Tangled Tides RELEASE DAY!!!!

By Cam

Hey all!

So for those of you who don’t know, today is the release day for TANGLED TIDES – Karen Hooper‘s debut novel! It’s about mermaids and selkies and all sorts of underwater creatures. PLUS ROMANCE! The world Karen has created is truly magical and unique…and kind of makes me bummed I don’t have a real mermaid tail.

I mean, CHECK OUT THE COVER. How does that NOT make you want a splashy tail?

And here’s the official blurb:

I mean, how AWESOME does that sound?!

As part of Karen’s release day, she’s thrown the gauntlet for an all-out UNDERWATER WEB WEB WAR! Don’t know what that means? Check out Karen’s blog, pick a team, and leave her a comment to be entered to win a copy of Tangled Tides. SUPER EASY.

Want to know who I’m rooting for? I’ll give you a hint:And why did I choose Merfolk? BECAUSE THEY HAVE TAILS! THEY CAN BREATHE UNDERWATER. AND THEY’RE THE COLORS OF THE RAINBOW. I mean, the choice should be obvious. MERFOLK FTW!

Please go congratulate Karen on her debut release (@Karen_Hooper) and tweet your team choice with the hashtag #TangledTides to take part in all the web war fun! GOOD LUCK!

TEEN SPY GIVEAWAY!

By Cam

Hey everyone! In celebration of yesterday’s successful launch of YA CONFIDENTIAL, I’m doing something fun here. You see, yesterday we introduced the operatives but TODAY, we’re introducing our teen spies, who are so stinking cute and FIERCE and unbelievably excited to help out YA writers.

So here’s the deal: If you stop by YA CONFIDENTIAL and leave a funny/unique/espionage-laced comment welcoming our new teen spies, you’ll be entered to win:

AND

That’s right. Leave a fun comment over at YA CONFIDENTIAL (mention you came by way of my blog) and you’ll have the chance to win Heist Society AND Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society #2) by Ally Carter.

So what are you waiting for??? Go welcome our teens!

Introducing…YA CONFIDENTIAL!!!

By Cam

Today is a BIG BIG day! It’s Monday, which means it’s the official launch day for:

What’s YA CONFIDENTIAL, you ask? *adjusts sunglasses* *clears throat* Well, YA CONFIDENTIAL is a new group blog I’m working on with five other YA writers who are AHMAAAAZING.

So, what makes this blog different than other group blogs? *cinches trench coat belt* Our goal is going to uncover more about what it’s really like to be a teen.

And just HOW are we going to do this, exactly? *pops collar* *looks around furtively* *whispers* We have teen spies. We have teen spies who have special missions. And these missions are going to help us writers learn more about the very young people we’re writing about. This kind of intel can be really hard to tap into if you’re not a young adult yourself.

The thing is, if you’re an adult writing about teens, then chances are good you’re writing your characters based on (outdated) memories. Or maybe you’ve resorted to trolling around your kid’s friends so you can jot down real teen dialogue. Or maybe you’ve dissected every Justin Bieber song, hoping to bring some authenticity to the page.

NEVER FEAR, my nostalgic, creepy, Biebs-obsessed fellow adult YA writers! That’s why we created YA CONFIDENTIAL! We’re going to have teen roundtable posts where we approach our teen spies with a general topic and see what they think about it. We’re going to have our teen spies tell us what books they’re loving and why, what books/movies/tv shows get it right and why, what makes them happy/sad/stressed/anxious/etc and WHY. Everything we’re doing will be focused around the teens of today and will be accessible to YOU. How cool is that, right?

So, I hope you’ll stop by YA CONFIDENTIAL today and meet the operatives: Alexandra Shostak, Alison Miller, Karen Hooper, Cristin Terrill, Sara McClung, and yours truly.

Tomorrow, we’ll be introducing our teen spies and we’re also having a HUGE giveaway this week with some of this season’s HOTTEST ARCS, agent critiques, AND some super secret goody bags from each of the operatives. This week will be full of FUN and FANTASTICAL things and I really really REALLY hope you’ll stop by and say hello. (And don’t you also want me to stop using CAPS already??? If so, you should probably just pop on over to YA CONFIDENTIAL so I’ll stop screaming at everyone.)

Hope to see you there!

C’mon, Irene…

By Cam

Whoa. What a week! I’ve been a bad, bad blogger as of late, so here’s my latest happenings in a nutshell:

1. An earthquake on Tuesday (I’m in Maryland, y’all, and we DON’T get these things. So, you know. Good times.).
2. A hurricane today/tomorrow/soonish.
3. A maybe-hopefully-depending-on-Irene ’80s themed slumber party tomorrow with Sara McClungalicious and Cristin T-Sizzle.
4. Two secret projects I’m working on, one of which is so secret only BicycleDude really knows about it.
5. One thing I’m admittedly ignoring because it makes me too sad to think about for more than five minutes.
6. And 8 hours of collective sleep over the past two days.

I. May. Just. Explode.

Ahem. Sorry. This week has been full of so many awesome! terrifying! exhilirating! heartbreaking! scary! moments, I’m almost not sure I can handle another week like this one. (I’m looking at you, Universe.)

In other news, my daughter made me cupcakes. With strawberries inside. And chocolate chips. And yummy icing. Which she pre-licked. They are the best things this side of Hurricane Irene. And I promise I’ll stop with the clipped sentences. Sometime. Soonish. (<– sorry, had to do it!)

So, let me leave y’all with this little reminder before the weekend and all its threatening (hopefully not!) weather:

HUNGER GAMES SNEAK PREVIEW ON MTV’S VMAs SUNDAY. OH YEAH.

Want a tip for fine-tuning your writing craft?

By Cam

The title of this post is a rhetorical question, mainly because I don’t know any writer who doesn’t want to improve their craft. But this isn’t going to be me lecturing you about how to take your writing to the next level. No. Instead, I’m going to point you to someone much more capable than me — behold the tip master of all tip masters: MARGIE LAWSON.

Margie is a psychotherapist. A writer. An international presenter. She uses her psychologically-trained mind to help writers edit for a more page-turning experience. And since I’m currently in revisions, this is where my head has been lately.

Now, I don’t know Margie personally, or even in passing. But I came across an interview she did on the Andrea Hurst Literary blog’s new AUTHORNOMICS feature (which you really should check out, btw), where they interview various notable publishing people. Margie’s interview was so full of helpful material, giving clear examples that MADE SENSE TO ME, that as soon as I finished the interview, I immediately went to her site.

Y’all. This is a big fat cookie jar of writerly nuggets just waiting for you to devour. I spent my entire lunch hour on her Deep Editing Analyses page where she takes examples from NYT Bestselling authors (mostly in the thriller and romance genres) and provides an in-depth analysis of the techniques and devices the writer used.

Here’s an example taken from her site, where she analyzes a passage from Harlan Coben’s book, Caught:

Example: From CAUGHT, March, 2010, end of the prologue

And that w as when Marcia started to feel a small rock form in her chest.

There were no clothes in the hamper.

The rock in her chest grew when Marcia checked Haley’s toothbrush, then the sink and shower.

All bone-dry.

The rock grew when she called out to Ted, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. It grew when they drove to captain’s practice and found out that Haley had never showed. It grew when she called Haley’s friends while Ted sent out an e-mail blast—and no one knew where Haley was. It grew when they called the local police, who, despite Marcia’s and Ted’s protestations, believed that Haley was a runaway, a kid blowing off some steam. It grew when forty-eight hours later, the FBI was brought in. It grew when there was still no sign of Haley after a week.

It was as if the earth had swallowed her whole.

A month passed. Nothing. Then two. Still no word. And then finally, during the third month, word came—and the rock that had grown in Marcia’s chest, the one that wouldn’t let her breathe and kept her up nights, stopped growing.

Analysis:

Visceral Response Shared Through Anaphora: He threaded the rock growing in her chest through the passage, ending the passage when it stopped growing. He doesn’t tell the reader what that news of a difference means. But ending the prologue with those words, stopped growing, is as powerful as the soundtrack for Jaws.

Anaphora: Using the same word or phrase to start three (or more) consecutive phrases or sentences.

Compressed Time: The long paragraph compresses time by listing what they did during the first week to try to find Haley. The last paragraph compresses the passing of over two months into forty-one words.

Power Words: rock, bone-dry, panic, blast, protestations, runaway, FBI

White Space and Creative Paragraphing: Coben spotlighted the initial growing doom with white space around stand alone lines.

Varied Sentence Length and Structure: Used to enhance cadence, provide variety, draw the reader into the scene.

Cadence: The use of anaphora, sentence structure, and creative paragraphing contributed to a compelling cadence.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I learn best when I can SEE real examples, and not just the definition of what something means. Margie includes more than 20 Deep Editing Analyses on her site and I read ALL OF THEM. And then I purchased her Empowering Characters’ Emotions lecture packet, which has more than 250 pages of material to it. When I’m through with that, I’ll be adding her Deep Editing packet to my homework queue. I’ve never been so excited to revise in my life.

So if you want a tip on how to fine-tune your writing, go check out Margie Lawson and her deep editing analyses series.

You’re welcome.

(Note: I was not paid to endorse Margie’s site, nor did I receive any of her lecture packets or online courses for free. I just came across her via the blogosphere and wanted to share here. There. Disclaimer over. )

My Month in Pictures

By Cam

Um, hello?

*tiptoes*

*brushes off cobwebs*

So…how ya doin’?

Me? Yeah, not bad. You know, same old same old. I’ve been a little MIA.

Okaaaaaaaay.

I’ve been A LOT MIA.

But with good reason!

Here’s what I’ve been up to since the last time I checked in:

I went here

and drank lots of these

Then went to Annapolis to meet up with these AMAZING women for the weekend:

Ricki Schultz, Sara McClung, Cristin Terrill, and Lola Sharp (also pictured is our cray-cray server at PF Chang’s. Dude had some EARS too.)

and we did a lot of this

and I’ve been working on two projects which is making my mind do this

plus I need to get ready for this, which kicks off Tuesday and runs until Saturday (*dies*)

where I’ll be meeting up with more AMAZING writers and soaking in AMAZING workshops and itching to keep up with all the writing mojo that’s sure to accumulate when you’re surrounded by 2,000 writers who are all equally passionate about WORDS. It’ll be, yup—you guessed it—AMAZING.

So while I wrap my head around all the exciting things happening next week, you can catch me on Tumblr, where I’ve been posting pictures that remind me of my WIP.

Like this one (*sigh*)

Inspiration. It’s everywhere, peeps. EVERYWHERE. Now go forth and get you some!

Follow the Bling…

By Cam

Hey! I blogged over at Adventures in Children’s Publishing today and I’m talking about BLING. Title Bling, to be more exact. Stop by, leave a comment, and enter to win your choice of one of the 23 books I think has a spectacularly blingalicious title.

Need Extra Motivation? Try NoRhym-O-ReMo

By Cam

This month I’m making a pledge.

Not that kind of pledge.

THIS kind of pledge:

A NoRhym-O-ReMo pledge (aka: No Rhyme or Reason Month).

I found out about this challenge from my dear Twitsom (aka: Twitter Soulmate, Ricki Schultz) who runs The Write-Brained Network. She’s declaring May: NoRhym-O-ReMo. If you’re familiar with NaNoWriMo, then this concept won’t be new to you. But other than the fact that it’s May and NOT November, the nice thing about NoRhym-O-ReMo is that you can set your own daily word count goal instead of squirming over the 50K flames that make up NaNoWriMo.

If you’ve been reading my blog, then you know I’ve been suffering from a bad case of The Funk. There were so many helpful suggestions to get over this hump and it was a relief to realize I’m not the only sufferer of this malady. But I think my brain has had enough. I think it’s time for ME to tell IT that it’s time to move on and GET TO WORK. And I think NoRhym-O-ReMo is the kick in the butt I need to push me to get something on the page. ANYTHING on the page.

I’ll enter my official goal on the Write-Brained site, but I’m stating here that I pledge to write at least 500 words a day. I know I’m low-balling this goal. I mean, heck, I can usually knock out 2K in one day EASY. Of course, that was when I had Muse dust spewing out of my fingers. Now that I’ve had some time off, I realize I’d probably do better by easing into the pool rather than cannon-balling in.

So who’s with me? Anyone ready to be held accountable for their wordcount???

What’s that FUNK?

By Cam

I want to talk about FUNK today. As in: “I’ve been in a funk and I don’t know WHYYYYY.” (NOT: “You smell like funk please take this bar of soap before my nose hairs erupt in flames.”)

You see, I have — what I think — is a really cool idea for my WIP. It’s a contemporary love story (except when it’s not), with a twist (no sparkly fangs or anything). I’ve talked it out with some writer friends, researched for about 3 months, roughly outlined the plot, and even wrote out random scenes that popped up in my head (NOTE: I’m a total linear writer and end up a confused mess if I write out of order, so this last bit was pretty much outside the norm for me).

That’s all fine and dandy. But what’s really frustrating special with this particular WIP, is that I’ve written well over 20 versions of my first chapter. All of them are completely different. As in, different setting, different circumstances, and in some cases, different POVs. I was partially blaming this OMG SO FRUSTRATING educational writing process on cancerous subplots. So I simplified those subplots and focused on the main story line. You’d think the problem would be resolved, yes?

Apparently not.  The main sticking point I had was with the inciting incident. I didn’t HAVE one, hence the spaghetti method of Chapter One Tryouts. I mean, I knew what key scenes I wanted, I knew my characters, I knew the ENDING…but that beginning was so freaking elusive! Like a cute boy who just won’t. make. the. first. move. I’m all about girl power, which is why I kept making the first move. But I think I was too aggressive. I think I ended up scaring off my own story. Can that happen? Can you scare off your story by being too pushy? I can’t shake the feeling that if I’d just backed off a teensy weensy bit, it would’ve all come whooshing out in a 70-80K document of literary perfection. The End.

Instead I’m banging my head against a cinder block wall going “WHY WON’T YOU COOPERATE WHY WHY WHY??????”

This. Is. Me. In a FUNK.

But what I’m experiencing isn’t just with my WIP — it’s with reading, critiquing, day-job-working, even SHOPPING. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve picked up over the last few weeks only to read a good 20-30 pages and then put it down. Not because they weren’t good — some were even freaking brilliant in those opening chapters — but because I’m just sorta like, Meh. About everything apparently. And this is so opposite from me. So opposite from how I usually am about EVERYTHING. I’m a Balls-to-the-Wall kind of girl. A Ready-to-Jump-Out-of-the-Plane kind of girl.

I’m not a Meh kind of girl.

I don’t really believe in writer’s block, but I don’t know what else to call this. Maybe my writer’s confidence has been ambushed? Maybe my brain needs a vacation (17 days until Punta Cana, but who’s counting?)? Maybe I need to put this idea to the side and work on a different one? Maybe I need some tips on how to de-FUNK myself?

So what about it? Have you ever been in a LIFE FUNK? How’d you get over it?

Tell the Truth Tuesday

By Cam

You know Lisa and Laura Roecker, yes? If you don’t, you should. They have a book out and are two of the funniest people on Twitter and the blogosphere. Now, I have to confess — I’ve never actually had a conversation with them…mainly because they’re waaaaay funnier than I am and I’m sort of deathly afraid they would give me a blank stare if I randomly started Twitter-laughing with them at an inside joke I’m not inside of. BUT, today will be different because Lisa and Laura are encouraging their blog followers to take part in a feature they do every Tuesday (one of my faves!) called TELL THE TRUTH TUESDAY. The blog title should be obvious enough, but if not then seriously what’s wrong with you, then read my true confessions and you’ll get the hint.

Also? Don’t forget to check out their blog and witness the hilarity yourself.

1. I’m in my 3rd week of P90X and for the most part, I’m doing okay with the nutrition portion of the plan…but I confess that every night after dinner, I tell my daughter her cookie fell on the floor so I can secretly lick the frosting off and not feel bad about it.
2. I wait until my husband’s around before turning on my netbook and heaving the most dramatic sigh ever and complaining about pop-up “virus notifications” so he won’t be surprised when I get an iPad 2 next month (thank you Uncle Sam!).
3. Sometimes when Toddler Trouble talks, she doesn’t pronounce the first letter of her words. I ask her to say grass and fast more than I should. So sue me.
4. We’re going to Punta Cana for a long weekend next month and *gasp* I don’t think I’m going to bring any books because I plan on camping it at the pool bar the whole time.
5. While I was writing this post I got a long overdue email rejection from a query I sent out in October.

What about you? What do you want to unload on this lovely Tuesday?