Congratulations!

Today I want to say a huge "congratulations!" to my wonderful friend, Tess Hilmo. Tess's debut MG novel,With a Name like Love, launched this week. I met Tess and some other amazing woman writers several years ago at a week-long Highlights Writer's Workshop, and they've been awesome friends and writerly support for me ever since. Be sure to stay tuned for my interview with Tess and review of With a Name like Love - coming soon!

In the meantime, if you don't know Tess, click here to say hello and tell her congrats!

And thanks so much to everyone who told me your thoughts on outlining in my previous post. It seems there are as many different ways to outline as there are writers. I found it fascinating to read everyone's different methods!

Teaser Tuesday

Today I'm participating in Teaser Tuesday. This weekly meme is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.
The rules:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
 
My teaser is from page 14 of Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass.
 
"How do you build a larger-than-life character in your current manuscript? What does your protagonist say, do, and think that he, or we, would never, ever venture?"

Just for the record, I think the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook is one of the all-time most useful books for writers. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it.
 
Have you read the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook? What are you reading right now? Care to share a teaser?

Outlining

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'm plotting a new book. I'm a diehard outliner, so this phase of writing takes me a looong time. I love writing from an outline, I love knowing where I'm going and exactly how each scene is going to play out (not that it always goes like I planned it, but I like at least having an idea of how I want it to go).

But the outlining phase takes so long (at least for me), and I'm just itching to dive in and start writing words and to hear what my main character wants to say. I'm so tempted to jump ahead and start writing, but I know if I do I'll write myself into a corner and make a huge mess. I wish I could just wing it, but that's not how I work. So here I sit, outlining away and imagining scenes in my head and wishing I was putting words on paper.

How about you? Do you outline or do you wing it? If you outline, do you enjoy that part of the process?

Teaser Tuesday

Today I'm participating in Teaser Tuesday. This weekly meme is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.
The rules:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
 
My teaser is from page 83 of Where Are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark.
 
"Hunching his shoulders inside his coat, the chief stamped his feet as the sleet melted into his shoes. He wondered if this was the spot from which Nancy Eldredge had dragged her kids into the water."
 
What are you reading right now? Care to share a teaser?

Watching Willow Watts Web Splash

Today I'm participating in Talli Roland's "Watching Willow Watts" Web Splash. To help celebrate Talli's latest release, Watching Willow Watts, I'm posting about the person I'd most like to be. I've chosen Randy Grimm, the founder of Stray Rescue of St. Louis.

I have a huge heart for animals, which is why Randy Grimm is so important to me. He's dedicated his life to helping the stray animals in the St. Louis area. His shelter doesn't just accept the animals brought to their door - they go out into the city and bring these starving, injured, sick, forgotten animals in. They rehabilitate them - give them love and care and time - and then they find loving homes for them.

photo credit: Stray Rescue website, http://strayrescue.org/node/37

I've chosen Randy Grimm because he isn't someone who just talks about what he believes in, he lives it. He makes a difference in the world. He is the kind of person I want to be. Thank you for all you do, Randy!

Here's information on Watching Willow Watts:
For Willow Watts, life has settled into a predictably dull routine: days behind the counter at her father's antique shop and nights watching TV, as the pension-aged residents of Britain's Ugliest Village bed down for yet another early night. But everything changes when a YouTube video of Willow's epically embarrassing Marilyn Monroe impersonation gets millions of hits after a viewer spots Marilyn's ghostly image in a frame.
Instantly, Willow's town is overrun with fans flocking to see the 'new Marilyn'. Egged on by the villagers -- whose shops and businesses are cashing in -- Willow embraces her new identity, dying her hair platinum and ramming herself full of cakes to achieve Marilyn's legendary curves.
But when a former flame returns seeking the old Willow, Willow must decide: can she risk her stardom and her village's newfound fortune on love, or is being Marilyn her ticket to happiness?

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/nIygHP

Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/riMpmH

And here is a link to the other participants:
http://talliroland.blogspot.com/p/watching-willow-watts-launch-sept-14.html

If you could be anyone in the world, who would it be?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go hug my dog. :)

Don't Miss...

Don't miss all the contests going on out there in the blogosphere right now!

Nisa at Wordplay, Swordplay is celebrating 200 followers. She's giving away a color Nook, Christine Fonseca's Emotional Intensity complete with book swag, and a subscription to Danyelle Leafty's serial novel, The Fairy Godmother Dilemma. Hurry over to Nisa's blog and enter before the 15th!

Theresa Milstein at Theresa's Tales of Teaching Tribulations and Typing Teen Texts (formerly known as Substitute Teacher's Saga) is celebrating her blogiversary and her new job, among other things. She's giving away 4 books. Enter Theresa's contest before September 27!

Also, Talli Roland is celebrating her upcoming release, Watching Willow Watts, with an online "If I could be anyone, I'd be..." party. You can join in the fun by signing up on Talli's blog, then posting about the person you'd most like to be. But hurry, the party is tomorrow, September 14!

Whew, there's a lot going on. And now, just because my good buddy Lenny over at Lenny's World asked, I'll share a few more photos of our California trip. Thanks to everyone who visited and commented - we had such a fantastic time, and I'm so jealous of all the people who said they've lived in that area. Someday... (((deep sigh))).

The top photo is the view of San Francisco from the ferry to Alcatatraz, the second is Alcatatraz, the third is a photo of the sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco, and I think the fourth is just a view of the countryside on our drive from San Francisco to Napa.

So, in the spirit of Talli's Willow Watts party, I'll ask you this: If you could live anywhere, where would you live?

I'm Back!

Hi Everyone!

Well, that break went on much longer than I'd planned. I went on vacation last week, so I decided to wait until after vacation to return. It's so good to be back! I can't wait to come around and visit all your blogs and see what I've been missing!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from our vacation to California.


We visited San Francisco, Napa, and Lake Tahoe. The first two photos are from Lake Tahoe, the third is a view of Alcatraz in San Francisco.

So what have you all been up? Did anyone else take a vacation this summer? Where did you go?