Friends with Benefits: Oh Yeah baby.

I'm talking here about my writing friends. Now you get to giggle about why you clicked on the link, right? :) I know a thing or two about how to get people's attention with words.

Anyway. I felt the need this morning to shout out to the writers who are now close friends. The people who make this journey sweet. Those who I think about every day.

I wish I could wake up to these folks and we could have coffee together, discuss our writing, go to our separate corners and return to share out ideas over lunch. I guess what I'm saying is that these particular folks have become like family. The strange thing is, they don't even know one another. 

Amanda Bonilla: Amanda writes Urban Fantasy. Her AMAZING book Shaedes of Gray will be on the shelves in December. Amanda and I met online (Facebook!) and I have to say she has been my greatest champion. I don't really think I can express the amount of support I get from a quick email or chat. And when we started? When we started we were sitting on two of the WORST manuscripts imaginable. Put it this way, we met naked and now we wear ball gowns. (well, she does.) Amanda is represented by Natanya Wheeler of Nancy Yost Literary.

Loretta Nyhan:  Loretta is represented by Joanna Volpe of Nancy Coffee Literary. Loretta is my soul sister. Not only do we share a similar writing voice (though she INSISTS on writing YA ... she's so good at it. I can't do that for CRAP. I tried.) We not only read and love each other's work, but we have the same ideas about politics, organic lifestyles and parenting. I met her online through Lisa And Laura Roeker. Thank you so much L&L!

Sarah Wylie: (Or when I met her: Sarah with a Chance) She had more than a chance. Her novel  will be on the shelves in 2012.  Oh Sarah. How much do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Sarah is represented by Suzie Townsend of Fine Print Literary.


Simon Larter: Damn. He's an AMAZING writer good folks. And someday he'll finish that novel. Right Simon? WRITE? WRITE SIMON!

Glen: Who hates publicity but writes the best damn stories this side of anywhere. I love you. And if I don't get to meet you someday, the regret will be hard to bear.

Here's the thing. Three of these writers are represented. Two have novels coming out, one is on submission. One is writing fantastic (and award winning) short fiction. And one is a father and a husband who likes to tell stories. These are people I've collected. People who I fell in love with.

And people I've never met.

My friends. (And I have many more... but these folks seem to live inside my pockets)

I write for you. Thank you, thank you, internet.

Xo

S
*Pre-Order SHAEDES OF GRAY (available 12-6-2011):
B & N | Borders | Powell’s | Amazon | Indiebound | Books-A-Million

*Sarah Wylie's Novel:  ALL THESE LIVES, will be published by FSG/Macmillan in 2012. Look for it!

AND!!!!!! Read The Liar Society! Lisa And Laura's YA masterpiece!  You won't be disappointed.

I've Decided!

So,  I've decided the first thing I'm going to do when I get a contract for my novel!

I'm going to book a writer's retreat! YES I AM. I will host it and plan it and invite anyone who wants to come!

Somewhere by the ocean... yes. And I'll invite my agent to speak (Sorry Anne! You must come!) And we will eat and write and talk and write and swim and write!

I am almost more excited about this than about a contract. But not really! Any of you want to Pre-Sign up?

S

Blog Link!!!!!!

Hey! Go on over to this awesome blog I found and read the interview given by Kate Morton! (The forgotten Garden???) Yeah. Great stuff for writers.

Click HERE to lift some of the mystery and see into the soul of the writer herself!

Sarah's Key: Book Review

Sarah's Key, by Tatiana DeRosnay is a great read! And believe me... the more I write the more I become a plot snob. I've thrown books across the room! (not my e-reader... only the trade paperbacks!).  I'll do this review (gush) as I did the last one, and as I will do all future posts on reviews. In bullet points. Why? Because we are ALL super busy and it should be a fast decision. I don't want to read a book about a book. Just gimme the facts, Jack, right?

• Beware: Holocaust and child endangerment. I like these stories but many readers don't.
• Plot starts on sentence ONE! Want a page turner? You got one. 
• I couldn't put it down.
• It weaves artfully back and forth between a third person account of a little girl caught in a horrific round up in Nazi occupied Paris, and a first person account of a present day journalist whose life is taken over by the story. Literally.
• Succinct prose. DeRosnay can successfully create an entire scene in one paragraph. This is hard to do, I know.
• The only negative: The story ends before the book does... so the last four chapters or so are a little draggy. That's okay because I wanted to stay with the characters for a little while longer, but it's kind of like when you stay at a dinner party five minutes too long. You get tired of the host.

Thank you Ms. DeRosnay! Thank you for not making me throw my Kindle against the wall!

Waiting

Wow. I just realized I'm waiting for just about everything!
~waiting to reach my goal weight
~waiting for final edits from my agent
~waiting for my 17 year old to go to college (it's a year and a half away, but I'm still waiting)
~waiting for an interview for a job I've been craving
~waiting for spring
~waiting for my muse to help me get 10k into this damn new WIP so I know it will stick.
Because that's how I know a new project will stick. If I get 10-13k in it's a winner.  And when I reach 20K I can't stop writing. I'm obsessed until it's finished. But that first 10K? Like the first five minutes on a treadmill. Just stinky and not fun at ALL.

How about you my writing friends? How long does it take you to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop... I mean... to realize you are on the right track with a project?

S