Total Epic Crit Partner Fail

So....I'm a horrible crit partner.  

Friday I'm all getting ready to go out of town for Little Monster's gymnastics meet. You know, packing last minute, cleaning the kitchen, running around like a chicken with my head cut off...the usual...and I email Colene to let her know we're leaving in a bit and I probably won't have internet all weekend (we're addicted to emailing each other- if we don't hear from each other within like, 4 or 5 hours we're convinced one of us is dead).

I get this text from her:  Um, so aren't we meeting today?
Me: Uh....
Colene: We're supposed to meet today to go over my section? (we "hang out" on google+ -  pretty sweet gig, actually)
Me: Uh....wait...what?
Colene: Yeah, I sent you my ms last week and we're starting back up with meetings, right?
Me: HOLY CRAP!!  I mean..yeah, totally.... (I'm silently kicking myself because I TOTALLY forgot).
Me: Oh man, we're leaving in a bit...I'm SO sorry.  How about you and Jennie just meet and then I'll send you what I have Monday and then we can go over the next 25 next Friday.
Colene:  Well, you guys aren't sending me your notes, remember?  We're waiting till the end.
Me: Uh...wait...what??  CRAP...what the heck is wrong with me?? (okay so I may have used more explicit words in that text but I gotta keep this post PG...for my mom, you know)
Colene: Um, yeah, we talked about it last week...
Me: Okay I'm stupid...apparently I slipped into a black hole or other dimension when we were emailing about this.  But now I remember.  I'm SO Sorry.  And tell Jennie sorry I totally failed you guys as a crit partner.
Colene: It's okay, don't worry about it.  We'll meet next week.
Me: *love*  (Big sigh of relief.)

Anyway, so that was me crashing and burning as a crit partner.  But it's all good.  I've got our meetings back on the calendar now and I'm good to go!  I'm very lucky my crit ladies love me so much.  I mean, seriously, who wouldn't?  Teehee.

Have you ever "failed" as a crit partner?  Did they ever forgive you?

Watch out 2012, I'm Back!

Hello my lovely Bloggy Buddies!  I'm very pleased to announce that I am officially back to blogging!  I miss you all so much, I just couldn't stay away too long.

And to show how much I love and adore you, and have missed the pants off you (okay not literally...because that would be weird) Colene Murphy and I have decide to hold a little contest!  Yep, she's back too!  We're comin' back in style, my peeps!

It's SO super easy and I would feel oh-so-loved if you'd just leave a comment here and tell me which book you've been DYING to read but just haven't gotten around to it.  If you win, I'll buy it for you! (or if you have a favorite book that you'd like to own, put that down!)  Plus, you have TWO chances to win- leave a comment here, and jump on over to Colene's blog and leave a comment there!  We'll be picking 2 winners on Monday January 16.

Anyway, so now that that is out of the way, I'll just do a quick little list of what I've been up to while I've been gone.
1. Finish revising WIP to make it shine.
2. Write the dreaded synopsis and subsequently kill my crit partners with boredom.
3. Drive Little Monster back and forth to school, activities, parties, and gymnastics.
4. Catch up on reading- I almost forgot how to do that.
5. Keep my house above sanitation codes.
6. Start NEW WIP, yay!

Welp, that about sums up my break!

Now I want to hear what YOU'VE been up to!  Please please let me know because I really have thought about you a lot during my break.

So remember to let me know what book you'd love for me to get you (don't forget an email if its not attached to your account), tell me how you've been doing, and go see Colene!  Contest closes Sunday January 15th!

I'm so glad to be back and see your shining faces!  Tootles and mwah!

Deathly Hallows Week!

It's finally here!  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 comes out on Friday!  Can you believe this will be the last Harry Potter movie EVER?  Its been a long but fun road, but we always knew it would end.  Makes me a little verklempt just thinking about it.

All the stars looked simply dashing at the Premier the other night:

Photo Credit

And OMG, Neville has a HOT girlfriend!  Good for him!  I love him!

Photo Credit

And of course, Jo was there in her um...floral comforter.

Photo Credit

If you want to read more about the premier and see the rest of the stars just click on the any of those photo credits above!

To celebrate the upcoming release of the movie, several bloggy buddies and I have decided to dedicate our blogs to all things Harry Potter this week!  Please clicky on everyone's links to find loads of fun HP stuff!

Lisa Galek
Melissa Sarno
Laurel Garver
Colene Murphy
Jen Daiker
Melissa Wideen
Michael Di Gesu
Renae Mercado

First off:

Lisa Galek is having a contest! She is SUPER cool and is spending the week at the Leakycon 2011 convention at Harry Potter World in Florida!!  She gets to watch HP7 with all the other crazy HP fanatics Thursday at midnight.  SO jealous.  Plus I think some of the prizes will be some cool loot from HP World itself!

I'm a judge for the contest so make those entries count!

For a little light reading (as Hermione would say) go HERE to read some fun articles from the Hogwarts student-run paper Thestral Gazette.  My Abby Gabby piece is included, so make sure to check that out.

And lastly, E! online is running an awesome Twi-Potter Tournament in which they put a person from Twilight against a person from Harry Potter.  Each day you can vote as to who would win their duel.  (I mean, it's totally obvious to all of us who would win...but it's fun to see who they pit against each other.)

So tell me, friends.  What has been your favorite HP movie so far? (just movie- we'll cover the books another day)

For some reason I keep going back to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  Even though Harry is shunned for the first half of the  movie, the end with the prophecies and the fight between Voldy's Death Eaters and The Order is just so awesome.  And then the super cool Yoda/Vader fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort just blows me away every time.  Although I'm anticipating part 2 on Friday will give it a run for its money.

**P.S. I will be traveling back home from Chicago on a train all day so I will have zero internet access :(  I promise I'll catch up on blogs tomorrow!
P.P.S. 10 hour train ride = awesomeness.
P.P.P.S. Oh wait, no it doesn't.

Beware! Wee Men Can Be Deceiving

Now that I got your attention with the title, you can get your pretty little heads out of the gutter you silly bloggers!

Today is Colene and Alexia's Luck O the Irish SPD blogfest!  The challenge is to write a 200ish flash fiction about something to do with Saint Patrick's Day.  Hope you enjoy my entry!

***

            March 17, 2010 is the day I almost died.  I will never wear green again.

           My day started out pretty normal.  Alarm rang at 6:00, I smashed it. Phone alarm rang at 6:30 and I smashed that too.  Finally at 7 when my mom pounded on my door I rolled out of bed and into my green sparkly tank top.  Ready for a day of pinching all non-green party-poopers.  

           When I stepped outside into the misty, gray morning I noticed a rainbow in the sky.  

          Pretty, I thought.  

          Didn’t seem like a rainbow kind of day.

          But it was Saint Patrick’s day, so it was kind of fitting.  I smiled as I thought of a cute, wee leprechaun dancing around a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

          My thoughts were interrupted by a flash of what looked to be red hair streaking at the edges of my vision.

         Huh.  Wonder what that stupid neighbor kid is up to.  Probably trying to pee in the garden again.  

        “Hey, Sean, get out of our yard!” I yelled, whipping my head around to find the culprit.

         A tiny evil laugh sounded around the corner of the house.

        Ugh.  What a little turd.

       “God, just what I need before school”.  I sighed as I trekked around back.

        As I turned the corner something jumped on my back, digging in with its sharp fingernails.

       Screaming, I danced around, trying to shake it off.  It was snarling and gnashing its teeth, drooling down my neck and shirt. 

       “EW!  Get off you stupid brat!”

        I reached around and grabbed the kid by the hair and flipped him over.

        Except it wasn’t the kid from next door.

       It was a zombie leprechaun.  And it was trying to eat me.

***

Hope you can check out some of the other entries in todays blogfest!  Happy St Patty's Day everyone!  (and watch your back- you never know when a zombie leprechaun will be lurking in your backyard) (I think I may count how many times I say wee today.  Teehee)

AbCoJen Interview Part Deux

Hey you crazy cats!  I'm popping on real quick to get rid of ya!  Ha, just kidding.  You can stick around if you want.  I totally won't know if you lurk around.  Go ahead, lurk a little. 

But I also want you to go over to my friend Donea's blog, Queen of Procrastination to check out the second part of her interview with me (and my good friends Colene and Jen)!

If you missed part Uno, you can find it Here

Have a wonderful Wednesday!  See you Friday!

Tour De ARC: Across the Universe

The Tour De ARC is chugging along all breakneck speed, so hold on to your wi coms because Across the Universe by Beth Revis is on it's way to Kim Franklin! 

The lovely Cinnamon at Cinnamon: On Writing Books and Being Toast started the tour by graceously lending her own ARC (advanced review copy) of Across the Universe to Colene at The Journey.  Then, because Colene loves me uber lots, she sent it on to me.  And now I am finished and have sent it on to Kim.  Make sure to check on Kim's blog to find out who the ARC will go to next!  It may be YOU!

So, I normally don't do reviews on here, I just didn't want to add one more thing to my plate.  Besides, I've got the hookups with the lovely greenbeanteenqueen.  She's got ARCs-a-plenty and has actually just loaned me the brand spanking new ARC of Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton.  It was part of her gigantic amount of books she acquired at ALA.  Ah the perks of working at a library with a famous book reviewer and teen librarian.

Okay totally went off topic.  So, I read Across the Universe.  Long story short: LOVED it.  Go read it.  Like, now.  Seriously, I'll wait right here while you go buy it/check it out....

Dum dee do dee dum...

Okay, so now that you're back from buying it or putting it on hold at your local library, I'll go ahead and leave you to your reading pleasure.

OOH ooh, hop on over to my good friend Donea Lee's blog to read some interviews of me and two of my blogging besties!  She's calling it AbCoJen.  It's really cool to see our three different answers to the same questions!

Unintentional Novel Title Slam!

Jen over at Unedited discovered an awesome way to make up a story!  She found it over at Tahereh and Christina Lee's blogs.  Jen called it A Story out of Novels. 

Colene over at The Journey and I teamed up to do our own today!  Her fingers actually challenged mine to a duel: seriously.  Not her- her fingers.  They wrote it on their own accord.  So be kind to me- her story is probably way more profound and awesome than mine.

So, basically the challenge is to make up a story out of your book titles!  Make it short and sweet (and definitely profound...and a little dramatic)!

I'm going to make mine from my TBR pile (in random order):

This is So Not Happening, she thought.  Too many Lies, during a Twenty Boy Summer : Blue Bloods poured from their veins.  Hunger blurred her vision .  She laughed, Carter Finally Gets It.  The Insatiable girl drank him in the Firelight.

What story from your own pile can you come up with?

Kicking my Crit Partner's Butt

One of my crit partners, Andy Thompson said I came to him in a dream the other night and literally beat him over the head with his future published book telling him to WRITE WRITE WRITE! (click on his name- he blogged about it!)  I told him it was my future self coming back from the future to tell him to write more.  I think Michael J Fox was with me too...in the DeLorean. 

Oh wait, wrong dream- okay here we go:

(I so hope he didn't picture me as one of the Sanderson sisters- doesn't his book look awesome though?)

I'm so glad I can have such an impact on my crit partners!  They love me so much that they dream about me beating them to a pulp with their future novels.  I feel so special.  No seriously, I do.  I can't really abuse them in real life, so coming to them in a dream is the next best thing (or from the future). 

I am so grateful I have my crit partners.  Andy and Colene are so encouraging and help me get through this crazy world of writing.  They each bring their own perspective and it's cool to see what they have to say about my work.  We can lament together about our anxieties about the publishing world, and we can relate and feel connected.  I can talk to Hubsies until he's blue in the face about my work and fears about being published, but it's different when you talk to someone going through the same thing.

And I know that they'd extend the same love and courtesy and beat me over the head with my future novel if I needed it.  And boy, do I need it sometimes.

And then, (because everything can be related to Back To The Future), I'll write a book about it, and it'll become a bestseller.

Interview with Aspiring Author Colene Murphy

Hey guys!  Here is another installment of my aspiring author interviews!  Today, it's with Colene Murphy, my new crititque partner! (I now have 2 crit partners- how awesome is that??)



  I just printed off the first 100 pages of her novel, and I'm so excited to read it!

So, without further ado, here are her questions!


When did you realize you wanted to be an author? 

 It was when I started to really read YA. I was a little hesitant about it at first because at the time, I felt  like buying in the YA section made me look juvenile and immature. It was a mindset that in my 20's I should be more grown up - reading autobiographies and political novels and stuff. But when I started I just couldn't stop reading them. Devouring them. They took my breath away, made me cry hysterically, made me laugh like a loon, and I knew I wanted to affect people that way.

What genre do you like to write?  

Westerns! No, YA


What authors inspire you?    

Different ones for different things to write are inspirational. J.K. Rowling is my go to when I need to see how she created emotion with characters.  James Dashner is great at nail-biting suspense. Laura Whitcomb weaves words like magic. Every sentence is beauty with her, no matter what she's writing about. And of course, Suzanne Collins, Kim Harrison, Garth Nix, Jenny B. Jones, Neal Shusterman, and C.S.Lewis. Tons more, but I bet you want to move on and all.

How often do you write? 

 I try to get something, anything, down every day of the week. I like thousands-of-words days but if I can write a decent paragraph it isn't a waste. Weekends are harder. I'm trying to find more discipline for weekend writing. I bet I could get 10x more done if I did.


Are you a plotter or a pantser?    

Oh, pantser definitely! The first and last novel I plotted out, scene by scene, I screwed up beyond repair! It was awful. I had these set things I demanded of my novel but my characters I created just didn't want to do that. I ended up with a weird, unfinished ending that you could tell was rushed. It was like me and my characters dueled for the ending and no one won. Now I just write. I have an idea of my main character and maybe a second one. I give myself a beginning and a vague idea of how I want the MC to grow and then just sit down and type. They take me where I need to go. It always works out and I am much more satisfied and proud of the end result. One idea's rough draft actually finished thousands of words sooner than I intended, just because that was where it needed to.

Where do you write best, and do you listen to music while you write? 

 I love music. Most writers say that, but its the truth. And the kind depends on the scene and how I need to feel. Pandora Radio is the best website created for that. I write a lot at work and on my designated love seat. I tried to write at my desk before but can't focus when I'm there. Just doesn't feel right. I need to be comfortable or in a familiar atmosphere and the home office is most definitely not either.


What is on your TBR pile? 

Oh, gosh. What isn't? A Matter of Magic, Personal Demons, Once a Witch, Divergent, Z, Neverwhere, Lament, Across the Universe, The Cinderella Society, Firelight, Paranormalcy, Angel Fire, Scorch Trials, Nightshade, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Bleeding Violet, Winter Garden, Matched, The Replacement, Nevermore, Halo, Seers of Light, Poison Study...oh I could go on and on! I have a disorder...YABookaholic much?

If Stephanie Meyer and JK Rowling got in a cat fight, who would win?

J.K.Rowling looks like she could throw some good punches if need be. I'd bet on her any day. Her characters would own Meyer's characters easily too. It's just facts, I only repeat them.


What is your “day” job?

Bounty Hunting unicyclist. Oh wait, you meant the boring one. Receptionist.  Someone seriously called the other day to ask me what time we closed at noon. But it pays the bills and I have some awesome bosses so no complaints here.

What can you not leave home without?

(cell phones are off limits- NO ONE can leave home without one of those) Lint roller. 5 cats makes you constantly furry.


Mac or PC?

PC! I know how to trouble-shoot and replace parts in PC's thanks to a computer techy dad. Mac's are as good as Mar's to me. Wouldn't know where to start.

Favorite dessert?  

Anything strawberry. Icecream, shortcake, cupcakes, pie, cheesecake. You get the picture.

Favorite desert?   

Rangipo Desert. It's in New Zealand near 3 active peaks. That sounded like I knew what I was talking about, right? Totally just wikipedia-d that junk. But it does look cool and isn't as scary as the Sahara either.

Where is your dream vacation?  

I would love to hop around Europe seeing all the famous sights and museums. One day, you know I will.

Finally, link us to your website, blog, fb, twitter and anything else you might like to shamelessly plug for yourself.          

Sweet! Thanks! http://cejourney.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much, Abby. Been a great pleasure and I love your blog!