Ang Shaef Writes

After sending out seven queries and hearing "no's" from two agents and nothing from the other five (hearing nothing if it's a "no" is the norm), I'm on to Step 2 of the query process--revising my letter and first five pages. I hired a professional to give feedback on my query letter and just received her notes today. Her wordsmithing is fantastic and I'm super pumped about the helpful critique she sent. But she also said one of my comps worked, but the other two don't. Ugh. I thought they were perfect. Finding comps is SO HARD! Amazing Grace Adams,  about a mom who has a complicated relationship with her teenage daughter and has finally been pushed too far, was marketed as humorous;  therefore, not a comp.   Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance  was marketed as coming-of-age and romance; therefore, not a comp. She did say "the voice of books by J. Courtney Sullivan" was spot-on. One out of three isn't great. So, if you have suggestion...

It's come to this. Happiness Falls was a 5 star book! I was thrilled to have a book on the plane (to NY) that was a page-turner with heart.

  Today was my self-imposed deadline to finish edits and submit my first query. It turned into an actual deadline when the agent I hoped to submit to said she was closing for queries on March 1!  I decided to put off exercising and get right to work on submitting the query, which included submitting my first ten pages, so of course I wanted to read through them one more time. And because I had so much I wanted to get done on my book, I spent the first five minutes combining two ketchups so there was only one bottle in the fridge. I think when I'm a little bit stressed I self-soothe by organizing. Regardless, I did feel better afterward. And then I got to work, still in my pj's, because those are the most productive days. I prayed for guidance before I began to work and as I read through the first ten pages,  I saw with such clarity, sentences to fix and how to make them sound better.  I used the thesaurus, yes, but I found the right words. I edited my pages, I cleane...

  Today was New Year perfection! The whole day was dedicated to goal setting and planning, making lists and organizing tools to implement my goals. It always starts in the sunroom with a journal and a pen and an extra pad of paper for good measure. (Pilot FriXion erasable pens are super handy as well! Thanks, Sheree!) (Side note: Another little flower is opening up on another succulent.  I thought it was so great until I realized they're supposed to be  hibernating and recharging and storing up energy during the winter. I think I need to turn the radiant heat down. And consider the metaphor.  But not today, because I'm excited about the prospects for the new year!) I won't detail all my goals (but you can zoom in on the journal if your curious), but a few that I'm excited about. 1) 500 hours outside. I've heard of the 1000 hours outside movement--I think for home schooled children--but when doing the math for myself and considering we have cold winters, I needed to ...

  I posted about a book I just finished on my writing account (angshaefwrites) and the author reposted my post.  Now I'm feeling like a cool kid. Did I mention that Courtney & Michael gave Dan & me... (...gave Dan. ...gave me. Yes, got the English right)  ...three months of an Audible membership for our birthdays?  Previously I'd told her I don't like listening to books because I like listening to podcasts instead. But she REALLY wanted me to make sure I actually felt that way... because I didn't really know for sure unless I tried, did I? Oh man! I'm LOVING Audible! Carol suggested The Dutch House on Audible because it was narrated by Tom Hanks. Wow!  \It was as riveting as a movie. So good. As soon as I finished, I perused the library (is it a family library? We've sure got a lot of selections already downloaded) and I found a Salman Rushdie book that someone was into 13 chapters. I've been curious about his work, so I downloaded (for free? I'm...

Do you ever quit reading books you just can't get into or don't like? I'm currently 100 pages into a book and although the writing is well done and I'm interested in the setting, I simply don't care what happens next.  Usually I keep plodding through to make sure I don't miss out if it gets better. I can think of two specific books that I quit because the writing was trash. (I'm thinking of you, self-published romance author hawking your book in Costco!) And for some reason I was never excited to pick up  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet or whatever that book was called. Even though everyone else raved about it. Maybe I finished it, I don't remember.  I just remember wishing I was reading something I actually liked  and what terrible feeling it was to have to read something you don't want to.  Hold on, I'm going to check my Goodreads... Nope, never finished it.  Well good for me. That's exactly what I'm going to do with the book ...

Last year I participated in Albert Flynn DeSilver's Friday writing workshops. I wanted the accountability of a weekly live writing class.  I loved the positive, strong sense of community. At first I hesitated to join because I worried the prompts would take me away from moving forward on my own book. But DeSilver recommended I write from the POV of my characters and I always ended up with great stuff.  A couple times I even shared what I wrote.  I stopped the class when summer came because I wanted more flexibility while Nick was out of school. But they were a great source of inspiration and motivation. For more information, click here .