Contracts and Deadlines and Expectations, Oh My!

Hi Secret Lifers!

So, in case you haven't heard, I've had a pretty big couple of weeks, between welcoming my first baby  and selling my second book to Simon and Schuster! And while honestly I'm still in new, totally-enamored Mommy mode and all I want to do is stare at my (currently sleeping and totally cute) daughter, today's post is obviously going to be about that latter bit of big news.

Because that's definitely weighing heavy and shifting to the front of my mind in the few spare moments in-between feedings and diaper changes and getting spit up on--because as awesome and exciting as it is to know that FALLS THE SHADOW will have a real, live companion novel on the shelves in a little over a year, it's also a bit daunting when I think about how said novel isn't actually written yet.

Some of you probably already know this, but a behind-the-scenes tidbit in case you don't: in the case of option novels and second book deals in general, things are often sold on proposal. In my specific case, that means that all that was written of this new book at the time S&S offered on it was around thirty pages and a very basic synopsis. So it's a very different experience, of course, from FALLS, which was already more or less a book (albeit one still in need of editing) when I signed the contract for it.

When I was writing FALLS, I was still agentless, and like every other book I'd written before then, I had no idea if it was going to go anywhere. And to all of you still in that spot-- I haven't forgotten how daunting *that* can be, facing a blank page and filling it with words that people may never see (*cue sad trombone*). What I'm discovering now, though, is a new kind of daunting-ness. The pressure of expectation, of knowing I *can't* quit--or even take a break, really--because I have a deadline and a contract to fulfill. This book has to be written, and it has to be written like, nowish.

While I was waiting for this second book deal to happen, I told myself that I would never complain about deadlines ever again, because deadlines mean you have contracts, which is a very, very awesome thing that I am very, very grateful for. So let me be clear: this is not me complaining. It's more me saying: this is the reality of life after that debut book, and this is how I cope.

And how is that, then?

Well, I'm still learning (still very much a baby published author here!), but a couple things that help:

1. Staying away from reviews. I should point out that I don't (or didn't) entirely do this at first. When FALLS first started getting reviews, of course I read them. It's hard not to. And, at least in my case, it caused more anxiety to not know what people where saying as opposed to just checking and reading all of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Plus, you can learn a lot from reviews--and I want to learn. I want readers to like this second book more than they liked the first, so of course I'm interested in what readers liked and didn't like about FALLS. But there's a difference in interest and obsession. It can be a hard line to draw, too; I draw it by literally blocking both Goodreads and my book's Amazon page on my laptop via a parental control add-on I installed on my laptop.

Trust me, it's better this way.

Besides, I've noticed that after the first few dozen reviews, few of them are saying anything you haven't heard before, anyway.

2. Paying no attention to sales numbers. Two dangerous things I have now: an Amazon sales rank, and an author portal on the Simon and Schuster website that allows me to check the number of books sold in a given time period. I let myself check these things once a week, and that's it. Just enough to satiate my curiosity. And then I remind myself that, regardless of how FALLS is doing, the best way to sell books is to publish more books. It's basic marketing strategy. So the best thing I can do for those numbers, be they good or bad or ugly, is to go back to writing this new book and making it as kickass as possible.

3. Paying no attention to the looming deadline. Are you noticing a pattern of avoidance here? Basically I work in a cave now and the only thing I let myself worry about is getting as many words down as possible on any given day. Of course I know my deadline, and I plan to do everything possible to hit it. But personally? I can't think about it. I don't count the days I have left until it, or sit and figure up how many words I have to write each day to hit it. I know a lot of people operate like that, and that's cool. But for me, that just leads to me being overwhelmed and disappointed with myself when I don't hit a day's wordcount, and that in turn makes me much less productive during my next writing session. Now I just make sure I write everyday, and try not to be too concerned with the numbers. Oddly enough, in this way I think I'm less disciplined now than I was before I was published. But so far I'm proving just as productive, and feeling a lot less stressed.

4. When all else fails, taking stare-at-the-baby breaks. I can't help it. She's cute. And at the end of the day, even if the book I'm creating ends up sucking, at least the baby I created doesn't. Win! ;)

 What sort of expectations do you have for your works-in-progress, and how do you deal with them and still manage to be productive? Let us know in the comments!

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary, and her debut, FALLS THE SHADOW, is available now from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers. 

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com

Introducing the Newest Little Secret Lifer!

In place of this regularly scheduled Secret Life of Writers post, we present:

BABY PHOTO SPAM!

Hello Evelyn (Evie) Grace Gaither, and welcome to the world!

:D

Look for another post on Thursday, and then Stef will be back next week with some more big news (not baby-related this time, but still exciting nonetheless!)

That One Time Stefanie Made a Fool of Herself in Front of a Bunch of People but Still Lived to Tell the Tale and It Was All Okay in the End

Hi Secret Lifers! *waves furiously* It's been waaaay too long! How are you? You look great. I love what you've done with your hair.

Right, so, in case you missed it--I'm a published author now!

Shiny!

Pretty wild stuff. I'm still waiting for someone to jump out and yell "just kidding!" and then for all of my books and all traces of their existence to poof because seriously is this real life? And I was going to ramble on about that feeling for this first post back, but then something else happened this week that I wanted to talk about instead. And what was that, you ask? Well, it was the absolute most terrifying part (for me) about this whole published-author thing: my first public presentation (dun dun dun).

Hey look! It's me!

As part of teen read week, I partnered with my local library and ran a creative writing workshop and presentation about publishing for area teens a few days ago. And it was awesome! And, as I said before, it was terrifying!

When one of the librarians reached out to me a month or so ago about doing this, my introverted, extreme social anxiety knee-jerk reaction was basically this:

But then I remembered how, earlier this year, I made a promise to myself that I would do a better job of getting out of my comfort zone and actually interacting with people. And, to cut myself some slack for once, I will say that I've done a pretty good job of sticking to that goal. This year I've gone on a writing retreat (with people I'd never met before!), I've stopped shying away from random conversations in coffeeshops, I met my agent in person, and I've finally learned how to answer the question "what do you do for a living" by telling people I write and then going on to explain my career and aspirations in an intelligent way instead of melting into a pile of mumbles and awkwardly shuffling away. It's been a year of big steps, for sure. And so after contemplating it for a bit, I wrote back to the librarian and told her yes! I'd love to!

The love part was a total lie but that's okay. I'm a writer. I sort of make stuff up for a living.

So the day of the presentation arrives. My husband and I are on the way to the library, and to give you an idea of how crazy my social anxiety can be, I actually said to my husband: what I wouldn't give to go into labor right now so I would have a valid excuse to not have to go to this thing.

Yes, that's right: I'm less freaked out by birthing another human being than I am by the thought of giving a presentation to a few teenagers.

I am a ridiculous person and I know it.

Anyway, my daughter remains snug in my stomach as I type this, so you can probably guess that I did, in fact, have to go through with what I'd committed to do. And, *spoiler alert*, I survived it. Not the way I'd planned on, though; see, I had this really detailed outline all typed up, and I was going to follow it to make my presentation easier. To make it fantastically detailed and informing and...yeah, somehow I still had really high expectations for this thing, even though I was almost certain I was going to bomb.

And I sort of did bomb. I guess because the best laid schemes of mice and men are often going awry and all that. I ended up abandoning my outline within five minutes of starting, because I am so not a public speaker, and I could tell my audience was very painfully aware of that, and they were checking out. So I ended up improvising. No more plans, no more expectations about how it would go--I just turned the session into an impromptu Q and A and then we all just sat around and talked. About writing, about publishing, about anything they wanted to know.

And they asked awesome questions, and answering those questions would lead to more questions, and at some point I even stopped watching the clock and silently begging the minutes of my hour-long session slot to go by faster. I actually relaxed and had fun. The teens did too, I think; even after we broke the formal session and everyone was mingling and eating desserts the library provided, they were still coming up to me and asking questions. It was actually really cool. And in the end, I think I would have been much more disappointed in myself if I hadn't shown up at all, than I was about getting off to a rocky start.

So I guess the secret I want to share with this post is this: you don't have to be an awesome public speaker, or even an extrovert, to get out there and personally connect with readers. And it's okay to still be scared of things, even once you reach that "officially published author" stage. Even if you totally bomb, it's still going to be okay in the end. Promise. :)

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut YA sci-fi novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is available NOW from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com

  

Love, Money, and Metaphors

So I don't know if you guys saw the results from the epic writing survey that were posted a few weeks ago, but if not, you should go here and check them out. Definitely interesting stuff. One of the questions that was particularly interesting to me was this one:

What's the best part about writing for everyone, we wondered?

You probably need to click it to make it bigger and see, but the main thing that caught my attention here was the last answer--"The Money." Zero people said this is why they wrote. This wasn't especially surprising to me, because it's probably the one constant piece of "advice" that I've gotten since embarking on this "make writing a career" journey however long ago it was now. That is, "Don't do it for the money." 

Because if that's what you're here for, then most likely, you're going to end up severely disappointed and frustrated.

Five years ago, when I was writing that first book, this was easy enough advice to get behind. I'd loved writing for as long as I could remember, and I loved the idea of simply writing a book-- of accomplishing that, and seeing it through to the end, regardless of what came next. It was nothing except the sheer joy of words and the amazing feeling that came when you managed to string them into a whole, coherent story. When you'd created a world and cast of characters entirely in your head, and then--with even just a little bit of success--managed to recreate those things on the page for other people to see and believe in. And that's what it's all about. It's cheesy, but even just typing those last few sentences made me feel all warm and fuzzy, because it woke up that part of me inside that said oh yeah. that is what this writing thing is supposed to be about.

But--and brace yourselves, because this is the part of the post where I'm going to level with you--I have to be honest, those warm and fuzzies have gotten harder to feel, the longer I've been at this. After that first book, I wrote three more before I was offered representation. And with each book, though I didn't really notice it at the time, I think it became less about the simple joy of writing, and more of a complex combination of yes-I-love-writing-but-what-I'd-really-love-is-a-book-deal-now-please-and-thanks. It became about not failing at something I'd already dedicated so much time to. About getting to the point where the accepts started outnumbering the rejections.

This is a hard post to write. I debated about posting it, even after drafting it and thinking about it forever, because I'm not sure how this reflects on my character; I've had enough private conversations with fellow writers to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way, but in public? In public it seems that often we're only allowed to talk about how much we love writing, and how we would do it forever and ever even if we never saw anything but rejection from it.To feel differently--even on only the occasional bad day--means that GASP! we must not be real writers! Real writers do it because they love writing. Period. 

But I don't know if it's that simple. Yes, real writers love writing. Obviously. Obviously, some part of me is madly in love with writing, too--because if it wasn't, I seriously doubt I would have spent four years writing four books only to have the publishing door slammed in my face over and over again. Yes, some part of it was sheer stubbornness; but stubbornness alone doesn't write a book. Not a publishable book, anyway. And I eventually wrote a publishable book. I hope to write many more publishable books. And yes, some part of me would always be a writer, even if I never managed to make anything resembling a career out of this.

But this is where it's gotten tricky for me, and why I think this topic has been on my heart lately: because once you're published (or soon-to-be-published), it becomes harder to think about that simple love that got you writing books in the first place. You suddenly have Expectations. You have people who have read your debut book and asked about sequels. You have an editor and possibly an agent who you have to keep on impressing. You have well-meaning friends and family who want to know when you'll be quitting your day job since you're obviously making a ton of money now (ha!). Or who want to know when you're going to stop spending so much time writing and get a real job (because they know how poor you actually still are). 

And when you don't know what to tell these people, it's hard. It's disheartening. You get tired of explaining to people that publishing is slow and there's nothing you can do about it, and that yes, it's a HUGE accomplishment to have gotten a book deal in the first place, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're "in" at that point, or that it's all going to be smooth sailing from then on, or that this is even an actual, viable career now. There are still a lot more hurdles to leap. A lot more books to write. And now you're writing with all these people staring at you, wondering what's going to come next in your fledgling career--and to top it all off, a lot of what happens in said career is out of your control. That is, basically, everything except the actual writing is out of your control. Wheee.

It's sort of how romantic relationships often go, isn't it? You start out all infatuated and loving everything about your partner, but then you start noticing how annoying their laugh is and then suddenly they're all "sorry but you're not quite right for my list right now" and you're like "well, damn". And then you have to decide if what you have goes deeper than infatuation, and if it's worth it to keep fighting until you get it right. Or something like that half-assed metaphor.

On to my point, though (yes, I did have a point all along, I promise): this post isn't meant to be a complaint, or a woe-is-me-publishing-is-so-hard-and-unfair sort of rant, just for the record. I am ETERNALLY grateful to know that I will have a book on the shelves in September, even if it's the only one that ever makes it to said shelves. But in the true spirit of this blog--revealing the  secret life after surviving the slushpile and such--I thought it was time for another painfully honest topic. So here you go. Bottom line? The warm-and-fuzzy feeling that writing gives you may not always be as warm and fuzzy as it was when you first started. Sometimes it will be downright cold and prickly and you'll probably wonder if it was ever there in the first place, or if you were just fooling yourself. I personally don't think that makes you less of a "real writer"; it just makes you human. To revisit my terrible metaphor, all good relationships--including the one I share with my writing--need work sometimes. And sometimes you want to just completely break-up and crank up some Taylor Swift and tell your polished turd of a manuscript that you are never ever ever getting back together, and that's totally okay and I'm totally not judging you for that. Also, I have no idea how Taylor Swift just became a part of this post.

Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Scott-- aka: my spirit animal.

Anyway, the trick, I guess, is to just do what you can to not lose that warm feeling completely. Maybe write some random bad poetry that you're never going to show anybody. Read a book for pure enjoyment and pay no attention to how it compares to yours, or how the writer crafted this or that. Remind yourself that writing is actually really, really hard, and then go eat a cupcake. Fall asleep dreaming of words and scenes you want to write, even on the bad days when you didn't actually write a single word. You're still a writer, even on those days. And it's that warm feeling that will remind you of that over and over. You just have to hang on to it, and let it convince you to write one. more. sentence. Even when you're pretty sure nobody else in the publishing world wants anything to do with those sentences. 

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com

The Thing About “Original” Ideas

Here’s the thing about them: there are none.

We’ve likely all heard it before: there are no new ideas.

And yet.

Yet, even knowing and agreeing to that, I don’t know of much else that takes the wind out of my writer sails than to be explaining a WIP to someone only to have them say “oh, that sounds exactly like “insert book/movie/show title here!” Or to be almost done with said WIP, and then stumble along a Publisher’s Weekly deal announcement for a book that somehow sounds exactly like yours. And that just sold for six figures. That could have been yours. But now your idea is old news. Aaaaaand *cue sad violin song*

On the world's smallest violin

And even once your book sells, the comparisons continue. Some of the first few comments on FALLS Goodreads’ page compared it to a book I’d never even heard of, and so of course, I looked said book up, and realized they were right. As we'd sent FALLS off on submission, this book that had many of the same ideas about cloning as mine had already hit the shelves that same month.

And it totally sucked.

Because even though we’ll probably all admit that complete originality is impossible, most people don’t like being called copy-cats. I know I didn’t. For years, I’ve had this idea that I must be original, that real artists/writers can’t be compared to anything else. Heck, I used to freak out when I was reading a book and came across a name too similar to one of the ones in my WIPs.

But the more I think on it, the more books I write, and the closer I get to FALLS’ pub day and see more and more people excited about it (despite its supposed unoriginality), the more I think that maybe “new” ideas are less important than genuine ideas that you want to write about, even if they’ve been explored before. Because chances are, you’re going to explore them in different ways, from different angles, through the eyes of different characters. Two stories based off the same basic idea can have wildly different plots. And in some cases (I’ve observed personally) some people who loved the book that yours is constantly compared to will actually be all the more excited for your book, because it gives them another chance to explore more of what drew them to that first book to begin with. 

So take heart, dear writers; even if people have seen your story before, chances are a lot of them will still give it a chance. Then it’s up to your writing and story elements to win them over from there (no pressure!). Originality exists in details, in the way you tangle and untangle your plot and characters and spin each unique sentence together. Since after all, if you boil stories down to just a few basic lines (like we see in blurbs and on covers) it's sometimes hard to see all of these little things that make your story, well, yours. Because essentially, when you get down to the bones, all stories are about the same things anyway

Hey! That's my story in a nutshell!

And one last thing before I go: I’m not saying ignore what’s already been done. I think it is a good idea to pay attention to the market, and to fill in gaps where any exist, IF the books that fill those gaps are what you want to write. Because bottom line? A book that you’re genuinely passionate about is always going to be a better book than one you wrote just because it seemed unique at the time.

So what do you guys think? Is it more important for a book to be completely original, or completely well-written? Or maybe a bit of both? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

  

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com

On Writing Retreats and Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

Happy Monday everyone!

As I'm writing this post, I am currently 1500 miles and two timezones away from home. I spent these past few days traveling to and around the gorgeous state of Colorado, my ultimate destination being a beautiful cabin in the mountains, where I joined 17 other authors on a retreat that involved lots of writing, occasional dance partying, and shenanigans involving a cardboard cutout of Loki.

In case you thought I was kidding about that last part

And before I ventured up the mountain (with Leah Miller at my side, of course), we stopped over in Boulder, CO, to lunch and visit with my agent:

Yes! She is in fact a real, live, sweet and fantastic person

Once we made it up the mountain, the cabin awaited, with its fantastic views:

Seriously? We were supposed to write when we could just stare at this all day?

So, yeah. All in all? Fantastic weekend, and I am SO grateful to have had this retreat opportunity, and to be a part of this fantastic group of writers who attended.

But now for the secret.

Guys, I was also absolutely terrified to get on that plane and go on this trip.

Not really terrified of the plane part (I love planes and traveling and getting lost in new places and all that good stuff), but the "holy-crap-I'm-going-to-be-meeting-a-TON-of-people-this-weekend" part. So terrified that, if I could have backed out (and hadn't already paid deposits and plane tickets), sad to say that there's a decent chance I would have. Small talk, groups of people and bonding activities and just...yeah. These things freak me out. I'm not good at these things. I've spent the past four days moving so far outside of my comfort zone that I might not ever find my way back to it.

But I'm pretty sure that's a good thing.

Because see, my comfort zone has moved, and now I have new scenery to enjoy and be inspired by. I saw this picture about comfort zones on pintrest awhile back, and it kept flashing through my head on this trip; and since I am such a FANTASTIC artist, I decided to recreate it for you guys:

If writing doesn't work out, I plan on becoming an artist

So I kept telling myself this all weekend (magic happens outside your comfort zone! magic happens outside your comfort zone!), and it eventually occurred to me that it didn't just apply to social situation comfort zones; it's true of writing, too. Because during one of the retreats writing sessions/stare out the window at the pretty mountains times, I had an idea for a book. A big, scary, "this-could-be-awesome-if-done-properly-but-also-I-could-screw-it-up-reeeeally-easily" sort of idea.

Not a comfortable sort of idea, in other words.

But thinking back, I guess that's how my most recently completed book started off, too: that is, way outside the zone of what I considered myself comfortable with writing. But I pushed on anyway, and even though its publishing fate is still to be determined, I still feel confident that it's my best-written book to date. Funny how that works out.

And before the new book, it was the same with FALLS. Scary in the beginning, eventually breaking through to places I didn't think my writing could go, and then ultimately it became the book that got me an agent and book deal.

So as I'm standing here at the beginning(s) of new book(s) that seem scary and bigger than anything I've done before, I just keep telling myself: this is how it's supposed to be. With every book, (I hope) I'm getting better, and sometimes getting better means growing outside of safe and familiar things; it means meeting people in a cabin in the woods and telling them your writing dreams and goals, and it means dancing with those people even if sitting on the couch and playing with your phone seems safer. And then it means sitting back down at the keyboard, surrounded by new fears and uncertainties and everything that could go wrong, and then writing anyway.

I hope you're all challenged by whatever you're working on today--and that you all manage to overcome it and breakthrough to where the magic happens :)

And now I'm off to see more mountains and do other Coloradoey things. Bye!

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com

Things You Can do With ARCS

Hi Secret Lifers!

Some of you who follow me on twitter might already know that a couple of weeks ago, I got a fun package in the mail from my editor--one full of advance review copies of FALLS THE SHADOW! Arcs are bound books that are made from copyedited pages; they still have some errors, but for the most part, it's an actual, honest-to-goodness book at this point. Like it smells like a book. It feels like a book. It sits on a bookshelf like a book.

And it's just...whoa.

Guys, I can't even.

I didn't get to hold on to my arcs for too long (alas), because the few that I got had already been promised elsewhere--to ARC tours and blog giveaways (some of which haven't happened yet, but soon!), and then I signed the last of them and gave it to my mom (whom the book is partially dedicated to)-- BUT, I at least got to have some fun with them before I shipped them off to meet the world :) So, behold, fun things you can do with ARCs (which are actual, physical, books! Ah!)

1. You can build a tower! 

The two standing up aren't actually my books; I don't have the finished hardcovers yet, only the jackets (which are gorgeous and embossed!) that will go on them. Here said jackets are being modeled by the books WITHER and SERAPHINA :)

2. You can put it on a bookshelf! Because it's a book now! Ah!

Oh, who is my book hanging out with on my alphabetized shelf? 

OH NOBODY JUST NEIL GAIMAN THAT'S ALL.

3. You can use it as a hat! 

A sexy, sexy hat.

4. You can dress it up!

Speaking of sexy, my book looks good with a mustache, doesn't it?

 5. You can let your dog read it!

(except you'll still have to turn the pages because, you know, thumbs)

6. You can shove it in random people's faces! 

LOOK AT THIS BOOK THAT I WROTE IT IS SO AWESOME

Not pictured: me sleeping with my arcs and spending a creepy amount of time stroking them and the jacket mock-ups (they're embossed, guys!)

*Please note before you ask:  I'm not really involved in the process of who gets arcs from my publisher. Sorry! It *is* up on Edelweiss now, so you're welcome to request a digital arc there, and I'll cross my fingers for you to be approved for one :)

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com 

On Waiting (and getting hit by trucks)

Hello Secret Lifers :)

This post is coming a little late today, but in a way that seems appropriate, given what it's about (so let's just pretend I did it on purpose then, to drive home my point. Okay? Okay.) I spent most of this morning/early afternoon in the doctor's office, waiting. And while I was there, I was trying to come up with an idea for a blog post, as I hadn't given it much thought yet, since I've spent most of the past week in a sickly haze. So I'm sitting there in the cold little exam room, absently breaking a tongue depressor into several dozen splinters, and waiting for ten...twenty...thirty...however many minutes it ended up being, and I thought: waiting.

There's a topic that most writers know all about.

First things first: I'm not complaining about having to wait. I know how doctor's offices work. I know things get backed up, and I know emergencies happen, and I know that I should be glad the doctor is taking his time about seeing me, because even though I might feel differently, it means that I am not, in fact, dying. So, yay for that!

That doesn't change the fact that waiting sucks. Especially when you're sitting around feeling like you got hit with a truck (but again-- I wasn't actually hit by a truck, so yes, also sitting around counting my blessings).

And for anyone who's been writing for much time at all, you probably see where I'm going with this. Since I embarked on this crazy writing-toward-publication journey oh, five years ago or whatever it's been now, my patience has increased exponentially (also I just spelled that word right on the first try in spite of the cough medicine that's making me slightly delirious and I think I deserve a cookie for that, please and thanks). Notice I said "since I embarked" as in, not just since I started trying to get an agent or since I got one and landed a book deal and embarked on everything I talked about in my last post. Even before that, it feels like, you're always, always waiting. You take part in a contest on a blog, wait on pins and needles to see if your entry gets in, and then spend an embarrassing amount of time refreshing the page with your entry, waiting for comments to see what people think, even if you're afraid to know. You finish chapters, send them of to readers, and then...you wait.

You check your email constantly, and with every second that passes, you're a little more *certain* that obviously they hate it and they just can't find the heart to tell me that and that's why it's taking them so long to get back to me so what was I thinking even sending it to them in the first place because oh god it was so obviously not ready and I've really screwed up this time and oh god I'm going to die alone are you happy now, stupid self?

Okay, maybe your inner voice isn't as insane as mine (I hope not, for your sake), but most writers I know go through some variation of this. We're already all crazy to begin with, and waiting makes us crazier. Fun, eh? And that best part is, it never ends! When you're done waiting for feedback, and you get it all polished up, then you get to wait on queries, and submissions, and reviews, and...really, it just keeps going. So what do you do?

Well, I'm probably not the best role-model for this sort of thing, since despite my best efforts, some days my anxiety-wracked self still ends up in my safe space in the closet eating nutella straight from the jar, BUT, I try. And this is how I deal:


1. By working on something else--something new. I'm always working, at least in my mind. If I'm not actively writing, I'm at least *planning* to write something. Notebooks are being filled with possible scenes and characters for the next book. Because there's always going to be a next book. And really, it's this "next" part that makes the anxiety of waiting so much easier to deal with for me: because if I have something new in the works, I can let my attachment slowly move away from the book that's with my betas or agents or on sub or whatever, and I can invest hope in this new project, instead of anxiety on the old one that's out of my control at the moment. And if things don't pan out with the old book, then I can sleep a little easier knowing that I've already moved on to the next one, anyway

2. By exploring new hobbies--particularly creative ones. Recently I've picked up painting again, and to be honest I'm pretty terrible at it, but you know what? It doesn't matter. Not even to perfectionist me. I let myself be bad at it--and that's really important, for me, when I'm waiting to hear back from people reading my writing, since the stakes surrounding the latter feel much higher. I'm not worried about selling my artwork, or even about ever letting people see it; it's just a way to burn up anxious creative energy without having to worry about whether it's "good enough" or not.

3. By going on a walk, or a run, or just getting out of the house in general.  Honestly, part of the reason I don't like winter is because this gets harder (or just a lot less appealing) during this time of year. Who wants to run or play tennis when it's 9 degrees outside? Not me. I spend a lot of time going on random drives in the winter, because it's a way to get out and into the sunshine but still be warm and snug in my car.

4. By not paying attention to what everyone else is doing, or how quickly things are happening for them. In the age of twitter and tumblr and facebook and WE ALL MUST BE CONNECTED AND AWARE OF EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPENING TO EVERYONE EVER, this one is hard, ya'll. And yes, I know, I wrote a blog post a couple weeks ago that had my own timeline in, so sorry for being another enabler. I just wrote it because I know people want to know those things, and *sometimes*, in some cases, it can provide you with peace of mind if you're timeline matches up. In this case, I'm talking more about ignoring the occasional instances where, despite all we hear about publishing being a slow, slow business, Author X manages to land a book deal, a hundred foreign rights sales, a movie deal, a theme park deal, etc... all in like...a month. Obviously this is a *bit* of an exaggeration, but you get the point. And I've seen other blogs, and countless industry professionals who'll claim "this doesn't happen, publishing is slow for everyone, blah blah blah". But, um, no. Sure, everyone waits at *some* point, but I personally know people who have had mind-blowingly awesome things happen for them really, really quickly. And I'm happy for them! I really, really am.

But let's be real. It's possible to be incredibly happy for these people even as a little part of you dies inside because you start to feel like "if I was a little better, or if I'd just done x,y, or z like they did, then things would have gone as fast and awesome for me..."  I think that sometimes, even though I know that just....no. No no no. You can't get caught up in this line of thinking, even though I know it's reeeally hard not to compare yourself to others in this business.  But just know that even if amazing things are happening for everyone around you, all the time and all at once, while you're still just chilling in the cold little exam room and waiting for things to get awesome (or at least to stop feeling like you got hit by a truck), then it's an okay place to be. I'd say we've ALL been there, at some point--even those Author Xs.

Things will happen when they happen, and they'll take the time they take, and you are awesome and strong and patient, and in the meantime, while you're waiting, I got you this cute picture to look at:

You're welcome ;)

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com 

A Year In the Life of a Debut Author: Timeline Edition

Hi guys! Happy Monday!

Hard to believe it, but it's been a little over a year since I announced my first book deal. So what's happened since then?

Well, first off, there are quite a few great posts floating around the internet that talk about all of the steps involved in getting a book from a publisher’s initial offer to the actual bookshelf. One reason I think this post gets written a lot is because authors get asked about this a lot—except it’s usually phrased like “Your book sold when? And it’s coming out when? Why so far away?” And then I, at least, just sort of nod and smile and say, “yes, it’s normal for a big traditional publisher to take that long, no it doesn't mean they hate my book, yes, I am very patient, thanks, etc...”, and then I try to explain everything that’s been happening behind the scenes, but I usually mix up my dates and words and end up just losing people halfway though.

So! I thought I’d write something on the subject down in a post, so I can just direct people to it instead. And because I liked specific dates and stats and stuff when I was researching everything before I was published (and even after, too), I thought I’d be as specific as possible—although, of course, this shouldn’t be used as a guide, since publisher’s timelines—even among the same imprints and same editors at the same house—are going to vary wildly.

This is just for fun, just for those curious about what my past year has looked like. Also keep in mind that this is my only experience, and it’s with one of the Big 5, and I’m sure other publishers work different, and that’s cool. Yay for other publishers and all the methods we now have for sharing beautiful books with the world! This is not a “let’s compare one publisher to another and talk about how slow traditional publishers are and how they’re going the way of the dinosaurs and blah blah blah!” sort of post. Incidentally, I’d never write one of those posts, because I happen to think my publisher is pretty kickass, and honestly this past year hasn't felt that slow at all. But I digress.

Right, anyway, here are some of those promised “behind-the-scenes” stats for you; enjoy! :)

Initial Offer on FALLS THE SHADOW made: January 3, 2013

Offer Accepted: January 14, 2013

Offer Announced: January 15, 2013

Contract (after agent negotiations) signed:  March 18, 2013

First Edit Letter Arrived: May 3, 2013

First Round of Edits Deadline: June 3, 2013

Second Edit Letter Arrived: July 29, 2013

Second Round of Edits Deadline: August 26, 2013

Book is considered D&A’d:  August 29, 2013

(D&A stands for “delivered and accepted”, which basically means I held up my end of the contract and produced a publishable book, which means I then get the second part of my advance, and we move on to…)

Copyedits Arrived: October 14, 2013

Copyedits Due: October 28, 203

First Look at my Book’s Cover: November 14, 2013

First Pass Pages Arrived: December 23, 2013

First Pass Pages Due: January 13, 2014

Official Release Date for FALLS: September 16, 2014

So there you have it. These are all the bigger things that have gone on this past year; all of this, of course, in between writing a new book (and a half!), revising said new book, and doing things like setting up interviews,  cover reveals, working with my editor on flap copy, filling out author questionnaires, eating lots of cookies, etc…

If you have any questions, ask away in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer!

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com 

...And Then it Was All Real and Stuff

Happy new year, lovelies!

So. 2014. It’s here. The debut year of myself, and Andrea and Heather, and lots of other fabulous authors.

Almost precisely one year ago today, I got that email from my agent—the one with the word “offer” in the subject line. And amongst all of the celebratory dancing and margaritas, I had this vague sense that my life was, more or less, changed forever because of that single message. Yes, I’m pretty sure I thought something terribly dramatic like that, something along the lines of this is one of those moments that divides, and now life is split into parts: the part that came before, and the part that comes after.  

So I braced myself. I was so ready for this next part, for that sense that I’d moved into a new era of my life, the “published author” era—because I’d been working to get to this side of the divide for what felt like forever.

To be honest, though, for most of 2013, things didn’t feel much different.

I kept writing, as I always had. Sure, I had official deadlines now, but I’d always set those and met them for myself before, so it didn’t seem much different. And yes, I had a book coming out, but it was still so far away that when I told people about it, I’m pretty sure most of them thought I was making it up (because most people outside of publishing don’t really get that, yes, it’s normal to take 18 months or longer, and no, that doesn’t mean my publisher isn’t actually serious about publishing my book).

In a way, it was liberating, to be able to carry on and just go about my business of writing without feeling like there had been any sort of dramatic shift; I was able to complete a new book,  the same as I’d completed the four that it took me to get to this side of things. Yes, I was also working through edit letters, fielding interview requests, and learning how to answer the “oh, you write books? Tell me more” question in public without sounding like a babbling idiot (okay, I’m still working on this last one)—but honestly, it was still No Big Deal.

But then, last Monday, I had my cover reveal for FALLS THE SHADOW. Which means it now has a face— a tangible sort of something that people now associate with the book, and that I don’t think they’ll easily forget (because my publisher is amazing and they created a totally striking, memorable coverthat you can see here).

And then suddenly it was like: Oh.

Oh.

That’s right. My book is going to be out before long, and strangers are going to be reading it.

More than that, some strangers are looking forward to reading it (or so they tell me!). I’m still completely blown away and humbled by that—by the hundreds of twitter messages I received during my cover reveal (from strangers or otherwise), and by goodreads adds, and people sharing my book—my book—on their blogs, and pinterest boards and everywhere else all over the internet. To google your own name (not that I ever do that *cough*what google alert*cough*) and find that complete strangers are talking about this little story that once existed only inside my head, it’s, well…

It’s finally real now.

There's no stopping it, now.

And it’s exhilarating and terrifying and I-don’t-even-know, all at once. What I do know, though, is that all the time it took to make it real feels totally worth it now. 

I’m bracing for a crazy ride in 2014—and beyond—but whatever happens, I don’t want to forget that feeling, so I'm committing it here as much for myself as anybody. And I'm hoping for lots of dream-affirming moments like this for all of you this year, too--and so here's to goals and resolutions, and working toward those moments. 

Time to go out and make 2014 your bitch, secret lifers! 

But first, tell me in the comments how you're going to do that, and what exactly you're working toward this year--writing-related or otherwise? I want to know! So then I can hound you and guilt you about it until you make it happen ;)

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com 

Another Year Older...

Happy Monday Secret Lifers! And also happy birthday to me :D That’s right, I like you guys so much that I’m interrupting my birthday festivities (which mostly consisted of binging on chocolate chip cookies and episodes of Doctor Who because I know how to party) so I could write a sparkly new blog post.

So I was lying around last night (also possibly binging on chocolate chip cookies) and watching the clock out of the corner of my eye, counting down the minutes until I was twenty-six, and my mind started to wander—as it so often does—and I started thinking about where I was this time last year. Book-deal-less, for one. I suppose that’s the main difference that’s relative to the blog. Without a book deal and without any way of knowing if I would ever actually reach that goal. As I recall, it was a bit of a bittersweet birthday because of that—because for years, I’d always said my goal was “book deal by twenty-five” (I have no idea when or how I decided twenty-five was “the” age, but I had). And then suddenly I wasn’t twenty-four anymore. I’d missed my goal. I was bummed.

But, I managed to remind myself before plunging into a pit of bottomless despair, I was also a long way from where I was when I turned twenty-three. In the year between December 2, 2011 and December 2, 2012, I’d finished two books, (finally) been offered representation from some insanely awesome agents, and then began a fantastic working relationship with one of said agents.

Oh, and then a few weeks after my bittersweet birthday, I did manage to get that book deal. So I wasn’t too late after all.

Anyway, all of this had me thinking, last night, about where I’ll be a year from today. My book will be on the shelf, at least, and I’ll (hopefully) have more on their way to readers. Craziness. Of course, I have no way of knowing, really, how it will all work out—all I know is that a lot can happen in a year. And just because good things don’t happen according to schedule doesn’t mean they aren’t waiting right around the corner for you. You just have to keep moving forward, doing the best you can.

So on that note, I hope 2013 has been an awesome year for all of you, but if not—take heart: you still have 2014 to make it happen—whether “it” happens to be landing an agent, getting a book deal, or anything else.

As for me, I’m off to eat more cookies. I’ll see you in 2014! (I can’t believe I’m already saying that. wut,)

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com 

How Writing a Novel is Sort of Like Running a 5k

This past week, I did two things: one, I finished editing my newest book and FINALLY managed to let go of the perfectionist death grip I had on it and send it to my agent; and two, I decided that I would start training for a 5k. If you knew me in real life, you’d know why this second part was funny (read: because I haven’t done any actual hardcore physical exercise in about…oh, five years). Aside from the occasional tennis match or hiking trip, my activity level has been pretty dismal as of late. This wasn’t always the case, though; I played soccer pretty much year round through high school. I also played basketball through middle school--but I was terrible at it, so I like to pretend that part never happened. Except it did, and so as a teen (which wasn’t that long ago, thank you very much), I was totally in shape.

But see, the thing about being in shape is…you have to keep working to stay in shape.

I know.

Mind. Blown.

But that’s not the point of this post, really. And as much as I love tangents and needlessly long blog posts, I’ll spare you and jump straight into the part that hopefully you guys can relate to, especially as some of you are trudging dutifully along through your NaNo projects. Obviously not everyone is going to have the same experience, and it may differ from book to book, but in basically all five first drafts I’ve written, this is how it goes:

The First Mile, aka the First Few Chapters of a New Book

I am so. Totally. Pumped. to run.

Headphones are in, blasting “Roar” by Katy Perry (don’t judge me), and as soon as I hit the “go” button on my running app, I rocket from the start line and sprint basically the whole first mile. 

No really, this is how I run

Similarly, the first few chapters of a new book? Awesome. So full of energy! Possibility! Fingers are flying across the keyboard and I don't even need Katy Perry because I'm about to rock this book so hard. I wrote the first three chapters in a week! At this rate, I'll be at 80k by the end of the month!

Haha. Right. Except then comes...

The Second Mile, aka the Why the Crap Did I Start This What Was I Thinking This Book/5k is Going to Kill Me And Just Ugggggggh part 

Now Katy is just getting on my nerves. 

Still running, but it's become a bit more like a trudge. My feet hurt. As do my calves. Is it normal for my breathing to sound like that? I don't think it's normal for my breathing to sound like that. What if I just laid down right here on the ground? Would someone come pick me up, I wonder? Maybe if I was really dramatic about it and caught their attention...

Also still writing at this point, but wondering too if it would really be so bad to just scrap the author dream and flip burgers for the rest of my life instead. I mean, I do love burgers. And french fries. And since I'm doing all this running, I can eat as much of that stuff as I want, right? Isn't that how that works? (side note: I really want a burger now).

I think middles are hardest for me because the novelty/excitement of beginning has worn off, but I'm still so far from the end that I can't really get excited about that, either. Every time I make it through the dreaded middle part of the book, I come out on the other side with no idea of how I managed it. It's usually a blur of just getting up every day and sitting down at the computer and making it happen. I'm counting every tenth of a mile (or every 5k words) as a victory at this point, and trying to celebrate those until I reach...

The Last Mile, aka the Holy Crap I'm Going to Finish This Book part

Okay Katy Perry, you can come back now. Because I can see the finish line! The pain in my feet and calves is gone now. That might be because the heat and exhaustion is causing delusions, but it's okay! I'm going to finish!

And whether I'm running or writing, I love this part. People around me probably don't (particularly when it comes to my writing) because this is the part where I become absolutely, completely, obsessed. There's really no other word for it; I'm in "finish-the-book slash race" mode, and nothing is going to stop me. Not rain or snow or sleet or eating or drinking or showering. (okay, maybe occasionally showering.)

And then, what feels like very suddenly, even though I've been building up to it for miles and tens of thousands of words, I'm done. And I'm all

But face-planting aside, it's a great feeling. So great that, despite the fact that my entire body hates me for it, I'm going to do it all over again tomorrow.

So what about you guys? Do you start out sprinting or trudging?  Do you love middles as much as I hate them? Any advice for enduring a 5k? (or writing a book, perhaps?). Share your thoughts in the comments!

And for those of you in the middle of the NaNo race (or just the writing a book in general race), I wish you endurance and happy thoughts of the finish line! You can do eeet.

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com