Stefanie is Bedazzled!

Once upon a time, there was a girl who went searching for a writer buddy. After meeting a few people, this girl thought she would never find "The One". Nobody was clicking with her. In an act of desperation, the girl posted on the AbsoluteWrite.com forums, titling the post "Can a girl get a writer buddy :)". The heavens shined down on her then. Her savior came in the form of a girl who wrote awesome YA and was funny and just as silly as the girl was. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic, but considering the impact this writer buddy has had on me, the dramatics are warranted. I first started exchanging emails with Stefanie Gaither back on March 27, 2011. Over the past year, Stef has become not only a writer buddy, but also a dear friend. I even had a dream once in which we met at a writing conference. When we saw each other in said dream, there was lots of hugging and girly squealing (later, when I told Stef about the dream she said she would have tackle hugged me, lol). After the hugs, we became detectives to find the person trying to sabotage our writing... But back to the point of this blog post.

Without Stef's help, my writing would not be what it is today. She taught me the difference between its and it's. She opened my eyes to the wonders of the semi-colon and the emdash. She's tried to help me with my comma problems, but that is a lost cause. She has always been honest about my writing without being harsh. She's helped me out of many writer blocks including one last night. She listened to me rant about how hard writing is and life in general. We have stayed up into the early morning hours just being crazy.

Needless to say, Stef will be getting a very heartfelt acknowledgement at the end of THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD  because, if not for her, the book would be crap.

Here's just a small collection of things we've traded in chat sessions (of which, there have been "many" or that's what gmail says, apparently there are too many to count), emails, through facebook, and twitter. Enjoy the crazy!

Lucky 7-ish

I've been tagged by a couple of cool mamma-jammas with this, but I haven't gotten to page 77 on my WIP yet so I wasn't going to do it. But, after reading all the other fantasticness, I can't help myself. So I figure, since I don't have a page 77 yet, then I can pick from anywhere. Right, we'll go with that!

The Rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy down the next 7 lines/sentences, and post them as they’re written. No cheating.
4. Tag 7 other victims …er, authors.

Excerpt:

 Just when I'm about to give up the ghost and betray my beliefs by saying that I never really saw what the big fuss was about when it came to The Lord of the Rings, she shocks the hell out of me.

“How did you know Two Towers is my favorite one?”

My eyes widen and the next few sounds out of my mouth could never, ever be construed as actual words. “Guh... Uhh... Bah?”

Her hands start to dance nervously over the plastic pages of the binder as she says, “I mean, yeah,” she shrugs, “we could watch that.”

Thanks to Kate Avelynn, Tracy Rohlfing, and Tiffany Truitt for tagging me!

I only have a couple of people I'm going to tag because I can't think of anyone else who hasn't been tagged and even these people have probably been tagged and I just don't know it. So, if you haven't been tagged yet and want to participate, just say so in the comments and I'll add you to the list here! Cool? Cool!

Ophelia London

Suze W

Day 34: Its My World, I'll Do What I Want...

I'm about to hit 25,000 words today which is about a fourth to a third of my book. I set my goal at 100,000 so when I edit I'll have room to cut stuff. I'm sure this isn't a sure fire plan, but it makes sense to me.

I'm about to write a scene that has, has, has to be excellent. But, the cool thing about it is it takes place in a world of my creation. This world is so fantastical that I can basically do anything I want. I love that about writing fantasy. There's no question of "Is that even possible?", because "Yes, it is possible. I created it and if I want it to be possible, it is." It also puts a little bit of pressure on me. I don't want the readers to think, "Man, she could have done anything she wanted and THIS is what she came up with?". But that's okay. I believe I work better under pressure :)

On another topic, I can't believe the amount of support I've been receiving from friends. And by friends I mean Facebook friends. People I would have never expected to be interested are, in fact, interested. I was so hesitant to announce that I was writing a book. I was scared they would scoff, they wouldn't take it seriously. Instead, they're checking out my blog, commenting on my posts, asking about the book, giving encouragement, and saying they're excited to read it. *sigh* It warms the heart! So thanks to all my family and friends for being supportive! I can't wait for ya'll to read it either :)

Here's the song that was in my head when I woke up this morning. I wonder what my subconscience is trying to tell me since I am writing a young adult novel?

And here's a little something I always listen to if I'm feeling a little pressed.