Bookish Update!

So fun news this week! We are now officially eight months away from Beyond the Red's paperback release and nine months away from Into the Black's launch, both of which I'm really psyched about. This means, of course, that pre-order links are going live—hooray!

If you'd like to get Beyond the Red's paperback, releasing in October, you can pre-order it on Amazon and the page is there on B&N but the pre-order feature hasn't quite gone live yet—but when it does it'll be on that page.

And! If you'd like to pre-order Into the Black, Beyond the Red's sequel, you can pre-order it on Amazon and hopefully the page will appear on B&N soon—I'll update this when it does.

But I'm really, really proud of Into the Black. I've just recently turned it in to my editor and I think I like it even more than Beyond the Red, which is weird for me to type but true. I'm super excited to share it with you guise in the Fall—I think you'll really like it.

So that's the bookish news! I'm super psyched to see the ball rolling and look forward to many more updates in the future. :)

Twitter-sized bite:

Want to pre-order BEYOND THE RED's paperback or sequel, INTO THE BLACK? @Ava_Jae shares some happy news. (Click to tweet)

Queer YA Scrabble Intro Post!

Boy, do I have an exciting weekend planned for you guys! Those of you who follow me on Twitter my have already heard that I’m hosting one of the stops for Queer YA Scrabble along with Gay YA, Afterwritten, YA Interrobang, Queer YA and LGBT YA Reviews! And those who didn’t know…surprise! I think you guys will like this.

So what is Queer YA Scrabble? you ask. It’s an event running from June 6th-8th to support 
Stonewall-UK and increase awareness of QUILTBAG YA books. Starting tomorrow, anyone interested in participating will hunt for letters hidden in super sneaky blog posts featuring the books and then you guys will solve an anagram to compete for a chance to win a box stuffed full of really awesome QUILTBAG YA books. Yay!

After the giveaway, there will be an auction for another set of the book-boxes along with critiques and what not donated by super awesome agents and editors. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Stonewall.

So here on Writability, I’ll have a special post up on June 7th with mini-interviews from Becky Albertalli (Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda), Suki Fleet (This is Not a Love Story), Abbie Rushton (Unspeakable), Nina Rossing (Supermassive), Ellen Wittlinger (Parrotfish) and Kirstin Cronn-Mills (Beautiful Music for Ugly Children) with the hidden anagram letters.

I’m really excited to be a part of this, and I hope you guys love it! See you all on the 7th. :)

UPDATE: Team Unicorn's anagram is hard, so I've decided to post early! Come back at noon TODAY (June 6th) to start the letter hunt! :)

Twitter-sized bite: 

Writability is a stop in the Queer YA Scrabble giveaway! Will you be joining in the fun? (Click to tweet)

Fixing the First Page Giveaway Winner #11!

Photo credit: litratcher on Flickr

Quick off-schedule post today to announce the winner of the eleventh fixing the first page feature giveaway! Are you ready?

The winner is…

PATRICIA MOUSSATCHE

Yay! Congratulations, Patricia! Expect an e-mail from me very soon.

Thank you to all you lovely entrants! If you didn't win, as always, there will be another fixing the first page giveaway next month, so keep an eye out! :)

Vlog: One Year of Vlogging!

A year ago I posted my very first vlog! So thank you to all of you who have continued watching and commenting and all around being awesome. Let me know what your favorite vlogs are/what you'd like to see more of/if you have any book or writing related questions for me! :)

RELATED LINKS: 

• This is Me (the first vlog ever)

What would you like to see more of with the vlogs? Any questions or topics you'd like to see addressed? Let me know! 

2014 Year In Review

Photo credit: dordirk on Flickr

2014 has been a really incredible year for me.

In the first week of February, I officially signed with my agent Louise Fury and became part of The Bent Agency family.  It’s a decision that, nearly a year later, I honestly could not be happier with. That same month, I also completely changed my diet, which involved a lot of adjusting, including a world without sugar. While that sounded horrible at the time, the difference it has made to my anxiety levels alone has made it all very worth it, to me.

In March, I unexpectedly nabbed an editorial internship with Entangled Publishing—which was an internship I’d been eying since I first started looking for pub job opportunities in 2013.

May was a pretty huge month.

I finally took the plunge and got the pixie cut I’d been lusting after for several months. I also changed my online avatar for the first time since I’d started my online platform, and switched out the stack of books for my actual face (something that would not have been possible without said adjusted anxiety levels). That same month I was also accepted into a new school, and I started a vlog, and I went to RT14, where I met loads of my lovely writer friends as well as my agent and many other wonderful TBA people. I also gave Beth Revis and Tammara Webber a hug, and met Leigh Bardugo, Sarah Maas, Tamora Pierce, Cora Carmack and many other superstars. I kept a really calm and cool persona (riiiiiight) while completely freaking out on the inside.

In June I started up school again (yes, in the summer) and also went on submission with my now-titled novel Beyond the Red.

In July I finished first drafting a NA novel that I immediately put away and declared no one would look at it ever. Immediately thereafter, I began drafting another novel, which I fell in love with instantly.

In September, I finished first drafting said novel and started a full-time school schedule again (summer classes were not full time), while also interning and writing. I also re-read that NA novel I said I wouldn’t look at again, and decided I loved the characters too much to give up on it.

In October, I accepted an offer from Sky Pony Press to publish my YA Sci-Fi debut, Beyond the Red, in hardcover, Spring 2016. That same month, I was also promoted from intern to Assistant Editor at Entangled, and my family moved out of the state I was born in for the first time.

In November, Writability hit 1,000,000 page views and had its biggest giveaway ever.

Now it’s December, and I’m kind of taking a break, at least, for the moment. I have betas looking at that NA, and once I get their feedback, it’ll be one last round of revisions before it goes to my agent. From there, I have two more MSs that have been drafted and are ready for revisions, and plenty of other work to think about.

But for now? I’m letting my brain relax, binge-watching Game of Thrones, and catching up on my TBR pile (or making a teensie dent, at least). And as I look to 2015, I could not be more grateful for this truly amazing year, nor more excited for all the things to come in the next twelve months.

How did 2014 treat you? 

Twitter-sized bite: 

.@Ava_Jae shares her 2014 year in review. Did you make any big changes in 2014? (Click to tweet)

Vlog: From Contest to Book Deal

It's Tuesday vlog time! And today I'm sharing the quick version of my journey from being a runner up in a blog contest to getting a book deal. Woot! :D

Twitter-sized bite: 

Writer @Ava_Jae vlogs about her journey from blog contest to YA book deal! (Click to tweet)

AMAZING NEWS

You guys.

You guys!

YOU GUYS!

LOOK.

Okay, it's kind of cut off so in case you can't read it, it saysss...

"Ava Jae's debut BEYOND THE RED, in which a feud on a distant, crimson planet with established nanite technology creates a violent uprising that threatens the reign of a teenage queen and forces her to turn to her rebel half-blood bodyguard for help, before the planet's human population is destroyed at the hands of her power-hungry twin brother, to Nicole Frail at Sky Pony Press, in a nice deal, for publication in early 2016, by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency in association with Rachel Brooks of the L. Perkins Agency (World)." 

AHHH!

I don’t really even know what to say besides

and

and also a whole lotta

My book is going to be a thing! That you can all read! In early 2016! I’m going to be a published author! AHHHH!

It’s so crazy to me that in a little over a year, I’ll be able to hold my book. In my hand. And you guys can read it. AND IT'LL BE IN HARDCOVER. (*SQUEEE*)

You can also add it to your Goodreads shelf HERE. (I can't believe I can actually say that. WHAT IS THIS LIFE?).

SO. MUCH. EXCITEMENT.

I will probably at some point write a more coherent post about this, but in the meantime I want to thank my incredible agent Louise Fury, and Team Fury and Rachel Brooks who all put so much time and amazing hard work into making this book amazing and believing in it, and selling it and I just—GROUP HUG, OKAY GUYS?

Also my CPs.

Also you guys.

Also just the whole incredibly amazing writing community who are my favorite online community ever.

THANK YOU.

On Being an Unpublished Writer: Enjoy it While You Can

Photo credit: Martin Bekkelund on Flickr

If you're a writer, then you've probably dreamed of being published. Whether your wildest dreams involve your debut novel being chosen for Oprah's Book Club or reaching Amanda Hocking-like indie publishing success, I'd say that 99.9% of writers have probably at one point or another have dreamed of making it big with their writing and finally earning that coveted title of "published."

The why is obvious—we all want to be successful, and to be successful doing something that you love is even better, so it's only natural that writers would find themselves daydreaming about their book becoming a New York Times or Amazon bestseller. 

But becoming published isn't something that you can do with a snap of your fingers—even independent authors have to take the time to write and edit their book, as well as deal with proper formatting and other issues of the like. On top of that, because developing your writing skill enough to reach the level of ready for publishing takes a lot of time and hard work, most writers will spend years working unpublished before they see their dreams come true. 

Time as a unpublished writer can be difficult—you put a lot of effort into something with very little reward, recognition or monetary feedback in return. Unpublished writers are rarely just writers—they're parents, students, employees, etc. and just finding the time to sit down and write can be a challenge, so it's no wonder that we like to dream of a published future. 

But while making our way through the daily grind, we often forget to appreciate our experience now. We forget that being an unpublished writer has it's pros as well, because while most of us want to eventually become published, being a published writer isn't much easier than being an unpublished one. 

What do I mean by that? Let's take a look at some of the things published writers have to do: 

• Write under a deadline. The published writer lives deadline to deadline, book to book. Even after the grueling process of fully completed a novel, there's always another book to write with editors, agents and readers all waiting for you to meet the next deadline. 

• Edit under a deadline. And the same goes for editing. Meeting deadlines are not optional for published authors if they hope to be successful. 

• Market their book. Regardless of whether you're an independent or a traditionally published author, some aspects of marketing the book falls on the writer's shoulders. How much of it will likely depend on the route the writer takes and the publisher they end up with, but avoiding it entirely is impossible if they want their book to sell. 

• Write author bios, synopses, back cover copies, pitches, etc. Even when the published author has finished writing and editing the book, there are pitches and synopses of various degrees that need to be completed. And every writer loves writing synopses. 

• Attend publishing/book promotion events. Whether it's BEA, a panel at Comic Con or any number of book tours, published authors (especially traditionally published ones) have to attend promotional events throughout the year to keep up with the publishing industry and (again) market their book. 

• Work. Just because an author is published doesn't mean writing is their only job. Many authors, both traditionally and independently published, work a full-time job in addition to juggling the responsibilities that come with being a published author. Time management isn't any easier just because your book is on sale.

Now don't get me wrong—I'm not saying that being a published author is awful, but there's something nice about being able to work off a deadline—to being able to write whatever you want, whenever you want just because you want to, rather than because people are waiting for your work. There's a freedom to being able to learn at your own pace and not suffer serious consequences if you can't get to your latest WIP for a few days, or weeks, or however long you need. 

Yes, we all hope to one day be published, but don't forget to enjoy the freedoms of the unpublished writer while you can. 

What do you think? Am I overstating the pros of being unpublished? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

How to Be Happy

Photo credit: Dawn Ashley on Flickr

I try to be an upbeat person.

Remaining positive throughout the day isn't something that comes naturally to everyone— as I'm a rather realistic person, it certainly doesn't come naturally to me. But over the course of the last couple years, I've learned a few secrets about being happy that have shifted the way I look at things.

As it turns out, being positive isn't necessarily related to external events. We all have our bad days, bad weeks or even months. Writers, especially unpublished writers, often struggle with keeping a positive attitude during the years it takes to hone the craft, write book after book and find publication. The life of writers is difficult, and being happy can often feel like an impossible task.

But it's not impossible.

Change Your Thinking

Happiness, as it turns out, is much more closely related to the way we view events rather than the events actually taking place. Good things that happen to us don't make us happy —the fact that we interpreted the event as something good is what makes us happy. The same goes for unhappy events —it all depends on the way we view them.

I read a post by Michael Hyatt a little while ago titled, "How a Shift in YourVocabulary Can Instantly Change Your Attitude." I highly recommend you take a look at it, but if you don't, his post basically capitalizes on what I'm talking about here: you dictate your own happiness.

In the post, Mr. Hyatt talks about the importance of having an attitude of gratitude, and reflecting that gratitude in our vocabulary. Rather than saying, "I have to go to work," for example, he suggests you say, "I get to go to work." This shift immediately turns a negative connotation (I'm going to work because I don't have a choice) to a positive one (I'm so blessed to have a job I get to go to).

For writers, it could be the difference between "I have to edit today" and "I get to edit today." Or "I have to write today" versus "I get to write today."

This is just one example of how changing our thinking can immediately make us more positive.

Smile Often

Do we smile because we're happy, or are we happy because we're smiling? This is a question that scientists have struggled over for years, but research today seems to indicate that smiling can make you happy.

It's hard to smile when we're upset, tired or stressed out, but if you force yourself to hold a smile a couple times a day, even when you're not feeling particularly happy, I think you'll find it much more difficult to hold your unpleasant mood (and really, why are you trying to hold onto that, anyway?)

Start Your Day with Gratitude

Try to start your day by listing three things you have to be grateful about. This is a habit I'm still trying to get into, but I think it's a great idea because not only does it force you to think about something positive first thing in the morning, but it starts to train your brain to look for things to be grateful about —something, I think, that is essential for a positive attitude.

These are just three ways writers (and everyone else) can inject a little more happiness into their lives —and who doesn't like an extra dose of happiness?

Have you tried any of these techniques? What do you do to maintain a positive attitude?

Celebrating 100 Posts

Photo credit: brianjmatis on Flickr

I published my very first blog post on the sixth of May of this year. At the time I’d just reached 100 Twitter followers (which is what prompted the launch of the blog) and the design was all tan and red with a huge picture of books in the background and no pretty banner.

Yes, Writability was a completely different animal then.

I had two comments on my first post—one of them was my response to my only commenter. But none of that mattered, because I was in awe that anyone would want to read my posts to begin with. Every page view was someone giving me a chance and I battled a serious case of nerves every time I hit the “Publish” button.

Fast forward seven months and 99 blog posts and really nothing has changed—well, except for the nerves part. I still smile every time I see a comment and get rather excited every time I gain a lovely new reader.

Because if there’s anything I’ve learned as a blogger, it’s just how important every single of you guys are. It doesn’t matter if you follow this blog regularly or just happened to have clicked a link to get here, I’m thankful for you.

Because out of everything I talked about in my last post, you guys make the biggest impact. You’re what keeps me going, what keeps me clicking “publish” three times a week. Without you, my lovely readers, Writability would not still be here.

So rather than posting my top ten posts thus far, I’m going to share my most popular post with you guys and I hope you’ll do the same.

That’s right, I want to know your best post in the history of your blog.

Now I’m aware that not everyone here is a blogger, but I want you guys to have a chance to interact, too.

For those of you who don’t have a blog, share your favorite post from someone else’s blog. I promise to take a look at it as long as it doesn't have anything inappropriate (so keep them PG please, or they won’t be published in the comments).

So here we go! My most popular post thus far is Why Writers Must Read.

What about you? 

A Guaranteed Way to Fail

“I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”—Bill Cosby

Most of us like to make people happy. We want to be liked and accepted and when it comes to our writing, we want people to enjoy it. As many people as possible—ideally, everyone.

I mean really, how great would it be if everyone loved your writing?

Photo credit: kate.gardiner on Flickr

Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. Truth be told, there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like your style, or your characters, or your pacing or sentence structure or the way you throw virtual confetti around like it’s nobody’s business.

You can’t please everyone—there will always be bad reviews or people who unsubscribe to your blog or a stack of rejection letters.  That’s just the way the world works and it’s not a bad thing. Let’s face it—the world would be a boring place if everyone liked the same thing.

So what’s my point?

If you try to please everyone, you will fail. I usually say there are exceptions, but there really aren’t any here. You can’t please everyone, period.

It doesn’t matter if everyone else likes your work, what matters is that you are happy with it. Are you proud of your writing? Do you love your characters, your story? If the answer is no, then it probably needs more work.

If the answer is yes, then don’t worry about everyone else. Write until you know you’ve done your best and you smile when you read the words you put on the page. That’s when you know you’ve succeeded.

And chances are someone else will like it too.

Have you ever fallen victim to trying to please everyone? 

Writing--What's Your Favorite Part?

Photo credit: _StaR_DusT_ on Flickr

We all know writing isn't an easy thing—finding the time, getting ideas, discovering voice, editing and rewriting and editing and rewriting again—it’s a lot of work, and quite frankly, sometimes it’s frustrating.

But what about the moments that make it all worth it? I don’t think we talk enough about them.  

So, let’s talk: what’s your favorite part of writing?

For me, there are two parts that I can’t get enough of:

1. The discovery—the moment when a character comes alive—really comes to life for the first time on the page—when they do something unexpected or say something that makes you grin every time you read over it, that moment when you can say, “Wow, I really found you.” Discovery can be in the characters, in a world you’ve created that finally clicks, in that plot point that you’ve needed for days that suddenly hits you…the discovery is easily one of my favorite parts of writing.


2. Wow…I wrote this?—This part I suppose is more of my favorite part of rewriting, since it tends to come up much more often after a bajillion drafts, but when you read over something for the umpteenth time and it hits you that it’s right, that it sounds finished, that you wrote it…that’s something really special.

Let’s take a moment to focus on the parts that make everything worth it. Tell me guys, what’s your favorite part of writing? 

Do What You Love

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for work, as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” –Steve Jobs

After Apple’s announcement Wednesday night, I watched Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement address, and it really struck a chord. If you haven’t taken the fifteen minutes to watch it yet, I highly recommend it—it’s inspirational.

That being said, one of the (many) things that stuck out to me was the quote I gave to you guys above. You’ve got to find what you love.

Life is short and every day is a gift. You only have one life to live, so why not spend it doing something that you love?If you’re not passionate about your work, maybe you should be doing something else. Maybe you should consider making a change and doing that thing that you really want to do.

I remember when I was in high school and I would ask my peers what they wanted to do and I’d get answers like “I want to be a doctor” or “I want to be a lawyer”—and that was great for some of them. Some of them really loved the medical field and were fascinated with law and that’s fantastic.

But some of them were motivated by money, or just going along the path their well-intentioned parents pushed them onto. They worked hard to get the grades and went to ivy league schools to study a profession that could make them money not because it was what they wanted to do, not because they loved it, but because it was what was expected of them.

It’s hardly an uncommon story and looking back, I wish I had said something. Because guys, money means nothing if you’re not happy. And all those expectations from your friends, your family, they’re real and it’s hard to disappoint them, but sometimes they don’t line up with your dreams. Sometimes they don’t line up with who you are. And sometimes when that happens you need to take a stand and do what makes you happy.

And no, they may not understand you. They may think you foolish for stepping off the secure path to do that risky thing that you really enjoy doing.

But in the end it comes down to you. Your happiness. Your life.

I leave you with another gem from Mr. Jobs:

“…for the past 33 years, I’ve looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”  

And the video, in case you haven’t watched the address yet:

Are you doing what you love? 

What is Success to You?

Photo credit: m kasahara on Flickr

It’s no secret that a war is waging over the impossible question of which is better: indie or traditional publishing?

After laying out the pros and cons, I still didn’t really give you guys a straight answer about where I stand, and the truth is, it’s because I don’t have a stance. Not the kind that backs one side, anyway.

Hear me out. It’s not that I’m indecisive (ok, maybe it’s a little that) or that I’m dodging the question (although I’m good at that, too), it’s that I truly don’t believe that a one-size-fits-all answer exists.

So now you’re wondering what in the sugary, confetti-laden blazes this has to do with the title, and the answer is everything.  

I want you to stop and think for a moment about how you define success. Maybe success to you is just to be read. To get your work out there in the hands of some readers and see where it goes. Maybe you don’t care about having an agent or speaking at book conventions or having author signings or any of that. If that’s the case, then going indie might be right for you.

Or maybe success to you is walking into a bookstore and seeing your book on the shelves. Being able to hold a copy in your hands or see others reading your book out in public. If that’s the case, then maybe you want to go traditional.

Maybe your version of success something else entirely—maybe it’s when you make x-amount of dollars or sell x-amount of copies or write x-amount of books. Maybe success to you is having an agent or a publishing contract or going out and doing it alone and knowing that you’ve achieved something incredible on your own.

My point is that it’s different for everyone, so whatever decision you make should be based on your vision of success. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says or thinks, it’s your responsibility to decide what’s best for you.

But how can you tell? Well first, answer the question: What is your version of success?

Have an idea? Good.  Now ask yourself: How can I get there? The answer may not be clear, but eventually one (or a combination of the two) will emerge. Eventually you will know what you want to do—what is best for you, and that’s when you can act.

Instead of arguing over who has a better publishing model, we need to support each other and realize that the right answer for you isn’t necessarily the right answer for everyone else. In the end, what does it matter which side you choose? We’re all writers with different ideas of success and the petty fighting needs to end.

So let’s hear it, guys: what is success to you? 

How to Be a Happy Writer

Photo credit: ohskylab on Flickr

Most writers are ambitious people—we have to be, after all, just setting out to write a novel is an ambitious move on its own. Many of us understand the worth of delayed gratification, and those of us who don’t learn it very quickly or quit.

So, ambitious people that we are, we tend to focus on the future. We’re motivated. We work hard to accomplish our dreams and focus on completing our goals—which is a good thing.

But although we put in the blood and sweat to see our dreams realized, we often forget to pause long enough to celebrate what we’ve already achieved.

What I’m saying is, we forget to enjoy the stage we’re in.

Many writers fall into the “I’ll be happy when…” trap. I know I did. We tell ourselves, I’ll be happy when I finish the book, when I finish editing, when I get an agent, when I get published, when I publish my second book, on and on and on. But guess what? When we do finish the book, when we do get the agent, we tend to celebrate for a short time, then amend our statement.

Now I’ll be happy when I sell x many copies. Now I’ll be happy when so-and-so blurbs my book. Now I’ll be happy when I have a five-star rating.

Forget that, guys. Don’t be happy later. Be happy now.

I’m not published. I don’t have an agent. I have four books in the drawer, many of which will probably never see the light of day, two more that I’m editing and another that I’m brainstorming. I don’t know if I’ll ever have an agent, if I’ll ever see my book at Barnes & Noble, if I’ll ever make any sort of best-selling list at all. And sometimes it’s heavy. Sometimes I want to stop and do something that other people will recognize as productive. Something my friends and family will understand.

But then I remind myself why I write. It’s not for the money, for the book contract, hell, it’s not even for readers (although all of those things are very nice).

It’s for me. Because I love it.

Sometimes we need to stop and remind ourselves all that we have accomplished. No I’m not published, but who cares? I’ve written six novels and I’m proud of every one of them. I’ve had journeys with my characters, I’ve fallen in love with them, I’ve developed them and then moved on. But they’re mine, and they’re alive because I wrote them.

And that in itself is something no one can take away from me.

Maybe you haven’t written a book yet. Maybe you’re too afraid to start. If that’s the case, ask yourself why you want to do it. If it’s for the money, for the fame, then maybe writing isn’t right for you. If it’s because it’s something you want to do for you, if it’s because you have a story and you want to write it to life, then go for it. Even if it never gets published, it’s a story that you’ve created, a story that will always be with you.

Maybe you’ve written a book and like me, haven’t been published or picked up by an agent. That’s ok too; I challenge you to take the time to see all you’ve accomplished. I challenge you to take a moment to remember the characters you’ve created, the lives you’ve pulled from the depths of your mind.

I don’t care what stage you’re in; take the time now to enjoy it.

And whenever you’re feeling discouraged, remind yourself why you started it all in the first place. And smile. Because you’re a writer, my friend, and you’re just doing what writers do.

Take time to celebrate your accomplishments and share them here; I’d love to hear about it. J