2012 Goals Update

Successful Goals so Far:

• On average, I have been writing 500 words a day - I'm ahead of the goal, but I'm trying to make a habit of writing every day.  While this hasn't been successful, I am at least working on average 500 words a day. #WIP500
• I formatted my memoir for epub, but still need to edit the darn thing (formatting is a brat).
• Found and applied to a day job (as a Health Coach), now I just need to nail the interviews - but yay on booking an interview!
• Finally created several more light switch plates, which can be seen on my etsy.
• I still have my giveaway for January up.  I will be participating in the YA Giveaway blog hop for February, and we'll continue it from there - one book a month!
• So far, I've read three books this month and I'm moving onto the fourth.
• TBR Pile Challenge has been going - I am almost through my holds at the library, then it's onto books on my shelf.

And I added on a new one for Emlyn Chand's "Books that made me love reading" challenge.  The January post for that one will be up soon.

Additionally, my roommate and I made a video in support of our craft blog.  It's kind of hilarious, so I'll share it on here for anyone that needs a pick-me-up!

Can You Hit a Perfect Pitch Blogfest Contest

Brenda Drake holds a lot of awesome blogfest contests.  This one is the first 150 words of your manuscript and a two sentence pitch in attempts to catch the interest of agent Ammi-Joan Paquette.  You can find the blogfest contest rules here.

Any critiques and comments would be helpful, as I want this to read really well by the 17th :)  I know the pitch needs a lot of cleaning!  Give me your thoughts!  I look forward to seeing everyone's entries!

Title: Ruhe
Genre: YA Contemporary
Word Count: 50,000

Pitch:

After Sophie’s vicious gossip ruins her high school friendships, she takes a vow of silence.  But when a college relationship take a dangerous turn, Sophie needs to use the same voice that once destroyed her.

First 150 Words:

            My father dropped the last bag with a huff and looked over at the long winding sidewalk towards the main dormitory on campus.  "Are you sure you don't want us to come in with you?"

            I shook my head.

            My mother arched an eyebrow.  She looked at the measly two bags I had packed.  "We could come back with more of your stuff, you know.  It's not a far drive."

            I shook my head.  I didn't want anything else.  Everything that was left at home was there for a reason.  The old letter jacket from Ched, the worn out mini-skirt that had been to one too many parties... everything was a reminder of who I used to be.  This was a fresh start, or it was supposed to be.  I didn't know how much of a fresh start I could get at a state school.

I Heart YA Giveaway Hop

It isn't happening right this second, but it's coming up fast!  I recently stole from my library (okay, stealing just sounds cooler - in actuality, I bought three YA hardcovers, one YA softcover for $3.25... which is a steal.  I haven't read any of them, but I wanted to read them asap and then give them away this year).  It amuses me that I will probably spend more on shipping than I did on the actual books.  (I like italics today).

Regardless, I plan on listing the titles for the giveaway and the winner can choose one of the books to receive.  They are titles that I've never heard of before, save one, and that was part of what attracted me to them.

Regardless, if you want to participate in this super awesome blog hop, click on the button.  Here's the list of rules:

1. The "I Heart YA" Hop Button-- or Image-- must be a part of your giveaway post.
2. You must either include the linky list with all participating blogs at the end of your giveaway post OR link to the giveaway hop page of one of the hosts. (This is so your followers can easily see and enter all of the giveaways!)
3. Your giveaway prize must be a YA book (no gift cards!)
4. No gift cards!
5. Please try to keep your giveaway rules as simple as possible! No more than 4 entries allowed.
6. Your giveaway may only run on the same days as the Hop (Feb. 14 – Feb. 20).
7. Please keep your giveaway visible to your followers throughout the entire hop by posting a link or a button to it at the top of your blog in the sidebar. 

You can sign up for the hop here:  Fictional Distraction  and also see all the other blogs that are signed up.  Sign ups close on February 10th.  Needless to say, my February month giveaway will be this giveaway :) Each month I will be hosting a giveaway by myself, so if you don't win a book this month - you can win next month!

Rioss

I'm now up to 18,000 words, and I'm still pantsing.  I outlined the very beginning of the novel, but honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen in the middle.  The characters keep surprising me, which I am thankful for, since they won't allow me just to write the main plot.  They keep introducing side stories and sub characters, and unsuspected villains... etc.

As far as #WIP500 is concerned, it's going well.  I've written at least 500 words every day, including 2,000 yesterday.  I know it is only one week in, but I feel like I'm being held accountable by some mythical internet beings (and Cara Michaels).

* * * Rioss Excerpt * * *


Marc’s hair was plastered against his forehead, caked on by a mixture of sweat and a thin layer of grime. He had just showered yesterday. In fact, all of him looked so much more alive yesterday. He had a blush that was spread across his face, tone in his skin, and all of that was gone. One day with the guards had stripped him of anything that made him look alive. He walked up to us, but walked was the wrong word. He limped? His whole body looked rigid, as if he lacked the very essence of movement.

Trixy and I exchanged a glance. Concern welled in her eyes. I didn’t know what to make of it - what had happened to make him look so bad in just one day?

He collapsed in the seat next to me. His body trembled slightly as the air around him turned cold, or was he just that cold?

“What did they do to you?” I said under my breath, as if we were being watched. I tried to ignore the other patients' eyes on us, there were no guards, no orderlies, no reason to be paranoid, but I was. This wasn’t supposed to happen to people - even if people made me feel the way Marc did. Though, sitting next to him now, there was no threat. All of my body stopped being on edge, and I was actually worried about him.

“They wanted me to eat,” Marc said. He flopped his head down on the table and grumbled some more words into the plastic.

Trixy arched an eyebrow at me, “Isn’t that usually supposed to make people feel better?”

Marc coughed, his whole body heaved and shook with it. He used his arms to prop his head up. It looked like it was taking all of his strength just to lift his head off the table. He looked at Trixy with the same sideways smile that he always had. “I told them it wouldn’t work.” His eyes glazed over.  He was distant, lost. “That’s not the way I eat. They put an IV in my arm.” He showed us the crook of his elbow, a deep, red and black bruise had spread throughout the area. It looked like a rash from allergies.

“What are you talking about?” I hissed.

He opened his mouth to answer me, but before he could get any words out, black and red bile spewed from his mouth. The bloody liquid spread across the table and leaked in large drips onto the floor.

Another Challenge!

You guys need to take the internet away from me.  Seriously, I'm doing way too many of these things now.  Regardless, I'm still starting it!

Emlyn Chand is doing a year long challenge on her blog. If you choose to participate, you'll post an introduction post on why you love reading. Then, once a month, you post a review  about the books that made you love reading from way back when.  Read her blog for all the details, but it's a pretty sweet deal (especially because The Runaway Bunny totally counts).

There are so many reasons why I love reading, but the obvious one to me is the transportation to another world. I could be anyone or anything if just for a moment. I could be a mouse running from an owl, or a teddy bear looking for his lost button, or just a boy who had a really tough life and is growing up.

I love reading because I love writing. And I know how piss poor some of my earlier writing is because I've started reading again recently. I devoured books when I was younger, but when I majored in Literature in college - and most of my reading experiences were around classics and clad with papers and analysis - reading lost a lot of its fun. No, rather, analyzing books was just too much. Why couldn't I get lost in the story of Robinson Crusoe? Why did I have to look for passages to underline for a paper later? I'm sure when these authors originally wrote, it was to entertain. Not have you write a ten page paper on the difference between Shelley's Frankenstein and the movie (pick a version) that would come out years upon years upon years later.

No, I love reading because I can wrap myself up in the book. Lose myself in the character and float around in someone else's head for awhile. It's a bit voyeuristic, to love watching people unfold in books. (I people watch too, but that's another story for another day).

While reading academically is important, I think it is important because it makes your a better writer - and not a better paper writer, but a better story teller.

Some of the books that inspired me, when I was younger (these are the ones I plan on re-reading in 2012,in order of to be read):

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
All the Money in the World by Bill Brittain
Bunnicula by James Howe
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Poppy by Avi
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K.Rawling
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Blue Coyote by Liza Ketchum
Why Do Birds by Damon Knight

Most of these are middle school years, but there were some random days that I went shelf-browsing in High School.  I'll explain my reasons for loving them when I read each of them and post for the challenge ;) One mention that I want to say (that I'm not going to review) is The Hot Zone.  Wait, Rachel, are you telling me you read that when you were younger?

I was a weird kid, what can I say.  In ninth grade, I was offered extra credit to read one of the books on my biology's teacher's shelf.  I read half of it, and stopped because it made me so queasy.  But it began my epic love for horror and all things horror-filled.  I still get to the same spot year after year and have to stop reading.  I will try to read that this year, finally, but for my To Be Read Pile Challenge - not this one.  :)