Monday, May 10, 2010

Take that taste and eat it. Mmm. Tasty.

So, Mother's Day wasn't so bad. In fact, it was pretty good great amazing. Thanks to the hubs, my daughter, my physical friends and you. Every comment, email, blogger award, phone call and text really drove it home for me this weekend. It's not about the agent, the publisher, the everything you don't have. It's about the friendships, the relationships, the love and support. The everything you do have. And guess what I have? More friendships, relationships, love and support than ever.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So, let's talk grit. My weekend started with a fine okay lovely day at Mother Candyland's, where I read an entire book in two hours. Uhhhh, if you know me, that's insane. I barely have time to pizzle without tugs on zee pant leg, let alone read several pages at a time."If I Stay," by Gayle Foreman caught me off guard, but not in the ways you might think. 

Now, tsk tsk, we're all divinely, beautifully different. One person's book "treasure" may not even register on another's radar. You may loveloveLOVE Harry Potter. It's not for me. I may loveloveLOVE books like Crank, (Ellen Hopkins) told in verse. You may hate it.

With that said, I have mixed feelings about the book. It's a powerful story, made me cry more than once (ugly cry) and kept me up Friday night thinking of how hard the decision would be. But for whatever reason, I can't get past the small things (rule breakers). 
-A slow start. It's not until page 15 or so, the real stuff begins 
-There's a ton of back story (I felt to be irrelevant)
-I found myself skimming whole paragraphs because I was bored
-Strange phrasings or words teens probably wouldn't say
-References to musicians and songs teens probably wouldn't refer to. I say this because I have the mind of a teen (fo shiz) and my cuz is an actual teen (they DO exist!)

You may have read it and have a completely different opinion. Whatv. 

My point is, we all take something different away from books. It's absolutely a matter of taste. So when an agent rejects you, remember this: Your story may be perfect, brilliant even. They may have laughed, cried, and thought about it all night. But if something was off, enough for them to not be head over heels, it just means it's for them. No undertones. No hidden codes. It's all taste.That's how I feel about this book. I loved the heartbreak, the unknown, the choice. But something was missing, for me. (Plus all the broken rules made me mad. grrrr).

*Cough*

Back to my Mother's Day shenanigans. Saturday, the hubs and I got the offspring new duds, went to Sephora and bought new makeup (the angels sing when I go there), had a fantastic dinner with friends...
Emily learning chopsticks. Not the song. 



And yesterday was perfect. I did almost nothing, went to the dairy farm so Lilliana could feed animals unlike our cats (but still hairy)...
No, we can't have a goat. I pleaded, but no wishes
 were granted in the making of this photo.

Had dinner out (yeah no cooking!) and my phone's inbox was full of well wishes. Oh, and Lilliana was great. Not a single tantrum. Did someone say hells yeah?
Mother's Day kisses from my angel.

So overall, the hubs mastered M-Day (for once...) and now I'm trying to get into the swing again<--Not an easy task after this weekend.
Okay, so score one for you this year.

 Sooooooo...How about you, friends? What did you do? Tellmetellmetellmetellme.

Candyland. OUT.

P.S. Have you entered THE BIG CONTEST yet? <--------Enter or suck

P.P.S. Special Internal Conflict Blog Fest, Wednesday, hosted by The Alliterative Allomorph

P.P.P.S. Thanks for all your QT emails. Uh stress bubbles full of pressure? YEP. But Imma be just fine.


22 comments:

Jaydee Morgan said...

Sounds like an awesome weekend - so glad you enjoyed.

And your so right about varying tastes. That's definitely something to remember when we're writing and submitting.

Kelly Polark said...

That sounds like a great Mother's Day!
I'm wondering what music was referenced that seemed out of place.
And you are so right, books are SO subjective. I mean, What?, you don't like Harry Potter?! :) But seriously, that's why after we've mastered your manuscript, we need to keep submitting until we find the right match.

lisa and laura said...

So happy you had a great mother's day weekend!!! And if there's one thing I've learned about publishing and all things bookish is that it's SUBJECTIVE. All of it. Covers, books, voice, what one person loves another will HATE.

Matthew MacNish said...

You're great Candace. I'm glad you had a bomb mom's day.

LR said...

Hm I tend to like verse books. Will have to check Ellen out. ;)

Lydia Kang said...

Glad you had a great weekend! Mine was mostly spent in bed with a cold (though reading, which made it much better!) and I had a great Mom's day too.
True about the personal tastes. That's why there are a million books out there, and a lot of different agents to query!

T.J. Carson said...

Aww your daughter is such a cutie!!! Glad momma's day was good for you! And wait the book Crank... was that made into a movie with Jason Statham??? BECAUSE I FREAKING LOVE THAT MOVIE! The second movie Crank 2 was pretty kickass too!

Jessica Bell said...

Heya sweet sugar pie honey bunch :) So glad you had a nice weekend. I'm sure you deserve it! And ... whoah!! you put a picture up of yeself? Very nice! It's so nice to hear that you're feeling happy. :) *smooches*

Patti said...

Looks like you had a great day. It's nice to have one day that's all about us.

Creepy Query Girl said...

Hubby picked me up from church (I rock out with the church choir lol) Sunday morning and each of the girls had a different colored rose and home made card. Then we went out for fast food because I let the girls choose and they really wanted that 'Iron Man' light up heart toy. They put it in their fake kitchen and pretend to be frying things in their oven. I love my kids.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Sounds like the PERFECT Mom's day! Thanks for the wisdom of book subjectivity and agents - always a MUcH NEEDED reminder! :-)

Dawn Ius said...

What a nice Mom's day. Kudos to husband :-)

Subjectivity...sigh. Yup. (I did a small fist pump knowing I'm not the only person in the world who did not go gaga for Harry.) Subjectivity is one of the reasons I think we need to fine-tune our filtering system to weed out what's constructive criticism, and what is simply not the reader / agent / publisher's forte.

Creepy Query Girl said...

PS- Your pics are super cute! and I just remembered to post my entry to you're 'Where in the World is Candy' contest;)

Shannon said...

Glad you had a good Mother's Day. Thanks for sharing the pictures. :)

Talli Roland said...

Sounds like you had a great day and your husband stepped up! Well done to him. Glad your enjoyed it!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the reminder about agents and great pics! Glad you had a great Mother's day.

Candyland said...

T.J.-Ellen's Crank isn't the same as the movie, but I do like Jason Statham:)

Jessica, I dared show my face, kind of...in the spirit of thee day.

Thanks, everyone for the comments!!!

Sherrie Petersen said...

Looks like you had a lovely day. But why is everyone's face showing except for yours? Covered with hair does not count! :D

Carolyn V. said...

Yeah....Sherrie's right! Why don't we see your face? =)

Happy belated M-day! I'm glad you had a fab one. =)

Vicki Rocho said...

Wow. Getting to read a whole book with kids around is a HUGE deal. I only get to do that if I deprive myself of sleep or some other necessity.

You're right though...so much of books is personal taste. There is no book that can please everyone.

Glad you had a good day!

Unknown said...

Great pictures it does look like you had one heck of a weekend! I helped my mom and sister move into there really cute apartments! They have a lazy river pool where it's designed like a river and you can go tubing in it, it's super cool so after a long and hot day of moving we enjoyed the nice cool swimming pool!!

The hubs is back to overnights and I'm back to days for work but eventually we'll meet up again and I can't wait!

Tahereh said...

hehehe LOVED the pictures!! and so so glad you had a fantastic mother's day! you TOTES DESERVES IT!!

hugs you&loves you