Audiobook giveaway + May's LFT

I'm doing a flash audiobook giveaway of IF I SPEAK TRUE! Also, considering how crazy-busy everything is this time of the year, I thought I'd put together a post sharing what's coming up, rather than and end-of-the-month, what's already passed. (That's where the LFT comes in, which stands for May's "looking forward to".)

So, first, the audiobook giveaway:

I'm giving away a total of THREE audiobooks of IF I SPEAK TRUE, book one in the Flora series. This giveaway is going to be posted on more than one platform, with ONE audiobook given away here on Rafflecopter, one on Facebook, and one on Instagram. It's a quick, two-day giveaway, just for fun. (Psst: if the series has sparked your interest, the ebooks--Rowan's novella, especially--are quite fairly-priced. :D )


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Next, here's a giveaway that ends in two days... Beth Revis' PAPER HEARTS series (original post):

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

and, coming up this month...

May 7th: My 19th wedding anniversary! Oh, wait.

May 7th: The Lonely Ones by Kelsey Sutton excerpt. Find Kelsy and/or The Lonely Ones on:

Goodreads | Twitter: @KelseyJSutton | Facebook | Website

Coming up the entire month of June: YA Reads' DEBUT AUTHOR BASH! (Sign-ups are closed, but if you'd like to get an idea of just how many awesome-sauce YA authors will be featured this year, check out this post.)

I'll be featuring Amy Allgeyer, author of DIG TOO DEEP, on June 3rd!

And that's about it! :) Have a blessed week!

$10 FLORA SUPER SALE: Buy IF I SPEAK TRUE *and/or* OPEN THY HEART, get Rowan's novella, FREE!

Yep! This is happening!

Purchase If I Speak True or Open Thy Heart 

for only $10 and get By Sun & Candlelight, free

(plus free shipping)!* 

*US only. Sale ends Sunday, 12/6 at 11:59 p.m. PST. Payments via PayPal, only.

 This is a great deal and you can use it many ways. For example:

+ Scenario #1: You've seen IF I SPEAK TRUE around the interwebs, but haven't been sure whether or not a girl named Dahlia going to a place called Ambrosia and meeting a mysterious masked man named Rowan who is quite the looker (well, as much as she can see, anyway) who seems to know things even she doesn't know about her family is really something you want to read. Never mind that Dahlia has to hide these visitation/interactions from her bestest friends and family (especially her Aster, her "Ass-y" sister) back in Shaver, or the fact that um, Rowan really brings out the fire in her... if you know what I mean. *wink* Plus, he's got all of these secrets and there's got to be a reason he's keeping them... Wait, hmm... perhaps this is really your kind of read... It seems fun, and the covers are really pretty!

Solution: Well, IF I SPEAK TRUE is only ten dollars... Why not buy the darn thing (and get it signed to you, too)? There's free shipping... now that you think about it, this is one of those bookish deals you totes shouldn't refuse! And then if you like Rowan and want to know more about him and what makes him the hot kind lovely mysterious guy that he is, boom! You've already got his novella, BY SUN & CANDLELIGHT because it was FREE!!!

+ Scenario #2: You've already read IF I SPEAK TRUE and think a friend would love it (signed and personalized to them, obviously) but really want to read about Rowan and the rest of the Ambrosian's shenanigans (oh, and, you know, how Rowan feels about Dahlia from his perspective, because that's important). Also: What's this about a fox named Clementine? And a bet between Rowan and Briscoe????

Solution: Get IF I SPEAK TRUE for your friend (what a dear you are!) and have the novella signed to you! 

+ Scenario #3: You've already read IF I SPEAK TRUE and really want to check out OPEN THY HEART but the idea of getting IF I SPEAK TRUE for a friend sounds really fun (because bookish convos and fangirling), but the novella deal (that's a $9 value, free!) is too good to refuse!

Solution: Buy IF I SPEAK TRUE *and* OPEN THY HEART and receive a free novella with each (for a total of $20)! That's $30 being saved, not counting what you're saving with free shipping! 

+ Scenario #4: You've read IF I SPEAK TRUE and are totally interested in Rowan's point of view in BY SUN & CANDLELIGHT, but more IMPORTANTLY, what is this you keep hearing about David's birthday party, and some big secret of Dahlia's that gets out, and Tuberose being a psycho, and Aster (of all people) helping Dahlia? 

Solution: Buy OPEN THY HEART for yourself, and get Rowan's novella FREE! Two books for you, for only $10! That's a win-win!

If you're *still* not sure if Rowan or David the Flora series is for you, why not watch the book trailer (HERE) or see what people thought about the series (HERE and HERE--careful, there might be spoilers)?

Mind made up? Yay! Email me at coffeelvnmom at gmail dot com for personalization and payment info today! 

Get If I Speak True (Flora, 1) for only 99 cents!

Hi all,

Quick reminder post that If I Speak True is only 99 cents right now (link)! 

Remember, if you want to read what happens next (in Rowan's POV), the novella, By Sun & Candlelight (Flora 1.5) is always 99 cents also (or, you can buy the entire Flora bundle: If I Speak True, By Sun & Candlelight, and Open Thy Heart for only $3.99)! 

Be blessed,

Jessica

Three ebooks for 99 cents = Christmas sale-abration! #flora #ebooks #Kindle #sale

OPEN THY HEART photo credit: Katie Smith (love the floral blanket!) 

Just a quick note in case you missed it... 

The Flora bundle is officially only 99 cents through Christmas!!! You can grab it, HERE.

Come back Friday for my 3rd annual DIY book-ish Christmas gifts post! :) Click HERE to check out 2012 and 2013's!
Have a blessed week!

OPEN THY HEART teaser, IIST sale, monkey bread and more

I've been MIA! Well, kinda. My blog was lonely there for a bit. The past week-ish has been chock-full of scrambling to do OTH edits and get out the eARCs. But I'm done, for now, finally! (Boy does it feel nice to finally take a breather!) Gotta go over stuff one more time, but it's all good. And guess what? OPEN THY HEART is up for pre-order! *throws coffee bean confetti* The tour starts up on release day (September 15th--there's going to be TWO awesome giveaways), but I wanted to share one of the teasers, because I'm really excited for what happens in Flora 2. And, in celebration of this, IF I SPEAK TRUE is now 99 cents! (By Sun & Candlelight is as well, but being a novella, it'll stay at that price indefinitely.) 

And now for my quick summary for this week:

1) If you want to have dessert lying around the house, do NOT make monkey bread. Especially not the quick, easy-to-make kind with pre-made biscuit mix. (The entire thing was gone in less than 24 hours.) If you DO want to inhale large doses of sugar, then I highly suggest this quick, simple recipe. Monkey bread is not just for breakfast, ya know. It can be for all of the time dessert, too.

2) My new go-to song for Cozenage 2 (one of two projects I'm currently working on) is Stay Awake by Will Sutton. It's from the What The Night Said album, and I love it! Totally encompasses the feel for Logan and Jennifer Dawn. I guarantee the more you listen to it, the more you'll love it. (Oh and Katydid, too.) You can check it out HERE.

3) I finally get to read again--Woohoo!--and there are *so* many books on my TBR! Here's some of my most recent Kindle purchases... Have you read any of them? (If so, what did you think? I'd love to hear about it!) 


4) September's Reader Interview will be with Geeky Chiquitas! I'm very excited for you to learn more about them next week. They're great gals!

5) Amber's Swag September at Paradise of Pages is ON! Amber is spreading the author love all September by sharing book swag (yay!), so check out her blog and enter HERE to win some of my bookmarks (and a secret something I haven't shared yet. Surprise!)


Well, that's pretty much it! Now I'm off to do boring adult stuff, like dishes and other non-entertaining chores. Have a blessed weekend, everyone! :)

This week's writerly news: Writing Inspiration while on vacation

Hey, guys! Last week our family went on our annual summer vacation. I try not to post things about being away from my home while I'm gone, so even though I took a ton of pictures that I wanted so badly to share, I did not. And yes, this might have meant a bit of angst on my part, but guess what? It means more pics right now for you! Yay! (Didn't that work out swell?) 

We went to the beach, more specifically, where pretty much everyone from the valley goes... Pismo. (But if you go to Pismo Beach you basically always also go to Avila Beach, Oceano, Grover Beach, and the nearby San Luis Obispo, because they're so close.) 

As usual, we writers are always a few steps ahead of the game, so while the second Flora book is coming out soon, I'm already over here working on book three and the second Cozenage book (after Pity Isn't An Option). And sure, blogs and Pinterest boards are great to capture ideas and whatnot (oh hey, here are mine, by the way...) I love coming across visual inspiration the natural way. So here you go... a few photos I took recently that will most definitely end up in my books in the not-so-distant future. 

Do I even need to explain this one?

On the beach. Loved the sunset coloring and
how very dark that one low cloud was.

Looking up from inside a
eucalyptus grove.

Another beautiful sunset.

A house even worse than the Pulman residence!

Took this whilst driving down a lonely road.
It has the Cozenage series written all over it.

Through the passenger window. Soooo
someplace Jonas would come across! 

I actually filmed this. It was evening, and these
birds flew by in a continual line for almost FIVE
minutes. They were all heading south, further out
to sea. (To feed, maybe?) It was CRAZY.

Trying to look through the eucalyptus. 

The grove again -- wanted to show the
dense foliage on the grove floor and
also how dark it was inside even in
the early afternoon.

Have a blessed weekend! 

BY SUN AND CANDLELIGHT cover reveal and #giveaway

In case you missed it... Hafsah revealed BY SUN AND CANDLELIGHT's cover yesterday! I'm pretty excited about it, as it totally FEELS like Rowan. *squee* 

Teaser photo. Ha ha ha ha.

She's also giving away an ebook of both IF I SPEAK TRUE and BY SUN AND CANDLELIGHT, so head on over, and check it out! :D

This week's writerly news -- By Sun and Candlelight (Flora 1.5), Divergent, & more

Me at the end of a writing week. Yes, I realize I'm not *that* cute.

IT IS FRIDAY! WOOT! Here's this week's news:

News/Noteworthy

This is not the cover. But part of it is.
I'm totally teasing you guys with this. Ha ha ha ha.

* The cover and blurb for By Sun and Candlelight (Flora 1.5 -- Rowan's novella), will be officially revealed Monday, April 7th, at Hafsah's blog (IceyBooks). Woot! If you feel like it, you can totally add it to your Goodreads, HERE. 

* Divergent. Have you seen it yet? Did you see Veronica's cameo? Did Shailene make you cry? I've seen it twice, and yes, Miles is still my man (even though he's a meanie pants... a.k.a. Peter) but he best redeem himself soon, or we're going to have to have a talk.

          ** Movie poster courtesy of Entertainment Weekly... There are character posters for the Dauntless crew, too.

          ** Did you know that you can read the first ten chapters of Divergent free on the official movie Tumbler page? Check it out!

* Speaking of Divergent, both Beating Heart and Hanging On (I See Monstas Remix) by Ellie Goulding rock. (Anyone else love Miss Goulding?) I also love Find You, Stranger, and I Need You. Check out a soundtrack sampler HERE.


* This week's WoW was Always Emily. 

* This week's snack is Darrell Lea liquorice. Currently... on sale at Target. :D (Strawberry is our favorite.) Be careful, though. You can easily eat the entire bag in one sitting.

* FYI, I'm all caught up on Arrow now. In case you were wondering. :p

* Did I mention that betas ROCK? No? Well they do. (Ya'll know who you are. *smooosh*)

Around the interwebs

* Yesterday, I tweeted my heart's desire about all of my lovely internet pals... and some of you responded, and it made me so HAPPY. One day, we will find a way to make this happen, guys. One. Day.


* Writing: Breaking out of the white mold: I was over at Operation Awesome on Wednesday discussing diversity when it comes to race and how I wish we saw more of this on covers and in the content of YA books. Feel free to check it out/share your thoughts, HERE.


Giveaways


*You're probably getting real sick of hearing about The Man in the Iron Mask giveaway, but guess what? In a week I'll be giving a new one away! Can't tell you what it is yet, but here's a clue ;D --- >




Also, you know how I said I was going to have alllll these fun features now? I've only done about half of them. O.0 Mainly because the writing has been going full force with the novella and book two/Open Thy Heart; and blogging, though lovely and fun, is VERY time consuming. One of the features that I have been able to stick with, however (along with the giveaway one because I loves yous), is Reader Interviews. And next Monday Beighley (@Mockingjay31) will be on! Yay!

Have a blessed weekend, everyone!

If I Speak True photo feature -- this week's writerly news

What I imagine to be Bluffs Beach in Ambrosia. See Crowe Island?

Hey all! :) Being as it's kinda crazy around here, I don't really have much of an update, other than to share that the feature I spoke of last week about posting daily photos/excerpts of If I Speak True on my Tumblr account is in full swing. (Yay!) If you'd like to check out the first five posts or simply follow it daily as I post but don't have/want a Tumblr account, click HERE at any time (this link will take you to those posts only)! 

Oh, and make sure to scroll down and start at the beginning, with the book cover!!!

Have a blessed and productive weekend, everyone! :D

The Flora series and The Mossy Foot Project

So... I wasn't going to share this, but I'm feeling led to, so there must be a reason for it! (And honestly, I'd rather share about it now, anyway, if He's going to have me do it, so as not to appear as though I'm doing it for promo as the book release gets closer -- because that's not why I'm doing it at all.) Which means instead of my usual Friday writerly news and whatnot, this is going to be my post today.

Over the past month or so, I've really been feeling the Lord putting on my heart to donate a portion of the Flora series books to go to a foundation called The Mossy Foot Project. I could tell you a whole lot about The Mossy Foot Project, but really, it would be easier to give you the link and let you read about it if you want. So here's the link.

To summarize, the purpose of The Mossy Foot Project is basically to share His love with the people of Ethiopia while giving them the tools (socks and shoes) to keep from developing mossy foot, or the treatment and tools to stop the progression of mossy foot if one already has it. Mossy foot is a horrible, debilitating, and, sadly, culturally-shunning disease that is preventable by simply wearing socks and shoes. That's it. Shoes! If everyone had and was able to wear socks and shoes as they went about their business, there would be no mossy foot!!! For that reason, and because it's such a simple solution, and because for the past few years this foundation and the amazingly beautiful people of Ethiopia who need, deserve, and have the right to not have to deal with this (or receive treatment if they do) have been on my heart, a portion of each e-book sold in the Flora series (starting with If I Speak True) will go toward The Mossy Foot Project.

Now, I know that this might seem trivial to some. I mean, if the e-books are say, $3.99 tops, and I only make a portion of that, and then only a smaller portion from what I actually make comes from that, what's the point? Well, the point is, this is what has been placed on my heart. The point is, everyone deserves to be taken care of and shown His love, no matter who they are, or where they're from. The point is, every cent counts. It's not about how many e-books might sell and therefore, how much money will go toward this project; it's about the fact that more people will be helped by me doing this than if I didn't do anything at all.

And there you have it. I probably won't mention this again (though it will be in the back of the e-books so readers will be informed as to where a portion of their money has gone), and feel free to share this, but do not feel obligated at all. As I said, I was just feeling led to share what's been on my heart for a few weeks now. :)

Have a blessed weekend, everyone!

This week's writerly news (in photos)...

It's almost October! I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by. And speaking of October, my #JLBBirthdayBash will officially begin in a few days... can we say YAY for prizes??? :D

As for news, this week has been pretty busy. I figured out the title to Flora Book 2 (come back Monday to find out), heard from my editor (work to be done, but I still very much hope to have If I Speak True out beginning of December), wrote quite a bit (if you've never done twitter word-sprint write clubs like #FridayNightWrites or #writeclub, you should!) and started on my amazing cover/site designer, Hafsah's gorgeous-o book, UNBREATHABLE. (Can't wait to finish it this weekend. And, she has a fan site already for it. Talk about awesome, right?You can check it out here.)

So since I'm a little late in writing today's post, I thought I'd just share a few photos to sum everything up. Ready? O-kay!

1) IF I SPEAK TRUE (Flora #1) fun:

Saw this yesterday and immediately thought of Eva, Dahlia's best friend (she loves to read about werewolves). If she had a journal and didn't prefer to talk so much instead, this would definitely be something she'd use.








2) Recent #amwriting note I'd completely forgotten I'd written until I found it: 



Uh huh. 

3) Here's a teaser Hafsah recently shared for her book, UNBREATHABLE, the book I'm reading now (and she's donating an ebook & some bookmarks for the #JLBBirthdayBash!--Yay!):


I know you want to read it yesterday now. ;) (It comes out in less than a month!)

4) Honestly, I can't even remember why I took this photo, but I came across it this week, and it made me think of Jonas in PITY ISN'T AN OPTION. See, he has thing against beans. If he'd seen this in the Norton kitchen, in fact, he wouldn't have been very happy. (Sometimes, Hattie's sister calls him Beanie, on account of his hatred for beans.) ;)







5) Not the best picture, I know, but here are a few things that will be going into drawings for my #JLBBirthdayBash (more to come, including UNBREATHABLE and PITY ISN'T AN OPTION swag, and other stuffs):

 

So, there ya have it. Oh, and in case you missed it, my enewsletter will be starting up soon, so if you'd like to receive news and content before everyone else, here's the link!

Until Monday, be blessed!

Jessica

Books I've loved recently and writerly news

This week's been crazy enough that I haven't really had a chance to post. There are points in the phase of writing where you're busy editing and throwing down words (been on a roll a few days this week with Flora 2 -- woo hoo) and corresponding; and between doing all of that and having a family (and school officially being in full swing), you've used so many words, there really aren't any left to share. (Not that I run out of words easily, but when it comes to the blog, I don't want to bore you guys to tears.) I even missed my post at Operation Awesome, which shouldn't have happened considering it was my second official post, but that's what happens when, you know, life happens and you forget what day it is. So yeah.

A couple of things to quickly share:

1) #Indie love: If you're into YA urban fantasy, Breanna Puttroff's The Dusk Gate Chronicles are a fun read. They're clean, consist of lots of fun characters, and like the Flora series (book #1 is about to go to the editor -- woot woot), the main character spends a lot of time in a completely different "world" and gets to know all about it, the people who live there, and what role she has to play in everything. I really enjoyed them, and the ebooks are very well priced (in fact, the first one, Seeds of Discovery, is free). 

2) Traditionally pubbed #booklove: In the past week or so I've been reading two series: Dan Krokos' False novels (OH THE ANGST--when is book three coming out... I just can't....), and Myra McEntire's Hourglass series. Though the first is more science fiction than anything (clones) and the latter is more about time travel, both have had me laughing out loud, really connecting to the main characters, and really liking the writers' voices. (They're YA, of course.) I highly suggest both; if you tend to like the same kind of books I like, you won't be disappointed. (Unless you want to read Mr. Krokos' book three. In which case, how 'bout I hold you while you hold me?)

 3) Blog #memes: After this week's #K8chat on Twitter, I'm going to try to get on board with a few fun blog memes, just to be able to book squee with everyone about readerly stuff. We'll see how it goes; it might be a once or twice a month sort of thing. Who knows. 

4) Audiobook #giveaway: Once Pity Isn't An Option's audiobook is officially approved by ACX, it'll be available to purchase on iTunes, ACX.com and Audible.com. Most likely I'll be doing a giveaway to celebrate (yay). More details coming soon.

5) Are you on #Pinterest? I really enjoy connecting on there and sharing my favorite stuffs, including boards for PITY ISN'T AN OPTION (Cozenage #1), IF I SPEAK TRUE (Flora #1), writing, food, and of course, cute baby animals. :) Let me know how to find you in the comments (or go to my "for my readers" tab and you can find me and I'll follow you). Then we can pin each others' snarky comments and learn how to make crafty stuff out of cardboard--a pinner's dream!

6) The lovely and talented and amazing Hafsah Laziaf (who created not only PIAO's gorgeous cover, but also designed my entire blog and my bookmarks and will no doubt design everything else I do) has announced she's publishing her book, UNBREATHABLE. I'm excited for her, because she's one of those people who gives continuously to others and now it is her time to shine and I think that's amazing, so of course I had to share her news! 

(That ended up not being short at all!) Have a blessed, fun Labor Day weekend, guys! See you Tuesday!

Slumpy Snuffalupakins

So the past few days I haven't been me, or Snip. I've been Slumpy.

I'm not IN a slump necessarily, but this longline thing has me ready to poke my eyes out. Or cut off my fingers. (There will NOT be any removal of hair.) Between that and working on the ol' query thanks to Elana Johnson, who critiqued it a few days ago (check out her website, blog and ebook, From the Query to the Call, BTW, all three of which are AWESOME!), my brain is stuck on

FLORA FLORA FLORA DAHLIA FLORA ROWAN FLORA DREAMS FLORA CONFLICTS INTINCING INCIDENTS FLOWERS FLORA AMBROSIA and, well, duh -- FLORA!

Argh.

So I just wanted to say,

Hello

How are you

Hope you're doing well

Hope you're feeling creative and productive and smart and refreshed and appreciated and Nanocomplished

I'm sorry I haven't read any of your blogs but I promise I will be back next week to drive you all crazy with my boring comments

And

I will be back on here soon, too.

Much love,

Slumpy

Friends, readers, writers -- lend me your opinions...

So today's post is going to be short and sweet. I need your opinions on three sentences. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? ;)

I'm working on my query... and was lucky enough to receive some great feedback. Now. Here's the thing. As a writer, you tend to hold on to your original idea, even if it isn't necessarily the best one out there. I received a suggestion, and a good one at that, but I'm not sure which one sets up the query better.

Here's where you come in. Being as none of you really know much about it, I'd like to know which setup grabs you more, which one makes you think YA more... I think you get the point.

What do you think? 1 or 2?

1) Most teenage girls dream about their first love. Dahlia Kennedy's first love is the man in her dreams.

OR

2) Dahlia Kennedy's first love is Rowan, the man in her dreams -- literally.

That's it! And... you're done!

And now, as my thanks, here's a virtual cup of coffee! *clink*

Blah blah blah... and now I like him. (Or, getting the moods in the right order)

So last week I was trying to tell myself I was done with editing Flora. In fact, I tried to convince myself A LOT. I drank some coffee. I wrote a query. I drank more coffee. I messed around with Flora a bit. I messed around with Flora some more. I held my eyelids open with toothpicks and whined that the kids shouldn't always be on my computer because the caffeine was kicking in and I needed to get on there now. I did some laundry. Then I went back to the computer...

And, and...

Still. Something just wasn't right. =(

I was so angry with myself. See, I hadn't been getting much sleep. My eyes were burning for a few days straight, my head was mush. Lovemuffin even laughed at me as I tried to tell him the FIRST TWO sentences in my query. They made no sense. (They did on the computer, but my tongue and brain refused to work together, and I couldn't say them.) I couldn't make sense of anything after a while, and every time I went over two specific parts, I changed them up. And then I hated them even more. (This is when the I SUCK AND WHAT THE *insert whatever expletive word here* AM I THINKING I'M AN IDIOT I CAN'T DO ANYTHING thoughts started to pour in.)

And then... It dawned on me while I was doing dishes. It was the mood. It was the feeling, the way Dahlia, my MC was being. Basically, she wasn't being anything. She was blah, people. Completely blase (<--- I have no idea how to insert the little mark above the e). The reason for that, my dear readers? I am a very unorganized writer. As in, I never write in order, ever. Whatever comes to me comes to me and that's how it is. Only after all that do I tie everything together. So. I had written these emotional scenes, and then I had to go back and set it all up. No wonder I didn't have any emotion! I was thinking backwards!

Example: And then he slapped her in the face and she hated him for it, counted all the ways she could put him out of his misery right then and there, and he grinned, and it made her sick, and next thing she knew a hole puncher was flying through the air at his head.

Course, that is just something I typed out (without editing, to see how long of a sentence I could make... no, not really that last part) to show how things come to me. BIG HUGE DRAMA. So after feeling all that, and writing about the poor girl wanting to strangle Mr. Figment-of-my-writing-example, it's not always easy to go back and write the calm, getting to know-the-guy interest before she wanted to hole punch his eyes out. "And as she passed him in the hall, he nodded, and she gave him a quick nod back, pretending not to care, but the second they passed each other she allowed herself to grin. After months of being in the same office, he'd finally looked her in the eye."

So what is my point? My point is twofold.

1) Mood changes everything. It can make a story sound one way or the other, make the reader feel for the characters or not give a care. This is important stuff. Obviously we need to get it right.

2) If it weren't for Maggie Stiefvater's (hello Shiver and Linger!) post, More Wind, Less Snow: Revising for Mood a few days ago, in which she wrote about doing JUST THAT, I may not have figured out the problem at all. (I do believe I owe her a major thank you.)

Once I knew what the problem was, I went back and fixed the problem with ease. It was great. I felt great. And I had to share my little lesson with all of you. Hopefully at some point this may give someone else an a-ha moment, too.

The funniest thing happened on the way to my WiP...

So, first of all, as of the day I'm writing this, which is Monday evening, I'm about to reach the 45,000 word count on Flora, my YA WiP. Hopefully I'll even be past that by the time this posts. Honestly though, I will say, I'm shocked. Three quarters of the way done! That's a humacious *woot woot*, in my book. =) (Get it? Book? Hee hee)  

Anyway. I've been working on Flora for a while now, obviously, and as of last week, I still hadn't been able to decide on the MC's mother's name. She's a nervous woman who's been through a lot, is always worrying about the family, wringing her hands, crying about little things. 

Then finally, a few nights ago when I was trying to fall asleep, her name came to me. I realize I am saying this often, that things keep coming to me when I'm trying to sleep, but it's true! (And even though this happened when I was working on ILYU, it's happened much more with Flora, which I have found excitingly odd, as a lot of the book has to do with her dreams. Coincidence, my dear readers? I think not! Okay, maybe.) So, usually I'm at least thinking about things already, but this was different. It was a sudden, out of the blue sort of thing. I was going over the plot, trying to connect things in my head the way I always do to make my mind stop working, not even thinking about the mom, and then BOOM! The name hit me.  

I wrote her name smack dab in the middle of my journal in big letters (the journal I keep under my pillow for just that kind of occasion), and within a few minutes, I was fast asleep.

Fast forward two days. I'm sitting by the pool Saturday afternoon, working on info, adding little tidbits to the family tree as the girls were swimming. There are so many hidden meanings in Flora, things most people probably won't even notice, but they mean a lot to me. So I was going over names again, scrolling down page after page on a website, when the funniest thing happened.

I'd like to point out here that I wasn't paying attention to the names. The names were in the column on the far left on my screen, and I was looking at the meanings on the far right. When I came across this one meaning, it jumped off my cell phone screen, practically slapped me in the face.  

"That's it!" I thought, "It may even be better than the one I thought of! I wonder what the name is!"

And guess what? It was the exact same name I'd thought of two days earlier.  

Isn't that the craziest thing?

Index cards: They're Not Just for Reports Anymore

As promised, here is my post about a tool I've been using to help me with Flora. But first, a little backstory. ;)

Months ago I read a blog by someone (I'm sorry, but I can't remember whose it was, I've read way too many since then) who used index cards to organize their story line. At the time, I was new (still am, but not as new), and thought outlines and other such "organized" forms of writing weren't meant for me. I was an outlaw in the writing world, skipping around, jotting things down completely out of order and having to figure out where they went and what they meant later.

I was stupid.

Talk about making myself work more than necessary, and I mean a lot.

I'm a little over a year into this whole hobby/profession/insanity and I've learned that the more you organize, the better off you'll be. So I tried outlining.

Outlines are good for some, but they are *so* not for me. I was constantly erasing things, trying to fit in more info, it was a mess.

So a few weeks ago I came across some old index cards my kids used for reports, and remembered seeing the blog about index cards. Talk about perfect!

Color coding is a great way to keep things categorized. As I've mentioned before, there are almost two completely different story lines in Flora. Keeping track of such completely separate ideas is hard, not to mention distracting. I'm writing about the MC at her home, then I'm writing about the school, then I think of something a person would say in the other story line, then I'm back to the MC again at home, then, oh yeah, there has to be something by the creek but before the beach... Can we say confusing? It was so much easier to write when everything was laid out on the cards.

Now, obviously, they aren't big enough to hold much information (they're more of a visual tool to help me keep track of what's happening in order as I'm switching back and forth), but they definitely hold more details than an outline would (my version of one, at least).

Here's a picture of what they look like, along with my one of many owl-dorable notebooks that I had to include just for fun. =)

They weren't curled up on the corners until five minutes before I went to take the picture (they were still in one stack), when I knocked them into a sink full of water. I panicked, screamed a bit, Lovemuffin yelled from two rooms down to see what was going on, and I got them under a fan in time for them to survive, thank goodness. And it's still a good visual, even in the state they're in, don't you think? See how things switch back and forth?

I'm loving these things. Who knew something so small could simplify the whole process like that? The MC's main life is blue, and the other part, the one she slowly gets more into as the story goes on, is pink. I have them numbered, so when I jot something down in my journal I can refer to the number when I start to write, and I always know where I'm at and what's going to happen next.

So how about you? What's one of your favorite writing tools?

Progress Makes Perfect

Da da dah da dah dah da dum, da dah dum da da dum dum dah dum dum....

Imagine me wearing a tall drum major hat (chin strap pulled tightly on my chin), and baton in my hand, marching proudly down the street.  Then add the song the band always plays, which I can't think of at the moment (too excited), but all you have to do is look at the way it goes up there on the first line and you should know exactly what I'm talking about.  (Or not.)

Anyway.  I'm celebrating.  *throws confetti*  Know why?  Because I'm halfway through the first draft of Flora, my YA WiP (for you non-writerly pals out there, that's short for "young adult work in progress").  Even typing the word "halfway" makes me excited.   

Coffee toast, anyone?

Obviously I still have a long way to go, I am only half way done.  And it is only the first draft, with many rounds of editing to come once it's finished, but still.  I'm proud.  Proud of myself, proud for sticking it out.  Yay!

I'll be posting a blog later in the week about one tool that's helped me get this far.  But today, I'm just going to throw confetti every so often.  I'm having fun, enjoying my progress =)

Happy Monday everyone!