Rachel Mercaldo

Let's All Welcome Vinny!

2012-02-04T11:04:00.001-08:00

Say hello to my new writing buddy and muse.

His name is Senor Vino. Or Vinny, for short.

Other stats:

He's a betta fish.
He's actually a male veiltail betta fish.
He doesn't like being in direct sunlight.
He enjoys specially formulated betta fish food.
He prefers his water treated with betta+ treatment liquid.
He likes to stare into your eyes.
He's adorable.

If you look closely, you can see he's staring at you.

Vinny does not, despite his name, like the show "Jersey Shore." He much prefers The Big Bang Theory and Friends. His favorite music is the soundtrack of "Big Night" - he loves movies about Italians. He does not like to talk about his days in the mob.

Vinny offers a rare opportunity for me. He will be at my side as I type but will not draw me from my work. I typically dislike distractions while writing or editing. That is where his dark, silent companionship will help me. I will have someone at my beck and call to discuss troublesome plot points with, but he will not be annoying.

Also, he is beautiful to look at.

I welcome Senor el Vino to the family. I will of course update you with his status and aid to me throughout the coming months... into the years of our long and happy partnership.

Say goodbye, Vinny:

Love and hugs,

Race and Vinny

OH NO

2012-01-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

Okay dear readers. I don't know what happened. I had several posts schedule the past weeks and... huh, they didn't all post. I'll look into this, thanks for your patience!

Last Minute Motivation...

2012-01-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

Since I spend my vacation days scouring the internet, I tend to come across blog posts or articles. They can be inspiring, make me laugh, make me toss my laptop, or hit my Doctor Who posters (only in the worst of circumstances - typically political articles). Some of them I don't know how I feel about. The post Last Second Motivation: When All Else Fails is one of those. Sometimes, I can't wrap my head around the advice given in writing blogs/sites, this is one of those times.

Three of the five points do make sense: eating snacks as rewards, listening to certain types of music, giving yourself a pep talk. The other two involve physical ways to wake oneself up or get oxygen to the brain.

These kind of articles usually only prove one thing - what works for someone else won't necessarily work for you. For me, while eating snacks as rewards or pep talks seem smart, they don't work. Music for me can be distracting, particularly since I like to use a voice recorder in those intense moments of "this is what I want to say, now how to say it?" I refuse to dunk my head or the rest of my body in cold water. I shiver at the thought.

So I asked myself. What motivates me?

To be honest, last second motivation for me is staring at my bookshelf. It is not a "I want to be published so bad so bad so bad I have to finish this or I suck suck suck" kind of drooling staring match. It is more of a "look, these people did it, so can you," kind of contemplative stare. Burdens are easiest when shared with another person, or other people times a million. We writers live in an amazing "community." We always seem to be available to each other through our blogs or writers' forums or facebook. Some of my writing friends are available through IM and text.

So *my* motivation? It is to remember all the amazing people and how much help they have been and how they are, however silently, rooting for me from their own desk in their own part of the world.

And I didn't write this post as a "here, try this, it really will work for you" advice article. If you want that go ahead and read the link. Really I wrote this post because I just worked out and I'm in this weird happy sleepy place and I appreciate you all so much.

Now tell me this. What motivates you?

My Brother. In the Shower.

2012-01-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

Weird how inspiration can come at the most unexpected moments. I always knew a brilliant idea could come from an overheard conversation or from watching other people go about their day, but when chilling on your own couch with your old laptop talking to a good friend the way you do every day? Not exactly the setting for that lightning bolt of awesome. But the other day while I sat there typing away, I heard the water running in the shower, and then a voice... at first I thought maybe my brother was on the phone, but the phone was sitting right next to me. Instead, he was talking to himself in the shower.

Of course, I wrote down everything I could hear in IMs to my good friend Greeny, here are some of the best bits. My brother's shower-speak is in italics.

rmercaldo: My brother just said "power wash... then... b****" from the shower.
rmercaldo: "Ahh!... Not... funny"
rmercaldo: Then the ever-popular, more pronounced: "D*** it! Rachel! Get me a towel!"
rmercaldo: Now... "seriously?... I don't know how.... I don't even know what that means..."
rmercaldo: Now he keeps saying "ACK! Ow... that hurts... OWWW... MOTHER"
rmercaldo: Followed closely by: "Oh no you didn't"
rmercaldo: And more "OWWWWW"
rmercaldo: What is going on in there!
rmercaldo: "seriously!"
rmercaldo: Okay.... "Can I drive? F***."
rmercaldo: Then... "Y'EAH!"
rmercaldo: Now he's apologizing to someone.
rmercaldo: "If you insist."
rmercaldo: Oh gosh this is so good.
rmercaldo: "Now, um,.... actually..."
rmercaldo: He is so entertaining!
rmercaldo: Now he's out of the bathroom.
rmercaldo: "What's up, dog?"
rmercaldo: He's actually talking to the dog. "There is turkey in there, dog. You want turkey? We got lots of turkeys"

Brothers. They can be helpful for scene writing. You know, brothers talking in the shower scenes. The moral of the story: listen, even if it embarrasses someone else.

After Christmas Run-around.

2011-12-31T07:34:00.000-08:00

That really is the perfect name for this time of year - "The after-Christmas run-around." I've been in every store in the mall, ever store in the local plazas, every store with horrible parking, every store ONLINE and still I'm not done recovering from the holiday. And, what is worse, it is not over! There is still midnight tonight and all the horror that comes with it... dirty kitchen full of party foods and broken glasses... I shudder at the thought.

The part that really gets me is the epic fit of inspiration I was thrown into last night. I was pacing in the dark (trying to calm down after a hard day, not plotting any murders, promise) when dark thoughts about consumerism turned to brilliant ideas. I grabbed for the recorder I use to tape lectures - no way was I turning lights on to write stuff down and ruin the moment. And of course the batteries were dead. On top of all this horror, I haven't had a moment to actually sit down and write my ideas down. I can't wait for tomorrow when the season is all truly over so I have a moment.

Until then, my brain is jumping around like a kid goat on a trampoline. Stories SO GOOD have to be put on paper! The more it fleshes out in my head the more I wish I had a word document all set up to add my thoughts too. But now I'm venting on Blogger to you all, just minutes before leaving my house again.

And because of this, I caution you all not to talk to me today as I prepare for the New Year. I really am the Scrooge of New Year's Day. Bah Humbug to it, I say! I'd much rather be hunched over at my desk in my chilly room counting my words.

So to all the writers out there suffering through cleaning, shopping, cooking, hosting... I feel for you. May 2012 be a year full of millions of perfect words. And may the world not end. There is always that.

Race

Day after Christmas... :(

2011-12-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

Fight the reader!

2011-12-16T18:51:00.000-08:00

I read something today. I read the words "a story is an argument." And that really struck me as I sat in editing mode (not studying for finals mode, note. Yes, it is over.) and wondering how to attack the next round of beta edits.

I remember when I first took a college writing course, and my favorite essay was a persuasive essay. I still remember all the parts. Introduce topic and both sides of the argument. Explain why you feel as you feel about argument. Explain the opposing side. Refute opposing opinions. Conclude. A story isn't all that different. Introduce characters/plot. Allow the readers to learn more about the characters and their parts in the story. Introduce conflict (drama!). Allow the character to overcome conflict. Conclude with big wet kisses.

So going into this edit, I decided to approach the story as I would approach the essay. For one, do the readers really know my character? Get out the big red pen. Does the beginning of the story drag on with too much description and set up that it takes forever for me to introduce the actual plot? Does the conflict seem... conflicty enough? Do my characters overcome the conflict? Does my conclusion have the same feel-good satisfaction of the big wet kiss?

Ask yourself these questions, and you realize a story really is an argument. You are presenting your characters, your story, your voice to the reader, and persuading them these people are real, this story is important to them, and you are the best person to tell it. Like students preparing for exams by calming down, arranging pencils, and repeating "you can do this" in their heads, writers can prepare for editing or even first-drafting by setting up shop at the computer and asking before every scene "What do I want to bring across in this? What is the best way to do it? Is my chosen path going to cause some hiccup later or a plot puzzle no editor can figure out? How do I avoid that if it exists?"

I tend to be amazing at essays, and less so at making sure all the right information is in included in my fiction. It is something I have to work on, but now I feel I've made a connection with another strength that will help me do just that.

Race

End of Semester Awesome Time

2011-12-10T14:49:00.001-08:00

So I've made a decision. I am NEVER going to work and go to school full time again. These past 2 years? Not good. Much like this picture demonstrates, I was not happy. Pic:

(No, that's not me and yes, this is the only sad picture I could find that was not of a puppy. Sarah McLachlan, what have you done?)

And actually, it was more than that. I was sick. Very sick. For about a year while I was at Penn State Behrend. That is the reason for my absence that seems to have persisted through this past semester of major recuperation. So through all those apologies and promises that I would start writing again soon? Yeah... false hopes until just recently. I'm very excited to say that I'm feeling better.

Celiac Disease. For me it was a combination of short term flu-like symptoms and long term damage that led to the worst infections in the history of man. 9 courses of antibiotics later, I vowed to never go to the Behrend medical office again. I went to my family doctor. And what did he do? Put me on antibiotics. I'm sure I'm immune to those things from now on.

But this post is a happy post! The title includes the world "awesome." You know how I feel about that word. I was hesitating to write it. After all those empty promises of the past, I didn't want to make another one. But I finally felt confident. So today let me tell you that a couple things are happening. For one, this blog *will* be awesome, and I'm determined to make something of TWFT (on that note, if you were one of the contributors, let me know your e-mail, kk?). My book is almost done - waiting on my favorite beta named Mom. Finally, the semester ends Thursday and next semester I'm taking it slow. No work, only 14 credits. See if I can write the two fab stories floating through my head.

So if you were one of the ones worried about me, don't worry. Rachel is back to health and back to this site and the world!

Peace and hugs and holly for Christmas,

Race.

Stories I Wish I Wrote: A Tribute to a "Wicked" Soundtrack

2011-12-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

My mother is an avid listener of Broadway/Show tunes. In fact, it is her favorite kind of music. When she works around the house there is always a soundtrack playing, or a mix playing from Pandora on the bulky speakers she hooks up to her laptop. If we had TV, she'd be watching Glee 24/7.

Today, after sad moments spent listening to the Les Miserable soundtrack, my mother put on one of the CDs I can thoroughly enjoy. The soundtrack to the musical "Wicked."

There is something so amazing about the story of Wicked. And mostly it belongs in the "why didn't I think of that category."

How could something so obvious have escaped me?
How could something so difficult have been pulled off so well?

And of course I'm not talking about just the Broadway show. I have to include the novel as well, and the author, whose brilliance lead to the novel and eventually the show.

Any writer who loves characters and the human spirit and the inner workings of a fictional brain has got to admire someone taking one of the more despised figures of our childhoods and turning her into an MC.

So I give you this video (above) as inspiration. Maybe, like me, you'll be so jealous of the author in your head you'll write lots of words today. Or maybe edit that NaNo novel! (See my agent Natalie Lakosil's Nov. 3rd post about NaNo novels. You'll wish you did!)

Race

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T19:42:00.000-08:00

TURKEY DAY. It came and, with it, the holiday brought more delicious food than we eat for the rest of the year combined, delightful conversation and, more importantly, an ushering in of full-fledged Christmas madness.

Where would we be without Thanksgiving? I think maybe there would be no "holiday season." There would simply be a holiday... Christmas. Maybe without Thanksgiving we would be able to hold off on the Christmas music until two weeks before (my goal every year) instead of two days before the fourth thursday of November (my average).

At work on T-day, I got into a discussion with one of my boys (aka: a long-term hotel guest who is starting to feel like family). He was not born in America, and having moved here as an adult he says he was introduced to one of the things he loves most about the US - how thankful we are. So without Thanksgiving I think we'd also lose something that reminds us how lucky we are.

In honor of my holiday, I've made a list. YA Fiction is all about lists, so it even fits in with the theme of the site.

Of course there is my family. I love you guys so much Mom, Matt, Pat, and assorted others (guess who!). My writing friends and college friends who have helped me grow so much. I'm thankful for my job, my writing, and my college education, all the way down to being thankful I ever learned how to read so I would be qualified for the things I do today.

More recently, I'm thankful I'm healthy, for the beautiful weather and my puppy, and the fact that I seem to have a randomly excellent credit score for no reason I can fathom. I'm thankful I have a patient agent and some fantastic betas who will hopefully receive my book tonight after I put in just a few more changes.

I'm thankful for you guys here on the blog, my friends on Facebook who play Castleville and send me exploration crystal shards, and Netflix instant streaming.

So if you are reading this, I'm thankful to you. May we have an amazing Holiday Season.

Editing can be harder than I thought...

2011-11-22T08:16:00.000-08:00

I came across a note in TB today. A note I had scratched in with my trusty red pen (hey, forgive a girl for being old fashioned). It was one of those hastily written "I'm moving on to a better part" notes, and that meant I didn't want to edit the scene when I first encountered it.

There are two reasons I can think of why I wouldn't want to edit a scene. Either I thought the scene was boring or it needed so much work it seemed overwhelming. As you can probably imagine, both of these reasons are horrible when it comes to novel writing. For one, if the author thinks a scene is boring, it probably is. You'll never find anyone as invested in the characters' lives as the author. If those characters make even their creator yawn and skip the next few pages we've got problems. Secondly, if a scene is so bad you don't want to edit it, it doesn't say much for your mood in the following hours. However, a horrible scene is not as bad as a boring scene. A boring scene may take forever to "fix" and probably needs to be axed. A horrible scene can be edited into a decent scene, and from there to a good one, even if you need to sweat blood in the process.

In that I was lucky, because my note was simply "make it sound better." Not a boring scene, just a horrible one. In those four words I seemed to scream at myself to get my butt in gear to actually write something worth reading. "What were you thinking!" screams myself to myself, "this sucks so bad your mom would skip it." What was I thinking when I wrote those words? Probably "there is always editing."

And it is true. There is always editing, but sometimes I wish I'd just look ahead a bit during first drafting. The sad part is, I'd advise against that if anyone asked me. Just push forward, don't get bogged down. There is always editing.

I think it is partly that thought of grass always being greener on the other side. When you are first drafting, editing is the easy part and you don't mind throwing a few wrenches into the process. And then, when you are editing, you look back on your first drafting days and imagine that life as a picnic when every encounter with the outside world was an inspiration and butterflies flew around your brain attracted to the beauty being created within.

Writing is hard. Every step of the way. There is no "easy" part. Each aspect of the craft has its own challenges. But each step has some joy as well. And I guess the trick is to focus on that instead of the difficulty. And, to think of it another way, if we are constantly looking forward to a different step in the overall process of noveling, we will never give up.

But as encouraging as simply writing this post has been, I now need to return to editing this scene. It may take me hours. It may take me two or three days. I only hope I don't need to sweat blood over it.

Peace,

Race

Where in the world...

2011-11-21T10:06:00.000-08:00

...have I been all this time?

The answer is difficult to explain. When one leaves the earth in the TARDIS it is always difficult to explain...

But who am I kidding? I haven't been in the TARDIS (I'd be dead from happiness if I had) and I haven't been anywhere exciting. I've actually been sitting at my computer or in classrooms or at work for the past months.

Some new things have happened, for instance I've generally followed the timeline for the book I posted last time. I'm still editing though, because edits take awhile when you have fifty million homework questions to answer, but today I'm hoping to reach the one more draft before next beta round stage.

Other new things include my discovering I love biology. I also bought a dog, then ended up giving it to my mother. I have about 3 guys in love with me at work (which is awkward), and they are all shy (doubly awkward, especially when they all sit around my desk pretending they are all there to talk to each other and not me).

And what else... CHRISTMAS IS COMING. And Thanksgiving, of course. Turkey day means a week off school and more words to be done!

But my update is already done. Really, I am that boring. Maybe when I'm done writing in le' wip for the day I'll write five million blog posts for the future. It is what this blog needs.

Peace out,
Race

WIP plans.

2011-09-04T00:39:00.000-07:00

The Book Plan.

I had one of these for VT, and I decided it would be a good idea to have one for the wip. So I am putting up a book plan for the wip for you all to see and keep me accountable.

Unit 1: First Draft.
Goal time: 1 week.
Since so much is already written, I think 1 week is a good amount of time for this. I have several major scenes to write, a few minor ones, and some transition stuff to get out before Unit 1 is complete!

Unit 2: Second Draft.
Goal time: 2 weeks.
So 1 extra week to tweak a whole draft is a little crazy, but my goal is to have a decent enough first draft that more time isn't necessary. The objective here is to have a decent enough story to be happy with. Then we take a little break because you always miss *something.* Betas take over!

Unit 3: Betas.
Goal time: As long as they need - never rush da betas.
Without betas, all my stories would be dead. I think I had 5-7 betas for VT. Every single one of them did so much for the story. If I could get the same ones for this book I'd love it. But sometimes total strangers are the best readers, and that might be how it is for this.

Unit 4: Beta Edits.
Goal time: As long as it takes.
Needs: Lots of caffeine and music. Lots and lots and lots of caffeine.

Unit 5: Send to agent and not stress about baby.
Always the hardest part.

There is it. 5 units. I'm already a little tired. Caffeine now, I guess.

Riley Burke

2011-08-16T09:52:00.001-07:00

So you all know Mari Abdo, right? She's my MC for The Virginity Thief. She's awesome. She even has a facebook page where she bashes people. I love it.

Well, Riley is very different from Mari. We can start with physical appearance, with the most outstanding difference being their hair. Mari's hair is dark. Very dark. Riley's hair is so blond it is almost white. Mari thinks she is gorgeous, and likes to show off her hair. Riley hates her hair. She thinks it is weird and if her aunt would let her dye it she'd look slightly more like Mari. And all this hair talk is weird, but the way each girl feels about her hair is much like how they feel about their whole persona in the two novels.

Mari is a movie star in waiting. Riley hides in bathrooms. Mari likes to show up and make a scene. Even if Riley is in the middle of a public breakup, she's quiet about it. So your first thought is that Mari is more outgoing, more obnoxious, and Riley is one of those goody girls with great grades and no love life. Mari loves herself, and Riley wants to change. And yet even Mari hasn't had as many boyfriends as Riley has had. Riley seems to go through them like I go through shoes, with a breakup almost every month. In fact, when you first meet Riley she's in the middle of her fourteenth breakup.

When I start writing a story, the characters are only somewhat formed in my head. Usually all I have is a conversation. With Mari Abdo, that conversation was full of sassy energy and obnoxious comments. I was able to take that conversation and turn it into Mari as I know her today. With Riley, the conversation was more of an internal musing. Riley wants to be badass. Dark hair is a must, but more than that she wants to be the kind of girl in the movies who wears a side arm and isn't afraid of anything. That kind of badass. But in real life, I decided, we are usually nowhere near what we want to be without a lot of work, and from that thought came Riley, driven by fear to defeat fear, only in less extreme, more commercial terms.

Physical appearance wise, I never know what my characters look like (or even their names) until I start writing. It is always a shock to me when I sit down at Word and realize "Crap, I need to call this person something." Names aren't my strong suit. The same comes for that moment I realize the reader wants to know what their character looks like, and it amazes me every time I manage to tie in the appearance of a character with the rest of the story. For Riley, her blond/white hair is the first thing that physically attracts Derek, her love interest, and that gave me a lead to enough drama to fill a day of writing.

But for some more hard facts about Riley and less annoying blubbering, see below. In a few days I'll post an "interview" with her. Stay tuned!

Full Name: Riley Anne Burke

School Year: Junior

Dream Occupation: Assassin

Living Situation: Lives with her aunt on the other side of down from her single mother.

Her Spare Time: Spent online creating internet memes (actually, I need to work on this one)

Likes: The color blue, comfy jeans and flip flops, the pizza from the convenience store her aunt manages, crime shows on TV like NCIS or CSI.

Dislikes: Her hair, her mother, soda, lobster, the west side of town, the whole school thing, and mostly Derek.

If she were a season, she would be: Summer.

If she was faced with the death of love insterest in the first half of book she would: Generally feel sorry but also be glad he was out of her hair.

Computer Woes

2011-08-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

About a week ago my computer broke down. Well, the computer itself is fine, but the battery went. On top of that, the cordy thing you plug into it started smoking, with lots of sizzling and wonderful burnt-rubber smell stuff going on.

And of course in my WIP stint I'd

forgotten to back up ye ol' IGY

and TB (new wip!). So I was

freaking out.

Freaking out like this woman:

Reminder: Always back-up your WIPs. Even if you do so just by e-mailing them to your mother occasionally.

But back to the story. The only option I could see after this was to buy a new computer because I needed a new one anyway and I didn't want to spend several hundred dollars on just a new battery/cord unit. (I mean, what the heck is up with that price?)

So I went online and ordered an HP through Best Buy. Worst.... move.... ever. The stupid thing took forever to even start up. An then the touchpad wouldn't work. Yes, the touchpad! Like... couldn't point and click on anything! It was almost as if the Geek Squad had touched it. And they didn't!

I took it back. Got a full refund thankfully. I then decided on a Dell Inspiron again. I've had Dells, oh, 2 or 3 times in the past? I can never make them last longer than a year. But this one at least is a Dell Switch, so I can change the design! Maybe through pure happiness and joy of anti-boredom I'll be nicer to this one.

But my story doesn't end there. I still had to buy the thing. This was troublesome because of the Geek Squad lady who didn't know how to ring up an item on a computer. And she insisted on doing it herself. After giving her my address, e-mail, and phone number she still couldn't sign me up for the Norton thing or the free Shutterfly photo book I didn't even want. So I just (very kindly, honest) told her to skip it all. Then the credit card had to get swiped like three times because she still didn't know what she was doing.

Finally I had purchased the item and was able to leave. Not without trying to pull it away from her as she insisted on wrapping it in bags against my will. I just wanted out!

At home I unwrapped it all and found it in one piece. I opened lovely Microsoft Word and wept silently over my lost WIPs. In my sorrow I tried pushing buttons on the old Dell.

And what do you know... it turned on. And the battery was 50% full. I was like "aowetp0q74yt 9q;eop ew8rhpwqe097t 94yt could have just bought a new $20 power cord q9t4 q9pth 024t"

I got my novels off of it, the latest versions in all their glory. Still a little upset about the 600 dollars I spent though... Woe is me.

Race

ps: not sure why Google won't let me put this in normal print. Eek!

Internet break!

2011-08-02T09:59:00.001-07:00

Do you ever wonder what I do when I'm not here blogging? Mostly sleeping. Other times on icanhascheezburger. Sometimes on AW. Sometimes on fb. Sometimes I'm at work and do stuff other than internet stuff. Sometimes I write!

But I have noticed that much of my time is wasted on the interwebs. I'm seriously considering a time of withdrawal. Maybe it would help the writing? How many of you think I can make it the next two days (I have off so I don't need the interwebs to keep me company at work) without internet? Just a Word document and maybe sneakers so I can take my new puppy for a walk.

I think I can do it. Furthermore, I think I WILL do it. For the good of the WIP!

Spam

2011-07-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Today I deleted a hundred spam posts out of the comment bank over at Teens Writing for Teens. Call it Way Past Spring Cleaning. There were, in fact, over 500 spammy comments! Now there are only over 400.

But one thing I learned is that instead of getting annoyed, it is best to give in to the hilarity of spam and laugh myself out of my chair at some of the comments. I saved some of my personal favorites to share with you. Hopefully the authors won’t accuse me of copyright infringement.

Category A: AKA the Informative Category.

“The giving of Valentine’s Day flowers probably began in the 1700s when Charles II of Sweden introduced the Persian custom of the ‘language of flowers’ to Europe. The red rose was considered the flower symbolizing passion and love, and was associated in Greek and Roman times with Venus, goddess of love. Similarly, other cultural flowers symbolizing passion or love, such as tulips, carnations, and the iris, have also been associated with Valentine’s Day.”

Category B: AKA the Complimentary Category.

“you are truly a good webmaster. The web site loading pace is amazing. It seems that you are doing any unique trick. In addition, The contents are masterwork. you have performed a excellent job in this topic!”

"I have been browsing for three hours and have not seen a site as good as yours."

“We are a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community. Your website provided us with valuable information to work on. You’ve done a formidable job and our whole community will be thankful to you.”

And a comment sure to please those bloggers of TWFT who are writers (meaning all of them):

“Mate, you are a good writer. Your text is so interesting. You should do it professionaly.”

Category C: AKA the Philosophical Category.

“A tree’s a tree. How many more do you need to look at?”

“It is not good to appear more clever than you are. It is often good to appear slightly less so.”

Category D: AKA the Jibberish or otherwise Miscellaneous Category.

"Here you are!"

“Qqdwqdsaas ascaassc fdrewe: remark, and I bent over with my ear against my father’s chest and said the internal affairs of another country, since the internal”

"How much is a link to your site?"

Then there was the dude "examinating" our site, or the lady selling hemorrhoid cream who claimed to have browser issues and wanted to know how to view our site - believable if perhaps so many other hemorrhoid-cream-sellers didn't have similar issues. My all time favorite was the spammer offering products to help other spammers.

Now the question is should I go delete the other 400 comments now? Maybe, despite this lesson of spammy humor, I will use the bulk actions feature next time.

Race

Silent Figures...

2011-06-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

So often they are non-existent, as characters go, in young adult fiction. They are distant figures that you know have to be there – how could the MC be alive without them, after all? – but who never really make an appearance. And if they do? If they do they are typically presented as annoyances or unimportant factors of home life. That’s it, you got it. I’m talking about parents.

I remember reading (somewhere!) that it was becoming a cliché for writers to use the slang ‘rents to represent parents. After all, do teens even say that anymore? It seemed a lot of authors were attempting to portray a blasé attitude towards parental overlords in that way. But with that comes the realization that those same authors were portraying the same relationship dynamic along with the slang. How is it possible these vastly different teens handle their parents in the same manner?

Parents, however quiet we try to make them, have a huge impact on the everyday workings of teen lives:

1) How late the teen is allowed out

2) if the teen works or receives an allowance

3) if the teen is given assistance for a car or not

4) if the teen’s parents buy him cigarettes or alcohol (yes, it happens)

5) whether parties in the basement are possible… and…

6) … a million other things. Parents have a direct influence on how a student tackles homework, and lots of teens treat relationships in different ways based on how their mom and dad interact. Not all teens have a huge group of friends and Mom or Dad can often be a soundboard, a shoulder to cry on. If I got dumped I’d go to my mom. Is it because I’m 20 years old and not a teen anymore? No. If I got dumped at 15 I’d go to my mom too. So I find it hard to believe every teenager in YA fiction (that I’ve read) lives a life so separate from home. Every teenager I’ve ever met loves their mom. I remember having a conversation at college that revolved around our love of our mothers.

At that point, I could say that we can appreciate our parents more when we’ve left the nest. The teen angst is gone. But that is just the problem. Not all teens have the same emotions. I, for one, didn’t go through the angst phase. Neither did my younger brother, but my older brother did! And before I continue rambling and going in all sorts of directions with this, let me just say I think it wouldn’t hurt to have more parent time in YA fiction. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think parents are a great source of humor or drama or conflict for a writer. Anyone who’s been to the “S**t my dad says” site or “Crazy things parents say” knows what I mean. And with that I leave you examples. And you can decide for yourself.

AND I just started three sentences in a row with “and,” so I should be shot.

Two crazy things some parents said from the site "Crazy things parents say," link above:

Me: I love you.

Dad: Cool story, bro.

Mom: Your sister met a guy by elbowing
him...no..slapping him..wait..
Me: ?
Mom: I think she punched him on Facebook.

Interview with J.A. Souders!

2011-06-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

I'm here today to present the awesome award to Jessica Souders for her amazing novel Renegade. I read this book under the disguise of "beta" during the Spring semester, but I did very little betaing and a lot more oohing and aahing as I skipped classes to continue reading (don't tell Mom). It is my pleasure to present the award and also to present to you, my readers, this interview I forced out of her recently. It is also partially posted over at TWFT, but you can find the whole version below.

You have recently signed your awesome novel Renegade with Tor Teen (Macmillan). Can you tell us a little about this process and your experiences?

I’m assuming you mean the process of being on sub, then getting an offer? Finding an editor has taken a bit longer than I expect it would, but so far it’s been absolutely amazing.

We went on sub with R in March and I hunkered down with my TBR pile and prepared for a long wait. It wasn’t a week later that I got an email from Natalie, letting me know that one of the editors had read it already and really liked it, but wanted to see what else I had. A week later, she wanted an R&R on this other MS and I had another R&R from another editor on R.

At the 4 week mark, I was told I was going to acquisitions and then the next week (the day before I was supposed to go acquisitions) I got an offer from yet another house.

I couldn’t believe it. I had so much interest in this story! And the editor of one of my favorite authors had made an offer. I was in tears and vacillating between laughing and crying for the next few weeks while I waited to see what was happening with the rest of the editors, then the negotiations.

A few weeks after accepting the offer from Tor, I went up to NY/NJ to meet Natalie and Mel. I already knew Natalie was awesome and meeting her didn’t change my mind. But what I wasn’t expecting was that Mel would be just as awesome (I thought she might, since she bought R ;), but I was terrified she’d be like that woman from The Devil Wears Prada). She, of course, is the exact opposite and I love her. She is just fantastic and she gets me and R. I just got the first rounds of edits from her and they’re EXACTLY right.

So you are my agent-sister; how did you end up with Agent-o’-awesome Natalie Fischer?

I’m so glad we’re agent sisters! I can’t believe how unbelievably lucky I am with who my agent (and now editor) sisters are. My agent and now editor sisters are so awesome.

I’m a slush pile baby. LOL. I love telling people this; especially those that think you need to know someone in the industry to get published. I’m proof you don’t. I didn’t know anyone. I was just persistent.

Okay, so to make a long story short I saw her name on absolutewrite.com while I was looking for more agents to query. She sounded perfect for me, so I researched her (read STALKED. LOL.) after a week or so of biting my nails and trying to decide if I could afford to print out 50 pages and pay for postage even if she didn’t respond, I decided to just go for it (due to a not so gentle nudge from The Husband). A few weeks later, she asked for a full day, and then a few days later she offered. I accepted that night.

You recently went, with Natalie and some agent sisters (not me - *sad face*), to SCBWI NJ. How does conferencing help authors, in your opinion? Does meeting fellow writers help you in your writing?

I’m so sad you weren’t there! It was so much fun! RT, baby! :D (Ahem. Now back to the question. :P) I LOVE conferences. They’re always filled with great information. Not to mention it’s always fun networking with other authors, editors, and agents.

Word of warning, though. Don’t go to conferences to “snag” that agent or editor. It rarely happens. Not that it doesn’t or won’t happen. It has, but it should never be the main reason to go. However, it is a great place to meet new author friends, learn more on the craft of writing, and talk with like-minded individuals (you know the ones that aren’t going to look at you like at you with glazed eyes when you can’t shut up about that new WIP. :P)

Could you tell us something particular you learned at the conference?

This past conference I learned it’s important for authors to do a lot of their own marketing in addition to whatever the publisher is doing. And that the traditional marketing things (i.e bookmarks, postcards, pens, etc) aren’t that effective. You want something that people will hang onto and/or share with others. Stuff that can be thrown away, usually does.

Describe Renegade in 10 words or less?

10? That’s it?! Didn’t the others get 20? So unfair. Someone must know I’m long-winded. LOL.

Underwater dystopian about an assassin who is losing her mind.

What inspired your amazing novel?

I’ve always been a fan of science fiction and when I was teenager I was a HUGE fan of Sea Quest (Hush! It wasn’t THAT long ago. LOL.) In fact, it started me on the path of being a writer (and it’s the reason I went to college to be a marine biologist—I wanted to live in an Underwater city--and partially the reason The Parentals moved me to Florida from Wisconsin.) I have drawers filled with notebooks of underwater-based stories that I just couldn’t get right. Then when I was writing another story, I was sitting next to my son who was playing a video game and I was procrastinating by reading a story about people’s obsession about being perfect. And it hit me. I HAD to stop writing the other story to write RENEGADE.

What is your ideal writing environment? Music or silence? Hot or cold beverages? Desk or magical garden?

Ooh! Did you say magical garden? Yes please! That way all I have to do is think the scene and it’ll magically appear in my WIP. :P Cold beverages, for sure ( I live in Florida after all.) And music, as loud as I can stand it. I usually write wherever I can, but The Husband just cleaned up the backyard and I think I’ll be spending a lot of time out there.

Do you outline? If yes, how does outlining help you? If no, did you make a conscious decision not to outline or simply felt driven to let the words flow?

Before RENEGADE the answer would have been no outline, but with it I’ve found that outlining was a godsend. When the idea for R hit me, I wrote the entire book in synopsis form w/in a half an hour. Then I took a few days to outline it chapter-by-chapter, trying to come up with the main theme for each, or whatever I MOST wanted to happen in the chapter.

Do you set deadlines? Do you work well under pressure or does it freak you out?

I don’t really do deadlines, but I do set goals. Whenever I’m drafting, I have a goal of 2k a day. I did this to stop myself from editing instead of writing. But I found while writing R it went so smoothly I usually blew past that goal and I was writing between 4-5k a day.

However, while editing, I give myself deadlines, or I’ll procrastinate. Depending on the types of edits, I’ll give myself at most a month to finish them. That gives me a week to think about the notes from Natalie or my CPs/betas, 2 weeks to fix them, and another week to read over the changes before sending them back out.

I absolutely work better under deadlines. I won’t lie, though, it does freak me out. However, I think this is what makes me work better under deadlines.

Tell us three facts about you that have nothing to do with writing!

What’s with all the tough questions? LOL. Hmm, okay, 1) I LOVE SCUBA diving and swimming in the ocean, but I’m TERRIFIED to swim in a pool or lake. 2) I LOVE reading things that scare the crap out of me, but I can’t watch a horror movie 3) I love getting in front of people and speaking/debating, and acting in plays, etc, but I’m terrified of meeting people face-to-face.

Thanks for the interview Jessica. Renegade is the shizzle.

Visit Jessica at her website! You won't regret it!

Race

Guess what is BACK

2011-06-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

TA-DA!

Guess what happened today?

One of the most exciting things to happen today!

Posts have appeared (magically!) on TWFT!

I've mentioned TWFT quite a lot on this blog in the past. Some of you might remember how it started, with too many bored teenage writers having too much fun online and then becoming brilliant.

Well it probably didn't happen quite like that. But we did join together to create Teens Writing for Teens (TWFT) and the resulting blog, and while it fell away when some of us got older and moved to college (*cough*) and dealt with our lives outside of the internet, it is back.

So visit TWFT and read some fun writing posts and book reviews and author/agent interviews. Learn about the Twifties who got agents or became published. And realize that if you are a teen who writes for teens that you too are a Twifty, and go ahead and submit you advice or interviews or book review or whatever you feel like saying to TWFT. Submissions instructions are on the site!

Race

Hello, Ghost

2011-06-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

If you wonder how I've been spending my evenings lately, here's a quick look: sitting. Yes, sitting. Sitting, I've decided, is one of the most boring jobs there is. Your very presence is all that is required to receive a paycheck, and some might say I'm lucky with my "cushy" job. But I think I'd like to be as busy as I was in the convenience store industry. Who'd have thought I'd ever say that? Hotel receptionista. That's me. Smiler, phone answerer, and friend to the housekeepers who like to show off the most disgusting messes.

But the job has perks. Sitting for long periods of time leads to inspiration. The hands are idle, so the mind works in overdrive. I've started bringing my laptop and writing in the evenings. Editing IGY and, currently, making some changes based on the feedback of a great reader/beta. But that is all well and good for my typical 3-11pm shift. That is when the juices are flowing most freely and the words basically type themselves. When you stick me in an 11pm-7am shift (like this weekend), my mind revolts and I am reduced to a state of semi-consciousness as I stare at the walls.

But this also has some perks. Mainly, creeping myself out. There comes a time when Ghost Adventures comes on and I turn all the lights off. The washing machine makes weird noises in the other room, adding to the moment. Since it is a hotel, you hear random doors opening and closing, footsteps, voices, and an occasional sudden whirring from the ice machines that is so rare you need to think a minute to identify the sound. And then the Ghost Adventures adventurers end up in a seriously creepy old institution and voices are telling them to get out and doors are opening and things go flying through the air and random orbs appear.

I started thinking about being in the adventurers' shoes. What if I was in an old institution and using high-tech gadgets to check the temperature around haunted spaces? It would be seriously amazing, except most likely I'd experience it with my hearth thundering so loud I couldn't hear the disembodied voices and footsteps and door slams.

One thing I'm sure of, the shows get rather boring after a bit. Ghosts should be more creative and do stuff other than slam doors. Maybe tap on windows or light fires. And the adventurers need to be more creative in their speaking to the ghosts. Halfway through the show, the adventurer asks the air/ghost who it/he/she was and what happened to it/him/her. The ghost doesn't answer. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they say things like "help me" or "get out," all things other ghosts have said before. But I wonder how a ghost would react to stupid stuff. "Hello, ghost," the adventurer says loudly, "would you like a taco?"

Of course, at that point, if the ghost says "yes" we'd have a problem. How to make tacos in a haunted institution full of asbestos and lacking modern conveniences such as heat and pans? And how to give a taco to the ghost? All problems I considered last night as I lounged half asleep in the lobby staring at the screen. Though, if the ghost lit fires that would handle at least one of the issues.

I've decided that this sort of thinking of stupid stuff is helpful to my writing. You never know when you'll write a ghost story and you need something to say to a ghost. Apparently, it should be about tacos, because that will create conflict. And even though I simply can't write during an 11pm-7am shift, I think my brain is very mushy then and I'm susceptible to being inspired.

But I refuse to be inspired by the story of ticks that followed my ghost adventures hour. Ticks are disgusting. Disgusting!

Race

The Little Things.

2011-05-20T03:39:00.001-07:00

How common is it for a reader to know how a story goes, how it ends, and still read it?

I was thinking about this at 5:30 this morning as I was making some sweet and spicy carrots, immediately after finishing another book in a long line of books that will be devoured over Summer break.

And I was thinking it because it is a "problem" of mine. I seem to always know how a book will end by around page 80. And not because I look to the last page or cheat in any way! It does not help that I read a lot of romance (got to read what your write?) and there are only so many ways that can turn out... but it gets creepy when I can actually predict side plots and the the how's and why's of the couple or the triangle or whatever falling in love or getting dumped, and starting their news lives together or apart.

This brings up a problem. It makes a person wonder why she bothers anymore. There are only so many plots in the world (7, in fact) and maybe my questionable prediction skills stem from a lack of unique storytelling. It makes a person doubt she'll ever be surprised by a character again.

But ah, there is the rub. The character. If you think long and hard, it is the character that matters, and the character that takes the plot and runs with it in a completely new direction. And all of this is something writers keep in their heads all the time. It is part of the "There are no new plots, only new ways of telling the same stories," that is like a mantra in any writer's mind. But when you apply it to me, Rachel Mercaldo, you can start to see why I bother to read through a book.

I love the little things. I love the characters. I love that one line or that smile or that one kiss. It is the same for books or movies or television or even radio shows (remember those?). If I know a character and I love them to death - and I always do - I follow them along for the ride for just those little things.

This is why I love books! And if, as a writer, I can ever achieve the same thing for a reader I'll be happy, even if they know the ending the entire time.

This girl in this pretty dress? She dumped her date for the little things. Maybe.

Kitties Know the Industry

2011-05-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

Howdy friends of Kitties!

Also friends of Writers!

Also... kitties and writers! (Wouldn't it be awesome if cats read this blog?)

Enjoy:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

I had no idea what to say so...

2011-05-10T12:09:00.001-07:00

I had no idea what to write today but I was determined to blog. So I went to my trusty friend google and looked for a random topic generator. Yes, I have stooped so low.

Here is the link, in case you want to become a bottom feeder like me.

Really, it isn't helpful. I went because I wanted something brief and possibly humorous to tell you all, to remind you all I exist as I stumble down the long writing/editing road. I did not want to blog about Plato vs. Aristotle or even how (shocks!) George Washington was involved in the Revolutionary War.

But these are the topics the Random Topic Generator was giving me.

Then came some more interesting topics.

Fergie's Marriage

The boldest celebrities

George Lucas

The Secret Life of Benjamin Franklin

George Lucas

Martha Steward Jail Time

The most loving characters in all history

George Lucas

Famous artists of the 21st century

George Lucas.

Then you can pick other topics, of course. Get away from "people" and pick "religion."

Religion in Japan.

Is Science Religion?

Religion in the U.S.

Loading....

Next, a real winner! OPINION. Having opinions on almost everything this was sure to help me out.

Fiction or Non-fiction?

Fiction, duh.

Favorite Place to Eat

Anything with words like "star" "china" "buffet" or "pandas"

Math or English

No Comment

So try it out for yourself. Honestly this thing makes me feel there is no real random. And from the creator of Random day that is saying something. :(

Oh Shizzle Cuteness

2011-05-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

Cute Roulette has got to be the coolest site on all the internet. I dare you to go and NOT spend hours watching the cuteness. And the cool thing? They are not all about cats! Admit that our society has been rather obsessed with cats recently. My society has been at the very least, ever since the discovery of I Can Has Cheezburger. Cats that talk in butchered grammar that would kill Hitler himself is very much appreciated this side of the computer screen.

But beyond sharing that link I'm not here to talk about cuteness or animals. I'm here to say hello, to you readers and to the beautiful summer months away from campus and homework and papers and exams. Hello to novel writing and long walks and being able to sit back and read a book a day. Blogs will be coming regularly now. I promise! And words will be regularly added to my IGY document. I am very excited by this turn of events. I'm terrified, too. Terrified I'll blink and it will all be gone. Already my first weekend home is over.

I should possibly sleep less. Yes, good plan.

So for now I need to write a good many words so get out of my way, Blog. I'll see you tomorrow.

Hello World...

2011-03-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

Are you aware that there are these things called DVDs that have full-length movies on them and are available at the library?

They are simply awesome, even if they take up more time then cute cats on youtube.

Also, they make me sad, because they remind me of a time when I could toss (aka carefully place) those shiny metallic discs into their bulky player and watch them all the way through. Like, every day.

This was before college and homework and exams and studying and working and limiting my attention span to about -.00000001 whatever attention spans are measured in. My free time (weekends!) is spent sleeping or pumping out the words to my WIP of awesome (in my humble opinion. It is awesome to write). I haven't watched enough movies since technology progressed. I have attempted to watch Movies on Netflix but I usually end up only watching a short episode of Dr. Who.

But here is a post to assure you all... summer break is coming. Blogposts are coming. Next semester I will be smart and NOT take too many credits. Yes. Smartness. I should fail all of my current courses on principle just for being silly enough to take them all. :p

(silly face)

Love,

RACE

Where am I?

2011-02-20T19:13:00.000-08:00

So where in the world have I been? I really don't understand why it has been so long since I last posted. I think it might be a record for me.

Actually, I can explain. It has something to do with black holes and white holes and time travel.... which if you think about it could actually be possible - mathematically.

(ie: black holes have mathematical equations associated with them - white holes result from a reversal of those mathematical equations, and if you put them all together you get worm holes)

(seriously).

(Google told me).

But in all seriousness I think the issue is that time flies by so fast and I can't keep up with it. Here's a winking cat to make up for it:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

You are welcome.

Race

And the winner is...

2011-01-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

Remember my superly random but epic corn giveaway?

Today is the day a WINNER is chosen!

Well, not chosen as much as randomly calculated by the awesome that is random.org.

So here we have it...

And... the first person to comment was....

BECCA COOPER!

Becca said the corn that pops off the cob was "awesome," (a word I highly approve of) and attempted to give it an 11 on the 5-10 scale. This is extremely illegal in the world of ratings and outside the realm of physical possibility but perhaps random.org picked up on her enthusiasm! Good move, Becca!

So e-mail your shiny mailing info to racemer(@)yahoo(.)com (minus parentheses of course) and I will order your corn cob straightaway!

Race

On Sub.

2011-01-05T13:55:00.000-08:00

Race

Monster High

2011-01-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

From Lisi Harrison, the New York Times bestselling author of The Clique and Alphas, comes a new series with a fresh twist on high school, romance, and the "horrors" of trying to fit in.

The monster community has kept a low profile at the local high school, but when two new girls enroll, the town will never be the same. Created just fifteen days ago, Frankie Stein is psyched to trade her father's formaldehyde-smelling basement lab for parties and prom.

But with a student body totally freaked out by rumors of monsters stalking the halls, Frankie learns that high school can be rough for a chic freak like her. She thinks she finds a friend in fellow new student Melody Carver-but can a "normie" be trusted with her big secret? ~ Product Description

I found Monster High by Lisi Harrison to be one of the most charming books I've read in a long time. The characters were relatable and I found myself really caring about both Melody Carver and Frankie Stein. Their backgrounds are completely different, but the characters have so much in common.

If she'd let herself enjoy it, Melody could have lived the "ideal life." Living in beautiful California and having perfect features, thanks to her plastic surgeon father, fitting in and popularity were the number one goals of her family. But Melody is different. She'd rather people like her despite her old face than have the perfect nose.

Frankie Stein would not let the fact she's green get in the way of who she is. She is beautiful the way she is and if the world doesn't see things that way then the world is wrong. She is determined to prove, perhaps to herself, that there is nothing to be self-conscious about and at heart the world is grand enough to accept a green monster.

But Frankie and Melody both learn that in Salem, Oregon, the exterior is all that matters if you are a monster.

It was Frankie and Melody that truly brought this book to life. I often find in YA books that the main characters have overly done traits and bring nothing to the table. In the majority of books I've read, it was the secondary characters that kept my faith in writerly humanity going. In Monster High, though, these girls and their adventures and dramas were the reason I stayed up all night to read. Frankie's mission to be accepted for who she is admirable and heartbreaking. I just wanted to hug her and assure her she'd have my friendship forever. When Melody meets the boy of her dreams and can't understand why is he is constantly changing his personality, I wished that her future with him wasn't going to be as hard and full of danger as I knew it would be.

The writing is easy to read, fun to follow. The only complaint I'd have would be the author's intense interest in smell. I considered counting the number of times the characters were noticing different scents. It happened often enough to take the readers' attention off the storyline.

And then there is the whole "series" problem. Why is the next book not in my hands right now?

I encourage you to run out and buy this book. You won't regret it.

Race

OHMYGOSH It's a corn.

2011-01-01T17:10:00.000-08:00

Now with Giveaway!

The very best experience of 2011 so far, and yes that means by January 2nd, is definitely the Farmers Popcorn Cob. I made this thing last night. While I was slightly disappointed that it ended up tasting just like any other popcorn - though really, what else could I expect - it was really the making of it that made it worth every penny it cost.

As you can see from this smattering of photos, the corn cob comes in a little pack equipped with a wonderful popping bag just like the ones you get microwave popcorn in normally. You put the cob into the bag, fold it closed, then microwave for a whopping 2 minutes until all the popping noises quiet down and you can jump up and down in childlike glee hardly able to contain your anticipation of seeing the corn cob minus its corn.

2 minutes is all...

And there it is... a corn cob minus corn!

All the delicious popped corn got itself smothered in butter and salt, and was enjoyed immensely by my mother while I ate pizza. Hey, its the experience of it.

So on Twitter I promised a random giveaway and here it is. I will give you corn! All you have to do is comment on this post - tell me how you feel about this corn cob thing. Is it brilliant or shady? Is it a miracle snack or the work of the evil ones? Rate it from 5-10 (because, lets face it, if you rated it less than 5 it wouldn't be right to force you to make it) and in a week I'll choose one of you to pop corn right off the cob.

Race

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011 readers! I hope this year is the best one in your lives (so far)!

I love January 1st for opening so many doors. So many possibilities! It is almost like Mondays, just on a much grander scale. On Monday you can walk into school or work or into your living room to sit in front of your open word document, and you can say "This week I'll do better than last week." It is the same on January 1st. You can say "This year I'll do better than last year."

The only problem is that on this colossal scale, we can be completely overwhelmed. I can think of a million things that would make 2011 better than 2010, and completing or gaining those million things is next to impossible.

So instead, I'm trying to review 2010 and think of what, realistically, would take 2011 a step further.

In 2010 I was submitting a novel. A novel. And in 2010 I got an agent - the awesome Natalie Fischer. In 2010 I first went on sub. In 2010 I moved to a new college and gained an indepence I was beginning to think would never come. I joined a sorority and made some life-long friendships. Here it seems that 2010 is hard to top.

But in 2010 I also got sick. It totally ruined that first semester at the new college... my gpa may never recover. I'm still healing up today. If I think of 2010, it is hard to think of the good stuff beyond the haze of infections and constant napping.

So for 2011, I'm hoping for more healthy time, *cough* a sold book *cough,* and some great words to be typed into my open Word documents. I also want a pet baby red panda, but lets be serious.

I don't know the actual statistics and chances of my getting what I'm wishing for (except maybe the baby red panda, that one has a 0% chance), but that is the best part of January 1st. Today, we can imagine that there are 100% chances for everything!

I don't know what you guys are resolving to do or hoping for from 2011, but may this new year be great enough to top 2010!

Race

Ps. It has come to my attention that not everyone knows what red pandas are. This is horrible. Let me educate you on their cuteness:

Post remains untitled. Excuse: no set topic

2010-12-28T09:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas/New Year season to all my readers here at Creare. I hope 2011 brings us all amazing words (if we are all writers), agents, publishers, book releases (also if we are all writers), and happiness and joy and successfully reached or kept resolutions.

I had several ideas for this post. One was the whole "what I got for Christmas" post much like the one I wrote last year. And I can still do that, but Two seemed more exciting - that my work in progress IGY may just have gained a new working title. And then there is Three - that I suddenly want to dive into making mock covers for my work. And of course Four - typical writerly resolutions. But lets save Four for January 1st. That is close enough.

That leaves One, Two, Three, and since I haven't blogged much in 2010, it seems like a good idea to blog about all three today.

One: One is probably the longest topic, and that is good for me since that means I got so much for Christmas! You all read about Mini-me, hopefully, and learned that my first gift of the season was an awesome stuffed bookworm. But if all of that is news to you, then by all means head down and read more about Mini-me. I'll wait. When you get back, you'll be reading about my other gifts, like my awesome pink sweather that I haven't worn for hours but still leaves me shedding bright pink fluffies when I move suddenly. So fuzzy! A scarf to match came in another box, all pink and purple and oh so fluffy. Boots and earrings came too, and lovely buildings to add to my Christmas village. My older brother got me a Coach bag in NYC, and my younger brother took the practical route (not that Coach isn't practical) and he and his girlfriend got me a ton of stuff I need for my new apartment for this coming semester. Stuffed animals and penguins to show my love of Theta Phi Alpha's wonderful mascot (TPA being the sorority I'm a part of) were in my stocking, along with so. much. candy. Too much candy! Don't hate me but I threw a whole plate of cookies out yesterday. It had to be done.

You know that horrible feeling you get a couple days after the Holidays when you realize they are over and it is time to move on? I am feeling that for this post. Lets move on to number Two.

Two: My work in progress IGY can no longer be called IGY. A friend at Green Proofing and I were throwing ideas around and somehow "You're Mine" came up - her genius not mine. From this point forward IGY shall be YM for "You're Mine," which seems just as possessive and indicative of the stalkeriness of the plotline.

and finally....

Book covers. I've been having so much trouble finding a model to fit my character Mari Abdo. Really. It is difficult. I almost went for a shot from the back. Or maybe no model altogether, but my creativity is limited and somehow I can't come up with anything other than a model. Any ideas are certainly appreciated.
It surprises me how I hadn't jumped into cover-making until recently. Everyone else I know is into it on at least a general level. Possibly in the past it was my lack of creativity that would pop up and my brain would scream "No! Save it for the words!" This would then indicate that all of a sudden I have more creativity (even if not enough to come up with anything but models). I wonder if it is the holiday season and the excess amounts of sugar. I could certainly eat nothing but candy for the rest of my life in pursuit of my craft. It is the perfect excuse. We will have to see.

I have been wondering particularly if my dear friends who make covers use a particular program to do so. If a little bird would like to drop me this information, that would be appreciated almost as much as any ideas.

Race

Oh Look - A Post

2010-12-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

There comes a time when a person realizes they forgot to blog... again. That person must then sign into blogger and make a fool of herself trying to come up with things to say - because she really has nothing to say.

Take me for example. What do I have to say? My book, The Virginity Thief, is on sub again after a little editing break based on some feedback. Yay! My new WIP is working smoothly... I found an old synopsis that is much cooler than my current one so I am very excited for that.
There you go. One little paragraph.

Now I should do something intelligent and challenge you to view your characters as people, give them playlists, or not forget the importance of betas. But that has all been said so I won't do that.
In fact, I think I'll just leave now. My second paragraph here was kind of awesome in itself. That can keep you guys satisfied until I remember to blog again *makes note to blog again soon.*

Race

Meet Mini-Me

2010-12-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

Today I got the most amazing Christmas present from my amazing Scottish friend Fiona McCormick, aka AbsentNormality. Some notes on this amazing friend follow:

Being Scottish makes her more amazing.

2. Notice that her last name is McCormick now. Yes I know she used to be Fiona Campbell. But she had a fairytale wedding and a handsome prince swept her away to his castle. She is Fiona McCormick now.

Congratulations Fi and Jeff!

Unlike me, who is rather horrible at remembering to send gifts, Fi remembered Christmas! Today I received a package from Scotland and ripped into the box to find my new best friend!

Bookworm. Because I'm a bookworm. As I informed Fi, I shall love him and hug him and call him Mini-Me.

Call me lame but even though I like to consider myself an author I didn't know bookworms actually existed. I thought they were cute cartoon characters shaped like worms who happened to live in the books on the TV. But no. There are really tiny microscopic living things called bookworms who feed off of paper and book bindings!

Mini-Me, if I become published and I find you eating my book, bad things will happen. Consider yourself warned. But otherwise I love you. XOXO.

Race

Be Thankful - this is not your car.

2010-11-26T01:48:00.001-08:00

I for one would like to know what happened here... and how.

see more That Will Buff Out

Race

Random Musings of the Editing and Creative Nature... or "Stuff"

2010-11-14T12:59:00.000-08:00

Edits edits edits. We writers spend more time editing then writing that first draft, even if it seems to us that that first step is what takes the longest amount of time. We open that WIP and read it 5, 10, 15... times over and over, looking for things that can be changed and stressing over each word we've already written, added, deleted, or changed the spelling of.

But we can't edit forever. Eventually you get out of editing mode and you need to start something new... to punch out a new first draft and get you creativity on, rather than your inner perfectionista. And when you reach that stage, continuing to edit can be a hindrance rather than a good way to improve the novel you are attempting to edit.

I know this from personal experience. My agent, Natalie, could back me up on this. She was the one who advised against my changing Mari Abdo's character background drastically. She was the one who cautioned that adding more depth does not mean changing the details of the surface.

If she hadn't have told me these things, I would have done the changes. I would have made Mari an entirely different person, and that would have been very wrong.

What was wrong with me? I work for months with a firm idea of who Mari is and then in a single day decide to change everything? That creative spark had shown up, and my mind was trying to come up with new characters and new plots for my new WIP... while I was determined to be stuck on VT.

I think it might be a sign that I'm finally happy with where VT is at. That I'm ready to move on now because my baby is all grown up. If there are more edits to do, I'm willing to do them, but perhaps there are just no more to do, and that is what my writerly conscience is trying to tell me. Time to get a move on on IGY, Race!

Celebration

2010-10-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

I was wondering. Did we celebrate Creare's 200th post? I don't remember. If we didn't, we should have. And if we did, then we should congratulate ourselves and celebrate again. Because I was thinking - the opportunity to celebrate is special enough to be celebrated. Think about it. Christmas comes around and you say to yourself "oh, Holiday, celebration!" and then you celebrate and have such an awesome time that you should celebrate having such an awesome time and being so happy. If you think about it long enough, you'll realize that once you start celebrating you should not stop, it is just an awesome loop of celebration.

And yes, this is a random party post. Why? Because it is FRIDAY. I have one more class and maybe some office hours before the weekend begins. It is going to be a busy one but an actual blog post is on the list, so you guys can have hope. And when it appears, we will celebrate. And keep on celebrating.

You know, this loop of celebration awesomeness is such an awesome law of the universe. I need to name it. I shall adopt it as mine and call it... The Race Factor!

... or something. If you have a better name tell me in the comments!

Race

Friday Five

2010-10-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

Ah, the life of a college student. Who would have thought it would make blogging ten times more difficult? I should have… after all, I had trouble being a lazy blogger during summer vacation so how could I have expected to be on top of things during a way hectic semester.

But that is hopefully behind me now. I’m trying to get into an awesome routine that, yes, does include blogging. To start us off, though, I thought I’d take this Friday to post a Friday Five… Friday’s Five things Race was doing when she wasn’t blogging.

1. Race joined a sorority.

Call me crazy, because I never thought I’d join a sorority ever and yet within a few weeks found myself desperately hoping for a bid. I thank my suite-mate Amanda for this. She was part of the awesome sorority and got me and another suite-mate Chelsea in on it. I met those girls and fell in love. Thank you Theta Phi Alpha for being amazing.

2. Race did more edits on VT.

A writer’s work is never done, and in this case thank goodness. VT is so much more amazing now.

3. Race totally flunked her first exam.

Give me some credit, though, because while I’m a junior I was completely self-taught and it was the first exam I had ever sat ever in my entire life… ever. The nerves!

4. Race got an odd roommate.

She was taking tae kwon do last I knew, so she’s scary. Also she is never around, which is good. But the important part of this? I’m actually sleeping in a room with someone else. This is sooo weird and I’m proud of myself.

5. Race got her very first traffic violation ticket.

Where I grew up, there was one traffic signal in the entire county. That’s right, a whole county, only one red light. Here, there is a traffic signal every few yards. Marry that to weird road set-ups and let them give birth to my having no idea where I am - and you have a recipe for disaster.

As you can see, I got into some trouble the past month or so. But so far college has been an amazing experience and let me inform you that sororities are nothing like in the movies. Well, the bad parts in the movies aren’t real. All that stuff is just fiction (scary fiction). The good parts like awesome friends who care about you and your education? So real.

Race

Random Day ~ Starships

2010-09-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

In honor of my learning about Forces in my physics class today, I'm reposting an old Random Day that I love quite dearly.

May the Force be with you!

*giggle*

Today I decided that since we have no idea what it is like "out there," starships could really and truly exist.

If you believe that I'll tell you another one...

No, in all seriousness, starships could exist. I mean, rockets do. Why not stay up there? Stop, smell the roses (stars). If not now, then in the future. Yeah.

I am, of course, a big fan of the starships from the movies....

Like this one from Star Trek.

But, really, I bet they are less fancy. People (or whatever they call themselves out there) are probably so determined to survive in their ships that they don't care how cool they look. It is like making sure the house is at least leak-proof and wind resistant before planting flowers around it and buying the ornamental benches.

Maybe we should add "firey cloud resistant" to that list.

But, before I go on and on.... we really need to take a look at this chart. Because it will tell you all you need to know about starship size. Because when it comes to starships, size matters

I personally would feel safest in one of the big ones.

And, now I will go on and on.

I have several question about starships. It all comes down to one big one, really. Is it exactly like the movies say? Is the food odd looking (and, probably, odd smelling and tasting)? Can we just walk around without our big space suits on? Why is there apparently no problem with gravity on a starship, versus a spaceship?

And while we're on the subject, why are the aliens in films so often portrayed as a more superior race, come to take over us weak human beings. I mean, their brains might be huge, but they have yet to learn to clothe themselves properly and often look like they are starving (I have no interest in seeing their ribs).

Ah, well. you probably think they don't exist anyway. But wait! Here is proof... they are closer than you think.

Race.

On Sub ~ Phase 3

2010-09-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day!

2010-09-06T20:58:00.001-07:00

I'm home from a wonderful weekend with my family, and my computer tells me I have 2 minutes left to wish you a Happy Labor Day without sounding weird. So Happy Labor Day, Creareans. I hope you had as awesome a weekend as I did - good times with family and a awesome lack of school/work. When is the next holiday?

Race

Hello again

2010-08-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

So I've been offline for the past few days and, to be honest, I still am. The only way I'm posting this is through the generosity of college computer labs. Seriously, I love them. Also seriously... these stools are horrible. I need to use one of the other computer labs with awesome comfy seats.

Anyway, as you might have deduced from my recent tweets, AW postings, my absence from the internet and the word "college" in the above paragraph, I've moved to my campus housing. For this reason I can't remember what I was going to post today so just take this as a hello and hold on until I get my own laptop connected to the internet!

Until then, you can spend your time hoping for Race to have internet sooner rather than later!

Race

Friday Five

2010-08-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

Well, we've reached that day of the week again. Yay for Fridays! Also, I'm happy to announce Random day will be making an appearance again September 4th! Yay Random Day!

WriteOnCon Videos

WriteOnCon is over now, and I can't tell you how amazing it was to participate. Natalie Fischer, my agent-o'-awesome and the CEO Unicorn Princess, had a fabulous live chat you can access through WriteOnCon's youtube channel (and, I believe, direct from their site if it is still up) along with the other amazing videos from some great authors and industry professionals. Check it out today!

Highlighters

A seriously awesome thing. I couldn’t edit or study without these. Also, I love them to death because they make grading stuff so much easier. For my summer job at my mom’s office I got to grade tests on various subjects. It was very fun to run my highlighter over the correct answer and discover that whoever had taken the test had gotten that question wrong. Does that make me mean?

Posters

Some of you know I’m a Doctor Who fanatic. I didn’t even shorten that to “fan” I’m that fanatical. I would spend hours chatting with a perfect stranger on the merits of each doctor, puzzling over River Song, or debating who was the best companion. But one thing I didn’t spend hours on? Choosing the posters that will go in my dorm room. Doctor Who posters all the way!

Jobs

I has one. Yes, I was offered a job on campus at my new college, working at a café doing Heaven alone knows what. I’m a sub right now, meaning I don’t get many hours but hours I do get and money comes from hours so I take what I can and I spend it. What more does one need from a job? Also, this means that oh my gosh campus living is approaching! Only 3 more days!

Also, more sub pictures:

Happy Friday the 13th

Race

On Sub ~ The second phase

2010-08-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

Race

Guess what, guys! I’m on sub!

2010-08-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh I’m on sub. That was the first thing I thought when Agent-O'-Awesome Natalie Fischer told me VT was done with the fabulous editorial-agent stage of editing. I was so excited and tense that I could actually feel my stomach tighten. Then I jumped up, went to the kitchen where my mom was cleaning up after me, and said “guess what.”

“What?”

“Natalie just got back to me on VT!”

Mom, putting one of my many water glasses into the dishwasher: “And?”

“Oh My Gosh I’m On Sub!”

My mother got excited for me but I left the kitchen quickly so I didn’t have to finish cleaning. The next step was to go excitedly tell my friends, and then announce it on twitter. Yay! Edits are done! I’m on sub! I can take a little break and focus on IGY!

But once all that was over? I sat back and realized… I’m on sub. The time for waiting and agonizing and freaking out had arrived. I had heard horror stories about being on sub... the feeling of helplessness and the depression that slowly eats your brain. I. Do. Not. Want. To. Lose. My. Brain.

That little break and focusing on IGY? Yeah, right.

Race

The Man in the Helmet...

2010-08-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

... is very wise indeed.

Listen, young adult romance writers everywhere on the net who happen to find yourselves at Creare right now… a new discovery in male/female attractiveness could be your ticket to instant ease of reasoning through any phase of attraction between female main characters and their love interests! The discovery states it is a fact that a woman must be in want of a very handsome man who is both mysterious and sweet, and who rides a motorcycle. This was discovered by a male scientist who would like to remind you that most scientific truths are only supported, not proven; so your disagreement with his hypothesis is very trivial.

This scientist may have a point. The other day I happened to be at the bookstore when, in the parking lot, I saw a tall lanky fellow walking in. I felt instant attraction, and after reading this study have decided it must be because he was wearing a motorcycle helmet. He was mysterious in that I could not see his face, and he was sweet in that he waved when I demanded he cross the road without my hitting him with my vehicle. It was only because of this experience that I even finished reading the study.

The scientist believes this is a revolutionary discovery. It examines the positive relationship between mysteriousness+sweetness+motorcycle and a woman’s perception of male attractiveness. It could potentially simplify relationships for uncertain men! This is especially helpful for those who lack a necessary level of confidence - or the type who go to their roommate’s sister for dating advice without realizing the woman is in love with them and that is the reason she is always hanging around and cleaning things.

I believe it is revolutionary for a different reason. When writing a romance, it can sometimes be difficult to show the reasons for a female character's infatuation with a boy. Characters sharing a love of books, for instance, don't necessary have to fall in love, but for the sake of starting a plot sometimes that is all writers have to work with. When this study is accepted, the writer must merely place a motorcycle helmet over their male love interest's head and the question will be answered to any reader's satisfaction. It will completely explain all the terribly embarrassing and annoying attempts she makes to get the LIs attention. I found some excellent LOLcats that illustrate my own experience with the man in the helmet, as proof.

Like, oh my gosh, you are so mysterious. Why do you have a helmet on? Are you allergic to sunlight? Are you a vampire? *drools*

Or, are you a famous person? Do you have paparazzi on your tail? I will totally get rid of them for you. I will run them over with my little Ford, here.

Sadly, at this point I've scared the helmet man too much. I realize that now. Perhaps I scared him from the moment I drove my Ford right up to his motorcycle to tell him he could walk across the parking lot without my hitting him. But he has politely declined to answer my questions (Oooooh So MYSTERIOUS) and he even opened the door for me. He'll never get rid of me now.

I followed helmet man around the store, aching to see his face. I wanted to write whole series of books about him, in which I constantly taunted the readers with mere glimpses of a chiseled chin or dimple while hiding him like the phantom behind his mask of helmetiness.

But like all such encounters, it had to end. I watched him drive his motorcycle away and the ache in my heart was so strong I woke up.

But seriously, guys, the fellow was real. I almost didn't hit him.

Race

Puppy Extravaganza!

2010-08-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

3 weeks ago, or there abouts, I woke up to find one of our dogs in a curious state. She was digging like a crazy mole-hunter breed (Jack Russel Terriers come to mind) and nesting. She also decided to pant as if she'd run a marathon and she refused to greet us as she usually did. She seemed to think it was sufficient to raise her head just a bit and look at us as if to say "I love you. I really do. I just can't be bothered to stand up right now."

This dog, Bella (no, we didn't name her after you know who), always stands up to give us her doggy love whenever we are come near her. So, as you can guess, we were confused and anxious about her behavior. We were even more confused and completely surprised when, several hours later, she gave birth to 6 beautiful puppies.

We were surprised, and confused, because until that moment we hadn't known she was pregnant.

The spontaneous birthing was both wonderful and sad. 4 of the beautiful puppies have made it. 2 did not. Those 4 that did are now 3 weeks old, and looking like the majestic Newfoundlands they are.

Today I present to you all a puppy extravaganza to introduce these beautiful pups to the world. :)

4 little puppies, all held in a row. A moment after this picture was taken, papa puppy jumped over the puppy gate to ensure his offspring were not being hurt. Good papa.

TONGUE!

She is cute.

Pet her.

*Boop*

Newfs probably have the greatest profiles in puppy history. This fellow's nose isn't too clear unfortunately, but his ears are just. too. cute.

Fuzzy noses.

4 sides to the dish; perfect fit.

Race

Friday - Five Awesome Things

2010-07-30T15:55:00.001-07:00

And, an author-themed Friday-Five Awesome Things about books I recently read or recently came to my attention for some reason. :)

Kristin Harmel

Did you read my review of Krstin's "After"? If you did you'd know why I love this author's writings so much and have dubbed her awesome.

Eileen Cook

Creareans should be looking forward to a review of Eileen's "Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood." If you've read it, you understand the awesomeness, because she has this incredible way with characters and voice.

Awesome fact: I read "Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood" and had a total "why couldn't I have written that?" moment. It inspired me to get back to writing VT and try to create something incredible.

John Grisham

I think everybody in the world has heard of this man. Well, every reader at least. But you might ask yourself "Why are you, Race the YA reader/writer/blogger, giving him the awesome award?" I present you with my answer:

Yep, he's written a YA book. Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer, bringing the best of Grisham to the YAsphere. Check it out! (Def. reviewing this one).

Ally Carter

... for the book "Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy." And why the awesomeness? Because the local "maybe my book will be there someday" spot had it, right next to Dessen and Meyer and other authors whose books are talked about far more often in my writerly circles. (Those authors don't receive the awesome award. Ally does for this book!)

Suzanne Collins

For Catching Fire. Not Hunger Games (yet). You might ask about the mysteriousness of this, but I shant tell you what I've read and what I haven't and what I'm doing and why and who and how, just let me drop this crown of awesome on Suzanne's head and deal with it.

Race

Teaser Tuesday

2010-07-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

Posting this a little (waaaay) late. My apologies to the Teaser Tuesday readers! I have further apologies, really, since I haven't actually been commenting lately on other Teaser Tuesday posts. This will change in the future as it is not fair and is quite mean and there is never (never!) any time when sleep comes before TT!

For now, I hope you enjoy this snip from IGY. :)

I got off her bed and wandered over to her closet, riffling through her clothes. She came up behind me. “Don’t mess me up, Erin. I can’t remember what’s clean and what’s not.” She was staring down at two outfits in her hands, eyeing them with a perplexed expression. All thoughts of borrowing something for the date night forgotten, I went to her desk and plopped myself down in her chair. I watched her hang both outfits up with a shrug of her shoulders.

“I have to talk to you about something, Addie.”

“Mmm.” She was chewing on her nails. It was a disgusting habit.

“I think I have a stalker.” A particularly gorgeous stalker, with dirty blond hair and eyes that could cool fire. I opened Solitaire on her computer and looked for aces. I could feel her eyes on my head. She was so still, every fiber concentrated on me.

Finally, she couldn’t stand my silence anymore. “Keep talking,” she urged. She tossed some clothes back on the piles and flopped on her bed. “Why do you think you are being stalked?”

She sounded like she believed me, but I couldn’t be sure. If the roles had been reversed and she’d told me she was being stalked, I’m not so sure I’d have been so trusting. “It started about a week ago. And I know a week isn’t that long a time. But every day I’ve seen him, watching me. It is seriously creeping me out.”

I couldn’t meet her eyes. I was terrified I wouldn’t look scared enough to her, maybe. I didn’t want her to think I was making a joke. I needed her to believe me. I concentrated on the card game, slapping a black five on a red six with a sharp click of the mouse.

Race

Character Relationships - Guest Post by Cyn Balog

2010-07-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

So I sent an urgent message to Cyn Balog the other day, gibbering about character relationships and how difficult it can be to make them real. She responded with this amazing guest post for Creare. She is fabulous and wonderful and all those awesome words smashed together into a super-awesome-nova! Thank you Cyn for this great post and I'll stop typing now so the peeps can read.

Yes, it's important to craft real relationships in your books, and by that I mean “dysfunctional”. Think about it: If you have two people who get along completely well 100% of the time, that’s not a relationship… that’s cloning.

My books have been mostly plot-driven, but that doesn't mean you can ignore character relationships. While you’re throwing physical plot obstacles into the way of your main characters (like falling boulders, for example), keep in mind that relationships with secondary characters can create the biggest, most real obstacles of all, while revealing character. So it’s important to know your characters very well, and I recommend creating a character that has goals in direct opposition to the goals you’ve set out for your main character.

Also, if your book is plot-driven, remember you need to create a few breather scenes in there, a little falling action. Your scenes should either advance your plot or advance your character toward their goal, or both, so during these breather scenes is a perfect time to foster your character relationships. Have them doing something very normal, for example making spaghetti, having a dialogue, just interacting. You obviously don't want these scenes to drag on forever and you want to make sure it has something to do with the plot, but a few of these scenes can help the reader sympathize with the characters and deepen the understanding of the character’s motivations and goals.

And finally, your characters need to have a history. The deeper your characters are by themselves, the more meaningful their relationships will be to the reader. For example, if you illustrate (through flashbacks, perhaps) how a man has gone through several relationships but never found “the one”, when he finally marries a girl, that will have more impact than if you just show him marrying the girl. The more real your characters are by themselves, the more real their relationships will be.

The way characters respond to adversity is a great way to reveal who they are, and there’s no better way to test a relationship than throwing a crisis at it. In the movie SPEED, Sandra Bullock’s character says something like, “Relationships built on extreme circumstances never work,” but they DO work for fiction. Even in character-driven fiction, there needs to be crisis, conflict. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering, but it’s always present. How your characters work together (or maybe how they don’t work together) through that conflict will reveal the strength or weakness of that relationship.

Friday - Five Awesome Things

2010-07-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Exciting news in Creare's second edition of Friday - Five Awesome Things.

Creare has an epicly awesome week coming for you all, if I do say so myself. It starts off on Monday with a guest blog by none other than author Cyn Balog! Come back to read it on Monday or all the books you own will mysteriously be missing their final pages (and yes, I'm threatening you). It is a fabulous post on characters so it is definitely something you don't want to miss. Following that, we have Teaser Tuesday, a puppy extravaganza, and a special Author-themed "Friday - Five Awesome Things."

I was interviewed! Not only are interviews awesome but, in this case, the interviewer is as well. Fiona of FICWrites asked me some fab questions about planning a novel, and I dished on my extreme outlining practices. FIC, you are awesome.

And here I am, directing you to yet another blog this time around. This time to Jacket Whys, to an awesome post on Life and Death in YA Lit (kinda). Go there to see some trends in the Young Adult genre.

Batteries. This may seem silly to you, but for the past days I have been on a quest for AA batteries. I needed them, oh so desperately, because I had somehow managed to lose the ones in my camera (*cough* Mom tossed them in the bin *cough*). Trust me on this, if your camera does not have batteries, you will be in a state of high stress until you get some. Particularly when you have a puppy extravaganza planned and there is no other way of recording your lil' newf pups' awesomeness.

Wait a minute. I said that I was having a Cyn Balog guest post, right? Right. I remember that. But what I don't remember is giving Cyn her own title of Awesome. I present it to her now. Thank you for being awesome, Oh Awesome Cyn Balog, and visiting Creare!

Take a moment to follow the links, guys. To my understanding the interview will be up soon. Thanks for reading!

Race

Friday - Five Awesome Things

2010-07-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

In my Crearean twist on Friday Five, I bring you... Friday - Five Awesome Things. Wherein "things" shall reversely mean "nouns" and not only include things but people and places.

First, a bonus awesome noun thing. Do you see the above blackboard with a list of numbers on it? That is awesome. Not only are there numbers on it, but they are listed vertically from top to bottom and leave ample space on the right for me to write the awesome things on - if it was, you know, a real blackboard and not a picture. I hereby dub this the icon of the Friday - Five Awesome Things posts.

And now, without further ado, Friday - Five Awesome Things.

Gingersnaps

Like... whoa. Where have these things been all my life? It is an easy question to answer in this case. They have been stuck in the void -- the dark void in which all om nom noms are infused with villi hating glutens. Gingersnaps have been held captive in the void, beyond my reach. No recipes were worth trying. The few that reached the store shelves looked un-gingersnappy. And then, today, I did it. I tried a package. I am now a prisoner of a void myself. A void in which all of me is infused with gingersnaps and milk. I'm a happy prisoner. It is a good void.

Twitter

Anybody seen this tweet? If Twitter didn't exist you couldn't have seen that tweet. In fact, if you so much as thought the word "tweet" the world would think you a twit. But Twitter exists, and that tweet exists, and that link exists; and if you clicked it as you should you would see that my agent most awesome Natalie Fischer has made an announcement. I want to tell you what it is. Awww, but I shouldn't. You should read it yourself. Oh, but I can't resist. When she reaches 1000 Twitter followers she will be open to e-mail queries. Go. Follow. The writing community will thank you!

And you better believe it.

Mario vs. Luigi

Yes, Mario is awesome. Luigi is awesomer. Luigi is taller, cuter, sweeter, doesn't put red and blue together, and actually wears my fave color green. By clothing choice alone, he exceeds the awesome of his brother. Also, his mustache seems less offensive. I suppose you think I'm silly. But honestly, compare!

The Snipping Tool.

Seriously, have you ever (EVER) seen something as awesome as this? From any webpage, computer location, or even your own darn wallpaper, you can snip a rectangle, free-form shape, or even the whole page and save it as a jpg. or other photo file. I tried it on Paint today, creating the awesome Star Man to show you the wonder.

For some reason, Star man doesn't appreciate the snipping tool on the computer (Windows). He's all like "Yo, why are you snipping me?"

Well, Star man, to show the readers how awesome it is.

Race

Sources for photos can be found by actually clicking on photos. Nifty trick is awesome.

Teaser Tuesday ~ I Get You

2010-07-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

And, I re-emerge within the Teaser Tuesday community with a very badly written piece. It is what I like to call a "false start," in which my character's voices are all off and I have no idea where their story should begin. But if there is any entertainment within these words, I hope you all find it. :D

Summer vacation came in with a bang, almost literally. Two hours before we were going to be let out for the year, someone found a bomb threat on the first floor boy’s bathroom mirror. We didn’t have to sit through speeches as expected – the “you are smarter than when you first got here” ones given by the people who weren’t deemed special enough to speak at graduation - but instead were instructed to file out in an orderly fashion and stand far from the building in the football field while the buses were rounded up. We got to go home early, and no one really expected us to come back to school the next day for the speeches. We’d been saved by the bomb.

In the end, I heard there was no actual bomb. Just some hooligans, the same ones that tossed lit sparklers into the girls’ bathrooms right before the evacuation.
Addie, my best friend since we nearly got mixed up at the hospital at birth, decided that the sparklers were pathetic. Seriously, why not firecrackers? Why not something with a little shock factor? Addie was like that. She loved fast cars and rock music and always ate her steak rare. She was a hard one to mess with, and sparklers didn’t scare her. Firecrackers probably wouldn’t have either, but she’d obviously have appreciated them more.

Race

Happy Birthday USA

2010-07-04T07:21:00.001-07:00

... and Happy Independence Day to all Americans.

Friday Five

2010-07-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

So welcome to my very first Friday Five ever. As it stands, I feels I have less than five things to mention. At least, less than five things to mention that are interesting to you readers. But since it is my first time doing Friday Five, perhaps you guys can give me a bit of a break and ignore the uninteresting four fifths.

The Virginity Thief has entered final editing stages. Yes, edits with my fabulous agent Natalie Fischer may actually be coming to an end! Of course, it is up to me just how long it takes me to finish this "final" editorial stage with her. Hopefully my editing skills are sharp and it shouldn't take too long.

Reading in a restaurant is nearly as fun as writing in one. I'm not sure if you guys remember my post on writing in a busy place where you can watch people for inspiration and listen to the hum and buzz of noises all around you that lull you into perfect writing mode. So I'll summarize it. The above setting is awesome for writing. Today, I discovered it is also great for reading. As a plus, you can sometimes get a sundae too.

I'm in the process of dying over my new college. I love it dearly but there is so much paperwork! And only 7 weeks left before I'm moving in! Wowsers, this takes so long. I need to make calls on Monday. Somebody remind me. Right after work.

There are contests going on that I just HAVE to tell you about. Well, one contest in particular. That is Karla Calalang's contest at http://karlaerikacal.blogspot.com/2010/06/contest-of-awesome.html Enter or you can't win!

And, finally, another writerly update. IGY (not to be pronounced iggy under any circumstances) finally has a synopsis. Not a good one, by any means, but it has one nonetheless. This means I can finally start writing it. Finally! This writer is excited.

So, run along to Karla's and get involved in her contest, and I'll bid you goodbye. Ta ta!

Race

Writerly Agoraphobia

2010-06-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

As my agent could tell you, recently I've been a little lazy.

Er, make that "very" lazy.

The Objective: Complete synopsis of current WIP and e-mail it to agent-o-awesome.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Time Estimated: A day

Time In Reality: Whoa I'm so darn lazy.

Fact is, I can't even remember the day I told her I'd get it to her, that's how long its been. But I guess that's all water under the bridge now that it is done and e-mailed. But wait, I still haven't finished it?

I'm soooo darn lazy. But today at least I finally started in on it. I rewrote some lines and thought things through and came to an excellent conclusion: synopsising and outlining are really fabulous tools for me.

I know not all writers agree on this point. For instance, outlines result in a serious case of claustrophobia for quite a few writers. And creative claustrophobia is never a good thing. If you are one of those writers, don't take this as an attack or anything - because I understand we are all different - but without this synopsis and outlining I'm doing today, I'd be completely lost. I would be in a situation the direct opposite of claustrophobia. Agoraphobia. I would be in a space so large and vast that I would panic at the sheer impossibility of taking the right route for my novel.

About fifteen minutes ago I met Simon, a caring young man who, overnight, goes from having a perfect relationship to dealing with an insane girlfriend. In earlier versions in my mind, Simon didn't exist in my WIP.

About ten minutes ago I ironed out a sticky plot point.

About five minutes ago I gave my main character's father a special disappearing act he will play out very well and right on cue.

In short, in about 20 minutes of outlining and synop writing I did away with what could easily have become over 20 hours - 20 days - of horror in the middle of writing the actual draft.

If I didn't outline I wouldn't have thought through the perfect subplot in under half an hour. If I hadn't written this synopsis, my readers would never have met this particular character, who has so much heart and amazing chemistry. I wouldn't have felt that spectacular "Oh this is how it will work out" feeling I love so much. Mainly, without outliningg my writerly agoraphobia would mean I'd never finish a novel.

I don't know of anyone else who depends on outlining as much as I do. Maybe that makes me less of a writer, but who cares? I do what works for me. I like the end results.

Also, finishing an outline gives me a really nice sense of accomplishment early on. Who doesn't like that? :D

Race

Book Review ~ 'After'

2010-06-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

When I walked into Barnes & Nobel that day, all I was looking for was a shiny new novel to add to my shiny summer reading list. I was still finishing up my second year of college, and I had no time to read anything but my math textbooks. But my to-be-read pile was pretty much growing as steadily as my anticipation of diving into it. I was psyched to walk in and choose some titles that would entertain me through vacation.

“After” has the kind of cover that jumps out at you. The bright colors are an arresting sight in a sea of dark paranormal novels on the shelf. The shining pinks and yellows forced me to reach out and grab it. Based on the cover alone, “After” seemed like a perfect summer read; light and romantic, as dainty and sweet as the main character’s name… Lacey. Admittedly, my first thought was “fairy tale.”

Never, ever, judge a book by its cover. The least you can do is lift the flap to learn that a pretty, cheerful face can hide a level of deep emotion – loss, guilt, betrayal – I hope you beloved Creareans never have to feel.

“Lacey’s world shatters when her dad is killed in a car accident. And secretly? She feels like it’s her fault. If she hadn’t taken her own sweet time getting ready that morning… well, it never would have happened. Her mom wouldn’t be a basket case. Her brother Logan wouldn’t drink. And her little brother would still have two parents.
But life goes on even if you don’t want it to. And when Lacey gets the chance to make a difference in the lives of some people at school, she jumps at it. Making lemonade out of lemons is her specialty. Except she didn’t count on meeting a guy like Sam. Or that sometimes? Lemonade can be a pretty bitter drink to swallow.”
~Publisher’s description

As you can see from the publisher’s description, Lacey has suffered. And one thing she can’t stand is when someone pretends they “get it.” To her, no one who has not experienced the agony of losing someone they love can understand her pain. So she surrounds herself with people who have lost family members. Starting a club for similar mates at her school, she creates a haven where they can all be themselves and be comfortable in the fact they really do understand each other. When the new kid at school, Sam, joins, Lacey has finally met a boy who she can really start a relationship with. A boy who has loved and lost and understands her on every emotional level. But like the cover of this book, the cover hides secrets. Not everything is as it seems, which Lacey learns the hard way when it comes to her relationship with Sam.

What impressed me most about “After” was how author Kristin Harmel did such an excellent job with her characters. While I felt that some of Lacey’s thoughts were a little small-minded at times (well, maybe once), I never once thought Kristin could have written her more believably. Instead, I saw Lacey as a real human being whose emotions had taken a roller coaster of a ride and who was, understandably, a little less open to other people’s pain. It is definitely a book I’d recommend for this reason alone, and for a hundred other reasons that occurred to me as I read through the pages.

The book: “After.”
The author: Kristin Harmel.
The publisher: Delacorte Press.

Race

The Daily Squee ~ Home of Awesome

2010-06-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

You know those days when you are in a bad mood? The ones when you, say, get home from a long day to discover there is no dinner, the water heater is broken, and you can't even find your bed because your room is so dirty? Add in the rejection waiting in your inbox and you have... the ultimate "ugh" day.

I bet you do know about these days. I further bet that you've experienced a bad day like this, maybe even recently. You maybe suffered through them, thinking there was no hope or cure. But you were wrong! There is The Daily Squee!

see more

The website, part of the Cheezburger Network (You know them best from the LOLCats, I imagine), is the place where I hang out when I want to be happy. To Squee. To go *smiley*. When summer vacation becomes too much to bear, I squee. When you need your little dose of squee go to www.thedailysquee.com

see more

see more

Race

Ps. Whoa, this posts sounds like I'll be getting a check in the mail soon. Or at least some advertising in return. Alas, no such luck. In my depression I'll go squee.

Giveaway winner and on being uncool.

2010-06-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hello Creareans! First off, I need to tell you that I’m writing this post on Word 2007. It is the first time I’ve ever used it and, most likely, the last (isn’t, like, 2010 coming out soon? If I’m drastically incorrect, then maybe my previous statement should be ignored. Actually, ignore this altogether because not using 2007 until now is very uncool.

Anyway, that little bit of Race-is-so-uncool now written, I can move on to the purpose of this post.

THE GIVEAWAY IS OVER.

Today is the day I finally got time away from work, reading, sleeping, outlining, and playing way too much Mario Rush Arena *cough* to gather all your chances together and tell you who won the awesome prize.

Unfortunately, we didn’t reach the 150 followers count that would mean a massive prize for the winner. Instead, said winner will have to content him/herself with a $50 Amazon gift card, a novel of their choosing, and some assorted reading pretties.
And I’m not going to waste anyone’s time but telling you how I got to the winner. *pulls piece of paper out of hat…er… bowl* I’ll just let you know who won. And if you didn’t win, chin up! More giveaways in the future!

So the winner is:

BEE!

Awesome! Yay! Epic!

Send me an e-mail, twinsie, to racemer(at)yahoo(dot)com to claim your winnings and tell me what super awesome novel you want!
Thanks everyone for entering. To the new followers, I hope to remain interesting in the months to come. 
Race

Getting in the Zone

2010-05-22T14:50:00.001-07:00

The Zone is the epicly awesome writersphere that I descend into when it is time to snatch a sneaky SNI from its hiding place in the writer's lobe of my brain and make it type itself out on my lovely compy.

What? You didn't know that's how I write? Well, sorry but that's how its done, peeps.

Sometimes getting into the zone is hard. Very difficult moments require music, lolcats, a movie that makes me cry, laugh, or stay on the edge of my seat (and of course makes me go "Why didn't I write that?!"). Moderately difficult moments require music and something - short story, a friend's tweet, a few lines from my current read - to inspire me. Just plain old difficult moments of zone-getting-into? They just require some music.

If you notice, every difficulty level results in the need for at least music.

When writing The Virginity Thief, I relied mainly on whatever was popular and on the radio. Or I'd think "Oh man what was that song on the TV called..." and go searching on Youtube or maybe download it. My amazing friend Fi of www.ficwrites.blogspot.com was the one who found me a song that fit VT's main character perfectly and could easily be the story's theme song - not me.

But now that my latest round of revisions have been sent off to agent most awesome (find her on Twitter! @Natalie_Fischer ) I'm diving into I Get You and this time I'm determined to get it right. This baby is going to have a playlist that will rock the socks off of me whenever I sit down to pound out some words.

So begins the search for the playlist. Expect updates soon.

Weird girls, prizes, and Friday Five

2010-05-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

Mindless video that will make you consider teen girls idiots forever, or fodder for another YA novel?

Teen Girl Squad...

(c'mon, I'm grasping at straws here).

Creare is up to 101 followers! Do you know what this means? No? Well, this means that the massive giveaway prize has increased from a $30 Amazon gift card to a $50 Amazon gift card plus various reading paraphernalia (to be determined when Race walks into B&N and goes "OOOOOOH").

Tomorrow, I'll be diving into Friday Five for the first time ever, so come back! Come back my pretties! I have coooookies!

Race.

New - Massive - Giveaway

2010-05-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hello all. I recently tweeted that when Creare reached 100 followers I'd have a huge giveaway. Since then, thanks to my dear friend Chan, this has been revised. In a good way -

I'll have the giveaway now.

This giveaway is slightly different than my last one, though. This one is shaped a little less like a single book and a little more like stacks of books building up to look like stairs. The winnings depend on followers, how often you tweet, blog, or mention me almost ANYWHERE, and the contest doesn't cut off until I've reached $150 worth of goods.

The rules:

You must be a follower to be eligible.

Comment on this post. That is all you have to do to enter (it is worth 1 initial point). To increase your chances, follow the guidelines below:

+2 Old follower
+1 New follower
+1 point: Tweet about this contest and post a link in the comments. No more than 2 tweets per day.
+3 points: Blog about the contest, Creare, or my novel The Virginity Thief. Post link in comments here.
+2 points: Mention this contest anywhere else that gets traffic from writing-or-giveaway-related friends/relatives/perfect strangers (ie: your facebook, myspace, or vlog account on youtube, blog sidebar, or anything similar. Message board posts aren't applicable, unless it is a whole thread, then it is worth +3). As always, post the link in the comments here. Don't spam your friends for points, please.

You are responsible for updating in the comments how many points you have.

How to build the stairs:
Followers. Followers. Followers. The first prize is available now and other prizes will be "stacked" (added) in the manner listed below:

Now: $30 Amazon gift card
At 100 Followers: $50 Amazon gift card, Reading related paraphernalia (bookmarks, etc).
At 115 Followers: $50 Amazon gift card, Reading related paraphernalia, Novel of your choosing.
At 130 Followers: $50 Amazon gift card, Reading related paraphernalia, 2 novels of your choosing
At 150 Followers: $50 Amazon gift card, Reading related paraphernalia, 3 novels of your choosing.

Novels must be YA fiction and include single novels only (hardcover or paperback). Series do not count as one book, though you can ask for a single book within a series.

Even if you already follow me and have the first post in this contest, you are still eligible to win at the 150 Follower level if Creare reaches that point. (of course at that point you might want to increase your chances by tweeting or blogging some more).

1 final rule. At no time are you allowed to tell my mother I'm giving all this away. If you do, you will be stricken from the contest and hunted down by the space Nazis.

You have 3 weeks until this contest ends! Get tweeting, blogging, all that jazz.

Race

POST

2010-05-02T18:11:00.001-07:00

Dude you need to update your blog. And not with a bunch of lolcats either. They are a total cop-out and everyone in the blogosphere knows it.

So:

Post some advice. Like: "don't eat Coke caps, they have codes on them. The NSA takes them from your garbage and uses them to decode the text messages from alien life-forms. Also, you could choke." Or perhaps something more writing related.

Post snippets of your work. This will interest your faithful following. Of course there is a fear that writing thieves will steal your work. Never fear. They may steal the idea but look at the bright side... they will be too busy stuck in character development, plot swamps, and revisions to be much real trouble for another few months.

Post book reviews. Praising others makes people think you are self-confident. As an added bonus, it will prove that you don't just read Lolcats and are starting to talk lik dem an fink lik dem...

Darn Lolcats popping up all over the place.

Anyway, the point is to post. Post so people know you are still alive and have not forgotten the fact.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Race

PS. Don't ignore this advice just because I only had one post in April. My mom doesn't blog at all so there.

A Day in the Life of a Writer Named Rachel (up until now)

2010-04-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

A day in the life of a writer named Rachel - as told through LOLCats:

1...

Begin edits. Or at least try.

2...

The manuscript begs to be cleaned up and sent back to agent-most-awesome.

3...

And that is basically it.

Sad, isn't it?

But wait! Take a look at the title of this post. There is an added note there that is important. How about scrolling up to take another look? Read it carefully. Actually; heck with that. I'll just copy it here: (up until now).

What does this tell us about The Virginity Thief? "Up", in meaning, usually refers to a vertical ascent or some such thing, such as a place flying vertically up into the sky. "Until" is a word that refuses to be defined on this blog by its very difficultness to be defined by Race while she is full of candy and too lazy to think of a definition for it. "Now" means... well, now. Instantaneous. So what could the instant vertical ascent of something undefinable possibly have to do with editing?

Well, I don't actually have the answer for you. I do have news though.

This Round of Edits is DONE. Yup yup, sent to agent-most-awesome with hopes it made the novel a million times better and will make future work on VT less troublesome.

*hopes*

And now that I've spit out my news I'll return to my coursework.

Race out.

Those little places where inspiration taps you on the shoulder...

2010-03-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today I had a doctor's appointment. Now, I don't know about you, but when I go to the doctor I like to par-tay. I know. It is odd. Hardly something to party about. But having a doctor's appointment involves a couple of things:

1) I have the car

2) I am out in civilization

3) Also known as Item 2.b (a continuation of item 2. Namely, an explanation of what this Civilization can contain). Civilization has several establishments formed for the express purpose of stuffing folks like me with a variety of edible joys.

So once the annoyance of a doctor's appointment is over, those 3 items combine to form a Race-is-par-tay-ing-now day.

I think my doctor's appointments should be considered national holidays.

Hmm... but then maybe my doctor would have off?

A conundrum if ever there was one.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. After my appointment was concluded and I was able to practice my mad driving skills attempting to get out of the drive, I went and ordered a steak. No potato, but extra veggies. No croutons on the salad, please, I can't have wheat. Also, no dressing.

Eating alone isn't something I thought I'd enjoy, though. I'd never once been in a restaurant by myself. Today, however, I was. So I brought along The Virginity Thief and my fabulous agent Natalie Fischer's editing notes. I started a new scene while I started my delish salad, and the words flowed. Something about being in that restaurant helped my writing like silence never could. Even music has never produced the kind of writing the chattering of children and their mothers, the sound of deep male voices from the cute guys over to the left... *cough*... and the waitresses rushing to and fro had produced.

I guess in the end one could say I wasn't eating alone. Writing my book completely swept me away from the possibility of feeling lonely and uncomfortable. The words brought my MC Mari Abdo to life right there at my table, and I was surrounded by my characters and the world I'd made for them.

This is definitely something I'll be doing again. Hopefully before my next doctor's appointment.

Now tell me about you. Have you recently tried a new writing "venue"?

Recent Interviews

2010-03-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to direct your attention to some interviews I've done recently. They were hosted by some great people and I really enjoyed them. I hope you do, too.

Interview hosted by Elle Strauss, fab agent sister. Here.

Interview hosted by Emilia, wonderful fellow teen and Twifty. Here.

Race

The Virginity Thief ~ Update

2010-03-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

Editing notes are back in on The Virginity Thief, and I'm ready to dive in and rip this baby to shreds.

Actually, lets take that back a bit and be more realistic. I'm read to dive in, yes. But not so ready to rip it apart. I think VT is promising as it is. It just needs some tweaks.

I don't know about any of you, but I love editing. I get excited when the little e-mail alert goes off and I see Natalie's name, and I know her notes have arrived and I can get back to work. I haven't been writing much in between revisions. This is due to some coursework and life getting in the way, but when those e-mails come in I know it is time to make time, to let myself get back into writing at nights and do what I love.

So I guess I should stop rambling and just tell you all I'm excited. The life of a writer has its challenges but when you get to do what you really love and bring a story to life on the page, you realize the great many rewards too.

Race

Interview with Elle Strauss!

2010-03-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

Today I am thrilled to introduce you to Elle Strauss, a great writer who is also represented by my fabulous agent, Natalie Fischer. Visit her blog here and her Twitter here, to get more of the awesome.

RM: First, could you describe your works for us?

ES: You do mean the works I'd like to see published, right? :) With my/our agent right now is CLOCKWISE, a YA chick lit about a teen time traveler who accidently takes the cutest boy in the school back in time. I'm currently working on a companion book called CLOCKWISER.
I'm also hoping to get my YA Historical PLAYING WITH MATCHES, about a boy who grows up in Hitler Youth, in the hands of an editor one day.

I told you guys she was great, right? It deserves repeating. I’m in love with these stories.

RM: How did you start writing?

ES: That's a long story. I'm not one of those writers who grew up wanting to write. I kind of fell into it when my kids were young. I used to paint, but I didn't have a place to set my supplies up in our house without the kids getting into everything, so I switched my creative energies into something they couldn't wreck and started writing.

RM: Which of your characters is your favorite and why?

ES: I'm kind of liking the protagonist I'm writing right now in CLOCKWISER, but I think it's natural to be most in love with the work you're currently on. I like her because she is flawed and weak, but grows stronger and more honest with herself and who she is as the story unfolds.

I definitely agree on that natural love of a current work.

RM: On the same note, do you put bits of yourself into your novels? Do you share any habits with you characters, for instance?

ES: I suppose I do, but on a subconscious level. For instance, I'm flawed and weak but stronger and more self-aware (verses self-absorbed) than I used to be. I know what the journey from here to there can look like.

RM: Do you a lean towards character driven or plot driven stories (with both reading and writing)?

ES: I like a nice balance of both. I want the characters I read and write about to have a character arc-- evidence that they are growing and changing, but I also want there to be a story, which without plot you just have a bunch of scenes strung together.

RM: Do you outline, create playlists, or otherwise have any process you work through while writing your manuscripts?

ES: I do skimpy outlines, basically I know the beginning and the end and a bit of the middle. The rest I kind of figure out as I go. I don't do playlists, I actually am a fan of silence.

Oooh, silence. I don’t hear of that one often but it sounds like something I should try sometime. Less distraction!

RM: Do you have a favorite author or novel?

ES: I love Pride and Prejudice, but I couldn't even finish Northanger Abby. That's a book that should have stayed under the bed, in my opinion, so I wouldn't say Jane Austen is my favorite author. I read so many great authors, I can't really say that one stands ahead of the rest.

Almost didn’t ask the question, because of all the fab authors and books in the world. Picking one is nearly as hard as picking a favorite… is there anything harder?

RM: If possible, would you work with another person on co-writing a novel? What author would you like to work with?

ES: At one time I thought I'd like to try that, (but everyone I approached turned me down :) ). Now, I think I prefer writing solo with feedback from my/our great agent. Really, she's been so helpful at tweeking and retweeking my book. It's much better now than when I first sent it to her.

That’s the truth! I also love editing with Natalie. VT is a million times better because of her. Go Natalie!

RM: And, finally, if you could give one piece of advice to the readers here who are also writers, what would it be?

ES: I know it's getting kind of cliche but if you really want this bad enough, don't give up.

Thank you Elle!

Race

Oscars

2010-03-08T08:31:00.001-08:00

Ahh, the excitement. I must admit that I love Red Carpet. And then the shiny stage with its big 82 side settings so bright. And the actors and actresses in leading roles nominees walk out… looking so shiny in their own right. So tall and beautiful. And then it suddenly stops. The music and the lights dim. And… introducing not the hosts but instead Neil Patrick Harris singing and dancing. With girls half-dressed in underclothes and gents in jackets dancing along. The singing was like the best parts of last year, when the fab Hugh Jackman hosted and rocked. Finally, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin descend from above and begin hosting. First: Neil Patrick Harris can sing. Like, whoa. Secondly: you could tell Baldwin and Martin had rehearsed. Their jokes came out in that “oh, this was rehearsed so many times I’m bored saying it” way. Well, actually not all that bad. I enjoyed parts. They basically picked on all the nominees. And Efron and Lautner.

And then Awwww. Best supporting Actor, presented by Penelope Cruz. The Lovely Bones clip was chilling. There went my vote. Actually. Whoa wait. They were all chilling. 5 votes split evenly. May they all win! But my brilliant plans were foiled. The winner - Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Basterds.

Best antimated film. Please oh please let it be Up. Because it’s awesome.
Winner is - *gasp* - UP! UPPPPP! Because the dog is FABBBBBBB! So fab I messed up typing this post in Word and it thought I needed help learning about alignment and indentation. Crazy Word.

Miley Cyrus looks taller than Amanda Seyfried when presenting for Best Original Song. Is it shoes, or is Miley Cyrus taller than Amanda Seyfried?

Tina Fey and Robert Downing Jr. They just said they are coming on “after this.” (yes, I’m writing this in real time) Pretty please with an ice cream sundae topped with cherries and nuts and whatever the heck you like on your sundaes let them be on at the same time. I want to see them and laugh my head off (because they are funny, not because I take amusement at them in person).

Yes on at the same time. Thanks a lot Baldwin for taking those precious moments to introduce them away from me.

Best original screenplay. My vote: UP. And the winner is: Hurt Locker.

*pops a balloon in misery* *heart drops…* *… scarily close to dragging along my stomach*

*not really*

Sorry, I missed Short Films. I was eating ice cream and Googling Unions. Don’t ask.

But Ben Stiller coming out as an avatar character was seen. And enjoyed. Best makeup: (Avatar was not nominated): Winner: Star trek please. Star trek it is! Whoop for them!

Best adapted screenplay! My vote: District 9! Winner: Precious based on Push by Sapphire. (sad face )

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS. Monique. In Precious based on Push by Sapphire (Could we from now on just call it Precious, please? No?).

A salute to horror films coming up. I love Horror. Scary things make me happy! Can’t wait. First we must watch JCPenny models play pool. This will make men buy their products. Yes it will. Don’t doubt it. Oh and a girl in a pretty dress covered in sparkles opens a cervical cancer commercial. Fun night.

Sarah Jessica Parker (in helping to present Best Costume Design) used the word “integral.” I may be forced to love her. My hope: The Young Victoria.
And the winner is: THE YOUNG VICTORIA. O my goodness my hopes are coming true most of the time. So far Oscar night has been predictable.

Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart! They are coming next! HIDE!

Oooh peeps, he was strangely attentive to her coming down the stairs.

And they are giving horror films their tribute! I may love them now, too. Oh, Oscars, how you confuse me.
Okay, why was there a twilight clip in the middle of the horror tribute clips? Was that supposed to be horror?
SPARKLY VAMPIRES ARE NOT SCARY THEY ARE SPARKLY THAT IS ALL.

A tribute to those who have passed on. Take a moment to say a prayer for them. 

Best original score. With dancing!

My vote, Up (again). Up better win. Dancing for it is pretty, too. Great dancing for Avatar but I’m not feeling the same vibe for the music. It doesn’t reach out and grab me and since I’m sounding like a real ctitic now I’ll stop altogether. Up WINS! Yay!
Video
Best Visual effects vote: Star Trek. Real winner: Avatar. *Is officially bashing Avatar now*

Best Documentary Feature: The Cove. Dolphins FTW. If I may now remind you all: People also eat horses and dogs in other cultures and some scarily close to our own. A new documentary if you please.

Best Actor and Best Actress coming up. That is good. I’m sleepy.

Best Actor: I do not want George Clooney. I don’t. Why would I? He is only funny and cute and awesome. So who cares?

Have I said too much?

And the winner is (when they finally get to it I’ll tell you): Jeff Bridges!

On to best actress (when they finally get to it I’ll tell you).

LET IT BE SANDRA BULLOCK.

And it is: SANDRA BULLOCK! WHOOP!

Best director. May it be THE HURT LOCKER LADY WHATEVER HER NAME IS. Oh, right. Kathryn Bigelow….. KATHRYN BIGELOW! First woman to ever win. Made of win, right there.

Best Picture. I’m going to go with Up for this one. I loved that and it was so creative. Buuut… (they rushed this one, surprisingly) The winner of Best Picture! THE HURT LOCKER.

And… the Oscars are over. I stayed up for the whole thing. Wowsers. It was awesome!

Monkeys!

2010-03-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

In honor of my birthday, March is Random Month. Every Sunday this month, I shall go over the edge on something. Don't know what. 'Tis random.

Today, monkeys take over Creare. Watch out for them. They will hurt you.

Teaser Tuesday ~ I Get You

2010-03-02T07:57:00.000-08:00

Teaser from I Get You!

Predictable day.

Except the sound of sobbing coming from one of the bathroom stalls wasn’t normal.

I didn’t know what to do. Knock softly and ask what was wrong? Ignore her and move on? That sounded awfully mean. I wasn’t used to being mean, even though Erin had her moments and I was considered mean by association more times than I’d like. Maybe I could pass some tissues underneath the door? But that was silly. There was enough paper for anyone inside the stall. I capped my lipstick and leaned against the sink, worrying.

She had to know I was there. She had to sense my breathing and the shuffling of my feet. I shuffled some more and gave a little cough, but the sobs muted the sound.

Erin breezed in just as I was giving it another try. She slapped the books down on mine and got out her mascara. I watched her apply it, waiting for her to hear the sobbing, to comment on it.

“Okay, I’m ready to go.”

“Wait.”

“What?”

“Don’t you hear that?” I gestured to the stall. Underneath the door, I could see a small bit of shoe, a big clunky shoe that was half runner’s sneaker, half men’s dress shoe. Shit. I knew just who belonged with those shoes.

“Just leave it, Addy.”

I didn’t want to leave it, but Erin would never want me to associate with clunky shoe girl. She was at the banned table in the cafeteria, the table only geeks who had no friends sat at. The comforted each other over their hot lunches, with their customary silence, there in the far corner so far away from Erin’s table that they were practically in another room. Forget Erin, it would be school suicide to be linked to her.

I slowly followed Erin to the door, but didn’t manage to get to it before it swung shut behind her. It was just me and the crying girl, Colleen something or other, in the bathrooms again. I fingered the handle on the door, but then reverted to my childish habit of twirling one of my curls. Her wailing was painful to hear. Every other second she’d take a huge deep breath, and the sound was so loud I got this weird image in my head of her sucking up all the oxygen in the room.

I walked back towards the stall and hesitated in front of it. I reached up to knock.

The door opened, and Erin poked her head in. I drew my hand back just in time.

“Come on, Addy.”

“I’m coming.”

It was good that I Erin had stopped me and I hadn’t knocked. It was all for the best. At least, that was what I could tell myself as I carried the books to our lockers on the way to the cafeteria.

Race

Is the past important?

2010-03-01T06:45:00.000-08:00

You know that little thing called back story? It agonizes writers, because we want the reader to understand what went on before, so they can better understand what is happening now. Unfortunately, readers aren’t as in love with went on before. Usually, they are more interested in what is going on now. They like the action to start, the characters to have dialog meaningful for the now. Thus, the agony begins. We write prologs, first paragraphs, first chapters, hoping to get the back story out there and not bore the reader. Then we realize we really are boring the reader and we cut and edit and revise and make sure the story starts with something catchy; and we try to get our characters’ pasts somewhere else in the book.

So this begs the question. Are our characters’ pasts actually important? Important enough to put in the novel? Or is it just the crazy writers wanting to whole story to be told.

I think the question has a simple answer, and that is… it depends. On the story. On the writer’s way of writing the story. On if the back story is necessary to understand the current story.

However, don’t take this as a “oh, if your story needs back story then let it go.” Don’t let your story slow down. Find a way around info dumping.

In my book, The Virginity Thief, the past of my characters is important. It affects what they are doing now. I wasn’t worried about this, because back story, if done tastefully, will enhance a story rather than bog it down. I worked hard on making the past feel less like back story and more like the actual story. And there is the catch. “Back story” done well enough isn’t back story. It is part of the current story, and the goal of the writer – to tell the whole tale – is attained.

Don’t just cut chapters of back story. Find a way to bring the info throughout the novel in ways that enhance the novel. That is all.

Now, tell me about your books (ones you’ve either written or, for the readers here on Creare, read). Was/Is the past important enough to put in the novel?

Race

The Virginity Thief ~ Update.

2010-02-25T06:43:00.000-08:00

Revision revisions. If anyone remembers my last revision post, they'll remind me that I was once cheerful about them. Not so much, anymore.

Now, don't get me wrong. It isn't that I'm not cheerful about them. I'm just not. (And yes! There is a difference!).

Natalie and I have been working on revisions for a couple weeks now. First round was quite simple. I just had to make Mari Abdo think some more, so the reader could understand the reasoning that I hadn't spelled out in words before.

This second round, however, requires some re-writes and planning that are more difficult. So I'm giving myself some time to ponder on them, instead of diving right in. Today my goal is to plan, to plot, to prepare. The major goal? To have these edits complete by next week.

I think the reason I'm not as cheerful about them as I was before actually has nothing to do with the revisions themselves. I'm a girl who likes a challenge, after all. I'm in a bit of a funk with a ton of coursework and general business as well as writing, is all. I actually can't wait to dive in, once my Investing assignment and ODE assignment and Linear Algebra assignments are submitted. Le'sigh.

But. We. Will. Prevail. I'm determined. ;)

Race

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

2010-02-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

A quick quiz I found and liked. Thought I'd share it with you all!

BTW: despite my news today the interwebs seems to think I should be a songwriter.

What Type of Writer Should You Be Quiz.

Represented!

2010-02-22T12:44:00.000-08:00

(cross posted to TWFT)

How does someone write a post like this? There are a million ways to try to convey the excitement. But I guess in the end the only way is the simple way, to just type out the words:

I am now represented by a literary agent. Natalie Fischer of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

(SQUEEEE!)

Now the above was my pathetic attempt to sound professional. I will now just tell you guys the story without any kind of pretense because you’ve known me too long to think I actually think like that.

I started my writing career with a story about a princess, locked away in a tower, waiting to be rescued. I was in second grade, and I added a few illustrations, folded the pieces of paper to open like a book, and proudly presented my novel to be read to everyone I could wrangle into listening. I never did get around to writing the “sequel” I had planned.

The Virginity Thief came after a few more attempts, some of which came with query attempts, as well. I brought characters to life, killed some, weaved some good plots and some bad; all until I got Mari Abdo’s voice in my head and I just couldn’t get it out. I knew I needed a plot worthy of Mari, and VT was born when I was 18 years old.

I started querying VT mid-January. I got a lot of rejections and a few requests, but in the end it wasn’t a query that got me an agent. Special thanks goes to Karla Calalang for this. Natalie Fischer joined AbsoluteWrite just as my novel was in the end of revision stages and I was to start querying. She was interested in Karla’s work and also in the work of any friends whose names Karla thought to pass on. At the same time, I got Karla in on an interview with Natalie for TWFT (read the interview here). It was a great interview and I learned a lot about the woman who would eventually be my agent.

Natalie found herself at my blog. She read VT’s description and asked me for the first 50 pages. I was ecstatic, and even more ecstatic when she sent me an e-mail a week later asking for the full. A week more and she told me she loved my novel (what wonderful words!) but needed a second opinion from a fellow Sandra Dijkstra agent to fulfill the agency’s check and balance requirements. Those were the toughest 2 days in my writing history. If anyone knows me, they know I am the most impatient writer alive. But then she sent me editing suggestions and told me if all went well, she’d love to represent me. Within a week I sent in my edited version and, today, officially signed with the agency.

I want to thank all my amazing Twifty and Oldies friends. Without you guys I would never have made it this far. To those of you reading this post who have yet to join AW, do so. It really is a fabulous site where you’ll get to meet people that will be an immense help to your writing.

And also, put yourself out there. I would never have gotten interest from Natalie if I hadn’t approached her for an interview and made sure I had a manuscript “blurb” on my blog. Don’t be afraid to share your story idea at the query stage!

And with that I’ll end this post.

Just one more… SQUEE.

Race

Birthday Books

2010-02-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

As some of you already know, today was the day I celebrated my 19th birthday with my family. I don't officially turn 19 until March 1st, but since my brother was born February 16th and we like to do a double celebratory thing, we usually split the difference and find a day to party for us both.

So today I got lunch (with cheesecake after!) and 5 fab YA books. Here's what I've added to my after-this-semester-of-college-reading.

Wherever Nina Lies:

A Match Made in High School:

Num8ers:

The Naughty List:

My Boyfriends' Dogs:

I really can't wait for this semester to be over and I can dig in to my big stack of books!

Race

Teaser Tuesday

2010-02-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

It is time for a teaser from my new WiP, I Get You.

It all started with the creepy IMs, or so she told me. We were sitting over pizza and Coke, joking around like usual, and she just let it slip.

“I have a weird stalker guy.”

I nearly choked on my pepperoni. “What?”

“I have a stalker. He’s been sending these IMs to me at, like, three in the morning.”

I thought at first that she was being dramatic. Erin was like that. She liked to be in the limelight, to have all eyes on her. It was the reason she tried out in theater class and made sure she got lead role. She liked to put herself out there at every opportunity.

I pulled a pepperoni off my second slice and popped it into my mouth. The pizza was only half pepperoni. The other half was plain cheese. Erin thought pepperoni was “disgusting.” I thought she was crazy, but I knew I could never say it. I was lucky to get my half of the pie.

“What does he say?”

“You should read them. They are all about my eyes and hair and how good he thinks my body looks.”

“Creepy.”

“Totally. And he seems to think I feel the same about him. He keeps talking about when we’ll shake the dust of this town from our feet and run away into the sunrise together.”

It was hard to keep myself from choking, again. “Seriously?” That didn’t sound real to me.

“I’m telling you. He’s weird.”

Race

Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T14:59:00.000-08:00

To post or not to post… a Valentine’s Day blog post seems like a necessary item on the to-do list of a romance writer. The evil to-do list of mine is long enough as it is, though, so I thought instead of putting this on there I’d just jump in and blog. Of course, I’m jumping in late in the day, and apparently I’m not really jumping into a romance post at all if the first paragraph is more about to-do lists than flowers or chocolate. Blog fail?

Well, to keep you interested, here you go (a smidge of chocolate):

Now, there are two items within this item-not-on-a-to-do-list. The first, the fab blog award I’ve been given by Elusive (she is awesome) and secondly, a romance snippet from Virginity Thief – just a taste of the romantic tension I’ve been working on.

The ILYCYAAYB Award!

If you spell it out, it means I’m awarding this because I Love You Cause You’re Awesome And You Blog. Read Elusive’s fab post on the award here.

Now the five people I would like to award this to are as follows:

Fiona Campbell! She is an awesome friend who is always there for me, and I only wish I could be as fantastic as she is.

Bee! Internet Twinsy of Awesome who is helping me keep Random Musings on AW alive.

Chanelley! Because she is a fab friend and has an awesome blog post up on the hardest scenes to write and she manages to make the rest of her blog be just as awesome.

Stephanie! For being an awesome secret-keeper and having a blog layout I’m in love with. You go, girl!

Vero! Because she’s a stay at home mom of two little girl’s who somehow manages to write. I don’t know how she does it, since I have no life and I’m not nearly as awesome as she is.

Now, go forth and multiply the love, peeps. The rules are: if you receive this award, you must award it to 5 more people. Happy V-day.

And now for a snippet from VT, to be cut tomorrow, so read it quick.

*snippety snip*

What? You want more? Sorry, but I’m a tease.

Happy Saint Valentine’s Day!

Revisions

2010-02-11T08:43:00.000-08:00

Revisions. Revisions. Revisions. I love them and hate them at the same time. Why do I love them? Well, there is this thrill of knowing you are making your book better than it was before. You are bringing it one step closer to the completely unattainable perfect, after all. And the closer you get, the better. Why hate them? Because never does perfect seem so far away.

In other words: revisions are hard but so much fun.

In the past days I’ve been working on both major revisions and line edits in VT. I’ve added scenes, took scenes away, meshed together a few scenes, edited out a character, added 2 more, and shuddered over my terrible grammar.

VT is so much better than it was before. It still needs work. It probably will forever. But it is so much better and I’m such a happy momma. ;)

Don’t get discouraged while revising. Even if you have to completely rewrite the novel. This feeling is a wonderful one and you deserve it.

Race

PRIZES

2010-02-07T16:02:00.000-08:00

I have another giveaway for you peeps.

An all expense-paid trip to wherever it is I live for a personal book signing with me, soon-to-be known amongst at least 5 of you, writer.

To enter, there are just 5 steps:

1. Edit my novel

2. Obtain a publishing deal for my novel

3. Edit novel again.

4. Buy enough copies of novel to send it to the top of the bestsellers lists.

5. Comment on this post.

Once these steps are completed, you will be entered into the giveaway.

/Random

On My Wishlist

2010-02-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

They are the books you see in stores and desperately want to pick up. The books you find on Amazon.com and add to your cart even though you can't buy them. The ones you search the library shelves for every visit. I'm a college student, after all. I don't have cash to spend on books all the time. So these little gems are put on a wishlist. When money does come around, few are carefully chosen from the many. What books are currently on my wishlist?

Jellicoe Road

Ten Cents a Dance

The Adoration of Jenna Fox

So tell me. What is on your wishlist?

Race

Giveaway Results

2010-02-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

It is February 2nd and I'm sure you are all thinking "Race forgot her giveaway." But I didn't! Well, I did... just until now though. Thankfully I painted my floor recently, so when I was putting my bookshelves back into place I was able to see 2 copies of The Secret Year and think "Oh! My giveaway!"

But anyways, on to the results. Who gets a free copy of a secret year?

*shakes box of entries*

(And, seriously, I'm doing this right now).

*Opens box*

*reaches in*

And the Oscar *cough* copy goes to:

ABSENTNORMALITY!

This was after Absent took full advantage of the giveaway rules and had a whopping 14 entries. That is about 5 more than the highest anyone else went.

Working hard pays off peeps! Remember that on March 1st when I have my birthday giveaway (ooh, what will it be?).

Now, Absent has told me she'd like to give the prize away if she won. So:

SNEAKS

e-mail me at racemer(@)yahoo(.)com with your address so I can send it off!

Thanks for taking part guys!

My Week

2010-01-29T19:16:00.000-08:00

Whoa what a week. What a roller coaster of a week. It starts off with all these dreams, and you partially reach them and partially don't.

But then this week also wasn't nearly dramatic enough to warrant such a sentence. Instead I'll tell you in nice little sentences.

Monday: Woke up with that lovely "New Week, Fresh Start" feeling. Proceeded to ruin said feeling by not exercising. Sent queries.

Tuesday: Edited. Sent queries.

Wednesday: Painted the first half of my bedroom floor a nice red color. Edited. Did schoolwork. Sent queries.

Thursday: A unsuccessful meeting, a nap, and little else other than... more queries.

Friday (Today!): Painted the second half of my floor, first coat. Did not send queries but took part in Caren Johnson Literary Agency's forum "pitchfest" and watched and waited for the results.

This evening: Finishing the 3rd season of 24.

Predictions for tomorrow: Church, grocery shopping, pharmacy run, finishing up a whole bunch of schoolwork. Saturdays are always my busiest days.

Predictions for Sunday: editing VT a bit and send off a full. Read "Bleeding Violet" (pictured below) by the incredible Dia Reeves. I'm loving this book and wish I could fit reading time in to tomorrow. :(

To all of Creare's readers - I hope you had a great week. This is Race, signing out.

ps. click on photo to find the Goodreads page for Bleeding Violet

New Face on the Web

2010-01-27T18:49:00.000-08:00

Hello dear readers of Creare. I'm pleased to tell you you've reached Creare's new home on the web. The theme - brown. 'Cause I like hot cocoa.

Soon my website will be up and, until then, have fun with my new template here (once again from the awesome Pyzam). Soon I'll have all the side bar back up, but until I do please have patience!

Race

Teaser Tuesday

2010-01-26T06:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday, everyone. The joy of having a new WiP is that I now have something to post for Teaser Tuesday! Enjoy this snippet from “I Get You.”

The guy was creeping her out. My friend, Addy, was acting as if I would be murdered tomorrow if I walked into just one more store where he was mysteriously looking for new sneakers, or a new shirt, or new ball cap. I told her it was nothing. It was a small town, so it made sense that we’d end up being in the same store at the same time on at least a few occasions, but Addy was seriously freaking out.

“Okay, so you mean he is always there?”

“No, not always.” We were at Addy’s house, having what our parents still called a “sleepover party” in that high voice ordinary people use when baby-talking to puppies. Addy was in sleep wear already, the usual two-piece pyjama set she’d gotten for Christmas last year. It had this pattern of balls of yarn and knitting needles all over it. Her parents still thought she was into crafts, even though she had dropped it all at age ten.

“But he usually is.”

“Why does it matter?”

“Why does it matter? Erin, you have a stalker!”

Race

Another Giveaway

2010-01-23T09:44:00.001-08:00

Oooh, Race has found another giveaway (and she is entering!). So go here: http://www.talkmusebanter.blogspot.com/2010/01/climactic-giveaway-angela-morrison.html

On New WiPs, Characters, Naughty Links, and VT Revisions!

2010-01-23T08:30:00.000-08:00

New WiPs, Characters, Naughty Links, and VT Revisions.

Obviously, this past week has been a busy one for me, if the above sentence (is it really a sentence? There is no verb...) is any indication. We'll start with number 1: New WiPs.

Whoop! I have a new work in progress. Another contemporary romance with some comedy thrown in because that's just how I am. :) Working Title - I Get You. I'm excited about this work, though I'm a little concerned about it too. It is definitely "different" and there is this fear I won't be able to pull it off. But the excitement overcomes the concern and I hope it will go well. I wrote the first 50 words last night. Only 1000 times that much left to go.

The main characters are as follows. I've included links to models on newfaces.com that look similar to how I imagine them in my head.

MC 1: Erin McCullough (Link). Yes, there are two MCs in the first person WiP. This is the dark-haired one. ;)

MC 2: Adele "Addy" Greene (Link). This is the lighter haired one. (Also looks more Irish than the Irish one).

Love Interest: Rafael Carter (Link). Oooh, 2 MCs but only 1 love interest. Drama! (You have no idea...)

Now, if I were you, I'd hesitate before clicking those links. Mainly because on AbsoluteWrite the other night I had a scandalous link posted in 2 different threads. Of course, I didn't mean to post it. It was the gnomes. But since I didn't notice anything wrong with it and I don't notice anything wrong with the above links, I'd be careful. You can never be too safe.

And, that brings me to the last item from this week. VT revisions. If you check the box on the right you'll see I'm in the querying stage for VT. But early in the week I was still in revisions (and, if I was going to be honest I'd tell you there are still betas out there reading). I definitely feel VT is the best book I've written so far, and the changes I've made through revisions definitely show I've left that writerly phase of "it is perfect and I'm not changing it" and matured to "I'm cutting 4000 words here, 500 there." And, indeed, I cut about 4500 words from VT earlier in the week. The novel is much better, if a bit shorter.

So that was my week. Before you leave, check out my book giveaway (the 11th's post). It only lasts until the 30th so enter quick!

Race

Another Book Giveaway!

2010-01-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

Another Book Giveaway... and no, not mine. This one is for Some Girls Are by Books at Midnight. Go here.

More books!

2010-01-19T09:06:00.000-08:00

Well, some more books came my way today. First, you should all be excited to know that one of my copies of The Secret Year came, meaning you have something to actually win! (If you haven't entered the giveaway yet, go here).

Also Looks by Madeleine George:

And The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Teens Writing for Teens current book club pick):

So much fun!

Race

Procrastination

2010-01-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

Race's number one word of the day: procrastination. These past 3 days have been nothing but. I have yet to submit my tutee's progress reports to the college. I have yet to read through VT. I have yet to write those 2 extra scenes that need to be in there. I have basically been sitting back all weekend, waiting for other things to happen all around me (like, dinner magically appearing in my bedroom...).

Bad Race! *slaps hands*

One thing I did not procrastinate is the TWFT blog post I had due for yesterday. You can read it here. Also, tomorrow I have another scheduled post for TWFT... an Agent Interview!!! This was an interview I did with the help of Karla Calalang, and you better check it out! I'll try to post it early. ;)

And while you are here, mosey on down to check out my book giveaway!

Race

Book Giveaway!

2010-01-11T09:50:00.000-08:00

So I happen to have two copies of The Secret Year coming at me through the mail. This was a conundrum to me. What am I to do with two copies of the same book, after all? It would look odd to put them on the shelf right next to each other. What if some stranger walked into my room and took a look at my shelf. He/she might think one was better than the other, which just isn't so. I could donate to the library, of course. The library (especially the PA libraries where funding always seems to be being cut) could really use some new books...

But, there are also my reading and writing friends who could also seriously use some new books.

And for that reason (and also because I happen to love these) I give to you Creare's very first of hopefully many book giveaways.

What you can win:

1 hardcover copy of The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard.

How to enter:

We'll be using a point system often used in blog giveaways. There are certain actions you can take to be given higher points. In the end each point is a chance to win. The actions are:

Comment on this post (Necessary): 1 point

Follow Creare: +4 (if you are a new follower or old)

Blog about this contest (just a brief comment will do): +2

Tweet about this contest: +1

Only 1 point will be counted for your comments. So if you comment, say, ten times I will still only count 1. You can, however, blog or tweet about the contest however many times you want and keep racking up the points.

You have until January 30 to get as many points as you can. I'll be announcing the winner January 31.

Open internationally as well as in the US.

Notes: Make sure you keep me up to date on what actions you've taken, including links where applicable - to prove you tweeted or blogged, in the comments section. Also, in each successive comment, make sure to calculate your own total.

Good luck!

Race

Change (of the non-monetary variety)

2010-01-08T06:46:00.001-08:00

More changes for Creare. The most important being that you can now find summaries of my work (well, currently "summary"-singular) in the little box to the right, at the top of the page. Follow the link!

I'm also delving into the world of networked blogs on Facebook. It scares me and now that my blog is up... what do I do? Someone help!

Looky!

2010-01-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

Today I received two packages. In one, I found my new power cord. This is very exciting, as it means my battery is now recharging and the next time the cord falls out of the computer I won't have to worry about my laptop shutting down. So Yay! The other package contained my new mp3 player (Yay! Except... it is battery powered? Oh well, until I get another chunk of change to blow I'll just have to spend a few dollars here and there on batteries). In the same package came some new books, too! I'm so excited to be reading the following sometime soon!:

The Espressologist:

Living Dead Girl:

Along for the Ride:
Race

All photos from Goodreads.

A Novel Idea

2010-01-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

Welcome to.... *cue music*.... A Novel Idea. No, not the book entitled "A Novel Idea" (I read that!) but Creare's version; in which Race basically brain-vomits plot bunnies onto a Blogger post. These are meant for inspiration only, and I won't be writing these. :)

Depression. It stinks. It's.... depressing.

But in a world that is starting to view depressed people as victims and treats them with such high regard?

Depression = the perfect way to get-out-of-school-work/eat-chocolate-all-day/have-your-mother-coddle-you/get-to-talk-about-yourself-all-day/and-basically-be-the-most-popular-girl-in-the-world.

Welcome to the new world, where everyone makes time for you because you're "depressed." Everyone wants to know how you feel. Some of them want to know because they actually care. Some want to know because they are waiting for you to off yourself. But they still want to know.

Yeah, its twisted, for for *MC* it is the only way to make it through High school.

Until it takes the limelight away from the people who need it and her best friend actually does off herself.

Whoa... okay that last part just hit me and I kind of just typed it. But I think this little idea could work for someone!

(Tell me now, has this been done before? Is it, like, the latest best seller. I knew I got the idea from somewhere...).

Race

And we all go crazy again...

2010-01-05T14:41:00.000-08:00

Ah, yes. The crazy is back. But you can't blame just me this time around. As apparent from our IM conversations (see below), Kristin of Socially Acceptable Schizophrenia is pretty crazy too. Ah, such is the life of a writer driven bonkers by revisions:

Race: Apparently, if my past IM messages are any proof, I can't type.

Kristin: LOL. I didn't see anything wrong with them...

Race: gerouq 4tq3046t bjw q?

Kristin: slie25521$ladf ak25loo.

Race: aeotjgha. wot9a ne409awejrj aoeh l

Kristin: 1dkfaw wrtshlwe ooietha *head/desk*

Race: I like this plan. When shall we begin?

Kristin: IMMEDIATELY. Our plot to take over the world cannot wait.

Race: I, however, really don't believe ferrets should be involved.

Kristin: Aww. But they're so cute and fuzzy on the outside, so dastardly wicked on the inside.

Race: But how do we transport them???

Kristin: Rocketships. We'll build them using parts from my Oldsmobile.

Race: Do we have the necessary tools?

Kristin: Of course. I am always prepared for world domination by ferret.

Race: Very good. We must then decide which of us will be in control once we've won this battle.

Kristin: I vote you. I hate responsibility.

Race: I hate it too. So I vote you.

Kristin: How about we let the ferrets rule?

Race: Brilliant!

Kristin: (I'm kind of afraid of how far this conversation has gone lol.)

Race: (me too. I am, after all, the one who went immediately to ferret. there is something wrong with that.)

And may he go down in history: the ferret born of writerly craziness:

Race

Future Reading.

2010-01-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd let you all know what I'll be reading in the next week. I'll be reading all of these before my next appointment on Tuesday, when we'll be swinging by the library again. And yes, I know this is more reading then I've taken on in a looong time. But I'm daring like that.

First, an internet read:

"Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood" by Eileen Cook

And then Library selections:

"Being Nikki" (Airhead #2) by Meg Cabot

"Shine, Coconut Moon" by Neesha Meminger

"Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

"Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Some of these books I've heard friends talking about for a long time, but didn't have a chance to read them due to college stress. Now that I'm on vacay (until January 18!) however I can finally dig in. But for next week I need your help. What are some of you guys' suggestions for next week's library run? Let me know in the comments section.

All Photos from Goodreads.

Race

Recent Read ~ Top 8

2010-01-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

Race's Recent Read: Top 8 by Katie Finn.

Madison McDonald is “seriously freaking out.” And she has pretty darn good reason to be. While on a vacation with her family, her Friendverse (think Facebook) account was hacked, and now her relationships with acquaintances, friends, and even her boyfriend have taken a seriously bad turn. The hacker had even broken up with her boyfriend in her name! Even after her explanation of the hacking, things are far from good for her at school. But what her friends and acquaintances can dish out is nothing compared to her boyfriend, Justin’s, reaction. He decides to continue seeing his new girlfriend, despite finding out that Madison hadn’t actually broken up with him through Friendverse posts. Madison is seriously freaking out over her own friendships and love life as well as that of her friends, whose most private secrets have been submitted for the world to see online.

With so much to lose, Madison becomes determined to find the hacker. She adds suspects to her list, with complications arising at every turn. For one, one of her suspects has a thing starting with one of her best friends. And her BFF is acting strange. For another, there is a cute new guy in her life named Nate Ellis and from the look of his Friendverse page they have some things in common. Maybe Justin isn’t the right guy for her? Romantic drive-in movies and memories give Madison a change of direction, which is good for her now that she needs all the support she can get, especially after she figures out exactly who hacked her account.

Top 8 is really a fantastic read, particularly for me, who only months ago got introduces to the complex word of social networking through fb. It isn’t a read for those of you who are hyped up on vampires or other dark creatures of the night, but any reader of contemporary young adult romance should definitely give Top 8 a try!

Quick Review Question:

Race’s fave scene.

I had to love the drive-in movie scene, but I still think my favorite is a scene with Kittson, Justin’s new girlfriend. Madison and Kittson end up having quite the amicable relationship and in this particular scene, Kittson is giving Madison a rushed makeover in order to attract that perfect guy… ending with an awesome line: “Now go flirt with him.”

Will do, Miss Kittson Pearson.

Race.

Photo Link.

All quotes and references from "Top 8" by Katie Finn, Point/Scholastic Inc.

Random Day ~ Why Cookies are Evil

2010-01-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

Today we go past the curtain (tearing it to shreds as we go) to the dark side.

Yes, that's right. Creare's gone crazy in the past, but we are going even farther than that today. In fact, I estimate the dark side to be somewhere North of crazy, maybe about 375 miles or so. We'll pass through Criminally Insane on the way. It is hard to tell when criminally insane turns into the dark side, but since mountains are involved I'm of the opinion that when we are traveling up we are in Criminally Insane and when we are finally on the decline we'll know we've crossed over. And the reason for this? Well, we need to look into this cookie situation.

Now, the reason we are probing this dark and mysterious corner of the world is because, amongst numerous reasons, I have come across this video:

As you see, it is deeply disturbing.

But as you also see from this video is this tease of cookies. Why does the dark side have cookies, of all things? Why does such an innocent pastry, the like of which children all over the world come home to after school, belong to such a dangerous sect?

I think we should first consider the type of cookies. Most times you see this offer, there is featured a chocolate chip cookie. The chocolate chips are put into a basic dough and represent how spotted you spirit becomes when you begin working for the evil side. The basic dough? The word basic gives you a clue. It is like toddlers who all want to play with the same toy, just because the other kids have it. It represents conformity. Once you hit the dark side, you conform to the evil and become just another lackey in the work of darkness.

But once you figure out the symbolism, you must again ask yourself "why cookies?". We have answered which variety is chosen once you choose cookies over cakes or pies or other...

Wait. The answer is here. Cookies are sweet. And innocent. And beguiling. They are like babies you just want to pick up and hold. Can you imagine a baby as evil? No. Can you imagine a cookie being evil? No. That is why they were chosen, in order to lure the victim into a false sense of security. No reason to travel to the dark side at all. We can stay safe from here and figure out how to resist the yum. Because when you reach the dark side... when you've made your choice... the truth becomes alarmingly clear.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Race
ps. Watch the whole video, or at least until the penguins come on. Gotta love the penguins.

And so it begins...

2010-01-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

As I type this the Philadelphia Flyers/Boston Bruins hockey games is on the television and the fantastic music from the Drop Kick Murphy plays as the cutest guys in sports skate across the ice. You gotta love hockey. So far, the Flyers are winning, too. 1/0. Go PA!

But that music, Drop Kick Murphy's music that is, is really what you want to experience at the start of a new year and a new decade. Tell me I'm right! I dare anyone to try and not like Drop Kick Murphy.However, right now I really want to look backwards at this season. I'm hoping everyone had a fabulous Christmas Season. Kristin Otts of Socially Acceptable Schizophrenia did an awesome post on Christmas gifts (go check it out!)and I thought I'd act on her example and talk about the gifts I'm so thankful for this year!

Books:

These came from my friend Fi, all the way from Scotland. I don't know what possessed her to send me books all that way but I love her dearly for it and I love these books! Admittedly, I've only read the first few pages of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies but they were hilarious and I can't wait to kick back with some coffee and cookies and just read.

Photo Link.

My village:

For years I've wanted to start a Christmas tradition of, well, the traditional Christmas Village. You know, the little houses that light up, along with the village citizens in various pursuits over the quilt-batting snow? Every year, something seemed to get in the way of starting my tradition. But this year was different. I bought a stone cabin from St. Nicholas Square's Village Collection through Kohls, and my mother went ahead and added to that collection come Christmas with a church and carolers and a large lighted tree and lamp posts that actually light! You can see some of my village (as Henry the Hippo attacks it) one post down... and that reminds me. Vote for Henry's middle name! You can do that in the poll to the right.

My third favorite pastime (after reading and writing) is Puzzles:

A Yankee Candle "Balsam and Cedar" scented puzzle. Wow, thank you again Mom! You are so awesome! Not only did I not expect this scented treat, but I didn't expect you to dedicate so much of your time helping me out with it.
Our plans are to put it in the attic until next Christmas, when we can put it together again.

Photo Link.

Sea-monkeys!Okay, I call it... the most awesome stocking stuffer ever.
Photo Link

And from my bros:

Earrings! So gorgeous. Gold... shiny!Photo Link

And... Equate! The Scrabble for math geeks. I love it so much!

Photo Link

So, tell Kristin and me more... what did you get for Christmas?

Race

Ps. The Bruins won. Bah.