I think it’s fairly obvious why I chose the below as one of my FaN Favorites:

From May 4, 2009

Photo by Kalimba Bennett

So as you may or may not have noticed, I haven’t been talking about the writing process much lately. Many of you might have thought this was because I got sick of navel-gazing. But c’mon, I’m a neurotic writer — which means that I will never, ever stop obsessively picking at my own belly lint. I mean ever. So get that thought out of your pretty little heads.

Alas, I haven’t been writing about writing lately b/c the saga of my first novel has been changing too fast to keep you up to speed til now. Here’s the recap, if you haven’t been with us up to this point — oh, and if you don’t want to go through the whole chronicle, just skip down to #4. That’s when it really gets good.

1) Around Christmas 2007 I finished the rough draft of a novel about an ugly duckling named Davie Jones who becomes obsessed with getting a Molly Ringwald Ending (a beyond perfect 80’s movie ending), even though she’s completely unpopular, the daughter of the town hooker, and extremely poor. She eventually escapes her small Mississippi town, reinvents herself as a lounge singer in Los Angeles, only to re-meet her high school crush 15 years later. I dubbed the book Molly Ringwald Ending, and I worried on my then-one-person blog that no one would like the novel that I had spent almost two years cobbling together.

2) After months of rewriting, I emailed the book to my sister. She declared it good, so I sent it off to a fabulous book and screenplay editor named Karin Gutman, who I had met after my story was chosen for the Spark! Six-Year Anniversary Storytelling Event and inaugural CD. I approached choosing a book editor like dating. I had met quite a few highly-qualified book editors, but you know I got to talking to Karin (who’s also a Spark! producer) at the big storytelling event’s after party, and we ended up having such a lovely conversation about all sorts of things outside of novel writing, so I decided to go with her. Karin did a brilliant edit which inspired many more months worth of rewrites. She also suggested that I change my title to A Molly Ringwald Ending, so I did.

3) After many more months of rewrites, I had a draft that I was willing to send off to agents. However, having gotten a BA in English and an MFA in Dramatic Writing, I knew from experience that I wasn’t that great at copy-editing my own work — I’ve got a crack-cocaine like passion for commas, ellipses and dashes that must be rehabbed by others, and no matter how much I re-read, I can’t ever seem to catch every writing error, changed character name, and so on and so on. So despite feeling a little impatient at that point — I sent it to my fellow Smithie and great friend Emily Farrell. And she sent me back the best copy edit in the history of copy-edits. I would highly recommend her to any writer and you can contact her here.

4) So about a year after I finished my rough draft, the novel was final ready. And by “ready,” I don’t mean “perfect.” I mean that I was so sick of worrying over it that there was nothing I could do but send it out into the world. I’m sure my parents felt the same way when they sent me off to college. So I spent the 2008 Entertainment Production holiday hiatus sending out letters to agents. I happily ended up with Sarah Jane Freymann from the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency in February. I chronicled that process here — and yes, I once more compared it to dating. Leave me alone.

5) As it turns out, A Molly Ringwald Ending is totally not fair-use. I sent the actress’s agents a heartfelt letter through Sarah Jane. And Molly Ringwald’s lawyers sent back a huge … no. So I asked you guys to help pick a title, and much to my surprise, 32 CANDLES totally won. That’s all chronicled here.

6) So in April the newly-dubbed 32 Candles finally went out to a bunch of publishing houses. You think I’m going to say this was like dating again, and you’re totally … right! The thing about dating is that you put yourself out there, and you only have your instincts and your experiences to guide you. Along the way, you meet guys that you like who don’t like you back. And guys who like you, but is it the right match? And a lot of in-between. People end up together in all sorts of ways, but I maintain that it’s best when both parties choose to be with each other with equal enthusiasm.

7) Which is why I’m just beyond happy to say that 32 Candles has been sold in a pre-empt to Dawn Davis (ed. Pursuit of Happyness; The Known World; Act Like A Woman, Think Like a Man; Black Water Rising) at HarperCollins, which means the book will be hitting a bookshelf near you (as long as “you” live in the States) some time in 2010ish. 2011 if the publishing gods deem it necessary.

Of course, I’m beyond thrilled. Thrilled and extremely shocked. No matter how hard one works towards a goal, I don’t know that anyone’s ever truly prepared to actually get what they want. I’m still surprised that I love my husband and that he loves me back. I’m still having a hard time believing that IVF actually worked and I’m going to be a mother in less than 2 months. Quite frankly, it’s just astounding to me that so many good things could happen. I can remember sitting in my dorm room 12 years ago and believing that nothing good would happen ever again after my mother died.

But good things did happen, are happening. And I’m so incredibly grateful, I can’t even put into words how very much I’ve appreciated all of your support throughout this process. Just thank you, thank you, thank you. It’s only May, but I can already say that this has hands down been the best year of my life.

100% Love,

etc

I chose this book review just b/c now that I’m on the other side of publishing, I still think it’s the marketing book that every writer should read like yesterday.

From February 11, 2010

I’ve been reviewing mostly fiction up to now, but as I mentioned last week, I’ve become very interested in fully learning the art of promotion before 32 CANDLES hits bookshelves. And sense I’m a page-to-life learner, I’ve been reading a lot of books on the subject. Here are my thoughts on the latest self-help-for-self-promotion book: GET KNOWN BEFORE THE BOOK DEAL by Christina Katz.

Why I Decided To Read It: Like I said last week, I’m completely gung-ho about getting out there and promoting 32 CANDLES, I’m just not sure how to go about it.

What’s It About: Building your platform, so that you can more easily get a fiction or non-fiction book deal.

What Makes It Different: Unlike a lot of the other self-promotion books that I read, GET KNOWN is both comprehensive and engaging. Usually it’s either/or with these books.

What I Loved: This is basically the self-promotion bible I’ve been waiting for. There were so many good ideas in here that I had never considered before. Ms. Katz is a straight-shooter and her writing style is both compelling and engaging. It felt less like a read and more like a conversation with a professional. I kept on having to put down the book and make notes, I got so inspired. Also, if you don’t have a platform, she helps you figure out how to get one. I absolutely think that every MFA student should get this upon graduation. Yes, seriously!

What I Didn’t Like: You know how they say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? I think they should change that into a piece of advice for authors: “Readers do judge a book by its cover. They just can’t help it.” I’ll admit that I order six books on the subject of book promotion, and I read this one dead last, because the cover was so unappealing. In fact the only reason I read it when I did was because I had accidentally ordered two copies of the book from Amazon and I was planning to send a care package of American food to Gudrun, our FaN expat. She’s just written a fantastic YA novel, so I was going to include the extra copy, but first I had to read it to make sure it was good, which it was. My point is the content was fantastic, but the blah green, maroon and grey cover — not so hot. I kept thinking that this Ariel Gore cover should have been on this book — by the way, Gore’s book is worth a read, too, but it’s not nearly as comprehensive.

On another note, Ms. Katz slams oversharing in a way that seems a little lazy. There are plenty of oversharers who have landed fantastic deals, and I still believe that if you have a talent for being raw and forthcoming that you should use that talent as opposed to censoring it for fear of offending the sensibilities of people like Ms. Katz, who don’t care for oversharing. Complaints like that these have actually become a huge pet peeve of mine because I hear it so often from those in the media, and it’s an argument of personal taste as opposed to IRL results. Also, does it matter if others share what you would keep secret?

Writing Lessons Learned:

Write yourself as expert. Ms. Katz didn’t just give information. Many of her points were introduced with sentences like, “When I was teaching my students this” or “When I was lecturing about that.” It made me realize that context is just as important as the advice itself. By taking the trouble to paint a setting of her actually being an expert in an expert arena as opposed to just delivering a list of her expert advice, I really came to trust that what she was saying was true.

Start promoting yourself now. Writing a novel is a long process, and a lot of people don’t believe that they can start promoting themselves until they have a well-written book under their belt. So not true. If you are writing a book or even thinking about writing a book, start reading this now, because there are a ton of things that you could be doing to get your name out there. In fact I’m bummed that I didn’t pick up this book sooner.

Promotion as procrastination and/or supplementation. So every so once in a while, I finish the day’s pages and read all of my writing exchange partner’s stuff with time to spare in my daily three hour writing session. Before this book I used the extra time to surf the web. But now, I try to implement one of the lessons from this book and get the pre-order word out about 32 CANDLES. On the other hand, promotion is also a fantastic way to procrastinate. Not only does it put off writing for a little bit, but it’s also productive and in the end, inspiring. I actually feel a little more pumped to write after I’ve hit my promotion goals for the day.

To Whom Would I Recommend This Book: Writers, Artists, Pundits, Teachers, Small Business Owners, Anyone Who Has Anything They Want to Promote

TEN PEOPLE (or COUPLES) WHO WANT TO READ THIS YESTERDAY: Gudrun C-D, Marilyn F, Halie R, Amy R, Jeff R, Monique & Brian V, Lyn G, Missy K and Raoul C, Roya H, Kelly L, Aaron H (just to see how many things you’re already doing right!).

Click on the cover pic to buy the book.

So I picked as a favorite, b/c not only did we have a rather intense comments discussion about this, but also b/c Friend of FaN, Sallie Patrick, convinced me that it should be spelled “yay,” and I’ve spelled it that way ever since!

From July 29, 2009

Image Credit: Khantipol

So I have this character in my rogue sci-fi novel who gets weirdly and rather childishly excited about everything and therefore ends up saying, “Yay!” a lot.

Or should it be “Yea!”?

Or should it be “Yeah!”?

Like me you’ve probably seen this exclamation spelled all three ways by others. I personally prefer “yea,” but will go with “yay” according to the addressee and/or the occasion.

For example, I might say, “Yea! I can’t wait to see you again” to a college buddy visiting town.

And “Yay! The 2010 reunion is going to rock” to a family member.

I never say “Yeah!” b/c I feel it sounds a little too much like I’m pumping my fist in the air when I write it this way, but I do understand what attracts other people to it.

Still, I wish we could all agree one way of spelling this exclamation. Then I’d really say yea!

Or yay!

Or yeah!

Sigh… But seriously, how do you think we should spell it? Let’s hash it out in the comments.

I’ve been thinking about this blogumn a lot lately just b/c not having the same last name as your husband always becomes a bit more hard to manage when you’re traveling. I know a ton of women who haven’t changed their last names, but apparently a lot of travel professionals don’t. This has come up daily on our trip. Still my original opinion on the matter stands.

From March 24, 2009

It’s funny, b/c though I’m a feminist, it would never occur to me to get on top of another woman for changing her name after she got married.

For one thing, I do realize that this is a choice, and if you give people a choice, I don’t necessarily see why you would chastise anyone for not making the exact same choice that you would’ve made.

Also, I have a few conditions that made not changing my name particularly attractive:

As a writer I place a lot more value on my name than a woman in a different profession might. Plus, I love my name. I mean really, really love it. My first name is unusual but not so much so that it’s embarrassing or particularly hard to explain. My middle initial fits in perfectly with my other two names, and because I loathe my middle name it comes with an air of mystery that it wouldn’t otherwise have if I didn’t often refuse to answer the question, “So what does the T stand for?” with anything but “Terrific!” And did I mention that my initials are “etc?” C’mon why would I ever want to change my name?

However, a few of my relatives have had a hard time understanding that. One of the few aunts who had dared to navigate the scary internets (with the help of her daughter of course) to access my shower registry confronted me about this at my St. Louis baby shower. “It still has Ernessa Carter in there? Is it so people who knew you before you got married can find you?”

I was blunt. “You know me, Aunt Ann. I kept my name.”

Aunt Ann looked truly mystified when she asked, “Why wouldn’t you take the name of the man you swore to love before God?”

Given my audience and the occasion, I decided not to crack open the subject of identity politics and my doubts about whether deities actually tracked whether or not you changed your name after marriage. Instead I said, “Because I really love my name and writers don’t change their name. We’re kind of like actresses that way.”

Aunt Ann gave the older black woman equivalent of a harrumph and we changed the subject to more agreeable topics.

She was actually the first relative to confront me about this. Many of my relatives have either assumed that I changed my name or aggressively ignored the fact that I told them I hadn’t. Either way, everyone in my family, save my sister, addresses all of their Christmas and birthday cards to Ernessa Hibbard. And my sister doesn’t send me birthday or Christmas cards.

Some members of the public aren’t much better.

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