Weekend Progress Report

I've been super busy lately, but in a good, very productive way :) Unfortunately, that productivity hasn't spilled over to my blog, but the wave of writing/personal/work deadlines has passed (for now) and I'm looking forward to focusing on the blog again - I've missed you guys!

So, what have I been up to (in the writing world, anyways - the rest is just boring)? Well, I polished up my pitch and first chapter for DAUGHTER OF THE MOON and entered it into three contests. And guess what?! I won two of them - and the results for the third still aren't in. When I first realized I'd actually won, I was floored, and then giddy. And then panic set in. You see, both wins ended in full requests. Which is AMAZING...but, what if they don't like it? The full manuscript has only ever been read by CPs and Betas in our safe, fluffy, little writing world. Yes, some critiques can be hard, but I can't even imagine what an editor or agent might have to say. So, the waiting has begun and I'm equal parts terrified and over-the-moon, out-of-my-mind excited. It's actually kind of exhausting. How do you deal with the wait? Any tips? ;)

To keep my mind off of my email inbox, I've been keeping busy catching up on all of the critiques I didn't have time for the past couple of weeks on Scribophile. Seriously, if you guys aren't on that website, check it out. I can't say enough good things about the Scrib community :)

And finally....

Theresa Paolo - YA writer and blogger - surprised me with the Booker Award! So here's how this one works:

This award is for book bloggers only. To receive this award the blog must be at least 50% about books (reading or writing is okay)
Along with receiving this award, you must also share your top five favorite books you have ever read. (More than five is okay) You must give this award to 5-10 other lucky book blogs you adore.


It might be bending the rules of the award a bit, but I'm going to choose my top 5 favorite stories, rather than books, so I can include some series too. It's just too hard for me to separate a series into individual books once I've read the whole story. 


So here goes:


1) The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind
2) The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (with a little help from Brandon Sanderson)
3) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
4) Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkein
5a) The Axis trilogy by Sara Douglass
5b) Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey


Ok, so I cheated again and the fifth choice was a tie. It was really hard narrowing it down that far though, really! So what about you? Have you read the books on my list? Did you love any of these as much as I do? And, you might have noticed that I only chose adult books. This wasn't on purpose, but I think the reason behind it is that these are the books I was reading in my young adult years. I skipped the whole YA genre until I was an adult for some odd reason and so when I think about my favorite stories, the ones which shaped me as a reader are the first to come to mind. What about you? Would your list be made up of mostly adult? Mostly YA? A healthy mix?


So now I need to pass on the Booker Award. I choose:


Clare Dugmore
Melissa Buell
Leigh Ann Kopans
McKenzie McCann
Dorothy Dreyer

Weekend Progress Report

It's been a long time since I've done a Weekend Progress Report, so I'll leave all the nitty gritty for next time. I wasn't allowed to post anything after the Writer's Voice post until all the picks were through, so it's been awhile since I've posted anything at all. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the next round of the Writer's Voice, but I did get introduced to a lot of great blogs and I'm super excited about the entries who did make it! Especially the ones for the manuscripts I've been lucky enough to Beta read :) How about you? Did any of your favorites make it in? Are you going to follow the next round?

Still though, I was a bit disappointed about not making it further in the contest, but YA fantasy writer Kat kindly bestowed the Kreativ Blogger award upon me to cheer me up!

In order to accept the award, I need to answer 10 questions and also share 10 random facts about myself. So here goes :)

10 Questions

What is your favorite song? Gosh, this really depends on my mood. Right now though, I'd go with Andreas Kleerup - Until We Bleed and anything on the Twilight soundtracks!

What is your favorite dessert? My Mom's amazing NY Cheesecake :) And cupcakes - definitely have a weakness for cupcakes!

What ticks you off? People not letting me get off the train before they force their way into it. Grr.

What do you do when you're upset? Take a nap - if I'm in a bad mood then it's usually just because I haven't gotten enough sleep.

Which is/was your favorite pet? My cat, Jules. She's a girl, but she's named after Jules from Pulp Fiction anyways.

Which do you prefer, black or white? Black. White tends to be rather headache-inducing, imo.

What is your biggest fear? Never finding satisfaction in my career (never making it as an author).

What is your attitude mostly? Cynical (if that counts), but I'm working on it ;)

What is perfection? The Pacific Northwest, or coastal Maine. I love the rough beauty of the ocean and the trees softened by grey fog.

What is your guilty pleasure? Chai tea lattes and chocolate...yumm.

10 random facts

1) Before I start writing, no matter the time of day, I make a big cup of hot tea to set the mood.

2) I have degrees in both Biomedical Engineering and Bioimaging. I was always drawn to English and Literature, but was determined to get an education which which wouldn't leave me jobless after graduation. Guess what I wish I'd studied?

3) I didn't realize it at first, but looking back, I seem to have learned more about how to deal with tough situations in my life from characters in books than I have from anywhere else.

4) Writing the villians into a story is one of my favorite parts. Although, I seem to have a tendency to sympathize with them a lot (maybe too much). But hey, villians didn't start out all bad, right?

5) Using the phone makes me nervous. I'm much more likely to order food for delivery if I can do it online.

6) I've found the best CPs online, but I still crave a relationship with a real-life writing buddy.

7) Twitter is hard. I love reading everyone's tweets but find myself feeling like a weird stalker person whenever I want to respond to a tweet which wasn't directed at me specifically.

8) When Robert Jordan passed away without finishing the Wheel of Time series, I was honestly grief-stricken and down for at least a week. It was a strange feeling to have about a person, his imaginary world and characters, though we'd never met.

9) I can't stand apple juice. Just one whiff of the stuff makes me feel a bit ill. Love apples though!

10) Though I avoided it for awhile (no reason why), I recently watched my first episode of Dexter and now I'm hooked!

And I'd like to pass the Kreativ Blogger award on to these awesome blogs (not sure if any of them already got one or not)!

Larissa

R. C. Lewis

Theresa Paolo

Carissa Taylor

Weekend Progress Report

The past week/weekend was all about preparing for the Blogging from A to Z challenge so I didn't make any significant progress in terms of writing. But, my blog did receive its first award!


Last week, Carissa Taylor passed on the Liebster Blog award to me :)

In the spirit of the award, I'd like to pass it on to the following blogs:

1) Aderyn Wood

2) Jaycee DeLorenzo

3) K.S. Lewis

4) Tyson

5) Miss Cole

To accept the award, please follow these rules:

1. Show thanks to the blogger who awarded you by linking back to their blog.
2. Pick 5 blogs with less than 200 followers and let them know about your nomination by leaving a comment on their blog
3. Post the award on your blog!