Crawling Under a Rock

I'll be out in a couple of weeks with something big, huge, colossal. Til then happy writing.

Friday Favorites

Yesterday my niece came over and burrowed a bunch of books. She's done university and has been waiting all year to read some fiction.

I lent her 10-12 books and as I was writing my name in them and making a list of which books I was lending her (mostly because I have the worst memory ever - proven by the fact that as I was going through my books I realized I had boughten the same book twice), anyway, I digress. I realized that a lot of the books were from bloggers that I have come to know in some form or another over the years.

Yesterday I finished "Love on the Range", which isn't a YA book, but a historical romance written by Jessica Nelson. Jessica was one of my first commenters and it's been great to see her, along with others, go through the process of getting a book published.

Here's the blurb:

Any other socialite would view being packed off to a remote
Oregon ranch as a punishment. But Gracelyn Riley knows
that this is her opportunity to become a real reporter. If she
can make her name through an interview with the elusive hero
known as Striker, then she’ll never have to depend on anyone
ever again.

Rancher Trevor Cruz can’t believe his secret identity is being
endangered by an overly chatty city girl. But if there’s one thing
he knows, it’s that Gracie’s pretty little snooping nose is bound
to get her in trouble. So he’ll use her determination to find
“Striker” to keep an eye on her…and stick close by her side

 

I loved Gracelyn Riley's character, she is spirited strong and knows what she wants. And the romance between her and Trevor is swoon worthy. I loved reading this book. It reminded me of all the romance novels I used to read as a teen. I think I read more adult books as a teenager than I do now. Go figure.

How about you? Is there a book that you've read recently written by someone you've met blogging?

Friday Favorites

Things I liked this week:

1. Watching the Daily Show. His take on politics makes me laugh every night. Actually every morning because I watch it on line.

2.  Reruns of Friends. I loved that show and still do.

3.  My soccer team. We had a great tournament this week and even though soccer drama continues to plague us, we support and love each other.

4. Better weather. It hasn't totally arrived, but today I went for a walk and a little sunshine makes such a big difference to my mood.

5.  My boys playing basketball. Their spring league teams have started up again, and I can't wait to watch them play.

6.  The Goyte song, "Someone that I used to know." I know it's a super popular song, but I could honestly listen to it all day.

7. Shopping dates with my daughter. I have a date with my daughter on Saturday to go shopping for clothes and I'm so excited.

What's your favorite thing this week?

Are you ready to be a contestant?

If you're looking for a cool contest and you love the show The Voice, go to Monica's blog Love YA. 
Here are the details:

“The Writer’s Voice.” It is a a multi-blog, multi-agent contest hosted by the four of us. We’re basing it on NBC’s singing reality show The Voice, so the four of us will serve as coaches and select projects for our teams based on their queries and first pages."

You have to go to her blog to find who the four of them are.

On another note, finally some good fortunate. No, nothing writerly. My sister called last night and she has box tickets to go see Coldplay tonight. I'm so excited.

What do you think? Would you like to be a contestant in a contest like Monica's?

Fresh Eyes

I've been working on my book 'The Hidden' for years. I've rewritten the opening chapter about a million times. At least that's what it feels like. 


With my latest version, I thought it was the best I'd written, but I had no luck with querying. One agent said that my sample pages just didn't draw her in as much as she had hoped. With just one agent making that comment, I didn't automatically think I needed to change the beginning, but after a few more rejections I decided to take another look at it.


Last week I submitted it to my in person critique group and they brought up a few issues that were spot on and that even after all these years I hadn't really thought about.


It's amazing what a set of fresh eyes will do for a chapter. 


How about you? How many pairs of fresh eyes see your work? 
 

Friday Favorites

This week I've been working on my query – yet again.

On Wednesday I thought I had it, so I showed it to my husband, which is a big deal, because he's always completely honest. If he thinks it sucks, he'll tell me.

As soon as he started going through it, I thought, "Be careful what you ask for, you might not like the answer." 

He read half of it and started asking questions, but they were questions I needed to answer in order to write a good query. He told me he didn't like my last paragraph, which was my favorite one. He said it was too detailed. We kind of argued, but in the end his advice really helped.

So even though sometimes I don't like the answers when I get someone to read my stuff – I definitely need to keep asking.

How about you? What's been your favorite thing this week?


Have a good weekend.

Boys have feelings too

As a teenage girl, I thought it wasn't possible for a boy to like a girl as much as a girl could like a boy. I still have moments where I believe this.

I also thought that the only thing boys wanted to read was shoot em up, knock em down kind of books. That they didn't like the emotional kind of stuff.

But I was wrong.

We went to see The Hunger Games on vacation and both my sons, who recently read the books, were so excited to see it.

Here's how the conversation went afterwards:

Oldest Son: That was pretty good.

Second Son: I hated it.

Oldest Son: What? Why?

Second Son: They left out so much. (Goes into details about all the things they didn't put in)

Mom: It's hard to put a whole book into a movie. There are going to be things they leave out.

Oldest Son: What else didn't you like about it?

Second Son: You didn't see how Katniss felt. And I'm not sure if I totally believed the relationship between Katniss and Peeta.

Oldest Son: That's hard to show on a screen. It's easier to read.

Second Son: I still didn't like it.

The conversation continues until we get home and get ready for bed.

I think this review of the movie says it all: And if the depiction of the death-by-death progress of the Games themselves, as Katniss struggles mightily to save her own life on behalf of her sister, doesn't match the psychological tension on the page, well, thems may be the rules of the adaptation game. The movie shows how, but the book shows why.