Archive for the 'Road Trip Wednesday' Category

March 10, 2010 | Life in General, Reading is FUNdamental, Road Trip Wednesday, The 4-1-1 on Me, Uncategorized

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic #20: List your favorite reading/writing blogs and/or resources

Before I started school, I was reading everything in my Blogroll on a weekly, if not daily, basis. And commenting. Now, I’m barely reading them and have dropped to lurker status on all of them. These are just the highlights.

Crystal Green – Because we’re both Team CHUCK and Team WINCHESTER (Supernatural).

Bria Quinlan – Love reading the monthly Excerpt Monday, her great posts about the writing life and am anxiously awaiting her Edit Cards.

YA Highway - Road Trip Wednesdays. Need I say more?

Wendy Prior - Fab beta reader. And her stories about Riley are, well, hi-larious. When I need a laugh, I go to her blog.

Debbie Ridpath Ohi - Love the comic strip.

The Intern – It’s not every day you read someone who refers to themselves in the third person.

Resources –

Shrinking Violets – Marketing for Introverts. That is all.

Writing on the Wall – All things writing. And if you’re brave enough, you can send the first page of WIP and get publicly critiqued on Monday Mania.

Book Marketing Buzz – Because lord knows I need all the help I can get in this department.

Future Perfect Publishing – Exploring new trends and possibilities in book publishing

Writer Unboxed - “the craft and business of writing genre fiction”….from the POV of 12 different people! Awesome!

Sunday Scribblings – I’ve never been one for writing prompts but I like to participate in this one.

The Creative Penn – I just discovered Joanna Penn recently after reading a post about self-publishing. Finally got around to listening to one of her podcasts and I love, love, love her accent.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, Crystal Green, CHUCK, Supernatural, Bria Quinlan, Wendy Prior, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, The Intern, Shrinking Violets, Writing on the Wall, Book Marketing Buzz, Future Perfect Publishing, Writer Unboxed, Sunday Scribblings, The Creative Penn, Joanna Penn

March 3, 2010 | Life in General, Road Trip Wednesday, The 4-1-1 on Me

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic #19: What are your tools when it comes to procrastination?

This is an easy question seeing as how I can sum it up with one word: reading. Now, some may not see this as procrastination.

But I do.

I write YA.

But I read adult romance books.

When I was in high school, I read more than I did my homework. I read so much the librarians knew me by face because I was at my library nearly every weekend.

When I was single and living on my own, I would come home, slip into something more comfortable, slip under the covers of my bed (it’s where I love to read) and read. Until dinner. Then I would make dinner and read while I was eating. Then I’d go back to “bed” and read until it was really time for me to go to bed.

I was reading 2 books a day at that rate, sometimes 3 on the weekends.

Now that I’m married, it’s more like 1-2 books a week. And, now that I’m up to my hairline in school, it’s been more like 1 book every few weeks. Needless to say, I’m rockin’ a really nice TBR pile right now:

Slow Heat – Jill Shalvis
Tempt Me Again – Wendy Etherington
Naked Dragon – Annette Blair
Here Comes Trouble – Donna Kauffman
On the bright side, I’m now the girlfriend of a sex god – Louise Rennison
Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City – Kristin Miller
Kiki Strike: The Empress’s Tomb – Kristin Miller
Dani Noir – Nova Ren Suma
Nauti Deceptions – Lora Leigh

The procrastination doesn’t stop at reading books. Oh no. It extends to the internet as well. Particularly to the blogs in my blogroll. It’s been a while since I’ve done that, but I try to at least ready YAHighway on the regular. Well, at least once a week. *grin*.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, Slow Heat, Jill Shalvis, Tempt Me Again, Wendy Etherington, Naked Dragon, Annette Blair, Here Comes Trouble, Donna Kauffman, On the bright side, I’m now the girlfriend of a sex god, Louise Rennison, Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City, Kristin Miller, Kiki Strike: The Empress’s Tomb, Dani Noir, Nova Ren Suma, Nauti Deceptions, Lora Leigh

February 17, 2010 | Life in General, Road Trip Wednesday, The 4-1-1 on Me, Writer Moment

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic #17: Where’s your favorite place to read and/or write?

My favorite place to read is under the covers in bed. Even when it’s over 100 degrees outside, we keep the house cool enough to where I can still get under the covers. I’m sure Mr. Maul hates it when I disappear in there. He thinks I’m being antisocial or something. Nope. I just love to read and that’s where I’m most comfortable. It’s like a Linus blanket. I love lying on my side, holding that book in my hand and getting lost in some love story. The whole lying-in-bed-thing is actually a carry-over habit when I was living at home. I had everything I needed in my room and since my parents did their own thing up front, it was a very nice comfort zone. I just got used to reading in bed. Even more so after my sister moved out.

And, as much as I’d love to write in bed, that rarely happens unless I’m trying to make deadline. I have a little lap desk with a cup holder and bendy light-thing attached. I have a laptop but have never set it on my lap. LOL. Go figure. I handwrite my novels first and then go back and type them up. I need a flat surface to do that, so I do all that in my office. I handwrite first because I do the majority of my writing at work. I get two 15 min breaks and an hr lunch. My laptop takes a few minutes to boot up, so by the time I open my document and try to get into the story, my break is nearly over; a notebook is quicker. I can just take it outside, flip it open and Bam! I’m in and I can get started right away. When you’re short on time, notebooks are the best way to go.

So, what about you? Where’s your favorite place to read and/or write?

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway

February 10, 2010 | Book Stuff, Life in General, Road Trip Wednesday, The 4-1-1 on Me, Writer Moment

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic #16: What’s your favorite display of affection in a YA?

I love it when the guy cups the girl’s face when he’s about to kiss her and then continues to do so while he’s kissing her. I consider it to be a very tender gesture on the guy’s part. It’s like he’s saying, “You’re precious to me and would never hurt you.”

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway

February 3, 2010 | Life in General, Road Trip Wednesday, Writer Moment

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic #15: What’s the next big thing in YA?

Kick-ass females who secretly work for secret agencies.

And I’m not saying that because of my current WIP. No, seriously.

Or more action-adventure stories featuring all-female team members. Like that one book about the 4 African-American baby girls who were abandoned (not intentionally) by their parents in Beijing, China where they were found by a Shaolin monk. Who took them to an orphanage and went to visit them everyday because the nuns said they cried nonstop until he came to see them. Then, when they turned 4 yrs old, he brought them to the Shaolin Temple and trained them to be warriors of the Temple. Before they were sent Stateside at 15 to go to school.

You’ve never heard of that story?

Me, neither, but it sounded great, didn’t it? Hah!

Hmmm…I think I might’ve just come up with something…

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway