Tag Archives: Books

Jan 13 2013
12 Comments
Life, Writing

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award: The Golden Writing Ticket!

Okay, I must admit, I felt a little like a child waiting for 9:01 to roll around this evening. I was determined to make sure my Amazon Breakthrough Novel submission was counted as one of the first 10,000. No idea how long it takes for that number to be hit, but I have to say it took an awful long time for my browser to load Create Space… As I waited, I felt like one of those kids hoping for a tour of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

The good news, my submission is now complete! After a weekend of pretty much non-stop editing, I think I have earned a complete week off Expecting Happiness. Zero novel work will be done, which actually feels like a treat, (odd, I know, since I like writing, but the editing part isn’t my favorite).

What do I plan to do with all this time off, you ask? Sleep, yoga, weekend getaway with my mom. Read someone else’s book, perhaps? I feel like I’m on vacation even though I have to wake up for work tomorrow morning…

And, to top it all off, I have this lovely song stuck in my head. Fun for five minutes, annoying every second after. Wishing you good luck if you’re searching for that same golden ticket!

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Jan 02 2013
3 Comments
Life, Teaching, Writing

Hugs & The Incredible Shrinking Book

I’m down 4,000 words and not even half way through my revision. My inclination is to say yikes. Instead, I’m trying to embrace it. Words cut for the greater good of the book. Maybe I’ll put better ones back in…

I think that’s this month’s theme, embrace.

So many things in life we want to avoid or change, when really we need to embrace the lesson in each uncomfortable experience before we can move on. Isn’t that what they say in yoga all the time? Embrace instead of struggle?

With that logic, I need to embrace cutting words. I need to embrace teaching as a wonderful challenge. I need to embrace the limited time in a day and what this means for balance…

Seems simple enough, right?

At least it’s a one word reminder, embrace. And, it makes me think of hugs, which are nice too. Hug everything in life that’s challenging. I like that.

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Dec 29 2012
19 Comments
Writing

Help me write a better pitch (Please and thank you)

Here is my revised pitch as it currently stands, (the old one can be viewed under the Expecting Happiness tab):

As Jake sits on the bathroom floor and holds his crying wife, he knows something needs to change. Stable jobs and a house are not enough. A child seemed like the answer, but Kristen lost the baby and now she locks herself in the bathroom to be alone.

Emboldened by their loss, they say, “Fuck it all.” They quit their jobs, sell their house, and embark on separate journeys. Separate because they want different things–

Kristen wants to face the world without Jake around to hold her up. She departs for Europe looking for independence but inches her way closer to an old friend living in Paris. His name is Gustavo and he makes her blush.

Jake, on the other hand, wants to find a place to start over, somewhere he can convince Kristen to begin a family. Of course, he also craves a little adventure. He sets off on a cross-country road trip but instead finds himself on another continent, a part of someone else’s family.

Even with new faces and changing scenery, life is not complete. Torn between the allure of the unknown and their unrelenting longing for one another, Kristen and Jake must ultimately choose which life holds the secret to greater happiness.

***

So, there you have it, months and months of painstaking tweaks… And still not quite right!

Here are a few questions I have grappled with:

Do I need to include physical descriptions of the characters and/or their ages? (Leaning toward no after my last post…)

Does my ending work?

How can I make this stronger?

If you have any thoughts, I would love to hear them. As long as feedback is offered constructively, I am very open. My goal, after all, is to make my pitch better and I know it’s not quite there yet. If you feel more comfortable offering input privately, feel free to email me at olivia@oliviaobryon.com. And, if you write, post your pitch and I’ll be happy to return the favor! (Cough, cough:: Kozo it’s your turn!)

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Dec 09 2012
12 Comments
Writing

Shrinking Words & Other Writing Quandaries

Amazing how a couple months away can give new perspective. Allowing myself to move back through Expecting Happiness, stopping at each spot that bugs me, feels really good. The only thing that doesn’t feel so good is watching my word count drop a bit.

I blame NaNoWriMo for two things: 1. My obsession with word count, 2. A lot of extra words that don’t belong. I get that you go back and get rid of them later, or now, but I do think it results in writing that may be more repetitive than if you just go slowly and don’t worry about how many words you hit a day. Either way, it’s a year later and here I am working on the same book.

This leaves me wondering whether I need to add more words for the sake of having a full-length book… Right now I’m at 68,500, but I know it will drop a bit further as I continue. For any of you who have e-published, how many words were your projects?

My current plan is this:

1. Revisit each chapter with the same care I’ve given the prologue/Chapter 1 this week

2. Reread the whole thing to make sure it still makes sense/check for errors

3. Finish my queries/recontact appropriate contacts

4. If nothing comes of the second round of querying/contacts, I will e-publish and/or share on my blog. I’m not sure which approach to take yet. I just know I need to put it out there in order to move on…

More than anything, I am finding it much more sustainable to slow down and get the work done a little at a time instead of feeling like I need to use every moment of my spare time to write. That was burning me out in every aspect of my life, especially my day job. Slowing down these past two months has made a huge difference. Now it’s time to get serious and get this book done, even if it is just an hour or so at a time.

Happy balanced Sunday.

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Dec 05 2012
4 Comments
Writing

Writers, Get Excited.

Chances are, all my writing buddies out there already know about this contest, but just in case you have not heard about Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award, I am sharing anyway. Beginning in January, CreateSpace is accepting pitches for a multi-round contest that ends in May with a $50,000 advance and a publishing contract. Four runners-up will also receive $15,000 and contracts.

Now, you know I like a good contest to put fire in my fingers to get some writing done. And, with a lackluster showing for NaNoWriMo, I am excited to get back to work on my original baby, Expecting Happiness. From now to January, operation finish this sucker. I know, I know, I said I was done before, more than once. Turns out a couple months off, some good reading on the writing craft, and additional input has left me with a list of things I am excited to improve. Plus, still have not perfected that whole pitch thing…

So, if you have a finished or near-finished manuscript, hope you’ll join me in this endeavor. Motivation in numbers… Right?

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Dec 01 2012
3 Comments
Life, Style

Start Something That Matters

I will put it out there. I love TOMS shoes. I have two pairs, I bought Alex a pair for Christmas, (he just doesn’t know which pair…), and I will continue to buy these shoes into the future. They are comfortable, versatile, stylish, and matter. The company has created a brand loyalty for me that is unmatched by anything else I own.

Maybe it's the good karma, maybe it's because they're cute, but days I wear my TOMS are good days.

Maybe it’s the good karma, maybe it’s because they’re cute, but days I wear my TOMS are good days.

For those of you who don’t know, TOMS gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased. I have heard some criticism in the world of philanthropy that TOMS is not teaching anyone to fish, that it’s just giving out shoes as a capitalistic ploy to sell more overpriced shoes, that if people really cared they should just give the money directly to a cause instead of buying themselves a pair of shoes in the process.

I say, so what? If I am going to pay $40+ for a pair of shoes, I would rather a kid with bare feet receive a pair too. I’m going to spend the $40 either way. Shoes are something I prefer to buy new. It’s about time the fashion world be revolutionized. TOMS does this while also telling a story, a story about a guy who went to Argentina and returned with a dream to put shoes on the feet of needy kids. More than a million kids now have a pair of shoes because of his dream.

With Alex’s Christmas present came a bonus, Blake Mycoskie’s book about his entrepreneurial journey to found TOMS, Start Something That Matters. Easy to read, humorous, and inspiring, I recommend the book. I’d say buy it, but even better, buy a pair of TOMS online and get it for free this month, as well as a pair of shoes for a kid somewhere. I love success stories that combine entrepreneurism, passion, and a good cause.

A great read.

A great read.

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Nov 12 2012
8 Comments
Writing

Moving On…

Here’s something I didn’t anticipate.

I thought writing something new would be fun. It has been, sometimes. But I can’t stop thinking about my first story. I want to go back to it, to rescue it from the space of forgotten books, to bring it back to life and make someone else love it too. I almost feel like I’m cheating on our year-long relationship by dipping my pen somewhere else. There’s still work to be done. I miss my characters. These new ones are alright, but they’re not the same. It will take time to know them, to love them the same way.

I’m tempted to throw NaNoWriMo down the drain and go back to save my old book. I’m ready to mean business this time, really. I know what needs to be done. Still, maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder? Maybe starting something new always feels this way? Maybe two more weeks will do me good? I’m just having a hard time putting my heart into it. Last year felt so different.

For those of you who have written more than one book, was it easy to move on?

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Sep 03 2012
13 Comments
Life, Writing

D-O-N-E (For Now)

Oh man, if I could count the number of times I’ve said I was done with my book in the past 6 months, well, I guess I would feel like a liar. But, seriously, this time I mean it!

Six full times through on my own, seven readers, eight if you include myself. 69,536 words. 184 single spaced pages. D-O-N-E.

I’m not allowing myself to read it again right now.  I’m of the opinion I could make subtle changes to my words for centuries. I’m ready to ship this bad boy out and get started on something fresh, something new.

So, in the spirit of publicly decreed focus, here is my remaining to-do list:

1. Format the sucker. You know, double spaced, indents, all that fun crap I should have been doing from day one of Nanowrimo.  You live, you learn.

2. Write my generic query letter to be tweaked per agent. Oh yeah, and I guess write a synopsis too.

3. Enter my last line edits from my two superstar remaining readers.

4. Send the beast out, (starting with the 31 agents I compiled last May).

5. Wait, hope, wait, start something new.

There you have it, a plan, a little excitement, a little trepidation, a little self-doubt, a little self-congratulations. A little of everything really.

I know in reality, if it’s ever going to be read by a larger audience, it’s not done, it will have more editing, more rewriting as it moves through the various states of either traditional or self-publishing. But at least for today, it’s D-O-N-E.

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Jul 12 2012
4 Comments
Life

New Rule: Good Books Leave My House

Packages in the mail are magical.  I get just as much of a kick out of sending them as I do receiving.  Today I packaged up two books I recently finished, Sarah’s Key and the Snow Child, to mail to my aunt in Montana.  It only seemed fitting that Eowyn Ivey’s book set in the Alaskan wilderness reach her before her first winter surrounded in snow.

As I taped the box shut, I realized I usually do not keep books I like.  With the exception of a handful that I love, most of which are in Spanish because I have no one to pass them along to, my shelves are full of books that range from mediocre to downright lame.  All the good ones leave in the hands of guests.  Visit my house, you’re likely to leave with a book.

Now, I’m thinking that maybe I’ll start mailing more books after I finish them, assuming they’re any good.  I like the idea of a book being passed on and on in this fashion.  Read, then send to someone else you think might enjoy.  That way, the book lives on.  And, who knows, maybe good books will start arriving at my doorstep in return.

Life’s little pleasures unite: Passing on good books and mailing packages.

 

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Jul 09 2012
5 Comments
Home, Life, Travel, Writing

Squeezing Every Second Out of Summer

This is my last week of summer vacation at home.  Five days, really.  Saturday is off to the Bay, then Kauai, the Oregon coast, teacher retreat and back to work!  Talk about a whirlwind!

No complaints out of me, truly.  I will be sad to see my summer go, but I also remember the years spent with three weeks vacation, total.  Oh, what I would have given for these glorious seven weeks of summer then.  Now, I just feel lucky.

Even so, time is quickening.  The seconds seem to matter more than in those first couple weeks. Here is what I hope to squeeze out of these last days of summer at home:

1.  I am reading up a storm.  Finished bird by bird and The Snow Child.  Started Sarah’s Key this weekend, already 2/3’s through.

  • bird by bird, Anne Lamott:  I sound like a broken record, but this is my favorite book on writing, to date.  Read it.
  • The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey:  Based on an old fairy-tale, couple in Alaskan wilderness makes a child out of snow, dark story of magical realism unfolds.  Slow but good read.
  • Sarah’s Key, Tatiana De Rosnay:  Modern-day journalist uncovers a tragic story of loss from the perspective of a child during the Holocaust.  Amazingly quick and engaging read.

All the books that remain on my overly-ambitious summer reading list.  Hope to make it through a few more!

2.  Yoga, anyone?  In addition to squeezing in those last few 90 minute daytime classes that are impossible during the school year, I’m also getting ready for yoga on the road, thanks in large part to this awesome post on yoga while traveling.  My new travel yoga mat arrived this morning.  It is perfect for keeping my practice going, and will also double as a great mat cover for my regular hot yoga classes.

This super thin travel mat will fit easily in my carry-on and make yoga on the beach much more enjoyable!

3.  I am writing, writing, writing.  Suddenly, 30 minutes here and 30 minutes there are actually getting me somewhere.  I refuse to put an end date on Expecting Happiness, but it is slowly drawing to a close and feeling a lot stronger thanks to the amazing insight of my readers and all that time to think on my road trip.  I am hard on myself, it is definitely a first work, but I am also incredibly proud that I’m sticking with it to arrive at a place I feel comfortable.  I am also really excited about what comes next.  I have a young adult book I want to write for my students (and share with them throughout the year), and a more brooding adult piece that will hit on the topic of human trafficking in a different light than what I have come across.  I’m very excited!

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Jul 01 2012
4 Comments
Life, Travel, Writing

My Love Affair with Powell’s Books

One hour to explore the world’s greatest bookstore.  The results:

  • Three books found me instead of me finding them.  Powell’s is an amazing labyrinth of stacks and stacks of books, (4,000,000+ to be precise).  I headed for Milan Kundera in literature and was sucked into countless book covers and displays along the way.
  • Finally reached my original destination– Milan Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, had second thoughts because my arms were already full, opened to a random page, which turned out to be a passage about writing a novel for the first time.  Fitting, sold.
  • Tears.  Literally.  I wanted to stay all day.  I have never been in a bookstore that sucked me in to this degree.  All those words, all those authors.  So many worlds captured.  A live poetry reading by a published author.  I will be back for much more than an hour next time.  Maybe I will just move to Portland.
  • Last, but not least, new life goal– someday have my own book hidden somewhere in those glorious stacks.

So many choices, so little time.

The bounty of my 30-minute shopping spree, (including two t-shirts).

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