Shout Outs

Blog Me Maybe: May I Tell You Something About Someone Else?

It's the last day of Blog Me Maybe. I can't believe June is starting tomorrow. We better have some good summer weather here in Alberta or I'm leaving. Just sayin'.

Anyway, today I wanted to give shout-outs to some of my beta readers/CPs. These girls are amazing.

Here, have some love from me

First off, my sister-in-law Emily blogs (occasionally) over at Write About Nothing. She's my first and foremost reader (poor girl) and also an extremely valuable Brainstorming Buddy. If I've got the barest of ideas, I can message her and say, what do you think about this? And she zaps back with answers that always help move me along. So check her out cuz she's awesome.

Secondly, check out Michelle Merrill over at Perfecting the Craft. The name of her blog perfectly describes her because she is a genius at the craft of writing. She gave me such helpful line and structure edits when she read Daze I will be forever grateful.

My other reader and major cheerleader of Daze and Knights is Amanda Hannah, who blogs occasionally here but is also one of YA Highway's contributors. If you're not a YA Highway reader, I'm telling you, you should be. Her general gushing over Daze made me obviously very happy (and blushtastic) and she gave me excellent edits on the MS as well as pointed out some of the things I do that I shouldn't (like all the words I overuse- that, just, so, etc). Remembering her enthusiasm for Daze has buoyed me up on those days where I think the book will never see the light of a bookstore window.

Lastly, go see Prerna Pickett over at The Sands of Writing. I had a great time reading one of her MS's and then she returned the favor and read Sway. Although I haven't gone through her edits yet, I was psyched to have her read it because I love her blog and I loved her story.

These girls are AMAZING. They have made me a better writer. I suggest you go check them out, like NOW. Okay? Okay.

About Conferences and Books

Blog Me Maybe: May I Ask You Something?

I've got two questions for you today.

YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday asks this:

What book and/or writing conference would you love to go to?

My answer is simple. ANY. I've never really been to a conference. I say 'really' because I participated in WriteOnCon last year which was AWESOME but it happens in the comfort of your own home so it's not like I had to go anywhere. And then there was this writer's day that the Calgary library hosted and I went to that and it was sort of a mini-conference I guess. It was good but there weren't any authors or agents there. :( There isn't just one I dream of going to. Really, I'd love to be a part of ANY conference. Hopefully one day...

My other question, since YA Highway isn't doing this one like usual, is:

What was the best book you read in May?

My book count for this month is a little low- for me at least. Here's what I read:

I've got to say, I don't think I can pick a favorite this month. These books were all so different. Entwined was a twist on the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale- a very beautiful story. Chain Reaction was a contemp romance- hot and funny and tense and excellent. I haven't read fantasy in awhile and Finnikin of the Rock didn't disappoint. The world was well imagined, the characters interesting and the plot of the story not what I thought it would be. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was also not what I thought it would be. I loved reading about Prague and artsy characters and a world of angels and demons that was new and unexpected. And then there's Insurgent. An awesome sequel. It didn't disappoint. Even though I could hardly remember what happened in Divergent, it was easy to jump right back into the world and it didn't take long for me to remember the characters. It ended on a "wha???" and made me want the next one right away.

Five excellent books. I'd recommend all of them. Now I want your answers...

My Super-Strange Obsession

Blog Me Maybe: May I Tell You Something About Myself

Here's a random fact about me: I have this weird obsession with War.

No, that does not mean I like to fight or kill or maim or want to BE in a war of any kind. But I am fascinated with history and wars in particular.

Why? Who the heck knows.

The USS Arizona memorial (the brown circle sticking up is part of the actual Arizona)



When I was in Hawaii, I told my parents that the number one thing I wanted to do there was go to Pearl Harbor. My Dad asked why and I couldn't even answer him. I loved that I got the chance to go there. I wish we could have spent more time and done more. As it was, we spent all morning doing everything free- the museums, all the monuments and stuff outside, and of course the USS Arizona.

The Punchbowl



Another place we visited was the Punchbowl. This is a war memorial in a giant crater (or was it a volcano? I have no idea) right in the middle of Honolulu. There are thousands of plaques on the ground naming American soldiers who have fought in different wars. There are also walls and walls of names. My parents ended up waiting for me because I was taking so long there.

I also love war movies. Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Braveheart, Enemy at the Gates, The Patriot, U-571, We Were Soldiers, Memphis Belle. Pearl Harbor is probably one of my all-time favorite movies. (And it has a great soundtrack BTW.)

This obsession also shapes my writing. If I get the chance to write more Jessica books in the future, I can tell you my obsession with war throughout history will decide where Jessica will Travel.

The reason behind my weird obsession with war remains a mystery to me. It might have started with my early love of swing music and old movie-musicals. Maybe. As a teen, I loved to go to Army surplus stores. I have a vintage Navy shirt and a "We Want You" poster. And this is hanging on the wall in my TV room:

Whatever the reason, I'm fascinated with war. I like to learn about it, read about it, watch anything about it. Yep, that's my super-strange obsession.What's yours?

May I Attempt to Talk About Writing

Blog Me Maybe: May I Tell You Something About Writing

I don't know, may I? I know I may... I guess the question is, can I?

For the past month or two, I've been in a kind of funk. It started out with blogging, then it spread to my writing, and in May it's even spread to reading (I've only read four books so far this month!). The blogging-funk has been sort of fixed with Blog Me Maybe but I worry for next week, what the heck I'm going to blog about.

And then there's my writing. This past week, every day I've sat down to finish up my Jessica sequel. My daily word count was in the hundreds. Pathetic.

What is my problem? No clue.

Do I feel qualified to give other people advice about writing? DEFINITELY NOT.

So here's what I've got to say about that: Sometimes writing is hard. Sometimes it's so much fun and it makes me feel on top of the world. But sometimes it's hard. Like now.

But the answer is not to give up. I'm gonna give it another shot during my daily writing time. This Jessica sequel is refusing to be easy and maybe I'll put it aside again to start work on my SNI. Or maybe I'll force it out.

Whatever I end up doing, I'm going to WRITE. Because if there's one thing I know FOR SURE about writing, is that I can NEVER stop. Even if my daily productivity has been low. Even if I feel like a writing-loser. I'm going to write anyway.

So there.

And in case I need some inspiration...

Funny Ha Ha

Blog Me Maybe: May I Share Something Funny?

Confession: I think Amanda Bynes is hilariously funny.

You might disagree. But I don't care! Her movies are fun, cute, sweet, and nastiness-free which is always a bonus. Here's my faves and some other reasons why I like them besides Amanda Bynes.

Where I first fell in love with Channing Tatum

A great Snow White retelling

I never say no to Colin Firth

I miss this show...

Pick A Faction, Any Faction

Blog Me Maybe: May I Ask Something About You

goes along with YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday Question:

What Faction Would You Be?

First of all, here are the five factions with brief descriptions, in case you don't know what they are. And if you don't, you better stop reading this blog and go get Divergent by Veronica Roth.

I really had no clue which of these I am. So what did I do? I took the quiz. Yeah baby, I love quizzes. You can find the quiz here just in case, like me, you have no clue which Faction you'd belong to.

And I am... duh, duh, da, daaaaa!!!

Dauntless.

Whaaa???

No way. If I chose which I thought was most like me, I'd have gone with Amity. Almost the exact OPPOSITE of Dauntless. I don't like confrontation, I rarely get into fights of any kind, and honestly, if someone threatened me, I'd probably run away screaming.

Okay, I don't really know what I'd do if someone threatened me because it's never happened. And NO, this is not an invitation. Just so you know.

But apparently, based on the test results, I am Dauntless. Um yeah. I don't even know what to say about that. At least I get to wear black.

***Okay, I redid the test. I was really wondering if it would come out differently based on the first question. The first time, I picked the knife mostly because I don't like eating plain cheese. But really if it had been a food I liked, I would've picked the food. So this time I picked the cheese and got... Erudite! Still not Amity. So I guess I know myself NOT AT ALL.***

Advice Welcome

Blog Me Maybe: May I Tell You Something About Me?

So here's a random fact about me: I like advice.

I should rephrase that. I like WELCOME advice. Haha.

Here's another random fact: I used to hate asking questions. When I was a teen and someone would talk about something I had no clue about, I would keep my mouth shut because I didn't want to admit I had no clue what they were talking about. I hated to feel stupid.

I don't exactly love feeling stupid now, of course, but I've learned to ASK QUESTIONS. I've realized that if I don't ask, I'll never learn. All I have to do is endure a few moments of surprised/strange looks, or perhaps an exclamation of, "you didn't know that?!?!" and then I will get my answer, then I'll KNOW.

So on that note, I'm breaking some rules today. I'm gonna ask a question. I know, I know, that's tomorrow's Blog Me Maybe. But too bad. Cuz I need help!

This question is more along the lines of advice...

I have this Shiny New Idea. I've been brainstorming it for awhile and there are a few different ways I can spin it. The way that seems most natural, and came to me first, involves gangs, drugs, alcohol, and a lot of darker kinds of stuff than I usually write.

I don't have a problem delving into darker themes or writing about something I don't know much about. My problem is this: I don't swear. And I don't swear in my writing. BUT- I worry that writing about gangs, drugs, etc, without the swearing, won't be AUTHENTIC.

***Please note, this is NOT a post on swearing in YA. I don't need opinions on whether swear words should be used or not. My own short opinion is, you're the author- you choose.***

I worry that without the swear words, I won't be able to do the book justice. For example, I've already had a scene in my head where a gang member threatens my female MC. Swear words seem to be the logical thing this gang member would use. But I'm not gonna. Is there a more clever way to express something, to insult, without using words like pooper? Or should I just NOT GO THERE.

I do have a few other ways I could spin this SNI. It's just that this way seemed the most natural- it just FIT. But if I can't do it...

So. Here's where the advice comes in. I would love to hear your opinions on this matter.