Musings from the Slush Pile

The Internet is abuzz about reviews lately. I recently blogged about the importance of book reviews and how much difference they make for authors and readers alike. The concern for and from aspiring authors and even a few new ones I know is “Should WE review?” On the one hand, they want to help their friends books rise up the lists and be discovered by the masses. They also want to shout about the books they loved and want to others to love. BUT what about the ones that didn’t suit them? How about the ones they tried and vomited in before returning to the store and demanding a refund?

What. About. Those?

Well, I speak on precisely zero authority, but my OPINION is, stick it in your hat. If you don’t like it and you’re a writer….maybe skip reviewing that one. After all, there are infinite books of awesome to boast about. Why not focus on what you LIKED. We want to know what you LOVED. I for one don’t want to miss out on anything awesome! Do I want to hear a bad review? No. Not really. I mean, where does that get me? I think no reviews can speak volumes, don’t you? Also, I recently posted about rejections. Writers know what it feels like to get a scathing rejection one day and an offer for representation from an agent who love-love-loves & wants to marry their work the next.

The biz is fickle. So are we. Tastes change. I talked about this with my critty  gal Christie Koester recently. A book we can’t get to page three on one day might be a book we read in a weekend a few months later. State of mind and life changes what we enjoy or don’t enjoy. So, writers…if you hate a book, just put it down. Walk away. You can even vomit in it, but please don’t return it to the store that way.

Bottom line: Giving an awful review for something you hated isn’t worth the possible backlash on your own books or career AND unless you’re a review site, why bother? Writing reviews takes time and while I don’t mind sparing the time to write a review for something I want everyone to love with me, I just can’t spare the time I could be writing or editing to write up a review for something I didn’t even enjoy. It just doesn’t make much sense.

Thoughts?

* Thank you Chris Schillig for suggesting a blog topic this morning when my brain had a total fail. Thanks Chris!*

People ask me all the time how I  keep up with everything in the writer life. The answer is I totally can’t. Totally. Can’t.

Let me give you an example *a-hem*

On July 18th I had the incredible, awesome, honor of being interviewed by TWO amazing women on TWO fabulous writer/reader sites. I jumped at both opportunities and carefully answered their every question. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone to look me up and say “Hi!” so I could interact and maybe bring a few bookish people and blogs together.

When the 18th came around….I forgot it happened.

When the 19th came around….no idea those interviews had come and gone.

When the 20th came around *cricket cricket* No idea I missed it.

When the 21st  came, and dinner time approached, a small shimmer of a light, like the one from your faulty flashlight, the one you have to whack with the butt of your hand, THAT one, THAT kind of light flickered in my empty head and my mouth fell open.

HOLY COW! GOOD GRIEF! OMG! MY interviews! I missed my interviews!

And THAT my friends is how I roll….just like a square tire.

It’s very little and very late, but I’d like to show both of these amazing ladies as much love as possible and direct you to their sites. If the mood strikes, stop and see me. Both blogs are phenomenal. We reader, writer, bloggers gotta stick together And if you ever wonder how the writer next to you keeps it SO Totally together…they don’t. LOL.

A Storybook World Blog from Deidra

Once Upon A Time Blog by Cristina DosSantos

Thank you  BOTH so much for having me! I really am kicking myself for being SUCH a Dork!

It’s taken a day or two to sink in. Honestly its been months of denial for me. I know my bookish friends will get this: I’m sad, like actually sad. Border Books closing has changed things for me personally, as well as for my children and my community. The impact here is big. I don’t think everyone can understand that. First there are those who haven’t read a book since high school or college, maybe not even then. Then, there are those who live near a Barnes & Noble – the last remaining book chain. I will even entertain the option of book lovers who simple order all books online and therefore never went to Borders anyway. I know they’re out there too.

But for me and my kids, this is just plain old-fashioned sad.

Wandering around Borders sipping coffee and stroking fresh new tomes is what I do. It’s an oasis, a tiny vacation from everything else. My mom is still like this with cooking or baking outlets. For me, it’s books. I like the low murmur of friends and family reading favorite passages or telling secrets in the aisles. I like the spatter of college kids lying on the floor, heads propped on book bags like pillows, books in the air.

Our local store had signings, author meet and greets, and featured local talent. It was a community. I was part of that community.

My kids are young and loud to be sure, but they were home schooled until last month and I took them to our Borders a lot. It was more exciting than the library (which we visit every Tuesday). There was a childrens area with books they could touch and I would read. Last time we were there, my Kindergartner read a board book to my toddler. Like, he really read it to her. I taught him to do that. My heart completely exploded. My 2nd grader and I talked about the order on shelves, and store arrangement. I’d give him something to find and when he returned with it, we got cookies for everyone.  We have memories tied to that store, the only chain store like it within an hour of me. I had plans to make more memories there.

So, I’m just letting it out all over you guys today. I’m sad. I’m losing a friend and life in the in the future for me and my littles will be different than I had hoped. I know my love for books will continue to impact them, but at their ages, a place like Borders brought our tastes together in a really nice way.

Now, a note to our poor librarians: Be prepared for the Lindsey tribe shall be headed your way more frequently now, and I will most likely be smuggling in my coffee.

I meet the most AMAZING writers online. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, some of my best friends are people I will probably never meet. Stephanie Campbell popped into my life a couple months ago when our crit group was down a man ( or in our case a lady). Steph responded to our fearless leader’s call for applicants. I immediately connected to her because she writes YA, she’s a mom of three like me,  juggling a similarly crazy life. I knew I’d like this girl. Then, we started trading pages and I was right, and I LOVED swapping emails with her. She’s a gorgeous, funny, happy lady. You’d have to be a real sour puss not to be affected by her.

Steph has recently published her YA, Grounding Quinn. Here’s a little taste of her brilliance.

Grounding Quinn by Stephanie Campbell

Eighteen-year-old Quinn MacPherson’s biggest fear has always been turning out like her mentally unstable mother. (Solving algebraic equations comes in as a close second.)

That is, until she meets Benjamin Shaw.

Quinn thinks hooking up with Ben over summer vacation will be nothing more than a quick fling. She can’t even commit to a nail polish choice, much less some guy.
Unfortunately for her, Ben is not just some guy. Ben gets her- the real her, flaws and all- and that scares the hell out of her.

When Ben does the unthinkable- tells Quinn he’s in love with her- she does what comes naturally. She pushes him away. Ben can only watch from a distance as Quinn lashes out, and punishes him for daring to care about her.

But how far can you push someone, even someone that loves you, before they are gone for good?

If you love YA, check out Steph’s new tome. If you like making new bookish friends, look her up! She’s everywhere <– said in creepy whisper LOL

You can meet Stephanie on Twitter at @stephcampbell_ or on her blog Under the Olive Tree.

Why UNDER THE OLIVE TREE? Because that’s where I did all of my best reading, playing, writing and dreaming when I was growing up- under the olive tree in our front yard. Now I’m the mom to 3 evil geniuses, wife to Chris for the last 11 years, nail polish addict and YA junkie. When I’m not reading, writing, or wiping someone’s nose I am usually baking something.

Find  Grounding Quinn on Goodreads or Amazon fro Kindle or on Amazon in paperback AND  Barnes & Noble for Nook

Ah…watch me as I smooth and polish the crystal ball before me. I am Julie Anne Lindsey, knower of mystic things and full.of.crap. I know you were recently rejected by another agent or editor because you’re a writer. It’s a hazard of the job. Rejection comes right ahead of gaining weight cause you’re on your butt reading and writing instead of moving around, and on the heels of no sleep and caffeine addiction, possibly right behind social media obsession and that growing eye twitch.

Writers get rejected.

Let that sit. Think of the Twilight Saga. Stephenie Meyer scored BIG on that. She spawned hit movies, clothing with her MCs faces on it, you name it HUGE. But, people regularly gag and poke fun at the books, at the readers, at everything about how much it sucks. You know this. She’s a success isn’t she? But it sucked? Really? I guess it sucked all the way to the bank.  I’m saying even the biggest hits are rejected by someone. There’s always someone who won’t get it. So, if you judge your work by the number of rejections, you’re doing it wrong.

Judge your work by the effort. Judge your work by the improvement you see from draft to draft. Judge your work by the pride your feel to call it yours. Judge your work by what you’ve sacrificed: sleep, outings, time with family or friends to accomplish it. If you truly believe in your manuscript, keep your head up and plow ahead. If there’s no market for it and you get that, start something else, BUT keep the other on hand because tastes change and your manuscript could lead the next wave when your thing comes back in vogue. OR, maybe they just don’t know what people want. Maybe your manuscript will open a new door.  I think of Stephen King who was told that science fiction dealing with negative utopias wouldn’t sell. King needed to try something else. Ha! Bet that editor’s been kicking himself for decades.

The next time someone gives you a no, “I didn’t connect with the work.” or “I don’t think there’s a market for this.” or even “Your writing stunk up my office and please never call on me again.” Hang in there. I mean it. Do you remember a little best seller called Valley of the Dolls? One editor said this of the dolls’ now famous author, Jaqueline Susanne:

“She is a painfully dull, inept, clumsy, undisciplined, rambling and thoroughly amateurish writer whose every sentence, paragraph and scene cries for the hand of a pro.”

Ouch.

I also like what one editor said about Crash by JG Ballard “the author of this book is beyond psychiatric help.” LOL Now THAT is a rejection that would hurt  a little while.

Bottom line:

Writers get rejected. It sucks eggs and we eat our weight in chips, have something to wash ti down with, vent to anyone who’ll listen, shake fists at the gods of publishing, maybe wallow a day or two, but then we get up and do it again. Writing seriously belongs on the DSM IV. Writers can’t help writing. So, please know as you pull the covers over your face and vow never to write again…..I’ll be here waiting for you when you crawl back out. And you will because its what we do. And, We gotta stick together.