Awards and Twitter Dialogue Hop!!

HUGE thanks to Tracey J, to Kelley, and to Cassie for the awards I've gotten!! I'll stick with this one:

Isn't it cute? I've always wanted a skunk to give me the thumbs up!! :D

As these things go, here is one thing that I love about myself. (It's a love/hate thing, really).

I'm so doggone smiley!

 I can't NOT smile, especially if I'm put on the spot or something, which is fun but embarrassing at the same time sometimes. I can't play Malarky because I SUCK at lying, and yes, Lady Gaga, you CAN read my poker face because it's non-existent. I've never been able to pull off the pouty, come-and-get-me pictures that some girls can do, I just end up looking like a dork. Quick story---

When I was ten or so (and when I thought I had a snowball's chance in hell of dancing--I'm not coordinated at all) I performed with a small dance group for a basketball game. Just after that the high school's show choir came out and you know how they sometimes pick some unsuspecting sucker to sit in a chair so they can dance around and sing to her? Yeah, they picked ME. I was so mortified!!! And pretty upset actually, I felt like an idiot while these high school boys danced around in their red shirts and sang about some sappy loviness or other. But I COULD NOT STOP SMILING!!! And that made it even worse because I wasn't HAPPY!! Gah. Oh well. C'est moi! I really do love this about myself. Just thought I'd throw the story in there!

As for passing on the award love (the hardest part because I follow so many awesome blogs), I'm awarding:

Juliana Brandt
Nicole Zoltack
Morgan Shamy

These ladies are all awesome! Go check out their blogs!!!

This is a double post. Ahem, now for Juliana Brandt's Twitter Dialogue Bloghop!!! (I know it's longer than I usually post! I'll understand if you don't want to read the whole thing!!) Juliana's spiel is that we have to have dialogue between characters, and each entry has to be a twitter entry (140 characters or less).

Theme: Paranormal
My characters are: @Controlling Father, @Manipulated Girl, @Stalker Boy

@Controlling Father: I got a call from Mrs. Abernathy.

@Manipulated Girl: *groans*

@Controlling Father: I assume you know what we discussed.

@Manipulated Girl: It won’t happen again.

@Controlling Father: Harvard isn’t lenient. They won’t be impressed with mediocrity.

@Manipulated Girl: I studied, Daddy. I just got distracted.

@Controlling Father: I think it’s time we got you into that learning center.

@Manipulated Girl: I don’t need private tutoring!

@Controlling Father: And any TV or pleasure-reading needs to be cut until this improves.

@Manipulated Girl: A lot of good that does. Seen me watch TV or read lately?

@Controlling Father: C is unacceptable. I want more for you than a farmer’s life.

@Manipulated Girl: So do I! But you can’t just—

@Controlling Father: I’m your father, and you will respect my wishes as long as you’re under this roof.

@Manipulated Girl: Maybe I don’t want to be under this roof anymore! *stomps off* *slams door*

@Stalker Boy: Hi, Shay.

@Manipulated Girl: What are you doing here? I’m serious. The stalking has got to stop.

@Stalker Boy: I came by to help you.

@Manipulated Girl: Help me. Sure.

@Stalker Boy: You okay?

@Manipulated Girl: I just want to hide somewhere. To stop existing.

@Stalker Boy: You don’t know what you’re saying.

@Manipulated Girl: I can’t do it anymore. I hate my life!

@Stalker Boy: I can take you away from it all.

@Manipulated Girl: What’s that supposed to mean?

@Stalker Boy: Come with me. No, don’t look back. Just come.

@Manipulated Girl: *scoffs* And go where?

@Stalker Boy: Does it matter? At least we’ll be away from here.

@Manipulated Girl: I…I can’t.

@Stalker Boy: *pauses* I didn’t want to have to do this.

@Manipulated Girl: Do what-- *screams* What have you done?

@Stalker Boy: You hated your life, Shay. Now you don’t have to worry about it. Now you don’t have to worry about anything.

@Manipulated Girl: No! *door slams* Dad? Daddy?

@Stalker Boy: He’s not here. You got your wish. You don’t exist.

@Manipulated Girl: It can’t be. *panics*

@Stalker Boy: Come on. It’s time to go home.

@Manipulated Girl: This is my home!

@Stalker Boy: Not anymore, it isn’t.

Upcoming Stuff

I'm excited about several upcoming events and thought I'd share:

This is going to be AWESOME! We flesh out our characters using only dialogue. Should be super fun. Go to Cassie's blog to find out more!!

And:

Again, courtesy of the awesome Cassie (and a few others!!) we'll be posting our steamy kissing scenes on Valentine's Day!!

One more:

It's a Twitter Dialogue Bloghop via the amazing Juliana Brandt! This will be fun too, we write a scene using only dialogue and each entry has to be twitter-style, 140 characters. The prize is a $10 gift card from Amazon. Check it out!!!

What about you, any fun blogginess going on?

I Heart YA --- Who's Your Freak?

For Suze Reese's I Heart YA prompt this week, it's pick your freak of the week! Thanks to Stephenie Meyer, vamps were the top picks for a while, but now many agents say NO VAMPS PLEASE. So amid all of the paranormal creatures out there, who's your fave?

Maybe I'll start with my least favorite? Sorry to all you Jacob fans, but I have never been a werewolf fan. I've tried reading Shiver, and Moon Called, but I just can't get into werewolves!

I love vampires, I dig the fallen angels (ahem, Patch, anyone?). But I think my favorite paranormal creature as of right now is sirens. I've never actually read that Siren book that's out there (anyone know if it's any good?), and in my novel Tears, I picture sirens different than the mermaid types from Greek stories I've seen out there. The ones that lure sailors and sink their ships.

Here's my version, a snippet from my story, Tears.

            The sirens all disappear save one. She sails on the air toward me, a fierce, red bird, and I have to stab sense into my brain when she lands before me. I clear my throat and readjust my sweaty clothes.

            She’s magic in and of herself, more beautiful than any human I’ve ever seen. The siren with Nattie last night wasn’t this spectacular. Vibrant red hair tumbles thickly down to her long legs and bare feet. Her gauzy wings pulse up and down as if breathing.

            What am I doing? Where she’s a blossoming redvine tree, I’m a shabby piece of wood from an old discarded fence. She wears a green tunic and a sheer, shimmery covering embroidered with sparkles and leaves.

            I can’t take my eyes from her wings. Their emerald blue weave is so intricate; it’s hard to tell they’re not wet.

            “Either you don’t know where you are, or you wish to die.” Her voice is smooth and lovely and carries that eerie edge.

            I keep her gaze in my own, though her pink, faceted eyes are difficult to look straight into. As much as I want to look at the ground instead of at her carriage of assurance, I keep my chin up.

            “Where is Talon?” I ask, my chest fuming.

            “Who?”

            “Talon! Don’t play stupid. You took him, I saw it!”

            Her long-lashed eyes glare at me. Do sirens still have emotion? I think Nattie said the spell didn’t affect them.

            Anger fuels my muscles, wires through my tendons. “Are you going to give him back, or what?” I crack my neck to one side. Talon taught me enough today. I can fight her, can’t I?

            Her jaw angles, but that’s the only thing on her that moves. The siren stands erect and dignified. She meets my gaze without falter. I stab my eyes into her twinkling ones, though it’s like trying to stare directly at the sun.

There it is. My version of sirens! What about you, what's your favorite paranormal creature?

I Heart YA Carnival

Yay! Suze Reese is hosting a fantastic carvinal on why we LOVE YA!! Check out her blog here. The prompt this week is:

My First YA Book? Yikes!!! Where do I start?

The first YA books I can remember reading are The Babysitter's Club books. I LOVED those! I gobbled them up. I remember during summers walking to our small town library and just getting all the books I could, which also included Goosebumps, The Giver and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, Walk Two Moons, Harry Potter, yes, that's a given.....

But in case you haven't caught on by now--THEY'RE ALL MIDDLE GRADE! What? Are you telling me I didn't read as a teenager! Lol. I didn't read as much, mostly Harry Potter and some adult fantasy series'. I'm pretty sure my mom and I hit up all the HP midnight parties! :)

What really got me into YA is Twilight. I think it the first book to ever suck me in and make me want to flip back to page one the minute I finished it! And then I think I read the whole series about nine times in a row. NINE! Something was seriously wrong with me, lol! After that I couldn't get enough YA. First romances, friendships, betrayals, teen angst...YES!!! And I've always wanted to be a writer, but it was Twilight that clicked it for me--yeah, I could do this.

So Stephenie Meyer, though you receive lots of criticism for using the word brooding over and over, and how Edward broods broodingly with his smoldering eyes, and how Bella has got to be one of the weakest protagonists out there (which, sorry I kind of agree, I don't really like Bella), thanks for writing an awesome series!!!

What about you? What's your first YA novel?

Can You Hit a Perfect Pitch? Blogfest Contest!

This is sooo fun. A blogfest contest? The challenge is to set up a pitch for your book in two sentences (35 words or less) and then add the first 150 words (or to the end of that sentence) for awesome agent Ammi-Joan Paquette. The blogfest part is this weekend--officially starting Sunday, the 15th. Critique my pitch, my opening lines, whatever, and I'll bebop over to check yours out too! Then on the 17th we post our refined pitches/entries onto Brenda Drake's blog. Ammi will pick some winners and request pages! And go to Brenda's blog if you want to join in the fun, I'm sure it's not too late!

Here we go!!

Title: Where Are Boys From, Uranus?
Genre: YA Romantic Comedy
Word Count: 80,000

Pitch: A snarky, idealistic teenager blames her terrible dates on the blunderheaded boys, but after dating her used-to-be-fake boyfriend behind her friend's back, she realizes maybe boys aren't the bad guys after all. Maybe she is.

First 150:

Maybe he’s just really shy. That’s why he won’t look at me.

            “I like lots of different bands,” I say in response to my date’s fifty-billionth question. But I feel like I’m trying to get to know the steak knife instead of Tyson. All I’ve seen of him since we got to The Mango Grill is the top of his blonde, healthy hair.

            He nods. Is it to let me know he’s listening? Or to make me think he’s listening?

            Why did I say anything? If I keep quiet maybe he’ll actually look up at me. Maybe he spilled some sauce on his pants and the spot is shaped like a hula dancer.

            I tap my fingers on my thigh. The Mango Grill is one of the few good restaurants in Cypress, so I’ve been here a million times. Decals of surfers and beaches cover the walls, and they use real cloth napkins and everything.

Clockwork Prince Review

I'm in LOVE with this book/series. I cried and had to hug a pillow as I neared the end of the story!! I just couldn't put it down. If you're familiar with The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare (AWESOME READS)

then I highly recommend The Infernal Devices series, which is a prequel and (gasp) better than The Mortal Instruments. Here's the awesome book trailer:

And if that's not enough, here's the Teaser Tuesday thing people do--flipping to a random page in their current read and listing the first two lines they see:

"His uncertainty made Tessa's heart feel as if it were expanding in her chest, its tenderness big enough to hold them both inside it. She wanted Jem to see her, just as she was, herself, Tessa Gray, with none of the Change on her."

I'm still in agony over the ending and I can't believe I have to wait almost two more years (September 2013) to find out how it ends!

(Btw, in honor of the ever-exciting upcoming Valentine's Day Bloghop put on by Cassie, Clockwork Prince has some of the most delicious kissing scenes! Swoony.)

I'm excited for the Valentine's Day Bloghop. Check out Cassie's blog to find out more!!