Birthday Mania!!

So as most of you know, yesterday was my birthday. Yup, this old fox turned 35. I am happy to say that I got many things I was expecting, not the least of which was my annual call from my mother telling me the story of the day I was born (which is pretty interesting, in my humble opinion, since she delivered me at home, essentially by herself, at the age of 19). But as is usually the case, it's the many things I was NOT expecting that made the day grand.

For example.....

Some of my favorite tweeple dressed up in foxy finery on twitter:



The Lemoniest Lemon Sister that there ever was wrote me a HBD post on TLS:



My beautiful Bewitched Bookworms wrote me a HBD post on BB,
noting my love of glitter text and complete with a Hendrix ode to, well, ME!



The AWESOMETASTIC Betti pimped a story I wrote for her for Christmas, prompting me to post it on FFn due to all the wonderful work she put into making this AMAZING banner for it!


Seriously I'm not worthy!!

My sweet, good morning, coffee girl, Danny,
sent me a loverly Beautiful Creatures inspired bracelet
from Mary Tippet Designs:

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The amazing erikasbuddy wrote me a sequel to one of her fics, Broken, that I adore!!

I cannot even express how humbled and touched I am that so many of you went out of your way to make me feel special on my birthday but I can say, heartily, "Mission Accomplished!!!"

No, no, really, much better than this!
I just couldn't resist! tee-hee!

Thank you, over and over, from the cockles of my little, vixen heart!!!

Vampires in CHICAGO???

Yes, it's true...vampires have come to the Windy City. And my fellow Bookworms, Heather and Danny, have ARC fever, bad! They even wrote a post about it. And you can read it right now because it was a great review, and then you can start reading the books.

But why am I posting about this here, when it was obviously covered over at Bewitched Bookworms? Because Chloe Neill, the author of the Chicagoland Vampire Series books Some Girls Bite and Friday Night Bites, is offering a chance to win the ARC of the next book in the series: Twice Bitten. And even though it's being released on July 6th, we'd love to read it and give you the scoop over at Bookworms early so you can pre-order with an easy mind.

Oh, and what's more, Heather and Danny (and maybe me if I'm really lucky) will be interviewing her over at Bewitched Bookworms on July 10th and yes, that's just a few days after the book releases. Woo-hoo!

So definitely check out the review of the first two books and keep an eye out over at Bewitched Bookworms for all the news on Twice Bitten.

Being A Writer

My husband knows me better than I know myself. This can be an odd sensation when we have a conversation in which I learn something about myself that is apparently common knowledge to him. A good example would be how I learned I like to write.

The first conversation, from the fall of 2007 went something like this:

DH: Have you heard of NaNoWriMo?
me: NaNoWhatOh?
DH: National Novel Writing Month. You know...write a book. You should do that.
me: *incredulous stare*

How on earth did he know I should write? I'd never written anything before. And I had just emerged from my year of craziness (a.k.a. the year after my twins were born). Why on earth would I commit to write a novel in a month?

But he was right. I did have something in me. An admitedly HORRIBLE romance novel, but I wrote it. And he was SO SUPPORTIVE of the whole process (and has been every year since) even though he's never been allowed to read a word of it.

NOT. ONE. WORD.

Fast forward to the other day, when he sends me the following because he loves me, which I wanted to share with you, dear reader, because I love you!

60 Writing Tips by 6 Great Writers

Please click on the link to see all of this great article, but I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you. Enjoy!!!

ORWELL'S 6 QUESTIONS
In every sentence that you write, ask yourself,

What am I trying to say?
What words will express it?
What image or idiom will make it clearer?
Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
Could I put it more shortly?
Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

ELMORE LEONARD'S 10 TIPS FOR NOVEL WRITERS
1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
Which can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. A prologue in a novel is back-story, and you can drop it in anywhere you want.
3. Never use a verb other than ''said'' to carry dialogue.
Said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb ''said'' . . .
5. Keep your exclamation points under control.
6. Never use the words ''suddenly'' or ''all hell broke loose.''
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
For example, thick paragraphs of prose.
11. If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

ROBERT HEINLEIN'S RULES FOR WRITING
You Must Write
Finish What You Start
You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial Order
You Must Put Your Story on the Market
You Must Keep it on the Market until it has Sold
Start Working on Something Else

STEPHEN KING’S 7 TIPS FOR BECOMING A BETTER WRITER
1. Get to the point.
2. Write a draft. Then let it rest.
3. Cut down your text.
4. Be relatable and honest.
5. Don’t care too much what others may think.
6. Read a lot.
7. Write a lot.

Have I mentioned that I adore Stephen King? 'Cuz I do. But I have to say my favorite thoughts on this topic are by Kami Garcia on her blog post, The Rules Of Writing, where she talks about how sometimes you have to break the rules. Definitely check it out!

Happy Writing!!

Author Appreciation Week:Titans

Banner provided by the lovely ladies at Novel Novice

So I thought I'd end the week with the titans of YA that drew me into the genre as a kid and then back again as an adult.

As a kid I was always reading; a passion I inherited from my mother and one fostered by my Aunt Sheryl who endlessly supported my intellectual life. These two women introduced me to J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, William Golding and Francine Pascal.

photo obtained at Wikipedia


photo obtained at Wikipedia


photo obtained at Wikipedia


photo obtained at Random House

Fantasy, horror, mystery and romance. These authors filled my days with stories that transported me to other worlds and built me into the self confident girl I was.

As a teen, I veered away from authors that would now be considered YA and moved into horror, romance and beyond. But when my younger sister began picking up the Harry Potter books, I got hooked again.

First by J.K. Rowling's amazing world and then a decade later by the love story that Stephenie Meyer dreamed up. And I'm so glad I came back.

photo obtained from Best Fiction Books


photo obtained from EclipseMovie.org

YA is the best of all worlds: it has romance and fantasy, horror and mystery. Whenever I pick up a YA book, I know I'm in for something special.

So a big, end-of-Author's-Appreciation-Week thank you to the amazing titans of YA. I really do appreciate each and every one of you!

Author Appreciation Week:Carrie Ryan

Banner provided by the lovely ladies at Novel Novice

photo by Darren Cassese, courtesy of Carrie's website

For today's Author's Appreciation post I wanted to shine a light on Carrie Ryan, author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead Tossed Waves.

What I appreciate most about Carrie is that her first novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth was written for National Novel Writing Month in 2006. When I saw her at her book signing early this week she mentioned how she was discussing writing a novel for NaNoWriMo with her fiance, JP, to whom the book is dedicated and she was bemoaning how the rules state that you must start a new project. She wasn't sure what to write and her brilliant fiance gave her the best piece of advice a writer can get, "Write what you love."

Deciding that she not only loved her fiance but zombie stories, The Forest of Hands and Teeth was born. She told us how she would get home a few hours before her fiance each night, so her NaNoWriMo routine consisted of writing until JP got home and then reading him what she'd written that day. Am I the only person who thinks that's one of the most romantic things ever????

So if you haven't read her spectacular, spooky and riveting books: Run! Don't walk to your nearest bookstore and pick them both up! You won't be disappointed. She's also fabulous and witty on twitter (@carrieryan), her blog, and in person (definitely check her out at one of her remaining author appearances in Michigan tonight, Washington stage Friday and Saturday and California's Bay Area next Monday and Wednesday).

Hush, Hush contest over at RoaWS

That's right, folks! The lovely Shannon over at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe is hosting a contest to give away a signed copy of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.

And did I mentioned that it's SIGNED by the lovely author?

So if you are a resident of the US or Canada (sorry, Danny!!) and want a shot at winning a signed copy of Hush, Hush, hurry on over to her blog. And if you're not already a member, please tell her that I sent you!

Author Appreciation Week:Maggie Stiefvater

Banner provided by the lovely ladies at Novel Novice

photo courtesy of Maggie's flicker album

For today's Author's Appreciation post I wanted to shine a light on Maggie Stiefvater author of both the Books of Faerie series: Lament and Ballad and The Wolves of Mercy Falls Series: Shiver, Linger (out July 20, 2010) and Forever (planned for Summer 2011).

What I most appreciate about Maggie are her blogs. I adore reading her personal blog, Words on Words, and the one she shares with Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff, Merry Sisters of Fate.

As a struggling writer myself, I really appreciated this post Maggie wrote on plot bunnies because they stalk me like crazy and they're so hard to resist!!! I am now the proud owner of a notebook that goes everywhere with me and where my plot bunnies are firmly caged for further use. So thank you, Maggie!!!

I haven't had a chance to read any of Maggie's books yet, mostly because funds are short and there's an ENORMOUSLY LONG waiting list for them at my library! Seriously, I've been waiting on Shiver for months!!! BUT my bloggy BFF uhyesplease has read Lament and she could not be stronger in her praise for it, which is good enough for me to endorse Maggie's books.

Other things you should know about Maggie:

1) She's very active on twitter at mstiefvater. She tweets about book stuff, blog stuff and just random things too, all of which are way witty and fun! If you don't follow her already, you're seriously missing out!

2) She's going to be in a new anthology coming out, Kiss Me Deadly, which is planned to release this summer on July 27.

So if you don't follow Maggie already, you should definitely check this awesome lady out!