RIA Esther

I've been woefully absent. My real life has gotten out of control and I haven't had much time to write, but this needs to be said and shared.
16 year old Esther was an amazing nerdfighter and fueled the Harry Potter Alliance. She was brilliant, inspiring, and, I truly believe, the reason why there is a little less suck in this world.
She may be gone, but we will never forget her. Let her life change yours. I know you're all incredibly busy, but for once, just take a minute and stand there.
DFTBA guys. And you too, Esther. You're just behind that veil, and you're always in our hearts and our memories.

Teasing Again!

I've missed a week, far too caught up in beta'ing, finishing off the final draft of A Not So Happily Ever Afterlife, and sending off queries/requests. I knew I'd gotten way too into Heaven/Hell/Demons/Celestials when I sent Karlie this one morning.

"Omg I scared the shit out of myself. You would have laughed at me. I was flipping through a file and look up to my computer and the space thingy on the screen, like the little line that says where you are? yeah, it's just rolling through the document. like making spaces on its own. im like omg demon!!!!!

Then I realized I had the file resting on the spacebar."

 

Yes, my writing is atrocious when I email Karlie. I was scared, guys! Cut me a break.

Also, Prop Eight was overturned. Hell yes California. You're finally cool again. Oh God, now you all know I'm a total QAF fan. It's okay. I trust you with my secret.

I haven't been writing much (I'm a slacker, you caught me) but here's a bit from my rewrite.

 

When we were little, we made forts out of pillows and would lie side by side, sharing cookies like lost hunters, protecting each other from imaginary bears and invisible wolves. As we got older, it was shared popcorn and the horror movies he’d pass down to me. When we were nearly adults, it was hips brushing on hospital beds while he read to me out of my favorite novels. Even then I’d thought we’d always be able to fend off the wolves, so long as we stayed side by side.
     “Do you remember when you were little and you’d bring home your tests and papers with red A’s big as the teacher’s hand? I mean, it was a Boston public school. Each school had, like, three calculators. But you, you aced everything, put them all to shame,” Sam says, laughing into his bottle, elbow grazing mine. He never gets nostalgic; I’m not sure how to handle it.
    “And Mom was never home cause she worked those crazy shifts at the diner and Frankie was pulling doubles to save up for this house, so you’d put my papers up on the fridge,” I remember.
    “And I was still short so they were all collected on the bottom half, stacked on top of each other.”
    “Yeah, you always took care of me,” I says quietly.
    “Except for that time you reset my shoulder, do you remember that?” he asks.
    “Course, I was nine and you had skipped school then fallen out of a tree so I had to reset your arm. And Mom never found out.”
    “You never told her. Besides, you reset it so well I never had to go to the hospital,” he laughs and clinks the necks of our bottles together. “You’re all I’ve really had, you know?” He’s speaking so quietly it’s like it’s not meant for me to hear, but I guess that’s the point. Sam doesn’t do feelings.
    “It’s mutual, bro,” I say, kicking his foot so he’ll look up at me. “You’ll be okay when I’m gone.”
    “You don’t get it, do you? I’m your big brother, I’m supposed to take care of you, always have. I was at every one of your softball games, I read every one of your papers, stayed up all night to help you study. This, I can’t save you from this.”
    “You’re not supposed to.”
    “I am supposed to. I protect you, remember? You were always a little girl. Then, one day, right before my eyes, you were beautiful. I don’t think you even realized it yet. But you had guys lining up down the street for you, and I was so scared. What was I going to do when you decided you didn’t need me anymore?”
    “But I did need you,” I remind him.
    “Yeah, I know, had to bash in a few skulls every now and then.”
    “Which made me a big hit with the boys.”
    “Well it wasn’t supposed to,” he says, nudging me with his elbow. “It was supposed to keep you safe.” He shakes his head and takes a long swig from his bottle. Sam’s always kept me safe, in the big and the little ways. I’m not sure which is more important. When we’d go on family trips, he always took the bed by the door, always walked on the outside of the sidewalk, even walked in front of me into dark rooms. “I wish you hadn’t stopped fighting.”
I frown, furrow my brow. “I never stopped fighting, I‘m just accepting my fate.”
    “Yes, you did stop. There’s more treatments out there, more options.” His voice is edging on desperate, it’s unsettling. How can someone protect me from the dark if they’re clinging to me too tightly to see what’s happening, to be brave and fight?

Last Tease From Hell

I'm 43000/50000 words from finishing this. Eek! I'm so close I can taste the sulfur. I just need to hunker down and finish it off now. If I can manage that, I'm sure I'll start a new MS while I edit this one, so this might be the last tease. It's still the first draft so beware of grammar/spelling mistakes. Thanks for all your support through this one guys!

I can haz tease?

Show of hands, who saw Inception? It's movies like that that make me question my ability to tell a story. Not a spoiler, but if you saw it, do you think the top fell at the end?
Tease from hell. Weeee.

Teaser from Hell

So, I'm 25000/50000 of my Heaven/Hell MS and 20000/60000 of my rewrite. All in one week. Jeesh. If only my office is so dead every week so I can just keep pushing at this pace! Tease from our little demon now.

Tuesday Trip To Hell

While I'm revising 365, which is majorly sad, I decided to go for something majorly fun/borderline cracktastic. Dani dies, embarrassingly, and goes to Heaven, which is great and everything, but pretty boring. So, she jumps on a job opportunity down south, without asking quite how far down. Hijinks ensue.

  

Tease from something new...errr..old

I'm completely rewriting one of my old manuscripts, which is the most exciting and frustrating experience ever, so I just want to thank you all for being supportive and saving me from headdesking on a regular basis. You won't recognize this scene, but if you recognize the characters, you get brownie points for reading this blog for so long. Also, that picture is from my Blackberry (read: brickbreaker device) as proof that Boston can be beautiful on occasion.

 

T-t-tease

I haven't gotten very far on this because I've been flipping between first person POV and third. I might post a bit of the first person next week to compare. But look! It's less than 500 words!

Awards!

Today I received my first award from Karla and Ellen. Check out their blogs. For seriously. Thanks so much guys, love you so much.

 

And since every civilized society needs rules ...

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...)
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

7 things you never wanted to know about me:

1. I am not naturally as blond as I pretend to be. Oh, wait, you knew that people weren't born with bleach-white hair?

2. I'm a Boston girl. I love The Celtics, please pick it up in game 7 boys; The Sox, oh, Ellsbury, get better baby; and The Pats, I have no words for their state of play right now, except that our quarterback is hotter than yours so I still win.

3. Our TV is named Stevee the TV, despite the fact that boyfriend won't call it that. God, it's totally unique.

4. I breathe Supernatural. I still squee every time I get a good glimpse of Jensen's freckles and Padalecki's abs.

5. I have twirled baton and played violin since fourth grade. Once I left high school I got marginally less cultured.

6. I say nomnomnom and IRL just because it pisses boyfriend off. That's also the same reason my blackberry is always glued to my hand. I'm that obnoxious person. I'm not even doing anything cool, just playing brickbreaker.

7. I make amazing margaritas. If you come to Boston, come have one with me.

So, 15 in no particular order. I'm a total cheat (as you know from my inability to keep teasers under 500 words, and my lists to always overflow) so I just have to rec the girls who gave me this.

1. Ellen

2. Karlie

3. Bri

4. Annie

5. Becca

6. Phoebe

7. Kate

8. Karla

9. Glen

10. Kaitlin

11. Blue Lipstick Samurai

12. Debra

13. J.S Wood

14. Cory

15. Sage

Brand New Tease

This is something brand new. I have no idea whether I even like it or not, but these are the opening pages. I've rewritten it about twelve times, because I'm never satisfied, and I have to do something while I wait for beta comments on band geeks.

teaser

Without my school schedule I almost always forget that it's Tuesday. I'm putting the finishing touches on band geeks, then sending it out to my beta (seriously, it will be in your inbox tomorrow Karlie, promise) so this will probably be the last tease because I'm about to start putting an SNI on paper. As always, if you want to beta, feel free to comment or email me at epage126[@]gmail[.]com. Thanks guys! You're awesome.

Tease!

Sooo, band geeks is pretty much done. It just needs to go out to my beta. If you'd like to beta, I'd do it in return! Just comment or email me at epage126[at]gmail[dot]com. Thanks guys!

Happy Tuesday!

Band Geek Pranksters time, guys. Thanks so much for all your comments and love so far. Seriously, it means the world to me. Also, go on over to Karlie's blog and wish her a late happy b-day. It was today!

OMG you guys

Perks of Being a Wallflower is being made into a movie...pause for dramatic silence.

If you've ever read my blog, you know that I won't shut up about this book, and that is for good reason. Perks absolutely made my teenage years. I cannot put into words how much this book means to me. It's been passed through so many people (read: I've pushed it on so many people) that it's completely worn out with a broken spine, tattered pages, and a very sweet message written in red sharpie from my boyfriend in the front (you're the only one to make me feel infinite too, baby.)
This is one of the books I can honestly point to and say, "Yeah, that changed my life." I've literally read it dozens of times, and can recite a majority of the pages.
Anyway, I found out about the movie from Sarah LaPolla's blog, and nearly jumped out of my seat. My fingers were fumbling all over my blackberry as I called The Boyfriend, praying he wasn't in work yet. He picked up, and I responded with "Perks is being made into a movie with Hermoine Granger," but I was so excited that I had to try at least three times to get it out. He freaked out as well, hemmed and hawed with me about the casting, then we chatted forever about it as if we won't see each other in a few hours, because that's what Perks does to people, guys.
So, Emma Watson is playing Sam. I love Emma Watson, I really do, but she's not who I was expecting. I guess you can never get exactly what you want, because they'll never look just like you imagine them. To me, Sam was tall, a little plain, and just so much older than Charlie. Logan Lerman (aka Percy Jackson) is playing Charlie. And I'm just so ehhh about the casting. Charlie is supposed to be, like, 14, tiny and adorable. When I'm reading Perks, I constantly just want to wrap him up in my arms and keep him safe. The difference between a freshman and senior in high school is massive. The difference between an 18 year old and a 21 year old? Not massive at all.
What I am so far from bummed about is the director/screenwriter. It is Mr. Chbosky himself. I've written that name so many times in my obsessive ranting that I don't even have to look it up anymore. I always whined about him not writing another book (can you tell I whine a lot?) but I completely forgive him now. As Boyfriend put it, now nothing will be lost in the artistic translation. Let's just pray for that.
If you haven't read it yet, shame on you! No, I'm kidding, just go get it. You can probably order it from Amazon for super cheap. Look, I'll even link you. It's barely more than a hundred pages so you have no excuse!!

Roadtrip Wednesday and epic anniversary

On YA Highway, we hold a weekly Road Trip Wednesday, where we ask a writing/reading question and all the contributors answer on our personal blogs. If you want to participate on your own blog, just post the link in the comments section of YAH and we'll check it out!


What tattoo would you get to celebrate your book's success OR to represent a favorite book?

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an absurd amount of tattoos. Okay...four. But still. I got my first when I was 17 with my mom. Tiniest graniest picture ever, I know.

Then I got one with my brother. Yes, those are snowflakes. Yayy snowflakes.

Then, an impromptu one with my biffle (but they're not matching tattoos)

And, finally, the most recent.
That's my calf. For some reason, everyone thinks it's my arm. Noo.



 
 
 
 
 
The point of all these pictures? I'm addicted. So, I'd probably get a really good book qoute. But it would have to be amazing. Like, Harry Potter classic. I solemly swear that I am up to no good? I did want that for a while. Anyway, I'd never qoute my book, because that's M. Night level douchiness, but I might get something in honor of it. Something super important in the book. Just something that meant the world to me, something that represented the magic of my dreams coming true.
 

Cheese aside, let's get to the good stuff. It's me and Karlie's 6 month anniversary!! Yay! Celebrate. We've beta'ed each other work for 6 months and become really close friends. That's what great about this community of writers, you can find someone to read your work, and someone to email you on a daily basis whether they've written something, or whether they just want to talk about a crazy man and his duck fetish.
A good beta doesn't just read your work, they understand it. And Karlie does. She bounces ideas off me, and I bounce mine off her. She'll highlight an entire paragraph and go 'wtf are you thinking? this is so OOC. cut it.' And I don't ever get mad. I laugh and usually do cut it, because she's usually right. She picks up what I'm laying down. I've converted her to the special hell of Supernatural and Wincest, and John Green's awesomeness. She makes sure I watch every new Criminal Minds so we can talk Reid's hair. My go to catholic girl that loves gayboys, my fangirl, my cheerleader. Love you. Wouldn't be here without you every day telling me that I don't suck. Team Karliz!!!

Teaseeee

Dear Red Sox,
I'm your biggest fan and all, but you're playing some really shitty baseball. I'm only hard on you because I know you can do much better Papelbon. Get it together boys!

On that note...Tease!

Tease!

Happy Tuesday everyone! Here's another snip from band geeks. And look, it's almost at the 500 word count limit! This is still a super rough draft, so beware of misspellings, poor grammar, and sentences that just don't make sense.

Tease-tease-tease

I'm teasing from my band geeks this week, who have been horribly neglected in favor - aka obligation to - stats. But that's all over now people! Come Thursday, I take my last final of my junior year and spend all my time writing. Warning - these are not the five hundred words you're looking for. I suck.

Roadtripping Away

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week, YA Highway asks: What is the best book you've read this month?


That's easy. Wait...I lied. That's really, really tough. If you recall (from my whining and complaining in previous posts) I was sick at the beginning of the month. So, I finally caved an one-click-bought Looking For Alaska. I'd heard great things about it, but for some reason, the title just didn't do it for me, and I was too crazy busy to be reading more books. But, I was in one very very boring class and was very very sick, so I bought it, got it the next day, and read it in about 6 hours. Thank you Blackberry for allowing me to order things I really don't need just because class is boring and you are sitting there, beckoning to me. (I also may have bought a zombie killing app...I have yet to decide which was a better purchase.)


LOOKING FOR ALASKA is pretty much made of win. Like John Green himself. My brother and I are nerdfighters (if you don't know what that is, google it right now. You'll be more awesome for it.) so reading John's work after listening to him communicate with Hank was awesome. My brother is actually reading it right now. The vlogbro's really helped me and Brady reconnect, and we've made a pact to vlog if we ever move far apart. But, since we're talking books here, not about my personal life, let's talk LFA. Everything about it is entirely amazing. The language is so real (and not just the swearing) and I found myself laughing outloud, hysterically, which resulted in the boyfriend staring at me like I was insane until I pushed the book on him and he too read it in 24 hours (I love my nerdy, geeky, brilliant boyfriend.) Of course, if you've read it, which I'm assuming you have because I am so late on the John Green train, you know that I was sobbing hysterical a few hours later, then laughing and crying intermittently until the end.

The characters are incredible, quirky, and laugh out loud funny. Walk into any dorm, peek inside of a room, and I promise you'll find a bunch of kids sitting on the couch, playing video games, with their feet up on a COFFEE TABLE, as someone else tries to study through the noise. There is one Colonel at every school you go to, at least one Alaska that stands out among everyone else with this cool kind of mystery about her, and lots of Pudge's, which is probably the most important part. Pudge is like you and me, geeky, well read, and a little uncomfortable in his skin. Not to mention, they're all as smart as they are funny. I think we forget that you can skip class constantly, pull pranks, and still get out of there with a 4.0...or a 3.8 because you pranked your english teacher and he really wanted to punish you.

The writing is amazing - easy to read while still being beautifully poetic:

So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane

And everything about the book makes teens remember that we are strong, smart people who have real, passionate loves, even if adults think we're just kids who don't know what they're doing. Okay, I'm not a teenager anymore, but John Green reminds me why I miss it.

When adults say, "Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.

And sometimes, it makes you want to pee laughing:


"It's my fox hat."
"Your fox hat?"
"Yeah, Pudge. My fox hat."
"Why are you wearing your fox hat?"
"Because no one can catch the motherfucking fox."
 
John Green, I love you. And guys, DFTBA.

Tease!

Teasing early because my life is insane. I spent the weekend making 125 jello shots for my big brother's birthday party instead of writing a 20 pages research paper on PTSD in Iraq veterans due tomorrow. Good role model? No. Well worth it to see him laugh? Hell yes.

Also, the Jack's Mannequin show was so amazing that I could have died. Best weekend ever.

And I got the coolest bracelets ever, because my nieces are amazing and adorable. Why, yes, those are dinosaurs!! Karla, I want to send you the orange one. Expect a random envelope from me soon. It's not anthrax, pinky promise.

Seriously, on to the tease now. We agreed on about 500 words, right? This is probably more, because I'm too lazy to check my word count. Here we go. Band geeks.

Teaser from something brandy new

I was writing my tattooed girl WIP from the last tease, when this SNI decided to make itself known. I'm still unsure about how I feel on it, and it's probably full of spelling/grammar errors, so beware of bad writing.
::Edit:: I should probably mention that, yes, I was in band camp. It wasn't a schmancy sleep away camp, just regular, old, sweat-your-butt-off-in-the-sun-all-day camp. And yes, I was a majorette. No, we weren't the super sexy, confident girls. No one is sexy in a high school parking lot after marching back and forth for eight hours a day mid-August. But we did twirl batons, which is pretty cool in it's own right, even if it only lasts for four years and you're still kind of a geek for it. Who doesn't love cute, obscenely short uniforms though?

  

Teaser Tuesday

Happy Tuesday guys! This is from my new, untitled WIP. SINK is done now, but there is one thing I could use - Betas! I know it's April, which is a crazy month for anyone in school, but if you're interested, shoot me an email at epage126[at]gmail[dot]com - I'll beta in return!

snip!

Why our parents lie to us

Or, more importantly, why parents can come off as..well..clueless in YA work. They come off that way because when we're teens, that's how we see them. But we tend to be very very wrong. I found this out because I'm 20, and my parents still sugarcoat the truth.

My mom just called me, saying that they were going through their old VHS tapes, and my brother was there, so we should all watch them together. Boyfriend, hearing this across our small apartment, decides we HAVE to go.

So, we do. And my mom puts in this tape of me, butt naked, in the tub. Boyfriend finds this funny enough to begin with, but finds it even funnier when I exclaim bubbles! - yes, just like the yellow fish from Finding Nemo - and promptly face plant in them. As my dad in the video hoists me out, my dad in the living room says, well, you were an enthusiastic kid. Of course, this makes me feel a little less challenged than I clearly was.

Next up is the video of six year old me, in footsie pjs, still rubbing sleep from my eyes, shoving a helmet over my bed head (my mom wouldn't let me cut it until I was thirteen, there was lots of bedhead) and getting on my big wheel, racing down the driveway, and promptly slamming into the fence. Once again, I'm assured, I was just enthusiastic, as I was my entire childhood. Looking back, I think they may have been sugarcoating.

But, of course, this is not the end. The end comes with my kindergarten class singing It's A Small World. Apparently, I thought I was Madonna, because I am SCREAMING along. Not singing in the slightest. Just screaming. I pick myself out immediately, hoping no one else does, but boyfriend looks right at me and asks, "Why are you wailing?"

So I answer. "I'm not wailing, I'm belting it out. I'm singing enthusiastically."

I wasn't singing enthusiastically. I was screaming embarrassingly and had no idea. 

Thanks Mom and Dad for shielding me all these years from that realization.

What does all this mean? It means that when we're writing, and the parents come across as clueless, they aren't. Our teen MC's just think they are. And our parents are way too nice to point out just how wrong we are. Like the time I roadtripped to New York at midnight without informing them senior year - not one of my finer moments, but one of my best memories. We get back somewhere around 6 a.m., never having gotten to Times Square, and no one says anything. Then, about a month later, I tell my mom, because I was just always that good of a kid. Her answer? "Oh, yeah, I know."

Completely flabbergasted - come on, our plan was airtight and fool proof, except for when we lost the directions - I ask how she knew. "You'd been talking about New York for a few days, then you were gone." Keep in mind I was gone all night all the time. But she just knew, and I had no idea.

When you're following a story from a 17 year old's mind, the parents are probably going to come across as a little dumb. But they aren't. They're just sugarcoating you. And when you move out, they will make you watch movies that are proof of just how 'enthusiastic' you were.

Yes, that is a photo of the infamous night. Yes, my best friend is taking a picture while I'm trying to navigate the New York traffic in a Wrangler. But look, I'm wearing my seatbelt!

Tease!

Is it Tuesday already? All I know is that it's April, aka Hell Month for all you college students. Wow. Longest teaser ever? Sorry guys. It's probably the last from SINK though because it's out on agent submissions and I'll be working on my SNI and teasing from that.

snip!

Roadtrip Wednesday

So I haven't done one of these in forever, mainly because school has been overwhelming. But since MA got flooded, yes flooded as in we couldn't leave the town - that's what you get for living right on the river - I haven't had school. Yayy. So, over on Roadtrip Wednesday, they asked what you'd do with monetary success.
One, travel, obviously.

Then, get Andy McMahon to play a personal show for me. That would be the lead of Jack's Mannequin and Something Corporate and probably the most inspirational leukemia story ever. Oh, and he's adorable.







Then I'd get an insanely expensive Pnina Tornai wedding dress and Tiffany & Co. engagment ring, yes for myself.
Then, only because Karla brought it up, I'd pay these boys to take off their clothes. Because I'm shallow.

Yes, that's a chicken he's holding. The chicken is optional.















And then, the rest goes to Doctor's Without Borders. Really. If you haven't checked it out or donated, please please please go there now!!
So, now you know what I'd do. What about you?

T-t-tease

I just got back from my pilates class, and I kind of want to die. I have this love/hate relationship with my instructor, or maybe it should be more love/hate. As soon as I get there she's the best thing ever who totally motivates me to lose those five pounds before summer, and by the end I want to die because I can barely breathe and my hair is a mess and I don't look anything like her.
Anyway, because I'm dying from class, I'm crashing and teasing early. I guess technically this is no longer a WIP, because it's in agent's hands but...eh. I have nothing else to tease from. So, this is THE scene. Or as my beta likes to call it, "the nookie scene - aka just stop being a baby and write it already." It went back and forth between us at least four times and I'm still not satisfied. *ahem* no pun intended.

SNI...Monday?

I just finished up my male POV novel I've been teasing from, which is now called SINK, you know, for now. Until I get bored and change it again. Anyway. While I'm still focused on that, beta feedback, reading it for the billionth time, I'll tease from it probably once more. In the meantime, I've started this. I only have one page written, so I don't even want to tease from it. It's crazy rough and I might not even continue with it, but I want your opinions!

Also! Give me your best horror movie recs. The Blockbuster near my house is going out of business so boyfriend and I bought bunch of horror movies. Shooter (I know, not a horror movie, bf's choice), 28 Weeks Later, Paranormal Activity, Quarantine, and My Bloody Valentine (okay, it's an awful movie, but Jensen Ackles just brings the sexy and makes it tolerable.) Any other suggestions? We've got the world's biggest zombie collection in the apartment already, but we love gore!

SNI

Tease!

 I literally just got out of The Crazies - go see it if you haven't - so I'm teasing before I try to sleep, hoping not to be attacked by psycho almost zombies. Also, if the lead in the movie didn't look just like me in 15 years, it would have been less upsetting.
So, here we go. Tease from the middle of the tentatively titled, Weight of This Water. Gimme your feedback on the title, love, hate, brandy new idea I haven't thought of?

snip! you guys are incredible

Teaser Tuesday!

Tease from my WIP that is still without a title! I should probably do something about that soon.

snip!

T-t-teaseee

 As I've been attacked by an evil virus that put me out of commission for a week, and I just switched to windows 7 (yay!), this has been moving super slowly. To the point that it's a little pathetic. At least I'm not sick anymore (knock on wood) so I can actually keep moving forward.
Oh, and, Hello Spring Break! Thanks for finally showing your face sunshine. NE has missed you.
This may also cause a delay in writing...if I'm lucky :)

    snip!

T-t-t-easeee

 Tease from the new, nameless, WIP. It's going slowly, because school is overwhelming, but here it is!! CJ is the brother Milo hasn't seen or heard from since he left for college four years ago.

   thanks for being awesome guys!

Why we write YA

So I was reading Amna's post  and got to rambling in her comments. The gist of the post was about whether or not our teen years are the best of our lives. Which got me to thinking why so many of us write YA, and read YA, regardless of our age. Now, I have a cold, and am running on strictly cold medicine and coffee while my college homework steamrollers my social/writing life, so this may not make much sense.

I'm 20, so I'm technically not a teen anymore, though I don't want to call myself an adult. Then again, if your characters are no longer in high school, it's hard to categorize the novel as YA.
Being a junior in college, I guess I'm not a young adult anymore. I did graduate high school at 17 and start my freshman year of college at 17 because I have a December birthday, so I was a teen, out of high school.
Why do we limit YA to high school? And why is that the genre we want to read? Of course, in the long run, I won't have an answer for this, but it's interesting anyway.

High school is a time of great change, sure. It's about finding yourself, finding your friends, falling in love. But I think you find who you really are in college. You don't spend 6 hours a day with your friends anymore, so you lose touch with a lot of them. It's tragic, it really is, but maybe that's how it has to go. You'll probably fall in and out of love a few more times, then find a real relationship. You'll pick a major, realize you never want to do that as a career, change your major, realize you never want to do that, have a crisis, finally pick the right major, and move forward. You'll discover what you want to do in life, who you always want to be around, who you want to live with, love, marry etc. etc.

It's the grown up world and it's terrifying, but once you're there, it's easy as pie. Like I said, I'm still only 20. College isn't the 'real world' but it's still this huge obstacle people fear. And you know what? It's not that bad. It's not even that different. Maybe I'm in for a huge shock when I graduate, but my boyfriend and a lot of my close friends have, and nothing is different yet.
There's a great chance I'm naive, but I like to dream. Even though getting here was easier than I dreamt it would be, I don't want it to end. I like having this wide openess still in front of me. I like the idea that I'm young, this is the golden time, I can do what I want and mostly get away with it.

But remember, picking a major doesn't mean that's your life career. Graduating and starting a career doesn't mean your locked into it. Never forget to dream. That's why we all write YA, right? Cause it's about dreaming, changing, and falling in love.
But people of all ages read it and write it. So why can't we live it?

Surveyyy

Swiping this survey from Karlie's blog, who stole it from someone else, who stole it from someone else, and so on and so forth and blah blah blah. Keep it going! I want to read your answers!!

1) What's the last thing you wrote? What's the first thing you wrote that you still have?


The last thing I completed was my gay boys. I mean, Veering Off the Straight and Narrow. It's about road tripping your way to a new life, with pit stops to come out to your family and add to Nate's ever growing shot glass collection.

The first thing I ever completed was called Brilliant Creatures, and it was bad. I will say no more. :)

2) Write poetry?

Oh god no. I don't even pretend to have the ability to write poetry.

3) Angsty poetry?

Just angsty novels! Hey, being a teenager is hard.

4) Favorite genre of writing?

Young adult and literary. Anything with grit. Anything that will make you cry. Anything that makes me cry while writing it. And occasionally the angst of falling for your straight best friend.

5) Most annoying character you've ever created?

Oh boy. Um. Probably Chris, Casey's older brother in Veering Off the Straight and Narrow. He's awesome and I love him to death, but he drives Casey insane.

6) Best plot you've ever created?

Christ. This is like choosing between children. Not that I have children. Or even really like children. I guess that makes this easier! 365 Days Until I Disappear, I think.

7) Coolest plot twist you've ever created?

Probably 365. You can probably figure out the ending but...eh. Maybe my gay boys would be a better twist. Going home to their families does not go as you'd expect.

8) How often do you get writer's block?

Commonly but I like to plow right through it until I can pick the plot and voice up again. Then I just chop off whatever deadness came through the writer's block.

9)Write fan fiction?

No. But I am a huge supporter of Wincest and J2. And no. I don't feel bad about it. Not a little teeny tiny bit. Jensen and Jared shouldn't be so hot, then I wouldn't have this addiction.

10) Do you type or write by hand?

Type. You can barely read my college notes.

11) Do you save everything you write?

Back up, back up, back up.

12) Do you ever go back to an idea after you've abandoned it?

Not really. I probably abandoned it because it sucked. I'll frankenstein pieces from it though.

13)What's your favorite thing you've ever written?

Hmm. I love love love my gay boys. The schmoop. The love. The clothing. No, I'm j/k. I do love it though, probably because it's the last thing I wrote.

14) What's everyone's favorite story you've written?

I guess 365. That's the one that gets all the full requests. But my beta squees all over my gay boys on a regular basis.

15) Ever written a romance or an angsty teen drama?

Angsty teen drama is my life.

16) What's your favorite setting for your characters?

The car the boys are road tripping in during Veering Off the Straight and Narrow. It pretty much is home.

17) How many writing projects are you working on right now?

One. I have to force myself to. But one.

18) Have you won an award for your writing?

Hahahah Karlie I owe her a most inspiration beta award. Do I get a kickass beta award? Yes please.

19) What are your five favorite words?

Bleed. Devastation. Audible. Wrist. Fuck. - I write happy YA sometimes. I swear. Those are all from V.O.S.N actually.

20) What character have you created that is most like yourself?

Probably Lindsey from 365. Or Casey from V.O.S.N even though I'm not a boy. I'm a grumpy morning person, standoffish, and tend to hold all my feelings in until they explode from pressure.

21) Where do you get your ideas for your characters from?

No where, really. They just start speaking.

22) Do you ever write based on your dreams?

No. I have weird, creepy dreams that you'd never want to read.

23) Do you favor happy endings?

Not unless they're in my massage. Ahhaha I'm so funny. Really though, only sometimes. A happy ending is relative.

24) Are you concerned with spelling and grammar while you write?

Yes. Even though my beta finds my desert/dessert trouble hysterical. They don't correct this shit in college anymore! I'm sorry!

25) Does music help you write?

Absolutely. I can't write without it. My gay boys got lots of Matt Nathanson and Something Corporate while 365 got lots of DeathCab and Sia.

26) Quote something you've written. Whatever pops in your head.

“Excuse me?” It’s his pissed-off voice, as if he has any right to be angry as I bleed my heart out all over his shoes.

 Casey from Veering Off the Straight and Narrow.

T-t-teaseee

This is my brandy new, barely written, may still have grammatical/spelling mistakes. The only reason I'm showing all of you is because I love you so much :)
This isn't even titled, but in general, it's about a boy who loses his girlfriend, Anna, and his best friend, Ben, in a car crash. This isn't the very beginning, but it is from the first chapter. Enjoy!
*thanks guys!*

Teaser!!

Statistics is trying to eat my soul. So, I'm teasing early, from 365 because it's on submission to a bunch of agents and I miss it.
Not that I don't love my gay boys, I just miss the angsting and the angels and the cancer.
Promise to get to you guys by Tuesday night!!

 
thanks guys!!

Teaser Tuesday!

Is it Tuesday already? Man, the beginning of the semester is hectic. Bring it on 15 page Research Methods of Psych paper, I write novels dammit. If only that made me feel better. As for Statistics of Psych? It's still considered wrong to flirt your way through with the hot young professor even though it happens all the time in books, right? Right?
On a good note, dayglo nail polish is back in. And I'm embracing it to the max!!
As for you lovies, how is the new year going for all of you?

Here it is from Veering Off The Straight And Narrow. Nate's present tense POV after the boys have a fight. Apparently, being gay doesn't save you from relationship drama. Too bad.

You guys are awesome!!

T-t-teaser!

Teasing from Veering Off The Straight And Narrow today which is with my lovely beta to rip apart :)
This is a flashback from Casey's POV, during prom, obviously. Who here misses high school? Raise your hand.
Thanks for your support guys. I don't say it enough, but I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.

*snip!*

Teaser!

  I love to tease, especially as I watch criminal minds and hoarders, reassuring myself that the insane psych degree is worth it. As for that history degree I'll never use...nothing will ever make that seem more sane.
 This is from my WIP Veering Off The Straight and Narrow. This one's from Nate's POV after he's unwittingly ditched the boyfriend to attend a party with his jock friends.

 *thanks everyone!*

Teaser Tuesday!

So I'm finally posting from my new WIP tentatively named Veering Off the Straight and Narrow. It's about moving out, growing up, accepting yourself and falling in love with your straight best friend.
After I finished up 365, and during, Casey and Nate's voices wouldn't go away but I couldn't get it right. I couldn't figure out what POV and tense to use, what was happening, what the major arcs were, who they were to each other etc etc.
So I skeletoned about 8 chapters and shelved it. Then they came back, yelling at me to write them. I spent a lot of time with my beta going, what about this way? What if this happens? What if I do it from an external POV? What if I have them roadtripping and flashing back to how they fell in love. Thankfully, my brutally honest beta who loved their voices (and understands them just as well as me) shot them all down until we got to the very last option.
And now it's been flying by :)

*thanks guys!*

Teaser Tuesday!

I'm still riding the holiday craze, finding bows and confetti in odd places and sending out tragically overdue thank you cards. It's my favorite time of the week though! Time to tease! This is from early on in 365, a snippet my lovely beta suggested last week. Thanks Karla! Oh how I miss high school parties!

snip!! thanks for being awesome guys!

Teaser Tuesday!

Happy 2010 everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday. Now, back to the real world. Little tease from 365 after Lindsay and Sam have fought. Also, check out my kickass beta's blog for her teaser.

*snip* you guys kick ass!