​Title: The Admissions
Author: Meg Mitchell Moore
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 305 pages
 
 
Summary 
Angela Hawthorne is an overachiever, currently her class valedictorian and doing everything in her power to remain in that competitive position. She has a close-knit, upper-middle class family comprised of her parents and two younger sisters. All of them are affected by the stress Angela is under during her senior year as she begins the college application process.
 
It also delves into some of the secrets they all carry, so they can continue to perpetuate the image of the perfect American family. Most of the book takes place during the fall while Angela is applying to Harvard, her top choice.
 
 
My Review
I really enjoyed this book. It was a light read that I had a difficult time putting down. Plus there was light-humor integrated throughout. I especially enjoyed some of the random thoughts and observations, Nora, the mother would frequently make.
 
The author did an excellent job telling the story from multiple points of view: Angela, Nora (mother), Gabe (father), and Celily (10-year-old sister).
 
Although this book is classified as contemporary fiction, I believe many teenagers would enjoy it since the focus is a seventeen-year-old girl applying to college. A teen may also enjoy getting inside the head of the parents. As a mom, I would be comfortable letting my teen read it, but parents may wish to know there is one insignificant scene with underage drinking and several mentions of students using Adderall to help them study.
 
I am a member of two book clubs, and we read a variety of genres. Plus, as a Young Adult author, I am constantly reading YA books to improve my writing.
 
If you would like to read more of my reviews, check out my ratings at Christine at Goodreads. If you like them, please send me a friend request.    

​I will be posting book reviews regularly. I have rated over 200 books on Goodreads over the past couple of years. However, I often want to say much more than I can in a short review.
 
I am a member of two book clubs, and we read a variety of genres. Plus, as a Young Adult writer I am constantly reading YA books to become a better writer.
 
If you would like to read more of my reviews, check out my ratings at Christine at Goodreads. If you like them, please send me a friend request.    
 
I hope you enjoy my reviews.

​To be a published author, you need to educate yourself. Most authors do not have a formal education in writing such as a Masters of Fine Arts or even an English degree. Many decide to write while they are pursuing another career where writing is only one of many hats that they wear.
 
There are many ways to learn more about writing including: books, classes, blogs, conferences, Internet research, and discussions with fellow writers. In this post, I will focus on one of the easiest and cheapest methods: reading books about writing.
 
I whipped my first draft out without any creative writing instruction. However, once that was complete I began to educate myself as I began the editing process. It was during this time that I felt truly became an author. This stage took several months longer than the first draft stage.
 
The first book I read was Get A Literary Agent by Chuck Samuchino. It was an easy and interesting read and covered everything from do you need an agent to step-by-step instruction for submitting your materials. I devoured it and decided, yes, I needed an agent. By reading it, I learned I needed to get my book in the best possible shape before I reached out to agents. I would only have one opportunity to make a first impression.
 
So then came the editing books. My two favorites were Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King and Revision and Self-Editing for Publication by James Scott Bell. These books focused on getting the story and the words right, everything from plot to character development to dialogue. Neither book focused on proper grammar or formatting. (I found these situations easier to research on a case-by-case basis on grammar websites.)
 
I found these two books interesting to read and very applicable to today’s marketplace. I did read (or attempted to read) other books in this category, but editing can be a dry topic and easily outdated which is why I wanted to recommend my two standouts.
 
There was so much information to apply to my book that created a huge checklist to make sure I didn’t forget any points the books suggested.
 
I was fascinated to learn about topics that were different for fiction writers than say high school English teachers. Who knew that it was best to use “said” and “asked” for dialogue tags? Not me. I had purposely used many words from a list my daughter had brought home from school that showcased all the ways to avoid using “said” such as: questioned, remarked, offered, agreed, and criticized. And forget most of the adverbs to make them more specific. “Said” and “asked” are invisible and don’t get in the way of great dialogue. Looking at my bookshelf, many of my favorite authors have taken this advice.
 
I could go on and on about how beneficial these books were. But instead, I urge you to read them for yourself. Regardless of how well you write, I am sure you will find many areas in which you can improve.  
 
Thank you for reading this post. I would love to read your comments below, particularly if you found this article helpful.

​Long before you reach out to agents with your query letters, you will want to have your book reviewed by others. I have heard that less than 5% of authors submit successfully to agents without completing this crucial step.
 
There are multiple categories of people who should review your book.
 

• Friends and Family
• Fellow Writers
• Literary Agents
• Editorial Services

 
There are pros and cons of having reviewers in each of these categories, so I urge you to use some from most (if not all) of these categories.
 
Friends and Family – This is likely where you will find your first reviewers. Yes, they may be somewhat biased, but they can be invaluable. You can increase their value if you ask for constructive feedback and create a short questionnaire so they can give you the type of feedback you desire. Plus, at this point of the game, you want people to give you encouragement. If your friends and family don’t have anything positive to say, well, then you have a problem.
 
In my case, I had over twenty of these people read my book. In all cases, I received the positive praise I’d need to handle the criticism ahead. But I also received many suggestions that I integrated into the manuscript. Included in this group were teens and tweens. They too gave me specific feedback, and more importantly, showed me that my story was engaging enough to read by my target audience.
 
Fellow Writers – These can be friends or people you find in a critique group. I am actively trying to find more reviewers in this category, particular in my genre. It is one of reason I signed up for my current writing class.
 
Most likely, you will get more valuable and unbiased feedback from these reviewers. But be prepared to put in the time to help them as well. A side benefit was I found that editing my friend’s book made me a better editor of my own.
 
Literary Agents – Agents are the gatekeepers to publishers. Therefore, they have great advice. Unfortunately in today’s busy market, you are unlikely to get their unsolicited feedback. However, there are ways. In my case, I signed up for a couple of Writer’s Digest webinars where part of the cost included an individualized feedback on my query letter and first pages. Although they only reviewed a small subset of my work, I was able to integrate it through the entire novel.
 
Editorial Services – This is the one area I have yet to use because I was fortunate to have many good reviewers in the above categories. The downside is cost. Depending on the length of your novel, an editorial service will cost you upwards of $2,000 and possibly much more. However, you will get a professional opinion. If you take this approach, do your research to hire the right person. Also, edit the book as well as you can first. Otherwise, you may need to pay again later in the editing process.
 
Whichever route you pursue, take a hard look at your feedback. If it makes sense, integrate it. But don’t blindly assume all feedback is good. You know your book best and whether the feedback is on target.
 
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you found it helpful. 

​If you want to write a book, I believe you need to read a lot … in and out of your genre. Fortunately, I have yet to find a writer that doesn’t like to read although they may not have much time.
 
I am convinced that the thousands of books I have read and analyzed over my lifetime helped me write my novel without any formal training. My plot came together, along with nearly all of the characters, in my first draft and has not changed significantly in all the drafts that followed. I intuitively knew how to create a beginning, a middle, and an end and tie it all together with only a skeleton of an outline.
 
I read a variety of genres since I am a member of two book clubs where the hosts pick the books, so we invariably read many books that I personally may not have selected. Therefore, I have been exposed to a greater variety of writing styles and content that I can draw upon while writing. 
 
However, early on in my editing process, I recognized that although I love Young Adult literature and chose it as the genre for my first novel, I only read it here and there. So, I set my manuscript aside for a month and began to read YA after YA.
 
It immediately became apparent that I needed to switch my book from 3rd person to 1st person. Not only had 1st person become the most popular approach for YA, but it would allow me to get into my protagonist’s head, which is what teenage readers want, and what my story needed. (Coincidentally, I had considered switching months before, but a quick review of my bookshelf showed a mix of point of views, so I continued in 3rd person.) Had I done more research on my genre back then, I would have saved countless hours changing the POV after the novel was complete.
 
By reading in my genre, I also realized that some were written in present tense. This led me back to the Internet to confirm there was a trend toward writing books, especially YA, in the present. However in this case, I read the pros and cons and make an educated decision to remain with simple past tense.
 
Now that I write, I read differently. I focus on an aspect that I am struggling with in my novel: When are the major characters introduced? How is the setting described? How much dialogue is used versus narrative? On what page did we find out the big secret? Did they mix tense or stick with one? Many of these questions, I could research, but seeing how other authors did them was the most useful.
 
For all these reasons and more, I urge you to continue to read and make sure many of the books are in your genre.
 
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you found it helpful.

People write for many reasons, but I would argue, sometimes people focus on the wrong reasons and, sometimes, don’t even know why.
 
When I first picked up a pen (okay, opened my computer) to begin my first book, I didn’t put much thought into why I was writing. In the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it and hoped, maybe, I could write a bestseller.
 
As the months went by, the adrenaline of working on a new project carried me through, but I was beginning to have self-doubt. Finally I opened up to a good friend, Kelly, that I was writing a book. I mentioned that I was afraid it might be a waste of time. By now my goal was to get my book published, but the sensible part of me couldn’t help but see that I was spending a lot of my valuable time writing when I could be doing more practical things.
 
Kelly surprised me. She said, “Don’t put that pressure on yourself, think of writing as a creative outlet.”
 
After our conversation, I reflected for the first time on why I was writing a book. I knew the odds were against me of getting it published, let alone making money. So why was I writing? There had to be something more.
 
I realized Kelly was right. I deserved to have something creative in my life, something fun. Looking back, I grasped that most of the creativity had left my life by the time I hit high school. There was simply no longer time for arts and crafts, drawing, or creative writing. Then by college, sports were replaced by exercising to stay healthy— a good stress-outlet but not much fun.
 
From that point forward, when I’d read sections of my book and think, “This is terrible; what a waste of time,” I’d focus on writing as a creative outlet. Letting go of the pressure to get published, writing became more fun. I was anxious to write each day because I was dying to know what was going to happen next.
 
After I completed my first draft, I began to educate myself about writing through reading and webinars. Then when I began to develop my social media platform, I learned even more — never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d develop my own website or blog or tweet to thousands of people. Usually it’s only my kids that learn new skills. Now I was too—yet another reason to write.
 
I encourage you to make a list of the reasons you write. Then, when the self-doubt creeps in, you only need to review your list to remember: it is not for nothing, regardless of what becomes of your book.
 
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you found it helpful. 

​I am a strong proponent of time-oriented goals for my writing. If you are like me, you are writing when you have time, and there isn’t a boss looking over your shoulder telling you that your next assignment is due by 5:00 pm on Friday.
 
However, if you want to actually finish a book, you may need to begin treating your writing as a job and set some deadlines. But the good thing is: you are your own boss, so you can make them flexible to work for you.
 
If you are reading this blog, I assume you are not earning a lot of money writing (if any). Therefore, you have many other obligations. Making money at a paying job may be just one of the possible activities you must do. Maybe you have young children who need to be diapered and fed, or older children that need to be chauffeured everywhere when not needing help with their homework. And lets not forget the house, our spouse and pets. And that is just the items that make the daily “to do” list. You also need time for exercise, eating, relaxation, and sleep. What I’m saying is there will always be items competing for your time, and if your writing is at the bottom of your list, it will never happen.
 
Assuming you do not have any true writing deadlines, but you just want to ensure you continue to plug away at your book, I suggest this approach. First determine how many hours you have each week to dedicate to writing. (It’s okay if you only have a couple.) You need to know your available time to create realistic goals, so you don’t set yourself up for failure. Second, you need to set up writing goals that can be achieved during your available hours.
 
Let’s assume you are writing a first draft. You probably have some idea of how many words you can write in an hour. Now, you can determine how many words you can write in a week or a month (give yourself a little cushion). You should also have some vague idea of how many words your book will be. There are many websites out there that will give you a range of the ideal word count range for your genre if you don’t have any idea. Remember, at this point, I am talking general. Then it’s simple math to create a work plan.
 
For example, in my case, I determined within a couple of weeks of beginning my novel that I was able to write approximately 20,000 words a month. Using this calculation, I knew that if I kept at that pace I would reach around 100,000 words in about six months. (I set lower goals for the month of December and during a month when I had a planned vacation.) I wasn’t sure how long my book would be, so knew it might take a little shorter or longer than my allotted time.
 
Then it’s time to hold yourself accountable. For me, I wrote my daily word count on a calendar.  There were months when I fell behind my goal. (In December my word count was zero.) But not meeting my goal inspired me to make that up in January. Depending yon your personality, you may need to give yourself rewards for meeting your goals, e.g. TV time or a trip to Starbucks or something pricier if you have the money. You may also need to enlist the help of a friend who can check in with you regularly to make sure you are meeting your goals.
 
Once I finished my first draft in May, it was time to set new goals. I knew I would have less time during the summer because my kids were at home. Plus, I had a more difficult time knowing how long the editing process would take, so I just set a goal for the entire summer: create a couple of new drafts and read several books and websites to educate myself on writing. I also was able to give my draft to some beta readers to review.
 
As the school year approached, I planned to dedicate more time to writing again with the goal to finish editing by the end of the year. I wanted to begin looking for an agent in January, (my own self-imposed deadline).
 
While continuing to edit my book during the fall I also began to create other writing-related goals for myself that were not actually writing. Items like launch a website, research agents, sign up for a writing classes, and read more books in my genre made my list. Each Sunday I plan my week and make sure to add a few of these activities to my list along with all of my family and household commitments.
 
The exact process I use may not work for you. However, I encourage you to set time-oriented writing goals and hold yourself accountable, so you can continue to move forward and eventually finish your novel. But be flexible and don’t be too hard on yourself. Although I suggest you treat your writing as a job, you need it to remain fun. If it stops being enjoyable, you will never finish.
 
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you found it helpful.