Love Your Neighbor

I have tried my best to hold my tongue over the whole Chick-Fil-A thing. But I have found over the past few days that I feel very strongly about this, and since this is my blog, I am going to use it as an outlet to say how I feel. Read it or don't, I am not trying to change anyone's mind or beliefs. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I do not judge anyone who believes anything other than what I do.

What Do You Do When Your Book Idea Isn't Unique?

WHY, OF COURSE YOUR IDEA IS UNIQUE!!!

I recently came across this problem while reading a new book. My work in progress is something that I've  been planning for about three years. It's a concept that has always intrigued me, and I'd never read any other YA book with this storyline. As I plotted the story out, I wanted to pat myself on the back and congratulate my genius brain for being so awesome because NO ONE HAD EVER THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE.

Then I sat down to read Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. My first thoughts:

• Oh my gosh, y'all this book is so good. 
• Her prose! ACK! ENVY! Beautiful! I want to pet the pages!
• This character is so beautifully broken that I want to jump inside the novel and give her a hug! (Even though, you know, Juliette would kill me... But she wouldn't feel good about it.)

Then I got to a part that completely shattered me. (You see what I did there?) One of her main plot points is EXACTLY like mine. I was crushed. Here is this amazing writer, already agented by one of the top agents in the industry, published by one of the most prestigious YA houses in America, and to top it all off, her prose could suffocate mine like a sugar coated boa constrictor. 

I stopped writing for weeks. I mean, what was I going to do? I was already halfway through my WIP and what was the point of continuing it? Surely no agent is going to want to take on a copycat project. I felt so defeated that I considered scrapping the 20,000 words I had and starting completely over-- even though I LOVED those 20,000 words like WHOA. 

This project was SO different from my previous manuscript that is now shelved, and I just KNEW that it was going to be the one to get me an agent. It had a unique plot and it was science fiction (which is wanted in the YA market right now), so I was going to have to no trouble finding an agent this time. 

But someone got to the finish line before me.

So what DO you do when you see your genius book idea written by someone else? YOU WRITE IT ANYWAY. 

After five weeks of abandoning my manuscript and feeding my depression over it, I said, "You know what? I'm going to write this novel anyway!" My main character is nothing like Shatter Me's Juliette. Actually, my main character is what classifies the novel as science fiction. THAT was different than Shatter Me. 

And that was just the first of a string of things that I realized made my novel unique from Tahereh's. It really is true that the execution of a concept is what makes you different from everyone else who has thought of the same thing. No one thinks exactly alike-- it's what makes us all unique. (There I go, sounding like a kindergarten teacher. Everyone join hands, let's sing Kumbaya) 

So even if you have an idea for the NEXT BIG NOVEL and then see it a week later on a Barnes and Noble shelf, write it anyway! I promise that it will turn out 97.6% different than anyone else's similar idea. (My math may be off by a bit. It's not my strong suit). 

(NOTE: If for some reason Tahereh Mafi ever reads this post, please know: I am a huge fan of yours! No disrespect was intended for you or your amazing book. And how cool is it that Tahereh Mafi is reading my blog right now?)

When It's Time To Shelve Your Manuscript...

The Raven Boys

I've made it no secret that Maggie Stiefvater is my #1 author crush. I've loved everything she's ever written, whether it be a novel, short story, or blog post, so imagine my delight when she posted the trailer for her upcoming book today:

SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Among her talent for writing, she is an artist and a musician. So not only did she write the book, she wrote and recorded the music for the trailer AND drew and animated it. She's totally crush worthy, am I right??? (Insert teenage girl scream).

The book looks amazing (I would expect nothing less of a Maggie Stiefvater novel) and I can't WAIT for September to hurry up and get here so I can read it!!!

Without further ado, here is Maggie's gorgeous trailer for her upcoming novel, THE RAVEN BOYS:

SQUEEEEE!!!!!

My First Vlog!

HEY! I filmed my very first vlog! It's kind of boring, but I do randomly break out into song...

Writing Marathon Days 4-6

So the writing marathon has kind of turned out to be a fail...

 But I have a good excuse! I was at the beach, fishing and swimming and getting majorly sunburned!!! We stayed with my husband's awesome aunt, and there was never a free moment for me to crack open my computer (or notebook). Seriously, besides that first day when I sat by the pool for like 15 minutes and wrote 300 words, I never had the chance to take my laptop out of it's protective case. On the day we took the boat in the Gulf so I could finally catch one of the giant fish my husband always brags about catching,  I took a notebook and a pen with me with the intent to write while he fished (because fishing only holds my interest for about one hour). But I got sea sick after 10 minutes of being out there, so we came back to the beach and swam instead.

But am I sad about this fail? NOPE. Trying to write a book while being in college/having a job/being a human is hard. If you're a writer, you know that well. Life doesn't slow down for you to write your book-- you have to make time for it in between all the everyday things. And yes, I start back to school on Tuesday and won't have another long break until December, but I wrote my last book while I was in the midst of exams, piles of dirty money (I'm a bank teller), and dirty dishes and I can do it again! I needed that vacation and it was AMAZING to not think about anything except for, "what bathing suit should I wear today?" and "is it time to put on more sunscreen yet?"

I'm back home today, but I slept in, then watched the Glee season finale. And in a little while, I'm going to see The Avengers (FINALLY!) with my husband, and I'm not going to feel guilty about that either. (Though I do plan on taking my laptop to sneak in some words while he shops for boat parts before the movie, because what woman wants to tag along in a boating parts store???) But every time I watch a good movie, it seriously motivates me to go home and write ton (and I've heard from like, virtually EVERYBODY that The Avengers is kick-ass) 

So anyway. I'm not completely giving up on the 5,000 words a day goal for the next few days, but I've hit a wall in the story. The plot is going well, but I need to go back to the beginning and rework some of the world building and character motivations before I go much further. That's my plan for today! 

And yes, I promised y'all a vlog when the marathon is over, so I am trying to decide what in the world to talk about for 3-5 minutes. ANY IDEAS??? Throw 'em at me!  

Writing Marathon Day 3

Well. Today's word count was an epic fail. BUT! I've had a busy busy day!

1.) Had a follow up appointment from last week's kidney stone removal. I'm good, btw!

2.) Drove an hour and a half to the beach

3.) Launched our boat

4.) hung out by the pool and wrote some words!

5.) went on a boat ride

6.) GOT EPICALLY SUNBURNED. Seriously, redheaded-fair-skinned people like me were NOT made for the beach. This happens to me every time I go out in the sun for more than 30 minutes though, so it was expected.



7.) I am so tired that my plan to write in my awesome little bunk bed is dead. I can't even muster the strength to type this on my laptop because that would mean having to find out the wifi password, and THAT would mean going back downstairs. My sunburned limbs can't take it.

So my word count of the day ended with a total of 382. Not even close! But I told y'all I had no faith in myself while I'm at the beach. Sunday and Monday I'll meet the goal for sure, though!!! If the fish aren't biting, I'm going to shoot for hand written words tomorrow. So we'll see how that goes!

I bid you farewell dear readers. Pass me the lidocaine-aloe gel if you don't mind.