Next step?

So my agent and I just went through a pretty intense round of edits on "Before White." She went through my first book with a fine-tooth comb, admitting she was being picky, but tearing the book to pieces. She gave me a ton of suggestions for places to improve grammatically, character motivation, showing things (holy cow I told a lot I should have shown back when I wrote this!), and, most importantly to me, showing me places to cut things down.

In the end, the book is about 10,000 words shorter than it was and much more streamlined. Chapters have been moved, events are now SHOWN and not told, and hopefully the grammatical mistakes are corrected. I will admit there were a few changes made I didn't quite understand the purpose of (such as rewording some sentences), but I went along with her suggestions since everything else seemed to be so right on the money.

She has the book back now and is reviewing it for any final changes. She'll then write a query letter and try to get the book out in front of publishers. Caitie has often joked that it would be something if we managed to sell this book after all the other writing and attempts haven't succeeded. I sincerely hope she's right and we can get my writing career going.

And I'm so ready to get it going. We've discussed numerous possibilities for what my future holds, and ultimately the one career I feel I most want to do is to become a professional writer. Being able to set my own hours to write is very appealing. I don't mind being on deadlines - I'm great with deadlines. If anything (and I would guess Rachael would agree with this) I work too quickly more often than not. The idea of going to writing panels and seminars, speaking in front of schools or bookstores or what have you sounds like a ton of fun. Yeah, I know the traveling would be hard, but I think it would be exciting and an adventure - something my current career certainly lacks.

I think the idea of signing books looks like fun. My wrist will hurt, sure, and I'll get sick of it after a while I'm sure, but I don't know that meeting fans and meeting people who are excited to read my stuff would ever get boring.

Being a media presence on twitter and a blog and Facebook? I could absolutely do that. It sounds like it might be frustrating in terms of balancing time, but I tend to write in spurts anyway. There's no reason I couldn't do that as well, and do it fully.

As for the money, certainly I would hope to be able to sustain myself on what I get from writing and from any fees accrued through speaking. If I need a part time job to support myself, freelance writing or some other job wouldn't be too terrible until such a time as writing could be my focus. It might be difficult for a little while for us, but it's better than complaining about work every day, is it not?

Am I missing anything else a writer would have to do? Is there some aspect of the job that I'm not getting? Is there any reason that I shouldn't have this as my dream? Is it unattainable for me? I certainly hope not...

I certainly hope not.

Wow, well, it's been quite a while, old friend, hasn't it? There's quite a bit to catch up on from the past few months.

On the writing front, I've been continuing to work on my adult fantasy novel. I'm about 125 pages into it and I have a pretty good idea where it's going. The change from YA to adult is certainly interesting. In some ways it's freer because I don't have to worry about language or perhaps having my characters do things that are despicable. On the other hand, I'm so used to writing YA that it feels strange having a character curse or talking about attempted rape. It feels a little out of place for me - I hope it doesn't read that way.

Rachael has edited Before White for me and we'll be sending it to editors in the new year. I'm very excited about this - hopefully we have better luck than we did with Connie. To be fair, there are still editors who have Connie and we're waiting to hear from them, so it's certainly not out of the range of possibilities. It's just a big waiting game, isn't it?

School has gotten especially rough. Administrators are all over everybody about every little thing. My supervisor has really been on me, and I've gotten to a point that I'm actively looking at other jobs until this writing thing can take off. If anyone knows anything in the central NJ area...

Let's see, Caitie and I went to see Jason Mraz in concert a couple of weeks ago. He was excellent. Our seats were terrible, but he was A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

We've seen several movies: Argo (EXCELLENT!), Lincoln (pretty good but boring first half hour or so), Wreck-It Ralph (very cute!), Flight (decent movie, Washington was great) and Looper (a real mind-twister and very entertaining). We cannot WAIT to see Les Miserables on Christmas (yes, we convinced her parents and we're going on Christmas).

In books, the best I've read in the last couple of months was The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde. It's a MG book, but HUGELY entertaining. I definitely recommend it. Right now I'm reading A Fraction of the Whole - an adult book that is thick but SO well written that I don't care.

In TV shows, the only new ones of the season we're still watching are Revolution (I seem to be addicted, Caitie can take it or leave it), Go On (Caitie likes it more than I do) and Next To Normal (we both like it). We're still hooked on Once Upon a Time and Modern Family. American Horror Story has been pretty good this year, though I don't find it as engaging as I did last year. The Walking Dead has been excellent - I'm definitely curious where it's going. My second favorite show of the fall was Parenthood. We always watched it, but it's been incredibly good this season - funny, smart, moving and totally engaging. My favorite show of the fall though is, without doubt, Homeland. Holy crap is that a good show. I can't believe we have to wait till next September to find out what happens next.

Caitie is still at Book of the Month Club. Her job keeps changing which is very frustrating to her, but at least she really likes the people she works with (and they like working with her as well).

We'll be heading to Ohio for Christmas (and Les Mis!) with Caitie's family - our holiday tradition - and then back here for my birthday and New Year. I can't believe we're on the seventh year of me going to OH for the holidays already.

So, old friend, I hope you have a very happy holiday, whatever you may celebrate, and you have a very happy new year!

Love,
Jason

Well, I haven't written much in the past month -- I haven't had a whole lot to say to be honest. Caitie and I went to the Poconos for a weekend and had a great time. We went to Ohio for Labor Day weekend for her brother's wedding. It was a great affair - lots of fun and we're burning with jealousy that he's now in Disney World for the week on his honeymoon.

With school starting again, my reading time is diminishing quite a bit. This is partly due to not having the time, but more so just being too tired to focus on a page for very long. That said I did read quite a few books this summer. Here are some quick reviews of the books I got through. Hope I have more to write about soon!

A Dance With Dragons: Book five of The Song and Ice and Fire was WAY better than book four. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but the ending had me dying for the next one. If you're going to try the series, don't let book four dissuade you - five is a return to greatness.

Me The People: I picked this up thinking it would be a humorous rewriting of the Constitution - turned out to be a fascinating history detailing each amendment. The rewriting part was more of a gimmick, but the writer's dealing with the Constitution, explaining the amendments' meanings and purposes and, more interestingly to me, their origins was riveting. Definitely recommended!

The Passage: First thing I can say - this book was LONG. It was REALLY long. In fact, it was too long. The first two hundred pages or so was a prologue that turned out to be the origins of what happens in the next six hundred pages or so. That said, the book was really exciting and definitely kept me hooked. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

The Wishing Spell: This is Chris Colfer's debut novel. Honestly, he's not that great an author. Some of his writing is just awkward and the language seems almost TOO catered to young readers. That said, the story itself was pretty interesting. It was a quick read, at any rate, so worth the time for the story that entwines a bunch of fairy tale characters into it (I'm a sucker for that).

Redshirts: The first 2/3 of the book was fantastic. It was funny, it was intriguing, it was very smart. And then the last 1/3 happened -- and I have no idea what to make of it. The end of the book was a weird postscript that didn't really work with the rest of it. I would almost say it's worth reading the beginning 2/3 and then stopping when the main story is over (which I know is REALLY weird advice, but there it is).

The Fault in Our Stars: All right, I'll give Caitie credit for this one. She's been begging me to read John Green, and I've finally given in. This book was brilliant. He is a great writer (yes, Caitie, I know) and he certainly kept me enthralled in a story about (honestly) cancer patients. Yeah, the end was kind of predictable, but the style and writing was so strong I hardly cared. Highly recommended!

Doctor Who - Shada: This was Douglas Adam's script for a Tom Baker Doctor Who episode turned into a novel - and honestly, that's EXACTLY what the book read like. If you like Doctor Who and you like Hitchhiker's Guide, well, this is the book for you. It was entertaining, certainly - only thing I can really complain about was it wasn't David Tenant's Doctor, but you know, you get what you get.

The Good Thief: I was kind of disappointed in this one. I expected more of a Dickensian type story than it was. There weren't any big twists, the characters were fairly well drawn but not particularly memorable, and the story dragged in parts. Yeah, I read the whole thing, but more because it was short and I pushed on through more than anything else.

Fairy Godmother (in process of reading): I'm adding this in here because I have just 100 pages to go, but I have to say it's WAY better than I expected. Mercedes Lackey is an EXCELLENT writer - it kind of reminds me of The Magician in that, like Lev Grossman, there's just wonder to be seen on every page. You never quite know what fairy tale is being skewed (or being created) from page to page, and the twist on classic tales really is expertly done. Definitely looking forward to reading more of the 500 Kingdoms!

So, it turns out, I read a LOT during the summer! Hope I can keep up some of it during the school year (not too likely, sadly). Guess I need to go spend some more time in Ohio!

Dark Knight Rises review

We finally got to see TDKR yesterday.

Disclosure on my opinion of the previous two films: Batman Begins was long with a solid ending. The Dark Knight was good. Heath Ledger was fantastic - the movie itself? Too long with some confusing set pieces.

Now, going into TDKR I had heard mixed things. It turns out that the "mixed" reviews were right on the money. The first hour, hour and a half or so DRAGGED. I understand the need for setup, especially with so many characters, but even once that's said, a fairly major player in the finale was conveniently ignored through the first half of the film.

Once the movie kicked into gear (I'd say around the time of the football stadium), it got much better. The last hour or so flew by.

Bane was an interesting villain, to be sure, but nothing compared to Heath Ledger's Joker. I didn't have as much trouble hearing what he had to say (and in fact found the voice downright creepy) but it did bring up other questions. First, how does he eat? I mean, Darth Vader could take his helmet off. Bane can't take the mask off. I also wondered why when it came down to it, Batman and he fought street-fighter style. No cool toys - just punches. Hmph.

To be honest, I didn't get the point of Catwoman in the movie. It's nothing against Anne Hathaway who I thought was great - I just feel the part was underwritten.

There are a couple of surprises in the movie I won't spoil here - one in particular where I turned to Caitie and, surprised, declared the mystery solved. She turned back to me "Duh!" - she had it figured out way earlier. D'oh!

Overall, I feel Nolan could have cut 45 minutes from the front of the movie. Otherwise, it was a pretty solid film and ending to the series.

One final point -- I confess I flinched HEAVILY at the gunfire in the movie. Granted, it was LOUD in our theater, but memories of the shooting couldn't be avoided throughout the film. It's a shame the movie will be scarred by that - I wonder how long gunshots in films will set me edge.

The shooting in Colorado and Polyamory

There's a show on Showtime late at night called Polyamory about people who are in a more than monogamous relationship. One story is a couple with a girlfriend, one is about a couple dating another couple. My initial reaction was "Good for them, not for me, but good for them." On the surface it felt like trash TV, but in the wake of what happened in Colorado at The Dark Knight Rises premiere, the show took on a different meaning for me and helped speak to just how crazy far right wing this country has become.


I can only imagine that if any Conservatives decided to shell out for Showtime (who knows, maybe they like Big Brother After Dark), they would probably flip their lids over this show. People in MORE than monogamous relationships? People with KIDS having a family that's more than mother and father? No way!


What impacted me the most after watching the first two episodes of this was how many times the two families highlighted used the word "love." At first I thought they were a little crazy - "love" this, "love" that, "love" energy - and so on. I mean, I love my wife and we tell each other that we love each other all the time, but it seems rare to hear people on TV tell each other they are in love and mean it - and even more so often.


So what is it exactly that Conservatives would have against this show which CLEARLY goes against what's "normal"? How can people be so against loving each other, if that's what's right for themselves. The show deals with how these people have to handle themselves psychologically - fully communicate problems and discuss them with the others they share their lives with. To me, it looked a lot more healthy than many of the families I've seen on TV.


After watching the show I went to bed last night thinking about this. My wife gets up early to go to work, and she woke me up this morning to tell me about the shooting in Colorado. She gave me a big hug before going to work. I couldn't get the thought of it out of my mind. I lay awake in bed for a good 45 minutes or so before drifting back to a restless sleep. I've spent most of today watching CNN and the coverage of the tragedy. Of course, now around 4pm afterwards, bubbles of talk about gun control are rising.


On a social media site my wife and I frequent, reddit.com, talk is already coming up and sides are being drawn - those who are calling for more gun control, those who are fighting against it - the same old nonsense that comes up any time there's a tragedy along these lines.


I try to wrap my mind around the arguments for allowing people to have guns. Yeah, maybe it won't make a difference - those who want them will still get them. But wouldn't making it more difficult for these people be ideal? Shouldn't we run background checks on people, see why they WANT guns in the first place? I don't know the answer to this, and I am not that informed on gun control debate issues, truth be told. To me, though, today seems like the wrong time to jump to the defense of keeping stocked up on weapons and ammo come hell or highwater.


This brings me back to my original point - when did half this country become so backwards? They would argue against people who love each other being together and happy (and if not in polyamorous ways, at least in homosexual monogamous ways), and argue for the preservation of guns in the home. How did half this country become so cold, so out for themselves, so selfish as to not realize that they live in a community with some 300 million other people who are also looking for the same things they are - happiness, love, and the freedom to enjoy those things?


I don't know the answer. I can't even begin to explain it and tragedies like what happened last night make me try to wrap my mind around it even more.


I'll just end with this: I love my wife and my family very much. I'm very glad I have them to live with, to hug, and to enjoy. I just think we can learn more from the "freaks" out there, then from the "supposedly normal" right wing crazies who seem to scream from our televisions day in and day out for a return to normalcy.


I can't wait till my wife gets home to give her a huge hug.

I got to go to BEA for a day

A few weeks ago, my agent Rachael had posted a contest on Twitter through another site to win a free pass to BEA for a day. I entered and forgot about it. On Wednesday I got an email that everyone who entered won a free pass to the event. As it turned out, I had plans to take the day off already to go into the city to meet Rachael for lunch (more on that in a little bit), so yay - I got a full day out of it! I woke up with Caitie to catch her usual bus to work (not something I was thrilled about doing on my day off, but hey, I get to sleep late every day in two weeks, so no complaining, right?). When we got to the city, I walked to the Javits center and spent twenty minutes trying to figure out where to go to register. It turned out I was on the wrong floor, but eventually figured it out. When I registered, I received a tote bag with a couple of books in it - one The Passage which I really wanted to read anyway, and The Age of Miracles, one Caitie tells me is supposed to be fantastic. I spent the next couple of hours wandering around the expo floor, looking at books, talking to a couple of authors, and being generally amazed at how VASTLY huge the place was. At eleven I had to make a choice: a panel on writing strong females in middle grade books or a panel of actors talking about taking words from the stage to the page (based on a new book about Actor's Equity coming out). Both are right up my alley, so it was not an easy choice to make! I chose the latter on instinct, and was glad I did. The speakers were Estelle Parsons, Andre deShields, Nick Wyman, David Henry Hwang, and Robert Simonson. I was so very impressed with all of them who spoke from such experience and clear love of their jobs. deShields especially impressed me - the man is just a fountain of wisdom! There were a couple of highlights from the panel. First, deShields when asked how he takes a character from the page to the stage said, "you need to find the character's music." He went on to explain that even if it's not a musical, every character has a song, and you need to listen to him to find it. Once you have, you'll be able to know who the character is better. Hwang talked about how he usually will get an idea for the beginning of a play and an idea for the end, but the middle is different. He said he'll often need to force characters to do what he wants at first, but then they start talking to him and he just transcribes what they say. It's a fascinating way of writing - one that I have to confess to not being entirely unfamiliar with as well. Parsons talked a but about being serious about acting - when she's in a play she's completely focused on her role, no matter how large or small. She feels it's disrespectful when younger actors have their computers back stage or whatever - they should be focused on giving their best performance during the time the play is running. After the panel ended, I went to meet Caitie and Rachael for lunch. I don't have a ton to share about this, other than that I am so glad she is my agent. Rachael is excited, enthusiastic, and clearly working hard for me and her other clients. She also likes many of the same things we do (we even got the same meal!), so lunch was easy and comfortable. I left feeling very comfortable with her as my agent, so it was a very successful meeting. We walked back to the convention center and parted ways. I went back to wander around a little bit more, and then left the center to wait for Caitie to get out of work. It was a wonderful day - one I would love to experience again next year!

It's been a while since I've posted, I suppose. I'm still waiting to hear from editors -- they've had my book for quite a while though apparently, well, it takes a while :) I'm hoping for some news soon! On the plus side, I will get to meet Rachael, my wonderful agent, in a couple of weeks for lunch! I'm very excited about that! School is winding down for the year. Just a couple more weeks and it'll be summer break! The year actually went surprisingly quickly, though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't REALLY looking forward to the break. On the reading front, I've recently finished the fourth Song of Fire and Ice book. I can't say I was particularly PLEASED with it - it REALLY dragged - but I understand book five is supposed to be better. That'll have to wait till after I finish Stephen King's latest Dark Tower quick-read. I don't really know what people think of King, but I find him to be a master of language. It amazes me when I read passages in his books that are nearly in a different language, yet they make complete sense in context. He's not a bad story teller either -- he knows how to give thrills and he knows how to keep you reading. His endings don't always match up with the rest of the book in terms of quality (see Under the Dome for a great example of this), but considering how strong his stories generally are, that's easily forgivable. And, well, I guess that's about it for now. Here's hoping I'll be back with good news soon....