Stalking Theodora

It's probably a good thing all my favorite people from history are dead. Actually, I know it's a good thing because it wouldn't take long for me to be arrested for lurking in the bushes outside their houses. (Or palaces, in the cases of Theodora and Hatshepsut).

Last summer I got to stalk Theodora when I went to Istanbul. I figured it was probably time to get around to sharing some of that stalking. (Yes, I'm trying to make you all accomplices. Just go with it).

A giant Medusa pillar in the Basilica Cistern. Justinian (Theodora's husband) pilfered columns from all over the empire to build this.



Inside the Hagia Sophia. The monogram on that pillar is either Justinian's or Theodora's. If I built the biggest church in the world (at the time) I'd put my initials all over it too. Modesty is highly overrated.



The Empress and Empress-in-Training in the Empress' box at the Hagia Sophia. All we needed was a throne.



Recently discovered floor mosaics from the Sacred Palace. Yes, that means Theodora would have walked here. (And yes, I drooled over these).



The Egyptian obelisk of Tutmose III from the Hippodrome. The obelisk was swiped from Egypt (obviously), but the base shows the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius watching the chariot races. Ancient Egypt in Byzantium? SO COOL!


That's it for now. I'm pretty excited because it looks like I get to go back to Istanbul for a couple days this summer. More stalking!

DISCLAIMER: I promise not to stalk anyone unless they're already dead. Then they're fair game. And no zombies either. That's just weird.

If I Could Go Back and Not Shoot Myself in the Foot...

I made a lot of mistakes when querying my first book. We're talking Mt. Everest-during-monsoon-season sized mistakes.

Go big, or go home, right?

Of course, if you'd asked me at the time, I would have assured you I knew precisely what I was doing. Because I'm always right. (If you don't believe me, just ask my husband).

So here's some unwanted, unasked-for advice so none of you have to climb up Everest during monsoon season, with altitude sickness.


1. "Genius is eternal patience." -Michelangelo

(I'm going to ignore the fact that this quote sounds terribly pretentious, even if it does come from Michelangelo).

I am neither a genius, nor patient. In order to keep from rocking back and forth with an apron over my head while querying, I felt the need to send out oodles and oodles of queries.

(Imagine the scene in Harry Potter where Privet Drive is inundated with owls and you'd be pretty close).

I tore through my list of agents in record time. This was not a good situation to be in when I'd finally gotten the book in agent-ready shape.

Oops.

2. Find beta readers who write your genre (or at least read it).

Seems obvious, but I had a number of beta readers who wrote MG, YA, or fantasy. They were all amazing writers, but I ended up taking some advice that was the opposite of what I should have done for historical fiction.

Case in point: a MG writer suggested I scale back all the world-building details because they dragged down the story. True for a MG book, but those details were critical for adult historical fiction. But I slaughtered all of them mercilessly.

Oops.

3. Find critiquers who are MUCH better writers than you.

I had numerous requests from agents, but they all came back with the same comment:

"I just didn't fall in love with the writing."

*stabs eyeballs with forks*

It wasn't until I had a published author, and then an agent, slash every word I'd written that I realized how un-wonderful I was. I owe those two humans an arm and a leg, and my first-born child. (Fortunately for them, I can't send any of those items FedEx).

I ended up re-writing my book (amidst much whining and chocolate pretzels) before receiving my first offer from an agent. (I didn't accept the offer, but that's a story for another post). The point is, I really needed an expert (or in my case, two--I'm a stubborn nut) to ream my book up one side and down the other before I could see what was wrong with it. By then, it was almost too late.

Oops.



Fortunately, my story has a happy ending. I set aside Book #1, wrote Book #2, landed a fabulous agent, and am now working on Book #1 for what I hope will be the last time for the foreseeable future.

So let's all laugh at ourselves today. What mistakes have you made while trying to get published? (And if you'd rather not share, feel free to make fun of me instead).

Origins: Being Hatshepsut

My writing origins started probably ten years ago when I discovered Ancient Sites, an ancient history role play website. People would make up a character from ancient history, real or fictional, and then write short fiction and interact with other writers.

I loved it.

I especially loved it when I auditioned and landed the role of Hatshepsut. (Woohoo!) Unfortunately, Ancient Sites didn't last long, but many of the writers created a new site that's still around, PanHistoria. I wrote all sorts of characters, but couldn't get the rest of Hatshepsut's story out of my mind. (Writing with other writers means you're beholden to their schedule). Then, a few years ago, the site was temporarily down due to a storm.

That's when I decided to start writing Hatshepsut's story on my own. It took me two years, but I finally finished. (Strangely enough, I just picked it up a week ago to complete one last edit).

I've since discovered that I have a passion not just for ancient Egypt, but for telling the stories of strong women neglected, or forgotten, by history. Hence my book about Theodora, one of the most awesome women ever. And my newest WIP, about not one, but FOUR totally kick-butt women.

I want to be them. Instead, I write about them.


And in other, totally unrelated news, the winner of last week's grand prize package is...

DAWN SIMON!

And the winner of the Querytracker Premium Membership is...

JADE!

Congrats, ladies!

How I Got My Agent + GIVEAWAY!!!

Let me just start by saying that my query experience with my second book was night and day from querying my first. (And by night and day, I mean the 20 hour Alaskan Winter Solstice night versus the 20 hour Alaskan Summer Solstice day).

What I learned from querying Book #1 will fill several posts (all soon-to-come!), so this one will cover how I found and ended up signing with the fabulous Marlene Stringer.

Here's my timeline:

October 2010: I started the first draft of THEODORA: THE SECRET HISTORY, urged on by an opening line blog contest.

May 2011: To the Revision Cave, Batman! I knew I wanted to enter the Baker's Dozen Auction at Miss Snark's First Victim so everything had to be ready by December 2011.

November 7: My logline and first 250 words were accepted as MSFV!

December 6: The bidding war on THEODORA at MSFV! Woohoo!

January 3, 2012: I sent my query to Marlene. I would have queried her sooner since she was at the top of my agent wish-list, but she was closed to queries through the holidays.

January 4: Marlene requested the full. She wrote, "You had me at Istanbul." (How cool is that?!)

January 11: I received the email requesting "The Call." (Cue much re-reading of email and an Egyptian happy dance!!!)


All told, I sent 21 queries for Theodora with 8 requests. Before Marlene and I spoke, we were emailing stories back and forth about our visits to Istanbul. I'm beyond thrilled to have an agent who really "gets" my work!

And now we need to celebrate! Amid the craziness of the last two weeks (I'm talking EPIC craziness, people), I've put together two writerly prizes to say thank you to this amazing blogging community. I never would have been able to keep at this had it not been for all of you out there!

Writerly Prize #1

- A QUERYTRACKER PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP
- The Pocket Muse: Endless Inspiration by Monica Wood
- Publish This Book: A Premature Memoir by Stephen Markley
- Alaska Wild Fireweed Honey (great on cheese platters!)

Writerly Prize #2
- A QUERYTRACKER PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP (Compliments of Patrick at Querytracker. Thanks, Patrick!)

I seriously don't know how I would have kept my sanity while in the query trenches had it not been for Querytracker's ability to see each agent's individual requests and response times, a super cool feature of the Premium Membership. (It's kind of like stalking, but not as creepy).

How to Enter

1. Leave a comment on this post.

Seriously. That's it. The contest will close Sunday, February 12th at 11:59PM. International entries are welcome!

Thank you again to everyone for your warm wishes--you guys are the best!

The BIG News

It's beyond surreal to finally be writing this post.

I have an agent!!!

*breaks into an Egyptian happy dance*

And not just any agent!

An amazing agent who says my book about Theodora reminds her of her trip to Turkey. And she's been to Egypt and knows all about Hatshepsut. She loves history and is interested in my other books.

I am thrilled to announce I am now represented by Marlene Stringer of the Stringer Literary Agency!

Woohoo!

I don't have a picture of me signing the paperwork, but how many people can say they emailed their acceptance of an agent's offer while waiting for the Toy Story ride in Disneyland?

Me!

There's more to that story, but I'll save the "How I Got My Agent" story for another post later this week.

Suffice to say, there's going to be an epic celebration contest next week!

HURRAY!

I'm Going to Disneyland!

Most adults look at me like I'm crazy when I admit that I love Disneyland. Like I-would-go-there-ten-times-a-year-if-I-could love.

But there's long lines.

And crying kids.

And it's so expensive.

All true, but I don't care one whit. Disneyland isn't called The Happiest Place on Earth for nothing. I know if I'm going to spend a day at Disneyland it's going to be a blast and there are parts of the day I'm going to remember forever.

(I could make this into a metaphor about how a good book is similar, but I'm not going to because I'm supposed to be packing.)

I'm going to Disneyland.

And I'm going to ride the Teacups.

And Splash Mountain.

And eat too many churros with my husband and five-year-old monkey.

And that makes me happy. Very, very happy.

The Secret History

I had no idea the title of my novel on Theodora, The Secret History, would be the source of controversy. I actually borrowed the title from Procopius, the premier historian of the Byzantine Empire, who wrote several official accounts of the reign of Justinian and Theodora.

The Buildings.

The Wars.

Then he wrote The Secret History, a scathing account of Justinian and Theodora's years on the throne in which both Emperor and Empress are literally portrayed as demons. However, this is the historical source with the most details on Theodora's life, both before and after she wore the crown. Procopius does an admirable job portraying her as a conniving, scheming harlot.

Why must women with a brain almost always be portrayed as evil by their contemporaries? Can't conniving and scheming be a good thing? And was she really a harlot because she liked to be?

I decided my novel should also be titled The Secret History, mostly because I like to think my version of Theodora's motivations is closer to the truth than Procopius'.

(And yes, I realize that's more than a little presumptuous of me. Whatever.)

Those early readers who are familiar with Procopius love the title. Those who don't are quick to point out that Donna Tartt wrote a recent novel with the same title about six classics students at an elite Vermont college.

I'm not willing to part with the title though, at least not yet. It's my way of biting my thumb at Procopius. (I might have taken a stab or two at him in the book too. Ha!)

Any suggestions for my title quandary? Have you ever had title issues?