Road Trip Wednesday-If my WIP was a soundtrack

YA Highway asks:
If your WIP(s) or favorite book(s) were a song, which song would they be?


So the book I'm currently querying is about music and the music industry and possibly the best song that represents that is Entertainment by Rise Against.

All we are is entertainment
Caught up in our own derangement
Tell us what to say and what to do
All we are are pretty faces
Picture perfect bottled rage
Packaged synthesized versions of you

We've all made petty fortunes but we can't afford a life
Confined to pull-out quotes and hotel rooms
They all scream California and its toppling empire
But can't you see the end is coming soon

Come on come on the new sensation
Guarantees then obligations
Spotlights follow every single move
Basking here on ten foot stages
Pouty lips and oh so jaded
All as if we have something to prove

Despite these petty fortunes we still can't afford a life
Confined to pull-out quotes and hotel rooms
They all scream California and its toppling empire
But can't you see the end is here

And if we cared at all
about this unknown plight
then we'd do something more
to finally make this right

Is this only entertainment
Pull the curtains, places please
We've learned to sing and dance and cry on cue
But this is more than entertainment
In a world so sick with pain
This is the only thing that's real or true

We've all made petty fortunes but we can't afford a life
Confined to pull-out quotes and hotel rooms
They all scream bloody murder over graves already dug
But can't you see the end

This is my ALL time FAVORITE song about the music industry.  So if your WIP was a song, which one would it be?

Road Trip Wednesday- the house next door

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YAHighway posts a weekly writing- or reading-related question and we answer the prompt on our own blogs.




This Week's Topic:
Which book character would you like most as a next door neighbor? 

As you know, I love John Green.  But my favorite of his characters was Tiny Cooper.  Mostly because I had a friend JUST like Tiny Cooper.   BIG GAY AND FAB-U-LOUS. 
But I would like to live next to Quentin Jacobsen.  I'd be the girl who had the crush on the boy next door who had a crush on the girl who lived on the other side. I could never compete with Margo, and I'd be secretly jealous of her but I would swoon a little if she spoke to me.    In other news I want to share my latest fail, because sharing fails are fun.  Guess who sent out 10 queries with THE WRONG PHONE NUMBER and I spelled my comp titles wrong. **head desk**
You know when they say, triple check your query? Yeah triple check it by the tenth power. 

Road Trip Wednesday-When fiction and the real world mix

So today's question is what real life person has made it into your writing.

As a general rule I like to keep the people in my real life off my computer scene. I like them to much to fictionalize them and force them to say fart jokes. Mom, you're welcome.

But there are a few real life people who have made it into my writing...
IJustine is a youtuber and she's awesome. The instant I saw her I thought, Bryce would love her. So for the sequel to No System at All Bryce is going to fall for a MeNet life caster who has over 2 million subscribers.




The other real life person I EXTREMELY VERY EXTREMELY LOOSELY based a character on was Craig Owens. Jeff Grace is a character that changes Colin's life forever. And I saw Craig Owens in a magazine and his name was mentioned several times while I was doing research so poof, he became someone I VERY VERY VERY loosely based a character on.

NO! Wait Leroy and Jen are my real life neighbors and I put them as characters in my book New York Karma.


In other news: I have an issue and I would like your feedback on it. I'm in a writer's group. We read chapter by chapter submissions of each others work. When we finish reading a whole book, that person has as much time as she wants to edit. Then we read the MS as a whole so we can catch things we didn't notice the first time.

Here's the thing. When I do edits, I take a hacksaw and make HUGE changes. I look at everyone's feedback and really analyze it. However there is one member of my group who makes small changes. She resubmitted her novel and I noticed out of 333 pages about 1 paragraph that was different from the first read.

Now is it fair to ask a writer to change her process of editing for a crit group? Should she have to do huge sweeping changes or is it acceptable for her to make very small changes? Is it right to ask someone to change their editing style and process to fit the group?

The more I think about this, the less certain I am about it. I'd like your opinion.

Road Trip Wednesday-if I could have I would have

In support of Like Mandarine's release YA Highway is asking:

Back in high school I would have picked the pretty perfect people.  You know the ones, the ones who always had a hot boyfriend. They were beautiful, smart, their parents bought them cars, they never worked.  Ugh. 

Now thanks to facebook, 15 years later I can check up on them.  Second marriages, botox and many extra pounds, I wouldn't trade my life for theirs any day.


Now that I'm older, I want to  be like HOLLY DOSON---you know she's pretty awesome.  I have insider info on her, she's my hero.  YOu know when you think, "gee, I've got my stuff together."  But then Holly tells me a little a bit about her life and I think DAMN, now SHE has her shit to-geth-ER.

In other news, my daughter had her surgery today.  It went smoothly but there was a lot of crying on her part, afterwards.  Right now she's watching her 4th episode of My Little Pony and playing with her new My Little Pony toys. 

Zoey 2.0 is still downloading, but I'm expecting the download to be complete by tomorrow.

Don't forget to sign up for my LIFE IS AWESOME contest.

Road Trip Wednesday- ask a question

 This week is a little different. From the Twitter feed on YA Highway I see we're supposed to post a question on our blogs, and visit all the other blogs and answer everyone else's questions.

So I've started the query process (more to come on that) and I have one huge question.

• Question 1 When an agent asks for a synopsis and an author bio, isn't that just a query?
• Another question: What sort of prizes should I give away for my next contest? It will start on my birthday March 2. But I can't figure out what to give away. 
• Last question:  What's the best book you've read of 2011 so far?

In other news my friend Mo is hosting a blogfest.  March 11 (Mo's Birthday) post five things on your Bucket List.  That's easy. Go sign up

road trip Wednesday- Fave Literary Couples

Road Trip Wednesday is a blog carnival where the YA Highway posts a question, and the community answers it on their own blogs.

This week's question: Who are your favorite literary couples?You know -- the ones you like by themselves, but LOVE together!


In book form it's Anna and St. Claire.  Hands down.  Sure most people will say Bella and Edward, but no I vote for the painfully realistic and totally lovable Anna and St. Claire.     What's to say, Anna is every girl.  And St Claire is British, American and living in France.  Come on!  Even the iciest hearts have to melt a little bit.  He loves his mom, his dad is a jerk, he's kind and cuter then a basket of puppies. 

My favorite TV couple... 
Josh and Donna of the West Wing.  They work for the President, Josh is Donna's boss and they are both madly in love, but they aren't willing to risk their jobs or the reputation of the President to make the first move.  Beside Jim and Pam on the Office, they are the best TV couple.   

Hey, I'm hosting a cool new blogfest, Gone but not Forgotten, on March 4.  You list your top 5 TV shows no longer on the air.   It's a fun and easy to find new blogs and have other people discover your blog.  Sign up if you get a chance.

Road Trip Wednesday- rereading- reliving

Ya HIghway asked, which book would you read over and over again.  

I love books but there's a short list of books I'd reread. 

To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the few I've reread more then twice.   I love the richness of the language and the characters.  I"m also a sucker for Boo Bradly.

The Sandman Series (graphic novels- I've reread in its entirety twice now too.  It's Death's character I relate to the most and if you've read the series you'd understand that's not nearly as morbid as it sounds. And if you haven't read it, you really have no excuse not to... it was written by NEIL FRAKING GIAMAN. 

Restaurant at the End of the Universe I've read three times now.  I carried it with me in my car for four years while I was in college.  I also carried a toothbrush too in college but not a towel so clearly I didn't read the book to carefully.

But Dark Knight Returns wins for the most rereads-- I think I've read it at least 5 times.  A possible gay Joker, Batman as the baddest badass that ever lived.  It's perfection in every sense of the word.  If I had a big enough house I would frame every page of that book and wallpaper my office with it. 

Recent possible contenders for books I'd reread but having gotten around to them are Anna and the French Kiss, Perfect Chemistry, Paper Towns and Half Life of Planet (A NEW BOOK BY BRENDAN HALPIN AND EMILY FRANK CAME OUT THIS WEEK? Guess what I'm buying this weekend)

Road Trip Wednesday- living in another world

YA Highway asks, if you could live in any story world which would it be?

Harry Potter's world is pretty fraking awesome... flying cars, cool trains, any flavor jelly beans, what's not to like?

But here's my issue, Volermort-- the dude is pretty evil, right?  But he gets his ass handed to him by a TEN YEAR OLD.  Oh and he can get his body back but he can't grew a nose.  No wonder why he so pissed off, he's super congested and can't blow his nose.  I'd be pissed too.

Oh yeah and he had the his ass kicked by baby. 

But beside that, yeah I vote for Harry Potter world because everyone has cool names too.  

Road Trip Wednesday- write a blurb

This blog will come to you in three parts.

Part 1:  Page 99 BLOGFEST-  Alica, Holly, Pam, Quinta and I will hosting a page 99 Blogfest-  you post page 99 of one of your WIPs and see if other people would read more based solely on that page.  Awesome, right?  The idea is page 1-50 are normally SUPER polished and perfect, but let's pick a page at random (page 99) and see if the writing is interesting enough to keep the reader's attention. It's based on the website http://page99test.com/

It will be on January 28th!  A week and a half away. Go here to sign up

Part 2- Road Trip Wednesday- blurb all about it.

The word blurb is funny.  It's one of those words that sounds like it shouldn't even be a word. 
Say it a low, blurb blurb blurb blurb blurb blurb blurb blurb, see how it lost all meaning?

Anyway writing a blurb is tough, it's like a query letter but even shorter.  It's like a one paragraph pitch.

So I'm going to mash up my query letter and see if it works as a blurb.

Colin descends upon the bullies in town and unleashes punishments so swift and fitting, the bullies either changed their ways or moved.  Now in his senior year, Colin is trying to keep a low profile.   Because one of his “victims”  wants to crush Colin’s spinal cord into powder.  But his popularity-obsessed girlfriend, and the garage band he formed with his brother, are making that impossible.  
Much to Colin’s surprise, the band is good and gaining a following.   As he reluctanly steps into the spotlight he has to face public scrutiny when he doesn’t get into Julliard and discovers the people he trusts are keeping secrets from him. 

Yeah it's not great but neither is the word blurb.  

Part three: Fricking Awesome First Lines.

Tomorrow I will open my blog up for a contest. All week I've been talking about the importance of a first line.  Thursday you can post your first line of any work (short story, novel or non fiction).  It's open to all genres.  All comments will be closed to the public so no one can see who posted what.   On Friday I will post ALL the first lines.  Voting will last through the weekend.
RULES:

• You will need to e-mail or post your first line in the comments on Thursday's post. 
• You need to be a follower of the blog. 
• Vote for your favorite on Friday.
• Winner will get a $10 iTunes gift card and a 10 page critique from me.

Road Trip Wednesday- favorite lines from your WIP.

What's your favorite line of your WIP (or of a recently read book, if you're not writing anything)?


Penny and Hank is a retelling of the Persephone Demeter Myth.  Hank and Penny get exposed to a deadly virus and they are locked up in quarantine.   In this little bit, Hank has just woken up, he's wearing one of the doctor's office paper robes.   He's just figured out where he is and that the people who are holding him captive and no idea who he is.

Penny and Hank

          I looked down at my arm where they had drawn blood. “Listen you’re going to march up or down which ever direction it is to the fifth floor, run my blood sample through the DNA database. Shit your pants when you see my name, go to your boss and figure out the best way to tell him you’ve got the CEO’s grandson locked in a concrete cell. Then your boss is going to come down here and answer any questions I have, got it?” I lifted my legs up and rested them on the glass.
           Victory.
           He blinked at me. “Boy, you’re not wearing any underwear so I would appreciate it if you put your legs down.”
           Crap.
           He stood up and walked out. Flicking the light off and leaving me will a full view of my junk.
           Christ, why could nothing be as cool as it was in the movies?


No System At All

Colin and his brother bully the bullies out of the school.  When Colin doesn't achive his life long dream of going to Julliard he opt to become a rock star instead. 




Here are some tiny bits of dialogue from my WIP that's the closest to being done.

In these two bits Colin the MC is walking around with his best friend Dave, a comic book geek.

           As they walked through the cafeteria, a lump caught Dave’s eye. “Christ, is that Tyler? He looks worse than Wolverine did when Magneto ripped out his adamantium skeleton in "X-Men" number 25.”
           “Really, that’s the reference you want to go with?” Colin said.


Colin jammed his hands into his coat pocket, “try to remember who you used to be, then you’ll understand.”
           Dave blinked at Colin, “That’s some serious Yoda shit there.”




In this scene Colin has just met his idol the bass player in his favorite band.  The bass player is giving Colin some life changing advice:

"I’ve heard this story a thousand times, the precise moment that inspires a kid to take the leap from screwing around to turning pro. Hmm. Word to the wise: the competition is heartless, the hours suck, the money’s worse, and there comes a time in every touring musician’s life where he has to shit in a bag.”
           “What?”
           “You’ll shit in a bag and hopefully it’s a plastic one.”

Road Trip Wednesday- Best Book of 2010

Here's a list of my FAVORITE books of 2010

I read a lot of books this year--- most of them trendy and cool with lots of buzz.  The Duff, Paranormalcy, If I Stay...  these books were excellent reads and I highly recommend them, but there were a few books I wanted to feature because I enjoyed them more.

 Anna and the French Kiss, and not because I blogged about it yesterday or because it was the most recent book I read.  It was incredible and everyone who read it would agree.  Read yesterday's post for the full review.

Half Life of Planets:
I loved this book- I reviewed it on my blog and e-mail the author.  I loved this book more than Will Grayson Will Grayson.  It's a story told from two POV and one of the character is an boy with Asperger's syndrome.  As a teacher, every year I teach at least one student with  Asperger's syndrome and I never stop to think how they are going to handle their first love. This book touched me on personal and professional level.  And I wasn't the only one who loved this book.

The Ghost and The Goth
100% solid FUN.  Every page 100% fun.  The voices of the two characters were very distinct voices and very different motivations.  The plot was solid.  Will was one of the most interesting characters I've read all year.  I even gave him a Christmas Gift this year.  It is also the nominee for a Best Fiction for Young Adults award (BFYA) through the American Library Association (ALA),

Little Brother
Possibly one of the most important books I've read all year.  The story about a boy who's a techie kid and the government thinks he's a terrorist.  He's not and doesn't become one until the government kidnaps him and goes too far.   It's about friendship and impossible odds.  It raises lots of questions about privacy and safety. 

Perfect Chemistry:

HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT. Did I mention this book is HOT?  A gang member makes a bet he can sleep with the perfect girl in school.  Seriously her rep is that she's perfect.  However once the story goes on, she's not perfect by a long shot.  It reads fast and it's fun and powerfully touching.  I loved this book.

October Sky:
I didn't want to teach it.  I didn't want to read it. I was convinced my students would kill me or complain the board of ed and have me fired.  You know what? I loved it.  I cried at the end.  I whimpered. My students LOVED it- three students finished it in a week.  Before we left on winter break nine students finished the book.  20% of my students finished the book before the class got to page 60.  Nearly 50% of the students were further in the book then we were reading as a class.   The story is about a boy growing up in a West Virgina Coal mining town who decides to build rockets.  It's a wonderfully inspirational story. 


Does this post look shockingly a lot like a post from last week?  YES!!!  Thanks YA Highway for making this EXTREMELY easy for me.  It's like you knew today I was going to be with a computer today.  THANKS!!!!!

Go forth and read-- What are your top books of 2010?

Road Trip Wednesday- Best Book of December

I'm in the middle of a book binge right now, which means when I finish reading one book I start another one.  I've read a lot of books week and I plan on reading a few more before I need to go back to school next week. 

The books I've read so far

How to train your dragon: 8/10
Totally different from the movie- the movie and the book shared almost ZERO similarities expect for the names of the characters and that there were dragons.  That being said, the book was an EXCELLENT MG book.

Sh*t My Dad Says8.5/10
Possibly the best memoir I've read since the Know It All.  I laughed aloud at the Dad's logic and there was no point in the book where I doubted teh father didn't love his son.  The tweets he says are genius and the best part of the book.  Read this, go out and read this now.

Pay The Piper: 5/10
A modern retelling of the Pided Piper story with a dash of rock music thrown in.   I didn't love it.  I didn't hate it.  I had NO IDEA the main character was American though... I TOTALLY thought she was British.

Clockwork Angel
 Set in Victorian England it was a prequel to the City of Bones books, which I"ll admit I haven't read it.  It was an interesting story, the characters were well developed.  There was a tad to much description for my taste and it didn't make me want to rush out and read the next book in the series.  But it was a solid read. 

The BEST Book was

I am Number Four
AWESOME.  I'll admit it- I learned about the book when I watched the movie trailer and saw on of my students reading it.  Action packed.  Written in first person PRESENT-- impressive and interesting and not once did it take me out of the story.  It's about an alien boy who is being hunted by the alien race that destroyed his home planet.  There are nine surviving alien children- three of them have been killed, and the main character is number four. 
It's awesome.  Action packed, funny, sweet and a little bit of romance.


I am 120 pages into The 20 Boy Summer and next I plan on reading Anna and The French Kiss and Son of the Mob. 
More to come soon.

Road Trip Wednesday- gift for your favorite character

What gift would you give your favorite character for Christmas?

Hmmm, I've been thinking about all the books I've read this year. I read more books this year and I did all the last three years.

I know what my favorite books were (see next week's posts about that)
But my favorite characters?  Hmmm

I really liked Will from The Ghost and the Goth--- he was the goth.

I think I would give him the entire Bayside CD Collection, because if you need to drown out the sound of yammering Ghosts, nothing does it better then emo pop punk.  The music is so bouncy but the lyrics slit your wrists depressing.   I think he's be really into them and he wouldn't have to listen to the hot dead cheerleader that's pestering him.  A hot dead cheerleader that only tangible when she's near him... lucky guy.  Forget it, he has a hot dead cheerleader... he doesn't need a Christmas present.

The next winner for my favorite character would be Sam from Gone, after all the adults vanish and a whole bunch of kids look up to him for leadership, but he shies away from it because he's scared but eventually  accepts it.  Sam needs a hug.   A BIG ONE.

Death from The Book Thief he needs the last five seasons of Doctor Who.

Why?  Because it's awesome and I think Death could appreciate a 900 year old Time Lord who hasn't died. The Doctor makes Death's job SO much easier... but the Doctor does have a high body count, so maybe it would only piss Death off.

For Katniss of the Hunger Games--- She's getting a Twinkie and a goat.

Because it anything can survive the Hunger Games, it's a Twinkie.

She's getting a goat because she spends four damn pages talking about her sister's goat and I think she has goat envy. 

On second thought, I'd give all those guys  a hug. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Road Trip Wednesday- Santa, listen up

 

This Week's Topic:
You spot Santa at the mall, climb onto his lap, and whisper that you've been a good boy or girl in his ear. What do you want Santa to bring you this year? Go wild! Have fun! After all, you earned it! 

 TIME.  I WANT TIME.  I'm not looking for a TARDIS, although that would be SUPER cool.  

   I want time to read, time to write, time to blog, time to do all the things I want to do without having Mommy Guilt, Teacher Guilt, or Wife Guilt, kicking in. 
I told my husband I wanted to check into a hotel for a night and just write.  He didn't like that idea at all.  He thought it would be weird. 
He bought me something in a square box that's too big to be an iPad. I think it might be a rumba.  

 He claims it isn't.
Time is what I want more than anything- which is why I'm SUPER excited for the Blogger's Getaway.  WOOT.  

Road Trip Wednesday- My life in 6 words

So there's the famous story about Hemingway and some other guy.  Other Guy bets Hemingway he can't write a story in six words.  Hemingway writes, "for sale, baby shoes, never worn."

(BTW I wonder how many people will post with that little tidbit of information- my guess is four.)

The YA Highway is asking us to write our life story in six words.

I lived, I loved, very awesome.


All forms of entertainment are important. 

The universe is endless, life isn't.  

In other news made out of AWESOME:
So yesterday I posted that I thought we, bloggers,  should meet up at a con.  I won't lie, I sort of jumped on the idea from my good friend Alicia and follow blogger Holly.    We started chatting and came up with this idea.

Bunches of blogging buddies, one trip, loads of laughs and learning along the way.  Critique sessions, all-night giggle fests, whatever your heart desires from the friends you only thought existed online!  If you're interested in being included in the awesomeness, give us your name and email address below.  Alicia is going to send out an email to everyone who responds with a survey. 

We're using the survey to determine the where, when, and how so that the most people possible can be accommodated.

The three of us are super excited about the possibility of meeting all of you in person!

If you're interested in this please head over to Alicia or Holly's blog and sign up.  I would have a sign up on my blog, but I'm not smart enough to embed the cool gadget thingy.  **hangs head in shame**

Road Trip Wednesday-Movie into books

This week's road trip we're asking to think about which movies we would like to read in book form.

Interesting fact but possibly outdated.  Hollywood makes 100 movies a year, and out of those 100 movies 50% are from previously created content, like books, TV shows, sequels or fairy tales, even other movies.
Some how 50% seems very low to me, I think now a days it would be closer to 75%.

The first thing is that you have to find a movie that was original.
Avatar- nope
Harry Potter- nope
Lord of the Rings- nope

Basically the only movie company that is creating completely new content is ...pixar.

But Disney makes comic books for the Pixar movies.

But how great would it be to see a YA book about Andy told from the POV of his toys.  Andy invites the first girl over to his house,  Mrs Potato Head doesn't like her, she's not good enough for her Andy.  Oh the drama.

The Goonies.... THAT'S MY ANSWER!!!!  I want to read a YA series about The Goonies.  How does Mouth handle high school.  Did Mickey ever get over his ashma?  Does he ever manage to steal Andy away from his brother.

Second choice- Ocean's Eleven--- I want to see Ocean's team break into Fort Knox, just to prove that they can.

Extra Credit.

Book series I would like to see turned into a movie Artemis Fowl.  Live Action with CGI to enhance the awesomeness of the fairies.   Get some unknowns to play Artemis and Holly.  But I would cast Jason Statham as Butler.




















Or The Rock,  or Vin Diesel.  Any of those three would do.

I think Disney owns the rights to that one.

Mickey get on it.

Don't forget to enter my contest!  It ends on FRIDAY 

Road Trip Wednesday- Best Book of November

Road Trip Wednesday Best Book of November

I only read ONE book this month, which I think is forgivable when you look at how many books I've read in the past few months.
My brain has been sort of fried. 
Between work, illness and life I've been slacking a lot. 

But I did read October Sky.

October Sky isn't a book I would read willingly.  I need to teach it, in Decemeber.  So I went to Borders and bought my copy and nearly had a heartaccked.  It was a 425 page book.  WHAT!  I need to teach 425 pages to 8th graders. 
My kids were going to go all Lord of The Flies on me.  Dear God, I was going to be Piggy.
Then I started reading it.

It was good.

That's weird.  Books I teach are almost never good.  They're normally way to hard or way to easy or the characters leave you sort of feeling meh. 

But this was really good.

I found myself changing from Teacher Reading Mode, underlining vocab and confusing terms to Enjoying Reading Mode.

The story is about a boy named Sonny (or Homer depending on who's talking to him) living in a WV coal town during the Space Race.  His father runs the coal mine and his mother is convinced the mine and resulting town is dying.  Sonny builds a rocket after being inspired by sputnik.  His mother encourages Sonny's interest in rockets and often runs interference between Sonny and his dad. 

The book is about Sonny's friends, life in high school, fitting in, crushes on girls and making rockets.

It was AWESOME.  I cried at the end.  

It's going to fun to teach and interesting to see the kids reactions. 

Go out and read this book, you'll enjoy page, all 425 pages of them. 

Wanna win a MYSTERY PRIZE?  Enter my contest, please. 

Road Trip Wednesday- crazy pants

YA Highway Road Trip 

LIKE MANDARIN's 1st line is "The winds in Washokey make people go crazy." Tell us something crazy you've done!


Ok so you would think from my wacky crazy personality that I do crazy things.  Nope. I mean sure I've done some crazy things but nothing I would post on the internet, after all my mom reads this blog and I think some students lurk as well.  

Mostly I do lots of socially awkward things.  


I shown up to the wrong funeral home for a wake for a friend's father.  I figured it out before walking into the building but I did stop and ask a group of people if this was for my friend's dad and they blink at me and said no, "it's for a mom." yikes!   It was a long walk a shame back to my car and then I was late for the wake. 


I did flash my entire wedding because I wore a strapless dress and foolishly forgot to eat the week before the wedding, losing weight.  My dress fell below my bra line.  


I've walked into park cars before.  


One time I was friends with a girl for two years (called her on the phone, hung out with her,  shared a seat with her on the bus and had a class with her) and I didn't know her name.   I was caught when I wrote her name on a paper, I wrote A and a whole bunch of scribbles.   When she said, "Erinn, you didn't spell  my name right." 
I said, "That's ok, I don't know what your name is anyway." 




A few years later I had three grad classes with a girl and when I went to write her name down... see I LEARNED from my last mistake.   She looked at me and said. "J. E. N." 

Sigh. 


Sometimes being socially awkward is WAY worse then being crazy.  Crazy can be a one time event or be trigger by some external force, but socially awkward is forever. 

FRIDAY STARTS MY NEWEST CONTEST!!! 

Christmas Gifts for People You Are Indifferent To.  

YAY. 

Swing by on Friday and enter the contest. 

My bestest X-mas gift for me would be 100 followers. 

Road Trip Wednesday- best cliche

Road Trip Wednesday
YA Highway asks what's your favor literary cliche.

Language wise one of my favorites although Stephen King said you weren't allow to do it, adverbs next to the word said because it is an easy way to get your point across.

But story cliche.  My favorite by FAR is the Bad Boy with heart of gold.  The guy who hates everyone expect for the main female character.  YES YES YES.

When Edward saves Bella from the car in the parklot-  YES YES YES--- then he get's all lame and pusses out at the end of the book.  Urgh.

Damon from The Vampire Diaries--- YES YES YES YES... long before Ms Myers was writing a bad boy, L J Smith was KICKING ASS with it back in the early 90's.  

The one bad boy cliche that didn't work at ALL for me was Patch form Hush Hush.  Yep, not a fan at all.

Most hated Cliche--- stupid females protags.  ARUGH!   



This week I'm posting pictures of an art project I did with my two year old.  Try to guess what it was.  Friday it will be revealed. 
Next Wednesday--- I"ll introduce a super awesome contest too.  YAY
Art project clue:

Road Trip Wednesday- If I ruled the world.

If you were made supreme ruler of the publishing world, what would be your first ruling?

hmmm, supreme power, huh?  Yeah I don't handle that well.  

 First order of business-  get rid of stupid girls as your protags.  Characters who have no inkling about the sort of danger they are in or even value their own lives enough to aviod the situation.   Bella and main character from Hush Hush, (she was so forgettable and unlikeable I can't even remember her name). 


Second order of business- NO MORE TEACHERS BEING THE PORTRAYED AS THE BAD GUYS. 


I posted about this a while ago and it's one of my biggest pet peeve.  Teachers, principals, guidance councilers, we're all there to help students not to make them feel bad.  It's LAZY writing on the part of the writer if the best anotagist they can come up with is a mean teacher.  


I'm not saying that there aren't bad teachers but for every one bad teacher you had, you had seven good ones.  


Third order of business:
Writers CAN NOT submit their sh*tty first drafts for publications.   All the crazy queries written in crayon, and or in the POV of the main character or whatever, it makes the people who work EXTREMELY hard look bad.  So do the blogs that make fun of them.

Forth order of business:
EVERY AGENT and EVERY Literary agancey MUST HAVE A WEBSITE--- the internet is NOT going anywhere people, time to jump on that bandwagon.

Fifth order of business:
NO ONE is allowed to query more than 30 agents for a single project.  Let's stop flooding their inboxes with crappy queries.  Let's not give them a reason to make fun of us.

Sixth order of business:
Let's have a bigger variety on the book shelves.  Borders should not have three shelves FULL of Paranormal romance.  More male protags, more original plots,  let's take some risks out there. 

Seventh order of business:
Let's not forget to be awesome.  Remember Do the Write thing for Nashville?  The writing community raised nearly $50k in 10 days.  Awesome.  Remember Writeoncon?  A totally FREE online writers conference?  Awesome.  Let's do more. 

It's time to get off my power trip, I tend to lose my luggage every time I travel.