Waste

So I got a juicer...I know I'm a wild woman. Lock up your doors! Random fact: Did you know that a bag of carrots only gets you about 3 glasses of juice but a whole buttload of pulp? So I was basically stuck with a sackful of this...

 
I don't garden so using it as fertilizer wouldn't work, but I didn't want to just throw it away. So I made a carrot cake. And then another one. And then another one. And muffins! And yet, there were still more so I gave some away and froze the rest.

I have a point to this story, I promise. I realized that my juicer was like revising. It gave me what I wanted in the end, but it had to cut a whole bunch of stuff out in the process. And it hurt to toss it. But I made other things out of it. Yummy things. So your scenes and characters that you had to take out may be useful for other stories too. So don't be too gutted when you have to revise. It can always be useful somewhere else.

Or, you know, if it REALLY hurts, you could just have some cake. That always makes things better. :)

RIPPLE Release Day!

One of my favorite agents just had another one of her books released today. Yes, I am talking about the awesome Mandy Hubbard. Tada! RIPPLE...

    Lexi is cursed with a dark secret. The water calls to her, draws her in, forces her to sing her deadly song to unsuspecting victims. If she succumbs, she kills. If she doesn’t, the pain is unbearable. To keep herself and those she cares about safe, she shuts herself off, refusing to make friends or fall in love—again. Because the last time she fell in love with a boy, he ended up dead.

Then Lexi meets Cole. Against her better judgment, she finds herself opening up again, falling in love when she knows she shouldn’t. But when she’s offered the chance to finally live a normal life, she learns that the price she must pay to be free of her curse is giving him up.

Check out her website to find out where you can buy it!

Another contest!

That's right, I have another contest for you to check out. This time is a contest from the awesome Shelley Watters that will be judged by Victoria Marini of Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency! If you want to enter then click here. 

First Page of JUST A CON: a 54k YA contemporary romance about a 16-year-old con artist, Megan Benson, that lands a place living in the wealthy Keller mansion only to realize this is the one family she doesn't want to pull a heist on.
 

His stomach grumbled like a bizarre hybrid between a sputtering submarine and a wounded grizzly. Glancing at his watch for the twentieth time, Alex Harper let out a heavy sigh and tapped his right foot, mentally urging the middle-aged cashier to hurry up with the orders.

 If he was late for soccer practice one more time, he’d get kicked off the team. Or at least that’s what Coach Wilkins threatened every other week. If anyone asked him though, it was the coach’s fault for having practice so early. Didn’t he know that teenagers weren’t supposed to get up before twelve in the summer? It was practically a law of nature.

Then again, he knew Coach would never actually kick him off the team. Not if he wanted to keep winning. Everyone knew Alex was the best sprinter on the field. No lie. He could also mention that he knew Coach was sleeping with his stepmother whenever his dad was out of town. She certainly brought more than snacks to practice.

Thank God for adultery.

Alex relaxed and leaned back against the plastic yellow railing. Yeah, there’s no need to hurry.

As he studied the burger menu above his head, he couldn’t help noticing the girl in front of him. Not only was she wearing very tight jeans that showed off her slender legs and round—although small—ass, but she was also wiping her eyes on a Kleenex every few seconds like her rabbit had been run over right in front of her.

Now I'm off to enjoy everyone else's first pages!

MIA

So I know I've been missing for a while (to the two of you that read my blog xD you know who you are!). I could go on and on with my excuses, but let's just skip that part and save us both (or three) the trouble.

So what have I been up to? Well, besides editing CON *short cheer*, I've been thinking about the next SNI I should pick to bleed cry agonize write. After all, if I stick to it, this will be the next thing I spend the next few months on. But there are a lot of factors involved. Whether I should switch back to WISTFUL (I have a new idea to rewrite it entirely). Or should I write another YA historical romance that have been on my mind for a while now. Or should it be the other paranormal one I have a vague idea about. Maybe I should write another YA contemporary romance in case CON works out *crosses fingers* and I need more from the same genre.

And as much as I hate to admit it, the market weighs in on it too. Sometimes, when I'm debating, I feel like this...

(Me being the janitor of course, wondering which SNI could make or break me while my ideas (JD and others) are staring at me weirdly wondering why I don't just pick one of them already.)

Lol. So how do you guys decide which SNI to start next?

You know you're an author when...

...ideas come to you no matter where you are. Everyone always ask "How do you get your inspiration?" I think the question is "How do you NOT get your inspiration?" Because face it, if you're really a writer, ideas come to you anywhere and all the time. (The pesky ones are the SNIs that come when you're in the middle of another story grrr...)

Just yesterday, I was at the cemetery visiting my grandpa and I started to explore the grounds. Now before you get freaked out, my grandpa's cemetery is really nice and old. There are plots that date back to 1800s that are still pristine! And each one is very intricate and embellished. I'm talking statues, iron gates, marble pathway, even stained glass in the back! Look!

Okay, let me get back to the point before you start wondering why I'm showing you pictures of cemeteries. So I noticed that some of them had tons of names on them (like twelve or more) and others (although old) had no names or only one. So I started wondering why. Was there a plague that happened that wiped out the entire family? A curse? A bitter feud? And as for the empty tombs, it could be explained by the family merely moving away. (although plots in here cost at the least 100 grand so I don't know why they would just leave it empty) Maybe something else happened like they became vampires and didn't die?

So I guess all I'm saying is that writers find inspiration everywhere. Even in a cemetery. :) Where's the weirdest place you found your inspiration?

Writer's Mountain

Cause Writer's Block is just too small for what I'm going through right now. And I'm sure every writer has gone through this many many times. It's not the plot or the story that's failing. It's the doubt. The doubt of whether the dream will ever happen. Of snagging an agent and getting published.

In my case, I keep doubting about which story to work on, worrying that I'm picking the wrong one and wasting my time. Should I revise the MG or YA? Should I work on new revisions for the YA or continue the current wip? Which will be THE ONE? Are any of these THE ONE or should I start working on the other ideas I have? As a result, I've hit a major wall. I can't seem to concentrate enough on any of them. I wish I could be one of those people that just pushes through it anyway, but I'm not. Sure, there are the good days when I get a good word count, but it doesn't balance out the many other days when I don't write. And the irony that I'm actually wasting even more time doesn't escape me. Really not a fan of it.

So finally I had enough. I closed all of my word documents I kept open, waiting to be worked on. Instead, I opened a blank page and just wrote whatever came to mind. In this case, it was another idea I had in the back of my mind for a spinoff/sequel. I know I wouldn't be able to finish this and this wouldn't even be my next project when I finish CON. But I wrote the scene in my head anyway. Just for fun.

And it helped. I don't think I'm quite ready to go back to my other projects yet, but it's relaxing just to write for fun. After all, this is what it's supposed to be for, right? To create stories and have fun with it. I think in the midst of all the querying and worrying I've forgotten about that.

What about you guys? What do you do when the stress gets to you and the writing's just not flowing?

What type of book are you?

This doesn't really have to do with anything. :) Just a fun post. Have you always wondered what type of book you are? I was really expecting romance, but since I don't write straight romance, this actually fits!

You Are Humor

You love to laugh at life, and if possible, get others to laugh along with you. You believe there's always a humorous side to everything. And your sense of humor ranges from upbeat to very dark. You are outrageous and very honest. You're often the only one willing to say what everyone else is thinking. You are witty and verbally talented. You like to play with words and say things in interesting ways.

What Kind of Book Are You?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

If you took this, what did you turn out to be?