Monday, October 28, 2013

YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE YOUR NEXT BANGING IDEA WILL COME FROM!

Hey All!!!
I was recently doing some reading online and happened upon this Korean teen drama series called Boys Over Flowers (Forever Young Adult has a good review on the series here). It seemed right up my alley: a little nutty, a lot of fun, and full of teenaged-dramatic-goodness.

While I was reading the plot online a light bulb went off in my brain. I realized that this story has all the ingredients for a fun YA novel:

1) Smart, nice, cute and mouthy main character goes to private school on scholarship? Check!

2) Meets a cute group of boys that are all major douches? Check!

3) Boys all fall madly in love for our wonderfully lovable heroine and all chaos ensues? Double Check!

For my purposes, I'll probably want to add in a dash of the supernatural with my own bit of flair...but I think it may be something special.

I never know when a good idea will hit me, or where I'll get my next inspiring thought, so I always keep an open mind for whatever may come. I'll be pocketing this idea, along with slew of others I have locked away in my handy-dandy notebook, for later use. Until then, I have about 24 hours worth of Korean teen drama to catch up on!

On a different note, I recently heard from my editor with Evernight Teen and have been working on my first round of edits for about a week now. I'm about halfway through and am so excited I may bust!

Happy reading and writing!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

FREE BOOKS ON AMAZON AND KINDLE!!!

Hey All!!!
Check out this post from one of my favorite blogs, Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, and Romance!

In the post, blogger extraordinare Jennifer Bielman gives a list of free reads that can be found on Kindle and Nook as of 3:00 am EST. I don't know how long it will last, but get the books while they're hot! And free!!!

The list of what I grabbed up is below:

-Love At First Bite
-Her Mad Hatter
-Crush
-Accidentally Flirting with the CEO
-The Beautiful Thing

All these books are sure to make the BF cringe, but he'll be okay.

In other news, I have to put aside all reading for now because I just received my first round of edits from my publisher! Hopefully I'll be posting more information on release dates and maybe even the first chapter pretty soon.

Happy reading and writing!

Monday, October 21, 2013

THERE'S NOTHING TO IT, BUT TO DO IT!

Hey All!!!
Lately I've been going through a serious reading mode. You know the one, the kind where you devour two to three books a week with no thoughts to the other things you need to be doing, like, *cough, cough*, writing.

I realized that this wasn't healthy writer behavior, so I tried to force myself into a writing schedule, to get myself back on track. That ended with me looking up last night at 9:30 pm, with no writing done, but almost a book and a half cleaned off my plate. At that moment I went back and forth in my brain, determining if it was worth it to sit down for all of half an hour before bed to get some words on the page. I had had a chapter in my head for two days. I knew where I wanted to  go with the story. I just had to sit my tail down and write it out.

I'd almost decided that there wasn't enough time to finish an entire chapter, so it wasn't worth it to start the process, when a thought echoed around in my brain...

"There's nothing to it, but to do it!"

I'd heard that saying while watching Tia and Tamera's reality show - I believe Tia's husband said it one day when they were deciding on whether or not to continue with a project or something - and it just stuck with me.

So, I sat down last night, and wrote out the first section of that chapter...and I feel great about it! Sometimes life doesn't give you perfection when it come to your schedule or even your desire to get the words down. But that doesn't mean that you just wait around for the right timing. Sometimes you have to sit your tail down, even if it's for half an hour, and get some work done. Even a little bit at a time is better than nothing at all.

Happy reading and writing!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH KICK-ASSED HEROINES

Hey All!!!
So, I'm slowly making my way through my NA novel that is untitled while reading the Night Huntress Series on the side. In doing both of these things, I realized that I have a serious love affair with kick-assed heroines. Like, seriously serious. Like, put the BF on notice that he has major competition for my affections, serious.

I don't know what it is about a strong female who is more than capable of fighting her own battles and bringing men to their knees, while still being feminine and beautiful, that really appeals to me, but it does. Maybe it's the fact that I've always been shorter, and curvier, and in some ways quieter than my peers. Maybe it's the fact that I've always wanted to be the sort of girl that's able to stop traffic and who feels powerful. Who knows what it is, but it's a love that I see in all of my books now - from the ones I write to the ones I read.

I think that's why I absolutely LOVE Cat from the Night Huntress Series. She's not perfect, and makes more mistakes than you can count, but she's powerful and fierce and wonderfully loyal. And she can kick your butt without a moments hesitation. Cat's the kind of character I want to write. And secretly, a bit of the character I want to be. I'll just have to keep putting pen to paper until I get it right. That, and ramp up my martial arts training as well.

Happy reading and writing!

Monday, October 14, 2013

EVERNIGHT TEEN, TEEN READ WEEK SCAVENGER HUNT!!!

Hey All!!!
My publisher, Evernight Teen, is holding a Teen Read Week Scavenger Hunt on their website. You can find a link to the hunt here.

Myself and all of my fellow Evernight Teen authors are playing a game of hide and seek with our blogs in the form of a scavenger hunt. And we're giving away a brand-spanking-new Kindle Paperwhite eReader! The winner will be randomly chosen from all the correct entries.

Teen Read Week is a national adolescent literacy initiative created by the Young Adult Library Services Association. It began in 1998 and its purpose is to promote and encourage teens to be regular readers and library users.

 
Happy Reading and Writing!