Vacccccaaaation!

Sorry for the blog silence! I'm in the Smokies on vacation, so I haven't really been on the internet much, but I promise for a new post Thursday night. Probably regarding my thoughts on the new cast of Dancing with the Stars. Hmmmm...who could I already be rooting for? Who could I like, but I'm not sure if I can ever root for their pro partner? And who pretty much disgusts me? Tune in soon to find out!! :)

Am I In Your Book??

I've just told people who actually know me that I am a writer (because I am terrified of failure, so I waited forever and a day), and I've already had this question posed to me a couple of times--"Am I in your book?" I suppose people want to know if I am going to perform a character assassination on them?

So let me ease the mind of anyone who was wondering. I don't have characters based on people I know. They are complete and total products of my own overactive imagination. Whether the character be a friend, a parent, a cousin, a teacher, a love interest, anyone...they are all fiction.

There will probably be scenes based in reality. There were times in all of my manuscripts when I knew the kind of thing I wanted to happen, but I couldn't figure out exactly how I wanted it to happen. So most of the time, I went to the archives. My high school memories came out, and there may have been a specific place that was memorable to me that I thought would fit the story, or a particular event that took place that I knew was funny and just the kind of things happened that would move the story forward or put my characters in the type of situation I needed them in. So some of those things could be familiar to anyone who has known me for a long time.

When you are a writer, you are not only competing with the writers and books that are out there now. You're competing with the ones from the past. And believe me, just about every story has been written at some point. You have to find a way to make it yours, to make it unique, to twist it and do it in a way nobody else has done before. It is hard work, but the feeling of reading it back and knowing that I did that, I created that world and the people who live in it, is so rewarding and fills me with pride.

Until Next Time,

Ryann

Me Time

Right now, it's 6 AM. I've just gotten up and taken a shower, and tried to wake my husband up. He and the girls will all stumble out of bed in about half an hour. (If I didn't start waking him up now, it would be a lot longer than that before he actually got moving for the day).

Right now, it's quiet in my house. Which is not something that happens often. This is my Me Time. Everyday, between 6 and 6:30 AM, I get this little chunk of precious time to myself. It is probably the most peaceful moments of my day.

I love my husband and my kids, more than anything, and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. I just think everybody deserves a little bit of time in their day devoted to themselves. I grew up an only child, and I grew quite accustomed to having lots and lots of time for just me. I still need a little bit of that today, even though I have a family now.

This 30 minute window is when I drink my coffee, do little things like check my e-mail and my FB (and blog, apparently), watch Wake Up with Al, and just...rest my mind for a minute. Between work all day and everything I need to get finished at night when I get home, the only other time I have to do that is when I'm falling asleep. Which is usually only for about two minutes, because most of the time, I'm so tired that I'm out by the time my head hits the pillow.

So, the point of this post is to encourage everybody, no matter who you are, if you have a hectic life like I do, make sure you get just a little bit of time for yourself, every day. Even if you have to wake yourself up half and hour earlier. I promise, it's worth it.

Ryann

Mulan, Rapunzel, and Belle

I wasn't sure what to blog about today. I'm home sick and there hasn't been anything going on for me the past 24 hours except sleep. Luckily, with the help of antibiotics, tomorrow I'll feel back to my old self.

So, I decided to introduce you to my friends. For the purpose of this blog, from now forward, they'll be known as the three princesses they remind me most of: Mulan, Rapunzel, and Belle. Because I don't know that they (or I) would be comfortable with my using their real names. But, I'll probably be talking about them a good bit, so hopefully this will explain who they are and why they mean so, so much to me. And I'm obsessed with all things Disney, which is why I chose princesses to be the alter ego of each of these amazing women.

Mulan. Mulan and I have been friends since I can remember. I picked Disney's chinese warrier princess for this friend...why? Because my friend is from China? No. She's not. But she possesses all of the virtues that this brave woman shows throughout her story. She's fearless. She's brilliant. She's more beautiful inside AND out than she would ever let herself think. She would do anything for the people she loves, and if anybody hurts someone she cares for, you'd better watch out, because she won't hesitate to let you have it (only through her words of course--Mulan would never physically hurt anyone. Because as tough and wise as she is, she also has a huge heart.) When Mulan cares about you, it's forever, no matter how many times you might piss her off. She will tell you like it is, but she will also be there when you fall. Always.

Rapunzel. I've been friends with Rapunzel for twenty years. Rapunzel, the princess in the movie, feels trapped in her first home. She loves it, but she knows there is more out there for her. Not unlike Rapunzel, my friend. While she always has and always will love the place she grew up, she also knew there was a great big world out there, and she wanted to break free and explore, learn, grow. I'm so proud of her for doing that, no matter how often I might bug her about being so far away from me. Rapunzel is also probably the most smart ass Disney princess, and boy is that right on the money. When she meets Flynn Rider in the movie, they click because they each give what they get, and they push each other. Just the kind of man my real Rapunzel needs, because nobody else would ever satisfy her. In other similarities, real Rapunzel is beautiful, smart, loving. Everything a princess should be.

Belle. Belle is a bit of a new friendship. We did grow up together, but we only just became close about six or seven years ago. Belle is wide eyed and kind, a ray of sunshine when times can get dark. She's beautiful, and trusting even when she maybe shouldn't be. Belle, the princess, just like Belle, my friend, is an amazing person who would give anything of herself. She loves to make others happy, and will do so no matter what. She will always, always be there when you need her, and never fails to make you feel like you are the most important person in the world to her, because that is just the kind of friend she is.

I love these women. They mean everything to me, and I know how lucky I am to have them in my life. I know that through good times, and though bad, they'll always be there. And I hope they know that I will always, always, do the same for them.

Hope everyone has a great day!
Ryann

A Journey into the Publishing World

I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday. It was crazy busy from the time I woke up until my head hit the pillow, and there just wasn't a spare minute.

But now, I'm going to share my experience with publishing (which isn't much, but still). This is not easy for me to do, because I've had a very long road to the mindset I have now, and it definitely hasn't been easy. Actually, it has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

I've always liked to write. As a little girl, my mother would find stories stuffed under my mattress, hidden in my closet, just all over the place. There were constantly stories in my head, and characters that wanted to have a chance to share their voice. As I got older, I ignored them. I'm not a confident person. Or at least, I wasn't for a long, long time (my husband changed that about me, but this story isn't about him. I'm sure there will be one in the future). Anyway, why would I think I could write a book? Surely I wasn't good enough to do that, or even to attempt to. Besides, I had no idea what you DID after you wrote the book. Where does it go? Who do you talk to? So, I didn't do anything. Typical of myself as I was growing up. I wasn't all about branching out and trying new things.

Fastforward to the fall of 2009, when I was 26 years old and had just had my second child (and my first was still under 2. Yeah. I know.) One late night when my husband and toddler were sleeping and I was up feeding my baby, I stumbled upon Sandra Brown's website. She has always been one of my favorite authors. Reading along, I noticed a link to the website AgentQuery, so I clicked on it. To me, it was like opening a treasure chest. My screen was filled with information about what authors did when they got started writing. There were these people called Literary Agents. I had no idea what that was, but I decided to learn.

A Literary Agent for a writer is a lot of things. They are your cheerleader, your voice to editors, your salesperson, your confidant...just so many things. In the world of publishing, if you don't have an agent, you're not likely to ever capture the attention of an editor, especially at any of the big houses in NYC.

But there are steps you have to take to GET a literary agent. You don't just hire them. No, after you write your book, and it is as polished as you can get it, you must write a query letter, or as I like to call them, SATAN. I HATE query letters! I've never been able to write a good one. But, they are a necessary evil, because they show agents a lot of things. A query letter is a concise description of your book, but it has to show the agent your hook, your writing style, your book's marketability. Like I said, they're hard. They're like a sales pitch to the agent.

And agents receive a LOT of query letters. I had no clue how many writers were out there in the world trying to be successful when I started this journey. If I had, it probably would have scared me off. Agents probably receive hundreds or thousands of queries per week. Sometimes they require you to also send a synopsis or a small page sample. But everything is so subjective, and everything isn't for everybody. Even if you are a good writer, and you have a good idea, a particular agent may not want it. They might already have a writer who has a similar style as you, or a similar book, or they're just not looking for that kind of story right now. So, they'll reject you. That's also a necessary evil, but it still hurts when you get rejected. A lot. Stephen King was rejected dozens of times. So was Stephenie Meyer, and JK Rowling.

Okay, back to me. When I found out all of this information, I decided, I like to write. I think I'm good at it. I'm going to try and do this. So, I did. I wrote a book. My first query was awful. I mean, laughingly awful. And that first rejection I received was like a punch in the gut. But I kept going. I joined a writer's forum, where a wealth of information was again at my fingertips. I read, I learned, and I was determined.

I've now written four books. Unfortunately, early last year I learned the hard way about backing things up on flash drives and multiple computers, because my laptop crashed and I lost three of them. So, now, I have one completed young adult novel, which I am very proud of.

Anyway, I made friends on the writing forum. I joined twitter as a way to network with other writers and agents (@ryannjansen; I have it locked, but will welcome new followers!) Some of these writing friends eventually became beta readers, people who read and critique your work. An invaluable source for a writer, especially one starting out. A couple of these writers became my best friends.

I queried. I queried for a long time, and to a lot of agents. I had interest. I received lots of requests for partial samples of my manuscript(s) and lots of requests for the full manuscripts. And they are not going to request anything unless they think you have potential as a writer.

The agents read them. And then the rejections came. And with rejections, you don't always know WHY. Sometimes they'll send a note just saying it isn't for them, but thank you for letting them read. Yet another necessary evil, because agents are so busy, and it is just impossible for them to personalize every response for every writer. But rejections on queries are one thing. When you receive a form rejection on a full manuscript, it is...gut wrenching, ego busting, morale sinking. I cried a lot. I wondered why I was even trying.

Last year, I even gave up, for a pretty long time. Then, in December I got a Kindle. On my kindle, the first book I downloaded was After The Sky Fell Down, by Megan Nugen Isbell (great book-you should definitely check it out). I liked the book a lot, and I noticed that Megan was self-published (or, an indie author). I googled her and found her blog, and left her a comment about how much I enjoyed her book, and how I was a writer too. She invited me to e-mail her, and we became fast friends. She's a wonderful person, and I'm so glad I left that first comment on her blog.

I learned about self-publishing. After thinking about it for about a month, I decided I was going to do it. I would love to go the route of traditional publishing. Especially because to a lot of people involved in traditional publishing, being self published isn't something to be proud of. But I've waited so long, and I've felt so beat down, which isn't the fault of any of the people in the publishing world who I've queried, because they're just doing their jobs, and I completely understand that. Everyone's journey is different, and maybe this is supposed to be mine. The beta readers I've used have all complimented my writing and my books. If I thought I was awful, I wouldn't go for it. I'm not saying I'm the world's best writer. I'm just saying I'm hopeful I can provide entertainment to an audience through my books, and I'm ready to try with actual readers. I know everyone won't love it, and some people will probably hate it. I like to think of it as like this. Everyone doesn't love Angelina Jolie. Some people really dislike her. I'm one of them. But she still has millions of fans and has been uber successful. I know I won't be THAT successful as a writer, but it helps to think of it like that.

I hopefully won't have to wait too much longer to get Hearts Don't Break Quietly available exclusively on Kindle Publishing. I have to make my own cover, which I'm having help with from one of those amazing best friends I mentioned in my very first blog post.

Like I said, this isn't easy for me to share. Before I created this blog, there were very, very few people who even knew I was trying to pursue writing. My husband of course, who has been amazing. I love him more every day. Those three best friends again, who have been so supportive. My writing friends. My sister-in-law and brother-in law, who I would trust with anything, so of course I trusted them with this. A few colleagues, and a few of my husband's friends who stumbled upon my twitter account before it was locked ;). I hadn't even told my parents, because most of the time, I don't even know how to bring it up.

I know this has been a long post, and maybe kind of boring. It has been a long road, and I'm very excited for the next step. I am currently writing my next novel, which doesn't have a title yet. I'm hopeful that my future is bright, and I'm going to do everything I can to make it that way.

Until Next Time,

Ryann

Survivor Caramoan season premier...Fans v......Favorites?

Survivor Caramoan premeried last night. This season's theme is "Fans V. Favorites" 2. Which, I don't know how they came up with these favorites. Let's do a little thing called word association, where I'm going to name a favorite, then the first word that pops into my head for each one of them. Ready? Go.

Cochran? Wimp

Dawn? Sweetheart

Brenda? Fiesty

Corrine? Pathetic

Francesca? Who?

Andrea? Two-Faced

Phillip? Insane

Malcolm? Awesome

Erik? Eh

Brandon? Really?

See what I mean? The only ones who stand out to me are Malcolm, Dawn, and MAYBE Brenda. And even Dawn is stretching it, she was just so nice I kind of love her. Now, are these people memorable? Sure. But "Favorites?" Not a chance.

The challenges were pretty cool for the premier, I enjoyed watching them both, but especially the immunity challenge. Seeing the castaways fly up and down that tower thingamabob :) was fun. I really like the colors for the tribes too, though I dont' know why I think that's important to tell you. I just thought the purple and orange went well together.

I don't know the names of any of the "fans" tribe, other than Reynolds. I think I only remember him because he got the most screen time of any of them, but I didn't like him. He seemed...like someone who talks a big game but will not own up to his game or even do much in the way of actually EXECUTING his game. Anyone remember Mick from Samoa? That's who Reynolds reminded me of.

The favorites tribe. Oh, the favorites tribe. By the way, I have no idea what their actual tribe names are yet. They were all over the place before tribal council! I was terrified they were going to oust my precious Malcolm (love love love him! He's also a Georgia boy, so that makes him even better), because he couldn't beat Reyolds when tossing the sandbags, even though the Favorites had a pretty good lead.

Thankfully, Malcolm's name wasn't even brought up. Corrine was mentioned in passing. Phillip was targeted by Francesca, which I thought was a good move and I was behind her on that. I would want him gone too, because dude is a loose cannon. But then Andrea, sweet little innocent Andrea. More like lying, two faced, I'm going to blink my eyes to make you think I'm on your side Andrea. She ran and told Phillip. Why? Because she thinks he'll be more loyal? Phillip is insane, girlfriend, so I don't see that playing out. Maybe it will though, what do I know? I've never been on Survivor. Still, I thought it was stupid.

So then Brandon, doing possibly the only thing he's ever done to make me kind of like him, starts forming an alliance with Erik to get Andrea out. I was cheering. I was so excited. Blindside the weasel! Yeah!

Alas, it was not to be. Only Brenda and Francesca were on their side (damn it, Malcolm, don't make me mad at you!) and the rest voted for Fran. Poor thing. Voted out first TWICE. I thought she deserved a chance, even though I also thought it was crazy to have a first boot on the show a second time to begin with. Oh well. I did enjoy Andrea's face when she kept getting votes. An evil cackle could have come out of me.

All in all, I thought it was a good premier, and I'm looking forward to this season. So far, can you tell who I'm rooting for? Malcolm, of course. And Brenda and Dawn. I hope some of the Fans step up and show a good personality and solid gameplay as well, so I can root them on.

Tomorrow I plan to blog a little about my writing journey, so be sure to tune in!

Adios,

Ryann

So, my first blog post. What to say? Maybe I should start by saying that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing! I'm a techno-dummy, if that's even a word. :) But, I'm going to try and learn!

I'm starting this blog primarily for my writing career. I've been writing for a few years now, and have finally decided to self-publish my young adult novel, Hearts Don't Break Quietly. Yeah, I'm not sure how exactly to go about self-publishing it, but I have a great friend who I think is going to help me out with that.

But I like to gab, so I'm sure I'll be talking about plenty of things other than writing. I'm a wife. And a mommy, to two beautiful little monsters. They are my world, so expect some tales from Mommyhood from time to time. It's absolutely true what they say--kids say the darndest things! Things that probably will make funny blog posts.

I have the best friends in the world, so they'll probably be mentioned every now and then. Warning if you guys are reading this--you shall remain nameless, but if you tell me any hilarious stories they may end up here!

I'm also a self-proclaimed TV addict. So...yeah, expect some rants and lovefests about shows like Pretty Little Liars, Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, Criminal Minds, Revolution...the list really could go on and on. There is no telling what you'll end up hearing about!

What else is there to know about me? I love music. I love FOOD. I'm obsessed with Disney World, so yeah, some fanatical posts about that are sure to pop up every now and then. I'm southern and Auburn football is in my blood.

I hope I can be entertaining, and make some new friends on this adventure. I'd love to follow and keep up with everybody else's blogs. But like I said, I'm no pro at this, so I might need a little help. ;)

Bye for now!

Ryann