Read Hard

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

YAY Free Books!


Visit the Class of 2K8 blog and enter to win all sort fo great books! Go here to enter to win an ARC of Undone!! You have until June 29th the comment and a winner will be announced June 30th!
And be sure to read all of the great interviews, because, um, all reviewers are not the same!

YAY free books!!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Book Reviewers!

No, don't be affraid--they're friendly, really! Come see...

Ever wonder who does the reviews at ALAN Online , Teens Read Too, YA (& Kids) Books Central, The Edge of the Forest , Fuse # 8, Reviewer X, Off to Turn Another Page, Book Chic, Slayground, Reader Rabbit and many other places?

They're usually the ones who interview us, but for one week we turn the tables on several YA & MG book reviewers and ask them the hard questions! We even tackle bad reviews. You don't want to miss one answer!

Please check out the Class of 2k8’s blog for the Book Reviewer Hot Seat!

And if that isn't enough, we're giving away Class of 2K8 books--Two-A-Day! So please visit our blog be sure to leave comments after each interview and you could win! (Deadline to enter is midnight June 29th, winners will be announced on Monday June 30th)

Hope to see you all there!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

MySpace and Video for Undone!


I finally did it... caved in and set up a MySpace account! I know, I'm on the tail end of it aren't I? Well, please come visit and friend me if you're on as well! Also, incentive to go check it out... my book video is only up there! So go look, comment, tell me what you think of it!

Friday, June 13, 2008

First Chance to Win UNDONE!



Have you been dying to read UNDONE? I know you wanna, LOL. Well here's your first chance to win an ARC of Undone--




Midnight Twillight's Book Blog Is holding a contest and all you have to do is comment! You could also read the great review she gave it :-)


Thanks everyone!!




Wednesday, June 11, 2008

On Revision

I never really though about it--but revision--is re-vision, or a new vision. And that is why it is different from just editing. And that is why it is so freaking hard and takes so long. So if all you are doing is changing some sentences around or proofing--you are NOT revising. Don't know how important that is, but sounds important. Huh?

Okay, so I don't know if anyone noticed that Domi wasn't on board with my latest version of Book 2. The image was blurred because the camera couldn't even keep up with him tearing (literally) through the pages with claws fully extended to scratch the ink right from the paper!

Well, he's not the only one who has been ripping apart my work. I've just gone searching for an old scene that I want to try again and realized that not only do I have about 10 old versions of this story, but my official cut out file is a whopping 121 pages. That's almost half a book of cut out scraps.

I've never had a problem with writer's block--clearly with 121 pages of scraps, I am writing. But I do think I have plotter's block. And the sticky plot point just happens to be right at the beginning. Bah!!!

Anyhow... I am confident it will resolve itself with brilliance very soon. In the meantime, another kind of revision. Change of address. With my mom moving so will my mailing addy. See, I'm lazy--I've kept my family home as my mailing addy even though I have my own house and own mail box. Like most things with me, it's complicated. See my mailbox is a country one--which means it is 1/4 mile from my house and on the wrong side of the street--so I always have to park my car, cross the street and get my mail. In other words a pain. My mom's old house was just a block away from my day job--so I was there daily, dropping off my dog and what not. It was just easier to get my mail there. Now I must change. I'm not happy about this. And I'm most certain the new house owners will not be happy to be the "Or Current Resident" for all my catalogs (which for some odd reason all abundant).

So today I started to go address changing at all these catalog places--and guess what--you can't change you addy on the website. ??!!?? It is almost like the catalog has no connection to its own website! In this day and age calling and speak to a human to change my address is ridiculous. If only lazy people were capable of uniting (too much effort) this issue could be resolved.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Catching Up


Roxy at the watering hole 1 week ago

Sorry I've been a horrid blogger of late--I've been totally consumed with all sorts of crazy. First off Miss Puppy--I tried all of the great name suggestions, and as much as I loved Alaska, it just didn't fit her. She is and could be nothing else--Roxy (I call her Roxy Hart, my brother calls her Roxy Music). A little bit rowdy, very girly, and totally trouble. She is a lover of everything. She is also growing like a weed--2 weeks ago she had to haul herself up on her hind legs to drink water from the big tub, now she just has to walk up to it. She weighed 20.7 lbs at her vet visit last week and I'm sure she's grown even more since then. I go to work and she grows, she takes a nap and she grows. She'll be about 95lbs by the end of the year. Yeek.
Roxy about two weeks ago--still little


So, we've been hitting puppy kindergarten class. So much fun. It is hard not to totally die of cuteness when you attend puppy kindergarten.



Second, we are closing on the family house. After my dad passed (lung cancer) a year and a half ago, my mom set out to find a house where she could also keep her horses. We found this dream house about 6 months ago and have been working on it, getting it in shape and now we're in the final stages. The "old" house will be closed on tomorrow. It's bittersweet and the timing ((we found out almost exactly 2 years ago--so it was a fast but fierce fight--and today would've been his 65th birthday--Happy Birthday, Daddy!), brings up lots of feelings. But even sentimental ol' me doesn't feel like the "old" house is ours anymore.



Third, Book Two. It's been kicking my butt, but only because I know it has soooo much potential and I don't want it to be one of those books that "Had so much potential" LOL. So I'm reworking it constantly. I think I'm onto something and am putting into motion to see if if can make the leap from my head to the page and stay intact. A lot of my ideas seem really good in my head, but then as I write them I realize they don't won't have "legs" for the entire book. Some just come off corny or over the top on the page. You just never know.
Domi (Cats Against LiTTeracy Prez)--editing Book 2


So that's what I've been up to. Sadly haven't been reading much--except dog training books--recommended read for those is The Culture Clash.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Breaking Dawn

The cover for Breaking Dawn was revealed (not sure when)--I don't like it as much as the other Twilight covers--but who cares because it has EDWARD CULLEN inside it!!! (I know, I can't help it).

Monday, June 2, 2008