Finished

I'm typing up my changes as we speak. And honestly, I was too lazy to finish finding my typos last night. I didn't want to, then a friend of mine, Robert Leland Taylor pushed me to do it. So I did. He has a book out, he's very funny. You should go buy it.

Anyway, when I do copy edits again, I'm going to do them hard copy, like I did with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I'm finding way too many mistakes. We did them with "track changes" on Word and I think I got lazy. I'm not a good monitor editor. Put a piece of paper in front of me though, and I'm on it.

Plus, you catch other stuff. I had inconsistencies, and other things in the novel that made me scratch my head. Indie writers hear this, make sure your shit is edited!!!

yeah, I just needed this one.

If I had put this book out as is, I would have been raked over the coals. This proof is the epitome of what everyone probably expects a self published book to be. Riddled with mistakes. Ugh.

And time is going by so fast, as this point, I'm praying I can meet my new planned release date of the
end of October. We'll see once I get these typed up and off to Lori and what her turn around time is, then it's a matter of getting another proof from Createspace, one from Lightning Source, then we're off!

Okay, day job calls. I have to go in early because I'm getting a washer and dryer delivered today. No more having to go to the parents, I finally broke down and bought a pair.

In the journey to publication, patience is a virtue

At the author gig I had this week, we were asked the question, what surprised you most about becoming a published author. While there are many astonishing things, one of the bigger ones was definitely how long it takes from book deal to shelf.

You know how long it takes to hear back from an agent, and then land one if you're able? Nothing really changes once the book deal comes.

It seemed like forever to get my contract once I was offered a deal, which was at the beginning of April, 2010. And my agent sent it back to HMH once because there was something in it she didn't like. I can't remember how long it took, but I would guess 8 to 10 weeks.

Then comes the advance check. That seemed like forever. I'd say another two months. So now we're at about four to six months.

Next comes line edits, copy edits, and first pass pages. These are all editing phases. You wait about three to six months for each phase, then only have about two weeks to get them done.

The one thing that seemed really early to me was the ARCs (advance review copy). I received those about March of 2011, and it was going out to the media and reviewers, which seemed really early to me. But what do I know, I'm only the author.

Then comes the longest wait. The book. As you know, my novel came out January of this year.  That's nearly two years from deal to shelf.

You've been warned. You want to be in this frustrating, yet rewarding business? Learn patience. Keep on writing to bide your time, otherwise you'll go crazy.

Thursday is Awesome

There's a lot going on. Some personal stuff I don't want to share yet, but it has me walking on air.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is looking into another print run of Never Eighteen, which is awesome.

Had a great interview on Book and a Chat with Barry Eva last week. You can check it out here.

I had an awesome classroom visit yesterday at Ford Middle School, and have two more next week at Tacoma Community College and Foss High School.

I was invited to a luncheon on Saturday where I can sell books.

Heading to the ocean with a girlfriend this weekend.

Life feels really good right now. I'm not sure if I'll be able to live up to my title as Angsty Writer for much longer. I may need a new handle.

F³A: Visitors and party!!

Release party number two takes place tomorrow, and my friends Gae and Annmarie are flying in from NY to celebrate with me!!!!

I'm cool and collected for this one. This one is a private party for close friends and family. We'll be eating, drinking, I'm going to play a couple videos. I did a montage of all my Chronicles that shows my journey from beginning to end.

And cookies. Lots of cookies.

This is where I'm doing my raffle to benefit Mary Bridge Children's hospital. I've got donations form me, of course, from my dad's law firm, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, T-Town Apparel, and my family's wine shop, Vino Aquino. I'm going to let my guests drink a little bit first so they spend lots of money. Don't tell them I said that.

I'll do a reading from the book, then sell and sign books. It's going to be fun and relaxed, and a party I'm not going to freak out about.

I'm going to wear a shiny silver shirt. :)

Mostly, I'm excited for Gae and Annmarie to get here. They should be on their plane as we speak, getting ready for take-off.

I almost forgot the Friday Scribbles!!!

I just realized I have no idea where my iPod is, so I'll just have to go with my iTunes for my random song.

Oooh, the random song is very apropos because I wanted to use some of the lyrics on my novel. Sometime Around Midnight by The Airborne Toxic Event (I really wish Blogger would still let us use youtube videos on here without having to do code)


Book of the Week: I am reading a friends YA manuscript tentatively titled The Mark, and I'm liking it a lot. Hopefully this will be the one to get her published.

Netflix of the Week: Gray's Anatomy Season 5. OMG!!!

Quote of the Week: "If it were not for guests all houses would be graves." ~Kahlil Gibran

Never Eighteen Project Pass It On

So, awhile back, my publicist from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Rachel Wasdyke, and I came up with a campaign to spread the word across the nation about Never Eighteen.

I chose some folks I knew from around the country; friends, writers, Facebook friends, family, and asked them to participate.  The idea was for them to read the book, then to "pass it on", to another reader, teacher, librarian, leave it somewhere for someone to find it, etc.  I told them to be as creative as they wanted, then to record what they did in video, pictures, or words.

I'm not going to post all of these here on my blog (well, maybe I will), I'm going to keep them together on my Facebook Page and will probably vlog about them as well.  However, I just received word from my first Pass It On participant, Melissa Cunningham from Fairview Heights, IL. (No stalking please).  This lovely woman is a Facebook friend and artist (Click here for her artist page on Facebook), and is the first to respond, so I thought I'd share.

Here's what she said:

"Megan,

 Loved your book! I couldn't put it down last night and had to finish it. My husband is going to wait until our copy arrives to read it - he said that we should pass it on now, to get the word out before it is released... So I went to my favorite coffee shop this morning and I was going to leave there. I had a change of plans when I ran into an acquaintance of mine. He is a high school English teacher. I gave it to him. 

I created a bookmark to go inside of the book, explaining the idea of getting the word out and passing the book on. While I was drinking my coffee with a group of friends, I watched him read your book. His eyes filled with tears as he turned the last few pages. He put the book mark in the book and set it on an empty table. Then he got up and called his brother. 

 A few minutes later another patron picked up the book, read the note on the bookmark and began reading! I wish you the best of luck! Happy Holidays and I look forward to January, when my personal copy arrives!"

I want to thank Melissa for participating in Project: Pass it On  I can't wait for the others to come in so I can share.

Updates

Just a couple of updates about the upcoming release of Mending Fences.  I FINALLY got my contract in the mail.  It's signed and on its way back to HMH (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) as we speak.

Also, here is something kind of cool, Mending Fences has been posted on Goodreads.com. Not only that, but people have already been marking it "to read".  Ack!!!  Okay, it's a short list, but it's a list just the same.  It's kind of cool to see your book up there on the Goodreads website with people already wanting to read it.

That's it.  Now from what I understand I wait some more.  What for the advance, and then an editorial letter.

Ciao, 

Megan

The end of the Journey...

This journey to publication has been a fun ride. I've met some great people, learned a hell of a lot, but every journey has to end eventually, right? And so this aspiring writer is no longer aspiring. This writer is getting PUBLISHED!!!!

Yes, I've had an agent for about a month now. And two weeks after I signed with her, I received an offer from an editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. My YA novel Mending Fences is scheduled for release fall of 2011.

I'm going to keep blogging and vlogging, and I'm currently working on Cheesy as a follow up.

I just want to thank you all for following my blog and supporting me through this journey. Every one of you means a lot to me.

..and now the next journey begins...