Dianne Salerni and Marcy Hatch have a new feature on their blogs, where they critique the first page of a piece you submit to them. I was fortunate enough to be able to grab a spot and my first page is up today! Thank you, you two. =)

If you're interested to get a critique yourself, I heard they still have spots open for April. So what are you waiting for? Submit!



Picture Credit.

So, in the last weeks a few pretty amazing book covers were revealed. I thought I'd share my excitement about them. ;-) So without further ado...

[Click the title to be lead to the Goodreads page for further information and links to preorder, click the book cover to see it in bigger. :D ]




Vanish by Sophie Jordan
Expected publication: September 6th 2011 by HarperTeen

To save the life of the boy she loves, Jacinda did the unthinkable: She betrayed the most closely-guarded secret of her kind. Now she must return to the protection of her pride knowing she might never see Will again—and worse, that because his mind has been shaded, Will’s memories of that fateful night and why she had to flee are gone.

Back home, Jacinda is greeted with hostility and must work to prove her loyalty for both her sake and her family’s. Among the few who will even talk to her are Cassian, the pride’s heir apparent who has always wanted her, and her sister, Tamra, who has been forever changed by a twist of fate. Jacinda knows that she should forget Will and move on—that if he managed to remember and keep his promise to find her, it would only endanger them both. Yet she clings to the hope that someday they will be together again. When the chance arrives to follow her heart, will she risk everything for love?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I've already been in awe of the cover of the first book in the series, but this is even MORE gorgeous. I really enjoyed Firelight, and I can't wait to get my hands on this book!

I'm behind, but finally, my 2011 resolutions! If I post them later, maybe my determination to go through with all of them will last longer? Ha, a girl can dream. ;-)


Writerly resolutions for the first half of 2011:
- Finish edits on my UF adult novel, Under The Surface.
- Query said novel once it's as good as it can be.
- Complete my witchy, carnivale-y YA novel.
- Write a short story.


Personal resolutions:
- Read at least 60 books over the course of the year.
- Read all the books in my 2011 Debut Author list!
- Continue eating healthily and exercising, so I can shed 10 more pounds.
- Post two blog posts per week.
- Have fun.

Let's see how that goes. ;-) So what about you guys? How are your resolutions going?

I hope everyone had great holidays! Mine were fun and relaxing and filled with many food comas. And of course endless Donkey Kong Returns marathons on the Wii.

So... tomorrow is the last day of 2010. I can hardly believe how fast the year whizzed by. At the start of this year, I made a resolution post and I thought it would be fun to see what I managed to keep and with what I failed. A new resolution post will follow in the next week, once I figured out what they are. *g*


My resolutions for 2010:

Writing
# Edit Angel book #1/ Find a damn name! I did. Then I shelved it, because I realised it was a practice novel.
# Get the guts to submit something. The worst thing that can happen is a lot of rejections! I didn't. But... I'm well on my way towards it. 2011 will be the year of querying. I hope.
# Outline and write angel book #2. Didn't happen. See above.
# Figure out the adult story that's been attacking me since November. I DID. And I wrote it! Currently in heavy edits.
# Poke Phoebe to see what we're doing with our collab! =D We plotted and finished it! YAY.
# Blog twice a week. Spectacular fail. Something to think about for 2011.

Personal
# Continue to eat more healthily & work out = drop more pounds. I did! Didn't drop as much as I would have wished for, but keeping my weight is a success.
# Pass all my modules in uni, so I can change to my other course! I DID. Applications for the new course are sent out. Now I just have to wait and see if they'll take me. *fingers crossed*
# Read at least 30 books this year. I can't believe I thought this would be hard at the start of the year. I surpassed the goal! As of today I read 57 books this year. Very proud of myself and I want to make it more than that in 2011.

As with every year, 2010 had its highs and lows. I visited old friends, made a bunch new writing friends online (thanks for your support guys! :D )... And now I can't wait to see what 2011 will bring. :D

"Forgive me father, for I have sinned."

*clears throat* No, this is not a religious post. Nor am I catholic. But I need to confess!

I finished my zero draft of Under The Surface last week (Cue chair dancing *dances*). I say zero draft, because instead of a last line it has "...". I say zero draft, because the second and third to last chapters consist of. "[FILL IN A SCENE THAT MAKES SENSE AND TIES UP ALL LOOSE ENDS. STAT. Oh, and btw, that political conflict? You might want to find a solution that is satisfying. Kthxbye.]".

Uhm... yeah.

Even though the story is out there... it is ugly. Like a giant, smudgy pencil sketch with all kinds of wrong lines, before the artists moves in with pretty colours to make it all shiny. And y'know... fill in the blanks. Cause those gaping plot holes (*cough*A new character showing up 200 pages in that's the MCs BFF, but was never mentioned before *cough*) that could swallow an entire dimension, won't fix themselves.

So... I've been revising. I have my notebook with what needs to be fixed and I have the print out of my dear novel. I've been waiting for this part of the work process FOREVER. I like making a novel prettier and seeing if the character motivation works, if it has good pacing and structure... though sometimes I doubt myself and wonder if I'm not making it more of a disaster. Gah.


But yes, the confession I wanted to make? I've been cheating on UtS. You see, there's this other, shiny idea in my head and it won't let me go. I've been swatting it away, dutifully making notes so that I wouldn't forget my ideas and telling it it has to wait til 2011, by which time I hope to have these revisions over with. But this shiny idea is persistent (Disclaimer: Shiny Idea Syndrome ™can lead to adultery on previous projects) and so this morning instead of working on revisions, I WROTE WORDS. Which was so not my plan. But I like those words and they're good words. And the story has spark and wit and voice!

Dilemma.

I think I'll have to set myself an 'edit so many pages and then you get to work on the other novel' deadline, because it won't shut up. Yeah... that's what I'll do.

Thanks for listening.

2011 is nearly here! (What a scary thought, it feels like 2010 just started. Eek!) Which means that it's almost time for the 2011 Debut Author Challenge hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. What is this challenge, you ask? By signing up, you vow to read at least twelve Young Adult or Middle Grade books by authors making their debut in 2011. I didn't participate in 2010, mostly because I only found out about it in summer and didn't want to jump in so late. But this time I'm participating!

For more information go here, and if you want to sign up yourself, go here.

As for the books I will be reading (sorted by release date):

Sadly my pretty widget doesn't work on LJ, but you can find a list of the books on my goodreads account, here.

1. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
2. XVI by Julia Karr
3. Across The Universe by Beth Revis
4. Other Words For Love by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal
5. Vesper by Jeff Sampson

6. The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney
7. Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

8. Clarity by Kim Harrington
9. Wither by Lauren DeStefano
10. Entwined by Heather Dixon

11. Memento Nora by Angie Smibert

12. Divergent by Veronica Roth
13. Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs
14. Awaken by Katie Kacyinsky

15. Possession by Elana Johnson

16. Wildefire by Karsten Knight

17. The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

I'm almost sure there will be more, but these are the ones I will definitely read. :D

I have these really random moments, usually when I'm emerged deeply in the middle of another manuscript, where inspiration strikes and the first sentence of a new project leaps into my mind completely out of the blue. It's usually in first person. It often happens in the shower, or right before I go to sleep. Today, it happened on my daily walk with my dog. She has to wear a little black shoe over her foot at the moment, because she cut her paw open on something and while racing through the muddy fields like a mad person (I need to take a picture or video of this, it's crazy for a basset hound with her stature to be able to run like this) the shoe nearly came off. So I bent down and pulled it back up. When I straightened up and wiped the mud from my hand on my jeans, it hit me. One sentence came to mind, quickly followed by a second one. So of course I scrambled to get my phone out of my pocket and write it down, in case I forgot it before I got home.

"Dried mud tugged on my skin as I flexed my cold fingers. The brown coated both of my hands, dulling the vibrant purple on my fingernails."

via wehearit

 

I have no idea what the sentence means. I have NO freaking idea whose story it is. I just have these two sentences and the faint glimmer of an idea that it's a teenage girl and that she's in really deep trouble.

It's funny how my mind works sometimes.

I'm behind, but I've been tagged twice, so here it goes! :D

First tag comes from Erica at Elevator Musings.

List ten things that you like (not love) and pass it on to ten people. Because I don't want to tag anyone that doesn't want to do it, I'll say, anyone that reads this and wants to do it, can. ;-)
First of all, it's really hard to think of things that I just like, I'm very good with the loving, the liking is harder. *g* Here it goes.

1. I like cookies. Especially when there's chocolate involved in said cookies.
2. I like writing to-do-lists. I love crossing things off.
3. I like singing in the car. Loudly. People stare when I stop at a red light, but I don't care.
4. I like rain, but not when I have to go outside and walk in it.
5. I like iced coffee. Yum.
6. I really really really like inspirational quotes about writing or life. I have a little silver notebook where I write them down when I come across one on the net or elswhere.
7. I like uneven numbers. They're prettier than even ones. Especially 3, 5 and 7.
8. I like the spark of a new idea, but I love it when I'm so inspired to put it on paper in a way it feels like it's coming alive.
9. I like paper back books, for me they're much easier to read than their chunky hard back brothers and sisters.
10. I like sleep. Ugh, who am I kidding? I LOVE sleep.



The second tag is from the lovely ladies over at Coffey. Tea. And Literary.


I don't think I have one. I buy the clothes that jump out at me and that I like, but I don't really dress after a special style.

It's really hard for me to narrow it down, because I have a lot, but my favourite right this minute after leafing through my notebook is:

Fairytales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. ~ G.K. Chesterton
5. What playlist/cd is on your ipod/cd player right now?Total night owl. Sometimes I wish I could be a morning person, because I hear people get more things done when they get up early in the morning, but I'd rather sit til the middle of the night. Which sorta collides with the getting up early for uni part.

I don't think I prefer either. I have both and they both have their advantages and disadvantages. I love both equally. :D

I have a lot of interests, so it's always been hard for me to focus on one, especially when it comes to choosing a job. I want to be everything. *g* Thankfully, being a writer let's me live the lives of others for a little while and jump into a role that isn't mine, which satisifies my curiosity and makes me able to do research on all kinds of subjects. :D So... A Little Bit of Everything! This also could be applied to my relationship with food, but don't tell anyone. ;-)

I've been a little obsessed with a song from Sara Bareilles' forthcoming album Kaleidoscope Heart (such a beautiful imaginery!), that comes out in a month on September 7th. She performed the song Live on VH1 and like so many of her songs the lyrics/music/her voice spoke to me. I can't stop listening to it and IMO it can be applied very well to writing. So this is what I'll do today. Bear with me.



A new draft or maybe you're in the middle of a book, you have no idea where to start or how to go on, but if you pressure yourself nothing good will come of it, because you'll block yourself off the words. You finished your last book and thought the next one would be the same, that writing would get easier now that you've finished something, but it's a whole different experience.





You're alone and maybe due to the issues you're having, you tried to reach out, read how-tos on writing, but now you're overwhelmed with all the information out there*. Everybody else already seems to be successful, someone wrote the EXACT same, totally brilliant novel you were planning to. They have a book deal, you don't. *cue depression* And everything just SUCKS.


You really want to write and it's YOUR thing. You know it deep down, but it's so hard. You love it and during the day job or your activities at home all you can think about is your characters and new plot ideas. But once you sit down at night to do it, it's like there's this big fat block inside of your head and what you were looking forward to all day becomes dreadful. You feel like your writing sucks.



But you know that when you just think about it and stare at the empty pages/word document all you do is drive yourself crazy. So you have to dive in, no matter what and be it all by yourself. No one can show you where to go. There's no plan, no foolproof way of knowing when or how you'll come out at the other end. It's all uncharted.

The bridge! (My favourite part of the song.) Let your imagination and the words flow. Just write something, ignore the doubts. Maybe it doesn't make sense at first, but it'll get there. It's a part of you and as long as it remains true to yourself it'll be good. You're not going to sit and watch the world pass you by, you're going to take the lead and be the person that makes the change. And even if what you're doing isn't good, it's better to let this idea go up in flame and end so you can do something new, than to watch it slowly and painfully burn out. (Wow, I should be ashamed for this bad metaphor. *g*)


Don't think of that BIG goal at the end of the road. Think of the now, make tiny goals that you can reach and eventually, you'll get to the big one. But looking at the huge, unattainable one will only freeze you and get you nowhere.




Conclusion: Your journey is your own. NO ONE will have the same as you. Don't compare. Just trust the words. Trust yourself. Trust that deep inside of yourself there's something that'll make it happen. And WRITE. Write like hell - it doesn't matter if it sucks. It can be polished into a beautiful diamond later. Just get started.

P.S.: I want to be able to play the piano like she can.

* This isn't to say that you shouldn't read blog posts of other authors, agents, editors and so on. They're great. I learn a lot from other people in the blogosphere, but don't obsess over every piece of advice. Try it and see what works for you. Not everything out there works for everyone in the same way. There's no hidden, secret formula.

**Disclaimer: The lyrics belong to Ms Bareilles, this is just me interpreting them in my very own way. I'm sure they can mean something different to everyone. That's the beauty of music.