Si, Se Puede--Yes, you can!

1. Starting to get back into the flow of this revision. This project has involved LOTS of this: Need to remember this: I've been at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf  three times this week.  Need to polish this story off, so I can start querying again! 2.  I'll say this again:  parenting a teen isn't for the weak of heart.  Seems when son hit fourteen?  The whole teen thing came out in full force. This scene between Kira and her father totally summed up my week so far. Mostly this has been me with son this week though: It's been hard as I took him out of public school when he was in the third grade due to issues I had with the administration.  It was really bad.  Now though?  Son's been telling people that I'm restricting him by homeschooling.  Next year he'll be going back to public school.  I feel it'll be good for him.  So does his doctor and his Educational Specialist. I now am really noticing how parents are p

1. So this week I've sat down and attacked this revision.  I swear it feels like it's never ending.  Whoever said that writing is easy?  Well, I bet they never actually wrote a complete story and do all the necessary edits to polish it. This is how the process feels: Me at coffee house with my iced tea latte: Tea of the day?  1/4th cherry and 3/4ths rooibos chai blend with NSA chocolate power=Cherries on the Rocks. 2. Though I've come back to project, I still find like this: Need to hit through this wall.  I know some authors say they don't 'believe' in walls but I've encountered them.  I mused on why they happen and came up with the idea that it's part fear that my work isn't good enough to doubts that I'm even that great of a writer. Just need to slam through those doubts: 3. In meantime, got a box of more books to read from YA Books Central: LOVE being a staff reviewer for YA Books Central!!! 4. A couple books I&#

1. This week I started off sick.  Ugh, HATE having stomach flu. Photo courtesy of http://jonathandallen.com/ So I've been sleeping a lot-slept most of Sunday and stayed in pjs ALL DAY. 2.  So I haven't been writing much.  Been stuck and haven't moved forward. Hate being in this place.  Know I need to move forward with one of my current projects so I can query it out to agents.  I know I need to get out of my comfort zone.  But man it's hard.  Memories of all the rejections I got from my other three books resurfaces.  I've racked up over 300 between all three books. I've learned one HUGE thing so far in this biz: it's better to not be pubbed that to be pubbed poorly.  Another thing I've learned is to learn from my mistakes and move on. Deep breath. This needs to be my mantra: 3.  And of course I've been reading.  I've been reading A LOT! INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD by Jamie Kain My YA Books Central re

1. Well, el Nino is here.   It's been a very wet week! I had to share this video as Southern Californians are not used to heavy rain.  On Wednesday the rain came down hard for a prolonged period of time.  We were at son's art class.  I swear those other homeschool kiddos were totally freaking out! We need the rain but our water company keeps saying that even if we have a huge el Nino?  We'll still be in a drought.  Crazy. On Tuesday, the streets in Santa Ana were all flooded.  Thank goodness I was driving my Rav4 as the water literally flew over my car! Here's a link on how bad the rain was: http://laist.com/2016/01/06/we_are_gonna_need_a_bigger_boat.php 2. Just got back some amazing feedback on my current project!  Need to flesh out some more of the world building and tightened some more things. I totally can do this!!!! 2. Been doing lots of reading lately. I'm such a huge fan of this series! My YA Books Central review: http://www.yabookscen

I loved being a part of the Cybils this past year.  We had an especially great group of nominated books to read.  It was really hard though to whittle this list of 181 nominated books to the top 7 finalists. I feel we did come up with a great list of finalists.  The only bummer was we had to limit our list to only 7! So for today's post I thought I'd share some of my own favorites that didn't make the final list. 1. SANCTUARY My YA Books Central review: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/18786-sanctuary Teaser:  Haunting ghost tale of loss and love set in a centuries old Gothic mansion off the coast of Maine. Also a story of being true to not only yourself but coming to terms with a painful past. 2. RED QUEEN Totally loved this tale of the Silvers--those with silver blood that rule the Reds-those with red blood.  Readers are introduced to  Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts who one fateful day finds she'

I decided against posting a whole 2015 reflections post as it didn't start off too well with the death of my beloved cockatiel Jenny. Plus, it's been REALLY HARD homeschooling this school year.  Son wants to attend public high school next year and I'm burnt out.  It's been hard juggling writing and teaching ninth grade.  Plus, I know I've been 'comfortable' with where my writing is and want to get out there again. I'm looking forward to 2016. When son's in school I plan to concentrate more on writing and querying again.  My goal is to query for an agent as I want to bump my writing career up a level and get my books out to a bigger audience.  My big dream has been to have my books at ALA/BEA and being able to do book signings.  Where I'm at now?  That won't happen.  I need to work a little harder to get to my goals.  I know if I do?  I'll achieve them! So here's my goals: 1. Polishing off my ongoing diverse thriller/rom