Questions? Questions! Part the Second

And now for the rest of them. You asked for it, right? And I hope you appreciate it, because I spent the last HOUR wrestling with Blogger and its ridiculous formatting issues. Gah!

First off is Whirl, who asked what is the farthest I've ever been away from home. I've been across my country's borders exactly three times: twice in trips to Mexico, and once driving through Vancouver. Which was beautiful, by the way, and I wish I could have done more than drive through it. Other than that, I'm not sure: Washington, D.C., Florida, or Alaska. One of those is bound to be geographically farther from Utah (where I was living at the time) than the others, but I'm simply not willing to go look it up.

So basically, not far. I should have gone on a trip to Greece, but my in-laws (bless their hearts, I love them very, very much) planned the vacation for two weeks after I had Dojo, so I was a lactating, post-c-section meltdown mess and couldn't go. I'm a little bitter.

And now for our funky formatted questions! I think Blogger does this just to mess with me and my love of perfectly formatted posts.

UPDATE: What. The. CRAP. Blogger, COME ON. Work with me here! Answers coming soon. Grrrrr...

Jessie said:

You said you wrote Flash in one month. How many hours a day did you have to spend writing to finish so fast...and with kids? Or was so much of it in your head already that it just spilled out?

More like vomited out, really. Wait, that doesn't sound attractive. Perhaps poured out? No, I like spilled. Spilled was a good word choice, Jessie.

Let's see, with Flash it was a premise that I had been thinking about for years. Years and years. When I wrote the opening it was just supposed to be a scene for my blog readers. Then I was like, what the crap, this is awesome! And I kept writing. Pretty soon after I started it I went on one of the aforementioned Mexico trips with my family. I had a lot of downtime with nothing to do but think about the story, so by the time I got home my fingers simply flew. I wrote probably five or six hours a day--during naptimes and after my kids went to bed. It wasn't so much that I wanted to write it as fast as I could, more that I simply HAD to write because I was so obsessed with the story.

Man, I love Flash.

Bevie said:

How do you deal with feeling sad? Or do you ever get sad? How do you avoid letting it spill onto your family?

Wow. Well, that's a strangely timely question. I do, in fact, get sad. Been sad for a few months now. I deal with it in several ways.

1. Self-medicating with chocolate. Helps in the short run, hurts in the long run. (Kiersten looks mournfully at her hips, rededicating herself to losing the final eight of those pesky ten pounds.)

2. Writing. Losing myself in other worlds and creating something new helps distract me, and I don't feel as bad about the things that I can't control in my own life.

3. Appreciating what I have. My kids and husband are amazing. Really. And the more I can remind myself of this and recognize it, the happier I am. I also have wonderful friends, both locally and interspersed across the good old www.

4. Controlling what I can. So much of the things that really bother me are completely out of my control. (I have tried regrowing that missing fallopian tube, but for whatever reason my powers of regeneration are not up to par.) Instead I'm trying to focus on the things I can control, like keeping my house cleaner and losing those chocolate pounds.

Aside note: Just did a quick calculation. If I cut my legs off just below the knees and you found a way to attach them to your legs, we'd be about the same height.

No more height jokes. Huzzah!

I still think we'd look kind of strange though. Don't you?

I'd say more than just kind of strange, although it is very kind of you to offer.

Sara said:

Are you still doing other freelance writing work and, if so, how do you manage your time between the paying gigs and your current WIP?

This is my constant dilemma.

Ah, yes, the whole doing what you love versus doing what actually pays. Fortunately for me, I have no work right now! Wait, dang, that's bad. My freelance work is pretty spotty--sometimes I have a lot, sometimes I have none. Lately it's been none. When I do have work, it's definitely hard to focus if I have a WiP, but I just use that as my motivation. "Write this boring paragraph, write a fun chapter! Write another boring paragraph, write a fun chapter!"

But deadlines always take priority. I daydream about having deadlines for my fun stuff. Hopefully some day very soon, right?

Lady Glamis said:

How did you get so lucky to live in San Diego? California is my place to be... I'm afraid it's the heaven I'll never be able to visit. Unless my hubby makes it into Hollywood or something. But LA doesn't sound too great...

Here's the trick, Glam: marry a native San Diegan. It might make your current husband kind of feel bad though.

However, don't be too jealous. We live here, sure, but we can't actually afford to stay unless things change, a lot, and very soon. It's rather stressful/disheartening.

Anne Elodea said:

How does it feel to know your book is on submission? Are you nervous/excited?

Oh, Anne. Anne, Anne, Anne. Anne with an 'e'! Sorry. That was one of my favorite books growing up. How I sobbed when poor, sweet Matthew died!

I'll focus. You just have a pretty name.

I've been wondering whether or not to post about this, but since you asked, I might as well. Being on submission is both far worse and far better than querying. Here is why. Querying is trying to get a shot at getting a shot. Submission is your shot. It's stressful--and exciting--and allows for even higher hopes to be either fulfilled (yes, please) or crushingly dashed (no, thanks). But the worst part of all is that

Nothing

happens.

Apparently things in publishing are crazy right now and editors are taking even longer than normal to get back about everything. Flash included. So I get to sit at home, wondering, worrying, waiting, waiting, waiting, did I mention waiting?

But the good part about it is that, no matter what happens with Flash, I have an agent. A rejection at any stage in querying sends you right back where you started (I'm sorry my querying friends, I'm really not trying to depress you out of your minds--I've been there--I did that--for a LONG time). However, any rejections I might get now, well, sure, they'd hurt like crazy, but I still have Michelle, my fabulous agent. And she really is fabulous, and it's so nice having a partner who loves Flash just as much as I do.

To sum up: some days are better than some days. Some days I wonder if it will ever happen. And some days I know it will. It's just a matter of waiting.

And I LOVE WAITING! Best thing ever! If you love waiting, too, I really, really recommend getting an agent and going on submission. Trying to break into publishing in general is a waitingphile's dream come true!

And that brings us to the end of March's Question and Answer Two Day Extravaganza of Frustration and Violent Thoughts Toward Blogger and Its Formatting Issues from Hades!