Tell Me When

I'm really bad at reading details. I'm a skimmer and that's burned me more than a few times in my life. Last week I was suppose to post on Stalking Prevention for the Tell Me When Blog Hop, to celebrate Stina Lindenblatt's new book. But I thought I was suppose to today, because today is when her book comes out.

So, better late than never:

When I was a teenager, we used to drive by the boys houses that we liked. We'd wonder if they were home, freak out if we saw them, and behave like giggly teenage girls, and then something happened that made me stop doing that. I saw a boy drive by my house. It was kind of creepy, and I realized what I was doing was just as creepy.

Although I suspect kids don't drive by each other's houses anymore, now they do it virtually.

Now I'm a parent of a girl who is about to be a teenager, which is scary as hell, especially when it comes to an online presence. I make sure I keep careful tabs on her facebook account. My kids are not allowed to have facebook unless I know they're passwords.

As parents it's our responsibility to monitor what our kids are doing online. Kids will always take risks. Studies reveal that 46% of teens surveyed would change their online behaviour if they knew their parents paid attention.

If you don't keep track of what's happening of your child's cyber life then you open them up to all kids of problems. Make sure nothing personal about them is posted, no school names, town they live in, email addresses.

In this day and age, parents need to be vigilant.

Make sure you check out Stina's book, Tell Me When, a NA story about a college freshman who struggles with the aftermath of being stalked and kidnapped during her senior year of high school.  

Happy New Year

Every time I say that, I think of Frosty the Snowman when he gets his magical hat put back on his head after being frozen or melted. And that's what I feel liked 2013 was for me. I was either frozen or melting on the floor.

It was a struggle, I won't go into details, but it was a year of working more, and doing everything else less. Then my oldest left for college and I realized everything happens really fast. Within six years all of my kids will be done high school, and I could have an empty nest. So I don't want to miss a thing. I will go to every basketball game, volleyball game, band concert, piano recital I can, but mostly basketball games. When your kids are young you can't see the light at the end of tunnel, but now that light is coming way too fast.

So that is my New Year's Resolution. Spend more quality time with my family.

Also to be a morning person so I can get more stuff done so I can spend time with my family, which will be much more difficult.

How about you? Any resolutions this year?

The Best YA Book of All Time

I have to admit that I read more YA books now than I did when I was a YA, so when I saw this advertised I found my interest peaked.

Entertainment Weekly is running a bracket game that asks the question: “What is the best young adult novel of all time."

They've lumped series of books together, so Harry Potter would be one entry and Catcher in the Rye or To Kill a Mockingbird are included even though they were written before YA was considered a category.

It should be an interesting contest: The Book Thief, The Fault in Our Stars, A Wrinkle in Time, Holes, so many to choose from both classics and more current.

The most interesting thing for me will be to see how many I've read.

The bracket starts today and runs until November 22, so take some time to vote.

How about you? Do you have an opinion about the best YA book of all time?

A Blank Page

We've all been there, staring at a blank page and drawing a complete blank. But sometimes opening up a blank page is exactly what I need, especially when I'm knee deep in revisions. I get all blurry eyed and can't find my way out of a scene that's just not working.

So, lots of times I open up a new document try to put those other words out of my mind and start from scratch. I figure if the words are important then they'll come back to me.

It really helps to have a fresh look.

How about you? What do you do when you're having problems fixing a a scene?

If you haven't already heard - Writers Helping Writers

I wanted to have this up yesterday, but was struck with a terrible head cold. Better late than never and since this goes all week, I'm not too late.

To celebrate their release of their books, The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Attributes and The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Flaws, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi at Writers Helping Writers (formerly The Bookshelf Muse) are hosting a race. An amazing race to see how many writers we can get helping writers.

From October 21st until October 27th, Writers Helping Writers is having an OPEN CALL for all writers who need help. You can fill out a form, requesting help with anything they need. From critiques of queries, first 250 words to helping promote their books, and blogs. There's something for everyone.

A large group of Writers are waiting to help you with your submissions to see how many people they can help in a week. 

There's also giveaways every day. So go to Angela and Becca's new Writers Helping Writers website for all the details and take part this amazing opportunity.

Thanksgiving

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. Yes, it's a whole month and a half before the American one. This just means that we get Christmas decorations in the stores a lot sooner.

So, today I'll be eating turkey and will be around tomorrow to visit blogs. In the meantime here is a small list of what I'm grateful for:

Family
Yes, I know it's a cliche, but really it should be everyone's number one thing they're grateful for. I'm especially grateful for my son who has left the nest this year to find his wings. Thankfully he lands at home once in a while.

Soccer
It might not be my number two, but it's right up there. I didn't play all summer (knee injury), and I missed it tremendously. Not just the game, but the ladies I play with. I'm glad to be back.

Audible Books
This September I started working 4 days a week and audible books are the only thing that seem to cure my, at times, road rageness.

Critique People
I'm grateful for anyone who is willing to read my words and give me feedback. And I'm also grateful for those willing for me to read their words so I can learn more.

Speaking of people who have helped my writing. Angela Ackerman has been a big help to me over the past couple of years and this month, along with her writing partner Becca Puglisi, are launching two new Thesaurus books. I love my Emotion Thesaurus and use it all the time.

So go visit their new website

to learn more about how they are helping writers.

The One Thing I Wish Agents Would Do

Okay there are probably many things that I don't know about since I don't have an agent, but there is one thing I wish agents would do during the query process.

Ready. . .

When you send a query by email, I wish they would send an automatic email back saying they received the query.

Not so hard.

There's actually a few that already do. But for those who don't this would save a lot of wondering. Lots of times you read on an agent's website. "If you don't hear from us within three months, you can safely assume we are not interested in your project."

If they sent an email back, this thought would never cross my mind. I haven't heard back yet, how do I know if the agent even got the email or if they just weren't interested.

Note: Some agents do say if you don't hear from us, then resend, but see insecure writer feeling above.

But wouldn't all of these problems be solved with an automatic reply that says: "Thank you for your interested in PN Literary, we take every query seriously and will get back to you as soon as we can."

Maybe I'm just being crazy and there's a reason most agents don't do this. If you know, please share.

How about you? Is there any one thing you wish agents would do?