Behaving Like a Diva

Good morning, everybody!

Today I'm being featured as a guest poster on The Caffeinated Diva! You should definitely stop by to say hello, because you could win a copy of The Curse Girl. (Also I'd love it if you left a comment!) So if you'd like a free copy, or just want to see what I wrote about fairy tale retellings, definitely head over to check the post out.

You can also read her review of The Curse Girl here.

In other news, I am hoping to finish the secret book project I've been working on (instead of Darkdweller ... I know, bad Katie!) today. I was supposed to finish it last week, but I was out of town ... so it will be TODAY. #promises #maybe

I will have cover art and blurbs soon!

$$Gift Card Giveaway$$

Right now, author Megg Jensen is having a $50 gift card giveaway-but-you-have-to-work-for-it/contest on her blog in celebration of her newest release, Sleepers.

But DON'T YOU DARE GO ENTER IT because I want to win.

:-) :-) :-)

Kiiiiiding, of course.

........... Or am I? *raises eyebrow, looks mysterious*

Anyway, you can get the deets here ...

Here is one of my entries:

And here's the other one:

I Love Anne Lamott

I'm currently reading Bird by Bird as part of my "continuing education" as  a writer. If you haven't read it, you should. Anne Lamott is brilliant.

I particularly liked this quote, which I read today:

"The problem that comes up over and over again is that these people want to be published. They kind of want to write, but they really want to be published. You'll never get to where you want to be that way, I tell them."

~ Anne Lamott



In other news, I will be releasing another book very soon! It doesn't have a title yet (grrr) but I'm working on that. More news coming soon ...

Conversation vs. the "Writer's Voice"

When I was a kid, I used a lot of big words (and was generally harassed for it). I was a walking dictionary, and I wasn't afraid to whip those SAT words out in conversation.

But I wanted more. I loved language. Sometimes I wished I talked more like the stories I read--colorful metaphors, strong verbs, and vivid descriptions.

Unfortunately, it felt awkward whenever I tried it, like I was reciting lines in a play. 

Plus, I was pretty sure it would go down like this:

So instead I talked like everybody else, and now I'm pretty sure I am irrevocably stuck doing so:

Sometimes I think I don't really "sound" like a writer. But usually I'm glad I keep the poetry on the page. It just sounds false to me otherwise.

What do you think? Do writers talk differently than everyone else? What about poets? Do you ever order your words in a conversation the way you'd do in a story?

Interview on Kai Strand's blog Strands of Thought!

Hello, everyone, and happy Wednesday!

Author Kai Strand has interviewed me about The Curse Girl for her series Three Times a Charm, so head over and read/leave a comment if you'd like!

I'm also going to be announcing some news about upcoming books in the next few weeks if everything goes well. I've been hard at work, and it's been a long summer full of starts and stops, but I think I'm finally making good progress with Darkdweller (and some other projects that sort of came out of nowhere).

Anyway, have a lovely day everyone!

The Eternal Question

Maybe this never happens to anybody else. But it happens to me. Inevitably, someone who is offended by monsters, zombies, or other kinds of fantasy elements asks about my books ...

 

I just don't know how to explain my books to some people . . .

Do you get the dreaded summer doldrums??

Every summer this happens.

Does it involve lying halfway on the floor, moaning? Yes, yes it does.

I call it the summer doldrums.

And not even ice cream cake can save me from it.

My creative spark shrivels up like a worm on a hot sidewalk, and writing turns into a hair-pulling exercise in willpower and patience.

It sucks.

I mostly blame the heat and the angle of the sun as it slants through my window. Yeah, I know. That sounds nuts. Captain Nemo thinks I AM nuts.

Me: "I can't write because of the heat!"
Captain Nemo: (calmly) "Turn down the thermostat."
Me: "But also--the sunlight, it has a weird glow in the summer, there's no slant! It's too bright! It messes with my muse!"
Captain Nemo: *shakes head*
.
But there is something about the Georgia summer that makes my desire to write (along with most of my good ideas) just go *poof* ... it's like magic. Very, very bad magic.

Does this happen to anybody else? How do you cope?

So far my methods have been "plant butt firmly in chair, force self to write." But despite my best intentions, the words trickle out of me like the last couple of drops in my watering can.

*Sigh* At least in the South we have A/C.

I am really looking forward to fall!!