Shake It Off!

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This week on the Spin Cycle, Ginny Marie is giving us free rein to discuss whatever we’d like for her linkup, so I’ve decided to share a funny, little story from last week.

On Thursday, I met with my spiritual director. (If you’ve never heard of a spiritual director, just think of it as an adviser or mentor who helps you in your spiritual life.)

During our session, we started talking about the fears I have regarding my book coming out next year. What if people hate it? What if they read something into it that I didn’t mean to be read there? Oh, I’m sure so-and-so is going to hate it. And what about this other person? Oh, I can just imagine the hate mail and the bad reviews!

My spiritual director responded by saying, “Well, you know someone’s not going to like it because that’s just how things are. There are people out there who are just haters. It’s their mission to put down other people. They’re going to hate simply because that’s what they do.”

And immediately my mind flipped to that Taylor Swift song “Shake It Off.”

‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
Shake it off, Shake it off

After my brief pop-culture-induced ADD moment, I was able to pull myself back into listening to my spiritual director who had moved on to talking about how Jesus had his haters too. He had been scorned, ridiculed, ambushed–even betrayed by one of his closest friends! We can take comfort in knowing that he dealt with his share of haters, too.

And that’s when I burst out laughing. I held up a hand. “Wait,” I said to my spiritual director. “Wait right there. I just got the funniest picture in my head. First, you mentioned haters having to hate, and I thought of the lyrics ‘haters gonna hate’ from Taylor Swift. Then you mentioned Jesus having haters, and I thought of that passage where Jesus tells his disciples that if they enter a town where the people won’t listen to them, they should just leave and shake the dust of the town off their feet, so now I’m picturing Jesus leaving a town and shaking the dust off his feet, all while singing ‘Shake it off, shake it off.””

Moral of the story: When criticism comes your way (or even when the fear of criticism keeps you from moving forward), just remember the advice of Taylor Swift and Jesus–and shake it off.

Got a random story to share this week? Join the Spin Cycle.

Can a NaNo novel really get published?

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I first heard about NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month (or as it’s affectionately known NaNo) back in 2010. It sounded pretty crazy to be honest. For the month of November, writers from around the world make a commitment to write a novel (or at least the first 50,000 words of it) during the month of November.

There are a few “rules.” You can’t have started the novel before November 1. You can plan for your novel, but you can’t actually start writing. In other words, you can plot and create characters to your heart’s content, but you can’t start the story itself.

Of course, I did some research when I first heard about it.

How many words per day does that end up being? 1,667. Approximately.

Do people actually do this? Yes. As it turns out, quite a few, and not just adults but students, too.

What does it mean to “win” NaNo? Just hit your 50,000 words before midnight on November 30.

Can a book written that quickly possibly be any good? Could it actually get published? Yes.

How do I know? Because my upcoming young adult novel Angelhood was my 2011 NaNo project, and it’s being published by Vinspire Publishing in April 2015.

Angelhood 2 1400x2100In 2010, when I first heard of NaNo, I decided to try my hand at writing a cozy mystery since I love those. I didn’t intend for it to go anywhere. It was just going to be a writing challenge. I got a few books on writing mysteries out of the library and spent the month of October plotting and planning. When November rolled around, I rolled up my sleeves and went to work. Long story short, I wrote a not-so-hot cozy mystery. On the bright side, I learned it is actually possible to write 50,000 words in a month.

The next year I was planning on using NaNo to motivate me for this middle grade mystery I had been researching for months. The problem was that I hadn’t finished all my research. I was totally stuck in my plotting. I couldn’t work out the kinks in the storyline.

Then on October 29, 2011, (exactly three years ago today and just three days before NaNo was going to begin) I got an idea for a totally different type of book. This one was for young adults, and it was something I was sure from the beginning wouldn’t get published at all. Too religious for the mainstream; too dark for the Christian publishers.

Nonetheless, I felt I had to write it out. At least it would give me something to work on during NaNo. So in less than three days, I hammered out character maps and an outline. November 1 arrived, and I hit the ground running.

By the end of the month, I had 53,000 words, and a young adult novel I had no idea what to do with. Eventually, I found critique partners through the American Christian Fiction Writers. With their support, advice, and encouragement, I revised Angelhood multiple times. Then I started the long process of querying.

Skip ahead to the beginning of 2014. Through another writing group, I learned about Vinspire Publishing and decided to try querying them. And now my NaNo project from 2011 is on its way to publication!

So if you’re thinking about trying NaNo, but you’ve heard too many negative things like “Nothing good can be written that fast” and “NaNo books don’t get published,” think again! I’m not the only NaNo success story. Another writing friend shared this link of 14 other NaNo projects that got published, so it definitely can be done.

Write on!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

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Every week my friends Ginny Marie and Gretchen host something called The Spin Cycle. Basically, every Monday they post a writing prompt, and then bloggers are welcome to link up their responses by the end of the week.

Since this week’s topic seems so fitting for a teacher, I’m joining in. The topic: What You Did on Your Summer Vacation!

Summer is always divided into two parts for me. The first part is summer school. My district has a really nice four-week summer school program in which most of the classes offered are enrichment, so it’s a nice break from the regular curriculum yet still keeps kids’ minds actively engaged. I teach a guided independent reading class and then screenwriting and iMovie classes. The four weeks always fly by!

The second half of summer is travel time! This year I spent two weeks in Italy. I will not recount the whole trip here since I have fourteen previous blog posts on it! If you missed any of it and want to read about my fabulous trip to Rome, I suggest you start with the post Plan E, Or How I Ended Up in Rome Twice in One Year. Grab a cup of tea and get comfortable because my posts are kind of long.

Best. Vacation. Ever.

Best. Vacation. Ever.

And of course, I read some books, although I’m struggling a bit to remember them all. I know I read the following:

  • Show Me a Sign by Susan Miura (must get book review up soon!)
  • A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (need to do book review on this one, too)
  • Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin, S.J.

I feel like there were more, but I’m blanking at the moment. I’m currently working on reading . . .

  • Impervious by Heather Letto
  • The Complete Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything by James Martin, S.J. (started while in Rome but not finished yet)

If you’d like to join the Spin Cycle and/or read about other people’s summer adventures, click the link below.

 

Second Blooming

My Writing Process: A Blog Hop

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Last Monday, Cynthia Toney tagged my in the writing process blog tour (or blog hop, if you prefer). For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a blog hop is a chance for one author to “tag” another author in order to keep a particular discussion running around the blogosphere while encouraging us to get to know other writers out there.

Cynthia Toney is the author of Bird Face, a young adult novel about bullying. She kindly tagged me to answer the four questions being passed around in this blog hop, so here goes . . .

1. What am I working on now?

Last week, I revised a short story that I had originally written in college in order to enter it into a short story contest. Now that I’m finished with that, I need to return to revising a middle grade mystery that I wrote two summers ago. I’ve got a lot of work to do on it, and quite frankly the Fourth of July activities this weekend have caused a bit of procrastination. 🙂

2. How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I guess I should first explain what it’s similar to. The mystery is sort of like The 39 Clues series in that my main character must solve a series of riddles in order to inherit a fortune. However, unlike The 39 Clues series, my main character is a selective mute. He can’t talk to adults outside his own home, which makes the scavenger-hunt-style riddle solving a bit difficult. Also, he’s not trying to inherit the money to save the world. He’s just trying to save his little Catholic school from closing.

The book is also a little like The DaVinci Code in that the clues require my protagonist to decipher clues in the artwork in Catholic churches. It is, of course, different from The DaVinci Code in that there are no church conspiracy theories. 🙂

3. Why do I write what I do?

I write middle grade and YA literature because . . . well, that’s simply my thing. I’m a middle grade reading teacher, so I’m always reading and discussing middle grade and YA books with my students. Junior high was also the time I began to dream about becoming a writer. In fact, in my eighth grade yearbook, each graduate had a page in which their responses to a series of questions were printed. For future career, I put down “author of teen novels.” I wonder how many of my classmates followed through on their eighth grade dreams.

4. How does your writing process work?

In fits and starts. Sometimes I’m consumed by an idea, and I simply have to write it out out. One spring break, I became obsessed with the idea of L.M. Montgomery’s book The Blue Castle becoming a movie. So just for fun (!) I wrote out the screenplay. I finished it in a week. It sits in a drawer.

My debut novel, Angelhood (available April 2015), was like that, too. The idea struck me on Saturday, October 29, 2011. In three days, I sketched out the main characters and the basic story arc. I had been planning on spending NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) drafting the aforementioned middle grade mystery, which I’d been researching for months. However, I was so consumed with the idea of Angelhood that I put away the notes for the middle grade mystery and wrote all of the draft for Angelhood during November as part of NaNo.

Other times my writing is exceedingly slow and laborious, or downright non-existent.

When I am writing, I definitely follow the Save the Cat strategy for basic plotting. If you’re a fiction writer and not familiar with Save the Cat, definitely check it out!

That’s it for my share of the writing process blog tour. Now it’s time to tag the next writer!

Margaret Reveira was away from the Church for 16 years, but returned, at the Lord’s directive, in September 2011. Her blog was designed to express her passion for Christ as well as to make people aware of His promises and covenant blessings. You can find her at www.exuberantcatholic.com.

 

How Matt Maher Impacted My Upcoming YA Novel

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Wednesday night I had the extreme pleasure of seeing Matt Maher in concert, and it got me thinking about how I first became a Matt Maher fan and how his music played a role in my upcoming YA novel, Angelhood.

I can tell you almost the exact date I became a Matt Maher fan. It was late November of 2011. As part of National Novel Writing Month, I was working on my first draft of Angelhood. The beginning of the book had come very easily, but the ending was proving a bit more difficult. I knew basically how the story needed to end, but I didn’t know how to make all the pieces fit together.

On my drive to work one morning, I was mulling over the climatic scene and absentmindedly listening to K-Love on the radio. Suddenly, a line from a song struck me:

“‘Cause even in the dark, you can still see the light.”

And I thought, “Yes, that’s it! That’s exactly what I’m trying to say in my book!” I forgot about my plotting problems for a moment and focused in on the song:

“This is the first day
Of the rest of your life.
This is the first day
Of the rest of your life.
‘Cause even in the dark
You can still see the light.
It’s going to be alright.
It’s going to be alright.
 
And love will hold us together
Make us a shelter
To weather the storm
And I’ll be my brother’s keeper
So the whole world will know
That we’re not alone.”

 

I nearly started weeping in my car. This was exactly what I wanted the end of my story to say. If my book were a movie, this would be the song I’d want playing over the closing credits. Rather quickly, the ending of the story crystallized for me. I knew now how to make the pieces fit together. In fact, the whole idea of being able to see the light in the darkness made me add a new scene earlier in the book so that the ending would fit even better.

After work that day, I went home and, with only a few lyrics in memory, looked up the song. That’s when I learned the song was called “Hold Us Together” and was by Catholic musician Matt Maher. I was an instant fan.

Two years later, I got to see Matt in concert at a local church. The concert was fantastic. My friend and I got to sit in the fourth row. When the show was over, I was wondering if he’d come out for photos and autographs, but after hanging around for a bit and buying another CD, it didn’t seem like it was going to happen.

When I heard he was coming back in town, I gathered up a whole crew of friends to go. This time I decided to be a bit more proactive in my attempt to get a photo with him. After all, I’d just come back from pilgrimage in Rome and had my picture taken with four celebrities from the Catholic Channel (Lino Rulli, Fr. Rob, Fr. Dave, and Brett Siddell). I figured 2014 must be the year of the Catholic celeb photo for me. 🙂

So I tweeted Matt Maher to see if he might be willing to take photos after the concert. Here’s our Twitter exchange:

IMG_1166

Yeah, you can imagine my fangirl squeal when I got his response.

The night of the concert finally rolled around. It was a crazy busy day: summer school teaching, a meeting with my spiritual director, and then dashing across numerous suburbs to meet up with my friends.

After a quick dinner, we arrived at the church. The place was packed. The concert was awesome. I mean, blow-the-roof-off-the-place awesome. I mean, shake-your-soul-to-its-spiritual-core awesome.

IMG_1210When the encore ended, my friends turned to me. “So now what? Is he coming out?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He just tweeted me a thumbs up.”

So we milled around the church for a bit, and then decided to take a photo of the five of us near the front. Slowly, the crowd began to thin out. A bunch of teens still milled around, and in the narthex, people were heading into a room where Matt’s CDs and t-shirts were being sold. After a while, my friend Katie decided to be brave and asked one of the roadies if he knew whether or not Matt was coming out. The roadie said to ask Kyle.

“Kyle?” my friend responded.

“Yeah, the guy who’s about to be a priest.”

Oh right. The seminarian who opened the concert with a prayer and by orchestrating the wave. So Katie and I head over to Almost-Father Kyle, and Katie repeated her question.

“Oh no, I don’t think he’s coming out,” said Almost-Father Kyle. “I think he’s getting right on his trailer.”

“But . . . ” I stammered. “But he tweeted me!” I held up my phone in proof.

Almost-Father Kyle shrugged. “Sorry. But I did get a hug from him before the show!” And with that, Almost-Father Kyle walked away before I had a chance to say, “Well, way to rub that in, Almost-Father Kyle! All I want is a photo and you got a hug!”

I was crestfallen. So that was it? No photo with Matt Maher???

“That was a good try, Amy,” my friends said.

“Yeah, you made a really good effort.”

What was I going to tell my spiritual director? She had made me promise I’d show her the picture of me and Matt next time I saw her.

My friends and I started to head out, but before we left, Katie said, “I want to buy a CD,” so we headed to the room where they were selling merchandise. Before we could even step up to the table, Katie nudged me and said, “Um, Amy, isn’t that him over there?”

Matt had just walked out of a side door, and a bunch of kids had rushed up to get his autograph. Well, I totally got my fangirl on then. While I’m pretty sure I didn’t knock over any old ladies to get in line, I wouldn’t entirely have put it past me. Only one adult guy got to Matt before I did. As the guy was talking to Matt, Katie offered to take the photo with my phone. The other friends and I set our purses down to the side as a long line quickly formed behind us.

When the other guy finally stopped talking and Matt turned to us, I got about as tongue-tied as my pilgrimage pal Lino Rulli gets whenever he meets a pope.

I was so excited that the whole thing’s a little fuzzy now, but I think I said, “Hi, can we get a picture? I’m the girl who tweeted you.”

Matt graciously obliged, and this photo was taken.

IMG_1222

I look just a tad bit happy in this photo.

I know I thanked Matt for the photo, but it was one of my friends who had the good sense to say, “The concert was great.”

Oh, duh, yeah, I should say something about how great the show was. So I quickly spit out, “Yeah, it was awesome!” And then I was very conscious of the long line behind us and got out of the way without saying anything further to him!

Hello? How about telling him how much his music has meant to me? How about commiserating over trying to get into St. Peter’s Square for the Canonization Mass? (Lino had told me Matt ended up at the Colosseum. I ended up at Castel Sant’Angelo.)

So, Matt Maher, you may never find this little blog post of mine, but if you do, please know that your music has meant a great deal to me. This is the public thank you I wasn’t quite able to spit out when I met you. Call me star struck! 😉

The Story Behind the Headshot

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As my writing career has progressed and I’ve watched more and more author buddies get their headshots taken, I’ve enjoyed hearing about how their headshots came to be. I always assumed most writers had their headshots taken by professional photographers in a studio, like most actors do.

You can imagine my surprise by the number of authors I’ve met who have had theirs taken at parks, at writing conferences, or even in their own homes. While a good number have used professional photographers, I’ve learned that quite a few have used their husbands or siblings for photographers. And some brave souls have even done selfies!

When my book Angelhood was accepted this spring, I knew I’d need a real headshot. Not one for selfies, I figured I’d use a professional photographer; however, I signed my contract just before leaving for a pilgrimage to Rome. Things got busy with last minute packing, and I realized finding a photographer would have to wait until after Rome.

As part of the pilgrimage group I was on, we made an overnight trip to Assisi. As a few of us rambled through the tiny hillside town, my roommate (who had a really nice camera with her) stopped to take a photo of a very picturesque little street. It was really more of a narrow alley with a beautiful view of the valley below.

On my pilgrimage group was a guy we’ll call Armando (not sure if he wants his real name used). Armando enjoyed stealing borrowing my roommate’s camera to take pictures. He decided to “borrow” her camera and take her photo in front of this picturesque street. In fact, he ended up taking pictures of several of us in front of that beautiful view, and it turns out Armando’s a good photographer!

Headshot 3Unfortunately, I had my sunglasses on for the photo. Not really the look you’re going for in an author headshot. When I mentioned my regret about leaving the sunglasses on a couple days later, Armando told me we’d try again.

The chance came the next day. We were waiting outside the Scala Santa in Rome across the street from St. John Lateran Church. Armando recognized an opportunity, and he fired off a couple more shots.

Headshot 1Headshot 2

After sharing these three choices on Facebook and asking for people’s votes, I went with the one on the left. It might not be my all-time favorite photo of me, but there are several things about it I like.

  1. The coloring’s nice. Not quite as pretty as the Assisi one, but still nice.
  2. It’s in front of a church, and not just any church. Engraved in Latin on the front of the church is the phrase “The Mother of all churches.” It is the home church for the Bishop of Rome (a.k.a. the Pope).
  3. If you look closely, you’ll see I’m wearing two necklaces of importance to me. One is a cross that I received as a gift from my students at my last Catholic school. The other is a guardian angel necklace that I bought in Rome on the day of the Canonization Mass of St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII. Engraved on the necklace in tiny script is the Italian version of the guardian angel prayer. Pretty appropriate since my upcoming YA book is about guardian angels!

Have you ever had a headshot taken? Where was it done? Did you hire a professional?

Updates on Angelhood

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In case you don’t follow me on Facebook and Twitter (and why wouldn’t you?), here’s the latest news on my upcoming debut novel!

  • Angelhood is set to be published on April 30, 2015. Mark your calendars!
  • My publisher (Vinspire Publishing) has updated its website. I love the new look! Check it out here.
  • The new website also has my author bio and my new head shot. You can see them here. I’ve got to admit it’s pretty exciting to have my own “author page” on a publisher’s website. 🙂
  • Last but not least, I’ve always loved hearing about how authors get their head shots, so I’ll tell you the story of mine in an upcoming post. Stay tuned!

Headshot 1

Writing Wednesday: What’s the difference between literally and figuratively?

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Last weekend, a couple friends asked how I had spent the previous night. I told them I had been with some other friends at a bonfire/cookout/corn maze–well, you get the idea. However, I didn’t stay for the scheduled hayride because it was getting too late, and I’m an old lady who needs her beauty rest. 🙂

As I was explaining this, I said, “So while my younger friends were getting on their hayride, I was literally–oh, no wait, not literally–figuratively hitting the hay.”

They laughed. “You caught that mid-sentence?”

Hey, what can I say? I’m a trained professional.

So thanks to my friends, I’ll now share with all of you the difference between literally and figuratively, a mistake that is made so often it’s figuratively killing me.

When we say literally, we mean that the action is in fact happening exactly as we are saying it. However, that’s not how most people use it. They use the term literally when they are actually using a figurative expression. Somehow we’ve gotten it into our collective consciences that literally just means really, but it doesn’t.

For example, if someone says, “It is literally raining cats and dogs out here,” then they are using the word literally incorrectly. Cats and dogs are not actually falling from the sky. They are using a figure of speech (and a cliche at that), so they are speaking figuratively not literally.

When I said to my friends that I was “hitting the hay,” I did not mean that I was actually taking a bushel of hay and beating it with my fists. “Hitting the hay” is an old expression for going to sleep. (I believe it stems from old beds being stuffed with hay.)

If you hit these haystacks with an arrow, then I guess you literally are "hitting the hay.

If you hit these haystacks with an arrow, then I guess you are literally “hitting the hay,” but if you’re going to sleep, then you are only figuratively “hitting the hay.”

So the next time someone says, “I’m literally dying here,” ask them what they’d like on their tombstone.

 

Writing Wednesday: Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces Part III

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For the last two Wednesdays, I’ve been posting about Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell studied stories from mythologies around the world and found that the hero stories had certain common elements. The first phase is the separation phase. This is followed by the initiation phase. Today we’ll discuss the third and final phase of the hero’s journey. (Spoiler alert: I’ll be discussing the ending of The Odyssey and Harry Potter, so if you don’t know what happens at the end, you may want to stop reading now. 🙂 )

The return phase of the hero’s journey:

  • Refusal of Return–The hero doesn’t want to go back at first. In The Odyssey, Odysseus does find himself in a few situations (e.g. Calypso’s island) where he doesn’t want to leave.
  • Magic Flight–The hero “flies” somewhere, often this is while he’s being pursued. This could be Harry Potter on his broom, or Dorothy using her ruby slippers to go back home.
  • Rescue from Without–Someone rescues the hero and brings him back home. Hermes has to come to Calypso’s island to free Odysseus. Princess Leia has to get the Millenium Falcon back to Cloud City to get Luke after his lightsaber fight with Vader.
  • Yes, I've been to the "real" Platform 9-3/4. Too bad my cart got stuck halfway through the wall.

    Yes, I’ve been to the “real” Platform 9-3/4. Too bad my cart got stuck halfway through the wall.

    Crossing of the Return Threshold–The hero makes his way back home. This is often the opposite of a scene from the separation phase. For example, Harry Potter takes the Hogwarts Express back to the Muggle world.

  • Master of Two Worlds–Hero has control over his own world and the new world he conquered. When Odysseus returns to his home of Ithaca, he has to battle the men who were trying to marry his wife in his absence. When he defeats them, he’s won both the Trojan War abroad and the “battle” at home.
  • Freedom to Live–The object of the original quest is totally realized. Odysseus has back his wife and son. Harry Potter has defeated Voldemort. Am I giving too much away? 🙂

Parts I and II of the Hero’s Journey can be found here and here.

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Writing Wednesday: How important is the teaching of cursive?

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Apparently, Shakespeare had some poor handwriting skills as shown on this signature from his will.

Apparently, Shakespeare had some poor handwriting skills as shown by this signature from his will.

I just finished filing my federal and state income taxes (Yay for me!). Since I filed both electronically, my “signature” for these documents included things like my social security number and special PINs. When I first started hearing about schools dropping the teaching of cursive, I thought, “But how will these kids sign their checks?” Now with direct deposit and online bill pay, it seems we don’t have to worry about that too much anymore.

On the other hand, I still have to sign most credit card bills. Yes, Target will let me skip the signature if my bill is less than $50, but restaurants and most stores still want my “John Hancock” plastered on a piece of paper or on an electronic device.John_Hancock_Envelope_Signature

Also, let’s not forget the speed and ease of cursive. I tend to float back and forth between cursive and printing, but cursive is generally faster for me. Any time I’m writing thank you notes (say for generous holiday gifts from the students), I write in cursive. It simply comes out faster, and often looks nicer, than my printing.

Some people have asked me if I force my students to write in cursive. No. Why? Honestly, I rarely see their handwriting at all. That’s because I require them to type their essays for me, and most grammar tests involve very little actual writing. The questions are usually multiple choice or “circle the verb and underline the subject” type of problems.

Nonetheless, I still think it would be hard to be a student in my classroom and not have at least some knowledge of cursive because when I write comments on student papers, I tend to write in a mixture of cursive and printing. I’m often not even aware of the fact that I’m flipping back and forth between the two. Students without a basic understanding of cursive would have a hard time deciphering my notes. (In fact, I once had an eighth grade boy tell me he couldn’t read my comments on his paper because he had never learned cursive. That was more years ago than I’d like to remember, which makes me wonder how many of my current students can’t read my comments but are too embarrassed to tell me.)

So what do you think? In such a digital age, is the art of cursive disappearing? Should schools still bother to teach it, or will it eventually die out?

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