Wisdom from Odwalla

Last week, a very special guest came to talk to the seniors at the school where I work: Greg Steltenpohl, the founder of Odwalla. He said a LOT of inspiring things to the seniors, but this really stuck in my mind.

“Being an entrepreneur, you have to kind of put your idea out there and believe in it and then manifest your vision,” he said. “You just keep coming up against things constantly, no matter how long you go along, there’s going to be someone who just says, ‘It isn’t possible.’”

Change "entrepreneur" to "writer" and omigosh, it's totally my truth. And how did he deal with the doubters?

“Nine times out of ten, it’s about manifestation. If you believe it, then other people start to believe it and pretty soon it becomes the reality.”

Kind of how I try to live my life. Believe it into reality. His final pearl of wisdom:

“You never know what's going to happen, just by doing what you love.”

Greg sold Odwalla to Coke in 2001 for $160 million. Not a bad payoff for doing something he loved!

I have no aspirations to make millions. But I do hope that by staying true to what I love, I can find  success.

How do you define success?

Writer's Day L.A.

Last weekend I got a dose of inspiration when I attended the L.A. Writer's Days. The two regional advisors, Sarah Laurenson and Lee Wind, put together an exceptional group of presenters. And I got to meet fellow blogger Tricia O'Brien. Bonus! I'm so glad I got to go.

One of my favorite Santa Barbara writers, Lee Wardlaw, talked about the fact that her most recent book, Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku, was rejected by seven editors over three years. That book, which my daughter proudly owns, is now in its fourth printing and has won scads of awards including the 2012 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and the 2011 SLJ Best Books of the Year. Lee said something that resonated with me:

"I'm thankful for all those rejections. Because those editors wouldn't have loved it enough to see it through acquisition meetings, marketing, finding the right illustrator... If it hadn't been rejected, it wouldn't have become the book that it is."

Photo of Stacey, Michael & Sara by Rita Crayon Huang

Agent Michael Bourret spoke on a panel with editor Stacey Barney (Putnam/Penguin) and debut author Sara Wilson Etienne. The synergy between the three of them was beautiful to witness and I kid you not -- as soon as their panel finished talking, all of Sara's books were gone within a matter of minutes. They were that good.

I could write several posts just based on the things they talked about, but here's one thing that really stuck with me. Sara wrote the first draft of her book, Harbinger, ten years ago. There was no dialogue, only one character and the entire novel was about 90 pages long. She didn't know what to do with it so she put it away for a few years. She worked on it some more, took it to an SCBWI conference and got good feedback on it from an editor there. She worked on it for almost two more years before sending it to Michael Bourret. And then, when he took it on, they revised it together for another year.

I can't even begin to tell you how much this encouraged me. I am a SLOW writer. I get impatient with myself, frustrated because I can't whip out a novel in six months, let alone in the month of November. Some edits are easy. Others have to go round my brain for a while before they solidify. Knowing that there are other slow pokes like me who take their time and still manage to make their debut and make it big, was incredibly inspiring.

People ask me all the time if I think it's worth the money to go to a conference. When you come away inspired to keep at it, excited to lock yourself away and sit in front of a glowing screen, I'd say it's definitely worth it.

Writer Magic

Every writer believes in magic.

It doesn’t matter what genre we write. Whether it’s realistic fiction, paranormal, fantasy, YA, MG – every word we write is a testament to our belief in magic.

We believe in the magic of stringing words together, that those words will reach readers ready to dive into our fictional worlds.

We believe in the magic of querying, that we’ll find a dream agent who will sell our story to editors at the mythic New York publishers.

We believe in the magic of reaching out to people across states, countries, ages and platforms, to share our stories and build friendships.

There is magic to be found in every hour of every day, in every part of this writing journey. In every letter typed, every friendship forged, every world built, every smile shared.

Every tear shed.

Thank you for being part of the magic in my life.

A Book Review and a Book Festival

My daughter came home with an ARC that she'd gotten from a friend. She didn't pull her nose out of it until she was finished. And then she insisted that I read it. I'm so glad I did. What an amazing story! From the award-winning author of IDA B, this new novel will please fans and earn her plenty more.

If you want to read my review, you can visit my Goodreads page. But today, I'm going to give you a link to my daughter's blog. She'd love to have you read her review. Maybe she'll even convince you to pick up this book when it comes out on May 15 :)

We spent most of Saturday at the L.A. Times Festival of Books at USC. What a blast! With hundreds of booths, nine stages and 

Andrew Smith, Shannon Messenger, Me, Ally Condie

attendance in the thousands, it was an overwhelming experience for us small town book lovers. But it was also a chance to meet up with internet friends like Catherine Linka from Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse and MMGM founder Shannon Whitney Messenger.  Yeah, that's us between Andrew Smith and Ally Condie and omigosh, Ally Condie knew who I was! How cool is that? Just one more reason to love blogging :)

In addition to getting books signed, listening to fabulous author panels and trying not to get lost as we sought out specific booths, we also scored a bunch of cool free stuff: a Judy Moody movie t-shirt, a Narnia DVD, Ben & Jerry's ice cream (Yes! Free Ben & Jerry's!), bookmarks and pencils galore, airbrush tattoos and these awesome glasses that my son immediately had to wear. There was so much to see, we didn't even get to half of it. At least now that we know what to expect, we'll be better prepared for next year.

My daughter was most excited about getting her book, Aloha, Kanani, signed by Lisa Yee. Yes, lucky Lisa Yee has written two books for the current American Girl doll of the year. And she scored a trip to Hawaii for research. That's my kind of research! Can I have her job? My daughter is especially proud of this doll because she saved up her own money to buy it. (And the lovely person at the American Girl doll store didn't even complain as she dumped the money out of the jar to pay for it!)

The YA panel of (left to right) Gennifer Choldenko,  Robin Benway, Gayle Forman and Allen Zadoff was moderated by author Cecil Castellucci. They talked about finding inspiration for stories, choosing character names and balancing magic and reality in their writing. Halfway through the talk, my son turned to me and said, "Listening to this makes me want to go home and write."

Yeah. My sentiments exactly.

Looking for more Marvelous Middle Grade Books? Check out these bloggers:
Shannon Whitney Messenger
Shannon O'Donnell
Ben Langhinrichs
Joanne Fritz
Brooke Favero
Myrna Foster
Barbara Watson
Natalie Aguirre
Anita Laydon Miller

That Unexpected Something

Venice Beach is known for its crazies.

In the space of a city block you can pass by a wannabe Captain Jack Sparrow, fat Elvis and a six-foot-tall Yoda swinging his lightsabers around. You'll be serenaded by the Worlds Greatest Wino singing, "Jingle bells, jingle bells, help me get drunk," every day of the year.

Guys on bikes with surfboards under their arms cruise by muscle men pumping iron and people hawking cds they burned on their computers the night before.

But if you wander just two blocks away from the boardwalk, you'll find this. A quiet, completely unexpected little paradise hidden behind the houses.

Every novel needs to have something unexpected, something that takes our breath away and surprises us, makes us want to turn the page.

We just have to be willing to wander away from the crowd and make visible that unexpected something...

Making Things Visible

We took our kids to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles today and if you’ve never been, I highly recommend it. Even if you’re not into art, riding the tram and just walking around the campus is a treat in and of itself. The amazing architecture of the buildings, the stunning gardens and the views of Los Angeles from the museum’s hillside location made the trip worthwhile.

But what stuck with me were two quotes from a video we saw there.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
                                                  Henry David Thoreau

Art does not produce what is visible, it makes things visible.
                                                  Artist, Paul Klee

I know they were talking about art here, but these quotes really hit home for me as a writer. Because that’s kind of our job as writers. We make things visible, see beyond what everyone else just looks at, pull ideas from the recesses of our minds and turn them into stories that take on meanings we never even realized. And that’s pretty cool.

So this week as you write, keep those thoughts in mind. Turn what you see in your head into words on the page and make your ideas visible for the world to see.

Lofty? Maybe. But I think we can do it.

My Writing Life

I am in the midst of writing a shiny new novel that I LOVE, and editing a novel that I used to LOVE but now just like a lot. I'm hopeful that by the time I'm done editing it, I will LOVE it again...

Have you ever been there? Falling in and out of love with your stories? The good news is:

“A bad novel is better than an unwritten novel, because a bad novel can be improved; an unwritten novel is defeat without a battle.” – Paul Johnson

Good to know. Because as soon as you type "THE END" it feels great! What an accomplishment! Then you send it out for critique. You're amazed by all the plot holes, the uneven language and unbelievable characters. You cry. You scream. You want to crawl into a hole and die.

“Be suspicious of literary advice from anyone who consistently leaves you feeling like some subspecies of dung maggot.” – Jane Guill

A week later you realize that more than half of the advice is good. Now you just have to figure out how to apply it...

"Almost anyone can write; only writers know how to rewrite. It is this ability alone that turns the amateur into a professional.” – William C. Knott

Of course, you still have to keep up with daily life: feeding the family, doing the laundry, maybe even a day job. Something has to give...

"Women with clean houses do not have finished books." – Joy Held

Excellent! That extra ring around the toilet is justified! But then you have all the well meaning friends asking when they can buy your book at Borders. You have, after all, been working at this for more than a year. And they've seen your bathroom. You hang your head in shame. Why don't they understand?

"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." – Gene Fowler

To all my writing friends, I'm so glad that you're here and you DO understand.

"Easy reading is damn hard writing." – Nathaniel Hawthorne

And now I'm going back to my hole...to write.

Bad Guys are People Too

I started subscribing to David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants last week. I don’t know if I’m the last person to discover this guy, but he offers writing tips and inspiration in your email every day.

The first one I got from him talked about the importance of character growth, not just for your main character, but for your villains, too. How many times have you watched a movie or read a book and seen a bad guy that was such a stereotype he was almost a caricature? You don’t want to create characters like that.

According to Farland, villains should have the opportunity to do the right thing. Their choices, for good or for bad, give them depth and make them more believable. He also suggests giving the villain some redeemable quality: a sense of humor, another character that he cares deeply about. I find that as I’m editing my manuscript, I’m looking for things like this to add richness to the story. These daily tips always give me something to think about.

Where do you go for writing inspiration?