Yeah, I know World Without End is not YA, but it makes a really good bookend

If you read my blog regularly, you know that I read a lot of books.  A LOT.  For me to say that The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the best book I’ve read in the last year…well, it is a big deal.  And it is, the best book I’ve read in AT LEAST the last year.  Lots of caps I know, but it’s worth it.  Think Lord of the Flies meets 1984 meets Survivor, yes, I said Survivor and I do mean the television show.

It is a heart-pounding, edge of your seat post-apocalyptic LOVE story.  Not strictly the kind of love between a man and a woman either.  All kinds of love.

I can’t wait to read Catching Fire, the second in Collins’ trilogy (the third book won’t be released for quite a while-boo).

For those who have read it, I vote for Peeta all the way.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Katniss and Gale are related (don’t hold me to it though).

flu-like symptoms and super tweet edition

1. Ah, fever…chills how I hate thee.

2. What Ann Curry tweeted earlier: “Here we go. Last week of August flu cases rose sharply. H1N1 is believed to be most of those cases. Wash your hands.”

3. Been working on my query all day for  this contest…

4. Another embarrassing video.  I love to humiliate myself…why?

5. Thanks to Jolyn Palliata for letting me beta read her awesome novel, Amber Eyes…watch out for this one.

6. Um, Danae (pronounced Dani) Ayusso is one of the most interesting people I have ever “met”.  She can write 10,000 words, send out 75 query letters–twitter and email all in ONE day…not kidding.  And she just got a request for a full!  Way to go Danae!

7. @johannaharness wants everyone to take a pic of their workspaces and tweet to #amwriting, she was so nice to say something positive about mine.

8. Am I trying to be the queen of links?  No, but you can call me the princess if you want.

9. OMK (kittens) I haven’t read a published book all week…weird.

10. Gonna remedy that with my 40% off coupon to Borders!

11. Not adding pics today…so sorry.

12. My oldest caught the video bug and started filming a 6 min. video for each of our pets.  They are surprisingly funny.

13. The animals aren’t as funny as my son’s comments.

14. What I want to read ASAP: The Hunger Games

15. Comment people–I get lonely.

Here it is!  The much awaited return of fifteen for friday!

1.  School is in.

2.  Yesterday I noticed three blooms on my flower.  Normally it only has two, and when I see another about to bloom I know that one flower will fall off before it gets a chance to open.  This is the first time there have been three blooms all at once actually attached to the plant.  I was pondering the reason why this made me so happy.  It has to be that it was unexpected and it involved a pretty lilac colored flower that has a perfect yellow circle in the middle.

3.  A BIG thank you to Jodi, Coy and Amy this week for reading and giving me invaluable feedback.  You guys are great!!!

4. Fun site of the week - www.mentalfloss.com

5.  As You Wish came out this week.  Don’t forget to pick up a copy.

6.  Finally read Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen.  I’m noticing that I like her books almost in copyright date order, favorites being the newest.  In other words, I really didn’t like Keeping the Moon so much.  But I’m looking forward to Along for the Ride, the only one I haven’t read yet and her newest.

7.  The forget-me-nots have grown, but why aren’t they flowering?

8.  I feel like I’m forgetting something.

9.  Good Girls by Laura Ruby –Wow, very modern.  I guess kids these days are having to deal with the issues covered in this book–everything you do can be photographed and sent to everyone you know–yikes.

10.  the sweet, terrible, glorious year i truly, completely lost it by Lisa Shanahan–I really liked this book especially following the heaviness of Good Girls…not that the sweet… isn’t heavy in its own way.  But it has a lot of very funny moments and some outrageous ones.  Gemma’s older sister is getting married and decides her theme will be animals who mate for life.  Sis dresses Gemma up as a SWAN for her flower girl outfit.  The story is set in Australia and has a few quirky words and phrases, but it’s all very followable.  I was a little confused about “the tip” which I could only surmise was a piece of undesirable land that smelled awful.

11.  Girl in Development by Jordan Roter made me realize that the way I tend to write (casual writing, mind you) in “valley girl” may not be the best idea.  Yeah, it’s cute for a little while, but it’s looking more and more immature when I read it from someone else.  I was excited about this book and picked it up because of the blurbs on the back.  It was an okay read.

12.  The three books I picked up at the library all had a copyright date of 2006.  Is that weird or what?

13.  When will I wise up and make it FIVE for Friday?

14.  Random thought (I told you this might happen…no, I did…back in the beginning) is dim sum the same thing as dumplings and pot stickers?  I could look that up, I know…just killing numbers here.

15.  Could someone please please publish me please?! Thanks.

Read a B-U-N-C-H this weekend.

1. That Summer – Sarah Dessen – Nice jump back into Sarah-land after This Lullaby.  Love the summer setting.  I was trying to think back to my last perfect summer before “everything changed”.  I didn’t have a summer like that.  I was always looking forward and never longed for the past, but this book made me want to.  Oh, me and my never-ending teen angst!  Just call me JenX…get it?! hahaha!

2.  Deenie – Judy Blume – I just felt like revisiting this old “classic” when I saw it at the library.  It amazed me how Blume can get that voice in my head to take on a Jersey accent.  It takes serious talent to get a reader to hear a character’s voice and it’s not like any other they’ve ever heard.

3.  Just Listen – Sarah Dessen – This book is now my all-time favorite Dessen novel.  Reading it made me want to write a book report about it.  I am not one who usually gets that urge…but there was so much here to learn I just wanted to take it all apart and dissect each individual piece.  For example, the Greene’s beautiful glass house.  People driving by think they can see everything that’s going on inside, but there are parts that are hidden from the street.  Beautiful Annabel is “the girl who has everything” and people think they know what’s going on with her, but those hidden spaces remain that way until she can turn on the light and open the doors to let others in.  Oh, and Greene…her last name, “the grass is always greener…” and there’s so much more! –It was also nice to see Remy and Dexter from This Lullaby make a cameo.

4.  Dreamland – Sarah Dessen – First Caitlin is invisible, and when she finally gets a chance to be seen, she makes the worst choices.  I guess some people might read the book and think that they would never let anyone abuse them like that.  But as an older (though not much wiser) person I could see how a laundry list of bad choices and of not knowing who you really are could lead to that kind of situation.

New Dessen ranking:                 Still need to read: Keeping the Moon and Along For the Ride

1. Just Listen

2. Someone Like You

3. Lock and Key

4. The Truth About Forever

5. That Summer

6. Dreamland

7. This Lullaby

This weekend I read This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen – I hate to say it but I didn’t enjoy this book.  I kept waiting for something to happen and it just never did.  It won’t put me off Dessen forever or anything…here’s my ranking so far of Dessen novels in order of enjoyment: 1. Lock and Key 2. Someone Like You 3. The Truth About Forever 4. This Lullaby.  I expect that This Lullaby will remain at the end of the list however long it gets.

Another, much more enjoyable read this weekend was Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurtry.  Funny, I just realized that I kept waiting for something big to happen in that one too.  There was definitely more action than in the Dessen novel (did I just compare YA fic with a western?) but it wasn’t up to McMurtry’s normal heart-pounding and gut-wrenching abilities.  It wasn’t nearly as serious as the Lonesome Dove series but not as comedic as Sin Killer either.  I get the feeling it was written for fun–as an easy-going western.  That said, it was still superbly written with McMurtry’s trademark realistic almost lyrical back woodsy prose.

I don’t know if it’s a great idea to jump from reading a pulitzer-prize winning novelist’s book to editing my own un-published work, but that’s exactly what I did.  Then again, maybe it was good, since it made me realize that my manuscript needs a massive overhaul.  It wasn’t my first hint.

oleander aka sea rose

After an excellent tell-it-like-it-is reader told me like it was, I recognized there were some serious issues.  1st massively major edit: Switching from omniscient point of view to first person.  This will not be the first time I have done this…just the first time I’ve had to do it with 65,000 words.  It means that scenes will have to be cut…the scenes that my protagonist, Cate wouldn’t have seen.

Which leads to 2nd massively major edit: I will have to shimmy the information in somewhere else.  Thus creating the major overhaul.  Another good thing…I hadn’t written really much of anything for years and years when I started Sea Rose.  It’s safe to say that I have a lot more written words under my belt at this point so re-writing is a positive.

Some might say, why not scrap the whole thing and start over if you have to change so much?  I think the main story is good and I really think there is still a lot of good writing that I could make great.  So wish me luck, folks!

1.  Finally found a crit partner (actually three).  Already found about five ways to improve my manuscript.

2.  Oh!  Good news!  I finally finished my short story!  To celebrate I lopped off about 1,500 words while editing.

3.  Anyone know any good places to send a short story that runs about 8,200 words?

4.  Read another Sarah Dessen, Someone Like You.  Surprise!  I liked it.

5.  Currently reading Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurtry.  It’s a nice change of pace from YA fiction.  I wonder if Mr. McMurtry hangs out at his bookstore every day (does that sound stalkery)?

6.  I think I’m getting used to Splenda Diet Coke.

7.  Just won AMIGOLAND by Oscar Casares from Little, Brown for twittering about it!  I love #freebiefriday!

8.  Lately I’ve been spending about 90% of my “free” time networking socially and only 10% writing (or reading).  Maybe it’s time for a priority check.

9.  Still getting a huge kick out of visiting Jackson’s site.  Check out her haiku…

10.  I don’t really get the bubbl thing…but if it can help someone else (planners in particular) I’m happy to pass the link along.

11.  17 days until school starts.  I’m looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time.  It will be nice to have quiet days to work…but then there’s homework and lunches and uniforms and supplies, oh and money for this, that and the other thing.

12. Crit Partner Match is a site that helps hook you up with a crit partner.  Not super user-friendly, but it does give you a small pool of people to choose from.

13.  Excited to check out Dollhouse.

14.  If your maiden name was Weadon would you write under that name hoping to receive some kind of noteriety from Joss Whedon’s success?  Would it be wrong, right or neither?

15. How Fail Went From Verb to Interjection http://bit.ly/HJ8VK

1. For fiction, a good idea is gold.  So make sure you start querying any and every literary agent you can get your cursor over, even the ones that only work with non-fiction books…heck, go for it and query other types of agents too…you never know.  Whatever you do, don’t actually have anything written yet; you’ll just have to rewrite it all later anyway.
2. Proper punctuation and spelling are for English teachers.  Those squiggly lines under your words on the computer?  They’re for decoration.
3. Can’t type?  No prob.  Pencil written manuscripts are perfectly fine to send in.  That coffee stain?  Don’t worry about it.  You are an artiste; you have grander things to think about than neatness.
4. Do not follow the query writing / submission guidelines.  Your way is MUCH better.
5. Rejection letters are a personal assault on your sensibilities.  Any agent who turns you down is a drooling dope and everyone deserves to know it.  Call, email, blog, and twitter about the injustice that has been done to you and the unsavory traits of the person who offended you.
6. As soon as you send a query, and especially if you’ve been asked to send a manuscript, call the agent DAILY to check up on the status.  When they start to get a little firm with you that just means you’ve got their attention!  When they threaten to call the police, only then is it time to stop calling.
7. If you have the good fortune to attend a writer’s conference, zoom in on your dream agent and never leave her side.  Share personal stories, the more intimate the better.  Make her think you’ve been best friends for ages.
8. Make sure you start a blog that thrashes the publishing industry completely.  Tweet your links to the nation and sit back while you single-handedly revolutionize every negative thing about it.  It may hurt now, but they will thank you later.  There might even be a statue in your future.
9. On your shiny blog, don’t forget to list out the crappy authors who somehow, by some crazy twist of fate, became published before you.  Make sure to tell the reasons why their writing sucks too.  Everyone can use some constructive criticism.

10.  When you finally have an agent (this should take 1-2 months-tops) DO NOT BUDGE on anything.  Take all you can get, but give as little back as you can.  Rewrites, schmewrites.  Oh, and don’t forget, these are big city folk, they only respond to rudeness.

11.  Do not ever try to help any other writer on their road to publication.  They are the competition, never forget that.  If you have the opportunity to sabotage them -do it.

I first saw Jackson Pearce last week in one of her hilarious youtube videos.  So I checked out her site and found that it was even more hilarious.  Her debut novel, As You Wish is scheduled for release this month, on August 25th but I got my hot little hands on a copy last Friday.

I found out from her site that she would be participating in a panel at TwiCon and then signing copies of her book before you can even get them in the store.  Then I found out, lo and behold, that the convention was taking place in Dallas, just one little town over from my own.  So in a weird stalkery kind of way I asked if I could visit her at TwiCon without paying the TwiCon prices.

The day of, she twittered: “In response to emails: if you’re in TX but aren’t coming to TwiCon, I can meet you in the lobby and get you a copy of ayw on the sly. @ me.”  So I promptly @ed her.

Fast-forward and I’m at the Sheraton downtown on my way to the Dallas Ballroom to meet Jackson.  I am not a real huge social person, so this was seriously out of character for me.  I had lots of scenarios going through my head, pictured myself asking questions and being altogether charming.  Then I got a little distracted.  Imagine seeing this guy from behind going up an escalator:

That’s right, the klingon at TwiCon.  And he was huge!  And all I could see of him was the long black hair and a draping dark “cloak” falling to just above the heels of his heavy black boots with metal accents.  Okay, I’d already seen tons of Alices and Rosalies (most wearing baseball uniforms) and there were all manner of interesting characters swarming the convention…but this guy really stuck out.  I finally got a good look at the front of him when I was off the escalator.  It made me smile, calmed my nerves a bit.

So I found Jackson, she was sitting watching a panel and I tapped her on the shoulder from behind.  Later I thought, boy, that was weird.  I really should have stood in front of her and introduced myself…  The first thing I noticed was her shoes.  They were really rocking.  The second thing I noticed was that she looks exactly like herself.

She motioned for me to come and sit next to her.  And she hugged me.  I was not expecting a hug, even though she is a southern woman and this often happens with them (us).  I could tell she was a bit nervous, but that’s to be expected, meeting a perfect stranger in a strange city right before your first book signing ever.  I asked her a bunch of questions about pre-sales, her book cover design, her cat.  She told me that I was getting her the very first sold copy of As You Wish.  It felt like an honor.    I took her pic (see above).  She was really sweet, a truly nice girl.  She signed her book for me, we got shushed by a lady behind us, and not long after that I left.

It was a fun little adventure all in all.  And I got the privilege of being this person : “Just sold the first copy of AS YOU WISH! Thanks @jl_parker! ”

It was a good, fun read.  Perfect for brightening what was a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Thanks Jackson!

1.  Why is there a klingon at twicon?  Just wondering.

2.  So very excited to read Jackson Pearce’s brand spankin’ new novel, As You Wish.  More about that on next weeks blog!

3.  Another D-list blogger (that’s a good thing) and a spectacular writer, Cindy Fey.

4.  Yesterday it didn’t hit 90 degrees.  In Texas.  In July.  This is amazing.

5.  YA Fresh…an ahem, fresh cool site for YA lovers.

6.  Daughter’s Forget Me Nots…growing!

7.  We’re almost halfway there, can you believe it?!

8.  Five weeks down.  Just three more to go!

9.  I really do have A LOT to talk about…but too much more than I can put in my fifteen so you have to stay tuned for next week’s blog!

10. Seriously getting into Firefly.  We didn’t catch it the first time around so we’re watching it through Netflix.  I like this way much better, no commercials and if you can’t wait for the next epi, no worries!

11. Oh!  I had this cool/strange/funny dream where Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie stole my car and a bunch of my stuff…like they need or want MY STUFF?!

12. The central library in Ft. Worth (downtown-on 3rd st.) is really neat.  The kids section has rocking chairs and other items for kids to play with while they explore the books.  Highly reccommended.

13. Read Sarah Dessen‘s novel, Someone Like You last night.  I’m enjoying her writing more and more.

14. I wish I’d had the nerve to take a pic of that klingon.  He was huge.

15. K, I’m gonna go read now…ttyl!

I usually reserve my stream of consciousness posts for my fifteen for friday…but hey, it’s my blog I can break a rule every now and then.  Plus, there’s the fact that 3 boys, one of which I did not give birth to are shooting each other with Nerf guns all over the house.  It’s a good thing all our good stuff was broken long ago.  But still, it’s a little distracting for a deep meaningful post.  Yeah, yeah, I know I haven’t made a deep and meaningful post yet, but someday I will and I probably wont have suction cup-tipped bullets whizzing by my head when I do.

...so, does that mean that he's the only one who has to stop at this intersection? Cool.

I have a memory like a sieve.  If it is to be remembered by me, it must be written, or at least repeated many many times.  I’ve always been loudly in awe of anyone who can spew meaningful quotes at any given moment.  Quote Shakespeare and I will follow you into the depths, well not really.  But it is a gift that I wish I had.  I mention this short coming because, like many people, my best ideas materialize out of thin air while I’m in the shower.  What is it about the shower?  Anyway, I find that in order to remember the grand ideas I have, I have to repeat them over and over and over until the time that I can dry off and write them down.  I wonder how many ideas I miss while I’m remembering the one?

So anyway, I have this grand idea for a book…boy, I’m fickle.  I haven’t even finished my short story (although it’s turning more and more into a long one) and here I am excited about the next thing…and I haven’t gotten an agent on my first manu. yet.  Yet, there is always hope.  Sea Rose will get representation and will be sold.  Someday!  K, everyone join in…Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow, you’re only a day away!

My site may be changing a little bit.  I tell you this so that you will not think that you are losing your mind, because that’s where I would go if I saw small things changing little by little on a much frequented site.  And this is a much frequented site, right?  right?  There may be subtle changes, and there may be larger ones as well.  And it may take a while ’cause my trustworthy husband/IT department is wayyyyyyy too busy to assist.  So I get to venture into blog tweaking territory all on my own.

Crud, I gotta go.  I think the boys are trying to figure out how to waterboard each other.