An Open Letter To All BEA Attendees

Dear BEA (Book Expo America) Attendees,


If you managed to swag this:




Or this:




Or this:




Or this:



Or this:




I. Hate. You.


Sincerely,

An Extremely Frustrated And Envious Book Reader.

How To Be Authentic

Sucks to say it, but most people like to compare--clothing, money, notches on the bedpost, you name it. Nothing is safe from the evil eye of scrutiny.

Then along comes someone, totally out of the blue, who flips the switch. Tongues are wagging. Eyebrows are raised. Opinions are voiced.

Why? 'Cause standing out is the new Hitler. *rolls eyes*

Authenticity--nice word, huh?

But... how do you find it?

Well, here's my honest answer: you don't. It's already found you.

Think about how you wake up in the morning, how you brush your teeth, how you comb your hair and kiss your loved ones/dogs/cats/random strangers you meet in dingy bars. Nobody else can do what you do, no matter what it is. So if you're struggling to find your 'voice', if you're too busy comparing yourself to others who've 'made it', I got a piece of advice for you: stop.

Right now.

And keep writing. Or kissing your loved ones/dogs/cats/random strangers you meet in dingy bars. 'Cause that's sort of fun, too...

LOST. TV show? Nope. Just me.

Confession: I've never watched LOST.

*waits for gasps of shock to die out*

So I guess you could say that I'm lost when it comes to LOST. Am I ashamed? A little. What am I gonna do about it? No clue.

But I wanted to post something about LOST that had nothing to do with the show's finale. I wanted to proclaim my ignorance, wave it in the air for everyone to see, stalling my Draft #4 edits as much as possible.

Some of you saw how the show ended last night. Some of you hated it. Some of you loved it.

And I enjoy scratching my head while I read your reviews.

Why? Beats me. But I have a feeling it's because there's too much going on in my head at the moment. Too much thinking for my taste. And I like the blankness of not knowing about a TV show that's been on the air for a bazillion years. It feels... nice.

There you go, peeps: my review of last night's LOST finale is...

Well, I wouldn't know, would I? But here's my review of myself: I'm lost. And doubtful. And scared.

But I'm still writing this baby anyway :D

Happy writing to everyone!

Congrats, Elana!!!

Epic day, peeps. I'm sure you already know this, but the uber-awesome Elana Johnson HAS A BOOK DEAL!!!!!




Even though she has no idea who I am, I've read almost every article she's written for the Query Tracker website (girl has helped me more than she'll ever know...). Also, I'm a follower on her blog, which makes me just as uber-awesome as she is.

Okay... It doesn't... But whatever...

The point is that Elana's journey can teach every aspiring author sooo much:

Persevere, persevere, persevere!

Set small goals as well as big picture ones.

Learn when to quit on a story, then write a better one.

Read within and outside the genre you write.

Find crit partners who'll help you hone your craft, and return the favor.

And did I mention persevere? :D


On behalf of all us aspiring authors in the universe, congrats, Elana!!!!

What I Found Out In Betaland

After wrapping up Draft #3 of my WIP, I sent it to my trusted beta readers. Both of them have read my first novel, which sucked all kinds of suckiness, and were more than willing to read this new book. I warned them of the differences between my first sucky baby and this next one: third person became first, fantasy became paranormal romance, boy MC became a girl, serious overwriting became slightly humorous brevity.

My betas were more than thrilled with the change (can I blame them???). I expected this mini celebration.

What I didn't expect were my findings after taking the Red Eye flight to Betaland yesterday.

Beta #1: "Hey! I just finished reading the first three chapters!"

Me: "Woot, woot! Whaddaya think?"

Beta #1: "I LOVE this story! It's funny, emotional, and I can relate to the MC a lot. In fact, she reminds me of YOU!"

Me: "Woot, wo- Wait... What?"

Beta #1: "She thinks like you, talks like you, and even hates the same things as you! That is soooo awesome!"

Me: "..."

Beta #1: "Gotta go now! I really wanna know what happens next!" *slams the door in my face*


Head hanging low, I headed over to beta #2's place...


Beta #2: "Wassup? I was just about to call ya"

Me: "Really? Why?"

Beta #2: "I just read the first ten chapters of your manuscript. In, like, less than two hours and stuff."

Me: *raises eyebrows* "Dude, you NEVER read that fast!"

Beta #2: "Sometimes I'm awesome like that"

Me: "So... Whaddaya think?"

Beta #2: "Love it. This chick's da bomb. And you know what?"

Me: *smiling from ear to ear* "What??"

Beta #2: "She totally reminds me of YOU"

Me: "..."


There you go, folks--I've written a clone.

Well, both betas assure me that the MC's waaaay more impulsive (and funnier...) than me, but the similarities are still there.

What say you? Is your MC a clone, a cooler version of you, or someone completely different?

An Open Letter To My Fake Husband

Dear Jensen Ackles,


Why?


Sincerely,


The Girl Who Wishes She Could've Been The One :(

Who Would You Follow?

The awesome people over at YA Highway have a blog road trip going on, and it's all about following. On Twitter, that is.


Their question: If literary characters had Twitter accounts, whose tweets would you follow?

I read this and thought: "WHOA! Stalker time!" (as opposed to Borat's 'sexy time!', which I often blurt out in front of complete strangers...).

Okay, peeps. Here's my list of literary characters I would stal-

I mean, I would follow on Twitter:

1) Stefan and Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries series

Can you imagine what their tweets would be like?? Stefan brooding, Damon bitching. Hilarity ensues.



2)



Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series

I'm not too convinced that Snape would agree to Twitter, but if he did, I'd be glued to my computer. The man's not only a brilliant wizard, but his double agent experience would be fun to read about. Plus, he hates everything. Who doesn't love a character that gets pissed so easily?


3)


Katsa from Graceling.

Not only is she a kick-butt heroine and fiercely independent, but I see parts of myself in her. Not that I can beat people to a pulp or anything... I'd like to, though. That'd be nice.
Also, it would be cool to read about her life as Po's leading lady. *swoon*




4)




Grover Underwood from the Percy Jackson series (book version, though).

I say book version because Grover's much more introverted, awkward and funny as a literary character. The movie version was trying to be all suave and hip, which was funny, but my Grover is the sweet little satyr who plays Hilary Duff songs on his reed pipes. I bet his tweets would be all about eating soda cans and fearing death. Super.


5) And last but not least...



Sam Roth from Shiver

Love songs, poetry, the suckiness of winter, books--these are all things Sam would tweet about. And I have no problem reading about them :D


So what say you? Who would you stalk... I mean, follow... on Twitter?