It's with a heavy heart that I make this announcement: I've decided to give up writing novels for the foreseeable future. I have spent more than five years now laboring at my computer, striving to create a novel to entertain and engage the minds of young readers the world over. I have completed slightly less than six books at this point, and just don't know that I have the drive to continue on. I've tried several genres - fantasy, realistic fiction, science fiction, mystery - I don't know that any of them have truly been right for me. I'm not sure I can sustain the level of intensity needed to continue trying to produce book after book.
There are other reasons, as well. I've come to realize that the publishing industry is slow as molasses (see, even my similes have grown weak and cliche!). Everything takes so long to get done, that I don't know that I have the time nor the patience to wait for responses from editors any longer.
Perhaps most importantly, I learned recently that I have developed carpal tunnel syndrome as from all the time I spend at my computer typing away at drafts. Similarly, I have a propensity for migraines. I've found that less time spent in front of the computer decreases my odds for developing one of those crippling attacks.
As it happens, I have become enamored of another hobby, one which I intend to pursue with vigor. I've decided that I want to become a professional bowler. Caitie and I have gone bowling the last three weekends in the row, and we fall asleep at night dreaming of how sweet a victory it must be to bowl a perfect 300, to win a league championship, or even, on the outskirts of our fantasies, a world title. The sound of crashing pins fills my dreams, and makes me shiver with excitement at the fantasy. I have decided to dedicate all my free time to pursuing this goal of being a professional bowler, and with my current average now hovering around a meager 100, I have a lot of work to do.
So, as I said at the opening of this post, it is with a heavy heart that I resign myself to a "writer-less life."
As they say in France......
April Fools.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
whew
Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I was doing really well with this blog for a while there -- and then it kind of slipped off.
Sorry about that!
Truth be told, I don't have much in the way of news. We sent out our second round to editors and are waiting to hear. It's pretty nerve-wracking!
Otherwise, not a whole lot has changed in the last month or so.
Sorry about that -- when there's news, I'll certainly let you all know!
Sorry about that!
Truth be told, I don't have much in the way of news. We sent out our second round to editors and are waiting to hear. It's pretty nerve-wracking!
Otherwise, not a whole lot has changed in the last month or so.
Sorry about that -- when there's news, I'll certainly let you all know!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Update
No, I'm not gone, and I haven't forgotten about the blog either.
Honestly, there just hasn't been much to talk about.
We're still waiting on editors. We should be sending out to a second round within the next week or so. Stats: no response from five of the ten; three rejections (though I suspect the reason for these was simply we aimed too young -- the book is geared more towards young teen and we queried in the 3-6 grade range due to a misunderstanding by both me and my agent of the terms "middle grade" and "young adult." I think we got ourselves straightened out more for round two. We still have two editors who have the book who we haven't heard responses from. When we get more of an update, I'll certainly post it.
Caitie and I have been trying to see the Oscar nominated movies. So far:
The Help - Caitie saw it, I haven't. She loved it.
Descendents - Neither of us have seen it yet.
War Horse - Neither of us.
Moneyball - both watched it, thought it was pretty good. Not a winner, but good.
Hugo - both saw it - both loved it.
Artist - Fantastic movie - both of our picks for best of the year.
Tree of Life - we watched a half hour of it and had no idea what we were watching.
Midnight in Paris - have next on our Netflix queue
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Caitie wants to see it because she read the book, I'm not particularly interested.
I'll probably do a more complete Oscar prediction post when we get a little closer to the show.
On a last note, my great uncle died earlier this week. I didn't really know him - only met him a handful of times. We decided not to go to the funeral because it is in Florida and we can't really afford the expense of the trip. It would have been nice to see our family, but I think using a funeral for that purpose is somewhat tacky. Still, my thoughts are with my dad and family there today.
Honestly, there just hasn't been much to talk about.
We're still waiting on editors. We should be sending out to a second round within the next week or so. Stats: no response from five of the ten; three rejections (though I suspect the reason for these was simply we aimed too young -- the book is geared more towards young teen and we queried in the 3-6 grade range due to a misunderstanding by both me and my agent of the terms "middle grade" and "young adult." I think we got ourselves straightened out more for round two. We still have two editors who have the book who we haven't heard responses from. When we get more of an update, I'll certainly post it.
Caitie and I have been trying to see the Oscar nominated movies. So far:
The Help - Caitie saw it, I haven't. She loved it.
Descendents - Neither of us have seen it yet.
War Horse - Neither of us.
Moneyball - both watched it, thought it was pretty good. Not a winner, but good.
Hugo - both saw it - both loved it.
Artist - Fantastic movie - both of our picks for best of the year.
Tree of Life - we watched a half hour of it and had no idea what we were watching.
Midnight in Paris - have next on our Netflix queue
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Caitie wants to see it because she read the book, I'm not particularly interested.
I'll probably do a more complete Oscar prediction post when we get a little closer to the show.
On a last note, my great uncle died earlier this week. I didn't really know him - only met him a handful of times. We decided not to go to the funeral because it is in Florida and we can't really afford the expense of the trip. It would have been nice to see our family, but I think using a funeral for that purpose is somewhat tacky. Still, my thoughts are with my dad and family there today.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Wow - sorry!
Sorry it's been so long since my last post! I didn't realize it had been so long!
I think part of the reason for it is simply that I've been waiting -- waiting for editors to get back to me about my book. I've had a couple of pretty "positive" rejections, and we're still waiting on three others. Hopefully something will come of the waiting -- but who knows how long it'll be until I actually hear anything.
That said, I just want to say that Rachael is awesome - I couldn't be happier than I am with her.
Otherwise, not much else new really. Caitie has been working and liking her job quite a lot. I've been working and - well - teaching is teaching.
I'm almost done reading the third Game of Thrones book - it got deadly slow in the middle, but the last 350 pages or so (yeah, last 350 pages!) were pretty intense. I joined the sci-fi book club, so I'm practically swimming in books to read now. I have no idea where I'm going next (but definitely taking a break from Martin for a little bit!).
If I don't have anything else to report on here, I hope all my readers have an excellent and wonderful holiday. Here's hoping for all good things in 2012!
I think part of the reason for it is simply that I've been waiting -- waiting for editors to get back to me about my book. I've had a couple of pretty "positive" rejections, and we're still waiting on three others. Hopefully something will come of the waiting -- but who knows how long it'll be until I actually hear anything.
That said, I just want to say that Rachael is awesome - I couldn't be happier than I am with her.
Otherwise, not much else new really. Caitie has been working and liking her job quite a lot. I've been working and - well - teaching is teaching.
I'm almost done reading the third Game of Thrones book - it got deadly slow in the middle, but the last 350 pages or so (yeah, last 350 pages!) were pretty intense. I joined the sci-fi book club, so I'm practically swimming in books to read now. I have no idea where I'm going next (but definitely taking a break from Martin for a little bit!).
If I don't have anything else to report on here, I hope all my readers have an excellent and wonderful holiday. Here's hoping for all good things in 2012!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Editors
Rachael sent me a list of editors today she's going to submit to - places like Scholastic, Simon and Schuster, Harper Children's etc. I can't wait to see the pitch she's going to put together -- it's starting to feel very real!
Sorry this is so short - I don't really have much more than that now.
Just very excited!
Sorry this is so short - I don't really have much more than that now.
Just very excited!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Edits
Rachael (my awesome agent) sent me edits today on my book. There were far less than I expected - mostly minor things like spacing, punctuation, and a few awkwardly worded sentences. She even caught a couple of small references I messed up that only someone who really "gets" theater would have caught.
Next step - she writes the query and starts submitting to publishers...
That's when the REAL nerves start kicking in!
Next step - she writes the query and starts submitting to publishers...
That's when the REAL nerves start kicking in!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
The Music of ....the mid-Afternoon
To be fair, it was night in London when the 25th Anniversary concert at the Royal Albert Hall began, but it was only 2pm here in New Jersey when we saw it at our local movie theater. Thank you, Fathom Entertainment - the last year alone you gave us Company, Memphis, Les Mis, and now this spectacular production of The Phantom of the Opera.
Caitie and I had been planning to see this for months. While Phantom isn't either of our FAVORITE shows, it's one we both spent a lot of time listening to, and both of us have seen more than once. All right, we both pretty much know the show by heart. I hit those high notes Christine sings at the end of the title song every time. The last sentence is a huge lie.
Anyway, we were surprised to find some small lyric changes:
"Think of me, every so often, promise me you'll try.""
Wait..wha? "Every so often"? Since when? Both of us always knew it as "Think of me, once in a while, please promise me you'll try."
Well, odd lyric changes aside, the concert was spectacular. I don't really know that it can be called a "concert" as it was fully staged. True, they didn't drop the chandelier (I'm guessing because they rig it in the theater) and the cool trick during the title song when Phantom and Christine go from the top of the stage to the bottom in an instant wasn't there, but most of the original staging (as I remember it) was there. Ramin Karimloo has a rich voice and made a wonderful Phantom. I've heard him on the cast albums of "Love Never Dies" (don't get me started) and as Enjolras in the Les Mis concert. He has a great career ahead of him. Similarly, Sierra Boggess was incredible as Christine. Her "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" was probably the best rendition of the song I've ever heard. It was simply beautiful. We saw her a few years ago in "The Little Mermaid" - she was good then, but she's improved quite a lot. The rest of the cast was equally impressive - the Carlotta was more expressive than I remember and had a great "opera" voice (I'm sorry, I don't know the technical terms - other than knowing she's a soprano - I think.)
The end surprise was great fun. I love Colm Wilkinson, so was happy to see him there. I recognized John Owen-Jones - and there was that other guy who had that incredible, crystal clear voice - who was it? Oh yeah - one of our favorite performers, Anthony Warlow! Sarah Brightman was there, and for some reason Michael Crawford didn't sing. Andrew Lloyd Webber is the most awkward man on the planet, but I doubt he cares much.
While Webber's not my favorite composer by any stretch, he has written several great (and some not so great) scores - Phantom definitely is amongst his best. It's hard to argue with 25 years of success, and even after all these years, "Music of the Night" is still gorgeous, the relationship between Raoul and Christine still makes no sense, and the end scene in the lair is still moving and beautiful.
Caitie and I had been planning to see this for months. While Phantom isn't either of our FAVORITE shows, it's one we both spent a lot of time listening to, and both of us have seen more than once. All right, we both pretty much know the show by heart. I hit those high notes Christine sings at the end of the title song every time. The last sentence is a huge lie.
Anyway, we were surprised to find some small lyric changes:
"Think of me, every so often, promise me you'll try.""
Wait..wha? "Every so often"? Since when? Both of us always knew it as "Think of me, once in a while, please promise me you'll try."
Well, odd lyric changes aside, the concert was spectacular. I don't really know that it can be called a "concert" as it was fully staged. True, they didn't drop the chandelier (I'm guessing because they rig it in the theater) and the cool trick during the title song when Phantom and Christine go from the top of the stage to the bottom in an instant wasn't there, but most of the original staging (as I remember it) was there. Ramin Karimloo has a rich voice and made a wonderful Phantom. I've heard him on the cast albums of "Love Never Dies" (don't get me started) and as Enjolras in the Les Mis concert. He has a great career ahead of him. Similarly, Sierra Boggess was incredible as Christine. Her "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" was probably the best rendition of the song I've ever heard. It was simply beautiful. We saw her a few years ago in "The Little Mermaid" - she was good then, but she's improved quite a lot. The rest of the cast was equally impressive - the Carlotta was more expressive than I remember and had a great "opera" voice (I'm sorry, I don't know the technical terms - other than knowing she's a soprano - I think.)
The end surprise was great fun. I love Colm Wilkinson, so was happy to see him there. I recognized John Owen-Jones - and there was that other guy who had that incredible, crystal clear voice - who was it? Oh yeah - one of our favorite performers, Anthony Warlow! Sarah Brightman was there, and for some reason Michael Crawford didn't sing. Andrew Lloyd Webber is the most awkward man on the planet, but I doubt he cares much.
While Webber's not my favorite composer by any stretch, he has written several great (and some not so great) scores - Phantom definitely is amongst his best. It's hard to argue with 25 years of success, and even after all these years, "Music of the Night" is still gorgeous, the relationship between Raoul and Christine still makes no sense, and the end scene in the lair is still moving and beautiful.
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