Catching up: Blog Awards

I'm so honored to have received some lovely blog awards from really awesome people. I'm tickled to be included in the blogging community, and it's a pleasure to pay it forward.

Let's get right to it, then.

The wonderful Erica Chapman, whom I interviewed back in July, presented me with the Strange award. Very original, and quite fitting. I shall go forth and celebrate my strangeness every day, as a matter of fact.

Kelsey Sutton has awarded me a beautiful Life is Good award. This one comes with questions I'm supposed to answer, so I'll try to make them short and sweet:

Questions:

1. If you blog anonymously are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?
I'm perfectly happy not being anonymous. :)

2. Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side:
Hehehe, just ask my kids. I'm sure there's more than one incident there.

3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?
A woman trying desperately to hold on to her youth.

4. What is your favourite summer cold drink?
Sparkling water.

5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?
Read a book.

6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?
Getting published is pretty much still at the top of my to-do list.

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever , the shy person, or always ditching?
I was a gleek, actually. But I won 1st place in a talent show singing with my classmate who is now one of the members of All 4 One.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment of your life what would you see?
Poignant as in touching, not poignant as in sad: the births of my children.

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?
I'm a Leo, so I'm all for sharing. ;)

10. If you had the choice to sit down and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?
Sit down and read. Enjoy the silence!

Okay, now that that's taken care of, I have two more super awards to share. The One Lovely Blog award and The Versatile Blogger award come to me by way of Marieke at Marieke's Musings. I'm supposed to add seven things about myself, but I figure I've probably covered that in the questionnaire above. ;)

A big hug and thank you to these magnificent writers/bloggers. You all rock.


These awards of course come with some rules, so here they are:

1. Add the logo of the award to your blog post. 
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3. Nominate seven other blogs telling us why you think the recipient is strange enough to deserve the award. 
4. Leave a message for those nominated on their blogs.


And here are my pay-it-forward recipients for all four awards:


Shelli at Market My Words: Shelli is so generous and helpful. Her blog is full of awesome and I love the contests she holds.
Eleni at La Femme Readers: Such a pretty blog (from a pretty lady) and her give-aways are fab!
JA Souders at Angels and Demons and Portals. Oh my! Talk about fantastic, this blog is a must-follow.
Anne Riley: She's a writer, she's having a baby, and she still finds time to share the joy. Oh, and I interviewed her back in March.
Tawna Fenski at Don't Pet Me, I'm Writing: Love Tawna. Plain and simple.
Jenn Johansson, whom I interviewed back in April. Definitely check her out.
Nikki Katz, whom I interviewed back in June. Nikki's great, so please visit her blog.


And there you have it. Whew!
.

Interview with Larissa Hardesty

Happy Monday, everyone. What's that you say? Nothing happy about Monday? Sure there is. An example, you say? Well I've got one! Here's a very cool interview with an up and coming aspiring author that's sure to please.

Welcome, Larissa! Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm a wife and mother of three (7, 5, and 3). I teach preschool, direct the handbell choirs at my church, and I'm a Creative Memories Consultant. Oh, yeah, and I write, too!


Fun fact: I met my husband at Disney World while on a family vacation during my senior year of high school. He was working for his dad at the silversmith booth in the Marketplace. I spent the whole vacation with him, and he was part of the reason I decided to come to Florida for college. We got married two weeks after I graduated, and our ten-year anniversary was last month.

Wow, there's a story! Congratulations on ten years! Let's talk about your writing. What is the name and genre of your current manuscript?

LURE is a MG Paranormal novel.

Here’s the part where you pitch it. What’s your story about?

LURE is about a thirteen-year-old boy who hates to read, and what happens when a book starts literally taking over his town. You can see the full query here and here.

How did the idea of the story come to you?

I was reading an agent's blog about making your story compelling, and I thought, "What if a book really was compelling?" It grew from there.

I love the concept, and the title fits perfectly with the premise. Bravo! Is your manuscript complete or still a work in progress?

It's complete. I have a couple of partials and queries out now. *fingers crossed* *maybe toes, too*

I'll cross my fingers and toes for you too, though I don't think you need my help, what with all the contests you keep winning. Do you have a critique group/partner or beta readers, or do you self-edit?

A little bit of all of that. I have two critique groups, one in-person and one online. They get stuff two chapters at a time, and there's a lot of line-editing involved in that. I also have some beta readers. They are best for big-picture stuff. In between those, I do a lot of self-editing. LOL. It seems never-ending some times.

I hear you. What’s the hardest part of writing for you?

Finding time to write (four part-time jobs and three kids'll do that to ya). As for actual writing, I think knowing when something is done and ready to send out.

Any tips you’ve learned about writing you’d like to share?

I recently attended an SCBWI conference, and Kathleen Duey has some of my absolute favorite tips for writing. I blogged about the conference I attended in January here and June here. And if you ever have a chance to go to a conference where she's speaking, GO.

Great advice. Tips right from the source. Let’s get to know you on a deeper level. What do you absolutely have to have nearby when writing?

Not much. I'm pretty easy to please. I need to be comfy, have coffee if it's daytime and water if it's night, and have my trusty laptop.

Quick writing test! Use the following words in a sentence: submarine, push ups, and giraffe.

Lack of head room makes it difficult for a giraffe to do push ups in a submarine.

LOL, why yes, that's true. Here’s the part where you thank the people who are supporting you. Who would you like to give a shout out to?

Wow. Great writing buddies are Jackie Dolamore, Jessica Souders, Mindy Alyse Weiss, Aimee Bussard, Ruth Donnelly, Nikki Loftin, Jessie Harrell, and tons of people from the Verla Kay Blueboards.

And of course, my wonderful husband and children, who put up with me constantly being on my laptop. LOL.

It'll all pay off when you're a best seller. :) And finally, where can people find you online?

I blog. I tweet. I post on the Blueboards. Come say hi!

Thank you so much for chatting with us, Larissa. I really look forward to reading LURE, so hurry up and get published! ;)

When it Rains it Pours

Although it is pouring rain outside, the header title also reflects my life at the moment. Not only am I super busy with home life, but I'm busy with writerly things as well. For one, I made it to the second round in JA Souder's Secret Agent contest. An announcement will be made soon about the top ten, so I'm going blue holding my breath over that one. Also, I was one among the Honorable Mentions in the Secret Agent contest over at Authoress's wonderful blog, and now I'm trying to scrutinize every word in my synopsis *groan* and my first 30 pages before I submit them to the agent. Hence my lack of interview posts.

But I promise to have very fun interviews posted soon. I PROMISE!

Until then, please enjoy the following comic, which I found on an old post by @inkyelbows's blog. (Credit to her and Katie Hart.)

Sick Note

Hello, everyone. As you might guess from the headline, I'm feeling very ill. I've caught some bug that's stuffed up my head and is making me ache all over, especially when I cough.

So, yeah. It's not fun being me at the moment.

But I wanted to give the aspiring writers out there a heads up on a couple of contests in the blogosphere.

There's a contest going on at Got YA that focuses on voice in your manuscript. Your entry should consist of 200 words from your manuscript that best showcases your story's voice. Entries will be judged by author Hannah Moskowitz and agent Taylor Martindale of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. The contest is open until this Friday.

Also, there is a contest beginning on May 1st at author J.A. Souders's blog and details can be found here.

Good luck to all that enter! Be sure to let me know if you win and I can announce it here for you.