Sevens Meme

Jo Schaffer and Lara Schiffbauer tagged me for this Sevens meme:

The rules are as follows:
1. Go to page 77 of your current ms
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines - sentences or paragraphs - and post them as they're written. No cheating
4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know

I'll admit right off: I did cheat a little bit. I wanted to use the manuscript I'm currently working on, but page 77 is a mess. Only the first 15 pages have had any sort of revision at all, so I took this from page 7. Sorry! But at least I'm honest. :)

Okay, here goes...

My arm moves without consulting my brain, and the next thing I know my fist is connecting with Phoebe’s nose. She shrieks so loud I can almost feel the hearing damage.

"Hey!" Claudia screams. “You’re going to regret that.”

My mouth opens. I don’t know what I’m going to say but I know it’s going to be good, but then Mr. Fletcher runs out of his classroom and shoves himself between us. “What’s going on here?” he asks.

“Ivy broke Phoebe’s nose,” Claudia says. Phoebe’s screaming and clutching her nose and blood is gushing everywhere – splattering her Clorox-white Manchester East hoodie and dripping into her brassy red hair. While it does give me a certain satisfaction, it also sort of proves Claudia's point.

And I'd like to tag the following seven people:
Sharon Mayhew at Random Thoughts
Lenny Lee at Lenny's World
Robyn Campbell at Putting Pen to Paper
Kelly Polark
Jackee Alston at Winded Words
Lynda Young
Old Kitty at Ten Lives and Second Chances

I missed you all last week, but I had a fantastic spring break! My husband took the two younger kids skiing in Colorado while I stayed home with my oldest daughter who plays high school sports and couldn't miss a week of practices. We had a terrific time together and I had plenty of quiet time to do my favorite thing: write! Are you going anywhere for spring break? Or are you a homebody like me?

Spring Break

I'll be taking a short blog break this week while my kids are off school for spring break. I'll see you next week!

Happy spring, everyone!

Revision

Last week was Revision Week at DearEditor.com. Different authors each day discussed their revision process. If you missed any of the posts, click here. I finished the first draft of my wip a couple of weeks ago, so the timing was perfect for me.

I was excited to finish my draft, but also disappointed. It seemed like there was more I didn't like about the draft than what I did like. I almost had to wonder if I should scrap the whole idea and move on to something else. But that's where Revision Week came at just the right time for me. I was amazed to learn how many drafts some of these established authors go through with a new project.

Robin LaFevers said she'll typically go through seven to ten drafts before she shows a project to her editor. Nathan Bransford said a novel is done for him after the third or fourth major overhaul. And here's what really got me: Cynthia Leitich Smith said she used to write a "discovery draft" to get to know her story first. Then she would read it and throw it away. Throw it away?! That's when I realized it's okay if my first draft isn't all I'd hoped it would be - it's just a jumping-off point. But now I know so much more about my characters and my story than when I started that draft. I know which parts dragged the story down and which parts really work. It's possible (probable) the first draft might actually end up in the trash, but that's okay, because it's served its purpose. I've already started working on the overhaul, and it seems like it's all coming together so much more easily this time. I'm sure this won't be the last draft either, but it will be a major step towards it.

Did you catch the Revision Week posts? How many drafts do you typically go through before the final draft?

Tagged!

I've been tagged a few times in the past few weeks. Since these tags involve answering the tagger's questions and asking questions of the people I tag, I've decided to take one post each to answer the different questions I've been asked, and then a final post to pass the tag around and ask my new questions.

This first round of questions comes from C. Lee McKenzie at The Write Game.

1. What's the best part of reading a book you love?
I know I'm seriously in love with a book when I find myself brushing my teeth with one hand and reading the book with the other. The best part is feeling so desperate to know what comes next that I can't even stop reading to brush my teeth.

2. What book(s) have stayed in your head?
Thinking back to my childhood, I still remember Zilpha Keatley Snyder's books, like THE HEADLESS CUPID and THE CHANGELING, and also Judy Blume's books.

3. If you could write one book only, what would the main character be like?
Sassy and tough. I don't know why I like those characters so much, probably because that's the exact opposite of how I really am.

4. What book(s) do you love to read to your kids?
Right now we're reading THE RANGER'S APPRENTICE series by John Flanagan together. This is a long series, but we're all always ready to dive into the next one. When they were younger, I loved reading Marc Brown's Arthur picture books as well as Jamie Lee Curtis's picture books.

5. Do you ever read books aloud to others?
I read aloud to my kids most weekday nights. My oldest is almost 16, but she still enjoys it (at least she shows up when I call everyone upstairs to read, so I hope that means she enjoys it!)

6. Do you like discussing books with others?
I love it! I used to belong to a book club and really enjoyed it, but life ended up getting in the way.

7. If you hate a book, do you keep reading anyway or put it away?
I definitely put it down. Life's too short, and my TBR list is too long.

8. What kind of books do you like best? Sci-fi, Realistic, Historical Fiction, Biography, other.
Fantasy is probably my number one, though I enjoy sci fi, mystery, thriller, etc. And if I'm going to truly love a book, it needs to have some romance.

9. Are you transitioning into the digital age with a Kindle or a Nook or an I-Pad? Or are you sticking with those hard copies? Do you mix it up?
My hubby just got me a Kindle for Valentine's Day. I haven't actually bought an e-book yet because I still have so many books waiting to be read, but I have a couple in mind that I'll probably be buying soon.

10. How much do covers influence your buying a book?
Probably not at all. I love a good cover, but it's not really a factor in whether or not I buy the book.

11. Any new books you'd recommend?
Well, I'll share my two favorite 2011 releases - that's fairly new, right? I loved DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth and THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER by Michelle Hodkin. It's slightly older, but I also loved PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ by A.S. King. King has a new book, EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS, which I haven't read yet, but it's one of those I was thinking of buying to christen my Kindle.

How about you? Do you have any new books you'd recommend? What books have stayed in your head?

My New Kindle

HOW MY WRITING'S GOING:
I'm working on the first fifteen pages of my new wip for a local SCBWI Advanced Writers Retreat in April. The first fifteen pages will be critiqued by Viking Children's Books editor Kendra Levin at the retreat. I can't wait to hear what she has to say!

A GIFT:
My hubby got me a Kindle for Valentine's Day. It was quite a surprise - I hadn't even asked for one. I haven't bought any books for it yet because I have such a stack of previously purchased books already waiting for me. I did put my own manuscript on it, though, and it was so cool to read my book on my Kindle! Which brings me to...

A VERY HELPFUL POST: I found this post on agent Vickie Motter's Navigating the Slushpile blog about formatting your manuscript for an e-reader. The changes are so easy to make, and make such a difference on an e-reader. I downloaded both my original manuscript and my manuscript after making the changes, and it was so much easier to read after following Vickie's instructions. If you aren't reading Vickie's blog, you really should! It's packed with practical and easy-to-follow querying advice.

HOW ABOUT YOU:
Are there any extra-super-helpful blogs you'd like to give a shout-out to?

Lotsa Links

HAPPY NEWS:
I recently won a signed arc of May B by Caroline Starr Rose on Terry Lynn Johnson's blog and a copy of Sh*t My Dad Says on Medeia Sharif's blog. I can't wait to get started on both of them!

WHAT I'M READING:
Right now I'm reading TickTock by Dean Koontz. Sometimes I'm just in the mood for horror, and you can't go wrong with Koontz.

HOW MY WRITING'S GOING:
I'm sorry I didn't post last week - I ended up taking an unexpected break to finish up a project. I promised I'd tell you how I did finishing the rough draft of my wip the week before, and I did it. I didn't even have to totally neglect the treadmill - bonus!

AN AWARD:
I was honored to receive the Great Comments Award from Cynthia Chapman Willis. I'm to pass this on to 20 great commenters. I'm so thankful to all who regularly (and even not-so-regularly) visit and comment that I really would love to share this with all of you, but I'll go ahead and follow the rules and just pick 20:

Sharon Mayhew
Jackee Alston
Dezmond
Old Kitty
Talli Roland
Amy Sonnichsen
The Happy Whisk
Brian
D.L. Hammons
Golden Eagle
Kelly Polark
Lenny Lee
Lydia Kang
Sheri Larsen
Stina Lindenblatt
Robyn Campbell
Lynda Young
Theresa Milstein
Medeia Sharif
Joanne DeMaio

HOW ABOUT YOU?
How is your writing going? Have you won any blog contests recently? Any other horror fans out there? If so, who is your favorite horror author?

Tumble For Ya Blogfest

Today I'm participating in the Tumble 4 Ya Blogfest hosted by Nicki Elson, Suze from Analog Breakfast, and M. Pax from Wistful Nebulae.

Do you recognize the guy in the poster? He was the very first love of my life - John Taylor of Duran Duran. Man, I loved him! I mean, look at that poster - it's larger than life size! That, by the way, is my sister standing in front of it, not me. You think I'd put a picture of myself in the 80s on my blog? I'm not that brave!

I never got to see Duran Duran in concert (it's a good thing, I probably would have had a heart attack), but I watched their videos practically round the clock. My BFF and I used to spend hours and hours in front of MTV, back when all they showed were videos. At the top of the hour, they'd show teasers of three videos they were going to show that hour, and Bestie and I would squeal like, well, preteen girls whenever they showed a clip of Duran Duran. That's one of my favorite 80s memories!

So there you have it, I've confessed my 80s crush. Who was yours? And if you weren't the right age to be crushing on celebrities in the 80s, which 80s celeb would you have crushed on?

Be sure to visit the other blogfest participants here.