It’s Valentine’s Day! And one of the cats chewed on our Valentines roses we got and now it looks like we have slugs… in the house. O__O

The last week has been bad for my right leg. First, I jammed my big toe and now the joint aches a lot, especially when it’s raining, which is all the time. Then I slipped in the rain while putting groceries in the car and banged my shin really hard on the car door and there was this lump that swelled up and is super tender. And THEN because I was being careful getting into the car a few days later, I was too slow getting my leg into the car and the door tried to fall closed and smashed into my ankle. Gah. Nothing serious or anything, but still.

As you might guess, it’s gray here in Seattle. Gray all the time, except when it’s night out and then it’s pitch black. It’s so gray these days, you can’t tell what time of day it is, only that it’s not night time. And I have a vitamin D deficiency, which I take supplements for, but it never feels like enough. So I asked for an early birthday present and got this amazing sun lamp!

The picture doesn’t do it justice as far as how bright it is. It’s REALLY bright–I have to have it angled away from me so I don’t end up looking directly at it. The cats love lounging under it, and the roses sitting in a vase on my table seem to think it’s the real thing and have been blooming for it. I got it on Wednesday and set it up and my mood was INSTANTLY kicked up a notch or two. (Or three or… ten.) I didn’t realize how big a difference sunlight makes. I feel way happier with it, I don’t get down about the grayness outside, or about my horrible sleeping schedule which is currently so off-kilter I don’t even want to tell you what time I eat dinner. I’m much more productive at night and feel more awake, but the time when I end up pretty much only being awake at night, like some kind of vampire, can be really depressing. But now, with my sun lamp, it doesn’t bother me! And I have a lot more energy and actually *want* to be awake all day. And get work done (even chores). I feel fuller longer and don’t feel like I need to overeat. I feel like it’s summer, only without the heat. And I no longer spend hours every day desperately longing to be somewhere sunnier.

I’ve been distracted a lot lately with grad school stuff. I’ve been trying to find scholarships, but it seems like there’s a technicality on all of them that disqualifies me. >:/ So far I’ve gotten into Syracuse University and Rutger’s distance programs for library and information science (in case you missed my OMG, GRAD SCHOOL! tweets), and while I’m still waiting to hear from the UW, I’m falling in love with Syracuse SO HARD. I’ve already been invited to join a group for new students, and when I asked questions about a scholarship and was totally expecting to get a snippy response, the response I got was actually really encouraging and informative. I love the classes they offer and they’re big on entrepreneurship and supporting student projects, and their students have done some really amazing things. I kind of wish I’d gone there for undergrad, but that’s a different topic altogether. As is, I’m itching to send them my intent to enroll card, but I have to wait and see what financial aid packages I get, because while they’re at the top of my list, they’re also the most expensive.

Book wise, I’ve got two projects going. I made a wild claim on twitter that I was going to finish a draft of the new book by my birthday, which is in 16 days, and… Yeah, no. Not going to happen. But I’ve ended up getting stuff done on the not-so-new MG book I’ve been picking away at, so that one’s up to 15k and maybe almost half done. I LOVE what I have of it so far and I can’t wait for it to be done so other people can (hopefully) share the love.

My intention is to blog about writing on Wednesday, and hopefully make it a regular thing, so if you have any writing/publishing/author questions for me, comment here or email me: Chelsea@ChelseaMCampbell.com and I’ll post my answers.

So, I’m working on a big overhaul of the site that hopefully I’ll be able to share with everyone soon-ish. If everything goes according to plan, I’m going to be getting rid of WordPress and exclusively using the LJ (but you won’t have to go to a separate site to view it). I’m also developing a plan for blogging regularly, possibly with TOPICS.

My big news at the moment is that I got into grad school at Syracuse University, for their library and information science distance learning program! I’m still waiting to hear from the University of Washington and Rutgers, but, hey, I got in, and all three schools sound amazing. If I get into all of them, it will be hard to choose (unless one of them comes with major funding, and then it’ll be a lot easier). I wasn’t expecting to hear back yet, so it came as a big surprise. Each school starts in a different month, ranging from July to September, so I’m not even sure when I’ll be doing what, but at least now I have an idea of what I’ll be doing next year.

The Rise of Renegade X comes out in paperback in only a little over three months, which I’m getting pretty excited about. I mean, yeah, I know the book’s already out, but now it will be out again (and only $8.99) and sitting on shelves next to other paperbacks. I’ve got some ideas for some new RRX swag and maybe some contests in the near future, so stay tuned for that.

I was using the Neti Pot just now and Teisel, the 20lb Bengal, decided the saline solution flowing out my nose was the best thing ever. :/ I was like, “GO AWAY!” and he was like, “OM NOM NOM” and wouldn’t go away. I tried letting the solution drip on him, but that didn’t faze him, he just flicked his ear a little. So he’s there, crowding the sink, while The Kitten is off in the corner, mewling and making noise, and I’m still like, “OMG, GO AWAY!” and nobody was going away. Teisel wasn’t going to leave his wonderful new fountain that was COMING OUT OF MY NOSE. :/ And then I was like snorting out the excess solution in between pourings, and Teisel was still cool with that (OM NOM NOM), and then Kitten came over to watch and was all fascinated, like me using Neti Pot was even more interesting than watching the toilet flush, and meanwhile Teisel’s still crowding the sink and refusing to be pushed away. At that point the Neti Pot was mostly empty anyway and I gave up. Once I turned the water on to rinse everything out, Teisel bolted, though Kitten stayed, so as not to miss out on any more fascinating water movements. These cats, I tell you!

P.S. Just so everybody knows, he didn’t really drink very much of the saline solution, and I totally rinsed out the sink afterwards so he can’t go back for more.

Since I started my yarn diet, I’ve been buying more books instead of yarn. I suspect at the end of the yarn diet I will need a book diet, but there are worse things to need a diet from. *glances accusingly at fridge* Anyway, here’s what I’ve got to read right now.

Bought from my trip to B&N last night:

Red Riding Hood – yeah, like the movie. It’s not exactly a tie-in, because while the director was working on the movie, she asked her friend to write a novel version, so they’re kind of simultaneous. Or something like that. Anyway, the writing is decent enough, though there’s some head hopping. I’m only a couple chapters in, so hopefully it will deliver on being dark and scary and maybe sexay.

Mr. Monk is Cleaned Out by Lee Goldberg – Number 10 in the Monk series (based on the TV show). This series is amazing. I was skeptical the first time I picked one up, but it’s just as funny and well done as the show.

Library (all ebooks):

Mr. Monk is in Trouble and Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop by Lee Goldberg – books 8 and 9 in the series, which I haven’t read yet but thought I would before reading 10. It turns out the library had them on ebook so I snatched them up.

Dust City by Robert Paul Weston – I don’t know much about this book, other than it’s about a teen werewolf trying to solve a mystery and prove his dad was framed for the murder of Little Red Riding Hood. (And now I have one of those moments where I go, “Huh… am I, like, into werewolf books?? Or just little red riding hood books?”) This book could be awesome or it could be awful, or it could be awful in an awesome way, which is sometimes my kind of awesome.

Borrowed:

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – I’ve been hearing SO MANY good things about this book. I read a sample on my nook and loved it, so I don’t doubt that I’ll become a member of the Anna fan club. (Or is it a St. Clair fan club?)

Want want want:

Warped by Maurissa Guibord – I like to refer for Maurissa as “My Elevensie” because she was the Elevensie who interviewed me about Renegade X. And her book is about a UNICORN TAPESTRY and VERY OLD BOOKS and there might even be a HOT BOY. *ahem* Anyway, I read the ebook sample on my nook and I am in lurve. Will buy as soon as I get through some of the above books and don’t feel overwhelmed.

As for my yarn diet… I had 199 skeins, BUT that’s not including the skeins that are still supposedly on their way to me in the mail. (And there’s also the skein I need to finish up the commission I’m working on, but that doesn’t count.) Which will bring it up to 204. And then I finished the hat I was making, and since I didn’t count any skeins that were literally attached to working projects, but then had leftover yarn when I cut the strings… that adds another three to my list. So, my real total is 207. O__o (Remind me not to finish any more projects…) BUT I used up one giant skein of peach, so I’m at 206. I’m making a lace blanket that was in Vogue’s knit.1 last summer. It looks good in pastels and uses giant needles, so I used up my peach skein (which *might* smell kind of like bug spray from sitting at my parents’ house, soaking in cigarette smoke, for 30 years) and now am using two pink skeins at once. I haven’t done a lot of knitting with two strands at the same time, but I figured now was a good time to experiment, especially since my goal is to use up yarn, not save it for later. I kind of like it. Next I’m hoping to do something with crochet.

is really hard! That’s why I’m blogging about it instead of actually working on it. It’s middle grade, and those are always really hard for me. (I say “always” as if I’ve written a lot of them. This will only be my second.) The last one I wrote took me several years–working off and on–and my YA books usually only take a few months, if that. I’d work on it, get a few k in, and then feel like I couldn’t go on and give up, only to reread it a few months later and be like, “What was I thinking? This is AWESOME!” And it’s not like it was an emotional book or anything–it was hilarious.

This one I’m working on now is also awesome. Possibly one of the most awesome projects I’ve worked on. And I keep thinking, “If it’s so good, why can’t I just get obsessed with working on it already and zoom through it?” That’s my normal MO, and it’s just not happening. It’s tough. I started this book last June, maybe? And I’ve got almost 9k. I’ve taken breaks. I haven’t given up on this one (mostly because The Spouse is in love with it and that makes me feel a little more validated), but I’ve put it aside multiple times. Sometimes to work on other projects, sometimes just because it was hard.

This month I’m doing Jano (fake Nano in January) and trying to finish it, because I really love this book and I don’t want it to take several years to hit “the end.” Last year I killed at Jano, churning out 60k and finishing up my first draft of Shades of Rome. This year… it’s slow going. I don’t get words every day. And no matter how many words I get the day before, the next day feels just as hard, like Sisyphus rolling a giant boulder up a hill. I mean, in a way that’s always how novel writing feels–you hit your word goal, feel great, and then in the morning you start over. You’re only as good as the words you’ve written TODAY. But usually if I’ve gotten words down the day before, if I get my butt in the chair the next morning, it’s not too hard to get the words flowing again.

This book? This book is slow going. And it doesn’t help that when I wrote slowly, I start to agonize. I tend to believe/feel like fast writing is better writing. So if I’m writing slowly, something must be wrong. I must be sucking or this book must not really be that cool, because if it was actually cool and if I actually loved it enough, I’d be speeding right along. But I think I have to face the facts that this book is just hard for me. With both middle grade books I’ve worked on, I’ve felt like I loved reading the end product more than I loved working on it. It’s not something I’d want to do all the time, but sometimes the right book comes along that’s worth the effort. I’m always hopeful that I’ll hit my stride and everything will fall into place and speed up, but even if I don’t? Maybe that’s okay sometimes.

Last night I took pics and documented all of my yarn as part of the Yarn Diet. In the past 5 years or so I’ve accumulated 199 skeins of yarn. O__o Some of them are quite hideous. I’ve bought bundles of cheap yarn at thrift stores and stashed them away, I’ve inherited stashes from friends and relatives who didn’t want theirs anymore, and I’ve bought tons of new yarns for projects that I may not have started or finished.

The first step (besides admitting I have a problem) is counting out all the skeins and taking pics. I did mine by drawer, which is why most of them are sorted by color. Here goes:

The first drawer is the variegated yarns drawer. These are kinda hideous, except for that one in the middle that reminds me of birthday cake but that I have yet to figure out what to do with. Also the three skeins in the top left are pretty, but, again, no idea what to do with them.

Lots of pinks, reds, and purples! I think a giant ugly blanket may be in order. That I will then pick an unsuspecting relative to send to. P.S. Do you see that little ball of purple at the top under the fuzzy red yarn? I dyed that myself with Kool-Aid!

Ah, yes, the drawer of yarns that are currently part of projects I’m actively working on. Like, a year or so ago… The red, black, and blue yarns are for a gigantic Kingdom Hearts blanket I’m slowly working on. Each row takes me about an hour and a half, but one of these days I hope to make some serious progress on it. It will be amazing when it’s finally finished.

The greens. Note the cone on the side there–it’s got A LOT of fingering weight yarn on it. Also note the giant skein of sparkly green Christmas yarn at the bottom. It seemed like a good idea when I saw it at the thrift store.

Blues. I like most of these, and I have plans already for the three at the top. Also, you can’t tell from this pic, but the one in the center is sparkly. I’ve already used quite a bit of it, but it’s still giant.

Why is there so much peach and orange? Who thought that was a good idea?

The off whites! I actually like most of these, though I don’t know what to make with them. My only regrets are the two fuzzy spools on the left. They’re kind of coarse, despite being so fuzzy.

Black and white drawer. I have no doubt most of these will eventually get used up, as black and white come in handy pretty often.

UGHHH. Those four skeins of brown in the bottom center are WEIRD. The yarn is, like, maybe lace weight (really thin) and crimped. What the hell was I thinking when I saw these at the thrift store? Just because there’s lots of one yarn for cheap doesn’t mean I’ll be able to find something to do with it. Same goes for that giant blob of gray. It’s nice yarn, but holy cow, that’s a lotta yarn.

And finally the mismatched drawer of supposedly current projects (since the other drawer filled up a long time ago). I’m hoping to find something cool to do with the red ones.

And that’s it! Er, except for the five skeins I have coming in the mail. And the one ball of red tweed I forgot to take a picture of. To do the yarn diet, I’m not supposed to buy yarn more than five times between now and June 1st. Unless of course I manage to use up half of my stash in that time. I’m torn between finishing the projects I’ve already got going or just making some quick but ugly afghans to get rid of some of those. Must finish the commissioned piece I’m working on first, and the hat I’ve started. And maybe the scarf I started. And, um, write some novels or something.

I have trouble starting blog posts. I start writing them in my head, no problem, and then I decide to sit down and actually type one out, and… my mind blanks on how to start. Which is weird because once upon a time I knew how to start blog posts just fine. And then I forgot, I guess.

Anyway, it’s time to reflect back on 2010 and think about what’s to come in 2011. I love this. I love looking back and counting up my accomplishments (and, er, failure-ish things) and imagining how awesome beginning a new year will be. That’s probably why I love the beginning of the submission process, when your shiny new book that might be full of accomplishments first goes out into the world and you imagine how much opportunity and success you might have. You know, that moment right before all the rejections come rolling in.

2010 was a strange year. My horoscope said it was going to be my golden epoch year, or something like that. Either way, it certainly didn’t turn out like I expected. I’ll be honest with you. I thought I would sell books this year. I thought I would be under contract again by now, and I’m not. Not being under contract kind of makes the day your book comes out feel like the day you officially become unemployed, or at least it did for me. And it wasn’t for lack of trying or hard work or submitting. Sometimes thems are just the breaks! So, not the year I expected, but one full of changes, hurdles jumped, and accomplishments accomplished.

This year I:

1. Wrote a book. It was historical. And 1st person. And that person was someone famous. NEVER thought I could write historical books, or especially one about someone real who everybody knows about, and especially not in 1st person. And, yeah, it’s more like Xena than it is HBO’s Rome or whatever, but still.

2. I got glasses. I’ve been avoiding glasses for years, and it turns out they’re not so bad. And mine look awesome, thanks to my friend Matthew who helped me pick them out.

3. I sold movie option rights for Renegade X to Disney Channel Movies.

4. My book came out! It was not the grand explosion I pictured it to be when I first sold. Selling the book was an amazing moment, definitely the high point, and then by the time it comes out you’ve already used up all your excitement energy. Imagine waiting to open your Christmas presents for two years. Even though one of them is obviously shaped like the bicycle you wanted, after staring at that bicycle shaped wrapping paper for two years, some of the thrill has faded. But still–book came out! Awesomesauce! Random people I’ve never met have read my book! Words that I have written have been to places I haven’t.

5. I went to NYC for the first time ever, to go to BEA. (Hopefully not the last!) I was terrified to go, but it ended up being AMAZING. One of my best adventures.

6. I went to CA to visit relatives and ended up at a Roman Villa. (I know, right?)

7. I moved to a new city. Moving was absolute hell, but I LOVE it here!

8. I applied to grad schools. Three of them. I’ve been thinking about it for years, but this time I finally did it, even though it was hard and complicated. Or at least seemed that way in the beginning. But I took a big long test I spent weeks studying for, I asked people for (and got) letters of recommendation, and I even wrote an essay about myself. (About going to NYC despite being terrified of it and then having the time of my life.)

9. I made huge revisions to aforementioned book, even though there were times when I didn’t think I’d be able to figure out the new ending and get it back on submission.

Oh, yeah, and I got a Nook, which is one of my favorite things EVER. I went from a hardcopies-forever book snob to a die hard convert, once I found out that ereaders had e-ink and weren’t back lit. I still love paper books–some of my favorite books are made of paper–but boy do I lurve this Nook!

So anyway, that was 2010, the year of big changes and unexpected accomplishments. What does 2011 have in store?

These things:

1. Lots of waiting. This is a given, as an author, but this winter/spring my book should be going back out on submission AND I will be waiting to hear back about grad school admissions. It’s a good thing I don’t bite my nails, but maybe I should start.

2. Hopefully starting said grad school in the fall. Hopefully at my top choice. Hopefully I will get into all three and then can spend a few weeks pretending to contemplate which one I’m going to choose and can whine and ramble on to anyone within hearing distance.

3. Writing more books! I’m not afraid to admit to you that I’ve been slacking off. (Just as long as you’re not, you know, an industry pro. Or judgmental.) I haven’t meant to slack off, but little fears and doubts have slithered their way through the cracks and invaded my brain a little bit. Also naps. But I have two–count then, TWO–awesome books I am working on. Last year I’d wanted to finish two projects, but only finished one. (Though I did finish it twice, if that counts.) This year I think my goals will be more focused on writing every day, not on how many projects I finish. (Having “finished product” as a goal is hard. Having “write every day” as a goal is only kinda hard.)

4. This year, I’m going to be more laid back. (Yeah, I know, you’ll believe it when you see it.) I have stress and anxiety issues. I sometimes always feel like someone’s going to come into my house and beat me to death with a stick if I don’t do all the dishes. Even though, in reality, if I don’t do the dishes, the biggest consequence is… there are dirty dishes. And maybe nothing to eat off of, but that’s why pizza places were invented, no need for sticks. So, laid back it is.

This post is getting long, so I’ll stop here. I do hope to blog more next year–this year my posts were kind of scarce–but I make no promises. The new me is too laid back for promises! But anyway, I hope everybody has a good year. Go forth and read lots!

I’m taking a break from working on my statement of purpose letter for grad school apps and thinking about making fudge. I have these peppermint bark chips that I’m going to put in it and maybe sprinkle on the top (I have a dream of this coming out super beautiful and Christmasy, but it might instead be more of a blobby mass in a pan with peppermint chunks sticking out of it). Part of me wants to savor the idea of making the fudge, and part of me just wants to make it. After all, I’ve been savoring this idea since I got the stuff to make it last weekend, and after a while savoring loses its appeal if you feel like you’ll never actually do the thing. Or at least it does to me.

But anyway. One time I was in line at the store, and I was probably buying fudge supplies, and the cashier started telling me about her family’s tradition where they can’t make fudge until after the first snowfall. !!!! And I thought, “Wow, what a wonderful, magical tradition!” Can you imagine all the joy of wanting to make fudge but having to wait until it snowed? And then it snows and you’re stuck inside making warm nummy fudge and you feel SUPER festive because you didn’t make the fudge until it was for sure winter outside and because having to wait like that is kind of like waiting for Christmas to open your presents, and I imagine it makes the fudge that much more fun to make and it probably tastes better, too, since it’s full of anticipation.

But I can’t actually imagine having to wait until it snowed, because sometimes it doesn’t snow here until after Christmas, and sometimes it doesn’t snow at all. I don’t know if I have that kind of patience, especially without it being a tradition I was brought up with that I’d share with other people. But it doesn’t really matter because now every year when it starts to get cold and when I want to make fudge, I think of that lady and her family’s tradition and how awesome it must feel every year when it finally snows and they can make fudge. And that is enough magical fun time for me. (Imagining other people having to wait for treats is my idea of a good time, oh yeah.) (Also, you might think from this post that I’m obsessed with making fudge or something, but I’m really not. I like thinking about making it more than I actually like cooking it, and eating it gets old, especially if it turns out no one else wants any and you’re stuck with a giant pan full of rich candy that you can’t possibly eat before it gets all dry and gross, even though you cover it meticulously.)

So anyway, that is my story of winter noms as I sit here not working on my SOP. And of course now I’m thinking about how super magical it would be if it was snowing outside and I could see the snowflakes coming down on my balcony and the fireplace was lit and I was cooking up noms, and I think cooking up noms right now doesn’t compare. But on the other hand, working on all the things I need to get done might require chocolate. Mixed with marshmallow creme and heated on the stove and then covered in peppermint bark.

So I’d promised myself I’d finish my Shades of Rome revisions before Monday, and when I’d only written 700 words over a period of three days, I was kind of doubting that it was going to happen. But I was DETERMINED, and so Sunday–thanks to copious amounts of chocolate and naps–I pulled off another 7k, and that, combined with recycling a scene or two from the old version, got me to the end. *WHEW* And OMG, it’s done!!! And I’ll be sending it to my agent very soon!!!! And then after the holidays it will go back on submission!!!!!!

The book is a lot better this time around (The Spouse has confirmed it, so I know it’s not just me). It’s also not the most historically accurate historical fiction ever made (it’s kind of like Xena, except more like Supernatural), but I stayed as accurate as I could, plus it’s based on stuff that really did happen, even if the parts about ghosts and stuff maybe didn’t so much happen. (If you’re just tuning in, or, like me, you can’t always remember what everybody’s book is about, Shades of Rome is a paranormal YA about Julius Caesar, age 16, having to team up with Cicero to save Rome from an army of ghosts. There’s also some feisty romance, though not between those guys.) It’s a fun book and I kind of thought I’d never get through revisions, but, lo and behold, it is DONE.

I have to say, there are a lot of things that you “get over” in the world of book publishing, but finishing a book (or even hefty revisions of a book) NEVER gets old. It’s always the most awesome feeling in the world.

Now I’m onto my middle grade detective book, which doesn’t have a title. Except I’m kind of scared to work on it, and even though this is November and is nano month and avoiding writing because I’m scared is really lame and goes against the spirit of nano, it is, nevertheless, still hard. I have 5600 words in it so far, which is about 1100 words more than I remembered having, so helpful writing elves must have taken pity on me and stuck an extra scene in there one night, but however it happened it’s good to have accomplished more than I thought. I mean, I thought I had 4500 words, and since it turned out I had more than that, it’s *like* I wrote those 1100 words, so I might as well pat myself on the back and close up the file for the night.

Um, yeah, no. (Kids, don’t be like me. Or at least don’t be like me when I’m pretending finding 1100 words is the same as writing them. I mean, I did write them, just not recently.) I don’t know why I’m scared to work on this book. Mostly I think because it still feels like a new project, and it’s awesome.

But on the bright side, I must actually think I’ll get to work on it soon, otherwise I wouldn’t be blogging about it. Instead I’d be all, “Oh, guys, I’m TOTALLY working on this book. I’m, like, going to make so much progress on it. Progress like YOU WOULDN’T (read: shouldn’t) BELIEVE!” So the fact that I’m like, “Waaah! Book scary!” is probably a good sign.

So yesterday (well, technically the day before yesterday, since it’s after midnight) I got my first ever royalty statement.

*le gasp!*

But before you break out the streamers and cake, I have to tell you that a royalty statement is not the same thing as a royalty check. Everyone gets royalty statements twice a year, whether they’ve earned out their advance or not. The only thing is that now when people ask me how the book is doing, I can tell them how it was doing through June, which was only six weeks out from release date. If you want to know how the book’s doing right now, I won’t know until April when the next statement comes.

My statement only represented a six week window (though usually it would show six months), but if we assumed that those numbers were representative of how sales will go forever, it would still take me two years to earn out my advance. (And they are probably not representative of forever.) So, I’ve still got a ways to go before breaking out that cake. (But I might as well bake it now and save it until then, because it will totally keep, RIGHT? Or will it be reminiscent of that time I found out I’d been eating rancid butter and that’s why everything tasted so weird?)

(Parenthetical P.S. I *didn’t* just tell you about the time I was eating rancid butter over a period of SEVERAL DAYS without realizing it, even though it tasted really bad. Only, like, someone really dumb would do that.)

So, um, yeah, that’s about all I have to say about royalty statements, other than that my royalties on ebooks are way higher than on hardbacks, even though the list price is the same. That is, I get my royalty percentages from the $17.99 cover price, for both hardback and ebooks, regardless of what price the book is actually sold at. So, go ebooks!