Yeah, Cumberland Island is pretty hot this time of year, so it’s OK to camp without the sleeping bag. However, toting around the unedited version of your book is much heavier than carrying your lightweight North Face bag while hiking 10 miles.

Of course, if I really wanted to cut down on pack weight, I probably should’ve left the wine at home, right? Or I should’ve at least taken advantage of the fact that J.J. bought a freaking cart to the island and pulled it the miles and miles to our campsite.

Anyway, I had plans to spend Sunday afternoon revising the MS with a red pen while lounging on the beach with some wild horses, but Tropical Storm Beryl had other ideas. On Sunday morning, a park ranger showed up at our campsite and informed us that the National Park Service was shutting down the island and we were being evacuated.

So I’m not nearly as far along as I’d like to be in my revisions, but it’s really not my fault. It’s Beryl’s.

Check out some of the photos from our (brief) backpacking trip!

Photos: codywellons.com

For those who aren’t familiar with these amazing little things, soapnuts are berries that grow on small trees and shrubs in Asia. The pulpy insides contain saponins, which are a natural surfactant.

You can buy a large bag of soapnuts for just a few dollars, and they last quite a long time depending on how you use them. We’ve been using them in place of laundry detergent for about four months now and have barely put a dent in the bag, and I’ve also created an all-purpose cleaning solution with them by boiling them.

As for the laundry process, it’s ridiculously simple.

1. Crack the soapnuts if they’re not already open. If you need assistance with this step, cats are quite helpful.

2. Place five to six soapnuts in a small cloth bag.

3. Drop the bag into the washing machine with your laundry.

4. Again, ask a cat for help if this is your first time, and then run the wash as normal.

Soapnuts don’t really have a smell, but they leave your clothes with a rather fresh, clean scent. In fact, a friend of mine has started using them in the wash because she has sensitive skin and often has an allergic reaction to even unscented detergents.

Soapnuts have a variety of uses other than laundry though. Like I said, I’ve used them to make my own all-natural cleaner, and I’m tempted to try them out as a shampoo or insect repellant soon.

No chemicals! No plastic bottle! (Remember: Plastic can’t be recycled!) Plus, fun with the cat!

However, I will say that teaching copy editing and really getting these rules down has made me a better writer. You don’t have to know this stuff in order to craft beautiful prose and write stories that sweep readers away; however, I think learning language and all its nitpicky rules can be beneficial to your writing. When you have a solid understanding of what you’re working with, doesn’t it make the process a little easier?

Sure, an editor will look over your copy before your book hits the presses, but what if you’re querying an agent or sending off a synopsis? You don’t want an agent’s first thought upon seeing your query to be “This person doesn’t know the difference between lay and lie.” That’s why I write these posts: to help you and to give myself a refresher. Seriously, I need it, too!

So today we’ll delve back into the grammar and usage world with the help of one of my favorite fictional couples: Lena and Alex of Lauren Oliver’s “Delirium.”

1. Let’s modify! Compound modifiers

Compound modifiers are pairs of words in which the first word acts as an adverb modifying the second word, which acts as an adjective. Together, these words modify the noun or pronoun that follows, and a hyphen is placed between them to show this. Confused yet? Don’t worry. This is actually quite simple!

• Lena has a well-intentioned aunt.
• Lena met Alex at a less-crowded beach.

Without using hyphens in the examples above, it wouldn’t be clear that “well-intentioned” and “less-crowded” are working as units to modify the nouns that follow them.

You also place hyphens between compound modifiers that precede the words they modify.

• Contracting the deliria is a fear-inducing idea.
• Alex is a part-time guard.

But this rule applies only to modifiers that precede the word they’re modifying.

• Alex works part time. Here, “part time” follows the word it modifies so no hyphen is required.
  

*There’s an always an exception to the rule though, right? Here’s this one: Keep the hyphen in a compound adjective that follows a linking verb.

• Alex’s work was part-time.

2. Many people figuratively literally don’t know how to use these words correctly.

Figuratively means symbolically. Literally means “actually” or “exactly,” but try to avoid using it as a vague intensifier in place of “really.”

• When Lena says Alex has hair of autumn leaves, she’s speaking figuratively.
• “Delirium” literally means “acute confusional state.”

If you ever have trouble with this one, just think of children literally eating books:

“Very young children eat their books, literally devouring their contents. This is one reason for the scarcity of first editions of Alice in Wonderland and other favorites of the nursery.”
-A. S. W. Rosenbach

3. Yes, there’s a difference. (‘into’ v. ‘in to’ and ‘onto’ v. ‘on to’)

Use into to indicate action or motion.

• Lena walked into the Crypts with Alex.

Use in to as two words when in is used as an adverb and to is used as an infinitive.

• Alex got Lena in to show her that her mother wasn’t dead.

Use onto as a preposition meaning to move toward and advance upon.

• Lena climbed onto the fence as she tried to escape into the wilds.

Use on to as two words when on is used as an adverb and to is used as a preposition.

• Now that Lena has escaped she must move on to live a life without Alex.

You might also like:

• Subjunctive voice, the misplaced ‘only’ and the truth about Oxford commas with Lola and Cricket
• Using commas correctly with Carrie Ryan’s “The Forest of Hands and Teeth”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

What if no one attended your funeral?

What if rabies were airborne?

What if cats walked upright and Scott Stapp were president? *shudder*

Still, others are inspired by a dream I have, a song I hear or a story I write for work.

My current project actually came to me while I was researching an article and I came across an architect’s gorgeous rendering of a futuristic world. It brought so many “what ifs” to mind that I just couldn’t shake it. The idea percolated for a few days until one morning it came to fruition while I was waiting for the parking garage elevator. Then it hit me. This is it!

I abandoned my current project and started writing the book immediately. It’s the very book I pitched at DFWcon.

But perhaps one of the most interesting ways a book came into being was when the talented Birdy Jones and I had a little butterbeer at a party and launched into a hilarious conversation (OK, maybe it was only funny to us) about the wizarding world. A couple days later she messaged me and said, “We should really turn this into a book!”

And I thought, “Great idea! Why didn’t I think of that?” I never considered co-authoring a book before, but Birdy and I have so much fun with this project, that we’re already plotting our next book!

So, I’m curious. What’s the strangest or most interesting way you’ve stumbled into a story idea?

Photo: herrea/flickr

You might also like:

• Adults can have Harry Potter parties too
• Grammar and usage for writers (The Hunger Games)

I’m back! And I’ll be returning to my regular Tuesday and Thursday blogging schedule starting tomorrow. More YA books! More grammar! More cats!

As you know, I spent the weekend at DFWcon, which was my first writers’ conference, and it was nothing short of amazing. I met writers I’ve been tweeting to for years, I made passionate new writing friends, I talked books and writing all day, I pitched actual agents, and I learned so much that I spent most of this morning simply typing up the pages of notes I took.

Although the weekend was full of learning — as well as several of those “Aha!” moments for my WIP —and it would be impossible to share it all in one post, I’ve compiled a list of 10 things I learned. Hopefully you’ll find something that will help you in your writing, too!

1. The path to publication requires risks. Sharing your work with critique partners and beta readers is a risk — they’re not always going to like what you write. In fact, they might hate it. (If your critters or betas say everything is perfect and you shouldn’t change a thing, you need new critters and betas.) Querying an agent is a risk. Going on submission is a risk. Heck, even writing a novel is a risk.

Now, I’m not the most outgoing person in the world. I’m a proud introvert, a chronic worrier and occasionally an anxiety-driven person. Plus, I obsess over the craziest things. (If there’s a zombie apocalypse, how will I carry a gun, MREs and my cats? What if I show up at DFWcon and I’ve forgotten to put on pants? What if I pitch an agent who doesn’t rep my genre? Oh, wait. I totally did that — and lived to tell about it.) Being this kind of person isn’t ideal for sitting down with an agent to pitch a book or approaching an agent at a reception, but I did it. Sometimes it went well, sometimes it failed miserably, and sometimes the encounter was so awkward that I thought the awkwardness might actually kill me and I’d forever be known as the girl who actually died of embarrassment at DFWcon. But I took the risk and I did it. I have no regrets — but I do I have a few manuscript requests.

2. Writing with voice is about letting characters interpret the action instead of simply reporting events. Voice is something hard to pinpoint, yet it’s something every agent is looking for. Jenny Martin‘s class on voice taught me so much, but that sentence really stuck with me because when I look at my own writing, I can clearly see where I’ve failed to let the characters interpret something and instead simply moved them across the stage.

3. Pitching an agent really is a bit like speed dating. I had a couple of pitch sessions lined up, and I pitched to an agent at the DFWcon reception — and you really can tell which agents you have chemistry with. My first pitch started out rocky but got better. My hands were shaking and words were falling out of my mouth in their rush to get it over with, but the agent was interested in what I had to say and asked questions. I talked too much about myself and rambled quite a bit, but we have a “second date,” I guess you could say.

I approached my next pitch with new-found confidence, but I knew immediately that she just wasn’t that into me. She smiled politely, didn’t have much to say and then basically told me that she was seeing someone else too similar to me. Ouch.

Downtrodden but determined, I forced myself to approach the friendly girl at the party that night. And we hit it off. We chatted for a long time, we had mutual interests and even though she admitted that I wasn’t usually her type, she did want to exchange emails and see what we could work out.

Overall, the agent experience taught me that agents really are people, too. Some are more approachable than others. Some are more willing to help you than others. But they’re after the same thing you are: chemistry and a good story.

4. The stronger your antagonist, the stronger your story. An antagonist is simply whoever or whatever has an opposite agenda of the protagonist, but the antagonist creates the story problem and gives the story genuine dramatic action. A weak antagonist leads to a weak story. No antagonist means you don’t have a story.

5. When you write for boys, you compete in a less-crowded pool and you double your market. Alec Shane is passionate on the subject of writing for boys in the MG and YA markets and he had plenty to say about it, but what really struck me were the benefits of writing for boys that he highlighted: You’re providing these kids with books they need. Boys are falling behind girls in literacy scores, they want characters they can relate to, and they also love being swept away in a story. Plus, you really do double your market because girls will read “boy books,” but boys don’t often read “girl books.”

6. A good writer is a sadist. Torture your protagonist. Take them to the point where they can’t go any further and then torture them some more. You have to break them down in order to transform them and make their story worth reading.

7. Your first chapter should do the following: leave the reader with questions, indicate the tone of the story, and make a promise to the reader that you deliver on by the end of the book.

8. Agents really do look at your platform. I asked Laurie McLean about this during her MG and YA fiction class and she said that if she reads a manuscript and likes it, she’ll Google the writer and look to see if they’re blogging regularly and what kind of Twitter following they have, etc. She said that if you’re querying an agent and you suddenly find that he or she is following you on Twitter, that’s a good sign!

9. You’re a pre-published writer — not an aspiring one. Remember that.

10. Writers are the most amazing, supportive, witty and passionate people you’ll ever meet, and I count myself lucky to be one of them. At writing conferences, complete strangers are interested in what you’re writing, they’re willing to offer advice or help you practice your pitch, and they’re always down to talk about books and writing craft. I spent the entire weekend with people who love stories just as much as I do, and I’m newly inspired because of it. Whether they were people I knew pre-DFWcon, knew only from 2-D Twitter pics or knew because they were kind enough to help me pick up the millions of papers I kept dropping, they were just genuinely awesome people. And I miss them.

Special thanks to my amazing DFWcon group: Melissa, Liza, Deb, Kayla, Corey, Nicole, China, Lina and Jasmine. You ladies made this weekend especially memorable!

11. BONUS: James Rollins can spay or neuter a cat in under 30 seconds. Yeah, he’s a best-selling author and all, but I think these are his real bragging rights.

*Fellow DFWconners, if you’re interested in getting copies of my notes from any of the classes listed below, let me know and I’ll send them your way. (Maybe we can even trade — I couldn’t be in every class I wanted to take either!) I can’t necessarily send the handouts and Google Docs the presenters provided access to, but I have a notebook full of hand-scribbled knowledge that I’m more than happy to share with you!

• How to write for boys
• Writing love scenes
• Finding and strengthening your voice
• Understanding your antagonist
• Writing a compelling first chapter
• The young adult hero’s journey
• Middle grade and young adult fiction

While I’m sure it pains you to know that you don’t have any exciting YA-themed grammar lessons coming your way this week, I hope to see you back here post-DFWcon so we can talk about gerunds, appositives and cats again. Until then, happy writing!

And cross your fingers for me, please. I’m a little nervous!

Photo: Artotem/flickr

I made some calls, talked to some very friendly people and was told an “investigation” would be opened into the matter. Perhaps my frantic tone led them to believe that my package contained expensive jewels, priceless art or the secret to how Creed sold so many albums. An investigation — really??

Obviously, I couldn’t wait around for this situation to work itself out, so I drove to Barnes & Noble, searched through the teen books section — which has finally been moved away from the children’s play area so that I can feel more like an adult and less like a creeper — and then inquired about the book at the help desk. Sold out. Naturally.

So I called three more bookstores: sold out, sold out, one copy. One copy?! I had them reserve it for me and then drove to a little indie bookstore in Decatur and raced inside, where I saw the lone copy sitting on the counter with a post-it note with my name on it. Success!

As the cashier began ringing me up, I told her about my misfortune and how excited I was to finally get my hands on the book. She laughed and as she reached for it said, “If you really want ‘Insurgent,’ you’re going to have to prove that you deserve it. Who are you?”

Clearly, she wanted to know what faction I’m in, right? I mean, we’d only been talking about this on Twitter all day. So, with no hesitation, I say “Dauntless … with a little bit of Amity.”

“What?”

“Dauntless…with…um … a bit of Amity? And um … probably some Erudite?”

*uncomfortably long pause*

“What is your name?”

“Ohhhh. Laura Moss. I thought you were asking…never mind.”

Seriously, you guys, Cody was embarrassed for me. Afterward, I asked him to get really into some combination of D&D, Star Trek and LARPing so that he would always be a little bit nerdier than me, but he declined. I’m going to have to carry the nerdiness in this relationship.

My name is Laura, and I’m a book nerd.

He more closely resembles an unregistered animagus who broke out of wizard prison, am I right?

Sirius’ big brother, Fiver, isn’t all that pleased with the tiny kitten (he weighs in at under 2 pounds!) at the moment, but he says he’s glad that at least his brother is almost as famous as he is. My friend Kristen, the ever-devoted TVD fan, is convinced that this is little Sirius in Paul Wesley’s hands, but there’s no way to know for sure since Sirius has two siblings I haven’t met — and he’s not talking. Well, he’s talking squeaking, but these sounds are mostly requests to be cuddled and to have his belly rubbed.

Anyway, welcome to your new home, little Sirius! Prepare to be spoiled!

And in honor of “Insurgent,” Sirius chooses Dauntless, just as a true Gryffindor would!

Photo: codywellons.com

Pearce discussed her new novel, “Purity,” which came out this week, a book about “love, loss, and sex — but not necessarily in that order.” She talked about falling in love as a teenager, and she read a passage from her book in which the protagonist attempts to buy condoms, but not just any condoms — flavored condoms. Oh, and did I mention that her dad was there filming it all?

Within just a few minutes Pearce had us all dying to read her book, but as she spoke, one thing she said in particular stuck with me. She told us that as a teen, she was positive she’d fallen in love three times. While adults often say that teenagers don’t fall in love, she made a valid point: “There’s a reason Match.com is a thing. Adults don’t have love figured out either.” She explained that while she doesn’t dismiss the feelings of love she had as a teenager, she also doesn’t believe that her idea of what love is has remained stagnant.

Here’s what she said that stuck with me so: “My definition of love has changed since then. How I defined it then just isn’t how I definite it at this moment.”

If you write for young adults (as so many of you do), this is important to keep in mind. How many of us believed our first love would be “the one”? How many of us thought that if that one guy or girl didn’t acknowledge us in the hall, ask us to the dance or chat with us at the speech tournament (Oh, was that just nerdy me?), that we would just die? Dramatic, right? Hey, that’s teenagers for you.

So, after Pearce wowed us all with her charm and condom-speak, I scooped up a couple copies of “Purity” and got a book signed for one of you! To enter to win a signed copy of Pearce’s first contemporary novel, here’s all you have to do:

1. Tweet, “like,” pin, or +1 this post using the buttons below. (Be sure to use those buttons so I can track it!)
2. Leave a comment about how old you were when you first fell in love. (And be sure to use your correct email so I can contact you for your **mailing address if you win.)

Heck, I’ll even go first. While I definitely had things for Jordan Knight (I was 8 — let’s let this one slide), my Brazilian co-worker, that boy I met at the speech tournament and Fox Mulder David Duchovny, I don’t think I really had my first love until I was 18. We were lifeguards together. *Cue the summertime dance music. Wait, is that LFO?*

Now it’s your turn! Leave your comment below, and I’ll use random.org to select the winner one week from today.

Looking for ways to pass the time while you wait to see who won? Watch this video of a dog stalking a wolf with amazing musical accompaniment. Check out my interview with Ian Somerhalder on The Huffington Post. Donate to Corky’s recovery! Start writing your own novel — with kittens!

**Congratulations to Liza Kane, comment #5! She’s the winner!

*U.S. and Canada only, please.

You might also like:

• Grammar and usage for writers (featuring Katniss and Peeta)
• Writing tips from ‘Delirium’ author Lauren Oliver

I joined Twitter four years ago, and since then, I’ve met so many amazing writers via this micro-blogging site — or perhaps I should say “met” them because we’ve never shaken hands or seen each other outside the Internet. We’ve exchanged tweets, first drafts and writing advice, and what we’ve created really is a community. I know more about their lives than most of those hundreds of Facebook “friends” that I went to high school with, and if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have beta readers, I wouldn’t be attending my first writers’ conference, I wouldn’t be involved in what’s sure to be the greatest writers’ retreat of 2013 — and let’s face it, no one would be throwing badgers at me.

So, while I’m super excited for DFWcon, my agent pitch sessions and all those amazing workshops, what I’m most looking forward to is meeting some of these people for the first time. (Sorry, Dateline, but I do have plans to meet people I found on the Internet.)

If you’re looking for awesome people to follow on Twitter who will both inspire and badger you to write, these are some of my top picks:

• @lizakane
• @melissaiswrite
• @geoffwakeling
• @thekristeno*
• @chinadespain*
• @olsonkayla
• @dbsmyth
• @coliekat*
• @callyjackson

I look forward to beta reading, fretting about revisions, writing about horses accurately, jumping from helicopters and badgering all of you. And, of course, I can’t wait to see your books on shelves so I can say, “Oh my God. I know that author! Well, I might not know them know them, but we totally tweet to each other.”

*I do actually know these people in real life, so I can attest to the fact that they’re real. The others might just be the most amazing Twitterbots ever. Only time will tell.

Photo: badgerbadgerbadger.com