Dream Girl Banner

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Shameless advertising

Ok, I'm taking a break from writing about me today to post this link to the sequel to Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater.  I have highly recommended Shiver to many of my friends and family.  It is also a book that inspires me to keep writing Dream Girl.  Since it inspires me, I don't mind posting the info. about her upcoming book.  (the fact that it enters me in a contest to win an advance reader copy doesn't hurt either). 
So, if you haven't read Shiver yet, you must. 
While you're at it, read The Withern Rise trilogy by Michael Lawrence too.  Reading the first book in that trilogy, A Crack in the Line unlocked something in my brain that made Dream Girl take shape.  No, my book is nothing like his, but something clicked.  It was also like that with Twilight and Shiver.  So if you're dying to sneak a peek at my book, you won't find that anytime soon, but you can read the books that inspired me to tell my tale. 
Now excuse me while I try to win my sneak peek at Linger, which will undoubtedly keep up the inspiration for me.

Linger Cover LargeIn Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.




At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.



Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.



Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie's blog.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Sloggin'

Slogging through blogging.  No, not really, that was just fun to say.  I am, however, slogging through the final chapters of Dream Girl.  This is seriously hard work.  I completed chapter 37 yesterday and today.  In order to fit in some writing time, I actually wrote most of ch. 37 longhand in a fancy journal that my friend, Mary Beth, gave me years ago.  Don't judge me for parenting with one hand and writing with the other.  ;) 
Chapter 37 was actually a huge turning point for the novel and myself.  It sets up a huge plot element that will need its own book to explore.  Yes, Dream Girl is a big story.  I am not generally in love with sequels but there is a lot going on here that needs two books to fully explore. 
Now that I have this chapter finished, I can feel the wheels winding down toward the end.  At this point, I think everything has been set in motion that needs to be in motion.  This is a truly exciting point to be at.  I've got one more chapter to write this month to met my goal.  (I was getting worried that by the 6th, I still had not gotten a chance to sit down and write.)  I'm feeling good about everything except that looking at the outline and what I've got, things have shifted a bit.  My original outline for chapter 36 ended up getting split into 2 chapters.  So I may still have 13 chapters left unless something gets condensed or eliminated.  We shall see.  The outline is only to make sure that I have a logical progression of main points.  How I actually get to those points is all inspiration as I go along. 
Well, to reward you for slogging through this blog post of my thinking out loud, I will give you a little snippet of some of my writing.  Here's a link to a couple author interviews I did during my days reviewing for a website called www.myshelf.com
I highly recommend that you read the Withern Rise Triology (US title) Aldous Lexicon (UK title) by Michael Lawrence.  If I hadn't read those books, Dream Girl would not have developed from the scribbles in my journal.  His is the first interview which I am quite proud of.  First author interview I'd ever done and Michael actually complimented me on the questions.
Here is an interview with Marisa de los SantosLoved Walked In is an absolutely beautiful book.  She has a line in it, that I can't quote directly, but it's so beautiful it's stuck with me.  If I could write something as striking and real as she did, I'd be a happy woman.
Now on to chapter 38!