Archive for the 'Road Trip Wednesday' Category

June 9, 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 #32: How do you know when project will/won’t work?

When I first started writing, ideas would come so fast. I would stop in the middle of one story and start a new one. As I got older, I really had to discipline myself and say “You need to finish this one first. No more half-stories. ” I’ve since learned to write down my ideas, but I think that’s the answer. I think that as long as a writer has ideas, the idea of project working or not working will never come into play.

This is just my personal opinion, but I believe that if an idea doesn’t work out initially, it can always be used somewhere else. Or turned into something else. The stories I’d created in the past no longer exist. That’s because I moved around several times and kept them in a folder. Thinking it was school work I didn’t need, I tossed it (I now write in spiral notebooks). I didn’t toss them on purpose. Had I kept them, they would’ve turned into full length stories.

I think projects will always work, it’s just a question of how and when.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway

May 19, 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 #31: What tattoo would you get to pay homage to a favorite book or celebrate the success of your own?

First of all, the one and only tattoo I’ve got hurt like a sonuvabitch. Not only that, but some major drama went down after I got it. Needless to say, I will never get another tattoo.

Ever.

Again.

However, if I hadn’t been so traumatized by the first one, I’d probably get something to celebrate the success of my series getting a 6-figure deal (if I was going the traditional route, that is). Something funny like “I am writer, read my roar.” LOL.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway

May 12, 2010 | Life in General,Road Trip Wednesday

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 #29: If literary characters had Twitter accounts, whose tweets would you follow?

Well now, this is a real easy question.

Georgia Nicolson – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison.

Hands down.

Georgia is hi-larious. I think her British humor would go over very well on Twitter.

Even though I’ve only read the first two books (I plan on reading the rest), I think they’re fabbity-fab.

What’s even better? You really can follow Georgia on Twitter, although it’s been a while since she’s tweeted.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, Louise Rennison, Twitter

May 5, 2010 | Book Stuff,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Road Trip Wednesday

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 #28: What photos inspire your books?

I can honestly say that the only time I use photos for my books is when I’m trying to describe something. I didn’t do this with my first two books, but found the need to do so with the DA series.

This apartment complex inspired Draven’s living quarters. I went there, photographed the outside, and even toured an empty apartment, writing down everything I saw. Everything I saw ended up in the book.

The Portland Square apartment complex on Portland Avenue had been the first complex Ty had shown me my second day here, and I’d fallen in love with the open floorplan at first sight….

….On the street level is the parking garage, a City of Phoenix police sub-station, a small gym, a reasonably priced restaurant, and a sandwich place. A dog park with wrought iron benches sits in the middle of the street, like a median, and spans the whole length of the street, from Central Ave to 3rd Ave…….

…..As I take the elevator to the 4th floor in building C, I can understand why we’ve never run into each other. The complex has 410 units, 4 levels in each, and the three buildings take up three blocks….

Formally known as The Willow House, this coffee/deli shop was the inspiration behind Draven’s favorite hangout, CoolBeans Cafe. It’s under a new name, new management and totally looks different now. But again, I went there, ate, took pictures of each room, and talked to a couple of the employees (who worked there at the time) to get the story about the place.

Located in a cute historic house, CoolBeans Café is a coffee/deli place and a popular hang out for the students at Craycroft. Rader is already waiting in line. After paying for snacks, we walk around the converted house, past the kitchen where Vanessa hands out food, and check out the porch. Then I take him back to one of three non-smoking rooms.

“Do all the rooms have a theme?” he asks as we sit down.

I grin, knowing he’s thinking that because of the room where I like to sit. I refer to it as the Mother Nature Room due to the paintings about saving the environment and Mother Earth. The books on the small bookshelf are about natural healing, saving the environment, and nature.

“They have poetry slams on Thursday nights and open mike nights out on the porch on Mondays. I’ve yet to go to one, but I’d like to sometime,” I say, removing the lid from my strawberry yogurt and stirring it with a spoon.

“Definitely sounds like an experience. The closets are so small, but it’s neat how they made them into display cases for all that stuff.”

“Yeah, I never would’ve thought of doing something like that.”

He points at the walls. “Are the paintings from local artists?”

“Yep. So’s the merchandise. The books are from estate sales.”

“Nice. So, you come here a lot?”

“Everyday, actually. In the morning for breakfast and sometimes for lunch.”

He nods. “So this place used to be a house?”

“Uh-huh. It’s been a coffee shop for about eleven years. The ladies that run this place, Jules and Van, told me it used to be a real estate office, a pet shop, a knickknack store, and a karate studio.”

Do I sound like a travel brochure or what? Gawd, just shut up and eat your damn yogurt.

The school that Draven goes to, Craycroft School of the Arts, was inspired by the high school my niece graduated from: Metropolitan Arts Institute.

When I first started writing Book One, I took the day off and “shadowed” her. Very fun and very cool (everyone thought I was a new student. Shock abounded when her classmates found out I was her aunt…and a lot older than I what I appeared to be. LOL). The school is in a former office building. There’s no cafeteria–only a break room type of room with two vending machines and a refrigerator–no athletic teams and the former offices are now classrooms. The whole time I was there, I was wishing I had gone to a high school like that.

I’ve never used pictures for my characters. My niece (the girl in the pic) is the inspiration behind the DA series and the character of Draven. Draven’s friends, as well as all the characters from my first two books, are based on everyday people. People I’ve met, maybe people I’ve worked with, or people I saw from just people-watching. When it comes to creating characters, I’ve never been the type to search for pics or tear pics from magazines. It’s always been just people I see and writing down what I see.

So, what about you? Do you use pictures to inspire your stories? Do tell.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, The Willow House, Metropolitan Arts Institute

April 28, 2010 | Life in General,Reading is FUNdamental,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 #25: What’s the best book you’ve read this month?

I’m warning you right now, it’s not YA. LOL

I finished reading Instant Temptation by Jill Shavis about a week or so ago.

T.J. Wilder is the perfect package of breathtaking adventure and raw sex appeal. Even better, he’s about to reconnect with the one woman he’s never been able to forget…

Get Your Pulse Racing

To Harley, the landscape around Wishful, California, is exhilarating, untamed, and more than a little dangerous. The same could be said for T.J. Wilder, who’s invited himself along on her trek to study a rare coyote. Harley’s career is riding on this trip, and she doesn’t need a stubborn, incredibly sexy distraction. But T.J. is a professional guide who knows when to stay back and when to provide invaluable expertise-just like he’s done since they were in high school. And Harley, as usual, is torn between throttling him and giving in to the raw attraction that’s been smoldering all these years.

T.J. knows how proud and capable Harley is, but he’s damned sure not letting her put herself at risk when there are illegal hunters in the area. She needs him, with the same soul-stirring urgency that he’s always craved her. And here, in this beautiful place days from civilization, he’ll finally have a chance to prove it-over and over again…

Jill is one of favorite adult romance authors. She’s in my blog roll over there, so be sure to go on over and check her out. She’s hilarious. I love reading about Frat Boy’s antics and her need for cookies during tough situations. LOL. I have a nice collection of her books on my shelf and read pretty much everything she puts out. What I love about her books, in general, not just this particular one, is that she describes the guys so well.

With this book in particular, readers are whopped up side the head time and again with how GORGEOUS T.J. Wilder is. Even though we see him through Harley’s eyes, the man is drop dead sexy/gorgeous. But it’s Jill’s words, of course, that make him that way. Whenever she described him, the whole package, including whatever he was wearing in a certain scene, I could clearly see him in my mind.

And day-am, was he gorgeous!

While reading this book, there were many times I wanted to be Harley. I found myself looking at the cover from time to time (that’s why it’s gonna take a lot for me to ever buy an eReader), wishing I could see the whole package and not just a head shot.

Because the man is FOINE. I know I keep mentioning that, but truly, on the Taster’s Choice Hotness scale of 1 to 10, he’s a 30.

All of Jill’s books are like this. You “see” her characters so clearly, you could look up and find them in the room with you. They’re that tangible. And me, with my overactive imagination anyway, find that I have to have a Drool Bowl nearby whenever I read her books.

This is the third book in a trilogy about a trio of brothers who run an outdoor adventure business, Wilder Adventures, and I really enjoyed reading about all the brothers.

Because they’re all so freakin’ gorgeous!

You rock, Jill Shalvis!

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, Instant Temptation, Jill Shavis, GORGEOUS