Nikki Loftin

Archive for the ‘People I Love’ Category

My High School Mustache

If you hop on over to this post on the excellent Dear Teen Me website, I think you’ll see that I will do anything for a laugh. Or for sympathy. Or for attention. Whichever.

Go ahead, laugh at me. I kinda like it.

(So, do you think I should have changed the name of my Eternal Crush in this piece? I mean, it’s on the Internet now, with his Real Name. Will he be embarrassed? Shocked? Will his wife and kids be all “ICK!” ?)

Happy Monday! Now go write something fabulous.

SUZIE SOLD MY BOOKS!!!!

I’ve been dying to spill this news. DYING, I tell you! At long last, I’m allowed. Publisher’s Marketplace had this wonderful  little announcement in it this morning.

Nikki Loftin’s debut novel THE SINISTER SWEETNESS OF SPLENDID ACADEMY, pitched as Coraline meets Hansel and Gretel, about a young girl whose seemingly delightful new school hides frightening secrets, to Laura Arnold at Razorbill, in a two-book deal, for publication in Summer 2012, by Suzie Townsend at Fineprint Literary Management (World).

Oh, I’m going to have a TON of stories to tell about this process — The contracts have been signed for months, I’ve already had my editing letter, finished the first revision, have it ready to send back to Laura in a few days… I went to New York and MET her!! (She is a DOLL!) Oh, lots of stories. But for today, just this: Thank you Suzie Townsend, for making this happen for me.

And thank you, Writer Friends, for everything.

My Very First Guest Blog Post

Happy Tuesday, Writer Friends!

I am pleased as punch to announce my very first guest blog post is up today at echook. (This is the digital chapbook publisher that chose one of my essays for their first release on memoir.) My post is about my favorite short story (but really about my stepfather) and my essay is about poisoning people (but really about my mom).

Speaking of Mom, it’s her birthday today! Happy Birthday, Mom!

It’s also Hannah Moskowitz’s Book Birthday for Invincible Summer. This is not one you’ll want to miss – the reviews have been outstanding, and Hannah is the cutest/smartest/funniest writer-prodigy EVER, so run out and buy yours today!

I’m buying it as my (gulp) first e-book on my new Kindle.

Yep, you read that right. I have joined the Dark Side.

So… what’s new with you? Did anyone else attend TLA and get your picture taken with Famous People? Or better yet, Beautiful and Kind SCBWI People?

Now, I have revisions to attend to! Go and explore the Internet, Writer Friends. Or better yet, go write something wonderful and transformative. Why not?

Holy Houston Conference Cow!

Every once in a while, awesomeness just sneaks up on you. If you were at the Houston SCBWI conference this past week, it snuck up on you with waving pompoms and a 100-megawatt smile in the form of agent Sara Megibow. Or with a series of side-splitting illustrations and personal stories that ranged from the hilarious to the heartbreaking, from keynote speaker Ruth McNally Barshaw.*

The presentation I want to touch on today was given by the glamorous and thoughtful Abby Ranger, editor at Disney/Hyperion. For some reason, every one of her talking points hit home, sent me scrambling for my pen, and started off a rainstorm of ideas in my mind (now a bunch of garbled notes on my spiral notebook, but I’m working on getting them into the computer!). Her talk was titled “Ten Universal Tenets of Story (What movies taught me about the craft of fiction),” and early on she referenced my new favorite writing book, so I was hooked.

Now, be warned: I’m not going to give everything she said away here. For one thing, I’m too lazy, and you know I type with five fingers like a deformed T-Rex anyway. But also, her talk was so in-depth, there’s no way I could do it justice… and she’s planning to revisit it at another conference — so sign up and get the rest yourself!

Here are her 10 Tenets:

1. The Power of Premise – pretty self-explanatory. Do you have a plot? How about a unique one? If you don’t have a unique idea, well, that’s a harder sell. Put some thought into this before you write that next novel.

2. A Hero Who Wants Something. A lot of main characters Ms. Ranger sees in slush manuscripts don’t have clearly defined goals. The more important/exciting the goal, the more engaged the reader will be.

3. Write the beginning last. Okay, I’ll admit, I don’t do this. I write the beginning first, then sometimes again in the middle, and sometimes last, too.

4. Save The Cat. If you don’t know what this means, buy the book. Stop writing, and buy this book before you make All The Mistakes again. Ms. Ranger recommends spending time examining the 15 Beats section with your manuscript idea.

5. Sympathize with your villains.

6. Contradictions are more interesting than quirks. Regarding characters, that is. Quirky authors are just fine. Give your characters contradictions to have them stick with your reader, not just a funny mustache and a limp. (Reference:  Robert McKee’s book, STORY)

7. Make it about something. Thematically speaking, not just plot-wise. What is your theme? The need for acceptance? The cost of vengeance? The value of friendship? The eternal necessity of chocolate?

8. Good dialogue has subtext.

9. Make things worse… then worse again.

10. Heroes are people who change. True transformation can’t happen spontaneously; change takes work.

So, that’s what you’re getting form me. For more and better coverage, check out Shelli Cornelison’s blog on the Houston SCBWI shindig. Great job, Houston!

Next time, I’ll share some excerpts from the deeply inappropriate rhyming picture book I wrote during the twenty minutes I *wasn’t* writing down Vastly Important Notes. Wait for it.

Write well this week!

* I read Ms. Barshaw’s first Ellie McDoodle book at the conference, HAVE PEN, WILL TRAVEL, and had a hard time not giggling out loud repeatedly. This is a great book! I wish I’d bought the others. If you have a reluctant reader, or a kid who liked WIMPY KID or NATE, buy these now!

The Final Chapter

Hiya, Peeps! I’m writing the final chapter on the WIP today (is that why this song keeps playing in my head?) and it’s a tricky one. I feel like I used to when I was a kid and my mom was forcing me to learn horrific handicrafts teaching me to crochet/knit/quilt, and the project looked so awesome… except for all those threads hanging out. For her, it was obvious how you would tuck all those threads in – “just weave them under, Nikki, it’s not hard” etc., – but for me it just looked like a project that would never get finished. In fact, a lot of my crafty projects never did make it all the way to the end, because of that – I didn’t really know how to finish them off.

But “not finishing” isn’t a luxury we novelists have, is it? Not if we want to pursue, you know, actual publication. So, I’m grabbing all those loose threads today, bundling them together as best I can (noticing in the process how I forgot a couple of subplots that I’d intended to weave through this novel UGH!), and crafting some sort of ending. And, given my middle-grade writing gig, it’ll be a happy one, with series potential. LOL (By the way, have I told you all how excited I am to have finally written a middle-grade novel that references the Apocalypse? I was starting to feel like I’d never get my stakes high enough.)

The whole ending process has taken a lot longer than I’d planned, given the illness that’s been sweeping through the house – we’ve had flu for weeks, and colds now. Ick. I hope you’re all staying well, Writer Friends.

Now, back to work. One more chapter, a Lady Gaga song to choreograph for tomorrow’s Zumba class, and a few dozen more cups of hot tea with honey to knock this cold out. And then, as a reward, a read-through of a manuscript one of my dear Writer Friends sent me that is turning out to be very, very good indeed. Magic and mixed-up love, and mind-reading teenagers… I’m pretty much falling in love with this one. Adore that feeling.

News: I got into the AROHO conference for August! *confetti all around* AND I placed a couple of short pieces – one will be out tomorrow in the March issue of Literature4Kids here. Another one will come out in their July issue. Also, I sold an essay to eChook digital publishing. Yay!

Interesting Stuff: Check out Shelli Cornelison’s blog for great recaps of the Austin SCBWI conference. I’ll post more about that later, but I’m still in awe of all the groovy, delightful, utterly cool famous people I spoke with. Arther Levine, Carolyn Coman, Kimberly Willis Holt, Stephen Roxburgh… I could go on all day long. Seriously,Writer Friends – Austin is THE place to be a children’s book writer!

Also: You know how I go on and on about my agent, Suzie? Well, you can ask her your very own questions tonight at writeoncon! Check it out! Now!!

What Do You Love?

Happy Valentine’s Day, Writer Friends!

I spent the morning surrounded by the boys I love most in the world, boys who gave me Lindt chocolate bars (thus proving their love for me), and now I’m spending the rest of it doing that thing I most love to do: Writing.

While eating chocolate, of course.

Just like I hope all of you will find someone who loves you like my sweet Valentine husband loves me – I hope you love your work as much as I do. Even on those frustrating, unproductive writing days, the work I have to do thrills me way down deep.

Does your writing give you a sense of purpose? Of connection? Of pride? Does it fill your dreams and your daydreams? Do you love it, truly, deeply?

I hope so, Friends. This Valentine’s Day, my wish for you is this: Do what you love. Love what you do. And eat as much chocolate as you need to to see you through the rough patches! xoxox

Interesting Link Re: Loving a Writer. Check it out!

Agent Love: Get Some

Hiya, Peeps!

Y’all know how much I love my Suzie T., right? I’ve kind of gone on about her to most of my Writer Friends to the point where they long to shake me and yell “SHUT UP!” in my beaming face.

But they don’t, because they’re Writer FRIENDS.

I don’t just love her because she signed me, though. I have real, definable reasons* for loving her. I’m about to list some of them, and I want to say this: if you don’t think the agent you’re about to sign with – or the agent you just signed with – has these qualities? You might want to polish up that old query letter.

Note: Who knew all Suzie’s clients were writing their own individual love letters on their blogs this week? Lisa DesRochers, author of the amazing and sexy-hot PERSONAL DEMONS weighed in on her blog. Check it out. Nice post, Lisa!

Why Suzie Is So Awesome

1. Communication. Suzie returns emails and phone calls very, very quickly. Even the pathetic, needy ones from writers who can’t bear the thought of yet another revision. She shares all the submission information when you go out on sub, and makes sure to pass on editor comments and feedback as you go. Oftentimes on Friday, so you can more easily drown your sorrows in Chocovine.

2. Encouragement. Seriously, like your mom if your mom knew anything about the publishing world. Which mine doesn’t. Even when Suzie sends back a manuscript hemorrhaging track changes in all its tender margins, she make sure to include all the gushy, positive stuff. And she make sure you know what’s hot and what’s not, so you can write — oh, I don’t know, something an editor might possibly want to publish? Not to chase trends, but if you’ve got a bunch of manuscript ideas you can work on, why not make the next one something (NOT a dirty word) commercial? A good agent can guide you. Gently.

3. Honesty. Yeah, you know all that positive stuff? Sometimes you need to hear the other stuff, too. The “not ready yet” on a manuscript, when it’s (you know) not ready. She does the agently equivalent of telling you when you have toilet paper stuck to your literary shoe. Never underestimate the kindness of the gentle “no.”

4. Editorial Skill. As you can tell from the above comments, Suzie is what they call an “editorial agent.” Some writers say they don’t want one of these. I say that’s like saying you don’t want a unicorn pony that poops chocolate truffles. You can say it, but you don’t mean it. You can’t possibly mean it.

5. Knowledge and Connections. Your agents should be Twitter followers/tennis buddies/Facebook friends of other agents and editors. How will they know to whom to send your Gorgeous New Masterpiece if they don’t have sushi with those people every once in a while? And once they make the sale of your G.N.M., your agent should know all that other agent-y stuff about contracts and percentages and stuff.The stuff that makes me go like this.

6. Love. Your agent should love your work. She should (like Suzie does for me <3) write things like LOVE LOVE LOVE on your editing letters. Or she should at the very least sign those letters (if your work isn’t inspiring love this time around) with something sweet at the end.

Yeah, sweet. Because as you know, Writer Friends, this business has plenty of bitter.

So, now that you’ve read my love letter/list about MY agent, make the list of attributes you want in your own agent, and start looking. Good luck!

* the least important of which is she’s cute as a bunny. But she is!! Even if her agently powers make her resemble this bunny during negotiations.

A New Blog in Town

Hi, Writer Friends! I’ll write something longer and far more scintillating in a few days, but for now I’d just like to direct your attention to my dear Writer Friend Lindsey Scheibe’s Bouncing Baby Blog! Lindsey signed with the excellent Mandy Hubbard a few weeks back, and I expect to hear Great Things from them very, very soon.

Me? Nothing too amazing going on here. I’ve been working on revisions to the latest MG manuscript, waiting for word on quite a few short subs that are in the last rounds of editorial consideration, and beaming at my contributor’s copies of Puppet Plays for Libraries, edited by Deanna Baran. I have three plays in this one, and they’re all very cutely illustrated and extremely professionally bound and presented. I’m pleased as punch at how this book turned out!

So, any of you have good news to share — large or small?

Dear Teen Nikki

Hiya, Peeps! This week was the big, bold launch of a completely cool venture called Dear Teen Me. I’m still laughing that I will be one of the authors posting a letter to her teen self. (I mean, the other authors are Legitimate! And Famous! And Lots, Lots Younger than me! Except Charles Benoit.* But he writes in Second Person, so Coolness Times Ten, right?) Still, I’ll rally, and I’m sure I’ll come up with something not as X-rated as my actual teen life was. (Don’t ask. Just don’t. Because the letters are for YA readers, and I don’t know if I want the teenage world to know what I was REALLY  up to at fourteen. Let’s just say I was not a role model. LOL)

Back to writing, though. Speaking of role models, one of my good friends just went out on sub (yay! Real editors reading her manuscript!) but instead of being all Hormonally Joyful about the whole thing, she called me calmly, told me her news, and sent me to two blog posts to help me understand her unnatural calmness: This one by Natalie Whipple and this one by agent Mary Kole.

I kind of hate that my dear, sweet Writer Friend has this much perspective so early in the process, but I’m happy for her, too. Because this whole writing thing? It isn’t for wimps.

Oh, yeah! News: I sold two more children’s short stories this week! To a small, online venture. I’ll post more when they come out, early next year.

*Wait. Charles Benoit IS totally legit and famous. Just not younger than me. Wanted to clear that up… *grin*

Partytime for Writer Friends!

This weekend is Big Fun in Austin! Three amazing writers are celebrating their book launches simultaneously, at the local indie bookseller (where I met my husband for the first time, by the way). Bethany Hegedus, Cynthia Leitich-Smith, and Brian Yansky will all be speaking, signing, and providing yummy nibbles and tidbits of writerly wisdom for the rest of us. So, if you’re NOT at Bookpeople on Sunday at 2 p.m., you’ll wish you were!

I know you’ve all been wondering, what’s Nikki reading these days (besides Writer Friends’ Manuscripts)? New books in the house this week so far include: Wimpy Kid (The Latest), The Water Seeker, Cyn Balog’s Sleepless, Kathryn Lasky’s The Capture (OWLS!), Gregor the Overlander, and Donut Days. People? I need a snow day or two, so I can catch up on my reading.

What are you reading? What’s the best book you’ve read lately? (That would be Jandy Nelson’s The Sky is Everywhere for me, natch.) I need a few more Xmas gifts, and I am the Aunt Who Gives Books, so chime in!