Buried

I have been a bad blogger lately.

It's not that I don't love it! And every day I hate not knowing what's going on with you guys. It's just a very unfortunate bi-product of some insane deadlines. (Plus, there's kids who need a mom... a hubby who needs a wife...) But soon. Soon..... I have third round edits due this week, then it's possible I'll have a 2-3 week breather before copy edits arrive. (Who's that calling my name? Ahh! Book 2! I had almost forgotten you were over there! We'll hang out soon. I promise.)

But until I get that breather, my desk has been feeling a little like this:

What do you mean? My head totally matches with my body. And I could totally be smiley in a desk like this. And I totally still use a phone with a cord.

And do you know what helps when your desk is feeling like that? Looking at desks that don't. (If your desk is feeling like the one above, go ahead and salivate at these.)

credit

credit

credit

credit

Check out the desktop space! I WANT THAT SPACE. AND THOSE WINDOWS.

credit

Credit

Credit

Do you know what? Forget the desk. I just want to work here:

credit

Has your summer been more full of work or play? And when you are working, where do YOU want to work?



Thank you so much, E.D. at (Not) Just Another Writer for the Kreative Blogger award!

Elana Johnson: Interview, Awesomely Fun Photo Shoot, and Giveaway

Hi, Elana! Welcome! I'd offer you a seat in the cushy chair, but it's a beautiful day! The sun is shining... birds are singing... Let's head outside!

And check it out: To honor you being here with your fabulous blue streak, I’ve added a bit of color to my hair, too.

Okay, now that we've got our color on, we can get on with the interview! (Since your hair has blue, you can be in blue, and since mine has red, I'll be in red, m'kay?)

So in the POSSESSION series, there are people who have um... "special" talents. And there are rather high stakes that come along with using their talent or not using their talent! What talent would be your favorite to have?

In SURRENDER, the characters can manipulate technology, influence others with their
voice, control the elements, and read minds.

I don’t want to do any of those. They all seem like scary, ultra-controlling talents (uh,
Elana? That’s because they are. Your books are sort of scary and ultra-controlling…).

So I choose to fly. So what if I’m afraid of heights? To the skies!

Oh, my gosh, Elana! I mean I knew you were crazy talented, but I had no idea you could fly! I should have guessed it. That's really how you arrive early to everything, isn't it? 

Speaking of talented, if you follow Elana’s blog (which you totally should! http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com/), you probably already know that Elana is talented to an extent that falls solidly into super power territory.

Elana, sensing that something nefarious is afoot.

Switches into her superhero cape and searches for said nefariousness, ready to TAKE IT DOWN.

Aren't you all glad you've seen her in costume now? :o)

Seriously, though, Elana. You are one of the most talented, focused, efficient people I’ve ever met! You can get more done in a day than most people get done in a week. I’ve heard your process before on how you get so much done, and it’s fascinating! Will you share with us your secrets?

I don’t know if it’s a secret or not, but I’ve learned to think through my day and find spots where I can work. I don’t have the luxury of long stretches of time to get things done. So I take the 15 minutes in the morning after my daughter leaves for school, but before I have to go to work, and I write/edit/revise.

I work during my lunch in 20-minute snatches. 15 minutes before my son gets home from school. An hour while my daughter is at dance lessons. Dancing has been great for my writing. My daughter dances about 5 hours a week. I started going to the library—only 5 minutes from the dance studio—and working those 5 hours.

I’ve been known to email myself sentences or ideas while I’m waiting in line at the post office, while my car is being inspected (hey, I once wrote a whole talk on my phone at the JiffyLube…), or anywhere I have 5 minutes.

Other than learning to work in small spurts, I’ve learned to abuse, er, email my friends with my progress. This helps keep me motivated, and we can cheer each other on.

Wow. That takes some amazingly strong self control to not let yourself get distracted! [Eyes Elana] Seriously strong. I bet you're even strong enough to lift me. Shall we test that theory?

Not only can she do it, but she does it with such ease! (And can I just say, it's not so easy to balance on someone's hand!)

Oh my gosh, Elana! That was awesome! My stomach is still in my throat from when you tossed me off into a double flip! Okay, while I recover, tell me. What do you do when you get to an item on the list that you haven’t figured out how you’re going to do it yet? How do you keep that from stopping your momentum?

Well, there are so many things on the list, that if I don’t know how to do one, or it requires me to be on another computer, I just skip to the next one. There’s always SOMETHING to do, and usually I just work according to my mood.

If I just don’t want to do anything, I don’t. Shocker, I know! I watch TV first or water my plants, and then I come back to the dreaded task.

Isn’t she incredible? Incredible people write incredible books. Elana’s latest, SURRENDER just came out less than a week ago from Simon and Schuster, so you can pick it up right now! And if knowing that the author is an incredible person isn’t enough, check out this incredible description for SURRENDER:

Raine has always been a good girl. She lives by the rules in Freedom. After all, they are her father’s rules: He’s the Director. It’s because of him that Raine is willing to use her talent—a power so dangerous, no one else is allowed to know about it. Not even her roommate, Vi.

All of that changes when Raine falls for Gunner. Raine’s got every reason in the world to stay away from Gunn, but she just can’t. Especially when she discovers his connection to Vi’s boyfriend, Zenn. Raine has never known anyone as heavily brainwashed as Vi. Raine’s father expects her to spy on Vi and report back to him. But Raine is beginning to wonder what Vi knows that her father is so anxious to keep hidden, and what might happen if she helps Vi remember it. She’s even starting to suspect Vi’s secrets might involve Freedom’s newest prisoner, the rebel Jag Barque....

Purchase your copy here: http://books.simonandschuster.com/buy/Surrender/9781442445680/from-other-retailers#book_retailers

Thanks for coming over, Elana!

Thanks for having me! I'd like to offer you these Sour Patch Kids as a thank you.

Do you know what says "Thank you" better than Sour Patch Kids? Flying me to see the Statue of Liberty!

Elana is available for trips to the Statue of Liberty through the end of the day. But if you don't get a chance to go, try for a chance to win in this fabulous giveaway! This week, as part of the SURRENDER blog tour, you can win one of three $15 Barnes and Noble gift cards and become a winner winner, chicken dinner! All you have to do is fill out this rafflecopter widget with what you’ve done. NOTE: One of the options is to blog about a time you didn’t surrender. Go here for full details on this, including how to sign up for your free swag package!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Elana's work including POSSESSION, REGRET, and SURRENDER is available from Simon and Schuster wherever books are sold. She is the author of From the Query to the Call, an ebook that every writer needs to read before they query, which can be downloaded for free on her website. She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog. She blogs regularly at The League of Extraordinary Writers, co-organizes WriteOnCon, and is a member of SCBWI, ANWA and LDStorymakers.

She wishes she could experience her first kiss again, tell the mean girl where to shove it, and have cool superpowers like reading minds and controlling fire. To fulfill her desires, she writes young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Blog: http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/possessionthebook

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/elanaJ

Special thanks to the always fabulous Erin Summerill and her mad photog skillz.

I've Got a Theory: Music and Pictures

I've read a LOT of blog posts about music and how it affects writing. How songs can inspire plot lines. How music from a certain band can inspire the whole mood of a book.

How having a playlist for the book and songs for specific scenes can instantly transport you to the mind frame you need to be in to write. How some people map out their entire book through songs.

There's even a cool website called Stereomood where you can select an emotion, and it will play music to help you feel that emotion.

Logically, I GET IT. It makes perfect sense. It sounds like a fabulous way of writing! I read those posts, and want to map out my book in song. I wonder why I haven't ever done it before.

Then I finally realized why I never do that. It just plain doesn't work for me. I don't listen to music when I write. For every scene I write, there is not a song tied to it. I don't have a band that inspires my MS. Music does not play a huge part in writing for me.

Assuming I'm not the only one, I came up with a theory.

Strong audio people are crazy inspired by music; 
strong visual people are crazy inspired by images.

I have read a LOT of blog posts about images, too. Some of us search through picture after picture of actors to find one that represents our MC before we even start writing.

Some of us find pictures of our setting, and other times the setting pictures reside only in our heads, because there doesn't exist a picture that could do it justice, and we lack the drawing/painting skills to put the image to paper.

Some of us draw their characters. (Not me, but I am totally jealous of those who have the skill.)

Some of us draw out a scene, placing everyone where they should be, no matter how unprofessional the scratches on paper are.

Some of us map out our book with images-- either drawn or by finding images through Google, making a storyboard of sorts.

Sometimes an image of scenery can spawn an idea for an entire book.

When I work through my story, I think it would go so much better if I could just get a really long piece of paper and visually plot out the book! I haven't quite figured out the perfect way to do it, but when I do, it will be epic. And when I find my epic method, I'll be sure to share with all my fellow visually-inspired writers. (If you've already figured this out, you'll share your secret with me, right?)

So there's my theory. Either we're strongly inspired by what we hear, or we're strongly inspired by what we see. Or possibly we're somewhere near the middle and use a combination of the two. Where do you stand?
.