What’s New

So it’s been a little while since I posted. Real Life sort of kidnapped me and locked me up in a cage dangling above an oversized cauldron and I only just now escaped. *phew* It’s been a busy sprummer, and I think it’s only going to continue to get busier until fall. (In the NW, we have winter, sprinter, mud, a short spring, and a long sprummer, followed up by a few days of real summer, and then fall.)

But anyway, here’s what’s been going on with me. I started grad school, which at first was underwhelming and now is totally overwhelming and I have to go to Syracuse for a one week residency in only a little over TWO WEEKS and I have to get all the work done for two classes first and agghhh!!

Ahem. Grad school has made this a pretty crazy sprummer, especially since it took over a month for financial aid to go through, due to me taking different amounts of credits during different sessions. (I’ve never had financial aid in time to buy books and stuff before the beginning of school, but this takes the cake and eats it too.) And then I have the two classes I’ll be attending during my residency, but I have to get all the work and reading done for them ahead of time. Plus keep up with my regular class that spans the whole semester. Hopefully in the fall things will calm down a bit, especially since I’ll only be taking two (hopefully evenly spaced) classes.

Oh, and as soon as I get back from my residency, I have jury duty. -__-

In more exciting news–I know it’s going to be hard to top the excitement of jury duty, but I have to try–my film option with Disney was almost up, and they decided to renew!!! Huge W00T!! I know very little about this project, but I do know that the writers are making good progress and that Disney liked their revisions to the script.

The paperback version of The Rise of Renegade X is out on August 23rd, if my current info is correct. I don’t remember if I posted about it here or not, but it was supposed to be out in May, BUT the sales reps liked the blurb on the cover from the awesome Julie Kagawa and wanted more time to pitch it to bookstores and stuff. (Or whatever sales reps do.) It will be much cheaper than the hardback, but just as cool! And I’m planning to have a contest to go with it, where I’ll be giving away a behind-the-scenes annotated copy of the hardback.

I also have a new book going out on sub soon that I think you guys are going to love.

And that’s all for now because my five page paper isn’t going to write itself… by Friday.

Starting and finishing books

Since I finished a book last week and am picking up another one I started on a couple months ago, I decided to share some thoughts.

Some of you might not have written a book before but are thinking about it or are busy on your first. And it’s terrifying and you’re biting your nails and thinking, “OMG, I have NO IDEA what I’m doing!” And you know what? Don’t let that feeling discourage you, because you will pretty much always feel that way when you start a new project. I’ve finished eleven books over the past eighteen years, and I’m starting my twelfth now, and I still have no idea how to write books.

Okay, that’s not exactly true. Obviously I’ve learned a lot and improved my skills and all, including my discipline and perseverance (I highly recommend getting some levels in those two, because they will be invaluable if you want to write novels). But novels are big and messy and complicated and there’s no magic step-by-step formula for figuring everything out. And the methods I use to figure out who my characters are and what they’re going to do in one book won’t work at all for another book, and I have to muddle through the confusion with no real map. In short, there’s nothing scarier than a blank page. It strikes terror in the hearts of millions.

The scary never goes away, and every time I start something new, I find myself going, “Uh, wait, how did I do this before? Was I possessed by wizards all those other times I made this happen, because I don’t even know how to get started, and obviously if I’d really done this so many times before, I’d know what I was doing by now.” I look at the book on the shelf with my name on it and think, “How exactly did that get there?”

I don’t remember who, but someone once said that you can’t learn to write books, you can only learn to write the book you’re working on. It’s so true.

Finishing a book is much less scary than starting one (or at least it’s scary in a different way), but it’s hard to get there. I think for every book I’ve written, there’ve been times when I thought I was really never going to finish. Some of them I *knew* I would finish, but there were still extreme moments (read: days, weeks, months) of doubt. Doubt that even if I finished it, it was going to be stupid. Doubt that the whole premise was stupid. There was a time when I was writing Renegade X, about 1/3 of the way through (that’s where I ALWAYS have my freak out–I’ve learned now to ignore any doubts I have at the 1/3 mark), where I started questioning everything. My scenes started to unravel until I was worrying that this book I was loving working on and writing in like mad was completely stupid. Too stupid to exist, really, and here I’d written so much of it and I should probably toss it all and start over on something new.

NO! Thankfully, I didn’t. And you can convince yourself that *any* book is too stupid to exist, or that no one will love it. Your brain will set traps for you while you’re writing. No matter how much fun you’re having, no matter how in love with your characters you are, some part of your brain is sitting there rubbing its hands together and going, “Now, what lies can I spread to sabotage this?” There is unfortunately no cure for this, but the good news is it can be treated with discipline and perseverance.

The more books you write, the more you learn to ignore the lies your brain tries to tell you. Doubts go with the territory, but you can learn to ignore them and keep going. And frankly, if writing wasn’t scary, it wouldn’t be exciting either.

Writing Wednesday – Dealing with Writer’s Block

I claimed I was going to do a post about writing today, but I had trouble deciding on a topic, so I procrastinated until now. And even now I’m still not sure what this post is about, but as I type this, some ideas are forming because, well, butt in chair, fingers on keyboard kind of puts you in the hot seat, and then you either get up and walk away, or you make the magic happen.

Which is writing–and being a writer–in a nutshell. (Probably a largish shell, like a walnut, with twisty spaces and maybe a few walnut crumbs inside.) It’s really easy to say, “Eh, well, I don’t know what happens in the next scene, so… Ooh, look, the kitchen needs cleaning and there’s yarn shopping I could be doing because several hundred skeins just isn’t enough!” And yeah, sometimes I sit down and I really don’t know what happens next and my brain just isn’t on the right track and I can’t find the right word thread to get me going on a scene. And I sit there until my eyes get blurry and there are STRESS chemicals raging in my chest and I have to stop and do something else for awhile. But I try not to let that be the norm, and I always try to come back to it as soon as I’m feeling better.

I guess you could call that writer’s block (or writer’s wrage), though I’m never sure what people mean by “writer’s block” because it could mean a couple of things, ranging from not knowing what scene comes next to not knowing what book to write next or even knowing what happens but the words for it are being elusive. So basically writer’s block could mean technical problems with the book, or it could mean a lack of enthusiasm from the writer.

And you know what?

I have these problems all the time.

I’ll tell you lack of enthusiasm is definitely the hardest to deal with, because the reasoning behind it is usually hard to diagnose. Fear and stress can dry up your creativity like nobody’s business. Or sometimes it turns out to be some kind of health problem like not having enough vitamin D or not getting enough exercise. And sure, if you know you’re having creative problems because you’re not getting enough exercise, then the answer is pretty straight forward. But sometimes you don’t know why you hate your book or why you love reading your book but hate working on it.

But the lack of enthusiasm problem can also come up because writers sometimes feel like they need “filler” scenes. And this can creep up on you, especially if you find yourself going, “AGH, I really don’t want to write this boring scene that I hate, but I NEED it for the story.” Forcing yourself to slog through scenes you don’t like can make you, you know, not want to work on them. And the truth is? No matter how much you think you *need* that boring filler scene, if it’s boring, then you don’t need it. It’s like saying you need ugly weeds in your garden so your flowers can feel extra pretty.

So cut it and figure out something else that can go there. Don’t waste your garden space on weeds, because you’re going to need all the flowers you can get. And if you really don’t want to cut it? Add something that makes you love it. If you’re like, “It’s really important that the scullery maid washes all these dishes in this scene because that’s how she cuts her hand and gets it infected and loses it later on, and we HAVE to see it happen, so it has to stay!” then add something to it that makes it cool. Like while the scullery maid is washing these boring old dishes, someone comes in and says, “Hey, the prince you’re not-so-secretly in love with is getting married to your worst enemy! Oops, didn’t mean to startle you and make you drop a dish and cut yourself on it.” Now this boring old scene has stuff that makes you squee inside and go, “OMG, I can’t wait for that to happen!” It could be anything, really, as long as it gives you that scene-crush feeling.

You should have a scene-crush on every scene! Isn’t that awesome? Isn’t it awesome and liberating and exciting that every single scene in the book should have something that makes you drool with anticipation? It can sound overwhelming at first, but it also means you have permission to have fun with every scene in your book. That doesn’t mean they’re all going to be easy to write, but it does mean you can look forward to them all.

And… this post is getting kind of long, and I’ve only addressed one type of writer’s block, so I will continue it in another post.

Miscellaneous Monday – Valentine’s Day, Sun Lamp, and Grad Schools

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.

Upcoming Stuff

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.

Neti Pot + Cats = O__o

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.

What I’m Reading + Yarn Update

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.

So this book I’m writing…

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.

The Yarn Stash

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.

2010, Meet 2011!

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!