Mini-post #2: Experiment

I am experimenting.

I am re-starting my WiP (in a blank document, just for the heck of it), but I am typing it in a weird font. I chose one that I thought my mc would pick. It may be too early to tell, but I think it's helping with voice.

Has anyone else tried this? (Of course, I'll switch back to Times New Roman 12pt when I'm done.)

Mini-post #1: Susan's Contest

The sensational Susan Fields is having a 100-blog-follower contest. Congratulations, Susan! If you like to buy books, you should enter, because you might win and then you will be able to buy MORE books.

I Recommend: Goose

From time to time, I stumble upon a book about adoption that I'm not expecting to be about adoption.

GOOSE by Molly Bang is a wonderful example.

I picked it out randomly at our library. It sat for a few days before we got around to reading it. When I did read it, though, I was touched by its simple, poignant story.

A goose egg rolls into a woodchuck hole. The egg hatches and the gosling is raised by the woodchuck family.

I thought at first this would be a retelling of the Ugly Duckling story. But it isn't. The woodchuck family adores the gosling. They raise her well. They teach her everything they know: how to swim, how to build.

Goose is happy for a long time, but not complete. When she reaches maturity, she deals with a depression she can't explain. Because of this, she sets out on her own, wandering aimlessly through the dark night. Accidentally slipping off a cliff, she's sure her life is over. But during the long drop down, Goose learns to fly.

This is a beautiful coming of age story. It's in the epiphany of her darkest moment that she discovers a talent that distinguishes her from the rest of her family. She is able to fly home to the woodchucks with a sense of completeness.

I don't know how this story will apply to a human adoption story. I'm thinking, of course, of my daughter Olivia. I don't know what the future will hold, what her personal struggles will be. I wonder if someday she'll find a talent that was given her by nature and not by nurture, one she'll share with her birth family (though she may never know for sure), something that delights her soul and makes her spread her wings.

There's also a lesson in here for me: that there's a time to let go, to let a child find their wings. Not yet, though. But I know that day will come.

I'd be remiss at this point if I didn't talk about some great news our good friends in China just received.

I was with my dear friend Megan the day she first saw her daughter Rose. Rose was an orphan who'd been sent to the orphanage as a baby. A British woman took her as an infant and raised her for several years. But when this woman's visa expired and the government forced her to leave China, she had no choice but to send Rose back to the orphanage.

Rose only spoke English (with a British accent!). The orphanage director asked if any English-speakers in our community would be willing to provide foster care for her. My friend Megan and her husband Mark offered to help. I remember seeing Rose for the first time in the four-year-old room, sitting at the table, playing with playdough. Megan and I were both stunned by how beautiful she was. Poor sweet thing! She must have been so confused being back at the orphanage surrounded by people who didn't speak her language!

To make a long story short, over the course of the last four years Megan and Mark thought they were going to lose Rose twice. The Chinese Adoption Administration matched her paperwork with two different families at two different times. My friends had to fight to keep Rose in their home. But just this last week, they received their official referral for Rose's adoption. After four years, they will be able to officially adopt their daughter.

Of course, this mirrors our family's experience in many ways. Two years ago, around this time of year, we received our referral for our then six-year-old daughter Olivia. It had been a wait of six and a half years to receive that paperwork. I remember that insane feeling of disbelief and joy and overwhelming thankfulness ... I know my dear friend Megan is feeling that now!

Congratulations, Mark, Megan, Rose, & Grace! We are so happy for you!

And I'm so thankful for adoption, I don't even mind being the woodchuck in the equation.

Boring, Not Boring, & Sweet

Yesterday I felt boring.

Clarification: Not BORED. I didn't feel BORED. I had plenty to do. I just felt boring.

Have you ever had a day like that?

I tried to work on my WiP, but I think I was doing more harm than good (because I was boring).

I switched over to edit my dad's novel instead. Ripping another person's creative work apart was no problem, but attempting to do anything creative myself was an exercise in fruitlessness.

I officially knew I was boring when my husband and I got into bed and I talked to him for fifteen minutes about something boring. It bored me, but I kept talking. What I was saying made hardly any sense -- did I mention it was boring? -- but I persisted until I was so bored I was almost comatose.

My husband deserves an award for his patience. Seriously.

Are you bored yet? Is talking about being boring, boring?

But, in totally UN-boring news: I'm sure you all know this already, but Lisa and Laura Roecker are having an EPIC contest on their blog. I was not a follower up until now (I don't know why!), but today that will change. Maybe some of their amazing creativity will rub off on me. I mean, just look at their prizes! Sheer brilliance.

And now, a sweet Easter treat:

Note: I just posted a new family picture in the sidebar. The old one was taken Easter 2009. Hard to believe it was a whole year ago! Time for a new one.

WIP Wednesday: Revisions

How can it be Wednesday again already?

I'm desperate to keep editing my WiP while baby's napping, so this won't be long.

I didn't get much at all done this last week because it was spring break and everyone was home. Which was so wonderful, by the way! I miss the hubby and the two big kids now that they're back in school. But in some small ways it's nice to be back in the regular routine. More writing time, for instance.

What am I doing this week?

• Trying something new with my revisions: I'm going through and critting using the Track Changes feature in Word, just like I would on someone else's manuscript. I'm hoping it will help me to distance myself from the project and see it through different eyes.


• I left my WiP alone for a few weeks, so hopefully I'll be reading it like an agent or editor would read it. At least, that's Agent Mark McVeigh's advice. Click here to watch the revision tip video.


• I'm going to polish up The Tiffin Box (the short story I wrote a couple weeks ago) and send it to my mom. She's been to Cheung Chau, where the story is set, countless times, so she's my expert critiquer, not to mention #1 cheerleader.

I've officially shelved V-Day, at least for the time being, though the idea still haunts me. Since it's been so widely queried, I'd like to have something new to offer at the SCBWI conference when I go in July. Besides that, my WiP is the first book where I honestly feel I've hit my stride. Not to say it won't need extensive revisions, but in some ways it feels like a story that only I can tell. I like that.

Links and News

A few quick things to take a peek at this lovely Tuesday evening:

• Literary Agent Kate Testerman really did change her submission guidelines! (No April Fools joke this time.) Click here to read about what she changed and why.
• The same Kate Testerman is hosting a hilarious contest where her readers post their most embarrassing writings from their teen years (living proof that most teens can't write!). I've already posted my doozy of an entry in her comments, but there are still crazy ones pouring in. I'm sure you have something embarrassing hidden in your bottom drawer to share, too. Check it out and/or enter here. (Please note: The prize is pretty fun!)
• I'm planning to enter the Dear Lucky Agent contest on Guide to Literary Agents. Click here to read the entry requirements. Anyone else thinking of entering?

That's it. Hope today's Story A Week story didn't freak anyone out. It did turn out kind of weird. Scraping the bottom of the creative-juices barrel at the moment, unfortunately.

Have a great evening!

A Story A Week: Punished

Sara didn’t notice the marks until she was in the shower. She winced when the hot water hit them.

She flung open the shower door and crossed to the mirror, rivulets of water running onto the white tile. That’s when she first saw them: long tentacles streaking her back from shoulder to shoulder.

“Marsden! Marsden!”

His voice floated in from the kitchen. “What?”

“Come here – quick!”

He came slowly, carrying his coffee mug in one hand, the newspaper tucked under his arm. He raised his eyebrows at the scratches. “What’d you do?” Reaching out a tentative finger, he tried to touch the mark.

“Ouch! Don’t touch! It stings.”

“How’d you get those?” he asked.

Sara shrugged as she pulled her towel off the rack. “I don’t know. I just woke up this way.”

Her mind had been sorting through the possibilities. They didn’t have pets or children. Marsden cut his fingernails severely short. It was one of his peculiarities. There was no way his stubby fingers could have inflicted this much damage.

“Looks like someone laid into you with a whip.” He smiled slowly, teasingly. “You didn’t go anywhere last night after I fell asleep, did you?”

Sara wasn’t in the mood to kid around. She finished gingerly drying her body and slid into her bathrobe. It annoyed her that her back was still damp: the way the robe stuck to her skin, fibers clinging to the raw places on her skin. She picked up a comb and jerked it through her wet hair. “Don’t be an idiot. Of course I didn’t.”

"Okay."

Sara sighed. “Maybe I did it to myself. Got itchy in the night.” She inspected her nails -- short, perfectly filed. She clutched them in fists before Marsden had a chance to notice her hands were shaking. Thankfully he wasn’t the observant type.

He laughed. “Yeah right. You can’t even reach those places on your back. Let me see you try!”

“No,” she said. Everything to Marsden was a game, a competition. “I’m sorry I bothered you. Go back to your – whatever you were doing.”

“Breakfast,” he said. “No, but this is interesting. Let me know if you come up with an explanation.”

“I will,” she said, pushing him out the door and shutting it after him. She glanced at herself in the mirror. The noise of the bathroom fan hummed in her ears. Leaning against the counter, she pressed her hands against the cold tile. She needed the support; her legs were trembling.

The dream. It had to be the dream.

But that was impossible.

She could still see that woman’s face, eyes like two cinders, face pocked like a potato. She’d been holding a whip.

What had she said?

Sara closed her eyes, scarcely daring to remember. “For the sins you didn’t commit.” Her voice rattled, rickety with old age. “All those opportunities to do wrong and so many times you chose right.”

Sara remembered crying out in her dream, “Then why do you persecute me?”

“Because I own you,” the old woman hissed. “All your good works – all that effort – for nothing! Punishable only by death.”

Sara sat down abruptly on the closed toilet seat. The rough fleece fabric of her robe shifted on her back. The lashes burned like fire.

Poor Me

I was running to get the phone today and smacked my baby toe on the leg of our ottoman. Now it's all swollen and bruised and painful.

I think I broke it, dang it.

That means --

• No ballet today
• A lot of slow limping around the house after toddlers
• I'm managing a lot of anger at myself for being so clumsy

My mother-in-law just came to the rescue with medical tape so I could wrap it up. It actually hurts to have the tape on. I'm kind of a wimp, I guess.

I wonder if this will give me a reason not to have to cook dinner or perform any household chores. Maybe I can just sit in bed with my leg elevated and work on my WiP edits.

Ha! I'll keep dreaming.

Now off to find the ibuprofen. If that doesn't work, I'll try intensive chocolate therapy.

Is anyone else currently suffering from stupidly-acquired, painful injuries? (I hope not!)

¡Felíz Pascua!

It's a little past eleven at night and I just walked in the door from a wonderful pre-Easter experience. Our youth group's worship team (I'm one of the singers, even though I'm a bit past my teenage years - *grin*) was invited to sing at a Spanish-speaking Pentecostal church. Three of our band members attend this church (two of them are the pastor's kids).

I don't speak Spanish at all. Saying "Gracias" is a stretch. Occasionally some of the other team members took pity on me and offered translation help, but through most of the first part of the service, I sat totally mesmerized and totally no comprendo. Throughout the entire four-hour service there was so much energy in the room. People shouted, stomped their feet, clapped their hands. Children wandered around the auditorium, playing. Dozens of people came up to the front and sang songs. As people came up to share their testimonies, I watched their faces light up. They were so expressive -- and afterwards so friendly. So many came up to shake hands and give hugs. Even though their words were lost on me, I wasn't bored for even a moment.

I guess I'm used to being a minority from growing up in Hong Kong, but we got more than one comment from the church attendees: "Thank you for bridging the gap between the Hispanic and white churches." For me, it never felt weird being one of the only white people there. If I felt self-conscious about anything, it was the very real possibility that I was mispronouncing the Spanish words I was trying to sing up front into a microphone!

People thanking us for gap-bridging sort of shocked me, to be honest. I guess I hadn't realized how racially separated we tend to be when it comes to worship and church attendance. I know part of it in this case is a language barrier, but still. Sad, sad, sad!

Now I didn't grow up in a charismatic church, and the church I attend now is not charismatic either. But I hope we can have a little bit of their energy, a little bit of their excitement tomorrow for our Easter service. After all, Easter marks the resurrection, which is the most amazing thing to happen since the creation of the world. Christ conquered death! We have a lot to celebrate! I hope we can do it justice.

I'm so tired. The long service (and the wonderful Mexican food afterwards) totally drained me, but in a good way. I'm ready to sleep for awhile and wake up to a glorious morning.

God bless you all.

¡Felíz Pascua!

Confession & More Awards

I need to give an award to myself. The I'm an Idiot Award.

You know, I was so busy giving out awards yesterday and there were so many great blogs from which to choose from, I actually did something so embarrassing I'm blushing as I type this entry:

I wrote a comment on someone's blog telling them I'd given them an award when I really hadn't. This person was so incredibly gracious. She came and left a very nice comment congratulating the award recipients.

The funny thing is, I was up with my baby in the wee hours of this morning and it suddenly struck me what I had done. I blamed the realization on irrational, middle-of-the-night thinking. There was no way I'd made such a blunder!

This morning I actually checked it out (cue funeral march) and realized YES, I did flub up. Big time.

With yesterday being April Fools, my first instinct was to act like it was a "Happy April Fools!" type thing. But I quickly decided against that. It would not only be a jerky thing to do (read: not funny at all), but also deceitful.
So, I decided to come clean and just admit my stupidity to the world.

Susan, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I love your blog.

Since you've already received a Prolific Blogger Award, I thought I'd give you a brand new award that I am made up. (I don't think there are any rules against making up your own award, so I'm going to!)

Don't feel obligated to pass it on, but you are hereby awarded the:

A is for AWESOME award.

For bloggers who are not only fantastic blog crafters, but also AWESOME people (kind, generous, humble, gracious, and forgiving).

And if you choose, you can pass it on to five (or six!) other awesome bloggers.

Have a great day, everyone, and try not to stick your foot in your mouth -- or your foot through your laptop screen, as the case may be.

Double A Thursday: Agents & Awards

What's Cooking? Beef stew, which is quickly becoming my favorite food in the world. Is that weird?

I have a great piece of news to share today! Weronika Janczuk just announced that she's now a Junior Agent at the Maddox Agency. Read about her good news here! She'll be accepting queries starting 5/1/10 and will be representing YA, Romance, and Memoir. Make sure to stop by her comments section and wish her well on this new and exciting endeavor.

In addition, two very popular agents have announced important changes to their submission guidelines that are worth checking out. Kate Testerman's new guidelines are here and Janet Reid's here.

I'm also very excited to accept the Prolific Blogger award, given to me by Night Writer, Myrna Foster, and Krista V. of Mother. Write. (Repeat.). Thanks Myrna & Krista!

"By definition, a prolific blogger 'is one who is intellectually productive...keeping up an active blog that is filled with enjoyable content.'"

*Blush* I'm honored, and feel very undeserving of such high praise.

Now, to pass on the award to five intellectually productive bloggers. I apologize if you've already received this award, but I guess that means your blog is just extra enjoyable....

Tess Hilmo who wrote one of the best posts I've ever read on how to start a novel. Since that post I've been a Tess-Hilmo-blog addict. Tess's debut novel With a Name Like Love is scheduled for release by FSG/Macmillan in Fall, 2011. Hooray for Tess!

Sharon K. Mayhew at Random Thoughts. She recently held a Authoress-esque first-four-sentences critique session that was loads of fun!

Wendy Paine Miller over at All In A Day's Thought. Wendy always has thoughful and thought-provoking things to say.

Lisa Schroeder is a published author whose most recent book, It's Raining Cupcakes, had its book birthday last month. Yay, Lisa! Lisa's blog is fun and interesting to read because she's very open about what life is like on the other side of publication (hint: it's rewarding and awesome, but not all cupcakes! tee hee).

Caroline Starr Rose of Caroline by line who just announced the sale of her debut novel, May B., by Tricycle Press in Fall, 2011. Congratulations, Caroline!

So, there's your homework: five awesome blogs to check out. Happy April Fools Day, everyone, and don't let anybody pull your leg when you're not looking!