Fun. Fun. Fun.

Britain may still be covered in a blanket of snow stopping the traffic, but tomorrow on the blogosphere will kick of December with a bang.

1) It is Mystery Agent contest day over on Operation Awesome. Polish those one-sentence pitches folks. The agent is, as always, awesomesauce.

2) Tomorrow is the eBook release of Talli Roland's THE HATING GAME. So join me tomorrow for the Taking on Amazon web splash. Together we can help rocket Talli's eBook up the Amazon sales ranks.

Now I'm off to have a nice cup of tea, read some blogs and post my review of The Hating Game on Amazon. Can I just write 'IT'S AWESOME' 200 times?

Snow Day

The UK has snow.

I know this isn't something I shouldn't be getting excited over. Snow is a pain in the bottom to drive in. It comes with a side order of ice and frost. It has an annoying way of soaking up the hem of your jeans without you noticing until you sit down (and tuck your leg under your bum).

Did I mention that it's cold.

So there are lots of reasons to hate snow, but I love it (minus the driving in it part). There comes a day when you just need to embrace the small child inside you and go build a snowman.

I kind of see snow like writing. The blank word document/snow covered field waits for me to write/step my mark on it. Anything is possible where the surface is fresh, the idea is forming and the creativity hits. I don't know about you, but I find there is something very satisfying about making the first footprint/word on an untrodden canvas.

So a word document is kind of like being the first to walk in a fresh snowfall. It's satisfying to be the first leave your mark on it. Mistakes can always be erased later by delete or a fresh snow fall.

Until then just enjoy playing in it.

Thanks-Give-Her

While we don't celebrate the day here in the UK, I figure I can still wish everyone who does a wonderful day. And, because I can, I wanted to take the time to give thanks to some wonderful people:

The Operation Awesome gang: Amparo, Katrina, Kristal, Michelle, Kelly and Angie.

The B.B.W (Best Beta in the World), Renae.

And the blogging community. That means YOU reading this (yes, I see you!). This journey is a million times better for travelling with all of you.

So I gobbled together a little picture:



HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Note: I don't think many of these delicious birds will be happy today. Mine is. Why is my turkey happy? Because the little guy (who I've named Colin) is British (naturally). This means he gets a reprieve until December 25th. I call the leg! Mwahahaha. 

Now I'm off to indulge in my edits. Enjoy the holiday and have a big slice of pie for me. :)

Revision Face!

So I'm revising my 'scare me to death' wip. I've got seven chapters to finish until I'm done with the first pass. Woot. 

So I thought I'd share a bit about my revision technique. And, for the funny, I'm using the awesome pictures from hyperbole and a half to demonstrate!

Now I'm sick because I love, love, love revision (don't hate me, I'm only little.) I enjoy chopping into my sentences and making them shiny. The one thing I don't like is waking up (this probably explains why I write while sat on my bed. Hmm). So I may start my revision process like this:

But once I get into the swing of things:

I'm in my own little world. It's MY time. I lock myself in my bedroom like a teenage boy with a stash of... whatever teenage boys lock themselves in their rooms with these days. I only come up for air to either a) get a drink b) eat c) perform whatever cleanliness/hygiene related function is needed. I wield the red pen of doom/delete key on all who cross my path until stupid hours!

Sometimes I fall into my procrastination place:



Because there's always something fun happening on Twitter, the blogosphere or YouTube that I NEED to see. But I know this is no good for my MC, who I may have left dangling off some precipice to topple to her death (don't panic Amparo, she isn't really):

So I eat that last cookie, drink my tea and begin again:

And I repeat the cycle until all my pages are edited.

The I start round two.

So how do you edit? Got any fun revision tips/procrastination tools you'd like to share? :)

P.S. I'm also over at Operation Awesome today.

Critterpalooza!

Apologies for not being around much towards the end of the week (blame the awesomeness of Harry Potter, migraine and my edits).

We all know how awesome the writing community is. We support each other, cheer success and hug when it gets rocky. So when Angela Ackerman mentioned Critter, the unofficial mascot of the kidlit community, on the OA blog on friday, Katrina went deep undercover (okay, she did an interview really) to find out about critterpalooza.

Not only is Critter having fun adventures travelling the globe, he's also helping benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital. For more details follow the link.

So tell me, what have you been up to this weekend?

Half-Way Day

Yay it's Wednesday. It's also cold and getting dark early.

I don't know about you, but it makes me want to wrap up warm, watch the previous Harry Potter films (my The Deathly Hallows countdown for Friday) and eat cookies. I also want to attack my MS with the red pen of editing death and do some more plotting/writing on my wip, but that's a given. :)

But there's the slump of doubt that kicks in this time of year. Holidays are fast approaching along with the daily routine. It ends up feeling like there's so little to do and so much time... strike that, reverse it.

How to combat this? I would suggest copious amounts of cookies/chocolate or any other treat of choice. Also, pop over and see Elana.

Oh, I'm also posting over on Operation Awesome today. 

So what do you do to combat the winter slump?

Query Sushi.

Yesterday I had lunch at Yo! Sushi.

For anyone who hasn't been before the idea is you sit in front of a conveyor belt and choose what you like from a selection of dishes. Each dish is colour/price coded. And you can order off a menu if you want something in particular.

(Image: Voucher Mum)

So I'm sat watching all the yummy dishes going round, waiting to be chosen and enjoyed, and I realised that this is the same as querying.

I imagine an agent is pretty much sat at the table looking at all these dishes going around. We know they have a huge number to choose from depending on their preferences, but they only have a short moment to make up their mind before they pass. What they choose could be different on any given day.

Just like what you pick from the sushi bar.

Some days all you see are California roll/urban fantasy and you want Katsu curry/dystopian YA.

But the agent could still pick your California roll query out if it looks appetising.

The job of the chef/writer is to make our dish/query stand out from all the others on offer.

So next time that 'I'm afraid this isn't a good fit for me' email pings in your inbox it just means the agent wanted a different dish that day.

One day an agent will pick your yummy California Roll/query off the conveyor belt.

It's just a matter of appetite.

*No sushi was harmed during the writing of this post. It did make me hungry though. :)