Category: personal

Editing, personal, Query, writing

Don´t be scared…

Elodie

That would be me hiding away on Friday after posting my draft query to be reviewed. I thought “hmm sounds good…let’s get this baby rolling”…After receiving some very constructive feedback, I realized “hmmm that sucked”

The wonderful thing about feedback is that it helps to make us better and stronger. Plus, I realized there was something positive in my very crappy-I´m-even-wondering-if-I-should-not-delete-the-message-on-forum-first-query (somebody liked my voice in that mess :-))

I also appreciated something else which for somebody a tad perfectionist can be difficult: I will not be perfect at my first-go. This will take time and it’s ok. I am swimming in unknown waters. Finishing the first draft is just the first step in a looong process. On a brighter note, I started editing and even though it is kicking my butt, I can see my story getting to a better place 🙂

Now, tell me 🙂

What do you do when you just want to put your paws (huh I mean hands) in front of your face?

personal, writing

Pssshhhh…Top secret :-)

Elodie

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic:

                         If you couldn’t use your own name, what would your pseudonym or penname be?

Nothing fancy, nothing funny…I could actually use the pseudonym “Commutinggirl”which is the one I chose for this blog and twitter…:-)

For me, this topic  actually brings up another question: when will I stop using a pseudonym? I don’t know if you noticed but I’m not out of the writers’ closet yet. No, really my name is not commutinggirl 🙂 

Only a few selected friends, my hubby and some members of my family know that I write (and you of course :-)). I don’t want it to become a big deal at work and maybe I am afraid to jinx it. I have decided that if when I get an agent, I will  let my bosses know and then I can be somewhat out in the open.

This is a scary thought…be still my heart be still… because really by not using my real name I am mainly protecting myself, my current pseudonym resembles a security blanket if you will, or the teddy bear you may still have from your childhood, the one you could tell your problems to without worrying about being judged or laughed at. So my current pseudonym is both a shield and a necessity at the moment.

In the meantime, I thought I could at least give you my first name, to you who help me, support me and make me laugh on the interwebs. Thank you sooo much! I did not know the writing/reading/blogging/tweeting community could be so nice!

Once you find out what my last name is, you may actually tell me to use my maid name or a pseudonym (I mean hubby has a very long Ukrainian name with a weeeird spelling, lol)

So I’m taking a big breath and … : Hi *waves* I’m Elodie, nice to meet you!

Now I’m curious: what would be YOUR pseudonym or when did you come out as a writer?

personal

OMG OMG OMG: Kreativ Blogger Award!

Elodie

*Throws confetti in the air*

*Does the happy dance*

*Keeps on bothering hubby who is playing the PS3 to tell him* (he is totally not paying attention by the way :-))

Jenny  just gave me a Kreativ Blogger Award today *hugs Jenny* and OMG I am so excited!

As part of receiving this award, I have to (1):  Share 10 things about myself that readers might find interesting, and (2) nominate 6 others for the blog award.  Here we go:

10 things about me:

  1. I already have one non-fiction book published
  2. I love romantic movies, zombie movies, scary movies, horror movies, funny movies, teen movies, serious movies, historic movies, old movies (I do love movies)
  3. I watch too many TV shows (Desperate Housewives, Fringe, How I met your mother, The Simpsons, Friends, Buffy, Dawson´s creek, Beverly Hills – the old school kind, Degrassi – the old school kind, Two and an half men, Cold Case)
  4. I used to write fanfiction
  5. I have a crush on Jon Stewart (so does my hubby)
  6. While living in the US, I did watch Lifetime TV quite often (yes I did :-))
  7. I am an anxious person (even though most people cannot tell)
  8. I speak French, English, German, a tad of Spanish and I know the basics of Russian
  9. I am a fan of the Klitchko brothers (really have you seen them?)
  10. I have two Master´s (one from the US and one from Germany). I loved school! Yes I am a nerd 🙂

And now the 6 bloggers I´d like to pass this award too (and gosh that is the difficult part, you guys are great!) If they are not already published, believe me they will be soon 🙂

  1. Peggy Eddleman: Peggy was one of the first blog I followed. She always has these amazing cookies and in terms of inspiration: wow!
  2. Katy Upperman: Katy is taking a short blog-cation but really you have enough wonderful posts to get you through her well-deserved time off! She has tons of great & honest YA reviews and her posts are just always so…”warm-hearted” (that´s the only word I could come up with here)
  3. Sarah Enni: Sarah has great YA reviews/recommendations. She also has a lot of posts which just make me smile. Plus she loves Nintendo games!
  4. Kate Hart: One of Kate´s latest post was so inspirational and the rest of her blog is well quite amazing as well!
  5. Kerri Maniscalco and her Write Eat Repeat blog: First of all it´s a beautiful blog. She manages to also have beautifully written posts which can lift you up, make you smile, make you think or just give  you lots of useful information on YA books and writing 🙂
  6. Tarah Dunn: Tarah has a lot of original content and features. I find her blog different and very interesting!

Again, there are many more I´d like to nominate, I´ll probably do a blogroll at some point!

Thanks again Jenny. It warms my heart to know people enjoy my posts!

personal, reading, writing

2012 – Goals, resolutions…and shooting for the stars

Elodie

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you, your family and loved ones. Wishing you happiness, love, success, health and wonderful moments to come in 2012…

I rolled into 2012 with hubby and his family, champagne, good food and lots of laughs…and as I checked my emails in the early hours, I saw that I won a contest! Yay 🙂 I am going to receive a copy (autographed copy!!!) of Shatter me by Tahereh Mafi! Thank you so much Beth!!!! It has been on my TBR pile and I´m so excited about this…

I like the fresh start feeling of a New Year, not the “everything-is-erased-and-I-am-a-new-person” but “I-learned-a-lot-from-you-2011-and-I-am-ready-for-some-changes-in-2012″…On top of learning from the past, one should also never forget to reach for the stars and to dream. So here are my 2012 goals and resolutions!

Writing-related

  • Finish the first draft of my WIP
  • Edit it and make it ready for submission
  • Query said-WIP and find wonderful agent who had desired my manuscript without knowing it, who falls helplessly in love with it and helps me to take it to yet another level…Wonderful agent then sells it to great publishing house and I become part of the class of 2014.
  • Start working on my second novel
  • Establish regular contact with the wonderful people I might swap manuscripts with in the future 🙂 (yes Tarah, Heather and Hannah, I´m talking about you…:-))

Reading-related

  • I am not setting myself a goal of books to read per year because I know I have my commuting time which allows me to read, a lot.
  • However, I will make better use of Goodreads.com and will write more reviews about the books I read (on there and on here).

Other

I joined the Change, Write, Now challenge. It´s not really about the competition, it´s more about the support we will give each other in reaching our goals. I will update you from times to times on how this is going for me 🙂 Part of these resolutions concern:

  • Stepping away from the computer and my cell phone…from times to times…
  • Spend more quality time with hubby (he also says to be nicer to him but it´s wishful thinking cos I´m already super lovely  :-))
  • Become more organized so that I can give myself the gift of time
  • Cut down on some bad habits and pick up some good ones (including working out more often)

In 2012, I will also continue to update my blog regularly and I look forward to “seeing” you on the blogosphere or on Twitter 🙂 because you are awesome! Cheers to you!

Did you set yourself some goals for 2012?

personal

One day in 2011, a lifetime of memories…

Elodie

2011 will always be special to me: I got married to my best friend. It sounds cliché but imagine the one you can talk to about everything, who pushes you, who supports you, who makes you laugh and who is just smoking hot 🙂 I am quite a lucky girl. This day was also very special to us because my dad officiated the civil ceremony as mayor and because our families, our friends from around the world came together…

Here are a few memories from that special day.

What day from 2011 became your favorite memory of the year?