E. Lockhart's Blog, page 9

Hello from vacation. I have been working and working on my new YA book, which has gone through 48 titles. Well, not 48. But A LOT. I have no idea what the title is. But I finished a draft. I finished eight drafts. Then I gave it to writer pals Sarah Mlynowski and Robin Wasserman and they told me all the things I needed to do to FIX THE BOOK. Which is a holy huge amount. 

So I am cavorting by the seashore for a week while I absorb all the feedback, and then when Sept is up and running, I will be too. 

Now. COME SEE ME! If you're over 21 and you live in NYC.

Sept 20, come out and see me at the First Brooklyn Fundraiser, together with Michael Northrup, Gayle Forman and Matt de la Pena. We are chatting (a panel on realistic teen fiction), there will be beer and cupcakes, and the money all goes to First Book. It's in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. 

OFFICIAL DETAILS:

Get tickets here: http://wordbrooklyn.com/event/first-book-brooklyn-fundraiser

First Book-Brooklyn is an organization that provides books to children in need in Brooklyn communities.
Tickets are $10 each, and include one raffle ticket for fabulous prizes including signed books and goodies from local vendors.
Beer and cupcakes will be lovingly provided by Brooklyn Brewery and Robicelli's, so this event is 21+. All ticket proceeds will go towards funding First Book here in Brooklyn!

ALSO:

If you like my books for younger readers, or if you KNOW a younger reader who needs a book for a present -- the department of self-aggrandization wants me to tell you about Invisible Inkling: Dangerous Pumpkins. It's a Halloween book. It has killer unicorns, loads of candy, crazy ice cream flavors, a deeply neurotic hero and a wisecracking invisible sidekick.

Perfect for boys ages 7-10.  Preview it here.

Here's a guest-blog post I did on the IRA Engage website about the writing process on Invisible Inkling & Dangerous Pumpkins, plus my school visits in elementary schools.

Sometimes I ask fellow authors to come answer ten questions on my blog. Sarah Mlynowski & Sara Zarr both did it recently. Before that I used to do the Dramarama interviews, and author boyfriend lists and I had a Fly on the Wall survey I did as well. 

Those links are chock full of Q&As with your favorite authors. 

Anyway. Tara Altebrando's new book is The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life and she is awesome. Here is all the dirt she cared to share!

1. Where are you from? Tell me a bit of local slang. (I love local slang.)

I hail from Staten Island, New York. Back in the day, if you were sort of regularly kissing a guy, you were "going with" him.

2. Favorite snack while writing?  

Balance Bar. But only the Yogurt Honey Peanut–flavored kind. 

3. Favorite swear word?  

I like fake swear words like "frak" from Battlestar Gallactica and Irish ones like "feck." As in, "Oh, would you feck off!"

4. Tell me a book that gave you nightmares.  

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Still count it among my favorites of all time, though.Tell me a sentence from your new book.

"The Yeti knows about Google!"

6. A great teen book you read recently.

And Then Things Fall Apart by Arlaina Tibensky. Love-love-loved it. 

7. A word of dating wisdom. 

Be picky.

8. Tell me something embarrassing about yourself. 

Until recently, I thought Stonehenge was in Scotland. 

9. What made you laugh this week?  

iCarly. I'm sorry, man, but Spencer is FUNNY.

10. Give me the movie pitch version of Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life -- ie. Jaws meets Great Expectations.

The Breakfast Club meets Midnight Madness.

I love that the Yeti knows about Google. You have to want to read a book with that sentence in it, right? 

So, I have been knocking around on my Pinterest Boards, getting them together, and they are now ready to share with YOU!! Come visit. Sign up to follow the ones you like. Repin! Comment! I am into it.


Second, I am in the revision process on my new novel, and that is why haven't been blogging very much. (Curious? There's a Pinterest board about it!)  First because I was writing it, then rewriting it, then rewriting it again, then finally sharing it with two writer friends, now rewriting it another few times.

Eventually I will show it to my editor, but it has to go through a lot of revision and even reinvention before it's good enough to do that.

Here is a meme! I did it years ago on this blog, but I am doing it again. Maybe Pinterest has got me in a mood to do silly interwebs stuff. Or maybe I am procrastinating that revision. Anyhow. It's a fun one.

Q: Type in "[your name] needs" in the Google search.
A: E. Lockhart needs your nomination for a Shorty Award! (No idea what they are, but I think something Twitter related. I am pretty sure no one ever nominated me.)

Q: Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search.
A: (No results.)

Q: Type in "[your name] says" in Google search.
A: E. Lockhart says: Roxanne, With utmost respect, Akiva is a trained soldier on a mission of assassination… (this was a convo about Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor, which I reviewed on the SLJ Battle of the Books.)

Q: Type in "[your name] wants" in Google search.
A: Booksellers in Dallas and Boston, E. Lockhart wants to meet you. See her blog for details. (This was back when I was touring for The Treasure Map of Boys.)

Q: Type in "[your name] asks" in Google search. 
A Author E. Lockhart asks, "Have you ever felt this rage against expectations? What did you do about it?" (This was from some conversation at Readergirlz.)

Q: Type in "[your name] likes " in Google search.
A: E. Lockhart likes to keep her private life private. (True.)

HOWEVER, you can get a glimpse into my domestic life here on Tara Altebrando's blog. Tara's new book is The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life, and it's all about a scavenger hunt, and she did a virtual scavenger hunt with a bunch of different authors. I LOST. BADLY. But it was very fun to do. 

Oh, and P.S.: If you're interested in the Write Faster Project (scroll down the blog to read more), author Caitlin Kittredge went hardcore and finished her novel in ten days. She lived to tell, but barely. A very interesting, detailed report on the method.

Oh, Misha.

I could watch him dance forever. Choreography by Twyla Tharp, another fave.
This is for you Dramarama readers.  

Hey there. It is summer! What are you reading? What should you read? What am I reading?

I am finishing (well, rewriting) my new YA book, which doesn't have a title yet.  Scroll down the blog for more on the Write Faster project. To that end I am reading and re-reading watching stuff that seems somehow similar or related, including:

John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (I read this already)
Joyce Carol Oates's We Were the Mulvaneys
Donna Tartt's The Secret History (I read this already) 
The Royal Tennenbaums (rewatch)
The Magnificent Ambersons (rewatch)

Some other books on my summer "to be read" pile:

Tara Altebrando's The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life, which is all about this enormous scavenger hunt. I love a book full of hijinks. Tara's website is all updated with fun stuff relating to her new book and her Pinterest board for the book is super fun.
Libba Bray's The Diviners, which I have an early copy of. Nananananannananana.
Rachel Cohn's Beta, also an early copy! (I better stop gloating but I can't really.)
Louise Rennison's Withering Tights, which is about drama school, just like my own Dramarama.  So you know I'll love it. Also, it's Louise Rennison. I always love her.

On on non-YA front:

Don Winslow's Savages, on which the upcoming movie is based.
Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere
Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus.

xo

E

A little more on the Write Faster project in a minute -- scroll down in the blog if you don't know what it is -- 

but first:

NPR wants to know what you think are the best YA novels. Fancy pants literary NPR!  So go on over and tell them. 

An addendum to the Write Faster Project. First of all, it was interesting to see on Twitter that Carrie Ryan and Nova Ren Suma did not find the project worked for them -- or else kinda didn't do it, which amounts to much the same thing, as if you find you can't make yourself do a particular approach to writing, then probably that approach isn't right for your creative style. 

Either that, or you are deeply resistant to it because it's the thing that's going to break you through to some creative outpouring of amazingness. I dunno.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that today, I wrote with my pal Sarah Mlynowski (latest book: Ten Things We Did) and Sarah got me to try her latest Write Faster technique. It's 15 minutes write like the wind, 15 minutes rest. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. 

I was skeptical, as 15 minutes doesn't seem like enough time to get anything done, and all those interruptions can't be good for me -- but I HAD planned out what I needed to do next (in those days of reading over my book described in the previous blog post and in conversations with various writer friends subsequent to that) -- and I ended up not only writing

2700 words

which has never happened to me EVER

but also dealing with a pesky web design problem in the interim 15 minute chunks, paying my library fines, nagging my agent and various other stuff that usually can be used as an excuse for not writing. 

So: Whaddya know?

Sarah was very strict and used a timer and scolded me when I didn't behave. It is possible this had a lot to do with my productivity as well -- though at one point I lay down on the couch and NAPPED for fifteen minutes.  At another point I demanded Sarah fix my scene for me, so I described it to her and she told me how to fix it, and that was awesome. 

Make of it what you will, butu I wanted to share.

Last week I explained the Write Faster project. And here's Holly Black's post about it which explains better and links to all the authors legitimately participating (I am just kind of tagging along.) 

Presumably those writers are writing for the rest of the day, but I have to leave the house in five minutes, so here's my report (filed at 12:15 pm).

I hope it's interesting to see a bit of what a writing week looks like for me, and that it's useful for other writers as they think about their work. 

I'll add links to the other reports at night, when I've gotten to read them.

Edited to add: Here is Holly's report!  Very, very interesting.

xoE

WRITE FASTER PROJECT 

A good writing day for me: 1500 words
A very very good day: 2000 words
A lot of days: 500-1000 words

Aaron's essay says:
Track: okay, I am tracking! Results below. 
Enthusiasm: I have that. Well, except that I don't want to write my book.
Know: Know what you are writing before you write it. This I almost never do, except in the vaguest way -- so it is mainly this that is a behavior change for me.

June 7:

I have 45 minutes in the coffee shop. That's it.
Hung over from too much wine at BEA (Book Expo). Libba Bray is here (latest book: Beauty Queens). I read over the Rachel Aaron post and eat a cookie.

I write a sentence that says the word "windsock." Then I write a long conversation between two people about windsocks that has nothing to do with my plot. Then Libba says "windsock" sounds naughty, just as a word, and I get another half a page out of that idea.

650 words. Most about windsocks.
But I discovered some tension in the scene.  I augmented it -- so now something happens. This is absolutely typical of my writing process and not an example of me using Aaron's techniques in any way.

June 8:

Coffee shop. Arrive at 9. Chat with Libba for half an hour. Then spend 1 hour 15 minutes outlining next couple scenes I want to write. Why does it take so long? I have to reread big chunks of the MS, and tweak some things therein, to make the scenes I am writing come out right. This happens a lot when writing the last quarter of a book, I find -- I have to go back and seed things in, or tweak them -- but usually I do it in th emiddle of my writing, rather than as a preliminary to barelling through a scene at full speed.

Useful technique: Robin Wasserman (latest book: Book of Blood and Shadow) has showed up in the cafe. She and I agree to only WRITE, no internet, no chat, no breaks, for just 30 minutes.

Result: 727 words. I write, but am immediately IMMEDIATELY distracted from the outline I have made for my scene and spend about 500 of my 727 words writing something that starts the scene that I didn't plan but which nonetheless feels important.

End of the day: 2500 words, and I lay off at my usual time.

June 9,10 -- weekend.
I am a family person and don't write on weekends if it can be helped.

June 11, Monday.

I had a school visit in the morning and was zonked at 1pm when I got home. No writing.

June 12, Tuesday.

Arrived coffee shop 9:30 after exercise walk. Libba is here, working top speed and full of virtue. By 9:45 I am set up with coffee and food. I have outlines left from last Friday, so begin working on that material. I finish a scene and tempted to do various work-related things -- look at the origin of a family name I'm using, log my word count on googledocs, etc. But I DO NOT. I am going right into the next scene I've outlined.

End result: 2,100 words

June 13, Wed.

Bad night's sleep. This is a huge factor in my writing life. I feel like a zombie. I go over the first 9,000 words of my MS, editing and rewriting, sometimes rearranging. I take a nap and do another 2000.

Total word count: 300.
But I have hardly looked back at this book as I've been writing, and perhaps this is necessary to make sure my ending (which I have yet to write) is the right one.

Contexts that are crucial for me to write well:
1. caffeine
2. good night's sleep (usually not under my control as I live with OTHERS WHO INTERRUPT MY SLEEP.)

Contexts that are useful:

3. rewards (i.e. I can eat something nice, take a walk, call a friend, play Plants with Zombies, after I've achieved some kind of work goal)
4. no starchy foods (they make me sleepy)
5. race-writing with a friend, either in person or on the internet -- i.e. how many words can you write in 45 minutes? Robin nearly always wins, but trying to beat her helps me meet my goal.
6. periods of time devoted to work writing side-by-side with a friend (like: we will now write for one hour! No internet! No talking! Then you will tell me about your vacation) - -similar to the reward system, but more powerful.

June 14th, Thurs

Worked many hours but again, reading and figuring out structure and ending. Made cuts and added things, but total new word count is only: 50. However, I did figure out a couple scenes I need to write. Then in the afternoon, I talked through one of these scenes with the awesome Melissa Kantor (her new book: The Darlings in Love), and she was a big help.

June 15.
I have a short writing day today. I outline two scenes, which can be roughly labeled: Dragon and Cove.

Then I immediately go and write a long nonsense scene that I never planned about sunburns and doughnuts. Which I quite like.

Then I write dragon. 1500 words in two hours -- a bit faster than usual. In a short day I generally manage 1000-1200 words.

Conclusion: I think this method -- which partly just involves paying a bit more attention to what works for ME -- does help me write faster. Not radically -- but I'll certainly take it.

I am finishing a book. A YA book for the first time in a while! (I write middle-grade books under the name Emily Jenkins and you can see my July book, Dangerous Pumpkins, here.)

A while ago, Ally Carter (latest book: Out of Sight, Out of Time, book 5 in the Gallagher Girls series) sent me this link. It's to a Science Fiction Writers of America guest blog post by Rachel Aaron, author of The Legend oof Eli Moonpress -- an apparently, many many books to come; she writes 10,000 words a day. At least some of the time.

In the article, Aaron lays out a plan for how to increase your output. I generally manage 500 words a day when starting a book, then goose up to 1500 when going full speed. A really banner day would be 2000. I have done all my books at this pace, and while I have zero desire to write 10,000 a day, and doubt I ever could, if I could manage 2,500 or 3000 regularly my life would be a lot easier. Or my books longer. Or something. 

This new book wants to be long but I want it to be done (in rough draft) by June 22 for reasons of my own involving the beach. 

(Just to be clear, I will rewrite it probably 8 times after that before my editor even sees it.)

Anyway, although it really would be good for me to write faster than I do, I still ignored the article when I first read it, except to try in a vague way to outline a bit before closing the computer at the end of a writing day. That is not really what Aaron is suggesting -- but that's all I did. (It's helpful.)

Then Holly Black (latest book: Black Heart, book 3 of the White Cat trilogy) posted this on her blog. She is trying to follow Aaron's advice for the end of this and all of next week, then posting her results, along with a bunch of other excellent writers. I horned in on their experiment and will post my results too. After I had posted about that on HB's blog, I ran into Holly at Book Expo, where she wore a floor length black gown and hung out with me at the Harlequin booth, and I pretty much felt like I was hallucinating. This meant I actually had to do it.

So! That's the plan! Check back here next week on Friday for details on my own Write Faster experiment, and links to all the others. 

xo

E

If you really want to know what I'm up to on a regular basis, come follow me on Twitter. I like it over there. 

That said, here's a blog post! I was a judge lately in two book battles. One was The Morning News, a fancy dancy grown-up literary type battle. You can read my judgement here -- of The Sisters Brothers vs. Lightening Rods. But be warned, you teenagers. These are EXTREMELY ADULT BOOKS about extremely adult stuff that might kinda turn your stomachs, plus I use so-called bad words. So, ya know. Proceed with caution. 

Then over at School Library Journal I judged a battle between Daughter of Smoke & Bone and Chime. This one is clean-cut and appropriate for all ages! Also, there was some fun back-and-forth in the comments. 

What else? 

I am reading or have just read: 
The Unseen Guest by Maryrose Wood
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler 
Black Heart by Holly Black
The Book of Blood & Shadow by Robin Wasserman
The Secret History by Donna Tartt (re-reading)

I am a bit obsessed with Black's Curseworkers series. It is really super awesome.

Last thing: for booksellers. I am going to be at BEA in the autographing area on Wed. June 9th at 1:30.  For Invisible Inkling, my middle grade series of fun. Please come say hello and get a book!

It's been a long time since I did a meme, but I do kinda love them. Here's one from an old and dear college pal. 

Three names people call me:  Jenko, M&M, Mommy

Three places I have lived:  Park Slope (NYC), Chelsea (NYC), Cobble Hill (NYC)

Three places I have worked:  aerobics studio, college campus, talent agency


Three things I love to watch: diving competitions, ballet, dogs at the dog run


Three places I have been:  Chippendales, a coral reef, a sensory deprivation tank

Three things I love to eat: coffee, jam in greek yogurt, brussels sprouts

Three things I'm looking forward to:  vacation on Martha's Vineyard, dinner with friends on St. Patrick's Day, attempting to make scones on the weekend

Here's what you do:  copy and paste, delete my answers and type your own. Then send this to a few good friends or family including the person who sent it to you. You will learn something about each other.

If you want, put a link to yours in comments. Or comments in comments.

xo

E