Working on My Puzzle, er, Manuscript

"Easy-to-read is hard to write."  — Pam Zollman

By Stacy S. Jensen
 

As a kid, I worked on jigsaw puzzles. Today, I'm back at work. No pieces this time — a jumble of words.

 

My quest to add submissions into my writing process has resulted in feedback and rewrites.

The revisions click on some days. I hear angels sing.

On other days, I feel like all the puzzle pieces are black. I have no idea where to begin. I hear my toddler say, "Now, that's a problem."

Before critique groups, I rewrote my manuscripts completely. It's an easier technique with a 500 or less word picture book manuscript. Third person point-of-view changed to first person. My main character morphed from a boy to a girl. Secondary characters vanished.

Now with an assortment of critique groups — in person, online, and a local Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) critique group — I add a new layer to the process. I pick a version to submit and absorb the feedback.

I've decided to allow myself to be irritated by some suggestions.

"They can't kill my darlings! That's my job!" Oops said that out loud.

Of course, I've found that acknowledging how the feedback annoys me actually helps me. I think about it (well, steam about it sometimes). I question the validity. I rewrite the scene with the suggestion.

I've found that it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't.

At the end of the day, it's my story. For me to pitch it, to be passionate about it, and to continue revision after revision, it has to stay my story.

After attending the Big Sur in the Rockies last spring, I am bolder about how I utilize critique time. I may ask for specific attention to an area of the story or a format issue like an illustration note.

Even though critiques fire me up to revise, I often will wait a week before opening up the story again. I do research like check out books brought up during the critiques as possible comparable titles. Then, I return to the critique notes. I make changes. I ignore suggestions. I write new scenes. I replace words. 

The perfect word is important in any genre, but in a short picture book it can be difficult to find.

Then, I decide whether the story is ready to return to the outside world. Oh, and whether I need to rewrite the query letter or not.

As I go through revisions, I do focus on whether I really love the story or not. At one conference, an agent mentioned she must love a story, because it takes two to three years for it to reach bookstore shelves. The same can be said about a story I write. You must love a story to keep revising it over and over again until it's right.

What's your favorite way to revise a story, scene, or novel?
 

About the Author: Stacy S.Jensen worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for two decades. Today, she writes picture books and revises a memoir manuscript. She lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and toddler.

I'm on a Boat!

By Shannon Baker

There’s a chance I might not be crazy. The evidence, however, suggests otherwise.

Most of the time I can compartmentalize the worst of the fruitcake behavior and hopefully people don’t know how nuts I am.

I usually keep it secret that I have a constant soundtrack going on inside my head. My husband calls it the ShannonPod. A good day is when there is only one song looping. Not every day is good.

I’ve learned to anticipate and warn those around me when an outbreak of lunacy is likely. It’s sort of like a good-hearted werewolf locking himself up on a full moon.

For instance, when I send a manuscript out for review I can turn off the anxiety for a time. But I know when that manuscript is returned there will be fallout. It’s predictable.

I stand with the manuscript in hand.

There is a deep inhalation in preparation. As I read the comments I burn with embarrassment that I could be that stupid. How could I have sent this off when I know better than to make those kinds of mistakes? Then despair sinks in. This manuscript cannot be salvaged. Repair is impossible. My deadline looms and I have to create a completely different story. I’m doomed.

This stage lasts exactly two days.

On the third day I start to understand how to change the plot to make it better. I get a clear idea where to cut, where to add, and how to make that device work. The literary worm turns and I get excited because when I make these changes, this book is going to be brilliant!

For the next two to three weeks I am possessed, obsessed and whatever other ‘ssed writers get when they go so deeply into their story the only time they surface is to 1) eat and 2) go to that pesky day job that supports this bat-shit habit.  The only conversation I’m capable of is raving about the new insight into my character. My checkbook will not get balanced and I’ll survive on pickles and saltines before going to the grocery store.  I have plenty of underwear to last this manic phase, so I do no laundry.

And then it’s done. You’d think I’d feel relief. Elation! Pride of accomplishment.

Maybe I would… if I weren’t crackers.

Instead, I have Manuscript Withdrawal. After having made all those changes I knew would make the story sing, I’m convinced I’ve failed. It’s drivel and my editor will reject it and I’ll end up in the gutter, my roots will grow out gray, and I’ll have chronic halitosis.

But, wonder of wonders, my editor likes it. It goes into the publishing assembly line and I feel good about it for the next several months. I anticipate the book release. It’s gonna be great! Friends and family will hold it aloft and the champagne will flow.

Except I’m bonkers.

Tainted Mountain (Midnight Ink) is here as of today. By the time this blog is aired it will be available. Since this is my first book with a really great publisher, I have no experience with this part of the publishing process. I don’t know what to expect from my unstable, insecure self. I already feel the draw to the dark side of the anxiety landscape but I’m determined to enjoy this.

It’s a good book. You’ll like it. 

So, crazy or not, my ShannonPod is on a constant loop to “I’ve Got a Book,” sung to “I’m On A Boat,” the expletive version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM

About the Writer: Shannon Baker has a right brain/left brain conflict. While the left brain focuses on her career as an accountant, her right brain concocts thrillers, including her 2010 release, Ashes of the Red Heifer. A lover of mountains, plains, oceans and rivers, she can often be found traipsing around the great outdoors. The first book in the Nora Abbott Mystery Series, Tainted Mountain, released March 2013 from Midnight Ink publishers.

A New Place to Write

By Stacy S. Jensen

A writing journal seems like a logical tool for a writer, but I’ve had a mixed relationship with them over the years.

Several blank ones sit in my office. Friends and family gave them “to inspire” me. Instead, writers block arrived.

Anyone else feel intimidated by a pretty, bound book? It’s the ultimate blank page. It feels permanent or so I thought.

I began my memoir manuscript in a leather bound journal 12 years ago. I knew I needed something sturdy to write my thoughts down after my late husband had a catastrophic stroke.

With a new journal, I've found a new
writing place. I still like my cheap spiral
notebooks, too.

I found comfort in the journal as I wrote my thoughts, the details, and the trivial aspects of my life during this period. It stayed with me for 38 days in that recliner; traveled to multiple hospitals and nursing homes; and spanned four years including near death, life, and death. When I began writing the memoir — not straight from the journal, of course — I used the journal entries to verify quotes and fact-check my memory.

I stayed away from journals for almost seven years. I created stories and jotted down ideas on the computer, on an iPhone, and in cheap notebooks. That changed last Christmas.

Now remarried and a mother of a toddler, my husband gave me a beautiful, brown leather journal. With heavy, lined pages inside, it’s ready for doodles and words written by the toddler or me.

Whether it’s due to my age, experience, or just the presence of a little boy, I don’t feel pressure to make the journal perfect. Toddlers have a way of helping one accept that life can be messy.

I’m putting that philosophy to work in my journal this year. I’ve written notes and the beginning of a short story in the journal. I’ve scratched through words and paragraphs I don’t want to use. My son has scribbled on the pages, too. Revisions are unkempt, but I like the look of them here. Both writing and life can be messy, but it’s always fun to see where it goes.

Writing in this journal is both a fun and serious venture for me. When I fill up the pages, I can add more. This journal is a place for me to write and I like that.

Where do you write — a journal, a notebook or the computer? 

About the Author: Stacy S. Jensen worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for two decades. Today, she writes picture books and revises a memoir manuscript. She lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and toddler.
Blog: http://stacysjensen.blogspot.com Twitter: @StacySJensen