WIP: The Movie Blogfest

WiP: The Movie - is a blogfest hosted by Kyra Lennon.  Join in and check out the details here.


Don't forget to enter my 200-follower giveaway here!

Okay, so I'm going to do my brand-spanking new WIP, MEDITATION.

The main character, Bree, is really into yoga and wants to become an instructor.  I could see Miranda Cosgrove playing her, possibly.  It's really hard to find pics that fit her, because she's really THERE in my head, you know?

Bree's boyfriend, Brian, is a football player.  He's mostly really sweet, but can let his temper get the best of him.  The best picture I could find for him was this one of Jake T. Austin.

 These are evocative of the opening scene:

And this one, a few chapters later:

As far as soundtrack, these are on my playlist for writing.  I'm going to post links for easier loading, since I already have a bunch of pics on this post. :D

Evanescence - Secret Door

Avril Lavigne - Keep Holding On

Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts

Christina Perri - My Eyes


So, what do you think?  I'm looking forward to checking out everyone's WIP: The Movie posts. :)

200 Follower GIVEAWAY!!!

YAY!!! A couple of weeks ago, I reached 200 followers! :)

As a thank you, and because I love to give stuff away, I decided to have a contest to celebrate.

Since I'm celebrating 200, I decided to do a 2 times 2 giveaway, meaning I'm giving two things away, TWICE!  So you have four chances to win, and, of course, lots of ways to earn entries. :)

What can you win?

I'm giving away TWO $10 gift certificates to Book Depository. (So this IS international if Book Depository ships to your country)

I'm also giving away TWO 50-page critiques. (I'm not mean, and I'm thorough.  I've been told I give a great crit.) If you are not a writer, or only want to be entered for the Book Depository gift,  please let me know in the comments.  This is also international as long as you write in English. LOL.

Everyone seems to love rafflecopter, so I'm gonna give it a try for this contest.

Ways to earn entries are:
1. Be a follower. (+2)
2. Tweet about this giveaway. (+1)
3. Blog about this giveaway. (+2)
4. Post on Facebook, Tumbler, etc. about this giveaway. (+1)
5. Leave a comment on this post telling me about your favorite blogpost of mine. (+5)

He did WHAT to her shoulders?!

I have been on a critting/betaing kick lately.  I've beta'ed at least four full novels, and visited over fifty blogs for blog hops (although I didn't exactly critique on the blog hops, I did notice stuff--lol).

There's one mistake that I see A LOT that I really don't get.  And it looks something like this:

Shrugging my shoulders, Liam turned and walked out of the room.

Do you see what the problem is?  The subject of the sentence is LIAM.  The sentence is actually saying that LIAM shrugged the protagonist's shoulders.

That was an extreme example, but I really do see these sentences all the time.  Another common version is this:

Closing the door, my eyes tracked across the room.

In this sentence, the protagonist's eyes somehow closed the door.

I've seen these so much at this point, that I decided to write a blog post about it.  Funnily enough, I recently visited Entangled Editor Heather Howland's blog, and clicked on a link to her "Craft Quickies." Low and behold, what is her first quickie about?

Pesky Participle Phrases.

Her post about them is informative and interesting, and so are her other Craft Quickie posts, so you should definitely check them out.

What about you?  Are there any common mistakes that drive you nuts?

P.S. During the blog fest, I hit 200 followers. THANK YOU! (*waves to Emily R. King, who was the 200th*) I like to give stuff away, so look for a contest next week!

Cover Reveal: GRAVITY by Melissa West

I'm so excited to be part of Melissa West's cover reveal!  You can visit Melissa at her website here, as well as on twitter.

Melissa's debut novel GRAVITY (October 2012) is the first in a trilogy with Entangled Publishing.  I can't wait to read it!  

Here's the blurb:
In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don't. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last
person she expected hovering above her bed - arrogant Jackson Locke, the
most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind
of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help
him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her
question what she's been taught about his kind. And against her instincts,
she's falling for him. But Ari isn't just any girl, and Jackson wants more
than her attention.  She¹s a military legacy who¹s been trained by her
father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can
know - especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the
information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping
silent will start a war.

Pre-order from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Gravity-Melissa-West/dp/1620610914/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Add to Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12844575-gravity

Are you ready for the cover?

Are you? 

SO PRETTY! Don't you think?  

Huge congrats, Melissa! I can't wait to read GRAVITY.  


Make sure you add it to your Goodreads and spread the word!

That's YA-more Blogfest & Is It Getting HOT in Here Blogfest

 It's here!  The That's YA-more Blogfest!  Get ready for some smokin' hot YA kissing. :)

My post is below, but you'll want to make sure to read all of the entries, so go here for the full linky list.  And feel free to join in at any time!  The Oasis Ladies will be choosing our favorite to win a free book, so make it awesome!

 ETA: Ooh YAY! I just found out about another blogfest!  The Is It Getting HOT in Here Blogfest. Since this blogfest also calls for a hot kissing scene to be posted on February 14, I can do a two-fer!  IF you're interested in joining this blogfest, sign up here.

Suddenly, I didn’t want to go home and face Mom and Lily.  The park was just ahead, so I crunched across the gravel and plopped into a swing. 

“It was perfect until you went and fudged it up,” I said aloud.  I closed my eyes, recalling the warmth of Paul’s lips on mine.  The way he’d pulled me closer.  The way he’d seemed ready to go further.  My stomach clenched again, and I took a deep breath.  Wow.  One kiss and I turn into a slut. But that wasn’t exactly true.  I didn’t want to go out and kiss just anyone—I wanted to run back and kiss Paul some more. 

“As if he’d even want to,” I mumbled, kicking at the gravel under the swing.

“As if who’d even want to what?”  Paul’s amused voice startled me, and I jumped, grasping at the chains to keep from falling off the swing.

“I—um—nothing.”  I kept my gaze on his shoulder, not wanting to see whatever might be in his eyes.  “Uh, what are you doing here?”

He shook his head and sat in the swing next to me.  “I came to find you, silly.  Why did you run out like that?”

I squirmed in my swing a little.  Why does he always ask me the hard questions?  Why do I want him to?  I avoided this kind of frank talk with Mom and Lily, shrugging off answering, or giving the answer I thought they wanted.  But, with Paul, not only did I want him to ask, but I wanted to answer.

Staring at the gravel under my swing, I blushed.  “I—well, you said you’d only meant to give me a quick kiss, and I thought I’d been too, um, enthusiastic, and—”

“Okay, whoa.  Stop right there.”  He turned his swing sideways, and grabbed the chains of mine so I faced him.  “Look at me, Em.”

My heart pounding, I raised my eyes to his.  They were serious and heated.  Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I tried to decipher his expression.

“I could kiss you all day and never want to stop.  I was only trying to be quick because I was afraid the librarian was coming back.”  His eyes smoldered at me and my breath quickened.  “I’m pretty sure it’s impossible for you to be too enthusiastic when it comes to kissing me.”

The muscles in his upper arms contracted as he pulled me closer.  “Let me show you,” he murmured, before pressing his lips to mine.

Book Lauches and Blogfests

Last week I took a road trip with my favorite writer friends to go to Tampa for the launch of Kristen Simmon's debut novel Article 5!

Here's the cover and blurb:

ARTICLE 5, the first installment of a dystopian trilogy for teens. Major cities have been abandoned, the Bill of Rights has been revoked and replaced with the Moral Statutes, there are no more police – instead, only soldiers. Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that life in the United States used to be different. Living with her rebellious single mother, it’s hard to forget that people weren’t always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. She has learned to keep a low profile, but then her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And what’s worse, one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings…the only boy Ember has ever loved.


Jessica, Christina, Tara, and I had such a fantastic time!

From left to right, Tara, me, Jessica, Kristen, and Christina.

Kristen had lots of fun elements including cookies, 5 gum, raffles, and a reading!

We also met Sarah from The Book Life!

This was an amazing launch for an amazing book, and I am so glad I got to be a part of it!  Go check out Article 5!!!


On another note, don't forget to sign up for the That's YA-more Blogfest!  It's coming up soon--February 11-14--and I can't wait to read all the smoochy goodness. ;)  Plus, if you enjoyed my almost-kisses from the No-Kiss Blogfest, then you'll really love my That's YA-more post.

Go here to sign up, and I will be visiting all the blogs during the blogfest.  Can't wait!

No Kiss Blogfest!

Here it is! But, I had two almost-kisses, and I literally couldn't decide which I liked better, so ... you get both.  I hope you enjoy them!  And don't forget to stop by Frankie Diane Mallis's blog and click through  some of the other participants!

These are both from my YA novel THAT SUCCS.  In the first one, Emmy is nervous about going on her first date, and annoyed with Paul, who she really has a crush on.

By the time Paul came back, I wasn’t as nervous about later.  In fact, I was excited.  But I still reveled in the warmth when he slid next to me.  Enjoying my improved mood, I turned to smile at him, and he smiled back.  I found myself trapped in his gaze—frozen.

            I didn’t even realize I was leaning toward him until I saw his pupils dilate.  He had started to lean, too.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but I knew I didn’t want to stop, even though my mind was screaming something at me.  Our faces were so close, I could feel his breath whisper across my lips.  I inhaled, and a strangely familiar scent made me lean closer.  My lips parted.

            The whistle to start the second half brought me back to myself.  I shot straight and pushed back, almost knocking into the girl I’d talked to earlier.  Oh my God, I just almost kissed Paul.  My heart pounded, and the butterflies in my stomach roiled.  The craziest part was, I really, really wanted to scoot back and continue where we’d left off.  I was afraid to even look at him for fear he was still sitting, ready to kiss me.  I wouldn’t be able to resist if he was.

In this second excerpt, Emmy has come to the library to cool off after an argument with her mom and her best friend.  She runs into Paul and they start to work on their history project.

Paul turned, scooting his chair so it was angled toward me.  “Can I ask you something?”  His brown eyes burned into mine, and my stomach flipped again.

“Um…okay.”

He dropped his eyes to his hands.  “It’s … kind of personal, so you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”  He paused for so long, I wondered if he was going to continue, which made my heart pound, worrying about what personal question he could possibly want to ask me.  Finally, he asked, “Why did you kiss Jake?”

I closed my eyes.  I wasn’t expecting that question.  What could I say?  I was jealous and upset?  I so wasn’t telling him that.  “I don’t really know, Paul.”  Why was everyone so damn obsessed with me kissing? My hand clenched into a fist as the anger I’d come to the library to escape bubbled up again.  Calm down.  He’s not Mom or Lily, and he doesn’t know about any of that.  Taking a deep breath, I relaxed my hand and opened my eyes, avoiding his.  He’d kissed someone, too.  I sighed.  “Why did you kiss Meredith?”

He took my hand, startling me into looking at him.  “I don’t know.  I didn’t want to, but when I saw you dancing with Jake, I just … I don’t know.”  He dropped his gaze again and rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand.  It sent tingles up my arm and straight to my stomach. 

Something strengthened inside me, and I felt bold.  “I really wanted to kiss you.”  I can’t believe I just said that out loud.

His eyes snapped up to mine, and the heat in them made me tremble.  He’s going to kiss me.  He leaned forward, eyes locked to mine, and I felt myself copying him.  It was just like in the gym, only this time, there wasn’t a whistle to stop us, and I didn’t want to stop.

As his breath touched my lips, the butterflies in my stomach suddenly flew up to my throat.  What if there’s a real reason for me to avoid kissing?  What if Jake was my fault somehow?

“I can’t.”  I closed my eyes and pulled away from Paul, my heart protesting painfully.