While We Were Away...Plus ANOTHER Contest!

Revising Song of the Day: "Back Down South" by Kings of Leon

Hey, all! Fancy meeting you here...where have we been this past week, you ask?
*Working on MFA requirements (still doing that a little...)
*Revising our YA WIPs and completed manuscripts.
*Attending an awesome SCBWI Novel Retreat in Shenandoah National Park!!!

The last item on the list was probably the most fun and informative and we would love to share that experience with you. After traveling on a train, a bus, and then a taxi cab,we FINALLY arrived in Shenandoah National Park Friday June 10th. We went to our room which looked like this on the outside:

And the view looked like this:

And this is what sunset looked like:

Oh, and this is us posing with the awesome bear at Big Meadows Lodge (cuz we were in bear country!):
Then we proceeded to have dinner and after that was our FIRST (out of four) sessions with the amazing, super intelligent, uber literary, spectacular Cheryl Klein from Arthur A. Levine Books (an imprint of Scholastic). In the first session Ms. Klein gave us general ideas about what we'd be discussing later in the weekend, and probably gave one of the coolest pieces of advice ever. Ms. Klein told us how she has her clients write a letter to her when it's time for revisions. In the letter, Ms. Klein tells her clients to answer the following questions:

What were you trying to do with this book?

What's the story or your vision?

What's the book about?

What do you love most? (Characters, scenes, lines etc.)

What do you suspect needs the most work?

That was just one of the major highlights from the retreat. The rest of the weekend was full of peer reviews (with problem scenes and first page critiques) and insight on revising novels from Cheryl Klein. Ms. Klein gave sessions on character, plot, and voice with specific outlines, questions to ask, and exercises to complete in order to make your novel better. Most of her talk is featured in her writing resource: Second Sight: An Editor’s Talks on Writing, Revising, and Publishing Books for Children and Young Adults

We stood in a line like this to get our books signed:

Now...there was a limited number of these excellent books, and essentially me and Pam are one person. So...we decided to get one signed for us:

And then get the other signed for one of YOU!!!!

Okay, since we just finished a big contest (winner will be announced Wednesday June 22nd) this one will be easy. To win all you have to do is be a follower of the blog and comment on this post with your e-mail address. Simple, right??

We hope that you all will enter because Ms. Klein's book is a priceless tool that we guarantee will only make your novel better. Good luck! You have until Wednesday(June 22nd) at Midnight EST to enter.

In the mean time, do you have any revising tricks you'd like to share??

Friday Fives: Light Reading...And a CONTEST!

Reading Song of the Day: "Summer Love" by Justin Timberlake

It's that time again...the freakin' weekend! And once again, me and Pam are traveling. This time we're headed to Shenandoah National Park in northern Virginia for what is sure to be an ah-may-zing SCBWI novel retreat. But we couldn't leave without participating in Pam's group blog Paper Hangover's Friday Fives.

Also, we have a few announcements to make...so make sure you don't leave until you get to the end!

This week's Friday Fives is:

What are the Five Best Summer Reads?

Here is our list in no particular order:


1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins: We have raved about this book here and here. I don't think there's more we can say-- except the book is fun, light, and absolutely clever. A must read for the summer!




2. The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare: Okay, so this may not be "light" reading, but the summer is a great time to get caught up on the series. There are 4 books out already and more to come. If you want to be a part of the craze for the next book in the series, then use the summer to read what you've missed thus far.


3. The Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa: I brought these books for Pam for her birthday b/c she is working on a fairies book and she wanted to see what else is out there. She's going to use the summer to get caught up on the series so she can be ready for the next book.

4. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling: Pam bought me the first book for my birthday b/c I told her I wanted to start reading them. I am now hooked! I'll be using the summer to read ALL of the books and hopefully start watching the movies as well.

5. Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz: Pam read Gone, Gone, Gone and RAVED. So, we figured Invincible Summer must be just as good, if not better. Plus, you can't go wrong with the word "summer" in the title!

Okay...now it's time for some announcements!

Announcement # 1: We are going on a blogging hiatus. Fear not, loyal followers! We shall return in ONE WEEK- June 20th, 2011. So, you have to go one week w/out us...don't celebrate too much.

Announcement # 2: This one is much more EXCITING! We are giving away TWO books to celebrate our one year blogging anniversary (as of 5/31/2011--Pam and I have been blogging together for one WHOLE year!) AND to celebrate all of the awesomeness that we experienced at Weekend of Awesome. Because we want to celebrate that joyous occasion we will give away two books that we learned about from our new real life friends :)


Book # 1: Notes From the Blender by Brendan Halpin and Trish Cook. You can read what Goodreads has to say about this novel here. We got to do a Skype chat with Brendan during WOA (thanks to Erinn) and he is so funny and witty. Those elements are sure to show up in his novel and we KNOW you will enjoy it! But, wait...there's more! This book will be signed by Brendan Halpin himself!




Book # 2: Fill-in-the-Blank Plotting by Linda George: The link will take you to the Goodreads page where you can learn more. But this book was introduced to us by Alicia during WOA and it is AWESOME! It'll help you to plot your novel based on the Hero's journey and the Three- Act structure.

Enter to win by filling in the form below. Easy peasy!

Now that that's over with...we'd love to know what books you all are looking forward to reading this summer!

Plotting 101: The Room!

Writing Song of the Day: "In the Next Room" by Neon Trees

On Monday, we mentioned the awesomeness that was Weekend of Awesome. On Friday night, we all gathered around the tube to watch the monstrosity--whoops, I meant "epicness" that is The Room.

Quita and I first learned about The Room from this article by Entertainment Weekly. We promptly rented it, and then stared at the screen like cliched characters in shock: our mouths agape and eyebrows lifted. Needless to say, we were more than thrilled when we discovered some of our WOA peers have also seen this movie. You see, The Room is so, so awful, that it's deliciously good. It's the kind of movie that'll make you look at your POS first draft with pride.

We, along with Erinn, Alicia, and KO, have decided to share what we learned about writing from the cinematic masterpiece that is The Room. And now...

The Three Don'ts of Plotting:
1. Don't Drop a Bombshell and then Forget About It.
Protagonist Johnny has a skankified fiancee (Lisa) who no longer loves him, as she'll remind the audience a bazillion times. However, even more irritating than Lisa is her mother--who's pretty much a prying, judgmental you-know-what. During one of their "heart-to-hearts," Lisa's mom reveals that she has breast cancer. Lisa tells her mom to focus on the positive, and the cancer was never. Mentioned. Again.




Um, WHAT??? Sorry, but cancer sucks. You can't just think good thoughts and will it away. And you also can't reveal something that extreme to your audience and then abruptly disregard it. Writers, this is why we revise. Make note of when something this HUGE is in your story. But, if you wrote about an element this serious in your first draft and then forget about it, you have to ask yourself: Is this important? Does this push my plot forward?

2. Don't Create an Unrealistic Climax.
SPOILER ALERT! Basically, Johnny's fiancee cheats with his best friend, Mark. All throughout the movie, Mark was riddled with guilt for his actions. However, out of nowhere, Mark becomes a jackass--at Johnny's birthday party no less!



I get it. Johnny needed to learn about the affair in order to make a life-changing decision. That is the purpose of a climax after all. But--HUH?? Why did Mark become a jerk? Why did he all of a sudden not care about Johnny's feelings?? Writers, remember--character development plays a HUGE part in plotting. Don't make your characters do anything--well, out of character--in order to move your story along.

3. Don't Pull Something Out of the Blue Just to Make Your Ending Work.
There's this creepy kid that Johnny takes care of named Denny/Danny (his name changes depending on who says it), that has a dangerous encounter with a drug dealer.




Yeah, apparently Denny/Danny owes a drug dealer money--but this wasn't mentioned before OR after this scene occurred. Basically, the gun that Johnny takes from the big, bad drug dealer is significant for the conclusion of the film. I get that--but you want to avoid deus ex machinas, which is a HORRIBLE plot device. Try to find natural ways to lead readers to your ending--or they may not just make it there.

There you have it. The Room in all its horribly decadent glory. If you haven't checked this out yet--GO. RENT. NOW. I promise you, you'll want to pat yourself on the back after watching it. :) Don't forget to check out Erinn, Alicia, and KO's blogs for their writing tips from The Room.

Why WOA Was so Freakin' Awesome!

Reflecting Song of the Day: "I'm Awesome" by Spose

What better way to celebrate our official one year blogging anniversary (more to come on that front later this week) than meeting our bloggy pals IRL? This past weekend was so...well, AWESOME! We met up with Erinn, Alicia, and Kat in Hilton Head, South Carolina for a three-day writing retreat dubbed Weekend of Awesome (WOA) and it was totally AWESOME! BTW- stay tuned to our blogs throughout the month of June b/c we'll ALL be giving away awesome prizes...are you tired of us saying awesome? Forewarning--you will see the word "awesome" quite a few times in this post.

This entire week we will be blogging about the awesomeness of WOA and we're gonna jump off with the TOP 5 Awesome-est things that we experienced this past weekend:

1.) Meeting our bloggy pals IRL--Putting faces and voices to the witty and sarcastic tweets and blog posts was ah-may-zing. We feel like we've known these girls forever and now we're pretty sure that we have a tight knit groups of writer friends for life!

2.) Cheesy Movie Night--We gathered around to watch Tommy Wiseau's The Room. If you have seen The Room, you know why this is AWESOME! Anyway, we learned so much about writing from this movie. Make sure you check out all of our blogs on Wednesday to see our writing tips.:)

3.) Critiquing/Pitch Session-- We took a walk and shared our favorite scenes from our WIPs. Then, we pre-read short selections from each other's works (Pam bravely gave away THE first draft of a problem scene from Project J, Quita used The Blues) and critiqued them. This was extremely helpful and enlightening. It's sad to admit it, since we are in an MFA program, but this was some of the BEST critiquing we've ever experienced. Also, we workshopped our elevator pitches, then had a mock pitching session where someone (*cough--Holly Dodson--cough*) pretended to be an agent & asked us questions before determining if they would request pages. It was uber fun and a great learning experience as well.

4.) Giggle Fests--Whether while watching The Room, participating in the mock pitch sessions, talking about our fave (and not so fave) books, or discussing concerts and crazy uncles--we had our share of giggle fests throughout the weekend. Of course there was an abundance of sugar and "spirits" consumed.

5.) General YA love--We discussed books (those we raved about OR warned to never read--EVER!) and we shared resources. It was great to talk to other YA writers in person and see their mannerisms when talking about books. Erinn was very animated with her synopses of the Artemis Fowl series and Alicia and Pam spent quite a few minutes discussing the awesomeness of Cassandra Clare and the Mortal Instruments series. Also, Erinn set up an...yes, you guessed it--AWESOME Skype chat with YA/Adult author Brendan Halpin (again, stay tuned to our blog throughout June for some cool prize packs--hint, hint). He was hilarious, intelligent, helpful, and just overall WINNING :)

There's so much more we could tell you--like the fact that we got a swag bag full of goodies, including a WOA compilation CD with our fave songs on it, and we had tons of junk food! But we don't want to bore you all to death--or make you eternally jealous of our awesome weekend. This was a wonderful experience and we can't WAIT to do it again next year--oh, yes there will be more awesomeness to come. We hope some of you think about joining us next year. Until then, what do you consider to be an awesome weekend??

Friday Fives: Some Cheese with That Whine...?

Writing Song of the Day: "No Excuses" by Alice in Chains

At the very moment that you're reading this, we are driving to meet up with Erinn, Alicia, and Kat for what else but a WEEKEND OF AWESOME! But we still had to make sure that we got all up in the Friday Fives groove. So, via Paper Hangover (Pam's group blog--check it out here) this week's Friday Fives question is...

What are FIVE excuses you're ready to give up to become a better writer?


1.) There's never any time! What with a full time day job, MFA classes, a part time job for Pam...did we mention full time jobs (in education, which means we're still working at home, too)--oh and don't forget about TV shows and movie watching time, and reading--aye yi yi! It always feels like there's never enough time for us to actually just sit down and write. BUT since we completed NaNoWriMo this past November, we realized this is an excuse that we can overcome. Like the eloquent Nike slogan: Just Do It!

2.) No one's gonna like it anyway... It's so easy to cut ourselves down. Usually this is done b/c we fear rejection. We figure if we say it first, then no one can say anything worse. But this is one excuse we are resolving to stop using. If we love it- SOMEONE out there will love it, too. Pam found that out when she nabbed her super agent, Sarah La Polla!

3.) This genre's not "hot" anymore! We came up with a bada** vampire story and then thought: "Nope, vampires aren't hot anymore." Then a bada** dystopian idea presented itself, but so many dystopians are coming out that they won't be hot much longer, right? Screw that! If we're itching to write a story, we're gonna write that effing story!

4.) You can't teach me how to write! What do I need a craft of writing book for? Practice makes perfect, right? What will these craft books teach me that I won't learn from just writing? Obviously, a lot. A few of our bloggy pals are into craft books and we're starting to realize that these books could help us with those nagging problems- like action scenes or describing settings. Oh, not to mention we're both getting graduate degrees in creative writing--so it's apparent that yes, we can still learn a thing or two.

5.) Didn't someone else already write this? Sometimes we've just written the most ah-may-zing story ever, or plotted the best novel in the world...but then something seems familiar about it. Then we scrap it because we're sure it's just like that one book by that one awesome author who's on the New York Times Best Seller's List. Not anymore! You know why? Because lots of people have similar ideas but the DELIVERY of that idea is what matters.

So, yeah, we're done with the excuses, peeps. What about you all? What excuse are you ready to chuck to become a better writer?

Reading: Mmm, Mmm Good!

Reading Song of the Day: "Good Life" by One Republic

You learn a lot about people from the books they read--or better yet, books they DON'T read. Today at school, one of my students told me that reading was for rich folk. I'm still shuddering.

Anywho, we decided to take a look at our Goodreads accounts to see what they say about us. BTW, if you don't have a Goodreads account, get one. Now. Oh, and BTW, if you're not friends with Quita and me on Goodreads, what are you waiting for?? Check out my profile here and Quita's here.

Now, without further ado...

Pam's Books:

Currently Reading: A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young. I won an ARC a while back and I'm finally getting a chance to crack it open. So far so good.

Books Read: 57. This is a complete lie. I've probably read three times as many books. Alas, I have yet to go through the archives of my mind to list every possible book I've ever read.

To-Read List: 87. Yes, my eyes are too big for my wallet. A few that I'm uber eager about? Love Drugged by James Klise; Cracked by my agent-sister K.M. Walton, and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer byMichelle Hodkin. Yes, ladies and gentlemen--I like my YA a little dark.

Number of Books I Gave 5 Stars: 26. Not a bad percentage if I'm only counting 57 books. A few standouts? The Absolute Value of -1 by Steve Brezenoff, Room by Emma Donoghue, Tricks by Ellen Hopkins, Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott, Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Quita's Books:

Currently Reading: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Pam read this for our MFA program and raved...plus I feel like a loser for never reading this classic in the first place.

Books Read: 75- unlike Pam I did comb my mind to think of some old books I read...and like 20 of those books are from the Sookie Stackhouse series--Charlaine Harris just keeps popping those books out!

To-Read List: 75- no lie. I didn't make my numbers match on purpose. I don't understand how it's just 75. Note to self: must update my To-Read List soon. Some of the stars on my current "To-Read" line up are Recovery Road by Blake Nelson, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Number of Books I Gave 5 Stars: 25. Pretty good overall! Some of favorite 5 star reviews are Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Rock Star Superstar by Blake Nelson, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim.

So what do our book choices tell you about us? Furthermore, what do your book choices tell you about yourselves??

RTW: When You're Strange

Researching Song of the Day: "People Are Strange" by The Doors

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This Week's Topic:
What is the strangest/weirdest thing you've ever researched (for your novel/WIP)?

We often find ourselves typing in questions and topics to Google or Bing pretty much every time we sit down to write. Seriously, what did people DO before the Internet? Anyway, even though we do this often, there have been a couple times where we realized: hmmm, this is pretty strange...

Pam's Answer:

While writing Wants, I had to look up the proper spelling of painkillers--that may look a little strange to someone browsing my computer history. Oh! And when I wrote (and completed, thank you very much) my NaNo WIP on fairies, had to research mythical fairy homelands--and of course how to kill a fairy. So, to an outsider looking through my computer, I look like a painkiller addict who wants to kill fairies. Nice.

Picture Taken From: http://www.foreveryoungadult.com/wp-content/upload/2010/08/fairies.jpg

Quita's Answer:

While writing In Limbo, I had to look up causes and cures for the Spanish Influenza. I had to look up how it spread, what kind of symptoms one would show etc. The symptoms were pretty gross--and I looked at pics of victims *shudders*. But, I guess the strangest thing I had to research was how to kill someone with a blunt object. In The Blues, Blake has to figure out who murdered his best friend who was killed with a blunt object. I had to make sure that was possible. So, if the police were to search my computer after someone is killed with a blunt object, I might be in trouble...

Picture Taken From: http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000904139/GO187_answer_3_xlarge.jpeg

Tell us, what the strangest thing you had to research?