Michelle Rene's Books

Yay!  Shout it from the rooftops!

I finished the latest round of edits for A CHILD OF WATER AND FIRE and sent it off to my agent.  I also got to write another chapter in I ONCE KNEW VINCENT.  I am now on Chapter 11 of VINCENT thanks to a surprise three day weekend from work.  I feel so productive.

Plus, I topped off the weekend by going to see a live reading with David Sedaris.  A few weeks ago, I got to see Christopher Moore live as well.  I can’t really say which one is funnier.  They are very different.  If you don’t know these amazing writers, do yourself a favor and check them out.  We will laugh out loud in public and embarrass yourself.

http://www.chrismoore.com/

http://literati.net/Sedaris/index.htm

I’ve been struggling to find time for my writing lately, but this weekend I was able to carve out some time.  I worked on my latest set of edits for A CHILD OF WATER AND FIRE, and I got well past that pesky half way mark.    The plan, now that my wedding is over and out of the way, is to get this latest edits done and sent off to my agent.  Then, I will get back to my VINCENT book.  I will find time!  I last left my poor Vincent and Maria at the end of Chapter Nine before all of my crazy wedding plans got the better of me.  I will finish their story!

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but we are also entitled to debate those opinions.  Below is a link to an article from the New York Times website where the writer tells adults to stop reading books like THE HUNGER GAMES, HARRY POTTER and other teen/YA phenomenon.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/28/the-power-of-young-adult-fiction/adults-should-read-adult-books

I do agree with his call for adults to read the classics, but I don’t think anyone should ever look down on anyone for reading.  Besides, a lot of the wonderful classics that changed our culture forever were children/teen books.  Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz are good examples.  Even To Kill a Mockingbird (my favorite book of all time) was considered a children’s book by many when it was published because of its young protagonists.  Would the author of this article also suggest that we ignore Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer’s adventures?

My main issue with this article is the writer’s lack of research about the topic he is discussing.  He admits to not ever reading these books, but tells adults to not read them.  I read all kinds of books, but I have a particular soft spot for YA and teen books because they are often the more imaginative reads.  Plus, I believe that reading a well written YA/teen book helps us remember what it is like to be young.  They can have lots of depth and inspiration just like adult books, but they can also transport you to a place in your life that you haven’t visited in a long time.

Are there fluffy YA books?  Absolutely!  On the other hand, are there fluffy adult books?  Of course!  At the end of a long day in a mundane world, some people like to go home and curl up with a silly page turner just to escape.  What’s the difference if it’s an adult or a teen novel?  Of course, I disagree with automatically thinking that YA/teen books are all trite reads just because they are not adult books, especially if you’ve never read them.  But really, who cares if you like the trite ones as well?

In the end, I think that what you are reading isn’t as important as the fact that you are READING.  Whether you like reading HARRY POTTER or CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, I say read and don’t let anyone tell you what you should and shouldn’t be reading.

It’s just around the corner.  If you are in the Dallas area, please come!  http://dfwwritersconference.org/

For young and old writers, conferences are amazing places to make contacts, learn the latest about what is happening in the literary industry, and just be with other crazy writers like themselves.  I had so much fun last year, and I learned so much!  It completely changed the way I looked at querying agents and working social media.  I took what I learned and redid my querying process, and I was signed with my lovely agent Sarah LaPolla from Curtis Brown within 3 months.  Plus, it taught me one of the most important things that all writers should know.  Don’t think you know what genre your book is!  I used to describe my books in certain genres, and they were not correct at all.  Just telling my story and letting my agent place it where it goes was a big revelation.

So, go to your local conferences, and go to out of town ones if you can!  It’s worth the money.  And if you are in the Dallas area, come to the DFW Writer’s Conference.  You can be sure that I’ll be there!

The Hunger Games is a good movie and a wonderful book, but check out my agent Sarah’s post about how Hollywood ends literary trends and what that means for aspiring authors.

http://bigglasscases.blogspot.com/2012/03/be-whats-next.html

I just saw Dracula the Ballet last night and it was beautiful!  I get so many people ask me how to be better storytellers, and so many people use the old saying “Show don’t tell”.  That is very true.  If you ever want to learn a lot about telling a story, go watch a ballet. They tell a story for hours without using one word. Amazing.

Waiting to hear from editors, agents, etc.  It is so hard.  Here’s a great image that definitely describes the feeling.  I took this from Hyperbole and a Half.  If you’ve never read this blog, it’s awesome! http://www.hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

From Hyperbole and a Half

Below are the top 10 books I read/listened to last year in no particular order…

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth

2. The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout

3. Room by Emma Donoghue

4. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

5. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach

6. The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

7. Rainwater by Sandra Brown

8. A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

9. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

10.  The Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Great Books!  I recommend them all.

So, my wonderful agent Sarah read my book A CHILD OF WATER AND FIRE over the holiday break.  Happily, she loved it and wants me to start getting it ready for submission!  It’s so exciting!

That means that as soon as I get these revisions finished, I’ll have two books on submission to publishers. I’m hoping to hear something positive about WITHOUT WATER any day now, so maybe I won’t have 2 books on submission.  Maybe by the time A CHILD OF WATER AND FIRE makes it to publishers, I will have heard some good news from publishers about WITHOUT WATER.  If that’s the case, it will be time to start WITHOUT WATER’S sequel.  That’s right, WITHOUT WATER has a sequel called CHAMPION.

If you told me a year ago that I’d be here right now, I would not have believed you.  I was just a passionate writer that was struggling to keep believing that my stories meant something after receiving rejection after rejection from agents.  It took me never giving up and finding that one agent who clicked with me and my characters to start making a change in my fortunes.

Well, I have started the new year with an important resolution. I need to get my work/life balance back in some sort of order. By that I mean my day job/life balance. I’ve been working way too much and not living and writing enough. It’s affecting my mental and physical health, and I’ve decided to start this year differently.

Last year marked some amazing things with my writing and my day job. We launched a hugely successful game, and I was made the Lead UI Artist on the project. Plus, I got my awesome agent, and we started submitting to publishers. Not to mention, I also got engaged The problem is that with my promotion and the big game came a lot of work and responsibility. Thus, I got less and less time for my writing, let alone my friends and family. This made me sick and really really worn out.

I’ve decided enough is enough. I’m going to leave work at work, work less and more efficiently, and make lots of time for friends, family and my writing. If I don’t, I am afraid that I will explode and never make it to the altar!

So, this was my first day back to work in 2012. I worked a solid 8 hours, came home to eat a healthy dinner, and I wrote a whole chapter in VINCENT! Yay! It just flowed out of me!

I’m starting this off right so far. Let’s hope I keep up this momentum!