that time I did the liebster award blog tag

I got tagged by my fellow friend and co-hobo, Jamie, to participate in this super fun award blog tag. So I have to answer ten questions and then I get to pick ten different questions for some other unsuspecting victims. Er, I mean friends.

So here are the questions Jamie picked for me:

1) What is the weirdest thing you’ve researched for a book?

Various ways to break a jawbone. Not weird so much as the pictures will never stop haunting me for the rest of my life. There are some things you can't unsee.

2) What book character would you be for Halloween?

I'd be able to pull off Luna Lovegood without too much effort. Blonde hair, check. Hipster clothes, check. Weird personality, CHECK.

3) What is the best writing snack? Defend.

Inarguably, GUMMY BEARS. They're delicious, have a little spring to them, and if you eat of them, you feel full like you just ate a meal. Pair with cherry coke zero and you will have regrets. (Well, you might, but that's a personal problem).

4) What is your life quote?

"Not all who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien

5) Kissing or killing scenes?

Kissing. Though the killing scenes ARE fun, the kissing scenes are much more fun! And come on, you know you flip through the book looking for them.

6) Most recent book you bought?

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch and I'm SO excited to read it.

7) Best book you wrote in 2014?

I set a goal to write 3 books this year, and I'm utterly failing on that front, but I got an agent this year, so I'll give myself a nice pat on the back for that one. Having only finished one, but eerily close to finishing another, I'm gonna have to go with my newest one, PROMISE NOT TO TELL, because it's crazy and I love it.

8) The seed that sparked your current WIP is…?

A conversation I was having with Brianna Shrum. I was running a bunch of twitter pitches by her, and I read one, and she said, "Nope. That gives a different idea of your book. But hey, would you write that book?" And then PROMISE NOT TO TELL was born in all its craziness.

9) Pantser, plotter, or somewhere in between?

For the longest time, I was a punster. The thought of plotting was enough to keep me in a tequila-induced coma for the rest of my life, but then I started writing this dang book and I've spent more time plotting than actually writing. And while I used to say that I would NEVER plot, some books, even when you're a total pantser, just can't be done without a healthy dose of plotting. Or else your brain explodes. I've come dangerously close to this.

10) The shippiest couple ever to ship in the history of ever is…

Literary - Finnikin and Isaboe from the Lumatere Chronicles. Just, yes.
TV - Oliver and Felicity, or Olicity, as they are better known. They make me actually squee out loud.



Okay, so now's the fun part. I get to tag a few friends and give them their own set of questions. So I tag Jessica, Mandie, Jaime, and Rachel! Here are your questions:

1. Best writing space?
2. If you could have dinner with any author, alive or deceased, who and why?
3. Favorite way to procrastinate when you should be writing?
4. In less than 20 words, describe your current wip.
5. If your favorite writing genre didn't exist (GASP), what would you write instead?
6. Favorite band to listen to while writing?
7. Morning writing or night owl scribbler?
8. Favorite friendship in a published book?
9. If you could write a book to capture the heart of a song you love, the song is?
10. When the movie of your book gets made, who's the dream cast?

that time I did the 777 challenge

The 777 challenge is when a writer is challenged by another writer to post the seven lines of text, seven lines down on the seventh page of their work-in-progress. I was tagged by my friend Mandie Baxter (check out her seven lines here).

I'm using seven lines from my WIP, We Used to Be.

I pound my fist harder. "COME BACK!" I'm crying so hard my words are loud but slurred, and my sobs choke every syllable. "WAKE UP HAYES! COME BACK TO ME."

And then I'm screaming your name. Over and over, like I'm a broken record on repeat. Crying so hard I can barely breathe. Pounding your coffin with so much force I'm sure my hand will break.

Can't you hear me? I'm screaming at you. You have to come back. You have to.

I can't be without you.

Strong arms wrap around me. "Gracen." It's my dad's voice, a whisper in my ear. He lifts me off the ground and carries me away. I fight at first, but soon fall limp in his arms, leaving the only strength I have left to crying. I can't stop crying.

I'm tagging Brianna, Jamie, Corrie, Michelle, Rena, Blair, and Emma.

that time I got the call

Every time I've ever gotten a full request, I'd keep myself up with thoughts on how that agent might contact me in a month's time with an offer to represent my book. The fantasies were wildly outrageous, but they still kept me from a good night's sleep.

But then you're sitting in your living room, watching the latest episode of America's Next Top Model, procrastinating on getting ready for work, and your phone rings. But it's a number you don't recognize, so you obviously let it go to voicemail, because you're sometimes a diva about these things, thinking it's probably a telemarketer.

But then they leave a message. And well, telemarketers don't leave messages (usually). So you listen to it, but the person is talking kind of fast and you're not sure what you're hearing. But then the word AGENT kind of pops out at you. And then the title of your book. and then your heart starts racing like it's traveling at light speed to another galaxy. BECAUSE AN AGENT JUST CALLED YOU. ON A RANDOM THURSDAY. AND OMG WHAT IS HAPPENING?

So you call the number back, your heart still racing. And it's an agent. And that agent is all I WANT TO REPRESENT YOUR MANUSCRIPT. My assistant loved it. The voice is amazing. WE WANT YOU.

And you try really hard not to faint or anything. So you just sit on the phone not saying much because you're at a literal loss for words. Because for months your CPs have told you how great the book is, BUT THERE'S AN ACTUAL PROFESSIONAL AGENT ON THE PHONE TELLING YOU HOW MUCH THEY LOVE YOUR BOOK. And maybe you cry a little bit because you've put like ALL your blood, sweat, and tears into that book, praying like your life depended on it that it would be the one.

And then somebody loves it, the way you love it. And they point out specific things that you tried really hard to convey and how much they love them. And how much they love the characters that manifested in your brain. AND THEY LOVE IT.

So, yeah, I got that call last week. And I'm so thrilled to announce that I have signed with Uwe Stender and Laura Crockett of Triada US Literary Agency.

This post wouldn't be complete with a huge thanks to some people who have been cheering me on the whole way! So thanks to my CPs and friends, Brianna Shrum, Nikki Diehm, Megan Orsini, Corrie Shatto, and KK Hendin!