Origins Blogfest

Today is the Origins Blogfest, hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, Matthew McNish, DL Hammons, and Katie Mills. (Thank you all!)




The story of how my writing dreams began isn't really anything huge or profound. I've been writing since I could even attempt to spell words. I used to write stories for my first grade class and bring them in to read them. In third grade, I was working on a story about a planet made from candy. (I had an illustration of this concept in one of my first blog posts...let me see if I can dredge it up...)

Aha, here it is!

(The Twizzler grass was my favorite part of this story.)

I loved reading; I read any book I could get my hands on. My third grade teacher made my whole class learn how to read in the cafeteria when everyone was being loud, so we could learn to focus. I probably didn't need a lot of help in blocking things out when getting sucked into another world, and it sure didn't serve me well in fourth grade, when my next teacher was constantly trying to get my attention before class started. One time, I was so sucked into a book that it wasn't until my fourth grade teacher was like, "LAURA!" that I looked up and realized everyone was standing up for the pledge of allegiance.

I had a really hard time finishing stories, though--child and then teenage me had a difficult time with the concept that stories had to be finished when they got boring. There were so many shiny new plot bunnies to explore! And when I did come close to finishing, I suffered The Great Computer Crashes™ and didn't bother going back and rewriting everything. This attitude has, obviously, changed in the years since.

I finished my first "novel" at age fifteen. It took me two years to write it. I laugh a lot now, because it was about 90 pages long, and that seemed sooooo long to me. It was probably a novella, not a novel.

I've loved words for as long as I can remember. I love the idea that words can suck us in and spur the imagination onward; I love stories that can touch the heart and make me think about them for years afterward. I write because that's the story I want to tell: one that will make a mark on someone, that might leave an imprint. This dream didn't really ever have a definitive beginning--it's kind of just grown with me my whole life.

Favorite Character Blogfest Round-Up

Thanks to everyone who participated in the blogfest! I hope you all had a lot of fun and got to meet some awesome people.

 Using random.org, three participants were drawn to win the prizes as follows:


1st Prize goes to Yamile Mendez

*critique of first 15 pages of your manuscript by Melanie Billings, Acquisitions Editor of Whiskey Creek Press; an e-book copy of my book, Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School); and an ARC e-copy of my upcoming book, Rising Book 1: Resistance

2nd Prize goes to Donna K. Weaver

*critique of first 10 pages of your manuscript by Melanie Billings and an e-book copy of Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School)

3rd Prize goes to Tara Tyler

*critique of first 5 pages of your manuscript by Melanie Billings

All of you have been contacted; if you didn't get my email or have any questions, please let me know. :)

Thanks again to everyone for participating! :D

Reminders, Upcoming Events, and Award Thank You

Hope all of you are having a great weekend! My family's apparently still sifting through the two viruses that have been going around our house (a stomach bug and the flu, both with entirely different symptoms). My daughter is sick with headache, chills, and fever right now, so I'm snuggling with her in bed and watching Malcolm in the Middle while I put this post together.

Some reminders and upcoming events and a thank you:


Blogfests:

First, a reminder that the favorite character blogfest starts tomorrow! It runs through Wednesday, so you can sign up and participate anytime between now and then. Sign up here:

There are a couple of blogfests coming up that you might be interested in, too.

On February 13, it's the Origins Blogfest. When did your writing dreams begin?

And running now until February 19th is the "Help a Fellow Blogger" Blogfest.

Award:

Jenna Cooper presented me with the Kreativ Blogger award. (She has an awesome blog--you should check it out!) Thank you, Jenna!

Upcoming Books:

Alex J. Cavanaugh's new book is coming out in February. To help spread the word, visit here:

Rachel Morgan's book is coming out in March, and I'll be participating in her blog tour.

  


They are also both awesome people; if you're not already following their blogs, you should check them out!


Update on my upcoming book, Rising Book 1: Resistance.

I had two books I was freelance editing, and I got both of those finished, so now I can focus all my attention on this. Release date is February 21, 2012.  I'm in the process of final edits/tweaking. I'm going to work on putting together a blog tour and a button and all that fun stuff as soon as I finalize the blurb. Final cover should also be coming at some point soon. :)


I know there are a couple of other blogfests approaching right now, too. Anything you're participating in? Upcoming books by you or someone else?

Hosting "Favorite Character Blogfest"

Out of all the characters you've written, who's your favorite?

I'm hosting my first ever blogfest, and I would love for you all to participate and/or share this with others you think might want to participate. This will be a chance to showcase your favorite character. (If you can manage to narrow it down to one! ;)) This will be a blog hop: an excellent chance to get to know other bloggers, check out some great snippets, and share your own.

The blogfest runs from January 23-25.Here's how it works:

1. Decide which of your characters you'd like to introduce everyone to, and choose a snippet about this character (preferably no more than 200 words) to share about this character. (A snippet from your manuscript would be awesome, but if you're not comfortable with that, you can choose to do a character sketch--something to show us your character and writing.)

2. Between January 23-25, tell us who your favorite character you've written is and why and post your snippet.

3. Hop around to other participants to check out their favorite characters and a bit of their story.

The lovely Melanie Billings, Acquisitions Editor at Whiskey Creek Press, has graciously offered to supply critiques as prizes! Winners will be drawn from the list of active participants after midnight on the 25th and announced on my blog on the 26th.

1st Prize: critique of first 15 pages of your manuscript, an e-book copy of my book, Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School) and an ARC e-copy of my next book, Rising Book 1: Resistance (upcoming publication in February 2012)

2nd Prize: critique of first 10 pages of your manuscript and an e-book copy of Confessions from the Realm of the Underworld (Also Known as High School)

3rd Prize: critique of first 5 pages of your manuscript

If you wish to participate, just add your name to the linky list below, and feel free to grab the blogfest button on the side of my blog. :)

Re-release Pic and Pay It Forward Blog Hop!

First, I'm pretty sure I've shared this before, but it is totally worth posting again, especially as NaNoWriMo is coming up, and even if you're not doing NaNoWriMo, but you're working on a book--go have a look at it.

Jim Hines' "Stages of Book Love" Graph

Second, my copy of my relaunched book, Restoration Book 1: Awakenings, (co-written with Faith King), came from my publisher today, which was really cool.  Here's a picture, courtesy of my eight-year-old son. ;)

(I know some people were looking at getting it at some point, so I'll mention quickly that Amazon is currently selling the paperback and ebook here for under $6 ; they've been slashing the price all week. The paperback usually sells for almost $19.)

The book came right when I was busy trying to whack a fly with a flyswatter. I had been making fudge and truffles, and it kept trying (and failing) to land on my food, so I cornered it in a window. The stupid bug was hiding behind plants and I'd been trying for ages to kill it, moving plants and smacking all over the window, but I just couldn't get it. The doorbell rang at the same time my little brother woke up, and I'm standing on this bench in the dining room hitting at the window and shouting, "WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?!" *smack smack smack* "...Zach, can you get the door?"

Third, because I have been so out of the loop this week, between being sick (I'm feeling much better; thank you for all the well-wishes!) and writing like a mad person, I didn't even know there was a blogfest going on, but I wasn't too late to sign up! This blogfest takes place today, so here we go!

The way this works is that I get to share three blogs that I enjoy reading. (Ack! It is so hard to limit this to three!)

1. Donna Weaver over at Weaving A Tale or Two. She's an awesome, encouraging person with lots of fun stories, writing advice, book reviews, and other cool things happening on her blog.

2. Barbara Kloss over at ScribblesNJots, who is super, super amazing and another incredibly encouraging person.

3. Mooderino over at Moody Writing, who has fantastic advice and thoughts on writing.

Go check them out, and there are lots of other people participating in this today, too--feel free to blog hop away!