Interview and Contest Announcement

My very good friend, amazing critique partner, and soon-to-be bigshot published author J.A. Souders did an interview with one of her favorite authors, Rachel Vincent at The Oasis for YA blog.  Go, read a great interview, leave a secret in the comments and get a chance to win the first book in Rachel's Soul Screamers series.  What could be easier?

Click here:  Interview with Rachel Vincent

Happy Monday!

- Liz

Link-a-Palooza

It's been a while, so I thought I'd give you all a round-up of some of the great stuff I've stumbled onto through Twitter and my own procrastinating. Them interwebs is the greatest thing to EVAH happen to procrastination.

Blogs to read:

Ten Commandments for Working with Your Agent from Steven Laub's blog.

250 Chances from the Storyflip blog. A fine piece on the importance of the first 250 words of your story, and how to screw it up.

No Exceptions from the Aspiring Mama blog, in which Pauline Campos reminds us to keep going even after our delicate little egos have been given the reality smackdown.

Soulless Turns One in which Gail Carriger gives you the blow-by-blow of real life after you make a sale. Fascinating, detailed and invaluable for those of us who obsess about what happens next.

Websites to check out:

BookSwim turns out to be the Netflix of reading, and I don't know how I'm just learning about it's existence. For a very reasonable rate, you can get all kinds of booky goodness delivered to your door, read at your leisure, and return books in pre-paid envelopes. Sounds like a great Christmas gift for the book nerds in your life.

In related news, I also just learned you can enter to win free ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) of books from GoodReads. Like, for free. All you have to do is be a member, and if you're not a member, you should be. No easier way to store the ol' To-Read list. And now that they have an iPhone app, you'll never get to the library or bookstore without your list again.

Video Goodness:

The Dictionary of Jack: Literally in which Jack discusses the abuses of the word literally in the English language.

And speaking of abusing language--here's Hank Green's STOP EMBARRASSING YOURSELF on the vlogbrother's vlog. If you haven't already discovered the wonder of the vlogbrothers, now would be a great time to start!

And then, for a dose of fun: Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake do A History of Rap backed up by The Roots and just plain tickle the hell out of me. Go enjoy! (You'll want speakers)


Find anything good lately? Share it in the comments!

- Liz

And the Winners Are...

Thanks to everyone who participated in my contest.  Since everyone had a great idea about a way to share these challenged books with at least one other person, everyone who entered had a chance to win.


I assigned everyone a number and used a randomizer to choose my three winners.  They are:


1st prize: Crystal


2nd prize: Stephanie S. Kuehn


3rd prize: Kristan


Congratulations, ladies!


I'll be contacting each winner by e-mail (hopefully I can reach you all!).  Crystal gets first choice of the three books, then Stephanie, and Kristan gets whatever is left.


Hope you all enjoyed this contest!  At the end of the year, I may hold another one to give away some of the great books I've read this year.  Stay tuned!


- Liz

Book Giveaway Contest UPDATE

In light of a rather spectacular lack of interest in the contest so far, I'm going to suspend choosing winners until Friday (October 2, 2010 for those of you more date-minded folks).  There's still plenty of time to enter!


See yesterday's post for full details, and to enter in the comments.


Rule refresher:

1. To enter, become a follower on the blog, and make a comment on this blog entry. Bonus points if you Tweet or Facebook about it. Just tell me in your comment.

Here's the twist: In the comments, please tell me if you plan to share this banned book with anyone. You could lend to a friend, donate to your library, leave it in the dressing room at a clothing store--the possibilities are endless. Be creative, and be sure to tell me about it.
You can still win, even if you plan to keep the book. Just lend it to a friend, okay?

2. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I will use go through the entries to look for the best ideas (Hey, it's my blog, I get to be the judge.) The top five will go into a randomizer and the winner will be notified.


3. Wednesday's winner gets to choose from the three books available, Thursday's chooses from the remaining two, and Friday's gets whatever is left.


4. Oh, and I'm not rich, so let's restrict winners to the U.S. and Canada, please!




Spread the word and win a book!  


- Liz

Losing My Contest Virginity

In Honor of Banned Books Week (September 25, 2010-October 2, 2010) I am holding my very first blog contest! Are you shivering with anticipation or what?

Let's get down to the nitty-gritty.

I have three (count them, 3!) banned or challenged books to give away this week, but it only takes one entry to win.

The prizes:

SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson


Well, we should all know why this one was challenged. If not, please see either of my blog posts (here and here) relating to the recent controversy.

LOOKING FOR ALASKA by John Green


Challenged in 2008 for sexually explicit situations. I've also heard complaints about the teenage characters' use of "bad" language, cigarettes and alcohol.

DEENIE by Judy Blume


Challenged in 2004 and 2005 for passages that deal frankly with masturbation.


(Note: My copy is NOT new. It's got the cover seen to the left and was already old when I obtained it lo those many years ago. Original copyright 1972)


The rules:
1. To enter, become a follower on the blog, and make a comment on this blog entry. Bonus points if you Tweet or Facebook about it. Just tell me in your comment.

Here's the twist: In the comments, please tell me if you plan to share this banned book with anyone. You could lend to a friend, donate to your library, leave it in the dressing room at a clothing store--the possibilities are endless. Be creative, and be sure to tell me about it.

You can still win, even if you plan to keep the book. Just lend it to a friend, okay?

2. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I will use go through the entries to look for the best ideas (Hey, it's my blog, I get to be the judge.) The top five will go into a randomizer and the winner will be notified.


3. Wednesday's winner gets to choose from the three books available, Thursday's chooses from the remaining two, and Friday's gets whatever is left.


4. Oh, and I'm not rich, so let's restrict winners to the U.S. and Canada, please!


Easy, right?

So, tweet it, blog it, Facebook it--spread the word. Books for free. All you need is a mailing address and some creativity.

Have fun. Even if you don't enter, please read a challenged book this week. It's good for the soul.


- Liz

Weekend Roundup

I spent too long trying to
figure out if the two pics were
the same girl.

I was pleasantly surprised by Rachel Hawkins's Hex Hall.  I'm not an enormous paranormal fan, so I was expecting to find it acceptable, but not much more.  Instead, the voice made me drool with envy.  And the plot, while somewhat predictable, threw me a few twists that made me appreciate Hawkins's skill.  All in all, a big thumbs up and I'm looking forward to Demonglass.

My pathetic blogging efforts continue to be sporadic.  I have a great plan for a blog, but I can't find the video I need on-line, so it's not coming quickly.  Grr.

Bender.  HA!

Yesterday's "Futurama" marathon made me so freakin' happy it was a little pathetic.  Personally, I think it's the funniest cartoon on television--and yes, that includes "The Simpsons," "Family Guy," and "South Park."


My work on Chronic (still hate that title) is starting to pick up a bit.  Working on Chapter 8 right now, of an anticipated 24, so a third of the way done, I guess!  How crazy is that?  It does, however, mean I am just about to enter the dreaded Middle of the Book (cue suspenseful chord progression--duh-duh, DUHN!) so prepare for me to hate everything about it and think I'm a big fat hack.


On the query front, things are quiet.  Unfortunately, no news is not usually good news in the agenting world.  Especially when some of the agents in question are "No response means 'No'" people.  Right now, I've only got one lonely partial out in the world, but you just never know which one is going to be The One, right?  Right?  Hello?  Is this thing on?

J.A. Souders - who will probably want to
kill me for putting her picture here

My friend J.A. Souders is having a big ol' contest over at her blog.  She's giving away all kinds of goodies, from books to manuscript critiques and all you have to do is follow her blog.  Easy, peasy!  So go do it.  


So, how was your weekend?


- Liz

Link-a-Palooza: Contests and Questions and Book Releases, Oh My!

Back for another installment of LINK-A-PALOOZA, in which I give you the lowdown on some great places to go instead of working.

First I bring you Writing Out The Angst, joint blog of Amanda Bonilla and Suzy Haze (who are totally follow-worthy, by the way). To celebrate their new venture, Amanda and Suzy are hosting a CONTEST.

All you have to do is follow their blog(s) and leave a comment. When they reach 100 followers, they're going to offer up Query Critiques to ten lucky followers. Easy right? Go for it.

The same two lovely ladies have a new feature at their blog. Ask an Agent. You can leave one question for an agent (the first is Julia Kenny at Markson Toma Literary Agency) in the comments of the introductory post, then Amanda and Suzy will compile the questions into an interview and post the answers straight from Ms. Kenny's mouth. This could be invaluable, people, so start thinking about your #1 question.

Next up, we have an announcement. MJ Heiser, who kindly let me interview her right at this very blog, is available for pre-order! That's right, CORONA, previously only available in e-b00k format is now rarin' to go in Hardcover. Get yours now!

I just finished listening to Stephen King's Under the Dome and I have to say it did nothing to relieve my literary crush on The King. Whether you love him or hate him, you gotta give the man he's prolific. And I adore him (for many reasons) because he continues to innovate. He's using his clout in the publishing industry to push the envelope. Graphic novels, small publishing houses, audio-only, serial format--the man has done it all. Personally, I loved the book and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Particularly in the audio format. This is an undertaking, people. Forty hours, I think it was, but it was worth it. I really enjoyed the reader, and he did a masterful job of creating unique voices for the whole cast of characters.

I downloaded it from Audible.com, and if you like audiobooks at all, I can't recommend this place highly enough. We have a subscription, which earns us 12 credits a year. A credit gets you a book (sometimes longer ones cost 2 credits), and the subscription gets you a discount on all books, even if you don't use your credits. Best of all, you can download it right to your iPod or several other formats.

And I think that's about all you need to hear from me today.

Have an awesome link to share? Hit me in the comments.

- Liz

A Query Critique Contest!

Kathleen Ortiz of Lowenstein Associates is hosting a query contest at kortizzle.blogspot.com!

All you have to do is spread the word about this contest to enter!

If you want to learn more about what she's looking for, try here.

Plot and the Lazy Girl

Before we get started today, I just want to announce that I’ve taken Third Place in a small contest sponsored by ReviewFuse.com. I entered the first chapter of A Game of Risk (book 1) and that chapter will be on display at the site’s blog next week Tuesday. Click here if you want to see the site. If you’re really interesting in honing your reviewing skills for other writers, this is a great place.

Now where was I...?

You’ve heard of Attention Deficit Disorder? Well, I have the opposite problem. My cousin has lovingly diagnosed me with Excessive Grooviness Disorder, but what it boils down to is that I am truly skilled at putting off ‘til tomorrow. And why put off ‘til tomorrow something that I can not do altogether? That’s my motto.

Oh, I’m very reliable with things I’m interested in. And at work--forget about it, I’ll take half the patient load if they let me. Housework on the other hand...yeah. I’m not going to end up on Hoarders anytime soon, but if cleanliness is next to godliness I’m about as mortal as they come.

So it is with writing. I am not a plotter. (This may explain my continued work in the romance genre.) I like to think that my version of the writing process is legitimate because it’s somewhat similar to Stephen King’s. Whatever you may think of the man--and I happen to be in the worshipful acolyte camp (Stephen, your shrine lacks only a lock of hair in my house)--he certainly can produce a story. And in his book On Writing (which I wholeheartedly recommend to any aspiring writer) he explains how he comes up with his ideas. He thinks of a situation and puts some characters in it to see how they’ll react. For example, what would a bunch of people do if most of the world’s population was killed off by a super flu? He got The Stand out of that. (Excuse me for a moment, I need to stop screaming “Why can’t I do that?!” and beating my head on the table.)

I’m back.

Anyway, my version of plotting goes something like this: Does anyone even answer wrong numbers anymore now that everyone has Caller ID? Maybe if you just wanted to shut your phone up. Or maybe if you were expecting a call from a Doctor’s office or something... Could you meet someone that way? And once I have a concept, I find a couple characters who might want to star in my schizophrenic show.

I usually only know one or two key things about a character when I first conceive them. In the example above, I knew I had a dancer on my hands (don’t ask me why, ‘cause I don’t know). I also knew she would be very hesitant to meet a stranger. That’s it. But, I put her on the receiving end of a wrong number and let the rest play out as it wanted.

Now comes the part where you very slowly reach for the phone and try to find the nearest mental health facility that might be able to come and pick me up. See, in my experience, characters know what they’re going to do. Any interference on my part results in stilted, painful scenes where the quality of the prose suffers and the action all but dies. If I simply open the mental window on their world and watch the scene as it happens, I get natural dialogue and action. I once heard writing described as “socially acceptable schizophrenia” and I couldn’t help but agree. That’s kind of how it feels.

There are a few things in the process that I cannot explain, no matter how hard I try. Like, the fact that I have an internal clock that tells me when a chapter is ending and that clock always goes off between pages twelve and fifteen. Rarely do my chapters fall outside that page count. That’s apparently how long it takes me to get through the action.

I also can’t explain why a tiny change can make all the difference. In one of my novels, I tried like hell to make the main character a brunette. I wrote it in a couple ways. I fought hard for that brown hair. But the story was hung up in my brain. It wouldn’t come out. I couldn’t get her or the other characters to do anything but hang like marionettes with no puppeteers. Finally, I gave in and let her be a strawberry blonde. Suddenly, it all broke loose and I told the rest of her story in six weeks.

When I get to a point where the story seems to run out, I just think “What if?” What if something changed? What if they got separated somehow? What if she decided to stop fighting? And then, I consult my characters and they agree to pursue that particular bit of improvisational theater and we all nod and take notes and move ahead with the parts that worked.

The other thing I can’t explain is the almost preternatural way I have of laying out bits of nothing at the beginning of a story that end up being helpful in the conclusion. I’m sure somewhere in my brain, I’m keeping track of all the breadcrumbs I’ve laid out and subconsciously working them into the conclusion, but believe me I’m never thinking far enough ahead in the beginning of a story to know that 150 pages down the line, I’m going to be really glad I said that so-and-so is afraid of heights, or what’s-her-face is getting married in a few weeks.

A writer friend of mine talked about “dead herrings” once. That’s his name for all the false foreshadowing that can be left behind if you change course in the middle of a story. He suggested that in revisions, you have to make sure that you account for any clues that readers would have had for an ending that didn’t come to be, and that you’ve satisfied everyone’s curiosity about any tantalizing teasers you laid out. I guess that’s what I’m talking about here. I just find that most of my “dead herrings” end up re-incorporated somehow. It’s probably because I’m too EGD to do the housekeeping once the story is done.

Perhaps we’ll dabble on revisions next time. Maybe not. We’ll have to see what my brain feels up to.