A writing question for you, my lovely circle of friends!

Last Wednesday the lovely Johanna at Once Upon a Novelist was kind enough to pass along the Circle of Friends Award. Thanks Johanna! Blog friends are the best, aren't they? (And you never have to worry about your appearance when you converse with them! For example, for all you know I could be sitting here right now in Lovemuffin's tattered old t-shirt with a huge coffee stain down the front of it, and my hair could be a complete mess! Not that I am. Or anything. But I could be.)

So in keeping with the tradition, I will make sure the circle continues by sharing the award with five more bloggers =) But, you'll have to wait a few more days, as I am working on a few things right now, and haven't figured out who they are, just yet;)

In other news, I took the plunge and entered a contest, in which you post the first 250 words of your MS. I've gotten some very helpful comments so far (and have already figured out how to address some issues), and really appreciate people taking the time to explain how those words made them feel.

That being said, I have a question for my circle of writing friends out there. (Like how I tied the award to this second topic? I try to be entertaining, people, just for you.)

Here goes:

How much should you be explaining in those first 250 words?

I've received many questions as to why this has happened, why that is important, and so on, and I may be naive in saying this, but isn't that the point of the whole thing? To make them turn the page, then the next one, to find the answers?

I realize there's a fine line between leading readers along and explaining specifics. What I'm not sure about, though, is how to walk that fine line.

How about you? Are there any tricks/tools you use in determining what to tell your readers up front, and what to hold onto for another page or two? If so, I'd love to hear them in the comments.

Happy Wednesday, people!

When people are bored by your writing

Has this ever happened to you?

*ring ring*

"Hello?"

"Hey! How's it going?"

"Great, actually. I've been really engrossed in my writing."

*silence*

"Yeah," you continue, "I'm so proud. I'm pretty close to being done with editing."

*crickets*

"So did you watch Big Brother last night?"

*sigh*

Or, you run into someone you haven't talked to in a while...

"So how's that book coming?"

Which one? You think.

"It's going well. I'm knee deep in the next one already, and working on queries."

*dead stare*

*you clear your throat*

"That's nice." They finally say. "We'll I'll see you around, then!"

And you're left standing there, feeling like you said something bad.

How do you, as a writer, respond to situations like this? I realize that for the most part, people don't really care about the answer anyway. But I find myself wondering, what was the point in asking in the first place?

I had a friend once tell me that she didn't ask about my writing progress because she didn't understand it anyway. Understandable, right? I mean, to an unwriterly person, what kinds of words are editing, drafts, and queries? Boring ones, most likely. About as exciting as cardboard, stale bread, and dust bunnies.

In fact, I hardly ever bring my whole writing conquest up to anyone for that very reason. The whole process *is* boring. (How long have you been working on that one book again? Over a year? And nothing has come out of it, but you're already writing another one? Uh, okay...) Unless you're the one working on it, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute, that is. Then it practically consumes you.

I guess I'm just trying to say that once in a while, it would be nice to get an actual, interested reaction. Someone who, for even just three minutes, would listen, absorb, and truly care to hear what it's all about.

And then again, what would I do, if someone started explaining the intricate details of heart surgery?

"So. Have I told you about my writing?"

~This post was written by Snip. All names have been deleted to protect the innocent. (Especially the dust bunnies. Not looking for a mud bath at the moment, thank you very much.)

In which I bore you with a few things I learned on our vacation...

What's a family vacation without a few lessons learned? Here are ten, in no particular order.

1.) Seagulls love to destroy sandcastles. At least, the one standing in front of us on Wednesday afternoon did. He spent a good ten minutes or more tearing down each and every one that some family had left there earlier that afternoon. It was the craziest thing to watch.

2.) Bluejays are creepy. On the last morning of our vacation, Lovemuffin and I were sitting outside on the balcony and one landed maybe three feet away from me on the railing. When I said (in a nice, high pitched voice) "hello birdie", he looked me right in the eye, turned his little head, and squawked so loud it scared the heck out of me! I can't tell you how fast I hopped out of that chair!

3.) The only time your kid is going to get a migraine is when you plan something big. We decided to go to Morro Bay, which was about half an hour from where we were staying. The plan was for it to be an "all afternoon" trip. We'd eat, shop, and pick up the cinnamon rolls everyone had been drooling about for days, then possibly check out Morro Rock.

Of course, on the way there, one of the girls complained about having a headache. Lunch didn't help, and within half an hour, the poor thing was hanging her head out the open car door and tossing chunks across the street from the restaurant.

Ten minutes later we were at the car wash, then finally headed back to the hotel. For some reason I made a comment about her wallet, which was when she realized she'd left it on the floor of the restaurant. By then, we were already back on the freeway. I cannot tell you how bad I felt for the person who parked where we'd been a few minutes earlier. (It is possible that they overstepped and missed it her "lunch", but considering the fact that it was directly under the driver's side door, I highly doubt it.) So sorry, random stranger, for that! Really we are!

4.) If you have a klutzy kid, multiply that clumsiness by a thousand when you're on vacation. The poor thing must have hurt herself ten times a day. It got to the point where we would just shake our heads, because there really wasn't anything else to say!

5.) After three days of walking to the beach, and walking up and down the beach, at least three times a day, walking, in general, is overrated. Those last three days of vacation were pure torture. My legs are still complaining, and it's been a few days since I've walked in the sand.

6.) Housekeeping is awesome. Now that I'm home, each time there's a knock on the door my heart sinks as I realize it's not someone about to give me clean towels, pick up the kitchen, or change the sheets on the bed.

7.) Coastal towns love to overprice things. And guess what? We just keep on buying them anyway.

8.) It doesn't matter how much room you think you're going to have, your car can never hold everything you want it to hold. No need to explain that one. 'Nuff said.

9.) Vacations are supposed to be relaxing. But with kids, they just... aren't.

10.) It's always nice to get away from the hassles of ordinary life for a while. But... no matter how long I've looked forward to leaving, it's always a great feeling to be back home.

Writing and rules-it is possible to have one without the other?

Stephen King (perhaps you've heard of him?), my new BFF, has a few opinions on the matter of writing. (If you haven't read On Writing yet, I highly recommend it. And I'm not just offering up that recommendation to the writers out there, but even to non-writers, as well.) I'm not particularly drawn to memoirs, but I was totally down to reading about his life and what made him who he is. Plus, he's my Uncle Stevie, as any of you who are avid Entertainment Weekly readers like me, will know. So we're close like that.

Of course, I took away a lot of great advice from On Writing; enough, in fact, to where I'm going to have to read it again, not as a form of entertainment this time, but as a learning instrument only, whereby I'll have a pencil in hand and underline all the pertinent stuff. But a few things stayed implanted in my brain even after the first read, and I thought I'd share.

1) Against what I've always done, Mr. King says you should add an 's after a plural noun.

2) He feels the plot shouldn't be as stressed as just telling the story, as in, outlines and whatnot aren't necessarily necessary.

3) Like most writers/agents/ect. have also commented, adverbs are like a bad disease - it doesn't take long for them to spread all over the place.

There are many other points I appreciated as well, but I'll leave those to a possible later post.

How about you? Are there any "rules" you've learned that have bettered your writing skills? Ones you don't particularly agree with?

Friday Focus: Fall out of the plane first

This week's quote reminded me of my difficulty with writing the beginning of ILYU vs. how simple it was to write the beginning of Flora. Not that anything super dramatic happens right away in Flora, but early on in the writing process I was able to get to a point where I'd imagined what happened a few minutes before, and then *boom* - stuck the MC right there in the first chapter.

Anyway. This week's quote. Simply put, lead your readers along - they'll like it. And even if they don't, they'll keep reading to find out why the heck you started out that way in the first place.;)

Make everybody fall out of the plane first, and then explain who they were and why they were in the plane to begin with.

- Nancy Ann Dibble

This week's contests (and other interesting info)

Hey! This is the second week in a row I've posted contests and blog-worthy news! What! (Is some sort of tradition a' brewin'? Probably not. I get really excited about stuff, then get lazy about it. I know, I need help.)

I would *love* to be consistent enough each week to have some sort of an interesting info summary. <--- with a way more interesting title than that... Can we say - caffeine please!?!?

And it wouldn't be, specifically, a "summarize the past week in writerly news" sort of thing, because I'm not good at keeping track of much helpful news throughout the week, plus a few other people actually are (including THE Sierra Godfrey, who just happens to do hers on FRIDAYS). But. If I keep up with this whole habit, maybe I'll have a name for this newsy thing by next week. (Or maybe I'll move on to talking more about coffee.)

ANYWHO. Here are some contests I came across, along with a tidbit or two of possibly helpful info, again in no particular order. Enjoy.

* Debut Author Amy Holder is celebrating her web launch with a giveaway - Amazon gift cards or a copy of her new YA book, The Lipstick Laws. Check out her blog and contest info here.

* Darlene at Peeking Between the Pages is giving away one free copy of Holly's Inbox: Scandal in the City. I can't wait to read it - I devoured the first one, completely loving the entire email format of the book. It's hard to believe a man, Bill Surie, is the author. He does a great job at giving you Holly's point of view, all composed as emails, no less. Check out the contest rules here, and the amusing Holly's Inbox site (all emails as well), here.

* Shannon at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe posted a How to Make a Character Collage video by YA author Tara Lynn Childs on her blog here. It's a great tool to use if you're wanting to give your character more depth. (Shannon also posted a video by literary agent Kate Testerman on the do's and don'ts of querying. You can check it out here.)

* Don't forget!!! The Literary Lab's 2nd annual contest, Notes from the Underground, (mentioned on Monday's blog post, What? No rules? I quit!) ends Monday, August 15th.

* Roni at Fiction Groupie posted the "totally epic winners" of the contest I mentioned last week. And guess what? I won! *squee* I didn't actually win the main contest, but I did win the "Best Pimp" award (uh, hello... glad somebody finally realized my awesome pimpness) - a five page critique from Roni or Julie. Yay! I'm excited, to say the least, and will post a bit about that whole process when it happens. (Now excuse me while I go back to nervously biting my nails... oh wait... there aren't any nails to bite anymore... Whew.)

* To celebrate her short story, The Blade of Tears, winning a contest, Lydia Sharp at The Sharp Angle is giving away two free Flesh & Bone anthologies here.

* If you haven't yet totally and absolutely fallen for Tahereh's online writerly magazine, QUERYPOLITAN, head on over there and check it out. August's cover has just been posted. Keep checking back to see the articles in the right column, which she will be posting soon. In the meantime, go ahead and read June and July's issues. Great stuff. (Including July's Math HATES Writers. Oh, so true.) In fact, you may as well follow her personal blog as well. Just click on her name to do so.

Last but not least...

* Check out the 7 ARC contest at Carol's Prints (click on blog name to enter) - you just might win one of the following (the below info has been copied and pasted directly from Carolina's blog):

*Signed ARC of MATCHED by Ally Condie

*ARC of PERSONAL DEMONS by Lisa Desrochers

*ARC of FIRELIGHT by Sophie Jordan

(My Review of FIRELIGHT)

*ARC of TORMENT (sequel to FALLEN) by Lauren Kate

*ARC of EXTRAORDINARY by Nancy Werlin

*ARC of HALO by Alexandra Adornetto

*ARC of DUFF by Kody Keplinger

**PLEASE feel free to add your contests to the comments if I haven't mentioned it! Happy Thursday!

What? No rules? I quit!

The deadline is fast approaching. I've been toying with the idea for two months now. Do I bother? Send something in just to, well, send it in?

But what if they're like "Pshhh... who does she think she is? It's elementary, my dear *insert whomever's name here*, this is *so* beyond her comprehension!" (I envision them all sitting around a long, rectangular table, holding my page in one hand and sipping coffee with the other, laughing their asses off.)

Did I mention the worst part is THERE ARE NO RULES? None! It's a "free form" application! I mean, what the? I've lost already, and I haven't even tried yet! Normally I hate boundaries but PLEASE, I'm begging for some this time!

Let me know if any of you enter. You can check out the full contest description here.

UPDATE: Here's Wednesday's (August 11th) post from The Literary Lab regarding the contest - My Final Plea. Check it out!