Friday Favorites

My favorite thing this week is actually going to happen on Sunday.

It's going to be hot. It's Mothers Day. And I don't have to cook.

Also my mom gets back from vacation (she's been gone for a month). Can't wait.

I saw these two posters on pinterest. One was funny and the other sweet. You decide which is which.

Sorry took photos down 

How about you? Any plans for mothers day. What was your favorite thing this week?

Half the Sugar

I make really good chocolate chip cookies. In fact they are legendary on my soccer team. We don't go to a tournament without them.

They call for 1 1/2 cups of sugar (half brown - half white). A couple of months I decided to slowly cut back on the sugar every time I made them to see if less sugar would effect the taste. I'm down to one cup and I haven't noticed a difference.

Analogy time:
When I finished my first draft of my book it sat at 100,000 words. With each read through I trimmed off some extra sugar, so to speak. Now after many revisions later, I'm down to 65,877 words.

The delete button has become my friend.

For the past two weeks I've been working on chapters one and two, yet again. My most recent critique pointed out something that I hadn't really heard of but tend to do a lot. We've all heard of word echoes, but how about scene echoes. Apparently, I tend to tell the reader something and then show it.

So I've been cutting all those paragraphs that tell and keeping the ones that show.

How about you? What do you look to cut when trying to trim down your book?

Back a little early with a little spy action

I know I said I'd be back in two weeks, but I just had to come back early for this. 


In celebration of the official release of A Spy Like Me, Laura Pauling is hosting a three-week blog series: A Spies, Murder and Mystery Marathon. Woot! Woot!

Authors galore, guest posts and book giveaways almost every day!

Gemma Halliday, Cindy M. Hogan, Elizabeth Spann Craig,
Nova Ren Suma, Elisa Ludwig, and Anne R. Allen....Just to name a few!

And here's why she's celebrating!

Stripping your date down to his underwear has never been so dangerous.

After dodging bullets on a first date, Savvy must sneak, deceive and spy to save her family and friends and figure out if Malcolm is one of the bad guys before she completely falls for him.

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Smashwords

Head on over to Laura’s blog for the start of the Spies, Murder and Mystery Marathon. You won’t want to miss this sizzling series as we head into summer. Stock up on some great thrilling reads! If you dare…

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?