Today is the big day! At Sisters in Scribe, we have opened the entry window for our140 character pitch contest! Entries will be judged by the fabulous Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary. Sara has offered a 30 page manuscript review to the winner!
Stop on by and please read the full contest details before entering!
http://www.sistersinscribe.com/2011/05/contest-of-epic-awesome-with-agent-sara.html
Charlaine Harris in NYC
Tuesday night I hopped on the Harley (on the back--I'm not that cool) and rode into Manhattan with my husband for the release and book signing of DEAD RECKONING, book 11 in the Southern Vampire Mysteries (True Blood) by Charlaine Harris. I will admit, I was a little bit starstruck. Most of the pictures that my husband took, I'm making crazy faces, or squealing like the fangirl that I am. So I'll just share these ones with you.
I took my smaller camera, which takes kind of crappy pictures, because I went on the bike and my big camera is...big.
That is me on the right in the tan sweater.
Charlaine Harris was the author who got me back in to reading. The minute I picked up DEAD UNTIL DARK, I was hooked in the world she'd created, and totally in love with her characters. Because of this, I started writing. I even named my protagonist in my current WIP after Charlaine. Her books are for adults, and I write YA, but I didn't chose YA. It chose me, I suppose (in fact this is the ONLY adult series I read, ha!). There are so many great YA authors who have inspired me, but when I look back, Charlaine and Sookie were what made me realize I was a writer. My favorite quote from this signing was from Harris: "Writer's are born, not made." She didn't mean that you're born a great writer, you do have to write and learn how to write well.
Charlaine answered questions for about thirty minutes and then for the next two hours or so she signed books. She is a signing machine. By the time she got to me, about an hour into signing, her signature was still perfect. During the Q & A fans asked the general questions about her writing process, which now consists of a lot of the business side and not as much writing as she'd like to do, how much coffee she drinks (three cups in the morning), and how she feels about the differences Alan Ball made between the books and the show (she thinks he's fantastic, and she wishes she had thought of Jessica).
The thing I found most interesting was that, despite the fact she'd written mysteries for years before she wrote the first Sookie Stackhouse novel, it took two years for her agent to sell it. Mainly because nobody knew where to put it on a shelf. When she wrote the book, she thought it would be fun to have a mystery series that involved the supernatural, melding mystery and urban fantasy together. Then she thought if she threw in a juicy sex scene for Sookie, she could get the romance readers too. And when the question "Where do we shelve this?" came up, Harris said "everywhere". A logical answer, for sure!
It was an amazing opportunity for me to be able to meet her. Her Sookie novels have inspired me in so many ways. I do believe it is important for writers to read and gather inspiration from "the masters" of literature, especially in your chosen genre, and not only the current super hits (Sookie, Twilight, Harry Potter, etc), but the thing that inspires me most about Charlaine Harris's Sookie novels, is just how much I love them. How immersed in that world I become when I sit down to read. That is what I want to do to readers. That is what is so inspiring. And that is how I knew I was a writer.
Have you had the chance to meet some of your favorite authors? Who inspires you?
***
Tomorrow is the big day at www.sistersinscribe.com! We open up for entries into our first ever agent participant contest! So perfect those twitter pitches, and we'll see you there tomorrow!
Get Those Pitches Ready!
To say thanks to all 500+ awesome followers at sistersinscribe.com we've decided to have a contest! This one is for writers! Stop by the blog to get the details. Contest officially opens FRIDAY MAY 6th! so perfect those pitches! We've got a special guest judge who has offered up quite an amazing prize to her favorite entry.
In other news, I'm sure we've all heard about the devastation in the south due to wildfires and tornadoes. The writing community is at it again, taking donations for yet another fabulous benefit auction. If you've got something to donate (books, swag, critiques, etc) stop on by http://helpwritenow.blogspot.com and sign up! And be sure to keep checking back for the auctions.
In other news, I'm sure we've all heard about the devastation in the south due to wildfires and tornadoes. The writing community is at it again, taking donations for yet another fabulous benefit auction. If you've got something to donate (books, swag, critiques, etc) stop on by http://helpwritenow.blogspot.com and sign up! And be sure to keep checking back for the auctions.
She Swallowed the Cat to Catch the Bird
I hope everyone had a lovely Easter Sunday or a lovely regular Sunday, which ever you prefer.
Today the sun is shining! OMG! I KNOW! (See this post.) And I am, of course, outside enjoying every minute of it. I bought myself some pink hyacinth the other day and finally had a nice enough day to plant it outside in my flowerbed.
I haven't worked in those beds for a full year and they needed some dirt. Dirt is in the garden shed. Garden shed is always full of spiders in the spring. I braced myself for this as I unlocked the door. Snakes, rodents, I can handle any of them. But spiders? My brain completely cuts off and I go in to freak-out mode. I have been known to slap myself pink if there is a spider on me.
*Pulled open the door*
Spiders scattered everywhere! Well, okay, like three of them crawled away. And I bent over to grab a big bag of dirt and I see the mess. Rats have moved in to my garden shed.
If you've followed my blog (or twitter of facebook even) you know I have these in my house.
And they are completely spoiled and I love them very much. But you can see even from this photo that they like to make messes. They love to dig and rip things apart, like newspaper and fabrics and wood. The unwelcome rats in the garden shed dug into two 50lbs bags of garden soil, and shredded countless unused trash bags, pulling the pieces inside my bags of dirt. And they also ate holes in the back wall and the floor.
I had a "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" moment, wondering if I could rent a snake to chase the rats away. Somehow I doubt a pet store would let me rent a snake. I can't kill them (see above picture) but how do I get rid of them? I'm going to try some "Critter Ridder" which is basically black pepper. Squirrels cant stand the smell of it, so maybe it'll work on these guys too. If not, I'll try peppermint oil.
And now I'm rambling.
In other news! My Scribe Sisters and I will be hosting a fabulous contest over at our blog, www.sistersinscribe.com to celebrate hitting 500 fabulous followers! We'll have something awesome for writers, but also some great YA reads for you readers that follow us. Details to come at the SIS blog. You will have to be a followers there to enter. :)
Today the sun is shining! OMG! I KNOW! (See this post.) And I am, of course, outside enjoying every minute of it. I bought myself some pink hyacinth the other day and finally had a nice enough day to plant it outside in my flowerbed.
I haven't worked in those beds for a full year and they needed some dirt. Dirt is in the garden shed. Garden shed is always full of spiders in the spring. I braced myself for this as I unlocked the door. Snakes, rodents, I can handle any of them. But spiders? My brain completely cuts off and I go in to freak-out mode. I have been known to slap myself pink if there is a spider on me.
*Pulled open the door*
Spiders scattered everywhere! Well, okay, like three of them crawled away. And I bent over to grab a big bag of dirt and I see the mess. Rats have moved in to my garden shed.
If you've followed my blog (or twitter of facebook even) you know I have these in my house.
And they are completely spoiled and I love them very much. But you can see even from this photo that they like to make messes. They love to dig and rip things apart, like newspaper and fabrics and wood. The unwelcome rats in the garden shed dug into two 50lbs bags of garden soil, and shredded countless unused trash bags, pulling the pieces inside my bags of dirt. And they also ate holes in the back wall and the floor.
I had a "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" moment, wondering if I could rent a snake to chase the rats away. Somehow I doubt a pet store would let me rent a snake. I can't kill them (see above picture) but how do I get rid of them? I'm going to try some "Critter Ridder" which is basically black pepper. Squirrels cant stand the smell of it, so maybe it'll work on these guys too. If not, I'll try peppermint oil.
And now I'm rambling.
In other news! My Scribe Sisters and I will be hosting a fabulous contest over at our blog, www.sistersinscribe.com to celebrate hitting 500 fabulous followers! We'll have something awesome for writers, but also some great YA reads for you readers that follow us. Details to come at the SIS blog. You will have to be a followers there to enter. :)
It's Not Procrastination!
I swear it's not!
When I get stumped in a project, or just need to get back in touch with my characters, I turn to music and www.weheartit.com
If you haven'twasted spent some time browsing the collection of images there, you totally should! I've found so many that are PERFECT representation for my wip. Like this one, for example:
That is so completely Jack and Charlie! Really, this post was an excuse for me to share that picture with you. The downside is that I have no idea who the owner is. Is it yours? :D
What's your favoriteprocrastination inspiration exercise?
When I get stumped in a project, or just need to get back in touch with my characters, I turn to music and www.weheartit.com
If you haven't
That is so completely Jack and Charlie! Really, this post was an excuse for me to share that picture with you. The downside is that I have no idea who the owner is. Is it yours? :D
What's your favorite
Sweet Summertime
Summer seriously needs to move its arse over to NYC. It's cold. It's wet. And squirrels are claiming the nuts they buried in my flowerbed. Thankfully, I have not yet planted my petunias.
I've been listening to a lot of summery songs lately on my music player--mainly country music because I'm cool like that--to help me get into the spirit. Maybe I can coax Summer my way by thinking about her. She's a vain one, that Summer.
Last year my family and I went camping with my folks over in Pennsylvania, my home state. We spent the day at a nearby amusement park--ferris wheels are WAY less fun than I remember--our evenings sitting around a campfire toasting marshmallows, and somewhere in between we caught crawfish in the river. We are proud country folk. It was heavenly. And I want to do it again, but it feels like that warm weather is never coming back! Melodramatic, I know. We had a nice day last week, sunny and close to 80 degrees, but it was just a tease. Summer, you tease.
Has summer weather graced your state with her golden, glowing, t-shirt-wearing presence? So jealous.
I've been listening to a lot of summery songs lately on my music player--mainly country music because I'm cool like that--to help me get into the spirit. Maybe I can coax Summer my way by thinking about her. She's a vain one, that Summer.
Last year my family and I went camping with my folks over in Pennsylvania, my home state. We spent the day at a nearby amusement park--ferris wheels are WAY less fun than I remember--our evenings sitting around a campfire toasting marshmallows, and somewhere in between we caught crawfish in the river. We are proud country folk. It was heavenly. And I want to do it again, but it feels like that warm weather is never coming back! Melodramatic, I know. We had a nice day last week, sunny and close to 80 degrees, but it was just a tease. Summer, you tease.
Has summer weather graced your state with her golden, glowing, t-shirt-wearing presence? So jealous.
Sisters in Scribe
We've changed our web address over at Sisters in Scribe, and can now be found at www.sistersinscribe.com! If you're following us at our old address, don't worry. You don't need to do anything. ;)
And if your not following us, well get to it! We're planning a 500 followers celebration and we're only TWO away from our goal!
And if your not following us, well get to it! We're planning a 500 followers celebration and we're only TWO away from our goal!
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