Write On Con is back

The crit. forums are live and the 2-day conference starts tomorrow.
Every time I attend a conference two things happen.
1. I realize I have a ton to learn.
2. I'm on fire to write better: to know more, to deepen my characters, to cut out unnecessary plot points, and to write the best story ever.

Here's the perfect conference for me. I don't have to stress about my hair or clothes or my lack of a cool bag. I don't have to find babysitters, book a hotel, or spend a single dime. This is one time where the saying "You get what you pay for," does not apply. Last year on the forums I perfected my query and first 250 of LOVESENSE. So many new eyes helped make my query that much stronger for when I queried last fall.

 Have you seen the list of presenters? I'm putting stars by the ones I've met.

29 Authors: (including Natalie Whipple*, Caroline Star Rose, Liesl Shurtliff*, Peggy Eddleman*, Dan Krokos, Dianne Salerni*, Kimberley Griffiths Little* Mindy McGinnis, Ellen Oh)
20 awesome literary agents (including Peter Knapp-love his eyes, Victoria Marini, Sarah LaPolla, Suzie Townsend, and Kathleen Ortiz)
9 Editors: (including Sarah Dotts Barley and Patricia Riley)

hope you'll take some time this week to pop in. Even the live events can be viewed after the fact.
If you have material up in the forums, let me know in the comments and I'll check it out-in my pjs:)
What's your favorite reason for attending writing conferences?

IWSG-Better Late than Never

The first Wednesday of every month is IWSG, a bloghop hosted by the amazing Alex J. Cavenaugh. IWSG in a safe place to encourage, inspire, and admit our writing doubts to each other.










August!
I do really well at setting goals ... and then failing to reach them in my chosen timeframe. Life keeps coming-like this move that threw my writing and blogging for a serious loop.

Even so, I am determined to finish my current project NO MATTER WHAT. So I keep sludging forward.

What I thought was a puny hill

turns into a mountain

  and then a mountain range. I'm climbing the freaking Alps, but I keep going.

Even though it's hard, and the going is steep, I keep moving forward. My goal this past month: open my word document every day. That's it. It's not much progress forward, but it's one more step in the right direction. Hopefully one day I'll stand at the top and be able to say, "I made it."

If you have a chance, a little encouragement for my slow climbing would be appreciated. The Alps are looking rather tall this morning.

Thank you, IWSG!

IWSG: Fear

The first Wednesday of every month is IWSG, a bloghop hosted by the amazing Alex J. Cavenaugh to encourage and inspire each other and a safe place to admit our writing doubts.

On Sunday I listened to a General Conference address from a few years back as I drove in the car again (something I've gotten good at this past week-we've logged 40 hours so far). One line in the address stuck me deep. The speaker said that fear is the opposite of faith. I've never thought about fear that way. I realized I've been dwelling in fear more than I'd like to, and that I need to have more faith in many aspects of my life, my writing being one of them. So this month I'm sharing a poem that was given to me the summer before college. It has always helped me to believe more in myself, to push forward, and move out of fear. Perhaps it will do the same for you.

Our Deepest Fear
By Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

Until next month...

Happiness

Guys...Guys...I mean Girls too...I mean...Everybody:D
I posted over at Sporty Girl Books, but had to post here too.

The Catherine Murdock of The Dairy Queen Series, my all-time favorite sporty read, is going to let me interview her when her new book, Heaven is Paved with Oreos, releases this September. Also, her favorite Sporty Read is here.

I feel like this

So...if you have any questions for the amazing Catherine Murdock, add them in the comments or shoot me an email.

Talk about packing power. I could pack my whole house, if I could get off this computer!

Okay, okay, I'm going:D

My All-TIme Favorite Sporty Girl Book + Giveaway

I'm not here today, but am posting over at Sporty Girl Books. I hope you'll check out my favorite sporty read and enter our mega launch giveaway (rafflecopter below as well). Click here to find my contribution.

Happy Tuesday, All.

Back to packing for me.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

GFRR: Natalie Whipple's TRANSPARENT

The last of my Golden Five Recent Reads is Natalie Whipple's Transparent. I talk about meeting Natalie at LDStorymakers here.

I've been following Natalie's blog Between Fact and Fiction for a few years now and I appreciate how real she is. (I will not embarrass myself by admitting how many times I've read her posts on submissions.) I wish I had her gift for drawing. Here and here you can find scenes she's drawn for Transparent.

Natalie let me choose between an ARC of the English version or the British version with extras in the back. I chose the British version. We talked about how different the covers are and British humor. I don't know if you can tell, but in the British version her underwear has blue hearts. Apparently the cover artist went through three colors before settling on the blue.

On Goodreads:
Plenty of teenagers feel invisible. Fiona McClean actually is.

An invisible girl is a priceless weapon. Fiona’s own father has been forcing her to do his dirty work for years—everything from spying on people to stealing cars to breaking into bank vaults.

After sixteen years, Fiona’s had enough. She and her mother flee to a small town, and for the first time in her life, Fiona feels like a normal life is within reach. But Fiona’s father isn’t giving up that easily.

Of course, he should know better than anyone: never underestimate an invisible girl.

My Take:
This was another GFRR I kept pausing while reading marveling at all the brilliant she'd set up. The reasons for the many super powers, the radiusure meds, the various super powers and mafialords. I'm jealous of her seamless world building;) Sometimes I read books in first person and still don't feel inside the characters head. Not so with Fiona. I understood her needs and struggles and the trial of never being able to see yourself, to not even know your own hair color. I don't want to give any of the brilliant twists away, but know that they were each perfect, that I crushed on ALL the guys and that I was totally submersed in her world. If you haven't already, I hope you'll get your hands of this newly-released golden read.

Have you read Transparent yet or do you follow Natalie's blog? Love Kdramas like she does? What super power would you most want to have? I've always thought being Elastigirl would be perfect for mommy me, but when I was younger it was always the desire to fly. 

If you liked GRFF, please let know me in the comments and I'll make sure to do this feature again.

Of note: today is the Donation Bomb for Ben Wolverton. Details here.
Next Tuesday is my first post on Sporty Girl Reads. I hope to see some of you over there:)

Heroes vs. Villains and GFRR: THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF BERNETTA WALLFLOWER

Thanks for Jackie and Dani for this bloghop. My favorite hero and villain come from the same movie/book: The Princess Bride. As Janette Ralston said as LDStorymakers, "You're hero is only as strong as your antagonist."

Today's Golden Five Recent Read is Lisa Graff and her book, The L & C of Bernetta Wallflower. Instead of the traditional headshot I couldn't resist showing this picture of Lisa finding her books in the library. That's gotta feel great, right?

Goodreads:
Bernetta Wallflower is having the worst summer on record. After her ex-best friend, Ashley, frames her for running a school-wide cheating ring, Bernetta can't convince anyone that she's innocent. Her parents ground her until her tonsils grow back, and she's not even allowed to go to her father's magic club, Trunk Number Eight, where she performs every Saturday as a magician's assistant. But what's most terrible of all is that Mount Olive, the private school Bernetta has attended since kindergarten, has decided to take away her scholarship for seventh grade. If Bernetta wants to return to school, she'll need to find $9,000 in three short months. It seems hopeless . . . until Bernetta comes up with a plan that involves a lot of lying, a little bit of trickery, and a mysterious stranger with chocolate-brown eyes.

This is a comic and touching story about losing your footing and finding your way again from the author of "The Thing About Georgie."

My Take:
Such a fun read. The characters had so many great quirks. I'm a total sucker for an MC that loves to read. Not only does Bernetta love reading, but she chews the edges of her books, so her favorite copies have very little white space around the text. And all the names she called her little brother, Collin. Even the nail polish with her older sister. (Okay, I admit it, I'm in love with her entire family) I would have LOVED being in middle school with Bernetta and hanging out at her house after school watching her dad perform magic tricks. Even if you don't normally read MG books, I hope you're give Bernetta a try. My words aren't enough to express how Golden this read was.

Note:Although this book was in the YA part of my library, Bernetta is twelve years old, so I would consider this book upper middle grade.

Have you read Lisa Graff? This is my first of her books, but she has a bunch of good ones out there and like the authors I've highlighted thus far this week in GFRR, I'm looking forward to devouring more of Lisa Graff's books. I'll try not to chew on the edges.