Stuff I've Learned: Just Finish It

Here's the second most important thing I've learned about writing (next to making bite-size goals): finish the story.

I started writing when I was ten years old, and I wrote tons and tons of story beginnings. I'd create lovely folders for each of them, using my beloved Lisa Frank unicorn folders for my favorites. Every year, I'd put "write a novel" on my New Year's Resolution list, and I'd plan out daily, weekly, and monthly goals to meet that resolution... and then ten pages into whatever story, I'd be disillusioned with it and skip off after another shiny idea. This continued pretty much until I graduated from college.

After college, I moved to England with my then-boyfriend, now-husband. I'd planned to stay for a year and work at a bookstore or library or something involving words... but I kind of forgot to check about whether that was legal or not. So when I discovered that my student work permit would expire after six months, I decided that THIS was when I would write my first novel.

I told myself that it didn't matter if it was horrible or not, all I had to do in that year was finish it. And so I dove in and wrote every day, even before my work permit expired. The story was based off one of those abandoned beginnings from one of my Lisa Frank folders, and it had talking wolves and other worlds and girls with swords and everything I ever wanted to throw into a book.

And I did it. Before we left England, I had a full manuscript, complete with a beginning, middle, and end. When I came back to the US, I started submitting it to various publishers and agents. It piled up some lovely rejections, and then it took up residence in my closet. In the meantime, I'd run across a beautiful picture book illustrated by P.J. Lynch called "East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon," and I started work on what would eventually become my third published novel, Ice.

But here's the amazing thing that happened after I finished that first novel that lives in my closet: it got easier.

Finishing that novel taught me that I could do it. And once both my conscious and subconscious mind knew that, everything changed in a profound way that I hadn't anticipated. It removed this massive psychological wall that I hadn't even fully realized was there, and I became a writer.

So that's my hard-won advice for this Stuff I've Learned post: just finish it. Finish the story. Finish the novel. Finish the play. Finish the script. It doesn't matter if it's good or not or if it sits in a closet forever. The key is to finish it... and then you can write the next one and the next one and the one after that.

JUST FINISH IT. After that, anything's possible.

UK Pub Date and Book Revue

In ICE, Cassie journeys over the sea ice, across the tundra, and through the boreal forest. And today she has crossed the Atlantic Ocean! Today, ICE is coming out in the UK!

I have very fond memories of the UK. After college, I lived for a year in Cambridge, England. My boyfriend (now husband) had a fellowship there, and I trailed along because, hey, England! Castles! Stonehenge! King Arthur! It turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made.

That year in England, my husband and I got engaged. Also that year in England, I really became a writer.

I'd known I wanted to be a writer pretty much since I was a cute little blastula. But despite my making a New Year's Resolution to do so every year, when my plane landed in Merry Ol' England, I had yet to complete a full manuscript.

That changed here:

My Desk in Cambridge, England
(where I finished my first manuscript)

The reason for the change was the UK Department of Immigration and Visa Services. You see, I had planned to find a job and work while I was there. I had a six-month recent-graduate work permit, but I was certain it could be extended. Imagine my shock when I arrived at the Heathrow Airport and was told that not only could I not work after six months, but I might not be able to stay at all! After six months, I'd have to petition for a visitor's permit and swear not to work or I'd be tossed into the channel and eaten by specially-imported sharks. Or something like that.

I found a job at the Marshall Library for Economics (part of Cambridge University), and I spent a happy six months alphabetizing books and learning to like tea with milk. I also wrote in my spare time.

But then came the day: my six months were up. We woke ridiculously early, took the train south of London, filled out paperwork, waited, and worried... and then got the visitor's permit with no problem and learned that if we'd just decided to spend a romantic weekend in Paris and I'd come back in as a visitor, it would have had the same result. Except then I would have gotten a romantic weekend in Paris instead of a day at the international equivalent of the DMV. Whatever.

Point is: I took it as a sign. The government was telling me I was legally obligated to do nothing but write. And so I did. I wrote every day from morning to night, pausing for trips to Italy and Spain and such where I did things like get lost in hedge mazes.

Me, Lost in Hedges

By the end of our stay, I'd completed my very first novel-length manuscript. I'd also gotten this nice shiny engagement ring:

My hand and Westminster Abbey

We took the ring on a tour of London and snapped photos of my hand in front of all the major tourist spots. Sarah's hand and Big Ben. Sarah's hand and Westminster Abbey. Sarah's hand and the Tower of London... I was also pooped on by a bird outside the Tower of London, but I still somehow remember that day as one of the most romantic days of my life. Perhaps if the poop had landed on my head instead of my shoe, I'd feel differently about that... But I digress.

Finishing that manuscript taught me that I could do this. I could write books. I could be a writer. And I will always be grateful to England for that.

So, thank you, my friends across the Atlantic! I hope you enjoy ICE!

And for any aspiring writers out there... you don't really need to go to another country to become a writer. What you do need to do is what I did while I was in another country: write. Write as if you're legally obligated to do so, and don't stop.

Upcoming Book Event


For those of you not across the Atlantic... if you're in Long Island on Monday night, I hope you will join me at Book Revue for a book signing and book launch party.

Cake -- decorated with ICE's gorgeous (and delicious) cover art -- will be served!!!

Here are the details:

Book Revue
Monday, November 2nd at 7pm
313 New York Avenue, Huntington NY

Hope to see you there!

Upcoming Fun plus a Giveaway

One month until ICE!!!

Okay, a little less than a month for the US edition (Oct 6) and a little more than a month for the UK edition (Oct 29). And the UK version now has a cover! The following appeared on Amazon.co.uk just last week:


Different tagline. Same gorgeous art. Same happy Sarah. :)

Did I mention how ridiculously excited I am? Ridiculously excited.

I have a bunch of stuff planned for the release, including participating in the Simon & Schuster Blogfest with 39 other fantastic S&S authors. The Blogfest kicks off on 9/21. Look! A snazzy countdown thingie:



And also a snazzy banner:


In October, I'll be doing a blog tour, yammering about all sorts of things on all sorts of (dare I say "snazzy" again? no? how about "fabulous"?) fabulous blogs. More info coming soon. Stay tuned!

Also stay tuned for giveaways!

There is a giveaway going on right now for a prize pack that includes an ARC of ICE on Katie's Bookshelf. Click here to enter. Contest ends 9/12.

The prize pack on Katie's Bookshelf was donated by the super-nice and super-fabulous Becca Fitzpatrick. So I thought I'd do a giveaway here for an ARC of Becca's fantastic book HUSH, HUSH.


HUSH, HUSH is a thrilling and romantic tale about fallen angels and falling in love. I devoured it in a single sitting (without even pausing to fetch a snack, which is highly unusual for me!) and can't wait for the next one.

If you'd like to be entered to win an ARC of HUSH, HUSH, please leave a comment to this post. Ooh, and I should mention that the ARC I'm giving away is no ordinary ARC. It's one of the rather rare pre-ARCs that were printed up for BEA this year, before there was even cover art. More like a bound manuscript. And it's signed by Becca! A winner will be selected at random (or by my cat). Contest ends 9/16.

Cheerio!

I have a lot of reasons to love the UK:

Our first apartment... After college, my husband and I lived in Cambridge, England, for a year. Our apartment had a few flaws. The closet was over the bed, which meant that the only way to get our clothes was to stand on top of our bed. Odd. Also, the walls molded midway through the year. But I loved it because it was the first place we lived together as a couple. We cooked our first Thanksgiving turkey there (we didn't know you were supposed to remove the giblets) and learned why you separate laundry (I turned half our underwear a lovely light blue).

Lots of daffodils and old stuff... We bought my engagement ring in London and took it on a photo tour of the major sites: Big Ben, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and parks packed with daffodils. Also memorable that day: as we walked toward the Tower of London, a bird pooped on my shoe. If I had shifted my weight forward a little sooner, the whole mood of the day might have been different.

My Ring at Westminster Abbey

My Ring (and very classy Eeyore watch) at Buckingham Palace

Cadbury's caramel bars... The Tube used to have (and maybe still has) Cadbury bar vending machines. I bought one every time we went anywhere in London. Any place that produces yummy chocolate treats has my undying affection.

And now I have a brand-new wonderful reason to love the UK:

ICE will be published in the UK!!! I just found out that there will be a UK edition of my next novel, ICE!! It's scheduled to come out on November 2, 2009, about a month after the US edition. And it already has its own Amazon UK page. Click here to see, and to read the lovely new book description (complete with the British spelling of Arctic research centre!). This makes me as happy as Mary Poppins.



Not to be confused with the scary Mary Poppins:



Cheerio!