Editing Side-Effects

I'm editing. This means a few things to me.

It means I am staying up too late. My brain doesn't fully kick in until about noon. I have accepted this. I'm much more of a night owl than a morning person, but I have kids that have to get up and go to school. Which means I am a staying up too late and getting up too early person. You can tell I'm editing by the dark circles under my eyes, the inability to stop yawning in the mornings, and the self-imposed naptime schedule.

It means I keep munchies handy for quick snacks, but usually never remember to eat them. Thus, it means my kids get super excited to have said munchies laying around the house all vulnerable and exposed. I guess it works well for both of us.

It also means that I'm hyper-critical of everything I'm doing. I don't just edit my book, I edit my life. When I'm in edit-mode, I find more efficient ways to keep the dishes in the kitchen done, better plans to keep the car clean, and add new labels to my email inbox.

Am I crazy? Do other people do this too? It makes me wonder. Also, if you haven't entered to win my Giveaway, you can do so now. :)

Giveaway Celebration

Over the weekend, I hit 3000 twitter followers which was really fun, so I decided to have a celebration because...um...friends are cool.

Also, I really like to give stuff away. :)

So, for this giveaway, I'm going to offer up two prizes and two winners. It will be available international! Mostly because I'm a huge fan of other countries. *blows kisses to Germany & Italy* Yay!

Each winner can choose any book (up to $15) from The Book Depository. Entries will be accepted until next Sunday night -- September 2nd. The winners will be announced in my post next Monday, September 3rd.

What do you have to celebrate this week?

Also...let the games begin!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Look! It's Me!

Today I'm posting over on the Lucky 13s about the Plot Discovery Road Trip. Do you drive through your first draft with a road map? Just drive where the road takes you? Or somewhere in between? Stop by and chat with the 2013 Children's & YA Debuts about it.

Monday Confession...My Kryptonite

Many writers struggle with action scenes. Some have a hard time with pacing or plot structure.

My weakness is the scenes with all the kissy-kissy.

It's not that I don't like it. My stony heart goes all pitter-patter over the romance just like most readers. For some reason though, it's my least favorite scene to write. I'd rather write a bloody brawl or a scary graveyard scene than a smoochie scene any day of the week.

But I recognize this and I've worked very hard on it. I finally feel like I can write a good make-out session with the best of them, but it's still isn't easy for me.

So now you know, kissing is my kryptonite. What is yours?

So...Much...Brilliance!

School starts next week. WriteOnCon just ended. My kids had stomach flu all week. And I have edits I need to finish up by Monday.

So, rather than try to pull together a post with a brain that is not altogether available right now, I'm going to let other people be brilliant on my behalf. I love it when the people of the internets do that for me! :)

*Genius post from Paper Lantern Lit on The Art of the First Page.

*Some awesome writing tips from myself and the other Lucky 13s + tons of giveaways on our Back to Basics WriteOnCon post.

* This inspirational post on The Essential Invisible Thing by Editor Molly O'Neill over at WOC

* This fantastic ProPanel from WOC including: Agents Sarah LaPolla & Katie Grimm and Editors Alison Weiss & Sara Sargent

* In fact, I'm noticing a pattern here...just go check out all of WriteOnCon. It's so, so good. I promise you won't regret it.

Have a great weekend!

WriteOnCon - Are You In?

Have you heard about WriteOnCon? If not, you are missing out.

It's a free online writers conference taking place right now. You can read more about it in this article from Publishers Weekly. It started yesterday, but you can read transcripts and posts of everything that happened yesterday and you're not too late to join in on the fun for day 2!

If you've attended conferences before, you know how great they can be. If you haven't, what better place to check one out than from home and for free? I got to participate behind the scenes this year (you might spot me in the welcome video, with some tips or as part of a giveaway), and it was so much fun. It's free after all, so when you get a minute, pop on over and check it out!

Casual = very good. And most other conferences really frown on you attending in your pajamas.

Snobs.

The Olympics & Dreaming your Dream

I've loved watching the Olympics these last couple of weeks. There is something breathtaking about seeing people chase their dreams.

It's written plainly on their faces: the absolute joy of success, the heart-breaking agony of failure. These people have invested everything they have in this one sprint, this one swim, this one moment.

This is commitment.

It takes a kind of madness, a desperation, to chase a dream in such a way. It's a madness I respect. I hope some piece of it lives in me.

Watching these Olympians inspires me. I want to be like them, to strive to improve with every book, every chapter, every sentence. I try to get better every day. Some days I get one step closer to that gold medal, some days I take a step back...but the dream remains. And I chase it every day.

What dreams do you reach for? What inspires you to get there?