Happy Friday, reading

Happy Friday #33 – I love other people’s good news :D

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

Another Friday, another super duper busy week…Can’t wait to go home today and to curl up with a good story. Here are a few things that made me smile this week….

Katy’s awesome news: Katy is wonderful. She’s a wonderful person, and a wonderful writer. If you love contemporary YA, or just lovely writing, you should check out the snippets she has on her blog. Her book recommendations are also very thoughtful and her taste is impeccable. Oh and Katy is also a great mom, great cook (you can salivate just looking at her food pictures), great runner,  a great friend.

And Katy just landed an agent. Her story is also so inspiring because she has just recently parted ways amicably with her former agent. She had to start querying again (while doing NaNo). She’s an example that talent, heart and dedication pay off. We all know it also takes a bit of luck. But without talent (and talent is a very complicated word but for me it’s the spark that one has and works on…with every book we write we get better), love for what you’re doing, and dedication, it’s much harder to get there!

If you haven’t done so yet, go congratulate her 🙂 (and I promise I’m not sounding bossy when I write this, I’m smiling :D)

Christa revealed the cover for Fault Line:  You know the type of woman Christa is? She’s super woman and she doesn’t know it. She’s simply kind, generous, funny, endearing, smart, witty. She sometimes says that what she does is nothing compared to what others do. But you know what Christa? As I already told you, you’re still a hero for all of those you touch!

And look at the cover of her book? Don’t you get the chills looking at it? That logline? Every single time I look at it, I have ALL THE FEELINGS! Can’t wait for it to come out, and trust me I’ll be buying a few copies to hand out to the teenagers in my life.

FAULTLINE

The blurb: Ben could date anyone he wants, but he only has eyes for the new girl — sarcastic free-spirit, Ani. Luckily for Ben, Ani wants him too. She’s everything Ben could ever imagine. Everything he could ever want. But that all changes after the party. The one Ben misses. The one Ani goes to alone. Now Ani isn’t the girl she used to be, and Ben can’t sort out the truth from the lies. What really happened, and who is to blame? Ben wants to help her, but she refuses to be helped. The more she pushes Ben away, the more he wonders if there’s anything he can do to save the girl he loves.

You can add the book to your TBR on Goodreads here…and you can also go tell Christa how amazing she is or just laugh out loud at her blog posts here.

Reading: I beta read a wonderful manuscript – again, I feel so lucky that others entrust me with their manuscripts (plus the talent in all the novels I read amazes me). I also just finished FLAT-OUT LOVE and started LOSING IT…And I stayed up way too late to read last night…which made me happy cause getting lost in a book is an amazing feeling.

And….I decorated my Christmas Tree….:D

Christmas Tree

So, tell me, what made you smile this week?

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Happy Friday

Happy Friday #32 – Reading and purring…

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

So…November has been tough. And on top of everything going on, my husband is away. Luckily, when I come home I have a little (okay big) furry ball who makes me smile.

My cutie patoutie
My cutie patoutie

Plus, I get to read the manuscript of one of my classmates from Mandy’s online class. And it’s exciting 😀

Oh and this weekend, I’m totally decorating the apartment for Christmas…

So, tell me, what made YOU smile this week?

Happy Friday, revising, writing

Happy Friday #31 – Writing new words…

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

Again, super duper busy this week, and today will be no difference. Sorry I’ve not been very active on this blog (or on Twitter) in the past weeks!

A lot of things made me smile this week…like the feedback I received from Mandy in the class I’m taking with her, being off on Wednesday due to the German reunification day and playing tennis with my hubby, spending a nice evening with friends on Tuesday, beta reading and critiquing…

But you know why I had a big grin on my face today? (on top of it being Friday)

I did, I wrote new words in my document. It was exhilarating and scary. I managed to type about 600 words during my commute and I’m loving it…It’s good because I’m soon going to start querying ONE TWO THREE – probably in a few weeks and I will definitely need to focus my brain on something. PLAYING WITH FIRE will help me focus and staying creative is a great outlet 🙂

 

So, tell me, what made YOU smile this week?

Happy Friday, revising, writing

Happy Friday #30 – Blog awards, Critiquing and feeling like a rock star :D

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

I have been super duper busy this week, leaving the house at 6.45am and not coming back until 8.15pm for example yesterday. But, since there’s always a silver lining, not only do I enjoy my job, I also had a lot to make me smile this week…

Blog awards: I’ve received a LOT of blog awards in the past couple of weeks. Sorry I didn’t manage to properly accept them yet but again THANK YOU so much 😀

Critiquing and beta reading: Jaime sent me the beginning of her new WiP- I haven’t critiqued it yet, I just read it and I was left wanting more of it! Plus I have Sara’s first fifty pages waiting for me, and the 2500 first words of the wonderful writers in my peer review group for Mandy Hubbard’s class. I can’t tell you how much I learn about writing by critiquing and beta reading…

Getting my little blog  mentioned by Sara Megibow on Twitter: Yep, it’s kind of a fuzzy feeling and a bit “did that really just happen?”

Degrassi Junior High: I loved, loved, loved that show when I was younger. I caved and bought the DVDs…

A lunch break stroll…: As I said my week was busy, but one day during the week, I decided to take a short break to get some fresh air…and the view made me smile.

So, tell me, what made YOU smile this week?

Happy Friday, revising, writing

Happy Friday #29 – Revising, Learning, Reading and SCBWI…:D

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

Online writing class with Mandy Hubbard: It just started, and I am so so excited about it…How to Write and Sell the Young Adult Novel with Mandy Hubbard.

Revising:  So this happened last Sunday…

And I can’t believe it. I know I’m not done, done. But…this round was a tough one and I feel like I’ve grown so much as a writer while I was going through it!

Reading: I read the updated manuscript of my CP, the wonderful Jaime, and again I’m blown away by her talent! (Jaime. You. Rock.) I just started BUTTER and this book is breaking my part.

This invitation – I am very much looking forward to going to the book fair in Frankfurt and now, I even get to mingle with fellow SCBWIers 🙂

The view from our apartment before heading to work…Isn’t it prettYy?

The view from our apartment

So, tell me what made you smile this week?

Happy Friday, revising, writing

Happy Friday #28 – Time with family, reading and revising…

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week! 

I am on business trip until this evening and tomorrow, we´re off to Russia…So I will see you next week! 😀

Revising: I´m getting there, really, slowly but surely, I am getting there! And my story is so much better now than where it started. Again, CP extraordinaire and great beta readers, THANK YOU!!!! Oh and my query is ready (crazy!) and here Ian and Christa, you totally amazed me for helping me so much!

Reading: This week, I read IF I LIE and PERFECT CHEMISTRY! 😀 and wow, wow, wow, both books brought out a LOT of emotions! More on them later 😀

Time with my family: Last weekend I went to France and this was a much needed reunion! Spending time with my parents, my sisters, my aunts, grandmother, niece and nephew was wonderful! Sometimes, living far from home isn´t easy and going back is always a treat! Plus I got to meet my second niece 😀

My newborn niece 😀

So, tell me what made you smile this week?

Editing, Happy Friday, personal, revising, writing

Happy Friday #27 – Birthday, Query, Thank you and Other stories

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

Birthday: Last Saturday, I turned 31… My day started out with a wonderful birthday concocted by my husband – which including French Toast, potatoes, bacon and some bubbly…YUM! During the evening, we went to a restaurant (where I enjoyed a very nice cocktail) and we went to see The Crucible at the English Theater in Frankfurt. It was just an amazing day!

Birthday Breakfast
Birthday drink

Query : So query writing has been kicking my butt in the past weeks. I´m still revising my book, but I thought it was high time to start seriously thinking about my query. After participating in Sara Megibow´s webinar, I knew it needed more work.  I´ll tell you more about my query writing process and Sara´s webinar next week but after a lot of work, I have a query that works I think and which actually sounds like my book!!! 😀

Reading and revising: This week, I started reading those two wonderful books to help me in my revising process (highly recommended by Sara) and they rock!

Great books

THANK YOU!: Thank you to everyone for the good wishes on my birthday and on our anniversary. Thank you for the lovely comments on my posts! Thank you for helping me with my query (especially thanks to Christa and Ian, who´ve really been super patient and kind with me during the process)! Thank you to my CP extraordinaire and my beta readers! Thank you for being just wonderful. All of you! This week, it felt like this:

Today, hubby and I are off to France to see my family and our newborn niece for the first time 🙂 I´m super late to reply to comments but I´ll get there, promise!

So, tell me what made you smile this week?

Happy Friday, revising, writing

Happy Friday #26 – WriteOnCon, revising and other stories…

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

 

WriteOnCon: This conference – wow. No, really: wow!!! Here are my favourites

And I got to ask questions in the chat, which totally humbled me, and I simply loved it. Loved all of it. All those advice, the passion, all the talent, really amazing, those wonderful people giving their time!!! And congrats to everyone who got feedback by the Ninja Agents!

Webinar by Sara Megibow “Ten Queries In Ten Tweets”: I signed up for this webinar and I am super excited. Yes, I will have to get up in the middle of the night to attend (technically I could also just watch the video later but I want to be there :P) I’m very much looking forward to absorb and discuss.

Revision: This week has been full of revisions. I received feedback from Taryn on my first ten pages (thanks to the fact I was one of the 3 winners of her query contest) and wow, she really is amazing. I think my chapter one is ready and powerful. My CP and beta readers also have so much patience with me as I’ve reworked that chapter SO. MANY.TIMES. But I think thanks to them  it was all worth it because the stakes are clearer, and the reader can really connect with Natalja from the beginning now. I’ve also been working on formatting, on strengthening some sentences, diversifying their lengths and all. And it truly feels like something amazing is happening as I do this, it’s like all strings are pulling together to make my novel better. And I’m falling in love with it all over again.

Reading: I read two books of Jennifer Echols (inspired by the fact that Jessica Love was gushing about her) this week and I’m now an official fan 😀

And I’m looking forward to the weekend…It’s a pretty special one for many reasons, celebrating my birthday tomorrow and on Sunday, an early celebration of our anniversary 🙂

I’m just lucky!

So, tell me what made you smile this week?

Beta, Books, Happy Friday, revising, writing

Happy Friday #25 – The Magic of Rs, Revising, Rewriting, Reading and Randomness…

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

Revising – Stephanie Perkins and my novel? : So my book is now with beta readers and I started receiving feedback. I am amazed by how my book is transforming in front of my eyes into something SO good. I mean it´s my book and I may be bias and all since I wrote it. But first, Jaime´s critique helped me shape it into a better book and now beta readers let me know what´s working and what´s not working for them. This forces me to really look at my story as a reader before digging into more revisions. I am loving it and you know what one of my beta, aka Kip, said when she sent me back my complete manuscript full of notes?  She compared the romance in my novel to the ones in Stephanie Perkins´ books. So yep, I´m still smiling about that. I don´t think I can say thank you enough to my critique partner and beta readers! You ladies ROCK! (and hubby, you´re pretty amazing yourself :P)

Rewriting: I am rewriting my first manuscript. The main plot is still the same but…the subplots are different AND I  actually know my characters! PLAYING WITH FIRE will be so much better after this rewrite and I am having a blast with it!

Reading: I read THIS IS NOT A TEST by Courtney Summers this week and wow, wow, wow, wow. I promise there will be more words to describe what I thought about that book when I discuss it for Tracey´s YA book club (by the way, you should totally join, it´s fun!). I also enjoyed BELLES by Jen Calonita! And now cannot wait for the sequel to come out 😀 I also love the fact that I actually heard Jen talking about the process of this book, the way she did some research and how excited she sounded. It somehow makes this book even more special 😀

Random: Running on Thursday made me feel like I had wings. Okay, not before the run, as my husband did have to push me to go and not necessarily during as I was fighting through it but after, loved the feeling!

So, tell me what made you smile this week?

Beta, writing

Happy Friday #24 – The Chemical Engineer CAN beta read! and other stories…

Yay, it´s time for Happy Friday 😀 Looking forward to know what made you smile this week!

Don´t forget you can enter my giveaway for a SIGNED copy of MY LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick (see interview with Huntley and details here) You have until today 12pm (EST). I will reveal the winners on Sunday!

My husband can beta read: So The Chemical Engineer doesn’t read. Really. He doesn’t. Except maybe sometimes non-fiction books. And he likes audiobooks (again non-fiction though). However, I did tell him he would have to read MY books. Long story short, I am now reading my draft to him. And…he does have some helpful feedback. Now you have to understand, taking feedback from my husband is not the easiest thing (we might be a tad argumentative) but he has a totally different perspective. Plus he also said: “Your book sounds like a real book”. In his mouth, it is a BIG compliment 😀

So between Jaime’s wonderful suggestions and his, I feel quite lucky. Sending it to beta-readers soon still feels unreal though 😀 (and totally scary)

The Chemical Engineer

New shiny ideas: I didn’t write in the train this week, I read. But I did have my little notebook with me to write down any ideas which come to my mind. One of them seems to have taken residence in my mind and the plot is slowly starting to develop. Exciting!

So, tell me, what made you smile this week?