entangled!! (This happened tonight. The contract lady was working til 2am, bless her) I'm going to wait until at least tomorrow to post on twitter because I have a blog post ready to go that includes peices of the emails my editor sent me and I want his approval before I post it. As soon as he responds I'll tweet my news and post the whole thing on the blog. But the weight is off now, its all official and stuff

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You must be on cloud 9, Tromboli. Such fantastic news. Best of luck.

I'm working on three chapters this week, roughly 10,000 words: 3,500 down, 6,500 to go.

Thanks everyone. Its been an interesting day. But even good days come with some bad: My brand new laptop's battery is dead and we have to send it in for service. Writing will be tough this week without a laptop.

I have some work to do on my MG before I get to work on my YA contemporary revision so hopefully my hubbys old computer works okay for that.

Tromboli - Congratulations!! Super thrilled for you! I love to see perseverance pay off. And I have a question. Since you've published a YA (doesn't that sound nice!) and are writing an MG, do you feel at all concerned about picking one direction, either YA or MG, as your future direction? Have you gotten much feedback about that either way? I ask because I'm struggling to decide which direction I want most to write in or whether it's realistic to shoot for publishing in both.

Anyone else have thoughts on that?

Tromboli said:

In other news... I finally signed my contract so I can officially say... my YA contemporary sold to Entangled!! (This happened tonight. The contract lady was working til 2am, bless her) I'm going to wait until at least tomorrow to post on twitter because I have a blog post ready to go that includes peices of the emails my editor sent me and I want his approval before I post it. As soon as he responds I'll tweet my news and post the whole thing on the blog. But the weight is off now, its all official and stuff

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Yay!! Huge congrats!!

RaggedEdge said:

do you feel at all concerned about picking one direction, either YA or MG, as your future direction? Have you gotten much feedback about that either way? I ask because I'm struggling to decide which direction I want most to write in or whether it's realistic to shoot for publishing in both.

Anyone else have thoughts on that?

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Plenty of people do it. Some people write under different names, like E. Lockheart (YA)/Emily Jenkins (MG). But off the top of my head, Lauren Myracle, Lauren Oliver, and Shannon Hale all go back and forth between the two. (Shannon Hale also writes adult, in fact.) Laurie Halse Anderson, Joan Bauer, and Jerry Spinelli too.

I am currently in the planning/researching/brainstorming phase for two new manuscripts. I don't usually do this for two things at one time, but the book I thought I'd write next is veeery quiet (and historical! and epistolary!), but the book my agent is about to start trying to sell is not-so-quiet, so I'm thinking it might be good to have another project comparable in tone in the works. I think I could happily work on either one - just trying to really take the time to get to know the characters and develop the stakes before I jump into drafting either one.

RaggedEdge said:

Tromboli - Congratulations!! Super thrilled for you! I love to see perseverance pay off. And I have a question. Since you've published a YA (doesn't that sound nice!) and are writing an MG, do you feel at all concerned about picking one direction, either YA or MG, as your future direction? Have you gotten much feedback about that either way? I ask because I'm struggling to decide which direction I want most to write in or whether it's realistic to shoot for publishing in both.

Anyone else have thoughts on that?

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I agree with Joy. Its totally, completely doable. Add Holly Black to the list of YA/MG writers. They're fairly close anymore.

However! It is something I've put a lot of thought into and I think, if I ever publish a MG I'll use a pseudonym. Why? Because the YA I'm publishing is dark/edgy contemporary (the MC is a former prostitute) but the MGs I'm working on are paranormal/fantasy. I honesty don't see a huge crossover in audiences and I think I can brand myself as a contemporary writer. I think that would be a good way to go about things.

I haven't made any definitive plans, I'll make that choice when/if I sign with an agent but the idea is:

Stacey Trombley is a YA contemporary author, dealing with more emotional, issue driven work.
Pat Gambrill (just my middle-maiden name combo) will be MG and maybe YA speculative..

So its more content that I'm worried about, than age category.

JoyMC said:

Plenty of people do it. Some people write under different names, like E. Lockheart (YA)/Emily Jenkins (MG). But off the top of my head, Lauren Myracle, Lauren Oliver, and Shannon Hale all go back and forth between the two. (Shannon Hale also writes adult, in fact.) Laurie Halse Anderson, Joan Bauer, and Jerry Spinelli too.

I am currently in the planning/researching/brainstorming phase for two new manuscripts. I don't usually do this for two things at one time, but the book I thought I'd write next is veeery quiet (and historical! and epistolary!), but the book my agent is about to start trying to sell is not-so-quiet, so I'm thinking it might be good to have another project comparable in tone in the works. I think I could happily work on either one - just trying to really take the time to get to know the characters and develop the stakes before I jump into drafting either one.

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I have like 12 books I the planning stage, so you're good

I'm nearing the end of a big revision on the MG I've been querying. I have to work o the revision/rewrite for my YA contemporary with Entangled. I have two novels half written , waiting for their turn for attention and about 7 others I want to write.

I have a lot going on...

Not that I suggest this route. Just saying, your two books at once sounds pretty good right now

Tromboli said:

In other news... I finally signed my contract so I can officially say... my YA contemporary sold to Entangled!!

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Congratulations!!!! That's fantastic!!!!

Thanks

I finished my big revision on Darcy. Sent it off to some new betas. Hopefully I'll be back in the query game soon.

I'm starting on my contemporary revision on Tuesday so today and tomorrow are days off.

Well, I made my 30K goal for March, and even got there a day early. My April goal is another 25K. Happy almost April all!

Supergirlofnc said:

Well, I made my 30K goal for March, and even got there a day early. My April goal is another 25K. Happy almost April all!

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Wow! Go, Supergirl! That's amazing, nicely done.

And congrats, Tromboli! Go, go, go!

I'm editing. Just did another book map, and am reorganizing chapters. It's fun to see it all really taking shape, and the themes coming together.

Joy and Tromboli - Thank you for weighing in on my question. I was aware of a couple authors who did this but it's encouraging to see so many.

SuperKate - Good for you! I'm in the same boat.

The revision of my MS from YA to MG is coming along. I've found a few spots of time the past week to edit after taking a hiatus through January and February (which has been very profitable reading time). Writing time is still really limited but I hope to have it ready for beta reading by the end of April at the latest. Feels good to see some progress again. I'm also continuing to do research and take notes for two of my WIPs.

After many stops and starts, sick children, life getting in the way, my own self-doubts as a writer, I am finally back on track. For the first time in months I managed a four-figure word count in a day and it started to really flow toward the end.

To anyone who's had a rough patch in writing, difficulty believing in yourself and all that, stick it out. It's worth it when you get back in the groove.

That's awesome Drachen!

I'm finishing up my revision/rewrite on Naked and I'll be doing my final (for now) revision on Darcy before jumping back into querying again very soon

Drachen Jager said:

After many stops and starts, sick children, life getting in the way, my own self-doubts as a writer, I am finally back on track. For the first time in months I managed a four-figure word count in a day and it started to really flow toward the end.

To anyone who's had a rough patch in writing, difficulty believing in yourself and all that, stick it out. It's worth it when you get back in the groove.

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I remember you were having some difficulty getting back into the groove of things. So glad that you were able to get back on track! You'll be finished before you know it.

Drachen Jager said:

After many stops and starts, sick children, life getting in the way, my own self-doubts as a writer, I am finally back on track. For the first time in months I managed a four-figure word count in a day and it started to really flow toward the end.

To anyone who's had a rough patch in writing, difficulty believing in yourself and all that, stick it out. It's worth it when you get back in the groove.

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Fantastic to hear!

Drachen Jager said:

After many stops and starts, sick children, life getting in the way, my own self-doubts as a writer, I am finally back on track. For the first time in months I managed a four-figure word count in a day and it started to really flow toward the end.

To anyone who's had a rough patch in writing, difficulty believing in yourself and all that, stick it out. It's worth it when you get back in the groove.

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Great, Drachen! I think persistence and resilience are important for writing. It's so easy to get discouraged. I'm glad you've got your groove back!

Thanks all.

Now I just have to finish the first draft, edit, get chopped off at the knees by beta readers, get up again, edit some more, cross my fingers and hope maybe it'll catch an agent's attention this time, rinse and repeat.

Drachen Jager said:

Now I just have to finish the first draft, edit, get chopped off at the knees by beta readers, get up again, edit some more, cross my fingers and hope maybe it'll catch an agent's attention this time, rinse and repeat.

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Pshaw. Is that all? So glad you're feeling positive!

After spending some time brainstorming a new MG project, I decided to set it aside and write a YA I've had in the works for ages. It's very difficult, and I've been working on it slowly between MG projects, but have decided that now is the time to focus on it. I've got 20K and my goal is to have a first draft by July 1. I can't really report clear word count accomplishments for now, as I'm working through and reshaping this 20K first before new drafting begins in earnest. But I feel like I'm making forward progress.