Author Archives: amandamichellemoon

Family Vacation

Some fun from our life right now:

1) Chris got us last minute tickets to see Foster the People, one of the kids’ favorite bands.

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It was a little loud, but really good. The opener was NONONO, I really enjoyed them. We only got to stay for about five songs before the kids were done, but they enjoyed it. It wasn’t their first club show, we’ve been taking both of them since they were babies. but with the last minuteness of it, we forgot to bring ear protection, so we all ended up with toilet paper in our ears. it worked surprisingly well, especially when supplemented with fingers.

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2) We went to our first Twins game. I’d been as a kid, but that was in the old stadium. The new one is beautiful.

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3) Our summer vacation!

Chris is from Henderson, Kentucky, and since moving to Minnesota last year we don’t get back to visit as often as we’d like. It’s a long drive…fourteen hours…but not as long as the drive from our old house in Franklin, TN to my parents house in northern Minnesota (eighteen hours. Yikes.)

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We spent some time being tourists…

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Taking possible Christmas Card pictures…

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We bring the dogs, and have a special kennel for Picasso to ride in the car. The last time we did the drive, just after Christmas, Picasso would ONLY ride in the kennel, he couldn’t sit still if we left him out in the car. But since then, he has become a much better rider and gets to sit on the floorboard behind our seats.

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Isn’t he cute?


2014-08-08 21.15.19Fun surprises on the radio carried us through the last few miles.

Then, we leave the dogs in Kentucky and drive the three hours down to Nashville and visit all our old friends.

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This time, the friends we stayed with have two little boys, one almost the exact same age as Austin. They had so much fun together!

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St OlafExciting things are coming!

Did you notice I wasn’t here last week? I wasn’t here either. Because I spent the week at the beautiful St. Olaf University Campus in Northfield for Hamline’s Summer Writing Workshop. I got to live in the dorm (yippee!). In the afternoons, I took a Master’s class with Brad Watson. I spent my mornings and evenings doing my homework, a little bit of art, a lot of photography, and a boat load of editing. I finished my second round of edits of Finding the Ruby Slippers and hopefully the final edits to Your Pilates Life. Finding the Ruby Slippers is now with beta readers and Your Pilates Life is with my editor who is doing a final quick check of the formatting. Also, Stealing the Ruby Slippers is no longer enrolled in Amazon’s exclusive program, and will soon be available across all digital formats.

What all this means: There is going to be some really cool stuff coming up in my newsletters. So sign up!

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I promise I won’t spam you. I won’t even email you on a regular basis, only if I have something really important to say. And, trust me, there is going to be some cool stuff very, very soon.

So short.

Today’s post is going to be so short. I am just about done with my readthru of the first draft of the sequel, and today is my last “work” day until my kids start school next month.  So I want to get stuff done! That is why I have a Venti Iced Coffee sitting next to me and Foster the People playing on Rdio. 

I want to hear from you. What are your favorite mysteries? Movies or books or real life. Comment and let me know.

Off to read.

I suck at balance and I’m okay with it

Elizabeth Gilbert and Kerry Miller at Talking Volumes

Elizabeth Gilbert and Kerry Miller at Talking Volumes

I still haven’t wikipediaed myself. But it is on my to-do list.

I realized while I was walking the dog this morning that, in about a month, I am going to add a full fourteen more hours to my work week. This revelation is beyond exciting.

Two weeks ago I went and saw Elizabeth Gilbert at a special summer session of Talking Volumes. One of the the things she said (okay, a lot of what she said, but I’m going to focus on this thing) really struck me, because it’s something I’ve been struggling with. This isn’t a direct quote, btw, but she said that “balance” is a myth that our society is selling women right now. At first I was like– NO! I’m working so hard for balance! It’s real! I’ll achieve it!

She was specifically talking about Body/Mind/Spirt balance, how you never “achieve” anything, because you’re always a work in progress. She touched just a bit on the career/family balance too, but it wasn’t her main point. It’s been a comforting thought to have in the back of my head the last few weeks.

I keep looking for ways to balance all of my different “professional” projects: multiple writing projects, a jewelry business, wanting to paint, and I’m failing. And I’m trying to find the perfect balance between my family, my profession, and just plain relaxation. I’m also failing there.

The thing about it though, is for the last week or so, I haven’t cared. I’ve been very focused on one particular writing project and really haven’t worked on anything else. When my kids are home, most of the time, I’m giving them my attention. Except for when I’m working on something else (possibly writing.) And, last night, I knew I should read, but instead, I went to the mall.

I don’t think the pursuit of balance is a bad thing, in fact, I think it keeps me moving in the right direction. It’s when it becomes one more thing to beat yourself up about that’s unhealthy. Maybe, in the fall, when the kids are in school, I’ll actually start painting and retaking all of my etsy photos and any of the eighteen million other things on my list. Or, maybe not. We’ll see what my priorities are.

BTW- I took that picture. I’m pretty proud of it. Just sayin’.

Writing Resources: Vol 1

I’m starting a new series on some of my favorite writing tools.

The first is: Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success

When I first started writing seriously a few years ago, I HATED the idea of outlining. HATED IT. I mean, I really, really didn’t like it. I wanted to let the writing flow out of me naturally.

And it did. Lots of it. Mostly it was short stories, scenes from my life that I wanted to fictionalize. Occasionally, it was good. So then I thought I could write a novel. I took those ideas and rewrote them as fiction and added some connections and: voila! a book.

I asked a few people to read it. They were sweet. Looking back at it now, I feel a bit bad for them. But they gave me the encouragement I needed to start another project. By my next project was…ambitious. I started writing it knowing the beginning and the end. But I had no idea how to get from point A to point B.

I’ve been listening to KM Weiland’s podcasts for a long time, and had read her blog posts about outlining. So I downloaded her book, went to a cafe, ordered a cookie and a coffee, and read. The entire first half.

Then, I was so pumped about the story, I called my husband and told him I needed more time. And I started the outline for Home.

I finished the book and the first draft of Home. While I worked on that (I’m actually still working on it!) I started working on the concept for Stealing the Ruby Slippers. You may have read that I completed the first draft in three weeks. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that I’m working on the sequel right now. I am within two or three days of finishing the first draft.

First of all, let me say: these are first drafts. There is a TON of rewriting and editing. But getting the story out is the first step of getting the book done. And there is no way I could write that fast without an outline.

The other thing about outlining is: it’s easier than actually writing. So, if you’re thinking about writing but are afraid to start, do an outline!

I use the “mind-map” outline method to get all of the ideas out, then eventually move it into a linear outline to create chapters. I use SimpleMind so I can move things around, but it would be just as easy to use post-it notes.

 

Wikipediaing Myself

wikipediaThanks for being patient with the blog-schedule adjustment! This will be the new time: 9:00 CST on Tuesdays. Let’s make it a date.

So, I’m not going to lie. Marketing a first book, and a self-published first book at that, is hard. I think I’ve exhausted my friends & family audience, and now I’m working to get it out in front of other people. So, I’m thinking of creating a Wikipedia page for myself. Which seems completely and totally arrogant. So I’m working on getting over that.

I am also selling my triathlon bike. My last race was either in 2011, and that race was also the last time I rode the bike. I intended to do a race in 2012, but I sprained my ankle (surprise, surprise) and I actually had it serviced last year, fully intending to start racing again, and then we moved. I sprained my ankle again last week and realized, not only do I not have a desire to race anymore, but I physically can’t. You’d think it would be the running, but it’s actually the swimming that hurts my ankle the most. Swimming continues to hurt and cause swelling for months after each sprain for months after the injury, and I’ve finally decided to let someone else ride the bike. It’s so awesome. Plus, if I sell it, I have a better chance of talking Chris into letting me get a road bike 🙂

This week is week number two of my three weeks of nearly-full time writing. Lily and Austin are both in school until 2pm, so I have from 9:30-1:30 each day all to myself to write. I’m working diligently on the sequel to Stealing the Ruby Slippers and also creating a final draft of Home. It’s been awesome, and I can’t wait for the fall when they’re both in school and I can do this all the time.

Speaking of…time to go write. See you next week.

You think you don’t like research?

I think there are two types of people in the world: those that love research (me) and those that hate research (me.) Okay. So there is some crossover.

But I’ve been having a lot of fun with the first draft of Finding the Ruby Slippers, and a big part of it has been research. I’ve spoken with the President of the Minnesota Iron Mining Association, a really cool Geologist (btw, if I’m not supposed to capitalize everyone’s titles, sorry. And be happy I pay an editor for my books 🙂 and, yesterday, the DNR.

I also use a lot of websites in my research. Google and I are bestest friends. Today, like the amazing BF it is, Google gave me a picture of Brad pit with his shirt off. Because it knew that was the very best image for me to look at to describe a man’s six pack.

I can’t post the picture here because I don’t own it or have any right to it, but I did pin it on my Finding the Ruby Slippers research board on Pinterest. Check it out. And see if there is anything you can guess about the plot by what’s pinned. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Using Brad Pitt pictures as research

This picture has nothing to do with anything. But it's funny.

This picture has nothing to do with anything. But it’s funny. And I can’t legally put the picture of Brad Pitt here.

So somehow I got on this schedule where I’m blogging here and on Stealing the Ruby Slippers on the same day. Which, to be quite honest, is cutting into my writing/editing/painting/jewelry making time. So I’m switching it up a bit, I’ll be here on Tuesdays and there on Thursdays. (And here whenever I have something burning to type about.) I hope you don’t mind. To make up for the non-post this week, I’m linking to my Pinterest board where I’m tracking my research for the Ruby Slippers sequel. Today I had to write about a man with a six pack. So I googled “Man with Six Pack.” And I pinned my favorite…Brad Pitt…just in case I needed it for later. Enjoy.

I did a whole post about research here, if you want more information. Regardless, based on what’s the Pinterest Board, I’d love to hear what you think is coming in the next book.

Finding my people

(Did you know I have another blog? Sometimes the material is a little bit repeated (when it’s really big news) otherwise that is usually much more personal than this. Just in case you want more about me.)

utopya2014logoI spent the weekend at Utopya Conference (Their tag line is: The first-of-its-kind convention for women writers of supernatural YA and NA fiction, and their fans! I would add to that there are a lot of romance writers also.) in Nashville. The conference began three years ago and I’ve been, in some form, each year. This year though, I went as an author, with a book out that I was actively trying to learn to promote.

Can I tell you a secret? Promoting a book is harder than writing one. At least for me.

The thing about Utopya is that it is a family. A quickly growing family of nearly a thousand people now, but a family nonetheless. Everyone knows everyone (we have a Facebook group that helps with that) and everyone admires everyone else. It’s amazing to see.

I learned a ton while I was there. I haven’t even processed through all of my notes and to-dos yet. I met some amazing people. But I felt like an outsider. And it took until the last day of the conference to realize why: I am. I started going to Utopya because I knew it’s founder and was friends of friends of people on the planning committee. I wanted to be a part of that community and the love there. And, don’t get me wrong, they welcome me with open arms every year. But…I just don’t have the same fan-girling, tackle-hugging, jump-up-and-down-screaming excitement they have.

It’s kind of like in High School when you have your group that you hang out with and like, but also have that group that looks fun that you want to be a part of. So you wedge yourself in there and they accept you, but it never really feels right.

It’s because it’s not.

I have so much respect and admiration for the women (and men, there are a few) of Utopya. SO MUCH. But I don’t write (or really read) YA/NA Paranormal/Supernatural. It’s not that I dislike it, I like most of it that I read. But it’s not what I crave. (It’s like ice cream for me: it’s awesome and everything, but unless you offer it to me I probably won’t think about asking for it.)

So while everyone else was crying and hugging each other goodbye last Sunday, I quietly slipped out to take my rental car back to the hotel. I spent the afternoon a little sad that I had missed out on the social aspect of the conference. It took me a few days away to realize: I had an fantastic time. But I need to find the conferences for people who write and read what I write and read: mysteries, popular/literary fiction, and there I will find both my readers and the writers and swoon over.

This isn’t to take away from the Utopya experience at all. It is a wonderful conference that I highly recommend (and next year’s tickets are already on sale, for an amazingly low price.) But it is a reminder to myself that I don’t have to change to fit a certain group. I just need to find my group. So I’m going to keep trying to do that.

Have you ever gone anywhere and felt like an outsider? Do you stick it out, or do you leave?