All I want for Christmas . . .

Hello all! I'm back. Actually, I never left, but sorry that I haven't blogged for a month. You all must have missed me so much, right? Right? *pokes your arm*

Well, this last month has been kind of crazy for me. I had finals up to the second week of December and passed all of my classes. Can you believe I survived my first semester of college? Yeah, me neither.

And then, my life changed dramatically one night. I was typing away on my laptop, working on a new story I'd thought of. It was one of those things where I just had to get it down on paper (or laptop, in my case). So when I was finished writing about the first-ish chapter of this new book I went to save my work and guess what? It wouldn't save. My flash drive was dead. Dead. Kaput. No more. I didn't really think much of it at the time. I thought maybe it was tired of being plugged into my computer. So I went to sleep, thinking it would be all better in the morning. But it wasn't. This is when I started freaking out a bit. All of my books, stories, ideas, characters, outlines, EVERYTHING, was on that flash drive. All of it. And then it was suddenly gone.

So, I went to the geek squad. They told me it was dead, was getting no power to it whatsover. The nice geeky guy I talked to told me he could send it off to a special lab to recover my data for a minimum of $699.99. Did you catch that? MINIMUM of SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS! I'm a college student. I can't afford to pay seven hundred dollars for anything, even if it is my life.

Thus I went home and sulked. Hundreds of hours of my life gone. The Elements, gone. Slim or Bust, gone. Elora, gone. Ideas, gone. Gone. . . :(

But! After sulking I decided it wasn't so bad. I had the Elements saved on a cd that I'd given to my mom and sister. It just wasn't as edited and nice as the one on my flash drive. Slim or Bust was saved on my laptop from when I had switched over from the home computer to my laptop. It wasn't as far along as the one on my flash drive, but I could work from where it had been left off. Elora . . . Well, that just sucked. Elora is my new project that I'm absolutely in love with. It's like fire just struck with that idea. But I only had that saved on my flash drive. So it was gone for good. And as for my ideas, I have plenty of ideas.

So, being my optimistic self, I got back to work. I began editing the Elements that was on my computer, working from where I'd left off on my other stories, writing scenes from books to come. It felt good to get back into the Elements again. But I still never gave up hope that my information on my flash drive might be recovered. If I saved the flash drive, some sort of technology would eventually be invented to enable people to get my information back for less than seven hundred dollars, right?

One day when I was searching on Google, I came across an add for A+ Perfect Computers. You should check out their website. It's pretty awesome.

This guy would get my information back for $145 and I would only have to pay him IF he got my stuff back. I had a really good feeling about this guy. He had great reviews, was a legitimate business, had success stories. So I decided to give it a shot. I sent my flash drive off to Connecticut and about four days later I got the call. They were able to recover all of my data! I was so happy! Honestly, I couldn't stop smiling and I think I must have thanked the secretary who called me about three or four hundred times.

All in all, it cost me a little less than $200 to get my information back. But that is a price I gladly paid. To have all my hard work back in my hands and be able to work on it again makes me so grateful. I did learn my lesson though. Flash drives are not where you save important documents. That's what your hard drive is for and that's why you back-up your files. (And, can I just say, I still don't know how to back-up my files. Ryan, a little help?) Flash drives are for transportation only. And I will never make that mistake again.

So, since we're all so happy I got my stuff back, I'm going to give you all a little taste of my work. Aren't you so excited?! No, I don't blame you for not being. But I just felt like showing you a little bit of what I've been doing with my life. So, here is the first chapter of Elora. :)

One Chapter for Blog

My awesome, exciting, novel related adventures featuring Lisa Mangum and Brandon Mull!

Hey everybody! I'm not quite sure where to begin. These past two days have been some of the best of my life. I suppose I'll start with yesterday when I met Lisa Mangum . . .

This, my dear friends, is Lisa Mangum. As soon as I got home from work I was yelling to my family, "Let's go!" Then the whole time we were driving to Barnes and Noble I had to ask my dad, "What's the speed limit here? Go faster!" I was so excited to meet her.

So we got to Barnes and Noble at around 7:30 and there she was, sitting at the table. It looked like she had sold a lot of books already. There were only about five left and by the time I was done there, there was only 2 left. I'll let you do the math. :)

Lisa is so nice! I feel really bad for being kind of jerky about her in my blog up to this point. She totally deserves all the success she's gotten and I shouldn't have ever doubted that. Her book is awesome and you should all check it out!

So, it turns out that she actually recognized me from facebook and my blog. That's right. She read my blog (which is another reason why I feel so horrible about being a jerk to her. Sorry Lisa.). When I told her my name she asked me, "Did you just recently have the swine flu?". I was kind of taken aback but told her that yes, I had. Then she told me that she read my blog post. I guess her husband found it and forwarded it to her. But she was really sweet and didn't mention my rudeness. Instead she was great and we talked a bit about me and my budding writing career. When I told her I'd submitted something to Shadow Mountain she asked what the name of it was. She said that they'd recieved a couple submissions dealing with people who can control the elements, but thought she recognized it. Then she told me she would keep her eyes open for my next submission. So, like I said, she is so great and sweet and awesome. Go buy her book! Right now! :)

Then today, we met Brandon Mull. I went with my friend Ashley. She's my reading and singing and movie buddy. And then my mom and dad came along too, but we don't care about them as much (just kidding family! I love you!).

There was a pretty long line for Brandon, you know, since he's a rockstar and everything. My mom was nice and held our place in line while Ash and I went scouring the store, trying to find the fourth Fablehaven book. Apparently they'd sold out. Did I mention that we got there for him only like half an hour after he opened up shop? Yeah. That's how great he is.

While we waited in line Ash and I discussed what questions we were going to ask him. We had one main question: "How could he die like that? How was that possible? And is he really gone?" For those of you with no clue what I'm talking about, read Fablehaven and find out! For those of you who do have a clue what I'm talking about, yes. He really is dead and is not coming back. And Brandon said it was the only way he could think to do it. But then Brandon helped heal my heart a little bit by telling us that there is someone waiting for Kendra in book five. I guess I'll have to trust him.

Here's my mom with Brandon. She bought his newest book "Pingo" for her first grade class. It's such a cute book about a boy who's imaginary friend becomes his imaginary enemy. If you have little kids, you should definitely get this for them! I think it would be a great Christmas gift.

Speaking of Christmas, here's an idea. Get people books for Christmas! Like any other industry during these hard economic times, the publishing industry is having some problems. So buy books. Please? For me? :)

Okay, that's enoug guilt tripping for one blog. But let me just say that meeting these amazing writers and people has been one of the greatest things. They are both sweet and humble. Everytime I meet writers and get to speak with them I realize how much I want to be a part of this world. I want to work with these people and have fun with them. Writer's are the best.

So, have a great Thanksgiving and buy lots of books! :)

A simple piece of paper made my dream come true . . . . .

YAHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited, friends! SO excited! Three of my favorite authors are coming to the Barnes and Nobles in Layton this Friday/Saturday. For those of you who don't know, that means they will be twenty minutes from me! Oh, how this makes my heart happy. :D

So, who are these favorite authors of mine you ask? Good question. First and foremost there is Mr. J. Scott Savage, author of the Farworld series (he's written several other books, but I've only read Farworld). I got to meet him at the Writing for Charity event held up in Ogden over the summer. Guys, he's seriously awesome possum. I lurve him. He's the person who introduced me to Shadow Mountain publishing.

You see, now that I write books and have to look around for people who may actually want to publish one of them, there are two things I always check a book for now. First, I look at the publisher. When I picked up Scott's book I noticed he was published by Shadow Mountain. After getting home I did some research and fell in love with them. Based in Utah, sell nationally, home of authors such as Brandon Mull and James Dashner. It was like a match made in heaven . . . well, will be if I ever actually get a contract with them. *Sigh* Anyway, the second thing I do is look at the acknowledgements. I look to see if the author thanks an agent. Then I can maybe query said agent if they represent my genre and seem like a good match.

So yeah. J. Scott Savage has been a huge influence on me. I don't think he actually knows how big of an influence. Maybe I'll get to tell him this Friday/Saturday. :)

Then there is Brandon Mull, author of the Fablehaven series. I just recently jumped on the B Mull band wagon. I mean, I've always seen the Fablehaven series at book stores and what not but I never actually picked up his book until recently. I kept thinking, "Oh I'll get to it eventually." So over the summer I started reading his books and they are AMAZING! I can totally see why he's a New York Times bestselling author. I also had the pleasure of meeting him at the Writing for Charity event. The line for him was so long. He is a rockstar among authors. Plus he has a really cute chin dimple. :)

And last but not least . . . . Lisa Mangum. Alright, I know what you're saying-- "Weren't you just whining about her and her book in the last post?" Yes, I was. Sort of. I started the Hourglass Door and am almost halfway through it. When I let myself get lost in the story I actually really like it. It's those times when the jealous monster creeps into my head and says "She's published. You're not", that I start whining. But I'm VERY excited to meet her for two reasons: 1) I need her to sign my copy of Hourglass Door :). And 2) This is a great face time opportunity! She's the freaking EDITOR at Shadow Mountain! She's the lady I'm going to address my next query to, and my next, and my next until they finally take me (seriously, I'm going to write as many books as I can and send them all to SM. They'll have to accept one right?). This is what people always tell you in the publishing world. Get out, meet agents and editors, see what they're looking for, make sure they remember your name. That's what I'm going to do this Friday/Saturday. It's going to be awesome!

So, that's my exciting news. When my mom came in and dropped a piece of paper in my lap, I had no idea how happy it was going to make me. This is going to be a good week. :D

Did I also mention how on Thursday I'm going to see New Moon with my friends . . . a day before it officially comes out in theaters? Now I just have to survive two midterms and a 10 minute presentation . . . .

Swine Flu, Lisa Mangum, more Swine Flu, and Hit'n'Runs (Oh, and more Swine Flu).

Hi friends. Well, this week of my life has been more or less pointless. I have been stuck inside the house with the dreaded swine flu. It all started Monday night when I got home from work and just started feeling weird. I was unusually tired and just wanted to curl up in bed (which is exactly what I did). But before I crawled into bed I took my temperature. Nothing too bad. It was like 100.2 or something like that. But the next morning I felt even worse and my fever was up in the 101 area. I was coughing like a chain smoker and my nose was so plugged up that I couldn't even taste food (sad day, I know). So I stayed in bed and slept another few hours until my fever made me get up. I went and sat on the couch, knitted a bit, but mostly just sat there until my parents got home at 5 and Mom made me take some aspirin. The next day I was feeling even worse and woke up at 6. That's right, 6!!!!!!!!!! I didn't even know that time of day existed. By then my temp was 102, inching towards 103. So I texted my buddy Lori and told her I was sick. She's such a dear and took care of all my work worries for the rest of the week. I owe her. She's my lifesaver. So I spent that day lying on the couch, alternating between watching TV and sleeping. Needless to say it wasn't the funnest day I've ever spent. By the time my parents got home I was bored to tears. Sitting on the couch and being sick is fun for about one day. Then it gets not so fun. When I told my mom this she asked what she could do, so I told her. "Go buy me a book to read . . . . Oh, and some chocolate." So she did. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my mommy?

The book she got me (and that I requested) was "The Hourglass Door" by Lisa Mangum. Recognize that name? She works for Shadow Mountain, my dream publisher. She's the editor I addressed my query to. I'd heard good things about her book, so I wanted to check it out. So far I like it all right. Lori really liked it, so that gives me some hope. :)

So, where was I? Oh yes. Swine Flu. Thursday I woke up and my fever had finally seemed to break a little. It was now steadily in the 99-100 area and I felt okay. But I was still coughing a lot and had to carry a box of tissues around with me. My wonderful mom took a half day off work to come be with me before ditching me later that night for Collin Raye. (Just kidding Mom! I would have ditched me for him too. His voice is so dreamy!). So, I spent that night watching Law and Order SVU online in her bed. Throughout this whole thing I think I've probably watched about ten hours of Law and Order SVU. Yeah. That's a lot of Special Victims Unit.

When I woke up this morning I am glad to say I was feeling better, though I still haven't reached the nice 98.6 temperature yet. My nose is still plugged up and my throat is sore from breathing through my mouth all the time, but I AM feeling better. I just like complaining and making other people feel sorry for me. ;)

But tonight I actually got out of the house! Yay! I went with my family out to Salt Lake to take Allison to her friend Amy's wedding reception. Don't worry. I stayed in the car and didn't lick anybody. If anybody else gets sick it's not my fault. We ate dinner at . . . Hardie's? Harry's? I can't remember. It's some place in Salt Lake where you order from your car and they bring the food to you. All I know is they serve the "Big H" burger. But while we were ordering our food, somebody backed into my car. They backed into my car! MY CAR!!!!! And then they just drove away. I was really mad, both because I was starting to think my leaving the house hadn't been a good idea based on how I was feeling, and because, well, they just backed into MY CAR!!!! Luckily it didn't damage my car, but Allison says she thought she saw a dent in the other cars bumper as they drove away to the yelling of my mom. That made me feel a little bit better.

And now, I'm sitting here at home typing up this blog post of my not so eventful, yet totally eventful week. Oh, and just for the record, we don't know if I actually have swine flu. But all the symptoms are here and I've never felt this way before. Be smart. Get a shot if you can or risk losing a week of your life to the couch and TV.

Anyway, have a good weekend. I am going to write and then go to bed. :)

Scary!

So this week I've been jumping back on the query band wagon, sending out queries to agents, publishers, etc. But can I just tell you, I've forgotten how absolutely terrifying sending out a query is? Putting yourself out there for rejection sucks. It really, really sucks.

Oh! You say you don't know what a query is? I forget that this isn't a term most people use in everyday conversations (unless you're a crazy writer, such as myself). A query is basically a letter you send out to a publisher or a literary agent, asking if they might be interested in seeing your work. Sounds fun, no? Then, based on your query letter, the agent and/or publisher decides if they want to see a partial or full manuscript. And only if after reading your partial or full they decide they like your work, they will decide to represent you (literary agents) or publish you (publishers). So, a query is the first of many steps to getting published.

So your query has to be practically perfect in every way (like Mary Poppins). It is a representation of you and your writing skills. That query letter basically holds your future.

Sound scary yet? I hope so, because then you can appreciate how I'm feeling. Most queries today are done over e-mail. They're called e-queries. So a few days ago I went through my list of agents and publishers I've gathered over the last few months and picked one to send a query to. Just one, measly little query. After I had everything typed up in the email, pasted the prologue to my book in the body of the email, triple checked the recipients name (you'll understand why I do this after I tell you my mortifying story of the first query I ever sent), and then included my contact information, I just stared at the screen. Did I really want to send this? Did I really want to put myself through this kind of rejection . . . again? I hadn't sent a query out for a few months at this point. Was it really worth it? Is seeing my blood, sweat, and tears in print really worth all this anxiety?

Yes. Yes it is! This is what I've been working towards for three years of my life. I didn't stay up until all hours of the morning writing, daydream about my characters in class, and miss out on huge social events to get this thing down on paper just to quit now. I mean, I wrote the book. That's the hardest part, right?

So, with that in mind I hit send. I still haven't heard back yet. Waiting is probably the hardest part. Waiting sucks.

But, I have to say I've learned a lot. From my first query to this one I sent a few days ago, I feel I've made truck loads of improvement. Maybe one day I'll post my query letter on here. . . . But probably not. ;)

The first query letter I ever sent was to an agent named Maya Rock at Writer's House. The thing is, as I was typing up my query on the computer I put in the name of the editor at a publishing house called Shadow Mountain (they are my dream publisher, so naturally I addressed it to them). But when I copy and pasted it into the email, I forgot to change the name from Ms. Mangum to Ms. Rock. So the very first thing Maya Rock reads from me is "Dear Ms. Mangum". Gah. I shudder just remembering.

However, she was very sweet in her rejection, never mentioning my fumble. But it was still a rejection.

Then, a few weeks later I sent a query to Mr. Josh Getzler of Writer's House. Writer's House is the big league agents. I'm talking, Stephenie Meyer agents. Josh is a junior agent (he is NOT Stephenie's agent. I'm not that crazy), so I figured he was safe to send to. Here's the rejection he sent back. See if you can identify what's wrong with it that made me really, really mad. :)


June 16, 2009

Dear Mr. Guy,

Thank you for your query regarding The Elements. (Here's my little commentary. I realize The Elements, is a really lame title, which is why it's now called The Elements: Secrets of the River.)

I’m sorry, but I am afraid that your project does not seem like one we could successfully represent at this time, but I hope you succeed in you search for appropriate, enthusiastic representation.

Best of luck to you!

Sincerely,

Josh Getzler

Junior Agent


Anybody catch it? No? I'll give you a hint. It's right after the date and just before "Thank you for your query". Do you see it now?

MR. Guy. MR! Do I look like a MR Guy to you? MR. Guy is my father, my uncles, and a few of my cousins. I am not Mr. Guy!

Grr. That made me so mad when I read it. I was almost glad he'd rejected it since apparently he's the type of agent who can't tell the difference between Aaron the boy and Erin the girl. I wouldn't want such an incompetent agent. At least, that's what I thought to cover up the hurt of my fourth rejection.

So yeah. Querying stinks. It stinks like moldy cheese left out in the sun. But, it's a necessary part of the road to getting published, along with all the rejections. I'm learning to be tough skinned. I'm also learning that The Elements: Secrets of the River, may not be my first book I get published. In fact, it probably won't. That's why I have to keep writing, keep getting my ideas into book form, and then one of them will find the right agent or publisher. I just have to keep believing and never give up.

My Plan

Alrighty friends, here's the deal. Remember how I'm so bad? (If you don't remember, kindly read the last post.) Well, I've finally come up with a plan to help me cure this. It's a plan so radical, so daring, so out there, that I'm pretty sure it's illegal in at least 5 states.

I've made myself a schedule.

There, I said it. I made a schedule. This schedule is something I am going to follow to the letter in order to help myself go to class every single day. Never again will I be the victim of sleeping in so late that I miss all my classes and barely wake up in time to go to work. Never again will I miss vital information, crucial to my midterms. Never again will I miss class this semester. That is my solemn vow and I expect your full support in my endeavour.

. . . . . . . Wow. That was a bit dramatic, wasn't it? Seriously thought, I've been toying around with the idea of writing down a schedule for myself to follow that will help me get all the things I want to done while saving my grades and my scholarship (yeah, my missing school has gotten to the point where I'm worried about losing my scholarship).

So, here is my schedule in all of it's freshly plotted, scheduly glory.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday Schedule

• 7:30- Wake Up
• 8:10- Leave for History
• 10:10- Leave for Astronomy
• 11:30-1:30- Homework, piano, write, read, etc.
• 2:00- Work (where I can read, do homework, write, etc, etc.)
• 8:00-9:00- TV, relax, read write, etc.
• 9:00-9:30- Exercise
• 9:30- Shower, get ready for bed, read scriptures, etc.
• 10:00- Go to bed

Tuesday/Thursday Schedule

• 8:00- Wake Up
• 8:40- Leave for Human Development & Music of World Cultures (this class equals DEATH!)
• 11:30-1:00- Piano, write, homework, etc.
• 1:10- Leave for Institute
• 2:30-9:00- Piano, write, read, homework, relax, etc.
• 9:00- Shower, get ready for bed, read scriptures, etc.
• 10:00- Go to bed

There you have it. That is my new schedule. You know, as I look at it, I realize I actually have A LOT of free time. Several hours worth, actually. So I don't know why I feel the need to stay awake until three in the morning doing things. I feel confident that I can get all the things I need/want to get done in those little windows of opportunity.

So, how is school going anyways you ask? It's going okay, despite my frequent sluffing ways. I still manage to do well on my tests. Well, on most of my tests. I had my Music of World Cultures midterm this week and I did not do so well. BUT, in my defense I don't think I would have done well on it even if I had gone to class last week. All of those questions are just so hard! There's so much information you have to know. I go to that class and I feel like I'm just having information shoved at me the whole time. It's an information dumping fest and none of it sticks to me. So, yeah. I'm a bit worried about that class. Hopefully I do better on the final and don't fail that class miserably.

And, I know I promised to update on how my writing is going, so here's the first real post about that. I haven't really been writing a whole lot lately. I open up the story on my computer and just kind of sit there (usually until about three o'clock in the morning . . . . Hmm. Do you think my school problems and this restless writers syndrome could be related?) hoping to write something and get into my groove, but it just never happens. But I am getting better. I wrote a couple paragraphs in one story yesterday, which is more than I have done in a while.

Anyway, I'd better get back to studying. I'm at work right now, writing this blog post. You wouldn't believe how much free time I have here. It's awesome! I've just finished reading an essay for history and I still have several more to trudge through, so this was kind of my break. I have to take the test on said essays tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

I'm so bad.

Okay friends, here's the deal. I'm really bad at this whole "waking up" thing. Like, REALLY bad. I haven't been to any of my tuesday/thursday classes this whole week. Yeah, I'm writing this post after I woke up. See, I told you I was bad.

I seriously don't know what my deal is this week. I just have had little or no desire to go to these two classes. The first class is Human Development. I usually don't mind this class, but it just seems so early. Nine o'clock in the morning? Really? But the thing is, I know that nine isn't early considering I have classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday that start at eight-thirty.

My other class is World Music. This class is . . . interesting. I have a professor who, whenever there is silence at one of his questions (which happens a lot), will call out my name three or four times. Let me demonstrate:

Professor: "What are the two forms of traditional music in Indonesia?"

Class: " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

Professor: "Erin, Erin, Erin?"

Me: " . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

So you see, this is how class goes for sixty painful minutes. I think he picks on me because I look him in the eye. Maybe I should start studying the carpet during class. I don't know, but it's really annoying and makes me not want to go. Is that a legitimate reason to not want to go to class? Becaue the professor picks on you? That's what I'll tell my parents if they ask (and/or find out) that I didn't go to class today either. As for Human Development I don't really have any excuses.

Well friends, I AM going to one class today: INSTITUTE! Yay! I actually do like institute, except I am never caught up on the reading. This too is a reason why I am so bad. But hopefully by going to institute I'm redeeming myself a little bit.

Have a good day! :D

About Time!

It's about time I started a blog, don't you think? I'm always complaining about others not keeping up their blogs, so I figured I'd stop being a hypocrite and do something myself.

So, what exactly am I to blog about, you ask? About me! What else? But I'm going to write about "the other side of me", which would explain the name. I don't let a lot of people know this, but I am secretly a wanna be author. I've already written one book and am trying, trying, trying to get it published. In the mean time I'm working on a couple other books, all while going to school and working. It's a crazy double life I lead and now I have somewhere to sort it all out and complain.

Yay blogging! :D