Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!
So…November has been tough. And on top of everything going on, my husband is away. Luckily, when I come home I have a little (okay big) furry ball who makes me smile.
Plus, I get to read the manuscript of one of my classmates from Mandy’s online class. And it’s exciting 😀
Oh and this weekend, I’m totally decorating the apartment for Christmas…
So, tell me, what made YOU smile this week?
Today is Road Trip Wednesday 🙂 RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.
This week’s topic: With Thanksgiving on the horizon we want to know how you balance hectic times like the holidays with your writing schedule.
Well, first, I miss Thanksgiving. I loved that holiday when I lived in the US. I was usually in charge of the mashed potatoes, both the garlic ones and the sweet mashed potatoes with marshmallows…YUM! We also had stuffing, and cranberry sauce, and turkey, and fresh green beans with bacon. Oh and the desserts…Hmmmmmmmmm
Plus, everybody used to come over, it was relaxing and fun, and just great!
Now, that we´re back in Europe, we don´t celebrate Thanksgiving any longer, but I can relate to hectic times.
During the holiday season such as Christmas and New Year´s, I write very little. We travel to France for Christmas, and then drive back to my in-laws in Germany for New Year´s. I sometimes get a few writing sessions in, but I don´t schedule them, as I want to be as flexible as possible for my family and friends during that time.
So, tell me…are you planning on writing after eating the Turkey? (or whatever you´re eating tomorrow :-))
If you´re travelling today, be safe!
I could list the things my grandmother has taught me.
I could decide not to write about her passing away on this blog. After all, this blog usually speaks more about writing and reading. Plus, I´m usually very private about this type of events, the type which affects me to the point of tears. Tears that I again do not like to shed in public.
But…
I want to talk about her. I´d like you to see her through my eyes just one minute and see how wonderful of a woman she was.
My grandma was ninety, she lived through so many events, she had so many hardships, but through it all, she stayed mémé Julienne: gentle, generous, kind, and proud.
I spent a lot of time with her as a kid.
When I had music lessons on Tuesday after school, I would walk to her place to have dinner. She made the yummiest carrots for her Beef Burgundy. I ate with her and my grandpa.
When I was sick, I stayed a lot at her place. She taught me how to crochet. With her and my other grandma who taught me how to knit, I did the cutest outfit for my barbie.
When I broke my arm, and thought blood was coming out of my cast, she managed to calm me down. And still told the story 20 years later.
When I was little, she always had my favorite cookies at her place. She still did more than twenty years later. And kept the cup I wanted to turn from blue to white by drinking lots of milk.
My grandma told us stories from when she was younger. She also taught me a lot by not only being such a wonderful example but also by reminding me what was important.
She believed in me, in all her children, great-children and great-great children.
Every time I called her, she always told me to be kind to my husband, because love is what matters.
Tomorrow or next week or whenever, I´ll blog again about my book, my non-NaNoing, the stories I´ve read or how my grandma gave me inspiration but for now, I´ll just leave you with her words.
Love is what matters.
Not everyone will like our work. And while it´s tough, it´s also a reminder for later, you know when we´re all published and getting reviews. Some flattering, some -hmmm-less.
As always, the YA community is really helpful during those crazy times, as well as my hubby (thanks hubby for believing in me). The support through email, blog and twitter is wonderful, and I wish I could just hang out with you all in real life, over a drink or two!
I haven´t sent a lot of queries. Yet. I´m taking my first steps, but I already had my heart in my throat and butterflies in my stomach. There are some stories out there about writers getting an agent within days, and really I´m happy for them. They help me dream. But there are also those that had to wait months, years before getting represented. And you know what? Those stories also help me dream.
It all comes down to one. We just need that one agent who believes in our work, in our book, and in our career. Of course, we have lists of preferred agents, when we start querying because most of us do our research. We read agents´ blogs, and agency guidelines, their recent sales, also making sure that they are taking on new clients. But we never know how everything will develop. Sarah LaPolla said it much better than me in her blog in October: “Writing is hard enough, let alone querying. Take one solace where you can and know that your dream agent is out there, but it’s not up to you to decide who that is until he or she reads your work. They will come to you.”
Many writers have shared their query success over the past years…here are just a few, in case you want stories to make you smile, while you´re waiting. And don´t forget to KEEP WRITING 😀
So, tell me – how is your writing going? Have you already sent queries in the big wild world?
So, I´m full into NaNo (my husband laughs whenever I tell him – he just doesn´t understand it :D), but I don´t want to neglect my blog like I´ve done in the past weeks. Here enters Katy Upperman and her wonderful ideas. She came up with this template to keep readers updated on her progress and I´m totally using it 😀 Thanks Katy
Progress (word count or a general status update): I´m behind on the official daily word count needed to complete BUT I´m writing more than usual and I plan on writing this weekend as well.
Current Mood: Excited and tired. And wondering where my WiP is going. I now have a creepy scene which wasn´t planned at all (think possessed grandmother crawling on the ceiling….)
Inspiration:
“When asked, ‘How do you write?’
I invariably answer, ‘one word at a time.’”
– Stephen King
So I don´t know if you´ve noticed but I´ve been a tad absent from my blog. Bad Elodie, bad. I didn´t even participate in this month YA`s Book Club (organized by Tracey) because I didn´t finish THE RAVEN BOYS on time (by the way, great book!)
I´ve missed you.
Hugs.
Work has been super duper busy, even more than usual. And my weekends were spent with my manuscript, making it query-ready. It´s scary and exciting at the same time. I sent my first queries last week, and yes, I now check my emails even more obsessively than before.
I´m getting ready for NaNo – as of tomorrow.
This weekend, my sister and her family came to visit. I enjoyed listening to my niece and nephew telling us stories, seeing my hubby and my family bond despite the different languages, discovering the awe on my nephew´s face as he took the train for the first time, laughing hard with my niece as we goofed around, drinking champagne and some delicious wine, playing Jenga and singing Karaoke, watching movies with my sister and my brother-in-law.
Basically a much needed relaxing and amazing weekend.
How have you been?
Or maybe he will. *Hi hubby*
So…I´m interrupting my regular Happy Friday posts (they most probably will come back next week) to ask THE question I thought I had answered: Should I do NaNo?
The sensible answer would be: Are you crazy, Elodie? No you can´t! You´re already stretching yourself thin due to super busy-ness at work and you shouldn´t start something new because you have that rewrite on your plate…And your hubby already thinks you´re spending too much time on the computer.
But.
So, tell me, what do you think? Are you doing NaNo?
On Friday, I went to the book fair with Carolin (if you don´t know her, you should totally follow her on Twitter). The goal was to roam the Frankfurt Book Fair before our SCBWI reception.
And wow…The amount of people at the Book Fair, the atmosphere, the books everywhere: impressive…Here is a recap of my afternoon/evening in pictures:
Arriving at the fair
The Book Fair also happened outside
Look at this display of Across the Universe in German…
That´s where the agents hang out and work
Some facts
After strolling around and taking some breaks for fresh air (it was hot in there) talking about books and writing, Carolin and I headed to the SCBWI reception, where apparently I proved that my clumsiness can show up at the most random places. (Kirsten, if you´re reading this, I´ll take the sippy cup for my wine next time :-)).
There, I got to talk to fellow writers, re-connect with the people from the area of Frankfurt and meet new people. It was great. It´s really wonderful to just be around other writers/illustrators. The energy, the discussions, it´s a lot of fun and I learned a lot.
Plus, I got to see and hold an ARC of Level 2 (and didn´t even put it in my bag :D), no really Lenore´s book sounds amazing. And yes, I may have gaped while listening to her experience with publishing in a restaurant after the reception.
So yes, basically, it was an AMAZING afternoon and evening…
And…something else which made me VERY happy last week was to read Rebecca´s announcement about her book selling . The story sounds wonderful and Rebecca is amazing, sweet and talented. You can read all about her and her writing here (and if you haven´t yet, maybe you can pass by to congratulate her :-))
Tell me, how was your week? How about your weekend?
Today is Road Trip Wednesday 🙂 RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it 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 do you hope to be writing in one year? Three? Five?
At the beginning I thought about writing myself a letter – you know the “Dear Future Me” type of letter but for some reason that freaked me out a little 🙂 So I thought hard about what I hoped to be writing in one year, three or five and the answer doesn´t change much.
I want to write stories that make the readers feel ALL the emotions.
There. I said it.
This is already my goal, to have characters readers can connect to and do not want to let go of. All my ideas for future WiPs are Young Adult but they range from more contemporary to historical, some are also paranormal. Some are funny, some are tragic. There´s always love in them. But their common denominator is that desire for the emotions to leap from the pages and lodge themselves into the heart of the ones holding the book.
And on a more personal level, I also hope that even if I´m still not agented in five years, I still get the kick from writing: the urge, the happiness, the relaxation…
Writing is a balancing act but it also balances me.
So, tell me what do you hope to read or write in one year, three or five years?
I´m a tad late to the party but the Currently meme which have been going around in the past weeks is really nice and I´ve loved the posts from Katy Upperman, Jaime Morrow, Jessica Love, Rebecca Behrens, Ghenet Myrthil and all others. So here´s mine!
Loving
The Fall…The pretty colors, the air becoming crisper and a bit cooler. And writing this post next to my hubby…:-)
Reading
THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater for Tracey´s YA Book Club. I´m only a few pages in and I can already recognize the magical writing, the eerie atmosphere and the anticipation of wanting to be immersed in the world Maggie created.
Watching
After Jessica Love´s raving about the show Awkward., I caved in and bought the first season. I watched a few episodes and I´m already hooked.
Thinking about
My manuscripts, the one almost done and the one I just restarted. Wondering when I should start querying. Wondering how I should go best about it.
Anticipating
So many things…Getting feedback on my next 2500 words by Mandy Hubbard thanks to the class I´m taking, going to the Frankfurt Book Fair next week and to the SCBWI reception organized on Friday evening, the show THE WALKING DEAD starting again soon…but right now I´m also anticipating welcoming this new addition to our family.
Wishing
For more time. The past weeks have been very busy at workMore time to write.More time to talk to my family. More time to spend with my hubby. More time to spend with my friends. More time to finally organize some things at home. More time.
Making me happy
Certain things are constant in my happiness. My husband, my family and friends. My writing. All the wonderful connections I´ve made through twitter and this blog. Knowing that ONE TWO THREE is almost ready to be sent out in the big wild world. Getting the house ready for Peter. And…and….and…knowing that this list of things making me currently happy would be way too long for a single post.
Tell me what are you anticipating with a smile this week?
Elodie Nowodazkij 
