Dog Days of Summer

Just when I was getting my writing groove on, I've got to dive back into my real life. Friend just had a baby, mom's coming to stay, work threw up on me. This is a long way of saying I've got a ramshackle post today!


YA Fest
Last Saturday, my writing pal Laura Campbell and I took a road trip to Easton PA for the first annual YA Fest. All I'm saying is that it better not be the last annual - because it was awesomesauce. Want proof? See this picture? I will be plastering this sucker all over the place.

Laura Campbell, Jonathan Maberry, me, Charles Benoit at YA Fest

I'll soon be posting more about the fest and the amazing writers who attended (in addition to Jonathan and Charles, Cyn Balog, Eve Marie Mont, Jennifer Hubbard, Michelle Zink - so many!) but for now I want you to know two things:
ONE: Bucks County Writers Group will be holding a contest at the end of the month to give away SWAG - signed copies of awesome books from some of the YA Fest writers. Details will go up this Monday here - so stay tuned.
TWO: You don't know how much of a fangirl you are until you stand in front of your fan-girl object munching (candy) zombie fingers. Just saying.

WriteOnCon is NEXT WEEK!
It's awesome. It's free. Last year when I participated, I got a partial and a full request. It's chock full of useful information and the faculty this year features the amazing Gennifer Albin. Did I mention the nija agents? I didn't? These are stealth agents that rummage around the forums looking for gold. Then when they find it, they direct message you for more pages/info. It's happened to me and it's a lovely, shivery feeling. RUN, don't walk to WriteOnCon. Oh, and even though it's free, I found the con so frigging useful, I donated money. You may be moved to do the same.

Girl Of Nightmares
I've been waiting for this book. The second I closed ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD by Kendare Blake I realized I needed another fix. It's finally here. It's YA Horror, YA romance, YA How's-this gonna-end-happy-when-one-of-the-star-crossed-lovers-is-a-ghost? I don't really care, I just have to be along for the ride. Happy (belated) Pub Day, GIRL OF NIGHTMARES.

Write On Con - Day 3 Highlights

I'm guest blogging over at Misha's My First Book blog. Check it out here.


WriteOnCon was EPIC. 
I'm so sad it's over, but an awesomeness so massive could not be sustained for long.
PLUS - I got a partial request from an agent out of it, so YAY!

HIGHLIGHTS!
(and keep in mind, these are only events the ones that I found most useful. All of the con is available (as well as last year's con content) on the site. Support Write On Con, if you can. So we can all attend again next year!)

Natalie Fischer, Anici Rissi, and Kathleen Ortiz Pro Panel - Fun and informative. I never knew agents were so snack fixated. This is a good thing as I'm all about the snacks.


A cute post on dialogue (and how not to do it) by Tina Wexler. She pretty much lifted the dialogue from, like, all my first drafts...


And I have to shout out the R-E-S-P-E-C-T post by Kiersten White. First, because she brings down Avada Kedavra on people who disrespect and secondly because I'm smack in the middle of Supernaturally and really enjoying it (like want to take it into the bath with me but won't because it's a library book).


Hope you guys all had as much fun as I did - did you? What did you enjoy the most? What was the most surprising aspect?

Write On Con - Day 2 Highlights

From Rise of The Planet of the Apes

I had a bit of a break down today. Somehow, with a combination of sixth sense/telepathy and an uncanny sense of smell, my husband knew I was at a loooow ebb and came home from work early. Took the kids to the pool and sent me off by myself. God bless that man.

I saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It's good, see it. I only have two things to say: Andy Serkis needs an Oscar or three and Tom Felton needs to stop playing bad guys. If you thought Draco was an ass, imagine Draco being mean to animals.

All this is a long winded way of saying, didn't get to delve into Write On Con as much as I wanted today. But the beauty of this conference is that it's always there. You can 'attend' by reading the post/transcript or watching the vlog. And the magic that happens in the forum is priceless.

I do have to give a special shout out to the Barbara Poelle/Holly Root agent panel. In addition to query/agent/writing gold that you've come to expect from the fab agents on Write On Con there was: Red Velvet Cake and chocolate pudding; martinis; leeches and aaaaardvarks. It was hard to explain to my kids why I was barking with laughter alone in my office. "Are you watching a good cartoon, mommy?" 

Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Also, there's a great vlog by agent Kate Testerman. She outlines the check list you must have ready before you query. CHECK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU WRECK YOURSELF. You can't jump into the query fray until you have done everything on the list.

Tomorrow, when I catch up, I'm going to check out:

YA Muses - on Crit Groups

On Compactness by Weronika Janczuk 

Your Own Hero's Journey

PLUS all the new stuff for tomorrow. I'm feeling faint. But in a good way. 

Write On Con: Day 1 Highlights

Before I delve into highlights from WriteOnCon, I wanted to let you know that I'm guest blogging on Misha's My First Book blog this friday. Hope you can check it out!

I know I touted the benefits of attending Write On Con in my last post. And it's true, attending barefoot in pjs is definitely a bonus. But I didn't really believe, in my greedy little heart, that it would be as robust as attending a conference in person.

Wrong. My head is spinning from all the information. I feel that same running-to-stand-still feeling I felt at my first (in person) con. It's blink and you'll miss it, chock FULL of info. Those Write On Con ladies are GENIUSES! Send them some love.

Here are my fave parts of day 1:
1) Live chat with Sara Megibow on Author Platform building.
Sara not only talked about what an unpublished author should do and when (answer: NOW!
), she also gave examples of sites that work, whether it's a simple author site, a blog or both. Great advice and lots of sites to bookmark.

2) Don't Give Up by Beth Revis.
This vlog was sweet and to the point. Beth got a whole lot of rejection before she got Across the Universe  published (and I love that book). What was even more interesting was how much revision she did on the soon to be released sequel, A Million Suns. Three (or more) revisions with only about 20% from the original making it to the final. If that doesn't make you take heart, I don't know what will.

3) Live Forum Event with Agent Jessica Sinsheimer
I will admit I didn't love the format, I found forums difficult to manage for a live chat BUT! This chat was awesome. First, Jessica started answering questions, out of the goodness of her heart, 24 hours before the live event. Second, among the pearls of wisdom (lots of them, believe me) she talked about eating and snacking. Can I say how much I appreciate snackiness and general food love in an agent? Won't say it's a deal breaker, but it would make for a friendlier relationship if we could include food.

Write On Con - Get Ready for Awesome

So, writers conferences are cool, right? But they can be exhausting. First you have to wear clothes. Not just any old thing you have to hand, but actual clothes that don't make people stand away from you. And, as if clothes weren't bad enough, you need to wear shoes. Probably pointy or uncomfortable. If you are slightly girly you might even have to slap on some make up. All this ON TOP OF being brilliant, erudite, attractive to agents and coherent.

UGH.

But Write On Con is the wonderful exception to the rule. It's completely, 100%, come-as-you-are online.

A combination of blog posts, live chat events, forum events and contests, it's all the good conference stuff and none of the bad. Except for the excuse to rent a bad movie in your hotel room. I would never have seen Beastly if it wasn't for that last writing con.

I can't wait to for Beth Revis on Don't Give Up (Tues 4pm) - One, because I loved loved loved Across the Universe and two because I need a talented stranger to tell me not to give up.

Also looking forward to Panel with agents Holly Root and Barbara Poelle (little girl crush on Barbara, if you hadn't noticed before)

Here's the link to the full schedule for the next three days. What are you looking forward to the most?