The Bouncy Castle in Space

heza

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HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!!

Had a quiet celebration at home due to bad roads, but that's fine with me. Served sparkling apple juice to the kids at midnight, and the next morning the little one wanted to know if she could have some more sprinkle juice.

New Year's Day is my birthday, and I stayed home in my jammies all day and read new books and ate b-day cake and was terribly lazy. Early afternoon one of the possums came out and feasted on cat food. The little one spied him and yelled, "The pasta's in the cat food, Nana!"

She cracks me up.

That's all very adorable!
 

SheilaJG

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:partyguy: Happy belated birthday, sissybaby! What a cutie she is! I keep little notebooks for each of my kids, so I can write down the funny things they say, because I know I'll forget if I don't.
 

JoyMC

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You guys. I just pulled up an old email to copy and paste my query text into a new email and saw that I had claimed "fifteen years of sexperience."

:e2paperba

Maybe if I wrote erotica ...

(That query actually got me a request, too. Hmmm ...)
 

Britwriter

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OMG! If it got you a request, maybe the rest of us should try it!!!

Hilarious!
 

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
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You guys. I just pulled up an old email to copy and paste my query text into a new email and saw that I had claimed "fifteen years of sexperience."

:e2paperba

Maybe if I wrote erotica ...

(That query actually got me a request, too. Hmmm ...)

aha! the secret to querying success, revealed at last! quick, somebody write a blog post :D
 

Britwriter

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Bouncing in excitement today! Bloomsbury are mailing me copies of my picture books today - I didn't expect them for another few weeks. My editor tells me they're gorgeous IRL.

I'm so excited to actually get to hold them. All four of them, in one go! It's like having quads! Four at once!
 

Britwriter

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Yes, I'm in the US. They're mailing them from London, so I'm guessing about a week. I shall be stalking my poor mailman!

The covers are up on my homepage on my website www.nicolacall.com

Of course, I've seen digital images of the entire books, but that's not the same as holding the real thing!
 

DavidBrett

Alas, poor Yorick, he fed me 'nanas
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Wow, Nicola, that's amazing news! I kinda know the feeling when I got a paperback collection of my superhero webcomic in my hands for the first time. But that was self-published, and I had to pay £22 for it (it was a gift for my girlfriend and muse, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered). But actual books from a big publisher? Daaaamn, girl!

You rock!

Dave
 

Britwriter

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Wow, Nicola, that's amazing news! I kinda know the feeling when I got a paperback collection of my superhero webcomic in my hands for the first time. But that was self-published, and I had to pay £22 for it (it was a gift for my girlfriend and muse, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered). But actual books from a big publisher? Daaaamn, girl!

You rock!

Dave

Thanks! I'm very excited, it's been a long, long time since I wrote them.

There are others here who will have actual books in their hands fairly soon, I'm sure. You included. ;)
 

sissybaby

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How excited you must be, Nicola. Congratulations on this huge accomplishment. Your books look and sound wonderful and I know you can't wait to greet that mailman.
 

DavidBrett

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Thanks! I'm very excited, it's been a long, long time since I wrote them.

There are others here who will have actual books in their hands fairly soon, I'm sure. You included. ;)

Awh, thanks for the kind words, but it's looking unlikely anytime soon - I'm facing a huge rewrite tomorrow onwards. Practically everything's changing: the time at which the story starts (the MC is no longer the new boy), the relationship between the MC and the protagonist (they've been friends for a while), his knowledge of the Enigma Files, the antagonist's motives and behaviour......

I feel like I'm facing a whole new novel. Whilst that might sound fun usually, it also makes me feel like the original EF was a waste of not just my time, but my betas... It's a horrible feeling :(

Dave
 

JoyMC

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I feel like I'm facing a whole new novel. Whilst that might sound fun usually, it also makes me feel like the original EF was a waste of not just my time, but my betas... It's a horrible feeling :(

Dave

But you couldn't have gotten to this place in revisions without writing the original version. It's just the nature of revisions. And I bet your betas will just be thrilled to see how it's grown from when they first read it.

Every draft of every thing - including things that get trunked, and believe me I know from whence I speak - adds to our growth as writers. No piece of writing is a waste of our time.

It sounds like you're in an exciting place! I'm so glad your PitchWars mentor seems to be giving you such useful feedback. I trust it all really resonates with you, yeah?
 

sissybaby

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Overheard two ladies talking at the library today. They were discussing electronic devices, and one said a study had been conducted regarding young children and ipods, ipads, etc. use, and that the results were that it was totally rewiring their brains, and not in a good way.

Then I came home and read reviews of Jerry Spinelli's new book, Hokey Pokey. Some of the comments were quite interesting, comparing it to Toy Story, which doesn't sound at all like Spinelli to me.

I sometimes wonder how people interpret things. Some reviews were five star, still others one. And I can only assume these were all advanced reader copies because the book just came out yesterday, I believe. Could be mistaken on that part, though.

Then I started researching what it might cost to self-publish my picture books, since no one else wants them and I'm running out of options. I don't think I can afford an illustrator, so back in the trunk they go.

Now I've eaten half a box of chocolates and I'm probably not going to sleep again tonight. I'm ready for summer and sunshine, I tell you.
 

heza

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Overheard two ladies talking at the library today. They were discussing electronic devices, and one said a study had been conducted regarding young children and ipods, ipads, etc. use, and that the results were that it was totally rewiring their brains, and not in a good way.

I worry about that a little bit. One set of niece and nephew don't have a lot of electronics, except MP3 players and cameras, I think. But the girl is saving up for a tablet, and both of them, the very first thing I hear when I come over and then every fifteen minutes, thereafter, is "Can I play on your phone? Can I play on your tablet?" It's like crack. I know they spend a lot of time on my sister's phone (to the point that it's dying when she tries to use it) and on her Kindle (playing games, not reading).

The other set of niece and niece are probably getting smart phones for their birthdays... they're 7 and 8. I cringe at that. I'm not a parent, so I have no idea, but it seems incredibly excessive to give a child something that costs hundreds of dollars when just about everything else they get into their hands immediately gets lost, crushed, or dropped in the toilet.

Then I started researching what it might cost to self-publish my picture books, since no one else wants them and I'm running out of options. I don't think I can afford an illustrator, so back in the trunk they go.

Now I've eaten half a box of chocolates and I'm probably not going to sleep again tonight. I'm ready for summer and sunshine, I tell you.

*hug* I'm sorry about the picture books. Maybe someone will want to publish them on name recognition in a couple of years! Or maybe later on, you'll have the funds to hire the illustrator.

We've been running on empty for a few weeks now, at home. We're both so exhausted that we got the flu and then the SO got food poisoning straight after. Last night, he didn't want anything to eat, obviously, and I was so lazy... I spread almond butter on a dark chocolate bar.
 

sissybaby

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Sorry you've been ill, Hez, but hopefully the worst is past.

My 15 yo niece received a new phone for Christmas, and her 12 yo sister got her old one. The older one posted on facebook that she'd had her phone for four years and it worked great, her sister had it four days and destroyed it.

My middle kid texts so much her fingers twitch in her sleep, and she holds her phone all night. My oldest has a cell, but rarely uses it. The 12 yo thinks he wants one, but I don't see he has a need. He seldom ventures out without one of us, so what's the point?

I finally downloaded some CDs to my ipod so we can listen to music while we're exercising, but (cough) that doesn't happen all that much. I use my Nook more than I did, but I still use paper most of the time. It is very handy for traveling, I will admit, or when I'm running kids to appointments and such. We're big supporters of our local libraries, though.

I will say, though, that our little one loves to have her Nook story at bedtime. She doesn't demand it, and doesn't always get it, but I don't mind her having one story read to her by someone other than Nana.
 

Britwriter

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Awh, thanks for the kind words, but it's looking unlikely anytime soon - I'm facing a huge rewrite tomorrow onwards. Practically everything's changing: the time at which the story starts (the MC is no longer the new boy), the relationship between the MC and the protagonist (they've been friends for a while), his knowledge of the Enigma Files, the antagonist's motives and behaviour......

I feel like I'm facing a whole new novel. Whilst that might sound fun usually, it also makes me feel like the original EF was a waste of not just my time, but my betas... It's a horrible feeling :(

Dave

Gosh, that sounds like a huge job. I do know how it feels, I did a complete rewrite of my MG last year, changed the girl MC to a boy, which I thought would be simple, but it ended up changing the entire book.

I now have two similar yet very different manuscripts. I still love the original, but know that the new one is better. I also know that I could not have written the new one without having written the first. It's a process, and you can't skip stages.

Certainly, you have not wasted your time, or anyone else's! I've helped people in the past totally rework books, one non-fiction took the author a year to rewrite! But it was worth it, once she'd done it, it was hugely successful. :)

Once you get into the rewrite, you will most likely find that it absorbs you, and that you enjoy doing it and learn from it.

I've had books take 10 years from writing to publication. Some have sat and gathered dust for years and years, until I pick them up again. The publication isn't the purpose, it is the journey that counts, and you're on a very worthwhile and exciting journey!

Hang in there! You can do it!
 

SheilaJG

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Nervously bouncing now. I finished the revisions my agent requested, and she likes them. And we're both super happy. And I think I'm going out on submission next week. Eeeeeeeeeeek! I'm excited and nervous. But I feel very lucky to have such an enthusiastic champion for my book. Dang, I was so close to giving up on that thing, and to have someone be excited about it is just awesome.