Harlequin Pink

I went to the library last night to raid the teen/YA section and get a handle on all of the new books. Among my picks- the fabulous Lauren Barnholdt's Reality Chick and How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by another author (I forget her name). As I was browsing the YA scection, I came across Harlequin Pink- a line of manga (comic book) romances for tweens and teens. Apparently, they've been out since 2004, but I've never seen them. Anyone else heard of these? It's important to me to write for all different genres so I may see what it takes to write one. I know you don' t have to illustrate, which I could NEVER do. The books are written in the most adorable, brightest pink ink and I haven't read them yet, but plan to soon.

Today's projects: printing graduation announcements, writing my piece for Girls' Life, hoping RAW calls and writing papers for school.

Finally, a BIG SHOUT OUT to friend and fellow writer Diana Peterfreund for having Secret Society Girl chosen as one of the New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age 2007. Congratulations, Diana!

Girls' Life

I opened my inbox a few moments ago and saw an email from Girls' Life. Another rejection, I was sure. Wrong! GL is going to run a short (very short) profile of a local girl with an amazing charity. I pitched it to them 8 weeks ago and with a waiting period of 3 months, I was shocked to have a response that fast. It's my third query to GL and I'm beyond thrilled!!

Also, I called RAW and she wasn't home. I left a message and now I must wait....

Pep Talk

Last week, my writing instructor at college gave me the e-mail address of her mentor and one of FSU's best writing professors, "The Really Accomplished Writer." Let's call her RAW. So, RAW e-mailed me back on Thursday with an invitation to call her to chat. There was serious hyperventilation! She said I could call her that weekend, if I wanted. The weekend rolled by and I never called. Why? I'm scared. Terrified, actually of calling this person and sounding like an idiot. She has a string of best sellers, a movie in the works by Nickelodeon and I'm a nobody who is scared to call her. I need a violent shove in the direction of my phone. Her number is programmed in my pink Motorola. I look at it in shock that I have RAW in my address book. Someone give me nudge so I can call this woman!

Advice for a writer from 1987

I checked out a book from my local library from 1987 about a person's relationship with his or her agent. The book is so outdated that almost none of the advice is useable anymore, but it made for a funny read.

Some of the best advice:

Write your agent a nice, handwritten letter every 4 weeks to check on the progress of your manuscript (Aw, I'd love to send my agent a handwritten note. She'd laugh at me, though.)

Do not ever mail your manuscript out to more than one agent at a time (That would take forever now!)

Remind yourself that your agent will be taking 10 percent of your paycheck (Hmm...the industry norm now seems to be 15 percent)

Overall, the advice would have been great in '87 but not relatable to 2007. It really shows how much things have changed.

As for new advice, the 120th anniversary of The Writer came out this month and it is chock full of good stuff. The amazing Sara Gruen has a lovely spread in the mag and there's also a great exercise from Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler, a writing professor at my school.

Thanks to Steph!

Big thanks to Steph for providing me with excellent quotes for my deployment article! You rock, Steph! :) More blogging to come...stay tuned...

Spring Break!

I'm officially on spring break! Nope, I won't be haunting the local beaches and clubs, instead, I have at least a dozen projects that require immediate attention. A research project on Oroonoko, a paper on Isle of Pines an essay for my writing class and a humanities essay are among the school projects. Now...the fun stuff....YA manuscript revisions are calling my name, magazine queries need to be sent and I was assigned a great article for Listen that I'm working on. Spring break is going to be busier than a regular week. Oh, joy! :)

Quotes for Listen Magazine

Want to be quoted in Listen Magazine? I'm putting out a call for quotes. The question:

If you know anyone who has been deployed in the military, how did you deal with the deployment?

Email or post your answers here. Your quotes will be used in an article to help teens cope with family and friends in the military. I'll need your quotes ASAP.

Thanks a bunch! :)