Anne Riley

I was just over at Shannon Messenger’s blog and she has the coolest post up right now. It’s her year in writing, and she gives a brief summary of what 2009 has meant to her as a writer, month by month.

So I’m stealing her idea, because (as I told Shannon) she is cool. And very pretty. And I like her. And I’m pretty sure that linking to her blog clears me of any blog-related offenses regarding copyright.

Anyway, here is my Year in Writing, a la Shannon. Hope you enjoy!

January. 
After weeks of querying, Alanna Ramirez with Trident Media Group asks to see my full manuscript! I freak out because I’m not quite done with editing, so I spend a frantic 48 hours sweating over my novel and tweaking plot points like a mad woman. Alanna reads it, sends me an email telling me it needs to be longer, and then asks if she can call me to discuss it further. When my phone rings, I’m so excited and nervous I can’t remember my name or what my book is about, but Alanna offers me representation anyway. I am convinced that I will be published within the year and hope that I will be able to quit my teaching job and become a full time writer!

February – March. 
Revising, revising, revising. My book is WAY too short and I eventually double its length. I begin to see the many flaws in my writing (lack of any details about anything, for example) and start to correct them. Finally, with the manuscript now appropriately lengthened, I send it back to Alanna. She says we are ready to start submitting to editors. I stop breathing for approximately 3 months.

April. 
The first rejections come, but they are encouraging. Many of the editors have some great suggestions for me, and I do not lose heart. I will be published by Christmas, I can FEEL it! I sign my contract to return to the school for the following year, but secretly, I believe that I’ll have to leave at Christmas due to book signings and talk show appearances.

May. 
More rejections. Still encouraging, but I’m frustrated. Some of the rejections go like this: “Wow, what a great story! Anne’s writing is beautiful and the world she has created is fascinating. The characters are believable, and I was sucked into the story from the very beginning. Unfortunately, we cannot accept the manuscript at this time. Best of luck!” Urgh. Soooo close. 

June. 
I turn 26, my husband turns 23 (that’s right ladies, be jealous, I’ve got a younger man!) and we celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. I continue to receive cheerful and optimistic rejections from editors.

July. 
I go to the mountains with the women in my family. While the trip is fun, I can’t help but feel disheartened. I was sure I would be well on the road to publication at this point. I had this image in my head of my mom, aunt, sister, cousin, and grandmother, all in the mountains together, talking about the crazy deal I had been offered by so-and-so publishing house! How famous I was about to be! How fast everything had happened, and wasn’t it so wonderful?

August. 
School starts and I go back to work. My students want to know everything about my book, and I am encouraged by their enthusiasm – but also embarrassed that I don’t have anything exciting to say. “Still waiting” becomes my motto. Alanna tells me that since most of the editors are pointing out similar issues with my manuscript, perhaps we should work on the things they suggest, regroup at the end of January, and then start submitting again. I am discouraged because so many of them have already rejected me, and I wonder if anyone will take a second look at it.

September – November. 
Nothing happens. I revise. I begin to wonder if this is worth it. What if I do all this work for nothing?

December. 
Thanks to a combination of encouragement from my husband, my family, my friends, and my Twitter buds, I dive headlong into editing over Christmas break. Things are going really well and I feel like my book is a thousand times better already. Still a lot of work to do on it, though, but I have faith that eventually, it will be published!

Happy New Year, everyone, and may 2010 bring us much writerly success!

Yes, I know I said the giveaway would end today at noon, but then I realized I probably won’t be home at noon so I went ahead and picked my winner a little early. If this has upset anyone, I’m more than willing to rumble in the parking lot this afternoon to make up for it.

Just be prepared for the fact that I’ll be wearing my Pink Ladies jacket and sporting a headful of hot-rollered ringlets. And I’ll probably be smoking.

What’s that? I’ve intimidated you so much that you’ve decided to back out of the parking lot rumble? Eh, that’s probably for the best.

So, like I was saying, I’ve already picked the lucky winner of a brand new novel! The method of my choosing was extremely scientific and time-consuming. I made a numbered list of all entrants (writing down additional entries as well, of course) and then I walked in the bathroom and asked my husband (who was in the shower) to pick a number from 1 to 49.

RKCharron, you can thank my husband for picking your number, because YOU WON!!!!!

(Cue confetti, streamers, and marching band)

RK has won a shiny new copy of Kate Morton’s wonderful, magical, superb novel, The Forgotten Garden. It is lying on my coffee table as we speak, just waiting to pop up in RK’s mailbox!

By the way, RK, I hope you’re okay with giving me your address because otherwise, it might be kind of difficult for me to get the book to you. So, whenever you get a chance, DM me on Twitter with your address and I will send it your way! And if something goes wrong with the DM, you can email me.

Congratulations to the winner, and thanks to everyone who entered!

Plot Summary from Publisher’s Weekly

When the small town of Chester’s Mill, Maine, is surrounded by an invisible force field, the people inside must exert themselves to survive. The situation deteriorates rapidly due to the dome’s ecological effects and the machinations of Big Jim Rennie, an obscenely sanctimonious local politician and drug lord who likes the idea of having an isolated populace to dominate. 

Opposing him are footloose Iraq veteran Dale “Barbie” Barbara, newspaper editor Julia Shumway, a gaggle of teen skateboarders and others who want to solve the riddle of the dome. King handles the huge cast of characters masterfully but ruthlessly, forcing them to live (or not) with the consequences of hasty decisions. 

Readers will recognize themes and images from King’s earlier fiction, and while this novel doesn’t have the moral weight of, say, The Stand, nevertheless, it’s a nonstop thrill ride as well as a disturbing, moving meditation on our capacity for good and evil.

My Take

Before I begin, let me just tell you how nervous I was about reading a Stephen King book. I have never so much as picked up anything he’s ever done, with the exception of On Writing - but that doesn’t really fit in with the typical King novel. 

But, as soon as I saw this cover – and registered the very intriguing lack of text anywhere on the book jacket – I knew I had to give it a try. So I picked it up, put my arm back in its socket, and settled down for a read I wasn’t entirely sure I would enjoy. 

(No, my arm didn’t really come out of socket. That was just my clever way of telling you that this book is over 1000 pages long and feels like it weighs about 10 pounds.)

I always love stories like this: Scenarios in which something utterly bizarre has happened, something that no one could have foreseen or prepared for and which changes everyone’s life immediately. I love the concept of society being turned upside down, a line being drawn, and people attempting to deal with this new and unfamiliar way of life. 

In many ways, the story reminded me of Lord of the Flies. This town – Chester’s Mill – is a typical small town, with a (quietly) corrupt government, a strong suspicion of newcomers, and a tightly knit social community. Their lives amble smoothly along, everyone just goes about their business, and then - 

BOOM! Dome. 

No one can get out of the Dome, and no one can get into it from the outside. The town is entirely cut off. And suddenly nothing is familiar, nothing is safe… and the town’s Second Selectman / used car salesman, Big Jim Rennie, is using the whole situation to gain as much power as he can. People begin to choose sides without even realizing that’s what they’re doing, and in the face of a seemingly endless crisis, people’s true colors begin to show. 

I don’t know what I expected from this book, but I. LOVED. IT. The story is not a happy one, but it’s so intriguing that you don’t really care – and I am usually very partial to happy stories. I did enjoy the ending, though – I will say that. And because the book is so long, the character development is absolutely amazing. Loved it, loved it, loved it. 

Now, it is a Stephen King book, which means there is a fair amount of disturbing scenes (I’ll explain more below, in my book rating). But in spite of that, I really did enjoy it. Fascinating scenario, amazing cast of characters, and you know King’s writing is flawless. 

Book Rating: “R” for language, violence, and descriptions of murders, accidental deaths, rape, and injuries. 

Recommended for: Conspiracy theorists, people who enjoyed Lord of the Flies, anyone who enjoys a good end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it yarn. 

Not recommended for: People who are sensitive to bad language and/or disturbing imagery, corrupt town politicians, and anyone who has previously been trapped inside
a large, invisible dome.