Publisher's Review!

Hello all,

SO...The publisher finished reading my book "The Middle of the Sidewalk," and she sent me an email asking me to call her. Here's what she had to say:

"I think this book could win you some awards."

"This has the potential to become a classic."

"This story is a gem! It's so beautifully written."

"You're a literary genius. You've got such talent."

I will DEFINITELY publish this book!"

"Except...one problem...

...You completely botched the ending."

This isn't as devastating as it sounds. I'll admit it, the ending is the hardest for me to write. But it's also the easiest part to fix. She asked me to re-write the last 15,000 words (which is more promising than the complete re-write she asked for with my first book "The Sons of Luther"). That said, it's [partially] back to the drawing board, but it shouldn't take me very long (I'll probably be done before New Year's).

All in all, I'm SUPER ecstatic, mostly because she capped off the conversation with this:

"If you can create an ending as good as the rest of the book, It could be a bestseller. How soon can you get this back to me? I hope to have your book out as a summer read before you graduate."

Onward and Upward,

It's been awhile...

Hello all,

I know it's been awhile since I last updated this blog, but I've had so much going on lately.

That said, I did manage to finish reading A Clockwork Orange, and as soon as I find time, I'm going to read Life of Pi. As for my writing, The Middle of the Sidewalk is still with the publisher, and the book I'm writing for NaNo (The Sons of Luther) is only 7,000 words long (I know, I know, I have only 4 days left of November to finish it, but midterms ate away all my time, along with maintaining my Etsy shop, planning my wedding, managing the BU Creative Writing Club, and applying for jobs).

*Phew. Well now that I've listed out all of my excuses, I must find time to write somehow. Thank you all again for being so supportive of my work. The thing that most motivates me to write is knowing I have readers.

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Blessings.

Onward & Upward,

Off to the Publisher! "The Middle of the Sidewalk"

Hello all,

It's been awhile since my last blog post, but that doesn't mean I've been on vacation. I've finished the final version of "The Middle of the Sidewalk" (read a sample of it here), and I just emailed it to the publisher this morning! I want to thank my amazing editors for all their hard work and for challenging me to become a better author. I couldn't have finished this book without them:

Becca Boddy
Christopher Mikkelson
Ramona Fricke

I've also been working hard on maintaining the BU Creative Writing Club. It seems to be going well! The members have told me they're gleaning a lot from what we've been teaching, and I'm very excited about our meeting tonight (We'll be talking about finding an agent and getting published)!

Finally, since it's NaNoWriMo, I'm already 6,000 words into the re-write of my first book, "The Sons of Luther." Hopefully this version will be even more terrifying after the inspiration I've gotten from Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange." (Scary stuff, that book. I strongly recommend it!).

Thank you to all of you who read my posts and are there to encourage me. I have everything to thank you for.

Onward and Upward,

Writing Contest Score: The Results are In!

Hello all,

As you know, I didn't win the RWA Windy City Four Seasons Contest. However, I got some great feedback from the judges. They left me a ton of comments, but I won't bore you with the details. All three judges scored me in a number of categories. Here are the results:

Judges' Criteria:

Presentation: Formatted according to industry standards and contest requirement

Mechanics: Grammar, spelling, and punctuation meet industry standards

Hooks: Story opening grabs reader's attention with an interesting opening line or situation; starts at the correct place. Chapter ending makes the reader want to turn the page

Setting: Setting is clearly defined without extraneous detail; non-intrusive. Writer takes advantage of opportunities to ground reader by using the five senses and a sense of time and place

Characterization: Hero and/or Heroine display traits and flaws; character traits are shown rather than told. Goals and motivation create genuine conflict (not contrived), and secondary characters, if present, are necessary and non-intrusive

Plot: Plot is skillfully set up; believable (or reader is able to suspend disbelief). Plot, external conflict is realistic and not easily resolved because of misunderstanding. Sexual and/or dramatic tension is present or implicit.

Internal Conflict: What's at stake for the Hero and/or Heroine? Can the reader identify it?

Dialogue: Dialogue is balanced with narrative, is appropriate to the genre, moves the story forward, and sounds natural/realistic

Narrative: Narrative moves the story forward. Background information is presented at appropriate time and in character viewpoint rather than author--intrusive. Point-of-view is clear and transitions are smooth and unobtrusive.

Pacing: The entry flows well through the chapter, and every scene is essential to the story.

Overall Impression: Story has potential; reader wants to know what happens next. Writing is vivid, evocative, and appropriate to the genre. Writer uses humor and/or drama effectively. Writer is a "storyteller."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was another category (not mentioned above) that was a tie-breaker in case I placed. The category was "Rate how likely you would be to read this whole manuscript." I received a 9 from Judge 2 and a 10 from Judges 1 and 3. I'm extremely proud of myself considering most of the contestants and judges are published authors! I'd say I handled myself pretty well! And the best news is that I made a ton of edits to fix many of these problems before I sent it to my final editor.

Anyway, I'm so excited for NaNoWriMo in 8 days, in which I'll be working on re-writing my first book, The Sons of Luther. Wish me luck!

Onward and Upward,

Writing Contest Results and Editing Update!

Hello all!

It's been awhile since my last post, but I have a few updates for you!

Unfortunately, I'm not a finalist in either writing contest. However, I lost to a group of very talented authors, so I don't feel too defeated. May the best author win! On a happier note, I'm almost done with the final editing on my second novel, The Middle of the Sidewalk! After I'm done, it's off to a very dear editor of mine and then straight to the publisher!

My goal is to get the book to the publisher by Nov. 1st so I can continue writing my newest novel, Mimbio for NaNoWriMo! I'll be posting weekly updates through November about my progress. My goal is to reach 100,000 words by Dec. 1st. Wish me luck!

Onward and Upward,

Editor Sneak Peek

Hello all,

One of my beloved editors, Chris Mikkelson, wrote a beautiful review of my book, and I wanted to share it with all of you! Here it is:

A Trip Down "The Middle of the Sidewalk"

Editor's sneak peek by Christopher Mikkelson

At a glance:
Author: Brittney Cooney
Type of Work: Novel
Date of Publish: In progress!
Genre: Literary Fiction
Synopsis: A young boy, recovering from the loss of his brother, struggles to learn to love himself.

                  It was not hard to draw me in to walk down "The Middle of the Sidewalk," and that's not just because I've known the author and seen her writing develop since we were both in the 8th grade.  No, what really kicked off the journey was my curiosity; her first 400 words (which can be found here) are spoken from one of the most exact perspectives I've read.  I felt as if I were traveling to an alien world, a world precisely like my own except that everything had a place.  As I read on, I learned that world was within the mind of 12-year-old boy Cory Becker.

                  As the story continued, that perspective became a personality, and that personality became a person, and an entire city fanned out around him.  Perhaps more impressively, the world went further inward than outward; Cory's mind, past, and personal flaws are all laid bare to the reader, inviting them not just into his life, but to live it.  Cory's tragedies and triumphs become the readers', and I found myself intensely involved in sharing one particular triumph: meeting Andy, the new girl in school whose brand of oddness threatens to break Cory's ordered world.

                  "The Middle of the Sidewalk" asks a lot of very, very important and interesting questions, and uses the incomplete perspective of a child to answer many of them.  Many, mind you, not all; Brittney respects the reader enough that she leaves many of them for the reader to answer for themselves.  Questions like, what is normal?  How do you define sanity?  And of course, what does it really take to be happy?  I seldom stopped to ponder these questions within the pacing of the story, and when they all hit me when I'd read the end, I found myself happy to be asking myself some questions I'd never pondered before (and as those who know me are aware, that is saying something).  In addition, I realized near the end of the book that while I thought I'd been reading about Cory's life the whole time, the themes in the book expand well as a metaphor for conflicts from a nation-vs.-nation scale, to the battles we all go through within our own minds.

                  The story is a work in progress still; I'm working with the author about letting the reader look past Cory's gaze a bit to see more of the periphery of his life.  As usual, Brittney had an answer for all of my questions, and in fact knows so much about her characters that she could write a separate book about each one.  If she did, I'd be happy to read them, after being allowed to see through Cory Becker's eyes as he walked down "The Middle of the Sidewalk."

Onward and Upward,

Main Character: Nonnie (PICS)

Hello all,

Introducing Nonnie and her pet cabbit Philomena! (Because every young warrior needs a sidekick, right?)

Nonnie and Philomena are two main characters in my newest book, Mimbio. In this book, I'm going for a fast-paced, action-packed plot with multi-demensional characters and a love triangle setup that hasn't really been done before. It should be both a challenge and an adventure, and I'm super excited to keep writing it tomorrow!

Onward and Upward,