Category Archives: Sword and Verse

PAH!, or My Big News, At Last!

On Writing, Sword and Verse, Works in progress, Young Adult Fantasy

For readers unfamiliar with American Sign Language, I should explain that “PAH!” is often used by signers as a written shorthand for the ASL sign that translates best into English as “At last!” or “Finally!”  (so-called because of the distinctive mouthing of “pah!” that goes with the sign).

Today this sign is very relevant, because I CAN FINALLY SHARE THE NEWS I HAVE BEEN SITTING ON FOR MONTHS!  And it’s this: my debut Young Adult novel will be published by HarperCollins in 2016!  You can read the full announcement here.

My wonderful agent, Steven Malk of Writers House, has worked long and hard to get us to this point, and without him this quite literally would not be happening.  (Another writer recently called him “The King of All Agents”, and, having worked with him, I can tell you that this is no exaggeration.)  Steven sold the book in a two-book deal to Alexandra Cooper at HarperTeen, and I am so excited to be working with her to get the book ready for publication.

“What’s the title?” you’re asking.  Well…I’ll let you know when I do.  🙂  As is pretty common in today’s publishing world, the title is in flux.

“So what’s it about?”, you say.  That I can answer: It’s about a land where writing is the sacred privilege of a few, and a slave girl, Raisa, who gets the extraordinary chance to learn the language of the gods when she becomes a royal tutor. But her dreams are threatened by her forbidden love for the prince, and her loyalty is tested by the Resistance, who urges her to join in the fight for her people’s freedom.  It’s about the consequences of following your heart, and learning to trust yourself and other people.

This has been a long, long time in coming.  (The first draft of this book was written when I was childless, and I am now the mother of a nine-year-old.)  So many people have been a part of this journey, whether they read drafts, tolerated my whining on Facebook, or just asked “Hey, what are you working on?” and didn’t glaze over at my answer.    I will tell some of those stories here in the coming months, now that I can FINALLY TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK!  Seriously, I didn’t keep it a secret for more than 24 hours when I found out I was pregnant with my son – this has been torture!

But for now, I will say thank you, and go jump up and down a lot. PAH, indeed.

Kathy MacMillan signs "At last!"
PAH!: “Finally!” or “At last!” in American Sign Language (Photo by Ari Rosenberg)

 

 

 

Confidence and Serenity

On Writing, Sword and Verse

Most people who know me would tell you that I am a pretty confident person.  I’ve managed to be more or less successful as a librarian, a storyteller, and an interpreter…almost anything I have tried my hand at professionally.

Writing is something different, though.  Even though I have published several books, and big things are looming on the horizon, I don’t think I will ever be truly confident as a writer.  When I think about all the rejections and the disheartening editorial letters and the years and years it has taken to get to this place, I am amazed that I am here at all.  The only reason I haven’t given up is that I am really good at staying busy and ignoring the negative.  Still, the smallest things can shoot down your confidence.  Here’s a short list of things that can derail you, if you’re me:

  • Your least favorite person in the world gets a book deal.
  • Your favorite person in the world gets a book deal.
  • Your least favorite person’s book is so successful that it spawns a movie.
  • Someone close to you refuses to read your work, saying, “If I don’t like it, you’ll be mad at me.”
  • You read a terrible book and fume that such a horrendous writer got published before you.
  • You read an amazing book and sink into depression that you will never write anything that good.

And then there’s this: in the spring of 2011, my good friend Annette passed away.  She was an early reader of The Library of the Gods, and helped me work out several plot issues.  (She’s there, in the story, too – but only readers who knew her well are likely to spot her cameo.)  After her death, I suffered my worst writer’s block ever.  It was only when another friend and former writing partner I hadn’t seen in over ten years contacted me out of the blue that I was able to get it together again.  I will always credit Annette’s spirit with giving her the nudge to send that well-timed friend request.

And this current slump I’m in?  I could blame the weather, or the flu that knocked me for a loop in February, or letting too much of a lull happen between working on different projects.  Or just plain old scaredy-cat fear.  But the truth is, part of the reason I like novel-writing is that it’s unlike any of the other projects I work on.  It’s never going to be perfect; it’s never going to fit into a timeline or a to-do list or a specific writing technique.  It has to unfold on its own.  So while I ruminate over the revision I am about to undertake, I shall allow myself not to rush it.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the persistence to finish the damn book.