Oh yeah, I’m a writer?

It’s been three years since I finished my first Young Adult novel.  

The idea for Colors of the Sea came to during my pregnancy with Reef, my 4^th son.  Because of veracious veins and other ailments of pregnancy, I had to take it easy, so 15 weeks into my pregnancy, I sat at the computer and started writing.  I am a lover of the sea and marine biologist Rachel Carson.  I took the key elements from Rachel’s life and research and wrote a postmodern YA romance with just enough fantasy to keep us mermaid lovers happy. I wrote every day, hours at a time, for six months.  I was living vicariously through my 17 year-old character, Winona and the counselor strangely took on the role of her love interest, Darren.    What fun that was!

I worked day and night to finish the manuscript before Reef was born, but the birth of a baby doesn’t wait.  I remember reading through the manuscript with my mom and the counselor while breathing through contractions at the hospital.  I think they had to pry my book out of my hands before giving me the baby.  Reef Carson, named after the sea and Rachel Carson, was born healthy and happy.  Thank heavens he was a good sleeper from the start, because I stayed up nights to finish the book.  Everybody thought I was exhausted because I had a new baby, but little did they know I couldn’t sleep until Colors of the Sea was finished.  I had to know the ending.

I remember when I wrote the last couple paragraphs:

He looks at my lips then back at my eyes; wanting to do something he should have done long ago.  His hands reach for my face and all I can do is stare into his sea green eyes.  His touch captivates me and I can barely breathe.  I’m not sure when I’ve ever stood so still.  Gently, he kisses my lips and it’s as if fleshy rose-petals run across my mouth.  Soft at first, a quiet surprise that starts my heart racing in a million different directions, and when his warm breath pulls me in even more, I’m certain we’re floating.  He could take me in the waves again, drown me with kisses and hold me while the water pulls us out to sea.  He could show me his world, pick me a bouquet of sea grass and coral buds and adorn me with fresh-water pearls.  I want him as much as he wants me; we both want this world together so why do I suddenly pull away?

I stand cold and feel the wind run through my hair.  It must be past midnight.  My face is flushed, my lips still moist and the desire to be back in his arms is more than I can bear.  My eyes widen and I want to say something, but it’s too late to collect thoughts. 

I take a step away from him while my eyes fill with tears.  Doesn’t he realize I can’t love him when he’s already in love with someone else?  Our kiss, magical as it was, has only made matters more complicated.  I reach for the door to my apartment and turn to open it.  I pause before looking back at him, but he has already slipped away in the darkness.  I know where he’s going; he’s looking for answers, he’s looking to be saved so he’s run to the sea.

Exhausted and exhilarated at the same time, I realized I was done.  I jumped up and down, ran and picked up each of my kids, twirling them in the air and smothering them with kisses.  I shouted and did what I’ll call the “touchdown dance,” perhaps you’ve seen your favorite NFL player do it when he makes a touchdown.

DONE!  With a 326-page manuscript.  Dance, dance, dance!

And I started submitting agents.  I just knew someone would snatch it up.  Sure, I’d heard it was a difficult time to publish, you know, with the whole economy thing, but my story was so great.

Yeah, right!

I had a few bites from agents, but no takers.

I’ve spent the last three years doing something I never thought I could love and hate so much – EDITING!

URGH!

I’ve been to New York, met with various authors, worked with a publicist and professional editors and have had so many miracles along the way.  I’ve been to conferences, networked and read all the YA I could get my hands on.  I’ve learned so much about writing, querying, submitting, publishing and marketing.  After two-years of working on it, loving it, hating it, cursing it, celebrating it, I’ve committed to start querying Colors of the Sea again on Earth Day. 

You know I love Earth Day, oh how I love it, so along with the My Dear Trash Earth Day Book Drive, along with the two $25.00 give-aways from Changing Hands Book Store and Bookmans, along with the linky party here at My Dear Trash on Earth Day where Kelly and I and you will feature our great finds (can’t wait to see your trash), I’m going to also start querying agents.

Here’s my challenge. 

I’ve finished editing 267 pages out of 326 pages.  From now to Earth Day on April 22, I’m going to work my “#@*^*” off to get the last 59 pages done (I apologize for my keyboard cursing, it just has a mind of its own).

Prepare for messy house, prepare for take-out dinners, prepare for little exercise, prepare for no sleep, prepare for housekeeper!

Prepare for takeoff!

Wish me luck; I’m going to need it.

Janette Rallison - Young Adult Author

Janette Rallison smiles like she’s up to something special and she is. She’s the author of 16 books and counting.

Currently, she’s working on the sequel to her hit novel My Fair Godmother. She’s sold over 900,000 books and is signed with Putnam New York and Walker Books for Young Readers. Her books are fun, romantic and clean, something that isn’t easy to find in today’s Young Adult market. One of the things I most admire about Janette is she gives back to the writing community. She helps a lot of first time authors with editorial advice and encouragement. I had the chance to meet Janette several years ago at the Arizona Night Writers Association Conference and we’ve been friends ever since. She’s graciously accepted my invitation to be interviewed. Thanks, Janette.

1. As a young girl, you loved reading romantic fiction. Why? When did you realize you wanted to write romantic fiction?

There is probably some deep psychological reason why women love romance. I'm not sure what it is. I just know a story is always better if there is some hot brooding guy who adores me--er, I mean, who adores the heroine that I vicariously live through. So almost all of my books have involved romance to some degree. When I taught a general fiction class at BYU two years ago, I found that I kept telling the students to add romantic angles to their stories. Maybe BYU noticed it too because the next year they asked me to teach the romance class.

2. You write romance for young adults and tweens. Why this genre?

The problem with the national romance market right now is that the books are either hot (waaay too much information about the characters' sex lives) or inspirational (hardly any romance and the characters wander through the story quoting scriptures to each other). YA romance doesn't have to be either of these. Plus I write comedy and teenagers are just naturally funny. They can't help it.

3. You write with a lot of humor. Does this help with the writing process? When working on a manuscript, do you ever laugh out loud?

Writing humor is hard so it actually slows down my writing process quite a bit. I have one book in the works with hardly any humor (it's more suspense/action) and I can't believe how fast I wrote the first hundred pages. It's a lot easier to kill people than to make them laugh. As far as laughing out loud while I've written something, yes, actually I've done that a few times. I always know a scene is really funny if I laugh when I write it.

4. What’s the darkest/saddest scene you’ve ever written?

Just One Wish has several sad scenes because the main character's little brother has cancer.

I cried when I researched them, when I wrote them, and every time I went through a revision. I think I would be a mess if I had to write too many sad scenes. I don't write a lot of dark scenes but in the sequel to My Fair Godmother, there is a scene with Rumpelstiltskin that is darker than my usual stuff. But hey, he's a creepy fairy who wants to kill babies. How can that not be dark? I don't write the fairy tales--I just steal shamelessly from them.

5. What’s the funniest scene you’ve ever written?

I laughed out loud when I wrote the Snow White scenes in My Fair Godmother. I love the fact that the dwarves are the smart ones and Snow White is actually a raging idiot. I also laughed out loud during the first scene of Fame, Glory, and Other Things On My To Do List and during the scene when things go wrong during their play.

If you've ever been in drama, you need to read that book. Drama people know exactly how it feels when things go off course in the middle of a play and you’re stuck onstage dealing with it.

6. What’s the most romantic scene you’ve ever written?

Everyone will probably have a different opinion on that. I developed a crush on Tristan when I wrote My Fair Godmother so I'm particularly fond of the kiss at the end of that book. I also love the scene in Just One Wish where Annika is trying to escape from bodyguards and Steve chases after her. They end up jumping over trailers. Even though there's no kiss involved, it's still one of my favorite romantic scenes because for the first time Steve really sees Annika and knows she's a force to be reckoned with.

7. What is your all time favorite compliment about your writing?

At my last book signing a teenage girl came up to me and said she learned to love reading because of my books. I can die happy now.

8. Currently, you’re working on the sequel to My Fair Godmother. What has surprised your most about writing a sequel? What’s been your favorite twist?

My Fair Godmother was a hard act to follow because there are so many great things about that book. I'm not saying this to brag. Sometimes things come together magically (pardon the pun) in a book and the author just gets lucky. My Fair Godmother was like that. So when I went to write the sequel I thought: Okay, I want to write a book with the same elements. I need to come up with something that has adventure, romance, comedy, mystery, a love triangle, sibling rivalry, a twist ending, and a fairy who has some deep commentary on human life. But at the same time I wanted the book to feel different than the original. I didn't want it to seem that I was just rewriting the first book.

Yeah, needless to say the plot ideas weren't leaping off the page. If you ever want to give yourself writer's block, just set the bar incredibly high.

Finally I had to just allow the sequel to be what it is. I hope people will like it for itself and not compare it to its beautiful and popular older sister.

As far as my favorite twist in the book—I’ll just say that now the Rumplestilskin fairy tale makes a lot more sense.

9. Do you listen to music when you write? Do you see your books as movies? Which would you like to see made into a movie first? Why?

I don't listen to music--I get distracted too easy. I want it to be perfectly quiet while I write. I definitely see My Fair Godmother as a movie. Right now a major producer is trying to get funding for it. (He did Race to Witch Mountain, Princess Diaries, Freaky Friday, and one of my favorite movies: Sky High) So I take back what I said about dying happy now—I want to see My Fair Godmother up on the screen first. I think it would make a great Princess Bride-esque movie.

My Double Life would also be a good movie. It’s Prince and the Pauper goes Hollywood.

10. What’s your coolest “author” moment? Perks?

I hope I haven’t had it yet, but there have definitely been some cool moments. I loved Ellen Conford’s books when I was a teen. I wanted to be her when I grew up. Not long ago on a librarian’s book review blog she called me the Ellen Conford of this generation. I printed out that blog and put it in my journal.

Project Book Babe was also super cool. Not only was it fun to hang out with some really great authors, but we got to speak to a huge crowd who laughed and cheered at everything we said.

Writers work alone to complete our manuscripts. Once we love it, we send it in to our editors who then proceed to tell us everything that is wrong with it. Usually it’s a very long list.

It was so nice to have a crowd full of applause.

11. Last year you worked with Stephenie Meyer to raise awareness for cancer. What was it like working with her and how did the benefit Project Book Babe turn out? How is your friend and YA advocate Faith Hochhalter doing?

Stephenie Meyer is a really nice, down-to-earth sort of person. Unlike actors and actresses, writers don’t expect or want to be thrust into the spotlight like Stephenie has been. I think she handles it well. Everyone involved with Project Book Babe was so grateful for her involvement. It turned out wonderfully! And Faith is in remission—which is really something to cheer about!

12. If you could change one thing about your writing journey, what would it be?

I would have gotten a degree in marketing in college. It would certainly help out now.

13. Where do you want to visit most in the world?

Give me a warm beach and I’m happy.

14. Favorite authors? Books? What inspires you?

I have eclectic taste. I love the Princess Bride, Pride and Prejudice, and Hunger Games. I just read the first two books of the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and loved them.

I’m inspired to write by my teenage daughter who is always looking for something good to read.

15. Words of advice for the wanna-be writer, in other words, me.

Read a lot. It’s not only fun, it’s necessary if you want to be a writer. Also read books on writing. They’ll save you a ton of time in revision and help you hone your craft. Write because you love the story you’re working on. If you don’t love it, it’s not worth it. And keep on writing. Don’t stop just because your first or second or third book got rejected. A lot of times it’s that fourth book that gets accepted.

Janette is giving one of her books away so be sure to visit her blog at www.janette-rallison.blogspot.com.