Category: Writing Advice & Tips

Current Must Reads…

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There’s been so much action in the YA blogging world over the past week or so. In the past few days alone, I’ve read several excellent posts that I’ve 1) Found profound/interesting/thoughtful/helpful 2) Caught myself thinking about over and over and 3) Want to share with all of you. Without further ado…

Writer Natalie Whipple’s What to Expect When You’re Submitting, a cohesive post covering every angle  of the one step of the publication process we don’t often hear a lot about, including: dealing with the internet, waiting, and your mental state… Submission can do a number on your sanity. I like to call it “pendulum swings.”

Triangles of Love, in which literary agent Sarah LaPolla says: A good love triangle should force your main character to ask, “Who do I want to be?” not simply, “Whom do I want to be with?”

Author Gayle Forman’s wise post on Jealousy and how she deals: I have two choices: give in to the insecurity and feel jealous of other authors’ virtuosity or give in to my better angels and rejoice in these wonderful books and tell the world about them.

An Extremely Honest and Scary Post by author Kirsten Hubbard, who talks candidly about debuting as a midlist author: But knowing my book wasn’t given a full chance to soar in this all-important first quarter — even if wasn’t because of its content or quality, but because of its genre (contemporary), my author status (debut), the economy (brutal), and publishing climate (insanely competitive) — it hurts.

Author Barry Lyga’s On the WSJ, YA, and Art, in which he shrewdly refuses to play into WSJ’s Meghan Cox Gurdon’s game: As long as there has been art, there have been naysayers and lack-a-wits jeering from sidelines, mocking the efforts of those who create. I’ve dealt with these nincompoops my entire life and I’m just too old to give a damn what they think or say anymore… I refuse to justify my art.

Subplots–Where to Find Them and How to Use Them from writer Amanda Hannah at YA Highway. I look at subplotting like braiding. We have a couple different threads, it’s just a matter of introducing them into the story at the right time and weaving them together.

So, that’s what I’ve got today. Am I missing anything? Do you have any fantastic links to share?

 

 

DIVERGENT ARC Winner! (And a Friday Five)

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And the winner of a Divergent ARC is…

PAM HARRIS

Pam, please email me your mailing address at katy(dot)upperman(at)live(dot)com. I will mail your book out as soon as I hear from you. 🙂 

Thanks so much to all who entered, subscribed to the blog, and tweeted about this contest. If you didn’t win, please do stop by Alicia Gregoire’s blog, Slice of the Blog Pie. She’s hosting a Divergent ARC giveaway too! You can also purchase your very own copy of Divergent on May 3, 2011.

For the record, if I was a part of the Divergent world and had to chose a faction, I’d totally pick Amity. I like red and yellow, I have a not so secret wish to live on a farm, I hate conflict, I enjoy being outdoors, and I’m a hippie at heart. 

And, in celebration of Friday’s arrival (finally!), here are five blog posts  I loved this week:

1. Roni Loren’s How to Amp Up Sexual Tension in Your Story

2. Natalie Fischer’s Why I’m Scared (To Self-Publish)

3. Amie Kaufman’s Can Jack Write Jill? Writing Across Gender Lines

4. Anne R. Allen’s What If Someone Steals Your Plot?

5. Kate Hart’s YA Deals by the Numbers: Single vs. Multi Book Deals by Genre

Have a wonderful weekend! 🙂

First vs. Third

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Exciting news: I’ve written the first scene of what will hopefully be my next manuscript, a little project I’m affectionately referring to as BUS WIP!!! (yep, with three exclamation points–not sure why, but every time I type BUS WIP!!! they’re there).

I’ve actually written this first scene twice. I’m experimenting, you see, with the POV I want to use for the story. I’m pretty sure I want to “hop heads” and my original instinct was to do dual first person POVs. Now, I’m not so sure. I’m starting to think that close third person might be more effective and, and I don’t know… professional sounding? The problem is this: I’ve always sort of thought I was incapable of writing in third person and honestly, I have a bit of an attitude about third person in general, especially in YA books. Often, it feels too distant.

Recently thought, I read Lisa McMann’s CRYER’S CROSS. In it, she used third-person, present tense and I thought it worked brilliantly. The right amount of distance for a creepy, horror kind of story, and an urgent, quick pace that worked really well for the subject matter.

While BUS WIP!!! is no horror story, I do intend for it to have short, suspenseful, action-packed scenes and a fast pace (whether I will actually pull this off is to be determined :)). So, present tense feels right. And shockingly, so does the close third person POV, but only after I wrote this first scene in first person, then converted it to third.

Confused yet? Here are the first few (tentative) sentences of BUS WIP!!! –

In first person, present tense: 
        When I first notice Jace Bryant peeking at my Chem test, I can’t quite believe it. He’s supposed to be this all-around brilliant guy—Mr. Upstanding. He always seems to know everything, excels at anything he attempts. He wouldn’t possibly copy off me. Would he?       
        But then he does it again, this subtle stretch of his neck that allows him the perfect view of my test packet. He makes a mark on his paper, taps his pencil eraser on the desk a few times, then goes about the whole show again. Jesus! He is copying.

And in third person, present tense:
        When Lia Bonelli first notices Jace Bryant peeking at her Chem test, she can’t quite believe it. He’s supposed to be this all-around brilliant guy—Mr. Upstanding. She’s sure this is some kind of fluke; Jace always seems to know everything. He excels at anything he attempts. He wouldn’t possibly copy off Lia. Would he?      
        But then he does it again, this subtle stretch of his neck that allows him the perfect view of her test packet. He makes a mark on his paper, taps his pencil eraser on the desk a few times, then goes about the whole show again. Jesus! Lia thinks, enraged. He is copying.

So? Opinions? Which POV works better based on these little samples? Which POV do you prefer when you’re writing?

In case you’re interested in reading more about the positives and negatives of different POVs, here are a few links that discuss the subject in greater detail:

Tara K. Harper’s First Person or Third
Novel-Writing-Help.com’s First vs. Third Person Point of View
Janice Hardy’s First Vs. Third: Point of View and Character Development
Ingrid Sundberg’s Five Advantages of Third Person Omniscient POV
James Scott Bell’s Understanding the Effects of Your POV
Write It Sideways Which is Best: First or Third Person Point of View?
Tami Moore’s Close Third Person Point of View (I found this one particularly helpful.)

Beginning Again…

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I’m starting a new manuscript. Mostly because I had this burst of inspiration a few weeks ago that’s finally had enough time to simmer, but also to help preserve my sanity while trudging through the query trenches.  The idea of “starting to write a book” is so intimidating, and while it’s always a scary prospect, I’ve gotten into a sort of preliminary planning routine that seems to be working for me. While I’m certainly no expert, I’ve done this a few times now, and I thought I’d share a bit about my process.

WIP inspiration...

After I’ve mentally toyed with my shiny new idea for a few weeks (or a few months), I dive in to Lori Wilde’s Got High Concept ebook. Going through her various brainstorming exercises helps me flesh out my idea, narrow the focus of the story I want to tell, and get to the heart of my of my characters’ backgrounds, desires, and vulnerabilities. I’m also able to come up with ways to really challenge my characters, as well as integrate plot devices, enticing topics and universal themes.

By the time I finish with Got High Concept, I’m able to write a compelling pitch that helps me stay focused on the heart of the story. Big rule: the pitch must be twenty-five words or less. Later, I use this pitch to craft a three-line pitch, and then a query. The pitch I came up with for Where Poppies Bloom (before I ever started writing the story itself) was: Guilt-ridden Callie Ryan chooses between life with the golden boy who dulls her pain, or eternal escape with the ghost who holds a dark secret.

Once I’ve zeroed in on the basic premise of the story, I make a really basic list of  the scenes I already have in my head. Then, I tackle a beat sheet, plugging scenes into appropriate places, and coming up with new ones to fill in the gaps. The beat sheet I use is a sort of custom melding of the one in Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat and the summary of steps in The Hero’s Journey. I like a lot of detail. It looks something like this:
 
Ordinary World/Opening Image
Inciting Incident/Call to Adventure
Resistance to Call to Adventure
Meeting with Mentor
1st Turning Point
Pinch #1
Ordeal
Midpoint/Inmost Cave
Rosy Glow/Celebration scene
Pinch #2
2nd Turning Point
All is Lost/Dark Moment
Lightbulb
The Road Back
Climax
Final Image

More WIP inspiration.

It takes me awhile (like, several weeks) to get my beat sheet completely filled in. Once I do, the story starts to feel more manageable, not like the jumbled mess of actions, reactions and interactions it was in my head. I use my beat sheet to then craft a more detailed scene outline, one I follow pretty closely once I begin to write. Of course my scene outline isn’t set in stone. I add and delete as I go, because once I start writing, the story begins to come to life and certain aspects inevitably become more or less important.

And more WIP inspiration...

I should mention that all this planning is done in conjunction with researching whatever aspects of the story I need to (setting, random legal/medical stuff, names, dates, whatever…). While my process may seem formulaic (sometimes I wish I could just start writing and see where I end up!), an organized start is exactly what I need to gain enough confidence to dive in to a two-hundred-fifty page story.

What about you? Are you a plotter? An outliner? A user of Post-It notes? A fly-by-the-seat-of-your-panster? How do you prepare to begin writing a story?

Thankful Thursday

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Oasis for YA knows that the surest way to get good things in life is to be thankful for what you have.  So why not encourage a group thankful-fest once a week in which we all send out good energy and hope to get some back in return? Plus, participating in Thankful Thursday is a great way to connect with other writers.

Here are the rules:
1.  Do your own blog post on what you’re thankful for today.  It doesn’t have to be book or publishing related (but it can be!).
2.  Be sure to grab our badge and include it in your post.
3.  Post a link to your blog in the comments here so that others can find you.
4.  Go forth and share your gratitude!  (And when friending new blogs, be sure to let them know you found them because of their participation in the meme.)

Today I’m thankful for Literary Rambles, a forum focusing on all things children’s literature, hosted by Casey McCormick. Now, if you’re reading my blog, you’ve most like heard of Casey’s, but if you haven’t you’re SO missing out! Trust me, I speak from experience.

Last year I queried a manuscript. I “researched,” but I did it the hard way, and frankly, I probably didn’t do as good a job as I could have. There’s information about pretty much every agent out there, but it’s scrambled and sometimes dated and often hard to find. Agent research can be intimidating.

Good news! Casey has taken much of the difficulty out of the process with her Spotlights–in-depth profiles on dozens of the top agents representing kidlit. She shares information on what they’re looking for, their editorial style, query pet peeves, client lists, sales records, submission guidelines, and web presence. She also includes thoughts on an agent’s buzz, as well as links to interviews they’ve done. Truly, it’s just about one-stop shopping for anyone about to dive into the query trenches. And if that’s not enough, Casey’s also done helpful posts on blog topics, royalty statements, beta reading, character arcs and more.

As I prepared to contact literary agents about the book I’m currently querying, I spent HOURS combing Literary Rambles for information, clicking interview links, and perusing comments other readers left about particular agents. And because of this, I was able to select agents who I truly believe are a good fit for me, and my query letters are personalized and thoughtful.

Casey’s blog is organized, well-written and comprehensive. I can’t get over how selflessly she’s given of her time in an effort to help other writers.  So this Thursday, I’m thankful for Casey McCormick and Literary Rambles.

What are you thankful for today?

Tales from the Trenches: To Be, Or Not To Be…

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… Prepared, that is.

So, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m querying. Several amazing agents are in possession of my full manuscript, and we’re nearing the time I should begin hearing back from some of them. In the back of my mind, I’ve had this cheerful yet persistent voice reminding me to prepare a list of questions to ask should one of these agents want to speak to me about my manuscript and possible representation. Promptly, a darker, more pessimistic voice sneers, “Don’t do it! You’ll jinx yourself!” Then, last night, I had a little epiphany.

With it being awards season and all, I was thinking about the actors, directors, singers, and producers who take the stage to accept awards. They fall into two pretty distinct categories: Those with a prepared speech, and those who wing it. While I’d rather watch the winners who are flustered and weepy and completely unprepared, it’s the winners with the succinct, heartfelt, well-written speeches who come away looking like professionals. And that’s what I want to be should I ever have the pleasure of speaking to an agent on the phone: Professional.  

So, I’ve buried the fear of jinxing myself and assembled a list of must-ask questions so I’ll be prepared if I happen to get that oh-so-exciting phone call. Here they are:

1. How close is my manuscript to “ready?” What are its strengths? Weaknesses?

*2. What do you think my comp titles would be?

3. How collaborative do you intend to be? What kinds of editorial/revision ideas do you have for my manuscript?

4. Do you represent a book, or an author? How do you see us working together in the future?

*5. Would you expect me to only write for one age group (YA) or in one genre (contemporary)?

6. What are your submission plans for my manuscript? Do you already have houses/editors in mind? How many will you submit to at a time?

*7. If my manuscript doesn’t sell in the first round of submissions, will we go on subsequent rounds?

*8. Are you willing to sub more than one manuscript at a time? In the same genre? In different genres?

9. How are fees and charges for submission charged ? What kinds of charges should a client expect to pay, and how is it accounted for?

10. What’s your disclosure style during the submission process? Will you give me all the details of editor feedback, or just the most constructive criticisms?

11. What is your communication style? How quickly are you usually able to respond to client inquiries? What is your preferred method of communication?

12. What are the terms of your client contract? *How is it different from contracts at other agencies? (Assuming there is a written contract…)

13. What are your commission rates?

14. How long have you been an agent? What do you love about it? Do you see yourself agenting into the foreseeable future?

15. How many clients are on your list now? How many clients would you like to have?

16. What sales have you made recently? (Assuming I can’t find this info on my own…)

17. How involved is your boss/other agents at your agency in your client relationships?

18. What do you expect from your clients as far as production in a given year?

19. What qualities do you like in a client? What do you think makes a good working relationship between you and a client?

20. When you receive a new manuscript from a client, how long does it usually take for you to get back to her with feedback?

*21. How do you handle clients wanting to work on similar projects/subject matter?

22. For what reasons would you terminate a relationship with a client? What if, for some reason, I should feel our relationship isn’t working?

*23. Would it be possible for me to contact a few of your clients?

*24. Do you have any questions for me?

* Recent additions thanks to input from a few generous and well-informed writing friends. Thanks, Kate Hart, Heather Howland, June G. and Caroline Tung Richmond! Many of the other questions were compiled with help from brilliant posts at Literary Rambles, and Writing For Children and Teens.

Okay, so those are the questions that feel really important at this totally-in-limbo stage of the game. Am I missing anything glaringly obvious? Please let me know in the comments!

Sunday’s Super Seven

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Lately, I’ve needed lists to organize my thoughts. That might be because I’m smack in the middle of an epic WIP rewrite (WIP’s scenes, characters, GCMs and all the other tiny details are sorted into lists, might I add) so my head is sort of jumbled. In that spirit, what better day to post a list of super things than boring old Sunday?

1) Words With Friends – Last weekend, my sister-in-law oh-so-innocently asked, “Hey, Katy, have you bought Words With Friends yet?” To which I replied, “No, I sure haven’t. What is it?” She went on to explain that it’s like Scrabble, only you can play on your phone with real friends who play on their phones, or you can start games with random strangers.

SOLD! Scrabble is my very favorite game, and let’s be honest: I’m all about procrastination tools that suck up huge amounts of time before you ever even realize it. Long story short, I bought the app and now I’m in the midst of about eight different games–some with real friends and some with strangers I’ll never meet. I couldn’t be more joyful.

2) Borders – Speaking of joyful, last week I went to Borders and got four new books! (Elizabeth Scott’s The Unwritten Rule, Sarah Ockler’s Fixing Delilah, Deb Caletti’s Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, and Courtney Summer’s Fall For Anything, in case you’re wondering. I’m on a contemporary kick.) As I was perusing, my husband kept our daughter busy, so tolerant and sweet. Mid-browse, I suddenly  realized something: Borders is my happy place.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I find great delight in my family, friends and (most of my) daily activities. But there’s something about walking into Borders with the goal of buying new books that makes me particularly blissful. Do you know what DOESN’T make me blissful? All this talk of Borders going under. I’m not sure if they make 12-Step programs for obsessive book-buyers like me, but I’ll tell you what–if the Borders in my city closes down, things might get ugly.  *Edited February 17th: While Borders has officially filed for bankruptcy, the store in my town is NOT among those listed as closing. What a relief!

3) Craft Quickies – My talented CP, Heather Howland, has started a new series on her blog: Craft Quickies. They’re short posts covering craft issues (obviously) that can trip some (all?) writers up. So far she’s covered dialogue tag abuse (I went through my manuscript with a fine-tooth comb after reading this one) and the stress-inducing possible sequel. Rumor has it she’ll be tackling verb modifiers soon. I highly recommend you check Craft Quickies out.  

4) The Walking Dead – Have you seen this AMC show? From what I’ve heard, it’s an adaptation of a graphic novel and it is the epitome of ridiculousness. Still, I kind of love it.

Hey, girl with the baseball bat: Good luck to you.

We’ve had all seven Season One episodes sitting in our DVR for months and just recently got around to watching them. (I freely admit that we watched with our three-year-old daughter present. She loved it. “Mommy, why are all those zombies eating that horse?” Our status as Parents of the Year may be in question…) Anyway, I love watching The Walking Dead for the very same reason I love watching Dexter and The Vampire Diaries: Something major happens in every. Single. Episode. There are no lags, no weeks and weeks of I know where they’re going with this and I wish they’d just hurry up and get there. Nope. It’s fast paced and exciting and I can’t wait to find out what happens to those crazy zombie fighters next season.

My daughter pretending to be a zombie. In a Princess shirt.

5) Phrase Frequency Counter – The perfect writing tool for closet OCDers like me. Much like Wordle, you can paste in as much or as little text as you want, choose the number of words-in-phrases you’d like the Frequency Counter to check (two-word phrases, three-word phrases, and so on), and then sit back and let the magic happen. The most common phrases in my WIP were things like “I said” and “he said,” but I also noticed that I used “took a long swallow” and “took a long sip” and “took a long drink” three times each. That’s nine times. Clearly, I’m writing about a couple of lushes.

6) Across the Universe  by Beth Revis – As a rule, I don’t read science fiction. I know, I know… I shouldn’t wall myself off completely from any one genre. The thing is, aliens, space travel, cryogenics, and otherworldly futures just don’t interest me. Then Twitter went abuzz about Across the Universe. I became curious. Rave reviews started pouring in. I became intrigued. Some of my CPs read it and couldn’t stop gushing. I knew I had to check it out. So I bought Across the Universe (See  #2 above… I have a problem.), and I am SO glad I did. It’s sci-fi, but it’s accessible. Relatable. Really cool. I’m somewhere around half-way through and I’m totally into it. But now I’m starting to love it so much that I’m stressing about the ending being a disappointment. Ugh. Please, Beth Revis. Please make the end of your book stand up to the fabulous beginning! 

I love this cover...

7) That’s YAmore – In case you haven’t heard: I’m a participant in Oasis for YA’s “That’s YAmore” blogfest. It has been so much fun reading all of the sweet, romantic, steamy entries. If you’re interested in reading my contribution, you can find it HERE. And please visit the That’s YAmore Blogfest page to check out the other participants. You’ll be glad you did. 🙂

RTW: Bring Your Blurb

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Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival, where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: Blurb it! Write a blurb for your favorite book or your own work.

This is way hard! Maybe because I feel like I’m totally tooting my own horn. But if I can’t say wonderful things about my story, then why would anyone else bother? Right? So, I’m opting to share the blurb from the story I’m currently querying, Where Poppies Bloom. I came up with a one-line pitch before ever I began to write the story, which turned out to be quite helpful in keeping myself on track while writing, and while crafting my blurb. Here’s the original one-line pitch:

 A guilt-ridden girl chooses between life with the golden boy who dulls her pain, or eternal escape with the ghost who holds secrets of his own.

From there, I expanded to a three-line pitch, which I’m also going to use as my blurb. My CPs helped a lot here. I tend to err on the wordy side, and so many aspects of the story felt important enough to include. It was difficult to condense, but eventually we came up with this:

Drowning in guilt that stems from her younger sister’s tragic death, seventeen-year-old Callie Ryan travels to the Oregon coast to spend the summer with her aunt. Cheerful yard boy, Tucker Morgan, manages to resurrect a glimmer of the girl Callie used to be, but she also finds unlikely companionship in mysterious Nathan Stewart, the dark and ethereal ghost bound to her aunt’s house. When Callie discovers a chilling, decades-old connection between Tucker and Nathan, she must choose between life with the golden boy who dulls her pain, and eternal escape with the ghost who may harbor sinister motivations.

I spent forever working on my full query blurb. My CPs were extremely helpful with this phase as well, and I revised those two little paragraphs more times than I care to recall. I’ve had some decent success with my query, and I’m currently waiting to hear back on several requests. If you’re curious about my query blurb, you can find it in the sidebar.

As far as a cover blurb? One word:

“Unput-downable!”

Don’t forget to stop by YA Highway to check out all the other fabulous blurbs.

On Releasing My Baby…

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My three-year-old started preschool a few months ago. I think I can speak for most moms when I say that this was an incredibly bittersweet milestone. Pushing your baby out of the nest is one part exhilarating and two parts terrifying. Along with thoughts of It’s for the best, and She’ll be a brighter, better girl for it, comes frantic, mental begging. Please be sweet to my precious child! Treat her kindly, speak to her gently, teach her many new things!

She cried those first few days at drop off. God, did she cry. I nearly did too, but with my husband’s support, I kept taking her. The crying tapered off, morphing fairly suddenly into excitement and eager anticipation. And you know what? Preschool has become a wonderful experience, for both my daughter and me. She loves it, and is growing and changing in ways my husband and I couldn’t have facilitated on our own. And I have four extra uninterrupted hours of writing time each week. It really did turn out to be for the best.

I mention the above because as I sit here and type, a critiqued version of my manuscript (my *other* baby) sits in my inbox.

Unopened.

Because I’m a wimp.


I felt exactly the same way I felt when preschool was set to begin. Anxious. Scared. Dreadful. And, at the same time, a teensy bit excited.

I’m lucky enough to have had my manuscript critiqued by a multi-published mentor. She’s incredibly talented, wise about the industry, and isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. I’m sure she’s supplied me with tons lots feedback to consider. Which is why I’m filled with trepidation.

The perfectionist in me wants this baby to be flawless. I want it to be loved by all who read it. I want to hear, This is amazing! and Don’t change a thing! I don’t want to cut scenes and alter characters and expand on events. I want it to be deemed beautiful as is.

But, I’m not delusional. It’s so NOT perfect. It’s going to need to be revised. And then it will be read again, by my mentor, and then by my fabulous critique partners who will, undoubtedly, have more suggestions for changes both big and small.

I will mourn these changes—I know I will. The cut words. The (*gasp*) cut scenes. The big job of writing new scenes that fit seamlessly. Comments that say, This is awkward, and I don’t get it. But I will not wallow in the critique too long. I will get over myself and my solitary, perfectionist tendencies, and I will change what needs to be changed. Fix what needs to be fixed. Because as much as I want to, as hard as I try, I can’t make my manuscript perfect by myself. I need fresh eyes, honest comments, and different perspectives.


And I am so thankful I have the help and support I need.

Now, I’m off to open that email… more later!

Repetition

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It can be a good thing, definitely, but repetition is also one of my biggest pet peeves when reading. By repetition, I mean using the same word or phrase repeatedly, until it begins to stick out like a blinking light on the page, distracting the reader. Let me give you an example:

Last month I read a YA novel I really enjoyed. It was extremely well plotted, its characters were three dimensional, and the writing was spot on. BUT the author used the word stark (or starkly) like, three billion times. The first time I came across it I thought, Ooh, perfect word choice there. That’s exactly the way I pictured his expression: sort of bleak and barren. Then I encountered it again. And again. And again.  So many times that I was completely pulled out of the novel and ended up wondering why no one (the author, CPs, betas, editors) caught it, instead of focusing on the story itself. 

In another book I recently read, a supporting character asked the protagonist “Are you okay?” or “Are you all right?” in almost every scene. Literally. And again, every time I came across one of those phrases, I kind of rolled my eyes, distracted, and then begrudgingly moved on.  In another contemporary YA I loved, the characters seemed to “shrug happily” a heck of a lot. In yet another, an author used the same sentence structure over and over, a lot like, Typing furiously, she wrote the blog post.

Here’s the thing: I am so guilty of repetition in early drafts. I’ve been reading over bits of my WIP, Where Poppies Bloom, and have found the word gentle more times than I care to admit. I’m leaning on the phrase “His/her voice was…” too. The thing is, I’m aware of the problem and intend to tackle it in revisions. While revising, I’ll probably find dozens more words that need to be changed or cut or improved upon. And I know the fabulous people who will eventually critique my manuscript will do their best to point out any repetition they find too.  

 I know it sounds sort of nit-picky (and I’m nothing if not nit-picky :)), but I think it’s SO important for an author to be invisible. I don’t want to think about his or her writing and editing processes while I’m trying to enjoy the book. I want to lose myself in their world, be completely immersed, not distracted by echoes that travel the pages of the novel. It’s easy to fall back on a few comfortable words or phrases, especially early in the process. I think it’s fine to go with whatever comes while you’re drafting , but I also think it’s important to carefully consider your words later in the game.

So, please tell me I’m not the only person this bugs. Do you notice repetition? Do you have any examples that make you want to pull your hair out?

Sadly, our vacation is over, but here's one last picture of my Cutie Pie and me in Arizona.