Monday, September 3, 2012

Checking in for GUTGAA!! :)

Long time, no...blog.  :)  How's everyone doing??  So, so good, I hope!  I know it's been a while since I've checked in ~ no excuses.  It just kind of worked out that way.  But, my friend Deana Barnhart has such a fabulous event going on for the next 6 weeks that I just HAD to join in! (and, I've missed you all terribly, of course!)

If you haven't heard of it already - you need to get involved with GUTGAA, stat!



Gearing up to get an Agent - if you don't have one, of course, is going on now.  For all of my writer friends out there still querying and wishing/hoping/praying to work with an agent-extraordinaire - you simply have to get involved in this event.  You can access the master sign-up link HERE.

And to kick-off, Deana has asked participants to post a little meet-and-greet info.  Here's mine:

Questions for the Meet and Greet

-Where do you write?
Wherever I happen to be when I just need to get the words down.  I'm working on making my new home office space my writing haven...we'll see. :)
-Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see?
Desk reference set - dictionary, grammar, thesaurus...

-Favorite time to write?
Every time I'm doing it - especially when I'm on a roll!

-Drink of choice while writing?
Boring - but, I try to drink a lot of water...

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?
When I'm in my writing zone - I can tune just about anything out, but it's nice to have my favorite music playing in the background.

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?
A while back, we had a crazy wind storm where I live that knocked down hundreds and hundreds of trees.  A lot of tall, old trees were uprooted at one of our local cemeteries.  Don't ask me why, but my daughter and I went driving through it one day and took pictures.  Some of the tree roots had grown under headstones and uprooted the grave markers as well.  That's just what brought us to the cemetery.  While there, I told my daughter about a local ghost and we stopped by her grave to pay our respects.  The seeds of a story idea were planted and my current wip "The Graves", was born.

-What's your most valuable writing tip?
Try to hammer out your first draft before you go back and edit anything.  Getting the WHOLE story out is usually the most difficult thing (for me, anyhow) and also the greatest accomplishment for a writer.  Give yourself the full story to edit to death, first.
 
Deana also asked for a short bio - I guess I'm the girl who's been writing stories for as long as I've known how to write.  YA/MG contemporary fantasy are my stories of choice, lately.  When I'm not writing ~ I'm a working stiff (aren't we all?), mother to a gorgeous teen girl, Alex, to the only boy I could have (his name is Sam, he's small and furry, and his ears are his best feature), and wife to a guy who does a killer chicken impression.  In addition to writing, I LOVE to travel!!  I wish I could do it more.  I also love to bake, spend time with family, watch clever t.v. shows, and read great books.
 
And, that's it!  Hope to see you all on the GUTGAA train.  Thanks, much, to Deana for organizing such a great event, thanks to the participating agents, and also to Deana's buddies helping her out with the judging.  And to those participating in the agent pitches ~ best of luck!! :)

23 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Donea!! Good to hear from you. We've missed you.
I drink water. Not boring, healthy!

Michelle 4 Laughs said...

Nice to meet you. Good luck with your writing.

Unknown said...

Stopping by to say hello, nice to meet you! Hope you have a great day.

Feel free to stop over at my page any time, http://WayneMeyers.com/

Unknown said...

Water is the BEST thing to drink while writing. It's not like you're going to notice the taste of anything more complex, anyway. :)

Emily White said...

Hello, Donea!! :) I love your inspiration. It sounds spooky!

Christine Sarmel said...

Nice to meet you. Love a good ghost story. Best of luck with GUTGAA!

Cynthia said...

Saying hello from Gutgaa...I too like to drink water while I write. That's wonderful that you can juggle writing with parenting!

Aidyl Ewoh said...

Ooo, good tip. For my last WIP, I knew I had to write it quickly, so I didn’t let myself go back and read ANY of it (except maybe a paragraph or two), until I was half-way through. Then I read it once and didn’t go back and read it again until I was finished. It was crazy how well it worked out! Sure, there were a few inconsistencies, but not nearly as many as I thought there were. Again, great tip.

Golden Eagle said...

Welcome back to the blogosphere! :)

I sometimes drink a lot of water when I'm writing, too.

Alleged Author said...

THE GRAVES sounds like something I would love to read. Much luck on the wip.

I'm your newest follower. *waves* Very nice to meet you!

AA
http://anallegedauthor.blogspot.com/

Jenna and Ashley said...

Your inspiration is awesome...sad that all those trees were uprooted, but what a cool story to get from that. I live in the middle of Tornado Alley and definitely have seen my share of uprooted everything. And water isn't so boring. I claim it as my favorite drink.
-Jenna

Tamara said...

I drink water too! Great to meet you here:) Tamara

Nichole Giles said...

Great to meet you! Good luck in the contests.

Kelley Lynn said...

Hello! *waves* SO nice to meet you!

Such great advice. Just get the crap on the page. Then worry about making it pretty :)

Sarah Ahiers said...

Hi! I'm stopping by from GUTGAA!
And i also just got back from a blogging hiatus. Sometimes, you just need it

Jeannette said...

I love the story about the inspiration for your story. I can't wait to see more of it around the GUTGAA trail (assuming this is the one you're pitching?) Good luck!

Trisha said...

I've been writing that long, too. It's always amazing to me to meet people who only started a couple of years go and yet are already publishing and stuff. :)

KM Nalle said...

I love these questions. Fun to learn more about you.

I'm drinking load more water these days and I'm more awake than when I was drinking oodles of caffeine (which was really a delivery method for sugar I guess). Go figure.

Donea Lee said...

Hey, everyone!!! Thanks, so much, for stopping by!! I really do miss blogging. I need to kick myself in the arse and get a regular schedule going again. Guess I'm still a work in progress ~ :)

@ Alex - I've missed you, too!! I was watching Haunted High on the SyFy channel the other day and kept wondering what your commentary on it would be, lol. (the show was AWFUL, btw)

@ Michelle - thanks! Nice to meet you, too!

@ Wayne - thanks! Hope you have a great writing day, too!

@ Robin - a unique perspective on water ~ :) Wouldn't expect any less from you!

@ Emily - thanks! I hope it relates as spooky. Having fun with it!

@ Christine - thank you, thank you!

@ Cynthia - another water drinker! Woo hoo ~ :)

@ Aidyl - awesome! Glad it worked out for you ~ :) I need to take my own advice more seriously, lol.

@ Thanks, Eagle! Good to be back ~ :)

@ Thanks, Alleged! I hope you get to read it someday ~ :)

@ Jenna - I know, crazy what a little wind can do, right? Nature is a beast!

@ Tamara - and another water drinker to our ranks!! :)

@ Nichole - nice to meet you, too!! And best of luck, back! :)

@ Kelley - yes! Crap on page first. Absolutely!

@ Sarah - yes, sometimes a well timed hiatus just works. Welcome back to you, too!

@ Jeannette - sadly, The Graves issn't quite finished enough for pitching, but you may see it around the blogosphere in the future... :)

@ Trisha - I know, right?? Kind of want to...well, better not write that here publicly, lol... :)

@ Kari - hey, girl! Yeah, I'm not a huge caffeine drinker and I manage ok. :) Water does the trick!

Thanks, again for stopping by!! I tried to return the favor - hope I got to you all! Happy writing/reading/living out there!

Angie Sandro said...

Nice to meet you. http://anjeasandro.blogspot.com/

T.J. said...

Now how in the world did I miss another Procrastinator's blog?! I do apologize (or will tomorrow...) Hiya from GUTGAA!

I drink water, in between caffeine drips. Here lately it is the only reason I stay awake considering life is forcing me to remain awake during daywalker hours *shudder*

I LOVE your inspiration! I have four pages of ideas for full length books from various places, all inspired some very weird associations LOL Current WIP? We were Mustang hunting on White Mtn (with a camera) and found a herd of eight mares, two foals and blue roan. That evening I was reading about a recently discovered genetic mutation (all of which are on the X chromosome) and VOILA! Okay I need to shut up! LOL

GOod luck in GUTGAA!

AVDutson said...

I'm a little late to the GUTGAA party. Your blog looks great and I'm looking forward to following you!

Terri K Rowe said...

Happy to meet you! :)