Writing Through the Weekend

Short post alert. It's NaNoWriMo, people!

For me, weekends are a great way to catch up on my NaNoWri Mo writing if I couldn't achieve my daily goal during the week, or to get ahead knowing full well the craziness that awaits during the coming week.

Here are few tips that I'll try to follow on November weekends:

1. Set the alarm (groan) and get up early. Modified version: Only hit the snooze once. Okay, twice but that's it!

2. Let everyone know that they're only allowed to wear pajamas all weekend to cut back on laundry loads.

3. Stock up on chocolate or whatever gets you through. "Whatever gets me through" last night was one glass of wine which led to two which led to me following asleep at the keyboard. Better stick to the chocolate.

4. Use a chair cushion (no explanation needed)

5. Let everyone know I'M WRITING - "What do you mean you need a ride to soccer?"

6. NO TV - Modified version: only watch half of the Notre Dame football game. Okay, keep office door open and run in when I hear the ND fight song after a touchdown/field goal.

Do you have any special NaNoWriMo strategies for weekend writing? Please share and then get back to writing.

The Fire of Merlin and Hot Knights Giveaway!

Hot knights in a giveaway? Sign me up! Oh, well, that's not exactly what my writing buddy, the fabulous Donna Hosie, had in mind for her giveaway. Instead, it's the next best thing. But I'll get to that at the bottom of this post.

As you may remember, I helped Donna promote her debut self-published YA novel, Searching for Arthur, the first installment of her ebook trilogy, The Return to Camelot series. If you haven't read it and would like more info, please click here and then come back.

On November 30, 2012, the second ebook in her series, The Fire of Merlin, will be released through Amazon. And how awesome is that cover? I want her hair. Just sayin'. *ahem* Here is the blurb:

The Return to Camelot series continues in The Fire of Merlin.

Seventeen-year-old Natasha Roth, and her brother, Arthur, are reunited once more with the Knights of the Round Table. Unfortunately their joy is not shared by Arthur's girlfriend, "Slurpy" Samantha, whose hatred of Natasha has not been lessened by time or distance since the Roth family relocated to London.

But Natasha's happiness is short-lived.

The knights come with ill news from Logres: a magical darkness has fallen over the land. The Lady of the Lake, Nimue, is battling against her former lover, Merlin, whom she imprisoned before the enchanted sleep. He has been freed and Natasha soon discovers that her own actions the previous year unlocked more than just a gateway between the past and the present. When "Slurpy" disappears, a frantic Arthur decides they must leave the 21st century once more and return to Camelot.

With her beloved Sir Bedivere by her side, Natasha follows the sound of the bells and leads Arthur and the knights back into Logres. But there are more than bells ringing in her head. Natasha starts to suffer from terrifying visions in which she sees the destruction of Logres.

As the darkness continues to infect the living, the people start turning on one another, accusing outsiders of witchcraft. Terrified that Natasha will be hurt, Sir Bedivere takes her, the dwarf Byron and Byron's sister, Guinevere, into the safety of his father's castle. Yet nowhere in Logres is free from fear and suspicion, and Sir Bedivere unwittingly leads Natasha into a terrifying chain of events in which time itself is manipulated.

Natasha must uncover the truth about the danger to Logres and those she loves. Who is the real threat to Arthur? Can myth and legend become fact? What is the secret that "Slurpy" is now hiding? 

And for the love of all things holy, when will Logres invent saddles?

Now about that giveaway. Searching for Arthur, the first ebook in Donna's series, will be available as a free download from Amazon from November 1st to November 4th. Seriously! It's free!  So if you love a contemporary Arthurian tale with a strong female lead character, a nasty nemesis, time travel, and hot knights, why not give it a read?  

To read the first installment of The Return to Camelot series, click here to download from Amazon. If you don't have a Kindle, like me, no problem. I was able to download a free Kindle app for my computer so that I could read Donna's novels. Easy as pie. 

Talk Me Out of NaNoWriMo

I wasn't going to participate this year.

What's stopping me? I have an outline, character profiles, etc.                  

My schedule is just too crazy.                                                                     

So is everyone else's schedule. AND soccer season just ended.                  

I have no down time to do anything for myself as it is.                                  

I could definitely squeeze some time in every day for writing. It will mean sacrificing reading, getting up early, STAYING OFF THE INTERNET.
I can't decided how to start my novel - I've tried three times.

Try four and go with it. It's a first draft!
I can't write that fast.
I can't write any slower.
This isn't really my style of writing.
How's my current 'style' working for me? It's not.
What if I fail?
So what? I can try again.
I know I'll never reach 50,000 words in 30 days.
I will have more words written than I do now. And who knows? This might be THE year.
Am I doing this?
Okay, fine. Unless someone talks me out it.

As you can see, I can't think of a good reason NOT to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. Maybe you could come up with one for me and I'll refute it. So, I guess I'm in. Who else is participating? Are you excited or nervous?                             

                                                                                                                                                 

Look At What Came in the Mail Yesterday

Anyone want to guess what new release arrived 4 days early?

Queen "B"s

Last Friday evening, I attended an author event at the nearest Barnes and Noble bookstore. It featured three awesome women YA authors whose last names all happened to begin with the letter B:

I'm not sure what they're looking at but from left to right: Sarah Rees Brennan, Holly Black, and Libba Bray

Cassandra Clare was scheduled to appear on the panel but unfortunately she couldn't attend much to the disappointment of my teen posse. But then, her last name begins with "C" and I would have had to think of something more clever for a title to this post. So, I guess it evens out, right?

Anyway, back to the event. If you've ever been to a panel event or a single author signing (single as in "the only one" not their marital status) and you love books, and especially if you dream of the day when you might be the featured author, that moment when you see the author is thrilling. At least for me it is.

We were cramped into an area which was much too small for the number attending. I mean, seriously. Four YA authors were supposed to speak, there were about 4 rows of chairs (maybe 24 chairs total), along with about 6 comfy chairs against the window (I'm thinking those people must have camped out or bribed the staff to get those). If you didn't get a seat, you stood cramped together or sat on the floor at the bottom of the table - not much room. I stood behind the chairs, but got to lean against a bookshelf. It was on the warm side, I was tired, and they were late due to traffic. However, those feelings melted away when I spotted Libba, followed by Holly, and then Sarah walking down the aisle opposite me toward the gathering. There's something almost magical about seeing someone in person who has contributed something so creative to the world - whether it be a book, music, art...I don't know, call me crazy.

The night began with the trio humorously bantering back and forth, and chatting about each other's latest books: Sarah Rees Brennan's Unspoken, Holly Black is between books (Black Heart, the last book in her trilogy, was released a few months ago and  Doll Bones, an MG novel will be released in 2013), and Libba Bray's The Diviners. The highlight had to be Brennan's spontaneous "interpretive dance" version of The Diviners. 

Sarah brings Kami, Angela, and Jared to life during her reading from her novel, Unspoken.

Then each author read an excerpt from her own novel. When Bray read from her prologue from The Diviners not a sound could be heard from the audience. Brennan's read was highly entertaining and was complete with accents and a little disrobing...ahem. Holly could have promoted from her latest book, Black Heart or from Doll Bones. But did she? NO! (that's a surprised no not an angry no, people). Instead, she pulled out the stapled pages from a portion of her unfinished manuscript, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. How awesome is that? Can I say how that spoke volumes to me? Trusting her audience with the beginnings of a new work. And the excerpt was wonderfully creepy!

Next was the question and answer session. My favorite question that was asked was, When did you know that you wanted to be a writer? Sarah knew at 7, Holly knew at around 9, Libba at 18. Although each shared a personal story related to that moment when she knew, Libba's story was very moving. Holly spoke about how finishing a first draft was the hardest part of writing for her, and about how difficult it was to take an idea that's inside her head and getting it down on paper the way she imagines it.

In the end I was glad that I went even though I didn't wait around for the signing portion. It had been the end to a long week and I wasn't feeling that great (the beginnings of a cold), there was a big crowd, and the girls were anxious to leave. These women were a class act.

Have you read any books from these authors?

Have You Heard?

1. One of my most favorite Harry Potter loving writing friends - otherwise known as Donna Weaver - recently signed a publication contract with *Rhemalda Publishing! I am over the moon! She is hardworking, talented, and one of the nicest people I know. And now she can add author to that list. You can read her announcement here and all the details here. Congratulations, Donna!

*Donna will appreciate this. Do you know what the first thing I thought of was when I read Rhemalda Publishing? I'll let you guess.

2. Sticking with the Potter thread that seems to be running through this post, have you heard that Emma Watson is playing the role of Sam in the Perks of Being A Wallflower, due to be released on September 21? I loved this book and can't wait to see her recreate a member of a completely different trio. I'm  especially excited because the author Stephen Chbosky wrote the screenplay.

3. I am back to my crazy work-school-taxi schedule which includes little free time, BUT the writing bug has bitten and I've been squeezing in a bit of writing time each day. Yay.

August Goodies

Hey!
How've you been?

Just popping in to say I miss you and I hope to blog for real soon. The second half of the summer has proved to be nothing short of chaotic. Thankfully, it's been all mostly good. The highlights include my parents unexpectedly visiting for a week. We had a blast spending time with each other every day, especially since my dad has had some serious medical issues and we hadn't seen my parents in 3 years. Also, the last few weeks have been focused on shopping, organizing, and packing for my oldest child who is leaving for college. I'm proud and excited (and sad and wish I were going off to college for the 1st time). This is huge and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to react when leave him 900 miles away [he's 18, Suz, not 8], but I did buy the biggest box of tissues I could find, just in case.

Suffice it to say there has been little time for reading, writing, blogging, or internet time. However, before I scoot out of here again, I'd like to mention a couple of good things happening in the writing world.

First, if you haven't heard already, my buddy, Donna Hosie has an agent! She's being represented by Beth Phelan of the Waxman Agency. Yay, Donna! She has worked so hard, and even through the ups and downs of her writing journey, she never lost faith in herself and her writing. She's truly an inspiration to me and many others.Why not click over her blog, Musings of a Penniless Writer, and congratulate her? And if you're not a follower, I'd encourage you to follow her blog. She's sooooo close to 300.

Camp NaNoWriMo is in full swing. If I wasn't driving a round trip of 1800 miles this month, this is what I'd be doing right now. Another dear Donna friend, Donna Weaver, from Weaving A Tale or Two is writing like a maniac this month trying to reach 50,000 words. Keep going, Donna! I believe in you!

Also, Write On Con is happening, like, now! What I love about this conference, besides the fact that it's FREE, is that even if you can't participate while it's happening, the threads and vlogs are up to view when it's convenient. I can still listen to the awesome advice from agents, editors and authors at my leisure.

Oh! Have you seen Josin McQuein's cover for Premeditated? I can't wait for this book!

So that's about it! I hope to visit your blogs as soon as things settle down in about a week or two.

What's been happening with you? I'd love to read about it or even a quick hello in the comments.