Edits/Nano/#hash tags

It is official…I will have technically 27 days to write 50,000 words in November. Which averages out to be 1852 words per day—the good part is Jennifer, Tina, and I are going to do a few all day/all night write-on-thons in order to meet our word count.

But, before that … Jennifer and I have to somehow edit Age of Eden before November 1^st. Our original goal was November 7^th, but we have done some MASSIVE re-writes on the first six chapters that took a little longer than expected. So now, I’m finally on chapter seven so that means only eighteen more to go! Which averages to at least 3 chapters a day…either way, we are going to try our hardest to get it completed so during NaNoWriMo it can be distributed to our beta readers.

Cross your fingers and wish us luck. We are going to need it.

P.S. I have recently learned about the ‘hash tag (#)’ on twitter…funny thing is everything I say is important so does that mean I should start using a hash tag for everything? For instance “#Had a great night! #Drank many beverages! #Had a blast! Or do you consider that abusing the hash tag? LOL. I’m so philosophical, I scare myself sometimes.

New NaNoWriMo Book Banner

This will be my NaNoWriMo Project.

Missy King is a ten year old ball of fire and is the only witness to a crime that could ruin the city she was born and raised in-- Progress, Kentucky. A highway is being built around Progress and is threatening the livelyhood of the city business owners and a few of the townspeople take actions into their own hands to stop the construction.

Her father George King is the local dairy mart owner and after the citizen's of Progress find out that Missy is the key witness to the trial, local business owners and suppliers start to retaliate against Missy by not doing business with Mr. King.

During the trial, Missy identifies the criminals and justice prevails but Missy’s father loses his business. Missy learns a valuable lesson that sometimes doing the right thing offers no reward but integrity.

Post-NaNoWriMo Publishing Information

Yesterday, at our first regional NaNoWriMo meeting, I discussed a few writers’ conferences, websites and blogs at that I followed that would help everyone Post-Nano to get published. And so far this is what I have learned ‘that works’ to get someone published. Mind you, this is an abbreviated version of what I have learned in two years.

Attending Writer’s Conferences:

These are very beneficial, you get to meet other authors, aspiring writers and they offer lectures on procrastination, how to write in a certain genres and how to get published.

Kentucky has a FREE writer’s conference right here in Bowling Green; the next one is April 20, 2012. Here is a link to learn more about what the writer’s conference offers: http://www.sokybookfest.org/KYWritersConf

WriteOnCon is a FREE online forum where you can post your own manuscript and query letter to get critiqued by fellow writers.  It holds an annual online LIVE forum with numerous genre agents and well known authors that give their best kept secrets and advice on writing. They have the 2011 conference topics in the archives on the website—but mark your calendar for August 2012 so you can be a live participant and a chance to win prizes such as getting your manuscript critiqued by an agent. You can learn more here: http://writeoncon.com/

SCBWI-Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrations-It is NOT free. It is a paid membership, enrollment is $85.00. You also have to pay for the regional writer’s conference fees which usually range from $50.00 to $200.00 depending on what you participate in. But SCBWI is about networking yourself. Getting to know other writers who are interested in your craft. And their writer’s conferences usually include at least one literary agent in which you can provide a live “pitch” session to. So, there are many benefits in joining. You can learn more here: www.scbwi.org/

Beneficial Websites:

If you haven’t already started combining a list of agents that you are interested in querying, I would recommend joining Query Tracker. A FREE online database and search engine that allows you to find the agents who represent your genre and it tracks the requests you get for your manuscript. You can also join the Query Tracker forum where you can post your own manuscript and query letter to get critiqued by fellow writers. You can learn more at: http://querytracker.net/

Starting your own Blog:

This is a great place to start your SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORM. As I discussed in our meeting, most agents won’t even consider representing someone who doesn’t have an active writer’s platform. You don’t have to write every day, that’s the benefit of blogging. Just try to be consistent and write what you feel. You can learn more about starting your own blog at: www.blogger.com/

Blogs to follow:

Literary Rambles: http://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/

Guide to Literary Agents by Chuck Sambuchino: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents

The YA Muses: http://yamuses.blogspot.com/

YA Highway: http://www.yahighway.com/

Making your own Website:

There are numerous places you can go online to make your own pre-fabricated website that doesn’t take a genius to figure out. My own personal website was FREE and I started it from Weebly. You can learn more at: www.weebly.com

Twitter, Facebook and Google+

If you haven’t already, you should become a member of at least one of these…the more, the better. You can actually create one that is your “mainframe” and will repost it on the other social networking websites so you don’t have to manually post on each individual one.

Business Cards:

If you are serious about becoming a published author then you might try investing in business cards. Going to writer’s conferences and other group meetings like NANO, allows you to put your name out there. What better way to do that with your own personalized business card? You can get 200 business cards for less the $10.00 online at www.vistaprint.com/

I can’t even begin to express how important a Writer’s platform is—social networking and putting your identity out there for other people is the best way to get published. And start following authors and agents on twitter and facebook. Keep connected and informed about what is current in your genre. And from one writer to another, never stop writing.

Happy NaNoWriMo! I can’t wait for November 1^st and Good luck to everyone!

First Regional NANOWRIMO Meeting

Today, Stacey and I had the pleasure of meeting fellow writers for the first regional NANOWRIMO meeting of 2011. As Stacey posted in the earlier post, November is National Novel Writing Month, and we have made it our goal to write 50,000 words in our novels during the month of November. With our colleagues today, we shared techniques of success to NANOWRIMO, and ways that we could achieve our 50,000 words. A few of these include the following:
1. Be consistent in your writing. Don't put off writing today only to give yourself more work tomorrow.
2. Set a goal. Set a goal for how many words you want to accomplish in one day i.e 5000 words or one more chapter.
3. Find your motivation. To have success in writing, what is your motivation?
4. Lean on a support group. There are tons of support groups that are there to offer words of encouragement and outsiders views. Utilize these groups to help achieve your goals.
5. Let it flow. The concept of NANOWRIMO is to write as much as you can doing the best you can.

These are only a few suggestions that we discussed. We also did a writing exercise which allowed are thoughts to flow, and allowed the creative juices to be shared in our group. All in all, meeting fellow writers, discussing our genres, and sharing our ideas of what we plan on doing for NANOWRIMO was a great experience. It is nice to know that next month when we are pushing ourselves to the limit, there are going to be others out there working just as hard.



We are planning for future meetings during this upcoming month, so stay tuned for future NANOWRIMO meetings.

NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month is in November.

Write a novel in a month! Is it possible? In 2008, nearly 120,000 writers around the world thought so; 22,000 of them did so. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) happens every November. The challenge is to write an entire draft of a 50,000 word novel over the 30 days of November. With the support of other writer's via forums and local get together's that help motivate writers to finish their novels.

The first regional meeting has been set for Sunday, October 23rd at Barnes and Noble on Campbell Lane here in Bowling Green. For those of you who are new to the literary world, come on out and join us!

Main Character Relationships

For the last two weeks I have suffered from this analogy called Stacey’s block. I was getting in my own way of writing. But now, that I have conquered Stacey’s block I am surging forward to bigger and brighter things such as a complete rewrite of Age of Eden—again, for the fiftieth time. But that’s okay, that’s not what my topic is about today.

During this tragic rewrite I have realized how beneficial using first person point of view is. I am literally inside of my main characters head and speaking through her as fast as my fingers will type.

As some of you know, Tina is writing on two different novels. One is an adult Nicholas Sparks type of genre and the other is a YA paranormal genre. And as Tina eagerly typed out the first five pages of her SNN (slutty new novel—see the YA muse Blog for further reference) Jennifer and I ended up diving into a writing session about how Tina needs to sit down and have a chat with her MC. We told her to make a list of questions about your MC’s past, passions, hobbies, etc and find out what she is like. Tina learned a lot about her MC.

And slowly as I hobble back down this long and dreadful subjective road, I have found myself more content and happy with my MC than ever. So, what I’m really trying to say is, I have multiple personalities and one of them happens to be the MC for Age of Eden, lol.

I hope everyone has a great week—write on and stay tuned for some great writer inklings, author reviews and book bios from Jennifer and Tina.

Book Review: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Yep, it’s me again with another book review and believe me when I tell you there are a lot of reviews yet to come. So, lets get started.

Okay, right off the bat, this is one of the best books I’ve read in a really long time. I get that it’s one of the many “angel” books that’s trending right now, but the concept is truly unique. Plus, to go along with my love of the supernatural, I have to admit that angels hold a special place in my heart. Probably because they are such a big part of the Age of Eden plotline, but Cynthia Hand has taken angels to a place I never would have thought of. Truly inspired.

Unearthly:

When Clara begins having visions of a boy standing in the midst of a forest on fire, she realizes she’s found her purpose.  It’s a purpose she’s been expecting and one her mother has been preparing her for, ever since it was revealed that she is part angel. It’s also why her mother packs up Clara and her brother and moves them from the big city in California, to a small town in Wyoming.

Her first task? To find the boy in her visions.

But, finding him is the least of her problems as he appears right in front of her the moment she enters her new school. Quickly learning his name is Christian, Clara finds herself ready to face her task. Now all she has to do is figure out when the fire happens, save Christian’s life, and her purpose will be fulfilled.

The trouble is, Christian isn’t the only boy that catches Clare’s attention. A distraction is placed in her way when she meets Tucker and he appeals to a side of her that is less angelic and more human, which forces her to make a choice. Does she follow her destiny and accept the responsibility of her purpose or does she follow her heart and choose the boy that appeals to the human side of her soul?     

*****

Like I said, I absolutely loved this book and I’m telling you right now my summary doesn’t do it justice. I loved the interaction between Clara and Tucker, seeing her learn about her angel side, and really coming into her own as she accepts certain things about herself and about her family. This book is 100% emotionally driven and the characters are vibrant and, even given the supernatural element, they are relatable as well.

If you haven’t read it yet, do so now. It’s available wherever books are sold, online and on a bookshelf near you. (Sorry, I had to embrace the cliche lol)

To read more about Unearthly and the book's equally interesting author Cynthia Hand, please visit http://cynthiahandbooks.com/ . I'm sure she'll be glad to see you. ;)

Book Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

First off, I would just like to say that this book was right up my alley. Something that I’m sure is rather obvious based off some of the previous blog posts that have been published on here, is that I am a huge fan of anything paranormal or supernatural whether in book, television, or movie form. So, when I go to the library and step into the YA (I’m also a sucker for YA novels) section, the first books that catch my attention have some form of supernatural entities in them and I’m not entirely picky. I like zombies, fairies, vampires, werewolves, witches, you name the supernatural creature and I’m a fan. Which is why I absolutely fell in love with Paranormalcy. Ms. White had all the creatures listed above and then some.

So, without further ado…

Evie looks like a normal girl, talks like a normal girl, and dreams of being a normal girl. She likes to shop, she is obsessed with the characters of her favorite television show Easton Heights, and, even though her best friend is a mermaid, she can gossip with the best of them. There’s just one problem. Evie isn’t normal.  She’s not even sure she’s human.

Taken from the foster system at a young age, Evie was raised within the structured walls of IPCA (International Paranormal Containment Agency). Evie is special, you see. She sees the world differently than anyone else because she can see supernatural creatures as they really are and not just how they wish to be seen. Because of this gift, she has been trained to capture and retrieve countless creatures all in the name of peace, or so she thinks.

But the agency is rocked as countless creatures are found dead throughout the world and the numbers of attacks is growing by the day. Now, Evie must find out who is doing the killing, figure out how to stop it, and understand why she feels such a strong connection to the being.

Can she stop the murder from killing again? Or will she become the next victim? Only one thing is certain, time is running out and someone’s death is right around the corner.

 ____

The Sequel Supernaturally is all ready available to read as well and the third in the series Eternally will be out early 2012.

Both of these books are going to be on my tbr (to be read) pile, as there are a couple of other books that I plan on reviewing which are a bit higher on the list at the moment. I would definitely recommend that you pick up a copy of Paranormalcy though because it is well worth the read.

You can find more information about Kiersten White and her books at http://kierstenwhite.com/ . She's definitely an author to watch out for.

We're back in business!

As you all can probably tell, some things have changed since Stacey and I went on our writer’s retreat this weekend. Well, one thing in particular. We now have a new addition to our blog, Stacey’s twin and my other sister from another mother, Tina. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited we are to welcome her into the craziness that is the writing world. Welcome aboard, Tina! Love ya, chica!

(The view from our balcony)

Now with the new welcome crossed of the list, I feel it is my duty to say that nature (and laughter) is the cure all for pretty much any ailment. After three days of sitting by the lake, communing with nature, and giving over to the most natural inspiration known to man, we all walked away feeling relaxed, refreshed, and rejuvenated. Better yet, inspiration ran amuck with us and ideas were overflowing by the time we packed up our bags to head back home.



(The partners in crime!Okay...so we look like a trio of Charlie's Angel's rejects, but you get the idea)



Over the next few weeks, I really hope everything we accomplished this past weekend will be reflected in our post. We have some big plans coming up for the blog. A new posting schedule, new and intriguing topics, plus a regular posting of reviews that will be examing some of the most current books and authors on the literary scene today. Tell your friends, tell fellow writers, the trio is going to be breaking it down and we're always excited to see new followers.



I'm part of an adopted family.

I will go ahead and tell everyone how sorry I am ahead of time. Stacey and Jennifer have officially adopted me as their third in command a.k.a. end of the food chain a.k.a. lowest ranking a.k.a. NEW THIRD AUTHOR. I am so excited they have adopted me and given me this new found responsibility. They have been successful writers, and I hope to learn, cooperate, and join forces with them to hopefully achieve our writing goals. I have started on an adult fiction story, which after a few "edits" (which Stacey says "slash this, and cut that, nip it here, and sew it up") and I will then have the first chapter posted. Needless to say, the beginning of a long process. This is my OFFICIAL first post, of hopefully many to come.

Us girls-Day 2

Chilling on the docks with the girls.















Hard at work.

Writer's Retreat-First Day

Road TRIP!!!! This is Jennifer and I in the back seat of the car on the way to our retreat!













Here is Aunt Sharon (Jenni's mom) and my twin Tina-who were our partners in crime on this retreat, lol!













We arrived before check in so we decided to ride around and go sight seeing and stop at a few of the local musuems. This picture was one of the first few that we took it is a picture of Jennifer, my twin Tina, and me sitting next to Lake Barkley.













We went to the local Nature Reserve.













And then we went to the Elk and Bison reserve---the funny thing is we didn't see one elk or bison lol. But, today we are going to focus on writing. So adieu and I'll post more pics later!