What You Get When Writing is on My S**t List

I'm just gonna say it: I'm hating on my WiP in a major way right now.

So I've decided I'm going to spotlight some of my OTHER favorite things, namely ones that never make me miserable. And some of which look damn good shirtless. Here goes:

1) Hotties




Have I mentioned my massive crush
on Tom Welling? A few hundred times?
'Kay, just checking



Oh, heeeey James Marsden, heeeey

Let's see some fancy swordwork, Prince Charming.

2) Fudge Brownie Sundaes

3) Chocolate Chip Cookies

4) The Beach

5) Newport, Rhode Island

6) My Ipod

And lastly, my CP's and their stories. I basically have the best crit group ever, and I am so lucky to know them and to get to read their beautiful writing. So much that I can still wave my pom poms for them, even when I want to take my own ms and flush it down the toilet.

So peeps, do you have have days when you hate on your writing? What are the other things that keep you going?

Love Triangle? Only in my Books...

Hey Peeps,

In my last post I talked about my panic over querying my newest finished manuscript. Well, I bit the bullet and entered in Cupid's Literary Connection Love Triangle Contest.

My entry is posted here, and though it hasn't received any agent love yet (WAH!) feel free to stop by and offer your opinion.

While you're there, show some love for my CP Leigh Ann Kopans and her entry!

And this awesome one by Jamie Grey!

Happy Wednesday :)

Update from the (Pre) Query Trenches

So I've been getting some great feedback on WiP #2 from my beta readers. I've been making changes as they suggest them. So far, I haven't felt like anyone's asked for anything unreasonable or overly daunting. I'm actually really happy with the improvements I've made because of them.

Why, then, am I scared you-know-whatless to query this puppy?

I'll tell you why. This time, unlike my first project, I'm not writing about an iffy age group. This WiP is straight up YA. It's also a contemporary romance, not another been-there-done-that paranormal romance that every agent seems to be sick of.

And the worst part? I honestly believe I've done a good job on this. I'm no longer the green rookie I was with my first novel.

So when the rejections come rolling in on number 2, I'll have none of those things as consolation. The only thing I'll be able to tell myself is Gina. You suck.

It might not be true, but I'll think it is.

So, peeps. Any tips on how to kick the querying boogie man's butt when you really just want to hide in the closet, hug your ms to your chest and rock back and forth? (Kidding. Sort of.)

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

First, I want to apologize for not being able to hop around and return your lovely comments this week - my internet was all sorts of wonky and it refused to allow it.

Having said that, I want to talk about douchebags. Again. Because some of you may remember my Take The Anti-Douchebag Challenge post, where I ranted and raved about the epidemic of douchebag male mc's in YA literature. And after all that, do you know what I did in my own YA novel?

Yup. I went and wrote a douchebag.

I didn't do it on purpose. Apparently, I have this bad habit of being biased toward The Boy Who Gets The Girl in my stories. And The Other Boy? Gets totally crapped on as a result.

I feel like I need to make the reader side with me, side with my choice of Happy Ending. But then I wind up... not giving them one. Oops.

As much as I love my poor Other Boy, he's received three votes of douchebag from my Betas so far (even after the CH 3 revisions Leigh Ann - hold me). So back I go to my revision cave in attempt to make him as lovable (but flawed) as I originally intended.

Has this ever happened to you, peeps? Have you ever written the very thing you claim to hate?

It's About Freaking Time

I'm back! How is everybody?

I honestly had no intention of not blogging for this long, but things got a bit crazy around here and the blog is what suffered. (Well, the blog and ME. Damn stress.)

The good news is, I used the time I wasn't blogging to finish WiP # 2!! Woo hoo!!



It was such a high to finish.

I edited like a machine all weekend last week so I could get it off to my Round One CP's.

And then the high promptly crashed. Beta readers = more revisions = more time I'll have to find in between scrubbing toilets and cooking dinner and my full time job. I might have even cried about it.

Then I realized, this is the beauty of not being agented: Deadlines don't exist for me. I can take all the time I need to tackle those revisions, and no one will care. I can stew over them for as long as I like until I'm happy with what I invent. But I'm my own worst nightmare, and I want my novel as perfect as possible as SOON as possible.

If only I had the freaking time.

So what's new and exciting with you, peeps? How are all your projects going?

Holiday Traditions: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Hi all! This will be my last post before the Christmas holiday, so whether you celebrate or not, I wish all the merriest to you and yours!

Now - let's talk holiday traditions. You know, the things you do year in and year out that are so ingrained in your holiday ritual that you could practically set your clock by them and go through the motions in your sleep.

My family is Italian, and one of the Italian traditions is to cook seven fishes on Christmas Eve, in honor of the Seven Sacraments.

That's my Grandma, fryin' up the fish

For as long as I can remember, we've gathered at my Aunt Linda's house on Christmas Eve to eat pasta with clam and shrimp sauce, and all sorts of fish of the fried variety. Because let's face it, everything is better fried.

We eat, we laugh, we sing, we dance (no joke, we all sing in my family. A party with us is like a live episode of Glee. Without the angst.) And for as long as I can remember, Christmas Eve has been my favorite day of the year.

The bad part? We all leave REEKING of fish - clothes, hair, everything. Nasty.

Since I got married, my husband and I have adopted 2 Christmas traditions:
1) Cutting down our own Christmas tree at Maple Row Tree farm each year

And 2) Hosting Christmas Day dinner at our house. And a couple traditions within that tradition?

2a) My grandmother and I make the pasta sauce together the day before Christmas Eve, because no one can rock a pasta sauce like my grandma and I'm not about to try it alone.

2b) My husband creates a schedule on a spreadsheet of everything that needs to be done/cooked for the day. Everyone makes fun of us, but when your house is tiny and you're working with one stove and one refrigerator, you can't knock the thing that makes it all run smoothly.

If I do say so myself, we do a hell of a job. Appetizer, anyone?

Those crescents are stuffed with feta. And the spinach artichoke
dip is to die for.

Oh and let's just take a minute to appreciate my husband's table setting skills, because I sure do:

Lastly, I've been seeing a new trend pop up that I think is hilarious, and that probably gave me the jump start I needed when my Christmas spirit was lagging behind.

I'm talking, of course, about Ugly Sweater Parties. We've all seen them. We've all secretly balked at someone for wearing them. But now, people are celebrating the ugly. Embracing it. Having contests to see who can take tacky to the extreme. I give you, peeps, my interpretation of the Ugly Sweater:

That's me on the right. And yes, you can call it ugly outright.

So tell me - what are your favorite holiday traditions?

Take the Anti-Douchebag Challenge!

I recently tweeted these words:

I strive for literary worlds without douchebaggery or cheesiness.

Deep, right? It's true, though, and the reason is that both of those things are two of my biggest Literary Pet Peeves.

Personally, I find it insulting when female characters throw themselves at boys who are jerks, and vice versa.Yet, so many stories seem to love this plot device. In the last story I read, the first time the female mc lays eyes on the male mc...

He flips her off.

Flips her off! And instead of responding with a hearty EF YOU!, she proceeds to follow him around like a wounded puppy dog because she's - yawn - inexplicably drawn to him and his hotness.

Just like the female lead in another novel I read, where the first conversation she has with the (hot, of course) male mc involves him being overtly inappropriate and aggressive, and progresses to him just "happening" to show up wherever she goes. And, go figure, she totally falls for him.

Did I miss something? When did the stalker and/or asswipe type become sexy?

This is why I must encourage you all to STOP THE MADNESS when it comes to literary douchebaggery!

Giving characters no real reason to fall all over themselves makes me so sad. I really don't care how hot he is if he's flipping you off or implying he might sexually assault you in your sleep. Have a little common sense and some self esteem and run in the other direction.

Is that crazy? Am I asking too much?

Then we have the other extreme: Cheesiness.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an absolute romance junkie, and usually the two go hand in hand. But in my opinion, they don't have to.

You know the moment I'm talking about. When two characters are professing their love and all you can think is, On no planet, in no lifetime would any person ever utter words so nauseatingly cheesetastic.

I mean, come on, Edward. Flying to Italy for a death wish because you "don't want to live in a world where Bella doesn't exist?" A wee bit over the top, no?

Again, STOP THE MADNESS!

Why can't characters just love each other? Why not let them have moments where they're disappointed in each other (without either one being a douchebag. Or at least recognizing and apologizing for if they are)? Why not let them have disagreements?

And then if they want each other in spite of it all, that's a REAL testament to how much they love one another - not some flowery speech about how their love burns hotter than the fires of Hell ('cause sorry, you'd incinerate), or the sun won't rise if you spend one night apart (it will) or how you'd still be able to hear them even in a world with no words and no way to speak (because, hello, you wouldn't. There's no words and no way to speak. Duh.).

So tell me - where do you stand on these issues? Is douchey the new hot? Would you like to see cheese obliterated, or am I just dead inside?