Ode to MS Word

From YA Highway:

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

This week’s topic: What word processing program do you use to write you manuscript, and can you share one handy trick you’ve learned in that program that has helped you while you write?

I remember when my mom got our first electric typewriter. I also remember, vaguely, the days before we had any word processing programs to chose from. But I do love word processing programs. Without them, I wouldn’t have the ♥delete♥ key, which is the best invention EVER!

I’m just saying, we’ve come a long way.

This is called a “typewriter.”

But this post is all about those computer gadgets with word processing programs. So, without further delay, I declare my preference for writing my manuscripts on  MS Word. There are so many things that Word can do (some of them really poorly). But one thing it does really well is plain old word processing. I find that Word does a great job of keeping track of what I write. And that’s what a good word processing program should do.

Good enough.

There are two features I like that I want to share:

Styles: I was introduced to the idea of styles while learning how to use InDesign (which I love). But it turns out they have styles in Word as well. I could go on and on about them, but basically styles save time in formatting. No need to use the tab key, no need to worry about line spacing or font. If you use styles you can change all the formatting for your whole WIP in one magical place.

Compare Drafts: Yes, that’s right! You can compare drafts in word. I guess there are other people out there who already knew this, but I remember doing my own little happy dance when I figured it out. It is SO helpful when you are trying to do revisions based on inline notes from more than one person, or when you are trying to thread together your story from two different rounds of revisions. In the Mac Word menu this is under “tools” and “track changes.” I highly recommend checking it out.

What about you, what’s your preferred word processing program? What’s your favorite trick it can do?

Pitch Polish

Hello GUTGAA (What the heck is GUTGAA?) participants and other guests. Looking for a critique on my query and first 150 words. Please let me know what you think in the comments below. Thanks so much!

I am so impressed by all the great help I’ve been getting. Thanks so much!

I’ve done a 2nd round of edits to the query. Here is my new and (I hope) improved pitch:

Title: PHOENIX AWAKENS
Genre: YA Paranormal
Word Count: 60,000

Query:

Dear Ms. Awesome:

Julia Lang is starting her junior year with an extra dose of crazy. The nightmares of a secret society’s bloody rituals are weird enough, but when the victim in her lifelike dreams turns out to be her classmate, Southern charmer Graham, she considers therapy.

It’s not until Julia’s relationship heats up with Graham, and she sees his scars that she has proof her nightmares are real. Graham admits he was part of the Phoenixes—a secret society of Charleston elite—but he ran when things got dangerous. As Julia works with Graham to figure out why she is dreaming about his past, she discovers she has some strange abilities. She heals Graham’s migraines with a touch, and there’s her super human strength that comes and goes. Julia doesn’t know where her new talents come from, but there’s no denying that when Graham is near, her powers kick into overdrive.

The Phoenixes use Julia’s dreams to send a message: They want Graham back. They need his blood to awaken ancient magic that will make them unstoppable, and they’re willing to kill to get it. When Graham is kidnapped, Julia must journey across the country to save him while learning to control her new powers.

PHOENIX AWAKENS is a young adult paranormal romance of 60,000 words. This novel is a stand alone with sequel potential.

I am a member of the Loft Literary Center and co-founding member of MNYA Writers, a local YA critique group.

Thank you for your time.

First 150 Words:

Diesel exhaust mixed with bad breath, and the sticky pleather seats of the school bus. This was my normal ride to school. I know it was weird—I was a junior—but I didn’t have my own car. So I rode, packed in with a bunch of freshmen and sophomores, and a handful of other lame upperclassmen who couldn’t drive to school either.

The school bus pulled up in front of West High School. I zipped up my hoodie, climbed down the steps and out into the chilly September wind. I should have worn a coat, but that meant admitting summer was over. I wouldn’t give up on my favorite season so easily. I wrapped my arms around myself and scurried up the school steps.

The West High building was a drab 1970s-style structure made of gray brick. Rumor had it that the building was designed by the same person who drew the plans for Marsden Prison.

RTW: Favorite Required Reading Book

From YA Highway:

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

This week’s topic: Back to school time! What’s your favorite book that you had to read for a class?

I went to my high school reunion last weekend and we were remarking on how our school didn’t require us to read traditional “classics.” We were required to read, yes, but the books we read were more often newer ones. My teachers were very eager to get us to read minority authors, which was great, but I don’t remember much about them (so long ago). Because of that I didn’t read the classics until much later. I went through a classics phase in my twenties.

Did I just wander off topic there?

Sorry, back to the question of the favorite book that I had to read for a class. I was required to read Lord of the Flies my junior year. That is one I do remember. I loved it! I know it was about younger kids, but it was so appropriate to my experiences in high school. Kids forming alliances and creating rules. Kids living off each other’s suffering. Kids going crazy with it all.

Lord of the Flies really is a disturbingly true story (no, it’s not a true story, but true in the sense that it could’ve happen). I have to read it again sometime.

What about you? What was your favorite required reading?

My GUTGAA Meet and Greet

What the heck is GUTGAA?

GUTGAA stands for Gearing Up to Get an Agent. It is a blogfest Deana Barnhart started last year in the hopes that those of us striving to reach “agented” status could come together, polish those pitches and have fun at the same time.

The first round for GUTGAA is a meet and greet so here’s my mini bio:

I was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN, where I now live. I also lived a few years in the “Low Country,” Charleston, SC. I love traveling to foreign countries, and do so as often as I can. I’m not an English major (my BA is in cultural anthropology), and have never had anything published (unless a letter to the editor counts). I have also never tried to get anything published. But I will be working on that soon.

And here is my Q&A:

Where do you write?

On the bus, on the treadmill (tricky, but I’ve done it), in the park, in the coffee shop, on the couch and at my desk in the sun room. Mostly on the couch and in the sun room, but anywhere is good.

Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see?

Window with view of a park!

Favorite time to write?

Depends on the story. If it’s a summer book, during the day. If it’s a dark story, I like to write after dark.

Drink of choice while writing?

Iced Americano

When writing, do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?

Depends. I have to have silence if I’m working on something tricky, though I also have music lists for writing. If I’m into it, it doesn’t matter what is going on in audio, though. I’m stuck in the story.

What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?

Summer.

What’s your most valuable writing tip?

Revise, revise, and then revise some more.

I’m not a baseball fan. I don’t think.

So, maybe you read this post about my current WIP. If you haven’t, feel free to now. I’ll wait.

…

…

You back? Okay. The summer YA contemporary I’m working on has a main character who’s nothing like I was growing up. Because of this I have to look up things for research that I’m not really into.

Like baseball. (No, this isn’t a sport book. I just have a scene at a game.)

Don’t tell my friends, who are mega Minnesota Twins fans, but baseball really isn’t my thing. I’ve been to a few St. Paul Saints games, and maybe a Twins game, but I’ve never really gotten into the sport.

My MC is a major baseball nut though, so I’ve spent a large part of today looking up rules, songs and foods of the game.

It’s been kinda fun. I never thought  I would care so much about baseball. But when writing research is involved it becomes almost like a game. Oh, wait, baseball is a game. But I mean a game of seeing how well can I get to know this new thing.

Another thing, all this research makes me want to go to a Twins’ game. Not only for the research, but it’s starting to look like fun.

Besides, the last time I went to a game was so long ago, maybe it’s time to give baseball another try.

What about you? Have you learned to love anything new while researching for writing?

Quick Quote

“The only thing that makes one an artist is making art. And that requires the precise opposite of hanging out; a deeply lonely and unglamorous task of tolerating oneself long enough to push something out.”

― David Rakoff, Half Empty

RIP David Rakoff.

My friend Ariana shared this quote with me today. It’s so true. I feel fortunate to have friends who get this.

My New MC Is Taking Over

From YA Highway:

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

This week’s topic: What music has been your summer soundtrack?

I said it last week, and I’ll say it again: I don’t normally do blog fests, but this one was timely. So timely that I already had this post almost ready before I saw the topic.

What music do I listen to? This summer I found Purity Ring, for myself, but I’ve also noticed some not-so-Liz (me) like music creeping into my soundtrack. The MC in my current WIP (summer contemporary YA) is sneaking in her own songs.

It started with a few innocent songs that I normally wouldn’t listen to (or at least I tell myself I wouldn’t listen too). Um, Call Me Maybe? That’s not a question, it’s a song I have been love/hating on for the past several weeks at the urgings of Alice, my MC.

But it’s not just one or two songs she’s making me listen to. She has taken over presets in my car! I used to only have two presets: MPR News and The Current (which is also MPR, awesome alternative music). My new MC has programmed all the other presets and I now have several radio stations in there that I wouldn’t normally listen to. I am talking serious pop music here! Haven’t listened to pop since I was thirteen. So it’s a bit weird for me.

My last WIP was written from the point of view of a teenage girl who was channeling my inner teenager, so it made sense that while I was writing it I listened to angsty alternative music.

This new character is someone I never was, but in order to write from her point of view I need to get to know her. I want to get to know her. It’s just a bit of a culture shock for me. I feel like I’m Drew Berrymore’s character in Never Been Kissed. I wouldn’t say I grew up a Josie Grossie, but I was definitely never prom queen. So now I’m having to relearn what it was like to be a kid, in someone else’s shoes. It’s been kinda crazy, but it’s also been fun.

So, if you see me bobbing my head and singing along to Call Me Maybe, don’t hate. I’m a writer, this is how I have to explore my new MC. And also, okay, I admit, I kinda like the song.

Does anyone else listen to different music depending on what they are writing?