News!!!

Did you see my news? Didja didja didja???

I've known for a bit and let me tell you sitting on it was very prickly.

Sooo, ICYMI (I like that one), my second novel will be out September 22!!! Guys, I LOVE this story - it might be my favourite, but then again, they're all my favourite at some point - like the kids, it depends on who did the dishes last.

Here's a bit about it: It's called Aptitude... maybe. It's set in the future where work and careers have driven and defined lives (sounds frighteningly familiar?). A Quantifier, someone trained in math and numbers, is just at the start of her dreams with her Quantifier match and her job and her allotted house... and then she meets a poet. It's a love story about different kinds of love, of choices, of figuring out who you're supposed to be, and why... it's about words and the power of creativity... The manuscript has been acquired by Fierce Ink Press - the lovely publishing house that brought Game Plan to reality. There are new peeps working there now with some changes since Game Plan was wrapped and I'm thrilled to get to work and get to know them as we work through Aptitude (or whatever it ends up being called but not sure I can actually call it something else now b/c that's just what I think of it as...)

I'm giddy!

N

Social Networking...

When I submitted Game Plan to Fierce Ink Press, there was one sentence in their submission guidelines that daunted me: "A word about social media and why we require it." which pre-empted a discussion about self promotion and online presence with Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, etc. I've had Facebook mastered for the past seven years. Probably too mastered if you ask those who aren't interested in what I'm having for lunch. Yes, I'm one of those. But I hadn't tried Twitter or Tumblr, mostly because I was intimidated.

Tumblr still confuses me a bit... I get the purpose but I can't grasp the community structure of it. I understand how FB and Twitter are laid out, but Tumblr is still a bit baffling. So, as Game Plan started to come together I signed up for Twitter and started Twitting about. 

Wednesday I joined in in my first Twitter Chat. Talk about confusing!!! It was kinda like that fuzzy drunk stage where you're sitting at the table with all your boisterous friends who are talking over each other and the background hum and music is competing with what they're saying and you only get every third sentence that anyone says and you can't figure out how one sentence leads to the other. But it's all super fun and you're having a great time and it doesn't matter that you're not getting everything. I piped up a few times and hoped I didn't make an ass of myself. I'm looking forward to trying it again!

N

BTW you can follow me on Twitter if you want to, @NSampson17 But only if you want to, I'm not forcing anyone into listening to what I had for lunch.

Launch!

Wow! What a mixed bag of emotions!!!

I hate tights and wasn't allowed to wear my hoodie so that's a tough place to start right there! I suck at mingling and there were so many people I love but don't get to see nearly enough in one place I didn't know what to do. I hate being the center of attention, but was so touched that everyone worked the Game Plan launch into their schedules. I was proud of my book and appreciative of the people who got it to be a book and terrified to read in front of everyone - I think it would be easier to read in front of 300 strangers than the 30 or so faces there last night. Honestly, I don't even know how many people were there - but we kept running out of chairs :)

Once I was done the reading it was much better. The sweets were awesome! (what good Moms I have). And I got to chat with people a bit as they  moved around. Book sales were amazing! (we're short now on books!) Best of all, I didn't trip in my heeled boots and I didn't puke. If that's not a success...

Thanks so much to everyone for the night - Colleen and Kimberly, who hosted and organized, Colleen's Jason and friends Crystal and Adrianna who trekked from PEI and helped set up, my Moms - Sue and Diane who brought yummy sweets, and friends and family who came to support me. I really am blessed.

N

Final Edits

I just sent it off... it's gone. Off into the wide world of publishing...

Game Plan goes through one more stage of editing - mostly for nitty gritty stuff like formatting, punctuation, etc. And then it's out.

On one hand, I want to hold onto it, put it off and go through it once or twice or a hundred times more to make sure it's just right. But on the other, I am so ready to hand it off. I know that no matter how many times I go through it, each time I'll find something to tweak or change or cut or add and it's time to walk away.

I've sent it off to my publisher and today I'll be moving on to my pesky second project that still doesn't have a name.

N

Preorder Game Plan here: Indiegogo campaign

Indiegogo Campaign!

Here's the link to the campaign.

Here's the explanation:

I wrote Game Plan for me. It was a story that was bursting out, I wrote it on my own time. I was determined to make it 'a real novel' by publishing it, even if it meant self-publishing. If I was honest, that's what I figured would happen.

And I submitted the story to Fierce Ink Press with the mantra of "The worst that happens is they say 'no'". And guess what? They said "YES". Then I freaked out a little. It was really happening - and I didn't even know yet how lucky I was.

Fierce Ink Press works out of PEI and Halifax and focuses on local authors. They are a self described "indie" company, meaning they are small in the market of huge players. 

They might be small but they do mighty work. Their expectations for the quality of work they publish are high and the process to publication is thorough and rigorous making each publication exceptional. They have a series of short stories written with the theme that "it gets better". Sales of those shorts support causes identified by the authors and have included, Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Street Kids International, The IWK and SHYM /YWCA Halifax. Good stuff.

It's important for me that you know contributing to this Indiegogo campaign isn't just 'buying' Game Plan. It's supporting a small, local publishing company who have earned my great respect over and over through their work ethic, their drive for quality, their community contribution, their professionalism and respect for people. 

OH! And you can get cool stuff and watch me make a fool of myself on video.

Please consider making a contribution and/or sharing this link with your friends and contacts.

Natalie

Social Media

Game Plan grew into a YA book - I didn't have a plan to write it that way, I just had a story to tell and as it developed I realized that's what it was. But to make MY story into a story a YA reader would enjoy I had to work a lot on the dialogue, the interactions, the details that make my characters ACT like teens, not growed ups like me. Tough but doable. It was fun to explore and discover what makes a teen seem like a teen, right down to the texting - I still spell out every. single. word.

I've also been learning about social media. I've been a FB junky for years and I love Instagram, but I've pretty much ignored the rest. Today I sat down with my brilliant publisher who knows all about the techy world and she taught me everything she knows. Not really. But she showed me enough to be dangerous out there in the cyber world.

Good thing my kids aren't teens yet... their young age will save them a great deal of embarrassment.

N

One word at a time...

I've gone through the edits the outside editor suggested and made adjustments as I could. There were good suggestions, not even new ones, just ones I hadn't completely managed to achieve yet... it's growing stronger. But that's the easy part...

When I submitted Game Plan to Fierce Ink, it was 128,248 words long - but that included the cover page and my name and stuff. When we discussed contract, the lovely ladies suggested a word count around 100K would be more reasonable. Reasonable for whom? Through my first two edits after the contract I was able to slice away 20K! TWENTY THOUSAND words! That's like cutting off a right leg. I thought they must be happy with that effort, right? Wrong. Cut more, they said... did I call them 'ladies'? Slave drivers more like it. Tortuous sadists. SW (the secret agent editor) trimmed another 2000 or so off before handing it back to me. I've been whittling words away, in twos and threes, slipping closer and closer to that magic 100K mark.

I think maybe my dad's suggestion of just counting through the doc and cutting every eleventh word would work just as well.

N
 

In Between

For the past few years I've worked pretty consistently on two projects - Game Plan and The Second One (don't have a title I like for that one).

Game Plan just went back to the publishers last week and to an outside editor today - whom I'm told is very nice, not scary at all, we'll see about that. I get it back July 25, which feels like a lifetime right now.

The Second One has been submitted to publisher, and I'm waiting to hear back from them to know if it's a good fit. I love it. But every mother loves their ugly child too, right?

I applied for a grant through the Dept of Communities, Culture and Heritage in the NS Gov't. I've had two rejections so far so the current application may be as much an effort to out-stubborn their jury as it is an attempt to gain financial support for my fledgling second career.

In summary, I'm waiting. I should try to be productive while I'm waiting but I'm a full time waiter... I think while I wait and I think about waiting and I wonder and worry and stress and fret and whatif every scenario and I don't get anything done.

N

Big News!

So I tried to find a town crier but there's a shortage here in Halifax. Instead I'm resorting to my online voice. Today is the day!!! A press release (can you believe it? A press release about MY book?) was, well, released to the WHOLE WORLD today at noon. That means I can finally scream that my book will be published by the fantastic team at Fierce Ink Press!!! I'm so excited to be working with those girls on my first book. Even though they don't deliver addictive beverages (read: Diet Coke) to the house, they have been a great support system in the initial stages of working towards publication.

And to publish a book, it needs a title. My next big news is unveiling the final title (drumrolllllll):

Game Plan

I love it. I knew it would need a new title, but was a bit worried it would feel like renaming my ten year old. When we found the perfect one though, it was easy to switch it up in my mind.

N

Name

It's decided! The nameless novel now has a name!!! It's not the working title "Walking in Faith". It's not the submission title "Her Story". It's super cool and very appropriate to the story. I'm told there'll be more information coming out on it NExT WEEK so I'll hold onto my cards until then.

N

Contract!

I just signed it! It's a done deal! I'll let you know more details when I can share them, the picture looks better without graffiti but right now the details are not my news to share!

I spent today (another snow day) editing. I've been through the story four complete times, and many times in parts, but 'my publisher' (yeah, I'll throw that in anywhere I can) has given me suggestions for improvement so I'm going through again with those in mind. It's great to have another set of eyes look at your work - I don't know about others but I can only go so far with my own words before I stop reading them at all. The suggestions made so far are smart and effective - I'm excited to see how my story will morph into something bigger :) The process can be just as interesting as the end product, feel free to follow along.

N