Sorry for the long time no see! My life has been a little crazy as I've made a rather epic transition. I am no longer little Fort Millian high schooler. It's to Columbia with me, to the Honors College at the University of South Carolina.

Sweet freedom. Sweet change. Sweet refuge from dramaaa...

For the last three weeks or so, my focus has been all on the changes and not on my writing. Regrettable. But necessary. Now I am ready to buckle down and GO.

I spent a nice hour in the bookstore today doing my Cinderella Mouse thing - gather stacks of books so high I have to use my chin to keep them from falling. Then I sit down with them and scan through the pitches and acknowledgements pages, taking notes on the books that sound interesting and literary agents I need to check out. (I'll type my notes up below.)

I LOVE doing this.

I also realized something pretty epic when I was in the bookstore today. There used to be about nine shelves filled with teen fiction. Within the last three or four months, that number has grown to eleven.

If I miss this wave, I will not know what to do with myself. Thanks to Miss Stephanie Meyer and Mr. Edward Cullen, my genre is skyrocketing, maybe just in time, maybe in time....

Meh Notes:

Title - Author ~ Agent
Waiting for You - Susane Colasanti ~ ? *(I found this one interesting because the acknowledgements made references to depression and anxiety, topics of personal interest to me.)
Bait - Alex Sanchez ~ Miriam Altshulter
Snap - Carol Snow ~ Stephanie Kip Rostan
My Soul to Take - Rachel Vincent ~ Miriam Kriss (Interesting for its language. I read the first page.)
Shiver - Maggie Steifvater ~ Laura Rennert
Breathless - Jessica Warman ~ Andrea Somberg (Gorgeous cover on this one, but the only word in the pitch that caught my interest was "semiautobiographical")
Graceling - Kristin Cashore ~ Faye Bender
Kissed by an Angel - Elizabeth Chandler / Mary Claire Helldorfer (This is one I should read because it resonates so well with my life and the stories I tell, but I haven't been able to find this lady's agent if she has one.)
Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler ~ Ted Malawer (I think this title was a bad idea.)
Reincarnation - Susanne Weyn (This has the potential to be FASCINATING.)
Radiant Darkness - Emily Whitman ~ Nancy Gallt
The Fetch - Laura Whitcomb (I've heard this ones really good.)
A Kiss in Time - Alex Flinn ~ George Nicholson
As You Wish - Jackson Pearce ~ Jenoyne Adams


I left the store with:

Crank by Ellen Hopkins (I need to read her books. I just need to.)
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz (So I don't have to borrow it from Megan again)
Prom Nights from Hell by Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephanie Meyer, and Lauren Myracle (Needed this too.)
Pride & Prejudice  by Jane Austen (An extra copy because I shall be reading it for SCHOOL ^.^)

More later! <3

Sorry for the long time no see! My life has been a little crazy as I've made a rather epic transition. I am no longer little Fort Millian high schooler. It's to Columbia with me, to the Honors College at the University of South Carolina.

Sweet freedom. Sweet change. Sweet refuge from dramaaa...

For the last three weeks or so, my focus has been all on the changes and not on my writing. Regrettable. But necessary. Now I am ready to buckle down and GO.

I spent a nice hour in the bookstore today doing my Cinderella Mouse thing - gather stacks of books so high I have to use my chin to keep them from falling. Then I sit down with them and scan through the pitches and acknowledgements pages, taking notes on the books that sound interesting and literary agents I need to check out. (I'll type my notes up below.)

I LOVE doing this.

I also realized something pretty epic when I was in the bookstore today. There used to be about nine shelves filled with teen fiction. Within the last three or four months, that number has grown to eleven.

If I miss this wave, I will not know what to do with myself. Thanks to Miss Stephanie Meyer and Mr. Edward Cullen, my genre is skyrocketing, maybe just in time, maybe in time....

Meh Notes:

Title - Author ~ Agent
Waiting for You - Susane Colasanti ~ ? *(I found this one interesting because the acknowledgements made references to depression and anxiety, topics of personal interest to me.)
Bait - Alex Sanchez ~ Miriam Altshulter
Snap - Carol Snow ~ Stephanie Kip Rostan
My Soul to Take - Rachel Vincent ~ Miriam Kriss (Interesting for its language. I read the first page.)
Shiver - Maggie Steifvater ~ Laura Rennert
Breathless - Jessica Warman ~ Andrea Somberg (Gorgeous cover on this one, but the only word in the pitch that caught my interest was "semiautobiographical")
Graceling - Kristin Cashore ~ Faye Bender
Kissed by an Angel - Elizabeth Chandler / Mary Claire Helldorfer (This is one I should read because it resonates so well with my life and the stories I tell, but I haven't been able to find this lady's agent if she has one.)
Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler ~ Ted Malawer (I think this title was a bad idea.)
Reincarnation - Susanne Weyn (This has the potential to be FASCINATING.)
Radiant Darkness - Emily Whitman ~ Nancy Gallt
The Fetch - Laura Whitcomb (I've heard this ones really good.)
A Kiss in Time - Alex Flinn ~ George Nicholson
As You Wish - Jackson Pearce ~ Jenoyne Adams


I left the store with:

Crank by Ellen Hopkins (I need to read her books. I just need to.)
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz (So I don't have to borrow it from Megan again)
Prom Nights from Hell by Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephanie Meyer, and Lauren Myracle (Needed this too.)
Pride & Prejudice  by Jane Austen (An extra copy because I shall be reading it for SCHOOL ^.^)

More later! <3

Sorry for the delay. I have to do my summering sometime. I am 18, after all.

Well, I have an update. I haven't queried for a month because the literary agent considering my work required a period of exclusivity. Very annoying to someone with a time schedule. However, working with her was a pleasant experience. Around 40 days passed since I sent her the partial, so I emailed asking for an update. She responded quickly with a thoughtful and positive review (strong preface, engaging narrative), and even went so far as to ask that I query her with future ideas. This project, however, wasn't perfect for her.

Who is she? Mollie Glick of Foundry Media. The cool thing about my experience with this agent was getting to meet her. She was the agent-in-residence at the Southeastern Writer's Workshop Conference this year, so I got to sit down and talk with her about my writing about the industry. She had not read my chapters yet when I spoke with her, but it was a bonus to get that face time.

Sorry I haven't posted the review yet. I promise they will come. As soon as the summer funk wears off.

More later! <3

Sorry for the delay. I have to do my summering sometime. I am 18, after all.

Well, I have an update. I haven't queried for a month because the literary agent considering my work required a period of exclusivity. Very annoying to someone with a time schedule. However, working with her was a pleasant experience. Around 40 days passed since I sent her the partial, so I emailed asking for an update. She responded quickly with a thoughtful and positive review (strong preface, engaging narrative), and even went so far as to ask that I query her with future ideas. This project, however, wasn't perfect for her.

Who is she? Mollie Glick of Foundry Media. The cool thing about my experience with this agent was getting to meet her. She was the agent-in-residence at the Southeastern Writer's Workshop Conference this year, so I got to sit down and talk with her about my writing about the industry. She had not read my chapters yet when I spoke with her, but it was a bonus to get that face time.

Sorry I haven't posted the review yet. I promise they will come. As soon as the summer funk wears off.

More later! <3

To be honest, I expect to get a bit of rap for trying to write anything memoir-esque at my age. I'm 18. What could I possibly have to say?

One of the best things I got from this last conference was a gentle reminder of the value of those years from Emily Sue Harvey. "It's amazing that you write," she said. "Not only that you have the drive, lots of kids have the drive. You have something to say."

Her words surprised me. I'd never thought of that--having something to say--as my strength before. Then I thought about the number of nights I've spent lying awake just thinking about life, the times I've agonized about getting through situations without hurting others, and my uncle's words about the emotional-literary power woven into my writing.

I thought maybe she was right.

So I've been looking for stories in my life, and I've finally struck gold. I've found a story I want to write so much it hurts. I've resolved to turn it into a masterpiece. It involves the World Scout Jamboree I attended in 2007. I'm dying to share it, even in its atrocious first-draft form, so I'm going to be an indulgent teenager and post the first paragraph.

The Teapot Boy

My first impression of the boy who would change me forever was as wrong as it possibly could have been. I remember sitting on the stage set up in that gymnasium, scanning the crowd and getting seized by a glare. That’s right. I was minding my own business, making drowsy conversation with the people lounging on the sofas where I’d been taking a nap, and a boy I’d never met before was staring me down.

On that creepy note, I must leave you for now. I'll keep you update though. I'm very excited about it.

So excited that I didn't feel like working on the reviews I should have written today. Sigh. Those will happen soon. I promise. The posts on the way are:

A review of In Odd We Trust by Dean Koontz & Queenie Chan
A review of The Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Thoughts on Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
& Thoughts on Song of Renewal by Emily Sue Harvey

Jambo Picture:

[caption id="attachment_128" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Sword dancers from Qatar"][/caption]

To be honest, I expect to get a bit of rap for trying to write anything memoir-esque at my age. I'm 18. What could I possibly have to say?

One of the best things I got from this last conference was a gentle reminder of the value of those years from Emily Sue Harvey. "It's amazing that you write," she said. "Not only that you have the drive, lots of kids have the drive. You have something to say."

Her words surprised me. I'd never thought of that--having something to say--as my strength before. Then I thought about the number of nights I've spent lying awake just thinking about life, the times I've agonized about getting through situations without hurting others, and my uncle's words about the emotional-literary power woven into my writing.

I thought maybe she was right.

So I've been looking for stories in my life, and I've finally struck gold. I've found a story I want to write so much it hurts. I've resolved to turn it into a masterpiece. It involves the World Scout Jamboree I attended in 2007. I'm dying to share it, even in its atrocious first-draft form, so I'm going to be an indulgent teenager and post the first paragraph.

The Teapot Boy

My first impression of the boy who would change me forever was as wrong as it possibly could have been. I remember sitting on the stage set up in that gymnasium, scanning the crowd and getting seized by a glare. That’s right. I was minding my own business, making drowsy conversation with the people lounging on the sofas where I’d been taking a nap, and a boy I’d never met before was staring me down.

On that creepy note, I must leave you for now. I'll keep you update though. I'm very excited about it.

So excited that I didn't feel like working on the reviews I should have written today. Sigh. Those will happen soon. I promise. The posts on the way are:

A review of In Odd We Trust by Dean Koontz & Queenie Chan
A review of The Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Thoughts on Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
& Thoughts on Song of Renewal by Emily Sue Harvey

Jambo Picture:

[caption id="attachment_128" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Sword dancers from Qatar"][/caption]

As my blog readers know, I attended the Southeastern Writer's Conference last month and got a bit of a shock. Miss Stephanie and--godforbid--Edward flipping Cullen did far more for me than I ever could have dreamed.

The industry is in a sad condition right now. That is undeniable. Agent in Residence Mollie Glick gave a speech about her job as a literary agent and revealed that a large part of it is keeping up with editors. Not only are editors moving and shuffling around between publishers and houses these days, they're dropping like flies. Entire branches and houses are getting cut off.

It's dark.

Apparently, Borders booksellers has nearly gone bankrupt several times within the past year and have survived by a miracle. (I'm very interested in this situation and there may be a post about it soon.) Without a doubt, the disappearance of a major booksellers would be disastrous to the industry. E-books would probably take off, boosting the printed word toward an obsolete state.

How do you break in when things are this bad? Where is the hope?

1. Okay. Competition is high. It's always been high. Relatively, it's not that much of a difference.


2. One market is still booming. One genre is easier than ever to break into. Respect for it is growing, and its popularity is wonderful. This is the Young Adult market, especially Fantasy. My market.

Four people--Emily Sue Harvey, Cheryl Norman, Mollie Glick, and Holly McClure--all remarked on how well the YA market is doing at the conference last month. About a week after it ended, I was in a bookstore, and I asked an employee if she was familiar with the YA section and if she could tell me what was selling best. She pointed to a few titles, naming one I'd never heard of (which made it all the more beneficial to me). "Anything to do with vampires, witches, or fairies. Actually," she said, pausing, "that's most of what we get coming through here right now."

I almost cried.

If you're a young adult fantasy writer, now is the time to step up and shoot for it. Despite the economic downturn, we are the ones who have been empowered. And it's probably all thanks to Miss Stephanie Meyer and Mr. Edward Cullen!