News!

Yes, we all love news and I've got a bit to share. First, my copy of The Secret Year arrived yesterday! I'm very excited. Just a reminder for all of you, click here if you're interested in taking part in the discussion on April 29th.

Second, Sarah Wylie is having a fun little contest over at her blog that I think all of you should check out. I mean, only if you're interested in a query critique, partial critique, or lunch with Janet Reid! But I'm not going to pull your arm. ;)

Third, it's Wednesday! And it's beautiful in New York. This just has me excited. I hope all of you are enjoying the warming weather. Don't forget to get outside and enjoy the sun. I know that it's too easy to become homebodies when we're in a writing mood, but fresh air is important. So go and get some! :)

~Emily White

You Are My Sunshine

Yes, it's that time again. I am very honored to admit that Jai Joshi has decided to award me this week with the sunshine award. Though I would like to have the time to leave more comments around the blogosphere and support even more of my friends consistently, I was very delighted to know that Jai appreciated my efforts. Of course, I will admit that her blog is rather easy to comment on consistently. If you aren't already, I highly suggest you become a follower. Sadly, you missed her detailed regalings of her trip to India, but all of her posts are just as interesting.

Now it is my turn to award a few of my most steadfast followers. And let me tell you, I appreciate you! I am always excited when I see that I have a new comment to read--it really makes my day.

So here you are my super stalkers!

Jaleh D

Christi Goddard

Justine Dell

Matthew Rush

Congratulations! And don't forget to check out their blogs! They're great!

~Emily White

Monday Update on Aurumenas

Final edits are going extremely well; I am very pleased. I don't feel like I'm trudging along anymore, struggling to get to the end. Switching to First Person was definitely a wise choice.

So let me tell you how I got there...

Since starting this project, I've struggled with choosing just the right POV to write through. I started out in Omniscient, switched to Third Limited, and then went back to Omniscient, but none of it was ever quite right. During my last edits in Omniscient, I felt that I was close. I had found a good voice that flowed well, but on rereading Aurumenas, I realized that my MC just wasn't coming out the way I wanted her to. By distancing myself from her in that POV and putting her on the same level as my other characters, I found that by the end of the book, the reader didn't have any real reason to sympathize with her situation, at least not any more than any other character. And I also realized that I was giving the villains too much page time. I don't mean in that I showed the villains too much, but in that in order to prove they were evil, I just went through the scene focusing more on their pov than others. I felt like I was cheating. I wasn't showing them through Nathadria's eyes. And to be frank, she had no real reason to fear them because of this.

Things are completely different now. The other characters are coming to life more than ever now that I'm forcing Nathadria to really notice them. And I'm in love. Seriously. Now, when I reread a previous section to get myself into the right frame of mind, I don't go "ugh." I actually like what I'm reading. And it's nice because now I see an end to my edits. I feel like I've been washing a car. The first draft was the initial cleaning, the edits were me putting on the coat of wax, and now I'm buffing it to a sparkly shine. Those finished areas don't need to be reworked; I'm truly moving forward.

And the best part of all of this is that now I can really show how crazy Nathadria is. She's nuts, trust me. Solitary confinement can do some nasty things to a person. Mwahahahaha!

~Emily White

A Little Motivation

Hmm...I was hoping for some more enthusiasm for the book club. I guess I may just have to add some extra incentive. All right, here goes. I understand that for writers such as ourselves, money is often tight and time is basically non-existent, so I'm prepared to hold a little contest. I will give you from today until next Wednesday (the 14th) to send over as many of your followers as possible to commit to reading The Secret Year and participating in the discussion. The person who has sent over the most people (at least 5) will win the book. I'll pay for it and have it shipped to you overnight. As far as time goes, well two weeks is a LONG time to read a book. I'm sure you can get it done in a few days. ;)

Have your followers respond in the comments section of the previous post (here) with your name. Again, they don't need to be followers of this blog to take part. They are certainly welcome to follow, but that is not a prerequisite. I'll announce the winner on Wednesday at 9:00pm (EST), so you have up until 8:00pm that day to get your followers over here.

However, I'll only be awarding the prize if the winner has gotten at least five people to commit. Overnight shipping is expensive, so I've got to make some conditions.

Good luck!

~Emily White

Book Club--The Secret Year

I'm in need of some new reading, and I tend to like to discuss what I've read with others who have also enjoyed the book. So, in my infinite wisdom, *chuckle* I've settled on The Secret Year, by Jennifer R. Hubbard. Nathan Bransford announced its release a while ago and I have yet to read it.

This is what I'm proposing: You purchase the book (if you haven't done so already), read it, and on April 29th at 3:00 (EST) we all get together here to discuss it. Why wait so long? Well, I just purchased it from Amazon and if others do the same, it takes up to 5 days to ship. So that will give us two weeks to read--not difficult at all.

For your purchasing convenience, click here.

And spread the news to all your followers! You do not have to be a follower of this blog to partake. We should all be supporting fellow authors out there and this is a great way to do it!

~Emily White

A Pitch and a Nook

I've got a couple things on my mind today. One, I reeeaaallly want to purchase the nook. Seriously. When I think about having 1,500 books at my disposal without cluttering my house, my mouth starts watering. I'm not all that interested in the new iPad. It's far too expensive (starting at $500) and it's really more like a mini laptop as opposed to just an e-reader. Eh. Not what I'm looking for. And the kindle doesn't come with as many features. So, the nook it is! And let me tell you, the accessories abound! Just the cute little covers you can buy for it are getting my heart racing!

Yes, when I fall in love with something, I do become a walking ad. But alas, if I do have any hope of purchasing my new love interest, it must be at a later date. That's the one bad thing about being an adult--you have bills and other responsibilities that get in the way of buying toys. We have a truck and car to repair, a tree to have cut down, a porch (possibly two porches) to rebuild, and a host of other things that continuously make demands on our feeble income. So the nook must wait. :( It makes me very sad.

But on a happier note, I think I've settled on my one sentence pitch! Nathan Bransford's recent blog post on The Importance of the Pitch has gotten my creative juices going. So without further ado...

My one sentence pitch for Aurumenas:

Nathadria is weak, half-starved, and clumsy... and destined to kill a god.

Tada! I rather like it, but then, I am partial. Now you must share your one sentence pitches (if you have them). I'd love to see what everyone has!

~Emily White

Change of POV is Making Me Brain Dead

I'm working on the final edits of Aurumenas, and guess what I decided to do? I've changed the POV to first person. This is actually something I had been contemplating for the last couple months of my initial edits, and a couple weeks ago, I decided to just get on with it. It's perfect and I love it, but unfortunately, I'm finding it difficult to work on that all day and then switch to a different POV in my other writing project, Wolf Moon.

So yesterday, I sat for an hour staring at my computer screen trying to write the first line of my next installment before I finally gave up. :( I'm afraid I'm going to have to put it on hold until Aurumenas is completely done (this summer). In the meantime, I'm going to use Mondays to keep all of you up-to-date on its completion. I will admit that I am entirely obsessed with Aurumenas right now and I'm dying to share.

Check in next Monday! I demand it! :)