tell the truth... uh... saturday?

Here are my embarrassing truths:

1. I am eating three string cheeses for my breakfast. We're renovating the house, and the kitchen is all in disarray, so I've been living off brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts and diet root beer.

2. Last weekend was my crazy copyedit weekend. We didn't have a working toilet or shower, so I checked into a hotel room (yay!) so I could work (doh!)... (But it actually turned out to be pretty fun, so YAY!) (And my copyeditors are so cool that they actually turned the phrase "super quick" into the awesomely awesome "superquick.") (Oh, and they actually corrected me that "brown sugar pop tarts" should be "brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts. How nuts would it be to get to google stuff like that all day???)

3. The biggest mistake that I ended up correcting over and over was changing "towards" to "toward." And "backwards" to backward. Also, I said the word "door" approximately 5.6 million times in my manuscript. And, believe me, there aren't many synonyms for door. The only thing I really STET-ed was the word "loserishness."

4. I feel like crap, so my house is a mess. Also, we watched TANGLED every night this week. And ate lots of burritos.

5. I've been neglecting Sekrit Project. But the hubs (yes, I just said that) took the munchkin away, so I might work on it some. After I go see Source Code. And read THE CARRIE DIARIES and HEART OF THE MATTER. And take about 17 showers in my newly installed shower.

POPULAR winner

Congratulations, AS ALWAYS CAROL! I'll be contacting you for your address!

giveaway: POPULAR by Alissa Grosso

Today I'm going to talk about a genius book: POPULAR by Alissa Grosso. It's hard to explain how amazing this book is without giving away spoilers, but anyone who loves smartly woven, surprising stories should read this book. I raced through this book, desperate to learn how everything tied together!

Here's the description:

Meet the clique that rules Fidelity High: Olivia, Zelda, Nordica, and Shelly, each one handpicked by über-popular Hamilton Best. You know you're "in" when you make the guest list for one of Hamilton's parties. And in the thralls of senior year, everyone wants to get noticed by Hamilton.

But Hamilton's elite entourage is coming apart at the seams. Olivia fantasizes about finally having a boyfriend, Zelda dreams of ditching high school, Nordica wants to be alone with her photography, and Shelly's plotting to dethrone Hamilton. Lies and secrets are ripping away the careful ties that have kept them together for years. But Hamilton has the biggest secret of all, one that only her boyfriend Alex knows. If the truth got out, it would shock everyone and destroy Hamilton's fragile world—and she'll do anything to protect her secret and keep her clique together.

POPULAR is due out from Flux on May 8, 2011. My interview with Alissa will appear on the Apocalypsies blog soon... I'll link here.

Okay, are you ready for the contest?

Same rules as usual.

1. This contest is only open to U.S. peeps. (Sorry, as always. I'm trying to think up something great for my international readers soon.)
2. The contest will close at midnight on Thursday EST, and the winner will be posted on Friday.
3. Add up your points and include your email address in your comment...
+1 for following
+2 for tweeting or linking on Facebook
+3 for posting on your blog or sidebar

Good luck, everyone!

seeekrit project update

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. I have some REALLY BIG THINGS going on, things that I can't tell you about now, but I hope to be able to in the near-ish future.

Anyway, hit 13k on SEKRIT PROJECT!


www.writertopia.com

And I have an amazing ARC giveaway planned for next week! Stay tuned!

how to write a rough draft

So last week I told you I was working on BIG SEKRIT PROJECT (totally unrelated to SLIDE). Well, I've hit the 10k point. Hooray!

Anyway, I thought today I'd talk about writing a first draft. So, without further adieu...

1. I'm a pantser, so I can't work without some comfy pants. Preferably fleece. With a nice floral print. Or horizontal stripes, because I'm so skinny and they add some much-needed poundage to my butt. I've found yoga pants also work well. So. Find your special writing pants. And then put them on. Not a thinking cap. WRITING PANTS.

2. Come up with a SHINY NEW IDEA. Personally, I like to listen to NPR for inspiration. Nothing gets my creative juices flowing like stories about what bees do during the winter. Before I know it, a premise jumps out at me! Picture this: Beatrice (Get it?? Bee-atrice???) knows she's not like other girls, but in the spring of her sixteenth year, the flowers in the garden outside her house seem to beckon her...

3. Create the supporting characters. Make sure one of the parents is dead, but feel free to bring that parent back later in the story (perhaps in the third book???). Decide who the two lucky men will be to complete your character's inevitable love triangle. Who will be sparkly? Who will have amazing abs?

4. Type until your fingers bleed. I try to churn out about 25k a day when I'm writing my rough drafts. No need to spend more than half a week on a first draft. TRUST ME.

5. Kick up your feet and have some chocolate. Well done, you. Go ahead and send that bad boy off to your crit partner. Don't forget to email them hourly if they don't reply immediately with glowing praise for your hard work.

6. Or perhaps listen to none of this advice. Put your butt in that chair. Type a few words. Type a few more. Until you've created the skeleton of what will someday become (after hours and days and months and maybe YEARS of revision) a darn good book.

~~~

Pssst... bloggie friends. I have some delectable arcs to give away soon!

seeekrit project

I just hit 5k on my sekrit project. Feels good.



Find the widget HERE: www.writertopia.com

POSSESS winner

Congratulations,

ERICA at THE BOOK CELLAR


I'll be contacting you for your mailing information.