Blog Update . . . Finally

Hope you've been playing nicely while I've been away from the Blog-o-sphere.

Here's what's been going on:

Professionally . . .

• Finished revising HOW TO SURVIVE MIDDLE SCHOOL (without getting your head flushed), DEAL WITH AN EX-BEST FRIEND, UM, GIRLS AND A HEART-BREAKING HAMSTER . . . again. (Release date April 13, 2010.)
  

• Found out that when AS IF BEING 12 3/4 ISN'T BAD ENOUGH, MY MOTHER IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT! goes into its fifth printing, it will do so with the Sid Fleischman Humor Award seal affixed to its cover.

• Last week, I was contacted about two school visits this fall and presenting at a writers' conference.

Personally . . .

• Family in town from New Jersey and California. (Thank goodness I finished revisions!)

• Here are a few happy snaps . . .

(Our oldest son prepares for a shootout with his thumbs-up grandpa.)

(Nephew, Ethan, and sister, Sherry flew in from CA, and are their arms tired!)

(The gang's all here . . . well, almost.)

(Sister Sherry, Dad, Donna)

What have you been up to lately?

Greetings from the Land of Revision . . .

It's just down the literary lane from the State of Confusion and the Isle of Insanity. I'll be hanging out here for another weak, er, week or so . . . then it's time to pack up my finished manuscript and head off to Deadlineville, where my editor will be waiting.

I realize I'm in the Land of Revision because I show up late for everything, pour cold cereal and call it dinner and grouch at my hubby and kids every time they do something unconscionable, like breathe within a five-mile radius of me.

At times like these, I stop and remind myself: Hey, Self, it's not like you're doing pediatric brain surgery here.

And everything falls into perspective.

But then I wonder: When things get really stressful, what do pediatric brain surgeons tell themselves? Relax; it's not like you're writing a children's book here.

And with that thought, I'll paddle back down the River of Revisions, where I'll fight cliches to the death, cut adverbs mercilessly and delete everything that's not absolutely


While I'm busy revising, be excellent editors and don't let your participles dangle!
Donna

DONE!

I just e-mailed my revised novel to my editor.

It took ten weeks to digest her five-page, single-spaced revision letter and tackle the changes. I felt like my manuscript went through Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and SlimFast as it shrunk from 315 bloated pages to 215 compact ones.

Here's how I handled the revision requests:

Day 1: Received five-page revision letter and 315-page manuscript covered with comments.
Day 1 (later): Decided editor was dead wrong. About everything.
Day 2: Re-read revision letter and admitted editor made a couple good points.
Day 3: Re-read letter AND manuscript. Thanked brilliant editor profusely for not letting my manuscript go into the world in such horrible shape.
Day 4: Decided editor was a saint and should have the wing of a library named after her!
Day 4 (later): Got to work.
Days 5, 6 and 7: Made all minor changes written on the manuscript pages.
Weeks 2 through 6: Pulled out the gardening shears for some serious snipping! While making major changes, listened to Edgar Meyer's Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites approximately 3,947 times.
Weeks 7 and 8: Read through manuscript a couple times to make sure the large changes made sense and everything worked together.
Between weeks 8 and 9: Decided becoming a brain surgeon would be easier and less stressful.
Weeks nine and ten: Went over every single word to make sure it belonged. Several didn't. The ones that remained needed to pull their weight.
End of week ten: Attached manuscript, photo, dedication, acknowledgements, flap copy and a promotional plan to an e-mail for beloved editor and uber-agent. Hit send.
End of week ten (later): Breathed.

What now? Go to Disney? Nah, too expensive. Dive into the next novel? Nope, brain's depleted. Sleep for a week? Hmmm. Pay my bills and get reacquainted with the washing machine? Definitely!

I'm going to do what every neurotic writer does after she sends out one novel and before she begins the next -- I'm going to obsess about whether my editor will like the changes I made, spend time with friends, take walks, see a movie or two, re-introduce myself to my children and husband, cook something that takes longer than five minutes to prepare, kayak, play Scrabble with hubby and read, read, READ!

Before long, some mysterious force will pull me back to the page and I'll dip into my internal well and begin the process all over again. With joy!

DOING THE HAPPY WRITER DANCE!

I just finished revisions on my new middle grade novel!

Can you hear my sigh of relief from there? I’ll be doing the Happy Writer Dance as soon as I do the following:

1) Introduce myself to my children. “Hi, boys! Remember me? I’m your mom.”

2) Catch up on the 500 plus e-mails I need to delete, er, um, answer.

3) Play outside. “Oh, look, it’s March already!”

4) Enjoy a long overdue game of Scrabble with hubby. (Yes, he’ll probably win. Again!)

5) Return phone calls, especially that one from Oprah. Don’t I wish?!

6) And most importantly . . . clean the house. Yeah, right!

Although I can’t show you my happy dance, I’ll share these smile-inspiring happy dances, courtesy of John and Hank Green, Nerdfighters extraordinaire.

I know someone else who should be doing the Happy Writer Dance: E. M. Crane. Her young adult novel, SKIN DEEP, came out yesterday. I read an advance reader copy and loved it so much I cried. No wonder it won the Delacorte Press Contest for a First Young Adult Novel, No wonder the only revisions she needed to make were changing a character’s name! And the people who populate her wonderful novel stayed with me loooong after I closed the book.

A big THANK YOU to Jean Westmoore, who wrote a nice review of my book in the Buffalo News. Here’s the last line of the review: “This entertaining novel offers believable middle school situations, a rip roaring finale and a funny, memorable heroine.”

Ah, more happy dancing.

Do you have something to Happy Dance about? A bit of good news? A recent accomplishment? Someone else’s accomplishment? If so, post a comment on this blog and YOU might be chosen to be a GUEST BLOGGER. Won’t that be fun?

Looking forward to reading your Happy Dance moments. For now, though, I’m going to celebrate finishing my new novel, E.M. Crane’s exciting novel release and my book’s review in the Buffalo News . . . by cleaning the house, um, taking a nap!

Keep those pages turning,

Donna