Is 2020 Actually Over?

I’m really hating this blogging trend I seem to be on regarding, uh, saying that every year is the worst year ever. Surely this time I’m not over-exaggerating. 2020 takes the cake. You all know why.

Writing

Writing pretty much (almost) made up for the horrors of 202o. This felt like a year of growth for me as a writer. Remember last year’s blog when I said I would be using Scrivener and Lisa Cron’s STORY GENIUS to create new writing habits? Well, I did it, Reader. I did it. And it’s made a world of difference for me.

Transitioning from my old writing habits to the new ones went a lot faster thanks to the pandemic. Hate to say it, but it’s true.

Being able to work entirely from home freed up time I had sacrificed daily to the Gods of Commuter Traffic. Sure, I missed out on two hours a day of daydreaming, but in exchange I could do AM writing. My brain works best in the morning. I have truly loved waking up, grabbing my iPad, and cranking out another scene all before the sun comes up and I have to eat breakfast and log in for work. It makes the rest of the day feel right; like, no matter what else happens, I know I met my writing goal for the day.

So how did I do? I finished two manuscripts and wrote half of a third one this year. Stats below:

Finished First Drafts:

1. YA #1: 81,960 words

2. YA #2: 87,334 words

In Progress First Drafts:

1. YA Book #3 of Trilogy: 50,870 words

While having the time to write is one thing, blueprinting my scenes also made a significant difference. I use the STORY GENIUS method of blueprinting which allows me to not only plot the action ahead of time, but also track character growth and motivation. It’s taken a lot of the stress out of drafting for me. I may have officially hung up my status as a panster this year.

Speaking of motivation, my friends have been vital. The pandemic hasn’t slowed any of us down. After overcoming the initial shock of COVID’s arrival in our world, writing felt like the only thing I could do to move forward and not let the year go to waste. I’ve read fantastic manuscripts written by talent friends this year and received encouragement in return for my own projects. Oftentimes it was a funny text or a lengthy phone call my buds that would get my creative blood pumping. I was able to return to the page again and again thanks to that open line of communication.

2020 shook up the publishing industry as well, causing a great many changes. As the year winds down to its final days, I have some big decisions of my own to make regarding my future projects and how I will be querying them. I can’t say enough how much 2020 has been a year of growth.

What else did I discover in the last quarter of 2020? How to write for fun again.

I know, I know. That sounds backwards. Don’t I always write for fun? Isn’t that the point? Not always. Or rather, not completely. I have dedicated so much time and energy to finding a home for my next book(s) that somewhere along the way, I forgot the joys of writing just to experiment and explore and share. I hadn’t even written a short story since graduate school (I had come out of the program burnt out—no ideas at all for short stories, only novels). So did I decide to do about it? I joined Laini Taylor’s Patreon (one of my favorite authors!) and challenged myself to create small stories from the prompts she provided. It was just the inspiration I needed. Even without her prompts, I feel like I can now crank out a little story every once in a while—something I would have found impossible only a few months ago.

I’ve been sharing these little experimental stories on Instagram under the hashtag #bitsofweirdandwhimsy

Thanks to the encouragement of an old friend, I’ve also been experimenting with other forms of writing I haven’t indulged in since high school! These renewed experiences have given me my joy of writing back and has also shown me that perhaps I’m not always as drained by the end of a day as I feel (there’s always time to write just one sentence more…).

Life

Not much to report this year in terms of exciting adventures. I had managed to squeeze in my usual annual Disney World trips in January and February right before the pandemic made its way here to the U.S. I’m so thankful I had gotten to go at all, because man, have things changed since.

Back in March, I was climbing the walls and disgusted with myself for reacting like that. I am a total homebody. I love staying home, wearing comfy clothes and just relaxing. People? Nah, I need a break from them after working all week. So why did I feel stir-crazy? I think it was because I had decided two years ago that I would get myself out of the house and actually do things. Like, fun things. Things I love like eating at new (to me) restaurants, exploring small towns, wandering through antique malls and museums and roadside attractions only a gas tank away. These little day trips on the weekends had been thrilling. Now I had to give them up, just like everyone else.

I discovered the joys of wearing masks in public. Ha. The good news is that I did not catch any colds this year. The bad news was/is having to battle mask acne (my acne is already awful, thanks, so I didn’t need this development) and foggy glasses. Through trial and error I found a mask shape that cuts down on the fog, but it’s still not perfect. I just try to struggle through it because I know that the masks are helping.

Little happy moments in 2020 include actually getting TV shows and movies watched. Again, working from home made this happen. Instead of eating at my desk at work or sitting in the cafeteria with coworkers, I got to knock out an episode or two during lunch. And the dinner. Dinner! No evening commute = more time to catch up with shows. Ah, it’s been a pleasure. I have a soft spot for old shows so this year has been filled with shows like Murder, She Wrote, The Mothers-in-Law, and The Munsters. Thanks to a friend introducing me to That Thing You Do!, I have been watching EVERYTHING Supermarionation and loving it. Lookit these cute little marionettes saving the world and stuff:

If you don’t believe me, try an episode of Thunderbirds or Stingray.

My To-Be-Read (TBR) piles shrunk dramatically thanks to staying home. I had three rather large piles in my room. Now I’m down to one (rather large pile). YAY.

And then I actually have completed FIVE FULL YEARS of journaling! I can’t believe it. I’ve been faithfully chronicling my life, such as it is, in one of those one paragraph a day journals. It’s been a blast.

I already have my new one for the next five years. I wish this had been a thing when I was in college and grad school because I would have loved to have been doing this then.

Goals for 2021:

1. Finish at least 1-2 new manuscripts

2. Make my last physical TBR pile disappear!

3. Continue writing short stories and other such fun extra writing projects

4. TRAVELING. Small travels in-state at least. I’m ready to resume adventuring.

Goodbye, Figment

At the end of college, my friends were either getting ready to belly flop into the world of Reality with jobs (or not) or tying the knot with their sweethearts for future wedded bliss. But me? I had been trying all year long to secure myself a job before graduation in case Plan A failed, and no bites. It could have been depressing if I didn’t get The Call one Spring evening while I was running across campus with my friend Lauren, on our way to the Communications building on some errand I can’t recall now. 

What I do remember is this: feeling my cellphone buzzing in my pocket, stopping on the sidewalk and answering the phone , the way sweat made my hands clammy as my mother spoke on the other end of the line, telling me that the professor’s wife had called the house to say I’d been accepted into graduate school. 

I was beyond excited that I got to delay Reality for three more years in the pursuit of studying creative writing.  

My first semester in 2010 was a whirlwind of firsts. I met my best buddies for the next three years: my fellow grad cohorts who would see every piece of writing I’d bring to the table and make me a better writer for it. I had to teach to keep up my end of the tuition bargain, which was one of the scariest things I ever had to do in my life. Being a shy introvert who barely raised her hand in class, and now had to teach two college classes a semester. It would be a long time before I’d walk into my classroom without a dry mouth and rolling stomach.  

As much fun as I was having (like riding a roller coaster in the dark), I realized that I was missing something. I wanted to write teen fiction, but none of the professors were experienced in the genre. The majority of my cohorts were more interested in literary fiction than genre, so my classes and workshops were centered on that style and philosophy of writing. As great as these lessons were, I knew I wasn’t writing the stories for class that I secretly (or not-so-secretly) wanted to write. I needed an outlet. 

I found out about Figment.com from a New York Times article about a brand-new site that was inspired by teens writing and reading and, of course, Japanese cellphone novels. I had heard about cellphone novels before. I had a pretty terrible phone with a slide-out keypad at a time when everyone else had smartphones, so I couldn’t imagine literally writing on a phone. BUT! I loved the idea of writing serially – just one chapter at a time – and that Figment.com was encouraging that type of writing on their site. 

The article summed up the spirit of Figment.com quite well:

“Figment.com will be unveiled on Monday as an experiment in online literature, a free platform for young people to read and write fiction, both on their computers and on their cellphones. Users are invited to write novels, short stories and poems, collaborate with other writers and give and receive feedback on the work posted on the site.”

So I signed up as soon as possible, right around the time that Figment opened to the public. Stories had already been posted from the beta testing, and one of the first stories I read came from user Linna Lee, who ended up being one of the first of many close-but-never-met-in-person writer friends in the coming years. 

I can’t believe it’s been seven years since I joined. My gosh. It feels like no time has passed, but in some ways, I have passed through the rise of a fantastic site, major changes, and the slow but inevitable death that began when the site changed hands for the final time. 

Figment.com will now become Underlined. And while I’m curious and interested in participating in whatever small way I can now with my writing workload, I know that Figment.com will soon be erased. All traces of its existence gone forever in a way that is both heartbreaking and scary. If I was a superhero, I’d tell you that my origin story was Figment.com. My Chemical X. But once it’s gone, I’ll only have my screenshots to know that it was real, and my friends as we reminisce about the days when we were free to experiment and  develop some of the most amazing stories that still leave me shaken today. 

One of the big questions I was asked over the years was what my profile photo was and where did it come from. I decided early on that I would use my real name, but not a photo of me. And years later, when I really could have changed it, I just couldn’t do it. This little slice of art became nostalgic. It was part of Figment-me. The photo is an illustration made for the book The Ship That Sailed to Mars by William M. Timlin. After all these years, I still haven’t gotten my hands on a copy to read it, but this illustration enchanted me, and I saw something of myself in the woman  reading on her little asteroid-house:

The stories I posted were similarly whimsical: girls discovering cursed carousels at night,  boys with shapeshifting mothers for hearts, skeleton friends, mermaids in glitter baths who wrote letters to the sea, boys and bees, silent film stars doomed to never speak, and a girl trapped a birdcage and the handsome butler with the creaky knees. 

I made it on the front page a few times. I even had a fan club. 

Look at the beautiful website badges Figgie Hannah Rachel made that fans of my writing actually put on their websites ommggg:

My most popular story on Figment was Birdcage Girl, a serial novel that is a twist on the Rapunzel fairy tale. 

Birdcage Girl became one of the most popular stories on the site as well. I wrote the entire novel while I was in graduate school, enjoying posting droplets of chapters every week for eager readers. The chapters are deliciously short – I never had so much fun writing that way. I even got to talk to co-founder Jacob Lewis on the phone about it, which was a hugely special moment for me. 

I still hope to get this beloved story into the perfect shape one day so that it may one day sit on a bookshelf. But I believe I can do it, and that’s thanks to the wonderful readers who went on the journey with me. And stayed… even when I was mean to some characters. 

One of my favorite short stories I wrote was “Afternoon at Noodledom Palace,” as an entry for a time traveling contest that was judged by THE Tamara Ireland Stone! Yes, Figment was totally cool enough to have a ton of contests, some of which were judged by amazing authors. 

This was one of the greatest Figment moments of my life! And I’m happy to say that Tamara and I are interest author friends. It’s kind of the coolest. 

Okay, so before I start sniffling and reaching for a tint of strawberry ice cream, I have to end this post by talking about how much Figment.com helped me to believe in myself as a writer. For a long time, Figment was a wonderfully immersive and supportive community of readers and writers. The feedback and encouragement I received helped me to grow alongside what I was learning in graduate school, but it also allowed me to stretch my genre wings, if you will, in ways I might never had if I hadn’t joined the site. 

Figment gave me the courage to submit my novel manuscripts. It gave me the strength to keep going despite the rejections. Publishing isn’t easy. Whenever times got hard, I had only to look back on the Figgies that were there for me, and I was able to push through and keep going. 

Even now, in 2017 guys, I still believe because of Figment. 

So let me end here by giving you links to the very best friends I made on Figment.com who have written their own goodbye posts. You should read all of them. They’re quite wonderful. And if we knew each other in Figment and you want to reconnect, well, you know where to find me.

Samantha Chaffin | E.R. Warren | Lydia Albano

Manuscript Deadlines in 5 GIFS

Behold! I have emerged from a month of not blogging with big news: I just submitted my third manuscript to Swoon Reads this past week! I also noticed that there's a major blue theme going on with the photos I took of the process...

This is not intentional. But it totally makes sense. Yes. Secrets. 

After going through the whole submitting-my-manuscript-to-my-editor-for-the-first-time process a few times, I've noticed some patterns. Have you finished a writing project and felt/experienced the same things? 

1. The end is nigh!

You can almost smell it. This is such an exciting time. I feel like a world-weary traveler carrying a machete that I dulled cutting through the wilds of the middle of my manuscript. I've come such a long way since the first chapter, where everything was shiny and new and hopeful. Not that there isn't hope at the end. It's just a different kind of feeling. It's a little surreal. In just a few chapters, I'm going to be done. The story will close. WOAH. Soak it in. Then get cracking. 

2. When my characters decide to do whatever they want...

... instead of following the carefully constructed outline I have in my head. This happens ALL THE TIME. Usually it's a good thing, especially when you're still exploring your characters. But the timing is awful when this happens just a week or two before you're supposed to submit your manuscript. 

When this happens to me, I have to stop for a second and ask myself why my character is veering off course. Will following the character be more beneficial than dragging it back into the pre-planned plot? If so, it means I've got a lot of rewriting to d0 (aka no sleep for days).

Other times, a character wandering off has more to do with the above sleep-deprivation than anything. That's when I take a nap and then find my characters behaving nicely again. 

3. Sensing my deadline, my friends instinctively feed me.

I can't tell exactly what gives it away. My pallid skin? The bruise-like shadows under my eyes? Or maybe my gentle, if not worrisome muttering as I scratch out plot points and re-research the steps of the Charleston to practice under my desk?

Friend: How's the writing going?

Me: Oh, you know, pretty okay, just gotta rename a minor character and figure out what color train ticket my MC is using for...

Friend: I made extra Pastelón. Here. 

Me: *shoves fork in mouth*

Either way, I appreciate the extra brain fuel. I'm sure my friends are to thank for being able to keep up with my deadlines... and motivation to squeeze in exercising. 

4. My head is full of music.

I need to listen to music when I write. I don't do ambient sounds. I can't stand silence. So I have my earbuds in as I work on those precious few scenes left in the manuscript. 

I make playlists for every writing project, but I'm probably not using them at this point. It's all about high-energy electronic music or soulful movie soundtracks now. Sometimes I'm lucky and it meshes with my manuscript (wahoo electro swing). 

Unless I know I'm not going to be disturbed, I only wear one earbud. Because most of the time reality demands to be heard and no music in the world can keep it quiet. 

5. Having some kind of vague pride in the finished product. 

At this point, I finished writing the last chapter. I've probably spent months with this manuscript. I know it's strengths, the parts I love and the characters I'm a little sad to part with. But I also know that it's not perfect - and that's okay.

Did I work hard on it? Is it ready for my editor to see? Am I even a teeny bit excited about showing my editor this SECRET THING and that PLOT TWIST and the DID NOT SEE THAT COMING moment in the middle? 

Heck yes, I am. 

Now it's time to return to the land of the living. My bedroom needs dusting and I should probably make my lunch for work tomorrow. 

So Long, 2015! Hello, 2016!

2015, ooooooh, 2015. You were both nightmare fuel and a pastel daydream for me. Adieu. Go away now. 

Over the past few days, I've read blog posts written by friends and chatted on the phone with family about this past year. We all seem to agree that it was a challenge. And by "challenge," I mean soul-shattering, life-changing, #toomanyfeels. 

My lovely writer friends wrote amazing blog posts. I can't possibly be as eloquently rallying as Sam or as bravely honest as Lydia or as bittersweet and hopeful as E.R. Warren; reading about how their 2015's went gave me the shivers. The good kind.  So even though writing a 2015 blog post was the LAST thing on my mind (though it certainly shouldn't have been), I'm taking a stab at it. 

2015 was a year of firsts.

• Becoming an author.
• Securing a full-time, permanent job.
• Awakening to the fact that the people I love are getting older. That I'M getting older. 

Time has been my biggest enemy. Or rather, a friend who had suddenly given me the cold shoulder and stole minutes and hours out of my purse while I was sleeping. 

Why? As my bullet list implies, getting a full-time job AND having my first novel published in the same year was an earthquake to my previously quiet life. 

Transitioning from writer to author was the easier part of 2015, It's one of my life goals, the biggest dream I've ever had, and now it's happened and ohmygoshitisthegreatest. But being an author is not like climbing to the top of the mountain and sticking a flag into the ground. It doesn't end with the publication of one book. THAT is just the beginning. There's so many miles to go. In fact, I'll gladly be climbing for the rest of my life, book by book. 

Then I got my permanent job. This was HUGE. Up until then, I'd been working as a temp - same hours, less responsibility. Contract-based, so if I wasn't renewed, I'd lose my job and have to look for another one. GAH. Applying for jobs is a lot like submitting manuscripts to agents: 90% rejection. But then I found the perfect job in the same company are survived the multiple interviews to get there.

A small galaxy's size of anxiety lifted off my shoulders. 

Annnnnnd, the real challenge of balancing work and writing began. It's something I'm still learning to do now, even in the infant days of 2016.

Yeah, and that last point on my miniature bullet list? GETTING OLD. Now that I'm in my late twenties, I can no longer pretend that I'm totally young and healthy. Not when I fall asleep on the couch at 8pm on weeknights. Not when I manage to pull muscles randomly. Both afflictions may have something to do with being in front of the computer too many hours a day. 

I had in fact made great strides (ha, pun) to exercise and eat healthy in 2015. But the holidays. The holidays. I may have eaten too much fudge. 

My dog Misty is also getting older. She's basically a little old lady who grumbles and glares at me if she can't sit in my lap. 

But it's going to be okay. I have great music to do my workouts with - the kind of songs that would even raise the dead and inspire them to Jazzercize. And if Misty's not feeling well, I'm always there for her... with dog treats. 

2016 is going to have some spillover from 2015. More surprises. LOTS of surprises. Book surprises *shifty eyes* 

How was your 2015? What are you looking forward to for the new year?

Blogwarming Party!

When I first started blogging on Blogger in 2010, I never thought I'd leave it. I was in my second semester of graduate school, still young and innocent and green (probably from teaching anxiety), and I remember deciding that blogging would be one big step towards becoming that writer I wanted to be.  

2015. With my debut novel on the way, it was time to move on. So please say hello to my new internet home on Squarespace. 

Squarespace is SO different from any other platform I've used before. I love it, but it's weird, so don't be surprised if you see some changes over the next... few months? Yeah. 

Have fun exploring the site! I now have the very lovely option of having drop down navigation. This is kind of luxury for me. Excuse me while I metaphorically rub it against my cheek like cashmere. 

Both my work life and writing life have been pretty busy - so much so, that April came and went without me getting to try the new blog. The biggest excitement is Love Fortunes and Other Disasters' release - May 12th is so close. I can almost taste it. I don't know how I'm going to survive the wait (though there's a lovely blog tour happening this week, and a Twitter chat on Wednesday at 9pm, and the Gotham season finale tomorrow night AHHHHH).

My editor has the first draft of my second Swoon Reads book. As I wait for my edit letter, I'm working on the next potential project (and by working, I mean gingerly typing out the opening paragraphs and brainstorming so hard it looks like I'm trying to make my utensils float in midair). 

But listen. I need to share with you some things. Some awesome things. Some first things. Hang on to your hats. 

Twitter is just the greatest thing ever

Yeah, it needed its own subheading. Twitter is one of my favorite social media sites, and it just gets more and more fun every day. Dreams come true on Twitter. Who knew such things were possible with only 140 characters to work with?

For instance, this made my week:

What do you think? I can see a resemblance.

And here's a fairy tale: 

Once upon a 2013, when I was working hard in grad school and extremely active on Figment.com, I wrote a short story for a time traveling writing contest with THE Tamara Ireland Stone as the judge. 

The fact that I was just talking about David Tennant up above, THE DOCTOR, is not lost on me.

"Afternoon at Noodledom Palace" was born - you can still read it on Figment - and I submitted it to the contest. 

And Tamara chose my story for first place. Not only that, but she wrote about why she loved it. I don't have the words to describe how awesome that was. And how hard I fell for Anna and Bennett when I got my hands on Time Between Us.

This week, in a flurry of Love Fortunes activity, I had shared a photo of me seeing a sign at B&N for my local event happening on June 6th - I was so shocked to see signs up so early (and for the first few seconds, truly believed that I was sleepwalking or something. No way that sign was real, right, Kim? GAH. IT WAS REAL). 

Then Tamara commented on it, and we tweeted (or rather, I was fangirling), and then she wrote this:

AHHH. There is no GIF to describe the feels. Ohmygosh. 

Magical magicky week on Twitter. 

Summer of Swoon Tour around the corner

Next week I'm going to be on plane. I might even be coming to YOUR city. 

I might be meeting you. 

WOAH. 

My suitcase is ready. Next weekend is reserved for mostly packing and repacking, burning the itinerary into my skull, and making last-minute errand runs. 

I also need to figure these things out, as illustrated by Buster Keaton. 

1. Be prepared for meeting readers, which includes being a wonderful speaker. I taught for three years, so I'm hoping that even though I'm rusty now, it's like riding a bike:

2. Keep calm and temper the feels. The excitement of seeing the Swoon Staff again. Of meeting my fellow Swoon Authors for the first time (save Karole). Getting to meet readers from all over the U.S. Be still, my heart:

3. And manage to avoid looking at not-so-positive early reviews:

Will I be seeing you on tour? If so, which stop?