Monday Meme: When I'm a Famous Author

Happy Labor Day, writer friends! Today is the second posting of my new weekly meme, in which I share one of my daydreams for when I'm a famous author. I LOVED all the daydreams you guys shared with me last week. So, let's go for round two - and if you have pics to post on your blog, put the link in your comment so we can all pop over!

So, in tribute to Labor Day, that will be the theme for today. When I'm a famous author, I won't have to have a 'day' job. I'll be able to write all day. Although, I like to break it up into sections, so my day will probably go something like this:

First, I'll wake up, take the kiddos to school, and stop by Starbucks. Then I'll have a fantastic caffeine fueled writing session. I'll probably do my blogging in the morning, too. Around midday, I'll have lunch, maybe with some friends in a yummy cafe. Since I won't have to go back to my office job, I can even have a little glass of wine if I want. I may take a nap after that. Then I'll pick the kids up, and head back home for another writing session. And, since I'm kind of a night owl, I may write another session later after the kids are asleep.

So, what about you guys? What are your famous writery daydreams of the week? Any fun Labor Day plans?

When I'm a Famous Author

My mom is pretty much the biggest positive affirmation believer you could ever meet. So, I grew up in a constant slew of discussions on the benefits of daydreaming and positive thinking. Plus, being a writer, I got an extra dose of daydreaminess. Since I often find myself caught up in these fun visions of the future, I thought it would be a cool weekly meme. As writers, we so often hear the negative stuff, about how few writers really make it, etc. And it's really easy to get sucked into this, and think, "Yeah, I probably won't make it." Because then our hopes never get too high. But, honestly? Most of us want to be published. And we probably want to be really successful at it. It's that little glimmer of hope within that keeps us plugging ahead through all the rejection we face.

So, why not step out of our comfort zones and try a fun positive visualization each week? Let that writery side of you take over and think "what if?" It could be something small. Like, "When I'm a famous author, I'm going to buy gourmet brownies from this website that was featured on Food TV."

Or, it could be something big. For instance, "When I'm a famous author, I'm going to be friends with Charlaine Harris. And then she's going to introduce me to Joe Manganiello, who plays her character Alcide Herveaux in True Blood."

Oh yeah, I'm married... but hey, it would be fun to meet him, right? When I'm a famous author.... So. I'm going to post my daydreams every Monday, since Monday is typically a sucko day (first day back to work and all that). It'll be a nice way to start the week. I do hope you'll share your daydreams with me, and even post your own pics on your blog if you want! We'll start the daydreamingest, smilingest, funnest meme ever.

Have a great weekend and see you Monday!

Friday Night Sabotage

It's amazing how fast one can move from writing many pages a day and having a perfect writing schedule to being completely.... I don't even know a good word for it. It's not writers block, because I know where the story is going and its flowing nicely. It's not exactly plain old procrastination either. I just don't feel like working on my WIP now.

I think maybe because everything was moving along so swimmingly, I'm having some sort of weird self-sabotage thing. I've never had a story with such strong voice, or one that just kind of poured out of my head like this one. I think I blew an inspiration gasket or something. That ever happen to anybody else, or am I going overboard with the neurotic writer thing?

Moving on to a fun topic (yay weekend, after all!), Michelle Fayard awarded me with the Saavy Sensation Award for my urban fantasy newsletter, Raven Moon.

Thanks, Michelle! This is a high honor coming from someone as saavy and sensational as you! The only criteria is to pass it on to someone who is amazing, inspiring and enthusiastic, so I would like to pass this award along to An Alleged Author and Lydia Kang of The Word is My Oyster. These ladies both write lots of delightful posts and I love to visit their blogs. Pop over and say hi for me!

Happy weekend, everyone!

Back from Writingcation!

Hello, writer friends! I am back from my week of staycation and intense writing (writingcation). This was my to-do list before the vacation:

- Finish the middle grade novel I was writing for my son
- Querying some more for Countless

This was what actually ended up happening:

- Finished the MG
- Procrastinated on querying and worked on the first draft of my new novel (doubled my word count! Twenty-five percent done now!)
-Became addicted to The Vampire Diaries
-Subsequently realized that I'm obsessed with vampires (though not in the creepy pretend I'm a vampire and break into people's houses to suck their blood as seen in recent media coverage way)
-Read most of Eat, Pray, Love (adore it!)
-Took a wicked long nap every single day (in my defense, I started out my vacation being quite ill, and so necessary resting led to indulgent napping)

What have you guys been up to? Do you allow wiggle room in your writing goals, or are you a stickler to the original plan?

I'm Over at Bird's-eye Today!!

Hey, writer friends! Please stop by Michelle Fayard's blog and read my interview! She asked me some great questions about using newsletters as an addition to your social media toolkit. We'd both love for you to join in on the conversation!

Also, I am off from work all next week and will be taking that time to finish a first draft of one book, and a query campaign for another. So, after today I'll say goodbye until the week of the 22nd. I'll have some fun news to share with you then, so swing on by!

Until then, rock on with your literary self!

The Voices In My Head

One of the many reasons I heart my writing friends? Because I can have a post title like that, and none of you will think I need to be committed. Because you guys hear the voices, too. And as writers, we all know that the stronger the voices, the better the writing!

In my last post I talked about juggling projects, and a lot of you commented that I was really lucky to be able to work on multiple projects at once, because it's hard to switch back and forth from the voice of one book to another. And honestly, I haven't had a strong voice for both. The new urban fantasy voice is so strong, it kind of flows from my fingertips almost without conscious thought. The middle grade is different though. It's a project I'm working on for fun with my son, but I've never written for kids and so the voice has been hard to pin down. I keep alternating between a British voice (from my Tolkien and C.S. Lewis saturated youth) and a more modern voice.

So, I got to thinking, how do you guys handle voice? Does it always come from that inspired writery place in your heart, or do you have to purposefully form it? And when you have to work on it, what's your best method for capturing it? Do tell!

Also, I was delighted and honored to receive the Liebster Blog Award from the fabulous Lora Rivera! Thanks, Lora! If you guys haven't checked out her blog, you should pop over. Lora is a former agent turned writer, so she has an insider's perspective on the industry. And she's just a super cool chic!

Isn't it so cute? Liebster is German, and translates into something like favorite or dearest. There were various definitions online, but basically it is reserved for someone you think rocks. As a recipient of the award, I am asked to pass along to five bloggers, who hopefully will spread the love some more! But, I'm going to break the rules and double up (blame it on my rebellious streak). Even at ten, it's near impossible to pick since all of you guys rock so hard, but here it is:

Jennifer Hillier
Alex Cavanaugh
Rachna Chhabria
Michelle Fayard
Carol Riggs
Talli Roland
Beth Sanderson
Erica and Christy
The Happy Whisk
Meredith Moore

I encourage you to haunt these blogs like I do! Hope you guys have a great week! Write hard, be happy!

Are You Good at the Juggling Act?

I've sure got a lot of different writing projects going on right now. It's fun, but I've been juggling for a while, and I'm ready to put down a couple balls. Here's what I'm up to right now:

• Querying Countless, my first urban fantasy novel 
• Working on the first draft of my middle grade fantasy novel (75% complete)
• Working on the first draft of my second urban fantasy novel (15% complete)

I'm doing lots of research on the remaining agents on my query list, so I can write sparkly personalized query letters and hopefully get some bites. Two agents still have my full right now, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that. I have a list of 15 or so agents I'm going to query soon, and then I'm taking a break on that for a while. I have a goal to finish my middle grade fantasy on August 20th. I know that's a totally random date, but it's just because I'm off work that week, so I'll have lots of time to be able to wrap it up.

Then! I'm going to shift all my attention to my second urban fantasy. The voice for that one is so clear, it's been practically burning a whole through my brain for months now.

So, what about you guys? Do you find yourself working on multiple projects? Do you like it or not? What're you working on now?