You Might Be A YA Writer If... And... He Loves Me...He Loves You Not...Poll

Hello Readers!

Hope everyone's week has kicked off to great start!

I had this super fun idea for a post last week, but I'll get to that in a sec.

First I wanted to take a poll from the readers who've read, He Loves Me...He Loves You Not...

So, I've been toying with the notion of rewriting. No... Not completely rewriting, but writing a second addition and adding Henry's POV to it. I've asked a few people who have read it and some say, "No don't!" While others say, "That might be interesting to read."

Truthfully, I love Henry. He's one of my favorite characters. Part of me thinks he deserves to tell his story. So in the end, I want to know what the readers think. What about Henry? Would you want to read his POV?


Now on to the fun part of today's post?

How many of you watch or listen to comedians?

Personally I love some of the ones that incorporate stuff like this into their acts.

You might be a (insert word here) if....

So I thought, how fun would that be if we did that for today's post? Let's face it. We all draw our inspirations from different places.

And...

If you're adult, sometimes its difficult to find yourself in the teen mind-frame when writing a YA novel. We might think we know what the current trends are in the world of teenagers, but that's not always the case.

Now on to the fun part. Here's how I dip into the teenage mind, lol.

You might be a YA writer if...

1. You casually eavesdrop on a conversation between some bubbly teenage girls while skimming the sales rack at Forever 21. Then you ask yourself,"Did she just say fugly?" Hmm... Fugly? Is that even a word? Maybe I can use that somewhere.

2. You observe your teenage brother with his dudes while they play basketball to catch up on current teenage boy speak.(I have to say, that from doing this I've learned that teenage boys lingo is totally and completely different from teenage girls.)

3. Google becomes your best friend and you've been sitting in front of your computer for the last hour typing in searches like; fashion trends for teens. (Yes, I have done this, lol.)

So let's hear some of yours....

You might be a YA writer If.... Finish this in the comment section.

Hopefully you've had fun with this!

I know I did.

Cheers!

Query Do's And Don'ts

Hiya Readers!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday!

Today's post is about query do's and don'ts. (At least mine, anyway.)

Now, some of you are in the beginning stages of the query process and some of you are all ready agented so you don't have to worry about this stage at all.

But...

You never know when a few helpful tips might come in handy.

Do's

1. Be informative, but describe the novel in no more than three paragraphs.

Look, here's the thing, and I don't know if this is just me or other agents feel the same way, but I don't want to read a book about you explaining your entire story from beginning to end. Paragraphs in a query should be short, simple, and to the point.

2. Always tell the agent a little bit about yourself.

So you're a member of three great writing groups? Have a degree in Creative Writing? Have a platform? Yeah. We want to know that stuff.

And me personally, I want to know just how many projects you've written.

3. Be professional.

But I'm pretty sure most of you know how to do that. :)

Don'ts

1. Do not. I repeat do not... Tell me that you're the next J.K. Rowling.

This is my number one query pet peeve. I dislike query letters to begin with. I don't like to read them. I think a lot of writers have trouble with them. And 99.9 percent of the time, I skip the query portion and read the writing that's pasted into the email first.

BUT....

If I do happen to skim the query line and see something like that, its an instant rejection for me. First off, its great that you're confident in your skills, I mean it really is, but how much is too much? THAT is too much.

2. If you receive a rejection, do not write back with a snappy, unprofessional letter.

I don't know about other agents, but I avoid rejection letters as long as possible because I don't like writing them. I feel like a giant dream crusher. I know how hard writers work on their craft. How much time they put in. The passion and emotion that's involved. And I wish I could sign everyone that queries me, but sadly, I can't.

Sometimes you might think you're ready to begin querying, but you're not. And all it will take is a little more time, hard work, and perseverance before you should begin building that query letter, perfecting it, and then sending it out. Don't ever be in a rush. Take it from me, I used to be that way. But, I have since learned my lesson and also learned to take a step back, breathe, and take my time on things.

In the end, that will show in your work. And the reader or agent will able to see it to.

Hopefully some of these tips helped.

Cheers!

So...What Are You Writing?

Good Morning, Readers!

It's been a while.

I've been away from the blogger world due to some family things, but I'm excited to be back with this post!

Because this post is about WIP's. Yay!

Lately, I'd been in a writing slump. Mainly because of all of things that had been going on in my personal life, but I'm excited to say that I've found my voice again. And I can't even begin to express how good that feels.

It's amazing.

Transcendent.

Glorious.

So I'm going to share a little piece of my new WIP with you. I'm actually super excited because this will be my first adult romance novel, that and... It's hot, steamy, and spine tingling at the same time.

So here is a teaser for my latest WIP- Insanity(Asylum 1)

I panic, screaming louder, and thrash as hard as I can. The orderly’s in front of me grip my wrists harder and I can see one clearly through my strands of unwashed hair. Thick black hair, blue blue eyes, and toasted almond skin. He doesn't look at me like the chubby one with pale, ashy hair next to him is looking at me. He's not looking at me like I'm crazy. He's looking at me like he feels sorry for me. Like he wants to take me away from this gloomy prison and hide me from the doctors with needles and metronomes.

Please, blue eyes.

Save me.

Be my prince charming.

My knight in shining armor.

Rescue me from a burning tower of depression, sadness, and misery.

He doesn't.

The needle plunges into my skin and I let out a whimper. The drug blasts through my veins and infiltrates my bloodstream, shutting every organ inside of me down for the night. Widening my eyes, I fight off the effects of the drug as it works its way through my body. I clench my fists defiantly, trying to scream again, but I'm too weak, too tired, and too over taken by the drugs to do anything but moan inaudibly.

I hear the doctor. “Just wait until it takes full effect.” His voice is muffled, fading away, pretty soon I can't hear him at all anymore. I think my door closes.

There's a ringing in my ears that I can't shut out. There's a hand on my wrist that doesn't let go. Before exhaustion takes over I look up. Blue eyes is at the end of the bed. He releases my wrist and laces his fingers through mine. I squint as the sedative blurs my vision, begins to decapitate my mind, and then notice the painful look in those blue blue eyes.

He mouths something.

Six words.

Six words that seem to impossible to be true.

Six words that bleed hope into my soul.

Six words.

“You're not crazy. I love you.”

So now that I've shown you mine, tell me about yours.

What are you writing?