Friday Five - The Hunger Games Edition

1. I've avoided blogging about The Hunger Games movie since there have been plenty of posts from others on the subject, but I must say I was mostly pleased with it. The acting really surprised me (in a good way). I think Jennifer Lawrence has a great career ahead of her.

2. The hotness of Gale.

3. The adorableness of Peeta.

4. The effortless cool of Cinna.

5. The beard and icy blue eyes of Seneca Crane.

Bonus: The ROCKSTAR that is Stanley Tucci (Ceasar Flickerman).

That is all.

Lucky 7

Deana Barnhart, Mandie Baxter and Medeia Sharif tagged me in a writing meme recently, and it's quite different from the regulars!

Rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy down the next 7 lines - sentences or paragraphs - and post them as they're written. No cheating.
4. Tag 7 authors.

  I'm having major formatting issues trying to get the text from my WIP into blogger... so I'll have to type it in the way it looks in Word. It's page 77, the 7th line and the 6 after it. 


"What?"
"Remember I told you that I am helping my aunt with her restaurant in Cinque Terre?"
"Yes. What--"
"I leave the day after tomorrow." She stands and clasps my hands as if she's leaving this instant, and her face glows even more. "Come with me!"
I sit up straight on the edge of my seat as the brilliance of her idea floods through me. The corners of my mouth turn up in a conspiring smile.


So that's it! I'm glad I reformatted the document correctly because page 77 used to be a little more blush-worthy. LOL. I can't think of anyone to tag that hasn't already been tagged or that I think would actually not groan at me, so if you want to try it, consider yourself tagged! It's a good exercise because it makes you REALLY  look at a section of your work and think, "Do I want to show this to anyone?" If you answer no, then you might have some adjusting to do. 

Spring Cleaning Giveaway Hop - Four Books!

It's the first day of Spring! Already! To celebrate (and to help the spring cleaning efforts) I am a Reader, Not a Writer is hosting a giveaway hop!

Here are the four books I have up for grabs for one lucky winner!

-Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakely-Carthwright/David Leslie Johnson

-Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

-Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy #3)

-ARC of The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George

ENTER:

Is it Spring Where You Live? (With Lots of Pictures!)

Yesterday I set out with my camera to capture springtime. It's HERE (and my sinuses aren't happy about it). I paid for these photos dearly last night when my head felt like it was about to explode, but seeing them this morning (headache free), it was worth it! Here's a little glimpse of what spring looks like in Houston for those of you who don't live here.

These first six were taken at my parents' house.

Bzzzzzz:

Purty butterfly:

 

The flower on a dill plant looks like fireworks:

Fern:

Another fern:

Verbena:

These were taken at my parents' land. Last year we didn't have a good showing of bluebonnets due to drought, but this year they are thick!!

Yes, Indian paintbrushes ARE that blindingly bright. It almost hurts to look at them. But they're such an interestingly shaped flower!

Happy spring from me and Handy!

Is it spring where YOU live yet?!

I promise I'm not a robot

Seriously these word verification things have gotten ridiculously hard to read. Is it just me? I'm not going to lie, I failed the test like four times on a comment the other day! I've got to REALLY want to post that comment to try a second and third time. Sometimes I see the word verification and just close out of it. I promise I'm not a robot, but those things kill my patience. I used to have the verification here on my own blog but recently removed it. I don't currently have a huge issue with spammers to need it, so you're welcome. :)

In other news, I surely wish a robot could write my query for me. Okay. I'm done complaining about it. It's part of the process, I know. It would just be nice if it came a little more naturally to me. In other other news, I'm working on round three of revisions! I'm actually really excited about these new changes inspired by my first beta's notes.

How's your WIP coming? Are you revising too? Querying? Still working on that first draft? Tossing around a Shiny New Idea?? Are you a robot?

The Query Distraction Decoupage

It's official: I'm really really really bad at query writing. Nothing I have come up with has been met positively, and it has me baffled. This is a short little thing. It shouldn't be this hard. I get bogged down in details. Apparently my mind is more fitted for the synopsis, which I'm not attempting until this query is DONE because I'm trying NOT to be detailed right now. Grr. *opens From The Query to the Call by Elana Johnson*

So yesterday while I was going back and forth with query attempts and a manuscript critique for a friend, I experimented with my first decoupage. It was harder than I expected (or maybe I was just already frustrated), but I threw together a couple pictures from Florence with some scrapbook pretties. I plan to put text in the blue box but my handwriting is terrible so I'm not sure how I want to do it yet.

So that's pretty much all I have to show for this weekend. How was your weekend? 

Friday Five - New Facebook, American Idol, Queries

1. I got a new Facebook account for the WRITING WORLD! See, I have this issue telling too many people in my personal life that I'm trying to get published. Trust me, if (when) it happens, I'll be shouting it from the rooftops. But for now, they won't get it. So for those of you interested, my new Facebook is HERE. :)

2. Anyone watching American Idol? I get sucked in just about every year, mostly because it's one of the few things Handy and I actually watch together. And I like this judging panel much better than in past years. Anyone have any favorites this year?? So far I'm liking Colton, Phillip, Skylar (she's rockin that country!), Hollie has completely surprised me (glad she came back!), and Heejun is CRACKING ME UP.

3. Bones is coming back on in less than a month!!! SQUEEE

4. I'll be done with round two of revisions in just a couple more hours! Then off to betas it goes!

5. I don't know what I'm dreading more... writing the query or the synopsis. *bites nails*