Happy Friday #14: Popping the question, Pelmeni and other stories…

Yay! It´s time again for Happy Friday!

I would love to know what made YOU smile this week :D

Popped the question: Since I started this new WiP, currently very wisely called UNTITLED, I have been thinking that I probably should snag one of those wonderful Critique Partners everybody is talking about. I have great beta readers for my work PLAYING THE FIRE but who wouldn´t want someone along the way? And I thought about Jaime right away. We have the same taste in books, we both haven’t started the querying process, I really enjoy her blog (she’s funny, insightful and inspirational) and the interaction we’ve been having and I knew that she didn’t have a CP. So, after typing several drafts of an email, I finally sent one with this title:

And she said yes :D My hubby made fun of me but I don’t think he understands how nervous we can get when it comes to our writing! I’m so very excited to start this process (and quite lucky because what I’ve read so far makes me want to read more, more, more!)

Writing: This week, I’ve been quite productive when it comes to this new WiP. I love being in Natalja’s head even though she’s dealing with a lot and I’ve managed to write almost 1000 words per day during my commute!

Reading: I finished reading COLD KISS and let me tell you, Erin Bowman was RIGHT! Danny is quite a wonderful boy to have a crush on…he’s dead but the way Wren describes the moments spent with him are enough to have him alive in our minds. There are many times, I wanted to reach out and give Wren a big hug! Plus, Erin mentioned to me yesterday on Twitter that there will be a Sequel! Yay!

Revising: Last weekend, I finished the second round of revisions on PLAYING WITH FIRE and I have one more segment to revise before I go through an editing round.

Cooking: So, my hubby is originally from the Ukraine…his family is Russian/Ukrainian and his mom makes the best pelmeni…plus there is that book I really love taking place in Russia where food plays a big role and I had gotten the cooking book based on it for Christmas last year. So, I finally tried (again) to make pelmeni. And while it does take forever, the result was quite good! Yummy! :D

 So tell me, what made YOU smile this week?

 

20 Comments
by Elodie on April 27, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Happy Friday, Observations, reading, revising, writing
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by Elodie on April 27, 2012

http://commutinggirl.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/happy-friday-14-popping-the-question-pelmeni-and-other-stories/

April Amazing Books :D

So I´m not really sure if there will be a Road Trip Wednesday today but usually the last Wednesday of the month is all about our April reads…RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

I gushed last week  about JELLICOE ROAD and I was not even done with reading the story. Well I´m now officially done reading it and I know I will read it again sometime in the future, even though nothing will replace that first time. This has proven to me (like I needed any additional proofs) to always listen to Katy :D The way the stories are entwined, the way the characters (all of them) left an impression on me, the way I fell for Jonah, the way I wanted to hug Taylor…So yep. Loved it.

I have been lucky this month in terms of reading. On top of JELLICOE which as you can notice I have a crush on, I also devoured the following books and below you will find the reason why I think they deserve a spot in this post as well:

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE & A MILLION SUNS by Beth Revis: Both books are amazing. The first one sets the tone and I felt like Amy, claustrophobic. The different POVs enable us to get the feel for the ship and the life on board. I loved the details put into the book, the subplots and how things tie up together. A MILLION SUNS is as good if not even better than the first one. The way the characters develop, the human interactions, the plot…and yes I am developing yet another crush on characters (including secondary ones :D ). Cannot wait for the third one.

I never thought about how important the sky was until I didn’t have one. ~ Amy

THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson: This book portrays loss in such a true manner, it´s heart-wrenching and behind the gorgeous writing, there is the beauty of the characters in their rawness, in their feelings, in their grieving. Loved it.

“Dreams change, yes, that makes sense, but I didn’t know dreams could hide inside a person.

SHUT OUT by Kody Koplinger: This was a fun read and I enjoyed the different characters. The book deals with sex, it´s clear from the summary and the different ways people in high school deal with it. I loved the honesty in the dialogue. Plus. there´s Cash and who can resist this:

Because I want to see you with someone better than him. Someone who will see how lucky they are to have you.

What was your favorite book of April?

And which book on your TBR are you most looking forward to in May? (ok on top of INSURGENT :D )

18 Comments
by Elodie on April 25, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Books, Road Trip Wednesday
Tagged , ,

Posted by Elodie on April 25, 2012

http://commutinggirl.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/april-amazing-books-d/

Top Three Favorite Secondary Characters In YA Books…

This Top Ten Tuesday feature is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and I first came across it on Jaime´s blog. It´s a lot of fun and they  post the topics way in advance! This week’s topic looks at the Top Ten Favorite Characters of all times…and I am twisting it a little:

Top Three Favorite Secondary Characters In YA Books…

….from the books I read so far in 2012…

1. Raffy from JELLICOE ROAD: Honestly, all secondary characters from that book felt so primary to me. They were fully fledged and my heart beats for every single one of them. Raffy is the girlfriend who is there for you, who may call you on your bullshit but who knows you and loves you for who you are. Like Taylor, I think that those people are the kind you want around you for life.

“Why do you always have to be so pessimistic?” she asks. “We can double up in our rooms and have a barbecue every night like the Cadets.” Silently I vow to keep Raffy around for the rest of my life.”

2.  Harley from ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: He is sweet and he took me by the heart with his fish. (I don’t want to spoil it so I’ll leave it at that). Beth Revis said about Harley: But the little details sometimes have the best stories. For example: Harley. Harley was supposed to be a minor character who was only in one scene that I was writing on that took place in the Hospital. One of my students had painted a koi fish, and so I made the extra character an artist. My student’s name is Charly, so I named the character Harley. From that one scene came Harley, Elder’s best friend, complete with a backstory, a dead girlfriend, and a tragic twist. And I am certainly glad that he became more than just very minor.

3. Haymitch from THE HUNGER GAMES: For me Haymitch is such a wonderfully layered character. He lowers the creeping tension when needed, he has MANY issues and he develops so well throughout the books that I have a soft spot for him. (and I think Woody Harrelson did a WONDERFUL job in portraying the Haymitch I had in my mind :D )

Here’s some advice. Stay Alive.

So at least half the victors have instructed their mentors to request you as an ally. I know it can’t be your sunny personality.

I’m with the Mockingjay

Do you have any favorite secondary characters?

30 Comments
by Elodie on April 24, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Book Review, Books, Top Ten Tuesday
Tagged , , ,

Posted by Elodie on April 24, 2012

http://commutinggirl.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/top-three-favorite-secondary-characters-in-ya-books/

We all deserve a pat on the back…

Writing is fun, writing is difficult, writing is challenging, writing is amazing…

Yes, writing is all of this but sometimes we have those moments where we think:

  • “Is it good enough?”
  • “Why don´t I write more?”
  • “I´m never going to find an agent”
  • “my agent will not like this idea”
  • “I´m never going to get published”
  • “Ì´m never going to get published again”
  • “People hate my book”
  • “It sucks” “I suck” “The plot sucks”…
  • “It may be great but my query will suck”

                                                                                                                                     Source: happythings.tumblr.com via Lori on Pinterest

We´re all hard on ourselves. We´re much harder on ourselves than on others.

If one of your friends came over and told you: “I´m writing a book, I finished the first draft but I have the feeling that I can´t do it all, that I don´t spend enough time with other things. Plus, some of the subplot is just not where it´s supposed to be and my characters don´t make sense. I feel so tired.”

Your friend would reply: “You wrote a book! It´s amazing! I don´t know how you do it all.”

Yes. most people would turn to any of us, impressed by our creativity, impressed by our dedication…Not everybody but most people.

Some may even tell us we´re a tad insane to write when we have so much uncertainty about being published for us, writing is just a thing we have to do because, most of the times, it makes us happy.

However, we do need to take a moment to sit back, to realize how much we´ve accomplished and to give ourselves a pat on the back.

Feel yourself hugged!

22 Comments
by Elodie on April 23, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in personal, writing
Tagged , , ,

Posted by Elodie on April 23, 2012

http://commutinggirl.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/we-all-deserve-a-pat-on-the-back/

Happy Friday #13 – Jellicoe steals my heart and other stories

Yay! It´s time again for Happy Friday!

I would love to know what made YOU smile this week :D

Friday the thirteeners rock my world: Another of my question has been answered on their website and again, I got to listen to a wonderful reply by Sara Walsh. You should totally check it out here…And I received my copy of COLD KISS which I ordered thanks to the generosity of Erin Bowman (and due to her recommendation). Yep, they rock! and if you haven´t already, you should really add to their truth or dare…

JELLICOE ROAD: I am not done with that book but..I…am…in….love….with…it already. While many warned me that the first 100 pages could be slow, I thoroughly enjoyed them. Maybe cos´ I was prepared for super-slow-what-the-heck-is-going-on? x 100 but nope I got in the story within the first chapter…The plot is layered, the characters are layered. It´s like you read one page and you discover a new string, a new element which you didn´t see coming or which makes you understand the full meaning of what you have read a few pages earlier.

The writing is…beautiful. And Jonah is living up to the high expectations set by the lovely Katy Upperman in this post :D

Already before reaching page 100, those sentences got me:

“We were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors,” she told him once. “I was paper and she was rock so I lived and she died.” (page 30)

“Not just a name but a state of mind I never want to revisit, although I do keep him at the back of my mind for those times I get my hopes raised about something.” (page 54)

“I´m standing between these two intellectuals while the local photographer snaps away, asking us to say words like holidays and pornography” (page 91)

So yep, I´m about half way through and I missed my bedtime yesterday because I couldn´t put it down.  I suspect the same will happen tonight.

Revising: So I´m still working on the revisions for PLAYING WITH FIRE and it´s really getting somewhere which is super duper cool :D It´s definitely not in the final stages yet since I know certain areas still need work but it´s moving forward! My goal is to be done with it before going on honeymoon so that I can send it off to my beta readers before we leave. You know so that I can try not to obsess over their opinions or fight the urge to tweet them constantly :D What better way to resist than when you´re on holidays outside of the country?

Writing: I need to organize my schedule to continue working on my new WiP on top of revising. UNTITLED (do you like that title? :D ) scares me. It really does. It must be what skydiving is like, jumping in the unknown but I am also very excited about it (so excited I already shared an excerpt here and re-read the comments several times while pinching myself, thank YOU!)

Tell me, what made YOU smile this week? 

16 Comments
by Elodie on April 20, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Book Review, Books, Happy Friday, revising, writing
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by Elodie on April 20, 2012

http://commutinggirl.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/happy-friday-13-jellicoe-steals-my-heart-and-other-stories/

I didn´t go to prom but I still got lucky.

Today is Road Trip Wednesday :-) RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic. This week´s topic: It’s almost prom season, and since we love to read and write about teenagers, we want to hear your prom stories!

Well, in France, we didn´t have proms so I cannot tell you my prom experience from High school. I promise to tell you more about High school in France soon though :D I dreamed about the experience though as a teenager.

I could have talked about the prom I didn´t go to while I was an au pair in the USA and my then-boyfriend (kinda – complicated story) took his ex-girlfriend with him, well you know, he promised her…but let´s face it, not the greatest memory to revisit.

I did go to a wonderful dance: The Navy Ball in Annapolis where all au pairs of the area were invited to attend. I had a beautiful dress on and had a blast shopping with my girlfriends for cheap out of season prom dresses. We got very lucky.  I also did go to a so-called prom at the university but it didn´t feel like a real prom…You know, the one I will be able to read about in your posts or in your comments :D

Even though I didn´t go to prom, I still got lucky…well I got the lucky meme (did you like the transition :D ). The lovely and talened Tracey tagged me in the Lucky Seven (really you should totally check out her excerpt here). The rules are as follow:

  • Go to page 77 of your current MS.
  • Go to line 7.
  • Copy down the next 7 lines/sentences, and post the as they’re written. No cheating.
  • Tag 7 other writers.

I wanted to share something from my new WiP, the one which doesn´t have a lot of pages yet, so I thought I´ll go to page 7 of my new WiP and share the 7 lines:

If I´m not shedding tears in front of you, please don´t cry for me. 

Cry for him and away from my gaze.

My chest tightens. My mother and I didn´t let tears out at his funeral. She didn´t hold my hand, I didn´t go into her embrace like when I was little and had a nightmare.

My mother and I had become strangers before my dad decided he didn´t want to live with us anymore. Not only he didn´t want to live with us, I remind myself. He didn´t want to live at all.

Natalja is going through quite a lot. She failed as ballerina, she lost her dad and she went back to her hometown after a stint in NYC. She has the attitude and hides away her pain…

If you want to join in and share an excerpt of your WiP, YOU are tagged! :D

24 Comments
by Elodie on April 18, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Road Trip Wednesday, writing
Tagged , , , ,

Posted by Elodie on April 18, 2012

http://commutinggirl.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/i-didn%c2%b4t-go-to-prom-but-i-still-got-lucky/

Top Ten Tips For New Bloggers

This Top Ten Tuesday feature is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and I first came across it on Jaime´s blog. It´s a lot of fun and they  post the topics way in advance!

This week´s topic: Top Ten Tips For New Book Bloggers…which I am twisting to Top Ten Tips For New Bloggers :D

                                                                                                                                                    Source: vetsforpets.net via Vera on Pinterest

 

So, I have been blogging for less than a year. When is the status of “new blogger” over? :D

From a newbie to another one, or from a somewhat less new blogger to another one…here are my Top Ten Tips for New Bloggers:

1. Choose what you want to blog about: This may come naturally. Right now you may be thinking: I already know what I want to blog about (e.g. books) but it may take awhile to actually get your groove. When I look back at my first posts, it seems that I thought I´d write much more about my commuting than what I do. Plus there are many ways to write about books: Do you want to only write reviews about books you really enjoyed? (this is what I do :D ) or do you want to have a point system? or talk about covers, about characters, about the swoon-factor? about the plot? do you want to organize them per topics? do you want to talk about everything?

2. Choose the format: Do you want a recurring theme? Do you sometimes want to do a vlog? Do you want to link your posts to any of your other “online” persona aka Twitter, Facebook, Google +?

3. Check the platform you want to use: There are many choices out there. Personally, I like WordPress but it was more of a “lucky” moment than anything else. If you´re more peculiar about the features/style you want to have, I think it could be useful to check out which one you really prefer before spending too much time of your blog.

4. Stick to a schedule (especially at the beginning): It helps you to know what works and what doesn´t work for you and it helps for people to know that you´re a regular blogger.

5. Make sure people can “follow” you: See on my right? You can follow me by email, via google reader, via RSS feed, via WordPress…When I travel the blogosphere, it happens that I cannot find a way to easily get updated. Sure I could always copy the link and add it to my Google Reader but I don´t necessarily have the reflex or I am not on my computer but on my phone…

6. Use visuals: I always find it enticing when there is at least one picture/gif in the post.

7. Be yourself: There are blogs where you really have the feeling you get to know the person because their voice and spirit jump out of the page.

                                                                                              Source: Uploaded by user via Bernadette on Pinterest

8. Discuss, connect, make friends:  Leave comments  on other people´s blogs, try to reply to the ones you get (I for example now send an email to the person on top of the comment if they´re not on WordPress.) What I found also helped greatly along the way was connecting with bloggers/writers on Twitter. Don´t be shy! People do love to get comments on their blogs, especially ones where you also share your views, your experience…

9. Participate in blog fests, in challenges, in online book clubs: It is another way to connect and to have a blast along the way. If you´re active in forums, let people know that you created a blog…

and……another very important point:

10. Have fun with it!: You´ll get to discuss topics you love with wonderful people from all around the world, you´ll learn a lot from them and from writing your own blog and maybe make long lasting connections along the way!

30 Comments
by Elodie on April 17, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Observations, Top Ten Tuesday
Tagged , ,

Posted by Elodie on April 17, 2012

http://commutinggirl.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/top-ten-tips-for-new-bloggers/

The Balancing Act

We all juggle. We all have responsibilities. No matter what they are and while sometimes I wonder why I didn´t decide I wanted to take writing seriously when I had less on my plate, I do find time to write now. We all do. More or less but we still do. We also find the time to read. We go through the balancing act.

My time is my commute. However, my commute does take a toll on me. The train gets late, cancelled. I also have to take the bus to the to the train so I rush between the bus and the train. I run. I curse. I get annoyed. I don´t always find the silver lining. So this week I am renting a car to see how long it would actually take me to drive to work instead of taking public transportation, to see if I can gain time. According to my friend Google Map which includes Traffic estimation, I could gain 30 to 45 minutes each way. Crazy.

My day currently looks like this:

  • 5am: Wake up
  • 5am-5.30am: work out in front of Friends (this gets me going and makes me laugh – always a plus)
  • 5.30-6.42: get ready (breakfast, shower, coffee, get snacks, kindle, ipod, netbook ready) and leave the house
  • 6.42am: walk to bus station (or be driven by hubby – if he´s not already gone working out)
  • 6.52am: Bus
  • 7.06am: Train (aka writing + reading time)
  • 7.47am: Metro
  • 8.00am: At my desk at work
  • 5.30pm or 6pm (sometimes later): leave office – train – bus (writing and reading in the train again)
  • Get home between 6.45pm and 7.45pm and then dinner, time with hubby and sleep…

Yes, it is busy but on most days, the train time gets me about 1 hour of writing/revising or undivided reading time. Soon, I may decide that driving does get me more time at home, aka more time with the hubby…I can rearrange my schedule to write more in the morning before leaving, or during my lunch break or I could write in bed.

But I know that I will find the time to write because, really, I just don´t see myself not writing or revising…Writing/Revising/Reading is part of my balancing act. It´s part of who I am.

How do you balance everything? Anybody else tried to write in bed?

34 Comments
by Elodie on April 16, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Observations, reading, writing
Tagged , , , ,

Posted by Elodie on April 16, 2012

http://commutinggirl.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/the-balancing-act/

Happy Friday #12: A magical number and other stories…

Yay! It´s time again for Happy Friday!

Looking forward to knowing what made YOU smile this week!

100 blog followers: WOW! :D Thank YOU all so much for following my blog, your comments and your support. You, ladies and gentlemen, are WONDERFUL! I’d like to throw a proper party, you know one where we can chit chat about books, YA lit crushes, Stephen King’s ON WRITING  around a glas of red wine but I’m already really thankful for the fact that we can share those moments in the virtual world!

A little something something:  I’ve received a small package  from the Society of Children´s Book Writers and Illustrators. And before continuing, please tell me I´m not the only one who just thought about this movie/scene when reading (or in my case writing) the word ”package”.


GIFSoup (Legally Blonde, Bend and Snap)

I´m really the only one? ok then :D moving on….I joined SCBWI last month and already had a fantastic lunch with other writers in the area and yesterday, I received my official membership card and some other goodies.

I am so excited about being part of this and I promise myself that I will go to the next SCBWI conference in NYC – anybody already thinking about it for 2013?

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: I finished this book this week and luckily I could dive right away into A MILLION SUNS because I just could not wait to know more about Elder and Amy. I love the story, the concept and I can´t believe I´m saying this but the way Beth Revis can make me feel claustrophobic as if I was on the ship with them is incredible!

Blog comments: I am trying a new way to respond to comments on my blog – by replying directly to the email notification I receive when somebody adds their thoughts to one of my posts and I add the email of that person if he/she doesn´t have a wordpress blog since if she/he does have one, he/she gets a little notification when coming onto wordpress.com. If you´ve been receiving these emails from me, hope it´s ok :D I just enjoy being able to answer and knowing the person actually can see what I wrote back to them

A to Z challenge: I am not doing it this round but can I just say I am loving the fact that a lot of you are? Lots of great posts to read!

Rock the drop: I haven´t done it either…but I really think it’s an AMAZING way to spread “book love” and your stories are very funny/inspiring! YA Confidential will feature some of them on Saturday… Can’t wait to see the pictures :D

So tell me, what made YOU smile this week?

26 Comments
by Elodie on April 13, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Books, Happy Friday, reading, SCBWI
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by Elodie on April 13, 2012

http://commutinggirl.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/happy-friday-12-a-magical-number-and-other-stories/

Say Hello to Balzac…

Today is Road Trip Wednesday :-) RTW is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic:   What images inspire/ represent your WIP or favorite book?

Pinterest is great for creating visual boards of novels, shiny new ideas, WiPs. It´s not just another way to spend time on the internet, I promise :D

I´ve already shared some of my inspiration before, including some pictures (moonlight, my male MC…) but today I want to introduce you to somebody who came into my WiP PLAYING WITH FIRE late in the game: Say hello to Balzac!

 
 
 

Balzac can be annoying. He´s always hanging around Erin and she trips on him from times to times. But he´s cuddly. He´s always there when Erin needs him and while he may be a tad afraid of those spirits hanging out around her, he really does want to protect her. He wasn´t part of the WiP at the beginning but the more I wrote, the more I thought that Erin not only liked dogs but that she needed one…And have you seen those eyes?

And here is a little snippet of my WiP which shows you a tad more of Balzac:

I smile as I hear the familiar barking of Balzac. His welcoming bark. Not that I ever heard a difference between any of his barks. That dog would lick an intruder if he thought he could get some food out of him. His tail whips my legs as I enter and I mentally give him treats. I kneel and put my head on his.

Do you enjoy stories where pets play a role?

Or any favorite pictures which represent a book you love or your WiP?

48 Comments
by Elodie on April 11, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Road Trip Wednesday, writing
Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by Elodie on April 11, 2012

http://commutinggirl.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/say-hello-to-balzac/

« Older Posts
Newer Posts »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 506 other followers