Katrina L. Lantz--Author

Dies Irae Blog Tour with Christine Fonseca!! Understanding Gothic and Thriller Subgenres

2012-02-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

Today it's my pleasure to welcome Christine Fonseca to my blog!!

You may know Christine from her very cool non-fiction about gifted children, but if not, then here is a real treat, because you get to meet her at the start of her YA debut! Dies Irae!

Short Blurb for DIES IRAE (Goodreads)

Some sacrifices should never be made—even for love.
Mikayel lives by one rule—obey the orders of the angelic Council at all
costs. But when he and his friends, Azza and Demi, are sent to Earth as
teenagers, following the rules is more difficult than they expected.
Being human isn’t the only problem facing the three angels. Unbeknownst
to the Council, demonic activity is on the rise, threatening to break a
tenuous peace that has existed for a millennia.
Caught in a struggle for power with unseen demonic forces, and fighting
against his rising emotional, Mikayel must now decide how many rules he
is willing to break to save his friends, a decision that could reignite an
ancient war and will threaten the only thing that matters to the angels, the
survival of humanity.

“Dies Irae is the perfect introduction to Christine Fonseca’s Requiem series. The beauty of the words will tempt you, the tragedy of the story will break you, and the love, woven throughout like music through the trees, will haunt you for days afterward. Dies Irae promises a tale unlike any you’ve read before.”

~Ali Cross, Author of BECOME

Christine Fonseca

School psychologist by day, critically acclaimed YA and nonfiction

author by night, Christine Fonseca believes that writing is a great

way to explore humanity. Her debut YA Gothic series, The Requiem

Series, including DIES IRAE and LACRIMOSA, examines the role

of redemption, sacrifice and love. When she’s not writing or spending

time with her family, she can be sipping too many skinny vanilla lattes

at her favorite coffee house or playing around on Facebook and

Twitter. Catch her daily thoughts about writing and life on her blog.

Now, here's Christine...

My Type of Writing: Understanding Gothic and Thriller Subgenres

Thanks, Katrina, for being part of the blog tour for DIES IRAE. Today I want to talk about the types of stories I like to write—namely Gothic stories and thrillers.

We’ll start with Gothic stories. While DIES IRAE is not strictly a Gothic story, it does have several elements of this subgenre. Typically a Gothic novel has the following features:

· Setting: Typically a Gothic tale takes place in an old castle of house, full of gloomy shadows, long dark hallways, trap doors, etc. In more modern takes, a Gothic tale may take place in a rundown part of a city.

· Mood/Tone: An atmosphere of suspense and mystery overrides every aspect of a Gothic tale. Typically, the setting itself is used to portray and enhance the tone.

· Story: Gothic novels usually include an ancient prophesy of some type, omens and nightmares, women in distress of one form or another, and mystery.

· Characteristics: A Gothic tale has supernatural occurrences in the story and usually pulls on mythology and Jungian archetypes.

· Language: The rhythm of the writing is somewhat fluid and lyrical. The emotional content is intense and overwrought throughout the majority of the story.

· Romance: Yes, there is often a romance, usually involving a woman trying to get away from a tyrannical male, and the hero meant to save her.

The Requiem Series fits nicely within these guidelines, tapping into almost all of them.

The other genre I enjoy writing, is thrillers. Specifically psychological thrillers. Similar to the Gothic story elements listed above, thrillers are dark, spine-tingling stories. A few of the common characteristics include:

· Setting: Since I write psychological thrillers, I fill focus on the mind, using it as the setting for the story in many ways. I may even make it a character of sorts.

· Mood/Tone: Varies, but it is typically dark. Foreboding. And can be done through a series of literary devices designed to elicit the emotional response of fear.

· Story: A thriller typically focuses on WHO committed the terrible act, or HOW it was committed. The pacing is typically fast and furious, all designed to keep the reader at the edge of their seat.

· Characteristics: These are not your overarching moral-tale kind of stories. Thrillers are all about one thing—eliciting a feeling of fear from the reader.

· Language: Simple and quick, designed to mirror the pacing. It may be fluid and lyrical, but the variance of sentences will still maintain the pacing.

· Romance: I use romance, albeit a dysfunctional romance, in my thrillers as a motivating factor for the crimes being committed. I find love the best emotion to elicit a response, you know?!?

As you can see, there is a lot in common between these sub-genres, and indeed, I fluctuate between them often, pulling elements of each into every story I write. I don’t know, I just like writing the somewhat creepy stuff. I hope my readers will like it too!

Thank you, Christine!! I love this insight into writing psychological thrillers! What an exciting genre!

Here's a peek at the beautiful Lacrimosa cover:

Short Blurb for LACRIMOSA (Goodreads)

As if casting out demons isn’t hard enough, five-hundred-year-old Nesy has to masquerade as a teenage girl to do it. Nesy is the best of the warrior angels called Sentinals. She never makes mistakes, never hesitates, never gets emotionally involved. Until she meets Aydan. He is evil incarnate; a fallen angel that feeds off the souls of others. Everything Nesy is supposed to hate. But she can’t, because he’s also the love of her former life as a human girl—a life that ended too soon, tying her to emotions she was never supposed to feel.
Now Nesy must choose between doing her duty—damning Aydan to the fiery depths of hell—or saving him, and condemning herself.

"LACRIMOSA reaches out, grabs readers by the heart, and takes them on an emotional journey from the first page to the last. The last novel you'll need to read to understand true sacrifice." - Elana Johnson, Author of POSSESSION

Additional Titles in the series include LIBERA ME (Nov 2012) and REQUIEM (March 2013).

BOOK TRAILER!!!

For more information about Christine Fonseca or the series, visit her website – http://christinefonseca.com or her blog http://christinefonseca.blogspot.com.

This movie made me want to write again...

2012-01-20T09:24:00.000-08:00

Something made me think of this film after a long time...

Link to imdb info

It's probably one of my favorite movies of all time. A very talented teen boy living in a poor neighborhood gets a scholarship to a private school for basketball, but his hidden talent for writing is what makes waves at the preppy school when he discovers an eccentric yet acclaimed novelist living in his hometown. The older man, played by Sean Connery, teaches him about writing in such a grumpy, effective way. It's awesome to behold. The kid, played by Rob Brown, helps the old writer come to terms with his past and the thing that's kept him from writing a second book after his first one made it big. There's so much packed into this film in terms of societal commentary, morals, cheating, plagiarism, relationships, and writing. I loved it all the way through, and I especially loved the hope I felt at the end.

Some films and books just make you feel like CREATING! Whether you're an artist or a musician, a dancer, or a street performer, or even a writer. Some stories inspire you to create your own. For me, Finding Forrester was that story. It has nothing to do with me or my life, but it was just THAT inspiring.

What books, films, music, poetry, or whatever, have you consumed that made you want to express yourself? What inspires you?

The Puzzle I Can Solve vs. the Puzzle I Can't

2012-01-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

I won!! Small victories. So this is what I do when I don't write. I put the headphones on and soak up news and politics while I save the world one Free Cell game at a time.

Why do I waste my time doing this when I feel blocked as a writer?

Easy puzzles. Humans need easy problems to solve every once in a while to keep us from becoming overly frustrated with the puzzles we can't solve.

I'm proud to say that I reviewed and line-edited over 100 pages in my WIP last night, staying up past midnight to do it. It's been a long time since I've done anything so committed to my own writing. But 100 pages is where I hit the invisible wall between where I originally started my story and where it joins with the new 100-page beginning. It doesn't quite mesh like a whole book should, and this has been my great writing puzzle... for a long time.

I haven't even tried to solve it lately because it's so daunting. How do I mesh subtle paranormal world-building discrepancies like how her empathic powers manifest? Because it's a subtle difference, it's noticeable to a reader but really, really hard to edit through. Like if I'd changed somebody's eye-color and had to go through the entire manuscript to make sure there are no more hazel eyes. But at least with that I could do a ctrl-F search-and-destroy for 'hazel.' As it is, I have to go through my manuscript with a fine-tooth comb and try to solve all the other discrepancies I'm sure to find along the way. Sometimes I think I should just rewrite the second half entirely because of what seemed like subtle changes in the new beginning. You've heard the metaphor about the switch at the train tracks. Such a little change of motion, flipping that switch. And yet... the train can end up in a whole new destination miles and miles from where it meant to go.

Which brings me to Free Cell. See the problem, fix the problem. Easy. Fulfilling? Not as much so as finishing a book you can be proud of, but it provides a sliver of fulfillment, yeah. :)

Where do you turn when you need an easy puzzle to banish temporarily the trickier ones?

Blog Chain: My Childhood Realm

2012-01-11T08:45:00.000-08:00

Outside is a mysterious metal box, deep forest green with the image of an electric man. Jill across the street says if I touch it, it will shock me. But I play on it all the time anyway. I use it as a table for my rock and flower collages, and I stand there to sing my songs. Further up the lawn is the house. My bedroom window stands protected from the outside world by a pair of stalwart rose bushes. Red tea cup roses look so innocent, but nobody can get in or out of my window past those thorns. Is it a fortress or a cage? To the side, mangled branches stem from what used to be a pomegranate sapling. I've seen it shoot up wildly in my short lifetime, and now I smash its fruit on the bricks to see the plump ruby kernels inside. Some days they really are rubies fit for my crown. Before the front door are two red brick pillars, but you can scarcely see the color of the brick behind graceful vines of Star Jasmine, my favorite little white flower. It makes every day smell sweet.

Behind the door is the hallway and the front room with the piano. I practice... sometimes. Besides that, there isn't a lot to do in there. Behind the wall is the family room, and that's where the TV is. My favorite movie is The Little Mermaid. To the right is the kitchen, pantry, and table. But more often, I run to the left, down the narrow hallway decked with family pictures in plain wood frames. Everything is this way. The bathroom, and all the bedrooms. I share with my sisters: bunk bed, trundle bed. Three of us, making up games at night when we can't fall asleep. We get in trouble when we're loud, but if we whisper and close our eyes, we're almost psychically connected. Together we can make another world, and so we do.

This blog chain round was begun by Jonathon Arnston:

Imagine the home(s) where you grew up, and start drawing a floor plan. As you draw, memories will surface. Grab onto one of those memories and tell us a story.

You can see I took a little liberty with the assignment. Be sure to check out Cole's pullout couch of dreams before me and Michelle H. tomorrow!

And if you try this writing exercise yourself, link it in the comments. I'd love to see it.

Happy writing!

First Post of the New Year: list of anticipations

2012-01-06T08:55:00.001-08:00

I'm over at Operation Awesome today with my first post of the new year! It's freakin' 2012!!! How did that happen?

Truthfully, I've had one foot in this year since last summer when all my favorite authors suddenly had books coming out in 2012, not to mention The Hunger Games movie coming out in March of this year. Now that the 11 officially switched over to a 12, I'm ecstatic!

There is so much to look forward to this year! In no particular chronological order:

A few of my critique partners have BOOKS COMING OUT!!

Angela Townsend's Publisher's Weekly Announcement

Kelly Andrews' upcoming Middle Grade book

Some great movies: the first Hunger Games movie, the very last Twilight movie. THE AVENGERS!!!
My third child will be born, probably around June sometime.
We'll move in the fall.
My husband will finish his master's program in February! Woot!!!!
My oldest is about to turn FIVE! He's getting so tall...
We might get a new president and an economic recovery *crosses fingers*

This year is looking pretty great already!

What are your big anticipations for 2012?

My boys with daddy and great grandpa in the new year

Blog Chain: My Writing Space

2011-12-09T17:54:00.000-08:00

Blog Chain question: What conditions do you need to get your best writing done? Closed door, crowded coffee house? Computer or notebook? Can you just sit down to write, or do you need to wait for the time to be right?

It's actually a deep, chestnut brown in real life. LOVE my chair! You can get it here.

This is an awesome question, and something I in my fangirliness often love to discover about my favorite authors. I know more about JK Rowling's and Stephenie Meyer's writing process than a normal person ought to.

For me personally, it's pretty straight-forward. I'm a loose outliner, in-between pantser. I spew out idea spawn in a word document before the seed vanishes. I outline on paper. Then I'm back at the desktop computer in my super comfy swiveling office chair to write. I can just sit down and write, but every once in a while, I have a really hard time getting anything good to come out. I'm more likely to wait to be inspired unless I have a set of active goals written down somewhere, like Nanowrimo.

It has to be completely quiet, or lyricless music. Any outside words get mixed up in my mind and make it harder for me to write. So I write at night when my kiddies are in bed.

How about you? How do things have to be for you to write at your best?

Tere Kirkland started us out with this classic question. To continue down the blog chain, check out Michelle H. whose day it actually is because I'm a day late. Or if you prefer going backwards (always fun), check out Cole's post before mine.

Blog Chain: Accomplishment

2011-11-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

Michelle H. started us off this time with this question:

This is the month for creating writing goals and making big accomplishments. What is your greatest accomplishment -- in writing, your life or perhaps something incidental that had a big effect on you?

Writing about this just a month before my ten-year high school anniversary feels like homework, like I'm preparing to meet all those old high school people Romy and Michele-style. Not that I believe my high school reunion will be anything like that, but just the popular culture perception of ten-year reunions had me thinking about Michelle's question before she asked it.

What have I accomplished since high school graduation?

Some people have mile-markers to point to along their journey: getting an agent, being published, becoming VP of editing, or getting a degree. I have done none of these things. My life looks nothing like what I thought it would ten years ago.

If I let the lack of mile-markers in my life bring me down, it'd be showing a lack of gratitude for what I do have, and since this is the day after Thanksgiving, I just can't do that. So rather than talk about my accomplishments (which are really very vague things like 1) growing up after college and 2) writing a lot of first drafts), I want to stress the things in my life I can't call accomplishments that I'm proud of anyway - the things in my life I'm grateful for:

1) My husband. I pictured marriage through kind of a fun house glass when I was single, and I never knew exactly how it would play out because I couldn't even imagine what kind of person I'd marry. Some mysteries only time can solve. As it turns out, I married a sweet, sensitive guy who hates doing the dishes as much as I do, but is much more steady in his day-to-day operations than I can ever hope to be. He balances me out so well, and without him, I would not accomplish anything.

2) My children. I have two small boys who drive me and my husband crazy sometimes, and other times make us share knowing, proud smiles. Children are a joy, each one with a personality from birth. Raising my sons to the ripe old ages of (almost) 5 and 2 years old does not feel like an accomplishment. It definitely isn't something to brag about at a class reunion. :) But Bill reminds me that the work I do in teaching them is a sort of accomplishment. I'm grateful for these two little guys who have taught me more about life, myself, and them than I ever knew I was missing.

3) Church. I don't have a job, but I do have what's called a calling in my church. I'm the secretary in an organization for teen girls between the ages of 12 and 18. I help to plan weekly weeknight activities for them and also follow their personal progress as they work toward the equivalent of an Eagle Scout award. This isn't the sort of thing I'd put on my very sparse current resume, and I'm not calling these girls an accomplishment, either. But it's one of the things that fulfills me, to watch my girls interact with one another in kindness and consideration, and grow into the women they will be someday. They are remarkable young women, and I'm thankful for my role in "working" (read: playing) with them.

4) Operation Awesome: If you don't know what this is, then click the link now. I'll wait. When I get back to writing queries (once I get at least one manuscript in that kind of shape), I might put a little brag line by my bio that says I am a co-founder of Operation Awesome and creator of the Mystery Agent contest. But this isn't an accomplishment, either. This is pure luck. I'm so lucky to have met each one of my critique partners. I'm lucky one of them had the idea of putting together a group blog. I'm lucky several of them are amazing bloggers who know how to network and promote the fun stuff we do there (author interviews, guest posts, agent contests, book giveaways, writing tips, and Lindsay's famous GIF metaphors). I'm lucky the first agent I contacted for the Mystery Agent contest wanted anything to do with our baby blog as we were launching. I'm lucky I've only had one bad experience with a snooty agent, and that almost all of the agents I've contacted have been incredibly sweet, pay-it-forward, author-loving types. My must-query-this-agent list has grown exponentially since working with Operation Awesome on the M.A. contests.

So you can see, I'm not exactly an accomplished person. I didn't finish college (yet), didn't get a big, important job, didn't get my first book published at 21 (I'm 28 now), and didn't do all the lofty altruistic things I planned in high school (working with orphans in Africa). I still hope to reach some of my dream goals.

But for now I am content not to focus on accomplishments that are out of reach, and to focus instead on Thanksgiving. After all, I have an awful lot to be thankful for.

You're done! I'm the last link on this chain. Be sure to check out Cole's post from Wednesday if you haven't. You can go backwards through the chain. I won't tell anyone. :)

Happy Turkey weekend!

Review: STRING BRIDGE by Jessica Bell

2011-11-18T02:34:00.000-08:00

String Bridge: Greek cuisine, smog and domestic drudgery was not the life Australian musician, Melody, was expecting when she married a Greek music promoter and settled in Athens, Greece. Keen to play in her new shoes, though, Melody trades her guitar for a 'proper' career and her music for motherhood. That is, until she can bear it no longer and plots a return to the stage--and the person she used to be. However, the obstacles she faces along the way are nothing compared to the tragedy that awaits

Add on goodreads

This is one of the deepest books I've read in a long time. Most of my usual reading list consists of middle-grade and young adult fantasy and whimsy with a touch of the dark. It can be pretty deep in a symbolic way. But not like this book.

This book made me feel.

Perhaps because I'm a mother trying to live out her dream (writing for me, not music), I especially related to Melody's plight. But I think there are many ways in which Melody represents all of us struggling with finding fulfillment, purpose, and ultimately love and belonging.

I really loved this bit:

"I sit in silence sipping my wine, looking into the brownish sky, imagining the stars I'd see if I were sitting on my parents' verandah on the island. Somewhere up there is us, a happy us, in some parallel universe, living the way we're supposed to be. I truly believe that the earth is our practice ground - the place where we are to test things out, to make mistakes, to discover what we believe in, what we are passionate about. Death is when we move on and go up there - to the real world; to start again, to rectify our mistakes and live a happy and fulfilling existence. There is no hell. Earth is hell. This is where we are allowed to sin. Up there, is where we no longer want to."

The descriptions are beautiful and symbolic, very well crafted. Jessica Bell makes Greece come alive.

I really love the way Melody questions everything and doesn't let herself hold onto comforting yet dysfunction-enabling conceptions of her own life. She analyzes it, admits her own faults, and keeps trying to be the person she wants to be.

When tragedy strikes, as the blurb hints, Melody is so human. I cried nonstop. And yet, there's life and joy again after tragedy.

On a personal note, I appreciated the author's sensitivity to the very difficult decisions a mother has to make to balance work, family, romance, and dreams. The subject was never treated rashly. Like I said before, this is a deep book, one I think many adults will swallow whole and feel full. I know I did.

Watch the book trailer. This song is in the book, along with a bunch of other great songs that read like heart-wrenching poetry.

Ready to read the book?

To purchase the paperback:

Amazon USA

To purchase the eBook:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

To listen to samples of the soundtrack, visit iTunes.

You can also...

Connect with Jessica:

String Bridge: http://www.stringbridge.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jessica_bell

Website: http://www.jessicacbell.com/

Blog: http://thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/author.jessica.bell

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MsBessieBell

Publisher: http://www.luckypress.com

I also have a copy to give away. To win, leave me a comment expressing a way or time music affected you.

It's the Holiday Blog Hop!!

2011-11-15T08:12:00.000-08:00

Hosted by Megan Dolan-from This Post Will Self Destruct

and Jenny Morris from Jenny's Imaginary World

Goal: Write a 250-word story about your favorite holiday.

I picked Christmas because a) it's the best holiday ever and b) it's so filled with mythology, nobody will mind the addition of one more mythological Christmas creature.

Christmas Star

The strange thing about this Christmas morning isn't my bare feet in the snow.

It's the extra moon lingering in a pale gray sky.

The tiny crescent shape hangs below the actual moon, like a child's crib mobile. I even think I see it dangle a bit in the wind. But that can't be. There's no wind in space. My feet go numb as I stare. I should start moving again, finish my trek from the woodpile before breakfast. But I can't.

The crescent shape turns, its shape changing. Where the second moon once hung, a blob-shaped figure with a pointed head floats, staring back. The alien thing has noticed me noticing it. I stand still, reminded of my run-in with a bobcat last winter. On instinct, I let out a low, guttural growl.

The shape grows, zooms downward. I drop my firewood just as its translucent silver body halts five feet away. This is no bobcat. Its five points tremble: arms, legs, and a head where its face grins, dimpled like a baby.

It whistles. Logs fly through the air, zip through the open front door of my house. I watch in wonder, my feet burning in the snow.

I look back. The chubby star is gone from my porch, from the sky. The sun claws its way over the frozen mountains, and the moon fades away.

I look to the empty spot where my alien friend once floated. A smile breaks my chapped lips.

"Farewell, Christmas Star."

Check out other 250-word stories about holidays, and get into the spirit:

1.	E.R. King	2.	Untroubled Kingdom
3.	Annalise Green	4.	Abby Fowers
5.	Angie Cothran	6.	Jolene Perry
7.	Jennifer Young	8.	Readin, Writing, and Lovin' It!
9.	An Author's Ramblings	10.	The Ubiquitous Perspective
11.	Deana Barnhart	12.	A Book, A Girl, A Journey
13.	Katrina Lantz -Author

Author Interview: Jessica Bell, author of STRING BRIDGE

2011-11-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

Interview with Jessica Bell, author of String Bridge

Add on goodreads

And now for our super deep interview!

Katrina: Your book trailer made me cry. Tell me the story of the book trailer for String Bridge. Was it solely your creation, and when was the song written?

Jessica: Well the trailer was solely my creation but the music for it wasn’t. I fell in love with one of my mother’s songs, which I thought a perfect fit for the character arc of my MC (Melody). I tweaked some of the lyrics to fit with the story, rerecorded it with my voice, added an instrument (bass) and shortened the song so that it wasn’t too long for the trailer. Having said that though, the rest of the songs in the soundtrack I’m releasing with the book, are written and performed by me. Oh, and if you’re interested, here’s a video of the original song before fixing it for the trailer:

Katrina: Is there a parallel to the height of your musical career and the height of Melody's? What do you see as the primary difference between your respective journeys?

Jessica: Despite being a musician myself, that is not where my passion lies. I want to write. I’m fulfilled when I write. I will do anything to write. Sometimes I even forget to eat. I don’t feel the same intensity with music. I do go through phases, though, where I become obsessed and all I want to do is sing and play guitar, but this never lasts more than a few days at a time. Also, when I write music, I just feel emptier and emptier rather than fulfilled. It invokes a really strong melancholy within me, and I think I’ve subconsciously pushed music to the sidelines because of that.

Katrina: I love the musical poetry in your title, String Bridge, and the line in the book trailer about the fraying bridge to our dreams. It's such a human truth, the choice between individual dreams and family life. Did you come to any epiphanies of your own while writing String Bridge?

Jessica: What a fantastic question. Yes, I certainly did. But not in the way that one would think. I don’t have kids. But I love and adore kids. I especially love the expression of pure self-satisfaction when they learn something new and it connects to something they can relate to. I can’t imagine never having the chance to bring a child into this world. But ever since discovering that I wanted to write, and doing so consistently, I haven’t thought about children so often. So my epiphany isn’t really an epiphany, it’s a question to myself. Do I really want to bring a child into the world if I can’t see myself sacrificing time for it? I haven’t answered that question yet. I know women think they can have it all. And I’m sure we can to some degree if we really put their mind to it. But there are only a certain amount of hours in a day and there’s always going to be something that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. I’m not sure I’m willing to struggle with that. Not yet anyway. Let’s hope my biological clock keeps ticking until I can finally take the plunge.

Katrina: What's been your favorite thing about working with Lucky Press to bring String Bridge to your fans? And do you have any advice for other debut authors?

Jessica: Most definitely the friendship that has developed between Janice, the publisher, and I. She has been one of the most supportive people in this whole journey. She has boosted my confidence in ways I can’t even describe. I could not have asked for a better person to bring my debut to life. My advice for debut authors: Learn the rules until you can recite them by heart. Then learn how to break them without people noticing. And ultimately, trust your instincts. I learned that one the hard way. I spent five years trying to write like other people were telling me to write until Janice came along. She encouraged me to be true to myself. Being true to myself is what got me published.

Thank you so much for the interview, Jessica, and congratulations on a great debut!

To purchase the paperback:

Amazon USA

To purchase the eBook:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

To listen to samples of the soundtrack, visit iTunes.

Connect with Jessica:

String Bridge: http://www.stringbridge.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jessica_bell

Website: http://www.jessicacbell.com/

Blog: http://thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/author.jessica.bell

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MsBessieBell

Publisher: http://www.luckypress.com

STRING BRIDGE CHART RUSH TODAY!!

2011-11-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

Today is THE day to help Jessica Bell's debut, STRING BRIDGE, hit the bestseller list on Amazon, and receive the all-original soundtrack, Melody Hill: On the Other Side, written and performed by the author herself, for free!

All you have to do is
purchase the book today (paperback, or eBook), November 11th, and
then email the receipt to:

jessica.carmen.bell(at)gmail(dot)com

She will then email you a link to download the album at no extra cost!

To purchase the paperback:

Amazon USA

To purchase the eBook:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

To listen to samples of the soundtrack, visit iTunes.

If you are
not familiar with String Bridge,
check out the beautiful, heart-wrenching book trailer:

Rave Reviews for String Bridge:

“Jessica Bell’s STRING BRIDGE strummed the fret of my veins, thrummed my blood into a mad rush, played me taut until the final page, yet with echoes still reverberating. A rhythmic debut with metrical tones of heavied dark, fleeting prisms of light, and finally, a burst of joy—just as with any good song, my hopeful heartbeat kept tempo with Bell’s narrative.” ~ Kathryn Magendie, author of Sweetie and Publishing Editor of Rose & Thorn Journal

“Poet and musician Jessica Bell's debut novel String Bridge is a rich exploration of desire, guilt, and the difficult balancing act of the modern woman. The writing is lyrical throughout, seamlessly integrating setting, character and plot in a musical structure that allows the reader to identify with Melody's growing insecurity as her world begins to unravel … String Bridge is a powerful debut from a promising writer, full of music, metaphor, and just a hint of magic.” ~ Magdalena Ball, author of Repulsion Thrust and Sleep Before Evening

“Jessica Bell is a brilliant writer of great skill and depth. She doesn't pull back from the difficult scenes, from conflict, pain, intensity. She puts it all out there, no holds barred, no holding back. She knows how to craft a scene, how to develop character, how to create suspense. This is an absolutely brilliant debut novel. I look forward to reading her next novel, and next and next.” ~ Karen Jones
Gowen, author of Farm Girl, Uncut Diamonds and House of Diamonds

Connect with Jessica:

String Bridge: http://www.stringbridge.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jessica_bell

Website: http://www.jessicacbell.com/

Blog: http://thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/author.jessica.bell

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MsBessieBell

Publisher: http://www.luckypress.com

Please TWEET and/or FACEBOOK this post using #StringBridge!

I'm promoting Jessica Bell because she is a great writer and I've seen her time and again at the forefront of charitable efforts in the writing community. Her kindness to others is inspiring, and has been part of my desire to "pay it forward" in the online community. In this case, I'm paying it back. ;)

Stay tuned next week for my interview with the author!! The week after that, I'll post my review of String Bridge. Happy reading! And Happy Nano!

Blog Chain: The Best Monster

2011-10-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

Matt began our topic this round:

What is your all-time favorite monster?

If we go by monster types, I'd have to go with fairies.

They're definitely monsters, but really beautiful, manipulative monsters who pretty successfully hide their true nature. But then they make you dance until your feet fall off and you know for sure. But by then it's too late. Buwahahaha!

My favorite individual monster is without a doubt JAMES P. SULLIVAN.

I don't know any other monster with a full name like this, or an awesome nickname like Sully. He's scary when you want him to be and cuddly when you need a pillow. What more could you want in a monster?

Thanks to Matt for the fun question! And Happy Halloween, everybody!

Check out Kate, whose tribute to a certain muppet can't help but make you smile. And tomorrow we'll hear from Michelle H.

Just what I didn't know I needed

2011-10-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm at Operation Awesome today talking about the things only a writer's spouse/best friend can understand, the hidden meanings behind the words we say about our writing. It's definitely a special relationship when you find someone who understands and supports your writing.

In fact, it was probably one of those deal-breakers for me, even though I didn't know it when I first met my husband. I wasn't actively writing at all. He read some of my journals, something we shared when we were getting to know each other. He said I had a unique way to write (voice), and he felt like he was reading a story. After that, he encouraged me to write, told me he believed I could get published. Sometimes I wonder if he regrets that encouragement just a little bit now. ;) But he still offers encouraging words, six years later, when I feel like I want to give up on my writing goals.

Like I said, I didn't know at the time how important it was for me to marry someone who supported my desire to write. The magic is that Bill encouraged it even when it wasn't something I was actively pursuing, wasn't something I wore on my sleeve. He reached into my soul, saw a writer there, and coaxed her out.

When our kids get to dating age, my advice to them will be this: find people who care enough to see your talents even when you're not showing them off. And find people who encourage you to go all-in, follow your dreams, and do what makes you happy.

Being married to any kind of artist has to be a challenge, but I'm grateful to my husband for taking a chance on me and investing so much of his love (and patience) to help me grow into a better version of myself. I hope I can reciprocate that at every turn, help him live out his dreams, too. Even if we never get our loftiest dreams, I know the journey has already been well worth it.

Happy Writing, everyone!

Blog Chain: All the Help I Can Get

2011-10-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

Sarah asked...

Do you work with critique partners? How did you find your crit pals, and what influence have they had on your work?

Which is a great question. I've blogged about my critique partners before and how I met them. In fact, when I did a search for keyword "critique" all of these came up:

The Joy of Community

WIP it good: Share your reading and writing adventures

You want me to change WHAT?

More Gushing About Operation Awesome

Would you keep going? (if you were the only writer in the world)

The Perks of Fellowship for Novelists

Celebrate Michelle, Operation Awesome's Newest Member!

Writing Enablers: Who's Enabling You?

As you can see, my critique group is pretty important to my writing process. Both they and the online writing community are a big reason I don't just give up writing when life gets busy or the craft gets difficult.

I had just written my fourth novel when I met Amparo in absolute-write forums. Agent Mandy Hubbard had held a query critique workshop thingy (technical term) and liked my query enough to request pages, even though mine was an MG boy book and you can see from the pink on her website that it's not her usual thing. To polish up my work, I requested help on absolute-write and a few people responded. Amparo was the one who got back to me a) the fastest and b) with the most helpful, thorough feedback. Not only did she point out when something didn't make sense. She also put in her funny little comments, like "Grr!" when somebody was mean to my protag or "LOL" when something made her giggle. After that, I was hooked on exactly her kind of feedback.

But I didn't really know what it was like to be a critique partner. It wasn't, at the time, a reciprocal deal. Separately, I posted about a partial request I'd gotten on the same book (my so-close-but-not-quite-competitive-for-the-market book) on the query tracker forum. Kristal saw me there and was interested in forming a critique group, one that hopefully wouldn't fizzle out like the last one she'd been in. I didn't respond right away. Like I said, I didn't know what it was to be a critique partner. It sounded like a big deal.

But eventually, I did write her back and we started the work of forming the group. She invited two people (Kelly and Angela) and I invited the one person I knew (Amparo) who invited someone else (Lindsay). We emailed about a group name and came up with Operation Awesome... which I have to confess I thought was a really silly name at the time. Now I can't imagine it any differently.

When one member got too busy to do the critique end of things, we sifted through a few people's pages to sort of try out different writers, see if they fit with our group. That's how I met Michelle, and also how I ended up part of this blog chain. Without Michelle, I'd have forgotten to do Blog Chain completely! Thanks, Michelle!

Each member of Operation Awesome brings something unique, whether it's an eye for grammar and punctuation, an understanding of what makes literature feel realistic, an affinity for beautiful descriptions, or an ear for authentic teen voice. Sometimes it's tricky having five people's work to critique, especially because we are typical writers, switching up projects like we change clothes. But I can't imagine who I'd do without. I hope we'll be together for a long time.

How did you find your critique partners?

Make sure you also read Cole's post before mine and Michelle H.'s tomorrow.

When Writing Takes SERIOUS Time

2011-10-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted. Well, the good news is that I have been writing. And outlining.

Since outlining is such mind-numbing work at times, I decided to let myself write 8-10 pages of any Shiny New Idea that comes my way. This might waste a couple hours a week, but it keeps my writing muscles primed without being a complete distraction from the real work of re-outlining a failed project. It's a project I'm just unwilling to let go.

I was encouraged by the dedication in the front of The Maze Runner, which is by anyone standards an amazing book.

For Lynette. This book was a three-year journey, and you never doubted.

Wow. I get so caught up at times in the stories of fast writers making it big in record time, that I forget how many incredible works took years to create. It doesn't make me think less of James Dashner to know The Maze Runner was a three-year journey for him. It makes complete sense, given the complexity and consistent mystery through to the very end.

I realized after reading that dedication that my book idea is no less complex. It's a whole other world I'm meshing with our world, and I need to give myself time to flesh that all out, to explore every bit of it, and to craft an introduction that is both compelling and mysterious.

That's a tall order for six months, or even the 10 months I spent writing the first draft. It's been sitting long enough now, so I really feel it's time for a new look at it.

I've got other projects almost done and some just beginning, but I keep coming back to this one. Like I said, I'm not ready to let it go. Maybe someday there'll be a good reason for that. For now, I'll just keep working and hope for the best.

What's keeping you busy these days? Have you ever spent more than a year on one writing project?

p.s. I'm at Operation Awesome today talking about trends and the universal psyche we can't escape.

Look over there!

2011-10-07T03:02:00.000-07:00

October's Mystery Agent and her winners are now up at Operation Awesome.

What are you waiting around here for? Go check it out! ;)

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Oh, you want me to leave first. Okay, then.

*waves like the geek she is*

Bye!!

The Delicacy of World Building

2011-09-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Just finished musing about How my own book reviews can make me a better writer over at Operation Awesome.

And now I'm thinking specifically about world building and how jealous I am of other writers for doing it so well. ;) It really does seem to be an art, weaving details into a narrative in a way that doesn't front-load or overload. The more I read, the more I get a sense for how it's done, but I still haven't mastered it.

I feel like a butterfly trying to weave a spiderweb, but my gigantic wings keep getting in the way. That's about how subtle my world building is.

I think my problem is that I geek out over science fiction, fantasy, or clever contemporary concepts. I make concept king, and everything else suffers. What should be king? CHARACTER.

The setting and the world building have to be a backdrop against which the character can work - like an actor on a set or... a spider in a web. Let the web get too prominent, and it just might strangle the spider it was built for.

Let me show you what I mean:

Azalea wants to find love, purpose, and a place on Earth to belong, since she's always felt out of place in her own world (which is literally another celestial orb in the sky). She happens to be an alien with the ability to manipulate humans emotionally. Because of that, she never knows when someone's feelings for her are genuine, and pretty much always assumes it's just the result of her beyond-her-control sway over mankind. She's lonely.

She finally meets someone who's impervious to her power, but he's fresh from a bad breakup and doesn't trust girls as far as he can throw them. (He doesn't throw them; he's a nice guy, really.) His lack of trust is only exacerbated by the secrecy Azalea's identity requires. The character conflict is there, right? But it's overshadowed in my current manuscript by details about the world Azalea comes from, the people on Earth who don't want her there, and the people back home who want to control her fate. I haven't succeeded at all in weaving a web. I've got a mass of silk instead. It's still a precious material, but it's impossible to appreciate in its current form.

I think reading my reviews of books I've loved by authors who've mastered world building is a good first step in learning what works.

But what other ways do you make sure you're weaving a web instead of sitting on a spool of silk? How do you keep from front-loading or overloading your story with detail?

Unique YA Paranormal: SHIFTING by Bethany Wiggins

2011-09-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

Le blurb:

After bouncing from foster home to foster home, Magdalene Mae is transferred to what should be her last foster home in the tiny town of Silver City, New Mexico. Now that she's eighteen and has only a year left in high school, she's determined to stay out of trouble and just be normal. Agreeing to go to the prom with Bridger O'Connell is a good first step. Fitting in has never been her strong suit, but it's not for the reasons most people would expect-it all has to do with the deep secret that she is a shape shifter. But even in her new home danger lurks, waiting in the shadows to pounce. They are the Skinwalkers of Navajo legend, who have traded their souls to become the animal whose skin they wear-and Maggie is their next target.

Full of romance, mysticism, and intrigue, this dark take on Navajo legend will haunt readers to the final page.

You can read my Afterglow Review of this book here (that's a review written within the hour of finishing the book so you get my rawest reaction).

What's so unique about this book?

The setting: It's refreshing to see a setting that's a) not a big city and b) feels like a real place, not just generic Small Town America. From the opener, you can feel the author's love of New Mexico in the vivid descriptions of the horizon and the sky. But you can also feel the protagonist's dread at starting over in a barren place like this. Lots of little details combine to draw a clear picture of New Mexico even for people like me who have never spent time there.

The proactive protagonist: Maggie Mae is not perfect, but she's certainly proactive. After being introduced to the reader as an orphan with a juvie record for showing up naked in the morning streets, Maggie could easily have lounged around her new digs for a while, sulking. I totally would have understood. But she didn't. She went to school on day 1, even without shampoo to wash her hair or decent clothes to wear - no complaining to her new foster mom. And by lunchtime, she had a lead on a possible part-time job. She knows people stare because of her strange looks, and she embraces the loner label even though she'd rather be wearing a different one. Basically, she takes what life gives her and deals with it. She's got guts.

A real girl: Maggie Mae cries. She doesn't do it to get attention or to manipulate someone. Her crying isn't stigmatized as 'being a girl'. But she's put in horrible situations, and she responds like a real person would. Sometimes she's mad at herself for crying. Sometimes she lets the tears flow. But even though she's been drawn as a tough character, she owns her vulnerability. I got the sense that Maggie just accepted herself in a way that one mean girl antagonist (Danni) didn't. Of course, there's one thing Maggie doesn't accept about herself...

The paranormal ability: Maggie Mae wishes she didn't shift. This was different from a lot of the paranormal books I read where the character discovers he/she can do something amazing and geeks out about it pretty much immediately. For Maggie, it's kind of a curse and she lives in constant dread of somebody finding her out. But it really is an awesome paranormal ability. There's one shifting scene that had me grinning from ear to ear, even though it didn't actually work out the way Maggie Mae intended. Oh, and one more thing about this: the paranormal didn't swallow the characters. It's an important part of the book, but I didn't feel knocked over the head with it. It's also unique because it's drawn from Navajo legend. Lots of people have heard of Skinwalkers, but I've never seen a novel based on it. That makes this one pretty special.

The romance: I saw a review of this book that claimed Bridger was 'the hot guy that inexplicably likes the ordinary girl.' I didn't get that sense at all. I thought the romance was very well-developed. I loved the author's use of gossip to introduce ideas that had a grain of truth but were ultimately false. Maggie Mae catches Bridger's eye first because of her appearance, but it's her attitude and skill on the track field that hold his interest. And then, of course, when he looks closely he sees more of what makes her special (as we all do when we choose to look more closely at someone we're already crushing on). Like everything else in this book, it felt real to me. He struck me as cocky, but in an endearing way. Also, when we get to know him a little better and what he can do, the confidence is not unwarranted. :) The attraction between them makes for some great charged moments throughout.

The bad guys: are so creepy. Maggie Mae gets attacked a lot by mysterious things. She's strong, but she's not that strong and I pretty much freaked out every time she was pursued by the creepies. And I was suspicious of everyone, for which I give kudos to the author. :)

So there you go. My breakdown of what makes SHIFTING by Bethany Wiggins a unique YA paranormal.

Its book birthday was yesterday, so if you head out to your bookstore today, you should be able to go home with it!! Happy reading!

Slow Starters: The Paranormal Edition

2011-09-27T03:25:00.000-07:00

Opposite to this topic, I wrote about The Draw of an Awesome Beginning with four books that drew me from the word Go over on Operation Awesome. Check that out if you're not for the slow burn described below.

It's time for another round of the blog chain and Shaun started us off with this question:

What are three books you would tell people that they need to keep reading even if they aren't immediately sucked in by the first page?

This was so hard for me. I looked at my shelves and realized, I don't read a lot of books that don't hook my attention past the first thirty pages. I give each book a chance (I try to give it 100 pages) and if I just can't get into it, I quit. There are too many books and life is too short to spend time on nonstarters.

But I did find a couple books in my collection which I would and have recommended despite them taking me a few pages to fall in love with. They are:

WINGS by Aprilynne Pike

Laurel's life is the very definition of normal... until the morning when she wakes up to discover a flower blooming from her back. As it turns out, nothing in Laurel's life is what it seems. Now, with the help of an alluring faerie sentry who holds the key to her true past, Laurel must race to save her human family from the centuries-old faerie enemies who walk among them.

It wasn't a boring beginning. It begins with Laurel's first day at school after homeschooling her whole life. That's a pretty big step to take in your life, and definitely interesting. It just wasn't paranormal interesting, which is what I expected when I picked it up. However, once the paranormal stuff does rev up, it's awesome. Aprilynne Pike put an entirely unique spin on the faerie species, something I've never seen or heard of in any other story. Beyond that, her villains were very scary. And the love triangle, while infuriating, worked. The small glimpse we see of the faerie world, Avalon, made me eager for the second installment, which I pretty much devoured. So yeah, this book is worth reading. And if you're used to contemporary fiction that begins with an ordinary school day made special by a big change, you probably won't even notice the slow start. (The fourth book comes out April 2012, so this series is still going.)

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf - her wolf - watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn't know why. Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace... until now. For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it's spoken, it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human - and Grace must fight to keep him - even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.

The first line: I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm going cold, surrounded by wolves.

That's a pretty compelling starter! And yet, I had trouble getting into this book at first. It just goes to show you that every reader is different, I guess. Or maybe that I'm just a weird reader. But the entire first few pages, I didn't know how to care about Grace... not until Sam sees her in the bookstore and she becomes really important. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else. Everyone I know loves this book, and I definitely came around once it got going. The paranormal aspect was there from the very beginning, but it wasn't until I fully comprehended the romance aspect that the story spoke to me. After that, it was hard to put this book down. I love that Maggie Stiefvater succeeded in re-imagining werewolves (difficult to do in an already paranormal-saturated market). And the idea of them running out of human time completely just broke my heart. I highly recommend it, even to people who don't always love paranormal books. (It's a complete trilogy, the third and last installment coming out last year.)

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife—between desire and danger.

Now that you all know I'm crazy, it's safe to proceed with my third "slow starter." Twilight. I know she has that snazzy beginning about how she never imagined how she would die but she supposes it's good to die in place of someone you love. LOVED that bit. But then it goes to Bella moving from Arizona to Forks and how she feels about it. Nothing wrong with it. It was just slow for me. I even related to it, having moved from Arizona to northern Utah for college and being shocked by the climate change. Still, if it hadn't been for both my parents telling me how epic this book was, I probably wouldn't have read it as quickly as I did. I gave it time to get better because I wanted to find that spark that impressed them. And, oh boy, did I find that spark! To this day, I don't know any author who writes conflicted passion like Stephenie Meyer. Genius. Plus, her re-imagining of vampires was probably the spark that inspired both the authors above, even if they don't want to admit it. And re-imaginings of tired old tropes ROCK! (You all know the story about how many books and when they were published.) {{If you haven't read this yet, what are you waiting for?}}

So I learned something about myself through this exercise: I'm not a very patient reader. *apologetic smile* If it's not rockin' from the beginning, I'm not eating it up. So I guess it's a good thing I instituted my first 100 pages rule. At least I know I'll always give a good book a decent chance.

What books have you loved after a rocky start?

Be sure to check out Kate's post before mine and Michelle H. tomorrow!

p.s. An interesting note: When I asked my husband for his feedback before writing this post, he suggested Across the Universe by Beth Revis. I just stared at him and told him, "You know, most people say that's one of the best beginnings they've ever read." He was surprised to hear that. For him, too slow even to keep reading. So this really is all in the eye of the beholder.

Contest to win an ARC of TOUCH by Jus Accardo

2011-09-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

Add it on goodreads

Le blurb:

When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home.

Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized.

Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking down Denazen before they’re caught and her father discovers the biggest secret of all. A secret Dez has spent her life keeping safe.

The author is holding the ARC contest on her blog: http://www.jusaccardo.com/2011/09/wanna-read-touch-before-november-1st-enter-to-win-an-arc/

It looks and sounds epic, and I really don't want to wait until November 1st to read it... but I will if I have to. I'm getting a Kyle XY vibe from the description, which is a very good thing! So head over there to enter the contest and spread the word about this exciting new book.

p.s. Amparo is over at Operation Awesome today blogging about agent-involved contests for those of you ready to be discovered!

The Difference Between Reading and Critiquing

2011-09-25T02:20:00.000-07:00

For me, reading and critiquing are worlds different from each other.

When I read a published book, I relax and accept the story for what it is in its finished form. I may make judgments if I find something I'd change if it were up to me, but I don't dwell on any perceived glitches. I take the story as a whole and let it wash over me like a summer sun. *sigh* Reading good fiction is my happy place.

When I critique, a whole different mindset colors the reading. I'm looking diligently, not for mistakes to correct, per se, but for any possible way the story can be made better, stronger, more realistic, more moving.

This is why I could tear through SHIFTING by Bethany Wiggins in two nights of feverish reading, and yet it takes me weeks to months to critique a friend's unpublished MS.

I can't change the published novel. I can't change my buddy's MS either, but I can make suggestions that might influence the finished project. I love being part of that process.

But it's definitely a slower process for me than reading published works, if only because I'm invested in its success. I don't want to do a half-baked job. I sincerely want to see the amazing stories my CP's write end up on bookshelves everywhere.

I should probably ease up a little, take some of the pressure off myself. After all, it's hubris to think I could make or break someone else's book. I know I can't. Yet the difference between these two types of reading remains striking for me.

Do you critique as fast as you read, or is it a longer labor for you, too?

I lucked out and got to read an advanced reader copy this weekend!!

Please check out my Afterglow lovefest review for SHIFTING by this phenomenal debut novelist, Bethany Wiggins. And get your hands on a copy if you can (comes out this Tuesday!). You won't be sorry.

Writers Write

2011-09-20T15:07:00.000-07:00

Writers write, bloggers blog, and some say blogging doesn't count as writing. I hope they're wrong because, not counting blogging, I haven't done any new writing in weeks.

I'm reading THE PLOT THICKENS and critiquing for some fabulous people (CPs, cousins, contest winners, auction winners), and eyeing my teetering TBR pile with a mixture of excitement and despair.

I'm also teaching my son addition, subtraction, phonics, handwriting, reading comprehension, art, music, science, and social studies.

And lately I've been cleaning my house, which has to be done during these dry creative periods (because when I'm feeling inspired, I can't be bothered to dust or vacuum).

But all those things up there don't make me a writer. Only writing does. So, referencing my own post on bite-sized goals, I plan to cheat on my overwhelming to-do list and write 1k words tonight anyway. Even though I should be doing other things. I just can't stand not being a real writer. Not really writing.

Do you get into slumps like this that aren't really slumps? Times when something else trumps writing just because it has to be done?

After all, it is September. I know half y'all are dealing with school beginnings either as teachers or students.

May we all find the time to express the stories fighting to burst free from our innermost fancies!

*rides off into the sunset*

(I never know how to end these things.)

Know Thyself (and, um, your character)

2011-09-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

I just started reading Noah Lukeman's THE PLOT THICKENS: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life, and was much encouraged when multi-published regency romance author Sarah M. Eden mentioned she owns, loves, and more importantly, uses the book!

So I'm reading it, and the very beginning is rough because it has all these characterization questions to ask yourself, and that just makes me want to put the book down and write. I think maybe I should be taking copious notes while I read it.

Lukeman, a literary agent, suggests looking at your character through a series of lenses:

- like an eye witness describing the character to a police sketch artist
- like a doctor asking his patient for personal history
- like a banker considering the applicant for a loan

There's much more than just that, but it basically ends with you knowing more about your character than you know about your own mother. Which is cool. And I can see this type of method really helping me out with my problem.

My problem: If I don't outline, I get lost. If I do outline, my characters surprise me with revelations, making me feel like I just married someone I don't even know (and basically ruining my next plot point).

I can imagine, however, that if I filled out this sort of questionaire about my main characters - made it so detailed that it inspired the plot, which is kind of the point of a character-driven tale - then I wouldn't have to deal with surprises that derail me into that dreaded black forest of crap-manuscript.

I'm excited to read more of this book. I think I'll be learning a lot as Noah Lukeman guides me through characterization to plot points to the all-important hero's journey. Plot has been my downfall for far too long. It feels good to be studying it at last.

Now you know my weaknesses in writing. What have you learned in your writing journey this week?

(p.s. I'm over at Operation Awesome today talking about bite-sized goals.)

What I should be doing today...

2011-09-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

I'm over at Operation Awesome today talking about Read for Relief, a writer-driven auction/relief effort for hurricane victims.

For the sake of accountability, here's what I'm (supposed to be) working on right now:

1) Editing my Paranormal romance from third person limited to first person... limited. I guess that last part goes without saying.

2) Coming up with a really great ending. (Yes, I'm actually editing BEFORE the ending is concrete, but I kind of know how it's going to end. Kind of.)

3) Teaching my four-year-old to write his full name, address, and phone number for emergency purposes.

4) Ignoring the Shiny New Ideas that keep harassing me! They have the worst timing in the world!

What I am doing:

1) Blogging

2) Laughing at Kiersten White's blog.

3) Letting my kids watch Eloise on Netflix watch instantly

4) Eating pancakes with real maple syrup. Mmmmm....

Now for a laugh:

Yahoo! news quoted NY Times Bestselling Author Kiersten White in one of their articles... only they seemed to have no idea she's a bestselling author. Read the full story here and here.

Update: Yahoo! edited the article in question to focus on whose fault the blackout was, so it no longer includes the charming tweet quote by "San Diego resident Kiersten White" about not having A/C and not missing it. *sigh* It's probably for the best.

Blog Chain: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night in Albuquerque

2011-09-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

It's BLOG CHAIN TIME... again. Feels like I just did this, but it's a writing sample this time, so I hope you enjoy. :)

Christine picked the new topic. She says:

"Since we are all writer's, I thought it was about time for us to stretch our creative muscles and do a little writing. So, take the following topic and go crazy! Show us what you've got. Your story can be as long or as short as you choose."

The topic: A dark and stormy night.

Le scene:

When the rain touched the desert sand, it sizzled. I kicked the side of the car until it left a satisfying dent the size of my boot. The pain was immediate. I shook my foot until it faded. Hiking boots would've been good about now, but no. I wore stiletto boots with a pointed toe that cut the circulation from my peripheral toes. There would be no dancing tonight.

"Did you just kick my car?" Jack finally got up out of the driver's seat, closing his jacket around his squirrely shoulders as the rain made blood-red splotches on the salmon-colored leather. As mercy dates went, this one could run for congress.

His pistachio green "classic" car looked like a giant, faded vegetable... on a nice day. In the rain, the retro metal was even more pathetic. He bent to inspect his car's newest dent, then pursed his lips in my direction.

I folded my arms and stared down the dirt road until the night sky swallowed sight. If I held really still, I thought I could hear music coming from the distant red and yellow lights. Country music.

Jack coughed.

I watched him lean into the car and tap the gas gauge for the fiftieth time.

A groan, the caliber of which usually followed lightning, rose from my chest. "No matter how many times you look, it's still going to say the same damn thing. Out of gas!"

"I'm sorry, Chelsea." Even his voice sounded squirrel-ish. It dinged like a tiny hammer against my Sympathy Center, just like it had when he'd asked me to this stupid square dance in the boondocks. It hadn't helped that Always-thinks-she's-right Meg, standing right beside me at school, had pretty much laughed in his face. I couldn't say no after that.

But now there was mud on my stiletto boots. My feet ached. My hair lay completely flat. The only good thing that came from standing in the rain was that Jack's pink (Come on! Salmon is so not a real color!) leather jacket had turned a more masculine red in the deluge.

"Let's just go," I said, gesturing for him to join me on the road. We could walk to those distant lights if it took us all night. It would be better than sitting in that refrigerator of a jalopy for one more second.

Jack fished out his car keys and handed me my purse. I thanked God for inspiring me to bring my vinyl zip-up bag instead of something more permeable. At least my lipstick would make it through this unscathed. Jack didn't say anything for the first hundred feet, just stared at the gravel and broken asphalt that poked through the soaked dust.

"Are you cold?" He made like he was going to take off his jacket and offer it to me. I stopped him with a raised palm and a glare I really couldn't help sending his way.

A car zipped past, loosening rocks which sprang up at us like swarming insects. A few stung my thighs below my denim cut-offs. I threw my hands up and cursed loudly at the back of the vehicle. Then, to my horror, the white truck spun around and came back.

Jack took my hand so suddenly, I think my jaw actually dropped. A bouncer-sized guy in a wife-beater shirt hung out the truck's window as it screeched to a stop just beside us. "Did you need a ride?"

I shook my head, wondering where my voice had gone off to. Even in the dark, I could see the sheen of bald heads on every passenger.

The one who'd invited me in took a cursory glance at my hand entwined with Jack's and chuckled under his breath. "This guy bothering you?" His smile only went up on one side, like he was too lazy to get the rest of it up. A scar the shape of the moon marred his square chin. But the spookiest thing about him was his eyes. There was too much white to them, like his eyelids didn't work properly.

"I'm fine. Moonlit walk in the rain." I turned away, realizing with relief that my feet had started working again. I led Jack toward those promising lights and the hint of music.

A rough hand jerked my shoulder back, breaking our handhold. "I think we can offer you a better time," insisted the skinhead. Damn, he moved fast.

Every nerve in my chest sent warning signals - to my heart, to my brain. I didn't even register the rain dripping off my nose. All I saw was the shiny white truck and the gleaming bald heads with eyes leering sickly.

"Back off!" The voice was not mine. I did a double-take toward Jack before I realized he'd spoken. He sounded different: bold. Even his jaw looked a little stronger. Less... squirrel-esque.

The talkative skinhead with the moon-shaped scar took an earth-eating stride toward us. I backed away, but Jack stood firm, even leaning forward with his fists clenched at his sides.

Two doors opened, and three more skinheads got out of the truck. One had a tattoo snaking up his left arm. In the truck's headlights, I could see the grapevine swirls that ended not in grapes, but skulls. The other two had tattoos, as well, but they stood a foot behind the first two, making them hard to see.

What did it matter? I'd be dead before I could describe them to a police sketch artist.

Jack stepped forward, putting himself within breath-sniffing distance of the talker.

I shut my eyes as I heard the snickering men advance. The sound of blows and grunts filled my ears. I hugged myself, daring to open my eyes, to see if any of them were coming after me next.

Now I know my jaw dropped. Groaning or unconscious skinheads littered the dusty shoulder. Jack stood dangling a silver skull keychain from his bloody fist. "Need a ride?" He smirked.

I noticed for the first time that, behind his broken glasses, his eyes were a really pretty blue. As mercy dates go, this one could run for congress.

I'm not great at brevity. Sorry 'bout that! :) I'm sandwiched between Kate before me and Michelle H. tomorrow. Start with Christine, if you want the whole group's dark, stormy scenes. :)

Family Reunion - Labor Day 2011

2011-09-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

This is me (in my pajamas) after four days camping in San Diego. I'm sunburned and blonder than I've been in years. My 2-year-old, the brunette one, also looks almost blond. Fortunately, nobody got sunburned quite as much as this, but the littlest guy did get red-nosed. We're both slathering on the aloe now that we're home, and healing very fast.

These little changes in our appearance are just a reminder of all the outdoor fun we had over Labor Day weekend. We set up tents, cooked food in foil and on roasting sticks, played at Mission Bay Park at a mini-beach, visited the Festival of Sail, toured a submarine and a couple tall "pirate" ships (I told my 4-year-old they were pirate ships),

played with animals at a petting zoo, sang songs around a campfire (took requests from the people camped next door, who just happened to be Mormon, too, so they requested hymns by the hymn number), went to Balboa Park, rode the trolley, saw the Botanical Gardens, visited the International Cottages, watched a lame street magician, walked through Old Town California, listened to awesome wood instruments playing Mexican music while our toddlers and preschoolers danced, drank exotic slushies, saw the Mormon Battalion visitor's center (very cool if you're into California/Mexican/American/Mormon history, or even if you're not), panned for gold, and had our own talent show by the fireside. By the way, my brother's amateur magic show was way better than that street magician in Balboa Park. :) All in all, it was a fantastic time. We were never bored, and we were frequently outside, which is an awesome place to be when you're in sunny California.

The flowers! Oh, the flowers. And the trees... It's just an amazing, beautiful place.

If you ever have a chance to visit San Diego in all its artsy, historic, natural glory, I definitely recommend it. Our camping reunion was made a little more glamorous because of it.

What did you do over Labor Day weekend? Did you get sunburned?

You know what's wrong with your story.

2011-09-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Let me change that to, You probably know what's wrong with your story.

I hate to make generalizations, but I've never met one person who was in therapy and didn't know why they were in therapy. Sure, there are plenty of us who don't know how to get out of therapy, how to "cure" ourselves, but we sure know there's something wrong in our lives, and we have more than an inkling about what that something is.

Writing is like that. Just as therapy junkies can talk to psychologists using their own lingo, a writer who's been around the writerly blogosphere a few times can usually spot the main problem with her own work, and often give it a name: pacing, dialogue, detail, realism, characterization, story arc.

When I worked with "troubled teens" in a wilderness therapy program in southern Utah, one of my more experienced co-workers said to me, "Physician, heal thyself." See, when you live in the woods for a week or two at a time, Nature has a way of kicking you in the butt and bringing things to the surface you thought you'd already dealt with. That's why it's so effective as therapy. Add to the mix 6-8 teens with their own inner demons and you wind up with a whole lot of bumbling, blistering self-healing going on. Yeah, the kids had real therapists to hash out their issues, but most of the real work happened between therapist visits, during the long, hot hikes wearing a heavy pack, digging in almost frozen ground so we could have a fire and a latrine, or dealing with in-fighting among the group. It was easy for me to see their issues (just like with your critique partners and their writing). In the wilderness, you wear your heart on your sleeve.

It was harder for me to see and deal with my own.

You can only depend on an outside observer to a limited extent. Real therapy happens inside you. And that's how writing is, too. Your critique partners can't write your book for you. They can point out where you seem to be struggling, like good friends do. But they can't go to therapy for you.

The good news is the title of this blog post: You know what's wrong with your story.

Just like you know your Aunt Bertha's mustache is the reason you avoid dating mustached men. You read healthy, published books and you see where your own work falls a little short. The key is noticing that feeling, embracing it, and remembering it. Because as soon as you realize you fall short somewhere, the human tendency is to forget. It protects us to live in denial. But it doesn't make us better people, and it's never made me a better writer.

So my goal in the future as I'm reading healthy books is to recognize that feeling when I see something that just works, and to write down the thing I struggle with before my protective self tries to hide it from me.

I can read a thousand Harry-Potter-quality novels, but I'll never get any better until I own what's holding me back from writing one. Writing therapy is hard, messy work. It's like climbing a mountain to cut words from your manuscript or rearrange scenes and then (my least favorite part) try to make them all flow together again with segues that don't read like segues.

One day out in the woods, my group had to get to a zone for food drop (a once a week rationing thing) and there was a massive, steep hill standing in our way. It was a quarter mile of straight uphill! Without packs, it would have been formidable, but with our "baggage" it was even harder. When we got to the top, we took pictures. They were the most genuine smiles I saw out there in the entire year I worked there, counting Christmastime! And when we parked ourselves at the bottom, made camp, and started our fireside chat, the personal epiphanies poured out.

The hill had changed us all.

The moral of the story? Take your pick:

1) Hard things are worth it in the end
2) You can do amazing things you might think are impossible
3) The mountain is your friend

So, my fellow writing therapy junkies... Physician, heal thyself. Climb that mountain. Do the hard thing you're afraid of.

p.s. If you don't know what's wrong with your story, keep reading and submitting your work to critique partners. If you do know what's wrong, you can join me in my quest to work through my writing issues, one at a time. I think this is going to be a hell of a long hike.

P.S. Kristine Asselin has written a glowing Afterglow Review on Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes. If you're like me and always looking for great middle grade find, check it out!

P.P.S. EPIC 500 FOLLOWERS APPRECIATION CONTEST at OPERATION AWESOME! Going on all week. Don't miss these prize packs, including books, swag, critiques, and a beautiful piece of jewelry.

How Ideas Hit: The Magic Seeds of Story

2011-08-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

When I get a new idea for a story, it comes in weird ways.

Like a random line will pop into my head:

"Usually the hiccups are not life threatening."

... and then I have the fun of creating a story around that idea. Why are the hiccups life threatening this time? Is my MC just really, really dramatic?

Another way I get story ideas is from morbid daydreams. I've had these since I was a child. I'd be sitting in a lecture or something, and suddenly I'd imagine I was being attacked on a date, or a giant spider was skittering toward me, or I was being threatened at the point of a gun. Now what? Yes, I realize I may be unstable. I like to think I'm just imaginative, like Anne of Green Gables or Tootie on Meet Me in St. Louis. If I get an idea this way, I don't have to worry about creating a conflict since the conflict comes already formed.

There's also the occasional regular dream that inspires a whole book. The cool thing about dreams is they can be about one tiny moment in full detail or they can cover a large space of time very quickly. Sometimes, miraculously, they do both. This makes outlining REALLY easy. :)

It's rare for me, but sometimes I'll get a character idea while I'm doing the dishes or jogging around the block. Like one time I was running back up the walkway in front of my place when a tiny dog surprised me. It had no leash or owner in sight! As a jogger, I'm deathly afraid of dogs without leashes or owners. Yeah, even the tiny ones. Then, out of the blue, a college-age guy turns the corner and calls out, "Mack! Come here!" The idea of a little dog like that sharing a name with a burly truck made me laugh (might have also been the relief that the little bugger wasn't going to eat me slowly and painfully). Someday I'll write about this guy who a) bought a tiny dog and b) gave it a really big name. It's not a story idea, but it's a start.

Reading is a surefire way to get creative juices flowing. I'm not the first person to notice this. Reading makes you want to write. Often, I'll read a traditionally bare-boned fairy tale with my kids and my mind automatically goes to fill in the details with intriguing questions. Was the ogre in Puss in Boots really bad? He lived in a castle, so he was some kind of ruler. Was he a tyrant? In what ways did he use his shape-shifting powers to wreak havoc on the peasants? Somehow the cat was able to kill the ogre and take over his castle on behalf of his own master, the Miller's son. Did the ogre have any family who live abroad and visit once a year? Are they all shape-shifters? What will happen when they come for Christmas looking like normal people? Fairy tales are fertile starting ground for all kinds of ideas.

Singing along to my favorite 1980's music. Power ballad lyrics get me every time. That emotion will often inspire scene ideas or a romantic plot arc (not the exact same romantic plot arc in the song).

There are many different ways these magic seeds pop into our lives. I think most of us have a plethora of ideas floating through our heads at any given time. Here's your friendly reminder to WRITE THEM DOWN as they come. Rush over to the computer and put them in your Ideas folder, or keep a pad of paper by the dishwasher.

You never know when the muse may leave you and you'll need a magic seed to get started again.

Hmm, that's got me wondering about a modern retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk... (if it hadn't already been done recently).

How do your initial ideas come?

How Critiquing Makes You a Better Writer

2011-08-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

The other day I was reading somebody's unpublished book and I was like, "Wow, this part is beautiful and amazing and makes me want to weep."

Reading that made me a better writer (and probably a better person).

In the same manuscript, I spotted:

a) purple prose, where the writer takes originality an nth of a degree too far and ends up sounding artsy fartsy
b) an abundance of adverbs (is there a book with this title? because there totally should be)
c) run-on sentences that made me truly appreciate our good friend the period (.)

This person is a good writer, as evidenced by the above referenced awesome prose that made me want to weep. But they still had little drafting flaws that needed polishing. We all do. Finding those in someone else's work makes it easier to see them in my own.

And that makes me a better writer.

We're all learning and practicing by degrees, line upon line, precept upon precept (Isaiah 28:10). Critiquing helps with that. So if you're feeling a little stuck in your writing, read somebody else's work. It'll really help them out, and...

make you a better writer.

p.s. Sometimes feels like I'm preaching to the choir.

p.p.s. Matthew Rush has a new Afterglow Book Review up for Ghost Medicine by Andrew Smith (The Marbury Lens author's debut novel).

p.p.p.s. If you need a laugh, see this very brief but hilarious post by Kiersten White about an editorial note that made her day.

Foray into Revision Forest

2011-08-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

WriteOnCon did two major things for me:

1) taught me a lot about good writing (amazing articles over there if you have some time)
2) helped me see yet more flaws in my own writing

So ever since, I've been tampering with my WIP's beginning and avoiding the revisions I know must now be done. Today I'll make the foray back into Revision Forest with my Leatherman multi-purpose pocket knife of words: aka, the writerly blogosphere. Yeah, you guys are my best tool to use in Revision Forest. I plan to use posts like Amparo's (about plotting!) and Martha's (about believable romance!) to infuse my WIP with more awesomeness than it can handle.

If you're doing revisions, join me in some revision prep by starting with Amparo's post and heading over to WriteOnCon's linky schedule for any gems you may have missed during the conference.

Warning: Foraying into this forest might make you feel a little lost, but maps are included.

Happy Monday, everybody! What are your writing plans today?
(I'm transposing my third person limited into first person.)

Promises, Promises

2011-08-27T01:43:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I will write/edit/read everything on my to-do list.

I'll make an editing schedule and keep it up every night.

As soon as I'm done reading this book, I'll get back to revisions.

These are just a few of the promises I've broken to myself and others who try to motivate me. It's like somewhere along the line, I decided every writing goal was a New Year's resolution to be bent, broken, and forgotten sometime mid-February.

It's not that I'm lazy. Okay, maybe a little bit. And easily distracted. And busy with other (worthwhile) things, like raising my kids, teaching important life skills (yes, I get the irony), and cleaning the bathrooms.

The thing with unreliable people is that eventually the people around them stop trusting them to keep promises. And while I do try to be reliable for other people (especially the physical, face to face people in my life), the same thing applies to self-trust. At some point, I don't believe myself anymore when I set a writing goal because I know the toilet will overflow or there will be a hurricane looming over the east coast, or I'll get diverted by a shiny object, and the goal will be forgotten. Usually I remember it the next day and try to get back on the horse.

But sometimes I just stop writing/editing/reading. For weeks at a time. I always come back to it because it's part of my soul. There are other parts of my soul, too, though. And they have a siren song all their own.

I wonder if there will ever be a time in my life when all those promises I made to myself will be fulfilled. Some books take a lifetime to write. Maybe some routines or habits take a lifetime to master.

I'm not going to end this post with a new promise. I'll just say I have hope and determination on my side. I've been described as tenacious. I've been compared to a fire.

I've accomplished many difficult things, from brutal survival situations to a marathon to natural childbirth, and I always come out stronger, if a bit bruised. And I can conquer myself, too.

I may not be making leaps and bounds toward my ultimate goals of publication and readership, but even baby steps will get me there someday.

There's one thing I can always promise:

When I want something badly enough, it happens.

Are you the promise-making type? How do you keep yourself in line?

Hibernating

2011-08-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

I'm not actually hibernating, but we are studying bears today for my son's preschool learning. In my search for a unit study on the topic, I found this childhood gem:

Teddy Bear Action Song:Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear touch the ground
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear tie your shoe
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear that will do.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, go upstairs
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, brush your hair
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn off the light
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say goodnight!

Aww, jump-rope memories from kindergarten!

Can't wait to teach it to my kids after nap time.

Every once in a while, writing takes a back-burner while I do intensive research on different curricula and restructure the way we do preschool. I found my file boxes while de-cluttering the other day, so that threw me into organizing more. Some of the things I made for my oldest a few years ago (apple-shaped red felt pieces, etc.) are now perfect for my two-year-old who's learning colors, letters, counting, and speaking.

I know a lot of my fellow writers are teachers, and a few are fellow homeschoolers. Since my four-year-old is getting into thicker instruction (by thicker I mean, I really need to consolidate these three progress binders) and is reading early readers by himself, I decided to start a blog to chronicle our adventures and to help me spot routines that are working vs. ones that aren't. If you're into home learning or just curious, follow me at...

Knight Academy - Homeschool for Champions.

In other news, I can't believe it's already Thursday! What are your weekend plans?

De-cluttering: a Writing Metaphor

2011-08-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

Pic from this site about sorting through precious memories

Last night, my husband and I took everything out of our sons' bedroom closet and put it in the living room. This led to several hours of reminiscing (aww!) and trashing (why am I keeping this?) and repackaging (maybe these four little boxes of 'baby clothes 6-9 months' could go into one big box). This morning after the boys woke up, we went in and replaced their closet storage with the new and improved closet storage - stuff we can access more easily now that we know exactly where everything is and what its future purpose is. And there's markedly less junk in there.

So let's go back and look at those steps again, this time with an eye on your completed manuscript:

Reminisce:

Aww! Remember that really quippy comeback Secondary Character said to other Secondary Character? Or that heart-rending description of the sun setting behind the mushroom cloud in the middle of the ocean? That needs to be framed or put into a photo album or something.

Or maybe we should let it go. (I'm looking at you, movie stub from five years ago!)

Trash:

Why am I even keeping all these extra adverbs? And that's and then's? I know I talk about using them, but I never actually get around to it. They just take up space!

Repackage:

This characterization/important revelation isn't shining through with the current scene/plot arc. Hmm, wonder how I could put it so it's easier for readers to access...

See? Easy as cleaning your closet.

But since neither of those activities is actually easy, here are a few rules of thumb when reminiscing about, trashing, and repackaging your word clutter.

Reminisce: Take criticism but follow your heart. You really don't want to regret throwing away those baby booties your grandmother made just because somebody said the colors looked like throw-up. And if you can frame your favorite parts so they stand out more, do it!
Trash: If you can read the sentence and it means the same wonderful thing without [deleted word], trash it! This is usually true of any then, that, and sentences that begin with conjunctions (another kryptonite for me).
Repackage: It's so tough to take everything out and put it back together in a neater package, but it's also the most important thing we can do for our stories. Try doing what you do with your boxes. If you take something out, put it in a pile/category (maybe in an outline or on note cards), and when the story is totally deconstructed, put them back in the way they should go.

Most importantly, don't do it alone. Having somebody to run things past ("Honey, do you still use this shoe polish from ten years ago?") can really speed things up and keep things neat.

Happy de-cluttering!

My Husband the Alpha (Reader)

2011-08-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

So technically, I'm not done with my WIP. (Thank you, Captain Obvious, since it's a work-in-progress which implies it isn't quite finished.)

That makes my husband an alpha reader rather than the more widely renowned beta reader. As alpha readers go, my husband has historically been less than helpful. A common remark from him is, "It's... good."

This vagueness comes from a good place. Because he loves me. And he wants to encourage me no matter how bad my writing may or may not be. But also because in the past, he didn't have a ton of other reading to compare with mine. So what kind of advice could he really give?

That's changed. (Not his loving me; that's undying, of course.)

Bill will tell you he's always liked reading, but the truth is he hadn't read any fiction in quite a while when we met. While dating (to avoid excessive make-outs), we read all the Harry Potter books together. Then he got busy with school and work and didn't feel as inclined to read fiction (plus we were married and could make out whenever we wanted). I introduced him to Twilight, then Percy Jackson. The latter made him fall in love with boyish middle grade. Since then, he's picked out a few books on his own: Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles and Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.

Now he's reading my book plus The Maze Runner by James Dashner. For a guy finishing up his master's in a technical management field, he's developed quite the eye for great fiction, specifically the younger voices, which is what I tend to write.

So when he finished a good portion of my book yesterday and said, "I think it would be better in first person," I picked my jaw up off the floor and took another look at my manuscript.

He was right.

There were some really telling phrases in there (hundreds) that would be all but annihilated if I told the story from my MC's point of view. I feel an odd combination of grateful and proud this morning as I set out to abolish the needless telling in my novel by following my awesome husband's advice.

I just want to use this forum to say a public THANK YOU to Bill for supporting me the way he does, and for wanting as badly as I do for my work to be published someday.

You're the reason I started believing in my writing again, sweetheart.

and...

Who inspires you?

Bad Writing Days

2011-08-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

My topic today is fitting for a blah Monday.

Bad Writing Days.

We all have those days. I'm not talking about writer's block or days when you decide not to write at all. I mean those days when you sit down at your Word document and try your damnedest to put something good down.

And everything comes out as word vomit.

This usually happens to me when I'm feeling hopeless to begin with. I start typing and out come the cliches. Then I think, I need to be more original, and out comes the purple prose. And just when I realize maybe I'm trying too hard, out come the rhetorical questions. They're my kryptonite.

It's sort of like an out-of-body experience. I'm watching myself get worse and worse but am powerless to stop it.

So usually what happens next is, I find something shiny to distract myself from the despair of being a sucky writer. Most recently? Angry birds. Don't try it - it's really addicting. And once I feel sufficiently distracted, I can usually go back to my work-in-progress with a better attitude, and the determination to make it work.

Unless it's a really bad writing day.

What do you do with your bad writing days? Do you call it a wash and delete it all or do you keep it and try to fashion that purple prose into something resembling good writing?

And just so this post isn't a total downer, here are some exercises for getting those creative juices flowing:

Pretend you're the villain in your story - no, really. If he wears a black cape, put on that cape and walk around the house plotting your hero's demise. It's not writing, but you might just get some useful villain catch-phrases out of the exercise.
Go to pandora and pick a song to be your MC's favorite. Get up and dance to it. Think about why it's his or her favorite and if it could be incorporated into the story someplace. If not, just let it wash over you while you plot your villain's demise.
Get out of the house/library/writing space and go someplace that fits your setting. Even if it's not the same state or country. Check out places your MC would normally go, like a high school or a local dance club. Pay attention to details. Bring your notebook to jot.
Become an expert on your MC via youtube. If your MC is a boxer, watch boxing videos. If she's a dancer, watch the dancing vids. Violinist. Swimmer. Tattoo artist. There's pretty much something for everyone, and you might even discover a new favorite hobby (bird watching?).
Eat a food you think a character might eat, even if it's french fries dipped in ice cream. What better way to get into character?
Take a nap if you can. Not only will sleeping put your brain in a better, healthier place, there's also a possibility you'll be inspired by a dream. If nothing else, at least you'll feel different when you wake up.

And when it comes to Bad Writing Days, different is always better.

Happy Monday!! *cheesy grin*

New book, new blog design

2011-08-20T01:17:00.000-07:00

My new work-in-progress is dark. One of the primary themes is darkness vs. light, heaven vs. hell, and so on and so forth. Above is my mock cover, just playing around on picnik.com. If you're wondering what that blob is, it's a planet shaped into a human heart, bursting with light (which is actually more than just a theme in the story; it's a paranormal element).

So I'm not much of a cover designer... BUT I did go ahead and redecorate my blog and I'm happy with the way it turned out (thank you, thecutestblogontheblock.com). More importantly, Lucy likes it.

I hope you don't hate me for ditching the orange swirls. I do still love them, but while that cheerful vibe matched my last MC, Lucy needed something a little more subdued. Here's what I've discovered about her so far:

Lucy Belle

Dreads conflict and avoids it at all costs, mostly due to her empath abilities.
Usually succeeds in blending in, which also helps in avoiding conflict.
Loves, loves, loves old books - if they're falling apart, even better.
Doesn't like eating in public, but enjoys going dancing with her best friends.
Is bold and funny around her closest friends.
Secretly wants to be an actress like her late mother, but is terrified to try.
Didn't do anything to stand out in high school and regrets it.
Can be very irresponsible when tempted.
More prone to guilt and sympathy than normal people.
Could eat Smooth and Melty Mints all day.
Believes in fate and soulmates, and has trouble seeing beyond that box.
Sings like an angel, but never performs.
Is completely powerless when it comes to the magic touch of a certain charming devil.

Also, she likes old movies, especially of the vampire variety. I've had a lot of fun getting to know Lucy and the people she surrounds herself with. I hope someday to introduce her to you more formally.

Until then, keep on writing and I'll do the same! Done any characterization exercises lately?

Happy Weekend, Blog Buddies!!

Blog Chain: The Brave New World of Self-Publishing

2011-08-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

What would they think of self-publishing?

Like everyone else, my views on self-publishing are evolving with the publishing industry itself. At WriteOnCon the past few days, I saw quite a few agents give a nod to self-publishing as a legitimate way to reach readers with novellas or niche market projects, even when you already have an agent and are going traditional with more commercially appealing novels.

I think this new openness is a good thing because it means authors (and the agents/editors who help them) have more options than ever before.

It's also a bad thing. Why do I say that? Because as a still developing writer, the temptation to put my work out there is pretty constant... and I'm not ready. And even if/when I do feel my work is ready for wide readership, there are still plenty of market considerations (complexities) that I don't fully grasp.

Most agents come to agenting through an internship or apprenticeship model, learning the ins and outs of contracts and marketing from more experienced agents. While this does perpetuate a sameness in the traditional publishing world that may block out innovative ideas, it's also probably the best possible way for the reins to pass hands in the publishing industry.

Like it or not, literary agents still know a lot more than the average author about publishing rights, international publishing, and even marketing (though authors are taking on more marketing responsibilities through social networking). And if you ever want to go from self-publishing into traditional publishing (which I think most of the authors I know still do), an agent is still a really handy team member to have.

These factors considered, I'm not against self-publishing at all. I know authors can study up on these complexities and become experts in their own rite. And amazon makes it so freaking easy to just upload your novel and start selling it for less than a dollar. It seems like you don't even need all that stuffy publishing industry knowledge.

In fact, I've considered createspace.com as a way to make a quick buck. But I didn't consider it for very long. See, after looking at the steps involved, I realized I'm still not ready.

I'm not ready to fork out the money for a professional editor and a professional cover artist. I'm not ready to take on all the responsibility for selling my own work. I've tried selling a product in the past and I sucked at it. If the future is me having to stand on a corner and say, "Read my book, you'll love it," I'm pretty much screwed. Yeah, there's blogging, and that's a little different from the street corner approach. :) But still, self-marketing is much easier for me to imagine if I'm backed by a traditional publisher and a supportive agent who all want me to succeed, too.

So that's how I feel about me self-publishing. As far as you self-publishing, I say YOU GO, GIRL! or GUY! I've read two (yeah, that's it so far) incredible, polished, riveting self-published novels. They were put out by experienced authors, who both have agents, and are both still working toward traditional publishing success as well. They're happy with their choice. Meanwhile, their books are doing great! Because they're great books. They took their time. They did it right. And that rocks.

Are your feelings on this topic as convoluted as mine?

Check out others on the blog chain: Kate before me, and Michelle H. up next. Previously, we heard from Sandra and Matt on this super fun topic!

p.s. It's also my day to blog at Operation Awesome and I'm taking some funny/embarrassing stuff from my WriteOnCon forums experience to talk about world-building: No Really. Literally.

My WriteOnCon Favorites So Far...

2011-08-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

Such a great week with WriteOnCon! The chats have been phenomenal. The feedback in the forums has been priceless. But what I really want to talk about are the author presentations.

Mindbendingly brilliant.

Like this vlog about FAILURE by author Beth Revis of Across the Universe.

Or this post on RESPECTING your readers and the craft by author Kiersten White of the Paranormalcy trilogy.

Author Tara Hudson of Hereafter wrote brilliantly on PACING and how to keep readers reading.

Tom Leveen, author of Party, offers a fabulous list of reasons YOUR NOVEL ISN'T SUBMISSION READY.

Basically, www.writeoncon.com is one giant WINfest.

There's more going on today, and I'm sure the forums will stay up tomorrow and for a while, so if you'd like to post your query or critique someone else's, head over there and register.

While you're there, check out my:

query for MUSED, young adult contemp fantasy
query for LOVE ME OR LET ME DIE, young adult paranormal romance
first 250 words LOVE ME OR LET ME DIE
five pages of LOVE ME OR LET ME DIE

You do need to register (FREE) to participate in the forums, and agents will be lurking throughout the day at random times. :) (I have friends who have gotten requests, so it's totally worth a look!)

Good luck and have fun on this the last day of WriteOnCon 2011.

p.s. I've joined a Blog Chain of epicness and will be taking my turn tomorrow. You can read the other posts by Sandra, Matt, and Kate if you'd like a sneak peak of our current topic. :)

Here's the list of Blog Chain bloggers:
New members:

Amparo

Tere

PK Hrezo

Jon

Matt

Veterans:

Christine

Sarah

Michelle M.

Shaun

Cole

Kate

Sandra

Eric

Margie

Michelle H.

Abby

To all my friends at WriteOnCon...

2011-08-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

A HUMONGOUS, MONSTROUS, EPIC THANK YOU for going above and beyond even what we've come to expect from last year's awesome debut!

I know it must have taken a lot of collaboration and hard work, and want to express how grateful I am. I'm sure I'm not alone in this...

Blog buddies can comment if you want to say thank you, too. :)

Also, my awesome blog buddies, don't forget to add me as a friend on WriteOnCon so we can see each other's forum posts/query letters, etc. and cheer each other along. WriteOnCon STARTS TOMORROW!!

And, of course, an epic THANK YOU to the industry pros who are lending their priceless experience and services to help keep this conference FREE and FABULOUS!

P.S. Don't forget to donate on the WriteOnCon website if you can afford it - help keep it free for everyone. Good luck to everyone participating in the query/pitch events and enjoy the live chats with agents and editors!

Fate and Inspiration as Writing Tools

2011-08-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

This past year, for me, was a year of plodding, disjointed writing. I spent the whole time working on a project I should be revising right now, but I'm too sick of it. Like any other project, it started out with promise and I was excited about the pseudo-unique premise.

But every time I started to write it, something felt off. I tried outlining. I tried pantsing. I tried writing whole scenes from another character's POV. I wrote several scenes from other characters' POVs. And I built up an Excerpts file (my recycling bin for stuff I don't end up using) that was bigger than the draft document itself.

I wrung my hands in frustration. I banged my head on the computer desk. But no matter what I did or how many brilliant brainstorming sessions I had with my writing friends, I still felt lost in this huge dark forest of words.

I finished the third draft of that book a month ago and after one beta read, I'm ready to put it back on the shelf to simmer. The thing still resembles a patchwork quilt -and not a pretty square one!

Contrast that experience with the project I'm working on now. My characters came out with names that fit perfectly and personalities that spoke to me. It's been about a month, and I'm almost done with the first draft. If I buckled down, I could finish it over the weekend (but I won't because it's my husband's birthday and family totally comes first). The first spurt had me writing 11k words in one day/night. I felt inspired, fated to write this story.

I know it isn't anywhere near perfect or complete, even once this draft is done, but it's already five times better than the project I slaved over for a year. I'm grateful, and I also feel awful about it. My poor, awful story that had such a promising concept and never got off the ground!

It's got me wondering sincerely if Fate and Inspiration really are the greatest tools of writing, after all is said and done.

Or do you think that year pulling my cart through the mire with that other project is what made the new one ride more smoothly?

Because I believe in Hard Work, too. Even more than I believe in Inspiration, and definitely more than I believe in Fate.

Still, if I didn't know any better, I'd say there was a muse out there after all.

Waxing Philosophical about Late Night Writing Research

2011-08-12T03:22:00.000-07:00

over at Operation Awesome.

And BONUS!! Artwork and thoughtful quote by Picasso.

You tell me: too much inner monologue?

2011-08-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

How much is too much when it comes to all that thinking stuff?

Some call it interiority and others, inner monologue, but whatever the name, it's vital to help us relate to a character.

My question (because I've been facing this dilemma myself) is, how much is too much?

The third book I ever wrote was a science fiction work of art, or so I thought at the time. Rereading it today, I can see how scene after scene got mucked up in my main character's mind. There was a good reason for that: the book had a sort of Inception-like weirdness and was in fact about the human mind. But still, rereading it, I see an overabundance of thinking scenes.

It's something I've striven to avoid in my later books, but now my CPs often cite me with the opposite problem: not enough interiority.

Where my first few (YA-ish) books were easily over 70k or 80k, my new bare-bones style of writing ekes out novellas of 30k-40k which I then have to embellish with stuff like description and inner monologue. I don't mind writing this way because it is actually easier for me to add these things in than to take things out later. My problem is knowing when to stop.

So since I've been at either extreme, I'm asking you.

How do you know when your character is thinking aloud too much vs. not thinking at all?

Does it depend on the genre? Or is there a hard-and-fast rule?

In other epic, wonderful news, The Mystery Agent is revealed and her one-sentence pitch winners announced!!

And four days remain until WriteOnCon!!

Revise Like Crazy - WriteOnCon in 5 Days! (and other links)

2011-08-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

Lindsay's posted some information from the WriteOnCon website on their NinjaAgents program!

Which got me thinking... we've got five days left to get our manuscripts in tip-top shape for conference pitching! In the case of this online conference, that basically means posting your query in the forums and crossing your fingers. :)

The list of participating NinjaAgents is packed with phenomenal literary agents with a good eye for great fiction, and great publishing contacts. Check all those out at the link. Lindsay's linked to the forums so you can get all registered and ready!

Michelle wrote a very insightful post on Knowing Your Audience as a writer. Of course, I'm revolting against age-ism in all its forms, but she has a very good point about knowing at least what type of reader your aiming to reach.

Angela Ackerman of The Bookshelf Muse just shared a new find: The Writer's Resource! Check it out. It's pretty much amazing. And at The Bookshelf Muse, there is a series of helpful posts:

Conflict vs. Tension

On Tension Building

Writing Charismatic Characters

I'm late to this party, but just pre-ordered E.J. Patten's much anticipated book called Return to Exile, the first in The Hunter Chronicles trilogy, published by Simon and Schuster. Here he talks about landing his uber-agent Steven Malk, the risk he had to take in working with him without a guarantee, and why it's all been worth it. Follow him on twitter to count down with him to his book release on September 6th. And read his blog. He's hilarious.

Here's the cover and blurb from goodreads:

ONE BOY. UNTOLD ENEMIES. A WHOLE WORLD TO SAVE. TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

Eleven years ago, a shattered band of ancient hunters captured an unimaginable evil and Phineas T. Pimiscule rescued his nephew, Sky, from the wreckage of that great battle. For eleven years, Sky Weathers has studied traps, puzzles, science, and the secret lore of the Hunters of Legend, believing it all a game. For eleven years, Sky and his family have hidden from dark enemies while, unbeknownst to Sky, his uncle Phineas sacrificed everything to protect them. For eleven years, Sky Weathers has known nothing of that day. But on the eve of Sky’s twelfth birthday and his family’s long-awaited return to Exile, everything changes. Phineas has disappeared, and Sky finds himself forced to confront the mysterious secrets he’s denied for so long: why did his family leave Exile on that day so long ago? What, exactly, has Phineas been preparing him for? And, the biggest mystery of all, who is Sky really and why does everyone want to kill him?!

Happy Browsing, Everybody!! Thanks for all your support on my excerpt yesterday! You gave me a much needed confidence boost! *happy sigh* I have the best blog buddies.

Teaser Tuesday: LOVE ME OR LET ME DIE

2011-08-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

I know it's a bit self-indulgent to post clips of your own work. But I'm excited about this story, have spent many late nights writing it, and I'm feeling self-indulgent. So here's a taste of the dark paranormal romance I'm writing with a few holes in the narrative for which I hope you'll forgive me. My main character Lucy is eighteen in the summer after graduation. I'm still trying to decide if that makes it YA or the mythical beast called New Adult. I think the rest is self-explanatory.

Lucy decided her stupid empath abilities were to blame for the kiss with Chase. He was feeling attracted. Ergot, she was feeling it, too, secondhand. But it wasn't real. Not like what she had with Nick.

She sighed into her pillow and swore not to think about Chase for another second. Saturdays were for Nick. Every day was for Nick.

.... {removed spoilers}

She'd sworn not to think about Chase, and she totally wasn't. She was thinking about herself—her abilities. Just because he shared those abilities didn't mean she had to think about what he did with them.

"Gah!" She buried her head underneath the pillow. It was like Mac's mean trick one day on set when she was bored. "I dare you not to think of a giant, flashing red number twenty-four." Then he'd walked away, and Lucy had tried really hard not to think of that stupid flashing number. She still saw it sometimes when she closed her eyes. The forbidden thought that wouldn't leave.

That was Chase Gillan.

She called Nick on the drive over to the costume shop. She only wanted to hear his voice, to remember why she'd fallen head over heels for him. To forget the red flashing twenty-four in her mental rear-view mirror.

"Good morning, my light," his sleepy voice purred.

If there was anything Nick was made for, it was making Lucy forget. She almost ran a stop sign. "Hey, sexy," she answered. "I miss you. Thanks for the flowers."

"Of course." She could hear his smile through the phone.

... {spoilers removed}

She'd been tossing in bed last night for another reason besides Chase and his confusing kiss. No matter how she figured things, Nick had something to do with her burgeoning sensitivity to the paranormal. So could she trust him with her secrets? Did he already know?

Lucy could really use some of that famous lucent clarity about now.

Thanks for the shout-out, Tiffany!

Writing Lesson of the Day: Stressed Out Character

2011-08-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

Now for Lesson Number 3:

Stress out your characters.

I NEED A VACATION!

Your main character should be yelling, "I need a vacation!"

Think of Harry Potter (because it's just a freaking awesome example of everything). He felt some stress from homework and exams and starting at a new (magic!) school. Add in Quidditch, which his dad was apparently amazing at, and everyone expected him to be amazing, too. There were budding friendships conflicted by Ron and Hermione's love/hate vibe. And meanwhile, everybody knew who he was and either idolized him from babyhood or hated his guts before he even said hello.

Worst of all, nobody knew if the murderer who killed his parents and a bunch of other people was really dead. Most people seemed to think he wasn't. Then partway through the book, he gets the news that Voldemort is coming after him, the 11-year-old who somehow made him disappear.

Yeah, that eleven-year-old knew stress. Over seven books, it just gets worse until in the fifth book readers started to complain that Harry was impossible to live with. Well yeah! Dude was 15 and going through hell!

But even though it would have made a delightful, fun book if Harry's only stresses were new magic school, new magic sports team, new magic friends, it wouldn't be the epic story we're all familiar with.

So when you're writing, don't shy away from the stresses you usually shy away from in your personal life. Nobody wants to have the level of stress Harry Potter had at age 11. But we all want to read about him overcoming those stresses. That's what fiction is all about.

Is your main character past due on his mortgage and stuck in a salary freeze with hospital bills rolling in? That's great, but now you need to set some loan sharks after him and his wife.

Ramp up the stakes. Just when they think they've got it figured out, change the rules.

...Until your character really does need a vacation. And then, when they've survived the worst you can throw at them, for pete's sake, give them that vacation! :)

This Writing Lesson brought to you by Sprouts apple cinnamon granola and six hours of sleep.

See Lesson Number 1

and

Lesson Number 2

Start in the Middle

2011-08-05T23:45:00.000-07:00

Start in the middle...

And see how it fits together.

I pulled a Stephenie Meyer and started writing a dark paranormal romance based on a dream.

It's not about vampires, and my MC isn't in high school. But there's one other similarity between Twilight and my WIP:

I started writing in the middle.

Remember how Stephenie Meyer dreamed up that delicious meadow scene about a boy and a girl having an intense conversation: how they shouldn't be together because he wanted to kill her?

It didn't make sense as a beginning because the reader would have no idea how they met, how their romance developed to the point where this was even an issue. And it would have been hard to believe they had time to develop a romance before he just gave in to temptation and ate her.

So Meyer had to write a new beginning that met up with the meadow scene, one that made you WANT them to be together.

It's an intriguing concept, writing the main conflict first. When we dream, our minds take us through stories, but beginning, middle, and end aren't as crisp as a novel. Often, we're thrown right into the dark hallway, running for our lives. Our minds fill in the details later: drug dealers chasing us because they think we have their designer drug, a monster who wants to eat our faces off, whatever it is.

In other words, you take off running and catch up with yourself later. There's a writing philosophy in there somewhere. And I think I want to embrace it and give it passionate kisses, because it's helped me to write almost a complete novel in a month without forcing it.

I'm still working on connecting the new beginning to the middle-beginning. My dream gave me the main conflict - a creepy, bone-chilling conflict. But it didn't give me any backstory. That was for me to fill in. Getting to know the girl in my dream (who isn't me but I wouldn't mind it during those steamy scenes), and getting to know the villain who's chasing her - it's been an exciting adventure.

Sure, there have been a few bumps, times when the new backstory rendered a shocking revelation in the second half obsolete. But it's just your typical first draft plot holes, things you face no matter what you write first.

My main take-away from this experience has been this: When I write first the scene that's screaming to be written, it makes the rest worth writing.

Wishing I'd tried this sooner.

What do you think? Midnight craziness on my part or is there something to this?

Epic Contest: The Micro Synopsis judged by John Cusick

2011-08-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Agent (and author of Girl Parts) John Cusick is doing a contest at YAtopia!

John Cusick tweets here

An epic contest!

The Micro Synopsis...

Can you write a synopsis for your MG or YA book (beginning, middle, and end) in THREE sentences? I tried it. It was hard. You can try it, too.

Enter in the comments HERE.

P.S. WriteOnCon, my favorite online conference in THE WORLD is starting in ten days. TEN days.

p.p.s. I'm now fairly certain the SHIFT key works. Good luck in the micro synopsis contest, my friends!

p.p.p.s. I'm over at Operation Awesome today talking about EPIPHANY!

Introducing Becky Mahoney!

2011-08-04T08:44:00.001-07:00

Becky is our newest Afterglow contributor, and a writer whose one-line pitch has won more than one Mystery Agents' praise in the monthly Operation Awesome contests.

She wrote this:

Title: THE HUNGRY GROUND

Genre: YA Fantasy/Horror

When the population of a nearby city vanishes overnight, aspiring detective Kalinda joins the search party - but the city isn't empty.

Yesterday, she wrote about joining Afterglow and her first review. Today she's hanging out over there to answer questions.

Here's her bio to get your curiosity working:

I'm a twenty-something assistant extraordinaire with a love of good food, animated films, and budget-busting fashion. I'm an aspiring YA author, and I write fantasy, mystery, and horror - sometimes a mix of all three!

Head over to her blog and welcome her, to the blogosphere (she's only been blogging since June), to Afterglow Book Reviews, and onto your reading list. Also, meet her on twitter.

p.s. 11 days left till WriteOnCon, the annual free online writing conference for kidlit-ers (that sounds dirty; maybe I won't use that word again) that is a DO-NOT-MISS event.

p.p.s. I wrote 5k words last night. Pret-ty proud of my myself. *rolling on my toes like a kid with a good report card* You can see by my progress bar in the sidebar, I'm 70% done with this dark paranormal romance. Yay!

Interview with children's author Michelle Raynor: A Magical World

2011-08-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

Michelle McLean writes children's books under the name Michelle Raynor, and her first one came out this summer! A Magical World, illustrated by Toni Wilson.

Alex and his sister Izzy are stuck inside during one stormy, rainy week. But, they still manage to have the most spectacular adventures. They sail the seven seas on a pirate ship, swing on jungle vines, swim through the ocean, roam with the dinosaurs, and visit many other fantastic places! Just how, they never tell a soul. They simply smile and wink and zip their lips, and then disappear into their room. Into a wonderful, magical world.

I got the opportunity to ask her some questions about her writing and specifically about this wonderful book and what it's like writing in vastly different genres, from picture books to regency fiction to humorous how-to's. I hope you enjoy reading her answers as much as I did! Here's Michelle!

Michelle McLean

Katrina: How pivotal were your own children in the inspiration of A Magical World?

Michelle: Extremely J In fact, they were my little co-authors for this book. The power went out one stormy afternoon and the kids were bored and a little scared by the thunder. I often make up bedtime stories for my kids, so we sat down and I started telling them a story. Every time the kids in the story would disappear into their magic world, I let the kids tell me where they’d like to go. We ended up on a pirate ship, in the jungle, as dinosaurs and race cars. And it all ended up in the book J I also let the kids choose the names of the characters in the book.

Katrina: There’s a misconception that children’s books are somehow easier to write because they’re shorter. How long did it take you to get A Magical World ready for press?

Michelle: I can actually get the first draft out pretty quickly. Revisions take longer, though not nearly as long as a novel, of course J To be honest, I’m not sure how long it took me to get A Magical World done…I wrote it several years ago and it languished in a file until recently. LOL. If I’m not working on any other projects at the same time, with all focus on the picture book, I can get one done in a couple weeks. Not counting the illustrations, of course, though Toni Wilson, my illustrator for this book, is INCREDIBLE. She can get a final copy picture done in 2 or 3 days.

Katrina: I love a good subplot in a picture book. Whose idea was the rubber ducky on each page?

Michelle: That was my illustrator’s idea. Actually, I think her son came up with it. We added a couple in just to see how it would look and we just fell in love with the cute little guy :D

Katrina: How many books in this series have you already written, or plan to write?

Michelle: This particular book is a stand alone, but my next book is the first in the My Favorites series. The first book will be My Favorite Kind of Toot and will hopefully be out by the end of the summer. I have three other books in this series done so far (manuscripts, not with pictures yet), including My Favorite Kind of Kiss, My Favorite Kind of Cuddle, and My Favorite Kind of Sneeze. I have a few others ready to work on – there are endless possibilities for this series J

I am also working on another book in a totally different style, with a good friend of mine, writer and artist Lisa Amowitz. Our book is called Lyria’s Extraordinary Wish and is much more lyrical/poetic with just stunning pictures. My books with Toni are much more cutely humorous J

Katrina: Do you listen to any different kind of music when you write for children as opposed to when you write for teens and adults?

Michelle: I don’t generally listen to music when I write, period, though I will sometimes listen to the Film Scores station on Pandora or classical music when writing for teens/adults. (Editing is a different matter, as is “getting in the mood” – I have playlists for that). For my kids’ books, I don’t listen to music. I get that first draft out very quickly, usually just a day. And then I have to go back through and clean everything up J When I do my kids’ books I tend to go into short periods of extreme concentration that music just doesn’t help J

Katrina: You’re one of those rare cross-genre authors! Tell us a little about what you’ve published in the past and what you plan to publish in the future?

Michelle: You know, one thing I love about what I do is the variety. Writing different genres allows me to explore several different sides of my creativity and it’s just a blast. Plus, since my NF books and novels are (or will be) published traditionally, and my picture books are self-published, I get to experience both sides of the industry. It really is incredibly interesting being involved in both worlds.

My very first published book was the NF Homework Helpers: Essays and Term Papers. I have two new NF books currently on submission – Poetry Pointers, and How to Put the Analysis in Your Literary Essay. I am working on revisions on a historical novel with my agent right now and will hopefully be submitting that soon.

And as I said above, My Favorite Kind of Toot should be out by the end of the summer. I’ll probably release one more picture book by the end of the year, though I haven’t decided which one just yet J Lisa and I are going to go the traditional route with Lyria’s Extraordinary Wish and will be subbing that out in the next few months.

Katrina: Those sound so cute! What’s your advice to children who want to write books for publication?

Michelle: Write what you love and what you’d want to read. And don’t give up no matter how hard it is. There are a lot of setbacks, a lot of disappointment, and it can take a very long time. But if this is what you really want to do, then do it, no matter what J

Katrina: Make up your own question here. What do you wish someone would ask you?

Michelle: A lot of people ask me about why I chose to write under a pen name – first off, my agent suggested it J Though I originally was opposed to the idea (I really wanted to see MY name on the shelves), I ended up agreeing. Since I write in multiple genres that are so vastly different, I thought it would be a good idea to use different names to help keep my audiences separate. If I just wrote YA and adult novels, I probably would have stuck with one name.

But I want my picture book readers to be able to easily find more picture books, my non-fiction readers to easily find more NF books, and my novel readers to easily find more novels. If I wrote everything under one name then a novel reader might do a search and find NF books or picture books and assume I didn’t have any other novels, etc. Writing under different names helps me avoid any confusion.

So, my NF books are under my own name, Michelle McLean. My picture books are under Michelle Raynor (the last name is a mixture of my children’s names), and my novels are under MacKenna Marquis (my niece’s name and my maiden name – my full maiden name is already in use by another writer) J

Thank you!

Where to find A Magical World:

Smashwords – (epub version for any ereader available here)

Barnes & Noble

Apple (via the iBookstore)

Amazon Kindle

Amazon Paperback

Diesel

Lulu (paperback version)

Goodreads

Coming soon to Borders for Kobo, Sony, and Scrollmotion

Mystery Agent Contest for August

2011-08-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

Mystery Agent contest is going on RIGHT NOW over here. CONTEST NOW CLOSED.

If you have a completed novel in one of the listed genres, our agent would love to see your one-line pitch. Entry limit 50, so don't hesitate. :)

SUCCESS STORY: Max Gladstone's THREE PARTS DEAD which won Weronika's undivided attention in the December 2010 Mystery Agent contest at Operation Awesome, has been sold to TOR! Story here.

Shallee McArthur reviewed TRUE SPIRIT by Jessica Watson, a true narrative of a girl's solo sailing trip around the world. It sounds uh-MAY-zing!

What are you up to this fine Monday morning? (Pacific time, it's still morning.) :)

Only You Can Write It

2011-07-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

How does this artwork make you feel?

Created by design team Linda and John Meyers for the VIA advertising agency in Portland, Maine, who recently moved into an ancient public library. (Photo: Wary Meyers) (http://www.warymeyers.com)
I found it here.

For me it's like a Rorschach test for my mood toward reading/writing goals. If I'm overwhelmed by "assigned" reading and floundering in my own edits, it feels like an avalanche about to crush me.

But if I'm reading a bunch of amazing books, staying on top of my own writing goals, and excited for some not-yet-released, much-buzzed-about books, it's an oasis in the desert!

That's the fantastic thing about art. It reaches you where you are.

That's what fiction does, too.

You see an alien. I see an angel.

That's why every writer matters, because no two people get exactly the same impression from any given object, idea, or situation. Only you can write the book you're writing. Only you will extrapolate those themes from that relationship. A hundred people could write about the same rainstorm, and we'd have a hundred completely different human experiences that make us feel a thousand different combinations of emotion.

And that's just beautiful.

What are you doing August 16th? WRITEONCON!!

2011-07-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

It's almost August!

Know what that means for all us writers across the blogosphere? The world's best, webbiest, and free-est writing conference is on its way!

You can register for this online amazing-ness right here at WriteOnCon.com. Registration will get you set for participating in the forums, which you will definitely want to do. Feedback from other writers, and lurking agents? Yeah, that's the place for that.

Just like last year, the conference is free (which is incredible and all kinds of happymaking). But you can and totally should donate what you can in the bottom right corner of their website.

Below you can read about last year's inaugural WriteOnCon conference from the perspective of each organizer-unit-thingy (mostly individuals, except for LiLa).

Okay, words from Elana Johnson about this year's conference:

Trust me when I say you’re going to want to have your best behavior on, your query letter polished, and your schedule from Tuesday, August 16 – Thursday, August 18 cleared.

You heard the woman!

p.s. August 1st will see a Mystery Agent contest at Operation Awesome. Standard rules apply (one-sentence pitch, completed novels only, first fifty to comment make it in). See the official August 1st post for details, but the range of genres is pretty wide and varied, so just polish that pitch and plan on entering if you're feeling ready. Can't wait to see what you've got!!

Write, Read, Repeat

2011-07-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I went on a writing binge, pumping out 22k in five days. It. felt. awesome! I'm still working on that project at a slightly slower pace. I'm about half-way through an anticipated 50k words. But the reason for my slowdown was...

A reading binge. I read five novels in the past week. Yeah, not getting a lot of sleep these days. So before I talk about why I'm acting crazy, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge that extremes like this are not healthy and I don't recommend you forfeit sleep to do all the reading and writing you want to do. I experienced a creative spike after some slow writing months and just went with it.

But I do want to point out a significant truth for writers that became more pronounced during my writing/reading binges:

You can't really be a writer if you don't read, too.

It takes a reader to write a really good book. While you read, you're picking up on subtext and the natural swing of a story arc, and maybe even consciously taking note of clever prose or innovative, raw dialogue you'd like to emulate. More than that, you're reaffirming in your own mind the importance of STORY. You're falling in love with fiction over and over again, which helps with the key problem facing most novelists: motivation.

So if you're feeling stressed as a writer, not meeting your word quota, or just need to remember why you write, head over to Afterglow Book Reviews and fall in love with some books that got five stars. I promise your writing will improve.

P.S.es

Two days, two amazing books! Read my Afterglow reviews of THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner and the brand new SUPERNATURALLY by Kiersten White

Get primed for our August 1st Mystery Agent contest at Operation Awesome! Lindsay's shared a bunch of helpful links for working your one-line pitch.

Embrace the Villain Cliche

2011-07-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

Get this stunning piece here.

You'll remember I took awesome notes from Jeff Savage's and Gregg Luke's conference session on VILLAINS last May. Their breakdown on the topic is definitely worth a read.

Lately, I've been thinking about villains again, since my dream-to-book project has a pretty tempting villain. He's beautiful and charismatic, warm and affectionate - and too perfect. It's supposed to be this way because it's the reason our heroine doesn't see what he really is until it's almost too late, but it got me thinking about cliche villains. Why do we gravitate toward villain cliches?

I think it's because a) all evil is evil and b) we thrive on symbols.

a) All evil is evil:

This means we come to associate one evil guy with another evil guy, even if they're actually very different. We do this in our daily lives, shying away from the cocky surfer dude because we were seriously wounded by a cocky surfer dude in the past (Jace Wayland, anyone?). So it's natural that we'll do the same thing in storytelling. We create universal villains, people with traits we all associate with evil tendencies.

In children's stories, villains are historically either really fat and gluttonous or really skinny and creepy emaciated, like there's no life in them and they have to feed off other people. Cliches almost always deal in extremes. The challenge is to personalize them, make them unique.

In young adult stories, the bad guy tends to be super charismatic and often extra confident, like Aro in Twilight or Sebastian in the Mortal Instruments series. This is probably because so many of us have been burned by the popular guy in high school. We easily believe that guy is rotten deep down, and it kind of helps us get over hurt feelings to imagine him that way.

Often the bad guy is deluded, seduced by power or principles to take things too far the other way. Sometimes he's straight-up crazy. But he's always evil, and he's always powerful.

He has to be powerful.

We need to fear him, or at least fear for the protagonist of the story, and we can't do that if the bad guy is overly goofy. That's why in Meet the Robinsons (Disney movie), there's the hard-to-fear Bowler Hat Guy, but his scariness is solidified by the bowler hat itself, Doris, who's actually a vindictive robot bent on annihilating the happy future our protagonist wants to create.

b) We thrive on symbols

If somebody has a pet raven, it's easy to suspect them of evil doings. Ravens are historically the harbingers of death and bad luck. Conversely, when Dumbledore has a pet phoenix, we think he's the coolest guy in the world and kind of invincible, since a phoenix can rise from its own ashes.

Clothes: Your villain doesn't have to wear black cloaks all the time, but clothing and jewelry are opportunities (often missed opportunities) to plug in villainous symbolism.

For instance, a guy wearing a ring that looks like a snake biting its own tail is probably bad news. Anybody with a collection of skull charm bracelets should be on the reader's terror alert list. One of my villains wears a black leather jacket even though my story takes place in temperate weather. This gives the protagonist something to look out for (and be afraid of), and it also makes the villain a bit more menacing.

On the other hand, you can use these cliches to trick the reader, and they love it. The guy with the skull charm bracelet is just misunderstood. The real bad guy wears polo shirts and a class ring. But be careful how you do that, because the opposites thing can be just as cliche these days. You can do the double agent thing: guy wears an upside-down pentagram around his neck, which the heroine thinks is cool, and she thinks her mom is dumb for suspecting him of devil worship... until he ends up trying to sacrifice her once he finds out she's a virgin. That way you have her think he could be bad, but he's not, but he really is. Double agent.

Scars. Bad guys have scars. But then, so does Harry Potter. The trick is knowing as the writer where the scar came from. Maybe your rotten dude wants everyone to think he's really bad-A, but secretly he got that slash across his face from a freak can-opener accident.

Maybe that gray streak in his greased black hair is comb-in dye.

There are endless ways to tweak cliches to work FOR you rather than against you. So give it a spin.

Who's your favorite fictional villain?

Three Books in Three Days: Mortal Instruments

2011-07-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass

These books are compelling. It's amazing how much trouble I had putting them down to... you know... live and stuff.

They're not skinny books, either, people. I was stuck in them for days! But now that I'm out, I want to say two things:

1) Kudos to Cassandra Clare for writing a nuanced, detailed, epic fantasy series that's also accessible to the average reader. As an aspiring writer, I am humbled and awed by the skill and planning this obviously took. I instantly fell in love with the two main characters, Clary and Jace, and was tortured along with them every step of the way. Meanwhile, the supporting characters, even down to the most minuscule, had a story arc and a dream, which made it even more fun. Speaking of fun, the voice is fantastic! It's a rich kind of parallel universe, the Shadowhunters' world, but there are modern pop references and both warm and wry humor to keep it from being too like a traditional epic fantasy (for people who aren't into that).

2) I gave each of these books four stars because while I loved them, there were things about the author's style that felt cumbersome to me. This is similar to my reaction to the Twilight series. LOVED the passion and the detail, but at the same time felt a little overwhelmed by the detail. :) When I come across paragraphs describing turrets or mountains, my brain locks and skims. If this isn't a problem for you, you'll likely love these books even more than I did.

I followed the advice of a few reviewers and stopped after the third Mortal Instruments book, waiting for the last three books to be completed (I hear book 4 isn't resolved as well as book 3 and I don't want to drive myself crazy until books 5 and 6 come out). I might have died at the end of Suzanne Collin's middle book, Catching Fire, had I not been able to pick Mockingjay up the very same day. Unresolved endings drive me nuts.

Overall, I'm delighted to have been introduced to another favorite author, Cassandra Clare, and look forward to reading Clockwork Angel, the first in a series of prequels to the Mortal Instruments series.

Have you read them? How did they make you feel?

P.S.

THIS!

Big Picture Revision

2011-07-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

Imagine you've just put together a very complicated 1000-piece puzzle. It was tricky, but you beat it. All the pieces are in place... except one. You count the pieces. There are 1000 pieces. It should be perfect, but it's not. Somehow you put the puzzle together wrong, leaving a hole where none should be.

It's time for revisions. Not polishing-the-pieces revisions. Taking-the-whole-puzzle-apart-and-putting-it-back-together revisions.

Aaack!!

That's how I feel today. I'm working on BIG PICTURE revision. That's not the line-editing type where you change out "floated" for "walked" or get rid of excess adverbs. That's the kind where you pull up full-grown sunflowers by their roots and try to replant them elsewhere.

Too many metaphors?

Sorry. I'm in BIG PICTURE revision mode, which means my brain is in creative overdrive. It's fun because I get to write completely new scenes and plug them in, or add in a sneaky character detail that I just now thought of to make my villain more present, even though he's kind of behind the scenes like Voldemort.

But as I get closer to the end, I'm getting anxious. At some point, I'll have all 1000 pieces put together again, and I'm terrified of that gaping hole that shouldn't be there. What if it's always there? What if I can't close it up with some brilliant plot twist or rational explanation?

Writer fail.

How do you organize your big picture edits so they don't sneak up on you with a million untied strings at the end?

Author Interview: Angela J. Townsend of FROZEN FURY

2011-07-05T23:37:00.000-07:00

Kidnapped by a band of deranged mountain men in the Alaskan wilderness, Amber Hatchet is driven by one harrowing thought: these monsters might have her eleven-year-old son. But her attempts to escape lead to the unearthing of deadly secrets, ones better left buried. Amber's only hope lies with her husband, Jack Hatchet, confident Manhattan attorney and swindler extraordinaire. Problem is, Jack cares more about protecting his shady backroom deals than the life of his wife. In fact, he'd prefer her dead, rather than alive.

Introducing Angela J. Townsend, author of FROZEN FURY!

Katrina: What was it about FROZEN FURY’s story that made you just have to write it?

Angela: I love fast paced seat-of-your pants type of action. I’ve been accused of being episodic but really it is just my writing style.

Katrina: The rawness with which you write about the frozen wild suggests real life experience to me. Are you a wild mountain woman? How did you write so realistically about such an inhabitable place?

Angela: Living and growing up in the mountains my entire life made writing Frozen Fury effortless. I am more at home in the woods than in any city. There is something mysterious about a forest. Something magical draws me to them. Even though they can be quite spooky, I feel very much at home in their protective folds.

Katrina: How many books have you written?

Angela: I’ve written over twenty novels total. My friend Angela Ackerman of The Bookshelf Muse said, “Angie, you are such a prolific writer.” I had to laugh because suddenly I realized that I really was. I mean it never occurred to me that someone else wouldn't have that many completed novels. Two of my manuscripts are in submission with my agent.

Katrina: What’s your advice to writers who are just starting out?

Angela: Don’t give up. Remember writing is a subjective art. But try to listen. I mean really listen to criticism you are receiving. My agent, Jill Corcoran, gave me the best advice of my career. When I was adamant about not revising a certain part of my story. She said, “Kill your baby Angie.” As terrible as it sounds, sometimes you have to “kill your baby” in order to move forward. My story was much stronger afterwards. I never hesitate to make changes now.

Katrina: What’s the one thing you simply can’t write without? Pen? Laptop? Juju beans?

Angela: I write in distraction. By that I mean I love noise, crowded restaurants. I cannot write without my Celtic music blaring away in my headphones and a candle burning on my desk.

Katrina: What motivates you to write on days you just don’t feel like writing?

Angela: I never really have days I don’t want to write. To me writing is a gift I don’t take for granted. With the economy being in such sad shape, most of us have full time jobs or other things that pull us away. Writing is like breathing to me—I have to do it.

Katrina: Favorite movie or TV show of all time?

Angela: I love movies, especially with popcorn--my favorite food ;) I love Out of Africa, Braveheart, Titanic, Michael Collins, Harry Potter, Riverdance, Lord of the dance and anything Bruce Lee. I can’t name just one!

Katrina: Goodreads shows FROZEN FURY was previously published by a small press. What’s different in the new incarnation? What made you decide to reincarnate it?

Angela: As with anyone who is steady in their craft, my writing improves with each novel. I wanted to polish my old version to make it stronger and publish it again.

Katrina: Who did the spectacular cover art for FROZEN FURY?

Angela: LFD Designs--affordable and awesome.

Ooh, thank you for the recommendation!

Katrina: Make up your own question here. What do you wish someone would ask you?

Angela: On getting an agent. You have to do the work it takes before you can agent shop. I have so many authors who send me samples of their work wanting to know why they were rejected. I often tell people, you have to have a polished project. Don’t rush it. Because I’m a country girl, I will relate it to horses. When trading horses it’s much harder to sell an unbroke horse than one that’s had lots of time under the saddle. You wrote the book now take the time to polish before submitting it. Don’t try to sell something that is half-finished.

Thank you so much, Angie! I love your advice to new writers and your analogy about selling an unbroken horse. I'm still a newbie when it comes to queries and have definitely jumped the gun in the past. Thanks for sharing your wisdom!

Everybody who hasn't yet, check out FROZEN FURY on Amazon Kindle.

Kidnapped by a band of deranged mountain men in the Alaskan wilderness, Amber Hatchet is driven by one harrowing thought: these monsters might have her eleven-year-old son. But her attempts to escape lead to the unearthing of deadly secrets, ones better left buried. Amber's only hope lies with her husband, Jack Hatchet, confident Manhattan attorney and swindler extraordinaire. Problem is, Jack cares more about protecting his shady backroom deals than the life of his wife. In fact, he'd prefer her dead, rather than alive.

Find Angela Online at:
Her writing website
Her art website
Operation Awesome

Find FROZEN FURY on:
Goodreads
Smashwords
Amazon Kindle
Facebook

Midnight Writing: My Guilty Pleasure

2011-07-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

The other night I was lying in bed after a Ghost Whisperer marathon with my husband. He was about to drift off to sleep in that infuriating way husbands do (I don't think he's ever had insomnia a day in his life) when he made some joke offhand about dreams.

BAM.

Book idea. I do love writing about dreams and all the possible twists on that human phenomenon. So I lay in bed for a good ten minutes trying to decide if I should go to sleep or keep thinking about the book idea.

Psh! As if I had a choice!

The book idea kept swirling around in my mind, growing into a substantial plot with some pretty lovable characters, darn it. And I just couldn't say no to them anymore. So I slipped out of bed in complete darkness and tip-toed into the living room to get on the desktop computer where I do my best writing.

I wrote 1700 words without even trying. It was bliss. And then I went to bed.

Does this happen to you? Do you secretly love it or hate it?

P.S.s

Amparo linked to 10 Killer Queries That Worked from her favorite authors. That's a don't-want-to-miss lesson in how to pitch your work to an agent.

Kristal's continuing her series on self-publishing on Operation Awesome, today featuring our own Angela Townsend's recently published adult novel, FROZEN FURY.

Patriotic

2011-07-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

I love the Fourth of July, aka Independence Day. It's got to be my favorite holiday, save Christmas only. What's not to love?

Fireworks

Sunshine and Outdoors

Bright colors

Parades

Concerts in the Park

BBQ's and Great Food

Family, if you're lucky

Flag

Of course, I've been partial to July 4th since childhood for the simple fact that my birthday is five days later on the 9th. :) I'm sure that's affected my love of Independence Day somewhat.

But really it's the feeling I get on July 4th, so much like the feelings Christmas brings: love, gratitude, pride in my culture, and plain old cheerful celebration. Every year it seems to get harder to find a professional fireworks ceremony, probably in part because we moved to California a few years back and the laws are stricter. But even on the years when my babies are too small to be up at 10pm listening to the pop-pop-pop of fireworks, I feel that same Independence Day spirit. It's love of country, yeah. But it's more than that. It's love of her people, as diverse and devoted and wonderful as they are. "The flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away." Happy Independence Day! Cheers to a country always trying to be better than its old self.

Help! Shiny New Idea Invasion

2011-07-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

Pic borrowed from the awesome Nicole Zoltack

It came without warning. They always do, those SHINY new ideas. They think they're so special just because they're shiny. And new.

Well, here's the deal. I already have a work-in-progress! I don't have time for you, Shiny New Idea.

Darn it. I can't say no to you, either.

Looks like I'll be taking a brief break to write a middle grade book about dragons. I know. Ridiculous, right? Well, I need a break from my WIP, anyway, because she's been running hot-and-cold lately, not giving me the inspiration I need, which is incredibly ironic if you only knew the subject matter. :)

Here we go, Irish dragons. Let's get this over with.

Anybody else having trouble focusing on just one project?

P.S. I'm on Afterglow today, reviewing FROZEN FURY by Angela J. Townsend. Love her work! Good thing, too, because she's one of my CPs and I get to read her work all the time. Jealous? Well, now you can read it, too.

Mystery Agent Contest for July is up and GOING!

2011-07-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

One-sentence pitch contest is hopping over at Operation Awesome right now! Stop by and share your pitch. Rules and details in the OFFICIAL CONTEST POST.

We're included in YA Highway's fabulous Field Trip Friday, all the links fit to prinks. Awesome!

THE HOST movie (holding back the squees)

2011-06-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

You've heard about this, right?

On Goodreads

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.
When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans, is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

So if you haven't read this yet and are hung up because it's by the Twilight author, I highly recommend you give it a shot. The Host is its own thing with a slightly more adult feel to it (no proms or cafeteria scenes). It's got that classic emotional artistry that made Twilight famous but a much more otherworldly feel, fitting because its main character is an alien. If you've never read a benevolent invasion story (this was my first intro to the concept), you'll find this philosophically stimulating. But if you're all about car chases, near death experiences, and survival skills, there's plenty for you, as well. And, of course, if you loved the intense romantic drama in Twilight, you'll get swept up in Melanie/Jared/Wanderer's emotional upsets, too.

Why am I writing about a book that came out in 2008? Because it's gonna be a film, baby! Yes, I'm excited! You should be, too! The director of freaking GATTACA has written the script and is currently slated to direct, too. Filming will start early 2012 and we'll have this film in local theatres by March 29, 2013. So yeah, I'm excited. It's one of those books with such cinematic style you can't help but visualize the film while you're reading. So I almost feel like I've already seen the movie because I can picture a Soul extraction down to the last glowing white tendril.

If you haven't read The Host yet, you're lucky. I'd love to be reading it for the first time with only a year and nine months to wait for the film. That's how I came to the Twilight series and it's always nice to have a shorter wait. :)

Are you a fan?

p.s. If you haven't seen Gattaca, that's what Netflix is for, and that's your assignment this weekend.

p.p.s. Operation Awesome will have a Mystery Agent contest July 1st. It's a one-sentence pitch contest with entry limit 50. Your manuscript must be complete and our M.A. has specifically asked for these genres: (YA and MG: southern gothic, historical fiction, magical realism, science fiction, supernatural/ paranormal, ghost stories, humor, fantasy, thriller/ suspense, edgy YA, friendship MG)

Books I Have Not Read

2011-06-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sigh. Such a long list, unfortunately, but I'm whittling away at it as best I can.

In my physical TBR pile, here are the books in random order:

On Goodreads

In the beginning they were a group of nine. Nine aliens who left their home planet of Lorien when it fell under attack by the evil Mogadorian. Nine aliens who scattered on Earth. Nine aliens who look like ordinary teenagers living ordinary lives, but who have extraordinary, paranormal skills. Nine aliens who might be sitting next to you now.

The Nine had to separate and go into hiding. The Mogadorian caught Number One in Malaysia, Number Two in England, and Number Three in Kenya. All of them were killed. John Smith, of Paradise, Ohio, is Number Four. He knows that he is next.

I Am Number Four is the thrilling launch of a series about an exceptional group of teens as they struggle to outrun their past, discover their future—and live a normal life on Earth.

On Goodreads

Nick's life as a CIA spy should be fulfilling, but it has only given him unhappiness, a wife who committed suicide, and two daughters who resent everything he has become. Now, stuck in the Amazon on the last mission of his career, he must track down Matheus Ferreira, a drug lord and terrorist the United States has tried to bring down for years. If he succeeds, he'll have the chance to start his life over again. Just when he's on the brink of catching Ferreira, he's framed for a murder that turns his world upside down. His only chance of survival lies in West Virginia, where Lilian Love, a woman from his past, owns the secluded Monarch Inn. He's safe, but not for long.

On Goodreads

In this long political thriller staged almost entirely around a hostage standoff, Flynn makes maximum use of his White House setting, and mixes in a spicy broth of brutal terrorists, heroic commandos and enough secret agent hijinks to keep the confrontation bubbling until its flag-raising end. The villains are led by Rafique Aziz, a notorious Arab terrorist whose band of thugs takes over the White House by finding a weak point in American politics: they pose as wealthy campaign contributors and are welcomed through the front door. President Robert Hayes manages to escape to his bunker moments before the bloodbath, but religious zealot Aziz takes almost 100 hostages, seals off the White House and begins making demands, of which large sums of cash are just the beginning. With the president incommunicado and weak-willed yet power hungry Vice President Sherman Baxter in charge, the Pentagon and the CIA resort to their secret weapon: commando extraordinaire Mitch Rapp. After sneaking into the bowels of the Executive Mansion through an air duct, Rapp steadily disrupts the terrorists' well-laid plans. He finally calls in reinforcements when Aziz begins drilling into the president's bunker.

On Goodreads

It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

And then there are the amazing books by my CPs stacked up on my hard drive...

I love the thought of always having something to read.

What's on your TBR list or already waiting in your stack?

Back on the Horse

2011-06-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

My semi-long absence from the blog comes with a reasonable explanation this time: I was in a car accident.

You can read about that on Operation Awesome where I'm boldly giving out writing tips while bed-ridden: In Terms of Pain.

I also had the opportunity to spend days just reading in bed, so I've posted an Afterglow Book Review: POSSESSION by Elana Johnson.

I hope to read several more books this month, as I've got a few ARCs!! and some critique partnering to catch up on.

The trickiest thing will probably be getting back on my writing horse. But I'm excited about it, too. Life is full of unexpected circumstances, and writing is really all about life. I'm hoping this experience, like all my experiences, will make me a more authentic writer.

How have you incorporated life into your writing lately?

The Road to Eye-strain is Paved with Good Intentions

2011-06-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

Sigh.

Go ahead. Ask me what's wrong.

Why, how nice of you to ask. (Okay, I'll stop doing that.) It's eye-strain. I seriously need to cut back on my hours in front of this bright, backlit screen. This is tough because I'm totally addicted to tumblr and twitter and facebook (and the news). I know, I need to suck it up and do what's best for my eyes. Turn. it. off.

Picture from this site

The truly tragic thing is that it's affected my reading time. By the evening hours, when it's finally quiet enough to critique for my partners, edit my own work, or read my latest favorite book, my eyes are already bugging out my head. And my response time for critiques and reviews has gotten. really. really. really. slow. As painfully slow as reading that last sentence probably was for you (if you observed every mid-sentence period).

So I'm faced with a dilemma, or rather, a choice. I can keep doing what I'm doing and go blind in the next decade. Or I can cut back on screen time and save it for my reading/writing pursuits which are my only real non-familial goals these days.

It's a no-brainer.

I know what I really want, and it's not a plethora of random tidbits from distant (though cherished) friends and the mass media. It's quality family time and quality writing time. This will require self-mastery.

Sigh.

But it's going to be tough, as all new habits are.

Have you ever struggled with a technology addiction (iPhone, video games, web-surfing)? Or if that's too personal, how do you keep a healthy balance in your life?

Katrina L. Lantz--Author

Dies Irae Blog Tour with Christine Fonseca!! Understanding Gothic and Thriller Subgenres

This movie made me want to write again...

The Puzzle I Can Solve vs. the Puzzle I Can't

Blog Chain: My Childhood Realm

First Post of the New Year: list of anticipations

Blog Chain: My Writing Space

Blog Chain: Accomplishment

Review: STRING BRIDGE by Jessica Bell

It's the Holiday Blog Hop!!

Author Interview: Jessica Bell, author of STRING BRIDGE

STRING BRIDGE CHART RUSH TODAY!!

Blog Chain: The Best Monster

Just what I didn't know I needed

Blog Chain: All the Help I Can Get

When Writing Takes SERIOUS Time

Look over there!

The Delicacy of World Building

Unique YA Paranormal: SHIFTING by Bethany Wiggins

Slow Starters: The Paranormal Edition

Contest to win an ARC of TOUCH by Jus Accardo

The Difference Between Reading and Critiquing

Writers Write

Know Thyself (and, um, your character)

What I *should* be doing today...

Blog Chain: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night in Albuquerque

Family Reunion - Labor Day 2011

You know what's wrong with your story.

How Ideas Hit: The Magic Seeds of Story

How Critiquing Makes You a Better Writer

Foray into Revision Forest

Promises, Promises

Hibernating

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, go upstairsTeddy Bear, Teddy Bear, brush your hairTeddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn off the lightTeddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say goodnight!

De-cluttering: a Writing Metaphor

My Husband the Alpha (Reader)

Bad Writing Days

New book, new blog design

Blog Chain: The Brave New World of Self-Publishing

My WriteOnCon Favorites So Far...

To all my friends at WriteOnCon...

Fate and Inspiration as Writing Tools

Waxing Philosophical about Late Night Writing Research

You tell me: too much inner monologue?

Revise Like Crazy - WriteOnCon in 5 Days! (and other links)

Teaser Tuesday: LOVE ME OR LET ME DIE

Writing Lesson of the Day: Stressed Out Character

Start in the Middle

Epic Contest: The Micro Synopsis judged by John Cusick

Introducing Becky Mahoney!

Interview with children's author Michelle Raynor: A Magical World

Mystery Agent Contest for August

Only You Can Write It

What are you doing August 16th? WRITEONCON!!

Write, Read, Repeat

Embrace the Villain Cliche

Three Books in Three Days: Mortal Instruments

Big Picture Revision

Author Interview: Angela J. Townsend of FROZEN FURY

Midnight Writing: My Guilty Pleasure

Patriotic

Help! Shiny New Idea Invasion

Mystery Agent Contest for July is up and GOING!

THE HOST movie (holding back the squees)

Books I Have Not Read

Back on the Horse

The Road to Eye-strain is Paved with Good Intentions

What I should be doing today...

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, go upstairs
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, brush your hair
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn off the light
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say goodnight!