The Beauty of an Agent and OMG how am I getting these books home?

Ha. It's been a bit longer since I last wrote than I realised. Sorry about that.

November was a pretty full on month!

Two hospital visits, 2 essays, a weekend in Wales and a friend from Australia visiting (Yay!) and another round of edits on my manuscript as well as starting edits on another and all of a sudden November was gone. Done and dusted.

And now it's December. And Christmas is most definitely here, in England. It is Christmas EVERYWHERE.

But that's not what I was wanting to discuss today.

I realised since my agent Jill Corcoran and I both (electronically) signed on the dotted line over 6 months ago, I haven't actually talked about how that's going. What it's like going from no representation, to representation.

Well let me tell ya, it's great. I most definitely recommend going the agent route, over submitting straight to a publisher.

Firstly, I love Jill because she's always on my side. She says I'm a talented writer and she love love love's my book which is OH so helpful in those moments that you doubt yourself. She's in the publishing industry. She is swamped with query letters and manuscripts and she reads a lot of childrens and YA books. She has middle grade age and teenage children. She knows the market, what's selling and what is popular with the kids. And she loves me as a writer.

That encouragement from someone other than your parents who love you anyway is worth every penny. Not that there are pennies involved as yet.

Secondly, she has a gazillion contacts! When trying to submit to publishers without an agent, so many doors are closed to you because they just don't accept unsolicited manuscripts. Well let me tell ya, those doors are WIDE open to me now.

Jill is an extremely hands on agent as well, and as much as editing and editing my book and editing it some more can make me want to tear my hair out - I know every suggestion she makes has been thought about, and I agree with the majority of them. Each round of edits we go through is making what I already thought was a good, solid book, into an even BETTER book.

She looks at the big things and the little things.

For instance, we were recently exchanging emails about boys and giggling.

JILL: "Boys don't giggle, they laugh. You should use the word laugh"

ME: "True, boys don't usually giggle. But these are 13 year old boys looking up porn on the computers at school. In this instance, they are probably giggling." (That's totally not a spoiler)

By doing all of this we are making sure editors are seeing the best possible book. Which they will have changes for, but still -we're making it the best WE think it can be. An editor will have more ideas on how to make it better AGAIN!

And something else I love about her is that she is super fast at replying to emails. Getting back to me about questions, regardless of how little and stupid they are. Though I try to limit myself on those ones.

So yeah, it's great having Jill on my team. I don't have to worry about submitting, perfecting my query letter any more. I just have to worry about the writing. And the rewriting. And the rewriting some more.

And reading!

I've been a crazy lady and bought lots of books while traveling. And now that the end is nigh (okay so it's still 2 months away, but I know it's going

to go fast) I am starting to worry about just how heavy paper in the form of books can be. Becaus

e I have some pretty stringent weight limits for my luggage.

Eep. But what have I been buying while away?

I love love love Paper Towns and Wimpy Kid. I haven't read 13 Reasons Why or the Graveyard Book as yet though. Why? Because I've been getting into some TV shows and the like that I totally wasn't aware of in Australia.

I mean, I knew about Degrassi: The Next Generation, but I wasn't into it. I am now. I'm kinda hooked. They really don't shy away from the tough subjects on that show. For instance, in the very first episode, a 12 year old character decides to meet a boy she met on the internet, and she meets him at a hotel, but it's not a boy, it's a 30-something pedophile. Tough subjects.

And onto something lighter, I'm a big Jane Austen fan. Well, I'm a big Jane Austen MOVIE fan. I tried to read Pride & Prejudice as part of my high school coursework and never actually finished it. And I haven't tried her other ones yet. But I love the movies they've been making of her books.

Lost in Austen is a GREAT take on the whole thing. Where a modern girl swaps places with Elizabeth Bennett in Pride & Prejudice (her family think Liz is staying at Amanda's house in Hammersmith, and Amanda is staying with the Bennetts) and just by her mere presence, everything "goes tits up". People marry the wrong people, run away with the wrong people, are better/worse than they seem in the book... I was giggling like a school girl watching this mini-series. So. Much. Fun.

But back to books: What did I buy today? Cos I was walking past Borders in Leeds and it was having a big CLOSING DOWN SALE. Argh! What am I supposed to do, NOT buy books in a closing down sale?

Today I bought:

Wow, blogger doesn't seem to want me to put up any more pictures.

I also bought Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, Hooked by Les Edgerton and The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler. The last two are writing craft books, and I have to say, I love reading these and have a bunch at home, but none with me whilst out in THE WORLD. I always take away at least ONE thing from reading a book on writing, and it helps me become a better writer. It's like homework. But homework I enjoy.

Speaking of which, I have 900 more words to write on my essay before I get to start the one about Harry Potter. Yay! 900 ESSAY words are so much harder than 900 fictitious words. Sigh.

Okay, I think that's a long enough post for now. What show/movie/book are you hooked on at the moment? Have you heard/read any writing advice that just stuck with you forever more? I wanna hear all about it!

Ciao for now,

Sairz

The day before the day before the adventure begins!

Okay. Can tidy the room now. With clothes, paper and stationary spread all over the entire study which I have been using as a bed room for the past 5 weeks (Bed room. Really it was a couch room. I been sleeping on the couch) I can now tidy it all away, stuff it into drawers and cupboards. Why you ask? Why all of a sudden NOW can I tidy this room? Because I'm all packed and good to go!

Woo!

The time is nigh. The adventure is soonish.

First stop is San Francisco. I hear it's 15 degrees there. In Summer. Which is what it was today in my part of Australia. In winter. Thinking I may be needing some thicker coats than anticipated. I'm really looking forward to San Fran for a more mundane reason than all the amazing stuff we're going to do there. I'm looking forward to sleeping in a real bed again. Ah.

Then comes LA with the home of Mickey Mouse and the Hollywood sign poster at Universal Studios, celebrity sightings and gang wars. And the SCBWI conference!

Then off to Vegas, not so much to gamble but very much to visit Elvis in his wedding chapel. I'm not getting married. But I am going to snigger and giggle behind my hands as someone else gets married. By Elvis. In his Chapel. Awesome.

Then to Naw'lens (New Orleans) for some jazz, swamps, crocodiles with a touch of voodoo on the side before hopping a plane to Miami. With or without Key West. That remains undecided, considering it's the rainy season and the weather just might make the ridiculously long and expensive bus ride not quite worth it.

Then after all THAT comes Noo Yawk (New York) with that big green lady and that super tall building, a big park and Tyra! Or Jimmy Fallon. But I think it's Tyra! Though I'd prefer Jimmy Fallon. We'll wear our business casual and sit in the audience, if we get our tickets.

And that's when I say goodbye to Eleanor and venture off ON MY OWN...

Off to London. To collapse in a heap for a couple of days and recover from America. Where I will NOT have been shot (looking at YOU, Dean). Then to do touristy Londony things from my base at a backpackers somewhere in the city. Somewhere. Probably will NOT be going to Sheffield Bush...I don't think I got that right...the aussie section is what I'm talking about. Cos why be in Britain and hang out with a bunch of bogans? :) I coulda done that at home.

Anyhoo then off to ITALY for my 3 day tour, plus I'll do a day or so in Rome and I really wanna head over to Venice as well. I hear lots of people speak English in Italy. Which I hope is not a lie. Cos if it is a lie, then I am how you say...oh. Right. SCREWED.

Then back to England and probably about time to head to Leeds and my new home for the next 5 months. Let the learning begin!

I think/hope I have the money to go on a tour in Egypt at the end of my trip. And I have 2 nights in Hong Kong planned. And I'm pretty positive I'm doing a 3 day trip around Paris.

I mean there are heaps and heaps of other places I want to go, but I'll see how the funds treat me.

I will be sitting on my bum cheeks for a good 14-16 hours straight, including the Melbourne to Sydney flight. Aw man, that's NOT including the 2 hour trip from home to the airport. Considering I squirm at the uncomfortableness of the cinema seats in Morwell and can't even handle a 2 hour movie in them I might be in a bit of trouble with this one. But we'll see.

So excitement. No. Really. SO excitement.

Later!

Well. Later from SOMEWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD!

Sairz

Sorry for my tardiness

I've been a little bit quiet of late, I know.Erm...sorry about that.

Truth is, it's that time of year University assignment-wise and I've been a bit like this:

Except less board looking. Well. No I retract that statement. Totally as bored looking. And more nail chewing. And tired making. And sleeping. There's been lots of sleeping involved. Well, more sleeping during the day because I haven't been sleeping at night. Been trying to sleep at night so it all comes down to a lot of time TRYING to sleep. And TV watching. There's been a lot of that as well. 

And all of that = PROCRASTINATION. Yes, when it comes to academic study, I appear to be a firm believer of "If I don't look at it, it'll go away". Which it never does. It just gets harder cos you have less time to do it in.

When it comes to my creative writing, the times that I utilise this method, it, well it DOES go away. At present, no one's waiting with baited breath, tapping their watch and scowling at me if I don't get cracking. So sometimes the motivation flows away...

But I do have to cut myself some slack. Last year I wrote two books. Neither of which I wrote during term time at University.

So I'm not too phased. As soon as exams etc are over I'll be back to writing.

I have to make the most of my time here, living on Res with the friends I've made...wanna know why?

Cos I'm not coming back next year!

Yes, there have been some developments in the past week or so.

Firstly I FINALLY made the decision: Teaching is not for me. Not a whole classroom anyway. What do I love most in the world? Well, books of course. Being the blog of a writer, I reckon any one of you could have figured that out.

So what industry should I REALLY be trying to work my way into? The publishing industry! I mean, DUH.

So next year I'm going to move back to Melbourne and do a Writing & Publishing degree - get to move straight into second year because of previous qualifications. Woot! Plus might get a little bit of credit for what I've studied here which will be awesome.

And the degree involves two things: Writing (writing a novel is part of the course work!) and Publishing (industry placements at publishing houses!) so I reckon it's going to be pretty sunny.

Yes, I do realise there will be assignments, and I know how I feel about those, but it's looking a bit brighter than this Education track is, for me.

I'm really looking forward to moving back to Melbourne actually, seeing all my friends, my old haunts and interests. As much as I love the peace and quiet of the country, there is a lot more on offer in the big bad.

But before I can do that I have to get back from the WORLD!

Caught a bit of a snag in my Visa application for the UK, and it turns out I won't be allowed into the country until within a week of class starting. Which is kinda crap considering my plane ticket gets me there THREE weeks before class starts. Do they not want people to enjoy themselves as WELL as study? See their countryside, and bask in the...er....rain?

Keep ya posted how all that turns out.

Still being nice and patient in and impatiently patient way when it comes to the two fantabulous agents who have my full MS. Another two weeks and I can give one a polite tap on the shoulder and ask if she's had a chance to flip through it yet. We'll see.

Until then, I have other stuff!

Bye for now. Going to watch some TV. Then do some study. Then watch some TV. Then go and annoy someone, cos they're likely to not be on campus anymore. Who will the lucky person be??

My name is Sarah. And I'm a Twitter Addict.

Twitter is the new Facebook. No longer do I check Facebook constantly for updates from my friends who I may have just seen an hour ago.
Now I get up to the minute info from published authors who's styles I love, with quirky sensibilities that I'd love to have in my social circle as well as publishing houses, editors and agents I could possibly (a couple of whom I have already) submit to in the future. Wow that sentence was weird. Past and future all rolled into one.
Moving on.
I got the Tweet Deck app thingy the other day, which is awesome cos you don't have to press refresh all the time, it just pops up with a little message in the corner of my screen every time someone, anyone I'm following has said something. And I can group everyone, like authors, agents, friends, celebrities. I am a pop culture addict as well as a Twitter addict. Have I ever mentioned that?
Anyhoo. Twitter is awesome.

My online critique group has expanded all of a sudden, once I handed over the power to anyone to invite and moderate and administrate the group we've been growing and growing. We have 21 members, which is a bit daunting. But they're all really friendly, and it's probably a good thing that not everyone is posting at the same time.
I've been getting some good feedback, for what little I've been posting of late. Uni is taking it out of me, man.
I'm getting really frustrated. I want to do creative work. I want to write a NOVEL for God's sake, but I just...it's so...I can't do it when I have an assignment due every week. And in my down time I'm watching TV over writing stories. But I'm gonna try and change that asap. When I've finished this blog I'm working on my psychological studies assignment and THEN I'm going to start plotting out my book. Ooooh yeah. Looking forward to that. The ORIGINAL MJ book. Because my NaNo about her was clearly book 2. It's a long story how that happened and I don't think I've mentioned it before. And I'm really not gonna mention it now.

Oh! Another reason I'm not writing creatively so much is because I've been getting publishing opportunities, but for non-fiction. So I've been doing a lot of that.
My interview with Comedian Mark Watson was published in the local paper recently. It was a little annoying that when sub editting it they wrote 'Journalism student Sarah Billington...'. Yes. I'm taking ONE journalism subject as an elective. I already have the qualifications to be a journalist I've just never really used it. But anyway. Another clip. Nice big 3/4 of a page thing too.
I have a review of his show and a fashion review in Lots Wife and I'm not sure but I THINK also a Monash Abroad article in the next edition.

Speaking of Monash Abroad, I went along to the compulsory pre-departure meeting last week which was exciting. There were over 300 students there, all travelling to different parts of the globe.
The 71 students going to America had already embraced their inner American, and whooped and cheered a lot when the speaker asked where the Americans were. Twas funny.
A couple of past exchange students spoke, and one guy gave advice that everyone appreciated. "Just say yes". He realised what he'd said and took a bow. Then finished the sentence with "to all of the experiences you get offered, and places you are invited to go".
I met a couple of others heading to my uni, there are 11 of us in total and a couple are also applying for the same residence as I am. Mind you it houses like, 500 people so it's not like they'll be right next door. Necessarily.
Found out that a bus pass for 1 semester costs something ridiculous like 400 pounds. Considering the accomodation I want to stay in is a good 3.3 MILES away from campus, I was thinking I might need one in the winter - plan to walk when it's nice weather though. Hopefully I only have a couple of days on campus and can get away with single tickets. Or find a car parked in the parking lot and wait there for hours until the owner comes out, and I can be all desperate and make friends with them, just for the ride.

Paid for my SCBWI registration. Conversion into Australian dollars was painful. I think I'm freaking about financing this trip so much because at current I have no money, but I have to keep reminding myself that I'll be getting a bunch of lump sums while I'm away which will get me through. I might have to see less of Europe than planned though. And I'm thinking a part time job will be a necessary option for me. Back to retail. We'll see what happens when I get there.

I've joined a writing community, litopia.com which I'm finding to be pretty fantastic already, and I'm not even a full member which means I don't have access to most of the message boards etc. You join up and in the first month you have to be an active member of the community, posting 50 times at least, and then at the end of the month you get to submit some work and if it's deemed that yes, you are in fact a good writer, then you get full membership and meet heaps of other writers. If you don't make the grade you get to keep trying, resubmitting until you are deemed fantabulous.
It's really great, I'm not in a writerly bubble so much anymore. Makes me sad for people who wrote and felt isolated from the writing community back before the interweb. But it doesn't have to be that way anymore. There are millions of other fantabulous people out there to connect with. I hope one day I can find another contemporary YA writer who's writing style really clicks with mine and we can collaborate on something. That's down the track a bit, I guess.

Okay, time to work on assignment, me thinks! Most exciting Saturday night ever. Ooh, someone wrote something on twitter!
Buh-bye now

Sairz

The ups and downs of lately.

Well.

I didn't think I had anything too interesting to write of late because it has mostly been filled with the torture of writing a 2500 essay for my Authorship and Writing class. It's worth 50% of my mark, and since everyone in the class agrees that it is the most hideous question of all questions ever, it's been really really hard to write. Which is why I'm here and not writing my essay. Because I don't understand my essay. And if I don't understand it, then I doubt my lecturer will understand it.
So now I'm here.

There have actually been some ups and downs of late, nothing too dramatic, or I'm just riding a perpetual wave of "meh, whatever" like calm. Aside from the constant moaning and complaining about my essay.

Received my passport. Yay!
Crappy photo - of course. Boo!

Went shopping with my sister and bought a new phone that is made of awesome and does NOT turn off mid-phone call just cos it feels like it. Yay!

Also bought lots of snazzy new clothes so that I don't feel quite so much like the country bogan that I'm ever so slowly turning into. Yay!

Spent lots and lots of money. The Rudd Stimulus package money that I erm...haven't received yet. Boo! (Or - you're a tool, Sarah!)

Had my feature article on Uni students and financial woes published in Lots Wife Magazine in Melbourne AND The Star Newspaper in Gippsland. Yay!

Did I get paid for either of them? No. Boo!

Have been officially accepted into Leeds University for next semester. Yay!

Have been going around checking out flight details for my little sojourn across the USA with Eleanor, and then over to Europe. We're talking $3800! Boo!

Student Visa for the UK is $290! Boo!

Tourist Visa for USA is free! Yay!

Application Visa for USA is $180. Boo!

Have been writing "The In With Santa" in Script Frenzy which I started writing 2 years ago, but never finished. I'm pleased with how it's going. Yay!

Have stopped writing "The In With Santa" until I get these stupid assignments finished. Two due on Monday, one due on Friday. Boo!

Bought tickets to see Mark Watson and Danny Bhoy at the Comedy Festival next week. Tres excited. Yay!

Will have to miss some classes and Badminton to go to them...meh. I can live with that.

Went home to celebrate my birthday early with my family, we went to Dutchie's Stone Grill Restaurant on Phillip Island. I'd never been there before. You cook your food in front of you, on - surprisingly - a stone grill. Was fun and different. Yay!

My sister is paying for half of my passport and my parents are paying for one of my visas for my birthday. Yay!

My doggie Tessa gave me a birthday card, showing that even though she tries to fake me out sometimes, she really loves me. Yay! (The card was written in my mum's handwriting, so I guess mum helped her).

Decided to go out and buy dinner tonight in congratulations for writing...erm...200 words of my assignment. Yay!

As I was rounding the roundabout, a single mum with no car insurance ran into my car and put a big ol' dent in my door. Not exactly Boo, but aw... I feel bad for her. NO CAR INSURANCE.

Tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY! I'm turning 25! Yay!

I will be spending it writing and stressing about assignments. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

That's all.

Love Sairz