Author Jen Meyers

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On First Drafts

First drafts are crap.

They just are. And the crappiness of this first draft is driving me crazy. A part of me feels deep despair at how clunky and awful some of it is and another can’t wait to be done writing so I can revise, edit, fill-in, fill out, and polish the crap out of it. (Literally.)

I didn’t feel this way when I wrote Intangible. I didn’t really worry about how crappy the first draft was or even notice. I mean, I KNEW it needed work. I KNEW it was rough. And it went through an immense metamorphosis from first draft to final published book.

And perhaps that is what’s tripping me up now. Coming from polished and practically perfect to first draft is jarring. It’s playing with my confidence that I can actually do it again—write another good book.

Perhaps this is just a part of ANY artistic process. I’ve certainly felt this way with each drawing I’ve ever done. (I draw pencil portraits. Oh, look. There are two of mine below.) I’ll finish one, happy with the result, and when I start the next I’ll worry that maybe I won’t be able to do it again. If I can’t get the ear to look right or the eyes or the hair…maybe I won’t be able to capture the person this time. I ALWAYS have that fear. With every drawing. And I’ve never not been able to pull one off.  (Thankfully.)

So maybe writing is exactly like that. With each book I’m going to feel like maybe I can’t do it. Maybe it won’t turn out as wonderful or as interesting or as surprising as the last. Or I’ll worry that I’m going to let readers down with the choices I make.

And maybe what I need to do is stop worrying and just do it. Just write. Get through the crappy first draft and then craft it into something beautiful. Spend the time filling it out just like I do a portrait. And making those tiny adjustments near the end that make all the difference in a drawing—they work the same way in a book. Every little piece, every shadow, every glint of light makes up the beauty of the whole.

Just like that first outline of the drawing, before any shading or shaping has taken place, a first draft is the necessary first (ugly) step. Getting that structure in place allows me to fill in all the details and round out the drawing. Or the story. That’s what I’m doing right now with this first draft—I’m building the structure.

I’ve just got to keep reminding myself of that.  :-)

Have a great day, everyone!

By jen | August 14, 2012 | Blog |

The Wrap Up

1. I keep thinking about doing this kind of post on a weekly basis, but obviously cannot make up my mind since I’ve only done it a few times in the past year. It’s essentially a run-down of little (or big) things that happened in my life each week—mostly not book related, but there will be book stuff here as well. It’ll likely be little funny stories or examples of my neuroses. (And if that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will.)

If it’s something you’d like to read here on a regular basis, then I’d love to know. If it’s not…I’ll heed the sound of crickets and only do this once in a while when I have a bunch of little things to tell you.

2. We got a chest freezer and I’m so excited I can barely stand it. (If only I were kidding about that I’d be so much more cooler than I am. But, alas, I’m truly crazy-excited about my freezer.) Not only am I filling it with summer fresh goodness (went blueberry picking with the kids—yay! blueberries in the freezer,  LOTS of blueberries—and I’m smelling zucchini bread baking right now that is destined for the freezer for winter snacking) but we ALSO got to torture my son by telling him we were getting him a freezer for his birthday. So, it was like a win-WIN situation, you know? (Seriously, is there anything more fun than harassing your own kids? Or is that just my family?) When he and Steve went to the store to pick it up a couple days before the birthday, I called ahead to ask them to write “Happy Birthday!” on the box.

3. And lucky for the birthday boy that we DID get him a birthday freezer because he asked for a s’mores ice cream cake, which I created from a mash-up of two recipes I found online. This one was the first inspiration, but the birthday boy was not impressed with its size. So I decided to make a cookie crust following this recipe, bake it in a pie pan. (And, by the way, I’m totally making those s’more cookie bars next week.) Then I made the Toasted-Marshmallow ice cream from the first recipe (after having made the marshmallows from scratch—fun and easy, who knew?—and oh my goodness, they are SO much better than store-bought, WOW) and spread that over the crust. I poured homemade hot fudge sauce on top of the ice cream and put it in the freezer. Then I whipped some heavy cream up into the MOST AMAZING whipped cream, spread that on top and covered it with chocolate shavings.

(Why, no, I haven’t gotten much writing done all week, why do you ask?) (I should TOTALLY have a food blog because I LOVE to bake and I’m always tweaking recipes to make them healthier (with some ACTUAL nutritional value) or better, but then I’d never get any writing done (ahem).  And I’d probably grow in girth. Of course my family would be better fed and I probably wouldn’t ever forget to make dinner, but I digress…)

4. Speaking of sweets, is it just me or do you feel as if your whole parenting reputation lies in whether your kid’s teeth are in good shape when you take them to the dentist? I always feel as if I’m on the spot with each kid that gets into the chair and gets checked over. I almost literally heave a sigh of relief when each child is done and everything looks good. But when that first (and only, thank goodness) cavity was found—oh, man. I felt like the worst parent ever, that I’d totally failed.

5. I’ve finally admitted to myself that I must order new glasses and ACTUALLY WEAR THEM.  (It’s official. I’m old.) Of course I worry about things like: if I wear glasses and therefore don’t keep working my eye muscles, won’t it make my vision worse and make me actually DEPEND on wearing glasses to see? Doesn’t that seem like it would be true? Following the use-it-or-lose-it logic? (Turns out I’m TOTALLY wrong about that, by the way, and wearing glasses when you need them keeps your eyes healthier and your eyesight better.) (And I’m writing this without my glasses on. Yup. So I’m making good use of my newfound knowledge.)

 

Hope you have a great weekend, everyone!

 

By jen | August 10, 2012 | Blog |

Perspective

(We have a winner of the L.J. Smith Giveaway: Amie! Congrats, Amie! Send me your address and I’ll put these books in the mail to you this week. You have LOTS of good reading ahead of you, for sure!)

I wanted to tell you about our trip to the local salt mine last week. Friends invited us to go Trilobite hunting in this giant shale pit there. And, seriously, how could we say no to that?

First of all, we got to see gigantic piles of salt and huge eighteen-wheelers going by constantly (BIG excitement) (I kid you not) AND we got to dig through a HUGE pile of rocks. My kids had so much fun they are already planning our next trip over there.

(Hey! That’s my LOVELY friend Fey, whose name I STOLE for the character in my book.)

And I have to say that looking for trilobite fossils in all those little shards was like looking for a needle in a haystack…except there are LOTS of needles in that haystack.

Check out a few of what we found. Some of these are really amazing.

This is the kind of thing that just blows me away. I mean, the HISTORY here in this little chunk of rock. The imprint of this creature that lived over 250 million years ago. An animal that existed on OUR Earth for over 270 million years. Can you even fathom that? Like really even begin to understand that length of time? I can’t. I mean, modern humans (homo sapiens) have only been around for about 200,000 years. (And I have a hard time using “only” in that sentence, but comparatively it’s a blink of an eye.)

It really makes me aware of how short each of our individual lives are. Even if we get to live a good, long life…it’s just so short. And our troubles are pretty insignificant on the whole, no matter how very significant they are to us.

Perspective. That’s what a little trilobite hunting will give you. (That, and a slight sunburn.)

Hope you’re having a great week!

By jen | August 7, 2012 | Blog |

L.J. Smith Giveaway!

Oh, well, I’m not actually giving away L.J. Smith (original author of the Vampire Diaries), but I am giving away three of her books that have been gracing my shelves for a few years. In an effort to make a little more space on my overcrowded bookshelves, I’m going to send them to one lucky person. (I hope it’s you!)

And in all reality, I’m giving away NINE of her books, because each of these is an omnibus edition of three novels from the Night World series. This represents all the Night World books out to date. (According to her website, L.J. is working on the last book in the series right now.)

So this giveaway is for these three fantastic book collections:

   

For more info on these specific books (and ALL of her books) check out the book page on her site.

This giveaway is for US only this time. (These books are thick and heavy, so I’ve got to keep it within my country. Sorry!)

If you’d like to enter, all you have to do is tell me you’d like them. There are three ways to do that:

1. Leave a comment on this post.
2. Leave a comment on my Facebook post about the giveaway. (And share it too, please!)
3. Tweet about it (but be sure to include my Twitter name and a link to this post in your tweet so I see it! I’m @jmeyersbooks on Twitter).  Here’s a sample tweet you can just copy and paste, or adjust as you like:

I entered to win L.J. Smith’s entire NIGHT WORLD series from @jmeyersbooks. You can too! http://wp.me/p28ik8-Ol

CONTEST IS CLOSED! Winner will be announced Tuesday.

Thanks for playing!

 

If you wanted to follow me in any of those places, that’d be extra sweet. :-) But you can enter even if you’d rather not. You can do all three ways or only one. And I’d really appreciate it if you’d help spread the word so more people get a chance for these great books.

Each person gets one entry. The giveaway is open until Monday, August 6, 2012, when I’ll give everyone a number and pick a random winner. On Tuesday, August 7, I’ll announce the winner here on my blog, on Twitter, and Facebook. So make sure you check back to see if you’ve won!

Good luck everyone! (I hope you win.)  ;-)

 

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Oh, hey there! One last thing—I would love to send you a FREE paperback copy of Intangible. Click here to find out how you can get me to do that. :-)

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By jen | July 31, 2012 | Blog |

My View These Days

I’m spending most of my time writing, writing, writing. Trying to finish this first draft so the real fun can begin—revisions! (Seriously. I LOVE revising/editing. It’s like MAGIC.) This is all just to say there’s a reason I’m not posting much at the moment. I’m trying to use my time most wisely, and that means writing like mad.

(On a totally related/unrelated note, check out my new favorite mug that was a recent gift from my sister-in-law who rocks in so many ways I can’t even count them all.) (Also? My new favorite chocolate.)

Tea and chocolate—the ESSENTIAL tools for writing.

Wishing you a lovely weekend ahead, my friends! (And NEXT week, I’m going to give away more books from my overflowing YA shelves. :-) See you then!)

By jen | July 26, 2012 | Blog |

(More than Eleven) Questions

I vlogged! Gina, one of my Parenthetical partners over at Parenthetically on YouTube, tagged me in an 11 Questions game. So I’m playing. Except I answered more than eleven questions because Meg and Paul also came up with questions and I wanted to answer some of them too.  (Because once you get started…sometimes it’s hard to stop.)

Check it out!

 

Have a great week, everyone!

 

By jen | July 18, 2012 | Blog |

On Readings

I have no doubt that in the future, when I post pictures from a reading, it will be just one or two. But I’m a little excited about this one—it having been my first—and I have way too much to share with you.

*WARNING Will Robinson…LOTS of pictures in this post.* (If you get THAT reference, you are OLD.) (And if you know it really should be “Danger, Will Robinson” then you are an old geek, but I digress…)

The reading went fantastic, like seriously amazingly well. (How many adverbs can I use in one sentence? Some great writer is totally rolling over in his grave right now.) A great turnout, met a bunch of new fabulous people, sold some books and gave more away to be placed in four Vermont libraries. YAY! A success, I tell you. A SUCCESS!

So, I may have mentioned something above about pictures? Just a few…

First of all, this was on the door (inside and out).

Also? I learned a LOT. Like how many different faces I make when I’m talking/reading.

    

    

(Yeah, I wasn’t kidding about that.) It’s *possible* I get a little dramatic when I read. (I’m an actor by training. Once an actor, ALWAYS an actor.)

Over twenty people came, which was AMAZING. (Thank you, 20+ people!)

There were really delicious cookies (that I didn’t take a picture of) and an incredibly lovely librarian named Kat Redniss (who I DID take a picture of and whose name I consistently misread as Katniss every time we’ve emailed each other—and after meeting her? She IS Katniss.)

A total ROCK STAR librarian right here. Brownell Library, you are LUCKY.

And I got to meet a friend from Twitter, Paul Adams, which was a HUGE treat for me. (He’s a writer, too. You should totally check out his blog. And follow him on Twitter. He’s funny AND tweets hysterical illustrations of cows. The man is talented, I tell you.) Also? He’s a LOT taller than his avatar on Twitter would lead you to believe. (I’m 5′ 10″ and I look SHORT next to him. I swear, he’s like 7′ tall.) (Okay, I may be exaggerating. A little.) Makes me wish I lived in Vermont again so we could get together and talk writing.

Seriously, you guys. It went as well as I’d hoped it would go in my absolute wildest dreams, and maybe even a little bit better than that. I couldn’t have asked for a better first reading and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who came and everyone who wished me luck going into it (it helped!).


Have a fantastic weekend ahead, everyone!

 

By jen | July 12, 2012 | Blog |

Back and At It

Hey! My trip to Vermont was a success (if you’d call children NOT getting car-sick—thank you, Sea-bands—and 20+ people at my book reading a success) (which I TOTALLY would). I’ll have pictures for you later in the week. Promise.

I’ve got to get back to writing so I can hopefully finish the first draft by the end of the month. (I’m not sure I have ENOUGH fingers and toes to cross to make that actually happen, but I’m going to try.) That’s where my focus is this morning.

But I wanted to tell you that we’ve been talking about the hot topic of sex in YA literature over at Parenthetically. Gina started it all with her blog post on sex in YA. Then Suz and Meg both vlogged about it. I’m going to try to get a vlog up on the same topic (I have things to say, you know) sometime this week.

But in the meantime, check out Suz’s vlog.

 

And Meg’s.

 

And have a fantastic day!

 

 

By jen | July 9, 2012 | Blog |

Giveaway Winner…aaaaand I’m off!

Before I do anything else, I wanted to say congrats to Sarabeth for winning the Iron Fey series giveaway! Send me your address, Sarabeth, and I’ll mail them out to you this week. I had so much fun holding the giveaway that I’m totally doing that again. I have a set of three books to go next and will put them up for the taking in a couple of weeks.

But first…I’m off to Vermont WAY too early tomorrow morning.

Vermonters: I’ll be at the Brownell Library in Essex Junction on Friday, July 6, at 3 pm for a reading and book signing.

Please come! There’ll be cookies or cake or something sweet (other than me, of course). And, you know, books too. Plus brilliant conversation. So you should totally come. (If for nothing else, come for the sweets!)  :-)

By the way, in case I failed to mention it, I’m off to Vermont in the morning and won’t be back until the weekend. ;-) Besides the reading, I just discovered last night that the Stoweflake Hot Air Balloon festival starts on July 6, so I think the kids and I will be up WAY too early again later this week so we can go see a spectacular sunrise launch. SO excited about that and the wonder that will be on my kids’ faces. (Seriously, if you’ve never stood in the middle of twenty to thirty hot air balloons filling up and taking off, you’ve totally missed out and should remedy that at the earliest possible opportunity.) This is just to say that I probably won’t reappear back in this space until next Monday. (And I’ll have pictures.)

Okay, my friends, there’s packing to do. LOTS of packing. (Yikes!) I hope you have a fantastic week!

 

By jen | July 2, 2012 | Blog |

Randoms

I’m getting all random on you today because that’s just how my brain feels right now. Chaos that I’m trying make order of. I’m writing a new book—which, quite literally, takes all my mental power and focus—AND having to plan for a trip to Vermont (yay, VT!) next week. Just me and the kids. So I have lists. LISTS. Of everything I need to remember to take with us, everything I need to do before we go, stuff I need to do when we get back. And my trip to Vermont includes my first reading/book signing which adds a whole new level of anxiety and a list of its own.

I’m all over the place.

Plus when I’m writing I have such a problem finding balance in my life. I end up spending too much time at the computer and not enough with my family. And it’s showing, which I hate and feel incredible guilt over. But I don’t know how to balance things better. (Goodness, I hope I get better at it. I’ve got to, right?)

(Right?)

Okay, so if you missed it, I’m giving away the first two books in Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series. If you’re interested in getting them (or know somebody who might be), then hop on over here to sign up for the giveaway. (But be sure to come back. You don’t want to miss the video clip below.)

But first I wanted to tell you about a couple of books I read several weeks ago (before the writing commenced—no time for reading when I’m writing!). (Can I tell you how much I can’t wait to get this first draft done and start revising?) (Also? First drafts are crap. Always. In case you were wondering.)

Where was I? Oh, right. Books! I picked up Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire after reading this review Misty Baker wrote over on Kindle Obsessed.

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the charming college co-ed. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his charms, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’ apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

And it was good. Really good. Though a very large part of me doesn’t like the kind of relationship portrayed (VERY codependent, very unhealthy), still it was a really well done novel. But not appropriate for young teens (language, heavy drinking, and sex).

And I finally read Wool by Hugh Howey, which is the first novella in a series of science fiction novellas.

They live beneath the earth in a prison of their own making. There is a view of the outside world, a spoiled and rotten world, their forefathers left behind. But this view fades over time, ruined by the toxic airs that kill any who brave them.

So they leave it to the criminals, those who break the rules, and who are sent to cleaning. Why do they do it, these people condemned to death? Sheriff Holston has always wondered. Now he is about to find out.

And I have to say…wow. It is so very good and I can’t wait to have time to read the following stories. The writing is excellent, the story surprising and very well told. I highly recommend. (If it sounds interesting to you, pick up the Wool Omnibus, which is the first five novellas in one collection, because it’ll save you money.) (And you’re going to want them all.)

And last, I’ve watched this video so many times since my friend Meg posted it on her site. Seriously? It brings me to tears EVERY time because it’s just so funny.

(Thanks to Meg for the link!)

And with that, I’m off. More writing to get done before I leave…and packing. Have a great weekend ahead!

 

By jen | June 28, 2012 | Blog |